Part 2 (1/2)

In order to obtain oil for another winter's consumption before the s.h.i.+ps could be released from the ice, and our travelling parties having seen a number of black whales in the open water to the northward, two boats from each s.h.i.+p were, with considerable labour, transported four miles along sh.o.r.e in that direction, to be in readiness for killing a whale and boiling the oil on the beach, whenever the open water should approach sufficiently near. They took their station near a remarkable peninsular piece of land on the south side of the entrance to Jackson's Inlet, which had on the former voyage been taken for an island. Notwithstanding these preparations, however, it was vexatious to find that on the 9th of July the water was still three miles distant from the boats, and at least seven from Port Bowen. On the 12th, the ice in our neighbourhood began to detach itself, and the boats under the command of Lieutenants Sherer and Ross being launched on the following day, succeeded almost immediately in killing a small whale of ”five feet bone,” exactly answering our purpose. Almost at the same time, and as it turned out very opportunely, the ice at the mouth of our harbour detached itself at an old crack, and drifted off, leaving only about one mile and a quarter between us and the sea. Half of this distance being occupied by the gravelled ca.n.a.l, which was dissolved quite through the ice in many parts and had become very thin in all, every officer and man in both s.h.i.+ps were set to work without delay to commence a fresh ca.n.a.l from the open water, to communicate with the other. This work proved heavier than we expected, the ice being generally from five to eight feet, and in many places from ten to eleven, in thickness. It was continued, however, with the greatest cheerfulness and alacrity from seven in the morning till seven in the evening daily, the dinner being prepared on the ice and eaten under the lee of a studding sail erected as a tent.

On the afternoon of the 19th a very welcome stop was put to our operations by the separation of the floe entirely across the harbour, and about one-third from the s.h.i.+ps to where we were at work. All hands being instantly recalled by signal, were on their return set to work to get the s.h.i.+ps into the gravelled ca.n.a.l, and to saw away what still remained in it to prevent our warping to sea. This work, with only half an hour's intermission for the men's supper, was continued till half-past six the following morning, when we succeeded in getting clear. The weather being calm, two hours were occupied in towing the s.h.i.+ps to sea, and thus the officers and men were employed at very laborious work for twenty-six hours, during which time there were, on one occasion, fifteen of them overboard at once; and, indeed, several individuals met with the same accident three times. It was impossible, however, to regret the necessity of these comparatively trifling exertions, especially as it was now evident that to have sawed our way out, without any ca.n.a.l, would have required at least a fortnight of heavy and fatiguing labour.

CHAPTER V.

Sail over towards the Western Coast of Prince Regent's Inlet-Stopped by the Ice-Reach the Sh.o.r.e about Cape Seppings-Favourable Progress along the Land-Fresh and repeated Obstructions from Ice-Both s.h.i.+ps driven on Sh.o.r.e-Fury seriously damaged-Unsuccessful Search for a Harbour for heaving her down to repair.

_July_ 20.-On standing out to sea, we sailed with a light southerly wind towards the western sh.o.r.e of Prince Regent's Inlet, which it was my first wish to gain, on account of the evident advantage to be derived from coasting the southern part of that portion of land called in the chart ”North Somerset,” as far as it might lead to the westward; which, from our former knowledge, we had reason to suppose it would do as far at least as the longitude of 95, in the parallel of about 72. After sailing about eight miles, we were stopped by a body of close ice lying between us and a s.p.a.ce of open water beyond. By way of occupying the time in further examination of the state of the ice, we then bore up with a light northerly wind, and ran to the south-eastward to see if there was any clear water between the ice and the land in that direction; but found that there was no opening between them to the southward of the flat-topped hill laid down in the chart, and now called Mount Sherer.

Indeed, I believe that at this time the ice had not yet detached itself from the land to the southward of that station. On standing back, we were shortly after enveloped in one of the thick fogs which had, for several weeks past, been observed almost daily hanging over some part of the sea in the offing, though we had scarcely experienced any in Port Bowen until the water became open at the mouth of the harbour.

