Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-25

Lieutenant Rostock-Jensen decided to
send an advance guard as soon as pos
sible to Cape Dan or Angmagsalik.
For this rescue party were chosen the
hunters knudsen, Madsen and Tutein,
all young active men, experienced In
the Arctic regions and on sled trips.
The main party should follow as soon
as possible.
The rescue party was to have start
ed next morning, November s, but the
weather prevented It. 1t had begun to
snow in the course of the night and
looked like a storm, so that there was
nothing further to do than to pull up
the bearskin flap and stay in ones
sleeping bag. But around noon 1t
cleared again and ii was decided to
make the start The snow made sled.
ding heavy. but the three were in good
spirits and felt that It had been an
honor and a great chance for them
TO be chosen.
The weather did not hold what IL
had promised that noon. Towards
evening the wind freshened, 1t began
to snow again. and we had our first
intimation of the fact that our ravine
was anything but a comfortable place
of sojourn. One avalanche after an
other swooped down on us, shovel
fuls of snow burying both ourselves
and our belongings.
Our sleeping bags lay picturesQuely
scattered over a terraced rocky slope
but most of us were lying with our
faces toward the south that we
might not have our feet higher than
our heads. 1t was an unfortunate
choice. for the avalanche swept the
snow in under the bearskin flaps and
piled drifts up over our heads. This
night was the coolest that / had ever
experienced. Small wonder, then. that
we cursed the weather heartily.
The lieutenant went afield every
day to see if there was any chance
for continuing our march But II
seemed quite impossible. for the
new ice was now beginning to break
up. We had to stay where we were.
and this realization sent our spirits
sinking.
If we should live this way much
longer. we feared that we might not
come off without fatalities. We all
felt our strength going, partly be-
cause of the scanty rations and also
because of the bitter cold in the wet
sleeping bags.
The prospects for getting away
from our ravine were growing worse
instead of better, so we knew we
must accustom ourselves to the idea
that it might take us longer than the
three weeks. for which we had pro-
visions, to find natives. We had al
ready gotten down to one cooked
meal a day in the attempt to save
our OIL And now we were obliged to
cut the rations down half. so that
we had but one meal of any kind.
We hoped we might hold out two
weeks longer.
When the lieutenant came back
from his inspection the next day he
said there was a faint possibility
that we might get the jolly-boat over
to a little isiet about a mile north
west of our ravine. Knowing that
something must be done to fight off
the inactivity which was depressing
us. we decided that one team should
try to get across with the boat where
we would be nearer to Puisak. our
temporary goal. Number team.
Givskov, Kristensen, and Machinist
Hansen, was sent out. while sailors
Ole and Erik from No. . team went.
with them to row the boat back.
y X X *
A FTER about an hour or so. Ole
and Erik came back with the
empty boat. They had not got quite
as far as the islet. hut had reached
little point on Itivdlisak, where one
could easily go forward. partly on
old firm ice, which reached as far as
the islet. Ole, Erik. and Rostgaard
got their sled packed in hurry and
started off, but when the boat came
back this time it was so late that we
could not get a third team over.
Although there was a heavy frost,
there was still some open water the
next morning so that the lieutenant
sent out the third team, the captain.
Svend Hansen, and Alfred. Riis and