The sails were, however, kept set; and, as the body of ice was setting to the southward withal, we went with it some little distance in that direction. The Hecla, after thus driving, and now and then forcing her way through the ice, in all about three quarters of a mile, quite close to the shore, at length struck the ground forcibly several times in the space of a hundred yards, and being then brought up by it, remained immoveable, the depth of water under her keel abaft being sixteen feet, or about a foot less than she drew. The Fury, continuing to drive, was now irresistibly carried past us, and we escaped, only by a few feet, the damage invariably occasioned by ships coming in contact under such circumstances. She had, however, scarcely passed us a hundred yards, when it was evident, by the ice pressing her in, as well as along the shore, that she must soon be stopped like the Hecla; and having gone about two hundred yards farther, she was observed to receive a severe pressure from a large floe-piece forcing her directly against a grounded mass of ice upon the beach. After setting to the southward for an hour or two longer, the ice became stationary, no open water being anywhere visible from the masthead, and the pressure on the ships remaining undiminished during the day. Just as I had ascertained the utter impossibility of moving the Hecla a single foot, and that she must lie aground fore and aft as soon as the tide fell, I received a note from Captain Hoppner, informing me that the Fury had been so severely "nipped" and strained as to leak a good deal, apparently about four inches an hour; that she was still heavily pressed both upon the ground and against the large mass of ice within her; that the rudder was at present very awkwardly situated; and that one boat had been much damaged. However, about high water, the ice very opportunely slacking, the Hecla was hove off with great ease, and warped to a floe in the offing, to which we made fast at midnight. The Fury was not long after us in coming off the ground, when I was in hopes of finding that any twist or strain by which her leaks might have been occasioned, would, in some measure, close when she was relieved from pressure and once more fairly afloat. My disappointment and mortification, therefore, may in some measure be imagined, at being informed by telegraph, about two A.M. on the 2d, that the water was gaining on two pumps, and that a part of the doubling had floated up. Presently after, perceiving from the masthead something like a small harbour nearly abreast of us, every effort was made to get once more towards the shore. In this the ice happily favoured us; and, after making sail, and one or two tacks, we got in with the land, when I left the ship in a boat to sound the place and search for shelter. The whole shore was more or less lined with grounded masses of ice; but, after examining the soundings within more