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AMERICAN SHIP IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
467 
damage, either from this or from the severe cold, during which 
sharp reports often indicated that some crack in the wood¬ 
work had widened through the freezing of the water that had 
made its way into the vessel. “ Cold so that the walls crack ” 
is a well-known expression, with which we inhabitants of the 
North often connect memories from some stormy winter even¬ 
ing, passed by the home hearth ; but here these reports heard in 
our cabins, especially at night, were unpleasant enough, giving 
rise to fears that the newly formed or widened cracks would 
cause dangerous leaks in the vessel’s hull. In consequence of 
iron contracting more than wood under the influence of cold, 
the heads of the iron bolts, with which the ship’s timbers 
were fastened together, in the course of the winter sank deep 
into the outside planking. But no serious leak arose in this 
way, perhaps because the cold only acted on that part of the 
vessel which lay above the surface of the water. 
Already during the first days of our wintering we interpreted 
various lively accounts of the natives, which they illustrated by 
signs, to mean that a whaler would be found at Serdze Kamen, 
in the neighbourhood of the Vegas winter haven. On this 
account Lieutenant Brusewitz was sent out on the 4th October 
with two men and the little boat, Louise, built in Copenhagen 
for the expedition of 1872-73, and intended for sledge-journeys, 
with instructions to ascertain, if possible, if such was the case. 
He returned late at night the same day without having got 
sight of any vessel. We now supposed that the whole depended 
on our having misunderstood the accounts of the Chukches. 
But a letter which I received after our return, from Mr. W. 
Bartlett, dated New Bedford, 6th January, 1880, shows that 
this had not been the case. For he writes, among other 
things :—■ 
“ The writer s son, Gideon W. Bartlett, left San Francisco 
1st June, 1878, in our freighter ship ^yren, of 875 tons, for 
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