LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
FROM THE LIBRARY
OF F. VON BOSCHAN
NEW LANDS WITHIN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.
VOL. I.
NEW LANDS
WITHIN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.
NARRATIVE OF THE DISCOVERIES
OF THE AUSTRIAN SHIP "TEGETTHOFF"
IN THE YEARS 1872-1874.
BY
JULIUS PAYER,
OXK OF THE COMMAXnKKsVtF THK K.XPKPITIOX.
WITH MAPS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS
BY THE AUTHOR.
from the Qpermnn, fottb the Author's Approbation.
IX TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. T.
3f onbon :
MAC MILLAR AND CO
1876.
LONDON :
II. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL,
yl'KEN VICTORIA STREET.
cr
?IO
P3
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Ix laying this book before the Public I desire, in
the first instance, to acknowledge without reserve my
sense of the great merits of my colleague, Lieutenant
Weyprecht. The reader of the following pages will
learn with what unwearied, though fruitless energy, he
struggled to free the Tegettlioff from her icy prison,
and what dauntless courage and unfailing command of
resources he displayed in our hazardous retreat from
the abandoned ship, till the moment of our happy
rescue. The order and discipline maintained on board
ship, and in the terrible march over the Frozen Ocean,
as well as in the perilous boat voyage after leaving
the ice-barrier, were mainly due to his distinguished
abilities. He had supreme command of the expedition,
as long us its duties were strictly nautical ; when the
operations of sledging and surveying began, I had
the responsibility of a separate and independent
command.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Nor ought I to be slow to pay my tribute of respect
to the perseverance and constant self-denial of Lieu-
tenant Brosch and Midshipman Orel. It would be
difficult to determine, whether they shone more as
officers of the ship, or as observers of scientific pheno-
mena. The highly important duty of managing the
stores and provisions was discharged also by Lieutenant
Brosch with a conscientiousness that secured the
confidence of all.
To the watchful skiJl of Dr. Kepes we owed it, that
the health and constitution of the members of the
expedition suffered so little from all their hardships
and privations.
The conduct of the crew was on the whole praise-
worthy. Their obedience to command, their persever-
ance and resolution shown on every occasion, will be
cited as an example of what these virtues and qualities
can achieve amid the most appalling dangers and
trials.
With regard to my narrative, I make no claim for
it founded on its literary excellence ; rather I sue
for indulgence to its manifold shortcomings. I have
O O
not written for the man of science, though I have
not shunned a few scientific details. Nor have I
aimed at presenting a record, which might be pro-
fitable to those who shall follow us in the same
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
career of discovery, though some hints will be found
in my pages which will not be without their use to
those, who may consult them for information and
guidance. Bather I have endeavoured to narrate our
sufferings, adventures, and discoveries in a manner
which shall be interesting to the general reader who
reads to amuse himself.
The magnetical and meteorological observations, so
carefully taken and tabulated by Weyprecht, Brosch,
and Orel, together with the sketches of the Fauna
of the Frozen Ocean, drawn by myself from the
collection of Dr. Kepes, were presented to the Imperial
Academy of Sciences at Vienna, and will in due
time be published under the auspices of that august
body.
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
IT will be interesting to English readers to learn
a few particulars concerning the two leaders of the
Austrian North Polar Expeditions. Carl Weyprecht
was born in Hesse-Darmstadt in 1838, and in his
eighteenth year entered the Austrian navy. Ten years
afterwards he was present at the action between the
Austrian and Italian fleets at Lissa July 20, 1866 ;
was promoted to the rank of lieutenant of the second
class, and decorated with the order of the Iron Cross
in recognition of his services in that battle. It
was shortly after this, that Weyprecht volunteered
to take the command of a small vessel, manned by
only four seamen, which was to sail from Hammerfest
to explore the Arctic Ocean. This dauntless offer
was the basis of the first German North Polar
expedition. When, however, permission to act in this
capacity was obtained, Lieutenant A\ eyprecht was
erving on board the Austrian frigate J.'lr.'ihcf//.
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
which formed one of the squadron sent by the
Austrian Government to bring home the body of the
ill-fated Maximilian. Immediately on his return to
9
Europe he repaired to Gotha, eager to place his
services at the command of the expedition which
had meantime been planned by Petermann and a
committee of patrons of Arctic exploration. But
unhappily, just at this moment his health, which
had suffered from fever caught at New Orleans,
failed, and the command of the expedition, known as
the first German North Polar expedition (May 24
October 10, 1868), was undertaken by Captain
Koldewey. It was only in 1871, that he recovered
his health, and in the June of that year began, in
the Isbjorn, his life of Arctic experience and discovery.
In the following year, 1872, he was appointed to
the naval command of the expedition which sailed in
the Teyetthoff, whose strange and eventful history is
recorded in the following pages.
His companion and colleague, Julius Payer, was born
at Schonau in Teplitz, Bohemia, in 1841, and received
his education as a soldier at the Wiener-Neustadt
Military Academy, 1856-59, where General Sonnklar
was his teacher in geographical science, and early
imbued his mind with a love for the grandeurs of the
glacier world. With the rank of " Ober- Lieutenant " he
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR. xi
served in the campaign of 1866 in Italy, and was
decorated for his distinguished services at the battle of
Custozza. Afterwards, while serving with his regiment
in Tyrol, he gained great celebrity as one of the most
successful Alpine climbers, and turned his experience
as a mountaineer to profit in his surveys of the Orteler
Alps and glaciers. Payer gained his first experience as
an Arctic discoverer in the second German North Polar
Expedition, under Koldeway and Hegemann June 15,
1869 Sept. 11, 1870. His services during that ex-
pedition were of a most distinguished character. He
shared in the most important discoveries which were
then made, specially those of Konig Wilhelm's Land,
and of the noble Franz-Josef Fjord. He acquired in
East Greenland the experience of sledging, which
was of such eminent use in his explorations of the
great discovery of the Tegetthoff Expedition Kaiser
Franz-Joseph Land. He shines too as an author in his
descriptions of Greenland scenes, in the Second German
Nortli Polar Voyage, published in 1874 by Brockhaus
of Leipzig, and partially reproduced in an English trans-
lation by the Eev. L. Mercier and Mr. H. W. Bates.
For these services, on the return of the expedition, he
was again decorated, receiving the order of the Iron
Crown.
In the voyage of the Isbjorn, June '21 Oct. 4, 1871,
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
we find him associated with Weyprecht in the pioneer-
ing voyage described in the first volume of this work,
and lastly as joint commander of the renowned
Tegetthoff expedition, June, 187^ September, 1874.
The Gold Medals entrusted to the Royal Geographical
Society were awarded in 1875 : the Founder's Medal
to Lieutenant Weyprecht, and tl^e Patron's Medal to
Lieutenant Julius Payer.
As these pages are passing through the Press, the
country has been deeply moved by the unexpected
intelligence of the return of the Arctic Expedition.
Gratulations on its safe and happy return have been
unanimously and eagerly expressed by all the organs of
public opinion. Disappointment, however, has, we fear,
fallen on many minds as, after the first, feelings of joy at
the safe arrival of the officers and crews of the Alert, and
Disco very, they read the brief telegraphic summary sent
by Captain Nares : " Pole impracticable/' " No land to
northward." Popular enthusiasm looked rather for the
conquest of the Pole ; expected, perhaps, to read, one
day, that the Union Jack had been hoisted there, to com-
memorate the triumph of England's perseverance at last
rewarded. Few, we apprehend, would pass through the
chill of these; two clauses of the message to mark the hope
contained in the third" vovao-e otherwise successful."
/ <~
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
In what special respects the success proclaimed was
achieved, we must patiently wait for a future record to
reveal : but while awaiting the history which no doubt
O /
will be written to justify and prove this announcement,
let us exercise our loyal belief in the skill and courage
of our countrymen, and feel persuaded, that what men
could do under their circumstances no doubt was
done by them.
The interest which will be excited afresh in Arctic dis-
covery and adventure, will doubtless sharpen the interest
in the volumes which record the fortunes of the Austrian
expedition ; and we venture to affirm without undue
partiality that, though the history of Arctic exploration
and discovery abounds in records of lofty resolution
and patient endurance of almost incredible hardships,
the narrative of the voyage of the Teyetthoff will be
found to fall below none in these high qualities. The
mere destiny of the vessel itself equals, if it does not
exceed, in the element of the marvellous, anything which
has before been recorded. Surely this is borne out
when we think, that on August 20, 187:2, the Tegctthoff
was beset off the coast of Novaya Zemlya ; remained a
fast prisoner in the ice, spite of all the efforts made by
her officers and crew to release her ; drifted during the
autumn and the terrible winter of 1872 amid profound
darkness whither they knew not : drifted to the 30th
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
of August in the following year (1873), till, as if by
magic, the mists lifted, and lo I a high, bold, rocky
coast lat. 79 43' E., long. 59 33' loomed out of the
fog straight ahead of them. Close to this land which
could be visited with safety only twice, on the 1st and
3rd of the November of that year the ship remained
still fast bound in the ice. Not till the winter of 1873
had passed, and the sun had again returned, was it
possible to explore the land, which had been so marvel-
lously discovered. On the 10th of March, 1874, the
sledge journeys commenced, and terminated May 3rd,
after 450 miles had been 'passed over, and the surveys
and explorations completed, which enabled Payer to
write the description of Kaiser Franz-Josef Land, (vol.
ii. pp. 476-496), which shows that other still . undefined
lands, with an archipelago of islands, have been added
to the geography of the earth.
But the perils of the expedition did not end here. On
the 20th of August, 1874, it was resolved to abandon the
O '
Tegetthoff in the ice, and to return in sledges and boats
to Europe. Captain Nares tells us, in his telegraphic
despatch, that the sledging parties of the Alert and
Discovery compassed on an average one-and-a -quarter
mile per day on the terrible " Sea of Ancient Ice," and
discovered, after the experience gained in seventy miles
passed under these conditions, that the " Pole was
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
impracticable." If our readers wish to have a conception
of the toils and perils of the Austrian sledge parties on
their return from the Tegetthoff, let them mark the single
image presented to the mind by the statement (p. 245,
vol. ii ) : " After the lapse of two months of indescrib-
able efforts, the distance between us and the ship was
not more than two German miles." Had the ice on
the Novaya Zernlya seas remained as obstinate as it
seems to have done in the new desolation, the " Sea
of Ancient Ice," escape would have been as impossible
to the Tegetthoff's crew, as advance towards the
Pole was to the sledge parties of our last Arctic
expedition. But fortunately soon after, " leads " opened
out in the ice ; the boats were launched, and after
about another month of alternate rowing and sledging,
the ice barrier was happily reached in the unusually
high latitude 77 40" ; and the brave men who three
months before had left the Tegetthoff were saved.
This is perhaps the most marked analogy between
the perils of the two expeditions ; so far as those of our
own are yet known. But the scientific conclusions of
Lieutenant Payer, as set forth in the general Introduc-
tion to his narrative, strikingly harmonize with the actual
discoveries of the Alert and Discovery. Already it is
authoritatively announced, that there is no open Polar Sea ;
that this hypothesis is as baseless as the existence of
PRELIMINARY XOTICE'BY THE TRANSLATOR.
President's Land. In the fourth chapter of that
Introduction (vol. i. pp. 42-53), our author has analyzed
with great sagacity the various theories on which that
hypothesis was made to rest, working up to the con-
clusion, that no such sea exists. The demonstration of
experience now takes the place of enlightened argument
and opinion ; fact and theory are here at one.
Nor can wo forbear to direct attention to another
statement in the same chapter. Let our readers mark
the prophetic spirit of the following passage : " All
the changes and phenomena of this mighty network
lead us to infer the existence of frozen seas up to the
Pole itself ; and according to my own experience, gained
in three expeditions, I consider that the states of the
ice between 82 and 90 N.L. will not essentially differ
from those which have been observed south of latitude
82 ; I incline rather to the belief that they will be
found worse instead of better " (p. 51). And "worse
instead of better " they have been found, as we cannot
doubt, when we weigh the ominous significance of the
designation the "Sea of Ancient Ice."
History may or may not verify the position which the
telegram so briefly resumes " The Pole impracticable."
Impracticable no doubt it was, if the condition of the ice
seen by our expedition in that awful sea be its normal
condition. All that it was possible- for men to dare and
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR. xvii
achieve, England will feel that her officers and sailors
dared and achieved under the circumstances they encoun-
tered. It may be, that later experience will show, that
even that Sea may present to future explorers an aspect
less tremendous ; yea, that in some seasons, which science
may yet predict, when her theories of the sun-spots
are matured and formulated, open water will be found,
as perhaps it was found in the year . of the expedition
of the Polaris, where the heroic sledging parties from
the Alert and Discovery saw nothing and found
nothing, but piled-up barriers of ice rising to the
height of 150 feet.
It would be idle to predict, in the face of these
results, that the Pole shall yet be reached. Any
confident prediction in this spirit would, at the present
moment, be singularly inopportune, as well as unwise.
But despair would be equally unjustifiable, while
its influence would be most hurtful and depressing,
especially if Arctic exploration and the attainment of
the Pole were supposed to be identical propositions.
There are two things : reaching the North Pole, and the
exploration of the Polar region. If the former appeals
more to the imagination, and readily calls forth the
emotions which are fed by the love of the marvellous,
the latter enlists the sympathies of those who take a
broader view of the necessities of Arctic exploration.
VOL. i. l>
xviii PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
These have found a powerful representative in one
whose services entitle him to speak with authority, in
the naval chief of the I'egettlwff expedition. At a
meeting of the German Scientific and Medical Asso-
ciation held at Gratz in September of 1875, Weyprecht
read a paper on the principles of Arctic exploration, in
which, according to the summary of its contents, which
appeared in Nature, October 11, 1875, he maintains,
that the Polar regions offer, in certain important respects,
greater advantages than any other part of the globe
for the observation of natural phenomena Magnetism,
the Aurora, Meteorology, Geology, Zoology, and Botany.
He deplores, that while large sums have been spent
and much hardship endured for geographical know-
ledge, strictly scientific observations have been regarded
as holding a secondary place. Though not denying
the importance of geographical discovery, he maintains,
that the main purpose of future Arctic expeditions
should be the extension of our knowledge of the various
natural phenomena which may be studied with so great
advantage in those regions. He insists in that paper
on the following propositions : "1. Arctic exploration is
of the highest importance to a knowledge of the laws of
nature. 2. Geographical discovery in those regions is of
superior importance only in so far as it extends the field
of scientific investigation in its strict sense. 3. Minute
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR. xix
Arctic topography is of secondary importance. 4. The
geographical Pole has for science no greater significance
than any other point in high latitude. 5. Observation
stations should be selected without reference to the
latitude, but for the advantages they .offer for the
investigation of the phenomena to be studied. 6.
Interrupted series of observations have only a relative
value." The suggestions thrown out by Lieutenant
Weyprecht have been taken up by one whose mind seems
to rise instinctively to all high aims and objects. Prince
Bismarck forthwith appointed a German Commission
of Arctic Exploration, consisting of some of the most
eminent men of science of whom Germany can boast,
who reported to the Bundesrath in a memoir, the recom-
mendations of which were unanimously adopted. From
Nature, November 11, 1875, which we have already
quoted, we borrow the following resume of that
report :
" 1. The exploration of the Arctic regions is of
great importance for all branches of science. The
Commission recommends for such exploration the
establishment of fixed observing stations. From the
principal station, and supported by it, exploring
expediiions are to be made by sea and by land.
"The Commission is of opinion that the region to
be explored by organised German Arctic explorers is
b '2
xx PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
the great inlet to the higher Arctic regions situated
between the eastern shore of Greenland and the
western shore of Spitsbergen.
* * * *
" 3. It appears desirable, and, so far as scientific
preparations are concerned, possible, to commence these
Arctic expeditions in 1877.
" 4. The Commission is convinced that an exploration
of the Arctic regions, based on such principles, will
furnish valuable results, even if limited to the region
between Greenland and Spitzbergen ; but it is also of
opinion, that an exhaustive solution of the problems
to be solved can only be expected when exploration
is extended over the whole Arctic zone, and when
other countries take their share in the undertaking.
" The Commission recommends, therefore, that the
principles adopted for the German undertaking be
commended to the governments of the states which
take interest in Arctic inquiry, in order to establish,
if possible, a complete circle of observing stations in
the Arctic zones.'*'
Thus we are brought face to face with two different
purposes, which may be termed, respectively, the
romantic and the scientific purposes of Arctic dis-
covery. To the former the attainment of the Pole
has hitherto been the all in all of a geographical
PRELIMINARY NOTICE BY THE TRANSLATOR. sxi
discovery. " The Pole impracticable," telegraphed by
Captain Nares, as the result of the expedition which
has returned baffled to our shores, is a stern reproof
to all, who would still advocate a dash at the Pole
as the worthiest purpose of Arctic discovery. Aims
and endeavours not so glaring, nor appealing in the
same degree to the love of the marvellous, are suggested
in the sagacious proposals of Lieutenant Weyprecht,
to whom science will not refuse her calmer and more
measured respect, and in whom, as Captain of the
Tegettlioff, all who love deeds of daring and energy
will find a congenial spirit.
To Lieutenant Payer has fallen the distinguished
honour of being not only the colleague in command
and friend of Weyprecht, but the historian of their
common sufferings and common glory in an enter-
prise, the fame of which the world, we believe, will
not willingly let die.
CONTENTS TO VOLUME I,
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
THE FROZEN OCEAN page 3 19
1. The ice-sheet of the Arctic region. 2. "Leads" and " ice-holes " defined.
3. Pack-ice and drift-ice. 4, 5, 6. Various designations of ice-forms.
7. Estimate of the thickness of ice. 8. Bate of its formation. 9. Old ice.
10, 11. Characteristics of young ice. 12. Kesults of the unrest in Arctic
seas. 13. The snow-sheet described. 14. Colour of field-ice. 15. Charac-
teristics of sea-ice. 16. Specific gravity of ice. 17. Irregularity of the
forms of ice. 18. Temperature of the Arctic Sea. 19. Noise caused by dis-
ruption. 20. The ice-blink. 21. The water-sky. 22. Evaporation. 23.
Calmness of the sea beneath the ice. 24. Overturning of icebergs. 2f>.
Change of the sea's colour near ice. 26. Icebergs described. 27. Noise
caused by the overturning of icebergs.
CHAPTER II.
NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN page 19 34
1. Preparatory study necessary for Polar navigators. 2. Choice of a favourable
year necessary. 3. Navigation in coast-water recommended. 4. Failure
often caused by leaving the coast-water. 5. Distance possible to accomplish
in one summer. 6. The best time of year. 7. Steam-power recommended.
8. The rate of speed. 9. The build of Arctic ships. 10. Tactics of a sliip
in the ice. 11. Small vessels preferred. 12. Iron ships not suitable. 13.
Two vessels to be employed. 14. " Be.setment " and how to avoid it.
15. The use of a balloon recommended. 16. The "crow's-nest.'' 17. Winds
and calms. 18. A winter harbour or "dock."
xxiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
THE PENETRATION OF THE REGIONS WITHIN THE POLAR CIRCLE ; THE
PERIOD OF THE NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST PASSAGES . page 34 42
1. The Pole. 2. Old fancy of reaching India through the ice. 3, 4, 5. The first
Polar navigators. 6-10. The North-West and North-East Passages 11.
Strange tales of the old discoverers. 12. The Polar world becomes the object
of scientific investigation. 13. M'Clintock perfects the art of sledging.
CHAPTER IV.
THE INNER POLAR SEA ............. P^ 6 42 53
The Arctic Sea compared to the glaciers of the Alps. 2, 3. Old fancies re-
specting an inner Polar Sea. 4. Improbability cf such a sea existing.
5. Influence of the Gulf Stream. 6. The Polynjii seen by "Wrangel. 7.
State of the ice in different years as found by various expeditions. 8. Pro-
bability that the most northerly regions do not differ from those already
discovered. 9. Improbability that the Pole can be reached by a ship.
10. The English expedition to penetrate Smith's Sound.
CHAPTER V.
THE FUTURE OF THE POLAR QUESTION paije 53 02
1. Material advantage from Arctic voynges. 2. The commercial value of the
North-west and North-east passages no longer thought of. 3. The Polar
question a problem of science. 4. The increase of the safety and convenience
with which the ice-navigation is now performed. 5. The means of conduct-
ing Polar expeditions perfected. 6. Sledge expeditions afford the chief hope
of success. 7. Not much more to be expected from ships. 8. The route
by Smith's Sound recommended. 9. The English expedition. 10. Lieut.
"Weypreeht's plan for united scientific investigation.
CHAPTER VI.
POLAR EQUIPMENTS pUfje G2 81
1. Past experience to be consulted. 2. The commander. 3. Selection of the
crew. 4. Discipline and pay. 5. The best men to be obtained. 6. Special
qualifications. 7. The medical man. 8. An artist or photographer desirable.
9. Old ideas of equipment. 10. The greatest possible comfort necessary.
11. A table of the sizes of the vessels in various expeditions. 12. The
CONTENTS.
best kind of ships. 13. The allowance of food. 14. Spirituous liquors. -
15. The ship becomes a house in the winter. 16. The quarters of the men.
17. Lamps and candles. 18. Clothing of the crew. 19. Instruments and
ammunition. 20. The cost of different expeditions.
THE PIOXEER VOYAGE OF THE ISBJURN page 81 116
1. A pioneer expedition resolved on. 2. and 3. Route to the east of Spitzbergen.
4. The Isbjorn chartered for the service. 5. Attempts to gain information
on the probable state of the ice. 6. An unfavourable ice year predicted.
7. The expedition leaves Tromsoe. 8. The coast of Norway described.
9. The Isbjorn in the ice. 10. Seeking a harbour. 11. Cape Look-out.
12. Two ships met with. 13. In the ice. 14. The return to the ice-barrier.
15. The geological- formation of the western coast. 16. Arrive at Hope
Island. 17. Ice disappeared. 18. Whales abound 19. Splendid effects of
colour. 20. In a sea. -21. A run along the west coast of Novaya Zemlva.
22. Storms compel us to keep to sea. 23. Object of the voyage. 24. The
Austro-Hungarian expedition of 1872. 25. The plan of the Austro-Hungarian
expedition.
VOYAGE OF THE "TEGETTHOFF."
CHAPTER I.
FROM BREMERHAVEN TO TROMSOE 2 )a ff e H9 127
1. The qualities requisite for a Polar navigator. 2. The crew of the Tegctthoff.
3. The Tegctthoff lifts her anchor. 4. The vessel. 5. Crossing the sea.
6. The languages spoken on board the Tegetthoff. 7. The officers and crew of
the Tegctthoff. 8. Arrive at Tromsoe. 9. The first and last voyage of the
Tegetthoff begins.
CHAPTER II.
ON THE FROZEN OCEAN /><7<? 127 151
1. Within the frozen ocean. 2. The sea of Novaya Zemlya. 3. We continue
our course by steam. 4. The decay of ice. 5. Effects of light. 6. We
meet the Isbjorn. 8-10. The Barentz Islands described by Professor
Hb'fer. 11. Preparations for future contests with the ice. 12. Inclosed in
the land ice. 13. We celebrate the birthday of Francis Joseph I. 14. Our
prospects do not improve. 15. The Tcgctthoff finally beset.
CONTEXTS.
CHAPTER III.
DRIFTING IN THE NOVAYA ZEMLYA SEAS page 151 162
1. Winter begins. 2. The impossibility of reaching the coast of Siberia. 3.
Unsuccessful efforts to get free. 4. The name-day of the Emperor Francis
Joseph I. 5. Encounters with polar bears. 6. A " snow-finch" visits the
ship. 7. ^Novaya Zemlya recedes gradually from our gaze.
CHAPTER IV.
THE "TEGETTHOFF" FAST BESET IN THE ICE page 162 183
1. Signs indicate the insecurity of our position. 2. A dreadful Sunday. 3.
We make ready to abandon the ship. 4. The dogs. 5. We return to the
ship. 6. We drift in the Frozen Sea. 7. Our alarms. 8. Our constant
state of ivadiness to meet destruction.
CHAPTER V.
OUR FIRST WINTER (1872) IN THE ICE page 183 202
1. Surrounded by deep twilight. 2. Our preparations for winter. 3. The
difficulty of sledge-travelling. 4. Sumbu mistaken for a fox. 5. The
rending of the ice. 6. Our short expeditions. 7. The continual threatening
of the ice. 8. A bear shot. 9. The effect of the long Polar night. 10.
The middle of the long night. 11. Christmas feasts.- 12. The first hour of
the new year. 13. The dogs allowed in the cabin. 14. Carlsen writes in
the. log-book.
CHAPTER VI.
LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEOETTHOFF " page 202 222
1. The TegcMho/ covered with snow. 2. The excessive condensation of
moisture. 3. The destruction of the snow wall. 4. The removal of the
tent roof. 5. The stove of Meidingen of Carlsruhe. 6. The arrangements
of the officers' mess-room. 7. Those who occupied the mess-room. 8. Our
meals. 9. Divine Service on deck. 10. After dinner. 11. The monotony
of our life. 12. After supper. 13. Middendorf contrasting the influence of
climate on men. 14. Our sanitary condition. 15. Baths. 16. Passages
from my journal. 17. A school instituted.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
ICE PRESSURES ............... page 222 227
1. Preparations for leaving the ship. 2. Extracts from journal.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WANE OF THE LONG POLAR NIGHT ....... ^O 6 ^27 237
1. The light increases. 2. A bear hunt. 3. Table of the course of the
Tegetthoff. 4. Throw out bottles inclosing an account of the events of
the expedition.
CHAPTER IX.
THE RETURN OF LIGHT. THE SPRING OF 1873 .... page 237 258
1. The sunrise. 2. Our first look at each other. 3. Visits from bears. 4. The
carnival. 5. Continual fall of snow.- 6. Return of birds. 7. Ill health
of Dr. Kepes. 8. Bear shot. 9. A road constructed. 10. Reading without
artificial light. 11. Accumulation of rubbish round the ship. 12. Begin
to dig out the ship. 13. Surprised by bears. 14. Our hopes to reach
Siberia. 15. Snow continues to fall. 16. Visited by birds. 17. The steam
machinery put in working order. 18. A partial eclipse of the Sun.
19. Birth o four Newfoundland puppies.
CHAPTER X.
THE SUMMER OF 1873 ............. pac/e 258 275
1. Decay of the walls of ice. 2. The blaze of light on clear days. --3. Our
constant digging. 4. Continual sinking of the ship. 5. Nothing but ice.
6. Short expeditions. 7. Feast on the birthday of the Emperor. 8.
Table showing our change of place. 9. Some paragraphs from the Admiral's
report of the Tcgetttwff. 10. Sounding the depth of the sea.
CHAPTER XI.
NEW LANDS ................ pO'je 275 2^3
1. Seal-hunting. 2. Sunset at midnight. 3. The second summer gone. 4.
Land at last. 5. Kaiser Franz-Josef's Land. 6. Hochstettcr island.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
THE AUTUMN OF 1873. THE STRANGE LAND VISITED . . page 283 294
1, Autumn of 1873. 2. Resolve to abandon the vessel. 3. Daylight begins to
fail. 4. Everything in readiness to leave the ship. 5. Wilczek Island. 6.
Our joy at reaching land. 7. Exploring the island. 8. An expedition.
9. The silence of Arctic Regions. 10. The island continues a mystery.
CHAPTER XIII.
OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE page 294 318
1. Night begins to reign. 2. Leisure for study. 3. Complete darkness. 4.
Continual fall of snow. 5. The middle of the second Polar night. 6. Ill
temper of the dogs. 7. The dogs. 8. Pekel, Sumbu, and Jubinal.
9. Christmastime. 10. Our life in the ship. 11. Improvement in health.
12. Scurvy.
CHAPTER XIV.
SUNRISE OF 1874 P af J e 318 322
1. Return of the moon. 2. Sun appears above the horizon. 3. Lieutenant
Weyprecht and 1 resolve to abandon the ship after the sleigh journeys.
CHAPTER XV.
THE AURORA 2 )a d e 322 335
1. The northern lights. 24. The appearance of the aurora. 5. The influence on
the magnetic needle. 6, Description of the aurora by Lieutenant Weyprecht.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
TWILIGHT AT MIDDAY FEBRUARY, 1874 Frontispiece.
THE FIRST ICE 89
STILL LIFE IN THE FROZEN OCEAN 129
GWOSDAREW INLET 137
FORMATION OF THE DEPOT AT "THE THREE COFFINS " 146
THE "TEGETTHOFF" AND "ISBJORN" SEPARATE 147
THE " TEGETTHOFF " FINALLY BESET 149
ATTEMPTS TO GET FREE IN SEPTEMBER 153
SEAL-HUNTING SEPTEMBER, 1872 . 155
SHOOTING AT A TARGET OCTOBER, 1872
PARHELIA ON THE COAST OF NOVAYA ZEMLYA
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
AN OCTOBER NIGHT IN THE ICE 169
THE MOON WITH ITS HALO 175
OUR COAL HOUSE ON THE FLOE .179
THE TWILIGHT IN NOVEMBER, 1872 184
SUMBU CHASED FOR A FOX 186
WANDERINGS ON THE ICE IN OUR FIRST WINTER .... 188
ENCOUNTER WITH A POLAR BEAR 192
ICE HOLE COVERED WITH YOUNG ICE . 193
CARLSEN MAKES THE ENTRY IN THE LOG 200
THE "TEGETTHOFF" IN THE FULL MOON .... 203
DIVINE SERVICE ON DECK 211
ICE PRESSURE IN THE POLAR NIGHT 223
FRUITLESS ATTEMPT TO RESCUE MATOSCIIKIN 231
SUNRISE, 1873 239
THE CARNIVAL ON THE ICE 243
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE "TEGETTHOFF" DRIFTING IN PACK-ICE. MARCH, 1873 .... 247
SOUNDING IN THE FROZEN OCEAN '. 273
APPROACHING THE LAND BY MOONLIGHT 291
DEPARTURE OF THE SUN IN THE SECOND WINTER 297
NOON ON DECEMBER 21, 1873 303
PEKF.L, SUMBU, AND JUBINAL 307
JN THE MESS-ROOM
THE AURORA DURING THE ICE PRESSURE 325
ERRATA.
Page 31, note, for "geographical" read " German.
Page 268, for " slii " read " ship in."
jNbr tip east -Laad
Explanation.
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INTRODUCTION.
VOL. I.
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
THE FROZEN OCEAN.
1. THE ice-sheet spread over the Arctic region is the
effect and sign of the low temperature which prevails
within it. During nine or ten months of the year this
congealing force continues to act. and if the frozen mass
were not broken up by the effects of sun and wind, of
rain, waves, and currents, and by the rents produced in
it from the sudden increase of cold, the result would
necessarily be an absolutely impenetrable covering of
ice. The parts of this enormous envelope of ice sun-
dered by these various causes now become capable of
movement, and are widely dispersed in the form of
ice-fields and floes.
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
2. The water-ways which separate these parts are
called " leads," or, when their extent is considerable,
"ice-holes." The meshes of this vast net, which is
constantly in motion, open and close under the action
of winds and currents in summer ; and it is ODly in its
southern parts that the action of waves, rain, and thaw
produces any considerable detachments. Towards the
end of autumn, the ice, forming anew, consolidates the
interior portions, while its outer edge pushes forward,
like the end of a glacier, into lower regions, until
about the end of February the culminating point of
congelation is attained. Motionless adhesion of the
fields, which naturally reach their greatest size in
winter, does not, however, exist even then ; for during
this period they are incessantly exposed to displace-
ment and pressure from the currents of the sea and
the air.
3. When the ice is more or less closed, so as to render
navigation impossible, it is called " pack-ice," and " drift-
ice," when it appears in detached pieces amid predomi-
nating water. Since there are forces operating which
promote the loosening process at its outer edge, and its
consolidation within, it is self-evident, that the interior
portions tend to the character of "pack-ice," and its
outer margin to that of " drift-ice." This general rule,
however, is so modified in many places, by local causes,
CHAP, i.] THE FROZEN OCEAN.
currents, and winds, that we find not unfrequently at
the outer margin of the ice thick barriers of pack-ice,
and in the inner ice, ice-holes (polynia 1 ) and drift-ice.
4. Ice navigation, during its course of three hundred
years, has created a number of terms to designate the
external forms of ice, the meaning of which must be
clearly defined. Ice formed from salt-water is called
"field-ice;" that from the waters of rivers and lakes
" sweet- water ice." The latter is as hard as iron, and so
transparent that it is scarcely to be distinguished from,
water. Icebergs are masses detached from glaciers.
The words "patch," "floe," "field," express relative
magnitude, descriptive of the smallest ice-table up to the
ice-field of many miles in diameter. The term "floe,"
however, is generally applied to every kind of field-ice,
without reference to its size. The ice which lies along
coasts, or which adheres to a group of islands within a
sound, is called "land ice." Sledge expeditions depend
on its existence and character. Along the coast-edge
land ice is broken by the waves and tide, and the forms
of its upheaval and deposition on the shore constitute
the so called "ice-foot." Broken ice, or "brash," is
an accumulation of the smaller fragments of ice which
are found only on the extreme edge of the ice-belt.
1 Polynia, a Russian term for an open water space. Glossary in
Kane's Arctic Explorations, vol. i., p. 14.
6 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
" Bay-ice " is ice, of recent formation and its vertical
depth is inconsiderable.
5. Land-ice is less exposed to powerful disturbances,
and its surface, therefore, is comparatively level, and is
only here and there traversed by small hillocks called
"hummocks" or "torrosy." These are the results of
former pressures, and they are gradually reduced to the
common level by evaporation, by thawing, and by the
snow drifting over them.
6. But ice-floes exposed to constant motion from winds
and currents, and to reciprocal pressure, have a more or
less undulating character. On these are found piles of
ice heaped one upon another, rising to a height of twenty
or even fifty feet, alternating with depressions, which
collect the thawed water in clear ice-lakes during the
few weeks of summer in which the temperature rises
above the freezing point. The specific gravity of this
water, where it does not communicate with the sea by
cracks, is in all cases the same with the specific gravity
of pure sweet water ; and as the salt is gradually elimi-
nated from the ice, the water produced is perfectly
drinkable. In the East Greenland Sea ice-floes
frequently measure more than twelve nautical miles
across these are ice-fields properly so called. 1 In the
1 Ice-fields have been seen there equal to the superficial extent of a
German principality, or even to the Duchy of Salzburg.
CHAP, i.] THE FROZEN OCEAN. 7
Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya Seas, they are much
smaller, as Parry also found.
7. The thickness which ice acquires in the course of a
winter, when its formation is not disturbed, is about
eight feet. In the Gulf of Boothia, Sir John Ross found
the greatest thickness about the end of May ; it was
then ten feet on the sea and eleven feet on the lakes.
In his winter harbour in Melville Island, Parry met with
ice seven or seven-and-a-half feet thick ; and Wrangel
gives the thickness of a floe on the Siberian coast,
which had been formed in the course of a winter, at
nine-and-a-half feet. According to the observations of
Hayes the ice measured nine feet two inches in thickness
in Port Foulke. He estimates it, however, by implica-
tion, far higher in Smith's Sound : " I have never seen,"
he says, "an ice-table formed by direct freezing which
exceeded the depth of eighteen feet."
8. The rate at which ice is formed decreases as the
thickness of the floe increases, and it ceases to be
formed as soon as the floe becomes a non-conductor of
the temperature of the air by the increase of its mass,
or when the driving of the ice-tables one over the
other, or the enormous and constantly accumulating
covering of snow, places limits to the penetration of
the cold.
9. While therefore the thickness which ice in free
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
formation attains is comparatively small, fields of ice
from thirty to forty feet high are met with in the Arctic
Seas ; but these are the result of the forcing of ice-tables
one over the other by pressure, and are designated by
the name of " old ice," which differs from young
ice by its greater density, and has a still greater
affinity with the ice of the glacier when it exhibits
coloured veins.
10. When the cold is excessive a sheet of ice several
inches thick is formed on open water in a few hours ;
this, however, is not pure ice, but contains a considerable
amount of sea-salt not yet eliminated ; complete elimina-
tion of the saline matter takes place only after continuous
additions of ice to its under surface. A newly-formed
sheet of ice is flexible like leather, and as it becomes
harder by the continued cold, its saline contents come to
the surface in a white frosty efflorescence.
11. Hayes mentions that he met with fields of ice
from twenty to a hundred feet thick in Smith's Sound.
But if it is difficult in many cases to distinguish gla-
cier-ice, when found in small fragments, from detached
portions of field-ice, it is often still more difficult to
distinguish between old and new ice, and the attempt to
do so is merely arbitrary, because their masses depend not
on their age alone, but on other processes to which they
are exposed. A floe of normal thickness is never more
CHAP, i.] THE FROZEN OCEAN.
than two or three years old ; and if it is to exist and
preserve its size for a longer period, it must somewhere
attach itself to land-ice, so as to escape destruction from
mechanical causes, and dissolution from drifting south-
wards. Many floes run their course from freezing to
melting within a year.
12. The perpetual unrest in the Arctic Sea, which
continues undiminished even in the severest winter, and
the incessant change in the "leads" and "ice-holes,"
are the main causes of the increase of the ice, both in its
area and in its vertical depth. Were this constant move-
ment to cease, the result would be the formation of a
sheet of ice of the uniform thickness of about eight feet
over the whole Polar region.
13. A layer of snow, which, like the ice itself, is at a
minimum in autumn, covers the whole surface of all the
ice-fields. This snow, which in winter is sometimes as
hard as a rock, sometimes as fine as dust, takes, towards
the end of summer, more and more the character of the
glacier snow of our lofty Alpine ranges. Its grains, in a
humid state, exceed the size of beans, and when in
motion they make a rustling noise like sand. This
granular snow is the residuum of the incomplete
evaporation of what fell in the winter, and of the
surface of the ice which has become "rotten" and
porous. Its crystals are frequently from a third to a
10 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
sixth of an inch in length, and firm ice is found
even in autumn only at the depth of one or two
feet. In the North of Spitsbergen, Parry observed
that the surface of the ice was frequently cut up into
ice-needles of more than a foot long by the drops of
rain, which in summer fall upon it, and in some places
he found it overspread with red snow. We ourselves
never saw the phenomenon observed by Parry, and the
ice-crystals we met with seldom exceeded the length
given above.
14. Field-ice is of a delicate azure-blue colour, and
of great density, and there is, in these respects, no
difference between that of the Arctic and Antarctic re-
gions. Cook, indeed, calls the South Polar ice colourless,
though Sir James Clark Ross speaks expressly of the blue-
ness of its ice-masses. Sea-ice surpasses the ice of the
Alps both in the beauty of its colour and in its density.
The glorious blue of the fissures is due to the incidence
of light, the blue rays of which only are reflected, while
the other rays are absorbed. A spectrum observation
made in 1869 on a Greenland ice-field gave brownish
red, yellow, green and blue. The yellowish spots ob-
served in ice are due to the presence of innumerable
microscopic animalculax
15. Sea-ice, which, when the cold is intense, is hard
and brittle, loses this quality with the increase of tern-
CHAP, i.] THE FROZEN OCEAN. 11
pcrature till it acquires an incredible toughness, far
exceeding that of glaciers ; and floes several feet thick
bend under mutual pressure before they split. Hence
the fruitlessness, especially in summer, of all attempts
to loosen the connexion of its parts by blasting with
gunpowder.
16. The specific gravity of sea-ice is 0.91, and accord-
ingly about nine parts of a cubical block of ice are
under water, while one part only rises above the surface.
If, however, the ice of a floe be irregularly formed and
full of bubbles, the specific gravity will be correspond-
ingly reduced, and the volume submerged may diminish
to two-thirds of the whole mass.
17. The irregularity of the forms of ice is so great,
that no deduction can safely be drawn from them ;
cases may occur where a recently-formed ice-floe,
which has been attached to old ice, is forced by its
neighbour to sink under the normal level ; hence the
submergence of floes beneath the level of the sea is often
overstated.
18. The temperature of the Arctic Sea at the surface
is generally below the freezing point, and then increases
slightly with the depth. Sir James Eoss observed that
the temperature in all oceans does not alter at great
depths, and placed this constant temperature at 3 E.
In summer the temperature of the atmosphere rises
12 AUSTRIAN 1 ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
little above 0, and, according to Sir James Boss, it is
still less at the South Pole, because he saw no thaw-
water streaming down from the icebergs there as he did
in the North. It was first observed in Forster's days,
that is about a century ago, that the salt was gradually
eliminated from frozen sea-water. Of this fact Cook
knew nothing ; and even Sir James Koss endorses Davis's
remark that " the deep sea freezes not." But the fact
that ice is formed on the open sea, and far from the
vicinity of land, was first asserted by Scoresby, and
has been confirmed by all subsequent observers, though
it was long disputed.
19. The crackling sound so commonly heard along
the outer edge of the ice exposed to the action of
the waves, is a consequence of the penetration of
its pores by the sea- water, which is then immediately
frozen, and disruption follows at once. But disruption
on a far grander scale is due to a cause the very
opposite of this, the sudden contraction and splitting
of the ice, even in the great ice-fields, which is
produced usually in winter by the sudden foil of the
temperature.
20. When light falls on a field of pack-ice, it is
reflected in the stratum of air above it, and this span
of light, called the " ice-blink," just above the horizon,
warns the navigator of the impossibility of penetrating
CHAP. i.J THE FROZEN OCEAN. 13
further. This phenomenon is often observed also over
drift-ice, although not so intense nor so yellow in colour
as over pack-ice.
21. Water spaces, on the other hand, show their pre-
sence by dark spots on the horizon, produced by the
formation of clouds from ascending mists. These are
the so called "water- sky." and faithfully indicate the
" leads " beneath them. Above the larger " ice-holes,"
they assume the dark colours of a thunder-sky, though
they are never so strongly defined.
22. The annual evaporation from the surface of the ice,
which even in winter is never entirely interrupted during
the severest frost, and the destruction of ice by the action
of rain and waves are balanced, to speak generally, by its
re-formation by frost. The maximum accumulation of
ice takes place in spring, its minimum in the beginning
of autumn. We observed in the autumn of 1873 not
only the evaporation of the snow of the preceding winter,
but also a vertical decrease of ice of about four feet.
Evaporation is, therefore, the most potent regulator of
the balance between waste and growth in the accumu-
lation of ice ; and next in importance is the drifting
of its masses towards the south through all those
openings by which the Polar waters mingle with the
waters of lower latitudes.
23. However great the agitation of the sea may be in
14 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO-
the open ocean, and though it may dash its waves
with wild fury on the edge of the ice, within the
icy girdle it is undisturbed, in consequence of the enor-
mous weight of the superincumbent masses. It is only
in the large " ice-holes/' and when the winds are very
high, that the action of waves is discernible. An isolated
accumulation of floes in a circular form, suffices to
produce a calm interior sea, and its outer edge only
encounters the beat of the ocean.
24. The ceaseless attack to which the ice is exposed
on its outer edge is the cause of its excavation and
undermining. Hence its centre of gravity is constantly
displaced; and the overturning of its masses and its
strange transformations are the consequences of this
instability. The smaller the masses of the ice, the more
fantastic are the shapes they assume.
25. Change of colour in the sea as we enter the ice-
region is frequently, though not invariably, observed.
Almost immediately on entering the ice, its normal dull
green colour gives place to a deep ultramarine blue,
especially in the East Greenland seas, and this colour
is maintained under all changes of the weather, and
is only modified by local currents. Two hundred and
fifty years ago it appeared to Hudson, on the coast of
Spitzbergen, that the sea, whenever it was free from ice,
was green, and that its being covered with ice and its
CHAP. I.] THE FROZEN OCEAN. 15
blueness of colour were intimately connected. Sir James
Ross states that in both Polar oceans the colour of the
sea changes in the neighbourhood of ice, and that the
dull brownish colour sometimes seen near pack-ice in
the Antarctic Ocean is owing to an infinite number
of animalculse. The rapid fall of the temperature of
the water to the zero point is another indication that
ice is near.
26. Of all the ice-formations in the Arctic Seas, ice-
bergs are the most enormous. "It is well-known that
ice is not by any means so heavy as water, but readily
floats upon its surface. Consequently whenever a gla-
cier enters the sea, the dense salt water tends to buoy it
up. But the great tenacity of the frozen mass enables
it to resist the pressure for a time. By and by, however,
as the glacier reaches deeper water, its cohesion is over-
come, and large fragments are forced from its terminal
front and floated up from the bed of the sea to sail away
as icebergs." l This process is sometimes called " the
calving " of the glaciers ; and the direction of the
cleavage is a pre-indication of the forms of the masses
when detached. The characteristic features of icebergs
are their simple outline, differing widely from the fan-
tastic shapes which the fragments of sea-ice tend to
assume ; their great height as compared with their
1 Geikie's Great Ice Age, pp. 38, 39.
16 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
breadth their greenish-blue colour their distinct stra-
tification their slight transparency and the roughly-
granulated character of their ice. Icebergs with long,
sharp-pointed peaks, like those exhibited in numerous
illustrations, have no real existence. It is only
fragments of field-ice, raised up by pressure, exposed
to the action of waves and the process of evaporation
which are transformed into fantastic shapes. Icebergs
are generally of a pyramidal or tabular shape, and in
time they are usually rounded off into irregular cones.
