70 CAUSE OF THE LEAK DISCOVERED, 



length became so fatigued that our sick-list was 

 seriously augmented. The subject of the leak 

 was never for any length of time absent from 

 our thoughts ; but we now began to reflect seri- 

 ously on the propriety of hoisting out part of the 

 provisions upon the ice, in the hope of making 

 some discovery that might lead to the remedy of 

 so serious an evil. While this was in contem- 

 plation, it fortunately happened that, on one 

 very still night, as we lay quietly by the side 

 of the floe, the surgeon's assistant thought he 

 heard the water rushing into the vessel beneath 

 where he slept. 



Elated at the idea of at least discovering the 

 defect, the spirit-room was immediately cleared, 

 and it was not long before our suspicions were 

 confirmed. On cutting through the lining oppo- 

 site the spot whence the noise proceeded, the 

 water rushed into the hold in a stream full four 

 feet in height. We now found that a bolt-hole 

 had been left open in the bottom of the vessel, 

 and that the water had found its way down 

 between the timbers into the well. Fortunately, 

 its dimensions did not admit of a greater quantity 

 of water passing through than could be kept 

 under by the pumps, otherwise the vessel must 

 have foundered at sea. We could easily account 



