On the 24th we had fresh breezes from the S.W., with hazy weather, and kept running to the S.E. till eleven in the forenoon, when a large body of loose ice, extending from N.N.E. round by the E., to S.S.E., and to which (though the weather was tolerably clear) we could see no end, again obstructed our course. We therefore kept working to windward, and at noon our latitude, by observation, was 68 deg. 53', longitude 188 deg.; the variation of the compass 22 deg. 30' E. At four in the afternoon it became calm, and we hoisted out the boats in pursuit of the sea-horses, which were in prodigious herds on every side of us. We killed ten of them, which were as many as we could make use of for eating, or for converting into lamp-oil. We kept on with the wind from the S.W., along the edge of the ice, which extended in a direction almost due E. and W., till four in the morning of the 25th, when observing a clear sea beyond it to the S.E., we made sail that way, with a view of forcing through it. By six we had cleared it, and continued the remainder of the day running to the S.E., without any ice in sight. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 68 deg. 38', longitude 189 deg. 9', and the depth of water thirty fathoms. At midnight we tacked and stood to the westward, with a fresh gale from the S.; and at ten in the forenoon, of the 26th, the ice again shewed itself, extending from N.W. to S. It appeared loose, and drifting by the force of the wind to the northward. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 68 deg. N., longitude 188 deg. 10' E.; and we had soundings with twenty-eight fathoms. For the remaining part of the day, and till noon of the 27th, we kept standing backward and forward, in order to clear ourselves of different bodies of ice. At noon we were in latitude, by observation, 67 deg. 47', longitude 188 deg.. At two in the afternoon, we saw the continent to the S. by E.; and at four, having run since noon with a S.S.E. wind to the S.W., we were surrounded by loose masses of ice, with the firm body of it in sight, stretching in a N. by W. and a S. by E. direction, as far as the eye could reach; beyond which we saw the coast of Asia, bearing S. and S. by E. As it was now necessary to come to some determination with respect to the course we were next to steer, Captain Clerke sent a boat, with the carpenters, on board the Discovery, to enquire into the particulars of the damage she had sustained. They returned in the evening, with the report of Captain Gore, and of the carpenters of both ships, that the damages they had received were of a kind that would require three weeks to repair; and that it would be necessary, for that purpose, to go into some port.