HON. CAPTAIN PHIPPS. 319 



information that the ice, though close about the 

 ships, was still open to the westward round the 

 point by which they had come in, and that the 

 wind was there blowing fresh from the eastward. 



As it had been nearly calm all day in that part 

 where the ships were moored, Captain Phipps 

 was of opinion that this circumstance considera- 

 bly lessened the prospect of a speedy release, 

 and that he had but the alternative either of 

 patiently awaiting the effect of the weather upon 

 the ice, or of abandoning the ships and be- 

 taking to the boats. The ships had driven into 

 fourteen fathoms' water, and he apprehended 

 that should either they or the ice take the 

 ground, there would be no possibility of saving 

 them. The hopes of getting the ships out was 

 certainly not hastily to be abandoned, nor obsti- 

 nately adhered to till all other means of retreat 

 were cut off. To use Captain Phipps' own 

 words : " Having no harbour to lodge them in, 

 it would be impossible to winter in them where 

 they were, with any probability of their being 

 again serviceable ; our provisions would be very 

 short for such an undertaking;, were it otherwise 

 feasible ; and supposing, what appeared impossible, 

 that the crews could get to the nearest rocks and 

 make some convenience for wintering, being now 

 in an unfrequented part, where ships never even 



A.D. 



1773. 



