246 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820 . 
August. 
fering any material injury in her hull, though the ice was still pressing upon 
her when Mr. Griffiths came away. She had at first heeled inwards, but on 
being lifted higher, fell over towards the deep water. Under these circum- 
stances, Lieutenant Liddon had very properly landed all the journals and 
other documents of importance, and made every arrangement in his power 
for saving the provisions and stores, in case of shipwreck, which he had now 
every reason to anticipate. Convinced as I was that no human art or power 
could, in our present situation, prevent such a catastrophe, whenever the 
pressure of the ice became sufficient, I was more than ever satisfied with the 
determination to which I had previously come, of keeping the ships apart, 
during the continuance of these untoward circumstances, in order to increase 
the chance of saving one of them from accidents of this nature. I, therefore, 
thought it right merely to direct Lieutenant Liddon’s attention to the ne- 
cessity of saving the provisions and fuel, in preference to any other species 
of stores, and established signals to be made upon the point of land which in- 
tervened between the ships, in case of any thing occurring. In the mean 
time, the ice remained so close about the Hecla, that the slightest pressure 
producing in it a motion towards the shore, must have placed us in a situation 
similar to that of the Griper; and our attention was, therefore, diverted to the 
more important object of providing, by every means in our power, for the 
security of the larger ship, as being the principal dep6t of provisions and 
other resources. 
At five P.M. Lieutenant Liddon acquainted me by letter, that the Griper 
had at length righted, the ice having slackened a little around her, and that 
all the damage she appeared to have sustained was in her rudder, which was 
badly split, and would require some hours’ labour to repair it, whenever the 
ice should allow him to get it on shore. He also stated that, from the par- 
ticular situation into which the Griper had been forced, and of the masses of 
ice immediately about her, a westerly wind, though it might eventually clear 
the shore, would in the first place subject her to another squeeze like that 
from which she had just been so opportunely released. Lieutenant Beechey 
observed from the hill, in the course of the day, that the ice was so compact 
as not to leave an opening in any direction, and that it was set so close 
against the shore, that nothing could have passed between them. It had 
moved off a few yards from the Hecla for two or three hours, and in the 
evening closed again, so as to press her firmly against the land, though 
without any material strain. This pressure arose principally from the ap- 
