The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume III Part 21

CHAPTER x.x.x.

ON AN ICE-RAFT.

A Floating Ice-Raft-The Settlement-Christmas in a New Position-Terrible Storms-Commotion under the Ice-The Floe breaks up-House Ruined-Water on the Floe-A Spectre Iceberg-Fresh Dangers and Deliverances-Drifted 1,100 Miles-Resolution to Leave the Ice-Open Water-Ice again-Tedious Progress-Reach Illuidlek Island-Welcome at the Greenland Settlements-Home in Germany-Voyage of the _Germania_-Discovery of Coal-A New Inlet-Home to Bremen.

Slowly but steadily their ice-field drifted to the south, and by November 3rd they had reached Scoresby's Sound, sometimes being near the coasts and sometimes far from them. Since the s.h.i.+p had sunk, fourteen days before, the ice had closed in upon them, and even the blocks which had broken away from their field had frozen to it again. Their floating ice-raft was by degrees investigated in every quarter, roads cleared, and marks set up for short tours. The ma.s.s of ice was at this time about seven nautical miles in circ.u.mference, and seemed to have a diameter in all directions of over two miles. The ice-raft, on which (as Dr. Laube aptly remarked) they "were as the Lord's pa.s.sengers," had an average thickness above the water of five feet, and they considered that there was a submergence of forty feet.

"Our settlement," says the narrative, "at the beginning of November, when we were not yet snowed up, might be seen from the most distant points of our field. Near the chief building lay two snow-houses, which served for was.h.i.+ng and drying ourselves. Boats, heaps of wood, barrels containing coal and bacon, surrounded this heart of our colony. To prevent the entrance of the snow and wind into our coal-house, we built an entrance-hall with a winding path, and a roof constructed in the same way as that of the house."

In November, upon a neighbouring floe, separated from them by a small interval of freshly-frozen water, they saw the shapeless body of a large walrus lying motionless as a rock. As soon as the boat could be launched several of them went in pursuit, and with a needle-gun succeeded in killing it, although in its dying struggles it tried furiously to smash the young ice on which the hunters stood, and seize them when once in the water. It took ten men with a powerful pulley several hours before they succeeded in getting the walrus out of the water on to the ice. Late that same evening a white bear, the first of their winter's campaign, was attracted to the house by the smell of the walrus fat. Three shots greeted him, the effect of which could not be seen until the following morning.

"About 100 yards distant lay the bear, hit in the head by the bullet, as if asleep, though quite dead, on the snow. It was a fine handsome beast; its well-developed head lay upon its front paws; the red drops of blood stood sharply out against the clean white snow." It was a gift from heaven to them in their position. The four hams weighed 200 pounds.

The shortest day was pa.s.sed, and still they were safe. They determined that, whether or no fated to see another Christmas, they would celebrate the present one. "In the afternoon," says the narrative, "whilst we went for a walk, the steersman put up the Christmas-tree, and on our return the lonely coal-hut shone with wonderful brightness. Keeping Christmas on a Greenland floe! Made of pinewood and birch-broom, the tree was artistically put together. For the lights, Dr. Laube had saved some wax candles. Paper chains and home-baked gingerbread were not wanting. The men had made a knapsack and a revolver case for the captain; we opened the leaden box from Professor Hochstetter, and the other from the Geological Reichsanstalt, which caused much merriment. Then we had a gla.s.s of port wine, and fell upon the old newspapers in the boxes, and distributed the gifts, which consisted of small musical instruments, such as whistles, jew's-harps, and trumpets, also little puppets and games of roulette, cracker bonbons, &c. In the evening chocolate and gingerbread nuts. 'In quiet devotion' (says Dr. Laube in his day-book) 'the festival pa.s.sed by; the thoughts which pa.s.sed through our minds (they were much alike with all), I will not put down. If this should be the last Christmas we were to see it was at least bright enough. If, however, we are destined for a happy return home the next will be a brighter one. May G.o.d grant it!'"

