CLOSED IN AND SHUT OUT. 323 



seduced four of Bay's team into joining them. On Thursday 

 morning, August 22, we continued inwards, without troubling our- 

 selves about the runaways ; we knew we should go slowly, and 

 they would have time to bethink themselves, and perhaps catch 

 us up. We were well pleased with the result of this day's work ; 

 we bored our way more than two miles, which was not bad in our 

 circumstances. If we could repeat this every day the ice would 

 soon be forced ; it would be four or five miles in the twenty-four 

 hours, and it was not very many miles to the edge of the ice. 



As bad luck would have it, the neap-tides were just at this 

 time. The water was low on the shelf, which was shallow, and 

 the land lead was inside the shelf all the way out. When the 

 south wind pressed the ice close in to the south side of all the 

 points, it was not easy to push the ice up into the crack, for 

 the young ice, which we broke up, was stopped by all the 

 hummocks which had come to anchor on the shelf. Until high 

 water was greater, and carried off the hummocks we were fixed 

 to the spot. 



The time of waiting had to be made use of, so \ve began with 

 the sawing and blasting ; keeping a sharp look-out meanwhile. 

 The belt of thick ice was very narrow; a mile farther out, 

 and we should perhaps get home this year ! We went some 

 excursions ashore, and shot some hares and ptarmigan, and 

 both Schei and Simmons worked at their science ; but, with the 

 exception of a few luxuriant patches, the vegetation out here was 

 more than meagre. On August 2G we advanced a thousand yards, 

 on the 27th only three ship's-lengths. It was shallow here, too 

 not much more than twenty feet at high water. It was not long 

 before we had to retreat and wait for the next high tide, but there 

 was every likelihood that then we should be able to slip past. 



But it never does to prophesy. Before the next high tide 

 there was frost, and a high wind from the north and north-west. 

 We set off, went up to the crack, and worked hard to push our- 

 selves so far from land that the vessel would float at low water. 

 This week on the whole sealed our fate. The way we had sawed 

 for ourselves could no longer be used, while the young ice became 

 thicker and thicker every day and soon froze so hard that we had 



