396 STERN-POST SHATTERED. [cHAP.VI. 



floating away, dark and discoloured, among the 

 fresh and unspotted ice. We were now able 

 to see clearly that the stern-post was sadly 

 shattered; entirely broken from the starboard 

 side, and projecting fully three feet and a half 

 over to port. What other injury there might be 

 we could not yet divine, as the keel and lower 

 part of the hull were firmly imbedded in solid 

 ice on both sides, though chiefly on the starboard, 

 where a heavy fragment of the old floe still ad- 

 hered. Imagining that additional weight in the 

 ship might assist in breaking the under ice away, 

 we hauled alongside of a small floe, where there 

 was a pool of fresh water, and having got the 

 engine to work with a long hose, shortly com- 

 pleted our water to nineteen tons. But finding 

 this without the effect desired, all sail was set ; 

 and then, after bracing the yards in the most 

 advantageous manner for our purpose, the officers 

 and men sallied alternately from the one to the 

 other side, and then fore and aft, still however 

 without effect ; for although this shook the ship 

 it shook the ice also, and the two, forming one 

 connected body, merely undulated slightly to- 

 gether. Sail, however, was kept set ; and with 

 our extraordinary appendage, we drifted gently 

 wherever the wind, which happened to be fair, 

 listed to take us. Our motion did not exceed a 

 quarter of a mile an hour; and, notwithstanding 



