Convinced as I was that no human art or
power could, in our present situation, prevent such a catastrophe
whenever the pressure of the ice became sufficient, I was more
than ever satisfied with the determination to which I had
previously come, of keeping the ships apart during the continuance
of these untoward circumstances, in order to increase the chance
of saving one of them from accidents of this nature. In the mean
time the ice remained so close about the Hecla, that the slightest
pressure producing in it a motion towards the shore must have
placed us in a situation similar to that of the Griper; and our
attention was therefore diverted to the more important object of
providing, by every means in our power, for the security of the
larger ship, as being the principal depot of provisions and other
resources.
At five P.M. Lieutenant Liddon acquainted me by letter that the
Griper had at length righted, the ice having slackened a little
around her, and that all the damage she appeared to have sustained
was in her rudder, which was badly split, and would require some
hours' labour to repair it whenever the ice should allow him to
get it on shore.
Soon after midnight the ice pressed closer in upon the Hecla than
before, giving her a heel of eighteen inches towards the shore,
but without appearing to strain her in the slightest degree.
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