Chapter IV

FURTHER VOYAGE OF THE HANSA UNTIL HER BLOCKADE IN THE
COAST ICE OF EAST GREENLAND. 20TH JULY TO 7TH SEPT.

Final separation of both ships.--The Germania’s signal
misunderstood by the Hansa.--The Hansa photographed in the
ice.--Snow blindness.--Difficulties of making way through
the ice.--Animal life.--The rocky coast of Greenland visible
for the first time.--The Hansa steers once more out of the
ice.--Two ships in sight to seaward.--The Hansa’s struggle
with the ice.--Fall of snow on the 3rd of August.--Southerly
currents.--Second attempt of the Hansa to reach Sabine
Island.--The Hansa sails to the north.--Countless seals.--Steer
to the north-west.--Circumstances particularly unfavourable
to further progress.--By towing the ship open water at last
reached.--Hemmed in once more.--Reverses, trouble, and dangers,
until the blocking up of the Hansa.--Changeable frame of mind
on board.--Soundings.--Trial with the dredge.--Journey in the
boat in the direction of land.--Sabine and Pendulum Islands in
sight.--Meal on the ice.--The Captain’s birthday.--Poverty of
animal life on the sea near the coast.--Hunting.

Morning of the 20th, strong W.S.W. wind blowing. At eight o’clock spoke the Germania. Captain Koldewey signalled to keep farther from the ice on account of bad weather. We therefore steered eastward for some time, but found that, instead of getting looser, the ice had become more dense; we therefore lay close hauled on the port tack, and at ten o’clock were obliged to steer to N.W. Meanwhile, the water improved, and after sailing through a stream of floating ice, we saw open water in a westerly direction. So for westward! Captain Koldewey gave us a signal, which, through the hazy weather, we unfortunately misunderstood. We thought we read, “Long stay a-peak,” which Captain Hegemann interpreted that the ship should sail as far westward as possible. The signal, however, really meant, “Come within hail.” The misunderstanding was fatal; the Hansa pushed on to westward, lost sight of the Germania on the 20th of July, and never saw her again.

_Page 81._

BLOCKS OF ICE WITH SEALS.]

It is, however, tolerably certain, and it is also confirmed by both captains’ statements, that, on account of the Arctic weather, it would have been very, very difficult for the two ships to have remained together, and it would have made landing doubly difficult. And in the course of this account, it will be seen that the Hansa on her side of the coast could have reached another point, had she not been prevented by the letter of her instructions.

Before noon on the 21st of July, as we lay quietly in the pack, Mr. Hildebrandt, who had brought his photographic apparatus on the ice, succeeded in taking a good photograph of the Hansa. The dazzling snow in the sunshine produced snow-blindness for the first time in one of the sailors, Philip Heine, and snow spectacles were at once distributed. Seals and narwhals were seen near the ship, some of which we killed at first. An attempt to draw out the ice-bears by a fire lit on a block of ice, and fed with seal-blubber, failed. Nevertheless, our mid-day table was enriched with seal-meat, regarding the palatableness of which opinions differed. The continually falling fog enveloped everything, shrouds, masts, rigging, with a thick crust of ice, so that some one had to be sent up to beat it down; and pieces were constantly falling, covering the deck with broken ice. With great trouble the ship moved slowly forwards, sometimes towed and pushed by the men, sometimes sailing through a little water. Nevertheless, we were quite aware that the wind and currents were driving us far from our destination towards the south, and indeed, the leeway amounted in seven days (from the 21st to the 28th July) to about seventy-two nautical miles. For awhile we had comparatively low temperature, on the 24th July, for example, 31° Fahr.

Of birds, the _Lestris_ and _Procellaria_ were mostly seen, and the ivory gull daily. Of Radiata, Dr. Buchholz mentions a beautiful ribbed Medusa, with vermilion ribs and fringes.

On the 28th of July, we found ourselves in 72° 56′ N.L. and 16° 54′ W.L. On that day we caught sight of the dark, rocky coast of East Greenland for the first time, from Cape Broer Ruys to Cape James.

