SLEDGE JOURNEY TO ARDENCAPLE INLET, FROM 8TH TO 29TH
MAY, 1870.[72]
Fitting out.--High temperature.--Bad prospects for
the journey.--Great difficulty of progress in deep
snow.--Bears.--Impossibility of passing Fligely Fjord.--March
to the eastern side of Kuhn Island.--Geological
excursion.--Shooting of plants, and animal life.--Mieders
snow-blind.--Bastian Bay passed.--Anchoring by Cape
Bremen.--Ascent of Cape Bremen (3080 feet) by Lieut. Payer,
in company with Herzberg and Wagner.--Alteration in plan of
journey.--Exploration of Kuhn Island.--Erection of a Cairn on
the Peak of Cape Bremen.--Return march commenced.--Geology of
Kuhn Island.--Ascent of 3670 feet up the Black Wall on Kuhn
Island by Lieut. Payer, with Herzberg and Wagner.--Running
water.--Determination of the height of the Black Wall.--Cape
Berlin reached.--Arrival at the ship.
Returning from our sledge journey on the 27th April, we found the ship
lying as we had left her, there being still seven feet thickness of
ice in the harbour. Before the middle of July we could not expect our
release from the ice, and then our exploring expeditions would begin.
The interim could not be better employed than by repeated sledge
journeys. The investigation of Ardencaple Inlet and the fjords opening
into it, and then, too, the possible connexion of this bay with the
sounds lying north-west of Kuhn Island, formed a most interesting
object of investigation, and that at no great distance. But above all
things speed was indispensable; for had we not in prospect the dreadful
state of the snowy waste which must inevitably attend the rapid thaw of
an Arctic midsummer?
After ten days’ rest those who had been suffering from dysentery,
cramp, and rheumatism (the effects of the previous journey), had
somewhat recovered; a further reason for avoiding longer delay,
although we were unfortunately obliged to leave Klentzer and our brave
Ellinger behind.
The hope of finding the ice in Fligely Fjord free from snow, as in the
previous autumn, decided us in choosing this road to Ardencaple Inlet.
The dread of a repetition of our late sufferings from want of food made
us burden ourselves with all we could take, but the dead-weight was
lightened as much as possible by the general sleeping-sack being made
of light woollen stuff, and by reducing the size of the tent.
Our weapons consisted of three breech-loaders and a hundred cartridges;
our instruments, of a theodolite, aneroid, and thermometer. We also
took thirty bottles of spirits, sixty lbs. of melted walrus and bear’s
fat for fuel, and nine bottles of ginger in a tin can. Our clothes were
lighter, as we had relieved ourselves of the fur. In case the loosening
of the coast ice should prevent our reaching the ship, we laid down a
provision depôt at Cape Berlin.
Journeys at the end of the spring time are very different from those
at the beginning. In the first instance, one has to suffer from the
frost, and in the second, from the glowing summer heat, although in the
shade the thermometer is still below freezing-point. Very troublesome,
too, is the reflected sunlight on the snow-fields on this journey:
the temperature rose in the tent during the day, on the 9th May, 53°
Fahr.; on the 10th, 65° Fahr.; and on the 26th, to 77° Fahr., we were
in a steam resembling a pot on the fire. The stony snow-fields change
into pools of water at the end of May and the beginning of June, making
the crossing, at all times troublesome, still more difficult by the
overflowing tide. In the first days of May the cold decreased; the
temperature rose from 50° to 68° Fahr.; the sun did not set; and the
storms had suddenly ceased.
So far we could not wish for more favourable conditions for travelling,
as we started five strong, on the 8th May (Tramnitz, Herzberg, Wagner,
Mieders, and Payer), the others accompanying us as far as the next cape.
Snow had fallen some days before; but, besides this, the quantity of
baggage (14 cwt.) delayed our progress, so that we were four hours
reaching the south-west point of Sabine Island. A small isthmus covered
with snow, which we had to cross here in order to avoid a wide circuit,
showed us the great difficulty of dragging the sledge over even a small
bit of land. Places quite free from snow would prevent it entirely. It
must, therefore, be understood that journeys of this kind can only take
place on an ice-covered sea.
We now travelled independent of daylight, as the sun never sets, so
that on the morning of the 9th of May (2° Fahr.), after reaching the
west coast of Sabine Island, separated from the mainland by Clavering
Straits, we pitched our tents opposite the Kronenberg.
