The ice to the
west and southwest was as solid and compact, to all appearance, as
so much land; to which, indeed, the surface of so many fields,
from the kind of hill and dale I have before endeavoured to
describe, bore no imperfect resemblance. I have no doubt that, had
it been our object to circumnavigate Melville Island, or, on the
other hand, had the coast continued its westerly direction instead
of turning to the northward, we should still have contrived to
proceed a little occasionally, as opportunities offered,
notwithstanding the increased obstruction which here presented
itself; but, as neither of these was the case, there seemed little
or nothing to hope for from any farther attempts to prosecute the
main object of the voyage in this place. I determined, therefore,
no longer to delay the execution of my former intentions, and to
make trial, if possible, of a more southern latitude, in which I
might follow up the success that had hitherto attended our
exertions.
The station at which the ships were now lying, and which is the
westernmost point to which the navigation of the Polar Sea to the
northward of the American Continent has yet been carried, is in
latitude 74 deg. 26' 25", and longitude, by chronometer, 113 deg.
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