Perilous situation of the Vincennes. . , . -of-mm /-IT.TTTC.T-I 

 The Vincennes clears the ice and AIN1ARC11C CRUISE. 



sails for the south. Antarctic 

 Continent. 



141 



we were passing large masses of drift ice, and ice- 

 islands became more numerous. At a little after 

 one o'clock it was terrific, and the sea was now 

 so heavy, that I was obliged to reduce sail still 

 further : the fore and main-topsails were clewed 

 up ; the former was furled, but the latter being a 

 new sail, much difficulty was found in securing it. 



A seaman, by the name of Brooks, in endeavour- 

 ing to execute the order to furl, got on the lee 

 yardarm, and the sail having blown over the yard, 

 prevented his return. Not being aware of his 

 position until it was reported to me from the fore- 

 castle, he remained there some time. On my 

 seeing him he appeared stiff, and clinging to the 

 yard and lift. Spilling-lines were at once rove, 

 and an officer with several men sent aloft to rescue 

 him, which they succeeded in doing by passing a 

 bowline around his body and dragging him into 

 the top. He was almost frozen to death. Several 

 of the best men were completely exhausted with 

 cold, fatigue, and excitement, and were sent below. 

 This added to our anxieties, and but little hope 

 remained to me of escaping : I felt that neither 

 prudence nor foresight could avail in protecting 

 the ship and crew. All that could be done was to 

 be prepared for any emergency, by keeping every 

 one at his station. 



We were swiftly dashing on, for I felt it neces- 

 sary to keep the ship under rapid way through the 

 water, to enable her to steer and work quickly. 

 Suddenly many voices cried out, " Ice ahead ! " 

 then, " On the weather bow ! " and again, " On 

 the lee bow and abeam !" All hope of escape 

 seemed in a moment to vanish; return we could 

 not, as large ice-islands had just been passed to 

 leeward : so we dashed on, expecting every mo- 

 ment the crash. The ship, in an instant, from 

 having her lee guns under water, rose upright ; 

 and so close wei-e we passing to leeward of one of 

 these huge islands, that our trysails were almost 

 thrown aback by the eddy wind. The helm was 

 put up to pay the ship off, but the proximity of 

 those under our lee bade me keep my course. All 

 was now still except the distant roar of the wild 

 storm, that was raging behind, before, and above 

 us; the sea was in great agitation, and both officers 

 and men were in the highest degree excited. The 

 ship continued her way, and as we proceeded, a 

 glimmering of hope arose, for we accidentally had 

 hit upon a clear passage between two large ice- 

 islands, which in fine weather we should not dare 

 to have ventured through. The suspense endured 

 while making our way between them was intense, 

 but of short duration ; and my spirits rose as I 

 heard the whistling of the gale grow louder and 

 louder before us, as we emerged from the passage. 

 We had escaped an awful death, and were again 

 tempest- tost. 



We encountered many similar dangers that night. 

 At half-past 4 A.M., I found we had reached the 

 small open space laid down on my chart, and at 

 five o'clock I hove-to the ship. I had been under 

 intense excitement, and had not been off the deck 

 for nine hours, and was now thankful to the Provi- 

 dence that had guided, watched over, and preserved 

 us. Until 7 A.M. all hands were on deck, when 

 there was some appearance of the weather mode- 

 rating, and they were piped down. 



This gale was from the south-east, from which 

 quarter it blew during the whole of its strength ; 



and when it began to moderate, the wind veered to 

 the southwai'd. By noon we felt satisfied that the 

 gale was over, and that we had escaped, although 

 it was difficult to realize a sense of security when 

 the perils we had just passed through were so fresh 

 in our minds, and others still impending. Towards 

 four o'clock it cleared off, and we saw but few ice- 

 bergs near us. Our longitude was found to be 140 

 E., latitude 63 30' S., and I again made sail for 

 the ice to the south, to pass over the very route we 

 had just traversed through so many perils. 



The wind had now hauled to the south-west. At 

 6 p. M., we again began to enter among ice-islands. 

 The weather appeared settled ; but I had so often 

 been deceived by its fickleness, that I felt no re- 

 liance ought to be put in its continuance. A power- 

 ful inducement was held out to us, in the prospect 

 of getting close enough to effect a landing; and this 

 rendered us insensible to the dangers. 



On the morning of the 30th the sun rose in great 

 brilliancy, and the scene was altogether unlike that 

 we had passed through only twenty-four hours be- 

 fore. All was now quiet; a brisk breeze blew from 

 the eastward, all sail was set, and there was every 

 prospect that we might accomplish our object ; for 

 the land was in sight, and the icebergs seemed 

 floating in quiet. We wound our way through 

 them in a sea so smooth that a yawl might have 

 passed over it in safety. No straight line could 

 have been drawn from us in any direction, that 

 would not have cut a dozen icebergs in the same 

 number of miles, and the wondering exclamations 

 of the officers and crew were oft repeated, " How 

 could we have passed through them unharmed \ " 

 and, " What a lucky ship ! " At eight o'clock, we 

 had reached the icy barrier, and hove-to close to 

 it. It was tantalizing, with the land in sight, to be 

 again and again blocked out. Open water was seen 

 near the land to the south-west of us, and a tor- 

 tuous channel through the broken ice to leeward, 

 apparently leading to it. All sail was immediately 

 crowded ; we passed rapidly through, and found 

 ourselves again in clear water, which reached to 

 the shores : the barrier extending in a line with 

 our course, about two miles to windward, and a 

 clear channel to the north-west, about two miles 

 wide, as far as the eye could reach. Seeing this, I 

 remarked to one of the officers that it would have 

 been a good place to drift in during the last gale, 

 little thinking that in a few short hours it would 

 serve us for that purpose, in still greater need. A 

 brisk gale ensued, and the ship ran at the rate of 

 nine or ten miles an hour ; one reef was taken in 

 the topsails, and we stood directly in for the most 

 southerly part of the bay. 



This bay was formed partly by rocks and partly 

 by ice-islands. The latter were aground, and on the 

 westei-n side of the bay extended about five miles 

 to the northward of our position. 



While we stood on in this direction the gale 

 increased, and our room became so circumscribed 

 that we had not time on any one tack to reduce 

 our canvas, before it became necessary to go 

 about. In this way we approached within half a 

 mile of the dark volcanic rocks, which appeared 

 on both sides of us, and saw the land gradually 

 rising beyond the ice to the height of three thou- 

 sand feet, and entirely covered with snow. It 

 could be distinctly seen extending to the east and 

 west of our position fully sixty miles. I make this 



