1779. COOK AND CLERKE. 315 



point, which was much encumbered with ice ; for 

 which reason it obtained the name of Icy Cape, 

 Its latitude was 70° 9.9\ longitude 1C)8° 20'. 



As the ice appeared to be drifting down towards 

 the ships, and might probably have caught them 

 between it and the American shore, they stood 

 back to the southward into clear water, and after- 

 wards to the northward, finding the ice less 

 compact and covered with whole herds of the sea- 

 horse, many of which they took and found to be 

 good meat. The weather coming on foggy, it 

 was thought prudent to stand to the southward; 

 and on the 21st, when in latitude 69° 32', the main 

 ice was observed at no great distance from them, 

 so that it now covered a part of the sea which but 

 a few days before had been clear; and it ex- 

 tended farther to the south than where they had 

 first fallen in with it. But, Captain Cook observes, 

 he did not suppose any part of this ice to be fixed; 

 on the contrary, he considered the whole as a 

 moveable mass. 



Captain Cook stood in for the American coast, 

 which extended from S. W. to E., the nearest part 

 being four or five leagues distant. The southern 

 extreme he named Cape Lishurne, whose latitude 

 was 68° 5\ longitude 194° 42'. Finding he could 

 not get to the north, while near the coast, on 

 account of the ice, he stood out to a distance from 

 it. The water deepened, as he stood westward, to 

 twenty-eight fathoms, which was the most they 



