They were later turned bottom side up for the winter and weighted down, so that the wind could not move them.
[Illustration: "PEARY" SLEDGES ON BOARD THE ROOSEVELT] The work of landing the supplies and equipment consumed several days.
This is the very first work of every well-managed arctic expedition on reaching winter quarters.

With the supplies ashore, the loss of the ship by fire or by crushing in the ice, would mean simply that the party might have to walk home.

It would not interfere with the sledge work, nor seriously cripple the expedition.

Had we lost the _Roosevelt_ at Cape Sheridan, we should have spent the winter in the box houses which we constructed and in the spring should have made the dash for the Pole just the same.

We should then have walked the three hundred and fifty miles to Cape Sabine, crossed the Smith Sound ice to Etah, and waited for a ship.
The adjacent shore for a quarter of a mile was lined with boxes, each item of provisions having a pile to itself.