THE GALE. 
183 
ging is so coated with icicles as to make it impossible 
to work it. The thermometer stands at 14°. 
"At this temperature the young ice forms in spite 
of the increasing movement of the waves, stretching 
out from the floe in long, zigzag lines of smoothness 
resembling watered silk. The loose ice seems to have 
a southerly and easterly drift ; and, from the increas- 
ing distance of G-riffith's Island, seen during occasional 
intervals, we are evidently moving en masse to the 
south. 
"Now when you remember that we are in open 
sea, attached to precarious ice, and surrounded by 
floating streams ; that the coast is unknown, and the 
ice forming inshore, so as to make harbors, if we knew 
of them, inaccessible, you may suppose that our posi- 
tion is far from pleasant. One harbor was discovered 
by a lieutenant of the Assistance some days ago, and 
named Assistance Harbor, but that is out of the ques- 
tion ; the wind is not only a gale, but ahead. Had 
we the quarters of Capua before us, we should be un- 
able to reach them. It is a windward shore. 
"11 P.M. Captain De Haven reports ice forming 
fast : extra anchors are out ; thermometer +8°. The 
British squadron, under Austin, have fires in full blast : 
we are without them still. 
" 12 M. In bed, reading or trying to read.. The gale 
has increased ; the floes are in upon us from the east- 
ward ; and it is evident that we are all of us drifting 
bodily, God knows where, for we have no means of 
taking observations. 
"September 13, 10 A.M. Found, on awaking, that 
at about three this morning the squadron commenced 
getting under weigh. The rime-coated rigging was 
cleared ; the hawsers thashed ; the ice-clogged boats 
