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Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Las cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s i des taux de rdduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd A partir de Tangle suporieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. r t 3 t t S 4 5 6 u C 7 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM BRITISH AND FOREIGN SHORES. I •1 :r 'Ht «u«i M. ViWARc anjun Arctic Expeditions rui -M BRITISH AND FOREIGN SHORES FROM THE liARLIEST TIMES TO THE EXPEDITION OF i875-7 76 nv D. MURRAY SMITH, RR.G.S. Ihmmm ^^louiT^ iHufitration:i. ^hp, a„b otl.cr C -'.'luiraOinri.'i THOMAS c. K D I N 15 U R G II JACK, GRANGE PUHLISHIXG WORKS 1 8 // klO^.'Ot 109051^ C O N T E N T S. ''^ii-'narruis. PAItT I. "•" :z:"::z-:::z:z :::::r: 'r^-™ - -■■»■- ...™..v .. 1 <^'iiAi"n:i{ J I. '■""rr^:.,;™.;:,™,;";:,,™;-:r;:;:::;;;;: — - --•°™' ™ -- «^^.. ^'IIAI'TKJ; III n;-sK.,.s..,.. c..no.-.„oK^K•s Kx-^^^nox™ ;;, "^"""^^^ '^ --"- «. "':aux,.:'h jo,K.N,.;v, . . '""•'^""'-^^ "^- •>"■: un.sox'.s ,uv co.ui.,.xv __ (^'IfAI'TKi; iV - --''--ss'.^.,,::.:'^ - ;:™ --^ -- - — « cocks... - T„. ..,.,,„ „K..oxs-_c,.x..u„,x : : : ," ;,:r""""^ «-«-o.p..,x ^ok a OnilHKAK nv AMrMUfAX WAK t^'HAl'TEli V. A.Hr.C VOVAOK-THK " l.„Kuri.,J " 1 " .:;^'"^^/^^"'-KKUS-KKAXKUx•s n,.. t-V/ VI COXTEXTS. CHAl'TKK VI. MitM -aAiil, UKATMKU W.TM.N T.-K AUCTIO CIUCLK-TIIE nUST KK-T,.E SLV T E KK-.,UXK-A,»n. S,n.NKHV- .niST K.NCO.NTKU WITH THE WA,,UL« - A „A.> ...T AMOXU T.-E ..K-TUK KU.ST UKAK- .KSLKUATE AmE.STVHE WiTU ^EAU-n V T Ie\.?1"'""~""'"'' °' '"" WAUU-H-NA1,U0W ESnAPK K.OM A WALULS ..KHD- OHU ; v!"' "•'■'^'""-^■•^ «^" ^"'^ -^"^--O-KAL „„OU.n- .P KUOM THE «EA-HOTTOH -U AUOKNO ,HE PACK - VESSKLS KKM.EKED VSKLESS FO« MAIV o.UKCT« OF TUB KX- "■""lO.V— CO.NCLLSK.X ui- VU\A(;l;, . . _ CIIAl'TER VII. TIE rvvi .t ''' •' '""" "^'^ ""■ "'-^ ^^'^^ <"AST-.E.U„.T,OX „E TIU , .AN„-n,S .srUVEV, AXI, the Am-EXTL-HES or THE SlUVEVOUS-EA,U.V ATTEMPTS AT C0I.0X,,SATIOX-COXCLL-.S.OX OE THE VOVA.E OF "DOUOUEA" AXn " THEXT " PAGI! 45 G3 PAllT II. C II A l> T I- R I. """mn.;;T? "" r" ^"^■■^"^-«°- -» --• - --^ "a...ax„eu" ax„ i..AM..LEA -EAU,.. E.EEOF KOSS-EAHEV MEE OF PARUV-JOUX SACKHFUSF AX KSK.MO, .O.XS THE EXPE,..TK.X AS .XTEKPUETEU_EXPEnn.,OX STA.TS-F. J t^n^ EEX_E.UMO HEEEE. AT A EAEE OX LKCK-TUACKIXO- ZHSCOVE.V OF MEEV EEF .AV-A WUAE.XU AHVEXTEHE-X.PPE,. ,X THE ,CE-FEOE-A XAKUOW E.CAPE CHAPTER II. .XTEn^UnSE WITH AX rXKXOWX TU.nE OF E«K,MO«-THE AnCT.O H.OHEAXnS - CAPTV.X HOS^S OKEAT .EE,S.uX-.OXC.EUM0X AXO KESEET« OF UO.S AXH PAHkV« ,0^1!^ 79 89 PART III. CIIAI'TEK I. I- .n...CH OP THE XOUTH^VEST rAS.AOE-PAHHV's FM.ST EXPEmTTOX, 1819-EXTF„S IAN ...rE« SOUXl.-IH,C.OVEUV OF PEPVE KE.FXt'. iXLET-STEEiUXC UESTWAKu/ ' CIIAl'TEE II. C0UNWALLI3 AXD nATHU.ST ,SEAXD« O.SCOVEPEO- IHmOVEUV OF MEEVIEEE ISLAXD, CllAI'TEU ill LAST ATTEMPTS TO PfsH WESTWARD rovr iv t,„- .v^,, "i.^m.MU) LOSl IN nil, SiNoW — liESOME TO SEEK A HTATIOX 102 110 • 4E IIG COXTi:\TS. vn CITAPTKi; TV. TirE \EW YEAIl — FIKST APPEAUANCE OE SCIKW — ;;.vniE.ME (OLD— ESOAl'E EKOM WINTEIt "■ IIAUIIOUU— CONCLUSION- OF VOVAi;!;, AM. KETLliX TO EN(ir,AXD, . . .130 PART [V. C ir A P T E K I. FRANKUN-'S GREAT JOUUKEV, 1819-22 - AUItlVAL AT VoKK FAfTOnY — SCENEUY OF STEEL lUVEK— SLEUGF, JOLItN'EV TO ATHABASCA LAKE— DEI'AliT FOlt (iin-AT SLAVE LAKE, . 140 CIIAPTKP II. WINTER SETTLHMENT AT FORT ENTER IMUSE — EXCURSIONS TO COPPERMINE RIVER-WANT OF AMMUNITION, CHAPTER ITT. ]K DEPARTURE FROM FORT ENTERPRISE FOR THE POLAR SEA - DOWN THE COPPERMINE RIVER —REACH THE SEA— DEPARTURE OF INDIANS— THE ARCTIC VOVACE -POINT TURNACAIN — TUE RETURN VOYAOE- THE LAND JOURNEY ON THE RARREN UROUNDS— DESTITUTION, 101 CKAPTEIi IV. ON THE RARREN GROUNDS — A CANOE LOST — SIX DAYS WITHOUT FOOD — GENEROUS SELF- DENIAL OF PEitRAULT — TUE LAST CANOE LOST — CROSSING THE COPPERMINE — TUE BE- GINNING OF TUE END, . . . . . _ _ _ .170 CHAPTER V. D« RICHARDSON'S NARRATIVE — MICHEL, THE IROQUOIS — MURDER OF MR HOOD- SHOOTING THE ASSASSIN — TUE MARCH lO 'IIIE FORT — ARRIVAL, ..... 187 CHAPTER VI. TWO CANADIANS STARVED TO DEATH — ARRIVAL OF RELIEVING PARTY FRANKLIN AGAIN DE- SERTED—RESCUE AT LAST— ARRIVAL AT GREAT SLAVE LAKE— MR DACK's NARRATIVE — CUNCLUBlUN OF VOYAGE, , , • . . ^ _ jgg PART V. EXPEDITIONS OF PAA'AT AND FRANKLIN, 1821-27. C II A P T E R 1. parry's SECOND EXPEDITION, 1821-23— THE OFFICERS AND CREWS— REPULSE HAY EXPLORED, CHAPTER II. WINTER QUARTERS FOUND- WINTER ARRANGEMENTS —THE CAPTAINs' CONCERTS— TUE ESKIMO NEIGIIUOUKS— CAPTAIN L\ ON's NARROW ESCAPE, ... 211 vm CnXTKNTS. ('irArTKi; in. ClIAl'TKi; IV. SCIItVV .-CUNCM-SIOX ,„■ V(,VAAX r.Mcrs-_orn KU.:x„s -^ nua.nnx.Kv vov.... .>„wx mackkx... n,VKK - .„k ......xn".,, ;: .MUX .,A,.K OX TMK ,.o,..Ui S.U.iUV- ,U:1T„X TO WIXTKK QrAKTKIiS. 211 '-n.,UX. KOUT K.AXKr.,X - ,.„K,.„,AS AT ,oKT .KAXKUX -THP SPMMKU VOVAC. COM- CIIAl'TER YII. M.:xc-.,._no.T,u: .:sKn,o.-sTo....K« fou want o. sL.m.Ks-.oxciXMox or vovac;k, t' H A I'T Kit VIII. "I> KICAKDSUX-S XA.iHAT.VK OK KXPLOUATIOX KASTWA.U, ,,iOM MA.KI-X.IK lUVK.i, ClIAPTEl; IX. suns,nu,,v VOVA.K. or cAPTA.x uox ax., capta.x nKKcncv : ,.vox'h vov.^o^ to uKPrr.s. C II A P T E P X. • Ai'TAix r.iir.citi-.v'.s vovAta: ix nii-: •' iu.osso.m," 1825-28 259 2G1 !7() PART VI. /.'XPBDinOXS OF J'AliL'VAXD ROSS, 1S27-33. CHAPTER I rAUKV-3 I.A.ST AUCTIC VOVA<;K.-TilE I.inill- ST t.ATnrnK kv,:u nn.vr.iK,, .., axv t:xp,,o„kk. 27.i CIIAPTEP II, liCSS'.S VOVAOK 1S''0 n i>t ^^___^ _^^ K. 18.013-,.,.,,,.. OK A XOKT,, MA<,XK„,. ,.o,,K - ,.,V,. V.U. AMOXU 203 C()Mi:.\TS. IX "m CHAl'TKIi III. IMi: ••VICTdKV" I'lioZKN- IN-i:-KrMo VHlTuKS— A mostim: ItlX KPTION— ML'SK-OX IirST-- ■line siccoM) winti:r in- tiii; ici: — mhitii MA(;\i:ric i>,)i,i; di.scovkuku— Tin: tiukd HiNiKK IS- Tin; ici;— lioss aijanoox.s tiii; '• vicTdCv ' — Tin: i;i:ti;i:at To iriiv ni:A(ii, CHAl'TKl; IV. IXnFFF.CTIVl: ATTK.MPT To KsfAPi:— IrjlllTH WINTKI; l\ Tin: ICi: — A IT.( pAT IN Till: UOATS — Ui:si'Ll-: AT I.A.ST, ..... ClI.AlTKi; V. (lI!,li:(T.'.i OK Till-: IC.VI'EUITION A.\ INDIAN KNCAMI'.MKN T — DI.SCOVKII V ol' CKKAT i'-ll IMVr.K — oi.i) FiiiKNDS— A rncii.iAii i.AXD.'irAiM:— TiiK i'r..\(iii: of hiANi)-Fi,n..s— fout kf.i.i \n<{-K DR JOHN MAirs Fin.sT F.VFFJ>/TJ0X—ltiU.i7. CJIArTEIi I. PURPOSE OF Tin: E.KPEDITION— KQI IPME.NT OF THE SHI PS— CO.MMANDER FITZ.IAMEs's JOURNAL — SUIUIEON OOODsm— WISE FOltllEARANCE— DLSCO REACH ED— LAST til.lMPSE OF Til" sh;ps, ...... 381 CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. I'K MiS HAKS KXPLOHATIOXS, l^< tC- 17 -AUU. VAL AT UIOPULSn HA V-NKW OKOrXD ENTHUED IPON-TilE ISTHMUS CKOSSKD-WIVITU QrAUTKUS-SUOCE«,Sl.UL TLUMIXATION OF THE EXPEDITIOX, PAGE 39G PART VIII. THE FSAXKLLY HEAIICII. CIIAPTEll I. THESEAUCU FuU FKANKLIN KESOLVED IPOX-VOVA.n.S OF THE "HEuALd" Wn "PLOVFil" -AWACTA BAV-BOAT EXPEOIT.O.V FriTED OUT-U.HAU) ISLAND O..SCOVEUKD-ICE- CLIFFS OF ESCIISCIIOLTZ BAY, . CHAPTER II. THE "plover" IN WI.NTEK (jrARTERS, 1849-50, * • • • . CHAPTER III. NARRATIVE OF A BOAT EXPEDITION AI.OX.. THE AUCT.C COAST FUOM WAINWUIGI.T ISLVVDTO MACKENZIE n.VEU.-FKOM THE IMTmcuTO .-NPLnLLSlIED JOUKS'ALS OF UEAU-ADMIUVL ri'LLEN, . . _ CHAPTER IV. LIEUTENANT PLLLEN'.S NARRATIVE CONTINUED, CHAPTER V. UICIURDSON'S BOAT-VOV/GE THROUGH RUPERT's LAND AND THE ARCTIC SEA, 419 429 CHAPTER VI. RICHARDSON IX UIXTLI! QUARTERS, CHAPTER VII. RAE'S EXPEDITION ,X IM'J-SIK JAMES ROS.s's EXPEDITION, 1848-50 -AUXILI VKV VOVV.iE OF THE '■ XuUllI .STAli." 435 459 468 475 480 TART IX. OS FRAXKLIX'S TRACK. CHAPTER I. CAPTAIN PENNY, WHALING MASTER AND E.vPLOUER-(;0ODSIr's "VOYAGE IN T.:R 'ADVICE ' (whaler), in search OF FRIENDS WITH SIR JOHN FRANICLIN," . 4g(; I I '■ I <'(f\r i:\rs. XI CHAPTi:!! I i. • AI'TAIN I'KNNV'-; SKAIUII l\ TIIF. "LAllV ll:\NM.l\" \M> -'SOI'IIIA." . . . ."ill:.' r\\ \ PTK i; III. I>F.N"S-y'-< 'iKAMCir AND DI^I'ilVKIilKS l\ WII.I.IM.TdV ( 11 AXNKI., no!) <■ II AFTER I v. ( ri:i), I'.TC— M,VA(;i: or T ■'■'ii: •• iiRsoi.i Ti: "— <'H.\PTi:i; II ,XAKv .-o.HNKv- , s, ,:,.,.u,,,x. ,. ,„• ,■,„■ - , vrn,,.,. , K • '^':'-'"iK> M„^,■^„^,■s-A.,A^,.o^^^.:^T or u, m„, on m ' ""'" '""" -"•■n- sv. .u,„„v r.n:o„n,T.MAnnu. n,': ;,.'•'' ''';'' -'"'^ '■•^-■'' •"- ^ .'..'■ -v..u.„,» ,.„/.„,,,:::- :x:;,;::!;r:;::,::;;:'" <'HAPTKII II. HAE's LAST AKc-nr KxrKnrnoN-- KXTUAOMmNA.v .vTK.nrrvoP ,, . <'HAPTi;i! III. AXDKUSon's EXPEDITIO.V — m, is-Ti-Pi.i.iT, -.n:T. KX OK ,:x,.Kn,T.oi;; "" ^ '" ""' ""^'•■'■^ --" - — .u. ,s..av,> ('HAI'TKI; I v. fAl'TAI.S- .MVl.lNTOrK's VOVAOK [\ THK " Kov " n,AM fs l.llvl.- oiaril OF THE EN(iI\r: EH, <'irAi'Ti:i! \ •■i:'^MMIXA„V SIMMNO ,.o,„xevs_ HO, T,XK OX T„E Ma 4 II' I' KMnoiiTAXT DISCOVERIE.S, Gl'G c.rj orio fi.-.: (108 (:()\ri:.\Ts. Xlil CH APT HI! VI. Tin: i.iiKAT .i(iri:xi;v < iimmi:.\m;ii -.mui:i: i;i:mis oimaim;!) — iiki.k s at |'(M\t imuTir— luxi- .si.KW.K iiiiiviNi;— M i;i:< ,,i(u foi.nd-tui: mystkhy m'Lvkd AT I.A.ST, •■•..... CI! .\ I'Ti: i; VII. IMAT Willi >Ki:i.i:Tij.Ns I'oiXD- i;i:i.iis i.\ Till: iiuat- riii: ur.TiiiN .iuiknkv, (i,;! list • 11 .\ I'Ti: I! VII I. DKATII .PI- IlLACKWKLI.— CAPTAIN Al.l.i;.\ ViHN..'> .lut liNKV - I.I i;( Tl:S AS T llul'.siiNS .lullt.MY — KKLE.YSK AND IIO.MKWAKD \ i iVACK- -l.l.>T or I'lll NCi I'AI, m.l.KS lulNH. . . liUl PAKT xm. MtCTJV KXl'l-hlTlo.Xs I'UOM FoliEIc S siloHI-s. CHAPTI.-:!; I. A.MLUiCAN i:.\pi;ijnu).\s — kankh vovaci; td smith .sdisD, l,s,-,.|..-,.-, — k.vtuanc:; to s.mitii .SUUM) — A .STUILM — AIICTIC 11, JllA UINTKK QIAIiTKliS 11 KACII Kl), (' II A I THI! I 1. E.XTREML ; I.U— A TKIiltllU.i: .MA|;(II --FATA1. 1;|;m l.T.s— sl'i;iN(i .lOLIiNKV— HESOIItcKS Ul" Till; POI.AU WOHl.O-ONK mo MA.NV — Till; ",,P1:N Pcl.Ali .s|:a"— E.VTitA..|{13l.\AllV IJKAIMM.IIT — CAXUIl) COXKE.SSION", ..... (•iiArTi:i; i 1 1. TiiL si;(:oNi> \vi.\Ti:ii— D\i!iiM;.-,.s Ai'iiAH— KinriiN or iiavi;.s- liuciLi.UT i;.\.ck to Lift^. CJI A PTKi; I V. haves' i;.\PEi)jTii)N— i;iAcn.u i-ou.M.n'ioN— tui; ■■opi;.\ poi.ak .si;a'— liK.suLT.s so-cai-led, (JHAl'THI! V. CAPTAIN C. F. HALLS VOV.VOi: IN THE '• POLAlilS " — ..1 n: AMoN(; THE ESKI.MoS— THE AlliOlSA liOAP.INc;— THE "(IPKN Pdl.AK SNA " CLOSED— Di: \T1I m|- 11 A I.L— I.K 1 ETINl ; — llE.SCrEh— CONCLI SKIN. li'J',1 I I 111 I'lh PART XIV. IIIX'EXT HrHoi'KAX KXI'KJJITIOXS. <'HAPTi:i; I. THE liEi;.MAN i;\PEl)nTON, lfili'J-70— (.ILLS AND (iC LLLl !— ITUST ICE, \1V C()\ri:.\rs. < H A I'TKl; II. '■••I'MAN u:(iic i.M.|;i,i,i„v. 1 .s.l'.f 7(1 - « I; r. K ..r Tin- •'iriv.." '■''• 7ii <'1IA1'T|;|! Mi ■UMi:iAN i:m i;i,niii.\, I,s7:.'7i \M> I'.WKIi— I'K.NKKH • II A I'TKl; I \-. Tin; \iiVA(.i: (i|- mi: ••ii: KXI'KI.IIIUX ~(o.Ml'.\M(, i..M.^ ...mov.kk.,-„,u„:k ,m..vx,. k.v, .n:„ - n;.xx-,,„>, I.I.I lii.Ar AM) i;i:scri:, '•''"l"M " IM.KI! WKVI'IIKCIIT mill riNc Miiiii, — v|,jy N iiiiriiKs — ii '>l:i I.AM, DIM IMIICI,— 7SI I'AUT X\'. Til,-: nv, Alll.l.l.i, „ |, — l'„in Koll.KK M.siTi:,, -.n;KAr srrn.s I ^" -^ x-.-mistaki. ,x ,,,, ,„,,, ,, ,^„.,.„ ^,^,^^^ 'llAPTKi; II. TIIK WINIKH AT n.nihlli, II »,- "-,.K.,...v.nc-- : :.;'■•;;:„': '■—^- -■-..< .,.- .......-.,„,: rOXrHMOX, . '""•'' '^'^-^'-'"■ l''ii.iii' unii Tin; Wai.im m.s Vol \(; I.kiiI) Nki.sun ((im.m 1^M!|•^ i.\ Si:( uMj 1)1 lAT. ... I. N'l.T.sdV AM) •iiii: Hi;.\i;. .... '>. Pcil!Tl;.\IT ny C.U'T.U.N ('(MiK. .... ti. If. M.S. " I •diiiiTiiKA " lli;si;i' IN Tin; Ick. 7. If. ."M.S. ■•'riiK.NT' Passinc tiiimi'cii lJ.\X(ii:i;(ir.'< fcKiiKiti^.s, 'I'm: WiiAi.i: i.\ Mki.vilm; I!av, Cl TTIMi a rA,->.s.\(;K I 01! TIU-; SlUI'S, . Cai't.vin lioss'.s lNiT:ii\n;\v with Tiiii I'',&ivi.mu.s. FOUTKAII' OF C.M'T.MN liosjs. .... TiiK Si X Ai' ;Mfij.\i(jiT, .... KsKiMO Sxow III !•.•<. AXi) AriioiiA l!oi;i;Ai.ifs, . I >n IXC IXC lIo.Mi: ini: Skai.s, .... CaI'TAIX LvOx'.s Si.i;i)(;K Pautv. 'I'm-; liii.ss oi' Tin: ■• Kihv." .... Ivu.s.s AN!j Tin: ..MiskO.v, .... Till-: J,Axi) Jul liXKV. ..... roniliAiT ui- Silt .luiix I''i;a.\ki.ix. i^l.KDCK I'AlilV |-:X(AMIIN(; lOlt Till; Nk.iit. . Si>l\i. I), 10. II. l.i. II. I.'). lli. 17. I'.i. Jll. ■21. /' i'iinii.-iii'i'. I'Ai.r. 1 Till, lil l.li;\ 1N(; I'l ■ \1 10 ."»() 71 Nil s i \ \~- ; ? I 1 PER I LOUS XA VWATIQX. :a: 'n lay helpless \\\)(n\ a sheet of Avater two or three miles in diameter, and appar(MitIy ice-locked — " idle as a painted ship npon a painted ocean." "What matter tliut the snn shone l)rilHantly, gildin>^' the icy landscape, Avhen the sails Avere hanging sluggishly from the masts 1 ]\I'C'lnre seemed to have reached an Arctic " Doldrums ; " but a surjirise -was in store for him. A light air sprang up in the afternoon, and soon a moderate gale was blowing from the south-cast. The ca[)taiu took advantage of the wind to follow up an east-north-east 'course; but the navigation was of the most dangerous deso'iption. " It Avas rpiite ajipalling," writes Armstrong, " to observe immense floes coming on towards us as we spi?d our way through the narrow channels of water that sei)arated them from each other, and some of which were almost magically closed as we approached them, by the junction of these ponderous masses, propelled onward, as they Avere, l)y the united power of wind and currents. . . . Some fragments it was impossible to avoid, and, as the ship struck them from time to time, the shock Avas tremendous, and vibrated through every timber of its solid framcAvork — even endangering the safety of the masts ; and it Avas only by an etlbrt that any one could maintain his equilibrium on board. . . . The gale imparted an appearance of grandeur and Avildness to the scene dillicult to conceive ; but so perfectly ice-locked Avere Ave, and so circumscribed avis the area, that it could not exercise its poAvcr." Next day, the Avind having fallen, all the boats Avcro called away to toAv, and at about eight r.Ar. Point DrcAv was reached. On the folloAving morning, Avhen close to Point Pitt, ]\[r Court, the icivmaster, Avas sent ashore to erect a cairn, Avith a notice to the effect that the " Investigator" had passed that point. On landing, j\Ir Court's party Avcre met by three Eskimos, Avho at iirst shoAved extreme timidity, but after being addressed in their oavu language and alloAved to rub noses Avith the strangers, became, as usual, friendly and communicative. The most valuable information obtained from them, hoAvever, at this and subsequent intervicAvs,. Avas that open Avater, from three to fn'e miles Avide, extended to the east along the mainland, and that no other big ooniiak like the "Investigator" had visited their coasts^from Avliich M'Clurc learned, iirst, that the lost expedition nuist still be detained in the central polar sea, and second, that, to a certainty, the " Enterprise " had not preceded him, and must yet be far behind. On the 11th, the .ship Avas visited by tAvo baidars containing tAventy-four natives, of Avhoni the chief, Avho carried an old nuisket marked " Barnet, London, 18-10," Avas probably the same troublesome individual Avho headed the attack on i\Ir I'ullen in 18-19. All connnunications Avith the natives were carried on intelligently and satisfactorily by the " Investigator's " interpreter, Mr IMierching, a Moravian missionary, Avho, though he had learned all he knew of the Eskimo language and character at the settlements on the coast of Labrador, 11 3z 1 I ' i 1 i I j 1 1 ) 40 040 Tin:' FiiAXKLix si:AR('i[—\>^:A):y\. •\viis altle to converse •with the western Eskimos (hvelh'nu,' at u distance of ncai-ly 4(M)0 miles — a circumstance uhich seems clearly to }irove the unity and distinctiveness of the Kskimo race. On the 1-Uh Aui;ust, M'C'lure had penetrated eastward l»ey<>nd lieturn ]i<'ef to h)n,n-. \A>' 17 W., and was now sailini;' in waters hitherto deenuMl completely impracticahli' for shi})s. Jhit the navigation was exceedini;!y dillicuit owini;' to numerous shoals, many of which were hidden l)y Hoes. "These .shoals," .says Oshorn, "are composed purely of driftwood and »lie alluvial deposits of I'.eiiihbourin,!; rivei's. A mass of the former takes the ,^;;;;:iid, or I)ecomes ti.\.ed l)y some accident, in three or four fathoms water; the current soon fe(>ls the impediment, and begins to deposit in and around the micleus matter that forms a shoal ; the shoal grows rapidly ; more drift- ■wood grounds, more sediment is deposited, and even within the lifetime of a man, as one Eskimo as.sured Mr iMierching, an island rises from the bottom of the sea." Amid .shoals of this di'scription the "Investigator" Avas beset u\\ the 14th, and in trying to work her way out she took the ground. J'he moment was one of extreme danger, as the ship was ibr tlio time at the mercy of tlie moving t1oe.s. To provide against casualty the deck-load of provisions was removed into the boats, and in the mitlst of the opei'ations for getting the ship iuco deej) water, o r, and its fatal results." It is just, however, to state that the practice of giving rum to the Indians in exchange for furs, has for many years been abandoned by the Company. M'Clure closely questioned the Eskimos of Cape Bathurst, Avitli regard to the existence of land to the northward. They oidy pointed to it with an expres.sion of anxiety, and exclaimed, " That is the Land of the (Jreat White liear ! " "While at Cape Batlurrst," wiites Sherard Osborn, " a constant exchange of garments went on between the seamen and ollicers on the oiio side, and the natives on the other; l)ut one Eskimo, more kn(»wing than th;; rest, liit upon an ingenious plan to obtain clothing without giving a (//t/'d jiro quo. He went to several of the individuals of the ' Investigator's ' company, connnencing with the commander, and pretended to be .suffering from exces- sive cold. His teeth chattered, and his whole frame shook so, that compassion was immediately aroused, ami a (hiernsey frock given him. Then lu; felt better ; but wiitching an o})portunity, thi rogue would slip it off, stow it away in his kayack, and then return to obtain a fresh one. At last, however, an old quartermaster, Avho had been watching him with some degree of anuise- ment. Hew into a passion at the fellow trying the same trick on with him, called him ' a Jew,' and threatened to knock his head off, aceomi)anying his threat Avith a demonstration from a large horny fist, which the Eskimo liiulerstood better than the profuse volley of adjectives, that rolled out at the same time over the quartermaster's quid." Having obtained a promise from these natives to be kind to any " Mhite men " who might come amongst them. Captain ]\['Clurc resumed his voyage, and on the morning of the (ith Septeml)er, had readied Cajie Pariy, in longitude about VIA: W., and immediately south of 15anks Land. .\ strong south-easterly wind, which set the ice oft' the coast, was blowing, and as the sea was clear to the north, ]\I'Clure pursued his course in that direction — in slee])less anxiety for what secret this unknown sea had to give up to him. He had not long to wait. "At ll.;3() A.>r. (en the Otli)," writes I)r Armstrong, " the joyi'ul rei)ort of ' land on the port bow,' was proclaimed. from the masL- head, and as noon dispelled the haze which hung around its lofty outline, and revealed it to our delighted eyes, it bore from X.E. to E.N.E., distant about thirty miles. T need not attempt," continues the Doctor, " to describe 548 tup: frank rjN search— \s:^o-h^. the feeling of joy ■which this pleasing intelligence difTused amongst us ; of the hopes indulged in, or the variety of opinions entertained and freely expressed. All eyes were directed towards it for the remainder of the day, anxiously looking forward to our soon reaching this newly-discovered territory. Some thought it would prove to be a continuation of Wollaston Land, others that of Banks Land, as we had then nearly reached its meridian ; but whichever it might prove to be, the interest was absorbed by the feeling of confidence universally entertained that the land before us would prove a certain guide to lead us to the northward — perhaps to Melville Island. . . . As if to add to the cheerful feeling we experienced, the sunset was peculiarly beauti- ful, tinting the western horizon with colours no eftbrt of art could portray — the most brilliant scarlet and crimson, stratified on a rich neutral ground, formed by a harmonious blending of all the elementary colours of the rain- bow— a picture of pure Arctic scenery, stillness, and beauty, which cast an auspicious halo around this new land." On the following morning, the " Investigator " having reached to within two miles of the southern point of the land — a lofty cape, 1000 feet high, afterwards named Nelson Head — Captain M'Clure and Dr Armstrong left the ship in one of the whale-boats, followed by Lieutenant Cresswell with a party of officers in the first cutter, for the purpose of landing upon, and taking possession of, their discovery, v/hich, with the usual formalities, was named ''Baring Island." It was afterwards discovered, however, that the island was no other than Banks Land, the northern shores of which were discovered from the coast of Mel- ville Island by Sir Edward Parry, as early as 1819-20. Parry named the land he discovered Banks Land, and this name it has properly retained. ^I'Clure and his companions proceeded to examine the shores, and found that vegetation was general, that the Arctic flora occurred in perfection, : rid that there were recent traces of reindeer and liares. Better than all, how- ever, a i^erfectly open sea extended away towartl the north-east — the route to Barrow^ Strait and to England. In this direction the vessel was now worked against a moderate east wind. The south-eastern coast of Banks Land revealed itself point after point, and was found to consist mainly of limestone, covered with soil and verdure, and sloping to the sea. Pushing on for two days, on the 9th M'Clure discovered new land to the eastward, or " on the starboard bow," and the " Investigators " began seriously to fear, as the trend of the shores both on the right and left was toward the north-east, that they were running into some deep fiord or land-locked inlet. Still there was the chance that this inlet, which was about thirty miles in width, might prove an open passage leading into BarroAV Strait, and in that hope M'Clure pressed on toward the north-east. " Early on the morning of the 10th," writes iJr Armstrong, "' the joyful intelligence of land on either quarter was reported as day advanced ; and as the fog cleared away, it could be seen running in n WINTER QUAItrERS REACHED. 54i) a parallel direction on either siilo as far as tlio eye coukl reach ; and the hope so ardently entertained, that this fine sheet of water might prove a strait, was likely to be realised, as wc uninterruptedly pursued our way to the northward. Still the same anxious feelings pervaded our minds ; and one almost felt afraid to give expression to one's hopes, lest the reports from the mast-head, frequently as they came, might destroy them." On the same day the vessel had reached two islands, afterwards named Princess Koyal Islands; and at noon the observations taken demonstrated that the ex- plorers had now reached a point only sixty miles distant from the known northern limit of Banks Land, or, in other words, from Barrow Strait and the achievement of the North-West Passage. At this period Captain INPCluro suffered intense anxiety and ceaseless excitement. " I cannot describe my anxious feelings," he writes, in his private journal. "Can it be pos- sible that this water communicates with Barriw Strait, and shall prove to be the long-sought North-West Passage 1 Can it be that so humble a creature as I am will be permitted to perform what has baffled the talented and Avise for hundreds of years?" On the afternoon of the 10th, however, the wind veered round to the north-north-east, and brought down with it, right against the "Investigator," large quantities of ice not previously in sight. The gale drove the ship on the eastern or lee shore of Prince of Wales Strait, as this new channel had been named, and pressed her, together with the ice that surrounded her, down upon the coast of Prince Albert Land, the name given to the land on the east side of the strait. For three days the ship remained beset in the ice, and in constant danger of being ovcriun by the moving floes. On the 15th the wind changed to the southward, and gradually drifted both the ship and the floes with which she was surrounded, toward the north. "Drifting along in a churning sea of ice," writes Osborn, "amid darkness and snowstorm, the 'Investigator' held her way, her gallant company contented to run all risks, so long as her coui'se was onward, and towards the north-east." On the 17th September M'Clure reached his most advanced position in Prince of Wales Strait— lat. 73° 10' N., long. 117° 10' W.— a point only thirtrj miles distant from the waters of Barroiv Strait. North of this point the ice, jammed together by the heavy pack of Melville Sound, which lay across its northei-n extremity, could find no outlet toward the north. After being drifted up and down the strait by shifting winds, liable to sudden destruction at any moment from the moving and irresistible ice, M'Clure found himself, on the 80th September, finally beset in the pack, in lat. 72" 50' N., long. 117° 55' W. On this day the temperature fell below zero for the first time ; and as the ship was now stationary, preparations were immediately com- menced, by dismantling the ship and erecting the woollen housing, for spend- ing the winter in the pack 650 rni-: iuasklix search- \sb\i-b\. CHAPTER 11. r \ gj i ITUST ■\VIXTER IX THE ICE. Ix\ the early October days of the first winter among the ice, nothing important occnrrcd. The excellent spirits of officers and men were clashed, but only for a moment, by the discovery that 500 lbs. of preserved meat were putrid, and iiad to be thrown overboard. Taken in connection with the loss of the boatful of salt meat already mentioned, this was a serious loss to a crew now firmly enclosed amid the ice of an unknown sea. But despair is death in the Arctic regions, and Captain M'Clure was ever anxious to keep the attention of his men fully engaged, so that there should be no time allowed for grumbling or despondency. One of the means toward this end, Avas to send out parties of officers and men to explore the lands they had discovered on either side of Prince of Wales Strait. On one of these excursions an incident occured, which might have resulted in the sudden and tragical termination of the expedition. On the loth October, with a temperature of 40'' below freezing poin'^. Captain jNI'Clure, Lieutenant CresswcU, Dr Armstrong, and ]\[r iSlierching the interpreter, with four seamen, started from the ship to visit the land on the eastern side of the strait, and take possession of it. The route was first over broken and rugged pack, afterwards over a belt of smooth ice, extend- ing to near the shore, and fiujdly across a barrier of broken floe, formed by the violent contact of the sea-ice with the grounded hummocks on the shore. " The tide happened to have brought the tAvo edges together with nuich violence," writes Osborn, " and the lighter ice (some feet in thickness, however) Avas turning up and rolling over, layer upon layer. ' Follow my leader ' Avas the idea of all the party ; and aAvay they rushed over the i)ile formed by the battling floes, cheering as they reached the land, and regard- less of the fact that at turn of tide those very floes might part and cut ofl" their retreat." The party having arrived on shore, the seamen Avere ordered to construct a cairn on this ncAV land, Avhich had been named after Prince J.V AUVJJXTl'h'f:. 551 All)ort ; while the ollicers, iiiarcliinj,' on for two hours, wore rowarcled with a view of "a heuilhuul, whirli appeared Hke tlie termination of IJank.s or JJariii,!^ Land, witli a blank space between it and the coast side of the strait, which confirmed Captain M'Clure in his belief in a channel thron.i;h, and made his companions exclaim that they saw into Barrow Strait." In this excursion no livin*,' creatun; was seen, though traces of bears, deer, and foxes, were observed. The scant vci^etation consisted merely of small patches of dwarf willow and moss. On the whole, I'rinco Albert Land was unpromising us a hnntin<,'-n'round, "We had returned to the .shore," writes Captain M'Clure, "and were following our track back to the ship, anticipating the pleasure of a good dinner, after a twenty miles' walk, when, on coming to where the junction of the land-ice and the sea-Hoes took place, we beheld a separation of fifty yards of clear black water ! Our feelings arc easier to be imagined than described : nearly five miles from the vessel, a Polar night closing in, and the only provision amongst the Avholc party a solitary tin of preserved meat, which had been issued to the men for their dinner, but had now become so solidly frozen as to defy both their knives and teeth ! " The situation was threaten- ing. The starving seamen ranged along the edge of the landicc in the hope of finding a floating piece on which, as on a raft, they might cross over the ojien water that gloomed black between them and safety. No such ice-raft, however, was to bo found, and, as the men wandered along the Hoe-edge, they fell heavily into icy clefts, or bruised their limbs on the iron hununocks, and were fain to sit down and fall off' into the sleep of fatigue, which, in these regions, knows no waking. The officers prevented this by keeping every man on his feet and in motion, imtil at last, in answer to the resounding muskets of the de.spairing men, rockets and guns were fired from the ship, and the wanderers knew that a rescue party would soon be with them. This ])arty soon arrived within hail on the opposite side of the open water. " Have you a boat with you ? " cried INI'Clure. " Xo," was the answer, " we did not know you wanted one." The captain ordered them to return inunediately, and bring one. In the meantime, however, another relieving corps had been sent from the " Investigator " with a boat, by means of which M'Clure and his companions wore rescued. By four in the uiorning the travellers had partaken of a substantial meal, and retired to their beds, almost exhausted, after eighteen hours' exertion, but grateful for the fortunate termination of their adventure. " The distance we had travelled," writes Dr Armsti-ong, " exceeded thirty miles, which, in consideration of the nature of the ground, was more trying than double the distance over level country ; and what with the intense cold of the night, no tents, inadequate clothing, and entire want of food, had wo not been happily rescued, there was but too nnich reason to fear that morning would have furnished a serious list of casualties." OO'J THE FRAXKLIN Si:AliCI[—\x:A)--y{. ,i i Between the li'tli and 18tli of October, 424 lbs. of jn-e-servcd meat Avere thrown overboard, as unfit for human food, and this loss, taken in connection with those that had jipreded it, was somewhat ominous. Still the spirits of the men were excellent, and ]\l'Clure endeavoured to preserve cheerfulness l)y keei)inj^ them constantly employed. On the 21st October 1850, the captain, at the head of a party, including Dr Annstrong, set out on a sledge excursion for Barrow Strait. Tho "Investigator," liowever, was but scantily furnislied with the necessary api)ar;vtus for cilicient sledge-travelling, nor does the delic'-ncy in this respect api)ear to have been compensated ^-irby the training or the ingenuity of her olllcers. For example, ^I'Clurc did not know how to construct and load his sledges, so as to include a suOiciercy of necessaiy provisions ; and vre find that, at the close of the first day's journey toward Barrow Strait, the only supper for oflicers and men was " a ^>int of tejjid water apiece, into which a little oatmeal was thrown." A sledge expedition conducted on this scale could only achieve success at the expense of infinite labour and tho most poignant suftering. After three days however, the party had so far ascended I'rince of Wales Strait, as to obtain a clear view into Barrow Strait, or, in other words, to behold before Ihem the completed North-West Passage. The following is M'Clure's report of what led to the incident : " October 24th was not so cutting a day, the thermometer having risen to 5° Fall., I walked ahead whilst the sledge was packing, ascended a jioint of land a hundred feet above tV, level of the sea, and observed distinctly that the eastern shove of Prince of AVales Strait trended far away to the cast- ward, whilst that of the western coast (which we were upon) preserved its northerly direction. The point whereon I stood appeared to be the most contiguous to the opposite shore, and the breadth across about fifteen miles; beyond me the shores of the strait evidently began to separate. This encouraged me in the hope that we were on the point of reaching Barrow Strait ; and seeing a hill at what appeared a distance of twelve miles due north of my position, I returned to the sledge, and pointed it out to the crew as a cape whence we should see that long-wished-for sea." On the morning of the 2Gth the cape referred to was reached, and ascending a hill 000 feet high before sunrise, the captain and his party waited till daylight should reveal the North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. As the sun rose, the wondrous prospect was unveiled. Prince Albert Land trended away to the eastward, and Banks Land, near the north-east angle of which the party stood, was seen to terminate in a low point about twelve miles ahead. Northward across the northern entrance to Prince of Wales Strait extended the frozen waters of Barrow Strait, or rather of that w^estern reach of it now known as Melville Sound. "A North- West Passage was discovered," exclaims Osborn. " All doubt as to the existence SLEDGE EXCUIiSlOXS. fins of a water coinmiinicatiou between tlio two yreat oceans was removed, and it now only remained tor Captain M'('lin-(> and his men to perfect tlu' work, by traver8in,<4' tlie few thonsand miles of water between them and their homes." The eape from which the discovery was made, afterwards named INIount Observation, is in hit. 73 UO' 30" N. ; lonj?. 114' 30' W.; and from this point the explorers pnshed on to Point Jinssel, the extremity of llanks Land, on the veritable shores of jNIelville Sonnd. The retnrn jonrney was now connnenced, and after j^reat sntierini;' from extreme cold, etc., the party .safely reached the " Investigator" on the 31st October. On the 11th November the snn was soon by the " Investigators " for the last time during the winter of 1850-51, and the dreary eventless season of darkness set in. Christmas Avas celebrated in the usual time honoured fashion; and, writing on the 31st December, INl'Clure states that " nothing could be more satisfactory than the state of the vessel, her crew, and her resources on this day." After a long and monotonous Avinter of eighty-four days of tAvilight and darkness, the sun reappeared to the "Investigators " on the 3d February. The returning spring Avas hailed, as it always is in these remote regions, Avith delight, although the Arctic navigator knoAvs that the reapi)earing sun brings Avith it, for a time, the intensest cold of the year. The ollicers and men noAV extended their Avalks in the neighbourhood of the .ship ; hunting paities Averc formed, out-door sports Avere connnenced, and Avith the proK)nged exercise in the open air the health of the crew vastly improved. " Ai)petites that had failed uoav began to return ; pale and yciloAV faces again to recover their ruddy and sunburnt colours ; and long dis;uissions already arose as to hoAV Jack Avould spend his money Avlien he arnvetl in England — an anxiety Avhich in every clime Aveighs upon his mind when nothing else Avill." Pre- parations Avere noAV commenced for the despatch of several .sledge parties in spring, to prosecute the search for Franklin along the hitherto unvisited shores of this desolate region. It Avas arranged that the travelling parties should be three in numl)er; one, under Lieutenant IlasAvell, to follow the coast of Prince Albert Land, in a south-east direction, towards "NVollastou Land ; another, under Lieutenant CressAvell, to examine the coast of Banks Land toAvards the uorth-Avest ; and the third, under ]\Ir "NVynniatt (mate), to travel along the coast of Albert Land, in a north-cast direction, round the shores of Melville Sound. On the 18th April 1851 the sledges left the ship. Each sledge Avas pro- visioned for six Aveeks, Aveighed eleven ImndrcdAvt c^hts, and Avas manned by six hands. Sherard Osborn, Avho had practical experience of the kind of Avork these men should have to do, Avrites, not Avithout kindly eloquence of the trials that lay before them : " If they should feel cold, they nuist be patient, for until their return to the ship, there Avill be no fire to Avarm them. 11 4 a £)."J4 THE niASKLlN SEAItCII—l^oii-oA, \ • fi III SlioiiUl tlioir parclu'd tonj^ues cloavo to tlit'ir iiionllis, they must swallow snow to allay their thirst, for water there is none. Should their health fail, l)ity is all that their eonuades can <;ive them, for the sled,i>(> must move ou its daily niareh. If hungry, they imist console tlu'inselves l>y looUiuy; foi'- ward to beinj,' better fed when tin* travelling is over, for the rations are necessarily, in sledge journeys, weighed off to an ounce. In short, from the time they leave the ship till their return to it, the service is over one of suH'ering and privation, which call for the utmost endui-ancc and most zeal- ous energy." On the I'Oth May, J lieutenant Cresswell's party returned to the ship, after thirty-two days' absence, and after having examined the coast of Lanks Land, in a north and north-west direction, for 170 miles. lie had experienced north-west gales of intense severity, and his party Avero fre- (juently frost-bitten. Two of his men were severely bitten, and as mortifica- tion threatened to supervene, he was oldiged to fall back on the ship to save the men's lives. Of these men, one lost " a portion of his feet." On the lilHh May, Lieutenant Ilaswell returned, after being out forty-seven days, and having explored a great extent of the coast of Albert Land toward the south-east. On his return journey he had fallen in Avith several Eskimo families near the south-east entrance to Prince of Wales Strait, but was luiable to communicate with them. This was remarkable intelligence for Captain M'Clure, who had never dreamed that native? Avero so near him, though all the land around the Avinter (piarters Oi lie "Investigator" abounded in Eskimo ruins, Avhich, hoAvever, Avcre moss-groAvn and very ancient. l>eing desirous of seeing the natives, the cajjtain, together Avith the interpreter, Mr Mierching, set out for their quarters. On reaching the encampment, he found it con.sisting of five tents, each containing a family' — husband, Avife, and children. One of these Eskimos he desc. ' .js, "a fine, active, broad-shouldered savage, Avith boAV and quiver slung at his back, and a large, co^jper-bladed hunting-knife in his hand." He Avas Avell clothed in sealskins, and "his finely-proportitnied limbs Avere neatly encased in beauti fully made mocassins and overalls." ^Mr jNIicrching and the natives com- municated Avlth the most perfect freedom and intelligence, as their dialect Avas the same as that spoken in Labrador, in which the iiiter])reter had so long resided. This circumstance corroborates the surprising as.sertion of I)r Iiink and others, that the language sjioken by this singular and ancient people is homogeneous over the entire area in Avhich they are found — an area .lOOO miles in breadth. Ou the 7th June the third sledge party, under Wynniatt, the mate, re- turned. In none of these excursions had any traces of the lost expedition of Franklin been discovered. During the absence of the sledges a singular incident, exemplifying the constant danger to Avhich .\rctic navigators arc exposed, occurred near the I u lii.sci'K or ]\'iiiri:rii:tJK .!.).> ship. A sliootin;^' pni'ty liiul Ix'oii (oinicil <>u tli(> wosti'ni shore, to which a yoiiiit; niiin iiaiiicil Whitolicld was attiK lu'il. All tlu; .sj)ortsiiit'ii were out (»ii Olio occasion, and were (Icli^'litctl, and at the same time chaj;rined, to Ix'liold a larj,'(! Hock of linies Ci)ino troopinj,' aloii^j a ravine, for just at the time a Idindin^' snowstorm camo on. AH the men at oiico retreated for safety into tliiMr tent except Whitelield, who was tempted to ljo on after the hares, lie was soon missed, and the sjiortsmen, alarmed for his safety, went out in parties of two at a time to seek for and rescue him, each relieving; ])arty runiiinj.;' much risk of l)ein;,f U)st and smothered in the drift. "Failing; in all their efforts," says the narrator, "and fairly at their wit's end, the ]iarty, which was in eharn'o of a petty oflicer, retreated to tluMr tent a,i;aiii, and l)(><,fan to fear the worst, wlu'ii one of them suddenly exclaimed that \w ' heard the footsteps of a bear ! ' All heard the sound for a minute, and then it ceased. The drift was so dense they could see nothing, and to their shouts of 'Whitefield !' no answer came. Shortly afterwards, diirini,' a lull in the 1,'alp, some one happened to look out of the tent, and there, not a yard from the tent, knelt poor Whitefield, stiff and ri^id as a coijise, his head thrown l»ack, his eyes fixed, his mouth open and full of snow, and his body being fast buried in a snow-wreath. They pulled him into the tent, restored ani- maticm, and then sent for aid to the ship. AVhen the man eventually rect)vered suHiciently to tell his tale, it was strange indeed, lie said that whilst struggling with the snowstorm, and endeavouring to find his way home, ho felt a chill, and then a fit came on, ■which ai)peared to have deprived him of his senses to some extent, for he had seen his companions looking for him — some of them had even passed within a hundred yards of him — yet ho could neither call them nor discharge his gun as a signal ; and, meantime, the snow had covered him. After a while he regained some strength, and fortunately discovered a track leading to the tent. He had actually almost reached it — indeed, those were his footsteps that the jjoople had heard — when again the fit came on, and he sank down a yard from the tent door, in the attitude of sui)plicati()n in which he was found in the snow. He was fast becoming rigid and freezing, when, by the mercy of Providence, his ship- mates saw him." There can hardly be in all Arctic history a more striking example than this of the semi-conscious stupor which aft'ects those who have been long exposed to the bewildering influence of a I'olar snowstorm. UOI THE FJLlXA'L/y SEAIiCII—im)U. ^ CHAPTER III. \ i) 1 ■% " ; 11 ' RELEASED FROM WINTER (QUARTERS — A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE — SERGEANT WOON's EXPLOITS — A THIRD WINTER IN THE ICE. June 1851 came with but half a promise of ftxvour to the " Investigators," shut up in the ice in tlie middle of Prince of Wales Strait, and with an icy wilderness on either hand. .Ml around the winter quarters changes were taking jilace, Avhich announced the fact that summer was close at hand. At the close of the month the ice had lost two feet ten inches of its thick- ness, while the water-pools on its surfac(^ were broadening, running into each other, and so acting- on the ice beneath as to produce holes in it here and there. jNLeantime the hummocks, snow-white, like blocks of granite during the winter, were becoming yellow, and evidently hastening to decay, while round the vessel the air was loud with the cries of ducks, geese, and swans. The month of July, the summer of lat. 70° N., was a season of great expectation and anxiety on board the "Investigator." Her sails have been bent, the boats hoisted up, and a con.stant watch set to ob.serve and report the gradual increase of Avater Avhicli is now detaching the Hoe from the shore on either side. INIeantime, like the Arctic hare, the scenery around has changed the white of Avinter for the broAvn of summer, Avhile in <^he vales and soutlnvard sloping banks thei'c is a faint blush of colour from tiie noAV blooming flora of these regions — from the yelloAV anemone and po[)py, the purple saxifrage, the modest sprigs of the Ijondon pride (Ijlooming so far away from London) and the leaves of the sorrel gloAving as if dipped in Avinc. On the lOth July the flf)e commenced moving and breaking up. and the " luA'cstigator " Avas again free from the ice. The Avestern shor; of the .''trait uoav seeming clear of ice, INI'Clure sailed for it on the 17tli, but was caught by the ice-pack, and in a thick fog Avas drifted Avith the cnLshing Hoes so close to Princess Koyal Island that he could hear the screams i f the sea-foAvl on the clift's, against the iron ribs of Avhich he only escaped destruction l)y a miracle. On the 24th, remembering the fact that along tin- eastern side of the strait a north-east current floAved aAvay in PROGRESS SUDDESLY CHECKED. .).)/ the desired direction toAvards i\[clville Sound, the captain steered for that side on the 2-lth, and arrived near the shore opposite l*oint Arnistront>'. Here he found on the beach an immense quantity of driftwood — all ^Vmerican pine — and sent a cutter to obtain a load of it. The wood was so fresh that it could not have been more than two years since it was growing in its native forest, on the banks of the Mackenzie or Coppermine. After being again besot for some time in the ice, the " Investigator " continued to drift north-eastward with the current referred to, until about the middle of August she was in lat. 73' 43' 43" N., long. 115' 32' 30' W., in which position she was only twentif-jhe miles from tlio waters of jNIelville Sound. Beyond this point it seemed impossible to push the old ship ; for thei'o Avere occasional north-east Avinds causing southAvard sets of the ice, Avliile at night the young ice of the approaching Avinter Avas already begin- ning to form on the strait. M'Clure had now the alternative of Avaiting for an opportunity of pushing north into BarroAV Strait, Avith the prospect of spending the coming Avinter in the midst of its stu])endous pack, or of retreating doAvn the strait, and after sailing round tlie island (Banks Land), to try for an eastward and a homcAvard passage by Banks Strait and Alelvillo Sound. He decided upon the latter course, and inmiediately acted on his decision. The boAV of the "Investigator" Avas turned round toAvard the south, and soon she Avas beating fast down Prince of Wales Strait Avith all sails set, and Avith a glorious reach of open Avater extending soutlnvard in front of her. After a splendid run of a hundred miles, the " Investigator" l)asse(l Nelson Head on the 17th August, and folloAving round the coast for tAventy-five miles, found that it Avas a continuation of lofty clitt's as far as Cape Hamilton. Here a strong breeze and heaAy SAvell Avcre encountered, and the ship, that had so long been immovably fixed among ice, pitched freely, Avith a true ocean roll, among the heaving Avaves, to the intense delight of the crew, Avho Avere overjoyed to feel the old ship " throAV up her heels " once more. Iiound Banks Land by the south, round Banks Land by the north, and on the 19th M'Clure found himself in lat. 73° 55' N., higher than he had yet reached on this voyage — and purposing in his secret heart to round Melville Island, and then seek his Avay through some sound or strait into Bafihi's Bay, and home ! But the exultant feeling Avas soon to 1 o checked. On the same night, ]\['Clure had no sooner crossed Burnet Bay than the coast suddenly became as abrupt and precipitous as a Avail. During the night the space of o})en Avater gradually lessened in Avidtli, and, besides, Avas nnich hampered Avith loose ice. " In some places," says Osborn, " the channel Avas so narroAv that the quarter-boats had to be 'tojjped up,' to prevent them touching the dill's ui)on the one hand, or the lofty ice upon the other; and so perfectly Avere they running tho gantlet that on many occasions the shin could not ' round to ' r)d8 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH- lH50-o4. ^ \ *■ i4 I I » '• !''!(; for Avaut of space. Their position was full of peril, yet they could only push on ; to attempt to retreat Avas now out of the question. The pack was of the same fearful description as that which they had encountered in the oiling of the jNlackenzio Kiver during the previous autumn. The surface of the floes resembled rolling hills, some of them 100 feet from base to summit ; and the edge of this wonderful oceanic ice roso in places from the water as high as the 'Investigator's' lower yards." On the 20th the ship was beset among the ice otf the north-west angle of Banks Land ; but on the 29th another extraordinary change occurred. A sndden disruption of the pre- viously fixed ice took place, and a moving floe struck a huge mass to which the ship had been secured ; and, to the horror of those on board, this mass slowly reared itself on its edge under the enormous pressure, and towered over the ship's boAvs until it rose above the fore-yard. Another moment of motion and the "Investigator" must be crushed to atoms, for the ice weighed thou- sands of tons. For a moment the heaving ice-mountain hung in the air, on the point of toppling over on the vessel. But soon a shout of joy rose along the deck of the ship, for the enormous mass, after oscillating fearfully, broke away, rolled back into its former position, and sank, a harndess heap. For some time longer the explorers remained beset among the ice on the north- west coast of Banks Land ; and Avhilst thus detained in enforced inactivity, the officers employed their time in rambling along the shores, and inland. They saw musk-oxen and deer, and discovered a " most surprising accumu- lation of fossil trees, as avcII as fragments not fossilised, lying over the whole extent of the land from the shore to the height of 300 feet above sea level. Of this most singular deposit of timber trees jNI'Clure writes : " The summits of the hills are about 800 feet high, and nothing can be more wildly pictur- esque than the gorges Avhich lie between them. From the sunnnit of these singularly-formed hills to their base, .abundance of wood is to be found ; and in many places layers of trees are visible, some protruding twelve or fourteen feet, and so firm that several people may jump on them without their brcak- inu'. The largest trunk yet found measured one foot seven inches in diameter." Under the present climatic conditions of the Polar regions, no higher vege- tation than the dwarf Avillow occiuvs. How then came these vast deposits of timber on this island, and at the summit of hills 300 feet high ? In the same district ]\['Clure found the north side of a ravine, "for a depth of forty feet from the surface, composed of one mass of wood similar to what I had seen before." Sir Ivoderick INIurchison, in endeavouring to account for this vast quantity of timber trees on Arctic islands, in which, under present condi- tions, they do not, and cannot, exist, gives it as his opinion that at the period when the distribution of this timber took place, large portions of these Arctic " tracts were beneath the Avaters, and that the trees and cones Averc drifted from the nearest lands on Avhich they grcAV. A subsequent elevation, by ^A' TRA O R DIXA R i ' TIMBER DEPOSITS. 559 Df I I '"^- ■M ■\vliicli these islands assumed tlieir present configuration, would really be in perfect liarnuiny Avitli those great ehauges of relative level which we knt)W to have occurred in the British Isles, Germany, etc. The transi)ortation of immense quantities of timber towards the North Pole, and its deposit on submarine rocks, is by no means so remarkable a phenomenon as the wide distribution of erratic blocks during the glacial epocli over northern Ger- many," etc. Sir lioderick's theory seems unsatisfactory, as failing to ex})lain the innnense quantities of solid wood in layers seen by Captain jNI'Clurc ; the similar deposits of trees, the bark of which was in a perfect state, seen by Lieutenant INIecham on Prince Patrick Land; and the fir-tree discovered by Sir Edward Belcher on the east side of "Wellington Channel, standing verti- cally, and with its roots extending into tlie soil. On this interesting subject Sherard Osborn shrewdly I'emarks that " a very different climate must then have existed in those regions, to allow driftwood (so perfect as to retain its bark) to reach such great distances ; and I may, perhaps, be allowed to remark," he adds, " that when the Polar Sea was sufficiently clear of ice to allow such timber to drift unscathed to Prince Patrick Land, might not fir- trees have then (jroivn in a soil naturally fertile'?" Peviewing all the evi- dence at his command, Dr Armslrong of the " Investigator," alluding speci- ally to the discovery of numerous trunks of trees imbedded in a white, sandy soil on Prince Patrick Land, affirms that such evidence " establishes a fact no less important than interesting, that throughout the wide extent of the Polar Sea, so far as observation has enabled us to determine, there existed at one period various and luxuriant forms of arborescent growth in regions where there is nothing now to be seen but desolate lands and trackless ice Avastes." After which digression, we leave this curious point, in the mean- time, for consideration at a future period. From the 1st to the 10th September the "Investigator" continued to lie beset in her icy cradle, and there was every prospect that the explorei's should be compelled to pass the coming winter in a shelterless and danger- ous position on the edge of the pack of the inexorable north-west coast of Banks Land. On the 10th the wind veered to the south, and drove the ice, in which the ship was beset, off the coast. The " Investigator " was thus consigned to " the tender mercies of the much-dreaded pack-ice." To free the ship from the pack, and secure her behind some promontory or island that would protect her when the pack should crash in again on the shore, which it must certainly do as soon as the southerly wind should abate, were now the great objects of the navigators. The first of these objects was attained by blast- ing with innnense charges of gunpowder placed among the ice by which the ship Avas bound. ISI'Clurc now struggled on towards the east for two days ar.d nights, seeking shelter, behind huge masses of grounded ice, from the pack that was now rolling in upon the beach, pulverising shore-masses thirty * ^ 500 77/ A' FRAXh'LJN SEAIiCIf A^r^orA. \ \ 1 » I v," I: 11 J ;l I or forty feet thick, or piling tlicm on top of one another, and throwing thoni high up on the beach. No such exhibition of resistless and uncontvollabUi natural force had these navigators ever seen. " Through the long daik night," says Osborn, " the sullen grinding of the moving pack, and the lout! report made by the icc-fiekls bursting under the pressure, echoed through the solitude ; and, as the starlight glimmered over the wild scene to seaward, the men could just detect the pack, rearing and rolling over, by the alternate reflected lights and shadows." On the 10th ^Jepteniber the "Investigator" was again creeping along eastward. On the U2d Cajie .Vustin was rounded, nnd it was some encoiu'agemcnt to the jaded si)irits of the explorers to know that they were now actually in the waters of Uarrow Strait, or of that part of it known as ]\Ielville Souiul. On the 213d 8e})tendjer water was seen ahead before dawn, sail was set, and jM'Clure, now reduced to the necessity of getting his ship into shelter for the winter, however imperfect and unsatis- fa(;tory such shelter might be, drove on toward the east, keeping close in- shore. The land trended slightly southward, and he followed its trend. It had never been his custom to sail all night in these unknown seas, but on this occasion he departed from his usual rule, f(jr he felt he was following an inland bend into some bav. In the morning the " Investigators " found themselves in a large bay, all'ording good winter quarters, and out of which, on the north-east side, they found it impossible to emerge. In these cir- cumstances. Captain JM'Clure resolved to Avinter here, and in gratitude for having at last found a haven for the winter, he named the iidet into which he had sailed in the darkness jNIercy ]>ay. And there was no atfc'.tation in so naming it, for there was not a soul on board that fated ship l»ut was filled with heartfelt gratitude that at last security was found from the deadly pack and the winter-laden gale ; " and many pvayed that in after-years, should they be spared to reach their homes, the recollection of the bounty and good- ness of Him who had uphelil them through such anxieties and dangers " might ever remain fresh in their memories. On the morning of the '2i5th the sails were luibent, and the usual prepara- tions made for housing-in the vessel. The arrangements, generally, were the same as those carried out during the previous Avinter spent by the " Investi- gators " in I'rince of Wales Strait. One very impressive novelty, however, was observed. Captain JM'Clure ordered that oflicers and men should now be put on an allowance of two-Lliirds of their ordinary rations j^^r diem. This painful but necessary measure Avas adopted to provide against the possible contingency of having to spend yet another year Avitliin the ice The hardship, hoAvever, Avas tempered by the discovery of the fact that the country around ]\Iercy Bay abounded in deer and hares, and no sooner Avere the first preparations for the Avinter coni})leted, than odicers and men Avere Both Osborn and l)r Armstrong state out on the track of these animals. K. ARCTIC DEER NOT MIGRATORY. 561 that these creatures, together Avi.h the ptarmigan, were never absent from the neighbom-hood of Mere)'' Bay, even in the depth of "winter, and it was owing only to the cold and darkness that the sportsmen failed to bring them in throughout the whole season. This fact disproves the oft-repeated asser- tion that in winter reindeer migrate southward from the islands of the Arctic archipelago to other feeding grounds. On this point Dr Armstrong, an accomplished naturalist, is no less explicit. He says : " It has hitherto been the generally received opinion that these animals migrate to the south- ward on the approach of winter, to lands where the cold is less intense, and the pasturage more a' nidant — an opinion formed from the writings of the distinguished Polar voyagers who formerly wintered amid the icy solitudes of the north ; but the experience of four years enables me to speak from the result of observation in contradiction to this. In the 1 rince of Wales Strait reindeer were seen in Jjauiary — our distant position from the shore not en- abling us to hunt during the winter — and in the Bay of Mercy for two successive winters they were constant inhabitants of the land, and were killed throughout the winter months of the coldest season in the records of Arctic voyaging. How far the migratory habits of the animal may be estab- lished in a more southern latitude, on the coast of America, in their instinct- ive resort to localities where pasturage may be more abundant, I shall not attempt to decide ; but this I will say, that from the more distant lands of the Polar Sea they do not migrate on the approach of winter." Deer-hunting was assiduously pursued as soon as the daylight began to increase. A number were shot before the close of January, and proved a welcome addi- tion to the resources of the ship. One of the luckiest of the sportsmen was Sergeant Woon, of the marines — a man who had won the esteem of all the " Investigators " for energy, intelli- gence, and self-sacrifice. Of this gallant marine a story is told both by Sherard Osborn and Dr Armstrong, which well deserves to be remembered. A number of men had been out shooting on the 9th February. Before evening all had returned except two — Sergeant Woon and Charles Anderson, the latter a man of colour and one of the heaviest and most powerful of the crew. Night came, and at eight p.m., neither having yet returned, a mortar was fired and rockets sent up at intervals. At ten p.m. three relieving parties, each consisting of an oflicer and three men, '"urnished with rockets, blue lights, and refreshments, were sent out to search in dift'erent directions for the missing men. They had not gone far when they met Sergeant Woon hastening toward the ship for assistance. Two of the search parties were still within hail of each other ; they united, and, guided by the sergeant, soon reached the unfortunate Anderson. The latter, during the day, had wounded a deer and had followed it for some time, until, a fog coming on, he was unable to find his own track back to the ship. He became bewild- 11 4 b 'is 1 \'\ 502 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— 1850-M. ■J a m i i 1 ercd, panic-struck, and commenced wandering wildl)' about, when, by good chance, he met the sergeant, who had also been out in search of game. AVoon found ^Vnderson beside himself with excitement and horror. lie had given himself up for lost, and the presence of the sergeant, who promised to conduct him back, failed entirely to soothe or reatsure him. So prostrate morally and jihysically had he beci)me, that he could only w'*^li difficulty be roused to make an attempt to 'valk a little. At last he sank upon the snow, bleeding at the nose and mouth, and writhing in convulsions. The sergeant saw that all hojje of the man saving himself was at an end ; yet to leave him where he w'as was to leave him to certain death, and a prc^y to the wolves then heard howling in the distance. There was no alternative but to drag him to the ship. Carrying was out of the question, as Woon was one of the lightest and Anderson one of the heaviest men in the shii)'s company. Accordingly, the heroic Woon slung his own and his companion's gun over his shoulder, took the man's arms round his neck, and commenced to di'ag him over the snow toward the ship. The labour was excessively severe ; and the only relief the sergeant had, when he had dragged the half- dead man up one side of a hill or had reached a ravine, was to roll him down the descent — rather severe treatment for Anderson, but under the circumstances beneficial, as it tended to rouse him from his lethargy. Woon 1 ad commenced his fearful journey at two o'clock, and at eleven at night he had dragged Anderson to within a mile of the ship. But nine hours of this toil had almost completely exhausted him, and again he tried to rouse his companion to make some effort to advance. " Leave me alone to die ! " was the only response. Woon then laid him in a bed of soft snow, and hurried off" to the ship for assistance. On the arrival of the sergeant with the relieving party, Anderson was found insensible, with arms extended and rigid, his hands clenched and frozen, his eyes fixed and glassy, his jaws rigid and so firmly clenched, that great force had to be applied to separate them in order to pour restoratives down his throat. He was quickly transported on a sledge to the ship, where Dr Armstrong succeeded in restoring him to hopeful animation. His life waT saved, and the courage and devotion of Sergeant Woon were amply recognised by all on board. Another hunting adventure of a more cheerful description may here be told. Mr Kennedy, the boatswain, when out shooting late one evening, succeeded in breaking two out of the four legs of a fine buck. Knowing that the animal could not go far, he returned to the ship, and next morning started early to secure his game. Arriving at the place, he was disgusted to find five large wolves and several foxes in possession of the deer. " Deter- mined to have his share of the spoil, the boatswain shouted and called them by every strong cerm he could muster, yet he was afraid to fire his single- barrelled gun at the brutes, for fear of their turning upon him, especially as L PULL WOLF, PULL BOATS]VAL\. 