elevated at either extremity as the advancing wave forced its way along.

"The see-saw motion which was thus produced was alarming, not merely in appearance, but in fact, and must have proved fatal to any vessel that had encountered it; as floes of ice, several yards in thickness, were continually crashing and breaking in pieces, and the sea for miles was covered with fragments ground so small that they actually formed a thick, pasty substance-in nautical language termed, brash ice'which extended to the depth of five feet. Amidst this giddy element, our whole attention was occupied in endeavoring to place the bow of the vessel, the strongest part of her frame, in the direction of the most formida ble pieces of ice-a maneuver which, though likely to be attended with the loss of the bowsprit, was yet preferable to encountering the still greater risk of having the broadside of the vessel in contact with it; for this would have subjected her to the chance of dipping her gunwale under the floes as she rolled, an accident which, had it occurred, would either have laid open her side, or have overset the vessel at once. In either case, the event would probably have proved fatal to all on board, as it would have been next to impossible to rescue any person from the confused moving mass of brash ice which covered the sea in every direction."

The attention of the seamen was in some degree diverted from the contemplation of this scene of difficulty by the necessity of employing all hands at the pump, the leak having gained upon them. But, fortunately, toward morning, they got quite clear of the ice.

Steering to the westward to reconnoiter, they fell in, in longitude 4° 30' E., with several whale ships, and were informed by them that the ice was quite compact to the westward, and that fifteen vessels were beset in it. Proceeding to the northward, the ships passed, on the 11th of June, Cloven Cliff, a remarkable isolated rock, which marks the northwestern boundary of Spitzbergen, and steered along an intricate channel between

the land and ice; but, next morning, their further advance was stopped, and the channel by which the vessels had entered became so completely closed up as to preclude the possibility also of retreating. Lieutenant Beechey proceeds to state

"The ice soon began to press heavily upon us, and, to add to our difficulties, we found the water so shallow that the rocks were plainly discovered under the bottoms of the ships. It was impossible, however, by any exertion on our part, to improve the situations of the vessels. They were as firmly fixed in the ice as if they had formed part of the pack, and we could only hope that the current would not drift them into still shallower water, and damage them against the ground."

The ships were here hemmed in in almost the same position where Baffin, Hudson, Poole, Captain Phipps, and all the early voyagers to this quarter had been stopped.

As the tide turned, the pieces of ice immediately around the ships began to separate, and some of them to twist round with a loud grinding noise, urging the vessels, which were less than a mile from the land, still nearer and nearer to the beach.

By great exertions the ships were hauled into small bays in the floe, and secured there by ropes fixed to the ice by means of large iron hooks, called ice anchors. Shifting the ships from one part of this floe to the other, they remained attached to the ice thirteen days. As this change of position could only be effected by main force, the crew were so constantly engaged in this harassing duty, that their time was divided almost entirely between the windlass and the pump, until the men at length became so fatigued that the sick-list was seriously augmented. During this period, however, the situation of the leak was fortunately discovered, and the damage repaired.

An officer and a party of men who left the Dorothea to pay a visit to the shore, about three or four miles distant, lost themselves in the fog and snow, and wandered about for sixteen hours, until, quite overcome

with wet, cold and fatigue, they sat down in a state of despondency, upon a piece of ice, determined to submit their fate to Providence. Their troubles are thus told :

"To travel over ragged pieces of ice, upon which there were two feet of snow, and often more, springing from one slippery piece to the other, or, when the channels between them were too wide for this purpose, ferrying themselves upon detached fragments, was a work which it required no ordinary exertion to execute.

"Some fell into the water, and were with difficulty preserved from drowning by their companions; while others, afraid to make any hazardous attempt whatever, were left upon pieces of ice, and drifted about at the mercy of the winds and tides. Foreseeing the probability of a separation, they took the first opportunity of dividing, in equal shares, the small quantity of provision which they had remaining, as also their stock of powder and ammunition. They also took it in turns to fire muskets, in the hope of being heard from the ships."

