58 GREELY RELIEF EXPEDITION. 



but later in the morning the squadron came up to the edge of a large 

 floe and were secured to it with ice anchors to await clearing weather. 

 By 4 p. m. the wind shifted to the eastward and the iog lifted. All 

 conditions being favorable the ships got under way in line, Thetis 

 leading, the Bear following to break through into leads toward the 

 Duck Islands. Near these islands the Alert and Loch Garry were 

 caught by the floes closing up rapidly after the Thetis and Bear had 

 passed through. It was necessary, therefore, to return several times 

 with the Thetis and Bear to break again the floe ice in order to re- 

 lease the other vessels. 



These difficulties overcome, the expedition continued southward, 

 with occasional interruptions, past the Baffin Islands, Cape Shack- 

 elton. Horse's Head, and the Wedge Islands off Tassuisak. In the 

 latter vicinity considerable floe ice was met, that gave some trouble 

 to work through. Its character was found much changed, however; 

 the floe pieces were smaller and the toughness experienced when 

 going north, a few weeks earlier, had disappeared to a great extent; 

 all of it yielded to ramming. At 2 a. m. , July 2, the ships had reached 

 the vicinity of the Berry Islands. 



As we were approaching a region where hidden dangers abounded, 

 signal was made to the ships to reduce speed to 3 knots per hour and 

 to station extra lookouts for rocks, and to follow in wake of the Thetis. 

 To avoid these dangers the commanding officers were piloting from 

 the "crows' nests;" the officers of the deck kept their watch in the 

 tops, and lookouts were stationed on the jib-boom ends. 



About the Berry Islands, a very dangerous region of this coast, the 

 ice was found jammed in against the land, leaving a narrow lead 

 among the rocks off the island. The Thetis and the Loch Garry 

 avoided all dangers; the Bear (following nearly as possible in their 

 wake) ran upon a sunken rock, striking on her keel. She hung for 

 a half hour, until pulled off^ by the Alert and Thetis about 4 a. m. 

 The Bear sustained but little injury; her usual leak was not increased. 

 Her commanding and other officers were constantly mentioned for 

 their vigilance and care of the ship. The grounding on this last occa- 

 sion could not be attributed to any lack of watchfulness. The rock 

 lay fifteen feet under water and must have been passed very "close 

 to " by the Thetis. From this point to Upernavik there are numerous 

 unknown rocks; to avoid them we maintained constant watchfulness 

 and slow speed. This whole coast is unknown and illy surveyed; the 

 small scale of the charts we had did not permit one-half the rocks 

 which abound there to be placed on them. 



Reaching the Brown Islands, north of Upernavik, signal was made 

 to the Alert to proceed to Disco with the Loch Garry under convoy, 

 and to await there the arrival of the Thetis and Bear; during the 

 interval to transfer the houses from her deck to the Loch Garry for 

 transportation to St. John's. 



