In latitude 83° 20' 20" N., the highest point ever reached by man, there are four hours and forty-two minutes of twilight on December 22, the shortest day in the year, in the northern hemisphere. In latitude 82° 27' N., the highest point where white men have wintered, there are six hours and two minutes in the shortest day; and latitude 84° 32' N., 172 geographical miles nearer the North Pole than Markham reached, and 328 geographical miles from that point, must yet be attained before the true Plutonic zone, or that one in which there is no twilight whatsoever, even upon the shortest day of the year, can be said to have been entered by man. Of course, about the beginning and ending of this twilight, it is very feeble and easily extinguished by even the slightest mists, but nevertheless it exists, and is quite appreciable on clear cold days, or nights, properly speaking. The North Pole itself is only shrouded in perfect blackness from November 13 to January 29, a period of seventy-seven days. Supposing that the sun has set (supposing a circumpolar sea or body of water unlimited to vision) on September 24, not to rise until March 18, for that particular point, giving a period of about fifty days of uniformly varying twilight, the pole has about 188 days of continuous daylight, 100 days of varying twilight, and 77 of perfect inky darkness (save when the moon has a northern declination) in the period of a typical year. During the period of a little over four days, the sun shines continuously on both the North and South Poles at the same time, owing to refraction parallax, semi-diameter, and dip of the horizon.
The Collins Line of Steamers.
The breaking up of the Baltic, the last of the famous Collins line of steamships, calls out a number of interesting facts with regard to the history of the several vessels of that fleet. There were five in all, the Adriatic, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic. They were built and equipped in New York. Their dimensions were: Length, 290 feet; beam, 45 feet; depth of hold, 31½ feet; capacity, 2,860 tons; machinery, 1,000 horse power. In size, speed, and appointments they surpassed any steamers then afloat, and they obtained a fair share of the passenger traffic. A fortune was expended in decorating the saloons. The entire cost of each steamer was not less than $600,000, and notwithstanding their quick passages, the subsidy received, and the high rates of freight paid, the steamers ran for six years at great loss, and finally the company became bankrupt.
The Atlantic was the pioneer steamship of the line. She sailed from New York April 27, 1849, and arrived in the Mersey May 10, thus making the passage in about thirteen days, two of which were lost in repairing the machinery; the speed was reduced in order to prevent the floats from being torn from the paddle-wheels. The average time of the forty-two westward trips in the early days of the line was 11 days 10 hours and 26 minutes, against the average of the then so called fastest line of steamers, 12 days 19 hours and 26 minutes. In February, 1852, the Arctic made the passage from New York to Liverpool in 9 days and 17 hours.
The Arctic was afterward run into by a French vessel at sea and only a few of her passengers were saved. The Pacific was never heard from after sailing from Liverpool, and all the persons on board were lost. The Atlantic, after rotting and rusting at her wharf, was deprived of her machinery and converted into a sailing vessel, and was broken up in New York last year. The Adriatic, the "queen of the fleet," made less than a half dozen voyages, was sold to the Galway Company, and is now used in the Western Islands as a coal hulk by an English company.
The Baltic was in the government service during the war as a supply vessel, and was afterward sold at auction; her machinery was removed and sold as old iron. She was then converted into a sailing ship, and of late years has been used as a grain carrying vessel between San Francisco and Great Britain. On a recent voyage to Boston she was strained to such an extent as to be made unseaworthy, and for that reason is to be broken up.
One cannot but remark in this connection how small has been the advance in steamship building during the quarter century since the Collins line was in its glory.