Jules Verne's Captain Hatteras - Part 2: Ice Desert

Chapter 3 - Walking for Seventeen Days

This incident, these first words pronounced by Altamont completely changed the shipwrecked men's situation; if before they were outside any possibility of rescue, without a serious hope to reach in the Baffin Sea, threatened by the lack of food during a journey too long for their fatigued bodies, now, at less than four hundred miles from their snow house there's a ship that offered a chance and maybe even the necessary means for fulfilling their bold plan to reach the pole! Hatteras, the doctor, Johnson and Bell began to hope again, after being so close to despair; they all felt a happy feeling, close to delirium.

But Altamont's information was still incomplete, and after a few minutes' rest, the doctor resumed this precious conversation; he asked him questions so that they only required answers such as a gesture or a movement of his eyes.

They soon learned that "Porpoise" was a three-masted American ship from New York, wrecked in the middle of the ice, with large amounts of food and fuel, and it was possible to save its cargo, even though the ship lay on its side.

Altamont and his crew had abandoned it two months ago, taking the boat on a sledge with them; he wanted to get to the Smith Strait, to find a whaler to help them return to America; but little by little, fatigue and sickness struck these unfortunates who fell one by one along the road. By the end, only the captain and two sailors remained in a crew of thirty, and he, Altamont, had survived by a true miracle of fate.

Hatteras wanted to know from the American why the ship "Porpoise" was at such a high latitude.

Altamont made him understand that he had been dragged by the ice against his will. Hatteras, impatiently, asked him about the purpose of his voyage. Altamont claimed to have tried to look for the Northwest Passage.

Hatteras didn't insist and asked no more questions.

Clawbonny: Now, all our efforts have to go to finding the ship "Porpoise"; instead of venturing towards the Baffin Sea, we can go, on a path one third shorter, towards a ship that will offer us the resources necessary for overwintering.

Bell: We don't have a better solution.

Johnson: I'd add that we have no moment to lose; we have to calculate the journey's duration depending on the duration of our supplies, opposite of how it usually proceeds, and to start as soon as possible.

Johnson: You're right, Johnson; if we leave tomorrow, Tuesday, 26 February, we'd have to reach "Porpoise" on 15 March, otherwise we'd die of hunger. What do you think, Hatteras?

Hatteras: Let's start the preparations immediately and go. It can be longer than we think.

Clawbonny: Why do you say that? This man seemed sure of his ship's position.

Hatteras: But what if "Porpoise" drifted on its ice field, like what happened to "Forward"?

Clawbonny: Indeed, it's possible.

Johnson and Bell didn't respond to this hypothesis, of which they had also been victims.

But Altamont, paying attention to this conversation, made the doctor understand that he wanted to talk to him. He obeyed the American's wishes and, after a quarter of an hour of hesitation and trial, realized that the ship "Porpoise", stranded near a shore, couldn't leave its bed surrounded by rocks.

This news reassured the four British men; however, it robbed them of any hope of returning to Europe, unless Bell could build a smaller ship from the wreckage of the ship "Porpoise". Whatever it was, the most important thing now was to get to the wreck site.

The doctor asked the American one last question, whether he had encountered the high seas at 83 degrees.

Altamont: No.