LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
463 
those northern seas, and which cannot be considered palatable 
tc any taste, but that of an Esquimaux. 
The occupation of the officers and men, during the night, was 
chiefly confined to angling, and their success in general far ex¬ 
ceeded their expectations. It, however, could scarcely be called 
angling, for the shoals of fish came often so close in shore, that 
they might have been ladled out with the hand. On the 30th, 
they had the misfortune to lose two of their rods overboard, 
one of which belonged to Capt. Ross; and although the crew 
dragged for them with the seine, they could not be recovered. 
On the following day, however, the rod belonging to Capt. Ross, 
was seen floating, by the steward, but the other was irrevocably 
lost. One of the sailors was despatched regularly every day on 
shore, to obtain some grass for the hare; although it was in 
vain to expect, that the life of the animal could be preserved 
during the winter, when no food could be found on board, by 
which it could be maintained. 
The ice still remained closely packed round the ship, but on 
the 31st, the wind veered round to the westward, and a dawn 
of hope now burst upon them, that their period of emancipation 
was at hand; but short and momentary was the light, which 
illumined the darkness of their situation, for, on the 1st, the 
wind changed to the northward again, blowing exceedingly 
hard, with heavy fails of snow, and the mean of the thermome¬ 
ter below the freezing point. This was to them a melancholy 
harbinger of their future fate—it was a warning to them, that 
the summer was nearly at a close, and a prognostic, that the 
season was fast approaching, when all the fortitude and energy 
of their respective characters would be called into action, to 
enable them to support the trials and privations, which they 
would have to undergo. 
On the 2nd, the wind blew a hurricane, more violent and 
severe, than had ever been remembered by the oldest seaman 
on board. It was in vain to attempt to bear up against it, the 
fore-topmast yielded to its fury; and, for some time, the strong¬ 
est apprehensions were entertained, that the upper rigging of 
the ship would be entirely blown away. The consequences of 
