LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
467 
which, after every exertion, did not exceed much more than her 
own length. She was here laid alongside of a berg, which ap¬ 
peared to form a good hold for her; the whaler was also laid 
alo gside of her, but the pressure was so severe, that she was 
staved in. 
With the reflux of the tide, the Victory grounded again : and 
it was found,that her situation was not even so safe as that, in 
which she lay a few hours before : for the bottom was discovered 
to be composed of rocks, with sharp, jagged points; for which 
reason, a strong fear was excited, that the bottom of the Victory 
might be so injured as to render her wholly unseaworthy. The 
ship was also very much encumbered with having her bows 
hanging on a berg : for it was likely to give her a strain, which 
would so disarrange the whole of her timbers, as to prove too 
serious a defect to be afterwards remedied. The Victory may 
now be considered to have been in a most critical state : her 
keel was resting on a rocky bottom ; her hull in danger every 
moment of being staved in by the pressure of the ice, which was 
rather in the progress of accumulation than of diminution ; and 
the dreadful prospect upon the minds of the crew, that ere a few 
hours had passed over their heads, they might be, upon the face 
of the earth, the most desolate and forlorn of human beings. 
It became now a matter of serious consideration, whether the 
stores were to be re -shipped immediately on board the Victory, 
or whether the vessel was to be pushed further through the pas¬ 
sage, and the stores then to be conveyed on board by means of 
the launch. The chief objection to the adoption of the former 
plan was, an increase of the depth of water, which the Victory 
would draw, and thereby augment the risk of her grounding in the 
passage, from which, perhaps, she never could be released : on 
the other hand, were their efforts, in forcing their way through 
the passage, to prove successful, their future plans might be 
wholly defeated, by the necessity of being obliged to stop, 
whilst the stores, &c. were conveyed on board, by the slow and 
tedious conveyance of the launch. With the view of determin¬ 
ing this important point, some hands were sent to the north¬ 
ward, to obtain soundings : and although their report could not 
