80 
VOYAGE FOE THE DISCOVERY 
1819. sidering our present detention so near the shore a good opportunity for observ- 
ing the time and rise of the tides, I caused a pole to be fixed on the beach for 
this purpose, by Avhich it was found to be high water at half-past four in the 
morning; and the tide ebbed till half-past ten. From this time till three quar- 
ters after four P.M., when it was again high water, the tide had risen two feet 
eight inches; so that, small as this tide is, it seems to be very regular. The 
direction of the stream of flood was, as usual, not so easy to determine, but I 
shall give the facts as they occurred. At the time of low water by the shore, 
and for an hour and a quarter before it took place, the current was setting to 
the eastward, at the rate of three quarters of a mile per hour. It continued 
to run thus for the greater part of the day, but at times it was observed to set 
in the opposite direction, and now and then no current whatever was percep- 
tible. From eight till eleven P.M., it was running strong to the westward, 
after which it stopped, and then began to set the ice the contrary way. I have 
been thus minute in mentioning the above particulars, not with a hope of 
throwing any light upon the interesting question of the direction of the tides 
in this part of the Polar Sea, but to shew how impossible it is, with the land 
close to us on one side, and on the other innumerable masses of ice in almost 
constant motion, to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion on this subject. 
Frid. 10. It was nearly calm on the 10th, with thick snowy weather, which prevented 
our seeing to any great distance round us. At five A.M., a floe coming from 
the westward, ran against the berg, within which the Hecla was still secured, 
turning it round as on a pivot. This occurrence is not an uncommon one in 
Davis’ Strait, with bergs of very large size, when the centre part of them only 
happens to be upon the ground. We were by this time so surrounded by ice 
that no clear water was to be seen, except the small pool in which we lay ; and 
all that could be done, under such circumstances, was to watch the motion of 
the ice, and to be ready to shift the ship quickly round the berg, according as 
the floes, by setting one way or the other, might endanger her being “nipped.” 
In the afternoon the ice slackened a little near us, when an attempt was made 
to get the Hecla into a more secure birth in-shore ; but, after heaving a heavy 
strain occasionally for several hours, we could only succeed before dark in 
getting her into a small nook near the beach, in which, if no very violent 
pressure occurred, she might be tolerably secure during the night. A party re- 
turned in the evening from a shooting-excursion to the western cape, bringing 
with them only three hares, and reporting that the sea was entirely covered 
with ice as far as they could see to the westward from the hills. 
