Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1909-01-15
An Storm
EBraving the erils Of 4 South
oIar5 Winter $ Nigh. q.

6LsAHatsS ~ ~
Polar Winters NIGHT.
IFlERc FURY Of Il GALE Z.
Adventures 81 q Party Sof xplorers u
EsS a Journey over the Broken Pack
Lee -l,e Solid Wall Of Wind That;
ss Thanked ! Friendly Iceberg i.ts3t 5 SS
The arettc plorer has always had q
ardship and danger enoug h, but the
antarctic discoye has far more ter
rible Scondit ionsE TO- meet luckily he
meets them With an / the equipment
Eand method that rctic sexplora ton has
taught mankind Yet they are most
dangerous, as the story 81 those who.
have lived through Il the south polar
winter night can testify One of the
experiences Of sBernacc hi on the cruise;
of the Southern Cross u some years
ago shows hat n an antarctic gale
means.
He and IA cornrade ~ I'll lifsen, started
out on q short sledge journey to carry
DIVISIONS from one camp to another
II was In septe1nbe and the broken
Ice pack over VIII Itch they must travel
was but q foot and Ia half thick and
likely to break In pieces afresh or pile
up IN deadly masses at the mercy OF
the sea and wind. 81 The two men had
three sledges. and eighteen dogs. They
had hardly started before the wind
rose and q gale threatened. Halfway
TO their destfnat ionS there was an ice
berg imbed ded IN the pack Ice, and
they fastened to reach this; before the
storm should break. E3s 53
For five hours they toiIed over the
fce, the wind gradtally rising. The
gale broke in fury just as they reach
ed the iceberg, under whose lee they
pitched a tiny silk tent, into which
they crawled after having fed their;
dogs as best they could. Hour after
hour the wind ragged, and the Their.
nometer went to 8 degrees below zero;
The snow drifted over. and into the
tent. Sleep was Impossible. s5S
4: The explorers, who had met typhoons
IN the China seas and cyclones IN the
tropics, found BY the aneroid as wen:
as by their own sensations that this
gale surpassed them all. Worst Of all,
Il seemed as Il the Ice was beginning
to crack. They knew well that the
iceberg which detected them from the
full force 1.-The storm was the most;
dangerous place 4 possible in other,
ways. as the ice was sure to separate
first imnedi ately round the berg,
throwing tent, men and dogs into the
tcy seas; The scrac king of Ice was now.
toS be heard above the roar Of the
wind. They dared not stay In their
shelter: 35
a little to the east, Bernacchi ~,
membered, was q cave In the body Of.
the iceberg. Once IN; that, they would
not at least be precipitated into the
sea. even # they were carried away,
iceberg and all, Il was 80 dark that
the wall OF the berg could not be seen
even when the hands touched II. The
two explorers CROPPED AS best they
comic along the slippery walls, both.
bands on the 4 Ice Il and their bodies
pFessed against It. Halfway around
they left the eeaside and met the
gale. III came like aSsolid thing, bear;
Ing them; back and down. IA Not one
Inch Inch could they move against It. and
further exposure meant death. They
Egroped back, blinded, deafened and
almost paralyzed with cold to shelter.
Then they commence "a toilsome hunt
for foothold on the lee side some-
where. Il Toward morning they found 4
low spur Or projection, upon which
they scrambled and lay down perfect
lys exhausted In the ssnowdri fts; which
grew each moment TO this they owed;
their lives. for the snow soon covered
them and kept u the warmth of their.
bodies. s. u. &
m They dared not sleep for fear of
never waklng, 50 4 they reused each
other a1ternat ely AT last day broke,
and the gale abated. Craw wiling over
the snow, their garments frozen sim
do boards, their boards solid Jumps OF
dee. they managed reach their tenf.s
The ice had not sbroke zen. though It was
cracked here and there. They took
food, slept fed their dogs, who were
deep II the drifts, but alive, ana then
courageously went ahead, mot caring
90 be heater, Z, as Bernaechi expressed
II. Was8 O'Clock aat night before.
they reached CAM, but the next day