Part 12 (1/2)
Fortunately two things averted such an unthinkable event. First, Hans recovered, adding his strength to the opposition once more. Second, he caught a fox, which the men devoured down to the last bone. For the time being, the thoughts of eating the Inuit receded.
Looking for ways to divert their thoughts from food, the Germans seized upon the reward given the crew of the Hansa Hansa who had experienced a similar situation. For surviving their drift on the ice, their government awarded each man a gift of one thousand talers. Animated by their greed, the Teutonic contingent swaggered about the ice with their rifles and pistols and boasted that Congress would likely double their pay. The sailors forgot that they had no control over their destiny. No one would collect a cent if they never returned. who had experienced a similar situation. For surviving their drift on the ice, their government awarded each man a gift of one thousand talers. Animated by their greed, the Teutonic contingent swaggered about the ice with their rifles and pistols and boasted that Congress would likely double their pay. The sailors forgot that they had no control over their destiny. No one would collect a cent if they never returned.
Christmas arrived with strong winds raking the ice floe. Even though it meant using the last of their ham and dried apples, the event called for some sort of celebration. ”Our Christmas dinner was gorgeous,” Tyson wrote. ”We each had a small piece of frozen ham, two whole biscuits of hard bread, a few mouthfuls of dried apples, and also a few swallows of seal's blood!”
John Herron, the steward, had balked at eating sealskin on the first of December because ”the hair is too thick, and we have no means of getting it off.” By Christmas hunger had erased his doubts about eating anything. Of the banquet, he wrote, ”We had soup made from a pound of seal blood, which we had saved for a month.” After adding that to their mulligan stew, he remarked, ”the whole was boiled to a thick soup, which, I think, was the sweetest meat I ever ate.”
With that feast went the last of the apples and the one surviving canned ham. Taking stock of their remaining food, Meyer and Tyson found six bags of dried bread and nine cans of pemmican. The cold and darkness continually conspired to thwart the Inuit's search for game. With the open leads sealed under thin ice, neither man could paddle the one kayak far in search of seals, nor could they spot the dark heads, for there was no open water. By the end of December, Tyson's hunger forced him to gnaw on cooked sc.r.a.ps of dried sealskin that Tookoolito had saved for repairing their clothes. E/en the strips of seal blubber that had been burned dry of all their residual oil in the stone lamps were fished out of the sooty bowls anc wolfed down.
By this time the daily intake of those on the ice was, at best guess, less than five hundred calories. n.a.z.i nutritionists calculated that their slave laborers would need a minimum of eight hundred calories a day to perform useful labor for a period of four to six months before they starved to death. While the men on the ice floe reduced their activity whenever possible, the weather was also considerably :older for them, requiring more calories to keep warm.
So, like the unfortunate captives of the Third Reich, the company of the Polaris Polaris was also starving. Their symptoms included listlessness, weakness, and constant thoughts of food as their shrunken stomachs groaned and knotted in emptiness. Their hair, nails, and teeth became brittle as the body dissolved itself in search of essential nutrients. Scurvy attacked them all, loosening their teeth and causing their feet to swell. Stocky individuals with more muscle ar d body fat would last longer than the thin ones, but all suffered f ”om lack of vitamin C. was also starving. Their symptoms included listlessness, weakness, and constant thoughts of food as their shrunken stomachs groaned and knotted in emptiness. Their hair, nails, and teeth became brittle as the body dissolved itself in search of essential nutrients. Scurvy attacked them all, loosening their teeth and causing their feet to swell. Stocky individuals with more muscle ar d body fat would last longer than the thin ones, but all suffered f ”om lack of vitamin C.
To make matters worse, Nature conspired to starve them over prolonged periods before tossing a few mouthfuls of food at them just when they were on the verge of collapse. Then the agonizing cycle repeated itself. Tyson and his party were experiencing firsthand Buddington's fears of starving on the ice.
On the twenty-eighth, a lead opened in the ice. Hans shot a seal, which sank before they could retrieve it. The next day Ebierbing shot another Greenland seal, and anxious moments followed as the men laced to launch the kayak while the dying animal drifted away. Fortune, however, smiled that day, and the animal was caught and dragged ash.o.r.e.
What followed was an orgy of gruesome proportions. The entire skin, with its blubber so vital for the lamps, was stripped off. Then the carca.s.s was rolled onto its back, and the abdomen carefully Dpened to retain all the blood inside the cavity. The clotted blood was swallowed whole, while cupfuls of the steaming blood were drunk before it cooled. Liver, brain, heart, and meat disappeared uncooked into the shrunken stomachs of the nineteen people. In deference to the Inuit custom, the eyeb.a.l.l.s were given to the youngest in the party, baby Charlie Polaris. Even the entrails were wiped clean on the snow and set aside for later.
