294 
GBEENLAN’D VOYAGE. 
in tlie morning, we found ourselves again drifting 
into a body of floes, which obliged us to cast-off, 
notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the 
weather, and to beat to windward, into a more 
commodious and safer situation. This was ac¬ 
complished with difficulty, as the decks were lum¬ 
bered with casks and whalebone, so as to be al¬ 
most impassable; and the ship yielding to the gale, 
so as to be almost “ on her beam-ends.” About 
noon, having reached an eligible situation, we 
made fast to a small floe, where we rode out the 
gale. 
The following day the wind abated, and en¬ 
abled us to undertake the needful operation of 
making-off, until the performance of which, the 
ship was in a very disagreeable and unsafe state. 
Before midnight, the whole of our casks that yet 
contained water as ballast, were emptied, and the 
contents replaced with blubber. 
On the 20th, the weather, which had been 
foggy for some time, cleared up, and we found, 
as usual, that the ship was again almost along¬ 
side of the land-ice, having been set thither by 
the influence of a -westerly current. We imme¬ 
diately made sail, but owing to the want of wind 
at the time, it was twelve hours before we got 
out of the crowded ice, into a roomy situation a 
few miles to the eastward. Here we were joined 