On the clearing up of the fog on the 21st, we could perceive no opening of the ice leading towards the western land; nor any appearance of the smallest channel to the southward along the eastern sh.o.r.e. I was determined, therefore, to try at once a little farther to the northward, the present state of the ice appearing completely to accord with that observed in 1819, its breadth increasing as we advanced from Prince Leopold's Islands to the southward. As, therefore, I felt confident of being able to push along the sh.o.r.e if we should once gain it, I was anxious to effect the latter object in any part rather than incur the risk of hampering the s.h.i.+ps by a vain, or, at least, a doubtful attempt to force them through a body of close ice several miles wide, for the sake of a few leagues of southing, which would soon be regained by coasting.

Light winds detained us very much, but being at length favoured by a breeze, we carried all sail to the north-west, the ice very gradually leading us towards the Leopold Isles. Having arrived off the northernmost on the morning of the 22nd, it was vexatious, however curious, to observe the exact coincidence of the present position of the ice with that which it occupied a little later in the year 1819. The whole body of it seemed to cling to the western sh.o.r.e, as if held there by some strong attraction, forbidding, for the present, any access to it.

We now stood off and on, in the hope that a southerly breeze, which had just sprung up, might serve to open us a channel. In the evening the wind gradually freshened, and before midnight had increased to a strong gale, which blew with considerable violence for ten hours, obliging us to haul off from the ice and to keep in smooth water under the eastern land until it abated; after which not a moment was lost in again standing over to the westward. After running all night, with light and variable winds, through loose and scattered ice, we suddenly found ourselves, on the clearing up of a thick fog, through which we had been sailing on the morning of the 24th, within one-third of a mile of Cape Seppings, the land just appearing above the fog in time to save us from danger, the soundings being thirty-eight fathoms, on a rocky bottom. The _Fury_ being apprised by guns of our situation, both s.h.i.+ps were hauled off the land, and the fog soon after dispersing, we had the satisfaction to perceive that the late gale had blown the ice off the land, leaving us a fine navigable channel from one to two miles wide, as far as we could see from the mast-head along the sh.o.r.e. We were able to avail ourselves of this but slowly, however, in consequence of a light southerly breeze still blowing against us.

We had now an opportunity of discovering that a long neck of very low land runs out from the southernmost of the Leopold Islands, and another from the sh.o.r.e to the southward of Cape Clarence. These two had every appearance of joining, so as to make a peninsula, instead of an island, of that portion of land which, on account of our distance preventing our seeing the low beach, had in 1819 been considered under the latter character. It is, however, still somewhat doubtful, and the Leopold Isles, therefore, still retain their original designation on the chart.

The land here, when closely viewed, a.s.sumes a very striking and magnificent character, the strata of limestone, which are numerous and quite horizontally disposed, being much more regular than on the eastern sh.o.r.e of Prince Regent's Inlet, and retaining nearly their whole perpendicular height of six or seven hundred feet, close to the sea. The south-eastern promontory of the southernmost island is particularly picturesque and beautiful, the heaps of loose _debris_ lying here and there up and down the sides of the cliff giving it the appearance of some huge and impregnable fortress, with immense b.u.t.tresses of masonry supporting the walls. Near Cape Seppings, and some distance beyond it to the southward, we noticed a narrow stratum of some very white substance, the nature of which we could not at this time conjecture. I may here remark that the whole of Barrow's Strait, as far as we could see to the N.N.E. of the islands, was entirely free from ice; and from whatever circ.u.mstance it may proceed, I do not think that this part of the Polar Sea is at any season very much enc.u.mbered with it.

It was the general feeling, at this period, among us, that the voyage had but now commenced. The labours of a bad summer, and the tedium of a long winter, were forgotten in a moment when we found ourselves upon ground not hitherto explored, and with every apparent prospect before us of making as rapid a progress as the nature of this navigation will permit towards the final accomplishment of our object.

