Evening star., 1922-09-24
By Donald B. Macmillan
Third Insta1lment of "New Trails In
the Ice Wnderness.'

CUNDAY. August IA, was a beautiful
y morning. We we're up at o'clock
and away at 3:15 for Cape Chidley
and Port Burwell and the finest seem
cry in Labrador. From here on 1t
may truly be called The Norway OF
America" Deep. dark fiords. won
derful color effects and big hills ris-
ing to a height of 5000 and even
1000 feet, the highest land imme-
diately adjacent to the coast from
3 fin Land to Cape Horn"
The perfectness Of the day prom
ised us a. good view of this Tornga
range, the home of the evil spirits
Of the Eskimos-all of them. should
judge. by the general appearance Of
the land.
To our disappointment, heavy fog
rolled in from sea at the most inter
esting part of our journey, when of
beautiful Nachvak bay and Mt. Razor
back The Four Peaks and the White
Handkerchief ahead on our port bow
dissolved into the mist and left us
with a steadily increasing southeast
wind and rising sea. which precluded
all possibility Of our calling at Bur-.
well to report to customs; Tor the
neighborhood Of Cape Chidley; is the
most dangerous on the whole Labra-
dor coast. owing to extremely strong
tides rushing out of Ingava and Hud-
son bay, prevailing fogs. strong
winds and drift in. The condition,
with a strong current. is no respecter
of ships in Grays straits. leading to
Burwen. l saw the famous Greedy
relief ship Thetis writhing in agony
in the relentless grip Of the great
white pack. Her apparently inde-
structible great 14-inch timbers
creaked and groaned and complained
bitterly. but in vain, against such
punishment.
1 swung the Bowdoin offshore to
clear Davidson and Alexander rocks
ahead and at o'clock laid course
for Hatton headland. the southern
end of Resolution island. off Bafin
Land The customs must wait Tor
more favorable weather.
At 6 o'clock we took in our main
sail and outer jib and prepared for
a dirty night off and In Hudson strait.
At 1 am. on the 18TH. when within
twenty miles of Resolution island as.
indicated by the log, changed course
10 north by west tvar. SO degrees W.
and entered the strait.
When the mate called me at 1880
could see the dim outlines Of lower
Savage island and now and then dis
Germ off the starboard bow the east
bluff of Meta Incognita, the south
ern end of Baffin Land. The wind
was strong from the northeast, with
a short cross sea, which, when en-
countering the Eowdoin. logging
about nine knots, leaped over her
bows, broke over the weather rail.
and now and then rolled In q solid
green mass over the starboard quar-
ter. tumbling into the lee scuppers
heterogeneous mass of bags OF coal.
grape juice, ropes. our patent fog
horn and several boxes Of pemmican.
which Induced me to change our
course and get up under the lee OF
the land.
Just where the Bowdoin anchored
that night is uncertain. Our expert
ence confirmed our statement before
leaving the United States that "a
large part of Bafin Land is still un->
explored" Nothing on the latest
charts could be found bearing like
ness to our harbor or our immediate
surroundings.
Our longitude, however, would In
dicate that we were inside sof the
middle Savage islands. formerly call
ed by Henry Hudson isles of Gods