2 GO THE SEA. 



the Hansa ! A little later, and by getting- up steam on board the larger vessel, they 

 rejoined, and the officers met and compared notes. They parted that evening full of con- 

 fident hopes for the future. Little did they think that the vessels would never meet 

 again, and that although as comrades they would meet, a fourteen months' interval must 

 elapse ! By the misunderstanding of a signal the Hansa set all sail and parted company 

 when off the east coast of Greenland in lat. 70 46' N., long. 10 51' W., and soon became 

 entangled in the ice, while they looked in vain from the " crow's nest " for an opening. 

 We shall now follow the fortunes of the Hansa. 



That vessel was soon inextricably wedged in the ice. The coast of East Greenland 

 was often in sight, and several unsuccessful attempts were made to reach it. During this 

 period they had some sport with the polar bears. On September 12th a she bear and cub 

 approached the vessel, the former being speedily shot. The young one was caught, escaped 

 again, and at last was brought back swimming, and was chained to the ice-anchor. It 

 was very much frightened, but nevertheless devoured its mother's flesh when it was thrown 

 to it. The men built it a snow house, and offered it a couch of shavings, but young Bruin, 

 as a genuine inhabitant of the Arctic seas, despised such luxuries, and made its bed in the 

 snow. Some days later it had disappeared, together with the chain, which must have 

 become loosened from the anchor. From the weight of the iron alone the poor creature 

 must soon have sunk. Other Arctic guests visited the Hansa. With a brisk wind came 

 two white foxes from the coast, a certain proof that the ice must extend thither. 



Towards the end of September the necessity of wintering on the floating ice off 

 the coast was decided upon, and they resolved on the erection of a winter 

 house. Bricks were ready in the shape of " coal-tiles/' while water or snow was to form 

 the mortar. Before anything else was done, the boats were cleaned out, covered with a 

 roofing, and provisions placed ready for them in case of emergency. Captain Hegemann 

 sketched the plan for the building, which was to have an area of 20 x 14 feet, with low 

 roof. Wall-building has to be given up in frosty weather on land, not so on the ice. 

 Finely-powdered snow was strewn between the interstices, and water poured upon it, 

 which in ten minutes became solid ice-mortar. The roof was at first composed of sail- 

 cloth and matting. Meantime the ice was grinding and surging around them, and threat- 

 ening to crush the vessel at any moment. Underneath the ice-field it groaned and 

 cracked, "now sounding like the banging of doors, now like many human voices raised 

 one against the other, and lastly like the drag on the wheel of a railway engine." The 

 apparent cause was that the drifting ice was pressing in upon the fixed coast ice. Mean- 

 time the Hansa quivered in every beam, and the masts swayed to and fro. Provisions aad 

 stores were moved to the house in case of sudden disaster. 



On the morning of the 19th a NNW. gale with snow-storm foreboded mischief. 

 The air was gloomy and thick, and the coast four miles off could not be seen. The ice 

 came pressing upon the vessel, and before noon the position became serious. The piled-up 

 masses of "young ice," four feet thick, pressed heavily on the outer side, and the vessel 

 became tilted upwards at the bows. The men took their meals on deck, not knowing 

 what might happen next. " Soon," says the narrator, " some mighty blocks of ice pushed 

 themselves under the bow of the vessel, and although they were crushed by it, they 



