320 



GEOGKAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1870. 



the height of which -was found to measure up 

 to 14,000 feet. August 15th the boiler sprang 

 a leak, the season was far advanced, and the 

 return was decided upon. The ship was free 

 from ice, August 24th, 72 N., 14 W. Deep-sea 

 soundings were made in 1,800 fathoms water, 

 and after a stormy passage the German iron- 

 clad fleet was sighted in the mouth of the 

 Jahde. Bremerhaven was reached Septem- 

 ber llth. 



The Hansa was less fortunate, and, though 

 she accomplished even less than the Germa- 

 nia in the way of geographical discovery, yet 

 the narrative of the misfortunes and heroic 

 fortitude and endurance of the crew of four- 

 teen men is one of the most interesting chap- 

 ters in the history of scientific explorations. 

 The vessel was ice-bound on the east coast of 

 Greenland in latitude 75 as early as Septem- 

 ber 6, 1869. Fearful storms coming on, the 

 ship was urged near the coast and driven some 

 degrees farther south, amid such turmoil and 

 crushing of the ice, that the company forsook 

 her, and in the night of October 22d she went 

 down with all her freight of collections and 

 observations, the results of months of hard 

 work and much sacrifice. For one hundred 

 and ninety-three days the little company of 

 fourteen men voyaged on an ice-floe, which, 

 from a circumference of seven miles, was re- 

 duced at length to a mere cake of hardly two 

 hundred paces' circuit. 



Such was the brief telegraphic record of the 

 misfortune ; but the incidents of this long voy- 

 age on an ice-island are deserving of somewhat 

 more particular description. 



The Hansa's first attempt to penetrate the 

 ice failed. Another was made August 10th, in 

 latitude 74 46' N., and longitude 10 28' W. 

 On the 24th the ship was within 24 miles of 

 the coast, and the boats went 8 miles farther 

 in ; but, though only 16 miles east of Besbrow 

 Island, no coast-water could be seen from the 

 top of a high ice-block. In this situation the 

 captain hoped for a storm which might break 

 up the ice ; but when it came the wind blew 

 from the northwest, and the ship was driven 

 so far in the opposite direction that the hope 

 of reaching the coast was gone. Still the ship 

 lay, September 7th, in open water, which ap- 

 peared to reach to the coast, with the exception 

 of one great field of ice, and by a lucky chance 

 something might yet be effected. Two days 

 after another northwest wind broke up the ice 

 completely, and sent the ship driving farther 

 southeast than ever, and surrounded her with 

 whirling masses of ice that more than once en- 

 dangered her safety. September 19th, the 

 ship was completely frozen in. Precisely one 

 month after, during a heavy snow-storm and 

 northwest wind, the ice began to shove, and 

 the field which protected the ship was by little 

 and little broken up. Finally, the young ice 

 immediately about the vessel, four feet thick, 

 broke on the starboard side ; the bow was 

 forced up, and would have risen higher had 



not high blocks of ice prevented. Caught in 

 this way, it had to withstand the full pressure 

 of the floe. The decks were sprung, but the 

 hull seemed to be sound. After a pause the 

 ice began to shove harder still. The Hansa 

 was pushed up 14 feet out of her old position, 

 but in the succeeding pause the ice retired, and 

 the ship glided again into the water, and lay 

 leaning over and resting on a tongue of ice 

 under water. At first a foot of water was 

 found in the hold, and after three hours' work 

 this was pumped out. But, after a ten minutes' 

 pause, during which the men took some food, 

 the pumps were sounded again, and two feet 

 four inches of water was found in them. The 

 temperature was 20 R. (13 Fahr.) ; the 

 water froze in the scuppers, and, though the 

 bulwarks were cut through, the outlets kept 

 freezing up. The deck was covered with an 

 increasing sheet of ice, the water from the 

 pumps partly ran back into the hold, the pumps 

 themselves began to freeze up, and the leak 

 was uncontrollable. This is the history of 

 three days of hard struggling. The hold was 

 full of water, and the ship appeared to have 

 broken her keel and leaked in every seam. 

 Measures for future safety had been early taken 

 provisions accumulated on the ice, the 

 masts taken for fuel, the boats placed in safety. 

 October 23, 1869, the fourteen men stood by 

 and saw the ark of their safety sink into the 

 water in spite of anchors and stays. As near 

 as they could determine it, the place of their 

 shipwreck was latitude 70 50' N., and longi- 

 tude 21 W. The Liverpool Island coast was 

 not more than five miles distant ; its cliffs and 

 hills, Holloway Bay, and Glasgow Inlet, were 

 plainly to be seen ; but no way of escape to it 

 through the ice could be found. This first part 

 of the voyage had occupied one hundred and 

 thirty days, or from June loth to October 23d. 



Already in September a house had been 

 built of coal, in order to store provisions for 

 the boats. This now became their home, and 

 in it they lived for eighty -three days, or, rather, 

 double that number of nights. It was far from 

 uncomfortable, being 20 feet long, 14 wide, and 

 4^ high in the walls, and 6 in the centre. 

 There was no lack of provisions or fuel. Un- 

 der these circumstances the ship's company 

 began their enforced voyage. In clear weather 

 the coast was nearly always visible ; bears and 

 foxes came oif for an occasional visit ; and it 

 would not have been impossible for the men to 

 have reached the land, but only by leaving be- 

 hind provisions and boats. 



The drift southward went steadily on. By 

 the end of December, 1869, they were in the 

 67th degree, three degrees in six weeks. "With 

 true Germanfidelity to home feelings, Christmas 

 was not allowed to go by without burning an 

 extra light or two, and raising a tree decorated 

 with paper ornaments and cookies. The only 

 " presents " spoken of are a knapsack and re- 

 volver-case for the captain. Certain tin cases 

 which had been given them were opened, a 



