an effectual case of nipping. There have been many partial
and severe nips, the descriptions of which are all more or less graphic;
but few ships have come so suddenly to the end of their career as did
the _Breadalbane_, a small vessel that was used as a transport ship to
the expedition in search of Sir John Franklin in 1852. One who was on
board when it occurred thus describes it:--

_Sunday, August 21st_.--About ten minutes past four, the ice passing the
ship awoke me, and the door of my cabin, from the pressure, opened. I
hurriedly put on my clothes, and on getting on deck found some hands on
the ice endeavouring to save the boats; but the latter were instantly
crushed to pieces. They little thought, when using their efforts to
save the boats, that the ship was in so perilous a situation.

I went forward to hail the _Phoenix_ (another ship that was fortunately
near) for men to save the boats; and whilst doing so, the ropes by which
we were secured parted, and a heavy nip took us, making every timber
creak, and the ship tremble all over. I looked in the main hold, and
saw the beams giving way. I hailed those on the ice, and told them of
our critical situation, they not for one moment suspecting it. I then
rushed to my cabin, hauled out my portmanteau on deck, and roared like a
bull to those in their beds to jump out and save their lives. The
startling effect on them might be more easily imagined than described.
On reaching the deck, those on the ice called out to me to jump over the
side, that the ship was going over. I left my portmanteau, and jumped
over the side on the loose ice, and with difficulty, and with the
assistance of those on the ice, succeeded in getting on the unbroken
part, with the loss of the slippers I had on when quitting the vessel,
with wet feet, etcetera. The cold was little thought of at the exciting
moment--life, not property, being the object to be saved.

"After being on the ice about five minutes, the timbers, etcetera, in
the ship cracking up as matches would in the hand, it eased for a short
time; and I, with some others, returned to the ship, with the view of
saving some of our effects.

"Captain Inglefield now came running towards the ship, and ordered me to
see if the ice was through it. On looking down into the hold, I saw all
the beams, etcetera, falling about in a manner that would have been
certain death to me had I ventured down there. But there was no
occasion for