FRANZ JOSEF LAND AND ITS EXPLORERS
The cruise in the _Isbjörn_ was preparatory to a successful effort
on the part of Lieutenants Payer and Weyprecht to raise funds for an
Arctic expedition. Their plan was to round the north end of Novaya
Zemlya and make discoveries to the eastward. Their vessel, the
_Tegethoff_, fitted out at Bremershaven, was a steamer of 200 tons and
100 h.-p., with a crew of 22 men. They left Bremershaven on the 13th
June, 1872, and sighted Novaya Zemlya on the 3rd August. By October the
_Tegethoff_ was closely and hopelessly beset, drifting about at the
mercy of wind and tide, to the north of Novaya Zemlya. In the summer
of 1873 the crew were fully engaged in seal hunting; and on the 30th
August an entirely unknown land was sighted in 79° 43′ N. and 59° 33′
E. In November an island was reached by a party from the ship, and then
the explorers entered upon their second winter of 1873–74.
Weyprecht cared most for his meteorological and magnetic observations,
but Payer was very eager to explore the newly-discovered land, which
received the name of Franz Josef Land. Payer paid a just tribute to
M’Clintock in attributing such success as he attained to following the
great sledge traveller’s advice. He prepared for a month’s journey,
taking four sacks of provisions each containing sufficient for seven
days for seven men, and they succeeded in obtaining some bear meat.
He is clear as to the comfort of hot grog in the intense cold of the
night. The sledging party, with dogs as auxiliaries, started on March
25th, and on April 12th, 1874, the furthest point was reached in 82° 5′
N., 165 miles from the ship. They returned to the _Tegethoff_ on the
25th April, and some shorter excursions were afterwards made.
Payer’s general idea of this great discovery was that Franz Josef
Land consisted of two masses of land, which were named Zichy and
Wilczek after the two chief supporters of the expedition, separated by
a channel which was named Austria Sound. It was afterwards found to
consist of an archipelago of smaller and more numerous islands than
Payer supposed. His furthest point was Cape Fligely, but the land he
thought he saw further north, and called Petermann Land, has since been
found not to exist.
As the ship remained immoveable in the summer of 1874, it was found
necessary to abandon her and retreat in the boats. After a long journey
over the ice, they launched the three boats on the open sea, were
picked up by a Russian schooner, and arrived safely at Tromsö on the
3rd September. Lieut. Payer was an accomplished artist, as well as a
sledge traveller; and in after years he painted several fine pictures
illustrating some of the last and most pathetic scenes connected with
the Franklin expedition.
The next addition to our knowledge of Franz Josef Land was supplied
by that enterprising and persevering yachtsman Leigh Smith. He had
a vessel built, suitable for ice navigation, which he named the
_Eira_. She was a steamer of 360 tons and 50 h.-p., 150 ft. long by
25 ft. beam, manned by 25 men all told. Leigh Smith’s companions were
Lofley the master, the surgeon Dr Neale, and Mr W. G. A. Grant. The
great problem which Leigh Smith had to determine was whether there
was a practicable route across the ice-laden Barentsz Sea, between
Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, to Franz Josef Land. Leigh Smith forced
his way through the pack and sighted land on the 14th August, 1880--a
new part of Franz Josef Land to the westward.
There were many large icebergs, but they were quite unlike those of
Davis Strait, being flat masses like the Antarctic bergs. Leigh Smith
and Grant landed at several places, making collections of the flora
and of rock specimens. The extent of the new coast line discovered and
explored was 110 miles, and of that seen 150 miles. There was great
abundance of walrus and seals. This was one of the most important
summer cruises ever made in the Arctic regions.
[Illustration: Julius Payer]
The second cruise of the _Eira_ in 1881 was disastrous. No less than
ten days of ice navigation, towards the end of July, were required to
reach the coast, the floes being closely packed together. Gun-cotton
was found to be very useful in blasting the ice. Franz Josef Land was
sighted on the 23rd July, and the _Eira_ reached a point further west
than was possible in the previous year, Cape Lofley being the extreme
western point discovered. Some days were then spent at Cape Flora
dredging and collecting plants and fossils.
