Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-08-06
The SDftzbergeu Drama.

.,j news of the death of the seventeen Nor
wpsian whalerS, frozen IN at the Spltzbergen
Hands has now been confirmed beyond a
Iubt. CAPTAIN Mack, who penetrated into the
ltTorl 10 the end of June, has now sent home
,h. Journal found in one OF the. houses there,
,Lr u, ug,nt laconicism Of which initiates Us
juro the world Of suffering and despair the un-
fortunate men had to 90 through before death
mn an end TO their miseries. What is most
horrible Of all, is the impression which the
,er,>;,I of this mournful message forces upon
vs. tha; little energy and knowledge OF how
70 take care of themselves would have been
sufficient to keep alive all these poor victims OF
Al Arctic winters inclemency. As the entries In
The journal make US believe, no serious and con-
ilnlous activity was kept up, though the men
must not have been Ignorant that hard work IS
the best preservatiye against that dreaded foe
OF Northern life, the scorbut:. 1t Is oWlDg 10
Prot. Nordeuskiold's eXertious to keep his
men constantly at work, even when there was
40 necessity for it, that We have only to record
one death from scorbut among the sixty
seven members of his expedition. But at
l>jord uuhappily, there was no experienced
Lairr 10 warn against quiet inactivity, which,
uuirr those latitudes means DEATH Those poor
sailors aud fishers perishcd victims OF their lg-
porapce, and probably of their careIessoess.
CAPTAIN Mack reports that it appeared they
hai not known how to make proper use OF the
comfortable house in which they we're quarter
,I; iu>tead of dividing among themselves the
rooms Of their spacious dwelling they all crowd
rl together into one, which, moreover, bore
Traces of utter neglect and unceanliness. The
large stores of preserved potatoes aod other
vegetables we're left nearly untouched, the men
probably no: knowing how to manage this KIND
ui food.
The story Of their struggle is soon told. On
the 10th Of September, last year, SIX Norwe
piau ships with their crews Of, together, fifty
seven uen, were frozen 10 on the northeastern
coast Of the Spitzbergs, at Gray Hook and
Welcome Point, eighteen and twenty-tour Eng
Lsh miles respectively from the winter quarters
Of The Swedish polar expedition at Mosei Bay.
Their provisions being calculated to last only
up 10 The lst Of December, they applied to the
Prof Noldensko)d for assistance, and were al
lowed by him to dispose Of the house and stores
accumulated at IstJord. Consequently, seven
teen lnen with TWO small open boats left Gray
Hook 90 the 7th OF October, crossing the Ice
westward until they found open water land hnal,
ly reached lstjord in their boats on the l4th OF
October Thcrcmaining torty-one men prepared
themselves to pass the winter either IN their own
ships at Gray Hook, or With the Swedish expedi-
ton al llose Bay, when, lappily,l In the first days
Of Nvvcutcr heavy storm broke the ice and
made their escape possible Thirty-niue men
were thus able to reach the Norwegian port OF
Irowsoc only two, the o.d Captain, Matthias,
aud his cook would not abandon their ship,
which was not insured, and have now been
t,und dead In boat, probably on their way to
Nlo>cI Bay. The ship was totally crushed by
the ice
The entries Of the journal found at 1sford
begin with the eth October, 1872, and are re-
y,llarly continued every day uutil the Sd March
this year. No kind of occupation, nor any uo-
Outstanding on the part OF the men, is reported
except few hunting parties, by whom two
bears, two foxes and few relpdeers were
brought home. Darkness. however, soon pre-
vented all further hunting expeditions and on
the 7lh of November the journal reports =
'llumlng totally abandoned, 10y cause OF the
darkness Ihermone ii ;al observations were
regularly made and annotated live times day.
The temperature, which was very hard 10 DC
tutcr, tie quicksilver running down to l9 de-
grec> below Celsius on the 2lst., was mllder
again IN November, being . degrees above on
the >Jh aud varied between degrees above to
=! seconds below, until the 5th of January,
when began to go down again. The lowest
ith Of February at four o'clock a. m. No
mention is made of sickness or disease before
The 9Th p,ccubcr when it is said: One
Il tLe crew sick since eight days; but
i'om this day the same complaint repeats
il>r.I with sad monotony mo improvement
m the state of the sick" On the 10Th il is said:
t~" n.en constantly iE bed nearly all suffer
" The disease Though no indication Is given
HNa' A,nd of illness is meant, there is no doubt
'i't II was Scorbut The first death is record
ra"u The 18th January 10 the following words:
l"hic> Prndcrsen, who was taken i'll the 5th
% 'Il> mouth, was called to the Lord this morn
iGat $50 after painful illness; this after
icon dl,d also Heudrick Hendriksen, who was
&hcn Ill on The 18th December. The Sd of
February only three men were 10 good health,
and the Journal repeats every day. mo i'm
FIovemenl." The 20th February we read:
To-day We have seen the SUI for the first time
10 Tie year 1873 A n,w death is recorded
TIE nINwing day: TO day the Lord again
IAHed TO heaven one of our comrades, Niles
rr'ron. after an illness Of eightytwo days
%o days later the entries are lnade by another
Maud, who writes on the 25th: i have now
"hy "nc man in good health to look after the
TI"oic house . Lord, help US in our great
G,'lr>>! And on the 2Sth he continues :,
VI, evening another or our men died the
'~A led him home from this place, SO rich
~ >N'tcrlng!' From this day the journal con-
I''> nothing but annotations of deaths until
y" I9'h April, when the last regular entry
made thus: Martin Hansen died the
In April, at a. NJ > Then begins another
pi Iproi who writes: 'peder Andreas Nilsen, of
W'iI>iord, WI red bonnet Har. t. Mitterhuk.' :
VIA "ia' these words, which have apparently been
"'N'eu under the influence of derium, are
I'saHi TO express will never be kuowD, and the
,i ,Ii''''Ie late of the poor sufferer who traced
",' can ouly be guessed. Did he struggle
,r' ,4aIS' days or weeks among the sixteen corpses
MS comrades or did the dcliverer come as
ever Know
;u neV' ": q. Elliot, Chancellor of the Wash
;s,on University Of ST. Louis, has taken ac
", w." 10 test the cous;itutionality and legality Of