Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/46

 the materials for a coat and protection against the Arctic winds. A good stock of rifles and guns, and a plentiful supply of ammunition, finished our guarantees against want. We had forty tons of coal and wood in the hold, and a quantity of pine boards, intended for housing over the upper deck when in winter quarters.

Our sledges were constructed after a pattern furnished by myself, and the tents, cooking-lamps, and other camp fixtures, were manufactured under my personal supervision. From numerous friends, whose names I cannot here mention without violating the obligations of confidence, we received books and a great quantity of "small stores" which were afterward greatly appreciated during our winter imprisonment in the ice.

We had expected to sail on the 4th of July, and the friends of the Expedition were invited by the Boston Committee, through its secretary, Mr. O. W. Peabody, to see us off. Although the day was dark and drizzly many hundreds of persons were present. Through some unavoidable accident we did not get away. The guests, however, made us the recipients of their best wishes, and when the members of my little command (assembled together on that day for the first time) found themselves addressed in turn by the Governor of the State, the Mayor of the City, and the President of Harvard, and by renowned statesmen, orators, divines and merchants of Boston, and by savans of Cambridge, the measure of their happiness was full. Inspired by the interest thus so conspicuously manifested in their fortunes, they felt ready for any emergency.