144 SUDDEN DESTRUCTION. 



the loose ice, and with difficulty, and with the assist- 

 ance of those on the ice, succeeded in getting on the 

 unbroken part, with the loss of the slippers I had on 

 when quitting the vessel, with wet feet, <fec. The 

 cold was little thought of at the exciting moment 

 life, not property, being the object to be saved. 



" After being on the ice about five minutes, the 

 timbers, &c., in the ship cracking up as matches 

 would in the hand, it eased for a short time ; and 

 I, with some others, returned to the ship, with the 

 view of saving some of our effects. 



" Captain Inglefield now came running towards 

 the ship, and ordered me to see if the ice was 

 through it. On looking down into the hold, I saw 

 all the beams, &c., falling about in a manner that 

 would have been certain death to me had I ven- 

 tured down there. But there was no occasion for 

 that (I mean to ascertain the fact of the ice being 

 through), it being too evident that the ship could 

 not last many minutes. I then sounded the well, 

 and found five feet in the hold ; and, whilst in the 

 act of sounding, a heavier nip than before pressed 

 out the starboard bow, and the ice was forced right 

 into the forecastle. Every one then abandoned the 

 ship, with what few clothes they saved some with 

 only what they had on. The ship now began to 

 sink fast, and from the time her bowsprit touched 

 the ice until her mast-heads were out of sight, did 

 not occupy abo,ve one minute and a half ! 



" It was a very sad and unceremonious way of 



