Chapter 32 Chapter Sixteen Twelve to Seventy

In the afternoon, the "Parakuta" left the Sphinx Land.This land has been on our west side since the 21st of February. There are still four hundred nautical miles to the polar circle.I repeat, when we reach this part of the Pacific, will we be rescued by a whaling ship lingering until the last days of the fishing season, or even by an Antarctic expedition ship? ... This latter assumption makes sense.Wasn't our brig talking about the expedition of Captain Wilkes of the United States Navy when he anchored in the Falklands?The expedition consisted of four ships, the Vincennes, the Peacock, the Dolphin, and the Flying Fish, who, together with several companion ships, did not leave in February 1839 Arrived in Tierra del Fuego, ready for an expedition across the Antarctic ocean...

What happened after that, we don't know.However, after Wilkes tried going up along the west meridian, why didn't he have the idea of ​​going up along the east meridian to find the passage?In this case, it was possible that the Paracuta had encountered one of his ships. In short, the most difficult problem is to take advantage of the free-flowing sea before the winter in this region.Winter is approaching, and soon, all navigation on the seas will be impossible. The death of Dirk Peters reduced the number of passengers on the Paracuta to twelve.There are only so many people left in the two brigantines and the two crews.There were originally thirty-eight people in the first boat, and thirty-two people in the second boat, for a total of seventy people.But let's not forget that the Halbrena's voyage was to fulfill a humanitarian duty to save the lives of the four survivors of the Jenny.

Now, let's end this story as quickly as possible!On the way back, I have been benefited from the current and sea breeze, and needless to say.The notes that helped me write this story were not thrown overboard in sealed bottles and picked up by accident in the Antarctic ocean; they were brought back by me myself.Though the last part of the journey was still one of exhaustion, hardship, danger, and fear, the expedition ended with our rescue. A few days after our departure from the Sphinx, the sun finally set below the western horizon, where it will not appear again all winter. So the Paracuta continued its monotonous voyage in the half-darkness of the continuous polar night.As expected, the aurora appeared frequently.In 1773, Cook and Foster first viewed this magnificent sight.Some stretch out in a luminous arc; some light is long and short, unpredictable; the vast curtain is shining, and the brightness suddenly increases or decreases, which is intoxicating; the brilliance of this curtain converges towards a point in the sky, and It is where the compass needle is oriented vertically.How glorious are these sights!The ripples of the beam of light meander and undulate, the color varies from reddish to emerald green, and the shape is ever-changing, which is amazing and amazing!

Even so, this is no longer the sun, the irreplaceable celestial body.During the Antarctic summer months, this irreplaceable object illuminates our view.And this long polar night has an impact on people both mentally and physically, and no one can get rid of it.This feeling of desolation and sadness and heavy heart is really hard to get rid of. Of the Paracuta's passengers, only the bosun and Endicott retained their merry nature.Neither the boredom nor the danger of the voyage, they disregarded them all.I'll also make an exception for the deadpan Jem West.He is a man who is always on the alert, always ready to deal with all kinds of accidents.As for the Guys, the happiness of their reunion often made them forget their worries about the future.

I really cannot but praise Heligley, a man of integrity.As soon as he spoke in his reassuring voice, people perked up again.He often said: "We will arrive safely, my friends, we will arrive! . . . Do your calculations, and you will see that the numbers of good luck have outweighed the numbers of bad luck! . . . Yes! . . . Knowing... our brig is lost!... Poor 'Hallebrena', first thrown into the air like a balloon, then thrown into the abyss like an avalanche!...But, to make up for our loss Loss, another iceberg to carry us to shore, another Zalar boat to join us and bring Captain William Gay and his three companions!  … Be at ease, the current, the The sea breeze has been pushing us here, and it will push us further!...I really feel that we have the upper hand!...With so many trump cards in our hands, we can't lose!...The only one It's a pity that we're going back to Australia or New Zealand, and we can't drop anchor in front of the 'Green Heron' inn near Harburg harbour, Christmas in the Kerglenn Islands! . . . "

Very frustrating indeed for the best friend of Uncle Atkins!However, the rest of us can calmly bear this possibility of regret! During the week, the course was maintained well, neither deviated east nor west.It was not until March 21 that the land of Halle Brena disappeared from the port side of the Paracuta. I have always called this land the Land of Halle Breenne, because its coast extends unceasingly to this latitude.This is a vast continent in Antarctica, and for us there is no doubt about it. When the current went north and the land rounded and turned northeastward, it was self-evident that the Paracuta stopped advancing along the edge of the land.Although the sea is still flowing freely in this part of the sea, there are already groups of icebergs or ice sheets on the sea—the ice sheets are very similar to the broken pieces of large pieces of glass, and the area or height of the icebergs is already considerable.Timely maneuvering among these moving masses was necessary, both to find the passage, and to save our little boat from being crushed like a grain in a millstone.Therefore, navigating in the dark fog is full of difficulties and dangers.