563 tlioy seemed inclined to show fight, and made no sign of retreat until he was within four yards of them. Even then only four of them moved away, and sat down a pistol-shot off, howling most dismally. ' Pipes ' picked up a leg of the deer which had been dismembered, and then grasped one end of the half-picked carcass, whilst a large female wolf tugged against hii i at the other end. The position was, to say the least of it, a disagreeable one ; and if the music of the four wolves had brought others of their fraternity to the rescue, the consequences of a struggle between hungry wolves and a no less hungi'y sailor miglit have been serious." At this critical moment, however, Mr Mierching, attracted by the howling of the wolves, hurried to the scene. The sedate Moravian described the scene as the strangest he had ever seen. So close were Kennedy and the wolf in their struggle, that he ftmcied the animal had actually attacked the boatswain. The arrival of an important contingent in the shape of the interpreter seemed to the wolves good reason to withdraw from the field. They had, however, devoured 100 lbs. weight of the meat, leaving only 20 lbs. weight for the bold boatswain. Beyond these and other similar adventures and incidents arising from the pursuits of the men on shore, nothing worthy of record occurred at the winter quarters of Mercy Bay during the spring of 1852. The gloom of winter had passed, however, before the middle of April, and the time for action had arrived. That there was urgent necessity for doing something to ameliorate the condition of the ship's company was evident from the thin and worn appearance of the men, and the gradually increasing numbers on the sick-list. It is not surprising, then, that when the weather moderated and brightened in the beginning of April, Captain M'Clure resolved to s^t out with a sledge for Melville Island. This step was resolved upon in the hope of finding some of Captain Austin's ships stationed in the Winter Harbour of Parry, or ascertaining whether a depOt of provisions had been placed there by them in the interest of the '' Investigators," should these be obliged to abandon their ship, and retreat upon Melville Island. This island, the home of Parry, and the most westerly land hitherto discovered in Polar seas, could be dimly seen in clear weather from the heights above Mercy Bay, from which it ■ as often wistfully surveyed by officers and men. Some of these were now about to visit it. On the 1 1th April 1852, Captain M'Clure, accompanied by an officer and six men, and provisioned for twenty-eight days, set out fi'om the ship across the pack to Melville Island. He reached Winter Harbour on the 28th, and was profoundly disappointed to find neither ship nor provisions. All that he did find was the notice which Lieutenant M'Clintock had left of his visit on the 6th June 1851. There was nothing to be done but to fiice the pack again, and return to the ship. The party reached the " Investigator " on the 7th May. During M'Clure's absence the sportsmen had been extraordhiarily i: I < 1 • •1 'S ! 1 s n m w 664 77//; FRANKLIN SFAJiCII— 1850-54. successful, and when he arrived on loard, he -vvas no less surprised than pleased to sec joints of all descriptions decorating the rigging. Tsineteeii deer and sixteen hares (yielding over 1000 lbs. of meat) had been shot, and this unexpected addition to the ship's resources justified a slight increase of rations to the poorly-fed men. Each man was now ordered 1^ lbs. of venison six days in every fortnight ; which, together with six days of preserved meat, left only two salt-meat days in every two weeks. " One would have supposed," says Osbnrn, " that on such fare, with a dry and comfortable ship to live in, scurvy would be impossible ; but, as the sequel will show, the progi'ess of that dire disease became most marked, and though the care of the captain and the skill of the medical men checked it considerably, still the health of the crew was evidently failing." On the 15th May, a week after the captain's return from the fruitless visit to Winter Harbour, the number on the sick-list had increased to the unprecedented average of thirteen. The moral effect of the failure of the captain to find help, pro- visions, or at least news, is believed to have been the cause of the increased number of invalids. At sea, depression of spirits, combined with insufficient nutriment, is well known as an infallible predisposer to scurvy. May and June passed without incident, the men being employed in the laborious but prosaic labour of ballasting and watering the ship, and prepar- ing generally to set sail when the break-up of the ice should take place. In early July the ground became so soft from the melting of the snow that hunting became a most laborious and consequently an almost unproductive employment. All the stock of venison was exhausted by the 7th of the month ; and the men were about this time humorously bewailing the want of this agi'eeable and health-sustaining food, when handy and clever Sergeant Woon came on board to report that he had just shot two musk-oxen. The intelligence was hailed Avith delight. The men swarmed out immediately, and brought in the carcasses, which Avere found to yield 647 lbs. of good meat. The sergeant had come upon the two animals at rest — one of them asleep. He approached within 120 yards, fired, and wounded the larger, which at once rose, approached to within forty yards, and then paused, as if about to make a rush. Woon fired a„ain, but the brute remained standing unmoved. The other now approached, and, with the view of securing both, the marine fired at and wounded this one also. He then turned his atten- tion to the larger, and struck and killed him, but irith his last ball. The other animal, raging furiously, rushed towards the sergeant, and a serious catas- trophe was apparently imminent. But Woon w. .s never known to fail in resource. " He quickly re-loaded," says Dr Armstrong, " and fired the screw of his ramrod into the animal, wounding him in the neck, when he fiercely advanced to the distance of only a few feet. Thinking he was about to make a final rush, Woon, who had again loaded, us a last resource fired his J •I ''A t HOPE DEFERRED. 56.) ramrod, which entered at the loft fore-shoulder, passed diagonally through his body, and o.'t of his right flank — inflicting a fatal raking wound — and he fell lifeless at his conqueror's feet." Down to the close of July no actual thaw had taken place. Ice every- where— no water, and no water sky, the token of open water in tlu distance. On the 16th August the ice began to loosen from the shore, though it was still blocked by the floes that choked the mouth of the bay. A few days after, these floes at the entrance of the bay opened up, and a broad lane of water was seen extending along the shore to the eastward. The .lavi- gators prayed for a south wind to blow the ice out of the harbour, and the ship with it. To take advantage of such a wind, should it spring up, the "Investigator's" sails were bent, and every preparation made for sailing. After the 20th August the temperature fell, chilling the hearts and the hopes of the navigators. The open part of tlie bay again froze over ; and on the 24th the open lane of water to the east tvas closed, and the " Investi- gators" were able to walk across to shore over the young ice. Eapidly now the scant vegetation withered ; not a blade of the medicinal sorrel could be found ; the land again resumed its mantle of snow, and the drended third winter among the ice gathered gloomily ra-ound the fated "Invest gator." fi I P 566 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— ISbii-'o'L ii I l4l CHAPTER IV. s % THE TIITRD WINTER AMONG THE ICE — CAPTAIN M'CLUIIE's PROGRAMME — FIRST DEATH IN MERCY B/Y — AN ANGEL-VISIT — THE "INVESTIGATOR" ABAN- DONED— RESCUE OF THE "INVESTIGATORS" — RETURN OF THE EXPEDITION. ..*i Slowly during the first days of September 1852 the unwelcome fear that the wretched ship's company must pass a third winter amid the ice assumed the form of a conviction. The more sanguine of the crew, hoping against hope, trusted that a south wind miglit spring up, and drive the " Inves- tigator," icy mooring and all, right out of Mercy Bay, and into the open water of Melville Sound. The hope was soon di.spelled, for before the first week of September had passed, the vessel was conclusively fixed for the year. " The winter found us," says M'Clure, " ready to combat its rigours as cheerfully as on previous occasions. We were all thinner than Ave used to be, for we had been twelve months on two-thirds of our allowance ; but we were still in good working condition." In considering this declaration of the gallant captain, one is pained to confess to a suspicion that his re- presen\aLion of the robust and cheerful condition of the " Investigators," on the eve of the third winter in the ice, and the second year of Axoii commons, is uist a little highly coloured — tinted with just a dash too much of what a distinguished American has described as "yaller varnish." And here let it be noted that from this point onward to the close, Captain M'Clure seems to conduct aftairs with rather a high hand. To the last he cannot be brought to own that his crew are unable to accomplish impossibilities. His men are always "healthy," "cheerful," "able for anything," etc., even at the moment when, as we know on incontestible evidence, the men were wasted shadows, victims of scurvy almost to a man. Could it be that blinded bv the ambition of carrying his ship triumphantly through the North- West Passage and home to England, he was fain to make himself believe that his men were really as fit and able as we know they were willing to struggle on amid suffering and privations such as it seldom falls to the lot of man to endure 1 However this may be, it is certain that at this trying period the captain CAPTAIN MCLURKH PROGRAMME. 507 of tlic "Iiivosti<;ator" was oppressed with dinicultics of no ordinary nature. It was clear lli.'.f if all the sliip's company remained in the ship till tlie siimmi-r of 1853, and if they shouKl fail to get free tlun, all would starve ; for the shij) was inadequately provisioned for another year. The dilliculty was how to save the men (UkI the xhip. The " Investigator" was still sound and strong, and the captain's sense of duty, which was great, and his pride, which was as great, constrained him to make every po: silile exertion to save the ship to his country and his profession. At last, having resolved on the course he slundd pursue, he summoned the ship's company to the (juarter-deck, and informed tlierii that in the spring of the year he should send away onedialf of the crew m two divi-sions. The larger division, consisting of the senior lieutenant, assistant surgeon, two mates, and twenty-two men, would proceed eastward to Cape Spencer, at the east side of the entrance to "Wellington Channel — a distance of about o.jO miles — with provisions for forty-five days. It was believed that at Cape Spencer a small store of provisi(jns and a boat had been deposited. Having reached the cape, and found or missed the sui)- posed depot, these twenty-six unfortunates " were to use their best etlorts in searching for a whaler, or endeavour to reach some point of succour on the distant shores of Baffin's Bay, whence they might be forwarded to Eng- land." The smaller division — six men, led by the second lieutenant and the interpreter — were to procsed eastward along the shore of Banks Land, and south through Prince of Wales Strait, to the Princess Iloyal Lslands, where a boat and depot of jirovisi ns had been left by ^M'Clure. Here they were to remain until the ice broke up in the summer, on which " they were to make an attempt to reach the coast of America, and proceed to one of the Hud- son's Bay Comjiany's posts on the jNIackenzie liiver, whence they were to bo forwarded on through North America to England." The gallant but some- what autocratic captain might just as well have decided ou sending away his men on a journey from this world to the next. In all Arctic expeditions it has been customary for the commander, before detaching any of his company on any service attended with hardship and serious danger, to consult the ship's surgeon respecting the capability of the men, physically, to perform the service. It does not appear, however, that Captain JNI'Clure took Di Armstrong into his counsels in the matter above mentioned. The doctor knew well the debilitated condition of the men. "I could arrive at no other conclusion," he says, "thau that they were utterly unfit for the performance of the service, and that they would be still more so at the expiration of eight months (the men were to set out in April 1853), after having passed through the trying ordeal -jf a third Arctic winter. . . . Cajitain M'Clure had been fully informed by me, on many occasions, of the state of the men ; nevertheless I felt called ou igain to represent their condition, and to express my opinion of their 503 THE FRANKLIN SEAJiCII- lSo0 5-i. unfitness for the performance of this service, without entailing great and inevitable loss of life. It had no result." If ('ai)tain ^M'Clure was to provide for spending a fourth winter in the ioo, rather than fail to acliieve the glory of sailing his ship thntugh the North- West Passage, it was evident that not only must he curtail the number of his ship's company, and thus place himself in command of an ample store of provisions for those who should remain with him to navigate the ship ; but he nuist also in every practicable way cut down the daily issue of rations to all hands. The former objects ho had already attained by anticipation, in deciding to send aAvay thirty-four out of his company of sixty-live otliccrs and men ; the second object he set himself to realise on the very day on which he had announced his intentions respecting the future. Accordingly, we learn that on the 8th 8ei)tember 1852 the provisions were still further reduced. After this date the allowance of vegetables was only two ounces daily. " The quantity of meat issued," writes Dr Armstrong, " was eight ounces daily; but making due allowance for bono in the salt, and jelly in the fresh, meat, the average Aveight did not exceed six ounces, which, with ten ounces of flour, constituted the allowance on which we had lived /or the j>reriuus twehe mouths. The articles tea, cocoa, and sugar, were issued in fractional parts of an ounce. That this allowance is quite inadequate to maintain health in an Arctic climate our condition fully proved ; much less is it able to sustain life for any lengthened period when men arc laboriously engaged, and exposed to the rigorous severity of intense cold." At this time, too, the allowance of lime-juice was reduced by one-half — a deplorable necessity, now that scurvy had apijeaved on board. No extra food was allowed to the sick, the same scale of diet being ordered for all. Previously officers and nien had only just felt the want of a sufficiency of food ; they now experienced absolute and continuous hunger. The morsel of meat given out daily shrunk so much when boiled, that, in order to make the most of it, both officers and men abjured the pot for good, and ate their salt beef, pork, and half-frozen preserved meat, raw. The officers had long ago exhausted their private stock of viands, and were now on the same miserable allowance as tho men ; " and like them," says Osborn, " they adopted the system of each being cook or carver for the mess. The carver's share consisted in getting the last portion out of the eight into which the food had to be divided, a method which ensured, we need hardly say, the utmost impartiality on the part of the carver, the other members helping themselves to their shares before him. The rations for the day were given out every morning, and each ate it at his own discretion or inclination, at either breakfast or dinner. They had in fact but one meal per diem, for the breakfast, if it deserved the name, consisted of a cup of the weakest cocoa, and a small portion of the small allowance of bread ; the rest of the bread, and half-a-pov.nd of salt meat — u CIIUtSTMAS, 18:)2. adO I containiiij,' ri good proportion of bone — with just enough preserved vegetable to swear by, constituted the other meal. There was a etip of weak tea iu the evening ; lint few were abl(> to save anything to (>at with it." Only from eight to twelve pounds of coals were allowed daily for t'au whole ship, and the amount of oil wa.s so small that lights c(mld be had only at certain periods of the day, the men having the choice during the unillumined inter- vals, of walking on the deck, or sitting in the dark. Knriilli'niii l/nit IkkI li/i', we are informed, was huntiMl with eagerness, and eaten voraciously — seals, foxes, lemmings, or field-mice. The held-mou.se, a Lender morsel, of delicate flavour when slightly cooked, and very delicious when eaten raw, is a nice-h)oking little animal, with a soft and fine fur, white in winter, and of a beautifully mottled-grey cohmr in summer. An ugly and (miinous inei(h'nt occurred on the 4th October. The .ship'.s company, who had suffered long from insufficiency of food, and, for the previous four weeks from something a])proaching starvation, came on tlu^ (puirter-deck in a body on the date named, ami asked the captain for more food. Cai)tain ^['Clure refuscl to grant their rcrpiest. jVIeantime disease was spreading in the si' [>, and the men had Ijecome so dispirited and weak, that, with one or two exjeptions, tliey ceased to join the luniting i)arties which were now made up almost exclusively of officers. When the hunters were successful iu striking down a deer, they eagerly drank the fresh and warm blood, as it flowed from the wound, and found the draught nourishing and sustaining. The blood, however, froze on the men's faces as they drank, and when they returned on board, they presented a most surprisingly i)ic- turesque and frightful appearance. By this company of unfortunate men, Christmas Day was celebrated as in former years ; but there was an element of pathos in this humble rejoicing which was absent from the Christmas feasts of the two previous winters. Hitherto, though much privation had been endured, the shi})'s company had remained entire, the " goodly fellowship " had contimied unbroken. Now, however, disease was among them, and it Avas ahsohtti'lij certain that this Christmas dinner was the last they would all enjoy together. Was there any man at that table, who looked round the ring, and speculated who should be the first victim to hunger and Arctic frost ? Perhaps not ; for our sailors are not given much to speculation. ISIeantimc there is mirth and good humour all round. The poets of the crew sang songs of their own composition, the painters rigged up the most extraordinary rcin-esentations of Arctic scenery and rdventure, the comic actors recited, and upon the faces of the sick a gleam of " watery sunshine " seemed to play. And why should they not be happy? Had not the lumgry men feasted on "Banks Land Venison," " ptarmigan pasties," and "]\[ercy Bay hare soup." " ]Mercy Bay ! " exclaims Dr Armstrong, as he records one of the most curious jokes 11 4 0 ? m ill 570 TJfE FRANKLIN SEARCH— 1850-oi. ever made ; " some amongst us not unappropriately said, it ought to have been so called from the fact that it would have been a werci/ had we never entered it." The New Year brought with it nothing of promise or comfort. It seemed, indeed, as if the " Investigators " were to be sacrificed to a man, for the cold of the in-coming year was intense enough, one might have thought, to have frozen the marrow in the bone. "In the month of January," says the doctor, " the tempei\ature fell lower than has ever been ex- perienced by any former expedition — to 65° below zero, and in the interval of the usual period for taking the observations, it fell to -67°," or nimty-niue degrees beloiv freezing point. Dr Armstrong was not mistaken ; for speaking of the severity of the win- ter of 1852-53, Osborn states that " from C- ■' to 65° below zero was registered by the ' Investigator,' as well as other sliips elsewhere. Yet this extreme cold, so intense that the very ship seemeci to suifer from it, and bolts, trenails, and fastenings, were heard to crack under the influence of frost and contrac- tion, forced the deer to approach the ship and the sea-shore so closely, as to aftbrd venison weekly throughout this trying season." Existence under such a temperature promised, indeed, to prove fatal to men under-fed, scorbutic, and with a walk of six hundred miles over the ice, to look for- ward to. Among men so situated the most ordinary event created extraordinary excitement. On the 28d March, a party going out to carry in a deer that had been shot on the previous day, found a wolf feeding on the carcass. They fired at the animal and drove it off'. Determined, however, to bag the wolf if they should be disappointed in getting the deer, they concealed them- selves near the spot. The wolf returned and had resumed operations, when Sergeant Woon sent a bullet through his heart, and he fell dead on the body of the animal he was devouring. He weighed 80 lbs., had a skin of spotless white, was five feet ten inches in length, and three feet four inches in height. " The meat when cooked," says the doctor, " was excellent — much resembling in taste that of fox — and we considered it preferable to bear's flesh." Mr Court, the second master, was among the wolves a few days later, and had a narrow escape. He found himself surrounded by a pack of seven, five of which, however, drev/ off" to a short distance, while the remaining two commenced the attack on Court, with all the science of old campaigners. One of them commenced his advances in front, the other in rear, of the second master, howling a dismal grace before meat, as they neared their intended victim. Court made sundry efforts to frighten them ; then, taking aim at the nearest, yet still looking with one eye over his shoulder, he fired, and mortally woimded the beast in the neck. Still, however, the animal crawled on toward the man, and was only despatched by a second shot when within .Uii FIRST DEATH IN MERCY BA Y. 571 three yards. The other wolf, profiting by the misfortune of his comrade, made off. Meantime arrangements for sending away the travelling parties were rapidly progressing. These arrangements had a startling beginning. " On the 2d March," says Dr Armstrong, " the day following the monthly inspec- tion. Captain M'Clure made known to me his intention of despatching tlie weaker half of our crew from the ship, and retaining the most efficient ; at the same time, he requested me to make the necessary selection." This is as much as to say, " Select the men that are best fitted to undertake a jour- ney there is little probability they will ever accomplish, and be sure they are the weakest men in the ship's company." On the following day the men were told off". " They consisted," says Osborn, " of thirty of the most weakly hands, divided into two parties of fifteen men each." On the same day Dr Armstrong and the assistant-surgeon, Mr Piers, recorded by letter their opinion " of the absolute unfitness of the men for the performance of this journey." However, the inexorable M'Clure had so willed it, and so it must be. Let the battalions fall — ridee must not be abandoned ! These thirty " most weakly hands " were now put upon full allowance, and a number of them, at least, visibly improved under the more liberal diet. Their faces were fuller, their expression more animated, and the dull, haggard stare of former days wore away. A sentence in Osborn 's work referring to this period is sadly suggestive. " The close of March," he says, " saw all the many preparations for a sledge journey well in hand. The officers, though cognisant of the risk and dangers which beset their lines of retreat, wisely hid them from the knowledge of the men. The healthy amongst the sledge crews were consequently sanguine in their hopes of success ; but many a poor fellow, whose black and swollen limbs hardly served to carry him about the ship, knew in his heart that, although the journey he was about to take would be his only chance for hfe, yet it was but a very slender one." On the 5th April death visited the " Investigator." John Boyle, a sea- man, had been appointed an extra attendant in the sick bay, though ho himself was a sufferer from scurvy. He was attacked by illness on the morning of the 6th ; but continued talking cheerfully until, on making a slight exertion in his bed, sudden syncope ensued, and he died without a struggle. The effect of Boyle's death upon the men was very depressing, especially among those who were to remain in the ship. But on the follow- ing day, an event occurred, which altogether changed the character of their anticipations. On the grey afternoon of the 6th April, when the twilight was deepening on the horizon, a peculiar, unusual stillness reigned in the Bay of Mercy, and an unaccustomed gloom seemed to have settled over the silent ship in Avliich the dead man lay. Four men were out on the shore laboriously digging a n I I i 572 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— ISbQ-M. I I :f'\ I 11 gi'ave in soil th.at was frozen hard as granite. Captain M'Cluro and Lieu- tenant Haswell, who had been giving the men the necessary instructions, were slowly returning across the ice to the ship discussing the arrangements for the funeral, which was to take place on the following day. The scene was one of savage gloom, the business upon which the officers had been em- ployed was of the dreariest, saddest description, and their talk was of graves. As they wandered slowly onward, their attention became fixed on a solitary figure approaching from the entrance of the bay. There was something strange in the appearance of thi«! mysterious man coming towards them out of the twilight. " Is he one of our own men ? " asked M'Clure. " He seems to be dressed differently from any of the ' Investigators,' " replied Haswell. '' Yes, yes," said M'Clure, " it is some lad belonging to one of the travelling parties out trying his new travelling dress for the first time." The two officers strolled forward ; but their eyes were fixed on the wild figure stumbling over the ice, as he hurried forward throwing up his arms, and shouting madly. " He must be pursued by a bear ! " exclaimed M'Clure. Onward came the strange man out of the twilight, until, having reached Avithin two hundred yards of the two officers, he threw up his arms, and gesticulated excitedly like the Eskimos when agitated by violent emotion. He then shouted an incoherent salutation; for the wind blew his words away, and made only one wild screech of his voice. M'Clure and Haswell stopped — -their pulses beating fast, and their brain beginning to heat. Onward came the frantic stranger, and it was with something that was at once surprise, amusement, and horror that the officers perceived that this strange creature's face was as black as ebony. When the sable visitor had arrived within speak- ing distance, M'Clure called out in English — " In the name of God, who are youl" "I'm Lieutenant Pim of the 'Resolute,' now at Dealy Island," replied the vision, "and I've come to relieve Captain M'Clure and the 'Investigators.'" Siaggered as if by a sudden bloAV, the officers failed for a moment to understand the meaning of this glorious announcement. Then all the sweet- ness of the message of relief flowed in upon their minds, and they knew that they were rescued. England and home were restored to them at last. " To rusli at the stranger and seize him by the hand," writes M'Clure, " was the fir: t impulse, for the heart was too full for the tongue to s})cak. The an- noiuicemcnt of relief being close at hand, when none was supposed to be even within the Arctic circle, was too sudden, unexpected, and joyous for our minds to comprehend it at once. The news flew Avitli lightning rapidity, the ship was all in commotion ; the sick, forgetful of their maladies, leapt from their hammocks ; the artificers dropped their tools, and the lower deck Avas cleared of men ; for they all rushed for the hatchway to be assured that a stranger was actually amongst them, and that his tale was true. Despondency fled the ship, and Lieutenant Pim received a welcome — pure, %i ^LV AXGEL-VISIT. r)7J} licarty, and grateful — that ho will assuredly remember and cherish to the end of his days." Lieutenant Pirn was the first Englishman the " Investigators " had beheld for three years. Soon after his arrival, his dog-sledge, with the two men who accomjianied him, reached the ship ; and while the gallant lieutenant was monopolized by the officers in the gun-room, his two men were hilrried down to the lower deck, and their story of relief listened to with such feelings as are experienced by dying men recalled to life. The " Kesolute," to which Lieu- tenant Pim was now attached, had arrived at Dealy Island, off the south shore of Melville Island, during the autumn of 1852, and while employed in laying a winter depOt of provisions in Winter Harbour, the officers had discovered the record which Captain M'Clure had left there in April of the same year, intimating the circumstances of his visit to the harbour and the disappoint- ment he experienced in finding neither ships nor provisions, and stating that the "Investigator" was wintering in Mercy Bay, on the north coast of Banks Land. On receiving this record, Cajitain Kellett of the " Eesolute " decided upon sending a sledge-party in search of the frozen-in navigators as early as possible in the spring of 18o3. The hazardous service was entrusted to Lieutenant Pim, avIio had, in the most gallant manner, volunteered for it, and who set out Avith his dog-sledge and two men from Dealy Island on the 10th March. After a month's journey over the ice, with the thermometer registering 82° below zero, he arrived saicly in ]\Iercy Bay on the 6th April. Profound and genuine was the gratitude which the " Investigators " felt towards their heroic deliverer — a gratitude which liis continued kindness and generous sympathy tended only to increase. " When he saw us sitting down," says Armstrong, " with a half-starved aspect, on the morning after his arrival, to what was denominated breakfast (a cup of weak cocoa with- out sugar, and a moiety of bread), his feelings overcame him, he rushed to his sledge, brought a large piece of bacon, placed it before us, and gave us the only breakfast Ave had knoAvn for many a long day." And the kindli- ness of the lieutenant was equalled by that of his two men, Bedgood and Hoyle. On their arrival on board, the crew of the " Investigator " were about to draw lots for their evening meal — a pannikin of tea and a little biscuit — a strange and pitiful sight to them Avho had come from a ship abundantly stored with excellent provisions. When the strangers saw the preparations for the miserable meal, and noted the haggard appearance of the men who Avere to partake of it, their oiuotion Avas uncontrollable until it had found vent in tears. On the 8th April, Captain IM'Clure, Avith an officer and six men, set out, in company Avith Lieutenant IMm and his party, to travel over the ice to Dealy Island, Avhero all arrived in safety on the lOth, and Avhere the enfeebled " Investigators " Avcre Avclcomcd Avith great cordiality ou board I, ,1 574 THE FRANKLIN SEAJiC/f—lS^iQ-'A. Hit HIi' the " Ecsolute " (Captain Kellett), and the " Intrepid " (Commander M'Clin- tock). In the moanAvhile, though Captain M'Clure knew that safety and abundance of provisions were secured to his crew, by the fact that these two rescue ships were stationed off the south coast of Melville Island and Avithin twelve days' march of Mercy Bay, and although the hold of the "Investigator" was still stored with ample supplies, he had not put his men upon an improved scale of diet. This unnecessary rigour on the part of the captain had its natm'al result in prolonging and increasing the enfeebled condition of the ship's company. Every man on board suffered continuously from hunger. Dr Armstrong had received no authority to give the sick extra rations, and the allowance of lime-juice was so limited in quantity as to be of little use in checking the advances of scurvy. "As these were the remedial agents then most requisite," says the doctor, " our losses by death were entirely owing to the want of them." John Boyle, who had died on the 5th, was buried on the 8th. A second death occurred ou the 11th, and a third on the following day. livi'oro le.avirg the ship, M'Clu'-e had arranged that the weaker hands, Avho were t h.cve been iLient aAvay from the ship to seek their way to England as best they might, should start from Mercy Bay and join him in the " Resolute " at Dealy Island. Accordingly, on the appointed day, the 15th April, the party, consisting of twenty-seven men, under the command of Lieutenant Cresswell, and dragging three sledges with provisions for twenty- four days, took their way over the ice amid the cheers of their shipmates. " The appearance of the party," writes Armstrong, " as the sledges formed in line, wending their way over the ice, at times enveloped in thick snow- drift that swept around tiiem, was remarkably wild and forlorn, and they thus commenced their journey ou a cold and cheerless evening, with the prospect of an icy bed before them." They reached the "Tesolute" on the 2d May. The appearance ♦^'ley presented on their arrival at Dealy Island was woeful. "One officer," we learn from the Arctic Blue-Book for 1855, "was subject to periods of mental aberration; one man in a state of dementia or imbecility, his condition and appearance rendered still more pitiable from severe frost-bite of the fingers ; two men carried on the sledges, the one with scurvy, the other with disease of the legs ; the remainder all more or less affected with scorbutic disease, as indicated to the spectator in the tottering gait, attenuated form, and careworn expression of countenance, occasionally lighted up as the truth and recollection of their altered condi- tion flitted across the imagination, a change (as some expressed themselves) difficult to realise." To such a condition of weakness were they reduced that, in order to lighten their sledges, they threw away all their spare clothes and left them on the iae. On the 19th May Captain M'Clure returned to the " Investigator," THE "INVESTIGATOR" ABANDONED. 676 accompanied by Dr Domville of the " Kesolute." Captain Kcllett appears to have had some doubt of the accuracy of M'Chu-e's statement, to the ctlect that the twenty men still left in the " Investigator " were physically able to extricate the ship from her winter quarters in !Mercy Bay, or, in the event of failure, to bear up against a fourth av inter among the ice. He accordingly had deputed his surgeon, Dr Domville, to act in concert with Dr Armstrong in making a medical survey of what remained of the crew of the " Investigator." M'Clure was still inflexible in his determination to sail his ship through the North- West Passage into Lancaster Sound at whatever risk ; and Kellett, his superior officer, suspecting that such an attempt would result in disaster, had adopted the precaution of having an impartial inspection of the crew held. Should the physical condition of the " Investigators" prove satisfac- tory, M'Clure was to place before them the alternative of remaining in the ship with him, in the hope of extricating her and bringing her triumphantly home, or of abandoning her and retreating upon Dealy Island. The result of the medical survey, which was held on the 28d, was that none of the men were found free from the taint of scurvy, while in many the disease had reached an alarming stage of development. The condition of the crew Avas made known to M'Clure ; but even in the face of the melancholy facts it revealed, the inexorable captain called his men on deck, and asked them if they were willing to volunteer for further service in the ship. Only font' seamen, together with the five officers on board, stepped forward to stand by the captain. This force was of course quite inadequate to work the vessel, and the only course now left open for IM'Clure was to abandun the ship. The men were now injudiciously placed all at once on full allowance of provisions. They had never known what it was to have a good meal for twenty months ; and now, when abundance was suddenly placed before them, they devoured their food ravenously — to the very serious, though only temporary derangement of their systems. Preparations Avere now hurried on for leaving the vessel. " On the 2d June the sledges Avere packed," Avrites Armstrong, "and cervthing got in readiness to start at an hour's notice. . . . The long ooked-for and anxiously-expected day, the 8d of June, at length came. Tho Aveathcr Avas cloudy and threatening in tlie morning, presenting nothing cneering in its aspect. . . . The ship Avas cleaned throughout from stem to stern, and everything left in perfect order, so as to be immediately available for any party Avhom adverse fate might compel to seek for succour in the Bay of Mercy. At 5.30 p.m., all being mustered at divisions on deck, Captain M'Clure, tho senior lieutenant, and myself, inspected the ship for the last time. A fcAV Avords — not complimentani — were addressed to the men, and all Avere piped to take their places at their respective places on the ice." The colours Avere then hoisted to the mast-head — the Avhite ensign of St 57G THE FRANKLIN SEA liCII— 1850-54. \ hi ^ '■': George at the peak, and the pendant at the main ; and the officers stepping over the side and joining the men on the ice, bade adieu to the " Investi- gator " for ever. During the first few marches " tremendous packed ice " was encountered, among which, al times, the rate of advance was no more than a mile in six licurs. As the party proceeded, many of the men suffered from snow blind- ness , but still, dragging blindfolded, they staggered on, constantly falling and slipping among the drag ropes. Suffering intensely from thirst, the men ate quantities of snow, the effect of which, lioAvevcr, was only to increase the evil from excoriation of the mouth. " To obviate this," says Armstrong, " we kept the snow in our hands until it became consolidated into a ball, and then sucked it by degi-ees. As the thaw advanced, and icicles began to form," continues the doctor, " it was a great relief to us, for we could carry them in our pockets without thawing, and refresh ourselves as we advanced. Although it was then the height of summer, the tem})craturc in the night journeys frcrpiently froze the moccasins or boots to our feet ; but during the sleej^'lng hoiu's they were thawed and dried on oxiiosure to the sun, by suspending them outside the tent." After a fearful march of fourteen days the ti-avellers, on the 17th June, encamped within sight of Dealy Island. The men then rested for four hours, and after washing their faces in a pool, in preparation for meeting strangers, resumed their journey at two p.m. Toiling onwards for several hours, they at last beheld the dark outline of the ships, and knew that once more they had reached the land of the living. At the distance of two miles from the vessels a party of oflicers belonging to the " Eesolute " and " Intrepid " met and warmly welcomed them. They had considerately brought refreshments with them, which the exhausted " Investigators " received with grateful alacrity. " We Avere joined in a few minutes," writes Armstrong, " by all our old shiiDUiates who Avere ble to come out, and they ran eagerly to meet us. Salutations and greetings, warm and cordial, were exchanged ; ship- mates and messmates, who had only so very recently parted, again met as if years of absence had intervened ; and the hearty greeting, the word of wel- come, and the joyous laugh succeeded to each other, as they tackled to our sledges, Avhich thej bore rapidly along. , . . Our numbers increased as we advanced, all the officers and men of both ships havnig come out to meet us. The ships Avere gaily decorated in honour of our arrival, the remnant of our crcAvs Avere draAvn up on the ice to receive us, Avitli Captain Kellett at their head ; and those Avho had i)reviously joined us fell out of the sledge and received us Avith three loud and hearty British cheers. A fcAV stej).'? brought us alongside the ' Resolute,' and Ave at length experienced the pleasant realisation of all our hopes and Avishes." The men from Mercy Bay were distributed about equally betAveen the tAvo vessels, in Avhich every- "S-^ RESCUE OF THE " INVESTIGATORSr 577 thing for their comfort had been i)rovided, inchiding a magnificent banquet, of the quality of which the hungry " Investigators " showed a just apprecia- tion. On arriving at Melville Island Armstrong learned that Lieutenant Cress- well had joined the " North Star" at Bcechey Island with a nunil)er of vol- unteers, in the hope of getting a ship for England during the sunnner of 1853. In this hope the party were not disappointed. They were taken on board n.]\I.S. "I'haniix," and arrived in England in October Avith the first intelligence of the discovery of the North- West Passage, and of the rescue of the " Investigator." But the trials of the majority of the crew of that un- fortunate vessel were not yet at an end. The "l^esolute" and "Intrepid," between which the remainder of the crew v.'as portioned, continued stationed at Dealy Island, awaiting the breaking up of the ice. The thaw progressed satisfactorily during the brief summer, and on the morning of the 18th August, under the influence of a gale from the north-west, the ice drove otf shore, and the ships once more rode in free w'ater. Sail w\as ma'le eastward along the pack edge, but on the 10th September the shijis were beset among voang ice off Point Griffiths, on the south-east coast of Melville Island, and after drifting for three weeks, became again fixed in the pack about midway between Byan. Martin Island and the west shore of Bathurst Land, and the wretched " Investigators " knew that they were to bo imprisoned a fourth winter among the ice. Bitter indeed was the disappointment of these gal- lant men, who had so confidently relied on being released during 1853. All of them, however, accepted the inevitable with good humour, or at least with equanimity, except Mr Sainsbury, the second mate, who had long been suffenng from pulmonary disease. Had the ships been set free, and their crews safely transpox'ted to England, poor Sainsbury might have rallied, but when the announcement was made to him that they w^ere fixed in the i^ack for another year, his doom was spoken. No more might he indulge in the vision of his home far away in England, and when the vision faded, life faded with it, and the mate, a good officer and brave man, died on the 14th September. The 16th was the day appointed for the funeral. Part of the mipressive service fo'- burials at sea was read on board the " Resolute " by Cajjtain Kellett. The uucoffined body was wrapped in canvas and placed on a sledge, covered with the union-jack. The sledgo was drawn by six petty officers of the " Investigator," and followed by all the officers and men of both ships, to a smooth sheet of ice about 200 yards distant, in wdiijh a square hole had been cut. Hero the sledge was drawn up while the remainder of the burial service was read. " Wo all grouped round," says Armstrong, " gazing in melanchoiy silence on the teaching scene before us, and Avhen the words Avere pronounced, 'We therefore commit his body to the deep,' it glided slowly from the sledge, and was silently engulfed in the watery H 4d 578 Tin: FIiA\KLI.\ SEARCH— I80O-M. I ■ grave beneath tlie ice on which we stood. The bleak and dreary character of the day was quite in kee])inj4- witli tlie occasion ; a cokl, biting, north-west wind, and a temperature of o7° below freezing point, adding in no small de- gree to its solemnity and gloom. On the 1st January IS.")-!: the "Investigators" commenced their fifth year of Arctic service. Little of interest occurred during the spring, and the story of M'Clure's exjiedition, and the discovery of a Xorth-West Passage, draws rapidly now to an end. In April the " Investigators " M'ere detached from the "Eesolute" and "Intrepid" to travel over the ice to the "North Star," stationed at Beechey Island ; and between the lOth and the 13th, the men set otF in three divisions. The Journey, as every journey undertaken in early spring always must be in these regions, was a very trying one. On the morning of the 11th the temperature was 35° below zero. One of the men, whose intellect had long been affected by the hardships he had en- dured, was reduced by the extreme cold to a state of complete imbecility, and on one occasion was with diflicnlty saved in his helplessness from the claws and the jaws of a hungry bear. The cold was so intense that the men's stockings and moccasins adhered so firmly together, that it was necessary to cut them off the feet, which were literally encased in ice. " Everything," says Armstrong, " was either half-thawed, frozen, or covered with hoar-frost, not excepting eyelids, beard, and face, with frostbites constantly occurring, from the exposure of the hands in the manipulation necessary for putting on one's garments, or taking them off. We were frequently frostbitten when asleep, or v.l.en in the act of despatching our hasty meal, while sitting up in the tent enveloped in our blankets." All hardships however were braved, all difficulties surmounted, and before the close of April the three divisions arrived safely on board the " North Star." Another death, the fifth and last that occurred during the expedition, took place at Beechey Island. On the 28th May the officers and crews of the "Eesolute" and " Intrepid " joined the " Investigators " in the " North Star " — the two vessels at Dealy Island having been abandoned by order of Sir Edward Belcher, the senior officer of the expedition. In the meantime Captain Kellett had, during the spring (of 1854), detached a travelling party from the " Ilesolute " to visit Mercy Bay, and report upon the condition of the " Investigator," a year after the abandonment of that vessel. This seivice was conducted under the command of ]Mr Krabbe, master of the " Intrepid," whose report respecting the condition of the abandoned " Investigator " is tlie last we shall ever hear of that ill-fated shij). This report, published in the Bluc-Book on Polar Expeditions, 1855, contains the following interesting particulars — the last words about the vessel in which M'Clure discovered the North-West Passage. " The tattered remains of the ensign and pendant RETURN OF THE EXPEDITIOy. 570 were still flying, and theic was an aocunmlation of drift on the northern side of the ship, siiflieicnt to enable me to walk in over her gunwale ; there was a good deal on her decks, but not suflicient to prevent our easily getting at the fore-hatchway. The ship's head was N. 30" W., her cable hanging slack under her bow. She was heeled about 10^ to starboard, and slightly by the head. There were no signs of pi-essure about her, although the oakum was hanging very loosely out of most of the seams. She was 1400 yards from the cairn, and 42G from the nearest point of beach, her stern being in eleven fathoms of water. On going below I found all things in good order, and the lower deck pretty free from frost ; but overhead on the decks Avere great accumulations. On examining the holds, I found slu? had leaked during the preceding summer so much, that she was now full to the orlop beams forward, and Avithin ten inches of them abaft, with solid ice. . . . Both on entering and leaving the bay, I paid marked attej tion to the state of the ice in it, and am confident that there tvas no water made inside a line from Point Providence to Point Back {i.e., a line stretching across the entrance to ]\Iercy Bay) during 1853." From the last statement it is evident that had M'Clure's men volunteered to remain with him, they Avould have failed to extricate the ship even after the fourth Avinter, and must certainly all have perished. In the middle of August the " North Star," Avith its several .ships' com- panies, Avas freed from the floe-edge oft' Beechey Island. The homcAvard voyage Avas commenced soon after ; but Avas scarcely begun, " Avhen," says Armsti'ong, " the outline of a ship could be faintly observed through the haze, and Ave soon hailed Avith emotion the arrival of H. INI. Ships ' Phoenix ' and ' Talbot ' from England." The "Investigators," liOAvever, remained on board the "North Star," Avhich continued on her voyage to England, and the explorers arrived off" Ram.-^gate on the 6th October 1854, after an absence of four years and ten months. Thus ends the narrative of the eventful voj-age of M'Clure and his dis- covery of a North-West Passage. By Parliamentary grant, the sum of £10,000 Avas granted to the captain, his officers, and men, in consideration of their having been the first to pass from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean by the Arctic Sea. It was not knoAvn in 1854, however, that the North- West Passage had been discovered by the Franklin expedition several years previously. ,; ' 580 7 ///; /■/.'. ( AAA /.V S/:A IICII~\ S:)()-54. t il I \ \ ■ n f CHAPTER V. Kennedy's second voyage of the piunce albert — lieutenant bellot JOINS IN the search FOR FRANKLIN — CUT OFF FROM THE SHIP — RESCUED BY LIEUTENANT BELLOT — AT SEA ON THE ICE — RESULTS OF THE VOYAGE. One of the most spirited, vigorously-conducted search expeditions of this period (1850-54) was the second voyage of the " Prince Albert " schooner, under the command of IMr William Kennedy, "svlio had gained much experi- ence of Eskimo life and habits, of sledge travel' ing and surveying, during a long residence among the Eskimos of Lal)rador. Besides its intrinsic impi)r- tance as a voyage of search and geographical discovery, this expedition is additionally interesting as bringing before the attention of readers the earlier Arctic exploits of the distinguished Erench naval officer Lieutenant Bellot. It will be remend)ercd that the " Prince Albert " was purchased and fitted out by Lady Eranklin in the summer of 1850, with the view of prosecuting the search for Franklin in Prince Regent Inlet, and along the coasts of North Somerset and Boothia ; that she sailed for the north under the command of Captain Forsyth ; and that, after a resultless cruise of four months, her commander returned with her to Aberdeen harbour in October 1850. Cajitain Forsyth, however, was the first to bring to England the exciting intelligence of Captain Penny's discovery of traces of the Franklin expedition at Beechey Island ; and the British Government, the relatives of the officers of the missing expedition, and the public generally, were animated by that intelligence with an ardent desire and a noble resolution to continue the search for the lost squadron until its fate should be ascertained. As one of the results of this enthusi- astic state of feeling, the " Prince Albert " was re-equipped to renew the search in the regions to which she had been previously sent ; the funds necessary for fitting out and provisioning the little schooner being provided for the most part from the slender private means of Lady Franklin, Avhile the remainder was subscribed by i)rivate friends, and by a feA\ eminent public men. Mr William Kennedy, who believed that the search for Sir John must ultimately resolve itself into a grand series of boat and land ■MiiMaiMiiii i^lEUTEXAM BELLOT JOINS IN I HE SEAliClI. 581 journeys, and whoso travcllini,' oxporicnco.s in tlio torritorios of the Iludson'.s Jiay Company eminently fitted him for conchi'-tinj^ such un(K'rtakin,t,'s, -svroto to Lady Franklin from Canada, voUinteerin^ his services in aid of the humane enterprise which was then engaging the sympathies of the generous of all nations. His offer was frankly accepted, lie was invited to England, and appointed to the command of the "Prince Albert." The vessel, an easily-handled schooner of only 89 tons burden, was ready for sea on the 22d May IBol. The crew, consisting chieffy of Aber- donians and veteran Arctic hands from Orkney and iShetland, included Richard Webb, a " smart, dashing fellow from London," who had accom- panied Sir John Ilichardson on his journey through North America to the Arctic Sea, and the venerable John Hepburn, the faithful attendant of Sir John Franklin throughout all the trials of the wonderful land expedition of 1819-"2n, and who now came forward volunteering life and limb once more to go nt)rthward in search of his old commander. The schooner was fully provisioned for two years, and was well found in all necessaries, and especi- ally in raw material for moccasins, snow-shoes, dog-sledges, etc., in the con- struction of which Commander Kennedy was an adept. The Admiralty liberally contributed a ton and a half of excellent pemmican to the vessel's stores ; and His lloyal Highness Prince Albert, avIio was deeply interested in the projected cruise of the vessel that bore his name, presented its com- mander with an excellent barrel organ, wherewith to beguile the tedium of life in winter quarters, and to astonish the natives of North Somerset. Shortly after Kennedy arrived in England from Canada he received a letter from Lieutenant Joseph Kene Bellot, lieutenant in the French navy, and Knight of the Legion of Honour. As the expression of a nature modest, simple, noble, essentially heroic — the imperfect English of it only serving to reveal the fine sincerity and enthusiasm of the writer— this letter is a gem, for the reproduction of which here no apology is necessary. " Sir," writes Bellot, " I am informed that you are about to command the ' Prince Albert.' Since the inquiries about his (Sir John Frankhn's) fate were begun I always felt the greatest regret not to be in Euroi)c to partake of the labours undergone by so many brave men that went in quest of the illustrious Lord Franklin. His lordship's glory and success have made him a citizen of the world, and it is but justice that all seamen should take the most lively interest in his fate. I would be particularly proud, sir, to have your consent to serving under your orders in such an honourable expedition. I have been now some years in the French service ; and if zeal and devoted- ness may be relied upon, I can afford them to the greatest satisfaction of my wishes. It would not be for the first time sharing fatigues and hard cii- cumstances Avith English sailors, as I assisted to an action against the natives of Madagascar in 1848 in company of H.]\l. fiigate 'Conway;' I ■ • i , ■t I i!. i}H2 TllK I'll. \ \KL IX si:, t IK 7/-1 sr,(> :, \. was wounded tlioio at the same time as Lieutenant Kennedy, and wish ho were a relative of yuuis. I wrote to our navy seeretary tor a leave of absence, and to Lady Fianklin, but would not do so before warning you of it. I hope, sir, there niay bo no objection to my being employed under your orders, and beg of you to give conununieation of my letter to Lady Franklin. Please believe me, sir, your most humble servant, J. Bki.i.ot." Such a letter was irresistible. IJellot's offer, the gallantry of whieh was duly recognised by the English jness, was readily accepted, the volunteer being appointed second in command of the schooner. The vessel's comple- ment of oilicers and men numbered only eighteen. The " I'rinee Albert " set sail for Aberdeen at six p.m. on the 2'2d May, with the union-jack Hying at the peak, and the French flag at the fore, in honour of Bellot. Early on the morning of the 2.'3th, the schooner came safely to anchor oft' .Stromness. Here Lady Franklin and her niece. Miss Sophia Cracroft, took farewell of the oflicers and men. Some idea of the extraordinary personal inftucnce which Lady Franklin exercised over all the officers and men engaged in the Franklin search with whom she came in contact, may be estimated from the following somewhat imnulsivo but certainly sincere passage from Commander Kennedy's narrative : " There, in our little cabin, with her estimable niece, sat the truly feminine yet heroic spirit who presided over our gallant little enterprise, one whose name — if her husband's is already associated with the highest honours of geographical discovery — will not be the less so, hereafter in the hearts of Englishmen, with honours of another kind — the most nol)le, devoted, and unwearied cff'orts to rescue or solvo the fate of our missing countrymen. One by one each of our little party was introduced and cheered by her words of Avise and aiTectionate counsel. If ever three English cheers were given Avith the heart's best feelings of a British sailor, they Avere given Avhen, stepping over the vessel's side, our noble patroness Avaved us her last adieu, and God'f? blessing on our voyage." The Aveather during the voyage out, was all that could bo desired. On the 24th June Cape FareAvell Avas sighted, and on the 8th July Kennedy AA'as nearing the Danish colony of Uppernavik. On the 17th August Kennedy entered the "middle ice," in latitude 72° N., and after a perilous passage through 120 miles of the pack, occupying four days, he reached the " Avcst Avater " on the 21st. On the 26th, when oft' Pond's Bay, the " Prince Albert " Avas visited for the first and last time during the voyage by a small party of four Eskimos. On the 4th September the schooner Avas lying close oft" Leopold Island. From this locality an unbroken barrier of ice extended as fiir as the eye could reach doAvn the Avest side of Regent Inlet. An unavailing attempt Avas made to run into Leopold Harbour. Kennedy then sailed south to Elwin Bay, Avhich he found scaled uj) Avith ice, ■MMii CUT OFF FROM TlIF SHIP. u8:j tlicn to lliitty r>i»y, Avliich was also closed, and liiially to rury IV'mcIi, where finding' liimself in ii naiiow lane of water, lietweeu the shore on the one har.d, and a threatenini;- held of inoviiiL( iec on the other, he thought it i)riident to withdraw. J?jtnrnin<'' noithwai'd he resolved at all hazards to make another attempt to reach and enter Leopold Ilail)onr. Aciordin^ly taking four of the crew with him, in the <;ntta -pereha boat, he left the ship at seven in the eveninj,', and was fortunate or uidoitnnate enouj^h to strik(^ upon a narrow lane of water, by which he reached the shore. ^Vftt'r an hour spent in recon- noitrini;', he prepared to return to the ship, and rowed out some distance with that intention, when to his f^reat alarm he found that his return was barred by ice, and conununication with the schooner thereby rendered impossible. " To add to our per[)lexity," writes Keiuu-dy, " niyht had come on. Nothing could bo .seen or heard around us but huge masses of ice, grinding, tossing, and rearing furiously on every side. To attempt to reach the ship under such circumstances, was to ensure certain destruction to the boat and everybody in it; and nothing wr-s left therefore, but to return to the sIku'c, which wo succeeded in reaching in safety, about two miles to the south of Capo Sep[)ings. Drawing our boat up on the beach, and turning her up, as a shelter from the night air, wo prepared to pass the night under her as we best could. The weather was bitterly col'\ ; our clothes were little else than a mass of ice, and knowing, under .such circumstances, the danger of allowing the men to fall asleep, I permitted each of them to take an hour's rest in turn, under the boat, but no more, and kept them for the remainder of the night in active exercise. With the dawn of the following morning, wo scrambled to the highest cliff of Cape Soppings, stiff, cold, ; ml weary; and the consternation of the poor men maybe conceived on dis- covering, that every vestige of the ' Prince ^Vlbcrt ' had disappeared during the night ! " But if the men were distressed on their own account, Kemiody was chiotly concerned respecting the fate of the ship. lie knew that Sir James Koss had in 184:9 deposited provisions at Whaler I'oint, close to Port Leopold, and a few miles north of Capo Se})pings ; and as breakfast was now emin- ently desirable, ho immediately sot out with his men toward the spot, where alone there was a chance of obtaining it. He was fortunate in finding the dopOt almost precisely in the condition in which Poss had left it. The house also, which that navigator had erected, was still standing, although its covering had boon sadly damaged by the gales of the last two years. From the circumstances that the depot was found intact, it was evident to Kennedy that the port had not boon visited by any party from the " Erebus " and "Terror." But what was Kennedy and his four companions now to do ? It was now the fOth of September, Avintor was fast sotting in, the "Prince Albert" had vanished, no one know whither ; but wherever she might be, one thing :. I' it i 'i ., 584 TI//'J FliAXKLlN SEAIiC/I~18oO-o-t. I seemed certain, namely, that her commander and liis four companions would be unable to join her that season. Nothing remained therefore but to face the inevitable courageously, and prepare to pass the winter beside the depot at Whaler Point. Accordingly, with the inijjulse of a born leader of men, Commander Kennedy — a new Crusoe — began his prei)arations for the winter at once, discussed his plans for the future with a cheerfulness which was mainly "from the teeth outwards," and inspired his men with a fcjasiblo amount of hope and courage by his example. The lirst thing to do was to rig up some sort of liouse Avhich should jirotect them from the dreaded winter weather. Sir James Ross's house, as Ave have seen, was practically roofless, and otherwise ineligible as a winter residence. But his steam launch ? He had brought it out with the view of making it useful in navi- gating the narrow leads into which his ship could not enter ; but he had no opportunity of using it. But if it hud never been useful before, Kennedy resolved to turn it to some account now. He removed the mainmast, and rested it on supports about nine feet high, at the bow and stern respectively. Over the mast he spread two of the sails, fixing them down to the deck on both sides. The simple architecture of his winter home was finished in a twinkling. The hull of the launch was his house, and the sloping sails, high pitched over the mainmast, was a tolerable roof " A stove," writes Kennedy, "was set up in the body of the boat with the pipes running through the roof, and we were soon sitting by a comfortable fire, which, after our long exposure to the wet and cold, we stood very much in need of There was a jjlentiful supply of blanket-bags in the depot, by the aid of which we were soon in possession of as warm and comfortable bedding as we could desire. Out of the same material we were able to sujjply ourselves with some excellent cluthing, using, in the absence of ordinary needles and thread, sail-n"cdles and twine, which answered our purpose equally well. These and other preparations of a similar nature carried us through the first week of our dreary residence with a tolerable approach to comfort and contentment." Deeply and bitterly did Kennedy reflect that the expedition which had cost Lady Franklin so much, had been organised for quite other purposes than affording its commander an opportunity of exhibiting his ingenuity as an amateur Crusoe. But the enforced idleness of this weary time Avas an accident of a kind to which all Arctic travellers were exposed. He Avas stopped in the execution of his duty by one of those unaccountablo and incalculal)le movements of the ice Avhich are known to take i)lace Avith surprising rajjidity all over the area of the I'olar regions. On the 21st September, Ctmimandcr Kennedy records his resolution, as soon as the state of the ice Avill admit of travelling-parties being sent out, to conuuence a strict and thorougli search for the " Prince Albert " in nery direction in Avhich she avus likely to have been carried, and in the eve..t of RESCUED BY LIEUTENANT DELLOT. 