Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Preparations for Winter

The southern hemisphere is colder in latitude than the northern hemisphere; but the temperature of the New World is 15° lower than that of the rest of the globe, and in the Americas these regions are known as extreme cold.is the most daunting. The annual average temperature is only -19°C.Scientists explain the matter in the following terms, and Dr. Crowburny agrees with them in this respect. According to their opinion, the winds most frequently blowing in southern America are southwest winds; they come from the Pacific Ocean, which is even and moderate in temperature; but in order to reach the northern seas, they have to cross the vast, snow-covered area of ​​the American continent; contact with the continent Then it gets very cold, bringing bone-chilling cold to the far north.

Hatteras came to the depths of cold, beyond what his pioneers had ever seen; he anticipated a dreadful winter with half the rebel crew on a ship lost among the ice floes.He resolved to meet every danger with the firmness for which he was known.He faced his situation head-on and never bowed his head. He began to use Johnson's experience to take all necessary measures for wintering, and according to his calculations, the "Advance" had been dragged 250 nautical miles from the last known land, New Gornuy; From a field of ice, as from a bed of granite, no human force could free him.

Not a single drop of melting water in this vast ocean where the arctic winter has arrived.The ice fields undulate in endless places, but the view is not wide.Far from it.The three tallest of the many icebergs that stood on the icy field surrounded the Advance like the three legs of a compasses; only the south-easterly wind could reach it.As long as one thinks of rocks instead of ice, green instead of snow, the sea is rough, and the ship anchors quietly in a fair bay, sheltered from the most dreadful gales.But how sad at this latitude!What a sad nature!How sad to think! Even if the boat does not move, it is still anchored firmly; allow for thawing or sea bottom currents.Johnson learned of the situation of the "Forward" in the extreme cold, and took stricter measures for wintering.

"We've got worse things to do!" he had said to the doctor once. "Lucky captain! Trapped in the worst place on earth! Cough! You see we'll get out." As for the doctor, in the bottom of his heart, he felt a surge of ecstasy at the situation, and he would not give it up to anyone else!What luck to spend the winter in the extreme cold! The crew was busy first with the external works; the sails were still fastened to the yard, rather than stowed in the bilges, as the first winterers did, and the sails had only to be folded in boxes, and the ice floes would soon make a watertight enclosure for it. Surface; the mast of the third tier of sails was not furled, and the magpie's nest was still in place.This is a natural observatory.Only the usual rigging was put away.

The ice field around the ship had to be cut and it put a lot of pressure on the ship.The floes gathered on the sides of the ship with great force; it did not stop at the usual line of floes.Long and hard labor.After a few days, the flooded part of the hull was freed, and the crew took the opportunity to examine the ship carefully; it suffered little damage, thanks to its strong construction, except that the brass hull had been almost completely torn off.The ship, free of restraints, rose nearly nine inches, and the men busied themselves cutting the floes along the slopes to the shape of the hull;

The doctor joined the labor; he handled the snow-blade deftly; his jovial disposition infected the sailors.He taught others and learned a lot himself.He is very much in favor of this treatment of ice floes under the ship. "It's a good precaution," he said. "Without this, Mr. Crawburn. We can't stand it. Now we can build a wall of snow as high as the ship's beam without fear, and we can add ten feet thicker if we choose , because there is no shortage of materials.” "Good idea," the doctor added, "snow is not very good at conducting heat. It reflects rather than absorbs, and the internal temperature does not escape to the outside."

"If so," continued Johnson, "we shall build a fort against the cold, but also against the beasts, if they have the decency to visit us; Two staircases were cut out of this snow, one with the exit in the bow and the other in the stern; and when the steps had been cut with the knife, we poured water on them; and the water turned to ice as hard as a rock, and we had a The Royal Staircase." "Very well," replied the doctor, "and it must be admitted that it is a blessing that the cold causes snow and ice, which makes it something to resist it. Otherwise we would be in trouble."

In the end, the ship was appointed to lie in ambush under a thick layer of ice, so that it might keep its interior warm; a roof of thick tarpaulin covered with snow and ice was built over the deck, covering it entirely; The oil market hangs low, covering the sides of the ship.The deck, shielded from all external pressure, became a veritable corridor; it was covered with two and a half feet of snow; the snow had been trampled and pounded very solid; a layer of sand had been thrown over it, and the sand was crowded against each other. It turned into a fairly solid gravel road. "A little more," said the doctor, "a few more trees, and I feel as if I were in Hyde Park, or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon."

