Part 31 (1/2)
[Footnote 244: Wrangel's _Reise_, Th. 2, Berlin, 1839, p. 220. ]
[Footnote 245: According to a paper in _Deutsche Geografische Blatter_, B. IV. p. 54, Captain E. Dallmann, in 1866, as commander of the Havai schooner _W.C. Talbot_, not only saw but landed on Wrangel Land. As Captain Dallmann of recent years has been in pretty close contact with a large number of geographers, and communications from him have been previously inserted in geographical journals, it appears strange that he has now for the first time made public this important voyage. At all events, Dallmann's statement that the musk-ox occurs on the coast of the Polar Sea and on Wrangel Land is erroneous. He has here confused the musk-ox with the reindeer. ]
[Footnote 246: Cf. _Redogorelse for den svenska polarexpeditionen r 1872-73_ (Bihang till Vet Ak. handl. Bd. 2, No. 18, p. 91). ]
[Footnote 247: A more dangerous kind of icing down threatens the navigator in severe weather not only in the Polar Seas but also in the Baltic and the North Sea. For it happens at that season that the sea-water at the surface is over-cooled, that is, cooled below the freezing-point without being frozen. Every wave which strikes the vessel is then converted by the concussion into ice-sludge, which increases and freezes together to hard ice so speedily that all attempts to remove it from the deck are in vain. In a few hours the vessel may be changed into an unmanageable floating block of ice which the sailors, exhausted by hard labour, must in despair abandon to its fate. Such an icing down, though with a fortunate issue, befell the steamer _Sofia_ in the month of October off Bear Island, during the Swedish Polar Expedition of 1868. ]
[Footnote 248: Irkaipij lies in 180 long. from Greenwich. To bring our day-reckoning into agreement with that of the New World, we ought thus to have here lessened our date by one day, and have written the 17th for the 18th September. But as, with the exception of the short excursion to Port Clarence and St. Edward Island, we always followed the coasts of the Old World, and during our stay in the new hemisphere did not visit any place inhabited by Europeans, we retained during the whole of our voyage our European day-reckoning unaltered. If we had met with an American whaler, we would have been before him one day, our 27th September would thus have corresponded to his 26th. The same would have been the case on our coming to an American port. ]
CHAPTER X.
Wintering becomes necessary--The position of the _Vega_-- The ice round the vessel--American s.h.i.+p in the neighbourhood of the _Vega_ when frozen in--The nature of the neighbouring country--The _Vega_ is prepared for wintering--Provision-depot and observatories established on land--The winter dress-- Temperature on board--Health and dietary--Cold, wind, and snow --The Chukches on board--Menka's visit--Letters sent home-- Nordquist and Hovgaard's excursion to Menka's encampment-- Another visit of Menka--The fate of the letters--Nordquist's journey to Pidlin--_Find_ of a Chukch grave--Hunting-- Scientific work--Life on board--Christmas Eve.
a.s.sured that a few hours' southerly wind would be sufficient to break up the belt of ice, scarcely a Swedish mile[249] in breadth, that barred our way, and rendered confident by the above-quoted communications from experts in America concerning the state of the ice in the sea north of Behring's Straits, I was not at first very uneasy at the delay, of which we took advantage by making short excursions on land and holding converse with the inhabitants. First, when day after day pa.s.sed without any change taking place, it became clear to me that we must make preparations for wintering just on the threshold between the Arctic and the Pacific Oceans. It was an unexpected disappointment, which it was more difficult to bear with equanimity, as it was evident that we would have avoided it if we had come some hours earlier to the eastern side of Kolyutschin Bay.
There were numerous occasions during the preceding part of our voyage on which these hours might have been saved: the _Vega_ did not require to stay so long at Port d.i.c.kson, we might have saved a day at Taimur Island, have dredged somewhat less west of the New Siberian Islands, and so on; and above all, our long stay at Irkaipij waiting for an improvement in the state of the ice, was fatal, because at least three days were lost there without any change for the better taking place.
