Chapter V

FROM THE BLOCKING UP OF THE HANSA TO OUR SETTLEMENT
ON THE FLOE. 7TH SEPT. TO END OF OCT.

Fresh attempt to reach the coast.--Open water to westwards.--The
Hansa completely frozen in by Sept. 14th.--Pressure of the
floes against the ship.--A she-bear and her cub.--The bear
killed.--Wintering on the ice off the coast unavoidable.--Our
prospects for the future.--We build a house in which to
pass the winter.--The boats clear.--The Hansa in a struggle
with the ice.--Breaking up of the keel.--The ship has to be
abandoned.--Extrication of the chief necessaries from the
ship.--First night in the Hansa-house on the floe.--Wreck
of the Hansa.--Favourable weather during the period of the
catastrophe.--Sinking of the wreck.--Completion of the
arrangements in our hut.--Hoisting of the North German flag.--We
steadily drift to the southwards.

On the 7th of September the hope of reaching the coast fluttered once more in our breasts. In the afternoon, with clear weather and a temperature of 20° Fahr., the coast-line was clearly to be seen about thirty-five nautical miles distant. To the west of the ice-field, on the east side of which the Hansa lay blocked up, could be seen a large, open, navigable, white-crested water which seemed to reach to the coast. We took an excursion over the ice-field along the southern border towards the west, in order to ascertain whether the channel there was navigable all the way through, so that by means of it we might reach the open water. Wading through deep and superficially frozen snow, we reached a high block of ice, which we named the “Devil’s Thumb,” from the top of which a wider view could be obtained. Sitting astride or lying on this, we refreshed the inner man with a little “caraways,” which Bade had brought with him as a strengthener. Two other colossal masses of ice, between which lay a picturesque narrow pass, we called the “Brandenburg Gate.” One of them we succeeded in climbing, by mounting on one another’s shoulders and then cutting steps with a knife in the ice wall. Hildebrandt sketched the little scene. Unfortunately the channel proved too narrow to admit the vessel and soon the ice in it and on the other side of the field set firmer together. The next day we had frosty weather, 23° to 5° Fahr., and on the 14th of September, the Hansa was completely frozen up in 73° 25·7′ N.L., and 18° 39·5′ W.L. The south-westerly drift combined with the continual wind blowing from the north drove the ship in the ice steadily southwards, so that from the 12th to the 14th (for example) we had drifted thirteen nautical miles to the south.

On the 9th, a large floe drifted into the mouth of the bay in which the Hansa lay. This we made fast with hawsers, in order to protect us from the floating ice. Some days later, a storm from the N.N.E. broke the hawsers and set the floe drifting once more. The ice thrust our ship into the field, at the same time raising the Hansa a foot and a half. On a neighbouring field we saw a she-bear with her cub. A boat at once put off to hunt them.

The pair soon espied us, and tramped to the edge of the ice near the boat, the old one gnashing her teeth and licking her chaps. We fired as soon as we could take a steady aim, and the bear fell dead in the snow. Over the young one, which remained by her side licking and caressing her in the most affecting way, we repeatedly cast a noose, which, however, it always eluded, and at last ran away howling and lamenting; so we lost it in spite of a shot which wounded it.

