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 were all Eskimos, and they approached visitors with civility. The doctor, as a philologist, knew a little Danish, which was enough to establish friendly relations with them; Foucault, who is also an ice floe navigator, 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, and the city had three log houses belonging to him and a Lutheran priest, a school, and shops for slaying ships replenished.The rest are just igloos into which the Eskimos climb through the only opening.

Most of the people stood on the forward deck of the Vanguard, and more than one local came to the middle of the bay in a raft that was no more than fifteen feet long and two feet wide. The doctor knew that the word Eskimo meant someone who ate raw fish, but he also knew that the term was used as a spell in this area, so he could only refer to the inhabitants 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 Like all fish-eating people, leprosy would consume some of them, but their health was 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 were worth about one thousand francs, a bear skin was worth forty Danish dollars, and a blue fox fur was worth four Danish dollars. Danish dollars, a silver fox fur is worth two or three Danish dollars.

The doctor also wanted to visit an Eskimo igloo for the purpose of perfecting his personal education. One cannot imagine what a learned scholar can do. Fortunately, the entrances to igloos are extremely narrow. Can't get in.He was spared because there is nothing more repulsive than this heap of dead or alive, seal or Eskimo meat, rotting fish, stinking clothes, such is the furnishing of a Greenlander's hut, without a The windows can change the suffocating air, and there is only a hole in the roof of the igloo to let the smoke out, but the stench cannot. 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 over time. Over time the term has been used to describe the proud Crawford. While the former was conducting his ethnographic studies, Sandon was following instructions to obtain ice transport, and he bought a sledge and six dogs for a hundred francs, and the natives were very reluctant to give them to him. Sandon also wanted to hire the skilled coachman Hans.Christian, he used to be Mark.A member of Captain Clintock's expedition, but this Hans was in North Greenland at the time. There's a big question coming up on the agenda, is there a European in Urbana Vik waiting for the Voyage to pass by?Does the Governor know about this?A foreigner who looks like a British settles in these areas?When was his last connection 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 have to admit, doctor, it's incredible, he said to his partner, Farewell to nothing!Disko Island got nothing!Urbana Vik got nothing! A few days later you repeated to me: Melville Bay was nothing, my dear Sandon, and I congratulate you on being the only captain of the HS. The whaler returned to the galley in the evening, bringing visitors, and as for fresh food, Strong brought in a dozen eider eggs, each the size of two eggs, 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 fair wind, but Sandon did not give the order to set sail. He wanted to wait a day, and in order to have a clear conscience, allow time for any creature belonging to the human race to rendezvous with the Forward. A Type Six gun, which made a loud noise among the icebergs, but only scared off flocks of seabirds and rock quail.Many shots were fired into the air during the night, but to no avail.Should consider leaving. At six o'clock in the morning on May 8th, the Forward unfurled the second square sail, the foresail and the third greatsail, the colony of Urbana Vik and the ugly sticks of seal's entrails and daemon rumen hanging along the river bank All gone.

The wind blows from the southeast, and the temperature rises to 0 degrees Celsius.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 March 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; It was purely caused by plants, and Crowburny originally wanted to observe this strange phenomenon from a close distance, but due to the floating ice, he was unable to approach the coast. Gathered 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 March left Huntston Bay near the 74th parallel north 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 the eleventh of May 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 ice floes: there was at every moment the danger of a lack of water ahead of the Vanguard's wheels, and if it were clamped, it would It's hard to get out.Everyone understands, everyone is thinking about it.

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 twelfth of May, the ship was sealed up all around and her engines were powerless.A road should be carved out in the middle of the ice field.It is difficult to use an ice saw in ice floes as thick as six or seven feet.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 by arm. The greatest difficulty was to get the broken ice back into the pack to make way for the boat. They had to be pushed 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. All to make the crew of the Marching ship weak and imaginative. 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 Advance arrived at 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 strange effects, much to the amazement of the doctor, where he thought one jump would take five or six; 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 climbed, with difficulty, an iceberg three hundred feet high, from which they overlooked the desolate snowdrift, like the ruins of a gigantic city, with its upright and toppled obelisk. Shaped monuments, toppled bell towers, crumbling palaces, a veritable chaos.The sun dragged its planet with difficulty around a horizon of uprights and pinnacles, casting long oblique lines of heatless light, as if matter impenetrable to radiant heat had been placed between it and this desolate region. You can see the sea as far as the eye can see. How do we get there?The doctor said. I don't know, Sandon answered, but we'll get over it, and we can blast these icebergs with gunpowder, and I'm sure I won't let these ice floes trap next spring. Just like the situation encountered by the Fox in this area.ah!The doctor said that we can get by as long as we can be more optimistic.You see, it takes all the engines in the world! Admittedly, Sandon replied, things didn't look too good this year. There is no doubt about it, Sandon, and I see a tendency in Baffinsea to return to what it was before 1817. Don't you think, doctor, that the situation has always been the same now? No, my dear Sandon, from time to time great thaws occur which the scientists cannot explain: for instance, when the sea was blocked until 1817, when a great catastrophe occurred, These icebergs were thrown into the ocean, and most of them stranded 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 navigation become easier since then? Incomparably simple, but it has been noticed for many years that the bay has a tendency to recede and to close, and may continue for a long time, according to the investigations of navigators.Another reason is that we can go as far as we can.And we are a bit like people advancing down 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. I!I will never be one step behind others, even if it is gone forever, I will keep going forward.It's just that I insist that we know very well what awaits us if we don't proceed with caution. How about you, Gary, what do you think?Shandon asked the sailor. I, Commander, I keep going.I think as Mr. Crawford thinks, and besides, do as you please, and we will do as you command. Not all are as you say, Garry, replied Sandon, not all are willing to obey!What if they refuse to obey my orders? I told you what I think, Commander, Gary retorted coldly, because you asked me, but you don't have to obey it. Shan Dun didn't answer, he looked at the horizon intently, and went down into the ice field with his two companions.