"To prayer;--for the glorious sun is gone,
And the gathering darkness of night comes on;
Like a curtain from God's kind hand it flows,
To shade the couch where his children repose.
Then kneel, while the watching stars are bright,
And give your last thoughts to the guardian of night."
Ware.
Desolate, indeed, and nearly devoid of hope, had the situation of our
sealers now become. It was mid-day, and it was freezing everywhere in the
shade. A bright genial sun was shedding its glorious rays on the icy
panorama; but it was so obliquely as to be of hardly any use in
dispelling the frosts. Far as the eye could see, even from the elevation
of the cape, there was nothing but ice, with the exception of that part of
the Great Bay into which the floe had not yet penetrated. To the
southward, there stood clustering around the passage a line of gigantic
bergs, placed like sentinels, as if purposely to stop all egress in that
direction. The water had lost its motion in the shift of wind, and new ice
had formed over the whole bay, as was evident by a white sparkling line
that preceded the irresistible march of the floe.
As Roswell gazed on this scene, serious doubts darkened his mind as to his
escaping from this frozen chain until the return of another summer. It is
true that a south wind might possibly produce a change, and carry away the
blockading mass; but every moment rendered this so much the less probable.
Winter, or what would be deemed winter in most regions, was already
setting in; and should the ice really become stationary in and around the
group, all hope of its moving must vanish for the next eight months.
Daggett reached the house about an hour before sunset. He had succeeded in
cutting a passage through the ice as far as the cabin-door of his
unfortunate schooner, when there was no difficulty in descending into the
interior parts of the vessel. The whole party came in staggering under
heavy loads. Pretty much as a matter of course, each man brought his own
effects. Clothes, tobacco, rum, small-stores, bedding, quadrants, and
similar property, was that first attended to. At that moment, little was
thought of the skins and oil. The cargo was neglected, while the minor
articles had been eagerly sought.
Roswell was on board his own schooner, now again in dangerous proximity to
the cape. She was steadily setting in, when Daggett rejoined him. The crew
of the lost vessel remained in the house, where they lighted a fire and
deposited their goods, returning to the wreck for another load, taking the
double sets of wheels along with them. When the two masters met, they
conferred together earnestly, receiving into their councils such of the
officers as were on board The security of the remaining vessel was now
all-important! and it was not to be concealed that she was in imminent
jeopardy. The course taken by the floe was directly towards the most
rugged part of Cape Hazard; and the rate of the movement such as to
threaten a very speedy termination of the matter. There was one
circumstance, however, and only that one, which offered a single chance of
escape. The opening around the schooner still existed in part, about half
of it having been lost in the collision with the outermost point of the
rocks. It was this species of vacuum that, by removing all resistance at
that particular spot, indeed, which had given the field its most dangerous
cant, turning the movement of the vessel towards the rocks. The chance,
therefore, existed in the possibility--and it was little more than a bare
possibility--of moving the schooner in that small area of open water, and
of taking her far enough south to clear the most southern extremity of the
wall of stone that protected the cove. As yet, this open water did not
extend far enough to admit of the schooner's being taken to the point in
question; but it was slowly tending in that direction, and did not the
basin close altogether ere that desirable object was achieved, the vessel
might yet be saved. In order, however, to do this, it would be necessary
to cut a sort of dock or slip in the ice of the cove, into which the craft
might shoot, as a place of refuge. Once within the cove, fairly behind the
point of the rocks, there would be perfect safety; if suffered to drift to
the southward of that shelter, this schooner would probably be lost like
her consort, and very much in the same manner.
Gardiner now sent a gang of hands to the desired point, armed with saws;
and the slip was commenced. The ice in the cove was still only two or
three inches thick, and the work went bravely on. Instead of satisfying
himself with cutting a passage merely behind the point of rock, Hazard
opened one quite up into the cove, to the precise place where the schooner
had been so long at anchor. Just as the sun was setting, the crisis
arrived. So heavy had been the movement towards the rocks, that Roswell
saw he could delay no longer. Were he to continue where he was, a
projection on the cape would prevent his passage to the entrance of the
cove; he would be shut in, and he might be certain that the Sea Lion would
be crushed if the floe pressed home upon the shore. The ice-anchors were
cut out accordingly, the jib was hoisted, and the schooner wore short
round on her heel. The space between the floe and the projection in the
rocks just named, did not now exceed a hundred feet; and it was lessening
fast. Much more room existed on each side of this particular excrescence
in the rugged coast, the space north being still considerable, while that
to the southward might be a hundred yards in width; the former of these
areas being owing to the form of the basin, and the latter to the shape of
the shore.
