her. The
cold was exceedingly severe, and the ropes were so frozen that it was with
difficulty we could force them through the blocks. At noon, the latitude,
by account, was 51 deg. 38', longitude 160 deg. 7'; and on comparing our present
position with that given to the southern parts of Kamtschatka in the
Russian charts, Captain Clerke did not think it prudent to run on toward
the land all night. We therefore tacked at ten, and having found, had
ground agreeably to our conjectures, with seventy fathoms of line.

On the 23d, at six in the morning, being in latitude 52 deg. 09', and longitude
160 deg. 07', on the fog clearing away, the land appeared in mountains covered
with snow; and extending from N. 3/4 E., to S.W.; a high conical rock,
bearing S.W., 3/4 W., at three or four leagues distance. We had no sooner
taken this imperfect view, than we were again covered with a thick fog.
Being now, according to our maps, only eight leagues from the entrance of
Awatska Bay, as soon as the weather cleared up we stood in to take a nearer
view of the land; and a more dismal and dreary prospect I never beheld. The
coast appears strait and uniform, having no inlets or bays; the ground from
the shore rises in hills of a moderate elevation, behind which are ranges
of mountains, whose summits were lost in the clouds. The whole scene was
entirely covered with snow, except the sides of some of the cliffs which
rose too abruptly from the sea for the snow to lie upon them.

The wind continued blowing very strong from the N.E., with thick hazy
weather and sleet, from the 24th to the 28th. During the whole time, the
thermometer was never higher than 30 1/2 deg.. The ship appeared to be a
complete mass of ice; the shrowds were so incrusted with it, as to measure
in circumference more than double their usual size; and, in short, the
experience of the oldest seaman among us had never met with any thing like
the continued showers of sleet, and the extreme cold which we now
encountered. Indeed, the severity of the weather, added to the great
difficulty of working the ships, and the labour of keeping the pumps
constantly going, rendered the service too hard for many of the crew, some
of whom were frostbitten, and others laid up with bad colds. We continued
all this time standing four hours on each tack, having generally soundings
of sixty fathoms, when about three leagues from the land, but none at twice
that distance. On the 25th we had a transie