Occasional glimpses of the sun, with high temperatures, were experienced, after south-west winds had blown all the ice away, and the party, their spirits cheered by Wild's unfailing optimism, again began to look eagerly for the rescue ship.
The first three attempts at their rescue unfortunately coincided with the times when the island was beset with ice, and though on the second occasion we approached close enough to fire a gun, in the hope that they would hear the sound and know that we were safe and well, yet so accustomed were they to the noise made by the calving of the adjacent glacier that either they did not hear or the sound passed unnoticed.
On August 16 pack was observed on the horizon, and next day the bay was filled with loose ice, which soon consolidated.

Soon afterwards huge old floes and many bergs drifted in.

"The pack appears as dense as we have ever seen it.

No open water is visible, and 'ice-blink' girdles the horizon.

The weather is wretched--a stagnant calm of air and ocean alike, the latter obscured by dense pack through which no swell can penetrate, and a wet mist hangs like a pall over land and sea.