122 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



bend the pintles, and we might not only lose our rudder, 

 but lose the means of shipping the spare one. Accord- 

 ingly the rudder is unshipped (with great difficulty, 

 owing to the small water space) and triced up to its 

 davits, across the stern. A thick mist prevented us 

 from seeing the island all day. Soundings at noon in 

 twenty-nine fathoms, light blue mud. Still shoaling. 

 Leaving the lead on the bottom, we w^ere carried away 

 from it toward the northwest. 



At last caught something in the bear-trap, but it was 

 unfortunately one of our finest dogs. He was caught 

 by the fore-leg, the tooth of the trap catching between 

 the bones without breaking them, and I hope we shall 

 soon have him all right again. Turned the starboard 

 side of the bridge into a dog hospital, and turned the 

 dog in for repairs. 



Sei^temher 12th, Friday. — The day opened and con- 

 tinued calm and misty with occasional flurries of snow. 

 The only thing to break the monotony was the catching 

 of another dog — our largest, Kasmatka — in a bear- 

 trap. Now that the dogs have learned the way to the 

 traps there is danger of one of them being caught every 

 day ; and I consequently ordered the traps to be taken 

 in. Fortunately neither of the dogs caught have had 

 Siwy bones broken or any serious injury inflicted ; but 

 we cannot afford to have any of them laid up during 

 the working season. 



This inaction is most disagreeable, and it is even 

 more disagreeable to see no chance for a change. The 

 only hope of the pack breaking up is the occurrence 

 of a gale of wind ; and as the weather has been so uni= 

 formly calm and pleasant since our being beset that the 

 ice has become well connected and solidified, it will re- 

 quire a heavy gale to make a change. Meanwhile, we 



