70 CRACKING SOUNDS EXPLAINED. [November, 



the sound is not so sensibly communicated. If the noise 

 had resulted from bolts breaking, where, I would ask, 

 would the 'Assistance' be now ? But who ever discovered 

 a bolt broken ? And so convinced am I now that these 

 noises will cease as the cold becomes more intense, that 

 I intend to direct " everv crack heard to be registered." 



/ <~J 



If they should cease, even when we know the ice to be 

 cracking extensively, the ship being isolated in her own 

 piece of floe, surely no one will contend against what we 

 experience and register ! or let some better informed 

 person instruct us why the 'Assistance' ceases to crack ; 

 or are all her bolts and trenails destroyed ? 



To meet the ideas of those who contended for ventila- 

 tion, I tried an experiment on our main hatchway con- 

 denser, fitting two ventilators with the elbows of the 

 cabin stove-pipes, of copper. The result was speedily 

 determined : the temperature fell to 9, instead of 24. 

 The lower-deck sleepers protested against the cold ; mois- 

 ture ensued : they were abolished, and all went right. 

 Did I convince any one? 



November 25. Upon examination of the ice-gauge for 

 the last twenty days, it affords a mean of 0'5 inches, or 

 half an inch per diem increase, the mean temperature 

 being 2 5 '7 5 6. This appears to approach to some- 

 thing like reason ; for we find, with a temperature of 

 26, that the ice at the surface of the sea will freeze 

 more than four inches during twenty-four hours. This 

 must also be much influenced by the depth, currents, 

 nature of the bottom, whether rock, sand, or mud, as 

 well as by any gaseous formation beneath, affecting the 

 general temperature of the underlying sea. 



