, 1857-06-26
tFrom DR.. Kane's "Arctie Explorations."l
Parting HaWSerS Among the Ice Berg,

a. uhS uu"oNto AuAVuS tnO AOO DCA St
1t blew perfect hurricane We ha
seen it coming, and were ready with thre
good hawsers out ahead, and all thing
snug on board
Still it came on heavier and heavier, an
the ice began to drive more wildly than
thought had ever seen it. | had jus
turned in to warm and dry myself ont i
my bunk, when / heard the sharp twang
ing snap of cord. Our six-inch hawse
had parted, and we were swinging by tn
two others; the gale like roaring lion t.
the southwark.
Half a minute more, "twang, twang!
came a second report. knew it was tn,
whale line by the shrillness of the ring
Our noble ten-inch MANILA still h, Id on
was hurrying my last sock into its sealskiT
boot, when McGary came waddling dowr
the companion-ladders: "Captain Kane
she won't hold much longer; it's blowing
the devil himself, and Pm afraid to SURGE
The MANILA cable was proving its excel
lence when reached the deck; and the
crew, as they gathered round me, were
loud in its praises. We could hear its deer
Eolian chant swelling through all the rat
tie of the ruuning-gear and moaning Of the
shrouds. II t0as Tie death song! The
strands gave way with the noise of shot
ted gun; and in the smoke that followed
their recoil, we were dragged ont by the
wild ice, at its mercy.
We steadied and did some pretty war.
ping, and got the brig o good bed in the
rushing drift; but it all came to nothing
We then tried to beat back through the
narrow ice-clogged water way, that was
driving, a quarter Of mile wide, between
the shore and the pack. 1t cost US two
hours of hard labor, thought skilfully
bestowed; bat at the end of that time, we
were at least four miles Of, opposite the
great valley in the centre Of Bedevilled
reach. Ahead Of US, farther to the north,
we could see the strait growing still mar
rover, and the heavy ice tables grinding
up and clogging it between the shore cliffs
on one side and the ledge on the otber.
There was but one thing left for us--to
keep in some sort the command Of the helm
by going freely where we must otherwise
be driven. We allowed her to scud under
reefed foretopsail; all hands watching the
enemy, as we closed in upon the piling
masses. We dropped our heaviest anchor
with the desperate hope Of winding the
brig, but there was no withstanding the icS
torrent that followed US. We had onlJ
time to fasten q spar as buoy to the chain,
and let her slip. So went our best powerI
Down we went upon the gale again,
hopelessly scraping along lee Of ice sell
dom less than thirty feet thick; one foe
measured by line as we tried to fasten TO
1t, more than forty. / had seen such ice
only once before, and never in such rapid
motion. One upturned mass rose above
our gunwale, smashing 10 our bulwarks,
and despositing half ton Of ice in q lump
upon our deck. Our staunch little brig
bore herself through all this wild adventure
as il she had charmed life.
But new enemy camc in sight ahead,
Directly in our way, just beyond the line
Of loe-iee, against which we were altern'
ately sliding and humping, was q group ol
bergs. We had no power to avoid them
aud the only question was whether We
were to be dashed TO pieces against them,
or whether they might not offer us some
proyidential nook OF refuge from the storm
But as we neared them, we perceived that
they were at some distance from the foe.
edge, and separated from it by an interval
Of open water Our hopes rose as the
gale drove US towards the passage and into
it, and we were ready to exnlt when, from
some unexplained cause, probably an eddy
Of the wind against the lofty ice-walls, We
lost our headway. Almost at the same
moment we saw that the bergs were moi
at rest; that with n momentum Of thell
own they were bearing down upon the 9th
er ice, and that it must be our fate to bC
crushed between the two.
Just then broad sconce-piece Of lov
water-washed berg came driving from tht
southward. The thought flashed upon mi
Of one Of our escapes in Melville Bay, anl
as the sconce moved rapidly close alongside
us, McGary managed to plant an anchor
on its slope, and to hold on to it by {
whale-line. II was an anxious moment
Our noble tow-horse, whittier than the pall
horse that seemed to be pursuing US, hauleS
us bravely on; the spray dashing over hi
windward aanks, and his forehead plowinl
up the lesser ice as if in scorn The berg
encroached upon us as we advancedi oul
channel narrowed to Q width Of about forty
feet; We placed the yards to keep clear o.
the impending ice-waIls.
We passed clear; but it was a clos
shave, so close that our port qnarter-boa
would have been crushed if we had no
taken it from the davits, and found ouI
selves under the lee offs berg, in compars
lively open lead. Never did heart-trie
men acknowledge, with more gratitud,
their merciful deliverance from wretche
death.
b6- As specimen of the way in whicl