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diff --git a/75370-0.txt b/75370-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cb0dcd --- /dev/null +++ b/75370-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2939 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75370 *** + + + + + + DAVID GOES TO GREENLAND + + + BY + DAVID BINNEY PUTNAM + With a Foreword by + CAP’N BOB BARTLETT + + + ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, WITH DECORATIONS + FROM DRAWINGS MADE ESPECIALLY BY THE ESKIMO, + KAKUTIA, AT KARNAH ON WHALE SOUND + + + G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + 1926 + + + + + + + + + To + My Best Friend + WHO REALLY SHOULD + HAVE GONE TO GREENLAND + + MOTHER + + + + + + + + +FOREWORD + + +David has asked me to write a foreword for his book, which I have seen +him working at during these last three months as we sailed northward. +Yesterday I read the manuscript which had just been typewritten from +those painstaking penciled pages of the boy’s. + +As I read I thought more than ever how fortunate David is, first to go +with “Uncle Will” (Dr. Beebe) as far south as the Galápagos Islands on +the Equator last year, and now to North Greenland. For anyone, of +thirteen or thirty-nine, that’s a pretty fine spread and a great +experience. + +I must confess that it was with some misgivings I thought of the +youngster going with us. While it was only a summer trip, almost +anything is likely to happen in the Arctic and there’s always a chance +of having a pretty rough time—hard, anyway, for a boy. But right here, +as the expedition is drawing to a close (and some of it was fairly +strenuous), I must say these misgivings did not materialize. + +David is a thoroughbred and has a real sane idea of getting along. No +one who reads his bully story can fail to realize this. From start to +finish I have watched him closely and he has measured up handsomely to +all, and more, that any observer could require. + +And David is still a boy. He has learned much on the Beebe trip and on +this one, things that will sink deep into his young soul. I believe in +the years to come he will reap well of what he has sown, and what has +been sown for him. School is fine and school must come first. But +surely if opportunity offers to combine such experiences as these with +“book learning,” it seems to me the grandest sort of education. + +I have heard it said that this youngster is having no real boy’s life. +Anyone who feels that just doesn’t know David. They haven’t seen him +with lads of his own age, as I have, on the football field with his +friends at home or with young Eskimos on the Morrissey and ashore in +Greenland. + +David is still a boy, but a boy who has happened to have a rather wide +experience. He’s not a paragon. He’s just plain B-O-Y. And for many +years to come he will remain young, with a young heart and the natural +unspoiled freshness and happiness of youth. And to me, who have not had +many boys around me as I’ve knocked about, it’s been a real pleasure to +have him along. + +I wonder if many boys who read David’s simple story here, with its many +interesting incidents, won’t become jealous. I’m sure I should, if I +could turn the clock back more years than one likes to think about. +What youngster wouldn’t want to go hunting three thousand miles from +home, and see walrus and polar bear and narwhal and all the rest of it? + +That’s really what this book should do. Not really make less lucky boys +jealous, you understand, but stir up their blood and make them realize +that there’s lots in life over the hill and beyond the horizon. A +stirring-up like that won’t hurt them. It’s good tonic for the +youngsters who are lounging away their youth and getting bad starts +fussing around dances and clubs and autos and all that sort of thing, +when they ought to be out getting their hands dirty, their muscles hard +and their minds cleaned out with the honest experiences of the sea and +far places. + +I hope the boys who read their way to Greenland with David in this +little book (and their Dads, too) will become imbued with David’s +spirit and find for themselves worthwhile Ultima Thules. + + + Robert A. Bartlett. + + On Board the Morrissey, + Baffin Bay, + September 5, 1926. + + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I.—Off to Greenland 3 + II.—Through the Straits of Belle Isle 16 + III.—We Reach Greenland 30 + IV.—Along the Greenland Coast 38 + V.—Upernivik and the Duck Islands 49 + VI.—Across Melville Bay 62 + VII.—Shipwreck 72 + VIII.—The Morrissey Repaired 88 + IX.—Our First Narwhal 100 + X.—Our Eskimo Artist 109 + XI.—Walrus Hunting 116 + XII.—Across to Jones Sound 125 + XIII.—Nanook! 135 + XIV.—At Pond’s Inlet 143 + XV.—More Bears 156 + + + + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FACING PAGE + Cap’n Bob Bartlett Frontispiece + “They Set Me to Work with a Paint Brush” 6 + Will Bartlett, Mate; “Skipper Tom” Gushue, Bo’sun; Ralph + Spracklin; and Billy Pritchard, the Cook 7 + David and His Corona 12 + The Skipper Tells David About Taking Observations 13 + David Tries Carrying Art Young Through the Mud 18 + In the Cross Trees 19 + The Morrissey in Jones Sound 26 + A Baffin Bay Portrait of the Author 27 + We Get a Basking Shark at Holsteinsborg 34 + Carl Shows a South Greenland Youngster how to Use a Pathex + Motion Picture Camera 35 + Looking Down Over a Bird Rookery 42 + Nils, David and Matak, Son of Pooadloona 43 + Robert Peary Tries a Kayak 52 + Art Young Tries an Eider Duck Egg from the Eskimo Cache on + the Duck Islands 53 + The King Dog of Governor Otto’s Team, with His Queen 56 + Feeding the Dogs at Upernivik 57 + In a Fjord Back of Upernivik 64 + Tupiks, the Eskimo Summer Houses Made of Skins, at Karnah 65 + The Morrissey on the Reef Off Northumberland Island 74 + View from Shore of the Wrecked Morrissey 75 + Where the Morrissey’s False Keel Ripped Off on the Rocks 80 + When the Eskimos Came to Shipwreck Camp on Northumberland + Island 81 + Art Shoots Ducks Among the Icebergs from the Dory with the + Johnson Engine 90 + Dad Tries His Hand at Netting Dovekies 91 + Carl and Art Try Swimming at the Foot of the Glacier 96 + Up on the Glacier, where the Great Ice Cap Comes Down to the + Sea 97 + Harry Raven, Zoölogist, Shows how to Clean a Narwhal Skull 106 + Working on a Narwhal Skeleton 107 + Kakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches + Used in this Book, on the Morrissey in Whale Sound 112 + Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils 113 + Pooadloona Throws His Harpoon at a Walrus 118 + Walrus on Deck. All the Meat Went to the Eskimos, the + Skeletons and Hides to the Museum 119 + “Halitosis,” the Baby Walrus Roped By Carl 122 + Hoisting a Walrus on Board 123 + Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and + Carl 130 + Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound 131 + Enough for Several Fine Duck Messes 136 + Enjoying Our Atwater Kent Radio 137 + Kellerman “Shoots” Some Eskimos of Inglefield Gulf 140 + Kudluktoo and Matak Show David the Right Way to Eat Narwhal + Hide, a Prized Eskimo Delicacy 141 + Dr. Rasmussen Shows David an Ancient Eskimo Harpoon Head 150 + Two Arctic Hare from Pond’s Inlet 151 + The Polar Bears on the Iceberg 158 + The Polar Bear and Her Two Cubs Swim Away from the Berg 159 + Carl and One of the Polar Bear Cubs He Roped 164 + Art Young and the Bear He Killed with Bow and Arrow 165 + + + + + + + + +DAVID GOES TO GREENLAND + + +CHAPTER I + +OFF TO GREENLAND + + +Last year I went on the Beebe trip to the Galápagos Islands on the +steamer Arcturus which was all fixed up especially for the journey. +This was a scientific expedition down to the Equator to get deep sea +specimens, some of them caught at a depth of nearly three miles. The +islands where we went are on the Equator six hundred miles west of +Ecuador in South America, and going down we passed through the Panama +Canal. + +“Uncle Will”—that’s Mr. Beebe—let me go on the Pacific part of this +expedition as a sort of junior guest. We had many new experiences, some +of them pretty exciting. There was diving in a helmet away below the +surface of the water, and seeing volcanoes in eruption and lava streams +flowing into the sea, and harpooning a big devil fish. Although I was +the youngest member of the party—my twelfth birthday was down at Cocos +Island south of Panama—I was able to have a part in almost everything. +And of course it was great fun. + +Captain Bob Bartlett is a great friend of Dad’s. It was Cap’n Bob, you +remember, who was with Admiral Peary when he first reached the North +Pole in 1909. Well, he and Dad often talked of a Greenland expedition, +which the Captain said could be about the finest kind of a trip, with +lots to do and see. + +The American Museum of Natural History in New York wanted some things +from the North for its new Hall of Ocean Life, as well as Arctic birds. +So Dad said he would organize an expedition and get the specimens they +wanted. Among these are Narwhal, Greenland Brown Shark, walrus, all +kinds of seal and many birds. Of course we couldn’t get all we were +looking for, but even a part of it would make the trip worth while. + +I was told that I could go on this trip to Greenland, and that as soon +as school was over I was to go down to the shipyard on Staten Island +where the Morrissey was being refitted, and that there would be plenty +for me to do there. + +We are to go as far North as about seven hundred miles this side of the +Pole. In all we shall cover more than seven thousand miles and will be +back in October. Perhaps if we’re late Dad will send me down by train +from Sydney, for school. And we’re taking a couple of school books too, +which he says I’ll have to work at when there is time. + +It is certainly exciting to look forward to the adventures which I hope +we will have. I’ve a Newton 2.56 rifle and a twenty-two rifle and I +hope to get a chance to do some shooting, although I think the most fun +will be helping in the scientific and taxidermy work, and in getting +the motion pictures. And part of my job is to write a record as we go +along, to make a little book later. + +Last year Mother took me below the Equator. And this year I’m going +with Dad 780 miles north of the Arctic Circle—that is, if we have luck +with the ice. Anyway, I’m certainly a lucky thirteen year old boy! + +School closed on Thursday afternoon. Friday I went to Dad’s office and +looked over some equipment. He and I had been working over the +equipment and making lists and generally getting ready, for weeks. In +the afternoon we went by ferry to West New Brighton on Staten Island to +McWilliams’ shipyard, where our boat, the Morrissey, was. + +The Morrissey is a two masted Newfoundland fishing schooner. She is one +hundred feet long and has a twenty-two foot beam, and draws about +fourteen feet when heavily loaded. With us now she draws probably about +twelve. Her crew are all Newfoundlanders, wonderful sailors in fair +weather or foul. Captain Bartlett owns her, and Dad and some friends +refitted her, putting in an engine and making many changes to take care +of our party. + +Jim is the tallest of the crew. He is over six feet and looks like a +cow puncher with small hips and broad shoulders. He is a fine ship’s +carpenter. Tom, the boatswain, is the oldest and most experienced. He +can make most anything that belongs on a sailing vessel. He was with +Peary on the Roosevelt on a couple of his trips to the North, including +his one to the Pole. Joe is the biggest man of the crew, and Ralph the +youngest. + +Billy Pritchard is about the most important man on board, to my way of +thinking. He is the cook. Bill is pretty small, but he is a grand cook +and has had lots of experience at sea. He has been in the far north and +has been wrecked four times. When the Morrissey came down from +Newfoundland to get us, when the ship jumped in a heavy sea Billy got +thrown clean out of his bunk across the galley and on top of the stove. +Billy’s helper is Don, who is always very nice to me. + +Our skipper is Robert A. Bartlett who was with Peary and has spent +years of his life in the Arctic and is about the most experienced ice +navigator living today. Cap’n Bob is most awfully nice to me and he and +his brother Will Bartlett, who is the mate, say they will help me learn +the names of the ropes and to box the compass and all that. You see, +I’ve never made a trip on a sailing vessel before, and there is lots to +learn. + +Well, when I got to the ship, a paint brush was stuck in my hand and I +was told to start painting on the hull, as we were then in dry-dock +having a hole bored in the stern for the shaft for the new propeller. +That day I painted pretty near a quarter of the hull and all day +Saturday there was other painting—bunks, lockers, hatch covers, etc. We +had lots of fine Masury paint which had been given to the Expedition. +And there was plenty of cleaning-up work to do. + +The Morrissey is divided into three different cabins. The fo’castle has +six bunks where the crew sleep. It is used for the galley also. You +know, on a ship the kitchen is called “galley.” Aft of that comes the +main cabin where most of us sleep. There is a big table in the middle +of the room which is used for eating, writing, working, etc. There are +twelve bunks and the wireless outfit in this cabin, and a large +skylight put in where the old cargo hatch used to be. + +The wireless is a short wave outfit, run by Ed Manley, who is an +amateur who volunteered for the job and who just graduated from +Marietta College in Ohio. The fine big radio equipment, with which we +expect to be able to talk right to home even from north of the Arctic +Circle, was given to the Expedition by Mr. Atwater Kent and the +National Carbon Company who make the Eveready batteries. + +Then comes the engine room which was once the after hold where they +stored fish and carried coal when the boat was used for freight. All +around the engine are stores, crowded in tight so they can’t possibly +shift when the boat rolls around in a storm. Some of them belong to +Knud Rasmussen and some to Professor Hobbs whom we will pick up at +Sydney. He is going to South Greenland to study the birth of storms on +the Ice Cap there. We are picking up Rasmussen at Disko Island on +Greenland and are taking these stores for him to his trading station at +Thule, near Cape York. Rasmussen is a great Danish explorer and an +expert on Eskimo. + +Astern of the engine room comes the after cabin where the Captain, Dad, +Mr. Raven and Mr. Streeter sleep. There are six bunks, a table, a small +stove and the only chair on board. Over the table is a shelf of books +mostly about the Arctic and adventure. I have some special ones of my +own to read, including Two Years Before the Mast, Doctor Luke of the +Labrador, The Cruise of the Cachelot and Richard Carvel. And then Dad +has waiting for me a couple of school books, Latin and an English +grammar, which don’t sound quite so much fun. + +Most of our own stores are in a special store room next to the galley +and stored in the run and lazarette away aft. On deck we have over +fifty barrels of fuel oil for our Standard Diesel engine which you +probably know burns oil and not gasoline. + +We started on Sunday, June twentieth, from the American Yacht Club on +Long Island Sound. That’s at Rye, our home, and most of the men in our +party visited at home with us before we started. + +It was a hot sunny day, and a great many people came out in launches +and inspected the Morrissey. There was a big lunch party at the Club +and Commodore Mallory gave Dad and Cap’n Bob the flag of the Club to +take North with us. At about a quarter to five we got clear of the +visitors and got the anchor up and started down the Sound. A great many +yachts and small boats were all around us, blowing horns and whistles +and giving us a grand send-off. + +Grandpa’s yacht, the Florindia, took all the mothers and sisters and +wives of our crowd, with my Mother and my little brother June. They +went along with us as far as Sound Beach, Connecticut. And then, when +they had tooted their last salute, and we had answered on our fog horn, +we were actually off for the North. + +Monday was a nice calm day which gave Art Young and myself a chance to +stow our stuff. He bunks just below me so we have to go half and half +on the lockers. Art is the bow and arrow expert who was in Africa +shooting lions. In America he has killed grizzly bear, moose and Kodiak +bear with his arrows. He hopes to try his luck with a polar bear and +walrus. + +Monday morning, our first day out, we saw eighteen airplanes near Block +Island, at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, all headed for New +York. Perhaps they were going to welcome Commander Byrd, who was +expected back in a couple of days, coming home from England after +flying to the North Pole. Dad and Mr. Byrd are friends and he was at +our house a little before he started on his trip in the Chantier. + +There was a fine wind and a pretty small sea running all day. It was +nice and sunny, but very cold, so that we all put on lots of sweaters +and coats. Everyone ate dinner and supper that day. As we were going up +through Vineyard Sound in the afternoon a submarine and a lot of Coast +Guard vessels passed us. + +Then it began to get rougher with a stiff southerly breeze which was +fine for sailing. On the next afternoon we saw a lot of small whales, +about 25 feet long. Two or three of them jumped most out of the water, +and once about fifty yards ahead of our boat I saw one jump completely +out. He looked like a huge bullet. + +That day almost all of our gang were sick, and even a couple of the +crew. I spent most of the time on deck, listening to Mr. Raven and Van +Heilner tell stories about spear traps and the way the Malay natives +made and set traps for animals. + +We were rocking so hard and keeling over so much that often the water +would come in through both port and starboard scuppers. I was looking +through a scupper hole when we hit a big wave and all of a sudden the +water came right in and hit me in the face as I turned around from +watching Captain Bob slack the main sheet. + +Ralph, one of the crew, has showed me how to make chafing gear from +rope. It is used to keep the sails from slapping and wearing out +against the steel cables. And Jim has taught me the names of the sails +and is starting on the ropes. + +The last two days of the trip to Sydney were not so good, with a lot of +fog and some rain. Now and then we heard fog signals on the shore of +Nova Scotia, and when the fog lifted saw the shore and lighthouses. It +is great fun to go up in the crow’s nest. