Year: 1874

The London Times of Septembel
26, publishes the following account
of the recent meeting of the Geo
graphical Society of Hamburg, a
which the commander Of the Aus
trian Arctic Expedition and one OF
his officers recounted their adven
lures in the Polar Sea:


Captain Weyprecht, who was re
ceived with Il perfect storm of cheers
then addressed the meeting. He
said: "Much is told of the fatigue:
undergone by sailors, but they arc
generally forgotten when once they
arrive on shore. How much more is
this the case when they receive such
Il welcome as the one prepared for us


All dangers are easy to overcome
when such a recognition of them is
recorded. In the name of all those
who have taken part in the expedi-
tion,- l thank you. AS is already
known, the year 1872, so far as re-
CARDS the condition of the ice, was
most unfavorable. Regions where
nothing but open water was formerly
found, were then full Of ice. Even
one hundred miles to the west OF
the Admiralty Islands, in places in
previous years perfectly ice free,
we came upon thin but firm ledge
of ice, so that it was only with great
l'difficulty that we forced our way as
far as Nova Zembla. After we had
lain there some days in the ice, we
came through with a north wind
On the 18th of August, 1872, we had
the joy of greeting Wilczek and
Sterneck on the yacht Tsbjorren.
Until the following day we sailed on
through well-packed ice. The next
morning the ship was fast fixed in
the ice under the lee of a small cape,
near Bear Island. Here we lay fol
eight DAYS. A fresh breeze so drove
the ice about that at one time we
were embedded in ice, and at an
other time the ship was in open wa
ter. On the 21st the wind shifted,
and we said good-by to the Tsbjorren
and continued our course on in an
easterly direction. In the afternoon
we came to clear tract of water, but
at midnight, an east wind having
sprung up, the ice closed. The wind
fell, and again the ship was hemmed
in. Intentionally, we remained in the
ice, since under the unfavorable con-
ditions we were 10th to lose the TWEEN,
ty miles we had gained, and we hoped
that an easterly wind would again
open the ice; added to which, we did
not want to winter at so cold part
as Cape Nassau. Instead, however
of an easterly wind, calm. with a
heavy snow fall, set in; the tempera-
ture fell and the loose ice became
compact mass, in which we lay fol-
three weeks" The speaker then
went on to say that it was only on
the 9th of September that the ice
broke up, strong north wind parted
the ice into immense masses, and IN
the midst of one of these the Teget


hoff firmly froze up, drifted now te
the east and then to the west. Again
the temperature fell, and the pressure
of the ice pack began to be-felt. On
the 18th of October the ice flows be
gan to get smaller, and the ship was
in danger of being crushed, at one
time being raised up, and at another
sinking down. For five months the
explorers lived in continual excite
ment and danger, and this constant
state of peril by day and night was
the hardest part to bear of the whole
voyage. The boats with provisions
in them, were kept always ready OF
deck, so that the Tegethoff might b.
abandoned at a moments notice. II