Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-08-07
wfNrERING IN THE NORTH.
Snug In Harbor or Drifting with the
Ice-Pack.

An Arctic party may winter in the
North either on land or in ship, and as
it was my fortune to see considerable OF
both / shall try and briefly describe this
life, which, extremely mOnOtonous in it.
SELF, may be made interesting reading
matter by the culling OF only that char
acter from the large amount material
my own experience and that of others
can furnish.
The general idea Of a vessel winterin0
in an Arctic harbOr is that she enters The
same during the open water in summer
allows herself to be irOz in, and Nhen
the ice melts next year, or breaks up, sne
( resumes her operations, unless in some OF
the more DANGEROUS Of them she gets her
sides crushed in by a jam OF ice and sinks
to the bottom to find that quiet which IS
denied her on the surface.
A vessel, however, may winter in the
ice under many varied circumstances.
She may not necessarily he in harbor at
all, but drifting in the ice-pack during
this time. actually
UNABLE TO MAKE A HARBOR,
as in the well-known cases of the Terror,
| Of Sir George Backs expedition in Fox
channel and HudsOn's strait; the Teget-
tOff Of the Austro- hungarian Arctic ex-
/ peditiOn Of 1924, under Weyprecht aud
] a1 tI-bne FOX NI lLiuE dll UiC WiuLtA
| through the Baffin's bay in the pack Of
/ grinding ice, the Jeanette in her twenty
| two months OF almost similar imprisOn-
| ment and many others, 10 use an adyer-
Using phrase, "tOO numerous 10 mention"
| This case may be divided into two cases
again, according to whether the imprison-
| ed ship in the drifting pack OF ice Is SOL
| IDLY frozen into the mass-that is, into
! fiOe-as was the Jeanette and TegeitoH,
or whether the ice is broken uD all around
the beleaguered vessel and liable to crush
| her at any time, as in the case
Of the Erebus and others. The
second case is where the ship is frozen
in SO solidy IN the hummocky pack,
some distance from shore, but not subject
to GRIT through the winter, as was the
| case OF the Erebus and Terror of sir John
Franklin's expedition off the northern
cape Of King Williams land, the Teget-
/ totf in her second winter OF Francis
Joseph land, and a few others. The third
| aud last possible case is where the vessel
IS safely ensconced in some good, shelf
| cred harbOr. which she had time to select
in advance, and make all needed prepare
! tlOns as the winter was coming on.
In the first case, which any one will
readily comprehend as the most danger
| Gus or all, the means OF combating this
danger are not at all commensurate with
| its extent, as It is seldom that anything
whatever can be done TO avert it, but
simply await events.
A NORTHWARD DRIFT
| from the point where the vessel is drst in
closed by the ice is generally most per-
| ilOus predicament, and though the crew
Of the Austrian vessel TegettOff, which
so drifted. managed to effect a safe retreat
and get out almost unscathed, yet a fair
review OF their case shows that il was
| only by miraculous combination of
| favorable events, which can in no way he
depended upon each season to occur.
| Too much praise also cannot he given
! Weyprecnt and Payer for so well conduct
ing the retreat and taking full and intel
/ ligent advantage OF the circumstances IN
their favor. The usual examinations to
these n0rthward drifts can be more readily
| fOresecn in the disaster attending the
Jeanette and her unfortunate crew,
where 50 much miraculous good
luck was not on their side, in favorable
season and other circumstances. II is
this very fact, this danger of drifting
| nOrthWard to almost certain destruction,
that has Influenced so many more careful
arctic expeditions 10 follow close along
that shore line, which is swept by south
Woodworking currents, in preference to
all others, so that while their OBJECT is Of
times TO get as far nOrthwerd as possible,
they desire to go there on their own plan,
] anu lbL luhb UhdDDfu Oub bN I'LL fIIhiiC
pack of Ice. No small number of polar
navigatOrs of experience have even
strongly argued that it is a cons deratlOn
to be at once decided, if a vessel is thus
probably imprisoned, whether the crew
should not at once make all necessary
preparation
TO ABANDON HER,
and to do so before the distance drifted to
the north would bar all reasonable chances
of getting out. Had not Fgancis Joseph
land thrown itself across the path Of the
Notwithstanding Tegetto1 the Austrian
Arctic expedition looking for the pole
might have been in somewhat the same
straits as the military party that went
into certain portion Of the enemy's cOun-
try to procure saltpeter, and, meeting a
larger force, got more saltpeter than they
wanted.
II VESSELS drifting through the winter
in loose pack, broken up all around II
with every recurring storm or change OF
tide, it is found almost impossible "a
chunk" vessel, as the incasing with
thick snow walis-liNe superimpOsed
snow house Of an EsquimauX-is termed,
and as a result OF this it almost borders
on the impossible TO keep a uniform
temperature in such an unprotected ship.
Again referring to the case of the
unfortunate TegettoG. Payer writes
that "while in the berth close by the
stove there was a temperature rang
ing between 100 deg. Fahrenheit
and 131 deg. Fahrenheit, in the
other there was one which
would have sufliced for the North pole
itself. In the former a hipp0pOtamus
would have felt himself quite comfort
able, and Orel, the unhappy occupant OF
it, was often compelled TO rush on deck
when the ice pressures alarmed us, ex-
periencing in passing from his berth Q
the deck difference OF temperature
amounting to $50 deg. Fahrenheit" |
have seen IL 1T deg. Fahrenheit IN the
shade in Arizona, and II deg. below zero
in the Arotic-a difference of 1SS deg
and l would not like 10 change from one
TO the other without being allowed
FEW MONTHS IN CHICAGO
en- route to get slowly accl mated. The
story OF the Jeanette and the Terror
under Lieut.. Back, as well as others.
also shows the mseries OF unbanked YES
sells winterlng in the Arctic. Ia vessels
properly banked" or inclosed IN artif.
cial houses of snow, no such variations
of temperature as these cited need be en-
cOuutered, even in the seyerest winter
weather. The ilustratlons-if they be
accurate-of by far the greater majority
Of exploring ships wintering in the ice
show that they are improperly banked or
hnmanN for hg nd