Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-08-14
[stockholm letter to London Standard j
a Journal of Death.
THE TERRIBLE FATE OF soME NORWEGIAN
SAILORS.


The sad news of the death of the sew
enteen Norwegian whalers, frozen in at
the SpitZberg islands, has now been con-
firmed without a doubt Capt Mack,
who penetrated into the Isfiord IN the
end of June, has now sent home the
journal found in one of the houses there,
the eloquent laconism of which initiates
us into the world of suffering and des-
pair the unfortunate men had to go
through before death put an end 10 their
miseries. The story of their struggle is
soon told. On the 10Th of September,
last year, six Norwegian ships, with
their crews of together 81 men, were
frozen in on the northeastern coast of
the Spitzbergs, at Gray Hook and Wei
come point, IS and "a English miles, re-
spectively, from the winter quarters of
the Swedish polar expedition at Mosel
bay. Their provisions being calculated
to last only up to the LIST of December,
they applied to Prof NOrdenskiold for
assistance, and were allowed by him to
dispose of the house and stores accumu-
lated at Isfiord. Consequently, II men,
with two small, open boats, left Gray
Hook on the 7th of October, crossing the
ice, westward, until they found open
water, and finally reached IsfjOrd in
their boats on the 14th October. The
remaining Al men prepared themselves
to pass the winter either in their own
ships at Gray Hook, or with the Swedish
expedition at Mosel bay, when, happily,
in the first day of November heavy
storm broke the ice and made their es-
cape possible. ThiTty-nine men were
thus able to reach the Norwegian port
of Tromsoe; only two, the old captain,
Matthias, and his cook, would not aban-
don their ship, which was not insured,
and have now been found dead liz boat,
probably on their way 10 Mosel bay.
The ship was totally crushed 10y the
ice
The entries of the journal found at
Isfiord. began with the It'll October,
1872. and are regularly continued every
day until the Sd Of March, this year.
No kind of occupation, nor any under
taking on the part Of the men, IS report
ed. except few hunting parties, by
whom two bears, two foxes, and few
reindeer were brought home. Darkness,
however, soon prevented all further
hunting expeditions, and on the 1th OF
November the journal repoTtes; Hunt
ing totally abandoned, by cause OF the
( darkness. ThermOmetricalo observations
were regularly made and annotated five
/ times a day. The temperature, which
was very hard in October, the quicksil-
yer running down 20 10 degrees below
! Celsius ON the 21st, was milder again IN
! November, being 2 degrees above on the
! Sth. and varied between 0 degrees above
/ to % seconds below, until the 9th of Jan
uarv. when it began TO 90 down again
! The lowest degree, % degrees below, Is
/ observed on the 18th February at 4
I o'clock. a. IN. No mention is made of
! sickness or disease befora the 9th De
cember, when it is said Zone of the
crew sick since eight days :" but from
/ this day the same complaint repeats it
self with sad mOnOtony: "No improve
ment in the state of the sick" On the
! 18th il is said: "Two men constantly
/ in bed: nearly all suffer of the disease.
! Though no Indication is given what
/ kind Of illness is meant, there isno denbt
4 that il was scorbut. The first death Is
| recorded Oh the 10th January in the fol-
! lowing words '.Tounes Henderson,
who was taken i'll the 5th ofthis month,
was called to the Lord this morning at
$3.50, after a painful illness this after
noon died also Hendrix Hendricksen,
! who was taken i'll on the 10Th Decem-
! ber." The Sd OF February only three
men were in good health, and the jour
nal repeats every day: No improve
/ ment.@ The Goth February we read f:
/ To-day we have seen the sun for the
first time In the year 1873. a new
death il recorded the following day :
To-day the Lord again calledto heaven
one of our comrades, Niles Laeson, at
ter an illness of 81 days. Two days Ia
ter the entries are by another hand, who
writes on the 25th, q have now only
one man in good health to look after in
the whole house. o Lord help us in Our
great Distress And on the 2sth he
continues: ''This evening another OF
our men died: the Lord called him home
from this place, so rich in suffering.
From this day the journal contains moth
ing but annotations of deaths until The
18th April, when the last regular entry
is made thus. martin Hansen died tbs
18th of April, at a. m" Then begin
another hand, who writes, tPeter an
| dreas Nilsen of Batsfjord, red bonnet
Har. T. Mitterhuk." Whatthsse words
which have apparently been written IN
der the influence of delirium, are mean
TO express will never be known, and Tn
horrible fate of the poor sufferer Th'
traced them can only be guessed dc
he struggle hours, days. or weeks among
the sixteen corpses of his comrades, o
did the delivereF come as he dropped al
, pen Nobody knows or ever WI
know. ..... .-....