CHAPTER XXIV.PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING.
The same latitude is colder in the southern than in the northernhemisphere; but the temperature of the New World is fifteen degreesbeneath that of the other parts of the world; and in America thesecountries, known under the name of the region of greatest cold, arethe most inclement.
The mean temperature for the whole year is two degrees below zero.Physicists have explained this fact in the following way, and Dr.Clawbonny shared their opinion.
According to them, the most constant winds in the northern regions ofAmerica are from the southwest; they come from the Pacific Ocean, withan equal and agreeable temperature; but before they reach the arcticseas they are obliged to cross the great American continent, which iscovered with snow; the contact chills them, and communicates to theseregions their intense cold.
Hatteras found himself at the pole of cold, beyond the countries seenby his predecessors; he consequently expected a terrible winter, on aship lost amid the ice, with a turbulent crew. He resolved to meetthese dangers with his usual energy. He faced what awaited him withoutflinching.
He began, with Johnson's aid and experience, to take all the measuresnecessary for going into winter-quarters. According to his calculationthe _Forward_ had been carried two hundred and fifty miles from anyknown land, that is to say, from North Cornwall; she was firmly fixedin a field of ice, as in a bed of granite, and no human power couldextricate her.
There was not a drop of open water in these vast seas chained by thefierce arctic winter. The ice-fields stretched away out of sight, butwithout presenting a smooth surface. Far from it. Numerous icebergsstood up in the icy plain, and the _Forward_ was sheltered by thehighest of them on three points of the compass; the southeast windalone reached them. Let one imagine rock instead of ice, verdureinstead of snow, and the sea again liquid, and the brig would havequietly cast anchor in a pretty bay, sheltered from the fiercestblasts. But what desolation here! What a gloomy prospect! What amelancholy view!
The brig, although motionless, nevertheless had to be fastenedsecurely by means of anchors; this was a necessary precaution againstpossible thaws and submarine upheavals. Johnson, on hearing that the_Forward_ was at the pole of cold, took even greater precautions forsecuring warmth.
"We shall have it severe enough," he had said to the doctor; "that'sjust the captain's luck, to go and get caught at the most disagreeablespot on the globe! Bah! you will see that we shall get out of it."
As to the doctor, at the bottom of his heart he was simply delighted.He would not have changed it for any other. Winter at the pole ofcold! What good luck!
At first, work on the outside occupied the crew; the sails were keptfurled on the yards instead of being placed at the bottom of the hold,as the earlier explorers did; they were merely bound up in a case, andsoon the frost covered them with a dense envelope; the topmasts werenot unshipped, and the crow's-nest remained in its place. It was anatural observatory; the running-rigging alone was taken down.
It became necessary to cut away the ice from the ship to relieve thepressure. That which had accumulated outside was quite heavy, and theship did not lie as deep as usual. This was a long and laborious task.At the end of some days the ship's bottom was freed, and could beinspected; it had not suffered, thanks to its solidity; only itscopper sheathing was nearly torn away. The ship, having grown lighter,drew about nine inches less than she did earlier; the ice was cut awayin a slope, following the make of the hull; in this way the ice formedbeneath the brig's keel and so resisted all pressure.
The doctor took part in this work; he managed the ice-cutter well; heencouraged the sailors by his good-humor. He instructed them andhimself. He approved of this arrangement of the ice beneath the ship.
"That is a good precaution," he said.
"Without that, Dr. Clawbonny," answered Johnson, "resistance would beimpossible. Now we can boldly raise a wall of snow as high as thegunwale; and, if we want to, we can make it ten feet thick, for thereis no lack of material."
"A capital idea," resumed the doctor; "the snow is a bad conductor ofheat; it reflects instead of absorbing, and the inside temperaturecannot escape."
"True," answered Johnson; "we are building a fortification against thecold, and also against the animals, if they care to visit us; whenthat is finished, it will look well, you may be sure; in this snow weshall cut two staircases, one fore, the other aft; when the steps arecut in the snow, we shall pour water on them; this will freeze as hardas stone, and we shall have a royal staircase."
"Precisely," answered the doctor; "and it must be said it is fortunatethat cold produces both snow and ice, by which to protect one's selfagainst it. Without that, one would be very much embarrassed."
In fact, the ship was destined to disappear beneath a thick casing ofice, which was needed to preserve its inside temperature; a roof madeof thick tarred canvas and covered with snow was built above the deckover its whole length; the canvas was low enough to cover the sides ofthe ship. The deck, being protected from all outside impressions,became their walk; it was covered with two and a half feet of snow;this snow was crowded and beaten down so as to become very hard; so itresisted the radiation of the internal heat; above it was placed alayer of sand, which as it solidified became a sort of macadamizedcover of great hardness.
