Report on the expedition. 23 
We decided to remain in Danmark’s Havn for three days in order 
to give the dogs the much needed rest, hoping to get the animals so fit 
that we could reckon on bringing them all back to “Alabama”. But 
the weather kept on being bad, and we had continuous storms with 
snow until Dec. 2., when at last we resumed our journey, hoping in spite 
of the darkness to reach the “Alabama” in ten days. 
This proved a false hope, as the going was very hard in consequence 
of the heavy snowfall, which had left a deep layer on the ice. The 
snow was quite soft underneath a thin crust, which could neither carry 
men, dogs nor sledges. Already on the first day from Danmark’s Havn 
Lieut. JORGENSEN was so unfortunate as to freeze his feet very severely 
and could not do much work, but luckily he was able to walk all 
the way in spite of the fact that his feet became blistered and later on 
inflamed. They froze repeatedly, as our footgear was too small to 
allow room for the large bandages in which they were wrapped, and he 
suffered extremely. But he kept on marching with unparrralled 
courage. 
Two days, Dec. 3rd and 4th, we spent in camp, being compelled to 
do so by a violent storm, and the layer of snow had increased, when 
once more on Dec. 5th we were able to proceed. The darkness prevented 
our seeing anything whatsoever, and when we struck a small pressure- 
ridge, it took us 21% hours to pass it, although its width did not exceed 
300 metres. One dog died, and the rest became rapidly weaker. It 
was impossible to proceed with the weights, which we had on our sledges, 
and everything not absolutely necessary was left in a depot on the top of 
an iceberg on Dec. 6th. To illustrate the darkness it may be mentioned 
that starting on this day at 9,30 a.m., we could not see the face of a watch 
without the aid of a match. We were heading towards Teufelkap, and 
the going was so hard that we had to rest every 10 minutes; were the 
dogs being perfectly played out and one died towards evening. 
At last, on Dec. Sth, we reached the snow-bare ice in Roon Bay, 
in which connection it may be stated that sledging on the east coast of 
Greenland is always better along a coast facing east or south than a 
coast facing north or west. The same conditions will be found, wherever 
the direction of the land is such that the prevailing winds blow across 
it at an angle, and the higher and steeper the coast, the less snow on 
the ice. The influence of a steep coast may be felt far out to sea, for 
instance we passed Teufelkap at a distance of 6 miles and found the 
snow quite hard in spite of its softness further out to sea, and about 
4 miles off the cape we met the first snow-bare spots. 
On Dec. 9th we camped off the mouth of Bessel Bay and became 
once more weatherbound for a period of two days, provisions now 
running very low. 
The journey was continued on Dec. 12th, and sledging under rather 
a steep coast we had very good ice. One dog fell at noon and had to 
be lashed on top of the loads, until we camped, but it died during the night. 
