92 NEAREST THE POLE 



its roar, and the ship was completely submerged in a 

 blinding cataract of snow. In a short time a piece 

 of ice on our starboard quarter began groaning and 

 grinding against the ship's side. Fearing it might 

 break loose and, in the event that our propeller and 

 rudder post were frozen into it, tear our stem from 

 its moorings, every piece of line that could be found 

 was run out from the port quarter and made fast to 

 the ice-foot. As in all of these gales the temperature 

 was comparatively high, being in this instance from 

 seven to fourteen degrees above zero. Otherwise 

 the work would have been extremely trying and even 

 dangerous. One of the crew stumbling in a crack a 

 few yards from the ship lost his bearings and after 

 some time brought up at the box houses on the shore. 

 Some of the Eskimos coming from the box houses to 

 the ship lost their way and groped for some time be- 

 fore they got their bearings. At noon the wind had 

 moderated and our stream anchor was attached to 

 the end of the port chain cable, placed in a hole dug 

 for it in the ice-foot behind a large grounded floe- 

 berg, and then frozen in. 



For several hours during the day the Roosevelt rolled 

 pronouncedly on the swell, swinging round Rawson 

 from the wild sea in the mouth of Robeson Channel. 



For several days after this there was more open 

 water in the neighbourhood than at any time since 

 our arrival. All the upper part of Robeson Channel 

 was open and everything to the northeast and north 

 from Rawson round to Sheridan and beyond inky 

 black. At 3 a. m. of January ist, the ice came in 

 against our starboard side with a steady roar, but the 



