he feelings of those
who witnessed it be understood. Each of us secured our hold, waiting the
issue with resignation to the will of Him who alone could preserve us,
and bring us safely through this extreme danger; watching with
breathless anxiety the effect of each succeeding collision, and the
vibrations of the tottering masts, expecting every moment to see them
give way, without our having the power to make an effort to save them.

Although the force of the wind had somewhat diminished by four o'clock,
yet the squalls came on with unabated violence, laying the ship over on
her broadside, and threatening to blow the storm-sails to pieces;
fortunately they were quite new, or they never could have withstood such
terrific gusts. At this time, the Terror was so close to us, that, when
she rose to the top of one wave, the Erebus was on the top of that next
to leeward of her; the deep chasm between them filled with heavy rolling
masses; and, as the ships descended into the hollow between the waves,
the main-topsail yard of each could be seen just level with the crest of
the intervening wave, from the deck of the other: from this, some idea
may be formed of the height of the waves, as well as of the perilous
situation of our ships. The night now began to draw on, and cast its
gloomy mantle over the appalling scene, rendering our condition, if
possible, more hopeless and helpless than before; but, at midnight, the
snow, which had been falling thickly for several hours, cleared away, as
the wind suddenly shifted to the westward, and the swell began to
subside; and although the shocks our ships still sustained were such
that must have destroyed any ordinary vessel in less than five minutes,
yet they were feeble compared to those to which we had been exposed,
and our minds became more at ease for their ultimate safety.

During the darkness of night and the thick weather, we had been carried
through a chain of bergs which were seen in the morning considerably to
windward, and which served to keep off the heavy pressure of the pack,
so that we found the ice much more open, and I was enabled to make my
way, in one of our boats, to the Terror, about whose condition I was
most anxious--for I was aware that her damages were of a much more
serious nature than those of the Erebus, notwithstanding the skillful
and seaman-like manner in which she had been managed, and by which she
maintained her appointed station throughout the gale. I fou