154 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



January conse( i uence > very speedily formed *. The vapour thus arrested must ne- 

 v-^rw cessarily also detain a quantity of soot, which being subsequently en- 

 closed in the ice as the latter accumulates, the brush generally used to 

 clean the pipes cannot bring it away. By any occasional increase of tem- 

 perature, either in the external air or in the fire below, the ice sometimes 

 thaws, pouring down a stream of water into the fire and bringing with 

 it a most pungent and oppressive smell of soot. For these reasons, as well 

 as to avoid accidents of the nature above alluded to, it is necessary to 

 sweep the pipes much more frequently than in warmer climates, and even 

 occasionally to thaw the ice out of them by a fire made expressly for the 

 purpose. 



The thermometer, which had fallen to — 38° the preceding night, stood at 

 Sun. 20. — 40° at nine A.M. on the 20th, being, as it afterwards proved, the lowest 

 temperature we were destined to experience for this winter. The thermo- 

 meter rose to — 36° at noon, and was ten degrees higher when exposed to 

 the sun's rays, the weather being fine and clear and the wind very light. 

 Tues. 22. The 22d was a very severe day in the open air, in consequence of a fresh 

 wind blowing, which also occasioned the temperature of the Fury's lower 

 deck to fall for the first time, though only for an hour, to 48°. The incon- 

 venience of a cold night was felt in a greater degree, however, by the 

 officers who, notwithstanding a most uncomfortable and even painful tem- 

 perature for stage-dresses, persevered in amusing the men by the theatrical 

 performances that had been fixed for this evening, and accordingly produced 

 the two farces of " Raising the Wind" and "The Sleep-walker," to the 

 infinite gratification of their audience. 



About this time we were surprised to find that one of the Hecla's anchors 

 on shore had come home, in consequence of the cable becoming more tight 

 from the ship. This was perhaps occasioned by the ice, which was detached 

 from the shore every tide, receiving, in the manner before described with 

 the grounded masses, a certain daily though small addition, by which means 

 it had imperceptibly receded, taking the ships with it. It was necessary 

 therefore in future, to keep the cables more slack, to avoid disturbing or 

 Frid. 25. injuring the anchors. On the 25th, being about the time of the highest 



* When the weather was not very severely cold, and a part of the vapour escaped from 

 the pipe of the galley-fire, the fore-rigging was always coated with ice, from the smoke 

 passing by it. 



