266 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Feb. 



this was soon followed by a tremendous blow as our stern 

 struck the ice. We rebounded and struck again, and our 

 head was just beginning to fall off and the ship to get broad- 

 side on (heaven knows what would have happened then) when 

 steam was announced. Skelton said he could only go slow 

 at first, but hoped to work up. I told him to give her every 

 ounce he could, when he could, and he fled below to do his 

 best. 



' With the engines going ahead and the windlass heaving 

 in, we gradually pulled up to our anchor and tripped it ; then 

 we ceased to advance. The engines alone would not send the 

 ship to windward in the teeth of the gale ; we just held our 

 own, but only just. Once around Hut Point I knew we 

 should be safe with an open sea before us ; the end of the 

 Point was only a quarter of a mile out, but off the end, some 

 twenty or thirty yards beyond, I knew there was a shallow 

 patch which had also to be cleared to get safely away. So 

 finding we could make no headway I started to edge out 

 towards the Point. All seemed to be going well until we 

 got opposite the Point itself, when I saw to my alarm that 

 although there was no current in our bay there was a strong 

 one sweeping past the Point. 



1 Nothing remained but to make a dash for it, and I swung 

 the helm over and steered for the open. But the moment 

 our bows entered the fast-running stream we were swung 

 round like a top, and the instant after we crashed head fore- 

 most on to the shoal and stopped dead with our masts 

 shivering. We were in the worst possible position, dead to 

 windward of the bank with wind, sea, and current all tending 

 to set us faster ashore. 



'We took the shore thus at about n a.m., and'the hours 

 that followed were truly the most dreadful I have ever spent. 

 Each moment the ship came down with a sickening thud 

 which shook her from stem to stern, and each thud seemed to 

 show more plainly that, strong as was her build, she could not 

 long survive such awful blows. As soon as possible I had 

 soundings taken all around and found the depth was 1 2 feet 



