. Adventures of two youths in the open Polar Sea. The route where the wirehad been stretched could be traced over the mounds of ice, except in twoor three places where there had been extensive breaks in the field, andsome of the mounds had altogether disappeared. Communication between RELEASED FEOM THE ICY PRISON. 229 the ships was conducted by signal-flags; when the Gambetta heeled over,our friends expected every moment the announcement that she was sink-ing, but as she displayed no signal, it was concluded that there was noimmediate danger. They drifted with the ice as before, but appeared t
. Adventures of two youths in the open Polar Sea. The route where the wirehad been stretched could be traced over the mounds of ice, except in twoor three places where there had been extensive breaks in the field, andsome of the mounds had altogether disappeared. Communication between RELEASED FEOM THE ICY PRISON. 229 the ships was conducted by signal-flags; when the Gambetta heeled over,our friends expected every moment the announcement that she was sink-ing, but as she displayed no signal, it was concluded that there was noimmediate danger. They drifted with the ice as before, but appeared to move in a circui-tous direction, in consequence of the edge of the field impinging on theland. Suddenly there was a loud crash, and the ice split in front of them,directly in line of the crack which had opened the evening before. Theland-ice, as we may call it, swung away from the ship, while the rest re-mained practically in its former position ; then the Vivian heeled over,broke loose from the floe, righted to an even keel, and was afloat!. NEAR THE ICE. The captain ordered the engineer to get up steam as soon as fires were ready for lighting, and in a few minutes a dense volume ofsmoke was pouring from the funnel. The lane in front of them widened as the floes swung apart from eachother, and though the water was full of floating cakes, it was comparativelyopen and suitable for navigation. Pending the readiness of the enginesto propel the ship, the sails were spread; their influence was quickly felt,and almost instantly the Vivian was forging ahead, with the water ripplingbeneath her bows. In spite of the peril of their position, with the ice on three sides and 230 THE VOYAGE OF THE VIVIAN. the land on the fourth, Captain Jones called for three cheers as the shipbegan to move. Officers and men responded with all the vigor of theirlungs; whatever danger might threaten them, it was a great delight to befree once more, and they signified their feelings by the ener
Size: 2123px × 1177px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidadventuresof, bookyear1885
