STATE OF THE ADVANCE. 
407 
hawser, and that was all. Our resort now is to the 
fourteen-feet saw. With this, before the day closes, 
we shall cut a skerf as far as our fore-foot, and then 
try the efficacy of wedges. 
" Toward evening the Hescue made sail, and forced 
her way slowly through the fragments. By eight P.M. 
she was snugly secured to the other side of our own 
floe. A beautiful sight it was to see once more, even 
in this labyrinth of rubbish, a moving sail-spread ves- 
sel. Once a momentary opening showed us the dark 
water, and beneath it the shadow of the brig. 
"10 40. A crash! a low, grinding sound, followed 
by loud exclamations of ' Back,' ' back !' ' Hold on,' 
' hold on !' I ran upon deck in time to add one cheer 
more to three which came from the ice. A large frag- 
ment, extending from her saw-crack along the bottom 
on the port side, had broken olF, cutting the triangle 
in half, and leaving the crew behind floating and sep- 
arated from the ship. All that now confined us was 
the mass [a] which remained on her starboard quarter. 
This descended some twenty or more feet, embracing 
our keel, and by its size sustaining us in our perched 
condition. We had settled but nine inches in conse- 
quence of our partial disengagement. 
" Looking from the taffrail down the stern-post, we 
can now see the position of this portion of our brig 
distinctly. A strip of her false keel has been forced 
from its attachments, drawing the heavy bolts, and 
tearing away some of our sheathing. How far the in- 
jury extends, whether the entire length of the brig, 
or through some few yards, we can not tell. It must 
have occurred during the great ice commotion of De- 
cember 7th and 8th. The disruption of January no 
doubt added to the thickness of the underlying tables ; 
