FRUITLESS ATTEMPTS TO PENETRATE THROUGH THE ICE TO THE NORTH-WEST.— DANGEROUS SITUATION OF THE DISCOVERY.—SEA-HORSES KILLED.—FRESH OBSTRUCTIONS FROM THE ICE.—REPORT OF DAMAGES RECEIVED BY THE DISCOVERY.—CAPTAIN CLERKE’S DETERMINATION TO PROCEED TO THE SOUTHWARD.—JOY OF THE SHIPS’ CREWS ON THAT OCCASION.—PASS SERDZE KAMEN.—RETURN THROUGH BEERING’S STRAITS.—INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT OF THE NORTH-EAST COAST OF ASIA.—REASONS FOR REJECTING MULLER’S MAP OF THE PROMONTORY OF THE TSCHUTSKI.—REASONS FOR BELIEVING THE COAST DOES NOT REACH A HIGHER LATITUDE THAN 70-1/2° NORTH.—GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE IMPRACTICABILITY OF A NORTH-EAST, OR NORTH-WEST PASSAGE FROM THE ATLANTIC INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.—COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE PROGRESS MADE IN THE YEARS 1778 AND 1779.—REMARKS ON THE SEA, AND SEA COASTS, NORTH OF BEERING’S STRAITS.—HISTORY OF THE VOYAGE RESUMED.—PASS THE ISLAND OF SAINT LAURENCE.—THE ISLAND OF MEDNOI.—DEATH OF CAPTAIN CLERKE.—SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS SERVICES. Captain Clerke having determined, for the reasons assigned at the conclusion of the last chapter, to give up all farther attempts on the coast of America, and to make his last efforts in search of a passage on the coast of the opposite continent, we continued, during the afternoon of the 21st of July, to steer to the west north-west, through much loose ice. At ten at night, discovering the main body of it through the fog, right ahead, and almost close to us, and being unwilling to take a southerly course, so long as we could possibly avoid it, we hauled our wind, which was easterly, and stood to the northward; but, in an hour after, the weather clearing up, and finding ourselves surrounded by a compact field of ice, on every side, except to the south south-west, we tacked, and stood on in that direction, in order to get clear of it. At noon of the 22d, our latitude, by observation, was 69° 30ʹ, and longitude 187° 30ʹ. In the afternoon, we again came up with the ice, which extended to the north-west and south-west, and obliged us to continue our course to the southward, in order to weather it. It may be remarked, that since the 8th of this month, we had twice traversed this sea, in lines nearly parallel with the run we had just now made; that in the first of those traverses, we were not able to penetrate so far north, by eight or ten leagues, as in the second; and that in the last we had again found an united body of ice, generally about five leagues to the southward of its position in the preceding run. As this proves that the large compact fields of ice which we saw were moveable, or diminishing, at the same time, it does not leave any well-founded expectation of advancing much farther in the most favourable seasons.