The Sun.
London, England, 1820-12-05 00:00:00

TIM NORTH-WESTERN.,p;.pEpiTTo

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•
. - .„ ....AA ~,,.••.-. 70 ,- _
(From a Portsmouth raper.) - -
Tlie.arrival of the Heck; CaPt:f Pliiiii, itriLk
the Ciriper,"Lieut. 111:LIDDON, at Deptford, front
their Voyage of Discoveries in theYolar Sea, bas
given opportunity to an. Officer to supply us with
some particulars . relating to their interesti4._
course which have not yet been published.
It was on the t ith of Nov that the Hecla and Griper lift ."
England- In the middle of Jone.they,first fell in with Ic,ce
by at -`
and at- the latter end of that month titp/' !here r .
white making for the west coast of rtflOs'ir-* .-'h'utext '4..
some little' time the ships .were libetareal, add,tdei !tore.,
northward along the edge of the ice, which lePt.-theM au t°
Disco Island, and no appeal anee of any opening idit was ail: .'
covered. In lat. 72, 30. N. they fell in with a whaler, wit'c
,".
reported that the -ice was blocked against the.land in 74 P•
which determined the Commander of the expedition to t
the ice at the above spot. Accordingly they conimencesLilo
persevered in warping and heaving through betwceu tAi
dues, when, being aided by a strung easterly wind, vi",,
opined the ice a little, they were enabled' to force their 01";
through, with all sail set.. They were frequently stopped 14
their arduous exertions, from which they liberated theraselc_a
by sawing the ice. This- passage.waa never before atte tall t`-
and is a circumstance of great importance to whalers. ter .
iverenow in clear water, and saw no ice again until they e.
Lancaster's Sound, where it.appeared in small open.atrettes
They made this Sound on the Ist of Ang., and, having a ,sat .
wind, they steered up it, with every yard of canvass set, vll_,,
alt the time they were in the greatest anxiety. At length, ulti :
the spot where Capt. Ross, the former navigator, had piscgA
Croker mountains, they struck soundings, 200 fathoms, o'7
poised it. Hopes now again revived, especially' as in lx
reeding the Strait was found neither too close nor too oPei
They now tan to the meridian of 90 W., when having
sight of the south shore, and having a long swell, they z°le ,-
eluded they had reached the Polar Llaain • but in stretchid
across thaStrait,they were stopped, justAiefere :14... !,,,,,: :,,,s,--
ice. There being appearance of water s• the southward, t he!'
steered in that'direction, and discovered an inlet, which Oil
, called Prince-Regent's Inlet. The flood tide coming &unit°.
south, it was considered probable that this inlet comp'
!skated with - Hudson's Bay; the- ships, therefore, it 13_,."'
biing -the object of the expedition to trace to WI
source, returned to the spot where they had, been stopped
tiy ' the ice. Finding on their -return that the ice 10;
il) - some degree cleared away, - they again proceeds!,
*efts but the ice became so close as to leave only a narror
channel* close along the shore; and they were frequeil
stopped allogether, when northerly winds generally ope°,..e
it again. On the 4th of Sept. they reached. Copper-Ml°-
Roads. Previous to this, the Variation had changed fri
124 W. to .166 E.; the ships having,as was supposed, crosses
the Magnetic meridian in about 120 W.: as the compas,t*
showed the , ships' heads to be N. E. on all .rtaPl
they judged themselves at no great distance from tt,,,
magnetic Pole. The ,compasses had indeed been perfect.y.
Useless from the tinie of their passing Lancaster's. Soul) 4
which obliged them to steer by the sun when it was out, 2))
how they could when it was not; often laying to whet) tat
fog was thick, as a change of wind would sometimes cle3'
the atmosphere sufficiently for the sun to penetrate it.
morning, having run about 100 -p s,
made in a thick fog, ti,),ef,,
made the lam), but could not tell whether it was a new o'.l
covery, or the island which they had left the day before, 6nti.
the longitude: wes ascertained upon a floe of ice: it r1).0;
proved to be Melville Island. - Considerable diseovellej
were made in the variation, dip of the compass, .:b
magnetism, in general during the voyage.: On the 164
of Sept.the sea -was- first frozen over,.wbicb carried 1",
ships into dangerous situations, and rendered them inolt°l'l
able. This obliged them to get into port for the winter,oj
lipassage of 3 miles, into Winter-harbour, Melville-isla" ;
was cut for the purpose. Sopn after this period the thertngo
meter fell below Zero; iivNov. it stood at 50 below, and
April 'following-at 55, which latter is the , greatest degree ~,
cold ever-registered. On the 16th of Nov. the sun set ft?.is
them, and did not rise again till the 6th of Feb. On the 21,
'l.,
of December, at noon, they could just read small print ,
turning the'. leaf to the light.' They saw no clouds dUll'i)-1,;
the winter, and-but little snow fell. The Aurora 'Botta p
was frequently seen, but never brilliantly displayed. It l'c'
bitter cold when the wind blew,-but at other times 'bearau-t3e,
il
Its intensity may be judged of front the fact that port witte:ie
the offices' cabins, froze, and burst the bottles ; and oil ti,
-officers' beds the thermometer stood frost 16 to 9..0 ,
greet below the freezing point. At Melville-isle the shiP,t
--were blocked up until the -Ist of August, when,. the °1.1",,
opportunity that presented, they pushed out, and oft Ca
6th- . reached the western termination of Melville isla°,!
when the Roe- -of ice was from forty to sixty feet th;;
and so-conipact that not a hole of water could be seen amottg,„
it. The ships waited. here 1 1 days (one-third of the summer. Pt;
that chine;) when seeing no change, and the general oplol°t
being that all alt.etapts to .-proceed westward in. that parAlit,
v&Fe useless, theseon ibe. -3(.1 of August, steered to the end
ward., searching- for. a passage to the southward, that tv°,.t'ily
errablealiein to reach `the continent of ,North Americi ; 'w
.f.
finding:none; and:the ice having- led..oenl back into rtill.,,c°,,
ter's s4ulidrkt, was (let ermined to aastorn to Engtipd. nts
ing the 11 daysthe ships were off Melsalle IslalikheY Wet.elae
theinose eeit:cal:, situation; - beittg °lotted:o fidge !,tbe 0:
round a pointoaflandahe whole tune, to avoid being niliPee.4
lite beach was formed.of ice, which projected under Ica,,
-.
more than 30 yards, having about twofathoms water cal 1"-
outer edge of it, against which the ships fay in 9 fathoms;
that, had they. heenatovf, alley would have sunk -.deeper I"
their masts down, and ditthing could have been saved.

