48 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1819 . There being still no prospect of getting a single mile to the westward in 
the neighbourhood of Prince Leopold’s Islands, and a breeze having 
freshened up from the eastward in the afternoon, I determined to stand over 
once more towards the northern shore, in order to try what could there be 
done towards effecting our passage; and at nine P.M., after beating for 
several hours among floes and streams of ice, we got into clear water 
near that coast, where we found some swell from the eastward. There 
was just light enough at midnight to enable us to read and write in the 
cabin. 
Thur. 19. The wind and sea increased on the 19th, with a heavy fall of snow, which, 
together with the uselessness of the compasses, and the narrow space in 
which we were working between the ice and the land, combined to make our 
situation for several hours a very unpleasant one. At two P.M., the weather 
being still so thick, that we could at times scarcely see the ship’s length 
a-head, we suddenly found ourselves close under the land, and had not 
much room to spare in wearing round. We stood off-and-on during the rest 
of the day, measuring our distance by Massey’s patent log, an invaluable 
machine on this and many other occasions ; and in the course of the 
afternoon, found ourselves opposite to an inlet, which I named after my 
relation, Sir Benjamin Hobhouse. The snow was succeeded by rain at 
night ; after which the wind fell, and the weather became clear, so that, on 
Frid. 20. the morning of the 20th, when we found ourselves off Stratton Inlet, we 
were enabled to bear up along shore to the westward. The points of ice 
led us occasionally within two miles of the land, which allowed us to 
look into several small bays or inlets, with which this coast appears in- 
dented, but which it would require more time than we could afford, 
thoroughly to survey or examine. The remarkable structure of this land, which 
I have before attempted to describe, is peculiarly striking about Cape Fellfoot, 
where the horizontal strata very much resemble two parallel tiers of batteries, 
placed at regular intervals from the top to the bottom of the cliff, affording 
a grand and imposing appearance. There is a low point running off some 
distance from Cape Fellfoot, which is not visible till approached within five 
or six miles. We passed along this point at the distance of four miles, 
finding no bottom with from fifty to sixty-five fathoms of line. Maxwell Bay 
is a very noble one, having several islands in it, and a number of openings 
on its northern shore, which we could not turn aside to explore. It was, 
however, quite free from ice, and might easily have been examined, had it 
