72 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



impression is that we should probably have plain sailing if we 

 could only round Point Barrow itself. 



The wind is dying down, and that may mean that a change 

 is coming, the change we have all been waiting for. 



This heavy ice is also bad for the imprisoned whalers ; they 

 must be entirely out of food. The Harald Dollar will probably 

 not even try to pass Point Barrow at so late a date, so the 

 whalers will have to come here. 



The United States S.S. Thetis is as much interested in the 

 progress of the whalers as we are, but for other reasons. There 

 is some trouble on board one of them, and there is a warrant 

 out against her captain, but no ship is in sight yet nothing 

 but ice. 



Saturday, August 18. No change, although it maybe expected 

 every hour. This certainly is discouraging. Captain Hamlet 

 came on board and spent a couple of hours with. us. The wind 

 is breezing up again from N.E. 



Sunday, August 19. Weighed anchor at 8.30, as the current 

 was a little slacker. However, it increased shortly, and before 

 we had been under way an hour its usual speed was reached. 

 The wind was brisk and contrary, but we made good progress 

 all the same and came to a point about four miles N.N.W. of 

 Point Barrow. There the edge of the pack ice formed an 

 impassable barrier, and a few miles further east it lay close 

 on land. We followed it, but with no success. As far as we 

 could see there was only ice, although a dark sky told us that 

 there was open water beyond. We had to return, and anchored 

 in a little cove at the very Point. We are commencing to make 

 plans for the winter with Point Barrow as our base of operation. 



Monday, August 20. Wind and current are the same, so we 

 could do nothing, and I went ashore for a walk. 



There was great joy in Eskimo Town to-day. The William 

 Bailis had caught a large whale, and after it was " cut in " 

 Captain Hamlet let his steam launch tow it ashore. The natives 

 flocked eagerly round the whale and were soon very busy. The 

 men cut out the meat and " mugtook " (the skin of the whale 

 and the favourite dish of the Eskimos), while the women and 

 children straggled through the town with heavy loads of meat, 

 blubber, and " mugtook " on their backs, bound for their different 

 storehouses. The catching of such a whale means a good deal 



