254 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820. her harbour to the place where the Griper was lying, considering that a ship 
^2' might easily be forced on shore by the ice without suffering any serious 
damage ; but that one of those enormous masses falling upon her deck must 
inevitably crush or sink her. 
Sun. 20. The weather being again calm on the 20th and 21st allowed the “ young 
ice” to form upon the surface to such a degree as firmly to cement together 
the loose pieces which hung about the ships ; and it did not thaw during those 
days, though the sun was shining clearly upon it for several hours. Although 
this alone was sufficient to deter me from moving the ships, without a fresh 
breeze of wind, I was anxious to know the state of the ice to the eastward, 
and I, therefore, sent Mr. Nias to the Cape on the evening of the 21st, to 
examine it with a glass. On his return he acquainted me that no alteration 
had taken place, the whole body of the ice remaining still close in with the 
shore, and perfectly compact and impenetrable to the eastward, as well as to 
the south. 
Tues. 22. On the 22d, the ice still remained as close as before, more so indeed as, 
on the failure of a light breeze which had been blowing from the westward 
for au hour or two, and had amused us with hopes of getting away, the loose 
ice surrounded us completely, so that we were immoveably beset. Calm 
weather is observed always to make ice open out, and occupy more space 
than it had done before, as if the previous breeze had been acting on an 
elastic substance, which springs back as soon as the force of the wind is re- 
moved from it. 
Wed. 23. The “ young ice” had increased to the thickness of an inch and a half on 
the morning of the 23d, and some snow which had fallen in the night served 
to cement the whole more firmly together. On a breeze springing up from 
the westward, however, it soon began to acquire a motion to leeward, 
and, at half an hour before noon, had slackened about the ships suf- 
ficiently to allow us to warp them out, which was accordingly done, and 
all sail made upon them. The wind having freshened up from the W.N.W., 
the ships’ heads were got the right way, and by great attention to the 
sails, kept so till they had got abreast of Cape Providence, after which 
they were no longer manageable, the ice being more close than before. I 
have before remarked that the loose ice in this neighbourhood was heavy 
in proportion to the floes from which it had been broken; and the im- 
possibility of sailing among such ice, most of which drew more water than 
the Hecla, and could not therefore be turned by her weight, was this day 
