108 DETERMINED CONDUCT. 



channels were narrow and very partial. We 

 waited some little time in the hope that they 

 would increase, and that the ships might again 

 use their sails, but were soon convinced of the 

 hopelessness of getting to the northward by 

 such means alone. 



As we were now fairly entered into the pack, 

 and the summer was already well advanced, 

 Captain Buchan determined to prove, by a des- 

 perate effort, what advance it was possible to 

 make, by dragging the vessels through the ice 

 whenever the smallest opening occurred. We 

 accordingly took the earliest opportunity of com- 

 mencing this laborious experiment, which was 

 performed by fixing large ropes to iron hooks 

 driven into the ice, and by heaving upon them 

 with the windlass, a party removing obstructions 

 in the channels with saws. After working se- 

 veral hours in this manner, we reached a tole- 

 rably clear channel, and with the aid of our 

 sails ran a few miles to the northward, encount- 

 ering in the way heavy pieces of ice, which we 

 could not avoid running against. Our progress, 

 however, was arrested before noon by the closing 

 of the channels ; and a very heavy pressure of the 

 pieces about us rendered it necessary to put the 

 vessels into a small bay, formed in a field of ice 

 that was at hand. 



