Fragments Recovered from the Wreck of the Seaglass: An Account of the Doomed Northern Glory Expedition of 1753-1754
Text notes:
- The text is rendered in modern spelling/syntax for ease of comprehension.
- Missing or illegible text, researchers’ assumptions, and/or archival or academic commentary is marked [thus].
* * *
[Letter tucked inside journal, in shaky but recognisable handwriting.]
I, James Askew, botanist with Her Imperial Majesty’s Ship the Seaglass, witness that whoever bears this is no longer human. Whoever you are that finds this, pray God you destroy it, and yourself. If there is an afterlife you will thank me in it.
The seeds [illegible: saltwater or tears.]
The only saving grace is the ice.
* * *
[Main journal begins.]
Journal of J.M. Askew, Botanist with Sir Bartholomew Zenith’s Northern Glory Expedition
Being an Account of the Botanical Wonders of the Lands of the Aurora
This strange warm summer has seen unusually extensive ice-melt, with corresponding access to the interior boreal forests. A rare privilege! The light stretches from one a.m. to midnight, excepting storms. The lack of sleep is a strain, but this remains a dazzling opportunity. I am grateful to my sponsor, Sir Al[illegible. Likely Askew’s foster uncle, Sir Alfred Fromrick].
I am here on sufferance: Captain Z. clearly believes my role is unnecessary. He avows that nothing new grows in these forests.
I graduated a mere three months ago, and recognise I am exceedingly lucky. The Empress has decreed a botanist accompany all her expeditions, and, frankly, they were running out of botanists.
* * *
We depart tomorrow for Lake Eyrie. The locals report strange lights from the trees on the far shore, but no further details are forthcoming as the forest’s religious significance means they do not approach.
* * *
We arrive [several unreadable sentences], but were grateful for the hot meal. My eyelashes sparkle with ice. My fingers ache with cold. There is a stretch of cleared and salted land between the houses and the woods.
The behaviour of the Captain, I fear, could be taken as offensive. He refuses to listen to the local guides and [illegible] terribly insulted.
* * *
Thankfully, the locals seem to have forgotten last night’s events, and the man they call the Gardener, a sort of priest-like figure, even gave us a map. I had anticipated the worst, that they would have a clear loathing for us, especially after the Captain’s comments, and the damage to their gravestones chipped by his rifle practice. An insult to their hospitality. I am thankful the town’s reputation for murderous insularity is exaggerated.
[Stain: unknown] a doomsday cult of some kind.
The Gardener [several unreadable sentences, crossed out.]
I remain concerned about the map, but Captain Z., in his usual bullish way, is delighted with himself.
* * *
I was wrong! The map led us safely to the shores of Lake Eyrie. Trees such as I have never seen before, blossoming and fruiting under the Aurora. Incredible to find them growing under these conditions. My career is made!
* * *
On watch tonight; seems unnecessary.
* * *
Small flowers, ice-blue, [illegible] on taiga typical of boreal conditions. The needles of the trees smell of iron. Locals claim they trace the magnetic activity in the sky. There are berries but no birds, so their method of propagation unclear. (It’s true I have heard the howling of wolves far-off, so perhaps prey animals play a role. Perhaps this howling also explains why I am on edge.)
The night is very dark. The Gardener’s words ring in my ears, but it is a calm evening. I can imagine no reason to be so jittery. Nevertheless, I urge precautions.
* * *
The Captain scoffed when I raised my concerns. He ate a berry; laughed when I protested.
* * *
[Illegible] badly shaken.
I have never known the wind to sob like this.
* * *
Something is wrong with these trees.
* * *
The Captain is dead. No, not dead. Changed.
Nobody should suffer like this, not even him.
* * *
The trees [paper spattered with dark stains: results of chemical analysis withheld].
[Illegible; as above] inhuman.
God save us all.
* * *
The Captain and crew have all been taken. I would have described them as consumed by hunger, but the appetite that possesses them is not theirs.
Only myself and the coxswain, Simmons [illegible: blood] and possibly the ship’s cat, Spike, have not succumbed, but on the latter I am unsure because the cat was already monstrous.
Perhaps my precautions did help, they were taken far too late.
[Illegible: further blood] afraid.
* * *
Simmons is gone the way of the rest. Even the cat [illegible; handwriting increasingly shaky and difficult to decipher].
[Legible but withheld].
* * *
I am the last one left, but I am not so foolish as to hope. I am a dead man who has not yet stopped breathing.
I have always admired plants for their relentlessness. They crack slate. Tear walls down stone by stone. Destroy castles. But [rest of the page is ripped away].
* * *
[Illegible: results of chemical analysis withheld] yet still something wondrous about them. Are my precautions so necessary? I am no longer convinced. The ship waits; there is no one to stop me. I cannot bear to burn the samples I collected. Each seed a monstrous miracle. The way they trace the Northern Lights. I intend [illegible sentences: scored heavily through with fountain pen.]
* * *
God forgive me. I have brought them aboard.
[Legible but withheld].
* * *
I am James. I was James. I am— [letters and sense dissolve, as if the author is forgetting how to write.]
May the ice claim us.
* * *
Contextual notes:
- The journal was discovered sealed inside a bottle in the wreck of the H.I.M.S. Seaglass. Analysis indicates the Seaglass was deliberately scuttled, and not crushed by the shifting sea-ice as previously believed. The Seaglass had already sunk beneath the water before the ice closed over it.
- No bodies were recovered. Below deck, what was initially believed to be a single individual’s human remains were revealed by further testing not to be human, or not only.
- Samples of seeds tucked inside the journal were sent to the Imperial Vault for thawing and analysis, despite the protestations of several archivists working on this project.
* * *
Ⓒ E.M. Linden
