save the ship.

There was no time for ceremony; no time to announce the fact in set form
to the officer of the watch. This was the second mate. He was,
happily, a sensible man. He at once comprehended the emergency, and
gave the necessary orders to brace up the yards, and bring the ship
close upon a wind. We were not a moment too soon in anything that was
done. The white glimmering appearance grew every instant more distinct,
till it resolved itself into a vast massive iceberg towering high above
the mast-heads, while the roar of the breakers which dashed against its
sides increased in loudness. The ship heeled over to the gale till her
yard-arms seemed almost to touch the floating mountain. Still she stood
up bravely to her canvas, closely hugging the wind. Had a rope been
rotten, had a spar given way, our fate might have been sealed. In one
instant after striking, the ship and everything in her might have been
dashed to atoms.

The man with firmest nerves among all our crew watched that lofty berg,
as we rushed by it in our midnight course, with feelings of awe and
anxiety, if not of alarm, and drew a breath more freely when he looked
over the quarter and saw the danger past. It was not the only one we
encountered that night. Sail had been shortened; but it was evidently
necessary, after the warning we had received, to keep the ship as much
as possible under command.

On, on we flew through the murky night, the gale every moment increasing
in force, and the sea rising and breaking in unexpected directions. We
had again kept away on our course. Sail was still further reduced. The
cold had before been considerable; it now much increased, and our decks
were covered with ice. Captain Carr had, the moment we sighted the
iceberg, come on deck; the watch below were called, and every one was at
his post. It was not a time for anyone to be spared. We had evidently
got into the icy regions sooner than had been expected. Intending to
get out of them, the captain gave the order to keep away; but scarcely
had we done so when an ice-field was seen extending away on our lee-bow
and ahead, and we were again obliged to haul up, hoping to get round it.
On, therefore, we sailed; but as we advanced we found the ice-field
extending away on our starboard-beam, the sea breaking over it with a
noise which warned us what would be the consequence if we should strike
it.

Let our position be pictured for an instant. The f