which nothing but their prodigious strength could have withstood. So powerful was this compression, that the planks of their decks were split; and the vessels themselves occasionally lifted up several feet, and thrown over, very considerably, on their bilges.
On the evening of the 29th of July, being once more in the open sea. Captain Buchan, whose patience had been so severely tried, but who was still anxious to make the most of the remainder of the season, steered to the westward, in the hope of meeting with a more favorable opportunity of reaching a higher northern latitude in that direction; and with the determination, in the event of failure, of making the attempt to the eastward of Spitzbergen. Unfortunately for the successful issue of this project, the ships had scarcely entered upon it when a violent gale came on suddenly; and they were reduced to the almost hopeless alternative of taking refuge amongst the ice, from the pressure of which, in smooth water, they had so narrowly escaped, that it appeared scarcely possible for them to survive its effects, now that it had become most violently agitated by the storm.
The first contact with the icy barrier – the moment of almost inevitable destruction – was deferred to the last instant; in the hope of a change, and in order to prepare the vessels, as much as possible, for the premeditated collision, by cutting up the cables, and hanging the pieces as fenders over the bows. At length the dreaded moment arrived; there was but one wave between the vessels and the margin of the ice, which latter was buried in foam, and heaving and grinding with the effect of the tempest, to a degree that the noise it occasioned completely drowned the voices of the crews. The helm was put a-weather, and the fore-top-sail added to the head-sail upon each vessel, in order that she might the more successfully force herself past the turbulent margin of the awful barrier, and enter so far, that, in case of her destruction, the crew might have some chance of saving themselves upon the ice. The reader will imagine the anxiety with which the officers and men awaited the first shock, and their heartfelt joy at finding it successfully resisted. The vessels,
