the westward, stood on to the eastward, along its edge, till eleven at
night. At that time a very thick fog coming on, and the water shoaling to
nineteen fathoms, we hauled our wind to the south. The variation observed
this day was 31° 20' E. It is remarkable, that though we saw no sea-horses
on the body of the ice, yet they were in herds, and in greater numbers on
the detached fragments, than we had ever observed before. About nine in the
evening, a white bear was seen swimming close by the Discovery; it
afterward made to the ice, on which were also two others.

On the 19th, at one in the morning, the weather clearing up, we again
steered to the N.E. till two, when we were a second time so completely
embayed, that there was no opening left but to the south; to which quarter
we accordingly directed our course, returning through a remarkably smooth
water, and with very favourable weather, by the same way we had come in. We
were never able to penetrate farther north than at this time, when our
latitude was 70° 33'; and this was five leagues short of the point to which
we advanced last season. We held on to the S.S.W., with light winds from
the N.W., by the edge of the main ice, which lay on our left hand, and
stretched between us and the continent of America. Our latitude, by
observation at noon, was 70° 11', our longitude 196° 15', and the depth of
water sixteen fathoms. From this circumstance, we judged that the Icy Cape
was now only at seven or eight leagues distance; but though the weather was
in general clear, it was at the same time hazy in the horizon; so that we
could not expect to see it.[24]

In the afternoon we saw two white bears in the water, to which we
immediately gave chase in the jolly-boat, and had the good fortune to kill
them both. The larger, which probably was the dam of the younger, being
shot first, the other would not quit it, though it might easily have
escaped on the ice whilst the men were reloading, but remained swimming