1913] ETAH 27 



worked their ship through the broken floes into a shel- 

 tered nook on the mainland just north of Littleton \ 

 Island. The ship was stripped of everything valuable, , 

 and a small house was constructed to serve as winter I 

 quarters. In the spring two boats were built, and i 

 passed Etah on their way south. The ship drifted from ; 

 the beach and sank between Littleton Island and the i 

 mainland. ' 



In 1875 two of England's proudest and best ships, 

 the Alert and Discovery, steamed grandly by and dis- 

 appeared over the northern horizon on their way to the 

 North Pole. One year later the little Pandora, under 

 command of Sir Allen Young, paced restlessly back and 

 forth at the edge of the big ice-field stretching across to 

 Cape Isabella, in the hopes of being able to penetrate ' 



the pack and get into communication with Sir George ! 



Nares, w^ho was at the same time slowly making his way i 



southward down through Kennedy and Robeson Chan- ; 



nels, homeward bound. In a few weeks the two ships I 



sailed toward the south, having broken the world's record \ 



for farthest North. 



In 1881 the American flag again entered Smith Sound. 

 Greely, of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, steamed 

 by in the Proteus on his way to winter quarters in 

 Lady Franklin Bay on the eastern shores of Grant Land. 

 The ship returned, leaving these men in the far North 

 with the understanding that a ship was to visit the 

 station each year. In 1882 the Neptune cruised in vain 

 along the edge of the ice opposite Etah, looking for an 

 opportunity to get through. She failed in her purpose 

 and retreated south. In 1883 the Proteus again passed 

 Etah. She proceeded to Cape Sabine, and within a few 

 hours after leaving that point was crushed in the ice 



