stefansson-wrangel-09-26-001-043

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As fast as anything was placed oil the ice it was covered with the
drifting snow. I put an extra case of .30-30 ammunition on the
ice, as the two natives had each a .30-30. Later these cases of
ammunition could not he found nor yet a case of 6 ¹/₂ mm. (Mannlicher)
ammunition.

There was plenty of time to save everything we wanted
from the ship, for she was held tight in the ice all that night and
till mid-afternoon, when she began to go down by the head until she
was almost perpendicular. Then she suddenly straightened out on a
level keel and slowly sank with the Union Jack flying. The depth
of water was thirty fathoms.

For several days after this all hands were engaged
getting ready for the trip ashore, fixing up boots and socks and
sleeping gear, making these the best they could out of deerskins.
About the middle of January the Captain sent three sled-loads of
provisions and all the dogs (over twenty) with the first and second
officers and two sailors with orders to go to Wrangell Island* and
form a base and build a house to be ready for the ship’s company
whenever they should arrive.

I think it was sixteen or seventeen days before the
teams returned. During that interval the Captain had a line of
depots made at distances of one, two, three and four days’ travel
towards Wrangell Island from Shipwreck Camp. These contained
food and oil. He asked me what I thought of his doing this and I
told him I thought it was a waste of time as the chances were we never would find them, as the ice was
on the move all the time.

I forget who went on the first trip but on the second
one were Malloch and Munro and they had a mishap. It was before
they had cached their loads. They started across a patch of young

Footnote
*There was
evidently at
this stage a
confusion of
Wrangell Island
but they actually
headed for
a land
which they
saw on the
skyline
to the
south and
which was
Herald Island
as the later
narrative
shows