CHAP. VI.] THICKXESS OF ICE. 357 



pools still froze, being invariably found crusted 

 with ice in the morning ; still, from the effect 

 of the sun and the heat radiated from the sides 

 of the ship, upwards of two feet of ice and 

 frozen snow had slowly sunk away, thus almost 

 exposing the keel from the fore-foot to the fore- 

 chains, while a deep trench resulting from the 

 same cause extended quite round, exhibiting 

 above it the ruins of the ponderous waves, in 

 the hard gripe of which the whole of the after 

 part of the ship lay immovably wedged. 

 There were no means of ascertaining the actual 

 thickness of the accumulated masses, which in 

 so extraordinary a manner cradled us up, but 

 some of the pieces floating in the clear space 

 were estimated at forty feet beneath the line of 

 flotation ; and, indeed, from the force applied 

 during the convulsions so providentially escaped, 

 when the ship with all her heavy load was felt 

 rising under our feet, it could hardly have been 

 less, while from the irresistible pressure that 

 drove one mass under another, it might have been 

 even more. It seemed, therefore, indispensable, 

 that before we could get free, the weaker bodies 

 surrounding us and as yet adhering, should be 

 entirely detached, so as to afford room for our 

 supporters to glide away easily. An operation 

 of this magnitude could only be accomplished 

 by natural means ; but in order to divert the 



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