OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
225 
which we lay quite securely, the wind freshening up strong from the westward 1820 . 
at night, which kept the ice at a sufficient distance from us. 
In the mean time Lieutenant Liddon had sent me word that the Griper, Sat - 29 - 
which had taken her birth to the southward of ours, was not in a much more 
secure situation than that from which the Hecla had just escaped, the ice 
pressing forcibly upon her cable at times, so as to endanger her being forced 
on shore by it. Lieutenant Liddon very prudently, therefore, unshipped his 
rudder, and otherwise prepared his ship in the best manner he could for 
taking the beach, which is here tolerably bold, and quite soft and muddy. 
Happily, however, the westerly wind, which shortly after sprung up, prevented 
any accident of this nature. 
Many of the pools of water upon the ice were slightly frozen over during Sun. 30. 
the night, which had seldom been the case for several weeks before, but which 
now took place almost every night for the rest of the season, as soon as the 
sun had become low. At three P.M. another large portion of the ice near us 
detached itself from the main-body, and floated away to the eastward, leaving 
us a space of three or four hundred yards in extent clear all round the ship, 
of which circumstance we immediately took advantage to weigh the anchor, 
and shift our birth further from the shore. 
The wind continued fresh from the W.S.W., and at half-past seven P.M. I 
was informed by Mr. Palmer that a separation of the ice had just taken place 
in the offing, which, on going into the crow’s nest, I found to consist of a 
lane of clear water, narrow and not altogether continuous, lying in a direction 
nearly parallel to that of the coast, and about three miles distant from it, 
being probably the boundary of the last winter’s ice. From the outer point 
of the reef of Winter Harbour a crack commenced, and could be traced, at 
intervals, till it appeared to join the line of separation before described; the 
ice across the mouth of the harbour remained perfectly compact and unbroken, 
so that we could still do nothing but Avatch the progress of the operation 
which seemed at length to have commenced in earnest. 
The wind being from the S.S.W. during the night, served to close the lane Mon. 31. 
of water which had appeared in the offing the preceding day, which we con- 
sidered a favourable circumstance, as shewing that the external mass of ice 
was in motion. In the course of the day, the wind shifting to the W.N.W., 
we once more discovered a small opening between the old and young floes, and 
at eleven P.M., the whole body of the ice in the harbour was perceived to be 
moving slowly out to the south-eastward, breaking away, for the first time. 