On the 21st August the pack ice came in with the tide, and the _Eira_,
caught and crushed between it and the ground floe, at once filled and
went down. Her yards, catching on the ice, held her for a few seconds,
but they soon broke in the slings with a loud crash as she settled.
She sank in 11 fathoms, and looking down from the ice, she could be
seen quite distinctly. All hands had been employed getting provisions
out on the ice and saving everything that could be got at until just
before she sank. Some spars and planking floated up and were secured.
During the rest of August the men were busily engaged in building a hut
of turf and stones, collecting drift-wood, and shooting walrus, bears,
and looms, for their existence depended on obtaining sufficient fresh
animal food. During the autumn 21 walrus, 13 bears, and 1200 looms were
shot. They had saved from the vessel 1500 lb. of flour, 400 lb. of
bread, a barrel of salt meat, 1000 lb. of preserved meat, 800 tins of
soups, besides preserved vegetables, tobacco, some cases of whisky and
brandy, and 7 cwt. of coal. All hands kept in perfect health throughout
the winter, a fact which reflects great credit on Dr Neale.
On the 21st June, 1884, Leigh Smith and his party set out on their
perilous voyage in four boats, and after 42 days the shipwrecked
sailors sighted the coast of Novaya Zemlya on August 2nd. Near the
entrance to the Matyushin Shar they met the _Hope_, under the command
of Sir Allen Young, who had come out to search for the missing crew,
and all returned home in safety.
There was an interval of ten years before the investigation of Franz
Josef Land was resumed. Its next explorer, Frederick G. Jackson, was
destined to do good work there. He began by a preliminary journey in
the country of the Samoyeds and the Lapps in 1893, carefully studying
their dress and equipments, and to some extent adopting them. Mr.
Harmsworth, the newspaper proprietor, having found the funds, the
_Windward_, an old whaler, was bought, and an expedition fitted out.
Jackson was a keen sportsman, and a man of original mind, ready to
adopt the well-tried methods of his predecessors, but quite as ready
to invent new contrivances, or to make improvements as experience
suggested. He had with him Lieut. Armitage, an excellent officer of the
P. and O. service, as surveyor and astronomer, Dr Koettlitz as surgeon
and geologist, and three other men of science. As the _Windward_
was to land the party and return, a log house was taken in pieces,
besides four ponies and sixteen dogs for sledge work, and three years’
provisions.
The house was built on Northbrook Island, where there was likely to
be a supply of walrus and bear, as strong currents prevented the
formation of permanent ice. Unfortunately the _Windward_ was obliged to
winter also, and scurvy broke out, but she returned in the following
summer. After a short preliminary run of a week, the important journey
northwards was commenced on the 16th April, 1895, with three ponies
drawing six sledges, and provisions for 63 days; but the journey
actually only occupied 26 days. The sledges were 9 ft. 6 in. long, with
a width of only 18 in., which is much too narrow. The allowance of food
per man per day was 3 lb.--about the same as M’Clintock’s scale. Their
aluminium cooking apparatus (5½ lb.) was an invention of Jackson’s, and
they provided themselves against an arrest of progress on meeting water
by taking an aluminium boat (150 lb.) and a canvas kayak.
The clothing was an imitation of that worn by the Lapps--_militzas_ or
loose frocks with the fur inside, and _tobacks_ or hay-stuffed boots
for the feet. Jackson wore knee breeches of warm cloth, a loose jumper
of thick woollen stuff, a close-fitting cap covering ears and back of
the neck, a cloth mask, and a light linen covering. The tent was a
low cone, difficult to pitch in a gale. It was pitched for luncheon,
and warm tea was made, with biscuit, cheese, and bacon. They had no
sleeping-bags. The great trouble was the slushy condition of the
snow and the frequent snowstorms. This first journey established the
fact that the western half of Franz Josef Land was not one land but
an archipelago, and that a channel passed up to a wide northern sea.
