Penny's. But I shall not weary the reader with the dry detail
of our every-day labours,--their success or futility. Keenly and
anxiously did we take advantage of every move in the ice, between the
20th and 31st July, yet, not seven miles in the right direction was
made good; the first of August found us doubting, considerably, the
prospect of reaching Lancaster Sound by a northern passage; and Capt.
Penny decided, if the water approached him from the south, to strike to
the westward in a lower latitude.

[Headnote: _"PIONEER" NIPPED._]

The ships--generally the "Resolute"--kept the lead in our heaving and
warping operation through the pack; and, leaving a small portion of the
crews to keep the other vessels close up under her stern, the majority
of the officers and men laboured at the headmost ship, to move her
through the ice. Heaving ahead with stout hawsers, blasting with
gunpowder, cutting with ice-saws, and clipping with ice-chisels, was
perseveringly carried on; but the progress fell far short of the labour
expended, and the bluff bow slipped away from the nip instead of
wedging it open. Warping the "Resolute" through a barrier of ice by
lines out of her hawse-holes, put me in mind of trying to do the same
with a cask, by a line through the bung-hole: she slid and swerved
every way but the right one, ahead; I often saw her bring dead up, as
if a wall had stopped her. After a search, some one would exclaim,
"Here is the piece that jams her!" and a knock with a two-pound chisel
would bring up a piece of ice two or three inches thick! In short, all,
or nearly all, of us soon learnt to see, that the fine bow was the one
to get ahead in these regions; and the daily increasing advantage which
Penny had over us, was a proof which the most obstinate could not
dispute.

I often thought how proud our countrymen would be of their seamen,
could they have looked on the scene of busy energy and activity
displayed in the solitude of Melville Bay:--the hearty song, the merry
laugh, and zealous labours of the crew; day after day the same
difficulties to contend with, yet day after day met with fresh
resolution and new resources; a wide horizon of ice, no sea in sight,
yet every foot gained to the northward was talked of with satisfaction
and delight; men and officers vieing with one another in laborious
duties, the latter especially, finding amongst a body of seamen,
actuated by such noble and enthusiastic feelings, no necessi