190 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. 



" The flood-tide coming down loaded with a more than 

 ordinary quantity of ice, pressed the ship very much between 

 six and seven a.m., and rendered it necessary to run out 

 the stream cable, in addition to the hawsers which were fast 

 to the land ice. This was scarcely accomplished when a 

 very heavy and extensive floe took the ship on her broad- 

 side, and, being backed by another large body of ice, gra- 

 dually lifted her stern as if by the action of a wedge. The 

 weight every moment increasing obliged us to veer on the 

 hawsers, whose friction was so great as nearly to cut through 

 the bitt-heads, and ultimately set them on fire, so that it 

 became requisite for people to attend with buckets of water. 

 The pressure was at length too powerful for resistance, and 

 the stream cable, with two six and one five inch hawsers, 

 went at the same moment. Three others soon followed. 

 The sea was too full of ice to allow the ship to drive, and 

 the only way by which she could yield to the enormous 

 weight which oppressed her was by leaning over the land 

 ice, while her stern at the same time was entirely lifted 

 more than five feet out of the water. The lower deck 

 beams now complained very much, and the whole frame of 

 the ship underwent a trial which would have proved fatal to 

 any less strengthened vessel. At this moment the rudder 

 was unhung with a sudden jerk, which broke up the rudder 

 case and struck the driver boom with great force. In this 

 state I made known our situation by telegraph, as I clearly 

 saw that, in the event of another floe backing the one which 

 lifted us, the ship must inevitably turn over, or part in 

 mid -ships. The pressure which had been so dangerous at 

 length proved our friend, for by its increasing weight the 

 floe on which we were borne burst upwards, unable to resist 

 its force. The ship righted, and, a small slack opening in 

 the water, drove several miles to the southward before she 

 could be again secured to get the rudder hung ; circum- 

 stances much to be regretted at the moment, as our people 

 had been employed with but little intermission for three 



