The Great Frozen Sea: A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the "Alert" — John Shaqi
The Great Frozen Sea: A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the "Alert"Markham, Albert Hastings, Sir
History
The Great Frozen Sea: A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the "Alert"
Markham, Albert Hastings, Sir
Alert (Sloop : 1856-1895); Arctic regions; Nares, George S. (George Strong), 1831-1915
The scenery in the Waigat, a strait separating the island of Disco from
the mainland of Greenland, is very grand. The channel was rendered
almost impassable from the number of icebergs of every fantastic form
and shape that lay scattered about, and which, although adding
materially to the beauty of the scene, made the passage one of no little
intricacy: indeed we very narrowly escaped losing all our boats on one
side of the ship by shaving a large iceberg a little too closely!
On one side were the high snow-clad hills of Disco, intersected by deep
and narrow ravines, whilst on the opposite side was a bold and lofty
coast with precipitous headlands ending in needle-shaped peaks and
separated by glaciers and fiords. Passing the beautiful large
discharging glacier of Itivdliarsuk, many minor ones opened to our view
as we sailed slowly past, presenting a panorama such as it would be
impossible to depict faithfully on canvas.
Several remarkable red patches, apparently of basalt, were observed on
the bare gneiss hills in the vicinity of Point Kardluk, which is noted
for the large quantity of vegetable fossils that have been found there,
and close to the petrified forest of Atanekerdluk.
Catching sight of the "Valorous" at anchor, busily engaged in procuring
coal, we endeavoured to reach her, for the purpose of sending a few
stray letters that had been inadvertently left behind; but a thick fog
overtaking us, we were very reluctantly compelled to relinquish all idea
of communicating, and had to be satisfied with reading the signal of
"farewell" and "good wishes" that she threw out. It was fortunately
distinguished before the vessels were effectually concealed from each
other by an impervious fog which crept over the surface of the sea,
hiding everything around us, though high above our heads the mountain
tops were clearly to be seen.
So dense did it become that we were, after a time, obliged to make the
ships fast to icebergs to await a more favourable opportunity of
advancing.
Whilst attempting to secure the ships an alarming catastrophe occurred.
The boat had been dispatched containing three men with the necessary
implements, such as an ice drill and anchor, for making the vessel fast.
As soon as the first blow of the drill was delivered the berg, to our
horror, split in two with a loud report, one half with one of our men on
it toppling completely over, whilst the other half swayed rapidly
backwards and forwards. On this latter piece was another of our men, who
was observed with his heels in the air, the violent agitation of the
berg having precipitated him head foremost into a rent or crevasse. The
water alongside was a mass of seething foam and spray; but curious to
relate, the boat with the third man in it was in no way injured. They
were all speedily rescued from their perilous position and brought on
board, sustaining no further harm than that inflicted by a cold bath.
Their escape appeared miraculous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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