62 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
four degrees below zero, we found that the cracks 
had closed up again. Twice during the day the 
ice opened again but closed up at once. These 
cracks were only an inch or two in width. 
November began with a renewed violence of the 
gale and we drifted to the northwest. For the 
first time we pumped out the hold with a hand- 
pump in the engine-room. As long as we had 
steam up we did the pumping with steam from the 
boiler but now that the boiler was blown down we 
pumped by hand on deck, but that was a difficult 
job on account of the cold, so by having a stove in 
the engine-room which kept the temperature above 
freezing we found that we could handle the pump 
to better advantage there. 
We built an observatory for Malloch by covering 
in the bridge with boards and sails with an opening 
at the top. Malloch had his transit here and was 
untiring in his efforts to get our position. He re¬ 
lieved me of much of the labor of taking the ob¬ 
servations and was a great help throughout. In 
the afternoon of this first of November we had 
clear weather for a short time and were treated to 
a remarkable display of the aurora, one of the few 
that we had in all our months of drifting and ice 
travel. During the gale that kept up all day we 
dragged our dredge and parted the line, so that we 
had to put on a new dredge. The next day we got 
