the _Hansa_
and her crew--The _Germania_ expedition and its return--Voyage of Payer
and Weyprecht in 1871--Austro-Hungary expedition--The _Tegethoff_--
Discovery of Franz-Joseph Land--Sledge work--Incidents--The return--The
_Tegethoff_ abandoned--Home again.

The _Germania_ and _Hansa_ constituted the second German expedition to
Arctic regions. The first had been undertaken in 1868 under Koldeway
and Petermann, but when the _Germania_ returned another expedition on a
larger scale--the _Hansa_ under Koldeway, and the sister vessel under
Hegemann--proceeded with all the necessary equipment from Bremen on the
15th of June, 1869, and on the 5th of July crossed the Arctic circle,
where similar ceremonies to those practised when the "line" is crossed,
were performed. Jan Meyer's Land was passed, and on the 10th of July
the _Hansa_ and _Germania_ parted company in the fog, and met again no
more. An error in signalling occasioned the separation.

The _Hansa_ continued along shore and got in amid the ice. The winter
set in, and the crew managed to exist as men usually do under such
circumstances. They built a hut and killed bears, living with no very
great discomfort till the middle of October, when the ice pressed on the
ship and stove it in. The water gained when the ice retreated; the
_Hansa_ was doomed to destruction, and she sank, on the 21st, in
latitude 70 degrees 52 minutes North 21 degrees West near the Liverpool
coast amid the floating ice.

The crew escaped to the ice. They had already, Crusoe fashion, saved
all they could from the ship. The field of ice in which they had
encamped drifted away to the south. The floe was examined. It was
about seven miles in circumference, about two miles in diameter, and
about forty-five feet thick, five feet being above water. Christmas
came, still they drifted. By the new year the ice gave symptoms of
breaking up, the wind blew, and the danger was imminent. Though the
floe had been considerable no mishap occurred to them. The boats were
fortunately in good condition, but day after day the ice kept
threatening, until at last the floe became so small that living on it
any longer was out of the question. February, March, and April had
passed thus, and on the 6th of May the latitude of Bergen had been
reached. The ice raft was soon abandoned, the boats launched, but the
ice again stopped them. On the 6th of June, after various adventures,
the voyage was resumed, and