From four P.M. on the 14th till half past seven on the following morning, being an interval of fifteen hours and a half, during which time the weather was clear and nearly calm, a thermometer, fixed on a pole between the ships and the shore, never rose above -54 deg., and was once during that interval, namely, at six in the morning, as low as -55 deg.  During the lowest temperature above mentioned, which was the most intense degree of cold marked by the spirit-thermometer during our stay in Winter Harbour, not the slightest inconvenience was suffered from exposure to the open air by a person well clothed, as long as the weather was perfectly calm; but, in walking against a very light air of wind, a smart sensation was experienced all over the face, accompanied by a pain in the middle of the forehead, which soon became rather severe.  We amused ourselves in freezing some mercury during the continuance of this cold weather, and by beating it out on an anvil previously reduced to the temperature of the atmosphere; it did not appear to be very malleable when in this state, usually breaking after two or three blows from the hammer.

The increased length of the day, and the cheering presence of the sun for several hours above the horizon, induced me, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, to open the dead-lights of my stern windows, in order to admit the daylight, of which, in our occupations below, we had entirely been deprived for more than four months.  I had soon, however, occasion to find that this change was rather premature, and that I had not rightly calculated on the length of the winter in Melville Island.  The Hecla was fitted with double windows in her stern, the interval between the two sashes being about two feet; and within these some curtains of baize had been nailed close in the early part of the winter.  On endeavouring now to remove the curtains, they were found to be so strongly cemented to the windows by the frozen vapour collected between them, that it was necessary to cut them off in order to open the windows; and from the space between the double sashes we removed more than twelve large buckets full of ice or frozen vapour, which had accumulated in the same manner.

About noon on the 16th, a parhelion, faintly prismatic, appeared on each side of the sun, continuing only for half an hour.  Notwithstanding the low temperature of the external atmosphere, the officers contrived to act, as usual, the play announced for this evening; but it must be confessed that it was almost too cold for either the actors or the audience to enjoy it, especially for those of the former who undertook to appear in female dresses.

In the constant hope that each succeeding day would produce some amendment in the weather, we endeavoured contentedly to put up with the cold, which, however, continued to be so intense in the cabin for several weeks after this, that it was impossible to sit there without being warmly wrapped up; and it was not uncommon for us, at this period, to reverse the usual order of things, by throwing off our great coats when we went on deck to warm ourselves by exercise (the only mode we had of doing so), and immediately resuming them on coming below.