128 MAKE FOR FAIR HAVEN. 



ing morning, when, with the assistance of our 

 boats, she also effected her release. 



Thus, by the blessing of Divine Providence, 

 both vessels were again in an open sea ; and that 

 heart must indeed have been obdurate which 

 did not, secretly, at least, return thanks to the 

 Almighty for a deliverance from such imminent 

 danger. But we could not conceal from our- 

 selves that although now unfettered by ice, our 

 prospects were widely different from those with 

 which, but a few hours before, we navigated 

 an open sea. Then everything was before us, 

 and the mind was buoyant with the prospect 

 of fresh enterprises. Now both vessels were dis- 

 abled, and one, at least, was in a foundering con- 

 dition. So that although ignorant of the full ex- 

 tent to which either had suffered, it was neverthe- 

 less quite evident that, as regarded the main 

 object of the Expedition, they were both useless. 



In a leaky state, we made the best of our way 

 to Fair Haven, in Spitzbergen, and thence to a 

 secure anchorage in South Gat, in the same 

 island. In approaching this anchorage the 

 Trent, under full sail, bounded over a sunken 

 rock, and struck so hard that, had not our 

 recent encounter been fresh in our minds, we 

 should have felt uneasy for the consequence ; 

 but it now passed off without much attention. 



