yune 2, 1881] 



NATURE 



107 



As time passed on the continued action of the sea 

 raised a perfect iceberg on the forward part of the vessel, 

 while the showers of spray carried along by the steadily 

 increasing gale covered the masts, yards, and rigging 

 with an ever-thickening coating of ice. Two or three 

 days passed without the least abatement of the storm, 

 and then the half-smothered steamer went over on her 

 beam endi. The crew succeeded in cutting away the 

 masts, and she once more righted. 



It however was clear, the gale showing no signs of 

 breaking, that the relief was only temporary. The ice 

 continued to form on the vessel, particularly about the 

 forecastle, where, piled high above the bulwarks, and 

 ov-erhanging the sides, it threatened, by altering her trim, 

 to raise the propeller out of the water. 



Under these circumstances, on the morning of January 

 29, Capt. Kihl decided to run the steamer ashore while 

 daylight lasted. At some distance from the land she 

 struck on a sunken rock, and the crew, taking to the 

 boats, only succeeded with the greatest difficulty in 



reaching the shore, saving nothing but their lives, the 

 English mail, and a bundle of blankets which (when 

 carried ashore) was found to be useless — frozen into a 

 solid lump. Their situation in deep snow on the desolate 

 coast of Iceland, about 100 miles to the north-west of 

 Reykjavik, was very critical, and a party of two or three 

 of the stronger sailors under the command of M. Jas- 

 persin, the first officer, proceeded in search of assistance. 

 It was not however until about three in the morning of 

 the 30th, after suffering great hardships, that the sound 

 of a pony kicking in a shed guided them to a house. 

 The farmers immediately turned out, and eventually the 

 scattered crew, twenty-two or twenty-three in number, 

 were picked up, some of the clever little Icelandic dogs 

 proving themselves most valuable auxiliaries in the search. 

 Many of the men, however, were all but frozen to death 

 in the snow. From this time all possible attention was 

 given to them ; but one, having both legs and arms 

 frost-bitten, died ; another afterwards had both legs am- 

 putated below the knees ; and the steward lost three 



fingers of each hand. Hardly one escaped more or less 

 injury from the effects of the extreme cold to which 

 they had been so long exposed. Capt. Kihl and the bulk 

 of his crew soon after succeeded in getting to Reykjavik, 

 and on April 13 they sailed in the sister steamer, the 

 Arctiirits, for Copenhagen. The officers and men of the 

 wre:ked vessel are of opinion that had Capt. Kihl not 

 decided on the 29th to run the FJianix ashore in daylight 

 not a soul would have been saved, as the gale did not 

 moderate for several days after ; and the steamer, buried 

 as it was under an enormous mass of ice, must have 

 foundered in the night. 



In Iceland this storra will be long remembered by the 

 destruction it caused ; and it is said that such a terrible 

 winter has not been known for years. Sheep have 

 perished in large nuiibers, and ponies have been killed to 

 save hay. Then as the Icelanders depend on the outer 

 world for flour, &c., the loss of the Pha'iiix with its cargo 

 was a terrible misfortune. A letter from Reykjavik to a 

 lady in Edinburgh, published on April 21 (and dated the 



loth), states that the magazines were empty, and con- 

 cludes thus : " It was very delightful to see the steamer 

 Arcturiis coming in the other day after having expected 

 it so long. It brought both news and provisions, so that 

 the poor people in the neighbourhood of Reykjavik can 

 be helped for a while." J. Allen Allen 



NOTES 



C.A.PT. Frederick John Owen Evans, C.B., F.R.S., has 

 been made a K.C.B. Among all the crowd of names gazetted 

 for such honours on the Queen's birthday, not one had better 

 deserved it by his services to his country, as well as to science, 

 than the well-known Hydrographer to the Admiralty. 



The Visitation of the Rojal Observatory takes place on 

 Saturday. No doubt it will be numerously attended, as it is 

 ann:.unced that Su- George Airy has resigned his post for the 

 1st of August 