At ten p.m. we saw in a westerly direction towards the south some gleams of the northern lights. They were short, bright, glittering sheaves and phosphorescent spots, which lengthened out towards the zenith, but soon disappeared. At the same time, we heard the young bear howling dismally on the spot where its mother had been killed. The fresh bear’s-meat came most opportunely, and tasted excellent either as a roast joint or in chops. On the 12th, from the east as before, leaving the land behind them, came another couple of bears. The old one met the same fate as her forerunner; the young one was caught, escaped again, was brought back swimming, and lastly chained to the ice-anchor. It was very frightened, but eagerly devoured its mother’s flesh which we threw to it. We built it a snow-house, and offered it a couch of shavings, which, however, the young bear, as a genuine inhabitant of the Arctic seas, despised, and preferred camping in the snow. Some days later, it had disappeared, together with the chain, which must have become loosened from the anchor. From the weight of the iron alone the poor creature must soon have sunk. Other Arctic guests visited the Hansa. With a brisk wind came two white foxes from the coast close to the ship, a certain proof that the ice, either in fields or young ice, must extend to the coast. With tails high in the air they shot over the ice-fields like small craft sailing before the wind. For the first moment it seemed as if the wind had caught up a couple of large semicircles of whitish yellow paper, and was wafting them along. One of the creatures was shot from on board by Mr. Hildebrandt, and the next day gave us a very well-flavoured joint of fox. The idle time we did our best to fill up with all sorts of occupations. In the course of frequent walks, we observed the forms which the ice assumed, and some particularly strange and striking ones we gave names to. A short half-hour’s walk from the ship lay “Sinai,” an ice mass thirty-nine feet high, composed of fragments and mighty blocks, and the highest jagged point of which looked in the distance like the finger of an outspread hand; then somewhat farther on stood the already mentioned “Brandenburg Gate,” two pieces of ice standing near each other like a gateway fifteen feet thick and twenty high; and lastly, between some neighbouring floes, the “Devil’s Thumb.” We managed to skate on the rough ice, and in fine weather we strengthened our constitution by gymnastic games. The men, for example, amused themselves thoroughly with ball-play; which in twenty-seven degrees of cold and bright sunshine covered their foreheads with beads of perspiration. You should have seen our carpenter, how light-footed he ran with his fur cap over his ears, his great thick jacket, and coarse heavy boots!

Towards the end of September, the necessity of wintering on the floating ice off the coast, with or without the ship, was decided upon; and the serious question forced itself upon us, as to what chances we had to count upon in our favour, or how to prepare against the possibility which lay before us that with the ship, though possibly under many dangers, we might drift southwards, and in February emerge from the ice not far from Iceland. Certainly, the experience of many former Greenland captains, who had got on to the ice on the Greenland coast, told us that their vessels had gone to the bottom, and the men had been sometimes lost, and sometimes saved in the boats, after frightful difficulties and dangers, by reaching an Esquimaux settlement on the south-west coast. In Lindeman’s “Arctic Fishery” (p. 37), for example, it is related that this happened in the year 1777 to several ships; amongst others, the Wilhelmine; from Texel. On the other side, there floated before our eyes the equally dangerous circumstances of the journey carried out by the Fox, blocked up in the ice under MacClintock, as well as Kane’s first voyage. Our ship was provided with every improvement which could make an Arctic expedition in the present day less dangerous than formerly. It would have been unwise on our part to rest content with these facts; indeed, in the second part of September, the more frequent pressure of the ice warned us that we must prepare for the worst, namely the loss of the ship.

_Page 102._

ICE-FORMATIONS.]

A winter passed in the boats on the ice with only sail-roofs was conceivable; but apparently, both in regard of health and life, it would be in the highest degree dangerous. How protect oneself from the storms, the cold, and the increasing down-whirling masses of snow, which sometimes last for weeks together? How provide the indispensable warm nourishment? The erection of a winter-house on the ice must be taken into consideration. Immediately the building of the aforesaid coal-house was clamoured for. Bricks were already there in the shape of coal-tiles, an excellent building material, which would absorb the damp and keep the warmth in the room. Water and snow formed the mortar. For the roof, in case of a real settlement on the ice-field on account of the loss of the ship, we purposed taking the snow roofing of the deck of the Hansa. Before anything else was done the boats were cleared out, and two of them, the Hope and the Bismarck, covered with the snow roof. For each of these, provisions were kept ready on deck. Captain Hegemann sketched the plan for the building. The length was 20 feet, the breadth 14 feet, and the height 6½ feet in the gable, the side walls being only 4 feet 8 inches high. A firm spot, free from any fracture, was chosen about 450 paces from the ship; and we had no cause to fear that the floe might soon break from friction with any other drifting ice-field. Had the house been a greater distance from the ship, the difficulty of bringing up the heavy materials would have been greater, and thus have retarded the progress of the building. The work began on the 27th of September with the foundations, which here were more ready to hand than on land. With snow-axes and ballast-shovels we then cleared away from the firm mass of ice about a foot and a half of snow. We had intended to raise the walls with a double row of stones; but unfortunately had overrated our stock, and were therefore obliged to economize, and only use the 9-inch broad stones up to about two feet, and after that lay them singly. A brook which we had dug in the ice hard by, and which gave us the sweetest of water, also afforded the most excellent cement. Whilst wall-building on land has to be given up in frosty weather, our building on the contrary progressed the more rapidly. We only needed to strew finely-powdered snow between the grooves and cracks, pour water upon it, and in ten minutes all was frozen to a strong compact mass, from which one single stone would with difficulty have been extracted! The roof, for the present, was composed of sail-cloth and some matting, which had by chance been left on the Hansa after her last West Indian voyage. (This was made of reeds, and was laid down in the cabin when company was expected.) The rafters were made out of the spars and staves of tubs; the first-named were laid crossways upon the latter. On this framework the sail-cloth and matting were nailed; and in order to give this somewhat airy building more solidity and firmness, snow was thrown upon the top. A double door two feet and a half wide we made on board; the floor we filled in with coal blocks; and thus in seven days, namely on the 3rd of October, we began to provide the finished house with provisions for two months--about 400 lbs. of bread, two dozen tins of preserved meat, a side of bacon, some coffee and brandy; afterwards fuel, and some boxes of coal. At the same time the plank roofing, in case of wintering on board, was erected. This wooden roof, covered with felt, rested on the one side on the mast and on the other on the bulwarks. It reached from the mainmast to the after part of the ship. Amidships and to the fore, sails were stretched. The whole work was favoured by fine weather and a medium temperature of 20° to 9° Fahr.

