One mast went by the board, the other was cut away to save the ship, and, while in this helpless condition, she struck at night, what I afterwards learned to be, a mass of floating ice.

At the time all hands believed us to be on the coast, and the crew, taking our only seaworthy boat, put off in a panic, while I was below preparing my wife for departure.
Thus deserted, we awaited the death that we expected with each passing moment, but it failed to come and the ship still floated.

With earliest daylight I was on deck, and, to my amazement, saw land on both sides.

We had been driven into the mouth of a broad estuary, up which wind and tide were still carrying us.
"For three days our helpless drift, to and fro, was continued, and then our ship grounded on a ledge at the foot of these cliffs.

Getting ashore with little difficulty, we were dismayed to find ourselves in an uninhabited wilderness, devoid even of vegetation other than moss and low growing shrubs.