An Antarctic Mystery (23 page)

In the fore part of the ship, between the forecastle and the
fore-mast, many heads appeared.

Dirk Peters, Hardy, Martin Holt and Endicott, the latter with his
black face quite vacant, were clinging to the starboard shrouds.

A man came creeping up to me, because the slope of the deck
prevented him from holding himself upright: it was Hurliguerly,
working himself along with his hands like a top-man on a yard.

Stretched out at full length, my feet propped up against the jamb of
the door, I held out my hand to the boatswain, and helped him, not
without difficulty, to hoist himself up near me.

"What is wrong?" I asked. "A stranding, Mr. Jeorling."

"We are ashore!"

"A shore presupposes land," replied the boatswain ironically,
"and so far as land goes there was never any except in that rascal
Dirk Peters' imagination."

"But tell me—what has happened?"

"We came upon an iceberg in the middle of the fog, and were unable
to keep clear of it."

"An iceberg, boatswain?"

"Yes, an iceberg, which has chosen just now to turn head over
heels. In turning, it struck the
Halbrane
and carried it off just as
a battledore catches a shuttlecock, and now here we are, stranded at
certainly one hundred feet above the level of the Antarctic Sea."

Could one have imagined a more terrible conclusion to the
adventurous voyage of the
Halbrane
?

In the middle of these remote regions our only means of transport
had just been snatched from its natural element, and carried off by
the turn of an iceberg to a height of more than one hundred feet!
What a conclusion! To be swallowed up in a polar tempest, to be
destroyed in a fight with savages, to be crushed in the ice, such
are the dangers to which any ship engaged in the polar seas is
exposed! But to think that the
Halbrane
had been lifted by a
floating mountain just as that mountain was turning over, was
stranded and almost at its summit—no! such a thing seemed quite
impossible.

I did not know whether we could succeed in letting down the schooner
from this height with the means we had at our disposal. But I did
know that Captain Len Guy, the mate and the older members of the
crew, when they had recovered from their first fright, would not
give up in despair, no matter how terrible the situation might be;
of that I had no doubt whatsoever! They would all look to the
general safety; as for the measures to be taken, no one yet knew
anything. A foggy veil, a sort of greyish mist still hung over the
iceberg. Nothing could be seen of its enormous mass except the
narrow craggy cleft in which the schooner was wedged, nor even what
place it occupied in the middle of the ice-fleet drifting towards
the south-east.

Common prudence demanded that we should quit the
Halbrane
, which
might slide down at a sharp shake ot the iceberg. Were we even
certain that the latter had regained its position on the surface of
the sea? Was her stability secure? Should we not be on the look-out
for a fresh upheaval? And if the schooner were to fall into the
abyss, which of us could extricate himself safe and sound from such
a fall, and then from the final plunge into the depths of the ocean?

In a few minutes the crew had abandoned the
Halbrane
. Each man
sought for refuge on the ice-slopes, awaiting the time when the
iceberg should be freed from mist. The oblique rays from the sun did
not succeed in piercing it, and the red disk could hardly be
perceived through the opaque mass.

However, we could distinguish each other at about twelve feet apart.
As for the
Halbrane
, she looked like a confused blackish mass
standing out sharply against the whiteness of the ice.

We had now to ascertain whether any of those who were on the deck at
the time of the catastrophe had been thrown over the bulwarks and
precipitated, into the sea?

By Captain Len Guy's orders all the sailors then present joined
the group in which I stood with the mate, the boatswain, Hardy and
Martin Holt.

So far, this catastrophe had cost us five men—these were the first
since our departure from Kerguelen, but were they to be the last?

There was no doubt that these unfortunate fellows had perished,
because we called them in vain, and in vain we sought for them, when
the fog abated, along the sides of the iceberg, at every place where
they might have been able to catch on to a projection.

When the disappearance of the five men had been ascertained, we fell
into despair. Then we felt more keenly than before the dangers which
threaten every expedition to the Antarctic zone.

"What about Hearne?" said a voice.

Martin Holt pronounced the name at a moment when there was general
silence. Had the sealing-master been crushed to death in the narrow
part of the hold where he was shut up?

West rushed towards the schooner, hoisted himself on board by means
of a rope hanging over the bows, and gained the hatch which gives
access to that part of the hold.

We waited silent and motionless to learn the fate of Hearne,
although the evil spirit of the crew was but little worthy of our
pity.

And yet, how many of us were then thinking that if we had heeded his
advice, and if the schooner had taken the northern course, a whole
crew would not have been reduced to take refuge on a drifting
ice-mountain! I scarcely dared to calculate my own share of the vast
responsibility, I who had so vehemently insisted on the prolongation
of the voyage.

At length the mate reappeared on deck and Hearne followed him! By a
miracle, neither the bulkheads, nor the ribs, nor the planking had
yielded at the place where the sealing-master was confined.

Hearne rejoined his comrades without opening his lips, and we had no
further trouble about him.

Towards six o'clock in the morning the fog cleared off, owing to a
marked fall in the temperature. We had no longer to do with
completely frozen vapour, but had to deal with the phenomenon called
frost-rime, which often occurs in these high latitudes. Captain Len
Guy recognized it by the quantity of prismatic threads, the point
following the wind which roughened the light ice-crust deposited on
the sides ot the iceberg. Navigators know better than to confound
this frost-rime with the hoar frost of the temperate zones, which
only freezes when it has been deposited on the surface of the soil.

We were now enabled to estimate the size of the solid mass on which
we clustered like flies on a sugar-loaf, and the schooner, seen from
below, looked no bigger than the yawl of a trading vessel.

This iceberg of between three and four hundred fathoms in
circumference measured from 130 to 140 feet high. According to all
calculations, therefore, its depth would be four or five times
greater, and it would consequently weigh millions of tons.

