OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



119 



CHAPTER VI. 



PRECAUTIONS FOR THE SECURITY OP THE SHIPS AND THEIR STORES AND FOR THE 



HEALTH AND COMFORT OF THE CREWS ESTABLISHMENT OF THEATRICAL ENTER- 

 TAINMENTS AND SCHOOLS ERECTION OF AN OBSERVATORY AND HOUSE ON SHORE 



STATE OF HEALTH AT THIS PERIOD PARTIAL DISRUPTION OF THE ICE IN THE BAY 



ANCHORS AND CABLES TAKEN TO THE SHORE GRADUAL INCREASE OF COLD, AP- 

 PEARANCE OF THE AURORA BOREALIS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, AND VARIOUS OTHER 

 METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA TO THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1821. 



Our operations at sea being now at an end for the season, my chief attention 1821. 

 was directed to the security of the ships, and to the various internal arrange- 

 ments which experience suggested as necessary for the preservation of clean- 

 liness, health, and comfort during the winter, as well as for the economical 

 expenditure of the provisions, fuel, and other stores. 



The situation which circumstances obliged us to put up with for our 

 winter-quarters, was by no means as secure as could have been wished. The 

 bay, though as fine a roadstead as could have been desired if situated in a 

 temperate climate, was still only a roadstead ; and, being entirely open to 

 the south, was exposed to a pressure from ice in that direction, unless 

 the solid floe now about to be formed round the ships should shortly become 

 sufficient to guard them from external injury. There was some reason, 

 however, to doubt the efficacy of this protection ; for, as the spring-tides 

 approached, the numerous grounded masses around the shores of the bay began 

 to evince symptoms of instability, one or two having fallen over and others 

 turned round ; so that these masses might be looked upon rather as dangerous 

 neighbours, likely to create a premature disruption of the ice, than as the 

 means of security which, in seas not subject to any considerable rise of tide, 

 they had so often proved to us on former occasions. To these circumstances 

 was added our uncertainty whether very high tides, during the winter, might 

 not crack the ice, thereby exposing the ships to the double danger of being 



