CHAPTER XIX
ISLE BEECHEY
On the 25th of June the Forward sighted Cape Dundas, the north-easterly point of Prince of Wales' Island. The difficulty of navigation increased as the packs became more numerous. The distance that, in ordinary circumstances, the brig would have made in a day, took her from the 25th to the 30th of June.
Hatteras knew as well as Shandon how the coals stood: but relying on finding stores at Isle Beechey, he would not lose a moment for the sake of economy. The distance south, short as it was, had greatly delayed him; and though he had taken the precaution to start in April, he was not a whit farther on now than preceding expeditions had been at a similar period.
On the 30th of June, Cape Walker came in sight, and soon afterwards Cape Bellot, so named from the brave young French officer who perished in the English expedition. Three cheers were given to his memory as the brig passed, pushing her way through the loose floes across Barrow's Straits.
Hatteras was so afraid of missing the island that he hardly quitted his post on the deck for an instant. All that skill and sang froid, and even nautical genius, could do, he did. Fortune certainly showed him no favor, for at this time of the year he ought to have found the straits nearly free from ice; but at length, by neither sparing his steam, nor his men, nor himself, he gained his end.
On the 3rd of July the ice-master signaled land ahead to the north, and after consulting the chart Hatteras came to the conclusion that this must be Isle Beechey. Johnson's heart beat quicker as they approached, for this was not his first visit, and memory was busy with the past. He had been quartermaster on board the Phoenix, the expedition in which Lieutenant Bellot had been engaged, and Hatteras looked to him for information as to the facilities for anchorage. The weather was magnificent, and the thermometer continued steadily at 57°.
"Well, Johnson, do you recognize the place?" said the captain, as they were getting rapidly near.
"Yes, sir, it is certainly the island; but we must bear a little more to the north, the coast is more accessible there."
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