Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 225 



add to their anxiety, two or three streams of ice, 



with deep solid pieces among them, were seen in 



the evening to be driving down upon the ship. 



The night was piercingly cold, the sea washed the 



decks fore and aft, constant snow fell, the lower 



deck was afloat, the men's hammocks thoroughly 



soaked, and the poor fellows could get no rest. 



" Never shall I forget the dreariness of this most anxious 

 night. Our ship pitched at such a rate that it was not 

 possible to stand even below ; while on deck we were unable 

 to move without holding by ropes, which were stretched 

 from side to side. The drift-snow flew in such sharp heavy 

 flakes that we could not look to windward, and it froze on deck 

 to above a foot in depth. The sea made incessant breaches 

 quite fore and aft the ship ; and the temporary warmth it 

 gave while it washed over us was most painfully checked by its 

 almost immediately freezing on our clothes. To these dis- 

 comforts were added the horrible uncertainty as to whether 

 the cables would hold until daylight, and the conviction 

 also that if they failed us we should instantly be dashed to 

 pieces ; the wind blowing directly to the o x uarter in which 

 we knew the shore must lie. Again, should they continue 

 to hold us, we feared, by the ship's complaining so much 

 forward, that the bitts would be torn up, or that she would 

 settle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of the tre- 

 mendous seas which burst over." — pp. 100, 101. 



The hurricane continuing, it can better be ima- 

 gined than told what kind of night they were 

 doomed to pass. " I never beheld," says Captain 

 Lyon, " a darker night." At dawn on the 13th 

 the best bower-anchor parted, and the gale blew 

 with such terrific violence as to leave little reason 



Q 



