The return to civilised life and its food and comforts was attended with swollen legs and feet, diarrhœa, and severe headache. The Tigress landed the party at St. John’s on 12th May.
The voyage of the Polaris extended considerably our knowledge of the Smith Sound route towards the Pole. It also did much to explode the theory of an open Polar Sea. The Polaris was carried to a more northern point than a vessel had ever before reached, and it prepared the way for the British Expedition of 1875.
One might naturally suppose that the Arctic regions would offer no further attractions to those who suffered the terrible experience on the drifting ice, but it will be afterwards seen that at least one of the party played a noble rôle in another American Expedition which met with disaster.
KAISER FRANZ JOSEF LAND AS KNOWN IN 1874.
CHAPTER VI
THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EXPEDITION (1872−74)
The failure of the second German Arctic Expedition to reach a high latitude on the east coast of Greenland directed attention to the seas of Novaya Zemlya. In order, however, that large sums of money might not be spent on a plan which might be unfeasible, it was decided to dispatch a pioneer expedition under the joint command of Lieutenant Weyprecht and Julius Payer. The latter had greatly distinguished himself in the German Expedition.
In order to diminish expenses, a small sailing ship, the Isbjorn, of 55 tons, was chartered at Tromsoe. She was new and strong, and this was her first voyage. Her bows were protected with sheet iron, 2 feet above, and 2 feet under water. The crew consisted of eight Norwegians.
Tromsoe was left on the 20th June 1871. They were detained two days at Sandoe by contrary winds, and on the 28th the first ice was met in 73° 40′ south-east of Bear Island. Here they passed through 40 miles of loose drift-ice, and then met the pack in 74° 30′. Calms set in, and the Isbjorn was beset for ten days. On the 10th July it escaped and sailed eastward. They reached longitude 40° E., and then were forced to return westward. Hope Island was reached, and the course was then directed north, but ice was met with in 76° 30′. Three attempts were made to reach Stor-Fiord from the western side of Cape Lookout, but each time the Isbjorn was driven back by the current.