310 THE PRINCE ALBERT. 



as to exclude every perceptible outlet, sometimes so 

 close as almost to rub the ships, and sometimes so un- 

 steady or whirling as to threaten overwhelming somer- 

 sets. Some whaling-ships which got early to the north, 

 though commanded by the most experienced masters, 

 and manned by the most select crews, turned about and 

 sailed back to the south, fully believing the penetration 

 of Melville Bay that season to be either an impossibility 

 or practicable only at fearful hazards. 



The expedition ships, however, were little, if at all, 

 daunted, conscious of possessing higher powers, and 

 resolutely determined to get on. The means which 

 they used for forcing their way comprised all the known 

 methods of boring, tracking, and cutting, and were 

 sometimes effected with prodigious labor and indomita- 

 ble perseverance ; and they comprised also, in the case 

 of the British government expedition, the smashing of 

 all thin floes, and sometimes the perilous assault of 

 thick ones, by the impetus of the steamers. The 

 smaller vessels of the private expeditions might have 

 seemed incompetent for such rough work ; but, though 

 ill able to attack, they were well able to run and manoeu- 

 vre ; and, on the average of the voyage through the 

 ice, they were found to be fully as safe, and more than 

 fully as manageable, as the large ships. 



The little Prince Albert, in particular, did wonders ; 

 and on one occasion, disdaining to lie ice-fast, she made 

 a daring attack upon a neck of ice which lay between 

 her and an open piece of water. With a tremendous 

 blow, that for the moment made her rebound and trem- 

 ble, she struck the ice in the exact point, and rent it 

 into fragments. 



The steamers, for a long way, accelerated the prog- 

 ress not only of the government ships, but also of the 

 Felix and the Prince Albert, by towing them through 



