STORM-BOUND ON THE WALRUS 



tok to a strait at Ikerasarssuk, where we steered 

 south past Sarkak and out to sea into an archi- 

 pelago of small islands, reefs, and skerries. We 

 planned to stop at the little Eskimo settlement of 

 Itivdlek and there lay up for the night so as to 

 secure the loan of a small lighter to take with us 

 for landing our heavy stores at our base. At this 

 little harbor we arrived shortly before midnight 

 with the midnight sun still above the horizon; for 

 this was June 23rd close to the summer solstice, 

 and Itivdlek is almost exactly upon the Arctic 

 Circle. 



Toward morning I was awakened to find the 

 Walrus dragging her anchor and hard up against 

 the rocks of a lee shore within the small bay where 

 we had stopped. Our crew was already awake and 

 had taken a line ashore to windward and were 

 hauling upon it while the motor was being warmed 

 up. With one of these sloops some time is always 

 necessary for heating the motor by flame within 

 a jacket before it will operate. Fortunately we 

 were soon off the lee shore with the motor going. 

 It was, however, about four in the afternoon of 

 the 24th before we had secured our lighter and 

 were ready to weigh anchor. The lighter, the dory 

 and the dinghy were all in tow and now made the 

 Walnis exceedingly difficult to navigate. We soon 



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