ICE MADNESS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 56, 15 September 1928, Page 9

ICE MADNESS

LUNDBORG'S STORY PERILS OF CASTAWAYS NOBILE'S WISE COUNSEL (No. 6.) (By Captain Einar '. Lundborg, on Board the s.s. Quest, at Sea, off Spitsbergen, 22nd July.—Copyright.) In the sixth and last of Captain Lundborg's articles he describes the life of the Italia castaways at Bed Tent Camp. Towards the end, ho relates, before the arrival of the Krassin, the awful peril from the melting ico affected their morale and dirty,, sour, and ragged as they were, they wero saved from madness by the merest chance. On the morning of 30th June the fog lifted, and it became so much lighter that Viglieri was able to take our position by means of his sextant chronometer and the tables belonging to it. We then learnt the good news that during the six days of dense fog and moderate wind wo had drifted about halt a degree in a south-south-easterly direction, and when a little later- on it became clearer still, we saw in the distance below the low, clouds tho uppermost glacier surface of a big island, and also caught a glimpse of tho islands of tho north-western stony lowlands. General Nobilo informed us by wire that two Italians and ono large Swedish airplanes would come to us with so many good things that we should be sorry to leave our ice floe. We cheered! Biagi sat for hours at his radio because the machines were to be directed by our transmitter. The fog began to grow dense again, however, and there came a new message from Nobile telling us that although all three machines had been up, they had had to: turn back again at Cape Leigh Smith owing to fog. Then depression again descended on us. We had really become spoilt on the ice floe, and bitter words were said of the airmen's manner of handling their machines. The whole manage- < ment of the relief expeditions was severely criticised, and so on. I now began to fear the worst. The wind, which had been north-north-west, now veered round to south-south-east, and this caused a great number of canals to form on the south side, while the towers of pack ice began to topple over, thus increasing the water assemblage on the floe. I saw land, and I wanted to go to it—this was a desire which it seemed impossible to conquer. I certain realised the dangers, but only when my common sense was speaking. I felt irresistibly drawn towards the land. Perhaps this phenomenon might be called pack-ice sickness —I can find no better name for this terrible feeling. Professor Malmgren had been as much drawn to Foyn Island as I now was to Big Island. I sent a message to the General describing the situation and asking him whother we ought not to start towards land—all of us, or at any rate those of us who desired to do so. I added that there were three of us who would like to -make the attempt, but I mentioned no. names. My first proposal was to the effect that the Swedish Hansas should drop provisions and camp tools at the first opportunity at a stated place on Big Island, so that if we started to march there we need only take small burdens with us. We should thus be able to find shelter on Big Island with firm ground underfoot —this was the main thing—until the Krassin could pick us up or until a hydroplane was able to land in the opening in the ice near us. • • Nobile's reply came quickly, rejecting my proposal in decided terms, and we remained where we were—l and my two proposed companions may ascribe our rescue to this. I was certainly feeling well and strong—my sports training in Sweden would probably have equipped mo better than my companions for the proposed march —but the always incalculable drift of the ice, together with the fact that it was now beginning to break up, would certainly have prevented us from ever reaching land. We now put the thought of a march towards land completely out of our minds. The south-east wind filled us with hope. It would bring us closer to land and to the Krassin, which, after all, was really our ono big hope. The state of the ice floe, which was a foot deep in water, caused me to advise the Finnish junker machine against attempting to land on our floe. I would not for anything in the world do anything that might bring us another comrade in misfortune. CONTEMPLATING SUICIDE. With the south-east wind we had expected the weather to clear, but in this we were disappointed. The clouds, however, during the rest of my stay on the ice, still remained sufficiently sparse from the early morning until noon for us to take our position. The procedure for this work was as follows: At five in the morning, Greenwich time, there was a brief conversation in French between Viglieri, Behounek, and I. "Can the sun be seen?" "Yes, faintly, at intervals." "Will you, Professor, kindly assist with the chronometers?" "Yes, Captain!" "Very well, then, I will go out. I am ready." "I, too." "Thirty degrees, fourteen minutes. Twenty-five minutes fourteen and onefifth seconds." "How many havo wo now?" "Six." "Finis?" "Yes, Captain." A little later on Viglieri would come in, after the instrument out there had been carefully covered, and take out of his torn folder logarithms and other tables, whereupon he started calculating. That would bo at about 10 o'clock. I may say here that we were one hour 54 minutes ahead of Greenwich mean time, which was carefully taken down at 8 o'clock every evening. At noon we took a sight of the sun in order to fix our position, which We marked carefully on Viglieri's chart. All day long we indulged in monotonous discussions, in which various possibilities wero considered. At about noon on tho 30th news reached us from the chief, Captain Tornberg, that a Swedish "sports" airplane was on its way to us. Viglieri and I discussed the landing of this machine over and over again for about an hour, and we came to the conclusion that a light machine like the "sports" model might come down without risk. Our spirits rose in consequence, but only to be cast down again some hours later, when really bad weather set in, with snow, thaw, and slush. Deep gloom prevailed among us all, and I felt positively suicidal when on the night between 30th June and Ist July I was Walking- alone across tho ice floe, I found that in the present state of the ice no landing could bo thought of. At certain places there was over half a metre of water below very thin ice. It was only by concentrating my thoughts on my wife and my homo that I was able to abstain from putting an end to my life. But it was only a week since I had blade my unfortunate landing on the k«t and yhw I compared my, short

