HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES 307 
accounts of the disaster are accessible, the official record 
by Captain Ross, the subsequent description by Mr. 
McCormick on the Erebus, a contemporary account by 
Sullivan, the literary blacksmith of that ship and an un- 
published letter by Mr. J. E. Davis the second master of 
the Terror and cartographer of the expedition which 
has been privately printed. The first and the last may be 
quoted as they are in large measure complementary and 
between them throw the scene into a sort of stereoscopic 
relief. 
Captain Ross on board the Erebus says : 
“ . . . A large berg was seen ahead and quite 
close to us ; the ship was immediately hauled to the wind 
on the port tack, with the expectation of being able to 
weather it; but just at this moment the Terror was 
observed running down upon us, under her top-sails and 
fore-sail; and as it was impossible for her to clear both 
the berg and the Erebus, collision was inevitable. We 
instantly hove all aback to diminish the violence of the 
shock; but the concussion when she struck us was such 
as to throw almost everyone off his feet; our bowsprit, 
fore-topmast, and other smaller 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 perpen- 
dicular cliffs. Sometimes she rose high above us, almost 
exposing 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 
upperworks and boats increased the horror of the scene. 
Providentially they gradually forged past each other, 
