Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882; Sailors; Seafaring life; Voyages and travels
All hands were soon on deck, looking at it, and admiring in various
ways its beauty and grandeur. But no description can give any idea of
the strangeness, splendor, and, really, the sublimity, of the sight.
Its great size;--for it must have been from two to three miles in
circumference, and several hundred feet in height;--its slow motion, as
its base rose and sank in the water, and its high points nodded against
the clouds; the dashing of the waves upon it, which, breaking high with
foam, lined its base with a white crust; and the thundering sound of
the cracking of the mass, and the breaking and tumbling down of huge
pieces; together with its nearness and approach, which added a slight
element of fear,--all combined to give to it the character of true
sublimity. The main body of the mass was, as I have said, of an indigo
color, its base crusted with frozen foam; and as it grew thin and
transparent toward the edges and top, its color shaded off from a deep
blue to the whiteness of snow.
It seemed to be drifting slowly toward the north, so that we kept away
and avoided it. It was in sight all the afternoon; and when we got to
leeward of it, the wind died away, so that we lay-to quite near it for
a greater part of the night. Unfortunately, there was no moon, but it
was a clear night, and we could plainly mark the long, regular heaving
of the stupendous mass, as its edges moved slowly against the stars.
Several times in our watch loud cracks were heard, which sounded as
though they must have run through the whole length of the iceberg, and
several pieces fell down with a thundering crash, plunging heavily into
the sea. Toward morning, a strong breeze sprang up, and we filled
away, and left it astern, and at daylight it was out of sight. The
next day, which was
Sunday, July 3d, the breeze continued strong, the air exceedingly
chilly, and the thermometer low. In the course of the day we saw
several icebergs, of different sizes, but none so near as the one which
we saw the day before. Some of them, as well as we could judge, at the
distance at which we were, must have been as large as that, if not
larger. At noon we were in latitude 55° 12' south, and supposed
longitude 89° 5' west. Toward night the wind hauled to the southward,
and headed us off our course a little, and blew a tremendous gale; but
this we did not mind, as there was no rain nor snow, and we were
already under close sail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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