The ship had sunk about 150 miles from what are known as the New Siberian Islands, for which DeLong then laid his course.

The ice was rugged, covered with soft snow, which masked treacherous pitfalls, and full of chasms which had to be bridged.

Five sleds and three boats were dragged by almost superhuman exertions, the sick feebly aiding the sturdy in the work.

Imagine the disappointment, and despair of the leader, when, after a full week of this cruel labor, with provisions ever growing more scanty, an observation showed him they were actually twenty-eight miles further away from their destination than when they started! While they were toiling south, the ice-floe over which they were plodding was drifting more rapidly north.

_Nil desperandum_ must ever be the watchword of Arctic expeditions, and DeLong, saying nothing to the others of his discovery, changed slightly the course of his march and labored on.