arned that the ice
went off as rapidly, if not more so, than it came in; and when an
opening occurred to-day, the "Pioneer," with the "Resolute" again in
tow, was ahead of the whalers, and close on Penny's heels.

The ice to-day lay much across, forming very tortuous channels; and the
performance of the screws, in twisting themselves and their tail-pieces
(the ships) round floe-pieces and bergs, was as interesting as it was
satisfactory. In some places we had to adopt a plan, styled by us
"making a cannon!" from its resemblance to the same feat in billiards.
This generally occurred at sharp and intricate turns, where the breadth
of water was considerably less than the length of the vessels; we then,
in order to get the vessel's stem in the proper direction, used to
steer her in such a way, that the bow on the opposite side to which we
wanted her to turn struck the ice with some force; the consequence was,
the steamer would turn short off, and save the risk of getting athwart
"the lead," and aid in checking the ship round at the same time.

Another novel application of steam took place to-day. We came to a bar
of ice, formed of loose floe-pieces of all sizes, but too small to
heave through by means of ice-anchors and lines; Penny stood close up
to it, but he could neither sail through it, nor warp; he had therefore
to make a long detour round its edge: _steam_ however was able to do
it; and with our knife-like bows, aided by the propeller, we soon
wedged a road through for ourselves and the "Resolute."

Detentions in the ice were amongst the most trying moments of our life
in the North; and from the composition of our squadron, namely, two
fast vessels, and two slow ones, the constant waiting for one another
put me much in mind of the old doggerel:--

"The Earl of Chatham with sword drawn,
Was waiting for Sir Richard Strachan;
Sir Richard longing to be at 'em,
Was waiting for the Earl of Chatham."

The risk of detention in such a region can be understood by all; but
few, perhaps, will appreciate the feeling of mingled passion and regret
with which the leading vessel in such a mission as we had in hand found
herself obliged to wait to close her consort, when all was water ahead,
and the chances of it remaining so were but slight. A few hours we all
knew had often made the difference of a passage across Melville Bay
without detention, or of a long, laborious voyage--here we were waiting
for our consor