176 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



to one degree of list. This was owing to the vast amount 

 of iron-work, and especially the canned goods, which had to 

 be stowed in the after-hold and on the quarter-deck. All our 

 compass observations had of course to be made on the ice 



SKATING ON THE YOUNG ICE. 



well clear of the ship. At this time and later on we noticed 

 that the turning motion of the floe or change in azimuth of 

 the ship's head was very slow; but the floe did have a 

 cycloidal motion with the wind, and the resultant was in the 

 northwest direction. 



Our position was not an enviable one. At any moment 

 the vessel was liable to be crushed like an egg-shell among 

 this enormous mass of ice, the general thickness of which 

 was from five to six feet, though some was over twenty 

 where the floe-pieces had overrun and cemented together 

 and turned topsy-turvy. Pressures were constantly felt. 

 We heard distant thundering of the heavy masses, which 

 threw up high ridges of young ice that looked like immense 

 pieces of crushed sugar. 



