30 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
wind blowing dead upon the ice, and the sea be¬ 
coming very heavy, we found our situation a very 
critical one ; but the gale not increasing to such a 
degree of violence as I had anticipated, or as the 
height of the sea intimated, we were enabled to 
keep off the ice, standing to the NW. 
The next morning, the wind moderated, and a 
heavy fall of snow commenced- These circum¬ 
stances, with a low barometer and heavy sea, in¬ 
dicated a renewal of the gale from another quar¬ 
ter, and prevented us from spreading more sail. 
It was fortunate we did not, as the wind at 8 a. m. 
chopped round to the northward, and presently 
blew much harder than before- This sudden 
change of wind was the occasion of the most re¬ 
markable fall of temperature I ever witnessed. At 
8 a. M., just before the change of wind occurred, 
the thermometer was at 32°, and the decks were 
covered with wet snow. The instant the north 
wind began, freezing commenced (the first we had 
had during tlievoyage) and, in less than two hours, 
the thermometer was at 14°, being a fall of 18°! 
At 8 r. M., the temperature was down to 6°, be¬ 
ing a reduction of 26° in 12 hours ; and, at mid¬ 
night, it was — 2°, being a fall of 34° in 16 hours ! 
Such a sudden and remarkable increase of cold 
was necessarily productive of great inconvenience, 
especially as it was accompanied by a hard gale of 
