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uired a ship the st anne and left murmansk in north western russia in august 1912 valerian albanov was employed as navigator the voyage was ostensibly purposed as a hunting expedition as the market for furs of various sorts was a major component of the economy of the times almost immediately the ship was caught in the pack ice it drifted north in a zig zag fashion for a year and half while the crew and officers became more and more lethargic and stultified they still had plenty of food but they began to run out of essential materiel with which to maintain the ship and rigging shooting seals and polar bears had supplemented their dietary requirements but to albanov the future looked bleak so he convinced 22 of the crew members to accompany him with the captain s permission on a sledge ski attempt to reach cape flora on northbrook island in the franz joseph archipelago this was a very small sealer s haven that was regularly visited by hunters and seal oil ships it was located about 200 miles south east of their position albanov managed to build seven sledges and seven canoes from wood and iron salvaged from the ship and departed with the others in april 1914 almost immediately the heavy sledges proved immensely difficult to handle they were so designed that the canoes were tied on top each unit weighing about 400 pounds pressure ridges and jagged uplifted blocks impeded progress and frequent open channels and fissures necessitated the expenditure of extra labor to detour around them the first day they made three miles and although they did better afterwords they never were able to travel much more than 6 or 8 miles in a day and the ice continued drifting north after trekking for four days and struggling for 22 miles albanov s noon sighting showed they had only attained 3 miles from the last location of the ship accidents occurred in which the stove was lost in a polynya an open pond and men began disappearing three of them gave up and returned to the st anne and one wandered off convinced that he saw land on the horizon both compasses broke and the chronometer was damaged so albanov was never sure about their exact location snow blindness was common and extremely painful occasionally the pack ice broke up on one floe they discovered ski tracks and were disconcerted to realize that they were their own storms were frequent and soggy clothes dirt and lice made them miserable but they were encouraged by finding sand on one floe and by the increase in bird sightings particularly gulls that drove them mad with their overwhelming noise men had continued dying and soon after actually spotting land off to the east two members of the crew absconded with most of the remaining food and gear leaving the rest to starve and drown but those left managed to reach the land and to climb a steep ice barrier via a vertical crack in order to step onto rocks and dirt after two years of fighting to stay alive on the ice eggs and eider ducks were abundant and the survivors feasted to repletion but they were all so tired and sluggish that they couldn t decide what to do next cape flora was their destination but there was disagreement on how to get there four of the men decided to travel by land on skis but albanov and two others knew that the only hope was to use the canoes paddling from cape to cape until they arrived so one morning the latter woke up to discover that the four had left taking with them most of the supplies the only thing left to do was to start paddling again one of strongest remaining crew members was alexander konrad he was in one canoe and albanov was in the other they faced violent storms strong currents aggressive walruses occasional immersions and constant headaches but they persevered fighting their weariness and squeezing the last bit of energy and volition out of themselves until they reached cape flora at last the last man besides albanov and konrad died but when the two remaining reached their goal they found shacks and cabins in widely varying states of repair some collapsed some ruined but a few in livable condition they waited in hope of visitors and at last a ship was sighted in the offing and summoning up their remaining strength they canoed their way to it rescued at last they were soon discomfited by finding out that the ship was almost out of coal for its steam engine and that it was leaking a lot before they finally arrived at archangel in north east russia they were once again briefly trapped in the ice and worn out from operating the hand pumps 24 hours a day to keep from sinking the ship was reduced to a bare skeleton all the superstructure having disappeared into the maw of the boiler furnace some years later the diary of alexander konrad was found and had some interesting additions to add to the epic story it was worded in such a way as to indicate that konrad had been one of the two mutineers who had left the rest to starve and die on the ice even though he had later returned to help albanov survive whether this actually the case or not will probably never be known as it was not specifically stated but the truth remains that konrad was probably besides albanov the most capable and energetic member of the crew one of the symptoms of trichinosis a parasitic roundworm found in polar bears is lethargy and weakness there s some speculation that many if not all of the trekkers suffered from this condition as they were reduced to eating raw meat for the last part of their journey albanov died in 1919 blown up in a railway station while returning to moscow from siberia apparently related to the russian revolution konrad lived on until after the second world war the st anne and the rest of the crew were never heard from again author mudpuddle posted on january 27 2020 categories uncategorized 22 comments on in the land of white death ferdinand count fathom tobias smollett 1721 1771 fathom was born in a wagon while his mother was transiting between european battles in the early 1700 s she made a sort of living by selling gin and underclothes to the soldiers she followed the boy was named after her sixth husband and he was raised on brandy and camp food during a battle in the 1716 war against turkey fathom s mom rescued a colonel from death after a bloody engagement and in gratitude he adopted her and her son and took them to live with him in prague fathom was raised as one of the family as a sort of brother to the colonel s real son renaldo fathom early acquired a soft smooth social talent which enabled him to participate gracefully in public activities whereas renaldo the more intelligent of the two was rather inept and graceless at communal functions they were of the same age and at the appropriate time they were both sent off to university in vienna renaldo studied and succeeded as a student but fathom pursuing his nefarious ways fell into the hands of card sharps and learned how to fleece neophyte enthusiasts he managed to win most of renaldo s money in short order but gave it back to him just in order to demonstrate his non existent open handedness renaldo was called home to join his father in another war and fathom was left by himself in the city running low on money fathom befriended a jeweler s daughter wilhelmina and used her to extort money from the parents by various ruses one night he was almost caught in wilhelmina s boudoir by her father he climbed into the chimney to evade detection when the old man left he descended into the room covered