94 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1819 . which now rendered this navigation more than usually perilous, and the 
hope of success proportionally less, there was none which gave more rea- 
sonable ground for apprehension than the incredible rapidity with which the 
young ice formed upon the surface of the sea, during the greater part of the 
twenty-four hours. It had become evident, indeed, that it could only be 
attributed to the strong winds which had lately prevailed, that the sea was 
not at this time permanently frozen over ; for, whenever the wind blew less 
than a gale, that formation took place immediately, and went on with such 
astonishing rapidity, that had the weather continued calm for more than four- 
and-twenty hours together, it seemed to me extremely probable, that we 
must have passed the winter in our present exposed and insecure situation. 
From this and various other considerations, which the account of our late 
proceedings will naturally suggest, I considered it a duty incumbent upon 
me to call for the opinions of the senior officers of the expedition, as to the 
expediency of immediately seeking a harbour, in which the ships might 
securely lie during the ensuing winter. The opinions of the officers en- 
tirely concurring with my own, as to the propriety of immediately resorting 
to this measure, I determined, whenever the ice and the weather would allow, 
to run back to the Bay of the Hecla and Griper, in which neighbourhood alone 
we had any reason to believe that a suitable harbour might be found. 
Taes. 21. It blew a hard gale from the northward during the night, by which means 
the floes were kept at a distance from the land, and by the bay-ice prevented 
from forming under the lee of it. The sea to the eastward was not, however, 
sufficiently clear, nor the wind moderate enough during the 21st, to allow us 
to move the ships. The land was now almost entirely covered with snow, 
and, as we afterwards found, remained so during the winter. A few coveys 
of the ptarmigan were seen near the beach during the time that we remained 
at this station. 
Wed. 22. At half-past two, on the morning of the 22d, the night-signal was made to 
weigh, and we began to heave at our cables ; but such was the difficulty of 
raising our anchor, and of hauling in our hawsers, owing to the stiffness of 
the ropes from frost, and the quantity of ice which had accumulated about 
them, that it was five o’clock before the ships were under way. Our rudder 
also was so choked by the ice which had formed about it, that it could not 
be moved till a boat had been hauled under the stern, and the ice beaten 
and cut away from it. We ran along to the eastward without any obstruc- 
tion, in a channel about five miles wide, till we were within four or 
