Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Powerful Polar Current

Soon there were more and more birds, and the petrels and fulmars that inhabit this lonely sea approached Greenland. The "Forward" sailed quickly to the north, leaving a long trail of black smoke downwind. At about 11 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, April 17, the ice floe pilot quickly noticed the glare of the ice floe.The pack ice is at least 20 nautical miles north-north-west.The glowing white band is striking, illuminating the entire atmosphere near the horizon despite the thick clouds.Experienced people on board will not mistake this phenomenon. From this white light, they can recognize that there is a vast ice field more than 30 nautical miles away, which is invisible to human eyes. The white light comes from the reflection of light.

In the evening, the southerly wind blew again and followed the course; Shandon set sail, and out of economy, he extinguished the stove. The "Forward" put on the second sail, jib and foresail, and sailed towards the Cape of Good Hope. At 3 o'clock on the 18th, I saw a glacier. This is a white line that is not deep, but it is shining brightly, and it is very eye-catching at the junction of the sea and the sky.It clearly came from the east coast of Greenland rather than the Davis Strait, because most of the ice floes occur on the east coast of the Baffin Sea.An hour later, the "Advance" passed the center of the individual ice packs of the glacier, where the ice packs were most dense, although they were tightly bound together, they drifted with the waves.

As dawn broke the next day, the lookout crew noticed a ship, the small Danish frigate Valkyrie, approaching by the Forward, bound for the shores of the New World.The current in the strait was so strong that Sandon had to set sail to swim upstream. Meanwhile the commanding officer, the doctor, James Wall, and Johnson gathered on the poop to observe the direction and strength of the current.The doctor asked if it was true that this current also existed in the Baffin Sea. "It is very true," replied Sandon, "that it is difficult for a sailboat to go upstream." "Specifically," adds Jaime Wall, "people encounter it from the east coast of the Americas rather than the east coast of Greenland."

"That's right!" said the doctor. "That says a lot about why people look for the North-West Passage! The current is about five knots an hour, and it's hard to imagine it coming from the bottom of a bay." "That seems all the more plausible, doctor," said Sandon, "because this current flows from north to south, and there is an opposite current in the Bering Strait, flowing from south to north, which should be its source." "From this point of view, gentlemen," said the doctor, "it must be admitted that America is completely separated from the poles, and that the waters of the Pacific flow round its shores into the Atlantic. Besides, the height of the former currents also explains why they are into the seas of Europe."

"But," Sandon went on, "such a theory must be based on facts; if there is one," he added ironically, "our almighty science should know." "Undoubtedly," said the latter with a friendly satisfaction, "if you are interested in this, I will tell you that the whales wounded in Davis Strait were captured near Tartar Strait not long after, and they helped And the Ministry has a European harpoon." "Unless they round Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope," replied Sandon, "they must round the southern coast of America, that is beyond doubt, doctor."

"If you don't believe me, my good Shandon," said the doctor, laughing, "I can give other proofs, such as that these drifting logs that fill Davis Strait are larch, aspen, and other Tropical trees. But we know the Gulf Stream prevents these logs from entering the strait; if they come out, they can only get in through the Bering Strait." "I believe, doctor, and I admit that it is difficult not to believe you." "Indeed," said Johnson, "it is now time to draw conclusions. I have seen a log of considerable size nearby; if the commander will allow us to fish the trunk, hoist it to the boat, and ask what it is which country are you from."

"Excellent!" said the doctor. "Theory is followed by practice." Sandon gave the necessary orders, and the ship sailed to the designated log, and after a while the crew hoisted it on deck, with great difficulty. It was a mahogany trunk and the worms had eaten right down to the heart, otherwise it wouldn't have drifted. "It is irrefutable," cried the doctor enthusiastically, "because, since the currents of the Atlantic failed to carry it to Davis Strait, since it was not driven into the polar basin by the rivers of South America, since this tree The tree grows on the equator, and apparently he came directly from the Bering Strait. Well, gentlemen, look at these sea borers, they belong to the tropics."

"Indeed," Wall went on, "it shows that those who belittle that famous journey are wrong." "But it will be very hard on them!" replied the doctor. "Well, I'll tell you about the origin of this mahogany: it was washed into the Pacific Ocean by some river in Panama or the Isthmus of Guatemala; Like it or not, it had to go into the polar sea; it wasn't rotten enough, nor flooded enough, to judge that it had just set out; Sea, then caught by the northern tide, was captured by the Advancing through Davis Strait." To the delight of Dr. Crawney, he asked the commanding officer's permission to preserve it as a specimen.

