Bedford inquirer and chronicle. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1854-1857, 1856-11-07

ward ne thought dashed upon me Of one
of our escapes in Melville Bay; and as the
sconce moved rapidly alongside us, MGary
managed to plant an anchcr on its slope,
and hold on to it by while-line. 1t was
an anxious moment. Our noble tow horse,
whiter than the pale horse that seemed to
be pursuing us, hauled US bravely on, the
spray dashing over bis windward tanks, and
his forehead plowiag up the lesser ice as if
In scorn. The bergs encroachei upon us as
we advanced. Our channel narrowed to
width of perhaps forty feet, we braced the
yards to clear the impending ice-walls.
'sWe passed clear; but it was close
shave--so close that our own quarter-boat
would have been crushed if we had not
taken it from the dayits-aud found our
selves under tho lea of berg, in compar-
atively open lead. Never did heart-tried
men acknowledge with more gratitude their
merciful deliyerance from wretched death
''The day had already had its full share
Of trials; but there were more to come A
flaw drove US from our shelter, and the gale
soon carried Us beyond tho end of the lead.
We were again in the ice, sometimes escap-
ing its onset by warping, sometimes forced
to rely on the strength and buoyancy Of
the brig to stand its pressure, sometimes
scudding wildly through the half-open drift.
Our jibboom was snapped off in the cap:
We carried away our barricade staunchions,
and were forced to leave eur little Erie, with
three brave fellows and their wards, out up
on the foes behind US.
IA little pool of open water received US
at last was just beyond lofty cape that
rose up Ike wall, and under an iceberg
that anchored itself between US and the
gale. And here, close under the frosniug
shore of Greenland, ten miles nearer the
Pole than our holding ground of the morn
ing, the men have turned in to rest.
Il was afraid to join them, for tie gale
was unbroken, and the foes kept pressing
heavily upon our berg, at one time 50 heav-
lily as to sway it on its vertical axis toward
the shore, and make its pinnacle ogerhang
our vessel. My poor fellows had but
precarious sleep before our little harbor
was broken up. They hardly reached tho
deck when we we're driven astern, our rad-
der splintered, and the pintles torn frcm
their boltings.
'sNow began the nippings. The first
shock took us on our port quarter; the brig
bearing it we'll, and after a moment of the
old fashioned suspense, rising by jerks
handsomely The next was from a veteran
foe, tongued and houeyconlbed, but float
ing in single table over twenty feet in
thickness OF course no wood or iron
could stand this; but the shoreward face OF
our iceberg happened to present an inclined
plane, descending deep into the water, and
up this the brig was driven, as if some great
steam screw power was forcing her into a
dry dock.
DAT one time expected TO see her car
ried bodily up its face and tunlbled over on
side. But one of these mysterious relaxa-
tions, which ! have elsewhere called the
pulses of the ice, lowered US quite gradual
ly dewn again into the rubbish, and we were
forced out of the line of pressure toward the
shore. Here we succeeded in carrying out
a warp and making fast. We grounded as
the tide fell, and would have heeled over to
seaward, bat for o mass Of detached land
ice that grounded alongside of US, and al
though it Glove our bulwarks, as we rolled
over it, showed US up"
We must also give his account Of The se-
quel.
81 could hardly get to my bunk, as ! went
down into our Uttered cabin on the Sunday
morning after our hard working vigil OF
thirty six hours. Bags Of clothing, food,
tents, India rubber blankets, and the hun
dred little personal matters which every man
likes to save in time Of trouble, we're seat
tered around in places where the owners
thought they might have them at hand. =
The pemiean had been on deck, the boats
equipped, and everything of Importance
ready for march, many hours before
GAS our brig, borne on by the ice, COM
menced her ascent OF the berg, the suspense
was oppressive. The immense blocks piled
against her, range upon range, pressing
themselves under her keel, and throwing her
over upon her side, till, urged BY the sue
cessiye accumulations, she rose slowly, and
as if with convulsive efforts, along the siop-
ing wall. Still there was no relaxation OF
the impelling force. Shock after shock jar
ring her to her very centre, she continued to
mount steadily on her precarious cradle
Bnt for the groaning of her timbers, and
the heavy sough of the foes, we might have
heard pin drop. And then, as settled
dow into her old position, quietly taxing