Wilkins Malloch Beuchat O’Neill Cox McKinlayMamen McConnell JennessChipmanMackay Bartlett Stefansson Anderson Murray JohansenTHE LEADERS AND THE SCIENTIFIC STAFF BEFORE THE DEPARTURE FROM NOME
Wilkins Malloch Beuchat O’Neill Cox McKinlayMamen McConnell JennessChipmanMackay Bartlett Stefansson Anderson Murray JohansenTHE LEADERS AND THE SCIENTIFIC STAFF BEFORE THE DEPARTURE FROM NOME
Wilkins Malloch Beuchat O’Neill Cox McKinlay
Mamen McConnell Jenness
Chipman
Mackay Bartlett Stefansson Anderson Murray Johansen
THE LEADERS AND THE SCIENTIFIC STAFF BEFORE THE DEPARTURE FROM NOME
On July 13, with a farewell salute from theBear, which happened to be in port at the time, we left Nome for Port Clarence, which we reached the next day. All hands immediately set to work getting things in readiness for our voyage into the Arctic Ocean. We blew down the boiler, overhauled the engines, took on fresh water and rearranged our stores and equipment, so that we might know where everything was to be found. The weather was very variable, usually good but very windy at times, with occasional showers. Some ofthe scientific staff went ashore and cut grass for use in our boots later on; when a man is wearing the deerskin boots so essential in Arctic work, it is necessary for him to line the bottom with dry grass to act as a cushion for his feet as he walks over the rough sea ice and also to absorb the perspiration, for otherwise his feet would be in constant danger of freezing.
By July 27 we were at last ready to start. Some further repairs were still to be made on theAlaskaso she remained behind but at three o’clock in the morning we weighed anchor and, accompanied by theMary Sachs, proceeded to sea. Besides the officers and crew we had on board theKarluk, Stefansson and his secretary, Burt McConnell, with Murray, Mamen, Malloch, Jenness, Beuchat, McKinlay and Dr. Mackay. We had also a white dog-driver who left us at Point Barrow.
As we were steaming along in the forenoon, about a mile and a half offshore, abreast of Tin City, I saw a rowboat coming towards us, making signals to attract our attention. We altered our course to meet her and when she came alongside we found that she had brought us a message for Stefansson, which had been telephoned from Teller to Tin City. It proved to be from an aviator named Fowler who was then at Teller with his aeroplane; he asked permission to bring his machineon board theKarluk, accompany us for a while and later on fly from the ship to the shore. TheKarluk’sdeck was already pretty well crowded with dogs, sledges, sacks of coal and other gear, and Stefansson finally decided that it would be impossible to grant the request.
About two o’clock in the afternoon we had Cape Prince of Wales a-beam on the starboard side and shaped our course to round the shoal off the cape. There was a strong westerly wind blowing. By this time theMary Sachswas hull down astern, so we put about and went back to see if everything was all right with her. When we left Port Clarence we had put Wilkins on board theSachsto run her engine, on account of the temporary disability of her own engineer and now, as we came near enough to exchange words, we found that the engineer was feeling well enough to perform his duties, so we lowered a boat and transferred Wilkins to theKarlukagain.
With theSachskeeping in shore we proceeded on our way. The wind began to blow harder and veered to the northwest, bringing in a dense fog and a rising sea and making it necessary to put the ship on the starboard tack, reaching towards the Siberian coast. We continued on this course the rest of the day and until well after midnight; then the wind veered round to the west again andthe sea moderated, but the fog continued. At 2A. M.on the twenty-eighth our steering-gear gave out but fortunately we soon had it repaired. At eight o’clock we reefed her and headed towards the American shore. The fog still hung low and thick but there were occasional gleams of sunshine. We were now steaming through Bering Strait, across the Arctic Circle, and had twenty-four hours of daylight.
Finally, at four o’clock on the morning of July 30, the fog began to lift and by eleven it was fine and clear again, with a strong north-northeast wind. TheSachswas nowhere to be seen; in fact theKarlukdid not see her again. We were now close to Cape Thompson, steaming towards Point Hope. At ten o’clock in the evening we dropped anchor off Point Hope, near the Eskimo village. The Eskimo in their skin-boats and whaleboats came out to meet us, to trade dogs, boats, furs and sealskins. About midnight we moved nearer to the land, and early in the morning Stefansson went ashore to continue the trading and make arrangements for the services of Panyurak and Asatshak, two Eskimo boys eighteen or twenty years old, who also went by the names of Jerry and Jimmy and were good dog-drivers and hunters. Stefansson had lived so many years with the Eskimo of Alaska and the Mackenzie River region, that he knew thempersonally, men, women and children, from Point Barrow east along the northern coast, as well as I knew the Eskimo of Whale Sound on the Greenland coast, that little tribe of Arctic Highlanders, numbering only about two hundred and forty, from whom we chose the Eskimo that accompanied us on theRooseveltto Cape Sheridan and played so important a part in the attainment of the North Pole. Later in the morning of the thirty-first, we weighed anchor and steamed around to the north side of Point Hope, where we did more trading, and then proceeded on our way up the coast. By noon we had Cape Lisburne a-beam and shaped our course for Icy Cape, to go about ten miles outside of Blossom Shoals, a dangerous reef off Blossom Point, which has always been dreaded by mariners. Our scientists were busily engaged in writing letters, to be mailed at Point Barrow and taken back on theBearwhich calls there once a year, usually in August.
Thus far our progress all along had been satisfactory. Early on the morning of August 1, however, we began to note indications of the presence of ice on our weather side. The water began to get smoother, and when we tested its temperature by hauling up a bucketful at intervals, as the day wore on, we found it dropping steadily, until it reached thirty-nine degrees; the water changed color, too,becoming dirtier. Finally in the afternoon we could see the ice plainly on our port bow. We had seen the “ice-blink” for some time before; now the ice itself hove in sight about two miles away, with some larger pieces scattered here and there among the floes. I learned afterwards that up to a few days before we should have had clear water all the way to Point Barrow. The ice curved in towards the shore, so that we had to change our course; we had been steaming parallel with the land but now we had to head towards shore or else run the danger of being caught in the ice. About midnight our progress was still further barred and we had to turn around and steam back to windward for a mile or so to keep in the open water, for the strong north wind was driving the ice towards the land. The next day the wind changed and blew off the land; this started the ice off shore and we were able to move eastward, but soon the offshore breeze died down and we had to turn back again. Finally in the afternoon we made another attempt, with some success; we were gradually nearing Point Barrow.