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SUN AT MIDNIGHT IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.]

Early next morning they were awakened by a shout from the watch. They were apparently drifting to land! An island seemed to be straight ahead of them. Amid great alarm, all turned out. The air was thick, but about three miles off they could distinguish a dark ma.s.s, which looked like an island.

It proved to be an enormous iceberg. Next day they pa.s.sed the drifting ma.s.s, which moved much slower than their field.

On January 2nd a frightful storm arose, with driving snow. Alarming noises were heard under the ice. "It was a sc.r.a.ping, bl.u.s.tering, crackling, sawing, grating, and jarring sound, as if some unhappy ghost was wandering under our floe." Perplexed, they all jumped out, but could detect no change. They lay down, and applying their ears to the floor, could hear a rustling like the singing of ice when closely jammed, and as if water were running under the floe. They felt that there was great danger of a break-up, either from being driven over sunken rocks or against the fixed ice of the coast, or, may-be, both at once, and they packed their furs and filled their knapsacks with provisions. Ropes from the house were fastened to the boats, so that in case of a catastrophe they might be able to reach them. But the driving snow was so terrible that they hardly dare move, and they pa.s.sed a night of misery, expecting each minute to be their last. At nine next morning the longed-for twilight appeared, and an hour later the wind abated a little. Some of them went in the direction of the "quay,"

for thus had they christened the spot, 500 steps from the house, where the sunken _Hansa_ lay. They there found a new wall of ice, and recognised to their horror that this wall was now the boundary of their floe, whilst on all sides of it large pieces had broken off, and rose in dark shapeless ma.s.ses out of the drifted snow. When, on the morning of the 4th, the storm had worn itself out, they found that their floating ice-raft had considerably diminished in size. The diameter, before over two nautical miles, had now reduced to one; on three sides the house was close to the edges, and on the fourth it was not over 1,000 steps, where it had previously been 3,000. The following days were pretty good, and they got their boats out from the snow, dug out the firewood, and employed themselves in constructing swimming-jackets and snow-shoes out of cork, the latter to prevent themselves sinking up to the hips, as they had often done before.

The days from the 11th to the 15th of January were destined to bring new horrors. On the first-named day a heavy storm with driving snow prevailed, in the midst of which the man on watch burst into the house with the alarm, "All hands turn out!" Hastily gathering their furs and knapsacks, they rushed to the door, to see it almost completely snowed up. To gain the outside quickly they broke through the snow-roof, to find that the tumult of the elements was something beyond anything they had previously experienced. Scarcely able to move from the spot, they huddled together for warmth and mutual protection. Suddenly a new cry arose: "Water on the floe close by!" The heavy waves washed over the ice: the field began to break on all sides. On the spot between the house and the piled-up wood, a gap opened. All seemed lost. The firewood was drifting into the raging sea; the boats were in danger, and without this last resource, what would they do? The community was divided into two parts. Sadly, though hastily, these brave Germans bade each other good-bye, for none of them expected to see the morrow. Cowering in the shelter of their boats, they stood s.h.i.+vering all day, the fine p.r.i.c.king snow penetrating their very clothes.

Their floe, from its last diameter, about a mile, had dwindled to 150 feet. Towards evening, the heavy sea subsided, and the ice began to again pack and freeze together. Shortly after midnight a new terror arose, the sailor on watch rus.h.i.+ng in with the information that they were drifting on an iceberg. All rushed to the entrance, where they could, in the midnight gloom, distinguish a huge ma.s.s of ice, of giant proportions. "It is past,"

said the captain. Was it really an iceberg, the mirage of one, or the high coast? They could not decide the question, for owing to the rapidity of the drift, the ghastly object had disappeared the next moment.

Again on the 14th a frightful storm raged, and the ice was once more in motion. The floe broke in the immediate vicinity of the house, and the boats had to be dragged near it. "All our labour," says the narrative, "was rendered heavier by the storm, which made it almost impossible to breathe. About eleven we experienced a sudden fissure which threatened to tear our house asunder; with a thundering noise an event took place, the consequences of which, in the first moments, deranged all calculations.

