After a succession of unheard-of difficulties, the Forward sighted Mount Britannia, though it was scarcely visible through the fog, and next day dropped anchor in Northumberland Bay, and found herself completely closed in on all sides.
CHAPTER XXII
ASSAULT OF THE ICEBERGS
After seeing that the vessel was properly moored, Hatteras withdrew to his cabin and studied his chart attentively. He found he was in latitude 76° 57', and longitude 92° 20'; in other words, almost close to the 77th parallel. This was where Sir Edward Belcher passed his first winter on the Pioneer and the Assistance and from this point he organized his exploring parties, and succeeded in reaching the 78th degree. Beyond this he found that the coast inclined to the S. E. towards Jones's Sound, which opens into Baffin's Bay, but on the N. W. he could discern nothing as far as the eye could see but clear, open water.
Hatteras gazed long and earnestly at the blank white space on the map which represented the unexplored regions round the Pole, and he said to himself:
"After all these testimonies from Stewart, Penny, Belcher, I cannot doubt. The open sea must be there. These bold, hardy men have seen it with their own eyes. Can it be that it was during some exceptional winter, and that now———? but no, that cannot be the case, for several years elapsed between the discoveries. The basin exists and I will find it, and see it for myself!"
He went again on the bridge, but the ship was wrapped in dense fog, and the mast-head was hardly visible from deck; yet Hatteras made the ice-master come down, and went himself to take his place in the "crow's-nest." He was anxious to watch for the least rift in the fog to examine the northwest horizon.
Shandon could not lose the chance to say to his friend:
"Well, Wall, where is this open sea?"
"You were right, Shandon, and we have not more than six weeks' coal left now."
"Oh! the Doctor will find some scientific method of warming ourselves without fire. I have heard people say