Two hundred and seventy miles of new coast line were discovered. In
the second season Jackson had the great pleasure of rescuing Nansen
and Johansen from their perilous, indeed almost hopeless position. In
the third season a longer journey was undertaken, part of it over the
glacier of the western island. Only one pony had survived; this died
on the journey, and the deaths of dogs reduced the number to five.
Again the snow was soft and slushy, and the snowstorms so frequent
that during the whole journey of 55 days only thirteen were fine. At
its conclusion they had explored 250 miles in a direct line, probably
travelling nearly 500--a very remarkable journey. The results were
important. The western islands of the group were discovered and
explored, the most western point was ascertained, and its distance from
Spitsbergen found to be 250 miles. After three winters the _Windward_
brought the Jackson expedition safely back to England in September 1887.
We owe our knowledge of the extremely interesting Franz Josef group
chiefly to the labours of Payer, Leigh Smith, and Jackson. Nansen
discovered the furthest portion north, and the group has been used as
a base to attempt journeys to the Pole. Cagni, Wellman, and Captain
Fiala of the Ziegler Expedition (1903–1906) have also added to our
information, the latter by a careful survey and map. We can now take a
general view of the results of these discoveries.
The Franz Josef group of over fifty large and small islands extends
for 270 miles from west to east between the meridians of 42° and 64°
E. and for 140 miles from south to north between 79° 50′ and 82° 5′ N.
The group rises from the same submarine plateau as Spitsbergen, forming
part of the same system, though the land mass is further to the north
than that of Spitsbergen. The northern coast of the North-east Land
of Spitsbergen just crosses the 80th parallel, while only a few small
islets of the Franz Josef group are to the south of it.
The Franz Josef archipelago is divided by the Austria Sound of
Payer and the British Channel of Jackson into three groups, named
respectively the Wilczek, Zichy, and Alexandra groups. East of Austria
Sound there are two large islands, Wilczek and Graham Bell, forming the
eastern limit of the group. The Wullerstorf mountain on Wilczek Island
rises to a height of 2409 ft. To the north of Graham Bell Island are
the small islets discovered by Nansen, who named them Hoitland.
West of Austria Sound are the numerous islands, large and small, which
form the Zichy group; while to the north is Kronprinz Rudolf Island
with its Middendorf glacier. The northern point of Kronprinz Rudolf,
called Cape Fligely, is the northern extremity of the whole group[140].
On the west side of the British Channel are Northbrook, Bruce, Isabel,
and Bell Islands. At the west end of Northbrook Island is Cape Flora,
where was “Elmwood,” Jackson’s winter quarters; and between Mabel and
Bell Islands is Eira Harbour, where Leigh Smith wintered. Westward
are the two large islands of Prince George and Alexandra. The former,
90 miles long by 68, is almost covered with glaciers, and forms the
western shore of the British Channel, with the Armitage, Arthur
Harmsworth, and Albert Edward Islands to the north. On the northern
horizon Jackson reported open water, which he named Queen Victoria Sea.
The westernmost island, believed to be separated from Prince George
Island by Cambridge Bay or Strait, is called Alexandra Island, and is
also nearly covered with glaciers, but with low land along its northern
shore. It is 120 miles long by some 50 miles wide.
Payer describes the lands seen from Austria Sound as covered with
fields of ice, while rows of basaltic columns, rising tier above tier,
stand out as if crystallized, but the natural colour of the rock is
not visible, even the steepest walls of rock being covered with ice.
The mountains are table-shaped and rise to heights of from 2000 to
3000 feet, and the predominating formation resembles the dolerite of
Greenland, though coarser grained and of a dark yellowish-green colour.
Payer also observed terraced beaches covered with débris containing
organic remains. The small snow-covered islets reached by Nansen from
the north are composed of a coarse-grained basalt. The western half
of the Franz Josef group was more thoroughly explored by Jackson and
Armitage, with the aid of their able and accomplished companions,
during four summers and three winter seasons 1894–97.
