The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1894-09-06

4 IN u 1sS
for rolling out Of our bunk in the middle
Of the night What matter If at meal hour
three or four Of us, with dishes, viands and
beverages, were piled promiscuously in q
corner Of the wardroom? Why should we
do aught isut smile when the salt emptied
itself into The sugar and the butter took q
bath in some ones soups We were flying
toward Spitzbergen and the pole, and that
was enough for us all. Even the sick ones
gave over their hopes Of shipwreck or dyna-
mite explosion when we told them how
fast we were speeding toward the north.
What Wise Norwegians Said.
In Norway all the wise old sailing mas
tiers and would be experts shook their
heads when they heard we were going to
sail on the LIST day of May. TOO early.
Better wait till the 15th," they said.
They admitted this was favorable year,
but still there must be a great deal of ice
to the north. There always had been ice
and always must be ice. Nevertheless we
concluded to adhere to our programme.
We had studied the Spitzbergen region
not in the light of one mans experience,
but in that of thousand experiences run
ming through 200 years, and we felt con-
fident we had reasonably good chance of
pushing our way through to Danes island
in from 10 to Is days. 1t must be con-
fessed, however, that the majority of us
were looking rather eagerly for ice the first
day out. We knew that when the Ragn-
valid Jarl was once within the ice there
would be no more rolling and pitching
and the dinner bell would cease from
hooking, for the water within the ice is
as still as pool in the woods Often, one
skipper told us, the ice is formed below
Bear island, but those of us who hoped for
relief in the neighborhood of the rocky
islet discovered by Barentz 300 years ago
were doomed to disappointment We passed
to the westward of the island at 8 O'Clock
yesterday morning in a bowling gale, with
the mercury below the freezing point, but
the only ice to be seen was that which
made crystal ship and fairy rigging of
the Ragnvald Jarl.
Here, in latitude 741< north and longi-
tude 80 east, we entered what is known
and has been known for two centuries as
the ''Whale Fishers Light 1t is bay in
the ice, indenting from 90 to 100 miles to the
north, and has been followed by the whale
fishers ever since Barentz made known to
the world the richness of the Spitzbergen
feeding grounds. This bay is the product
of the gulf stream, which washes the coast
of Norway and off Tromso divides into
two currents-one entering the arctic to
the north of Norway and thence into the
Kara sea, the other going straight north
ward along the Spitzbergen coast and CIV
ing this region q climate much warmer
than that of any other land of equal prox-
unity to the pole. Three years out of four
the whalers have found it necessary to bore
through more or less ice to the north and
west of Bear island. The shoot of the gulf
stream, after struggling upon the surface
against the colder waters from the north,
was finally compelled to dive underneath
it's enemy. Currents of different tempera-
lures do not readily mix as long as motion
remains, and the specific gravity of the
gulf water being considerably greater than
that of the polar sea, because more salt,
the usual rule of warm water rising to the
top is here reversed, and the common re-
suit is an upper or ice stratum flowing
south and lower, warmer or gulf stratum
flowing north and reappearing through
the tendency of warm water to rise off the
western coast of Spitzbergen and produc-
ing there early in every year region of
comparatively ice free water.
More potent than the currents in this
part of the arctics are the winds, and this
year they have evidently blown for some
days from the east and have cleared the
ice away. Several times our shippers were
sure they could see the ice klink to the
north, that yellow tinge in the horizon
caused by the reflection of the suns rays
from the ice and which is so unmistaka-
BILE as to be great aid to arctic naviga-
ton. But for once the shippers were mis-
taken, and we sailed on hour after hour,
with a rollicking breeze and rolling sea,
and never q kit of ice large enough to
mix cocktail with to be seen in all the
horizon. No one could tell whittier the
ice had gone, but the splendid fact was
that it had disappeared, and we were
steaming without ,hindrance through the
very waters where we had most expected
trouble and where the whale fishers have
in the past found it necessary to wait
many a weary week before finding an
opening.
Last evening we were enough within
the lee Of the land, the south cape of
Spitzbergen lying due east Of us, to have
the advantage of a sea little less bolster
Gus. So the entire party plucked up cour-
age, gathered in the cabin, sat about on
the foof braced against walls, tables and
one another-for the Jarl was still bob
bling about like q kite in gust of March
wind-and sang songs and told stories
through happy evening. We were all
surprised to find what cosmopolitan par
ty we are. The latest songs from the
American stage, the popular airs from
the London music halls, were mingled
with the freshest bits from the boulevards
and gardens of Paris, the students songs
of Liege and Christiania and even the vari-
ETY. theater farandoles from Copenhagen,
Stockholm and st. Petersburg. Though
we represent four countries and speak half
dozen languages, we are developing lot
of good fellowship, and every one of us is
early learning the valuable lesson of how
to make joke of our hardships and dis
comforts.
A Harmonious Company.
The truth is, we have been luckier in
our men than anything else Fully half
of them were chosen by the expedition's