PERILOUS POSITION OF THE "DOROTHEA." 490 



felt in witnessing the bold and decisive tone in which the orders 

 were issued by the commander of our little vessel (the since so 

 far-famed and lamented Franklin), and the promptitude and 

 steadiness with which they were executed by the crew. 



" We were now so near the scene of danger as to render neces- 

 sary the immediate execution of our plan, and in an instant the 

 labouring vessel flew before the gale. Each person instinctively 

 secured his own hold and with his eyes fixed upon the masts, 

 awaited in breathless anxiety the moment of concussion. It 

 soon arrrived ; the brig, cutting her way through the light ice, 

 came in violent contact with the main body. In an instant we 

 all lost our footing, the masts bent with the impetus, and the 

 cracking timbers from below bespoke a pressure which was cal- 

 culated to awaken our serious apprehensions. The vessel stag- 

 gered under the shock, and for a moment seemed to recoil ; 

 but the next wave, curling up under her counter, drove her 

 about her own length within the margin of the ice, where she 

 gave one roll and was immediately thrown broadside to the wind 

 by the succeeding wave. This unfortunate occurrence prevented 

 the vessel from penetrating sufficiently far into the ice to escape 

 the effect of the gale, and placed her in a situation where she 

 was assailed on all sides by battering rams, if I may use the 

 expression, every one of which contested the small space, which 

 she occupied, and dealt such unrelenting blows that there ap- 

 peared to be scarcely any possibility of saving her from founder- 

 ing. Literally tossed from piece to piece, we had nothing left 

 but patiently to abide the issue, for we could scarcely keep oui 

 feet, much less render any assistance to the vessel. The motion 

 indeed was so great, that the ship's bell, which in the heaviest 

 gale of wind had never struck of itself, now tolled so continu- 

 ally that it was ordered to be muffled, for the purpose of 

 escaping the unpleasant association it was calculated to pro- 

 duce." 



By setting more head-sail, though at the risk of the masts, 

 already tottering with the pressure of that which was spread, the 

 vessels, splitting the ice and thus effecting a passage between the 

 pieces, were at length released from their perilous situation, but 

 the " Dorothea" was found to be completely disabled. A short 

 time at Fairhaven in Spitsbergen was spent in necessary repairs, 

 and even then she was unfit for any farther service than the 



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