mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i5-043

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bring in fog. We scarcely had time to lift the skiff when
the fog thickened so much that it was impossible to distin-
guish the nearest objects. With a NW wind we held toward
the SW under least sail so as not to hit against the ice
floating around us in the fog. This precaution served us well.
In an hour after the fog descended, the boatswain shouted from
the forecastle that nearby, directly in front of the bow of
the vessel, was a large ice floe, but it was sighted through
the fog only at the time when it was impossible to avoid
hitting, because the lieutenant on watch did not have time to
order a port turn, and by removing the slackened sails, at
least to lessen the impact, the sloop hit the stern against
the ice, and the masts started to creak in the steps. We im-
mediately hoisted the sails in such a way that the wind would
strike them from the front, and in this manner we succeeded
in moving backward to move away from the ice floe and then to
round it from leeward. This was not a single ice floe, but a
whole part of an ice field being about a half mile long and
a quarter mile wide. Having safely avoided this danger, we
removed some more sails and remained in this position until
the next morning. Then the fog cleared and we went under
full sail in the former direction. Coming into sight of the
Asiatic shore, we found ice near it as before. Sailing south-
ward near the ice, finally at a distance of 50 miles from
East Cape we were able to approach for us to start surveying it, to
which we attended at once, and before 8 o'clock, reached the