22 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



but had left our two consorts far behind ; 

 they followed our track by the guns we dis- 

 charged. The temperature of the surface 

 water was 35° when amongst the ice, 38° 

 when just clear of it, and 41.5° at two miles 

 distant. 



On the 4th of August, when in latitude 

 59° 58' N., longitude 59° 53' W., we first 

 fell in with large icebergs ; and in the even- 

 ing were encompassed by several of consi- 

 derable magnitude, which obliged us to tack 

 the ship in order to prevent our getting en- 

 tangled amongst them. The estimated dis- 

 tance from the nearest part of the Labrador 

 coast was then eighty-eight miles ; here we 

 tried for soundings, without gaining the 

 bottom. The ship passed through some 

 strong riplings, which evidently indicated 

 a current, but its direction was not ascer- 

 tained. We found, however, by the recent 

 observations, that the ship had been set 

 daily to the southward, since we had opened 

 Davis' Straits. The variation of the com- 

 pass was observed to be 52° 41' W. 



At nine P.M., brilliant coruscations of 



