The sun., 1905-10-22

IA v,s /, the summer NJ isps after the
,.s h.J btosep ut, and wc had socces''ed,
Nv bas,,te and aawins IN fr'eas,ns o"r
sbIp from her lev ted IN the hoee, 'nst W.
started her on her return voyage w o'V"'
yation .. g. IA.
decided upon boat Journey from our
o,,sttrrs On CAPE Flora, Ffsns dosef 'Nno'
along the southern coast toward the wes',
.. ...l.. vot II boaaible 10 pass the f,theHt
poIc, We, acct, In that direction, beyono
which the world waa shrouded IN mystery.
and ao 10 discover and map In the seas ana
lands beyond that gateway 10 the tnen
Unknown -,,.,
The natural conditions which prevailed
were anything hut promising for o boat
,ns espetiition, but ~ thess were out OF our
tower 10 alter we had 10 take them az We
found them. The land was covered 'by
perpet,ial Ice Of many hundreds OF rect III
thickness, which by oveirunaing hills ana
tlalea, and thus levelling up points ana de-
pressjons In one solid mass, gave the country
a turtle back appearance In contour
This huge glacier formed all along the
coast line high ice precipices from Gorty 10
eighty feet above the sea level, and only AZ
,onr intervals OF many miles was this barrier
Interrupted for few hundred yards by
beach formed Of broken down de oris from
rocks above, which kept back the ice.
Landing was out Of the question except
unon the distant beaches referred to-
These conditions render boating ex-
oeptionally dangerous, for in the event
~ n sudden storm arising the possit ility
of reaching q spot where one can iapo 10
exceedingly problematical. The ICE covered
sea and arctic climate add their own peculiar
difficulties to such enterprises.
The only available craft was whaiepoat
twenty five feet in length and hve rect
seven inches in beam. carvel ouilt. ana
undecked She was fitted by US with lug
and lib sails, and rudder in place OF the
usual steering oar. Her timters were not IN
the test condition, having seen many years
some in fact we're quite rotten, but she was
the est We had.
In the second week of July. 1906. we left
Cane Flora. and after an adventurous ana
dangerous voyage. exploring and mapping
tho VII ole coast from that point to Cape
Neale in the west We succeeded in ehectng
a landing upon this previously unattGin-
nele SPOT. From the summit OF the cape
7 could distinguish country in the extreme
distance to the north and west, until that
moment unmapped, in fact, undiscov-
ercd.
The coa At line to the west, along which
I nrorcsed to continue my explorations.
presented most forL idding aspect, with
unhroken ice precip'ces tow ering above the
ice covered sea, extending as far as the
eve could reach. and precluding any pos
sit iity of landing. Hardly rock was TO e
seen, not a single plant nor sign OF life'
tut everything was white and ghostly.
The ice clad land itself rose by steady
incline to a height OF ato out 1000 feet, on
the s,mn,t of which a dense white mist
rested. giving a weird, spectral appearance
to this arctic waste.
n 7as not without considerabl msgiv-
ines that al OFT 4. NJ. on July 49, 1885,
I gave orders to set out on our solitary
Journey. Tie party consisted OF six IN
cluding myself. g..
The wind was light and as we rowed clear
OF the heavy drifting ice which hung ABOUT
the land. we made for the more open water
off Cambridge Bay. The weather gave
promise to be f,ne in spite Of the tendency
of the barometer to fall These promises
were unfortunately soon to he dissipated.
By2PM. the wind had increased to
fresh breeze, angry dark clouds showed
on the northeastern sky, and snow began to
fall In the course Of an hour the wind
had further Increased to moderate gale.
the sea had become still more encumbered
with ice. and it was with the greatest diff
culty that we kept our craft from being sunk
by collisions with it.
At this time we were about a mile OF the
glacier bound coast. with Cape Lofiey
bearing north of us. The icy land was now
shrouded in low lying clouds and mist,
and snow continued to fall
Ahead in the distance,to the west lay
the white misty outlines Of a promontory
which I had named Cape Mary Harms
worth, but beyond nothing could be seen
but black. angry clouds and turbulent,
ice encumbered sea.
Our conversation had now almost dropped
to silence Things we're beginning to look
very nasty.
A gale was evidently fast getting up. and
the nearest point 80 far as we could SEQ,
where the boat could be hauled out, and
refuge obtained, was Cape Neale, which We
had left eight hours before, and now lay
astern of us in the extreme distance to the
east almost blotted out Of sight by the
lowering clouds and storm tossed go a.
Still we pressed on, now grazing the
formidable masses Of ice bearing down upon
us with the rolling sea- and next moment
having to put the boats head up into the
wind to avoid an unusually strong gust
which threatened to capsize us,
BY P. NJ. we had sighted the ice preci-
pice which surrounds Cape Mary Harms
worth on the eastern side, and all hopes OF
finding a refuge had fed.
Hurriedly took council as to the best line
of action No hope Of safety apparently lay
ahead, so decided to turn the boats head
around and endeavor to reach Cape Neale,
which we had left in the morning.
Away we went with every reef taken in,
the. spray flying over us and drenching
us to the skin; the thick mist and falling
snow almost shutting out all sight Of land,
Soon found it out Of the question TO pro-
ceed any farther under sail, and the heavy
following WAVES threatened -te-eaAaA-ths
boat to breach to. There was nothing to
be done but to attempt to weather out the
storm in the open.
We hauled down the sails, made a deep
sea anchor from three oars, attaching an