THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 399 



threw them overboard and the northwest wind drifted them ashore, 

 for the oil is so much lighter than sea water that, although en- 

 cased in iron containers, it did not sink. In addition we unloaded 

 several tons of coal and three or four tons of pemmican. We had 

 the unloading done just in time to heave anchor and meet the in- 

 coming ice about a quarter of a mile from the land, and were able 

 to work our way out into it about half a mile, where we tied the 

 ship to an exceptionally heavy floe. Within a few minutes there- 

 after the ice was tightly pressed on all sides of us and the ship 

 began to creak with the strain. Eventually she rose slightly 

 through some of the ice getting underneath her and in that con- 

 dition she was when I went to sleep. 



When I turned in in the evening we were two or three miles 

 south of where our goods had been landed but when I awoke next 

 morning we were a mile and a half north of the depot, for the 

 current in the straits had changed and the ice had milled around 

 until our cake was almost against the land. It drew enough water 

 to ground before the ship did and she was well protected behind it. 



For several days the ice conditions continued so bad that there 

 was no hope of advancing and by that time we agreed the season 

 was too late for attempting to cross to Melville Sound. Deceived by 

 the charts, we supposed that there was no harbor to the north of 

 us in Prince of Wales Straits on either shore. An excellent harbor 

 which we discovered later and named Knight Harbor after E. 

 Lome Knight of our expedition is at the very northeast corner 

 of Banks Island, and this would have made a comparatively ad- 

 vantageous wintering place easily reached. Not knowing it ex- 

 isted, we determined to winter where we were. 



I should, of course, have liked to get the ship to Melville Island, 

 but her outfit was adequate for two years so that wintering here 

 did not greatly worry me. I saw useful work ahead that could be 

 advantageously done from this base, and trusted that next year 

 with the full season at our command and with the ship in proper 

 trim we should be able to get her to Melville Island at least, if not 

 farther north. On deciding to make this location our winter quar- 

 ters, I entered in my diary the following reasons why I considered 

 the place not a bad one: 



(1) The only good sledge maker in our expedition was Captain 

 Bernard at Cape Kellett. We had left with him what material 

 for sledge making we had been able to get at Herschel Island, 

 and it had been my intention, however far north the Polar Bear 

 was able to go, to make a trip back to Kellett during the winter 



