of
labour which the strength of every individual seemed to require.

'The gale rather increasing than otherwise, during the whole day and
night of the 18th, had, on the following morning, when the wind and
sea still continued unabated, so destroyed the bergs on which our sole
dependence was placed, that they no longer remained aground at low
water; the cables had again become slack about them, and the basin we
had taken so much pains in forming had now lost all its defences, at
least during a portion of every tide. It will be plain, too, if I have
succeeded in giving a distinct description of our situation, that
independently of the security of the ships, there was now nothing left
to seaward by which the Hecla could be held out in that direction
while heaving the Fury down, so that our preparations in this way were
no longer available.

'After a night of most anxious consideration and consultation with
Captain Hoppner, who was now my mess-mate in the Hecla, it appeared
but too plain that, should the ice again come in, neither ship could
any longer be secured from driving on shore. It was therefore
determined instantly to prepare the Hecla for sea, making her
thoroughly effective in every respect; so that we might at least push
her out into comparative safety among the ice, when it closed again,
taking every person on board her; securing the Fury in the best manner
we could, and returning to her the instant we were able to do so, to
endeavour to get her out, and to carry her to some place of security
for heaving down. If, after the Hecla was ready, time should still be
allowed us, it was proposed immediately to put into the Fury all that
was requisite, or at least as much as she could safely carry, and
towing her out into the ice, to try the effect of 'foldering' the
leaks, by sails under those parts of her keel which we knew to be
damaged, until some more effectual means could be resorted to.

'Having communicated to the assembled officers and ships' companies my
views and intentions, and moreover given them to understand that I
hoped to see the Hecla's top-gallant yards across before we slept, we
commenced our work, and such was the hearty good-will and
indefatigable energy with which it was carried on, that by midnight
the whole was accomplished, and a bower-anchor and cable carried out
in the offing, for the double purpose of hauling out the Hecla when
requisite, and as some security to the Fury if we were oblig