Wilkins Malloch Beuchat O’Neill Cox McKinlay
Mamen McConnell Jenness
Chipman
Mackay Bartlett Stefansson Anderson Murray Johansen
THE LEADERS AND THE SCIENTIFIC STAFF BEFORE THE DEPARTURE FROM NOME
On July 13, with a farewell salute from the Bear, which happened to be in port at the time, we left Nome for Port Clarence, which we reached the next day. All hands immediately set to work getting things in readiness for our voyage into the Arctic Ocean. We blew down the boiler, overhauled the engines, took on fresh water and rearranged our stores and equipment, so that we might know where everything was to be found. The weather was very variable, usually good but very windy at times, with occasional showers. Some of the scientific staff went ashore and cut grass for use in our boots later on; when a man is wearing the deerskin boots so essential in Arctic work, it is necessary for him to line the bottom with dry grass to act as a cushion for his feet as he walks over the rough sea ice and also to absorb the perspiration, for otherwise his feet would be in constant danger of freezing.
By July 27 we were at last ready to start. Some further repairs were still to be made on the Alaska so she remained behind but at three o’clock in the morning we weighed anchor and, accompanied by the Mary Sachs, proceeded to sea. Besides the officers and crew we had on board the Karluk, Stefansson and his secretary, Burt McConnell, with Murray, Mamen, Malloch, Jenness, Beuchat, McKinlay and Dr. Mackay. We had also a white dog-driver who left us at Point Barrow.
As we were steaming along in the forenoon, about a mile and a half offshore, abreast of Tin City, I saw a rowboat coming towards us, making signals to attract our attention. We altered our course to meet her and when she came alongside we found that she had brought us a message for Stefansson, which had been telephoned from Teller to Tin City. It proved to be from an aviator named Fowler who was then at Teller with his aeroplane; he asked permission to bring his machine on board the Karluk, accompany us for a while and later on fly from the ship to the shore. The Karluk’s deck was already pretty well crowded with dogs, sledges, sacks of coal and other gear, and Stefansson finally decided that it would be impossible to grant the request.
About two o’clock in the afternoon we had Cape Prince of Wales a-beam on the starboard side and shaped our course to round the shoal off the cape. There was a strong westerly wind blowing. By this time the Mary Sachs was hull down astern, so we put about and went back to see if everything was all right with her. When we left Port Clarence we had put Wilkins on board the Sachs to run her engine, on account of the temporary disability of her own engineer and now, as we came near enough to exchange words, we found that the engineer was feeling well enough to perform his duties, so we lowered a boat and transferred Wilkins to the Karluk again.
With the Sachs keeping in shore we proceeded on our way. The wind began to blow harder and veered to the northwest, bringing in a dense fog and a rising sea and making it necessary to put the ship on the starboard tack, reaching towards the Siberian coast. We continued on this course the rest of the day and until well after midnight; then the wind veered round to the west again and the sea moderated, but the fog continued. At 2 A. M. on the twenty-eighth our steering-gear gave out but fortunately we soon had it repaired. At eight o’clock we reefed her and headed towards the American shore. The fog still hung low and thick but there were occasional gleams of sunshine. We were now steaming through Bering Strait, across the Arctic Circle, and had twenty-four hours of daylight.