SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN. 287 



and, day by day, they became aware that, in their icy 

 prison, they were driving farther and farther from their 

 destination. In the course of December, they had been 

 carried southward sixty- seven miles. 



The month of April was full of days of anxiety and 

 excitement. Gales from the north told severely on the 

 continuity of the ice ; and on one occasion a rift was 

 escaped with difficulty. At last, on the 17th, the ship 

 was fairly adrift, and, in a heaving gale, running fast 

 along the narrow channels that opened up t-o the south 

 and east ; but only to be again frozen up on the following 

 day. 



A week later, and the great swell of the Atlantic was 

 felt for the first time, " lifting its crest five feet above the 

 hollow of the sea, causing its thick covering of icy frag- 

 ments to dash against each other" and the little bark. 

 "The pack had taken upon itself," as Dr Kane had ex- 

 pressed it, " the functions of an ocean," and, amidst a 

 chaos of contending masses and shattered bergs, they had 

 to steer their course to the open sea. 



Knowing well that near the edge of the pack the sea 

 would be very heavy and dangerous, he had yet taken 

 advantage of a favourable wind to run what he well calls 

 his ice-tournament, and make an effort for escape. A 

 few hours after the wind failed, and the vessel had to 

 trust to her steam-power alone. By this time the swell 

 of the ocean, covered with countless masses of ice and 

 numerous large berg-pieces, to touch one of which latter 

 must have been instant destruction, was rising ten feet 



