THE BREAKING UP OE ICE-ELOES. 
Sea water requires a much greater degree of cold to freeze it than 
fresh water, and the motion of the waves interferes with the formation 
of solid ice. In the Arctic Regions, when a strong freezing wind blows 
over the ocean, the water at the surface forms into a spongy mass, 
called sludge ; this has the effect, to some extent, of stilling the waves, 
and it forms itself into small plates, which, being rounded by continual 
rubbing, are called by the sailors pancakes. These cakes, by adhering 
together, form a solid surface, which, under the influence of the frost, 
extends in every direction, until at length a field of ice is formed, which 
often occupies an extent of several hundred square miles. 
In these regions the winter lasts seven or eight months, during 
which the cold is fearfully severe. The greatest danger to the navigator 
is when the warmth of summer has begun to loosen the icy floor ; 
for the first strong wind, creating a swell in the ocean, breaks up the 
ice again into fields. These being set afloat, are, by the violence of 
the winds and currents, broken into floes, the size of which can be 
distinguished from the mast-head of a ship. If the field is broken 
up into a number of pieces, none of which are more than forty or fifty 
yards across, the whole is called a pack ; if the pieces are broad they are 
called a patch; and when long and narrow, a stream. When a ship can 
sail freely through these masses, the ice is said to be loose or open, and 
is called drift ice. When it is crumbled into small pieces, it is called 
brash ice. 
The numerous fields of ice, once set afloat, are driven about by the 
violence of winds and currents, and sometimes, approaching in opposite 
directions, strike against each other with the force of millions of tons, 
the effect of which is to squeeze up one piece over another, above the 
common level, and to form what are called hummocks. These hummocks 
have various shapes, and often rise to the height of thirty feet. 
The situation of a ship exposed to these moving masses of ice is one 
of great danger. It may either be crushed between them like a walnut, 
or, by a more merciful Providence, lifted completely out of the water 
and placed high and dry upon the ice. The ships engaged in the 
Northern Whale Fishery are frequently exposed to such dangers as 
these. 
The above is a view of H. M. S. Terror, at the time of the breaking 
up of the floe into which she had been frozen early in the winter of 
1836, in Hudson's Strait, where she continued drifting about until the 
following summer. 
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