fr:Les Aventures du capitaine Hatteras - Première partie - 6
Soon more numerous flocks of birds, petrels, puffins, and others
which inhabit those barren shores, gave token of their approach
to Greenland. The Forward was moving rapidly northward, leaving
behind her a long line of dark smoke.
Tuesday, the 17th of April, the ice-master caught the first
sight of the blink
of the ice. It was visible at least twenty
miles off to the north-northwest. In spite of some tolerably thick
clouds it lighted up brilliantly all the air near the horizon. No
one of those on board who had ever seen this phenomenon before
could fail to recognize it, and they felt assured from its
whiteness that this blink was due to a vast field of ice lying
about thirty miles farther than they could see, and that it came
from the reflection of its luminous rays.
Towards evening the wind shifted to the south, and became
favorable; Shandon was able to carry sail, and as a measure
of economy they extinguished the furnace fires. The Forward
under her topsails, jib, and foresail, sailed on towards Cape
Farewell.
At three o'clock on the 18th they made out an ice-stream, which, like a narrow but brilliant band, divided the lines of the water and sky. It was evidently descending rather from the coast of Greenland than from Davis Strait, for the ice tended to keep on the western side of Baffin's Bay. An hour later, and the Forward was passing through the detached fragments of the ice-stream, and in the thickest part the pieces of ice, although closely welded together, were rising and falling with the waves.
At daybreak the next morning the watch saw a sail; it was
the Valkyria, a Danish corvette, sailing towards the Forward, bound to Newfoundland. The current from the strait became perceptible, and Shandon had to set more sail to overcome it.
At that moment the commander, the doctor, James Wall, and
Johnson were all together on the poop-deck, observing the force
and direction of the current. The doctor asked if it were proved
that this current was felt throughout Baffin's Bay.
“There's no doubt of it,” answered Shandon; “and sailing-vessels
have hard work in making headway against it.”
“And it's so much the harder,” added James Wall, “because
it's met on the eastern coast of America, as well as on the western
coast of Greenland.”
“Well,” said the doctor, “that serves to confirm those who
seek a Northwest Passage. The current moves at the rate of
about five miles an hour, and it is hard to imagine that it rises at
the bottom of a gulf.”
“That is very likely. Doctor,” answered Shandon, “because, while this current flows from north to south, there is a contrary current in Behring Strait, which flows from south to north, and which must be the cause of this one.”
“Hence,” said the doctor, “you must admit that America is
completely separated from the polar regions, and that the water
from the Pacific skirts its whole northern coast, until it reaches
the Atlantic. Besides, the greater elevation of the water of the
Pacific is another reason for its flowing towards the European
seas.”
“But,” said Shandon, “there must be some facts which support
this theory; and if there are,” he added with gentle irony, “our learned friend must be familiar with them.”
“Well,” answered the latter, complacently, “if it interests you
at all I can tell you that whales, wounded in Davis Strait, have
been found afterwards on the coast of Tartary, still carrying a
European harpoon in their side.”
“And unless they doubled Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good
Hope,” answered Shandon, “they must have gone around the
northern coast of America. There can be no doubt of that, Doctor.”
“And if you were not convinced, my dear Shandon,” said the
doctor, smiling, “I could produce still other evidence, such
as the floating wood with which Davis Strait is filled, larch, aspen, and other southern kinds. Now we know that the Gulf Stream could not carry them into the strait; and if they come out from it they must have got in through Behring Strait.”
“I am perfectly convinced, Doctor, and I must say it would be
hard to maintain the other side against you.”