THE DIANA COAL MINE 45 



can only give them passing mention here. We must, 

 however, find room for Lament's useful find of the 

 coal mine in Advent Bay, from which he filled up the 

 Dianas bunkers. " When I paid a visit to the coal 

 mine," he says, " I found it quite a busy scene for a 

 quiet Arctic shore. The engineer and fireman directed 

 the blasting, my English hands quarried, while the 

 Norwegians carried the sacks down the hill. The old 

 mate, the many-sidedness of whose character I have 

 so much valued on my various voyages, was digging 

 away with the rest, though I am sorry that in the 

 sketch his weather-beaten face is turned away. All 

 the rest are portraits, and the reader will notice that 

 Arctic work is not done in the attractive uniforms 

 known to Cowes and Ryde. The coal-bed was about 

 three feet thick, and lay very horizontally between 

 two layers of soft, mud-coloured limestone. It was 

 harder to obtain than I anticipated, because saturated, 

 through all the cracks and interstices, with water which 

 had frozen into ice more difficult to break through 

 than the coal itself, thereby rendering these fissures 

 worse than useless in quarrying. This is tertiary coal, 

 and is of fair quality, but contains a good deal of 

 sulphur. When we began to burn it, so much water 

 and ice was unavoidably mixed with it that the 

 engineers had to let it drain on deck in the hot sun 

 and then mix it with an equal bulk of Scotch coal. 

 Consumed in this way the ten tons obtained in three 

 days was a useful addition to the fast-dwindling stock 

 on board." 



While Nordenskiold was at Mossel Bay he attempted 

 a journey to the north, but was stopped by the ice 



