which was easterly, and stood to the northward; but in an hour after, the
weather clearing up, and finding ourselves surrounded by a compact field of
ice on every side, except to the S.S.W., we tacked and stood on in that
direction, in order to get clear of it.

At noon of the 22d, our latitude, by observation, was 69° 30', and
longitude 187° 30'. In the afternoon we again came up with the ice, which
extended to the N.W. and S.W., and obliged us to continue our course to the
southward, in order to weather it.

It may be remarked, that, since the 8th of this month, we had twice
traversed this sea, in lines nearly parallel with the run we had just now
made; that in the first of those traverses we were not able to penetrate so
far north, by eight or ten leagues, as in the second; and that in the last
we had again found an united body of ice, generally about five leagues to
the southward of its position in the preceding run. As this proves that the
large compact fields of ice, which we saw, were moveable, or diminishing,
at the same time, it does not leave any well-founded expectations of
advancing much farther in the most favourable seasons.

At seven in the evening, the weather being hazy, and no ice in sight, we
bore away to the westward; but at half past eight the fog dispersing, we
found ourselves in the midst of loose ice, and close in with the main body;
we therefore stood upon a wind, which was still easterly, and kept beating
to windward during the night, in hopes of weathering the loose pieces,
which the freshness of the wind kept driving down upon us in such
quantities, that we were in manifest danger of being blocked up by them.

In the morning of the 23d, the clear water, in which we continued to stand
to and fro, did not exceed a mile and a half, and was every instant