INTRODUCTION 



which we had with them, and indeed with most of the others, 

 was their home-sickness. 



Joe Carrol, an old whaling sailor, was picked up off Point 

 Barrow, and made an excellent cook, in which capacity he was 

 engaged after he had done service on deck for a couple of weeks. 



The crew was rather small, but the financial resources of 

 the expedition were so limited that 

 we dared not engage more men. 



The purpose of the expedition was 

 to explore the Beaufort Sea and 

 settle the question as to the existence 

 or non-existence of land north of 

 Alaska. Many geographers believed 

 in the existence of land, but they 

 were hotly opposed by others who 

 maintained that the edge of the 

 Continental Shelf was not far from 

 the American mainland. 



The theory that land existed north 

 of Alaska has been mooted for many 

 years, and as far back as 1854 an 

 attempt was made to solve the 

 mysteries of Beaufort Sea by a sledge 

 trip over the ice. It was Captain 

 Collingson who wintered in Camden 

 Bay from 1853-54 and started in the 

 spring on a sledge trip across the 

 ice. However, the ice was so bad 

 that he could do nothing, and with 



his men disabled he returned to the ship after an absence of 

 only two days. 



The reason why former explorers thought that there might 

 be land north of Alaska was that the ice was always found 

 close in shore and of an exceptionally old and heavy kind. 

 The ice which is a characteristic feature of Beaufort Sea 

 is indeed so heavy and old that it is hard to explain how 

 ice of so formidable a size can be formed in an open Polar 

 sea where the ice is continually drifting out and getting 

 renewed. 



The heaviness of the ice was accounted for by the supposed 



WILLIAM HICKY. 



