The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1871-12-09
THE NORTH POLE.
The Discovery OF the Open Polar Sea
Report of Lieutenent Fayer, OF the
German Expedition-.Ihe Best Route
To the North Pale,

ciety of Frankfort-on the-Main has re-
ceived a report from Lieutenant Julius
Fayer, one of the two lead rs of the
German Expedition to the North Pole.
1t is dated October 9th, from the
Norwegian coast, on board the ship
Harald Marriage" and presents some
new facts of very great interest. After
some Introductory remarks the report
goes on to say:
The preliminary expedition for the
exploration of the sea between Spitz-
bergen and Nova Zembla, which is to
be followed next year by an expedition
OF greater magnitude, has achieved a
very unexpected result one which Is
opposed to all previous calculations
The reason Of the principal object of
the expedition-viz, the exploration
Of King Karl's Land has not and
could not be consistently carried out
will be explained to you by naval
lieutenant Weyprecht personally. As
an offset against tins failure there APP
pears, however, the discovery of an ex-
tensive open polar sea In place OF the
unknown waters, which were formerly
considered unnavigable. The Russians,
utlt tChtbtS, anu even tllc ltIot ca
petition of 1868 vainly attempted to
penetrate even as far as the southern
part of the polar sea. But the result
now obtained is calculated to give a
different turn to the polar question, and
to create a new basis for the explora-
ton of the North Pole.
WHY THE FORMER GERMAN EXPEDITION
FAILED
1t is very much to be regretted that
the great German North Polar expedi-
tion of l869-70 did not take this route,
through the Sea of Nova Zembla, as it
was originally pointed out by DR.. Pc
termann, who declared 1t to be the best
route for penetrating into the heart of
the Polar basin.
Ia spite of the fact that the highest
authorities have hitherto decidedly OPP
posed every route east Of Spitzbergen,
and that the humorous Russian expedi-
| tons during the present century have
not even been able to sail round the
northern part of Nova Zembla, and al
though the voyage of the Norwegian,
Johannesen, last year, close to the
coast of the double island to the Sea
VI hcItty " tlIC CCI VI ttdlCillL, W do
considered an extraordinary and doubt
full event, III spite of these facts to the
contrary, our experience has proved
the existence of an extensive open sea
north of Nova Zembla The Sea OF
Kara has been explored by the nayiga-
tors, Simonsen and Nattisen and 9th
eTs, and reported to be almost complete
ly zee from ice Simonsen has not
! found any ice even around the White
Island. On the strength Of these ex-
! plorationS the connection of the open
sea Of Nova Zembla with the waters OF
/ the north of Siberia may be considered
an established fact With this discov-
cry vanishes an immense territory Of
| ice from our maps The year 1871 will
undoubtedly be represented as very
| favorable to the ice navigation, al
! though q unfavorable" years have often
/ been spoken of without cause or proof.
/ But the walrus hunters of Noringia are
unanimous IN regarding last summer as
the worst season ever experienced.
/ Even the steamer Germania, of the
/ German expedition, has not succeeded
/ III penetrating into the sea of Kara.
| In Norway the fact that sailing vessels
have achieved higher results than
4 steamships Is attributed to the faulty
/ construction of the Germania as sail
/ ing vessel as we'll as - steamer, and il
! is therefore q matter of great import
alice to subject this vessel to an impair
| tial examination.
THE RESULT OF THE POLAR EXPEDITION
The question now arises, how came
Z the suit of tho 1Ararant nolan Crf
/ to be so essentially different from al
that had hitherto been experienced
/ We are as far from the presumption tC
! believe that We have acted with more
energy and resolution than our prede
cessors, as from placing our little en-
enterprise on a degree with the large
I expeditions that went before us. The
! key to the riddle is simply this: that
nearly all expeditions have entered and
left these waters too early in the sea,
son. The best and only period for nav
/ igation is the autumn. Another rea-
son for the ill-success Of all these ex.
petitions was that they kept too neal
the coast of Nova Zembla or Spitsber.
/ gen, as 1t now appears, that to pene.
trate north forty to forty-fve degrees
/ longitude Is the most suitable part Of
/ the sea OF Nova Zembta. We reached
| seventy-nine northern latitude almost
without any difficulty and it was only
! the want Of provisions that prevented
us from going further north.
The probable cause Of this favor.
| BILE state of the ice in the sec
of Nova Iembla III the autumn appears
to be the Gulf Stream. From the col.
lection and comparison of all previous
observations this cannot, however, be
said as certain, but only as probable
In favor of our opinion we NAV men.
ton the fact that in this high latitude
the temperature of the water In Sep
! TENDER is three to five degrees higher
than that of the air; also the frequency
of fog, the stream to the northeast, OF
| the coast of Nova Zembla, the charac
| teristic blue color of the Gulf Stream
and the extraordinary number of small
animals. In the beginning of Septem
| Der the Gulf Stream seems to leave The
coast of Nova Zembla and to appear
further west, or perhaps to extend it.
self over Il much larger space Thu
stream of warm water is not eQuaIl,
! deep and loses power as it extends fur
Their north. One Of the most noteworth,
facts is the large number of whales il
| the Sea of Nova ZembIa The scien
titic experiments made during our voy
| age consisted III observations of tn,
| temperature of the surface of the wa
! ter, in regular meteorological research
es at different depths, in geological ex.
aminations Of collections of stones an(
plants, &c.