Immediately afterwards a crack ran from the bows to the lead ahead and another to the lead astern.

I thought it might be possible to reeve the ship through one of these leads towards open water, but we could see no water through the thick snow; and before steam was raised, and while the view was still obscured, the pack closed again.

The northerly gale had given place to light westerly breezes on the 6th.

The pack seemed to be more solid than ever.

It stretched almost unbroken to the horizon in every direction, and the situation was made worse by very low temperatures in succeeding days.