cely a foot of space to spare for doing it; and indeed, as it
was, her forefoot touched the ground, and loosened the broken part of
the wood so much as to enable us to pull it up with ropes, when we found
the fragments to consist of the whole of the "gripe" and most of the
"cutwater." In the evening we received the Fury's crew on board the
Hecla, every arrangement and regulation having been previously made for
their personal comfort, and for the preservation of cleanliness,
ventilation, and dry warmth throughout the ship. The officers of the
Fury, by their own choice, pitched a tent on shore for messing and
sleeping in, as our accommodation for two sets of officers was
necessarily confined. Every preparation being made, at three A.M. on the
18th we began to heave her down on the larboard side; but when the
purchases were nearly ablock, we found that the strops under the Hecla's
bottom, as well as some of the Fury's shore-fasts, had stretched or
yielded so much that they could not bring the keel out of water within
three or four feet. We immediately eased her up again, and readjusted
everything as requisite, hauling her farther in-shore than before by
keeping a considerable heel upon her, so as to make less depth of water
necessary; and we were then in the act of once more heaving her down,
when a snowstorm came on and blew with such violence off the land as to
raise a considerable sea. The ships had now so much motion as to strain
the gear very much, and even to make the lower masts of the Fury bend in
spite of the shores; we were, therefore, most unwillingly compelled to
desist until the sea should go down, keeping everything ready to
recommence the instant we could possibly do so with safety. The officers
and men were now literally so harassed and fatigued as to be scarcely
capable of farther exertion without some rest; and on this and one or
two other occasions, I noticed more than a single instance of stupor,
amounting to a certain degree of failure in intellect, rendering the
individual so affected quite unable at first to comprehend the meaning
of an order, though still as willing as ever to obey it. It was
therefore, perhaps, a fortunate necessity that produced the intermission
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 des