236 cook's voyage to july, 



were informed, that upon the change of the wind the 

 ice began to separate ; and that, setting all their 

 sails, they forced a passage through it. We learned 

 farther, that whilst they were encompassed by it, 

 they found the ship drift, with the main body, to the 

 north-east, at the rate of half a mile an hour. We 

 were sorry to find, that the Discovery had rubbed 

 off a great deal of the sheathing from the bows, and 

 was become very leaky, from the strokes she had re- 

 ceived when she fell upon the edge of the ice. 



On the 24th, we had fresh breezes from south-west, 

 with hazy weather, and kept running to the south- 

 east till eleven in the forenoon, when a large body of 

 loose ice, extending from north north-east, round by 

 the east, to south south-east, and to which (though 

 the weather was tolerably clear) we could see no 

 end, again obstructed our course. We therefore 

 kept working to windward, and at noon, our latitude, 

 by observation, was 68° 5S\ longitude 188°; the 

 variation of the compass 22° 30' E. At four in the 

 afternoon it became calm, and we hoisted out the 

 boats in pursuit of the sea-horses, which were in 

 prodigious herds on every side of us. We killed ten 

 of them, which were as many as we could make use 

 of for eating, or for converting into lamp oil. We 

 kept on with the wind, from the south-west, along 

 the edge of the ice, which extended in a direction 

 almost due east and west, till four in the morning of 

 the 25th, when observing a clear sea beyond it, to 

 the south-east, we made sail that way, with a view 

 of forcing through it. By six we had cleared it, and 

 continued the remainder of the day running to the 

 south-east, without any ice in sight. At noon, our 

 latitude, by observation, was 68° 38", longitude 189° 

 9', and the depth of water thirty fathoms. At 

 midnight, we tacked, and stood to the westward, 

 with a fresh gale from the south ; and at ten in the 

 forenoon of the 26th, the ice again showed itself, ex- 

 tending from north-west to south. It appeared loose, 



