Chapter 43 Chapter 20 Drifting in the Sea

Victoria Island drifted into the widest part of the Bering Sea, still 600 miles from the Aleutian Islands and more than 200 miles from the nearest coast to the east.The small island has been drifting at a relatively fast speed. If it does not slow down, it will take at least three weeks to reach the barrier at the southernmost tip of the Bering Sea. Can it make it there when the average temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) and the island's foundations are thinned by the constant erosion of warm water?Will its ground be broken at any time? Lieutenant Hobson urged on the raft's work.At this time, the skeleton of the raft was seen floating on the water of the lagoon.Mike Knapp wanted to make the raft so strong that it could withstand the pounding of the waves for a long time.From a practical point of view, if he did not encounter a whaling ship in the Bering Sea, he must be able to drift the raft all the way to the Aleutian Islands, so there is still a long way to go.

Until this time, Victoria Island had not changed much in appearance.People observe every day, but people can't take chances, because at any time, the ground cracks, the separation of small pieces of the island's land may make them leave the central part of the island.Once separated, there is no coming back. The deep fissure near Cape Mitchell, frozen in the winter's cold, was opening again.The fissure extends to a dry creek bed a mile inside the island.It is likely that it will continue to crack along this river bed, which will make the bottom ice shell of the island thinner and thinner, and even break.Thus the region west of Cape Mitchell and Barnet Harbor down to the river bed may be lost, an area of ​​several square miles.Lieutenant Hobson warned everyone not to go there unless necessary, otherwise this part of the island may break away from the island in case of strong winds and waves.

To this end, they probed in several places to see where it was thickest and would not melt and crack quickly.They found that the foundations at the old trading station near Bathurst Point were thicker, not because of the thicker sandy soil—which was useless—but because of the thicker ice crust.All in all, the place is fine.The hole they dug remained there, allowing daily observations of changes in the island's base as it melted.The melting of the island's base is slow but ongoing.Given that the island is increasingly drifting towards warmer regions, it looks unlikely it will last another 3 weeks.

During the week from May 19th to 25th, the weather was very bad.A storm swept through, lightning pierced the sky, followed by billowing thunder.The northwest wind rolled up huge waves, and the waves rushed towards the island one after another.The waves were shaking the island terribly, and it was frightening.All were on high alert, ready to board the raft at any moment, the planking of which was almost ready.They also put some food and fresh water on the raft in case they were caught off guard in case of danger. In this storm, the rain poured down quickly, and the warm, pouring rain quickly seeped into the ground, eroded the bottom of the island, and accelerated the melting of the ice shell at the bottom. have dangerous consequences.On the slopes of some hillocks, the rain had carved out channels, exposing the white crust of ice.Everyone quickly filled these ditches with sand to prevent the ice shell from being directly attacked by warm weather. Otherwise, the ground would have been sunburned and pierced everywhere, like a colander.

The storm also disturbed the woods on the hills on both sides of the lagoon.The heavy rain washed away the soil there, and many trees were uprooted and fell to the ground.Overnight, the area between the lagoon and Barnet Harbor was transformed beyond recognition.In the whole forest, only some birches and a few pine trees are still standing there.In fact, this is a symptom of the disintegration of the island, which human intelligence is powerless to do.Lieutenant Hobson, Mrs. Barnett, Sergeant Long, they all saw that their island was shrinking until it disappeared, everyone saw it, except maybe Thomas Blake was different, he was still gloomy The face, without a word, seemed to no longer exist.

During the storm on May 23, the hunter Sabine left the room in a thick fog in the morning, but unfortunately fell into a hole that had just appeared the night before and nearly drowned, where the main house of the former trading station was located. The main house, sunken three-quarters into the sand, now appears to be anchored in the island's icy shell.However, due to the surge and impact of the sea below, the gap here has become wider and wider, and the house may have completely sunk under the huge pressure of the mud and sand that was turned up from the former Bathurst Point.The sand and mud also collapsed into the cave, and only the sound of sea water rushing under the cave could be heard.

Fortunately, Sabine's partners heard his cry and ran over to pull him up from the slippery ice hole, otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous. Soon the beams and sidings of the houses which had slipped below the islet were found, and floated up and washed ashore like the drifts of a shipwrecked ship.This is the last loss caused by the storm. From then on, the waves can attack and erode the island, making the fate of the island's destruction just around the corner. During the day on May 25, it turned into a northeasterly wind.The gale turned to a gentle drizzle, and finally the rain stopped and the sea began to calm down.The night was safe and sound.Early the next morning, the sun was rising from the east, and Hobson made careful observations.

