ANEQUIN'S DISCOVERY. 179 



state of great excitement for an Indian generally so stolid, 

 and reported, " Me found two man house ! " He described 

 it as a house large enough for two men, and when asked if 

 he had been inside said, u No, me plenty 'fraid ! " Judge of 

 our surprise. Lieutenant Chipp immediately started with 

 the Indian and others, and found the house at a distance of 

 about three miles to the southeast. It proved to be the lost 

 out-house, thus showing that the relative positions of the 

 pieces in the vicinity were comparatively unchanged. 



The next morning the half cradle on which the port side 

 had rested could be seen about a thousand yards distant, and 

 this immense lead was open, but of very limited length. The 

 appearance of the ice can be likened to an immense cake as 

 it comes from the oven, broken and cracked on the surface. 



A few mornings later the drift ice came down upon us un- 

 der the starboard bow, and wedged the ship off her cradle, 

 and she went adrift in the gale. This was about eight A.M. 

 She drifted all day until seven P.M , when she brought up on 

 some young ice, and was frozen in solid again. It was dark. 

 in the long night, and there was no chance of working the 

 pack had it been good judgment to do so. We reckoned 

 that she had drifted at least forty miles, with the ice in her 

 immediate vicinity. 



Previous to this time the ship had stood the pressure in the 

 most remarkable manner. On one occasion I stood on the 

 deck-house above a sharp tongue of ice that pressed the port 

 Bide just abaft the fore chains and in the wake of the im- 

 mense truss that had been strengthened by the urgent advice 

 of Engineer-in-chief William H. Shock, on Mare Island. 

 The fate of the Jeannette was then delicately balanced, and 

 when I saw the immense tongue break and harmlessly un- 

 derrun the ship, I gave heartfelt thanks to Shock's good 

 judgment. She would groan from stem to stern ;, the cabin 

 doors were often jammed so that we could not get out in case 

 of emergency, and the heavy truss was imbedded three- 

 quarters of an inch into the ceiling. The safety of the ship 

 at that time was due entirely to the truss. The deck plank- 



