I went below and turned-in, covering myself over with blankets and
jackets, and lay in my berth nearly twenty-four hours, half asleep and
half awake, stupid, from the dull pain. I heard the watch called,
and the men going up and down, and sometimes a noise on deck, and a
cry of "ice," but I gave little attention to anything. At the end of
twenty-four hours the pain went down, and I had a long sleep, which
brought me back to my proper state; yet my face was so swollen and
tender, that I was obliged to keep to my berth for two or three days
longer. During the two days I had been below, the weather was much the
same that it had been, head winds, and snow and rain; or, if the
wind came fair, too foggy, and the ice too thick, to run. At the end
of the third day the ice was very thick; a complete fog-bank covered
the ship. It blew a tremendous gale from the eastward, with sleet
and snow, and there was every promise of a dangerous and fatiguing
night. At dark, the captain called all hands aft, and told them that
not a man was to leave the deck that night; that the ship was in the
greatest danger; any cake of ice might knock a hole in her, or she
might run on an island and go to pieces.
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