42 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



nothing to do, as all preparations to resist an Arctic 

 winter had already been made. 



We fitted up the winter tent, the top rope of 

 which was fixed midway up the masts, and from 

 thence extended to the bulwarks. That the day- 

 light might not be shut out from the saloon, the tent 

 was not erected over the quarter-deck. The deck 

 was covered with six inches of snow, which aided 

 considerably in the exclusion of the cold from that 

 quarter. The engine was kept during the whole 

 winter in such a condition that at three hours' notice 

 it could be set in motion. 



The vessel was heated by means of four stoves and 

 the galley. One of the stoves was placed in the 

 saloon, one in the engine-room, one between decks, 

 and one in the second mess. With these heating 

 appliances we had no difficulty in keeping up an 

 equable temperature in all parts of the vessel even 

 during the most severe cold (47 C.) For fuel, part 

 coals and part driftwood were used, the latter brought 

 from the neighbouring shore. For heating purposes 

 we consumed about 12 cwt. of coal weekly. 



As I feared that the thick and rapidly-forming ice 

 might press with too great a force on the vessel, I 

 endeavoured at first to keep her free of the ice on 

 the one side by opening, by means of the saw, a 

 three-feet-broad channel. Soon, however, this work 

 had to be abandoned, as the cold overpowered us. 

 After opening up the stream the one day, on the 