Early on the morning of the 25th, we pa.s.sed the opening in the land delineated in the former chart of this coast, in lat.i.tude 73 34', which we now found to be a bay about three miles deep, but apparently open to the sea. I named it after my friend, Hastings Elwin, Esq., of Bristol, as a token of grateful esteem for that gentleman. The wind falling very light, so that the s.h.i.+ps made no progress, I took the opportunity of landing in the fore-noon, accompanied by a party of the officers, and was soon after joined by Captain Hoppner. We found the formation to consist wholly of lime, and now discovered the nature of the narrow white stratum observed the day before from the offing, and which proved to be gypsum, mostly of the earthy kind, and some of it of a very pure white. A part of the rock near our landing-place contained a quant.i.ty of it in the state of selenite in beautiful transparent laminae of a large size. The abundance of gypsum hereabouts explained also the extreme whiteness of the water near the whole of this part of the coast, which had always been observed in approaching it, and which had at first excited unnecessary apprehensions as to the soundings along the sh.o.r.e. This colour is more particularly seen near the mouths of the streams, many of which are quite of a dirty milk colour, and tinge the sea to the distance of more than a mile, without any alteration in the depth, except a gradual diminution in going in. The vegetation in this place was, as usual, extremely scanty, though much more luxuriant than on any of the land near our winter quarters, and no animals were seen. The lat.i.tude of our landing-place was 73 27' 23?, the longitude by chronometers 90 50' 34.6?, and the variation of the magnetic needle 125 34' 42? westerly. From half-past nine A.M. till a quarter past noon the tide fell two feet three inches; and as it was nearly stationary at the latter time, it was probably near low water.

A breeze enabling us again to make some progress, and an open channel still favouring us of nearly the same breadth as before, we pa.s.sed during the night a second bay, about the same size as the other, and also appearing open to the sea; it lies in lat.i.tude (by account from the preceding and following noon) 73 19' 30?, and its width is one mile and a half. It was called Batty Bay, after my friend Captain Robert Batty, of the Grenadier Guards. We now perceived that the ice closed completely in with the land a short distance beyond us, and having made all the way we could, were obliged to stand off and on during the day in a channel not three-quarters of a mile wide. This channel being still more contracted towards the evening, we were obliged to make fast to some grounded land ice upon the beach in four fathoms water, there to await some change in our favour. We here observed traces of our old friends the Esquimaux, there being several of their circles of stones, though not of recent date, close to the sea. We also found a more abundant vegetation than before, and several plants familiar to us on the former voyages, but not yet procured on this, were now added to our collections.

The geological character of the land was nearly the same as before, but we found here some gypsum of the fibrous kind, occurring in a single stratum about an inch and a half wide. About a mile to the north of us was a curious cascade or spout of water, issuing from a chasm in the rock, and falling more than two hundred feet perpendicular. Our gentlemen, who visited the spot, described it as rendered the more picturesque by innumerable kittiwakes having their nests among the rocks, and constantly flying about the stream. The lat.i.tude was 73 06' 17?, the longitude by chronometers 91 19' 52.3?, the dip of the magnetic needle 88 02.1', and the variation 128 23' 17? westerly.

The ice opening in the afternoon of the 27th, we cast off and run four or five miles with a northerly breeze. This wind, however, always had the effect of making the ice close the sh.o.r.e, while a southerly breeze as uniformly opened it, so that on this coast, as on several others that I have known, a contrary wind-however great the paradox may seem-proved, on the whole, the most favourable for making progress. This circ.u.mstance is simply to be attributed to the greater abundance of open water in the parts we have left behind (in the present instance the open sea of Barrow's Strait) than those towards which we are going. We were once more obliged to make fast, therefore, to some grounded ice close to the beach, rather than run any risk of hampering the s.h.i.+ps, and rendering them unable to take advantage of a change in our favour.

A light southerly breeze on the morning of the 28th gradually cleared the sh.o.r.e, and a fresh wind from the N.W. then immediately succeeded. We instantly took advantage of this circ.u.mstance, and casting off at six A.M. ran eight or nine miles without obstruction, when we were stopped by the ice, which, in a closely packed and impenetrable body, stretched close into the sh.o.r.e as far as the eye could reach from the crow's nest.

Being anxious to gain every foot of distance that we could, and perceiving some grounded ice which appeared favourable for making fast to, just at a point where the clear water terminated, the s.h.i.+ps were run to the utmost extent of it, and a boat prepared from each to examine the depth of water at the intended anchoring place. Just as I was about to leave the _Hecla_ for that purpose, the ice was observed to be in rapid motion towards the sh.o.r.e. The _Fury_ was immediately hauled in by some grounded ma.s.ses, and placed to the best advantage; but the _Hecla_ being more advanced was immediately beset in spite of every exertion, and after breaking two of the largest ice-anchors in endeavouring to heave in to the sh.o.r.e, was obliged to drift with the ice, several ma.s.ses of which had fortunately interposed themselves between us and the land. The ice slackening around us a little in the evening, we were enabled, with considerable labour, to get to some grounded ma.s.ses, where we lay much exposed, as the _Fury_ also did. In this situation, our lat.i.tude being 72 51' 51?, we saw a comparatively low point of land three or four leagues to the southward, which proved to be near that which terminated our view of this coast in 1819.

