o great
as when they are found floating further south; because when in their
native regions they are comparatively tough, whereas on their southern
journeys they become more or less disintegrated--in fact, the blow of an
axe is sometimes sufficient to cause a rent, which in its turn will
induce other rents and failings asunder, so that the whole mass runs the
risk of being entirely broken up. Hence the danger of ships, in certain
circumstances, venturing to anchor to them. Nevertheless this is a
common practice--sometimes a necessity--among discovery ships and
whalers. It is a convenient practice too; for many a vessel has been
saved from absolute destruction by getting under the lee of a good sound
iceberg, where she has lain as safely, for the time being, as if in a
harbour.

When Captain McClure was endeavouring to make the north-west passage in
1851, he was saved, from what appeared to be at least very probable
destruction, by a small iceberg. On the 17th of September he writes:

"There were several heavy floes in the vicinity. One, full six miles in
length, passed at the rate of two knots, crushing everything that
impeded its progress, and grazed our starboard-bow. Fortunately there
was but young ice upon the opposite side, which yielded to the pressure;
had it otherwise occurred, the vessel must inevitably have been cut
asunder. In the afternoon we secured to a moderately-sized iceberg,
drawing eight fathoms, which appeared to offer a fair refuge, and from
which we never afterwards parted."

To this lump of ice the ship clung with the tenacity of a bosom friend,
and followed it, literally, through thick and thin! There is something
almost ludicrous, as well as striking, in McClure's account of their
connection with this bit of ice. It conveyed them to their furthest
north-east position, and back round the Princess Royal Islands--passed
the largest within five hundred yards--returned along the coast of
Prince Albert's Land--and finally froze in at latitude 70 degrees 50
minutes north, longitude 117 degrees 55 minutes west, on the 30th
September; during which circumnavigation they received many severe
"nips," and were frequently driven close to the shore, from which their
dear friend the iceberg, small though he was, kept them off.

Icebergs assume almost every conceivable form, and are seen of every
size--sometimes, also, in great numbers. Scoresby mentions one occasion
on which he was surrounded by b