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THROUGH THE STRAITS OF BELLE ISLE + + +We arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning, a few minutes before two +o’clock, and I stayed up to see what happened. By good luck there was +no fog, which made things easier. + +The first thing in the morning we cleaned up our cabin, and afterward +we all went ashore, to a little hotel where we had baths. Bathing on +the Morrissey is a very rare thing, although probably later on we will +use the big round washtub which was meant for clothes but which I +suppose can take us too. When Dad refitted the vessel, at the shipyard +down at Staten Island, they put on the deck a big steel water tank +which holds about 750 gallons. Then there are the water barrels too so +that we really are pretty well fixed. + +Up North, Captain Bob tells me, when we get out of water we just go +alongside an iceberg and pump the water from pools on the berg over to +our tank. For this we have a little pump affair with a piece of garden +hose at each end. The melted water on the bergs is fresh, unless sea +spray has blown up into the pools. + +That morning in Sydney I wrote some letters, to Mother and others. And +then in the afternoon Robert Peary, Art Young, Ed Manley, Fred +Linekiller and myself went over to the town of Sydney in our little +motor launch. Sydney is about five miles away across a big bay, and is +far larger than North Sydney where our ship lies. + +Over there we saw a very big old square rigger with gun ports all along +her sides. She was once a frigate of the British Navy, I suppose about +the time of Old Ironsides. We went aboard and looked around to see if +we could find any loose belaying pins for my collection, but without +luck. + +The next day Dad, Art Young, Carl, Mr. Kellerman and I went off to see +if we could find any trout fishing in one of the brooks which came down +to the bay a few miles from our anchorage. We left our boat on a sort +of beach and walked up the stream to try our luck. There wasn’t any. +After fishing for a while we went back to the boat, which we had +anchored a little off shore. But the tide had gone out and we found her +nearly high and dry in the mud. + +We pushed and we shoved and pulled in mud up to our knees for quite a +time until finally we got her off. Art had no boots on so I tried to +carry him out but he was too heavy. Then we brought the boat pretty +close in and Dad tried to carry Art out. Dad had Art on his back—Art is +a big man and weighs I suppose 190 pounds—and was starting to come out +when the extra weight shoved his feet right down in the sticky mud over +his boots and when he tried to pull up his legs one boot came off and +they both lost their balance and fell into the mud and water. They took +it as a joke and had to walk nearly a mile before we found a place +where they could get aboard easily. + +Over at another beach we ate our lunch which we had brought with us. +And near there Art and I got the first game of the expedition. After +sneaking up on it we charged in. And what do you think we found? + +It was a big clam bed. Altogether we dug about a bushel and that night +we had a fine clam chowder. Not quite as exciting as getting a walrus, +but at least it was fun and we claimed the clams really were the first +game brought back to the Morrissey. + +We saw Newfoundland for the first time on the twenty-eighth of June. It +was a very pretty sight, the mountains with snow on their sides that +had not melted away on account of the very late season. Dad says +wherever one goes it always seems that there is an unusual season. On +some of the hills the sun was shining and on others great shadows were +floating around. In some ways they looked much like the hills in +Montana, rolling and mostly bare. + +We saw three little fishing schooners off the Bay of Islands, which is +a big bay on the western shore of Newfoundland. It took us from four +o’clock until eight to cross the bay. We passed one of these boats +about seven-thirty and heard someone playing the cornet, not very well. +It sounded queer to hear a sound like that come floating across these +far-away waters. + +There was a beautiful sunset, so red that it looked like blood dripping +out of the sky. Ahead the weather looked fine, but astern was a big +black cloud with lightning darting out of it every once in a while. And +it sure did storm. It was so dark that we couldn’t see a thing. On deck +I fell two or three times, as it’s pretty hard to get around in the +dark on account of the deck cargo—barrels, dories, motor-boats and the +Hobbs canoes, beside lots of lumber and rope. + +The wind was blowing like everything and the rain came down in +torrents. Art and myself put on our oilskins and boots and went on deck +to cover up the skylights that were leaking an awful lot. Skylights +never seem to work quite right, anyway. We put canvas and tarpaulins +over them. Water was breaking over our bows. But the Morrissey didn’t +seem to care a bit, and I think Cap’n Bob and Will really seemed to +sort of like it. Cap’n Bob is a wonder and is most awfully nice to me. +He seems to like having me work on the ropes and get into things as +much as I can about the vessel. + +The lightning struck pretty near us once or twice and often the whole +sky was bright with forks of blinding lightning darting about wildly. + +We saw our first icebergs on the twenty-ninth, and from noon on passed +about ten, four of them really big ones. One of them was about fifty +feet high and a hundred feet long. An iceberg is about one eighth above +water and seven eighths below. You can imagine how big the one I +described must really be; and of course later we saw bergs much bigger. +The smaller bergs and pieces of floating ice are called “growlers.” + +Just a week ago we had reports that the Straits of Belle Isle were +frozen over from Labrador to Newfoundland, but the south wind of the +last few days seemed to have pretty well cleaned them out, and we went +through without any trouble. In the Straits we saw two steamers, which +like ourselves were probably making the first passage of this season. + +After leaving the Straits we saw scattered bergs all day until about +four o’clock when we ran into our first real ice. There were lots and +lots of pieces in a huge bunch about three miles by one mile. There +were bergs as big as a good-sized house floating around by the +hundreds. I went aloft with Ed Manley and looked around on the +beautiful sight. The ice was blue on the top and a very pretty light +green underneath. When up in the crow’s nest you can see the bottom of +the bergs a way down. + +In the morning it was pretty foggy and we came close to some big bergs. +Once when I was on deck we saw a berg not a hundred yards away that +looked like a small hotel, about a hundred and twenty feet high and +three hundred feet long. + +For two days we were in the ice pretty nearly all the time. This was +the Labrador Pack, Cap’n Bob said. One morning I woke up from a jolt +when we hit a piece of ice. The bow of the boat goes out of the water +and comes down with all its force and breaks up the ice; or else we +sort of ride along on it a ways until it breaks loose. Anyway, it is +nice to know that the Morrissey is built of good solid oak, and that +there is that extra coating of greenheart sheathing around the outside +to protect her somewhat from the ice. + +There was ice as far as we could see all day long, and some fog. Our +course had been zigzagging in and out and around the ice, and it seems +strange to come upon so much of it so suddenly when just the other day +there wasn’t a bit. It is smooth water where there is a lot of ice, so +we made pretty good time even with all our twisting about. + +One night we had quite a party, to make the time go well. With our +little Pathex machine we had movies, and there was candy and our “foggy +dew” orchestra played between the reels, and Art Young played solos on +his funny cut-down violin which he has taken to Africa and all over on +his hunting trips. “Nanook of the North” was the picture, and Bob +Flaherty, who made it, is a great friend of ours and has told me lots +about the life of the Eskimos up in the Hudson Bay country. By the way, +Dad says that perhaps we will go up there next summer. + +It was quite sunny at times during the day and Dad and Mr. Kellerman +took a great many pictures, both movies and stills. Mr. Kellerman would +go out on the bowsprit and get down on the stays, taking movies of the +prow cutting through the ice. + +It is very exciting to see how the crew take the boat through the ice. +One man is in the crow’s nest, on the foremast. He calls out where to +go and then the man at the wheel repeats his words so as not to make a +mistake. + +You hear the man aloft yell, “Starbo-ard!” + +And then at the wheel the helmsman repeats, “Starbo-ard!” + +Then the boat swings over to port, because when the tiller is drawn by +the wheel in one way the boat goes in the other. + +Altogether for me a pretty interesting and exciting First of July. The +temperature was about 34, just a few degrees above freezing. And +usually at this time of year I am swimming at home! + +One night Professor Hobbs of the University of Michigan gave us a +lecture on the Greenland Ice Cap. He believes that many of the Atlantic +storms start in Greenland. The country, as you probably know, is +practically all ice. There is just a little strip of land around the +shore, especially at the south, which is not covered with the Ice Cap. +It is thought that this may be a mile or more thick, but nobody knows +the exact measurement. The glaciers are tongues of the Ice Cap that +kind of ooze out to the ocean and then break off into icebergs. There +are about three hundred people in the part of Greenland where we are +going, up North. The Greenland Ice Cap and the Antarctic regions are +supposed to be the coldest places in the world, even colder than the +North Pole region. + +When Peary crossed the northern part of Greenland he found that when he +climbed a hill of ice the wind was in his face; and when he went down a +slope the wind was on his back. In other words, that there always +seemed to be a wind coming down from the ice. Professor Hobbs and his +party, whom we are taking to Holsteinsborg, will study these winds, the +movements of the ice and other things. + +One time about our second day in the ice when we were winding in and +out of the leads we saw a black something in the water. I yelled out to +the others to come and see the seal. It was the first northern one I +had seen outside of a zoo or circus. I happened to see this one because +I was out on the end of the bowsprit, with Robert Peary, our chief +engineer, with whom I play around a lot. He is the son of Admiral Peary +who discovered the North Pole. This is his first trip North. He and I +are great friends. + +You probably have heard of Eric the Red. He was a Norwegian who +equipped a ship from Norway in the year 983 and set sail for a land +that had been discovered by one Gunbjorn to the west of Iceland. When +he got to this land he wondered how he could best get people to go +there to live, so he called it Greenland. That was the real beginning +of the present Greenland. After that cattle were brought and raised in +the southern parts. + +Greenland is about fifteen hundred miles long from South to North and +about six hundred miles wide at the widest place. + +We will pick up Knud Rasmussen at Disko Island where, I have read, lots +of fossils have been found. I hope to get some for my collection. At +home I have a small room which we call my museum, in which I am +gathering together quite a lot of really interesting things. Already I +have a lot there brought back from the Arcturus expedition, and things +given me by explorers and travellers who come to our house. One of my +best treasures is a bunch of pieces of the shell of a dinosaur egg, +given me by Roy Chapman Andrews, the man who first found these eggs in +Asia. They are ten million years old. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WE REACH GREENLAND + + +Our first sight of Greenland was on Monday, July fifth. It was very +pretty with the great lofty mountain peaks sticking up out of the fog +with snow on their tops. All afternoon we followed along the shore +northward, and pretty well out. We had come a long way over from the +other shore at the Straits of Belle Isle, and what with fog and +currents and the ice we had dodged through, it was hard to be sure +exactly where we were. + +The next morning Captain Bartlett was worried because there was a +strong breeze blowing and we did not know whether we had passed our +port or not. We wanted to get in to Holsteinsborg. On account of the +fog and mists he had not been able to take observations. + +We kept a constant lookout with the glasses and about nine o’clock saw +something like a big white flag being waved near some small huts on +shore. Probably it was a dried seal skin or something like that. Anyway +the Greenlanders were signalling us, and we stopped because we were +very anxious to get someone on board and find out exactly where we +were. + +We put over a small boat, and Dad, Peary the engineer, the Mate and +Carl went ashore and brought the first man back to the boat. Three +kayaks came out to meet them. Carl spoke Norwegian to them and asked +where Holsteinsborg was. He didn’t understand so we showed him a chart +and named the place. He understood that and made motions that he would +show us the way there. + +It was great fun to see him go up and down in the little kayak without +tipping over. The kayak is the native Eskimo boat, a sort of little +canoe made of seal skin stretched over a light frame of small wood. It +is decked over all except for a hole, or sort of cockpit where the man +gets in sticking his feet out forward out under the deck, where it is +only about six inches deep. They have a kind of skin covering that fits +over the opening of the cockpit and ties up around their waist tightly +so as to keep the water out entirely. The paddle is all one piece of +wood, with a blade on each end. They use it holding it in the middle +and dipping first one side and then the other. In South Greenland the +paddle usually has bone on the end and is smooth in the handle. The +northern Eskimo usually has no bone on the paddle, and has a couple of +notches cut for each hand hold. + +Harry Raven drew pictures of Arctic animals and the Eskimo gave us +names for them in his language. + +We arrived in Holsteinsborg about four o’clock. It has a very good +little harbor just inside the mouth of a fjord. A fjord is an +indentation in the land, like a long narrow bay or sound, and usually +the hills rise steeply on both sides. Dad says this Greenland scenery +is very much like Norway. + +The houses are all different colors making a very gay sight. There was +a little red church on top of the hill, and all around the bottom was +the village, houses made mostly of wood with sods around them to keep +the cold out. Some of the native sod houses had tunnels leading into +them like the igloos of the North. + +The place where we landed was a little dock with a cannery on one side +and a big sort of rack for kayaks belonging to the Eskimos on the +other. + +I had great fun trading at Holsteinsborg. Three of the sailors, Jim, +Joe and Ralph, and myself went on shore with some old shirts and one +pair of old pants. We went into about ten or fifteen of the huts. There +were only about twenty-five huts in the town. They were one-roomed +houses with a raised sort of platform for a bed in the back of the +room. The cooking and everything was done in the same room. The whole +family sleep in one bed. The houses were very stuffy and smelt of skins +and dogs. The dogs were all over the place, even lying in the tunnels +so that you could hardly get through. + +At nine o’clock that night we left for a fjord called Ikortok, to drop +Professor Hobbs and his party. We went inland about forty miles. We +tied three dories together making a raft to move his stuff in from the +boat. One trip the raft was a little too heavily laden and almost went +down when one of the dories partly filled up with water. + +While the last part of the unloading was going on, Dad, Carl and I went +off to try the fishing, without any luck. On shore we saw a bird’s nest +that looked as if it might be a good specimen. We tried to get at it, +climbing up a cliff, but couldn’t. + +When we went out from the land in our little boat we were in very +shallow water. The propeller of our Johnson engine hit the bottom and +the little engine jumped loose and fell overboard. Luckily we were able +to get it again. We rowed all the way back to the Morrissey, as the +engine was full of salt water and couldn’t be made to run. The tide was +coming in the fjord with great force and it was a hard row, about four +miles. When we came to a beach we pulled the boat up and worked on the +engine. I took our gun to try and get some birds for eating or for +specimens. By the time I was up at the other end of the beach they had +given up hope of drying the engine and started to row, calling out that +I was to walk back along the shore as that would make the rowing +easier. I didn’t like the idea much but I either had to walk or stay +there. I had on native skin boots called kamiks which made it pretty +hard to walk on rocks. I was afraid of dogs, too, because we had found +a litter of dog pups on shore not far from where the Morrissey was +anchored. And a mother dog in the North is apt to be as fierce as a +wolf when she has pups. I saw one a few hundred yards away so I sat +down behind a rock and waited for him to move on. + +When I reached the shore near the boat they sent in a dory to take me +off. + +The next day we stopped at some little villages along the fjord. The +Eskimos came out in small boats and kayaks, to trade with us and to see +the white men and their strange schooner. They brought out a porpoise +because we asked for any fish they had, for specimens. + +That afternoon we arrived at a big bird rookery. It was a wonderful +sight. The whole side of the cliff was covered with thousands of +kittywakes nests. That is a sort of small gull which sometimes gets +down to New York in the winter. The birds were making a terrible noise, +chattering continuously. + +We went up beside the cliff in dories and shot a few birds for +specimens and others for eating. We took movies of the birds flying +around the cliff. At a distance the flying birds, great clouds of them, +looked like a blizzard. + +Then we started for Holsteinsborg to drop two men we had picked up +there. We arrived at three o’clock in the morning and instead of having +the Morrissey go in, we sent them in in the launch, as we wanted to go +on to Disko as fast as we could. