Up to this time, the weather, since arriving at Cape York, has been an uninterrupted sequence of calm and continuous sunlight—typical Arctic summer weather. Now, however, wind and fog have their turn, and render it impossible to secure walrus, wasting the day for us.
In the evening we steamed back to Karnah, to take on board the natives there, and be in readiness to attempt the walrus again the following day. By midnight this work was completed, and as everyone was now dead-tired and sleepy, the Erik steamed out into the middle of the Sound to drift until after breakfast of the following day, when we again steamed out to the walrus grounds and by nine o’clock that night had secured eighteen of the animals. Fog and rain were now coming in upon us, and we steamed into the last settlement on our list, Igludiahni, where six tupiks were found. Our stay here was short as I wanted but one family here, and it did not take me long to purchase a number of additional dogs. When the last dog was on board the Erik, she headed for Cape Chalon on her way to rejoin the Roosevelt at Etah, where she arrived at breakfast time Sunday, the 13th. The Roosevelt had landed her coal in bags and broken out the supplies for the purpose of restowing to give her the proper trim to enter the ice.
It being Sunday, everyone enjoyed a much needed rest, except the Eskimos, to whom the work of skinning and cutting up the walrus was a labour of love and pleasure.
Early Monday morning the Erik veered alongside the Roosevelt and, at five o’clock, the work of transferring the meat, of restowing the Roosevelt’s supplies, and of filling her bunkers and ’tween-deck space with coal from the Erik, was commenced. This continued during Monday, Tuesday, and till Wednesday at 2 A. M. when the Roosevelt was ready to steam out and begin the struggle for which she was built, the fight with the Arctic ice from Cape Sabine to the northern shore of Grant Land. Thus far the voyage had been child’s play: what was now before her was likely to be the reverse.
The Roosevelt now had on board of her a crew of twenty, some forty Eskimos, and about 200 dogs. She also carried, in addition to the supplies and equipment for the party, about four hundred and fifty tons of coal and several tons of walrus meat.
I had been agreeably surprised to find the natives in unusually prosperous condition, with a superfluity of dogs, abundance of meat, and a good supply of skins for clothing. Several of my old friends and acquaintances had died during the last three years, but there were also a number of new babies and, although I did not have time for anything in the nature of a census, I had no doubt that the births equalled and probably exceeded the number of deaths.
CHAPTER II
ETAH TO CAPE SHERIDAN
Leaving Etah soon after midnight of August 16th, the Roosevelt swung out from the harbour of Etah and severed all communication with the civilised world. Below decks the ship was filled with coal until her plank sheer was nearly to the water; on deck were more than two hundred Eskimo dogs; and on the topgallant forecastle, and the tops of both forward and after deck-houses were over half a hundred Eskimos, men, women and children, and their belongings.
The heavy pack ice surging down Smith Sound, past Littleton Island, gave me an opportunity to see what good work the ship could do and as we bored through it toward Cape Sabine, she realised my expectations in regard to her, even though very deeply loaded and her boiler power reduced to one-half. The sharply raking stem was a revelation even to me, though it was my idea. Deep and heavy as the ship was, she rose on the opposing ice without pronounced shock, no matter how viciously she was driven at it, and either split it with the impact, or wedged it aside by sheer weight.
Bartlett obeyed my first orders, to give her full speed and I would be responsible, with some misgivings. The sealing captains are always very cautious with their ships when first going out heavy with coal.