bidding place,
and all alone. My shipmates were all either drowned or killed outright
by the falling ice, so far at least as I knew. The prospect ahead was
not a pleasing one, for of course, as I think I have said before, the
first thought which crossed my mind was, that I should starve or freeze
to death very soon. I was greatly astonished by what had happened, and
indeed it was hard for me to believe my senses, so suddenly had this
great disaster come upon me. I stood staring into the mist, and
listening to the terrible sounds which came out of it, as one petrified;
yet after a little time I recovered myself sufficiently to realize my
situation. The instinct of life is strong in every living thing, and
young sailor-boys are no exception to the rule; so, after I had stood in
the presence of this frightful chaos for I have not the least idea how
long, I began to think what I should do to save myself.

"The waves which had been raised after a while began steadily to
subside, and, as the sea became more calm, I found that I could approach
nearer to where the wreck had happened by jumping over some of the
cracks which had been made in the ice, and walking across piece after
piece of it. These pieces were all in motion, rolling on the swell of
the sea, and, the farther I went, of course the greater the motion
became. I had to proceed cautiously, and when I jumped from one fragment
of ice to another, I was obliged to look carefully what I was about, for
if I missed my footing I should fall into the sea, and be either drowned
or ground up by the moving ice.

"Had the iceberg all gone to pieces at once, the sea would soon have
become quiet; but it was evident from the noises which reached me that a
considerable part of the berg was still holding together, and was
wallowing in the sea in consequence of its equilibrium being disturbed
by the first crash, and was still keeping the waters moving. I could
indeed vaguely see this remaining fragment, swaying to right and left,
and I could also perceive that, with every roll, fresh masses were
breaking off, with loud reports, like the crash of artillery. I could,
however, discover nothing of the ship nor either of the boats. I was
able to detect, even at a considerable distance, some fragments of ice
floating and rolling about, when the fog would clear up a little; and,
as I peered into the gloom, I thought at one time that I saw a man
standing upon one of them. It was but a moment,