In December, 1897, while I was in London, the steam yacht _Windward_, which had been used in his Franz Joseph Land expedition, was tendered to me by Alfred Harmsworth, who offered to have her re-engined and delivered to me in New York. This generous offer I accepted. In the spring of 1898 the Peary Arctic Club was organised, Morris K. Jesup, Henry W. Cannon, H. L. Bridgman, all personal friends of mine, forming the nucleus about which the rest of you assembled, and in May the _Windward_ arrived; but, to my regret and disappointment, the machinists’ strike in England having prevented the installation of new engines, she was practically nothing but a sailing craft. The lateness of the season was such that I had to make the most of the _Windward_ as she was. But her extreme slowness (3½ knots under favourable circumstances), and the introduction of a disturbing factor in the appropriation by another of my plan and field of work, necessitated the charter of an auxiliary ship if I did not wish to be distanced. The _Windward_ sailed from New York on the 4th of July, 1898, and on the 7th I went on board the _Hope_ at Sydney, C. B. 1898–1899 Pushing rapidly northward, and omitting the usual calls at the Danish Greenland ports, Cape York was reached after a voyage, uneventful except for a nip in the ice of Melville Bay, which lifted the _Hope_ bodily, and for a few hours seemed to contain possibilities of trouble. The work of hunting walrus and assembling my party of natives was commenced at once, the _Windward_ soon joined us, after which the hunting was prosecuted by both ships until the final rendezvous at Etah, whence both ships steamed out on Saturday, August 13th, the _Windward_ to continue northward, the _Hope_ bound for home. The Windward was four hours forcing her way through a narrow barrier of heavy ice across the mouth of Foulke Fiord. Here the _Hope_ left us, straightening away southward toward Cape Alexander, and the _Windward_ headed for Cape Hawkes, showing distinctly beyond Cape Sabine.