Children of the Arctic

by Josephine Diebitsch Peary; Marie Ahnighito Peary

The “Windward” was run alongside of the rocks and made fast, and every one except a watchman intended to get a good night’s rest; the first in more than a week, for the next morning coal and provisions must be landed and this meant hard work for the men.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her mother too were glad go to bed. This they had not been able to do while pounding through the ice, for the big floes might crush the ship at any moment, and every one had to be ready to jump into the boats and leave her.

Now they had a fine bath and told Percy she need not call them for breakfast, as they wanted to sleep.

“Lay with one side on the Rocks”

At five o’clock in the morning Captain Sam knocked on the cabin door and called to AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother to get up and dress herself and AH-NI-GHI´-TO as quickly as possible. A brisk wind which sprang up towards morning had blown the ship in against the rocks, and here when the tide went out she lay with one side on the rocks, with only a few feet of water under her, and with the other side, where there were no rocks, far down in the water. As no one knew how much lower the tide would fall, Captain Sam thought it best to get every one and everything of value ashore as quickly as possible, for fear the vessel would capsize and sink.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother awoke her. By this time the cabin floor was almost at right angles to what it should have been,—the slant so steep that it was impossible to walk on it.

“This was the 30th day of August”

AH-NI-GHI´-TO, still in her berth, was quickly dressed in her warmest clothes, and after putting her own clothing on, AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother gathered the important papers and as much warm clothing as possible into a bag; AH-NI-GHI´-TO begging all the time not to leave her dolly and her kitty. When this was done Percy took the bag, and Captain Sam and the steward helped them on deck. This was not very easy, as some of you may find out if you try to crawl up a board with one end on a barrel and the other on the ground. Again and again one or the other slipped back, but at last the deck was reached, and now all that could be done was to sit down and slide over the side into a boat held there by the sailors, for the water was on a level with this side of the deck, while the opposite side looked as if it were right overhead.