Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 259 



Parry says " the security of the ship was much 

 altered for the worse ;" the Fury remained where 

 she was, "there being no second berth, even so 

 good as the bad one where she was now lying." 

 On the 31st it blew a hard gale, which brought the 

 ice closer and closer till it pressed with very con- 

 siderable violence on both ships, " though the most 

 upon the Fury, which lay in a very exposed situa- 

 tion." The Hecla had only two or three hawsers 

 broken. Early the next morning (the 31st) Com- 

 mander Hoppner sent to inform Captain Parry 

 that the Fury had been forced on the ground, 

 where she still lay ; but that she would probably 

 be hove off without much difficulty at high-water, 

 provided the external ice did not prevent it. 



A broad channel of water appearing at a little 

 distance, and a fresh breeze springing up, the ships 

 were cast, and their heads the right way, to reach 

 this channel, when the ice came bodily in upon the 

 ships, which were almost instantly beset, and in such 

 a manner " as to be literally helpless and unma- 

 nageable." Captain Parry observes that, in such 

 cases, " the exertions made by heaving at hawsers, 

 or otherwise, are of little more service than in the 

 occupation they furnish to the men's minds under 

 circumstances of difficultv ; for when the ice is 

 fairly acting against the ship, ten times the strength 

 and ingenuity could in reality avail nothing." 



The body of ice setting to the southward, the two 



s2 



