Page:A voyage round the world, in His Britannic Majesty's sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (IA b30413849 0001).pdf/130

100

of perishing by slow degrees, through the inclemencies of weather and through famine. Having been on board some time, they fired a gun, and being within hail of the Resolution, returned on board of that sloop, to their own damp beds and mouldering cabins, upon which they now set a double value, after so perilous an expedition. The risks to which the voyager is exposed at sea are very numerous, and danger often arises where it is least expected. Neither can we trace the care of Providence more evidently in storms among hidden rocks and shoals, and where water or fire threaten destruction, than in these little circumstances, which the traveller and the reader are both too apt to forget or pass lightly over, if they come to a favourable issue.

The quantity of impenetrable ice to the south did not permit us to advance towards that quarter; therefore, after several fruitless attempts, we stood on to the eastward, along it, frequently making way through great spots covered with broken ice, which answered the description of what the northern navigators call packed ice. Heavy hail showers and frequent falls of snow continually obscured the air, and only gave us the reviving sight of the sun during short intervals. Large islands of ice were hourly seen in all directions around the sloops, so that they were now become as familiar to us as the clouds and the sea;