On the 9th we had a fresh gale from the N.N.W., with heavy showers of snow and sleet.  The thermometer was in the night time 28 deg., and at noon 30 deg..  We continued to steer W.S.W., as before, keeping as near the large body of ice as we could, and had the misfortune to rub off some of the sheathing from the bows against the drift pieces, and to damage the cutwater.  Indeed, the shocks we could not avoid receiving, were frequently so severe, as to be attended with considerable danger.  At noon, the latitude, by account, was 69 deg. 12’,. and longitude 188 deg. 5’.  The variation in the afternoon was found to be 29 deg. 30’ E.

As we had now sailed near forty leagues to the westward, along the edge of the ice, without seeing any opening, or a clear sea to the northward beyond it, and had therefore no prospect of advancing farther N. for the present, Captain Clerke resolved to bear away to the S. by E. (the only quarter that was clear), and to wait till the season was more advanced, before he made any farther efforts to penetrate through the ice.  The intermediate time he proposed to spend in examining the bay of Saint Laurence, and the coast to the southward of it; as a harbour so near, in case of future damage from the ice, would be very desirable.  We also wished to pay another visit to our Tschutski friends; and particularly since the accounts we had heard of them from the commander of Kamtschatka.

We therefore stood on to the southward, till the noon of the 10th, at which time we passed great quantities of drift-ice, and the wind fell to a perfect calm.  The latitude, by observation, was 68 deg. 1’, longitude 188 deg. 30’.  We passed several whales in the forenoon, and in the afternoon hoisted out the boats, and sent them in pursuit of the sea-horses, which were in great numbers on the pieces of ice that surrounded us.  Our people were more successful than they had been before, returning with three large ones and a young one; besides killing and wounding several others.  The gentlemen who went on this party were witnesses of several remarkable instances of parental affection in those animals.  On the approach of our boats toward the ice, they all took their cubs under their fins, and endeavoured to escape with them into the sea.  Several, whose young were killed or wounded, and left floating on the surface, rose again, and carried them down, sometimes just as our people were going to take them up into the boat; and might be traced bearing them to a great distance through the water, which was coloured with their blood; we afterward observed them bringing them at times above the surface, as if for air, and again diving under it with a dreadful bellowing.  The female, in particular, whose young had been destroyed, and taken into the boat, became so enraged, that she attacked the cutter, and struck her two tusks through the bottom of it.