THE RETURN OF DAYLIGHT. 233 



westward of us toward the New Siberian Islands. At 

 two and three a. m., and two, three, five, eight, nine, 

 and eleven p. m., the ice w\as in motion, grinding and 

 groaning to the S. W. and close to us. The ship was 

 nipped on these occasions, and cracked and snapped 

 loudly, all the pressure seeming to come abaft the main- 

 mast. At the last nipping I was down in the fore peak 

 looking at the leak, and had no knowledge of the ice 

 being in motion, no sound either of motion or pressure 

 having reached me. Upon coming aft Mr. Newcomb 

 met me with the information that the ice had squeezed 

 us hard. The cabin door keeps a good record of the 

 sqiTeezing, for at times it takes two of us to open it, al- 

 though a good bit of it has been planed away. When 

 the pressure subsides, it does so without our being able 

 to detect it otherwise than by the easy manner in 

 which the door opens. The beams of the poop seem a 

 little bowed out of shape from these repeated squeezes 

 of the frames to which they are bolted. 



Weather, as a general thing, cloudy and overcast. 

 We did not, therefore, see the sun to-day. 



At the beginning of these twenty-four hours the lim- 

 bers under the coal bunkers seemed to become entirely 

 clear, for the water came aft as pure as sea-water, and 

 with such freedom that the auxiliary pump speedily 

 sucked. It was, therefore, stopped, and all the work 

 was brought on the Sewell pump in the engine-room. 

 To our great relief this, running at the rate of fifty 

 strokes a minute, held the water in check, and as the 

 ready flow of water aft kept the fore peak much drier, 

 Ave are able to proceed with good effect in the plaster- 

 ing and ramming of oakum. Although we have had 

 to work hard and wait patiently for results, the results 

 have come at last and give us good heart to proceed. 



