SWEDISH EXPEDITIONS. 257 



The old and solid floes (some a quarter of a mile, and others miles across) and the massive 

 ridges and wastes of hummocked ice which lay piled between them and around their mar- 

 gins, were the only parts of the sea which retained the whiteness and solidity of winter/' 



Hayes returned from this expedition firmly convinced that he had stood upon the 

 shores of the Polar basin. The arguments have been before indicated for and against this 

 theory, but they are certainly not conclusive. The journey had been one of a most arduous 

 nature ; and more than 1,300 miles of ice had been traversed before he regained the schooner. 

 On his return to the United States shortly afterwards, at the climax of the great American 

 war, Hayes immediately volunteered in the Northern army, a pretty decided proof of the energy 

 and bravery of the man. 



Between the years 1858 and 1872 Sweden sent out five expeditions to the Arctic, 

 the results of which were important in many directions, although no geographical dis- 

 coveries of great mark were made. The first was provided at the expense of Otto Torell, 

 a gentleman of means, and who has deservedly earned a high scientific reputation. The 

 expenses of the others were defrayed partly by private subscription and partly by Government 

 aid. The whole of them were under the direction of Professor Nordenskjold, and a very 

 decided addition to our knowledge of Spitzbergen has been the result. The Swedes 

 reached a latitude of 81 42' N. during the 1868 voyage. An attempt to pass northward 

 from the Seven Isles is thus described by the Professor : 



" Northward lay vast ice masses, it is true as yet broken, but still so closely packed 

 that not even a boat could pass forward, and we were therefore obliged to turn to the 

 south-west and seek for another opening in the ice; but we found on the contrary, that 

 the limit of the ice stretched itself more and more to the south. . . . On the way we 

 had in several places met with ice black with stones, gravel, and earth, which would seem 

 to indicate the existence of land still farther north. 



r 'The ice itself had, moreover, a very different appearance from that which we had 

 met in these tracts at the end of August. It consisted now, not only of larger ice-fields, 

 but also of huge ice-blocks. . . . Already, in the beginning of September, the sur- 

 face of the ocean, after a somewhat heavy fall of snow, had shown itself between the ice 

 masses, covered with a coating of ice, which, however, was then thin, and scarcely hindered 

 the vessel's progress. Now it was so thick that it was not without difficulty that a way 

 could be forced through it." On October the 4th, during the prevalence of a gale and 

 heavy sea, their ship, the Sofia, was thrown bodily upon an iceberg, and commenced to leak 

 so badly that when they reached Amsterdam Island, and after eleven hours of incessant 

 work at the pumps, the water stood two feet above the cabin floor. The engine-room, 

 thanks to water-tight bulkheads, was with great difficulty kept so free from water 

 that the fires were not extinguished. Had this not been the case, the ship must have 

 become a prey to the raging elements. At Amsterdam Island the vessel was careened, 

 and the leak provisionally stopped, so that they were able a little later to proceed to a 

 more secure harbour, King's Bay, where they hauled close to the land, and at ebb tide 

 succeeded in making the ship water-tight. Two ribs were broken by the shock which 

 caused the leak, and an immediate return home was their only safe course. The 

 description, however, gives some idea of the dangers of Arctic ice navigation. 

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