Entry Index: 266
Position: No position
Date by Position: 17 March 1880
Logbook Volume: 2 of 4
Logbook Metadata: Volume 2
Water expended during the preceding 24 hours: 35 gallons Water distilled during the preceding 24 hours: 35 gallons Coal consumed during the preceding 24 hours: 550 lbs Coal remaining on hand at noon: 72 tons 1643 lbs 2pm: B.B. in vacuo = 45°; B.B in air = -25° 3pm: B.B. in vacuo = 15°; B.B. in air -23.5° 4pm: B.B. in vacuo = -10.5°; B.B in air = -26.5° The forward spar deck bilge pump is worked by Baxter engine, and the main engine bilge pump by the steam cutters engine. Distilling. Water in the ship to day at 8am at 4pm at midnight At water tight bulkhead 9 inches 10 inches 5 inches At fire room bilge 2 inches 2 inches 1 1/2 inches Sounded at noon in 30 fathoms, muddy bottom, drift to the westward being indicated by the lead line. Dawn light showing faint ruddy tint at 2am. Bright dawn at 3. Ice 4 1/2 inches in thickness formed over sounding hole since noon yesterday. Weather clear, light and pleasant with very light northerly and westerly winds and very slowly falling barometer and increasing temperature. Crew engaged in digging away the ice under the bows. The bear which was shot yesterday was brought in to the ship. At 1am faint arch 10° in altitude To S'd. Broken curtain lines from 10° above northern horizon to zenith, faint and disconnected. Much diffused auroral light in S.E. At 2 faint arch 10° in altitude to S'd with scattered and faint streamers to N'd. At 3 burr around the moon 4° in diameter. Low flat arch 10° in S., one faint arch 80° in alt to S'd with a point to which streamers from first arch converge. At 4 low flat arch 10° in altitude to S'd, with numerous detached curtains scattered from that altitude to the zenith, and same also in the east and west. At 9pm successive arches from zenith to 10° above northern horizon moving toward the south and followed by newly formed ones in the N'd. At 10pm the arches in advancing seem to fade at the southern horizon. At 11 successions of arches reaching from N.W. and S.E. moving from 20° above northern horizon toward and across the zenith to 20° above southern horizon, and disappearing at that altitude. Six arches in transit at one time. At midnight two faint arches to the northward at altitude of 20° and 40° respectively, with diffused light to zenith. Moon 24° 56' N. New moon
See full digitized page provided by the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Excerpt:
The crew were engaged again to-day in digging away the ice under the bows. We have now got down to the eight foot mark, and have such a thin layer of ice between the hole and the water that digging has to cease. If we let the water through it will flow up and freeze, and we shall have a mess again up to the original level; but if we let the freezing go on downward for some time we may be able to dig deeper. In connection with this freezing downward, it is a subject of inquiry as to what depth this freezing can take place. We have not seen any single floe of greater thickness than seven feet, ten inches, and I suppose that eight feet may be assumed as the maximum thickness of floe ice by direct freezing, as stated by Dr. Kane. Dr. Walker says that the floe ice in which the Fox drifted had only five feet of thickness. The floe which we saw and measured as having seven feet ten inches thickness was a portion of floe hove up in the great pressures in November; but whether it was direct freezing, or a series of two or more floes overlying each other, I cannot say. When we floated out to open water on November 28th, I commenced the regular measurement of the ice as it froze by measuring in the fire- hole. The last measurement made was on the 17th January, when the direct freezing was forty-six inches since November 28th. This was a piece of ice formed around us, and which had been up-ended in pressure. Measurements in the fire-hole had become unsatisfactory, because of the tendency of the ice to assume the sides of an inverted funnel, and lead to grave doubts as to the position of our measuring-rod. On the 4th March a crack in the floe enabled us to get a thickness of four feet, direct freezing of thirty days, the freezing having commenced when we had a temperature of minus 36.5°, and continued while the highest temperature recorded was minus 22°, and the lowest minus 53°. So much of the floe in which the ship is held is underrun by other floes, that finding a clear place to bore for a single thickness is like looking for a needle in a hay-stack. I have concluded to wait until a fresh break will enable us to get a correct vertical measurement of the thickness of ice frozen since November 28th. As ice is a non-conductor of heat, it follows that there must be some thickness at which the ice prevents the heat escaping from the water under it, and places a limit to the depth of freezing. At the time the ice was four feet thick the surface floated only four inches above the level of the water.
See digitized manuscript page provided by NOAA PMEL.
Hour |
Wind |
Pressure |
Att'd |
Dry |
Wet |
Sea |
Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | nnw | 30.66 | — | -37.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 2 | nnw | 30.65 | — | -36.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 3 | nxw | 30.63 | — | -36.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 4 | nnw | 30.63 | — | -37.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 5 | none | 30.62 | — | -37.5 | — | — | bc |
| 6 | north | 30.62 | — | -37.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 7 | north | 30.62 | — | -36.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 8 | nw | 30.62 | — | -35.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 9 | nw | 30.63 | — | -32.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 10 | nw | 30.6 | — | -30.0 | — | — | bc |
| 11 | calm | 30.61 | — | -27.5 | — | — | bc |
| 12 | nw | 30.6 | — | -23.0 | — | 28.0 | bc |
| 13 | nnw | 30.57 | — | -25.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 14 | wnw | 30.55 | — | -24.7 | — | — | bcz |
| 15 | calm | 30.54 | — | -24.7 | — | — | bcz |
| 16 | — | 30.54 | — | -25.3 | — | — | bcz |
| 17 | — | 30.55 | — | -24.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 18 | — | 30.56 | — | -28.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 19 | nwxw | 30.56 | — | -31.0 | — | — | bc |
| 20 | nwxw | 30.56 | — | -30.2 | — | — | bc |
| 21 | nwxw | 30.56 | — | -29.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 22 | nwxw | 30.56 | — | -28.5 | — | — | bcz |
| 23 | nw | 30.55 | — | -32.0 | — | — | bcz |
| 24 | nw | 30.54 | — | -32.5 | — | — | bcz |