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ALONG THE GREENLAND COAST + + +We hit bad weather going north to Disko and had to go in for shelter +behind some small islands about forty miles from Holsteinsborg. There +were no people there. We caught a few fish and shot some birds for +specimens. + +On one island there were three deserted sod huts. They were all muddy +and full of fish and seal bones. + +When we came back from the huts I went fishing with two of my friends, +Jim and Ralph. We went away outside in the dory where it was quite +rough—at least I thought so. We caught a few rock cod. Jim had a great +big halibut right alongside but the fish gave a flip as he was trying +to land him and got free from the hook just as he was hauling him over +the gunwale. + +One night when some Eskimos came on board along the coast we showed +them movies of Eskimos harpooning walrus to see how it would strike +them. These movies were given in our little mid-ships cabin, where we +eat and most of us sleep, with our Pathex projector thrown on a small +screen Fred made from the table oilcloth. + +When the harpooned walrus pulled the Eskimo hunter, our guests shouted +and grunted. It was very funny. They had heard of movies but had never +seen any. After the northern pictures we showed some from the South Sea +islands. The Eskimos had never seen people in swimming so they didn’t +know quite what to make of it. When they were asked by a friend of ours +who speaks Eskimo what they thought of it, they only said that they +liked them all very much, especially a picture showing lions playing +with an animal trainer. They had never seen any animal like a lion. +There isn’t a cat, for instance, in all Greenland, we were told. + +It is great fun to see the boats come out and meet you and the Eskimos +that are entirely different from us and can’t speak a word of English +except for words like shirts or sugar or coffee that they have heard. +For such things as these they want to trade boots and purses and skins. +And in the south they make little kayaks and knives and pen holders and +such things out of the ivory of walrus tusks. + +They have some very nice hats made of fur and eiderdown. One man +brought two little toy kayaks up to me with all the equipment on them, +even the little rack to hold the harpooning line, with a tiny model of +a man sitting in the kayak. I got one of these for my little museum at +home. For this one he wanted an old pair of pants, or some tobacco. +Even the women want chewing tobacco. I got some very pretty purses made +of seal flippers, with bone latches. It is hard to find trinkets for +all of one’s friends at home. + +The Eskimos on the whole are very nice and honest. Most of them can +play the accordion, and they seem to be very musical and they certainly +love to dance. + +We have lots of things on board for gifts and trading, especially to +give in return for help and labor. Money isn’t much good up here. Our +stores include axes, knives, beads, needles, tobacco, pipes, candy, +etc. Both men and women love gay colored cloths and small mirrors +always go well. + +At one of the villages we saw a lot of dogs eating a decayed shark. +After the shark has been dead for a few weeks ammonia seems to form in +the meat. The dogs love it and after eating it they seem to get sort of +tipsy and can hardly walk. + +Fred Linekiller, the taxidermist, is showing me how to skin birds. It +is very interesting to do it. The first thing to do when you shoot a +bird is to put cotton in the wounds and in the mouth so the blood will +not run out on the feathers. After that a needle is put through the +nostrils and the beak is sewed together, so the cotton won’t come out. +Then the feathers on the breast are parted and the skin cut from the +breast bone down to the soft part of the stomach. + +Next cornmeal is poured in. It is used to keep the skin dry and to mop +up the blood and moisture. After that is done instead of pulling the +skin, it is pushed, so as not to stretch it. More cornmeal is added as +the skin is pushed off. When the legs are reached they are cut at the +knee joint so as to keep the bone to hold the foot in place. Just above +where the tail feathers end is cut and the skin turned inside out and +the skin pushed gently toward the head. It can be pushed as far up as a +little beyond the eyes. Then the head is scraped and a knife is put +between the jaw bone and the back of the head opening up the head so +that you get the brains out. Then the skin, inside out, is treated with +arsenic powder, and after that it is put right side out again and the +feathers fluffed out. Then it is ready to be taken back to the Museum +to be stuffed and mounted, or studied as it is. + +When I woke up one morning I found that we were in a little but very +good harbor, Godhavn on Disko Island. Cap’n Bob has to be up most of +the time, especially, of course, when we are moving about. This time, +for instance, he was on deck all night, and Dad was with him. Disko is +a hard place to get into unless you know it awfully well. + +There is a little coal mine near Godhavn. Getting the coal, and +fishing, is about all they do, with some hunting especially in the +winter. The women do most of the work and the men go fishing and +hunting. When we went ashore we saw the women with big baskets of coal +unloading a small boat and taking the coal to be weighed and stored +away in a big storehouse. + +Carl, Mr. Streeter, Art Young and I went shark fishing with two Eskimos +out in the mouth of the bay. We fished from about one until four +o’clock but didn’t catch a thing. Later we traded some very nice little +toy kayaks, all equipped, and also some little sledges with whips and +rifles tied down with thongs. + +At Godhavn we went all around with the Governor, Carl acting as our +interpreter. It is fine having him along as he speaks pretty good +Danish. He is an American, but his people are both Norwegian and in his +home out in Minnesota they talked Norwegian a lot, and it is pretty +much the same as Danish. + +We went into the printing office where the only paper in Greenland is +published. It is a monthly paper, and the printing house is a small red +building with one little press. About three thousand papers in the +Eskimo language go out free to practically all the people in Greenland. +The Governor gave us a bound copy for our collection. Most of the stuff +in the paper is written by Eskimos up and down the coast, who send it +in. + +The next morning about six-thirty we heaved anchor and left Godhavn. +When the anchor comes up all hands are called to the windlass which +works with iron bars like pump handles. If there is a lot of chain out +it takes a long time and is really hard work. + +In the afternoon Dad asked me to fill a little bag with trading stuff +because we were going to stop at a village called Proven. We reached +there about seven. It was a very small harbor so the Morrissey could +not go in, and we used our launch and were greeted by the whole town at +the little wharf. + +At the end of the dock were about eight sharks down in the water tied +up with ropes and still alive. Later Harry Raven got one for a specimen +that was ten feet long. Later he found the liver measured nearly six +feet. + +While Dad and the others had tea with the Governor (all these little +hamlets in the south have a Dane in charge whom we call a Governor, +even though the average population may be only forty people) I went out +to trade for some kamaks or skin boot. These are a sort of double high +shoe or boot made of seal skin with the hair turned in and with a hairy +inner boot beneath which is put in grass to make it soft and warmer. + +The Greenland hair seal is entirely different from the Alaskan fur +seal. It has no fur but just coarse hair and has no value except for +oil and its hide. I had a chance to get several pairs of kamaks but +they were all only about half the size of my foot. The Eskimos are very +small people and mostly the tallest only come up to about my shoulder. +And naturally they have very small feet. + +At Proven I got two pairs of seal skin pants, one for a jacket and the +other in exchange for a box of candy and a sweater. I also got a kind +of necklace which is worn by the women for “dress up,” for a piece of +soap, a bar of chocolate and an army mirror, which was a good bargain, +because the necklaces are hard to make and hard to get. + +We were going to get a kayak but it would be mean to take one because +the Eskimos are like children and would give away almost anything for +candy or pretty materials. The kayak is their main way of getting food, +and is to them dreadfully important. We always tried not to take +anything which was very necessary to the Eskimo, and to give them +something really helpful in exchange for important things. For +instance, later when we got some kayaks, we gave in exchange lumber and +materials from which they could make new ones. A very popular and +useful thing we had for gifts was Tetley’s tea put up in half pound +tins. This, often with a small bag or tin of sugar, was liked a lot +everywhere, while we on board always drank it. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +UPERNIVIK AND THE DUCK ISLANDS + + +We left Proven about midnight, and as we started out from the little +harbor past some bare rocky islands Dad and some others went ashore to +try some shooting. When we came in we had seen a great many birds and +ducks flying around there. + +They stayed ashore from one o’clock until five, while I was asleep. +Later Dad told me it was very beautiful, the water all grey and calm +like silver, with a sky sort of lead color with gay tints of orange and +yellow and lemon where the sun was low. They brought back tern, eider +ducks and some gulls, some to eat, others to be skinned for specimens. + +The next day it was very foggy so we went slowly, dodging icebergs +which we could see only when we got very close to them. At about nine +the following morning we reached Upernivik, which is the last town that +amounts to anything in North Greenland and is I think the furthest +north town in the world. There is a Danish Governor there and a few +other Danes. His name is Governor Otto and he was awfully nice to us, +then and later on when we came back. + +Upernivik is a nice little place built on an island. Where we landed +there was only a little wharf and some store houses and supplies. From +this harbor a little path or trail led over a steep hill to the real +town, which was down on the other side on a slope to the south, with a +grand view of Sanderson’s Hope, quite a big mountain a few miles away +and overlooking an open fjord which was no use as a harbor. The village +has a dozen wooden houses, including several that are very nice indeed, +chiefly the Governor’s house and one for the doctor who lives there, +which also is used for a hospital. And about the wooden houses are the +sod huts of the natives, most of whom seem to stick to their own style +of living. There is a fine new church on the hill just over the +village. + +We had lunch with Governor Otto and his daughter Ruth, a girl about +twelve years old, at his house, and afterward in the harbor we took +some movies of an Eskimo turning over in his kayak. He didn’t seem to +have a hard time at all. He just kind of fell over on one side, sitting +right in his kayak or skin boat, and then came up on the other side +with just a twist of his paddle. Doing this he wore a watertight suit +of sealskin and a hood over his head, drawn tight about the neck. And +around his waist, where he sat in the hole or cockpit of the kayak, +there was a skin fastened tight about him so that no water could get +in. + +Robert Peary thought he would try it so he changed into a sealskin +shirt, got into the Eskimo’s kayak—it was hard for him to squeeze in he +was so much larger than the Eskimo—and turned half way over. The kayak +was upside down and then his head stuck up on the other side and went +down again, sputtering. He just couldn’t manage to get up again, and +hung head down in the water, the boat upside down right over him. I +really thought he was drowning. + +Then he came up a second time and yelled for help. Of course we were +close to him and right away Carl got there in a rowboat and he pretty +nearly fell in himself helping to get Robert straightened up. And you +should have seen the Eskimos laugh! They thought it was a great joke. +But Robert seemed to feel he had swallowed about all the ice water of +Baffin Bay that he wanted and he was so cold he went back to the ship +and changed his clothes. But I’ll bet that next summer at home in Maine +he learns the trick. + +We had sent some natives out to catch sharks for specimens and Doc, +Ralph and myself went after them in the launch. They had caught four +big ones and had lost another overboard. These Greenland basking shark, +as they are called, are very slow and sluggish. They don’t fight at +all. They move very slowly and don’t seem to be savage or a bit like +the sharks I have seen caught in Florida. + +The next morning Governor Otto took us over to see his dogs, which +during the summer he keeps on a bare rocky island about a mile away, +where they are entirely to themselves. About every three days during +the summer they are fed, mostly ducks which are taken out in a big +basket. Most of them seem to have been kept a pretty long time and +become pretty “ripe.” But the dogs certainly like them. + +We went over to the island in our launch with the Governor and a couple +of Eskimos carrying the food. When they saw us coming the dogs, about a +dozen in number, crowded down to the shore and followed along as we +went by, yelping and barking crazily. They knew it was dinner time. + +We landed and decided to give them the birds up a bit from the water, +where it was more level and Kellerman could get movies better. As the +Eskimos carried up a big basket of the birds, one of them had to keep +the dogs off the man with the basket. He used an oar and beat them. And +at that they jumped up and tried to get at the basket of meat on the +man’s shoulder whenever they got the slightest chance. I don’t doubt +they would have knocked him down if he had been alone. + +Then the birds were thrown out to the dogs, a few at a time. In a +second they were torn to pieces and gobbled up. A dog will rip one up +in a flash and choke down everything but the feathers. There were many +fights. And all the time there was a great racket, with the dogs +howling and barking and yapping at each other. + +It was very interesting to see the King Dog. Each team up in this +country has a head dog, the King, who is boss. He is usually the +heaviest and best looking dog, and certainly is the best fighter. I +believe he just fights his way up to the leadership. Certainly when he +“says” anything to one of the others, they do what they are told pretty +quickly. Or else they get a licking. + +The King has a queen, and it is fun to see the way he looks out for +her. When the Queen got a duck or part of one, the King just sort of +looked on and saw to it that no other dog interfered. If one of them +got excited and started to move in on the Queen and her dinner, the +King gave a growl—and that ended it. Or if another dog had a bit of +duck, and the King came along, the other fellow just dropped what he +had, perhaps running off or sort of turning over on his back and +grovelling on the ground. There certainly was discipline on that +island. + +When it was all over there was just a few feathers scattered around on +the rocks and the dogs were mostly with bloody mouths and heads where +they had torn up the meat. Anyway, they all seemed to have had a good +meal and for the first time settled down quietly, to wait for the next +dinner time three days later. In the winter they have their work, and +lots of it, and of course they are awfully important in the life of the +northern people. There are no horses and of course no automobiles or +anything like that. So everything is drawn on sleds, and the sleds are +moved by dogs. + +The dog skins are especially fine. The fur is heavy and soft and +glossy. Dad bought some dog skins to have a coat made. + +That afternoon we left Upernivik to go north across Melville Bay. +Everyone was on hand to see us off and the Governor fired the little +cannon up on the hill where they had the Danish flag hoisted. They gave +us a salute of three guns and we answered with three shots from a +rifle. + +The Duck Islands are a few little rocky islands a dozen miles or so off +the mainland of Greenland just at the south side of Melville Bay. About +two o’clock the next afternoon we reached them, anchoring in a sort of +harbor between the two largest islands. The bigger one is I suppose +about two miles long and half a mile or so wide, very hilly and all +rocks. About the shores, where there is a little level land, the rocks +are covered with moss and there are stretches of bog and mud. + +We went around a good deal on both islands and saw a great many eider +ducks which nest here in large quantities. In the old days when the +whalers came into Baffin Bay this was a headquarters and then they used +to gather duck eggs by the boat load. + +We saw many ducks nesting. The nest is just a little fluffy round mass +of the soft feathers, right on the ground. They pull the feathers out +of their breasts, so that when you get the female ones they look as if +someone had plucked a handful of down from their undersides. This is +what is called eider down, and is used in very fine mattresses and +pillows. It is very warm and is also quite valuable. The Eskimos +collect the eider down from the nests and from the birds, and it, with +skins of foxes and seal, and a few other articles like walrus ivory and +narwhal tusks, is one of the chief ways they have of trading with the +outer world. + +The male and female eider ducks are very different. The female is all +brown, while the male is brown only a little on his breast and belly, +and with a lot of white on his back and neck, and feathers that are +dark grey or nearly black. The female moves very slowly and is very +tame and easy to get close to and to kill. We got a good many for +eating, and they are kept hung in the rigging to be used as Billy the +cook wants them. The male is much wilder and flies faster and is pretty +hard to shoot. There were very few male at Duck Island. While the +females are nesting the males seem to go off by themselves. Later we +saw a good many up in the fjords back of Upernivik. Both are very big +and heavy birds, and awfully good eating. + +Back in 1850 and on for thirty years or so there was much whaling in +these waters. Many of the ships came from Scotland. On the hill or +small mountain at Duck Island there is a whaler’s cairn, and also a +walled-in place where they had their lookout. In that cairn, by the +way, in 1888 Peary left a record. We could find nothing. Probably the +Eskimos had cleaned out everything long ago. + +In one piece of lowland near the water, where there was a little dirt, +we found the graves of some whalers. They were covered over with stones +and only one head board with a name, was left. It said: “In memory of +William Stewart, A.B., S. S. Triune of Dundee, June 11, 1886. Aged 24.” + +Art took me shooting with my sixteen-gauge shotgun, but I didn’t do so +well. I haven’t tried shooting on the wing much and I’m pretty bad at +it. Shooting with the twenty-two rifle seems easier. Art himself is a +grand shot, with either rifle or shotgun. + +We found many eggs, and Dad and some of the others, on the other +island, found great caches of eggs, hundreds of them evidently gathered +by Eskimos who had visited the islands earlier in the season and left +them there to get them later. They were put away in a sort of hole with +rocks piled up around and over them so that they were perfectly +protected, and with the chinks of the rock packed up with moss. They +also found the skull of a polar bear. + +We found three eggs with little ducks just hatching out. These we +brought back to the boat. I put one under a mother duck which I had +found alive in an Eskimo trap and the other two behind the galley stove +where it was nice and hot. Two of them lived quite a while and then +they were killed, painlessly, and put away for specimens. We got some +nests for the Museum and I got one for my own collection. