CHAPTER VIII.
OUR WINTER HARBOR.—PREPARING FOR WINTER.—ORGANIZATION OF DUTIES.—SCIENTIFIC WORK.—THE OBSERVATORY.—SCHOONER DRIVEN ASHORE.—THE HUNTERS.—SAWING A DOCK.—FROZEN UP.
I named our harbor Port Foulke, in honor of my friend, the late William Parker Foulke, of Philadelphia, who was one of the earliest, and continued to be throughout one of the most constant advocates of the expedition.
It was well sheltered except from the southwest, toward which quarter it was quite exposed; but, judging from our recent experience, we had little reason to fear wind from that direction; and we were protected from the drift-ice by a cluster of bergs which lay grounded off the mouth of the harbor.
Our position was, even for the Greenland coast, not so satisfactory as I could have wished. Had I reached Fog Inlet we should have gained some advantages over our present location, and would have been indeed better situated than was Dr. Kane at Van Rensselaer Harbor; and we would then be as sure of an early liberation as we were likely to be at Port Foulke. In truth, the principal advantage which it possessed was that we would not be held very late the next summer, and there was no possible risk of my vessel being caught in a trap like that of the Advance. Besides this prospect of a speedy liberation to recommend it, there seemed to be a fair chance of an abundant supply of game.
From Dr. Kane's winter quarters we were not very remote, the distance being about twenty miles in latitude, and about eighty by the coast. We were eight nautical miles in a northeasterly direction from Cape Alexander, and lay deep within the recesses of a craggy, cliff-lined bight of dark, reddish-brown sienitic rock, which looked gloomy enough. This bight is prolonged by three small islands which figure in my journal as "The Youngsters," and which bear on my chart the names of Radcliffe, Knorr, and Starr. At the head of the bight there is a series of terraced beaches composed of loose shingle.
The ice soon closed around us.
My chief concern now was to prepare for the winter, in such a manner as to insure safety to the schooner and comfort to my party. While this was being done I did not, however, lose sight of the scientific labors; but, for the time, these had to be made subordinate to more serious concerns. There was much to do, but my former experience greatly simplified my cares.
OUR WINTER HARBOR.
PREPARING FOR WINTER.