Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-10-15


into the northwest. We skirted the
edge of the pack under power. having
lowered all sails. studying the land
for harbors and the ice for a possible
lead.
At 4 PM, to my pleasure. the wind
hauled to the southwest. which was
tho very thing we wanted to set the
tho field to take advantage of every
opportunity to reach land. At 10 pm.
darkness precluded any further ad-
vance without endangerlng the ship
and her crippled propeller. upon
which we depended SO much to push
US out of the ice into open water.
Throwing the blight of rope over
a pinnacle of a "growler." l ordered
Robinson to call me If it breezed up,
or in the event of movement in the
pack. In about an hour he did.
Things were not right; in fact. weird
and uncanny.
He and his watchmate. Howell. had
seen lights. had heard the pufnng of
. locomotive, the barking Of dogs.
the bowling Of wolves. tho cries of
Eskimos. deep signs. groans and
labored breathing. Wondering II they
had drifted into an Eskimo village.
he had sounded and found no bottom.
For a few seconds I was on the point
Of becoming q convert to the modern
cult Of spiritualism and signing my
name with Robinson and Howell as
charter members of the first organi-
cation in the north.
There is an explanation OF all such
weird sounds. There was not breath
Of wind; consequently the air. heavy
with the corporations from the Ice
field, was an excellent conductor OF
noises ordinarily too remote to be
heard. The lights were undoubtedly
phosphorescent matter on the surface
of the foes in the leads. which is
very abundant in arctic seas. I have
seen medusae, a species Of what are
commonly termed on our Atlantic
coast Jelly fish," drifting by the ship
at night. which resembled lighted
electric bulbs beneath the water.
Wolves have been seen on South
ampton Island and possibly may have
been heard that night. knowing that
tho last of the native island tribe. the
Sagdlingmiut, had died in 1902 Of
starvation and disease following a
whaling trip about the bay. I enter
tained no supposition Of the Eskimo
as being the source of the mystery.
Many Of the sounds were quite IA
miliar and recognized at once the
deep breath OF the whale. the short.
explosive breath Of the norwhale and
the humming. whining sound OF the
white whale. termed by old northern
sailors singing canaries." Judging
by the commotion. we were certainly
in tho home Of them all.
WHEN called again at $3.50 am. I
w found tho Bowdoin about four
miles from land in the middle of a
newly forming young ice. shoreward
and to the northward the field seemed
to be unbroken. We worked out
slowly and headed northwest, follow
ing the edge of the ice. About noon
we passed what was apparently an
excellent harbor. possibly Smyths
Harbor of Bach. named after the first
lieutenant Of the Terror. 1t was
damned tightly with ice and impos-
sible of entrance.
We still hoped against hope. but to
no purpose. At 2 pm. we encountered
tho real pack. of which the above was
simply the fringe. and to our dismay
discovered that it extended west,
north and northeast as far as the
limit Of visibility. Frozen Strait was
blocked completely and effectively.
Our latitude at noon placed US in IS
degrees 90 minutes, our longitude 80
degrees As minutes. Baffin Island. Fife
Rock and Cape Comfort Of Baffin could
all be seen from the deck. Had the
time been earlier in the year we could
we'll be patient and await a breaking
up of the barrier by wind. sun and
tide. but September was a bit too
late to depend upon such assistance
to help US gain our distance west
ward.
1t was almost in this very place and
on this very day that H. NJ s. Terror,
under Capt Bach, eighty-fve years
ago. was caught in the ice and in
spite of the best effort of his sixty
men. drifted helplessly for s12 days.
When finally this especially strength
ened ship, recently doubled, and in
every respect strengthened with the
most massive iron and copper fasten-
ings, for voyage to the Polar sea"
emerged from the pack on the 14th
Of July of the next year. she was
practically q wreck. With forefoot
entirely gone, numerous bolts loosened
or broken, her frame strained and
twisted. twenty feet of her keel and
ten feet Of her sternpost driven over
moro than az feet to one side, leaving
4 frightful opening for the inrush-
ing water. the Terror reeled and
staggered. crazy and waterlogged,
across the north Atlantic and into
Tough Swiftly ON the Irish coast, a
splendid example Of British pluck and
seamanship.
Next Sunday-MacMillan tells how
he found a snug harbor in which to
pass the winter. of his preparations
for the long captivity in tho leo and
Of the beginnings Of his scientific in
vestigations into mysteries of the
magnetic needle.
Copyright, 1871
Paper for Dark Room.
= ~oDunN1 nho<o~pnh,~ .,.%