"A little more," said the doctor, "and with a few trees I mightimagine myself at Hyde Park, or even in the hanging-gardens atBabylon."
A trench was dug tolerably near the brig; this was a circular space inthe ice, a real pit, which had to be kept always open. Every morningthe ice formed overnight was broken; this was to secure water in caseof fire or for the baths which were ordered the crew by the doctor; inorder to spare the fuel, the water was drawn from some distance belowthe ice, where it was less cold. This was done by means of aninstrument devised by a French physicist (Francois Arago); thisapparatus, lowered for some distance into the water, brought it up tothe surface through a cylinder.
Generally in winter everything which encumbers the ship is removed,and stored on land. But what was practicable near land is impossiblefor a ship anchored on the ice.
Every preparation was made to fight the two great enemies of thislatitude, cold and dampness; the first produces the second, which isfar more dangerous. The cold may be resisted by one who succumbs todampness; hence it was necessary to guard against it.
The _Forward_, being destined to a journey in arctic seas, containedthe best arrangements for winter-quarters: the large room for the crewwas well provided for; the corners, where dampness first forms, wereshut off; in fact, when the temperature is very low, a film of iceforms on the walls, especially in the corners, and when it melts itkeeps up a perpetual dampness. If it had been round, the room wouldhave been more convenient; but, being heated by a large stove, andproperly ventilated, it was very comfortable; the walls were linedwith deerskins, not with wool, for wool absorbs the condensed moistureand keeps the air full of dampness.
Farther aft the walls of the quarter were taken down, and the officershad a larger common-room, better ventilated, and heated by a stove.This room, like that of the crew, had a sort of antechamber, which cutoff all communication with the outside. In this way, the heat couldnot be lost, and one passed gradually from one temperature to theother. In the anterooms were left the snow-covered clothes; the shoeswere cleansed on the scrapers, so as to prevent the introduction ofany unwholesomeness with one into the room.
Canvas hose served to introduce air for the draught of the stoves;other pieces of hose permitted the steam to escape. In addition twocondensers were placed in the two rooms, and collected this vaporinstead of letting it form into water; twice a week they were emptied,and often they contained several bushels of ice. It was so much takenfrom the enemy.
The fire was perfectly and easily controlled, by means of the canvashose; by use of merely a small quantity of coal it was easy to keepthe temperature of 50 degrees. Still, Hatteras, having examined thebunkers, soon saw that the gr
eatest economy was necessary, for therewas not two months' fuel on board.
A drying-room was set apart for the clothes which were to be washed;they could not be dried in the open air, for they would freeze andtear.
The delicate pieces of the machinery were carefully taken down, andthe room which contained them was hermetically closed.
The life on board became the object of serious meditation; Hatterasregulated it with the utmost caution, and the order of the day wasposted up in the common-room. The men arose at six o'clock in themorning; three times a week the hammocks were aired; every morning thefloors were scoured with hot sand; tea was served at every meal, andthe bill of fare varied as much as possible for every day of the week;it consisted of bread, farina, suet and raisins for puddings, sugar,cocoa, tea, rice, lemon-juice, potted meats, salt beef and pork,cabbages, and vegetables in vinegar; the kitchen lay outside of theliving-rooms; its heat was consequently lost; but cooking is aperpetual source of evaporation and dampness.
The health of the men depends a great deal on the sort of food theyget; in high latitudes, the greatest amount of animal food ought to beeaten. The doctor had supervised the sort of food to be given.
"We ought to follow the Esquimaux," he used to say; "they havereceived their lessons from nature, and are our masters in that; ifthe Arabs and Africans can content themselves with a few dates and ahandful of rice, here it is important to eat, and to eat a good deal.The Esquimaux take from ten to fifteen pounds of oil a day. If thatfare does not please you, we must try food rich in sugar and fat. In aword, we need carbon, so let us manufacture carbon! It is well to putcoal in the stove, but don't let us forget to fill that precious stovewe carry about with us."
With this bill of fare, strict cleanliness was enforced; every otherday each man was obliged to bathe in the half-frozen water which theiron pump brought up, and this was an excellent way of preservingtheir health. The doctor set the example; he did it at first as athing which ought to be very disagreeable; but this pretext wasquickly forgotten, for he soon took real pleasure in this healthybath.
When work or hunting or distant expeditions took the men off in thesevere cold, they had to take special care not to be frost-bitten; ifthey were, rubbing with snow would restore the circulation. Moreover,the men, who all wore woollen clothes, put on coats of deerskin andtrousers of sealskin, which perfectly resist the wind.
The different arrangements of the ship, the getting-to-rights onboard, took about three weeks, and they reached October 10th withoutany special incident.