They vary in height from 20 to 300 feet. Sir John
Ross (1818) mentions an iceberg of 51 feet; Baffin
(1615) of 240 feet; Parry (1819) of 258 feet; Kane
(1853) of 300 feet ; and Hayes (1861) one 315 feet high,
the depth of which below the water-line he estimated at
half a mile. On the coast of East Greenland, Scoresby
once counted 500 icebergs, some of which reached the
height of 200 feet ; and during the second German
North-Pole expedition, we saw many at the mouth
of the Kaiser Franz- Josef fiord which measured 220
feet in height. In Austria- Sound, and on the east
coast of Kron-Prinz Rudolph's land, their altitude
varied from 80 to 200 feet. From the covering of
mist which envelops them, icebergs generally appear
much higher than they really are, and their depth
below the surface is not so considerable as is
CHAP. I.] THE FROZEN OCEAN. 17
generally supposed. In an iceberg 200 feet above the
water, a total height of 600 to 800 feet may, as a
mean, be inferred. It is only glaciers of a very great
size which shed icebergs ; smaller glaciers, like those
of Novaya Zemlya, only strew the sea with a multitude
of fragments which resemble broken sea-ice. Hence
the appearance of icebergs is connected with the
proximity to glacier-covered lands, arid with the
currents which prevail along their coasts. Baffin's
Bay, Smith's Sound, East Greenland, the South-East
of Greenland, Austria Sound, are the principal
places where they collect together and lie like fleets
before the entrances of bays and gulfs. Under-
currents of the sea take them not un frequently in
directions contrary to the drift of the field-ice,
which depends only on upper-currents ; and abnor-
mal winds may sometimes carry them out to seas
where they have been seldom or never seen. 1 This
appears to be the case even with those met with on the
north-west coast of Novaya Zemlya. On the other
hand, they have never been seen on the coasts of
Siberia, which have no glaciers.
27. The constant displacement of the centre of gravity
of an iceberg, resulting from the unsymmetrical decrease
of its form, causes its periodical oversetting ; and the
1 In the North Atlantic Ocean down to 40 X. L.
VOL. I. C
18 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
different temperature of the internal and external ice is
the principal cause of its rending asunder with a noise
like thunder ; a process which occurs generally in the
height of summer.
CHAPTER II.
NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN.
1. ALTHOUGH it be impossible to give any one, who
has not with his own eyes seen the Arctic Sea, a per-
fectly clear conception of its character, the phenomena
described in the preceding chapter are sufficient to
indicate the difficulties and dangers to which its navi-
gation is necessarily exposed. And to these difficulties
and dangers, formidable enough in themselves, are often
added the evil influences of preconceived theories and
exaggerated expectations, usually followed by bitter
disillusions. The calm judgment, which, to all the bold
plans of navigation within the Polar basin, opposes
distrust in their feasibility, while it points to the
hundred expeditions which have at last returned home
after penetrating but a little way into the frozen sea, is
an attainment of slow growth. Years, too, must be
devoted to the theoretical study of the Polar question,
to the examination of all that predecessors have
r 2
20 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
experienced and recorded. But this study is very
important to polar navigators ; for the discoveries which
they too readily regard as exclusively their own prove
sometimes to have been made centuries before them.
2. A most essential element of success is the choice of
a favourable ice year ; and the commander of an expedi-
tion must possess sufficient self-control to return, as
soon as he becomes convinced of the existence of con-
ditions unfavourable for navigation. It is better to
repeat the same attempt on a second or even a third
summer, than with conscious impotence to fight against
the supremacy of the ice.
3. Polar navigators have learnt in the school of ex-
perience to distinguish between navigation in the frozen
seas remote from the land, and navigation in the so-
called coast-waters. The former is far more dangerous,
entirely dependent on accident, exposed to grave catas-
trophes, and without any definite goal. It affords no
certainty of finding a winter harbour for the long
period when cold and darkness render navigation im-
possible. On the other hand, a strip of open water,
which retreats before the growth of the land- ice only
in winter, forms itself along coasts, and especially
under the lee of those exposed to marine currents
running parallel to them ; and this coast- water does
not arise from the thawing of the ice through the greater
CHAP, ii.] NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN. 21
heat of the land, but from the land being an immovable
barrier against wind, and therefore against ice-currents.
The inconstancy of the wind, however, may baffle all the
calculations of navigation ; for coast-water, open as far
as the eye can reach, may be filled with ice in a short
time by a change of the wind. Land- ice often remains
on the coasts even during summer, and in this case
there is nothing to be done but to find the open
navigable water between the extreme edge of the fast-
ice and the drift-ice. Should the drift become pack-
ice, the moment must be awaited w r hen winds setting
in from the land carry off the masses of ice blocking
the navigation, and open a passage free from ice, or
at least only partially covered with drift-ice. It is
evident that navigation in coast waters must be slow
and gradual, though it has always been attended with
the greatest advantages. Barentz was the first who
tested its value ; but it was Parry, the most distin-
guished of all Polar navigators, who discovered its full
importance, and from his day it has been accepted as
an incontrovertible canon of ice-navigation. On this
point he himself says : " Our experience, I think, has
clearly shown, that the navigation of the Polar Seas can
never be performed with any degree of certainty without
a continuity of land. It was only by watching the
openings between the ice and the shore that our late
22 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
progress to the westward was effected ; and had the land
continued in the desired direction, there can be no
question, that we should have continued to advance,
however slowly, towards the completion of our enter-
prise." :
4. The successes of the English in the North American-
Archipelago were the result of this mode of navigation.
Its principle is to search for and sail along the network
of narrow channels when the main passage is blocked
by pack-ice, and to turn to account the narrowest
opening between the ice and the land. In the Siberian
coast expeditions also this method of constantly follow-
ing the coast waters has been successfully observed.
Where coast water does not exist, or only to a limited
extent, as on the east coast of Greenland, this method
is of course impracticable. The fate of the second
German North Pole expedition is an illustration of
this ; it was ordered to penetrate in this direction,
and its failure was inevitable. On the other hand,
all the unsuccessful attempts of expeditions to pene-
trate northward from Spitzbergen expeditions whose
course and termination resemble each other as one egg
resembles another may be reckoned among those in seas
remote from land. To the same category belong the
1 Parry's Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-west
Passage, 1819-20, p. 298. 4to. London, 1821.
CHAP, ii.] NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN. 23
expeditions for the discovery of a north-east passage,
and simply because of the great extent of frozen sea
between Novaya Zemlya and Cape Tcheljuskin.
5. In the frozen sea remote from the land, from 200 to
300, or at the most 400 nautical miles must, according
to all past experience, be regarded as the greatest dis-
tance which a vessel is able to compass, under the most
favourable conditions, during the few weeks of summer
in which navigation is possible. The fact that Sir James
Koss at the South Pole, and Norwegian fishermen in the
Sea of Kara accomplished still greater distances, only
proves that they were little or not at all impeded by ice.
Ross observed that the ice-floes of the Southern Arctic
Seas are smaller than those of the Northern: "The
cause of this is explained by the circumstance of the
ice of the southern regions being so much more exposed
to violent agitations of the ocean, whereas the northern
sea is one of comparative tranquillity." l The rarer
occurrence of land at the South Pole permits freer
scope to the currents of the sea, diminishes the oppor-
tunity for the growth of ice on the coasts, tends to
widen the passages in the network of water-ways, and
thus facilitates navigation. Even the swell of the sea
within the ice is observed in the South Polar Ocean,
while it is never seen in the North. Besides the greater
1 Sir J. C, Ross's Southern Antarctic Voyage, vol. ii., p. 151.
24 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
hindrances peculiar to the whole North Polar Sea, there
is the specially unfavourable circumstance, in the case of
the North-East passage, that the shallowness of the
Siberian Sea prevents a close navigation of its coasts.
6. The choice of the most appropriate season is
another important consideration in ice-navigation; for
this period does not fall at the same time in all seas, and
the disregard of season was a common cause of the
failures of the expeditions of earlier centuries. Since
the frozen sea remains unbroken and almost unaffected
by the action of the sun even in June, and at that
time extends far to the south, it is evident that
all attempts to force a passage in that month
are labour thrown away. The ice-barrier retreating
northward, or the transformation of pack into drift
ice, leaves free navigable water four or five weeks
later. The month of August is the best time for
ice-navigation in Baffin's Bay ; the end of July or
beginning of August on the East Greenland coasts ;
the second half of August and the beginning of Sep-
tember in the Spitsbergen waters ; and in the region
of the Parry Islands the favourable opportunity ends
about the beginning of September. In general it
seems that the time most propitious for all the coast-
water routes, begins some weeks earlier than the corre-
sponding period in the frozen seas remote from land.
CHAP, ii.] NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN. 25
But since, even in the first weeks of September, the most
promising conditions are often succeeded by a sudden
reaction due to storms, to cold setting in rapidly, or to
excessive falls of snow, navigation in the land-remote
frozen seas, in itself so extremely hazardous, becomes
specially critical, just when the ice-sheet at its mini-
mum appears to promise the greatest results.
7. The help of steam power is an indispensable requi-
site, as by it a vessel is able to defy the capricious
changes of the wind. The movements of a ship amid
the ice are made in interminable curves, and the power
to describe an arc with the least radius, enables a
vessel to follow up narrow and often blocked water
ways. As it is incessantly exposed to severe shocks
from the ice, a paddle-wheel steamer is useless ; and
even in screw-steamers care must be taken to protect
the propeller by a special construction.
8. The rate of speed of a vessel in the ice must neces-
sarily be moderate. From three to six miles an hour are
sufficient : and a rate of eight or ten miles would soon
render her not seaworthy. But even with this reduced
rate, her whole framework is shaken and loosened at
last by the incessant shocks she sustains; and this con-
dition of the ship becomes apparent when concussion
with the ice is followed not by a noise as of thunder, but
by a low, dull, groaning sound. The larger a vessel,
26 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
the less her capacity to withstand these shocks, and the
sooner will these, signs of her diminished strength betray
themselves.
9. An Arctic ship should be built with sharp rather
than with full lines, so that when pressed by the ice, she
may more easily escape being nipped and crushed. A
ship built with what is called in England full lines,
a full, round ship, is not easily raised but is liable to be
crushed by ice-pressure. The Hansa was built in this
manner, and was crushed by the first squeeze from the
ice ; the Gennania and the TegettJioff were both of them
sharp-built ships, and stood the test of the ice excellently
well. To protect it from the effects of grinding on ragged
" ice-tongues," the hull is generally iron-plated for some
feet under water, and the bows are strengthened as
much as possible, because this part of the ship is
exposed to the greatest shocks.
10. The tactics of a ship in the ice are guided entirely
by the character of the hindrances to be overcome. If
the ice-fields be large and heavy, they are then generally
separated by broader water-ways and " leads," and a ship
may often amid such ice follow her course for hours
with few deviations, subject always to the danger of
being " beset " and crushed. When the passage is blocked
by a barrier of ice. the situation becomes grave and
serious ; for such fields are not to be displaced by any
CHAP, ii.] NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN. 27
force which the ship may exert, and nothing is left
to the navigator but to await their parting asunder
in a position as sheltered as possible. When the ice is
loose and the floes comparatively small, the impeding
barriers may be charged by the ship. She may then
force asunder some of these floes or separate them by
the continuous pressure of steam-power. In cases of
this kind, large vessels have the advantage and can
bring to bear a greater amount of pressure, whereas
smaller ones stick fast and remain immovable. These
accumulations of ice, while they make a " besetment "
more likely, diminish the danger of pressure.
11. Hence it is clear that small are to be preferred
to large vessels for ice-navigation, except under circum-
stances of rare occurrence ; first, because they are more
readily handled, and next, because of their greater
power of resistance and of their being more easily raised
under pressure from the ice. Their one disadvantage
of lesser momentum is of comparatively slight con-
sequence. The experience of all the North Pole
expeditions of this century shows, that ships of 150,
or at the most of 300 tons, are best suited for all
purposes.
12. Iron ships have often been employed, but with no
success ; they are far less able to bear pressure than
wooden ships, as was proved, among other things, by
28 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
the fate of the River Tay in 1868, in Baffin's Bay, and
of the Sophia, a Swedish ship of discovery in the north
of Spitzbergen.
13. It admits of no question, that two vessels should
be employed in preference to one, and this should be
accepted as a first principle whenever the means at our
disposal admit of it. Both ships should also be provided
with steam power, for otherwise their separation is
almost inevitable, a danger, however, for which, under
all circumstances, they must be prepared.
14. All that is commonly understood about piercing
the ice by sawing and boring through it is a delusion,
and arises from the misunderstanding of technical ex-
pressions. Where there is navigable water, there any
one can sail where there is none, no one. In 1869
and 1870, after coming on a cul-de-sac of ice in
Greenland to the east of Shannon Island, we could
not penetrate a yard further; in 1871, in loose, but
solid ice, we drew away only by warping on the
smaller floes, without being able to make the slightest
progress, and in 1872 we were twice " beset," in heavy
ice, in spite of our steam power. The penetration of
close pack-ice is an impossibility : in this case patient
endurance is alone of any avail, and hence Sir John
Ross so emphatically recommends the Polar navigator
" never to lose sight of the two words caution and
CHAP, ii.] NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN. 29
patience." 1 If a vessel, therefore, is arrested by impene-
trable masses barring its way, the breaking up of the ice
must be patiently awaited, and this, generally, is effected
by calms, although the ebb and flow of the tide appear
to have an influence on the solidity of the ice. It
is then usual -with sailing ships to seek the larger
" i ce-holes," or keep in the freest water-ways, in
order to guard against the danger of being completely
inclosed. These precautions, however, are not so requisite
for steam-vessels, as their power to escape quickly and
in any direction, secures them against this danger. A
steam-vessel may even venture to fasten on to an ice-
floe by means of an ice-anchor, and of course under
its lee, the fires being banked up, so that by getting up
steam she may shift her place as soon as the ice moves
nearer. As a principle, and so far as it is possible with-
out the exhaustion of her powers, a ship in the ice should
endeavour to be in constant motion, oven though this
entail many changes of her course and the temporary
return to a position which had been abandoned. The
making fast to a floe, however, should never be attempted,
except when every hope of navigating in the surround-
ing waters has been proved fruitless. The fastening a
vessel to an iceberg diminishes, indeed, its drifting,
1 Sir John Ross Second Voyage of Discovery to tJif Arctic Ocean,
p. 180. 4to. London, 1835.
30 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
but is, if possible, to be avoided, because of the danger
of the iceberg overturning or rending asunder, things
which occur far more frequently than we should be led
to expect from their great appearance of stability.
When a ship, notwithstanding every possible caution, is
" beset," it is then advisable to " ship " the rudder in
order to protect it from injury to which it is peculiarly
liable from its unusual weight and size. A ship is
exposed to considerable danger when she finds herself
among icebergs in a calm ; but since these are over-
spread by a dazzling sheen, even in the thickest mist,
the peril of the position is to be avoided at the last
moment by warping.
15. As the happy choice of a sea-way is one of the
essential conditions of success in ice -navigation, the
ability to determine the ship's position and to ascertain
whether a surface covered with ice to the horizon, admits
of being penetrated, is most desirable. Hence the em-
ployment of a balloon would be of the last import-
ance in Arctic navigation. The advantage of being able
to ascend from the ship in a balloon secured by a rope,
to the height of a few hundred feet is self-evident ;
and, undoubtedly, the first vessel which avails herself
of this great resource will derive extraordinary benefit
from it.
16. From the deck of a ship even drift-ice appears
CHAP, ii.] NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN. 31
to be of such solidity at a little distance, as to defy
navigation, while from the mast-head more water than
o '
ice may be descried. In order then to extend the
horizon, a look-out, called " the crow's nest," is fixed
on the mast-head, in which an officer is always on
the watch, and from which all the operations of the
vessel are directed. In a ship of the size and height of
the Tegetthqff, the horizon visible from "the crow's nest"
extends to about eleven miles, 1 but at the distance of
even five miles the possibility of penetrating cannot be
determined with sufficient exactness. It is the business
of the officer in the " crow's nest " to observe the
passages through the ice and distant objects generally,
as he is in the best position to fulfil this most important
duty. It is the special business of the watch on the
forecastle, to mark what lies in the immediate neighbour-
hood of the vessel, and his constant care is demanded to
avoid isolated ice-floes and prevent collision with them.
The seaman at the helm steers the ship by the signs and
calls which come to him from the " crow's nest," and
modifies them according to those of the watch on the
forecastle. The rest of the crew remove the smaller
fragments of ice from the vessel's course, special care
being taken to prevent their damaging the screw.
1 When it is not otherwise mentioned, the nautical mile is meant.
Four nautical miles make a geographical mile.
32 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
17. While sea- currents move the ice in close and
continuous lines, winds produce great disturbances in
their movement, and open long "leads" in the direc-
tion of their course, which often alternate with strips
of the thickest pack-ice. This movement of the ice
varies with each accumulation of floes, as its rate of
motion depends on the height of the ice-field, which
then acts as a sail. It is ascertained by experience that
calms, on the other hand, have the remarkable property
of breaking up the ice. The knowledge and application
of these circumstances are essential to the Arctic navi-
gator. If the course of a ship lies across or against a
current, it is constantly deflected. The deflection on the
coast of East Greenland, for example, amounted to five,
even ten miles within twenty-four hours ; hence the
importance of choosing routes with and not against
the course of currents.
18. Lastly, it is of the greatest moment to choose
betimes an appropriate winter harbour, and it is there-
fore necessary to keep near the coast towards the close
of the season for navigation. To find one suitable for
shelter during the winter in an unknown Arctic region is
a matter of great difficulty, for it very often happens,
that the ice drifts out from these " docks " a in the
1 Dock, an opening in the ice, artificial or natural, offering protec-
tion. Kane's Glossary of Arctic Terms, vol. i., p. 13.
CHAP, ii.] NAVIGATION IN THE FROZEN OCEAN. 33
storms which constantly occur, or perhaps the " dock "
is so sheltered, that the ice, if it breaks up at all, breaks
up only in the following summer. Shallow bays which
freeze almost to the bottom, lying under the lee of a
current or within a fiord, are the most appropriate
spots in which to winter.
VOL. I.
CHAPTER III.
THE PENETRATION OF THE REGIONS WITHIN THE
POLAR CIRCLE ; THE PERIOD OF THE NORTH-WEST
AND NORTH-EAST PASSAGES.
1. AROUND the lonely apex of the Pole stand cairns
of stone which serve to mark the points to which
the restless spirit of human enterprise and discovery
has penetrated. In its zenith wheels the sea-gull in its
flight, and the harpoon-persecuted seal finds on its ice-
floes an unapproachable asylum ; but the Pole itself
remains the goal which no human effort has yet reached.
2. As all knowledge is perfected slowly and gradually,
so man's knowledge of the earth and its configura-
tion forms no exception to this general rule. Of
the few attempts of early antiquity to enlarge the
domain of geographical knowledge, tradition tells us
only of the Argonautic expedition of the Greeks, of the
voyage of the Phoenicians to Ophir, and their bolder
circumnavigation of Africa. With the conception of
the spherical form of the earth the still vague notion of
CHAP, in.] THE NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST PASSAGES. 35
climatal zones makes its appearance, and to this, four
centuries before Christ, Pytheas of Marseilles gave the
first scientific elucidation and the first approximation
to modern theories by his doctrine of the polar circle.
Almost contemporaneously Alexander's expedition
to the wonder-land of India created a paradise for
commerce and navigation, to secure which a shortened
route, the route through the ice the most perverse
notion that ever entered into the mind of man to
conceive was 1800 years afterwards eagerly and pas-
sionately sought.
3. Rome had extended her knowledge to Scandinavia,
and Seneca's prophetical mind foresaw the discovery of
new worlds. But the deluge of religious strifes, the
migrations of nations in the earlier part of the Middle
Ages, the holy zeal for destruction in the apostles to
the heathen, proved formidable barriers to the extension
of geographical knowledge, which were broken through
only by the piratical hordes of Normans so renowned
in story. While the Eomans boasted that Britain had
never been circumnavigated, the Normans, throwing the
deeds of the Phoenicians into the, shade, discovered
Greenland, and became the first Polar Navigators.
4. Travels by land were the principal means by which
the geographical knowledge of the world was enriched ;
but during the Middle Ages the information which
o o
D 2
3f> AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
travellers communicated, uncertain and superficial even
for Europe, served only to supply food for the fancies
of map-makers, as far as the distant parts of the world
were concerned.
5. But the grand moment at length arrived in the
history of mankind when the civilization of the West,
looking beyond the narrow horizon of the Old World,
and awaking from the geographical dreams of centuries,
burst the fetters of tradition, and within three hundred
years perfected the knowledge of our planet up to
the Pole.
6. When by his famous line of partition, Pope Alex-
ander VI. granted to Spain and Portugal the new
countries discovered in the East and West, the brigan-
tines of these nations spread themselves over all seas
in search of new lands and fresh glory. To the other
maritime nations, to the English and the Dutch, nothing
remained, if they meant to acquire gold-yielding
lands, but to drive the Spaniards and Portuguese from
their conquests, or to seek new Eldorados yea, by
the discovery of sea routes on the north of Asia
and America, to aspire to India itself. This was the
conception first entertained by both the English and
the Dutch, and Geography at any rate profited by their
delusions. These nations were not to blame if those
routes, known afterwards as the North-West and North-
CHAP, in.] THE NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST PASSAGES.
East passages, degenerated into chimeras, if passages had
to be sought in higher and still higher latitudes, ulti-
mately in the ice itself, although the Dutch geographer,
Plancius, struck out the consoling theory of the open
Polar Sea.
7. But who in those days could presuppose, that the
continents of Asia and America, just where those pas-
sages were attempted, symmetrically developed the
most enormous longitudinal dimensions ? Even the
actual discovery of the vast extent of Siberia exerted
but little influence on the question of the North-
East passage, for the achievements of individuals were
not then so quickly disseminated as at present. A
succession of men in vessels poorly equipped now
struggled against the supremacy of the ice, avoiding at
first the dreaded wintering, while they attempted some-
times the North-East, sometimes the North- West,
sometimes the passage over the Pole itself. In these
attempts many lost their lives ; many returned, despair-
ing of but still hoping for the solution of the problems
but no one reached the goal.
8. The amazing simplicity of the first adventurers is
seen in Frobisher's project to erect forts, duly pro-
vided with cannons and men, on the commanding points
of the passage, in the letters of recommendation given
by kings of England to the leaders of the expedition
38 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
for the small Saracenic states which were supposed to
exist beyond the river Obi ; but these old navigators
carried no letter of recommendation to the great potentate
the ice. Gold, too, they hoped to find in the North,
because the book of Job speaks of gold coming from
thence, and the North-East passage was considered as
free from danger, because Pliny mentions some Indians
who had been driven towards Norway !
9. When another century and a half had elapsed, a
series of unsuccessful attempts to force the North-East
passage put a decisive check to material interests in
Polar expeditions. The North-East passage belonged
henceforward to the history of the past. The English
and Dutch withdrew from the Novaya Zemlya seas ; and
after Wood's retreat no scientific expedition entered
those seas for two hundred years, until the days of the
A ii stria n Expeditions.
10. Among the maritime nations of Europe, it was
England, and especially her merchants, who had hitherto
largely invested in the costs and risks of these Argo-
nautic expeditions " for the glory of God and the good
of the country." The Dutch soon contented themselves,
after Barentz's death, with the capture of whales in the
Arctic seas ; France remained an unconcerned spectator,
while the sylphs of Versailles consumed the whalebone
of whole fleets of whalers ; and Spain and Portugal
CHAP, in.] THE NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST PASSAGES. 39
early withdrew from seas in which, instead of ingots of
gold, ice-floes only were to be found. But even for
England the days of the prophets had now passed
awav the days of a Cabot, a Mercator, 1 a Wolsten-
holme, and a Walsingham. Men of weight raised their
voices against the chimeras of Arctic commercial routes,
and Chillingworth contemptuously compared an expedi-
tion for the discovery of the North-East passage to the
study of the Fathers.
11. It may be asked, why nations struggled with
dauntless ambition for the lost cause of the barren
North- West and North-East passages, while for a cen-
tury they stretched forth timid hands after the rich
treasures of lands lying in the more favoured zones ?
The mighty stimulus of the love of the marvellous ex-
plains this series of efforts taken up by generation after
generation. Frobisher, Davis, Baffin, and the Novaya
Zemlya adventurers, told on their return of gold-lands
far within the domains of the icy Hydra. Their tales of
single combats with spear or matchlock against polar
bears, of the dreadful snow-storms and fearful cold of the
Arctic winter, were heard with grim delight by listeners
on whom no hardships were imposed. Or they spoke
of a darkness that continued for months, of the flaming
1 Mercator was not an Englishman ; he was a Dutchman, born
1512, died 1594.
40 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO
arches of the northern lights, of the sun remaining visible
for many weeks in the heavens, of a race of dwarfs, of
unheard-of animals, of fish as big as ships of war, of
monsters with long teeth which precisely resembled the
Sphinxes of the plains of the Pyramids, of white and
blue foxes, of floating mountains of dazzling crystal,
of ships seen upside down in the air when had ever
the mind of man more food to nourish the love of the
marvellous or greater incentives to stimulate the love
of distinction ? But besides these appeals to the
imagination, every generation desires new confirmations
of its convictions ; and hence geographical questions,
after being shelved for a time, come again to the front
as by an inward necessity.
12. If the earlier Polar expeditions pursued exclusively
material ends, a decided change appears in those of the
present century the Polar world itself became an object
of scientific investigation. With Sir John Ross (1818)
began a series of expeditions, at first subservient to the
idea of a North- West passage, but which ultimately
derived all their importance from their attempt in-
effectual as it proved to rescue the lives of 139 men,
who had fallen far from the fields and scenes where
earthly fame is commonly achieved. It was these
expeditions, still fresh in the memory of this generation,
which, summoning to their aid the modern power of
CIIAP. HI.] THE NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST PASSAGES. 41
steam against the ice, succeeded in drawing on our
Arctic maps a circle whose mean distance was 200
(German) miles from the Pole. Parry on the frozen sea
of Spitzbergen had approached it 'within 100 miles
(German) ; Kane, Hayes and Hall on the coast of the
Kennedy Channel, the former to within 116,' and the
two latter to within 108 miles, and the Austro-
Hungarian expedition to within 109 miles.
13. MacClintock, who returned with the relics
of the Franklin expedition, succeeded in perfecting a
mode of discovery independent of the ship that by
means of sledging admirably adapted for future Arctic
expeditions. But the North-West passage for which six
generations had toiled, though discovered, was shown to
be utterly worthless for all material purposes a dreary
web of coast lines.
CHAPTER IV.
THE INNER POLAR SEA.
1. THE Arctic Sea, in some of its features, forcibly
impresses us with its resemblance to the glaciers of the
Alps. In both cases, the ice presses from a region, colder
and less favoured by climate, towards one warmer and
more favoured. In the Alpine glaciers, the movement
is from above downwards ; in the Frozen Ocean, the
movement is from a higher to a lower geographical
latitude. In both cases, the tongues and spurs of the
masses of ice formed by the configuration of the land or
by currents of the sea, terminate, whenever they reach
an isothermal curve of altitude or latitude, the mean
temperature of which suffices to dissolve them or prevent
their formation. Moraines also have their equivalent in
the Arctic Sea ; for it is an established fact that icebergs
and ice-fields, laden with the debris and rubbish of Arctic
lands, deposit these burdens round the outer edge of
the Frozen Ocean, and to this process, partially at least,
CHAP, iv.] THE INNER POLAR SEA. 43
the origin of the Newfoundland Banks is ascribed. If
this comparison between the phenomena of high lati-
tudes and great altitudes be just, then we should have
as much reason to believe in the existence of the so-
called open Polar Sea, as we should have to maintain,
that in our glacier ranges ice ceases to be formed above
a certain altitude.
2. The belief of past times l in such a sea shows how
unsatisfactory is the simple to man's mind, and how
old is his tendency to clothe the remote and the un-
common with a garment of the marvellous. What was
the open Polar Sea but the " Harz Sea " of the North,
or the legendary zone of the ever-sunny Eden of the
Hyperboreans, far beyond the land of the Anthropophagi
over which was spread an atmosphere veiled in
snow, and through which no light could penetrate !
Who has ever seen this open Polar Sea ? Do the ac-
counts of navigators confirm its existence ? Nay their
accounts are rather a series of counter-statements :
Hudson, Baffin, Phipps, Tschitschagoff, Buchan, Frank-
lin, Parry, Collinson, Scoresby, MacClintock, Koldewey,
Torell, Nordenskjold, have all expressed their disbelief
in its existence. If some have pretended that they have
1 Three centuries ago, Plancius, the Dutch geographer, devised this
for the Xorth Pole, while Barros, the Portuguese historiographer, did
the same for the South Pole.
44 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
seen it, how strange is it that they never sailed on it !
It has recently been attempted to make the great cham-
pion of the Polar question, Dr. Petermann, a supporter
of this conception ; but in the " Mittheilungen " of this
highly meritorious geographer, there are many passages
which most emphatically protest against it. His views
extend only to an inner Polar Sea navigable under
certain circumstances, and every one acquainted with
those regions may adopt his point of view, though he
refuses to admit the existence of the open Polar Sea.
3. In those centuries when the Natural Sciences were
little cultivated, when the theories of the Trade Winds,
of Equatorial and Polar sea-currents, were still unknown,
and when as yet the processes in the Frozen Ocean had
not been submitted to scientific investigation, we cannot
be surprised at the preconceptions which were formed
concerning its phenomena. In those times all beyond
Norway was a chaos of ice-filled darkness ; the necessity
of a scientific investigation of those wastes was not felt ;
and down to the time of Sir John Koss, Polar navigators
on their return home brought with them no kind of
scientific knowledge of Nature in the Arctic regions.
To reach India was the main if not the only end they
had in view. The instructions which Willoughby, the
first Polar navigator, received, give us an insight into
the delusions of earlier times. These, for example,
CHAP, iv.] THE INNER POLAR SEA. 45
warned adventurers against men-eaters who swam naked
in the sea, and in the rivers. It was the period of
fables long since forgotten. Maldonado, de Fuca,
Bernarda, Yelmer, Andrejew, Martiniere, and the whale-
fishers, brought home tales of passages to India dis-
covered, of new continents, of the ascertained connexion
of Novaya Zemlya with the northernmost point of
Siberia (Yelmerland) or even with Greenland. Two
centuries ago the failure of all attempts at a North-
East passage was attributed to Russia's commercial
policy inasmuch as it had been proved to the satisfaction
of all, that the heat was greater in the north, that the
seas there ceased to freeze, and that the country was
covered with a luxuriant green !
4. There was, indeed, a certain logical consequence in
the belief of an inner Polar Sea, as long as it was un-
known that ice is formed on the open sea as well as on
the coasts. There was also one argument, which made
the existence of such a sea not altogether improbable. It
might be assumed, that the formation of ice renewed
every year in the Arctic regions, would necessarily
produce eternal bulwarks of congelation and destroy all
organic life, unless sea-currents modified these extremes
of climate. The ice which is formed round the Pole
it was argued is not of an unlimited but of a
definite quantity. Since, then, this quantity of ice must
46 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
be brought with tolerable uniformity from the innermost
polar region to lower latitudes by the action of sea-
currents, there are at least one or two months of the
summer when the ice is at a minimum, when no new
formation takes place, and when a sea relatively ice-
free may appear in the place of the sea which had been
covered with ice. This sea would be the more open and
navigable, just in proportion as less land might be found
at the Pole. But in this assumption it is implied,
that the ice moves with perfect regularity and in radial
lines from a given point without any disturbance
from winds, or counter-currents, or land, consequently
with a quiet simplicity of hydrography, for which
Nature, neither there nor elsewhere, shows any pre-
dilection. Dove makes the mean annual temperature
of the North Pole, 13'2 R. ; but it is probably still
less. What, then, is the probability of an open Polar
Sea, if this annual mean only be considered ? All
the accounts too of animal life increasing in exu-
berance as we advance northwards from which a more
favourable climate within the innermost Polar region,
and an open Polar Sea have been inferred must be
received with caution, for the appearance of numerous
tiocks of birds proves only, that they remain where open
water prevails for a time, and that they change their
abode with its change of place.
CHAP, iv.] THE INNER POLAR SEA. 47
5. In more recent times great influence has been
attributed to the Gulf-stream as a power influencing
all the seas, known and unknown, of the whole Arctic
region. Dr. Petermann, however, in a lately published
work, endeavours to show that its effects are discernible
only on the northern seas of Spitzbergen and Novaya
Zemlya. Its action on the coasts of Spitzbergen has been
indisputably established by the Swedes, who discovered
there certain tropical plants (Entada giyalobium) ;
but the penetration of the warmer waters of this current
to the northern coasts of Novaya Zemlya has not been so
positively ascertained. In the Austrian Expedition of
1873-4, we discovered no proofs of its existence. We
found neither the constant current, nor the water of a
higher temperature, which characterises that renowned
stream.
6. For a long time the " ice holes " seen by Wrangel
and Morton, were regarded as indications of an ice-free
Polar Sea. With regard to those seen by Morton in
81 22', Eichardson very justly remarks: "The open
water of the Kennedy Channel is not of greater extent
in the month of June than the open spaces which have
occasionally been seen in summer on the north of Spitz-
bergen by whale-fishers." Wrangel, when he describes
the " Polynjii," which he saw on the east of the New
Siberian Islands, accounts for them bv the action of a
48 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
local coast wind ; and yet Wrangel would have been
the first to favour the notion of an inner Polar Sea,
for he still thought, in opposition to Scoresby, that
ice could not be formed on the open sea, because of the
absence of land as a support for the ice in its formation.
7. The first practical application of the theory of an
open Polar Sea was long ago devised by Plancius ; the
discovery, namely, of a route in high latitudes to
China. But the expeditions to the North Pole,
properly so termed, sprang also from this theory,
which was held with the greatest pertinacity. The
evidence of unsuccessful undertakings was always met
and outweighed by the counter-experience of one favour-
able year in the ice. Thus Barentz, in the exceedingly
propitious summer of 1594, advanced without difficulty
one degree of latitude beyond the northern extremity
of Novaya Zemlya, while his successors frequently en-
countered insurmountable difficulties at Cape Nassau,
and he himself in the following year, 1595, found the
state of the ice changed much for the worse. In the
years 1871, 1874, Mack, Carlsen, and the two Austro-
Hungarian expeditions came upon an open sea in the
very places where very few, if any, waterways were
to be seen in 1872 and 1873. In the summers of
1816, 1817, the mighty stream of ice on the coast of
East Greenland had decreased to such an extent that
CHAP, iv.] THE 1XXER POLAR SEA. 49
Scoresby met with little ice between 74 and 80 N.L. ,
but since then whalers have constantly seen the heaviest
ice there, heavier than anywhere else. In 1753 and
1 754, the Sea of Kara and the Novaya Zemlya Sea were
free from ice. But in subsequent years the whale-fishers
knocked in vain at their ice-barred entrances. In 1823
Liitke from a point on the west coast of the Sea of Kara
saw that sea without ice ; but, in the middle of August,
1833, Pachtussow found the western side of that sea
open, while in the previous year he himself could not
pass the Karian Gates. Again in 1743 and 1773, the
North Spitzbergen Sea held out promises the most in-
viting, which might possibly have permitted the reaching
of a still higher degree of latitude than that which
Nordenskjold and Koldewey attained in 1868. Sir
John Ross, in the first year of his second voyage, found
all things most favourable for navigation, but in the
following year the very reverse ; and Sir James C. Ross
experienced the same alternation of circumstances in the
Southern Polar Sea. In 1850, Penny found the Wel-
lington Channel free from ice, but in 1852, Belcher,
although he penetrated far further than Penny, was
confronted in the same channel by pack and drift-ice.
Scoresby the younger, to whose profound faculty of
observation we owe the most significant hints on the
nature of the Polar Sea, although he had navigated
VOL. I.
50 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [IXTBO.
the Greenland ice-ocean for twenty years, landed only
once on its coast. Tke Swedish expedition (1861) could
approach the north-east of Spitzbergen only in boats ;
Smith sailed over the sea there (1871) as far as Cape
Smith. The walrus hunter, Matilas, sailed round (1864)
the north-east island completely, and Carlsen, an ii-e
navigator, as successful as he was skilful, in 1863 cir-
cumnavigated Spitzbergen, and in 1871,Novaya Zemlya,
and discovered there the relics of Barentz's winter
quarters. In 1872, King Karl Land was circum-
navigated, although both Koldewey and Nordenskjold
(1868) as well as the first Austrian expedition (1871)
had in vain attempted to approach it. How greatly
also, in the same year, the state of the ice varies in
different places, is proved by the fact, that Franklin
learnt from the whalers that they never saw the ice
so thick and so strong in Davis Straits as at the end
of July, 1819, while Parry, more to the north by some
degrees of latitude, pursued his path of discovery even to
Melville Island, and in the following year returned to
England without meeting any special obstacles. These
examples, to w r hich many more might be added, show
how variable are the chances of ice-navigation from one
o
year to another. But however variable the conditions of
the ice may be, the impediments, even under the most
favourable circumstances, are so very great, that \ve have
CHAP, iv.] THE INNER POLAR SEA. 51
never been able to penetrate the innermost polar regions,
penetrate, that is, to where, according to the views
of an earlier time, the open Polar Sea should be found.
8. Those propitious ice-years amount, therefore, to
nothing more than a greater recession of the outer ice-
barrier trifling when compared with the mighty whole
or to an increased navigability of certain coast waters,
or to a local loosening of the inner polar ice-net. In
reality the whole Arctic Sea, with its countless ice-fields
and floes, and its web of fine interlacing water-ways, is
nothing but a net constantly in motion from local,
terrestrial, or cosmical causes. All the changes and
* O
phenomena of this mighty network lead us to infer the
existence of frozen seas up to the Pole itself ; and
according to my own experience gained in three expedi-
tions I consider that the states of the ice between 82
and 90 N.L. will not essentially differ from those which
have been observed south of latitude 82; / incline
rather to the belief that they will be found worse instead
of better.
9. If this view be correct, it will remain an in-
superable difficulty to reach the Pole with a ship. The
penetrating to 82 or 83 exhausts, according to all
past experience, the disposable time for navigation, and
presupposes moreover the most favourable conditions
for the attaining of such high latitudes. A ship which
i: 2
52 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
reaches 82 N.L. by the beginning of autumn must risk
nothing more, should only navigate really open water,
and the expediency of securing a winter harbour should
then outweigh every other consideration.
10. He who expects w^ith a ship of the present con-
struction to reach the Pole in a single summer, neces-
sarily believes in an ocean at the Pole. But even if an
expedition should penetrate to 84 in Smith's Sound,
or should reach Cape Tcheljuskin on the north-east
route, it would not follow that such an ocean exists, but
only that the Polar Sea presents at different times and
in different places open water-ways, which may enable
a ship to advance beyond a point hitherto reached ; but
it is improbable that the circumstances which favoured
this will be repeated the next summer, so as to permit
the ships to penetrate still further or to return. The
last American expedition returned without being able
to speak decisively as to the possibility of navigating
Lincoln Sea, and since this has not yet been verified by
fact, we must suspend our judgment on the matter. To
the English expedition, which has taken this route to
the Pole, is reserved the great work of throwing light
on the region of Upper Smith's Sound, and the whole
civilized world will hail with joy any successes which a
nation, so long conspicuous for its perseverance in the
cause of discovery, may happily achieve.
CHAPTER V.
THE FUTURE OF THE POLAR QUESTION.
1. THE eagerness of human nature for gain and material
prosperity is so great, that we are wont to estimate the
value of all undertakings by the standard of utility ; and
too often it is forgotten, that each generation is destined
to fulfil the task of acquiring and collecting the know-
ledge which is to benefit only a later generation. If,
then, the Polar question be valueless for our material
interests, is it therefore valueless for science ? and
assuming that it is for the present worthless as far
as gain and wealth are concerned, must it continue
so for all time ? Not that we are entitled, even from
this narrower point of view, to deny the usefulness of
Polar exploration, as Cook seems to have done when
he said, " Never from those regions will any advantage
accrue to our race;" but rather bear iu mind what Sir
James Ross tells us : " The profit which accrued to
England, in each year after the voyage (1818) of my
54 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
uncle (Sir John Koss) in North Baffin's Bay, from those
rediscovered parts of the Arctic seas, was more than
enough to defray all the expenses of the voyages of
discovery undertaken from 1818 to 1838." Scoresby
with his single ship made a million thalers by the
capture of whales, and the Americans had for many
years a clear profit of eight million dollars from the
fisheries of the frozen seas of Bernini's Straits. There
O
were also, it is true, very considerable losses ; for, in
1830, nineteen English ships engaged in the whale
fishery were "beset" in the ice of Melville Bay, and
nearly all destroyed ; in 1871, twenty-six American
ships were crushed to pieces in Behring's Straits, and
as many as seventy-three Dutch vessels sank in one year
in the seventeenth century from the pressure of the ice.
2. We do not, however, mean to assert, that the
progress of Polar discovery is always followed by a cor-
responding increase in the capture of fish in the Arctic
seas. On the contrary, the take of oil-yielding animals
is steadily decreasing, and even if an open sea should
be discovered in 82 N.L., in which whales should, be
found in as great abundance as ice-floes unhappily are,
the whaler with his poor equipment would never be
able to follow them thither. The fur countries, once as
productive as the mines of Peru, are incapable of further
extension ; even the treasures of mammoth's tusks have
CHAP, v.] THE FUTURE OF THE POLAR QUESTION. .05
become rare, and in order to bring thirty tons of
lignite from the north-east of Greenland, a ship must
expend seventy tons of sound coal in the transit, besides
passing the winter there. That the teas of China, the
silks of Japan, the spices of the Moluccas will never
descend to us from the ice-fields, has long been settled.
No one at the present day thinks any longer of the
commercial value of the North-West and North-East
passages. Modes of escape from the perils and caprices
of the ice have grown out of the endeavour to discover
routes of commerce, which lay beyond the reach of the
cannon of the Spaniards at the time when they aspired
to the monopoly of the trade of the world. The reward
of 25,000 gulden, offered by the Dutch government for
the discovery of a North-East passage, and that of
20,000 by the English parliament for the North- West
passage, have never been paid, because never claimed,
nor are they, in the least degree, likely to be claimed. 1
3. Yet, quite independent of material results, Polar
exploration presents no unworthy object for scientific
investigation a region of the globe 120,000 square miles
in extent never yet entered by man. The Polar ques-
tion, as a problem of science, aims at determining the
1 As a corrective to this rather extreme statement, see Clement
Markham's Threshold of the Unknown Region, 4th Edition, pp.
383393.
56 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
limits of land and water, at the perfecting of that net-
work of lines with which comparative science seeks to
surround our planet, even to its Poles. The completion
of this labour will serve to discover those physical laws
which regulate climates, the currents of the atmosphere
and sea, and the analogies of geology with the earth as
we see it.
4. But how is this to be attained ? At first it
would appear as if the methods of ice-navigation had
been followed by such success, that their continued
application guaranteed still greater results. The gradual
advance by means of ships, from the Polar Circle
to 73, 75, 79, or even to 82 N.L., has been the
result and is the reward of the labours of three centu-
ries. But to reach higher degrees, from 82 to 90,
depends on other conditions than mere time. That
increased experience and boldness have removed many
of the inconveniences and dangers attendant on Arctic
navigation is undoubtedly true, but it is also as true,
that, upon the whole, the safety and convenience of
ice-navigation have more steadily increased than its
successes. Hudson, Baffin, and especially Scoresby, and
even some whalers of the seventeenth century, reached
latitudes which have scarcely been exceeded since, and
in many cases this progress was due, not to greater
boldness and experience, but rather to chance and
CHAP, v.] THE FUTURE OF THE POLAR QUESTION.
the caprices of the ice, which "tor the whaler often
permitted glances into its interior, which were denied
to the scientific explorer."
5. The greater perfection of our means enables us to
conduct Polar expeditions with greater facility. Instead
of dissipating our strength by sending out several ships,
even small fleets, amounting sometimes to fifteen ships
(often not larger than the boats of a modern Polar ship),
since the days of Sir John Ross, we equip one or two
ships only, strongly built for their special purpose,
provided with steam-powder, and with all that is desirable
or requisite ; and instead of dispatching them for short
summer cruises, we provision them, send them out for
several years, and, by appropriate nourishment and
the aid of medical science, protect the crews from
the scourge of scurvy. In those days, when even the
wealthy lived during the winter on salt beef, and
English squires were obliged at the beginning of winter,
on account of the scarcity of food for the cattle, to kill
and salt a portion of their herd, preserved and anti-
scorbutic victuals w r ere an impossibility to a Hudson, a
James, a Fox, in their winters amid the ice. Those
introduced by Ross then called " Donkin's meat "- have
been greatly improved since, and through them the
scurvy, which used to carry off whole crews of ships,
has lost its former terrors.
58 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
6. In this power to extend our expeditions without
danger, and especially in sledge journeys during the
autumn and spring, which are possible only to expedi-
tions prepared to winter in the ice, are the grounds why
we have not halted at the barriers "of the bulwarks
built for eternity ;" in the Rennselaer harbour, in the
Lancaster-Barrow route, or at the Pendulum islands.
It is only sledge expeditions, as Middendorf says, which
have been able to effect results of any magnitude on
the inaccessible coasts of the extreme north ; and the
great extent to which the Russians had used sledge
expeditions evidently served as an example both to the
English and to Kane.
7. In Polar expeditions, therefore, we have probably
reached, so far as the exploration of the highest latitudes
by means of ships is concerned, the limits of possibility.
The extraordinary success which fell to the lot of Hall's
expedition teaches us only the possibility of encroaching
but a little beyond tJiat limit, even under the most
favourable circumstances.
