"Where Away, Cook?" Asked
The First Man Who Was Up.
"On the larboard bow." And there lay,
floating in the ocean, several miles off, an immense, irregular mass,
its top and points covered with snow, and its center of a deep indigo
color.
This was an iceberg, and of the largest size, as one of our men said
who had been in the Northern ocean. As far as the eye could reach,
the sea in every direction was of a deep blue color, the waves
running high and fresh, and sparkling in the light, and in the
midst lay this immense mountain-island, its cavities and valleys
thrown into deep shade, and its points and pinnacles glittering
in the sun.
All hands were soon on deck, looking at it, and admiring in various
ways its beauty and grandeur. But no description can give any idea
of the strangeness, splendor, and, really, the sublimity, of the sight.
Its great size; - for it must have been from two to three miles
in circumference, and several hundred feet in height; - its
slow motion, as its base rose and sank in the water, and its
high points nodded against the clouds; the dashing of the waves
upon it, which, breaking high with foam, lined its base with
a white crust; and the thundering sound of the cracking of
the mass, and the breaking and tumbling down of huge pieces;
together with its nearness and approach, which added a slight
element of fear, - all combined to give to it the character of
true sublimity. The main body of the mass was, as I have said,
of an indigo color, its base crusted with frozen foam; and as it
grew thin and transparent toward the edges and top, its color
shaded off from a deep blue to the whiteness of snow.
It seemed to be drifting slowly toward the north, so that we kept
away and avoided it. It was in sight all the afternoon; and when we
got to leeward of it, the wind died away, so that we lay-to quite
near it for a greater part of the night. Unfortunately, there was
no moon, but it was a clear night, and we could plainly mark the
long, regular heaving of the stupendous mass, as its edges moved
slowly against the stars. Several times in our watch loud cracks
were heard, which sounded as though they must have run through the
whole length of the iceberg, and several pieces fell down with a
thundering crash, plunging heavily into the sea. Toward morning,
a strong breeze sprang up, and we filled away, and left it astern,
and at daylight it was out of sight. The next day, which was
Sunday, July 3d, the breeze continued strong, the air exceedingly
chilly, and the thermometer low. In the course of the day we saw
several icebergs, of different sizes, but none so near as the
one which we saw the day before. Some of them, as well as we
could judge, at the distance at which we were, must have been
as large as that, if not larger. At noon we were in latitude
55° 12' south, and supposed longitude 89° 5' west. Toward night
the wind hauled to the southward, and headed us off our course
a little, and blew a tremendous gale; but this we did not mind,
as there was no rain nor snow, and we were already under close
sail.
Monday, July 4th. This was "independence day" in Boston.
What firing of guns, and ringing of bells, and rejoicings of
all sorts, in every part of our country! The ladies (who have
not gone down to Nahant, for a breath of cool air, and sight of
the ocean) walking the streets with parasols over their heads,
and the dandies in their white pantaloons and silk stockings!
What quantities of ice-cream have been eaten, and what quantities
of ice brought into the city from a distance, and sold out by the
lump and the pound! The smallest of the islands which we saw
today would have made the fortune of poor Jack, if he had had it
in Boston; and I dare say he would have had no objection to being
there with it. This, to be sure, was no place to keep the fourth
of July. To keep ourselves warm, and the ship out of the ice,
was as much as we could do. Yet no one forgot the day; and many
were the wishes, and conjectures, and comparisons, both serious and
ludicrous, which were made among all hands. The sun shone bright
as long as it was up, only that a scud of black clouds was ever
and anon driving across it. At noon we were in lat. 54° 27' S.,
and long. 85° 5' W., having made a good deal of easting, but having
lost in our latitude by the heading of the wind. Between daylight
and dark - that is, between nine o'clock and three - we saw thirty-
four ice islands, of various sizes; some no bigger than the hull
of our vessel, and others apparently nearly as large as the one
that we first saw; though, as we went on, the islands became
smaller and more numerous; and, at sundown of this day, a man at
the mast-head saw large fields of floating ice called "field-ice"
at the south-east. This kind of ice is much more dangerous than
the large islands, for those can be seen at a distance, and kept
away from; but the field-ice, floating in great quantities, and
covering the ocean for miles and miles, in pieces of every size-
-large, flat, and broken cakes, with here and there an island
rising twenty and thirty feet, and as large as the ship's hull; -
this, it is very difficult to sheer clear of. A constant look-out
was necessary; for any of these pieces, coming with the heave
of the sea, were large enough to have knocked a hole in the ship,
and that would have been the end of us; for no boat (even if we
could have got one out) could have lived in such a sea; and no man
could have lived in a boat in such weather.
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