444 



NA rURE 



[September io, 1896 



had been frustrated. In reply, I told him that I thought 

 an ahnost more important thing than the observation of 

 a single eclipse had been accomplished. He had demon- 

 strated that with the minimum of help, and that chiefly 

 in the matter of instruments, such a skilled and en- 

 thusiastic ship's company as his could be formed in a 

 week into one of the most tremendous engines of 

 astronomical research that the world has ever seen ; so 

 that if the elements had been kind, all previous records 

 of work at one station would have been beaten. 



I added that I felt sure that the leaders of British 

 science would thank him, his officers and men, for what 

 they had done in aid of science when it came to be known, 

 and further, that the kindness which the eclipse party 

 had received on board the Fi?/rfi,vhad inspired a gratitude 

 which it was not easy to express in words. 



The party subsequently fell in to be photographed by 

 Lord Graham and Mr. Fowler ; then away to the ship for 

 breakfast, and a curtailed Church service. 



The repacking of the instruments was begun after break- 



. II.— The 6-inch Hut, show ng Mr. Fowler and t 



fast, as the Volage was to rejoin the squadron the next 

 day. Under these circumstances the Town Hall was left 

 standing for the benefit of the friendly Lapps whose 

 island we had invaded, but who seemed rather to enjoy 

 our doings than otherwise. Talking of the Lapps, it 

 would be interesting to know the Lapp mythology and 

 folk-lore concerning eclipses. Immediately after totality, 

 or rather so soon as it was light enough to render the 

 channel separating Kio from the island to the eastward 

 clearly visible, we saw a large boat full of Lapps firing a 

 feu dc joie. The fact may be chronicled. I was all the 

 more struck by it, as it seemed to be possibly connected 

 with the Eastern custom to light fires to frighten away 

 Rahoo, whose swallowing of the sun causes the eclipse. 



It seemed quite certain that the parties at V'adso had 

 fared no better than ourselves, and this was confirmed by 

 the news brought by the Calypso's steam cutter in the 

 afternoon. This cutter subsequently conveyed my son 

 and myself to the Garonne, meeting her about a mile 

 outside Kio, and while the island was being rapidly left 

 astern, full particulars were told me of all the camps 

 which many of my shipmates had visited after the 

 eclipse. 



NO. 1402, VOL. 54] 



It was at Hammerfest that we fust had news of any 

 success, and that at Bodii. I had heard that there was a 

 strong party of German astronomers at this place, but 

 one of the fortunate ones, who subsequently came on 

 board, told me, to my great regret, that there were no 

 fi.xed instruments there at all, and that the photographs of 

 the corona were taken with a small camera of the 

 ordinary make. 



Since my return home, it has been rendered evident 

 that in inflicting upon us at Kio so great a disappoint- 

 ment. Dame Nature was not really cruel, but was point- 

 ing a moral, namely, that in attempting to obtain records 

 of eclipses, no stone should be left unturned in occupying 

 every coign of vantage, however inconvenient or un- 

 promising. 



Hence she allowed a grand success to be scored at 

 Novaya Zemlya, which would not have had a British 

 observer within hundreds of miles had it not been for the 

 chapter of accidents 

 and the public spirit of 

 Sir George Baden- 

 Powell, who took a 

 party there in his 

 yacht Otaria. In this 

 party was Mr.Shackle- 

 ton, one of the assist- 

 ants in the Solar 

 Physics Observatory, 

 who did such good 

 work duringthe eclipse 

 of 1893 "1 Brazil, and 

 who, as already stated 

 in Natiire, was hur- 

 riedly equipped after 

 the larger eclipse in- 

 struments had been 

 sent off. 



It is on his results 

 that I wish here to 

 say a few words. I am 

 sorry to say he is too 

 unwell to give an ac- 

 count himself of his 

 doings, but I have 

 gathered from an 

 article in the York- 

 shire Daily Post that 

 .AssiMaiii, ,it .1.111. the voyage itself was by 



no means uneventful. 

 He left home on July 7, and joined the Otaria at 

 Hammerfest, whence, after touching at Vardo, the party 

 sailed for Novaya Zemlya, making for the Samoyede 

 settlement of Karmakul, in the southern island. The 

 intention was, after meeting some Russian astronomers, 

 and obtaining information as to the navigation, to take 

 up a point of observation some ten miles further south, 

 in Gooseland, on the central line of the shadow-path. 

 Although the party had not a very good chart— no trust- 

 worthy ones of these remote regions being published — 

 they got into the bay on Bank Holiday Monday, and 

 were going at a good speed — about ten knots — when the 

 vessel gave three bounds and stood still, heeling over on 

 her side. 

 The account continues : — 



" Everybody hung on to something, for it was impossible to 

 stand. Fortunately, however, the reef was only of soft rock, 

 and it did little damage to the ship ; only for four days we 

 remained like that, about a mile away from the nearest land. 

 We could not walk except by holding on to ropes, and had to 

 get our meals on our knees or on the floor with cushions. After 

 four days' hard work the sailors nearly emptied her, and pumped 

 out all the drinking-water, and then at a high tide pulled her ofi"." 