with soot causing wilhelmina to scream at his sudden appearance convinced that the devil was paying her a visit several episodes of the sort transpire until fathom having attained a dubious reputation in the neighborhood absconded with some of the father s jewelry and a gold necklace belonging to the daughter he traveled to the military camp where renaldo and his father are preparing to fight the french in another war while the father and son behave heroically in the battle fathom pretended to be sick soon he was making money with his card sharpery and was accidently reunited with his tutor the reprobate who introduced him into evil ways in vienna and after a siege lasting six weeks the two having damaged their mutual characters in the army deserted to the french unfortunately french discipline was stricter than what they were used to so that they were actually forced into combat slightly wounded fathom and his friend subsequent to an armistice journeyed toward paris with the monies they d bilked from french soldiers while staying overnight in a village fathom hid his valuables mistrusting his friend s opportunism he was alone the next morning but his wealth was apparently untouched fathom proceeded on his way but got lost in a forest and was benighted in a lonely hovel during a severe storm he was locked into an attic with a dead body and realized that had fallen into the hands of murderers and thieves changing clothes with the corpse he fooled the outlaws and made his escape with his bag of lucre but he soon discovered upon examining his loot that his card sharp friend had actually stolen his acquisitions and replaced them with rusty nails fathom reaches paris at last with a small amount of money which he uses to entice several british tourists sir stentor and sir giles into card playing but he soon realizes that the two are better sharks than he is and they thoroughly fleece him distraught fathom lands a job as a violinist the reader learns at this point that fathom is an expert violinist and flautist with the opera orchestra one of his boarding house neighbors was ali beker a famished spaniard who tells him a tragic tale he was guilty of poisoning his wife and daughter because he felt dishonored by their rejection of his choice for the daughter s husband he also stabbed the interloper orlando and left him for dead while he fled the country being tired of supporting himself through music fathom takes a boat to england where his ventures continue along the same sorts of lines eventually he turns himself into a doctor and does quite well for a while curing patients by basically leaving them alone unlike medical practices at the time which seemed devoted to killing sufferers off in the shortest time possible and rifling their possessions and money soon his iniquitous behavior begins to darken his status however and he s forced into debt and spends time in king s bench prison meanwhile renaldo has made his way to london with the love of his life monimia fathom recently released is welcomed by the pair and is encouraged to continue his medical practice fathom falls for monimia and does everything in his power to split up the couple so he can have monimia to himself he lies cheats steals and finally manages to make them hate each other but his pursuit of monimia is fruitless as she is rescued by a nice lady ms clement renaldo has returned to europe monimia apparently dies from grief and is entombed in a local church at length renaldo becomes aware of fathom s perfidy and hastens back to london to throw himself on his sweetheart s grave but spoiler s ahead finds her alive instead she was rescued by ms clement and hidden from fathom s greedy clutches at this point fathom is on the point of death himself suffering total rejection by society for his evil ways everything turns out advantageously renaldo marries monimia and they forgive the repentant fathom ali beker turns out to be a spaniard named don diego do zelos and renaldo is revealed as orlando the victim of zelos wrath monimia is his daughter zelos marries ms clement and so forth this novel was not like the other ones smollett wrote it was really more of a polemic attack on the society found in london at the time smollett had been a naval surgeon in his earlier life and was familiar with the corruption underlying the prevalent medical practices particularly in the larger cities doctors nurses pharmacists and herbalists were all commonly intertwined in defrauding the ill by prolonging treatments and overcharging for services rendered in fact the book was a diatribe on human behavior in general detailing the widespread dishonesty of the upper classes in which double dealing cheating blackmail kickbacks and every conceivable crookedness apparently flourished he goes into quite a bit of detail explaining exactly how diverse illegal and immoral practices were perpetrated it was quite enlightening and casts a clearer view of society at the time smollett wrote and lived at about the same time as henry fielding and some of his rants were redolent of the latter s fulminations against landowners and politicians i can t say i enjoyed this book as well as some of his others i still like peregrine pickle the best although roderick random is also delightful but it certainly revealed smollett s anger over the criminal nature of the urban world he lived in and perhaps about human nature in particular his diary covering the last year or so of his life was the best indicator of his crankiness though he complained about inns coaches people who couldn t speak english diseases vermin and a host of other discomforts that tormented him in his travels but it must be said that he was in poor health and suffered pain from the terrible roads and inhospitable conditions obtainable at the time author mudpuddle posted on january 18 2020 categories uncategorized 22 comments on ferdinand count fathom conquistadors of the useless lionel terray 1921 1965 trans by geoffrey sutton lionel was obsessed with mountains as much as his parents tried to get him to do well in school it was a hopeless endeavour before he was ten he was roaming the woods near grenoble looking for rats to kill earning money for their skins and exploring every nook and cranny beyond the city limits both his parents had been explorers of a sort his mother having grown up in brazil as an energetic horsewoman taking delight in penetrating the local jungles and chacos his french father was large bubbling and enthusiastic he had a degree in chemical engineering and he met his wife while starting a business in brazil he abandoned the project when the first world war began and returned home to enlist later he obtained a degree in medicine when lionel was twelve his brother became ill and the family for a change of atmosphere took a vacation in chamonix in the heart of the alps lionel dashed about the valley investigating the slopes and glaciers taking his first hesitant steps toward rock climbing an older cousin arrived an experienced climber and the pair ascended the acolyte s first peak the aiguillette d argentiere a modest pillar of moderate height which familiarized lionel with ropes carabiners pitons and permitted his first attempt at rappelling back in grenoble the nearby vercors range drew him like a magnet his first experience there was almost the end of his career though because the rock is smooth limestone and lionel made the mistake of trying to climb it in hobnail ...
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