A SEYERE GALE. 75 



will be driven out to sea, which is everywhere filled 

 with heavy ice. 



August 29th, 12 o'clock, M. 



There has been a dead calm nnder the coast for an 

 hour. The " table-cloth " has lifted from the cape, and 

 there is a decided change in the northern sky. The 

 light windy clouds are disappearing, and stratus clouds 

 are taking their place. The neck of the gale appears 

 to be broken. 



2 o'clock, P. M. 



My calculations of the morning were quite wrong. 

 The gale howls more furiously than ever. We are 

 lying off Cape Saumarez, about two miles from shore. 

 Failing to reach Sutherland Island, we were forced to 

 run down the coast with the hope of finding shelter 

 in the deep bay below ; but the wind, sweeping round 

 the cape, drove us back, and we are now trying to 

 crawl in shore and get an anchor down in a little 

 cove near by, and there repair our torn sails. We 

 are a very uncomfortable party. The spray flies 

 over the vessel, sheathing her in ice. Long icicles 

 hang from the rigging and the bulwarks. The bob- 

 stays and other head-gear are the thickness of a man's 

 body ; and, most unseamanlike procedure, we have to 

 throw ashes on the deck to get about. 



I can now readily understand how Inglefield was 

 forced to fly from Smith's Sound. If the gale which 

 he encountered resembled this one, he could not, with 

 double the steam-power of the Isabella, have made 

 headway against it. Were I to leave the shelter of 

 these friendly cliffs I should have to run with even 

 greater celerity ; — and, very likely, to destruction. 



The squalls which strike us are perfectly terrific, 

 and the calms which follow them are suggestive of 



