On the 24th of August, when he had advanced in a southerly direction almost as far as 76° N. latitude, he observed much drift ice at a distance of forty miles from the coast.
On the 29th of August Carlsen again steered north, and anew anchored at Cape Hooft. North of Matthew’s Strait, Captain Carlsen had fallen in with Captain F. Mack, who was provided with better instruments, supplied by the Meteorological Institution at Christiania. By means of these instruments, both captains made very correct observations, with such success that they noted down the north-east point of Novaya Zemlya as lying in 67° 30′ E. longitude, instead of in 73°, as was given in the latest charts. They found that the land to the north-east [[xlvi]]of Novaya Zemlya lay pointing more towards the north than to the north-east, as given in the previous charts. These observations proved the calculations of the old Dutch navigators to have been perfectly correct, and restored to them the reputation of which they had been so long defrauded.
As for the subsequent part of Captain Carlsen’s voyage, we had better follow his own ship’s log. In it he says:—
“Sept. 7. Strong breeze from the south with weather overcast, and two reefs in the mainsail. Anchored in the afternoon under the land near Barendsz harbour, where Barendsz wintered. Pumped the ship free.
“Friday, 8. Gale from the west with detached sky. We began to flinch (the animals we had caught on the 6th). Afternoon we finished flinching and repaired the gaff, which was broken. Let go also our port anchor. 8 o’clock pumped the ship free. During the night strong breeze.
“Saturday, 9. Strong breeze from the S.W. Sky overcast. 8 o’clock forenoon we went under sail and coursed south along the land. 6 o’clock in the afternoon, we saw walrus on the ice, boats were lowered, and we caught two of them; we also saw a house on shore, which had fallen down. At noon we observed the latitude 76° 12′, the distance from shore guessed. The house on shore was 16 metres long by 10 metres broad, and the fir-wood planks, of which it was composed, were 1½ inches thick by from 14 to 16 inches broad, and as far as we could make out they were nailed together. The first things we saw amongst the ruins of the house were two ships’ cooking pans of copper, a crowbar or bar of iron, a gun-barrel, an alarum, a clock, a chest in which was found several files and other instruments, many engravings, a flute, and also a few articles of dress. There were also two other chests, but they [[xlvii]]were empty, only filled up with ice, and there was an iron frame over the fire-place with shifting bar.
“Sunday, 10. Light breeze from the N.W., almost calm, clear sky, we sailed along the coast S.S.E. In the afternoon we caught two walrus. 8 o’clock pumped the ship free. During the whole night calm.
“Monday, 11. Light breeze from the west. Sky overcast. In the afternoon the wind freshened from the west. We put three reefs in the mainsail. 8 o’clock pumped the ship free. The whole night gale from the S.W.
“Tuesday, 12. Gale from the S.W. We are obliged to return to Ledenaji Bay (Ice Harbour), where, on the evening of the 9th we had found the ruined house. At noon we anchored in the bay, and went again on shore and found several things, viz., candlesticks, tankards with lid of zinc, a sword, a halberd head, two books, several navigation instruments, an iron chest already quite rusted.
“Wednesday, 13. Gale from the W.N.W. At noon we went under sail, but as we made a little south the wind shifted to the S.W., and in order to keep off we had to let go both anchors. Storm with snow. 8 o’clock pumped the ship free. During the night, light breeze.
“Thursday, 14. Calm with clear sky. 4 o’clock in the morning we went ashore further to investigate the wintering place. On digging we found again several objects, such as drumsticks, a hilt of a sword, and spears. Altogether it seemed that the people had been equipped in a war-like manner, but nothing was found which could indicate the presence of human remains. On the beach we found pieces of wood which had formerly belonged to some part of a ship, for which reason I believe that a vessel has been wrecked there, the crew of which built the house with the materials of the wreck and afterwards betook themselves to the boats. Five sailors’ trunks were still in the house, which might also have been used as 5 berths, at least as far as we could make out. We now set to work to build a cairn, and erected a wooden pole 20 feet high. We placed in the [[xlviii]]cairn a description of what we had found, shut up in a double tin-case, after which we returned on board and went under sail. At noon the wind was N.E., observed latitude about 76° 7′ N., longitude 68° E. (Greenwich). We steered in the direction S. by W. along the land. 8 o’clock pumped the ship free. The whole night light breeze.”
Thus far, we have let the log speak for itself. After having quitted the house, Carlsen intended to return home by circumnavigating the island. Following, therefore, the east coast in a southerly direction, he soon passed several icebergs.
On the 16th of September he fell in with much ice, which probably by the west and north-west wind was driven from the land.
On the 18th it froze so stiff that they had to cut their way through the ice.
On the 19th, being becalmed, the ship could move neither forward nor backward. During the afternoon the wind freshened from the south-west, upon which they tried to approach nearer to the land.
On the 20th they had again to cut their way through the ice, which was already strong enough to bear them. Till eight o’clock in the evening they worked to reach a lead close to the land.
On the 21st, Carlsen, in about 74° N. latitude, was, during a storm from the north-east, in great danger of losing his ship. Closed in by the ice, he drifted that and both the following days with the ice, in a south-western direction, during which time he could see from the crow’s nest open water towards the north-east and east. Not before the 30th of [[xlix]]September, in 72° 25′ N. latitude, did he again succeed in reaching open water, thus, fortunately, escaping a fate similar to that of Barendsz.