STOPPED BY ICE-FIELDS.
Next day, 17th, after a fog which caused some delay had cleared off, the disagreeable truth revealed itself: from a little beyond a conical-shaped island on the north shore, the sound was still barred with floes, although at this point it increased at least twelve miles more in breadth. Going up to the floe-edge, the steamers crossed to the S.W., following the ice carefully along until it impinged upon the southern shore. The night was beautifully serene and clear; and, as if to add to our regret, four points and a half of the compass, or 54° of bearing to the westward, showed no symptom of land. The northern side of the sound trended away to the west, preserving its lofty and marked character; whilst on the south the land ended abruptly some fifteen miles farther on, and then, beyond a small break, one of those wedge-shaped hills peculiar to the limestone lands of Barrow's Strait showed itself at a great distance; and the natural suggestion to my own mind was, that the opening between the said wedge-shaped hill and the land on our southern hand would have been found to connect itself with the deep fiords running to the northward from Croker Bay, in Lancaster Sound; and for an opinion as to the direction of Jones's Sound, whose frozen surface forbade us to advance with our vessels, I was, from what I saw, fully willing to believe in the report of my ice quarter-master, Robert Moore, a clever, observant seaman, as the annexed report will show:—
"Sir,
"It was in 1848 that I was with Captain Lee in the 'Prince of Wales,' when we ran up Jones's Sound. The wind was from the S.S.E. compass (E.N.E. true), thick weather, with a strong breeze. We steered up Jones's Sound, N.E. by compass (westwardly true), for fourteen hours, when, seeing some ice aground, we hauled to.
"The next day, being fine weather, we proceeded farther up, and seeing no ice or fish (whales), a boat was sent on shore. She, returning, reported not having seen any thing but very high land and deep water close to rocks on the south shore.
"We tacked ship, and stood to the N.E. compass (N.W. true); saw some ice aground on a sand-bank, with only six feet water on it at low water, but standing on the N.E. compass (N.W. true), found deep water from five to eight miles across from the sand to the north shore. When past the sand, open water as far as we could see from the masthead, and extending from about N.E. to N.N.W. compass (N.W. to W.S.W. true). We then returned, being fine and clear, and could not see what we were in search of (whales).
"Leaving the north land, a long, low point, running up to a table-top mountain, we came across to the south side, which was bold land right out of the sound.
"We saw the Pinnacle Rocks at the end of that sound (Princess Charlotte's Monument); and this and the low land between that sound and Lancaster Sound, as we were running to the S.E., makes me confident is the same place which we were up in the 'Pioneer.'
"The distance we ran up the sound in the 'Prince of Wales,' I think, to the best of my judgment, was about a hundred and fifty or sixty miles, &c.
"(Signed) Robert Moore,