G.o.d only knows how it happened that, in our flight into the open, none came to harm. But there, in the most fearful weather, we all stood roofless on the ice, waiting for daylight, which was still ten hours off.

The boat _King William_ lay on the edge of the floe, and might have floated away at any moment. Fortunately, the fissure did not get larger.

As it was somewhat quieter at midnight, most of the men crept into the captain's boat, when the thickest sail we had was drawn over them. Some took refuge in the house; but there, as the door had fallen in, they entered by the skylight, and in the hurry broke the panes of gla.s.s, so that it was soon full of snow. This night was the most dreadful one of our adventurous voyage on the floe. The cold was -9 Fahr. (41 below freezing). Real sleep, at least in the boat, was not to be thought of; it was but a confused, unquiet, half-slumber, which overpowered us from utter weariness, and our limbs quivered convulsively as we lay packed like herrings in our furs. The cook had, in spite of all, found energy enough in the morning to make the coffee in the house, and never had the delicious drink awakened more exhausted creatures to life. The bad weather raged the whole day. We lay in the boat, half in water, half in snow, s.h.i.+vering with the frost, and wet to the skin." Next night was pa.s.sed in the same comfortless position, but on the morning of the 16th the second officer caught sight of a star, and never was there a more welcome omen.

For five nights they slept in the boats, but by the 19th they had partially rebuilt their house, although from this time forth they had to take it in turns to sleep in the boats, their new erection being only one-half the size of the older one. Throughout all the discomfort, want, hards.h.i.+ps, danger of all kinds, the frame of mind among the men was good, undaunted, and exalted. The cook kept a right seamanlike humour, even in the most critical moments. As long as he had tobacco nothing troubled him.

And so it went on from day to day: fresh dangers were followed by fresh deliverances, and in spite of all the perils encountered, no lives were lost, nor were there any serious cases of sickness. By May they had spent eight months on their ice-raft, and had drifted 1,100 miles. On the morning of the 7th they were agreeably surprised to see open water in the direction of land. The captain, considering that the moment had arrived when they should leave the floe and try to reach the coast, called a council. This project received almost unanimous approbation, and in feverish haste and impatience the boats were hauled empty over three floes, the stores and necessaries being carried after them, partly on sledges and partly on the back. At four P.M. they set sail, the officers and crew being divided into three companies. They made seven miles, and then hauled up on a small floe. After finding a low spot, and first emptying the boats, they were lifted, by swinging them in the water, till the third time, when a strong pull and a pull all together brought their bows on the ice, and they were soon bodily on its surface. Next day by noon they were not more than four or five miles from the land, but the ice was densely packed in irregular ma.s.ses. Bad weather, with much snow, detained them six days on a floe; and then, having proceeded some little distance, they were again condemned to five days' detention. Their provisions were getting low; they had rations left for not over a month.

As no change took place in the ice, they resolved to drag their boats over it to the island of Illuidlek, which, after delays and dangers very similar to those encountered by Parry on his memorable Polar sledge and boat journey, was reached on June 4th. A little later they successfully sailed to the Greenland Moravian mission station of Friedrichstal, where their troubles ended, and where they received a hearty welcome. A Danish vessel brought them to Copenhagen on September 1st, and it then became evident that it was time to pay some attention to their outward appearance. In their forlorn condition they could not leave the s.h.i.+p, or they might have been compromised with the police. Some were in seal-skin caps, some in furs, others in sea boots from which the toes protruded, with ragged trousers, threadbare coats, and a general air of Arctic seediness. At length Captain Hegemann fetched them away in the twilight, and took them to a clothing warehouse, where they were soon made to look more like civilised beings. A few days later, and they entered Bremen; not, indeed, in their own good s.h.i.+p, but by an express train, by its east gate, from Hamburgh. The _Hansa_ men may safely await the judgment of their contemporaries, for throughout the narrative, good discipline, a hearty _esprit de corps_, unmurmuring submission to the inevitable-whatever it might be-and a determination to do and dare whatever might appear for their mutual advantage, appear on every page.

