REPAIRING THE SCHOONER.
- worthy; but I was forced to agree with my sailing-*master,
that to strike the ice again was sure to sink her.
The stern of the schooner had been dry-docked in the same manner as the bows; and it was found that the severe wrench which she had got off Littleton Island had started the stern-post, upon which hangs the rudder; and the rudder itself had been twisted off,—the pintles having been snapped asunder as if they had been made of pipe-clay. This accident to the rudder had been quite unavoidable, for we were so situated at the time of its occurrence that we could not avail ourselves of the facilities with which we were provided for unshipping it.
McCormick had succeeded in getting in some stout screw-bolts, and had managed, by an ingenious device, in hanging the rudder in such a manner that we could rely upon it to steer the schooner; but it would not bear contact with the ice, or another wrench, and it could not be unshipped. The schooner's sides were much torn and abraided, but no material damage seemed to have been done which was not repaired with some additional spikes to secure the started planks, and a general calking to close the seams.
I felt much disappointment at the turn of affairs. It seemed very probable that, in view of the crippled condition of the schooner, the project of getting into Kennedy Channel and of navigating the Polar Sea with her would have to be abandoned for the present, and that I had now no chance for another year but with boat and sledge. In this direction there was nothing to give encouragement. To transport a boat across such ice as that of Smith Sound was wholly impracticable, and I was now more poorly off
