REMARKABLE FREEZING OF THE SEA. 291 
the freezing point of sea-water. This circumstance 
must be attributed to the cooling of the surface 
of the water, agreeable to the theory of Dr Wells 
as to the cause of Dew, by the effect of radiation 
between the surface of the sea and the atmosphere. 
Whether the heat of the water be ejected into 
the atmosphere, or whether a cold influence from 
the atmosphere be conveyed to the water, may be 
a doubtful question ;—but the fact of the abstrac¬ 
tion of the heat of the water, when exposed to the 
full aspect of a cloudless sky, is certain and ob¬ 
vious. In cloudy Weather, no freezing of the sea, 
I believe, ever occurs, when the temperature is 
above 29°; but in clear calm weather, the sea in 
the interstices of the ice, generally freezes on the 
decline of the sun towards the meridian below the 
pole, though the temperature be 32°, or higher. 
In the instance now alluded to, the freezing com¬ 
menced when the temperature was 36”, being 7i° 
or 8° above the freezing point of sea-water. 
About 2 a. M. the thermometer in the air fell to 
33°, by which time the bay-ice was of such con¬ 
sistence, that the head-way of the ship, under a 
light breeze, was sometimes stopped by it. 
The flensing of our three whales, including an 
interval of three hours allowed the people for rest¬ 
ing, occupied nearly four-and-twenty hours. Not 
having been accustomed, for many weeks, to-se- 
