the chance of extricating themselves. Young as he was, Nelson was
appointed to command one of the boats which were sent out to explore a

passage into the open water. It was the means of saving a boat belonging
to the RACEHORSE from a singular but imminent danger. Some of the

officers had fired at and wounded a walrus. As no other animal has so
human-like an expression in its countenance, so also is there none that

seems to possess more of the passions of humanity. The wounded animal
dived immediately, and brought up a number of its companions; and they

all joined in an attack upon the boat. They wrested an oar from one of
the men; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the crew could

prevent them from staving or upsetting her, till the CARCASS's boat came
up; and the walruses, finding their enemies thus reinforced, dispersed.

Young Nelson exposed himself in a more daring manner. One night, during
the mid-watch, he stole from the ship with one of his comrades, taking

advantage of a rising fog, and set off over the ice in pursuit of a
bear. It was not long before they were missed. The fog thickened, and

Captain Lutwidge and his officers became exceedingly alarmed for their
safety. Between three and four in the morning the weather cleared, and

the two adventurers were seen, at a considerable distance from the ship,
attacking a huge bear. The signal for them to return was immediately

made; Nelson's comrade called upon him to obey it, but in vain; his
musket had flashed in the pan; their ammunition was expended; and a

chasm in the ice, which divided him from the bear, probably preserved
his life. "Never mind," he cried; "do but let me get a blow at this

devil with the butt-end of my musket, and we shall have him." Captain
Lutwidge, however, seeing his danger, fired a gun, which had the desired

effect of frightening the beast; and the boy then returned, somewhat
afraid of the consequences of his trespass. The captain reprimanded him

sternly for conduct so unworthy of the office which he filled, and
desired to know what motive he could have for hunting a bear. "Sir,"

said he, pouting his lip, as he was wont to do when agitated, "I wished
to kill the bear, that I might carry the skin to my father."

A party were now sent to an island, about twelve miles off (named
Walden's Island in the charts, from the midshipman who was intrusted

with this service), to see where the open water lay. They came back with
information that the ice, though close all about them, was open to the

westward, round the point by which they came in. They said also, that
upon the island they had had a fresh east wind. This intelligence

considerably abated the hopes of the crew; for where they lay it had
been almost calm, and their main dependence had been upon the effect of

an easterly wind in clearing the bay. There was but one alternative:
either to wait the event of the weather upon the ships, or to betake

themselves to the boats. The likelihood that it might be necessary to
sacrifice the ships had been foreseen. The boats accordingly were

adapted, both in number and size, to transport, in case of emergency,
the whole crew; and there were Dutch whalers upon the coast, in which

they could all be conveyed to Europe. As for wintering where they were,
that dreadful experiment had been already tried too often. No time was

to be lost; the ships had driven into shoal water, having but fourteen
fathoms. Should they, or the ice to which they were fast, take the

ground, they must inevitably be lost; and at this time they were
driving fast toward some rocks on the N.E. Captain Phipps sent for the

officers of both ships, and told them his intention of preparing the
boats for going away. They were immediately hoisted out, and the fitting

begun. Canvas bread-bags were made, in case it should be necessary
suddenly to desert the vessels; and men were sent with the lead and line

to N. and E., to sound wherever they found cracks in the ice, that they
might have notice before the ice took the ground; for in that case the

ships must instantly have been crushed or overset.
On the 7th of August they began to haul the boats over the ice,

Nelson having command of a four-oared cutter. The men behaved
excellently well, like true British seamen: they seemed reconciled to

the thought of leaving the ships, and had full confidence in their
officers. About noon, the ice appeared rather more open near the

vessels; and as the wind was easterly, though there was but little of
it, the sails were set, and they got about a mile to the westward. They

moved very slowly, and were not now nearly so far to the westward as
when they were first beset. However, all sail was kept upon them, to

force them through whenever the ice slacked the least. Whatever
exertions were made, it could not be possible to get the boats to the

water's edge before the 14th; and if the situation of the ships should
not alter by that time, it would not be justifiable to stay longer by

them. The commanderthereforeresolved to carry on both attempts
together, moving the boats constantly, and taking every opportunity of

getting the ships through. A party was sent out next day to the westward
to examine the state of the ice: they returned with tidings that it was

very heavy and close, consisting chiefly of large fields. The ships,
however, moved something, and the ice itself was drifting westward.

