As a
preventive of this complaint, a piece of black crape was given to
each man, to be worn as a kind of short veil attached to the hat,
which we found to be very serviceable. A still more convenient
mode, adopted by some of the officers, was found equally
efficacious; this consisted in taking the glasses out of a pair of
spectacles, and substituting black or green crape, the glass
having been found to heat the eyes and increase the irritation.
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.
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