More than once did a fireman come panting on deck for a breath of air, look over the side, mutter to himself, “By G— she’s got to go through!” then drop into the stoke-hole, with the result a moment later of an extra belch of black smoke from the stack, and an added turn or two to the propeller. At midnight all that could be said was that we were nearer the west side than the east, and steadily drifting southward with the pack. I quote from my journal: “Slow and heart-breaking work. The _Roosevelt_ is a splendid ice-fighter and if she had her full boiler power she would be irresistible. The ice is very heavy, in large floes, some of them several miles in diameter and their edges sheer walls of blue adamant. I shall be glad when we are through.” In one of her charges the _Roosevelt_ left a considerable piece of the stem just under the figurehead as a souvenir upon the top of a berg-piece which she was obliged to butt out of her path. In another, a blue floe twelve to fifteen feet in thickness was split fairly in two. Until 4 A. M. of the 29th we continued slowly to near the Grinnell Land side. Then but little progress was made for several hours, then another start which was kept up with occasional interruptions until 4 P. M., when after thirty-five and one-half hours of incessant strain and struggle, we drove out into a small pool of water under the northern point of Wrangel Bay. The battle had been won by sheer brute insistence and I do not believe there is another ship afloat that would have survived the ordeal. Bartlett and I went to our rooms, worn with the long tension, and I fell asleep instantly. It was the second birthday of a man-child in the distant home, and in my dreams I saw the round face with its blue eyes and crown of yellow hair, smiling at me from the savage mass of black clouds which shrouded the summit of the cape under which we lay. God bless you, little man. Soon after getting into Wrangel Bay, and while I was asleep, a piece of heavy ice whirling under the stern twisted the back nearly off the rudder, and the entire night was occupied in temporarily repairing the damage. A hunting party of Eskimos sent out during the night returned the forenoon of the 30th with eleven hares and six musk-oxen. Late in the afternoon an unsuccessful attempt was made to reach Lincoln Bay, from which we were driven back by heavy floes moving southward, and at midnight we were again in Wrangel Bay dodging about to keep clear of the shifting ice, while past the capes the big floes were going south with almost race-horse velocity, the channel and summits of all the land dark with fog. The 31st was spent in the bay keeping clear of the floes which swung into and around it, the night thick with falling snow. Made an early start at 3:30 A. M. September 1st, in fog and a blinding snowstorm, and steamed to the north side of Lincoln Bay, where the unbroken pack again barred our passage and we moored to the exposed face of the ice-foot.