Could it be a cloud?
I pointed it out to one of my watchmates, who, being familiar with such appearances, instantly called out, "Ice, ho!" There was a commotion throughout the ship.

"Ice!" exclaimed the captain, rushing up the companion-way, spyglass in hand.

"Ice! Where-away?
'Tis impossible! We cannot be near the Grand Bank!" The ice island was now clearly perceptible, looming up through the thin fog, "a fixed fact," which could not be shaken.

We were on the eastern edge of the Bank of Newfoundland.

In eight days the ship had run nearly two thousand miles.