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54 . ... . TEEEIFIC HÜBRICANE.
serious injuries. At 6 p .m . the ship emerged from the edge of the pack ; but
shortly afterwards she was again suddenly beset, and it became necessary to lie
to for the night. During the latter portion of the night it blew hai’d, and snow
began to fall in great quantity. . Yesterday morning the decks and rigging were
covered with a deep layer of snow and ice, which rapidly accumulated although
removed at short intervals. The masses of pack-ice were of immense size, some
of them rising out of the water nearly on a level with the bulwarks, and
measuiing from 50 to 60 yards in diameter. During the greater part of the
morning snow fell so thickly as to obscure objects at twenty yards distance, and
all attempts at clearing the ice were fruitless till about noon, when the ship once
more found herself in open water. -
Oct. 10.—During the whole of the 7th and 8th we experienced heavy gales off
Cape Farewell. On the afternoon of the last-named date, the ‘ Bulldog ’
approached within five or six miles of the coast, in the vicinity of Prince Christian
Sound, without meeting with any ice-pack. The mountain-ranges at this point
seem to extend down to the sea, forming a series of lofty and precipitous escarpments,
with intervening fiords and outlying islands. A sounding, taken at the
above distance from the coast, showed the depth to be 94 fathoms. A second
sounding, taken in the evening, at thirty miles distance, gave 205 fathoms. As
night closed in, the gale steadily increased in violence, and, the wind having veered
round from north to north-east, whilst our position was still far too close to the
southern portion of Greenland to be safe from the dangers of a lee shore, things
certainly looked far from promising. From an early hour yesterday morning it
blew a terrific hurricane. Not a man in the gallant ship’s crew, from the commander
downwards, had ever encountered one more severe. To describe it is
impossible ; for sea and sky were alike obscured by the sheet of seething foam,
wfithin which they met in a deadly struggle for mastery. Every moment gigantic
waves swept over the ship, as if bent on engulfing her. . Everything hoisted in
the shape of canvas was blown to tatters. Even the massive engines of the
‘Bulldog’ were utterly powerless against such a turmoU. Boats, bulwarks,
paddle-boxes, bowsprit, and jib-boom, sponson-fiooring—the latter formed of
9-inch beams—and tiller-head were more or less shattered to pieces or altogether
carried away. The ship laboured terribly, her immense timbers and bulkheads
working as if they were going to open outright. Only one sound was to be
CONTINUOUS GALES. AN UGLY ICEBEEG. 55
heard ; and that was the rush of waters and the mad howl of the tempest. It
was indeed a sublime sight, and well worth witnessing; but, as there is little fear
of such a scene fading from the memory, I candidly confess, to see it once in a
lifetime is sufficient for all purposes. ;
Towards evening the rough edge appeared to have been taken off the gale;
but nevertheless it continued during the night to blow furiously. This morning
the glass has risen a trifle, and the storm moderated, but there is still plenty of
room for improvement.
. Oct. I I .—Another hand at the bellows, and from an opposite quarter.
During the night the gale continued much as before. The rain which fell had
taken the sea down somewhat. But after I I p .m . the glass again fell, and it was
evident the partial lull was only intended as a prelude to a renewed outburst.
By 8 A.M. today it commenced to blow fiercely from the westward; and although
the recent north-easterly hurricane had still left a tremendous swell, this was
rapidly overcome, and succeeded by another from the opposite point of the
compass.
About an hour ago the engines had to be disconnected, in order, I believe, to
effect some repair; and no sooner had this operation been performed than we
found ourselves within a short distance of a large iceberg.. The ship’s head
refused to “ pay off;” that is, the effect of the wind on her broadside and immense
paddle-boxes was so great in proportion to the power of such sail as it was
possible to set, that it occupied nearly half an hour to get her head round, and
thus gain the leeward side of the only really ugly berg I have seen since we
came to Greenland. :
At a rough estimate, I should say the berg must have been about 80 feet in
height above the main sea-level, and 100 feet in length. Against this mass of ice
the mightiest waves hurled headlong without producing the faintest trace of
oscillation; whilst in an instant afteiwards they might be seen borne away to
leeward, 100 feet at least higher than its summit, as scattered mists annihilated
by their own wild vehemence.
I t is remarkable that, amongst the numerous icebergs met with in deep water
since our first arrival on the Greenland coast, 1 have only observed seventeen
that have presented distinct traces of gravel, stones, or detritus from the bottom.
For a time I was perplexed how to account for this, inasmuch as in higher lati