Germany may well be proud of such sons-Arctic heroes every one of them.

The fortunes of the _Germania_ were less eventful.

Lieutenant Payer, while out on a sledging expedition, made an important discovery. On Kuhn Island he found a seam of coal, in places eighteen inches in thickness, alternating with sandstone. It would be strange if in some future age our supply of warmth should be furnished from Arctic fuel.

Many fine zoological and botanical specimens were collected by the scientific gentlemen connected with this expedition. The leading discovery was that of a large inlet in lat. 73 15' N., which was named after the Emperor Franz Josef. Surrounding it were mountain peaks ranging as high as 14,000 feet. The _Germania_ reached Bremen on September 11th, 1870-but a few days after the arrival of their brethren of the _Hansa_, and at a period when all Germany was _en fete_ on account of their recent victories.

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

HALL'S EXPEDITION-THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EXPEDITION-NORDENSKJoLD.

Captain Hall's Expedition-High Lat.i.tude Attained-Open Water Seen-Death of Hall-The _Polaris_ Beset-An Abandoned Party-Six Months on a Floating Ice-floe-Rescue-Loss of the Steamer-Investigation at Was.h.i.+ngton-The Austro-Hungarian Expedition-The _Tegethoff_ hopelessly Beset in the Ice-Two Long Weary Years-Perils from the Ice Pressure-Ramparts raised round the s.h.i.+p-The Polar Night-Loss of a Coal-hut-Attempts to Escape-A Grand Discovery-Franz Josef Land-Sledging Parties-Gigantic Glaciers-The Steamer Abandoned-Boat and Sledge Journey to the Bay of Downs-Prof. Nordenskjold's Voyage-The North-East Pa.s.sage an accomplished Fact.

But little record has been made, except in transient literature and Government reports, of the expedition concerning which we are about to write. Captain Charles Francis Hall's name is, with the public, more intimately a.s.sociated with "Life with the Esquimaux," and but little with the fact that he succeeded in taking a vessel to a higher lat.i.tude than ever reached in that way before. He returned to America in 1869, having for five years lived with, and to a great extent _as_ the natives, the result being that, excepting many errors of taste and style, he succeeded in producing a work which has a very special ethnological value. Before it had issued from the press, he had, encouraged by the then Secretary of the United States Navy, laid a plan before Congress for attempting to reach the North Pole _via_ Smith Sound. He eventually succeeded in obtaining a grant of fifty thousand dollars for the purpose, while an old U.S. river gun-boat was placed at his disposal. She was re-named the _Polaris_. It was understood that no naval officer should accompany him, and he therefore engaged a whaling captain, one S. O. Buddington, to navigate the vessel. Two scientific gentlemen, Dr. Bessels and Mr. Meyer, accompanied him, as did Morton, Kane's trusty friend, who has been so often mentioned in these pages.

The expedition sailed in the summer of 1871, and after having touched at Disco, Greenland, proceeded up Smith Sound, Kane Basin, and Kennedy Channel, across Polaris Bay (discovered and designated by Hall), eventually reaching 82 16' N., the highest lat.i.tude ever attained by a s.h.i.+p prior to Captain Nares's expedition. Ice impeded their further progress. The strait into which they had entered was named after Mr.

