The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-09-19


MR. wELIMAH's sTATERooM.
PROV of the Jarl for the first time ran
against the serried front OF her enemy and
y shivercd all her timbers in the effort it
was in the expectation that we had met
the heavy pack ice which comes down
from the north and were doomed TO many
days of provoking delay. But not So The
\ Ice was light, or what is known as spring
4 Zee, having been recently formed by "A drop
of the temperature upon water whence tho
heavier or winters ice had been foated
away By wind or tide. There are many
different kinds of ice in this region, and
our Introduction TO them has so far been
on an ascending scale. The most formi-
dable OF all ice is that known as tho pack,
normed through season after season, bro
ken up or underrun till the natural thick
mess of about feet is increased sometimes
TO 80 or 40 feet. We have as yet seen mono
of this ice Next to it is what Is called
(. winter ice, which is usually comparative.
ly level and from to feet thick. Third
1n the list is this spring ice, which we arc
now meeting. 1t Is from TO feet thick,
:though rarely the latter
I'll The Crows Nest.
II 1t lay in continuous sheets, n ship
could not be forced through it, but fortu-
natcly it lies in small masses, all snow
covered, and the Jarl easily forces them
aside and plows along. Captain Bottelfsen
1s in the crows nest, spyglass in hand,
picking out the road. Now and then he
calls out TO the mate on the bridge below,
"Luf hertz or 'Steadyl'' or "LarLoardp'
as the case may be, and motions also with
his arm hanging over the side OF his nest
Ihe crows nest, the reader may or may
not know, is simply large barrel lashed
20 tho topmast, as high as it can be safely
placed. 1t is deep enough to contain the
body of man, and "A wind guard, NOV.
able, protects his face against tho fierce
ness of arctic blasts. Nevertheless it is a
cold berth, especially in stormy weather
With high wind and "a temperature 20or
30 degrees below freezing, a vigil up hero
makes enormous demands upon the vital
1orces. Yet many skipper has found IL
necessary to remain six or eight hours at n
ullne in his crows nest, getting his craft
out OF difficulties, with the mercury even
lower than that point OF which we are
Gpeaking. III Captain Bottelfsen were not
such a modest man, ho could tales unfold
OF long watches i'm tho barrel during his
15 years of arctic navigation.
" This loose winter ice, which was encoun-
tered off Bell sound, "a sort of bay CORE
sponding generally TO the Melville bay of
the Greenland waters, gave us little trou-
bic till we had reached its farther end, and |
there the tide and wind together had
pressed it SO compactly that the Jarl |
moved but n few feet i'm minute and |
dnally stuck fast. Then Captain Bottelf.
zen sang out an order to the 1nachinist, |
tssS engines were backed, leaving a clear
waterway forward, and with the machin- |
Irtx a..
ward. With bump and grind and a
11nal long pull, the Jarl forced her way
thr0u9f the obstacle, and ON reaching the
open water beyond bounded away like
boy let out of school.
5 Our detention here had been Of but
few hours DURATION and with clear water
along the coast and the southern end of
Prince Charles foreland, about 90 miles
away, we steamed along in the best of
spirits
At the right are the snow covered noun
fains Of the Spitzbergon coast, and the air
|s SO warm and genial that we accuse
Captain Bottelfsen Of having played some
nailorman's joke upon us and brought us
10 the tropics instead of the arctics For
answer he points to one OF the peaks which
guard the entrance TO Ice ford and re.
marks that IL is in latitude az. We CON
gratulate one another upon our luck, which \
- already seen 60 be phenomenal is the
morning OF the fourth day out from from
50 we are well within the Spitzbergen
eeas, and our skipper says we are likely TO
md clear road TO Danes island, with
the cautious proviso that Trouble may be
met with off the foreland, little farther
north. Captain Petersen, experienced skip
per In these waters that no Is, said before
we left Tromso that he would wager 100
kroncrs we should not reach Danes island
before the LIST Of June, and one of our Nor.
W0gian members tells us that the wise
professors Of the Christiania university
Aad declared we should not be able 60
make our headquarters before the middle
u July.
Waiting For an Opening.
We retired last night with the welcome
whirl Of the engines TO lull us to sleep and
10 help I'm overcoming the unfayorable in
lucnce Of the midnight san streaming I'm
)ur cabin windows We had visions OF
'cnching Danes island within 80 hours,
Md thus being able TO break all records
But you can never tell what Is going 10
Dappon I'm the arctics. About I'm the
Captain Bottelfscn had found u
ncccsssry 70 stop The ship and make an
'hor In safe spot as the ice was rather
heavy ahead. He had, in fact, been able
b reach nearly TO the northern end Of the
Ioreiand, or tc within 90 miles Of Danes
land, before stopping. From this point
cautious skipper had run back Dve On