27th, Some snow; ice increasing.
28th, At ten A. M. the ship was made fast to a large iceberg, the lowest part of which was about ten, and the highest forty feet from the surface of the water. Its circumference was considerable.
These floating mountains of ice, to which Dutch navigators have given the name of Icebergs, and which are of all different magnitudes, are originally formed on land. The sun, even in those high latitudes, has a considerable power in melting the snow on the mountains, which, running down into the valleys, and again congealing, segments frequently break off from the entire mass, and fall into the sea. The ice of which these floating masses are composed, is of various colours. The original fresh water ice is sometimes incrusted with that formed from the sea water, and this again is covered with new ice formed of fallen snow. The different positions of the spectator relatively to the incidental rays of light, varies likewise the seeming hue of the whole. In some parts it emulates the vividness of the emerald, and in others, the most beautiful sapphire. When the iceberg is totally composed of melted snow, which is sometimes but partly the case, the refraction of the solar rays is the most beautiful; and the appearance of those floating mountains on the side opposite the sun, presents such a blaze of light, intermingled with different glowing tints, as totally to baffle description. “Frost,” says the eloquent Pennant, “sports with these icebergs, and gives them majestic as well as other singular forms. Masses have been seen, assuming the shape of a Gothic church with arched windows and doors, and all the rich drapery of that style, composed of what an Arabian tale would scarcely dare to relate, of crystal of the richest sapphirine blue; tables with one or more feet; and often immense flat roofed temples, like those of Luxor on the Nile, supported by round transparent columns of cerulean hue, float by the astonished spectator.”
I have not unfrequently seen floating masses of ice which had evidently been formed of drifted snow, since they wanted the compactness and solidity of those formed by the melting of the snows. Many of these contained trees, and (as there are no trees in Spitzbergen) must have been originally formed in the northern parts of Russia or America, and, being carried by the rapid rivers of these countries into the ocean, had drifted into these latitudes. These trees have often the appearance of being burnt at the ends; and Olafsen mentions, that the violent friction which they frequently experience, occasionally sets them on fire, and exhibits the extraordinary phenomenon of flame and smoke issuing from this frozen ocean.—Malte-Brun, tome v. 241.
Between one and two o’clock this morning, I was much entertained by the sun darting his rays through the cabin windows.
30th, Cast off from the iceberg, and endeavoured to force our way through the ice in a northern direction, till it became so thick and close around us, that we were forced to make fast to another large iceberg, where a small part of the surface of the water was free from ice.
May 1st, In the morning, about twelve or one o’clock, the Garland was put upon the main-top-gallant stay by the last married man, as is usual among the Greenland ships. It is formed by the crossing of three small hoops in the form of a globe, and is covered with ribbons, &c. The crew on this occasion blacken their faces with a mixture of grease and soot, and dance round the decks, their chief musical instruments being frying-pans, mess-kettles, fire-irons, &c. This rough mode of festivity they continued till the Captain ordered them a plentiful allowance of grog. After regaling themselves with the very acceptable donation of their commander, they washed themselves, and began to coil away the boat lines, and prepare for the fishing. In every boat there is a line, 720 fathoms long, to the end of which is fixed a harpoon about eight feet five inches long; the iron part is better than two feet long, and is extremely sharp. On each side of the point is placed a barb, or wither, diverging from the harpoon at an angle of nearly forty degrees, to prevent the instrument from flinching and losing its hold. There are also several lances, or spears, about six feet long, the points of which are about two inches broad: by these the whales are killed after being struck with the harpoons.
A boat’s crew consists of a harpooner, a boat-steerer, a line-manager, and three or four men, more or less, according to the size of the boat.
2d, Cast off, and made for a large iceberg, one mile to the east, to which we made fast, and were soon after closed in by the ice. This iceberg was twenty feet high, and mostly composed of fresh water ice. We had not been above two hours in this situation before a strong gale cleared away the ice, and we discovered South Cape in Spitzbergen, bearing north-east, distant thirty miles.