POLAR ICE. — DRIFTING. 295 



miles, — we found ourselves at the very margin of the 

 sea, separated only by a narrow sea-stream. The 

 sea was so great without, and the wind so violent, 

 that we durst not hazard an attempt to force 

 through this remaining obstacle. After waiting 

 about thirty hours, on the morning of the 28th of 

 May, the weather cleared, and the wind abated. 

 The sea-stream which, the preceding day, did not 

 exceed two hundred yards in breadth, was generally 

 augmented to upwards of a mile broad. One place 

 alone was visible, where the breadth was less con- 

 siderable ; to that we directed our course, forced 

 the ship into it, and by prompt and vigorous exer- 

 tions, were enabled to surmount every difficulty, and 

 accomplish our final escape into the open sea. 



I have been thus minute in the relation of the 

 progress of our extrication from an alarming, though 

 not very uncommon, state of bcsetmcnt, both for 

 the purpose of giving a faint idea of the difficulties 

 and dangers which those engaged in the whale- 

 fishery have occasionally to encounter, and also more 

 particularly to show the extraordinary 'manner in 

 which ships are imperceptibly immured amidst the 

 ice, and carried away from their original situation, 

 by the regularity of its drift to the south-westward. 

 From this narrative, it will appear, that, not- 

 withstanding we only penetrated 25 or 30 miles 

 on our ingress, and among ice most widely dispo- 

 sed ; yet, before our extrication was accomplished, 



