But perilous as it is to sail in a thick fog, among these floating rocks, as our commander properly called them; this is preferable to the being entangled with immense fields of ice under the same circumstances.

In this latter case the great danger to be apprehended, is the getting fast in the ice; a situation which would be alarming in the highest degree.
It had been a generally received opinion, that such ice as hath now been described, is formed in bays and rivers.

Agreeably to this supposition, our voyagers were led to believe that land was not far distant, and that it lay to the southward behind the ice.

As, therefore, they had sailed above thirty leagues along the edge of the ice, without finding a passage to the south, Captain Cook determined to run thirty or forty leagues to the east, and afterward to endeavour to get to the southward.

If, in this attempt, he met with no land or other impediment, his design was to stretch behind the ice, and thus to bring the matter to a decision.