stefansson-wrangel-09-26-001-037

into them. All about the ship were ringlike depressions in the snow worn by the
dogs lying there and melted by the warmth of their bodies. Each dog had his own
nest. If one attempted to intrude upon the rights of another bickerings were sure
to follow; but this did not occur often, as these husky animal , though shrewd and
cunning generally play fair toward each other. They are kind and friendly to
their masters and faithful in their devotion to men.

The men spent most of their time aboard ship. There was about two
hours' work a day for each, and the remainder of the time was spent in sleeping,
reading, playing cards, chess and checkers, and listening to music furnished by a from our phongraph Victrola.
We had an abundance of fine records that were an ever-living source of
pleasure. We were well supplied with good reading matter, in thw linw" gf books and
magazines. The forethought of Dr. Stefansson in supplying us with the means of
entertainment was one of the wisest precautions he could have taken.

The Karlulc was supplied with the best of provisions to last her
three years. We also had large quantities of foods in more condensed form for
use on the trail. While on the ship no restrictions were put upon the amount of
food allowed to each man; everything was furnished in plenty. We procured fresh
water from an old ice floe of ice, that is ice that was several years old. The effect
of the sun upon ocean the ice is gradually to draw the salt from it.

We had been drifting so long without any unusual incident that our
ship became a veritable home to us. We had comfort and plenty on board, and in a
measure forgot the our helplessness. of our situation. Capt. Bartlett, perhaps was
the only person who- thoroughly realized and appreciated the dangers ahead of us,
but he went about his work calmly preparing against disaster to the ship.

Day succeeded day in the same monotonous way, until one night in the
early part of December we were suddenly aroused by a strong reminder of what was in
store for us. About 9 o'clock ion the evening in question, as we were sitting in
the cabin entertaining ourselves with music, reading and games, we were startled