178 EXTRAORDINARY DISRUPTION. [CHAP.IV. 



body of ice, not less than forty-five miles, so 

 irresistible was the power of a heavy gale 

 and a spring-tide over the boundless ranges of 

 ice, which were thrown up in chaotic confusion 

 around us. Suddenly a portentous crash, fol- 

 lowed by a loud, quick, and rumbling noise, 

 rent the floe in various directions, and even 

 within one hundred and sixty yards from the 

 ship. Strange rushing sounds, too, were heard 

 throughout the night; and in the morning of 

 January 2d, the openings were found to be 

 much wider, and many new cracks threatened 

 a further diminution of our now circumscribed 

 floe. It is remarkable that in the meantime 

 there was not the lightest breath of air ; nor can 

 I ascribe any other reason for this extraordinary 

 disruption than a possible compression or stop- 

 page of the ice, by the Fife Rock on the one 

 hand, and the coast on the other. It may be 

 also, that there were shoals inshore of us, though, 

 on sounding, it required one hundred and fifteen 

 fathoms to reach the bottom. Towards noon, a 

 breeze sprung up from the S. S. W., freshened, 

 and in the evening fell again, without producing 

 any sensible effect on the ice. In the night a 

 faint aurora displayed itself; and, on the following 

 morning the appearance of another point of land 

 to the eastward showed us that we had receded 

 still further from the off shore. All our anxiety, 



