THE MIDNIGHT SUN—A BALL OF FIRE 
Progress was slow, necessarily; the sea grew heavier, and 
sharp snow flurries accentuated a thermometer at 33 °. 
That day and the next the waters lashed wild. Half past 
five in the morning our rudder unshipped. Although we se- June 23d 
cured it, there was no anchorage nearer than Spitzbergen for 
repairs, so that we were forced to employ a makeshift and 
continue, with the rudder astern, at a rate of one to three 
knots an hour. Welcome, indeed, was Spitzbergen when 
sighted, at half past seven! 
Spitzbergen, it will be recalled, consists of six large islands 
and a number of small ones, lying out here in the Arctic; 
their combined land areas perhaps 27,000 square miles. Of 
these islands, West Spitzbergen, a triangle, with apex at 
South Cape, is largest—15,000 square miles. 
The proximity of the Gulf Stream makes Spitzbergen’s 
climate, particularly on the west coast, considerably milder 
than this latitude offers elsewhere; leaving the archipelago 
quite accessible. 
[35] 
