1820. 
Sept. 
Mon. 4. 
274 VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
longitude 71° IT 23".6, and the variation of the magnetic needle 91° 28' 32" 
Westerly. The tide was falling when we landed; it was low water by the 
shore at three o’clock, and at half-past five, when we left the beach, it had risen 
only twelve inches. The tide set to the southward in the offing during the after- 
noon, especially about three o’clock, at which time the Hecla was observed by 
Lieutenant Beechey to be drifting fast against the wind in that direction. 
On our return on board, I found that a piece of whale-blubber, cut into a 
square shape, had been picked up on the water, which we then considered 
as a confirmation of this part of the coast being inhabited, but which was 
afterwards more satisfactorily accounted for. 
The wind, which had been light from the southward during the night, 
shifted to the north-west early in the morning, which induced me to give up 
the intention I had formed of further examining the inlet, and we, therefore, 
continued our course along shore to the southward. At seven A.M., we passed 
another inlet, similar to that of the preceding day, though much smaller, 
the land being of the same steep and precipitous character, and the water, 
apparently, deep near it. 
The latitude observed was 71° 02' 42", agreeing within a mile of the account, 
so that no current could well have existed since the preceding day’s observation. 
In sounding as usual, at noon, we were not a little surprised in striking bottom 
in thirteen fathoms, the appearance of the shore, from which we were three or 
four leagues distant, indicating very deep water. A boat was sent a-head 
to sound, the wind having again broke us off from the southward ; at two 
o’clock we suddenly deepened the water to thirty-five, and soon after to 
fifty-six fathoms. At four P.M., we again dropped into fifteen fathoms, 
and the boats a-head found as little as eleven, on which several masses of 
ice were aground, pointing out, as usual, the extent of the shoal water. These 
two banks, which consist of coarse sand with broken shells, were named after 
the Hecla and Griper ; they form a striking exception to the general rule 
of judging of the boldness of a coast by the appearance of the shores. 
While occupied in attending to the soundings, soon after noon, our asto- 
nishment may readily be conceived, on seeing, from the mast-head, a ship, 
and soon after, two others, in the offing, which were soon ascertained to be 
whalers, standing in towards the land. They afterwards bore up to the 
northward along the edge of the ice which intervened betwixt us, and we 
lost sight of them at night. It was now evident that this coast, which had 
hitherto been considered, by the whalers, as wholly inaccessible in so high 
