PREPARING FOR WINTER 
Roosevelt could get here) is not indispensable, 
and accordingly all precautions against her 
loss were taken. 
It is a fact that Arctic expeditions have 
lost their ships early in the season and in spite 
of the loss have done successful work. The 
last Ziegler Polar Expedition of 1903-1905 
is an example. In the ship America they 
reached Crown Prince Rudolph Island on the 
European route, and shortly after landing, in 
the beginning of the long night, the America 
went adrift, and has never been seen since. 
It is not difficult to imagine her still drifting 
in the lonely Arctic Ocean, with not a soul 
aboard (a modern phantom ship in a sea of 
eternal ice). A more likely idea is that she 
has been crushed by the ice, and sunk, and the 
skeleton of her hulk strewn along the bottom of 
the sea, full many a fathom deep. 
However, the depressing probabilities of the 
venture we are on are not permitted to worry 
us. The Roosevelt is a "Homer" and we con- 
fidently expect to have her take us back to 
home and loved ones. 
In the meantime, I have a steady job 
37 
