158 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



the danger of navigating the polar seas in high 

 northern latitudes. 



On returning to England, he made various 

 inquiries respecting vessels that had disappeared 

 in an unknown way, and, by comparing these 

 results with the information which was afforded 

 by the written documents in his possession, 

 he ascertained the name and history of the im- 

 prisoned ship and of her unfortunate master, 

 and found that she had been frozen in thirteen 

 years previous to the time of his discovering her 

 imprisoned in the ice. 



If this strange tale be true, we see that 

 Coleridge's wonderful Rime of the Ancient 

 Mariner may not be all fancy, but may have 

 a substantial basis of fact. Witness the fol- 

 lowing verses, eliminated from it here and 

 there . 



" And now there came both mist and snow, 



And it grew wondrous cold ; 

 And ice, mast high, came floating by, 



As green as emerald. 



" And through the drifts the snowy clifts 



Did send a dismal sheen ; 

 Nor shapes of men, nor beasts we ken 



The ice was all between. 



