29 
CHAPTER II. 
ENTRANCE INTO SIR JAMES LANCASTER^ SOUND OF BAFFIN — UNINTER- 
RUPTED PASSAGE TO THE WESTWARD — DISCOVERY AND EXAMINATION 
OF PRINCE REGENT’S INLET — PROGRESS TO THE SOUTHWARD STOPPED 
BY ICE — RETURN TO THE NORTHWARD — PASS BARROW’S STRAIT, AND 
ENTER THE POLAR SEA. 
We were now about to enter and to explore that great sound or inlet which 
has obtained a degree of celebrity beyond what it might otherwise have been 
considered to possess, from the very opposite opinions which have been held 
with regard to it. To us it was peculiarly interesting, as being the point to 
which our instructions more particularly directed our attention ; and, I may 
add, what I believe we all felt, it was that point of the voyage which was to 
determine the success or failure of the expedition, according as one or other 
of the opposite opinions alluded to should be corroborated. It will readily 
be conceived, then, how great our anxiety was for a change of the westerly 
wind and swell, which, on the 1st of August, set down Sir James Lancaster’s 
Sound, and prevented our making much progress. We experienced also 
another source of anxiety. The relative sailing qualities of the two ships were 
found to have altered so much, that we were obliged to keep the Hecla under 
easy sail the whole day, to allow the Griper to keep up with us, although the 
latter had hitherto kept way with her consort, when sailing by the wind. The 
ships stretched to the northward across the entrance of the sound, meeting oc- 
casionally with some loose and heavy streams of ice, and were at noon in lati- 
tude, by observation, 73° 55 ' 18", and in longitude, by the chronometers, 
77° 40'. Several whales were seen in the course of the day, and Mr. Allison 
remarked, that this was the only part of Baffin’s Bay in which he had ever seen 
young whales ; for it is a matter of surprise to the whalers in general, that they 
1819. 
August. 
Sun. 1 . 
