We tried every corner, but to no purpose; all the power we
could apply being insufficient to move the heavy masses of ice
which had fixed themselves firmly between us and the lanes of
water without. In the mean time, Lieutenant Liddon had succeeded
in advancing about three hundred yards, and had placed the
Griper's bow between two heavy floes, which it was necessary to
separate before any farther progress could be made. Both ships
continued to heave at their hawsers occasionally, as the ice
appeared to slacken a little, by which means they were now and
then drawn ahead a few inches at a time, but did not advance more
than half a dozen yards in the course of the night. By our nearing
several bergs to the northward, the ice appeared to be drifting in
that direction, the wind being moderate from the southward.
About three A.M., Tuesday, 27th, by a sudden motion of the ice, we
succeeded in getting the Hecla out of her confined situation, and
ran her up astern of the Griper. The clear water had made so much
to the westward, that a narrow neck of ice was all that was now
interposed between the ships and a large open space in that
quarter. Both ships' companies were therefore ordered upon the ice
to saw off the neck, when the floes suddenly opened sufficiently
to allow the Griper to push through under all sail.
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