However, being desirous of obtaining a better view than our crow's-nest
commanded, and also of depositing here a small quantity of provisions,
I left the ship at one P.M., accompanied by Lieutenant Foster in a
second boat, and, landing upon the ice, walked over about three quarters
of a mile of high and rugged hummocks to the shore. Ascending two or
three hundred feet, we had a clear and extensive view of the Seven
Islands, and of some land far beyond them to the eastward; and the whole
sea was covered with one unbroken land-floe, attached to all the shores
extending from the island where we stood, and which formed an abutment
for it each way along the land as far as the eye could reach. After this
discouraging prospect, which wholly destroyed every hope of finding a
harbour among the Seven Islands, we returned to the place where the men
had deposited the provisions, and, after making the necessary
observations for the survey, returned immediately on board.
Observing from the island that the sea was perfectly clear to the
northward, we now stood for Little Table Island, with some slight hope
that the rock off its northern end might afford shelter for the ship; at
all events, being the most exposed, on account of its situation, it was
the most likely to be free from ice.
Pages:
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326