The reports of the fire-arms were heard by their shipmates, and Messrs. Fife and Kirby, the Greenland icemasters, ventured out with poles and lines to their assistance, and had the good fortune to fall in with the party, and bring them safely on board, after eighteen hours' absence. They determined in future to rest satisfied with the view of the shore which was afforded them from the ship, having not the slightest desire to attempt to approach it again by means of the ice.

The pressure of the ice against the vessels now became very great.

"At one time, when the Trent appeared to be so closely wedged up that it did not seem possible for her to be moved, she was suddenly lifted four feet by an enor mous mass of ice getting under her keel; at another, the fragments of the crumbling floe were piled up under the bows, to the great danger of the bowsprit.

"The Dorothea was in no less imminent danger, especially from the point of a floe, which came in contact with her side, where it remained a short time, and then glanced off, and became checked by the field to which

she was moored. The enormous pressure to which the ship had been subjected was now apparent by the field being rent, and its point broken into fragments, which were speedily heaped up in a pyramid, thirty-five feet in height, upon the very summit of which there appeared a huge mass, bearing the impression of the planks and bolts of the vessel's bottom."

Availing themselves of a break in the ice, the ships were moved to an anchorage between the islands contiguous to the Cloven Cliff; and on the 28th of June, anchored in fifteen fathoms water, near Vogel Sang. On the islands they found plenty of game, and eiderducks.

The island of Vogel Sang alone supplied the crews with forty reindeer, which were in such high condition that the fat upon the loins of some measured from four to six inches, and a carcass, ready for being dressed, weighed 285 pounds. Later in the season, the deer were, however, so lean that it was rare to meet with fat upon them at all.

any

On the 6th of July, finding the ice had been driven to the northward, the ships again put to sea, and Capt. Buchan determined to prove, by a desperate effort, what advance it was possible to make by dragging the vessels through the ice whenever the smallest opening occurred. This laborious experiment was performed by fixing large ropes to iron hooks driven into the ice, and by heaving upon them with the windlass, a party removing obstructions in the channel with saws. But in spite of all their exertions, the most northerly position attained was 80° 37' N. Although fastened to the ice, the ships were now drifted bodily to the southward by the prevailing current. They were also much injured by the pressure of hummocks and fields of ice.

On the 10th of July, Captain Beechey tells us, the Trent sustained a squeeze which made her rise four feet, and heel over five streaks; and on the 15th and 16th, both vessels suffered considerable damage. "On that occasion," he says, 66 we observed a field fifteen feet in thickness break up, and the pieces pile upon

each other to a great height, until they upset, when they rolled over with a tremendous crash. The ice near the ships was piled up above their bulwarks. Fortunately, the vessels rose to the pressure, or they must have had their sides forced in. The Trent received her greatest damage upon the quarters, and was so twisted that the doors of all the cabins flew open, and the panels of some started in the frames, while her false stern-post was moved three inches, and her timbers cracked to a most serious extent. The Dorothea suffered still more: some of her beams were sprung, and two planks on the lower deck were split fore and aft, and doubled up, and she otherwise sustained serious injury in her hull. It was in vain that we attempted any relief; our puny efforts were not even felt, though continued for eight hours with unabated zeal; and it was not until the tide changed that the smallest effect was produced. When, however, that occurred, the vessels righted and settled in the water to their proper draught.'

From the 12th to the 19th, they were closely beset with ice. For nine successive days following this the crews were occupied, night and day, in endeavoring to extricate the ships, and regain the open sea. Thinking he had given the ice a fair trial here, the commander determined upon examining its condition toward the eastern coast of Greenland, and in the event of finding it equally impenetrable there, to proceed round the south cape of Spitzbergen, and make an attempt between that island and Nova Zembla.

On the 30th of July, a sudden gale came on, and brought down the main body of the ice upon them, so that the ships were in such imminent danger that their only means of safety was to take refuge among it a practice which has been resorted to by whalers in extreme cases as their only chance of escaping destruction.

The following is a description of the preparation made to withstand the terrible encounter, and the hairbreadth escape from the dangers:

"In order to avert the effects of this as much as pos