On the 7th the young ice broke in front of us once more. The men were just busy sweeping the excellent skating-ground which they had found there, when a peculiar rustling and a violent movement of the thick ice betokened a storm from the north. Immediately it bulged and burst, forcing up each floe on its edge. This breaking up, heaving, and pressing, lasted about an hour, during which we watched it from the safe observatory of our field.

_Page 105._

THE LIVERPOOL COAST.]

On the 8th of October, shortly after the completion of the coal-house, such bad weather set in, with drifting snow, that would have made the continuation of it perfectly impossible, and in five days have completely destroyed both house and ship. On the middle and after part of the deck such drifts of snow had collected that it was difficult to get from the cabin to the lodging. The young ice surrounding the Hansa was so heavily laden with the snowfall, that it gave way, loosening itself from the ship, and causing the sea-water to penetrate between the ice and the snow. At the same time it blew violently from the north; the thermometer stood at 9½° Fahr., and suddenly the wind with a rushing noise hurled the ship over to starboard, so that, owing to the impossibility of seeing farther than a few paces, we feared lest she might be driven from the field. The ropes were therefore with much trouble made fast to the ice-anchor, a work which took all the men more than an hour to accomplish. By the 13th, the storm had spent itself; it was once more clear, quiet weather, and we found ourselves sixteen nautical miles north-east from the Liverpool coast. It looked like a steep, jagged mountain chain, sparingly covered with snow. Greater quantities only appeared in the valleys and ravines. We could distinctly see the northern point, Cape Gladstone, and the outlying islands of Murray and Reynolds, as also a great part of the far distant southerly-stretching coast, which, according to the astronomical observations of the 14th to the 15th, lies in reality ten nautical miles more to the south than is given on Scoresby’s chart. The drift current on those days, from the 5th to the 14th of October, was very powerful. In this time we left seventy-two nautical miles behind us to south-south-west. The nights were remarkably cold, sometimes 4° F. below zero. The only sign of animal life was the frequent appearance of ravens (_Corvus corax_) in the neighbourhood of the ship, which doubtless were wintering on the coast. Once we saw a gull and a falcon; and now and then we were made aware of the proximity of narwahls in the frozen channel by their blowing.

