158 
VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
at this time I observed the ice to generate very fast 
upon the surface of the water. 
Soon after my return, I regretted to hear that 
Captain Scoresby had been grossly insulted by one 
of the men, on his reproving him for leaving his 
watch and being below. This I found to be a seri- 
ous evil, to which the commanders of vessels in the 
merchant service are not only liable, but to which 
they repeatedly subject themselves, for the want 
of regulations to ensure good order, there being now 
no remedy beyond setting the offender to some 
duty. It is an injury of the highest importance to 
those concerned in the maritime commerce of the 
country ; and that class of persons, who contribute 
so importantly to the public exigencies, would derive 
essential benefit if some laws were provided sufficient 
to ensure a proper state of discipline and subordi- 
nation. 
A thick fog having set in, on the evening 
Jiily 28. 25 th, and continued until this morn- 
ing with a calm, and the ice being in great motion, 
we were kept in a continued state of anxiety and 
very great alarm for the safety of the ship, as it was 
impossible to see twice its length around us, and 
boats were constantly employed to guard us against 
the continued impediments which were coming in 
our way, such as fixed fields, floating floes, islands 
of ice, as well as immense masses which were lying 
in the most troublesome manner possible to inter- 
cept our course. At length, in the morning watch 
