The Open Polar Sea: A narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States"Hayes, I. I. (Isaac Israel)
History
The Open Polar Sea: A narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States"
Hayes, I. I. (Isaac Israel)
Arctic regions; United States (Schooner)
My cabin occupied the after-half of the "trunk," (which extended
two feet above the quarter-deck,) and was six feet by ten. Two
"bull's-eyes" gave me a feeble light by day, and a kerosene lamp,
which creaked uneasily in its gimbals, by night. Two berths let, one
into either side, furnished commodious receptacles for ship's stores.
The carpenter, however, fixed up a narrow bunk for me; and when I had
covered this with a brilliant afghan, and enclosed it with a pair of
crimson curtains, I was astonished at the amount of comfort which I had
manufactured for myself.
The narrow space in front of my cabin contained the companion ladder,
the steward's pantry, the stove-pipe, a barrel of flour, and a "room"
for Mr. Sonntag. Forward of this, two steps down in the hold, was the
officers' cabin, which was exactly twelve feet square by six feet high.
It was oak-panelled, and had eight bunks, happily not all occupied.
It was not a commodious apartment. The men's quarters were under the
forecastle deck, close against the "dead-wood" of the "ship's eyes."
They, too, were necessarily crowded for room.
Our course from Boston lay directly for the outer capes of
Newfoundland, inside of Sable Island. Every one who has sailed down
the coast of Nova Scotia knows the nature of the fogs which hang over
the banks, especially during the warm season of the year; and we had
our full measure of the embarrassing fortune which usually befalls the
navigator of those waters.
We ran into a fog bank on the second day out from Boston, and for seven
days thereafter were enveloped in an atmosphere so dense as completely
to obscure the sun and horizon. We could, of course, obtain no
"sights," and, during that period, were obliged in consequence to rely
for our position upon the lead line and our dead reckoning. Uncertain
currents made this last a method of doubtful dependence.
On the sixth day of this seemingly endless fog I grew rather more than
usually uneasy; but the sailing-master assured me that he was certain
of our position; and, with the map before us on the table, he _proved_
it by the soundings. We would clear Cape Race in the morning watch.
[Sidenote: "BREAKERS AHEAD."]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account