58 CEUISE OF STEAMER CORWlN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



it ran nearly north and south, and presented an almost unbroken front, and in this condition it 

 extended to the Siberian coast at Cape North. Apparently the entire sea north of the Siberian 

 coast and west of Wrangel Laud was filled with heavy pack-ice. 



August 4 the weather cleared, and at 6 a. in. a spar, discovered floating in the water, was 

 taken on board and carefully examined for any mark that might furnish a clew to the name of the 

 vessel to which it belonged. It was a lower yard, 12 inches in diameter, and, when complete, prob- 

 ably 50 feet in length. Both yard-arms had been broken off at the sheave-holes, so that the exact 

 length could not be told. Attached to the yard was a sling-band, 3 inches wide and one-h;df inch 

 thick, with chaiu tie of seveu-eighths-inch iron, 4 feet 7 inches long, including hook and shackle, 

 and a cast-iron quarter block or gin with two iron sheaves for topsail sheets. A flve-eighths-iuch 

 iron jack-stay was secured to the yard by iron dogs. Underneath, inside the yard-arm sheave- 

 holes, were small iron chocks, such as are commonly used with chaiu topsail sheets. Attached to 

 the jack-stay was a small piece of 2 inch hemp bolt-rope, with stitches of cotton twine rem. lining 

 iu it. The outer surface of the yard was so chafed and worn that nothing remained to indicate its 

 original color. The after side of the yard, in the wake of the back stay aud lower rigging, had 

 been protected from chafing by strips of yellow metal; upon one piece the words "Muntz patent 

 (18 oz.)'' were stamped iu an oval about 1£ inches in its greatest diameter. Beneath the metal the 

 yard appeared to have been painted black. It is probable that this yard belonged to one of the 

 missing whalers, and it was believed that the dimensions might furnish a clew to the name. The 

 bolt-rope attached to the yard shows that the sail was bent when the yard separated from the 

 mast, aud that it could not be a spare spar which had been lost from some vessel, as I had at 

 first thought possible. 



We coutinued southward during the day, following the edge of the western pack aud steaming 

 through large fields of heavy drift-ice; thick weather most of the time, with light southerly wind, 

 sounding every hour. At 4 p. m. the fog again cleared away a little, when the lookout reported 

 high land, supposed to be in the vicinity of Cape North (Ir Kappai). We hauled in for it, aud 

 after running two hours more made out the cape distinctly, but owing to heavy drift aud grounded 

 ice could not approach it within 10 miles. A few miles further east we were able to approach 

 within 2 miles of the land, whicli we endeavored to follow eastward for the purpose of taking 

 soundiugs and examining the coast line, but were unable to do so on account of the heavy ice. 

 fields that rested on the shore, many of them extending a distance of 20 miles. The floes, although 

 very large, did not rise more than 7 or 8 feet above the level of the sea, but being regular in 

 form, free from hummocks, and very solid and firm, were probably from 60 to 80 feet in depth. 

 Some of the floes were 10 miles in extent, without a break or crack visible, and appeared very 

 solid. Nearly every one showed a decided color, either green or blue, the latter predominating. 

 Captain Cook, iu describing his voyage to the Arctic Ocean in August, 1778, says : 



When approaching the Asiatic coast, which we had done by coasting more or less along the barrier, having but 

 little wind, I went with the boat to examine the state of the ice. I found it consisting of loose pieces of various 

 extent, and so close together that I could hardly enter the outer edge with a boat, and it was as impossible for ships 

 to enter it as if it had been so many rocks. I took particular notice that it was all pure, transparent ice, except the 

 upper surface, which was a little porous. It appeared to be entirely composed of frozen snow, aud to have been all 

 formed at sea, for, setting aside the improbability, or rather impossibility, of such large masses floating out of rivers 

 in which there is hardly water enough for a boat, none of the productions of the laud were found incorporated or 

 fixed iu it, which must have unavoidably been the case had it been formed in rivers either great or small. The pieces 

 of ice which formed the outer edge of the field were from 40 to 50 yards in extent to 4 or 5, and I judge that the large 

 pieces reached 30 feet or more under the surface of the water. It also appeared to me very improbable that this ice 

 could have been the production of the preceding winter alone. I should suppose it rather to have been the produc- 

 tion of a great many winters. Nor was it less improbable, in my judgment, that the little that remained of that sum- 

 mer could destroy the tenth part of what now subsisted of this mass, for the suu had already exerted upon it the full 

 influence of its rays. Indeed, I am of the opinion that the sun contributes very little towards reducing these great 

 masses ; for although that luminary is a considerable while above the horizon, it seldom shines out for more than a few 

 hours at a time, and often is not seen for several days in succession. It is the wind, or rather the waves raised by the 

 wiud, that brings down the bulk of these enormous masses by grinding one piece against another and by undermining 

 and washing away those parts that lie exposed to the surge of the sea. This was evident from our observing that the 

 upper surface of many pieces had been partly washed away, while the base or under part remained firm for several 

 fathoms around that which appeared above water, exactly like a shoal around an elevated rock. We measured the 



