When the anticipated flood arrived on the night of December 30th, steam was turned on at the critical moment, the engines worked the stern-wheel, and Lieutenant Ives had the satisfaction of seeing the Explorer, under the bright moonlight, slowly back out of the pit which had been her cradle into the swirling, seething current.
As the tide continued to rise, Ives feared the whole flat would soon be inundated, so everything belonging to the expedition was stowed on board till the Explorer's gunwales were no more than six inches above the surface.

Through this circumstance, the expedition came near a disastrous end the next night, when the steamer proceeded up the river on the flood tide.

A squall was met and the boat shipped water alarmingly, but fortunately the wind died away as quickly as it had come up.

The Explorer was saved, and the journey was continued over the swiftly gliding torrent.
As they went on after this in daylight, some Cocopas they met grinned rather contemptuously, and called this the "chiquito steamboat." A considerable amount of stores was left on the bank in their care, to be picked up by Captain Wilcox, who, going down on one of the fort steamers, had passed the Explorer, and offered to take these extra stores to the fort on his return.

They were placed with the Cocopas by his direction, an arrangement that better describes the relations of the steamboat people and the natives than anything that could be said about them.