12 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



1821. to the westward, at 7.45 A.M., and continued "boring" in that direction 

 K^Jj the whole day, which enabled us to join the three strange ships. They 



Mon. 16. p ro ved to be, as we had supposed, the Prince of Wales, Eddystone, and 

 Lord Wellington, bound to Hudson's Bay. I sent a boat to the former, to 

 request Mr. Davidson, the master, to come on board, which he immediately 

 did. From him we learned that the Lord Wellington, having on board 

 one hundred and sixty settlers for the Red River, principally foreigners, 

 of both sexes and every age, had now been twenty days among the ice, 

 and had been drifted about in various directions at no small risk to the 

 ship. Mr. Davidson considered that he had arrived here rather too early 

 for advancing to the westward, and strongly insisted on the necessity 

 of first getting to the northward, or in-shore, before we could hope to make 

 any progress ; — a measure, the expediency of which is well known to all 

 those accustomed to the navigation of icy seas. By the Prince of Wales 

 we sent our last letters for our friends in England ; and I took the same 

 opportunity to acquaint the Secretary of the Admiralty with the proceedings 

 of the Expedition up to this date. 



Tues. 17. On the 17th, the weather was beautifully fine and warm with very little 

 wind. A thermometer exposed to the sun's rays on board stood, at noon, 

 as high as 81°; on a pole on the ice it was at 60°; and in the shade from 

 41° to 43°. The horizon was very much distorted by refraction in all direc- 

 tions, causing the ice to assume a great variety of fantastic shapes, but 

 generally appearing like a high wall, consisting of innumerable perpendicu- 

 lar columns, and completely surrounding us. Our latitude observed at 

 noon was 61° 09' 17"; the longitude, by chronometers, being 67° 11' 10"; 

 and we had soundings in three hundred and forty fathoms on a rocky bottom. 

 Grass or Green Island time, bore from S. 27° W., to S. 46° W., its distance 

 being from three to five leagues, but uncertain, on account of the extra- 

 ordinary appearance given to it by refraction. The state of the ice being 

 rather more favourable in the afternoon, we made sail to the northward 



Wed. 18. in company with the Hudson's Bay ships, and had, on the following day, 

 made some progress towards a remarkable headland called the East Bluff. 

 A few leagues to the westward of this is a smooth part of the land, rather 

 higher than that in its neighbourhood and, for an extent of one or two 

 miles, completely covered with snow. The snow remains upon it, as Mr. 

 Davidson informed us, the Avhole summer, as they find the land presenting 

 the same appearance on their return through the strait in the autumn. 



