Perilous situation of the Peacock. 

 Ice-anchors planted. 



ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 



Perilous situation of the 

 Peacock. 



137 



This afforded the last hope of preventing her from 

 coming in contact with it ; and this hope failed 

 also ; for, grinding along the ice, she went nearly 

 stern foremost, and struck with her larboard quar- 

 ter upon the ice-island with a tremendous crash. 



The first effect of this blow was to carry away 

 the spanker-boom, the larboard stern-davit, and to 

 crush the stern-boat. The starboard stern-davit 

 was the next to receive the shock, and as this is 

 connected with the spar-deck bulwarks, the whole 

 of them were started ; the knee, a rotten one, which 

 bound the davit to the taffrail, was broken off, and 

 with it all the stanchions to the plank-sheer, as far 

 as the gangway. 



Severe as was this shock, it happened fortunately 

 that it was followed by as great a rebound. This 

 gave the vessel a cant to starboard, and by the 

 timely aid of the jib and other sails, carried her 

 clear of the ice-island, and forced her into a small 

 opening. While doing this, and before the vessel 

 had moved hsilf her length, an impending mass of 

 ice and snow fell in her wake. Had this fallen only 

 a few seconds earlier, it must have crushed the 

 vessel to atoms. 



It was also fortunate that the place where she 

 struck the ice- island was near its southern end, so 

 that there was but a short distance to be passed 

 before she was entirely clear of it. This gave more 

 room for the drifting ice, and permitted the vessel 

 to be worked by her sails. 



The relief from this pressing danger, however 

 gratifying, gave no assurance of ultimate safety. 

 The weather had an unusually stormy appearance; 

 and the destruction of the vessel seemed almost 

 inevitable, with the loss of every life on board. 

 They had the melancholy alternative in prospect of 

 being frozen to death one after the other, or perish- 

 ing in a body by the dissolving of the iceberg on 

 which they should take refuge, should the vessel 

 sink. 



When the dinner hour arrived the vessel was 

 again fast in the ice, and nothing could for a time 

 be done : it was therefore piped as usual. This 

 served to divert the minds of the men from the 

 dangers around them. 



When the meal was over, the former manoeuv- 

 ring was resorted to, the yards being kept swinging 

 to and fro, in order to keep the ship's head in the 

 required direction. She was labouring in the swell, 

 witli ice grinding and thumping against her on all 

 sides ; every moment something either fore or aft 

 was carried away chains, bolts, bobstays, bow- 

 sprit, shrouds; even the anchors were lifted, coming 

 down with a surge that carried away the eyebolts 

 .and lashings, and left them to hang by the stoppers. 

 The cut-water also was injured, and every timber 

 seemed to groan. 



Similar dangers attended those in the boats. 

 Passed Midshipman Eld was sent to plant the ice- 

 anchors : there was no room for the use of oars ; 

 the grinding and grating of the ice, as it rose and 

 fell with the swell, rendered great precaution ne- 

 cessary to prevent the boat from being swamped or 

 crushed ; and when it is stated that two hours of 

 hard exertion were required to plant the ice- 

 anchors, some idea of the difficulty attending this 

 service will be had. But this was not all ; the 

 difficulty of returning was equally great, and no 

 possible way of effecting it seemed to suggest itself. 

 The sides of the icebergs could not be ascended, 



and to approach the berg on the side next the ship 

 was certain destruction to the boat and crew, for 

 the ice and water were foaming like a cauldron ; 

 and to abandon the former was equally out of the 

 question. At last a chance offered, although almost 

 a hopeless one, by passing between two of these 

 bergs, that appeared on the other side of a small 

 clear space. The boat was upon a small piece of 

 ice, from which, by great exertions, she was 

 launched ; a few pulls at the oars brought them 

 to the passage ; the bergs were closing fast, and 

 agitated by the swell; no time, therefore, was to be 

 lost : the danger was already great, and in a few 

 seconds it would be impossible to pass. They 

 entered ; their oars caught, and they got but half- 

 way through when the icebergs closed in upon 

 them, and pressed the gunwales together, so as 

 almost to crush the boat ; the water entered her, 

 and she was near sinking, when the berg stopped, 

 retreated, and by another hard shove they went 

 through, and were soon alongside the ship. 



Every exertion was now made to work the ship 

 and avoid heavy thumps from the ice. The mode 

 resorted to, to get the ship about, was a novel one, 

 namely, by urging her lee bow against a piece of 

 ice, which had the same effect as giving her a lee 

 helm ; but this was found rather too expensive a 

 mode of effecting the object, and on the pumpa 

 showing an increase of water, it was discontinued. 

 The ice had been rapidly accumulating around the 

 ship, contracting still more narrowly the space or 

 area in which they were, and rendering their 

 situation more hazardous. 



At 4 P.M., they clewed up the topsails, the ship 

 being fast in the ice, with the wind directly in from 

 the seaward. The ice-anchors were now again run 

 out, in hopes of relieving her from some of the 

 strain. A short time afterwards the ice clearing 

 from the stern enabled them to unship the rudder, 

 which was taken on board in two pieces : it was 

 immediately placed on the quarter-deck, and all 

 the carpenters employed on it. 



It soon began to snow violently, and no clear sea 

 could be seen from the ship in any direction. It 

 becoming obscure, the chance was that they would 

 have to take up their last abode there. About six 

 o'clock the weather cleared a little, and the wind 

 freshened ; they parted the hawser attached to the 

 ice-anchor, and made sail again for the clear sea, 

 which could now be seen from the masthead. To- 

 wards 8 P. M., as if to blast the little hope that the 

 continuance of clear weather inspired, the ship took 

 a wrong cant, and was forced into a small opening 

 leading further into the ice to leeward, and towards 

 the massive walls of the berg. Great exertions 

 were made, and fortunately, by the aid of the ice- 

 anchors and sails, they succeeded in getting her 

 round, and her head again pointed towards the 

 clear sea; but they were shortly afterwards wedged 

 in between two large masses of ice. At midnight 

 the sea was observed to rise, although the wind 

 had not increased, causing much motion among the 

 ice ; and the stormy appearance of the sky con- 

 tinued, and gave promise of a gale. The only hope 

 left was to force the ship through, and every means 

 were employed to effect this object. The ice they 

 had now to contend with was of larger dimensions, 

 and the increased sea rendered it doubly dangerous. 

 Some of the shocks against it were so heavy as to 

 excite fears that the ship's bow would be driven iu, 



