On the 24th, we had fresh breezes from south-west, with hazy weather, and kept running to the south-east till eleven in the forenoon, when a large body of loose ice, extending from north north-east, round by the east, to south south-east, 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° 53ʹ, longitude 188°; the variation of the compass 22° 30ʹ 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 south-west, along the edge of the ice, which extended in a direction almost due east and west, till four in the morning of the 25th, when observing a clear sea beyond it, to the south-east, 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 south-east, without any ice in sight. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 68° 38ʹ, longitude 189° 9ʹ, and the depth of water thirty fathoms. At midnight, we tacked, and stood to the westward, with a fresh gale from the south; and at ten in the forenoon of the 26th, the ice again showed itself, extending from north-west to south. It appeared loose, and drifting, by the force of the wind, to the northward. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 68° N., longitude 188° 10ʹ 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° 47ʹ, longitude 188°. At two in the afternoon, we saw the continent to the south by east; and at four, having run, since noon, with a south south-east wind to the south-west, we were surrounded by loose masses of ice, with the firm body of it in sight, stretching in a north by west, and a south by east direction, as far as the eye could reach; beyond which we saw the coast of Asia, bearing south, and south by east. 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 inquire 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.