Again leaving the ships on the 15th, we rowed before sunset between six and seven miles along the high southwestern land, passing what appeared a small harbour, with an island near the middle of the entrance, and landed on a shingly beach near a small bay or creek, extending three quarters of a mile to the W.N.W., and then terminating in a deep, broad valley. We left the shore at half past four A.M. on the 16th, and in an hour's sailing, with a fresh northwest wind, came to some loose ice, through which we continued to make our way till eleven o'clock, when it became so close that a passage could no longer be found in any direction. There was also so much young ice in every small interval between the loose masses, that the boats were much cut about the water-line in endeavouring to force through it. In order, therefore, to avoid the risk of being altogether driven from the shore, I determined to attempt a passage into the bay, which was three quarters of a mile distant; and in this, after two hours' labour, we at length succeeded. Finding that the ice was likely to prove an obstacle of which we could not calculate the extent or continuance, we began at once to reduce our daily expenditure of provisions, in order to meet any contingency.
Ascending the hill at daylight on the 17th, we were much disappointed in finding that, though the ice continued to drive a little to the S.E., it was even more compact than before, the loose masses through which we had sailed the preceding day being now closely set together.
As soon as it was light enough on the 18th to make out the situation of the ice, which had now drifted considerably to the southward, we left the bay with a fresh and favourable breeze, and at a quarter past eight A.M., after a quick run through "sailing ice," landed to breakfast on the southeast point of this shore, which afterward received the name CAPE MARTINEAU. Proceeding from hence with a strong breeze and a considerable sea ahead, but the flood tide still running slowly with us to the N.W., we rowed several miles close along the shore, and entered at dusk a little cove, where the tents were pitched and the boats moored for the night.
The night being cold, clear, and nearly calm, a quantity of "bay-ice," half an inch in thickness, had, on the morning of the 19th, formed in the cove, and for some distance outside of it, which again cut the boats' planks very much, besides occasioning great loss of time in getting through it. This symptom of approaching winter, which had now for the first time occurred to us, rendered it expedient in future to select the most open beaches for our resting-places at night. After tracing every bend of the shore which here occurred, we landed at the point called by Captain Lyon POINT FARHILL, and, ascending the hill to take angles, obtained a view of Gore Bay, easily recognising every other feature of the lands discovered by Captain Lyon. A mile or two of coast was now all that remained to be examined, in order to determine the connexion of Gore Bay with the rest of the land recently explored. Proceeding, therefore, as soon as our observations were finished, we soon after entered the bay, and in the course of an hour had satisfied ourselves on this point.