FOGGY WEATHER. 
159 
tainecl by the rudder, in the night of the 24th of 
June. The rudder, on being unshipped and 
hoisted upon deck, was found to be greatly twist¬ 
ed and bruised; one piece of timber in it broken, 
most of the braces bent, and some of them nearly 
torn off. Having fortunately an armourer, with 
a forge, on board, and also three carpenters, the 
rudder was put into excellent order; and this im¬ 
portant machine repaired and replaced in the 
course of the night. 
Some of the ship’s company were employed, du¬ 
ring our detention here, in procuring water from 
the siuface of the piece of ice to which we were 
moored. It formed pools of considerable extent; 
the produce of melted snow. 
During the preceding twenty days, the great¬ 
er part of the time (nearly three-fourths) was fog¬ 
gy. In consequence of this bewildering obscuri¬ 
ty, we were seldom able to cruise to any distance, 
and only saw two or three whales for the last 
thirteen days of this interval. Yet tedious as 
this continuance of fog was, I have often ob¬ 
served it still more obscure and constant, at a 
greater distance from the land. 
In the year 1817, in the 76th parallel of lati¬ 
tude, and between the fifth and tenth degrees of 
west longitude, among open ice, we had a fog 
which never once cleared away for fifteen days, 
and very seldom permitted us to sec the distance 
