Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

ST. LAWRENCE.
51
the extent of the injury she had sustained.
They found the balsam quite rubbed off, and
holes in the bottom. They were in hopes the
ice would go away from the coast, as it had
done before, and that, if they could but repair
the boat, they might soon fall in with inhabi¬
tants. They had no balsam, but they had a
small quantity of dry oakum, which could be
of no service by itself. Finding that to
make the boat sea-worthy was beyond their
power, and that it was not possible to sur¬
mount the precipice, they thought the ice
might bear them a little way along the coast,
until they could get into the woods. Mr.
Prenties and the mate tried the experiment,
and had not gone far before they fell in with
the mouth of a river, and a fine sandy beach,
where if they had first landed, they might
have escaped a good deal of the privation they
had endured under the precipice. Now,
though it was practicable, and they could get
into the woods, they were ignorant of the
right direction, and the snow was six feet deep,
and could not be crossed without snow shoes.
They finally resolved the next day to take
their provisions on their backs, and coast
along the ice, which seemed likely to remain.