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on the 15th of September sufficiently thick to bear the weight of a man.  I immediately commenced to land provisions, and set the men to work building quarters.

The day after my arrival, Capt. E. E. Smith informed me that the Steamer was leaking badly, and that it would be attended with great risk should she be ordered a second time to St. Michaels.  Upon the receipt of this intelligence, I ordered her to be brought over the bar, the machinery to be taken out, and everything to be in readiness to haul her on the beach.  Having been brought up the river as far as the ice would permit, she was hauled sufficiently high to render her safe from all floating ice.  In our endeavors to haul her up we parted the chain three times.  Finding the Steamer to be of no farther use, I dispatched as many skin boats as I could hire from the Indians to St. Michaels, for balance of men and as much provision as they could carry.  Ten days later men, and provisions arrived, having had much difficulty in pushing their way through masses of floating ice.