The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-02-28 00:00:00

THE "VEGA" DESCRIBED.

Writing from Naples on Feb 17, the Correspondent of the
Daily News gives the following interesting description of a
visit he has paid to the Vega :

An unexpectedly fine day tempted me to go and
make the closer acquaintance of the Vega. She is a
whaler of 500 tons, painted black, and bare of orna•
ment, save for a gilded line below her bulwarks, She
is fitted up with a small engine that enables her, with.
out sails, to move at the slow rate of five miles an
hour. As she lay, so black and unpretending, on the
water, I fancied what a dark little nutshell she must
have looked when jammed among the ice.fields off the
East Cape. Just now she was enjoying very different
conditions. Jammed she was, but it was by hundreds
of little boats full of inquisitive Neapolitans, who had
. . .

... _ _
come across the harbour to see what thing this Vega
could be whose nem, is in everyone's mouth.
On her deck in a temporary room, the ceiling of
which was a tent-cloth and the walls a row of flags of
all nations suspended by ropes, her crew of eighteen
picked men were enjoying a feast given them by some
Italian association which I could not learn. The
carious throng of visitors swarmed all over the little
vessel, and climbed upon the heaps of spare spars and
masts which lay along the sides of the deck, to stare
over the flimsy screen at the crew of handsome stab,
wart blue-eyed men, who almost without exception
wore long fair beards. They seemingly did not
allow themselves to be disturbed by this rather
impertinent curiosity, for shouts of "Hip, hip,
hurrah 1" repeatedly rang from behind the partition
in response to some toast. The officer in command,
beiog alone, as his men were at dinner, was almost
overwhelmed by his visitor; to whom he could
give no directions, as they did not understand him,
but he by no means lost his temper, end found
time to take us down into the little saloon,
scarcely as large as the state cabin of some
Atlantic steamer, where the scientific men of the
Expedibion had passed the long days of their voyage.
At each side of this tiny saloon is a eow of still
smaller cabins; each with its narrow bed with
coverlet and curtains of green damask, cur-
tains of the same material screening the doors,
Every available space is utilised, and no doubt
numbers of curiosities were stored away in snug
corners. The obligieg officer (whose name I did not
learn, as he had no time to fetch me his card from his
cabin) showed us the track of the vessel on the chart,
and the point at which she stuck fast is little to the
south-west of the East Cape, when one day more of
open water would have carried her safely round and
spared the ten months' waiting. Here, attached by
ropes to large pieces of ice, about 5,000 feet distant
from the Siberian coast, the stout little vessel
waited, and her inhabitants did not suffer too
mush from the cold of winter, for the sides
of the ship are composed of two _ etrata of wood
between which is a lining of felt; and on the stern.
besides this, there is a vacant space between wood and
felt, through which paned hot air, Thus a tempera-
ture of 20 and more degrees above zero was maintained
in the saloon and cabins, when outside it showed
50 degrees below zero. Five stoves were kept constantly
heated in different parts of the vessel, and yet the
ceilings were lined with strips of ice, the result of
condensation. During this time of waiting the scien-
tific members of the Expedition caused an observa-
tory to be erected on the adjacent coast of Siberia,
At the end of the month of November, 1878,
it was finished. The sailors bad sawed pieces
of ice, and with thew Arctic bricks built a little house.
First oame a little anteroom, about four to five feet
square, from which one ascended by steps cut in the
ice to the observatory. a room not more than six
or seven feet square. From the soot huug a never-
extinguished lamp; in the middle was a little table, on
each side of which was an air-mattrass of gutta-percha,
on a sack filled with straw. In the angles of the
chamber were the magnetic Instruments; stearine
candles in primitive candlesticks of wood gave addi-.
tional light when needed, and books, newspapers,
and diaries wrre not wanting. At one corner
a little stove was ready to heat the coffee which re-
freshed and warmed the enterprising students. The
whole building was covered with reindeer skins and
woollen blankets when the cold became too intense.
Magnetic and meteorological experiments were com-
meuced on November 27, 1878. and caeried on without
interruption until April 1, 1879 From Jan. 15 to
April 15 obssrvations were rnaqe on the let and 15:h
of every month every five minutes; at other times in
divisions of six hours' duration, and all the members
of the Expedition took part in the work. The results
of these observations, so valuable to science, will shortly
be published.
&nnetioies the fog was so dense that it would have
been very poss,ble to lose one way on passing from
the ship to the observatory. To prevent this a long
avenue of 117 ice pillars was made from shore to vessel,
and a rope stretched from pillar to pillar, so that it was
impossible to step unawares from the triv.k. The cold
was not the voyagers' worst enemy, and they suffered
but little from it, bat it was impossible to' face the
terrible etorms of wind, whichdeave the snow along at the
rate of thirty-five miles an hour; and during awl times
of storm, which repeat idly occurred netil be month
of May, the illuetrieus explorers shut themselves up'
as hermetically as the Tuchntski the Esquireaux, and
o her Arctic populations. Until the increasing depth
of the snow prevented such exercise, skating and
games of ball assisted in keeping up toe health and
spirits of the crew, not a man of which was lost or
even seriously ill.
On arriving in port Professor Nordenskj old received
from the King of Italy the Grand Order of the Crown
of Italy, and from the King of Sweden that of the
Polar Star, through the hands of the Italian admiral
the steamer that was
and Swedish Ambassador. The news is now con-
firmed that the Nordensid )Id,
ed
sent in search of the Vega, and which stranded off
one of the Japanese islands, is now afisat again, and,
if possible, will be newly fitt out, and next year
attempt the northeast passage in the contrary direc-
ion to that so en:weirdly Wren by the Vega.

,
The American—Gr.vernment have made a present to
the City of Paris of a magnificent album containing photo-
graphic sketches ol the prluelPel 4tN In New York.
litm eU os seg-41/403 aa&meaufac

THE MONUMENT TO THE LATE
PRINCE IMPERIAL.

A memorial containing more than 5,000 signatures
was presented on Tuesday to Dean Stanley by Mr.
H. G. Fordham. protesting against the erection of a i
monument t! Westminster Abbey to th 3 memory of
Prince Louis Napoleon. A deputation from the
International Peace Association, introduced by Mr.
Hodgson Pratt, also had an interview with the Dean,
with the same object.
The Dean, in reply, pointed out the great efforts
that had been employed to obtain signatures to the
memorial presented to him, and that, nevertheless, the
number of signatures was very small as compared with
the population. Alluding to the statement that the
Prince had desired to overturn the Republican Go-
vernment in France, Dean Stanley expressed his
belief that the allegation cvas totally unfounded,
He thought that the peculiar circumstanoes under
which the Prince died gave him an exceptional claim
to consideration. The monument would be erected
in an appropriate part of the sacred edifice, near one
to the chief of the rival Bourbon dynasty. The
Abbey acknowledged no political or personal rivalries.
The Dean urged many other reasons against the views
of tl3e deputations, and added that the decision he
had arrived at last year, in the interest of the public
and of the Abbey, could not be revoked.