Signs of bad weather increased from the north; grey and vapourish lay
the heavens above us. We slept during the day, and travelled in the
afternoon. The snow became deeper and deeper, and it was with great
difficulty that we could bring the sledge along; completely exhausted,
we rested some hours by Cape Berlin. On the 10th of May, after four
hours’ march, we had scarcely made half a German mile (two miles and a
half English), and in this distance had sunk deep in the snow at every
step; only by “Aussingen,”[73] with jerks, could one get the sledge
along--a most depressing and fatiguing expedient. But the prospect in
the Fjord, beyond a snow waste, two German miles and a half broad,
which we still had to cross, was somewhat more favourable, and greatly
raised our hopes; and, indeed, we did find a good road, as on the
evening of the 10th of May (19° Fahr.) we started for Cape Hamburg, at
the mouth of the Fligely Fjord. As a rule, we could now make more than
260 steps within five minutes; and as on the morning of the 11th (19°
Fahr.) we stopped, the reddish gneiss wall of this promontory, with its
winding strata and masses of granite, was only one nautical mile and a
half distant. At its foot we hoped to find some smooth ice.
In order to lighten the sledge as much as possible, we proposed
erecting a depôt here, so that all articles of clothing that could be
dispensed with, as well as all provisions for the return journey, were
placed in a sack.
[Illustration:
_Page 452._
DEEP SNOW TRAVELLING.]
In the evening we started again (19.5° Fahr.), but at the very next
step the difficulties increased to such a pitch that we were almost in
despair. From seventy steps a minute it fell to twenty, and at last we
stood still. The sledge sank in softened snow, and was scarcely to be
moved, even by our taking circuits of a wide radius. We ourselves,
during the last three days of great exertion, had sunk step by step up
to our knees. That, under such circumstances, it was no easy matter
to get the sledge along, need be hardly said. For days together the
monotonous rhythm of the “Yo! heave, oh!” might be heard at the foot of
the walls.
The bright light of the white flakes worked the exhausted travellers
almost to madness. Only the third part or half of the baggage could be
carried at a time; we were, therefore, obliged to go over the same bit
of road three and sometimes five times. Every ten steps the sledge had
to be formally dug out; indeed, the bit passed over was like a hollow
way, and as the snow became softer, and the tide rose from the edge of
the coast, penetrating the under layers, it became like a perfect bog,
and we could do nothing but kneel and pull along in the snow. As by
this means one could only advance a few hundred steps daily, and that
our last night’s encampment was still within gunshot, it seemed almost
impossible for us ever to reach the land, although we had approached
the coast within half a nautical mile.
Thus the 11th and 12th of May passed; the snow-storms of the last few
days had lost their terrific character of the earlier months, and
offered no serious hindrance. The continued jerking forward of the
sledge had given us all a violent headache, the throbbing of which was
most painful. We had carried the greater part of the baggage 800 paces
forward--our whole day’s march--and had returned to fetch the tent and
the remainder, but, before taking it down, we rested for half an hour,
when, upon going out, we saw three bears inspecting it, the result of
which might prove its total destruction. Quickly we fired some alarm
shots. This succeeded: but we feared that they had already had time to
do much damage. I was particularly anxious about my large work, for in
it was the whole material of the geographical discoveries of the four
sledge journeys, and its destruction would have been an irreparable
loss.
Nothing could have impressed us more with the astonishing strength
possessed by this creature than the incredible agility with which it
escaped, although sinking deeply into the bottomless snow; we, on
the other hand, were a long time reaching the place of apprehended
destruction. The straps of my theodolite case had been torn off, and
it had received several bites; the bears had devoured a piece of sugar
and a pound and a half of cheese, our whole store of these luxuries, as
well as every stearine candle, and had scattered the bread; but they
had only bitten the mouth of the can of ginger flat, before throwing
it away, and had only pulled out the cork of the spirit-can. Had not
the latter, by some lucky chance, kept upright, the whole of our store
would have been lost. Even the india-rubber bottles were either cut
in pieces or totally eaten up; one corner was bitten out of a packet
of tobacco, but evidently spat out again. The climbing-pole had been
carried some distance by the young bear, no doubt as a plaything; we
found it again, but without the straps, which had been eaten. My book
was probably too tough; they had only gnawed it.
