258 CONCUSSION. [chap. v. 



squalls. A little past 8 h the disturbance reached 

 the ship, bringing down the heavy bodies 

 to windward with a fearful pressure, ploughing 

 up the small quantity of young ice alongside, 

 and lifting other large fragments up to the 

 chains, from the starboard quarter to the 

 bow. During two hours and a half our situa- 

 tion was exceedingly precarious, and it seemed 

 every moment as if the ship were making 

 her last struggle. For a few minutes she was 

 forced up by the ice fifteen feet forwards, 

 and then thrust resistlessly astern. Hardly 

 was this over when the large pieces on the star- 

 board side moved slowly forward, and the still 

 more ponderous ones to windward closed at right 

 angles, thus subjecting her to the severest trial. 

 All this time the bottom was continually 

 thumped and hammered by the huge calves 

 struggling to get free, each blow shaking the 

 whole frame so violently as to be sensibly felt on 

 deck ; and, not knowing what the effect might be, 

 the hands were turned up and the sick dressed, 

 to be ready for the worst. The thermometer at 

 the time was 25°— , and the weather decidedly 



cold. 



By midnight there was a pause, and at l h a.m. 

 March Gth, a relaxation on the starboard side, 

 where two cracks had separated sufficiently to 

 show the water. The submerged masses, now 