In the first of the basins named, the schooner wore short round on her
heel, her foresail being set to help her. A breathless moment passed as
she ran down towards the narrow strait. It was quickly reached, and that
none too soon; the opening now not exceeding sixty feet. The yards of the
vessel almost brushed the rocks in passing; but she went clear. As soon as
in the lower basin, as one might call it, the jib and foresail were taken
in, and the head of the mainsail was got on the craft. This helped her to
luff up towards the slip, which she reached under sufficient head-way
fairly to enter it. Lines were thrown to the people on the ice, who soon
hauled the schooner up to the head of her frozen dock. Three cheers broke
spontaneously out of the throats of the men, as they thus achieved the
step which assured them of the safety of the vessel, so far as the ice was
concerned! In this way do we estimate our advantages and disadvantages, by
comparison. In the abstract, the situation of the sealers was still
sufficiently painful; though compared with what it would have been with
the other schooner wrecked, it was security itself.
By this time it was quite dark; and a day of excitement and fatigue
required a night of rest. After supping, the men turned in; the
Vineyarders mostly in the house, where they occupied their old bunks. When
the moon rose, the party from the wreck arrived, with their carts well
loaded, and themselves half frozen, notwithstanding their toil. In a short
time, all were buried in sleep.
When Roswell Gardiner came on deck next morning, his first glance told him
how little was the chance of his party's returning north that season. The
strange floe had driven into the Great Bay, completely covering its
surface, lining the shores far and near with broken and glittering cakes
of ice; and, as it were, hermetically sealing the place against all
egress. New ice, an inch or two thick, or even six or eight inches thick,
might have been sawed through; and a passage cut even for a league, should
it be necessary. Such things were sometimes done, and great as would have
been the toil, our sealers would have attempted it, in preference to
running the risk of passing a winter in that region. But almost desperate
as would have been even that source of refuge, the party was completely
cut off from its possession. To think of sawing through ice as thick as
that of the floe, for any material distance, would be like a project to
tunnel the Alps.
Melancholy was the meeting between Roswell and Daggett that morning. The
former was too manly and generous to indulge in reproaches, else might he
well have told the last that all this was owing to him. There is a
singular propensity in us all to throw the burthen of our own blunders on
the shoulders of other folk. Roswell had a little of this weakness,
overlooking the fact that he was his own master; and as he had come to the
group by himself, he ought to have left it in the same manner, as soon as
his own particular task was accomplished. But Roswell did not see this
quite as distinctly as he saw the fact that Daggett's detentions and
indirect appeals to his better feelings had involved him in all these
difficulties. Still, while thus he felt, he made no complaint.
All hope of getting north that season now depended on the field-ice's
drifting away from the Great Bay before it got fairly frozen in. So jammed
and crammed with it did every part of the bay appear to be, however, that
little could be expected from that source of relief. This Daggett admitted
in the conversation he held with Roswell, as soon as the latter joined him
on the rocky terrace beneath the house.
"The wisest thing we can do, then," replied our hero, "will be to make as
early preparations as possible to meet the winter. If we are to remain
here, a day gained now will be worth a week a month hence. If we should
happily escape, the labour thus expended will not kill us."
"Quite true--very much as you say, certainly," answered Daggett, musing.
"I was thinking as you came ashore, Gar'ner, if a lucky turn might not be
made in this wise:--have a good many skins in the wreck, you see, and you
have a good deal of ile in your hold--now, by starting some of that ile,
and pumping it out, and shooking the casks, room might be made aboard of
you for all my skins. I think we could run all of the last over on them
wheels in the course of a week."
"Captain Daggett, it is by yielding so much to your skins that we have got
into all this trouble."
"Skins, measure for measure, in the way of tonnage, will bring a great
deal more than ile."
Roswell smiled, and muttered something to himself, a little bitterly. He
was thinking of the grievous disappointment and prolonged anxiety that it
pained him to believe Mary would feel at his failure to return home at the
appointed time; though it would probably have pained him more to believe
she would not thus be disappointed and anxious. Here his displeasure, or
its manifestation, ceased; and the young man turned his thoughts on the
present necessities of his situation.
Daggett appearing very earnest on the subject of removing his skins before
the snows came to impede the path, Roswell could urge no objection that
would be likely to prevail; but his acquiescence was obtained by means of
a hint from Stimson, who by this time had gained his officer's ear.
