The ships were immediately hauled as near the shore as
possible, and preparation made for unshipping the rudders, if
necessary. The floe was brought up, however, by the masses of ice
aground outside of us, with which it successively came in contact,
and the ships remained in perfect security; the floe, as usual
after the first violence is over, moved off again to a little
distance from the shore.
At noon the heavy floe at the point near us began to quit the
land, and at half past one P.M., there being a narrow passage
between them, the breadth of which the breeze was constantly
increasing, we cast off and stretched to the westward. The channel
which opened to us as we proceeded varied in its general breadth
from one to two miles; in some places it was not more than half a
mile. The wind was variable and squally, but we made great
progress, along the land to the S.W.b.W., and the Griper, by
keeping up tolerably with the Hecla, in some measure redeemed her
character with us. Having arrived off Cape Providence at eleven
P.M., the wind became light and baffling, so that we had just got
far enough to see that there was a free and open channel beyond
the westernmost point visible of Melville Island, when our
progress was almost entirely stopped for want of a breeze to
enable us to take advantage of it.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179