The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-08-20

| COHSluer tne Il ram dlInOSC equal 10
anything in the way of ice pressure.
Afterward we experienced nothing more
of the kind but our drift was rapidly
continued north and northwestward.
'As l now anticipated with certainty
that the Fran would soon reach her
highest latitude north of Franz Josef
land and that she would not easily fail
to carry out the program of the eXpedi
ton, viz, to cross the unknown polar
basin, decided to leave the ship in order
to explore the sea north of her route
Lieut.. Hansen volunteered to join me-
and l could not very easily have bet
ter companion in every respect. The
leadership of the expedition of the Fran
was left to Capt. Syredrup. With my
trust in his qualifications as Il leader and
his ability to overcome difficulties. have
no fear but that he will bring all the
men safely back, even if the worst
should happen aud the Fran be lost,
which / consider impossible
son March 3 we reached 81 degrees [
minutes north. johnson and | left the
Fran March /. 1895, ut SO degrees 80
minuts north and 102 degrees ~ minutes
east. Our purpose was to explore the
sea to the north and reach the highest lat
itude possible and then 20 to the Spitz-
bergen via Franz Joscfland, where we
felt certain to find n ship. We had
twenty-eight dogs, two slcdges and twos
kayaks for possible open water The.
dog food was calculated to last for thir-
! ty days and our provisions for 100 days
We found the ice in the beginning tolei--
ably good travelling and made good time
On March 90 we were at 50 degrees l03
minutes north. Although the dogs were.
less enduring than we hoped, still they
were tolerably good. The ice now be-
came rougher and the drift contrary. Ony
March % we had only reached 50 degrees
10 minutes north, and on March %, IS,
degrees 30 minutes.
1--WE were now evidently drifting fast
toward tie south. Our progress was
very slow. 1t was fatiguing to work
| our way and carry our sledges over the
high hummocks constantly being built by
| the foes grinding against each other. Ice
was i'll strong movement and the ice pres
sure was heard in all directions
| 20 vi hprh - we were at % degrees
5O minutes, north, constantly hoping to,
meet smooth ice. On April we
reached SO degrees, 3 minutes, north,
| but the ice became rougher. until on
April Z it got so bad that | considered
it unwise TO continue our march in II,
northerly direction.
I'VE were then at Sc degrees, 1t min
| utes, north. We then made an eXcur-~
sion on skis further northward in order
to examine as to the possibility of fur
| Their advance. But we could see moth
| ing but ice of the same description. hum
mock beyond hummock. to the horizon.
| looking like II sea of frozen breakers
| We had had low temperature and during
nearly three weeks it was in the neigh
borhood of 40 degrees below zero. April
| it rose to degrees below zero hut soon
soon sank again to 3S. When wind
was blowing in this temperature it would
not feel comfortable in our thick WOODEN
clothing. To save weight we had left
our fur suits on board the ship. In
March the minimum was 43. The
maximum temperature was "a. In April
the minimum was IS and the maximum
20 degrees
I'VE saw no sign of land in any direc-
ton. In fact the foe of ice seemed to
move so freely before the wind that
there could have not been anything in
The way of land to stop il for long dis
O'i' W NNiN iON uiitinS
northward.
ION April s we began our march to-
wards Franz Josefland. On April II
our watches ran down, owing to the un--
usual length of the days in March. After
that date we were uncertain as to our
longitude, but hoped that our dead reck-
onings were fairly correct AS we came
south we met many cracks, which greatly
retarded our progress. The provisions
were rapidly decreasing. The dogs were
killed. one after the other, to feed the
rest. In June the cracks became very
bad and the snow was in exceedingly bad
condition for travelling The dogs and
the skis and sledge runners broke through
the superficial crust and sank deep in thu
wet snow. Only few dogs were now
left and progress was next to impossible
fortunately we had no line of retreat
Inc dogs ratlons, as well as our own,
were reduced to minimum and we made
the best way we could ahead. On May
81 we were in 50 degrees, II minutes.
north, and on June in 50 degrees. Is
minutes. north, but on June Is we had
been drifted TO the northwest to 50 de-
grees, ~ minutes, north. No land was
to be seen, although according to Payers
map we had expected to meet with Pc
termanland at SO degrees north. These
discrepancies became more and more puz-
cling as time went on.
u
bearded seal and as the snow constantly
became worse | determined to wait. We
now had supply of seal meat. and we
also shot three bears. We had only
two dogs left, which were now well fed
upon meat
"On july, % we continued our journey
over tolerably good snow. On July "a.
when about so degrees north, we sighted
unknown land at last, but the ice was
everywhere broken into small foes, the
water between being filed with crushed
ice, i'll which the use of the kayaks was
impossible We therefore had to make
our way by balancing from one ice pier
to another and we did not reach land
until August at SO degrees north ana
81 east longitude.
This proved to be entirely ice-capped
islands. In kayaks we made our way
westward in open water along these
islands and on August IL we discovered
land extending from southeast to north
west. The country became more and
more puzzling, as | could find no agree
ment with Payers map. thought we
were in longitude east of Austria sound.
but if this was correct we were now
straight across Wilczekland
and Doyp gla ziar v;tbouf aao;n.,