732 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



could make a fair division ; but the birds had been 

 washing around in the bottom of the boat, and I feared 

 they would spoil. Hence a good dinner was made of 

 them, and half a pound of pemmican per man. 



Chipp seemingly has run about thirty miles since ten 

 this morning along the edge of the sand bank, and 

 where he now is (about one mile north of us) he is in 

 four feet of water, and can see the edge of the sand 

 bank as far as eye can reach. From our camp we can 

 see the land from west to northwest, and I am strongly 

 in hopes that the water extends inside of the grounded 

 ice even to the land. We are in twenty feet of water 

 and not drifting, and I have arranged with Chipp a sig- 

 nal for to-morrow morning in case I decide to cross the 

 ice and float again in the shoal water, in which case I 

 shall use his men to help. Fresh southeast gale still 

 blowing, 



September Ath, Sunday. — Called all hands at five. 

 Breakfasted at six. Strong S. E. wind. Temperature 

 27°. At 6.30 started ahead Nindemann, Bartlett, Iver- 

 sen, Lauterbach, and Kaack to cut a road good for boats, 

 and then sent after them everybody with a bundle of 

 some kind (sleeping-bag, box, or package) to cross to 

 Chipp's camp. Lee and I remained alone behind. At 

 8.30 started with the boats over the ice, but, owing to 

 very rough road and hard dragging did not reach 

 Chipp's tent until one p. m. This has been, without 

 exception, the hardest morning's work we have yet had, 

 for as our boat sleds are no longer in commission, all 

 dragging has to be done on the keel runners, and there 

 is no protection for the bilges of the boats. The ice is 

 massed in a very rough and confused pack, and sharp 

 edges are innumerable. Long strips are peeled off the 

 keel runners as we drag along, and the boats themselves 



