440 THE FRANKLIN SEABCff— 184:8-51. 



stretching far away to the westward, as if with the intention of checking our 

 further progress to the northward by a solid barrier. At two a.m. we hauled 

 to the westward, as I fancied I saw a passage in that direction, and soon 

 made out the sail we had previously seen to be the ' Nancy Dawson,' standing 

 in for the land, close along the pack edge, with a light westerly air. . . . 

 At six A.M. I boarded >the 'Nancy Dawson,' and learned from Mr Sheddon 

 that he had been up to 72° north, and coasted the pack down to this very spot 

 without finding any lead to the northward — nothing but an impenetrable 

 barrier of ice. I now stood in for the shore, with the light north-west breeze 

 which the schooner had brought up with her, to try the channel spoken of 

 by the Eskimos ; but our progress was very slow, as we had only just wind 

 enough to stem the current. 



" I landed on the southern extreme of the ice, and got a meridian altitude, 

 giving the latitude 71° 16' north, and distant about five miles from the nearest 

 land. At this point the elevation was about twenty feet above the sea, and 

 all around to the north of west and east-south-east was one vast field of ice, 

 studded with every variety of fantastic shapes, glittering with dazzling 

 splendour in the warm sunshine of a most beautiful day. To the eastward 

 lay the low land, stretching to the north, with snowy patches here and there 

 interspersed, and a narrow belt of open water winding between it and the 

 pack, like a dark thread on a white surface, and which I take to be the 

 channel spoken of by the Eskimos. Their tents were now visible, and 

 their appearance, together with the noisy shouting which the natives make 

 in communicating to each other, offered a scene of busy life in strong contrast 

 with the perfect calm which elsewhere reigned around, and which was broken 

 only by the washing of the water against the ice, or the heavy splash caused 

 by the toppling over of an overbalanced and heavy mass. 



"At 3.30 P.M. we got into a deep bight, formed by the pack and shore; 

 and as it was now blowing a fresh breeze from the northward, with a two- 

 knot current from the same quarter, and much ice driving, I came to in four 

 and a half fathoms, half-way between two large and heavy floes, a quarter of 

 a mile from each other, and both aground in the mouth of the bay. Our 

 distance from shore was a long mile, and three-quarters of a mile from the 

 south-east point of the pack, forming the southern extreme of the western 

 side of the bight. 



" The channel leading northward appeared to commence in the very bight 

 of this bay close in shore ; but as the ice was too thick between us and it 

 to allow of our attempting its passage, we hauled under the western and 

 smallest floe, where we got shelter both from the increasing breeze and 

 the ice, which was now driving to the southward through the bay with great 

 force. At 4.30 the 'Nancy Dawson ' anchored to the south-west of us, at 

 about a quarter of a mile. 



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