154 THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE 



Siberian coast. The first and second cutter and the 

 whale-boat had to be mounted on their travelling-sledges ; 

 bags had to be made to hold bread, tea, coffee, and sugar ; 

 and sledges had to be overhauled and relashed. To get 

 their weights as exactly as possible, they had to start with 

 an ounce weight and the doctor's scales, and work up by 

 a number of Remington cartridges to a pound. Two 

 empty meat-tins tied to the end of a stick suspended by 

 its centre formed the scale. 



During this time they lived on plenty of food, as they 

 had saved more than they could take with them. The 

 clothing allowance for each officer and man was limited 

 to what he was actually wearing and the contents of a 

 packed knapsack. 



All arrangements having been made, the start to the 

 southward began on the evening of the 18th June. The 

 party had three boats, seven sledges, and twenty-three 

 dogs. Dunbar was sent ahead to select a route and plant 

 flags for the party's guidance. Danenhower, Chipp, 

 Alexey, and Kuehne were on the sick list, but could walk. 

 The five McClintock sledges carried 1659 lb., 1318 lb., 

 1252 lb., 1342 lb., and 1325 lb. respectively. During 

 the first day these loads were found to be too heavy, and 

 De Long saw that instead of being able to advance the 

 boats and provisions in three separate hauls as he had 

 hoped, he must be satisfied if he could do it in six. It 

 was therefore necessary to repack the sledges. Even with 

 the lighter loads, the runners of the sledges were fre- 

 quently doubling under during the first few days. On the 

 20th June it rained steadily for eight hours, and instead 

 of starting as usual at 6 p.m., the party did not get off 

 till 2.30 a.m. of the 21st. Openings in the ice were 

 already met, and caused great delay. Small ice-floes had 

 to be dragged into position to form a bridge over which 

 the sledges were dragged. 



