92 Prof. O. Heer on the last Discoveries 



eastern coast of Spitzbergen, where the German expedition 

 had resided for a considerable time. All that they saw to- 

 wards the east was a dark line rising above the horizon, indi- 

 cating a land which no man has ever yet trodden, and of which 

 we know neither the extent nor the form. 



On the 13th of September the travellers retm-ned to Amster- 

 dam Island. They had been preceded there by a coaling ves- 

 sel coming from Norway, and in which the scientific commis- 

 sion returned home, except Prof. Nordenskiold and Dr. Berg- 

 gren. The moment had arrived for them to make their great 

 attempt, and to advance towards the pole by surmounting the 

 barrier of ice which separated them from it. 



They steered at first towards the Seven Islands, then further 

 to the north, taking advantage of all the navigable passages. 

 On the 18th of September they reached the latitude of 81° 30', 

 and on the following day, in 17° E. long., the latitude of 

 81° 42', the highest that any vessel has ever reached in the 

 north. A photograph of this spot, which has been commu- 

 nicated to me by M. Nordenskiold, shows that the ice was cut 

 by a narrow sinuous channel, into which the vessel had got ; 

 towards the north this passage was lost, and the ice formed a 

 boundless plain. Of course it was out of the question to pe- 

 netrate any further. Whilst one part of the crew set on foot 

 some observations upon a great table of floating ice, the 

 Swedish standard was hoisted with the firing of a gun, in 

 order to celebrate the arrival of the expedition at the most 

 northern point of our earth which a ship has ever attained. 



The vessel had now to turn back towards the south. After 

 several vain attempts to penetrate into the ice at other points, 

 it reentered Schmeren's Bay on the 26th of September. 



On the 1st of October it again took its course towards the 

 north ; but at 80° 14' N. lat. it met with thick ice. The 

 conditions had become considerably altered. The sun only 

 showed itself for a very short time, for the nights had become 

 rapidly lengthened. Even in summer, snow-storms had some- 

 times succeeded warm and serene days without any transition ; 

 these had become more and more frequent. The snow con- 

 verted the water into a thick paste, which the storms drove 

 before them and turned into innumerable icicles, which were 

 frozen together during the night by a cold of 15° (C). On 

 the 4th of October, in 81° N. lat., the vessel was quite sur- 

 rounded by ice. At 3 o'clock in the morning, its head was 

 turned to the south, in order to break the ice and escape from 

 its prison. During this time there arose a violent storm, 

 which tossed the ship about in the midst of a multitude of 

 fragments of ice. At half-past 6 a.m. the cry of " a leak !" 