"Let him do it, Captain Gar'ner," said the boat-steerer, in an aside,
speaking respectfully, but earnestly. "He'll never stow 'em in our hold,
this season at least; but they'll make excellent filling-in for the sides
of this hut."
"You think then, Stephen, that we are likely to pass the winter here?"
"We are in the hands of Divine Providence, sir, which will do with us as
seems the best in the eyes of never-failing wisdom. At all events, Captain
Gar'ner, I think 'twill be safest to act at once as if we had the winter
afore us. In my judgment, this house might be made a good deal more
comfortable for us all, in such a case, than our craft; for we should not
only have more room, but might have as many fires as we want, and more
than we can find fuel for."
"Ay, there's the difficulty, Stephen. Where are we to find wood,
throughout a polar winter, for even one fire?"
"We must be saving, sir, and thoughtful, and keep ourselves warm as much
as we can by exercise. I have had a taste of this once, in a small way,
already; and know what ought to be done, in many partic'lars. In the first
place, the men must keep themselves as clean as water will make them--dirt
is a great helper of cold--and the water must be just as frosty as human
natur' can bear it. This will set everything into actyve movement inside,
and bring out warmth from the heart, as it might be. That's my principle
of keeping warm, Captain Gar'ner."
"I dare say it may be a pretty good one, Stephen," answered Roswell, "and
we'll bear it in mind. As for stoves we are well enough off, for there is
one in the house, and a good large one it is; then, there is a stove in
each cabin, and there are the two cambooses. If we had fuel for them all,
I should feel no concern on the score of warmth."
"There's the wrack, sir. By cutting her up at once, we should get wood
enough, in my judgment, to see it out."
Roswell made no reply; but he looked intently at the boat-steerer for half
a minute. The idea was new to him; and the more he thought on the subject,
the greater was the confidence it gave him in the result. Daggett, he well
knew, would not consent to the mutilation of his schooner, wreck as it
was, so long as the most remote hope existed of getting her again into the
water. The tenacity with which this man clung to property was like that
which is imputed to the life of the cat; and it was idle to expect any
concessions from him on a subject like that. Nevertheless, necessity is a
hard master; and if the question were narrowed down to one of burning the
materials of a vessel that was in the water, and in good condition, and of
burning those of one that was out of the water, with holes cut through her
bottom in several places, and otherwise so situated as to render repairs
extremely difficult, if not impossible, even Duggett would be compelled to
submit to circumstances.
It was accordingly suggested to the people of the Vineyard Lion that they
could do no better than to begin at once to remove everything they could
come at, and which could be transported from the wreck to the house. As
there was little to do on board the vessel afloat, her crew cheerfully
offered to assist in this labour. The days were shortening sensibly and
fast, and no time was to be lost, the distance being so great as to make
two trips a day a matter of great labour. No sooner was the plan adopted,
therefore, than steps were taken to set about its execution.
It is unnecessary for us to dwell minutely on everything that occurred
during the succeeding week or ten days. The wind shifted to south-west the
very day that the Sea Lion got back into her little harbour; and this
seemed to put a sudden check on the pressure of the vast floe.
Nevertheless, there was no counter-movement, the ice remaining in the
Great Bay seemingly as firmly fastened as if it had originally been made
there. Notwithstanding this shift of the wind to a cold point of the
compass, the thermometer rose, and it thawed freely about the middle of
the day, in all places to which the rays of the sun had access. This
enabled the men to work with more comfort than they could have done in the
excessively severe weather; as it was found that respiration became
difficult when it was so very cold.
Access was now obtained to the wreck by cutting a regular passage to the
main hatch through the ice. The schooner stood nearly upright, sustained
by fragments of the floe; and there were extensive caverns all around her,
produced by the random manner in which the cakes had come up out of their
proper element like so many living things. Among these caverns one might
have wandered for miles without once coming out into the open air, though
they were cold and cheerless, and had little to attract the adventurer
after the novelty was abated. In rising from the water, the schooner had
been roughly treated; but once sustained by the ice, her transit had been
easy and tolerably safe. Several large cakes lay on or over her, sustained
more by other cakes that rested on the rocks than by the timbers of the
vessel herself. These cakes formed a sort of roof, and as they did not
drip, they served to make a shelter against the wind; for, at the point
where the wreck lay the south-west gales came howling round the base of
the mountain, piercing the marrow itself in the bones. At the hut it was
very different. There the heights made a lee that extended all over the
cape, and for some distance to the westward; while the whole power the sun
possessed in that high latitude was cast, very obliquely it is true, but
clearly, and without any other drawback than its position in the ecliptic,
fairly on the terrace, the hut above, and the rocks around it. On the
natural terrace, indeed, it was still pleasant to walk and work, and even
to sit for a few hours in the middle of the day; for winter was not yet
come in earnest in that frozen world.
