DUMPLIN HARBOR. l6l 



table knotted sandstar {Ophioglypha nodosa), and other 

 forms only previously recorded from Greenland. 



The evening was rarely beautiful for this coast ; the 

 ice was out of sight, and the way seemed clear for a good 

 run on the morrow. 



The 1 6th proved all that we could have desired in 

 point of wind, weather, and absence of ice. A fresh but 

 warm northwest wind, sometimes almost blowing a gale 

 off-shore, bore us a distance of forty-five miles. The 

 thermometer at nine o'clock was 64° F. in the shade ; at 

 ten o'clock 84° in the sun, and at one o'clock p.m. 73° 

 in the shade. Our way led through a broad sound in- 

 side of the outer islands, and then across the mouth of 

 Sandwich Bay. At two p.m., however, our further ad- 

 vance received a check. We had crossed the mouth of 

 Sandwich Bay and were approaching the Horsechopson 

 the north side of the entrance to the bay, when the wind 

 drew in from the north and headed us off, so that we ran 

 back to Dumplin Harbor. As we entered we nearly ran 

 aground ; and then in trying to escape that disaster, we 

 came near having a collision with a schooner's stern on 

 the other side of the narrow entrance. On this. occasion 

 our pilot, Captain French, nearly lost his head, and it 

 has been my lot on several occasions to sail with pilots 

 who lost their presence of mind at just the critical 

 moment when their senses should be ready at an instant's 

 call. Thorough knowledge of the rocks, shoals, and 

 headlands of a coast is not always united with the high- 

 est order of executive ability ; but on the whole, no fault 

 could be found with the management of our vessel ; she 

 was a Wellfieet oysterman, built by Donald McKay ; her 

 lines were beautiful, but she was not adapted for the 



