CBUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 59 



leani that this body of ice extended from the Arctic shore to near Point Hope and northward 

 nearly to Herald Shoal, leaving a passage but a few miles in width between it and the point of ice 

 from the northern pack, which extends down in that direction. In what are called icy seasons 

 this filling up of the sea is no unusual occurrence. The loose ice along the edge of the pack is 

 driven down by the northeast wind following the western icepack until it strikes the coast of Asia 

 and is deflected eastward past Cape Serdze and across the Arctic Basin to the Americau side, where 

 it is again turned northward by the current which sets along that shore, so that in leaving the 

 Arctic Ocean it is no unusual thing for the whalers to pass inside; the shoal off Point Hope to clear 

 the ice. In fact, as a rule, they sight Point Hope before steering a course for the straits, to avoid 

 this ice in case of thick weather. While steering a course from the vicinity of Herald Island to 

 the coast of Asia in August, 1880, in the Corwin, we encountered ice in latitude GS° 10', and work- 

 ing eastward on about the sixty-eighth parallel with heavy pack-ice to the south and a bright ice- 

 blink to the north, we went to within 30 miles of Point Hope before we cleared its eastern edge 

 and were able to make any southing. While crossing from Cape Lisburne to Herald Island, a few 

 days previously, between the parallels of 69° and 70°, a strong iceblink had been observed to the 

 south of us. The extent of this body of ice at that time was probably 150 miles north and south 

 and 200 east and west, and although we forced our way through it with a steamer, it would have 

 been impossible for a sailing vessel to do so, even at that time ; and there can be no doubt that this 

 field continues to grow larger and becomes more solidly packed as the seasou advances, until it 

 again attaches itself to the main pack and is formed into a solid mass by the new ice. 



The last seen of the missing whalers, as stated, was October 10, at which time they were steer- 

 ing in a northerly direction in search of whales. We now know that they could not have gone 

 north of Herald Island, as the Jeannette was at that time fast in solid pack-ice there. It is prob- 

 able, therefore, that they continued to cruise in the vicinity of the ice near Herald Island until 

 warned, by the making of new ice, that it was time to work south if they wished to escape a winter 

 in the Arctic. This did not occur until about October 18, according to Captain Bouldry, of the 

 Helen Mar, who was the last to see the vessels and also the last to leave the Arctic that season. 

 During the night of October 18 the Helen Mar and Mercury anchored in company near Herald 

 Shoal, and on the following morning were surrounded by newly -formed ice, which held them fast, 

 and continued to increase in thickness until all hope of being liberated again that season was given 

 up. In this extremity they united their forces on board the best vessel, the Helen Mar, and taking 

 from the Mercury what provisions could be moved, as well as the blubber, which could be used 

 either as .food or fuel, they prepared for the worst. To give an idea of the nature of this new ice 

 with which they were surrounded it may be mentioned that the blubber and other articles trans- 

 ferred from the Mercury to the Helen Mar were drawn on sleds, in loads of nearly a ton weight, 

 by a crew of fifteeu men. A few days later a gale occurred and broke this newly-formed ice, and by 

 hard carrying sail the Helen Mar forced her way through it, and, passing between the northern 

 pack and the heavy field ice to the south, succeeded in reaching clear water off Point Hope, and 

 by passing so close to Cape Prince of Wales that she touched ou the dangerous shoal before referred 

 to off that cape, she succeeded in getting through the strait about November 1. 



It is probable that the two missing vessels had, with the exception of the final escape, a similar 

 experience. Finding themselves frozen in they decided to take their chances together, and for 

 some reason the Vigilaut seems to have been chosen as the vessel upon which to trust their for- 

 tunes. Just why this selection was made cannot be stated, as the Mount Wollaston was, I believe, 

 generally regarded as the better vessel of the two. Put she may have already met with an acci- 

 dent which necessitated her abandonment. The Vigilant had ou board an extra supply of provis- 

 ions, fuel, and clothing, taken with a view to the possibility of wintering at Point Barrow, pro- 

 vided a harbor could be made at Port Moore, while the Mount Wollaston was fitted for the summer 

 cruise only. Should it have been necessary to make the change from one vessel to the other hur- 

 riedly, or wheu surrounded by heavy drift-ice which would render a transfer of these articles by 

 boats impossible, they would naturally remain by the vessel best fitted in this way. Supposing, 

 then, that the Vigilaut, with both crews on board, had been frozen in at the same time the nelen 

 Mar was and liberated by the same breaking up of the new ice on October 21, being further north 