8. In all cases, where the attempt shall be made to
reach the highest latitudes with a ship, I would again
recommend the route through Smith's Sound, because,
in the first place, I believe that any considerable advance
is only to be expected in coast-water ; and in the
second place, because the Grant Coast offers facilities for
CHAP, v.] THE FUTURE OF THE POLAR QUESTION. 59
sledge expeditions on a large scale. East Greenland in
the higher latitudes, 73 75, may be regarded as in-
accessible ; and the attempt to penetrate northwards in
its coast-water was a delusion of the second German
North-Pole Expedition. In the north of Spitzbergen,
and in Behring's Straits, fifty expeditions and countless
whalers have heard from the ice an imperious ne plus
ultra; and the same prohibition has been uttered to
as many expeditions on the North-East passage. In
both these routes the cause of failure was the dis-
proportion between what could be reached in one or
two summers, and the vast extent of sea blocked
by impenetrable ice. In like manner, the probability
of reaching the Pole itself with our present resources
is so small, and the attempt to do it is so utterly
disproportionate to the sacrifices exacted and the results
achieved, that it would be advisable to exclude it from
Arctic exploration, until, instead of the impotent vessels
of the sea, we can send thither those of the air.
9. Be this as it may, the present English North Pole
Expedition will essentially contribute to solve the
question, whether the Pole can be reached by the route
through Upper Smith's Sound. This, according to the
views of almost all Polar navigators, holds out the
greatest chances for further advance by sea. Should
this expedition, equipped in so effective a manner, and
GO AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
sent out by a nation of such great experience, not come
nearer to the goal, or, if nearer, only through sledging
which may very probably be the case the conviction
will then be strengthened, that all efforts to reach the
Pole by navigation in the Frozen Ocean are hopeless,
and witness only to the glorious persistency of human
endeavour.
10. But until aerial navigation to the Pole shall be
attempted, it would be advisable to follow the example
of the Swedes, and, in the service of Natural History and
Geography, content ourselves with the exploration of
those Arctic lands of which, up to the present moment,
we know only the coast-line, or which, situated on the
outermost verge of our Polar charts, are still untrodden
by man ; we mean specially Gillis', Grinnell's, Wrangel's
Land, and above all, the interior of Greenland. The
Polar question, hitherto regarded chiefly as a geo-
graphical problem, would thus, for a considerable time,
be taken up in the interests of Natural Science. Lieu-
tenant Weyprecht, after dwelling on the predominance
of exploration in Polar expeditions, expresses a wish,
that the great civilized nations would unite in contem-
poraneous Arctic expeditions for magnetical, electrical,
and meteorological investigations : "In order to attain
decisive scientific results, a number of expeditions
should be sent to different places in the Arctic regions
CHAP, v.] THE FUTURE OF THE POLAR QUESTION. 61
to make observations, at the same time, with similar
instruments, and in accordance with similar instruc-
tions." They who think such results too insignificant
for the energies and sacrifices which are expended
to achieve them, and who would rather that such
efforts should be transferred to those still unknown
regions of the earth, which may become the dwelling-
places of man, will, of course, give their veto against the
further agitation of the Arctic question.
CHAPTER VI.
POLAR EQUIPMENTS.
1. EVERY Arctic expedition should be guided by the
experience of its predecessors, both in its plan and its
equipment ; and hence we have often to deplore the
negligence of almost all polar navigators in failing to
inform those who follow them of what they actually
saw, of their modes of procedure, or of the mistakes
which they committed. It will not, therefore, be
labour thrown away, if we state our own experience
and record our own observations for the guidance of
others, in order to show, with the utmost possible
clearness, what future explorers have before them, and
how best to meet it.
2. Undivided command in an expedition is the first of
all rules ; but if there be any division of command in
a subordinate expedition by sea or land, the duties
and rights of its commander must be clearly and
exactly defined. In recent times the command of a
CHAP, vi.] POLAR EQUIPMENTS. 03
Polar expedition has sometimes been conferred not on a
seaman, but on a man of science, as in the cases of
Kane, Hayes, Nordeuskjold, and Torell. Where the in-
vestigation of questions connected with Natural History
is the aim and object, this precedent is admissible, but
it should never be observed, where the commander has
an important part to fulfil as a navigator. The com-
mand of an expedition has never been conferred on a
man of science by the English government. In the very
commencement, indeed, of Polar discovery, an English
expedition was placed under the command of Sir Hugh
Willoughby, who was not bred a sailor, but down to the
seventeenth century even in their naval campaigns, such
men were appointed to naval commands. The Dutch
expeditions of the sixteenth century generally adopted a
destructive division of command, under supercargoes
and pilots, representing the mercantile and nautical
elements : confusion and discord were the inevitable
consequences.
3. Next to the selection of a commander, the selection
of the crew demands the greatest care. This ought
to be made some time before the expedition starts,
in order that those unfit for the service may be dis-
covered, and their places supplied by others : this
cautious mode of procedure, and not a preference for
any particular nationality, will secure the most effective
64 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
crew. Although seamanlike qualities do not belong
in the same degree to every nation, time and pains only
are needed to secure a picked crew for a North Pole
expedition from almost any nation. Endurance of cold
is not the only test of effectiveness, although this is
a very common assumption ; but a sense of duty, perse-
verance, and resolution are the virtues of a seaman.
Habit soon teaches men to conquer cold, and inexor-
able necessity often hardens weaklings into heroes for
Arctic discovery. A certain degree of intelligence is of
high importance in the crew. In many cases resolu-
tion in the midst of dangers depends on their capacity
to observe and think, even on their possessing certain
branches of knowledge. The greater part of the crew
of the Tegett.lioff had these advantages. But men who,
in a heavily-laden sledge, leave the old and take to
recently-formed ice, without noticing the difference,
who observe a frost-bitten foot several hours after the
mischief has been done, who lose their cartridges, know
nothing of their rifle, and little more of their com-
pass, or who pass on without observing the configura-
tions of the land, possess an indifference indeed, but of
a kind very dangerous to themselves and to the whole
party, though they may despise death as much as
Achilles is said to have done.
4. An intelligent crew, from their greater feeling
CHAP, vi.j POLAR EQUIPMENTS. Go
of independence, is, however, more difficult to command
than an ignorant one. Devotion and blind confidence
are more rarely found in an educated crew ; their amena-
bility to discipline is dependent on the good example,
the kindness, and unalterable calmness of those who
may command them. The law of a Polar expedition is
obedience, and its basis morality. Punishments are in
such situations a miserable and depressing means for the
preservation of order, and their employment, especially
in a private undertaking, will tend rather to loosen
than to maintain the bonds of discipline. If Parry, in
1820, caused corporal punishment to be inflicted, this
proves the greater facility with which discipline is
maintained on board of a man-of-war, but not its appro-
priateness generally. Coercion and threats produce no
effect ; and hence the folly of attempting to secure
success by sending out again those who returned without
having achieved anything, which was done last century by
the authorities at St. Petersburg with every unsuccessful
enterprise on the Arctic coasts of Siberia. The regula-
tion that the most meritorious among the crew shall
be specially rewarded, after the return of the ex-
pedition, provides for the recognition of merit, without
exciting ill feeling in the less worthy. For the officers
scientific success may be a perfect reward of their toils,
VOL. i. F
6G AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
but for the crew the reward should consist of more
material advantages. Money, indeed, seems a feeble
motive of action to men destined to withstand for years
the inclemency of Arctic winters, and uncertain whether
they shall ever return ; but, notwithstanding, it is the
only form by which men without sympathy for the
aims of science can be gained for the attainment of
such objects. The crews of Sir John Ross received for a
martyrdom of four years passed in the ice about 100
a head ; in the second German expedition from eight to
twelve thalers were the monthly pay of each sailor. The
pay of the sledgers in the Tegetthoff was, however,
nearly four times as much ; in some sledge journeys
it amounted to 3,000 gulden a man.
5. Contrary to what might be expected, the re-
employment of those who have served before, is not to
be recommended as a rule. The very best only should
be re-enlisted. The others are too much disposed to
place their experience on a level with that of their com-
manders ; and in all cases, where their opinions differ
from those of their officers, they damage by a kind of
passive opposition the fundamental law of an expedi-
tion obedience. Those who enter the Arctic regions
for the first time are wont to receive the orders of an
experienced commander with an attention as unquestion-
ing as it is respectful. Married men also should be
CHAP, vi.] POLAR EQUIPMENTS. 67
excluded, as they were by Barentz in his second (1596)
expedition.
6. Some of the crew should be good shots, good pedes-
trians and mountaineers, but all must be of the same
nationality, and in perfect health. The least symptom
of rheumatism, of diseases of the lungs and the eyes,
and of certain chronic maladies only too common among
seamen, unfit them for the endurance of the Polar
climate, and especially for sledge expeditious. Those
who are addicted to drink are peculiarly liable to the
scurvy.
7. The medical man of an expedition, besides profess-
ional skill and experience, must possess the most imper-
turbable patience, for to many of his patients he is not
less a physician of the mind than of the body. He
should convince himself of the sanitary condition of
the crew before the expedition starts, although it
may have been previously investigated by medical
authorities and declared satisfactory.
8. Since an expedition, in addition to its scientific
functions, should take up the illustration of Nature at the
Pole, the employment of a photographer, but still better
of an artist, is very desirable, for the former is too much
confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the ship in
his operations.
9. The records of Arctic adventure in former days
F -2
08 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
tell us of equipments strangely incompatible with the ob-
ject pursued. Their commercial purpose constrained them
to fill the hold with bales of silk, instead of provisions
for years ; but the letters of recommendation which were
given to the explorers of the North -East passage for the
Saracen princes on the route to Chatai seem peculiarly
ludicrous. Some justification may be discovered for
Owczyn taking a priest with him on his Siberian
expedition (1734), but hardly for his wanting fifty-
seven men in a vessel only seventy feet long, and arming
it with eight falconets. The employment of a drummer,
twelve privates and a corporal, on Gmelin's scientific
Siberian expedition, is still more unintelligible ; more
so than Davis's band of music, which was intended
to charm the feelings of the Eskimos and dispose them
to peaceful proceedings, his predecessor Frobisher having
had the saddest experience of their barbarism. Other
expeditions by the too plentiful distribution of knives
and hatchets among the Eskimos placed them in a
position seriously to threaten the white man, and even
at the present day the so-called " Wilden-kiste " often
contains articles little calculated to inspire the natives
with a high opinion of our moral superiority.
10. In fitting out a Polar expedition, all respect should
be paid to the principle of bestowing on those who are for
a time banished, the greatest possible amount of comfort.
CHAP. VI.]
POLAR EQUIPMENTS.
GO
The proportions of a ship, and the space at its disposal,
narrow the limits available for this end ; and since the
return to the employment, as at the first, of small
vessels, even these limits have been considerably
diminished.
11. The following table shows that the employment of
small vessels was the principle at first followed, although
the English undertakings even of this present century
never thoroughly adopted the example of a Fotherby,
a Baffin, and a Ross :
THE EXPEDITIONS OF
TONNAGE OF THE SHIPS.
PROVISIONED FOR
CREW.
Willonghby . , 1553
120
90
160
18 mouths
Frobisher
157(5
25
25
10
1
1577
180
30
30
Pett Jackman
1580
-40
20
15
Davis . . .
1585
50
35
42
,, ...
2nd expedn.
10
50
53 120
Weymouth .
1604
70
60
1
Knight . .
1606
40
Mostly fur )
Hudson .
1607
1608
> one year >
only. 1
i'6
15
'* *
James Poole.
1600
70
' j j
15
Hudson . .
1610
55
Smith . . .
1610
50
James Poole.
1611
50
Fotherby . .
1615
20 ...
Baffin ' . .
1616
58
Fox . .
1631
80 ...
18 months
20
James
1631
70
18
Wood . .
1676
16
1!)
Moor . .
1746
180
140
-LVJ ??
Ross . .
1818
385
252
Parry . .
1819
375
180
2i years
Liitke . .
1821
200
...
45
Hayes . . 1S6O
133
u ",;
15
Koldewey
1869
180
200
.>
^ j>
I'D
70 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
12. The inspection of this table shows that it was the
practice of the sixteenth century to send out fleets of
ships of a very small size, that in the seventeenth one
small ship was commissioned, and that the employment
of two vessels has been the rule since ; and this would
have been still more evident, if the various Franklin
expeditions had been included in the above table. In
1829 Sir JohnKoss started with a ship drawing eighteen
feet, but changed afterwards to one drawing eight
feet ; and from eight to twelve feet is now the recognised
draught in Polar-ships. Large vessels require a numer-
ous crew, and if they have not been built exclusively
for the purpose of Polar exploration, their small economy
of space prevents their being fitted out for more than
two years and a half. In 1819 Parry's ship, the large
Fury, had, with a draught of eighteen feet, provisions
for only two and a half years, whereas the Victory
(1829) of Ross with only seven feet draught had on
board, besides stores for the same period, a steam-engine
and coals for a thousand hours' steaming. The Russian
Novaya-Zcmlya navigators of this century have adopted
vessels of a size which must be destructive of all com-
fort and convenience. These vessels are thirty or forty
feet long, with a draught of five or six feet, and a
crew of nine or ten men. But Arctic ships must
have a crew above the ordinary strength and be
CHAP, vi.] POLAR EQUIPMENTS. 71
provided with steam-power ; so that, allowing for the
necessary space for the quarters of the crew, for the
engines and the coalbunkers, little room will be left
for the stowage of stores. But this little should be
reserved for well-chosen provisions stowed away so as
to avoid all empty spaces, and secure the greatest
amount of resistance to lateral pressure. The weakest
parts of a ship are always the spaces left for air
in the quarters of the men. A crew, which is exposed
to threatening dangers from the ice, will never regret
the strengthening of these void spaces by heavy
horizontal tie-beams, removable when the ship is in
the winter harbour, and so adjusted as not to impede
communication. The mere suspension of heavy beams
against the hull of a ship does not always answer the
purpose of protection, since the pressure of the ice
frequently drives away these protecting timbers. The
practice, however, is not absolutely to be rejected.
13. The daily allowance of solid food for the
effectives in an Arctic expedition amounts to about
two pounds, and in sledge expeditions to 2f pounds,
of which half a pound is bread and one pound pre-
served meat. Besides the usual provisions, large
supplies of preserved vegetables, of cocoa, of extract
of meat, of rice, of preserved peas, of dried farinaceous
food (such a.s macaroni), are very desirable. {Salted
72 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO
meat is to be avoided as much as possible. The luxury
of fresh bread twice a week instead of the hard ship's
biscuit is an essential means of promoting health, and
the want of yeast for its preparation may be supplied by
" baking powder." Once a day a ration of lemon-juice
should be served out as a preservative against scurvy,
and anti-scorbutic victuals should be laid in abundantly.
Plenty of tea and tobacco is indispensable ; the want of
these is painfully felt, especially by the sailors. Cases
have actually occurred, where crews have ground the
wooden blocks of the rigging to powder, to serve as
tea, and have used the hoops of casks for tobacco.
14. The moderate enjoyment of spirituous liquors is
much to be recommended, as their influence on health
and sociality is of great importance. The preservation,
however, of a sufficient stock of wine especially in winter
is a matter of much difficulty, since most kinds freeze
at 5 or 8 R. As long as the ship is afloat, as
it generally is when winters are passed in the ice, it
is advisable to preserve the supply of wine at the
bottom of the hold and to place all other things most
liable to be frozen in layers above it. But if a ship be
nearly or entirely out of water, it is advisable to keep
the wine, and other indispensable liquids, in the empty
spaces of the cabin, under the cabin table, near the
stove, below the berths and under the sky -light after it
CHAP, vi.] POLAR EQUIPMENTS. 73
has been closed for the winter. Only absolute want of
space justifies the preparation of chemical wine? since
the volume of its constituent parts without water is
only a fifth of real wine ; and under all circumstances
chemical nine is but a miserable shift, and the beer
(even the spruce beer of Sir John Ross) which the
English used to manufacture on board ship from the
essence of malt and hops is far preferable. The rum
and cognac, especially for sledge expeditions, in order to
save weight should contain the greatest possible amount
of alcohol, for its dilution before use is a matter of no
difficulty.
15. During the winter, residence in the ship itself is
preferable to living in log-houses, because the ship can
be more easily heated and suffers less from the accumu-
lation of ice. But since a ship in the Arctic Sea ceases
for ten months of the year to be a ship and becomes in
fact a house, this should be kept in view when she is
being fitted out.
16. The place where the men live is always in the
fore-part of the ship, but their berths should be changed
in a certain rotation, because of the inequality of the
condensation. It is not advisable to place the kitchen
in the quarters of the crew in order to diminish the
1 A decoction prepared by Dr. Kepes, the pbj'sician of the
Tegetthnff.
74 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
consumption of coals, because an accumulation of moisture
is thereby increased. The officers and savans occupy
a common mess-room in the after part of the ship,
and sleep in little cabins ranged round it. The power
to withdraw occasionally from the presence of those
who must be together for years is an important element
of harmony. Sir John Eoss and his officers in 1833,
even in the miserable hut built on the Fury coast, did
not occupy the common messroom heated by a stove,
but preferred separate cabins, the temperature of which
seldom rose above the freezing point, and in which
they had to suffer much from the accumulation of ice.
All the living rooms should be provided with water-
proof carpets. Their heating by means of the common
stoves is objectionable, because of the unequal distribu-
tion of warmth. An even temperature is best maintained
by the use of the Meidinger " Fullofen," which has the
further advantage of consuming only a small quantity
of coals. Hot-air flues are, perhaps, preferable even to
these, because they better prevent the freezing of the
moisture in the cabins, and indeed in every part of the
ship.
17. An Arctic ship should be provided with an iron-
plated washing and drying closet, without which the
washing of linen would be restricted to the few weeks
of summer weather. This closet may also be used as
CHAP, vi.] POLAR EQUIPMENTS. 75
a bath room, an important means of promoting health.
The lighting of the living rooms by petroleum suffi-
ciently answers all purposes ; in the cabins, however,
stearine candles are to be preferred either to it or any
other oil. The construction of the lamps used in making
observations in the open air during the long Arctic
darkness is a matter of the greatest importance. Those
used in the second German North-Pole expedition were
of peculiar excellence, and never failed in their difficult
service. Massive lamps, with glass globes protected with
wire, and burning petroleum in preference to common
oil, should be used on deck, and as they are employed
for so many purposes and exposed to so many risks, a
plentiful supply of them should be provided. In the
huts on the deck, built over the hatchways, train-oil
may be used with advantage, if the lamps are so
constructed that the flame may heat the reservoir
containing the oil.
18. So long as the crew remains on board the ship,
their clothing, even in the severest winter, needs but little
attention. Thick close-fitting woollen under garments,
knitted woollen gloves, outer garments of strong cloth,
are in all cases sufficient on deck, and in all those parts
of the ship which are kept at a certain temperature.
Leather boots lined with fur were long considered an
indispensable requisite for Polar expeditions, but they
70 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [INTRO.
have not maintained their character, as they are very
heavy, become unpliable in frost, and soon quite useless
through its action and the wearing off of the fur.
19. Before the departure of the expedition, all the
instruments should be thoroughly cleansed from oil
by a practical optician, and the firearms should undergo
a like operation at the hands of the gunmaker, and their
barrels should be browned to protect them better from
rust. The ammunition, powder and matches to blast the
ice, alcohol and petroleum, should be stowed in the after-
part of the ship, and the two latter should be reached
only through a closely-fitting pump. A very ample
supply of alcohol, flannel, buffalo -skins, strong cloth,
water-proof canvas, felt, leather, rein-deer shoes, snow
boots, shovels, cramp irons, poles, &c. ; articles, which
are too often overlooked, should be taken both from
their usefulness on board ship, and also on land
expeditions.
20. The costs of Polar expeditions have relatively
rather diminished than increased. The expenses of
Willoughby's expedition 300 years ago amounted to
the sum quite enormous for that day of 6,000 ;
Moor's (1746) cost 10 ; 000 ; while Back's difficult
but successful undertaking to explore the great Fish-
river (18331835), only 5,000. The Siberian ex-
pedition of Middendorf (1844) costing only 13,300
CHAP, vi.] POLAR EQUIPMENTS. 77
rubles (1,717) was a matchless example of ex-
traordinary achievements with little expenditure. The
costs of the various Franklin expeditions from 1848
to 1854 amounted, according to the statement of the
English Admiralty, to twenty million francs (833,333) :
those of the second German North-Pole expedition to
120,000 thalers (11,000), and the expenses of our own
Austrian- Hungarian North-pole expedition to 220,000
gulden (18,333.)
THE PIONEER VOYAGE OF
THE ISBJORN.
JUNE 20 OCTOBER 4, 1S71.
THE PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE
" ISBJORN."
1. THE failure of the second German Arctic expedition
directed the future efforts of Polar exploration to the
seas of Novaya Zemlya. Although the geographical
position and political relations of Austria prevented
its Government from taking any active part in the
great geographical problems and questions of our times,
an interest in Polar discovery had been excited in her
statesmen, which gradually ripened into a determination
to send its flag, renowned for its military fame, to
consecrate struggles on the peaceful domain of scientific
exploration. The magnanimous act of Graf Wilczek,
contributing 40,000 florins towards the equipment of an
Austro-Hungarian expedition, not only strengthened but
also endowed the resolve. In order, however, to obviate
the possibility of spending large sums on a plan which
might be unfeasible, or if feasible, of little value, it
was determined to despatch a pioneer expedition to the
VOL. i. G
82 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
sens of Novaya Zemlya under the joint command of
Lieutenant Weyprecht and myself. The knowledge and
experience gained in that voyage which is described
in the following pages induced the Austrian Govern-
ment to send another and more powerful vessel to those
seas, equipped to pass two or more winters in the ice.
2. It seemed to be established as the result of many
expeditions, that almost invincible difficulties opposed
the reaching of the central Arctic regions by the routes
through Baffin's Bay, Behring's Straits, along the coast of
Greenland, and from Spitzbergen, mainly because on
them all we are met by the great Arctic currents,
which act as channels to carry off the ice of the Polar
basin. These currents carry with them vast masses
of ice, which they deposit on all the coasts which they
strike. On the results of many Norwegian, Kussian,
and German voyages, partly in the interests of science,
partly in the interests of commerce, many geographers
maintained that the traces of the Gulf Stream did
not disappear at the North Cape, but rather that it
exercised a considerable influence on places and in
latitudes not before imagined, as, for instance, on the
North-east coasts of Novaya Zemlya, An expedition,
therefore, which followed the course of the warmer
waters of the Gulf Stream would find fewer and less
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORN." 83
formidable obstacles, than on the routes exposed to the
Arctic currents, carrying with them colossal masses of
ice towards the south. On the east of Spitzbergen there
is a land which has, indeed, been often seen, but never
reached, or even attempted to be reached Gillis' Land
lying in the course of the Gulf Stream ; and it is a
probable assumption, that navigable water would be
found under its western coast, as at Spitzbergen, where
80 N. Lat. can be reached every year without any diffi-
culty. If, then, this stream extends still further to the
north- which is probable according to the soundings taken
by the Swedes it is reasonable to expect, that higher
latitudes may be reached on this than on any other route.
3. It is remarkable, that the seas between Spitzbergen
and Novaya Zemlya were utterly unknown to science.
No expedition had ever been sent thither, though
many things seemed to invite and favour the venture,
and Dr. Petermann had long endeavoured to organize
a powerful and well- equipped expedition to explore
higher latitudes on this route. At length Lieutenant
Weyprecht and I undertook a voyage of reconnaissance
to those waters, in order to ascertain whether the
climate- and the state of the ice were as favourable in
reality, as they seemed to be in theory. No attempt
was to be made to reach high latitudes or to make
G 2
84 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
important geographical discoveries. The small means
at our command forbade either. Our aims were more
limited ; they referred to the temperature of the water
and the air, to the currents, to the state of the ice,
to the probability of success in the following year
(1872), and lastly, to opportunities for extended sledge
journeys. We were to sail from Tromsoe about the
middle of June, and return thither by the middle of
September.
4. In order to diminish expenses, we chartered at
Tromsoe a small sailing ship. A steamer would, indeed,
have been more serviceable, but the cost would have
been quadrupled, without any adequate advantage. The
Isbjorn (i.e., Ice-bear) was a vessel of fifty tons, cutter-
rigged, 55 feet long, 17 feet broad, with a draught of
6 feet. Her bows were protected with sheet-iron, two
feet above, and two feet under, water. She was new and
strong, and made with us her first voyage. We had
also two small boats, and a so-called " Fans-boot "
e>
whale-boat. She was commanded by Captain Kjelsen,
and had as a crew a harpooner, four sailors, a carpenter,
and a cook all Norwegians. We were provided with
the requisite instruments by the Imperial -Geogra-
phical Institute, and were provisioned for four or five
months. The Austrian Consul Aagaard aided us to
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORN."
the utmost of his ability in the equipment of the vessel.
It must be observed, that we had no direct command
or control over the vessel and its crew; the responsibility
for the ship, and the immediate command over its
crew, belonged to the skipper Kjelsen. Weyprecht was
however, the real commander.
5. The information we gathered concerning the state
of the ice in the region of our projected exploration,
was exceedingly contradictory. While, for example,
Dr. Bessels, in the steamer Albert, of Rosendal,
discovered a branch of the Gulf Stream with a tem-
perature of + 4 E. at the ice-barrier on the south
of Gillis' Land, Dr. Petermann sent us a letter of
Lamont, in which he said : " Every year the ice appears
to me more formidable." The whalers of Tromsoe, who
knew the ice of that region only from hearsay, and
could give no positive information as to its limits,
uttered many unfavourable prognostications as to the pos-
sibility of penetrating that frozen sea, or of approaching
Gillis' Land from the south. The region was utterly
unknown, even to many skippers who sailed from
Spitzbergen to Novaya Zemlya. The few attempts to
penetrate to that land, first seen in 1707, and regarded
by the Swedes as a continent, had been unsuccessful.
So also their efforts to reach it from the South-west
86 AUSTRIAN AECTIC VOYAGES.
in 1864 and 1868. Captain Koldewey's attempt also,
which was made from the " Thousand Isles " three
months before the last-named voyage, had been attended
with the same want of success. None of these
expeditions had passed beyond the ice-barrier, and their
failures contributed greatly to strengthen the opinion,
that the Novaya Zemlya seas were unnavigable.
6. All our inquiries were met also with the prediction
of an exceedingly unfavourable year for the ice. The
spring of 1871 had been unusually severe, and even to
the middle of June the northern parts of Norway were
covered with a mantle of snow reaching down to the sea.
It was inferred, therefore, that there would be an exces-
sive accumulation of ice in the seas further north. We
heard even, that there was ice at the distance of about
twenty (Norwegian) miles from North Cape. And it was
certainly true, that the north winds, which prevailed for
some weeks, kept a number of Norwegian fishing and seal-
huntino- vessels weatherbound off the " Sc-heeren." All
o
this notwithstanding, we determined to keep to our plan
of sailing to Hope Island, and of following from thence
the ice-barrier towards the east, our progress, of course,
being dependent on favourable conditions of the ice, and
perhaps on the influences of the Gulf Stream. As it
was within the verge of possibility to make Oillis' Land
I'lOXEKK VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJOHX." 87
during the season of our operations, we considered it
advisable not to pass beyond 40 E. Long, while we
penetrated northward.
7. On the 20th of June we left Tromsoe during a
drizzling snow-storm, and while we were sailing up the
" Qualsund " without a pilot, we touched the ground a
danger we incurred from the desire of our married
sailors to put their wives ashore, after leave-taking, as
near the land as possible. At Rysoe we fell in with the
fleet of the Tromsoe fishing-boats at anchor, waiting
for a change of weather, and with them some vessels
which, we thought, would have been by this time in the
ice, having left Tromsoe four weeks before.
8. The rocky islands off the coast of Finnmark are
surrounded by bleak cliffs, rising to the height of
2,500 feet, and upwards. Trees cease to grow there ;
occasionally the birch appears, but never in sufficient
numbers to form a wood. The numerous islands of
a gneiss formation show the same landscape which
characterizes Norway indescribably bleak table-lands,
deep secluded valleys and gorges, interspersed with
lonely mountain lakes. The bold, picturesque outlines
of these islands are exceedingly striking, though their
fertility is meagre in the extreme. The solitary rocky
shores are inhabited by poor families, secluded from the
88 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
world, and having little intercourse with each other.
They live for the most part on the fish which they catch.
The remains of fish round these settlements render their
approach exceedingly disagreeable ; on the Lofodden
Islands a guano manufactory has been established,
which turns this refuse to good account. Tromsoe or
Hammerfest appear in their eyes as the glory and pride
of the world. We were detained tw T o days June 24 and
25 by contrary winds, at Sandoe, an island covered
with sea-sand full of small mussel shells, to the height
of 600 feet. Ascending an elevated peak of this island,
2,000 feet high, we saw a panorama of countless cliffs of
all sizes stretching down to Andeness, and opposite
to us, the gloomy, rugged wastes of Norway, which
show iron-bound walls, waterfalls, and bleak headlands,
without woods, meadows, or habitations. For many
hours we were mocked by an eagle, which, now soaring
high, now darting down with rapid flight, gave his un-
wieldy pursuers a stiff and exhausting climb. We at
last put to sea on the 2Gth of June, and passed the
enormous rocky pile of Fugloe, down the precipitous
face of which the inhabitants descend by means of ropes
to get the down of the Eider-geese. Next day we were
out of sight of land. The breeze freshened, and, as we
sailed further to the north, we saw many whales. On
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJOKN." 91
the 28th of June we came on the first ice a sight
which reminds the Polar navigator that he has reached
his home ! Driven down by the north wind, its frag-
ments lay thickly on the misty horizon like gleaming
points. We were now south-east of Bear Island in
73 40' N. Lat. and 21 E. Long., and found the ice
so broken up that we did not hesitate to penetrate it, in
order to find out the latitude in which its closed masses
would appear. We passed through forty miles of this
loose drift-ice, and then came on the pack in 74 30'
N. Lat. and 23 E. Long. Already, on the 30th of June
we had experienced the powerlessness of a small sailing-
vessel in such circumstances. The calms which had
set in rendered it impossible to steer the ship, just
when the ice was drifting in wild confusion. In spite
of all our efforts to warp, the ship was inclosed
by ice in fact, beset. During our captivity of ten
days, there was an alternation of togs and gales with
heavy sea-swells. The neighbourhood of floes, some-
times small, sometimes large, which constantly shifted
their places, kept us in a state of continual watchful-
ness. The hbjorn, on some of these days, sustained
such severe pressures from the ice, that her safety was
imperilled. On the 4th of July we had Ix-nvy storms
from the ^outh-east. which packed tbe ice still closer,
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
and, though the sea is generally quite calm within the
ice, it was otherwise on this occasion. In the afternoon
we heard through the dense fog the thunder of the
ocean breaking on the outer edge of the ice, and the
roar increased as the sea rose. Our attempts to haul
further into the ice and still-water were fruitless ; the
ship was pressed too firmly, arid was not to be moved
from its place. Our position became more and more
critical as the sea continued to rise. During the whole
night the waves roared and boiled around us. The
rudder groaned under the pressure of the floes, and had
to be made fast to prevent its being broken off. A
mass of ice grazing past the davits utterly destroyed one
of our boats. The critical nature of such a situation is
simply the uncertainty as to the amount of pressure,
which a ship can sustain. Towards evening the fog
lifted and rolled away, presenting a spectacle of fear-
ful grandeur. All round us lay the open sea dashing
against the ice, which was itself in wild motion. Floes
and icebergs were driven about by the waves, and their
fragments strewed in all directions. At midnight our
little ship sustained shock after shock, and her timbers
strained and creaked. The " brash " of the crushed ice,
which had gathered round the ship, prevented her de-
struction. As the storm abated, the larger masses of
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORNV
ice moved off to the edge of the horizon, so that in the
morning we could not see open water from the deck.
The day broke : what a change in the ice ! The sea
was calm, and a long swell died out on its outer
edo-e. Piles of ice all round us, a weird and death-
O '
like calm ! The heavens were cloudless ; the countless
blocks and masses of ice stood out against the sky
in blue neutral shadow, and the more level fields
between them sparkled like silver as they shone in the
sun. The movement of the sea beyond the ice abated,
" leads " within the floes, hitherto scarcely perceptible,
widened out. But again the sky was over-cast, the
sea assumed the colour of lead, though it continued quite
calm and the " ice-blink " appeared on the northern
horizon.
9. On the 10th of July the ship under full sail forced
her way through the floes, which were still somewhat
close, and reached open water. The masses of ice through
which we pressed were of considerable size. We now
continued our course, which had been interrupted in the
manner described, along the ice-barrier in a north-easterly
direction. After leaving the Norwegian coast, the depth
of the sea decreased considerably. We were now on
the bank of Bear Island, and we found bottom at 90
metres (49'213 fathoms). Our course was impeded lv
94 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
calms, currents and winds from the East, and even in
the middle of July l>y severe storms. We were some-
times in drift-ice and sometimes outside of it. We
soon discovered, that the ice of these seas was not to
be compared with the vast masses of the Greenland
seas. The floes we saw were not more than one year
old. As we sailed eastward, the icebergs were neither
so numerous nor so large, and disappeared almost
entirely at 40 E. Long., which we reached on the 21st
of July, after we had followed the ice-barriers from 74
to 75 30' N. Lat. Here we penetrated within them.
Though drift-ice lay on every side, a steamer would have
found nothing tcnarrest her progress. But the prevalence
sometimes of east winds, sometimes of calms, the constant
occurrence of fogs, the defects of our vessel, the little
authority we had over the crew, when extraordinary
labour was demanded, the great extent of the region to
be explored, all these difficulties prevented our pressing
on in this direction. We therefore turned, July 22, in
a westerly direction, in order to explore another open-
ing in the ice, into which we advanced for about fifteen
miles, and found floes not more than a year old lying so
loosely together, that our ship under full sail seemed to
pass over them, much in the same fashion as a sledge
glides over a snow-covered plain. But again our course
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE ' ISBJORN "
had to be altered, and Weyprecht steered the vessel in a
south-westerly direction to the ice-barrier. In 76 30'
N. Lat. and 29 E. Long, we came on high and close
masses of ice, and escaped with much difficulty
(July 29) the danger of being again " beset."
10. We had meantime been convinced that, though the
state of the ice was on the whole so favourable, we
could not, with the means at our command and with a
crew not trained to habits of obedience, do more than
carry out our original intention. We could not make
up for the defects of our sailing craft by any special
exertion on the part of the crew. Could we have done
this, we might have penetrated further in a northerly
direction ; though at this late period of the summer, we
could not calculate on being able to return, and by
the end of October our provisions would have been
exhausted. We could only, therefore, attempt to reach
Gillis' Land, and ascertain, whether it possessed the
importance attributed to it by the Swedes. A safe
harbour had therefore to be sought, in which the
ship might be left, while a party in a boat should
make for the mysterious land. Such a harbour we
expected to find at Cape Leigh-Smith. We therefore
held to the westward, towards the Stor-Fiord. It
is an extremely hazardous thing, demanding incessant
90 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
attention, to tack and cruise at the ice-barrier during
the continuance of fogs and with heavy seas and un-
favourable winds. Not unfrequently, the ice-blink is
seen all round the horizon, and we discover that we have
come into a great "ice-hole," or a calm makes it impos-
sible to steer the ship, just when a strong current is bear-
ing her into the thickest of the ice-masses. We had our
share of these and other risks till we suddenly beheld,
while sailing in a fog among icebergs a hundred feet
high, the long stretching plateau of Hope Island.
According to Weyprecht's observations, there is an error
of 40' in latitude in the position of this island on the
Swedish maps. The real position of the south-west cape
of Hope Island is 76 29' N. Lat., and 25 E. Long.
Seduced by a great opening in the ice, and deviating
from our course for a short time, we advanced in a
northerly direction to the east of the island, in the
hope of reaching Gillis' Land from thence. But after
sailing in a fog for a whole day among icebergs lying
close to the cliffs of the island, we were driven further
westward, and coming suddenly on the ice Lat. 70
30' with an exceedingly high sea, escaped being
dashed to pieces as by a miracle. To penetrate
here was an impossibility. We therefore altered our
course again for Walter-Thymen's Straits. A dense
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORN." 97
girdle of ice several miles deep, and a strong cur-
rent setting towards the south-west, frustrated every
attempt to land on Hope Island. To the west of this
we found the ice-barrier in 76 N. Lat, formed of heavy
pack-ice, and small icebergs. Our passage to the South
Cape (Cape Look-out) of Spitzbergen (76 30' N. Lat )
was comparatively quick. Numerous cliffs and rocks on
which the waves were breaking, not marked on any
chart, rose in the night of August 4 out of the fog at the
distance of a few ships' lengths from us, and it was with
the utmost difficulty that we could tack with the heavy
sea and strong north-east wind.
11. The day after, when the heavy storm-clouds
lifted from the table-land of Cape Look-out, we
made the unpleasant discovery, that we were to the
south-west of it. Hitherto we had been sailing in
dense fog, but after passing this Cape we had almost
unbroken sunshine, which illuminated the whole western
side of Spitzbergen up to Prince Charles's foreland.
A current one or two miles wide, which flows south-
ward, turns at Cape Look-out and flows in a northerly
direction. At this Cape, which is the apex of the
current, besides many rocks on which the waves break,
there are twenty islands, some of them of considerable
size. This promontory, which has been of great
importance to navigators for more than 200 years,
VOL. i. H
1W AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
is erroneously represented in the charts I have seen.
Many ships, therefore, have been wrecked at this place,
chiefly those of the Spitsbergen whalers and sealers,
who base their sailing on making this headland, though
they are ignorant of its exact geographical position.
Thrice we tried at the beginning of August to reach
the Stor-Fiord from the western side of Cape Look-out,
and thrice we were driven back by this current,
though the wind was in our favour. This, however,
gave us an opportunity we had not expected, of seeing
something of the west coast of Spitsbergen with its
fiords and glaciers as far as Horn Sound. A fog, as
dense as coal smoke, floats almost always over " Horn-
sundstind" (4,500 feet high) and the pyramid of
Haytand. The slopes, clothed in dull green, running
down to the coast, make Spitzbergen seem scarcely an
Arctic land, when compared with the cold grandeur
of Greenland. The rocky shores of the northern parts
of Norway are more dreary, and wear more the aspect
of Arctic regions than Spitzbergen. Hence General
Sabine, comparing Spitzbergen with Greenland, called
it " a true paradise."
12. On the 10th of August the ice began to move out
from the Stor-Fiord. It pushed on with great velocity
from the north-east, turned round Cape Look-out, and
deposited itself along the west coast, covering it with
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORN." <J9
thick layers in sixteen hours. On the 12th of the
month, in consequence of the fog and strong current, we
found ourselves between the heavy drift ice and the reefs
of Cape Look-out. According to our reckoning we should
have been twenty-five miles to the east of it. It was
only by boldly charging the drift-ice, with the vessel
under full sail, that the Isbjorn escaped the danger of
being beset. On the 13th the wind chopped round,
and, standing away to the south, we succeeded, after
cruising about for ten days, in running into AVyde
Jans Water. Our involuntary detention off Cape
Look-out enabled us to land twice. During one of
these visits we built a cairn, in which we deposited a
notice of the course we had steered. The hasty
survey we made enabled us to correct some very gross
errors in the maps. On the evening of the 14th we
sighted Edge Island, and cruised in the drift-ice, which
was becoming gradually more dense in that direc-
tion. Here we fell in with two ships from Finland,
engaged in the capture of the walrus, and learnt from
their skippers some particulars concerning the state of
the ice, which induced us to give up the direct course to
Cape Leigh-Smith, and to prefer coasting along the
west side of the Fiord.
13. The ice was now more packed. The ship, weakened
by numerous ice-pressures and countless shocks, and
H -2
100 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
making much water, was in so bad a condition that part
of the bows under the water-line was shattered, and some
timbers of the hull were forced in. In order to give
some notion of the force of the shocks to which we had
been exposed in forcing our course through the ice, let it
suffice to say, that the iron plating an inch thick
with which the bows had been strengthened at Tromsoe,
had been broken off like so many chips.
14. Tacking up against the north wind we came, in
the night of August 1 6, on broken ice off Whale's Bay, in
77 30' N. Lat. The expected free coast-water was not
to be found, and the prevailing winds from the north
took away any hope of reaching Cape Leigh-Smith
in less than a week. Our plan of a boat expedition, for
which three weeks would have been necessary, from
Cape Leigh-Smith to explore Gillis' Land had now
to be renounced ; and as the southern extremity of
S tor-Fiord is generally blocked up at the end of
August by an accumulation of ice brought from the
east, we were constrained to leave the fiord at once, and
return to the ice-barrier we had left.
15. The geological formation of the western coast of
this fiord has never been explored. From a visit to the
land arid the ascent of a mountain 2,000 feet high, we
learnt some interesting facts concerning its Jurassic
formation, which appeared to extend far to the south.
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORN." 101
We found traces, at some distance apart, of the more
recent brown coal, and fossil remains (Bivalves in ferru-
ginous chalk-marl) ; we gathered also some plants still
in flower, and brought away some red snow. This ex-
cursion enabled us also to examine the beautifully-devel-
oped glaciers of Spitsbergen. Hornsundtind (4,500 feet
high) is a most imposing mountain, and viewed from the
east resembles a sugar-loaf. The other mountains on the
coast of the fiord rise to heights varying from 2,000 to
4,000 feet. Noble glaciers slope down both sides of the
main ridge, which runs in a southerly direction through
the island. Some of these, when they reach the sea,
are three or four miles wide, and their terminal fronts
are about 80 feet high. The snow-line of those which
debouch on the Stor-Fiord is at ail altitude of 1,000 feet,
and their surface is little broken by crevasses. None
of these glaciers are of sufficient size to shed icebergs,
properly speaking. The sea close to the coast is
shallow, and the detachments from the glaciers are
merely larger or smaller blocks of ice.
16. On the evening of August 16, sailing before the
wind, we forced our way through the ice of the Stor-
Fiord, and two days afterwards arrived at Hope- Island,
the steep, rocky walls of which, rose out of the fog just
as we were close under it. We found the icebergs
still firmly grounded, precisely ns we had observed
102 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
them three Aveeks before. As an unusually strong current
was running towards the south-west at the rate of two
o
miles an hour, great caution was needed when we
landed in the whale-boat amid rocks and cliffs, not
marked on any chart. The geological formation of the
island was identical with that of the mountainous
region on the south of Whale's Bay. We found brown
coal, but the shortness of our visit did not permit us
to inspect the beds of it. Drift wood of Siberian larch
and pine lay in great quantities on the shore.
1 7 . It was surprising to observe the change which mean-
while had taken place ; the ice both to the west and east
of us had disappeared. We were eager to find it, and again
penetrated as far as possible into it. We tacked about
on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of August the weather
being stormy with little success against the north wind,
which had prevailed for some weeks. A current from
the north drove us constantly southwards. After leaving
the Stor-Fiord the temperature of the water exceeded
the temperature of the air. On the 22nd of August,
in 76 45' N. Lat and 28 30' E. Long, we found very
little drift-ice, which standing out but a few inches
above the water level presented no impediment to
navigation. Nothing but contrary winds stood in the
way of our penetrating in a northerly direction, except,
indeed, the doubts and fears raised by our skipper and
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE " ISBJOKN." 103
his crew at our attempting higher latitudes at so late
a period of the year. Konig Karl's Land lay only forty
miles to the north still invisible on account of the
mists. Fresh traces of Polar bears announced the
neighbourhood of land. We therefore bore away to
the east in 32 E. Long, on the 24th of August the
day on which the sun set for the first time. The
number of icebergs constantly increased from this date,
while some weeks previously, in the same region, we
had scarcely seen one. This, perhaps, is to be explained
from the fact, that their appearance is irregular,
depending on the varying movement of the glaciers,
and also on the time and manner in which the icebergs
clear out from the bays and fiords. On the 26th
we had stormy weather, rain, and snow. On the
27th, amid a dense fog, and with the sea running
high, we came close to an iceberg, against which the
sea was dashing itself in foam and spray, just in time
to avert a collision. On the 29th of August we
perceived that the ship had been carried 1 30' east-
ward in a short time by a current. The further we
sailed in this easterly direction, the further northward
the ice retreated, and we began to hope that we should
come nearer the Pole than any ship ever had in this
sea. The southern limit of the ice-barrier in the
Novaya Zemlya seas, towards the end of summer, is
104 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
usually placed at 76 N. Lat., but we had reached 78
N. Lat., with 42 E. LoDg., without seeing (August
30th) a fragment of ice. The Isbjorn had, therefore,
penetrated 100 miles in seas hitherto unknown. There
was still a long heavy swell from the north, but the
temperature of the water had fallen 2 within twenty-
four hours, and it was no longer of an ultramarine,
but of a dirty green colour ; so that, notwithstand-
ing the sanguine expectations we had cherished, we
expected every moment to come on pack-ice. Already,
too, the "ice-blink" was visible here and there on the
horizon.
18. Whales, secure from persecution in this remote
sea, seemed to abound; we saw many "blowing" and
spouting. They came sometimes in pairs close to the
ship. Their chase and capture might have been carried
on here with every hope of success. On the morning of
the 31st of August we saw six Eider -geese, the precur-
sors of near land. A blue shadow on the eastern sky
arrested the attention of us all for a long time. We
felt as if we were on tbe brink of great discoveries.
But, alas I the supposed land dissolved into mist. The
poverty of our equipment prevented us from penetrating
further. We might easily have been driven onwards
by unknown currents, and the ice closing behind us
might have cut off return to Europe. We could not
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORN." 105
be assured that we not had come upon a bight, or
cul-de-sac, stretching far to the north, and which
might quickly change its character. On the night of
August 31st, in 78 N. Lat., the ice lay in some places
loose and widely dispersed, in others it was more com-
pact, but nowhere was it in great masses ; it scarcely rose
above the horizon, and it was entirely without icebergs.
There was nothing to prevent a vessel with steam power
from penetrating further.
19. Still following the ice-barrier as it retreated north-
wards, we passed beyond 78 30' N. Lat. in the night
of August 31st. The influence of the high latitudes we
had reached, on the duration of light, was unmistakable.
