ACROSS PACIFIC OCEAN AND BEHRING SEA 55 



showed great ability in using whatever odds and ends there 

 were left. 



Perhaps it was only a case of new brooms sweeping better 

 than the old ones, but upon the whole I was very well satisfied, 

 and it was quite a pleasure to see the cheerful faces of the new 

 crew, and to feel that willing hands did every piece of work 

 which had to be done. 



The weather cleared on Tuesday, July 31, but we were still 

 heading out W.N.W., a bad course for Point Barrow. We 

 saw rather a heavy ice-blink towards the east, but we could not 

 see the ice itself. At noon we were 70 oo' N. lat., and at 4 P.M. 

 we commenced to see some white streaks in the horizon, and 

 before long we were in the ice. 



We still hoped that they were only stray pieces which the 

 prevailing north-easterly winds had blown away from the pack, 

 and not the real thing itself, as we were rather far out and 

 could lay a course for Icy Cape if the wind held. The ice 

 became heavier at 10 P.M., and at midnight Mr. Leffingwell 

 and myself had to talk the situation over. We did not like the 

 idea of getting into the real pack, but as long as we had slack 

 ice we might as well keep on, as the ice-blink we had seen to 

 the east of us did not promise well for that direction. We 

 decided to continue until we ran into the heavier pack, then 

 make about and go towards the shore. 



To pass Point Barrow before the 5th of August, the date 

 Captain McClure passed it in 1852 (H.M.S. Investigator), had 

 been our secret ambition during the latter part of our journey. 

 If the ice were passable along the shore from Point Belcher to 

 Point Barrow, we still hoped to be able to do so, but we had 

 grave fear as to the condition of the ice, a fear which our 

 experience later on amply justified. 



