Letters Written During the Late Voyage of Discovery in the Western Arctic SeaAn account of Captain Parry's expedition. |
Common terms and phrases
animal appeared arctic arctic circle astronomical atmosphere aurora borealis Baffin's Bay beach berg boats body of ice breeze Byam Martin Island called Cape Cape Dundas Cape Kater Captain Parry clear cold colour commander course Davis's Strait deck deer discovered distance drift eastward Esquimaux expedition fathoms feet floe fresh frozen Greenland Griper Hecla hill horizon icebergs Iceland inches inlet Lancaster Sound Lancaster's Sound land latitude letter light longitude masses of ice Maxwell Bay Melville Island mercury meridian miles month morning musk-ox narwhal nearly needle night noon north coast northern northward observed officers Ohther parhelion party passage passed pole Possession bay provisions quantity quarter remarkable sail seamen seemed seen ship's shore side situation snow southward spot sun's surface temperature thermometer thickness tion vessel voyage weather Wednesday westward whale wind Winter Harbour zero
Popular passages
Page 66 - Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name, O sun ! to tell thee how I hate thy beams.
Page 81 - a mile in a direction NE from the bottom of the harbour is an eminence, thence called North-east Hill, about two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, the highest land in our neighbourhood. From this point the view extends to a
Page 66 - crown'd, Look'st from thy sole dominion like the god Of this new world ; at whose sight all the
Page 69 - vast concave gleams with sportive fire. Soft blazing in the east, the orange hue, The crimson, purple, and ethereal blue, Form a rich arch, by floating clouds upheld, High pois'd in air, with awful mystery swelled, From whose dark centres, with unceasing roll, Rich coruscations gild the glowing pole. Their varied hues slow waving o'er the bay,
Page 16 - never sets or never rises, for a longer or shorter time, according to the season of the year, and according as you advance more or less towards the pole. The arctic circle, and its opposite the antarctic, are supposed to be described round the poles, with a radius equal to the chord of
Page 69 - of the dawning day. Streamers in quick succession, o'er the sky, From the arc's centre far diverging fly. Pencils of rays, pure as the
Page 69 - in air, with awful mystery swelled, From whose dark centres, with unceasing roll, Rich coruscations gild the glowing pole. Their varied hues slow waving o'er the bay,
Page 78 - established first meridian, methods have been devised of great accuracy: but here the difficulty occurs, that of those methods some of great correctness, when practised on land, are next to impracticable on sea. Speaking in common language, as I have all along done in these observations, the earth has a rotation on its axis from west to east, once in a day
Page 46 - water on the inside, while she was still hard pressed by the ice without. In this state of things the best thing to be done was to place the Hecla somewhere in safety, and then to send as many hands as could be spared to assist the crew of the Griper in getting her off. But the wind continuing
Page 70 - with wonder on the frozen flood, The blaze of grandeur tired my youthful blood. Deep in th' o'erwhelming maze of Nature's laws, 'Midst her mysterious gloom I sought the cause : But vain the search ! inscrutable by man Thy works have been, O God ! since time began. And still shall be. Then let the thought expire, As late the splendors of Aurora's