MARCH ij TO JUNE 22, iSgj 605 



lay the petroleum launch, which, when the new channel or rift 

 had opened right under her, had to be drawn a little way far- 

 ther out on to the ice. Finally, there was our forge. This was 

 situated about 30 yards off, a little abaft the port quarter, and 

 was hewn out in the slope of the above-mentioned pressure- 

 ridge, the roof being made of a quantity of spars over which 

 blocks of ice were piled, with a layer of snow on the top, all 

 frozen together so as to form a compact mass. A tarpaulin 

 served in place of a door. 



The first and most pressing work which we had to take in 

 hand was to remove part of the high-pressure ridge on the port 

 side. I was afraid that if the ice-pressure continued the vessel 

 might be forced down instead of upward while she had so high 

 a ridge of ice resting against the whole of her port side. The 

 work was commenced by all hands on March 19th. We had 

 five sledges, and a box on each, and each worked by two men. 

 There were two parties at work simultaneoush' with one sledge 

 each — forward, and two parties aft — working towards each other, 

 while the fifth party, of two men with one sledge, were cutting a 

 passage 13 feet wide right up to the middle of the vessel. The 

 layer of ice which was in this way removed from all along the 

 vessel's side reached to double the height of a man, except in 

 the central passage, where it had previously been removed to a 

 depth of about three yards, partly in view of possible ice-press- 

 ure against this, the lowest part of the hull, and partly in order 

 to clear the gangway, by which the dogs passed to and from the 

 vessel. 



The carting away of ice commenced on the 19th and con- 

 cluded on March 27th. The whole of the pressure-ridge on the 

 port side was removed down to such a depth that two and a 

 half planks of the ship's ice-skin were free. All the time while 

 this work was going on the weather was fairly cold, the temper- 

 ature down to —38° and — 40°C. [ — l^S. 4° and —40° Fahr.). How- 

 ever, all passed off well and successfully, except that Scott-Hansen 

 was unfortunate enough to have one of his big toes frozen. 



The doctor and I were together at the same sledge. My 

 diary says: " He always suspected me of being out of temper, 



