8 Thirty Years 



awaited in breathless anxiety the moment of concus- 

 sion. It soon arrived — the brig, cutting her way 

 through the light ice, came in violent contact with the 

 main body. In an instant we all lost our footing, the 

 masts bent with the impetus, and the cracking tim- 

 bers from below bespoke a pressure which was calcu- 

 lated to awaken our serious apprehensions." The 

 gloominess of the scene and circumstances was not 

 cheered by the dolorous tolling of the ship's great 

 bell, which never sounded of itself in the roughest 

 gale, but now was so swung by the violent motion of 

 the ship, that its deep tones pealed forth like a death- 

 knell, and the officers, fearing the awakened supersti- 

 tion of the men, ordered it to be muffled. A few 

 hours released the vessels from their imprisonment, 

 but the " Dorothea" was found to be completely dis- 

 abled. A short time at Fairhaven in Spitzbcrgen was 

 spent in necessary repairs, and even then she was unfit 

 for any further service than the voyage to England. 

 Franklin volunteered to prosecute the enterprise with 

 the " Trent" alone, but the Admiralty orders opposed 

 such a proceeding, and the vessels returned home in 

 company. 



In L819, Sir John Franklin — then Captain Frank- 

 lin — was appointed to the command of an Expedition 

 from the Bhores of Hudson's Bay, to explore the 

 Northern Coast of America, from the mouth of Cop- 



