days after this. It must here be remarked, that in all cases we
found the ice to be first thawed and broken up in the shoalest
water, in consequence, I suppose, of the greater facility with
which the ground, at a small depth below the surface of the sea,
absorbed and radiated the heat of the sun's rays; and as it is in
such situations that water generally freezes the first, this
circumstance seems a remarkable instance of the provision of
nature for maintaining such a balance in the quantity of ice
annually formed and dissolved, as shall prevent any undue or
extraordinary accumulation of it in any part of the Polar regions
of the earth.

On unhanging the rudders, and hauling them up on the ice for
examination, we found them a good deal shaken and grazed by the
blows they had received during the time the ships were beset at
the entrance of Davis's Strait. We found, also, that the
rudder-cases in both ships had been fitted too small, occasioning
considerable difficulty in getting the rudders down when working,
a circumstance by no means disadvantageous (perhaps, indeed,
rather the contrary) on ordinary service at sea, but which should
be carefully avoided in ships intended for the navigation among
ice, as it is frequently necessary to unship the rudder at a short
notice, in order to preserve it from injury, as our future
experience was soon to teach us. This fault was, however, soon
remedied, and the rudders again hung in readiness for sea.

On the 14th a boat passed, for the first time, between the ships
and the shore, in consequence of the junction of a number of the
pools and holes in the ice; and on the following day the same kind
of communication was practicable between the ships. It now became