Normally sinew and strips of skin would be saved for harness, rope, and clothing, but not that day. The men even ate the membranes the Inuit saved for covering the windows in their igloos. What good was having windows when the transparent tissue would ease the hunger pains that racked the men's stomachs? they reasoned.
New Year's dinner brought the usual watery soup made by floating a minute square of dried pemmican in a cup of warm water. Some men sarcastically referred to the broth as ”pemmican tea.” This night the seal intestine added a second course. Tyson dined on two feet of frozen gut with relish. Smacking his lips, he scribbled, ”and I only wish we had plenty of that, but we have not.”
Persistently the ice erased its openings and sealed the watery leads. Hunger preoccupied everyone's thoughts, entertaining their dreams along with every waking moment. Pilfering of the food supplies resumed. ”The provisions are disappearing very fastfaster than the distribution of rations will account for,” the navigator noted. With tongue in cheek, he added, ”there must be some leak.” Yet little could be done to prevent it. The thin clothing and weakened state of all precluded posting a watch. Anyone left outside for long would freeze to death.
With hunger came hallucinations and fanciful thoughts. Having satisfied themselves that their suffering would reap them great financial rewards from Was.h.i.+ngton, the men fantasized that they could reach sh.o.r.e and walk overland to Disko. Despite Tyson's warnings that the ice floe was drifting inexorably west, several of the crew insisted that a run to the east would get them ash.o.r.e. Their delusions infected Ebierbing, who considered making the trek with his family. Certainly if anyone could do it, the Inuit stood the best chance.
Shaken by his stalwart Inuit's admission, Tyson worried even more about the stronger men splitting apart from the company, taking the last of the food, and making a dash to the east. Among the enfeebled party, a handful of men stood out as far healthier and stronger than the rest. They acted as ringleaders, and Tyson judged these sailors to be the thieves who had pilfered the stores. How else could they have retained their energy and strength when all the rest crawled feebly about for want of nourishment? he reasoned.
Without a doubt, if the group divided, everyone would be lost, Tyson argued. Even the fittest among them lacked the strength to cover the distance. And it was suicidal to try to reach land by going east. No one could carry enough to survive. The dogs were all eaten, and the unruly men had burned the sled for fuel. The last remaining whaleboat was far too heavy to drag any distance, and it was needed intact in case their floating base should break apart. If there were those who doubted this would eventually happen, they had only to listen to the growing grinding and creaking that arose from the ce beneath their feet.
More Dver, Disko was still a long way off, not only to the south but to thi east. Meyer's last s.e.xtant sighting had placed them at 72N, neir the middle of Davis Strait and far to the west of the sh.o.r.es of Greenland. The party on the ice floe had drifted to a spot more than three hundred miles from their point of separation from the Polans Polans and nearly six hundred miles south of the lonely mound of shale and stones that covered the half-buried coffin of their late leader, Charles Francis Hall. and nearly six hundred miles south of the lonely mound of shale and stones that covered the half-buried coffin of their late leader, Charles Francis Hall.
ON THE B BEACH.
It would be very desirable indeed if the men could acquire the taste for Greenland food; since all experience has shown the large use of oil and fat meats is the true secret of life in these frozen countries.-SIR JOHN ROSS, 1832 The condition of those men lining the sh.o.r.e beside the dying Polaris Polaris was little better than that of George Tyson's group, nor would their lives improve. Unlike their compatriots, they had reached land, but that was all. The cold, darkness, and famine extended their fingers across both ground and water. was little better than that of George Tyson's group, nor would their lives improve. Unlike their compatriots, they had reached land, but that was all. The cold, darkness, and famine extended their fingers across both ground and water.
Buddington, Chester, and Bessel crowded together on the sh.o.r.e as the sled approached. The rest of the crew rushed to the edge of the ice and waved their hands wildly. Loping across the snow, the dog team and its riders came on, advancing with measured pace, until the bone-tipped runners of the sled flashed in the reflected light. The cries of joy died in the men's throats, and disappointment filled their hearts.
The new arrivals were Inuit.