stay on the floe with tho five weeks' imprisonment of my comrades, I was ashamed of myself for such weak aud cowardly thoughts. LEMONB AS INVHJOEATORS. Within tho tent the ground had now begun to be unbearably soft. Ono nig after another was brought in and put on the ground, but there rags were already thoroughly soaked with the Bnow slush, and did not keep any of the water out. On this day for dinner, which still consisted of bear's meat, was also served, as a great treat, ono lemon for each man. This was very invigorating, and.when on top of that a packet of real Swedish knekbroed (a kind of preserved cake) was opened, tears came into my eyes. I had smoked my very last pipeful of tobacco on that day. Although my pipe had previously always been a comforter and a good comrade to me, I now had to let cigarettes take its place. As I have mentioned before, pickets of cigarettes had been dropped by the Swedish Hansa machines, and there were dry and in excellent condition. The night of Ist July was very cold, with 3$ degrees below zero; and to the great delight of us all, I could now report that a landing with a light machine was possible. The wind was from the south-east, and a fine dustlike snow was falling. The wind was refreshing, and when now and again tho light improved we could see how we were drifting further and further away from the big island. For several nights and days I had had no sleep, so in the morning, after having my chocolate, I tried two mor-

"Dally Mirror," photo.

phia tablets from the medicine box in the Fokker. I immediately dozed off and slept for four hours. At dinnertime I was awakened. Bear meat was again being served, but it was very good, indeed, because to-day the very last mouthfuls disappeared. I thought of Dr. Malmgren, and how wonderful it was that up here far away from Sweden, one of my countrymen had ' secured fresh food for his comrades and for myself, while he himself had wandered away, possibly without food, perhaps to meet his death. Viglieri's 28th birthday, the remainder of the bear meat and tho pleasing fact that the radio was again functioning satisfactorily, were made excuses for a celebration that night, and were each given an extra mouthful of chocolate. But, oh, it was hardly worth the trouble to stretch out our hands for such a tiny bit, not to mention those miserable crumbs which one of us later won by ballot, and which were watched with greedy eyes until they disappeared, by the five of us who had been unlucky. That night I sent a telegram to my wife through the "Citta di Milano," as I thought this would reassure and please her. On the night of 2nd July, thanks to the wind, which varied between northeast and south-east, we were pretty close to Foyn Island again. The barometer was falling terribly, and our curve, which was noted down every hour, showed a steep downward movement. Our connection with the outside world was good, however, and we received so many cheerful messages that our spirits were not damped by the bad weather prospects. On 4th July half a gale was blowing, while the weather was now clear, now snowy, with fog and a low temperature. That day we drifted about 20 English miles to the south-south-east. Owing to the continual changes of the wind, canals were forming all the time on the windy side, and when the towering masses of ice toppled over with tremendous crashes, or were piled up higher than ever, we were seized with ner.ves and fresh despair. On sth July, at 5 a.m. the drift of the ice towards Big Island stopped, although the wind was very strong. We were now about seven kilometres from the island and eleven kilometres from Cape Leigh Smith. In the forenoon the wind completely slackened off : and at 11 o'clock the weather was again brilliant and beautiful. The sun was shining and it was warm and lovely. During the preceding days and nights I had worked hard at filling all the big holes in the ice, and now my strength was failing could get little assistance Sfrom my tired comrades, and now I was very much afraid that the sun would spoil my work. We were sitting on the wings of the Fokker, and had again commenced discussing the possibilities of wandering towards land. On the previous day both the Swedish and