NORTH POLE. 193 
or five leagues diftant. The fouthern extreme he named 
Cape Lijburne, whofe latitude was 68. 5. longitude 194.. 
<5.2. Finding he could not get to the north, while near 
the coaft, on account of the ice, he flood out to a diftance 
from it. The water deepened, as he flood weftward, to 
twenty-eight fathoms, which was the moft they had. On 
the 26th they again fell in with the main body of the ice, 
appearing to be thick and compact, and to extend from 
north-weft to eaft by north, the latitude then 69. 36. longi¬ 
tude 184.. On the 27th, being clofe to the edge of the ice 
Capt. Cook went in a boat to examine it. He found it to 
confift of loofe pieces, fo clofe together as fcarcely to ad¬ 
mit the boat between them; it was all pure tranfparent 
ice, except the upper furface, which was a little porous ; 
it appeared to be compofed of frozen fnow, and to have 
been all formed at fea. The pieces were from forty or 
fifty yards in extent to four or five, and the larger pieces 
appeared to reach thirty feet or more under the furface of 
the water. He conlidered it improbable that fo much ice 
could have been the produdl of the preceding winter; 
and equally improbable that the little which remained of 
the fummer could deftroy the tenth part of what then 
fubfifted of the mafs. He thinks indeed that the fun 
contributes very little to the deftrudtion of fuch immenfe 
mafles; that it is the wind, or rather the waves raifed 
by the wind, that brings down the bulk of thefe huge 
mafles, by grinding one piece againft another, and waft¬ 
ing away thofe parts that lie expofed to the furge of the 
fea. Davis was of the fame opinion nearly tuo hun¬ 
dred years before. 
On the 29th the fliips made the land of the Afiatic con¬ 
tinent, which, like the oppofite coaft of America, was 
low land next the fea, with elevated land farther back. It 
was deftitute of wood, and without fnow. To a fteep and 
rocky point Capt. Cook gave the name of Cape North; its 
latitude 68. 56. longitude 180. 51. No land appearing to 
the northward of this, it was concluded that the coaft 
here began to trend to the weftward. “ Thefeafon,” fays 
Capt. Cook, “was now fo far advanced, and the time 
when the froft is expedted to fet in fo near at hand, that 
I did not think it confident with prudence to make any 
further attempts to find a paflage into the Atlantic this 
year, in any diredtion, fo little was the prolpedl of fuc- 
ceeding.” Accordingly on the 30th of Auguft, he flood 
to the fouthward, coafting the land of Alia from the 
Cape Serdze Kamen of Muller, fo called from a heart- 
lhaped rock upon it, round Eaft Cape, palled the mouth 
of the bay of St. Lawrence, down to Tlchukotlkoi Nofs, 
from thence to Norton Sound on the American coaft, and 
finally to the Sandwich Iilands, where this celebrated 
navigator loft his life. See the article Cook, vol. v. 
Captain Clerke was now become commanding officer, 
and lieutenant Gore became commander of the Difcovery. 
On the 15th of March, 1779, they left the Sandwich 
Iflands,and flood to the northward, by the way of Kamtf- 
chatka, to follow up the difcovery of a paflage into the 
Atlantic. On the 3d of July they came in fight of 
Tfchukotlkoi Nofs ; and on the 5th law Eaft Cape, cover¬ 
ed with fnow, and the beach furrounded with ice. On 
the fame evening, at ten o’clock, they faw, at the fame 
moment, the remarkable peaked hill, near Cape Prince 
of Wales, on the coaft of America, and the Eaft Cape of 
Afia, with the two connedting iilands of St. Diomede be¬ 
tween them. On the following day they fell in with an 
extenfive body of ice, from which they feem to have an¬ 
ticipated an unfuccefsful iflue of the expedition. Itpre- 
fented a folid com padt furface, and appeared to adhere to 
the coaft of America. 
