about midday
`` It would have been all right if only t ' big field had gone off t ' same time before t ' wind . But somehow there were a big block held up by t ' Islands , and t ' western ice just came and hit it clip ! It must have been all up with us right there but for t ' northeast current , and that took our vessel like a nutshell and whisked her away in t ' heavy slob as if to carry her along the Labrador coast . But it proved us was not far enough off t ' land , for just about midday t ' Red Islands come up like dark specks out o ' t ' ice -- right ahead t ' way we was being driven . T ' other schooners was caught in t ' jam too and drifting with us , little black dots scattered over t ' surface of t ' ice field like t ' currants in slices of sweet white loaf . `` I believe our skipper knowed it were no good , just as soon as t ' watch called him to see for hisself . But he made out as if there was nothing to it , and ordered all hands to be ready to take t ' ice , as though ' t was a patch o ' swiles instead of rocks ahead .