The position of the vessel was by no means very secure. For the _Vega_, when frozen in, as appears from the sketch map to be found further on, did not lie at anchor in any haven, but was only, in the expectation of finding a favourable opportunity to steam on, anch.o.r.ed behind a ground-ice, which had stranded in a depth of 9-1/2 metres, 1,400 metres from land, in a road which was quite open from true N. 74 W. by north to east. The vessel had here no other protection against the violent ice-pressure which winter storms are wont to cause in the Polar seas, than a rock of ice stranded at high water, and therefore also at high water not very securely fixed.
Fortunately the tide just on the occasion of our being frozen in, appears to have been higher than at any other time during the course of the winter. The ice-rocks, therefore, first floated again far into the summer of 1879, when their parts that projected above the water had diminished by melting. Little was wanting besides to make our winter haven still worse than it was in reality. For the _Vega_ was anch.o.r.ed the first time on the 28th September at some small ice-blocks which had stranded 200 metres nearer the land, but was removed the following day from that place, because there were only a few inches of water under her keel. Had the vessel remained at her first anchorage, it had gone ill with us. For the newly formed ice, during the furious autumn storms, especially during the night between the 14th and 15th December, was pressed over these ice-blocks. The sheet of ice, about half a metre thick, was thereby broken up with loud noise into thousands of pieces, which were thrown up on the underlying ground-ices so as to form an enormous _toross_, or rampart of loose, angular blocks of ice. A vessel anch.o.r.ed there would have been buried under pieces of ice, pressed aground, and crushed very early in the winter.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TOROSS. From the neighbourhood of the _Vega's_ winter quarters. ]
When the _Vega_ was beset, the sea near the coast, as has been already stated, was covered with newly formed ice, too thin to carry a foot pa.s.senger, but thick enough to prevent the pa.s.sage of a boat.
In the offing lay, as far as the eye could see, closely packed drift-ice, which was bound together so firmly by the newly formed ice, that it was vain to endeavour to force a pa.s.sage. Already, by the 2nd October, it was possible, by observing the necessary precautions, to walk upon the newly formed ice nearest the vessel, and on the 3rd October, the Chukches came on board on foot. On the 10th there were still weak places here and there between the vessel and the land, and a blue sky to the eastward indicated that there was still open water in that direction. That this ”clearing” was at a considerable distance from the vessel was seen from an excursion which Dr. Almquist undertook in a north-easterly direction on the 13th October, when, after walking about twenty kilometres over closely packed drift-ice, he was compelled to turn without having reached the open water. It was clear that the _Vega_ was surrounded by a band, at least thirty kilometres broad, of drift-ice fields, united by newly formed ice, which in the course of the winter reached a considerable thickness.[250]
In this immense ice-sheet there often arose in the course of the winter cracks of great length. They ran uninterruptedly across newly formed ice-fields, and old, high ground-ices. One of the largest of these cracks was formed on the night before the 15th December right under the bow of the vessel. It was nearly a metre broad, and very long. Commonly the cracks were only some centimetres broad, but, notwithstanding this, they were troublesome enough, because the sea-water forced itself up through them to the surface of the ice and drenched the snow lying next to it.
The causes of the formation of the cracks were twofold. Either they arose from a violent wind disturbing somewhat the position of the newly formed ice, or through the contraction of the ice in severe cold. The formation of the cracks took place with a more or less loud report, and, to judge from the number of these reports, more frequently than could be observed from the appearance of the snow-covered ice. Thus even during severe cold the apparently continuous ice-sheet was divided into innumerable pieces lying in the close proximity of each other, which either were completely loose or bound together only by the weak ice-band which was gradually formed under the snow on the surface of the water which had forced its way into the crack. Up to a distance of about six kilometres from the sh.o.r.e the ice in any case lay during the course of the whole winter nearly undisturbed, with the exception of the small cracks just mentioned. Farther out to sea, on the other hand, it was in constant motion. So-called _polynias_ or open places probably occur here all the year round, and when the weather was favourable we could therefore nearly always see a blue water sky at the horizon from true N.W. to E. A southerly wind after some days brought the open water channel so near the vessel that it was possible to walk to it in a few hours. It then swarmed with seals--an indication that it was in connection with a sea that was constantly open. The neighbourhood of such a sea perhaps also accounts for the circ.u.mstance that we did not see a single seal-hole in the ice-fields that surrounded the vessel.
