428 FIELD WORK OF THE PEARY ARCTIC CLUB, 1898-1902. 



make the most of the Windward as she was. But her extreme slow- 

 ness (3^ knots under favorable circumstances) and the introduction of 

 a disturbing factor, in the appropriation by another of m}- plan and 

 field of work, necessitated the charter of an auxiliary ship if I did not 

 wish to be distanced in my own domain. The Windward sailed from 

 New York on the 4th of July, 1898, and on the 7th I went on board 

 the Ilojye at Sydney, Cape Breton, and sailed just as the first two-line 

 cablegram came of the battle of Santiago. 



1898-99. 



Pushing rapidly northward and omitting the usual calls at the Dan- 

 ish Greenland ports, Cape York was reached after a voyage uneventful 

 except for a nip in the ice of Melville Bay which lifted the Hope 

 l)odily and for a few hours seemed to contain possibilities of trouble. 

 The work of hunting walrus and assembling my party of natives was 

 connnenced at once; the Windward soon joined us, after which the 

 hunting was prosecuted b}'' both ships until the final rendezvous at 

 Etah, from whence both ships steamed out on August 13, the Wind- 

 vMrd to continue northward, the Hope bound for home. The Wind- 

 vKird was four hours forcing her way through a narrow barrier of 

 heav}" ice across the mouth of Foulke Fjord. Here the Hope left us, 

 straightening away southward toward Cape Alexander, and the Wind- 

 ?/w;Tnieaded for Cape Hawkes, showing distinctly beyond Cape Sabine. 

 At 4 a. m. Sunda}^ we encountered scattered ice ofi' Cape Albert. 

 About noon we were caught in the ice near Victoria, Head, and drifted 

 ))ack several miles. Finally we got round Victoria Head into Princess 

 Marie Bay at 6 p. m. The bay was tilled with the season's ice, not yet 

 l»roken out, while Kane Basin was crowded with the heavy, moving- 

 polar pack. Between the two, extended northward across the mouth 

 of the bay, was a series of small pools and threads of water, opening 

 and closing with the movements of the tide. At 11.30 p. m. on the 

 18th the WindirardXynA worried her way across the ba}' to a little patch 

 of open water close under Cape D'Urville. Here further progress 

 was stopped b}^ a large floe, several miles across, one end resting against 

 the shore and the other extending out into the heavv ice. While cross- 

 ing the bay the more important stores had been stowed on the deck 

 in readiness to be thrown out upon the ice in the event of a nip. 

 Pending the turning of the tide, when I hoped the big floe would 

 move and let us proceed, I landed at Cape D'Urville, deposited a 

 small cache of supplies, and climbed the bluffs to look at the conditions 

 northward. 



August 21. — I went on a reconnoissance along the ice foot to the head 

 of Allman Bay and into the valley beyond. The night of the 21st 

 young ice formed which did not melt again. On the 28th I attempted 

 to sledge over the sea ice to Norman Lockyer Island, but found too 



