Alexis Himkof had just taken an affectionate leave of his wife, and
stood looking after her, on the deck of the vessel to which he had
been appointed mate, and which had been fitted up for the
whale-fishery near Spitzbergen, by a merchant of the name of Jeremiah
Oxladmkof, of Mesen, a town in the province of Jesovia, in the
government of Archangel. She sailed in 1743 on her first voyage. We
can conceive how lonely the home of Alexis must have been without him.
We may be sure that his wife's last prayer at night was offered up for
his safety. We constantly hear it said, in stormy weather: 'God help
those who are at sea!' 'God help those who have friends at sea!' might
be added to the petition; for there are hearts which quail at every
gust of wind--there are thick-coming fancies, which can conjure up
tempest-tossed vessels, sweeping gales, and raging billows; and yet
the ship may at that very moment be in calm waters, or sailing with a
prosperous breeze.
The time came that there might be some account of Himkof--then, that
the vessel might be back; but no news or vessel came. Month after
month passed on, and still it came not; and then years went by, and
still there was no ship: whenever a sail was seen in the distance, the
poor wife would hasten to the shore; but still the ship she looked for
never came. With a sinking heart, she would retrace her steps
homewards; but still she came again and again, so true it is that
affection and hope are the last earthly companions that part company.
The neighbours would look at her as she passed along, and shake their
heads in pity.
The vessel, which had fourteen hands on board, had sailed on with a
fair wind for eight days. On the ninth it veered, and instead of
reaching the west of Spitzbergen, the place of rendezvous for the
vessels employed annually in the whale-fishery, it was driven eastward
of those islands. A few days brought her near one of them, known as
East Spitzbergen. When within about two English miles, she was hemmed
in by ice, and in extreme danger. In this dreadful emergency, the crew
consulted on what was best to be done. Himkof mentioned that he had
been told, some time before, that some men from Mesen, having decided
on wintering on the island, had provided themselves with timber for
building a hut, which they accordingly erected at some distance from
the shore. Being quite aware, that if they remained in their present
situation, they must inevitably perish, they determined to search for
the hut, and to winter there, if so fortunate as to find it. Himkof,
with three others, were selected to make the search. They were
provided with a musket, twelve charges of powder, a dozen balls, an
axe, a small kettle, a knife, a tinder-box and tinder, a wooden pipe
for each, some tobacco, and a bag with twenty pounds of flour. This
was as much as they could carry with safety, as they had to make their
way for two miles over loose ridges of ice, which would be still more
difficult and dangerous if they were overloaded, and it required the
utmost caution to avoid falling between these ridges, which had been
raised by the waves and driven together by the winds. The footing once
lost, inevitable destruction must follow. They had not proceeded above
an English mile, when, to their great delight, they descried the hut,
at a distance of about a mile and a half from the shore. Its length
was thirty-six feet, and its breadth and height eighteen. It consisted
of two rooms. The antechamber was about twelve feet broad, and had two
doors--one to exclude the outer air, the other by which it
communicated with the inner room, in which there was an earthen stove,
such as is commonly used in Russia. A very slight inspection sufficed
to shew that the hut had sustained great injury from the weather; but
to have found it in any condition was a subject of great joy, and they
availed themselves of its shelter for the night.
Eager to communicate the good news to their companions, they set out
early the next morning; and as they went on, they chatted cheerfully
about the stores of ammunition and provisions, and various requisites
which could be conveyed from the ship, to be stored in the hut for
winter use. They pursued their way in the highest spirits, picturing
to themselves the delight which they were about to give to their
companions. When they arrived on the shore, not a vestige of the ship
was to be seen; no track through the waters marked her path; all was
still and silent, desolate and bleak: no familiar face was seen; not
one of their comrades was left to tell the hapless tale! They stood
aghast, looking in mute despair upon the sea. The ice by which the
vessel had been hemmed in had totally disappeared. The violent storm
of the night before, they concluded, might have been the cause of this
fatal disaster; the ice might have been disturbed by the agitation of
the waves, and beaten violently against the ship, till she was
shattered to pieces; or she might, perhaps, have been carried on by
the current into the ocean, and there lost. However it might have
been, they were never to see her again. What a difference a few short
moments had made in their feelings and in their fate! They thought to
have re-entered the hut with glad companions; they returned to it the
sole inhabitants of that desolate region, disconsolate, and utterly
hopeless of ever leaving it. When they could collect their thoughts,
they were anxiously turned to the preservation of their lives, for
which it was necessary to provide some kind of sustenance. The island
abounded with reindeer, and they brought down one with every charge of
their powder. They set about devising means to repair the hut, which,
from the cracks and crevices produced by the weather, let in the
piercingly cold air in various directions. No wood, or even shrub,
grew on that sterile ground. Nothing could be more dreary than the
prospect--a bleak waste without vegetation; the high mountains with
their rock and crags; the everlasting ice and the vast masses of snow.
