Litchfield enquirer., 1874-11-26
THE AuSTRo-HUN0ARIAN NORTH
 POLAR EXPEDITION.
A Graphic Description of the Ad- ventures and Sufferings of the
 Party.
BY PROF. CHAvARME.

A Graphic Description of the Ad-
 ventures and SufFerinRs of the Party.
 BY PROF. CHAYARME.
 Translated for the Hartford Post from the H. lnstrite Zeitung of Leipsic, by Sherman W. Adsmsl
 After more than two years solourn in the ice-covered interior of the Artic- Polar region, the little band of heroes of the Austrian polar-expedition, who were al- most believed to have been wholly lost, have returned home crowned with suc- cess. Since their landing at Wardoe, on the coast of Norway, the news of which was communicated to the whole civilized world by the electric spark, and was uni versally received with sentiment of the purest joy. The suspense and expecta- l tion with which people have awaited the forthcoming details of the incidents of the expedition, and the result of the same, have increased with each day. The recep- tion accorded to the leaders, Payer and Weyprecht, and not less to the whole crew, was extraordinary and hearty. The jubilation and greetings of welcome in the places visited by them in Norway were on ly exceeded by those that awaited them upon their landing on German soil, at Hamburg, and on their arrival at home, The unalloyed rejoicing and hearty con- gratulations that the Germans and Aus trians rendered to the modern band of Ar gonauts, are living witness to the high ideal sentiment, appreciation and recogni- tion of intellectual achievements, which distinguish these people. The report just presented by these two leaders to the committee on the expedi- tion justifies all these anticipations on the part of those who have been thus overioy- ed. The results obtained by this small number of fearless men, animated by the | finest zeal for the enrichment of science, struggling with the thousand fold dangers of the Polar world-are worthy to rank with the greatest discoveries; and they as- sure to the Austrian North-Polar expedi- tion lasting place of honor among the Popular voyagers of all times and nations.
 Concerning the course of events of the expedition we give here with brief &C., count. On the 18th of June 1872, it set out from Bremerhafer, on the screw steam CT Tegethoff. After run of 21 days the party reached Troms@, Norway, from which place, having completed their Captain Carlsen, we'll known as an Arctic
 
 the discovery of Parents Winterhaven, on the'eastern coast of Novaia ZemIia-it steered northerly, animated with the best prospects of attaining it's distant objective point, Bhering's Strait. But soon after arriving at the edge of the sea of drift-ice in lat. "A deg. 30 min. N., unexpected difficulties in the way of further progress were encountered, and the hopes of 8 fa- vorable condition of the ice, as in the pre- ceding summer, speedily vanished. After being some days locked in the ice and helpless, the Tegethoff was freed and brought into the coast-waters of Novaia Zemlia. In continual struggle with the thick ice-drift the expedition reached the island of PanKratiew, where Count Will czek himself received 1t with the Isbiorn. After sailing in company as far as Parents Island, upon one of which Count Wllczek established supply depot, the expedi- tion, after feeling leave-taking from the passengers of the Isbiorn, separated there from and took advantage of fresh north east breeze in order to escape from the ice. But on the night of that very day, August 21, the wind fell. and the ice formed solid ring around the vessel, preparing for it a prison from which no liberation or rescue was possible ''Gloomily, bereft of all hope, the first year lay before us, and we seemed to be destined to be TO more discoverers, but passengers of an ice foe, writes Payer.
 The rapidly falling temperature cement ed the drift-ice into a stiff mass, in which the vessel remained immovablY fettered until the 9th of September. A fresh north east wind that arose broke up the ice into greater fields; but this uproar in the polar l.. 4< expedition. Every effort to free the ship from the icy grasp was unavailing, and the bangs and trials of the sailors increas- ice was massing itself more closely togeth- CT, and, following the current northeaster- ly, drifted with unusual speed, leaving the coast of Novaia Zemila behind on the 9th of October. Thus the party was two years out of sight of the uttermost point of Europe.
 A new calamity, hourly threatening de- struction, happened on October 18th. Fearful ice tanning commenced; the ship was raised upward several feet and laid over on to her port side. Quiet and the feeling of safety were thereby sacrificed for the whole winter. The crew were compel led to hold themselves in readiness to ab andon the ship thus exposed to danger of being crushed in order only to give them selves up to more dangerous and unforeseen circumstances. This situation, which defies description, lasted until the end of Febru- ary, 1873. What has been hitherto con- sidered impracticable, and a foolish undertakings wintering in the drift-ice of the polar sea--the Austrian expedition accomplished and, fortunately, overcame; brilliant testimony to the energy, self sacrifice, and bravery of the nautical Con- mander Weyprecht, to the self-yielding sentiment of duty, and the demonstrated endurance of the entire ships crew, with unimpaired strength. Even second time this dangerous hazard of wintering in an icy sea, without 8 protecting haven, was fortunately run. The liveliest expressions of wonderment, of admiration, burst from the lips when Weyprecht, in plain and convincing manner, pictured these cpl sodes, in the presence of the Geographi- cal Society at Vienna. off ..-2
 On January 22d, 1873, wall of ice, thirty feet high, was heaved up at dis tance of few steps from the stern of the vessel This took place in few minutes, and in the polar night, which had come on as long ago as the 18th of October, 1872 The snow walls, which were built up as shelter for the ship, had to be con- tinually renewed in consequence of these unforeseen changes in the situation of the ice. In the meantime, the ship was con- stantly driven forward in a northeasterly direction, with the ice-drift, and, on Feb ruary 4, reached it's most easterly point, in longitude 73 deg. 18 min E. from Greenwich, and latitude 78 deg. A min. N. Thence, 1t was driven with the winds northwesterly, towards the unknown in- terior of the Arctic world: Although the difficulties and sufferings of the polar