On the 17th, in clear weather, three men, the carpenter Böwe, and the sailors Büttner and Heyne, undertook to reach the land, which was about ten nautical miles distant. They started at seven in the morning in a calm and 0° Fahr. After crossing many dangerous places in the young ice, some fields lay before them, over which they pressed forward to within four nautical miles from land. After three hours’ wandering, however, they had to halt, as a strip of water two nautical miles broad, and about the same breadth of land-ice running along the coast, blocked their way. At one o’clock, with a north wind and drifting snow, they started back to the ship, where we were already uneasy about them. On the 18th of October early, again clear and still frosty weather; but already at half-past eight a.m. the ice began to thrust and press round the ship. This unpleasant noise lasted until the afternoon. At regular intervals underneath, the ice, like a succession of waves, groaned and cracked, squashed and puffed; now sounding like the banging of doors, now like many human voices raised one against the other, and lastly, like a drag on the wheel of a railway engine. The evident immediate cause of this crushing was that our field had turned in drifting, and was now pressed closer to the coast-ice. The two floes of ice lying before the vessel received the hardest pressure, so that for a time the Hansa was spared, though trembling violently. The masts often swayed so much that it seemed as though some one was climbing them. At the same time our field sustained long and deep fissures, by which the whale-boat seemed so endangered, that we thought it necessary for its safety to bring it alongside the ship. Towards evening the weather cleared again; but our fear that this day was only a forerunner of worse proved itself on the following day too well grounded. We were, however, busy with preparations for either case, viz., the wintering in the coal-house, supposing the ship should be lost, or remaining on board the ship itself. The store in the house was augmented by a barrel of bread and fuel (particularly wood); our fur clothing was rolled together and taken on deck from the winter lodging, where it had previously lain with other articles. This was soon to be used after fitting up our still missing berths. On moving the provisions, numbers of rats were found which had not yet deserted the ship. We little thought how much our preservation depended upon the fact that the following day the provisions had not yet been moved to their destination, the summer lodging, which had again to be emptied. By the evening the pressure had ceased; the air was quiet, but not clear; around the full moon, which cast a troubled uncertain light upon the fields and icebergs, a halo had formed; and in the cabin, as well as in the lodging, we sought to divert ourselves by playing at cards.

The morning of the 19th dawned, foretelling mischief with a N.N.W. storm of snow[15] and ice pressure. The air was gloomy and thick, and the coast, which was a little more than four miles distant, not to be seen. The first heavy pressure followed at ten a.m., though not before noon did our position become serious. At this time, the constantly nearing, piled-up masses of young ice (about four feet thick) had broken up on the starboard side of the vessel, and pressed heavily on the outer side. The fore part of the ship rose somewhat, and would have risen more, had not the high ice-blocks prevented it; it had therefore to bear the whole weight of the pressure. A trial of the pumps in the meantime showed that she was still water-tight. Shortly before one o’clock, the deck-seams amidship sprang, but still she seemed tight. After this strong pressure followed a short pause, which we employed in taking our mid-day meal on deck. Below it was very uncomfortable. But soon some mighty blocks of ice pushed themselves under the bow of the vessel, and although they were crushed by it, they forced it up, slowly at first, then quicker, until it was raised 17 feet out of its former position upon the ice. This movement we tried to ease as much as possible by shovelling away the ice and snow from the larboard side. The rising of the ship was an extraordinary and awful, yet splendid spectacle, of which the whole crew were witnesses from the ice. In all haste the clothing, nautical instruments, journals, and cards were taken over the landing-bridge. The after part of the ship, unfortunately, would not rise; and therefore the stern-post had to bear the most frightful pressure, and the conviction that the ship must soon break up forced itself upon our minds.

_Page 108._

THE HANSA IN DISTRESS.]

About five o’clock there was again a pause in the pressure of the ice-floes, and the raised ice retreated, so that in the course of an hour the ship, lying on her starboard side, glided into more open water. The hawsers, which had been cast loose, so as not to stop her from rising, were again made fast; after which we went to the pumps, and found that there were seventeen inches of water in the hold. We set them working at once, and about seven o’clock had the pleasure of finding them run more slowly. We now allowed ourselves time for our evening meal, for we might entertain the hope that, in spite of the frightful pressure she had sustained, our ship was not very leaky. But in a quarter of an hour’s time, we found to our terror, that there was again two feet of water in the pumps. Even admitting that part of this water had penetrated slowly from the after part, the ship must be dreadfully leaky. Again we set to work at the pumps, determined to do all in our power to rid our vessel of the water. A half-hour’s work, however, showed that all exertions were vain; the depth of the water in the cabin was increasing steadily, though slowly. The most careful investigation of the ship, however, did not reveal the position of the leak. In vain did both captain and steersman listen for the sound of water dripping. Evidently this was taking place at some part of the ship’s bottom, under the coal. Besides the leak in the stern-post, the keel must have sustained a fracture; perhaps even the ship’s sides near the floor-heads had been forced in. Enough! the fate of the Hansa was sealed; our good ship must go to the bottom! Calmly, though much moved, we faced this hard fact. The house of coal on the southward drifting ice-fields was destined now to be, through the long Arctic winter, our only place of refuge--perhaps too, our grave! There was not a minute’s time to be lost. The work went steadily forward. By nine p.m. the fall of snow had ceased; a clear, starry heaven shone down upon us, and the moon shed her light over the dreary ice-field. Now and again the northern lights shot upwards in ever-changing colours. At the same time it was freezing sharply, the thermometer marking in the night -13° F. One half of the men stayed by the pumps; the others were busily engaged until midnight, in bringing the most necessary articles from the vessel on to the floe. “As to sleep,” writes Dr. Buchholz in his day-book, “that was not to be thought of, as the idea of our dreadful position was whirling through my head in the wildest manner. What would become of us when winter really set in, if it already announced its approach with such bitter cold? In vain did I try to think of any means of preservation. An attempt to reach the land could not be entertained for a moment. It might be possible to make our way through great dangers over the floes and fields to the coast; but at the uttermost we could only provide ourselves with nourishment for a few days. Esquimaux settlements, according to Scoresby’s experience, were not to be expected; so that the idea of dying of hunger seemed very near us. There remained, then, nothing for it, but to try and hold out in the coal-hut on the southward-drifting field. If it held together, we might hope to reach a South Greenland Esquimaux settlement in the spring, or (which was very unlikely) get across the icy belt to Iceland.”

