N O R T II POL E, 
200 
tion, ferved, in a great raeafure, to Ihield them from the 
violence of the fea; and they were now fo firmly wedged, 
that the fliip, comparatively, had little motion. Fortu¬ 
nately the gale foon moderated, but they found them- 
felves in a finking ftate; all the pumps going, and unable 
to keep the fliip free. They now expedited every moment 
to go to the bottom. The following morning was, pro¬ 
videntially, fine, and the ice had fomewhat feparated ; 
with the utmoft exertion of every foul on-board, they 
fucceeded in getting the fliip out of the ice, and were 
able, on the following morning, to reach Smeerenberg 
Harbour, Spitzbergen. The fliip being now in filch a 
fhattered condition, every idea of wintering was at an end ; 
and it became a queftion whether the fliip (the larboard 
fide, in l'everal places, being literally Hove in) was fea- 
worthy ; or if, every thing confidered, and under all the 
circumftances, it would be prudent to rifle their lives in 
eroding the Atlantic. Having got into Smeerenberg 
Harbour, it was found that they poflefl'ed the means of 
materially ftrengthening the vell'el ; after the completion 
of which, it was determined that they fliould proceed to 
England, where both fliips arrived fafe in the month of 
Odtober. This is all we are able to fay upon the fubjedl 
of the northern expedition, becaufe the official account, 
from Capt. Buchan, has not yet appeared from the prefs. 
The firft account we had of the north-wejl expedition 
was publiflied on the i 5th of March laft, from the pen of 
“ An Officer of the Alexander,” Lieut. Parry’s fliip; but 
the official aeccount, by Capt. Rofs himfelf, has fince ap¬ 
peared, in a coftly quarto. Captain Sabine has alfo re¬ 
lated l'ome particulars in the Quarterly Journal, and has 
for the prefent relinquiflied his intention of publiftiing a 
feparate work upon the fame fubjedt, which had been for 
fiome time advertifed. 
The official inffrudtions given to Capt. Rofs, and of 
■which a copy is inferted in his work, were, that he fhould 
make the heft; of his way to Davis’s Straits, afeertain the 
direction of the currents, avail himfelf of every means of 
improving the geography and hydrography of the ardtic 
regions, colledl fpecimens of the animal, mineral, and 
vegetable, kingdoms, &c. but the main objedt of the en- 
terprile was “ the folution of the long-agitated quelHon, 
refpedting the exiltence of a paffage from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific Ocean, by way of Davis’s Strait and Baffin’s 
Bay.” 
The Ifabella and Alexander dropped down to Galleons 
on the 18til of April, 1818 ; the pilot left them ofF Cromer 
in Norfolk on the 2.5th ; and they reached Lerwick in 
.Shetland on the 30th, from which time and place their 
operations may be laid to have commenced. 
On the 3d of May they left Shetland ; and on the 26th, 
-when in lat. 58. 36. N. Ion. 51. o. W. they law the firft ice¬ 
berg, or infulated mountain of ice, which appeared to be 
about forty feet high and a tlioufand feet long. The 
following is Capt. Rofs’s account of it: “Imagination 
painted it in many grotefque figures; at one time it 
looked fomething like a white lion and horfe rampant, 
which the quick fancy of failors, in their harmlefs fond- 
nefs for omens, naturally enough fliaped into the lion and 
unicorn of the king’s arms, and they were delighted ac¬ 
cordingly with the good luck it feemed to augur. And 
truly our firlt introduction to one of thefe huge maffes, 
with which we were afterwards likely to grow fo familiar, 
was a fort of epoch in our voyage that might well excufe 
a failor’s divination, particularly when the afpeft with 
which it was inverted tended to infpire confidence, and 
keep up the energies of the men; a feeling fo requifite 
for an enterprife like ours, where even their curiofity 
might be chilled for want of excitement. It is hardly 
pofiible to imagine any thing more cxquiiite than the va¬ 
riety of tints which thefe ice-bergs difplay; by night as 
well as by day, they glitter with a vividnefs of colour be¬ 
yond the power of art to reprefent. While the white 
•portions have the brilliancy of filver, their colours areas 
stations and Iplendid as thole of the rainbow, their ever- 
changing difpofition producing effects as Angular as they 
were novel and intererting. 