585 this search proving unsuccessful, to set out in the spring on a journey to Capo Walker, the northeast point of Russell Island, off the north coast of Prince of Wales Land, with the view of following up the great object of the expedition — the one object which Kennedy never, amid all his adventures, failed to keep prominently in view — the search for Sir John Franklin. Under present circumstaneeH, however, in the dead winter season, and with an equip- ment in shoes and clothing wholly inadequate, there was nothing to be done but to wait patiently, while the dreary days wore on. But a surprise was imminent. On the 17th October a shot was heard, the report coming api)ar- ently from the direction of Cape Seppings. On hurrying out of the launcli, Kennedy beheld Avith delight a party of seven men, under Lieutenant Lellot, approaching, and dragging along with them the jolly-boat of the " I'riuce Albert." " It was with emotions of inexpressible thankfulness and joy," says Kennedy, " that wc received the intelligence that the entire pan/ Avere well, and that the ' Prince Albert ' was safely moored in a good position t)lf Batty Bay." Bellot had previously made two attempts to reach Whaler Point and bring a supply of clothing, but was obliged on both occasions to aljundon the attempt. The whole jiarty set out on the 22d to return to the sliiji, where they arrived in safety before the close of the month. At Batty Bay preparations were immediately commenced for spending the earlier months of winter, and only the earlier months ; for Kennedy was resolved to send out searching parties at the earliest possible moment, and not to postpone oi)erations till the spring had set in, as had hitherto been the usual practice. Accordingly, on the 5th January, Kennedy, Bellot, and three men set out from Batty Bay, with a dog sledge, to visit Fury Beach, and ascertain whether any of Sir John Franklin's party had retreatcnl upon that depOt since it was visited in 1849 by Lieutenant Bobinson of the "Enterprise." Travelling along the base of the lofty cliffs, Avhich extend down the west shore of Begent Inlet from Batty Bay to Fury Beach, the sledge party made but sIoav progress, owing to the extreme roughness of the road, and to the circumstance that this was the darkest season of the year, the sun having set in November, not again to rise till February. Continuing to grope their way through the gloom and over the ever-recurring obstacles of the route, they came on the 7th upon one of the depots formed along this coast by Sir John Boss during his famous and perilous voyage in the "Victoi'v." The depot contained three cases of preserved vegetable sou]) in excellent condition, a small quantity of coal and wood, and some iron hoo2)s. On the 8th Kennedy, Bellot, and John Smith, leaving two men behind with the sledge, started to walk to Fury Beach. Being unencumbered with bag- gage, they progressed rapidly, and soon arrived within sight of their destina- tion. " It may be imagined," writes Kennedy, " with what feelings, when wc really had come upon it, we approached a spot round which so many n 4e It ! 580 Tin-: FiiAXKLrN s /•: a Jic/f— is:)0-:>i. hopes and anxielios had so h)ng centred. Every object distinguished by the moonlight in the distance became animated, to our imagination, into the forms of on • ]ong-al)sent countrymen, for had they been imprisoned any- uherc in the .Vrctic seas, -within a reasonable distance of Fury Beach, here ■\ve felt assured some of them at least would have been now. Ihit alas for these fond hopes ! How deeply, though perhaps unconsciously, cherished none of us probably suspected till, standing under the tattered covering of Somerset House, aud gazing silently upon the solitude around us, we felt as we turned to look mournfully on each other's faces, that the last ray of hope, as to this cherished inuigination, had fled from oiu" hearts. . . . 'J'he spot on which we uoav stood had so long been associated in our minds with some clue to the discovery of the solution of the })ainful mystery which hung over the fate of Franklin, and had so long unconsciously, })erhaps, coloured all our thoughts, that it was not without a pang, and a feeling as if the main purpose of our expedition had been defeated, that Ave found all our antici- pations shattered at a l)low by the scene which met our eyes. Thus my friend and I stood paralysed at the death like solitude around us. No ves- tige of the visit of a human being was here since Lieutenant Ifobinson had examined the depot in 1849. The stores, still in the most perfect preserva- tion, were precisely in the well-arranged condition described in the clear report of that energetic oHlcer." The whole neighbourhood was searched unavail- ingly for some record of a visit later than that of liobinson, and then the three men, wearied and disappt)inted, entered Somerset House. The frame- Avork of this mansion of rough timbers, raised by Sir John Koss, was still standing, though one end of it was nearly filled with snow, and the canvas roof had been blown to rags by the gales that howl all the year round over this inhospitable shore. The men soon lighted a fire, however, and after discussing a warm and satisfactory supper, and drowsily nodding for a few hours over the comforting fire, they arose and shook themselves at eleven p.m., and, starting on the return journey, arrived at the encampment of their com- panions at two o'clock on the following morning. The whole party then re- turned to the ship. On the loth February Kennedy, Bellot, and two men, started from Batty Bay, taking with them two cases of penunican and six gallons of spirits of wine, on a dog sledge, with the view of forming an advance depot on the I'oute to Fury Beach, in pre})aration for the grand journey to be undertaken s(miewliat later in the spring. It was their intention to return to the ship the same evening. Shortly after mid-day they were caught in a hurricane — the gale being so thickly charged Avith snow, in crossing a bay, that tho travellers lost sight of the land by Avhich their homeward course should h.ave been guided. After wandering about for some time, scarcely able to distinguish each other at the distance of a few paces, they were obliged to f I- A T SEA OX THE ICE. como to the conclusion tliat tlioy liad lost thcniselves. Kolyinj;- on llic instinct of their doi;s, they unharnessed two of them from the sledge, in the lioi)e that they -would act as guides ; but the animals remained stationary, as if afraid to leave their companions. At last, however, the whole team of live dogs set off at great speed, taking the sledge with them, and leaving the travellers to their fate. They reached the ship without difliculty, it was afterwards discovered — their arrival with the empty sledge creating the utmost anxiety on board with respect to the fate of the party. ^Meantime Kennedy and his men continued stumbling about until again they reached land. The question now Avas how to steer for the vessel. " This was decided on at last," says Kennedy, " by each of the party pointing in turn in the direction in Avhich he thought the vessel lay, and then taking the mean of the bearings. To prevent our separating in the drift (for some of the party had by this time got so benundjed with cold as to be unable to use their hands to clear their eyelids, and had thus become literally blind Avith the accumulation of snow on their eyes), it was agreed that at intervals Ave should call and ansAver to each other's names, and that those Avhose eyes had suffered least should take the others in tow." In this order the men proceeded, and, guided by a solitary star, Avere able to keep a true course until, before they Avere able to see the ship, they heard the Avind Avhistling in her shrouds, and Avere thus guided to her position by the ear rather than by the eye. All of the men Avere severely frost-bitten, but by rubbing the atiected parts over Avith cold snoAV and Avater, and thus restoring circulation before going below, they escaped Avith no Averse consequences than a number of very ugly-looking scars. Preparations for the "grand journey," the "leading feature" of the expedition, and indeed the prin(.'i})al object for Avliich it Avas undertaken, had been carefully made during January and February ; ami noAV the day approached on Avhich it was arranged a start should be made. The precise direction to be followed, being a matter dependent upon the discoveries that might be made, and the, as yet, unforeseen circumstances that might arise at the outset, could not as yet be definitively fixed. On one point, hoAvever, Kennedy Avas decided. lie Avas resolved that his route should include Capo Walker, to Avhich (as the point of departure of tSir John Franklin for the Avest and south) much interest attached. All preparations being conq)leted — .stores arranged and packed on two Indian sledges, and advance depots formed on the route to Fury Beach — Kennedy, I'ellot, and five nuui started from Batty Bay on the ^r^th Febru- ary, and proceeded south along the Avest shore of Kegent Inlet. Fury Beach Avas reached on the ~A\\ March. On the 7th a fatigue party, bringing addi- tional stores from the ship, joined Kennedy at Somerset Ilcmse. "We had helped ourselves very liberally from the old stores of the Fury," Avrites the I i ■ 11 '' fl nt." There was nothing now to lie done but to return to the ship at Batty P)iiy, which was accomplished by crossing the northern entrance of I'eel Sound from Cape Walker to Cape Bunny, and rounding the north coast of North .Somerset. Whaler Point was reached on the loth, and here Kennedy remained for twelve days to recruit his men, all of whom had been suffering severely from scur\y. While r(\sting here he made free use of the lime juice, cranberries, vegetables, and other antiscorbutics, which were still to l)e found in the depot, and having by this means recruited the strength of his men, he started for Batty Bay, and arrived at the ship without casualty on the 30th May after an absence of ninety-seven days, diu'ing which he and his men had accomplished a journey of 1100 miles. On the 6th August Commander Kennedy was able to extricate his ship from the ice in Batty Bay after a detention of 3o0 days, and make sail for the north, and on the morning of the 19th he joined the " North Star," Commander PuUen, off Cape Riley. After spending eighteen days in friendly communion with the officers of the " North Star," Kennedy perceived that there was nothing further for him to do in those seas, as the continued search for Franklin .lad been provided for by the great expedition under Sir Edward Belcher, the ships composing which had already arrived, and had passed away AvestAvard. He, therefore, without more delay bore up for England, and arrived safely in Aberdeen Harbour on the 7th October, after an absence from England of sixteen mouths. IXCLEl'JEIMS SUMMER SEARCH— \^o2. iVJl ! CHAPTER VI. CAPTAIN INGLEFIELD's SUMMER SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN — 1852. In the summer of 1852 Captain E. A. Inglefiekl, of II. M. Navy, commanded an expedition in search of Sir John FrankHn, which was pronounced by Sir Francis Beaufort to be " one of the most extraordinary voyages on record " — a voyage the resuUs of which, according to Sir Edward Parry, " have placed Commander Inglefiekl among the most distinguishod of our Arctic navi- gators." The "Isabel," screw schooner, of 140 tons and thirty horse power, had been fitted out by Lady Franklin in the spring of 1852, and provisioned for five years, with the view of prosecuting the search for the lost " Erebus " and "Terror." The command was placed in the hands of ]\[r Donald Beat- son, who, however, was reluctantly compelled, by unavoidable difiiculties, to resign the commission. Lady Franklin then offered to present the well- appointed schooner to the Admiralty, on the solo condition that sac should be sent on the mission for which she had been specially strengthened and stored. But the Admiralty having already despatched an efficient expedi- tion to the north to examine Wellington Channel and the regions around JNIelville Island, thought it prudent to decline the ofter. It was then j ro- posed to Commander Inglefiekl that he should provide a crew and take out the schooner to join the Arctic squadron in Lancaster Sound, and after depositing with them the bulk of his five years' store of provisions, return to England ; after which, as compensation for expenses incurred, the vessel and all that remained in her was to become his own property. Inglefiekl agreed to the proposal on the condition that he should be at liberty to prosecute the search " on any ground he might think fit, and in such a manner as he should deem most suitable to his own views." He accordingly became the solo proprietor of the schooner on the 22d June 1852, and took her down to Wool- wich dockyard on the following day. On the 5th July, after having been visited by Lady Franklin and JNIiss Cracroft, the " Isabel " was towed down the river on her outward voyage to the remote north of Baflin's Bay. ''• I 592 Tin: FR AS KLIN SEARCH— \H:y{)-:A. m n The oflict'i's and men nunibored eighteen in all, of Aviiom the two ico- mastcrs, Aheinotliy and ]\[ansoii, had saiJcd for years in the Polar seas, either in f5ov(>rnnient or hi Avhaliny exi)e(litions ; wliile the surj^eon, Dr Sntherland, will l)e renienihered avone of the medical ollicers in the expedi- tion of the " Lady Franklin " and the " Sophia," under the conunand of Captain Penny. Capo Farewell Avas passed on the SOtli July. Eunnin^' his shij) into the little harbour of FiHkerna\s on the 7th August, Tni^leHeld was most hospitably entertained Ijy the Dar'sh gov^' 'or of the locality, and had an opportiuiity ''judging of the beneficial i lu ) which the Lutheran mission- stations that have been planted along . : • c ii- '\y the Danish Government, exercise among the Eskimos. After toui.KMs ;, ul lievely (Disco), Ligletield droi)ped anchor off Up})ernavik. Here he procu; logs and other neci>s- saries, and made the acquaintance of Mr Petersen, who had accompanied Penny during the previous year, and whose services as interpreter to successive expeditions have been invaluable to the commanders of both British and foreign expeditions. On the 18th the " Isabel " was abreast of the Devil's Thumb, and on the following day she steamed across Melville Bay. " Having succeeded in passing through the pack, and in reaching the open water," writes Inglefield, " we pushed eagerly on ; while the sun burst- ing forth dispelled the mist, and gladdened our hearts amid the solitude of ice and snow. . . . Forty-one days only have elapsed since Ave trip})ed anchor from Peterhead, and here Ave are in jMelville Bay, thi'ee days later only (as regards the period of the season) than the l*enny expedition of last year, Avith apparently a far better season, and in a vessel unencumbered Avith a consort or Avith any orders." On the 21st Inglefield Avas Avell up Avith the ice of Cape York, into Avhich he at once pushed, although he had to thump Ins Avay through it against the heavy pieces that Avere met Avith in the Avater- lanes. Whilst steaming nortlnvard amid the ice, Inglefield observed a bear SAvimming about, and Avounded him Avitli a bullet from a INIinie rifle. The enraged animal aftevAvards attacked the small boat in Avhich his enemy prom})tly pursued him, and might have been the cause of some serious mishap had not the captain jjulled a Colt's revolver from his pocket and shot him through the brain. His fine coat became his captor's prize, and his carcass Avas divided among the famishing Eskimo dogs. Cape Dudley Digges and the Crimson Cliffs Avere passed on the 21st, and Conical Lsland and the PctoAvak Glacier on the 22d. " The glacier of I*etoAvak," Avritcs InglefiLu, "is a Avonderful Avork of nature, extending as it does upAvards of a mile into the sea, and four or five miles inland, Avith a smooth unbroken surface. It carries one's thoughts back to the age Avhen this gigantic ice-formation Avas in its infancy, and Avlieu, during the summer months, it Avas possibly but a little purling stream, at the head of a deep bay." A number of natJvcs Avere seen near the base of this glacier, desirous GETTING TO THE POLE. 68S apparently of having an interview with the white stranf^ers. InglefieUl landed and interviewed them. Nothing of European manufactme was found among them, nor did they appear to possess kayacks. They were clad in bear, fox, reindeer, and seal skins, and seemed to bo in the most robust health. They appeared to live by hunting, not by fishing, and a number of them who had been engaged in trapping rotges, carried one or two of these small sea-birds in their hands. On the 23d the commander penetrated beyond Cape Atholl. "How I longed to survey this coa.;t !" he exclaims. "The chart was so in- correct that I was compelled to trust to my wits, and every opportunity was embraced for getting observations and angles to fix its outline more exactly." Wolstenholme Sound was carefully examined, and further evitlence was obtained, proving the falsehood of the mischievous sto'"/ concocted by Adam Beck, and already referred to. On the 25th, Inglefi i f( id himself at the distance of about fifteen miles cast of Carey Island? . A (1 the land to the northward of these islands was new, the comni: u.' r i;.'ie commenced a careful running survey. At the distance of t , . t\ one miles along the shore from Cape Parry, huts were observed or th« sh >res of a small bay. The natives afterwards appeared, and Inglefif 1. landing, went with Dr Sutherland and Mr Abernethy, to communicate . . Jiem. They were clad with furs and skins, were as filthy as possible, and their summer tents were miserably dirty and small. . No European articles were found among them, and no evidence to lead to the behef that these shores had been visited by any parties from the expedition under Sir John Franklin. On the following day Inglefield discovered Murchison Strait — " a clear and unencumbered sea, with a distinct and mibroken horizon, which, beauti- fully defined by the rays of the rising sun, showed no sign of land, save one island." This new strait extending away in a north-east direction from Whale Sound, was very inviting to the discoverers. Inglefield was sorely tempted to enter and foUoAV up his discovery ; but the season was now far advanced, " and," writes the commander, " a sense of duty to our lost coun- trymen (which plainly pointed to the southward and westward), prevailed, and sailing away we manfully turned our backs on a fairer opportunity for re- search and discovery than often falls to the lot of man." The route to the north was now resumed, and on the 2Gth the " Isabel " had steamed up to within half-a-mile of Cape Alexander. " "VVe were entering the Polar Sea," says Inglefield, " and wild thoughts of getting to the Pole — of finding our way to Behring Strait — and, most of all, of reaching Franklin and giving him help, rushed rapidly through my brain. A few hours and Ave should either be secure in our winter quarters, or else flying onward in the unfreez- ing Polar Basin." The circumstance that the sides of Cape Alexander were covered with bright green mosses and grasses, seemed to encourage the idea that the climate of the sea which was now being navigated for the first time, ]2 4f 1! 1h 501 77/A' FRANKLIN SEAJtC/I—18oO-3i. h ! I I :h ; ■t i "Nvas less severe than that of the entrance to Smith Sound. " On rounding C'ajjo Alexander," continues Inglefield, " the full glory of being actually in the Polar Sea burst upon my thoughts, for then I beheld the open sea stretch- ing through seven points of the compass, and apparently unencumbered with ice, though bounded on east and west by two distinct headlands, of which, the one on the wesiorn shore was named after Ilis Royal Highness Princo Albert, as, by a happy coincidence, it was at twelve p.m. on his birthday, that the point was first observed." The singularly regular table-topped cliffs to the north of Cape Alexander were named the Crystal Palace Cliffs. To the south of Cape Alexander were snow-capped hills and cliffs ; but to the north of it " an agreeable change," says the commander, " seemed to have been worked by some invisible agency — here the rocks appeared of thin natural black or reddish-brown colom", and the snow, which had clad with heavy flakes the more southern shore, had only partially dappled them in this higher latitude." The Avestern shore of Smith's Sound, however, seemed clad with perpetual snows, and was fringed with a belt of ice twelve miles broad. So long as the weather continued favourable, Inglefield continued to push on aorthwards. On the 27th, however, the wind drew round towards the north, and beating violently against the schooner, forbade any further advance. The Prince of Wales Mountains, on -the western coast, Avere dis- covered and named, and the northernmost point of this shore was named Victoria Head. On the eastern shore the most northerly point was called Capo Frederick VII., while the bay immediately to the south of it was named after Lady Franklin. The most northerly position reached was 78° 28 21 — a point about 140 miles farther north than had been reached by any earlier navigator of whom there are any records. Inglefield had for some days noticed that a strong northward-flowing current flowed along the cast shore of Smith's Sound. The gale, which continued to blow from the north, meeting this current, raised such a heavy sea that the expedition was obliged to return to the mouth of the sound without delay. Creeping down along the west coast amid ever-recurring perils, Inglefield arrived at Clarence Head on the 30th, and on the following day passed AVcstv.'ard through Glacier Strait into Jones Sound. A cape on the north side of Glacier Strait was named Cape Tennyson, in honour of the Poet Laureate. Continuing on a westward course, and passing Inglis Peak, the explorers discovered, to their surprise, that the north shore of Jones Sound turned away to the northward, while the south shore preserved a direction westerly, luitil lost in the distance. No land was visible to the west or north-west. In this unknown sea, which was loaded with heavy ice and obscured by ft)g, Avhose bold and forbidding coasts afforded neither anchorage, landing- r RESULTS OF VOYAC'K uUo place, nor shelter of any kind, it was now dccnied nnsaff any loncjor to delay. " Accordingly," says Inylcficld, "having obtained the long, of 84' 10' W., in the lat. of 70" 11' N., Ave bore up, and running over to the south shore before the gale, ■which had commenced to l)low with some violence, we examined, in the intervals of fog, every rock with our glasses, n;\miiig certain headlands as wo passed. . . . No trace of anything human could we observe ; all was a mass of ice." Having reached the oiling, ( 'onnnandi'r Inglefield resolved to run up Lancaster Sound to IJeochey Island, and there leave the "Isabel's" surplus stores, provisions, and fuel, fin* the use of the ships of Sir Edward Belcher's squadron. IJy so doing, he would also be enabled to communicate his own discoveries to the srpiadron, and carry home to England the latest intelligence from the ground now being (^Kamined by Belcher's officers. Singularly fortunate in wind and weather, the commander of the " Isabel " carried his ship into Erebus and Terror Bay, Beechey Island, on the 7th September, and had the happiness to meet there the "North Star" (Commander Pullen) — the store ship attached to Sir Edward Belcher's expedition. Commander Inglefield pressed upon Captain Pullen the acceptance of his spare stores and provisions, but the latter, who had been prohibited by his superior officer from in any way interfering with a private vessel, was obliged to decline the offer. On hospitable thoughts intent, Inglefield was thus compelled to accept hospitality instead of conferring it, and he and his officers dined with the captain of the " North Star," enjoying the rare deli- cacies and luxuries of soft bread, loon pie, beer, etc., and discussing the prospects and programme of the Arctic searching squadron, under the com- mand of Sir Edward Belcher. After an evening pleasantly spent, Inglefield having taken the " North Star's " letter bags on board, the " Isabel " set sail eastward out of Erebus and Terror Bay on the homeward voyage to England, where, after an absence of exactly four months, she duly arrived. The chief result of the voyage was the discovery of about six hundred miles of new coast line, at and within the entrance to Smith's Sound, which, from the date of Inglefield's summer cruise in the " Isabel," has been regarded by all inter- ested in Arctic discovery as affording a highly promising route to the regions still unknown in the extreme North, PART XL EXPEDITION UNDER SIR EDWARD BELCHER. CHAPTER I. THE GIFT OF PROrilECY — "A BOOKS A BOOK, ETC. — VOYAGE OF THE " llESOLUTE " — " INVESTIGATORS " RESCUED, M After the return of Captain Austin's squadron in September 1851 (see p. 534), Iter INIajcsty's Government decided upon rc-cquipping the Arctic vessels, ■with the view of further prosecuting the search for the " Ei-ebus " and " Terror " in the regions to the north-west of Beechey Island. Accord- ingly the " Assistance " and " Resolute," with their respective steam-tenders the " Pioneer " and " Intrepid," were thoroughly repaired and refitted for the new voyage. The " North Star " was added to the Arctic squadron as depot ship and basis of operations. The command of all the vessels to be en- gaged in the exjicdition was vested in Sir Edward Belcher. This distin- guished officer was born in 1799, and entered the navy at the age of thirteen. In Captain Beechey's expedition to the Polar Sea in 1825-28 he held the rank of lieutenant, and was entrusted with the duties of assistant-surveyor. During this minor cruise, in which he was occupied almost exclusively in scien- tific as apart from strictly nautical employments, he appears to have acquired all the knowledge he ever had of Arctic navigation. He was surveyor in the " Etna," on the west coast of Africa, from 1832 to 1834 ; went round the world in the " Sulphur" in 183G-42 ; was knighted in 1843; commanded the surveying-ship " Samarang " in the Eastern Archipelago, 1842-47 ; and in 1852 he was appointed to the command of the "Assistance," and of the most perfectly appointed Arctic expedition that had, down to that date, ever set sail from England. He is the only commander, in the history of Arctic exploration, who abandoned every vessel of his squadron among the ice, and came home, " with the news of his o-\vn defeat," in a stranger ship. He is the only Arctic explorer who ever discovered a " bear's nest," but the " mares' »r I !i I 1^- 1' • 1 BRINGING HOME THE SEALS. PAC£ 1 1?. THE GIFT OF PROPHECY. 507 nests " of which he was the discoverer arc not to be counted in units. "It is folbj to talk of the Pohir bear hybcruating," writes Shcrard Osborn (aUuding, however, to the male animal only), "whatever bears may do on the Americau continent. There is only one Arctic navigator who ever saAV a bear's nest ! " Sir Edward Belcher is the " one .Vrctic navi- gator" against whom this shaft of sarcasm is levelled. The manner in which he controlled the operations of his four ships in the expedi- tion of 1852-54 -was the chief cause of the abandonment, by the British Government, of all further search for Franklin. " Desisting from the search for Franklin just as success was certain," says Osborn, "arose from official ignorance on the subject, and the alarm created by Sir E. Belcher's strange proceedings during the last expedition to Barrow Strait." To crown his achievements Sir Edward wrote a book, and thereby abundantly gratified the malevolence of his enemies. " Les marins ecrirent mal,'' quotes Sir John Ross in a prefiice, which luminously illustrates the truth of the quo- tation ; but no sailor, from Noah do^niwards, has ever even rivalled the literary style of Sir Edward Belcher. The work, which is entitled " The Last of the / ; 7tic Voyages," was published in 1855, since which date to the present, the number of years that have elapsed is not greater than the number of Arctic expeditions that have been undertaken and successfully carried out. " The title of the work may appear open to objection," observes Sir Edward, with condescension and becoming modesty ; " but, taking into account the dates of original orders, and those in force in April 185-i, it will be apparent that the final command of the British Naval Expedition within the Arctic Seas was vested in me." A charming modern form of fatalism pervades the work. The author is also constantly finding himself out-doing the cleverest things, and complac- ently tracing the course of his own ingenious mind through the successive steps by Avhich it arrives at its object. Of his gift of jn-ophecy many examples might bo given. On one occasion, Avlien beset, he foresaw and provided for a break-up of the ice when his ice-master saw no reason to expect such an event. " I noticed a suspicious dark streak on the distant floe, apparently, to my comprehension, a lane of water ; Init the ice-quartei-- master, declaring it to be mere fog, I was relieved from anxiety, and as it indicated nothing Avhich demanded further investigation, it passed unnoticed — hut not for t 'head or lungs soae might liaA'e experi- enced, but they Averc never ^'''cn^Kuiod ii iiy presence. The only projection «? li "A BOOK'S A BOOK," ETC. 509 al)out which I felt interested Avas my nose, and iijion this point, not a very prominent feature, I felt a sort of monomania, something Hko going into action, that I must bo Avounded in a leg, and nowhere else. I never intended to be killed, and so I told vui surgmn when that idea was realised, but I am coubtantly askui^ people to view my nose. But as I have so far wandered into self, and I know that certain professional men who interest themselves about me will expect to know, I will merely say that I expected certain woiu^ds, cuts, frost-bites of youth, etc., to trouble me. I have suffered intensely, more than can be explained, but nothing to disqualify me, in any manner, for this important command, or the liabilities attached thereto. ]\Iy feelings are my own. So long as I pei"form all my duties, who cares for them 1 " Wit and wisdom of this quality, extending in «.U to six hundred and fifty pages, are overawing to even the most persevering readers. Indeed, it may safely be averred that " The Last of the Arctic Voyages " was nevor read in its entirety by any one of the author's admiring countrymen. We will not say that the work is frivolous, useless for any practical purpose whatever, un- grammatical, packed full of details meaning nothing and leading nowhere, pervaded by obstinacy, professional jealousy, superstition, intellectual incapa- city, and measureless conceit ; but we shall be careful not to give the reader much more of the book, lest he may think so. In our very brief chronicle of the Belcher Expedition, Ave shall refrain from making much use of the Belcher AvisJom. The supreme command of the vessels forming the Arctic expeditior of 1852-54 Avas, as Ave haA^e said, vested in Sir EdAvard Belcher. Bui is -o purpose Avas to be gained by keeping all the four searching a'csscIs > ;U0 course, it Avas arranged that the squadron should be divided into \\.o branches, the first, consisting of the "Assistance" (Sir E. Belcher") and its steam-tender the "Pioneer" (Conunander Slierard O lorn), to explore and examine Wellington Channel ; and the second, consi iig of the " Kesolute " (Captain Kellett), and its tender the " Intrepid " (Commander Eeopold ]\rClintock), to pass Avest through BarroAV Strait, a i.^it Melvilk- Island, and explore the then little knoAvn archipelago (I'airy Islanda), of Avhich that island is the chief. All preparations having beer completed, the four sliips, together Avith the depot ship "North Star" (Commander PuUen), left Grccn- hithe, and proceeded doAvn tho Thames on the 21st April 1851. No incident of more than passing interest marked tho outward voyage, which, like its history, as Avritten by Belcher, Avas unconnnonly didl and tedious. It Avas not till 1st August that the vessels arrived off C*apo York. On the 3d th.e sciuadron Avas off the entrance to Jones Sound, and on tho 11th the " Kesolute" arrived at the rendezvous in Ti-ebus and Toror Bay, betAveeu Bcechey Island and tlie mainland of North Devon. When Captain inn M' ■|i: .,(] ') If Hi 600 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— \^m-:A. Kcllctt and CommaiuuT ]\['Clintock arrived in tlioir vessels the " llcsoluto " and •'Intrepid," they were surprised to find that the "Assistance" and " I'ioneer " had not yet arrived. Tlio depot ship, the '• .North Star," how- ever, was moored in the bay, and from this vessel Kellett, to save time, im- mediately commenced to transfer to his own ship the remainder of the required stores. On the 12th the "Assistance" airivod, and on the 14th the " Pioneer " joined company. As Bcechey Island was known to bo tho point from which the tAvo main branches of the expedition Avere to diverge, all hands were anxious to ascertain tlic exact routes to be pursued. These proved to be as follows : (1.) Tho " Assistance " and " Pioneer" to in-occed up Wellington Channel; (2.) The "Ilesolute" and "Intrepid" to reach jMelville Island; (3.) Tlio " North Star" to remain at Becchey Island as a depot, upon which the crews of any of tho searching vessels might retreat in the event of any casualty. After a com])limentary and animated address had been delivered by Sir Edward to tho crews assembled on the ice, the ofliccrs and men of the different ships bad" each other farewell. At ten p.m. on the same day (tho 14th August), tho "Assistance" and "Pioneer" stood up for Wellington Channel, aud disappeared ; and on the following day the steamer " Intrepid," taking the " Kesolutc " in tow, bore away Avest- Avard. On the 29th Captain Kellett came in sight of the perks of Bath- urst Island, and knoAV that halt the distance to Melville Island AA\as noAV made. Byam INIartin Island Avas passed on the 81st, and on the afternoon of the 1st September jNIelvillc x.land was distinctly seen from tho croAv's- nest. " There Avcre foAV on board," says George IM.'Uougall, sailing-master of the " Eesolute," " AAdio did not eagerly ascend the rigging to catch a glimpse of the island, Avhose shores had orJy once before been approached in a ship." Continuing to push on along tlie south shore of the island, tho vessels pas.^od Point Poss on the 2d. The pack compelled Captain Kellett to sail close to the laud in the uarroAV strip of open Awater extending betAvcen the shore on tho north and the pack on the south. A score of telescopes Avere beir^ constantly directed upon the shore of tho f unous island Avhich Parry discovered in 1819, and in .vliic'^ he spent his first ^Vrctic Avinter. This careful examination of the snores \7as not fruitless, for during the day (tho 2d), a number of "dark objects" Avere seen moving along tho beach. This discovery created intense excitemf^^it, for an idea had got abroad that these dark objects Avould yield fresh steaks, ar.d CA'ery man on l)oard now pined for a change from salt and presev\ed meats. Early on the following morning Lieutenant Mecharu and Dr lomville, the sui'geon of the "Eeso- lute," Avent ashore Avith a pav'.y, on hosiJirable thoughts intent, but not quite of a kind to cheer the sabj' rangers on the beach. " Our delight may bo imagined," exclaims M'L...h," says M'Dongali, "the poor fellow imconsciously went on deck w'thout being properly clad for the change of temperature between the lowe • deck and that of the atmosphere. A few minutes afterwards he fell dov n dead. . . . The following day, a spot near the bejich, on the eastern .shore of Dealy Island, was selected for the burial-place, and parties were scuit daily to dig the grave ; but the frozen state the ground rendered this no easy matter, and n\any days were occupied in getting sufficient depth beneath the surface. Even then we were compelled to rest satisfied with only two feet eight inches ; and, to effect this, powder was obliged to be resorted to, in addition to pickaxes, shovels, and the usual implements for digging." The funeral took place on the 26th. On the 12th December, George Drover, captain of tL'c forecastle of the " Intrepid," who had been in ill health since the beginning of October, breathed his last. He was buried on the 19th, his grave being side by side with that of jNIobley. Little occurred to vary the monotony of life on shipboard during mid- winter. Early in March 1853 all preparations for sending away Lieutenant Bedford Pirn and the relief party to Mercy Bay were completed. Pim and his party started from Dealy Island toward the close of the month. His surprising appearance in ]Mercy Bay on the 6th April, and the many happy results of his gallant mission of relief, have already been treated. On the 19th his party was seen returning to winter quarters. " Aboutfive p.m., "writes M'Dougall, "aparty of men were despatched to assist in bringing in the sledges, and most of the officers walked out to meet Domville, Avho was recognised through a telescope somewhat in advance of the main body. As we grasped his hands (which, as well as his face, were as black as the ace of spades), his words, ' The Investi- gator is found, and JNI'Clure is close behind,' overpowered us with surprise, and the poor fellow was overwhelmed with a thousand questions ere time was allowed to answer one. Hurrying on with some of my brother officers, I had the pleasure of adding my welcome and congratulations to Captain m: "INVESTIGA TORS " RESCUED. 0():j M'Cluro and Mr Court (second master). The latter had been an old school- fellow and afterwards a messmate of mine in Il.iSI.S. ' Eanger.' This was our first meeting after a lapse of eleven years. Poor fellow ! a few words sufHccd to inform us of the miserable state from which we had rescued them, and their hearts overflowed with grat" ado towards those who (by the bless- ing of the Almighty), had been chosen as the instruments of His never-failing mercy. Our feelings on this occasion were those of heartfelt thankfulness that our labour had not been in vain, and each member of our little com- munity must have felt bis heart glow Avith honest pride to reflect that ho formed one of the little band whose undertakings in the cause of humanity had been crowned with such signal success. About six p.m. we had the before-mentioned officers and seven men on board. Although eager to learn all the news, close questioning was voiy properly postponed until their appetites had been quite satisfied." Thus do the incidents of Arctic life — in which man constantly lives face to fiice with death, and in which there is a constant inter-dependence between fellow navigators for help, comfort, life itself— evolve and nurture the noblest feelings of which human nature is capable. '1 004 THE FRANKLIN SEAIiCJI-~\H-o<)-b\. \ CHAPTER II. PItlXCE PATRICK ISLAND — ADRIFT IN THE PACK- LANG SYXE. -AN ARCTIC FEAST — AULD In the early summer of 18i33 the exploration of all the regions to the north and west of the winter quarters at Dealy Island was vigorously carried out, and the fi-cqucnt arrival and departure of travelling parties kept the shijjs in a constant state of commotion, and provided abundant topics for ex'ited discussion among the "licsolutes " and their new allies, the " Investigators." Cai)tain Kcllett, who had uoav many more mouths to feed than ho had ori- ginally bargained for, resolved to detach a party of fourteen men, and send them to Bccchey I.sland, to the abundantly-provisioned depot ship, the " North Star." By this party, Avhich set out on tin; 7th j\Iay, under Lieu- tenants Crcsswell and Wynniatt, and Mr Roche, mate, he sent despatches to Sir Edward Belcher with the gi-eat news of the rescue of the " Investi- gators," and the discovery of the North-West Passage. Roche returned to Dealy Island Avith a dog-sledge within six weeks, the distance he had travelled within that time being not less than 600 miles. On the 18tli ]\I. de Bray, who had been commissioned a few days previously to remove a depot from Point Nias to Point Fisher, returned very unexpectedly with his party. One of his men had suddenly died. " It appears," says jNI'Dougall, " they were near the termination of their day's work, and were pushing on to encamp on the land distant about three miles, when John Coombes (stoker to the ' Intrepid "), Avho a minute before had stepped out from the drag ropes, was heard to cry out, in a tone of anguish, ' Help ! help!' The whole party ran to his assistance, but on reaching him they found life quite extinct." De Bray and his party had returned to Dealy Island to bury their unfortunate comrade. During this season Commander M'Clintock (" Intrepid ") and Lieutenants ]\[echam and Hamilton (" Resolute ") made extensive and remarkable excur- sions from winter quarters, and succeeded in thoroughly examining Melville Island and all the land that lay to the north and north-Avest of it. Mecham started early in the season, Avith seven men and tAVO summer sledges ; Avent f PllIXCE PATRICK ISLAM). 005 Houth to Winter Ilarlxiur, and thcnco crossed over tlic laud to Liddon Gulf, on tli(! shores of wliich ho found coal. Here, on tlio 10th April, the whole party, with the exception of the t)Hicer in advance and other two men, who were appointed to lead the sledges, were struck with snow-blindness. They were accordingly blindfolded, and, in staggering across the tloe, under the guidance of the only men still i-etaining the use of their eyes, they pluckily l)ersevered in drag', ing their heavy burdens. On their arrival at Capo Smyth (the limit of known land), their journey became one of discovery. At this point, however, the party rested for two days, to recruit the men, "whoso legs wore swollen to an alarming extent." Lieutenant Mecham employed these two days in scouring the country for game. His description of the musk-oxen of this quarter, and of their tactics under attack, is inter- esting : " During our stay I proceeded to the northward — overland — towards the land of Hardy Bay (on the south-west coast of the island). The land rises to an elevation of about 800 feet above the sea, and nearly all the hills are of remarkable table shape. ]\Iusk-oxen were here in very great numbers. (Jn one plain I observed so many as seventy, grazing within a circuit of two miles. On my approach they divided into herds of about llfteen each, headed by two or three enormous bulls. Their manoiuvres Avere so quick and regular that they were to be compared to squadrons of cavalry more than anything I could think of. One herd advanced several times at a gallop, within I'ifle shot, and formed in perfect line, with bulls in advance, showing a formidable front of horns. The last time they advanced at a gallop to about sixty yards, and formed in line, the bulls at the same time snorting and tearing xip the snow. Immediately I fired they wheeled round, joined the main herd, and made off out of sight, onlii ivaithhj ocxasionalhj for the v'ounded one," wdiich succeeded in escaping. Before he returned to camp, however, Mecham brought down a deer, which, together with a fine bull shot by the men during his absence, enabled these Arctic pioneers to have "a good time." The party pushed westward to Capo Eussell, the soutli-west extremity of INIelville Island, from which a line of hitherto unknown land extended aAvay to the north-west. Crossing over the fi-ozen sea in the direction of this unknoAvn region, Mecham arrived at a considera1)le island (Eglinton), west of Melville Island, on the 2d JNIay. Thence pushing still westward, ho discovered extensive land, to which ho gave the name of Prince Patrick Island, and on the shores of which he arrived on the 0th ISIay. Travelling along the south and west coasts of this island to Cape Manning, the dis- coverer came upon several pieces of decayed wood, partly buried in the sandy soil, at a point ninety feet above sea-level. From the appearance and position of this wood, ]\Iccham was " induced to believe it had grown in the country." The extreme south-west point of the island (lat. 77° 6' N,, long. ■■|i v] <^ //, 7 r^^ ^fj^ °> > o / ^^ -i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I Mi Vi. 1^ 1^ 2.0 1^ ■ 40 1.25 1.8 U 11,6 Photographic Sdences Corporation A {./ m ,\ iV \ \ lV ^ -* 6^ » <^^ >^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ 600 THE FRANKLIN ^AVI/^C//— 1850-54. h I Ll 120° 50' \V.), was named Land's End. From this point no land to the west- ward was observed ; and from the nature of the pack which JNIecham terms " tremendous," it may be inferred, that if land does exist to the westward, it is at some considerable distance from Prince Patrick Island. Provisions running short, the gallant lieutenant resolved to retrace his steps, and, to avoid the circuitous coast route, ho decided upon striking boldly across the island in a southerly direction. After crossing a dreary plain, the party found themselves in a country broken up by winding ravines. " In one of these," says M'Dougall, " a tree protruding some ten feet from a bank was discovered : it proved to be four feet in circumference. In the neigh- bourhood, several others were seen, all of them, be it remarked, of the same description as that found on Cape Manning. A second tree measured four feet in the round, and thirty feet in length, and a third two feet ten inches round. Several pieces of these were sawn off as specimens and firewood. In appearance, Mr Dean, our carpenter, declares it resembles larch, but in weight it bore a stronger resemblance to lignum vitw, or iron-wood. . , . The position of this decayed forest was, by supposition, about 400 feet above the level of the sea." Soon afterwards Mecham, to his great disappointment, found cairns containing records left by Commander M'Clintock, who had in the meantime explored most of this district. There Avas nothing now to do but to march straight for Dcaly Island, where the party arrived on the 6tli July, after an absence of ninety-four days, during which they had explored 11G8 miles ; the daily rate of travelling being 12| miles. After handsomely acknowledging the able assistance of Mr Nares, and the admirable conduct of the men. Lieutenant Mecham concludes the report of his journey with the following remarks: "I beg to state that, besides the absence of traces (of Franklin's expedition) being a negative proof that the missing crews have not visited any part of the land discovered during this jovirney, I have further to add, that the character and appearance of the pack driven against the land, and in every direction to seaward, thoroughly convinces mo of the impossibility of penetrating with ships to the southward and westward, against such tremendous impediments." Before the beginning of August (1853), water had been making alongside the " Resolute," and Captain Kellett, having received the results of his sledge parties, and having become convinced that nothing further could be gained by searching in a vorth-west direction, resolved to set sail for Beechey Island as soon as the ice should break up. Early in August the ice outside Bridport Inlet, in which the " Resolute " and " Intrepid " were confined, was in motion ; and on the 18th, a gale blowing from the land broke up the ice in all direc- tions, and freed the ships. There was now a prospect of a splendid run east- Avard, for no ice was seen ahead. On the following day the pack was seen from the crow's-nest extending right across the ship's path. " Within twenty- ADRIFT IN THE PACK. GOT four hours," writes Osborn, " the ships were brought up by the pack of Byam Martin Island, and for many a day they lay under the extreme i)oint of Melville Island, watching for an opening to dash across to Bathurst Land, knowing well that once under its lee northerly gales would inevitably make land water (an open passage running along the southern "hores of the ditlcrcnt islands), and enable them to accomplish another run for Bcechey Island, Hay after day passed ; the drifting pack in Byam ^Martin Channel continued in a most unpromising state, whilst winter was fast advancing, with snow, darkness, and newly-formed ice. Happily this part of IMclville Island, like every other part of the southern shores of that favoured land, was found to bo abounding in game, especially musk-oxen. Such a godsend, under the circumstances, was eagerly seized by Captain Kellett, who naturally felt most anxious to save and carry the crew of the 'Investigator' in health and strength to England. All available guns and men were sent to secure fresh meat, and such was their success that about 10,000 lbs. weight of game was eventually secured, and, being soon frozen, was easily preserved for the coni- int; winter. At one time the meat was festooned round the riyirinfj of the 'llesoluto' and 'Intrepid* until they reseinblod butchers' stalls far more than British discovery ships. At last, driven to risk anything rather than remain where they were for another winter, the vessels attempted to force a way through the pack, but on the 9th of September both the ships became permanently imbedded in the newly-formed ice, and a north-west gale forcing down the pack upon them, they became fairly beset, and obliged to go whither it and Providence listed. It was another disappointment to tho gallant crew of the 'Investigator.' They met it with resignation, and a feeling of thankfulness that they were at any rate some 300 miles nearer home, and that in such well found ships they Avould assuredly be carried in safety through their fourth winter. Indeed, no pains were spared by the officers and crew of tho ' Itesolutc ' and ' Intrepid ' to grant every comfort to their passengers, and to distract their thoughts from those corroding anxieties, which, perhaps more than all else, predispose to scurvy. For two months tho perils encountered by tho drifting ships were very great. Their safety at last appeared to be occasioned l)y tho body of heavy ico formed by constant pressure against the unyielding ships, the strength of which set at dehance the rest of the surrounding pack. At one time, with northerly winds, they feared being set down to the southward ; and if there had been a good outlet for the ice between Lieutenant Osborn's and Lieu- tenant Wynniatt's farthest points in 1851, it was within tho bounds of probability that next season (1854) would have found tho ' Resolute ' and ' Intrepid ' in some awkward position between Prince of Wales and Princo Albert Lands. This fear was put an end to when they found that tho pack only drifted for a short time to the southward, as if to fill up tightly the 608 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— \S:yO-'oA. I i» f li great space called Melville Sound, and then it and the ships drifted steadily away to the eastward, recovering in some measure the southing that had been made, until the pack, doubtless checked by the islands which lay across its path towards Barrow Strait, became stationary ; and right glad was Captain Kellett to find that after the 12th of November his good ship was at rest, and had then reached a point about duo east of Winter Har- bour, in long. 101° W. — an admirable position for an early escape in the ensuing season." On the 20th September the top-gallant sails had been sent down, and the usual jireparations for wintering commenced. October set in with strong breezes and a very heavy fall of snow. During this month snow pillars were erected at intervals between the vessels (which were about 400 yards apa t), to guide the men passing from ship to ship in foggy Aveather. This range of pillars, many of which ■were cleverly sculptured by the sailors into the strangest specimens of grotesque statuary, did not always quite answer as a sufficient guide from ship to ship. On the last night of the year two men from the " Intrepid " came in on boai'd the " Eesolute," covered with drift, to inquire whether any one had seen their shipmate Hartnell. No one had seen the missing man, but a line of telegraph having been erected across the ice to the " Intrepid," Lieutenant Hamilton " wired " a message to the tender, inquiring whether Hartnell had come on board. This was the first occasion on which the telegraph was turned to practical use; and gi'eat was the satisfaction, in the interests of both science and humanity, when the clear, easily-read answer " Yes " was wired back to the "Kesolute." It appears that Hartnell had left the "Intrepid" with the intention of crossing over to the companion ship, but after passing the first guide-post, or pillar rather, he lost sight of his own vessel, became confused, and was brought up "allstanding." He dared not move lest he should wander away in the wrong direction. What was he to do ? He hit it at last. He knew he could not be more than fifty yards from the ship, so with great good sense he shouted at the top of his voice, "A man lost ! a man lost I" After shouting himself hoarse, he sat down on the lee side of a snow pillar, and philosophically aAvaited the event. Ho soon saw blurred lights coining through the fog, and immediately after he was on his way back to his ship, in charge of a number of his messmates. He was called the " lost man " ever after. At midnight on the 14th " poor Sainsbury," as he is always called by Armstrong, Osborn, and M'Dougall, died. He was buried, Jis has already been stated, on the 16th. The men were kept amused up to Christmas by theatricals, concerts, lectures, and classes for navigation, etc. Mr (now Captain) Nares read a paper on winds in general, descriptive of the cause and directions of land and sea breezes. "His description of the trade winds," writes M'Dougall, "was lucid and interesting, and must have con- AULD LAXG SYNE, 009 A'cyed no little amount of informaticn to those of his hearers who could follow him." On Christmas Day the officers met the men of both ships in cordial companionship ; and the last day of the year 18,>:J was also celebrated with a modest festival. It is appetising to glance at the list of toothsome good things that composed the bill of fare of the "Arctics" on this occasion. Kindly, garrulous M'Dougall supplies us with details of this feast, the fragi'ancc of which, loosened from its imprisonment in the frozen atmosphere by some genial gale, floats down to us now, to stimulate our olfactories after all the.se years. " We all met at an excellent repast at four p. si.," says the master of the " Resolute." " First came ox-tail and hare soups, then pre- served salmon ; this Avas followed by a leg of venison, ditto of musk veal, roast ptarmigan, musk-beef pie, and ham, with vegetables, in the shape of mashed turnips, gi*een peas, parsnips, and preserved potatoes. The second course was composed of a plum-pudding, mince pies (real I), and numerous tarts and tartlets, the whole decorated with miniature flags, made in England for the purpose. Cheese, of course, followed, and an ample dessert of almonds and raisins, of gingerbread nuts, wine biscuit.s, French olives, and, though last, not least, a noble plum-cake, which would have been excellent had it not been for the numerous geological specimens (!) creating a some- what mipleasant surprise on coming in contact with the teeth. With the aid of beer, champagne, port, and sherry, to assist the flow of soul, the dinner passed off" admirably. The celebrated Arctic band being in attend- ance, played popular and appropriate airs, after the removal of the cloth, when, with full hearts and glasses, we drank, 'Absent friends ! God bless them!" Songs, sentiments, recitations, etc., were kept up on the lower deck till midnight, and then, at twelve, the slow, sonorous peal of the " llesolute's " great bell rung the old year out and the new year in. The band now struck up, as a parting strain, "Auld Lang Syne," that favourite all the world over at those sacred times when men recall faces from which the great ocean and the greater has separated them. i : ^ 12 4ii GIO THE FRANKLIN ii'^ARC/I—18oO-54. CHAPTER III. mfx'iiam's extraokdixary ournev— intelligence of the "enterprise" — SIR EDWARD BELCHER's MOVEMENTS ABANDONMENT OF ALL SHIPS ORDERED— THE LAST OF THE ARCTIC SQUADRON— THE COUUT-MARTIAL— THE "resolute" FOUND AND RESTORED. Early in 1854 two men iliod— Ilood, a marine, on the 2d January, and AVilkic, tlie ice-quartermastcr of the "Intrepid," on tlio 2d of February. Deatli resulted in botli cases from disease of the heart. Both had served witliin the Arctic seas under Sir James Eoss and Captain Austin, so that tliis Avas their third Polar expedition, and both were remarkable for their strength and powers of endurance. M'Dougall thinks it probable that the laborious nature of Arctic travelling may have accelerated death in both cases. It is certain, at all events, that heart-disease is the cause of by ftir the greater numbers of deaths that take place on Arctic ships, although it has been proved that the number of casualties in those regions is not greater —is on an average less— than occurs in II.