174 



THE JEANNETTB ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



along the Siberian pack, entering leads at times to examine 

 them. 



On the afternoon of September 4th a whaling bark bore 

 down to us ; we stopped engines and awaited her approach, 

 but the weather became misty and she did not speak us. We 

 had an Arctic mail on board at the time, and were disap- 

 pointed at not being able to send letters home. We ran in 

 several times and made fast to floe-pieces, to await clear 

 weather. That afternoon, about 4, we saw an immense 

 tree, with its roots, drifting by. Ice-pilot Dunbar, seeing it, 

 said that in 1865, when the Shenandoah destroyed the 

 whalers, he was at St. Lawrence Bay ; and when, a few 

 months later, he landed on Herald Island, he was greatly 

 surprised to see masts and portions of the destroyed vessels 

 drifting in that vicinity. This made me look out for a north- 

 west drift. Then Herald Island loomed up in the clouds. 



WHALERS STOPPED BY THE ICE. 



On the 6th of September the captain judged that we had 

 reached the lead between the Siberian and North American 

 packs, and that this was a good place to enter. He took 

 charge from the crow's-nest, and we entered the pack. We 

 met with the young ice, and forced our way through it by 

 ramming. This shook the ship very badly, but did not do 

 her any damage ; indeed, the ship stood the concussions hand- 