On the 29th, the ice being slack for a short distance, we s.h.i.+fted the _Hecla_ half a mile to the northward, into a less insecure berth. I then walked to a broad valley facing the sea near us, where a considerable stream discharged itself, and where, in pa.s.sing in the s.h.i.+ps, a large fish had been observed to jump out of the water. In hopes of finding salmon here, we tried for some time with several hand-nets, but nothing was caught or seen. In this place were a number of the Esquimaux stone circles, apparently of very old date, being quite overgrown with gra.s.s, moss, and other plants. In the neighbourhood of these habitations the vegetation was much more luxuriant than anything of the kind we had seen before during this voyage. The state of this year's plants was now very striking, compared with those of the last, and afforded strong evidence, if any had been wanting, of the difference between the two seasons. I was particularly struck with the appearance of some moss collected by Mr.

Hooper, who pointed out to me upon the same specimen the last year's miserable seeds just peeping above the leaves, while those of the present summer had already shot three-quarters of an inch beyond them. Another circ.u.mstance which we noticed about this time, and still more so as the season advanced, was the rapid progress which the warmth had already made in dissolving the last year's snow, this being always easily known by its dingy colour, and its admixture with the soil. Of the past winter's snow not a particle could be seen at the close of July on any part of this coast. These facts, together with the beautiful weather we had enjoyed for many weeks past, all tended to show that we were now favoured with an unusually fine summer. We found in this place, in the dry bed of an old stream, innumerable fossils in the limestone, princ.i.p.ally sh.e.l.ls and madrepore. On a hill abreast of the _Hecla_, and at an elevation of not less than three or four hundred feet above the sea, one particular spot was discovered in which the same kind of sh.e.l.ls first found in Barrow's Strait in 1819 occurred in very great abundance and perfection, wholly detached from the lime in which for the most part they were found embedded in other places on this coast. Indeed, it was quite astonis.h.i.+ng, in looking at the numberless fossil animal remains occurring in many of the stones, to consider the countless myriads of sh.e.l.l fish and marine insects which must once have existed on this sh.o.r.e. The cliffs next the sea, which here rise to a perpendicular height of between four and five hundred feet, were continually breaking down at this season, and adding, by falls of large ma.s.ses of stone, to the slope of _debris_ lying at their foot. The s.h.i.+ps lay so close to the sh.o.r.e as to be almost within the range of some of these tumbling ma.s.ses, there being at high water scarcely beach enough for a person to walk along the sh.o.r.e.

The time of high water, near the opposition of the moon this night, was between half-past eleven and midnight, being nearly the same as at Port Bowen at full and change.

The ice opening for a mile and a half along sh.o.r.e on the 30th, we s.h.i.+fted the _Hecla's_ berth about that distance to the southward, chiefly to be enabled to see more distinctly round a point which before obstructed our view, though our situation, as regarded the security of the s.h.i.+p, was much altered for the worse. The _Fury_ remained where she was, there being no second berth even so good as the bad one where she was now lying. In the afternoon it blew a hard gale, with constant rain, from the northward, the clouds indicating an easterly wind in other parts.