One great evil with the pumps was, that the water streaming on the deck could not, owing to the uneven position of the vessel, run off through the scuppers, which were filled up with ice; and thus it froze between the provision-chests. Soon the whole of the after-deck was full of ice; the water which was pumped up stood round the pumps, and the men who worked them had to stand in tubs in order to keep dry. To make a way for it to escape, we had to make holes in the bulwarks; though without any particular result, as from the intense cold the water came out quite in a half-frozen state. At the same time the ice settled so over the cabin skylight, that the water penetrated through the chinks. The night allowed our exhausted men some hours of refreshing sleep; then all gladly drained a cup of hot coffee, and set to work again. But the catastrophe was near! At eight a.m. the men who were busy in the fore-peak getting out firewood came with anxious faces, with the news that the wood was already floating below. When the captain had ascertained the truth of this intelligence, he ordered the pumping to cease. It was evident that the ship was sinking, and that it must be abandoned.

The first thing to be done was to bring all necessary and useful things from the ’tween decks on to the ice; bedding, clothing, more provisions, and coal. Silently were all the heavy chests and barrels pushed over the hatchway. First comes the weighty iron galley, then the two stoves are happily hoisted over; their possession ensures us the enjoyment of warm food, the heating of our coal-house, and other matters indispensable for a wintering on the floe. At three o’clock, the water in the cabin had reached the table, and all movable articles were floating. The fear that we should not have enough fuel made us grasp at every loose piece of wood and throw it on to the ice. The sinking of the vessel was now almost imperceptible, it must have found support on a tongue of ice or some promontory of our field. There was still a small medicine chest, and a few other things, which, in our future position, would be great treasures,--such as the cabin-lamp, books, cigars, boxes of games, &c. The snow-roof, too, and the sails were brought on to the ice; but still all necessary work was not yet accomplished. Round about the ship lay a chaotic mass of heterogeneous articles, and groups of feeble rats struggling with death, and trembling with the cold! All articles, for greater safety, must be conveyed over a fissure to about thirty paces farther inland. The galley we at once took on a sledge to the house, as we should want it to give us warm coffee in the evening. We then looked after the sailor Max Schmidt, who was suffering from frost bite, and brought him on planks under the fur covering to the coal-house. By nine a.m. all were in the new asylum, which was lit by the cabin-lamp, and looked like a dreary tomb. Pleased with the completion of our heavy day’s work, though full of trouble for the future, we prepared our couch. A number of planks were laid upon the ground, and sail-cloth spread over them. Upon these we lay down, rolled in our furs. A man remained to watch the stove, as the temperature in the room had risen from 2° Fahr, to 27½° F. It was a hard, cold bed; but sleep soon fell upon our weary over-worked limbs. On the morning of the 21st we went again to the ship to get more fuel. The coal-hole was, however, under water. We therefore chopped down the masts, and hauled them, with the whole of the tackle, on to the ice, a work which took us nearly the whole day. At eleven, the foremast fell; at three, the mainmast followed, and now the Hansa really looked a complete, comfortless wreck. For the last time, the captain and steersman went on deck, and about six o’clock loosed the ropes, which, by means of the ice-anchor, held the ship to the field, as we feared that our floe, which bore all our treasures, being so near the sinking vessel, might break. All, even the two scientific men, were instinctively bent on the means for our preservation, so that the collections, contained in bottles, boxes, and chests, as well as the photographic apparatus, together with all the finished photographs belonging to the first officer, Mr. Hildebrandt, were sacrificed! This loss often troubled us; but from the great difficulty of transport on the boat journey in the spring, we must have left the greater part behind. Our work of self-preservation was wonderfully favoured by the weather; for from the evening of the 19th to the 20th it was calm and clear. On the night of the 21st to the 22nd, the wreck sank in 70° 52´ N. Lat. and 21° W. Long. about six miles from the Liverpool coast. We distinctly saw its cliffs and mountains, which, according to Dr. Laube, resembled the Chalky Alps near Munich. We recognized Halloway Bay and Glasgow Island, but nowhere a way through the icy labyrinth! The jolly-boat, King William, stood loose upon the deck; so that, by the sinking of the Hansa, it remained above water, and as the weather was still fine, we drew this third means of preservation on to the ice near the coal-house.

