This bay or fiord gives one the idea of having been originally the bed of some large glacier, now extinct, whilst Hannah Island, which lies directly across its mouth, has every appearance of having been its terminal moraine, not only from its position, but also from its composition, for it consists of an immense heap of pebbles and drift, possessing apparently no determined basis, no underlying rock.
We were also able to observe here the undoubted mer de glace under which Greenland is supposed to be buried, and whose outpourings in this locality find their escape in Petermann Fiord and Bessels Bay.
A few eider-ducks, a seal, and some dovekies, with an ivory gull, were seen to-day.
Captain Feilden and Mr. Parr landed on the northern side of the bay, and, ascending a high hill, obtained a good and unobstructed view to the northward. Their report was very desponding—ice, nothing but ice, as far as they could see.
From what we can now observe, the land on the western side of Hall Basin appears to end abruptly somewhere about Cape Union, and does not continue to the northward, as represented in the last American Chart. I put no belief in the land reported to have been seen by some of the men of the “Polaris,” and named President Land. Should the land terminate, as I anticipate, in about lat. 83° N. our chance of reaching a high latitude will of course be much reduced, although we shall have a grand field of exploration to the eastward and westward.
In the evening the captain and myself visited Hannah Island, and erected a cairn, in which a record detailing our movements was deposited, on its summit, in the most conspicuous place about the centre of the island. Here we had an uninterrupted view to the northward; but what we saw only confirmed the report brought on board in the earlier part of the day. The western side of the channel appeared free of ice as far as Cape Lieber, and a lane of water was visible extending from us as far as this cape. By this stream of water appears our only chance of getting on.
Tuesday, August 24th.—The captain left the ship early this morning to ascend the hill immediately above Cape Morton (two thousand feet in height), in order to ascertain from the nature of the ice what our prospects of pushing on were likely to be. During his absence a haul with the dredge was obtained, but with unimportant results: the continual movement of icebergs in the bay, all more or less aground, would hardly admit of much organic life at the bottom. Fossils abounded in the limestone on shore, and a large collection of specimens was made.
At noon the captain was observed, in his boat, off Cape Morton, with the signal flying for the ships “to weigh.”
His orders were speedily executed; and, having picked him up, we were soon running quickly across to the western side. He gave us the very pleasing information that from the summit of Cape Morton he had observed a magnificent lead of water along the west coast, and extending in all probability as far as Cape Beechey. This was indeed delightful intelligence, and served to raise the social barometer many degrees.
Our coal was rapidly diminishing, and we knew that many more days of steaming such as those we had lately had would reduce our fuel to such an extent that we could hope to do little more; for without steam a vessel in these latitudes would indeed be helpless.