Three black whales and a few seals
were playing about near the beach.
Our people being somewhat fatigued with walking, were allowed to
rest till half past one in the morning of the 29th, when, it being
high water, the tents were struck and the boat loaded. I found
that Captain Lyon had returned on board the preceding evening,
having accomplished his object in a shorter time than was
expected.
That no time might be lost in running the ships through the
narrows, I directed three boats from each to be prepared, for the
purpose of sounding every part of this intricate, and, as yet,
unknown passage, which I named after Captain THOMAS HURD, of the
royal navy, hydrographer to the admiralty. Giving to the officer
commanding each boat a certain portion to accomplish, I reserved
for my own examination the narrowest part of the channel; and at
thirty minutes past one P.M., as soon as the flood tide began to
slacken, we left the ships and continued our work till late at
night, when, having received the reports of the officers, and made
out a plan of the channel for each ship, I directed everything to
be in readiness for weighing at the last quarter of the ebb on the
following morning. Much as I lamented this delay, at a period of
the season when every moment was precious, it will not appear to
have been unnecessary, when it is considered that the channel
through which the ships were to be carried did not in some places
exceed a mile in breadth, with half of that space encumbered with
heavy masses of ice, and with an _ebb_ tide of six knots running
through it.
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