ADVANTAGES OF IT. 69 



of ice that was twisting round, and which, as 

 it turned, brought his ship gradually on the out- 

 side of it. The Trent endeavoured to follow 

 her example; but so rapid was the motion of 

 the ice that although only a few yards from 

 the Dorothea, she found it wholly impracticable, 

 and it was not until after twenty hours' hard 

 labour that we succeeded in again placing the 

 vessels together. 



Both vessels were now hauled into small bays 

 in the floe, and secured there by ropes fixed 

 to the ice by means of large iron hooks, called 

 ice-anchors. 



The advantages of such a situation must be 

 evident to every seaman, the vessel being by 

 this means protected from the passing ice by 

 the projecting points a-liead and a-stern of 

 her ; and the floes being sometimes deeper in 

 the water than the ships, there is in such a case 

 no danger of their touching the ground. 



We continued fast to this floe of ice for 

 thirteen days, shifting the ships from one part 

 of it to another, as the motion brought them 

 between it and the shore. As this could be 

 effected only by main force, the crew were so 

 constantly engaged in this harassing duty, that 

 their time was divided almost entirely between 

 the windlass and the pump; until the men at 