Robeson, and from the point which they had so speedily and easily attained, a water horizon was seen to the north-east. The vessel was laid up in a harbour named Thank-G.o.d Bay, where Captain Hall, after sundry minor explorations, died on November 8th, having endured severe suffering, the symptoms indicating paralysis and congestion of the brain. During his delirium he had expressed the opinion that they were trying to poison him, and before he would touch medicine, food, or wine, he made his clerk taste it. This being repeated at home, on the return of the expedition, a Government investigation of a careful and detailed nature took place at Was.h.i.+ngton, but led to nothing being elicited beyond the facts of a want of _esprit de corps_ among some of the members, and that there had been some disagreeable dissensions on board. Captain Buddington had no ambition to distinguish himself in the field of science, which he evidently despised, being probably what is called a "practical" man-that is, one who must have immediate gain before his eyes to stir him to exertion-and there does not appear to have been any very earnest feeling on the part of the others. Hall died almost on the spot with which his name must ever be a.s.sociated, and it is a melancholy fact that he should not have lived to reap the honours and rewards due to so much enterprise. The _Polaris_, a steam vessel of small power, and unadapted for the Arctic seas, had been taken to a point which the finest vessels ever employed in the exploration of the far north had previously failed in reaching.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN HALL.]

The death of Captain Hall threw the command of the _Polaris_ on Captain Buddington. In the second week of November, during a very heavy gale, the vessel dragged her anchors, but at last brought up safely in the lee of a large iceberg aground in the bay. She was made fast to it, and remained in that position for some time. During the winter and spring she was much damaged by the ice, and when she once more floated, in June, leaked badly.

After sending out an expedition to Newman's Bay, during the progress of which one of the boats was crushed like a nutsh.e.l.l by the grinding ice, Captain Buddington determined to sail for the United States. On August 15th the _Polaris_ was in a position so dangerous among the ice that it was deemed necessary to place the boats with provisions on a large level floe, in order to prepare for contingencies. A dark night came on, a gale arose, and the steamer drifted away in an utterly unmanageable condition, her steam-pipes, valves, &c., being frozen up. For hours they could not get up steam on board, while they had little coal, and the boats were on the ice.

The condition of those left in charge of the boats and stores on the ice was apparently desperate. Tyson, the second officer, with the steward, cook, six sailors, and eight Esquimaux, pa.s.sed a miserable night on the drifting floe. Next morning hope revived in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s when they saw the _Polaris_ apparently steaming towards them, and all kinds of attempts were made to attract attention: an india-rubber blanket was hoisted on an oar, but all to no purpose. The steamer altered her course, disappearing behind a point of the land, and eighteen deserted beings were destined to a series of experiences similar to those recorded of the _Hansa_ men. At the Was.h.i.+ngton investigation, it was shown that the captain had at the time hopes of saving his vessel, which, after all, had to be run ash.o.r.e on Lyttelton Island, in a sinking condition. As they had the boats and a supply of provisions, he considered their condition better than his own.

The men on the ice did their best under the circ.u.mstances, and their experiences were hardly less eventful than those of the Germans in a similar strait. Their food became scarce as the winter advanced, but the Esquimaux were of considerable use to them in catching seals. They pa.s.sed nearly six months on the drifting ice-floe (from October 15th, 1872, to April 1st, 1873), and when at length they left it, and were rescued by the sealing steamer _Tigress_, we can well imagine the revulsion of feeling described in their evidence before the Was.h.i.+ngton committee. Meantime the _Polaris_ herself was ash.o.r.e on Lyttelton Island, where Buddington, his officers and men, fourteen souls in all, had to pa.s.s the winter, fortunately under no great privations, as the stores were saved. They were eventually rescued by the _Ravenscraig_, a steam-whaler, and later, having been transferred to the whaler _Arctic_, reached Dundee, and eventually their own homes, in safety. In spite of the perils encountered by both parties, Captain Hall was the only one of the little band who did not live to reach his native land.

The Americans have, therefore, as we have indicated, stuck bravely to the Smith Sound route to the Pole, and a large proportion of English and foreign authorities still favour the same idea.

We have seen the staunch little _Fox_ of M'Clintock's expedition miraculously escape from the grinding surging ice after a detention of 242 days, any one of which might easily have been the last for its brave company; we have witnessed, in mental vision, the philosophical German crew of the ill-fated _Hansa_ drifting 1,100 miles on their precarious ice-raft, to be saved, every man of them, at last; and we have just seen half of the _Polaris_ men rescued from their peril on the floating ice-field after nearly six months of weary watching. Turn we now to one more example of the dangers of the Arctic seas to find a vessel to all appearance hopelessly encompa.s.sed in the ice-drifts, and destined not to make its escape before two long and dreary years had pa.s.sed away.