Italian airmen had promised to visit us in the early morning of to-day; but as they did not turn up, in spite of the beautiful weather, as the wireless was not acting properly, foodwa's becoming monotonous and' rations insufficient, and as we ourselves had for a long time been frozen and had become thoroughly sour, dirty, and ragged, our nerves were now strained to breaking point. The consequence was that we no longer exchanged opinions in friendly tones, but began to quarrel. And now, on top of all this, Biagi was lying ill with fever in the tent—he who had formerly worked so energetically. SAVED FROM MADNESS. One of us demanded, in very excited tones, that we should all endeavour to reach land. To this another replied that the proposal was unmilitary, which led to a discussion as to whether military form had any justification at all among six men who were shipwrecked not far from the North Pole. Ceccioni shook our last hope—our confidence that the Krassin would rescue us. For several hours he had done nothing but express his great doubts that tho Krassin would be able to penetrate the pack ice. In the end I felt quite dizzy, and, despairing of all hope, I went into the tent, where I dozed until about 4 o'clock. Then I was awakened by Biagi, who said that an airplane could be heard. I believed this sound saved us all from madness or something worse. I don't know how quickly I got out of the tent. I saw the machine over near Cape Leigh Smith. To my great despair, however, I saw that it was steering away in the direction of Big Island. Suddenly it turned towards us, and in a few minutes it was circling over our ice floe. We showed it our position by smoke signal, and tho machine, a Swedish Harisa, flew over tho ice floe fonr times, dropping us pio-

visions, and, most important of allj the accumulators which we needed so badly for our wireless. It was with pangs in our hearts that we saw the machine again steering away in a westerly direction. I knew, of course, that my Swedish comrades would do everything they could for me, but, no matter —away they flew. In about an hour's time, however, we again heard the noise of a motor, and soon the Swedish triple-engined machine Uppland flew over our camp. It dropped further supplies, including my much-desired knapsack, with tent, chocolate, brandy, and everything complete. When I had signalled to the observer, Lieutenant Carlson, that landing was quite possible on our camp field, ana received "Understand" in reply, I was again very happy. In my knapsack, besides letters, telegrams, and newspapers, I alto found a message from the chief, that on the following night Schyberg would endeavour to fetch me with a Moth machine. I laughed and cried in turns. But I quickly read in the faces of my comrades that they did not feel so hopeful as I did of being rescued in the course of the night. I informed them, however, that the Swedes would establish a base near Cape Braun, to which we should be taken first, in order that: we might later be transported further west. In spite of this it was only with difficulty that I got my worn-out comrades to lend me a hand in the completion of the work on the ice field. At 10 o'clock at night we gave up. Tired to death and completely worn out, we sat down on the wing of the Fokker, where we ate chocolate and apples, and had a gulp of the brandy which the Swedes had dropped to us. Twelve o'clock came, and then 1 o'clock, and still no machine arrived. Finally, at 1.30, wo observed two small dots coming over the glaciers of North Eastland. They flew nearer and nearer, and soon the little Moth machine came down on the ice without hesitation. It had landed, guided by the marks which I had made on the floe, and it was Schyberg who was sitting in the machine. He did not know how to hurry me sufficiently, but I was not slow to follow his directions. I then took leave of my companions —only for a few hours as I believed — and off we went across the ice, and away towards Esmark Islands, ■where I the Swedish base was situated. It is difficult to describe my feelings during this flight, but I learnt to understand what General Nobile must have felt when, almost a fortnight ago," I had the pleasure of taking hiia to safety.