106 HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 



over, I sprang out of bed. On going upon deck, I found 

 to my great consternation that the ship was under an enor- 

 mous pressure from numerous huge masses of ice sur- 

 rounding her on all sides, without an opening of water suf- 

 ficient for a boat within two miles ; and no other ship was 

 in sight, though the weather was clear. Most of the crew 

 were preparing for shipwreck, and many of the people were 

 supplicating Divine Mercy for deliverance. At nine 

 A. 'M. most gave up all hopes of saving the ship, and 

 mine were very faint of saving ourselves. Four days' 

 allowance were cooked with all speed ; other provisions 

 were taken .upon deck, and every thing of importance 

 placed in readiness to be thrown on the ice. At eleven 

 A. M. however, our drooping spirits were greatly revived 

 by observing a slight relaxation of the pressure ; but in 

 half an hour we were again thrown into despair by the 

 return of the pressure. At noon, a man on the mast head 

 saw a ship (the Baffin), on which we instantly made sig- 

 nals of distress. At this time a dead silence prevailed 

 throughout the ship ; the crew looked on one another in 

 awful suspense. At one time the pressure was so strong 

 that the pannels of the Captain's state-room were forced 

 out of their framing. About half an hour after this the 

 ship was suddenly thrown upon her larboard side, on 

 which all hands sprang upon deck. I shall never forget 

 the confusion of the poor men, nor their wild looks when 

 they gained the deck ; for half of them were below at the 

 time of the shock, and from the smallness of the hatch, only 

 one could get up at a time. Some leaped upon the ship's 

 side and were going upon the ice, when the Captain cried 

 but to them to behave like men and stick to the ship as 

 long as she remained above water ! We all stood on that 

 part of the ship nearest the ice, with our bags of clothing 

 on our shoulders. For fifteen minutes we had patiently 

 waited our doom ; when by the interposition of Divine 

 Providence, the wind changed, the ice began to set off* 





