The daylight in Alaska's winter is very short, and in the afternoon at three o'clock, heavy snow began to fall again, causing darkness to come faster.
At the dock of the abandoned police station in Saint Mary's, a medium-sized cargo ship loosened its cables and slowly departed from its berth.
A few tall men in striking cold-weather gear lifted three mortars out of the cabin as the ship started moving.
One was a 120mm M120 large-caliber mortar, and the other two were 60mm caliber M224 small-caliber mortars.
After a period of practice, the three mortars were each moved to their pre-set positions on the ship's bow. They aligned with the pre-welded screws, dropped the bases, and then tightened the large nuts to secure the bases firmly in place.
