APPENDIX 697 



whenever conditions were favorable, to keep track of our drift and to be 

 able to place our soundings correctly on the chart. One of my men, 

 Martin Kilian, I detailed to keep a meteorological record which was 

 strictly and continually supervised by myself. 



After our first day's hunt at our new camp (which we did not have 

 occasion to leave in the months that we spent drifting) hunting was 

 done whenever a chance offered. Days in succession the ice would be 

 closed up tight, no water could be seen anywhere and on these days 

 there was no hunting. But whenever pressure occurred from a change 

 of wind or other causes, leads would open here and there, thus giving 

 us open water in which to seal. Our stock of meat and seal fat at times 

 ran low. Repeatedly, in fact, we were down to our last meal. But 

 always before it was gone we had a chance to hunt and so replenish. 

 By the middle of June we had added to our original supply of pro- 

 visions (brought from shore) 42 seals and 4 polar bears, about three 

 tons of clear, boneless meat. This number of animals besides giving 

 us and our dogs all the meat we needed for daily use, was also ample 

 to provide us with a sufficient supply to last through the middle of 

 summer when hunting is difficult. 



After the weather got warm in the latter part of June and the snow 

 and the ice commenced to melt, the fresh water drained off the ice 

 and collected in a layer on top of the salt sea water in the open leads. 



Seals usually lose some of their fat during the early summer and 

 so barely float in the salt water when killed. Therefore, it can be easily 

 understood that a seal which barely floats in salt water will sink when 

 the water is fresh. This was what happened. The layer of fresh water 

 on top of the salt was so deep that with our equipment the animals 

 could not be retrieved. After we had killed a seal we often had the 

 dissatisfaction of lying in our boat above it and watching it sink down 

 through the fresh surface layer ten to twenty feet and then float away 

 on the underlying salt water, without being able to do anything to 

 prevent it. When we commenced our drift we had only 1,000 rounds of 

 ammunition and so could not afford to waste any. 



We therefore had to refrain from shooting seals in this fresh surface 

 water, though we might be able to retrieve an occasional one. So we 

 ceased hunting for a period of two months from the middle of June 

 to the middle of August. At the end of that time the salt sea and 

 the fresh water had had a chance to be mixed by the winds and when 

 young ice first commenced to form at the approach of winter the amount 

 of fat on the seals had also increased appreciably so that they floated 

 with ease and so could be retrieved. Then our hunting was re-com- 

 menced and from the latter part of August till the time that we started 

 on our return to shore, we procured 54 more seals, giving us a total 

 of 96 seals and 6 polar bears secured during the eight months that we 

 spent on the sea ice. 



