A NARROW ESCAPE. 391 



which induces men to face them. Thus, we read of 

 incidents such as the following : * 



The whaling-vessel was running under reefed topsails 

 and foresail at the rate of ten knots an hour before a 

 strong south wind, snow falling in a heavy drift, and a 

 dense fog everywhere prevailing. All the crew were 

 busily employed in getting the boats in-board, and secur- 

 ing them from the heavy and white-crested billows that 

 came rolling up on every side, as if eager to overtake and 

 devour the puny craft that seemed to mock their rage. 

 Suddenly a tremendous iceberg loomed through the mist. 

 To have struck it would have been ruin, to the vessel, 

 and death to her gallant crew. " Hard-a-port," shouted 

 the look-out on the forecastle ; " Hard-a-port," rang in 

 stentorian tones along the deck ; " Hard-a-port," was re- 

 echoed by the ready and vigilant helmsman. He was no 

 less quick to act than to answer, and in a moment, 

 amidst the roaring of the wind, and the creaking of the 

 masts, and the rattling of the cordage, the obedient vessel 

 swung round, and, as she did so, the eddy and current 

 produced by the floating ice-mountain nearly threw her 

 upon her beam-ends to windward. Happily she righted; 

 and as the wind again filled her sails, her lee yard-arms 

 actually scraped the frozen surface of a lofty, precipitous 

 berg, breaking off small fragments, which fell in a 

 shower of ice upon her decks. In another moment 

 she had forged ahead, and was saved ! Her crew could 

 just see the enemy they had so narrowly escaped drifting 

 slowly away into the darkness. 



To Captain Markham we are indebted for another 



* Markham, "A Whaling Cruise," p. 75. 



