“The ice exploded and broke in many places, and the ship broke away in the darkness, and we lost sight of her in a moment. “Gone! But an ice-bound horror Seemed to cling to air. “It was snowing at the time also; it was a terrible night. On the 15th of, October it may be said that the Arctic night commences; but in addition to this the wind was blowing strong from the south-east; it was snowing and drifting, and was fearfully dark; and the wind was exceedingly heavy, and so bad was the snow and sleet that one could not even look to the windward. We did not know who was on the ice or who was on the ship; but I knew some of the children were on the ice, because almost the last thing I had pulled away from the crushing heel of the ship were some musk-ox skins; they were lying across a wide crack in the ice, and as I pulled them toward me to save them, I saw that there were two or three of Hans’ children rolled up in one of the skins; a slight motion of the ice, and in a moment more they would either have been in the water and drowned in the darkness, or crushed between the ice. “It was nearly ten o’clock when the ship broke away, and we had been at work since six; the time seemed long, for we were working all the time. Hannah was working, but I did not see Joe or Hans. We worked till we could scarcely stand. They were throwing things constantly over to us till the vessel parted. “Some of the men were on small pieces of ice. I took the ‘little donkey’—a small scow—and went for them; but the scow was almost instantly swamped; then I shoved off one of the whale-boats, and took off what men I could see, and some of the men took the other boat and helped their companions, so that we were all on firm ice at last. “We did not dare to move about much after that, for we could not see the size of the ice we were on, on account of the storm and darkness. All the rest but myself, the men, women and children, sought what shelter they could from the storm by wrapping themselves in the musk-ox skins, and so laid down to rest. I alone walked the floe all night.” The following morning an inventory was taken of the stores on the floe, and they were found to be: fourteen cans of pemmican, eleven and a half bags of bread, one can of dried apples, and fourteen hams. “If the ship did not come for us,” writes Tyson, “we might have to support ourselves all winter, or die of starvation. Fortunately, we had the boats.” Captain Tyson made an effort to reach Little Island, in order to secure the assistance of the Eskimos living in the neighbourhood in procuring food and shelter for his party during the winter. This he was unable to accomplish, and soon after the _Polaris_ was seen rounding a point. Signals were made by hoisting the colours and showing an India-rubber cloth, but neither the signals nor the men were seen by the _Polaris_.