after noon, we were once more enveloped in a fog, which, however, was not 80 thick as to prevent our having recourse to a new expedient for steering the ships. Before the fog re-commenced, and while we were sailing on the course which by the bearings of the land we knew to he the right one, the Griper was exactly astern of the Hecla, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile. The weather being fortunately not so thick as to prevent our still seeing her at that distance, the quarter-master was directed to stand aft, near the taffrail, and to keep her constantly astern of us, by which means we contrived to steer a tolerable straight course to the westward. The Griper, on the other hand, naturally kept the Hecla right a-head; and thus, however ridiculous it may appear, it is, nevertheless, true, that we steered one ship entirely by the other for a distance of ten miles out of sixteen and a half, which we sailed between one and eleven p.m.”
Sept. 1. – “At half-past 8 a.m., the fog having suddenly cleared up, we found ourselves within four or five miles of a low point of land which was named after Mr. Griffiths, and which, being at the distance of six or seven leagues from Byam Martin Island, we considered to he part of another of the same group. At one a.m. on the 2nd, a star was seen, being the first that had been visible to us for more than two months. As we were making no way to the westward, I directed two boats to he prepared by each ship, for the purpose of making observations on shore, as well as to endeavour to kill deer; and at one p.m. I left the Hecla, accompanied by a large party of officers and men. We landed on a very flat sandy beach, which did not allow the boats to come nearer than their own length. The latitude of the place of observation here, which was within 100 yards of the beach, was 74° 58’, the longitude, by chronometers, 107° 3’ 31", and the variation of the magnetic needle 151° 30' 3" easterly. We returned on board at half-past 8, and found that Lieutenant Beechey had, in the mean time, taken a number of useful soundings, and made other hydrographical remarks for carrying on the survey of the coast.”
On the 4th Sept., at 9-15 p.m. Lieutenant Parry had the satisfaction of crossing the meridian of 110° west from Greenwich, in the latitude of 74° 44' 20"; by which the expedition under his orders became entitled to the sum of Five Thousand Pounds, being the reward offered by Government, with the sanction of Parliament, to such of his Majesty’s subjects as might succeed in penetrating thus far to the westward within the Arctic Circle. The Western extreme of the land seen that day was named after Samuel Hearne, the well-known American traveller; and a bight of considerable extent, to the north-eastward of it, was afterwards called the Bay of the
