Fast in the Ice | Page 6

A minute after that the mate he cries down
to the captain:--
"`Ice closin' up, sir!'
"And the captain he runs on deck. By this time there was no mistake
about it; the ice was close upon us. It was clear that we were to have a
nip. So the captain roars down the hatchway, `Tumble up there! tumble
up! every man alive! for your lives!' And sure enough they did tumble
up, as I never seed 'em do it before--two or three of 'em was sick; they
came up with their clothes in their hands. The ice was now almost
touchin' our sides, and I tell you, sir, I never did feel so queerish in all
my life before as when I looked over the side at the edge of that great
field of ice which rose three foot out o' the water, and was, I suppose,
six foot more below the surface. It came on so slow that we could
hardly see the motion. Inch by inch the water narrowed between it and
our sides. At last it touched on the left side, and that shoved us quicker
on to the field on our right. Every eye was fixed on it--every man held

his breath. You might have heard a pin fall on the deck. It touched
gently at first, then there was a low grindin' and crunchin' sound. The
ship trembled as if it had been a livin' creetur, and the beams began to
crack. Now, you must know, sir, that when a nip o' this sort takes a ship
the ice usually eases off, after giving her a good squeeze, or when the
pressure is too much for her, the ice slips under her bottom and lifts her
right out o' the water. But our Nancy was what we call wall-sided. She
was never fit to sail in them seas. The consequence was that the ice
crushed her sides in. The moment the captain heard the beams begin to
go he knew it was all up with the ship; so he roared to take to the ice
for our lives! You may be sure we took his advice. Over the side we
went, every man Jack of us, and got on the ice. We did not take time to
save an article belongin' to us; and it was as well we did not, for the ice
closed up with a crash, and we heard the beams and timbers rending
like a fire of musketry in the hold. Her bottom must have been cut
clean away, for she stood on the ice just as she had floated on the sea.
Then the noise stopped, the ice eased off, and the ship began to settle.
The lead of water opened up again; in ten minutes after that the Nancy
went to the bottom and left us standing there on the ice.
"It was the mercy of God that let it happen so near the Bullfinch. We
might have been out o' sight o' that ship at the time, and then every man
of us would have bin lost. As it was, we had a hard scramble over a
good deal of loose ice, jumpin' from lump to lump, and some of us
fallin' into the water several times, before we got aboard. Now that was
a bad nip, sir, warn't it?"
"It certainly was," replied Gregory; "and although I delight in being
among the ice, I sincerely hope that our tight little brig may not be tried
in the same way. But she is better able to stand it, I should think."
"That she is, sir," replied Croft, with much confidence. "I seed her in
dock, sir, when they was a-puttin' of extra timbers on the bow, and I do
believe she would stand twice as much bad usage as the Nancy got,
though she is only half the size."
Jim Croft's opinion on this point was well founded, for the Hope had
indeed been strengthened and prepared for her ice battles with the

greatest care, by men of experience and ability. As some readers may
be interested in this subject, I shall give a brief account of the additions
that were made to her hull.
The vessel was nearly two hundred tons burden. She had originally
been built very strongly, and might even have ventured on a voyage to
the Polar seas just as she was. But Captain Harvey resolved to take
every precaution to insure the success of his voyage, and the safety and
comfort of his men. He, therefore, had the whole of the ship's bottom
sheathed with thick hardwood planking, which was carried up above
her water-line, as high as the ordinary floe-ice would be likely to reach.
The hull inside was strengthened with stout cross-beams,