THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 273 



hence very difficult to maneuver, and her speed had been cut to 

 two miles per hour as against six; and third, it was not believed that 

 I was alive. Even under this last head Wilkins had been prepared 

 to go ahead to Norway Island had the ocean been open, be I alive 

 or dead; but in view of the disabilities of the ship and in view of 

 the ice at Cape Kellett, the consideration that he did not expect to 

 find me alive, anyway, weighed heavily with him. There was also 

 the pressure exerted by the opinions of the crew. Levi had explained 

 that any ship going north beyond Kellett would be in grave danger 

 of being unable to get out of the country again the following year, 

 and as they were provisioned for one year only and had orders from 

 Dr. Anderson to stay but one year, they considered it unwise to 

 go on. 



But at Kellett they knew of no harbor in which a ship would be 

 safe, although we have since found a good one for a boat of her 

 draught two or three miles east of where she was actually hauled 

 out. Not knowing of this harbor, they saw no way to keep her 

 safe except to haul her out on the beach. They accordingly un- 

 loaded her, put her broadside against the land, got out their ropes 

 and tackle and hauled her up. There she was when I found her, 

 rather a house than a ship, for it was impossible to launch her with- 

 out beams to slide her back into the water. These beams she did 

 not have and they could not be obtained on Banks Island. 



A tale of minor importance told by Captain Bernard was that 

 Peder Pedersen, whom I had engaged as engineer for the launch 

 Edna, had been unable to run her during the summer and that this 

 had greatly handicapped Chipman in his survey work of the 

 Mackenzie Delta. Chipman, failing to get any use of the launch, 

 had carried on his work as best he could with a whale boat and 

 had, after the delta survey had come to an end, towed the Edna 

 behind the whale boat to Herschel Island. Here she met the com- 

 petent engineers of our ships, Jim Crawford of the Sachs, and 

 Daniel Blue of the Alaska, who in two or three hours put her into 

 good shape. Dr. Anderson, having decided to take the Star to 

 Coronation Gulf, gave the Edria to Wilkins who, not knowing 

 Banks Island conditions, thought she would be worth taking along. 

 Where the Edna could have been valuable was in the eastern work 

 she had been bought for, although the Star was of course better. 

 Coronation Gulf is free from ice most summers and is full of islands, 

 an ideal place for a power launch. But in Banks Island there is 

 so much ice on the west coast that only under rare circumstances 