When in 1874 the Austro-Hungarian expedition, after a long absence, during which nothing had been heard from it, returned in safety, many fears which had been felt were sensibly allayed; and when the public learned of the difficulties they had encountered and the grand discoveries made, it was generally voted a complete success. This expedition, under Lieutenant Weyprecht of the Navy and Lieutenant Payer of the Engineers-who had already made himself a name as an Arctic explorer in the second German expedition-had been partly organised at the expense of the public, and greatly aided by Count Wilczek, who accompanied it in his yacht as far as Barents Island. A very small steamer-no more than 220 tons-named the _Tegethoff_, was employed, and among its officers was Captain Carlsen, who it will be remembered, had circ.u.mnavigated Spitzbergen some time before, and was the discoverer of the Barents relics; he served in the capacity of ice-master. The crew, all told, only numbered twenty-four men. The expedition sailed from Bremerhaven on June 13th, 1872, provisioned for three years, and was soon among the ice of the north-east. Early in August the vessel became beset in such a manner that progress was next to impossible. "Subsequently," says Lieutenant Payer, "we regained our liberty, and in lat.i.tude 75 N. we reached the open water extending along the coast of Novaya Zemlya. The decrease in temperature and quant.i.ty of ice showed, indeed, that the summer of 1872 was the very opposite of that of the year before." The vessels kept company as far as the low Barents Islands, where the "thick-ribbed ice," agitated and driven on the coast by winds and gales, stopped their progress for a week. On the 21st of August the _Tegethoff_ got clear, and left her consort, the former steaming slowly towards the north. "Our hopes," says Payer, "were vain. Night found us encompa.s.sed on all sides by ice, and (as it eventually proved) for two long and dreary years! Cheerless and barren of all hope the first year lay before us, and we were not any longer discoverers, but doomed to remain as helpless voyagers on a floe of drifting ice." This is, so far as is known, the longest period for which a vessel has been ice-encompa.s.sed, and the reader will require no a.s.sistance to picture the apparently hopeless condition in which they found themselves, with but little prospect of accomplis.h.i.+ng anything approaching exploration. With the autumn of 1872 came unusually severe weather, which caused the ice-blocks to re-freeze as soon as they were sawn asunder, and they were utterly unable to extricate the vessel, although every effort was made. On October 13th the ice broke up, and the collisions of and with enormous ma.s.ses placed them in great danger. They were quite ignorant of their position and where they were drifting. In the sombre darkness of the long Arctic night they had to keep the boats and stores in readiness, as they might have to abandon the vessel at any moment. The floes were constantly uplifted by other ice underneath, but the little _Tegethoff_ proved herself staunch and true.

Eventually a rampart of ice was erected about the little vessel, which had to be continually watched and repaired, on account of the damage received from the pressure of surrounding ice. Amidst all these dangers the routine of the s.h.i.+p was admirably kept up. Divine service was observed, and a school established for the crew. The men suffered severely from scurvy and pulmonary complaints during the winter.

In the autumn of 1873 an important discovery was made. "We had," says Payer, "long ago drifted into a portion of the Arctic sea which had not previously been visited; but in spite of a careful look-out we had not been able hitherto to discover land. It was, therefore, an event of no small importance, when, on the 31st of August, we were surprised by the sudden appearance of a mountainous country, about fourteen miles to the north, which the mist had up till that time concealed from our view." They had no opportunity of reaching it until the end of October, when a landing was effected in lat. 79 54' N., on an island, lying off the mainland, to which they affixed the name of Count Wilczek, to whom the expedition had in great measure owed its existence. Their second Polar night of 125 days prevented any further exploration, but was pa.s.sed without a recurrence of the dangers they had met the previous winter. Their winter quarters were comparatively safe, and being near the land they obtained a sufficiency of bear-meat, the animals often approaching the s.h.i.+p closely.

