Chapter 10 Chapter Ten Dangerous Voyage

Shandon, Dr. Crawford, Johnson, Foucault, and Chef Strong boarded the whaler and went ashore. The Governor, his wife and five children are all Eskimos, and they come to visitors with courtesy, and the doctor, as a philologist, knows a little Danish, which is enough to establish friendly relations with them; Foucault, the navigator of the ice floe, knows more than 20 Greenlandic words, and with 20 words, he can go far, as long as he is not too greedy. The Governor was born on Disko Island and never left his native land, he was well known in the city, the city had three log houses belonging to him and a Lutheran priest, a school, and shops, ships for wrecks Supplementary supplies.The rest are just igloos into which the Eskimos climb through the only opening.

Most of the people stood on the front deck of the "Forward", and more than one local took a raft no more than 15 feet long and 2 feet wide to the middle of the bay. The doctor knew that the word "Eskimo" meant "a person who eats raw fish," but he also knew that the term was used as a spell in this area, so he could only refer to the residents as "Greenlanders." Yet from the greasy sealskin garments these men wore, the whips of the same texture, and the general greasy, smelly image of men and women, it was easy to tell what food they ate; and, as Leprosy, like all fish-eating people, will consume some of them, but their health is not too bad.

The Lutheran pastor and his wife, whom the doctor was able to talk to more specifically, stood by the Puvin coast, south of Urbana Vik.He was only allowed to speak to the governor, a chief judge who seemed uneducated, at worst a donkey, at best literate. However, the doctor still asked him about the trade, habits and customs of the Eskimos. He learned through sign language that the seals sent to Copenhagen are worth about 1,000 francs, a bear skin is worth 40 Danish dollars, and a blue fox fur is worth 4 Danish dollars. , a piece of silver fox fur is worth 2 or 3 Danish dollars. The doctor, for the purpose of perfecting his personal education, also wanted to visit an Eskimo igloo. One cannot imagine what a learned scholar can do. Fortunately, the entrances to igloos are extremely narrow. This crazy man Can't get in.He survived because there was nothing like this pile of dead or alive, seal or Eskimo meat, rotting fish.Smelly clothes are even more disgusting. This is the arrangement of the Greenlanders' hut. There is no window to change the suffocating air. There is only a hole on the top of the igloo to let the smoke out. But the smell doesn't come out.

Foucault told the doctor the details, but the proud scholar also had to curse his figure.He wanted to experience such a common smell for himself. "I'm sure," he said, "it will get used to in time." The word "over time" is used to describe the proud Crawford. While the former was doing his ethnographic research, Sandon was following instructions to try to acquire ice transport. He bought a sledge and six dogs for 100 francs, and the locals were not yet willing to give him them. Shandon also wanted to employ the skilled coachman Hans Christian, who had been part of Captain Mark Klindock's expedition, but this Hans was in northern Greenland at the time.

There's a big question coming up on the agenda, is there a European in Urbana Vik waiting for the "Forward" to pass by?Does the Governor know about this?A foreigner who looks like a British settles in these areas?When was his last contact with a whaler or other ship? The Governor's answer to these questions was that not a single foreigner had landed on this coast for more than ten months. Sandon had him shown the names of the whalers who had come to the nearest country, but he did not know any of them.This is really hopeless. "You must admit, doctor, that is incredible," he said to his companion. "Nothing from Farewell Cape! Nothing from Disko Island! Nothing from Urbana Vik!"

"A few days later you repeated to me: Melville Bay was nothing, my dear Sandon, and I congratulate you on being the sole captain of the 'Forward'." The whaler returned to the ship in the evening, bringing visitors, and as for fresh food, Strong brought in twelve eider eggs, each only two eggs large, and green in color, which was insignificant though , but for the crew who live on bacon, it is still an appetite. The next day was a favorable wind, but Sandon did not give the order to sail, he wanted to wait a day, and in order to have a clear conscience, to allow time for any creature belonging to mankind to rendezvous with the "Advance", he also let people let go from time to time. 16 gun, made a loud noise in the iceberg, but only scared off the flocks of seabirds and rock quail.Many shots were fired into the air during the night, but to no avail.Should consider leaving.

At 6 o'clock in the morning on May 8, the "Advance" unfurled the second square sail, the foremast sail and the third great sail, and the entrails of the seals and the rumen of the yellow deer hung in the colony of Urbana Vik and along the river. The sticks are gone. The wind blows from the southeast and the temperature rises to 0°C.The sun shone through the clouds, and the icebergs were loosened by melting. But these reflections of white light had a nasty effect on the eyesight of many crew members.Quartermasters Walson, Gripper, Clifton, and Bell suffer from snow blindness, an eye disease common in spring that blinds many Eskimos.The doctor advised patients especially, and in principle, that all should cover their faces with green gauze, and he himself was the first to follow his prescription.

The dogs Shandon had bought at Urbana Vik were fierce, but they had become tame on board, and the dog captain was not on too bad terms with his new companion, and he seemed to know their habits.Clifton has said more than once that Captain Dog must have been related to his Greenland kin.These dogs are always hungry and underfed on land, and all they want is to earn their money back by the food on the ship. On May 9, the "Advance" was only a few chains away from the easternmost point of Baffin Island.The doctor noticed that there were many rocks in the bay between the island and the land; there were also rocks called Crimson-Criver; they were covered with a red layer of snow, like a beautiful red rouge, Dr. Kahn thought. This is purely vegetatively caused, and Crowburny would have liked to observe this peculiar phenomenon up close, but was unable to get close to the coast due to the pack ice, and despite rising temperatures, it was easy to see icebergs and glaciers Gather north of the Baffin Sea.

