Page:The frozen North; an account of Arctic exploration for use in schools (IA frozennorthaccou00hort).pdf/92

 island, and not a part of Greenland as some explorers had supposed.

On November 10 the black Arctic night began, which lasted until January 25. The bitterness of the cold during this long period of darkness is inconceivable. The surface water was usually at a temperature of 29° F., the freezing point of salt water.

Notwithstanding their discomforts, the men followed a regular routine. At seven o'clock in the morning all on board were called and the fires were started in the galleys. At nine o'clock the explorers ate their breakfast. From eleven until one o'clock every man took his gun and went out on the ice to exercise. At three in the afternoon dinner was served, and the galley fires were put out in order to save coal. Between seven and eight o'clock tea was made. The crew lived on pork and beans, salt beef, and canned goods. Sometimes, when the hunters were successful, they had the meat of the seal, bear, or walrus. For amusements there were theatricals and a navigation class.

For one year and nine months the Jeannette floated in the pack, at the mercy of wind and tide. The coldest weather came in February, when the thermometer registered 58° below zero. In spite of the windings and turnings of their course, the general direction was toward the northwest. De Long trusted to the strength of his ship to withstand the pressure of the ice, and float across the pole out into the Atlantic ocean. At length, on May 17, 1881, land was sighted. It proved to be an island not indicated on the chart of that region. De Long therefore claimed it as a discovery, and named it Jeannette island. Another island was discovered not far away, and called Henrietta.

A sledge party under Melville was sent out from the ship to explore this island. The ice over which they