[Ill.u.s.tration: START OF LIEUT. PAYER'S SLEDGE EXPEDITION.]

In the winter of 1874 several sledging parties were sent out. On the 24th of March, Lieutenant Payer, with six companions, left the vessel, dragging a large sledge freighted with provisions and stores to the extent of three-fourths of a ton. They succeeded in reaching the new land, after many a struggle with the ice-hummocks, snow-drifts, and floods of sea-water which had submerged some parts of the ice. Their difficulties were increased by the fact that a once fine team of dogs was reduced to three capable of being of service. Payer describes the new land as broken up by numerous inlets and fiords, and surrounded by innumerable islands.

The mountains were of fair alt.i.tude-from 2,000 to 5,000 feet in height-while the glaciers in the valleys were of gigantic size, and formed a great feature in the wild scenery. Some visited "were characterised by their greenish-blue colour, the paucity of creva.s.ses, and extraordinarily coa.r.s.e-grained ice." The vegetation was poor, as might be expected. To this. .h.i.therto unknown land the name of the Emperor Franz Josef was affixed. The party reached the high lat.i.tude of 81 37' N.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FALL OF THE SLEDGE INTO A CREVa.s.sE.]

The return journey to the vessel was made successfully, although the scarcity of provisions obliged them to make forced marches, and also necessitated a division of the party remaining behind under a cliff on Hohenlohe Island, while Payer, with two of the crew and a small sledge, pressed forward for aid. Crossing an enormous glacier on Crown Prince Rudolf Land, one of the men, the sledge and dogs, fell into a gigantic creva.s.se which the snow had concealed. Payer himself might have come to grief had not he had presence of mind enough to cut the harness by which he was attached to the sledge. For a time the case looked very bad, as they were unable to extricate the unfortunate explorer. Payer, however, with that quickness which is one of his distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristics, immediately ran back some twelve miles to the other party, and obtained a.s.sistance. They had eventually the happiness of rescuing the man, &c., by means of ropes. After many perils in the journey over the rotten ice they succeeded in joining the anxious little band on the vessel. Alas! the _Tegethoff_, which had pa.s.sed unscathed so many dangers, had to be abandoned in the ice, and a journey by boat and sledge commenced, very similar to that of Barents, made three centuries before. After mournfully nailing the flags to the s.h.i.+p's mast, on May 20th they started on their doubtful and adventurous trip. It took them over three months (ninety-six days) to reach the Bay of Downs, in lat 72 4', where they happily met a Russian schooner, and their troubles were over.

And now to the Arctic expedition which stands out pre-eminently above almost any other whatever. Professor Nordenskjold may be congratulated on having performed the most intrepid and daring feat of the present century, speaking in a geographical point of view. The North-East Pa.s.sage has been accomplished. "The splendid success," said a leading journal, "has been splendidly deserved. It was no lucky accident of exploration that found the _Vega_ a way round the northernmost point of Asia, or chance good fortune that carried her through new seas to the Behrings Straits.

Professor Nordenskjold has fought it out fairly with Nature. The combat has been a long one, and round after round had to be toughly contested before the Professor closed with his opponent, the Arctic Ocean, and floored the grim old tyrant. Six times he has gone northward to do battle with ice and snow, and each time, though returning, he has brought back such knowledge of the enemy's weakness that a.s.sured him of ultimate success." Unfortunately the details as yet at hand are meagre, and only the bare outlines of the story can be presented. Some of the important scientific results of the expedition will be referred to in future pages.

