CHAP. V.] FURTHER AGITATION. 26 1 



grinding and heavy thumping abaft under the 

 larboard counter, where I understood from the 

 officer of the watch, a very compact gallery, built 

 on a solid mass, was forcing itself underneath and 

 lifting the ship over. Going on deck, I found 

 she had risen two or three feet, and was cer- 

 tainly suffering under severe pressure. Mean- 

 time she was carried by the ice rapidly to the 

 S. E. We had the land more broad on the bow, 

 and could clearly distinguish the farthest point 

 ahead from the deck ; but we were not, as I 

 thought, nearer the wall, which however was 

 very distinct, and perpendicular as well as high. 

 Hitherto it had been supposed to be attached to 

 the land ; but Mr. Green, the ice mate, now 

 detected the movement of an inner body, by ac- 

 cidentally seeing two hummocks cross each other, 

 the outer one steady, the inner one moving. It 

 was evident, therefore, that we were at the edge 

 of the strongest set of the current and tides, and, 

 could we have been divested of other anxieties, 

 were perhaps in the very best situation for getting 

 early into open water. After a tranquil day, the 

 ship setting backward and forward with the tide 

 as before, at 5 h 50 m p. m, she was thrown up three 

 inches higher than before. This was the beginning 

 ofa series of strange and unaccountable convulsions, 

 which to any less fortified ship would assuredly 

 have proved fatal. The northerly and N. N. E. 



s 3 



