noon
In thus drifting towards the north they would soon encounter those ice-cold waters , which would consolidate and strengthen the foundations of the island . But if the danger of being swallowed up by the waves was decreased , would not the unfortunate colonists have an immense distance to traverse to get back from these remote northern regions ? Had the boat been finished , Lieutenant Hobson would not have hesitated to embark the whole party in it , but in spite of the zealous efforts of the carpenter it was not nearly ready , and indeed it taxed Mac-Nab 's powers to the uttermost to construct a vessel on which to trust the lives of twenty persons in such a dangerous sea By the 16th September Victoria Island was between seventy-three and eighty miles north of the spot where its course had been arrested for a few days between the Behring and Kamtchatka Cur rents There were now , however , many signs of the approach of winter Snow fell frequently and in large flakes The column of mercury fell gradually The mean temperature was still 44 ° Fahrenheit during the day , but at night it fell to 32 ° . The sun described an extremely lengthened curve above the horizon , not rising more than a few degrees even at noon , and disappearing for eleven hours out of every twenty four . At last , on the night of the 16th September , the first signs of ice appeared upon the sea in the shape of small isolated crystals like snow , which stained the clear surface of the water As was noticed by the famous explorer Scoresby , these crystals immediately calmed the waves , like the oil which sailors pour upon the sea to produce a momentary cessation of its agitation These crystals showed a tendency to weld themselves together , but they were broken and separated by the motion of the water as soon as they had combined to any extent . Hobson watched the appearance of the `` young ice '' with extreme attention . He knew that twenty four hours would suffice to make the ice-crust two or three inches thick , strong enough in fact to bear the weight of a man He therefore expected that Victoria Island would shortly be arrested in its course to the north .