' /t:~4:~~~!dud:. - ~ly 188 ?t . · · - :....._~ <- ~-uu ' e, W. FILLINGHAM,... -~ 1 CLERK TO THE BOARD, I I ~'--------------------··· -- ------- - --- - - ----- RECENT EXPEDITIONS TO EASTERN POLAR SEAS. I. VOYAGE OF THE HANSA AND GERMANIA. a. VOYAGE OF THE TEGETHOFF. }VITH JwELVE :PNGRAVINGS AND Jwo ,PHARTS. ~0'1tl) Olt: T. NELSON AND SONS, P A'l'ERNOSTER ROW. EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK, 1882. ~r.efau.- ARRATIVES of attempts to pierce the cur of the Unknown have a never-ending ch~ especially when they include records of ad ture and endurance. No narratives excel these respects, those that relate to the Polar Regions. ' book tells the story of two recent expeditions to Eastern Polar Seas--that of the Ha,nsa and the GermA in 1868, and that of the Tegethoff four years later. T narratives will be found as full of intere.st-as exciting as instructive-as any of those that are concerned with more familiar Baffin Bay or Western Route. ®ontentK- I. VOYAGE OF THE "HANSA" AND THE "GERMA.NIA," 7 II. THE VOYAGE OF THE "TEGETHOFF," 46 III. AN ARCTIC WINTER, 72 IV. DISCOVERIES AND ADVENTURES, 104 )®tizt .of ]clluztrdi.on}3'. OUT-OF-DO(?R AMUSEMENTS, •• Frontispiece . l\lAP OF THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION, 10, 11 CREW 01!' TIIE "GERMANIA" ASSAILED IN THEIR TENT, 15 SLEDGE ACCIDENT, •• 19 BEAR-HUNT BY THE CREW 01!' THE "HANSA," •• · 23 YOUNG BEAR CHAINED TO AN ANCHOR, 27 SNOW-BUNTINGS AND LINNETS, 33 DEPARTURE OF THE CREW OF THE '' HANSA " FROM FRiEDRICHSTil AL, • • 37 VIEW OF TROMSOE, • • 45 MAP SHOWING THE COURSE OF THE AUSTRIAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION, 52, 53 THE DOGS OF THE "TEGETHOFF," 59 TIIE WHITE SPECTRE-THE "TEGETHOFF" BY MOONLIGHT, 'i3 RETURN l!'ROM THE SEAL-HUNT, 93 TRAVELLING COSTUME OF TIIE CREW OF THE " TEGETHOFF," 133 RECENT EXPEDITIONS TO EASTERN POLAR SEAS. CHAPTER I. VOYAGE OF THE " HANSA" AND THE " GERMANIA." N 1868, at the instigation of Dr. Peter­ mann, the eminent German geographer, an expedition was fitted out for the pur­ pose of following up what is known as the Spitz­ bergen route to the Pole. It consisted of two vessels, the Ge1·1ncr,nia, a brig of eighty tons, under the command of Captain Koldewey, and the Hcr,nsa, under t};ie command of Captain Hegemann. The two exploring ships reached the island of Jan Mayen on the 9th of July, and at midnight on that day were sailing direct to the northward. On the 14th, the ice-blink glimmering on the horizon indicated the proximity of the vast :i:ce-fields of the Arctic Ocean; and another sign was the ap- 8 A STRANGE ERROR. pearance of the ivory-gull, which is never known to· wander far from the ice. On the following day, an accustomed ear could catch a strange monoto­ nous murmur, which seemed to draw nearer and yet nearer: it was the clang of the sea against the great frozen barrier. Everybody hastened upon deck ; and suddenly the mist rose, and just before them, at the distance of only a few hundred yards, the adventurers saw-the ice ! It might be com­ pared to a long line of broken grary cliffs, with summits snow-shrouded, and azure-tinted sides lighted up by the sun. The two ships made towards Sabine Island, skirt­ ing the ice as closely as was possible, and eagerly seeking for a gap or opening through which they might penetrate to the westward. On the 20th, the Gerrnania found the ice so thick in the south-west, that she altered her course, and at the same time signalled for the captain of the Hcinsa, to come on board to a conference. The latter, however, misread the signal; instead of in­ t-erpreting it as " Corne within hail," he understood it to mean "Long stay-a-peak," and accordingly hoisting out all his canvas, he speedily disappeared in the fog. Through this strange error the two ships were separated, and fourteen months elapsed before the Germania, again caught sight of her consort. \ , .... ]\.. ~. ~ ..... ······· ~ '- ,,. .. ~ \ ~ '-. \\ \ VOYAGE OF THE "GERMANIA." 13. Let us first follow the. fortunes of the Ger1nianici. In all his efforts to break through the ice-pack Captain Koldewey failed, until the 1st of August, when, in latitude 7 4°, he succeeded in accomplish­ ing a passage, and making his way to Sabine Island, anchored on its southern side on the 5th. After resting five days, he again steered to the northward along the Greenland shore until his course was for the second time blocked by the Polar masses. These stretched for fourteen miles in an unbroken line from the mainland to Shannon Island. As progress in that direction was evidently imprac­ ticable, Captain Koldewey moved his ship to the south side of the island, and spent some days in its careful