98 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



weather with quite a swell from the northward. I kept 

 on because we had either to do that or turn back, and 

 I did not like to turn back. As we got out clear of 

 the land into Behring Sea the wind freshened consider- 

 ably, but we were running along five knots, and every 

 mile made good on our way, and I could not complain. 

 The water is so shallow in Behring Sea that a very ugly 

 sea is raised in a short time, and consequently we had 

 it coming aboard in all directions ; we slowed the en- 

 gines and eased her somewhat, but it freshened to a 

 sharp gale before many hours, and then we had it lively 

 enough — so lively in fact that I had to lay her to and 

 ride it out. This gale lasted about thirty hours, and 

 then moderated enough to let us proceed on our way 

 yesterday afternoon, and enabled us to reach here to- 

 day at two o'clock p. M. While we were in the gale 

 the day before j^esterday one unusually heavy sea 

 broke on board, struck the front of the cabin on my 

 side, stove in my window, and completely flooded my 

 room. I was sitting dozing in my chair, when sud- 

 denly I was buried by the sea, covered with broken 

 glass, and everything I had was afloat. 



Our forty dogs are a great item. They are all good 

 sized and strong, and thus far roam around the deck 

 in a happy go lucky kind of way, fighting every five 

 minutes, and seemingly well contented. We have five 

 dog sleds from St. Michael's, and the four we brought 

 from England make nine altogether. I got also three 

 skin boats. I hired two natives to go with us as dog 

 drivers, very decent, intelligent men, and, wonderful to 

 relate, very clean. I had them rigged out in white 

 men's costume, and they look very swell indeed. They 

 live with the men of course, and their duty thus far is 

 to feed and water the dogs. The nature of these dogs 