_Page 112._

WRECK OF THE HANSA.]

The next few days we set zealously to work to make our black house somewhat more habitable. The increased heat of the house caused the sail-cloth roof to leak, from the quantity of snow lying upon it, and we therefore passed a bad night. We rectified that, however, by a plank roofing covered with more sail-cloth. In order to satisfy our urgent need for light and air, we made a dormer-window in the roof, and later on a second. In spite of all this, we could not do without the light of the lamp for the greater part of the day. Along the whole length on both sides of the room, we raised a bed of boards to sleep upon, and laid the sacks of straw upon it. It was six inches above the floor, and we then put boards down the middle. To prevent the pillows from freezing to the wall, we had to make a wooden lining along that part. The cooking-stove had its place behind, a smaller one stood more forward. Along the walls, which were covered with sail-cloth, shelves were placed, on which we laid our books, instruments, and cooking vessels. The ship’s chests at the foot of the sleeping places along the passage, served both as tables and stools. The gilt-framed looking-glass from the cabin adorned the back wall, underneath which hung a costly barometer, and the accustomed ticking of the clock was to be heard. By all these orderly arrangements, the comfort of our stay in the coal-house would be greatly enhanced. A healthy sleep refreshed us more than anything else; and, thanks to our excellent preserves, we could strengthen ourselves with the meat soup which the cook prepared. The dread of immediate danger to life had departed; we breathed more freely, we felt once more at liberty, and even remembered many comical scenes from our experiences on the 19th, with laughter and joking. In the evening we had the usual whist, and as we had no table, played on a volume of the ship’s journal.

_Page 115._

THE HANSA HOUSE ON THE FLOE.]

The greater part of the provisions and fuel, together with the boats, lay not far from the shipwreck. These were conveyed up for the most part on sledges, and took several days to accomplish. All was then stacked near the house. As the depth of snow reached up to the walls, we dug a four-feet-broad walk round the house, covering it with sail-cloth, and strewing the snow upon it to make it more solid. This walk was our larder, and held nearly all our provisions; whilst the remainder (enough for about two months) was carefully placed in the boats. The small firewood which we chopped up from the masts and spars was set up in piles; the boats, first in one place and then in another, as after digging them out of the snow we had to put them in a more sheltered spot.

The hatchway we put up to catch the wind before the door of the coal-house. A man-rope served for descending into the house, so that it was more like a fox’s hole with its roof scarcely rising above the level of the snow than anything else.

The large flag was saved too. At the rear of the house, on a snow-hill, we put up the topgallant mast as a flagstaff; and in fine weather hoisted it for our pleasure as well as for the possible chance of attracting the notice of any Esquimaux settlement on the coast.

At last, by degrees, order gained the upper hand. The confused heap of individual belongings had each found their owner. The warming arrangement was good, for in an atmospheric temperature of -13° Fahr. we could in our hut, with the protection of the snow surrounding us, get a warmth of 72½°. Often the firing necessary for preparing the meals was sufficient also for heating; and therefore, to spare the wood, we hardly ever used the second stove. The damp was remarkably diminished, for it easily escaped through the dormer-window, which also let in fresh air.