1876 ACCIDENT TO SCREW. 145 



the ice that I was obliged to give up the idea of 

 attempting to beat to windward towards an uncertain 

 haven and along the edge of a pack, to enter which 

 would have been certain destruction. 



The forenoon was spent by me in frequent and 

 long visits to the engine room anxiously watching Mr. 

 Wootton repairing the rachet. It was not completed 

 before 11.30 a.m. ; on then raising the screw the hole 

 which receives the end of the shaft was found plugged 

 with ice, Avhich was so hard and so much discoloured 

 by rust that when first taken out we all thought that 

 it was the end of the shaft itself which had broken 

 off inside the screw. By the time the screw was 

 fixed and everything was ready for a start under steam 

 the pack was rapidly nearing the land. At 2 p.m., it 

 had reached Cape Sheridan and effectually closed us 

 in for the winter. 



After this date the ice never left the shore to the 

 westward of our position, although to the eastward 

 a large space of clear water remained between us and 

 Eobeson Channel whenever the wind prevailed from 

 the westward. 



On examining the coast-line afterwards, both 

 during the autumn and the following spring, we dis- 

 covered that there was no harbour sufficiently open to 

 receive the ship, and that the ice at the entrance of 

 each bay was far too thick for us to have cut or forced 

 our way through it before the pack would have closed 

 in. The accident that happened to the screw and our 

 consequent detention at Floeberg Beach, although 

 extremely annoying at the time, was afterwards con- 

 sidered by all a most fortunate circumstance. 

 vol. I. l 



