As mentioned on page 71, we had also brought with us a "horse-mill"
for driving the dynamo. I had thought that it might be of service
in giving us exercise whenever there was no other physical work
for us. But this time never came, and so the "horse-mill" was never
used. There was always something to occupy us; and it was not difficult
to find work for each man that gave him sufficient exercise, and so
much distraction that the time did not seem to him unbearably long.

There was the care of the ship and rigging, the inspection of sails,
ropes, etc., etc.; there were provisions of all kinds to be got out
from the cases down in the hold, and handed over to the cook; there
was ice--good, pure, fresh-water ice--to be found and carried to the
galley to be melted for cooking, drinking, and washing water. Then,
as already mentioned, there was always something doing in the various
workshops. Now "Smith Lars" had to straighten the long-boat davits,
which had been twisted by the waves in the Kara Sea; now it was a hook,
a knife, a bear-trap, or something else to be forged. The tinsmith,
again "Smith Lars," had to solder together a great tin pail for the
ice-melting in the galley. The mechanician, Amundsen, would have an
order for some instrument or other--perhaps a new current-gauge. The
watchmaker, Mogstad, would have a thermograph to examine and clean,
or a new spring to put into a watch. The sailmaker might have an
order for a quantity of dog-harness. Then each man had to be his own
shoemaker--make himself canvas boots with thick, warm, wooden soles,
according to Sverdrup's newest pattern. Presently there would come an
order to mechanician Amundsen for a supply of new zinc music-sheets
for the organ--these being a brand-new invention of the leader of
the expedition. The electrician would have to examine and clean the
accumulator batteries, which were in danger of freezing. When at last
the windmill was ready, it had to be attended to, turned according to
the wind, etc. And when the wind was too strong some one had to climb
up and reef the mill sails, which was not a pleasant occupation in
this winter cold, and involved much breathing on fingers and rubbing
of the tip of the nose.

It happened now and then, too, that the ship required to be
pumped. This became less and less necessary as the water froze round
her and in the interstices in her sides. The pumps, therefore, were
not touched from December, 1893, till July, 1895.