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45 in the Western Arctic Sea. grounded bergs, and where we had been rendered so uneasy by the absence of the party from the Griper. About 10 P. M. a mass of ice, aground near the Hecla, was set loose by the current, and drove her several times on a projecting piece of ice under water, or what the Greenlanders call a tongue. When there is light these tongues are easily seen, and may be avoided; but this happening in the night, the Hecla received several severe blows, as if she had struck the ground : no bad consequences, however, ensued from the accident. On Friday the 17th, another attempt was made to stand to the westward, which proved equally unsuccessful, for the ice was found to be again close on the land in that direction. The ice here was of great thickness, and very heavy, similar to that found on the Greenland coast. It is therefore, perhaps, not the produc tion of the narrow seas where we are, but comes, probably, from the open northern ocean, beyond our view. The strong setting of the waters, and the drift of the ice to the westward for several days together, we were unable to explain ; but one consequence seemed to follow from it, which is, that to the westward must be a large space of open sea to receive it. In order to avail our selves of the westerly drift of the ice, it was proposed to make the ships fast to a floating field of ice, the thickest we had ever seen, and so extended that its extremities could not be perceived from the mast-head. It was not long, however, before this vast field was observed to he not only moving quickly to the westward, but also drawing in to the land : our project was, therefore, frus trated. Thus again we were forced back to the low shore to the eastward. The weather being moderate, and indeed fine in the night, in the morning of the 18th the new, or as it is technically called, the young ice, formed so quickly round the ships as to retard, and at last entirely to stop their progress. From this cir cumstance it was no longer a doubt whether the winter was or was not already begun: it was consequently absolutely necessary to look out for some safe sheltered haven, before we were com pletely beset in the ice, in a situation the most exposed on the coast. The great mass, or floe of ice continuing to draw closer and closer on the shore, the ships were forced very near the land, in the prospect of being crushed between the immense mass and the ice accumulated and fastened to the beach. Dropping an chor in 10 fathoms water, about 100 fathoms from the land, the ships fortunately got near to what we called a berg, hut what was, in fact, a hummock, or mount, formed by the pressure of one body of ice above or below others, by the force of the current. This hummock was aground, and, lying farther out than the ships, received the first shock of the floe, about 8 in the evening. The