r and nearer it. The master
had gone on to the end of the bowsprit, where he stood holding on by the
stay, and looking anxiously ahead; still it seemed as if no danger need
be apprehended.

"What can the master be looking out for?" asked Peter Patch, who had
just then come up to Willy; "we are all right enough at last."

The words were scarcely out of the young midshipman's mouth when a loud
crash was heard. The ship trembled from stem to stern, and it appeared
as if the masts were going by the board. Orders were instantly given to
brace round the yards, so as to box the ship off. In so doing she made
a stern-board, and drove rapidly in towards the berg. The sound of the
first shock had brought all hands on deck. For a moment discipline was
well-nigh lost: the soldiers, women, and children came rushing up from
below, the poor women frantically shrieking and clinging to their
husbands; even some of the seamen, who understood the danger, evidently
thought that all hope was gone. The passengers, too, came hurrying up
out of their cabins, with dismay on their countenances. Their alarm was
still further increased when, in another instant, the stern of the ship
struck with tremendous force against the mass of ice concealed below the
surface; it seemed indeed as if the stern was completely stove in. At
this juncture the voice of Colonel Morley was heard ordering the
soldiers below. "Take your wives with you, and remain till you receive
fresh orders; they will be safer there than on deck," he exclaimed.

"To your stations, men," shouted Commander Newcombe. "We are not going
to lose the ship yet."

The officers hurrying among the men soon brought them back to a sense of
their duty. It was found, however, that the damage the ship had
received was very severe. The rudder had been torn from its position;
the starboard tiller rope had been carried away, and the neck of the
rudder was wrenched off so as to render it unserviceable. Believing
tackles were at once applied to the tiller, in hopes that the rudder
might be made to work; but after several attempts it was found to be
utterly useless. In vain were the yards braced round. Without the use
of the rudder the ship could not be got sufficiently off to give her
head-way. Slowly she continued to drive towards the monstrous berg,
which threatened, should she strike it, to overwhelm her in an instant.

"A slight shift of wind would take her off," observed the
firs