Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Powerful Polar Current

Soon there were more and more birds, petrels and shearwaters living in this lonely sea area approached Greenland, and the Forward sailed quickly to the north, leaving a long black smoke on the leeward side. On Wednesday, April 17, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, the ice floe pilot soon noticed the glare of the ice floe.The pack ice is at least twenty miles north-northwest.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 at a distance of more than thirty nautical miles that cannot be seen by 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, and the March put on the second sail, jib and foresail, and sailed towards the Cape of Good Hope. At three 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 Vanguard passed through the center of the glacier's individual floes, where the packs were most densely packed, drifting with the waves despite being tightly bound together.

As dawn broke the next day, the lookout crew noticed a ship, the small Danish frigate Valkyrie, approaching on its way to the shores of the New World.The current in the strait was so strong that Sandon had to set sail to swim upstream. At this time, the commander, 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 true, Sandon replied, that it is difficult for a sailboat to sail upstream. Especially, James.Wall added that people encountered it from the east coast of the Americas, not the east coast of Greenland.

I see!That, says the doctor, specifically explains why people are looking for the Northwest Passage!The velocity of this current was about five knots per hour, and it was hard to imagine that it came from the bottom of a bay. This 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, which flows from south to north, and should be its source. In this light, gentlemen, said the doctor, it should be admitted that America is completely cut off from the poles, and that the waters of the Pacific flow round its shores into the Atlantic.Moreover, the maximum height of the former currents also explains their discharge into the European seas.

But, Sandon went on, such a theory must be based on facts; if anything, he added with some irony, our almighty science should know. The latter, no doubt, with a kind of friendly contentment, and if you are interested in this, I tell you that those whales wounded in Davis Strait were caught shortly afterward near Tartar Strait with European What about the 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 with a smile, I can give other evidence, such as that these drifting logs that fill Davis Strait are larch, aspen, and other tropical species.But we know that the Gulf Stream prevents these logs from entering the strait; if they come out, they can only enter through the Bering Strait.

I believe, doctor, and I admit that it is difficult not to believe you. Indeed, Johnson said, the time has come to draw conclusions.I saw near by a log of considerable size; and if the commander would permit, we would hoist the trunk up, and put it on board, and ask what country it came from. great!The doctor said that after the theory comes the example. 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.

This is irrefutable, exclaimed the doctor passionately, 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 the tree was At the equator, apparently it comes directly from the Bering Strait.Well, gentlemen, look at these sea borers, they belong to the tropics. Indeed, Wall went on to say, it showed that those who belittled that famous journey were wrong. But this will make them very unbearable!The doctor replied, Well, I will tell you the history of this mahogany: it was washed into the Pacific Ocean by some river in Panama or Guatemala Isthmus; from there, the current dragged it along the American coast to Bering The straits, willingly or not, had to enter the polar seas; it was not so decayed and flooded as to judge that it had just set out; Reaching the Baffin Sea, he was caught by the northern tide, and was captured alongside the March through Davis Strait.Dr. Crowburni was so overjoyed that he asked the commanding officer for permission to preserve it as a specimen.

Get your hands on it, Sandon said, but let me tell you the other way around, you're not the only one with this residue.Danish ruler on Disko Island On the coast of Greenland?The doctor went on to say that there was a table of mahogany made of trunks suspended in the same circumstances; , I could build myself a living room out of this 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 cut, and the forward only held the foresail 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 Captain Dog, he is happy with his natural coat; he seems indifferent to changes in temperature; he should have been through similar tests more than once, not to mention, a Dane has no right to show pickiness .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 degrees 2 minutes 7 seconds was faintly visible; the doctor put on the binoculars and saw icebergs plowing out thousands of ravines for a period of time. 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 Vanguard encountered an iceberg one hundred and fifty feet high, which had run aground here in ancient times. It had not melted, and still retained its strange appearance.Snow saw it; James.Ross drew a realistic picture of it in 1829. The French lieutenant Bello saw its whole picture on the Prince Albert. Naturally, the doctor also wanted to preserve the style of this famous mountain. He drew a picture quite Sketch of success. 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 minus 11 degrees, and the sky was snowy and foggy, we saw Farewell Cape, and the Forward arrived on the appointed day; if the strange captain was willing to return in this weather that should be cursed If so, he has nothing to complain about. That is, said the doctor to himself, this famous headland, how well this headland has been so named!Many bypass it like we do, only to never see it again!To say goodbye to his European friends?You pass here, Frobisher, Knight, Barlow, Worm, Barents, Scroggs, Hudson, Broswell, Franklin, Crozier, Bellow, but you never Can't go home, this cape is really a farewell cape for you! Around 970 AD, voyagers from Iceland discovered Greenland.Sebastian.Kabo went deep into latitude fifty-six degrees in 1498; Gaspar and Michel.Goth Yar from 1500 to 1502 to latitude sixty degrees, Martin.Frobisher reached the bay that bears his name in 1576. The honor of discovering the strait in 1585 belongs to Jean.Davis, two years later, this brave sailor, this great whaler, on his third voyage, reached latitude 73 degrees north and longitude 27 degrees west. Barents in 1596, Weymouth in 1602, James.In 1605 and 1607, Moore named Hudson, James.Poole more or less entered this strait in 1611 in search of the North-West Passage, and its discovery greatly shortened the distance between the two worlds. Baffin discovered Lancaster Strait in 1616 in the ocean named after him; James.Munk in 1619; Knight, Barlow, Worm and Skgross in 1719 discovered it one after another, but they have not heard from them since. In 1776, Lieutenant Pickersgill, who was sent to meet Captain Cook, was able to pass through the Bering Strait to the sixty-eighth latitude; James.Ross followed, and he circumnavigated the Baffin Sea in 1818, correcting the hydrographic errors of the pioneers. Finally, in 1819 and 1820, the famous Barry set out from Lancaster Channel, went through hardships and obstacles, and arrived at Melville Island, where he received the 125,000 francs promised to the British sailors by the treaty of Congress. for their honorarium, they crossed the 170th meridian above the 77th latitude. In 1826, Beecher arrived at Camisot Island; James.Ross wintered in Prince Regent Sound from 1829 to 1833, where he discovered the magnetic poles, among other important work. During this period, Franklin confirmed the southern coast of America by land, and the south bank of the Macon West River at the angle of rotation; Captain Baker followed suit from 1823 to 1835. These expeditions were led by MM.Dietz, Simpson and Dr. Ray finally finished. Finally, John.Sir Franklin, eager to find the Northwest Passage, left England in 1845 on the Erebus and the Terror. He entered the Baffin Sea. Since he arrived at Disko Island, no one has heard of his expedition. up. 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.