Volume 1

Journal of a voyage of discovery to the Arctic regions, performed between the 4th of April and the 18th of November, 1818, in His Majesty's ship Alexander, Wm. Edw. Parry, Esq. Lieut. and commander / by an officer of the Alexander.

Fisher, Alexander

Date:: [1820?]

Credit: Journal of a voyage of discovery to the Arctic regions, performed between the 4th of April and the 18th of November, 1818, in His Majesty's ship Alexander, Wm. Edw. Parry, Esq. Lieut. and commander / by an officer of the Alexander. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$About eleven at night tlie aurora borealis Rhone very Imni- nousty in the \\\N.\\’. ejuarter (by C()m])ass) extending tVoin the horizon to the zenith. On tlic 18th we were abreast of a remarkable hill, supposed to be the one called Sandersoirs Tower: in one of the views we had of it, it certainly had some resembl* ncc to a tower on a large scale. Its bearing:^, SiC. were as follow. • ' '' Latitude at noon, by meridian altitude CiJ 26 Ivongitude, by chronometer. (>1 2'2 19 3ariation, found at 6*10 in the morning 7”^ South extreme of tlie land S. 7° hL (true ) A remarkable square-topped piece of land (query, Sanderson’s Tower) near the sea, S. 47“ W. (true.) North extreme of the land, N. 61^ W. (true.) Nearest land, S. 3,)''W’’, (true) about seventeen miles, making its latitude 67“ 16' iiih N., l(U)gitude 62° OT 37 W. W'e passed a flock of rotges sitting on the water, the plu¬ mage of which appeared (juite ditVerent from that of any of these birds wc had seen before, tlicy being white about the head and neck, whereas those [)arts of the others were black. ’Fhc wind being light, we made very little j)rogress on the following day, the 19th. 'Fhe land was seen until half past six in the evening, its southernmost extreme, at that time, bearing N. ,^>6’ \V. At half j)ast five o’clock, P. M. we tried for soundings with a line of three hundred and ten fathoms ; no bottom. On Monday, the 21st, at eleven in the morning, we saw the coast of Greenland, which then bore from S. 14° L. to S. 12K. (by compass.) \Mth the exception of a few icebergs, the sea was perfectly clear of ice. A short time before wc made the land we observed a hawk, and a small land bird, flying about the ship. The former was shot, and found to be of the species Falcobuteo (buzzard). I neglected to mention that the aurora borealis has been seen every night for some time })ast. It has assumed a variety of forms, appearing in different parts of the heavens, and shinuig with different degrees of splendour. It has not been fouu<l to affect the com])asscs, although it seems to have some affinity, not yet accounted for, with magnetism ; for, whenever it forms arches, they are observed to be at right angles with the magnetic meridian. On the following day it bleAV very hard from the southward and westward (by compass). Not any land was to be seen ; the weather, indeed, during the greater part of the day wa5 thick and hazy, with occasional falls of sleet and snow in the afternoon. On Wednesday, the 23d, the weather becama$