This is what had happened:

The iceberg, having been melted away at its base by contact with
warmer waters, had risen little by little; its centre of gravity had
become displaced, and its equilibrium could only be re-established
by a sudden capsize, which had lifted up the part that had been
underneath above the sea-level. The
Halbrane
, caught in this
movement, was hoisted as by an enormous lever. Numbers of icebergs
capsize thus on the polar seas, and form one of the greatest dangers
to which approaching vessels are exposed.

Our schooner was caught in a hollow on the west side of the iceberg.
She listed to starboard with her stern raised and her bow lowered.
We could not help thinking that the slightest shake would cause her
to slide along the slope of the iceberg into the sea. The collision
had been so violent as to stave in some of the planks of her hull.
After the first collision, the galley situated before the fore-mast
had broken its fastenings. The door between Captain Len Guy's and
the mate's cabins was torn away from the hinges. The topmast and
the topgallant-mast had come down after the back-stays parted, and
fresh fractures could plainly be seen as high as the cap of the
masthead.

Fragments of all kinds, yards, spars, a part of the sails, breakers,
cases, hen-coops, were probably floating at the foot of the mass and
drifting with it.

The most alarming part of our situation was the fact that of the two
boats belonging to the
Halbrane
, one had been stove in when we
grounded, and the other, the larger of the two, was still hanging on
by its tackles to the starboard davits. Before anything else was
done this boat had to be put in a safe place, because it might prove
our only means of escape.

As a result of the first examination, we found that the lower masts
had remained in their places, and might be of use if ever we
succeeded in releasing the schooner. But how were we to release her
from her bed in the ice and restore her to her natural element?

When I found myself with Captain Len Guy, the mate, and the
boatswain, I questioned them on this subject.

"I agree with you," replied West, "that the operation involves
great risks, but since it is indispensable, we will accomplish it. I
think it will be necessary to dig out a sort of slide down to the
base of the iceberg."

"And without the delay of a single day," added Captain Len Guy.

"Do you hear, boatswain?" said Jem West.

"Work begins to-day."

"I hear, and everyone will set himself to the task," replied
Hurliguerly. "If you allow me, I shall just make one observation,
captain."

"What is it?"

"Before beginning the work, let us examine the hull and see what
the damage is, and whether it can be repaired. For what use would it
be to launch a ship stripped of her planks, which would go to the
bottom at once?"

We complied with the boatswain's just demand.

The fog having cleared off, a bright sun then illumined the eastern
side of the iceberg, whence the sea was visible round a large part
of the horizon. Here the sides of the iceberg showed rugged
projections, ledges, shoulders, and even flat instead of smooth
surfaces, giving no foothold. However, caution would be necessary in
order to avoid the falling of those unbalanced blocks, which a
single shock might set loose. And, as a matter of fact, during the
morning, several of these blocks did roll into the sea with a
frightful noise just like an avalanche.

On the whole, the iceberg seemed to be very steady on its new base.
So long as the centre of gravity was below the level of the
water-line, there was no fear of a fresh capsize.

I had not yet had an opportunity of speaking to Dirk Peters since
the catastrophe. As he had answered to his name, I knew he was not
numbered among the victims. At this moment, I perceived him standing
on a narrow projection; needless to specify the direction in which
his eyes were turned.

Captain Len Guy, the mate, the boatswain, Hardy, and Martin Holt,
whom I accompanied, went up again towards the schooner in order to
make a minute investigation of the hull. On the starboard side the
operation would be easy enough, because the
Halbrane
had a list to
the opposite side. On the port side we would have to slide along to
the keel as well as we could by scooping out the ice, in order to
insure the inspection of every part of the planking.

After an examination which lasted two hours, it was discovered that
the damage was of little importance, and could be repaired in a
short time. Two or three planks only were wrenched away by the
collision. In the inside the skin was intact, the ribs not having
given way. Our vessel, constructed for the polar seas, had resisted
where many others less solidly built would have been dashed to
pieces. The rudder had indeed been unshipped, but that could easily
be set right.

Having finished our inspection inside and outside, we agreed that
the damage was less considerable than we feared, and on that subject
we became reassured. Reassured! Yes, if we could only succeed in
getting the schooner afloat again.

In the morning, after breakfast, it was decided that the men should
begin to dig a sloping bed which would allow the
Halbrane
to slide
to the foot of the iceberg. Would that Heaven might grant success to
the operation, for who could contemplate without terror having to
brave the severity of the austral winter, and to pass six months
under such conditions as ours on a vast iceberg, dragged none could
tell whither? Once the winter had set in, none of us could have
escaped from that most terrible of fates—dying of cold.

At this moment, Dirk Peters, who was observing the horizon from
south to east at about one hundred paces off, cried out in a rough
voice: "Lying to!"

Lying to? What could the half-breed mean by that, except that the
floating mass had suddenly ceased to drift? As for the cause of this
stoppage, it was neither the moment to investigate it, nor to ask
ourselves what the consequences were likely to be.

"It is true, however," cried the boatswain. "The iceberg is
not stirring, and perhaps has not stirred since it capsized!"

"How?" said I, "it no longer changes its place?"

"No," replied the mate, "and the proof is that the others,
drifting on, are leaving it behind!"

And, in fact, whilst five or six icebergs were descending towards
the south, ours was as motionless as though it had been stranded on
a shoal.

The simplest explanation was that the new base had encountered
ground at the bottom of the sea to which it now adhered, and would
continue to adhere, unless the submerged part rose in the water so
as to cause a second capsize.

This complicated matters seriously, because the dangers of positive
immobility were such that the chances of drifting were preferable.
At least, in the latter case there was some hope of coming across a
continent or an island, or even (if the currents did not change) of
crossing the boundaries of the austral region.