THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 675 



Point trip the abundance of animal life at sea. My intention 

 had been to go home, publish the results of this expedition, and 

 organize a second one for the purpose of such a drift, but now our 

 enforced delay of a year gave opportunity for doing the thing 

 directly and without any great expense of time or money, at least 

 compared with the magnitude of the undertaking. Should we re- 

 main in winter quarters idle all winter, the wages of the men 

 would go on and food would have to be provided for them just as 

 if they were working hard and usefully. The party that would 

 do the actual drifting would not be more than five men, and the 

 ship with the rest of her company could proceed home the follow- 

 ing summer, with enough crew still to man her satisfactorily. 



We had sold most of our dogs and disposed of much of the gear 

 needed for exploration. But Mr. Gordon at Demarcation Point 

 and Mr. Harding at Herschel Island had supplies to sell in the 

 way of iron and hardwood that would enable us to build some 

 good sledges. Ole Andreasen was now in charge of a trading post 

 at Shingle Point and I thought it likely that a man with his ex- 

 perience would have for his own use, if not to sell, some good 

 dogs, sledges and primus stoves. And east of there lay the Mac- 

 kenzie delta where I had previously purchased the best dogs we have 

 ever had, and where I felt sure I could get new ones. All the 

 preparations except the purchase of the dogs and sledge materials 

 would be looked after at the winter base. Our party had fortu- 

 nately been augmented at Herschel Island by Anthony Shannon 

 who was a competent worker in metals, and Peter Donohue who 

 was an excellent carpenter, both former members of the crew of the 

 Challenge. When I came aboard the Bear I had found them as 

 passengers on the way out to Nome. 



Although this projected journey was one of the most interesting 

 and important that the expedition had undertaken, I must cover 

 the preparations for it in a few paragraphs. As soon as the ice 

 was thick enough for sledge travel, Storkerson and I with several 

 teams proceeded east along the coast. At Gordon's we were as- 

 sured of cooperation and were able to secure one good sledge. At 

 Herschel Island the Mounted Police detachment was under the 

 command of Inspector Tupper, a grandson of the great Sir Charles 

 Tupper, one of the makers of Canadian history. As always, the 

 Police would do what they could to help, and Mr. Harding for the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, equally friendly, had moderately good 

 sledge materials for our needs. Storkerson did not go farther but 

 devoted himself to freighting various supplies from Herschel Island 



