FREE OF ICE. 
291 
A little higher up, they noticed that the pieces of ice 
in the middle of the channel were moving up, while 
the lumps near shore were floating down. The channel 
was completely broken up, and there would have been 
no difficulty in a frigate standing anywhere. The little 
APPEARANCE OF CHANNEL 
brig, or “a fleet of her like,” could have beat easily to 
the northward. 
The wind blew strong from the north, and continued 
to do so for three days, sometimes blowing a gale, and 
very damp, the tops of the hills becoming fixed with 
dark foggy clouds. The damp falling mist prevented 
their seeing any distance. Yet they saw no ice borne 
