CHAPTER XII 



THE COLLINSON POINT DIFFICULTIES 



SO far as my personal plans for ice exploration were concerned, 

 the engagement of Storkerson had set them a good deal for- 

 ward, for they demanded a few very good men rather than a 

 large number of ordinary ones. As soon as I could see clearly 

 what the program in the delta would be, I wrote out a summary 

 of it to transmit to Dr. Anderson so that the topographers, Chipman 

 and Cox, and O'Neill, the geologist, would know what facilities 

 they might expect to work with. I also wrote out a second letter 

 of instructions, giving in detail the plans for the outfitting of my 

 own party for the journey north over the Beaufort Sea. 



Directions were that the outfitting base should be at Martin 

 Point, about forty miles east of Collinson Point and fifteen miles 

 west of the Polar Bear. Storkerson's advice about the outfitting 

 was to be followed in general, but in order not to disarrange Dr. 

 Anderson's routine, I asked him to put Chipman or some of his 

 other men in direct charge of that work. Various details of prepara- 

 tions were included: tents of silk or Burberry were to be made 

 or altered, the sounding machine was to be overhauled by the 

 marine biologist, Johansen; watches, purchased for use as pocket 

 chronometers, were to be carefully rated, and any chronometers 

 which the topographers could spare me from their outfit were to 

 be rated and put aside for my use. Storkerson was to be given the 

 use of several dog teams and the men to handle them, certain sup- 

 plies were to be hauled from Collinson Point to Martin Point, and 

 other supplies from the Belvedere and Polar Bear. Everything 

 was to be ready by the first of March for our start north over 

 the ice from Martin Point. 



When these letters were completed, I gave them to Storkerson 

 to take to Collinson Point, giving him Olesen and the dog team, 

 while I purchased other dogs in the delta and kept the boy Taliak 

 with me. 



When Storkerson started towards Collinson Point I proceeded 

 up the river to Fort Macpherson where I completed my dispatches 



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