Then accompanied by the Captain I made a careful tour of inspection of and about the ship, pointing out the possibilities of our position, and indicating what should be done to provide as far as possible against all contingencies. A full watch was kept on and everyone else turned in with their clothes on. The following day men and officers and Eskimos were busy running out all available lines from the port bow, quarter, and amidships, and also from the mastheads.
The weather continued clear and the temperatures very moderate. The evening flood-tide caused a great deal of movement and noise all about us, but brought no direct pressure upon the ship.
I had no fears that the Roosevelt would be crushed by any onset of the ice, but I did apprehend that she might be forced bodily up on to the ice-foot, thrown on her beam ends and pushed so far inshore that it would be impossible to float her another season. Another possibility was that a particularly violent gale, such as might occur at any time, would tear us from our moorings and carry us out into the moving pack, in which event there would not be one chance in a hundred of our being able to get the ship back to her present position again.
On the morning of the 28th a gust of south wind blowing through the ventilator holes in my stateroom door woke me and I went on deck immediately. It was then very clear, with the wind light and baffling from every quarter, evidently gathering its forces. At 5 A. M. it came on with a rush from the south, and increased in fury until nothing could be heard above its roar, and the ship was completely submerged in a blinding cataract of snow. In a short time a piece of ice on our starboard quarter began groaning and grinding against the ship’s side. Fearing it might break loose and, in the event that our propeller and rudder post were frozen into it, tear our stern from its moorings, every piece of line that could be found was run out from the port quarter and made fast to the ice-foot. As in all of these gales the temperature was comparatively high, being in this instance from seven to fourteen degrees above zero. Otherwise the work would have been extremely trying and even dangerous. One of the crew stumbling in a crack a few yards from the ship lost his bearings and after some time brought up at the box houses on the shore. Some of the Eskimos coming from the box houses to the ship lost their way and groped for some time before they got their bearings. At noon the wind had moderated and our stream anchor was attached to the end of the port chain cable, placed in a hole dug for it in the ice-foot behind a large grounded floeberg, and then frozen in.
For several hours during the day the Roosevelt rolled pronouncedly on the swell, swinging round Rawson from the wild sea in the mouth of Robeson Channel.
For several days after this there was more open water in the neighbourhood than at any time since our arrival. All the upper part of Robeson Channel was open and everything to the northeast and north from Rawson round to Sheridan and beyond inky black. At 3 A. M. of January 1st, the ice came in against our starboard side with a steady roar, but the Roosevelt turned it under her like water running into a mill-race, and the pressure ceased before any unusually heavy ice came against her. A little later the ice swung completely off-shore again.
The night of the 6th was a disagreeable anniversary to me. Seven years before I was struggling across Lady Franklin Bay in bitter cold and complete darkness, to bring up finally at Fort Conger with both feet frozen.
On the 7th a new baby arrived in the Eskimo settlement, a girl, quite likely the most northerly born of all children. On the 9th the air all day was full of the groaning, roaring, grinding of the ice, though no pressure came upon the ship.
This noise and commotion of the ice occurred almost continuously during the month, varying in intensity from time to time and the Roosevelt was subjected to pressures of more or less force. It was a period of constant anxiety with the ice pack surging back and forth along the shore on each tide and liable to crash in upon us at any time. Every one slept in their clothes, all lanterns and portable lights were kept filled and trimmed ready for immediate use, and provision was made for the instant extinguishment of all fires. The welcome twilight of returning day steadily increased, a considerable contingent of the Eskimos from the interior returned to the ship in the January moon bringing letters from Marvin containing the report of more musk-oxen secured. On the 7th of February, with the first light of the February moon, Marvin himself came in with the balance of the Eskimos and dogs and the report of more musk-oxen killed. This closed the winter campaign.