218 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEAXNETTE. 



the mattresses weekly in the deck-house, and turning 

 them up from day to day in the berths, I think we 

 avoid any evil consequences which might be produced 

 by damp bedding. At one p. m. I read divine service in 

 the cabin. 



January Idth, Monday. — A day of great anxiety 

 and trouble. At 1.30 A. m. there was a loud noise as of 

 the cracking of the ship's frame from some great pres- 

 sure. I was sitting in my room at the time, and the 

 sound seemed to come right abreast of me. I subse- 

 quently learned that a similar sound had been heard on 

 the berth deck about abreast of the foremast. I ran 

 out to look for a cause for this noise, but could see 

 nothing. The ice was perfectly quiet, and no evidence 

 of anything wrong could be found about the ship. Af- 

 ter waiting an hour for further developments, nothing 

 occurring, I turned in, supposing it might have been a 

 bolt drawing by reason of the extreme cold. At 7.45 

 the wind suddenly shifted from N. to W. N. W., the ice 

 began to move, and, amid the groaning and grinding of 

 the floes, the ship was felt to receive tremendous pres- 

 sure. The line of ice movement appeared to be at the 

 break across the bows which occurred December 11th 

 and closed up the same day. But the ice, while mov- 

 ing along slightly to the eastward, came down toward 

 the stem, broke off large pieces of floe at the old frac- 

 ture, and, piling up these masses under the stem, brought 

 a tremendous longitudinal pressure on the ship. The 

 ship being firmly imbedded in the floe, and held firmly 

 on all sides, could not, of course, go astern, nor could 

 she rise, although her curving bow was in her favor, 

 and in consequence it became a question of her fore and 

 aft strength. As she had stood an equally severe pres- 

 sure on her sides (much weaker places, of course), I had 



