A CRISIS. 203 



o fast that though all hands were immediately called they had barely time, with the greatest 

 exertion, to extricate three of the boats, one of them, in fact, being hoisted up when only 

 a few feet from the crest of the solid wave, which held a steady course directly for the 

 quarter, almost overtopping it, and continuing to elevate itself until about twenty-five 

 feet high. A piece had just reached the rudder slung athwart the stern, and at the moment 

 when, to all appearances, both that and a portion at least of the framework were expected 

 to be staved in and buried beneath the ruins, the motion ceased; at the same time the 

 crest of the nearest part of the wave toppled over, leaving a deep wall extending from 

 thence beyond the quarter. The effect of the whole was a leak in the extreme run, oozing, 

 as far as could be ascertained, from somewhere about the sternpost. It ran in along the 

 lining like a rill for about half an hour, when it stopped, probably closed by a counter 

 pressure. The other leaks could be kept under by the incessant use of one pump. 



"Our intervals of repose were % now very short, for at 12.50 a.m., March 16th, 

 another rush drove irresistibly on the larboard quarter and stern, and, forcing the ship 

 ahead, raised her upon the ice. A chaotic ruin followed ; our poor and cherished 

 courtyard, its walls and arched doors, gallery, and well-trodden paths, were rent, and 

 in some parts ploughed up like dust. The ship was careened fully four streaks, and 

 sprang a leak as before. Scarcely were ten minutes left us for the expression of our 

 astonishment that anything of human build could outlive such assaults, when, at 1 a.m., 

 another equally violent rush succeeded ; and, in its way towards the starboard quarter, 

 threw up a rolling wave thirty feet high, crowned by a blue square mass of many 

 tons, resembling the entire side of a house, which, after hanging for some time in 

 doubtful poise on the ridge, at length fell with a crash into the hollow, in which, as 

 in a cavern, the after-part of the ship seemed imbedded. It was indeed an awful 

 crisis, rendered more frightful from the mistiness of the night and dimness of the 

 moon. The poor ship cracked and trembled violently ; and no one could say that the 

 next minute would not be her last, and, indeed, his own too, for with her our means 

 of safety would probably perish. The leak continued, and again (most likely as before, 

 from counter pressure) the principal one closed up. When all this was over, and there 

 seemed to be a chance of a respite, I ordered a double allowance of preserved meat, 

 &c., to be issued to the crew, whose long exposure to the cold rendered some extra 

 stimulant necessary. Until 4 a.m. the rushes still kept coming from different direc- 

 tions, but fortunately with diminished force. From that hour to 8 a.m. everything 

 was still, and the ice quite stationary, somewhat to the westward of the singular 

 point, terminating as it were in a knob, which was the farthest eastern extreme yes- 

 terday. We certainly were not more than three miles from the barren and irregular 

 land abeam, which received the name of Point Terror. To this was 'attached a rugged 

 shelf of what for the time might be called shore ice, having at its seaward face a 

 mural ridge of unequal, though in many parts imposing, height, certainly not less 

 than from fifty to sixty feet." 



At last the long-delayed day of release drew nigh. The ship had now been three- 

 fourths of a year enclosed in the ice, with which it had drifted several hundred miles, 

 when, on July llth, "the crew had resumed their customary labour, and, as they 



