78 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



1^21. The wind drawing round to the northward and westward on the morning of 

 - the 2d, increased to a fresh gale, which continued to blow during the night ; 



notwithstanding which, I was in hopes that the immense size of the floe to which 

 the ships were attached would have enabled us to retain our station tolerably. 

 It was mortifying therefore to find, on the morning of the 3d, that we had drifted 

 more than I ever remember to have done before, in thesame time, under any 

 circumstances. It was remarkable also that we had not been set exactly to 

 leeward, but past Baffin Island towards the two remarkable hills on Southamp- 

 ton Island, from which we were at noon not more than seven or eight leagues 

 distant. Thus, after a laborious investigation which occupied one month, 

 we had, by a concurrence of unavoidable circumstances, returned to nearly the 

 same spot as that on which we Had been on the 6th of August. To consider 

 what might have been effected in this interval, which included the very best 

 part of the navigable season, had we been previously aware of the position and 

 extent of the American continent about this meridian, is in itself certainly un- 

 availing ; but it may serve to shew the value of even the smallest geographical 

 information in seas where not an hour must be thrown away, or unprofitably 

 employed. Nor could we help fancying at this period of the voyage that, had 

 Bylot, Fox, and Middleton, by their joint exertions, succeeded in satisfactorily 

 determining thus far the extent of the continental land, the time which we 

 had lately occupied in this manner might have been more advantageously 

 employed in rounding, by a more direct route, the north-eastern point of 

 America, and even in pursuing our way along its northern shores. 



In the afternoon an attempt was made to move, for the mere sake, it must be 

 confessed, of moving and keeping the people on the alert, rather than with the 

 slightest prospect of gaining any ground ; but by the time that we had laid out 

 the hawsers, the small hole of water that had appeared again closed and we 

 were obliged to remain as before. 

 Tues. 4. On the morning of the 4th the ice remained close about us, but we found 

 at daylight that Ave had still approached Southampton Island, and were now 

 within five or six miles of a very small rocky islet, not distinctly seen for ice 

 when we first made this coast, but which now appeared black, though very low. 

 This rock, which I named after Mr. Fife, who first discovered it on our former 

 arrival on this coast, lies N.E.b.E. from the two high hills of Southampton 

 Island ; its distance from the land is between five and six leagues, and being 

 quite by itself it might, if covered with snow, be easily mistaken for heavy ice* 

 At thirty minutes past eight A.M. the ice slackened for about a mile to the 



