Entry Index: 204
Position: No position
Date by Position: 15 January 1880
Logbook Volume: 2 of 4
Logbook Metadata: Volume 2
Water expended during the preceding 24 hours: 29 gallons Water distilled during the preceding 24 hours: 29 gallons Coal consumed during the preceding 24 hours: 178 lbs Coal remaining on hand at noon: 97 tons 2187 lbs AM The day opened very hazy, with starlight and faint aurora to N'd. Fresh westerly breezes with falling barometer and steady low temperatures. At 2.30 sky cleared. At 2 a faint auroral arch, striped, passing through zenith; also two curtain arches in North, 10° and 20° in altitude respectively with irregular upward radiations, extending from N.E. to west; at 3 faint auroral arch 5° S. of zenith, and a broken auroral curtain to N. 20° in altitude, with diffused light between them; at 4 a striped arch through zenith from N.E. to W., and a faint curtain arch to N. with diffused light between them; and at 5 brilliant auroral arch from E. to W. through zenith. Early daylight at 6.55. Sounded at noon in 30 fathoms, dark green mud. Slight indicated drift to S.E. PM At noon the ice cracked within 20 feet of the starboard side of the ship, causing her to move one eighth of a point in azimuth. The opening increased to two feet in width, and extended around the bow and ahead of the ship in one direction, and in the other around the stem at the distance of 100 yards. By 3pm the opening was eight feet in width on the starboard side, with a crack on the port side indicating an opening which occurred at 6pm. General direction of ice movement to east and south. Fresh W.N.W. wind blowing, with rising barometer and falling temperature after 5. Faint aurora in N.E. at 10, springing to N.W. with streamers. At 11 auroral arch 15° in altitude to N'd growing faint; and at 12 this same arch was broken but bright with dark curtain underneath and streamers downward from western end. Crew engaged in breaking out and restoring fore peak. Ship heeling 2 1/2° to starboard. Moon 2° N. First quarter
See full digitized page provided by the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Excerpt:
We have had considerable anxiety to-day on account of the ice. At noon a slight shock was experienced, and on going out on the floe I found that it had cracked and opened about twenty feet from our starboard side (ship heading S.S.W. and a half W.), the crack rounding the bow and going ahead in the prolongation of the stem in one direction, and in the other, passing along, it went across the stern at a distance of about one hundred yards. This crack widened, until at three it had become eight feet in width, and at the same time a fissure appeared on our port side about one hundred feet distant, which became an opening at six. As far as could be observed, the general direction of the ice movement was to the E. and S. We were not disturbed beyond an occasional snap, as some fracture took place in the ice, but this horrible uncertainty grows wearisome. Living over a powder manufactory may be exciting, but it is not healthy excitement; and our constant state of anxiety may well be compared to it. As the daylight left us, at four, our position was within a small floe with water all around us. Of course, the ice will close up again, and then it is a question of strength. If the small floe is squeezed on two sides it will collapse, and then the ship gets the pressure; if squeezed on one side it will go to the main floe on the other, and the edges will break up and pile up until the broken masses reach the ship's side. In any case, the ship comes in for some unpleasantness, so there is not much choice. Ice forty inches thick is a powerful enemy but a weak defender.
See digitized manuscript page provided by NOAA PMEL.
Hour |
Wind |
Pressure |
Att'd |
Dry |
Wet |
Sea |
Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wxn | 29.89 | — | -26.7 | — | — | bcz |
| 2 | wxn | 29.88 | — | -28.3 | — | — | bz |
| 3 | wxn | 29.87 | — | -28.5 | — | — | bz |
| 4 | wxn | 29.85 | — | -28.5 | — | — | bz |
| 5 | w | 29.85 | — | -28.0 | — | — | b |
| 6 | w | 29.85 | — | -29.0 | — | — | b |
| 7 | w | 29.83 | — | -28.5 | — | — | bc |
| 8 | w | 29.79 | — | -27.5 | — | — | bc |
| 9 | w | 29.74 | — | -27.0 | — | — | bc |
| 10 | w | 29.72 | — | -26.0 | — | — | bc |
| 11 | w | 29.73 | — | -27.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 12 | w | 29.69 | — | -26.4 | — | 30.0 | bcz |
| 13 | w | 29.66 | — | -26.2 | — | — | bcz |
| 14 | w | 29.65 | — | -25.0 | — | — | ocz |
| 15 | wxn | 29.65 | — | -24.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 16 | wxn | 29.66 | — | -24.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 17 | wxn | 29.68 | — | -26.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 18 | wxn | 29.7 | — | -26.5 | — | — | bz |
| 19 | wnw | 29.72 | — | -27.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 20 | wnw | 29.73 | — | -28.5 | — | — | b |
| 21 | wnw | 29.75 | — | -29.0 | — | — | b |
| 22 | wnw | 29.77 | — | -29.5 | — | — | b |
| 23 | wnw | 29.79 | — | -31.0 | — | — | b |
| 24 | wnw | 29.79 | — | -31.5 | — | — | b |