^NL ships stationed in lower lati- tudes. On the 1st Fel)ruary Captain Kellett ordered Lieutenant Hamilton to hold himself in readiness to conduct a travelling party to Beechey Island early in March ; and on the 4th of that month the party, consisting of Ham- ilton, Koche, Mr Court, late of the " Investigator " abandoned during tho summer of 1853, with nine men, nine dogs, and two runner sledges, set out on their journey. On the 8d April Lieutenant Mecham and Mr Krabbd left the shi]), the former to visit the Princess Royal Islands in Prince of Wales Strait, the latter to travel to ]\Iercy Bay and report upon the condi- tion of the "Investigator." Krabbd's report on the abandoned ship has already been given, and it is only necessary now briefly to mention the main incidents and results of jMecham's journey. This most energetic ofFicer set out with Mr Krabbd on the 3d April, and reached Dealy Island on the 12th, from the dep6t of which they pro- visioned their sledges. They then passed on to Winter Harbour, and thence shaped their course for Cape Kussell, the north-east extremity of Banks Land, at the north entrance to Prince of Wales Strait. On the 25ih they INTELLIGENCE OF THE "ENTERPULSE:' 611 k encamped off a low point at the entrance to an inlet, ■which llioy supposed to bo Cape IJusselJ, and on which they dc-i)(»,sitcd eleven days' provisions. Hero the two oflicers jiarted, Mr Krabbc ^oing off in the direction of Mercy ]>ay. For three days Mechani contiiuied to explore the inlet; but on the 2Hth he became convinced it was not the strait he sought. He accordingly ordered half-rations for the party, turned back, took up his depof, and travelling westward, reached I'rince of Wales Strait in two Journeys. I'ro- cecding down the strait ho arrived at the Princess Koyal Islands, and at the cairn erected there ho was .surprised and delighted to find a document stating that II.M.S. "Enterprise" (Captain CoUinson), the companicm ship to the "Investigator," had passed up the narrow passage to Point Peel, had returned, and, after coasting along the west slK)rc of the strait, had wintered in 18i")l-52 in lat. 71° 3o N., long. 117° 40' W. The record further st.ited that further information would bo found on an islet about eighty miles farther west. On the 0th ^lecham reached the islet referred to, and dig- ging around the cairn which he discovered there, he found the information of which he was in search. The records he dug up stated that parties from the "Enterprise" had visited Point Ilearne on ISIelvillo Island, and had examined the north and south shores of Prince Albert Land, and that the vessel left the islet on the :i!7th August lHi')'2 to explore a channel supposed to exist between that land and Wollaston. From this point Mecham resolved to return at once to the "Pcsoluto" with his intelligence. Ho arrived at the Princess Koyal Islands on the 13th INIay, provisioned his sledge there, and deposited records. Proceeding north he also deposited records at Cape llussell, and thence set out across Alelville Sound tcnvard Dealy Lsland. For ten miles around Cape Kussell last year's ice extended vnht'okcti. Dealy Island was reached on the 27th, and here iNlecham found orders to proceed at once to IJcechey Island. On the 12th June he arrived at the " North Star," where ho received a kindly welcome from all hands. In concluding his letter of i)roceedings, jNIechani writes : " Allow me to bring before your notice the most excellent behaviour of the men. Circum- stances have obliged us frequently to travel upon reduced rations, but throughout I have never heard a murnuu' ; and they have evinced such zeal and spirits in the performance of their work, that in spite of the tedium connected M'ith travelling they have vohmtarily performed distances which, luuler ordinary circumstances, I would not have ordered." On this remark- able journey, over wide reaches of frozen ocean, Lieutenant Mecham was away seventy days, during which he walked 1330 miles, the average rate being the extraordinarily high one of nineteen miles daily for ten weeks. We unccremoniou.sly left the " Ilesolute " slowly drifting eastward in the pack, and we now return to her. It will bo remembered that j\[echam and Krabbci had left the ship on the 3d April. On the 10th of the same month 012 THE Fli. I Xk'L TN SEA RCir—\^-M-iA. I.icutonant Ilaswoll, IMr Paino, clerk in charf^o, INlessrs Newton and Ford, and nineteen men, all late of the " Investi^'ator," left the " Kcsoluto " for Beeehey Island Mith two sledi^es and fifteen days' provisions. On the folloAving morning a second detachment, consisting of Lieutenant Pim, Dr Arm- strong, jMr Kennedy, and seventeen men, left the ship for the same destina- tion. Commander Kichards, who had arrived on the 6th witli a party from the " Assistance " (Sir Edward Belcher), and who had brought letters and papers for the " Kesolutes," left with his men on the 13th, and was followed by Connnander APClintock, who took with him despatches for Sir Edward Belcher. Captain M'Clurc, with his assistant-surgeon, Mr Piers ; his inter- preter, Mr Mierdiing, and seventeen of the crew of the " Investigator," started for the " North Star " on foot on the 14th April. In due time these different detachments arrived at Beechey Island, and took up their quarters on board the dep6t ship. On the 28th April Commander ^PClintock, having visited the " Assist- ance," returned on board the "Resolute." It will be remembered that tho last we saw of the " Assistance " and its tender, the " Pioneer," was "when they bore away westward from Beechey Island toward Wei'' i Channel. Sir Edw ~rd Belcher succeeded in carrying his vessels up - iglon and Queen '^ '. ! mnels to Northumberland Sound (lat. 76° 52" N.), ou the west side of Gr.', . ii Peninsula. If(; succeeded in penetrating beyond the northern entrance to Queen's Channel, which he proved to open out upon tho Polar Sea on the north, and between which and Jones Sound a wide strait (Belcher Channel), studded with islands, communicated. In the summer of 1 853, before Captain Kellett had been able to extricate his ships from their Avintcr quarters. Sir EdAvard left the northern entrance to Queen's Channel, and hurried back towards Beechey Island. In the following passage from his " Discovery of a North-West Passage," Captain Osborn endeavours to account for this precipitate movement. He says : " The return sledge parties of Commanders Kichards and Osborn from Melville Island had told Captain Belcher of the position of the ' Investigator ' and the accomplishment of a North-West Passage. To intercept tho ' Resolute ' or ' Intrepid ' if they touched at Beechey Island, appeared to be the object of Sir Edward Belcher. No time was therefore to bo lost in opening a communication with Beechey Island ; and so important was this deemed, that farther search was aban- doned, and one sledge party was left to securo a retreat as best it could, after a long and trying journey." This statement will be best illustrated by glancing for a moment at the operations carried on in the extreme north of Queen's Channel by Belcher in the summer and autumn of 1853. In 1852 tho leader of the expedition had succeeded in carrying the "Assistance" and "Pioneer" through Wellington and Queen's Channels, and securing them in winter quarters off the west coast ,4>^< ll ' I ■i hSKlMG SNiJW lillU: u AlJKliKA BlJkiAIJS srn I- D WARD liELcnrii's Mnv/:.y/:\TS i^od. om of OiiniK'll T.and. Aa snon as .sl('(lj,'in ou THE F RANK LI y SEARCH— \So()-:A. Bcllot seems to liave f.illcn through some crack in the ice, and to have perished suddenly and silently. A sentence or two from lielchcr's somewhat rambling, disconnected account of this melancholy event, is all that Ave can jiresent to readers on this subject: "The fate of Bellot — admired by all, the untiring supporter of Kennedy, a volunteer again with Commanner Tnglefield, and the intrepid adventurer in this case to carry our despatches even up to Cape Hogarth — cut off, not by any immediate disaster common to his crew, nor even in their sight, but had slipped doAvn between the hummocks and was no more seen I a most mysterious, incomprehensible death. ... It appears from the very incoherent statements of the men ■who accompanied Lieutenant Bellot, that near Capo Grinnell the ice exhibited a heavy crack, opening rapidly, and they were engaged conveying the contents of the sledge to the shore by means of Ilalkett's boat, when, liaving secured all but the sledge, the ice drif!^cd off. Lieutenant Bellot desiring them ' to let go the line.' Two men, William Johnson and David Hook, were then with Lieutenant Bellot on the detached piece of ice. Johnson gives a most incoherent tale — loses sight suddenly of Lieutenant Bellot, and supposes him to be droAvned between the ojiening of the floe — sees hi stick, and shouts out for him byname. . . . On the other hand, the evidence of the boatswain's mate differs widely : he was on shore, not included in the catastrophe, which might have affected the minds of the two blown off; he was therefore in a better position to see, to judge, and to roport truly, and dates and facts confirm his evidence. By his account he watched for them (the two men) six hours ; ho then travels to Cape Bowden, for which I will allow six hours more, and then suddenly finds them advancing on land and almost within hail ! Now it must bo remembered that the misfortune occurrel on the evening of the 18th August, about eight r.M. by ]\Ions. Bellot's watch, and yet on the night of the 19th the party had reas- sembled, aftor a pretty fair land travel. . . . But what appears still nore incomprehensible to my mind is, two of the most distressed of the |,;" -v were left behind by their comi)anions to die, starve, or for what pur- ;^ :,' IS not indicated, and these reach the " North Star " on the 21st, where ilifir statement is taken." ? despatches brought from Beechey Island contained no further in- telligence of the operations o' the western division of the expedition. On the 13th October, however. Commander PuUen paid a second visit to the " Assistance," and in the course of discussion with this ofhcer, Sir Edward Belcher came to the conclusion that in the spring of 1854 it Avould be his duty to order the abandonment not only of the " Investigator," but of the " Ecsolute," the " Intrepid," the " Assistance," and the " Pioneer " as well. Accordingly he wrote to Captain Kcllett to that effect on the 1st February. In this somewhat extraordinary despatch, and in a semi-official letter which i' AnAXDOXMEXT OF ALL SHIPS OnDERED. 61,') accompanied it, the fuUowiiig passages occur : "We are not now left to our own feelings, our zeal, or our jud pnent, and we know not what may be the orders which will arrive in July or August ; but I can foresee them, and it becomes my duty to meet them in the same spirit. Taking into consideration, therefore, that similar orders will be given respecting the next steamer, she cannot be retained beyond the 1st September. Whatever powers may bo left to me to await your extrication, I must send home every soul who is useless here. . . . Having so ftir explained myself, I will not hamper you with any further instructions than, meet me at Beeclmi Uland, with the crews of all vessels, he/ore the 2^th of Aiojiist." In the semi-oftiicial letter Belcher says: " I foresee their lordships' rext instructions, and under this conviction have sent you orders to ahandon.' Commander Eichards proceeded in the spring from the " Assistance " to the "Resolute," with these orders. Osborn states that Kellett and his officers "were all amazed when, in the following early spring, formal arrangements were made for the abandonment of all of II.jSI. ships within the Arctic regions in 18o-4. Totally ignorant of such a proceeding being the intention of the senior officer, the resources of the ' llesolute ' and ' Intrepid ' had been so carefully and judiciously husbanded, that with a reduced crew in each ship, they were still ready to meet the chance of not escaping in ISui, and this was the more creditable to Captains Kellett and Al'Clintock, as they had had to victual the additional men and officers from the * Investi- gator,' and had left an ample depot of provisions and clothing in INIelvillo Island, for the use of Collinson, should fate lead him there. ... In the meantime Captain Eichards, who was despatched in weather so severe as to endanger the lives of all his party, reached Captain Kellett with a ' confiden- tial ' letter from Sir Edward Belcher. That 'confidential ' letter is of course now a public document, and a very remarkable one too. It contains this para- graph, which is here copied verbatim: 'Should Captain Collinson fortunately reach you, you will pursue the same course, and not under any consideration risk the detention of another season.' . . . Captain Kellett determined not to adopt any such course upon a ' confidential ' letter, and immediately he despatched Captain M'Clintock to Sir Edward Belcher, to point out the perfect feasibility of saving his ships — to assure him of the provisions and stores, as well as the health of a sufficient number of oflicers and men, being such as would enable him to meet the possible contingency of another winter, rather than abandon II.jM. ships, when they lay in the very best position for an escape, directly the ice broke up in Barrow Strait; and finally, to point to Sir Edward Belcher, that he was strongly against the desertion of so many fine ships. But the representations of Captain Kellett were unavailing. Captain Belcher sent Captain M'Clintock back with an order for the abandonment of the 'Ecsolute' and the 'Intrepid;' and the crew of « I 61G THE FRANKLIN S£AIiC/I~18o(i-5i. the ' Investigator,' who had lived through such trials and hardships for four winters, stared to see all hands gradually retreating upon Beechey Island, ready to return to England." Keverting once more to the quarter-deck of the " Eesolute," which wo left for a time to follow the fortunes of Sir Edward Belcher in Wellington Channel, wc find that it was on the 28th April that Commander M'Clintock retiu'ned from his ii'uitlcss mission to the "Assistance." "He brought decided orders," writes ^I'Dougall, "to abandon the shijjs." Two days after, Captain Ivellett informed the assembled officers and men that it was his intention to proceed to Beechey Island with the whole crew, as soon as the various necessary arrangements Avere comj)leted. These arrangements were proceeded with at once. It was quite possible that after being abandoned, the " Resolute " would require to be re-occupied either by its own or by some other crew, and in view of this contingency, everything was put away and secured ; the boats were hoisted in, the booms stowed, cables coiled, the rudder taken on board, and every movable article either packed away below, or securely lashed on deck On Friday the 6th May, Messrs Roche, Nares, and Johnson, with seven- teen men with two sledges and eight days' provisions, left for Beechey Island. Dr Domville and IVI. de Bray, with nine men, went away on the 8th. "At length," writes M'Dougall, " the sun rose on the morning of the last day we were to spend on board our old ship, endeared to us all by many bygone associations. Without affecting any absurd sentimentality, it may easily be imagined we all experienced feelings of regret as the time approached when we were to abandon the staunch old craft to her fate and almost certain destruc- tion in the ice. There were a thousand and one things we could have desired to save, such as souvenirs fi'om those Ave loved and respected, had our Aveights (the Aveight of luggage allowed Avas forty-five pounds for officers) per- mitted ; forty-five is, hoAvever, too low a figure to indulge in luxuries. With a sigh, therefore, wo were obliged to set aside the ornamental, and choose something moi'e useful, but less romantic, in the shape of shirts, flannels, drawers, etc. All Avas hurry and bustle in concluding the necessary arrange- ments. The pilot-jack (letter D) Avas hoisted at the fore-topmast head, and the red ensign and pendant displayed, that in the event of her being obliged to ' knock under ' to her icy antagonist, she might sink beneath the wave as many a gallant predecessor had done, Avitli colours flying. . . . Shortly after the men's dinner, the sledges Avere packed, averaging 21 j5 lbs. per man. Whilst the carpenters Avere employed caulking doAvn the gun-room, skylight, and after-companion, the only means of descending to the loAver deck Avas by the main-hat "Jnvay, and only half of that Avas open. The captain dined Avith us in the darkened gun-room, andjfter supper at five p.m. the carpenter Avith his cvcAV prepared to close the main-hatch\\'ay. At 0.15 I'.m., Caj>tain THE LAST OF THE ARCTIC SQUADRON. G17 f Kcllctt inspected tlin lower deck, liolds, etc., and after drinking a glass of wine to the old ' Kosolnte ' and her crew, the lower deck was cleared for tho last time, and the main-hatchway secnred. At seven p.m. precisely the four sledges, commanded by Captain Kfllett, Commander >l'Clintock, ALr Ivocho (mate), and myself, moved on in the direction of Cape Cocklmrn — Itoche, being the jnnior oflicer, leading, whilst the captain bronght np the rear as in funeral order. We numbered in all forty-two souls, viz., eleven oflicers and thirty-one men. . . . After advancing about a (piarter of a mile, the crews of the various .sledges halted simultaneously, unharnessed, and gave three hearty cheers for the ' liesolute ' and ' Intrepid ; ' but though the ice is a good conductor of sound, we heard no response." On the 28th the western division arrived at the "North Star." Meantime the crews of the " Assistance " and " Pioneer " were on their way toward the same destination. Captain Belcher defends his action in thus ordering the abandonment of four vessels admirably appointed, ami)ly supplied with stt)res, and the crews of which were still in fair health (they had only yet spent tAvo winters among the ice), by the following train of re- flections : " Our mission was not directed to the discovery of new lands, or of the North- West Passage. It was simply to search for traces of our miss- ing countrymen on reasonable and reliable sources ; not to push, for selfish ends, on lines of coast where no reasonable hope could exist or seemed to promise ; nor, by a desire of making a show on paper of extended discovery, to undermine the constitutions of my men, Avho might yet be doomed to en- dure another winter in this trying desolate region." It lias been already stated that in thus abandoning Ins ships when the search for I'ranklin (al- ready completed along the shores of the continent of America, along both coasts of Baflin's Bay, along Lancaster Somnl, and throughout all the regions to the north and west of Beechey Tsland) had only now to 1)0 prosecuted in tho circumscribed region between Boothia Peninsula and King William's Land, was believed by tho majority of Belcher's officers to have been a mis- take. But tho orders had now gone forth, and the result nuist bo left with the Lords of the Admiralty. Early on the 'ITyih. August tho olficers and men of the " Assistance " and " Pioneer " were nnistered in travelling order on the ice. " The decks," writes Belcher, " had been cleanly swept, the cabins l)ut in order, and the ship fully inspected. . . . The colours, pendant, and jack, were so secured that they might be deemed ' nailed to the mast,' and the last tapping of the caulker's mallet at my companion-hatch found an echo on many a heart, as if we had encoifined some cherished object. Ac- companied by Commander Kichards, we silently passed over tho side ; no cheers, indeed no sounds, escaped ; our hearts were too full ! Turning our backs upon our ships, wo pursued our cheerless route over the floe, leaving behind our home, and seeking, for aught we knew, merely the change to tho 12 4 1 i 01 R THE FRANKLIN SEARCII-\^-M)-U. ilei)6t at Bocchcy Island." On the 2()tli August tlio crows of the " ^Vssist- ance," " Kosolute," and " Investigator," were embarked together on board the " North Star." At noon on the 2(5tli " a steamer off the point " Avas announced, and there Avas a rusli of all hands to sec the stranger vessel. Two dark, shapeless masses were seen off C"a})e Kiley, which afterwards turned out to be tlio transport ships " Phaniix " (Captain Inglcficld), and " Talbot " (Captain Jen- kins). Arrangements Avere now entered into for the equal distribution of the various crcAvs between the " North Star," " rh(x.'nix," and " Talbot." At one P.M. on the 27th August 1854, the little squadron slipped from the ice, and, in tow of the " I'hcenix," jn'oceeded to the eastward. On the 9th September Lievely was visited, and after passing Cape FarcAvell a few days later, the " North Star " jmrted company from her consorts, and did not come up Avith them again mitil the arrival of the Avhole squadron in England in the first Aveek of October. On the 18th, 19th, and 20th October a court-martial AA'as held on the officers in command of the abandoned ships. The case of the " Investiga- tor " Avas first proceeded Avith. Captain M'Clure justified his leaving the ship on the ground that he had the Avritten orders of his superior officer, Captain Kellett, for so doing. These Avritten orders Avere produced, and the trial, Avhich Avas merely formal, came to an end by the court declaring that Cap- tain M'Clure and the officers and creAv of the " Investigator " deserved the highest commendation for their exertions, and that each and all Avere fully acqui<^ted. In restoring his SAVord to Captain M'Clure, Admiral Gordon, president of the court, addressed him in these terms : " The court are of opinion that your conduct throughout your arduous exertions has been most meritorious and praiseworthy." Captain Henry Kellett Avas then tried for abandoning H.M.S. " Resolute." In this case the defence AA^as the same as in the preceding. Captain Kellett pleaded the Avritten orders of his superior, Sir E. Belcher, CB., commanding him to abandon the " Eesolute," and her steam tender, the " Intrepid." These orders having been produced, the court acquitted the captain, his officers, and crcAv ; and in restoring Captain Kellett's sAvord, the president expressed "much satisfaction in returning a SAVord Avhich the OAvner had Avorn Avith so much credit, satisfaction, and advantage to his country." When Sir EdAvard Belcher Avas asked Avhy he liad abandoned the four ships of the Arctic squadron, he read a long defence, Avith selections from his special instructions from the Admiralty, and his interpretation of these. The reading of this defence being over, the court remained closed for an hour and a half, after Avhich the foUoAving verdict Avas gken : " The coui t is of opinion that, from the great confidence reposed in Captain Sir EdAvard Belcher by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the amjle discre- THE "liESOLUTF/' FOUND AND RESTORED. 619 tionary powers given to him, he was authorised, and did not act bc)'ond his orders in abandoning H.M.S. ' Assistance,' and her tender, ' Pioneer ; ' or in directing the abandonment of H.M.S, ' Eesolute,' and her tender, ' Intrepid,' altliough, if cu'cumstances had permitted, it would have been advisable that he should have consulted with Captain Kellett previously ; and the court doth adjudge the said Captain Sir Edward Belcher to be acquitted, and ho is hereby acquitted accordingly," He was exonerated, however, under an implied rebuke, and the president, in returning him his sword, had no word of com- mendation for the acquitted officer. " The solemn silence," says Sherard Osborn, " with which the venerable president of the court-martial returned him his sword, with a bare acquittal, best conveyed the painful feelings which wrung the hearts of all professional men upon that occasion ; and all felt that there was no hope of the mystery of Franklin's fate being cleared up in our time, except by some unexpected miracle," It now only remains to say a few words respecting the abandoned vessels, and especially the strange fortunes that befell Captain Kcllctt's " Resolute." Of the " Investigator," we have heard the last in the report of Mr Krabbd, who visited her in Mercy Bay during the summer of 1854, Of the " Assis- tance " and the two steam vessels, the " Pioneer " and " Intrepid," nothing has been heard, the theory concerning them being that they were crushed in the ice. The " Resolute," however, was destined to revisit British waters. On the 10th September 1855, a whaling barque, the "George Henry" (Captain James Buddington), was cruising in the pack off Cape Mercy, near the mouth of Cumberland Sound, in the south of Davis Strait, when a stranger ship came in sight on the north-east, and in latitude about 07°. Bud- dington, ascending the rigging, and examining her with Lis glass, pronounced her to be an abandoned vessel. She turned out to be H.M.S. " Resolute," that had drifted from the midst of the pack in which she was beset, a dis- tance cf eleven hundred miles, through Lancaster Sound, and down Baffin's Bay, Buddington, with eleven men, took possession of the vessel, and sail- ing southward, steered her into the United States harbour of New London. While detained in harbour, the British consul having informed the Home Government of the finding of the vessel, received instructions from England to the effect that Her Majesty abandoned all right to the vessel in favour of the gallant Captain Buddington, by whose skill and ceaseless exertion she had been brought into port. No sooner was the resolution of the British Government made known, than the Congress of the United States, in the handsomest and most graceful manner, voted the sum of 40,000 dollars for the purchase of the vessel from Buddington. The " Resolute " was then removed into one of the Uniteii States Navy yards, and thoroughly repaired and refitted for service. She was placed under the command of Captain Hartsteiu of the United States Navy, and on the 13th November 1855 she if i 620 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— ISoO-U. left New York for England. She reached Spithead on the 12th December. A few (lays afterwards she was inspected by Her Majesty, Prince Albeit, the I'rince of Wales, the I'rincess Koyal, and the Princess Alice. The royal party and suite were received at the gangway by Captain Ilartstein, his otlicers, and a number of distinguished visitors. After these had been for- mally presented, the captain, addressing Her ]\Iajesty, said : " Allow me to welcome your Majesty on board the ' Resolute,' and, in obedience to the will of my countrymen and of the President of the United States, to restore her to you, not only as an evidence of a friendly feeling to your sovereignty, but as a token of love, admiration, and respect to your jNIajesty personally." This gallant address having been graciously received and acknowledged, Her JNIajesty went over the ship, in which she seemed deeply interested. The " Kesolute " was afterwards taken to Portsmouth, and anchored abreast of the King's Stairs, in order to be formally handed over to the representatives of the British Admiralty. On Tuesday, 30th December, Captain George Seymour of the " Victory," accompanied by a party of officers and seamen, went on board the " llesolute," from the peak of which the American and British colours hung side by side. As the dockyard clock struck one, the flag-ship " Victory " hoisted the United States " stars and stripes " at her main, which she saluted with twenty-one guns. Whilst the salute was being fired. Captain Hartstein ordered the American colours to be hauled down on board the " llesolute," at whose peak the British ensign now floated alone, Avhilst at her main truck an English pendant was displayed. The salute being ended, and the change of colours eftected, the American crew manned the rigging, and gave three hearty cheers in acknowledgment of the salute, and thus the old " llesolute " became again one of II. M. ships. , i \ I CA PTA ry COL I LYSoy \s J 'o VA r. e. 021 CHAPTER IV. CAPTAIN COLLINSONS VOYAGE IN THE "ENTERPRISE. Captain Collinson, of whose " safety " Lieutenant ]\recham, of tlie " Reso- lute," brought the welcome intelligence to Becchey Island, as Ave have seen in the last chapter, will be remembered as the senior otticer in command of the Behring Strait Expedition of 1850-54, consisting of the " Enterprise " and " Investigator." The adventures of the " Investigators " we have already traced through all their varying fortunes until their rescue by Lieutenant Pirn, their transference suc' iessively , t the " Kesolute " and the " North Star," a";.:' their arrival in England at the close of September 1854:. But what of Captain Collinson and the " Enterprise 1 " It is important to know something of this voyage, for its termination marks the close of the " Frank- lin Search," so far as the British Government were concerned. Collinson, of all English naval officers engaged in the search f(jr Franklin, was the last to abandon that seaich, and leave the Polar seas clear, if not of British ships, at least of British crews. As wo have already said (p. 540), the " Enterprise " and " Investigator " left the Thames, for Jiehring Strait, on the 10th January 1850. Early in February, however, the vessels parted company, and they continued sailing apart until they met in Magellan Strait on the 17th April. But these sister ships seem to have been ill-matched, for, after this long separation, they were only two days together when they again parted company, never again to meet. What became of the "Investigator," and how her captain dis- covered, though he was denied the triumph of navigating, a North-West Passage, we have already seen. And now a few sentences only about the voyage of the " Enterprise," by way of conclusion to the " Franklin Search," as conducted by Her Majesty's Government, After parting company with the " Investigator," the " Enterprise " stretched away north-west across the Pacific, and after a long passage of sixty-six days, reached the Sandwich Islands. Thence, continuing on a !i1 w I &22 TIIH FliAXKLIN SEARCH— XS-^^S-'A. nortlnvard course, CoUinson passed through Behring Strait, and coasting round the north-west angle of North America, arrived ott' Point Barrow on tlie 2lst August. Here progress Avas barred on the east by the pack ; but, with the view of reaching the I'ohir basni, CoUinson bore away north, and reached lat. 73" '23'. At this point ho was again stopped by ice. It was now the end of August, and without further delay, finding there was no hope of the ice breaking away that season, the captain returned to the south, and eventu- ally reached Hong-Kong, where ho wintered. In the spring of the following year he again steered for Bcin-ing Strait, passed through in July, and reached Point Tangent on the lilst of that month. Proceeding eastward along the north coast of America, the captain crossed the mouth of the Mackenzie Kiver in midsummer, and reached Cape Bathurst on the 26th August, and Cai)e Parry the same afternoon. Up to this point CoUinson had been fol- lowing in the track of IM'Clure. From Cape Parry land was seen away to the north, the same land that M'Clure had discovered. CoUinson made for this latul, saw Nelson Head, and soon found himself at the south entrance to a passage, which was no other than Prince of Wales Strait, in which the " Investigator " had passed the previous winter. Pushing into the channel CoUinson came upon traces of the " Investigator," learned that M'Clure had wintered here, and that the opening communicated on the north with Melville Sound. He saild on northward, and beheld the North- West Passage, in the discovery of which, however, M'Clure had anticipated hirii. From this point CoUinson resolved to return down the strait, and sail round the south and west coast of Banks Laud, until he should find a suitable harbour for the winter. This, it will be remembered, was precisely the course followed by his predecessor M'Clure. Following out his intention, CoUinson sailed along the south coast, and then northward along the west coast of Banks Land. Arrived at Point Kellett, he learned, from records deposited there by M'Clure, that the " Investigator " had only left Prince of Wales Strait thirteen days before the " Enterprise " entered it. Not finding a sufficiently sheltered bay in which to winter on the west or south coast of Banks Land, CoUinson retraced his steps until he arrived at Walker Bay, on the east side of the south entrance to Prince of Wales Strait, and there he spent the winter of 1851-52. During the winter " two of our travelling parties," writes CoUinson, " passed through the Prince of Wales Strait. One sledge followed the north coast of Albert Land, which I was desirous to examine, in order to judge whether a route in that direc- tion was practicable for the ship. The other pa'ty crossed over to Mekille Island; but having, from the rough condition of the ice, left the tent and sledge behind, they did not reach so far as Winter Harbour. They landed on Cape Providence twenty days after Captain M'Clure had left it, and saw his slediie tracks. . . . And thus, although we had passed within sixty \ MIGRATORY TRini] OF ESKIMOS. 02 )fi mllos of tlic 'Invc.sti<^'atf)r' nnd had fallen upon the traces of her exploring parties, wo .again missed the opportunity of eonununication." Getting free from his winter (quarters in Walker Bay on the otli August, CoUinson entered the deep inlet between what was known as Prince ^Vlbert Land on the north and Wollaston Land on the south, lie was disappointed in finding this indentation closed all round by land. He then sailed south-east through Dolphin and L^nion Strait, "and," continues the captain, "after a hazardous navigation among rocks and shoals, embarrassed by the dilliculty of not knowii . how to steer during the darkness and the fogs, wo reached Cambridge Bay on the 26tli September, and were frozen in on the 3()th." Cambridge Bay is an indentation on the north shore of Dease Strait. On arriving in Cambridge Bay to spend the second winter in these regions, Collinson at once established friendly intercourse with the natives of the neighbourhood. These Eskimos had never been in communication Avith white men before, and were at first timid and diffident. As they belonged to a tribe differing in many respects from the natives of the extreme east and west, the following description of them by Captain Collin- son will be read with interest : " They belong to the central tribe of Eskimos, wearing the same costume and speaking a similar dialect to the Igloolik and Boothia Isthmus people ; and, unlike the Greenland and Behring Strait tribes, who perform almost all their migrations by sea, these people travel over the land and ice with sledges. The journey to Victoria Land is performed previously to the breaking up of the ice in the summer, and having no oomiaks, and but one or two kayacks, their com- munication with the continent is cut off until the straits are bridged over by the frost ; they then assemble between Cape Colborne and the Finlayson Islands, which is the great crossing place for the reindeer, and after they have obtained as many as possible, pick up their caches of fish and venison, and return to the continent for the winter. They frequently visited us, bringing children of all ages, even upon the coldest days, but we only could induce them once to remain all night, when they enjoyed the dancing and singing upon the lower deck, and went to rest perfectly satisfied. Unfor- tunately, the following morning was the usual one for the weekly inspection of the men under arms ; and after breakfast, when the ship's company began to take down their muskets and cutlasses, they became alarmec', and crept away before Ave were aware of it. Otherwise they were upon very good terms, becoming latterly expert in picking up whatever they could lay their hands upon, and occasioning the necessity of a vigilant look-out. " In addition to their performing their annual migration on land instead of by water, they differ from the other tribes by inhabiting snow houses during the winter, and have therefore no fixed place of abode, all their i m Hi ■■•1 > ' i 024 Tin: rn.iSKLix sr.i/fcff- isoO'y^. iiocc'ssai'ios heinjij carried upon slcilj^oa. The house is built in tlio course of two or tliroe hours, and all trace of it disai>i)cars in the ensuiuj,' sunir Very few iron implements were found amonj,' thorn, the most warlike ,; n spear-shaped knife made of native copper, while their arroM-s are /ped with the same, or made of bone and Hint. On one occasion they were induced to show thei/ skill by shooting; from the forecastle at the mast-head vane, and struck it frequently. They seldom cook their food, the frost apparently acting as a substitute for tiro. IMscuit and sugar the chlldrcu latterly acquired a taste for, but salt appeared alway.s an abomination. "They do not use driftwood or grass for fiiel, but content themselves ■with the stone lamp, fed by seals' blubber, which ennrbles them to thaw the snow for a drink. Spirits and tobacco they have as yet no notion of; and, unlike their brethren on the east and Avest, arc free from vermin on their persons, A distance of several years was always observed to intervene in the ages of the children of the same family, which must be occasioned, I pre- sume, by the difliculty of supporting them. All the drudgery falls ujjou the Avomen : even the bovs would transfer their loads to their sisters. Bears' claws, deer's teeth, and bills of birds are hung about their coats ; the mother frequently pointing with pride to those evidences of success in their children. The limited moans of communication which wo possessed prevented our a.scertaining whether any form of religion exi.stod. One man of the tribe lived by himself in a tent, and appeared to l)e regarded as the angekftk (priest). The drosses, with exception of those of the young girls and children, wdio use bear-skin, were made almost entirely of reindeer .skins, sewed together with sinew by copper needles. Some of the men were tall and well made, the distinguishing features being a broad face, s(|uare fore- head, and flat nose, hair coarse and black, no whiskers, and but little on the upper lip and chin. The women are generally low of stature, and di.s- figiu'ed on the cheek by tattooing. Among those seen the preceding year were a few with aquiline noses and a Jcwi.sh cast of countenance, forming a curious contrast with the remainder of the tribe. The tiibes appear to bo separated from each other by a neutral j, ound, across which small jiarties venture in the summer for barter. The limit of those people westerly appears to bo the Dolphin and Union Strait, beyond which the costume alters ; the oomiak and the labret appear, showing an immediate connection with the Behring Strait tribe. They do not, however, extend all the way to Point Barrow, but terminate at Herschel Island, whence, in the summer, trading parties resort to Barter Island, where they meet not only the Point Barrow people, but also the Eat Indians, who descend from the Hudson's Bay Company's post, Fort Yucon, and barter muskets, powder, beads, and knives, for furs." An attempt was made in the spring of 1853 to penetrate northward by I ^ % COXCLUSION OF THE LAST SEARCH VOYAGE. G25 s1(m1<,'C3 to the farthest point roacliod by Sir James Tioss in 1H49. The explor- ing party were stopped at an islet in lat. 70 :i.'> N., IVoni wliicli no land ■was seen t() tlio nurtliward, and where the ice beeaine inipractieal»le for sledj-e.s. Collinson and his crew remained imprisoiud till "JOtli Anj^ust, when the ice snddenly disiijjpcared, pa>ssin>,' away eastward, ami leaving,' Dcase Stiait free. At this period Collinson wonld have endeavonn-d to force his way northward into JJarrow Strait I»y I'eel's Sonnd, " bnt," he writes, " it was found that, from some error at Woolwich, we were eighteen tons of coal short. I had, therefore, no alternative but to make tin; best of my way to a coast where driftwood should bo found. lie accordingly sailed south-west to the mouth of Coppermine IJiver, whence he ellectcMl his escape westward through ])olphin and L'nion .Strait. Thence he pushed Avest along the coast, pa.st Cape JJathurst and Ilersehcl Island, until he reached Camden liay, in whicli the "Enterprise" spent the third winter in the ice. The ■winter passed without noteworthy incident. Toward the close of -July tht; ice broke up, and Collinson was enabled to pursue his way westward. " On the 8th August," writes the captain, " we reached l*oint IJarrow, and made all sail to the southward. On the 11th we fell in with live American whale- ships, and re-opened our connnunication witl the civilised vorld after an interval of 1126 days." The "Enterprise" di<. not reach England till May Gth, 18.')5. The principal results of this voyage were the discovery of Prince Albert Sound, and the demonstrating that the Arctic shores of the North American continent are navigable in ordinary years. The latter fact, first shown to bo probable by the successful voyage of Captain IJeechey round the north- west coasts of the Arctic Sea, the American whaling fleet have continued from year to year to turn to great advantage. Thus terminates the last of the Arctic voyage undertaken by the British Government. We have now to narrate the story of the discovery of the fate of Franklin, as given in the successive expeditions of iJr John Itae and James Anderson of the Iludsou's Bay Company, and of Captain ISi'CIiutock of Her Majesty's Navy. U \'2 4ic \i PART XII. THE FATE OF FUANKLIN ASCERTAINED. CHAPTER I. Di: KAK's AlTOItlOCHAl'IIV — A IILXTINO ADVKNTUIIK— HOAT-nUILDIXG UNDKR DIKKiril/riKS -fOA-ST OF WOLLASTON LA:,'D EXPLOUED — COAST OF VlCTOltlA LAM> EXPLOHED. A I'EW weeks after the return of Captain IJelchcr and his tlisappointcd and discomfited ollicers and crews, all Europe and America were profoundly affected by the intelli^'ence that the fi'^o of Sir John Franklin's party had at last been ascertained. ]Cn^lishmen had not been satisfied with tho achievements of Sir Edward Belcher, who had abandoned tho search for the missing expedition inunediatcly after it had been clearly demonstrated that the " Erebus" and "Terror," or at least relics of these good ships, von/d lie found within a certain well-dermed and strictly circumscribed area to tho west of Boothia I'eninsula. 'J'he whole of the known Polar world between Bafiin's Bay and ]j(!hring Strait had been searched, crccpt this limited area, and it seemed unaccountable that the commander of four distinct crews, all amply provisioned, and each ca^jable of undertaking tho thorough examina- tion of thousands of miles of coast line in a single season, should^ at the moment when the course of events at last pointed out the one district now left unsearchcd, have ordered the total and tho final abandonment of tho enterprise which had emjiloyed tho best efforts of tho Navy for ten years, and which now seemed so near a happy attainment. For the abandonment of the Fi-anklin search was indeed final. Tho expedition had boon lost for nine years, and it was tho opinion of many of those best qualified to judge, that no colony of Europeans, dependent on their own exertions exclusively, could support life for so long a time in a region so rigorous in climate and so barren in productions. It was understood, therefore, that tho Lorda Commissioners of the Admiralty had agreed to consider tiie further prosecution of the search as hopeless. Probably the outbreak of -J tho Ciiincan War in isr»4 liad soinotliin^' to do with tlieir apparent unan- imity on this point. However this may ho, it was now evident to tlio friends and relatives of our missin;; eountrymen, that in any future measures that mif^ht ]hi unfh'rtakcu with tin; view of eh'arinj,' up the inserutahh' and most painful mysteiy, the (lovernment were not likely to take part. Ihit just at this time, when many iMiglislimen wcie icluctantly niakinj; n\) their nn'nds to rest content in innoraneo of the fate of the j^reat Aretic expedition of l.S4r), the most starllin;^' intelli^'eneo reached us — intelli^'eneo that reopened tin; wound in the national heart which time was l»(\i;inniii,<,' to heal. It suddenly became known, late? in autunm Is.')!, that l)r John IJae, ehief factor in the employment of the Hudson's ]>ay Company, and one of the most intrepid of Jhitish exi)lorers, Ivil discovered and l)rouj,'ht homo iid'cn-mation and relies which were conclusive as to tho unspeakahly mourn- ful fate of at least one-third of Franklin's ollicers and men. This bold and successful explorer, certainly the most successful of all Arctic travellers eni^'aged in the Fianklin search — with [)erhaps the excep- tion of M'CIintock, wlio only followed up the path which Ifae jiointed out, though ho arrived at more important results than the; original discoverer — has had a singularly adventurous, useful, and interesting career. With tho exception of one modest volume, in which he records the results of his expedition from Kepulso IJay across Kao Istlunus, and along the southern shores of Boothia Gulf (sec p. iJiMi), Dr Kae may be said to have published nothing. Yet there are few modern travellers whose boat and sledge {vchievemcnts, apart from his famous expedition of is,');]-,")!, in which ho ascertained tho fato of Franklin and his comi)anions, and found many important relics of the party, arc more worthy of pultlic attenticju. Fortun- ately the i)resent writer has been enabled to place before readers the first published narrative of the career and principal exploits of this ex})]orer, from original notes, journals, etc., kindly supplied by Dr liae himself for tho purposes of the present work. Tho Orkney Islands, a small group off tho northern land's end of Scot- land, has sent out a greater number of hardy and capable navigatoi's to tho Arctic seas than any other district of equal area in tho British dominion.s. On one of these John Kao was born, at about tl e time when the great victory of Waterloo brought a long period of confusion and alarm to a close, and enabled men once more to turn their attention in security toward the pursuits of peace. Before the ago of boyhood had passed, he was studying medicine at Edinburgh University; but in tho meantime he had already received an education of another sort on tho coasts and amid the barren moors and hills of the stormy Orkneys. " I there acrpiired as perfect a knowledge of boating," writes IJao, " as could bo obtained by ct)nstant prac- tice; because to my brothers and myself our boat was our chief plaything. B! ; i f'l If H I !■ G28 T//E FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. In it wc used to put to sea in all weathers, the stormier the better, and wo stayed out as long as it was possible to remain at sea in any small undecked craft. Our father had given us a beautiful, fast-sailing boat, of about eighteen feet, that could beat anything of her t;izc in that part of the world. We got the boat and also her small tender for fishing, on condition that we kept them in good order ; and this we did very effectually, as we took great pride in having every rope and all her four sails in perfect trim. We lived opposite the stormy ' Hoymouth,' and were exposed to constant gales from the west, which brought very heavy Avaves direct from the Atlantic ; so we had abun- dant opportunities of learning boatmanship under the most trying of situations — fighting against heavy seas and strong currents running at from six to eight miles an hour. I mention this experience only because it stood me in good stead afterwards, in my Arctic work. I also learned to shoot as soon as I was old enough to lift a gun to my shoulder." llae passed as surgeon in Edinburgh in 1833, before ho was twenty years of age, which seems to show that the splendid physical training of his youth interfered in no way with the duo cultivation of his mind. In the same year (1833), he went out as surgeon on board one of the Hudson's Bay Company's ships. " On the way home," he continues, in his na'ite, unassuming, down- right fashion, "we were stopped by an impenetrable barrier of ice in Hud- son Strait. At that time the Company presented a homis to every captain who brought his ship home to England, and, stimulated by the expectation of this gratuity, our chief officer exerted every effort to force a passage. All in vain, however. We Avere obliged to turn back. Ncav ice Avas now form- ing all round us, and so much of it clung to the forepart of the vessel (it Avas •^bout tAvo feet thick on the forecastle), that the extra Aveight brought her doAvn three feet by the head. " We Avent to an island called Charlton, in James Bay — covered Avith snoAV Avhcn Ave readied it — and found some old houses, Avhich we repaired for Avin- ter (quarters. The ship Avas laid on shore under shelter of a point, and the cargo taken out and placed under a tent extemporised from the s-'iils. Wc had scarcely any fresh meat Avith us, and little lime juice or vegetcdjles ; so it Avasnot surprising that scurvy attacked the party. Of the scA^nteen persons attacked, tAvo died before the spring, and some of the others Avere in a very dangerous condition, Avlicn, fortunately the spring sun cleared the snoAV off' the ground, and avo found abundance of cranberries (a famous anti-scorl)utic). The sick men Avere taken out during the Avarm part of the day, and left to eat as many 1)erries as thej Avished. These, Avith some soup, made at a later date from the bud of the vetch, restored the health of the invalids Avithout almost any other anti-scorbutic; for the small quantity of fresh meat obtained did not amount to over a few days' rations per man. INly first sur- vey Avork Avas to examine the Avhole shore of our island in a bark canoe, as A IIUNTIXG ADVEXTURE. 629 soon as the ico cleared away a little. This work occupied us — I had two sailors with me — three days. " Thinkinj,^ from what I saw that I should like the wild sort of life to bo found in the Hudson's Bay Company's service, I accepted the appointment of surgeon at jNIoose Factory, the former medical man being aliout to resign his situation. It was at this place, on the south-w. st shore of James Bay — the southern arm of Hudson's Bay — that I learned all the different modes of hunting, fishing, sledgedr.uling, snow.slioe-walking, and camping out, both in winter and summer, spring and autumn, that were afterwards so useful to me in my Arctic expeditions. " Some of my adventures on my hunting excursions were curious enough, and occasionally dangerous. One night I and a young friend were encamped on a low flat island some miles out to sea, at the mouth of the river. What I have dignified by the name of encampment was the small birch-built canoe turned up to windward, a bit of oil-cloth imder us to keep us out of the mud, a couple of blankets as bedding, and a fold of the oil-cloth over us to keep off the rain. The night was a pitch-dark one, when a gale of wind came on from seaward, which brought the tide upon us. Wo quickly righted the canoe, and bundled our things into her. But where to go was the question ! To attempt to reach the main shore, if we had even known exactly where it was, would have been futile, as we would have been filled in a moment among the rough waves roaring not far from us. On a neigh- bouring flat island, separated from that we Avere on by a very narrow channel not more than one hundred yards wide, there was a small ' clump ' of willows six or seven feet high. To reach this clump, about a mile off, was our only chance of safety ; and I gradually pushed the canoe as the tide rose higher and higher, across from our island, in the direction, as I thought, of this willow haven. It Avas so dark that I could not see the bow of our own canoe, but by narrowly watching the effect of the rising water, I kept a fairly good course. After about an hour of this work, all at once I could not touch bottom with my paddle, and felt the canoe was in a current running like a mill stream. This I knew was the channel between the two islands, but was I right for the willows which only occupied some fifty square yards ? We paddled vigorously across, and I have had few more pleasurable sensations than when I felt — I couM not see them— the bow of the canoe scrape against some branche:?, and \\ . were safe. The canoe was pushed in some way among the l)ushes and fastened, stern to windward, imder their lee. A snowstorm came on, and continued all night; a roaring sea was raging within fifteen yards of us ; and my dear companion— now, alas, dead and gone — not being so habituated as myself to this work, shook so with cold that the tremor was communicated to our canoe, and his teeth chat- tered so as to be quite audible. The tide rose until only a foot and a half : III n i\ 1 ; 1 1 i ij '9 li nra 1; Y 031) 77//; FATE OF FllANKLIN ASCERTAINED. W i of our willows remained above water ; and by the morning's light a number of inches of snow had fallen. The tide at last fell enough to allow me to walk about, and after making my friend as comfortable as I could, I com- menced shooting snow goesc which were crowding about the land just left exposed. Having killed a number I went back to the canoe, but could scarcely find my companion, the snow having fallen so thick as to cover him up. Fortunately a piece of wood had got entangled among the willows. This was cut up for a fire, and a cup of tea made us comfortable. All this time I may mention that I was very wet, having no waterproof coat on, but I had no impression of being particularly uncomfortable. " It came on so bitterly cold, that for fear of injury to my companion I paddled some nine miles against ay, and he had always within reach one or more Avhalcrs upon which he coulil have retreated if necessary. My nearest aid was six hundred or eight hundred miles off." The expedition which Dr llae here alludes to has already been described. It need only be added here that the amount of money spent by the British Government 'ti the three expeditions of Parry, Lyon, and Back, all of which failed in carrying out the proposed survey, could not have been less than £100,000. Having successfully concluded the expedition of 184G-47, and examined and surveyed tlie southern shores of JJootliia CJulf, from Parry's farthest ({•'my and Hecla Strait) on the east side, round to liosa's farthest (Victoria J.-Iarbour) on the west side, Kae returned to England in the autumn of 1847. I nOAT-BUILDIXG UNDER DIFFTCULTIES. r,:ii '\'\ I At that time Sir John Kichardson was preparing to set out on an expedition along the shores of the I'ohir Sea, in search of liis friend and f^)rnier com- rade, Franklin ; " and," says l»ae, " he asked nie to accompany him. This offer was very complimentary, for Sir John had received hundreds of applica- tions from men in almost all ranks and stations to be allowed to go with him as second. After due consideration, 1 accepted the offer, and went with the boats from the Mackenzie, along the coast to the Coppermine, near Avhich the ice blocked the way, and we had to abandon the boats before we reached the river (see jiage 40S). Again in 1849 (see page 480) I visited the Arctic Sea via the Coppermine, but the ice was so closely packed in the direction I was told to take, that we could make no headway; and on retui-n- ing to the Coppermine, and attenuating to ascend it, our boat, owing to the mismanagement of the steersman, was lost, and our excellent Eskimo interpreter drowned. After this I remained one winter in charge of the jMackenzie Iviver district ; and in 1850 was again employed on Arctic service." In the spring of 1850, whilst Rae was the officer in charge of the largo ]\lackenzie lliver district for the Hudson's Bay Company, he received a des- l)atch from the Governor of the Company, Sir George Simpson, informing him that Her INIajesty's Government had asked for the " loan of his services " to command a boat expedition, to follow up the search for Franklin. The intimation expressed high appreciation of Dr Rae's abilities as an cxjilorer, and left him in every respect untrammelled. lie was to select Avhatevcr route he thought most promising, and was to conduct the enterprise in eveiy way as he thought best. " I had no other instructions of any kind," says Eae ; " but I was placed in a most difficult position, because a boat voyage, under a naval officer (Commander Pullen), had already searched the Arctic shores fi'om Point Barrow to the Mackenzie ; and the same officer was this season (1850) to examine the coast eastward from the INIackenzio. The only line of route left, the examination of which was still unprovided for, was that lying eastward from the Coppermine, but wo had no small boats such as were absolutely requisite for this route, and to build them at Fort Chipcwyan, where Simpson's had been built, or even at Fort Simpson, would have pre- vented us getting to the coast earlier than 1852. Simpson has said in his very excellent narrative that there was no wood at the north-east end of Bear Lake fit to build boats of. Notwithstanding this, I determined to make the attempt. "We went in the autumn of 1850, with tAvo large boats, very scantily supplied with provisions, to Fort Confidence, and immediately commenced operatiinis. After a careful search, a clump of moderately good trees was found, which the carpenter thought could be cut into plaidvs suitable for boats. A sufficient number of these were cut down, and boated to the fort Hi h' 1 ilil : 1 T , 632 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. 'i: ill a wonderfully short space of time, for wc had to hurry forward, as the winter might come on any day, and shut up navigation, A difllculty, however, occurred ; our carpenter, a very good one, coidd build the large river boats very well, because he had models to go by, but he had never seen boats such as I required. I therefore had to draft thcni, so that the width, shape, etc., of every plank could be measured before being put on the framework. In this way two very fine little boats of about 'I'l feet keel and 7 feet beam were constructed under great dilliculties ; for, as will be evident, the wood had no time to season. But it will be seen by what follows, they did their work admirably. Another difiiculty was the making of the sails. These, after I had cut them out, were sewn by some of my people, Ijut roped chiefly by myself in all important parts ; the rigging being all fitted and spliced with my own hands. " We spent a very cold winter, frequently on reduced rations, for the Indians could not bring us as much food as wc required, and the quantity Ave had brought with us was, as I have already said, very small ; yet we had enough to keep us in good health, although with no veg(!tables of any kind, very little flour and tea, and no nun, which I have never used on Arctic service, believing its use to be most prejudicial." Rae's search expedition of 1851 consisted of a rapid but cft'ective sledge journey from Great Bear Lake to "Wollaston Land in the spring, and a summer exploring excursion along the south and east coast of Victoria Land in boats. In order to maintain the continuity of our narrative, it will be ncces'^ary briefly to summarise the reports of these journeys, and to note their inter- esting results. Sledge Expedition, 1851.— Dr Rae left Fort Confidence on the 25lIi April, arrived at Provision Station on Kendall Iviver on the 27th, and thence made his actual start for the shore on the 80th, with two men and two sledges drawn by dogs. A fatigue party of three men and two dogs accompanied him to within ten miles of the coast, and he was thus enabled to take for- ward depots of provisions for tlie retr'-n journey. On the 2d May ho reached IJichardson Bay, about five miles west of the mouth of the Copper- mine. Having resolved to travel by night, to avoid the sun-glare, IJao started with his two companions at ten p.m. on the 2d. Travelling along over the ice in an east-north-east direction, and passing Point Lockyer and Cape Krusenstern, ho crossed the frozen Dolphin and Union Strait, and arrived on Douglas Island at three a.m. on the iith. Starting again the next evening, he walked across the narrow strait l)ctwccn Douglas Island and Wollaston Land. He v/as now on entirely new ground, and, turning east- ward, he marched along, examining the shore, which was found in the main uninteresting, and affording no traces of having ever been visited by Euro- peans. " Wc built snow-huts every night when cold enough to require them," COAST OF WOLL ASTON LA XI) EXPWIUll). f.:tys IJac, " and all our bcddiiij,', for three persons, amounted to aliout 1.") or 10 llts., consistinjf of one blanket and a half, and three narrow stii[)s of hairy deerskin to lie upon. The heat of our bodies did not thaw the snow." On the 7th the snow-hut was erected in lat. (58 01', \o\\y^. Ill ;iu' W., luuler a steep bank, surmounted by some whitish limestone and reddish-l)rown sand- stone in situ. In all his explorations, llae has always wonderful luck with the riiie, and at this spot he shot no less than ten hares during' the interval between taking the observations for time and latitude. " These line animals were very large and tame," he writes, "and several more might have been killed, as well as many partridges, had I thought it expedient to follow them." Pushing on eastward, Rae discovered and named the Eichardson Islands and Welbank Bay. As he travelled onward on the night of the 0th, the land continued low, and had an easterly trending. The thermometer showed a temperature of 22° below zero, as some protection against which the .shelter of the snow-hut was more than r, iually acceptable. On this night one of the men was somewhat deeply frost-bitten in the face, and liae found that taking a set of lunar distances was rather chilly work. "I have generally found, indeed," he remarks, alluding to the degree of cold experienced on the night of the 9tli May, "that a temperature which in winter would be pleasant, is in the latter part of spring almost insupportably cold. The latitude of our position was 68° 37' 48" by observation ; longitude, by account, 110 2'." From this spot the farthest point of land bore east-south-east, l)ut Kae did not think it necessary to advance farther eastward along this coast, 1)e- cause his survey and that of Dease and Simpson met at this point ; and had he gone on farther east, he would have been going over ground already dis- covered and roughly surveyed. The object of Rae's search along the south coast of WoUaston Land was to seek for some strait that, leading noithwai'd, might afford a passage in the direction of the region in which it was believed by many the " Erebus " and " Terror " were to be found. No such strait was found eastward from the meridian of Douglas Island to long. 110 2', beyond which, in an easterly direction, the land had been examined by Dease and Sim[)- son to Cambridge Bay. It would thereft)re be unavailing to travel on towaril the east in search of a northward running strait. Besides, Kae had only a few more days to spare. His two boats were to be ready for him by the middle of June, and it was expected that he should start on his boat expedition not later than the middle of the month. His time was therefore strictly limited. " There were noM'^," he says, " two courses open to me — the one, to strike overland to the north, in search of the sea-cuast ; the other, to relurn along the coast and travel westward, in hopes that some of the spaces of Wollastoii Land, left blank in the charts, might prove to be the desired strait. I chose the latter of these courses." The journey westward to Douglas Island, where 12 4l m 0,14 THE FATE OF FRANK UN ASCERTAIN Fl). M • ( ■X: tlicparty arrived at eight A.M. on the \^A\\ ]\ lay, was favourable. Tlieuco ]iao })r()cee(le(l west alone,' the shore of Wollaston Land. Simpson's Bay and the Colville Hills were .successively discovered and named, and on the morn- ing of the li*2d Cape Ilamiltfm, a limestone clitl'at lea.st 170 feet high, was reached. " A couple of miles to seaward," says IJae, " there were thir- teen Eskimo lodges, and we had an amicable interview with the poor harm- less inhabitants, who were rather timid at lirst, but soon gained confidence. It was difllcult to make them understand that no retiu-n was expected for some presents I made them. None of the women showed themselves, but all the men were well and cleanly dressed in deerskin. They were all very fat, having evidently abundance of seals' tiesh and fat, large quantities of which were carefully deposited in sealskin bags under the snow. AVe pur- chased a quantity of this for our dogs, and st)me boots, shoes, and sealskins for our own use. After a most friendiv interchange of signs and words, few of which could be understood on either side, we jjarted." I'ullen Point and Lady Kichardson IJay Avere discovered and named. On the night of the '1'1<\ the coast which had hitherto had a north-west trend bent round toward the north-east. The day's journ(>y ended on the shores of a small bay in lat. 70', and long. 117" 10'. "The period I had allowed for our outward journey having now arrived," writes liae, " I left >ar dogs and one of the men here ; whilst with the other man I travelled half a day's journey farther. At 8.30 on the night of the ^od the night was beautiful ; and as we started with no other encumbrance than a gun, telescope, and compass, we travelled fast over the hard snow and ice. After walking two miles to the north-west we turned a cai)e, which received the name of Baring (in honour of the First Lord of the .Vdnnralty), beyond Avhich the coast took a sudden bend to east by north for eight miles, and then became more northerly for six and a half miles, which was the farthest point reached. . . . Near tlie place from which i turned back the land was fully three hundred feet high, from which objects could be seen at a great distnnce; and some land fifteen or twenty miles off was observed, the most westerly point bearing N. 2.")