"Go ahead," said Shandon, "but let me tell you the other way around, you're not the only one with this remnant. The Danish rulers on Disko Island..." "On the coast of Greenland?" continued the Doctor, "there is a mahogany table made of trunks caught in the same circumstances; I know this, my dear Shandon, and, besides, I do not envy his table, Because, if it weren't for the inconvenience, I could build myself a living room out of the wood." During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the wind was very strong; floating logs were seen more and more; approaching the coast was very dangerous, because icebergs were especially abundant at this time; the commander ordered the sail to be reduced, and the "Forward" only supported the foremast Sail and forestay sail forward.

The temperature on the thermometer had dropped below freezing.Sandon had proper clothing distributed to the crew, a woolen frock coat, woolen trousers, a flannel shirt, and wade stockings, such as Norwegian peasants wear.Everyone has a pair of fully waterproof boat boots. As for the dog captain, he is very satisfied with his natural fur; he seems indifferent to the change of temperature; he should have been through similar tests more than once, not to mention, a Dane has no right to show pick and choose .People rarely see it, it always hides in the darkest part of the ship. In the evening, through a corner of the blue sky in the fog, the coast of Greenland at a latitude of 37°2′7″ was faintly visible; the doctor put on a telescope and saw icebergs plowing out thousands of ravines for a period of time, but the fog quickly It diffused again, covering the line of sight, as if the curtain had fallen at the most exciting moment in the play.

On the morning of April 20, the "Forward" encountered an iceberg as high as 150 feet. It was stranded here in ancient times. It has not melted and still maintains its strange appearance.Snow saw it; James Ross drew a realistic picture of it in 1829, the French lieutenant Bello saw it in its entirety on the "Prince Albert", and the doctor naturally wanted to preserve the style of this famous mountain , he drew a fairly successful sketch. It is not surprising that similar icebergs run aground and then become firmly planted in the earth; one tip is above the water, the other two are submerged, and this one is about four hundred feet deep. Finally, when the temperature at noon was only -11° and the sky was snowy and foggy, we saw Cape Farewell, and the "Forward" arrived on the appointed day; He has nothing to complain about when he resets. "Here," said the doctor to himself, "this famous promontory, how well this promontory is so named! Many people go round it, as we do, but never see it again! To his European friends Do you say goodbye? You pass here, Frobisher, Knight, Barlow, Worm, Barents, Scroggs, Hudson, Broswell, Franklin, Crozier, Bellow , but you will never go home, this cape has really become a "Farewell Cape" to you!" Around 970, voyagers from Iceland discovered Greenland.Sebastian Cabo went down to latitude 56° in 1498; Gaspard and Michel Gottjar went to latitude 60° from 1500 to 1502; Martin Frobicher went to latitude 1576 To the bay that bears his name. The honor of discovering this strait in 1585 belongs to Jean Davies, and two years later, this brave sailor, this great whaler, reached the pole at latitude 73° and longitude 27° on his third voyage. Barents in 1596, Weymouth in 1602, James Mull in 1605 and 1607, Hudson, a broad bay deep into the American continent, was named after him, James Poole in 1611 in search of the Northwest Passage , more or less entered this strait, and its discovery greatly reduced the voyage between the two worlds. Baffin discovered Lancaster Strait in 1616 in the ocean named after him; They have not been heard from since. In 1776, Lieutenant Pickersgill, who was sent to meet Captain Cook, was able to pass through the Bering Strait to approach latitude 68°; James Ross followed, and in 1818 he circumnavigated the Baffin Sea, correcting the hydrogeographic errors of his forerunners. Finally, in 1819 and 1820, the famous Barry set out from Lancaster Channel, went through hardships and obstacles, and arrived at Melville Island. The place crosses the 170° meridian. In 1826, Beecher went to Camisoa; and James Ross, who wintered in Prince Regent Sound from 1829 to 1833, discovered the magnetic poles, among other important work. During this period, Franklin identified the southern coast of America by land, and the south bank of the Macon West at the Cape of Rotation; Captain Baker followed from 1823 to 1835, and these expeditions were culminated by MM Dietz, Simpson, and Dr. Ray . At last Sir John Franklin, anxious to find the North-West Passage, left England in 1845 aboard the HMS Erebus and the Terror, and he entered the Baffin Sea, whose expeditions have been missed since his arrival at Disko Island Team news. Many a search for lost ships has discovered this passage and confirmed the existence of such a fragmented polar continent; the bravest sailors of England, France and America have flocked to these fearsome regions; Irregular and so difficult to get a map to finally appear in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society in London. The magical stories of these regions filled the imagination of the doctor, and he leaned on the railing to watch the long track of the ship.The names of these brave voyagers filled his memory, and he felt glimpses beneath the vaults of the icebergs of pale ghosts who never returned.