The _Vega_, a tough, teak-built steam whaler, left Gothenburg on July 4th, 1878, sighted Nova Zembla on the 28th, and anch.o.r.ed that day off a village on the Samoyede peninsula at the entrance of the Kara Sea, once known as the Ice Cave, but which of late has lost its terrors for even the hardy Norwegian fisherman. Nordenskjold knew the right season to attempt its pa.s.sage, and it was surprised when almost free of ice. On August 1st, after making many scientific observations of importance, the _Vega_ proceeded slowly eastward, nothing but rotten ice, which in no way impeded the vessel, being met. In a few days they were safely anch.o.r.ed in d.i.c.kson's Haven, Siberia, a spot perhaps destined to become an important exporting point. Bears and reindeer were found to be numerous, and the vegetation extremely rich. On the 10th the _Vega_ again proceeded, and threading her way through unknown islands, reached a fine harbour situated in the strait that separates Taimyr Island and the mainland, where they dredged for marine specimens with great success. Again resuming the voyage, they, on the evening of the 19th, anch.o.r.ed in a bay round Cape Chelyuskin, the most northerly point of the Asiatic continent. This, the once unconquerable cape, had now been conquered, and that fact alone would have const.i.tuted a splendid triumph, although it now only forms an episode in this grand voyage. Low mountains, free from snow, were seen to the southward; geese, ducks, and other birds were seen on the coast, while the ocean was alive with walrus, seals, and whales. On the 21st, though delayed by fogs and rotten ice, the _Vega_ coasted south-east; and on the 23rd, aided by a fine breeze and a smooth sea, was able to dispense with steam. At the Chatanga river they shot bears and wild fowl to their heart's desire. On the 26th they pa.s.sed the entrance to the mouth of the Lena, and on the 27th turned northward for the Siberian Islands, which they were prevented from exploring, owing to the ice. Nordenskjold ordered the vessel's head to be turned southward, and they pa.s.sed the mouth of the great Kolyma river. Soon they were among the ice, and, as they had antic.i.p.ated, were to be imprisoned in it. But the health of the party was excellent, and no scurvy whatever appeared; their own provisions were of the best; and after pa.s.sing Cook's Cape, Vankarema, the _Vega_ crossed to Kolintchin, where the furnaces were put out, the sails stowed, and winter life fairly commenced. At a mile distance ash.o.r.e there was a Tchuktchi village of 4,000 souls, all living easily, for fish and seals, bear, wolf, and fox, were abundant, while in spring the geese, swans, and ducks, returned from the south. For nearly nine months they were ice-bound; but at last the ice floes broke up and scattered, and the little _Vega_ soon pa.s.sed East Cape, the extremity of Asia, and steamed gaily into Behring Straits, where a salute was fired, announcing a success unprecedented in the annals of Arctic history. The Professor believes that voyages may be regularly performed in the future which will open up a considerable trade with northern Siberia.

Surrounded by almost every conceivable difficulty and danger, Arctic research has witnessed and developed more genuinely heroic skill and enterprise than has been needed or found in the exploration of any other portion of our globe. With all its dangers the North Polar world possesses a rare fascination for the adventurous, and has something to offer in palliation of its monotonous desolation. The yet unknown must always have charms for the greatest minds, even though it should prove practically unknowable; the undiscovered may not always be so, for the unfathomed of the past may be fathomed to-day. The Polar regions offer much to the scientist, and, in some phases, much to the artist. The beautiful Aurora flashes over the scene and banishes the darkness of the Arctic night. The vastness of Nature's operations are shown in the huge icebergs clad in dazzling whiteness or glittering in the moon's silvery rays in the interminable fields of fixed or floating ice, in glacial rivers of grandest size. As the bergs melting in the warmer waves a.s.sume endless fantastic forms-as of pointed spires, jagged steeples, or castellated remains, and as, losing the centre of gravity, they roll over to a.s.sume new forms, or meeting together crash like thunder or the roar of artillery, throwing up great volumes of foam, disturbing the surface of the sea for miles, the puniness of man is felt, and the mind inevitably lifted from Nature up "to Nature's G.o.d."

Much has been done; still, there is yet work which remains to be accomplished in the Arctic seas. But brave men will never be wanting when new attempts are made. As the old sea-captain, looking at the chart in Millais' picture, says, concerning the North-West Pa.s.sage, "It might be done-and England ought to do it!"