Dr. Laube remarks:--“I know now what is meant by making an expedition to the North Pole, and what weighty difficulties lie between East Greenland and Spitzbergen. Scoresby found it easier; he broke through to the coast just where he found a good place: and we shall evidently have to proceed in the same manner, for it does not seem difficult to reach the Liverpool coast; Clavering and Sabine, also, easily found an opportunity of getting to Pendulum Island; but it is difficult, indeed almost impracticable, for us to land at that place. The decision is easier on the map than in the Arctic Sea, as circumstances there arise which cannot be anticipated.” As we could no longer continue the same course, there remained nothing for us but to act up to the letter of our instructions, and steer once more in an easterly direction out of the ice; and having once reached the edge, begin afresh. On the 29th and 30th of July, we sighted two vessels, tacking with a north-east wind, about twelve sea miles distant. As we afterwards learned, one was the steamer Bienenkorb, Captain Hagens, from the Weser, which, on the 29th of July, farther northwards, spoke with the (to us) still invisible Germania; and on her return to Bremen on the 2nd of September, reported thus:--“Spoke the Germania on the 29th of July, in about 73° 2′ N.L. and 15° 50′ W.L.; she was steering northwards along the border of the ice to rejoin the Hansa. The Bienenkorb took a south-westerly course along the ice, and about noon, in 72° 38′ N.L. saw the Hansa beset about eight miles within the pack.”

Blocked in we were not really yet, though nearing the coast at once was not to be thought of, on account of the compactness of the floes. On the 31st of July, the vessels had disappeared. The following day, the 1st of August, they appeared once more, though possibly only in the way caused by refraction. The Hansa struggled heavily through the ice. At one o’clock in the afternoon (says the captain’s log-book) we sailed under bare poles, merely by the pressure of the wind on the masts and rigging E.N.E. with a strong west-sou’-west wind. At two o’clock we broke through two gigantic floes. At the first shock against them, the forepart of the ship rose two feet on to the ice, and quivered as if the keel had struck the bottom. Masts and shrouds trembled and swayed under the powerful shock, but, as we might have expected, the Hansa bore it well.

3rd of August: a fine fall of snow.

On the 5th (the same day on which the Germania anchored off Sabine Island) the Hansa was once more in open water. Eight days previously, before we had resolved to sail eastward, we were in 72° 55·6′ N.L. and 16° 54′ W.L. Now, on the 5th of August, we were in 72° 29′ N.L. and 13° 48′ W.L. The current had carried us in this time twenty-six nautical miles to the southwards. The direction and strength of the southerly drift current could not be accurately determined, as in going backwards and forwards through the ice, no control could be kept over our course. In spite of the many shocks, and the pressure of the ice, the ship had not suffered.

We now made a second attempt at following the instructions to penetrate to the coast in latitude 75°.

From the 5th to the 11th of August we had, with the exception of slight fogs, good weather, the reading of the thermometer ranging from 27° to 36° F.

We sailed northwards along the ice boundary with a good southerly wind, until the 10th of August. Seals were numerous, swimming in troops of from ten to twenty. They were very lively, often springing with the whole of their body out of the water, a sign that it was pairing time. At eight o’clock we fancied we saw a vessel, and the hope of finding the Germania once more arose within us, but a thick fog set in, and our signal-gun remained unanswered.

9th August: in 74° 14·6′ N.L. and 11° 2′ W.L. Froze in the night, between the 10th and 11th, the ice being an inch and a half thick. We steered in a north-westerly direction, and at seven in the morning were twenty-five nautical miles nearer the coast, in 74° 58½′ N.L. and 11° 16·5’ W.L., the thickness of the ice preventing us from making further use of the favourable south-west wind.

For the next few days our task was an unusually heavy one. The wind was unfavourable, so the attempt to sail through the opposing ice was impracticable. But twelve hours’ work of dragging the ship along by means of a small anchor fastened to a rope, through the icy barrier, resulted in our reaching navigable water on the 13th.

But we were again disappointed! After sailing westward one night, we saw ourselves, on the morning of the 14th, hemmed in once more on all sides; fresh ice formed between the floes, besides filling up every passage, so that the Hansa was fast again. From this time forward until the complete blocking up of the Hansa, the captain’s log-book unfolds a succession of reverses, troubles, and dangers. August 14th, fast; shot a Polar bear; stream south-west ½° W.; made thirteen nautical miles in forty-eight hours: 15th, we are nearer the coast than we have yet been. Shannon I. distant forty-eight nautical miles, Pendulum, fifty-nine; thick ice. 16th, thermometer, 25° Fahr.; fine weather. Stuck fast to the floe, drifting steadily southward. Warping quite useless. 18th and 19th warped again. Made some few ship’s lengths. Open water to the north-west, which we reached on the 23rd, hoping to sail farther westward.

_Page 86._

WARPING THROUGH THE ICE.]

Evening, fast again in 74° 36·4′ N.L. and 15° 49·1′ W.L. For zoological observation there was much to interest. The body of a _Phoca Greenlandica_ had drawn numerous ivory gulls together. Two birds (_Strepsilas interpres_) were observable on the new ice; and the dredge produced us many beautiful star-fishes and molluscs.