Our further advance was not easier on the 13th of May; the thoroughly
softened snow-drifts fell with a rush as we neared them. The transport
of the different lots took place under endless difficulties; at noon
the temperature only rose to 21° Fahr., but owing to the directness of
the sun’s rays, it caused a glowing heat.
As at last we arrived at the hummocks of coast ice, broken by the
tide, and also at the foot of the wall, and had conveyed the sledge
with much trouble over ice barriers and water-pools, we discovered to
our horror that the Fligely Fjord, instead of being covered, as we had
conjectured, with smooth ice, was filled with endless snow. Still we
need not give up all hope; it was just possible that the depth of snow
might decrease towards the back of the Fjord. Again we started on a
weary road between the ice barriers and the rocky shore, and at last
landed on a somewhat higher snow surface--a horrible prospect! Did we
not know the difficulties hidden under this seeming smoothness?
The mountains round the Fjord were, with the exception of the steep
walls, perfectly white; the winter storms, in conjunction with much
heavier falls than we had had in our winter harbour, seemed to have
borne the masses of snow along with them, and dropped them on the front
of the mountains, and sprinkled the Fjord at the same time. Nowhere
could we see that stripe coming from the north caused by the storm, and
always so striking on the snow-fields of the outer coast.
Snow-buntings twittered cheerfully in our neighbourhood, a raven
croaked from the heights, and we were not a little astonished at the
sight of a musk-ox looking down at us from a steep overhanging rock
several hundred feet high. We had left the sledge behind, and whilst
Wagner had wandered in a southerly direction towards the middle of
the Fjord, Tramnitz and Payer went along the shore, to investigate
the possibility of further advance. But, as far as we could judge
from a good height, as well as from the great depth of the snow which
lay on all sides, we were convinced of the impossibility of reaching
Ardencaple Inlet through Fligely Sound; so, after many hours’ fruitless
march, we returned to our tent.
There remained, therefore, nothing for it but to return by the
difficult road, and seek to reach our goal by going round the east side
of Kuhn Island. But the exertions of the last few days had so weakened
us that we agreed to take a short rest before starting, but we had
scarcely done so when we were surprised by a spring-tide, and we had to
pack the sledge and start again, with divided luggage, at three a.m. on
the 14th of May.
Fortunately the sky had clouded in the mean time, and the temperature
had sunk to 10.5° Fahr. The snow-bog dried, the snow hardened, and
we broke through but seldom, and in three hours we reached the
camping-place which we had left some days before on the border of the
snow waste. At one stroke our spirits rose so, that after a short sleep
we made another long stretch that same day, and pitched our tent on the
15th of May, at seven a.m. (5.5° Fahr.)
On the soft easterly hanging slopes of Kuhn Island we saw twenty
head of musk oxen, about 2000 paces from us. Tramnitz, our cleverest
hunter, managed to creep near them by circuitous ways, whilst Payer
and Herzberg undertook a geological excursion to a deep ravine on the
coast, and made the interesting discovery that the gneiss granite
ridge, which towered in such beautiful forms above the east coast of
the island, was rich in extraordinary petrifactions, in strata of
fuller’s clay, coal loam, and sandstone. The same formation leading
to coal we had seen the previous summer on the south side of the
island. Tramnitz was less fortunate; he returned empty-handed, with
a broken gun and torn clothing, informing us that he had been thrown
down by a musk-ox and trampled on. In a hunting expedition with Wagner,
somewhat later, one of them was killed.
[Illustration:
_Page 456._
DEATH OF THE MUSK-OX.]
The rise of the mean temperature, and uninterrupted daylight had in the
meanwhile entirely altered the physiognomy of the land. Organic life
woke once more in the few plants peculiar to the Arctic climate; under
the snow bridges and ice vaults might be heard the whisper of trickling
water; long trains of eider ducks came from the south; light-grey
lemmings rushed terrified over the stony rubbish; yellowish brown
caterpillars crawled with fruitless industry over the same; white hares
revelled amongst the young shoots of moss; slender reindeer frequented
the deep furrows of the glacier streams; and over the sunny surface of
the water, although some distance from us, rose the curious head of the
seal.
Meanwhile we had lost so much time that the success of our undertaking
depended greatly upon a steady favourable road for the future, and
above all whether the snow-fields over which our return road lay were
accessible. At last we were entirely dependent upon hunting; for before
the musk-ox was killed, which gave us fifty-six pounds of meat, our
provisions had consisted chiefly of coffee and hard bread.
