588 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
raised to the highest pitch. At 4 o’clock in the morning, to 
their astonishment and joy, the bay appeared all clear of ice, 
as if the work had been achieved by the potency of some power¬ 
ful magician; and that he had literally swept it away by the 
effect of his incantations. The ice was above a mile and a half off 
shore, and at 7 o’clock, all hands were turned out to cut a canal 
through the young ice; impressed with the hope, that the 
period of their emancipation had arrived. At 10 o’clock, how¬ 
ever, they all returned on board, on account of the ice beginning 
to close in, but at twelve, it again made a move outwards, and 
the men were enabled to resume their labors. By 3 o’clock, the 
canal was finished, and all were now on the tiptoe of expecta¬ 
tion for the moment when the Victory was to be loosed from 
her moorings, and to proceed on her voyage. Towards night 
the ice was setting N. E. with variable winds; but still, if no 
adverse circumstances took place in the night, the flattering 
hope was entertained, that it would be possible to tow the ship 
along the canal, and gain the offing, where there was not the 
slightest appearance of ice 
Early on the morning of the 23rd, two men were sent over 
the hills, to survey the state of the ice, and although they re¬ 
ported that it was close packed in shore, yet that it was quite 
loose in the offing. All hands were immediately put to clearing 
away the heavy ice from the mouth of the canal, and the whale 
boat was sent away to examine its state in the offing. It was 
found, that it was setting south-west; this, indeed, was a severe 
check to the fulfilment of their hopes, and by 10 o’clock on the 
following morning, the last blow was given to the emancipation 
of the Victory—her doom was sealed ; for the ice set into the 
bay, at a most rapid rate, bearing some resemblance to the 
mascaret or the bore of the Ganges, sweeping every thing before 
it with an irresistible force, and before midday, the whole of the 
bay was more densely choaked, than it had ever appeared at 
any previous period. All hands were now employed in securing 
the ship, as well as the boats that were on the young ice, and 
after a considerable degree of labor, the ship was got to the 
bottom of the canal, and there made fast. 
