In the afternoon, it being deemed expedient for the safety of the ships that they should be docked, the requisite instructions were given, and in four hours they were securely placed in two large commodious docks, cut out of the solid floe.
The process of docking is rendered necessary to prevent a ship from being crushed between two floes should she be so unfortunate as to be placed between them with the whole force of the pack driving against the outer one. This operation is frequently necessary whilst following the land-ice, although in these days of steam it is not so frequently practised as of old.
Our ice-saw crews had previously been organized, and, as it is absolutely necessary that the work of construction should be carried out with the utmost expedition, the whole of the officers and ship's company were stationed so as to take an active part in the proceedings. The instant the order was given for "all hands to cut dock" a most animated scene ensued. Triangles were quickly erected, saws placed in position, the dock measured and marked out by boarding-pikes placed at the several corners, and every one working as if their lives depended upon their own individual exertions. Three persons only were left on board the ship--namely, one officer in charge of the deck, the engineer at the engines, and a man at the helm--and, as it was necessary to keep the ship constantly moving so as to avoid pieces of ice, and also to place her in a good position for being docked, these three had no sinecure offices.
Occasionally a jet of water, followed by a loud report and a shower of fragmentary ice, showed that powder was used to shatter the larger pieces of ice that had been cut, but unless great care is taken in the use of this explosive, it is liable to damage the sides of the dock.
This was our first attempt at dock cutting, which will account for the time occupied in its construction. Ordinarily the work should be completed in about a couple of hours. When two or more ships are in company time is saved by employing all hands to cut one dock large enough to take in all the ships.
The diagram on next page will serve to illustrate the system employed by us whilst engaged in making one of these docks. The last triangular piece of ice that is taken out--namely, the portion marked on the plan by the letters C B F--is removed intact, and being placed across the entrance serves to close the dock and thus keep out all stray pieces of ice.