Report on the expedition. D 
salik and only discharge him on our return to Iceland, if at that time 
he had not yet recovered. Meanwhile Commander BROCKMEYER kindly 
promised to communicate with the Navy Department so as to get per- 
mission to substitute one of his men in the place of AAGAARD, if it 
turned out to be necessary to let him go. 
We left Reykjavik, July 22nd at noon, and made a very quick passage 
to the edge of the ice, which we sighted on July 25th 2 p.m. (65°29'5 
N. Lat. and 33°33’ W. Long). Still under sail we worked our way west- 
wards against a headwind until the following day, when at 6a.m. the 
wind died down, and we had to rely entirely on the motor. The fog — 
the only real hindrance which we met — became so dense that at 10 a.m. 
we were compelled to make fast to an ice-floe, and it was not till 7 p.m. 
that we could continue in slack ice, passing openings of more than two 
miles in extent. 
In spite of the fogbanks, which now and again enveloped the ship, 
we were able to continue till 11,45 р. т. when — on account of the fog — 
it became quite impossible to proceed before 5a.m. on the following 
day, July 27th. 
We reached the open landwater at 8,50 а. т., having thus crossed 
the icebelt in little more than 28 hours and without any hindrance 
from the ice, which consisted of quite small floes and very many icebergs, 
separated from each other by large water-lanes. Our only stoppages 
were such as were made necessary by fogs. 
The crossing of the Angmagsalik Fjord proved more difficult than 
expected, as the fog prevented us from getting a clear view, while ice 
and violent currents made it impossible to keep our course. We reached 
the settlement at 11,30 p.m., having long been in touch with land by 
means of kayakmen, whom we had met and sent on to the governor, 
Mr. JOHAN PETERSEN, with a request to send an umiak to tow us in, 
our motor having refused to work. 
Mr. PETERSEN and his assistant, my old comrade Mr. SOREN NIEL- 
SEN, were both very kind and offered us as much help as possible in the 
matter of dogs. They even gave us their own dogs and induced natives 
who might otherwise not have been willing to part with their dogs to 
sell them to us, and their help was so valuable that two days after our 
arrival, we had secured forty-seven dogs and more than sufficient seal- 
meat to last us as far as Iceland. All were kind in Angmagsalik, the 
native minister, Mr. Rosine and his wife no less than the Danes, and 
it was with regret that we hove our anchor home and proceeded on our 
voyage, now provided with means to carry it out. We left Angmag- 
salik in splendid weather at 6 a.m., July 30th. 
The ice had been very good on our journey towards land, but it 
was still better going out, and we had no trouble whatsoever in passing 
the belt of ice, which hedged in the land. At 10 p.m. the last of the ice 
was left behind, and we set sail for Patrick’s Fjord, which we reached 
