CHAPTER IV
THE GERMAN EXPEDITION (1869−70)
The German Expedition left Bremerhaven on 15th June 1869. There were two boats—the Germania and the Hansa. The expedition was to make the east coast of Greenland and then penetrate to the north as far as possible.
The ice was reached on 15th July. On the 20th of July the two ships were separated through a misunderstanding, and they never met again.
From the 20th of July till the end of August the Hansa struggled through the pack-ice which drifts along the coast of Greenland. According to instructions, it was to attempt to reach Sabine Island, but that was found impossible. At the end of August it became fast in the ice, and drifted south.
On the 27th September the crew of the Hansa began building a house with coal-tiles on the floe. It was 20 feet long, 14 feet broad, and 6½ feet in the gable, while the side walls were 4 feet 8 inches high. For cement, powdered snow was used, and over this water was poured, which soon froze the whole into a compact mass.
About the middle of October the Hansa was wrecked by the pressure of the ice. It sprang a leak and slowly sank, and the crew had sufficient time to save a good many necessary articles which were stacked round the house on the floe.
The ice-field slowly but steadily drifted to the south. By the 3rd of November it had passed the Liverpool coast, and had reached Scoresby’s Sound. A walrus and several bears were shot, and supplied the party with fresh meat. November and December passed, and nothing particular happened. Christmas was spent in quite an enjoyable manner, after the German fashion. On the 2nd of January 1870 a storm arose, and when it was over it was discovered that half of the floe had been destroyed. On the 11th another storm did great damage, and greatly reduced the size of the floe. A huge gap opened in the ice near to the house, and all the firewood drifted into the raging sea. The floe was now only 150 feet in diameter, but during the night the masses of ice became closely packed again. On the 14th another frightful storm was experienced: a fissure opened in the ice under the house and the roof fell in, but fortunately the inmates all escaped. Some shelter was obtained in the boats during the next five nights, until a new house half the size of the old one was built. This house had sleeping-room for only six men, so that from this time the remainder had to sleep in the boats. It was not until the 7th of May that the opportunity came to leave the floe in their boats. They had spent 200 days on the ice. On the 4th of June they succeeded in reaching the island of Illuidlek. They left the island on the 6th and made for Friedrichsthal, the nearest colony on the south-west coast of Greenland, which was reached on the 13th of June, and where they received a hearty welcome. After a few days here, they journeyed to Julianashaab, about 80 miles distant, from which they obtained a boat for Europe.
After parting with the Hansa on the 20th of July, the Germania battled with the ice in various latitudes, and after great difficulties succeeded in reaching Sabine Island on the 5th of August.
Sabine Island is one of the Pendulum Islands discovered by Clavering in 1823. The Germania finally wintered in a little bay in the south-east corner of the island, after making a trip to the north of Shannon Island.