866 Captain Scoresby’s Journal of a Voyage to the 
the most intense cold and violent storm, for fifty hours. One man fell 
a victim to the cold while on the ice, and another died soon after 
he reached the ship. All of them suffered from the severity of the 
exposure more or less. Some lost their fingers, — others their toes, 
' — some their hands, — and others their feet. The surgeon of the 
King George told Mr Gibson, surgeon of the Trafalgar, who sup- 
plied him with some dressings, that he had amputated thirty-five 
fingers and toes in one day ! An example was given of the severity 
of the cold, by one of the King George’s sailors, who stated, that a 
quantity of beef that was sent in the boats to the men upon the ice, 
when they first saw them, was taken hot out of the coppers ; but be- 
fore they reached the ice, though at no great distance, it was frozen 
so hard, that they had to cut it in pieces with hatchets.” P. 451, 452. 
No. 6. Journal of Proceedings on board of the Trafalgar of 
Hull, on the East Coast of Greenland, from the 12th to the 
31st of August 1822. Besides many valuable details, this jour- 
nal contains the following very striking instance of escape from 
the dreadful perils of the ice. The crew of the Trafalgar, in 
the midst of appalling dangers, made various attempts to moor 
the ship to the ice. It was in an attempt of this kind that the 
interesting incident and escape took place, which is thus related 
in the journal. 
“ At 9 p. m. we made another attempt to moor the ship to a floe of 
field of ice. Five active men were sent to fix some anchors, and two 
warps were fastened to them. Two of the men in the boat returned 
for another anchor, and just as they got hold of the ship, both 
the warps broke that were fast to the ice ; and the ship turning 
quickly round, received a dreadful shock on her quarter against the 
floe. This compelled us to stand out amongst the loose ice again ; 
about an hour afterwards we returned, and sent a boat to endeavour 
to bring on board those unfortunately left on the ice. But the sea 
was so heavy that the men refused to risk themselves in the boat,, 
and it returned without them. We now were obliged to reach off 
to the eastward, among the loose ice, to the distance of nearly twen- 
ty miles from the poor men on the floe. Here we had room to beat 
to windward. At midnight the wind veered to the eastward, and 
began to abate. 
“ Saturday , 24 th . — Towards morning the weather cleared up, arid 
the wind abated, on which we commenced a careful search for the 
five absent men, though with very small hopes of ever seeing them 
again. But, after standing four hours to the westward, to our great 
joy, we got sight of them with the glass from the mast-head, upon a 
small piece of ice, and at 8^ a. m. sent a boat and took all of them on 
board alive ; and, considering the severities they had endured from 
cold, wet, and hunger, in better health than possibly could have been 
expected. The same hardships must have killed any one not accus- 
tomed to these regions. It was indeed a deliverance of the most 
extraordinary description. The account they gave of their perilous 
adventures, was to the following effect ; 