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ACROSS MELVILLE BAY + + +By the twentieth of July we were pretty nearly across Melville Bay. +That was just exactly a month from the time we started from home which +is most awfully good time. Of course we were very lucky for all the way +we had practically no real trouble with ice. + +Melville Bay usually is about the most dangerous and hardest place in +the north. Lots of years it may take weeks to make the passage, and +sometimes there just isn’t any way to get by it. Later Dr. Rasmussen +told me that he has been drifting, frozen in the pack ice, for six +weeks solid while trying to get through to the north, and in mid-summer +at that. + +After we left Duck Island I put in quite some time getting our things +ready for trading and for presents. Of course we weren’t going to do +any real trading, except for little personal things some of us wanted. +Most of the stuff was to give natives who helped us in the hunting and +collecting of specimens. One of my nice jobs was filling a lot of tin +cans with screw tops with candy and sugar. And we also sorted out some +gay sweaters and jerseys which Mr. Alex Taylor, who lives at Rye, had +given the expedition. (All our crew, by the way, now have Alex Taylor +sweaters and they certainly came in handy.) + +We arrived at Cape York on the night of July 20th. Cape York is a big +cape which marks the northern end of Melville Bay and really is the +beginning of far North Greenland. The people living there and in the +few settlements further north are the Smith Sound tribe of Eskimos, who +live nearer the North Pole than any other people. About at this +latitude is further north than the most northerly points of the +mainland of any of the continents, North America, Europe, or Asia. So +we felt we really were beginning to get pretty far north. + +The Cape itself is a high mountain which sort of spills right down into +the sea. The slopes, some of them, are quite red, and the snow is all +colored crimson too, from a sort of dust which seems to cover it. This +part is called the Crimson Cliffs, and they have been seen and +described by about every Arctic expedition. In behind the cape is a +great glacier which breaks off right into the water very conveniently. +Cap’n Bob put the Morrissey right up alongside the ice wall and men +jumped down on the glacier from the bowsprit and carried lines and +fastened the ship so she lay right alongside, as if the ice were a +wharf. Of course there was no wind and the water was quiet. + +Then they took a hose and ran it up a way and put one end in one of the +many streams which were running down the top of the glacier, melted +snow water. There was enough slope to carry the water into our big tank +on deck. Also the sailors filled the barrels, using buckets. It was a +great way to get a full load of real ice water. + +While we were working in the Eskimos came off in their kayaks. We +bought a fine kayak for a rifle and some ammunition. The very next day, +when we were ashore, we found that the owner of the traded kayak +already had a new one well started. I suppose in a few days more he was +all fixed up with a boat again. And with his really fine rifle he ought +to do most awfully well hunting. I certainly hope so. A kayak to an +Eskimo is about the most important thing in life. I imagine a rifle +would come next. Compared to an automobile with us, our auto is only a +luxury which we really could get along without. + +About a mile from the little settlement of Cape York there is a “bird +mountain.” That’s what they call the places where they find the +dovkies, or little auks. These are small birds which live on mountain +sides where there are talus slopes—that is, big slides of loose rocks +all piled up. They make their nests down in the holes and cracks and +they are very hard to find. + +An Eskimo went with us in the launch around to this bird mountain. We +climbed up the slope to a regular place they use where there was a sort +of rough blind made out of the loose stones. He carried a net with a +long handle. We sat down on the slope, partly hidden by the blind. Then +the birds would fly past, always in the same direction. They seemed to +be always on the move, getting up off the rocks and swinging around in +a great circle out over the sea and back again. There were thousands of +them. + +As a bird would fly past us, almost near enough to touch sometimes, the +Eskimo would make a quick swoop with the net, and plop a dovkie would +be in it. Then he would quickly pull in the net, take the bird out, +kill it and be ready for another. This is chiefly the work for women +who are awfully good at it and catch hundreds and I guess thousands. +They are fine eating, and the skins are used for making bird feather +clothing, as lining to wear next the skin. + +After our Eskimo friend Kaweah had showed us how to do it, I tried. It +looked awfully easy. But it wasn’t. I made a lot of misses. + +Dad and Dan Streeter were looking on and taking pictures, and they +laughed as I swiped at the birds and missed them. + +“Three strikes and out!” they’d call when I scored three misses. + +But after a while I did catch a few, and some I just hit with the net +pole and knocked them down, sort of stunned, when we got them. Dad and +Dan also tried, but they didn’t break any records. A fellow with a +batting eye like Babe Ruth ought to do pretty well at this game. +Anyway, it was great fun, and was of course the first time I ever +caught birds with a net. Funnily, almost the next day I actually did +catch some others with a loop on a string. + +Where the vessel lay that afternoon was right next a big lot of bay +ice, pans of ice with some water between them. In the distance here and +there we could see seal. They sit up in the sun, but almost always +right near a hole in the ice. And the minute they get frightened they +slide off and are gone. Even if you shoot them, unless death is very +quick, they are likely to flop off into the water, where they sink. + +Dan and one of the Eskimos tried some stalking, crawling up on the seal +or pooeesee as the Eskimos call them. And he had pretty good luck, +hitting three, two of which they got. They also got pretty wet crawling +over the ice and through pools of water melted by the sun. Anyway, it +was our first game. The seal meat was fine, too. + +The next morning we had moved northward to Parker Snow Bay. We were +anchored there when I woke up. It’s a beautiful place, a little bay +right on the coast, with a bit of flat land with a glacier coming right +down behind it and stretching up to the great ice cap. Two steep fine +mountains are on either side of the glacier, and one of them we named +Bartlett Peak. Along the shore one of these mountains has steep cliffs +which fall right down into the water. And there is a great bird +rookery, or loomery as the Newfoundland folks call it. + +On the shore we saw a blue fox. And then after breakfast we went to +work at the rookery to get specimens. It was a beautiful calm sunny day +and we really had a grand time. Some of us were at it until afternoon +and sent back a dory to bring us some lunch. + +We climbed up a cliff, getting at it on the easier side of a steep +little point. From there we could reach right down to some of the +nests. We could even touch some of the birds, both auks and kittywakes. +They were sitting on the nests, either with eggs or very young birds. +(Three weeks later when we came back there were many more young ones.) + +It was here that I used a light line to catch several birds. I made a +slip noose in the end and let it a few feet over the edge of the cliff +so that it rested on a nest. Then when the bird came back, if she +settled down right, I pulled the noose suddenly. It worked quite well. + +Bob Peary, who is very handy at getting around and climbing, put a rope +around himself and we let him down over the cliff to get eggs and +nests. Art Young and Carl were the “anchors” on the other end of the +rope. Once on his way down in one place Bob stepped on a loose rock and +knocked it out. When it fell it started a big bunch and they all went +tumbling down into the water with a great splash and crash. + +The cliff was right straight up and down, with a sort of shelf sticking +out perhaps twenty feet from the water. After a while Bob went down +there, where he could stand and then Dad was let down with a small +movie camera to get some pictures. Later the launch went around below +them, and while the men at the very top held the line tight, the men in +the launch held it tight at the bottom and first Dad and then Robert +slid down it into the boat, after first letting down the bucket with +eggs and a box of nests and some little ones they had gathered up. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SHIPWRECK + + +On Monday July twenty-sixth we struck a hidden rock off Northumberland +Island which is at the mouth of Whale Sound away up at Latitude 77 +degrees and twenty minutes north, on the east side of Baffin Bay. We +were cruising around the island trying to locate some Eskimo whom we +wanted to get on board to help us hunt. We were just getting into the +good game territory. The evening before we saw seventeen walrus from +the deck. + +Captain Bob had been told back at Cape York that certain Eskimo were at +places where they usually lived, but when we got in sight of them the +tupiks were deserted. These people move about a lot following up where +the hunting is best, and probably the fact that the ice had gone out of +the fjords and bays unusually early had made them change about +unexpectedly. + +Anyway, we were pretty close in shore, examining four sod houses on a +point. A big wall of rock stuck out of the mountain behind, coming down +toward the water. It is what geologists call a “dyke”—harder rock which +stands up under the rain and snow, like a wall, with the softer stuff +sloping down from it on either side, sort of washed away. + +Well, this “dyke” evidently stuck well out underneath the surface of +the water. Afterward we found there was deep water on both sides of it, +right close up. But we managed to hit the very outer knob of it, about +ten feet or so below the surface. + +It was about twelve thirty in the morning when we hit, broad daylight +of course, with the sun shining brightly and fortunately no wind or sea +running. It was very, very exciting. I was almost thrown out of my bunk +when we hit. There was a jar and a jolt and then everything stopped. We +had often hit into light ice, which jarred the vessel a bit, but never +anything like this. + +As quick as I could I put on my pants and was just getting on my +stockings when Dad called down from the skylight for all hands to get +on deck and never mind dressing. I woke up Bob Peary and Doc and we all +rushed on deck. + +We moved oil casks for half an hour from the after part of the ship to +the bow so as to take the strain off the stern where the vessel had +struck and was sticking on the rocks. It was just high tide when we +hit. We raised the foresail, jib and jumbo and had the engine going +full speed, but she didn’t budge. Then, as the tide began to leave us, +we took a lot of stores ashore in our dories and started in to do what +we could for the next tide. + +The Morrissey was listing on her port side at an angle of forty-five +degrees or worse, and everything was in a dreadful mess on board. You +just couldn’t stand even on the dry deck and where it was slimy with +oil, as most of it was, the only possible way to get around was to hang +on to a rope. And at that, what with moving around the heavy oil drums +there were plenty of bad spills. Cap’n Bob cut his hand badly and Doc +bandaged it up right away. Down in the cabins everything was in a heap. +It was funny to see the clothes hanging on hooks from the ceiling stand +right out crazily at a wild angle from the walls, like drunken men. + +The tide went down leaving the vessel high and dry, except for the bow +which was in the water, tipped down at a bad angle and the stern up on +the rocks. Cap’n Bob lashed ten empty oil drums on either side close to +the keel at the stern, to help raise her when the water came in. + +We just had to be ready for any emergency in case the Morrissey proved +to be hurt so badly she couldn’t float, or especially if a storm came +up which would have broken her to pieces quickly and made landing stuff +very hard and perhaps impossible. And you must remember we were nearly +one thousand miles from the nearest Danish settlement and more than +2000 miles from Sidney, the nearest big place. + +One thing we put ashore at once and very carefully was the emergency +low power radio set with which Ed Manley, our radio operator, could +keep in touch with the world in case our big outfit on board was lost. +That little set which might have been so awfully important was given us +by the National Carbon Company who make the Eveready batteries. + +And then the noon tide came and we were dreadfully disappointed. For +the water didn’t rise to within about three feet of the midnight tide +when we struck, so we were left with no hope of getting off until the +next tide. And that was pretty bad, because all that listing and +pounding was dreadfully hard on a vessel, and would surely break one up +less strong than the good old Morrissey, which is built of oak and is +unusually sturdy. + +But the water did get high enough to wash in over the deck on the low +port side, even if the vessel couldn’t raise. There was a bad leak +strained in her side and she leaked so badly we all had to help bail +with pails lowered with ropes through the skylight into the mid-ships +cabin. We couldn’t use the pumps because she had such a bad list, and +tip forward, that they didn’t get at the water. + +My bunk and two others filled up with water all mixed with oil, and my +things, especially in the locker underneath, got pretty well spoiled. +Luckily someone lifted out my bedclothes. + +The stove in the galley and in the after cabin had to be put out, as +there was danger they would spill over and set the ship on fire. The +big galley stove was braced up with seal hooks to keep it from sliding. +Billy the cook moved in to shore and kept making coffee there so the +men had something hot to help keep them going. Before it was all over +most everyone had been working continuously more than forty hours. I +was at it more than twenty-five, and was pretty dead tired. + +The Captain ordered all the food put ashore and there was a lot more to +do, lashing more casks and trimming the cargo and moving gasoline to +land, for the motor boat in case we got stuck, and kerosene for the +primus stoves. Then, too, they put out the big heavy anchor, taking it +in the dories quite a way from the ship and dropping it, so that we +could haul on it with the windlass. + +While the tide was down there was a lot of work to do on the banged-up +bottom of the vessel. The false keel, which is a big timber on the very +bottom below the real keel, was pretty well ripped off aft of the +mainmast, and a lot of oakum was loosened out of the garboard seam. +Lying down on the wet rocks we filled in a lot of oakum, which is a +sort of fibre like shredded bagging or say potato sacking, with +caulking tools, which is a blunt kind of chisel and a mallet or hammer +to pound the stuff into the seams or cracks. + +Then we got a lot of Billy’s dish washing soft soap and mashed it up +with a hammer and worked it in our hands into a kind of pasty putty. We +put this in on top of the oakum. We worked in the water until the tide +got up around our boots, and then climbed the ladder up on deck. I was +able to help quite a bit on this job, and afterward there was plenty to +do bailing. + +On shore we put up one of our small tents and took in most of our +things, like sleeping bags, blankets, guns and ammunition. Everybody as +best they could threw their things together to land. It was exciting, +and exactly as if we were abandoning the ship. And awfully sad, too, to +see our fine Morrissey all soaked with water and oil, and everything +thrown about so terribly. + +After the unloading work, and after the men had had a mug of coffee and +hardtack and whatever Billy could dig out of the cans, it was pretty +nearly high tide again, along about eleven o’clock at night. The sun, +of course, was always about the same distance above the horizon, only +at a different point, so it seemed always a sort of bright