At noon on this day, the position of the island can be determined from observations of the altitude of the sun as: Latitude: 56°13′ north latitude; Longitude: West Longitude 170°23′. The island is drifting so fast that it has drifted nearly 800 miles from its position in the Bering Strait since the thaw two months ago. Such a fast drifting speed gave Lieutenant Hobson a little hope. "Friends," he said to his companions, pointing to a map of the Bering Sea, "have you seen the Aleutian Islands? We are now less than 200 miles away! We may be there in eight days!" "8 days!?" Sergeant Lang shook his head and replied, "8 days, it's too long!"

"I would add," continued Lieutenant Hobson, "that the island would have reached the archipelago by now if it had been drifting along the 168th meridian. It's off to the southwest." This observation is correct.Currents are carrying the island far from land, even beyond the Aleutian Islands, which extend only to the 170th meridian west. Mrs Paulina Barnet stared at the map and said nothing!She looked at the point where the island was marked with a brass pen.On this large-scale map, the point is barely noticeable due to the size of the Bering Sea.At this time, she saw the route she had traveled from the place where she had spent the winter. This was the sea area that a never-changing ocean current took them between the two continents. Without touching any land, they were about to enter the boundless The route traveled by the endless Pacific Ocean!

She was thinking like this, thinking, and after a long time of contemplation, she opened her mouth and said: "This small island, can't we control it? 8 days, 8 days at this speed, maybe we can reach the last island of the Aleutian Islands?!" "Our fate for these 8 days is completely in the hands of God!" Lieutenant Hobson replied with a heavy tone, "is he willing to save us? Ma'am, let me tell you the truth, only God can save us now. " "I think as you do, Mr. Jasper," said Mrs. Barnett, "but God wants us to try to save ourselves first before He will help us, and I don't know if there is any other way worth our while. try it."

Jasper Hobson shook his head doubtfully.For him, there was no other way of saving himself than the raft.But is it time to get on the raft and set sail with quilts and sheets to find the nearest shore? Hobson consulted his most trusted officers, Sergeant Long and Mike Knapp, followed by Ray the Blacksmith, Sabine the Hunter and Marbor.All the people, after weighing the advantages and disadvantages, agreed that the only time to abandon the island and board the raft was when absolutely necessary.The raft was a last resort, and the raft had to withstand the constant beating of the waves, and it couldn't go as fast as the islet pushed southward by the iceberg.As for the direction of the wind, the easterly wind was blowing now and often, and this only carried the raft farther from land. As the island was drifting rapidly toward the Aleutians, all that was needed now was to wait, and wait.Wait until you get close to that archipelago and see what you can do. This is actually the wisest decision. After 8 days, if the island's forward speed does not decrease, or it will stop at the southern end of the Bering Sea, or be carried southwest by the current of the Pacific Ocean, it will be over. The bitter fate which had so tormented these Arctic winterers was about to deal them a new blow.Their calculated velocity of the island's drift was soon to be lost. Sure enough, during the night of May 26-27, Victoria Island changed direction for the last time, this time with dire consequences.The island rotated half a circle.The icebergs, the remnants of the pack ice packs that had pushed it on the north, now appeared on the south side of the island. Early the next morning, these victims—is it okay to call them by this name? —seeing the sun rising over Cape Eskimo instead of over the horizon over Barnet Harbour. The iceberg was still there, only visibly smaller from the melt, but it was still massive, pushing the island forward, and at the same time obscuring a good deal of the horizon. What are the consequences of this change of direction?Since these icebergs are not really connected with the drifting island, will they be separated from the island? Everyone had a premonition that a new disaster was about to happen.Everyone understood what Soldier Cayley meant when he yelled: "We'll lose our propeller before this evening!" What Gloria wants to say is that the iceberg can no longer act as a propeller behind the small island, but has run to the front of the small island, so that it will meet with the small island soon.Because it is the iceberg that is pushing the island forward at a fast speed. For every foot of the iceberg above the water, there are 6 to 7 feet underwater. The underwater sea current pushes the iceberg, and the iceberg pushes the island to drift quickly. , and now Kojima is about to lose this impetus. yes!Soldier Kelley was right.After leaving the iceberg, the small island is like a ship without its mast, and its propeller propeller is also broken! No one took Kelly's words and said anything.In less than a quarter of an hour, people suddenly heard a loud bang.The top of the iceberg shook, and then the whole thing collapsed, abandoning the island.The iceberg was propelled forward by the deep water current and drifted rapidly to the south.