© THE HOWGATE EXPEDITION. 503 
the sun, and hence could take no observation with the sextant. We calculated 
our position at noon, however, by ‘‘dead reckoning,” and found it to be about 
52° N., longitude 50° W. 
August 1st was clear and beautiful. Our position at noon was lat. 53° 47’N., 
lon. 46° 50’ W. At night we had rain and fog. 
The next day was so cloudy that we could take no observation. It was the 
first Monday in August, election day in Kentucky, and I could not help thinking 
of what was transpiring in Louisville. I wondered who would be elected prose- 
cuting attorney ; if Gen. Duke would be re-elected ; if Humphrey would be elect- 
ed, and all the other candidates. I believe I am personally acquainted with them 
all. But I was soon roused from these meditations, for about 2 p. m., a terrific 
gale sprung up from the northeast. The sea ran very high, and the vessel rolled 
and pitched at a fearful rate. For the first time in my life, I felt a little sea sick, 
but I managed to hold my own, and was soon all right again. The storm con- 
tinued all night, and the next morning increased in violence. Our captain and 
mate, both old whalers, said it was the severest gale they had ever encountered 
in that latitude. The waves seemed literally mountains in height and every few 
minutes broke over the deck with a noise like thunder, shaking the vessel from 
stem to stern. Half the time our deck was under water. ‘The captain looked se- 
rious, but said nothing, except to give orders to the crew. One of our whale- 
boats was washed away, the bulwarks on our quarter-deck were stove in and we 
leaked badly. The water came into the cabin and flooded everything and every- 
body. A large part of the material for our house had been stored away on deck, 
which rendered the vessel somewhat top-heavy, and prevented her from righting 
herself when a wave dashed over her. All this had to be cast overboard, and as. 
I saw it leave, plank by plank, I felt that the colony at Lady Franklin Bay was 
a dream of the past. 
All this time the water came pouring in streams into the cabin. We knew 
that something was wrong, but not until we arrived at Godhaven did we ascer. 
tain the cause. We then found that a large plank, nine feet long by fourteen 
inches wide, had been torn from our starboard quarter, and several others loos- 
ened. This was above the water-line, but every wave that dashed against it 
poured a stream of water into the cabin. The gale continued with unabated 
strength until 2 o’clock on the morning of the 4th, when it died away as suddenly 
as it had come. When I went on deck at 7 o’clock the sea was perfectly smooth, 
with just enough swell to give a gentle motion to the ship. We seemed to glide 
almost instantaneously from a rough sea into smooth water. We had passed Cape 
Farewell, and I think the coast of Greenland protected us from the gale. This 
is the only way I can account for the sudden change. 
Though we did not get a sight of the cape, we saw some of the icebergs 
which usually hang about it. They were so numerous that on the horizon they 
appeared like a continuous, impenetrable line of ice. Some of them were very 
large, and they assumed almost every conceivable shape. About 7 o’clock we 