For some days, however, the temperature had fallen
below zero (R.), a coating of snow lay on the deck,
and the rigging was covered with ice like glass, The
morning of the 1st of September broke ; about half-
past three o'clock fresh breezes from the north drove off
the mist, and revealed one of those pictures peculiar to
the high north from its dazzling effects of colour the
beams of the sun in glowing splendour were piercing
through heavy masses of clouds, while the moon shone
on the opposite side of the heavens. An ice-blink
resembling an Aurora lay on the north.
20. We had reached 78 38' N. Lat., and yet the ice
around us presented no serious impediment none at
100 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
least as far as we could see. Should we then venture
further with our ship in its weakened condition 1
We might still follow up an opening within the ice
running northward, though, in doing this, we should
expend the time needed for the exploration of the
eastward-lying Novaya Zemlya seas. We determined
therefore to bear away to the east before some cur-
rents of loose drift-ice. But fog and a high sea from the
north-west caused us to alter our course more and more to
the south-east. For the first time in these high latitudes
O
we observed drift-wood, and we found ourselves in a sea,
the temperature of which at the surface, did not materi-
ally exceed the temperature of the air. Whenever,
however, the temperature of the air rose, a thaw suddenly
set in. The colour of the sea alternated between blue
and a dull green. A few days previously W T C had passed
over a sea extraordinarily rich in the ribbed Medusae
(Beroe), and where the Rorqual (whale) abounded.
21. The great question now arose, whether the open
water found in these high latitudes were only an acci-
dental bisrht in the ice or a connected sea. It seemed
o
bold to assume the latter, since 76 30' N. Lat. had never
before been passed in that region. In order, therefore, to
arrive at some positive conclusion on this point, we stood
away from the ice at noon of the 1st of September, and
ran down in open water to 75 52' N. Lat. and 51
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE " ISBJORN." 107
44' E. Long., intending to return to the north
again, in order to explore the state of the ice to the
north-east. Overcoming with much difficulty the op-
position of our skipper, we returned to the edge of the
ice, which we found, September 5th, in 78 5'N. Lat. and
56 E. Long. Though there was not much w r ind, a high sea
running on the ice compelled us to leave it. In our
course to the south-east we crossed 77 30' N. Lat. and
59 E. Long ; here, also, to the south of 78, there was
no ice. To penetrate further to the east formed no part
of our plan, and since another attempt to return to the
ice would have been objectless, for the reasons above
stated, we proposed to run into a bight on the west coast
of Novaya Zemlya to take in fuel and water, which
we urgently needed. The longer nights now made it
almost impossible to manoeuvre a ship in the ice when
the winds were high, though a good steamer might have
O * O O O
persisted for some time longer. The temperature of
the sea on the 5th of September was -I- o E. in Lat.
77 30', and on the 8th of the month, when we were in
sight of Cape Nassau, it reached -I- 4.
22. Storms compelled us to keep to sea. As a current
constantly set us to the north-east, we found it not-
possible to land in Novaya Zemlya, scarcely even to see
it. On the night of September 12th we came into the
region where the equatorial and Polar air-currents
108 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
meet, and had an opportunity of observing the hurri-
cane like effects of their conjunction. The barometer
fell about two inches, and the sea was so broken that
the ship could hardly be steered, even with a fresh
wind. On September 14th we were off Matoschkin
Schar, and could not anchor, a snowstorm from the
north-east completely hiding the coast. The change,
which meantime had taken place in the sky, was strange
and remarkable. Heavy thunder-clouds lay over our
heads, just as they do in the region of the trade-winds,
and every moment threatened to discharge them-
selves. On the 13th of September we saw the first
Aurora, in the shape of an arch, passing through our
zenith. The want of fuel and water, from which we
began to suffer, and the end of the season for navi-
gation, compelled us to avail ourselves of the favour-
able wind which had set in, and begin our voyage home,
without landing on Novaya Zemlya. On this same day
three of our crew of seven men, fell ill, one of them with
scurvy. A heavy storm from the north-cast compelling
us to heave to, we lay close under the coast of Lapland
for a whole day. On the 20th of September we ran
into Tana Fiord on the east of North Cape, the most
northerly point of Europe, and took in water. The
gloomy cliffs of Tanahorn and the rocky iron-bound
coasts were not at all behind the lands we had left
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE " ISBJuRX." 109
in their terrible desolation. On the 24th of August
the Isbjorn passed North Cape ; on the 4th of October
she anchored in Tromsoe. Weyprecht had remained on
board while, with a Lapland sailor, who could speak
Norwegian, I left the ship in Tana Fiord and went on
to Tromsoe through Lapland, sometimes by means of a
small boat on the shallow rivers and sometimes by means
of reindeer sledges.
23. It had formed no part of our plan, either to make
discoveries, or to reach high latitudes. Our object was
to investigate, whether the Novaya Zemlya seas offered
greater facilities, either from the influence of the Gulf
Stream, or from any other causes, for penetrating the
unexplored Polar regions. Many arguments, derived from
the scientific results of our voyage, would seem to favour
this idea, and in contradiction to the discouraging views
of our predecessors, whose failures are explained by
their defective equipment and the choice of the most
unfavourable season for navigation, w r e ventured to
draw the following inferences :
(1.) The Novaya Zemlya Sea is not filled with impene-
trable ice, rendering navigation impossible ; on the con-
trary, it is open every year, probably up to 78 of N.
Lat., and is connected with the Sea of Kara, which
is also free from ice in autumn, and even, it may be,
with the " Polynjii," in the North of Asia, If this
110 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
inference should not be admitted, the following remarks
of Lieutenant Weyprecht, in anticipation of objections,
are put forward as worthy of consideration : " In all
probability the open condition of the ice in 1871 will
be ascribed to chance, or to an especially favourable
ice-year. With respect to the latter alternative, the
accounts given by the Walrus-hunters of Spitz-
bergen and Novaya Zemlya, should convince us, that
the year 1871 was, not only, not a favourable, but
a most unfavourable year in the ice. It was almost
impossible to navigate Wibe-Jans Water, and the Sea
of Kara could only be reached through the most
southerly straits the Jugorsky Straits. There remains,
therefore, only the other objection, that the accident
of favourable winds was the cause of our penetrating
so far. But our meteorological journal shows North,
or at any rate Northerly winds, and often, too, blowing
freshly, from August 4th to September 5th, with the
exception of twelve watches, i.e., two days. But in no
case could these winds have driven the ice to the north.
With respect to the loose character of the ice we encoun-
tered, it might be said, that we saw only the outer ice.
But, in the first place, we were often so far within the
barrier that it would be inadmissible to speak of it
as the outer ice ; and, in the second place, the ice-
barrier shows the state of the ice behind it. Whenever
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE " ISBJORN." Ill
the wind lies against the ice, there the ice is always the
most dense and packed, and we find open places only
when we have worked our way through the outer ice."
(2.) The time most favourable for navigation in this
sea falls at the end of August, and lasts though rendered
hazardous by storms, the formation of young ice, and the
darkness which supervenes at that season till the end of
September, and during this period the ice may be said
to be at its minimum.
(3.) The Novaya Zemlya Sea is a shallow sea, a con-
nection and continuation of the great plains of Siberia.
In the extreme north, its depth was 180 metres, and
south-east of Gillis' Land about 90 metres.
(4.) Gillis' Land is not a continent, but either an island
or a group of islands. Whereas, from the circumstance
that in the highest latitudes in 79 N. Lat. we found
drift-wood covered with mud, sea-weed, creatures which
live only near the land, decreasing depths of the sea,
sweet- water ice and icebergs laden with dirt, it may be
inferred, with great probability, that there exist masses
of land to the north-east of Gillis' Land.
(5.) The appearance of Siberian drift-wood, only in
the most northern seas reached in our voyage, seems to
point to an easterly current there.
(6.) The Russian expeditions in the past and present
centuries, which attempted to penetrate by the north-
112 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
west coast of Novaya Zemlya, miscarried, because they
sailed before the favourable season for navigation, and
also because they had not the advantage of steam.
(7.) How far the Gulf Stream has any share or influ-
ence in the favourable conditions for the navigation of
the Eastern Polar Sea which have been described, cannot
as yet be positively determined. The state of the ice,
the observations which were made on the temperature
of the sea, its colour and the animal life found in it,
seem to speak in favour of the action of this current
in that region. It is possible that the Gulf Stream
may exercise its culminating influence on the west
coast of Novaya Zemlya only at the beginning of
September; for while the temperature of the sea in the
months of July and August gradually fell from + 6
to + 2 in Lat. 75 N., and to zero and below it, still
more to the north, we observed + 3 R., September 6,
in Lat. 78, and +4R., September 10, in Lat. 75 30'.
The temperature of the air was in all these cases con-
siderably less than that of the water. If the unusually
favourable state of the ice on the east of Spitzbergen
should be ascribed to warm southerly currents of air, it
may be replied that our observations specify the almost
uninterrupted occurrence of north winds. It is also
possible, that at the beginning and middle of summer
the Gulf Stream may move slowly in a northerly
PIONEEE VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJOIIN."
113
direction along the coasts of Novaya Zemlya, and that
towards autumn it spreads itself more and more to the
west. Our observations proved the existence, in the
eastern Novaya Zemlya seas, of a band of warm water,
from thirty-six to forty feet deep, beneath which lies,
without gradation, a colder stratum. It is evident that
the unequal density of these strata prevents their
mingling. This band of warmer water near North
Cape is about 150 feet deep, with a temperature of
nearly + 7 C., but diminishes as it flows northward.
The frequency of fogs and mists in the Novaya Zemlya
Sea, and the squalls unknown to other Arctic regions,
which are characteristic of a more southerly region,
indicate also a current of warm water. How this warm
current gradually cools towards the north, and becomes
shallower, and how distinctly it divides into those strata
of water of equal temperature, so characteristic of the
Gulf Stream, is shown by three series of observations
taken by Weyprecht at different latitudes, with the
maximum and minimum thermometer of Casella :
72
30' lat., 44 long.
77 26' lat., 44 long.
70 40' lat., 55 long.
12 to 114'+ 4-8 C.
6' to 30' + 2'2C.
6' to 36' + 2'5 C.
144 + 2'5
36 + T8
48 + TO
174 4. 2-0
45 4- '3
60 - 'J-0
2(14 4- 1'5
60 + 0-3
72 - 0-6
234 + 1-3
75 - 0-9
90 - 0-C5
264 + 1-0
90 - 0'8
120 - 1-3
294 4- 0-5
120 - 1-6
180 - 1-2
360 4- 0'5
180 1'8
300 - 1-2
450 4- '0
360 - 1-6
600 - 0-4
800 - 1-3
VOL. I.
114 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
24. These inferences rendered the despatch of a well-
equipped expedition to the Novaya Zemlya seas very
desirable, either to penetrate towards the north, or to
pursue the direction of the north-east passage. To this
idea a most gracious reception was given by the Emperor
of Austria. Hence arose the Austro-Hungarian expe-
dition of 1872. The promoters of this undertaking
assumed neither the existence of an open Polar Sea, nor
the possibility of reaching the Pole by sledge or boat
expeditions. Their object, simply and broadly stated,
was the exploration of the still unknown Arctic regions,
and it was their belief, that a vessel could penetrate
further into this region by the route between Novaya
Zenilya and Spitzbergen, where the Isbjorn in her
pioneer voyage found the ice more loose and navigable
than had been imagined possible. But in addition to the
causes already specified, the influence of the warm cur-
rents, produced by the great rivers of Siberia discharging
themselves into a shallow sea, was also supposed to co-
operate in producing this phenomenon. Of these rivers,
the Obi and Jenisej alone discharge into that shallow
sea a body of water as great as the waters of the
Mediterranean or the waters of the Mississippi. The
course of the current produced by these mighty rivers is
as yet unknown ; but it was natural to suppose, that old
and heavy pack-ice could not be formed on a coast
PIONEER VOYAGE OF THE "ISBJORN." 115
submitted to such an influence. This is confirmed by
the observations of the Russians, who in the coldest
period of the year always find open water in the Siberian
seas. Middendorf, August 26, 1844, found the Gulf
of Taimyr quite free from ice ; our own observations,
made in 60E. Long., and those of the Norwegian Mack,
who advanced to 81 E. Long. (75 45' N. Lat), sup-
port the supposition of a still navigable sea. Of the region
between Cape Tscheljuskin and the ice- free spaces
asserted to exist by Wrangel, and others, we kno\v but
little ; but it is probable, that the character of the ice
in those seas does not greatly differ from the character
of the ice in contiguous seas. Of the seas between
Novaya Zemlya and Behring's Straits, at the distance of
a few miles from the Asiatic coast, nothing is known,
No ship has ever navigated this enormous Eastern
Polar Sea.
25. It was the plan of the Austro-Hungariau expedi-
tion to penetrate in an E.N.E. direction, in the latter
half of August, when the north coast of Novaya Zemlya
is generally free from ice. The places at which the
expedition was to winter were left undetermined ; these
might, possibly, be Cape Tscheljuskin, the new Siberian
islands, or any lands which might be discovered. A
return to Europe through Behring's Straits, however
improbable it might be, lay among the possibilities uf
i 2
116 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
the venture. Minor details were left to circumstances.
In the event of the loss of the ship, the expedition was
to endeavour to reach the coast of Siberia by boats, and, on
one of the gigantic water-courses of Northern Asia, pene-
trate into more southern regions. The depot of provisions
and coals which it was Graf Wilczek's intention to deposit
on the north coast of Novaya Zemyla, was to be the nearest
refuge for the crew in the event of disaster to the ship.
Stone cairns were to be erected on all prominent localities,
and in these were to be laid accounts of the course
of the expedition. Till its return at the end of the
autumn of 1874, its members were to be cut off from
all intercourse with Europe. The motives of an
undertaking so long and so laborious cannot be found
in the mere love of distinction or of adventure. Next
to the wish to serve the interests of science by going
beyond the footsteps of our predecessors, we were influ-
enced by the duty of confirming and fulfilling the hopes
which we ourselves had excited.
VOYAGE OF THE ' TEGETTHOFF."
JUNE, 1872 SEPTEMBER, 1S74.
I.
FKOM BREMERHAVEN TO KAISER FRANZ-
JOSEF LAND.
CHAPTER I.
FROM BREMERHAVEN TO TROMSOE.
1. HE who seeks to penetrate the recesses of the Polar
world chooses a path beset with toils and dangers. The
explorer of that region has to devote every energy of
mind and body to extort a slender fragment of know-
ledge from the silence and mystery of the realm of ice.
He must be prepared to confront disappointments
and disasters with inexhaustible patience, and pursue
devotedly his object, even when he himself becomes the
sport of accident. That object must not be the admiration
of men, but the extension of the domain of knowledge.
He spends long years in the most dreadful of all banish-
ments, far from his friends, from all the enjoyments of
life, surrounded by manifold perils, and bearing the
burden of utter loneliness. The grandeur therefore, of his
object can alone support him, for otherwise the dreary
void of things without can only be an image of the void
within. How many are the preconceptions with which
the novice begins the voyage to the rugged, inclement
120 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
north ! Books can tell him little of the stern life to
which he dooms himself, as soon as he crosses the
threshold of the ice, thinking perhaps to measure the
evils that await him by the physical miseries of cold
instead of by the moral deprivations in store for him.
2. In the year 1868, while employed on the survey
of the Orteler Alps, a newspaper with an account of
Koldewey's first expedition one day found its way into
my tent on the mountain side. In the evening I held
forth on the North Pole to the herdsmen and Jcigers of
my party as we sat round the fire, no one more filled
with astonishment than myself, that there should be
men endued with such capacity to endure cold and
darkness. No presentiment had I then, that the very
next year I should myself have joined an expedition to
the North Pole ; and as little could Haller, one of my
Jcigers at that time, foresee that he would accompany
me on my third expedition. And much the same was
it with the three and twenty men who early in the
morning of June 13, 1872, came on board the vessel in
Bremerhaven, to cast in their lot with the ship Tegett-
hoff t whatever that lot might be ; for we had all bound
ourselves by a formal deed, renouncing every claim to
an expedition for our rescue, in case we should be
unable to return. Our ideal aim was the north-east
passage, our immediate and definite object was the
I.] FROM BREMERIIAVEN TO TROMSOE. 121
exploration of the seas and lands on the north-east
of Novaya Zemlya.
3. A bright day rose with us, and no augur's voice
could have heightened the glad hopes which animated
every one of us. Friends from Austria and Germany
had come to bid us a last farewell ; but, as every venture
should be, so our departure that morning was, quiet and
without pretension. About six o'clock in the morning
the Tegetthqff lifted her anchor and dropped down the
Schleusen and the Weser, towed by a steamer. Down
the broad stream we calmly glided, full of satisfaction
at the fulfilment of long-cherished plans. There lay
the same pastures, the same trees anjl meadows which
had so delighted us on our return from Greenland.
Yet unmoved we saw all the charms of nature
grow young under the morning sun and then fade
away in the evening twilight as the land gradually
disappeared behind us, and the coasts of Germany were
lost to view. With the feeling that we were leaving
them for so long a time, our thoughts turned to our new
life in the narrow limits of a ship, and the resolve to
live and labour in harmony animated each breast. How
often we should be liable to casualties which no eye
could foresee, we were soon to find out, when in almost
dead calm and without steam we came on the shallow
waters of Heligoland. What would have become of
122 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
the expedition, had we not discovered in time, that we
had only a few feet of water under the keel !
4. The vessel, 220 tons burden, was fitted out for two
years and a half, but was over- freighted by about thirty
tons, so that our available space was much curtailed.
Yet the cabin, which Weyprecht, Brosch, Orel, Kepes,
Krisch, and I occupied, was far more commodious
than the miserable hole in which eight of us had been
crowded together on our Greenland expedition. Our
supply of coals, 130 tons, was large in proportion to the
size of the ship, being calculated not only for our daily
wants, but to enable us to keep up steam for about sixty
days. But to economise this store we used our sails, as
much as possible, even in the ice. Both ship and engine
of 100 horse power tested in the trial trip of June 8,
sustained their character during the expedition, and did
great credit to the Tecklenborg firm.
5. The wind being unfavourable, it took us some time
to cross the North Sea and reach the coast of Norway.
My journal describes this part of our voyage. "Light
winds from the south carried the Tegetthoff on her
lonely course over the North Sea. In undimmed
brightness the blue sky stretched overhead, the air was
balmy and mild. In the grey distance frowns the iron
rampart of countless cliffs encircling the barren wastes
of Norway. Occasionally a sea-gull comes near us, or
i.] FROM BEEMERHAVEN TO TROMSOE.
some bird rests on the mast-head ; now and then a sail
is seen on the horizon, but save this, no life no event.
Every one feels, though no one utters it, that a grave
future lies before him ; each may hope what he wishes,
for over the future there is drawn an impenetrable veil.
All, however, are animated with the consciousness, that
while serving science, we are also serving our Fatherland,
and that all our doings will be watched at home with
the liveliest sympathy.
"6. On board the Tegetthoff are heard all the
languages of our country, German, Italian, Slavonic, and
Hungarian ; Italian, however, is the language in which
all orders are given. The crew is lighthearted and merry :
in the evening a gentle breeze carries the lively songs of
the Italians over the blue sea, glowing under the midnight
sun, or the monotonous cadence of tkeLudro of the Dalma-
tians recalls the sunny home which they are so soon to
exchange for its very opposite, which remains a sort of
mystery to all their powers of fancy. Thus begins so
peacefully our long voyage into the frozen ocean of the
north. In a few weeks the ice will grate on the bows of
the Tegetthoff,' the crystal icebergs will surround her,
and with many a strain will the good ship force her way
through the icy wastes, sometimes inclosed on every
side, sometimes free in coast-water, or threatened by
the 'ice-blink' foreboding danger."
> Officers of the Ship.
124 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
7. The officers and crew of the Tegettlioff amounted
in all to twenty -four souls.
Lieutenant Carl "VVeyprecht, ]
> Commanders of the Expedition.
Lieutenant Julius Payer, )
Lieutenant Gustav Brosch,*
Midshipman Edward Orel,
Dr. Julius Kepes, Physician to the Expedition.
Otto Krisch, Engineer.
Pietro Lusina,t Boatswain.
Antonio Vecerina, Carpenter.
Josef Pospischill, Stoker.
Johann Orasch, Cook.
Johann Haller, \
A i A T?" * ( Ja ff ers > from T > Tro] -
Alexander Kiotz, J
Antonio Zaninovich, Seaman.
Antonio Catarinich, ditto.
Antonio Scarpa, ditto.
Antonio Lukinovich, ditto.
Giuseppe Latkovich, ditto.
Pietro Fallesich, ditto.
George Stiglich, ditto.
Vincenzo Palraich, ditto.
Lorenzo Marola, ditto.
Francesco Lettis, ditto.
Giacomo Sussich, ditto.
Captain Olaf Carlsen, Icemaster and Harpooner.
We had eight dogs on board ; two we got in Lapland, the rest were
brought from Vienna.
* Lieutenant Brosch had the entire care of the victualling depart-
ment and deserved our heartiest thanks for the skill and self-sacrifice
with which he performed this duty.
t Formerly Captain in the Austrian Merchant Service.
i.] FROM BREMERHAVEN TO TROMSOE. 125
8. Stormy weather detained us for some time among the
Loffoden Isles, so that we made Tromsoe only on July 3.
Here we were received most courteously by the Austro-
Hungarian Consul, Aagaard, who invited us to a banquet
We remained here a week, in order to complete our
equipment. The ship, which had leaked considerably
ever since we left Bremerhaven, was thoroughly examined
by divers, the stores were landed, the ship repaired and
reladen. Our supply of coals was replenished, a Nor-
wegian whale-boat added to our equipment, and, lastly,
the harpooner, Captain Olaf Carlsen, was taken on board.
On July 6 we received our last news from Austria,
letters and newspapers. The Ukase granted by the
Russian Government also arrived, drawn up both for
Weyprecht and myself in case of our being separated,
a document of great importance, if the ship should
be lost and we had to return through Siberia ; an issue
only too probable when the vast length and enormous
difficulties of the north-east passage were considered.
While Lieutenant Weyprecht was engaged in stopping
the leak of the ship, some of us ascended a Lapp of the
name of Dilkoa being our guide a pinnacle of rock,
4,000 feet high, towering over Tromsoe's labyrinth of
fiords, in order to compare our aneroid and mercurial
barometers. From the summit we beheld an enormous
dark column of smoke rising perpendicularly to the
126 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP. i.
height of about 1,500 feet in the still air the northern
extremity of Tromsoe was in flames. Most gladly
would we have learned something of the state of the
ice this year ; but as yet this was impracticable, for none
of the walrus hunters had returned from their grounds
in the north.
9. On the morning of Saturday, July 13, officers and
crew heard mass from a French priest, and bidding
adieu to our Tromsoe friends, we left the quiet little
city, the most northerly of Europe, early on Sunday
morning. The passengers of the Hamburg mail steamer,
entering the harbour as we left it, greeted us with loud
and long cheers, and steaming through the narrow Grot-
sound, close under the cliffs of Sandoe and Eysoe we
came into the open sea, Captain Carlsen acting as our
pilot. As we issued from the Scheeren, a mist arose
which covered and obscured the huge rock of Fingloe.
Here the engine fires were put out and the sails set,
and the first and last voyage, which the Tegetthoff was
destined to make, began. On July 15 we steered towards
the north, the Norwegian coast with its many glaciers in
full view, and on the 16th we sighted the Nortli Cape in
the blue distance.
CHAPTER IT.
ON THE FROZEN OCEAN.
1. UNFAVOURABLE winds had hindered our progress for
some days ; we now encountered heavy seas. On
July 23 a sudden fall of the temperature and dirty
rainy weather told us that we were close to the ice,
which we expected to find later and much more to the
northward, and on the evening of July 25, lat. 740' 15" N.,
we actually sighted it, the thermometer marking + 0.2
and + 1 R. in the sea. The northerly winds, which had
prevailed for some time, had broken up the ice, and it
lay before us in long loose lines. Its outer boundary
was consequently the very opposite of those solid walls
of ice which we met with in Greenland in 1869, and
two years afterwards, on the east of Spitsbergen.
Though surprised at finding the ice so far to the south,
we never imagined that this was anything but a collec-
tion of floes, which had drifted out perhaps from the
Sea of Kara through the Straits of Matotschkin. But
128 AUSTEIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP. n.
only too soon the conviction wa,s forced upon us that
we were already within the Frozen Ocean, and that
navigation in the year 1872 was to differ widely from
that of the preceding year. Lieutenant Weyprecht
had the day before fastened "the crow's-nest" to the
mainmast of the Tegetthqff, and henceforth it became
the abode of the officer of the watch. On July 26,
while steering in a north-easterly direction, the ice
became closer, though it was still navigable ; but we
nowhere saw the heavy fields which had astonished
us on the east coast of Greenland, and which Liitke
found to be so dangerous to navigation. The temperature
of the air and the sea fell rapidly, and during the two
following weeks it remained below the freezing point
almost uniformly, and without any essential difference
between day and night.
2. The frozen sea of Novaya Zemlya is characterized by
that inconstancy of weather which in our lower latitudes
we attribute to the month of April ; the same variability
is met with, though in lesser degree, in the Greenland
seas during the summer months. Snowstorms now alter-
nated with the most glorious blue skies. The black-
bulbed thermometer showed -f 36 K. in the sun, with
+ 3 R. in the shade. The hunting season began, and
the kitchen was well provided with auks and seals. Our
Dalmatians soon learnt to like the dark flesh of the latter.
VOL. I.
CHAP, ir.] ON THE FROZEN OCEAN. 131
3. The ice gradually became closer ; July 29 (74 44'
N. Lat.,528'E. Long.) we were able to continue our course
only under steam, and heavy shocks were henceforward
inevitable ; in many cases the vessel could not force a
passage except by charging the ice. In the night a
vast, apparently impenetrable barrier stopped our pro-
gress ; but the tactics of charging under steam again
cleared a passage, and we penetrated into a larger " ice-
hole." We now glided along over the shining surface
of its waters, as if we were navigating an inland lake,
save that no copsewood clothed the shores, but pale
blocks of ice, which the mist, that now fell and en-
veloped us, transformed into the most fantastic shapes,
and at last into mere shapelessness itself. In all that
surrounded us neither form nor colour was discernible ;
faint shadows floated within the veil of mist, and our
path seemed to lead no whither. A few hours before
the glowing fire of the noonday sun had lain on the
mountain wastes of Novaya Zemlya, while refraction
raised its long coast high above the icy horizon. Nowhere
does a sudden change in Nature exercise so immediate
an effect on the mind as in the Frozen Ocean, where,
too, all that brings delight proceeds from the sun.
4. For some days we had entered into a world utterly
strange to most of us on board the Tegetthoff. Dense mists
frequently enveloped us, and from out of the mantle of
K 2
132 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
snow of the distant land the rocks, like decayed battle-
ments, frowned on us inhospitably. There is no more
melancholy sound than that which accompanies the
decay and waste of the ice, as it is constantly acted
on by the sea and thaw, arid no picture more sad and
solemn than the continuous procession of icebergs floating
like huge white biers towards the South. Ever and anon
there rises the noise of the ocean swell breaking amongst
the excavations of the ice-floes, while the water oozing
out from their icy walls falls with monotonous sound
into the sea ; or perhaps a mass of snow deprived of
its support, drops into the waves, to disappear in
them with a hissing sound as of a flame. Never for
a moment ceases the crackling and snapping sound
produced by the bursting of the external portions of the
ice. Magnificent cascades of thaw water precipitate
themselves down the sides of the icebergs, which some-
times rend with a noise as of thunder, as the beams of
the sun play on them. The fall of the titanic mass
raises huge volumes of foam, and the sea-birds, which
had rested on its summit in peaceful confidence, rise
with terrified screams, soon to gather again on another
ice-colossus.
5. But what a change, when the sun, surrounded by
glowing cirrus clouds breaks through the mist, and the
blue of the heavens gradually widens out ! The masses
ii.] ON THE FROZEN OCEAN. 133
of vapour, as they well up, recede to the horizon, and the
cold ice-floes become in the sun-light dark borders to the
" leads " which gleam between them, on the trembling
surface of which the midnight sun is mirrored. Where
the rays of the sun do not directly fall on it, the ice is
suffused with a faint rosy haze, which deepens more and
more as the source of light nears the horizon. Then
the sunbeams fall drowsily and softly, as through a veil
of orange gauze, all forms lose at a little distance their
definition, the shadows become fainter and fainter, and
all nature assumes a dreamy aspect. In calm nights
the air is so mild that we forget we are in the home
of ice and snow. A deep ultramarine sky stretches
over all, and the outlines of the ice and the land
tremble on the glassy surface of the water. If we
pull in a boat over the unmoved mirror of the " ice-
holes," close beside us a whale may emerge from its
depths, like a black shining mountain ; if a ship
penetrates into the waste, it looks as weird as the
" Flying Dutchman," and the dense columns of smoke,
which rise in eddies from her funnel, remain fixed for
hours until they gradually melt away. When the sun
sinks at midnight to the edge of the horizon, then all
life becomes dumb, and the icebergs, the rocks, the
glaciers of the land glow in a rosy effulgence, so that
we are hardly conscious of the desolation. The sun has
134 ' AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
reached its lowest point, after a pause it begins to rise
and gradually its paler beams are transformed into a
dazzling brightness. Its softly warming light dissolves
the ban under which congelation has placed nature, the
icy streams, which had ceased to run, pour down their
crystal walls. The animal creation only still enjoys its
rest ; the polar-bear continues to repose behind some wall
of ice, and flocks of sea-gulls and divers sit round the
edge of a floe, calmly sleeping with their heads under
their wings. Not a sound is to be heard, save perhaps,
the measured flapping of the sails of the ship in the
dying breeze. At length the head of a seal rises
stealthily for some moments from out the smooth waters;
lines of auks, with the short quick beat of their wings,
whiz over the islands of ice. The mighty whale
again emerges from the depths, far and wide is heard
his snorting and blowing, which sounds like the mur-
murs of a waterfall when it is distant, and like a torrent
w T hen it is near. Day reigns once more with its brilliant
light, and the dreamy character of the spectacle is
dissolved.
6. We had sailed over one "ice hole/' and again a
dense barrier of ice frowned on us ; as we forced our way
into it, the ice closed in all round us we were " beset."
The ship was made fast to a floe, the steam blown off, its
hot breath rushing with a loud noise through the cold mist ;
ii.] ON THE FROZEN OCEAN. 135
every open mesh in the net of water-ways was closed by
the ice, which soon lay in such thick masses around us,
that any one provided with a plank, might have wandered
for miles in any direction he liked. July 30, the
Tegetthoff remained fast in her prison ; no current of
water, nor any movement among the floes lying close
to us was discernible ; a dead calm prevailed, and mist
hung on every side. On the following day we made
vain efforts to break through a floe which lay on our
bows. The calm still prevailed, Aug. 1 (74 39'
N. L 53 E. L.), and no change was to be seen in
the ice. Aug. 2, the crew began with hearty good-
will the toilsome work of warping, but with no suc-
cess, the smallness of the floes hardly admitting of
this manoeuvre. In the evening of the same day it
seemed as if a fresh breeze would set us free ; but after
we had gone on for a few cables' length, a great floe
once more barred the route, while at the same time the
wind fell. At length, when the ice became somewhat
looser, we got up the engine fires, and in the following
night broke through, under steam, a broad barrier of
ice, which separated us from the open coast-water of
Novaya Zemlya. In the morning of Aug. 3, we forced
our way into coast-water, twenty miles broad, to the
north of Matotschkin Scharr, and steered due north, the
mountainous coasts still in sight. A belt of ice 105
136 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
miles broad lay behind us. The country greatly
resembled Spitzbergen, and we observed with pleasure
its picturesque glaciers and mountains rising to the
height of nearly 3000 feet, though inconsiderable com-
pared with the mountains of Greenland. Far and wide
not a fragment of ice was to be seen, there was a heavy
swell on, the air was unusually warm ( + 4 R.), in the
evening rain fell, and on Aug. 4 we had dense mists and
driving snow storms, which forced us to keep to the west
of Admiralty Peninsula. During the night of Aug. 6, the
snow-storms were heavier than before, and the deck was
quite covered. Towards the north and west very close ice
was seen, and since the temperature of the air, even with
the winds in the south-west, remained constantly below
zero, it was evident, that the ice must stretch far in
that direction also. Aug. 7, we ran on the white barriers
to the west of Admiralty Peninsula, and far to the
north, beyond a broad field of ice, refraction indicated
open water and showed the forms of "Tschorny Nos"
Floating in the air. In the afternoon of Aug. 8 the ice
in 75 22' N. L. became so thick around us, that we
were compelled to have recourse to steam-power ; but
the Teyettlioff even with this auxiliary was unable against
a head wind to penetrate a broad strip of close ice, and
banking up our fires, we determined to wait its breaking
up. Close under the coast open water was again
II.]
ON THE FROZEN OCEAN.
137
observed, and in it a Schooner ! Every one now has-
tened to write letters to his friends and relations, but
the schooner, to which we meant to give our letters and
despatches, by running into the heart of Gwosdarew Bay
escaped the duty we had in store for it. About half
past ten P.M. the wind had fallen and the ice began
<;\VO.SDAREW ISLET.
to open out, and we were able to continue our voyage
under steam in a north-westerly direction. The sun
lay before us, the clear mirror of distant " leads " glowed
with a glorious carmine, the barriers of ice which lay
between these " leads " appeared as stripes of violet,
and only our immediate neighbourhood was pale and
138 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
cold. The Tegetthoff laboured through the dense accu-
mulation of floes and about midnight reached open
water, and the steam was again blown off. Aug. 9,
we sailed in coast-water perfectly free from ice, ex-
cepting the icebergs we encountered, some about forty
feet high. These, generally, were so numerous and so
small in size, that they were at once seen to be offshoots
from the small glaciers of Novaya Zemlya as they plunge
into the sea. Their surface was frequently covered with
debris. Loose drift ice showed itself, Aug. 10, but
the ship continued to steer between the floes towards
the north. In the forenoon of that day we were again
nearly " beset/' but happily escaped that fate after four
hours' warping. Aug. 1 1 our course was continued without
impediment in a northerly direction through the loose drift-
ice. The land, from which we had hitherto remained
distant about eight or twelve nautical miles, now
declined in height from three thousand to fifteen hundred
or a thousand feet, and quickly lost its picturesque
character. On the noon of Aug. 12, on account of a
thick mist we made fast to a great floe, and were
able to commence on it the training of the dogs to
drag the sledges.
7. In the neighbourhood of the Pankratjew Islands,
a ship suddenly and unexpectedly appeared on the
horizon, and endeavoured to gain our attention by
ii.] ON THE FROZEN OCEAN. 139
discharges from a mortar, and by the hoisting of flags.
How great was our astonishment and our joy when we
beheld the Austro-Hungarian flag at the peak of the
Isbjorn, and were able to greet Count Wilczek, Commo-
dore Baron Sterneck, Dr. Hofer, and Mr. Burger half
an hour afterwards on board the Tegetthoff. Coming
from Spitzbergen in the Isbjorn (the ship of our pre-
cursory expedition of 1871) they had sighted us two
days before. That in a sailing vessel, and without any
sufficient equipment, they had succeeded in following
and overtaking the Tegetthoff, which had penetrated so
far with difficulty and by the aid of steam, was a proof
both of skill and resolution. Their object was to estab-
lish a depot of provisions at Cape Nassau, at whatever
personal risk to themselves. About two o'clock in the
morning our guests returned to the Isbjorn, and both
ships now sailed in company, and without meeting any
hindrance in the ice-free coast-water, in a northerly
direction. In the forenoon of Aug. 13, in 76 18' N.
Lat, and 61 17' E. Long., we came upon closer ice,
amid mist and stormy weather, and the two ships
anchored to some firm land-ice two cable lengths from
each other, about a mile from the land. Close to the
south of us lay the Barentz Isles with their singularly
formed hills, which the walrus hunters call by the some-
what gloomy name of " the three coffins. ' On our north
140 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
an enormous iceberg rose in dazzling whiteness above a
faintly glimmering field of ice, a harbinger of new coun-
tries for its size forbade us to think, that it owed its
origin to the glaciers of Novaya Zemlya. Continuous
winds from the W.S.AV., close ice, mist, downfalls of
snow, the necessity of determining the geographical
position of the depot of provisions which we had
established, compelled us to lie for eight days before
the Barentz Islands. The opportunity we thus had of
putting our feet once more on the land was exceedingly
agreeable. We made repeated visits to the shore with
two dog-sledges, in company with Professor Hofer ; and
as his observations on the phenomena of the country
are those of a distinguished geologist, I here insert those
lie has kindly placed at rny disposal.
8. " The Barentz Isles are flat, girt with cliffs and
separated by narrow straits from the coast, which rises
up terrace on terrace. Its rocks consist of a black, very
friable slate, frequently alternating with strata of moun-
tain limestone of the carboniferous period, varying in
breadth from one to ten metres. These strata are filled
with a countless number of fossilized inhabitants of
the sea, trilobites, mussels, brachiopodes, crinoides,
corals, &c., which are utterly foreign to the Frozen Ocean
as it now is, and whose cognates live only in warm seas.
5). " The animal world, therefore, buried in the lime-
ii.] ON THE FROZEN OCEAN. 141
stone of these islands is an indisputable proof that there
was once, in these high latitudes, a warm sea, which could
not possibly co-exist with such great glaciers as those
which now immerse themselves in the seas of Novaya
Zemlya. That portion of the earth, now completely dead
and buried in ice, once knew a period of luxuriant life.
In its sea there revelled a world of life, manifold and
beautiful in its forms, while the land, as the discoveries
on Bear Island and Spitzbergen prove, was crowded with
gigantic palm-like ferns. This age of the earth's history
is called the carboniferous period ; it was the rich and
fertile youth of the high north, which lived out its time
more rapidly, than the southern zones, now in all their
vigour and variety. If we compare the Fauna buried in
the chalk formations of the Barentz Isles, with the con-
temporaneous Fauna which we know from the carbonif-
erous formation of Russia, specially that of the Ural,
we find a very remarkable agreement not only in their
general character, but also in particular organisms.
Many of the fossils of the carboniferous limestone of
these high degrees of latitude (76-77) are found in
analogous strata of the Ural, and are proved by the
researches of Russian geologists to exist there as far as
the fiftieth degree of latitude. Without stopping to insist
on the great similarity between the stratification of
Novaya Zemlya and the Ural the former being the real
142 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
continuation of the latter we dwell here on the fact
that in the carboniferous period there was a sea,
which stretched from the fiftieth to the seventy-seventh
degree of north latitude, i.e., twenty-seven degrees, or
405 geographical miles, which was animated by the same
Fauna, and which consequently must have presented the
same relations, especially a like warm temperature.
From these signs it would appear that the zones of
climate now so decisively marked on the surface of the earth
did not exist at the carboniferous period. The hori-
zontal surface of the land leads us at the first to infer
horizontal stratification ; but we find the contrary to
be the case ; the marine deposits once horizontal, have
been so raised at a later period that they are now vertical.
Since the friable slate degrades rapidly, and the lime-
stone layers very gradually, it may be assumed that the
former wasting away leaves the limestone layers standing
like walls between them a thing which, in a small scale
may often be elsewhere observed. If a glance at these
buried fossils awakens in us an image, as in a dream,
of a creation rich in organic forms, a glance at the
present state of the Barentz Isles impresses us with the
gloomiest feelings.
10. " Before us lies this small greyish brown fragment
of the earth. The cold, level ground is covered with
sharp-edged pieces of rock, which appear to be as it
n.] ON THE FROZEN OCEAN. 143
were macadamised, so closely are they rammed together.
Here and there, about a fathom's length from each
other, lie brownish green masses, like mole hills. When
we examine them more closely, each mass resolves itself
into a vast number of small plants of the same species
(Saxifraga oppositifolia), whose little stalks are covered
with dark green leaves, which are alive, and a,lso
with brown leaves, which have been dead for years and
years, but wither in the cold much more gradually than
with us. From this small heap, tender rosy blooms
raise their little heads, bidding defiance to the bitter
snowy weather, which sweeps over the miserable plain.
Another species of saxifrage (Saxifraga ccespitosa), with
shorter stalks and yellowish white flowers, growing in
thick clumps, forms, together with the first named
variety and the more rarely appearing Saxifraga rivu-
laris, the hardiest representatives of this family of
plants so frequently found in the Polar regions. If to
these we add Draba arctica with its little yellow flowers,
forming in valleys large patches of sward, the yellow
flowering poppy (Papaver nudicaule), and a rare willow
(Salix polaris), which with some few leaves peeps forth
from the soil, we have described the whole Flora of that
desolate waste, in which a mere passing glance would
scarce detect the existence of vegetable life among the
O O
debris of rocks and the heaps of snow. Mosses are
144 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
found here and there in the moister fissures of rooks, and
especially on the coast, where old drift wood, or the
bones of whales or other animals, afford the nourish-
ment they need, and in some places the mosses spread
themselves out into small carpets. Lichens love to
shelter under the clusters of the different kinds of saxifrage,
though sometimes they are found by themselves. Of
this class we will mention merely the so-called Iceland
moss (Cetraria islandicci), and a reindeer lichen
(Cladonia pyxidatd) ; the few other forms are nearly
related to those mentioned, and belong to the so-called
creeping lichens. One peculiarity of the Flora of the
far north, which we have already mentioned, is their
growth in clumps. Only thus can these tender organisms
maintain their existence against the stern elements ; and
this, indeed, is a characteristic of all Arctic creation,
which is seen in the animal world also, when its means
of nourishment are hard to find. We will point only
to the herds of reindeer, of lemmings, of walruses, of
seals, &e., lastly to the vast flocks of birds ; all of which
illustrate the principle : common danger begets common
defence."
11. Our involuntary leisure at the Barentz Isles
enabled us to make some precautionary preparations
for our future contests with the ice ; for a ship may be
crushed by the ice and sink in a few minutes, as had
ii.] ON THE FROZEN OCEAN. 145
happened some days previously, not far from us, to the
yachts Valbory and Iceland. Provisions and ammuni-
tion for four weeks were got ready, and each man was
entrusted with a special service, if it should ever come
to this extremity. To guard against the dreaded pres-
sures of the ice, heavy beams were hung round the hull
of the vessel, so that the pressure on the ship might be
distributed over a larger surface, and the vessel itself be
raised instead of crushed. Our space on deck, some-
what limited at first, had been considerably enlarged,
although our numerous sledges, our stock of drift-wood,
and the rudder \vhich had been unshipped, formed incon-
venient obstacles, while the chained-up dogs occasioned
some unpleasant surprises to those who had not succeeded
in gaining their affections. These poor animals, without
protection, suffered much from the cold rough weather
which now prevailed, though subsequently some provision
was made for their comfort. Sumbu and Pekel, the two
Lapland dogs, were the most hardy, and slept without
stirring, even when they were completely covered with
snow. It was only after a long and stout resistance that
the dogs became accustomed to the flesh of seals ; at
first they growled at every one who offered it to them.
12. Aug. 14, we were threatened by the advance of
an enormous line of pack-ice, which inclosed us in the
little "docks" of the land-ice, and caused the Isbjorn
VOL. i. \.
HO AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
to heel over. In the evening a bear came near this
vessel, which was shot by Professor Hofer and Captain
Kjelscn. On the following day, with the help of the
dogs and sledges, we removed over the land ice to " the
Three Coffins " the provisions which were to form the
depot : 2,000 Ibs. of rye-bread in casks, 1,000 Ibs. of
pease-sausages in tin cases. These were deposited in the
IORMATION (>K THK DRPOT AT "THE THREK COFFINS."
crevice of a rock and secured against the depredations
of bears. We felt assured of the conscientiousness of
Russian or Norwegian fishermen, that they would make
use of these provisions only under the pressure of urgent
necessity. This depot was intended to be the first place
of refuge, in the event of the ship being lost.
]:}. Both ships were dressed with flags, and
round one common table we celebrated the birthday,
II.]
OX THE FROZEN OCEAN.
147
Aug. 18, of the Emperor and King, Francis Joseph I.
Aug. 19, we fetched some drift-wood from the land,
and saw from a height an " ice-hole " stretching
to the north at no great distance from the coast.
As we returned to the ship we came across a bear,
THE "TKUETTHOFF" AND ' ISB.TORN " SKI-ARATF..
which, being assailed by so many hunters at once,
took to flight. Aug. -20, some changes in the id-
seemed to make navigation possible, and we forthwith
went on board the Isbjern to bid adieu t<> our friends.
It was no common farewell. A separation t<> tlmst- \\lio
i. _'
148 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
are themselves separated from the world moves the
heart to its depths. But besides this, in bidding adieu
to Count Wilczek, we felt how much we were indebted
to him, as the man who had fostered the work we
were about to undertake, who dreaded no danger
while providing for our safety in the event of a cata-
strophe to the expedition. Our high-minded friend was
at this moment the embodiment of our country, which
honouring us with its confidence and trust, demanded
that we should devote all our energies to the high objects
of the expedition. Often afterwards did this adieu
return to our memories. With a fresh wind from the
north-east we passed the labjorn as we steamed towards
the north, while this vessel, veiled in mist, soon
disappeared from our eyes.
14. Our prospects, so far as the object of our expedition
was concerned, had meantime not improved. To cross
the Frozen Sea to Cape Tscheljuskin in the present year,
was not to be dreamt of, and yet the thought of wintering
in the north of Novaya Zemlya was positively intoler-
able. The navigable water was becoming narrower every
day, and the ice seemed to increase in solidity, especially
in the neighbourhood of the coast. In the afternoon of
this day we ran into an " ice-hole," but in the night
barriers of ice stopped our further progress. As usual,
the ship was marie fast to a floe, the steam blown off,
OX THE FKOZEX OCEAN.
