SHERIDAN TO ETAH 257 



forestaysails, and for a little while gave the Roosevelt a 

 speed of ten knots. From the afternoon of the 29th 

 until 6 p. M. of September 5th we were unable to 

 move, the ice which held us drifting slowly but steadily 

 to the southwest and packing against Bache Peninsula 

 and into Buchanan and Princess Marie bays. During 

 most of this time the weather was fine and numbers 

 of seals were observed upon the ice, several of which 

 the Eskimos secured. 



In the evening of the 8th, the ice slackened to the 

 southeast, I abandoned the idea of picking up my 

 Victoria Head Depot, and the Roosevelt was headed 

 for Cairn Point on the Greenland coast. From the 

 evening of September 5th until midnight of September 

 7th, we were able to make intermittent runs of a 

 few hours duration, the sum total of which placed 

 us somewhat more than half across Kane Basin. 

 During the 8th, 9th, loth, and nth we lay imprisoned 

 among very heavy old floes close to a group of four 

 icebergs, a position which caused me considerable 

 uneasiness, particularly as a strong southerly gale was 

 blowing during two days of the time. 



At 7 p. M. of the nth we made another short run 

 and during the five following days we worked south- 

 eastward at every opportunity, gaining a mile or two 

 at almost every tide, then being nipped and crowded 

 (wedged is the better word, perhaps) southwest ward 

 toward Sabine, by some huge field of ice forging 

 down along the Greenland coast. 



The weather was getting very sharp now, the young 

 ice formed and became extremely tough with great 

 rapidity, and while this time I had at heart no doubt 



