CHAPTER LXI 



THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MARY SACHS 



CASTEL and Charlie arrived at Cape Kellett in June to find 

 there Binder and Masik. 

 The Kilian brothers, sent by Captain Gonzales to Kellett 

 early in November with the message to Thomsen suggesting that he 

 make his journey to Melville Island by way of the Bear and Prince 

 of Wales Straits, arrived there to find none but Eskimos, and the 

 report that in two or three weeks Captain Bernard would be back 

 from Melville Island. They decided to wait for his return, but week 

 by week the wait grew longer, and the delay dragged on into mid- 

 winter. When eventually they returned to the Bear they had 

 begun to fear some tragedy, although they appear to have assumed 

 that this would have been on the return journey. When they went 

 to the Bear they took with them the Eskimos, so that Castel now 

 found at the camp only the two white men. 



Castel was now the senior officer at Kellett. He accordingly 

 opened my letter of instructions to Captain Bernard and proceeded 

 to carry them out to the best of his ability. I have already men- 

 tioned what they were: the Sachs was to be repaired and launched; 

 she would then wait for us as late as seemed consistent with her 

 ability to get out to the Pacific. I wanted the main body of the 

 expedition to get home that fall so that the men might be discharged 

 and the great expense of the expedition ended. I have already out- 

 lined how I expected to return with my own party to civilization 

 in case we were unable to reach Kellett before the close of navi- 

 gation. 



Castel's party was ideally adapted to the work in hand. Both 

 he and Masik are sailors of the old type who understand not only 

 how to handle a ship but how to repair hold, sails and rigging. 

 The ship was, of course, very dry after being several seasons out 

 of water, but she was in excellent condition and when the seams 

 that were wide open because of the dryness had once been properly 

 caulked, the swelling of the planks upon launching would make her 

 exceptionally tight. When the major repairs had been made, she 

 was scraped and painted and her rigging thoroughly overhauled. 



655 



