OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



257 



hitherto afforded numerous bays or indentations, into which a ship might 

 be taken with some hope of finding shelter from the sea ice. Here however 

 the floe, besides being infinitely heavier and more " hummocky," (for it 

 was in many places from eight to twelve feet above the water,) was also so 

 straight along its edge as to offer not the smallest security; while the enor- 

 mous masses, every where piled up by recent pressure, appeared like so 

 many beacons placed to warn a ship of the fate she might expect to meet, if 

 obliged to make fast in so exposed a situation. Such however is the nature 

 of this navigation, and the necessity of pushing on to the last moment of 

 any clear water appearing, that to bestow a thought on our next place of se- 

 curity, until that moment arrives, would be to lose opportunities which no 

 exertions could regain, and ultimately to incur certain failure. We therefore 

 made fast on this occasion in the first place that presented itself, for there 

 was in fact no choice ; neither was there any time to lose, as the ice was 

 beginning to close, and would soon commence drifting to the southward, so 

 that our only chance of holding on consisted in securing our hawsers as 

 quickly and effectually as possible. 



The place where we now lay was distant about a mile and three quar- 

 ters from the land, and we had twenty-one fathoms, the soundings having 

 deepened to this as we receded from Owlitteeweek. At the distance of a mile 

 and a half outside of the land ice, we found from thirty-five to thirty-nine 

 fathoms, being the deepest casts we had obtained since leaving the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of Winter Island. The ebb-tide here set to the 

 N.N.E., the flood to the S.S.W., as before; but the former now ran about 

 live hours to the other's seven ; it was not however so strong by more than 

 half a knot, so that the southerly set still considerably predominated. 



The ebb did not slacken till forty minutes past five A.M., when the stream 

 almost immediately began to set to the southward, bringing with it as usual 

 the whole body of drift ice trailing along the edge of the land floe, and 

 quickly filling the narrow channel through which we had lately been making 

 our way to the northward. Fresh hawsers were now run out and secured 

 to the hummocks with all possible strength and care, and the ships so placed 

 that their sides might bear pretty equally fore and aft against the softest 

 parts of the floe. Notwithstanding these precautions, at nine A.M. the 

 Hecla broke adrift and, as we were soon after informed by signal, with some 

 damage to her rudder and the loss of seven hawsers. I subsequently re- 

 ceived from Captain Lyon the following account : — 



2 L 



