es grinding and crushing together.

The ice closed on the ill-fated ship. She was probably as totally
unprepared to resist its pressure as we were. At first I thought that
it lifted her bodily up; but it was not so, I suspect. She was too deep
in the water for that. Her sides were crushed in--her stout timbers
were rent into a thousand fragments--her tall masts tottered and fell,
though still attached to the hull. For an instant I concluded that the
ice must have separated, or perhaps the edges broke with the force of
the concussion; for, as I gazed, the wrecked mass of hull and spars and
canvas seemed drawn suddenly downwards with irresistible force, and a
few fragments, which had been hurled by the force of the concussion to a
distance, were all that remained of the hapless vessel. Not a soul of
her crew could have had time to escape to the ice.

I looked anxiously: not a speck could be seen stirring near the spot.
Such, thought I, may be the fate of the four hundred and forty human
beings on board this ship ere many minutes are over.

I believe that I was the only person on board who witnessed the
catastrophe. Most of the emigrants were below, and the few who were on
deck were with the crew watching our own progress.

Still narrower grew the passage. Some of the parts we had passed
through were already closed. The wind, fortunately, held fair; and
though it contributed to drive the ice faster in on us, it yet favoured
our escape. The ship flew through the water at a great rate, heeling
over to her ports; but though at times it seemed as if the masts would
go over the sides, still the captain held on. A minute's delay might
prove our destruction.

Every one held his breath as the width of the passage decreased, though
we had but a short distance more to make good before we should be free.

I must confess that all the time I did not myself feel any sense of
fear. I thought it was a danger more to be apprehended for others than
for myself. At length a shout from the deck reached my ears, and
looking round, I saw that we were on the outside of the floe. We were
just in time, for, the instant after, the ice met, and the passage
through which we had come was completely closed up. The order was now
given to keep the helm up and to square away the yards; and with a
flowing sheet we ran down the edge of the ice for upwards of three miles
before we were clear of it.

Only then did people begin to inquire