On the 17th we completed the operation of cutting the ice round
the Hecla, which was performed in the following manner. We began
by digging a large hole under the stern, being the same as that in
which the tide-pole was placed, in order to enter the saw, which
occupied us nearly two days, only a small number of men being able
to work at it. In the mean time, all the snow and rubbish was
cleared away from the ship's side, leaving only the solid ice to
work upon; and a trench, two feet wide, was cut the whole length
of the starboard side, from the stem to the rudder, keeping within
an inch or two of the bends; and taking care here and there to
leave a dike, to prevent the water which might ooze into one part
from filling up the others in which the men were working. In this
manner was the trench cut with axes to the depth of about four
feet and a half, leaving only eighteen inches for the saws to cut,
except in those places where the dikes remained. The saw, being
then entered in the hole under the stern, was worked in the usual
manner, being suspended by a triangle made of three spars: one cut
being made on the outer part of the trench, and a second within an
inch or two of the bends, in order to avoid injuring the planks. A
small portion of ice being broken off now and then by bars,
handspikes, and ice-chisels, floated, to the surface, and was
hooked out by piecemeal. This operation was a cold and tedious one
and required nine days to complete it. When the workmen had this
morning completed the trench within ten or twelve feet of the
stern, the ship suddenly disengaged herself from the ice, to which
she had before been firmly adhering on the larboard side, and rose
in the water about ten inches abaft, and nearly eighteen inches
forward, with a considerable surge. This circumstance it was not
difficult to explain. In the course of the winter, the strong