FIRST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
79 
Isabella was made fast to an iceberg, and the Alexander hauled 
alongside. On the evening of the 12th, the weather became 
clearer and a breeze springing up from the north east, they cast 
off from the iceberg, and sailed to windward amongst heavy 
pieces of ice. The Island of Disco was now plainly seen bearing 
E. by N., and also seven ships beset in the ice in South East 
Bay. A bottle was here buried, enclosing remarks, on an ice¬ 
berg, ascertained to be in latitude 68° 15' north longitude 64° 10 
west. 
On the 14th they ran close to the largest of several islands 
placed in the entrance of Disco Bay, which is called Whale 
Island. This was apparently six miles in length, formed of a 
black rugged sterile rock of considerable elevation, but low, 
when compared with the huge mountains of Disco, which were 
seen over it. 
The Island of Disco is called by the Danes, Kron Prins Island, 
and is in latitude 63° 54 s north, and longitude 53° 30' west. 
Its inhabitants at the time consisted of the governor of the 
factory, his wife and children, together with six Danes, and a 
hundred Esquimaux, who are employed during the season, in 
catching seals and whales. The chief object of the expedition 
in communicating with this factory, as it could be effected 
without loss of time, was to gain information respecting the 
state of the ice, from the Danish resident; guns were therefore 
fired, and a kijaek was despatched with a messenger inviting 
the governor on board. This had the desired effect and In¬ 
spector Flushe, a respectable looking young man, who had been 
an officer in the Danish navy, came on board in a boat manned 
by Europeans. His information was much calculated to damp 
the hope of getting to the northward that season, as he con¬ 
firmed in every respect the report which had been given by the 
masters of the whale ships; during the eleven winters that he 
had passed in that country, not one had been so severe and lasting 
as the preceding ; the sea had frozen up in the middle of Decem¬ 
ber, where it was usually open until February, and the bay and 
harbours of Disco which were generally navigable towards the 
end of March, still continued shut. He considered that the 