The nun-commissioned Officers and proi te':
of the 21st Royal North British Futileert-le
subscribed and remitted a day's pay in aid of,
subscription for the National Monument in
land.

BIRTH.
Yesterday, the Lady of Peter Kendall, Esq. of Wolthlar
stow, Essex, of a daughter.

MARRIED.-
Mary-le-Bow, Joseph Sadler, Esq. of Kingston97o.;
maica, to Sarah, only daughter of William Guest, Esq.'
Edgbaston-grove, near Birmingham.

DIED. •
•
Suddenly, on Saturday, at, her house, Chigwell-rovvio'
sex, Ann, relict of. David Windsor, Esq. aged 75. Liel,
On,the 30th ult, at her house, Brompton, Mrs. Nov°— e'
ski, relict of Michael Norusielski, Esq. late of the Grang-
Brompt
• On Sunday, the 3d inst. at his house on Forest-hill,
Peckham, in the 70th year- of his age, Robert Wisset,
F.R. to
and A.S. and one of his Majesty's Justices of the Pe.
for the, County of -Surrey, t- • 10'‘
On the 44d ult., at Edinburgh, Thomas Adair,..Esel•
to the Signet.

LiINIVN: Printed by J. B. CARSTAIR Grey S, of No. 999 A.
Orpood-street,. Queen square; and published by "40
SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South Molton-street, at Tax 401
011 ice, No. It, Strand.; where Advertisement', Oru
Ike. _a oft-paid) must be addtessed.

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