CHAPTER XIV. 



APPOINTMENT AS MASTER HEAVY SWELL PROVIDENTIAL 



ESCAPE FROM AN ICEBERG EARLY ICE PRESSURES 



DISAPPOINTMENT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES MELVILLE 



BAY AND ITS DANGERS WRECKS SUCCESSES AND 



REVERSES. 



THE following year : i86i I was appointed master of 

 my old ship, Truelove. 



We left Hull the first week in March, and brought up in 

 Grimsby Roads on account of a strong south-easterly wind 

 blowing. We lay at anchor two days, when a favourable 

 wind sprang up, then got under weigh, discharged our pilot, 

 and proceeded towards the Shetland Islands. 



Passing Sumbro' Head, we encountered a strong wind 

 with thick drizzling rain, and eventually arrived safely in 

 Lerwick harbour. We remained there a few days, and 

 shipped our complement of men ; then set sail with a fresh 

 southerly wind through the North Channel. After passing 

 the island of Unst, we hauled to the westward. An easterly 

 breeze favoured us for three days, enabling us to make our 

 southing, and bring us into the usual track. 



During our passage towards Cape Farewell, we fell in with 

 many icebergs in Lat 58 N., Long. 44 10 W. The day 

 was beautiful and clear, and the clouds near the horizon to the 

 northward appeared so much like the land with its snow- 

 capped mountains that any experienced person might easily 

 be deceived, although we knew the land to be about one 

 hundred and ten miles distant. When such clouds appear, 

 they are called " Cape Flyaway " by the sailors. Three 



