Every such opening,
which exhibited the least appearance, or the smallest symptoms of
stretching far, especially if it stretched in the proper direction, ought
to have been practically and closely examined, not merely viewed at a
distance in a foggy atmosphere.
As for the impediments, they were what were
to be expected, what the ships were sent out to meet and overcome; and till
persevering and even highly hazardous efforts had proved that they could
not be overcome, they ought not to have been suffered to weigh the least
with the captain or his men, and especially not with the former.
But to proceed: about midnight on the 19th of August, the sound described
by Baffin to be the largest of all the sounds he discovered, and called by
him Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, was distinctly seen; and the two capes which
formed its entrance were called by Captain Ross after the two ships
Isabella and Alexander. "I considered," he informs us, "the bottom of this
sound to be about eighteen leagues distant, but its entrance was completely
blocked up by ice." Here again, a sound which seemed to promise fair to
lead them into the great Polar Sea was left undiscovered, and in fact
unapproached; for at the distance of eighteen leagues, in that deceptive
climate, nothing could be really known of its real state or practicability.
Had Captain Ross made the attempt; had he spent but a couple of days, and
actually encountered serious obstacles, even though he had not experienced
that those obstacles were insurmountable, he would have had some excuse;
but it is impossible not to censure him for approaching no nearer than
eighteen leagues to a sound such as this, and pronouncing at this distance
that the ice blocked it up completely. His reasoning to support his belief
that this sound afforded no passage, and to defend his not having explored
it, is weak and inconclusive; but we shall not examine it, because the
commander to whom such an expedition is entrusted, should never reason,
where he can prove by actual observation and experiment. It is unsafe in
him to reason, because he will most assuredly be tempted to make his line
of conduct bend to his hypothesis and reasoning.
Captain Ross returned down the western side of Baffin's Bay. On the 21st an
opening was seen, which answered to the description of Alderman Jones
Sound, given by Baffin; but here again the ice and fog prevented them from
approaching near; as if the fog might not have cleared up in a day or two,
and the ice might not either have been drifted off in as short a space, or,
if it could not, have been passed by the crew, so far, at least, as to have
gained a nearer and better view of this sound.
Baffin describes this sound as a large inlet, and adds, that the coast
tended to the southward, and had the appearance of a bay.
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