VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
101 
whelmed, terror and dismay must be the predomi- 
nant feelings. The whale-fishers at all times re- 
quire unremitting vigilance to ensure their safety, 
but scarcely in any situation so much, as when 
navigating amidst these fields in foggy weather, 
because their motions then cannot be distinctly 
observed. It may easily be imagined, that the 
strongest ships can no more withstand the shock 
of the contact of two fields, than a sheet of paper 
can stop a musket-ball. Since the establishment 
of the whale-fishery, a number of vessels have been 
thus destroyed ; some have been thrown upon the 
ice, others have been torn completely open, whilst 
others again have been buried beneath the heaped 
fragments of ice. 
The shock of a piece of ice striking the 
June 20 . ^ tremendous blow, which 
made its whole frame to tremble, and the grating 
of a large mass in passing, as if determined to saw 
its way through the side of the ship, urged me 
hastily to the deck. The watch were all in activity ; 
some getting towlines into boats, to tow the ship 
through a narrow passage, scarcely wider than 
itself ; others on the ice, setting ice-anchors, whilst 
many were employed at the capstan. After con- 
siderable labour, by towing and warping, the ship 
was removed into more open water, and a breeze 
springing up, soon freed us from our present dif- 
ficulties. 
The assistance of the boats being no longer re- 
quired, I availed myself of the opportunity to go in 