afternoon. +We were terribly lucky not to have it stormy. + +All hands were called on board and while three men worked the pumps the +others manned the windlass. We had the big anchor and a small one out, +to pull on with the windlass. + +There was a good wind coming up so we had to get her off then or she +would surely break up and leave us there. After working for an hour or +so we were just about to give up when the wind freshened more. Cap’n +Bob ordered all sails hoisted. Everyone got on the halyards and pulled +as hard as they could. The wind flattened out the sails and the engine +went full speed ahead. But for a good many minutes she held fast and we +were most awfully discouraged. + +Then all at once there was an extra big wave and a puff of wind, and +suddenly she gave a sort of groan and slid free of the rocks. After +twenty-five hours we were off! We sure were glad. + +Dad, Carl and myself went ashore to get the stores in order in case it +rained, while the Morrissey was taken around to leeward some place +where they could care for her better and see how things were. She +seemed to be leaking a lot, and the plan was, in case of the water +getting away from the pumps, to beach her. + +We turned in right away, at about half-past two, I suppose. And when we +woke up it was two in the afternoon! We were pretty tired, I reckon. +And then, too, Carl had been quite sick and had had a pretty hard time +to keep going at all. + +The Morrissey had disappeared. Of course we didn’t have any idea where +she was, but there was nothing to do but wait and fix things up as best +we could. The next day, in the fog Carl and Dad went out in the motor +launch to try to locate the crowd, but they did not find the vessel. + +So we built a sort of house, the craziest house you ever thought of. +Robinson Crusoe never saw a funnier one. It had three walls, all made +of food, mostly, with a big sail pulled over for a roof and some tarps +to help out. The strongest wall, where the wind blew from, was built of +flour sacks laid up on boxes of tinned vegetables. There were bags of +potatoes, crates of onions, barrels, dunnage bags, hams and bacons in +those walls. Anyway, we felt we had plenty to eat for quite a time. We +were especially glad to have a fine lot of specially made Armour +pemmican, presented by Dad’s friend, Herman Nichols. + +We had two big bear skins and these we put on the damp ground with a +tarp for a sort of floor. With a primus stove, which works with +kerosene, we were quite comfortable even though the wind did blow the +sails nearly off the roof. We weighted them down with big rocks, and +tied heavy hams that Mr. Swift had given us by ropes at the sides. + +I got quite sick and had to keep in my sleeping bag about the whole +time we were at “Shipwreck Camp.” It was pretty cold with no fire at +all to give heat, but we got along first rate. Dad explained that by +that time almost surely word would have gotten through from our +wireless that the vessel was off the rocks. The trouble was that the +water, at the time of the accident, put our wireless out of commission. +It took Ed Manley a couple of days to get it going right again. + +The third day about noon, when Carl was cooking up some tea on the +primus, he glanced out of the door of our hut and saw four Eskimos +coming toward us a long way off on the side of the mountain. As they +got nearer we could see they all were carrying big packs. + +When they got to the tent the man threw off a little baby he had been +carrying in a sling on his back. The mother had a bag of empty cans in +her sack, which we recognized as coming from the Morrissey. With the +few words we could understand, and a lot of motions and grinning—they +are always awfully good-natured and nice—our friends told us they had +been aboard the vessel and had been helping pump. She was at anchor on +the other side of the island. It seemed she was only a few miles away. + +So after we had given them a feed, mostly a big can of peas which they +loved, Carl and Dad started to find the ship, leaving me to sleep. I +forgot to say that we gave the Eskimo some ham, which looked good and +they showed us they would like a taste. But they did not like it at +all. It was too salty. They use no salt in their meat, and can’t +understand us liking it. “Nagga piook” they said, making funny faces. +Which means, “No good.” + +About midnight, eight hours or so later, I heard a yell and woke up to +see the Morrissey out in the bay beyond where she had run aground. Dad +and Carl were on board, and as the wind had gone down they had come +around to get the stores. + +I was sent aboard and Doc told me to go right to bed and keep as warm +as possible. As my bunk was still pretty damp where it had been drowned +out, I turned in to Dad’s bunk in the aft cabin, where the fire was +going. + +When I woke up we were under way and headed south. We planned to go +back to Upernivik and beach the vessel there and make repairs. With so +many on board it seemed better to Cap’n Bob and Dad not to risk trying +to make any repairs on the north side of Melville Bay, which is apt to +be a very dangerous place to cross. + +If the Morrissey had struck on a rising tide everything would have been +all right. One often goes aground up here where hundreds of rocks and +reefs aren’t shown on the charts and where all the information for +sailors is terribly incomplete. But of course things like that always +happen at the wrong time. It was just hard luck. When the wind came up +it was either break up or get off. + +I have written this in the after cabin as we cross Melville Bay going +down to Upernivik. The boat has been in a terrible mess, but is pretty +well straightened out now. And everyone has about caught up on sleep. + +Around my bunk and Mr. Kellerman’s the boards are crushed in. That’s +from the great strain put on the frame and beams when the boat laid on +her side, so that when she moved or gave a little the light inner +framework of the bunks snapped. + +Dad just asked me if I’d like to go again on another northern trip. And +of course I said I would. Really my answer was “I’d like to go anywhere +with Cap’n Bob.” + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MORRISSEY REPAIRED + + +On Tuesday the third of August we arrived in Upernivik again, with +Melville Bay safely behind us. And we knew that our trip would have to +end right there as we could not fix the leaks in the Morrissey. Coming +down she had been leaking about ten gallons a minute. That in itself +wasn’t so bad, but the danger was that at any minute it might get +worse, especially if any strain came or we hit ice or anything else. + +It was my turn at the pumps when we came in. When the engine was not +running we had to pump almost continually, for the engine itself used +up water from the bilge in its cooling system with a rig Robert Peary +fixed up, which helped the pumping a lot. + +At once we got some Eskimos on board to do the pumping. Cap’n Bob went +ashore to see how deep the water was on the beach and what the slope +was, to see if he could beach the Morrissey. Later in the afternoon the +Governor and his assistants told us that there was a place about ten +English miles (the Danish mile is about four of ours) up a fjord from +Upernivik where the vessel could be beached easily. It was a place they +used for their own vessels to get at their bottoms. + +We left right away and it took about two hours and a half to get there. +On the way over we went through a kind of natural gate in the rocks +that seemed about as wide as the length of the ship. It was very, very +deep because there was a mountain on either side with sheer cliffs +going straight down for probably a great many fathoms. + +They anchored the boat to wait for a big tide while Cap’n Bob got +things ready to try and get her out so work could be done on the +bottom. The trouble was that the damage was on the very bottom of the +keel so that just to keel her over on her side did no good. From +Upernivik Dad had arranged to take up with us a dozen Greenlanders to +help with the heavy work, like shifting ballast. Also we borrowed from +the Governor his blacksmith and some tools. + +The next day some of us took the Governor back to Upernivik in our +launch. Doctor Heinbecker and I stayed there, visiting Dr. Rasmussen, +the woman doctor who lives there and visits all around at the little +settlements. She makes these trips in her own little power boat, with a +couple of Eskimos to run it for her. She is a Dane, and most awfully +nice. She is very big and strong, and they tell grand stories about how +she drives her dog team in the winter and can tire out men who try to +keep up to her. All the time we were at Upernivik she let us sleep in +comfortable beds in her little hospital, and in every way treated us +splendidly. While visiting there we had some interesting things to eat, +like seal meat, auks, duck and ducks’ eggs. + +That afternoon Dr. Rasmussen got a message that someone was sick in a +little village called Augpilagtok, only a few miles from where the +Morrissey was. The others returned to the Morrissey and Doc and I went +with the Lady Doctor to this village, asking that they send over there +to get us. We went in her little boat which was built in Denmark. It is +very sturdy and good in the ice, ploughing along just as if there was +no ice at all. + +In Augpilagtok there was a tiny store in a little room joined to the +house of the head man. His name was Imik and later he went with Dad on +a three days trip, to the glaciers and the ice cap. In the store they +sold lead for the bullets which they made in crude moulds, and also +caps and powder. Their rifles shoot both shotgun shells and rifle +bullets, and they make all the ammunition themselves. Here the Eskimos +have money which they use in the store to buy biscuit, sugar, tobacco +and other things. These are weighed out on funny little scales the +weights of which were two old brass hinges. + +After a while our launch came with Dad and some of the others and we +all went back to the Morrissey, through lots of ice. Most of the way +the Lady Doctor’s boat, the Mitik, which is very broad in the beam, +ploughed through the ice in front, with our launch trailing along +behind. + +When we arrived at the Morrissey the Captain wanted to get rid of some +of us, to make things easier for Billy, the cook, who had the big bunch +of Eskimos on his hands. Also, they were moving ballast and getting +ready to put the vessel over on her side which would mean putting out +the fires and having everyone camp on shore. The Lady Doctor invited +our Doc, Harry Raven and myself to go to town with her, which we did. + +We went back to Upernivik in the Lady Doctor’s boat, reaching there +about four o’clock in the morning—broad daylight, of course, and with +the sun shining brightly, for all this time we were very lucky to have +fine weather and really quite warm. I suppose the temperature was about +sixty at the warmest and never got below forty. + +During lunch, at two o’clock that afternoon we heard another great +yelling from the natives. + +“Umiaksoah!” they yelled. That is the word for ship. (I have spelled it +the way it sounds to me.) + +To our great surprise we saw a battleship coming into the harbor. It +proved to be the Islands Falk, meaning the Iceland Falcon, the Danish +patrol ship. It had heard by radio of our trouble while it was away +down in south Greenland and at once had started north to rescue us. The +first report, relayed to them by radio from an American vessel in the +north, said we had entirely lost the Morrissey and were all on shore. +Just why such a report was sent we could not imagine, as of course we +had sent out no word of that kind. + +Anyway, later on Captain West of the Falcon got another word from the +Canadian ship Boethic which was over on the Canadian side. The Boethic +had had wireless word with us, and told Captain West the real facts, +which were that we were working south to Upernivik to make repairs. So +the Falcon came to Upernivik to help us. + +I got a small boat and rowed out to the battleship and went aboard. To +my great surprise I was greeted by Dr. Knud Rasmussen who had come up +on the Falcon from Disko where we had been supposed to meet him. But +his ship from Denmark had been very late and he failed to connect with +us there. I told him about what had happened to us. + +Then Captain West, Commander Riis-Carstensen, Dr. Rasmussen and others +went up to the Morrissey to offer help. In the end they sent a fine lot +of men up there with a diver and boats and everything. The diver worked +for about six days, while the Danish officers and sailors lived aboard +and camped ashore. It proved that with the diver it was possible to get +the leaks just about stopped. But I think that without him we would +have had pretty serious trouble. The hard part was to get at the +damaged place, which was on the very bottom of the vessel. And at the +beaching place where they sent us it turned out there was not enough +tide to get the bottom clear out of water. + +We certainly were very grateful to the Danish officials for all they +did for us. No one could possibly have been nicer or more generous. And +I never saw a finer lot of men. It was great fun for me to be with them +on the ship and around town. Most of the sixty men aboard were from all +over Denmark, fine younger men who were doing their one year of +compulsory naval service. In Denmark every man has to serve in the army +or navy for about a year of training. And I think they all love to get +on this Greenland trip, it is so different. + +While they were working on the boat we moved into Upernivik, Doc, Harry +and I. Dad took three men up to the glacier, where they got pictures +and collected some bird specimens. + +It was a very gay time for Upernivik, probably about the most exciting +they ever had. For not only was the Morrissey there but also the Falcon +with a crew of sixty, most of whom were ashore much of the time. There +was a dance in a big warehouse near the wharf every night, which always +lasted until morning. In fact, there just wasn’t any night. In the +summer when a boat comes to those far away towns, they forget all about +sleeping. Everyone stays up all the time. For the people in the boats +it really is pretty hard, for the people ashore at least can go to +sleep when the boat leaves, while it is just then that the work starts +for the travellers. + +At Upernivik is the farthest north church in the world, they told me. A +new building had just been completed, and on the Sunday we were there +it was opened. There was a great crowd, and the Governor wore his high +hat and everything. Of course we all went, and to the native wedding +that afternoon. The hymns were sung in Eskimo, and there was a long +Eskimo sermon. The first church in Upernivik was built away back in +1780. + +On the evening of August tenth the Morrissey came back to the harbor. +The diver had fixed her up finely. Captain West gave Captain Bartlett a +letter saying she was quite seaworthy. So we were very happy, as it +meant we could keep on with our trip, which had come so near to ending +in disaster. And we decided to go north again, taking Knud Rasmussen to +Thule. + +The night before we left they gave us a grand party at Governor Otto’s. +All the shutters were closed so the house would be dark. Then, to make +it pretty, they lit many candles. Eighteen people crowded into the +little dining-room, and there were speeches and quite a fine +celebration. I went to bed pretty early but the older people, I think, +did not turn in until seven in the morning. + +On the Iceland Falcon, the last night, there was another farewell +party, Cap’n Bob and Dad dining with Captain West. They loaded on the +Morrissey the stores of Dr. Rasmussen and his baggage. He was going +back with us all the way to New York, so he had a good deal of clothes +and the like. + +As we up-anchored and got under way we dipped our flag and fired our +biggest rifle three times in salute. Then the Falcon answered with +three shots from one of her big guns, and the people on shore fired +another salute with their small cannon. Altogether it was a very gay +send-off. The Governor was out in his big rowboat, waving good-bye to +us. Certainly Upernivik could have treated us no better, and we all +appreciated it. + +And then we headed north again, with Dr. Rasmussen. And we felt mighty +lucky to be on our way again, instead of retreating south. Before us +lay our third crossing of Melville Bay, which is quite a record for one +season. + +Dr. Rasmussen, for instance, has crossed it about forty times. Probably +he has travelled up here more than any other living man. He told me +that once it took six weeks to get just across Melville Bay, his boat +being frozen in solid in the pack ice, and just drifting. How lucky we +have been to get across three times with practically no ice at all. