50 NOVAYA ZEMLYA 



adventure by the hold they took they got into the ship 

 again, for which they thanked God with all their 

 hearts." The same evening, that of the 2Gth of August, 

 1596, they reached the west of Ice Haven now known 

 as Barents Bay where they were forced to remain, 

 being the first crew on record to spend a winter in the 

 Arctic regions and survive to tell the story. 



To begin with, the ice gathered round the ship and 

 lifted her bow four feet out of the water. Endeavour- 

 ing to right her by clearing the ice away, Barents was 

 on his knees measuring the height she had to fall when 

 the ice broke with " such a noise and so great a crack 

 that they thought verily they were all cast away." As 

 she lay upright again they tried in vain with crowbars 

 and other tools to break off the piled-up ice, and next 

 day in a heavy snow the pressure became such that the 

 whole ship was borne up and so squeezed that " all that 

 was both about and in it began to crack, so that it 

 seemed to burst in a hundred pieces, which was most 

 fearful both to see and hear, and made all the hair of 

 our heads to rise upright with fear." The grip con- 

 tinuing, the vessel was driven up four or five feet and 

 the rudder squeezed off, which was replaced by a new 

 one, when she sank back into the water a few hours 

 afterwards owing to the ice drifting clear for a while. 

 Thus matters went on for a little time, the ship being 

 alternately lifted and released. 



On the llth of September, as there was no hope of 

 escape, it was decided to build a house wherein to 

 spend the winter, and in seeking for a suitable position, 

 a mass of driftwood " trees, roots and all " was dis- 

 covered, " driven ashore from Tartaria, Muscovia, or 



