406 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



foresail ; and as it was impossible for her to clear both the berg and the * Ere- 

 bus,' collision was inevitable. We instantly hove all aback to diminish the vi- 

 olence of the shock ; but the concussion when she struck us was such as to 

 throw almost every one off his feet ; our bowsprit, foretopraast, and other small- 

 er spars, were carried away, and the ships hanging together entangled by their 

 rigging, and dashing against each other with fearful violence, were falling down 

 upon the weather face of the lofty berg under our lee, against which the waves 

 were breaking and foaming to near the summit of its perpendicular cliffs. 

 Sometimes the * Terror ' rose high above us, almost exposmg her keel to view, 

 and again descended, as we in our turn rose to the top of the wave, threatening 

 to bury her beneath us, whilst the crashing of the breaking upper-works and 

 boats increased the horror of the scene. Providentially the ships gradually 

 separated before we drifted down amongst the foaming breakers, and we 

 had the gratification of seeing the ' Terror ' clear the end of the berg, and of 

 feeling that she was safe. But she left us completely disabled ; the wreck of 

 the spars so encumbered the lower yard that we were unable to make sail so 

 as to get headway on the ship ; nor had we room to wear round, being by this 

 time so close to the berg that the waves, when they struck against it, threw 

 back their spray into the ship. The only way left to us to extricate ourselves 

 from this awful and appalling situation was by resorting to the hazardous ex- 

 pedient of a stern board, which nothing could justify during such a gale but to 

 avert the danger which every moment threatened us of being dashed to pieces. 

 The heavy rolling of the vessel, and the probability of the masts giving away 

 each time the lower yard-arms struck against the cliffs, which were towering 

 high above our mast-heads, rendered it a service of extreme danger to loose 

 the mainsail ; but no sooner was the order given, than the daring spirit of the 

 British seaman manifested itself — the men ran up the rigging with as much 

 alacrity as on any ordinary occasion ; and, although more than once driven off 

 the yard, they after a short time succeeded in loosing the sail. Amidst the roar 

 of the wind and sea, it was difficult both to hear and to execute the orders that 

 were given, so that it was three-quarters of an hour before we could get the 

 yards braced by, and the main tack hauled on board sharp aback — an expedient 

 that perhaps had never before been resorted to by seamen in such weather; 

 but it had the desired effect ; the ship gathered sternway, plunging her stern 

 into the sea, and with her lower yard-arms scraping the rugged face of the 

 berg, we in a few minutes reached its western termination ; the * under-tow,' as 

 it is called, or the reaction of the water from its vertical cliffs, alone preventing 

 us being driven to atoms against it. 'No sooner had we cleared it than another 

 was seen directly astern of us, against which we were running ; and the diffi- 

 culty now was to get the ship's head turned round and pointed fairly through 

 between the two bergs, the breadth of the intervening space not exceeding three 

 times her own breadth. This, however, we happily accomplished ; and in a few 

 minutes, after getting before the wind, she dashed through the narrow channel 

 between two perpendicular walls of ice, and the foaming breakers which stretch- 

 ed across it, and the next moment we were in smooth water under its lee. The 

 * Terror's ' light was immediately seen and answered ; she had rounded to, wait- 



