A thick fog prevented our getting
near it till the morning of the 17th, when, having approached it within
a mile and a half, I sent Lieutenant Ross on shore to a little islet,
which was quite free from ice, where he deposited another small store of
provisions, but found nothing like shelter for the ship.
Having no farther business here, and the easterly wind still continuing,
I thought the best thing we could do would be to run again to the
southward of Low Island, and try once more to approach the shores about
the entrance of the Waygatz Strait. We therefore bore up under all sail
to the southwest.
It would be vain to deny that I had lately begun to entertain the most
serious apprehensions as related to the accomplishment of our principal
object. The 17th of June had now arrived, and all that we saw afforded
us the most discouraging prospect as to our getting the Hecla into
harbour; while every day's experience showed how utterly rash a measure
it would be to think of quitting her in her present situation, which,
even with all her officers and men, was one of extreme precariousness
and uncertainty.
On the evening of the 18th, while standing in for the high land to the
eastward of Verlegen Hook, which, with due attention to the lead, may be
approached with safety, we perceived from the crow's-nest what appeared
a low point, possibly affording some shelter for the ship, and which
seemed to answer to an indentation of the coast laid down in an old
Dutch chart, and there called _Treurenburg Bay_.
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