The ground-ice, to which the _Vega_ was moored on the 29th September, and under which she lay during the course of the winter, was about forty metres long and twenty-five metres broad; its highest point lay six metres above the surface of the water. It was thus not very large, but gave the vessel good shelter. This ground-ice, along with the vessel and the newly formed ice-field lying between it and the sh.o.r.e, was indeed moved considerably nearer land during the violent autumn storms. A groan or two and a knocking sound in the hull of the vessel indicated that it did not escape very severe pressure; but the _Vega_ did not during the course of the winter suffer any damage, either from this or from the severe cold, during which sharp reports often indicated that some crack in the woodwork had widened through the freezing of the water that had made its way into the vessel. ”Cold so that the walls crack” is a well-known expression, with which we inhabitants of the North often connect memories from some stormy winter evening, pa.s.sed by the home hearth; but here these reports heard in our cabins, especially at night, were unpleasant enough, giving rise to fears that the newly formed or widened cracks would cause dangerous leaks in the vessel's hull. In consequence of iron contracting more than wood under the influence of cold, the heads of the iron bolts, with which the s.h.i.+p's timbers were fastened together, in the course of the winter sank deep into the outside planking. But no serious leak arose in this way, perhaps because the cold only acted on that part of the vessel which lay above the surface of the water.
Already during the first days of our wintering we interpreted various lively accounts of the natives, which they ill.u.s.trated by signs, to mean that a whaler would be found at Serdze Kamen, in the neighbourhood of the _Vega's_ winter haven. On this account Lieutenant Brusewitz was sent out on the 4th October with two men and the little boat, _Louise_, built in Copenhagen for the expedition of 1872-73, and intended for sledge-journeys, with instructions to ascertain, if possible, if such was the case. He returned late at night the same day without having got sight of any vessel. We now supposed that the whole depended on our having misunderstood the accounts of the Chukches. But a letter which I received after our return, from Mr. W. BARTLETT, dated New Bedford, 6th January, 1880, shows that this had not been the case. For he writes, among other things:--
”The writer's son, GIDEON W. BAKTLETT, left San Francisco 1st June, 1878, in our freighter s.h.i.+p _Syren_, of 875 tons, for St. Lawrence Bay, arriving there July 8th, and, after loading 6,100 barrels of oil and 37,000 lbs. of bone from our whalers, she sailed for New Bedford direct, touching at Honolulu to land her bone, to come here _via_ San Francisco, and he joined our whaler bark, _Rainbow_, at St. Lawrence Bay, and went on a tour of observation and pleasure, visiting Point Barrow and going as far east as Lion Reefs, near Camden Bay, and then returning to Point Barrow, and going over to Herald Island, and while there visiting our different whalers, seeing one ”bow-head”
caught and cut in, and September 25th he came down in the schooner _W.M. Meyer_ to San Francisco, arriving there October 22nd. By a comparison of dates we find he pa.s.sed near Cape Serdze September 29th, or one day after you anch.o.r.ed near Kolyutschin Bay.”
The 29th September according to the American day-reckoning corresponds to the 30th according to that of the old world, which was still followed on board the _Vega_. The schooner _W.M.
Meyer_ thus lay at Serdze Kamen two days after we anch.o.r.ed in our winter haven. The distance between the two places is only about 70 kilometres.
The winter haven was situated in 67 4' 49” north lat.i.tude, and 173 23' 2” longitude west from Greenwich, 1.4 kilometres from land. The distance from East Cape was 120', and from Point Hope near Cape Lisburn on the American side, 180'.
