OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
91 
the water gradually from twenty-nine to nine fathoms, and then dropped the 
bower-anchor. When the ship swung in-shore by the continued pressure of 
the ice, we had still seven fathoms under the stern, our distance from the 
beach being about forty yards. We now seemed to have got rather within 
the drift of the main body of ice, which passed us to the westward at the 
rate of two miles an hour ; but, at length, the point of a large field, which 
had hitherto not approached the shore nearer than two or three hundred 
yards, was observed to be rapidly nearing us. Immediately to the westward 
of the spot where the Hecla’s anchor had been dropped, some very heavy ice, 
which, for distinction’s sake, we called a berg, projected from the beach to 
the distance of a hundred and fifty yards. The ships had fortunately been 
forced by the ice, one on each side of this projecting point; for at eight P.M. 
the field came in contact with it with a tremendous crash, piling up the 
enormous fragments of ice in the most awful and terrific manner; this 
seemed to break, in some degree, the force with which the ice had been 
driving ; a force which may almost be considered incalculable, as we could 
not see over the field in motion from our mast-head. We were at this 
time within a hundred yards of the point, and had, therefore, great reason 
to be thankful for having escaped being carried into a situation in which 
no human power or skill could have saved the ships from instant de- 
struction. 
As the pressure of the bay-ice around the ship continued to increase, she 
was carried gradually in towards the shore, and as nothing was now to be 
expected but her being driven on the beach, I ordered the rudder to be 
lifted, the sails to be furled, and the top-gallant yards to be ready for 
striking. At half-past eight P.M,, the Hecla had tailed into three fathoms 
and a half, about fifteen yards from the beach. The quantity of bay-ice 
which was squeezed up between the ship and the shore had by this time be- 
come so great, that it would easily bear the boats and the men, the former of 
which were hauled over the ice to enable us to hoist them up. It seemed 
also to serve the useful purpose of a fender to keep the ship off the ground, 
which she did not appear to touch in any part. 
In the meantime, the Griper had been carried into a situation nearly 
similar to ours, on the opposite side of the berg, by which she was partly 
hidden from our view. We observed her heel over very much at times, but 
knowing that a very trifling pressure was with her sufficient to produce this 
effect, little apprehension was entertained on that account. I subsequently 
N 2 
1819. 
Sept. 