August 24th: a boat excursion to the land; captain, two officers, Dr. Laube, and two sailors. We left the ship at two o’clock, and pressed forward to within sixteen nautical miles of the land. Passed a peculiar icy formation, which we named the “Flower-basket.” Saw the coast very distinctly from a tall hummock, which we climbed, and hoisted the German flag upon it. Further we could not go, as the ice was too close, and a late return to the ship, which was ever drifting southwards, would be very difficult in a possibly rising fog. Return journey began quarter past seven in the evening. On board once more by half-past twelve at night. The position of the ice was much altered, and a dense fog came up, so that we could scarcely find our way, and were often obliged to haul the boat over the floes. W. Bade’s diary describes with genuine sailor’s humour the frugal evening meal under the open sky upon the ice during their excursion. In the hurry, only hard bread and some cocoa had been brought with us, and a few bottles of sherry and brandy. Cigars never failed. “At first, owing to the lowness of the temperature, we could not succeed in boiling the water; and in order to concentrate the heat had to lay our sou’-westers over the machine--a very questionable proceeding, inasmuch as these oilskin coverings were with great difficulty saved from the flames, which readily caught them.” On the 25th we towed the ship in a calm towards the coast. To-day the Hansa reached its nearest to Sabine Island. The vessel lay due west ¼° N., thirty-five nautical miles off, in 74° 30′ N.L. and 16° 40′ 5″ W.L. On the 25th and 27th the ship underwent pressure by the ice, but remained undamaged. According to the report of the Germania’s voyage, she anchored after a journey to Shannon Island on the 27th of August in the evening, and was at Little Pendulum at eleven o’clock. At this time we were in about 74° 20′ N.L. and 16° 50′ W.L.; so that at the utmost the ships were not more than thirty-four nautical miles distant from each other! Much colder these last few days: 23° to 16° F. August 28th: the first and only time we had a brisk north-west wind; drifted with a large ice-field considerably southward.

Taking into consideration the strong ice pressure to which the ship was continually subject, we made ready the boats and divided the fur clothing. We saw before us the imminent prospect of being obliged to pass the winter off the coast. We began seriously to talk of using our coal-bricks to build a house on the ice to which we might fly for refuge in case the ship were lost. September 2nd: rain and storm from the south-east. Morning of the 5th, fine weather, light south-east wind; sailed twenty nautical miles in a north-westerly direction, partly by the side of an ice-field fifteen nautical miles long, until eight in the evening, when calm, fog, and ice brought us once more to a stand. This was our last sail. Had we had steam we should most likely have reached the open water, which we saw along the coast.

The next day we laid the Hansa between two promontories of a large ice-field, which eventually proved a raft of deliverance. Now began the complete blockade of our ship in the ice.

These occurrences and the changing state of mind on board up to this time is plainly perceivable in the diaries. Dr. Laube writes thus on the 13th of August:--“As towards morning the wind was more favourable, we heaved up the anchor and tried to get free. Vain effort! Although we towed from one floe to the other, with all our strength, we were none the nearer. Scarcely were we free from one floe than another immediately drifted into its place. It seems bewitched. At noon, our faces were very long, and we came to look upon our mission as a failure. Open water seemed nearer again, but we were faster than ever in the ice. In spite of all our trouble the ship had not moved an inch from the floe, which is in reality an immense ice-field on our lee, whilst on our weather-side lay some large blocks. At last, after fourteen hours’ heavy labour, the ship got free. The floes broke asunder, a passage opened, and we sailed into it with a fair wind. The canal gets broader and broader. Beyond, the sea seems almost free from ice. Right and left it receded to the horizon. It was as if we were on a great lake; some floes swimming about like islands. As a heavy fog shut out the sun, we could not see where the open water ended. We hovered between hope and fear. Ten minutes before six o’clock we got under weigh; seven, eight, nine o’clock, no end to be seen! Ten o’clock, open water still before us. Unfortunately the breeze dropped entirely. I asked Mr. Bade how long we could still sail. He thought the whole night through. We could not go to rest yet. Our hearts beat from excitement, and however deep hope had sunk at noon, it rose now higher every minute. Eleven o’clock, still sailing! but very slowly, till the wind died away entirely.”

The 14th of August, in 74° 45.4′ N.L., and 13° 56·5′ “W.L. At nine in the evening soundings were taken, and a depth of 120 fathoms found. The ground was mud; the dredging-nets were full of sponges, polythalamias, and so forth. Another on the 16th in 74° 38′ N.L. and 14° 34′ W.L., at noon gave 100 fathoms; the ground was brown slime. In the evening several attempts were made with the dredge. The first brought up a beautiful sponge, in the cavities of which were many fine and beautiful amphipoda; besides a great deal of sand and fine slime, in which by sifting we found countless bivalves and snails, (_Terebratulæ_, _Serpulariæ_); and some beautiful polythalamias, &c. A second and third attempt was followed by no result.”

