828 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



seas began to come over the stern, and though the men 

 pumped and bailed, there was great danger of being 

 swamped. 



Captain De Long perceived the situation and waved 

 his arm to Mr. Melville with a motion which the latter 

 interpreted as bidding him run before the wind and 

 take care of himself, so he hoisted his sail, and in order 

 to keep ahead of the sea, shook out one reef and hauled 

 the boat about one or two points toward the southward. 

 At the same time he saw Captain De Long make a sig- 

 nal to Lieutenant Chipp in the second cutter, which 

 was about seven hundred yards distant from the first 

 cutter and on her weather quarter. Shortly after, the 

 whaleboat being a fast sailer, and darkness coming on, 

 Mr. Melville lost all sight of the other two boats, and 

 navigated the whaleboat without regard to them. He 

 was uncertain how long he might be at the mercy of 

 the elements, and accordingly reduced the allowance of 

 pemmican from one and a half pounds to three quarters 

 of a pound for each person, a clay. The snow which 

 they had brought from the island for quenching their 

 thirst was rendered useless by the deluge of salt water 

 which dissolved it. 



The sea was running so high that it became necessary 

 to heave the boat to, and a drag was made of three 

 tent poles and a piece of canvas, giving about six- 

 square feet of surface. In this manner they rode out 

 the gale from nine o'clock of the evening of September 

 12th to five o'clock the next afternoon. Before leav- 

 ing Semenovski Island a weather-cloth had been con- 

 trived from the canvas boat-cover. It had been cut 

 from the stern nearly as far as the mast, and tacked 

 around the rail ; the canvas had been peaked up by 

 means of a mast coat, so as to shed the water off the 



