138 
28th, Latitude, by observation, 81® 50'. 
Sea almost quite clear of ice, with a great 
swell; weather serene. Had our object 
been the making of discoveries, there was 
not apparently any thing to have pre¬ 
vented us from going a good way farther 
to the north ; at least we did not per¬ 
ceive any large fields of ice in that di¬ 
rection; though it is more than probable 
we should have verv soon fallen in with 
%/ 
them. We were a little farther north 
than Captain Phipps, who ran a great 
risk of being locked up entirely by the 
ice. He was, in fact, ice-bound from 
31st July to 10th August, and during 
that time the packed ice rose as high as 
the main-yard. The want of ice in that 
place where we then were, was perhaps 
owing to the effects of some late gale 
clearing it away. The great swell in 
the sea appeared to indicate this to have 
been the case. 
In my second voyage to this country 
3 
