At eight in the evening of the 7th, we had got close in with the land, Sledge Island bearing N. 85° W., eight or nine leagues distant; and the eastern part of the coast N. 70° E., with high land in the direction of east by north, seemingly at a great distance beyond the point. At this time we saw a light ashore; and two canoes, filled with people, coming off toward us. I brought to, that they might have time to come up. But it was to no purpose; for, resisting all the signs of friendship we could exhibit, they kept at the distance of a quarter of a mile; so that we left them, and pursued our course along the coast.
At one in the morning of the 8th, finding the water shoal pretty fast, we dropped anchor in ten fathoms, where we lay until day-light, and then resumed our course along the coast, which we found to trend east, and east half south. At seven in the evening, we were abreast of a point, lying in the latitude of 64° 21ʹ, and in the longitude of 197°; beyond which the coast takes a more northerly direction. At eight, this point, which obtained the name of Cape Darby, bore S. 62° W.; the northernmost land in sight, N. 32° E.; and the nearest shore three miles distant. In this situation, we anchored in thirteen fathoms’ water, over a muddy bottom.
Next morning, at day-break, we weighed and sailed along the coast. Two islands, as we supposed them to be, were at this time seen; the one bearing S. 70° E., and the other E. Soon after, we found ourselves upon a coast covered with wood; an agreeable sight, to which, of late, we had not been accustomed. As we advanced to the north, we raised land in the direction of north-east half north; which proved to be a continuation of the coast we were upon. We also saw high land over the islands, seemingly at a good distance beyond them. This was thought to be the continent, and the other land the island of Alaschka. But it was already doubtful, whether we should find a passage between them, for the water shoaled insensibly as we advanced farther to the north. In this situation, two boats were sent to sound before the ships; and I ordered the Discovery to lead, keeping nearly in the mid-channel, between the coast on our larboard, and the northernmost island on our starboard. Thus we proceeded till three in the afternoon; when, having passed the island, we had not more than three fathoms and an half of water; and the Resolution, at one time, brought the mud up from the bottom. More water was not to be found in any part of the channel; for, with the ships and boats, we had tried it from side to side.
I therefore thought it high time to return; especially as the wind was in such a quarter, that we must ply back. But what I dreaded most was the wind increasing, and raising the sea into waves, so as to put the ships in danger of striking. At this time, a head-land on the west shore, which is distinguished by the name of Bald Head, bore north by west, one league distant. The coast beyond it extended as far north-east by north, where it seemed to end in a point; behind which the coast of the high land, seen over the islands, stretched itself; and some thought they could trace where it joined. On the west side of Bald Head, the shore forms a bay, in the bottom of which is a low beach, where we saw a number of huts or habitations of the natives.
Having continued to ply back all night, by day-break the next morning we had got into six fathoms’ water. At nine o’clock, being about a league from the west shore, I took two boats, and landed, attended by Mr. King, to seek wood and water. We landed where the coast projects out into a bluff head, composed of perpendicular strata of a rock of a dark blue colour, mixed with quartz and glimmer. There joins to the beach a narrow border of land, now covered with long grass, and where we met with some angelica. Beyond this, the ground rises abruptly. At the top of this elevation, we found a heath, abounding with a variety of berries; and further on, the country was level, and thinly covered with small spruce trees; and birch and willows no bigger than broom stuff. We observed tracks of deer and foxes on the beach; on which also lay a great quantity of drift-wood; and there was no want of fresh water. I returned on board, with an intention to bring the ships to an anchor here; but the wind then veering to north-east, which blew rather on this shore, I stretched over to the opposite one, in the expectation of finding wood there also, and anchored at eight o’clock in the evening, under the south end of the northernmost island; so we then supposed it to be; but, next morning, we found it to be a peninsula, united to the continent by a low neck of land, on each side of which the coast forms a bay. We plied into the southernmost, and about noon anchored in five fathoms’ water, over a bottom of mud; the point of the peninsula, which obtained the name of Cape Denbigh, bearing N. 68° W., three miles distant.
Several people were seen upon the peninsula; and one man came off in a small canoe. I gave him a knife and a few beads, with which he seemed well pleased. Having made signs to him to bring us something to eat, he immediately left us, and paddled toward the shore. But meeting another man coming off, who happened to have two dried salmon, he got them from him; and on returning to the ship, would give them to nobody but me. Some of our people thought that he asked for me under the name of Capitane; but in this they were probably mistaken. He knew who had given him the knife and beads, but I do not see how he could know that I was the captain. Others of the natives, soon after, came off, and exchanged a few dry fish for such trifles as they could get, or we had to give them. They were most desirous of knives; and they had no dislike to tobacco.
After dinner, Lieutenant Gore was sent to the peninsula, to see if wood and water were there to be got; or rather water, for the whole beach round the bay seemed to be covered with drift-wood. At the same time a boat was sent from each ship, to sound round the bay; and at three in the afternoon, the wind freshening at north-east, we weighed, in order to work farther in. But it was soon found to be impossible, on account of the shoals, which extended quite round the bay, to the distance of two or three miles from the shore; as the officers who had been sent to sound reported. We therefore kept standing off and on with the ships, waiting for Mr. Gore, who returned about eight o’clock, with the launch laden with wood.
He reported that there was but little fresh water, and that wood was difficult to be got at, by reason of the boats grounding at some distance from the beach. This being the case, I stood back to the other shore; and at eight o’clock the next morning, sent all the boats, and a party of men, with an officer, to get wood from the place where I had landed two days before. We continued, for a while, to stand on and off with the ships; but at length came to an anchor in one-fourth less than five fathoms, half a league from the coast, the south point of which bore south, 26° W.; and Bald Head north, 60° E., nine leagues distant. Cape Denbigh bore south, 72° E., twenty-six miles distant; and the island under the east shore, to the southward of Cape Denbigh, named Besborough Island, south 52° E., fifteen leagues distant.
As this was a very open road, and consequently not a safe station, I resolved not to wait to complete water, as that would require some time, but only to supply the ships with wood, and then to go in search of a more convenient place for the other article. We took off the drift-wood that lay upon the beach; and as the wind blew along shore, the boats could sail both ways, which enabled us to make great dispatch.
In the afternoon I went ashore, and walked a little into the country; which, where there was no wood, was covered with heath and other plants, some of which produce berries in abundance. All the berries were ripe; the hurtle-berries too much so; and hardly a single plant was in flower. The underwood, such as birch, willows, and alders, rendered it very troublesome walking among the trees, which were all spruce, and none of them above six or eight inches in diameter. But we found some lying upon the beach, more than twice this size. All the drift-wood in these northern parts was fir. I saw not a stick of any other sort.