IN SEAItCII OF WHALES. 
237 
On the 5th we made a small remove to the 
ENE.; but the fog never wholly clearing away, 
we found it expedient to make fast again. Sound¬ 
ed in 155 fathoms, at 10 A. M., and in 129 fathoms 
in the evening; soft clay or mud. 
August 6th .—No improvement in the weather 
still took place, excepting an occasional attenua¬ 
tion of the fog, so far, that we could see a distance 
of three or four miles; but this only occurred 
about mid-day. 
At 10 A. M., being in latitude 72° 7', and lon¬ 
gitude 19° 11' W., we obtained soundings in 118 
and vigorous efforts for their preservation. Hence, when 
they moor to the ice, under such circumstances, they do not 
“ hand” their top-sails, but let them either remain “ sheeted 
home,” with the yards lowered down on the caps, or else 
clew them up at the mast-heads. In the former case, in 
getting suddenly under-way, they have only to hoist up the 
yards; and in the latter, they have merely to haul home the 
top-sail sheets; either of which operations may be accom¬ 
plished within five minutes. As an additional facility, the 
courses are now usually set with a yard or boom at the foot, so 
as to require neither tacks nor sheets, but merely a tackle to 
the middle of the yard, to stretch the sail. With this ar¬ 
rangement, the courses are hauled up so snugly, as not to 
require any additional furling ; and when needed, they can 
be set in a minute. Thus three-fourths of the time, or more, 
that is requisite in an ordinaiy merchantman, to set her 
sails, is saved; and a state of preparation secured, which is 
in many instances needful, for the preservation of the ship. 
