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The sun was out bright , the sea of a deep blue , fringed with the white foam of the waves which ran high before a strong southwester ; our solitary ship tore on through the water , as though glad to be out of her confinement ; and the ice islands lay scattered upon the ocean here and there , of various sizes and shapes , reflecting the bright rays of the sun , and drifting slowly northward before the gale . They had been beaten out with the exposure and hardship , and impatient to get out of it , and this unaccountable delay was more than they could bear in quietness , in their excited and restless state . When a large piece of ice was seen in our way , or drifting near us , the word was passed along , and the ship 's head turned one way and another ; and sometimes the yards squared or braced up . Horn , and having over forty degrees of easting to make , we squared away the yards before a strong westerly gale , shook a reef out of the fore-topsail , and stood on our way , east-by-south , with the prospect of being up with the Cape in a week or ten days . The atmosphere , which had previously been clear and cold , for the last few hours grew damp , and had a disagreeable , wet chilliness in it ; and the man who came from the wheel said he heard the captain tell " the passenger " that the thermometer had fallen several degrees since morning , which he could not account for in any other way than by supposing that there must be ice near us ; though such a thing had never been heard of in this latitude , at this season of the year . One cold , rainy evening , about eight o'clock , I received orders to get ready to start for San Jose at four the next morning , in one of these Indian boats , with four days ' provisions . I got my oil-cloth clothes , south-wester , and thick boots all ready , and turned into my hammock early , determined to get some sleep in advance , as the boat was to be alongside before daybreak . It was in sight all the afternoon ; and when we got to leeward of it , the wind died away , so that we lay-to quite near it for a greater part of the night . It was after dark when we got through , and we were not a little pleased to hear four bells struck , which sent us below for two hours , and gave us each a pot of hot tea with our cold beef and bread , and , what was better yet , a suit of thick , dry clothing , fitted for the weather , in place of our thin clothes , which were wet through and now frozen stiff . One would have thought we were on our voyage home , so near did it seem to us , though there were yet three months for us on the coast . " they are ice islands , if I can see a hole through a ladder ; " and a few moments showed the mate to be right and all our expectations fled ; and instead of what we most wished to see , we had what we most dreaded , and what we hoped we had seen the last of . We were all day at this work , and towards sundown , having loaded the vessel as deep as she would bear , we hove up our anchor , and made sail , beating out the bay . " And there lay , floating in the ocean , several miles off , an immense , irregular mass , its top and points covered with snow , and its center of a deep indigo color . The sailors said that every blast , as it shook the shrouds , and whistled through the rigging , said to the old ship , " No , you do n't ! There was , however , too much to do to allow time to think ; for the gale of yesterday , and the heavy seas we met with a few days before , while we had yet ten degrees more southing to make , had convinced the captain that we had something before us which was not to be trifled with , and orders were given to send down the long topgallant masts . A regulation of the port forbids any ballast to be thrown overboard ; accordingly , our long-boat was lined inside with rough boards and brought alongside the gangway , but where one tub-full went into the boat , twenty went overboard . This settled the matter , and sent a thrill of pleasure through the heart of every one in the boat . Jokes were made upon those who showed any interest in the expected news , and everything near and dear was made common stock for rude jokes and unfeeling coarseness , to which no exception could be taken by any one . Sometimes , - generally towards noons , - it fell calm ; once or twice a round copper ball showed itself for a few moments in the place where the sun ought to have been ; and a puff or two came from the westward , giving some hope that a fair wind had come at last .