2-969-866 - /Heritage Images

Incident on board "The Cruiser", in the Gulf of Riga, 1856. Scene '...while leaving the Island of Abro, near Arensburg...thermometer at 9 deg. The whole ship outside was likewise covered with ice: three times in twenty-four hours the Cruiser and Archer were forced to weigh and steam some three miles further out, to clear the ice fast closing round them...the unfortunate man being carried below had vainly endeavoured to hook the cat over the bows, in doing which he became covered with ice and frozen stiff; but, on being carried to the engine room, recovered after some hours' warming. The scene affords some idea of the difficulties and dangers encountered by the Flying Squadron before they were driven from their cruising-grounds by the severity of the weather'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.