Hecla and Griper. The names of Ross and Palmer had been previously given to two points of land; those of Skene, Beverley, and Bridport, to three inlets; and that of Dealy to a low sandy island near the entrance of the latter opening.
“We continued our course toward Cape Hearne till midnight, when the weather being too dark to run any longer with safety, the ships were hove to. One black whale was seen in the course of this day’s navigation, off Bridport Inlet.
“At a quarter before 3 a.m., on the 5th, we tacked, and stood to the westward, with the hope of getting past Cape Hearne, the wind being moderate from the northward, and weather thick with snow; shortly after we shoaled the water quickly from 25 to 13, and then to 9 fathoms. Tacked in the latter depth, believing that we were approaching a shoal. We afterwards found, that we had at this time been actually within 300 or 400 yards of Cape Hearne, which is so surrounded by heavy ice at a sufficient distance from the shore, that it would perhaps be difficult to run a ship aground upon it. The error into which we were here led, as to our distance from the beach, arose from the extreme difficulty of distinguishing, even in broad day-light, between the ice and the land, when the latter is low and shelving, and completely covered with snow; by the uniform whiteness of which, they are so completely blended, as to deceive the best eye.
“Having stood again to the westward, to take a nearer view of the ice, we perceived that it lay quite close in with Cape Hearne, notwithstanding the northerly wind which, for the last 36 hours, had been blowing from the shore, and which had drifted the ice some distance to the southward, in every part of the coast along which wc had lately been sailing. This circumstance struck us very forcibly at the time, as an extraordinary one; and it was a general remark among us, that the ice must either be aground in shoal-water, or that it butted against something to the southward, which prevented its moving in that direction. Appearances being thus discouraging, nothing remained to be done but to stand off-and-on near the point, and carefully to watch for any opening that might occur.
“The wind increasing to a fresh gale from the northward in the afternoon, and the ice still continuing to oppose an impenetrable barrier to our further progress, I determined to beat up to the northern shore of the bay, and, if a tolerable roadsted could be found, to drop our anchors till some change should take place. This was accordingly done at 3 p.m., in seven fathoms’ water, the bottom being excellent holding ground, composed of mud and sand, from which the lead could with difficulty be extricated. When we veered to half a cable, we had ten fathoms’ water under the stern. I had great reason to be satisfied with our having anchored, as the wind shortly after blew a hard gale from the northward. The island, on which our boats now landed for the second time, and which is much the