681 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT, ROSS. 
the dear water, for which reason a heavy swell came under the ice, 
which occasioned the ship to knock against the berg. The 
wind fortunately happened to shift, so that, with considerable 
trouble and danger, they got into clear water, but, before this 
could be accomplished, the darkness was so great, that the main¬ 
mast could not be seen from the quarter-deck, on which account 
they were obliged to find their way through the large bergs, in 
the best way they could. 
In the morning they were happy to find themselves in clear 
water, and in a few days they arrived at the place where the 
Greenland whalers generally fish, and fell in with about thirty 
vessels, the captains of which no sooner heard that Capt. Ross 
was on board the Isabella, than they all sent something as 
presents, for the benefit of himself and his crew, consisting of 
bottled porter, wine, hams, two casks of ale, several bushels of 
potatos, and several other things, which they no doubt con¬ 
sidered would be nourishing and strengthening, after being so 
long inured to their meagre fare. But in this respect, the crew 
institute a heavy and serious charge against Capt. Ross, by de¬ 
claring that of all those good things, which were intended for 
their benefit, not so much as a single potato was given to any 
of the crew- , not even to the sick, of whom they had still three 
on the list. Capt. Humphreys sent three bottles of wine, and 
that was the whole, w hich the crew received until their arrival 
at the Orkneys. 
The Isabella remained in company with those ships, until 
the latter end of September, when they took their departure 
from Malemauk Head, and in about eleven days arrived at 
Stromness, where the crew had the enjoyment of a fresh mess, 
Capt. Ross having fallen in with a kind and benevolent coun¬ 
tryman, who made him a present of two pecks of turnips ! two 
pecks of potatos !! and two pounds of butter !!! to be distri¬ 
buted amongst sixteen men; and this was the fresh mess, that 
Capt. Ross allowed his men, who had been four years and 
five months from England—who, to use his own words, had 
stood by him, under the most appalling prospects, w ith a con¬ 
stancy, which never was shaken, and to whose fidelity and 
