OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



307 



touched the ground at the distance of half a mile from the shore, the bottom J 823 - 



° t AUgUSt. 



being composed of stones of all sizes. 



A breeze had sprung up from the south-east while we were on shore ; but 

 the weather being fine we kept the ships fast, it being my intention to pre- 

 pare immediately for my proposed journey over the ice, for which our 

 present station was particularly convenient. At four A.M. on the 12th, Mon. 12. 

 however, it freshened so much as to cause the ships to strike very heavily on 

 the ice, which was here of the "hummocky " kind. The swell having soon 

 after broken up the edge, a press of head-sail enabled us to force the ships 

 a short distance within the margin, and a few other loose masses drifting 

 down from the eastward, we were at length secure from any disturbance. 

 The rudders were however unshipped, in case of accidents, and in the after- 

 noon the wind moderated, though the weather continued extremely incle- 

 ment, with snow, which was afterwards succeeded by rain. On the 13th, Tues. 13. 

 the weather remained too thick and unsettled for leaving the ships, though 

 the wind was quite moderate, and in the evening shifted to the westward. 

 The loose ice was drifting away from the floe, against the wind, during the 

 whole of the day, affording another certain proof of a set to the south-east, 

 independently of tide. Several black whales came up close to the ships, 

 and three Sabine gulls, some ducks, dovekies, and silvery gulls, were also 

 seen. 



Early on the morning of the 14th, the. breeze having freshened from the Wed. 14; 

 north-west, another floe broke away from the fixed ice, allowing us to gain 

 about half a mile more to the westward ; such was the vexatious slowness 

 with which we were permitted to advance towards the object of our most 

 anxious wishes ! As, however, this disruption brought us so much nearer 

 the islands towards which I was about to travel, we cast off and beat up into 

 the bight left by the floe. 



My party consisted of Mr. Richards, and two men from each ship, and we 

 were furnished with ten days' provision. Mr. Crozier, with three additional 

 men, was appointed to assist in carrying our baggage to the first islands, 

 and then to return on board. Having given Captain Lyon the necessary in- 

 structions for proceeding during my absence, and appointed the narrow part 

 of the Strait as a rendezvous in case of any sudden disruption of the ice 

 allowing him to follow us, I left the ships at half-past one P.M., but had 

 scarcely proceeded two hundred yards, when we found that a plank would 

 form an indispensable part of our equipment, for the purpose of crossing the 



2 B. 2 



