POLAR ICE. — INFLUENCE ON THE SEA. 303 



vigations that can be conceived. Each lump of ice, 

 by its laborious motion, and its violent concussions 

 of the water, becomes buried in foam, which, with 

 its rapid drift, and the attendant horrid noise, in- 

 spires the passing mariner with the most alarming 

 impressions ; whilst the scene before him, is, if pos- 

 sible, rendered more awful, by his consciousness of 

 the many disasters which have been occasioned by 

 similar dangers. 



When exposed to a high sea, the largest and 

 heaviest pieces of drift-ice are forced to leeward with 

 much greater velocity than small and light pieces. 

 Masses of ice capable of holding a ship to windward 

 in a storm, when the sea is smooth, frequently drive, 

 in a swell, with a velocity of two or three miles an 

 hour. This renders loose ice very dangerous in a 

 swell, particularly with light winds or calms. In 

 the season of 1818, the ship I commanded, the 

 Fame, was exposed to great danger by an insulated 

 piece of ice nmning against her in a calm. We 

 were in latitude 78°, lying at a short distance from 

 the western ice, at the conclusion of a gale of wind. 

 A fog, intensely thick, prevailed, the sea was very 

 high, but the wind had just subsided to a calm. 

 No chance of danger from ice was apprehended, un- 

 til a prodigious lump was heard approaching. It was 

 not a hundred yards distant when it made its ap- 

 pearance, and, in a state of tremendous agitation, 

 with the sea beating, roaring, and breaking upon it 

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