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +OUR FIRST NARWHAL + + +After crossing Melville Bay again for the third time, and without +stopping at Cape York, we arrived in Thule. Coming up, on the other +side of Melville Bay, I got entirely cheated out of one stop. It was +very early morning and I was sound asleep and they didn’t wake me. + +As the boats came out to meet the Morrissey the men waved their hats in +greeting. But when they came near and saw that Rasmussen was aboard +they started shouting and cheering. The man running the engine in the +little power boat was so excited that he forgot to stop the motor and +ran the boat full speed and head on into the side of the vessel so hard +that most of the people in his craft fell down. + +We brought Rasmussen to this trading station of his where he had not +been for five years and Dad had agreed to take away for him to New York +the fox skins they had traded from the Eskimos during the winter. Also +Mr. Rasmussen’s manager, who is also his cousin, had been promised that +he could go back to Denmark this year. He had been at Thule +continuously for six years. The first time we were there an apple Dad +gave him was the first he had eaten in all that time. + +We also took from Thule a native girl called Nette, who has been +studying to be a nurse and is going back to Denmark to complete her +education, living with Mrs. Rasmussen there. We will take them to +Holsteinsborg where they will get a steamer for Denmark. + +Hans Nielsen is Rasmussen’s manager and he of course is very pleased at +the chance to get away. He brought his own kayak on the Morrissey so +that he can help us in hunting. + +While in Thule, early in the morning, Dad, Dan, Bob Peary and I went +out in the motor boat with two Eskimos to look for seal. We went up the +fjord about five miles inland to the foot of a glacier and saw about +six, but couldn’t get near enough to shoot them. We took several long +shots, without success. + +We had to go back then, for as soon as Nielsen and Nette were ready we +were leaving for Whale Sound. During that morning while they were +packing up we had quite a dance outside in front of Mr. Nielsen’s +house. Kel took movies of the party. We had a pail of candy and when it +was passed around the Eskimos would dig in with both hands. But really +they are most awfully polite and these nice people in the North never +take anything without being asked first. And I think they never steal. +It’s interesting to know what Mr. Rasmussen tells me, that in the +Eskimo language there are no swear words. They just don’t use bad +language. The worst thing to call a man is to say he is lazy or a bad +hunter. + +From Thule we took a bunch of Eskimos, including one older man who had +been with Peary and was very sick. He said to Cap’n Bob: “I wish for +the good days of Pearyarkshua when we had plenty to eat and to wear.” + +Of course the Captain knew him well and told me that he used to be +about the strongest Eskimo of the whole lot they had and one of the +very best hunters. His name is Ahngmalokto. Doctor Heinbecker gave him +some medicine, and the skipper gave him tea and bread and jam, but he +wasn’t able even to eat that. It was very sad. + +Thule itself is at the head of North Star Bay, on a rocky beach that +sweeps around like a crescent. Out at the sea end, on one side, is a +huge hill with a flat table-like top with steep walls at the top then +sloping down evenly in great rock slides which are called talus slopes. +It’s a lot like a mesa or tableland in our own west. The name of this +queer mountain is Oomunui. There are four frame buildings, the trading +station, the furthest north in the world. And about a mile away, across +the rock peninsula, is the native settlement, a scattered lot of +tupiks, the summer skin houses of the Eskimos, with the stone winter +houses nearby along the shore. I suppose there are about forty people. + +Since 1910 Rasmussen has run this trading station. It is to help these +northern Eskimos, called the Smith Sound tribe. They are the furthest +north people in the world. Before, they never had any regular chance to +get things, or to trade their skins, except to whalers once in a while, +or explorers. Before Peary commenced coming about thirty years ago they +had no guns or steel or anything else except what they made and found +themselves. They used to make arrow heads out of meteorite chips, and +made fire from flint they found. And about all their weapons and knives +were made from ivory. The walrus tusk is very fine for this sort of +thing. + +Even today they have very little, compared with the poorest people of +the world we know. But they are healthy and happy and very good natured +and kind. And of course they are great hunters. They have to be, to +live. + +At Thule Rasmussen, and the Danish committee which works with him in +running the thing, have a regular kingdom. Dad calls it a benevolent +dictatorship, which means that Rasmussen is just about a king, but runs +everything for the good of the people. They have money of their own, +round pieces with holes in the middle, of three different values. The +Station pays with these for the furs, and then the Eskimos use them in +getting supplies from the store. Goods are sold at very low figures and +the idea is, Mr. Rasmussen says, to make the Station just pay its own +way. As I have said in another chapter, we brought up a lot of stores +from New York. And now we are taking back the fox skins of the winter’s +catch. + +Early that afternoon, August 15th, we left Thule. + +The next morning when I came on deck we were just off Northumberland +Island and I saw the very place where we had been wrecked and so nearly +spent quite a time at. + +I was on the crosstrees on the lookout for walrus and saw some seals +and two that might have been walrus. When I got cold Bob Peary took my +place. Soon afterward we stopped running on account of fog, and most +everyone turned in to sleep, for with the all-the-time sunlight we +never seem to find time to get enough sleep. + +I was down in the main cabin when Mr. Nielsen came down and said to +Carl, who speaks Danish, that there was a dead white whale near. I got +Dad and told him about it. In a few minutes they had a boat over and +went out to get him. When they reached the floating animal they called +back that it was a female narwhal, and not a white whale after all. + +They towed it in and we put two or three tackles on it and started to +get it aboard. It was about fifteen feet long and weighed I suppose +over a ton. It had been dead quite a time and smelt pretty bad, so we +decided to open it as it hung beside the boat and get the intestines +out and some of the blubber off. The inner meat proved to be sound and +all right. + +We fixed a rowboat alongside and Harry Raven and Fred got in it and did +the cutting up, with their oilskins on, for it was pretty messy. With +the narwhal Harry found a little one. And he wasn’t so little either. +He measured five feet seven inches. This was carefully embalmed. That +is, Harry pumped into its veins a fluid which preserves the flesh. It +is to be taken back to the Museum just exactly as it is. I think a baby +narwhal is a very rare specimen, and we all hope this one gets back in +good condition. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +OUR ESKIMO ARTIST + + +Karnah is an Eskimo settlement on Whale Sound north of Thule and just +inside Northumberland Island where we were wrecked. The last time we +were not able to get in on account of ice. We headed for there now, to +get hunters, the Whale Sound territory being fine for walrus and +narwhal. Also some white whales are caught just to the north. + +When we were about three miles from Karnah a kayak came alongside. A +man climbed out who grinned from ear to ear when he saw Rasmussen. He +proved to be the missionary at Karnah, named Olsen, an old friend of +Rasmussen’s. Seeing the masts he had come out to meet us. We were, of +course, the only vessel of the year. He showed us the way in to Karnah, +where there was plenty of good water for the vessel. + +By the time the anchor was down there were a dozen or more men on +board. Soon Rasmussen and Dad went ashore and arranged for hunters to +go out after narwhal. Very soon after we got there great processions of +the narwhal began to move up and down the sound in front of the +village. Several times we saw a kayaker practically on top of one, +ready to throw the harpoon, but something happened and he didn’t get +it. Another man came in, who had got a harpoon into a narwhal, and told +us his line had broken. + +A narwhal seems to jump just about the same as a porpoise, only he runs +larger. He is very pretty, with a mottled skin like castile soap with +blotches of white and lead color. The male has a big tusk sticking out +of his head, on the left side and straight out in front. It is ivory, +with a twisting spiral surface. The biggest tusk I’ve seen is about ten +feet long. They have been called “Unicorns of the Sea.” The biggest +narwhal we got was fifteen feet long, and I expect they run up to +twenty feet. + +We spent most of the night at Karnah, visiting and getting narwhal +skulls, while the hunters were out. It was decided that Rasmussen would +take Bob Peary and the big dory with the Johnson engine and go up the +fjord to try and get a couple of narwhal. + +Later I learned that just after Dad had turned in at three-thirty two +hunters got their narwhal near by. In the morning when I came on deck +there was a fine big narwhal with a tusk. He was fifteen feet long, not +counting the tusk, which was about seven or eight feet long. Later a +small female was brought in, about nine feet long. + +All day Fred and Harry worked on these narwhal. Because the narwhal +were so heavy, to get them on board we had to use the two throat +halyards. Fred took plaster casts of the heads and tails and fins. +Photos were taken from all angles, and measurements and strips of skin +were taken, so that a whole narwhal model can be constructed at the +Museum. After this work was done we started in to clean the meat off +the bones. Most of us wore rubber boots so as not to mind walking in +the blood, but the Eskimos didn’t mind at all. They, of course, get the +meat for themselves. While we would flounder around and have to cut two +or three times the Eskimos would go ahead very quickly and skillfully, +as they have done this sort of thing so many times. The skeletons were +completely stripped in a few hours. + +From Karnah we took with us six hunters with their kayaks to help us +get walrus. Four of them used to be with Peary and their names are +Etukashuk, Pooadloona, Kudluktoo and Kesingwah. The last named was one +of the Eskimos who came back with Captain Bob from 87 degrees 47 +minutes north, only a few miles from the North Pole when he was with +Peary in 1909, who went on to the Pole itself. + +They are all fine looking men and although they speak very little +English they catch on to things very quickly and are awfully nice +people to be with. + +There are two fine boys. One is Pooadloona’s son, Matak. The other is +Nils, who is sixteen. He has very light hair, about the color of mine, +and blue eyes. He comes from South Greenland, and his father, I guess, +is a Dane. He is awfully good in a kayak and built solid all around. +While three years older than I am he doesn’t come quite to my shoulder. +Of course all these people are very small. Very few of the men, I +think, are over five feet five inches, but they are built like oxes +usually with short legs and thick bodies and a little fat although +hard. This boy Nils has killed seal and narwhal all by himself. + +Also we took on board a nice Eskimo called Kakutia, which means +something like “He of the Quiet Voice.” He is a fine artist and loves +to make drawings of the weapons they use, of the animals and things +like that. + +We gave him paper and pencils and during two days he worked along and +made a fine lot of drawings. Some of them will be used as decorations +in the book that will be made from this. It’s great fun to think that +my little book about Greenland is to be illustrated, partly, by a real +Eskimo, and that the pictures themselves actually were made in the +cabin of the Morrissey, here with me and Dad, right in Whale Sound in +latitude seventy-eight north. + +Later on I found out that Kakutia is the son of Panikpah, whom Captain +Bob knows very well. He was one of the Peary men and was an artist too. +A number of his sketches are used in different Peary books. It’s +interesting to see this being able to draw inherited by the son from +the father. + +We are giving Kakutia a big roll of paper, some pads, pencils and a +fine lot of lovely crayons, most of them Crayola given me by Grandpa +Bub. He is delighted with all this and I expect will have a lot of fun +this winter drawing and coloring pictures. And of course we gave him +also useful things, for he has been fine to me. I hope later, by +Rasmussen or in some way, to send him copies of the book, for Dad says +his name is to appear on the title-page as the one who made the +decorations. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WALRUS HUNTING + + +At about six-thirty in the evening of August 16th a little way off +Northumberland Island we saw a herd of walrus. They were moving along +in the water quite fast, diving now and then and rising up a lot like +porpoises. They get their food from the bottom mostly, eating clams and +things like that. + +By the way, Captain Bob does a lot of dredging—that is, we drag a sort +of net along the bottom to bring up the sea life there—and here in +Whale Sound his hauls are the richest yet. There are clams and great +numbers of shrimp. Which of course is why the walrus like it here. + +In a few minutes the Eskimos were in their kayaks and out after them. +It was very interesting to watch. One Eskimo would go ahead of the herd +and make a lot of noise to attract their attention. Then the other +hunter would come in behind very slowly and quietly and try to get +within perhaps a dozen feet and then throw his harpoon with all his +force into the walrus. There would be a very loud puff, like steam +escaping, as he took breath and then a flip of his tail and he would +disappear. The man in the kayak would back off quickly so the walrus +wouldn’t come up under him. Then they would watch the float, which is +an inflated sealskin, attached to the end of the harpoon line to see +which way the harpooned walrus would go. + +As the float moved off, or was drawn under water by the diving animal, +they would follow. It was all very dangerous, and many Eskimos are hurt +and killed when angry walrus turn on their frail little boats which one +toss of a walrus’ tusks would smash to bits. In attacking the walrus +lifts his head and comes down on the thing he is attacking with the end +of his sharp tusks, ripping things terribly. I saw them attack several +floats that way. + +When the walrus came up, and the men could get close, the same sort of +performance was gone through with again. Only this time they would try +to get close with their lance, to stick it into the animal to kill him. +The other animals in the herd often would stay close to the wounded +one, barking and roaring something like a cow mooing, and puffing and +blowing water. It is very noisy and very exciting. When the others come +close, the Eskimos would bang their paddles on the paddle rest in front +of them and yell, to scare off the other walrus who otherwise might +attack them. Sometimes when scaring the walrus away they get within +three or four feet of them. + +In a short time there were four walrus harpooned, three of them lanced +and dead and ready to be picked up by the Morrissey. We had the launch +fast to one of them that was only wounded. We did not want to shoot +him, as he had a fine head and the bullet is apt to break the bone +structure and hurt it for use as a specimen. + +Art, Dad and Captain Bob went out in the launch to get him. The Captain +wanted to lance him, himself. He told Art to do the shooting with his +bow and arrows. Art shot at him seven times, all striking in the neck. +He was bleeding badly and getting pretty mad. He would have died from +the arrows, but they wanted to finish him as quickly as possible. + +He pulled so hard that he turned the Morrissey around. He was fast to +the ship by a native line made of the hide of the bearded seal, or +ugsug. Its wonderful strength is shown by its power to pull the vessel +about. + +At last he gave up trying to get away and made a rush right at the +launch. He sort of got on his back and put a flipper on each side of +the bow of the little boat and tore furiously with his tusks at the +bottom. We were watching from the deck of the Morrissey, only thirty +feet or so away, and we could see the splinters fly. He put two holes +right through the boat. + +The Eskimos were in their kayaks and they and Captain Bob succeeded in +lancing the big bull, who once came right up under a kayak which really +almost slid right off his back as the kayaker paddled desperately away. + +After he was dead we hooked the two throat halyards on him and hoisted +him on board, which was quite a job. Then we went around to get the +other walrus which the hunters had killed. In all there were seven and +a little one I will tell about in a minute. + +A nice thing about this kind of hunting is that not a pound of meat is +wasted. As a matter of fact it is a blessing for the Eskimos. Every bit +of it is taken by them and used for their own food and for dog food. +Our coming just helped them get their supplies. I suppose in all they +got four or five tons of meat, what with the walrus and the narwhal. + +After that Dad, Dan and myself went out in the little rowboat and +followed along after two hunters in kayaks. They went right into a herd +of about forty and harpooned one and motioned for us to come up and +shoot it. There was a good-sized herd within fifty yards of us, +puffing, grunting and barking. Now and then stray animals would come up +right close to the boat. They look awfully funny with their whiskered +faces popping up on the surface and glaring at you like cross old men. +Then they give a grunt and a spray of steam and down they go. + +When they were excited like this they formed sort of a circle with the +tusks of all the old bulls facing out toward the hunters. I can’t +imagine a more exciting sport. I wish that some day I could learn to +use a kayak really well and try getting a walrus myself. + +When we were pretty close Dad fired five bullets, four of which, I +think, hit him in the head and neck. But the rifle is only a 256, not a +very big bore, and it didn’t do the work. Then Dan fired a shot with +his big high-powered rifle and hit him in the back of the neck and he +dropped instantly. This one floated. Many of them sink the minute they +are dead. + +We went back to one that Doc and Kellerman had shot after we picked up +the others. Two hunters in kayaks were waiting there. This was a big +cow walrus. But most interesting was that beside her in the water were +two young walrus. The older was a bull calf, a yearling I suppose. + +We wanted to get these young ones alive so Carl went for his lasso. Dad +rowed Carl out in the little boat. Carl stood up swinging his lasso all +ready to throw when he got the chance. They went right up alongside the +old cow, who was floating partly out of water. + +When the tusked calf came up Carl threw the rope, but the first throw +slipped off. Then it was evident that the smaller calf, which had no +tusks, was easier to get, seeming to be less wild. So Carl went after +him and about the third throw got the rope around him, which was quite +a job because his head was small and slippery and he dove quickly. + +There was a great splashing and goings on. The little walrus wasn’t so +very little. He weighed about 150 pounds and was as strong as a young +bull. Carl hauled the rope in over the stern and finally got more of it +around the walrus and sort of hogtied him. Finally they dragged him +over to the Morrissey and he was hauled up on deck with a burton, which +is a tackle used to raise and lower the dories. In the meantime the +other young walrus had disappeared. + +I suppose that perhaps this is the first time that a walrus ever has +been captured with a rope. Anyway, it’s certainly the first time this +particular cowboy has roped one. I know that polar bears have been +roped before. + +We kept the little walrus on board for two days. Dad called him +Halitosis. He didn’t smell so sweet. We tried feeding him milk, and he +seemed to take a little, through a hose. He would bark fiercely at +everyone. But the really sad thing was to see him when he first came +aboard. The bodies of the other walrus were in a great heap on deck. At +once he smelled around and found his mother and the poor little fellow +got right over to her and sort of snuggled up close to her, quiet as +could be. + +Later Harry killed him painlessly with chloroform and he was embalmed +to be taken back just as he was to the American Museum of Natural +History. