8 INSTRUCTIONS. 



tirely to your discretion ; in the exercise of which 

 we rely upon your zeal and skill in your pro- 

 fession for the accomplishment, as far as it can 

 be accomplished, of the service on which you 

 are employed, not doubting that every exertion 

 will be made on your part and on that of your 

 officers ; while, at the same time, no precaution 

 will be omitted that prudence may dictate to 

 avoid accidents on an enterprise of so arduous 

 a nature as that of conducting ships in safety 

 through fields of ice in unknown seas. It may 

 not, however, be amiss to suggest, as a general 

 observation, that a passage through fields of ice 

 is most likely to be found where the sea is 

 deepest and least connected with land, as there 

 is reason to suppose that ice is found to be 

 more abundant near the shores of the continent 

 and islands, in narrow straits and deep bays ; 

 and it may also be expected, that the sea will 

 be most clear of ice where the currents are 

 strongest, as the stream of a river will continue 

 open long after the sides are frozen up. 



From the best information we have been able 

 to obtain, it would appear that the sea to the 

 northward of Spitzbergen, as far as 83^°, or 84°, 

 has been found generally free from ice, and 

 not shut up by land. Should these accounts, 

 in which several masters of whaling- vessels 



