Slowly, With Stiff Ropes And Iced Rigging, We Swung The Yards Round,
Everything Coming Hard, And With A Creaking And Rending Sound, Like
Pulling Up A Plank Which Had Been Frozen Into The Ice.
The ship
wore round fairly, the yards were steadied, and we stood off on the
other tack, leaving behind
Us, directly under our larboard quarter,
a large ice island, peering out of the mist, and reaching high above
our tops, while astern; and on either side of the island, large tracts
of field-ice were dimly seen, heaving and rolling in the sea. We were
now safe, and standing to the northward; but, in a few minutes more,
had it not been for the sharp look-out of the watch, we should have
been fairly upon the ice, and left our ship's old bones adrift in
the Southern ocean. After standing to the northward a few hours,
we wore ship, and the wind having hauled, we stood to the southward
and eastward. All night long, a bright lookout was kept from every
part of the deck; and whenever ice was seen on the one bow or the
other, the helm was shifted and the yards braced, and by quick
working of the ship she was kept clear. The accustomed cry of
"Ice ahead!" - "Ice on the lee bow!" - "Another island!" in the
same tones, and with the same orders following them, seemed to
bring us directly back to our old position of the week before.
During our watch on deck, which was from twelve to four, the wind
came out ahead, with a pelting storm of hail and sleet, and we
lay hove-to, under a close-reefed main topsail, the whole watch.
During the next watch it fell calm, with a drenching rain, until
daybreak, when the wind came out to the westward, and the weather
cleared up, and showed us the whole ocean, in the course which we
should have steered, had it not been for the head wind and calm,
completely blocked up with ice. Here then our progress was stopped,
and we wore ship, and once more stood to the northward and eastward;
not for the straits of Magellan, but to make another attempt to
double the Cape, still farther to the eastward; for the captain
was determined to get round if perseverance could do it; and the
third time, he said, never failed.
With a fair wind we soon ran clear of the field-ice, and by noon
had only the stray islands floating far and near upon the ocean.
The sun was out bright, the sea of a deep blue, fringed with the
white foam of the waves which ran high before a strong south-wester;
our solitary ship tore on through the water, as though glad to be
out of her confinement; and the ice islands lay scattered upon the
ocean here and there, of various sizes and shapes, reflecting the
bright rays of the sun, and drifting slowly northward before the
gale.
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