ICE IN THE AECTIC CUERENT. 451 



immense Iceberg ; she cleared this, though not without difficulty, and brought with 

 her a gale of wind, with snow, sleet, and rain, the whole way to Scotland. 



On May 6th, 1823, the Moioitstone, of and from Plymouth, was lost on an Ice- 

 berg, on her passage to Newfoundland. The master and crew, with passengers, in 

 all ten persons, took to the boat, without provisions, from which three only of the 

 ntunber were taken by a passing ship, on tlie 14th of the siame month, the re- 

 mainder having died of hunger I 



Our next case is that of the AJax, of Wiscasset, New England, on the passage 

 toward London, March and April, 1826. The following is an extract of a letter 

 from William B. Shaw, the commander, to his owners on the subject. His means 

 of protecting the vessel, under perilous circumstances, are worthy of especial 

 notice. 



" On March 12th, at 4 a.m.. (sea account), between lat. 42^ and 44*^ N., weather 

 thick and cloudy, with squalls of hail and snow, we ran the brig in between two 

 reefs of Ice, jammed together apparently in a solid mass, the sea being much 

 smoother than usual, which did not alarm us ; we knew we were far from land or 

 breakers, until we felt the Ice alongsid-e of us ; so sodn as we perceived which, we 

 hove-to untU daylight, when we found we were surrounded by a solid body of Ice. 

 Around us were thirty Icebergs, about 150 feet high, and nearly th6 size of Seg- 

 wine Island. Finding the Ice chafed us badly, we got out fenders. As we had 

 run into the Ice before the wind, it was impossible to get out the same way. At 

 simrise, discovered a narrow opening to leeward, for which we steered under easy 

 saU, and drove her through. We v.ere now in a bay, about IJ mile wide, the 

 reefs on either side, and large cakes of Ice in contact with us. 



" The wind stiU blowing fresh at N.W., we kept her before it about 3 miles, but 

 could not discover an opening to the Southward and Westward ; tacked and steered 

 N.E. about 12 mUea, it being very difficult to avoid the large cakes of Ice that 

 crowded thickly around us. 



"Finding there was no opening m this du-ection, and that the two reefs ex- 

 tended as far as we could see — that there were numerous large islands of Ice North 

 of us, and an almost innumerable collection of small ones ahead, we concluded, 

 at 10 a.m., to crowd her through the Ice ; and having prepared fenders of every 

 kind, such as old junk, spars, cordwood, bales of cotton, and part of one cable, we 

 drifted her into it. We were now in the midst of the Ice in a severe gale, accom- 

 panied with a thick snow storm ; and had it not been for our precaution, in pre- 

 paring fenders, the Ice must have soon made a hole through us. At mid-day, old 

 Sol deigned to show his brazen face, and laughed at our comical situation. This 

 circumstance enabled us to take an observation, by which we found ourselves in 

 latf 44° 30' N., long. 43° W. (between the Azores and Newfoimdland). 



*♦ As our fenders were nearly destroyed, we were compelled to cut up more of 

 our cable, wooden fenders not sinking deep enough for the purpose of defence 

 under water. You may judge of the difficulty of crowding the brig through by oiu- 

 progress, which was but half a mile an hour, under two reefed topsails and fore- 

 sail, the wind blowing heavily. At one o'clock p.m. we suspended two bales of 

 cotton vmder our chains, that they might not be carried away by rolling against 

 the cakes of Ice which we occasionally met, some of which were 100 feet in cir- 

 cumference, and 6 feet thick. 



" At one time we were so completely enclosed, that I got out, with part of the 

 crew, and walked on the Ice — a walk that few mariners have probably enjoyed at 

 that distance from land on the Western Atlantic Ocean. At 8'' in the evening, 

 found the surroimding Ice much thinner, and the islands less frequent ; handed 

 all sails except the close-reefed main-topsail, which we hove to the i^iast to keep 

 her from ranging ahead on the islands. 



"At daylight, finding ourselves clear from the great body of Ice, though not 

 from the islands, we made sail, and steeredE.S.E. and E. N.E. for three days, with 



