It was a work of great labour to transport the remaining timbers and plank of the wreck to the cove.  Without the wheels, indeed, it may be questioned whether it could have been done at all, in a reasonable time.  The breaking up of the schooner was, in itself, no trifling job, for fully one half of the frame remained to be pulled to pieces.  In preparing the materials for use, again, a good deal of embarrassment was experienced in consequence of the portions of the two vessels that were left being respectively their lower bodies, all the upper works of each having been burned, with the exception of the after part of Daggett’s craft, which had been preserved on account of the cabin.  This occasioned a good deal of trouble in moulding and fitting the new upper works on the hulk in the cove.  Roswell had no idea of rebuilding his schooner strictly in her old form and proportions; he did not, indeed, possess the materials for such a reconstruction.  His plan was, simply, to raise on the hulk as much as was necessary to render her safe and convenient, and then to get as good and secure a deck over all as circumstances would allow.

Fortunately for the progress of the work, Lee, the Vineyard man, was a ship-carpenter, and his skill essentially surpassed that of Smith, who filled the same station on board the Oyster Pond craft.  These two men were now of the greatest service; for, though neither understood drafting, each was skilful in the use of tools, and had a certain readiness that enabled him to do a hundred things that he had never found it necessary to attempt on any former occasion.  If the upper frame that was now got on the Sea Lion was not of faultless mould, it was securely fastened, and rendered the craft even stronger than it had been originally.  Some regard was had to resisting the pressure of ice, and experience had taught all the sealers where the principal defences against the effects of a “nip” ought to be placed.  The lines were not perfect, it is true; but this was of less moment, as the bottom of the craft, which alone had any material influence on her sailing, was just as it had come from the hands of the artizan who had originally moulded her.

By the end of a fortnight, the new top-timbers were all in their places, and secured, while a complete set of bends were brought to them, and were well bolted.  The caulking-irons were put in requisition as soon as a streak was on, the whole work advancing, as it might be, pari passu.  Planks for the decks were much wanted, for, in the terrible strait for fuel which had caused the original assault on the schooner, this portion of the vessel had been the first burned, as of the most combustible materials.  The quarter-deck of the Vineyard craft, luckily, was entire, and its planks so far answered an excellent purpose.  They served to make a new quarter-deck for the repairs, but the whole of the main-deck and forecastle remained to be provided for.  Materials were gleaned from