CHAPTER XXIX.

THE SECOND GERMAN EXPEDITION. The First German Expedition—Preparations for a Second—Building of 258 the _Germania_—The _Hansa_—The Emperor William’s Interest in the Voyage—The Scientific Corps—Departure from Bremerhaven—Neptune at the Arctic Circle—The Vessels Separated among the Ice—Sport with Polar Bears—Wedged in by the Grinding Ice—Preparations to Winter on the Floe—The _Hansa_ lifted Seventeen Feet out of the Water—A Doomed Vessel—Wreck of the _Hansa_