3-021-515 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The George Thompson leaving the icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean, 1868. Ship on the route from Melbourne to London, '...commanded by Mr. William Shepherd...[which] was driven by a strong northeast wind to take a more southerly course than he had intended...[The ship] was beset all round by the icebergs and ice islands, each from a mile to three miles in length, and rising 200 ft. to 500 ft. above the water; they only left small lanes of water between them...When morning came, the ice all round appeared nearly solid, as if all the icebergs had been stopped together and huddled on the top of one another...the icebergs could be heard grinding together and breaking up, making a frightful noise like very loud thunder...Captain Shepherd discovered that there was one ice island, twenty or twenty-five miles long, with a passage of clear water, of about four miles, between it and the wall, which seemed to be made of thousands and thousands of icebergs packed together, forming a long range of mountains and valleys...Captain Shepherd [eventually managed with some difficulty to get] clear of the solid ice...Had the ship once missed stays, or the helm been put up the wrong way, when amongst these icebergs, her destruction would have been certain'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.