Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 133 



a fatiguing absence of thirteen days. On the fol- 

 lowing day Captain Sabine concluded his observa- 

 tions, the tents and instruments were re-embarked, 

 and on the 31st of August the Griper got under 

 weigh. The latitude of the observatory on Pendu- 

 lum Island is 74° 32' 19" N., longitude 18° 50' W. 

 The shore to the southward continued about 3000 

 feet high, along which the ship proceeded in a 

 channel of clear water, the ice being five or six 

 miles from the shore. About Cape Parry, how- 

 ever, latitude 72^°, in a narrow lane of water, two 

 floes suddenly closed together, and the tongues 

 projecting beneath {calves they are usually called) 

 pressed the Griper between them and lifted her abaft 

 considerably out of the water. She got clear without 

 much damage, but the ice was hanging about Cape 

 Parry so close to the shore, that the Commander 

 wisely stood out to sea, and on the 13th September 

 the Griper finally quitted the coast of Greenland; the 

 whole line along which they had sailed being from 

 2000 to 3000 feet in height, with mountains in the 

 interior perhaps double that height. A violent 

 gale came on, and the ship was secured to a mass of 

 ice ; received several severe shocks ; the hawsers and 

 stream cables gave way ; also two chain cables and 

 two large hawsers ; the gale increased ; large masses 

 continually rolled in ; the pressure became so vio- 

 lent that the whole of them parted before daylight. 

 " Our situation," says the Commander, " was now 

 a most anxious one ; the gale continued with un- 



