656 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



The sails and rigging were found either in good condition or capa- 

 ble of satisfactory repair. Binder knew how to run an engine but 

 was primarily a mechanic and admirably adapted for making the 

 repairs. We have mentioned that one of the propeller shafts was 

 broken when Wilkins was bringing the ship from Bathurst to 

 Kellett in 1914. Naturally the propeller was lost. There was a 

 spare shaft which Binder was able to put in and a spare propeller, 

 not very satisfactory, however, as it was rather too large for the 

 power of the engine. 



In the first days of August everything was ready for launching 

 and they began to shove the Sachs off gradually with jack screws. 

 On the evening of the sixth she was really afloat although her bow 

 still rested on the beach. At first she leaked rapidly, as was ex- 

 pected on account of her excessively dry condition, but inside of 

 two days the seams had closed up so that she had to be pumped 

 only four minutes per hour. This was a happy contrast with her 

 condition when Wilkins brought her north, for his report said that 

 on that voyage she had to be pumped forty minutes per hour. 

 In fact, there appears to have been little water that came in after 

 the first day except some through the stuffing boxes and a little in 

 the bow. That there was a leak in the bow was a minor slip. 

 They had had occasion to nail some blocks to the outside of the 

 ship and had done this with spikes so large that they had penetrated 

 the planking. The spike holes they had forgotten to plug up and it 

 was through them the water was coming in. However, a leak of 

 four minutes per hour will never prevent a ship from sailing where 

 she likes. 



On the evening of the sixth the launching was practically com- 

 pleted and the men were rejoicing that their months of hard work 

 had come to so successful a close. Next day when the vessel was 

 fully afloat they intended to go under power three miles east to 

 Baur Harbor and stay until it was time to sail. Had the engines 

 not been available they could have sailed her to Baur Harbor, and 

 even without sails she could have been "tracked" with a rope along 

 the sandy beach. 



Castel's intention when the ship was safe in Baur Harbor was 

 to leave one man aboard, to pump if necessary and to take care 

 of her generally, while he went with the other two men down to 

 the tip of the sandspit and began a survey with soundings of the 

 bay behind Kellett with a view to ascertaining whether there might 

 be a harbor suitable for big ships. Baur Harbor in 1917 would 

 not admit a vessel of more than ten feet draft (the Sachs drew 



