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The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson-Part1_Robert Southey(1774-1843)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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dislike to the navy, took the best means of reconciling him to it. He

held it out as a reward that, if he attended well to his navigation, he



should go in the cutter and decked long-boat, which was attached to the

commanding-officer's ship at Chatham. Thus he became a good pilot for



vessels of that description from Chatham to the Tower, and down the Swin

Channel to the North Foreland, and acquired a confidence among rocks and



sands of which he often felt the value.

Nelson had not been many months on board the TRIUMPH, when his love



of enterprise was excited by hearing that two ships were fitting out for

a voyage of discovery towards the North Pole. In consequence of the



difficulties which were expected on such a service, these vessels were

to take out effective men instead of the usual number of boys. This,



however, did not deter him from soliciting to be received, and, by his

uncle's interest, he was admitted as coxswain under Captain Lutwidge,



second in command. The voyage was undertaken in compliance with an

application from the Royal Society. The Hon. Captain Constantine John



Phipps, eldest son of Lord Mulgrave, volunteered his services. The

RACEHORSE and CARCASS bombs were selected as the strongest ships, and,



therefore, best adapted for such a voyage; and they were taken into dock

and strengthened, to render them as secure as possible against the ice.



Two masters of Greenlandmen were employed as pilots for each ship. No

expedition was ever more carefully fitted out; and the First Lord of the



Admiralty, Lord Sandwich, with a laudable solicitude, went on board

himself, before their departure, to see that everything had been



completed to the wish of the officers. The ships were provided with a

simple and excellent apparatus for distilling fresh from salt water, the



invention of Dr. Irving, who accompanied the expedition. It consisted

merely in fitting a tube to the ship's kettle, and applying a wet mop to



the surface as the vapour was passing. By these means, from thirty-four

to forty gallons were produced every day.



They sailed from the Nore on the 4th of June. On the 6th of July they

were in latitude 79d 56m 39s; longitude 9d 43m 30s E. The next day,



about the place where most of the old discoverers had been stopped, the

RACEHORSE was beset with ice; but they hove her through with ice-



anchors. Captain Phipps continued ranging along the ice, northward and

westward, till the 24th; he then tried to the eastward. On the 30th he



was in latitude 80d 13m; longitude 18d 48m E. among the islands and in

the ice, with no appearance of an opening for the ships. The weather was



exceedingly fine, mild, and unusually clear. Here they were becalmed in

a large bay, with three apparentopenings between the islands which



formed it; but everywhere, as far as they could see, surrounded with

ice. There was not a breath of air, the water was perfectly smooth, the



ice covered with snow, low and even, except a few broken pieces near the

edge; and the pools of water in the middle of the ice-fields just



crusted over with young ice. On the next day the ice closed upon them,

and no opening was to be seen anywhere, except a hole, or lake as it



might be called, of about a mile and a half in circumference, where the

ships lay fast to the ice with their ice-anchors. From these ice-fields



they filled their casks with water, which was very pure and soft. The

men were playing on the ice all day; but the Greenland pilots, who were



further than they had ever been before, and considered that the season

was far advancing, were alarmed at being thus beset.



The next day there was not the smallest opening; the ships were

within less than two lengths of each other, separated by ice, and



neither having room to turn. The ice, which the day before had been flat

and almost level with the water's edge, was now in many places forced



higher than the mainyard by the pieces squeezing together. A day of

thick fog followed: it was succeeded by clear weather; but the passage



by which the ships had entered from the westward was closed, and no open

water was in sight, either in that or any other quarter. By the pilots'



advice the men were set to cut a passage, and warp through the small

openings to the westward. They sawed through pieces of ice twelve feet



thick; and this labour continued the whole day, during which their

utmost efforts did not move the ships above three hundred yards; while



they were driven, together with the ice, far to the N.E. and E. by the

current. Sometimes a field of several acres square would be lifted up



between two larger islands, and incorporated with them; and thus these

larger pieces continued to grow by aggregation. Another day passed, and



there seemed no probability of getting the ships out without a strong

E. or N.E. wind. The season was far advanced, and every hour lessened






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