464 FARTHEST NORTH 



the most violent convulsions might take place close to us 

 without our noticing them. 



In the immediate vicinity of the Frani the ice remained 

 perfectly at rest the whole year through, and she was not 

 at this time exposed to any great amount of pressure ; 

 she lay safe and secure on the ice-floe to which she was 

 firmly frozen ; and gradually, as the surface of the ice 

 thawed under the summer sun, she rose up higher and 

 higher. In the autumn she again began to sink a little, 

 either because the ice gave way under her weight, or 

 because it melted somewhat on the under surface, so 

 that it no longer had so much buoyancy as before. 



Meanwhile, life on board went on in its usual way. 

 Now that we had daylight there was of course more 

 work of various descriptions on the ice than had been 

 the case during the winter. I have already alluded more 

 than once to our unsuccessful endeavors to reach the 

 bottom by sounding. Unfortunately we were not pre- 

 pared for such great depths, and had not brought any 

 deep-sea sounding apparatus with us. We had, there- 

 fore, to do the best we could under the circumstances, and 

 that was to sacrifice one of the ship's steel cables in order 

 to make a lead-line. It was not difficult to find sufficient 

 space on the ice for a rope-walk, and although a tempera- 

 ture of from 22° Fahr. below zero (—30° C.) to 40° Fahr. 

 below zero ( — 40° C.) is not the pleasantest in which 

 to manipulate such things as steel wire, yet for all that 

 the work went on well. The cable was unlaid into its 



