第53章 LETTER IX(2)
A few hours before getting under way,the expedition was completed by the junction of a new companion,quite unexpected.We found in Reykjavik harbour a yacht belonging to Lord Dufferin.The Prince,seeing his great desire to visit the neighbourhood of Jan Mayen,offered to take his schooner in tow of the 'Reine Hortense.'It was a fortunate accident for a seeker of maritime adventures;and an hour afterwards,the proposition having been eagerly accepted,the Englishman was attached by two long cables to the stern of our corvette.
On the 7th of July,1856,at two o'clock in the morning,after a ball given by Commander de Mas on board the 'Artemise,'--the 'Reine Hortense,'with the English schooner in tow,left Reykjavik harbour,directing her course along the west coast of Iceland,towards Onundarfiord,where we were to join the 'Saxon'which had left a few hours before us.At nine o'clock,the three vessels,steering east-north-east,doubled the point of Cape North.At noon our observation of the latitude placed us about 67degrees.We had just crossed the Arctic circle.The temperature was that of a fine spring day,10degrees centigrade (50degrees Farenh.).
The 'Reine Hortense'diminished her speed.A rope thrown across one of the towing-ropes enabled Lord Dufferin to haul one of his boats to our corvette.He himself came to dine with us,and to be present at the ceremony of crossing the polar circle.As to the 'Saxon,'M.de la Ronciere perceived by this time that the worthy Englishman had presumed too much on his power.The 'Saxon'was evidently incapable of following us.The captain,therefore,made her a signal that she was to take her own course,to try and reach Jan Mayen;and if she could not succeed,to direct her course on Onundarfiord,and there to wait for us.The English vessel fell rapidly astern,her hull disappeared,then her sails,and in the evening every trace of her smoke had faded from the horizon.
In the evening,the temperature grew gradually colder;that of the water underwent a more rapid and significant change.At twelve at night it was only three degrees centig.(about 37degrees Fahr.).At that moment the vessel plunged into a bank of fog,the intensity of which we were enabled to ascertain,from the continuance of daylight in these latitudes at this time of the year.
There are tokens that leave no room to doubt that we are approaching the solid ice.True enough:--at two o'clock in the morning the officer on watch sees close to the ship a herd of seals,inhabitants of the field ice.Afew minutes later the fog clears up suddenly;a ray of sunshine gilds the surface of the sea;lighting up millions of patches of sparkling white,extending to the farthest limit of the horizon.These are the detached hummocks which precede and announce the field ice;they increase in size and in number as we proceed.At three o'clock in the afternoon we find ourselves in front of a large pack which blocks up the sea before us.We are obliged to change our course to extricate ourselves from the ice that surrounds us.This is an evolution requiring on the part of the commander the greatest precision of eye,and a perfect knowledge of his ship.The 'Reine Hortense,'going half speed,with all the officers and the crew on deck,glides along between the blocks of ice,some of which she seems almost to touch,and the smallest of which would sink her instantly if a collision took place.
Another danger,which it is almost impossible to guard against,threatens a vessel in those trying moments.If a piece of ice gets under the screw,it will be inevitably smashed like glass,and the consequences of such an accident might be fatal.
The little English schooner follows us bravely;bounding in our track,and avoiding only by a constant watchfulness and incessant attention to the helm the icebergs that we have cleared.
But the difficulties of this navigation are nothing in clear weather,as compared to what they are in a fog.
Then,notwithstanding the slowness of the speed,it requires as much luck as skill to avoid collisions.Thus it happened that after having escaped the ice a first time,and having steered E.N.E.,we found ourselves suddenly,towards two o'clock of that same day (the 9th),not further than a quarter of a mile from the field ice which the fog had hidden from us.Generally speaking,the Banquise that we coasted along for three days,and that we traced with the greatest care for nearly a hundred leagues,presented to us an irregular line of margin,running from W.S.W.to E.N.E.,and thrusting forward toward the south-capes and promontories of various sizes,and serrated like the teeth of a saw.Every time that we bore up for E.N.E.,we soon found ourselves in one of the gulfs of ice formed by the indentations of the Banquise.It was only by steering to the S.W.that we got free from the floating icebergs,to resume our former course as soon as the sea was clear.