The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1894-10-04

with the prov of the Jarl in order to force
an opening.
About / O'Clock in the afternoon we
came in behind big square berg which
rose 80 feet above the surface and was
grounded in Is fathoms. 1t must have
been mass from the edge of the great
polar pack detached by the action of the
waves and drifted down to shoal water,
for it bore upon its highest part ridge of
hummocks such as are formed at the mar
gins Of the foes by collision with one an
other. These hummocks, the first we have
seen of the obstacles over which we expect
to struggle through the summer, were Is
or 10 feet high and of conical form.
This big berg did for us exactly the
work which we wanted it to do. It cut
path through the foes of winter ice rs
neatly as a saw cuts through pine log
and we followed in its wake. Of course
the berg was immovable, a great mass
that may never be stirred from it's moor
ings, and which the suns of 100 summers
may be required to destroy. But the foes
were in motion against it, just as the log
is pressed against the saw. What might
be called the savilust of this great natural
ice cutting process eddied in behind the
berg in the form of debris, but not enough
to cause US any trouble. In an hour we
had cut through large and apparently
impossible foe without moving the ship
an inch. This is what the arctic naviga-
tors called being towed by an iceberg.
A mum Der of large grounded bergs were
in the neighborhood, and fortunate for US
did their presence prove. They broke the
foes up by cutting these burrows through
them and enabled us to follow the open
ings thus made for a number of miles, get
ting first in the wake of one berg and then
of another. These icebergs must have
come from some more northerly land, for
the north shore of Spitzbergen has no calv
ing glaciers such as produce bergs of this
size. There are calying glaciers on the
eastern Shore but masses detached there
from by protrusion into the sea would
foat south and not into this region.
Help From the Wind.
When the bergs failed us, another agency
came forward just in the nick Of time to
help Us out. A strong wind sprang up
from the south and blew the ice offshore,
opening up the foes with incredible ra-
pidity, and without interruption we con-
tinued our way. Soon swell was per-
ceptible, and we knew there must be plen-
Ragnvald Jarl began to pitch and roll in
heavy sea, and not a piece of ice was to
be seen in any direction excepting streams
of small pieces which here and there thick
~ covered the surface of the rolling sea,
forming curious spectacle. The wind
now increased to gale, and out of Hin
lopen strait, which separates west Spitzber-
gen from Northeast Land-a cold, stormy
l>x,<l no, -hn1D no
sea rolled with terrific force.
For four hours, or as long as we were
off the Hinlopen, the Ragnvald Jarl toss
ed about like a barrel on the waves, great
ly to the discomfort of some members Of
our party. On the right could be seen
Verlegen hook, Welcome point, SO called
by the early navigators in gratitude for
having passed the stormy Hinlopen and
the highland which lies back of Hecla
cove, where Sir Edward Parry had his
ship, the Hecla, in harbor while he was
away on his memorable sledge journey
over the pack. With glass we could de-
termine the position of Mossel bay. where
Baron Nordenskjold passed the winter
previous to his attempt to reach the north
pole over the pack, an effort which failed,
or rather was not seriously entered upon,
the condition of the ice to the north of the
Seven islands.
The Seven Islands.
In the early evening we made the land
near Low island, Captain Bottelfsen hav-
ing steered to the east in order to keep
we'll away from the pack ice to the north
while the gale was still on. We came SO
suddenly upon the shore and shoal that
but for the alertness of our skipper we
might have run aground, and escaped
that misfortune only by quickly veering
about and hacking the propeller. Being
now in the lee Of the land, we had smooth
water and fine weather, and the prov of
the Jarl was TURNED to the northeast, the
North cape of Northeast Land and the
Seven islands being in plain view.
In a little more than "a hours we have
traversed waters noted for their difficult
ties with ice and in which many arctic ex-
petitions have foundered about quite hope
lessly. It was in this region that Parry S
ship was drifting in the pack ice for a
month. How great our luck has been may
be judged by the fact that only three times
in the history of Spitzbergen navigation,
SO far as is known, covering period of $50
years, have the Seven islands been reach
ed in the first half of May. ,
As we go to bed the Seven islands are
looming up on our starboard bow, and
the polar ice pack may also be seen to the
north. The temperature is % degrees F.,
and Captain Bottelfsen says the combina-
ton of cold and calm may give him trou-
BILE by forming young ice on the surface
of the sea, but we have made a remarka-
BILE run along the north coast and go to
sleep with light hearts.
RAMMING THROUGH THE ICE.
The Expedition Forces Its Way to Table
Island and Makes Cache.
copyright, 1894, by Walter Wellman.1
TABLE ISLAND, Spitzbergen, May 49,
Tonight we are mpored to the heavy ice
foot surrounding this far northerly rock
in latitude 80. As. We have not had a great
deal Of trouble in getting to this high lat
itude, barring the last five or six miles,
which held us all day. It was early in the
morning that Captain Bottelfsen found it