Chapter eiqfyt 



A BLIZZARD; THE DEPARTURE OF THE NIMROD 



ABOUT five o'clock on the afternoon of February 18 

 snow began to fall, with light wind from the north, 

 and as at times the boat could hardly be seen from the 

 ship, instructions were given to the boat's crew that 

 whenever the Nimrod was not clearly visible they 

 were to wait alongside the shore until the snow squall 

 had passed and she appeared in sight again. At 

 six o'clock, just as the boat had come alongside for 

 another load, the wind suddenly shifted to the south-east 

 and freshened immediately. The whaler was hoisted at 

 once, and the Nimrod stood off from the shore, passing 

 between some heavy ice-floes, against one of which her 

 propeller struck, but fortunately without sustaining any 

 damage. Within half an hour it was blowing a furious 

 blizzard, and every sign of land, both east and west, was 

 obscured in the scudding drift. I was aboard the vessel 

 at the time. We were then making for the fast-ice to 

 the south, but the Nimrod was gaining but little headway 

 against the terrific wind and short, rising sea; so to 

 save coal I decided to keep the engines just going slow 

 and maintain our position in the sound as far as we could 

 judge, though it was inevitable that we should drift 

 northward to a certain extent. All night the gale raged 

 with great fury. The speed of the gusts at times must 

 have approached a force of a hundred miles an hour. 

 The tops of the seas were cut off by the wind, and flung 

 over the decks, mast, and rigging of the ship, congealing 



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