° W. . . . It is difficidt," continues IJae, " to determine Avhether the water dividing these two shores is a bay or a strait, but from the little information I could oljtain from the Eskimos I suspect it to be the latter." Captain Collinson, in the " Enterprise," how- ever, explored this "dividing water" in the summer of ISo-i, and found it a deep inlet surrounded by land. It now appears on the map as Prince Albert Sound. On the '24th IMay Rae commenced his homeward journey, checking his bearings, distances, observations for latitude, etc., as he proceeded. lie describes all the land from Cai)e Baring on the south sid(i of the entrance to Prince Albert Sound to Cape Lady Franklin, opposite Douglas Island, as if' CO iST OF VICTORIA LAND i:\PLORED. g:i; boiii*,' extremely baiTcn, iind destitute of hei'ba,t,'e sullicient to tempt the deer mij^i'iiting northward from the maiidand to pause in their journey into the interior of Wolhiston Land. On the 2d June he hiid reached (.'ape Hearne ; oti the 4tli lie encamiKid on liichardson IJay ; and on the apimintcd day, the loth June, he arrived at his starting-point, I'rovision Station, Kendall Iviver, "having," he says, "been five days coming from the coast, during some of which Ave were fourteen hours on foot, and continually wading through ice- cold water or wet snow. . . . Our principal food," he continues, " was geese, partridges, and lemmings. The last being very fat and large, were very fine when roasted before the fire or between two stones. These little animals were migrating northward, and Averc so numerous that our dogs, as they trotted on, killed as many as suj-.ported them without any other food." This sledge journey, extending to eleven hundred miles, inchiding the distance from Fort Confidence to Kendall lliver, was the fastest on record — averaging twenty-three miles a day — or, not counting three days on which Eae and his men were compelled to keep inside their snowJuit owing to bad Aveather, twenty-four and a half miles a day. Boat Expedition, 1851. — Exactly three days after Eae's return from traA'elling by sledge along the south shores of Wollaston Land, his boats from Fort Confidence, Avhere they Avcre built, Avere brought to the rendez- A'ous, I'rovision Station, Kendall Iviver, and everything being in readiness, the explorer and his party started on the boat expedition tOAvard the south and east coasts of Victoria Land tAVO days after, namely, on the loth June 1851. Whil'3 descending the Coppermine, AA'hich Avas much sAvoUen, six deer and four musk-oxen Avere shot on the 23d and 24th, and the greater part of their flesh partially dried oA-er a fire for future use. At the close of the month forty salmon and Avhite fish Avere taken in a net at Bloody Fall in fifteen minutes, and at the mouth of the river they killed deer, fish, and geese in abimdance. Throughout the entire voyage game Avere abundant, but as the party Avere plentifully supi)lied Avith provisions, Ivae did not think it Avorth Avhile to folloAV them. Going on the same principle, Ave shall not think it necessary to return to this subject again in the course oi our necessarily brief notice of the boat expedition of 1851 to Victoria Land. Coasting eastAvard from the mouth of the Coppermine along the north shore of America, through a narroAV channel IjetAveen the sea-ice and the beach, Eae rounded Cape BarroAv on the IGth July, reached Cape Flin- ders on the 22d, and Cape Alexander on the 24th. The ice in Dease Strait betAvcen Victoria Land and the American mainland remained un- broken until the 27th, Avhen Kao pushed his Avay across among the loose pieces to the Finlaysou Islands, and thence to the maiidand on the AV(>st side of Cambridge Bay. On the 1st August the party reached Cape Colborne, i; r ^ if '■ if It: til ii ■ r,nr, TJIR FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. tlic most easterly point on this coast examined by Dcasc and Simpson. All the coast of Victoria Land m.vfHVom this point was new; and Kae entered upon the examination and survey of it Avith his usual zest. At Capo Col- borne the shores of Victoria Land arc high and steep, but toward the east they are considerably lower. Anderson, Parker, and Stromness Bays, and JNIacready and Kean Points were successively discovered and named. The coast was found to trend to the north-east. On the 3d August, after making a successful run of one hundred miles without stopping except to cook, tho l)arty reached hit. 69° 12', long. 101° 58'. "On the 4th," says Rae, "tho wind again set in from the north, increasing to a perfect gale ; and although Avc could gain ground pretty fast by plying to windward, our slightly-built craft straineil so much in the heavy seas that frequently washed over us — in fact, one of the boats had a plank split — that we lowered sails on gaining a partial shelter from the land, and after a tough pull of two miles, during which wo were sometimes l)arely able to hold our ground, wc entered a snug cove and secured our boats." Prince Albert Edward Bay was discovered on the 0th, but as there were no evidences that Eskimos had recently visited its shores, and no signs that Europeans had ever been on the coast, Rao pushed on northward without pausing to examine it and reached lat. 69° 42'. At this point north-easterly winds put a stop to all farther progress. " On the 12th," writes llae, " finding that there was little or no prospect of change in the wind, preparations were made for a foot journey of a week's duration to the northward. Leaving, therefore, directions that one of tho boats should f(jllow us along shore if the ice cleared away, I started a short time l)eforc noon, in company with three men ; and as we trusted to killing both deer and geese on our Avay, we carried with us provisions for only four days. ir()i)ing to avoid the sharp and rugged limestone debris with which the coast was lined, we at first kept some miles inland, but with trifling advantage, as the country was intersected with lakes, which obliged us to make long detoui's. Nor was the ground much more favourable for travel- ling than that nearer the beach, being, in fact, as bad as it could be, in proof of which I may mention that in two hours a pair of new moccasins, with thick, undressed buftalo-skin soles, and stout duflFel socks, were completely worn out ; and before the day's journey was half done, every step I took was marked with blood. We gained a direct distance of seventeen miles after a walk of twenty-four hours, and bivouacked near the shore. Although wo had passed a good many fine pieces of driftwood some time before, here wo had some didlculty in collecting enough to boil the kettle. Opposite our resting-place, and not far from shore, was an island some miles in extent, to which I gave tho name of Halkett. Next morning, when we had travelled three miles northward, a large piece of wood was found, very opportunely, about breakfast-time. As the travelling continued as bad as ever, and as RESULTS OF EXPEDITION OF 1851. 637 the whole party were more or loss footsore, I resolved to remain here, to obtain observations, during Avhich time two of my men i)nshed on ten miles to the north, and the other went to kill deer." The results of the observations here were hit. 70 'I , long. 101' '24'. In the evening the two men returneil after their ten miles' walk northward. From their farthe.st point they eould see to a distance northward of seven miles ; and to this farthest land llae gave the name of I'elly I'oint. Here, then, Eae's discoveries in 18.")1 ended, and from this point the return journey connnci;",ed on the following morning, the i:3th August. But it must have been with some little degree of complacency that, standing on the dreary. Hat, and stony shore, he looked around upon coast and frozen strait that had never before been surveyed by civilised man — unless, per- haps, Franklin's crews, or a party belonging to his expedition, had wandered hither, after breaking out from their winter quarters at Beechey Island in 1845-46. Ilis boat expedition along the American shore and the south and east coasts of Victoria Land, was the longest but one — that of Ueaso and Simpson — ever made in this region. " I discovered and named Victoria Channel, down which the Franklin .ships were driven," writes Kae, " and reached, with my boats, coming from the south, a latitude higher than that in which the ' Erelnis ' and ' Terror ' were abandoned. I knew that Victi.ria Strait was not a bay, because the flood-tide came from the north." On the 15th he took possession of his discoveries in the name of her IMajesty. From this date onward the homeward journey was prosecuted prospercnisly. On the '20th a piece of pine wood was found, resembling the butt-end of a small flag-staft". A piece of white rope was fastened to it, in the form of a loop, by two copper tacks. Both the rope and the tacks bore the Government mark, the broad arrow being stamped on the latter, and the former having a red worsted thread running through it. Ilalf-a-mile farther on, a piece of oak, 3 feet 8 inches long, and the one-half of which was squared, was picked up. llae regarded it as a boat's stanchion. Writing in 1851 respecting these pieces of wood, Avhich, Avithout doubt, had been worked with European tools, Kae says : "As there may be some difference of opinion regarding the direction from which those pieces of wood came, it may not be out of place to express here my own opinion on the subject. From the circum- stance of the flood-tide coming from the noHhward, along the east shore of Victoria Land, there can be no doubt that there is a water-channel dividing Victoria Land from North Somerset, and through this clunnel, I believe, these pieces of wood have been carried, along with the immense quantities of ice that a long continuance of northerly and north-easterly winds, aided by the flood-tide, had driven southward." Subsequent dis- coveries proved that these fragments came from the lost Franklin ships. On the morning of the 24th the breeze that had been blowing from south !^f ii li^li I I Ml 11 ii! CHR THE FATE OF F/iAXKLiy ASCERTAINED. I ■ U il I:- cast by cast gradually increased to a gale. Keef after reef was taken in, until the two small boats were scudding under the smallest eanvas. A very heavy sea was running, which broke over, no.v and then, from stem to stern, and bent and twisted the slight-built but fine little craft in every direction. "At last," writes IJae, "the weather became so bad that I was reluctantly obliged to look (nit a harbour. This was dangerous Avork, as we had to run almost among the breakers before it was possible to see whether the i)lacc "we made for would afford a shelter. ]}nt we were fortunate ; and at 9.130 a.m., when eight nu'les north-east of Cape I'eel, wo were snugly moored ir .. small land-U)cked bay, the entrance into M'hich was r t twenty yards wide." Point Koss was reached on the '2St\\, and from this there was an uninter- rupted run to the mouth of the Coppermine. After five days of arduous labour, the boats were dragged up the swollen i ver. On the 5th and (Jth the party ascended the Kendall, and on the afternoon of the 10th they arrived at Fort Confidence, at the eastern extremity of Great Ijcar Lake. The results of the sledge and boat expedition conducted l)y ]{ae in iHol were the discovery and survey of 725 miles of previously unknown coast-lino of the shores of Wollaston and Victoria Lands. For his discoveries in this expedition, the Koyal Geographical Society awarded their highest honour — the founder's gold medal — to Dr Kao. After reaching Bear Lake, liao started with his men to travel to Ked Kiver (now Winnipeg) Fort, one of the stations of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, near the northern froui^ier of T3akota, U.S. Referring to this feat, liae says : " On our homeward journey from Bear Lake to Ked Biver we made a forced march on snow-shoes of more than i;300 miles, chiefly to save the expense to Government of five or six months' wages ft)r the men. From Bed Biver I went to ]\Iinnesota, a distance of 450 miles, which was accom- plished in ten days, at the rate of 50 miles a day — one day being spent under shelter from the weather. In fact, from starting on the 25th April 1851, on our sledge journey to the coast, till the spring of 1852, 1 and my party were continually on the move either over ice, in boats, or on .snow- shoes." The entire distance travelled between the dates named was over 8000 miles. 77//; FATE Ob' FJ{A.\KLL\ ASCKRTALSLIK 0:)9 I '. CHAPTER II. IJAES LAST AltCTIC EXPEDITION — EXTKAORDIXAIIY IXTELLIGEXCE — LIST OF KELICS FOUND BY KAE — WIXTEU AT liEl'ULSE UAY — COXCLL'SIOX. Ix tho summer of 18.33 Dr IJac was appointed by the Ilml.sdu's Bay Company to the command of an expeditum planned and proposed by himself, oi'<^aniscd mainly for geographical purposes, and also, no doubt, for the purpose of forwarding tho interests of the Company, the two objects being in a sense identical. Wo have already seen (p. 300) that ])r IJae was employed by tho Company on a similar expedition in 1840-47. lie was then asked to aid in completing the survey of tho Arctic shores of British North America — the special duty nuulced out for him being to penetrate across tho xmknown land from Kepulso Bay to the southernmost arm of Boothia Gulf; to survey the shores of that gulf northward, so as to connect his discoveries with those of Sir John Boss ; and to ascertain, beyond doul)t, whether any iiavigable passage led Avestward from tho gulf into tho Arctic Sea on the west of Boothia Peninsula. It may bo remembered that he conducted this expedition with great capacity and spirit to a most satisfactory termination, and ascertained that no water- way led west from the gulf into the Arctic Sea to the south of the parallel of about 70° X., down to which point this coast had previously been sur- veyed by Sir John Boss, lie Avas now called upon to continue the v.^ork thus auspiciously begun — liis orders in 1853 being to complete the survey of the west coast of Boothia, as in 1840 they had been to survey the east coast of that great peninsula. Dr Bae's genius is eminently practical, and he goes to his point Avitli- out deviation or delay. His labours were again to commence (as in 1840) at Bepulse Bay. He therefore sailed from ''^e north of Hudson's Bay, north through Boavc's Welcome to Repulse Lay, Avhich he reached on the 14th August 1853. The spot at Avhich he landed Avas about seven miles east of his old Avinter quarters in 1840-47, but on the folloAving day he sailed doAvn to near the old familiar locality at the mouth of North Pole Biver. Mooring his boat here, ho landed and pitched his tents. The Aveather v.'as I. \\\ 040 THE FATE OF FTiASh'LIN ASCERTA/\/J). i' r U •lark and <;lo()niy, "and," says Kac, "tlio surrojinrlinj,' country presented a most dreary aspeet. TIii(!k masses of ice elun^f to the shore, whilst immense drifts of snow filled each ravine and lined every steep bank that had south- erly exposure. No Eskimos were to be seen, nor any recent traces of them. Appearances could not be less promising- for wintering; .safely, yet I deter- mined to remain until the 1st Septendier, by which date sonu^ opinion could be formed as to the practicability of procuring' suflicient food and fuel for our supj)ort durini^ the winter; all the i)r()visions on board at this time being erpial to only three months' consumption. The weather fortunately improved, and not a moment was lost. JN'ots were set, hunters were .sent out to procure venison, and the majority of the party was constantly emi)loyed collecting; fuel. }\y the end of August a supply of the latter essential article {A/nlrdWcdtt fcfntf/otnt) for fourteen Aveeks was laid up; thirteen deer and one nmsk-bull had been shot, and one hundred and thirty- six .salmon caught." This was a fair business-like commencement towards accumulating food and fuel for the winter, and it may be remarked hero that it seems to be a maxim with Dr Itae that a country should always feed its exiilorer. The entire al)senco of Eskimos fnmi their customary haunts in tho neighbourhood caused him considerable anxiety ; not that he expected any aid from them, but because he could only interpret their absence as proof that the locality no longer yiekled a i)lentiful supply of venison, owing most probably to the circumstance that the deer had cca .i to pass this locality in their migrations to and from the north. On the 1st Sei)tembcr it was necessary to decide whether to stay hero or return, and as the Doctor did not wish to conceal from his men tho ri.sk of being frozen in on this apparently desolate and barren sliore, he called them together, informed them of the slender store of provisions hand, and remarked on the unflattering prospect of obtaining sufticieuu sujiplies during the winter months. But the men knew Dr Kac. All of them vohmtecred to remain. " Our preparations for a nine months' winter," writes llao, " were continued with unabated energy. The weather, generally speaking, was ftivourable, and our exertions were so successful, that by the end of the month we had a quantity of provisions and fuel collected adequate to our wants up to the period of the spring migrations of the deer. One hundred and nine deer, one musk-ox (including those killed in August), fifty-three brace of ptarmigan, and one seal, had been shot, and tho nets produced fifty-four salmon. Of larger animals above enumerated, forty-nine deer and the musk-ox were shot by myself, twenty-one deer by IMistegan, the (Indian) deer-huuter, fourteen by another of the men, nine by William Ouligbuck (E.skimo interpreter), and sixteen by the remaining four men." From the above it appears that Rae's party consisted of seven persons besides himself. If' EXTRA OlilJlNA li Y ISTELLWESCK. 641 Duriri"^ Soptcmbor ami ()ct()l)cr tlio party lived in tents ; Imt at tlio eloso of tho hitter month tho eold became very severe, and the snow freezing,' hard, li'ae was abh; to l)nild snow houses, which afloided palatial accommodation anrl comloit compaicd with tin; tents. Few deer were shot durin;;' the winter, and lish were can,i,dit in inconsiderable qnantities. On two occasions, on tho 1st and tho ll\\\ Fcl)ruary, a sinj^ndar phenomenon was witnessed. Jiao describes it as " that bcantifnl but rare appearance of the clouds near the sun, with three frin;i,a\s of pink and ^reen followin<,' tin; outline of X\w cloud." This splendid phenonu-non was (tften seen durinj;' the spring, and was usually followed by a day or two of fine weather. Ifavinii; set up a cari)enter's workshop built of snow, and constructc(l a number of sledges to be used in the spring journeys, Kae set out on the 14th Mai'ch with three men, dragging sledges with jjrovisions to be placed en cache, in advance. The party pushed on as far as Cape I.ady IV'lly, on the west shore of tho oxtremo south of JSoothia (lulf Hero tho provisions were deposited under a heap of huge stones, secure fnmi all marauders except bears and men. From this point IJae retiu'ned, and arrived at l{ei)idse IJay on tho U4th, having walked altogether 170 miles in ten days. On tlu^ Sl.st March tho great .sju'ing journey was commenced, Dr IJae taking with him four men, including tho interpreter ( )uligbuck, and an amount of pro- visions, which, taken together with the cpiantity deposited at Fady Felly ]3ay, would bo suflicient f(jr sixty-five days. The object of the jouiney was to cross Boothia Foninsula from Felly Fay to tho Castor and Follux Fiver, discovered by Simpson, and thcnco to survey tho west coa.st of Foothia northward to Bellot Strait, and thus connect Simpson's discoveries with those of Kennedy and his lieutenant, the gallant Fellot. On tho 0th A\}v'\\ the j^arty arrived at their depot on Capo Fady Felly, from which they took up their provisions. On the lOth they reached Col- ville Bay, on tho west shore of Committee Bay, and in latitude about 68^ N. On tho morning of tho 17th Ilae reached tho shore of Felly Bay, in making a troublesome but unavoidal)lo detour across which three days were spent. Fresh footmarks of an Eskimo and tho track of a sledge were ol)served on tho 20th, and llao sent his interpreter and one companion to look for natives. After an absence of eleven hours the men returned, bringing with them seventeen Eskimos (five of thim women). " They would give us," says llao, " no information on which a'ly reliance could bo placed, and none of them would consent to accompany us for a day or two, although I promised to reward them liberally. Apparently there ivas a great ohjecthn to our travel- ling across the country in a westerly direction.* Finding it Avas their object to puzzle tho interpreter and mislead us, I declined purchasing more than ♦ "I found tlint it vas tlifir favourite hunting ground for musk-oxen, deer, etc., and tLat the natives had caches of ])rovision3 iu that direction." — Dr J. Hae. 13 4 M S'» (512 TUK FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAIYED. t\\ a, piece of seal from thcni, and sent them aAvay." On the 21st the party started westward across the peninsula. They had not proceeded fiir, when they were met by a very intehij^ent Eskimo driving a dog-sledge laden with musk-ox beef. This man readily consented to accompany Kae two days' journey. He explained that the road by which he had come would be the best for the party. Shortly after this the party was joined by another Eskimo, who had heard of white men being in the neighbourhood, and was curious to see them. TTere we must quote somewhat freely from Itae's brief narrative : " This man (the new-comer) was very communicative ; and on putting to him the usual questions as to his having seen ' white men ' before, or any ships or boats, he replied in the negative, but said that a party of 'A'(i/>/oon journey terminated, they pitched tents to rest in. " At a later date the same season, but previous to the disruption of the ice, the corpses of some thirty persons and some graves were discovered on the continent, and five dead bodies on an island near it, about a long day's journey to the north-west of the mouth of a large stream, which can be no other than Back's Great Fish Eiver, as its description and that of the low shore in the nei^'\bourhood of Point Ogle and Montreal Island agree exactly with that of Sir George Back. Some of the bodies were in a tent or tents, others were under the boat, which had been turned over to form a shelter, and some lay scattered about in different directions. Of those seen on the island, it was supposed that one was that of an officer (chief), as ho had a telescope strapped over his shoulders, and his double-barrelled gun LIST OF RELICS FOUND BY Ji.iE. 013 I lay underneath liim. From the mulilaled state of mavii of the bodies, and the conteiits of the kettles, \t is evident that onr wretched countrymen had been given to the hist dread alternative — cannibalism — as a means of sustaining hfe. A few of the imfortunate men must have survived until the arrival of the wild-fowl (say until the end of May), as shots Avoro heard, and fresh bones and feathers of geese were noticed near the scene of the sad event. " There appears to have been an abundant store of ammunition, as the gunpowder was emptied by the natives in a heap on the ground, out of the kegs or cases containing it, and a quantity of sho* and ball was found below high-water mark, having probably been left on the ice close to the beach, before the spring thaw commenced. There must have been a number of telescopes, guns (some of them double-barrelled), watches, compasses, etc., all of which seem to have been broken up, as I saw pieces of these ditt'erent articles with the natives ; and I purchased as many as possible, together with some silver spoons and forks, an order of merit in the form of a star, and a small plate engraved ' Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.' " The following is Dr Rae's list of the articles belonging to the officers of the " Erebus " and " Terror," which he jiurchased from the Eskimos of Boothia, in 1853-54, viz.: One silver fork — crest, an animal's head with wings extended above ; three silver forks — crest, a bird with wings extended ; one silver table-spoon — crest, with initials, " F. li. j\I. C" (Captain Crozier, " Ter- ror ") ; one silver spoon and one fork — crest, bird with laurel branch in mouth, motto, Spero meliora ; one silver table-spoon, one tea-spoon, and one dessert-fork — crest, a fish's head looking upwards, with laurel branches on each side; one silver table-fork — initials, " H. D. S. G." (Henry D. S. Goodsir, assistant-surgeon, "Erebus"); one silver table-fork — initials, "A. M'D." (Alexander M'Donald, assistant-surgeon, " Terror ") ; one silver table-fork — initials, "G. A. M." (Gillies A. M'Bean, second master, "Terror"); one silver table-fork — initials, "J. T. ;" one silver dessert-spoon — initials, "J. S. P." (John S. Peddie, surgeon, " Erebus ") ; one round silver plate, engraved "Sir John Frankhn, K.C.B ; " and a star or order of merit, with motto, "Nee aspera terrent, G. R. III., mdcccxv." None of the Eskimos with whom Eae came in contact had ever seen the "white men," either before or after death, nor had they ever been at the place where the corpses were found, but had obtained their information from natives who had been there, and who had seen the troop of starving marir.ers travelling over the ice. The foregoing narrative of the results of Dr Rae's interviews with the Eskimos of Boothia, is extracted from the published account of his expedi- tion, which the explorer wrote to the Directors of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. This letter, dated from York Factory, Hudson's Bay, September 1st, ;'^1 I 1 !M r)44 THE FATE OF FRAXKLIN ASCERTAINED. t * ■"I f ; % % i. ( I 1854, on the clay after his arrival from Kepulse Bay, was necessarily hurried and imperfect. Further particulars afterwards suggested themselves, but have never yet been pul )lishcd. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that the present writer is enabled to present to the public the following notes, embracing fresh particulars in connection with this most interesting episode in Arctic Exploration. Tliese valuable notes have, in the kindest manner, been supplied by Dr Kac for the present work. We give Dr Rae's communica- tion, so courteously sent, in the form in which it has come to hand : " When travelling westward on my spring journey, I met an Eskimo, to Avhom we put the usual question, ' Have you seen white men before 1 ' He said, ' No, but he had heard of a number having died far to the west,' point- ing in that direction. Noticing a gold cap-band round his head, I asked him where he obtained it, and he said it had been got Avhere the dead white men were, but that he himself had never been there, that he did not know the place, and could not go so far, giving me the idea that it was a great way off. I bought the cap-band from him, and told him that if he or his companions had any other things, to bring them to our winter quarters at Eepulse Bay, where they would receive good prices for them. Some further (l(?tails were obtained on our way home, and the purchase of one or two additional articles was effected ; but it was not until our aiTival at Repulse Bay, that I coidd gain information as to the locality Avhere our countrymen had perished— for I clearly made out that they must have all died some years before, or they must have reached the Hudson's Bay Company's trading posts, from which Indians were sent out with abundance of ammunition, and instructions, should they find any white men, to bring them to their forts. The accounts were that at least forty men (the Eskimos find much difficulty in counting any number above five, and even that puzzles them sometimes) Avere seen dragging a boat or boats on sledges southward, along the west shore of King William Land, and that they had then turned eastward towards the mouth of a largo river, which by description could be no other than Back's Great Fish Eiver. " Later in the spring, Avhen the natives were going to this river to fish, on the first breaking up of the ice, they found what I have described in my report read before the Geographical Society. The whole of this information was sifted over and over again from a number of Eskimos, through my excellent interpreter, whose correctness I was able to prove, by getting through him information from the natives which I found written in the narratives of Koss and Parry. The articles obtained had among them the crests and initials of fifteen of the ofiicers of both ships. For this wo were awarded the £10,000 offered by Government. The correctness of my information was five years afterwards wonderfully borne out by that gained by the " Fox " Exi)edition in 18o9, but this information did not extend HA E\S SUPPL E.}fE\T. i R Y XO TES. 0}.") having vcaclicd the iiiainhuid to the knowledge of any of the crews (' noo-nah '), as in my case. " The finding of the large quantities of clothing on the north of King William Land, and the boat with two skeletons, guns, etc., by the 'Fox' expedition, on or near its west shore, indicates that the Eskimos had not been there, the reason being, no doiibt, that the natives seldom or never travel overland, when they can travel on ice." Dr Rae believed, from information obtained at the time, that the Eskimos did not find any of the Franklin ships. On being asked about ships, 4ie natives always reverted to lloss's steamer, the "Victory," abandoned in Boothia Gulf in 183'2, all about which he had heard in the course of his expedi- tion in 1S4G-47. From this vessel the natives had clearly ol)tained the Avood, of which they had enough for all necessary purposes at that time. " ]\[y chief reason," writes Kae, " for believing that none of the ships had been found was the fact that, in 1854, the Eskimos were so destitute of wood, that although they had plenty of sealskins to make their small hunt- ing canoes, they had no wood for frames. Now, as 1846 was fourteen years after Ross's vessel was abandoned, and as 1854 was only four years by Es- kimo account — actually six years— after the Franklin ships were abandoned, the probability is that had these ships, or even one of them, been found, the natives would have had at least ac; much wood in 1854 as they had in 1847. The testimony of the ' Fox ' expedition of 1854 tends to support this idea, as no large wooden sledges were found, and no wood of a size larger than might have been got from the keel of a boat was seen. ... I questioned the Repulse Bay Eskimos over and over again about whether any of the ships of the starved white men had been found, but they could tell nic nothing, and always went back to the story of the ' Victory,' stating that it was the only vessel from which wood had been obtained. I still bclievo that this was the ship to which the Eskimos referred when speaking to M'Clintock in 1859, and that they concealed the locality of the wreck lest he should wish to go there. ... I may add that the white men, when seen alive by the Eskimos, made the latter understand by signs and a word or two of Eskimo, that they Avere going to the mainland {noo-itali) to shoot deer {took-took). All the party except one man, whom the natives took to bo a 'chief,' and who had a telescope strapped on his shoulder, Avere hauling the sledges and boat or boats, and they all looked very thin. Tho Eskimos also remarked that it Avas curious that sledges Avere seen Avith the imrty Avhen travelling, but none Avere seen Avherc the dead Avero, although the boat or boats remained. I pointed out to them that the Avhite men liaving got close to the mouth of Great Fish River, Avould require their boat to go up it, but as they did not require the sledges any more, they might have burnt them for fuel. A look of intelligence immediately lit up their :;i 64G THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. % ■\¥ V\ I faces, and they said that may have been so, for there had been fires. . . . They said also that feathers of geeso had been seen, so they had probably shot some of these birds — an evidGiicc that some of the party must have lived until about the beginning of June, the date at which the geese an-ivc so far north. I may again say, that the Eskimos gave me clearly to understand that the greater part of the dead men v/ere found on the main shore {noo-nah) , only four or five being found on an island (A'aiVA-^r^-). . . . What sti'uck me at the time, as it does still, was the great mistake made by Franklin's party in attempting to save themsclvov liy retreating to the Hudson's Bay territories. We should have thought that the fearful sufferings undergone by Franklin and his companions, Richardson and Back, on a former short journey through these barren gi'ounds, would have deterred inexperienced men from attempting such a thing, when the well-known route to Fury Beach — certainly much more accessible than any of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's settlements, and by which the Eosscs escaped in 1832-33 — was open to them. The distance from their ships to Fury Beach was very little greater than that from where Boss's vessel was abandoned to the same l)lace, and Franklin and his officers must have known that an immense stock of provisions still remamed at the place where the ' Fury ' was wrecked, and M'herc, even so late as 1859, an immense stock of preserved vegetables, soups, tobacco, sugar, flour, etc., still remained (a much larger supply than could bo found at many of the Hudson's Bay trading posts) ; besides, the people would have been in the direct road of searching parties or whalers. The distance to Fury Beach from where the ships were abandoned, roughly measured, is, as nearly as possible, the same as that Ijetween the ships and the true mouth of the Great Fish River, or about 210 geographical miles in a straight line. Had the retreat upon Fury Beach been rcsoh'cd upon, the necessity for hauling heavy boats would have been avoided, for during the previous season (that of 1847), a small sledge party might have been despatched thither to ascertain whether the provisions and boats at the dep6t were safe and available. The successful performance of such a journey should not have been difficult for an expedition consisting of 130 men who, in the record found in 1859 by JM'Clintock, were reported all well in the spring of 1847." We have seen that Dr Rae met his intelligent Eskimo " with the gold cap-band round his head," and learned from him the first trustworthy intelli- gence respecting the fate of Franklin, on the 21st April 1854, while conduct- ing his party across Boothia to the Castor and Pollux River of Dease and Simpson. The principal object of this journey, it may be necessary to remind our readers, was to complete the discovery and survey of the north coasts of America by exploring the shores between Dease and Simpson's farthest on the south (Castor and Pollux River), with Kennedy's farthest on the north (BcUot Strait). The extraordinary intelligence which Rac had Wll EXPLORA TION RESUMED. -u: just received respecting the ftitc of at least one-third of the officers and crews of the " Erebus " and " Terror " had no influcnco in making the exph)rer abandon the object of his journey. He still pushed west across Boothia, and at night built his snow-house in lat. 68' 29' N., long. 90" 53' W. The snow-house was built on the frozen bed of a stream which falls into Telly Bay from the west, in lat. 08° 47', and which Eae afterwards named Becher Iviver. On the following day (the 22d) the travellers marched west for seven or eight miles to EUico Mountain, then north-east to the cast extremity of Simpson Lake, where the camp was pitched. " Our Eskimo auxiliaries," says Rae, " were ">w anxious to return, being, or professing to be, in dread that the wolves or wolverines should find their cache of meut, and destroy it." The explorer therefore paid them liberally, and bade them a friendly farewell. The natives had advised him to follow the chain of lakes that ran in a north-westerly direction and then turned sharply to the southward, and thereafter to follow the stream that flowed westward from the lakes. He learned, however, that to follow this route would lead him too far south ; he therefore struck across the land westAvard, and found himself among a series of hills and valleys in which traces of deer and musk-oxen were of frequent occurrence. At two a.m. on the 2(3th, after a most laborious walk of eighteen miles across difficult country, he built his snow-hut in lat. 68' 25', long. 93° 4'. On the evoning of the same day, Rae, leaving two men to follow at their leisure, set out with the remaining two men to reach the sea at the mouth of Castor and Pollux River. At eight on the morning of the 27th Rae reached the sea-ice, in lat. 68° 82' N., long. 98' 44' 48" W., being 3' 38" N., and about 13' E. of Simpson's position of the mouth of tho Castor and Pollux River. " The weather," continues Rae, " was overcast "S'ith snow when Ave resumed our journey at 8.30 p.m. On the 27th wo directed our course directly for the shore, which avo reached after a sharp Avalk of an hour and a half. . . . After passing several heaps of stones, which had evidently formed Eskimo caches, I came to a collection larger than any I had yet seen, and clearly not intended for the protection of pro- perty of any kind. The stones, generally speaking, Avere small, and hnl been built in the form of a pillar, but the top had fidlen doAvn, as the Eskimos had previously given me to understand Avas the case. Calling my men to land, I sent one to trace Avhat looked like .he bed of a small river, imme- diately Avcst of us, Avhilst I and the other man cleared aAvay the pile of stones, in senrch of a document. Although the cairn contained no document, theie could be no doubt in my OAvn mind, or in that of my companion, that its construction Avas not that of the natives. INIy belief that Ave had arrived at the Castor and Pollux River AA'as confirmed Avhen the person Avho had been sent to trace the apparent stream-bed returned Avith the information that it was clearly a river. My latitude of the Castor and Pollux River is 08" , .1 Hr II G48 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. ►H h- ill H II: 28' [i?" N., agreeing within a quarter of a mile with that of Simpson," — which (sec p. 847) was G8' 28'. Having reached Simpson's fartliest, and even seen the pillar, or, as that explorer names it, the "monument," constructed "in ccimmemoration " of his discoveries on this coast, Eao now prepared to carry out the main object of his expedition by travelling direct north along the Boothian shores to Bellot Strait, and thus connecting the discoveries of Simpson and Kennedy. After a fatiguing march of fifteen hours, during which a distance of thirty miles was traversed, he arrived at the snow-hut of the men that h^.d been left behind. Thence a fresh start was made. An ample stock of provisions and fuel was placed on the two bc^st sledges, and on a third sledge Eae him- self dragged his instruments, books, bedding, etc. Among the chief of the Doctor's discoveries on this coast are Murchison Eiver, Shepherd Bay, Bence Jones' Island, Capo Colville, Stanley Island, and Point de la Guiche. Westward from Stanley Island land was discovered at the distance of seven or eight miles, and was named Matheson Island. A more recent discoverer, however, finding that this bold land was really the eastern extremity of King William Island, changed the name to Matheson Mount. On the 6th May the snow-hut was pitched on Point de la Gu'lche, in hit. 68° 57' 52", long. 94° 32' 58 ". One of the mcil, Mistegan, the Indii.u hunter, was sent forward six miles north along the coast, where, ascending an eleva- tion, he could see five miles still farther. " The land," says Rae, " was still trending northward, whilst to the north-west, at a considerable distance — - perhaps twelve or fourteen miles — there was an appearance of land, the jchannel between which and the point where he stood was full of rough ice. Tins land, if it was such, is probably part of Matty Island or King William Land, u'hich latter is also dearly an island." At this point Dr Pae, having been detained for a number of days by foggy and snowy weather, found the time at his disposal so limited that he could not complete the whole of the survey to Bellot Strait or Brentford Bay without great risk to his party, one of whom had been for many days badly frost-bitten, and had been left behind with a companion. The explorer therefore resolved to retrace his steps without further delay, and having taken possession of his discoveries in the usual manner, he sc out on his return journey on the 6th May. On the 11th he reached the spot at which two of his men had been left, and on the same night started for Repulse Bay. Pelly Bay was reached at one a.m. on the 17th, and a snow-house built near the encampment of the 20th April. Traces of Eskimos were observed here, and after sujiper two men ^v ere sent out to follow them up. After eight hours' absence the men returned with ten or twelve native inen, women, and children. " From these people," says Pae, " I bought a silver spoon and fork. The initials ' F. P. M. C.,' not engraved, but scratched with a sharp instrument on the spoon, puzzled me \ CONCLUSION AND RETURN. C40 much, as I knew not at the time the Christian names of the officers of Sir John Franklin's expedition." Committee Bay was reached on the 21st, and ]teiiiilse Bay on the 26th ]May 1854. Dr Eae found the three men whom he had left in charge here, living in abundance, and on the most friendly terms with the Eskimos, who had pitched their tents near them. " The natives had behaved in the most exemplary manner," writes Eae, " and many of them who were short of food had been supplied with venison from our stores, in compliance with my orders to that effect. It was from this time imtil August that I had opportunities of questioning the Eskimos regarding the information Avhich I had already obtained, of the party of whites who had perished of starvation, and of eliciting the particulars connected with that sad event, the substance of which I have already stated." Dr Eae had still half the original stock of pemmican on hand, together with a sufficiency of ammunition to provide supplies for another winter. The party besides was in excellent health, and he could have procured as many dogs for sledge travelling as would have been required in the event of his deciding to resume the survey of the Boothian coasts in the following year. There was little doubt that a second attempt, therefore, would be successful ; " but," says Eae, " I now thought that I had a higher duty to attend to — that duty being to communicate, with as little loss of time as possible, the melancholy tidings which I had heard, and thereby save the risk of more valuable lives being jeopardised in a fruitless search in a direction in which there was not the slightest prospect of obtaining any information." He accordingly embarked with his party on the 4th, and arrived safely at York Factory on the 81st August. ;: i '^• 13 4n 050 Tin: FATE OF r HANK UN ASCl:RTAL\i:n. w 'Hi ^r ■y f i=i CHAPTER III. ANDERSON '« EXPEDITION — NO INTElirKETEIl TO 15E HAD — ItELICS FOUND ON MONTREAL ISLAND — RETUKN OF EXPEDITION. At the time when the surprising intelligence of Rae's discoveries in Boothia reached us at the close of 1854, England had engaged in a great European conflict. Her troops had been sent to Turkey and the Crimea, and her entire naval force was on active service, either in the Black Sea, the Baltic, or in defence of our own shores and those of our colonies. Yet even at this stormy and eventful period, when the minds of men were thoroughly mastered by the pecuharly distressing details of the Crimean War, the intelligence that the fate of one-third jjart of the Franklin expedition had been conclusively ascertained, not only won the ear of the entire British people, but created a degree of excitement and painful solicitude which compelled the Govern- ment to take some step to follow up the inquiry to which an unmistakable clue had been furnished by Dr Eae. But Avhat was Her Majesty's Govern- ment to do ? Neither ships, oflicers, nor men could be spared when the honour and security of England demanded their presence in the north and in the east of Europe. In this difficulty English ministers had recourse again to the Hudson's Bay Company, Avhom they requested to organise an expedition to examine Back's Great Fish Eiver in 1855, and endeavour to discover whether any of the Franklin party, who were known to be marching for that river with the object of ascending it and reaching some trading station of the Hudson's Bay Company, still survived. A boat expedition for this purpose was accordingly organised by the Company. If Sherard Osborn's statement be strictly correct, the command of this expedition was offered to Dr Eae, the most capable traveller and explorer in the Company's service, but Avas by that officer declined. It scc^is indeed a little strange that Eae, who was the first to find the clue to the fate of Franklin, should not have endeavoured to follow up that clue and completely solve the Franklin mystery in the autumn of 1854, instead of withdrawing at once from the field and returning to England. In fairness, howevei,to Dr Eae, it is neces- 1 RAE'S SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 051 ' sary to explihi his declinature of the offered command, and this expUmation we are enabled to give, once for all, from original and private documents which the distinguished explorer has kindly placed at our disposal. "On my return to England in 1854," says Dr llae, "I was nmch Mamed l)y people who knew nothing of the matter for not going in the summer or autumn of 1854 to the place indicated by the Eskimos as the locality where many, in all probability, the last, survivors, of the Franklin crews perished. " This is easily explained. It ivas after mi/ return to winter quarters, In 1854, from our very long sledge journey, that I obtained suiU^iently clear infor- mation from the natives of the position where the dead white men were found. That they were all dead, and had been so for at least four years, was morVj evident to me, because I offered immense rewards in guns, kettles, knives, saws, files, etc., and everything that Eskimos most value, if they could tell me of even one man, or the possibility of one man, being alive. But there were actual impossibilities in the way of my getting to the place in the summer or autumn of 1854. In the first place, it is impossible to travel overland when the thawing of the snow is going on. Every stream, how- ever small, is a torrent, and if the banks are at all high, eac) . side has a small precipice or wall of snow that there is no getting over. Apart from this difficulty there was the cstiiary, many miles wide, of tVe Great Fish Itiver to cross, which cculd not have been done without a c.noe or a boat, and no such means of conveyance was available. The same difficulty existed as to King William Land (an island). Eut even had there been a boat or canoe available, Jio autumn journey could not have been made without exposing my whole party (eight in number) to the almost absolute certainty of starvation. For, as I have already said, we had to depend upon our own guns for our food — shooting deer in their autumn southward migration. But if absent on a journey we could not do this. I the previous season with my own rifle had killed nearly half the game obtained, and as my best men would have had to accompany me on the suggested autumn expedition, all the good shots would have been with me, many miles from the passes which the deer frequent at the period of the autumn migration. Then the season was already so far advanced that we would not likely have got back to Repulse Bay until after the formation sa setting fast of the sea-ice, so that we could not have pushed southward in our boats. Such were my chief reasons for coming home, but there was another. Four ships of Her Majesty's Navy were in the Avctic Sea searching for the lost expedi- tion in eveiy direction but the right one. " These ships had orders to remain out for years, a depot ship being sent out annually to be ready in the event of disasters to give aid. I felt that information of my discoveries should be conveyed to these ships as soon as possible, so that they might be recalled. I found them home before me — ■. ■' t ■ j- 1 ; ■ I ;»•: * ! h'"' I I' fr; it u ^ ^ ■'it G52 TIfE FATE OF FRANKLTN ASCERTAINED, tlie men at least — not the ships, for thcji were abandoned. They had remained out only two winters instead of three or four as was anticipated." It is evident, therefore, that Kae, after his return from Eepulse Bay in 1854, could not have undertaken any further exploring that season with the slightest iiopo of success, while his return to England at the close of that year prccli.ded him from accepting charge of a party in the following spring. The command of the new expedition (1855) was vested in !Mr James Anderson, chief factor for the Hudson's Bay Company, and a gentleman of courage and capacity. Mr Anderson arrived at Fort Resolution (Great Bear Lake) on the 20th Juno 1855, where he found three canoes ready for him. It had been necessary to hurry on the equipment of the expedition with unusual haste, in or .lor to take full advantage of the open season ; and in several particulars the preparations made were incomplete. The canoes were constructed of wood, with a covering of birch bark of inferior quality. The great object of the expedition was to explore the estuary of Great Fisli River, and to learn everything that the Eskimos had to communicate ; but no Exkimo interjn'cter had been engaged for the enterjn'ise, none in fact being available within 2000 miles of Fort Resolution. How to communicate with- out a communicator was a little difficulty, not more serious, perhaps, than to perform " Hamlet " leaving out the Prince of Denmark ; but still a difficulty. To the brave, however, all things are possible, more or less. Accordingly, toward the close of June, Anderson started with fifteen men, an Indian guide, and a contingent of three Yellow-Knife Indians, who were desirous of returning northward to tlieir own lands, and were willing, for a considera- tion, to lend a helping hand at the portages by the way. Wc cannot linger over the descent of the Great Fish River — o work of great difficulty even under the most favourable circumstances. On the 13th July the expedition reached Lake Franklin, near the mouth of Great Fish River, and -.vithin the area which Anderson was instructed to thoroughly search. At the outlet of the lake, three Eskimo lodges were discovered. From these an elderly man crossed over ; but here on the very threshold of the district in which information of vital importance was expected to be found, Ander- son found himself practically helpless. He had no interpreter, and could make nothing of the "elderly man." Not to be completely and ignomin- iously beaten, however, Anderson, taking a number of men ,.ith him, went over to the Eskimo lodges. They saw only one man there, and a number of women and children. Large numbers of fresh-water herrings and salmon- trout were hung up to dry, as well as some deer's meat, so that it appeared the land was not altogether naked. " We soon perceived articles belonging to a boat or vessel," writes Anderson in his original journal, " such as tent poles made out of ash oars and poles, copper, sheet-iron, and tin kettles and "Tl NO INTEIiPnilTKR TO BE HAD. ().).> boilers, a tin <5oup tureen, a loiter clii) with date 1843, and pieces of boards of elm, oak, white pine, and mahogany." There were also a broken hanu- saw, chisel, etc. " Some of the boards wero painted white," continues Anderson, "but nothing was found by which any jjorson or vessel could bo identified. Printed and manuscript books were shown to the Kskimos, and wo made them understand l)y signs .^.nd words that wo would pay hand- somely for even a piece of paper : the women were very intelligent, and, I am certain, understood us perfectly; but they said they had none. They nr.do us understand, by pressing the abdomen inwards, pointing to tho mouth, and shaking their heads piteously, that these things ctiiih-; from a kdi/ack, the peojjle belonging to which had died of starvation. We could do nothing more, and were compelled to leave. The absence of an interpreter was a sad blow to us." Proceeding down tho falls which forni tho outlet of Lake Franklin, Anderson perceived a number of kayacks on the shore. IIo and his party landed on tho opposite side, and soon two men crossed over to them. " They immediately began to tell us,' says Anderson, " of white men who starved to death, etc." The et cetera here cannot stand for much, as what these Eskimos tohl, indeed the whole of tho conversation, so to speak, was carrieel on by what Dr Richardson calls " expressive anel unmistakable j^ff^itomlnie." On an island below the falls, the nippers of a pair of smith's tongs Avere picked up. " About five P.M.," sii^"<5 Anderson, " the rain began to pour down in such torrents, that I gave the word to encamp ; but no fit place coukl be found till 7^ P.M., when we disembarked, thoroughly soaked, on anislanel near tho mouth of the river. No fires coukl bo made ; so that pemmican and cold water was the order of the day. Some spirits shoulel be allowed for emer- gencies of this description," exclaims the chief factor. " Tho men really re- quire it ; and I myself shoulel have no objection at this moment to a glass of brandy anel water ; " and surely, under the circumstances, no good Christian could have any objection to his having it. On the 1st August the party reached IMontreal Island, the only islanel of considerable size in the estuary of Great Fish Iliver, anel the spot to which, as it had doubtless been visited >y the retreating party from the " Erebus " and "Terror," and probably afforded a grave to seme of them, jNIr Anderson's attention was specially directed. The examination of the island was com- menced on the following day, and Anderson's account — e^uotcd from that gentleman's private Journal, not from the bare " letter of proceedings " which he forwarded to the Hudson's Bay Company — i.s as follows : "Aftc" an early breakfast, all hands were sent off' to explore the islanel. They were dividcel into two parties — one going to the right, the other to the left. After making the tour of the island, they wero directed to spread themselves out and cross it. Mr Stewart and myself waited some time to hear if the signal (three n :i li ' \i or)4 Tin: FATE OF FRANK TJX ASCERTATXED. |ih 'lli ' I .1 I ■ .. f I shots) of any discovery was made. When we were on the point of departure, MO heard a 8ij;iial, and proceeded rapidly towards the spot. Before wo reached it wc were met by two of the men (lieid and JJoucht^'), wlio informed us tliat they liad discovered the place wliero the boat was cut up, and con- firmed it by showing pieces of plank, etc., and a chip covered partially with black paint, with the name 'Erebus' carved on it. We immediately proceeded to the spot. It is a high rocky ridge, on tlic north-east extremity of tho island. On it were several Eskimo rar/wa, and among tlu>m the spot where it was evident the boat had been cut up. It was strewed with shavings, butts of planks, evidently cut by un.skilfid hands ; small pieces of rope with tho (Queen's mark ; pieces of bunting, etc. Several of the men having come up, the whole of the atches were opened ; in them, besides seal oil, a variety of blacksmiths' tools, a tomahawk, a chain-hook, a piece of a bar of unwrought iron, etc., were discovered ; also a bundle of pieces of wood strung together for some purpose ; they were of ash, and evidently portions of snow-shoes. On one of them I discovered the name of ]\Ir Stanley carved, the surgeon of the 'Erebus.' Every mound Avas examined, to discover if it Avere a grave, and the .search most zealously carried on till dusk. Tho only additional things found were some j)ieccs of hoops, parts of instruments, a piece of cane, a piece of the leather of a backgammon board, etc., but not a scrap of paper, not a human bone. The other parties had discovered nothing. On their return ten deer were seen, and five of them shot, all five bucks. I had promised a reward of £'1 to whoever found the first indisputable traces of the missing party, which will now be divided between Bouclid and Eeid." The above account differs but slightly from tho description of the day's proceedings given by INIr Anderson in his letter to the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. In the original journal it is stated that on one of the chips of wood, " covered partially with black paint," the name " Erebus " was carved; in the latter, Anderson states that every chip was turned over, and on one of them was found the word " Terror " carved. There is an error here, unimportant in itself, certainly, but significant as indicating an inaccurate, if not a repre- hensibly uninterested condition of mind. On the following day all hands were employed in searching for graves. None were found. Two fat bucks were killed. On the 5th tho party crossed over from Montreal Island to the western shore (that of Adelaide Peninsula). Here Anderson divided his men into two parties, one of which went south to examine the shore of Elliot Bay, the other going off in a northward direc- tion. Both parties returned without discoveinng anything. On the 6th it Avas found impossible to proceed farther Avith the canoes, Avhich Avere now " rickety " from the damage they had sustained, and Anderson set out to explore the remainder of Adelaide Peninsula on foot. Not a vestige SEA urn for /ff:fjrs. O.-).-) of tlic missing; expedition vas discovered. The land, however, >vhieh liad previously heun d('.sfril)('ut what be- came of it is not stated ; for at the encampment that night all were " miser- al)ly wet," and had to crawl under their blankets " after a sui)p(>r of rather ancient pennnican and cold water." It is here and there apparent in Ander- .son's narratives that lu' had. no gr'eat stomach for this light again.st discom- fort and hardship, and yet the "fat bucks" that decorate his picturesque l)age are far from inconsiilerable in number. But it is evident that at this point the beginning of the end of his discoveries in this quarter is near. On the !Sth, after mentioning the ' ancient pemmican," Anderson exclaims : " It was now evident that all that could be done Avith our means had been ac- complished ; and that, with our frai' craft, any delay in returning would compromise the safety of the whole party. It may appear strange to any one unacquainted with this desolate region," he continues, " that not a vestige of the remains of so large a party as arc said to have died here .should have been discovered. I can safely say that the whole coast be- tween Elliot Bay and Point Ogle, and the country for some distance inland, has been most carefully searched, as well as the whole of Alontreal Island, by as keen-eyed and zealous a set of men as exists, still not a human bone has been discovered. INIy opinion is that a party of men suffering from star- vation woidd have sought out the lowest and most sheltered spots to haul the boat up and encamp. If they died in such a spot, their bodies would have, doubtless, been torn to pieces and scattered about by wild animals, and their bones covered many feet with sand. There are many such spots all along the west coast and on Montreal Island. Any papers would, of course, have been soon destroyed in this climate. Leather-covered books would have been toru to pieces by wolves or foxes. Everything wo can do has been done ; and it is evident, from the wretched state of the canoes, that any delay in returning up the river will compromise the safety of the party." The return journey was accordingly commenced forthwith, and on t/ie li m ' i- 656 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. Iff' mth Aur/itst, which is from ten to twenty days earlier than Back, Simpson, liae, and other explorers, thought it necessary to commence their retreat to the rivers of the mainland, Anderson had already ascended the Great Fish River to Lake Franklin. Here the party ren^^wed their intercourse with the Eskimos. Anderson displayed before these astonished natives the contents of his " trading-cases," and explained, by expressive and unmistakable pan- tom.'me, " that he was ready to exchange the entire stock for ' any book or papers' belonging to Europeans." "They understood us perfectly," says Anderson, " said they had no papers, and to satisfy us opened up the whole of their caches. . . . They made us comprehend that they had not seen the ships, but had heard from others that they were wrecked, and that the crews were all dead from star cation." There does not appear to have been miv-h chance of Anderson or his men dying of starvation. He states that no privation was experienced by his party from want of provisions. Indeed, he was able to bring home three "pieces " — each 90 lbs. weight — of pemmican untouched. Sir George Btick liad seen immense numbers of deer and musk-oxen on the lower course of Great Fish River; but Mr Anderson only saw a few scattered deer with their ftiwns, and a few herds of musk-oxen. " We got as many Canada geese as we wished by running them down," says Mr Anderson. " They were n^oulting, and were all ganders (!)