There was a thick fog, so that it was impossible to ascertain what
advantage had been gained. It continued on the 9th; but the ships were

moved a little through some very small openings: the mist cleared off in
the afternoon, and it was then perceived that they had driven much more

than could have been expected to the westward, and that the ice itself
had driven still further. In the course of the day they got past the

boats, and took them on board again. On the morrow the wind sprang up to
the N.N.E. All sail was set, and the ships forced their way through a

great deal of very heavy ice. They frequently struck, and with such
force that one stroke broke the shank of the RACEHORSE's best bower-

anchor, but the vessels made way; and by noon they had cleared the ice,
and were out at sea. The next day they anchored in Smeerenberg Harbour,

close to that island of which the westernmost point is called Hakluyt's
Headland, in honour of the great promoter and compiler of our English

voyages of discovery.
Here they remained a few days, that the men might rest after their

fatigue. No insect was to be seen in this dreary country, nor any
species of reptile--not even the common earth-worm. Large bodies of ice,

called icebergs, filled up the valleys between high mountains, so dark
as, when contrasted with the snow, to appear black. The colour of the

ice was a lively light green. Opposite to the place where they fixed
their observatory was one of these icebergs, above three hundred feet

high; its side toward the sea was nearly perpendicular, and a stream of
water issued from it. Large pieces frequently broke off and rolled down

into the sea. There was no thunder nor lightning during the whole time
they were in these latitudes. The sky was generally loaded with hard

white clouds, from which it was never entirely free even in the clearest
weather. They always knew when they were approaching the ice long before

they saw it, by a bright appearance near the horizon, which the
Greenlandmen called the blink of the ice. The season was now so far

advanced that nothing more could have been attempted, if indeed anything
had been left untried; but the summer had been unusually favourable, and

they had carefully surveyed the wall of ice, extending for more than
twenty degrees between the latitudes of 80d and 81d, without the

smallest appearance of any opening.
The ships were paid off shortly after their return to England; and

Nelson was then placed by his uncle with Captain Farmer, in the SEAHORSE,
of twenty guns, then going out to the East Indies in the squadron under

Sir Edward Hughes. He was stationed in the foretop at watch and watch.
His good conduct attracted the attention of the master (afterwards

Captain Surridge), in whose watch he was; and upon his recommendation
the captain rated him as midshipman. At this time his countenance was

florid, and his appearance rather stout and athletic; but when he had
been about eighteen months in India, he felt the effects of that

climate, so perilous to European constitutions. The disease baffled all
power of medicine; he was reduced almost to a skeleton; the use of his

limbs was for some time entirely lost; and the only hope that remained
was from a voyage home. Accordingly he was brought home by Captain

Pigot, in the DOLPHIN; and had it not been for the attentive and careful
kindness of that officer on the way, Nelson would never have lived to

reach his native shores. He had formed an acquaintance with Sir Charles
Pole, Sir Thomas Troubridge, and other distinguished officers, then,

like himself, beginning their career: he had left them pursuing that
career in full enjoyment of health and hope, and was returning, from a

country in which all things were to him new and interesting, with a body
broken down by sickness, and spirits which had sunk with his strength.

Long afterwards, when the name of Nelson was known as widely as that of
England itself, he spoke of the feelings which he at this time endured.

"I felt impressed," said he, "with a feeling that I should never rise in
my profession. My mind was staggered with a view of the difficulties I

had to surmount and the little interest I possessed. I could discover no
means of reaching the object of my ambition. After a long and gloomy