APPROXIMATIONS TOWARDS THE POLES. 311 



across extensive plains of bay-ice, for the purpose of 

 breaking a passage for the ship ; scarcely allowing 

 time for refreshment, with very limited and distant 

 periods for rest ; when, on the 18th of May, after 

 having passed a barrier of most extraordinary ex- 

 tent, we accomplished our wishes, and exceeded ovu- 

 most sanguine expectations, by getting into a sea, 

 to which we could see no bounds, but the ice we 

 had passed through on the south side, and the land 

 to the eastward. Our latitude, at this time, was 

 about 79° 35'; Hakluyt's Headland bearing E. N.E. 

 35 miles distant. 



We now proceeded a little towards the N., after- 

 wards towards the N. W. or W., accordingly as ap- 

 pearances in the ice or sea suggested a greater pro- 

 bability of meeting with whales. As we advanced, 

 we found that a pack lay to the northward, as well 

 as to the southward of us ; the two bodies of ice be- 

 ing ten to twenty leagues apart. The wind blow- 

 ing very strong from the southward, and the sea be- 

 ing quite open, our progress to the westward was 

 very rapid ; so much so, indeed, that among the 

 contracted meridians in the 80th degree of latitude, 

 we advanced almost a degree of longitude every hour 



by one or more boats attached to the jib-boom^ having several 

 men m each, who move from side to side, and keep them in 

 continvial motion. As the ship advances, the rope by which 

 the boats are attached to the jib-boom, draws them forward, 

 and prevents them from being run down. 



