, 1873-08-08
THE SPlTZBERGEN DRAMA.


THE SPlTZBERGEN DRAMA.
Bnvcntccn Whnlcrs Perish In the Icc.
Writing from Stockholm, On July II, tho COR
respondent Of tho London Standard Hays "Tho !
fa Ssers % frozen a n q q he s sens
haB now boon confirmed beyond doubt. Cnpt. |
Mack, who penetrated into tho lsfJord, IN tho on1
OF Juno hns NOW Hont home tho journa! FOUND !
IL 5 oaS o of S hGHsss ns W e %opd ~
forlng and lcapatr tho unfortunate men bad TO 90
through bcfore doath put m end to tholr mlsor-
les. Whit iB most horrlblo OF oil Is tno lmpros-
90n wen tho p9snl Ht s oa RoW
edgo hcw 10 tako cara OF thcmnolvos would haye
boon auiIiciont to kcop allvo all theHo poor vlc~
Tins OF an Arctic winters incitein,enoy. "a TN mo
ons :as and d con- Continuous activity was kopt up
though tho mon m,tHs not havo been
ignorant that hard work Ia the best presorya-
Iyo ngalnst that dreaded foo Of Northern fo, tho
ertionB to koep hB mon constantly Of work, even
syhon tllota was no necessity Tor It, that VIC have
only to rcourel ono doath from scorbut among the
eIxty-eoyan mombers Of hla expedition. But at
1efjord, ,lnhappy,. there wng no experienced
Iondor to warn againht quiet inactivity which,
l,n1or tlose latitidos, 1noanB doath. ThoBo poor
asilora and othors poriAhod victims Of Choir
tsuotanao sna probably 81 thotr enre
pearod they had not known how to mako
propor 1,so Of tho comfortable house In which
fiey wore quartorod; instead or dividing
dwelling they all crowded togethor. into ono,
which, moreover, bore traces Of ustor neglect
and unoleanlinoss. Tho largo stores OF pro-
sorvod potatoes md othor vegetables were loft
nearly r. oo
nTho story Of their struggle is coon told On .
4ho 10th OF September lust yoar, BLK Norwegian !
slips. with their crows ot togothsr ilttty-
ss seen mon Toro # df0zf In &c saq At
Gray Hook and Welcome Point, oightoon
and tvonty-four English miles respectively from
tho willtof quarters Of tho. Swedish ,polar expo
bor. they applied to the Prof. Nordonskiold for
nsutstance, and were allowed by him to dispose
Of tho house and storos accumulated at lsfjord,
open boats, iafs Gray Hook on tho It'll Of Or
tober, crossed the leo westward, until they
found open water, and finally reached Isfjo1d III
their bouts OIL Oct. II. The rcmaining forty
Aer either In their own ships nt Gray Hook. or
with lilo Swedish expedition at MoHel bay, whom,
happily, in tho first days Of November, 3 heavy
storm broke tho ico, aud made thoir e,soape Roa
eiblo. Thrty-nine mon wore thus ahlo 70 reach
tho Norwegian port Of Tron1aooi only two, tho
ull Captain, Matthias and hia cook, wonla not
abandon their ship, which was not insured, and
ss been fnnd dead II 6Gn otay
ia The q @entries Of tho journal found at 1sjfora
begin With tho 7th October, 1879, and arc rcgu-
y S continued a X y Of t oceaoaan no 10 ner
any undertaking on tho part Of the men, is ro-
ported, except q few hunting parties, by whom
two boars, two foxes, and few roindoorH were
Si yontsd ali further hunting expeditions, and on
the 7th OF November the journal reports:
Hunting totally abandoned, by cause Of the
.dnrkness. Thermomet1ical observations were
regularly made aud annotated 1ve times dAy.
The tomporatnre, which was very hard in ooto-
Dor, the quicksilvor running down to 10 degrees
below Celsius Oh the 21st, was mildor again III
November, boing degrees above on the sth, and
varied between Q degrees above to "a seconds
below, until tho 9th of January, when it began
to 20 down again. The lowest degroe. SO do
greoa below, il observed on tho 14th Of February
at4 o'clock o. N. No mention @ h is made OF elok.
it ia said: 'One OF the crew sick since oight
days." but from this day the samo complaint
repeats itself with Bad monotony: "No improve
lnent in tho stato Of tho sick;" On tho l9ih
all suffer Of the dlaeaso.' Though no indication
is gi1cn what kind Of illnesa is meant, there is
no doubt that 1t was scorlut. The tirat death -
Ing words 'Tonnes Penlorse1l, who, was taken
i'll on tho 9Th Of this north, was called to tho
this afternoon died also Hondrlk HonslrkBen,
who WA9 tHkGn LII ou IutA A|ocoAAoot-
The Sd Of February only throe mon wero in
good health, and tho journal repeats every
To read. 'To-day We have seen The si,n foi
tha Arst time il tho yoar 1885, A now death is
recorded the following day: To-day the Lord
a1au called to Hoaven ono OF our cumraueS
Niles Larson, after in illncss Of eighty-tWe
Anyb.' Two days later the eutrias aro made by
anothor hana, who writes on the 25th: have
now only one man In good health to look nfte,
tho whole house. 0 Lord holp ns III ohr grca
Distress + And on the 28th he continues: 'That
evening another OF our men diod; the Lore
called him homo from this piaeo, 50 riol
IN sufferlng.' From this day tho journa
contains nothing but annotatlons OF death
until tic 10Th Of April, when. tho las
lliol the 19til Of April, ut G q. m Then begin
another hand, who writes: 'Peder Andrea
NBen. OF Batsfjord, q red bonnet, Har. y
Mittorhnk.' What thcao worda. which have ap
parontly been wrtton under the influence o
tlaliriun,, arc meant to oxpreaa will neyor
known and tho horrible fate Of tho poor Bnffere
WHO traced them can only be guessed. Did b
struggle hours, days, or weeks among the si1
teen corpgos Of 1liH comrades, or did tho deliy
crcr como aa he dropped his pen2 Nobod
knows, nor will ever know"