A hole was dug nearer the ship; it was a round hole dug in the ice field, a real well, which should be used often; To provide water in the event of a fire, or for the crew to bathe for hygiene purposes; in order to save fuel, people also pay attention to drawing water from the deep, where the water is so cold; people use a machine to do this. As a matter of fact, a French scientist invented it; the machine, after reaching a certain depth, draws water from a nearby source through a movable double bottom in a cylindrical cylinder. Usually people take everything out of the boat during the winter, in order to save more space; people put these things on the floor of the warehouse.But what can be done closer to shore, cannot be done with a ship anchored on an ice sheet.

Everything is put in the ship against the two great enemies of these latitudes: cold and damp; The "Advance" sailing in the Arctic seas was equipped for the winter: the cabins of the crew were very rationally designed; people fought in the corners, where it was damp at first; There was a layer of ice, especially in the corners, and it was often wet there when the ice melted.The circular dining room for the crew should be more comfortable; after all, there is a large stove for heating, and the ventilation is better, so it should be habitable; the walls are pasted with buckskin instead of woolen fabric, because the wool stops the steam that condenses on it. , making the air humid.

The bulkhead was lowered on the poop, and the officers had a larger common mess room, more airy and warmer thanks to a fire.This dining room, like the dining room of the crew, has a living room in front, which cuts off direct convection with everything outside.In this way, no heat is lost and one gradually passes from one temperature to another.People put snow-fallen clothes in the living room; people wiped their feet with scrapers that were kept outside so that nothing unsanitary would be brought in. The oil market tube is used to supply the air needed for the ventilation of the stove; other pipes are used for the distribution of water vapor.Condensers were also installed in these two dining rooms to catch the water vapors so that they would not form droplets, and the water was poured twice a week, sometimes with many buckets of ice cubes in it.This is the measure against the enemy. The fire was lighted well and easily with gas cylinders; a small amount of coal was found to be sufficient to keep the temperature in the dining-room at 10°C.But Hatteras had his coal barrels tested, and found that even with the greatest savings, his fuel would last only two months. A clothes dryer was installed because clothes are washed a lot; clothes can't be air dried so they get hard and brittle. The fragile parts of the engine were also carefully disassembled; the room where the parts were stored was mysteriously closed. Life on board had to be seriously considered; Hatteras had drawn up plans with great care and posted them in the common mess room.People get up at six o'clock in the morning; hammocks are dried three times a week; the floors of the two rooms are mopped twice a day with hot sand; Pudding made of raisins, sugar, cocoa, tea, rice, lemon juice, dried meat, corned beef and pork, cabbage, pickled vegetables; the kitchen is outside the public dining room; the heat given off by it cannot be kept, but cooking the food causes Lots of water vapor and humidity. Human health depends largely on the variety of food: in these high latitudes, people should consume as much animal food as possible.The doctor presided over the formulation of the recipe. "The Eskimos should be the example," he said, "who have learned from nature, and in this they are our masters; if the Arabs, if the Africans need only a few dates and a handful of rice, Eating is important here, and eating more. Eskimos absorb 10 to 15 pounds of oil a day. If you don't want to use this method, we have to resort to things with a lot of sugar and fat. In short, we need carbon, we Produce carbon! Putting coal in the furnace is a good way, but don't forget to fill the furnace in our own body!" According to this plan, the crew must be neat and tidy; every man must have a bath once every two days in ice water, provided by the stove, which is a good way to maintain the original heat.The doctor himself set the example, first of all from considerations which seemed to him so disgusting; but soon he gave up this as an excuse, for he found in this extremely healthful bath A real pleasure. When crews were out working, hunting, or surveying in very cold weather, they took special care not to get frostbite, that is, a part of the body; if this happened, they were quickly rubbed with snow to re-circulate the blood.Moreover, woolen clothes were carefully dressed all over the body, and yellow buckskin coats and sealskin trousers were worn, which could completely protect against the wind. The various trimmings of the boat and the placement on board took about three weeks, and nothing special happened until October 10th.