548 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



and a crack ahead in the line of our keel as a starter, 

 which may at any time leave our whole starboard side 

 bare. 



May 20th, Friday. — Latitude 76° 52' 22" N., longi- 

 tude 161° 7' 45" E., — a drift since the 18th of nine 

 miles N. 35° W. As the island point observed on the 

 16th now bears S. 78° 30" W. (true), I can compute the 

 distance by the change in bearing, and the result is 

 twenty-four and three fifths miles (and thirty-four and 

 seven tenths miles on the 16th). The dimensions of it 

 I cannot accurately measure yet, though with an octant 

 I find it subtends an angle of 2° 10' on this bearing. 

 But from our point of view the island is foreshortened, 

 for I think its greatest length is in an east and west 

 direction. As we draw to the northward, we open out 

 the western face and shut in the eastern face corre- 

 spondingly, but I have taken the same point each time 

 for my bearing by the course indicator on the bridge. 

 There now seems to be a curious little island off the 

 western end, which looks like a mound with a beehive 

 on it, but I hope soon to be able to say whether it is a 

 separate island or a continuation of the first one. 



Toward midnight a strong appearance of land was 

 seen bearing west by north roughly, like an inclined 

 plane, but clouds rested on so much of it that I cannot 

 speak positively. 



Soundings in forty-two fathoms ; drift N. W. indi- 

 cated. At this rate we shall soon get to the shortest 

 distance from our island, which I locate by computation 

 of its distance before mentioned to be in latitude N. 76° 

 47' 28", longitude 159° 20' 45" E. E. S. E. gale seven- 

 teen to twenty-one miles an hour, and a pleasant tem- 

 perature plus 16°. At 8.30 A. m. the ship received a 

 blow under water, seemingly near the stern post, and 

 doubtless from some drifting, submerged ice-block. 



