We had
scarcely done so, however, before it fell calm; when the ship
became perfectly unmanageable, and was for some time at the mercy
of the swell, which drifted us fast towards the bergs. All the
boats were immediately sent ahead to tow; and the Griper's signal
was made not to enter the ice. After two hours' hard pulling, we
succeeded in getting the Hecla back again into clear water, and to
a sufficient distance from the icebergs, which it is very
dangerous to approach when there is a swell. At noon we were in
lat. 69 deg. 50' 47", long. 57 deg. 07' 56", being near the middle of the
narrowest part of Davis's Strait, which is here not more than
fifty leagues across.
On the 5th it was necessary to pass through some heavy streams of
ice, in order to avoid the loss of time by going round to the
eastward. On this, as on many other occasions, the advantage
possessed by a ship of considerable weight in the water, in
separating the heavy masses of ice, was Very apparent. In some of
the streams through which the Hecla passed, a vessel of a hundred
tons less burden must have been immovably beset. The Griper was on
this and many other occasions only enabled to follow the Hecla by
taking advantage of the openings made by the latter.
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