SHALLOWS-A GALE. 
63 
have a change of weather. Is it worth another attempt 
to warp out and see if we cannot double these bergs to 
seaward ? I have no great time to spare: the young 
ice forms rapidly in quiet spots during the entire 
twenty-four hours. 
‘‘August 14, Sunday.—The change of weather yester¬ 
day tempted us to forsake our shelter .and try another 
tussle with the ice. We met it as soon as we ventured 
out; and the day closed with a northerly progress, by 
hard warping, of about three-quarters of a mile. The 
men were well tired; but the weather looked so 
threatening, that I had them up again at three o’clock 
this morning. My immediate aim is to attain a low 
rocky island which we see close into the shore, about 
a mile ahead of us. 
“These low shallows are evidently caused by the 
rocks and foreign materials discharged from the great 
valley. It is impossible to pass inside of them, for the 
huge boulders run close to the shore. (l3) Yet there is no 
such thing as doubling them outside, without leaving 
the holding-ground of the coast and thrusting our¬ 
selves into the drifting chaos of the pack. If we can 
only reach the little islet ahead of us, make a lee of 
its rocky crests, and hold on there until the winds give 
us fairer prospects! 
“Midnight.—We did reach it; and just in time. At 
11-30 P. M. our first whale-line was made fast to the 
rocks. Ten minutes later, the breeze freshened, and 
so directly in our teeth that we could not have gained 
our mooring-ground. It is blowing a gale now. and 
