1779* THE PACIFIC OCEAN. ££1 



leagues, being the same we had seen last year ; but it 

 was now much more covered with snow than at that 

 time ; and, to all appearance, the ice adhered to the 

 shore. We continued, in the afternoon, sailing through 

 a sea of loose ice, and standing toward the land, 

 as near as the wind, which was east south-east, would 

 admit. At eight, the wind lessening, there came on 

 a thick fog; and, on perceiving a rippling in the 

 water, we tried the current, which we found to set 

 to the east north-east, at the rate of a mile an hour, 

 and therefore determined to steer, during the night, 

 before the wind, in order to stem it, and to oppose 

 the large fragments of loose ice, that were setting us 

 on toward the land. The depth of the water, at mid- 

 night, was twenty fathoms. 



At eight in the morning of the 21st, the wind 

 freshening, and the fog clearing away, we saw the 

 American coast to the south-east, at the distance of 

 eight or ten leagues, and hauled in for it; but were 

 stopped again by the ice, and obliged to bear away 

 to the westward, along the edge of it. At noon, the 

 latitude, by account, was 69° 34' and longitude 193°, 

 and the depth of water twenty-four fathoms. 



Thus, a connected, solid field of ice, rendering 

 every effort we could make to a nearer approach to 

 the land fruitless, and joining, as we judged, to it, 

 we took a last farewell of a north-east passage to Old 

 England. I shall beg leave to give, in Captain 

 Clerke's own words, the reasons of this his final deter- 

 mination, as well as of his future plans ; and this the 

 rather, as it is the last transaction his health permit- 

 ted him to write down. 



" It is now impossible to proceed the least farther 

 to the northward upon this coast (America) ; and it 

 is equally as improbable that this amazing mass of ice 

 should be dissolved by the few remaining summer- 

 weeks which will terminate this season; but it will 

 continue, it is to be believed, as it now is, an insur- 



d 4 



