Caught in the ice pack north of Alaska, they drifted west for months before the ship finally succumbed to the ice and sank. Trekking for 130 miles across the ice, they finally reached the desolate Wrangell Island, north of Siberia. The captain set off together with the Inuit Kataktovick to cross over to the mainland and reach civilization, leaving behind a fractious group, few of whom had polar experience, and including a two-year-old girl.