Sunday, 26th.--I should on every account have been glad to make this a day of rest to the officers and men; but the rapidity with which the ice increased in thickness, in proportion as the general temperature of the atmosphere diminished, would have rendered a day's delay of serious importance. I ordered the work, therefore, to be continued at the usual time in the morning; and such was the spirited and cheerful manner in which this order was complied with, as well as the skill which had now been acquired in the art of sawing and sinking the ice, that although the thermometer was at 6° in the morning, and rose no higher than 9° during the day, we had completed the canal at noon, having effected more in four hours than on either of the two preceding days. The whole length of this canal was four thousand and eighty-two yards, or nearly two miles and one third, and the average thickness of the ice was seven inches. At half past one P.M. we began to track the ships along in the same manner as before, and at a quarter past three we reached our winter-quarters, and hailed the event with three loud and hearty cheers from both ships' companies. The ships were in five fathoms water, a cable's length from the beach on the northwestern side of the harbour, to which I gave the name of WINTER HARBOUR; and I called the group of islands which we had discovered in the Polar Sea the NORTH GEORGIAN ISLANDS. CHAPTER V. Precautions for securing the Ships and Stores.--For promoting Good Order, Cleanliness, Health, and Good-Humour among the Ships' Companies.--Establishment of a Theatre and of the North Georgia Gazette.--Erection of an Observatory on Shore.--Commence our Winter's Amusements.--State of the Temperature, and various Meteorological Phenomena.--Miscellaneous Occurrences to the Close of the Year 1819. Having, on the 19th October, reached the station where, in all probability, we were destined to remain for at least eight or nine months, during three of, which we were not to see the face of the sun, my attention was immediately and imperiously called to various important duties; many of them of a singular nature, such as had, for the first time, devolved on any officer in his majesty's navy, and might, indeed, be considered of rare occurrence in the whole history of navigation. The security of the ships and the preservation of the various stores were objects of immediate concern. A regular system to be adopted for the maintenance of good order and cleanliness, as most conducive to the health of the crews during the long, dark, and dreary winter, equally demanded my attention.