ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 323 



is due to Mr. Dibble, the carpenter, (who left his sick bed on the 

 occasion,) for his exertions, attention, and perseverance. He and the 

 carpenter's crew worked twenty-four hours without intermission. 

 The ship was now hove-to, for it was apprehended that her rolling 

 would render the task of shipping the rudder troublesome. By 

 meridian they were again in a situation to make sail to extricate 

 themselves from a bay some thirty miles in extent, which, with the 

 exception of the small opening by which they had entered, was 

 apparently closed by the barrier. 



Shortly afterwards, the wind becoming fair, they made all sail for 

 the outlet. The weather proved fine, and the winds moderate. At 

 midnight they found the only opening left, which was not more than 

 a quarter of a mile wide ; they succeeded in passing through this, by 

 2 a. m., in a snow-storm, and felt grateful to God for their providential 

 escape. 



Captain Hudson now came to the conclusion of returning north. 

 "After," as he says, "thoroughly turning over in my own mind the 

 state of the ship, — with the head of the rudder gone, hanging by two 

 braces, and in such a state that we could hardly hope to make it 

 answer its purposes again, in encountering the boisterous weather we 

 should have to pass through before reaching the first port, — the ship 

 considerably strained ; her starboard spar-deck bulwarks gone as far 

 forward as the gangway ; the gripe off, and the stern mutilated ; — fully 

 satisfied from this state of things that she was perfectly useless for 

 cruising among icebergs, and the accompanying dangers, in thick 

 foggy weather, to which, in these latitudes, we should be more or 

 less subject, and where rapid evolutions were often necessary, in 

 which the rudder must perform its part; and that the ship would 

 require extensive repairs before being employed in surveying opera- 

 tions; and feeling that the season was rapidly coming round when 

 our services would be required in that duty, I held a council of the 

 ward-room officers, and required their opinions as to making any 

 further attempts to cruise in these latitudes. 



" There was but one opinion as to the necessity of the ship's 

 returning north, with the exception of Mr. Emmons and Mr. Bald- 

 win, who thought the rudder might stand, provided we did not get 

 near the ice, or fall in with icebergs. This of course would be to 

 effect little or nothing, and result only in a loss of time. I accord- 

 ingly put the ship's head north, determined to proceed at once to 



