THE NARRATIVE OF CHARLES WILKES. 379 
passed before she was entirely clear of it. This gave more room for the 
drifting ice, and permitted the vessel to be worked by her sails. 
The relief from this pressing danger, however gratifying, gave no 
assurance of ultimate safety; the weather had an unusually stormy 
appearance, and the destruction of the vessel seemed almost inevitable, 
with the loss of every life on board. They had the melancholy alter- 
‘PEACOCK’ IN CONTACT WITH ICEBERG. 
