1 8 23 . J Sufferings in a 



were shut up, as it were, within a 

 small basin. Four otiier ships were 

 found here, that had struggled through 

 Jiuniberlcss diificulties and dangers, 

 but with as little hope of deliverance. 

 Their perilous position now alarmed 

 the whole crew. Tiie north wind 

 driving the ship southerly, they came 

 to within sight of Gale Hanken land. 

 This is a bay on the oast coast of 

 Greenland, in 75° N. lat. and 1° 5' 

 long. E. of Paris. The ice show ing no 

 glimpse of any opening, the captain 

 determined to shorten each man's 

 allowance. 



August 1st, the ice was driven so 

 forcibly against the s!iip, by a roiig'i 

 wind, that there was tlie utmost dan- 

 ger of being crushed by it ; with but 

 little intermission of labour to the 

 crew, and scarcely an interval of 

 repose. 



On the IGth they descried four other 

 ships approaching them, but in a state 

 no less critical. On the 19th a terrible 

 storm drove the ice-flakes with such 

 force against the ships, that one, from 

 Amsterdam, was very much damaged. 

 The Wilhelmina, just able to keep 

 adoat, was shattered and almost broken 

 up, five or six feet above the water- 

 line. 



August 20, shipwreck appeared in- 

 evitable ; a terrible hurricane did 

 much damage to the ships. One from 

 Hamburgh was beat to pieces, and 

 the ice continued to accumulate to the 

 height of twenty-four feet above the 

 others. The Wilhelmina, after losing 

 her two small boats, an anchor, and 

 part of her rigging, was driven against 

 another ship from Zaadam, command- 

 ed by Claas Janz Castricum. Two out 

 of five vessels were already lost: Cas- 

 tricum's had many leaks; the two 

 others were less damaged. The crews 

 of the other vessels were distributed 

 among these, with all the provisions 

 and other ollects that could be saved. 



August 25, the three remaining 

 ships were immovable in the ice. The 

 captains dispatched twelve men to 

 four other ships, at some distance, in 

 the same position as themselves. 

 From llicse they learned, that two 

 sliips had been crushed by the; pres- 

 sure of the ice, and that two others 

 were in a truly deplorable stale. Two 

 JIaud)nrgli vessels, somewiiat more 

 (liKtant, had perished in a similar 

 ilianiur. 



Though locked up in tlie ice, the 

 ,>s kept (hiving before tlie wind. 



VioMiii.v Mao. No. 380. 



Greenland Winter. 



241 



On the 30th of Aygust they hud sight 

 of Iceland. Two days nftcr, a part of 

 the ice was so agitated, tliat two cap- 

 tains, profiting by tlic circumstance, in 

 all likelihood gained the open sea, as 

 they soon lost sight of them. 



Though the M ilhelmina was hourly 

 threatened with destruction, it was the 

 I3th of September ere it took place. 

 On that day a mountain of ice came 

 suddenly rushing down against it, 

 with a proitigious noise, crushiuff 

 every thing in its way. .So sudden 

 was the accident, that the sailors in 

 their hammocks iiad not time to dress, 

 and were obliged to escape half naked 

 over the ice, exposed to all the inju- 

 ries of the weather. With great diffi- 

 culty could they save any provisions, 

 for the ship Vifas intersected, as it were ; 

 one part being about ten feet above 

 the surface of the water, and the other 

 entirely destroyed, or buried under an 

 enormous heap of ice. 



In this way another ship had been 

 overwhelmed and lost on the 7th of 

 September. The crew fled for an 

 asylum to the ship of Capt. Castricum ; 

 with much toil, they had stopped up 

 all the leaks, and in other respects the 

 ship was in good condition. But the 

 crew had no small trouble to reach tho 

 Castricum. Tiie ice was not uniform- 

 ly solid; clefts and crevices, opening 

 under their feet, exposed them to the 

 risk of a fresh wreck. At length 

 they set up a tent on a solid part of the 

 ice, and, to guard as much as possible 

 against the exees:,ive cold, they kin- 

 dled a fire with the wrecks of the ship. 

 Relying with confidence on the Divine 

 Providence, they expected relief, 

 though it nmst obviously come in some 

 extraordinary way. One inconve- 

 nience, as may readily be conceived, 

 would intrude upon their wretched 

 asylum ; the heat of the fire melted the 

 ice, and they had to dig holes in diffe- 

 rent places, to get rid of the water : 

 without this precaution they must 

 have been continually shifting their 

 habitation. 



Some rest, which these unfortiniate 

 men enjoyed in the night, served to 

 re-animate their courage. Next day 

 they redoubled their efforts to reach 

 the Castricum. A flame in motion, 

 that was on its mainmast, indicated 

 its liberation from the ice; a sight of 

 this rekindled their ardour. 'I'he three 

 shipwrecked captains, Hroertics, J)e 

 Groot, and Voikcrt .lansz, proceeded 

 each at the head of their crew. Their 

 I i route 