The very sublimity of the scene was awfully impressed with all the
marks of stern desolation and solitude. As in that cold climate wood
is not liable to decay, they joined the boards of which the hut was
constructed, with the help of their axe, very tolerably, filling up
the crevices with moss, which grows in abundance all over the island.
The poor men, like all of their country, were expert carpenters, for
it is customary with them to build their own houses. No want could
have been more dreadful than that of wood, for without firing, they
could never bear up against the intense cold.
As they strayed along the beach, they found, to their joy, a quantity
of wood which had been carried in by the tide. What they first got in
this way were parts of the wreck of vessels, and afterwards trees,
which had been uprooted by the overflowing of rivers, and borne by the
waves into the ocean; but what proved a treasure to the poor
castaways, were some boards which they discovered on the beach, with a
long iron hook, some nails of five or six inches long, and thick in
proportion, and other pieces of iron fastened in them--the sad
memorials of some shattered vessel. Kind Providence seemed to have
directed their steps where help was to be found. Just at the time when
their provisions had nearly failed, and when they were without the
means of replenishing their store, they perceived, not far from the
boards, the root of a fir-tree, which had almost taken the form of a
bow. With the help of their knife, they soon brought it into more
regular shape, but they were unprovided with a string and with arrows.
They determined, in the first instance, to make two lances, to guard
themselves against the formidable attacks of the ferocious white bear;
but without a hammer, it was impossible to form their heads, or those
of the arrows. However, by heating the iron hook, and widening a hole
which it happened to have in the centre, with the help of one of the
large nails, they inserted the handle, and a round button at one end
of the hook, made the face of the hammer. A large pebble served for an
anvil, and a pair of reindeer's horns were the tongs. Such were the
tools with which they fashioned the heads for two spears, which they
polished and sharpened on stones, and then tied them fast with strips
of reindeer-skin to thick sticks, with which they were supplied from
the branches of trees which had been wafted on shore. Thus armed, they
attacked a white bear, and after a desperate struggle, they succeeded
in killing him. They made use of the flesh for food, which they
described as being like beef; by separating the tendons, they were
supplied with filaments as fine as they pleased, which enabled them to
string their bow. Their next work was to form pieces of iron into
heads for their arrows, like the spears which they had already
manufactured. They polished and sharpened them in the same way, and
made them fast to pieces of the fir with the sinews of the white bear;
feathers of sea-fowl being tied with the filaments. They were now
equipped with a complete bow and arrows, which proved a most
serviceable acquisition, and furnished them from time to time with
reindeer to the amount of 250, besides vast numbers of the blue and
white foxes; providing them not only with food, but with clothing, as
their skins were a great defence from the coldness of the climate.
They destroyed no more than ten white bears; these animals defended
themselves with prodigious strength and fury. The first was attacked
by the sailors; the other nine were the assailants. Some of them were
so daring as to walk into the hut in search of their prey. Those among
them who were the least voracious were easily driven away, but the
more ravenous were not to be deterred; and it was not without
encountering the most imminent danger that the men escaped in the
dreadful conflicts. But they were in continual fear of being devoured,
as these ferocious animals repeated their visits to the hut, and
renewed their attacks continually. When they succeeded in slaying one,
they made use of its flesh as food, which, with that of the reindeer
and the blue and white foxes, were the only kind they could have in
that bleak region.
