BEARS 65 



On July 7, 1909, sailing with difficulty 

 between enormous bergs, we attained latitude 

 73. I had just mounted the bridge after 

 having entered up my diary, when the steers- 

 man informed me that he had seen a bear on 

 an iceberg directly ahead. 



I told him to hold the course, and when 

 towards midnight we arrived alongside the berg, 

 we found not one, but three bears. Two of 

 them, occupied to the exclusion of all other 

 things, were crawling towards a group of seals, 

 who remained quite unconscious of their danger. 

 The third, near the edge of the ice, was stand- 

 ing in water which reached half-way up its 

 legs, tearing to pieces the carcass of a seal. I 

 directed the man at the wheel to steer directly 

 for this latter bear, and for a time our approach 

 was unobserved. Unfortunately, the steersman, 

 instead of avoiding the small ice covering the 

 bay, sailed straight through it at full speed. 

 The grinding and smashing of the ice alarmed 

 the bear. I saw it raise its head to examine us 

 and I hastened on to the forecastle to fire as 

 soon as we were within range. The bear was 

 still a hundred yards away to the larboard, 

 when, striking a submerged berg, the ship swung 

 completely, so that the bear was then to the 

 starboard. I ran across the forecastle, and was 



