VOYAGE TO THE BAY 23 



blankets, laid down for a deserved rest. The following days 

 were spent in drying and cleaning the skins and other articles 

 saved from the wreck, and in hunting and fishing, neither of 

 which was successful. 



During these days the weather became cold, and several 

 inches of snow fell, which added to the discomfort of our tem- 

 porary shelter. Early on the afternoon of the 3rd of October 

 the smoke of the Neptune was seen far down the inlet, and she 

 came to anchor at dark in a harbour about ten miles to the east 

 of the camp. Captain Comer, of the Era, in one of his whale- 

 boats manned by natives was the first to arrive the next 

 morning, and was followed later by three of the ship's boats. 

 Ropes were fastened to the launch and boats, and as the tide 

 ros'e the wreck was lifted from the bottom and buoyed into 

 shoaler water alongside the island, where it was left until the 

 next tide. Leaving sufficient men to continue the work, 

 Captain Bartlett and the writer started in the whaleboat, 

 double-manned, for the ship late in the afternoon. We had gone 

 only a short distance when a heavy snowstorm came on. We 

 continued rowing in this very thick weather until ten o'clock, 

 when, within a couple of miles of the ship, we were obliged to 

 stop owing to the intense darkness. We landed on a small island 

 and made a partial shelter from the storm by placing the boat 

 sail against a low cliff. The quarters were so small that all 

 were obliged to stand, and so the night was passed. Uext 

 morning it took two hours to dig the sail from under the snow, 

 after which we resumed our journey to the ship and only 

 reached it by the help of a long line attached to a keg, paid out 

 to us from the ship, which was reached at eleven o'clock, after 

 an exciting and exhausting twenty-four hours. 



The crew of the dinghy had made excellent time on their trip 

 to Fullerton to seek relief. The first night they made only a 

 few miles, being very tired and having a strong tide against 