The want of the necessary conveniences obliged them for some time to
make use of their food without cooking. They had nothing in the way of
bread or salt. The stove within was set up after the Russian fashion,
and could boil nothing. The cold was so intense, that all the wood
they had was reserved for the stove; they had none to spare for making
a fire outside, from which they would have had but little heat, and
where they would run the risk of being attacked by the white bear.
Besides, the masses of snow which fell during the winter months, and
the heavy rains, would have made it quite impossible, for great part
of the year, to have kept a fire burning in the open air. They,
however, thought of a plan by which they were enabled to prepare some
of their food. In the summer months, they exposed part of their animal
food in the sun, and then hung it in the upper part of the hut, where
it became thoroughly dried by the smoke. This food they used as bread,
with that which they were obliged to eat half raw. By this means they
were able to keep up a constant supply of provisions. They had water
in the summer from the rills which fell from the rocks, and in winter,
they were supplied from the snows and thawed ice. Their only utensil
for holding water, and substitute for a drinking-cup, was their small
kettle.
Half of the flour had been consumed by the men with their meat; the
remaining portion was preserved for a different purpose. The dread of
their fire going out, and of the difficulty which they should find in
lighting another, without match or tinder, set their wits to work to
find means to avert so great a misfortune. They obtained from the
middle of the island a particular kind of slimy clay, which they had
observed, and of which they modelled a sort of lamp, and filled it
with the fat of the reindeer. They contrived a wick with a piece of
twisted linen. When they flattered themselves that their object was
accomplished, they met with a great disappointment, for the melting
grease ran through the lamp. To make a new one, and to fill up the
pores of the material of which it was made, was now their care. When
formed, they dried it in the air, and then heated it red-hot, in which
state they immersed it in their kettle, in a preparation of flour,
which had been boiled down to the consistence of starch. They now
tested it by filling it with melted fat, and to their infinite
delight, they found that they had succeeded in fashioning one that did
not leak. To make it still more secure, they covered the outside with
linen dipped in the starch.
In managing to have light during the dreary months of darkness, they
had attained a great object, which had been doubly desirable on
account of him who was languishing in sickness. That they might not be
wholly dependent on one lamp, of which some accident might deprive
them, they made another. In collecting such wood as had been cast on
shore for fuel, they had fortunately found some cordage and a little
oakum (the sort of hemp used for calking ships), which they turned to
great account as wicks for their lamps. When this store was consumed,
they had recourse to their shirts and drawers--a part of dress worn by
almost all Russian peasants--to supply the want. Like the sacred fire,
these lamps were never suffered to go out. As they were formed soon
after their arrival, they were kept burning without intermission for
the years they passed in their comfortless abode.
The sacrifice made of their shirts and drawers exposed them more to
the intense cold. Their shoes, boots, and other parts of their dress,
were worn out. In this emergency, it was necessary to form some plan
for defending themselves from the inclemency of the climate. The skins
of the reindeer and foxes, which they had converted into bedding, now
afforded the materials for clothing. They were submerged in fresh
water for several days, till the hair was so loosened that it was
easily removed; the leather was then rubbed with their hands till
nearly dry, then melted reindeer fat was spread over it, and then it
was again rubbed. It thus became soft, and fit for the use to which it
was to be put. Some of the skins which they wished to reserve for furs
did not undergo exactly the same process, but were merely left in
water for one day, and were then prepared in the same manner, without
removing the hair. Though now furnished with the materials for
clothing, they were without the implements necessary for making them
into articles of dress. They had neither awls for making shoes and
boots, nor needles for sewing their clothes. Their ingenuity was,
therefore, again put to the test, and was not slow in making up the
deficiency. They contrived to make both very well, out of the bits of
iron which they had collected from time to time. One of their most
difficult tasks, was to make eyes to their needles; but this they
accomplished with the help of their knife; for having ground it to a
very sharp point, and heated a kind of wire, forged for the purpose,
red-hot, they pierced a hole through one end, and by whetting and
smoothing it on stones, brought the other to a point. These needles
were astonishingly well formed, nothing being amiss with them but the
roughness of the eye, by which the thread was sometimes cut. It was
indeed surprising that they were so well made, considering the rude
instruments with which they were fashioned. Having no scissors, they
were obliged to cut out their clothes with the knife; and though this
was their first attempt at the trade of shoemaker or tailor, yet they
contrived to cut out the articles which they required with as much
precision as if they had served a regular apprenticeship to the
business. The sinews of the reindeer and bears answered for thread.