This wind, which was always the troublesome one to us, soon brought the ice closer and closer, till it pressed with very considerable violence on both s.h.i.+ps, though the most upon the _Fury_, which lay in a very exposed situation. The _Hecla_ received no damage but the breaking of two or three hawsers, and a part of her bulwark torn away by the strain upon them. In the course of the night we had reason to suppose, by the _Fury's_ heeling, that she was either on sh.o.r.e, or still heavily pressed by the ice from without. Early on the morning of the 31st, as soon as a communication could be effected, Captain Hoppner sent to inform me that the _Fury_ had been forced on the ground, where she still lay; but that she would probably be hove off without much difficulty at high water, provided the external ice did not prevent it. I also learned from Captain Hoppner that a part of one of the propelling wheels had been destroyed, the chock through which its axis pa.s.sed being forced in considerably, and the palm broken off one of the bower anchors. Most of this damage, however, was either of no very material importance, or could easily be repaired. A large party of hands from the _Hecla_ being sent round to the _Fury_ towards high water, she came off the ground with very little strain, so that, upon the whole, considering the situation in which the s.h.i.+ps were lying, we thought ourselves fortunate in having incurred no very serious injury. The _Fury_ was s.h.i.+fted a few yards into the best place that could be found, and the wind again blowing strong from the northward, the ice remained close about us. A s.h.i.+ft of wind to the southward in the afternoon at length began gradually to slacken it, but it was not till six A.M. on the 1st of August that there appeared a prospect of making any progress. There was, at this time, a great deal of water to the southward, but between us and the channel there lay one narrow and not very close stream of ice touching the sh.o.r.e. A s.h.i.+ft of wind to the northward determined me at once to take advantage of it, as nothing but a free wind seemed requisite to enable us to reach this promising channel. The signal to that effect was immediately made, but while the sails were setting, the ice, which had at first been about three-quarters of a mile distant from us, was observed to be closing the sh.o.r.e. The s.h.i.+ps were cast with all expedition, in hopes of gaining the broader channel before the ice had time to shut us up. So rapid, however, was the latter in this its sudden movement, that we had but just got the s.h.i.+ps' heads the right way, when the ice came bodily in upon us, being doubtless set in motion by a very sudden freshening of the wind almost to a gale in the course of a few minutes. The s.h.i.+ps were now almost instantly beset, and in such a manner as to be literally helpless and unmanageable. In such cases, it must be confessed that the exertions made by heaving at hawsers or otherwise are of little more service than in the occupation they furnish to the men's minds under circ.u.mstances of difficulty; for when the ice is fairly acting against the s.h.i.+p, ten times the strength and ingenuity could in reality avail nothing.

The sails were, however, kept set, and as the body of ice was setting to the southward withal, we went with it some little distance in that direction. The _Hecla_ after thus driving, and now and then forcing her way through the ice, in all about three-quarters of a mile, quite close to the sh.o.r.e, at length struck the ground forcibly several times in the s.p.a.ce of a hundred yards, and being then brought up by it remained immovable, the depth of water under her keel abaft being sixteen feet, or about a foot less than she drew. The _Fury_ continuing to drive was now irresistibly carried past us, and we escaped, only by a few feet, the damage invariably occasioned by s.h.i.+ps coming in contact under such circ.u.mstances. She had, however, scarcely pa.s.sed us a hundred yards when it was evident, by the ice pressing her in, as well as along the sh.o.r.e, that she must soon be stopped like the _Hecla_; and having gone about two hundred yards farther she was observed to receive a severe pressure from a large floe-piece forcing her directly against a grounded ma.s.s of ice upon the beach. After setting to the southward for an hour or two longer the ice became stationary, no open water being anywhere visible from the mast-head, and the pressure on the s.h.i.+ps remaining undiminished during the day. Just as I had ascertained the utter impossibility of moving the _Hecla_ a single foot, and that she must lie quite aground fore and aft as soon as the tide fell, I received a note from Captain Hoppner informing me that the _Fury_ had been so severely ”nipped” and strained as to leak a good deal, apparently about four inches an hour; that she was still heavily pressed both upon the ground and against the large ma.s.s of ice within her; that the rudder was at present very awkwardly situated; and that one boat had been much damaged. As the tide fell the _Fury's_ stern, which was aground, was lifted several feet, and the _Hecla_ at low water having sewed five feet forward and two abaft, we presented altogether no very pleasing or comfortable spectacle. However, about high water, the ice very opportunely slacking, the _Hecla_ was hove off with great ease, and warped to a floe in the offing to which we made fast at midnight. The _Fury_ was not long after us in coming off the ground, when I was in hopes of finding that any twist or strain, by which her leaks might have been occasioned, would, in some measure, have closed when she was relieved from pressure and once more fairly afloat. My disappointment and mortification, therefore, may in some measure be imagined, at being informed by telegraph, about two A.M. on the 2nd, that the water was gaining on two pumps, and that a part of the doubling had floated up. The _Hecla_ having in the mean time been carried two or three miles to the southward, by the ice which was once more driving in that direction, I directed Captain Hoppner by signal to endeavour to reach the best security in-sh.o.r.e which the present slackness of the ice might permit, until it was possible for the _Hecla_ to rejoin him.

