We were in hopes of receiving effectual shelter from
the numerous grounded masses, but could only find berths within
one of them in five to six fathoms water. We now, for the first
time, _walked_ on board the ships; and, before night, had them
moved into their places, by sawing a canal for two or three
hundred yards through the ice. The average thickness of the new
floe was already three inches and a quarter; but being in some
places much less, several officers and men fell in, and, from the
difficulty of getting a firm place to rest on, narrowly escaped a
more serious inconvenience than a thorough wetting. The whole
sheet of ice, even in those parts which easily bore a man's
weight, had a waving motion under the feet, like that of leather
or any other tough flexible substance set afloat, a property which
is, I believe, peculiar to salt-water ice.
In reviewing the events of this our first season of navigation, and
considering what progress we had made towards the accomplishment of
our main object, it was impossible, however trifling that progress
might appear upon the chart, not to experience considerable
satisfaction. Small as our actual advance had been towards
Behring's Strait, the extent of coast newly discovered and minutely
explored in pursuit of our object, in the course of the last eight
weeks, amounted to more than two hundred leagues, nearly half of
which belonged to the Continent of North America.
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