The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the poleWright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
History
The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the pole
Wright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
Arctic regions; North Pole
In about two hours we got his feet to, and put them in warm foot gear,
cut his bag down to allow him more room to move in, and then wrapped him
up in the spare coverlet. His hands we also brought round and bound them
up in flannel wrappers, with mitts over all. Gave him some warm tea and
a little rum and water, which he threw up. Shortly after I found him
eating snow, which we had strictly forbidden once or twice before. In
endeavouring to do this again during the night, he dragged his feet out
of the covering; but only a few minutes could have elapsed before this
was detected by Lieutenant Rawson, who, upon examining his feet found
them in much the same state as before. We rubbed and chafed them again
for over an hour, and when circulation was restored wrapped him up again,
and so passed the third night.’
[Sidenote: _RETURN TO THE SHIP_]
“On the following morning Petersen appeared to be slightly better, so
thinking it was preferable to run the risk of taking him back as he was,
rather than to pass another such night as the last, they put him on
the sledge; and, having hurriedly eaten their breakfast, they started
for the ship with all despatch. They had a rough journey before them
of eighteen miles; but they knew it was a case of life and death, and
they encouraged the dogs to their utmost speed. The dogs, being homeward
bound, were willing enough and needed little persuasion, so that, for a
time, they rattled along at a good pace. But actual progress could not
have been very rapid, for we read in Egerton’s report that the patient’s
‘circulation was so feeble that his face and hands were constantly
frost-bitten, entailing frequent stoppages whilst we endeavoured to
restore the affected parts.’ The difficulties of the homeward journey
may be gathered from the following extracts: ‘On arriving at the Black
Cape we had to take the patient off the sledge, and while one assisted
him round, the other kept the dogs back, for by this time they knew they
were homeward bound, and required no small amount of trouble to hold in.
After getting the sledge round and restoring Petersen’s hands and nose
(which were almost as bad again a few minutes after), and securing him
on the sledge, we again set off. At the cape the same difficulties were
experienced, in fact, rather more, for the sledge took a charge down a
“ditch,” about twenty-five feet deep, turning right over three times
in its descent, and out of which we had to drag it, and while clearing
harness (which employed us both, one to stand in front of the dogs with
the whip, while the other cleared the lines), the dogs made a sudden bolt
past Lieutenant Rawson, who was in front with the whip, and dragged me
more than a hundred yards before we could stop them. At length, after
the usual process with Petersen (that of thawing his hands and nose,
which we did every time we cleared harness, or it was actually necessary
to stop), we got away, thankful that our troubles were over. The dogs
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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