It freezes visibly, and the fresh ice uniting the floes is already so thick that it can bear a man. “We remained,” says Dr. Laube, “with every sail set between the great, thick ice-packs, having advanced upon the whole three ship’s-lengths westward. In the evening we distinctly saw land towering above the ice; the refraction showing us a solid barrier to the north. To the east the ice lies just as thickly packed. Two-thirds of the way happily lay behind us, but the last third seemed to be beset by insurmountable difficulties. To what purpose was all our labour? I thought of those at home, who only admit imaginary difficulties in the ice, and who, perhaps, doubt our good will, our self-sacrifice, and our sincere endeavours. I did not go to rest that night with the best and quietest of thoughts. We were in the ice, but whether or how we should ever come out again, God only knew.”

Several photographs of the ship were taken from the neighbouring floes by the first officer, Mr. Hildebrandt. The frost and the reflection of the ice were very troublesome, but some succeeded very well. Unfortunately, this trouble was also in vain. Neither the apparatus nor the plates could be saved at the going down of the Hansa. On the 20th, fifty nautical miles from the coast, two small land-birds were seen picking up food on the ice.

The boat journey to the longed-for land was undertaken by the captain, the second officer, and two sailors, as well as Dr. Laube. “We sailed,” says the latter in his diary, “at two o’clock, and made a rapid course through a long, wide canal. The vessel was soon lost to sight, as the floes were very high. The ice-field along which the Hansa lay, was nearly four miles long. Passing through a cross channel, we came into some more open water, so that at five o’clock we were about seven to eight nautical miles distant from the ship, and consequently so many miles nearer land. We lay to by a large floe, and from its top looked around us. The ice before us was ‘Pack-ice.’ We saw the islands of Pendulum and Sabine surrounded by a streak of light which we took for open coast water.[14]

“We spread our oilskin coats on the floe, encamped there, and made our cocoa, enjoyed the fine sunny day, and rejoiced over the glimpse of land. We then crossed another and a larger tract of ice, and climbed a wall which rose straight out of the water. On this, our farthest point, we planted the flag. As we noticed that the ice was once more in motion, from the fact that the small harbour in which our boat lay was entirely filled up, we resolved to return. The home journey was considerably more difficult than the outward one; the canal was closed up, and it was not easy to find the right opening. We were often obliged to get out and survey from some high spot; and often to push the boat over the ice. As the wind had quite dropped we were compelled to row. In some places the fresh ice prevented us from making any way; and after sunset a dense fog rose, which might in so far be disagreeable, as to compel us to pass the night on the floe. We, however, eventually succeeded in reaching the Hansa, which we had left in open water, and now found jammed between two hummocks, so that we could scarcely get near her. But we at least brought the hope with us that it was not impossible to reach the coast.”

The 25th of August was the captain’s birthday, and was kept by firing a gun, the hoisting of the ship’s flag, and a huge cake, made with great art by our cook. At breakfast, the hero of the _fête_ found upon his plate a pretty poem by Dr. Laube, in which the good wishes of all were heartily expressed. A part of our community amused themselves by skating. On the afternoon of the 29th we saw a magnificent phenomenon. Two coloured coronas formed round the sun, in which were conspicuous, by their greater brightness, three spots. One stood vertically over the sun, and was the spring of an arch, which touched one corona, and the convex side of which was turned to the sun. This was not really a _mock sun_, like those on each side, but a concentration of brightness at the point of contact of the two bows, thus giving the impression that it stood across the vertical spot. The two side mock suns, to the right and left of the sun, were united by an elliptical arch, passing through it, and were elongated, presenting the colours of the rainbow, and emitting a bright steel-grey pyramid or cone. The red colour spread over the sun.

Marine animal life was strikingly poor near the coast. _Cydippe_ and _Beroë_ were not rare, but on the other hand gammarus and amphipoda, which we noticed on the outer ice boundary, were quite wanting. On the 15th of August the dredge brought up some very fine _Comatulæ_ and _Antedon Sarsii_. _Larus eburneus_, the ivory gull, was often fed from the ship, and caught by angling. Some birds we let fly again, with a brass coin with “Hansa” upon it fastened round their throats. At the beginning of September _Mergulus alle_ was common. We often saw ravens. The hunting-expeditions from the 10th of August to the blockading of the ship yielded nine seals, amongst which were two crested seals, and one young polar bear.

Sunday, August 29th: steadily drifting forward in a southerly direction. Of land we shall soon see nothing more, and the ice is so dense on all sides that it is in vain to look for an opening even from the crow’s-nest. Our position is growing every moment more serious; but in case of the worst, the boats are completely fitted and victualled, on the deck, so that at a moment’s notice they can be lowered.