The lands of silence

by Sir Clements R. Markham

Julius Payer

The second cruise of the Eira in 1881 was disastrous. No less than ten days of ice navigation, towards the end of July, were required to reach the coast, the floes being closely packed together. Gun-cotton was found to be very useful in blasting the ice. Franz Josef Land was sighted on the 23rd July, and the Eira reached a point further west than was possible in the previous year, Cape Lofley being the extreme western point discovered. Some days were then spent at Cape Flora dredging and collecting plants and fossils.

On the 21st August the pack ice came in with the tide, and the Eira, caught and crushed between it and the ground floe, at once filled and went down. Her yards, catching on the ice, held her for a few seconds, but they soon broke in the slings with a loud crash as she settled. She sank in 11 fathoms, and looking down from the ice, she could be seen quite distinctly. All hands had been employed getting provisions out on the ice and saving everything that could be got at until just before she sank. Some spars and planking floated up and were secured. During the rest of August the men were busily engaged in building a hut of turf and stones, collecting drift-wood, and shooting walrus, bears, and looms, for their existence depended on obtaining sufficient fresh animal food. During the autumn 21 walrus, 13 bears, and 1200 looms were shot. They had saved from the vessel 1500 lb. of flour, 400 lb. of bread, a barrel of salt meat, 1000 lb. of preserved meat, 800 tins of soups, besides preserved vegetables, tobacco, some cases of whisky and brandy, and 7 cwt. of coal. All hands kept in perfect health throughout the winter, a fact which reflects great credit on Dr Neale.

On the 21st June, 1884, Leigh Smith and his party set out on their perilous voyage in four boats, and after 42 days the shipwrecked sailors sighted the coast of Novaya Zemlya on August 2nd. Near the entrance to the Matyushin Shar they met the Hope, under the command of Sir Allen Young, who had come out to search for the missing crew, and all returned home in safety.

There was an interval of ten years before the investigation of Franz Josef Land was resumed. Its next explorer, Frederick G. Jackson, was destined to do good work there. He began by a preliminary journey in the country of the Samoyeds and the Lapps in 1893, carefully studying their dress and equipments, and to some extent adopting them. Mr. Harmsworth, the newspaper proprietor, having found the funds, the Windward, an old whaler, was bought, and an expedition fitted out. Jackson was a keen sportsman, and a man of original mind, ready to adopt the well-tried methods of his predecessors, but quite as ready to invent new contrivances, or to make improvements as experience suggested. He had with him Lieut. Armitage, an excellent officer of the P. and O. service, as surveyor and astronomer, Dr Koettlitz as surgeon and geologist, and three other men of science. As the Windward was to land the party and return, a log house was taken in pieces, besides four ponies and sixteen dogs for sledge work, and three years’ provisions.

The house was built on Northbrook Island, where there was likely to be a supply of walrus and bear, as strong currents prevented the formation of permanent ice. Unfortunately the Windward was obliged to winter also, and scurvy broke out, but she returned in the following summer. After a short preliminary run of a week, the important journey northwards was commenced on the 16th April, 1895, with three ponies drawing six sledges, and provisions for 63 days; but the journey actually only occupied 26 days. The sledges were 9 ft. 6 in. long, with a width of only 18 in., which is much too narrow. The allowance of food per man per day was 3 lb.—about the same as M’Clintock’s scale. Their aluminium cooking apparatus (5½ lb.) was an invention of Jackson’s, and they provided themselves against an arrest of progress on meeting water by taking an aluminium boat (150 lb.) and a canvas kayak.

The clothing was an imitation of that worn by the Lapps—militzas or loose frocks with the fur inside, and tobacks or hay-stuffed boots for the feet. Jackson wore knee breeches of warm cloth, a loose jumper of thick woollen stuff, a close-fitting cap covering ears and back of the neck, a cloth mask, and a light linen covering. The tent was a low cone, difficult to pitch in a gale. It was pitched for luncheon, and warm tea was made, with biscuit, cheese, and bacon. They had no sleeping-bags. The great trouble was the slushy condition of the snow and the frequent snowstorms. This first journey established the fact that the western half of Franz Josef Land was not one land but an archipelago, and that a channel passed up to a wide northern sea. Two hundred and seventy miles of new coast line were discovered. In the second season Jackson had the great pleasure of rescuing Nansen and Johansen from their perilous, indeed almost hopeless position. In the third season a longer journey was undertaken, part of it over the glacier of the western island. Only one pony had survived; this died on the journey, and the deaths of dogs reduced the number to five. Again the snow was soft and slushy, and the snowstorms so frequent that during the whole journey of 55 days only thirteen were fine. At its conclusion they had explored 250 miles in a direct line, probably travelling nearly 500—a very remarkable journey. The results were important. The western islands of the group were discovered and explored, the most western point was ascertained, and its distance from Spitsbergen found to be 250 miles. After three winters the Windward brought the Jackson expedition safely back to England in September 1887.

We owe our knowledge of the extremely interesting Franz Josef group chiefly to the labours of Payer, Leigh Smith, and Jackson. Nansen discovered the furthest portion north, and the group has been used as a base to attempt journeys to the Pole. Cagni, Wellman, and Captain Fiala of the Ziegler Expedition (1903–1906) have also added to our information, the latter by a careful survey and map. We can now take a general view of the results of these discoveries.

The Franz Josef group of over fifty large and small islands extends for 270 miles from west to east between the meridians of 42° and 64° E. and for 140 miles from south to north between 79° 50′ and 82° 5′ N. The group rises from the same submarine plateau as Spitsbergen, forming part of the same system, though the land mass is further to the north than that of Spitsbergen. The northern coast of the North-east Land of Spitsbergen just crosses the 80th parallel, while only a few small islets of the Franz Josef group are to the south of it.

The Franz Josef archipelago is divided by the Austria Sound of Payer and the British Channel of Jackson into three groups, named respectively the Wilczek, Zichy, and Alexandra groups. East of Austria Sound there are two large islands, Wilczek and Graham Bell, forming the eastern limit of the group. The Wullerstorf mountain on Wilczek Island rises to a height of 2409 ft. To the north of Graham Bell Island are the small islets discovered by Nansen, who named them Hoitland.