reoccupying the cabins on the main deck. I had the shelter-house round
the stern pulled down on the 11th and made other preparations for
working the ship as soon as she got clear. The carpenter had built a
wheel-house over the wheel aft as shelter in cold and heavy weather.
The ice was still loosening and no land was visible for twenty miles.

The temperature remained relatively high for several days. All hands
moved to their summer quarters in the upper cabins on the 12th, to the
accompaniment of much noise and laughter. Spring was in the air, and
if there were no green growing things to gladden our eyes, there were
at least many seals, penguins, and even whales disporting themselves in
the leads. The time for renewed action was coming, and though our
situation was grave enough, we were facing the future hopefully. The
dogs were kept in a state of uproar by the sight of so much game. They
became almost frenzied when a solemn-looking emperor penguin inspected
them gravely from some point of vantage on the floe and gave utterance
to an apparently derisive "Knark!" At 7 p.m. on the 13th the ship
broke free of the floe on which she had rested to starboard
sufficiently to come upright. The rudder freed itself, but the
propeller was found to be athwartship, having been forced into that
position by the floe some time after August 1. The water was very
clear and we could see the rudder, which appeared to have suffered only
a slight twist to port at the water-line. It moved quite freely. The
propeller, as far as we could see, was intact, but it could not be
moved by the hand-gear, probably owing to a film of ice in the stern
gland and sleeve. I did not think it advisable to attempt to deal with
it at that stage. The ship had not been pumped for eight months, but
there was no water and not much ice in the bilges. Meals were served
again in the wardroom that day.