Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/128



OUR WINTER HARBOR.—PREPARING FOR WINTER.—ORGANIZATION OF DUTIES.—SCIENTIFIC WORK.—THE OBSERVATORY.—SCHOONER DRIVEN ASHORE.—THE HUNTERS.—SAWING A DOCK.—FROZEN UP.

I named our harbor Port Foulke, in honor of my friend, the late William Parker Foulke, of Philadelphia, who was one of the earliest, and continued to be throughout one of the most constant advocates of the expedition.

It was well sheltered except from the southwest, toward which quarter it was quite exposed; but, judging from our recent experience, we had little reason to fear wind from that direction; and we were protected from the drift-ice by a cluster of bergs which lay grounded off the mouth of the harbor.

Our position was, even for the Greenland coast, not so satisfactory as I could have wished. Had I reached Fog Inlet we should have gained some advantages over our present location, and would have been indeed better situated than was Dr. Kane at Van Rensselaer Harbor; and we would then be as sure of an early liberation as we were likely to be at Port Foulke. In truth, the principal advantage which it possessed was that we would not be held very late the next summer, and there was no possible risk of my vessel being caught in a trap like that of the Advance. Besides this prospect of a speedy liberation to recom