“Suddenly,” he says, “I caught sight of three objects, and one of these was the hand and arm of a body raised out of the snow.... I identified De Long at a glance by his coat. He lay on his right side, with his right hand under his cheek, his head pointing north, and his face turned towards the west. His feet were drawn slightly up, as though he were sleeping; his left arm was raised with the elbow bent, and his hand, thus horizontally lifted, was bare. About four feet back of him, or towards the east, I found his small notebook, or ice-journal, where he had tossed it with his left hand, which looked as though it had never recovered from the act, but had frozen as I found it, upraised.”

During his ill-fated cruise, De Long not only made a number of valuable physical observations in an unknown region, but he also proved the Siberian Ocean to be a shallow basin dotted with islands, and exploded the theory of a great continent to the north of Asia.

CHAPTER XXVII
LEIGH SMITH AND THE “EIRA”

Not a little of our knowledge of Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land is due to the exertions of that able yachtsman and hunter, Leigh Smith, of whom mention has already been made in connection with his rescue of the unfortunate Swedes at Mussel Bay. Leigh Smith first comes into the story of Arctic Exploration early in the ’seventies, when in a series of three voyages, he examined the coast of Spitzbergen and corrected several errors which then obtained credence concerning the outline of North-East Land. Valuable as were the scientific results of these voyages, however, we need not concern ourselves particularly with them, and it is not until 1880, when he paid his first visit to Franz Josef Land, that we have to enter into the story of his doings in any detail.

Experience had taught him that discoveries could always be made in the icy seas by perseverance and by promptly seizing any opportunities that might arise, so, when he decided to make another expedition northward, he made up his mind to sail for the Spitzbergen seas, to conduct a careful examination of the ice over a large area, and then to prosecute his researches in the direction which seemed most promising. With this end in view, he had built for himself a steam yacht of 360 tons burden and 50 horse-power, which he named the Eira, and with a company of twenty-nine, he set sail for the north in June 1880.

His first objective was Jan Mayen, but he was prevented from examining that interesting island by the fact that it was, as usual, enveloped in a thick mist. He next turned his attention to the east coast of Greenland, which, of course, still offers a splendid field to the adventurous explorer, but here again he was foiled, for the coast was so encumbered by ice that it was impossible for him to approach it. He then shaped his course for Spitzbergen, but falling in with the two famous whalers, David and John Gray, he learnt that the ice was equally bad in that direction. Accordingly, he determined to try his luck in the Barents Sea, and to discover once and for all whether there was a practicable sea-route to Franz Josef Land. Payer and Weyprecht had, of course, found their way thither in 1871, but as we have seen, they had been drifted there with the ice; a Dutchman named De Bruyne had actually sighted its high land in 1879, but he had not succeeded in reaching it; while, in the same year, Captain Markham, in his little yacht the Isbjörn, had pushed as far north as lat. 78° 24´, and had come to the conclusion that a steamer ought to be able to make its way through the loose ice with which the sea was cumbered without very much difficulty. There was, therefore, every reason for Leigh Smith to hope that he would be able to reach those shores which had never been visited since they were first discovered.

Though the sea was covered with ice and dense fogs were of frequent occurrence, he succeeded in bringing the Eira through in safety, and on August 14 she was lying at anchor off May Island, which is situated just to the south of Hooker Island. Continuing her journey, she steamed past Barents Hook, round the southern shore of Northbrook Island, and up to Bell Island, between which and Mabel Island an excellent anchorage was found and named Eira Harbour. Making that his base, Leigh Smith surveyed the coast-line in all directions, adding about 110 miles to the maps, and forming an interesting collection of the flora and fauna of the country. Towards the end of August the weather became threatening, so he determined to bid farewell to Franz Josef Land for that year, as he was not prepared to spend a winter there.

With a view to convincing doubters that the voyage to Franz Josef Land would be practicable in any year, he set out on his second voyage thither in the following summer. The Eira was more hampered by ice than had been the case before, but on July 23 land was sighted, and Leigh Smith set his course for Cape Ludlow. After exploring much of the coast-line which he had been unable to reach during his previous visit, he made for Bell Island, off which he anchored on August 6.

He had just finished examining Cape Flora and was thinking of turning eastwards, in the hope that he might pick up some traces of the lost Jeannette, when a calamity took place which completely upset all his plans. For one fine Sunday morning, when the weather was beautifully calm, and there seemed to be nothing to fear, the pack-ice suddenly came down with the tide, and the Eira was caught between it and the land floe. She was protected by a grounded berg, and for a while no injury was done to her. Then, without any warning, the berg gave way, the Eira heeled over, and the water came pouring into her hold, probably through a hole made by a tongue of ice. The pumps were tried, but without much effect, so all hands were set to work, passing provisions and anything else that they could save out on to the ice. Within two hours she was at the bottom, in eleven fathoms of water.

There was now nothing for the men to do but to make the best of a bad business, and to set about preparations for the winter. Fortunately the land abounds with bears and walruses, and thanks to the united efforts of the crew and of Bob, their retriever, the larder was soon filled with a sufficient store of meat to last them comfortably till the spring. Bob seems to have been a veritable Nimrod among dogs, and to have combined an enthusiasm for hunting with an unusual degree of sagacity. On one occasion, while out for a constitutional by himself, he came upon a herd of seahorses, and succeeded in conveying the intelligence to his human friends, to the great benefit of the larder. On another occasion, he decoyed a bear right up to the door of the hut, where it was promptly shot, while he once nearly died a sportsman’s death in the embrace of a moribund bear, which, in his zeal, he had approached rather too closely.