The deck was now blown up, and her side stove in, all hands had given
themselves up, when, on the 30th at noon, they were roused by the cry
of "a sail!" and they had the satisfaction to see her bear down for
them. She was the brig George, of Portland; and Captain Wildridge sent
his long-boat to take them from the wreck.




DANGERS OF WHALING SHIPS AMONG ICE BERGS.


The masses of ice by which the ocean is traversed assume a vast variety
of shapes, but may be comprehended in two general classes. The first
consists of sheets of ice, analogous to those which annually cover the
the lakes and rivers of northern lands. They present a surface which is
generally level, but here and there diversified by projections, called
_hummocks_, which arise from the ice having been thrown up by some
pressure or force to which it has been subject. Sheets of ice, which are
so large that their whole extent of surface cannot be seen from the
masthead of a vessel, are called _fields_. They have sometimes an area
of more than a hundred square miles, and rise above the level of the sea
from two to eight feet. When a piece of ice, though of a considerable
size, can be distinguished in its extent, it is termed a _floe_. A
number of sheets, large or small, joining each other, and stretching out
in any particular direction, constitute a _stream_. Captain Cook found a
stream extending across Behring's Straits, connecting eastern Asia with
the western extremity of North America. Owing to the vast extent of some
fields of ice, they would undoubtedly be conducted to a lower latitude