Captain Lan Guy could not find our bearing now, either in latitude or longitude.Without the sun, the sun's height cannot be measured.It is too complicated to use the position of the stars to calculate.So the "Paracuta" had to follow the current, which, according to the direction indicated by the compass, was going northward.From the mean speed of the current, it may be estimated that our boat lay between the 68th and 69th parallels by this day, March 27th.That is to say, barring a miscalculation, we are only about seventy nautical miles from the polar circle. "Ah! If there are no more obstacles during this difficult voyage, and if the passage between the Antarctic inland sea and the Pacific Ocean is guaranteed to be unblocked, the "Paracuta" will reach the edge of the Antarctic ocean in a few days. .But there is still almost a hundred miles to go, and the ice pack will still spread its immovable ice barrier. Unless there is a free passage, otherwise, it will have to be bypassed from the east or west. Once passed, really……

Yes, once over the great ice pack, our flimsy boat is in the dreadful Pacific Ocean.Now is the most ferocious stormy season of the year, even the big ship can't withstand its turbulent waves, and has been repeatedly damaged... We don't want to think about it...God will help us...Someone will deliver us...Yes! ... We'll be picked up by the big ship... The bosun's been sure of that, we'll just have to listen to the bosun! ... However, the sea has started to freeze.Several times, we had to break through the ice sheet to make a passage.The temperature gauge only points to the end of 4 Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees 56 minutes Celsius).Though our blankets were thick, we suffered from severe cold and wind in this undecked boat.

Fortunately there was enough bacon to last for several weeks, three sacks of biscuits and two unopened barrels of gin.As for fresh water, it can be obtained from melting ice. All in all, for six days, until April 2, the Paracuta had to make its way through the mountains of the Great Ice Pack.The peaks of the great ice packs outline their pointed silhouettes at a height of seven or eight hundred feet above sea level.Whether it is east or west, it is endless.We cannot cross the great ice pack without our small boats encountering a free-flowing channel. With good luck, on April 2nd, they finally found the passage.Amidst all difficulties and dangers, the boat advances along the channel.yes!It took all the zeal, courage, and tact of our sailors and their superiors to get through this.We are forever indebted to Captains Lan and William Guy, Chief Mate Jem West and Boatswain.

We are finally on the surface of the South Pacific.However, our boat was badly damaged during the long and difficult journey.The twisted seams are frayed, and the hull plating is in danger of cracking, with water entering more than one place.Keep busy getting water out.The waves poured in from above the gunwale, and it was unbearable! It is true that the sea is breezy and the sea is calm. The real danger is not the danger of sailing. The real danger was that there was not a single sailing vessel to be seen on this part of the sea, nor a whaler to be seen going to and from the fishing grounds.In early April, the ships had already left these places.We arrived too late, weeks late...

We later learned that anyone who had been here two months earlier would have encountered the ships of the American expedition. On February 21st, Captain Wilkes discovered a coast at 95° 50' East longitude and 64° 17' South latitude.He and one of the ships, the Vincennes, surveyed the coast and found that it stretched from east to west along the 66th parallel.Later, as winter approached, he turned the bow and returned to Hobarttown, Tasmania. The French expedition led by Captain Dumont Cuvier set off in 1838 for the second attempt to advance to the South Pole.On January 21, 1840, the expedition discovered Adley Land at latitude 66°30' south and longitude 138°21' east.Then, on January 29, at latitude 64° 30' south and longitude 129° 54' east, the coast of Clary was discovered.With these important discoveries completed, the expedition concluded and the Astrolabe and Faithful left the Antarctic Ocean for Hobarttown. None of these ships remain in this area.When the little walnut-shell Paracuta was beyond the great ice pack, with her lonely sails, facing the open sea, we had to believe that our salvation was hopeless. We are 1,500 nautical miles away from the nearest land, and winter has come for more than a month... Even Heligly himself readily admitted that he had counted on us to have one last good fortune, and now that good fortune has just left us... On the 6th of April, our provisions were exhausted, and the wind began to pick up, and the boat pitched violently, threatening to be engulfed at every wave. "Boat!" The bosun shouted, and immediately, under the mist that had just drawn its curtain four nautical miles to the northeast, we could make out the outline of a ship. We immediately set up the signal, and they found the signal immediately.The boat stopped, and the longboat was put into the sea to rescue us. This is the American Charleston three-masted ship "Tasman".On board we were greeted with hospitality and warmth.The captain treats my companion as if he were his own countryman... The "Tasman" sailed from the Falkland Islands.In the Falklands they learned that seven months earlier the British brig Halle Brena had sailed into the Antarctic sea to find the victims of the Jenny.But when winter came, the brig didn't appear again, and people thought that the ship probably lost its people and belongings in the Antarctic region. The last leg of the voyage was smooth and swift.Fifteen days later, the Tasman disembarked the surviving crew of the two brigs in Melbourne, Victoria, New Holland.In Melbourne, handing out to our crew their well-deserved bonuses! From the map, we can see that the "Paracuta" sailed out between Dumont Cuvier's Clary Land and the Fabricia Land discovered by Balleny in 1838, and came to the Pacific Ocean of. Thus came the end of this thrilling and extraordinary expedition.It is a pity how many lives were sacrificed!All in all, the chance and necessity of this voyage took me to the South Pole farther than our predecessors, even beyond the axis of the Earth.But in this sea area, how many great discoveries are yet to be made! Arthur Pym, Edgar Allan Poe's highly acclaimed hero, had pointed the way...his way was to be followed by others.Someone else is bound to go, and let the ice sphinx reveal the last secrets of the mysterious Antarctica!