2 6o NEAREST THE POLE 



be made to do. Here the stern of the Roosevelt was 

 warped close inshore at high tide, and during the next 

 few tides the stem was calked, the stem post, which 

 had been twisted back and forth by the ice so many 

 times that it was now only a menace to the propeller, 

 was cut away, and the nuts fastening the propeller- 

 blades set up again. Some ballast was also taken on 

 board between times. During all this time the wind 

 was blowing strongly from the north and Smith Sound 

 seen out through the mouth of the fiord was a cauldron 

 of whirling cIougs, fog and snow. When this work 

 was completed we steamed back to Etah and took on 

 board the coal. This work was greatly hampered 

 first by the strong wind which on one trip swamped 

 our boat raft, and afterwards by the young ice through 

 which it was at times almost impossible to warp the 

 raft back and forth between the ship and the shore. 

 The lower portion of the coal also was frozen and had 

 to be loosened with dynamite. Late in the evening of 

 the 2oth, the Roosevelt steamed out of Etah leaving 

 about half of my Eskimos there. 



