86 ESCAPE OUT OF THE PACK. Chap. VI. 



I watched the process from aloft. A floe-piece near us, 

 of ioo yards in diameter, was speedily cracked so as to 

 resemble a sort of labyrinth, or, still more, a field-spider's 

 web. In the course of half-an-hour the family resemblance 

 of the fragments was totally lost ; they had so battered each 

 other, and struggled out of their original regularity. The 

 rolling sea can no longer be checked; "the pack has taken 

 upon itself the functions of an ocean," as Dr. Kane graphi- 

 cally expresses it. 



26th. — Position 63 47' N., 56 36' W. At sea ! How am 

 I to describe the events of the last two days ? It has pleased 

 God to accord to us a deliverance in which His merciful 

 protection contrasts — how strongly! — with our own utter 

 helplessness ; as if the successive mercies vouchsafed to us 

 during our long long winter and mysterious ice-drift had 

 been concentrated and repeated in a single act. Thus 

 forcibly does His great goodness come home to the mind ! 



I am in no humour for writing, being still tired, worn, 

 and perhaps a little sea-sick ; at least I have a headache, 

 caused by the rolling of the ship and rattling noise of every- 

 thing. 



On Saturday night, the 24th, I went on deck to spend the 

 greater part of it in watching, and to determine what to do. 

 The swell greatly increased ; it had evidently been approach- 

 ing for hours before it reached us, since it rose in proportion 

 as the ice was broken up into smaller pieces. In a short 

 time but few of them were equal in size to the ship's deck ; 

 most of them not half so large. I knew that near the pack- 

 edge the sea would be very heavy and dangerous ; but the 

 wind was now fair, and, having auxiliary steam-power, I 

 resolved to push out of the ice if possible. 



Shortly after midnight the ship was under sail, slowly 

 boring her way to the eastward ; at two o'clock on Sunday 

 morning commenced steaming, the wind having failed. By 