Mieders had become snow-blind; so upon starting in the evening we put
him in the midst of us to drag the sledge. The application of wet
bandages during the march, (which a month before had been impossible,)
relieved him in the course of a week from this painful evil. The
nights were foggy and sultry, and Tramnitz, who until now had attended
to the observations of temperature, was also snow-blind.[74]
The snow was now soft again; and again began the horrible “Aussingen,”
and forward jerking of the sledge, and though we lightened it by
leaving a sack behind a block of rock, we scarcely moved from the
spot, and were obliged to encamp sooner than we intended from sheer
exhaustion.
On the 16th of May the temperature of the snow rose to 25.5° Fahr.;
thick fog, and a heavy fall of snow prevented us starting again until
the evening, and during the whole of that night’s march we could not
see ten steps before us, we were constantly losing our course and were
obliged at last to have recourse to the compass.
On the 17th (14° Fahr.) despite a violent snow-storm we pressed
onward, passed the mouth of the romantic Bay of Bastian, and arrived
on the morning of the 18th at the foot of Cape Bremen, which forms the
south-easterly corner of Ardencaple Inlet.
The depth of the snow had confined our progress during the last few
days to from three-quarters to one and a quarter German miles; and our
strength from the exertion of pulling the sledge had greatly decreased.
Icebergs only at a little distance seemed inaccessible.
The period for successful sledge journeys was now quite over, and we
had to climb half-way up to an horizontal stretching mass of dolerite,
in order to decide whether it would be desirable either to advance
through Ardencaple Inlet or undertake a geological examination of Kuhn
Island and finish our trigonometrical survey.
On the 19th therefore Payer, with Herzberg and Wagner climbed to a
steep snow-field, then over a mountain steep which with rugged walls
of gneiss fell in a mountain ridge towards Ardencaple Bay, the highest
point of which we reached after a three and a half hour’s march.
Clear weather favoured the extensive and highly interesting view from
the Sattelberg and the Pendulum Island, as far as the northern edge
of Koldewey Island. For eight hours we were able to sketch the whole
of the panorama, and complete the triangle of our trigonometrical
measurement. Ardencaple Inlet, far below us, was as well as Fligely
Fjord covered with an uninterrupted sheet of snow, the nature and
depth of which Tramnitz had undertaken to investigate; the large Fjord
opening in the north-west corner of Ardencaple Bay we could follow from
our standing point for at least fifty miles; it then seemed to curve
inwards to the west, but thus far it lay as if sketched upon a map. At
its exit west from the imposing and evidently crystalline mountain mass
of Cape Klinkerfues, the Wildspitze, and the Matterhorns, lay countless
icebergs enclosed. The existence of large glaciers in this Fjord could
not be doubted, though few were visible.
The snow surfaces between Kuhn and Shannon Islands were divided
into two parts by a sharp line, the nearer one distinguished by its
smoothness, and the further one by its undulatory character. But
appearances were deceitful; for the smooth surface consisted of
perfectly soft snow.
The increasing difficulties of advancing, the decrease of our
provisions, and lastly the advanced time of year, all warned us to
return to the ship within a week. During that time it would have been
impossible even under the most favourable condition of the snow, to
investigate the Fjord to any extent, as from our elevated standing
point we could see. We therefore decided to alter our plans on the spot
and to give all the time we possibly could to the exploration of Kuhn
Island. Events showed that we had made a happy choice.
[Illustration: DEPÔT ON KUHN ISLAND.]
After raising a trigonometrical signal on the top, about six feet high,
in the shape of a massive stone cone, we returned to our tent, which
had been guarded by Mieders who was still snow-blind. An attempt to
measure the height of the mountain by the aneroid had failed from its
being disturbed.
On the 20th May (17.5° Fahr.) we began our return march, the deserted
camp forming as usual a deep hole in the snow.
On the 21st (10° Fahr.) we reached the middle of a segmental projection
on the east side of Kuhn Island which rose in undulations to a height
of 1020 feet. This projection consisted of layers of slaty sandstone
and marl, the petrifactions showing that this deposit was of the
secondary formation, lying like a cloak on the westerly rising of
crystalline stone. The surface of this formation was covered with an
erratic covering of rubbish of the last-named stone.
