THE THIRD SUMMER 693 



ice was comparatively quiet ; but on June 8th and 9th we had 

 some bad pressures, especially on the latter day, when the stern 

 of the vessel was pressed about 6 feet upward, so that the rud- 

 der-well was quite out of the water, while the bow was raised 

 about 2 feet, with /^ list to port. On the loth and nth the 

 pressure was also strong, especially during the night, from 11.30 

 P.M. till 3 or 4 A.M. 



Finally the ice slackened so much on the morning of June 

 1 2th that there was a prospect of warping the vessel some dis- 

 tance ahead. As the brash was still very thick we did not 

 think it possible to haul ourselves along without using the 

 steam windlass, so I gave orders to start a fire under the boiler. 

 But before steam w^as up the channel opened so much that we 

 succeeded in warping the ship through the narrowest passage. 

 When steam was up we steamed through the pool, where I had 

 found a good berth for the ship. As the rudder was not yet 

 shipped I had sometimes to go astern, so as to be able to turn 

 the vessel. We remained there till June 14th, when the ice 

 slackened a little, and we saw a channel in a S.S.W. direction, 

 and determined to make for it. So we lighted the furnace, 

 shipped the rudder, and made at full speed for a narrow rift, 

 which led into the channel. Time after time we forced the 

 vessel into the rift, but all in vain : the edges would not budge 

 a hair's-breadth. I let the vessel remain for some time, working 

 at full speed endeavoring to force the rift, altering the position 

 of the rudder occasionally. This manoeuvre was partially suc- 

 cessful, as we got the vessel into the rift as far as the fore-rigging. 

 But that was all we could do. The opening began to close up, 

 and we had to return and moor in the same place as before. 

 This was all the more provoking as the whole opening was not 

 longer than about three-fourths the ship's length. 



We remained there till the evening of the 27th, when the 

 ice slackened so much that I decided to make a new attempt. 

 We got up steam and commenced to force the ice at 11.30. 

 It was slow work in the heavy ice, and at 2 o'clock we had to 

 moor the ship, having advanced about 2 miles S.E. by S. 

 We tried the engine this time as a compound engine, with a 