Dr Koettlitz, the geologist of Mr Jackson’s expedition, from the
results of three years of observation combined with the reports of
Payer and Leigh Smith, has been able to give a fairly good general view
of the past history and present appearance of the Franz Josef group. He
looks upon the numerous islands as the fragments of an old table-land,
doubtless connected with other lands from which it is now separated by
wide seas, and he places the existence of this continental land in the
Jurassic period. But the principal feature of the group, as was also
observed by Payer, is the basalt or the dolerite of which the plateau
formation consists. This basaltic rock formation is from 500 to 600
feet in perpendicular height, and Dr Koettlitz dates it from Jurassic
times; in which case all strata that may have been laid down after this
period have disappeared through denudation, or are buried under the ice
sheets. When the hills were clothed with those plants of the Jurassic
age which have been recognised among the fossils that have been brought
home, the climate must have been mild and genial, and the land was
connected with Spitsbergen.
The present flora of Franz Josef Land is almost confined to terraces
or slopes with a southern aspect, and is poor as compared with that
of Spitsbergen. But it gives some little colouring to the dreary
summer landscape, and in the neighbourhood of loomeries there are many
bright-coloured mosses[141].
There are very few mammals on these desolate islands. Polar bears,
however, frequent the neighbouring floes in considerable numbers, and
wander about all the winter. The Austrians shot over 60, Nansen 19,
and 120 were seen by the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition. The Arctic
hare was not met with, and foxes were very rarely seen at “Elmwood,”
though they made themselves at home at Nansen’s winter quarters. Bones
and antlers of deer were found on the raised beaches, and it is not
easy to account for their presence. They might possibly have come with
drift-wood. White whales, narwhals, and three kinds of seals were seen,
and walruses were abundant[142].
The snowy owl is a frequenter of Franz Josef Land, suggesting the
presence of its favourite food, but lemmings were not met with. Snow
buntings are widely spread over the islands, and remain from April to
October, and the Lapland bunting also comes in smaller numbers in May,
as well as the shore lark. Brent geese arrive in June, but the eider
duck is rare. There are ptarmigan, first seen by members of the Zeigler
expedition. The wading birds comprise turnstones, sanderlings, and two
sandpipers. The very rare Ross’s gull was found by Nansen breeding in
considerable numbers. The glaucous gull, fulmar, kittiwake, and arctic
tern also visit the group, and the ivory gulls breed there abundantly.
The red-throated diver comes, but is rare. Looms and dovekies visit
the southern coast, and the little-auks are numerous. The whole number
of species of birds visiting Franz Josef Land is 23, against 33 in
Spitsbergen, and 43 in Novaya Zemlya.
The Franz Josef group of islands may be considered geologically as part
of Spitsbergen, both being fragments of the same continental land of
Jurassic times[143]. The 143 miles of ice-covered sea between Cape
Mary Harmsworth, the northernmost point of Alexandra Land, and Cape
Leigh Smith on North-east Land has not yet been explored. The sea to
the east of Wilczek and Graham Bell Islands is also unknown.
During the period from August 1872 to the following February the
_Tegethoff_ was drifted in a north-easterly direction from Cape Nassau
of Novaya Zemlya, which is in longitude 62° E., to 71° 38′ E., a
distance of about 125 miles, and from February to the next October, in
latitude 79° N., she drifted westward until she reached the land ice on
the south coast of Franz Josef. These drifts appear to have been due to
the prevailing winds.
The sea to the south of Franz Josef Land, between Spitsbergen and
Novaya Zemlya, has received the name of the Barentsz Sea. Its greatest
depth is 230 fathoms, and over the greater part of the area the depth
is not more than 100 fathoms. The ice is always kept well out of sight
of the European coast by the Atlantic current, and when the line of the
pack is met with in about 74° N., it is found to be sufficiently loose
for navigation northwards during some part of the summer, the general
drift being to the westward, but varying with the winds.