the westward.

We found the wind much more westerly after we rounded the point,
which made our progress slow and tedious; the more so, as we had
every minute to luff for one piece of ice and to bear up for
another, by which much ground was unavoidably lost.

After a very few tacks, we had the mortification to perceive
that the Griper sailed and worked much worse than before,
notwithstanding every endeavour which Lieutenant Liddon had been
anxiously making, during her re-equipment, to improve those
qualities in which she had been found deficient. She missed stays
several times in the course of the evening, with smooth water
and a fine working breeze, and by midnight the Hecla had gained
eight miles to windward of her, which obliged me to heave to,
notwithstanding the increased width of the navigable channel, the
weather having become hazy, so as to endanger our parting company.

Soon after noon on the 2d, a breeze sprung up from the S.S.W.,
which, being rather upon the shore, made it likely that the ice
would soon begin to close it; we therefore began to look out for a
situation where the ships might be secured in-shore, behind some
of the heavy grounded ice which had so often before afforded us
shelter under similar circumstances. At one o'clock we perceived
that a heavy floe had already closed completely in with the land,
at a point a little to the westward of us, preventing all hope of
farther progress for the present in that direction. A boat was
therefore sent to examine the ice in-shore, and a favourable place
having been found for our purpose, the ships were hauled in and
secured there, the Griper's bow resting on the beach, in order to