122 THE NORTH POLE 



south, we were in a position properly to attack the 

 second part of our problem, the projection of a sledge 

 party from the ship to the Pole itself. This rounding 

 of Cape Sheridan was not the ultimate achievement 

 probable. 



So great was our relief at having driven the Roose- 

 velt through the ice of Robeson Channel, that as soon 

 as the mooring lines were out at Cape Sheridan we set 

 to work unloading the ship with light-hearted eager- 

 ness. The Roosevelt was grounded inside the tide 

 crack, and the first things we got ashore were the two 

 hundred and forty-six dogs, which had made the ship 

 a noisy and ill-smelling inferno for the last eighteen 

 days. They were simply dropped over the rail onto 

 the ice, and in a few minutes the shore in all directions 

 was dotted with them, as they ran, leaped and barked 

 in the snow. The decks were washed down with 

 hose, and the work of unloading began. First the 

 sledges came down from the bridge deck, where they 

 had been built during the upward voyage, a fine fleet 

 of twenty-three. 



We wanted to get the ship well inside the ice 

 barrier where she would be really safe, so we lightened 

 her that she might float with the high tide. We 

 made chutes from planks, and down these we slid the 

 oil cases from the main deck and the hold. It was 

 necessary to work carefully, as the ice was thin at 

 that season. Later two or three sledge loads of sup- 

 plies broke through, and the Eskimos with them; but 

 as the water was only five or six feet deep, and the 

 supplies were packed in tins, no serious damage was 

 done. 



