70 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



lunch. We have several times been in great danger of being 

 swept upon the ice, and once, with a umiak alongside, we had 

 to anchor to prevent it. We were also aground three times 

 during the forenoon. While we were eating, all the white men 

 from the station came on board, telling us that our vessel was 



MR. HOBSON WITH HIS HALF-BRED CHILDREN, AND MR. LEFFINGVVELL. 



[ON THE LEFT.] 



the second boat in ; a small motor schooner had beaten us by 

 less than one day. 



We weighed anchor again, one hour later, and went outside 

 the ridge in order to cover the rest of the distance as fast 

 as possible. Messrs. Hobson, Gordon, and Hadley, from the 

 whaling station ashore, went with us, and they told us the sad 

 news that the ice was still on Point Barrow and that no passage 

 to the east was possible. 



The Mount Ray, the vessel that had come in before us, 

 had been round the Point, but had been able to go only a few 

 miles ; from the crow's-nest only ice had been visible, and no 

 water at all in sight. Not very cheerful news, to be sure, but 



