500 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XIII. 



the tranquillity of the ice and the returning warmth 

 of the sun permitted, aroused themselves to in- 

 dulge in a little gaiety, and at once to forget 

 past dangers. This state of tranquillity, however, 

 was but of short duration : other concussions, and 

 oroanings and tremblings, some of them more 

 severe and threatening than before, were renewed, 

 and long continued : her condition will be best 

 described in Captain Back's own words: — 



" On the 16th of March another rush drove irresistibly on 

 the larboard quarter and stern, and forcing the ship ahead, 

 raised her up on the ice. A chaotic ruin followed: our 

 poor and cherished court-yard, its wall and arched doors, 

 gallery, and well-trodden paths, were rent, and, in some 

 parts, ploughed up like dust. The ship was careened fully 

 four streaks, and sprung a leak as before. Scarcely were 

 ten minutes left us for the expression of our astonishment 

 that anything of human build could outlive such assaults, 

 when another equally violent rush succeeded ; and in its way 

 to the starboard quarter, threw up a rolling wave thirty feet 

 high, crowned by a blue square mass of many tons, resem- 

 bling the entire side of a house, which, after hanging for some 

 time in doubtful poise on the ridge, at length fell with a 

 crash into the hollow, in which, as in a cavern, the after part 

 of the ship seemed embedded. The poor ship cracked and 

 trembled violently ; and no one could say that the next mi- 

 nute would not be her last, and indeed his own too, for with 

 her our means of safety would probably perish." — p. 280. 



On consulting his officers, they agreed that a light 

 boat, with provisions, should if possible be landed 

 [on the ice], to serve as a last resource to commu- 



