116 
VOYAGE TO GREENLAND, 
constituted an immense field, silently opened by a 
fissure, the previous existence of which had only 
been suspected by the appearance of a long crack 
which, winding in different directions and branch- 
ing into many filaments, extended to a large space 
of water at least three miles distant ; by what agency 
this separation was effected I will not hazard an 
opinion. As soon as the opening was sufficiently 
large to admit the ship by the aid of boats a-head, 
and the setting of all the sails, we passed along 
what had been but a short time before a compact 
body ; immense floes of ice were on each side of 
us extending beyond the reach of the human eye. 
In this situation it was impossible to preserve my 
mind from being assailed with horrible apprehen- 
sions, of the inevitable result which awaited us, if 
these boundaries of ice should prove capricious and 
close around the ship ; particularly, as several who 
were conversant with the navigation of these seas, 
expressed, in my hearing, their strongest fears of 
the undertaking, mingled with astonishment at the 
boldness of the enterprise, and the intrepidity of 
Captain Scoresby. I am, indeed, still persuaded 
that nothing but his consummate judgment and 
superior knowledge in the movements of polar ice, 
could have succeeded in so daring an attempt. 
Some of the officers and men near me, having on 
former occasions escaped only with their lives from 
ships, the sides of which had been literally squeezed 
together in a few minutes, exactly in similar situa- 
tions to the present, made no secret of their appre- 
