With our present temperature, the breath of a person at a little distance looked exactly like the smoke of a musket just fired, and that of a party of men employed upon the ice to-day resembled a thick white cloud.

At a quarter past ten on Thursday, the 24th, while the men were running round the decks for exercise, and were on that account fortunately well clothed, the house on shore was discovered to be on fire.  All the officers and men of both ships instantly ran up to extinguish it; and having, by great exertion, pulled off the roof with ropes, and knocked down a part of the sides, so as to allow snow to be thrown upon the flames, we succeeded in getting it under after three quarters of an hour, and fortunately before the fire had reached that end of the house where the two clocks, together with the transit and other valuable instruments, were standing in their cases.  Having removed these, and covered the ruins with snow, to prevent any remains of fire from breaking out again, we returned on board till more temperate weather should enable us to dig out the rest of the things, among which nothing of any material consequence was subsequently found to have suffered injury; and, having mustered the ships’ companies to see that they had put on dry clothes before going to dinner, they were employed daring the rest of the day in drying those which had been wet.  The appearance which our faces presented at the fire was a curious one, almost every nose and cheek having become quite white with frostbites in five minutes after being exposed to the weather; so that it was deemed necessary for the medical gentlemen, together with some others appointed to assist them, to go constantly round while the men were working at the fire, and to rub with snow the parts affected, in order to restore animation.  Notwithstanding this precaution, which, however, saved many frostbites, we had an addition of no less than sixteen men to the sick lists of both ships in consequence of this accident.  Among these there were four or five cases which kept the patients confined for several weeks; but John Smith, of the artillery, who was Captain Sabine’s servant, and who, together with Sergeant Martin, happened to be in the house at the time the fire broke out, was unfortunate enough to suffer much more severely.  In their anxiety to save the dipping-needle, which was standing close to the stove, and of which they knew the value, they immediately ran out with it; and Smith, not having time to put on his gloves, had his fingers in half an hour so benumbed and the animation so completely suspended, that on his being taken on board by Mr. Edwards, and having his hands plunged into a basin of cold water, the surface of the water was immediately frozen by the intense cold thus suddenly communicated to it; and, notwithstanding the most humane and unremitting attention paid to them by the medical gentlemen, it was found necessary, some time after, to resort to the amputation of a part of four fingers on one hand and three on the other.