Nine loaded sledges and five boats carrying sixty days’ provisions, had to be hauled across the moving floes in the course of the day. The road had to be travelled no less than thirteen times, seven times with loads and six times empty handed, thus walking twenty-six miles in making an advance of two. The sick, with the hospital stores and tents, were under the care of Dr. Ambler. Thus the march over the frozen ocean was continued for several weeks when, to the consternation and dismay of Captain De Long, he found upon taking observations, that by the northerly drift of the pack they were losing ground daily and had drifted some twenty-four miles to the northwest. This disheartening intelligence was kept from the men, with the exception of Melville and Dr. Ambler. Changing their course to south-southwest, the party continued their slow and wearisome progress until the 11th or 12th of July, when the mountainous peaks of an island gladdened the eyes of the shipwrecked crew. Inspired to renewed effort, the men pushed on, finally landed, and Captain De Long took possession in the name of God and the United States, naming this new territory Bennett Island. Nine days were spent on this island, during which the boats were repaired. A cairn was built and a record left. The final departure from Bennett Island took place August 6. In the meantime, the brief summer had gone; already young ice was forming, and the streams and rivulets that had gladdened the men’s eyes upon their arrival had disappeared as the cold grasp of winter prepared to hold them fast. It had been decided by Captain De Long to divide the party into three sections, and to proceed by boats; to this end Lieutenant Chipp was assigned to the second cutter in command of nine men; Chief Engineer Melville to the whale-boat in command of nine men, De Long reserving the command of the first cutter and twelve men. Instructions to Chipp and Melville directed that they should keep close to the captain’s boat, but if through accident they should become separated, to make their way south to the coast of Siberia and follow it to the Lena River, then ascend the Lena to a Russian settlement. For the next eighteen days, the retreat was made by working through leads, hauling the boats out, and making portages across floe pieces that barred their progress; and occasionally as much as ten miles was made a day to the southwest. Vexatious delays were caused by the fast approaching winter, and, upon reaching Thadeouiski, one of the New Siberian Islands, the pinch of diminishing rations began sorely to be felt. Game, which had been occasionally secured during the early part of the retreat, had been scarce of late, and the outlook began to take on the gray aspect of a desperate future. [Sidenote: _CHIEF ENGINEER MELVILLE_] From now on, the retreat was one long, desperate struggle against famine and gales and piercing cold. Describing the experiences of September 7, Melville writes:—