CHAPTER XVI. 



LIEUTENANT DANENHOWER'S NARRATIVE 

 (CONTINUED.) 



AT the beginning of September, 1880, the Jeannette was 

 firmly imbedded in ice of about eight feet in thickness ; 

 but there were immense masses shoved under her keel, and 

 the bows were lifted so that the keel was inclined about one 

 degree, the ship at the same time heeling to starboard two 

 degrees, and so firmly held in this gigantic vice that when 

 the blacksmith struck his anvil in the fire-room, one could 

 see the shrouds and stays vibrate, and they were not very 

 taut. Our executive officer had slackened up the rigging 

 during the first winter, and the contraction of wire rigging 

 by the intense cold was of course very great. The ice was 

 piled up under the main chains and as high as the plank- 

 sheer. In the vicinity of the ship the ice was tumbled about 

 in the greatest confusion, and traveling over it was almost 

 an impossibility. 



In the latter part of September, when the cracks froze 

 over, came the best time for travel, but the outlook was poor. 

 There was comparatively little snow, and what there was 

 was constantly blown by the wind, and rendered salt by 

 attrition on the surface of the ice, so that we could not use 

 it for culinary purposes. The captain was very favorable to 

 fall traveling, and he several times expressed himself to the 

 effect that he would not abandon the ship while there was a 

 pound of provisions left, and we generally understood that 

 he would hold on a year longer, and probably start when the 

 fall traveling commenced, a year later. We all considered 

 that if our provisions held out long enough, if we were not 

 attacked by scurvy, and if the ship was not crushed by the 



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