The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-06-22
ARCTIC PERILS.

a narrative Of the discoveries of the
Australian exploring ship Tegctthoff,
by Julius Payer, one ofthe commanders
of the expedition, has been translated
from the German, with the authors ap-
probation, and issued by Macmillan Il
Co., of London. The following extracts
from the work vividly picture the hard
ships of Arctic navigation:
L roughout the winter of 1928 the
Inmates of the Tegetthoff were in con.
slant terror from the violent movements
Of the surrounding ice, which hourly
threatened to crush and engulf them.
The first alarm occurred on October 13.
Early in the morning the foe burst i'm
mediately under the ship, with a terri
fic convulsion. crushing on deck"
says Lieut.. Payer, "we discovered that
we were surrounded and squeezed by
the ice; the after part Of the ship was
already nipped and pressed, and the
rudder, which was the first to encoun-
ter its assault, shook and groaned; but,
as the great weight did not admit of its
being shipped, we were content TO lash
1t firmly. We next sprang on the ice,
the tossing, tremulous motion of which
literally filled the air with noises as of
shrieks and bowls. Mountains
threateningly raised themselves from
out the level fields of ice, and the low
groan which issued from Its depths
grew into a rumbling sound, and at
last arose into a furious howl, as of
myriads of voices. Noise and confusion
remained supreme, and step by step de-
struction drew nigh in the crashing to-
gether of the fields of ice. Our foe was
now crushed, and its blocks, piled up
into mountains, drove hither and thith-
er. Here, they lowered fathoms high
above the ship, and forced the protect
ing timbers of massive oak. as if in
mockery of their purpose, against the
hull of the vessel; there, masses of ice
fell down as into an abyss under the
ship, TO be engulfed in the rushing wa
ters, so that the quantity OF ice beneath
the ship was continually increased. and
at last it began 10 raise her quite above
the sea level"
The fiightful commotion lasted
throughout the day, and officers and
crew prepared for the probable necessi-
ty ofleaying the ship. Sledges and tents
were got ont and equipped, and each
man stood with bundle in hand, con-
tanning few essential articles, ready TO
knowl For not fragment of the ice
around us remained whole;
nay, not block, not table of ice, was
at rest; all shapes and sizes of il were
in active motion some rearing up,
some turning and twisting, none on the
level. A sledge would at once have
been swallowed up, and in this very
circumstance lay the horror of our situ-
alton. For, if the ship should sink.
whittier should we go, even with the
smallest stock of provisions? Amid
this confusion, how reach the land, thir-
ty miles distant, without the most in
dispensable necessariesi" The pressure
of the ice, however, moderated toward
night; and, when bedtime came, con-
tinues Lieut.. Payer, ''wc fell asleep
with our clothes on, though our sleep
was disturbed every now and then BY
the onsets of ice, recurring less fire.
quently and in diminished force; but
daily--and for one hundred and thirty
ddys-we went through the same expe-
riences in greater or lesser measure, al
most always in sunless darkness. J."
The brave men on the Tegetthoa ney-
er confessed TO each other their fears,
but in every breast there was calm
conviction that with the destruction of
their vessel their own doom was sealed.
In the days Immediately following Oct.
IL, they perfected arrangements for
quitting The ship should II be sunk in
the ice, though persuaded that their Ia
bors were vain. 1--WE must" writes
Lieut. Payer, "for our mutual encour-