us some hopes that the ice might drift away and release her; and in that case, as it was uncertain in what condition she might come out, We kept firing a gun every half hour, in order to prevent a separation.  Our apprehensions for her safety did not cease till nine, when we heard her guns in answer to ours; and soon after being hailed by her, were informed that upon the change of wind the ice began to separate; and that setting all their sails, they forced a passage through it.  We learned farther, that whilst they were encompassed by it, they found the ship drift with the main body to the N.E., at the rate of half a mile an hour.  We were sorry to find that the Discovery had rubbed off a great deal of the sheathing from her bows, and was become very leaky, from the strokes she had received when she fell upon the edge of the ice.

On the 24th we had fresh breezes from the S.W., with hazy weather, and kept running to the S.E. till eleven in the forenoon, when a large body of loose ice, extending from N.N.E. round by the E., to S.S.E., and to which (though the weather was tolerably clear) we could see no end, again obstructed our course.  We therefore kept working to windward, and at noon our latitude, by observation, was 68 deg. 53’, longitude 188 deg.; the variation of the compass 22 deg. 30’ E. At four in the afternoon 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.