WINTERING IN THE BAY 29 
by visits between the ships, and to the snowhouses of the natives 
built on the ice close alongside. 
on the night of the 11th of December a second sad occur- 
rence happened. When everybody was busy preparing letters 
for the mail about to be sent to Churchill by a couple of 
Eskimos from Baker lake, James o'connel, a cabin-boy of weak 
mind, left the ship to go to the snowhouses, and wandered away 
in a snowstorm, which commenced shortly after his departure. 
He had been in the habit of hiding behind the launch, or in 
other places about the decks, where he would remain for hours, 
and, in consequence, his absence was unnoticed by his mess 
mates until the following morning. Immediately upon the 
alarm being given, the crews of both ships and all the natives 
turned out and searched systematically, in all directions from 
the ship, but, owing to the blizzard, without success. The storm 
continued to rage during the next two days, so that it was only 
on the 15th that definite information concerning his fate was 
obtained by the natives, who traced his track in the snow to 
the open water in the southwest some three miles from the ship, 
where the poor fellow had gone before the strong wind. There 
is no doubt that death came quickly, and we were relieved of 
the thoughts of his possible sufferings had he continued to 
wander about the country and finally died of exhaustion and 
cold. 
The short days of mid-winter and the excessive cold of the 
early spring practically rendered impossible any surveying or 
other outside scientific work until the month of April, when 
preparations were made for exploratory and surveying work. 
During the winter Mr. crossman made a very efficient ice-boring 
machine, which worked admirably in making holes for sound- 
ing through the thick ice. Weather observations were taken 
five times daily during our stay at Fullerton, and these, 
together with the readings taken on the voyage, are printed in 
