72 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
Sept' wes ^ war( ^ °f which the most conspicuous part is a remarkable bluff head- 
land, is much higher than that about Skene Bay; and we ceased to obtain any 
soundings with the hand-leads after we had passed the entrance of Bridport 
Inlet. At a quarter-past nine P.M., we had the satisfaction of crossing the 
meridian of 110° west from Greenwich, in the latitude of 74° 44' 20"; by 
which His Majesty’s ships, under m) r orders, became entitled to the sum of 
five thousand pounds, being the reward offered by the King’s order in coun- 
cil, grounded on a late Act of Parliament, to such of His Majesty’s subjects 
as might succeed in penetrating thus far to the westward within the Arctic 
Circle. In order to commemorate the success which had hitherto attended 
our exertions, the bluff headland, which we had just passed, was subsequently 
called by the men Bounty Cape; by which name I have, therefore, distin- 
guished it on the chart. 
As we stood to the westward, we found the extreme of the land in that 
direction to be a low point, which was named after Samuel Hearne, the 
well-known American traveller, and to the north-eastward of which is a 
bay of considerable extent, which was perfectly free from ice. We con- 
tinued our course towards Cape Hearne till midnight, when, the weather 
being too dark to run any longer with safety, the ships were hove-to with their 
heads to the eastward. One black whale was seen, in the course of this 
day’s navigation, off Bridport Inlet ; and some flocks of snow-buntings were 
flying about the ship at night. 
Sun. 5 . At a quarter before three A.M., on the 5th, we tacked, and stood to the 
westward, with the hope of getting past Cape Hearne, the wind being 
moderate from the northward, and the weather thick with snow ; and, 
shortly after, we shoaled the water quickly from twenty-five to thirteen, and 
then to nine, fathoms. We tacked in the latter depth, believing that we were 
approaching a shoal, especially as we were near some heavy ice, which, 
having a tide-mark upon it, appeared to be aground. We afterwards found, 
however, that we had at this time been actually within three or four hundred 
yards of Cape Hearne, which is so surrounded by heavy ice at a sufficient 
distance from the shore, that it would perhaps be difficult to run a ship 
aground upon it. The error into which we were here led, as to our distance 
from the beach, arose from the extreme difficulty of distinguishing, even in 
broad day-light, between the ice and the land, when the latter is low and 
shelving, and completely covered with snow ; by the uniform whiteness of 
which, they are so completely blended, as to deceive the best eye. Indeed, 
