ACROSS PACIFIC OCEAN AND BEHRING SEA 29 



light that, when later on we tried to beat out, we could not get 

 the ship to stay, and more than once came very near to beach- 

 ing her again. At last we gave it up, and at 7 P.M. we anchored 

 in the same place which we had left in the morning. 



On June 15 we had better luck, and though we made slow 

 progress and again drifted dangerously near the rocks, we got 

 out and went along before a fair breeze. There were many 

 uncharted rocks along the south coast of Kodiak Island, and 

 we had to keep our eyes well open to see the breakers through 

 the thick weather. Often we discovered them too late, and 

 had to change our course so rapidly that the mainsail came 

 over with a bang which shook the rigging as well as the ship. 



Night came ; it was very dark and the weather was thick. 

 We had to use our utmost vigilance in order to avoid breakers 

 which showed themselves close at hand and in the most 

 unexpected places. Of course we did not like this kind of 

 sailing, but we might as well get used to it at once, as we were 

 sure to get more of it up in the Arctic. 



After passing Shumagin Islands we were again becalmed 

 and spent almost three days in the same place, with not a 

 breath of air. It was very depressing, but we tried to pass 

 the time as well as we could. Luckily there was a great 

 amount of codfish in the water, and the catching of them 

 helped considerably to pass away a dreary time as well as to 

 supply a pleasant change of diet. 



During the three days' calm we had been drifting towards 

 the north-west, but it had been cloudy, so that we could not 

 get any observations. The consequence was that when the 

 fog cleared on Wednesday morning, June 20, we found our- 

 selves surrounded with rocks over which the sea broke con- 

 tinually. We had come too far north, and by good luck had 

 managed to pass numerous breakers during the night without 

 accident. We hauled under the wind and carefully felt our 

 way southward, until we came into the channel between 

 Sannak Island and the rocks to the north. 



The weather had become bad again, but the wind was fair, 

 and we made splendid headway toward Unimack Pass. Before 

 night we saw, through rifts in the clouds, the high volcanoes 

 which mark the east side of the pass, but it was almost dark 

 when the fog lifted sufficiently to allow us to enjoy the splendid 