." After a journey of great difficulty, Mr Anderson and his party arrived at Fort Reliance, on Great Slave Lake, about the middle of September. is: V'' - 1, ; li' if THE LAST SEAIiCIT EXPEDITION. G57 CHAPTER IV. CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK's VOYAGE IN THE " E OX " — COST OF THE EXPEDITION — A LONG WINTER-DIUFT — STEMMING THE SWELL— WHAT BELLOT «TUAIT IS LIKE — DEATH OF THE ENGINEER. During the j-car 1856, aftei- the discoveries of Eao and Anderson liad be- come well known, and had been amply discussed. Lady Franklin, the noble- minded Avife of the lost navigator, Avrote to Lord Palmcrston, then the head of the Government, and to the Lords Commissioners of the Admii-alty, urging them to send out a final search expedition to that limited area, " in which," as Captain Allen Young has put it, " the lost ships must be, if a1)ovo water, and through which the crews must have travelled when they left their ships." Lady Franklin's appeals were as eloquent and pathetic as her aim was magnanimous and her requests reasonable. She pleaded that " a care- ful search be made for any possible survivor ; that the bones of the dead be sought for and gathered together ; that their buried records be unearthed or recovered from the hands of the Eskimos ; and, al)ove all, that their last written woixls, so precious to their bereaved families and friends, be saved from destruction. A mission so sacred," she urged, " is worthy of a Govern- ment which has grudged and spared nothing for its heroic soldiers and sailors in other fields of warfare, and will surely be ai)proved by our gracious Queen, who overlooks none of her loyal subjects sutt'ering and dying for their country's honoui". This final and exhaustive search," she states, " is all I seek in behalf of the first and oidy martyrs to Arctic discovery in modern times, and it is all I ever intend to ask." During the same year Sir Itoderitlc ^Murchison drew up a memorial for presentation to Lord Palmcrston. In this document, which was signed l)y all the most eminent geographers and Arctic explorers then in London, the veteran saraut thus indicates the attitude which ho and the other memorialists had taken up in reference to this question : "We can scarcely believe that the liritish Government, whicli, to its great credit, has made so many efforts in various directions to dis- cover eaiu the route pursued by Franklin, should cease to prosecute research, now that the locality has been clearly indicated Avhere the vessels or their remains inutit lie — including, as we hoi)e, records which will throw fresh light on Arctic geography, and dispel tlie obscurity in which the voyage and fato I 13 4o I ■ ['r around me well-tried men, who were aware of the duties expected of them, and accustomed to naval discipline. Hence, out of twenty-five souls com- posing our small company, seventeen had previously served in the Arctic search." ISI'Clintock's second in command Avas Lieutenant W. K. Hobson ; and Captain Allen Young, besides subscribing the handsome sum already named, for the purposes of the expedition, gave his services as a volunteer, and accepted the subordinate post of sailing-master, though during tho Crimean War he had been commander of the "Adelaide " steam troop-ship, of 8000 tons. Dr Walker was appointed surgeon to the expedition. Carl Petersen, who had sailed with Penny and Dr Kane as interpreter, was telegraphed for to Copenhagen, and joined the " Fox " in tho same capacity. Tho " Fox " was completely refitted, thoroughly strengthened, and pro- visioned for twenty-eight months. Of provisions and stores Government contributed 6082 lbs. of pemmican, all the arms, powder, shot, rockets, etc. All necessaries having been taken on board, and every preparation made, the " Fox " set sail from Aberdeen on the 1st July 1857. After a very fiivoural)le run across the Atlantic, Capo Farewell came in GOO THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAIN ED. I',. siglit on tlio 1:2th, FroiU'vicksliaiib on the 19th, and Fi.skcrnacs on the 2od Jul3^ Setting sail early in the morning, jNI'Clintock reached (iodhaab on the 24th. Adjoining this settlement is the ^Moravian mission station of Xew llerrnhnt, where Hans Egede established himself in 1721 and recommenced the colonisation and evangelisation of Greenland, thus reopening the com- munication between this great island (?) and Europe, which, established by the early Scandinavian settlers long Ijcl'ore the discovery of America by Columbus, had closed when the first colonies decayed and became extinct in the fourteenth century. Godhaven, or Lievely, in Uisco, was reached on the olst. "I do not know," says M'Clintock, "a more enticing spot IP Greenland for a Avcek's shooting, fishing, and yachting, than Disco Fiord; hares and ptarmigans may be found along the bases of the hills, ducks are most abundant u})ou the fiord, and delicious salmon-trout very plenti- ful in the rivers." Here ten Eskimo dogs were bought, and a young native named Christian, Avho volunteered his services as dog-driver, was taken ovi bv.,p.rd for the ^■^yagc, was waslu'd, cropped, and dressed in sailors clolli s, A'astly to lii.s own delight, and to the admiratiim of his countrymen. The AVaigat, with its scenery at once grand and lovely, was entered on the 4th, and on the 7th the " Fox " was hove to off Uppernavik. Here the last letters for home were landed, and fovu'teen dogs were em- barked. ^Vnd now commenced the actual dilliculties of the navigation of Ballin Bay. "To the uniiutiated," explains M'Clintock, "it may be as Avell to ob- serve, that each Avinter the sea called IJaihn Bay freezes over ; in spring, this vast body of ice breaks up, and drifting southward in a mass — called the mn'in pi(('k or the inhUUe-ice — obstructs the passage across from east to west. The ' North Passage ' is made by sailing round the north end of this pack ; the * jNliddle Passage,' by ^^ushing through it ; and the ' Southern Passage,' by passing round its southern extreme ; but seasons occur when none of these routes is practicable." On the night of the 7tli the edge of the main pack or middle-ice Avas reached, about seventy miles Avest of Uppernavik. After running ah)ng its edge and carefully examining it, jM'Clintock satisfied himself that he could not force a passage through it across Baflin Bay. Tie therefore steered for the north in the open water along the Greenland coast, and on the 12th August arrived in Melville Bay. To his great vexation he found that ^Nfelville Bay Avas i)acked A^ith ice driven north by the south- erlj Avinds that had prevailed for some time. Xo movement having taken place for several days, jNI'Clintock determined to run back to the south-Avest- Avard on the ICth. On the foUoAving day he steamed and sailed on again, threading his Avay among the floes. The Avinds had changed to the north- eastward, and the floes began to nioA'o oif the land. If the "Fox" is to escape from her ice-trap, now is the time. The tide in its affairs seemed now A LONG WIXTER-nniFT. GOl to have come, and imles.s it be taken advantage of promptly, tliere Avill be no cliance of crossing the mi(hlle-ice this season, and tlie ex})h)rers "vvill either have to winter in tlic drifting pack, as ]>aek liad done in the " Terror," Do Haven and Grillin in the "ifescue" and "Advance," and Kellett in the " Resolnte," or else put back to the Greenhmd coast and winter at Disco. In this critical moment the true spirit of the commander was disphiv(!n which the " Eesolute " had been picked up, and doAvn to lat. 64^ N. " On the 25th April," writes Young, " a swell entered into the pack, and gradually increased, until the ice commenced churning up against the vessel, and dashing against her sides. These violent shocks continued throughout the morning, and really seemed as if they Avoukl destroy the ship. However, by the power of steam, we got the vessel's liead towards the swell, and with a strong fair wind we commenced pushing out. After many narrow escapes from contact with the icebergs, we were by night i? . comparatively open water. We were free, and steered a course for the settlement of Holsteinborg, in Greenland, to recruit, and to prepare for another attempt. What a change on the following morning ! Not a piece of ice could be seen, save a few distant bergs. We once more had our little vessel dancing under us upon the waters, innumerable sea- birds flew around us, and the very sea, in contrast to its late frozen surface, appeared alive with seals and whales. All nature seemed alive, and Ave felt as if we had risen from the dead. In the evening the snow-covered peaks of Sukkertoppen Avcre seen, and on the 28th April we moored in Hol- steinborg harbour. Our anchors had not been down, nor had our feet FREE ONCE MORE. 003 touched the land, since the 8d of August. Ice-bound, imprisoned, we had drifted upwards of 1:200 (j-eographical) miles. Need it be added, how thank- ful we were to that kind I'roviilence who had watched over us, and under Him, to our gallant captain, to whose unremitting attentions to our com- forts and stvfety we owed our health and deliverance. . , . We arrived hungry and unshaveri, our faces begrimed with oil-smoke, our clothes in tatters. The good women of Holsteinborg worked and washed for us, 1 L'paired our sadly-disreputable wardrobes, danced for us, sang to us, and l)arted from us with tears and a few little presents by way oi souvenlrii, as if wo could ever forget them. We wrote a few hasty letters, hoping that they would reach home in the autunni, and sailed once more upon our voyage." After visiting Godhaven, and taking another Eskimo lad on board there, IM'Clintock set sail through the Waigat, and pushed on toward the north. Uppernavik was reached on the 81st May, and left on the 4th June. On June 6th the " Fox " was in Melville Bay, struggling along toward the north, between the main pack on the west and the ice still attached to the land on the east. Cape York was reached on the 26th Juno, and, after passing Cape Dudley Pigges, the captain set sail westward across Baffin Bay towards Lan- caster Sound but did not arrive off Cape Ilorsburgh till July 12th. Unable to penetrate Lancaster Sound, which Avas packed with ice, IM'Clintock crossed its entrance, and, Avitli the view of awaiting the turn of events, ran down to Pond's Inlet. Here he had frequent and free communication, by means of his three Eskimos, with two natives, who stated that they had no knowledge whatever of either the missing shijis of Franklin's expedition or of the abandoned vessels of Belcher's squadron. On August 6th steam was got up, and the " Fox " stood away to the north for Lancaster Sound once more. Cape Hurd was passed on the 10th, and next day M'CIintock anchored off Cape Edey, close to Beechey Island. " We crossed to the house at Beechey," says Young, " and there landed a handsome tombstone (sent out by Lady Franklin), in memory of Sir John Franklin and his ct)m- panions. It was placed close to the monument erected by their shipmates to the memory of poor Bellot and those who had died in the previous search- ing expeditions. On he 16tli August M'CIintock set sail westward from Erebus and Terror Bay, and crossed the southern entrance of Wellington Channel. On the evening of the 17th he sailed down Peel Sound without interruption for twenty-five miles, but was then brought up by unbroken ice, extending from shore to shore. There was little hope that this ice would break up during the few days of summer yet to come, " so/' says M'CIin- tock, " I immediately turned about for Bellot Strait, as affording a better pro- spect of a passage info the western sea." Accordingly, the ship was steered north out of Peel Sound, east along the north coast of North Somerset Island, and then south along the western coast of llegcnt Inlet toward Bellot Strait. fi i i 664 THE FATE OF FRAXh'LTN ASCERTATXED. \H Is i 'i "Wo found lit\i;eut Inlet clear," writes Youn<>', "excepting- a few streams of loose ice, through which we sailed easily. "Wo passed Ehvin and liatty ]>ays, and everything, as an old quartermaster expressed it, looked ' werrii ]>r().<- jierlons!' . . . On the 20th wo passed cdosc to Fury Beach, Avhere tho 'Fury 'was lost in 182i3; but the pace was too good to stop to visit this most interesting spot. Wo came on with a fair wind and clear water to tho latitude of Bellot Strait. Our excitement now became intense. The exist- ence of tho strait had been disputed, and upon it depended all our hopes. iJunning into Brentford Bay, wo thought we saw ice streaming out, as if through some channel from tho westward, but as yet we could sec no open- ing ; and being unable to get farther that night, wo anchored in a little nook discovered on the north side of tho bay. A look-out was set upon tho liighest hill, to watch the movements of the ice ; and on the next day wo made our first attempt to sail through. We started with a strong western tide, and mider both steam and canvas, and after proceeding about three miles, were delighted to find that a passage really existed ; but avo had not got half-way through wiicn, the tide changing, a furious current came from the westward, bringing down upon us such masses of ice that wo were carried helplessly away, and were nearly dashed upon huge pieces of grounded ice and reefs of rocks, over which tho Hoes were running. This current ran at least seven knots an hour, and was moi'o like a bore in the lEoogley than an ordinary tide." Tho "Fox" had never yet been in such a dangerous drift. Her commander, however, undismayed by tho racing fioes, the grounded masses, and the Avild rocks of the shore, past which ho was swept at the rate of six miles an hour, and at a distance of less than 200 yards, succeeded in cxtricivtinghor from the ice, which, rushing eastward, was hurled about by the whirlpocjls and eddies of the tide until eventually it Avas cari'iod out into Brentford Bay. That night tho " Fox " Avas steered into the anchorage she had left in the morning, a little nook on the north side of tho eastern entrance of the strait, and Avhich Avas afterwards named Depot Bay. Hero a large stock of provisions and a record of the proceedings of the expedition Avere landed, in anticipation of being able to penetrate through the passage into the Avestern sea. It is interesting to knoAV Avhat Bellot Strait is like. " Its appearance," Avrites M'Clintock, " is precisely that of a Greenland fiord. It is about tAventy miles long, and scarcely a mile Avido in the narrowest part ; and there, Avithiii a quarter of a mile of the north .shore, the (le])th Avas ascertained to Lo 400 luet. Its granitic shores are bold and lofty, Avith a very respectaldo si)rinkling of vegetatit)n for lat. 72°. Some of the hill ranges rise to al)()ut I.jOO or 1000 feet above the sea. The Ioav land eastward of Depot Bay is conqiosed of limestone, destitute alike of fossils and vegetation. Tho granite conunences upon the Avest shore of Depot Bay, and is at once bold 1 WHAT TiELLOT STRAIT IS LIKE. 665 and ruffc'cd. Tlio strait runs very nearly cast and west, but its eastern entrance is well marked by Long Island. When half-way through, both seas — Kegent Inlet on the east, and Fraidvlin Strait on the west — are visible." After the attempt to push through the strait on the 20th, the passage continued for days choked with ice, which surged backwards and forwards with the tides. On the 25th, however, a change of wind having taken place, M'Clintock prepared to make another dash at the strait. Starting from DejiOt Bay, ho entered the passage, but soon found he had not his sorrows to seek. At one point where the tide was strongest, and the depth only from six to ten fathoms, the ship " hardly moved over the ground, although going six and a half knots through the water." This delay was a sad interruption, and when the darkness came down, an anchorage was sought at midnight in a small indentation of the north shore, rather more than half-way throUj^n. "At early dawn," says the commander, " we again proceeded west, but for three miles only. The pack again stojiped us, and we could perceive that the western sea was covered with ice." The eastern sea, however, was free, and while waiting in expectation of the disruption of the ice in the strait, M'Clintock sailed eastward into Regent Inlet, and then southward along the coast of Boothia to a point about forty miles distant. Here he deposited a supply of provisions, to be used in the event of his travelling down this coast to communicate with the natives of Port Elizabeth during the autumn or spring. DepOt Bay was again reached on the evening of the 29th. Another attempt to push through the strait into the western sea was made on the 6th September. M'Clintock steamed through the clear waters, and made fast to the ice that still stretched across the western outlet. The western ice he found to consist of extensive, " stout " fields, held firmly together by the numerous islets and rocks that rose through them. The captain ascended Cape Bird — on the north side of the west entrance to the strait — and reconnoitred the ice to the westward. Perceiving that he could advance no farther in the " Fox " this season, he determined to return to Dep6t Bay on the 11th. Captain Allen Young "was sent to an island eight miles to the south-west to look around ; and on ascending the land he was astonished to see water as far as the visible horizon to the southward in Victoria Strait. While sitting down taking some angles with the sextant, he luckily turned round just in time to see a large bear crawling up the rocks to give him a pat on the head. He ,^ized his rifle and shot him through the body, but the beast struggled down and died in the water out of reach, and thus a good dep6t of beef was lost." Lieutenant Hobson, M'Clintock's second in command, was also employed on a little commission at this time. He was sent away with seven men and two dog-sledges, to carry provision depdts as far as possible to the southward. On the 12th the " Fox " and all hands, except Lieutenant Hobson, were safe in Dep6t Bay — the anchor % 13 4p M 006 rrrE fate of franklin ascertained. being dioppcd, however, just witliin the bay instead of at its head. The new anchorage, which was found nuich more convenient than the oM, was named Port Kenned}^ in honour of the discoveror of l^cllot Strait. Winter now came on apace, and in preparation for it the .ship Avas cleared out, dii- masted, and 1)uried in snow, the stores were landed, and magnetic obser- vatories, built of snow and ice, were erected. Meantime Captain ]\['Clintock had matured the plan of his .spring search excursions. " Of late," he writes, " we have been preparing provi- sions and equipments for our travelling parties. My scheme of sledgo search comprehends three separate routes, and parties of four men (each). To each party a dog-sledge and driver will bo attached. Ilobson, Young, and I will lead them. My journey will be to the Great Fish Eivcr, ex- amining the shores of King William Land in going and returning. Petersen will be with mo. Hobson will explore tlie western coast of Boothia, as far as the Mignctic Pole, this autumn, I hope, and from Gates- head Island westward next spring, i'oung will trace the shore of Prince of Wales Land from Lieutenant Browne's farthest, if pc sible, and also examine between Four River Point (on the west coast of North Somerset) and Capo njird. Our probable absence will be sixty or seventy days, commencing from about the 20th March. In this way I trust we shall complete the Franklin search and the geogi-aphical discovery of Arctic America, both left unfinished by the former expeditions ; and in so doing we can hardly fail to obtain some trace, some relic, or it may be important records, of those whose mysterious fate it is the great object of our labours to discover." Lieutenant Hobson and Captain Young had conducted several preliminary excursions during the autumn, but the above programme was not to be entered upon seriously until the spring of 1859. Before the close of the year the little company in the " Fox " were mustered for the second time since leaving England to listen to the burial service, and to follow the remains of a comrade to the grave. On the 3d December 1857 Scott, the engine-driver, who had received serious injuries from a fall down the hatchway, died. He Avas buried on the following day in a square opening cut in the drifting floe of Baffin Bay. The next death was that of INIr Brand, the chief engineer. On the eth November Mr Brand was in excellent health, and he and Hobson sat together for a while in the evening. " Mr Brand," says M'Clintock, "tun:cd the conversation upon our position and employments last year; he called to remembrance poor liobert Scott, then in sound health, and the fact that, on the preceding day twelvemonth, he had earned our 'Guy Fawkes ' round the ship. ' Poor fellow ! ' he added, mournfully, ' no one knows whose turn it may be to go next.' He finished his evening pipe, and shut his cabin door shortly after nine o'clock. This morning (7 th Novem- ber), at seven o'clock, his servant found him lying upon the deck a corpse. \^' DEA Til OF THE ESGIXEER. 067 having been scveriil liours dead. Apoph^xy appears to have been the cause." Brand was buried on the 10th Xoveniber in a grave dug on shor(^ near tho ship. There was now neither engineer nor engine-driver on board tho "Fox," and only two stokers, who knew nothing whatever about the niaehin- ery. The entire strength of tho oflicers and crew, inehiding the interpreter and tlic two Gi'eenhuid dog-drivers, was now twentj-four. On the 14th November the sun disappeared for the winter. Christmas was celebrated in the usual hearty fashion. The cai)tain and oilieeis were invited by the men to walk round the lower deck and inspect tho l)reparations that had been made for the celebration of the occasion. Tho snow-white deal tables of the men were loaded with all the luxuries of the season — and the locality. Venison, beer, and a fresh supply of clay pipes, were among the most telling features of the festive board. " The variety and abundance of the eatables, tastefully laid out, was such as might well supjiort the delusion Avliich all seemed desirous of imposing upon themselves — that they were in a land of plenty ; in fact, all hut at home." The captain and officers contributed a large cheese and some preserves, and candles were substituted for the ordinary smoky lamps. AVith so many comforts, and with much good-humour and mirth, the evening was a great success, though at the moment the men were singing, dancing, and reciting on tho loAver deck, a " fierce north-wester howled loudly through the rigging, the snow-drift rustled swiftly past, no star appeared through the oppressive gloom, and the thermometer varied between 70° and 80° below the freezing-point." The 1st January IS.IO was a Sulvrdinj nhjht as well as a New Year's Dajj, and "sweethearts and wives," tlio fomous toast on the last night of the week, was drunk by the men Avith more than usual feeling. On January 26th the sun reappeared, and by tho middle of February the three travelling parties, under INI'Clintock, Hobson, and Young, Avere ready to set out on their preliminary winter journeys. II j; I (50S Till: I'ATE OF 1UAMoothia to the neighljourhood of the Maynctic Pole. lie i)roccoded overland by the route along Long Lake to the south of Bellot Strait, and, after a march of nineteen or twenty geographical miles, he reached the coast of the " western sea " (Franklin Strait), and there built his snow-hut for tho night. Next day the cold was intense, the thermometer indicating 48' below zero. On the third day most of the dogs walked lame, owing to tho severity of the cold and the consequent hardness of the snow. The men of course walked, so that the dogs liad only the provisions and clothing to drag ; but even then it was found necessary to put part of the provisions eii cache, and to be content with a journey of fifteen to eighteen miles daily. For a number of days the cold continued extremely severe, the mercury of the artificial horizon, the freezing point of which was —39°, remained frozen, and the rum, which was at first thick like treacle, required latterly to bo thav/ed before it could be used. Every day the party pushed on until dusk, then built their snow-hut. The equipment consisted of a very small brown holland tent (generally used to cover the snow-hut by way of roof), a INIack- intosh floor-cloth and felt robes ; besides this, each man had a bag of double blanketing and a pair of fur boots to sleej) in. Of all Arctic explorers, M'Clintock did more than any other to perfect the details of sledge traveUing. His daily routine, which was as follows, is therefore specially interesting : " I led tho way," he writes ; " I'etersen (the interpreter) and Thomson followed, conducting their sledges, and in this manner we trudged on for eight or ten hours without halting, except when necessary to disentangle the dog hai-ness. When we halted for the night, Thomson and I usually sawed out the blocks of compact snow, and carried them to Petersen, who acted as the master mason in building the snow-hut. The hour and a half or two hours usually employed in erecting the edifice was the most disagreeable ROUTIXE OX THE MARC IT. 000 part of tlio (lay's labour, fur, in addition to boinp; already well tired and desiring repose, wo became tlior(>uj,dily chilled whilst standinj^' about. When the hut was finished, the dog.i were fed, and liero the j,neat difliculty was to ensure the Aveukcr ones their full share in the scramble for supper ; then conunenced the operation of unpackin-,' the sle(l},'o and carrying into our hut everything necessary for ourselves, such as provision and sleeping gear, as well as all boots, fur-mittens, and even the sledge dog-harness, to prevent the dogs from eating them during our sleeping hours. The door was now blocked up with snow, the cooking lamp lighted, fotjt gear changed, diary written up, watches wound, sleeping-bags wriggled into, pijKvs lighted, and the nu-rits of the various dogs discussed, until supi)er was ready ; the supper swallowed, the upper robe or coverl.t was pidlcd over, and then to sleep. Next morning came breakfast, a struggle to get into frozen moccas- ins, after which the sledges were packed a id another day's march conunenced. In these little hut.« we usually slept warm enough, although latterly when our blankets and clothes became loaded with ice, wo felt the cold severely. When our low doorway was carefully blocked up with snow, and the cook- ing lamp alight, the temperature quickly rose, so that the walls became glazed, and our bedding thawed ; but the cooking over, or the doorway l)artially opened, it as (piickly fell again, so that it was impossible to sl(>ep, or even to hold one's paniukin of tea, without putting our mitts on, so in- tense was the cold." On the 22d the party could not march, owing tc the violence and sccrity of the gale that l)lew from the east ; but on that day a bear was shot ; the disappointment of the storm-stayed men was tempered by hot, fresh steaks, while the dogs enjoyed an unwonted and ample meal of unfrozen meat. The general geological character of the shores of the west coast of Boothia was found to be granite until midway between Bellot Strait and the ISIagnetic Pole, when limestone cropped up, forming a low, straight shore, upon which the sledge went more easily than over the deeply-indented and rough coast to the north. On the 1st of INIarch ]\l'Clintock, having arrived in the neighbourhood of the Magnetic Pole, called a halt. He was beginning to fear his journey was to prove a failure. He had come all the way from Bellot Strait hither for the purpose of communicating with the natives of this district, and gain- ing information which might enable him conclusively to finish the search in the summer. And now, with provisions much exhausted, and with six out of the fifteen dogs quite knocked up and useless, he could only advance one march farther. It was clear that if natives did not appear on the following day, at furthest, he must commence his return journey. It was therefore with some anxiety that he looked ahead for natives. " But we had done nothing more than look ahead" he writes. " When we halted, and turned (^ 1; I !.■' m ■\ .1 670 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. Peiliaps the records of archi- dwelliiig-houso so cheaply cou- rountl, great indeed was my surprise and joy to see four men walking after us." M'Clintock and the interpreter Petersen now buckled on their revolvers, and advanced to meet the Eskimos. The latter halted, tethered their dogs, laid down their weapons, and calmly received the Englishman and the Dane. Petersen at once addressed them, and they told him they had been out on a seal hunt, and were returning home. " We proposed to join them," says M'Clintock, " and all were soon in motion again ; but another hour brought sunset, and wc learned that their snow village of eight huts was still a long way ott", so we hired them, at the rate of a needle for each Eskimo, to build us a hut, whicli they completed in an hour. It was 8 feet in diameter and 51 feet high. In it we all passed the night, tecture do not furnish another instance of a structcd." The explorer informed the natives, thi-ough his interpreter, that he was anxious to barter with them, and it was only with the greatest caution that he eventually guided the conversation to the subject of supreme interest — the loss, or supposed loss, of the "Erebus" and "Terror." He observed a naval button upon one of their dresses, and asking where it had been obtained, the Eskimos informed him that " it came from some white people who were starved upon an island where there are salmon (that is, an island in a river), and that the iron of which their knives Avcre made came from the same place." None of these men had seen the white men, but one of them said he had been to the island referred to for wood and iron. Another had been to Itepulse Bay, and remembered having seen seven of Dr Kae's party. These men had nntliing to eat, but accepted a small quantity of bear's blubber ^md some water from M'Clintock. They were not jirovided with any clothing besides the double fur dresses they wore. They slept in their clothes, in a sitting posture, and leaning their heads forward on their breasts. Next m- rning M'Clintock accompanied them ten miles toward their encampment. At this point, however, he stopped, declining to accompany them any farther. A halt was therefore called, and a snow-house built. " This done," says INI'Clintock, " Ave displayed to them our articles for barter — knives, files, needles, scissors, beads, etc. — expressed our desire to trade with them, and promised to purchase everything which belonged to the starved white men, if they would come to us on the morrow. . . . Next morning the entire village population arrived, amounting to forty-five souls, from aged people to infants in arms, and bartering commenced very briskly. First of all we purchased all the relics of the lost expedition, consisting of six silver spoons and forks ; a silver medal, the projicrty of Mr A. Mac- donald. assistant-surgeon ; part of a gold chain ; several buttons ; and knives made of the iron and wood of the wreck ; also bows and arrows coii^ "ucted of materials obtained from the same source. Having secured these, wc pur- IMPORTANT DISCO VERIES. 671 chased a few frozen salmon, some seals' blubber, and venison, but could not prevail upon them to part with more than one of their fine dogs. . • . None of these peoi-le had seen the whites. One man said he had seen their bones upon the island where they died, but some were buried. Petersen also understood him to say that the boat was crushed by the ice. Almost all of them had part of the plunder." Among this tribe of Eskimos all the old people remembered the visit of the " Victory " to the south-west shores of Boothia Gulf, and an old man named Ooblooria, who had been employed by Sir James lioss as guide, in- quired respecting the Avelfare of that explore!*, and used his Eskimo name of "Agglugga." M'Clintock inquired after the man who had been supplied Avith a wooden leg by Sir John lloss's carpenter, and the silence that sud- denly fell upon the natives — who do not like to allude in any Avay to their dead — was sufficient sign that this worthy was no longer in the land of the living. On the following morning, the 4th March, a number of natives again came to ]\['Clintock's encampment. The commander bought a spear 6.^ feet long from a man who told Petersen distinctly that a ship hacin(f three masts had been crushed by the ice out in the sea to the ivest of King William Island. lie was not one of those who were witnesses of the catastrophe. The ship sank, so nothing ivas obtained by the natives from her ; all that they had got, he said, came from the island in the river. The spear staff seemed to have been part of the gunwale of a light boat. This information, corroborating in such a remarkable manner the account obtained on the same peninsula by Dr Ktae, accounted for the disappearance of one of the vessels ; but what of the other ? As yet no proof that either of the ships had been broken up by the natives had been obtained. JM'Clintock says, that among these natives of Boothia "scarcely a scrap of wood was seen which had not come from the lost expedition." But very little wood Avas seen at all. Indeed, these Eski- mos seemed to be singulai-ly destitute of this article. One of their sledges was made of two stout pieces of wood, which might have been a boat's keel ; the other sledges, however, "were wretched little affairs, consisting of two frozen rolls of seal-skin coated with ice, and attached to each other by bones, which served as cross-bars." These people, therefore, could not have had access to either of the ships, or they would have been provided Avith largo and strong sledges. " We now returned to the ship Avith all the speed avo could command," resumes M'Cliutock, " but stormy Aveather occasioned two days' delay, so that Ave did not arrive on board till the 14th March. Though considei-ably reduced in flesh, I and my companions Avere in excellent health, and blessed Avith insatial)lo ai)petites. On Avashing our faces, Avhich had become per- fectly black from the soot of our blubber lami), sundry scars, relics of :p: h ill 672 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. I t ! . frost-bites, appeared ; and the tips of our fingers had become as callous as if scared with hot iron. In this journey of twenty-five days we travelled 360 geographical miles (420 English), and completed the discovery of the coast- line of continental America, thereby adding about 120 miles to our charts." Thus was the entire coastline of Arctic North America at l«Et discovered, and this triumph, like the discovery of the North- West Passage and of the ]\Iagnetic Pole, as \\ 11 as the nearest approach to the North Pole yet made, is to be scored io the credit of British officers. As soon as he reached the ship M'Clintock assembled his crew and told them of his success, pointing out that one of the ships of the Franklin expe- dition was still unaccounted for, and that therefore all the projected search excursions must be carried OTit as rigorously as had been at first intended. On the 8d March Captain Young had returned from his journey to Prince of Wales Land, where he had deposited a store of provisions on the shore, at about seventy miles' distance south-^vest from the ship. On the 18th of the same month the gallant captain was sent away from the ship's quarters in Port Kennedy to Fury Beach, to obtain a supply of sugar from the stores left there by Parry in 1825. In ten days he returned with 1200 lbs. of sugar. His labours had been very severe ; one sledge broke down, and all the sugar had to be piled on the other. The conse- quence was that the load had to be worked back to the ship piecemeal " by a sort of fox and goose chase." There was still (and we must remember this was in the spring of 1859) an immense stock of preserved vegetables and soups still remaining at Fury Beach, and Young brought back with him two specimen tins of " carrots plain " and " carrots and gravy," which were still good, though they had lain on the shore for thirty-four years. All small casks and packages were covered with snow, but of the larger casks, which appeared above the drift, Young counted thirty-four of flour, five of split peas, five of tobacco, and four of sugar. A few tons of coal remained, and there were two boats. With the beginning of April the time came for the departure of M'Clin- tock, Hobson, and Young on the extended searching journeys, which were to be the great feature of this expedition, and the splendid success of which have confen'ed lasting fame on the name of Sir Leopold JNI'Clintock. " The travelling parties," says Captain Young, " were each to consist of four men drawing one sledge, and six dogs with a second sledge, besides the officer in charge and the dog-driver. By the aid of depdts already carried out, and from the extreme care with which Captain M'Clintock had prepared the travelling equipment, and had reduced every ounce of unnecessary weight, we expected to be able to be absent from the ship, and without any other resource, for from seventy to eighty days, or, if necessary, even longer." M'CLhVTOC/CS FAMOUS SLEDGE JOURNEY. 673 CHAPTER VI. THE GREAT JOURNEY COMMENCED — MORE RELICS OBTAINED — RELICS AT POINT BOOTH — DOG-SLEDGE DRIVING — SKELETON DISCOVERED — SHIPs' RECORD FOUND — THE MYSTERY SOLVED AT LAST. Captain M'Clintock and Lieutenant Hobson set out on their journeys from Port Kennedy at the east entrance to Bellot Strait in search of the reUcs of the Franklin expedition, supposed to be still lying above ground on the shores of King William Island, or on the neighbouring coasts, on the 2d April 1859. Each of the leaders had a sledge drawn by four men, besides a dog-sledge and dog-driver, and it was arranged that, for a considerable part of the way, the two parties should pursue the same route and travel together. On the first night they encamped on Long Lake ; they reached the western sea on the second day, and on the third, hoisting their tents, outspread like sails, on the sledges, and thus making the most of a favour- able breeze, they advanced some miles beyond Arcedeckne Island, a few miles south of the western entrance to Bellot Strait. On the 15th April they had got over the rough granite shore, and had entered on the smoother limestone tract, in lat. 71° 7' N.,and which continues in almost a straight line southward for sixty to seventy miles. From this point, depOts of provisions for consumption on the return journey were made at suitable intervals. Down to this date the temperature was excessively severe, sometimes as low as 80" below zero (62° below freezing-point), and often accompanied with cutting north winds. The sun was bright, and the snow-glare strong ; and although all wore coloured .spectacles, much suffering was felt fi'om inflammation of the eyes. The faces of the whole party were blistered, their lips and hands cracked — never were men more disfigured by the combined eff'ects of bitterly cold winds and bright sun. Frost-bites in the face and hands, however, were too common to be regai ded otherwise than as the mere accidents of travel in this region. No inhabitants were met with until the 20th April, when the parties had travelled down the west coast of Boothia as far as 70" 30' N. : but on that ! I J hV 13 4q j (574 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. date, two families, the same people whom M'Clintock had interviewed at Cape Victoria on his preliminary spring journey, came forward from the ice on \\ Jiich they were engaged hunting seals, to meet the explorers. Their huts, which were built on the ice, were circular, and a single entrance, forked so as to form two " lobbies," afforded access to the two dwellings in which these famiiies, nundjering in all twelve individuals, lived. M'Clintock examined tlie interior of these structures. Light was admitted by a slab of ice let into the roof "A snow bank or bench, two feet high, and occupying half the area of each hut, Mas covered with reindeer skins, and formed the family i)la( c of repose. An angular snow-bench served as the kitchen table, and iiiimediately beside it sat the lady of the establishment, attending the stone lamp which stood thereon, ; ■ d the stone cooking vessel suspended over it. The lamp was a shallow open vessel, the fuel seal-oil. and the wick dried moss. Her ' tinder-box ' was a little sealskin bag of soft d -y moss, and with a lump of iron pyrites and a broken file, she struck fire upon it. I purchased the file," continues M'Clintock, " because it was marked with the Government broad arrow. We saw two large snow shovels made of mahogany board, some lodg spear handles, a bow of English wood, two preserved meat tins, and a deal case, which might have onre contained a large telescope or a barometer. . . . I also purchased a knife, which had some indistinct markings on it, such as ships' cut lasses or swords usually have. The man (from whom the knife was purchased) told us it had been picked up on the shore near where a ship lay stranded, that it was about the length of his arm, but his country- man who picked it up broke it into lengths to make knives. After much anxious inquiiy, we learned that two ships had been seen by the natives of King William Island ; 07ie of them was seen to sink in deep water, and nothing was obtained from her — a circumstance at which they expressed much regret — hut the other was forced on shore by the ice, where they suppose she still remrins, but much broken. From this ship they have obtained most of their wood, etc." The body of a man was found on board the stranded ship — " a very large man, who had long teeth." The ships had both been destroyed in the fall of the j'ear — August or September — and all the white people, taking a boat or boats with them, had gone away to the " large river " (Great Fish liiver), and their bones were found in the island (^Montreal Island) in the following winter. Having purchased two dogs and some seal's blubber from these people, INI'Clintock and llobson continued their journey southward along the coast. On the 28th April they reached Cape Victoria, on the south-west coast of Boothia Felix. Here the two travelling comjianies parted. The informa- tion respecting the second ship Avas of the utmost importance, and Lieutenant Hobson and his party were now detached to go in search of it. Hobson Avas at this time unwell, complaining of stitliiess and pains in the legs, the cause tmtmmBS^ MORE RELICS OBTAINED. 675 of which was at the time unknown. This officer was instructed to search the west coast of King William Island for the stranded ship and for records, and to act upon such information as he might obtain. In the event of failure to make any discoveries on the shores of the island, he was directed to cross over Victoria Strait and complete the discovcy and examination of Victoria Land northward from CoUinson's farthest point, which was only a few miles farther north than the point Eae had reached in 1851. In accordance with this arrangement Hobson parted with M'Clintock, and took his Avay across the frozen Eoss's Strait direct for Cajie Felix, the most northern point of King William Island ; while the captain, taking a more southerly route, also crossed to King William I'^'^and, and after a severe three days' march encamped on it near the entrance of Port Parry, which is directly opposite Cape Victoria, the point of departure. M'Clintock's generosity in thus re- signing to Hobson the search of the tract of coast which must of necessity yield relics and records, if such were to be found at all, while he himself elected to examine the unpromising east coast of King William Island, en route for Great Fish Eiver, deserves to be noted as an act of great kindness on the famous captain's part towards a junior officer. After a day spent in drying their clothes and sleeping bags, and repaivintr their travelling gear, M'Clintock and his men started on the 2d jNIav to ;x- plore the east coast of King William Island. On the 4th they crossed over to Matty Island, between King William Island and Boothia Peninsula, in the expectation of meeting Eskimos, none having been seen since the departure of Hobson. Off the south-west point of Matty Island M'Clintock came upon a deserted village of nearly twenty snow-huts, in and around all of which he found " shavings or chips of different kinds of woods from the lost expedi- tion." The huts appeared to have been abandoned for only a fortnight or three weeks. How came the shavings and chips of the different woods there ? Were the natives skilled in the use of the plane ? Another sug- gestive point is to be noted here. M'Clintock states that " the runners or sides of some old sledges left here were very ingeniously formed out of pointed rolls of seals'nn about three and a half feet long, and flattened so as to be two or three inches wide and five inches high. The sealskins appeared to have been well soaked and then rolled up, flattened into the required form, and allowed to freeze." In freezing, these rolls of sealskin would no doubt become as hard as board. But why not use the actual hoard, seeing that they had " different kinds of woods from the lost expedition 1 " M'Clintock then crossed over to a small islet at the south extremity of Matty Island, where he found more deserted snow-huts and more chips, Init no inhabitants. Recrossing from Matty Island to King William Island on the 7th May, the captain marched southwa/d in the evening to avoid the snow-glare, and at midnight arrived ot an inhabited snow-village. " Here," ill Mill >', : 1 i: ■■t i If B.I fil I 676 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. writes the captain, " we found ten or twelve huts and thirty or forty natives of King William Island ; I do not think any of them had ever seen white people alive before, but they evidently knew us to be friends. We halted at a little distance, and pitched our tent, the better to secure small articles from being stolen whilst we bnrtered with them. I purchased from them six pieces of silver plate, bearing the crests or initials < >f Franklin, Crozier, Fairholme, and M'Douald ; they also sold us bows and arrows of English woods, uniform and other buttons, and offered us a heavy sledge made of two short stout pieces of curved wood, which no mere boat could have furnished them with, but this of course we co jld not take away ; the silver spoons and forks were readily sold for four needles each. They Avere most obliging and peaceably disposed, but could not resist the temptation to steal, and were importunate to barter everything they possessed ; there was not a trace of fear, every countenance was lighted up Avith joy ; even the children were not shy. nor backward either, in crowding about us, and poking in everywhere. One man got hold of our saw, and tried to retain it, holding it behind his back, and presenting his knife in exchange ; we might have had some trouble in getting it from him, had not one of my men mistaken his object in present- ing the knife towards me, and run out of the tent with a gun in his hand- the saw was instantly returned, and these poor people seemed to think they never could do enough to convince us of their friendliness ; they repeatedly tapped me gently on the breast, repeating the words ' Kammik toomee ' (We are friends). Having obtained all the relics they possessed, I purchased some seal's flesh blubber, frozen venison, dried and frozen salmon, and sold some of my puppies. They told us it was five days' journey to the wreck — one day up the inlet still in sight, and four days overland ; chis would carry them to the western coast of King William Land ; they added that but little now remained of the wreck which was accessible, their countrymen having carried almost everything away. In answer to an inquiry, they said she was without masts ; the question gave rise to some laughter amongst them, and they spoke to each other about ^"re, from which Petersen thought they had burnt the masts through close to the deck in order to get them down. There had been many books, they said, but all have long ago been destroyed by the weather ; the ship was forced on shore in the fall of the year by the ice. She had not been visited during this past winter, and an old woman and a boy were shown to us >vho were the last to visit the wreck ; they said they had been at it during the preceding winter (1857-58). Petersen questioned the woman closely, and she seemed anxious to give all the information in her power. She said many of the whit-B men dvopped by the way as they went to the Great River ; that some were buried and some were not ; they did not themselves witness this, but discovered their b.'^dies during the winter fol- lowing. We could not arrive at any approximation to the numbers of the il! [)1 1 I SLEDGE PARTY ENCAMPINL^ FUR [HE NIG HT 1 RELICS AT POINT BOOTH. 677 white men nor of the years ohvpsed since they were lost." The natives further assured the interpreter that jM'CHntock's party would find natives on the south shore of King William Island (three days' journey southward), and also on IMontrcal Island, in the estuary of Great Fish Iliver. Having obtained all the information these peo})le had to communicate, and having acquired a number of priceless relics, ISI'Clintock did not waste another minute at this village ; but after a stay of only two hours in all, resumed his march southward along the shore. " It was quite a relief to get away from these good-humoured, noisy thieves ; and rather diilicult, too, as some of them accompanied us for miles. They had abundance of food, were well clothed, and are a finer race than those Avho inhabit North Greenland or Pond Inlet. The men had their hair cropped short, with the exception of one long, straggling lock hanging down on each side of the face. Like the Boothians, the women had lines tattooed upon their cheeks and chins." Having got rid of the last of the stragglers, jNI'Clintock pushed on, discover- ing and naming Latrobe Bay, and arriving at the extreme east point of King William Island. This point — Mount Mathcson, a flat-topped hill — was crossed ; and on the 10th May a single snow-hut was reached off Point Booth. Here again M'Clintock made a number of suggestive and interest- ing, but somewhat puzzling discoveries. " I Avas quite astonished," he says, " at the number of poles and various articles of wood lying about it, also at the huge pile of walrus' and reindeer's flesh, seal's blubber, and skins of various sorts. We had abundance of leisure to examine these exterior articles before the inmates would venture out ; they were evidently nmch alarmed by our sudden appearance. A remarkably fine old dog was tied at the entrance — the lino being made fiist within the long passage — and although he wagged his tail, and received us as old acquaintances, we did not like to attempt an entrance. At length an old man and an old woman appeared ; they trembled with fear, and could not, or would not, say any- thing except 'Kammik toomee :' we tried every means of allaying their fears, but their wits seemed paralysed, and we could get no information. We asked where they got the wood ? They purchased it from their country- men. Did they know the Great Kiverl Yes, but it was a long way off. Were there natives there now 1 Yes. They even denied all knowledge of white people having died upon their shores. A fine young man came out of the hut, but we could learn nothing of him ; they said they had nothing to barter, except what we saw, although we tempted them by displaying our store of knives and needles. . . . The principal articles which caught my attention here were eight or ten fir poles, varying in length from five to ten feet, and up to two and a half inches in diameter (these were converted into spear handles and tent poles), a kayack paddle constructed out of the blades of two ash oars, and two large snow shovels, four feet long, made of !' h\ 078 TUK FATE OF FRANK UN ASCERTAINED. thin plank, painted white or palo yellow ; these mij-iit have l)een the bottom boards of a boat. There were many smaller articles of wood.' It was evident that nothint? was to be made of these timorous and taciturn villagers without stopping a day or two with them, and gaining their confidence by hind and generous treatment. But there was no time to throw away in cultivating the goodwill of people who perhaps had nothing to tell, so, making the old lady happy with the present of a needle, IM'Clintock pushed on. Leaving King William Island behind him, he set out due south from Point Booth over the frozen strait, crossed Point Ogle (the extremity of a peninsula of the mainland of America), and encamped the same evening upon the frozen estuary of the Great Fish River. Detained in the tent during the 13th by a furious gale, the captain resumed his march over the ice on the 14th, on the evening of which he pitched his tent " two miles from some small islands that lie off the north end of ISIontreal Island." He was now in the centre of the district in which it was expected great discoveries were to bo made. The exploration of Montreal Island and the neighbouring islets was proceeded with on the 15th INIay; but the only traces or relics of Europeans were " a piece of preserved meat tin, two pieces of iron hoop, some scraps of copper, and an iron hook-bolt." These probably were part of the plunder obtained from the boat. The 16th Avas a day of severe cold and thick snow ; but on the 17th the search was resumed by M'Clintock, Petersen, and Thomson, who set off with the dog-sledge round the south shores of Montreal Island. No cairn was seen, and on examining a heap of stones that seemed to have been arranged according to method, nothing was discovered but blubber. It was an Eskimo cache. No natives were met with ; indeed, none had been seen since the party had left Point Booth. The search was completely unavailing — not oven a grave was seen. The examination of the shore of Elliot Bay was equally without any satisfac- tory result. Barrow Inlet, to the west of Point Ogle Peninsula, was also thoroughly examined, but no relics found. From this barren and unprofit- able region M'Chntock was glad to commence his return journey, the first stage of which was from Point Richardson, on the American mainland, and a few miles west from Barrow Inlet, due north to the nearest point of the coast of King William Island. The retreat was commenced on the 19th May. Hampton, one of jNI'Clintock's party, had for some time been ill, and was unable to drag. The captain therefore made over the dog-sledge to the sick man. M'Clintock's experience in dog-sledge driving is something that he has much reason to be thankful for. The following account of his trials as a " whip " in the icy regions round King William Island is amus- ing six : " I shall not easily forget tlie trial my patience underwent during the weeks that I drove that dog-sledge. The leader of my team, named ' Omar Pasha/ was very willing, but very lame ; little ' Rose ' was coquettish, DOG-SLEDGE DRIVING. 079 and fonder of beinj^ caressed tlian whipped — from some cause or other she ceased growing wluni only a few months oUl, she was therefore far too small for heavy work ; ' Darky ' and ' Missy ' were mere pups ; and last of all camo the two wretched starvolin<;.s, reared in the winter, ' Foxey ' and ' Dolly.' Each d<)^v complaint. There is no lamentation, no despair. " So sad a tale," writes . J'Clintock, " was never told in fewer words. There is some- thing deeply touching in their extreme simplicity, and they show in the strongest manner that both the leaders of this retreating party were actuated by the loftiest sense of duty, and met with calmness and decision the fearful alternative of a last bold struggle for life, rather than perish without effort on board their ships." "We shall s.art to-morrow," said they. But whither ? ij W :i i| it i 084 Tm: /'.' i"7s 01' FjIAXklin ascertained. CHAPTER YII. BOAT AVITII SKELETONS FOUND — RELICS IN THE BOAT — THE RETURN JOURNEY. From the point on which Ilobson had built his cairn and deposited his record, IM'Chntock mai'ched on westward round the south-Avest angle of King William Island, then north-east along its western shore. The coast is low and uninteresting, even forbidding in appearance — a mere series of limestone ridges, almost destitute l)oth of animal and vegetable life. Nor was the prospect westAvard over the frozen Victoria Strait more encouraging. The strait presented a " rugged surftice of crushed-up pack, including much heavy ice." Having rounded Cape Crozier, the westernmost point of King William Island, M'Clintock came upon a large boat that had belonged to the Franklin expedition, and which contained livo hiunaii skeletons. Ilobson had already discovered the boat, and had left a note in it for the captain; but he had not been able to find any record, journal, pocket-book, or ,. ■ •)iurandum of any description either in or near it. The boat ud its c", was found, and also a small block for reeving a sheet through, I suppose s'.e '.!;v] bcM pro\ided Avith a sail. A sloping canvas roof or rain-aAvning hivl also fonaed part of her equipment. She Avas fitted Avith a Aveather-clotli u'ne ''if-hes high, battened doAvn all round the gunwale, and suppcated by tAven;,y-toii'' iron s<^anchio.ns, so placed as to serve likewise for rowing thowl . I'licV' was a dee])-sea sounding line, fifty fathoms long, near her, as well as .".ii icc-grapnel ; this line nuist have been intended V 1 BOAT WITH SKELETONS FOUND. 685 for river work as a track-line. She had been originally ' carvel' built ; bu" for the purpose of reducing weight, very thin fir planks had been substituted for her seven upper strakes, and put on ' clincher ' fashion. . . . Tho weif^b.t of the boat alone wa^ about 700 or 800 lbs. only, but siie was mounted UiJon a sledge of unusual weight and strength. It was constructed of two oak planks, 23 feet 4 inches in length, 8 inches in width, and with an average thickness of 2^ inches. These planks formed the sides or runners of the sledge ; they were connected by five cross-bars of oak, each 4 feet long, and 4 inches by 3i inches thick, and Ijolted down to the runners ; tho underneath parts of the latter were shod with iron. Upon the cross-bars five saddles or su])porting chocks for the boat were lashed, and the drag-ropes by which the crew moved this massive sledge aiul the weights upon it, con- sisted of 2.'^-inch whale-line. I have calculated tho weight of this sledge to be 650 lbs. ; it ccndd not have been less, and may have been considerably more. The total weight of boat and sledge may be taken at 1400 lbs., Avhicli amounts to a heavy load for seven strong healthy men. One hundred yards from her, upon the land side, lay the stump of a fir tree, 12 feet long, and 16 inches in diameter at 3 feet above the roots. .Vl though the ice had used it roughly during its drift to this shore, and rubbed otf every vestige of bark, yet the wood was perfectly sound. It may have been, and probably has been, lying there for twenty or thirty years, anil during such a period would suffer less decay in this region of frost than in one-sixth of the time at home. Within two yards of it I noticed a few scanty tufts of grass. " But all these were after-observations ; there was in the boiit that .-hi-di transfixed us with awe, viz., portions of two human skeletons ! One m tiiat of a slight young person; the other of a large, strongly-mad «^ middle-aL'cd man. The former was found in the bow of the boat, but in too rnch dis- turbed a state to enable liobson to judge whetlii die sufferer had died there ; large and powerful animals, probaljly Avolve.