THE SINKING OF THE KARLUK 
91 
going with coal from the galley locker. At times 
I would take a look into the engine-room, being 
careful not to get too far from an exit; the water 
was nearly up to the deck. 
At 3.15 p.m. the ice opened and the ship began 
to get lower in the water. Then the ice closed up 
again for a while and supported her by the bow¬ 
sprit and both quarters. About half past three she 
began to settle in earnest and as the minutes went 
by the decks were nearly a-wash. Putting Cho¬ 
pin’s Funeral March on the Victrola, I started the 
machine and when the water came running along 
the deck and poured down the hatches, I stood up 
on the rail and as she took a header with the rail 
level with the ice I stepped off. It was at 4 p. m. on 
January 11, 1914, with the blue Canadian Govern¬ 
ment ensign at her main-topmast-head, blowing out 
straight and cutting the water as it disappeared, 
and the Victrola in the galley sending out the 
strains of Chopin’s Funeral March , that the Kar~ 
luh sank, going down by the head in thirty-eight 
fathoms of water. As she took the final plunge, 
I bared my head and said, “Adios, KarlukT It 
was light enough to see and the rest of the party 
came out of the camp to watch the end. As she 
went down the yards lodged on the ice and broke 
off; in such a narrow lane of water did she dis¬ 
appear. 
