POLAK REGIONS 323 F> n^ian e.lorers. l His object was to follow up the line of research opened by Dr Kane. He wintered at Port Foulke, in 78 17 N., and about ten miles from Cape Alexander, which forms the eastern portal of Smith Sound. Dr Hayes crossed Smith Sound in the spring with dog-sledges, but his observations are not to be depended on, and it is very uncertain how far he advanced northwards on the other side. He returned to Boston on October 23, 1861. The story of Charles Hall of Cincinnati, who was led to become an arctic explorer through his deep interest in the search for Franklin, has been told in the article devoted to him (vol. xi. p. 388). In his first journey (1860-62) he discovered the interesting remains of a stone house which Sir Martin Frobisher built on the Countess of Warwick Island in 1578. In his second expedition (1864-69) Hall by dint of the most unwearied persever ance at length reached the line of the retreat of the Franklin survivors, at Todd s Island and Peffer river, on the south coast of King William Island. He heard the story of the retreat and of the wreck of one of the ships from the Eskimo ; he was told that seven bodies were buried at Todd Island ; and he brought home some bones which are believed to be those of Lieutenant Le Vescomte of the " Erebus." Finally, in 1871, he took the " Polaris " for 250 miles up the channel which leads northwards from Smith Sound. The various parts of this long channel are called Smith Sound, Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, and Eobeson Channel. The " Polaris " was beset in 82 16 N. on 30th August; and her winter-quarters were in 81 38 N., called Thank God Bay. The death of Hall and the subse quent fortunes of the expedition have been described in the article above cited. The Spitzbergen seas have been explored, in recent years, by Norwegian fishermen as well as by Swedish and German expeditions and by English yachtsmen. The Norwegian Spitzbergen fishery dates from 1820, but it is only in recent years that Professor Mohn of Christiania has watched over the voyages and carefully collected information from the captains. In 1863 Captain Carlsen circumnavigated the Spitzbergen group for the first time in a brig called the "Jan Mayen." In 1864 Captain Tobiesen sailed round North-East Land. In 1872 Captains Altmann and Nils Johnsen visited Wiche s Land, which was discovered by Captain Edge in 1617. In that year there were twenty-three sailing vessels from Tromso, twenty-four from Hammerfest, and one from Vardo engaged in the arctic sealing trade. They average from 35 to 40 tons, and carry a dozen men. There were also eight vessels from Tromso shark-fishing for cod-liver oil, and fifty from Hammerfest and Vardo. Since 1869 the Norwegians have extended their voyages to Nova Zembla. In that year Carlsen crossed the Sea of Kara and reached the mouth of the Obi. In 1870 there were about sixty Norwegian vessels in the Barents Sea, and Captain Johannesen circumnavigated Nova Zembla. In 1873 Captain Tobiesen was unfortunately obliged to winter on the Nova Zembla coast, owing to the loss of his schooner, and both he and his young son died of scurvy in the spring. Two years previously Captain Carlsen had suc ceeded in reaching the winter-quarters of Barents, the first visitor since 1597, an interval of two hundred and seventy-four years. He landed on September 9, 1871, and found the house still standing and full of interesting relics, which are now in the naval museum at the Hague. Between 1858 and 1872 the Swedes sent seven expeditions to Spitzbergen and two to Greenland. All returned with valuable scientific results. That of 1864 under Norden- skiold and Duner made observations at eighty different places on the Spitzbergen shores, and fixed the heights of numerous mountains. In 1868, in an iron steamer, the "Sophia," the Swedes attained a latitude of 81 42 N. on the meridian of 18 E., during the month of September. In 1872 an expedition consisting of the " Polhem " steamer and brig " Gladen," commanded by Professor Nordenskiold and Lieutenant Palander, wintered in Mussel Bay, on the northern shore of Spitzbergen. In the spring an import ant sledging journey of sixty days duration was made over North-East Land. The expedition was in some distress as regards provisions owing to two vessels, which were to have returned, having been forced to winter. But in the summer of 1873 they were visited by Mr Leigh Smith, in his yacht "Diana," who supplied them with fresh provisions. Dr Petermann of Gotha urged his countrymen to take Koldewe; their share in the noble work of polar discovery, and at his own risk he fitted out a small vessel called the "Germania," which sailed from Bergen in May 1868, under the command of Captain Koldewey. His cruise extended to Hinlopen Strait in Spitzbergen, but was merely tentative; and in 1870 Baron von Heuglin with Count Zeil explored the Stor Fjord in a Norwegian schooner, and also examined Walter Thymen s Strait. After the return of the "Germania" in 1868 a regular expedition was organized under the command of Captain Koldewey, pro visioned for two years. It consisted of the " Germania," | a screw steamer of 140 tons, and the brig "Hansa" com- j manded by Captain Hegemann. Lieutenant Payer, the future discoverer of Franz Josef Land, gained his first arctic experience on board the " Germania." The expedi tion sailed from Bremen on the 15th June 1869, its destination being the east coast of Greenland. But in latitude 70 46 N. the " Hansa " got separated from her consort and crushed in the ice. The crew built a house of patent fuel on the floe, and in this strange abode they passed their Christmas. In two months the current had carried them south for 400 miles, By May they had drifted 1100 miles on their ice-raft, and finally, on June 14, 1870, they arrived safely at the Moravian mission station of Friedriksthal, to the west of Cape Farewell. Fairer fortune attended the " Germania." She sailed up the east coast of Greenland as high as 75 30 N., and eventually Avintered at the Pendulum Islands of Clavering in 74 30 N. In March 1870 a travelling party set out, under Koldewey and Payer, and reached a distance of 100 miles from the ship to the northward, when want of provisions compelled them to return. A grim cape, named after Prince Bismarck, marked the northern limit of their discoveries. As soon as the vessel was free, a deep branching fjord was dis covered in 73 15 N. stretching for a long distance into the interior of Greenland. Along its shore are peaks 7000 and 14,000 feet high. The expedition returned to Bremen on September 11, 1870. Lieutenant Payer was resolved to continue in the path Payer and of polar discovery. He and a naval officer named We > ~ Weyprecht freighted a Norwegian schooner called the pre "Isbjorn," and examined the edge of the ice between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, in the summer of 1871. Their observations led them to select the route by the north end of Nova Zembla with a view to making the north-east passage. It was to be an Austria-Hungarian expedition, and the idea was seized with enthusiasm by the whole empire. Weyprecht was to command the ship, while Julius Payer conducted the sledge parties. The steamer " Tegethoff," of 300 tons, was fitted out in the Elbe, and left Tromso on July 14, 1872. The season was exceptionally severe, and the vessel was closely beset near Cape Nassau, at the northern end of Nova Zembla, in the end of August. The summer of 1873 found her still a close prisoner drifting, not with a current, but in the direction
of the prevailing wind. At length, on the 31st August, a