第35章 LETTER VII(17)

It was during one of these fogs that Captain Fotherby,the original discoverer of Jan Mayen,stumbled upon it in 1614.While sailing southwards in a mist too thick to see a ship's length off,he.suddenly heard the noise of waters breaking on a great shore;and when the gigantic bases of Mount Beerenberg gradually disclosed themselves,he thought he had discovered some new continent.Since then it has been often sighted by homeward-bound whalers,but rarely landed upon.About the year 1633the Dutch Government,wishing to establish a settlement in the actual neighbourhood of the fishing-grounds,where the blubber might be boiled down,and the spoils of each season transported home in the smallest bulk,--actually induced seven seamen to volunteer remaining the whole winter on the island.[Footnote:The names of the seven Dutch seamen who attempted to winter in Jan Mayen's Island were:Outgert Jacobson,of Grootenbrook,their commander;Adrian Martin Carman,of Schiedam,clerk;Thauniss Thaunissen,of Schermehem,cook;Dick Peterson,of Veenhuyse;Peter Peterson,of Harlem;Sebastian Gyse,of Defts-Haven;Gerard Beautin,of Bruges.]Huts were built for them,and having been furnished with an ample supply of salt provisions,they were left to resolve the problem,as to whether or no human beings could support the severities of the climate.Standing on the shore,these seven men saw their comrades'parting sails sink down beneath the sun,--then watched the sun sink,as had sunk the sails;--but extracts from their own simple narrative are the most touching record I can give you of their fate:--"The 26th of August,our fleet set sail for Holland with a strong north-east wind,and a hollow sea,which continued all that night.The 28th,the wind the same;it began to snow very hard;we then shared half a pound of tobacco betwixt us,which was to be our allowance for a week.

Towards evening we went about together,to see whether we could discover anything worth our observation;but met with nothing."And so on for many a weary day of sleet and storm.

On the 8th of September they "were frightened by a noise of something falling to the ground,"--probably some volcanic disturbance.A month later,it becomes so cold that their linen,after a moment's exposure to the air,becomes frozen like a board.[Footnote:The climate,however,does not appear to have been then so inclement in these latitudes as it has since become.A similar deterioration in the temperature,both of Spitzbergen and Greenland,has also been observed.In Iceland we have undoubted evidence of corn having been formerly grown,as well as of the existence of timber of considerable size,though now it can scarcely produce a cabbage,or a stunted shrub of birch.M.Babinet,of the French Institute,goes a little too far when he says,in the Journal des Debats of the 30th December,1856,that for many years Jan Mayen has been inaccessible.]Huge fleets of ice beleaguered the island,the sun disappears,and they spend most of their time in "rehearsing to one another the adventures that had befallen them both by sea and land."On the 12th of December they kill a bear,having already begun to feel the effects of a salt diet.

At last comes New Year's Day,1636."After having wished each other a happy new year,and success in our enterprise,we went to prayers,to disburthen our hearts before God."On the 25th of February (the very day on which Wallenstein was murdered)the sun reappeared.By the 22nd of March scurvy had already declared itself:"For want of refreshments we began to be very heartless,and so afflicted that our legs are scarce able to bear us."On the 3rd of April,"there being no more than two of us in health,we killed for them the only two pullets we had left;and they fed pretty heartily upon them,in hopes it might prove a means to recover part of their strength.

We were sorry we had not a dozen more for their sake."On Easter Day,Adrian Carman,of Schiedam,their clerk,dies."The Lord have mercy upon his soul,and upon us all,we being very sick."During the next few days they seem all to have got rapidly worse;one only is strong enough to move about.He has learnt writing from his comrades since coming to the island;and it is he who concludes the melancholy story."The 23rd (April),the wind blew from the same corner,with small rain.We were by this time reduced to a very deplorable state,there being none of them all,except myself,that were able to help themselves,much less one another,so that the whole burden lay upon my shoulders,--and I perform my duty as well as I am able,as long as God pleases to give me strength.I am just now a-going to help our commander out of his cabin,at his request,because he imagined by this change to ease his pain,he then struggling with death."For seven days this gallant fellow goes on "striving to do his duty;"that is to say,making entries in the journal as to the state of the weather,that being the principal object their employers had in view when they left them on the island;but on the 30th of April his strength too gave way,and his failing hand could do no more than trace an incompleted sentence on the page.

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Meanwhile succour and reward are on their way toward the forlorn garrison.On the 4th of June,up again above the horizon rise the sails of the Zealand fleet;but no glad faces come forth to greet the boats as they pull towards the shore;and when their comrades search for those they had hoped to find alive and well,--lo!each lies dead in his own hut,--one with an open Prayer-book by his side;another with his hand stretched out towards the ointment he had used for his stiffened joints;and the last survivor,with the unfinished journal still lying by his side.