8o CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



Friday, August 24. Suppressed excitement all day; the 

 wind has changed at last ! It is true that it is almost calm, 

 but what wind we can feel is from N.W. The barometer is 

 rising fast, and the prospects are good for a speedy delivery from 

 this trap. Our worst enemy, the current, has slackened and is 

 only running half a mile an hour, and we shall be off as soon 

 as the wind increases a little. The joy is not unmixed, however ; 

 it is so foggy that we cannot see one ship's length, but the fog 

 may lift, if we get a little more wind, and all have high hopes. 



We sounded up the entrance to Elson Bay, where there is 

 ample water, but we hope never to be obliged to run the vessel 

 in there. We tried to sail at 2.30 P.M., but the wind was not 

 yet strong enough for us to stem the current and we had to 

 anchor again. This, of course, was rather discouraging, but 

 the wind keeps in the north-west, so to-morrow we may have 

 better luck. 



Saturday, August 25. It is blowing very hard to-day from 

 N.E., but even if the wind had been fair we could not have 

 started on account of the fog. We have apparently no chance 

 of progress, and it is no wonder that we all look more or less 

 dispirited. 



Sunday, August 26. The fog cleared a little when the sun 

 rose, and the wind has slackened. At 8 A.M. we broke anchor 

 and commenced beating eastward. We do not make much 

 progress, but at any rate we are moving and have something to 

 do, so that we can forget our troubles for a time. When the 

 dinner hour came we anchored ; all hands had been on deck, 

 and we had to manoeuvre too quickly to be able to manage 

 with one watch. At 3.30 P.M. we were obliged to anchor 

 again, as we had come to the end of open, or comparatively 

 open, water. The edge of the pack is aground in three to 

 four fathoms of water, but in the channel between that and 

 the land loose ice in abundance has drifted in from the east 

 and has been caught by the smaller pieces of ice aground 

 there. 



So far as we can see through the fog, there is absolutely no 

 opening which gives even the faintest promise of carrying us 

 through to the east. 



This surely is hard luck ! We can do nothing but wait, 

 but waiting has been our lot for almost the whole of August. 



