REMARKS ON THE ICE-OPENING. 
217 
had been from the westward all the morning, now 
shifted to the southward, and the ice-tables began to 
be again in motion. The humming of hees and up- 
heaving hummocks, together with exploding cracks, 
warned me back to the vessel. 
“ At 3 20, while we were at dinner, commenting 
with some anxiety upon the condition of things with- 
out, that unmistakable monitor, the ‘ young puppie$,' 
began. Running on deck, we found a large fissure, 
nearly due north and south, in line with the Advance. 
A few minutes after, the entire floe on our starboard 
side was moving, and the ice breaking up in every di- 
rection. 
“ The emergency was startling enough. All hands 
turned to, officers included. The poor land party, re- 
turning at this moment, tired and dinnerless, went to 
work with the rest. Vreeland and myself worked like 
horses. Before dark, every thing was on board except 
the coal ; and of this, such were the unwearied efforts 
of our crew, that we lost but a ton or two. 
“ This ice-opening was instructive practically, be- 
cause it taught those of us who did not understand it 
before how capriciously insecure was our position. It 
revealed much, too, in relation to the action of the ice. 
“ 1. The first crack was nearly at right angles to the 
axis of the channel ; the subsequent ones crossed the 
first ; the wind being in the one case from the west- 
ward, and afterward changing to the southward. 
“ 2. The next subject of note was the disintegration 
of the old floes. It took place almost invariably at 
their original lines of junction, well marked by the 
hummocky ridges. This shows that the cementation 
was imperfect after seventeen days of very low tem- 
perature ; a circumstance attributable, perhaps, to the 
