84 PRESSURE OF THE ICE. 



cumstance it eventually proved that we had been 

 prevented nearing the margin of the ice, for on 

 the following morning it blew a hard gale from 

 the southwest, and such a heavy sea rolled in 

 upon the pack, that, although the ships were nine 

 miles distant from the margin of the surf, it was 

 distinctly heard like distant thunder. 



The pressure of the ice around the ships now 

 became very great; every pool of water was 

 closed, and the enormous force acting upon the 

 floes was occasionally apparent by large pieces 

 of ice being forced upon those with which 

 they were in contact. In anticipation of an oc- 

 currence of this nature, we had taken the pre- 

 caution of placing the vessels in small bays, 

 formed in the field, to which they were secured, 

 and were thus, in a great measure, protected 

 by the points of ice on either side of us. But, 

 notwithstanding this advantage, it was evident, 

 by the grinding noise against their sides, that 

 they sustained considerable pressure throughout 

 the gale. 



At one time, when the Trent appeared to be 

 so closely wedged up that it did not seem pos- 

 sible for her to be moved, she was suddenly 

 lifted four feet by an enormous mass of ice 

 getting under her keel ; at another, the frag- 

 ments of the crumbling floe were piled up under 



