84 Till-; rji'iiiMAN arctic ExriiDrrroN. 



Bienenkorb took a south-westerly course along the 

 ice, and about noon, in 72° 38' N.L. saw the Hansa 

 beset about eight miles within the pack." 



Blocked in we were not really yet, though nearing the 

 coast at once was not to be thought of, on account of 

 the compactness of the floes. On the 3 1st of July, the 

 vessels had disappeared. Tlie following day, the 1st of 

 August, they appeared once more, though possibly only in 

 the way caused by refraction. The Hansa struggled 

 heavily through the ice. At one o'clock in the afternoon 

 (says the captain's log-book) we sailed under bare poles, 

 merely by the pressure of the wind on the masts and 

 rigging E.N.E. with a strong west-sou' -west wind. At 

 two o'clock we broke through two gigantic floes. At 

 the first shock against them, the forepart of the ship rose 

 two feet on to the ice, and quivered as if the keel had 

 struck the bottom. Masts and shrouds trembled and 

 swayed under the powerful shock, but, as we might have 

 expected, the Hansa bore it well. 



3rd of August : a fine fall of snow. 



On the 5th (the same day on which the Gerraania 

 anchored off" Sabine Island) the Hansa was once more 

 in open water. Eight days previously, before we had 

 resolved to sail eastward, we were in 72° 55"6' JSF.L. and 

 16° 54' W.L. Now, on the 5th of August, we were in 72° 

 29' N.L. and 13° 48' W.L. The current had carried us in 

 this time twenty-six nautical miles to the southwards. 

 The direction and strength of the southerly drift current 

 could not be accurately determined, as in going back- 

 wards and forwards through the ice, no control could be 

 kept over our course. In spite of the many shocks, and 

 the pressure of the ice, the ship had not sufi'ered. 