- aad destroyed much of this skeleton, which may have been that of an oificer. Near it we found the fragment of a pair of worked slippers, of which I give the jDattern, as they may possibly be identified. The lines were white, with a black margin ; the spaces white, red, and yellow. They had origin Uy been eleven inches long, lined with calfskin with the hair left on, and the edges b(jund with red silk ribl)on. JJesides these slippers there were a pair of small strong shootmg half-boots. The other skeleton was in a somewhat more perfect state ; it lay across the boat, under the after-thwart, and was enveloped with cloths and furs. This would seem to have been the survivor of the two men whose remains were lying in the boat. Close beside it were found five watches ; and there were two double-barrelled guns — one I nrel hi each loaded and cocked — standing muzzle upwards against the boat's side. It may be imagined with what deep interest these sad relics were scrutinised, and how I ■I I „ ■ % 11 \ 686 THE FATE OF FRANK LTN ASCERTAINED. I ; 1 anxiously every fragment of clothing was turned over in search of pockets and pocket-books, journals, or even names. Five or six small books were found, all of thom scriptural or devotional Avorks, except the ' Vicar of Wakefield/ One little book, ' Christian Melodies,' bore an inscription upon the title-page from the donor to G. G. (Graham Gore ?). x\nother small book, 'A Manual of Private Devotion,' by C. J. Blomfield, D.D., bore on its title-page, ' G. Back, to Graham Gore. May, 184.3.' A small Bible con- tained numerous marginal notes, and Avliole passages underlined. Besides these books, the covers of a New Testament and Churcli of England Prayer- book were found. "Amongst an amazing quantity of clothing there were seven or eight pairs of boots of various kinds — cloth winter boots, sea boots, heavy ankle boots, and strong shoes. I noted that there were silk handkerchiefs — black, white, and figured — towels, soap, sponge, toothbrush, and hair-cojnbs; ]\Iackintosh gun-cover, marked outside with paint A 12, and lined with black cloth. Besides these articles Ave found tAvine, nails, saAv.s, files, bristles, wax- ends, sail-makers' })alms, poAvder, bullets, shot, cartridges, Avads, leather cartridge-case, knives — clasp and dinner ones, needle and thread cases, sIoav- inatch, several bayonet scabbards, cut doAvn into knife sheaths., tAvo rolls of sheet-lead, and, in short, a quantify of articles of one descriptioi nnd another truly astonishing in variety, and such as, for the most part, modern sledge- travellers in these regions AA^ould consider a mere accunmlation of dead Aveight, !)f little use, and very likely to break doAvn the strength of the sledge cvcAVS. The only provisions avc could find Avere tea and chocolate ; of the former very little remained, but there Avere nearly 40 llis. of the latter. These articles alone could never support iifc in sucli a climate, and Ave found neither biscuit "or meat of any kind. A portion of tobacco, and an empty pemmican tin, capable of containing 22 lbs. Aveight, Avere discovered. The tin Avas marked Avith an E; it had probnbly belonged to the 'Erebus.' None of the fuel originally brought from \he ships remained in or about the boat, but ti'crc r/as no lack of it, ior a drift tree Avas lying on the beach close at hand, and had the party boci) i'- nccit ^f fuel, they Avoiild have used the paddles and bottom boards of the boot. Tn the after-part of the boat avo found eleven largo spoons, eleven forks, r.ud ) >ur tea-spoons, all of silver. Of these tAventy-six pieces of plate, eight bore. .Sir John Franklin's ci-est ; the remainder had the crests or initials of nir-; dift'erent olUcers, Avitli the exception of a single fork, Avhich Avas not marked ; of these nine officers, five belonged to the ' Erebus ' — Gore, Le Vvsconte, E.arholnie, Couch, and Goodsir. Three others belonged to the ' Terror ' — Crozicr (a teaspoon only), Hornby, antl Thomas. I do not kno'-^ .o vhom the three articles Avith an oavI engraA^ed on them belonged, nor Avho Avas the OAvnev of the unmarked fork, but of the owners of those Ave can identify, the majority belonged to the ' Erebus.' Ono I 'V RELICS IN THE BOA T. <587 I of the watclies bore the cvcst of IVIr Coucli of tlic 'Erebus,' and as the pemmican tin also came from that ship, I am inclined to think the boat did also. One of the pocket chvonomotcrs found in the boat was marked, ' Parkinson and Frodsham 980,' the other, 'Arnold 2020 ; ' these had been supplied one to each ship. Sir John Franklin's plate perhaps was issued to the men for their use, as the only means of saving it ; and it seems prol)able that the officers generally did the same, as not a single iron spoon, such a.s sailors always use, has been found. Of the many men, probably twenty or thirty, who were attached to this boat, it seems most strange that the remains of only two individuals were found, nor were there any graves upon the neighbouring flat land ; indeed, bearing in mind the season at which these poor fellows left their ships, it should be remembered that the soil Avas then frozen hard as rock, and the labour of quarrybhj a grave very great indeed." IM'Clintock was surprised to find that the boat-sledge was directed to the north-east, in a line for the next point of land to which he himself was travel- ling, namely, toward Victory Point. This discovery set the capt'^.in upon a suggestive line of reflection. The position of the abandoned boat Avas 50 miles from Point Victory, 65 miles from the position of the ships, 70 miles from the spot on which the skeleton of the steward vas found, and 1 50 miles from Montreal Island. "A little reflection," writ s the captain, " led me to satisfy my own mind, at least, that this boat Avas returning to the s/tips. In no other way can I account for tAvo men having been left in her than by sup- posing the party Avere unable to drag the boat farther, and that these tAvo men, not being able to keep pace Avith their shipmates, Avere therefore left by them, supplied Avith such provisions as could be spared, to last tiiem imtil the return of the others Avith a fresh stock. Whether it Avas the inten- tion of this boat party to aAvait the result of another season in the ships, or to folloAV the track of the main body to the Great Fish Eivcr, is uoav a matter of conjecture. It seems more than probable that they fully intended to revisit the boat, not only on account of the tAvo men left in charge of it, Init also to obtain the chocolate, the five Avatchcs, and many other small ailicles Avliich otherAvise Avould scarcely have been left in her." JNI'Clintock Ijclieves tliat the same reasons Avhich may account for the return of the boat party from the main body of the men Avho had started for Great Fish Ifiver under Captain Crozier may also explain Avhy they did not come back to the boat ; and that in both cases they over-estimated their strength, and under-estimated the distances they had to travel. It Avill never be ascertained Avhether any of the men belonging to the return party ever reached the ships ; but it is evident Wcj did not return to the boat, or more skeletons Avould have been found on the spot. From Erebus Bay, on the shore of Avhich the boat was discovered, jM'C'lintotk travelled on nortlnvard along the coast-line, carefully y Wi I li !■/• 688 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. soarcliing for remains of the stranded ship mentioned by the natives, but finding none. The captain and his party arrived at Point Victory on the 2d June, and found there a note from Ilobson, stating that ho had found no trace of a wreck anywhere on the coast, that he had seen no natives, but had picked up a duphcate of the record found on Point Victory, In the duphcatc, .is Avell as in the original record, the same curious mistake as to the date of the ■wintering of the expedition at Bcechey Ishvnd is made. IM'Chntock can only account for the crr^c of fdling in the year 1846-47 instead of 1845-4(5, by .supposing that litti^ import .arco was attached to these documents by Fitz- james, who Avas probably more interested at the time with the grand triun:i)h of the expedition, the discovery oT the North- West Passage, than with the details which he was chronicling. At Point Victory INI'Clint ick discovered a vast quantity and variety of things strewed about the cairn beside which the record was found. "Amongst these," he writes, -'were four heavy sets of boat's cooking stoves, pickaxes, shovels, iron hoops, old canvas, a largo single block, about four feet oi :; copper lightning conductor, long pieces of hollow brass curtain rods, a small case of selected medicines containing about twenfy-four phials, the contents in a wonderful state of preservation ; a dip circle by Kobinson, with two needles, bar magnets, and light horizontal needle, all complete, the whole weighing only 9 lbs. ; and even a small sextant engraved with the name of 'Frederick IIornl)y' lying beside the cairn without its case. The coloured eye-.shades of the sextant had been taken out, otherwise it was perfect ; the moveable screws and such paivs as come ni contact with the observer's hand were neatly covered with thin leather to prevent frost-bite in severe weathei". The clothing left by the retreating crews of the ' Erebus ' and ' Terror ' formed a huge heap four feet high ; every article was searched, but the pockets we\'o empty, and not one of alt these articles was marked — indeed sailors' warm clothing seldom is. Two canteens, the property of marines, were found, one marked '88 C. Wm. Hedges,' and the other '89 C°. Wm. Heather.' A small pannikin, made out of a 2-lb. preserved meat tin, had scratched on it 'W. Mark.' These abandoned superfluities afford the saddest and most convincing proof that here — on this spot — our doomed and scurvy-stricken countrymen calmly prepared themselves to struggle manfully for life." The coast-line between Point Victory and Cape Felix had been carefully examined by ITobson. Two cairns and many relics were discovered, and the more interesting among the latter were brought away. M'C'lintock did not therefore consider it necessary to re-examine this tract of beach. The survey of this part of the coast, however, convinced him, as it had also convinced Ilobson, that " no part of the coast (of King AVilliam Land) between Capo Felix and Cape Crozier has been visited by Eskimos since the fatal maich of THE RETURN JOi'RXEY Oso the lost crows in April 1848; no cairn disturbed; none of (lie numerous articles strewed about them, nor the scanty driftwood we noticed at lonjj intervals — although invaluable to the natives— had been touched. From this very significant fact it is quite c -rtain that they had not been discovered by the Eskimos, whose knowledge of the white men falling down and dying as they walked along must be limited to the shore-line miit/iirard and cast- ward of Cape Crazier, and where of course no traces were permitted to remain for us to find. It is not probable that such fearful mortality could have overtaken them so early in their march as within eighty mih^s liy sledge route from the abandoned ships — such being the distance of the latter from Cape Crozier ; nor is it probable that we could have passed the wreck had she existed there." The captain's belief is that the ships drifted south from the position in Avhich they were abandoned, and that th(>y were not wrecked until, carried by the fiood-tide from the north, they had been swept southward past Cape Crozier into Simpson Strait, and that thus the vessels tvctually made the North-Wcst Passage. It was therefore " otf the south-west coast of King William Island that the abandoned ships were destroyed." So far as M'Clintock was concerned, the search for traces of the Franklin expedition had now successfully terminated, and it only remained for the commander to make the best of his way back to Bellot Strait, and wait a favourable opportunity of making sail for England. He accordingly pro- ceeded north from Point Victory, crossed overland from Walls liay to the eastern shore, and traversed the east coast of the island to the south of Cape Sabine. On this side of the island there was a good deal of vegetation, and animals frequented the coast in considerable numbers. The contrast between these habitable shores and thoie of the west side of the island w\as very striking. " Nothing can exceed the gloom and desolation of the westei-n coast of King William Island," says M'Clintock. " Ilobson and myself had some considerable experience of it ; his sojourn there exceeded a month. Its climate seems different from that of the eastern coast ; it is more ex^josed to north-west winds, and the air Avas almost constantly loaded with chilling fogs," bloAvn over the land no doubt by the prevailing winds from iNI'Clintock Channel, which seems to be constantly filled with very heavy pack. Early in June Captain M'Clintock again crossed over James Koss Strait, and once more found himself on the straight limestone coast of Boothia Peninsula. As he proceeded northwari'.s he searched carefully for Sir James lloss's cairn at the Magnetic Polo, but could find no trace of it. Like the cairn raised by the same explorer on Point Victory, King William Island, it had been destroyed by the natives. A note left fcr M'Clintock at one of the depots informed him that Ilobson, who Avas six days in advance oi the captain's party, had become seriously ill, and Avas unable to Avalk. His men n 14 4 s 690 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. had placed him on tlic sledge, and were hastening " homo " to have him put as soon as possible under the doctor's care. The captain reached the Avestern entrance of Bellot Strait on the 18th June. The summer thaw had now covered the ico with such a depth of ■water that it was found impossible to proceed. The men therefore hauled the sledges up off the flooded ice, and commenced a march of sixteen or seventeen miles overland for the ship. " The poor dogs," writes A['Clintock, " were so tired and sore-footed, that we could not induce them to follow us — they rjniuined about the sledges. After a fatiguing scramble across tho hills, and through the snow valleys," continues the c. ptain, "we were refreshed with a sight of our poor, dear, lonely little • Fox,' and arrived on board for a late breakfast on the 19th June, after an absence of seventy- eight days." JOURNEYS OF YOUNG AND IIODSON. cm CHAPTER VIII. DEATH OF BLACKWELL — CAPTAIN ALLEN YOUNGS TOURNEY — LIEUTENANT JIOBSON's JOURNEY — RELEASE AND HOMEWARD VOYAGE — LIST OF PRINCIPAL RELICS FOUND. As soon as Captain JM'Clintock arrived at his winter quarters on the morning' of tho 19th June, he eagerly inquired about Lieutenant Ilobson. That intrepid officer had been brought home on the 14th so weak from scurvy, from wliich h(> had been suffering at the commencement of his journey, that he could not walk or even stand without assistance, and had at once been put to bed and subjected to rigorous treatment by Dr Walker. IVI'Clintock found him rapidly mending in health, and in excellent spirits. The record he hadfoimd on the beach at Victory Point was to him a living fountain of health. And then everybody was kind to him. The Greenlander, Christian, had shut a number of ducks, and on these succulent water-fowl, backed up with pre- served potatoes, milk, strong ale, lime-juice, and whale-fish hide, the gallant lieutenant Avas in the foir way of soon becoming himself again. Among the crow, however, one death had taken place during tho absence of the captain — th.t of Thomas Blackwell, ship's steward. I'oor ]ilackwell had the charge of the ship's spirits, and the burden seemed to weigh upon him. lie accordinglj'^ endeavoured to diminish it as rai)idly as possible by consumption. The natural result followed. He became care- less in all his habits, cherished a dislike to preserved meats, and never took any, nor any preserved potatoes, unless he was watched and compelled to use them. He would not, except on compulsion, put on clean clothes, and at lust he had to be forcibly taken on deck in order to have change of air. All that was manly having apparently died out of him, he appears to have sunk at last, almost in neglect. " He went on deck as usual," says INI'Clintock, "and when found there, Avas quite dead." Tho event, however, had been expected for some time, and was regarded as merely one of the incidents to be expected under the conditions. But the prevailing sentiment on board the "Fox" afler the return of M'Clintock was that of satisfaction and great content. The feehn^' of tho It IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. 1.0 I.I [riM iiM I ^ Ilia If 1^ 12.0 18 L25 iiiiu 111.6 y *9 / Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14S80 (716) 873-4503 •S5? \ :\ V \ % v M 6^ ^^^ <^ «> l/l o^ m-2 THE FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. officers and men — for in this littlo yaclit all seemed to live on equal terms^ is well expressed l)y Captain Allen Youiif,'. "We had been prepared," he writes, " hy the report brought from the Kskimos in February to find that all hopes of survivors were at an end, and that the ex])edition had met with some fatal and overwhelniini;' casualty; but we were scarcely prepared to know, nor could we even have realised the manner in which they spent their last days upon earth, so fearful a sojourn nuist it have been. ]>eset and surrovmded with wastes of snow and ice, they passed two more terrible winters drifting slowly to the southward at the rate of one mile in the month, hopiuff each summer that the ice would open, and determined not to abandcm their ships initil every \\o\)o was j^one. In nineteen months they had only moved some eij^htecn miles, their provisicms daily lessening, and th(;ir strength fast failing. They had at last left their ships foi- the Fish liiver at least two months before the river could break up and allow them to proceed, and in the then imper- fect knowledge of ice travelling they could not have carried with them more than forty days' provisions. Exhausted with scm-vy and starvation, ' they droi)i)e(l as they walked along,' and those few who reached ^Montreal Island nuist all have perished there ; and but for their liacing travelled over the fi'ozen sea we should have foimd the remains of these gallant men as they fell by the way, and but for the land being covered deeply with snow, more relics of those who had struggled to the beach to die would have been seen. They all i)erished, and, in dying in the cause of their country, their dearest con- solation must have been to feel that Kngli.shmen wonhl not rest 7.intil they had followed up their footsteps, and had given to the world what they could not then give — the grand result of their dreadful voyage — their discorcnj of llie Nortli-W^ent Pdxsdrie. They had sailed down Peel and Victoria Straits, now jvinn'opriately named Franklin Straits, and the poor human skeletons lying n})on the shores of the waters in which Deasc and Simpson had sailed from the westward, bore melancholy evidence of their success." Having witnessed with limitless gratification the satisfoction of his officers and crew with the results of the discoveries made by himself and lb tbson —results that had brought the (hmbts and griefs of nun'e tlian ten years to an end — M'Clintock now chiefly concerned himself about Captain .\llen Y(ning, who for some time had been absent with an exploring party. Youny had set out on the 7th April with a sledge party of four men, and a second sledge, drawn by six dogs, under the management of (me of the (Jreenlanders, with the view of exploring and examining Franklin Strait (first named Peel Strait) and Prince of Wales Lsland. Ilis journey was of the dismallest description. He was afflicted with almost incessant gales, and his progress thereby nuich retarded. P>nt nothing would stoj) him; for, finding that a chaniu'l i>\isted lietween Prince of Wales JiUnd and Victoiia Laml, wliereby his iiekl for discovery anil search would be lengthened, he .sent CA P '1\ \ IN ALL i:X YO US(i \S ./O iltM-: Y. fil»:3 Itiick one slcdj^o, the tout, and four men, to the sliip, in order that ho rni^dit thus 1)0 able to afford out of his stores as nuicli provision i'or himself nnd iht tliem and th (lo<;s for forty dii You nil's one companion as companion was Geoige Hobday, "a tine young man of- war's nuxu, and also a man of few words," F >'• many days Young and the silent, loyal Holiday trudged on together, sleeping at night in such snow-lodges as they could build. "They journeyed when the storms abated, pushing on — -without regard to day or night cm these occasions — as long as their strength permitted. "Once," says !M'Clintock, when quite worn out with fatigue, they slept an unbroken sleep of many hours, their snow-hut so buried in the drift as to bo unusually warm and snug, and the storm without, suj){ilying an appi'opriato lullaby; and so a day slipped by unnoticed. It would have been a marvel had they retained their reckoning during the.se forty dreary, dismal pei-iods — those days without nights. Young, however, was too good a traveller to be much put out by having lost a day. lie tested and corrected his calendar by comimring his observed lunar distance with that gi\en in the 'Nautical Almanac' " After forty days of constant exjiosure and fatigue, however, Young, whose liealth had materially sutiered, was comi)elled to return to the ship for medical aid. lie arrived on the 7th June, procured restoratives, and having somewhat recovered, Avent away again on the 10th to complete his department of the search. His zeal was inexliau.stible, and his spirit unbroken by the hardships he endured; and though 1 )r Walker lodged a protest against his again leaving the ship, on the ground that from illness ho was inuMjual to the task of resuming the search, he re-equipped his two sledge parties, and went away to the westward once more. His journey, a re])ort of which he submitted to Captain INI'Clintock, comprised in all seventy-eight days of sledgo travelling under the most trying circumstances. Its incidents and results are thus summarised by ^M'Clintock : "Leaving the ship on 7th April, he crossed Sir J. Franklin Strait to Prince of Wales Land, and thence traced its shore to the south and west. On reaching its southern termination. Cape Swinburne — so named in honour of liear-Admiral Swinburne, a much esteemed fiiend of Sir J. Franklin, .and one of the earliest supporters of this final expedition — • he describes the land as extremely low, and deeply covered with snow, tho heavy grounded hummocks which fringed its monotonous coast alone indi- cating the line of demarcation betwixt land and sea. To the north-east of this terminal cape the sea was covered with level Hoe formed in the fall of last year, whilst all to the north-westward of the .same cape was pack, con- sisting of heavy ice-masses, formed perhaps years ago in far distant and wider seas. "Young attempted to cross the channel (xM'CIintock Ciiannel) which ho discovered betwt'en Prince of Wales Island and Victoria Land, but, from tho l< i% '•■I ifll 1 001 THE FATE OF FJiANKLFN ASCERTATXED. I rugged nature of the ice, found it quite impracticable "with the means and time remaining at his disposal. Ho expresses his firm conviction that this channel is so constantly choked up -with unusually heavy ice as to bo quite unnavigable ; it is, in fact, a rotitinitoutt ice-stream from the north-west. His opinion coincides with my own, and with those of Captains Ommanncy and Osborn, when these officers explored the north-western shores of Prince of AVales Land in 1851; and also with the opinion formed by Captain U. Collinson, C.15., when that oflicer discovered Gateshead Island, which lies near its southern shore, and at the north-east extreme of Victoria Land. Fearing that his jirovisions might run short, ho sent back one sledge with four men, analth and deprcs.sed in spirits. Directly his health was partially re-established, and in sjnte of the doctor's remonstrances, he again set out on the lOth with his party of men and the dogs to comj)lete the ex})loration of both .shores of Sir John Franklin .Strait, between the position of the ' Fox ' and the points reached by Sir James IJoss in 1849, and of Lieutenant Browne- in 1851. This he accomplished without finding any trace of the lost expedition, and the parties were again on board by :28th June. The ice travelled over in this last journey was almost all formed last autumn." Of Lieutenant Kobson's journey, the principal results — the discovery of the famous record, and of an inunense number of I'elics on the north-west shores of King AVilliam L-sland — have been already referred to. He was absent from the ship seventy-four days in all, during the greater part of which time he sufi'ered acutely from scurvy. IJefore he was ten days away from the ship he was suttering severe pains in the limbs, and began to walk lanic, and towards the close of the journey ho was compelled to allow himself to be dragged on the sledge. When he arrived at the ship ho could neither walk nor stand. His illness does not seem to have been caused by iiisuHicient or unwholesome food. He ate the best pennnican- the i i.)st nutritious sort of food known — varied at intervals by newly-killed game. - --r • I LIEU TEX A XT J/OIJSOX'S Joi'RXEY. 00.-) " ITow st' -iinly tliis bcai's \\\^^1\\ tlio last sail march of tlio lost crews,' exclaims M/C'lintock. " In spite i)t' this fivsh meat, scurvy advanci'il with rajiitl strides. And here," continues the commander, " let nic observe, that anionff.st all the relics of the ill-fated expedition, )io prcscrvid noiit or Ti'iictiililc tiiitt ircre Jon 11(1, either about the cairns or along the line of retreat. The inference is as plain as it is painful ! " After leaving Captain M'Clintock at Cape Victoria, on the south-west coast of Boothia, Hobson found no dilliculty in crossing James Koss Strait. The ice, he says, appeared to be of but one year's gnnvth. As he advanced farther west, however, and came m ithin the region reached or affected by the stupendous pack which slowly but perpetually travels down .M'Clintock Channel from the fearful frozen ocean beyond the Parry l.Nliiuds, the char- acter of the ice underwent a surprising change. Immediately off tlio beach at Capo Felix the pressure was severe, but the ice itself was not remarkably heavy, as " the shoalness of the coast keeps the line of pressure at a considerable distance from the beach;" but to the northward of King William Island, where Franklin's ships were first beset, the ice was "very rough and crushed up into large masses." In fact this veiy rough ice to the northward of the island was simply the impracticable pack from ]\I'Clintock Channel, which is originally formed far to the west y Conunander Mecham as consisting of tloes, with mounds of blue ice upon it, of from five to twenty feet in height. Upon the desolate western shores of King William Island Ilobson spent thirty-one day.s. He first came upon traces of the Franklin expedition after having passed westward round Cape Felix. "He found a large cairn, and close beside it three small tents, with blankets, old clothes, and other vestige-s of a shooting or magnetic station ; but although the cairn was dug under, and a trench dug all round it to a distance of ten feet, no record was discovered. A sheet of white paper, folded up, was finuid in the cairn, but even inider the microscope no trace of writing appears. Two broken bottles (corked) lay amongst the loose stones which had fallen ott' the cairn, and these may perhaps have contained records. The most interesting of the relics, includ- ing a small English ensign, and the iron heads of two boarding-pikes, were brought away. The tents lay prostrate, and without tent poles ; it seems highly probable that the pikes had been used for that purpose, and wero subsequently burned for fuel. Two miles farther to the south-west a small cairn was found, but neither record nor relics ; and about three miles north of Point Victory a third cairn was examined, but only a broken pickaxe and empty canister found." The finding of the ships' record and the boat ha., already been described. On their return to the ship after their respective journeys, both Hobson if ' i V coo '^7/A' FATE OF FRANKLIN ASCERTAINED. and Yoiinjf wcro soriously ill. By the skill and resources of Dr Walker, however, they rapidly iniproveil, and soon Captain M'CUntock is able to state that all on board are " indulyin,k with us s(»me tiOOO lbs. of well-made pennnican, a j)arcel of IJorden's meat-biscuit, some i)ackaf,'es of an exsiccateil (dried) potato, .some pickled cabbage, and a liberal cpiantity of American dried fruits and vegetables. IJesides the.se we had the salt beef and i)ork of the navy ration, hard biscuit and flour. A very moderate .snjiply of licpiors, with the ordinary tt reU'run of an Arctic cruLser, made up tlie diet list. I lumped to procure .some fre.sh provi.'.ions in addition before reaching the ujjper coa.st of (Jreenland ; and I carried some ))arrels of malt, with a compact apparatus for brewing." Kane may well .say his .store of l)rovisions " was chosen with little regard to luxury ;" he might have added, " or health." The "Advance " left New York on the 3Uth May IH.'jS, never to return. St John's, Newfoundland, was reacheest point olitained hy my pr(!(iece.ssor, ('ai)tain In^^lelield, Jf.N. . . . Now I felt sure, from thti known openness of the .season of IH'ri, and the prohaMe mildness of the following,' winter, that wo could scarcely hope to make use of the land-ice for trackinj,', or to avail ourselves of leads alonj,' its marj^in by canvas. And thi.s opinion was contirmed by the broken and rotten appearance of the tloes during,' our coastwise drift at the Duck Islands. 1 therefore deserted the inside tra(!k of the whalers, i;nd. stood to tln^ westward, until we made the lirst streams of the middle pack ; and then, skirtinj,' the i)ack to the north- ward, headed in .slowly for the middle portion of the bay above Sabine Islands. ISIy object was to double, as it were, the loose and drift in;,' ice that had stood in my way, and, reaching,' Cape York, as nearly as niii^ht be, trust for the remainder of my passage to warpin;^ and trackint; by the heavy Hoes. We succeeded, not without sonu^ laborious boring and serious risks of entanglement among the broken icefields. lUit we managed, in every instance, to cond)at this la.st form of dilliculty by attaching our vessel to large icebergs, which enabled us to hold our own, however swiftly the sur- face floes were pressing by us to the south. Four days of this scarcely varied yet exciting navigatitm brought us to the extended fields of the pack, and a fortunate north-wester opened a passage fur us through them. Wo are now in the Xorth Water." Cape Alexander and Capo Isabella were in sight on the Oth August, and the appearance of the coast Mas cheerless and opjn-essive. l)r Kane's descripticm of it from the entrance of Sniith Sound is exceedingly graphic. He says : "As we look far ott' to the west, the snow comes down Avith heavy uniformity to the water's edge, and the patches of land seem as rare as the summer's snow on the hills about Sukkertoppcn and Fiskernaes. On the right we have an array of difls, whose frowning grandeur might dignify the entrance to the proudest of southern seas. I should say they would average from four to five hundred yards in height, with some of their precipices eight hundred feet at a single steep. They have been until now the Arctic pillars of Hercules; and they looked down on us as if they cliall(>nged our right to pas.s. Even the sailors are impressed, as we move inider their dark shadow. One of the ofhcers said to our look-out, that the gulls and eider that dot the water al»ont us were as enlivening as the white sails of the ^Icditerranean. 'Yes, sir,' he rej(»ined, Avith sincere gravity — 'yes, sir, in propcn-tion to their size ! ' " August 7, SuiKhni.-Wc have left Cape Alexander to the south; and y^\ 70-2 AliCTIC EXPEDJTinyFi I'liOM FOIUiaN SITOIiES. rittlcton Tslmid is lu-fovc uh. liidiiii,' Ciiiic iraflicitoii, the latest of Captain lii^k'licld's pusitivciy-drtiTiiiiiU'il licadlaiuls. We arc lairly iusidc (if Smith Sound. On oiii' loft is a capacious Itay ; and (loop in its noiUi-oustern roc(^ssi\s M-e can sco a ^dacior issnin*,' fioni a fiord. "Wo know this hay familiarly afterward, as the rosidonoo of a hody of I'.skinios with whom wo had many associations; hut wo littlo dreamt then that it wo>dd hear the name of a liallant fiiend, who found there the lirst traces of oiu' escape. A small clustoi' of rocks, hidden at times hy the sea, j^ave evidence of the violent tidal action ahout them. "A.s MO noared the M(\st end of Littleton I>land, after hroakfast this nlornin,l,^ 1 ascended to the crow's-nest, and savv to my sorrow the ominous Mink of ice ahead. The wind has heen freshening;' for a couple f)f days from the northward, and iC ii continues it will hrinj,' down the Hoes on us. " My mind has hoon made up from the first that we are to force our way to the north as far as the elements will let us; and I feel the importance there- fore of securiu!.;' a place of retreat, that in case of disaster we may not he idtoj^ether at lai\L;(\ Uesides, we have now I'oached one of the jioints, at wiiich., if any one is to follow us, he mi<;ht look for some trace to j-uide him." Tpon Littleton Island Dr Kane dopositeil his metallic lifeljoat, and such of his provisions and stores as it was not prohahle he should he in innnediato need of for some time to come. The hoat, with her car^^o, was huried, and covered with a mixture of sand and water, which immediately fi'oze into a solid mass. " Oiu- stores deposited," .says Kane, " it was our next ollice to erect a luvicon, and entrust to it cmr tidings, AVe chose for this purpose the western cape of Littleton Island, as moi-e conspicuous than Cape ]lathoit(»n l>\iilt our cairn, wedded a stalf into the crevices of the rocks, and si»rea(lin_u the American tla.i-'. haileil its folds with throe cheers as they expanded in tiio cold midnight Ijrcezo. Tiiese ini[)ortant duties performed — the more liuhtly, let me say, for this little Hicker of enthusiasm — we rejoined the hri.n' eaily in the niorninj,' of the 7th, and forced on a,q:ain toward the north, heating against wind and tide." It was Dr Kane's design to carry his ship as far to the north as jwssihlo, and afterwards to send out sledge parties along the .shores, with the view of discovering new lands, and advancing his country's flag to a point nearer «.»<)' north than had ever yet heen reached, lie was still, however (on the 7tli August), too far to the south U) think of going into harhour, and as the ico-hlink had heen scon from Flagstaff Point (m Littleton Island, he made up his mind to push on to the north, and attempt to horo through the ice. Ho first closed with this(lreade(l (Miemy of the .\rctic explorer off the west side of Littleton Island on Augu.st sth. In lat. 7s 4.")' he found the ice hugging the Mostern shore, and extending completely across the channel in a drift- ing mass. For a time the contest between man and floating pack was main- sroiiM. 7»»:5 tniiuMl with i'((ual lioiioiirs ; Imt a dciix' loy' coiiiin^' on, i >i' Kaiu', to avoid In'iiif,' foict'd oil tlu! (Irccnland coast, was olili.ncd to rctivat into ii "licaiiti- ful laiid-Iocki'il cove," wliitli was at'tcrwards nanu'd Iict'unc llailioiir. I'or st'veral days the "Advance" was conlincd in tliis cove, ami lor a considcraltle muultcr of days alter, hor pioyrcss alonif the cast shore of the .sound was e.\ci'cdini,dy slow. On Aui^ust l:>th Kane was tenii»ted liy a change of weather to push out fioin Jiefu^c llarhour, and try his t'ortinie once more in the ice. The stru^^le, early hi'.unn, lasted all day, and in the evening- the "Advance" had only made ihrei'-tiuarters i>f a mile of noithing. On August l.')th and IGtIi the brig icmained under tho shelt'r of an island, which jM'otected lier fr(»m the gale which lia we were at least four miles off, opposite the great valley in the centre of Bedevilled lieach. Ahead of us, farther to the north, we ccmld see the strait growing still narrower, and the heavy ice-tables grinding up, and clogging it between the shore-cliffs on one side and the ledge on the other. There was but one thing I. % rci ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. left for lis — to koop in some sort the command of the hohn, by going freely wliore we must otherwise be driven. We allowed her to scud under a reefed fore-topsail ; all hands watching the enemy, as we closed, in silence. At seven in the morning we were close upon the piling masses. We dropped our heaviest anchor with the desperate hope of winding the brig, but there was no withstanding the ice-torrent that followed us. We had only time to fasten a sjjar as a buoy to the chain, and let her slip. So went our best bower ! " Down WG went upon the gale again, helplessly scraping along a lee of ice seldom less than thirty feet thick ; one floe, measured by a line as wc tried to fasten to it, more than forty. I had seen such ice only once before, and never in such rapid motion. One upturned mass rose above our gun- wale, smashing in our bulwarks, and deoositing half a ton of ice in a lump upon our decks. Our stanch little brig bore herself through all this wild adventure as if she had a charmed life. But a new enemy came in sight ahead. Directly in our way, just beyond the line of floe-ice against which we w^cre alternately sliding and thumping, was a group of bergs. We had no power to avoid them ; and the only question was, whether we were to be dashed in pieces against them, or whether they might not offer us some pro- vidential nook of refuge from the storm. But, as wo neared them, we per- ceived that they were at some distance from the floe-edge, and separated from it by an interval of open water. Our hopes rose as the gale drove us toward this passage, and into it ; and we ^vere ready to exult, when, from some unexplained cause — probably an eddy of the wind against the lofty ice-walls — we lost our headway. Almost at the same moment we saw that the bergs were not at rest, that with a momentum of their own they were bearing down upon the other ice, and that it nuist be our fate to be crushed between the two. " Just then a broad sconce-jiicce or low water-washed berg came driving up from the southward. The thought flashed upon me of one of our escapes in INIelville Bay ; and as the sconce moved rapidly close alongside us, jNt'Gary managed to plant an anchor on its slope, and hold on to it by a whale-line. It was an anxious moment. Our noble tow-horse, whiter than the pale horse that seemed to be pursuing us, hauled us bravely on ; the spray dashing over his windward flanks, and his forehead ploughing up the lesser ico, as if in scorn. The bergs encroached upon us as we advanced : oar channel narrowed to a width of perhaps forty feet : we braced the yards to clear the impending ice-walls. " . . . We passed clear, but it was a close shave — so close that our port-quarter boat would have been crushed if Ave had not taken it in from the davits — and found ourselves under the lee of a berg, in a comparatively open lead. Never did heart-tried men acknowledge with more gratitude their merciful deliverance from a wretched death. . . ." BSBBS I ' V I H C 0 L If .7, SEA '/^ ''Ai. 1 -.^ H„„l,„sll ^- I J-', .i" ,, WV.SIIIMCTK.N I.A.N 1) ; .^ .> i ^^A 11 M V /iJ .-J r :^1 '.«■ 1 ''■'■'rrft„S|^ I ' \ 1 ^ .I.A ! I iSO I 705 , scmlinj,' his 1 clown upon i-ly iliroction. e are l;irtlior on liirf Sjiit/- letieUl pone- had ah-eady n niile.s, than U'dv tedious, t scanty tloni ed thu.s far/' 3n the shore.s nist.s of more , I rccoL'uised ■n considered J, howi^er, «)f e this science ^7."3-70, so few cut of Arctic • rather track- n to the east, r in the event ahnost at the " Opposite us ;siou of steps, around us is ■ate it. It has the interstices rthcr progress i being caught but it appears y ice to mako ver took phice y of Dr Kane. I had belonged niand by order the cruise by ems ; and it is ilunteers — Avho ler, or taken ou «■■«-—- n U'll 110 "I 1^1^ 10f» Ror'n OF TH E MAP OF TH E FRANKLIN EXPEDITION ("EREBUS «( TERR0R")l8+5 8( OF THE LATEST ENGLISH EXPEDITION (ALERT ^ DISCOVERY"! 1876 76. Franklin's suppnserl Route ni Blue.^. __ Nares' Routff in Red , \ n r T M' (> I c 1-: I c^ A N ,.u ■-•' ■ [.., l«llnT.-X jV,ir',„.,fcUl.v IH) lOO LPEDITION OR") 1 8+5 EXPEDITION T.RY") 1876-76. r?outf Ml Blue 1 Red. J.-'.... (' ruiiiftiiiiii N„ii.i^i., .uy. I .'■•) ►C r-i,.'xj^-'^''"'**'*'-" h I N C 0 L N \ ) S E A ' i ... ft' H'ti.inmftt f. u A .\ r wi4 ' LAN •> y/:^^ - •/;^r ^^ «»' '.;- -r ^,. --I sv -j,! •::-> \v. C. It I N \ K I. I. \-. "'•-)''■ ''\ 1 . V t, ^ • u\.sm.xi.T«'N I. .V .\ I) 1 :\ ..VMl -, ■■-; ,/. ■>■.... II..VI.. !i>iiiiii .; .J> •f- ' l',..il.,..lv U ,1 V K 1 . 1 . K S M K H K Aj'T H.rk .^-^ ■ '"..v^^, ' ' , '. ff.l,.,..,./,!,.,- «'''/( I.AM>I _-^ ? PaTtTcuOu ~^7f, if I. anT* • ., ? ■■■""■>■•' / i ■' ^ 1 r , : ^ .•Jtttt.tmX.V, 7j^ J V 'p*niuTik Ih..-.. IWf-K.";,'^^ ^.■.■•' Loli'^il rit'" \Vfvl 10(1 ll-iilii lit liw **«BAs«*aa«Hi fiO AO .! I J 704 ARCTIC loft for lis -to ke. where avc must ot fore-tojisail ; all hj in tlic morning m heaviest anchor av no withstanding tl a spar as a buoy t " Down wo we ice seldom less tl tried to fasten to : and never in such wale, smashing in ujion our decks, adventure as if s) ahead. Directly i w^e were alternatel no power to avoid dashed in pieces a< vidential nook of ceived that they w from it by an inter toward this passa< some unexplained ice-walls — we lost . the bergs were not bearing down upon between the two. " Just then a b: up from the soutlm in Melville Bay; INI'Gary managed 1 whale-line. It was the pale horse tha spray dashing over lesser ice, as if in & our channel narrow to clear the impend ". . . Wep port-qura-ter boat > the davits — and fou open lead. Never their merciful deliv( ^ l\ ARCTIC FLORA. ro") Tlio storm abated on tlie 22(1 ; and on the foUowinj;' day, sendiiii;' his men with a tracking-rope on to the ice-belt that seemed soldered (h>\vn u[^^n\ the beach, Kano had his brig dragged slowly along in a northerly direction. On the 23d lat. 78° 41' N. was reached, and Kane exclaims, " We are farther north, therefore, than any of our predecessors, except Parry on his Spit/- bergen foot-tramp." It may be recollected tliat Captain Ingleficld pene- trated Smith Sound only to about lat. 78" 28' N. ; .so that Kane had alreaily pushed his ship farther through Smith Sound, by about thirteen miles, than any previous navigator. Progress at this period was exceedingly teilious, and Dr Kano has leisure to interest himself in the peculiar but scanty Hora of the district in which he found himself. " We liave collected thus fai'," he says, " no less than twenty-two si)ecies of Howering plants on the shores of this bay. Scanty as this starved thn-a may seem to the botanists of nn)re favoured zones, it was not without surprise and interest that I recognised among its thoroughly Arctic types many plants which had been considered as indigenous only to more southern latitudes." The botany, howo\er, of the Arctic regions is interesting mainly to those who have made this science a special and enthusiastic study; and in the expedition of 1875-70, so few new species have been discovered that this special department of Arctic investigation will be pursued only by the few. ( )n the 24th the crew of the "Advance " kept dragging, or rather track- ing her onward. For some time the course pursued had been to the east, toward the head of a deep indentation, which promised shelter in the event a further progress northward being impossible. " We are now almost at the bottom of this indentation," writes Kane, on the 24tli August. " Opposite us on the shore is a remarkiible terrace, which rises in a succession of steps, until it is lost in the low rOcks of the back country. The ice around us is broken but heavy, and so compacted that we can barely penetrate it. It has snowed hard since ten p.m. of yesterday, and the sledge fills up the interstices of the floes. Nothing but a strong south wind can give us further progress to the north." On the following day he writes, " I do not like being caught by winter before attaining a higher northern latitude than this, but it appears almost inevitable. . . . We are suflieiently surrounded by ice to make om chances of escape next year uncertain." About this time one of the most singular incidents that ever took place under similar circumstances occurred to disturb the equanimity of Dr Kane. Of the seventeen men who made up his officers and crew, ten had belonged to the United States Navy, and were attached to Kane's connnand by order from the Navy Department ; the others were shipped for the cruise by Lr Kane himself. "All of them were volunteers " also, it seems ; and it is very clear that every one of these free and independent volunteers — who were either drafted to the expedition by Navy Department order, or taken on 14 4 u 706 AUCTJC i:.\i>i:i)iTioxs jiulm foukii.'x shores. by Dr Kaiio at a salary — thou^lit hinisclf ((uito us i^ootl as his noi<;hl)()ur. Tt is not siirprisin.L;', tluTcroic, that toward the close of Aui^iist, after labouriii<4' ini'cssantlyaiiioiiL;' snow and iee, and making so litUe proL;ress, these ,nentlenieu should I'rcH'ly express their opinions upon the situation generally. " ^My otticers and er(>w," writes Kane, "are stanch and linn men; but the de- jiressing iidlnences of want of rest, the rai)id advance of winter, and, abovo all, our slow progress, make them sympathise but little with this continued effort to force a way to the north. C)iu' of them, an excellent niemlier of the l)arty, volunteered an expression of opinion this morning in favour of retni ing to the south and giving xip the attem})t to winter. It is unjust for a n- dc!' to n sure his subordinates in such hxiu'em by h oAvn conuna standard. The interest which they feel in an undertaking is of a dill'erent natiu'c from his own. With him there are always personal motives, apart from ollicial duty, to stinudatc effort, lie receives, if successful, too large a share of the credit, and he justly bears all thg odium of failure. An appro- liension — 1 hope a charitable one — of this fact leads me to consider the opinions of my ollicers with nuich res])cct. I called them together at once, iu a formal council, and listened to their views in full. With but one excep- tion, INIr Henry Brooks, they were convinced that a further progress to the north was impossible, and were in favour of returning southward to winter. Kot being able conscientiously to take the same view, I explained to them the importance of securing a ])osition which might expedite our sledge journeys in the future ; and, after assuring them that such a position could only l)e attained by continuing our efforts, announced my intention of warp- ing toward the northern headland of the bay. 'Once there, I shall be able to determine from actual inspection the best point for setting out on the operations of the spring; and at the nearest possible shelter to that point I will put the brig into Avinter harl)our.' i\[y conu-ades received this decision in a manner that was most gratifying, and entered zealou.sly \\\)o\\ the hard and cheerless duty it involved." Thus the complaints of this little floating democracy Avere soothed by one well- the pack; on the right the impracticable ice-belt, Avith a wall-like face ten feet in height. The boat was hauled up upon this table of land-ice, secured and stowed away on tho ](!C side of a hununock. The travellers pu^^ll'xl forward over the ice, which Avas occasionally rent into huge gorges, across Avhich the .sledge was passed A\ ith great dilliculty. The character of the travelling had nothing ncAV or surprising to readers of the present work. It is enough to state that after ■Ml absence of five days from the shi[), Kane and his '• Forlorn Hopes" had >'niy advai ced forty miles. They now decided to leave the sledge Avith stores behind, and proceed on for a few days on foot. On the -ttli Septem- ber the travellers Avalked twenty-four miles. On the "ith, ^Mary Minturu ] liver Avas discovered and named. In the morning Kane forded this great river, Avhich falls into an expansive bay. Crossing over to the north-eastern headland of tho bay, Kane's party named this headland Chimney liock, fiom its suggestive appearance. Dr Kane, however, shoAvcd his taste, and his Aveakness for high art, by naming it Cape AVilliam ]\[akepeace Thackeray. Does not the great novelist acknoAvledge the compliment in his " Book of Snobs ? " Having aired his reading by hariging the iianio of a distinguished author upon this groat chimney-stack of a clifi', Kane pushed on eleven miles farther, to another headland, and then prepared to return toAA'ard tho brig. liut first, standing as he noAV did upon the most northerly point of his adven- turous journey. Cape Ceorge Iiu.ssell, he surveyed the strange scene around. " I shall never forget the sight," he Avrites, "avIiou, after a hard day's Avail:, I looked out from an altitude of 11 00 feet, upon an expanse extending beyond the eightieth i)arallel of latitude. Far off on my h>ft Avas the Avcstern •shore of the souiid, losing itself in distance toAA'ard the north. To my right, a rolling primary country led im to a Ioav dusky, Avalldike ridge, Avhich 1 after- Avard recognised as the Great Glacier of Humboldt; and still beyond this, reaching nortlnvard from the north-north-cast, aa\is the land Avhich now bears ( f H n (03 AliCrrC EXPEDITUXS FJiOM FOUEIGS STTORES. tlic name of "NVasliiiiston : its most projcctin*,' hoacUaiul, Capo Andrew Jack- son, bore fourteen degrees by sextant from the farthest hill, Cape John I>arrow, on tlie opposite side. The great area between Mas a solid sea of ice. Close along its shore, almost looking down npon it from the erest of our lofty station, we could see the long lines of hunimoeks dividing the floes like the trenches of a beleaguered city. Farther out, a stream of iceljcrgs, increasing in numbers as they receded, showed an almost impenetrable barrier; since I could not doubt that among their recesses the ice was so crushed as to be imi)assable by the sledge. Nevertheless, beyond these again, the ice seemed less obstructed. Distance is very deceptive upon the ice, subduing its salient features, and reducing even lofty bergs to the ap- jiearance of a smooth and attractive plain. lUit, aided by my Fraunhofer telescope, I could see that traversable areas were still attainable. Slowly, and almost with a sigh, T laid the glass down and made up my mind for a winter search. I had seen no place cond)ining .so many of the requisites of a good winter harbour as the bay in which we left the 'Advance.' Near its south-western corner the wide streams and the water-courses on the shore jn'omiscd the earliest chances of liljeration in the coming summer. It was secure against the moving ice : lofty headlands walled it in beautifully to seaward, enclo.sing an anchorage with a moderate depth of water ; yet it was open to the meridian sunlight, and guarded from winds, eddies, and drift. The space enclosed was only occupied by a few rocky islets and our brig. We soon came in sight of her on our return march, as she lay at anchor in its southern sweep, with her masts cutting sharply against the white glacier ; and, hurrying on through a gale, were taken on board with- out accident, !^^y comrades gathered anxiously around me, waiting for the new.s. I told them in few words of the results of our journey, and why I had determined upon remaining, and gave at once the order to warp in between the islands. We found seven-fathom soundings and a pcrfec*^ shelter from the outside ice ; and thus laid our little brig in the harbour, which we were ftited never to leave together, — a long resting-place to her iudcedj for the same ice is around her still." J A .]//:/{ /( '. [ X r.xri.h i ru f\s. 709 J CHATTER II. EXTREME COLD— A TEltltlRLE MARCH— FATAL liF.SlLTS— SIMtlNC .TOT-HNEV— HK- SOURCES OF THE I'OLAR WORLD — ONE TOO MANY— THK " OI'KN I'OLAR SKA " F:XTRA0RDINARY UEAR-FIGHT — candid CONFESSION. Winter fiuartovs having boon properly established in Itensselaor IIarl)our — the name given by Pr Kane to the inlet into which the "Advance" had been warped — the laying ont of provision depots to facilitate the examina- tion of the neighbouring coasts in spring was next ^jrcK-eeded with. In carrying out these depots, which occupied the explorers till the 2()th IS'ovcmber, when the disappearance of the sun brouglit these operations to an end, the distances traversed and re-traverscd amoimtcd in all to 800 miles. The incidents of the first winter at llensselaer Harbour were few, and not unusually interesting. The cold of the winter svas most intense. " On the 5th February," says Kane, "our thermometers began to show unex- ampled temperature. They ranged from 00' to 7.')' below zero, and one very reliable instrument stood upon the tatlrail of our brig at -0.3°. The reduced mean of our best spirit-standards gave -67', or 99' below the freez- ing-point of water. At these temperatures chloric ether became solid, and carefully prepared chloroform exhibited a granulated pellicle on its surface. Spirit of naphtha froze at -o-t^ and oil of sassafras at -:A)\ . . . The exhalations from the surface of the body invested the exposed or partially- clad parts Avith a wreath of vapour. The air had a perceptil)le pungency upon inspiration ; but I coxM not perceive the painful sensation which has been spoken of by some Siberian travellers. When breathed for any length of time, it imparted a sensation of dryness to the air-passages. I noticed that, as it were involuntarily, we all breathed guardedly with compressed lips." It maybe noted here that Captain Nares, who wintered in 82' 24' X., a hioher latitude than any vessels had ever before attained, and about 2.")0 miles north of Eensselacr Harbour, experienced no severer temperature than 72' below zero, or 104° below freezing-point. The sun reappeared on the 21st February, and the month of .Afarch aoain brought round the long Arctic day. The cold during this month is I •10 AjiCTic i:si'i:i)irio.\s ihom ronrjax srronES. |i u fcjirful, 1)Ut it is iiocTssary lutw to <1«» sniin'*'iiii«,' in inopiiratinn for an I'xtcniU'd Joiinu'V noitlnvaiil. Anoidi?,' in ailvanri'd corps of \\w stronu'i'st men, uihIci- Mr llinoks, tlu* fi . ilicor, is sent away to place a rcii('icarj;o of provisions at ten days' Journey from the h\'\)i. Kleven '.lays pass, and Kane and liis companions in the J)ri.ir are at work in thi- shii» pro- paiin;^ for tlie sprint;' Journey, wlien at niidni;^dit they are startled by the s(iunr, and Petersen, the inteipieter, all of wlntm had l)elon;;;ed to the advanced corps tliat had set out on tin- lIMli. came down into the cabin. "Their maimer startled me," say.s Kane, "even more than their unexpected a]ipearance on hoard. Tiiey were swollen and hair'^ard, and hardly ahle to speak, 'liieir story was a feaiful one. They had left their companions in the ice, risking; their own lives to hrinj; u.s tho news: Jhooks, liaker, AVilson, and rierr(\ were all lyinj,' frozen and disal»letl. Where? Th(>y could not tell : somewhere in amont; the hummocks to the north and east ; it was driitiiin heavily idund them when they parteil. Irish Tom had stayed hy to feed ami care for the others : hut the chances were .>orely against them. It was in vain to question them further. Th(>y had evid(>ntly tra- velled a Ljreat distance, for they were sinking with fati<,'ue and hunger, and could hardly be rallied enough to tell us the direction in which they had come. My first impulse was to move on the instant with an iuiencuinb(>red ]tarty : a rescue, to be effective or even hopeful, could not bo too prom[)t. A\'hat pressed on my mind most was, where the sufferers wore to bo looked for amonj^ the drifts. Olsen seemed to have his faculties rather more at command than his associates, and T thouu'ht that he mii;ht assist us as a guide; but he was sinking- with exhaustion, and if he went Avith us we must carry him. There was not a moment to be lo.st. While some were still busy with the ncw-conu'is and f,a'tting ready a hasty meal, others were rigging out tho ' Little Willie ' sledge Avith a butlalo-cover, a .small tent, and a package of pemmican; and, as soon as we could hurry through our arrange- ments, Olsei: was strapped on in a fur bag, his legs wrapped in dog-skins and eider-down, and we were oft" upon the ice. Our party consisted of nine men and myself. AVe carried only the clothes on our backs. The ther- mometer stood at — 40 , 7erg,' served as our first land- mark: other icebergs of colos.sal size, which .stretched in long beaded lines across tho bay, helped to guide us afterward ; and it was not until we had travelled for sixteen hours that we began to lose our way. We knew that our lost companions mnst be somewhere in the area before us, within a radius of forty miles. jNIr Olsen, who had been fo'" fifty hours without rest, fell asleep as soon as wo began to move, and .awoke now with un- equivocal signs of mental di.sturbance. It became evident that he had lost A TKUHHiLi: MAliCir rii tlio bonriii;; (tf tlic i(cl)or<(s, wliicli in form and colour endlossly rciu'utiMl tlicmsclves ; and tlio unif'uMiiity of tlic vast field of snow utterly IWibado tlio hope of local landmarks, rnsliiiii,' alie;id dl'tlie parly, and clainlierin^ over sniiie ru;,'i;('d ice piles, I eanie to :i Ioul; h'vel Hoe, wliieh I thought nii;;lit l)riilialtly have attracted the eyes of weary men in eucumstances like our own. It was a lij^'Iit conjecture; but it was enouj;h to turn the scale, for there was no other tt) balance it. I «;uve ord(>rs to abandon the; sled^i', and disperse in search of footmarks. "NVe raised oiu- tent, placed our pennuican in ciirlw, except a sp'sill allowance for each man to carry on his person ; and ))oor Olsen, now just able to keep his legs, was liberated from his ba^'. 'J'he thermometer had fallen by this time to —45) 3', and the wind was settini; in .shaiply fiom the north-west. It was out of the (piestion to hall: it re(piire(l brisk exercise to keep us from free/in;«.ity, and food for a journey of lifty hour.s. Everything else was abandoned, 'i wo large butfalo-bags, each made of four skins, were doubled up, so us to form a sort of sack, lined on each side by fur, closed at the bottom but opened at tho top. This was laid on the .sledge ; tho tout, smoothly folded, serving as a floor. Tho sick, with their limbs sowed up carefully in rein- deer .skins, Avero placed upon the bed of buffalo robes, in a half-reclining jtosture; other skin.''' and blanket-bags were thrown above them; and tho "whole litter was lashed together so as to allow but a single opening opposite the mouth for breathing. This necessary work cost us a great deal of time and effort. I; was completed at last, however ; all hands stood round ; and after lepcating a short prayer, wo set out on our retreat." How the retreat to the biig was accomplished no man in it has ever boon able distinctly to tell. For the first six hours the party advanced at the rate of a mile an hour. They were still nine miles from tho half-way .station, where Kane had left the tent on tho previous day, when the energies of tho men began to fail. Tho fatal lethargy which is induced by long ex^josurc to extreme cold, and which begets tho desire to lie down at onco and abandon one's self to the sleep of death, seemed about to overpower tho Avliole party. They begged to be allowed to lie down a little and sleep, and in spite of all the exertions of their leader, who " wrestled, boxed, ran, argued, jeered, and reprimanded " in vain, a halt had to be called, and the tent was pitched. Leaving tho party in charge of M'Gury, with instructions to bring on tho men after allowing them four hours' sloop, Dr Kane started off with one companion — William Godfrey — with the view of reaching the half-way tout and preparing a refreshment of water and pcmmican. The distance to tho tent was nine miles ; but neither Kane nor Godfrey could tell how long they took to get over this distance. " We were neither of us in our right senses," says the leader, " and retained a very confused recollection of what preceded our arrival at the tent." They remember a bear, however, or think they remember him. He walked leisurely before them to tho tent, tearing up a fur coat that he fell in with, and rolling it up into a ball. Godfrey declared that he saw the animal playing in the same FATAL nr.SILTS. 13 ludo fashion with tho tent; but on anivini,' they only fiuiid t ho tent over- tiiiiu'd. 'llicy rai.scil it with dillliulty, crawled into tiifir reindrff sK-fpiu;;- ltaj,'.s, and slept deeply f(»r three hours. Awaking', th(>y wjtc ahle, Iteforo tho rest of tho party arrived, to cook soup, which was enjoyed liy all. Thoso that wei'(' lame wen^ now repacked in their fur rol»es and I'eplaced on tho sledijes, and the entire party s(^t out for the hrii,'. I5ut the march acros 'ho upraised hununocks was a d( sperate one. 'I'lic; streni^lh of the travellers a,i;ain failoil thoin, they lost their self-conunand, and coulil not refrain fnnu eatin;^ snow. Tho usual results ftllowed. 