By the 25th of July, the officers and crew of the _Hansa_ weighed anchor for the homeward voyage. By the 31st of July they were on the high sea in Davis Strait. “No more ice! Set southwards, and—O heavenly music of the word—homewards!”
It will be remembered that on July 20, 1869, the two ships had parted company, the _Germania_ proceeding on her course with officers and crew, under the impression that the _Hansa_ would rejoin her within a short time. When this did not take place, much concern was felt for her fate. By the 27th of July, the _Germania_ stood 73° 7´ north latitude, and 16° 4´ west longitude. Two days later an interesting note is made of the peculiar condition of the atmosphere.
“The weather was clear and still, and we had a good opportunity of observing the refraction of light and the mirage. The whole atmosphere was quivering with a kind of wavy motion, so that the exact outline of the object was often so distorted as to be unrecognizable. It may be imagined that pictures of things far beyond our range of sight could thus be seen. Scoresby relates, and it afterwards proved true, that he once saw and recognized his father’s ship perfectly in the mirage when it was thirty miles distant. The effects of this phenomenon on the distant ice was wonderful; sometimes it appeared like a mighty wall, and sometimes like a town rich in towers and castles.”
Carefully pushing a way between the floes, the _Germania_ stood within thirty miles of Sabine Island by August 4. Sailing straight for Griper Roads, she at last anchored in a small bay which was afterward her winter harbour.
On the 5th of August, anchor was dropped, and the German flag hoisted on Greenland soil, amid loud cheers. Sabine Island forms a part of the group known as Pendulum Islands, discovered by Clavering in 1823. Sabine’s observatory was carefully searched for, but no indications of its remains were found. Traces of Eskimo summer huts were discovered, however, giving evidence of long habitation.
On the 15th of August, the _Germania_ sailed as far as 75° 31´ north latitude, some distance beyond Shannon Island, the extreme point discovered by Clavering and Sabine. At Shannon Island, First Lieutenant Payer, accompanied by seven companions, and provisioned for six days, made a try of investigation. Lieutenant Payer’s description of the plateau to the southwest of Shannon is interesting. Tell-platte, as it is called, is six hundred and seventy feet above the sea. “Here on the broad mountain top were masses of rubbish of gneiss formation resembling those on Pendulum Island. We were also astonished by the sight of a large flat promontory (south of Haystack) which is not distinctly marked on Clavering’s charts. The view of the front coast of Greenland was full of majestic beauty.”