158 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



ical period happens to get becalmed far up any of 

 the long bays or fiords ; for when they at length 

 make their way to the entrance, they may chance 

 to find all hope of egress barred for nine months 

 to come — a period synonymous with eternity to 

 most of those unfortunates who have thus been en- 

 trapped. 



On my first visit to Spitzbergen, my yacht had a 

 very narrow escape from being shut into a little 

 bay, near Hvalfiske Point, into which we had en- 

 tered for the purpose of setting-up the rigging for 

 the voyage home. A sudden calm came on, and 

 the ice was advancing from the east with such 

 fearful rapidity that I began to think we were in 

 for an Arctic winter. No amount of whistling 

 would induce a breeze to spring up ; so, after wait- 

 ing to the last moment, I ordered all hands into the 

 boats, and with some difficulty we succeeded in tow- 

 ing her out of danger. I had been averse to adopt 

 this obvious expedient sooner, because we feared 

 that the strength of the current was such that we 

 should not be able to keep the yacht from drifting 

 against a long and formidable reef of rocks which 

 lay below the current ; but, by the assistance of 

 Providence, we got clear of both ice and rocks, and 

 drifted into open water. 