One of Roswell's first objects was to transport most of the eatables from
the wreck; for he foresaw the need there would be for everything of the
sort. Neither vessel had laid in a stock of provisions for a longer period
than about twelve months, of which nearly half were now gone. This
allowance applied to salted meats and bread, which are usually regarded as
the base of a ship's stores. There were several barrels of flour, a few
potatoes, a large quantity of onions, a few barrels of corn-meal, or
'injin,' as it is usually termed in American parlance, an entire barrel of
pickled cucumbers, another about half full of cabbage preserved in the
same way, and an entire barrel of molasses. In addition, there was a cask
of whiskey, a little wine and brandy to be used medicinally, sugar, brown,
whitey-brown and browny-white, and a pretty fair allowance of tea and
coffee; the former being a Hyson-skin, and the latter San Domingo of no
very high quality. Most of these articles were transported from the wreck
to the house, in the course of the few days that succeeded, though Daggett
insisted on a certain portion of the supplies being left in his stranded
craft. Not until this was done would Roswell listen to any proposal of
Daggett's to transfer the skins. Twice during these few days, indeed, did
the Vineyard master come to a pause in his proceedings, as the weather
grew milder, and gleams of a hope of being able yet to get away that
season crossed his mind. On the last of these occasions of misgiving,
Roswell was compelled to lead his brother master up on the plain of the
island, to an elevation of some three hundred feet above the level of the
ocean, and more than half that distance higher than the house, and point
out to him a panorama of field-ice that the eye could not command. Until
that vast plain opened, or became riven by the joint action of the
agitated ocean and the warmth of a sun from which the rays did not glance
away from the frozen surface, like light obliquely received, and as
obliquely reflected from a mirror, it was useless to think of releasing
even the uninjured vessel; much less that which lay riven and crushed on
the rocks.
"Were every cake of this ice melted into water, Daggett," Roswell
continued, "it would not float off your schooner. The best supplied
ship-yard in America could hardly furnish the materials for ways to launch
her; and I never knew of a vessel's being dropped into the water some
twenty feet nearly perpendicular."
"I don't know that," answered Daggett, stoutly. "See what they're doing
now-a-days, and think nothing of it. I have seen a whole row of brick
houses turned round by the use of jack-screws; and one building actually
taken down a hill much higher than the distance you name. Commodore
Rodgers has just hauled a heavy frigate out of the water, and means to put
her back again, when he has done with her. What has been done once can be
done twice. I do not like giving up 'till I'm forced to it."
"That is plain enough, Captain Daggett," returned Roswell, smiling. "That
you are game, no one can deny; but it will all come to nothing. Neither
Commodore Rodgers nor Commodore anybody else could put your craft into the
water again without something to do it with."
"You think it would be asking too much to take your schooner, and go
across to the main next season a'ter timber to make ways?" put in Daggett,
inquiringly. "She stands up like a church, and nothing would be easier
than to lay down ways under her bottom."
"Or more difficult than to make them of any use, after you had put them
there. No, no, my good sir, you must think no more of this; though it may
be possible to make a cover for the cargo, and return and recover it all,
by freighting a craft from Rio, on our way north."
Daggett gave a quick, inquisitive glance at his companion, and Roswell's
colour mounted to his cheeks; for while he really thought the plan just
mentioned quite feasible, he was conscious of foreseeing that it might be
made the means of throwing off his troublesome companion, as he himself
drew near to the West Indies and their keys.
This terminated the discussion for the time. Both of the masters busied
themselves in carrying on the duty which had now fallen into a regular
train. As much of the interest of what is to be related will depend on
what was done in these few days, it may be well to be a little more
explicit in stating the particulars.
The reader will understand that the house, of which so much had already
been made by our mariners, was nothing but a shell. It had a close roof,
one that effectually turned water, and its siding, though rough, was tight
and rather thicker than is usual; being made of common inch boards,
roughly planed, and originally painted red. There were four very tolerable
windows, and a decent substantial floor of planed plank. All this had been
well put together, rather more attention than is often bestowed on such
structures having been paid by the carpenter to the cracks and joints on
account of the known sharpness of the climate, even in the warm months.
