In 1806, the Scoresbys determined to see how far north it was possible to go, entering the ice in 76° N. on the 28th of April. Captain Scoresby found the ice to be of extraordinary width and compactness. He pressed into a pack which, to ordinary apprehension, was impenetrable. There was a strong ice blink along the northern horizon which, to all minds on board but one, precluded hope. But Scoresby, narrowly scanning this ice blink from the crow’s-nest, discerned a blueish grey streak _below_ the ice blink, and closely skirting the horizon. He knew this to be an indication of open water beyond the pack. The watchful veteran detected another sign. He perceived occasionally a very slight motion of the water between the lumps of ice near the ship. He knew that this could only arise from a distant swell, which must proceed from an open sea either to the north or to the south. The distance he had penetrated into the ice and the unmixed ice blink to the south, convinced him that it did not come from that quarter. With this conviction came the resolution to push on through the formidable body of consolidated ice before him. Every effort was made. It was then that Scoresby invented the practice of _sallying_, which consisted in the whole crew running across from one side of the ship to the other in order to make her roll, and so break up the ice close round her. Then boats were lowered quickly from the bowsprit to break up the ice ahead. When a lane of water was formed, there was tracking and towing. All this hard work and perseverance was finally rewarded, and at length an open sea was reached, bounded in the north by the solid polar pack. On the 24th May the latitude was found to be 81° 30′ in 19° E. Though the ice was fixed and solid to the north, there was an open sea, with a water sky, from E.N.E. to S.E. This is the furthest north ever reached by a sailing ship on the Spitsbergen meridians[111]. With the distinction of this highest latitude Captain Scoresby returned with a full ship. After four more years of full ships, he resigned the command of the _Resolution_ to his son in 1810. The elder Scoresby lived on until 1829 as a respected citizen of Whitby and saw his son’s successful career not only as a whaling captain, but also as a universally esteemed man of science.