From Urbanavik, the land took on a very different look, with huge glaciers silhouetted on the horizon against a gray sky. On the 10th, the "Advance" left Huntston Bay near the 74th latitude to her right, and the Lancaster Canal emptied into the ocean a few hundred nautical miles to the west. But this vast expanse of water was lost in vast fields, on which stood mounds of regular shape, like crystals of the same substance.Sandon had fires lit, and until May 11 the Forward sailed the winding gorge, leaving a trail of black smoke in the sky along its course. But it was not long before a new obstacle appeared, and the way was blocked by the continual drift of the ice floes; and there was every moment the danger of a lack of water ahead of the Forward's wheels, should it be clamped, It will be hard to get out.Everyone understands, everyone thinks.

Also, there were already certain signs of indecision in this aimless, purposeless, frantic northward ship.Among those accustomed to a life of adventure, many forgot the promised benefits and regretted coming so far.There was already a certain despondency in the general mood, which was added by Clifton's apprehensions and the words of two or three leading troublemakers, Payne, Gripper, Warren, and Walson. The mental anxiety of the crew was compounded by unbearable fatigue, for, on the 12th of May, the ship was sealed all around, and her engines were powerless.A road should be carved out in the middle of the ice field.Using an ice saw in floes as thick as six or seven feet is quite difficult.When the two parallel notches bisect the ice over a length of more than a hundred feet, the interior should have been broken with an ax and crowbar, so the fixed anchor was moved into a hole drilled by a large auger , then began to operate the winch, and tug the boat with the arm, the greatest difficulty was to return the broken ice to the floes, so as to make a way for the ship, and people had to push them with sticks, that is, long iron-headed rods.

In short, sawing, tugging, winching, and swinging iron rods, these constant, compulsory, and dangerous activities are carried out under the conditions of heavy fog or heavy snow, relatively low temperature, eye diseases, and mental worries. Everything left the crew of the "Forward" debilitated and overwhelmed. When sailors deal with a firm, courageous, confident man who knows his wishes, his goals, and his direction, they cannot help feeling confident; My heart is very peaceful.But on this ship, everyone felt that the commander lacked confidence, he hesitated before this strange goal and that unknown direction.In spite of his steadfast disposition, his weakness involuntarily manifested itself in altered orders, imperfect maneuvers, ill-timed considerations, so many details that could not escape the eyes of his crew. Besides, Shandon was not a captain, not a commander next to God, enough to make people talk about his orders; Those disaffected quickly won over the First Mechanic, who had been faithful up to that point. May 16th was the sixth day after the "Forward" arrived in the ice floe area. Sandon traveled less than two nautical miles to the north, and people were in danger of being trapped by the ice floe until the coming season.The situation has become quite serious. At about eight o'clock in the evening, Shandon and the doctor, accompanied by Garry the Sailor, descended onto a vast ice field, taking care not to stray too far from the ship, for it was difficult to make marks on a white wasteland of changing character.The refraction produced a strange effect, much to the amazement of the doctor, who took five or six where he thought one jump would suffice; or, on the contrary, in both cases the result was a fall.It was painful, if not dangerous, to walk on the glass-hard and sharp ice. Shandon and his two companions set out to find a viable path.Three miles from the ship, they scaled with difficulty an iceberg three hundred feet high, from which they overlooked the desolate snowdrift, like the ruins of a gigantic city, with its straight, crumbling obelisk. Monuments toppled, bell towers toppled, palaces crumbling, a veritable chaos.The sun dragged its planet with difficulty around a horizon of uprights and pinnacles, casting long slanted lines of heatless light, as if matter impervious to radiant heat had been placed between it and this desolate region. between. You can see the sea as far as the eye can see. "How do we get there?" said the doctor. "I don't know," Sandon replied, "but we'll get over it, and we can blast these icebergs with gunpowder, and I'm sure I won't let them trap next spring." "Just like what happened to the Fox about in this area. Ah!" said the doctor, "we'll get by . "It must be admitted," replied Sandon, "that things have not looked very good this year." "There is no doubt about it, Sandon. I see a tendency in Baffinsea to return to what it was before 1817." "Do you think, doctor, that the situation is not consistent?" "No, my dear Shandon, from time to time there are widespread thaws which the scientists cannot explain: thus, until 1817, the sea was clogged, when a great catastrophe occurred which would These icebergs were thrown into the ocean, and most of them ran aground on the beaches of the New World. From this time on, Baffin Bay was largely unimpeded and became a gathering place for many whalers." "So," asked Sandon, "has sailing been easier since then?" "Incomparable, but it has been noted that for many years the Gulf has a tendency to revert and to close, and may continue for a long time, according to the surveys of navigators. There is also a reason , that is, as far as we can go. And we are a bit like people advancing in unfamiliar corridors, with doors closing behind us." "Do you want me to back off?" asked Sandon, trying to read the most meaningful thing out of the doctor's eyes. "Me! I'll never be one step behind the others, even if it's gone forever, I'll keep going. It's just that I insist that if we don't play it safe, we know exactly what's in store for us." "And you, Garry, what do you think?" Sandon asked the sailor. "I, Commander, I'm going straight ahead. I think the same way Mr. Crowburny thinks, and besides, do whatever you want, and we'll do as you tell us to." "Not all are as you say, Garry," Sandon answered, "not all are willing to obey! What if they refuse to obey my orders?" "I told you what I think, Commander," Gary retorted dryly, "because you asked me, but you don't have to abide by it." Shan Dun didn't answer, he looked at the horizon intently, and went down into the ice field with his two companions.