A BREATHING Sl'ELL. 
87 
our false keel, we have sustained no real injury. The 
brig is still water-tight; and her broken rudder and one 
shattered spar can be easily repaired. 
“August 28, Sunday.—By a complication of pur¬ 
chases, jumpers, and shores, we started the brig at 
4T0; and, Mr. Ohlsen having temporarily secured the 
rudder, I determined to enter the floe and trust to the 
calm of the morning for a chance of penetrating to the 
northern land-ice ahead. 
“This land-ice is very old, and my hope is to get 
through the loose trash that surrounds it by springing, 
and then find a fast that may serve our tracking-lines. 
I am already well on my way, and, in spite of the omin¬ 
ous nods of my officers, have a fair prospect of reach¬ 
ing it. Here it is that splicing the main-brace is of 
service ! (20) 
“I took the boat this morning with Mr. McGary, and 
sounded along outside the land-floe. I am satisfied the 
passage is practicable, and, by the aid of tide, wind, and 
springs, have advanced into the trash some two hun¬ 
dred yards. 
“We have reached the floe, and find it as I hoped; 
the only drawback to tracking being the excessive tides, 
which expose us to grounding at low-water.” 
We had now a breathing spell, and I could find time 
to look out again upon the future. The broken and 
distorted area around us gave little promise of success¬ 
ful sledge-travel. But all this might change its aspect 
under the action of a single gale, and it was by no 
means certain that the ice-fields farther north would 
