CEUISE OF STEAMER COEWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 19 



to trade to the natives ami each took a native wife. The wife of the younger, and mother of the 

 child, died in giving her birth. According to native belief the white man was responsible for her 

 death and, in pursuance of their doctrine of blood for blood, must be killed. Accordingly, one 

 night an attack was made on them, in which the father was killed and the other driven oft'. The 

 child has since been cared tor by a relative of the mother. The natives were very reluctant to 

 speak of the matter, fearing trouble to themselves, and it is possible that the story as told by them 

 may not be entirely true. However that may be, the main facts remain the same. This beautiful 

 little child is growing up in ignorance, surrounded by filth and vice in their worst forms, and 

 unless some friendly hand is stretched forth to save her, her fate is easily foretold. Although so 

 far away she is easily reached. Almost any of the whaling captains would take her on board their 

 vessel and carry her to Sau Francisco, if assured that she would be provided with a good home 

 and properly cared for. 



On the afternoon of the 13th a sail was reported entering the bay, and soon after the whaling 

 bark Thomas Pope, Capt. M. V. B. Millard, made fast to the ice near the Corwin, being homeward 

 bound with a full cargo of bone and oil, and having called into Plover Bay for fuel and water. 



On the 14th we worked all day, drawing coal on the sleds, assisted by the natives aud two 

 sleds with three dogs each, but the rapidly melting ice made it very tedious. On the loth we 

 continued work, although the softness of the ice compelled us to reduce the loads to one-half their 

 former size. About 4 p. m. a slight roll of the vessel was perceptible, indicating a swell comiug 

 in from the outside. At the same time a slight undulating motion of the ice was observed. This 

 was followed by cracks in the ice running in every direction, and we had barely time to take in 

 our ice anchors, call our men on board, and take the Thomas Pope in tow before the ice was all 

 broken and in motion and rapidly drifting toward the mouth of the bay. At first it looked as if 

 we might have to go to sea to avoid it. The wind by this time was blowing fresh from the north- 

 east with a thick snow-storm, and, judging from the roll coming into the bay, a heavy sea must be 

 running. Added to this was the fact of the sea being filled with large fields of heavy drift ice, 

 making the prospect anything but a pleasing one. After lying oft' outside the ice for an hour or 

 two, and just when it seemed as if our only hope was in putting to sea, Captain Millard reported 

 from the mast-head that the whole body of ice had started off-shore, and that if we could get in 

 through it we could find good anchorage in clear water. Although the ice was pitching and rolling 

 badly, it was well broken up, and we determined to make the attempt, and succeeded better than 

 I had anticipated, and about midnight we came out into clear water, aud anchored near the shore 

 in 12 fathoms, the Thomas Pope comiug to just outside of us in 20 fathoms. During the night the 

 wind moderated, and the Hood-tide brought much of the ice back into the bay, so that in the morn- 

 ing we were again entirely surrounded by it, and the boats sent away to till water being unable to 

 return to the vessel, we were compelled to get under way and pick them up. We succeeded iu 

 getting on board a supply of water during the day, and as the bay was so tilled with drift ice that 

 we could do nothing coaling, we got under way early on the morning of the 17th, and, taking the 

 Thomas Pope in tow, worked out through the drift ice and down past the sand spit. At the entrance 

 of the bay we found a small field of heavy sea ice. A heavy swell rolling iu from seaward made 

 the ice tumble in such formidable manner that I did not care to venture into it with a vessel in 

 tow ; so just before reaching the edge of the floe we rounded to, sending our mail-bag on board the 

 whaler. Wishing her good- by and a pleasant pas.- age, each entered the ice on his own account. 

 After tumbling and bumping along in it for au hour or more we came out into clear water, none 

 the worse for our experience, the whaler shaping a course for the Ounimak Pass and the Corwin for 

 Norton Sound. 



On the afternoon the weather became foggy, necessitating a constant use of the lead. At 8 

 p. m. we were off the northwest end of Saint Lawrence Island, as shown by the soundings, which 

 are here very regular and an excellent guide to the passage between Saint Lawrence Island and 

 the mainland. These soundings are very correctly shown on the American Hydrographic chart of 

 Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. 



On the morning of the 18th the weather cleared, and we steamed to the eastward all day, with 

 clear, pleasaut weather. This was the first flue day w*e had experienced since sighting the Aleu- 

 tian Islands, and almost the first without a snow-storm. All enjoyed the change very much. The 



