The Hawaiian gazette., 1873-09-24


, London StSnd2ra SAysS ~The SD new,
! ofthe death Of the seventeen Norwegian
vhslers, frozen in at the Spitsberg Islands
has now been confirmed, beyond doubt
Capt Mack, who penetrated into IsGori
in the end OF june, has now sent home
the Journal found in one Of the houses
there, the eloquent lseoniSm Of which mi
tiates Us into the world OF suffering snd
despair the unfortunate men had to 90
through before death put an end 10 then
miSerieS. What is most horrible of all Is
the impression which the perasSl Of this
mournfal message forces upon US, that q
\ little energy and knowledge how TO take
care OF themselves would have been sRf
fcient to keep alive ST these poor victims
Of an Arctic Winters inclemency. As
7 the entries in the jouruSl make US be
heve, no serious and continuous activity
was kept up. though the men must not
have been ignorant that hand work is the
best preServative against that dreaded foe
Of Northern lite, scorbut 1t is owing to
Prof Nordenskield's exertious TO keep his
4 men constantly at work, even when there
was no necessity for it, that We have only
to record Que death from soorbut among
( the siXty-seven members Of his expedition.
But at Is5Ord. unhsppily, there was no
experienced leader TO warn sgsinst quiet
I inactivity, which, under those ATTITUDES,
means death Those pcor sailors and
fishers persisted victims Of their ignorance,
aud probably of their carelessnesS. Cap
tain Mack reports that it appeared they
had not known how to make proper use
Of the comfortable house in which they
were quartered; instead of dividing
among themselves the rooms of their spa
ciOus dwelling they all crowded together
into one, which, moreover, bore traces of
utter neglect and uucleanlinesS. The large
stores Of preserved potatoes and other
We ,etatl.s were left nea " untouched, the
men probably not knowing how to man
age this kind of food
The story of their struggle is soon told.
On the sixteenth Of September, last year,
six Norwegian ships, with their crews of
together ffty-seven men, were frozen in
on the North Eastern Coast of the Spitz.
bergs, at Gray Hook and Welcome Point,
eighteen and twenty-four English miles
respectively from the Winter quarters of
the Swedish Polar Expedition at Mosel
Bay. Their provisions being calculated
to last up TO the first of December, they
applied to the Professor Nordenskiold
for assistance, and were allowed by him
to dispose of the house and stores accu-
muiated at Istjord. Consequently seven
teen men, with two small open boats, left |
Gray Hook on the seventh of October, |
crossing the ice Westward. until they
found open water, and finally reached /
IsJord in their boats on the fourteenth Of
October. The remaining forty-one men
prepared themselves to pass the Winter
either in their own ships at Gray Hook, 1
or with the Swedish Expedition at Mosel
Bay, when happily, in the first days of
November 4 heavy storm broke the ice
and made their escape possible. Thirty
nine men were thus enabled to reach the
Norwegian port Of Tromsoe: only two,
the old Captain, Msttilas, and his cook,
would not abandon their ship, which was
not insured, and have now been found
dead in boat, probably on their way to
Nosel Bay. The ship was totally crushed
BY ice.
The entries of the journel found st Isf
jord begin with the seventh of October,
1872, and are regularly continued every
day until the third of March this year.
No kind of occupation, nor any under
taking on the part Of the men is reported
except 5 few hunting parties, by whom
two bears, two foxes, and few RENDERS
were brought home. Darkness, however,
soon prevented all further hunting expe-
ditions, and on the seventh of November
the Journal reports: Hunting totally
by cause of darkness Their
observations were regularly
made and annotated FIVE times a day.
The temperature, which was very hard I
in October, the quicksilver running down !
to nineteen degrees below Celsius on the
twenty-frst, was miIder again in Novem- {
Der, being two degrees above on the
eighth, and varied between degrees 5
above to twenty-five seconds below, IN |
I'll the fifth Of January, when it began to I
90 down again. The lowest degree, thirty '
two degrees below, is observed on the z
fourteenth Of February at four o'clock G
4 NJ No mention Is made of any sick t
ness or disease before the ninth of De a
,ember, when It Is said: One of the crew
lick since eight days. but from this day '
he same complaint repeats itself with sad \
No improvement in thes state {
Il the sick On the nineteenth it Is said: !,
Two men constantly In bed nearly all I
ufer Of the disease Though no indi- t