eamboat,
which vessel had before taken us down the river on a similar
occasion. The Hecla reached the moorings on the following day, and
the Nautilus on the first of May.

Nothing of consequence happened during our passage across the
Atlantic; but, after entering Davis's Straits, we had for several
days variable and unsettled weather, the wind blowing principally
from the southward, with a heavy swell from the same quarter. On
the 14th we met with the first iceberg, being in lat. 60 deg. 48',
long. 53 deg. 13'.

Having now reached the situation in which I was directed, by my
instructions, to clear the Nautilus of our stores, I gave
Lieutenant Scrymgour his instructions to return to England; and at
one A.M. on the 1st of July he parted company, while the Fury and
Hecla stood in towards the ice. A whaler, deeply laden, and
apparently homeward bound, was at this time in sight to the
eastward.

At seven P.M., Tuesday, 3d July, the ice opposed our farther
progress to the westward, covering the whole sea as far as the eye
could reach in that direction; the ships were therefore, of
necessity, hove to, in order to await some change in our favour.
The ice here consisted principally of large though loose masses of
broken floes, none covering more than a quarter of an acre, and
few so much, but having many high hummocks, and drawing a great
deal of water. We counted also above thirty bergs in sight at one
time, and observed that many of them were carried about by the
tides with great rapidity.

The wind shifted to the southeastward in the night of the 5th,
with a strong breeze and heavy rain; and, on the following
morning, when the ebb-tide opened the ice a little, a considerable
swell was admitted from the sea, causing the ships to strike
violently and almost constantly on the masses of ice alongside of
them. In this situation they continued for several hours so
completely beset as to render it impossible to extricate them, and
drifting about at random with the tides. The Hecla was, by a
different set of the stream, separated five or six miles from the
Fury, while both ships were equally hampered.

On the 13th, both ships' companies were exercised in firing at a
target on the ice, as well for the purpose of giving them
occupation as of finding out who were the best shots. On the same
afternoon we saw two ships beset to the northward, which we
supposed to be those bound to the Hudson's Bay factories. They
were joined the