hurt the ship, and she gallantly responded
to the calls made upon her. Sometimes it was a matter of forcing two
floes apart, at others of charging and breaking one. Often we went again
and again at some stubborn bit, backing and charging alternately, as well
as the space behind us would allow. If sufficient momentum was gained the
ship rode upon the thicker floes, rising up upon it and pressing it down
beneath her, until suddenly, perhaps when its nearest edge was almost
amidships, the weight became too great and the ice split beneath us. At
other times a tiny crack, no larger than a vein, would run shivering from
our bows, which widened and widened until the whole ship passed through
without difficulty. Always when below one heard the grumbling of the ice
as it passed along the side. But it was slow work, and hard on the
engines. There were days when we never moved at all.

"I can imagine few things more trying to the patience than the long
wasted days of waiting. Exasperating as it is to see the tons of coal
melting away with the smallest mileage to our credit, one has at least
the satisfaction of active fighting and the hope of better fortune. To
wait idly is the worst of conditions. You can imagine how often and how
restlessly we climbed to the crow's nest and studied the outlook. And
strangely enough there was generally some change to note. A water lead
would mysteriously open up a few miles away, or the place where it had
been would as mysteriously close. Huge icebergs crept silently towards or
past us, and continually we were observing these formidable objects with
range finder and compass to determine the relative movement, sometimes
with misgivings as to our ability to clear them. Under steam the change
of conditions was even more marked. Sometimes we would enter a lead of
open water and proceed for a mile or two without hindrance; sometimes we
would come to big sheets of thin ice which broke easily as our iron-shod
prow struck them, and sometimes even a thin sheet would resist all our
attempts to break it; sometimes we would push big floes with comparative
ease and sometimes a small floe would bar our passage with such obstinacy
that one would almost believe it possessed of an evil spirit; sometimes
we passed through acres of sludgy sodden ice which hissed as it swept
along the side, and sometimes the hissing ceased seemingly without rhyme
or reason, and we found our screw churning the sea without any effect.