149
and we awaited the parting asunder of the ice. 1 Five
walruses who had been watching us from a rock as we
entered that ill-starred " ice-hole," sprang into the water
and disappeared.
15. Ominous were the events of that day, for imme-
diately after we had made fast the Teyetthoff to that
THF "TEOETTHOFF" FINALLY BKSKT.
floe, the ice closed in upon us from all sides and we
became close prisoners in its grasp. No water was to
be seen around us, and never again were we destined
to see our vessel in water. Happy is it for men, that
1 Our position was then in 76" 22' X. Lai., 03 3' R Long.
150 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP. n.
inextinguishable hope enables them to endure all the
vicissitudes of fate, which are to test their powers of en-
durance, and that they can never sec, as at a glance, the
long series of disappointments in store for them ! eW
must have been filled with despair, had we known that
evening, that we were henceforward doomed to obey the
caprices of the ice, that the ship would never again
float on the waters of the sea, that all the expectations
with which our friends, but a few hours before, saw the
Tegetthoff steam away to the north, were now crushed :
that we were in fact no longer discoverers, but passengers
against our will on the ice. From day to day we hoped
for the hour of our deliverance ! At first we expected it
hourly, then daily, then from week to week ; then at the
seasons of the year and changes of the weather, then
in the chances of new years ! But that hour never
came, yet the light of hope, which supports man in all
his sufferings, and raises him above them all, never
forsook us, amid all the depressing influence of expecta-
tions cherished only to be disappointed.
CHAPTER III.
DRIFTING IN THE NOVAYA ZEMLYA SEAS.
1. AT the end of August the temperature in the Frozen
Ocean is generally at the freezing point of the Centigrade
thermometer, but this year (1872) it was constantly six
degrees below it. A cold bleak air enveloped us, there
was abundance of snow, the sun showed himself rarely,
and for some days he had sunk, at midnight, under the
horizon. The ship and her rigging were stiff with ice, and
everything indicated that for us winter had begun. As
the masses of ice which inclosed us consisted only of
small floes, we were led to hope that the strong east winds
would soon disperse them. But the very contrary really
happened, for the low temperatures, the calms, and falls
of snow bound the floes of ice only the more closely
together, and within a few r days congealed them into
one single field, in the midst of which the ship remained
fast and immoveable. Our surroundings were monoto-
nous beyond description, one vast unattractive white
152 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
surface, and even the high-lands of Novaya Zemlya,
were covered with freshly fallen snow.
2. To reach the coast of Siberia under these circum-
stances had become an impossibility, and even in the
event of our being liberated, the search for a winter
harbour in Novaya Zemlya would be a matter of peril
and difficulty. Yet we calculated confident! } 7 on this
contingency and employed our enforced inactivity in com-
pleting our preparations for sledge journeys during the
autumn, although we could not but feel, that their im-
portance must be of secondary interest and value in a
country so well known as Novaya Zemlya. Meantime we
drifted slowly along the coast in a northerly direction
and apparently under the influence of a current, which
has been often observed on the northern coasts of
Novaya Zemlya. But the gloom of our situation, as we
became conscious of our captivity, was more distinctly
and painfully felt. On the 1st of September the tem-
perature sank nine degrees below zero (9 R), and the
few and limited spaces of open water round our floe
disappeared. The sun now remained six hours below
the horizon, and the formation of young ice in a single
night often reached such a thickness, that we soon
perceived that our last hope for this year lay in the
setting in of heavy equinoctial storms to break up the
ice-fields.
III.]
DRIFTING IN THE NOVAYA ZEMLYA SEAS.
153
3. On the 2nd of September a fissure running
through our floe reached the after-part of the Tegetthoff
and opened into a "lead," and even our floe partially
broke up ; but this availed us nothing,* for the ship itself
remained fast on a huge fragment. During the night of
Sept. 3, the after-part of the Tegetthoff was gently
raised for tli3 first tini3 by the pressure and driving from
ATTKMPrS TO GET FRBK IN SEPTEMBER.
beneath of the ice ; yet of the formidable nature of such
pressure we had as yet no presentiment. Though our
situation seemed desperate, it was not attended by im-
mediate danger, and, condemned as we were to inactivity,
we found the amusement and occupation we needed in
154 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAJ-.
skating on the young ice, winch covered many of the
newly formed ice-holes, between the ice-floes. Besides the
duty of making and recording meteorological observations?
the training of th^dogs, the bringing ice to the kitchen to
be transformed into water, the manufacture of oil, expedi-
tions on foot to explore the country, were the only forms
in which our energies could be exerted. Absolute lone-
liness surrounded us ; even the Arctic sea-gull (Larus
glaucus) and the gray stormy petrel (Procellaria glaci-
alis L.) of the polar region were but rarely seen, and a
bear, which, Sept. 5, came within forty paces of the ship,
was driven away by the awkwardness of our hunters.
The cold became more and more intense and the weather
more gloomy. Sept. 2, the cabin lamp had to be lit for
the first time about half-past nine o'clock, and on the 3rd
we began to heat the interior parts of the ship, the
temperature of which had been for some time at zero ;
and on the llth, the first fiery belts of the Aurora
flamed in the northern heavens. On the 9th and 10th,
there was a very heavy storm from the north-east, which
drove us back for a short time towards the west, and
partially broke up our floe, but all the efforts of the
next week to destroy the connection of what remained by
sawing and blasting proved unsuccessful. Blasting with
powder, whether above or below the surface-ice, proved
ineffectual. Even old fissures in the ice appeared to defy
III.
'TlXG IN THE NOVAYA ZEMLYA SEAS.
loo
further disruption, segments which had been laboriously
made by sawing, froze again almost immediately, and
even the application of steam was powerless to set
our floe in motion and force the breaking-up of the
parts which had been sawn through. It was of no avail
that, up to Oct. 7, we kept open a trench round the
ship, by destroying in the day the ice which had been
_;V :-
SKPTKMKKn 1S7'2.
formed during the night : the expected disruption of our
ice-field never happened. Dark streaks in the heavens
still proclaimed, that we were in the neighbourhood of
open water, and though they seemed only to indicate
"leads" of no great breadth or extent, they helped to
sustain our hopes. But these were soon doomed to be
156 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
disappointed, for even these " leads " closed up, and at
the same time the temperature fell to an unusually low
degree. On the 15th of September, we had 15 degrees
of cold, and on the 19th the temperature fell 1S'6 degrees
below zero (C.). To add to this, there were frequent
foils of drifting snow. As long as fissures remained, we
had opportunities of seal hunting, but by the end of
the month the " ice-holes " were overspread with spongy
ice, which hindered the movements of our boats within
them. The alternate openings and closings of the water-
ways around us seemed in our monotonous life a
harmless spectacle, for the lofty walls of piled-up ice
had not as yet for us the language of imminent and
threatening dangers.
4. Sept. 22, there was a fissure in the ice about
thirty paces from the ship, and we quickly put on board
all the materials which were lying on the floe, believing
that the moment of our deliverance had come. But no
such moment came, nor did the equinoctial storms which
we expected set in ; we continued to drift still further
to the north ; and on Oct. 2, we had passed the seventy-
seventh degre'e of north latitude. In the beginning of
this month a storm, which lasted but a short time, opened
up a large " ice-hole " near the after-part of the ship,
and forthwith we set to work to open a passage through
our floe in order to reach it, but two days afterwards
this " ice-hole " also closed up Yet amid all our
111.]
DRIFTING IN THE NOVAYA ZEMLYA SEAS.
157
mishaps we forgot not on the 4th of October the
name-day of his Majesty the Emperor Francis Joseph I.
the homage which was due to our noble and gracious
Sovereign. The ship was gaily dressed with flags,
and a rifle-match, in which watches and pipes were
SHOUTING AT A TARGET, OCTOUR
the prizes, scared away for a short afternoon the sad
impressions of the moment.
5. Encounters with polar bears afforded us much
excitement. On the 6th of October, our first bear was
killed and divided among the dogs, for as yet we had
not learnt to regard the flesh of these animals as the most
158 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
precious part of our provisions. A fox also, the first
seen during this expedition, showed himself during the
previous -night. He had evidently come from Novaya
Zemlya, and his curiosity had led him close to the ship,
from whence he was driven by the dogs. It now became
indispensable for everyone who left the immediate
neighbourhood of the ship to carry arms with him, and
the neglect of this precaution had sometimes rather
ludicrous, at other times somewhat serious consequences.
On the llth of October I left the ship unarmed and
with no other companion than our Lapland dog, Pekel,
to employ myself in the harmless occupation of piling
up a tower of ice. AVorking as I was in a stooping
position, I was unconscious of what was immediately
around me, when on a sudden the loud barking of Pekel
caused me to raise myself, and I saw a bear quite close
before me. Shaking his head and making a snuffling
noise, he came on towards me. In the expectation
that some of the people engaged on deck would see my
critical position, I contented myself with shaking my
fist at him, unwilling to reveal any weakness to my
enemy. As this, however, seemed to produce no effect,
I cried out repeatedly, "A bear !" At last I saw Klotz,
who was on deck, go to the stand of arms, but with
such stoical composure, that I ceased to trust to others, and
left to the bear, who had now advanced to a distance of
in.] DRIFTING IN THE NOVAYA ZEMLYA SEAS. If/.)
about fifteen paces from me, the glory of forcing his
enemy to take to flight.
6. In the first days of October the temperature rose
considerably, the thermometer standing a little below zero
(R.). This was due to south-west winds, and to the
temporary extension of the " ice-holes " in our immediate
neighbourhood. The days now became shorter, the sun
surrounded with red masses of clouds set behind barriers
of blackish-blue ice, and an ever-deepening twilight,
followed his disappearance. Sept. 29, a ' ; snowfinch "
flew from the coast of Novaya Zemlya to the ship,
hopped about the deck for a little time, and after
delighting us all by his little song, again left us. Some
few sea-gulls still wended their flight to the spaces
of water in our neighbourhood. Skimming over the top
of the mast, they seemed to gaze down upon us, and
then with a shrill cry darted away like arrows towards
the south. There was something melancholy in this
departure of the birds ; it seemed as if all creatures were
retiring from the long reign of night which was before
us. In order to divert our attention from the dreadful
monotony of our captivity by some occupation in the
open air, we fell on the plan of building houses of
ice round the ship. The activity of a building-yard
reigned on our ice-floe ; heavy ice-tables were broken
or sawed through, the do^s in the sledges carried the
160
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
fragments to their appointed places, and with these
bloeks we raised crystal walls and towers. Snow, mixed
with sea-water, furnished an inexhaustible source of the
most excellent mortar ; and while we worked laboriously
at these meaningless erections, we earned at least by our
labour the reward of sleep free from care.
PAKHKLIA ON THE COAST OF NON'AYA ZF.MLVA.
7. As we drifted helplessly northward, the coasts
of Novaya Zemlya receded gradually from our gaze.
Hitherto we had lain close to the land, which with its
rounded mountains and valleys filled with glaciers
seemed a miniature of Alpine scenery. Daily almost
the gigantic luminous arcs of parhelia stood above it,
O O 1
the usual precursors of stormy weather or heavy falls
in.] DRIFTING IX THE XOVAYA ZEMLYA SEAS. 161
of snow. Towards the north and north-east the
country becomes flatter, and runs into glacier-wastes
little raised above the level of the sea. The topo-
graphy of the northern parts of Novaya Zemlya is
complete confusion. The only survey which exists
that of Llitke extends no further than Cape Nassau.
The maps of the Barentz Isles are frequently in con-
tradiction with fact, and their correction is extremely
desirable. Though this land was of no value for our
object, yet it was still land, and it seemed also to us,
drifting as we did, the symbol of the stable and im-
movable. But now it was gradually disappearing from
our eyes. During September we had moved slowly, but
with October we drifted at a greater rate, so that by the
1 2th of this month we saw nothing but a line of heights
some thirty miles off, towards the south. At last every
trace of land disappeared from our gaze ; a hopeless
waste received us, in which no man could tell how long
we should be, nor how far we should penetrate.
VOL. i.
CHAPTER IV.
THE " TEGETTHOFF" FAST BESET IN THE ICE.
1. AUTUMN was passing away, the days were getting
shorter and in our immediate neighbourhood no move-
ment in the ice was perceptible, save that we had drifted
continuously towards the north-east ; sometimes, though
rarely, a fissure in the ice grew to the proportions of an
" ice hole," only, however, to be quickly frozen over and
present a surface for our skates. There lay the frozen
sea, the picture of dull hopeless monotony ; shelter there
was none. Our floe, though it seemed to combine
the conveniences of a winter harbour, could not stand
the test of closer observation, the illusion of such a notion
must be short-lived. But many signs now indicated the
insecurity of our position. Fields of ice in our neigh-
bourhood cracked and split asunder, and piled up masses
floated round us, silent preachers, as it were, of the
destruction which ice pressure could produce.
2. A change, however, was soon to come over the scene.
O * *
CHAP, iv.] THE " TEGETTHOFF " FAST BESET IN THE ICE. 163
On the evening of October 12 we imagined that the
cabin lamp oscillated, and consequently that our floe was
in motion. On the same night we were conscious of a
violent movement in the ice. A dreadful day was the
1 3th of October, a Sunday ; it was decisive of the fate
of the expedition. To the superstitious amongst us the
number 13 was clothed with a profound significance :
the committee of the expedition had been constituted on
February 13; on the 13th of January the keel of the
Tegetthoff had been laid down; on the 13th of April
she was launched ; on the 13th of June we left Bremer-
haven ; on the 1 3th of July, Tromsoe ; after a voyage
of 13 days we had arrived at the ice, and on the 13th
October the temperature marked 13 degrees below zero.
In the morning of that day, as we sat at breakfast, our
floe burst across immediately under the ship. Kushing
on deck we discovered that we were surrounded and
squeezed by the ice ; the after part of the ship was
already nipped and pressed, and the rudder, which was
the first to encounter its assault, shook and groaned ;
but as its great weight did not admit of its being
shipped, we were content to lash it firmly. We next
sprang on the ice, the tossing tremulous motion of which
literally filled the air with noises as of shrieks and
howls, and we quickly got on board all the materials
which were lying on the floe, and bound the fissures
M 2
164 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
of the ice hastily together by ice-anchors and cables,
filling them up with snow, in the hope that frost would
complete our work, though we felt that a single heave
might shatter our labours. But, just as in the risings of
a people, the wave of revolt spreads on every side, so
now the ice uprose against us. Mountains threateningly
reared themselves from out the level fields of ice and
the low groan which issued from its depths grew into a
deep rumbling sound, and at last rose into a furious
howl as of myriads of voices. Noise and confusion
reigned supreme, and step by step destruction drew nigh
in the crashing together of the fields of ice. Our floe
was now crushed, and its blocks piled up into mountains,
drove hither and thither. Here, they towered fathoms
high above the ship, and forced the protecting timbers
of massive oak, as if in mockery of their purpose, against
the hull of the vessel ; there masses of ice fell down as
into an abyss under the ship, to be engulfed in the
rushing waters, so that the quantity of ice beneath the
ship was continually increased, and at last it began to
raise her quite above the level of the sea. About 11.30
in the forenoon according to our usual custom, a portion
of the Bible was read on deck, and this day, quite acci-
dentally, the portion read was the history of Joshua :
but if in his day the sun stood still, it was more than
the ice now showed any inclination to do.
iv.] THE "TEGETTIIOFF" FAST BESET IN THE ICE. 105
3. The terrible commotion going on around us pre-
vented us from seeing anything distinctly. The sky too
was overcast, the sun's place could only be conjeciured.
In all haste we began to make ready to abandon the ship,
in case it should be crushed, a fate which seemed inevit-
able, if she were not sufficiently raised through the pressure
of the ice. About 12.30 the pressure reached a frightful
height, every part of the vessel strained and groaned ;
the crew, who had been sent down to dine, rushed on
deck. The Tegettlwff had heeled over on her side,
and huge piles of ice threatened to precipitate themselves
upon her. But the pressure abated, and the ship righted
herself ; and about one o'clock, when the danger was
in some degree over, the crew went below to dine. But
again a strain was felt through the vessel, everything
which hung freely began to oscillate violently, and all
hastened on deck, some with the unfinished dinner in
their hands, others stuffing it into their pockets. Calmly
and silently amid the loud sounds emitted by the ice in
its violent movement, the officers assumed and carried out
the special duty which had been assigned to each in the con-
templated abandonment of the ship. Lieutenant Weyprecht
got ready the boats, Brosch and Orel cleared out the supply
of provision to be taken in them, Kepes, our doctor, had
an eye to his drugs, the Tyrolese opened the magazine,
and got out the rifles and ammunition I myself attended
166 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
to the sledges, the tents, and the sacks for sleeping in
and distributed to the crew their fur coats. "We now
stood read} r to start, each with a bundle whither, no one
pretended to know I For not a fragment of the ice
around us had remained whole ; nowhere could the eye
discover a still perfect and uninjured floe, to serve
as a place of refuge, as a vast floe had before been to
the crew of the Hansa. Nay, not a block, not a table
of ice was at rest, all shapes and sizes of it were in
active motion, some rearing up, some turning and twist-
ing, none on the level. A sledge would at once have
been swallowed up, and in this very circumstance lay
the horror of our situation. For, if the ship should sink,
whither should we go, even with the smallest stock
of provisions ? amid this confusion, how reach the
land 30 miles distant without the most indispensable
necessaries ?
4. The dogs, too, demanded our attention. They had
sprung on chests and stared on the waves of ice, as they
rose and roared. Every trace of his fox-nature had
disappeared from " Sumbu." His look, at other times so
full of cunning, had assumed an expression of timidity
and humility, and, unbidden, he offered his paw to all
passers by. The Lapland dog, little Pekel, sprang upon
me, licked my hand, and looked out on the ice as if he
meant to ask me what all this meant. The large
iv.] THE "TEGETTHOFF" FAST BESET IN THE ICE. 107
Newfoundlands stood motionless, like scared chamois, on
the piles of chests.
5. About 4 p.m. the pressure moderated] an hour
afterwards there was a calm, and with more composure
we could now survey our position. The carpenter
shovelled away the snow from the deck in order
to inspect the seams. They were still uninjured. The
knees and cross-beams still held, and no very great
quantity of water was found in the hold. This result
we owed solely to the strength of our ship and to
her fine lines, which enabled her to rise when nipped
and pressed, while her interior, so well laden as to
become a solid body, increased her powers of resist-
ance. Everything was again restored to its place, so
that it was possible to go up and down the cabin stairs
without great difficulty, and in the evening the water in
the hold, which had risen 13 inches, was pumped out
to its normal depth of 6 inches. We went down into
the cabin to rest, but though thankful and joyful
for the issue, our minds, were clouded with care and
anxiety. Henceforth we regarded every noise with sus-
picious apprehensions, like a population which lives
within an area of earthquakes. The long winter nights
and their fearful cold were before us ; we were drifting
into unknown regions, utterly uncertain of the end.
When night came, we fell asleep with our clothes on,
108 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP. iv
though our sleep was disturbed every now and then by
the onsets of the ice, recurring less frequently and in
diminished force ; but daily and for one hundred and
thirty days we went through the same experiences in
greater or lesser measure, almost always in sunless dark-
ness. It was, however, a fortunate circumstance for us
that we encountered the first assaults of the ice at a
time when we were still able to see ; for instead of the
calm preparations we were able to make, hurry and
confusion would have been inevitable had these
assaults surprised us amid the Polar darkness.
6. Early in the morning of Oct. 14 we all met at
breakfast, but on every face there lay an expression of
grave though tfulness, for each of us was contemplat-
ing the long perspective of those dreary nights, in
which we should drift without a goal in the awful
wastes of the Frozen Sea. The speedy restoration of our
Hoe was now our most earnest desire. It was only
severe frost and heavy falls of snow as we vainly
imagined which could cement the chaos of broken
fragments around us and form from them a new floe ;
for as yet we had not learnt by experience, that severe
cold in itself, unaccompanied with wind, is sufficient to
break up tlie fields of ice, from the contraction which it
causes. We deluded ourselves with another consolation
we imagined that the ice-pressures would cease, as
CH. iv.] THE " TEGETTHOFF " FAST BESET IN THE ICE. 171
soon as we passed the eastern extremity of Novaya
Zemlya, and that in the Sea of Kara we should drift
without encountering the pressures, due as we conceived,
to our nearness to land. But vain also was this hope,
for we were drifting not into the Sea of Kara but to-
wards the north-east. We should have found, even in
that sea, that pressures from the ice may occur within
the Frozen Ocean, however, as well as at its coasts.
The masses of ice which caused our disasters probably
came from that sea.
7. The time subsequent to this crisis was full of
painful and anxious moments, but a chronological
description of the events of each day, involving a mere
repetition of our sad impressions, would be wearisome
to the reader. I will, therefore, transfer from my
journal such portions of it as most forcibly express the
thoughts that passed through the minds of the handful
of men on board the Tegetihoff during those terrible
days :
" October 14. About half-past eight o'clock in the
evening a new fissure in the ice appeared astern of
the ship ; a strain was felt throughout her timbers :
in a moment every one in his fur dress and with his
bundle in his hand was on deck : so will it be, perhaps,
throughout the winter what a life !
"October 15. AH had slept in their clothes. Fresh
172 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
pressures from the ice were felt about eight o'clock in
the morning, not so powerful as on the 13th, but of
such force that all sprang from their berths and within
a minute again stood ready on the deck. Much ice
had been forced under the afterpart of the ship, which
was raised up by the pressure. When all was calm
every one set to work to make a bag to contain
the gear he meant to take, if the ship should be
crushed. Mine contained the following articles : one
pair of fur gloves, one pair of woollen gloves, a pair of
snow spectacles, six pencils, a rubber, three note-books,
the journal of my Greenland expedition, a book of draw-
ings, ten ball cartridges, two pairs of stockings, a knife,
a case of needles and thread. On the 13th we had
neglected to provide ourselves with maps of Novaya
Zemlya ; two of these I now included among my stock
of necessaries. Six Lefauchcur rifles, four Werndl-rifles,
two thousand cartridges, two large and two smaller
sledges, a tent for ten, one for six men, two great
sleeping sacks, each for eight, and a smaller one for six
men, were placed in the boats. Although all these pre-
parations would have been quite vain if the ship had
sunk with the ice in motion to crush us, we must, for
our mutual encouragement, keep up the appearance of
believing in them. About six o'clock in the evening the
full moon rose, like a copper coin fresh from the mint,
iv.l THE " TEGETTHOFF " FAST BESET IN THE ICE. 173
above our horizon on the deep blue of the heavens. In
the evening the ice was at rest, and for the first time
for some days we ventured to undress on going to bed.
"October 16. Slept without care or disturbance till
two o'clock in the morning, when pressure from the ice
again set in, and all rushed on deck. Some of the
crew threw out on the ice the antlers of a rein-deer of
Novaya Zemlya, for according to a superstition of the
seamen the horns of a rein-deer are the generators of
mischief! The ice again calm, and I fell asleep from
exhaustion ; but about half-past five in the morning there
was a new pressure of about twenty minutes' duration,
and almost as fearful as on the 13tli of the month. The
exceeding haste with which every one rushes up from
below, as soon as the ship begins to strain, shows the
effect which the noise makes on us ; it is impossible to
become accustomed to it ; every one runs on deck.
Again the ice rests, but about half-past seven in the
morning, another pressure, which almost tore away the
beams protecting the hull and the davits to which they
were fastened. The ship, however, rights herself. To-
day the ice which overhung our bulwarks was dug away
to prevent masses of it falling on the deck. In the
evening, diminished pressure from the ice ; at night,
glorious moonlight scenery ; nothing more peaceful, but
nothing more illusive, than such a scene at such an hour.
174 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP. iv.
" October 17. All quiet during the night till Lusina
came to announce with a voice as from the grave, that
the ship was making more water, sixteen inches in the
forepart, eleven inches amidships. East wind, with
heavy drifting snowstorms during the day once only
a strain of short duration was felt in the ship, as a new
fissure opened in the piled-up ice on our starboard
quarter.
"October 18. Our anxieties somewhat abate and
our watchful state of preparation to leave the ship
relaxes, and most of us determine once more to
undress for the night. After several weeks the sun,
which had been obscured by the weather, becomes
visible, rising 2 25' above the horizon ; the temperature
stands at 23 (R), and our latitude is 77 48'.
"October 19. Straining in the ship ; the sun rose
about a quarter past eight, but was soon veiled in frosty
vapours.
" October 20. The hull of the ship is still without its
necessary protection of ice and snow, while we are wrapt
in furs and wear rein-deer shoes and felt-boots. In the
evening a faint mock moon was visible.
" October 21. At night we were alarmed by a loud
sound, and in a few minutes all were on deck with their
fur clothes on a fissure had opened on the starboard
side of the ship connecting itself with that which had
THE Mi>OX WITH ITS HAI.O.
cu.iv.] THE ' TEGETTHOFF " FAST BE.SET IX THE ICE. 177
been formed astern of the ship. In an hour this
fissure had widened about four feet, and we worked
for some hours by the light of lamps to fill it up
with snow and pieces of ice. The low temperature
( - 23.V 3 R.) led us to expect that this chasm would be
bridged over without further effort on our part. The
moon stood surrounded by a vast halo in the heavens
and illuminated the awful loneliness of our abode.
Once more a calm ! When any one comes down from
the deck into the cabin, the eyes of all are involuntarily
turned upon him to read in the expression of his face
what is going on above, and each dreads to hear it
said, that the ice is in motion. In the afternoon,
when the fissure closed, we heard the old dull sound
from the ice, and the ship strained violently, and all were
on deck ready to leave. About nine o'clock in the
evening the motion of the ice was again felt. Uncertain
and full of fears as to what the night might bring forth,
we go early to rest ; no one knows how short that rest
may be. Even Klot/ lays aside his stoical calmness,
and the philosophical dignity of his remarks departs,
when his comrades spring from their berths and rush
on deck with their bundles. The frozen pumps
are daily thawed by boiling water; to-day the shaft
of one of them broke, through the excessive strain put
upon it.
VOL. i. N
178 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
October 22. During the, night motion in the ice.
At 9.30 A.M. the sun rose, and attains its meridian
altitude at 1 41'. In the evening the fissure in the
ice again opens. Rents and small ' : ice-holes "
are all round us, and frosty vapour fills the air.
To-day the skull of a bear was thrown out on the
ice, the crew asserting that mischief comes from the
possession of it !
October 23. During the night violent movement in
the ice ; the sound produced resembles the noise of a
fleet of paddle-wheel steamships, steaming now with
full, now with half power. The height of the sun
to-day above the horizon was a little above one degree,
its form was distorted by refraction into an egg-like
shape, and its edges were in constant vibration.
October 24. The daylight is now so feeble that the
lamps have to be lighted during the day, with the
exception of two or three hours in the forenoon. Many
of the crew are suffering from frost-bites on their hands,
in consequence of their exposure in removing the
unnecessary rigging, and in the preparations to facilitate
the removal of our stock of provisions, in the event of
our being forced to abandon the vessel.
October 25. In the afternoon we made an attempt to
drive the dog sledges, but the snow, in spite of the low
temperature, lay in such masses between the small
IV.]
THE "TEGETTHOFF" FAST BESET IN THE ICE.
17!)
hummocks and on the few level places, that they sank
deep into it. It is storms of wind only that harden
the snow, and for some time we have had calms or
light breezes. In the evening there was a movement
in the ice astern of the ship, accompanied with the
highest soprano tones. The noise the ice makes in its
pressure very much resembles the piping and howling
of a storm among rocky cliffs or through the rigging
;i COAI. HOUSE US THE H.OK.
of a ship. About half -past ten at night, the oscillating
movements of the ice, occurring at definite intervals,
made it appear as if they arose from a swell of
the ocean. The ship groans and creaks constantly ;
indeed, creaking and groaning are weak expressions for
such a noise. Once more all are ready. AVe begin to
fear that the ice will never rest.
October 26. Pressure throughout the whole night.
180 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
Armed and provided with lanterns, we used the sledges
to remove two boats, 150 logs of wood, fifty planks,
and a supply of coals, to the port side of the vessel, and
chose a stronger floe, on which to build a house of refuge.
Tired and exhausted, we fell asleep in spite of the
straining and creaking of the vessel.
October 27. The sun at noon was scarcely visible
above the horizon. At night of the same day a
strong wind from the south-east opened a fissure on
the starboard side of the vessel and about 150 paces
from it, which grew into the dimensions of an " ice-
hole."
October 28. To-day the sun took leave of us. Only
with its upper edge had it appeared above the horizon,
and sent towards us its mild beams like the consolino-
o
glance of a departing friend. The coal-house is finished.
But what reliance can be placed on such an abode in
such a position ? A storm may carry away the planks
which form its roof; sparks from a fire may set fire to
its walls and consume it ; and at any moment, throuo-h
a pressure opening up an abyss beneath, it may sink
and be engulfed. Two o'clock in the afternoon, the
groaning sound comes from the piles of ice around us ;
our floe appears to twist somewhat, and the pressure of
the ice will probably soon begin.
October 29. During the night a noise in the ice,
iv.] THE "TEGETTIIOFF" FAST BESET IN THE ICE. 18 1
which, though it did not further disturb us, was yet
witness enough that it is ever ready to disturb us. The
sun no longer appears ; only a rosy light at noon in the
heavens.
October 30. At half-past three o'clock in the morning
there was a dreadful straining and creaking in the ship :
at once we sprang out of our berths, and stood on deck
with our fur garments on and with our bags as before.
New fissures had appeared which rapidly enlarge them-
selves ; the two boats and the coal-house are now
surrounded by up-forced masses of ice and separated
from us. Then a pause ! There is however no real
repose, and the least sound on deck, the falling of
anything heavy at other times quite unnoticed
alarms us into the expectation of new onsets. At noon,
as we sat at dinner, there was renewed and excessive
straining in the ship, and even in the cabin we heard
such a rushing sound in the ice without, that it seemed
as if the whole frozen sea would the next moment boil and
rise in vapour. During all the afternoon the noise con-
tinues, and all the fissures send forth dense vapours,
like hot springs. During the day no quiet for readino-
or working, and every night almost our sleep is disturbed
by a horrible awaking within a great creaking, groaning
coffin. Men can accustom themselves to almost any-
thing ; but to these dailv recuri-ino- shocks, and tin-
182 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP. iv.
constantly renewed question as to the end and issue of
it all, we cannot grow accustomed."
8. There is however such an intolerable monotony in
my diary, that, to spare my readers, I thus, in a few
words, resuming its contents, describe our situation :
"One of us, to-day, remarked very truly, that he saw
perfectly well how one might lose his reason with the
continuance of these sudden and incessant assaults. It
is not dangers that we fear, but worse far ; we are kept
in a constant state of readiness to meet destruction, and
know not whether it will come to-day, or to-morrow, or
in a year. Every night we are startled out of sleep, and,
like hunted animals, up we spring to await amid an
awful darkness the end of an enterprise from which all
hope of success has departed. It becomes at last a
mere mechanical process to seize our rifles and our bag
of necessaries and rush on deck. In the daytime, lean-
ing over the bulwarks of the ship, which trembles, yea,
almost quivers the while, we look out on a continual
work of destruction going on, and at night as we listen
to the loud and ever-increasing noises of the ice, we
gather that the forces of our enemy are increasing."
CHAPTER V.
OUR FIRST WINTER (1872) IN THE ICE.
1. IN the beginning of November we were already envi-
roned by a deep twilight ; but our dreary waste had become
of magical beauty ; the rigging, white with frost, stood
out, spectre-like, against the grey-blue of the heavens ; the
ice, broken into a thousand forms and overspread with a
covering of snow, had now assumed the cold pure aspect
of alabaster shaded with the tender hues of arragonite.
Southward at noon we saw veils of frosty vapour rise
into the carmine-coloured sky out of the fissures and
" ice-holes," in which the water seemed to boil.
2. All our preparations for wintering had now been
completed. Lieutenant Weyprecht struck the top-masts
to diminish pressure from the wind ; some sails were
still kept set, in order that the ship, in the event of her
being set free, might at once get under weigh. The
fore part of the ship only could be covered in as a tent,
for the preparations to abandon her in case of need
AUSTRIAN AIKTIC VOYAGES.
[CHAI'.
compelled us to leave her after part uncovered. There, in
perfect order, lay all the materials we meant to take with
us, our provisions, ammunition, tents, sledges, &c. The
ship was surrounded with a wall of snow and ice, which
we constantly restored, whenever it was injured by
pressure from without, and her deck was gradually over-
spread with a man tic of snow, which contributed however,
to maintain an equable warmth in the ship. Our dis-
tance from land rendered it impossible to cover the deck
riJ FIRST WINTER IX TITK ICE.
with a layer of sand, which would have prevented the
melting of the snow from the warmth of the ship.
3. The temperature of November rose once only
about the middle of the month considerably ; but, except
on that occasion, the thermometer stood with tolerable
regularity below 20 R., and on the 20th of the month
it reached its minimum at 29E. Winds, from what-
ever quarter they might blow, constantly raised the tem-
perature, because the colder air was thus modified by the
warmer which lay above the open spaces of sea-water ;
calms were accompanied by a rapid intensification of
cold. Wind, increased drifting, pressure, and the forma-
tion of fissures all these are naturally connected. New
openings were quickly covered with young ice, which
presented a smooth surface when formed by less intense
cold, but when the temperature fell lower, its saline
contents were exuded in a moist, tough layer, which
lay on its surface about an inch thick. In this state
of the ice, sledge-travelling was rendered more difficult,
and even walking was far from easy ; for it is only under
a temperature ranging from 16 to - 2<r that this layer
is frozen. The incessant rending of the ice-sheet, by
exposing the warmer surface of the sea, tends to mitigate
the cold, while, on the other hand, the freezing of these
fissures augments the quantity of ice.
4. In the beginning of the month our nights were dark.
186
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
[CHAP. v.
and it was only occasionally that the light of the aurora
and meteors visited us with their fleeting splendours.
Although in clear weather day was still distinguishable
from night, yet the darkness, even at noon, was so great,
that mists could not be seen, but felt only, and it was
SI'MBr CHASKD FOR A FOX.
no longer possible, without the light of a lantern, to make
even the slightest sketch, or to take aim with the rifle.
Hence, when we met with bears we could not be certain
of our aim, if they were at any distance from us, and, on
one occasion, Sumbu was mistaken for a fox, chased, and
but for my coming up would have been shot.
CHAP, v.] OUR FIRST WINTER IN THE ICE. 183
5. The first days of November passed away without any
new disturbance from the movement of the masses of ice,
and our feeling of security grew apace, and with it our
hopes revived, never again to leave us entirely, not even
when the pressures returned, as they did too soon. Once
more the fields of ice, firmly pressed together, were,
rent asunder ; fissures opened out, and shone in the
moonlight like rivers of silver. The night of Nov. 20
was one of extreme anxiety. A mountain formed of
piles of broken ice bore down on us amid a fearful din
threatening to bury the ship. Silent, and conscious of our
utter helplessness, we watched this gigantic heap of crash-
ing ice-tables, drifting nearer and nearer, crushing as it
advanced the heaviest pieces of ice with a noise which
echoed through our ship. Escape teemed impossible :
and Providence alone arrested its career. This nio-ht the
O
crew received each an extra glass of grog to obliterate
the impression of this terrible crisis.
6. With the exception of books, we had no other
amusement than short expeditions, never extending
beyond a mile from the ship, in which we were accom-
panied by all the dogs. We generally set out with two
small sledges, and when the moon was not shining, with
our rifles ready to fire, for the darkness and the utter
absence of open spaces on the ice imposed the utmost
caution against bears. At a very short distance we
190 AUST1UAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
could see nothing of the ship, and only by our footsteps
on the snow could we make out where we were and find
the way back. In these expeditions we were exposed to
another danger the risk of being cut off from the ship
by the breaking-up of one of the drifting floes. Even
the dogs felt the insecurity of recently-formed ice, and
put their feet on it with fear and hesitation, and only
by compulsion. There seemed to be a cunning agreement
among them to shirk the work altogether ; for they often
rushed away into the coal-house, and threw the harness
of the sledges into inextricable confusion.
7. December came, but it brought no change in our
situation. Our life became more and more monotonous ;
one day differed in no respect from another, it was but
a mere succession of dates, and time was reckoned
merely by the hours for eating and sleeping. The ice,
however, did not share in the universal repose. It was
never weary of threatening ; no day elapsed without
movement on its part. My journal records December
1, 8, 9, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30 and 31, as days of
special disturbance and agitation. On the 20th, as we
were talking in the coal-house of the approaching
festival of Christmas, a sudden violent movement of the
ice surprised us, and rushing out we found that the floe on
which the house stood was breaking up. With all haste
we endeavoured to save as much as possible of the coal
v.j OUR FIRST WINTER IN THE ICE. 191
and materials, and moved them close to the ship. The
minimum temperature of December was 2(5 R. ; the
mean of the whole month amounted to 24 R. ; and
the extreme of cold, 29 R., was reached on the 26th. A
few days before Christmas the temperature rose to a little
below 20 R. It may be observed that the lower tem-
peratures were registered during the prevalence of winds
from the south-east, and the higher during winds from
the north.
8. When the moon- returned in the middle of December,
our sledge expeditions were extended to a distance of
1^ miles from the ship, over snow and hummocks, to
recently frozen ice-holes, the lonely beauty of which,
edged with dark masses of ice, in the distance, and
lying under the clear silver light of the moon, filled
us with feelings of profound melancholy. On return-
ing from one of these expeditions to our vessel, after
we had unharnessed the dogs we heard loud barks from
Sumbu, and looking round saw a bear close beside
him, which Orel managed to shoot dead when he was
not above five paces from the rope-ladder on the port
side of the vessel. He was at once cut up, the dogs
meanwhile looking on with profound attention ; and
in reward for his watchfulness, Sumbu was indulged
with an extra good feast the heart and tongue of the
bear, which, as yet, we ourselves had not learnt to eat
192
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
[c'HAP. V.
and enjoy. Oil the 18th, however, lie encountered our
heavy displeasure for the offence of frightening off a fox,
which had ventured to come very near the vessel.
1). When there was no moon it was perfectly dark, even
during the day ; but on December 1 4, in a very clear
ENCOUNTER WITH A POLAR BEAK.
forenoon, we saw in the south a tender orange segment
of light, three or four degrees above the horizon, edged
with green, sharply defined against the dark sky, and
when the moon, high in the heavens, faced this arch of
light, a peculiar faint twilight was observable. But
generally there was no difference between the li<>'ht of
VOL. I.
CHAP, v.] OUR FIRST WINTER IX TEE ICE. 105
midday and the light of midnight. The heavens were
usually overcast, and the light of the aurora, during
the few minutes of its greatest intensity, seldom ex-
ceeded that of the moon in its first quarter. But how
deep would be the night of the Polar regions, if the land,
instead of being white with sno\v, were covered with
forests ! On December 20 we were unable, even at noon,
to read anything but the titles of books of the largest type ;
a man's eyes w r ere invisible at the distance of a few paces,
and at fifty even the stoutest ropes of the ship were
scarcely discernible. The effect of the long Polar night
when the range of the light of a lamp is the whole
world for man is most oppressive to the feelings ; nor
can habit ever reconcile those who have lived under
the influences of civilization to its gloom and solitude.
It can be a home only to men who spend their
existence in eating and drinking and sleeping, without
any disturbing recollection of a better existence. The
depression was made more intense by the consciousness
that we had been driven into an utterly unknown region
and with our eyes bound. Work, incessant work, was the
only resource in these circumstances.
10. Again from my journal I reproduce some passages
which express the feelings which passed through our
minds through mine at least during this season of
the Tegetthoff's first winter in the ice : " December
o -2
196 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
21. The middle of the long night. It is noon, and,
though nothing can be lighter than the colour of all
that surrounds us of the snow yet it is as dark as
midnight. Nothing but a pale yellow sheen hovers over
the south. The sun has sunk below the horizon 11 40'
and we should have to ascend a mountain eighteen and a
half (German) miles high in order to behold it. Nothing
is to be seen, neither bears nor men, and we only hear
the steps of those who are near us. We see but the
confused outline even of the ship, as she drifts hither and
thither with the floe, a prisoner in the fetters of the ice,
the sport of winds and currents, carrying her further
and further into the still and silent realm of death.
A definite object, with hope to inspire them, raises
men above toils and troubles of every kind ; but
exile like ours, when the sacrifice seems useless, t is
hard to be borne. An inexorable ' No ' lays its ban on
every hope, and daily struggle for self-preservation is
our lot. If we attempt to fathom destiny, our utmost
hopes are liberation from our icy captivity some time
next summer, and the reaching the coast of Siberia.
Siberia a hope ! And yet how changeable are the
feelings when the reign of monotony is interrupted !
The moon is up darkness exists no more. In the
North the moon is an event it is life, everything
almost ; it is the only link which connects us with the
v.] OUR FIRST WINTER IN THE ICE. 197
far distant home. As its beams fall on the meanest
forms, diamonds blaze forth in its light from the snow
and the frost, and the soul feels the beauty of the
transformation. She looks down on us like a returning
friend that watches over us, and unfolds bewitching
forms and magic images to cheer us. Two weeks ago
she rose above the horizon, first as a blood-red disk,
then paled as she climbed higher and higher, till she
stands out the clear, silver-bright, full moon."
11. Christmas had come; the season when in the forests
of our far distant home the branches of the pine trees
are heavy laden with snow, and which ever comes back
with the memories of the days of our youth, and with
the remembrances of our families and absent friends.
Only for a short time, about noon, we were made
uneasy by a movement and pressure of the ice. But
the alarm passed away, and we gathered together for a
choice and gorgeous feast both on Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day, and each of the cabin-mess had a bottle
of good wine to himself. Carlsen and Lusina were our
guests. Each of the crew received half a bottle of wine,
together with a quarter of a bottle of " artificial wine," l
and in addition an allowance of grog, so weak, however,
that even a baby might have drunk it without harm. Dried
fish, roast bear, well kept and seasoned, nuts and the like
1 A decoction prepared by Kepes.
198 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
contributed in their way to heighten the joyous feelings,
which, this day at least, animate even the most miserable
of men. The dogs, at other times so insatiable, had for
once enough and to spare, and carried off the fragments
to bury them in the snow. The contents of a chest
full of presents, which we had brought with us, were
distributed by lot, and great was the delight of those
who won a bottle of rum or a few cigars.
12. The last day of the year 1872 afforded us no very
happy thoughts as we looked back on its events ; it had
been to us a year of disappointments. The com-
parison drawn between our actual condition and the
expectations we had so ardently cherished seemed full
of the bitterest irony. This day also, about noon, a
pressure from the ice, which lasted but a short time,
alarmed us all, and we rushed on deck to make our
usual preparations. The enemy, however, passed away
without further disturbance, and cheerfully and socially
we awaited the first hour of the new year. With a
bottle of champagne, one of the two still left, we meant to
greet its coming in, with that hopefulness of mind, which
seems inextinguishable in all the changes and chances of
life. But the champagne, alas! proved a delusion. Klotz,
the Tyrolese, in one of his brown studies exposed this
precious bottle for four hours to a temperature of -23
R, and when he produced it, the bottle had burst and
v.] OUR FIRST WINTER IX THE ICE. 199
the wine was thoroughly frozen. At midnight the crew
serenaded us, and we afterwards marched forth in a
body with torches and walked round the ship, whose
rigging glowed in the light of the tarred torches. The
frosted fur garments of the men seemed edged with
shining light, and a red glare fell on the masses of ice.
13. To-day, too, we allowed the dogs to descend into
our cabin, the constant object of their longings. The
poor animals were so dazzled by looking at our lamp,
that they almost took it for the sun itself ; but by and
by their attention was directed exclusively to the rich
remains of our dinner, the sight of which appeared com-
pletely to satisfy their notions of the wonders of the
cabin. After behaving themselves with great propriety,
they again quietly withdrew, all except Jubinal, who
appeared to be indignant at the deceitfulness of our
conduct, inasmuch as we had allowed him to starve so
long on dried horse-flesh and on crushed bear's head,
O '
while we revelled in luxury. He .accordingly made his
way into Lieutenant Brosch's cabin, where, discovering
a mountain of macaroni, he immedia.tely attacked it, and
warned us off from every attempt to rescue it, by growl-
ing fiercely till he had finished it all. Sumbu, however,
with much levity, suffered himself to be made drunk by
the sailors with rum, and everything which he had
scraped together for weeks and buried in the snow and
200
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
[CHAP.
HO carefully watched, was stolen from him by the other
dogs in one night.
14. Another year had now glided away. Looking
anxiously into the future, we shortsighted mortals saw
the fulfilment of our highest wishes in beino; liberated
AK1.SKX MAKKS TUK KSTKV IN 1 TIIK l.(
from the floe. In the pious manner of the whalers of the
Arctic Ocean, Carlson wrote this day in the log : " Onsker
at Gud maa vere med os i det nye aar, da kan intet
vare imod os." May God be with us in the new year
and nothing can be against us." In this new year, with
its happier issues, was verified again the eternal truth,
v.] OUR FIRST WINTER IN THE ICE. 201
that Providence acts in ways not to be fathomed,
and that it is folly in man to mark out his own path
beforehand according to his own mind. The sun of
this new year, whose beams were to light us to new
lands and discoveries, was still low beneath the
horizon.
CHAPTER VI.
LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF."
1. LIKE a spectre in white, the ship stretches out her
arms, as if in silent complaint, towards the heaven, and
rests, in cruel mockery of her destiny, on a mountain,
not of water, but of ice, and seems like a building ready
to fall in. A wall of snow and ice surrounds her hull,
snow lies thick on her deck, and her rigging is stiffened
in icy lines. Could we see through her sides, we should
then behold four-and-twenty men parted off in two
spaces under the suns of two lamps. Let us inspect
them, and first the cabin of the officers in the after part
of the ship.
