EARLIEST POLAR EXPLORATIONS 173 



in the fissures, now made its escape in numberless small cataracts over the 

 front of the glacier." 



The plunge of the enormous mass caused the Dorothea to careen, though 

 at a distance of four miles. Continuing, Beechey says : 



"The piece that had been disengaged at first wholly disappeared under 

 water, and nothing was seen but a violent boiling of the sea, and a shooting up 

 of clouds of spray, like that which occurs at the foot of a great cataract. After 

 a short time it reappeared, raising its head full a hundred feet above the surface, 

 with water pouring down from all parts of it; and then, laboring as if doubtful 

 which way it should fall, it rolled over, and after rocking about some minutes, 

 at length became settled. We now approached it, and found it nearly a quarter 

 of a mile in circumference, and sixty feet out of water. Knowing its specific 

 gravity, and making a fair allowance for its inequalities, we computed its 

 weight at 421,660 tons. A stream of salt water was still pouring down its sides, 

 and there was a continual cracking noise, as loud as that of a cart-whip, occa- 

 sioned, I suppose, by the escape of confined air." 



Another thrilling marine adventure is described by DeLong, whose ship 

 Jeannette was lost in 1881. DeLong's journal of June 12 reads as follows : 



"At 7 130 a. m. the ice commenced to move toward the port side, but after 

 advancing a foot or two cam.e to rest. Employed one watch in hauling heavy 

 floe into a small canal on the port bow, to close it up and receive the greater 

 part of the thrust. 



"At 4 p. m. the ice came down in great force all along the port side, jam- 

 ming the ship hard against the ice on the starboard side, causing her to heel 

 16° to starboard. From the snapping and cracking of the bunker sides and 

 starting in of the starboard ceiling, as well as the opening of the seams in the 

 ceiling to the width of one and one-fourth inches, it was feared that the ship 

 was about to be seriously endangered, and orders were accordingly given to 

 lower the starboard boats and haul them away from the ship to a safe position 

 on the ice-floe. This was done quietly and without confusion. The ice, in 

 coming in on the port side, also had a movement toward the stern, and this 

 last movement not only raised her port bow, but buried the starboard quarter, 

 and jamming it and the stern against the heavy ice, effectually prevented the 

 ship rising to pressure. Mr. Melville (chief engineer), while below in the 

 engine-room, saw a break across the ship in the wake of the boilers and engines, 

 showing that so solidly were the stern and starboard quarters held by the ice 

 that the ship was breaking in two from the pressure upward exerted on the 



