52 THE 'RESOLUTE' NIPPED. [June, 



their shadows before them." About eight this after- 

 noon, the change of tide or current set the western ice 

 in motion southerly. As we had no wish to travel that 

 route, our vessels were removed to the opposite or land- 

 floe, and, as we thought, in a place of safety ; indeed, 

 the space of open water seemed to promise us security, 

 and I had intended to remain quiet the ensuing day, 

 Sunday, giving the crews their full day of rest. Shortly 

 before midnight, however, I was informed that the floe 

 was in motion and closing on the ' Resolute,' and that 

 she would probably be "nipped." The others were all 

 more in the cavity of the bay formed by the ice. Before 

 I succeeded in gaining the deck, the 'Resolute' was in 

 agony, and had a considerable list (heeled over). The 

 rudder in a few moments was destroyed, and the pres- 

 sure then appeared to cease, the floe brought up, possi- 

 bly, by some opposition to the northward. The motion 

 of the ice was almost imperceptible, but we had now 

 before us pretty conclusive evidence of the nature of the 

 heavy gripe which this insidious enemy was capable of 

 inflicting almost in dead calm. It was not a direct 

 pressure, but the grinding power of two unequal forces, 

 acting laterally in opposite directions. The best illus- 

 tration to my fair readers would be to imagine the ship 

 to be the roller of a mangle. The pressure strained the 

 'Resolute' a little, lifted her above her line of floatation 

 some eight or ten feet ; the bells were set ringing, 

 glasses clattering. The sick did not care to remain be- 

 low ; indeed, in a few minutes they might all belong to 

 another vessel, and our noble consort /tors de combat : 

 and yet not the slightest noise or confusion, and no 



