to the mercy of the storm and the current, in the midst of large
masses of ice from ten to twenty feet thick. The following night was
dreadfully dark and tempestuous, and the howling of the wind, and the
roaring of the ice, as the fields were dashed against each other by
its fury, rendered it truly terrific; while the fragments, as they
were dispersing by the storm, struck violently against the vessel, and
each blow sounded like the harbinger of instant fate. Such shocks were
repeated every five or ten minutes and sometimes oftener; nor was
there any possibility of avoiding them. In this awful situation they
offered up earnest prayers to Him who alone is able to save, and about
six in the morning they were carried into open water not far from the
coast, after having spent ten long hours in a state more easily to be
conceived than described. During the remainder of their voyage they
encountered several heavy gales, and were threatened occasionally with
the gathering ice, and their vessel was leaky, but they happily
arrived at their desired haven in safety. On the 9th of August they
cast anchor at Hopedale.
Amid the trials which the brethren had to encounter, they acknowledge,
with gratitude, the mercies that intervened: they witnessed many
instances of the faithful leading of the Holy Spirit among the
Esquimaux, particularly in the return of many to the good Shepherd,
from whom they had strayed--and during the winter, the station of
Hopedale was preserved from moral contagion by a striking providence.
Some heathen who had set out to seduce their countrymen to go to the
south, were overtaken at sea by a violent storm, which dashed their
large boat in pieces, and being thrown on an unknown desert region,
where no assistance could be obtained, perished miserably by cold and
hunger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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