Report on the Danmark expedition to the north-east coast. 241 



the afternoon it cleared up still more and they could see much open 

 water in the direction S.E. 



On July 28th they had fog as usual but much spread ice. Unfor- 

 tunately, they had to give up the hydrographical investigations, be- 

 cause the boiler was constantly very leaky. They had always to 

 reckon with the possibility that the engines might be unfit for use. 

 Under these circumstances Trolle considered it the best thing to 

 stop and try to repair the boiler. At 2.30 p. m., therefore, they moored 

 to an ice-floe. 



July 29th. Thanks to the skill of Weinschenck, the 1st engineer, 

 they succeeded comparatively quickly in getting the boiler in fairly 

 good order and at 8 a. m. they had steam up again; but the boiler 

 was still somewhat leaky. It was constantly foggy. At 8.45 a. m. 

 they cast loose and continued the voyage. The ice was scattered 

 nearly the whole time, but at one place they met with pack-ice, and 

 here the ship got pinched a little between two ice-floes, which ran 

 together. 



On July 30th it was still foggy. The character of the ice had 

 now altered and they were often sailing in quite broken ice. They 

 were evidently approaching the edge of the pack-ice. In the evening 

 the fog became so thick, that they had to moor to the ice. 



On July 31st at 9.15 a. m. the voyage was continued in almost 

 open water. The swell was felt more and more. There could be no 

 doubt that they would soon be out of the ice. The view was however 

 quite obscured, the fog still prevailing. 



At 5 p. m. they nevertheless got through the outer belt of the 

 pack-ice, which consisted of densely packed small hummocks, and 

 the "Danmark" was again rocking on the open sea. 



On August loth they called in at Bergen, partly to load coal, partly 

 to get the boiler repaired. As it appeared, however, that the repairing 

 of the boiler would be an expensive matter and take up too much 

 time, it was determined to tow the Danmark to Copenhagen, so that 

 the members of the Expedition might reach home as quickly as pos- 

 sible. 



On August 19th therefore the Danmark left Bergen in charge of 

 a tug-boat. 



On Sunday the 23rd of August at 10 a. m. the Danmark anchored 

 in the roads of Copenhagen, where the members of the Expedition 

 were received with great honour. 



16 



