686 APPENDIX 



emptiness. If we put a couple of dozen into our mouths at a 

 time they tasted somewhat like shrimps. But I am afraid that 

 were we limited to such fare, and nothing else, we should soon 

 diminish unpleasantly in weight. 



In the later days of May the prospects became brighter, as 

 the wind changed to half a gale from the east and north. The 

 ice began to drift slowly towards the southwest, and continued 

 to slacken at the same time, so that on ]\Iay 29th we could 

 see to the southward a good deal of open water, with dark air 

 above, as far as the eye could reach. 



After several requests had been made to me, I decided to 

 make an attempt at blasting the vessel clear. At i P.M. we set 

 off a mine of no pounds of gunpowder. It had an astonishing- 

 ly good effect, wrenching up heavy masses of ice and sending 

 them rushing out into the channel. Our hopes revived, and it 

 really seemed that another such blasting would entirely liberate 

 the vessel. Immediately after dinner we went to work to lay 

 out another large mine 20 yards abaft the stern. It gave us an 

 incredible amount of work to make a hole in the ice to get the 

 charge down. We first bored a hole; then we tried to make it 

 larger by blowing it out by means of small gunpowder charges, 

 and later with gun-cotton; but it was of no avail. Then we had 

 to resort to lances, ice-picks, steam — in short, to every possible 

 means ; but all in vain. The ice had, however, got so cracked in 

 all directions, owing to the many charges which had been ex- 

 ploded in the same place, that we presumed that a large mine 

 in the log-line hole would blow up the whole mass. As the ice 

 was thinner at that part, the mine was lowered to a depth of 10 

 yards. It exploded with terrific effect. A mighty column of 

 water was forced as high as the foretop. It did not consist of 

 water alone, but contained a good many lumps of ice, which 

 rained down for some distance round. One piece of over one 

 hundredweight came down right through the tent and on to 

 the forecastle; other pieces flew over the vessel, and fell on the 

 starboard side. Scott-Hansen and Henriksen, who were stand- 

 ing on the ice at the electric battery used for firing the mine, 

 were not pleasantly situated when the mine exploded. When 



