Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 1Parry, William Edward, Sir
History
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 1
Parry, William Edward, Sir
Arctic regions; Northwest Passage; Parry, William Edward, Sir, 1790-1855
Early in the morning of the 13th I received by Mr. Griffiths a
message from Lieutenant Liddon, acquainting me that, at eleven
o'clock on the preceding night, the ice had been setting slowly to
the westward, and had, at the same time, closed in upon the land
where the Griper was lying, by which means she was forced against
the submarine ice, and her stern lifted two feet out of the water.
This pressure, Lieutenant Liddon remarked, had given her a twist,
which made her crack a good deal, but apparently without suffering
any material injury in her hull, though the ice was still pressing
upon her when Mr. Griffiths came away. She had at first heeled
inward, but, on being lifted higher, fell over towards the deep
water. Under these circumstances Lieutenant Liddon had very
properly landed all the journals and other documents of
importance, and made every arrangement in his power for saving the
provisions and stores in case of shipwreck, which he had now every
reason to anticipate. 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 depôt 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. By
four P.M. the pressure had gradually decreased, and the ship had
only three or four inches heel; in an hour after she had perfectly
righted, and the ice remained quiet for the rest of the day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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