Through sign language the Natives indicated they had smelled smoke from the s.h.i.+p's fires and followed their noses overland to the cove. They were from the village of Etah, they said. By chance both Inuit, Miouk and Awahtok, had lived with Dr. Kane during his last polar expedition. In fact, the two men recognized the aging Morton and remembered a few words of English. Since fate and the currents had driven the Polaris Polaris close to Life Boat Cove, where Kane's s.h.i.+p died, the coincidence is not too remarkable. close to Life Boat Cove, where Kane's s.h.i.+p died, the coincidence is not too remarkable.
The bundle of steel knives stacked amid the s.h.i.+p's stores attracted the Inuit's attention. A metal knife was far superior to the bone devices fas.h.i.+oned by the Inuit and impossible to obtain except in trade from the white man. Since they had little food, the two men offered their services in unloading the s.h.i.+p. In exchange for a s.h.i.+ny new knife, each Inuit would help move supplies from the Polaris Polaris to the safety of land. to the safety of land.
Over the next four days, the Inuit worked hard ferrying goods from the sinking Polaris Polaris to the beach. The lighter sleds with their bone runners proved invaluable in crossing the creva.s.ses and twisting paths among the piled ice. Coffin had built a heavy sled with its iron-edged runners to carry the whaleboats. Without sled dogs it proved next to useless. Even sawing the ponderous sledge in half did no good. The divided parts were still too heavy to use. to the beach. The lighter sleds with their bone runners proved invaluable in crossing the creva.s.ses and twisting paths among the piled ice. Coffin had built a heavy sled with its iron-edged runners to carry the whaleboats. Without sled dogs it proved next to useless. Even sawing the ponderous sledge in half did no good. The divided parts were still too heavy to use.
On the sh.o.r.e overlooking the bay, Chester erected the framework for the company's house. The salvaged spars and sc.r.a.ps of lumber became the ridgepole and rafters. With the help of Sieman and Booth, the first mate raised a structure twenty-two feet by sixteen feet. When they ran out of sufficient wood to roof the house, Chester si retched two of the s.h.i.+p's sails over the rafters.
While in the act of transferring his possessions ash.o.r.e, Dr. Bessel broke through the ice on two occasions. To avoid frostbite, the doctcr had to suffer the humiliation of crouching beside the s.h.i.+p's stove like a boy with wet pants while the men continued working. It must have especially galled that educated man that all his training went for naught on the ice, and he could not emulate the skill of the two illiterate savages, who jumped nimbly from floe to floe with effortless agility.
Wherever the German scientist left the security of his observatory or the s.h.i.+p, the Arctic dealt with him harshly. Clearly one of the causes of friction between the late Captain Hall and Bessel arose fron the physician's attempts to take over the exploratory part of the expedition. Bitterly he refused to admit that for all his degrees, he did not qualify as an Arctic explorer. His stiff neck brought him nothing but the grief and pain of snow blindness and frostbite.
After all that could be salvaged was transported ash.o.r.e, Miouk and Awahtok sledded happily away with their s.h.i.+ny knives tucked in the sealskin scabbards swinging from their necks. Before they left, the two Inuit discovered the collection of iron-tipped harpoons and whaling lances from the s.h.i.+p. To the Inuit this was a treasure, indeed. They resolved to return as soon as possible.
The crew of the Polaris Polaris settled in to take stock of their new home. While they possessed most of the Sharps rifles, the officers found that the metallic cartridges for the heavy rifles resided with the long-lost Tyson companyas did the heavy keg of black powder. Both had been tossed onto the ice during the night the two groups were separated. Among all the men, counting the powder in their flasks, they could muster only eight pounds of powder and a handful of Sharps cartridges found in their pockets. settled in to take stock of their new home. While they possessed most of the Sharps rifles, the officers found that the metallic cartridges for the heavy rifles resided with the long-lost Tyson companyas did the heavy keg of black powder. Both had been tossed onto the ice during the night the two groups were separated. Among all the men, counting the powder in their flasks, they could muster only eight pounds of powder and a handful of Sharps cartridges found in their pockets.
Only six tons of coal remained, but piles of sc.r.a.p wood stripped from the decking, bunkers, bulkheads, and cabinsensured that they would not freeze anytime soon. Clothing remained the other critical shortage. Most of the seabags had been thrown off the s.h.i.+p in their panic.
