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The second mate was aloft , and the third mate and myself were painting the quarter-boat , which hung by the davits , so he betook himself to us ; but we looked at one another , and the officer was too busy to say a word . " in the same tones , and with the same orders following them , seemed to bring us directly back to our old position of the week before . Day after day , Captain Faucon went up to the hill to look out for us , and at last , gave us up , thinking we must have gone down in the gale which we experienced off Point Conception , and which had blown with great fury over the whole coast , driving ashore several vessels in the snuggest ports . We came-to , in our old berth , opposite the hide-house , whose inmates were not a little surprised to see us return . Had he entered upon his situation of his own free will , he could have endured it ; but to have been deceived , and , in addition to that , forced into it , was intolerable . The last night they kept it up in great style , and were getting into a high-go , when the captain called us off to go aboard , for , it being south-easter season , he was afraid to remain on shore long ; and it was well he did not , for that very night , we slipped our cables , as a crowner to our fun ashore , and stood off before a south-easter , which lasted twelve hours , and returned to our anchorage the next day . 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 . Few words were spoken between the watches as they shifted , the wheel was relieved , the mate took his place on the quarter-deck , the look-outs in the bows ; and each man had his narrow space to walk fore and aft in , or , rather , to swing himself forward and back in , from one belaying pin to another , - for the decks were too slippery with ice and water to allow of much walking . Mittens , too , we wore on deck , but it would not do to go aloft with them on , for it was impossible to work with them , and , being wet and stiff , they might let a man slip overboard , for all the hold be could get upon a rope ; so , we were obliged to work with bare hands , which , as well as our faces , were often cut with the hail-stones , which fell thick and large . I could now account for the long time it took to pass the other earings , for , to do my best , with a strong hand to help me at the dog 's ear , I could not get it passed until I heard them beginning everything to complain in the bunt . 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 . Finding himself disappointed at headquarters , he edged along forward to the mate , who was overseeing some work on the forecastle , and tried to begin a yarn ; but it would not do . This was a windfall for us , for they had a set of new songs for the capstan and fall , and ours had got nearly worn out by six weeks ' constant use . Some of them , as well as we could judge , at the distance at which we were , must have been as large as that , if not larger . This has become so fixed a custom , that it is like a law , and is never infringed upon by a wise master , unless his mate is no seaman ; in which case , the captain must often oversee things for himself . We had now a fair wind , daylight , and comparatively clear weather ; yet , to the surprise of every one , the ship continued hove-to . After some time , - which seemed forever , - we got the weather side stowed after a fashion , and went over to leeward for another trial . Upon the whole , ours was the best berth ; for though the water was nipping cold , early in the morning and late at night , and being so continually wet was rather an exposure , yet we got rid of the constant dust and dirt from the beating of the hides , and being all of us young and hearty , did not mind the exposure . Between daylight and dark - that is , between nine o'clock and three - we saw thirty-four ice islands , of various sizes ; some no bigger than the hull of our vessel , and others apparently nearly as large as the one that we first saw ; though , as we went on , the islands became smaller and more numerous ; and , at sundown of this day , a man at the mast-head saw large fields of floating ice called " field-ice " at the south-east .