2. Neither few nor slight were our struggles to remedy
the various inconveniences which we encountered ; their
enumeration here is meant to aid the experience of future
adventurers. Though our arrangements were far from
complete or perfect, we had never to complain of the
discomforts which previous expeditions, even the second
German expedition to Greenland, had to endure from the
CHAP, vi.] LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF.'
203
excessive condensation of moisture. Against this enemy
we protected ourselves by the snow wall which we
raised round the ship, by covering in the deck windows
of the cabin, by lining our quarters with vulcanized
india-rubber, by sheds built over the cabin stairs, all
acting as condensers. Before, however, I enter on the
unavoidable inconveniences to which we were exposed
by the formation of ice, or by damp and the sudden
THE '' TECJETTHOKF " IN* THE JTI-I. MOON.
change of temperature, I would preface my remarks by
observing, that all these discomforts and inconveniences
are to be endured far more easily than would seem
possible to the reader, and that life on board a ship
of a North-Pole expedition, under normal circumstances,
is free from annoyances worthy of mention.
3. It is a matter of the last importance to keep the air
pure and wholesome, and to maintain nn equable warmth
204 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
iii the quarters of the officers and crew. The accumu-
lation of moisture and consequent congelation in them
is an inconvenience which requires incessant watchful-
ness to avert. 1 The destruction of the snow wall
which surrounded the ship increased the condensation ;
for that snow covering was nothing but a greatcoat
for the ship and those on board. In the beginning
of November 1872 the frost on the bulk-heads of
the berths and on those parts of the cabins which were
impervious to warmer air was very perceptible. The
bed-clothes were frozen at night to the sides of the
ship, the iron knees of the beams not, alas! covered
with felt gleamed like stalactites, small glaciers were
formed under the berths, and even in October the
skylight was frozen inches thick. Every rise in the
temperature caused this formation of ice to fall down
like a " douche," and with the opening of a door a
white vapour, even in October, streamed along the deck.
We prevented the increase of moisture by cutting
the openings in the deck, over which we placed two
chimneys, each a foot high and covered with a thin
metal cap. We boarded up the skylight, leaving a lid
1 Parry mentions as a fact illustrative of the increase of moisture
and its condensation into ice, that about a hundred hundredweights of
ice were once removed from the lower quarters of the Ileda, which
had accumulated there from the breath, the steam caused by cooking,
and the moisture brought down by the clothes of the men.
vr.] LIFE OX BOARD THE ' TEGETTHOFF." 205
by which to air the cabin. But in spite of all this the
variations of temperature within our quarters were
extraordinary. If the heat of the air in the middle of
the cabin arid on a level with our heads rose from - 15
to + 22 K. our usual mean temperature it amounted
on the floor to a little above + 1, and fell during the
night not unfrequently below freezing point.
4. But the greatest inconvenience perhaps with which
we had to contend, arose from the removal of the pro-
tection of the tent roof, which was stretched over the
after part of the ship. The want of this prevented our
walking on the deck in bad weather, and it also hindered
perfect ventilation, which could only be secured, with the
constant heat which was maintained below, by keeping
the deck windows open. Warming the air from under-
neath the floor of the cabin would possibly be preferable
to the best stove. We had the stove of Meidingen
o
of Carlsruhe, the excellence of which had been tested on
the Germania. This stove consumed only 20 Ibs. of
coals daily, with a thermometer at 20 R., and after
the adoption of certain arrangements to save the fuel,
its consumption amounted to only 12 Jbs. Even
in the coldest period of the winter we never con-
sumed more than 4^ cwt. in a month. The lighting
of the mess-room and quarters of the men was effected
by petroleum, the daily consumption of which amounted
206 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
to about 2f Ibs. Altogether there were in the ship two
large and two small lamps, besides the deck-lantern,
which were burning day and night. The berths were
lighted with train-oil ; for special purposes, such as
drawing, candles were used.
5. The stove had one troublesome enemy in the shape
of a hole, as big as a man's head, in the door of the mess-
room, through which a cold stream of air poured itself ;
and as the ship dipped forward considerably, and the
hearth was only about a foot above the floor of the mess-
room, this stream filled the whole space with a lake of
cold air from three to four feet deep. Hence, while in
the berth close by the stove there was a temperature
ranging between + 30 and + 44 R., in the other,
there was one which would have sufficed for the North
Pole itself. In the former a hippopotamus would
have felt himself quite comfortable, and Orel, the un-
happy occupant of it, was often compelled to rush on
deck, when the ice -pressures alarmed us, experiencing
in passing from his berth to the deck a difference of
temperature amounting to 70 R. In the other berth
of the mess-room, water, lemon -juice, and vinegar froze
on the floor. Those who occupied it, as they lay in
beds, or those who sat at the table to read, were in
a cold bath reaching up to their neck. But the hole
was an indispensable necessity, for it was better to endure
vi.] LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF." 207
the discomfort even of such a draught than to impede
ventilation. Other causes, too, disturbed the equilibrium
of temperature. At night the stove was sometimes,
from sanitary considerations, not lighted, and then all
had to sleep in that cold bath. With the increase of
cold and wind, our inconveniences often assumed some-
what ludicrous forms. Some passages from my journal
will make this clear : " When any come below the
temperature falls. If the door be opened there rolls
in a mass of white vapour ; if any one opens a book
which he has brought w r ith him, it smokes as if it w^ere
on tire. A cloud surrounds those that enter, and if a
drop of water falls on their clothes, it is at once con-
verted into ice, even at the stove. Frequently the
upper stratum of air in the mess-room becomes so
heated, that the deck light has to be opened, and then
it rises up, like smoke out of a chimney, to blend
itself with the cold air without."
6. The arrangements of the officers' mess-room are
simple and in harmony with its purpose. Here stands
a large table, used for study and for meals ; the smaller
berths, where the officers sleep, are round the sides
of the mess-room just large enough to enable a man
to breathe in. There, in a recess between two pillars,
an untold resource, the library (of about -400 volumes,
chiefly scientific); close beside it the chronometers, and
208 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [< HAP.
lastly, the inevitable evils, the medical stores, ranged
round the mast. By the side ' of scientific works
stand Petermann's Mittheilungen ; and between Milton's
Paradise Lost and Shakespeare's immortal works,' a
whole tribe of romances, which were read with never-
tiring delight. Our instruments, too, frosted with ice,
are here, and a chest containing our journals. Once
a month a cask, filled with wine the chemical
wine concocted of snow, alcohol, tannin, sugar, and
glycerine, was placed there. Dr. Kepes was not only
our physician, but our wine brewer. One thing more
we have to mention, which, alas ! incommoded us
much too little wine; that is, wine made in Austria,
from grapes. As we have already mentioned, the want
of room in the cabin prevented our laying in a large
stock, and the supplies we had were frozen in a cellar
below the mess-room, about the middle of December,
for the temperature of even this place was about
7 or 8 R. Each, however, had a bottle of rum
as an allowance for eighteen days. But quite inex-
haustible was the supply of our common drink melted
snow a great jar of which, filled to the brim, stood
always on the table. Under the cabin were our supplies
of alcohol and petroleum, accessible only by well-fitting
pipes, but possible volcanoes as far as our safety was
concerned. From the accumulation of so many
vi.] LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF." 209
combustible materials, together with 20,000 cartridges,
and with several lamps constantly burning, it is clear
that the danger of fire was great. But once only had
we an alarm from this source when CarJsen caused us
much trepidation by accidentally discharging a rifle in
the cartridge magazine.
7. Let us now turn to the persons who occupied this
mess-room. Marola, the steward, lights the lamp,
and kindles the fire, and awakens those who were not
already awoke by the smoke from the stove, with the
cry, " Signori, le sette e tre quartt, prego d'alzarsi ; " and
after a pause of a quarter of an hour, during which the
sleepers seem carefully to deny their existence, he
startles this silence of indifference by the second call :
"Colazion' in tavola." Out of every berth now comes
forth its occupant, each in picturesque costume; costumes
teach us how superficial after all is civilization in man !
8. The day's work begins. The watch, as ever, walks
the deck, lest the ice should slip away from the world
unobserved ; in the mess-room meanwhile calculations
or drawing or writing are in full operation. Our daily
meals consist of a breakfast of cocoa, biscuit, and butter ;
of a dinner of soup, boiled beef, preserved vegetables,
and cafe noir ; and of tea in the evening, with hard
biscuit, butter, cheese, and ham. I would recommend
potage instead of tea for the evening meal to all
VOL. i. J'
210 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
future expeditions. Many of the articles of food must
be thawed before the process of cooking begins, the
greater part of the provisions being frozen as hard as
iron. The tins with preserved meat stand for hours in
boiling water, and the things for supper on the cabin
stove, in order to be thawed. A plate of cheese that
steams, butter as hard as a stone, which has thrown off
the salt it contained in great lumps from the action of
frost, a ham as hard as the never- thawed ground of the
Tundra of Siberia, form an icy repast, specially if we
use knives, which are so cold that they often break with
the least exertion of force. I will here notice the sani-
tary importance insisted on by Parry and Koss of
fresh bread, which the cook in an Arctic ship should be
able to bake about twice a week. On board the Tegett-
hoff we used at first Liebig's " Baking-powder/' but this
from being kept too long gave such a disagreeable taste
to the bread, that we gave it up and contented ourselves
with a defective leaven.
9. Every Sunday at noon we celebrated Divine Service.
Under the shelter of the deck-tent, the Gospel was read
to the little band of Christians gathered together by
the sound of the ship's bell, in all that grave simplicity
which marked the worship of the early Christian Church.
The Service over, we then sat down to the Sunday
dinner, which was graced by a glass of wine and cake.
VI.]
LIFE OX BOARD THE ' TEGETTIIOFF."
"1\\
Carlsen and Lusina were our guests by turns. Carlscn
always appeared in his wig, trimmed with extra care,
and on the high festivals of the Church decorated
also with the cross of the order of St. Olaf. Lusina, our
excellent boatswain, was ready to talk with enthusiasm
on any subject whatever, prefacing his -stream of words
DIVINE SKKVH'E tX DKCK.
with some sententious remark or with some far-fetched
introduction. During our meals the conversation turned
on our plans for the future ; we talked of polar bears ;
we discussed the question of the existence of Gillis'
Land and the possibility of our reaching Siberia ;
but very seldom did we venture to speak of what filled
212 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
the minds of all our captivity in the ice. Political
combinations formed a favourite theme ; and as we had
some old numbers of the Neue Frci Presse on board,
they furnished an inexhaustible source of topics for con-
versation. The events of the year 1870 were related as
the latest news, and we thought anxiously of the issue of
the war between Germany and France, and feared lest
Austria should be compelled to take part in it.
10. After dinner came the hour for contemplation ; in
our lonely berths and by the side of our beds we sat down
to brood to listen to our watches beating seconds. The
English Arctic expeditions, during the long period of
their enforced leisure, found a great source of amusement
and distraction in theatricals. But the ships of these
expeditions had far larger crews than the Tegetthoff, and
the men could be more easily spared for these recreations.
But there were other reasons why we could not think
of following the example of the English. Our situation
during the first winter was far too serious for such things,
and no other place for the theatre was at our disposal
except the barricaded deck ; and we should have had to
sit there with a thermometer marking from 20 to 30 of
cold, and see how the actors and the audience suddenly
rubbed their frost-bitten feet with snow ! There was one
other potent reason for this renunciation our perform-
ances must hnvo been in four different languages.
vi.] LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF." 213
11. Monotonous beyond all monotony is life in the
long night of a Polar winter, and exile can never on earth
be so entire as here under the dreadful triumvirate dark-
ness, cold, and solitude. In such a life, the man who
surrenders himself to idleness, or even to sleeping during
the day, must necessarily be utterly demoralized. In
fact, nothing can be more destructive to an expedition
wintering in the Arctic regions than the indulgence of
mental or bodily lassitude. The real ground of the
failure of the attempts made in earlier times to winter
in Jan Mayen and other places in the far North was
probably the utter want of discipline. There is, however,
a widely spread, though mistaken view, that the long day
of Polar lands is oppressive to man. Nothing is more
untrue; for not continual light, but constant darkness, is
distressing. Continual day-light heightens the energies
and vital powers ; and yet, in our own first winter, it
was less the darkness which wore us than the perpetual
anxiety ; w r hen our greatest consolation was found in the
Arabic proverb, "In niz beguzared" (This too will pass
away), inscribed on our cabin wall.
12. After supper before going to bed, we smoked our
cigars in the shed over the cabin steps, with a ther-
mometer from 20 to 30 below zero K., and talked
pleasantly over bygone days, though our thoughts were
not unmixed with gloomy forebodings, as we heard ever
JM4 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
and anon the ominous sounds that issued from the
moving ice. Existence on board a straining and groan-
ing ship resembles life over a volcano. It was only after
we had been some time in this ice-covered wooden grotto
that the temperature rose, through our own heat, a few
degrees, and it was certainly some testimony to the
excellence of my down-quilted clothes, that I could
wear them in the cabin without being distressed by the
heat, and yet I was able to sit the whole evening in this
freezing hole without suffering from cold. A train-oil
lamp sends out almost more smoke than light, and when
the snow drifted, we had to contend with the importu-
nities of the dogs, who seemed to regard the deck shed
as a great dog-kennel. With a sudden rise of the outer
temperature this shed became utterly uninhabitable,
for its coating of ice then melted and fell down like rain.
1 3. The effect of the long winter night is even
greater on the body than on the mind, because of
the insufficient opportunities for exercise. Midden-
dorf contrasting the influence of climate on men
remarks: "I consider travels in cold regions, even in
the most unfavourable conditions of climate, to be far
less dangerous to life than travels under the tropics.
The former certainly are unutterably more miserable,
but as certainly less deadly. I say this notwithstanding
the danger which threatens ships when they penetrate
vi. J LIFE OX BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF." 215
far within the realms of ice. We are never secure from
sudden and deadly attacks of illness in tropical countries,
but the longer we remain in them the less is the danger ;
whereas the high North deteriorates the constitution of
the blood, and after three winters, very few can stand a
fourth." To the influences of Polar life detrimental to
health, must be added the constant hindrance to perspir-
ation from wearing an extra quantity of woollen clothing,
more or less hurtful as it is more or less waterproof, the
want of fresh animal and vegetable food, and last, but
not least, the periodic departure of light and warmth.
14. Our sanitary condition during the two winters we
spent on board the Tegcttlioff was not altogether
satisfactory. Scorbutic affections of the mouth and
diseases of the lungs appeared sometimes in distressing
shapes, and scarcely a day passed in which we had not
one or two on the sick list. I believe, however, that
our trying situation had far more to do with these evils,
than the southern blood and breeding of our people.
The incessant watchfulness and care of Dr. Kepes left
nothing undone, which could counteract the evil influences
to which we were exposed. The berths of the crew
were changed in rotation, and those which were exposed
to the greatest accumulation of ice, were dried by warm
air conveyed through movable pipes. Want of exercise,
constant change of temperature, depression of mind, tlie
216 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
periodic scarcity of fresh meat, were the causes of the
scurvy. In our first winter it appeared only in the more
crowded quarters of the crew. It was then also that the
first symptoms of lung-disease appeared in Krisch, the
engineer, w r hich he probably contracted from " catch-
ing cold." From that time he liked to sit by the stove
and always complained of cold. Our supplies of pre-
servatives against, and remedies for, scurvy were rather
limited, although we had at our disposal several hundred
tins of preserved vegetables, a cask of cloud-berries
(Rubus chamcemorus), which we had brought from
Tromsoe, and above a hundred bottles of lime juice.
Wine also is an important preservative ; we therefore
served out to the crew, notwithstanding our small
supply, twice a week, not Kepes' artificial, but real
wine at the rate of two bottles for eighteen men. No
doubt scorbutic symptoms would have been far more
general and severe, had we not been fortunate enough
to shoot no less than sixty-seven polar bears, a larger
number than had fallen to any previous expedition. It
was more a sign of our good intentions to leave nothing
undone or untried in our efforts against this malady,
than any actual service it was to us, that we sowed cress
and cabbage radishes did not succeed in a bed which
we suspended over the stove. It was interesting, how-
ever, to observe how the little plants of cress, with every
vi.] LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF." 217
change of position, always turned to the light of the
lamp, growing to the height of three inches, and in
spite of their brimstone colour, retaining the true cress
flavour.
15. The use of the bath tends greatly to promote
health, for without it the skin of the body has no other
stimulant ; but the insecurity of our position rendered
bathing sometimes a somewhat doubtful enjoyment. I
remember many cases, when some of us, while bathing
in the cold dark washing place in lukewarm water an
inch deep, were alarmed by a sudden pressure of ice.
Ultimately we gave up this practice, finding that it
produced a troublesome amount of damp.
16. To a stranger, who should have visited us during
this winter, nothing in the ship would have been so sur-
prising and interesting as a visit to the quarters of the
crew. Except for an hour, from five to six o'clock in the
evening, when they were encouraged to take exercise in
the oj^en air, the rest of their time was spent in school,
or in the duties of the watch, or in the work of the ship.
Our supply of Slavonic books was unfortunately not
very ample, and besides, not all the crew were able to
read ; the greater therefore was their tendency, like men
of southern climes, to harmless noise, and I believe that
some of our people, during the whole expedition, never
ceased to speak. Here 1 beg to insert some passages
218 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
from my journal: " Passing by the steaming kitchen,
we enter their mess-room. Here in a narrow space we
find the toilers of the sea and the mountains eighteen
in number. A little band of Dalmatians who for the
first time encounter darkness and cold, the horrors of
which are increased tenfold to men born and bred in
the sunny South. Truly it could be no little thing to
such men to be torn from sleep almost every night by
the movement of the ice, to sit day after day in the
lono- night of winter without any real intellectual occu-
o o >
pation, and yet not to become demoralized, but remain
calm and composed, and ever ready to obey and oblige.
Can anything higher be said in their praise ? Those
men slept, each by himself, in a double row of berths ;
only Lusina the boatswain, and Carlsen the harpooner,
who had circumnavigated Spitzbergen and Novaya
Zemlya, occupied a separate partition. The clatter
of the tongues of so many vehement Southerners was
like the sound made by the smaller wheels of a machine,
while the na'ive simplicity of the grave Tyrolese came
in between times, like the steady beat of a great cog-
wheel. It was a miniature reproduction of the confusion
of tongues of Babel. Lusina speaks Italian to the
occupants of the officers' cabin, English with Carls en,
French with Dr. Kepes, and Slavonic with the crew.
Carlsen had adopted for the " Slavonians," a.s he called
vi.] LIFE OX BOARD THE "TEGETTHOFF." 219
our people, a kind of speech compounded of Norwegian,
English, German, Italian, and Slavonic. The crew, with
the exception of the two Italians, speak Slavonic among
themselves. The head of the little German colony is
the cook, a Styrian ; his heart is better than his culinary
skill, for only too readily he leaves his work to be done
by the stove. There is also among them a Moravian,
Pospischill, the Vulcan of the ship ; but we must return
to the predominant race the Slavonic. There is Lukino-
vich, a very Harpagon, always collecting, finding treasures
in nails, empty bottles, lamp wicks, and searching even
under the snow for articles wherewith to fill his sack
the sack which he was one day to leave behind him,
much against the grain, when we abandoned the ship.
There is Marola, the steward, and Fallesich, who had
worked at the Suez Canal, these are our great singers.
Then Palmich with his lance, the man whose zeal never
bated, and whose very glance transfixed everything ;
Vecerina, the Job of the party, and the merry Titans,
Sussich and Oatarinich ; Latkovich and Lettis, ' the
philosophers ; ' Stiglich, the immovable confessor of
passive obedience and the unlawfulness of resistance ;
Zaninovich, the "pearl;" Haller the herdsman and Klotz
the prophet. Five of these men had run away from
their wives. Klotz the prophet was under all circum-
stances, not indeed the most useful, but the most
220 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
interesting person of this little community. A lofty
calm worthy of an Evangelist graced his outer man ;
of still greater stature than Andreas Hofer, he wore,
like him, a large black beard. As a hunter, a guide,
a collector of stones, and a lonely enthusiast, he
had moved about the mountains of his home, leading
a life of visions. At home he was regarded as an
incomparably bold mountaineer, and the ropes of the
ship were to him so many convenient foot-paths. His
reputation as a physician in his native land was great,
and on board ship he failed not with his good offices.
Haller, his fellow-countryman, shared with Klotz the
office of armourer, and the duties of hunter and driver
of the sledge dogs ; and when we began our sledge
journeys, both of them were ready to relieve others in
dragging. Both had served in the army, Klotz on the
Tonale, Haller on the Stelvio, and in 1868 the latter
had been my useful companion, when I was engaged
in the survey of the Ortler and Adamello Alps. " The
philosophers " of our party, Latkovich and Lettis, had
drawn a fine distinction between the different layers of
ice, according as they contained a greater or less amount
of saline matter : Ghiaccio delta prima and Ghiaccio
della seconda qucditd.
1 7. To obviate as far as possible the evils of too much
leisure among the men, a school was instituted at the
vi.] LIFE ON BOARD THE " TEGETTHOFF." 221
beginning of the January of the second year ; Lieu-
tenant Weyprecht, Brosch and Orel undertook the
Italians and Slavonians, and I the Tyrolese. To avoid
all confusion I retired with my smaller body of pupils to
the shed on deck. Here, with the thermometer at 20
or 30 below zero R., the seed of wisdom was sown
in the hearts of these sons of nature ; but alas ! the
climate was not favourable to its growth. After many
painful disillusions, the Pole was ascertained to be the in
tersection of lines in a point, of which nothing was to be
seen in reality. If in this little lecture-room an exercise
had to be examined, and the scholars were obliged to
hold in their breath, in order that the teacher, who spoke
out of a cloud, might be able to see the slate ; or when
the pupils engaged in a division sum had suddenly to
stop to rub their hands with snow, was it a matter of
wonder if the school did not flourish exceedingly 1
18. The food of the crew consisted principally of pre-
served meats, different kinds of pulse, and the products
of the chase, amounting on an average to two bears a
week. Bear-flesh, roasted, was liked by all ; the seal
was at first despised, till necessity corrected taste*
Besides artificial wine, water was their strongest drink.
CHAPTER VII.
ICE PRESSURES.
1. WHEN compared with, the tortures we endured from
the thought that we were captives in the ice, little to us
seemed the dangers which threatened our existence,
though these assumed the appalling form of ice
pressures. Daily almost the ship had to sustain the
attacks of our old enemy, and when the ice seemed to
repose, threatening indications were not wanting to warn
us how short that repose might be. My journal records a
long series of commotions in the ice on almost every day
of January 1873, and even during the pauses the timbers
of the ship continually shook and trembled and creaked.
The pressures accompanied by a low grumbling noise were
very great on the 3rd, and lasted till the oldest ice was
shattered, during which our hatchways were displaced.
On the 4th the pressures continued without intermission
during the whole day. But on the 22nd they exceeded
all we had hitherto experienced. When we awoke in
the morning, the crashing of the masses of ice was
CHAP. VII.]
ICE PRESSURES.
223
dreadful. In the mess-room we heard a deep, grumbling,
rumbling noise the ship trembled like a steam vessel
under very high pressure. When we hastened on deck
we were greeted by the long howls which issued from
the ice, and we were soon convinced of the exceedingly
ICE PRESSURE IN THE POLAR NIGHT.
formidable character of this special onset ! Ten paces
astern of the ship, the ice had been heaved up in a
moment into mountains. With the greatest difficulty,
amid the profound darkness that prevailed, the boats were
got on board, and many stores re-shipped, though some
of our coals had to be sacrificed. A tent formed of sails
224 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
was engulfed, and our water-hole utterly displaced by
the pressures ; it was only after many attempts that
we succeeded in finding a thinner ice-table, which we
pierced till we found water. January 26, again tre-
mendous pressures roused us from sleep. In half an
hour every preparation was made to leave the ship, and
I believe that many of us, while waiting the issue amid
the fearful din heard from the deck, longed that the ship
might be crushed, in order to escape from the torture of
continually preparing to depart.
2. I will not, however, fatigue the reader with the
monotonous rehearsal of our ever-recurring daily dan-
gers, but will here insert a lew passages from my journal
of that date which will suffice to explain our position :
" Scarcely asleep after the exhaustion and cares of the
day, the timbers of the ship begin to moan and groan
close by our ear, and we awake and lie listening to the
onset of the ice. We hear the step of the watch on deck
crackling on the ice as he paces to and fro ; as long as it
is measured and steady we know there is nothing to be
feared. Again that uncanny creaking in the timbers,
and the watch comes to announce to those below that the
terrible movement in the ice has begun, and once more
we all spring from our beds, put on our fur clothes,
seize our ready-filled bags, and amid the darkness stand
ready on deck, and listen to the war between the ice and
vii.J ICE PRESSURES. 225
the elements. In autumn, when the ice-fields were not
nearly so large as in the winter, their collision was accom-
panied by a deep dull sound ; but now, rendered hard
and brittle by the extreme cold, a sound as of a howl of
rage l was emitted as they crashed together. Ever nearer
come the rushing, rattling sounds, as if a thousand
heavy waggons were driving over a plain. Close under
us the ice begins to tremble, to moan and wail in every
key ; as the fury of the conflict increases, the grumbling
becomes deeper and deeper, concentric fissures open
themselves round the ship, and the shattered portions
of the floes are rolled up into heaps. The intermitting
howls become fearfully rapid, announcing the acme of
the conflict, and anxiously we listen to the sound which
we know too well. Then follows a crash and crack, and
many dark lines wander over the ice : these are for a
moment narrow fissures, the next moment they yawn
asunder like abysses. Often with such a crash the force
of the pressure seems broken ; the piles of ice collapse,
like the undermined walls of a fortress, and calm is
again restored. But to-day this was but the commence-
ment, and with renewed violence a second assault of the
ice begins, then a third, yea a fourth. Tables of ice
broken off from the floes around us rise perpendicularly
1 The noise produced by such collisions cannot be more fittingly
expressed.
VOL. I. Q
226 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP. vn.
from the sea ; some are bent under the enormous
pressure, and their curved shapes attest the elasticity of
ice. Like a giant in the conflict, a veteran floe, many
winters old, crushes in its rotations its feeble neighbours,
and in turn succumbs to the mighty iceberg the levia-
than of all ice-forms, which forces its way through a
phalanx of opposing masses, crushing them to pieces as
it advances. And in this wild an I fearful tumult a ship
squeezed, pressed, all but crushed, by the ice; her crew
on deck, ready to leave her at a moment's notice.
Boats and sledges, tents, provisions, arms and ammuni-
tion, everything prepared, if the ship should at last be
destroyed but for what ? for an escape ? no one really
thought this possible, though all w r ere ready for the
attempt. But again the conflict ceases, and once more
we breathe freely, and can contemplate the wonderful
change that has come on everything round us. A few
minutes have sufficed to create a maze of mountain
chains from a plain of ice. The flat surfaces covered with
snow, which we saw yesterday, are gone. Ice ruins are
visible on every side. Abysses gape between the
shattered masses, and show the dark sea beneath.
Gradually a calm lias crept over all ; equilibrium is
reinstated in the desolate realm of ice ; new " leads "
and " ice-holes " have been opened up, but for the
Tegetthoff no liberation."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WANE OF THE LONG POLAR NIGHT.
1 . ALTHOUGH the sun was mounting higher, there was no
essential change in the gloom and darkness which sur-
rounded us. In fact we were drifting during the whole
of January towards the north, and were wintering
nearer the pole than any who had ever preceded us. 1
On gloomy days, noon was not distinguishable. We
were now four hundred miles within the Frozen Ocean,
and had been for five months the sport and play of
winds and currents, and nothing indicated any change
in our situation. Yet, in spite of our desperate position,
the first, ever so faint, indications of the return of light
filled us with joy. With a clear atmosphere, January
10, we observed for the first time at noon a decided
brightness, and on the 19th a brilliant carmine was seen
in the sky, an hour before noon on the southern horizon.
After a long obscuration from cloudy weather, the
1 Hall's contemporaneous expedition excepted.
Q 2
228 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP
nuniing twilight increased gradually, and by the end of
the month it was discernible in the forenoon. As the
light increased, the signs of the convulsions were more
distinctly seen. Round us there rose piles of craggy ice,
which, hurled up, as from a crater, by the ice-pressure
of the 22nd, kept us in a state of constant fear, lest
the ice-walls would break up and fall in upon us. At a
little distance off, nothing was to be seen of the ship
but the tops of its masts : the rest of it was hidden
behind a lofty wall of ice. The ship itself, raised seven
feet above the level of the sea rested on a protuberance
of ice, and, removed from its natural element, looked
a truly miserable object. This ice protuberance had
been formed from a floe which had been often rent
asunder and frozen again, and had been rounded in
a singular manner from the underdriving of the ice
and the lateral pressure in its recent movements. In
other respects, also, our environment had been com-
pletely changed. Before the movement in the ice on
the 22nd, a narrow strip of level ice wound like a river
through a maze of hummocks, and throughout the
winter this had been diligently used for exercising the
dogs. Of this nothing was now to be seen : walls of ice
rose, where a fortnight before our coal-house had stood ;
fissures gaped on every side. In every respect the
weather during this month was capricious and unaccount-
viii.] THE WANE OF THE LONG POLAR NIGHT. 229
able. In the first two weeks, the temperature fell
several times below 30 R., and on January 8, 13 and
14, quicksilver, exposed to the cold, froze to a solid
mass ; gin also froze, and alcohol only maintained, its
fluid state. Yet, notwithstanding this low temperature,
the snow was always soft ; and it continued to be so,
amid all the variations of temperature and the high winds
of this month. January 22 and 23, the temperature rose
for a short time to 2*8 R. ; everything in the ship'then
began to thaw, and a disagreeable moisture penetrated
both our clothes and our quarters. The mean temperature
of this month, in consequence of these abnormal varia-
tions, did not exceed 18 R., and was therefore about
ten degrees higher than might have been expected.
2. The bears had in these last weeks kept at a
regrettable distance from us. On the 12th however,
O '
a very large fellow ventured to come within ten paces of
the rope ladder on the starboard side. We fired at him
with explosive balls and he fell ; but his strength was so
great that even after these terrible wounds he was able
to get up and run. Explosive bullets, however, are
to be recommended for encounters with bears, though
their flight is rather uncertain. A bear hunt, on the
o
29th and 30th, had a somewhat tragical result. About
ten o'clock at night, when it was quite dark, a bear
approached the ship, and with the agility of a tiger
230 AUSTRIAN AECTIC VOYAGES. [CH. vin.
fell on Sumbu, who got away very cleverly and by his
loud barking summoned Krisch, who was then on watch,
to his aid. When he was not more than ten feet from
the deck Krisch fired at him and wounded him. The
noise brought some of us at once, and though it was ex-
ceedingly dark and the snow very deep, a useless chase,
in which I joined, forthwith began. The pursuit through
the midst of driving snow became weaker ; until at
last I found myself alone with Palmich. We could see
nothing and heard only an occasional howl of pain. We
hastened our steps through the whirling snow, till we
saw, by the dim light of our lantern, Matoschkin lying
howling on the ground, and the bear a few steps from
him, vigorously assailed by Sumbu, who seized him by
the foot whenever he began to retreat. As Matoschkin
incautiously approached too near, the bear turned,
seized him, and carried him off. To fire with effect
was impossible ; we were too far off to take aim with
our rifles. The bear continued to drag the dog along,
and at last a puff of wind put out our lantern, and
we soon discovered our inability to keep up with our
enemy. Bitterly as we lamented the fate of the poor
dog, whose howls were brought to our ears by the wind,
we had nothing for it but to return to the ship. About
noon next day when it was sufficiently clear, Brosch, the
two Tyrolese, and I set out to ascertain the fate of the
on. vin.] THE WANE OF THE LONG POLAR NIGHT. 233
dog. The snow was drifting heavily, and we constantly
sank into it as we advanced. After a toilsome walk
we came on traces of blood, which Sumbu fol-
lowed up, while Gillis timidly stuck to us. At last,
after we had gone on for the third of a mile, Sumbu
came back in a great state of excitement, and then ran
on before us till he stopped at an ice-hummock, where
he renewed his angry barks. We advanced with quick-
ened steps and with our rifles cocked, and when we were
about twenty paces from it the bear came out from behind,
apparently in great astonishment. After several shots
the bear fell, but again gathering himself up he dragged
himself along like a walrus, in spite of his broken spine,
with extraordinary activity towards an " ice-hole "
covered with young ice. Two other shots with explosive
bullets terminated his career, and Matoschkin, whose
body we afterwards found behind the ice-hillock, was
avenged.
3. The cold set in with great intensity with the month
of February and maintained itself throughout it : the
mean monthly temperature being 28 R. Repeatedly
the quicksilver froze, and in the last eight days it re-
mained solid. Even the petroleum was frozen on the
17th at - 36 R. in the globe of the lamp, though it was
throwing out a considerable heat. The lowest tempera-
ture we experienced was on the last day of the month,
234 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
37 R. Notwithstanding the extreme cold, the light
had increased so much, that a thermometer, in which
the degrees were strongly marked, could be read off, even
on the 3rd of the month, at ten o'clock in the forenoon
without the aid of lamplight ; and on the 20th we were
able to carry on our meteorological observations, without
any artificial light at six o'clock in the evening. The
ruddiness we observed at noon in the south grew more
and more decided. On clear days we could discern,
about seven o'clock in the morning- a faint twilight, and
O ' o *
at noon of February 14 the near approach of the sun
was distinctly to be traced by a bright cloud that was
resting over it, though it was still below the horizon.
About the middle of the month, there was light enough
to cause the different forms and groups of ice to cast
shadows. In spite of the low temperature, we re-
mained for hours in the open air, though previously to
this period we had ventured on deck for a few minutes
only at a time the watch of course excepted. But as
the daylight increased, we saw also what a dark, gloomy
grave had been our abode for so long a period. All our
thoughts and conversations were concentrated on the
returning light of the sun. The movements of the ice
ceased to be a source of dread, though for several
days during the month they had been exceedingly
formidable. In the course of our drifting we had
VIII.]
THE WANE OF THE LONG POLAR NIGHT.
235
penetrated into a region where never ship had been
before. The following table exhibits the course of
the Tegetthoff, as she drifted from August 21, 1872, to
February 27, 1873.
Time.
N. Lat.
E. Lon.
Time.
X. Lat,
E. Lon.
An
i
]
Sq
O
No
g. 21, 1872, day
,vhen the ship was
leset
76-22
76-25
76-23
76-35
76-37
76-28
76-36
76-38
76-37
76-50
76-59
77-4
77-50
77-48
77-46
77-53
77-53
62-3'
62-50
62-49
60-18
60-50
63-9
64-8
64-4
64-10
65-22
65-48
66-1
6922
69-8
69-26
69-12
69-30
Nov. 9, 18
14
18
28
Dec. 4
8
12
16
19
26
Jan. 2, 18
19
26
Feb. 2
14
19
23
27
72
78-15
78-8
78-10
78-13
78-19
78-21
78-25
78-22
78-13
78-10
78-37
78-43
78-50
78-45
78-12
78-15
79 11
79-12
69-42
71-16
70-31
69-48
69-1
69-2
68'57
67-42
67-11
68-19
66-56
69-32
71-47
73-7
7220
71:38
Dt. 1, 18
4
11
14
21
26
27
28
t. 1
2
3
17
18
22
31
v. 5
72
~3
4. The inspection of this table shows that the move-
ment of the ship was retarded as the increasing
cold closed the open places of the sea, and when we
fell under the influence of the Siberian ice-drift from
cast to west. It may be remarked, too, that we drifted
generally straight before the wind, and that we and our
floe during the first four months turned only one degree
in azimuth. By the end of January all the open places
of the sea were closed ; and the masses of ice were
236 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [en. vm.
thus driven one over the other from their mutual pres-
sure, and pile thus rose upon pile. It seems probable,
also, that wind was the main cause of our drifting, while
sea currents were only of secondary moment. From
the beginning of the month of February we drifted
constantly toward the north-west, and from this devia-
tion in our course, we indulged in the hope that we were
approaching the mysterious Gillis' Land. But at this
time the liberation of the ship in the summer was the
sum of our expectations and desires. In fact there was
not one of us who doubted this eventuality. Fully
convinced, as we were, that our floes, firmly attached to
each other, would ultimately break up and drift south-
wards, we determined to make them the bearers of the
record of what had befallen us. Hence we threw out,
February 14th, round the ship a number of bottles,
inclosing a narrative of the main events of the expedi-
tion from the departure of Count Wilczek up to that
date.
CHAPTER IX.
THE RETURN OF LIGHT. THE SPRING OF 1873.
1. THOUGH the sun did not return to our latitude (78
15', 71 38' E. long.) till the 19th of February, we were
able to greet his beams three days previous to that
date, owing to the strong refraction of 1 40', which
accompanied a temperature of 30 (R.). To the polar
navigator the return of the sun is an event of inde-
scribable joy and magnificence. In those dreadful
wastes he feels the force of the superstitions of past
ages, and becomes almost a worshipper of the eternal
luminary. As of old the worshippers of Belus watched
its approach on the luxuriant shores of the Euphrates,
we, too, standing on mountains of ice or perched on the
masts of the ship, waited to hail the advent of the
source of light. At last it came ! A wave of light rolled
through the vast expanse of heaven, and then uprose
the sun-god, surrounded with purple clouds, and poured
his beams over the world of ice. No one spoke for a
238 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [OH. ix.
time. Who indeed could have found words to embody
the feelings of relief which beamed on the faces of all,
and which found a kind of expression in the scarcely
audible exclamation of one of the simplest and least
cultured of the crew, "Benedetto giorno ! " The sun
had risen with but half his disk, as if reluctant to shine
on a world unworthy of his beams. A rosy hue suffused
the whole scene, and the cold Memnon pillars of ice gave
forth mysterious whispers in the flood of heat and light.
Now indeed with the sun had a new year begun what
was it to bring forth for us and our prospects 1 But alas
his stay was short he remained above the horizon for
a few minutes only ; again his light was quenched,
and a hazy violet colour lay over distant objects, and
the twinkling stars shone in the heavens.
2. While we watched the sun's return, we had also
an opportunity of looking on each other. How shocked
and surprised were we with the change which had been
wrought on us in the long polar night ! Our sunken
cheeks were overspread with pallor ; we had all the
signs of convalescence after a long illness- the sharp-
pointed nose, the sunken eye. The eyes of all had
suffered from the light of lamps which had burnt for
months ; those especially who had used them for hard
work. But all these consequences were of short duration
under the beneficent influence of the daylight and the
CH. ix.j THE RETURN OF LIGHT. 241
spring sun, which soon brought colour into our faces.
Cheerfulness gradually returned to all on board the
Tegetthoff, as we revelled in the warm beams of the sun.
We built a house of ice without a roof, and open to the
south, and thither the healthy and the sick on calm
fine days used to repair from the dreary ship, and sun
themselves like lizards. But within the ship it was
still night.
3. The visits of bears again became numerous.
February 1 7th one of about five feet long was shot very
close to the ship, and two days afterwards a second
came near us, but was scared away by the awkwardness
of the hunters. The dogs however pursued him, and we
were compelled from fears for their safety to follow up
the chase. The temperature of 29 R., and a pretty
strong wind against which we had to run in the pursuit
brought on in some of our party palpitation of the heart
and spitting of blood, and our return to the ship was
a matter of some difficulty. On the morning of the
20th another bear came close to the ship, was fired
at, but missed, and got away. Palmich, Haller, and
Klotz immediately gave chase, though the tempera-
ture was -32 R, and the wind high. After a short
time Palmich returned with his face frost-bitten, and
the Tyrolese after several hours, without any success,
but with their feet so frost-bitten that they had
VOL. I. R
242 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
lost all feeling in them. The second stage of the
malady had begun, which renders amputation almost
a necessity. For several hours their feet had to be
rubbed with snow till sensation returned, and with
returning sensation much suffering ; large swellings as big
as a man's fist rose on their feet, which were reduced only
after the application of ice for several days. Again, in
the grey of the morning of February 22nd a bear came
within eighty paces of the ship, which Sussich, the watch
on deck, after several shots, which the animal seemed
not in the least to regard, at last hit and killed.
By a wound on his right forepaw we recognised
our friend whom we had hotly chased a few
days before. He was six feet in length, and in his
stomach there was nothing but a small piece of the skin
of a seal. Sussich was overjoyed with his success, and
for the whole day tried to drag everyone outside the
ship to show the result of his prowess. " Se mi non
era, il copava tutti," he added, with a look of con-
tempt on those who had not been so successful as
himself.
4. Although at the end of February, the sun rose with
a carmine light which imparted an indescribable charm
to the fields of snow and ice, we were doomed to dis-
appointment in our expectation of bright and clear
weather in the after-part of the day. Soon after
IX.]
THE RETURN OF LIGHT.
243
sunrise, white frosty mists gathered over the ice-fields,
making the sun as he shone through them a mere
ball of light, or completely concealing him. On February
24th we enjoyed the peculiar spectacle of seeing the
sun appear, the temperature being 34 R., distorted
THK CARNIVAL ON THK ICK.
by refraction, through the thick mists on the horizon,
as if he were quite flat, beamless, and of a coppery
red. The end of February reminded us of the carnival
time of the land of the South, and the crew appeared in
such masques as they could command ; but their mas-
querading formed a sad and mocking contrast with the
a -2
244 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
gravity of our position. The men bestowed all their art
on " Sumbu," who was dressed up as the demon " Lind-
wurm," and deported himself in a manner highly
becoming his costume.
5. With the month of March the spring had, in name
at least, begun ; but in our sense of the word no spring
as yet appeared. Instead of the joyous gleams of early
vegetation, a blinding white waste environed us ; instead
of the perfumed breath of flowers and the soft air of
spring, there rose driving clouds of ice-needles ; and par-
helia of almost daily occurrence shone in a heavy sleepy
fashion through white frosty mists. The atmosphere
was filled with snow ; to be convinced of this we had
only to look at the sun when the weather seemed clear
and bright. This continual fall of snow as fine as dust,
was the cause of the retardation of the evaporation of
the ice. The influence of the sun was so great, that
March 3 the black-bulb thermometer indicated the un-
usual temperature of + 6 R., and a layer of snow on the
bows of the vessel showed evident signs of diminution.
The thermometer, in the sun, rose eight degrees March 6,
and nine degrees two days after. The weather was
calm and clear, and the increasing influence of the sun
was a most joyful sensation. A cube of ice freely sus-
pended showed during the second half of March a daily
diminution of TTT of its weight from evaporation ; while
ix.] THE RETURN OF LIGHT. 245
in the sea itself' its behaviour was the very opposite ;
the cube of ice, which was submerged to a depth of
ten feet from February 19th to March 5th, showed
at the latter date an increase of its mass, amounting to
| of an inch round its surface. In the beginning and
end of March the cold was so severe, that the thermo-
meter every day for three weeks marked 30 K.
Calms and clear weather, however, characterized this
period of the spring, and snow-drifting and a clouded
sky were rare. On the 13th of March the full moon
again appeared in the azure twilight of the western
heavens, and its soft light fringed with silver the
dark ranges of ice. The days became longer, and
the shadows cast by the masses of ice were shorter and
more marked, and every one who remained long in the
open air was forced to use snow spectacles. Small
avalanches began to fall from the rigging, and the
masts, spars, and ropes lost their white frosted aspect.
On the 22nd the fore part of the ship's hull facing the
south was completely free from snow T and its dark
colour was visible. On the 29th the temperature in
the sun exceeded the temperature at 9.30 A.M. by
15 R.; and on the 30th we could for the first time
observe the melting of the snow on the seams of the
o
timber of the ship's hull. The enumeration of these
events, insignificant as they may appear, will serve to
24G AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
show, with what attention the polar navigator notes
the minutest occurrence due to the influence of the
sun.
6. Welcome, though illusive, harbingers of the return-
ing summer were the first birds, whose arrival we greeted
on the 19th. These were little divers, which flew over
the ship to the open spaces of water amid the ice, there
to seek their food in the countless crustacese which
abound in them. Magnificent auroras continued to illu-
minate our nights ; and although the duration of their
intensity was much too brief to serve as a source of
light, there was a charm in these phenomena which
their daily recurrence could not weaken.
7. While under these various influences the health of
all on board the Tegettlioff greatly improved, we were
threatened with the serious calamity of losing our excel-
lent physician, Dr. Kepes, who fell ill on the 13th of the
month. For two weeks we were kept in a state of anxious
fear for him ; and our anxieties were increased as we
had to treat his malady without the necessary know-
ledge and experience. To our great joy, however, he
was spared to us ; and our supply of fresh bear's-flesh
was henceforth reserved for him.
8. For some time the bears had observed a very dis-
tressing reserve and shyness in their visits. On the
15th one came near us, and as Pekel had for some
IX.]
THE RETURN OF LIGHT.
247
time announced his approach, he found a long front
of rifles drawn up behind some masses of ice to give
him a warm reception. He, as usual, came on
under the wind, showing considerable interest in our
edifices. He then ascended a small ice-craor and,
O *
after balancing himself carefully, sat down on the
THE " TF.OKTTHOFK " l>KIKTIN(i IX PACK-ICE.- MARCH IST'i.
top of it, with his snout uplifted, snuffing all round.
This seemed so ludicrous to some of our party that
they burst out into a laugh so loud, that the bear
came down from his pinnacle in evident astonishment.
and with much circumspection drew nearer and nearer
till at a short distance from us he fell mortally wounded.
'248 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP
He was, alas ! a very small animal, about 5^ feet long,
and his stomach was absolutely empty. On the 30th of
March another came close to the ship ; the watch on
shore fired at, but missed him, whereupon both the
watch and the bear took to flight.
