On the 20th at noon, being in latitude 49 deg. 45’ N., and longitude 161 deg. 15’ E., and eagerly expecting to fall in with the coast of Asia, the wind shifted suddenly to the north, and continued in the same quarter the following day.  However, although it retarded our progress, yet the fair weather it brought was no small refreshment to us.  In the forenoon of the 21st we saw a whale and a land-bird; and in the afternoon the water looking muddy, we sounded, but got no ground with an hundred and forty fathoms of line.  During the three preceding days, we saw large flocks of wild fowl, of a species resembling ducks.  This is usually considered as a proof of the vicinity of land, but we had no other signs of it since the 16th, in which time we had run upwards of an hundred and fifty leagues.

On the 22d the wind shifted to the N.E., attended with misty weather.  The cold was exceedingly severe, and the ropes were so frozen that it was with difficulty we could force them through the blocks.  At noon, the latitude, by account, was 51 deg. 38’, longitude 160 deg. 7’; and on comparing our present position with that given to the southern parts of Kamtschatka in the Russian charts, Captain Clerke did not think it prudent to run on toward the land all night.  We therefore tacked at ten, and having found, had ground agreeably to our conjectures, with seventy fathoms of line.

On the 23d, at six in the morning, being in latitude 52 deg. 09’, and longitude 160 deg. 07’, on the fog clearing away, the land appeared in mountains covered with snow; and extending from N. 3/4 E., to S.W.; a high conical rock, bearing S.W., 3/4 W., at three or four leagues distance.  We had no sooner taken this imperfect view, than we were again covered with a thick fog.  Being now, according to our maps, only eight leagues from the entrance of Awatska Bay, as soon as the weather cleared up we stood in to take a nearer view of the land; and a more dismal and dreary prospect I never beheld.  The coast appears strait and uniform, having no inlets or bays; the ground from the shore rises in hills of a moderate elevation, behind which are ranges of mountains, whose summits were lost in the clouds.  The whole scene was entirely covered with snow, except the sides of some of the cliffs which rose too abruptly from the sea for the snow to lie upon them.

The wind continued blowing very strong from the N.E., with thick hazy weather and sleet, from the 24th to the 28th.  During the whole time, the thermometer was never higher than 30 1/2 deg..  The ship appeared to be a complete mass of ice; the shrowds were so incrusted with it, as to measure in circumference more than double their usual size; and, in short, the experience of the oldest seaman among us had never met with any thing like the continued showers of sleet, and the extreme cold which we now encountered.  Indeed, the severity of the weather, added to the great difficulty of working the ships, and the labour of