CHAPTER IV 



THE SEEDS OF TRAGEDY 



OUR second day at Cape Smythe the Karluk, somewhat to our 

 surprise, came into view. The wind was still northwesterly 

 and the ice was densely packed against the land. She was not 

 coming along steaming through any open water, but was being car- 

 ried helpless by a current that was grinding the ice northeastward 

 along the coast. Sometimes she was moving broadside on, sometimes 

 stern foremost, and at all times she was powerless. Her speed was 

 probably about half a mile per hour. When she came near the village 

 it was apparent that she was going to pass us at a distance of less 

 than a mile from shore. Although the ice cakes were drifting, rising 

 on edge, quivering, cracking and splashing, this was all in the slow 

 and nearly uniform way which does not worry Eskimos or other 

 persons used to traveling over ice. So we loaded our umiak on a 

 sledge, loaded other sledges with the supplies purchased, and with 

 the assistance of half a hundred Eskimos and many dog teams 

 belonging to Mr. Brower and to them, succeeded in getting all our 

 gear aboard the Karluk as she drifted by. We then said good-by 

 to our friends, expecting not to see them again for two or three 

 years. 



While at Cape Smythe we learned that had we come along 

 two or three days earlier we should have found nothing but open 

 water and there would have been no trouble for either a steamer 

 or a sailing vessel to get around Point Barrow, the extreme tip of 

 which is about ten miles northeast from Cape Smythe. Two ships 

 had, in fact, passed around safely and easily, the Elvira, com- 

 manded by Captain C. T. Pedersen, and the Polar Bear, com- 

 manded by her owner. Captain Louis Lane. 



A mile or two beyond Cape Smythe while we were still being 

 ground along by the ice, the Karluk began to creak. The ice did 

 not appear very heavy and a discussion arose among the men as to 

 whether the Karluk, if more powerful, might have been able to 

 break her way from the grip of the ice and proceed as she pleased. 

 It was the general opinion aboard that such ships, for instance, as 

 the United States Revenue Cutter Bear, which was expected at 



41 



