we altered our course to a directly opposite point, standing to the
north, until we came abreast of Churchill, and then bore away for
the strait, making Mansfield Island on the 7th of September. We
encountered much stream ice on our passage, from which no material
injury was sustained; although the continual knocking of our rather
frail vessel against the ice created a good deal of alarm, from the
effect the collision produced, shaking her violently from stem to
stern.

We were thus passing rapidly through the straits without experiencing
any accident worthy of notice, when I inquired of our captain, one
evening, how soon he expected to make the Island of Akpatok. He
replied, "To-morrow morning about nine o'clock." We retired to rest
about ten, P.M., and I had not yet fallen asleep, when I heard
an unusual bustle on deck, and one of the men rushing down to the
captain's room to call him up. I instantly dressed and went on
deck, where I soon learned the cause;--a dark object, scarcely
distinguishable through the fog and gloom of night, was pointed out
to me on our lee beam, two cable-lengths distant, on which we had been
rushing, propelled by wind and current, at the rate of thirteen knots
an hour, when it was observed. A few moments more, and we had been
launched into eternity. Had the vigilance of the look-out been relaxed
for a minute, or had the slightest accident occurred to prevent the
vessel from wearing at the very instant, our doom was certain.

The western extremity of the Island of Akpatok, terminating in a
high promontory seemingly cut down perpendicular to the water's edge,
formed the danger we had so providentially escaped. Next day we saw
the dismal spot in all its horrors. The island was still partially
covered with snow, and no traces of vegetation were discernible; but