THE SHIP REACHES THE CREEK 331 



steep bank. The stream rose and fell during the day, 

 the current sometimes stopping, sometimes becoming 

 very rapid, the unfortunate ship being occasionally afloat, 

 but generally aground. At night the stern-post seemed 

 to have come back to its place, the undaunted captain, 

 with part of his faint-hearted crew, went on board, and 

 the pumps reduced the water in the hold. The chances 

 were ten to one that she was a hopeless wreck, but still 

 the sailors struggled on to the last. The marvel was, 

 where all the ice that had gone up the Kureika could 

 possibly be stowed. I calculated that at least 50,000 

 acres of ice had passed the ship. 



Late on the night of Monday, the 4th of June, the 

 ice on the Kureika almost entirely cleared away. Steam 

 was got up, and by the help of ropes ashore the Thames 

 was steered into the little creek below the house, where 

 it had been the original intention of the captain to have 

 waited in safety the passing away of the ice. The season 

 had been so severe that the snow, which ought to have 

 melted and swollen the river before the breaking-up of 

 the ice, still remained upon the land. The consequence 

 was that, when the great revolution commenced, the 

 entrance to the creek was high and dry. The Thames 

 entered the creek at two o'clock in the morning ; by 

 noon the water had sunk five or six feet, and the vessel 

 lay on her side, with her bow at least three feet aground. 

 These sudden falls in the level of the water were, no 

 doubt, caused by the breaking-up of the ice lower down 

 the river, which dammed it up until the accumulated 

 pressure from behind became irresistible. Some idea of 

 what this pressure must have been may be realised by 

 the fact that a part of the river a thousand miles long, 

 beginning with a width of two miles, and ending with 

 a width of six miles, covered over with three feet of ice. 



