fternoon it became calm, and we hoisted out the
boats in pursuit of the sea-horses, which were in prodigious herds on every
side of us. We killed ten of them, which were as many as we could make use
of for eating, or for converting into lamp-oil. We kept on with the wind
from the S.W., along the edge of the ice, which extended in a direction
almost due E. and W., till four in the morning of the 25th, when observing
a clear sea beyond it to the S.E., we made sail that way, with a view of
forcing through it. By six we had cleared it, and continued the remainder
of the day running to the S.E., without any ice in sight. At noon, our
latitude, by observation, was 68 deg. 38', longitude 189 deg. 9', and the depth of
water thirty fathoms. At midnight we tacked and stood to the westward, with
a fresh gale from the S.; and at ten in the forenoon, of the 26th, the ice
again shewed itself, extending from N.W. to S. It appeared loose, and
drifting by the force of the wind to the northward. At noon, our latitude,
by observation, was 68 deg. N., longitude 188 deg. 10' E.; and we had soundings
with twenty-eight fathoms. For the remaining part of the day, and till noon
of the 27th, we kept standing backward and forward, in order to clear
ourselves of different bodies of ice. At noon we were in latitude, by
observation, 67 deg. 47', longitude 188 deg.. At two in the afternoon, we saw the
continent to the S. by E.; and at four, having run since noon with a S.S.E.
wind to the S.W., we were surrounded by loose masses of ice, with the firm
body of it in sight, stretching in a N. by W. and a S. by E. direction, as
far as the eye could reach; beyond which we saw the coast of Asia, bearing
S. and S. by E.

As it was now necessary to come to some determination with respect to the
course we were next to steer, Captain Clerke sent a boat, with the
carpenters, on board the Discovery, to enquire into the particulars of the
damage she had sustained. They returned in the evening, with the report of
Captain Gore, and of the carpenters of both ships, that the damages they
had received were of a kind that would require three weeks to repair; and
that it would be necessary, for that purpose, to go into some port.

Thus, finding a farther advance to the northward, as well as a nearer
approach to either continent, obstructed by a sea blocked up with ice, we
judged it both injurious to the service, by endangering the safety of the
ships, as well as fruitless