1876 PRINCE IMPERIAL ISLAND. 157 



but if it begins to move at the commencement of the 

 tide, it is pretty sure to continue to drift in the same 

 direction as long as the tide lasts. 



' Since leaving Discovery Bay we have not once 

 observed the decided southerly drift which we noticed 

 last year ; had we not known of the undoubted 

 existence of the current we should not have discovered 

 it by the ice motion lately.' 



The 27th was calm with foggy weather and snow 

 falling, with the temperature at 32. On the same day 

 the ' Pandora ' at Cape Alexander experienced a south- 

 west gale which did not reach our position. 



In the afternoon the ice opened with the flood- 

 tide and enabled us, after much trouble and by passing 

 closer to the ice-foot than was altogether prudent, to 

 enter Dobbin Bay ; but there, after securing the ships 

 to a floe, we were quickly surrounded by the pack. 



During the night and the following day we were 

 drifted helplessly about the bay with the tidal current. 

 Early on the morning of the 29th, as the ice set out 

 with the ebb-tide, the 'Discovery' was carried to 

 within a hundred yards of Cape Hilgard, and by 

 the rotatory motion of the floe left without any ice 

 between her and the shore ; for a time her ex- 

 posed condition caused me much anxiety. 



During the last of the flood-tide another move- 

 ment of the ice enabled us to escape and to reach a 

 place of comparative safety alongside a floe hemmed 

 in between Prince Imperial Island and the mainland ; 

 everyone exceedingly glad to get out of the pack and 

 away from the numerous straggling icebergs. 



The water-bottle having been repaired, Dr. Moss 