Presently after perceiving from the mast-head something like a small harbour nearly abreast of us, every effort was made to get once more towards the sh.o.r.e. In this the ice happily favoured us, and after making sail and one or two tacks we got in with the land, when I left the s.h.i.+p in a boat to sound the place and search for shelter. I soon had the mortification to find that the harbour which had appeared to present itself so opportunely, had not more than six or seven feet water in any part of it, the whole of its defences being composed of the stones and soil washed down by a stream which here emptied itself into the sea.

From this place, indeed, where the land gradually became much lower in advancing to the southward, the whole nature of the soundings entirely altered, the water gradually shoaling in approaching the beach, so that the s.h.i.+ps could scarcely come nearer, in most parts, than a quarter of a mile. At this distance the whole sh.o.r.e was more or less lined with grounded ma.s.ses of ice; but after examining the soundings within more than twenty of them, in the s.p.a.ce of about a mile, I could only find two that would allow the s.h.i.+ps to float at low water, and that by some care in placing and keeping them there. Having fixed a flag on each berg, the usual signal for the s.h.i.+ps taking their stations, I rowed on board the _Fury_, and found four pumps constantly going to keep the s.h.i.+p free, and Captain Hoppner, his officers and men, almost exhausted with the incessant labour of the last eight-and-forty hours. The instant the s.h.i.+ps were made fast, Captain Hoppner and myself set out in a boat to survey the sh.o.r.e still farther south, there being a narrow lane of water about a mile in that direction; for it had now become too evident, however unwilling we might have been at first to admit the conclusion, that the _Fury_ could proceed no farther without repairs, and that the nature of those repairs would in all probability involve the disagreeable, I may say the ruinous, necessity of heaving the s.h.i.+p down.

After rowing about three-quarters of a mile we considered ourselves fortunate in arriving at a bolder part of the beach, where three grounded ma.s.ses of ice, having from three to four fathoms water at low tide within them, were so disposed as to afford, with the a.s.sistance of art, something like shelter. Wild and insecure as, under other circ.u.mstances, such a place would have been thought for the purpose of heaving a s.h.i.+p down, we had no alternative, and therefore as little occasion as we had time for deliberation. Returning to the s.h.i.+ps, we were setting the sails in order to run to the appointed place, when the ice closed in and prevented our moving, and in a short time there was once more no open water to be seen. We were, therefore, under the necessity of remaining in our present berths, where the smallest external pressure must inevitably force us ash.o.r.e, neither s.h.i.+p having more than two feet of water to spare. One watch of the _Hecla's_ crew were sent round to a.s.sist at the _Fury's_ pumps, which required one-third of her s.h.i.+p's company to be constantly employed at them.

The ice coming in with considerable violence on the night of the 2nd, once more forced the _Fury_ on sh.o.r.e, so that at low water she sewed two feet and a half. Nothing but the number and strength of the _Hecla's_ hawsers prevented her sharing the same fate, for the pressure was just as much as seven of these of six inches and two stream-cables would bear.

The _Fury_ floated in the morning, and was enabled to haul off a little, but there was no opening of the ice to allow us to move to our intended station. The more leisure we obtained to consider the state of the _Fury_, the more apparent became the absolute, however unfortunate, necessity of heaving her down. Four pumps were required to be at work without intermission to keep her free, and this in perfectly smooth water, showing that she was, in fact, so materially injured as to be very far from seaworthy. One-third of her working men were constantly employed, as before remarked, in this laborious operation, and some of their hands had become so sore from the constant friction of the ropes, that they could hardly handle them any longer without the use of mittens, a.s.sisted by the unlaying of the ropes to make them soft. When, in addition to these circ.u.mstances, the wet state of the decks and the little room left, as well as the reduced strength for working the s.h.i.+p or heaving at hawsers among the ice, be considered, I believe that every seaman will admit the impracticability of pursuing this critical navigation till the _Fury_ had been examined and repaired. As, therefore, not a moment could be lost we took advantage of a small lane of water deep enough for boats, which kept open within the grounded ma.s.ses along the sh.o.r.e, to convey to the _Hecla_ some of the _Fury's_ dry provisions, and to land a quant.i.ty of heavy ironwork and other stores not perishable; for the moment this measure was determined on I was anxious, almost at any risk, to commence the lightening of the s.h.i.+p as far as our present insecurity and our distance from the sh.o.r.e would permit.