9. April at last arrived, and with it the time of icicles,
which hung down from every yard of the ship, and from
every rope of the rigging, from every icy ridge and crag.
The melting and decaying of the ice, though always a
source of satisfaction when the question of its breaking
up is discussed, went on, to our impatient desires, with
intolerable slowness. What was it to us that we were
able to read even at midnight on the 2nd of April ; that
the number of divers and sea-gulls constantly increased ;
that on the 6th the difference of temperature between
sun and shade was 1 8 ; that the black-bulb thermometer
on the 20th showed + 5 R. ; that the sun on the llth rose
about two o'clock in the morning, and from the 16th
remained constantly in the heavens 1 What did all this
matter ? The constant light notwithstanding, we were
still environed with the signs of deepest winter, and the
forms and masses of ice collapsed with a slow delibera-
tion that tortured us. We were no longer to be satisfied
and amused with the spectacle of parhelia, even though
the phenomenon should appear, as it did on the 1st of
April, with eight suns. Months of weary waiting still
ix.] THE RETURN OF LIGHT. 249
lay before us ; daily we had to arm ourselves with
patience, as, when we came on deck, we discovered the
apparently unchangeable character of our environment,
with all its forms, which had become familiar to us
down to the smallest details. Reluctantly condemned
to almost total idleness, we filled up our time with such
occupations as fancy suggested. Some of our people
built a tower of ice on a level part of our floe ; others
tried their rifles tried often enough before at empty
bottles as targets. Along with the Tyrolese I con-
structed a road through hills of ice, over passes and
ridges, going up and down in serpentine paths, making
a circuit of about three miles round the ship. The
labour of weeks with picks and shovels was expended
in making and preserving it ; after each downfall of
snow this road had to be dug out afresh. Our
passing and repassing along it through a maze of ice
not only beneficially exercised our bodies, but furnished
opportunities for training our dogs to drag heavy-laden
sledges. I continued also to fill my portfolio with
studies of scenery in the ice, and I accustomed myself,
whenever there was no wind, whatever might be the
temperature, to draw for hours together with no other
protection to my hands than light gloves.
10. April had begun with a temperature of 31 R. ; as
the month advanced it steadily increased. At the end of
250 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
the month the extreme of cold was but- 15 R. But
the wea.ther had now lost the clearness of the early
spring ; and constant calms, together with the frequent
falls of snow, undid the work of the few hours of
the day on which the sun shone. The ice was covered
with deep snow ; on the level we sank ankle deep,
while among the hummocks it was up to our knees.
Sledging, would have been impracticable. Among
the changes produced by the spftening of the weather,
none was greater or more agreeable than the return
of daylight to the cabin, when we took off the cover-
ing of the skylight and removed the tent-roof from
the fore part of the ship. Once more to be able to
read without the dull glimmer of artificial light
was an extraordinary event in our monotonous life.
For five months our lamps had been burning in our
messroom, so that the walls were black with smoke, and
it was a work of no small labour to make them clean
and pleasant. The unloading of the ship's hold was,
however, a far heavier, though necessary task ; the
thick crusts of ice which had accumulated on its
sides must be removed, lest the provisions should be
damaged by their thawing ; and there was no time to
lose, for the temperature in the hold was only 1
below zero. The provisions, which had been left out
on the ice, were again stowed in the ship, the cessation
ix. THE RETURN OF LIGHT. 251
of the ice-pressures rendering this precautionary
measure useless.
11. Round a ship which has wintered in the ice there
is gradually accumulated a mass of rubbish of all kinds,
of which cinders form a considerable constituent. These,
when thrown out in small quantities, sink at once into
the snow, while larger quantities act as a non-conducting
layer. Hence we were surrounded by a maze of holes,
big and little, alternating with plateaus, under which
winter still continued to linger. When thaw-water made
its appearance, all this was transformed into a succession
of lakes and islands, which we bridged over by planks.
12. Meantime we began our labours of digging-
out the ship. We removed the wall of snow, which
had served as an outer garment and protection dur-
ing the winter, and the hard-trodden layer which
covered the deck a foot thick. In clearing away
from the after-part of the ship, we discovered that the
.machinery protecting the screw had been torn away
by the ice-pressures. The mischief done, however, was
not considerable ; and as the ship made no water, we
consoled ourselves with the thought, that she had sus-
tained no material injury, though she had lain so long
out of water perched on the floe,
13. The continued cessation of movements in the ice
induced Weyprecht to erect a tent at no great distance
252 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
from the ship, to carry on in it observations of the mag-
netic constants, which were taken on certain appointed
days. On the night of one of such days, Orel, who
conducted these observations, was surprised by the
visit of a bear. His shouts for help brought us on
deck, but before we could actually reach him, the sea-
man on the watch had killed the bear with an
explosive bullet. Hitherto these animals had shown
little courage in the neighbourhood of the ship, and to
shoot them from the deck exposed no one to any danger ;
but this incident showed us that we could not count
securely on their actions. Soon after this we had
another surprise. Stiglich, the seaman on watch on
shore, suddenly found himself confronted with a bear
about eight paces off. Throwing his cap to the bear, he
made a rush for the rope ladders of the ship, but fell in
his hurry and confusion. Carlsen, hearing his cries for
help, hastened to the rescue, and dexterously shot the
pursuer. A glorious event for Carlsen ! who used to tell,
us strange stories of his encounters with bears ; how he
had scared them away with the glance of his eye ; and
how once in Novaya Zemlya he had frightened away a
whole pack of them by the magic of his glance. All
doubts in the prowess of his eye were silenced to-day
by the more unquestionable prowess of his rifle. On
the 28th of May a bear clambering over the wall of
ix.] THE RETURN OF LIGHT. 253
ice close astern of the ship was shot dead with an ex-
plosive bullet. His stomach was empty, but notwith-
standing his leanness, he furnished more meat than
many others, for he was fully seven feet long.
14. At the end of April the force of the winds so
loosened the compactness of the ice, that dark strips
hanging above the horizon in all directions announced
o o
the existence of numerous fissures, although they were
invisible even from the masts of the ship. We counted
on these signs with such unshaken confidence, that
when on the 2nd of May we heard in the distance the
now familiar sound of the ice-pressures, we heard them
not only without dismay, but as the voice of a joyous
message. Three-quarters of a year had passed away
since we were first caught in the ice a time laden to us
with bitter disappointments to our hopes, and great
dangers to our lives. The hour of our long and ardently
desired liberation seemed at hand. If once we got free,
it lay within the bounds of possibility that we might
reach, if not the somewhat mythical Gillis' Land, then
at least the uninhabited arctic coasts of Siberia. Siberia
had, in fact, become the rosiest of our hopes. Some,
indeed, still indulged in extravagant expectations and
counted on the discovery of new lands, even while they
drifted w r ith the ice. But our wishes for the most part
had become so subdued, that the discovery of the
254 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAI-.
smallest cliff would have satisfied our ambition as
discoverers.
15. But Nature's laws held their own course, undisturbed
by our desires. Snow continued to fall in abundance,
and spread its mantle over the ice. The constant round
of downfalls and evaporation was a sad bar to our hopes.
In the beginning of May the snow began to thaw on the
surface, and became soft and sticky. Even in the depth
of winter it was never hard, but like the fine dry
grains of driving sand. This change in the snow,
which occurs a fortnight earlier than in Greenland,
compelled us to substitute our black leather boots for
those of sailcloth, which we had hitherto worn. On
the 2nd of May the temperature fell 18 below zero (R.),
but it now began to rise gradually, so that it sometimes
reached the zero point about the end of the month, and
on the 29th rose two degrees above it. The mean tem-
perature of the month, however, was not above - 7 R.
But the difference of temperature in the sun and the
shade became greater and greater. The thermometer
marked -22 R at G P.M. of the 1st of May, and on the
llth the black-bulb thermometer showed -f 26 R. at
3 P.M., while the common instrument gave only - 8 R.
In the middle of the month, after the heavy winds fell,
we were enveloped with dark fog banks ; stray beams of
the sun broke through the warm misty atmosphere, and
ix.J THE RETURN OF LIGHT. >;>$
dark skies were succeeded by masses of white vapour
illuminated by the sun. Just as in our happier clime, -
the Arctic April has her alternations of cloud and
sunshine.
16. Hitherto the only birds which had visited us were
divers and gulls. Once only a snow-bunting flew among
us, and fearlessly settled on the ship. On the 24th of
May the auks made their appearance, and from that
date we were constantly entertained by the whirring
sounds of their flight. As they keep one direction in
their flight, we could shoot those only which passed over
the ship ; they were a useful addition to our table,
though they had to be steeped in vinegar to make
them palatable. The majestic Burgomaster Gull ap-
peared somewhat later, and later still the " Ice-birds "
frequented the shores of the lakes around us, and hovered
round the remains of the bears we had shot. These
birds settled with the greatest boldness in the immediate
neighbourhood of the ship, and day and night filled the
air with their wild shrill cries.
17. By the middle of March, Krisch, the engineer,
had put the steam machinery in working order, but
another month elapsed before the screw-propeller, which
had been frozen fast, was set free ; our fears lest
it should refuse to act proved to be groundless. As
however, there was no prospect of our being able to
256 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
use steam for some time, it was thought advisable to
dig out and raise the rudder in order to secure it.
18. On the 26th of May a partial eclipse of the sun
was visible in our latitude ; but from an error in our
calculations, we had ante-dated the commencement of the
observation by about two hours and a half. Everyone on
board who had an instrument at his command stood ready
to observe the passage of the moon over the sun's disk.
After waiting for some time in vain, we discovered the
error we had committed as to the time of the beginning
of the eclipse, but in order that the dignity of astro-
nomical observation might not be degraded in the eyes
/
of the crew, we still held our ground with the telescopes
in our hands. Two hours of such suspense enabled us
to feel that there could be no more perfect fulfilment of
the punishment of Sisyphus than being condemned to
wait for an eclipse of the sun which would not come
off ! At last the eclipse took place, but not until great
disgust had been excited in the minds of men, who
were too much inclined to regard the whole thing
as a piece of humbug. At the height of the eclipse
about one-third only of the sun's disk was obscured, and
the sun was so covered with mist that we could look at
it without the use of coloured glasses. The whole dura-
tion of the eclipse was one hour and fifty-six minutes.
19. From the 1st of the month the number of living
ix.] THE RETURN OF LIGHT. 257
creatures belonging to the expedition had been increased
by the birth of four Newfoundland puppies, who passed
the earliest days of their youth in a tent erected on
the ice, and artificially heated to the temperature of a
European May. But all our care in rearing this Utter
was frustrated by one of these little polar wretches,
w r ho, after sucking his mother till he was as round as a
drum, lay on his brothers as they slept, and stifled them.
This little criminal received the name of Torossy,
and soon became the pet of the crew, and a favourite
with all the other dogs. The fame which he afterwards
gained made him an important member of the expedition.
All the dogs had become so hardy during the past winter,
that they now slept outside their kennels, finding the
inside too warm for them.
VOL. T.
CHAPTER X.
THE SUMMER OF 1873.
1. THE time crept away with indescribable monotony.
The crew performed their heavy labours, but of events
there were none. The only change in our position was
the constant decay of the buttresses and walls of ice,
until the frozen sea lay like a snowy chaos before us.
Pure sharp-edged ice was nowhere to be seen ; the
edges were no longer transparent ; evaporation had trans-
formed the surface into a kind of glacier-snow. June 1,
we had the greatest degree of cold of the month, the
thermometer marking 8 '6 R. ; but on the last day
it rose to +0*1 R. ; the mean temperature being
0'4 R. Every week brought us promises of summer.
On the 1st the black-bulb thermometer reached +29
R. ; on the 1 4th rain fell for the first time ; on the
16th the temperature, at 9 o'clock A.M., was + 4'2
R., on the 26th, + 6'4 R., and on the 29th even
+ 8'1 R. On these days the air seemed to have the
CH. x.] THE SUMMER OF 1873. 259
pleasant mildness of southern climes, and when there
was no wind we felt an oppressive sultriness. Wreaths
of mist moved along the icy wastes which glowed with
sun-light, while the long dark lines of ice-wall lay in
deep shadow. The air was filled with flocks of birds ;
day and night we heard the shrill cries of the Robber-
gulls, ever and anon mingled with the barking of the
clogs in full pursuit of them. Flocks of rotges congre-
gated without fear in the narrow basins of distant
"leads ; " and the " great gulls/' shunning companionship,
sat for hours on the top of an ice-cliff, or in the middle
of a floe.
2. No one who has not actually seen it, can imagine
the blaze of light in the Arctic regions on clear
days, or the glow which floats sometimes over the cold
white ice-floes, with their outlines in constant vibra-
tion, while refraction transforms the ice-bergs into a
variety of shapes. The sun's power is sometimes so
great as to blister the skin in a few hours, and the
D *
glare from snow and ice produces snow-blindness, if
the eyes be not carefully protected. At a little distance
the sea appears to be of a deep black colour, though
it still preserves its ultramarine hues in the narrow
" leads ; " even the pure blue of the heavens may be
called almost black when compared with the dazzling
s -2
260 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
'sheen of the ice. In the middle of June there was an
incessant dripping and oozing in the ice-world, and
streams of thaw-water flowed into the open fissures. By
the end of the month the surface of the ice resembled
snow ; and even at some depth it was viscous, instead
of brittle and hard as glass, as it is during the
colder season. Streams of thaw-water ran through
the softened and saturated snow. Small lakes were
formed on the levels, and swamps of snow, wearing a
traitorous exterior, surrounded their borders. In the
summer of 1873 we observed a vertical decrease of five
or six feet in the thickness of the ice ; but this diminution
in thickness was from the surface downwards, while in
the sea itself, there was little or no thawing, because the
temperature of its surface was still below zero. The
moisture, from which there was no escape, became
exceedingly troublesome. In spite of our stout leather
boots we had never the comfort of dry feet during the
whole of the summer, and this we felt the more, as our
labours to free the ship, which we had commenced at
the beginning of May, necessitated our being constantly
amid the snow and ice.
3. At the end of May the ship began slowly to settle,
and the water rose between the ice and the hull on
the forepart of the ship. But we soon discovered, that
x.] THE SUMMER OF 1873. 261
these small changes would not suffice to free us from our
prison house, but that we must ourselves endeavour to
loosen the fetters w T hich held us fast, if it were only to
banish gloomy thoughts of the future by action of some
kind or other. Hence constant digging, sawing and
blasting on our floe through May, June, July, and August
labours in which the whole crew of the ship, with the
exception of the sick and of the cook, took part ; labours,
alas ! which admonished us of the impotence of man when
he contends against the power of Nature. Only on the
port side of the ship were our efforts to dig through the
floe at all successful ; on the starboard side the floe had
been so enormously increased by the tables of ice forced
upon one another, that we had not pierced through the ice
after sinking a shaft eighteen feet deep ; and at last the
water, forcing itself through the pores of the ice, com-
pelled us to desist from the labour of sinking deeper. The
process of sawing was possible only where we had broken
through the ice that is on the port side ; yet even
there the great thickness of the floe necessitated the
construction of longer instruments, for which the iron
casing of the engine-room had to furnish the material.
The difficulty of sawing increases with the thickness of
the ice in an almost incredible manner. It is easy enough
to cut through a floe, four or five feet thick, but to
262 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
break up one, eight or ten feet thick, is a matter of
great difficulty. Our saws too, even when they were
lengthened, permitted a play of only a foot ; and their
twisting, as they cut deep, proved a great hindrance.
Besides, when we had cut to the depth of a fathom, the
saws were always frozen fast, and when we attempted to
free them by blasting they were very often broken in
pieces. But even the sections, made with so much diffi-
culty, often proved to be quite useless, as they were
frozen together again by broken ice left in the cut.
Blasting with gunpowder proved as ineffectual as in the
previous year ; in fact the process was only applicable
to ice-blocks which had been loosened by sawing, and
which could not be broken up by the crow-bar alone.
4. By the middle of June we were at last convinced
that the thickness of the ice rendered it impossible to join
together, by sawing, the two-and-twenty holes which
we had dug out round the ship. Henceforward our
labours were confined to the formation of a basin at
the forepart of the ship. Although we saw the impossi-
bility of liberating the vessel, as long as she rested on a
mountain of ice, we hoped that the basin would help
to break up the floe, and that the Tegetthoff would of
itself return to its normal position. The gliding down
of the ship, raised as it was, to its natural water-line
x.J THE SUMMER OF 1873. 263
might indeed easily end in a catastrophe, but we braved
this peril when we thought of the vain attempts we
had made to free her. Though the ship sunk so
much in the course of the summer, that its height above
the water-line was' a little more than two feet in the
fore part of the ship, and three feet in the after part,
this circumstance in our favour was outweighed by the
disadvantage of the rapid melting away of the ice at its
sides. The ship, freed from its covering of ice, stood so
high above it, that in order to guard against the danger
of its overturning we were obliged, in the second half of
the summer, to shore it up by strong timbers fastened to
its masts. It looked no longer like a ship, but like a
building ready to fall in ! In the middle of July Lieu-
tenant Weyprecht ordered Krisch, the engineer, to con-
struct heavy chisels and borers to ascertain the thick-
ness of the ice. After long and hard labour, we found
that after boring through several ice-tables, to a depth of
twenty-seven feet, we still struck on ice ! Every attempt,
therefore, to break through this accumulation had to be
given up, and we contented ourselves with leading the
basin we had formed on the fore part round the lar-
board side of the ship. On the 27th of the month,
twenty tons of coal were removed to the ice, in order to
lighten the ship as much as possible, and every day we
264 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
had to look to the props which steadied the ship, as the
melting of the ice rendered them unsafe. In the follow-
ing weeks, the bows continued to sink into the water,
while the after-part as a natural consequence was
raised up.
5. Even in the month of July, the weather was generally
gloomy and unsettled. We had several times two or
three inches of snow, and the showers were mingled
with mist, rain, and snow, as had been the case in June.
The winds were generally from the west ; the mean tem-
perature of the month was + 1 '2 R. ; on the 8th of
July, the black bulb thermometer marked +3 3 "7 R.
and the temperature in the shade at the same date
amounted to + 1 R. But neither wind nor temperature
made any change in our position. The sun on which
our liberation depended was seldom visible ; and the
winds on which we had counted failed to blow. For
weeks we watched for the formation of fissures round
the ship. Fissures indeed were formed, but at such a
distance that they were utterly useless to us. On
the 16th of June, one opened towards the south-east ;
but it was at least two miles distant, and in the
middle of July it was only half a mile nearer to us.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, was to be seen from the
deck but ice, and Klotz, coming down one day from the
x.] TOE SUMMER OF 1873. 2G5
top-sail yard, described our position with a melancholy
laconic brevity : " Nix als Eisch, und nix als Eisch und
nit a bisserl a Wosser." (Nothing but ice, ice everywhere,
and not a patch of water.} Amid such impressions all
hope gradually left us. The drifting of the ice ceased to
animate our hopes. Even the approach of a fissure on
the 29th of July to the distance of three quarters of a
mile, in consequence of heavy gales from the south and
west, ended in miserable disappointment A move-
ment in the ice which began a little way off on the
6th of August, resulted only in the diminishing of
our floe. There was no essential change in the remain-
der of this month, except that the monthly mean tem-
perature fell to + 0'32 R. We had the greatest extreme
of heat on the 4th of August, + 4'4 R. ; but on the last
day of the month we had 4' 6 degrees of cold.
6. For some time we had been surprised by the appear-
ance of a large dark mass of ice, the distance of which
prevented us from making a closer acquaintance with it.
Our life on the narrow space of our floe had quite
assumed the character of that of mere insects, who dw r ell
on the leaf of a tree and care not to know its edges.
Excursions of one or two miles were regarded as
displaying an extraordinary amount of the spirit of
enterprise and discovery. On the 14th some of us
266 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
pushed on for about four miles to the group of ice just
mentioned, and discovered it to be a very large ice-
berg. Two moraines lay on its broad back. These
were the first stones and pieces of rock we had seen for
a long time, and so great was our joy at these mes-
sengers of land, that we rummaged about among the
heaps of rubbish, with as much zeal as if we had found
ourselves among the treasures of India, Some of the
party found what they fancied to be gold (pyrites),
and gravely considered, whether they would be able
to take a quantity of it back to Dalmatia. Although
the glaciers of Novaya Zemlya could not shed ice-
bergs of such magnitude as that on which we now
stood, we all held it for certain that it had come
from thence. Not one of us had the least presentiment
that it could belong to new lands, to which at that time
we were near. Even the other ice-bergs, which we dis-
covered in increasing numbers on the following days, did
not as yet speak to us the language of a message
to fill us with hope and ardour. Our walk to the
"dirt ice-berg" was an event in our monotonous life,
and was often repeated. These expeditions enabled us
also to form some conception of the size of our floe, the
diameter of which could not be less than six or seven
miles.
x.] THE SUMMER OF 1873. 267
7. August 38 the birthday of his Majesty our
Emperor, the ship was dressed with flags, the only form
left to us of expressing our loyalty. Our dinner was as
sumptuous as the circumstances permitted, though fast-
ing would have been more appropriate, as the third
day after this was the anniversary of that sad and
gloomy day, on which we were inclosed in the ice. In
order to visit an ice-berg which lay to the north-west of
us, we ventured beyond our floe for the first time and
passed over a fissure to some drifting ice-floes which lay
in the way. A seal lying on the ice was immediately
attacked by our dogs, but succeeded after many efforts
in reaching its hole. From the top of the ice-berg,
which was about 60 feet high, we discovered that the
few openings in the ice were not navigable " leads " but
isolated holes utterly unconnected, and therefore useless
for navigation.
8. We had continually drifted, since the beginning of
February, first to the north-west and then to the north,
with few modifications ; at that date, we had reached our
greatest East Longitude, and winds appeared as before
to be the main cause of this drifting. At the end of
that month there was a succession of calms, and we
lay almost motionless in latitude 79, and longitude 71.
The subjoined table shows our change of place in the
following months.
268
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
CHAP.
Time.
Latitude.
Longitude.
Time.
Latitude.
Longitude.
March 3, 1873
79 13'
69 32'
June 27, 1873
79 137'
59 46-0
? * )>
79 19
68 28
28
79 15'5
59 35-4
, 14
79 20
68 2ft
July 3
79 15-2
59 14'8
, 20 ,
79 33
68 52
4
79 14-8
59 13-3
, 25 ,
79 23
67 17
8
79 15-2
59 5'8
, 27 ,
79 15
67 29
10
79 13-2
59 9-0
, 29 ,
79 14
67 35
15
79 9'8
59 52-6
April 2 ,
79 6
66 49
18
79 7'3
59 50-4
3 ,
79 5
66 42
19
79 7'6
59 35-1
,, 7 ,
79 4
20
79 8-7
59 33-6
10 ,
79 12
68 1
21
79 9-2
59 33-1
12 ,
79 19
67 43
22
79 9-0
59 34-1
13 ,
79 20
67 40
33
79 6'6
59 34-2
15 ,
79 14
67
24
79 7-1
59 29-5
19 ,
79 18
65 51
25
79 6'6
59 27-3
20 ,
79 19
65 37
31
78 58-5
60 25-5
27 ,
79 13-5
64 37-0
August 1
78 56-9
60 40-6
v 28 ,
79 12-2
64 41-8
4
79 0-4
61 6'2
May 1 ,
79 15-8
64 58-8
13 ,
79 25-4
61 6-6
2 ,
79 17-1
65 3'9
14 .
79 24-5
61 16-3
6 ,
79 16-0
65 0-5
16 ,
79 27-8
61 7'6
10 ,
79 20-4
65 41-9
19 ,
79 291
61 31-0
11 ,
79 20-2
65 32-4
21 ,
79 31-3
61 44'8
13 ,
79 197
65 15-8
30 ,
79 43-0
60 23-7
14 ,
79 19-8
64 45'6
31 ,
79 42-5
60 5'6
16 ,
79 15-5
63 39-0
Sept. 2 ,
79 40-2
60 32-9
17 ,
79 13-1
63 21-7
5 ,
79 41-3
60 12'5
22 ,
79 9'2
62 3-5
8 ,
79 34-2
59 47-3
29 ,
79 2-4
62 55'5
9 ,
79 33-6
59 45'9
30 ,
79 2-5
62 54-2
10 ,
79 32-2
59 53-1
31 ,
79 2-5
62 53-9
16 ,
79 45-6
61 30-5
June 1 ,
79 2-4
62 43-2
23
79 49-6
61 58-1
3 ,
79 0-4
62 297
30
79 58-3
60 41-1
5 ,
79 1-3
62 24*8
Oct. 16
79 54-6
60 34-7
6
79 1-1
62 20-2
19
79 53-9
60 40-6
9 ,
79 5'4
61 31-4
23 ,
79 44-5
60 7'9
10 ,
79 5-3
61 23'6
26 ,
79 44-3
59 17-1
11 ,
79 4-3
61 21-3
27 .
79 44-0
59 14-1
18 ,
79 6'6
61 5-2
28 ;
79 43-8
59 6-6
20 ,
79 8'6
61 2'8
29 ,
79 44-8
59 9-8
22 ,
79 9'2
60 54-9
30 ,
79 49-0
58 59-9
24 ,
79 8'4
60 31-8
31 ,
79 50-6
58 537
25 ,
79 11-2
60 14-6
Ship
26 ,
79 13-3
59 55-3
Land ice
79 51-1
58 56-0
9. The meteorological observations of the expedition,
and the course of the Tegetthqff', have been ably analysed
x.] THE SUMMER OF 1873. 209
by Vice- Admiral Baron, von Wiillerstorff-Urbair in the
Mittheilungen of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of
Vienna, and while I refer the curious reader to these
reports for a fuller discussion of these questions, I
subjoin the most important paragraphs of the Admiral's
report which concern the course of the Tegetthoff.
" Under ordinary circumstances a ship drifts on with
the floe ; it is imprisoned and necessarily obeys the force
of the wind and the sea-currents. Its course, consequently,
corresponds to the combined effect of these forces. But,
inasmuch as the Tegetthoff was not in the free sea, but
was driven along for the greater part of the time in close
pack ice, the ship not only obeyed the general movement
of the ice, which was dependent on the direction of the
winds and currents of the sea, but was also influenced
by its vicinity to coasts and by the greater or lesser
accumulation of ice.
"In so far as the Tegetthoff' with her hull and masts
presented a greater surface to the wind, the floe, on
which it was imprisoned, would necessarily receive an
excess of movement in the direction of the wind. If
this excess formed an angle with the direction of the
movement of the ice, the ship's floe would deviate to the
side of the least resistance, and drift according to the
resultant between wind and resistance. Thus it might be
that the ship's course deviated from the wind, even in a
270 AUSTRIAN AKCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
direction opposed to it. But these anomalies certainly
were not great, and could not well be estimated, because
the deviations which thus arose depended on the direc-
tion of the wind, on the density and mass of the ice,
on causes, in fact, which could not be exhibited under
numerical relations.
" If we compare the statements, as given in the Meteoro-
logicalJournal, 1 concerning the ice-drift and ice-pressures,
it is seen that the maximum of both occurred in those
parts of the sea in which the ship was within the action
of the ice coming from the Sea of Kara, and that the
greatest deviations in the ship's course necessarily
happened there.
" With respect to another abnormal deviation in the
ship's course, it cannot be doubted that this depended
on the vicinity of Franz Josef Land, towards which
the masses of ice drifted under the action of continuous
south-west winds ; and were again driven back, thus
forming a circle in their movement. It would seem
natural to assume the existence of a sea-current in order
to explain this peculiarity ; but the configuration of that
land and its coasts, or the greater or lesser amount of
immovable ice, or, lastly, the prevailing winds in those
regions may have influenced the direction of the move-
ment of the ice, and consequently of the ship's course.
1 See Appendix.
x.] THE SUMMER OF 1873. 271
"If we consider the prevalence of winds, as furnished
by Weyprecht's observations for more than two years,
we find south-west winds prevailing in the southern part
of the seas that were navigated, and north-east winds in
the northern part of those seas.
"If the sea to the east of Franz Josef Land should
not be broken by larger groups of islands, or by masses
of land, but be a vast range of ocean, the winds would
be free from the influence of land, and blow in a north-
easterly direction, and exhibit, so to speak, the pheno-
menon of a Polar north-east trade wind. If it should
be the case, that north-east winds prevail to the north
of the 78th or 79th degree of north latitude, and, at the
same time, south-west winds to the south of that same
degree, the notion of a sea-current must be dismissed,
and a revolving movement in the ice assumed, in the
opposite direction to the hands of a clock. The obser-
vations of Weyprecht on these winds establish their
circulatory character. The curve of deviation in the
course of the TegettJioff seems to be in harmony with
this assumption. But these suppositions cannot be ac-
cepted, until observations be made on the winds to the
south of 79 N. L. at the same season of the year with
those which were so successfully made by Weyprecht
to the north of this degree.
"The following arguments, however, would seem to
272 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
favour the supposition of the existence of a sea-current.
The curve at the commencement of its deviation cor-
responds pretty nearly with the direction which the
Gulf Stream would take after passing round Norway,
and in its further course with that current, which
comes out of the Sea of Kara between Novaya
Zemlya and Cape Taimyr, and which undoubtedly
exists, though its course has to be more accurately
determined.
" However small may be the value we assign to the
winds in explanation of the deviation in the Tegettkoff 's
course, it is at any rate impossible to ascribe those phe-
nomena to the influence of the coast formation. We
must, therefore, assume either, that the different direc-
tions of the wind produce a constant circulation of the
ice in the sea to the north of 79 ; or that currents
known to exist in this and contiguous seas cannot be
excluded from the small part of the ocean lying between
Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land."
From these and other grounds the Vice-Admiral Baron
von Wtillersdorf draws the following conclusions :
" It is probable that there exists a sea-current in the
seas between Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land ;
that at any rate, its existence cannot positively be
denied, although the prevailing winds may produce
similar phenomena.
X.]
THE SUMMER OF 1873.
"That there is a great probability that the Ocean
stretches far to the north and east beyond the eastern
end of Novaya Zemlya."
10. During the summer Orel took soundings of
the depth of the sea, which he was prevented from
continuing in the winter by the frost. These show
its shallowness on the north of Novaya Zemlya,
especially towards Franz Josef Land. A bank, over
.SOUNDING IN THE fUOZKX OCKAN.
which we drifted in the summer of 1873, and which
we explored with a drag-net, was the principal source
of the collection of marine fauna, which we shall speak
of in a later chapter. These soundings also enabled
Orel to prove the small increase of the temperature of
the sea at any considerable depth. He used in his
experiments the maximum and minimum thermometer
of Casella. The specimens we collected showed, that the
VOL. I. T
271
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
[CH. X.
bottom of the sea consists of layers of mud and shells.
The soundings are exhibited in the following table :
Time.
Metres.
Time.
Sletres.
Time.
Metres.
July 20, 1872
400
June 19, 1873
186
Aug. 9, 1873
244
28 ,
115
., 20
220
10 ,
225
31 ,
250
21
195
11 ,
209
An?. 3 ,
130
22
200
12 ,
214
4 ,
80
23
169
13 ,
189
22 ,
36
24
178
14 ,
177
30 ,
170
25 ,,
195
15 ,
170
Sept, 16 ,
100
26
220
16 ,
170
25 ,
90
97
;> z ' ))
227
17 ,
174
29 ,
85
j> 28
233
18 ,
148
3<>
190
29
240
>j *" ?>
152
Oct. 2
170
30
240
20
138
-, 9
450
July 1
240
21
130
Nov. 14
345
3
245
.-, 22
131
Jan. 28, Ib73
510
4
250
23
128
Mar. 27
450
,, *
235
24 ,
145
April 28
350
6
235
25 ,
140
May 17
230
~ ,
274
,, 26 ,
185
18 i,
187
5> 8 ,
266
27 ,
219
19
172
,, 9 ,
250
28 ,
180
20
163
10 ,
250
29 ,
132
21
138
, 11 ,
236
30 ,
211
22
186
, !2
265
31 ,
197
23
162
, 13 ,
247
Sept. 1 ,
260
25 .,
177
, 14 ,
215
9
5) ^ )
142
25
182
, 15 ,
195
, 3 ,
212
26
186
, 16 ,
184
, 4 ,
215
27
249
, 17 ,
200
, 5
178
OQ
)) ^ It
251
18 ,
240
, 6 ,
188
29
254
19 ,
232
, 7 ,
204
20
253
20 ,
231
, 8 ,
250
31 ,,
256
21 ,
231
, 9 ,
240
June 1
238
, 22 ,
226
, 10 ,
218
j> *
210
, 23 ,
198
, H ,
168
3
183
, 24 ,
205
, 12 ,
127
4
207
, 25 ,
216
, 13 ,
132
,, 5
200
, 26 ,
218
, 14 ,
137
6
198
, 27 ,
218
, 15 ,
111
7
190
, 28 ,
236
, 16 ,
134
3
215
, 29 ,
260
. 17 ,
178
9
231
, 30 ,
236
, 18 ,
175
1
203
, 31
234
, 19 ,
275
11
240
Aug. 1 .
225
, 20 ,
300
12
218
2 ,
219
, 21 ,
220
13
211
3 ,
173
29
, Zw ,
188
14
235
4 ,
188
24
*** 1
237
15
161
5 ,
210
25
5 " )
325
16
184
>i 6 ,
107
Oct. 28
165
17
222
,, 7 ,
216
31 ,
210
1^
200
8 ,
184
CHAPTER XL
LANDS.
1. WE spent the latter half of August in seal-hunting,
for it was only by the use of fresh meat, that we were
able to contend with, if not prevent, cases of scurvy.
.Day after day lines of hunters lay in wait before the
fissures at the edge of our floe, and in the evening
our dogs generally had to drag in the sledges several
seals to the ship. Many of these creatures which
we wounded sank and disappeared. All these seals
belonged to the class Phoca Groenlandica, Walruses
were never to be seen, and once only in an " ice-hole " we
came across a shoal of White whales, which however
seemed to be moving on. In the capture of seals we
sometimes used a light boat, made of water-proof sail-
cloth, which two men could easily drag out of the water.
Some of our people too had learnt the use of the harpoon.
By the end of September, we had killed in one way or
another some 40 seals, and as we shot many of the birds
T 2
270 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
which flew round us, and on an average one bear a week,
we were seldom without fresh meat. With the exception
of Krisch, the engineer, who suffered from lung disease,
and of the carpenter, who had become lame from a
scorbutic contraction of the joints, all on the sick list
recovered under the influence of work in the open
air and of the improved diet.
2. The covering of deep soft snow, which had been
so troublesome, almost disappeared at the beginning of
autumn, and the surface of the ice had been transformed
by evaporation into a firm mass like the congealed
snow of a glacier, so that we were able to walk on its
hard surface without sinking ; only the numerous small
ice-lakes, on the floes, impeded our excursions. In all
these signs, \ve were reminded of the near approach of
winter, and it seemed that, drifting as we were con-
stantly towards the north we should spend it nearer
to the pole than any other expedition had ever
done. On the 25th the sun set at midnight. The
period intervening between this and the time when
the sun ceases to reappear, may be regarded as the
autumn of the Arctic region. For some time the
light had so diminished, that our quarters again
became dark at night, and from the 19th of July we
were obliged to use a light in order to read at
midnight. On the 29th of August after falls of rain
xi.] NEW LANDS.
and snow succeeded by north winds, the ship was
stiffened in a coating of ice. The rigging was
covered with an incrustation of ice of an inch thick,
and pieces of ice of a pound weight sometimes fell
on the deck, rendering walking on it neither com-
fortable nor safe. After a succession of frosts and
thaws, complete congelation at last set in, and when
the moon was up, the masts and rigging shone like
burnished silver.
3. The second summer was gone. It had come in
with the hope and promise of liberation, and patiently had
we awaited this result. AVith sad resignation we now
looked forward to another winter. But once more it was
to be seen in our case, how great is the power of men
to endure dangers and hardships, when these come upon
them not suddenly but gradually. A few months ago,
the thought that we should be prisoners on the ice,
bound to our floe, for a second winter, would have
been unendurable. But now that the intolerable thought
had become a stern fact, we accepted and endured it.
But often as we went on deck and cast our eyes over
the wastes, from which there was no escape, the despair-
ing thought recurred, that next year AVC should have
to return home without having achieved anything,
or at most with a narrative of a long drift in the
ico. Not a man among us believed in the possibility
278 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
of discoveries, though discoveries beyond our utmost
hopes lay immediately before us.
4. A memorable day was the 30th August 1873 in
79 43' Lat. and 59 33' E. Long. That day brought a
surprise, such as only the awakening to a new life can
produce. About mid-day, as we were leaning on the
bulwarks of the ship and scanning the gliding mists,
through which the rays of the sun broke ever and
anon, a wall of mist, lifting itself up suddenly, revealed
to us afar off in the north-w r est, the outlines of bold
rocks, which in a few minutes seemed to grow into a
radiant Alpine land! At first we all stood transfixed
and hardly believing what we saw. Then carried away
by the reality of our good fortune we burst forth into
shouts of joy : " Land, Land, Land at last ! " There was
now not a sick man on board the Tegetthoff. The news
of the discovery spread in an instant. Every one rushed
on deck, to convince himself with his own eyes, that
the expedition was not after all a failure there before
us lay the prize that could not be snatched from us.
Yet not by our own action, but through the happy
caprice of our floe and as in a dream had we won it,
but when we thought of the floe, drifting without inter-
mission, we felt with redoubled pain, that we were at
the mercy of its movements. As yet we had secured
no winter harbour, from which the exploration of
XL] NEW LANDS. 27'J
strange land could be successfully undertaken. For
the present, too, it was not within the verge of possi-
bility to reach and visit it. If we had left our floe, we
should have been cut off and lost. It was only under
the influence of the first excitement that we made a
rush over our ice field, although we knew that number-
less fissures made it impossible to reach the land. But,
difficulties notwithstanding," when we ran to the edge
of our floe, we beheld from a ridge of ice the moun-
tains and glaciers of the mysterious land. Its valleys
seemed to our fond imagination clothed with green
pastures, over which herds of rein -deer roamed in
undisturbed enjoyment of their liberty, and far from
all foes.
5. For thousands of years this land had lain buried
from the knowledge of men, and now its discovery
had fallen into the lap of a small band, themselves
almost lost to the world, who far from their home
remembered the homage due to their sovereign and
gave to the newly-discovered territory the name
KAISER FRANZ-JOSEF'S LAND.
With loud hurrahs we drank to the health of our
Emperor in grog hastily made on deck in an iron coffee-
pot, and then dressed the Tcgettlioff with flags. All cares,
for the present at least, disappeared, and with them
280 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
the passive monotony of our lives. There was not a day,
there was hardly an hour, in which this mysterious land
did not henceforth occupy our thoughts and attention.
We discussed whether this or that elevation in the grey
and misty distance were a mountain, or an island, or a
glacier. All our attempts to solve the question of the
extent of the land lying before us were of course still
more fruitless. From the head-land which we had first
seen (Cape Tegetthoff), to its hazy outline in the north-
east, it seemed to extend nearly a degree ; but as even its
southernmost parts were at a great distance from us, it
was impossible to arrive at anything more definite
than a mere approximation to its configuration. The
size and number of the ice-bergs which we had recently
fallen in with were now amply explained, they were
indisputable witnesses of its great extent and its vast
glaciation.
6. At the end of August and the beginning of Septem-
ber north winds drove us somewhat towards the south,
so that the outlines of the land were still more faintly
defined. But at the end of September we were again
driven towards the north-west and reached 79 58' the
highest degree of latitude to which the Tegetthoff
and its floe drifted. We now saw an island at some
distance off afterwards called Hochstetter island-
lying before us. Its rocky outlines were distinctly visible,
XL] NEW LANDS. 281
and the opportunity of reaching the land by a forced
march seemed more favourable than any which had been
presented. It might also be the last chance offered to us,
for our fears lest we might drift out of sight of this
land were well founded. Six of her crew now left the
Tegetthoff and committed themselves to the destiny,
which the movement of the ice had in store for them.
The east winds, which had prevailed during the last days,
had forced the ice landward and the pressures had crushed
in the edges of our floe, and greatly diminished its size.
We rushed over the grinding, groaning, broken walls of
drifting ice and so great was our ardour, that we took
no notice, when some one or other of the party tripped
and fell. Each panted to reach the land. We had
already gone half way, the ship having long disappeared
from our eyes, when there arose a mist w r hich enveloped
everything, so that the masses of ice looked like high
mountains through the hazy atmosphere. Of the land
itself we could see nothing, and no choice was left to
us but to return to the ship through the mist.
The compass was little help, and within the barriers of
recently broken ice the traces of our steps were lost.
We took at last a wrong direction and were following
it up, in spite of Jubinal's loud barks to divert us. As
he ran backwards and forwards, magnified in the mist
lie ran many risks of being mistaken for a bear. What
282 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CH. xi.
the sagacity of six men could not do, this the instinct of
the animal effected. Exhausted by our own exertions
we yielded ourselves to his guidance and he actually
brought us into the right track and back to the ship.
CHAPTER XII.
THE AUTUMN OF 1873. THE STRANGE LAND VISITED.
1. THE autumn was unusually mild, though stormy and
gloomy. The thermometer up to the 20th of September
fell daily some degrees below zero (R.), and occasionally
we had rain. At the end of the month the minimum
temperature ranged from 8 to 12 R., and the mean
temperature of the month was as low as 3 "3 R. The
mildness of the season was, perhaps, connected with
the unusual recession of the ice-barrier in the south ;
though it might have been a consequence of the open
water which had been formed under the land during
the drifting of the floes. The land itself was but
seldom visible, and heavy masses of dark blue clouds,
which are peculiar to southern latitudes, generally hung
over it. Frequent falls of snow again covered everything
around us. Parhelia were sometimes visible, and these
were generally the precursors of driving snow, which
reared deep drifts round the ship. The numerous little
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
lakes on the ice-floes were frozen over in the night
even in the earlier part of August, and at the end of
the month these bore us during the day. The clear
mirror of their surface cracked whenever the tempera-
ture fell suddenly some degrees, while the effect of con-
traction in the ship was followed by the noises which
we called " Schiisse." The " ice- holes " were overspread
with a viscous ropy ice, which was strong enough to bear
us at their edges. The ship now stood out from the ice ;
her hull was about fourteen feet above the surround-
ing surface of snow. To facilitate egress and ingress,
we constructed steps of ice on each side of the
vessel. After the 7th of September our efforts to
free the ship were given up. The little basin, at the
forepart of the ship the result of the toil of many
months was completely frozen over, and afforded
us the recreation of skating as a reward for our
labours.
2. The experience of the past greatly strengthened all
the grounds and motives which so readily presented
themselves to abandon our helpless vessel in the fol-
lowing summer and attempt the return to Europe by
means of sledges and boats. If there had been no other
reason for this resolution, regard for our health would
have dictated the step. Our supply of lemon-juice was
so reduced, as to leave scarcely a doubt as to the necessity
xii.] THE AUTUMN OF 1873.
of attempting to return. But amid these prudential
considerations, we were filfed with fear lest we should
be unable to explore the mysterious land we had
discovered.
3. The daylight now began to fail. On the 9th of
September the sun set at 8.30 and the stars were visible
at night. About the middle of the month lamps were
kept burning all the night through in our quarters below,
and our environment, never very animated, again wore the
aspect of the dark realm of ice. The visits of birds be-
came rarer, although they did not quite leave us, as long as
there was any open water near. The divers and auks had
already disappeared. They flew in long lines southward,
and as they whizzed past us through the rigging of the
ship, we acknowledged the superiority of these little
creatures to us and to our ship, which was never to hoist
its sails again. The ice birds, and the robber gulls,
still remained with us. We once shot a rose-coloured
gull (Ross's gull), said to belong only to North America
and Iceland. On the 28th we saw the last snow bunting.
The first aurora was seen on the 22nd, and during the
winter its light fell not merely on the Frozen Ocean but on
the distant Franz-Josefs land, showing us that we were
not drifting away from it. By the end of the month
we had drifted to the eightieth degree of latitude, nearly ;
and every cliff of the land, even the most insignificant,
286 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
emerging at a distance from the ice, had charms enough
to call us all on deck.
4. In the second half of October, winds from the north
and north-east had driven us towards the south and
south-west, and as we neared the land we saw that
the ice-fields were broken up by their contact
with its immovable barrier. Our own floe had been
greatly diminished from the general pressure of the
ice. On the 1st of October we were driven so near
the land that we found ourselves in the midst of the
destruction going on in the ice. Our ice-floe was
shattered and broken, and so rapidly had it dimi-
nished in size, that the distance of the ship from the
edge of the floe, which was 1,300 paces on the 1st,
amounted to only 875 two days afterwards. On the 6th
it had diminished to 200 paces, so that it was reduced
to a mere fragment of its former size. The shocks it now
received, caused the ship to quiver and shake, and we
heard the cracking and straining in its timbers, which
kept us on the tenter-hook of expectation lest the ice
should suddenly break up. It seemed as if we were
doomed to a repetition of the trials and dangers of the
preceding winter. The bags of necessaries to be taken
with us if we should be forced to leave the ship, were
kept in readiness for immediate use. As we watched
the advancing wall of ice, and heard the too well-
xii.] THE AUTUMN OF 1873. 287
known howl it sent forth, and saw how fissures were
formed at the edge of the floe, the days of the ice-
pressures were painfully recalled, and the thought con-
stantly returned what will be the end of all this I
The land we had so longed to visit lay indeed before us,
but the very sight of it had become a torment ; it
seemed to be as unattainable as before ; and, if our ship
should reach it, it appeared too likely that it would be
as a wreck on its inhospitable shore. Many were the
plans we formed and debated, but all were alike im-
practicable, and all owed their existence to the wish to
escape from the destruction that stared us in the face.
