312 HON. CAPTAIN PHIPPS. 



a.d. ships were, in consequence, put about, and kept 



1773 



along the ice, which led them in a north-west 

 direction until they reached the latitude of 80° 

 34' N., being nearly in the situation they oc- 

 cupied on the 9th instant. From this point the 

 ice trended to the south-west, and was so com- 

 pact that Captain Phipps, after pursuing that 

 direction for several miles, abandoned all hope 

 of being able to effect anything in a western 

 direction for the present ; as a last alternative, 

 therefore, he determined to make another trial 

 in the quarter where he had been already three 

 times repulsed. 



On the 24th he reached this spot, and the ships, 

 after receiving several hard knocks in forcing 

 through some loose ice, succeeded in advancing 

 beyond it. The next day the sea to the east- 

 ward was so free from ice that the greatest 

 hopes were entertained of being able to get 

 to the northward. At two in the afternoon 

 they were in sight of Moffen Island, a low patch 

 of ground about two miles across, with a lake 

 in its centre, surrounded by a circular bank of 

 gravel and shingle, about a quarter of a mile 

 broad, which had been raised, no doubt, by the 

 repeated pressure of the ice against the shore, 

 as such embankments are by no means uncom- 

 mon on the shores of seas encumbered with 