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ACROSS TO JONES SOUND + + +We dropped all our hunters at Karnah after a day there, during which we +visited around and settled up what we owed the Eskimos for the work +they had done for us. Of course all the walrus meat went to them, and +also the meat from two more narwhal which had been captured while we +were away, thanks to Dr. Rasmussen, who saw to it that everyone did all +they could to get the specimens we wanted. + +There really were three more narwhal, but one of them was a little one +which Harry Raven preserved whole, embalming it. The skeletons and +skulls of the others were taken. Also Kellerman made some interesting +movies showing the work of landing the dead narwhal on the beach and +cutting them up. This was at night, when it was cloudy and not bright +enough for pictures. So some of the men lit bright flares which +Kellerman had, which lit up the beach with a queer bright light that +was almost blinding. + +When the narwhal were landed Kudluktoo and the others cut off great +strips of the skin which they all love. These were handed around and +all hands gobbled up the stuff in great shape. The way they eat this +sort of thing is to put a big sliver in their mouth until it is stuffed +full, and then cut off the end outside their lips with a knife. Why +they don’t sometimes cut their noses or lips I don’t know. Anyway, it +looked awfully funny and ought to be good in the picture. + +I tried narwhal skin myself and don’t like it much. It’s sort of tough +and seems to be swallowed without chewing. I think an auto tire inner +tube would be about the same, only it would smell better. + +Pooadloona and another hunter we took over to Northumberland Island. +That afternoon we got some more walrus but while we were fooling around +taking some movies we lost two of the animals. I think this discouraged +the Eskimos who couldn’t understand why the foolish white men would let +good meat get away when they really had it killed, instead of trying +crazy stunts for a man who looked into a machine and turned a crank. +Anyway, there was one big walrus whose meat we took to Keate, the +little town where we left these hunters. It was only a little way from +the place where we had been wrecked. + +In the evening we started across Baffin Bay to go to Jones Sound on the +Canadian side. We had intended to go further north to Etah, which was +only about sixty miles away. But it was getting pretty late in the +season and the Morrissey was giving Cap’n Bob a good deal of worry. +While she was well patched up, she still leaked a bit and lots of +places were sprung. For instance, the forward deck leaked so badly that +when the walrus meat was piled on deck the blood dripped right down +into our cabin and got on the table and especially into Bob Peary’s +bunk. It just wasn’t possible to fix the deck, which had to be +recaulked all over, until the vessel got to a shipyard. + +Anyway, it seemed better not to go much further north. Also, we had to +go back to Holsteinsborg on the Greenland side to get the Hobbs party. +If it wasn’t for that Captain Bob would have gone to Etah. + +After a day of fine going with some hours of a pretty stiff wind and +rather rough sea, we arrived at the mouth of Jones Sound where we were +greeted with a thick fog that put ice on all the rigging. After going +quite a way up Jones Sound, hoping to get to the lower land where there +might be musk-oxen, we were stopped by thick pan ice. Also new ice was +forming in the night. Evidently winter was just around the corner. + +We turned around and went out again toward the mouth and then waited +for the fog to clear up. There was lots of pan ice all around us and of +course it wasn’t safe to risk getting caught by the ice too far in. A +sudden change in the wind, for instance, might jam it all around us and +keep us from getting out at all. + +In the early afternoon the fog disappeared and we went in to Craig +Harbor, on the north shore of the sound on Ellesmere Land. Dad, +Rasmussen, Doc and Joe the sailor went ashore and reported that the +station was closed. This is the most northerly police post in the +world, occupied most of the time by the famous Northwest Mounted +Police. + +Much to our disappointment there was nobody at the station. We learned +later they had moved to a new station further north on Ellesmere Land. +We left a note saying that we had been there. There were two main +buildings, a barracks and a store house, with oil barrels and sacks of +coal piled up around. It all looked very neat. The buildings themselves +were locked. + +When we left Craig Harbor we saw two big bearded seal on the ice quite +a distance away. When the Morrissey got quite close to one Art Young +shot him dead with a rifle with a beautiful shot right through the +neck, and then he turned around and shot at the other. He hit him all +right but he wriggled off the ice pan and most likely sank. + +When they were getting the first seal Jim, the sailor, who is used to +killing seal on the spring Newfoundland seal hunts, jumped on the pan +and cracked the seal over the head with a heavy seal hook. This broke +the skull and injured the specimen for scientific use. So I was told to +keep a watch out for more as we very much wanted to get a perfect +specimen. + +We were not sure that there were any walrus in Jones Sound. But soon +Doc and I saw what we supposed were three big seals on pans of ice +about a mile ahead of us. We were in the lookout with glasses. And our +seal turned out to be walrus, and big ones, too. + +We headed right for them and Carl and Doc and Cal and Dad got in the +bow with their guns. When they were pretty near they shot and hit the +walrus, but they didn’t kill him. It is pretty hard to kill one, and if +they have any life left they slide off the ice into the water. The poor +big walrus lifted himself on his flippers and looked around to see +where the noise came from and what it was all about. + +In the water they seem pretty fierce and getting at them is quite a +job. But on the ice they seem very stupid and sort of pitiful and +lumbering, like a huge big sleepy cow. Only of course those tusks are +mighty dangerous, and I believe there isn’t an animal that can fight +with a walrus, even a polar bear. But they certainly can’t hear or see +very well. And when they are asleep on the ice in the sun, if the water +is quiet so the ice doesn’t rock and disturb them, it’s very easy +indeed to get awfully close to them. + +This big walrus, although hit three times, started to get off the ice. +Then Carl finished him with Dan’s heavy rifle. So we left him dead on +that pan and moved over to the other pan where two more were asleep. +Both of them were hit with the first shots, but both managed to get +into the water. Carl drove my harpoon, from the ship, into one of them, +but the other sank, although Nielsen, Rasmussen’s man with us on this +part of the trip almost got his harpoon into that one. It was a shame +to lose him. + +We all hate to kill anything and have it wasted. As a matter of fact I +thought I was going to be awfully excited about killing things, but +while it’s exciting all right I don’t think I care an awful lot about +it. Getting animals for food or for museums is all right. But I don’t +believe I want any trophies just to look at. It seems fairer to get the +fun of seeing them alive and to let them keep on up here. From what Dad +says, and Cap’n Bob and the others, there must have been a great deal +more game up here some years ago than there is now, and certainly other +expeditions killed an awful lot. Also of course the Eskimos, now that +they have rifles, kill a lot. And after a while, I suppose, the game +will be all gone just as it is in most of our own west. + +We saw another walrus not far off. The Morrissey got very close to him +and Art put two arrows in his neck, shooting from the bowsprit so that +a picture could be taken. The arrows might have killed him, for they +certainly got in a long way and caused a lot of bleeding. But that +would have taken some time, so the walrus was shot. + +None of these animals was wasted. Harry Raven took the brains for the +Museum and the heads were kept by members of the expedition. While our +crowd, I think, have had a pretty good time and certainly plenty of +excitement, they have not had much real hunting. I know that Dad had +hoped that the men who volunteered and came and have done lots of work +would be able to get more fun out of it. So he is glad when there is a +chance for them to get something to take back with them. The meat was +saved for the Eskimos at Pond’s Inlet, where we were going. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +NANOOK! + + +That night in Jones Sound, after getting the walrus, was very +beautiful. There was a great big full moon and a very pink and golden +sunset. The sun really went down that night, although of course it +stayed quite light. And it was the first time we had seen the moon for +a long time. Both the sunset and the moon, one in the west, the other +in the east, lasted all the night, reflected over a very thin coat of +silvery new ice. + +Dad and I stayed up all night. Dad shot a bearded seal on a pan, a +pretty good shot getting him right through the head. Then Ralph got out +on the pan and put a strap around the seal and we hoisted him on board +with a burton and were off again. A little while later we saw another +big one on a pan and Dad tried a long shot and missed, shooting high. +On the second shot he hit him, but the seal wriggled off and came to +the surface in a few minutes. Dan and Dad went out in the skiff and +tried to get him but they would go close to the place where he was and +he would go down and come up at another place. There was no use +shooting him unless they got close enough to put a seal hook in him, +for he would just sink. + +After a while they gave up and started back. Then three seal came right +up near them, popping out of the water to see what it was all about. +But they dodged back too quick for a shot. + +The new ice was forming quickly and the barometer was dropping. So we +began to move out to the mouth of the Sound, as Cap’n Bob wanted to get +out of there before we might have trouble with the ice in case of a +storm. Of course if it had been earlier in the season we would have +liked to stay in Jones Sound, where there certainly was good hunting. + +We watched and watched, but saw nothing more. We were working easterly +following along the edge of big fields of floe ice, that is, floating +pans, some of them just little pieces a few yards square, and others +perhaps a hundred feet or more, or a number of pans floating about +together, partly joined by new ice. You could almost see this new ice +forming. The thermometer I suppose was about 25 degrees, or perhaps +colder. Little crystals gathered together in the quiet water and then +there was a thin sheet of rubbery ice. As the boat moved through it the +surface held with a lot of strength. It would wave as the ripples from +the bow worked out under it, and took a lot of pressure before it +actually broke. + +It was just about four o’clock in the morning and I was going to turn +in. I was cold. But it had been fun staying up and I don’t think I ever +saw anything so beautiful as that light on the ice and the calm grey +water, with the snowy mountains and dark cliffs and white glaciers on +both sides of the sound. + +Dan was still working, cleaning up his walrus head. Dad was at the bow. +Ralph was at the wheel, and Jim on lookout. + +“Bear! Bear!” + +Suddenly Ralph called that out, in a low voice. + +Jim rang for the engine to stop and at once the Captain, who was below +getting a nap after being up about twenty-four hours, came on deck. + +From where we were all that could be seen of the bear was a small +yellow spot away over on the other side of a big pan. I was told to go +aloft and keep my eyes on him and to yell if he went into the water. If +a bear gets into the water it is pretty easy to get him, for he doesn’t +swim too fast to catch. But if he gets to land he is likely to get +away. Cap’n Bob was afraid he might start across the big pan one way, +as we went round the other. + +Anyway, the Morrissey went around the pan and nosed up, very quietly, +to within about thirty yards of him. The bear held his nose high in the +air and then came toward the ship making a very pretty jump across some +young ice. He seemed not a bit afraid, only very interested in this +strange new huge animal that had come to bother him. + +Cap’n Bob wanted to be sure for us to get this first bear, so several +took a shot together. The rifles of Dad and Dan and Doc all blazed out +together and later we found that each shot hit and that any one of them +apparently would have been fatal. + +Jim and Ralph jumped out on the ice from the bowsprit and made a line +fast to the dead bear and he was hoisted aboard and laid up forward, +the rest of the deck being pretty full of walrus meat and skins and +heads. About that time we looked pretty messy and like a butcher shop, +but right away, as the barometer was falling and it felt like snow, all +hands went to work and kept at it until breakfast, by which time things +were pretty shipshape. + +After that, by the way, we had a wonderful assortment of meat. There +was walrus heart and meat, and bear meat hanging in the rigging and a +big bunch of auks and murres hanging in the shrouds, and also some fine +seal meat. Some of this seal we ate at dinner that next day, boiled not +very much, and it certainly was fine. So for some time we had a pretty +fine meat diet. + +Right away, too, Billy boiled out a couple of bottles of bear oil for +Dad and Rasmussen. This is great stuff for shoes and leather. + +And speaking of bear, I now have two complete outfits of Eskimo +clothing. The northern kind has nanookies, or bear pants. Nette made +these on board from a part of a skin Dr. Rasmussen gave Dad, and at +Karnah when we stopped the Eskimo women there chewed it up in their +teeth so that the hide became very soft and easy to work. Then there +are sealskin boots with rabbit fur inside and a sealskin netcha or +jacket with a hood to go over the head. It is a wonderfully warm and +comfortable rig, this northern outfit. + +This bear of ours, they said, was a four-year-old. He measured seven +feet and four inches long and they guessed he weighed close to six +hundred pounds. Later on Fred fixed up the skin and the head to be +taken back and made into a rug. I worked on the skull, which takes +quite a lot of work to clean all the flesh off. + +So that made a pretty exciting finish to a really wonderful day. We +were sorry for just one thing. There wasn’t enough light at that time +of the morning or late night to get any pictures of the bear. Anyway, +in about eight hours we had got walrus and bearded seal and then the +pride of it all, Nanook the bear. + +And a funny part of it is that just the night before, Dad had sent a +radio to Mother saying that pretty soon he hoped to find a bear on one +of the ice pans, and that his skin was mortgaged to make a rug for my +little brother June to play on in front of the fire this winter. + +Then so soon after that we got the bear and the rug for Junie! + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AT POND’S INLET + + +On August twenty-eighth after a long time in very thick fog we at last +saw land only a little way off. For a couple of days we had been +working down the coast of Devon Island and Bylot Island, wanting to get +to Pond’s Inlet where there is a station of the Northwest Mounted +Police and also a post of the Hudson Bay Company. + +Cap’n Bob had not been able to see land or to take any observations but +we knew pretty well from dead reckoning that we had reached the south +shore of Pond’s Inlet. “Dead reckoning,” you know, means finding out +where you are by the record of the number of miles the log shows the +ship has travelled. The log itself is a little instrument like a small +propeller which is let out on a long rope at the stern; it turns around +fast or slow according to the speed at which the boat travels, and the +revolutions it makes are recorded showing the number of knots, or sea +miles, covered. + +While we were drifting around in the fog, barely in sight of the high +land which now and then showed through the fog, Dad and Dr. Rasmussen +paddled about a bit in a small boat shooting murres and dovekies. In +quite a short time Dad shot fifty-one, which made several meals for the +crowd. + +Then later we put the dory over with the Johnson engine in it. It made +a good little boat to go ahead and see how deep the water was. One of +the sailors was in her using the lead and calling back to the Morrissey +the depths of water he found. + +After a few miles of groping along that way we stopped near shore where +a little stream came down right beside a glacier. We only had a few +gallons of water left on board in the big tank, and nearly all the +casks were empty. While the crew took the casks ashore and filled them, +Bob Peary, Ed Manley and I went out rowing in the fog looking for seal. +We’d seen quite a few during the day. Of course we didn’t get out of +sight of land, but kept going down along the shore, so we could find +our way back. You really could see only about a hundred yards. + +We shot at a couple of seal but missed them. They are pretty hard to +hit in the water. They come up just for a minute or even a few seconds +and take a look at you if you are close and then dive. We were just +going after another which seemed to be keeping pretty well on the +surface when we heard the fog horn on the Morrissey. That was a