Erik let him do it.  Then at the precise moment when the “Albatross” tried to pass the “Alaska,” she made a gaping hole in the side of the yacht which stopped her instantly, and rendered her almost unmanageable; then she fell quickly behind and prepared to renew the assault.  But the weather, which had become more and more menacing, did not give him time to do this.

The tempest was upon them.  A fierce wind from the south-east, accompanied by blinding clouds of snow, which not only raised the waves to a prodigious height, but dashed against the two vessels immense masses of floating ice.  It seemed as if they were attacked at all points at once.  Erik realized his situation, and saw that he had not a minute to lose in escaping, unless he wished to be hemmed in perhaps permanently.  He steered due east, struggling against the wind, the snow, and the dashing ice.

But he was soon obliged to confess that his efforts were fruitless.  The tempest raged with such violence that neither the engine of the “Alaska” nor her steel buttress were of much use.  Not only did the vessel advance very slowly, but at times she seemed to be fairly driven backward.  The snow was so thick that it obscured the sky, blinded the crew, and covered the bridge a foot in depth.  The ice driven against the “Alaska” by the fierce wind increased and barred their progress, so that at length they were glad to retreat toward the banks, in the hope of finding some little haven where they could remain until the storm passed over.

The American yacht had disappeared, and after the blow it had received from the “Alaska” they almost doubted if it would be able to resist the tornado.

Their own situation was so perilous that they could only think of their own safety, for every moment it grew worse.

There is nothing more frightful than those arctic tempests, in which all the primitive forces of nature seem to be awakened in order to give the navigator a specimen of the cataclysms of the glacial period.  The darkness was profound although it was only five o’clock in the afternoon.  The engine had stopped, and they were unable to light their electric light.  To the raging of the storm was added the roars of thunder and the tumult made by the floating blocks of ice dashing against each other.  The ice-banks were continually breaking with a noise like the roar of a cannon.

The “Alaska” was soon surrounded by ice.  The little harbor in which she had taken refuge was soon completely filled with it, and it commenced to press upon and dash against her sides until she began to crack, and they feared every moment that she would go to pieces.

Erik resolved not to succumb to the storm without a combat with it, and he set the crew to work arranging heavy beams around the vessel so as to weaken the pressure as much as possible, and distribute it over a wider surface.  But, although this protected the vessel, it led to an unforeseen result which threatened to be fatal.