Had the accident occurred at a time when the ship was between two big floes, the fortress of the North Pole might still remain uncaptured.

It was after midnight before we got under way, and half an hour later we were stopped again by the impassable ice.
On the fourth day we lay quiet all day long, with a slight breeze from Princess Marie Bay setting us slowly eastward; but, as the sun was shining, we utilized the time in drying our clothing, wet and soggy from the almost continuous rain and snow of the previous two days.

As it was still summertime in the Arctic, we did not suffer from cold.

The pools between the ice floes were slowly enlarging, and at nine in the evening we were on our way again, but at eleven we ran into a thick fog.

All night we bored and twisted through the ice, which, though thick, was not heavy for the _Roosevelt_, and only once or twice we had to back her.