off Possession Bay, on the Southern Side of the Entrance into Sir
James Lancaster's Sound.


In the beginning of May, 1819, the Hecla and Griper were towed
down the river; the guns and gunner's stores were received on
board on the 6th; and the instruments and chronometers were
embarked on the evening of the 8th, when the two ships anchored at
the Nore. The Griper, being a slower sailer, was occasionally
taken in tow by the Hecla, and they rounded the northern point of
the Orkneys, at the distance of two miles and a half; on Thursday,
the 20th of the same month.

Nothing of moment occurred for several days; but the wind veered
to the westward on the 30th, and increased to a fresh gale, with
an irregular sea and heavy rain, which brought us under our
close-reefed topsails. At half past one, P.M., we began to cross
the space in which the "Sunken Land of Buss" is laid down in
Steel's chart from England to Greenland; and, in the course of
this and the following day, we tried for soundings several times
without success.

Early in the morning of the 18th of June, in standing to the
northward, we fell in with the first "stream" of ice we had seen,
and soon after saw several icebergs. At daylight the water had
changed its colour to a dirty brownish tinge. The temperature of
the water was 36½°, being 3° colder than on the preceding night; a
decrease that was probably occasioned by our approach to the ice.
We ran through a narrow part of the stream, and found the ice
beyond it to be "packed" and heavy. The birds were more numerous