Evening star., 1922-10-01
Bv Donald B. MacMilLun.
Another Installment of Explorers Own
Story of Expedition in the
Great Ice Wilderness.

arctic circle, the watch for'ard called
lice on the port bow" Yes, there 1t
was at last. stretching off into the
dim twilight. Our work had evident
ly begun. Fortunately the arctic
man does not have darkness to con-
tend with when Fastening northward
toward his winter. quarters. For
limited period only the doors of the
north are open; and every moment
must be utilized to take advantage
of lead or break or change of wind.
We sailed on until I am, skirting
the eastern edge of the pack. when
Small reported a solid field extending
west and north as far as the eye could
reach. Knowing that with such a
strong northwest wind the pack mist
was moving bodily across Fox cnan-
mel to infringe against grounded ice.
1 decided to work to windward
through the mass as far as possible,
hoping eventually to reach the wind
ward edge and open water. At $50
we were stopped completely. From
the crows nest not a CLINT of water
could be seen to the westward We
tied up to pan and filed our tanks
with fresh water from one of the
numerous pools always found upon
the surface of foe Ice
"E1ELD ice'" pan Ice" and pack"
l. are formed by the freezing of
the sea or of bays and inlets Of
the sea. YET. strange to relaet. after
d few months such become almost
entirely fresh, and the surface wholly
so, following the melting of win
ter'S snow by the warm southerly
winds and hot sun of the summer
months. In the fall pools thus formed
purest fresh-water ice. Therefore |
what a first thought would seem a
problem to the uninitiated, namely,
the water supply, is dismissed with
out further anxiety. Peary was often
asked the question:: Wow much
water did you take with you on your
trip northward to the pole?"
This enforced delay enabled me to
examine the ice more closely. and to
compare it with that of Melville bay,
Smith sound and the polar sea- am
strongly inclined to the belief that
the great body of ice formed here, in
creased during the winter by cold and
decreased during the summer by heat.
never leaves this locality. Absence OF
strong currents. the action Of the
tides. meeting as they do from north
and south; the contour Of the Shore
lines and the prevailing winds would
all favor this assumption. But what
influences one in this belief more than
all the preceding is the appearance of
the ice, which was at least forty feet
thick, and of a dirty yellow color ap-
parently throughout, certain indica-
ton of old age.
Parry noted the heavy pack here 100
years ago; and Capt. Bach of the Ter
ror. wrote: "Persevering in plying to
windward amongst the heaviest ice !
have ever behsld, it was not without
great difficulty and at great sacri-
fee Of distance that the innumerable
masses surrounding US could be steer
ed clear Of; nor was this always the
case, since, in spite of all our care, the
ship would sometimes drive on them
with a concussion that made all the
bells ring. and almost threw those
below from their chairs
The most experienced of the sea-
men (many of whom had spent their
lives in the Greenland trade) de-
clared they had never beheld such
heavy ice = 1t was re-
markable that the whole of the ice,
whether detached or compact. was of
dirty. ochrish color, totally unlike
any which we had seen before ..
The scene around US presented an
apparently solid sea of Ice, thrown up
in many parts to the height Of eight
cen feet, and so ragged, peaked and
uneven as TO bid defiance to any at
tempt even to walk over it ..
That there were two distinct kinds |
of ice could not be doubted since the !
most cursory observer could not fail |
to remark that the one was massive, |
old and irregular. with huge piles |
tossed up in picturesque confusion
the other light, clean and compara-
lively smooth
wondered if we were looking at |
the same ice? I could we'll believe it. |
Aside from it's ancient appearance, its