NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 405 



backed astern clear of the berg, and having finished reefing and furled the topsails, laid 

 to under fore and aft sails on the port tack to get in the wreck of the jib-boom. The 

 weather continued to get gradually worse, and the heavy snowfall obscuring the view, 

 rendered the position an anxious one. From 8 to 9 a.m. the velocity of the wind was 

 24 miles per hour, from 9 a.m. to noon 37 miles per hour. At noon steam was got up 

 in all four boilers, and the main deck ports barred in to prepare for all emergencies, the 

 velocity of the wind was 42 miles per hour, and the vision limited to a distance of a 

 quarter of a mile by the heavy snowfall. 



At 2.45 p.m., in the thickest part of a squall, the loom of a large iceberg was seen 

 at the lee bow. As the ship was drifting down on it, and there was no room to steam 

 ahead, the vessel went full speed astern, took in the fore trysail and staysail, and set 

 the weather clue of the main topsail aback, the yards having been previously laid. For- 

 tunately, the ship gathered stern-way, and kept fairly broadside to the wind until 

 the berg was cleared. An attempt was then made to steam up under the lee of this 

 iceberg and use it as a breakwater, but with full power steam and close-reefed after sails 

 the ship refused to face the wind, so it was again necessary to lay to and drift. After doing 

 so for about half a mile another large berg was seen during a lull in the snowfall half a mile 

 ahead. The ship was accordingly allowed to drift towards it, and the wind moderating 

 slightly, was able to tack under its lee with steam and fore and aft sails, and then return 

 towards the berg which had been nearly fouled. Having proved the space between the 

 two bergs to be free from danger, the anxious night was spent going from one to the 

 other. At 4 p.m. the velocity of the wind decreased from 42 to 37 miles per hour. At 

 7 p.m. the snow squalls ceased, and the limit of vision was increased to three or four 

 miles ; there were then thirteen bergs in sight. After 8 p.m. the wind began to 

 moderate. 



The barometer fell rapidly as the wind freshened, reaching its lowest point (28 "508 

 inches) at 10 p.m. ; the mean temperature of the day was 25°"8, falling to 22° - 8 at 

 6 p.m. ; the sea surface temperature was 31°"6. It was extremely fortunate that the gale 

 broke and the snow ceased before night ; had it continued with sufficient force to pre- 

 vent the ship maintaining a position between two known bergs during the darkness, it 

 would have been very difficult to avoid a collision with the ice. 



On the 25th, at 3 a.m., the wind having moderated to force 5, and the weather being 

 fairly clear, sail was again made towards Termination Land ; as the vessel proceeded 

 towards the pack the berg was passed which had been fouled early on the previous day, 

 the score on its surface made by the jib-boom remaining well-defined notwithstanding 

 the heavy fall of snow. At 9 a.m., being close to the edge of the pack, which was here 

 very loose, the ship ran into it for a distance of a mile, to get as near Termination Land 

 as practicable, and to examine the nature of the ice composing the pack. A boat was 

 lowered and some pieces of the ice collected, some of which was of a dirty yellow colour, 



C 



