July 30th and 31st the weather was fine, the channel pack surging back and forth with the tides close alongside, and every now and then large pieces crowding in against us, necessitating shifting the Roosevelt by the lines to avoid them. The channel pack consisted of very large floes packed closely together and showing no signs of leads throughout the entire width of the channel and as far north and south as could be seen. The ship’s people assisted by the Eskimos worked night and day to complete the finishing touches to the new rudder so that we could take advantage of the first opportunity to get away from this exposed and dangerous position. From the Captain I learned the story of the Roosevelt’s experiences after the ice opened at Cape Sheridan. She had had a crucial trial which few if any other ships would have survived, and twice everything had been landed from her in the belief that she would never leave her present position.
The Captain was enthusiastic over the model of the ship and the ease with which she rose when nipped.
The Chief was enthusiastic about the size and strength of her shaft which at one time during the nip that did her so much damage, held the entire weight of the after part of the ship.
About 6 A. M. of the 31st, the ice loosened close along the ice-foot towards Lincoln Bay, but before our lines could be cast off it had closed in again. From here I sent five Eskimos across overland after the skins of some musk-oxen which had been killed earlier in the season. About breakfast time Sipsu and his wife came in from Conger. He was dressed out in cavalry officer’s uniform, and he and his wife and his one dog were loaded with pots and pans and packs and bundles of every description till they looked like a troupe of tramp pedlars.
At 5 P. M. the ice eased off along the ice-foot again and we got under way. The Roosevelt was very light and in excellent trim for escaping a nip, but she was leaking a good deal about the stern, and her twisted stern-post made her very difficult to steer. After running into the ice-foot two or three times she managed to work her way around the point into Lincoln Bay, along its north shore to its head, and across to the south side where she was made fast in a comparatively sheltered place. Her position was a vast improvement upon her previous one where the caprice of a big floe might at any moment force her high and dry on the shore. As soon as we were fast, I sent one man back to Shelter River to wait the return of the five men, five others out after hare, and two others south to assist Ootah, the other Conger Eskimo who was in camp at Shift Rudder Bay, his wife having given birth to a boy while en route to the ship. Here for the first time since June 1st, I undressed and went to bed like a civilised man. It seemed a bit strange. At 2 P. M. we got under way again (one of the crew enlivening this occasion by falling overboard and narrowly escaping drowning), and worked along the ice-foot to the northern point of Wrangel Bay. Here a floe several miles in diameter delayed us for an hour or more until it moved enough for us to squeeze between it and the point into the bay which was full of slack ice. Forcing a way through this into the head of the bay, we dropped anchor in water so shoal that it was thought it would keep all heavy pieces of ice away from us. I was very glad to reach the shelter of this bay. The stretch of coast between Wrangel and Lincoln bays is one of the worst places in this region for a ship to be caught. The Roosevelt steered a little better than the day before, but it still required very careful management to get her along.
The ice offered no opportunity for leaving the bay during the 2d, and about midnight it filled the bay so completely that it forced the Roosevelt ashore. She was pulled off during the 3d, but was again pushed ashore late in the evening. All the Eskimos including the family from Shift Rudder Bay came in on this date. Very early on the 4th an unsuccessful attempt was made to get around Cape Beechy, the ice crowding in upon us and compelling the Roosevelt to retreat at full speed. During the 5th we remained inactive, the ice densely packed everywhere. During the night of the 5th a reconnaissance from the peak of Cape Frederick VIII showed water under the Greenland shore and early in the morning of the 6th, the Roosevelt for the third time essayed the crossing of Robeson Channel through the dense pack, this time heading for Thank God Harbour. The ice encountered was very heavy, but the Roosevelt kept moving slowly until about 2 A. M. of the 7th, when she was somewhat east of the middle of the channel and a little south of Cape Beechy. At this time the ice ran together with the turn of the tide preventing further movement, so we made fast to a big floe and began drifting southward with the pack. Soundings in the centre of the channel gave depths of from 298 to 339 fathoms. During the 7th, 8th, and 9th we drifted southward, and some big floes jamming across the channel from Cape Lieber to Joe Island, we were shunted into the mouth of Lady Franklin Bay on a line between Cape Baird and Discovery Harbour.
Here we remained without motion for eight days, parties of Eskimos going ashore every day both to Cape Baird and Distant Cape and Bellot Island. These hunting parties secured some hare, a square flipper seal, a common seal and on two or three occasions came near getting a narwhal.
ESKIMO FAMILY GOING ASHORE AT LADY FRANKLIN BAY FOR WINTER AT FORT CONGER
