The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-11
FINDING VIEW SHORE LINES.
Dr. Nathorst's Cruise ~ 200 Miles In IN fiord
Whore No ship Had Been Before.

Last years explorations In the Arctic regions
had the general characteristic that marked nearly
all geographical discovery IN the eighteenth
century. In tina, period sailors, rs n rule. were the
explorers Comparatively little Was learned
about the Interior of the great land masses, but
many thousands Of miles of coast lines "'f"
chartrd and maps began 10 show the continents
with about the same shape in which they now
appear. Last year, also, some very interesting
additions were made To- our knowledge OF Nr'nc
Coas, lines had not much else WAS discovered
The American pcary and the Norwegian Va
thurst were foremost in this work. TIKI Sun
Ia, described the changes that Peary mad" on
III" map Of the Smith Sound route 10 the North
the purpose here is Ia tell Of the Interesting dis
co,ery made by DR. \athorst ON the other "
east coast Of Greenland
Thirty years ago next spring the second Ger
man North Polar expedition made a most inter
es,ing discovery in the waters where D Ma
thprst has now brought further facts Of equal i'm
portancr Ia light This expedition had a
very remarkable history and especially one OF
the two ships connected with IT, The Hansa,
commanded by Capt Hegeman, after reaching
the east coaS, of Greenland was separated from
her consort, the Germania commanded by Capt
kOldrwey, and freezing in the pack ice drifted
h~elplcssly 10 the south for forty four days. when
she was crushed and sank. The crew built a
house on the foe and kept drifting h. the south
all through the darkness oi the long winter night
They narrowly escaped death on several occa-
sions when terrible / rms broke away large parts
Of the ice field on which they were being slowly
carried southwark Finally ia" shipwrecked men
saw the sun rise again and after n drift of over
six hundred miles in POO days they saw the dark,
bleak coast of South Greenland rise before them,
and on May I, 1871, they launched their boats
from the foe, rounded Cape Farewell and finally
reached q settlement in West Greenland
The men On the Germania knew nothing Of
the fate Of their comrades and II was during this
period Of suspense that they made the most re
markable discovery tha, the Arctic yielded for
n long period One day they saw the wide IN.
trance to FranIJo,rf Finrd aud entered it. The
attention. of any one who examines the map Of
the east roast 4 Greenland Is at once attracted
~ this ford because it pcnc,rateS the land SO
far and has th" highest mountain in Greenland
AT It's head. This inlet extends over five degrees
Of longitude into the interior q the island, Tn"
explorer Payer, who was one IT kuldcNey's com
panions, described III" ford Ms a combination
81 high walls, deep erosion iSsurs, wild peaks,
mighty crevasSed glaciers, raging torrents and
waterfalls" One bare rock was seen that rises
5000 feet out Of the sea and the party reported
Mount petcrmann. AT the head 4 the ford, to
be about 1000 feet high Na,horst's report
III l''hll mas nl Nf1 I1hfl UNtl', Dll u u SAN ne
assigns n lower altitude to the mountain
All the largest maps OF this mighty inlet rptre
sent lis south coasts by hroipn lines To indicate
that the ho'd"wey party I'D not see more than a
small par, Of them. AVID their outlines, therefore,
wer' no determined. II was on this uncNplored
south shore that DR. \athorSt made his discovery
last year Not quite midway in the fori he
SAW an inlet that proved TO b. n sound and he
named II after is little steamer Antarctic Sound.
Threading his way 'hrou III this channel he came
to q hitherto unknown ford almost as great and
magnificent as Franz Josef Fiord itself He
spent ten davS ma pplng thl, Dart Of the great
inlet. lie found that the west sid" OF King Oscar
FiOrh, Ms he named 1t, sends two branches into
the interior which extend almost ~ far westward
aS Franz Josef FiOrl. The southern branch di-
Vi les into two and the northern into three branch
lets. The ford extends south for sixty rauiical
miles to the sra at Davy Sound and on the way
sends two branches east that also connect il with
the sea. lie travelled for 500 nautical miles in
these unknown waters whose surroundings he
describes rs beautiful aud splendid" Then
he returned north n rain through Antarctic Sound
10 Franz Josef Fori snd DEVOTED some time to
further exploration there, discovering other new
branches that koldewpN did not see. Alto yether
h" travelled 1,0ii nautical miles in this mighty
ford system which l. probably one Of the largest
IN the world. FOrds develop q wonderful amount
Of coast line Ou own furdS, for example, along
thu coast Of Maine, show y shore line nearly :, 800
miles long though the,a fluctuations extend less
than 22' miles along the sea edge. Puget Sound,
also, with its bays, inlets and channels between
the islands has n shorA line Of 800 miles, which
would extend half uav across the continent
lr \athorSt's rich discoveries in the very
field o%ccNlin' hV the careful German explorers
illustrate the fact that Pvnloratory progress is
made only by 10 and painful steps. Explorer
follows explorer in ih' gAm region, each ~ain
ING new facts and r%rctifying hlunders made by
his predecessors until, at last, the sum total Of
work done gives us a very good idea o! the area
Investigated.