Still, all this made a mere shell. The marrow-freezing winds which would
soon come--had indeed come--might be arrested by such a covering, it is
true; but the little needle-like particles of the frost would penetrate
such a shelter, as their counterparts of steel pierce cloth. It was a
matter of life and death, therefore, to devise means to exclude the cold,
in order that the vital heat might be kept in circulation during the
tremendous season that was known to be approaching.
Stimson had much to say on the subject of the arrangements taken. He was
the oldest man in the two crews, and the most experienced sealer. It
happened that he had once passed a winter at Orange Harbour, in the
immediate vicinity of Cape Horn. It is true, that is an inhabited country,
if the poor degraded creatures who dwell there can be termed inhabitants;
and has its trees and vegetation, such as they are. The difference between
Orange Harbour and Sealer's Land, in this respect, must be something like
that which all the travelling world knows to exist between a winter's
residence at the Hospital of the Great St. Bernard, and a winter's
residence at one of the villages a few leagues lower down the mountain. At
Sealer's Land, if there was literally no vegetation, there was so little
as scarcely to deserve the name. Of fuel there was none, with the
exception of that which had been brought there. Nevertheless, the
experience of a winter passed at such a place as Orange Harbour, must
count for a great deal. Cape Horn is in nearly 56°, and Sealer's Land--we
may as well admit this much--is, by no means, 10° to the southward of
that. There must be a certain general resemblance in the climates of the
two places; and he who had gone through a winter at one of them, must have
had a very tolerable foretaste of what was to be suffered at the other.
This particular experience, therefore, added to his general knowledge, as
well as to his character, contributed largely to Stephen's influence in
the consultations that took place between the two masters, at which he was
usually present.
"It's useless to be playing off, in an affair like this, Captain Gar'ner,"
said Stephen, on one occasion. "Away from this spot all the navies of the
'arth could not now carry us, until God's sun comes back in his course, to
drive the winter away afore it. I have my misgivin's, gentlemen, touching
this great floe that has got jammed in among these islands, whether it
will ever move ag'in; for I don't think its coming in here is a common
matter."
"In which case, what would become of us, Stephen?"
"Why, sir, we should be at God's marcy, then, jist as we be now; or would
be, was we on the east eend itself. I won't say that two resolute and
strong arms might not cut a way through for one little craft like ourn, if
they had summer fully afore 'em, and know'd they was a-workin' towards a
fri'nd instead of towards an inimy. There's a great deal in the last;
every man is encouraged when he thinks he's nearer to the eend of his
journey a'ter a hard day's work, than he was when he set out in the
mornin'. But to undertake sich an expedition at this season, would be
sartain destruction. No, sir; all we can do, now, is to lay up for the
winter, and that with great care and prudence. We must turn ourselves
into so many ants, and show their forethought and care."
"What would you recommend as our first step, Stimson?" asked Daggett, who
had been an attentive listener.
"I would advise, sir, to begin hardening the men as soon as I could. We
have too much fire in the stove, both for our stock of wood and for the
good of the people. Make the men sleep under fewer clothes, and don't let
any on 'ern hang about the galley fire, as some on 'em love to do, even
now, most desperately. Them 'ere men will be good for nothin' ten weeks
hence, unless they're taken off the fires, as a body would take off a pot
or a kettle, and are set out to harden."
"This is a process that may be easier advised than performed, perhaps,"
Roswell quietly observed.
"Don't you believe that, Captain Gar'ner. I've known the most shiverin',
smoke-dried hands in a large crew, hardened and brought to an edge, a'ter
a little trouble, as a body would temper an axe with steel. The first
thing to be done is to make 'em scrub one another every mornin' in cold
water. This gives a life to the skin that acts much the same as a suit of
clothes. Yes, gentlemen; put a fellow in a tub for a minute or two of a
mornin', and you may do almost anything you please with him all day
a'terwards. One pail of water is as good as a pee-jacket. And above all
things, keep the stoves clear. The cooks should be told not to drive their
fires so hard; and we can do without the stove in the sleeping-room a
great deal better now than most on us think. It will help to save much
wood, if we begin at once to caulk and thicken our siding, and make the
house warmer. Was the hut in a good state, we might do without any other
fire than that in the camboose for two months yet."
Such was the general character of Stephen's counsel, and very good advice
it was. Not only did Roswell adopt the scrubbing process, which enabled
him to throw aside a great many clothes in the course of a week, but he
kept aloof from the fires, to harden, as Stimson had called it That which
was thus enforced by example was additionally enjoined by precept. Several
large, hulking, idle fellows, who greatly loved the fire, were driven away
from it by shame; and the heat was allowed to diffuse itself more equally
through the building.
