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1861 Oct 20 + [[Sunday]] superhuman labors to relieve the ship from the embarrasing circumstances that surround her & all interested. Monday, Oct 21st 1861 (6 Pages in this day's Record} AM 13° N.W. Very Light Fine = Wind changeable thro' the night tho very light most of the time. Calm M 18 N.W. " " [[dittos for: Very Light]] Thin Clouds PM 17 Calm Cloudy At IX AM Ther 12° Calm XI A.M. " [[ditto for: Ther]] 18° " [[ditto for: Calm]] Light clouds 3 PM " [[ditto for: Ther]] 21° Very Light Cloudy The ice this Morning, I find by measurement to be Four inches thick! During the night nearly Calm. Thermometer ranged from 9° to 10° through the night. Notwithstanding the dubious circumstances by wh. we have been surround for the past few days, yet we all have had more or less hopes of still arriving to our homes this Winter. We cannot yet give up all hope. Could we have a storm - a Gale say, from the E. or S.E. for awhile it might possibly break up the ice of the Bay. Even a good Nor Wester might do it. The S.E. or E. Gale, even if it broke up the ice, would, on the other hand drive in the "Pack" now setting down "Davis Strait" & make the case still worse. A Northerly gale is the only one that could really serve any purpose to relieve us. [[underlined]] Dreaded as it is, [[/underlined]] we have got to bring our hearts to submit to this dispensation of Providence. The "George Henry" is fated to be ice-bound here for full nine months to come. Me thinks, if those of the "Georgiana" who were aboard of her when she entered this Bay [[end page]] [[start page]] 1861 Oct 21st Mon a little over one year ago, could see the "George Henry" as she now is & fully appreciate her condition & of the souls [[strikethrough]] aboard [[/strikethrough]] belonging to her, they would point their fingers & say: [[underlined]] 'Doest thou remember us, when transfixed to a rock within your sight & hearing?' [[/underlined]] The natives came aboard this Morning (hVIII-m45) again on the ice; they now do it fearlessly. Though yesterday they done it timorously, this Morn otherwise. Indeed, the ice was quite safe for passage yesterday - but some feared it. How fortunate to some the [[underlined]] misfortunes [[/underlined]] of others sometimes prove! Five years ago, an English Whaler was wrecked in or near "Bear Sound", Frobisher Bay. On my return from my late attempting to make a trip to "Countess of Warwick Sound", I discovered where there were two lots of timber that will answer right well for Wood for us this winter - as far as it will go. One is a ship's Beam, this side of "French Head", high on the rocks - of oak, 27 feet long 18 [[?lg]] 12 inches square. The other is a portion ship's mast 2 miles this side "Lupton Channel" 22 feet long - (pine). These are without doubt from that wreck. Capt. B. & I have been consulting relative to the coal at Ek-e-lu-zhun - the coal of Old Frobisher - about using it for warming purposes at the ship. What a thought! - the Coal deposited here N. by Frobisher 87 years after the discovery of America by Columbus now perhaps to be used for preserving us from freezing to death! The quantity at Ek-e-lu-zhun, I should think to be 5 tons. This we can transport by means of dogs & sledges from there to the ship, over the ice. Distance there direct 10 miles. The great trouble will be to get it here from its present place to the ice W. side Rescue Bay. At the head of the little Bay of Ek-e-lu-zhun, I think there is a ravine extending back to or near Rescue Bay. If so, the transport of said coal will be easily accomplished. Yesterday was the day Capt. B. set some time ago to set sail for Home. On leaving the ship to make my voyage to Oo-pung-ne-wing the understanding was that I must be back before the 20th Oct. to be in readiness to start with the ship. How is it with us? On the 20th we were fast in the ice - & also hemmed in by close Pack
