752 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



near Herald Island, 71 28' N., where she was so tightly beset 

 that DeLong concluded to go into winter quarters. Although 

 the ice piled up around the vessel in great masses as far as the 

 eye could reach, yet she constantly drifted northward, where all 

 the Arctic currents seem to tend. On the 19th of January there 

 was a singular breaking up of ice, which squeezed the vessel so 

 tightly that her timbers were sprung and she began leaking badly. 

 All efforts to repair the injury were futile, and to keep her from 

 sinking the pumps had to work incessantly. This caused a seri- 

 ous consumption of coal and great anxiety. At length DeLong 

 thought of building a wind-mill, for pumping purposes, which 

 Melville, the chief engineer, was entrusted to complete. A few 

 days sufficed to construct the new motor, and, to the joy of all, 

 it worked in the most satisfactory manner. 



The winter held out to an unusual length, and in May there 

 were still no signs of open water, and the drifting northward 

 continued. Observations made on May 30, 1880, showed a lati- 

 tude of 74 5' 27" N., longitude 177 E., which indicated a total 

 drift of nearly 3 N., but on June 4th DeLong was profoundly 

 astonished to find, from observation, that a sudden change in the 

 drift had occurred, and that it was now setting southward. This 

 continued until June 30th, when they had gone back to 72 19' 

 41" N., and 178 27' 30" E., when the wind changed and turned 

 the drift northward again. 



SINKING OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



THE Jeannette was unfortunate almost from the first day she 

 sailed away from San Francisco, but serious misfortune did not 

 befall her until she stuck fast in the ice-pack so ea'rly in her voy- 

 age. It is a common thing for vessels to be so caught in high 

 latitudes, but usually they get free by the first advent of spring, 

 but the Jeannette was held by frozen tethers throughout the entire 

 summer of 1880. The crew were remarkably fortunate, however, 

 in procuring fresh meat, as either bears, seals, or birds were shot 

 every day, and the larder was always bountifully supplied. 



Day after day, like Coleridge's ancient mariner, the Jeannette 

 drifted, over a sea fast bound, and whither none of the crew 