On the 22nd and 23rd we explored the individual strata of the
formation; they showed a perfect agreement with those on the south side
of Kuhn Island, a westerly incline of 7°, coal clay, petrifactions
(Inocerames, Ammonites, Belemnites, &c.), bluish-grey fuller’s clay,
thin stratas of marl, and rather coarse-grained granite alternated with
each other.
Coal-beds were nowhere to be seen. But about under the summit of the
“black wall” we found some sandstone and small pieces of coal.
Several masses of dolerite ran horizontally through the upper bank of
the sedimentary layers.
Hochstetter’s Promontory bore the same geological character, so that
both these spots possibly belong to the later secondary sedimentary
rocks, only interrupted by the sinking of Ardencaple Inlet.
Much damage did our stay here cause amongst a herd of musk-oxen. On the
21st Tramnitz shot a cow; on the 22nd Wagner surprised the whole herd
while sleeping, and killed a bull; and on the following day another
fell by Payer’s hand, who at once sketched the beast as it lay; and
lastly Tramnitz brought home a calf and a hare.
On the 24th, shortly before midnight, Payer, Herzberg, and Wagner
started to climb the “black wall,” to convert this favourable position
of the highest (3675 feet) mountain on the island into use for
surveying purposes. The way led first through a high-lying valley
enclosed between beautiful walls, from the ice basin of which ran
slopes of snow at an inclination of 45°, interrupted at intervals
by projecting rocks; then over some syenite gneiss and brown coal
sandstone to the summit, after five hours’ march.
This consists of a rugged mass about 155 feet high, in the shape of a
dome, surrounded by slender dolerite columns. This sort of stone forms
here, and in many other parts of Kuhn Island, a sort of causeway on the
mountain ridge, frequently in connexion with dolerite amygdaloia.
The climbing of this mountain was rendered particularly important by
the discovery of a new sound, which seemed to connect the south-west
corner of Fligely Fjord with Ardencaple Inlet. The pack-ice outside
reached to the outer horizon, though there were several navigable
channels to be seen.
Payer finished his work in six hours; and, after erecting one massive
stone cairn, we started for the tent, which we reached in four hours
and a half.
Not far from this now ran a rushing stream down a deep cleft filled
with snow. It was the first time since September that we had water
without melting, water to the full; it was also the first time that we
were able to wash ourselves, and drink as much as we wanted.
On the 25th of May the temperature rose to 32.9° Fahr. The dispersion
of the snow went on quickly, and as we were constantly sinking in it a
base was measured on the surface of the sea-ice, by the help of which
we took the altitude of the Black Wall. Whilst we slept during the day
the temperature rose in the tent to 73.5° Fahr.; we therefore now slept
outside instead of inside the sleeping sack. Flies sunned themselves on
the tent-walls, and the heat was as overpowering as under the leaden
roofs of Venice. Rheumatism, pains in the loins, and similar affections
now made their appearance, as for two months we had slept on the snow,
without interruption, and it now melted under us from the warmth of the
body and completely wetted us through.
On the 25th, after the last geological excursion had been made, we
began our return to the ship. The sledge was now as heavy as when we
started, from the collection of petrifactions, musk-ox horns, minerals,
skins, &c.
On the 27th we reached Cape Berlin, after great exertion, and a slow
march lastly through drifting snow over the snowy waste at the exit of
Fligely Fjord.
The deep snow-drifts at the foot of Cape Berlin had in the meanwhile
changed into kind of teeth, from the warmth and a resisting paste which
stuck to the sledge, making it very heavy. Once more did we suffer
(28th May, 43° Fahr.) the already-described infliction of divided
baggage and the deep sinking in the snow.
Not until Clavering Straits did the road improve; when near the mouth
of Falschen Bay we passed the night, in order to be ready the next
day for the trigonometrical and topographical survey of a mountain
more than 2275 feet high, remarkable for its craggy formation. Thick
fog, however, frustrated this intention for the time, and we began our
return to the ship on the 29th of May.
We reached it after an absence of twenty-one days. The pool-covered ice
of our winter harbour we found in an advanced stage of melting, which
the rain of the next few days hastened.
The sky soon cleared, and within a few days the ever-increasing
temperature enticed out of the lately frozen soil of Greenland the
first-fruits of a scanty Flora.