736               JOUBNAl  OF  HERMANN  SIEMANS.
sure broke the hawsers at the bow and the stern, and lifted one side of the ship almost bodily on the floe to which we lay, imperiling her greatly. As the ice pressing from all sides around us had a thickness of at least twenty feet, it became imperative to provide for emergencies. Provisions and stores were carried on deck, and guns, cartridges, two suits for each person, &c, placed within easy reach, so as to land them on the ice in case the ship should be crushed. Toward 9 p. m. the wind abated, the ice ceased to press, and remained quiet throughout the night. The following day, in the morning, we unshipped the propeller, in order to save it from being broken. At 2 p. m. the pressure of the ice began again, huge masses approaching the ship. All hands were now employed landing provisions and fuel on the ice, in two places, so that one part might be saved in case the ice should break near the other.
Sunday, 3d.—Divine service was attended to from 11 to 12, as usual. The snow fell so thickly as to allow us only occasionally to see the coast of Greenland, although it was distant only two miles. We now drifted quite briskly south. Ship and crew appeared to be a ready prey to the ice. But there is a God who aids and saves from death; to Him I trusted between these icebergs and ice-fields, although I know that I do not deserve all the good He grants me.
September 4th.—At 9 a. m. open water appeared at a few places, when everything was quickly shipped again. At 9.30 p. m. steam was ready, and we began to work toward the coast of Greenland where the wind had broken the ice and caused an opening. At midnight Captain Hall landed with five of us, and planted, in the name of the Lord, and for the President of the United States, the American flag on the land which we had discovered. We then returned on board and let go the anchor at 12.30 a, m. on the 5th of September. The place examined proved to be but a bend of the coast; we therefore took advantage of the open water caused by the easterly wind along the coast, and resumed our search for a harbor southward, but not finding any better place we returned in the evening to the anchorage.