116 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



October. wn i cn ' at tne distance of one mile, he found the whole body of ice close in 

 vx ^ v with the land, appearing very thick and heavy as far as could be seen to 

 the north-eastward. After divine service I sent Lieutenant Reid for the same 

 purpose, when I was glad to find that our passage was now only obstructed 

 by a body of ice a mile and a half in breadth, beyond which a great deal of 

 clear water appeared ; and as this ice was in rapid motion to the southward, 

 there seemed every chance of our being enabled to push on in the morning. 

 The bay ice round the ships was just thick enough to bear a man's weight, 

 but that in the offing was much thinner, and in many places the surface of the 

 sea was still clear of it. 



The thermometer gradually fell to 10° after midnight, and to zero at six 

 Ion. 8. A.M. on the 8th. An hour before day-break Lieutenant Reid again left the 

 ship, to give us information of the state of the ice round the point, with- 

 out which it would have been imprudent to quit our present anchorage. 

 In the mean time the sails were set and the cables hove short in readi- 

 ness for moving, the instant he should make the appointed signal from the 

 hill. To our great disappointment however no signal appeared ; and Lieu- 

 tenant Reid acquainted me on his return, that the ice in one solid and 

 unbroken " pack," to which he could see no end, closed completely in with 

 the beach, at a shoal and open bay on the east side of the island. The 

 ice now beginning also to approach the ships, I directed the anchors to be 

 weighed and lines to be run out towards the eastern side of the bay, 

 which appeared to offer rather the best security against its approach. In 

 this the boats at length succeeded, and the ships were accordingly removed, 

 while Captain Lyon and myself landed and walked to the northward, in 

 order to obtain a more distinct and extensive view of the position of the ice in 

 that quarter. Having reached a hill about three miles to the northward of 

 the ships, we could perceive that there was scarcely a pool of clear water 

 among the ice, which filled the space between us and the main land. The 

 only part of the sea in sight unoccupied by " old" ice was along the south 

 shore of the island, and this was almost entirely covered with bay-floes, 

 through which a ship could not possibly have made her way. 



The formation of young ice upon the surface of the water is the circum- 

 stance which most decidedly begins to put a stop to the navigation of these 

 seas, and warns the seaman that his season of active operations is nearly at 

 an end. It is indeed scarcely possible to conceive the degree of hinderance 

 occasioned by this impediment, trifling as it always appears before it is 