They set earnestly to their work. For summer wear, they made a sort of
jacket and trousers of the prepared skins; for winter, long fur-gowns,
with hoods, made after the fashion of those worn by the Laplanders.
The constant employment which their necessities required, and the
various difficulties which they had to overcome by ingenious
contrivance, so far from having been a misfortune, may be considered
as having been the means of preserving these poor men from sinking
under their unhappy circumstances. But accordingly as their ingenuity
had supplied their wants, and their minds became more disengaged from
expedients, their melancholy increased, and they looked round
despondingly on the sterile and desolate region where, they felt, they
were to spend the rest of their days, far away from the hearths of
home, and from early friends and companions. Even the probability of
that little circle being lessened, and, it might be, reduced to one
solitary being, was a dreadful thought: each felt that this might be
his own fate. Then the fear of all means of sustenance failing, and
the assaults of wild beasts, were dangers too glaring to be forgotten.
Alexis Himkof, who had left a wife and three children, suffered
perhaps the most from heart-yearnings after home.
They had already lost one of their companions from the effects of
scurvy; and now, when six dreary years had nearly passed, another was
taken from among them. It chanced on the 15th of August 1749, while
they were lamenting their poor companion, that they descried a vessel.
Who can describe the tumults of their feelings, the fluttering of
their hearts? Their fate hung upon a chance. Oh, if she would come to
relieve them! oh, if they could pass once more those rude barriers of
ice, and cut through those interminable waves again! But she might
pass on, and leave them to a fate rendered still more miserable by the
fallacious gleam of hope. With trembling haste they ran hither and
thither, and almost flew to light the signal-fires of distress along
the hills, and now to the beach, to wave the rude flag, formed of a
reindeer's skin fastened to a pole. What agitating hopes and fears
were crowded into that space of time, as the vessel made her way
through the waters! The signals of distress were seen--were heeded!
She comes! she comes! and now she anchors near the shore. What a day
of joy and thankfulness! But the delight of the poor mariners may be
more easily conceived than described. Their bargain with the master of
the ship--a Russian vessel--was soon made: they were to work for him
on the voyage, and they agreed to pay eighty rubles on landing. He
took them on board with all their possessions, consisting of two
thousand pounds of the lard of the reindeer in the hides of those
animals, and of the white and blue foxes, and the skins of the ten
white bears that they had destroyed. They also took with them their
bow and arrows, and all the implements which they had manufactured.
These were deposited in a bone box, made with great ingenuity, with no
tool but their knife. We have in these men a very remarkable example
of the energy which can sustain in the most trying circumstances, and
the ingenious skill which can furnish expedients, even in a region so
destitute of resources. It may well teach us to trust in that good
Providence which is indeed a present help in trouble.
They reached Archangel on the 28th of September 1749. What happy
meetings may have been anticipated!--what calamities may have been
dreaded during that voyage!--How may it have fared with those who were
left? Will they all be there, to greet with a joyful welcome? What if
Alexis' wife, worn out by suspense and anxiety, should have sunk into
an early grave?--or if one among their children should have died?--or
if the three should all have been swept away? The approaching sail had
been seen; and the one who for years had clung to a forlorn-hope, was
again at the water's edge. Alexis stood on the deck. Affection is
quick-sighted; he was instantly seen and known by his wife! All was
forgotten--all but that he was there. The distance between them, the
waves that separated them, were unheeded! Uttering a wild cry of joy,
she rushed forward to clasp him in her arms. She sprang into the
water--a little time, and she was extricated. She was insensible when
taken up. When she came to herself, she was in her husband's
arms!--their children were about them! What tears of joy were
shed!--what prayers of thankfulness were offered up!
The foregoing narrative, true in every respect, is drawn up by us from
documents issued under the authority of the Russian government. It
shews, in a convincing manner, that subsistence is by no means
impossible for sailors wrecked and icebound within the polar regions.