1913] NORTHWARD HO! 13 



coast with colors flying. A thorough examination was 

 made of the hull in Battle Harbor, with the result that 

 the captain, mate, engineer, and every man of the crew 

 declared that she was absolutely unsea worthy. I 

 crawled down into the forehold far beneath the boxes, 

 where I could hear a steady stream of water trickling 

 down over the sheathing and running aft into the hold 

 of the ship. A wireless at once urged the Museum to 

 charter the Eriky of St. John's. Then followed a trian- 

 gular, endless stream of instructions, advice, and mis- 

 understanding between the American Museum, Job 

 Brothers, and myself. Job Brothers, owners of the ship, 

 demanded that I should return to St. John's with the 

 Diana before delivering the Erik in charter to the Ameri- 

 can Museum; and so I was reluctantly forced to give up 

 my plan of transferring cargo in Battle Harbor and 

 gave orders to steam to St. John's, where we arrived on 

 July 27th. We had the same sort of busy days here as 

 on the rocks at Barge Point. Not a moment could be 

 lost; work must be carried on day and night. It was 

 now late in the year, and only for a few days during the 

 year are the doors of the Arctic open, and if one does 

 not get inside w^hen they are open, it means wait for' 

 another year. Back we steamed to Battle Harbor on 

 August 3d and quickly loaded the supplies left there 

 by the Stella Maris, and on the 5th we were again 

 headed toward the North. 



It was a part of my original plan to call at the Mo- 

 ravian mission stations on the Labrador for sealskin 

 boots and Eskimo dog-drivers, both valuable adjuncts 

 to an Arctic expedition, the former being superior in 

 every way to anything obtainable in North Greenland, 

 and the latter possessing that very valuable and much- 



