MAEIOIST 



EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 



31 



meat was had for the mess, but much seal and whale meat brought 

 out from the Disko Bay region was eaten. 



At 5.07 p. m. a large polar bear and two young ones were seen 

 eating a seal on a near-by ice cake. The ship worked toward them. 

 They tried to escape by swimming and running, but two of them 

 were killed with rifles before they could get away. The third, a cub, 

 weighing about 200 pounds, remained roaring about in the vicinity of 

 the dead bears. A dory was quickly lowered and the small bear was 

 noosed and towed alongside. The two dead bears were hoisted 

 aboard and then the live one, growling and snarling, was lifted to 

 the deck by numerous lines slii)ped about the neck, body, and legs. 

 On the ship it was overjiowered and muzzled by many hands, then 

 dragged forward and thrown into the forehold. After the liatch was 



CLOSE TO A TOWERING K'EBKKc; 



Figure 2.j. — The Mw)-ion has just landed photographers on the iceherg. and is about to 



back away. The manned dory by the ice cake is foi" rescue Wf>rk in case tlie berg 



should break up or turn over. There were numerous icebergs like this one drifting 



■ south witli the pack ice in tlie western portion of Davis Strait. Note the one near 



the horizon between the two masts of the patrol boat. 



dogged down, the bear was a secure captive, though free to rage 

 about among the lines, bags of coal, and paint cans of its large prison. 



At 7 p. m. the weather grew foggy again, but it remained calm. 

 Every effort made to push to the south westward was thwarted by 

 the ice. The ship lurched and shook when it encountered heavy 

 floes, and the corners of the ice cakes cracked and thundered as they 

 scraped aft along the sides. At 8 p. m. the attempt to go southwest- 

 ward was abandoned and the ship was headed southeast in hope of 

 finding more open Avater. After bucking the ice for some 5 miles wo 

 became wedged between floes, from Avhicli |)osition no amount of back- 

 ing and filling could dislodge us. At 10.30 p. m. the engines were 

 stopped and the ship remained drifting quietly southward in the 

 grip of the ice until the next morning. 



Dawn presented a beautiful Arctic scene. We could as well have 

 been at the Pole itself, except for the distant mountains of Baffin 



