122 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. 



three miles to the southward of the dreaded cape, the 

 ice inshore ceased drifting to the southward, but the 

 floe to which we were secured continued its course. 

 Taking advantage of the momentary opening in the 

 ice thus occasioned, I steamed towards the land in the 

 vain hope of finding a friendly notch in the ice- wall 

 in which to secure the ship. The water continuing to 

 favour us we reached the shore, and I found to my 

 intense relief that by keeping very close to the ice- 

 wall we should be enabled to force a passage through 

 the lighter pieces of ice bordering the main pack, which 

 by this time was being carried to the northward by 

 the tidal current at the rate of at least two miles an 

 hour. 



Such favourable circumstances could not be ex- 

 pected to last for long, so we proceeded at full speed ; 

 but this again was a source of danger, and the very 

 frequent changes of the helm as we made a tortuous 

 course through the narrow water-channel, frequently 

 grazing the ice-wall, caused much excitement. 



At 2 A.M. on the 3rd all uncertainty of our reaching 

 the water off Lincoln Bay was at an end, and, the 

 water-way gradually increasing in width, we bade 

 good-bye to the pack off Cape Union with no greater 

 damage than two boats having been badly stove 

 against the cliff of the ice- wall. Pieces of ice often 

 fell into them, and that they escaped being torn away 

 from the davits was a subject of wonder and congratu- 

 lation. 



By this time the fine weather had given place to a 

 very heavy snow-storm from the south-west, with a 

 strong wind, which forced the ice off shore and enabled 



