In the mean time the
wind had been driving the ice so fast off the land as to form for us a
clear communication with the open water before seen to the eastward; and
thus we were at length liberated from our confinement, after a close and
tedious "besetment" of twenty-four days.
The weather continued so thick, that, impatient as we were to stand in
towards the eastern land, we could not venture to do so till eleven A.M.
on the 10th, when we made sail towards Brandywine Bay, the wind being
now from the W.S.W., or nearly dead upon that shore. The weather
clearing up at 1.15 P.M., we saw the eastern land, and soon after
discovered the grounded ice off Low Island; Walden's Island was also
plainly in sight to the N.E. The bay seemed deeply indented, and very
likely to afford nooks such as we wanted; and where so large a space of
open water, and, consequently, some sea, had been exerting its influence
for a considerable time, we flattered ourselves with the most sanguine
hopes of now having access to the shores, sufficiently near, at least,
for sawing into some place of shelter. How, then, shall I express our
surprise and mortification in finding that the whole of the coast, from
the islands northward to Black Point, and apparently also as far as
Walden's Island, was rendered inaccessible by one continuous and heavy
floe, everywhere attached to the shores, and to the numberless grounded
masses about the island, this immense barrier being in some places six
or seven miles in width, and not less than twelve feet in thickness near
the margin.
Pages:
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322