In the Later Days 403 



but on September 2 it came with a fury that was 

 irresistible. The Comet, a ship that had faced 

 the pack many a time, was caught between two 

 huge floes and squeezed. Every frame was 

 broken and her stern was forced out until it hung 

 in a bulging mass above the ice. The crew fled 

 to the other ships and were saved. 



Some of the captains would now have been 

 glad to up anchor for home, but it was too late; 

 so they kept on whaling, hoping for a northeast 

 gale. So it happened on the yth while the crew 

 of the bark Roman were cutting in a whale, the 

 ice began to swirl under the impulse of the wind, 

 and it literally ground the old vessel to kindling 

 wood. The next day the Awashonks was de- 

 stroyed in like fashion. The Awashonks was 

 the vessel that, under Captain Prince Coffin, 

 was attacked by the natives of Namorik Island 

 away back in 1835, with the result that Coffin, 

 two mates, and four of the sailors were killed. 

 Then under the impulse of the gale the ice began 

 to rise up over the shoals near the beach, and 

 all hands soon saw that it would certainly sweep 

 across the beach itself before many days. 



