Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/196

172 every moment to see them give way without our having the power to make an effort to save them.

Although the force of the wind had somewhat diminished by 4, yet the squalls came on with unabated violence, laying the ship over on her broadside, and threatening to blow the storm sails to pieces: fortunately they were quite new, or they never could have withstood such terrific gusts. At this time the Terror was so close to us, that when she rose to the top of one wave, the Erebus was on the top of that next to leeward of her; the deep chasm between them filled with heavy rolling masses; and as the ships descended into the hollow between the waves, the main-topsail yard of each could be seen just level with the crest of the intervening wave, from the deck of the other: from this some idea may be formed of the height of the waves, as well as of the perilous situation of our ships. The night now began to draw in, and cast its gloomy mantle over the appalling scene, rendering our condition, if possible, more hopeless and helpless than before; but at midnight, the snow, which had been falling thickly for several hours, cleared away, as the wind suddenly shifted to the westward, and the swell began to subside; and although the shocks our ships still sustained were such that must have destroyed any ordinary vessel in less than five minutes, yet they were feeble compared with those to which we had been exposed, and our minds became more at ease for their ultimate safety.