312 IMMINENT PERIL. [CHAP.V. 



and the scene every moment became more dark 

 and threatening. Extra purchases were fixed 

 to the pumps ; the hands were turned up ; the 

 sick provided for ; and though nothing effectual 

 could be done for our preservation, the attention 

 of the men was occupied in hoisting two of the 

 boats higher up. On former occasions there 

 were large pieces of ice around, any one of 

 which would have afforded a sufficient deposit 

 for boats, provisions, or whatever in the exi- 

 gency of the moment might have been placed 

 upon it. Now, on the contrary, we were sur- 

 rounded by crushed and broken ice, some, 

 indeed, ponderous enough, but all too angular 

 and fractured to trust a boat upon : nor could we 

 ourselves have found footing so long as every 

 part was more or less in motion ; or, even if some 

 of the more active and hardy had succeeded in 

 doing so, still they could not possibly have 

 reached the land. Knowing this, and feeling 

 acutely for the many beings entrusted to my 

 charge, it may be conceived with what intense 

 anxiety I listened to the crashing and grinding 

 around. The strength of the ship, tried and 

 shaken as it had already been, could hardly be 

 expected to withstand the overwhelming power 

 opposed to it ; and, what the result of that night 

 might have been it is impossible to say and 

 painful to contemplate, had not an overruling 



