192 THE JEANNETTE A.RCTIC EXPEDITION. 



ice, we should eventually drift out after reaching the vicinity 

 of Franz Josef Land, either north or south of it. The morale 

 of the ship's company was excellent, yet we looked anx- 

 iously toward the long night of the second winter, which 

 proved to be the most fearful part of our experience. The 

 anxiety and mental strain on many of us were the greatest 

 at that time. We were so completely at the mercy of the 

 ice that the vessel might be crushed at any moment by the 

 thundering agencies which we constantly heard. 



In the month of September the ship was put in winter 

 quarters for the second time. She was banked up with snow, 

 the deck-house was put up for the use of the men, and the 

 awning spread so that the spar-deck was completely housed 

 over. Economy and retrenchment were the order of the day 

 in fuel, provisions, and clothing. The old winter routine of 

 meals, two hours' exercise, and so on, commenced on Nov- 

 ember 1st, and all was going well. 



November and December were extremely cold, but we had 

 no severe gales that I remember. The meteorological observa- 

 tions were taken every hour during the first year, but every 

 two hours only during the second. They were very thorough, 

 and Mr. Collins was very watchful to add something to the 

 science to which he was so thoroughly devoted. During my 

 sickness the captain and Mr. Chipp took the astronomical 

 observations, but each officer in the ship had a round of duty 

 as weather-observer and to assist Mr. Collins. There was a 

 quartermaster on watch all the time, and steam was kept on 

 the Baxter boiler for distilling purposes. To save coal, fires 

 were put out in the galley at 3 P. M., being used only from 

 geven A. M. till that hour. 



The month of January, 1881, was remarkable for its 

 changeable temperature, and as being warmer than the two 

 previous months. About the middle of the month the wind 

 set in from the southeast, and subsequently to that time the 

 drift of the ship was uniformly to the northwest. The 

 depth of the water began to increase toward the northwest, 

 but would always decrease toward the southeast or south- 



