ESCAPE FROM THE ICEBEBG.
Though our apprehensions were great, our chief sufferings were from
cold in that lofty and listless situation; yet our dread of impending
dangers was so keen, our hope of a change so great, that even the
oldest seamen on board never turned into their berths or bunks at
night but with their clothes on, "to be ready," as they said, "to
turn up with all standing at a moment's notice."
Hartly, who was rather scientific and was wont to expatiate upon the
theory of storms, and so forth, endeavoured to account for the
intensity of the frost, which I deemed a somewhat unnecessary
illustration to us who were on the summit of an iceberg.
"The thermometer--" he would begin.
"Ugh! don't speak of the thermometer, Bob," said I, one day, when
trembling in every fibre, as we endeavoured to tread to and fro on
the sloping deck. "It is so cold now, that the atmosphere can never
be colder!"
"So you think; but wait until--"
"When?"
"--we are a few degrees further north, perhaps in the centre of an
ice-field, and then you will know what cold is! But the _degree_ of
it depends upon the power of the wind, after passing over
snow-covered wastes, rather than the actual state of the
mercury;--that was all I was about to remark."
I was too miserable to thank him for the information, but said:
"I do not think our vicinity to that other atrocious iceberg adds to
the pleasantness of our temperature."
"Of course not--but see," he added, raising his voice, "by Heaven, it
is oscillating!"
Just as he spoke, the cold, glistening, and splintered peaks of the
mighty berg seemed to topple over and sink into the sea, as it
_reversed_ with a stunning roar--its former base coming upward, and
imparting an entirely new form to it.
All on board stood gazing at this reversal, which is a common
occurrence with icebergs; but it filled us with a horror of what
_our_ fate would be should a similar capsize occur with us, for now
the berg on which we were wedged heaved and surged in the foaming
eddy made by the other.
"Icebergs have usually nine times as much of them below water as
appears above it," said I.
"Yes, and at that ratio, if this one of ours reversed, we should find
ourselves in a moment somewhere about six hundred and forty feet
below the surface of the sea," replied Hartly, with a grim smile.
"Ay," added Paul Reeves, "and our poor little _Leda_ would be
adhering, keel upmost and trucks down, like a barnacle at the bottom
of this vast floating island."
On the tenth day of our imprisonment, as I have elsewhere said, after
rain had been falling all night in such torrents that we had battened
all the hatches fore and aft, on day breaking, we found a very
perceptible alteration in the position of the brig. From careening
over to port, she had gradually righted, and now rested fairly on her
keel, with her masts upright. The summit of the berg had again
become soft and pulpy on its surface, and the _Leda_ seemed to sink
lower by her own weight every minute, while the ice on each side
sloped upward, leaving her in a kind of valley; and so rapidly did
this state of matters go on, that in four hours the sides were nearly
eight feet above our deck, and suggested a new terror, that they
might collapse--close over, and freeze us in more hopelessly than
ever.
As the rain abated, the berg began palpably to oscillate, that
portion of it which lay under the brig's head, however, became
depressed, and then the rainwater and _sludge_ that had collected in
the valley where we lay, poured over its icy brow like a cataract,
and we heard it thundering, as it fell into the sea below.
"She moves--the brig moves! she forges ahead!" exclaimed Hartly, in
an excited voice, as the berg careened over more and more, and we all
stood pale, breathless, speechless, and rooted to the deck, expecting
a capsize that would bury her masts downward in the sea.
This change of position continued to progress, but very slowly.
There were about sixteen feet of ice from the cutwater of the _Leda_
to the edge of the berg, and about forty from her stern-post to the
edge in the other direction.
"If this depression forward continues slowly," said Hartly, "we shall
be floating in the blue in two hours, my lads; clear away two
hawsers, an ice-anchor, and kedge. Stand by with the capstan-bars,
cast loose the jib and foretopsail, to lift her head a bit, if the
wind serves when she slips off, and then stand by the braces to sheet
home!"
These orders recalled us to life, for they filled us with hope, and
inspired us with activity.
Led by Hartly, Hans Peterkin and two other adventurous fellows named
Abbot clambered along the soft ice astern, and fixed there a kedge
with our strongest hawser, which was to be eased gently off the
capstan, as the brig continued to forge downward and a-head, for her
motion was a double one. It was perilous work for these four brave
men, as the rain had rendered the face of the berg slippery as wetted
glass; but Hartly was full of inherent courage, and in the excitement
of the moment forgot all his superstition about his ring, the gift of
the reputed witch Jensdochter.
He was scarcely on board again, ere the depression continued so
rapidly that the entire hull of the brig lay at an angle of
forty-five degrees from the line of the water below--her bows being
yet twenty feet distant from it.
This was a momentous crisis for us all!
A deathlike stillness was every where on board; on our pale lips, as
we grasped the shrouds or belaying pins to preserve our footing; on
the mighty isle of ice, from the shelving summit of which we were
about to be precipitated; and from the lonely sea below, there came
no sound; at least, we heard only its wavelets rippling against the
cold, glistening, and glacial sides of our prison.
Slowly the brig moved, as if to protract that time of agonizing
suspense. Every man compressed his lips and stifled his breathing.
We seemed to speak our thoughts in silent and expressive glances, for
all had the certainty now that in _three_ minutes more, we should be
floating on the free waters of the ocean, or foundered and sunk,
headforemost, far beneath them.
Foot by foot she forged ahead, as the berg continued to heel over,
and ere long our bowsprit projected in the air over the edge, and
then the bows, headboards, and cutwater! The angle at which the
_Leda_ lay was fearful; we could no longer work the capstan; I
clasped it with my arms, and shut my eyes. Then a heavy sob seemed
to escape from me, as Reeves, by one slash with a sharp axe on the
taffrail, parted the stern warp, which recoiled with a crack like a
coach-whip. Then followed a rushing sound--a mighty plunge, and the
waves dashed in foam on each side of us, as the _Leda_ shot off the
berg, and went souse, bows foremost into the sea; but rising up
again, and shaking all the spray off her, as a duck would have done.
There was a deep silence after the shock and escape of this launch,
and all seemed to await the signal to utter a hearty hurrah of joy
and thankfulness for our miraculous preservation. Ere long it burst
forth, but Hartly cut it short by his orders to sheet home the jib
and foretopsail, to set the foresail, fore and aft mainsail and
maintopsail.
Rapidly he was obeyed, and just as the _Leda_ fell off, and bore away
from the dangerous vicinity of the ice-island, it capsized, as its
companion had done, and with a roar, as if defrauded of its prey.