COLLAPSE OF AN ICEBERG. 



133 



commanders mutually agreed to part company : Cornelison Rijp, who now disappears from 

 the scene,, being of opinion that by sailing back to Spitzbergen, which they had just left, 

 he would find a passage near its east side; while Barents favoured an eastward course in 

 a lower parallel, and steered for Waigatz Strait and Nova Zembla, which latter he reached 

 on July 17th. As far as the ice would permit they stood to the northwards, and at the 

 end of the first week of August doubled Point Nassau, where, the wind being contrary, 

 they made the ship fast to an iceberg, thirty-six fathoms (216 feet) under water, and 

 sixteen fathoms (90 feet) above it. This berg suddenly, without warning, broke up : le with 



TRANSPORTING "WOOD ON SLEDGES FOR BUILDING THE HOUSE. 



one great cracke it burst into foure hundred pieces at the least." Ships have often been 

 overwhelmed in this manner. Ice in all forms now surrounded them; the ship's rudder 

 was smashed to pieces, and their boat crushed like a nutshell, while a similar fate was 

 expected constantly for the vessel herself, which had become much strained. They had 

 equally to give up all hopes of proceeding or returning that season, and with great 

 difficulty they got to the west side of a harbour on Nova Zembla, named by them Ice 

 Haven. Here, as we shall see, they had to pass a long winter, under circumstances of 

 great hardship and danger. 



On August 27th the ice drove with great force on the ship's bows, and lifted her 

 up several feet. They feared that she must be capsized. Shortly afterwards the ship 

 burst out of the ice, " with such a noyse and so great a crack " that all on board feared 

 their last hour was come. On the 30th, during a heavy snow and boisterous weather, 



