FIRST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
85 
north, where it partially opened; the channel was however so 
much obstructed by heavy fragments, that their utmost efforts 
were ineffectual ; the field closed in upon them, and they felt 
the pressure most severely. A large floe which lay alongside 
of the Isabella appeared to be fixed, while on the other side 
another of considerable bulk was passing along with a rapid 
motion, assuming somewhat of a circular direction, in conse¬ 
quence of one side having struck on the fixed field. The pres¬ 
sure continued to increase, and it became doubtful whether the 
ship would be able to sustain it; every support threatened to 
give way, the beams in the hold began to bend, and the iron 
tanks settled together. At this critical moment, when it seemed 
impossible to bear the accumulating pressure any longer, the 
hull rose several feet, while the ice which was more than six 
feet thick, broke against the sides, curling back on itself. The 
great stress now fell upon the bow of the Isabella, and after be¬ 
ing again lifted up, she was carried with great violence towards 
the Alexander, which had hitherto, been in a great measure de¬ 
fended by the Isabella. Every effort to avoid their getting foul 
of each other failed ; the ice anchors and cables broke one after 
the other, and the sterns of the two ships came so violently into 
contact, as to crush to pieces a boat, that could not be removed 
in time. The collision was tremendous, the anchors and chain 
plates being broken, nothing less than the loss of the masts 
was expected ; but at this eventful instant, the force of the ice 
seemed exhausted ; the two fields suddenly receded, and the 
Alexander was passed vyith comparatively little damage. 
Neither the masters, the mates, nor those men who had been 
all their lives in the Greenland service, had ever experienced 
such imminent peril, and they declared that a common whaler 
must have been crushed to atoms. The safety on the present 
instance was to be attributed solely to the perfect and admirable 
manner in which the vessels had been strengthened when fitting 
for service. 
On the 8th, a party of officers was sent to examine the nearest 
re, which appeared to be about six miles distant. It was 