The neighbouring land formed a plain rising gradually from the sea, slightly undulating and crossed by river valleys, which indeed when the _Vega_ was frozen in was covered with h.o.a.rfrost and frozen, but still clear of snow, so that our botanists could form an idea of the flora of the region, previously quite unknown. Next the sh.o.r.e were found close beds of Elymus, alternating with carpets of _Halianthus peploides_, and further up a poor, even, gravelly soil, covered with water in spring, on which grew only a slate-like lichen, _Gyrophora proboscidea_, and a few flowering plants, of which _Armeria sibirica_ was the most common. Within the beach were extensive salt and fresh-water lagoons, separated by low land, whose banks were covered with a pretty luxuriant carpet, formed of mosses, gra.s.ses, and Carices. But first on the neighbouring high land, where the weathered gneiss strata yielded a more fertile soil than the sterile sand thrown up out of the sea, did the vegetation a.s.sume a more variegated stamp. No trace of trees[251] was indeed found there, but low willow bushes, entensive carpets of _Empetrum nigrum_ and _Andromeda tetragona_ were seen, along with large tufts of a species of Artemisia. Between these shoot forth in summer, to judge partly from the dried and frozen remains of plants which Dr. Kjellman collected in autumn, partly from collections made in spring, a limited number of flowering plants, some of which are well known at home, as the red whortleberry, the cloudberry, and the dandelion.
Although experience from preceding Polar journeys and specially from the Swedish expedition of 1872-73, showed that even at the 80th degree of lat.i.tude the sea may suddenly break up in the middle of winter, we however soon found, as has been already stated, that we must make preparations for wintering. The necessary arrangements were accordingly made. The snow which collected on deck, and which at first was daily swept away, was allowed to remain, so that it finally formed a layer 30 centimetres thick, of hard tramped snow or ice, which in no inconsiderable degree contributed to increase the resistance of the deck to cold, and for the same purpose snowdrifts were thrown up along the vessel's sides. A stately ice stair was carried up from the ice to the starboard gunwale. A large tent made for the purpose at Karlskrona was pitched from the bridge to the fore, so that only the p.o.o.p was open. Aft the tent was quite open, the blast and drifting snow having also free entrance from the sides and from an incompletely closed opening in the fore. The protection it yielded against the cold was indeed greatly diminished in this way, but instead it did not have the least injurious action on the air on the vessel, a circ.u.mstance specially deserving of attention for its influence on the state of health on board. Often under this tent in the dark days of winter there blazed a brisk smithy fire, round which the Chukches crowded in curious wonder at the skill with which the smith fas.h.i.+oned the glowing iron. Here the cook dealt out to the Chukches the soup and meat that were left over, and the loaves of bread which at every baking were baked for them. Here was our reception saloon, where tobacco and sugar were distributed to the women and children, and where sometimes, if seldom, a frozen hunter or fisherman was treated to a little spirits. Here pieces of wood and vertebrae of the whale were valued and purchased, and here tedious negotiations were carried on regarding journeys in dog-sledges in different directions.
The violent motion which took place in the ice during the night before the 15th December, gave us a sharp warning that our position in the open road was by no means so secure as was desirable, but that there was a possibility that the vessel might be nipped suddenly and without any previous warning. If such a misfortune had happened, the crew of the _Vega_ would certainly have had no difficulty in getting to land over the ice. But the yield of hunting appeared to be so scanty, and the Chukches were, as almost always, so dest.i.tute of all stock of provisions--for they literally obey the command to take no thought for to-morrow--that there was every probability that we, having come safe ash.o.r.e, would die of hunger, if no provisions were saved from the vessel. This again, as the princ.i.p.al part of the provisions was of course down in the hold, would have been attended with great difficulty, if the _Vega_ had been suddenly in the night cut into by the ice at the water-line. In order as far as possible to secure ourselves against the consequences of such a misfortune, a depot of provisions, guns, ammunition, &c., reckoned for 30 men and 100 days, was formed on land. Fortunately we did not require to depend upon it. The stores were laid up on the beach without the protection of lock or bolt, covered only with sails and oars, and no watch was kept at the place. Notwithstanding this, and the want of food which occasionally prevailed among the natives, it remained untouched both by the Chukches who lived in the neighbourhood, and by those who daily drove past the place from distant regions. All however knew very well the contents of the sail-covered heap, and they undoubtedly supposed that there were to be found there treasures of immense value, and provisions enough for the whole population of the Chukch peninsula for a whole year.