DISCO REACHED. 393 



master Reid, who will spend in it many a cold, weary, and anxious watch, 

 looks aloft at his perch critically, and like a thrifty Scotchman as he is, 

 pronounces it "a very expensive one." On this same day, Fitzjames 

 anticipated promotion in his absence (that event having been talked of in 

 England as likely to take place on the brevet of the 18th June), and at night 

 he indulged in a modest glass of brandy and water in honour of the occasion, 

 and then sat down to his journal to have a chat with the distant Coninghams 

 about the pleasing event. As he writes, Reid comes into the cabin, and 

 looks much perplexed at seeing the commander writing so constantly. 

 "Why, Mister Jems," he says, "you never seem to me to sleep at arl, 

 you're arl ways writin'." 



The 21st brings the " Erebus," the " Terror," and the accompanying 

 store ship into Davis Strait, and the wonders of the Arctic seas begin to 

 rise around. Bottle-nosed whales plunge and frolic near the vessels, and 

 great tree-trunks — ^the bark of them rubbed off by the ice— go floating by. 

 A storm springs up on the following day (Sunday), and as the ships are 

 rolling tremendoiisly, it is necessary to assemble the men on the lower deck 

 for the reading of the church service. Sir John was to have given a dinner- 

 party on the Monday ; but the ships continue to pitch so freely, that the 

 idea has to be abandoned. On the 24th, warm clothing is given out, for the 

 Arctic cold now pinches keenly, and on the 25th, Greenland, " rugged, and 

 sparkling with snow," heaves in sight far away on the right. All is calm 

 now : the sea shows a delicate blue in the shadows, and is so still, that the 

 mast-heads of the " Terror," which is half a mile off", are reflected alongside 

 the "Erebus." On the 29th, they pass some lofty icebergs, which look like 

 huge masses of pure snow, furrowed into caverns and dark ravines. " The 

 Whalefish Islands are neared on the 1st July. There are no fewer than 

 sixty-five icebergs in sight, and the vessels sail in among a shoal of some 

 hundred walruses, tumbling over one another, diving and splashing with 

 their fins and tails, and looking at the ships with their grim, solemn-looking 

 countenances and small heads, bewhiskered and betusked." The well-known 

 Danish settlement of Disco is reached on the 2d. Here the scenery strikes 

 the strangers as grand but desolate beyond expression. It does not depress 

 merry Osmer the purser, however, for Fitzjames comes upon that cheerful 

 officer at midnight doing a little dance to himself on deck. " What a happy 

 fellow you are, always in good humour," says Fitzjames. " Well, sir," returns 

 the purser, "if I am not happy here, I don't know whei'e else I could be." 

 On the 4th, they drop anchor at Disco, and every man is ashore " running 

 about for a sort of a holiday, getting eider-duck^' eggs, curious mosses, and 

 plants, and shells." It is reported at Disco that the season is. milder and 

 earlier than ever was known before, and the officers are all certain they shall 

 get through the Passage this season, and in their last letters home they ask 

 7 3d 



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