exploration. On the 13th of September, in order to prepare for the rapidly approaching winter, he returned to his original anchorage, and a few days later the ship was in{movably frozen in. A sledge-party which he despatched remained out for eight clays, following up a newly discovered fiord, where they found many petrifactions and much lignite. They also saw large herds of musk­ oxen, and observed that vegetation was abundant. During this excursion the explorers had one or two adventures with bears. On the first occasion, a female, with two cubs, intruded on their privacy; but being received with some volleys of musketry, 14 A. MERRY CHRISTMAS. quickly beat a retreat. On, the second, an audacious visitor actually· broke into the tent, where, wrapped in their furs and bags, they were enjoying an inter­ val of repose. This want of courtesy cost the bear his life; and the Germans in this way obtained a ready supply of fresh provisions. During October several shooting-parties made havoe amongst the reindeer and oxen, and added largely to the. winter store,· collecting · in all fifteen hundred pounds of good beef and venison. After the beginning of November the· animals disappeared, and the fong winter night coming on, excursions of any kind· becaine impossible. A succession of heavy storms marked the close of the year. The tempera­ ture fell to zero, and in January 18 7 0 sunk as low as - 40° F., the minimum attained throughout the winter. Cold and darkness, however, did not depress the spirits of our adventurers, who enjoyed a truly merry Christmas in the old German fashion, erecting a Christmas tree, decorating their hut with flags, compounding a delectable wassail-cup,_ and dancing on the ice by the light of the stars. In February returned the welcome sun. With it came the bears, whose audacity rendered dangerous the daily expeditions on the island undertaken by Cap­ tain Koldewey's scientific staff. Though no one was allo-wed to go abroad unarmed, accidents occurred. CREW OF THE GERMAN I A " ASS A ILE D IN THE I R TENT. i'.r,:e JJ. SLEDGE EXPEDITIONS. 17 One of the savants was severely wounded in the head, and dragged upwards of four hundred yards before his companions could rescue him. It is pleasant to relate that his injuries did not prove fatal. The first sledge-party set out on the 24th of March, and pushing northward indefatigably' for three weeks, reached a point in latitude 77° l' N. There the fury of the northerly gales compelled them to halt. The belt of land-ice skirting the shore was fully four miles wide, and seemed to the travellers to be several years old. They describe it as "a bulwark built for eternity." On their return they had the good luck to fall in with some bears, whose fat supplied them with fuel for cooking their frozen food ; and the wind filling the sails which they had hoisted on their sledges, they ac­ complished a successful journey back to the ship, arriving on the 27th of April. Early in May two sledge-parties were despatched: one to make geographical and scientific explorations of the neighbouring coast of Greenland ; the other to attempt the measurement of an arc of the meri­ dian. Their journeys were both difficult and danger­ ous. To drag the sledges across rugged ice and up and down great hummocks was exhausting work; not less exhausting was it to haul them out of deep drifts of snow. It befell one of the parties to see (722) 2 18 RETURN OF SUMMER. their sledge precipitated into a crevasse, or water­ gap, in the ice; and before they could recover it and haul it up again_ on the floe, they were forced to dis­ charge its cargo, removing every article one by one. Often they were beset and btiffeted by a violent storm, the north wind pelting them in the face with volleys of frozen snow which almost blinded them. Up to their knees in the newly fallen snow they continued to tramp forward with manful persistence, preserving a cheerful and resolute spirit amidst all the hardships· they endured. About the middle of May, to their infinite delight, signs of the annual thaw were visible ; and towards the close of the month the surface of the sea-ice was flooded with water, through which the sledge­ parties waded as best they could. In June the land-ice began to give way in large pieces, and out in the south-east much open water could be descried. It was not, however, untn the 10th of July that the ice cleared away round about the Germanicl, and released her from her prolonged captivity. Four days later boating became practi­ cable, and an excursion was made to the Eskimo village on Clavering Island; but it was found in a desolate condition--the inhabitants had migrated, and the huts were in ruins.