Chapter 24 - Page 2

winds
that commonly accompanied snow, to suffer the last to lodge to any great
depth. Snow there was, with a hard crust, as has already been mentioned;
but it was not snow ten or fifteen feet deep, as occurred in many other
places. There were several points, however, where banks had formed, even
on this ledge, through which the men were compelled to cut their way by
the use of shovels: an occupation that gave them exercise, and contributed
to keep them in health, if it was of no other service. It was found that
the human frame could not endure one-half the toil, in that low state of
the mercury, that it could bear in one a few degrees higher.

Daggett had not, by any means, abandoned his craft, as much as he had
permitted her to be dismantled. Every day or two he had some new expedient
for getting the schooner off in the spring; though all who heard them were
perfectly convinced of their impracticableness. This feeling induced him
to cause his own men to keep open the communication; and scarce a day
passed in which he did not visit the poor unfortunate craft. Nor was the
place without an interest of a very peculiar sort. It has been said that
the fragments of ice, some of which were more than a hundred feet in
diameter, and all of which were eight or ten feet in thickness, had been
left on their edges, inclining in a way to form caverns that extended a
great distance. Now, it so happened, that just around the wreck the cakes
were so distributed as to intercept the first snows which filled the outer
passages, got to be hardened, and covered anew by fresh storms, thus
interposed an effectual barrier to the admission of any more of the frozen
element within the ice. The effect was to form a vast range of natural
galleries amid the cakes, that were quite clear of any snow but that which
had adhered to their surfaces, and which offered little or no impediment
to motion--nay, which rather aided it, by rendering the walking less
slippery. As the deck of the schooner had been cleared, leaving an easy
access to all its entrances, cabin, hold, and forecastle, this put the
Vineyard Lion under cover, while it admitted of all her accommodations
being used. A portion of her wood had been left in her, it will be
remembered, as well as her camboose. The last was got into the cabin, and
Daggett, attended by two or three of his hands, would pass a good deal of
his time there. One reason given for this distribution of the forces, was
the greater room it allowed those who remained at the hut for motion. The
deck of this vessel being quite clear, it offered a very favourable spot
for exercise; better, in fact, than the terrace beneath the hut, being
quite sheltered from the winds and much warmer than it had been
originally, or ever