Dr. Fothergill’s account of ice islands. 7% 
bear to the southward of latitude 39, and in southern voyages the re- 
verse even to within 36 degrees of the equator. This being the saf- 
est course, though at the expense of lengthening the voyage. 
2. Ships destined to cross suspected seas, and particularly the banks 
of Newfoundland, in dark nights and thick fogs, demand peculiar cir- 
cumspection, not only respecting the danger of striking against ice isl- 
ands, but of running foul of other ships ; and therefore ought to be 
well supplied with lamps with refiectors, during their dark and haz- 
ardous passage. The ship also ought to be uncommonly substantial, 
and the parts most liable to be struck, fortified in the best manner pos- 
sible with a body of woo) hair, oakum, or other elastic substance, to 
enable the vessel to sustain with impunity, any sudden or unexpect- 
ed shock. On clear Mehits the ice islands are distinguishable at a 
considerable distance by gleams of light, reflected from their surface. 
3. As the increased coldness of the water around ice islands de- 
presses the thermometer, so the dense atmosphere above must raise 
the barometer, it —— behoves commanders to have on board a set 
of accurate b d thermomet » at least two of each sort, 
and to Fat the anges as the sudden rising of the former and the 
fall of the latter might, either by night or day, or during the thick- 
est fog, forewarn them of their approach to fields or islands of ice. 
If we contemplate ‘the dangers of navigation and the frequency 
of shipwrecks, particularly in the Atlantic ocean, where ships are 
sometimes surrounded by islands of ice, where rocks and shoals are 
often unnoticed, or erroneously laid down in the marine charts, and 
where the eddies and opposing current of the gulph stream, when en- 
‘tered unawares, often render the passage from Europe to America 
200g and perilous, or in the opposite course so rapid as to outstrip the 
y reckoning, surely when all these circumstances are con- 
Ki cannot too strongly recommend to all navigators the dili- 
