The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1874-10-30
Austro-Hungarian Polar Discoveries.


To Austrian enterprise belongs the
honor of having discovered the most
northern land yet reached by polar ex-
petitions The narrative of the adven-
turers on the Tegetthoff, as related in n
telegram from Capt. Payer to the Nease
FTeae Press, is full of history to all
who have followed the interest of Arc
TIC explorations. Capt PAYER and
Lieut.. Weyprecht have secured for
themselves and for Austria a permanent
lease of fame. In leaving Bremen .June
10, 1olz, their expectations appear to
have been limited to the hope of ex-
ploring the coast Of Northern Siberia.
and DID not include the intention of
reaching much higher latitude. Count
W1Iczec conveyed to them some stores
and provisions in his yacht while tbev
were off the coast of Nova Zembla. and
left them there on the following August.
provisioned for three years. From that
time till their return nothing was heard
from them, except in the negative evil
dence of Capt. Isaksen, Norwegian
fisherman, who satisfied himself. bv cir
cumnavigating the northern extremity
of Nova Zembla without finding traces
of them, that the explorers had depart
ed thence.
During two years they continued to
make the Tegetthoff their home-two
winters in which the night was seven
months long. In the summer of 1873,
they made desperate endeavors to free
their ice-bound vessel, but their work
of saving and blasting met no success.
Carried onward by the ice-pack, in the
| fall they were unexpectedly conveyed to
| the shores of a mountainous country
200 nautical miles north of Nova
Zembla. They spent the winter of
| 1S73-74 at distance of three miles from
this land, without any harbor, in lat
| 70 deg. 81 min. N, long. SO deg. E.
Between March 8 and May OF the
present year, they made the series of
excursions on sledges over this noun
ed to their credit these extended from
70 deg. 81 min. to above S3 deg. The
newt found country was named in honor
of the Emperor, Francis-J JosephL Land.
Its longitudinal development is at least
Is deg, and from the highest mountain
tops they were unable to peceive any
boundary. It is principally plateau,
the height being 5000 feet; the most
elevated portion visited was in lat. 80
deg. 5 min. The difficulties encoun-
tered in crossing the glaciers and broken
ice are represented as extreme. The
most northerly point, in lat 83 deg,
| WIS u&Acel SdDc f1SAEAs
Life In those dreary solitudes was not
attractive they failed to find any con
siderable amount of game, and vegeta-
ton was exceedingly scanty. Even in
the sound adjoining, driftwood was
scarce and only icebergs were abund-
ant. The mountains consist of dolor-
ite-certainly not a cheerful mineral.
The temperature during the sledge ex
cursions fell to 5S deg. Fab. below zero
and on the vessel to 81 deg. The ice
lifted their vessel, and she became un.
seaworthy. On May 20 they at length
resolved to abandon her, and began 6
journey of 96 days in boats and sledges
that was:?full Of danger. At 20 miles
from the North Cape Nassau, in lat
II deg. 40 min, they left the pack-ict
forever behind them, and on Aug. 1;
were skirting along the coast of Novs
Zembla in the open sea. But the day
of their deliverance was at hand. Oh
Aug. "a they hailed the little Russian
schooner Nikolai, Capt. Feodor Boro
min, which safely landed them at Var
doe, on the Norwegian ceast.