On the 8th of July the latitude was 69. 21. longitude 
194.4.2. W. They were then clofe to the ice, the weather 
exceedingly cold, with much fnow and fleet; Fahrenheit’s 
thermometer in the night 28°, and at noon 30 0 . Having 
flood near forty leagues to the weftward along the edge of 
the ice, without feeing any opening, or a clear fea to the 
northward beyond it, Capt. Clerke refolved to return to 
Vol. XVII. No. 1171. 
the fouthward, and to pafs the time in examining the Bay 
of St. Lawrence, till the feafon Ihould be further ad¬ 
vanced. They found fo much ice, however, to the fouth¬ 
ward, and the fea now appeared fo free from it to the 
northward, that they immediately returned towards that 
quarter; but on the 13th found themfelves clofe in with 
a folid field of ice, to which no limits could be feen from 
the maft-head; the latitude then being 69. 37. and the 
pofition of the fliips nearly in the mid-channel, between 
two continents; the ice extending from eaft-north-eaft 
to weft-fouth-weft. They proceeded along the edge to¬ 
wards the coaft of America, and, on the 18th, were in 
latitude 70. 26. longitude 194-. 54. The following day 
they found themfelves fo completely embayed in the ice 
as to have but one opening to the fouthward, through 
which they directed their courfe. This was the fartheft 
point to which they proceeded, being in latitude'70. 33. 
which is five leagues Ihort of the point to which 
Capt. Cook had proceeded the former year. On the 21ft 
they got fight of the American coaft at the diftance of 
eight or ten leagues, and hauled in for it; but were again 
flopped by the ice, and obliged to bear away to the weft¬ 
ward, along the edge of it. “Thus,” obferves the wri¬ 
ter of the voyage (Capt. King), “a connected folid field 
of ice rendering every effort we could make to a nearer 
approach to the land fruitlefs, and joining, as we judged, 
to it, we took a laft farewell of a north-eaft paflage to 
England.” 
After this the fliips flood over to the eaftward, and on 
the 27th came in fight of the Afiatic continent, beyond 
large fields and mafles of ice, in which the Difcovery had 
been befet, and fo ferioufly damaged as to require at leaft 
three weeks repair, for which purpofe it would be necef- 
fary to go into fome port. As there was thus little or no 
profpedt of advancing to the northward, and both conti¬ 
nents were obftrudted by a fea blocked up with ice, it was 
deemed fruitlefs by both captains, with refpedl to the de- 
fign of the voyage, to make any further attempts toward 
a paflage; and they determined, therefore, to lofe no 
more time in what Capt. Clerke concluded to bean un¬ 
attainable object, but to fail for Awatfka Bay, to repair 
the damages. 
“I will not,” fays captain King, “endeavour to con¬ 
ceal the joy that brightened the countenance of every in¬ 
dividual, as foon as Capt. Clerke’s refolutions were made 
known. We were all heartily fick of a navigation full of 
danger, and in which the utmoft perfeverance had not 
been repaid with the fmalleft probability of fuccefs. We 
therefore turned our faces toward home, after an abfence 
of three years, with a delight and fatisfadlion, which, 
notwithftanding the tedious voyage we had ftill to make, 
and the immenfe diftance we had to run, were as freely 
entertained, and perhaps as fully enjoyed, as if we had 
been already in fight of the Land’s End.” Cook's laji Voy¬ 
age, vol. iii. 
To give facility to the fuccefs of Capt. Cook’s expedi¬ 
tion, in the event of his reaching Baffin’s Bay, lieutenant 
Pickerfgill was directed to proceed to Davis’s Strait in his 
majefty’s armed brig the Lion, ,dbr the protedlion of the 
Britilh whale-filhers; and, that being accompliihed, to 
continue up the (trait into Baffin’s Bay, and explore the 
coafts thereof, taking care to leave it in time to lecure his 
return to England in the fall of theyear; with injundtions 
to employ the mailer, Mr. Lane, in lurveying, making 
charts, and taking views of the feveral bays, harbours, 
&c. and in making fuch notations thereon as might be 
ufeful to geography and navigation. (MS. Inftrudtions, 
May 14, 1776.) Pickerfgill was notinilrudled to attempt 
the paflage; the object of fending him into Baffin’s Bay 
being merely to obtain fuch information as might be ufe¬ 
ful the following year to the veflel which was intended to 
be fent out to look for Capt. Cook, about the time he 
might be expedted to approach the eallern fide of America 
in the event of fuccefs. 
The Lion left Deptford on the 25th of May, 1776 ; ftruck 
3 D foundings 
