808 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
quicker. The only thing I was afraid of was that 
we might get thick fog or snow and be delayed in¬ 
definitely. 
On the afternoon of the twenty-fourth we met 
the ice, large loose pieces similar to the ice I had 
seen off the southern end of the island on my way 
across with Kataktovick. The weather became 
hazy and then we had the fog that I was fearing. 
All the square sails were taken in and we slowly 
steamed to the northwest. At eight p. m. the engines 
were stopped and the ship was headed east half 
south. During the afternoon countless birds were 
seen, denoting the proximity of land; it seemed as 
if we must soon be there. During the next day the 
ship worked slowly towards the island again and 
at ten a. m. we met a lot more large, loose ice. We 
were now between fifteen and twenty miles from 
the island and if the fog had lifted should have been 
there in a short time and had the men off. We 
had about ninety tons of coal in the bunkers. All 
day long on the twenty-fifth it was thick, but we 
could see a mile or so ahead and were still going 
along easily, just keeping the ship under steerage¬ 
way. Finally, at eight o’clock in the evening, the 
engines were stopped, the ship was hove hull to 
and allowed to drift. The next day the wind had 
hauled to the north-northwest and sent us drifting 
