KNOCKING AT THE GATEWAY 91 



of these heavy floes are under water, one does not 

 realize how thick they are until one sees where a huge 

 mass, by the pressure of the pack behind it, has been 

 driven upon the shore, and stands there high and 

 dry, eighty or a hundred feet above the water, like a 

 silver castle guarding the shore of this exaggerated 

 and ice-clogged Rhine. 



The navigation of the narrow and ice-encumbered 

 channels between Etah and Cape Sheridan was long 

 considered an utter impossibility, and only four ships 

 besides the Roosevelt have succeeded in accomplishing 

 any considerable portion of it. Of these four ships, 

 one, the Polaris, was lost. Three, the Alert, the Dis- 

 covery, and the Proteus, made the voyage up and back 

 in safety; but one of those, the Proteus, was lost in 

 an attempt to repeat the dash. The Roosevelt had 

 on the expedition of 1905-6 made the voyage up 

 and back, though she was badly smashed on the 

 return. 



Going north, the Roosevelt of necessity followed 

 the coast a portion of the way, as only close to the 

 shore could any water be found which would enable 

 the ship to advance. With the shore ice on one side, 

 and the moving central pack on the other, the changing 

 tides were almost certain to give us an occasional 

 opportunity to steam ahead. 



This channel is the meeting place between the 

 tides coming from Baffin Bay on the south and from 

 Lincoln Sea on the north, the actual point of meet- 

 ing being about Cape Frazer. South of that point 

 the flood tide runs north, and north of it the flood 

 tide runs south. One may judge of the force of these 



