HIGHEST LATITUDE ATTAINED. 
39 
in latitude 80° 23' by observation ; and at 5 a.M. 
I calculated that we had advanced to 80° 34', a 
distance of only 566 miles from the Pole; when 
the freezing of the sea around us, and the in¬ 
creasing accumulation of ice to the northward, 
rendered any further advance at so early a season 
imprudent; and particularly as not a single whale 
had yet appeared, to encourage us to perseverance. 
We were now probably within a few miles of the 
extreme accessible point of the Greenland Sea 
towards the north; and the Baffin was, without 
question, in the highest latitude of any ship at 
that moment on the sea; and there was no doubt 
on my own mind, when I stood on the taffrail as 
the ship was turned before the wind, thftt I was 
then nearer to the Pole than any individual on 
the face of the earth. From this situation, the 
northern barrier of ice extended towards the SE. 
and ESE. and the main western ice towards the 
SW.; so that we were near the extremity of the 
angle formed by these two immense floating bo¬ 
dies. 
We now proceeded along the edge of the west¬ 
ern ice towards the SW.; streams of drift ice be¬ 
gan to appear to the eastward at 2 a. m., and at 
8, the sea about us was crowded with patches 
and detached pieces. Here we saw a considerable 
number of “ unicorns” (narwals), several of which 
