204 Col. H. W. Ftildcu on a 



we should have been able to effect a landing. As it was, 

 there was only sufficient coal left to take the ' Saxon ' back 

 to Vardo under favourable conditions of wind and weather, 

 so, for the second time, the order to retreat had to be given. 

 With a favouring south-east wind and a full head of steam, 

 we ran down the broad channel of water to the south-west at 

 a speed of nine knots, and in three hours had cleared the 

 ice on our starboard, but still kept it on our port side all the 

 way to Kolguev, which we sighted on the evening of the 4th 

 of July. 



It had been determined, if our second attempt to reach 

 Novaya Zemlya failed, that our party should land, if possible, 

 on Kolguev, whilst the yacht again went to Vardo for coals. 

 The 5th of July ushered in a splendid morning, the sea as 

 smooth as glass, with a gentle warm wind from the south. 

 Under these pleasant surroundings we ran down the west 

 shore of Kolguev under the lee of the land, the island, with 

 its mournful-looking cliffs of blue clay and flat treeless tundra, 

 looking less dismal than is its wont. The intention was to 

 have made a landing, if practicable, at the mouth of the 

 Kriva River, in the south-west of the island; but when we 

 got abreast of the entrance to the Gobista River the sea was 

 so smooth and the landing looked so easy that it was thought 

 wise not to miss a chance, as already the wind was veering 

 to the east, and masses of black thunder-cloud were rising 

 ])ortentous from the horizon to the zenith in the same 

 direction, accompanied by the distant rumbling of thunder. 

 The yacht was run in to within a mile of the shore and 

 anchored in three and a half fathoms. Tent, supplies, and 

 bedding Avere rapidly landed and camp made, but not before 

 the thunder-storm broke over us, with rain and great fury, 

 accompanied by vivid flashes of lightning: a phenomenon 

 not common in the Arctic Regions. We were none too soon, 

 for just as the men and boats returned to the yacht, and the 

 " farewell " had been hoisted, and the ' Saxon ' bore away 

 for Vardo, the long, angry, surf-crested waves came booming 

 in on the beach, and for the next ten days there was never a 

 time that a boat could have communicated with the shore or 



