June 16th. Monday. I turned in when I found the way blocked and all the ships tied up, as everything seemed frozen solid, except the pool in which we lay. Seven bells awoke me to find things as they had been. Captain Fairweather shot a Sabine gull after breakfast and I shot some looms, which were picked out of the water by Jock the dog, who retrieved very well. I went on board the Wolf with the Captain, and saw Captain Burnette. During the evening the Arctic steamed off and we followed with the Wolf, but the lead closed so we all were caught. The Aurora. managed to push out into the loose ice in a little while, but the Wolf remained and the Arctic was fairly in the nips.
The evening was fine and we saw land to the north and dozens of bergs to the east of us. There was a crack running into the floe for two hundred yards close to our ship. It was probably twenty-five yards wide at the entrance. A great many looms flew up this and returned when they found it a blind lead. The dingey was lowered and the Captain and myself had a few hours' shooting and secured a great many. They were tied in bunches and hung upon the chains connecting the quarter davits.
June 17th. Tuesday. All were frozen up. I tried stalking a seal, as there were several in sight, but I could not get near any of them. The Arctic was still nipped, the Wolf was with us and the relief ships a little way east. During the evening we were all moving around, except the Arctic.
We were ahead and the Wolf next, the Bear bringing up the rear. Later the Thetis fell back, for she could not keep up. Cape York was in sight and all four of us were rather close together.
With the Aurora leading, we kept this up all night, every one greatly excited. In the small hours we were all up to a barrier. Among the Arctic ice it would have been useless to roll the ship as we had done at Newfoundland, the young ice on that coast being very different from the Arctic floe met with in Melville Bay.
June 18th. Wednesday. The race for Cape York and the north was far too exciting to permit of sleep, so for the following few days I never undressed, but kept going up and down all the time. If we stuck I lay down, and when the engine started I went up.
At one A. M. we were with the Wolf and relief ships, pounding away at the floe which separated us from the open water at Cape York. The Aurora was the first to break through, when we all gave a great cheer and shouted, "The north water!" I immediately went forward, and sitting on the jib-boom, realized that I was the nearest white man to Greely, possibly the nearest to the pole. I sat there for a long time as we were steaming fast towards the land through open water.
As we neared the shore the Bear passed us. She was a faster ship and she reached the shore floe some minutes before us.
Seeing a party land on the ice from the Bear, we turned off southwest. As the Thetis and Wolf were coming up, the Captain went on board the former and bade the commander good-by, and good luck, then we crept off to the southwest with the Wolf. The Bear having spoken the Thetis, steamed west after us, the weather being rather thick.
Finding the ice heavy to the west, we tried a lead to the north, but were beset for some time.