A DARK NIGHT AT SEA.--WAKE OF THE _RAGNILD_.--THOUSANDS OF PHOSPHORESCENT
LIGHTS.--A LIGHT AHEAD.--AN ARCTIC FAIR.--A FISHING SETTLEMENT.--HOW
THE COD ARE CURED.--FISH AND FERTILIZER FRAGRANCE.
The weather having moderated, we raised our anchor and with a fair wind
continued our voyage. When the night came it was so pitch-dark that I
could not distinguish the sea from the horizon and the sky. It was
impressive. I felt so little in the immensity that surrounded our craft.
Our ship, to my eyes, when compared with the size of the ocean, was not
bigger than a tiny hazelnut tossed to and fro upon it.
Once in a while the crest of a wave broke into a long snowy-white line
which appeared to be filled with a thousand lights; this effect was
caused by the infinite number of animalculae, which are struck together
by the movement of the wave and give out phosphorescence. These
animalculae are living creatures which cannot be seen without the help of
the microscope. It is wonderful that such small things can give such
glowing light.
The long heavy swells, pushed by the southerly gales that had passed
away, moved irresistibly on towards the North, one after another, to
break the wall of ice the Long Night had built round the pole. What
terrific booming must take place there at times, when the ice gives way,
breaks up, and rises in great ridges over the Long Wall!
A light at our masthead told of our presence to the mariners of the
fishing boats, or the vessels coming from far northern ports across our
course, and warned them of danger.
Our ship ploughed her way through the sea, raising a mass of foam
brilliant with globules of light. These globules swept astern along the
sides of the ship, and disappeared further on. We left behind us an
undulating luminous wake, resembling a long bright snake following us,
which was gradually in the distance engulfed by the ocean. This luminous
track seemed to be reeled off from a windlass at the stern of the ship.
As I watched this white serpentine phosphorescent pathway, I thought of
the countless wakes that had been made in like manner since vessels
sailed upon the seas, on their way to different lands, for thousands of
years past, yet not one of those tracks has ever been seen again. No
wonder that the Norsemen called the sea "The Hidden Path."
On deck were four men on the watch, who guarded the lives of those who
had gone below to sleep. The man at the helm watched the compass, which
was lighted by a lamp. A man at the prow was on the lookout for sudden
danger--ships, derelicts, or rocks. Another stood amidships. The first
mate paced the deck, watching for any change in the wind. Suddenly the
man at the prow shouted:
"Light on the starboard bow!" It was the light of a ship sailing in the
opposite direction towards us. In a snowstorm, in a fog, we might have
collided; then both might have gone to the bottom of the sea.
To the leeward of us was the barren, forbidding coast; to the windward
lay rocky islands. "Dear compass," I whispered, "we trust in thee; lead
us right; the night is very dark, and our eyes cannot see rocks ahead,
except, perchance, when it is too late."
Suddenly the bell struck: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight. It was midnight--time for the watch below to relieve the one on
duty, and for the captain to take the place of the mate. Every four
hours this change is made. I remained on deck, for I wanted to watch
this dark night.
I came on deck early the next morning, for I smothered in the close
confined cabin--I had been so accustomed to the bracing open air. As I
looked around me I saw nothing but the great horizon which surrounded
us. It had seemed so near every day, as we sailed towards it, and yet,
no matter how long we sailed, we never came nearer. This was because the
horizon is the boundless space in the midst of which the earth moves on
its axis round the sun.
In the morning we came to a place full of people dressed in furs. They
were Laplanders and Finlanders. A great fair was taking place, and most
of the people had crossed the mountains to the Arctic Sea, taking with
them for sale reindeer meat, butter, cheese, reindeer cheese made in the
summer and autumn, frozen ptarmigans, skins of reindeer, bears, foxes,
ermines, and other animals; ready-made clothing, gloves and shoes of
reindeer skin; hoofs of reindeer, and other things. They bought salted
and dried codfish, sugar, coffee, salt, and other groceries, flour, lamp
oil, tobacco, and things for their wives and children, and took back
cash with them.
After a short stay we raised our anchor, and continued to sail along
that bleak coast until we came to a hidden harbor, well protected by a
number of barren islands from the storms of the Arctic Ocean, and cast
anchor before a large fishing settlement. It was the beginning of April.
It was a strange place indeed. The port was filled with fishing boats.
Hundreds of them were drawn up on the shore, and other hundreds were at
anchor. There were also a number of good-sized vessels and smaller
craft. All along the rocky shore were huge piles of codfish caught that
day. The water was crowded with boats moving in every direction, loaded
with cod.
Alongside the big piles of fish, men dressed in wide trousers and
overalls of leather were busy preparing the codfish. Some were cutting
the heads off and throwing them into a pile, while others were opening
the fish, cleaning them, and then, after flattening them, throwing them
to other men, who salted them. After this operation they were carried to
the warehouses and were ready for drying.
By some of the piles men opened and cleaned the fish and tied them
together by twos. After this they were hung on frames or poles. In other
places the men divided the cod in halves, taking their spines out, but
kept them connected by their gills. These were also hung on the poles.
When dry the fish is as hard as wood.
The eggs or ova were put into barrels and salted, and Captain Ole
Petersen, who was with me, said to me: "Each barrel contains the ova of
three hundred cod. They are sent to Italy and France and used in the
sardine fisheries of those countries." Other men were busy putting the
livers into barrels, two barrels of fat liver yielding about one barrel
of brown oil. The tongues of the cod were taken out of the heads, put
into barrels and salted.
I visited the warehouses, built partly on piles projecting into the sea.
Along some of these were brigs and schooners loading.
What a sight was the inside of these warehouses! They were filled with
long deep rows of freshly salted codfish, piled higher than a man and
about the same width. These fish were to be put on board ships and
landed upon rocks, there to stay until they were dried and ready to be
shipped to foreign countries. The cod is the gold of the people living
on this desolate land.
The country around was covered with frames upon which fish were hanging.
Nets and lines were seen in every direction on the rocks, left to dry or
ready to be mended. Wherever I turned the place was saturated with the
blood of fish and offal. The sea was covered with offal; thousands of
gulls were flying in every direction and feeding upon it, while great
numbers of eider ducks, as tame as farm ducks, were swimming everywhere
and feeding. They were not afraid, for no one is allowed to shoot them.
The bare rocks were black with hundreds of thousands of heads of cod
that had been put there to dry.
These heads, with the bones of fish, are turned into a fertilizer, or
used to feed cattle. The heads are boiled before they are given to the
animals. "Cattle and sheep feeding on dried fish heads!" I exclaimed
with astonishment to my companion, "I never heard of this before."
I asked one of the merchants how he could live in such a place. "The
atmosphere that brings money," he replied, "never smells bad. Where
there is no smell there is no business and no money with us."
Goodness gracious! what a smell there was in this fishing settlement. It
was far from pleasant, especially when compared with the pure air of the
land over which I had travelled.
Several nice houses belonged to the merchants of the place. These were
painted white and were very comfortable.
The cabins of the fishermen were scattered everywhere and were all
alike. They were built of logs, with roofs covered with earth. I wanted
to live with the fishermen and become acquainted with them.