60 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1819 * than before; and I therefore considered it right to furnish Lieutenant Liddon 
^ with fresh instructions, and to appoint some new place of rendezvous, in case 
of unavoidable separation from the Hecla. A boat was, therefore, dropped 
on board the Griper for that purpose, without her heaving-to ; and the same 
opportunity was taken to obtain a comparison between our chronometers. 
About seven P.M., we were sufficiently near to the western land, to ascertain 
that it was part of another island, which I named after Vice-Admiral 
Sir Thomas Byam Martin, Comptroller of His Majesty’s navy; and by eight 
o’clock we perceived that the body of ice to the southward, along which we 
had been sailing, took a turn to the north, and stretched quite in to the 
shore, near a low point, off which a great quantity of heavy ice was aground. 
At ten o’clock, after having had a clear view of the ice and of the land about 
sunset; and finding that there was at present no passage to the westward;, 
we hauled off to the south-east, in the hope of finding some opening in the 
ice to the southward, by which we might get round in the desired di- 
rection. We were encouraged in this hope by a dark “ water-sky” to the 
southward ; but, after running along the ice till half-past eleven, without 
perceiving any opening, we again bore-up to return towards the island. 
There was in this neighbourhood, a great deal of that particular kind of ice, 
called by the sailors “ dirty ice,” on the surface of which were strewed sand, 
stones, and in some instances, moss ; ice of this kind must, of course, at one 
time or other, have been in close contact with the land. On one of these 
pieces, towards which the Hecla was standing, a little sea was observed break- 
ing ; and, on a nearer approach, it so exactly resembled a rock above water, 
that I thought it prudent to heave all the sails aback, till a boat had been 
sent to examine it. We saw several fulmar petrels, and one or two seals, 
in the course of this day’s run. 
Sat. 28 . As we approached the south point of the island, to which I gave the name 
of Cape Gillman, out of respect to the memory of the late Sir John Gillman, 
we found the ice in the same position as before ; and I therefore hauled to 
the north-east, with the intention of attempting a passage round the north 
side of the island. In standing in, towards Cape Gillman, our soundings 
gradually decreased from eighty to twenty-three fathoms, the latter depth 
occurring at the distance of two to four miles from the shore. At ten A.M., 
the wind being very light from the S.S.E., I despatched Captain Sabine and 
Mr. Ross, accompanied by Messrs. Edwards and Fisher, to the eastern point 
of the island, which we were about to round in the ships, in order to 
