Clear water.—­Any part of the sea unencumbered with ice.

CROW’S nest.—­A small circular house like a cask, fixed at the masthead, in which the look-out man sits, either to guide the ship through the ice or to give notice of whales.

Dock.—­In a floe may be natural or artificial; the former being simply a small “bight,” in which a ship is placed to secure her from the danger of external pressure; and the latter, a square space cut out with saws for a similar purpose.

Field.—­A sheet of ice generally of great thickness, and of too great extent to be seen over from a ship’s masthead.

Flinching.—­The operation of stripping a sea-animal of its skin and blubber.

Floe.—­The same as a field, except that its extent can be distinguished from a ship’s masthead.  A “bay-floe” is a floe of ice newly formed.

Floe-piece.—­An expression generally applied to small pieces of floes, not more than a furlong square.

A hole or pool of Water.—­A small space of “clear water,” when the rest of the sea is covered with ice.

Hummock.—­A mass of ice rising to a considerable height above the general level of a floe, and forming a part of it.  Hummocks are originally raised by the pressure of floes against each other.

Land-ice.—­Ice attached to the land, either in floes or in heavy grounded masses lying near the shore.

Lane of Water.—­A narrow channel among the masses of ice, through which a boat or ship may pass.

Lead.—­A channel through the ice.  A ship is said to “take the right lead” when she follows a channel conducting her into a more navigable sea, and vice versa.

Making-off Blubber.—­The operation of putting it into casks.

Nipped.—­The situation of a ship when forcibly pressed by ice.

Pack.—­A large body of ice, consisting of separate masses, lying close together, and whose extent cannot be seen.

Pancake-ice.—­Newly formed ice, assuming the peculiar conformation of numberless patches of “sludge,” and giving the surface of the sea the appearance of a handsome pavement.

Patch of Ice.—­The same as a pack, but of small dimensions.

Sailing-ice.—­Ice of which the masses are so much separated as to allow a ship to sail among them.

Sallying a Ship.—­The operation of causing her to roll, by the men running in a body from side to side, so as to relieve her from the adhesion and friction of the young ice around her.

Sludge.—­Ice of the consistence of thick honey, offering little impediment to a ship while in this state, but greatly favouring the formation of a “bay-floe.”

Stream.—­A long and narrow, but generally continuous, collection of loose ice.