266 FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 



the accommodation of shore parties, and, as the ice spread around 

 and the snow fell, the men found exercise and amusement in heaping 

 it up against the sides of the vessels as an extra protection against 

 the cold, a thick mass of frozen snow. But where there were fires 

 always going to maintain the temperature of the cabins, the danger 

 of an outbreak of fire had to be zealously guarded against. With all 

 the ship's pumps rendered useless by the frost, and the water frozen 

 solid all around, a conflagration on board a vessel in the Arctic seas 

 is one of the grimmest of terrors. The safeguard is the mainte- 

 nance, in the ice near the vessel's side, of a "fire hole/' that is, a 

 small space kept open by constant attention down to the level of 

 unfrozen water. 



During the long winter months there was plenty of time to 

 estimate the progress they had made, and there must have been con- 

 siderable satisfaction on all sides at what they had accomplished. 

 They had circumnavigated Cornwallis Island and had reached to 

 within 250 miles of the western end of the passage. 



New Year's Day was saddened by the death of one of their 

 comrades, and the silent ice-fields witnessed another impressive 

 sight when the crews of both vessels slowly marched ashore to the 

 grave dug in the frozen soil of Beechey Island. The body, wrapped 

 in a Union Jack, was borne by the deceased man's messmates, the 

 members of his watch headed by their officers following, and after 

 them the remainder of the officers and crew. The bells of each ship 

 tolled as the cortege passed over the ice, the crunching of the crisp 

 snow under foot being the only other sound till the grave was 

 reached. There the solemn and impressive service of a sailor's 

 funeral was said, the mingled voices as they repeated the responses 

 passing as a great hum through the still, cold air. A momentary 

 silence followed as the flag-swathed figure was lowered into the 

 grave, and then a quick rattle of firearms as the last salute was paid 

 echoed far and wide among the icebergs. 



Twice more was that scene repeated before the ships cleared 



