56 RUN or THE ICE. [October, 



ice, by some termed " cat agony," not much unlike the 

 wet finger over a plate of glass, added to an unmistak- 

 able roar of moving gravel on the beach, intimated 

 one of Nature's movements. Oh that pen or pencil 

 could portray on paper the extraordinary sensations, or 

 the sublimity of the changes in but a few short hours ! 

 even minutes might have determined our fate, but it was 

 not "His will." 



The scene I will endeavour, but I fear very inade- 

 quately, to describe. I had gone on deck to witness, as 

 I imagined, simply one of Nature's freaks, and foreseeing 

 possible mischief, determined to aid in turning to advan- 

 tage what must otherwise inevitably result in disaster, 

 [t was an exhibition a period of command never to 

 be erased from my memory ; we were, nevertheless, in 

 imminent danger. The outer floe was in action, press- 

 ing heavily on the shore. The newly-formed outer ice 

 was buckling, piling, and threatening to overwhelm all 

 within. Unless the ship could be withdrawn, and that 

 by an inclination away from the grounded ice, she must 

 be overwhelmed or driven ashore in such a position as 

 to leave her subject to be rolled over on her broadside. 



The hands being at their stations, a canal was most 

 expeditiously cut with a long radial curve, coaxing, much 

 in the same manner as in railway practice, her motion off 

 the nearest mass of ice. I clearly foresaw that the in- 

 stant her bow became pressed, the ship, acting on the 

 ice astern, would force it under the smooth surface, and 

 gradually help herself to a new dock. Causing our men 

 to depress the inner pointed end, the force commenced ; 

 cable was veered, and beautifully did she glide into her 



