hands, therefore, remained on deck, in readiness for any emergencies. To add still further to our anxiety, two or three streams of ice, having some very deep solid pieces amongst them, were seen driving down to us in the evening, and threatened the loss of our bowsprit, which at every pitch dipped quite under water; but it only fell on light pieces, and all the damage we sustained was the loss of the bobstays, and larboard iron bumpkin. The tide appeared to slack at 6 p.m., at which time we had 13½ fathoms; at midnight it was low water, 8½ fathoms, shewing a rise and fall of 30 feet.
“Never shall I forget the dreariness of this most anxious night. Our ship pitched at such a rate, that it was not possible to stand even below, while on the deck we were unable to move without holding by ropes which were stretched from side to side. The drift snow fell in such sharp heavy flakes, that we could not look to windward, and it froze on deck to above a foot in depth. The sea made incessant breaches quite fore and aft the ship, and the temporary warmth it gave while it washed over us, was most painfully checked by its almost immediately freezing on our clothes. To these discomforts were added the horrible uncertainty as to whether the c’aMcs would hold until day-light, and the conviction also, that, if they failed us, we should instantly be dashed to pieces, the wind blowing directly to the quarter in which we knew the shore must lie. Again, should they continue to hold us, we feared, by the ship’s complaining so much forward, that the bitts would be torn up, or that she would settle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of the tremendous seas which burst over her.
“During the whole of this time, streams of heavy ice continued to drive down upon us, any one of which, had it hung for a moment against the cables, would have broken them, and at the same time have allowed the bowsprit to pitch on it and be destroyed. The masts would have followed this, for we were all so exhausted, and the ship was so coated with ice, that nothing could have been dune to save them.
“We all lay down at times during the night, for to have remained constantly on deck would have quite overpowered us; I frequently went up, and shall never forget the desolate picture which was always before me.
“The hurricane blew with such violence as to be perfectly deafening; and the heavy wash of the sea made it difficult to reach the mainmast, where the officer of the watch and his people sat shivering, completely cased in frozen snow, under a small tarpaulin, before which ropes were stretched to preserve them in their places. I never beheld a darker night, and its gloom was increased by the rays of a small horn lantern which was suspended from the mizen stay, to show where the people sat.
“At dawn on the 13th, we found that the best-bower cable had parted, and us the gale now blow with terrific violence, from the north, there was little reason to expect that the other anchors would hold long. Although