signal +that we should come back. + +A little later we went ashore and on a rocky hillside found a whaler’s +grave. He was a harpooner on a famous whaler, the Diana, of Dundee, +Scotland, and was buried there in 1903. Some other whalers’ graves not +far away were a hundred years old, for there were many of them up here +as early as that. During some seasons, I was told, as many as a couple +of thousand men would be in these waters and some vessels wintered in +little harbors along the coast. Now the whales are about all gone and +the whalers are out of business. + +The fog cleared up later in the day and we made our way to Albert +Harbor which was one of the old whaler’s headquarters. There are high +cliffs on all sides so it is wonderfully well protected and the water +is very deep. In the old days they used to bring the vessels right up +to the rock slides at the foot of the cliffs and put ballast on. + +Then we went on further up the Inlet, which really is a broad sound +mostly a dozen miles wide to the place where the Hudson Bay Company’s +post is. Right next to the Post is the detachment of the Royal Canadian +Mounted Police. The Police have a barracks and a store house, and the +H. B. C. about the same, with a store too. Then down along the beach +are a dozen little shacks and some sod houses, the homes of the natives +who live there. But most of the Eskimos in that part of the country +live far away from the post, in villages out where the hunting is +better. + +There were six white men, three of the Police and three H. B. C. +Maurice Timbury was the constable in charge for the Police and George +Dunn is the factor at the H. B. C. Everyone was most awfully nice to us +and they gave us a grand time. We had dinner with the Police and then a +dance at the H. B. C. house, which was very lively and lots of fun. The +music was a Victrola and the Eskimos came in and danced. Also Nette, +the Greenland girl whom we are taking around to Holsteinsborg, was +quite the belle of the ball. She dances well and Dr. Rasmussen is a +great dancer. + +The Eskimos here in Baffin Land seem to be much different from those in +Greenland. The women tattoo their faces and wear different sorts of +clothes. Just there at the Post, where they get lots of white men’s +things, the native clothing isn’t seen much and I don’t believe that so +much “store” food is so very good for them. Anyway, the crowd I saw +seemed sort of puny and soft compared with the fine husky fellows we +had been seeing on the other side of Baffin Bay. The kayaks over here +seemed bigger and wider than those of the Greenland Eskimos. + +The meat from the walrus we had killed up on Jones Sound we brought to +Pond’s Inlet and gave it to the natives there. They seemed very +pleased, for it is fine dog food and they do not get walrus in those +waters any more. In return for our gifts some women came on board and +finished fleshing off the walrus and seal skins which we had not done +yet. Then they were salted some more and put in barrels and headed up +to go back to the Museum. It was a terrible job to get the grease off +the decks and for a few days after they were as slippery as a skating +rink. + +We went down to some old Eskimo winter houses, or stone igloos a mile +or so from the Station. They were very old and were used by a people so +many years ago that the present Eskimos don’t know anything about them +and believe that they were quite a different race. Dr. Rasmussen says +that from the things found in this old village, compared with others +that have been studied, the people lived there probably about a +thousand years ago and in some places even earlier and about the time +the Norsemen first came to Greenland in the year one thousand and +later. + +These old Eskimo stone igloos are built in a circle, mostly about +fifteen feet or a little more across. There is a small outer room which +is the entrance hall, chiefly to keep the inner place warmer. It is so +low that they must have had to creep in on their hands and knees. After +creeping in there seems to be a kind of step up into the inner room. +The main room, I guess, was about five feet high, with a raised +platform all around it a couple of feet above the central floor which +is just a sort of small square in the middle. + +In one corner of the raised part, usually near the door, the cooking +was done. The platform at the back was used for sleeping, and it is all +built up very neatly with flat stones, the walls made of stone and turf +and whale bone. The roof was flat rock and bone. In some places whale +ribs seem to have been used as rafters to support the walls and perhaps +the ceiling. They certainly must have been very warm and strong houses. +I forgot to say that they really are partly under ground, for the floor +level is usually a couple of feet lower than the level of the outer +ground. + +We did some digging around these houses and at some of the old graves. +And the next day Dad and I and Dan went with Mr. Gall and his +assistant, Abraham Ford of Labrador, in their motor boat twelve miles +along the Inlet to some other old houses. + +We found a few very nice things like spear heads and snow knives made +of bone and ivory, harpoon handles and a little cup or dish carved out +of bone. Later on Dad got from some of the white men the things they +had collected so that altogether we got together quite a fine lot of +very interesting things. And many of them really came from the “stone +age” of these people, when they made everything they had from stone, +like flint arrowheads, or from bone or ivory. + +It is quite wonderful to know that with these very primitive weapons +which they made themselves they were able to kill the huge sperm +whales. Yet of course they did, for their houses are surrounded with +the bones. And in the old times these waters surely were just full of +whale, walrus, seal and narwhal. + +Timbury and the two other constables, Murray and Dunn, went with us in +the afternoon hunting for Arctic hare. We saw one but couldn’t get near +enough because one of the dogs had followed and would chase it every +time we got in sight. Ed shot one duck and I shot two on a little lake +about two miles from the settlement. We didn’t know how to get them so +Ed took off his clothes and waded out in the icy water up to his +armpits and got them. + +Here at Pond’s Inlet, by the way, is the most northerly radio station +in the world. Both the Police and H. B. C. have a short wave receiving +set, and the Police also have a low power sending set, which I guess +doesn’t work very well. In Mr. Gall’s house we were interested to see +our old friends the Eveready Batteries which he uses entirely. Dad +arranged with them to have a special program, for a few minutes anyway, +on the Eveready hour later in November, if it could be fixed up. That +is, he wanted to have part of a program of broadcasting in New York +arranged so that it would be directed right at Pond’s Inlet and they up +there could hear Dad in New York talking to them. + +When we left the settlement it was so windy and rough that we stopped +at Albert Harbor again. Art and Ed and I went ashore on the steep rocky +island to look for hares. We climbed the first hill and saw a lot of +sign but no hares. + +“There’s one!” All of a sudden Art called out. “Over there by the big +rock. Dave, you sneak over behind that pile of rocks and Ed and I will +stay here and attract his attention.” + +I crept slowly toward the side of the hill and when I was out of sight +of the hare I ran for all I was worth and then slowed down and looked +carefully over the top. There he was, about sixty yards away, looking +at Art and Ed. + +I aimed in a hurry and shot and he tumbled right over in his tracks. +The twenty-two bullet went right through his shoulders and into his +heart and out the other side. We saw that his back was a light greyish +color and that he was a lot bigger than the largest American rabbits. +In winter, I’m told, they get pure white. + +We chased another all over the place and almost lost him. Just by luck +I had gone around the other way from the others and saw his ears +sticking up a long way off. I whistled to make him stand up, but when +he did I missed and he started running. I shot at him on the run and +with a lot of luck got him right through the hips and backbone. He was +larger than the first one, and pure white. + +We tried some others but with no luck. It was about ten o’clock when we +got back to the boat, and almost dark. Beginning here at Pond’s Inlet +we have had our first real nights. The sun sets and for some hours it +gets dark. + +Anyway, I asked Dad to send a radio message to Mother telling her that +I am fixing up a couple of nice Arctic hare skins for her, to make a +collar or something out of. And Fred is showing me how to make powder +puffs out of the tails. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MORE BEARS + + +September second we were working down the eastern coast of Baffin +Island, intending to cross over Baffin Bay toward Holsteinsborg to get +the Hobbs party. There was no ice to speak of, only a few scattered +bergs, and the weather continued to be pretty nice, sunny and quite +warm, which was very unusual for this time of year. + +Just at seven o’clock in the morning Dad woke me up and said that there +were three bears on a small berg near us. Ralph and Jim, the same watch +that discovered the first bear, had seen them. All hands turned out so +we would not miss the fun. + +Carl was getting his rope ready while Art got out his bow and arrows +for the hunt. No guns were to be used. Dad wanted to have this entirely +a stunt for the bow and the roping, and for motion pictures. Kellerman +had his two big motion picture cameras on deck, and a good many of the +crowd were using their still cameras. Also Bob Peary had a small movie +camera but he was on watch in the engine room so I ran it for him the +best I could! + +The Morrissey went right up close to the berg and we got a lot of +pictures. There was a big mother bear and two cubs which had been born +about February, they told me. They were pretty big and husky and +weighed probably more than 150 pounds each. It was queer to see the +bear away out here in the water, nearly twenty miles from land. But +later Mr. Rasmussen told us often they travel hundreds of miles almost +all the way in the water. Swimming seems to be about as easy for them +as walking. Cap’n Bob has found them swimming away down off the +Labrador. + +As we got close the old bear walked right down to the water’s edge with +the two cubs following. We headed away from the berg and swung around +to leeward to let them calm down. That seemed to satisfy them. Perhaps +they thought the ship was just a big dirty piece of ice. + +Anyway, they went back up on the ice and settled down. The two cubs lay +down close to the mother, and Harry, looking through the glasses, said +he could see that they were getting their breakfast. + +When we came close again for Art to get a bow and arrow shot the old +bear got really worried and made for the water. They swam off in a row +that looked like three butter balls, the old one first and the two +little ones trailing. They are not really quite white, but seem to be +sort of yellowish, almost butter color, especially when just their +heads show in the water. Their black noses show out more than anything +and their eyes. + +We came within thirty feet of them in the Morrissey two or three times, +taking pictures. The mother bear would turn around and growl at us, and +sort of grunt to the children to hustle along and get away from this +strange creature that was following them. + +We wanted to get them back on the berg, if possible, so we put a dory +over with Carl in it and rowed by Ralph and Joe, to try to herd them +toward the ice again. Several times after a lot of trouble they got +them headed back near the ice but they wouldn’t go up on it again. It +was a queer game of tag. + +In the meantime Jim on board was working on a rough cage for the cubs +because Dad had decided to get them alive if it were possible to take +them home to the Bronx Zoo at New York. At first they were going to let +me shoot one as I did want to get a bear quite by myself. But I agreed +that it would be a lot better to get them alive if possible. It happens +that in 1910 Cap’n Bob up right near here captured the huge polar bear +that has been at the Zoo ever since, “Silver King.” He died last year. + +Art got out on the bowsprit with his bow and arrows and a file with +which he gave the big two-inch steel blades of the arrows a last +sharpening. + +Kellerman, at his camera, asked Art if he was ready. Art said he was +all ready. So Cap’n Bob took the vessel right up close to them again. +The first time Art couldn’t shoot because one of the cubs was swimming +almost on top of the big bear. So we made another circle and came up on +them again. It was a lot of trouble, because there was quite a rough +swell and for the camera fixed up at the bow on the starboard side you +had to get the vessel into position pretty exactly. + +Art fired his big bow. By the way, it’s got about a ninety-five pound +pull which means it’s all a very strong man can do to even get the +string back and the bow bent, far less aim it and all that. I can’t +even bend the bow half way. I’ve seen Art put the arrows through +two-inch planks of soft wood. + +The first two arrows hit the big bear in the back. It was a hard mark, +just the neck and a bit of body showing in the water, and Art standing +in a mean place on the bowsprit, and the boat rolling a good deal. + +The bear turned around and roared and sort of cuffed at one of the cubs +who was close. On the next circle Art used two more arrows and I guess +one went into her pretty deep. She bled a lot and her head went under +the water. Then she came up and kind of rubbed noses with the cubs and +then her head dropped again. She was dead. And I guess it was the first +time a polar bear ever has been killed with a bow and arrow, certainly +since the days when the Eskimos used primitive weapons. + +The cubs stayed around the body until Carl in the dory came up close. +Then they swam off, barking like a whole kennel of dogs. We hoisted the +big bear on board and covered her with a tarp. Then we started after +the cubs, and it was about the most exciting thing I think I have ever +seen, and an awful lot of fun. + +Carl sort of wedged himself up in the bow of the dory, which was +bobbing around a lot in the swell, and the men rowed him towards the +cubs as the Morrissey worked in close where Kel could get the pictures. + +The very first shot Carl got his bear. He swung his rope about his head +in the air and let it go. The noose fell as fine as could be right +around the cub’s head. It was a great show. The folks back in +Pendleton, Oregon, who sent us that rope for Carl would have been +tickled to death. And right there Dad said we would call one of the +cubs “Cowboy.” The first one was to be named “Cap’n Bob.” + +The little bear didn’t know what had happened until they began pulling +him in. Then he commenced growling and snarling and barking. When Carl +got him alongside the dory he chewed at the rope and scratched and tore +at the boat and at Carl and tried to climb aboard. He certainly was +full of fight. One clean swipe from his claw would be enough to rip an +arm off, I suppose. Carl wore heavy gloves and leather wristlets. + +When the bear tried to climb in Carl would bat him in the face with his +hand or pry his paws off the gunwale. He bit at Carl and was real +snooty. It was a great party. After a while, when he had towed the dory +about a bit, Carl managed to get a rope sling down around his body +behind his shoulders, and with this he was hoisted aboard with a +tackle. + +Coming up and on deck he bit everything he could get at and tried to +tear the sails he reached, and generally raised Ned. We hoisted him up +in the air and with a smaller rope sort of led and dragged him forward +to the cage which was on the port side of the ship by the bow. We had +to lift him over the jumbo and lower him on the other side into the +entrance of his cage. + +On the way he knocked down the galley stove pipe. Then we put a line +around one of his front paws and then put the line under the bottom of +the cage and pulled down on it for all we were worth. We got his head +down in that way and then we all had to push his hind quarters. After +about half an hour we had him in the cage. + +Then Carl went out and roped the other cub, who had swam away about a +quarter of a mile. This one we got over on top of the cage all right +but then when Will was standing up leaning on the jumbo boom the bear +jumped right up at him and Will just got away in time. The bear landed +just where he had been. It was very close. We got him in the cage the +same as the other one. + +We gave them a duck and to our surprise they ate it all up in a minute. +It is very unusual for an animal to eat so soon after he is in +captivity. They must have been pretty hungry on that berg. We thought +we would see how they liked the dog food we had on board, in cans. It’s +called Ken-l-Rations and is pretty good stuff even for men. The Eskimos +North liked it a lot. Well, our bears just loved it. They actually will +bite chunks of it off a big spoon which Carl holds through the side of +the cage. Dad has asked him to look after “Cap’n Bob” and “Cowboy.” + + + +And that really ended the expedition. Of course there was plenty more, +and it was a month before we got home. + +After getting the bear cubs we went across Baffin Bay to Holsteinsborg +and picked up the Hobbs party. Then we started home. And the first day +out we dropped our tail shaft and propeller, a third of the way across +Davis Strait. That meant we had to go the rest of the distance to +Sydney without any engine. We made those 1400 miles with sails alone, +and we had a couple of grand gales and a real hard time getting through +Belle Isle Straits and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, what with fogs and +head winds. It took 15 days of sailing. But it was sort of a fine way +to finish up a trip on a vessel which was really meant for sails alone +before we put in the engine. + +And this, now that I’m back from Greenland, I’m writing on the +Morrissey as we’re in sight of Cape Breton Island. And it all will be +sent down by railroad from Sydney and perhaps the little book will be +about ready by the time we’re back home—which is a pretty good place to +be! + + + + + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75370 *** |