e, informed me that the pilot who
brought his ship down the Thames told him that he had gained soundings in
twelve feet somewhere hereabout; and I am rather inclined to attribute
the very unusual and cross sea we had in this neighbourhood to the
existence of a bank than to the effect of a gale of wind which we had
just before experienced; and I cannot but regret that the commander of
the ship did not try for soundings at frequent intervals.

ENTER DAVIS STRAITS.

By the 25th July we had opened the entrance of Davis Straits and in the
afternoon spoke the Andrew Marvell, bound to England with a cargo of
fourteen fish. The master informed us that the ice had been heavier this
season in Davis Straits than he had ever recollected, and that it lay
particularly close to the westward, being connected with the shore to the
northward of Resolution Island and extending from thence within a short
distance of the Greenland coast; that whales had been abundant but the
ice so extremely cross that few could be killed. His ship, as well as
several others, had suffered material injury, and two vessels had been
entirely crushed between vast masses of ice in latitude 74 degrees 40
minutes North, but the crews were saved. We inquired anxiously but in
vain for intelligence respecting Lieutenant Parry and the ships under his
command; but as he mentioned that the wind had been blowing strong from
the northward for some time, which would probably have cleared Baffin's
Bay of ice, we were disposed to hope favourably of his progress.

The clouds assumed so much the appearance of icebergs this evening as to
deceive most of the passengers and crew; but their imaginations had been
excited by the intelligence we had received from the Andrew Marvell that
she had only parted from a cluster of them two days previous to our
meeting.

On the 27th, being in latitude 57 degrees 44 minutes 21 seconds North,
longitude 47 degrees 31 minutes 14 seconds West and the weather calm, we
tried our soundings but did not reach the bottom. The register
thermometer was attached to the line just above the lead, and is supposed
to have descended six hundred and fifty fathoms. A well-corked bottle was
also fastened to the line two hundred fathoms above the lead and went
down four hundred and fifty fathoms. The change in temperature shown by
the register thermometer during the descent was from 52 to 40.5 degrees;
and it stood at the latter point when taken out of the tin