Such w'ere our outlooks when on the 31st of October we
were driven close to a headland of no great height,
about three miles distant from the ship, and found
ourselves in the midst of ice-bergs, several of which
were of considerable magnitude. Towards this, the
bergs, or we ourselves, or both, were rapidly drifting,
as the soundings showed. If the icebergs drifted, they
would of course crush all the ice-fields which stood
in their way. We were now in 79 5]/ N.L. and
58 56' E. Long. Here exactly in the longitude of
Admiralty peninsula of Novaya Zemlya, and with the
ship lying north and south, we were to pass the
winter but harbourless.
5. On the forenoon of the 1st of November, the land
288 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
lay to the north-west of us in the twilight. The lines
of rocks were so clearly and distinctly seen, that we
were convinced that it could be reached without
endangering our return to the ship. There was no
room for hesitation ; full of energy and wild excite-
ment, we clambered over the ice- walls lying to the
northward, which consisted of barriers, fifty feet high, of
huge pieces of ice recently forced up amid the pressure.
These passed, we came on a broad surface of young
ice, which showed that there had been open water
there a short time before. Over the surface of this
young ice we now ran towards the land. We crossed
the ice- foot and actually stepped on it. Snow and rocks
and broken ice surrounded us on every side ; a land
more desolate could not be found on earth than the
island we walked on ; all this we saw not. To us it
was a paradise ; and this paradise we called Wilczek
Island.
6. So great was our joy at having reached the Land at
last, that we bestowed on all we saw an attention which,
in itself, it in no way merited. We looked into every
rent in the rocks, we touched every block, we were
ravished with the varied forms and outlines which each
crevice presented. We talked in grand style of the
frozen slopes of its hollows as glaciers ! Nothing was of
greater moment in these first hours than the question of
xii.] TIIK AUTUMN OF 1873. 289
its geological character, and great was our surprise?
to find here the same rocks, with which we had become
acquainted at the Pendulum Islands during the second
German North Polar Expedition. The columnar con-
formation of these Dolerite rocks singularly resembled
those of Griper Roads and Shannon Island. The vege-
tation was indescribably meagre and miserable, consist-
ing merely of a few lichens. The drift-wood we expected
to find was nowhere to be seen. We looked for traces
of the rein-deer and the fox, but our search was
utterly fruitless. The Land appeared to be without a
single living creature. We then ascended a rocky height
on the southern margin of the island, whence we had
a view of the frozen ocean extending some miles beyond
the ship. There was something sublime to the imagin-
ation in the utter loneliness of a land never before
visited ; felt all the more from the extraordinary character
of our position. We had become exceedingly sensitive
to new impressions, and a golden mist which rose on the
.southern horizon of an invisible ice-hole, and which
spread itself, like an undulating curtain, before the glow
of the noontide heavens had to us the charm of a land-
scape in Ceylon.
7. How vexatious was it to feel, that if we had reached
this Land some weeks earlier, we might have explored it
without the risk of being cut off from the ship. For
VOL. i. u
290 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
some days the sun had sunk below the horizon, and
the twilight of noon admitted of only a few short
o *
excursions from the ship, quite insufficient to satisfy
our earnest desire to learn more of its structure and
configuration ; and we much feared lest the constant
north winds should cause us to drift out of sight of it.
Southwards stretched a flat surface of bluish-grey ice,
and beyond the distant ship, a large " ice-hole " from
whose yellow mirror there arose undulating mists. Be-
yond this again stretched dark lines of floes running
parallel to the horizon, over which, in the south, hung
the sky in deep carmine. We scrambled over a rugged
slope covered with ice as smooth as glass, which ran into
the interior of the little island, in order to get a clear
view northward ; but we were compelled to return with-
out achieving our purpose, for we feared to absent our-
selves longer from the ship. "We accordingly went back
but returned next day to explore. But these barren
days and small events made a profound impression
on our minds, and even Carlsen, the old and tried navi-
gator of the frozen deep, wore on his breast, beneath
his fur coat, the star of the order of St. Olaf, to do
due honour to the dignity of discovery. We built a
pyramid of stones six feet high on the island, and fixed
in it one of our flags attached to a pole.
8. On the 3rd of November a party of us started about
XII.]
THE AUTUMN OF 1873.
eight o'clock in the morning, when it was quite dark, to
attempt to reacli a glacier which we had seen, on the
north of the island and on the other side of a frozen
inlet of the sea. We took with us a small sledge drawn
by three dogs, and, in constant fear of being cut off from
APPROACH1XC
<D BY MOONLIGHT.
the ship, we pressed on over a level surface of snow to-
wards some objects suffused with a dim rosy light, which
seemed to float over them. As we n eared them we
found them to be ice-bergs which sparkled like jewels,
and which we took to be the terminal precipice of the
glacier we were in search of. It was only, however, after
some hours that we came actually in sight of it ; the ship
having meanwhile disappeared from our view. Suddenly
v -J
292 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
there emerged before us, in the east, a white band, which
proved to be the terminal front of the glacier, which, as
we approached it, we were surprised to find had an incli-
nation of only two or three degrees. Its highest point,
therefore, must have been at a very great distance. On
its left side there was a moraine of great depth. When
we began our return to the ship, the rosy evening light
had disappeared from the higher clouds, while it became
clearer behind the gigantic mass of the glacier, so that its
dark outline stood out strongly marked on the 'heavens.
It was quite dark when we again drew near the ship,
but the brave Carlsen, armed with rifle and walrus-lance
for any emergency came out to meet us.
9. In an excursion on the 6th of November we reached
a point on the north-west of Wilczek Island passing
for the first time during this expedition beyond the
eightieth degree of north latitude whence we could see
the mainland of the new country stretching before us
under the silver light of the moon. An indescribable
loneliness lay on its snowy mountains, faintly illuminated
by the span of twilight in the south and by the light of
the moon. If the ice on the shore, as it was moved by
the ebb and flow of the tide, had not sent forth shrill
notes, and had not the wind sighed, as it passed over the
edges of the rocks, the stillness of death would have lain
on the pale and spectral landscape. We hear of the
xii.] THE AUTUMN OF 1973. 293
solemn silence of the forest or of the desert, or of a
city buried in sleep during the night ; but what is this
silence to the silence of a land with its cold glacier
mountains losing themselves in snows and mists which
can never be explored, and the very existence of which
had remained unknown from creation till this moment ?
10. On the 7th another short expedition towards
the south-west of Wilczek Island, was carried out ;
but notwithstanding all our exertions we were unable
to determine its configuration, even of the parts
immediately contiguous to us. Until the spring of
the following year, the whole island, except perhaps a
portion of its southern side, remained a mystery to us.
CHAPTER XIII.
OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE.
1 . THE Land had meantime been thickly enveloped in its
pure white mantle, and wreaths of snowdrifts lay over
the rocks scattered over its surface. The light became
fainter. Sometimes the precipitous faces of the glaciers
seemed to glow in subdued rose colour through the
leaden grey of the atmosphere. When new " ice-holes "
appeared, a frosty vapour rose and spread over the sur-
face of the ice ; the ship and surrounding objects were
covered as if with down ; even the do^s were frosted
7 O
white. We used to stand on deck and gaze on the sun
as it sank, surrounded by the evening clouds, behind the
jagged edges of the hummocks. Raised by refraction,
he appeared for the last time on the 22nd of October with
half his disc above the horizon, and the whole southern
sky was for a time like a sea of fire over the cold, stiff
forms and lines of ice. At length the disc disappeared,
and masses of dark clouds moved up and obscured the
cii. xiii.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 295
light still lingering in tho sky. The long reign of night
began, and the wastes around us relapsed into the stern
sway of winter. A pale twilight still lingered for
some time, but its faint arc became smaller and feebler.
No shadows accompanied the forms of those who strayed
over the ice. The wind moaned in the frozen desert.
The darkness and the cold continually increased, till the
dome of night vaulted the lonely spot which had become
our home.
2. But the hope and expectation of successes to be
achieved, and the feeling that our safety was not im-
mediately threatened, rendered this second winter a
happy contrast to the preceding one. We had now leisure
and calmness for intellectual occupations, which were,
indeed, the only means of relieving the monotony of
the long period of darkness. We lived like hermits
in our little cabins in the after-part of the ship, and
learned, that mental activity without any other joy,
suffices to make men happy and contented. The oppres-
sive feeling of having to return ingloriously home,
which had always been disagreeably present to our
minds during the first winter, was no longer felt. A\ e
had now a hope, the charms of which grew day by day,
that in the spring we should be able to leave the ship
and start on expeditions to explore the land we had dis-
covered. Happy in this expectation, we could enjoy
2% AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [on. xin.
the indescribable pleasures of good books, all the more
that we were far from the busy haunts of men, and that
the presence of danger clears and sharpens the under-
standing Nowhere can a book be so valued as in
O
such an isolated position as ours was. Great, therefore,
was the advantage we possessed in a good library, con-
sisting of books of science, and of the classics of litera-
ture. In fact, freed from the constantly recurring
perils, which had been our portion in the first long
Arctic night, this second winter was to all who actively
employed their minds, comparatively a state of happiness,
undisturbed by cares. With regard to the crew, they
were kept in good humour by the increase of their com-
forts. As we had not the prospect of a third winter in
the ice which would have rendered a greater economy
of our provisions imperative we were enabled to pro-
vide them with a more generous diet.
3. In the last three weeks of November we had
complete darkness, the sky clouded over and the weather
bad. So dark was it. that our environment, though it
' O
was overspread with countless hummocks and ice-cliffs,
looked like one black unbroken love]. On the 31st
of October most of the stars were visible about 3
o'clock in the afternoon; by 4 o'clock actual night
prevailed. On the 16th of November large print was
barely legible even at noon. On the 18th of the month
en. xiu.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 299
we were able to read the larger letters on the title-page
of Vogt's Geology at the distance of a foot. At noon,
on the 13th of December, not a letter of this same title-
page was legible, even in clear weather. On the 5th of
November there was a total eclipse of the moon, which
then sank below the horizon and did not return till the
29th of that month. Its beams then fell on a large ice-
hole, which had formed itself twenty miles to the south
of the ship, which made us apprehensive, lest our floe
should be driven by the north winds in a southerly direc-
tion. On the 4th of December the moon reached its
highest declination, but, as it waned, it was constantly
obscured by bad weather. I had reckoned on the return
of, moonlight to make an excursion of some days to
the mainland. But the fickleness of the weather at the
beginning of December compelled me to confine my
wanderings to Wilczek Island, which I frequently
visited, although with a thermometer at - 30 R. I was
exposed to frost-bites in the face and hands, whenever
I attempted to draw by the light of a lamp, and
with only the protection of light woollen gloves. 1
4. We observed during this winter, that, on the clearest
nights, snow of the finest texture continued to fall, so
1 I take this opportunity of stating that the originals of nearly all
the illustrations of this hook were drawn on the spot from nature,
and that they have been reproduced as they were drawn.
300 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
that we saw the heavenly bodies, as it were, through a
veil of fine gauze. In the moonlight this fine snow
sparkled faintly, and its presence could only be dis-
covered by a prickling on the skin. The constancy of
these downfalls added of course to the depth of the
snow under which the Teyetthoff was almost buried ;
indeed at the beginning of the spring she no longer
stood out from the covering of snow, although her fore-
part was eleven-and-three-quarter feet, and her after-
part four-and-a-half feet, above the ice on which she
rested. The air was also often filled with an indescrib-
able quantity of driving snow ; and when the wind
dropped and permitted it to fall, we were struck with
the profound stillness of our environment. The cold
constantly increased and penetrated all the parts of the
interior of the ship which were not artificially heated, 1
and almost all the fluids, which were not specially pro-
tected, were frozen. The various kinds of spirits 'on
board were exposed on the 23rd of November to the
cold at 26 R. ; at the end of an hour-and-a-half they
still remained fluid. When the temperature fell to - 28
R., hollands, common gin and maraschino were con-
gealed in two-hours- and-a-half, but rum and brandy
remained unchanged. On another occasion a mixture
1 On the 24th of November the thermometer marked - 8 R in the
ship's hold. The screw propeller had been fast frozen a month before.
xin.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 301
of two parts of pure alcohol to one part of water froze
at 35 R., cognac at -38 R. This low temperature
had so increased the thickness of the ice, that the
basin of open water, which had been sawed through
in the previous summer, was covered on the 3rd of
January with ice three-and-a-half, and on the 20th with
ice six-and-a-half feet thick.
5. On the 21st of December, the middle of the second
long polar night which lasted in all 125 days was
reached ; and although we knew where the south lay,
every trace of twilight had disappeared, and for six weeks
we were enveloped in unbroken darkness. The figure of
a man could not be discerned at a very short distance.
In order to be able to sketch the ship, I had to illu-
minate it by torches. Those who made expeditions
afoot were struck, as it were, with blindness. If they
approached what seemed to be a lofty chain of mountains,
over the ridge of which the planet Jupiter hung like a
glowing point, they came at once on a dark wall of ice ;
and w r hen they ascended the apparently far distant ridge,
the planet stood almost in the zenith. There was some-
thing approaching to twilight only, when the crescent
moon shone in her first quarter. On the 7th of December
the sun was 12, and on the 21st 1-4^, below the
horizon. We should not have seen the sun, could we
have ascended the pinnacle of the Alps, which Pliny
302 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CH. xin.
imagined to be 120,000 feet high, or even from that
summit of the Caucasus which Aristotle reckoned at
230,000 feet.
6. Distrusting the quiescent state of the ice, we had
again stretched a tent over one half of the ship's deck,
while the other portion was covered with snow trodden
down as hard as a skating rink. The space for free move-
ment was narrowed still further by the long boat placed
between the two masts, by the stores of provisions kept
in readiness for the possible disaster which might
compel us to leave the ship, by the stand of rifles, by
dog-kennels, and other inevitable impediments. In bad
weather the dogs sheltered themselves under the tent,
and sometimes showed ill-temper if their feet were
trod on. There were places on deck where only their
particular friends were safe from being bitten ; Sumbu
especially had a bad habit of lying behind a cask and
springing out on every one that passed by. Here under
its friendly shelter the men waited the summons to their
meals. Hither came Carlsen to enjoy the opportunity
of talking Norwegian with some one or other. The deck
light shone feebly on all this, shedding its rays on the
fine snow which fell through the tent roof. In the
second half of the winter, when the deck was less
frequented, the lantern became like the crew more
sleepy; and its dull light fell on hard-frozen sailcloth,
xiii.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 305
boards covered with snow, and on empty tin cases.
Here, too, walked, of course, the deck-watch, enveloped
in clothes from head to foot, with only their eyes un-
covered, looking more like moving figures than men.
The deck-watch had also to keep open the water-hole
in the ice, to look out for bears, and to assist in reading
off the thermometers exposed on the ice. They were
on duty for two hours, and the moment they were
relieved, they shot down into their quarters, as quickly
as a harpooned whale dives under the waves. He, too
whose duty it was to fetch the snow to be converted
into water, was often to be seen on deck. Although
the store of snow in which we lived was inexhaustible,
yet, in order to be exempt from this duty in bad
weather, it was the practice of those who were told off
for this service to lay up a supply of blocks of frozen
snow under the tent. Some of the crew showed the
scrupulosity of chemists in their work. Before they
proceeded to build up their pile, they brought specimens
to the cook, in order to learn his opinion as to the
residuum of salt in the ice.
7. With December a new era began for the dogs. A
large snow house was built for them outside the ship,
in which were placed their kennels, well filled with
straw. The name of each dog was written on his
house. And here let me remark, that the winter quarters
VOL. T.
306 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
of the dogs should always be on the ice. To keep them
under the deck-tent is unhealthy and inconvenient, and
would be an impossibility if their numbers were great.
Every morning Haller opened the door of the snow
house, and out rushed the dogs, with their tails in
the air, to begin forthwith a general fight. No shouts,
no blows, not even the discharge of a rifle could
separate the combatants. Pouring water over them at
a temperature of - 30 R, though a somewhat barbarous
way of producing peace, was successful only with the
younger dogs. "When the fight was over, the next object
was to find out their special patron and the instant they
recognised him they rushed upon him, tugged at his
clothes, and thrust their noses inquiringly into his
pockets. Each then made his morning round, visiting
the places where he had hid in the snow a piece of bread
or covered up a bit of seal. When they had satisfied their
appetite, it was curious to observe how they would
make it smooth over the hole in which they deposited
their treasure, all the time cunningly turning their eyes
right and left to see whether they were observed.
8. Their violence and eagerness having somewhat
abated, we may observe the members of our pack one by
one. The red giant there, who offers his paw as huge as
a bear's, is named after a god of the heathen days of
Lapland, " Jubinal ; " and not a few legends surrounded
xiii.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 307
the accounts of his early life. A Siberian Israelite, so it
was said, brought him from the north of Asia over the
Ural. He was the victor in all fights, the leader of
the sledge team, and could drag four men on a hard
level path without any effort. The day before we
sailed from Bremerhaven he tore a sheep to pieces.
Every summer when he changed his coat, the sailors
clad him in a canvas dress. Bop was his inferior in
r-EKEL, SUMBU, AND .TUBINAL.
strength, but his superior in wisdom ; Matoschkin sur-
passed him in gravity. The latter used to sit for hours
in a moody manner on a pile of chests looking at the
ice world. Bop and Matoschkin were Newfoundlands ;
the first died of cold in our first winter, the latter, as
our readers may remember, was carried off by a bear
and torn to pieces. We had also two Newfoundland
bitches, who were called respectively " Novaya " and
" Zemlya ; " the former died in the first year, the latter
x 2
303 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
though she was of little use in sledging from her lazi-
ness, may claim indisputably the merit of being the
mother of her hopeful son, "Torossy," who grew to a
considerable size, and was the pride of the whole crew.
He knew no other world than the frozen ocean, and
no other destiny than to draw a sledge ; and to this work
he had devoted himself zealously since the commence-
ment of winter. In the happy courage of ignorance he
wagged his tail all day on deck ; wagged his tail as he
followed us on the ice ; wagged it, even when Sumbu
stole his dinner ; wagged it even before the jaws of a
bear. Gillis, the fifth Newfoundland, was incessantly
quarrelling, and was the irreconcilable enemy of Jubinal ;
he was a favourite with no one, chiefly because he had
killed the two cats which we brought from Tromso
as pets for the dogs. His body was covered with scars,
and half his time was spent under the medical treat-
ment of the Tyrolese. He was not wanting in docility
but he was essentially an eye-pleaser ; all his efforts in
the sledge were mere sham. Pekel, the Lapp, was the
smallest of all the dogs. In his early days he had
tended the rein-deer at the North Cape and on the
plains of Tana Elf, and his ways did not fit him for
life amid the ice, but for the brown herd which
roamed at the foot of Kilpis. Hence he was
quarrelsome, and showed special enmity to Sumbu, the
xiii.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 3U9
mere sight of whom was enough to stir up the most
hostile feelings. He was therefore banished with his
house to a high ice-cliff, but the thaw destroying its
supports, house and dog fell plump into an ice lake.
Among all the dogs there was no such desperate
hypocrite as Sumbu, the most demonstrative in his
friendship, but withal the most greedy and dis-
satisfied. He was the first to slink away with tail
between his legs and find out the most secluded nook,
when he saw the other dogs being harnessed in the
sledges, and, when pulled out and put in a team, at
once laid himself down on the sledge, not to draw but to
be drawn. When at last he was set in motion, he was
no longer the same dog. He was then full of action,
unsurpassed in speed and agility, and his sportive-
ness was as great as his cunning. From the carpenter he
would carry off a hoop, or a bag of nails from the stoker,
or he lay flat on his belly and thrust out his long nose
in the snow. His agility stood him in good stead, for it
enabled him to catch ail the mice that ventured on deck.
Neither the stores of provisions for the dogs nor the
depot of food for the crew were safe from his depreda-
tions. He hated bears so fiercely, that he began to howl
like a wolf when we turned out to hunt them. Boldly
he followed up their trail even when at a distance from
the hunters, and close to the heels of the bear. The
310 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
dogs were fed once a day with bear's flesh or blubber,
or dried horse-flesh, as long as it lasted. 1 They well
knew the hour of feeding, and gathered together before
it arrived. At night they were shut up in their house,
and when the snow drifted they all lay huddled in a
heap before the door. The dog-house was about eight
feet high, but after a few weeks we could scarcely discern
it from the accumulation of snowdrifts. For some time
we kept up communication with it by means of a shaft
dug in the snow ; but one day in February a fissure in
the ice was formed right across where the house stood,
which compelled us to remove it.
9. The end of December came, and with it the season
of those festivals which animate the Christian world
Christmastide and the New Year. In order to celebrate
them in common, we built a snow house, decorated its
interior with flags, and placed in it a Christmas tree,
which, however, more resembled a wooden hedge-hog or
a cheval de frise. About six o'clock in the evening
all our preparations were made, and the ship's bell,
sounding mournfully in the dark and misty atmosphere,
summoned us to our snow house on the ice. Here lots
were drawn, and cigars, watches, knives, pipes or
rum fell to the fortunate drawers. For all these pre-
sents we had to thank friends in Vienna, or Pola, or
1 We had. brought 1 100 Ibs. of it from Bremerhaven.
xin.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 311
Hamburg. Then came the Christmas dinner ; but no
one's heart was in the matter. Our bodies, indeed, were
present, but our thoughts were far away with those we
loved at home. New Year's Eve passed off somewhat
more cheerfully. Better grounded seemed our expec-
tation that 1874 would at last bring us our long
desired activity and a not inglorious return to Europe.
Scarcely had the new year begun than the crew knocked
at our cabin doors with their congratulations, and
such salutations continued to be the order of the day.
On the whole this second wiuter, both before and after
the new year (1874), passed away without the fearful
events of the preceding. Although floes lay close to us
on every side, and we had no harbour in which to pass
the winter with comfort like a bear in its winter sleep
the quiescent state of the ice allowed us to hope that
our floe would remain in the position it had hitherto
maintained. This hope, indeed, lay at the mercy of
the winds ; for if north winds should set in, it was
extremely probable that the ice would break up and
drift asunder.
10. The life we now led below in the ship had ceased to
be in any way disagreeable, and cheerful and entertaining
reading seemed to be healthier than bodily exerci.se. A\ e
did not suffer from any want of the necessaries of life ;
the temperature of our living-rooms generally admitted >f
312
AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES.
[CHAP.
our sitting for hours even without our overcoats. The
long night of this polar winter was gloomy and oppressive
only to those who had time and leisure to weigh the
burden of the hours. There were, of course, even in this
second winter, some of those discomforts and dangers of
IN THE MESS-BOOM.
which the reader has heard enough, and which lead him
when he reads of life in the frozen regions to think of
ice-floes rather than of a room in which comfort is quite
possible. We had, indeed, the usual inconveniences. As
early as the middle of October the sky-light was so covered
xiii.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 313
with frost that we could scarcely read even at noon. On
the 20th of that month we were obliged to keep the lamps
constantly burning, and to close in the" skylight, which
brought night into the mess-room before the night of
Nature had arrived. By the middle of November the
condensation of moisture was perceptible, and our bed-
clothes were frequently frozen to the wall, and had
to be torn from it before we could go to rest. Yet
what signified all this ? We all slept soundly notwith-
standing, and during the day had to complain rather of
warmth than of cold. The condition of the crew, how-
ever, was not so happy. We could not follow the
example set by Hayes and others of removing the con-
tents of the hold to the land, and so transforming it into
quarters for the men. On board the Tegetlhoff we
suffered some of the evils of over-population, and the
moisture was so much increased from it, that some of the
berths were completely saturated. The employment of
hammocks would perhaps avert this evil.
11. The number of those afflicted with scurvy
decreased with the approach of spring. Their gums
recovered their fresh and natural appearance, and the
general weakness, the pains in the joints, the leaden
weight of the feet, the depression of spirits symptoms
of this terrible malady abated, and the scorbutic marks
disappeared from their bodies. Pachtusow, when he
314 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
wintered in Novaya Zemlya, so abundant in supplies of
drift-wood, caused his people to use the bath once a week
in a log house constructed on the land, as a preservative
against scurvy, and had their inner clothing washed
twice a week, but even these steps were insufficient to
avert the malady. In our case baths so added to the
moisture that we were obliged to put a stop to them,
and our under-garments could be changed only as our
stock of them permitted. Hence we could hope to
prevent the spread of scurvy only by the improvement
cf our diet. Several hundredweight of potatoes and
a large supply of preserved meat had been kept in
store for the second winter. These now came into use,
and were the more welcome as our supply of lemon
juice the most important preservative against scurvy-
was diminishing. By the advice of our physician, Dr.
Kepes, we departed from the maxim, so generally
adhered to in Arctic expeditions, of avoiding spirituous
liquors. From the beginning of October our men daily
received rations of brandy. When I compare the sanitary
condition of the crew of the Teyetthoff with the better
state of that of the Ger mania, I attribute this to the
lesser power of resistance to disease in some of our
people on board the Tegetthoff, and to the moral de-
pression so easily explained by our disasters in this ship.
1 2. The Arctic voyager is exposed to no disease so much
xm.] OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 315
as to scurvy. Its appearance among a crew exercises
a most untoward influence. Its causes are still but
little known ; the means, however, of combating it are
numerous. It is no longer the scourge it was in the
clays of Barentz, when he and all his men were attacked
with it on the short summer excursion of 1595, or
when in ]\lunk's expedition of 16 19, all died but two.
In Behring's expedition of 1741, out of seventy-six
men, forty-two were attacked and thirty died. In
Tschirikoff's summer expedition during that same year
(1741), out of seventy men, twenty died. Kossmyslow,
who passed the winter of 1768-69 in " Matoschkin-
Schar," lost seven out of thirteen men. When the
disease gains the mastery, the utter incapacity of the
expedition for further exploration follows as a necessary
consequence. Lassinius, who was sent out to explore
Novaya Zemlya in 1819, had to return in the height of
summer, all his men having fallen down with the scurvv.
O _ /
This disease has been a frightful enemy to expeditions
which have wintered in that region, and carried off
numerous victims. All these, it is true, were miserably
equipped and depended on the medicinal virtues of the
" Loffel-kraut " of that country for remedies against the
disease. In 1832-33 Pachtusow, wintering in the south
of the island, out of ten men lost three; in 1834-35,
two more died of the same disease. In the expedition
316 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
of Ziwolka and Mojsejew, 1838-39, the scurvy gained
such mastery, that at the end of February half of the
crew were attacked, and Ziwolka himself with eight
men died. Parry regarded damp, especially damp bed-
ding, as the principal cause of the malady. During his
wintering at Melville Island he found sorrel an effec-
tive remedy or palliative. He attributed the greatest
anti-scorbutic effect to beer ; and according to him and
to most of the English expeditions beer and wine take
the place of brandy. The disease generally has a fatal
issue when there has been excessive loss of blood, or
when dropsy supervenes. Most of Ross's second expe-
dition suffered more or less from it, and the ex-
perience of that expedition showed that vegetable
nourishment alone was not competent to make head
against it. Ross regarded the addition of fish or seals
to the ordinary diet as an effective preservative, and
did not disdain the use of blubber for the same purpose.
Lemon-juice, uncooked potatoes, fruit with much acidity,
fresh vegetables and fresh meat, wine and yeast, exercise
in the open air, and cheerfulness have always proved suffi-
cient to prevent its appearance, or at any rate to render
it improbable. But however valuable these may be as
preventives, they almost cease to have any effect when
the disease has once broken out. The lime-juice must be
fresh, and, like vinegar, be taken in as concentrated a form
OUR SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 317
as possible. It is decomposed and useless by being kept
too long, and also by the action of frost. This was the
case with the lemon-juice which Sir John Ross found
among the stores of the Fury. An anti-scorbutic effect
has been attributed also and with justice to the chew-
ing of tobacco. It appears that liability to scurvy is very
different among different races, and that neither vege-
table nor animal food is an absolute preservative. The
Eskimos and even the Lapps, who seldom or never use
vegetables, are almost exempt from it, and McClure's
men fell down with it in their second winter, although
they had fresh meat three times a week. Steller relates
that in Kamschatka scurvy attacks strangers only, but
not the natives, who live largely on vegetables ; he states
also, that the scurvy, when it does appear among strangers
and visitors there, is cured by a diet of the fresh fish
of spring.
CHAPTER XIV.
SUNRISE OF 1874.
1. AN unbroken sleep for the whole winter would,
undoubtedly, be a blessing to the Arctic navigator, and
the most energetic among us resigned himself to slumber
for a few hours in the afternoon the profane time of
the day for all zones of the earth especially after the
coming in of the New Year, when the long unbroken
night is intensely felt. The darkness diminished very
gradually, and as the weather was frequently cloudy and
dull, it was little lessened by the full moon, which we
had at the beginning of January and February. December
26, we were able to read only the title of New Free
Press, at the distance of a few inches, but not a word
of Vogt's Geology. January 11, the word Geology
on the title of that book was discernible in clear
weather, but only when the book was held up to
the light of the mid-day twilight. On the following
day it was as dark at nine o'clock in the morning as at
noon on December 1st. The moon returned again on
CH. xiv.] SUNRISE OF 1874. 319
the 24th of January, arid after it was four days old we
could distinguish the common print of the " Press " by
its light, and for the first time read off the degrees
of the thermometer without artificial means. During
the whole of the month we had alternations of high
temperatures and snow-drifting, and at the end of it
the wind dropped and the cold became exceedingly
great, causing the ice to break up to the south of
our position. The water-colour drawing l taken on
board the Tcgettlioff on the 8th of February may
give some notion of the wonderful forms produced
by the twilight, and its glowing colour-effects, but hardly-
tiny of the indescribable blaze of the meridian heavens,
while deep shadows still lay over the ice-plains and
a dark ridge fringed and closed the horizon.
2. At noon on the 23rd of February the rolling mists
glowed with a red light, announcing the re-appearance of
the sun. The next day the sun himself, raised and dis-
torted into an oval shape, appeared above the horizon
about 10 A.M. Again there was spread over the snow
that magical rosv hue, those bright azure shadows,
O */ O
which impart a poetical character even to the landscape
of the frozen north. The return of the sun was this year
the deliverance from our long night of 125 days. 2
1 See the Frontispiece of this volume.
2 Parry's winter night of 1819-20 lasted eighty-four days; Ross's,
320 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
Anxiously had we waited his return, and joyously we
greeted it, but not with the frenzied feelings of the
previous year. Then the reappearance of the sun was
tantamount almost to a deliverance from hell itself ;
but now the sun was nothing to us but as a means to
an end : would it enable us to begin our sledge-jour-
neys to explore the Kaiser Franz-Josef land ? The mere
thought of the possibility of making new discoveries
threw us into a feverish impatience, and our fears became
intense lest the ship with its floe should drift away
and frustrate the execution of our plans just as they
seemed feasible.
3. On that same day Lieutenant Weyprecht and I
resolved to abandon the ship after the termination of
our projected sledge journeys of discovery, and to
attempt to return to Europe by means of the boats and
sledges. No arguments were needed to convince every
one of the ship's company of the absolute necessity of
this resolution. Our ship lay on its icy elevation,
beyond the power of man to liberate her, and the pro-
visions would not be sufficient to sustain us for another
year. But fear lest the state of our health should
greatly deteriorate in a third winter spoke more forcibly
in the Gulf of Boothia, fifty days ; Kane's, in Eennssalaer harbour, 113
days, and Hayes' 123. In the latter case, however, the mountains on his
southern horizon were the cause why the sun was not earlier visible.
xiv.] SUNRISE OF 1874. 321
than anything else in favour of our decision. When we
looked at our medical stores, once so ample, now so
reduced, at the few bottles of lemon-juice we could
count on, all saw the impossibility of our remaining
longer in these latitudes. The melancholy issue of
Franklin's expedition forced itself on our mind as an
instructive example and warning. In all likelihood that
ill-fated expedition had delayed its return a year longer
than it should have done, and began it in so weak-
ened a condition, that it was next to an impossibility
that they should have succeeded in their purpose. We
began to be pinched also in many of our stores, in spite
of the greatest economy in their use. To add to our
perils the doctor drew a sad picture of the sanitary con-
dition of our crew. Of nineteen men, several had fallen
sick : Kriseh still suffered from scurvy and consumption ;
Marola from the first scorbutic symptoms ; Fallesich
from its consequences ; Vecerina from the utter ina-
bility to move his lower extremities, produced by the
same malady ; Palmich from a constant tendency to it
and the contraction of his lower extremities ; Pospischill
from lung disease ; and Haller from a rheumatic affec-
tion of his extremities which almost incapacitated him
for any exertion.
VOL i.
CHAPTER XV.
THE AURORA.
1 . THE Northern lights had shone for these two winters
with incomparable splendour, not, indeed, with the quiet,
diverging beams, sometimes observed in our northern
latitudes, and different also from the phenomena which
have been seen and noted in recent years, even in Central
Europe ; they resembled rather those we saw in East
Greenland, save that the brilliancy and intensity of their
colours were far greater,
2. It is very difficult to characterise the forms of
this phenomenon, not only because they are manifold,
but because they are constantly changing. Sometimes
the Aurora appears like flaming arches with glowing
balls of light ; sometimes in irregular meridians painted
on the heavens, sometimes in brilliant bands and patches
of light on the sky. Each of these forms was frequently
developed from a different one, but towards morning the
last named appearance was the most general.
3. The movement of the waves of light gave the
cu. xv.] THE AURORA. 323
impression, that they were the sport of winds, and their
sudden and rapid rise resembled the uprising of whirling
vapours, such as tho Geysers might send forth, which
generally assumed the form of enormous flames, except
that they were transparent and mist-like. In many
cases the Aurora much resembled a flash of summer
lightning conceived as permanent. It appeared almost
always in the south, and was visible from September
till March, during which period it was to us the
only external excitement which we had. The illu-
minating power of the Aurora,, when its colours were
most brilliant and intense, was inferior to the illumi-
nating power of the full moon. Some rare cases
excepted, this was either so small or so transitory, that
it had no influence on the darkness of our long winter
nights. Like a stream r or in brilliant convolutions, the
light rushed over the firmament, as well from east to
west as from west to east. The formation of the corona
(or the convergence of the streamers in the direction of
the inclination needle) was sudden and short in its
duration, and frequently happened more than once in the
course of a night. Its greatest intensity was from eight till
ten o'clock at night. It was never accompanied with
sound. 1 The sketch we have given represents one of its
1 It has often been asserted that sound accompanying the Aurora
has been heard on the Shetland Isles, and in Siberia : but all
Y -2
3'24 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [cm. xv.
most characteristic forms. The inner parts of the flames
are usually whitish green, and their edge on the upper
side red, on the lower green.
4. Brilliant auroras were generally succeeded by bad
weather. Those on the other hand which did not rise
to any great height in the sky or which did riot show
any special mobility were regarded as the precursors
of calms. None of the theories which have been venti-
lated are in exact accordance with all the manifestations
of these northern lights. The undulating motion of their
waves of light, their rolling forth like pillars of smoke
driven by winds has hitherto remained unexplained.
Although electrical processes, still unknown, seem to be
the main causes of the Aurora, atmospheric vapours
may, however, have a considerable part in producing the
phenomena ; and nothing so much favours this suppo-
sition as the indefinite form in which it often appears.
Its occurrence during the day, i.e. light clouds with its
characteristic movement, has been rather imagined than
actually observed. The transition of white clouds into
auroral forms at night has never at least been satisfac-
torily proved. Falling stars pass through the northern
lights without producing any perceptible effect, or
scientific travellers protest against tliis. Franklin, who at first believed
in this alleged phenomenon, afterwards retracted his opinion, and was
convinced that the noise proceeded from terrestrial causes.
CH. xv.] THE AURORA. 327
undergoing any change. A dirty sulphur yellow was
characteristic of all auroras when the sky was overcast
with mists or when it was seen by moonlight. In clear
weather they were colourless.
5. Their influence on the magnetic needle was very
variable. While the quiescent and regular arches had
little or no effect, the quicker and more fitful streamers,
especially when accompanied with prismatic colours, pro-
duced great disturbance in it. Sir John Eoss remarked,
that the Aurora when tinged with deep red colour had
a great effect on it, although he completely stultifies his
observation by his supposition, that the phenomenon was
produced by rays of the sun reflected on the vast fields of
snow and ice surrounding the Pole. Parry in 1820 could
discover no effect from it either on the magnetic needle
or on the electrometer. During the winter of 1872-3,
the character of the northern lights was much altered,
though their colour remained constant. At first they con-
sisted chiefly of bands of light, running from the south
northwards. At a later period of that winter they assumed
for the most part the appearance of corona?, and then their
direction was irom the north southwards. During the
voyage of the Tegetthqff the observations of the beha-
viour of these lights and of the magnetic constants were
taken by Weyprecht, Brosch, and Orel by means of a mag-
netic theodolite, a dipping needle, and three variation
328 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
instruments. The extraordinary disturbances of the
needle rendered the determination of exact mean values
for the magnetic constants impossible. The diminution
of their intensity was considerable during the con-
tinuance of Auroras. In 79 51' N. Lat. and 58 56'
E. Long, the declination amounted to ID^E. and the in-
clination to 82 22'. The ice pressures which occurred in
December, 1873, together with the tedious preliminaries
in fixing the magnetic instruments, prevented these
officers from carrying out their labours regularly till the
next month. The following are the principal results
of these observations : (1) The magnetic disturbances
were of extraordinary magnitude and frequency. (2)
They were closely connected with the Aurora ; and
they were greater as the motion of the rays was more rapid
and fitful, and the prismatic colours more intense.
Quiescent and regular arches without changing rays or
streamers, exercise almost no influence on the needle.
(3) In all the disturbances the declination needle moved
towards the east, and the horizontal intensity decreased
while the inclination increased.
f>. In spite of the extreme difficulty of describing the
appearances of those fitful and changing lights, I believe
that the following description of Lieutenant Weyprecht
will be found equally faithful and effective :
" There in the south, low on the horizon, stands a faint
xv.] THE AUROUA. 329
arch of light. It looks as it were the upper limit of a
dark segment of a circle ; but the stars which shine
through it in undiminished brilliancy, convince us that
the darkness cf the segment is a delusion produced by
contrast. Gradually the arch of light grows in intensity
nnd rises to the zenith. It is perfectly regular ; its two
ends almost touch the horizon and advance to the east
and west in proportion as the arch rises. No beams are to
be discovered in it, but the whole consists of an almost
uniform light of a delicious tender colour. It is trans-
parent white with a shade of light green, not unlike
the pale green of a young plant which germinates in the
dark. The light of the moon appears yellow, contrasted
with this tender colour so pleasing to the eye, and so
indescribable in words, a colour which nature appears to
have given only to the Polar regions by way of compen-
sation. The arch is broad, thrice the breadth, perhaps,
of the rainbow, and its distinctly marked edges, are
strongly denned on the profound darkness of the Arctic
heavens. The stars shine through it with undiminished
brilliancy. The arch mounts higher and higher. An
air of repose seems spread over the whole phenomenon ;
here and there only a wave of light rolls slowly from one
side to the other. It begins to grow clear over the ice ;
some of its groups are discernible. The arch is still
distant from the zenith ; a second detaches itself from
330 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
the dark segment, and this is gradually succeeded by
others. All now rise toward the zenith ; the first
passes beyond it, then sinks slowly towards the northern
horizon and as it sinks loses its intensity. Arches of
light are now stretched over the whole heavens ; seven
are apparent at the same time on the sky, though of
inferior intensity. The lower they sink towards the
north, the paler they grow, till at last they utterly fade
away. Often they all return over the zenith, and
become extinct just as they came.
" It is seldom, however, that an aurora runs a course so
calm and so regular. The typical dark segment which
we see in treatises on the subject, in most cases does
not exist. A thin bank of clouds lies on the horizon.
The upper edge is illuminated, out of it is developed a
band of light, which expands, increases in intensity
of colour and rises to the zenith. The colour is the
same as in the arch, but the intensity of the colour
is stronger. The colours of the band change in
a never-ceasing play, but place and form remain un-
altered. The band is broad and its intense pale green
stands out with wonderful beauty on the dark back-
ground. Now the band is twisted into many convolu-
tions, but the innermost folds are still to be seen
distinctly through the others. "Waves of light con-
tinually undulate rapidly through its whole extent,
xv.] THE AURORA. 331
sometimes from right to left, sometimes from left to
right. Then again it rolls itself up in graceful folds.
It seems almost as if breezes high in the air played
and sported with the broad flaming streamers, the ends
of which are lost far oft' on the horizon. The li^ht OTOWS
O o
in intensity, the waves of light follow each other more
rapidly, prismatic colours appear on the upper and lower
edge of the band, the brilliant white of the centre is
inclosed between narrow stripes of red and green. Out
of one band have now grown two. The upper continually
approaches the zenith, rays begin to shoot forth from
it towards a point near the zenith, to which the south
pole of the magnetic needle, freely suspended, points.
The band has nearly reached it, and now begins a bril-
liant play of rays lasting for a short time, the central
point of which is the magnetic pole a sign of the in-
timate connexion of the whole phenomenon with the
magnetic forces of the earth. Round the magnetic pole
short rays flash and flare on all sides ; prismatic colours
are discernible on all their edges ; longer and shorter
rays alternate with each other ; waves of light roll
round it as a centre. What we see is the auroral
corona ; and it is almost always seen when a band passes
over the magnetic pole. This peculiar phenomenon lasts
but a short time the baud now lies on the northern
side of the firmament ; gradually it sinks and pales as it
332 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAUES. [CHAP.
sinks ; it returns again to the south to change and
play as before. So it goes on for hours ; the aurora
incessantly changes place, form and intensity. It
often entirely disappears for a short time only to
appear again suddenly, without the observers clearly
perceiving how it came and where it went : simply
it is there.
"But the band is often seen in a perfectly different
form. Frequently it consists of single rays, which, stand-
ing close together, point in an almost parallel direction
towards the magnetic pole. These become more in-
tensely bright with each successive wave of light ; hence
each ray appears to flash and dart continually, and their
green and red edges dance up and down as the waves
of light run through them. Often again the rays extend
through the whole length of the band and reach almost
up to the magnetic pole. These are sharply marked
but lighter in colour than the band itself, and in this
particular form they are at some distance from each
other. Their colour is yellow, and it seems as if thou-
sands of slender threads of gold were stretched across
the- firmament. A glorious veil of transparent light is
spread over the starry heavens ; the threads of light
with which this veil is woven are distinctly marked
on the dark background ; its lower border is a broad
intensely white band, edged with green and red, which
xv.J THE AURORA. 333
twists and turns in constant motion. A violet-coloured
auroral vapour is often seen simultaneously on different
parts of the sky.
" Or again, there has been tempestuous weather, and it
is now let us suppose passing away. Below on the ice
the wind has fallen, but the clouds are still driving
rapidly across the sky, so that in the upper regions its
force is not yet laid. Over the ice it becomes somewhat
clear ; behind the clouds appears an aurora amid the
darkness of the night. Stars twinkle here and there;
through the openings of the clouds we see the dark
firmament and the rays of the aurora chasing one another
towards the zenith. The heavy clouds disperse ; mist-
like masses drive on before the wind. Fragments of the
northern lights are strewn on every side ; it seems, as if
the storm had torn the aurora bands to tatters and was
driving them hither and thither across the sky. These
threads change form and place with incredible rapidity.
Here is one ! lo, it is gone ! scarcely has it vanished
before it appears again in another place. Through these
fragments drive the waves of light ; one moment they are
scarcely visible, in the next they shine with intense
brilliancy. But their light is no longer that glorious
pale green, it is a dull yellow. It is often difficult to
distinguish what is aurora and what is vapour-
the illuminated mists as they fly past are scarcely
334 AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES. [CHAP.
distinguishable from the auroral vapour which comes
and goes on every side.
" But, again, another form. Bands of every possible
form and intensity have been driving over the heavens.
It is now eight o'clock at night, the hour of the greatest
intensity of the northern lights. For a moment some
bundles of rays only are to be seen in the sky. In the
south a faint scarcely-observable band lies close to the
horizon. All at once it rises rapidly and spreads east
and west. The waves of light begin to dart and shoot ;
some rays mount towards the zenith. For a short time
it remains stationary, then suddenly springs to life.
The waves of light drive violently from east to west ;
the edges assume a deep red and green colour, and dance
up and down. The rays shoot up more rapidly ; they
become shorter ; all rise together and approach nearer
and nearer to the magnetic pole. It looks as if there
were a race among the rays, and that each aspired to
reach the pole first. And now the point is reached, and
they shoot out on every side, to the north and the south,
to the east and the west. Do the rays shoot from above
downwards, or from below upwards ? Who can distin-
guish ? From the centre issues a sea of flames ; is that
sea red, white, or green ? Who can say it is all three
colours at the same moment ! The rays reach almost to
the horizon ; the whole sky is in flames. Nature displays
xv.J THE AURORA. 335
before us such an exhibition of fireworks as transcends
the powers of imagination to conceive. Involuntarily we
listen ; such a spectacle must we think be accompanied
with sound. But unbroken stillness prevails, not the least
sound strikes on the ear. Once more it becomes clear
over the ice, and the whole phenomenon has disappeared
with, the same inconceivable rapidity with which it
came, and gloomy night has again stretched her dark
veil over everything. This was the aurora of the
coming storm the aurora in its fullest splendour. No
pencil can draw it, no colours can paint it, and no
words can describe it in all its magnificence. And here
below stand we poor men, and speak of knowledge
and progress, and pride ourselves on the understanding
with which we extort from Nature her mysteries. We
stand and gaze on the mystery which Nature has written
for us in flaming letters on the dark vault of night, and
ultimately we can only wonder and confess that, in
truth, we know nothing of it."
END OF VOL I.
LONDON :
It. CLAT, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS;,
BREAD STREET HILL,
QUEEN VICTORIA STREET.
$?/& THE LIBRARv
UNIVERSITY ^"
