186 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
there was an eclipse of the moon, which was distinctly visible. 
A favourable breeze springing* up they sailed about seven miles, 
and then they came in contact with a chain of islands, with the 
ice closely packed. Here they made fast to a berg under an 
island, and the officers went on shore, and put a pole up with a 
piece of copper, and some other things fastened to it, with the 
Captain’s name, that of the Victory, and the date of the month 
and year inscribed upon it. On the return of the officers, they 
reported that they could see from the hill a great extent of clear 
water, and the land appearing as if it inclined to the westward. 
The squalls from the W. S. W. now became so heavy that the 
ice was sometimes in motion. During the night the launch got 
so severe a nip, that had she not risen to it, she would most 
probably have received so much damage, as to render her repair 
impracticable. 
On the 15th, the approach of winter was announced by a fall 
of snow, which did not tend much to raise the spirits of the crew ; 
for bold and undaunted as their hearts might be, the prospect of 
passing a winter in such a cheerless clime, with dangers of the 
most appalling kind surrounding them in every direction, could 
not be looked upon without feeling some of those sinkings and 
misgivings of the spirit, to which even the most courageous are 
sometimes subject, when the darkness of disappointment is closing 
fast upon them, and the day star of hope is shrouded in the 
gloomy clouds of despair. 
The prospect to the hardy mariners was by no means unpromis¬ 
ing ; they had not as yet met with any impenetrable barrier to 
their progress, on the contrary the sea appeared to be more clear 
of ice, than it had been for some time previous, nor was the 
navigation attended with any more prominent dangers than they 
had hitherto encountered. Their accidents had been hitherto but 
few, and of no serious moment, and merely such as could be 
repaired from the stores of the vessel. It is true that in two 
instances an extraordinary piece of good fortune had befallen 
them; the first in obtaining possession of the stores of the 
Rook wood, and the second, which was of the most vital conse¬ 
quence, finding the provisions of the Fury in such excellent con- 
