[Footnote 158: That thin sheets of ice are formed in clear and calm
weather, even in the open sea and over great depths, was observed
several times during the expedition of 1868. But when we consider
that salt water has no maximum of density situated above the
freezing-point, that ice is a bad conductor of heat, and that the
clear, newly-formed ice is soon covered by a layer of snow which
hinders radiation, it appears to me to be improbable that the
ice-covering at deep, open places can become so thick that it is not
broken up even by a moderate storm. Even the shallow harbour at
Mussel Bay first froze permanently in the beginning of February, and
in the end of January the swell in the harbour was so heavy, that
all the three vessels of the Swedish Expedition were in danger of
being wrecked--_in consequence of the tremendous sea in 80 deg.
N.L. in the end of January!_ The sea must then have been open very
far to the north-west On the west coast of Spitzbergen the sea in
winter is seldom completely frozen within sight of land. Even at
Barents' winter haven on the north-east coast of Novaya Zemlya, the
sea during the coldest season of the year was often free of ice, and
Hudson's statement, "that it is not surprising that the navigator
falls in with so much ice in the North Atlantic, when there are so
many sounds and bays on Spitzbergen," shows that even he did not
believe in any ice being formed in the open sea. ]

CHAPTER VI.

The North-east Voyages of the Russians and Norwegians--
Rodivan Ivanov, 1690--The great Northern Expedition, 1734-37
--The supposed richness in metals of Novaya Zemlya--
Juschkov, 1757--Savva Loschkin, 1760--Rossmuislov, 1768--
Lasarev, 1819--Luetke, 1821-24--Ivanov, 1822-28--
Pachtussov, 1832-35--Von Baer, 1837--Zivolka and Moissejev,
1838-39--Von Krusenstern, 1860-62--The Origin and History
of the Polar Sea Hunting--Carlsen, 1868--Ed. Johannesen,
1869-70--Ulve, Mack, and Quale, 1870--Mack, 1871--
Discovery of the Relics of Barents' wintering--Tobiesen's
wintering, 1872-73--The Swedish Expeditions, 1875 and 1876
--Wiggins, 1876--Later Voyages to and from the Yenisej.

From what I have stated above it follows that the coast population
of North Russia earned on an active navigation on the Polar Sea long
before the English and the Dutch, and that commercial expeditions
were often undertaken from the White Sea and the Petchora to the Ob