248 
A VOYAGE TO 
1779. rofe again, and carried them down, fometimes juft as our 
r_ people were going to take them up into the boat; and 
might be traced bearing them to a great diftance through 
the water, which was coloured with their blood: we af¬ 
terward obferved them bringing them, at times, above 
the furface, as if for air, and again diving under it with a 
dreadful bellowing. The female, in particular, whofe young 
had been deftroyed, and taken into the boat, became fo en¬ 
raged, that fhe attacked the cutter, and ftruck her two. 
tufks through the bottom of it. 
At eight in the evening, a breeze fprung up to the Eaft- 
ward, with which we ftill continued our courfe to the South¬ 
ward, and at twelve fell in with numerous large bodies of 
ice. We endeavoured to pufti through them with an eafy 
fail, for fear of damaging the fhip: and having got a little 
farther to the Southward, nothing was to be feen, but one 
compact field of ice, ftretching to the South Weft, South 
Eaft, and North Eaft, as far as the eye could reach. This 
unexpected and formidable obftacle put an end to Captain 
Clerke’s plan of vifiting the Tfchutlki; for no fpace re¬ 
mained open, but back again to the Northward. Accord- 
Sunday n. ingly, at three in the morning of the nth, we tacked, and 
ftood to that quarter. At noon, the latitude, by obfervation, 
was 67° 49', and longitude 188 0 47'. 
Monday 12. On the 12th, we had light winds, with thick hazy wea¬ 
ther; and, on trying the current, we found it fet to the 
North Weft, at the rate of half a knot an hour. We conti¬ 
nued to fteer Northward, with a moderate Southerly breeze 
Tuefday 13. and fair weather, till the 13th, at ten in the forenoon, when 
we again found ourfelves clofe in with a folid field of ice, to 
which we could fee no limits from the maft-head. This, at 
once, dafhed all our hopes of penetrating farther; which 
had 
