234 Preparations for a Long Stay. men who worked the pumps had to stand in tubs in order to keep dry. Night allowed the crew some few hours of sleep; then all gladly took some hot coffee and set to work again. But the catastrophe was near; at 8 A.M. the men who were busy in the fore-peak getting out firewood came with anxious faces, with the news that the wood was already floating below. When the captain had ascertained the truth of this intelligence he ordered the pumping to cease. It was evident that the ship was sinking, and that it must be abandoned. "The first thing to be done was to bring all necessary and useful things from the 'tween-decks on to the ice-bedding, clothing, more provisions, and coal. Silently were all the heavy chests and barrels pushed over the hatchway. First comes the weighty iron galley, then the two stoves are happily hoisted over their possession insures us the enjoyment of warm food, the heating of our coalhouse, and other matters indispensable for a wintering on the floe. At three o'clock the water in the cabin had reached the table, and all movable articles were floating. The fear that we should not have enough fuel made us grasp at every loose piece of wood and throw it on to the ice Round about the ship lay a chaotic mass of heterogeneous articles, and groups of feeble rats The Hut on the Drifting Ice. 235 A struggling with death, and trembling with the cold! All articles, for greater safety, must be conveyed over a fissure to about thirty paces farther inland. The galley we at once took on a sledge to the house, as we should want it to give us warm coffee in the evening. We then looked after the sailor Max Schmidt, who was suffering from frost-bite, and brought him on planks under the fur covering to the coal-house. By 9 A.M. all were in the new asylum, which was lit by the cabin-lamp, and looked like a dreary tomb. Pleased with the completion of our heavy day's work, though full of trouble for the future, we prepared our couch. number of planks were laid upon the ground, and sail-cloth spread over them. Upon these we lay down, rolled in our furs. A man remained to watch the stove, as the temperature in the room had risen. from 2° Fahr. to 27° Fahr. It was a hard, cold bed; but sleep soon fell upon our weary, overworked limbs. On the morning of the 21st we went again to the ship to get more fuel. The coalhole was, however, under water. We therefore chopped down the masts, and hauled them, with the whole of the tackle, on to the ice-a work which took us nearly the whole day. At eleven the foremast fell, at three the mainmast followed; and now the Hansa really looked a complete, comfortless wreck." Shortly afterwards the vessel |