328 HORRORS OF THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION 



to be a large continent, to winter there, and prosecute his explora- 

 tions by sledges. The chances of accomplishing this latter alter- 

 native were sufficiently good at the time to justify him in choosing 

 it; and indeed, had he done otherwise, he might fairly have 

 been thought wanting in the high qualities necessary for an 

 explorer." 



His efforts, however, proved in vain. Herald Island could not 

 be reached, and till the end of the month the vessel drifted on in 

 the pack, held between the floes as in a vise. It was the same 

 through the month of October; land was seen from time to time, 

 but it could not be reached and the imprisoned vessel and crew 

 drifted helplessly on. The "Jeannette" was caught never to escape. 

 Land seen on the 28th DeLong believed to be the north side of 

 Wrangell Land, but he no longer thought it a continent, writing 

 that "it was either one large island or an archipelago." 



A night of great beauty followed the 28th. "The heavens were 

 cloudless, the moon very nearly full and shining brightly, and every 

 star twinkling; the air perfectly calm, and not a sound to break the 

 spell. The ship and her surroundings made a perfect picture. Stand- 

 ing out in bold relief against the blue sky, every rope and spar with a 

 thick coat of snow and frost, she was simply a beautiful spectacle. 

 The long lines of wire reaching to the tripod and observatory, round 

 frosted lumps here and there where a dog lay asleep ; sleds standing 

 on end against the steam-cutter to make a foreground for the ship ; 

 surrounded with a bank (rail high) of snow and ice; and in every 

 direction as far as the eye could reach, a confused, irregular ice- 

 field would have made a picture seldom seen." 



During the first half of November the danger increased. Large 

 cracks opened in the floe, huge masses of ice were thrown near the 

 ship, and she was in imminent peril of being crushed. On the 24th 

 she got afloat for the first time for weeks, and in a few days a gale 

 set her adrift ; but soon the pack closed in and she was frozen fast 

 again. 



