Arrangements were therefore made for
getting everything, except the tent and instruments, on board the
next day, and for commencing this more laborious occupation on the
following Monday.
On the 1st of June, having launched a boat at the mouth of the
bay, I went to sound in that neighbourhood and along the eastern
side of the island, preparatory to marking out the intended canal.
A good deal of ice still remained attached to the land; but as far
as we could distinguish to the N.N.E. there was a lane of clear
water wide enough for the navigation of the ships.
On the morning of the 3d, at six A.M., both the ships' companies,
under their respective officers, were set to work upon the ice. A
line was accurately marked out from each of the Fury's quarters,
where they were fifty feet apart, diverging to two hundred and
fifty at the edge of the floe, the latter being distant from the
ships two thousand and twenty feet, or just one third of a
nautical mile. It was proposed to make a cut through the ice with
the saws, along the two lines thus marked out, and then a
transverse section here and there, the divergency of the sides
being intended to facilitate the removal of the pieces thus
detached by first pulling them out with strong purchases, and then
floating them down the canal to the sea without.
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