THE WELLMAN POLAR EXPEDITION 491 



paratively ice-free water, and were at length compelled to stop 

 for good on account of drift-ice in the channel and the rapid 

 approach of winter. 



At Cape Heller they built a hut of rocks. A few pieces of 

 driftwood served for the ridge-pole. The hides of walrus, killed 

 in the water pools of Austria sound, near by, formed the roof. 

 In this hut were accumulated about a ton of stores for use the 

 following spring— sledges, boats, and other articles needed on 

 sledge journeys. Forty dogs were there also, and for their sus- 

 tenance during the winter the flesh of fifteen walruses was cut 

 up in small squares and stored in a bin built of snow-blocks. 

 To protect the hut from the winter's storms high walls of snow 

 were built, and these made the premises look so much like an 

 old-fashioned fortification that Mr Baldwin, leader of this party, 

 named the place Fort McKinley. As soon as everything was 

 made snug for the winter Mr Baldwin, pursuant to his instruc- 

 tions, asked for volunteers to remain at the hut through the 

 winter to guard the supplies and care for the dogs. All five of 

 the Norwegian members of the party offered their services, and 

 great was the disappointment of the three who were not chosen. 

 The two men assigned to the task were Paul Bjoervig and Bernt 

 Bentzen, of Tromso, both sailors, neighbors, and warm friends. 

 Together they had often talked of the pleasure it would be to 

 pass a winter in the Arctics in a little hut well stocked with food 

 and tobacco, and this was to be the realization of their dream. 



Their enthusiasm was not due to inexperience. Paul Bjoervig 

 was a veteran Arctic sailor and traveler, and had been with the 

 Wellman Expedition of 1894 to the north of Spitzbergen. Bernt 

 Bentzen was a member of Dr Nansen's crew aboard the Fram on 

 that famous drift-voyage through the polar seas. Both men 

 were happ}' and well when their comrades left them and started 

 for our headquarters at Cape Tegetthoff, just at the beginning 

 of winter. It is a coincidence that but a few miles to the west- 

 ward of this hut is the spot where Nansen and Johansen passed 

 the winter of 1895-'96 in a similar structure, built out of such 

 materials as could be found upon the ground. 



Meanwhile those of us who had remained at Cape Tegetthoff 

 wcic busy preparing our own house for the long winter. As 

 first erected, the hut was a mere shell, two thicknesses of thin 

 boards with an air-space between, and a roof of two layers of 

 canvas. The house was ten-sided, one of the sections contain- 

 ing a door and two others little windows. With planks converg- 



