404 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



them of the necessity of a speedy retreat. Favored by the breeze, and by dint 

 of great exertion, they ultimately emerged from their dangerous position, but 

 scarcely had they escaped when the wind came directly against them, so that 

 had they lingered but half an hour longer near the barrier they would certainly 

 have been frozen up. 



On February 13 the approach of winter convinced Ross that it was high 

 time to relinquish the further examination of the barrier to the eastward ; and 

 as no place of security where it was possible to winter could be found upon 

 any part of the land hitherto discovered, he reluctantly resolved to recross the 

 Antarctic Circle, and postpone all attempts to reach the pole to the next season. 

 The return voyage was difficult and dangerous. On March 7, the ships, while 

 endeavoring to find a way through the pack-ice in lat. 65°, had a narrow escape 

 from imminent destruction. The wind having ceased, they found themselves 

 at the mercy of a heavy easterly swell, which was driving them down upon the 

 pack, in which were counted from the mast-head eighty-four large bergs, and 

 some hundreds of smaller size. As they rapidly approached this formidable 

 chain, no opening could be discovered through which the ships could pass ; the 

 waves were beating violently against the bergs, and dashing huge masses of 

 pack-ice against their precipitous faces, now lifting them nearly to their summit, 

 then forcing them again far beneath their water-line, and sometimes rending 

 them in a multitude of brilliant fragments against their projecting points. 

 " Sublime and magnificent," says Ross, " as such a scene must have appeared 

 under different circumstances, to us it was awful, if not appalling. For eight 

 hours we had been gradually drifting towards what to human eyes appeared 

 inevitable destruction ; the high waves and deep rolling of our ships rendered 

 towing with the boats impossible, and our situation the more painful and em- 

 barrassing from our inability to make any effort to avoid the dreadful calami- 

 ty that seemed to await us We were now within half a mile of the 



range of bergs. The roar of the surf, which extended each way as far as we 

 could see, and the crashing of the ice, fell upon the ear with fearful distinctness, 

 whilst the frequently averted eye as immediately returned to contemplate the 

 awful destruction that threatened in one short hour to close the world, and all 

 its hopes, and joys, and sorrows upon us forever. In this our deep distress 

 * we called upon the Lord, and He heard our voices out of His temple, and our 

 cry came before Him.' A gentle air of wind filled our sails; hope again re- 

 vived, and the greatest activity prevailed to make the best use of the feeble 

 breeze ; as it gradually freshened, our heavy ships began to feel its influence, 

 slowly at first, but more rapidly afterwards, and before dark we found ourselves 

 far removed from every danger." 



After passing the winter at Hobarton, the capital of Tasmania, Sir James 

 Ross, in the following year, once more crossed the Antarctic Circle to examine 

 the icy barrier which in his previous voyage had blocked his progress to the 

 south, and to renew his attempts to pass round or through it. But there were 

 new dangers to be encountered. On January 17, 1842, a fearful storm came on 

 as the "Erebus" and "Terror" were making their way through the pack-ice, 

 which was this time met with in a more northern latitude than the year before. 



