WHIRLPOOL. S3 



struck the ship with a force that made her reel ; 

 while the windward stream was approaching 

 the leeward so rapidly as to make it extremely 

 doubtful whether we should not be caught be- 

 tween them, and there be beset for, perhaps, 

 several days. Every sail that could be of the 

 least utility had been set, and for a short inter- 

 val we seemed to be gaining ground, but on 

 altering the position of the head to clear a small 

 floe directly before us, the current took the ship 

 on the starboard beam, and sent her bodily to- 

 wards the stream to leeward ; and whilst we 

 were contemplating this result as almost inevi- 

 table, one of those whirlpools which are com- 

 mon in the vicinity of the Island of Resolution 

 caught us, and turning the ship round against 

 the helm, rendered her totally unmanageable. 

 This seemed to decide the matter ; and we must 

 infallibly have been carried into the already dense 

 pack, had not the breeze at that moment sud- 

 denly freshened, and forced us onwards towards 

 an opening a-head. About the same time 

 (3 h a. m.), the eastern horizon cleared, so as just 

 to enable land to be seen much nearer than, 

 under these circumstances, was desirable ; for, 

 in that direction, with such a confusion of cross 

 currents, we had scarcely any control over the 

 ship, and the weather again thickened with rain, 

 which, with the thermometer at 31°, froze on 



D 



