ACROSS PACIFIC OCEAN AND BEHRING SEA 43 



and more fathoms of water. Everybody on board stood the 

 strain well, and not one man showed by his actions that he 

 was afraid. I feel sure that there was not one of us who had 

 not made up his mind that the gates to the world beyond 

 were kept open to receive us at the time when the water was 

 shoalest. 



The gale spent itself in the course of the night and the fog 

 suddenly lifted, showing us the Diomede Islands to the south 

 at a distance of about fifteen miles. To the west we could see 

 the bold highlands of East Cape, and far away Cape Prince of 

 Wales was hovering upon the horizon. 



We had hoped for fair wind after the calm, but towards 

 night a south-easterly wind began to blow again. Once more 

 the fog settled down around us, and we were doing our best to 

 beat up southward. At 10 P.M. we barely escaped stranding 

 on East Cape. I happened to look up, and there it was, the 

 top looming out through the fog, and looking as if it were 

 right over our heads. 



To put down the helm was a matter of seconds. The Duchess 

 of Bedford swung round, went through the wind, and looking 

 over the stern we could see the breakers some few cable lengths 

 distant. We had twenty fathoms of water immediately after 

 going about. 



The whole of July 10 was spent in sailing backwards and 

 forwards across Behring Strait, through heavy fog and with 

 reefed down sails. Our only guide, a very poor one, was the 

 lead. 



The temperature of the water was of some assistance, as it was 

 comparatively cold close under the Siberian coast, about i C., 

 while it was about 4 C. under the Alaskan coast. But even 

 so, sailing in the strait was more or less a matter of pure 

 chance, as we might strike the rocks or the beach, in spite of 

 the greatest care. 



At 3 A.M. on July n the weather cleared once more, and 

 again we could see the two extremities of the new and the old 

 world rise black and sinister out of the water, with streaks of 

 snow intensifying the blackness of the rock. 



At 10 A.M. we got a fair wind, which increased rapidly, and 

 we were again making time toward the south. Just before 

 we came to the Diomede Islands something very exciting 