If Buddington had planned on receiving help from the village of Etah, he was sorely mistaken. The people of that place were starving and in desperation quickly fastened upon the white men with their weapons of s.h.i.+ny stone as their salvation. Within one day of leaving, Miouk and Awahtok were back with five more dog teams and four friendsall eager to work for a metal knife. With their help, the heavy galley stove was transported ash.o.r.e and tiers of bunks built inside the Polaris Polaris hut. When a crack widened in the ice between the supply depot and the rudimentary cabin, the Inuit unloaded their sleds and carried the cargo over the six-foot gap. For their efforts the crew showered their newfound laborers with spoons, b.u.t.tons, nails, and other metal objects that the Natives readily fas.h.i.+oned into useful tools. All the while the Natives kept their eyes on the metal harpoons. hut. When a crack widened in the ice between the supply depot and the rudimentary cabin, the Inuit unloaded their sleds and carried the cargo over the six-foot gap. For their efforts the crew showered their newfound laborers with spoons, b.u.t.tons, nails, and other metal objects that the Natives readily fas.h.i.+oned into useful tools. All the while the Natives kept their eyes on the metal harpoons.
Freed up to improve his handiwork, Mr. Chester enlarged the living quarters, adding a galley and attaching a storehouse at right angles to the side wall.
On October 24 Schuman and Odell both agreed that burning their limited coal to keep the pumps going was foolish. Without fanfare they extinguished the fireboxes. Like a dying man taken off his respirator, the USS Polaris Polaris sank slowly under the weight of the rising water in her hold. Struggling to the end, the s.h.i.+p heeled onto one side and refused to die. Stripped of masts and rigging, gutted of her inner walls, the s.h.i.+p fought to retain her dignity as she lay on her side. Only the blackened and twisted smokestack jutting from the center of the barren hulk gave mute testimony to the once-proud silhouette of the American steamer. sank slowly under the weight of the rising water in her hold. Struggling to the end, the s.h.i.+p heeled onto one side and refused to die. Stripped of masts and rigging, gutted of her inner walls, the s.h.i.+p fought to retain her dignity as she lay on her side. Only the blackened and twisted smokestack jutting from the center of the barren hulk gave mute testimony to the once-proud silhouette of the American steamer.
Within a week the rest of the population of Etah arrived via sledsnine men, three women, and eight children. Feeding these extra months sorely taxed Buddington's supplies. Other than the ubiquitous dry biscuit and their salted sections of blubber, there was little enough to go around. Numerous forays in search of fresh game yielded little. Several shots were fired at fleeing caribou, without success. From day to day a fox was shot and added to the cooking pot. Flow far a scrawny blue fox went in feeding the camp of thirty-eight people can only be imagined.
Throughout the months of November and December, blue foxes, wh te foxes, and the occasional unwary raven would supply the camps only fresh meat. Since the usually skittish foxes approached the site only because they, too, were starving, their spa.r.s.e frames carried little worth eating. For some reason the men of Etah found no eals.
Monotony and fatigue settled over the land base. Morosely the men watched the Polaris Polaris settle deeper and deeper into the silt of the bay. To those with the gift of insight, the gutted hulk stood as a daily reminder of the expedition's failure. settle deeper and deeper into the silt of the bay. To those with the gift of insight, the gutted hulk stood as a daily reminder of the expedition's failure.
Excitement rose one day when a man was spotted running across the horizon. From the runner's gait, Buddington and Chester declared it was a white man. Surely he must be one of their separated s.h.i.+pmates, they judged. Morton and a half dozen sailors took off after the distant runner. Only Morton reached him. Disappointedly he returned to announce that the man was an Inuit crossing the ice field in search of food.
For some unknown reason, the Inuit loved to visit the big house, where they would sprawl about on the floor sleeping and disrupting the sailors' movements. Disagreement arose, and the Natives would leave, returning to their hardscrabble settlement. But within a few days, a new group would arrive. And so it went, men and women coming and going on a daily basis. Perhaps the Inuit were stealing bits and pieces from the Polaris Polaris camp, but Budding-ton makes no mention of any theft. One main reason the Inuit kept returning was to beg s.h.i.+p's bread from the camp. While the white men's situation was desperate, that of the people of Etah was far worse. Like the starving men with George Tyson, the villagers of Etah were eating their sled dogs. camp, but Budding-ton makes no mention of any theft. One main reason the Inuit kept returning was to beg s.h.i.+p's bread from the camp. While the white men's situation was desperate, that of the people of Etah was far worse. Like the starving men with George Tyson, the villagers of Etah were eating their sled dogs.
