Chap. VI.]
GALE IN THE PACK.
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1842
of the air rising to 34º in the afternoon, and the wind had greatly moderated by 5 30 p.m., when we observed a very large berg close under our lee. All sail was immediately set upon both ships, and we cleared this danger by only a few feet, the spanker boom of the Erebus touching it as we were driven past its western end; the sea was breaking against its perpendicular face with so much violence that some of the spray fell on board the ships.
To prevent the ships separating during the fog, it was necessary to keep fast to the heavy piece of ice which we had between them as a fender, and, with a reduced amount of sail on them, we made some way through the pack: as we advanced in this novel mode to the southwest, we found the ice became more open, and the westerly swell increasing as the wind veered to the N. W. at midnight, we found it impossible any longer to hold on by the floe piece. All our hawsers breaking in succession, we madeJan. 19. sail on the ships, and kept company during the thick fog by firing guns, and, by means of the usual signals: under the shelter of a berg of nearly a mile in diameter, we dodged about during the whole day, waiting for clear weather, that we might select the best leads through the dispersing pack; but at 9 p.m. the wind suddenly freshened to a violent gale from the northward, compelling us to reduce our sails to a close reefed main-top-sail and storm stay-sails: the sea quickly rising to a fearful height,