Any one who has ever had occasion to be a witness of the effect of the
water-cure process in enabling even, delicate women to resist cold and
damp, may form some notion of the great improvement that was made among
our sealers, by adopting and rigidly adhering to Stimson's cold water and
no-fire system. Those who had shivered at the very thoughts of ice-water,
soon dabbled in it like young ducks; and there was scarcely an hour in the
day when the half-hogshead, that was used as a bath, had not its tenant.
This tub was placed on the ice of the cove, with a tent over it; and a
well was made through which the water was drawn. Of course, the axe was in
great request, a new hole being required each morning, and sometimes two
or three times in the course of the day. The effect of these ablutions was
very soon apparent. The men began to throw aside their pee-jackets, and
worked in their ordinary clothing, which was warm and suited to a high
latitude, with a spirit and vigour at which they were themselves
surprised. The fire in the camboose sufficed as yet; and, at evening, the
pee-jacket, with the shelter of the building, the crowded rooms, and the
warm meals, for a long time enabled them to get on without consuming
anything in the largest stove. Stimson's plans for the protection of the
hut, moreover, soon began to tell. The skins, sails, and much of the
rigging, were brought over from the wreck; by means of the carts, so long
as there was no snow, and by means of sledges when the snow fell and
rendered wheeling difficult. Luckily, the position of the road along the
rocks caused the upper snow to melt a little at noon-day, while it froze
again, firmer and firmer, each night. The crust soon bore, and it was
found that the sledges furnished even better means of transportation than
the wheels.
There was a little controversy about the use of the skins, Daggett
continuing to regard them as cargo. Necessity and numbers prevailed in the
end, and the whole building was lined with them, four or five deep, by
placing them inside of beckets made of the smaller rigging. By stuffing
these skins compactly, within ropes so placed as to keep all snug, a very
material defence against the entrance of cold was interposed. But this
was not all. Inside of the skins Stimson got up hangings of canvass, using
the sails of the wreck for that purpose. It was not necessary to cut these
sails--Daggett would not have suffered it--but they were suspended, and
crammed into openings, and otherwise so arranged as completely to conceal
and shelter every side, as well as the ceilings of both rooms. Portions
were fitted with such address as to fall before the windows, to which they
formed very warm if not very ornamental curtains. Stephen, however,
induced Roswell to order outside shutters to be made and hung; maintaining
that one such shutter would soon count as a dozen cords of wood.
Much of the wood, too, was brought over from the wreck; and that which had
been carelessly abandoned on the rocks was all collected and piled
carefully and conveniently near the outer door of the hut; which door, by
the way, looked inward, or towards the rocks in the rear of the building,
where it opened on a sort of yard, that Roswell hoped to be able to keep
clear of ice and snow throughout the winter. He might as well have
expected to melt the glaciers of Grindewald by lighting a fire on the
meadows at their base!
Stephen had another project to protect the house, and to give facilities
for moving outside, when the winter should be at the hardest. In his
experience at Orange Harbour, he had found that great inconvenience was
sustained in consequence of the snow's melting around the building he
inhabited, which came from the warmth of the fire within. To avoid this, a
very serious evil, he had spare sails of heavy canvass laid across the
roof of the warehouse, a building of no great height, and secured them to
the rocks below by means of anchors, kedges, and various other devices; in
some instances, by lashings to projections in the cliffs. Spare spars,
leaning from the roof, supported this tent-like covering, and props
beneath sustained the spars. This arrangement was made on only two sides
of the building, one end, and the side which looked to the north;
materials failing before the whole place was surrounded. The necessity for
admitting light, too, admonished the sealers of the inexpediency of thus
shrouding all their windows. The bottom of this tent was only ten feet
from the side of the house, which gave it greater security than if it had
been more horizontal, while it made a species of verandah in which
exercise could be taken with greater freedom than in the rooms. Everything
was done to strengthen the building in all its parts that the ingenuity of
seamen could suggest; and particularly to prevent the tent-verandah from
caving in.
Stephen intimated that their situation possessed one great advantage, as
well as disadvantage. In consequence of standing on a shelf with a lower
terrace so close as to be within the cast of a shovel, the snow might be
thrown below, and the hut relieved. The melted snow, too, would be apt to
take the same direction, under the law that governs the course of all
fluids. The disadvantage was in the barrier of rock behind the hut, which,
while it served admirably to break the piercing south winds, would very
naturally tend to make high snow-banks in drifting storms.