14:0 DRIFT OF THE "FOX." 



means arrested by the icy hand of the hyperborean 

 winter. 



A very remarkable drift of this kind is recorded 

 by Captain M'Clintock of the Fox, which is worthy 

 of being noticed here, as illustrative of the subject 

 we are now considering, and also as showing in a 

 remarkable manner the awful dangers to which 

 navigators may be exposed by the disruption of the 

 pack in spring, and the wonderful, almost miracu- 

 lous, manner in which they are delivered from im- 

 minent destruction. 



In attempting to cross Baffin's Bay, by pene- 

 trating what is called the " middle ice," the Fox 

 was beset, and finally frozen in for the winter ; and 

 here, although their voyage may be said to have 

 just commenced, they were destined to spend many 

 months in helpless inactivity and comparative peril 

 and privation. Their little vessel lay in the centre 

 of a field of ice of immense extent ; so large, in- 

 deed, that they could not venture to undertake a 

 journey to ascertain its limits. Yet this field 

 slowly and steadily descended Baffin's Bay during 

 the whole winter, and passed over no fewer than 

 1385 statute miles in the space of 242 days, dur- 

 ing which period the Fox was firmly embedded 

 in it! 



It is with difficulty the mind can form any ade- 

 quate conception of the position of those voyagers ; 

 unable to move from their icy bed, yet constantly 

 drifting over miles and miles of ocean ; uncertain 



