118 DANGERS IN 



upon deck, I found to my great consternation that 

 the ship was under an enormous pressure from nu- 

 merous huge masses of ice surrounding her on all 

 sides, without an opening of water sufficient for a 

 boat within two miles : and no other ship was in 

 sight, though the weather was clear. Most of the 

 crew were providing for shipwreck, and many of 

 the people were supplicating Divine Mercy for 

 deliverance. At nine a. m. most gave up all hopes 

 of saving the ship, and mine were very faint of 

 {saving ourselves. Four days' allowance were cooked 

 with all speed ; other provisions were taken upon 

 deck, and every thing of importance placed in 

 readiness to be thrown on the ice. At eleven a. m., 

 however, our drooping spirits were greatly revived 

 by observing a slight relaxation of pressure ; but 

 in half an hour we were again throwTi into despair 

 by the return of the pressure. At noon, a man on 

 the mast-head saw a ship (the Baffin), on which 

 we instantly made signals of distress. At this 

 time a dead silence prevailed throughout the ship ; 

 the crew looking on one another in awful suspense. 

 At one time the pressure was so strong that the 

 paimels of the captain's state-room were forced out 

 of their framing. About half an hour after this 

 the ship was suddenly thrown upon her larboard 

 side, on which all hands sprang upon deck. I shall 

 never forget the confusion of the poor men, nor their 

 wild looks when they gained the deck ; for half of 

 them were below at the time of the shock, and from 

 the smallness of the hatch, only one could get up at 



