The thaw
was an indication that winter was over, and we began preparations for
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.
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