274 THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE 



Steps were now taken to free the ship from the ice, 

 which was from 10 feet to 18 feet thick. Holes were 

 drilled in this ice along one side of the ship, and into 

 these holes guncotton was placed and exploded. All 

 their efforts at first were of little avail, but they eventually 

 succeeded in righting the ship. A channel 180 yards 

 long had next to be blasted in order to get the ship out 

 of the bay. In forming this channel nearly all the ex- 

 plosives were exhausted when it was completed on 10th 

 August. The provisions and equipment were now put on 

 board, and everything being ready on 16th August, the 

 Polar Star, which was still seaworthy, left Teplitz Bay 

 on the return journey. 



Cape Flora was reached on 31st August, after con- 

 siderable difficulties with the ice on the passage south. 

 There was still a faint hope that the missing detachment 

 might be here, but no trace of it was found. As a final 

 precaution, provisions sufficient for twenty men during 

 eight months were left here ; a still larger quantity had 

 been left at Teplitz Bay. 



On the 2nd September the Polar Star escaped from the 

 drift ice ; on the 5th the rugged mountains of Norway 

 were in view, and Tromso was reached on the 6th. 



Although this expedition added no new land to our 

 maps, the results were important. It proved that a ship 

 could be taken to the northern part of Franz-Josef 

 Archipelago, and that a properly equipped sledge- 

 expedition could travel a distance of 5° of latitude over 

 the ice of the Arctic Ocean. 



Franz-Josef Archipelago has since been visited by two 

 Polar expeditions known as the " Ziegler Expeditions,"' 1 

 but these have added little to our previous knowledge. 



