ADVENTURES OF THE FAME’S CREW. 297 
tions. Their provisions not having been hus¬ 
banded with any care in the outset, were almost 
expended; and as they knew that the land, in 
this quarter, afforded no nourishment that they 
could obtain, excepting an occasional partridge, 
they became almost overwhelmed with apprehen¬ 
sions of perishing from the want of food. The 
body of ice that had packed against the land, ap¬ 
pearing to these despairing seamen interminable, 
they were afraid that the ships must be forced 
off to such a distance as to render their junction 
extremely doubtful. In the height of their ap¬ 
prehensions, many schemes were alternately sug¬ 
gested for their preservation, and then rejected 
as impracticable. Some would return to the 
shore, where their sails would at least afford them 
shelter, and where they might obtain a fire and 
dry their dripping clothes; but doing this, they 
found, would only prolong their miseries, and 
diminish their chance of meeting with one or 
other of the ships. Others talked of trying to 
reach Iceland,—of pulling out to sea, to seek for 
other whalers,—of going along the coast to the 
southward,—and of attempting several other 
schemes, none of which, on reflection, afforded a 
probability of preserving life, in the event of their 
not falling in with their ship. It is scarcely pos¬ 
sible for a person who has not been in circum- 
