258 
UNPLEASANT NAVIGATION. 
with him in the risky undertaking Messrs. Edward Kern, 
artist, and Richax'd Berry, sailmaker, in addition to the 
regular crew. 
Finally, the day of sailing arrived, and we all put to 
sea, leaving the nomadics, their schooner, — which Iiad 
now returned from Petropoloivski, — and Cavilosky, the 
Russian, in charge of the harbour. The Hancock sur- 
veyed a group of islands on her route and then made 
the best of her way toward Ila-ko-da-di. Arrived near 
the northeast point of Nipon, we fell in with fogs and 
heavy weather, which made the navigation any thing but 
safe. Let me turn to my journal for an idea of this un- 
pleasant navigation : — 
“We were running along the northeasteni coast of the 
island of Nipon, under both sail and steam, had had no 
observations for some days, were enveloped in a fog that 
might apparently have been ‘cut with a knife,’ knew 
that strong and unknowm currents swept around us, had 
no chart from wdiich to get even an idea of said northeast- 
ern coast, wei^e any thing but certain as to our locality, 
felt that a gale of wind was coming down upon us, and 
were nervously anxious to reach shelter in the harbour 
of Ila-ko-da-di before night. This harbour was supposed 
to be some fifty miles off; that was where our dead 
reckoning placed it: but then dead reckoning was pro- 
verbially unreliable, and the unknown currents already 
alluded to only added to this uncertainty. We were 
steering what we also siepposcd to be the right course to 
make the northeast point of Nipon, before starting to 
cross the straits that separated it from Jesso, so that we 
might use it as a fresh starting-point in finding our way 