The following day they met with a much larger ice¬ 
berg, which confirted apparently of three ftrata; the up- 
permoft of indurated fnow, the reft opaque, except a 
bluiffi tranfparent vein which interfered it horizontally. 
The admiralty had given inftrudtions that, in order to 
afeertain the direffion of the currents, fo foon as they 
had purfued 65. N. they fliould once a-day throw over¬ 
board a bottle clolely lealed, and containing a paper Ha¬ 
ting the dateand pofition at which it was launched; and 
for which purpote each fliip was fupplied with paoers 
with direftions in l'everal languages, that whoever 
might find it fliould take meafures for tranfmitting it 
to the admiralty. In confequence of thefe inftru&ions, 
Capt. Rofs, on entering Davis’s Strait on the ift of 
June, dropped his firft bottle, as we are told ; but it 
is evident that bottles had been thrown over-board 
before this, as the “ Journal by an Officer on-board 
the Alexander” gives us a defeription of one that was 
launched on the 4th of May. In order to attraft notice, 
the bottle, after it is corked and fealed, has a piece of 
white calico tied over the mouth of it, which makes it 
conlpicuous at a confiderable diftance. The followin°-is 
a copy of theenclofed paper: “His Majefty’s Ship Alex¬ 
ander, May 4th, 1818, at one o’clock, P. M. in latitude 
6o° 45' 30" N. and longitude 40 0 20" W. Temperature 
of the air in the fliade 45 0 ; Water, at the furface 46* 0 . 
Strong wind S. E. by S. fome fea. W. E. Parry, Com¬ 
mander.” And the following words were added in the 
Englilh, French, Spanifli, Danifli, Svvedilh, and Dutch, 
languages: “ Whofoever finds this paper is requefted t-o 
forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty, London, 
with a note of the time and place at which it was found.” 
On the iff: of June they law land fouth of Coquin’s 
Sound, where that excellent navigator, Baffin, is faid to 
have landed on his return from his laft voyage. In lat. 
66. 22. N. and Ion. 56. 37. W. they met with much ice, 
which they avoided with difficulty; one of the icebergs 
was 325 feet high, and 1200 feet in length, with a torrent 
of water running down its fide. 
Proceeding onward, on the 9th they made faff; to an 
iceberg ofjsonvenient height, from which they made ex¬ 
cellent obfervations. Some Efquimaux now came off to 
them, from whom they learnt that the ice was clofe all 
the way from thence to Difco, and that no fliip had yet 
got up thither. Various ltones and a ftratum of gravel 
were found on the iceberg, fpecimens of which were col- 
ledted, and l'everal rare birds w'ere killed on it; this was 
in lat. 68. N. Ion. 53. W. On the 14th, a ridge of ice¬ 
bergs was feen of every variety and fliape that can be 
imagined, of l'everal of which Capt. Rofs took lketches, 
plates of which are given in his work. 
On the 16th of June, in the afternoon, they hauled in 
towards Waygat, or Hare Ifland, (lat. 70. 30. N. Ion. 54. 
W.) on the north fide of which they found forty-five 
whale-fliips faftto the icebergs along Ihore. Such a fight, 
burfting fuddenly on their view in thefe inhofpitable re¬ 
gions, was highly gratifying, and at the fame time affor¬ 
ded a flunking proof of the enterpriling fpiritofour coun¬ 
trymen in that particular branch of fpeculative com¬ 
merce in which thefe fliips are employed. “All of thole 
near to which we palled gave us three cheers, which w'ere 
heartily returned. Shortly after we made faff: to an ice¬ 
berg on the north-eaft fide of the illand. Here we W'ere 
obliged to remain for five days, owing to the ice being 
fo dole to the northward that it was in vain to attempt 
getting through it. Our delay here was not, however, 
loft time; for l’everal obfervations were made on-lhore, 
which could not poffibly have been made on-board; fuch 
as the tranfit of the fun over the meridian, and the num¬ 
ber of ofcillations made by the pendulum of theaftrono- 
mical clock, in the courle of twenty-four hours, or ra¬ 
ther from the time of the fun parting over the meridian 
one day until its eroding the fame the day following. 
The 
