Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p1.djvu/338

 successor to a fine day in high latitudes, should hold off until we had satisfactorily decided a geographical question of some importance, as connected with our immortal countryman. Captain Cook.

“That excellent navigator, in his discoveries of these seas, placed three islands in the middle of the strait: Kotzebue, however, in passing them, fancied he saw a fourth, and conjectured that it must have been either overlooked by Cook and Clerke, or that it had been since raised by an earthquake. The hope of being the first to determine the question, added to a patriotic feeling for the honor of our countrymen, increased in an especial degree our anxiety to advance. The land on the south side of St. Lawrence Bay first made its appearance, and next the lofty mountains at the back of Cape Prince of Wales; then hill after hill rose alternately on either bow, curiously refracted, and assuming all the various forms which that phenomenon of the atmosphere is known to occasion. At last, at the distance of fifty miles, the Diomede Islands, and the eastern Cape of Asia, rose above our mast-head. But, as if to teach us the necessity of patience in the sea we were about to navigate, before we had satisfied our doubts, a thick fog enveloped every thing in obscurity. We continued to run on, assisted by a strong northerly current, until seven o’clock the next morning, when the western Diomede was seen through the fog close to us. I steered for the situation of the supposed additional island, until by our reckoning we ought to have been upon it, and then hauled over towards the American shore. In the evening the fog cleared away, and our curiosity was at last satisfied. The extremities of the two great continents were distinctly seen, and the islands in the strait clearly ascertained to be only three in number, and occupying nearly the same situations in which they were placed in the chart of Captain Cook. * * * East Cape, in almost every direction, is so like an island, that I have no doubt it was the occasion of the mistake which the Russian navigator has committed.

“We entered Kotzebue Sound early in the morning of the 22d of July, and plied against a contrary wind, guided by the soundings; the appearance of the land being so distorted by mirage, and in parts so obscured by low fog, that it was impossible to distinguish where we were. When it cleared off we were much surprised to find ourselves opposite a deep inlet in the northern shore, which had escaped the observation of Captain Kotzebue. I named it Hotham Inlet, in compliment to the Hon. Sir Henry Hotham, K.C.B. We stood in to explore it, but found the water too shallow, and were obliged to anchor in four fathoms, to avoid being carried away by a strong tide, which was setting out of the sound, the wind being light and contrary. As it would be necessary to remain three or four days at Chamisso Island to increase our stock of water, previous to