312 DISCOVERY OF NORTHWEST PASSAGE 



lower a boat and take soundings ahead of us. This required all hands on deck, 

 and it was anything but pleasant to have to do without the five hours' sleep 

 obtainable under normal conditions. But it could not be helped. We crawled 

 along in this manner, and by 6 p. m., we had reached Victoria Strait, leaving 

 the crowd of islands behind us." 



On August 17 they anchored off Cape Colborne, after having sailed the 

 Gjoa "through the hitherto unsolved hnk in the northwest passage." 



On August 26 at 8 a. m., Capt. Amundsen was asleep below, when he heard 

 a rushing to and fro on deck. A few minutes later came the cry "A sail !" It 

 was a whaling vessel, and it meant that the Gjoa had reached navigable waters 

 in the western side of the passage. 



Says Amundsen: "The northwest passage had been accomplished— my 

 dream from childhood. I had a peculiar sensation in my throat ; I was some- 

 what overworked and tired, and I suppose it was weakness on my part, but I 

 could feel tears coming to my eyes. 'Vessel in sight!' The words were 

 magical. My home and those dear to me there at once appeared to me as if 

 stretching out their hands. 'Vessel in sight !' " 



The Gjoa reached King Point August 29, 1905, after a journey of only 

 sixteen days from King William's Land, and there made a second winter quar- 

 ters. That winter was saddened by the death of one of the members of the 

 party, the scientist Wiik. The rest pushed on to the end, and arrived in Nome, 

 Alaska, September 3, 1906. 



Amundsen was established at once as one of the great explorers of the 

 world, and none received with greater enthusiasm the news of the north pole 

 discovery than did he, 



