The weather cleared a little at intervals, but not enough to enable us to proceed till nine A.M. on the 31st, when we cast off from the ice, with a very light air from the northward. We occasionally caught a glimpse of land through the heavy fog-banks with which the horizon was covered, which was sufficient to give us an idea of the true direction in which we ought to steer. Soon after noon we were once more enveloped in a fog, which, however, was not so thick as to prevent our having recourse to a new expedient for steering the ships, which circumstances at the time naturally suggested to our minds. Before the fog recommenced, and while we were sailing on the course which, by the bearings of the land, we knew to be the right one, the Griper was exactly astern of the Hecla, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile. The weather being fortunately not so thick as to prevent our still seeing her at that distance, the quartermaster was directed to stand aft, near the taffrail, and to keep her constantly astern of us, by which means we contrived to steer a tolerably straight course to the westward. The Griper, on the other hand, naturally kept the Hecla right ahead; and thus, however ridiculous it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that we steered one ship entirely by the other for a distance of ten miles out of sixteen and a half, which we sailed between one and eleven P.M. The wind died away on the morning of the 1st of September, and the fog was succeeded by snow and sleet, which still rendered the atmosphere extremely thick. At a quarter before four A.M., I was informed by the officer of the watch that a breeze had sprung up, and that there was very little ice near the ships. Anxious to take advantage of these favourable circumstances, I directed all sail to be made to the westward: there was no difficulty in complying with the first part of this order; but to ascertain which way the wind was blowing, and to which quarter of the horizon the ship's head was to be directed, was a matter of no such easy accomplishment; nor could we devise any means of determining this question till five o'clock, when we obtained a sight of the sun through the fog, and were thus enabled to shape our course, the wind being moderate from the northward. At one A.M. on the 2d, a star was seen, being the first that had been visible to us for more than two months.