It seemed that nothing had happened when dawn came. But they soon realized that the entire boat was surrounded in ice. The captain had fallen asleep so the rest of the crew hurriedly woke him up. He took a small axe (斧子) with great care, so as not to make a hole in the deck(甲板), and he began to knock the ice away. From time to time a wave burst over the boat and swept over him but he kept on working for ten minutes while the others looked on anxiously.   At this time he was so cold that he could no longer trust his grip (紧握力)or balance.

Each member of the crew took it in turn to cut the ice away for as long as he could bear it. First, they had to knock off enough ice to get on their knees. Standing up on that rolling deck would have been committing suicide (自杀) because a man who had fallen overboard could not have been saved. Then the captain discovered that ice was forming inside the cabin(船舱). He called on one of the crew and together they managed to get the stove (炉子)  burning in the hope that it would give off enough heat to warm the cabin above freezing point. Unless the ice in the bottom could be melted enough so that it could be pumped out (用水泵抽出去), they were in danger of sinking. It took an hour’s work before the boat began to float better. But during this time they succeeded in getting rid of the most of the ice. Throughout the afternoon, the coating of the ice began to build up again though they tried their best. In the face of this new danger, Captain Slater decided that it was much too dangerous to gamble (赌注)on the chance    that the boat would survive(幸存) until the next morning. Once more, he ordered the crew to clear ice. Then they settled down to wait for another day.