30 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1819. seldom or never meet with young ones on this fishery, as they are accustomed 
to do in the seas of Spitzbergen, 
The Griper continued to detain us so much that I determined on making 
the best of our way to the westward, that no more time than was necessary 
might be occupied in the examination of the bottom of Sir James Lancaster’s 
Sound, provided it should be found to be an inlet surrounded by land. I 
was the more inclined to do this, from the circumstance of the sea being so 
clear of ice, as to offer no impediment to the navigation, which rendered it 
next to impossible that the two ships should not meet each other again ; and 
it seemed to me to be of considerable importance to obtain as early informa- 
tion as possible whether a passage did or did not exist there, as, in the latter 
event, we should have to proceed still further to the northward in search of 
one through some of the other Sounds of Baffin ; besides, the farther north we 
had to go, the shorter would the navigable season be to allow us to explore 
these sounds. On these considerations I ordered the Hecla to be hove to in 
the evening, and sent Lieutenant Liddon an instruction, with some signals, 
which might facilitate our meeting in case of fog : and I appointed as a place of 
rendezvous the meridian of 85° west, and as near the middle of the Sound as 
circumstances would permit. As soon, therefore, as the boat returned from 
the Griper, we carried a press of sail, and, in the course of the evening, saw 
the northern shore of the Sound looming through the clouds which hung 
over it. 
Mon. 2. It fell calm on the morning of the 2d, and at nine A.M., we sounded with 
the deep-sea clamms, and found one thousand and fifty fathoms by the line, 
on a bottom of mud and small stones ; but I believe the depth of water did 
not exceed eight or nine hundred fathoms, the ship’s drift being considerable 
on account of the swell. It should be remarked, also, that where the sound- 
ings exceed five or six hundred fathoms, even in very calm weather, the. 
actual depth must, in the usual way of obtaining it, be a matter of some 
uncertainty, for the weight of the line causes it to run out with a velocity 
not perceptibly diminished, long after the lead or the clamms have struck 
the ground. The clamms being now down, we were about to try the set 
of the current, by mooring a boat to the line, when the breeze again sprung 
up from the westward and prevented it. At noon we were in latitude 
by observation 74° 30' 03"., and in longitude 78° 01'., Cape Osborn bear- 
ing N, 79° W., distant forty-one miles. 
The weather being clear in the evening, we had the first distinct view of 
