BLOCKING UP OF THE HANS A. 113 



floe, wliicli bore all our treasures, being so near the siiilv- 

 ing vessel, might break. All, even the two scientific men, 

 were instinctively bent on the means for our preservation, 

 so that the collections, contained in bottles, boxes, and 

 chests, as well as the photographic apparatus, together 

 with all the finished photographs belonging to the first 

 officer, Mr. Hildebrandt, were sacrificed ! This loss often 

 troubled us ; but from the great difficulty of transport on 

 the boat journey in the spring, we must have left the 

 greater part behind. Our work of self-preservation was 

 wonderfully favoured by the weather; for from the 

 evening of the 19th to the 20th it was calm and clear. 

 On the night of the 21st to the 22nd, the wreck sank 

 in 70° 52' N. Lat. and 21° W. Long, about six miles 

 from the Liverpool coast. We distinctly saw its cli0*s and 

 mountains, which, according to Dr. Laube, resembled the 

 Chalky Alps near Munich. We recognized Halloway Bay 

 and Glasgow Island, but nowhere a way through the 

 icy labyrinth ! The jolly-boat. King William, stood 

 loose upon the deck ; so that, by the sinking of the 

 Hansa, it remained above water, and as the weather was 

 still fine, we drew this third means of preservation on 

 to the ice near the coal-house. 



The next few days we sot zealously to work to make 

 our black house somewhat more habitable. Tlie in- 

 creased heat of the house caused the sail-cloth roof to 

 leak, from the quantity of snow lying upon it, and wo 

 therefore passed a bad night. We rectified that, however, 

 by a plank roofing covered with more sail-cloth. In order 

 to satisfy our urgent need for light and air, we made a 

 dormer-window in the roof, and later on a second. In 

 spite of all this, we could not do without the light of the 



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