No time was
lost in the attempt to get the Hecla through after her; but, by
one of those accidents to which this navigation is liable, and
which render it so precarious and uncertain, a piece of loose ice,
which lay between the two ships, was drawn after the Griper by the
eddy produced by her motion, and completely blocked the narrow
passage through which we were about to follow. Before we could
remove this obstruction by hauling it back out of the channel, the
floes were again pressed together, wedging it firmly and immovably
between them: the saws were immediately set to work, and used with
great effect; but it was not till eleven o'clock that we
succeeded, after seven hours' labour, in getting the Hecla into
the lanes of clear water which opened more and more to the
westward.
On the 29th we had so much clear water, that the ships had a very
perceptible pitching motion, which, from the closeness of the ice,
does not very often occur in the Polar regions, and which is
therefore hailed with pleasure as an indication of an open sea. At
five P.M. the swell increased considerably, and, as the wind
freshened up from the northeast, the ice gradually disappeared; so
that by six o'clock we were sailing in an open sea, perfectly free
from obstruction of any kind.
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