One hope burned brightly in Captain Buddington's mind. When Dr. Kane had abandoned his camp at Life Boat Cove, he left behind an iron-plated scow and a sizable keg of black powder. Mr. Morton's recollection matched that report. Here in an ironic twist of fate lay the solution to Buddington's two most vexing problems. With plenty of weapons, they were sorely short of powder, and a st.u.r.dy boat would go a long way in carrying the crew down south when the ice broke up. Since the bay where they had run the s.h.i.+p aground was close to Kane's old camp, the captain proposed a party to find the needed objects.
Chester, Hayes, Coffin, and Dr. Bessel mounted a search party. Armed with picks and shovels, the four men followed the contour of the land until they reached the site of the earlier expedition. Days of digging about in the snow and driving an iron rod through the wind-hardened crust failed to find any trace of the boat or the powder. Disheartened, the company trudged back.
About the same time the men were searching in vain for Kane's things, an Eskimo family arrived at the camp. Tattoos streaking the woman's face marked her as belonging to Inuit from Ellesmere Island, across Smith Sound. Tattooing was common practice among these ”western” Inuit but not usual among the ”eastern” Inuit of Greenland. Her husband also carried a bow and arrows, weapons the Greenland Inuit did not use. The man called himself Etookajeu. When his name tripped the seamen's tongues, they promptly renamed him ”Jimmy.” His wife, Evallu, like Tookoolito, possessed a gift for learning English and soon was conversing freely with Captain Buddington.
Her story confirmed his theory that she had come from the western side of the sound. Five years ago she and a large party had crossed the open water in an oomiak oomiak along with five kayaks. Of the families that came across, she and her husband and children were all who remained. But what she also told him drove a stake into the heart of aiy further attempt to find Kane's iron boat. along with five kayaks. Of the families that came across, she and her husband and children were all who remained. But what she also told him drove a stake into the heart of aiy further attempt to find Kane's iron boat.
In their traveling along the coast, Evallu's group had landed near Life 3oat Cove and stumbled across the observatory Dr. Hayes had built farther inland. They also found the iron scow and the powder. While the Ellesmere Island Inuit recognized the metal scow as akin t3 their large oomiak, oomiak, the nature of the black powder eluded them, as their village had not seen any white men at that time. the nature of the black powder eluded them, as their village had not seen any white men at that time.
Anguish clouded Buddington's face as the woman related that the boat they found was useless and far from seaworthy, with the gunnels staved in and the sides full of holes. The Inuit, ever grateful for windfalls, appropriated the wood and canvas from the sails, mast, and oars. The woman told of her people's sleeping inside the observatory and heating the place with their usual stone seal-oil lamps. Tragically one night an open flame was placed too close to the keg, and the black powder exploded, killing five Natives, including tl e father of her husband, Jimmy.
The Ellesmere Inuit took the deaths in their party as a bad omen in t lis new land and paddled back to their homeland with the doctor's cars and canvas. Evallu and her husband remained behind and eveniually joined the village of Etah. What remained of Dr. Kane's scow was scattered over the eastern slopes of Ellesmere Island in possession of the migrating Inuit.
There would be neither a fortuitous iron boat nor a keg of black powder to make his task lighter, Buddington realized. He also came to the disheartening conclusion that the Inuit would not be able to feed them as he had hoped. It would be a long and hard winter with little to eat. He was no longer on the floating ice, he realized, but the danger of starving was just as great on the land.
With the Natives of dubious help, the crew's survival hung on the sailors' shooting fresh gamea task made all the more difficult by the fact that they possessed so little powder. Every shot at an animal must count. Yet the ravens and bony foxes the men caught hardly fit the bill. Already evidence of scurvy reared its ugly head among the castaways. Booth, pressed into service as a steward, lay confined i o his bunk with swollen feet and ankles.
Chris :mas and New Year's arrived at the base camp with little cause for celebration. The salvaged coal, burned all too freely in the stoves, diminished at an alarming rate. Buddington tried to save fuel by abandoning use of the cast-iron galley stove without much success. The cooking pots turned out to be too large to use on the smaller secondary stove. Finally rations were reduced to one meal a day.
Although they were standing on solid ground, the plight of the men ash.o.r.e was just as grim as that of their s.h.i.+pmates drifting miles to the south on the ice floe. No mention is made of celebrating either Christmas or the end of a dreadful year. Apparently Buddington and his men did not even have one can of dried apples to open for their special dinner, as Tyson's group had.
On the twentieth of January, the stove swallowed the last lump of coal, and Buddington faced a hard decision. Every sc.r.a.p of wood he burned meant one less piece he could use to build boats to carry his men southward after breakup. The pile of wood sc.r.a.ps stacked beside the house lasted a mere seven days.