'J'heir mouths swelled, and several of them became speechless. "Our halts multiplied," writes Kane, "anil wo fell half-sleepint; on the snow. I could not prevent it. Strange to say, it rofreshi"! us. I ventured upon the experiment myself, makinj; Jiiley wako me at tho end of three minutes; and I felt so nuich benelited by it that I timed the men in tlu; same way. They sat on tho runners of tho sledj^o, fell asleep instantly, and were forceil to wakefuhuvss when their threo minutes were out. J>y eight in tho evening,' ^vo cmei-ged from tho tloes. Tho si<,dit of tho Pinnacly IJerj,' revived us. Brandy, an invaluable resource in emerj,fency, had already been served out in tablespoonful doses. We now took a longer rest, and a last but stouter (b'am, and reached tiie brig at one I'.M., we believe without a halt. I say we (H'/icre; and here perhaps is tho most decided proof of our sulferings : wo were quite delirious, and had ceased to entertain a sane apprehension of the circumstances about us. Wo moved on like men in a dream. Our footmarks seen afterward showed tliat we had steered a bee-line for the brig. It nuist have been by a sort of instinct, for it left no impress on the memory. IJonsall was sent staggering ahead, and reached tho brig, God knows how, for he had fallen repeatedly at the track-lines ; but he delivered with punctilious accuracy the messages I had sent by him to Dr Hayes. I thought myself tho soundest of all, for I went through all the formula of sanity, and can recall tho muttering delirium of my comrades when we got back into the cabin of our brig. Yet I liav(i been told since of some speeches and some orders too of mine, which I should have remembered for their al)surdity if my mind had retained its balance. Petersen and Whi]>i)lo came out to meet us about two miles from the brig. They brought my tlog-team, with the restoratives I had sent for by Bonsall. I do not remember their coming. Dr Hayes entered with judicious energy upon tho treatment our condition called for, administering morphine freely, after the usual frictions. He reported none of our brain- symptoms as serious, referring them properly to the class of those indications of exhausted power which yield to generous diet and rest." This unfortunate journey resulted in the death of two of the men, jetfer- son Baker and Peter Schubert, and two others suftered amputation of parts of the foot. The party had been out seventy-two hours, and had travelled be- 14 4x I' il 714 ./ RCTTC EXPEDITIONS EROM FOREIGN SHORES. m} 1 i twecn ciylity and ninety nules. The mean tcmpcratnre dnring the jonrncy Avas 70° boldw freezing-point. Life at Eenssehier Harbour was varied by a visit of Eskimos on tho morni;ig of the 7th April. Their chief, ]\[etek, was nearly a head taller than l)r Kane, and was powerful and well built in an innisnal degree. Tho natives were healthy, well dressed, armed with knives and lances, and were in possession of a large number of fine dogs. Kane bought all the walnis- meat they had to spare, together with four of their dogs (for needles, beads, {\nd cask-staves), and entered into a treaty with them, in terms of which they solemnly promised to return in a few days with more fresh meat, and to lend their dogs and sledges to be used by the explorers on the journeys of dis- covery they were about to makn. From his intercourse with the Eskimos, however, Kane was not destined to derive much benefit for some time to come. On the •27tli April Dr Kane set out with seven men on a sledge journey along the east shore of Smith Sound. This journey was to be the crowning expedition of the campaign. Its results accorded so well with surveys sub- sequently made as to define the outline of this lino of coast with what this explorer calls "great certainty." From Capo Alexander, the westernmost cape of Greenland, the shore runs nearly north and south ; at Ivefugo Inlet it bends away east. This northern face of Greenland is broken by two large bays. Its aspect is imposing, abutting upon the water-line in headlands from 800 to 1400 feet high, and one range of precipice presenting an unbroken wall 45 miles in length. From lat. 79" 12' north to about 80° 12' the coast of Greenland is covered by the Great Glacier of Humboldt. This glacier forms an insuperable obstacle to exploration in this direction. " It is con- tinuous," says Kane, " with the 7)ie}' de glace (ice-sea) of interior Greenland, and is the largest true glacier known to exist. Its fiice is from 300 to 500 feet in height. ... It was in full sight — the mighty crystal bridge which connects the two continents of America an'I Greenland. I su}^ continents, for Greenland, however insulated it may ultimately prove to be, is in mass strictly continental. Its least possible axis, measured from Cape Farewell to the line of this glacier, in the neighbourhood of the 80th parallel, gives a length of more than 1200 miles. . . . Imagine now the centre of such a continent, occupied through nearly its whole extent by a deep unbroken sea of ice, that gathers pevennial increase from the water-shed of vast snow-covered mountains, and all the precipitations of the atmosphere upon its own frozen surface. Imagine this moving onward like a great glacial river, seeking outlets ac every ford and valley, rolling icy cataracts into the Atlantic and Greenland seas ; and having at last reached the northern limit of the Land that has borne it up, pouring out a mighty frozen torrent into unknown Arctic space. . . . Hero was a plastic, moving, semi-solid mass, obliterating hfe, swal- SPIflXC JOUnXKY. i I.) i lowing rocks and islanils, and idouyhing its way with irrosistiblo march through the crust of an investing sea." Kano and his party had not succeeded in approaching the glacier till the 4th JNfay. "This progress, however," writes Kane, "was dearly earned. As early as the 8d of May the whiter 's scurvy reap^ieared painfully among our party. As we struggled through the snow along the (Jreenland coast we sank up to our middle, and the dogs, Houndering about, were so buried as to preclude any attempts at hauling. This excessive snow-deposit seemed to be duo to the precipitation of cold condensing wind suddenly wafted from the neighbouring glacier ; for at Kensselaer Harbour we had only four inches of general snow depth. It obliged us to unk)ad our skxlges again, and carry their cargo, a labour which resulted in dro])sical swellings with j)aiuful i)ros- tration. Here three of the party were taken with snow-blindness, and (jreorge Stephenson had to be condemned as unfit for travel altogether, on account of chest symptoms accompanying his scorbutic troubles. (.)n the 4th Thomas Mickey also gave in, although not quite disal)led for labour at the track-lines. I'erhaps we would still have got on, but, to crown all, wo found that the bears had effected an entrance into our penimican casks, ami destroyed our chances of reinforcing our provisions at the several i'lichea. This great calamity was certainly inevitable, for it is simple justice to the oflicers under whose charge the provision depots were constructed, to say that no means in their power could have prevented the result. The penimi- can was covered with blocks of stone which it iiad required the laliour of three men to adjust ; but the extraordinary strength of the bear had en- abled him to force aside the heaviest rocks, and his pawing had broken the iron casks which held our pemmicau literally into chips. Our alcolid cask, wdiich it had cost me a separate and special journey in the late fall to deposit, was so completely destroyed that we could not find a stave of it." When struggling onward, Dr Kane was seized with a sudden pain, and fainted off" Cape Kent, in latitude about 70' N. His limbs became rigid, and symptoms of lockjaw supervened. He was strapped on a, sledge, and tor some time the march was continued as usual. On the 4th one of his feet was frozen, and on the 5th he became delirious, and fainted every time he was taken from th" tent to the sledge. These, with a thousand other melan- choly particulars, he afterwards learned from the medical report of Dr Hayes, and from conversation with his comrades. Scurvy, with symptoms like his own, had already broken out among his men, and IMorton, the strongest man of the party, was now beginning to give way. These men, however, tliough themselves scarcely able to walk, ca'""ied their leader by forced marclH'.s back to the brig, where they arrived on the 14th jMay. For a week, activity was suspended in Kensselaer Harbour, and the discovery brig " Advance" I! i il •16 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. was i^ractically nothing better than an hospital ship. As Kane and his companions began to recover, the objects of the voyage were resumed. It was resolved to send out a small party to cross the frozen sound, and examine its west shore to the north and east of Cape Sabine of Captain Inglefield. Dr Hayes was selected for this enterprise, and with him was associated William Godfrey. Hayes was furnished with a team of dogs, and on the 2()th ]\Iay he set out from Itensselaer Harbour. He started away with his dog-sledge and driver in a northward direction, and though he travelled only fifteen miles on the 20th, he made fifty miles, on comparatively smooth ice, on the 21st. On the 27th he reached the opposite (west) side of the bay. On the 26th, hoAvcver, Godfrey broke down, and for some days previously Hayes himself had been snow-blind. The dogs were now in bad Avorking trim. Their rude harness, consisting of a single trace of walrus or sealskin, passing from their chests over their haunches to the sledge, had so frequently been broken or cut for the purpose of disentangling the animals, that it had became almost unserviceable. " It was only after appropriating an undue share of his sealskin breeches that the leader of the party (Hayes) succeeded in patching up his dog-lines. ' This curious expedient served the purpose, however, and on the 27th Hayes found himself on the west coast, in lat. 79° 45' N., long. 60° 12' W., and with Cajjcs Fraser and Leidy in front of him. The cliffs of this part of the western shore of Smith Strait Avere of mingled limestone and sandstone. To the north they exceed 2000 feet in height, while lo the southward they diminish to about 1200 feet. The ice-foot or strip of land-ic varied from 50 to 150 feet ip width, and stood out against the darl. debris thrown down by the cliffs in a clean, naked shelf of dazzling white. "The course of the party to the westward along the land-ice was interrupted by a large indentation which they had seen and charted while approaching the coast." This indentation is now well known as Dobbin Bay. After identifying the position of Cape Sabine, Hayes commenced his return across the ice to winter quarters, which ho reached, without serious casualty, on the 1st Juno. •' This journey," says Kane, " connected the northern coast with the siuTcy of my predecessor; but it disclosed no channel or any form of exit from this bay. It convinced me, however, that such a channel must exist ; for this great curve could b 3 no cul-de-sac. Even were my observations since my first fall journey of September 1853 not decisive on this head, the general movement of the icebergs, the character of the tides, and the equally sure analogies of physical geography, would point unmiiitakably to such a conclusion. To verify it, I at once commenced the organisation of a double party. This, which is called in my report the North-East Party, was to be assisted by dogs, but was to be subsisted as far as the Great Glacier by provisions carried by a foot party in advance." liESOURCES OF THE POLAR WORLD. 717 \ \ On the arrival of Dr Ilaycs on board the "Advance," he could report only five persons out of the seventeen otiieers and men as " sound " or " well." Those "sound" men Avere Olscu, IVl'Gary, Tom Ilickey, Hans Christian (the Eskimo hunter of Fiskernaes), and Gettrge liiley. Hans the hunter had proved himself a most valualjle menilier of this small community. Early in the season he had shot two deer, and as the season advanced he continued to provide the ship with a seal every day, together with ptarmigan, ducks, and other game. Seals abounded in Rensselaer Harbour ; and Kane learned to prefer the flesh to that of the reindeer. "Writing on the 30th jNIay of the resources of Rensselaer Harbour, of the hunting exploits of Hans, and of the possibility of Europeans supporting life from year to year within the Arctic circle, Dr Kane says : " .Seal of the Hispid variety, tlie Xetsik of the Eskimo and Danes, grow still more numerous on the level floes, lying cau- tiously in the sun beside their atluks. By means of the Eskimo stratagem of a white screen pushed forward on a sledge until the concealed hunter comes within range, Hans has shot four of them. We have more fresh meat than we can eat. For the past three weeks we have been living on ptar- migan, rabbits, two reindeer, and seal. They are fast curing our scurvy. With all these resources, coming to our relief so suddenly too, how can my thoughts turn despairingly to poor Franklin and his crew 1 Can they have survived ? No man can answer with certainty ; but no man without pre- sumption can answer in the negative. If, four months ago — surrounded by darkness and bowed down by disease — I had been asked the question, I would have turned toward the black hills and the frozen sea, and responded in sympathy with them, ' Xo.' lint with the return of light a savage people come down upon us, destitute of any but the rudest appliances of the chase, who were fattening on the most wholesome diet of the region, only forty miles from our anchorage, while I was denouncing its scarcity. For Frank- lin, everything depends upon locality : but, from what I can see of Arctic exploration thus far, it woidd be hard to find a circle of fifty miles' diameter entirely destitute of animal resources. The most solid winter-ice is open here and there in pools and patches, worn by currents and tides. Such wei'c the open spaces that Parry found in Wellington Channel ; such are tho stream-holes (stromhols) of the Greenland coast, the polynia of the Russians ; and such we have ourselves found in the most rigorous cold of all. To these spots the seal, walrus, and the early birds crowd in numbers. One which kept open, as we find from the Eskimos, at Littleton Island, only forty miles from us, sustained three families last winter until the opening of the north water. Now, if we have been entirely supported for the past three weeks by the hunting of a single man — seal-meat alone being plentiful enough to subsist us till we turn homeward — certainly a party of tolerably skilful hunters might lay up an abundant stock for the winter. As it IS, wc aro ill 718 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. nicaking caches of meat under the snow, to prevent its spoiling on our Lands, in the very spot which a few days ago I describetl as a Sahai'a. And, indeed, it was so for nine whole months, when this flood of animal life burst upon us like fountains of water and pastures and date-trees in a southern desert. " I have undergone one change in opinion. It is of the ability of Euro- peans or Americans to inure themselves to an idtra-Arctic climate. God forbid, indeed, that civilised man should be exposed for successive years to this blighting darkness ! But around the Arctic circle, even as high as 72', where cold — and cold only — is to be encountered, men may be acclimatised, for there is light enough for out-door labour." But, notwithstanding the circumstance that this small crew of seventeen nio'u were so amply provided with fresh meat, the fact remains, that after spending only one winter in this favoured spot, twelve out of the seventeen were affected with the wasting disease of scurvy, and that among the men selected to form the " north-east party," for the examination of the shores of Washington Land to the north of the Great Glacier of Humboldt, it was necessary to employ several who were thus affected. The orders of this exploring party were to carry their sledge forward as far as the Great Glacier, and fill uji with provisions from the cache deposited there. Hans was to join them here, and while IM'Gary, with three men, were then to attempt to scale and survey the glacier, Morton and Hans were to push on to the north, " across the hay, with the dog-sledge, and advance along the more distant coast." Morton seems to have enjoyed the fall confidence of his commander, though he has not been fortunate enough to secure in equal measure the esteem of subsequent navigators. The north-east party left the brig on the 4th June, leaving behind " a parcel of sick." i^'till there was much hope for the sick. Early in June the sun shone out bravely, and the temperature felt " like a homo summer." Hans, the ever faithful, brought in a seal daily, as well as ptarmigan and hare occasionally. The snow-birds twittered round the housing on the upper deck of the brig, while on shore the Andromeda, dwarf willo.,s, lichens, and other moss-like plants covered the rocks and ravines with green. Kane is able to go out for the first time on the 9th June, and was much surprised to find that the thaw, which had been reported as progressing famously, was still backward, and that the season would cer- tainly be a late one. He found that the ice-foot had not materially changed either in breadth or level, and that the floe showed less change than the Lancaster Sound ice does, even in early May. "All this," says Kane, " warns me to prepare for the contingency of not escaping. It is a momentous warn- ing. We have no coal for a second winter here ; our stock of provisions is utterly exhausted ; and our sick need change, as essential to their recovery." Hans went off on the 10th to join the north-east party On the 27th IM'Gary and his three companions who were sent to examine ' OXE TOO MANY. 719 1 the Great Glacier returned to the ship all more or less snow-blind. They reached the glacier on the 15tli, after twelve days' travel. They were pro- vided with alpenstocks, " foot-clampers," and other apparatus for climbing ice ; but they reported that any attempt to scale the huge icy mass would have been madness. They brought back, however, a continued series of valuable observations for the authentication of Dr Kane's survey. Their results corresponded with those arrived at by their leader and by jNIr Sontag, "and," saj's Kane, " I may be satisfied now M'ith our projection of the Greenland coast." The- party had a singularly exciting bear adventure. On one occa- sion, having camped on the ice, they were all asleep in their tent when, shortly after midnight, M'Gary either heard or fcslt a scratching of the snow close to his head. " It waked him just enough to allow him to recognise a huge animal actively engaged ii' reconnoitring tho circuit of the tent. His startled outciy aroused his companion inmates, but without in any degree dii turbing the unwelcome visitor — specially un^'-.L^onie at that time and place, for all the guns had been left on the slecij^o, a little distance off, and there was not so much as a walking-pole inside. There was, of course, something of natural confusion in the little council of war. The first impulse was to make a rush for the arms ; but this was soon decided to be very doubtfully practicable, if at all ; for the bear, having satisfied himself with his observations of the exterior, now presented himself at the tent- opening. Sundry volleys of lucifer matches and some impromptu torches of newspaper were fired without alarming him, and, after a little while, he planted himself at the doorway and began making his supper upon the car- cass of a seal which had been shot the day before. Tom Hickey was the first to bethink him of the military device of a sortie from the postern, and, cutting a hole with his knife, crawled out at tho rear of the tent. Here he extricated a boat-hook, that formed one of the supporters of the ridge-pole, and made it the instrument of a right valourous attack. A blow well administered on the nose caused the animal to retreat for the moment a few paces beyond the sledge, and Tom, calculating his distance nicely, sprang forward, seized a rifle, and fell back in safety upon his comrades. In a few seconds more, Mr Bonsall had sent a ball through and through the body of his enemy. I was assured that after this adventure the party adhered to the custom I had enjoined, of keeping at all limes a watch and fire-arms inside the camping-tent." To the Polar bear Kane not inaptly applies the name " tiger of the ice." The wonderful strength of this animal had enabled it to destroy the most advanced and the largest cache of provisions that had been carried out north- ward by the people of the "Advance." The cache was completely ^vl'ecked. " Not a morsel of pommican remained, except in the iron cases, which, being round, with conical ends, defied both claws and teeth." Iron-bound cases \ j'^il 720 ARCTIC EXPEDITIOXS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. i I 1 Avcre clashed into fragnionts . and a tin can of liquor was torn up and twisted entirely out of sliajie. " The claws of the beast," says Kane, " had jierforated the metal, and torn it up as with a cold chisel." On the 10th July jNIorton and Hans came staggering '^^owards the brig with their team of exhausted and dispirited dogs. IVIorton had reached the Great Glacier, with the rest of the party, on the loth June ; on tha following day Hans arrived with the dogs, and on the 17th the two men started with their sledge on a northward route, parallel to the glacic r, and at the dis- tance of about six miles from it. After a journey of tAventy-eight miles, they camped on ice seven feet five inches thick. Next day they reached the middle of Peabody Bay, which extends in front of the glacier. They now reached high, glassy, blue hummocks, and bergs "looking in all respects like the face of the Great Glacier." On the 20th Morton, still following the route to the north, was arrested by "wide seams in the ice, bergs, and much broken ice." lie therefore turned round and went back to his last camp, from which he went away westward toward the west coast of the strait. From this point on to its close, Morton's nar- rative has been the subject of iv great deal of discussion, and not a little ridicule. On June 21st they stood to the north along the west coast. " The ice was weak and rotten, and the dogs began to tremble. Proceeding at a brisk rate, they had got upon unsafe ice before they were aware of it. Their course was at the time nearly up the middle of the channel ; but, as soon as possible, they turned, and, by a backward circuit, reached the shore. The dogs, as their fashion is, at first lay down and refused to proceed, trembling violently. The only Avay to induce the terrified, obstinate brutes to get on, was for Hans to go to a Avhite-looking spot where the ice was thicker, the soft stuff" looking dark ; then, calling the dogs coaxingly by name, they woidd crawl to him on their bellies. So they retreated from place to place, until they reached the firm ice they had quitted. A half-mile brought them to comparatively safe ice, a mile more to good ice again. In the midst of this danger they had, during the liftings ( f the fog, sighted open water, and they now saw it plainly. There was no wind stirring and its face was perfectly smooth. It was two miles fiirther up the channel than the firm ice to which they had retreated. Hans could hardly believe it. But for the birds that were seen in great numbers, INIorton says he Avould not have believed it himself" JNIorton, in the course of his wanderings on the ice, had seen a cape, with a vacancy between it and the west land. This headland Avas afterwards named Cape AndrcAV Jackson. The open AA^ater Avhich JMorton sighted, but Avhich Hans could hardly believe in, SAvept southAA'ard in horse-shoe form, betiveen this Cape AndrcAV Jackson on the east, round to Cape BarroAV on the opposite side of Smith Strait. In the Avords of Morton, " one end of the ice lapped into the Avest side a considerable distance up the channel ; the THE "OPEN POLAR SEA. :i other (end of the ice) covered the cape (Jackson) for al)out a mile and a half." We ninst now quote from Morton's report, win-'-, is exceedin-ly curious and surprising- : " That night they succeeded in climbing on to tlui level by the iloe pieces, and walked around the turn of the cape for som(3 distance, leaving their dogs behind. They found a good ice-foot, very wide, which extended as far as the cape. They saw a good many birds on the water, both eider-ducks and dovekies, and the rocks on shore were full of sea-swallows. There was no ice. A fog coming on, they turned back to where the dogs had been left. They started again at 11.80 a.m. of the -Jlst. On reaching the land-ice they unloaded, and threv^- each package of provision from the floe up to the ice-foot, which was eighr or nine fevt above them. iMorton then climbed up with the aid of the .slodge, Avhich they converted into a ladder for the occasion. He then pulled the dogs up l)y the lines fastened round their bodies, Hans lending a helping hand and then climbing np himself They then ilrew up the sledge. The water was very deep, a stone the size of Morton's head taking twenty-eight seconds (!) to reach the bottom, Avhich was seen very clearly. As they had noticed the night before, the ice-foot lost its good character on reaching the cape, becoming a men; narrow ledge hugging the cliffs, and looking as if it might cruml)lc off altogether into the water at any moment. Morton was greatly afraid there Avould be no land-ice there at all when they came back. Hans and he thought they might pass on by climbing along the ftice of the crag ; in fact, they tried a path about fifty feet high, but it grew so narrow that they saw they could not get the dogs past with their sledge-load of provisions. He therefore thought it safest to leave some food, that they might not starve on the return in case the ice-foot should disappear. He accordingly cached enough provision to last them back, with four days' dog-meat. At the pitch of the cape the ice-ledge was hardly three feet wide ; and they were obliged to unloose the dogs and drive them forward alone. Hans and he then tilted the sledge up, and succeeded in carrying it past the narrowest place. The ice-foot was firm under their tread, though it crumbled on the verge. The tide was running very fiist. The pieces of heaviest draught floated by nearly as fast as the ordinary walk of a man, and the surface pieces passed them much fiister, at least four knots. On their examination the night before, the tide was from the north, running southward, carrying very little ice. The ice, Avhich was now moving so fast to northward, seemed to be the broken land-ice around the cape, and the loose edge of the south ice. The thermometer in the Avater gave +36', seven degrees above the freezing-point of sea-Avater at Kensselaer Harbour. They noAV yoked hi the dogs, and set forAvard over the worst sort of mashed ice for three-quarters of a mile. After passing the cape, they looked ahead, and saAV nothing but t)pen water. The land to the Avestward seemed to overlap the land on Avhich they Ktood, a 14 4 Y I '■f % I' itf' 7-22 ARCTIC EXPEnrrrnxs rnoM Foniuax shores. I ? long distance ulio.vd : all the space between was oi)en water. After turning the cape — that which is marked on the chart as Cape Andrew Jackson — they found a good smooth ice foot in the entering curve uf a bay, since named after the great financier of the American Ivevolution, Robert jNIorris. It Avas glassy ice, and the dogs ran on it full speed. Here the sledge made at least six miles an hour, it was the best day's travel they made on the journey. After passing four bluffs at the bottom and sides of the bay, the land grew lower; and presently a long low C(mntry opened on the land-ice, a wide plain between large headlands, with rolling hills through it. A flock of brent geese were coming down the valley of this lowland, und ducks were seen in crowds upon the o\wn water. AVhen they saw the geese first, they were apparently coming from the eastward; they made a curve out to sea- Avard, and then, turning, flew far ahead over the plain, until they were lost to view, showing that their destination was inland. The general line of flight of the flock was to the north-east. Eiders and dovekics were also seen; and tern were very numerous, hundreds of them squealing and screech- ing in flocks. They were so tame that they came within a few yards of the party. Flying high overhead, their notes echoing from the rocks, were large white birds, which they took for burgomasters. Ivory gulls and moUemokes "were seen farther on. They did not lose sight of the birds after this, as far as they went. The ivory gulls flew very high, but the mollemokes alit, and fed on the water, flying over it well out to sea, as we had seen them do in Baffin Bay. Separate from these flew a dingy bird unknown to Morton. Never had they seen the birds so numerous : the water was actually black with dovekies, and the rocks crowded. The part of the channel they were now coasting was narrower, but as they proceeded it seemed to widen again. There was some ice arrested by a bend of the cl amiel on the eastern shore ; and, on reaching a low gravel point, they saw that a projection of land shut them in just ahead to the north. Upon this ice numerous seal were basking, both the netsik and ussuk. To the left of this, toward the West Land, the great channel (Kennedy Channel) of open water continued. There was broken ice floating in it, but with passages fifteen miles in width, and per- fectly clear. The end of the point — ' Gravel Point,' as Morton called it — was covered with hummocks and broken ice for about two miles from the water. This ice was worn and full of gravel. Six miles inland, the point was flanked by mountains. A little higher up, they noticed that the pieces of ice in the middle of the channel were moving up, while the lumps near shore were floating down. The channel was completely broken up, and there would have been no difficulty in a frigate standing anywhere. The little biig, or 'a fleet of her like,' could have beat easily to the northward." This Avas certainly doing great work ! On went the two discoverers to still stranger wonders. A strong gale blew from the north for three days, ^A' TRA ORDIXA R Y BK. ( R FIGHT. •23 \ yt'l no ice rnmo down from the nort/iivard diiruh/ all f ///'.•« liwr. ^forton and ITans oncanipcd on tho 'I'liX on a ludj^c of rock, aftrr a day's Jonrnoy of forty- eight miles in a straight line. iMihM'-ducks alxnindc'il, and Hans firing into tho flocks, brought down two birds with ono shot. Stoppcil l)y l)roken ice on the 28d, they tied their dogs to the sledge, "and went ahead to sec how things looked. They found the land-ice growing worse and worse, until at last it ceased, and the water broke directly against ^\w steep cliffs." On tho night of the 23d they set out on foot again, carrying with them eight pounds of pemmican and two of bread, besides tho artificial horizon, sextant and compass, a rifle, and tho boatdiook. They now beheld a she-bear and her cub, and they were able to attack at once and with all confidence. And why ? ]?ecauso exactly at the moment when they were reriuircd, five of tho dogs, which ]\Iorton fancied he had tied securely to the sledge, now came up oppor- tunely, and the battle began at once. This bear-fight is one of the best stories of the kind in the whole range of Arctic literature. It is too long to quote in full, especially as to some readers the fine graphic effect of the narrative may seem due to the exercise rather of an active imagination than a reten- tive memory. Unfortunately this great contest had no witnesses. Hans being an Eskimo, and not knowing much of English, does not count. It is not wished or intended here to impeach the veracity of ]Morton, but we suspect the stoi'y is too good, too a2^fopos in the incidents that lead to and surround it, to be a quite unvarnished tale. The following is the conclusion of this famous story : " The men were then only half-a-milo behind, and running at full speed they soon came up to where the dogs were holding her at bay. The fight was now a desperate one. The mother never went more than two yards ahead, constantly looking at the cub. When the dogs came near her she would sit upon her haunches and take the little one between her hind legs, fighting the dogs with her paws, and roaring so that she could have been heard a mile off. 'Never,' said Morton, 'was an animal more distressed.' She would stretch her neck and snap at the nearest dog with her shining teeth, Avhirling her paws like the arms of a windmill. If she missed her aim, not daring to pursue one dog lest the others should harm the cub, she would give a great roar of battled rage, and go on pawing and snapjnng and facing the ring, gi-inning at them with her mouth stretched wide. AVhen the men came up, the little one was perhaps rested, for it Avas able to turn round with her dam, no matter how quick she moved, so as to keep always in front ol her belly. The five dogs were all the timo frisking about her actively, torment- ing her like so many gad-flies ; indeed, they made it difficult to draw a bead on at her without killing them. But Hans, lying on his elbow, took a quiet aim, and shot her through the head. She dropped and rolled over dead without moving a muscle. The dogs sprang toward her a*^ ont^e, but the cub jumped upon 1 :: body and reared up, for the first tiniv' growling hoarsely. I r l! HI I I- 724 Anrric expedttioss erom FoiiErax sttores. They sooiiuhI quite afraid of the little creature, she fon^'ht so actively ami niiulo so much noise ; and, Mliile teariiij,' niouthfuls of hair from th(> dead mother, tliey would sprinj^ aside the minute tlie cub turned towartl them. The men drove the dogs oft' for a time, but were obliged to shoot the cub at last, as sho would not quit the body. Ilan.s fired into her head. It did not reach the brain, though it knocked her down ; but she was still able to climb on her mother's body and try to defend it still, 'her mouth bU-eding like a gutter-spout.' They were obliged to despatch her with stones." Resuming the march, Morton walked on to Cape Con.stitutiou, the furthest jHiint attained (m this journey. As he advanced the stri]> of land-ice on which he travelleil " broke more and more, until about a mile from the cajjc it ter- minated altogether, the iviici'.-i lireukiifj with a cross sai (Kjdinst the cape. . . . lie tried tc pass round the cape. It was in vain ; there was no icefoot ; and, trying his best to ascend the clifts, he could get up but a few hundred feet. Here he fastened to his walking-pole the Grinnell flag of the Antarctic — a well-cherished little relic, which," says Kane, " had now followed me on two Polar voyages. ... It was now its strange destiny to iloat over the highest northern land, not only of America, but of our globe. Side by side Avith this were our masonic emblems of the compass and the square. He (Morton) let them fly for an hour and a half from the black ditt' over the dark rock-shadowed waters, which rolled up and broke hi white aps at its base." Finding it impossible to make his way round Cape Con- stitution, and " sec how things looked " in the direction of the Pole, INIorton turned back, rejoined Hans, who had not accompanied him on the last day's journey, and with him commenced the return journey to the ship on the 2jth. His journal contains the following entry under date the 2Gth June : " As fiir as I could see, the open passages were fifteen miles or more wide, with sometimes mashed ice separating them. But it is all small ice, and I think it either drives out to the open space to the north, or rots and sinks, as I could see none ahead to the far north." It is unnecessary to point out here, first, that no person was with ^Morton when he saw, or thought he saw, the waves breaking in white caps against the base of Cape Constitu- tion ; and, second, that ice, being lighter than water, does not sink in it. Further discussion of JNIorton's discoveries we prefer to postpone until it is necessary, in our narrative, to reascend Smith Strait with a later explorer. It is a little amusing, however, to note with what unquestioning confidence I)r Kane accepts ]\Iorton's statements : " Landing on the cape," he says (Cape Jackson), " and continuing their exploration, new phenomena broke upon them. They were on the shores of a channel so open that a frigate, or a fleet of frigates, might have sailed up it. The ice, already broken and de- cayed, formed a sort of horse-shoe-shaped beach, against which the waves broke in surf. As they travelled north this channel expanded into an ice- \ > <« IcsH area, ' for four or live small pioccs '—lumps were all that couM bo scon over the cutu-o surface of its wliite eapped waters. Viewed from the cliffs, ami takiii,^' thirty-six miles as the mean radius oin-n to icliaMe survey, this sea had a Justly-estimated extent of more than 4()(M» sijuare miles. Animal life, which had so lon,n' been a stranger to us t(» the south, now burst upon them. At Ifensselaer IIarb(»ur, except the netsik seal or a rarely- encountered llarelda, we had no life availalde for the hunt. I'.ut here the brent «,'()ose {Aikis hcniichi), the eidi-r, and the king' thick, wi're so crowded together that om- Eskimo killed two at a shot with a siugh' rille ball." " It is another remarkable fact," continues Kane, " that, as they continued their journey, the land-ice and snow, Avhich had served as a sort of pathway for their dogs, crumbled and melted, and at last ceased altogether, so that, during the final stages of their progress, the sledge was rend(>red useless, and Morton found himself at last toiling over rocks, and along the beach of a sea which, like the familiar waters of the south, dashed in waves at his feet. ... As Morton, leaving Hans and his dogs, passed between Sir John Franklin Island and the narrow beach-line, the coast became more wall- like, and the dark masses of porphyritic rock abutted into the sea. With growing difliculty, he managed to climb from rock to rock, in hopes of doubling the promontory, and sighting the coasts beyond, but the water kept encroaching more and more on his track. It must have been an imposing sight as ho stood at this termination of his journey, looking out upon the great waste of waters before him. Xot a 'speck of ice,' to use his own words, could bo seen. There, from a height of 480 feet, which commanded a horizon of almost forty miles, his ears were gladdened with the novel music of dashing waves ; and a surf, breaking in among the rocks at his feet, stayed his farther progress." Dr Kane proceeds io sta^c that the theory of the existence of an open Polar sea, or, at the least, an open Polar basin, has been maintained by many explorers, from the days of Bareutz to our o<^^^ ; and he instances the names of Baron Wrangell, Captain Penney, and Captain Inglefield, as each having discovered " open seas " in rpiarters in which subseipient explorers found only the "pack." ''^VU these illusory dis- coveries," he states, " were no doubt chronicled with perfect integrity ; and it may seem to others, as, since I have left the field, it sometimes does to myself, that my own, though on a larger scale, may one day pass within the same category." The prophecy has already been fulfilled, for the " open I'olar sea" of Kane a.:! Hayes has, in the light of subsequent investigation, dis- appeared from modern geogra})hy. 1; 1 1 7-2»5 AUCTic r:\ri:iuTi(>\s iuom i'oui'.kjx si/o/ths. CHAPTER III. THE SECOND WINTEH- -DAUKNESS AHEAD — IlETURN (»r nAYf:S TO LIEE. BROUGHT BACK In the beginning of Jnly 18")4, Kano came reluctantly to the conclusion that there never was, and, ho trusted, never would bo, a party worse prepared to encounter a second Arctic winter. " We have neither health, fuel, nor pro- visions," he writes. Yet there wa.s, on the one hand, little hope of his being able to extricate his shiii from the ice of llensselaer Ilarboui* ; and, on tho otlu>r, he was resolved not to abandon his ship. ITis men Avero diseased, and a number of them disab''^ 'l from having recently had portions of their frost-bitten limbs amputated ; and he felt that in abandoning his brig, ho would never be able to convey these men over tho ice to J3eechey Island — then the rendezvous of a nundjcr of English discovery ships — or to tho nearest (Jretnland settlement. In this dilemma he resolved to make an attempt to reach Beechey Island in an open boat, and ask for the succour which ho knew the ships of >Sir E. Belcher's s<^:tadron were so well able, and -would be so willing, to afford him. He had no suitable boat for the voyage ; there was only the old unlucky " Forlorn Hope " to fall back upon. This Avhale-boat he had refitted and mended up, and taking with him the only five men of tho expedition still in health — ^Nt'Gary, INIorton, Riley, Hans, and Hickey — he left the "Advance," dragging the boat on a sledge across the floes, on tho 12th July. The gallant attempt was frustrated, however, by the solid pack extending across the mouth of Smith Sound, and across Avhich it was found impossible to drag the boat. After exiieriencing great suffering and many hairbreadth 'scapes, Kane, finding it impossible to advance, gave the order to return to the brig, which was reached on the 6th August. In Kane's journal for the 18th and 20th August, tho following passages occur : " Reduced our allowance of wood to six pounds a meal. This, among eighteen mouths, is one-third of a jjound of fuel for each. It allows us coftee tAvice a day, and soup once. Our fare, besides this, is cold pork boiled in quantity, and eaten as required. This sort of thing works badly ; but I must save coal for other emergencies. I see 'darkness ahead.' 1 inspected the I i tj/j: sEcoxii w L\Ti:it. ico again to (lay. l>iul ! liad ! — I luu.st look niiotlicr n\ inter in the fiicc I do not shrink IVoni the thonght ; but, whilo avc huvo a rhani-o alicad, it my first dnty to havi' all things in readiness to nii'et it. It is /lorri'/'/c— yea tliat is the word — to look forward to another year of disease and ilarkne.ss to be met without fresh food and without fuel. I shouUl meet it with ti more tempered sadue.ss if 1 had no conu'ades t(» think for and protect. "Amjiitit 120, Sniidtiif. — Kest for all hands. The daily prayer is no longer ' Lord, accept our gratitude, and bless our undertaking,' but 'Lord, accept our gratitude, and restore us to our homes.' The ice shows no change : after ii boat and foot journey around the entire south «;astern curve of the bay, no signs I" On the iNth August nine of th.c men, i'.icluding Petersen and I)r Hayes, left the ship, with the commander's permission, with the view of endeavour- ing to reach the nearest of the (ireenland settlements. One of these returned after a few days ; and now Kane, and the remaining half of his crew, began to prepare to face the coming winter by themselves. A single apartment was bulkheaded oft' aniidshii)s as a dormicory and dwelling-room for the entire party, and a moss lining made to enclose it, like a wall. A similar casing was placeil over the deck, and a small tunnelled entry, like the approach to an Eskimo hut, constructed. " We adopted," says Kane, " as nearly as we could, the habits of the natives ; burning lamps for heat, dress- ing in fox-skin clothing, and relying for our daily supi)lies on the success of organised hunting parties." From this point onwards the second .Vmericau expedition ceases to bo an organisation for the purposes of Arctic discovery or exploration, and its history becomes a narrative of adventure, unconnected for the most part with any science, except tlie science of living under dilliculties, which does not yet seem to be recognised at our univ(>rsities. Our notices, therefore, of Kane's expcrieuces during his second winter in Kenss(>laer Harbour must be brief indeed. During the autumn of IS')! the people in the ",\dvance" sull'ered much at once from illness and from want. It is diilicult to conceive how they could have preserved themselves alive but for the alliance they contracted with the Eskimos of Anoatok, a settlement, or, at least, a temporary haunt of the natives, at the distance of seventy-five miles from Rensselaer Harbour. The chief terms of this alliance were, that the natives should cease to steal from the ship ; that they should bring the white men fresh meat, and sell them dogs. On the part of the people of the "Advance," it was contracted that they should assist the natives on their hunting excursions with their rifles, and should keep them supi)lied with needles, knives, wood, etc Communication with Anoatok could only be kept up by Kane by sledge journeys ; and, from the length and difticulty of the route, and the severity V t 728 ARCTIC KXPEDITIOXS FROM FOREfUX SHORES. 'U ^.vj of the weutlior, these were (.»uly uiulertaken on occasions of dire necessity. The clnxmic state of atlairs at the winter quarters during- the winter of ISi')-!-.").} may be gathered from the following entry, under date October oth, in Dr Ka-io's jouinal : "We are nearly out of fresh meat again, one rabbit and three ducks being our sum total. "We have been on short allowance ibr several (lays. What vegetables we have — the dried apples and ])eaches, and pickled cabl)agc — have lost nuich of their anti-scorbutic virtue by con- stant use. Our s])ices are all gone. Except four small bottles of horse- radish, our carte is comprised in three words — bread, beef, pork. I must be oft' after these Eskimos. They certainly have meat ; and wherever they have gone, Ave can follow. Once upon their trail, our hungry instincts will not risk being ballled. I will stay only long enough to complete my latest root- beer brewage. Its basis is the big crawling willow, the miniature giant of our ^Vrctic forests, of which we laid in a stock some weeks ago. It is quite pleasantly bitter ; and I hope to get it fermenting in the deck- house, without extra fuel, by heat from below." Kane was quite unprovided with fuel for a second Avinter, and Avith the advent of October he Avas obliged to commence cutting into the brig, and using the Avood for the stoves. It had become evident by this time that the "Advance" Avould never float again, and that .she must be abandtmed in the summer of 18."),"). Some small (piantities of fuel Avere also obtained from the fat of the Avalrus, seals, and bears, Avhich Avere occasionally shot. The greatest economy in the use of firing, of Avhatcver kind, had to be observed. Kane had the midnight Avatch, from eight p.m. till two a.m., Avhich must have been a comfortless and dismal spell. The hours before the night-Avatch Avero spent beloAV in the one apartment used by all the men. Here everything Avas closed tight. "I nuittle myself in my furs," .says Kane, "and Avrite ; or, if the cold denies me that pleasure, I read, or at least think. Thank Heaven, even an Arctic tenq)erature leaves the mind unchillcd. But in truth, though our liom-ly observations in the air range betAVCcn — 4C" and — 30°, Ave seldom register less than -f 30° beloAV." But even in this climate there Avere elements that rendered existence tolerable. " The int(>nse beauty of the Arctic firmament," says Kane, "can hardly be imagined. It looked close above our heads, Avith its stars magnified in glory, and the very planets tAvinkling so much as to battle the observations of our astronomer. I am afraid to .speak of some of these night-scenes. I have trodden the deck and the Hoes, Avhcn the life of earth seemed suspended — its movements, its sounds, its colouring, its companionships ; and as I looked on the radiant hemisphere circling aljove me, as if rendering Avorship to the unseen Centre of Light, I have ejaculated in humility of spirit, ' Lord, Avhat is man, that Thou art niindful of himr And then I have thought of the kindly Avorld Ave have left, Avith its revolving sunshine and shadoAV, and the other stars that gladden i 4 I RETURN OF 11 A YES. '20 it in their changes, and the hearts that warmed to us there, till T lost niy.self in memories of those who are no more ; and they bore me back to the stars agani. On the forenoon of the 7tli December Kane was asleep after the fatigue of an extra night-watch — for the whole of his crew except two were down with scurvy, and incapable of taking their turn of duty — when a voice from the deck, calling out " Eskimo sledges ! " awoke him. Going on deck he beheld five sledges, with teams of six dogs each, racing ra})idly to the brig. They were driven by natives, most of them strangers to Kane, and their ob- ject was to bring Petersen Uiid Bonsall — two of the pai ty who had gf)ne away from the ship on the 'iSth August — back to the brig. The sufferings of this party, which were varied and severe, must not detain us. The main body of the party were languishing at a settlement 200 miles distant — " divided in their counsels, their energies brcjkcn, and their provisions nearly gone." Kane resolved to despatch the Eskimo escort Avitli such supplies as his miserably imperfect stores allowed, to succour and bring up the remainder of the party. At three o'clock on the morning of the 12th December Kane was again roused with the cry of " Eskimos again!" "I dressed hastily," writes the doctor, " and groping my way over the pilo of boxes that leads up from the hold into the darkness above, made out a group of human figures, masked by the hooded jumpers of the natives. They stopped at the gang- way, and as I was about to challenge, one of them sprang forward and grasjicd my hand. It was Dr Hayes. A few words dictated by suffering, certainly not by any anxiety as to his reception, and at his bidding the whole party came upon deck. Poor fellows ! I could only gTasp their hands and give them a brother's welcome. The thermometer was at minus 50° ; they were covered with rime and snow, and were fainting with hunger. It was neces- sary to use caution in taking them below, for after an exposure of such fearful intensity and duration as they had gone through, the warmth oi' the cabin Avould have prostrated them completely. They had journeyed 350 miles, and their last run from the bay near Etah, some 70 miles in a right line, was through the hunnnocks at this ajipalling temperature. One by one they all came in and were housed. Poor fellows ! as they threw open their Eskimo garments by the stove, how they relished the scanty luxuries which Ave had to offer them ! The coffee and the meat-biscuit soup, and the mol- asses and the wheat bread, even the salt pork Avhich our scurvy forbade the rest of us to touch, — how they relished it all ! For more than two months they had lived on frozen seal and walrus-meat. They are almost all of them in danger of collapse, but I have no apprehension of life unless from tetanus. Stephenson is prostrate with pericarditis. I resigned my own bunk to Dr Hayes, who is much prostrated : he will probably lose two of his toes, per- haps a third. The rest have no special injury. I cannot crowd the details 14 4 z ■ I . (flfT--- 7nO ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. ' . V of their journey into my dicary. I have noted some of them from Dr Hayes' words, but he has promised me a written report, and I Avait for it. It was providential that they did not stop for Petersen's return, or rely on the engagements which his Eskimo attendants had made to them as well as to us. The sledges that carried our relief of provisions passed through the Etah settlement empty, on some furtive project, we know not what. " Decemler 13, Wedncsdaii. — The Eskimos who accompanied the returning pai'ty are nearly all of them well-known friends. They were engaged from different settlements, but, as they nearcd the brig, volunteers added them- selves to the escort, till they numbered six drivers and as many as forty- two dogs. Whatever may have been their motive, their conduct to our poor friends was ceitninly full of humanity. They drove at flying speed ; every hut gave its welcome as they halted ; the women were ready, Avithout invita- tion, to dry and chafe their worn-out guests." Scurvy and starvation, starvation and scurvy, are the themes which ab- soi'bed the attention of Kane and his comrades during the spring of 1855. Of such trials Ave haA^e had enough in these pages, and as they are noAV all happily over, Ave shall not further concern ourselves Avith them. The moral of the dismal tale, hoAvever, is such as the projectors of future Arctic expe- ditions dare not overlook. Never send a ship to the Polar regions insufli- ciently provided Avith preserved meats and vegetables, plenty of fuel, and abundance of lime-juice and other anti-scorbutics. From the commencement of the autumn of 1854 Kane had been sloAA'ly but carefully preparing for making his escape from Pensselaer Harbour, and at the beginning of May 1855 these preparations Avere complete. The entire ship's company left the dismantled brig on the 20th, and commenced their sledge and boat journey toAvard the nearest Greenland settlement. Hans, Avho had fallen in loA'e Avith a damsel at Etah, left the expedition and took up house on the shores of Murchison Sound. On the 18th July Kane bade ftirewell to Etah, Avhere he and his party had been hospitably entertained by the Eskimos, and proceeded southward along the coast of Greenland. Of the thousand and one thrilling adventures of this voyage Ave cannot aflbrd to take notice. Crossing the ice of jNIelville Bay late in July, he arrived olf tlio Devil's Thumb on the 1st August. "And uoav," Avrites Kane, " Avith the apparent certainty of reaching our home, came that nervous apprehension Avhich foUoAvs upon hope long deferred. I could not trust myself to take the outside passage, but timidly sought the quiet Avater channels running deep into the archipelago Avliicli forms a sort of labyrinth along the coast. . . . Tavo days after this (3d August 1855), a mist had settled doAvu upon the iislands Avliich embayed us, and Avlien it lifted Ave found ourselves roAving, in lazy time, under the shadow of Karkamoot. Just then a familiar sound came to us over the water. We had often listened to the screeching of the i :i BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE. 701 i gulls or the bark of the fox, and mistaken it for the ' Iluk ' of the Eskimos ; but this had about it an inflection not to be mistaken, for it died away in tho familiar cadence of a 'halloo.' 'Listen, Petersen! oars, men!' 'What is it ? ' — and he listened quietly at first, and then, trembling, said in a half "whisper, ' Dannemarkers ! ' I remember this, the first tone of Christian voice "which had greeted our return to the world. How we all stood up and peered into the distant nooks ; and how the cry came to us again, just as, having seen nothing, we n'ere doubting whether the whole was not a dream ; and then how, with long sweeps, the white ash cracking under the spring of tho rowers, we stood for the cape that tho sound proceeded from, and how nerv- ously we scanned the gi'een spots which our exj)erience, groAvn now into instinct, told us would be the likely camping-ground of wayfarers. By-and- by — for Ave must have been pulling a good half-hour— the single mast of a small shallop showed itself, and Petersen, who had been very quiet and grave, burst out into an incoherent fit of crying, only relieved by broken excla- mations of mingled Danish and English. ' 'Tis the Uppernavik oil-boat ! The " Fraulein Flaischer ! " Carlie ]Mos.s}-n, the assistant-cooper, must be on his road to Kingatok for blubber. The " Mariane " (the one annual ship) has come, and Carlie Mossyn- ' and here he did it all over again, gulping down his words and wringing his hands. It was Carlie ]Mossyu sure enough. The quiet routine of a Danish settlement is the same year after year, and Petersen had hit upon the exact state of things. The ' ]\Iariane ' was at Proven, and Carlie Mossyn had come up in the 'Fraulein Flaischer' to get the year's supply of blubber from Kingatok. Here Ave first got oiu' cloudy vague idea of Avliat had passed in the big Avorld during our absence. The friction of its fierce rotation had not much disturbed this little outpost of civilisation, and avc thought it a sort of blunder as he told us that France and England Avere leagued Avith the Mussulman against the Greek Church. Pie Avas a good Lutheran, this assistant-cooper, and all ncAvs Avith him had a theological complexion. ' What of America ? eh, Petersen ? ' — and Ave all looked, Avait- ing for him to interpret the ansAver. 'America ? ' said Carlie ; ' Ave don't knoAv much of that country here, for they have no Avhalers on the coast ; but a steamer and a barque passed up a fortnight ago, and have gone out into the ice to seek your party.' How gently all the lore of this man oozed out of him ; he seemed an oracle, as, Avith hot-tingling fingers pressed against tho guuAvale of the boat, avc listened to his Avords. ' Sebastopol ain't taken.' Where and Avhat Avas Sebastopol ? But ' Sir John Franklin ? ' There we Averc at homo again, — our OAvn delusiA'e little speciality rose upper- most. Franklin's party, or traces of the dead Avhich represented it, had been found nearly a thousand miles to the south of Avherc Ave had been searching for them. He kncAV it, for the priest (Pastor Kraag) had a German ncAvspaper Avhich told all about it. And so avc ' out oars ' again, ' it '^ :|" 732 A/?CTIC HXPEDTTTOXS FROM FORETGN SHORES. and rowed into the fogs. Another sleeping-lialt has passed, and we have all Avashed clean at the fresh-water basins, and furbished up our ragged furs and woollens. Kasarsoak, the snow top of Sanderson's Hope, shows itself above the mists, and we hear the yelling of the dogs. Tetersen had been foreman of the settlement, and ho calls my attention, with a sort of pride, to the tolling of the Avorkmen's bell. It is six o'clock. We are near- ing the end of our t-ials. Can it be a dream ? We hugged the land by the big harbour, turned the corner by the old brew house, and, in the midst of a cro'vd of children, hauled our boats for the last time upon the rocks. For eighty-four days we had lived in tho open air. Our habits were hard and weather-worn. We could not remain within the four walls of a house without a distressing sense of suffocation. But we drank coffee that night before many a hospitable threshold, and listened again and again to the hymn of welcome, a\ hich, sung by many voices, greeted our deliverance." ^ AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. CHAPTER IV. ITAYES' KXPEDITIOX — GLACTF.U I'OnMATlON — THE "ulM-X TOLAR SK A ' llESULTS SO-CALLED. Dr Isaac J. Hayes, who acted as surgeon in the "Advance," in Dr Kane's celebrated expedition, distinguished hinisctlf at Kenssehier Harbour not more for his professional skill and efficiency, than for his intrepiditj' and enthusiasm as an Arctic explorer. His connection with this expedition was formed in a manner that marks the ardent temperament of the man. While yet a student of medicine, and five months before the date of the starting of the expedition, he volunteered to join it as medical officer. "The oft'er couM not be accepted at the time, and it was not until the 18th of ^lay," says Hayes, " that I received notice that there Avas a probability of its acceptance. It was not until the afternoon of the 29th that I obtained my ai)pointment. In a few hours I had purchased and sent aljoard my outfit. Neoct vioniiiKj (30th INIay) the 'Adrance' was headed fo)' Greenland." It Mill be remembered that in the autunni of 1854 a party of eight jiersons, being a portion of the officers and crew of the "Advance," left Kensselaer Harbour with the view of travelling south to Ui)perna vik, in North Greenland — the nearest outpost of civilisation. The attem^jt proved abortive ; and, as wo have seen, the party, of which Hayes was one, were obliged to return to the brig. The wild life experienced by these travellers as tlu'y journeyed along the desolate shores of Greenland was singularly eventful. They spent the two months of Octol)er and Novend)er in liooth Sound, lat. 77°, all that time upon the verge of starvation, unal)le to advance or retreat. For these two months they had no other fuel than their small cedar boat, the smoke of Avhich was unendurable in their wretched hut, which, coney- like, iljey had constnuted in the cleft of a rock. The sun disappeared in Octol)ei', and the only light available was the illumination derived from an inch and a half of tajier daily. ^Vt first they were assisted by the Eskimos, who, however, falling into deep distress themselves, soon becanie anxious to get rid of their visicors, and, Avith this object, threatened the men and endeavoured to separate them from each other, and from their guns and t ^ i ft"-. 734 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. \ I I » ammunition. In 1860 Dr ITaycs published a most interesting account of the adventures of the party, under the title of "An Arctic Boat Journey." The ■\vork was received with favour by the American public, and did much to forward the movement which Hayes had some time previously inaugurated for the organisation of a third Ameri'^an Arctic expedition, to follow up the discoveries of Dr Kane in Smith Sound. The truth of the statement made by ]\Iorton, to the effect that north of Cape C(5nstitution there surged an " oi)cn I'olar sea," was questioned by Dr Henry Rink, at that time perhaps the most trustworthy authority on all Arctic matters, and, with the view of arriving at the facts of the case, a number of the jmncipal scientific institutions of America contributed handsomely to the outfit of another expedition under Hayes. On the 6th July 1860, Hayes set sail from Boston, with a crew of fourteen officers and men, in the "United States " schooner, lo3 tons burthen. The object of the expedition was to explore and survey the east and west shores of Smith Sound, the extreme north coasts of Greenland on the east, and the shores of Grinnell Land — which Hayes himself had discovered and named in ihe Kane expedition — on the west. The equipment of the expedi- tion was not completed till the coast of Greenland was reached. At Proven and Uppernavik, a handsome team of Eskimo dogs was purchased, and three native hunters, an interpreter, and two Danish sailors, taken on board. After a provoking detention on the coasts of Greenland, Hayes was lucky enough to make the passage of Melville Bay in fifty-five hours. At Cape York he picked up Hans Christian, the Eskimo hunter, and his old shipmate in the "Advance." Hans was a most important addition to the ci'ew of the schooner, and was likely to aft'ord aid and information, especially in the sledge journeys. He entertained very decided opinions on the subject of the " open Polar seas," though these opinions were unfavourable to the theory set up by JNIorton and supported by Hayes. He Avas convinced th'^t what JNIorton saw from Cape ConsLitution was not an open sea, but merely a channel cut by the strong current drring the warm days of midsummer. The "Uniiod States" entered Smith Sound on the 27th August, but was blown out of it again. Subsequently, two similar attempts were made with the same result. Eventually, however, the storm lulled, and the schooner, creeping up past Cape Alexander, found shelter in a small bay, afterwards named Port Foulke, about ten miles north-ot ,t of Cape Alexander, and twenty miles as the crow flies — ninety miles by the coast-line — south of Kane's old winter quarters in Eensselaer Harbour. From Port Foulke Hayes endeavoured to force a passage across the sound to the shores of Grinnell Land, Avhich he Avished to explore without delay. In this attempt, however, he was frustrated ; and as the new ice of the coming winter now coated the sea, he resolved to winter in the little harbour which he had discovered and named. The schooner was now unloaded and converted into DOG-DRIVIXG. 73: * a winter dwelling-house, and the Grcenlanders were tuld off as a rcguUu' hunting force. Dr Hayes' preparations for facing the Polar niglit were unusually com- plete, and some of them v/erc original and nigcnious. lie roofed-in the upper deck, so as to form a roomy 'louse, 6,^ feet high at the sides, and 8 feet high in the centre. Tarred paper, liberally applied to every chink and seam, excluded wind and weather very effectually. The hold, after being thor- oughly cleaned, floored, and white-washed, was used by the crew at once as kitchen and bedroom. In the centre of it was the cooking-stove,, from which a savoury steam perpetually arose, for the neighl)ourhood of Port Foulke was rich in reindeer, rabbits, and Arctic foxes ; and the Greenland hunters were industrious and skilful. A loftj' snow embankment, a famous rampart against the storm, was reared around the schooner ; and a superb staircase, constructed of slabs of ice, gave access from the upper deck to the smooth floe that extended around. Over this smooth floe it was Hayes' favourite anuisement to exercise his fine team of native dogs. Dog-driving is, accord- ing to Hayes, the very hardest kind of hard work. The driver must ply his whip mercilessly and incessantly. Indecision, forgetfulncss, or " softness " of any kind, on the part of the driver, is at once detected by the dogs, and the result is insubordination, ending in open mutiny, not unmixed with con- tempt. And not only to make them go, but to prevent their going where they are not wanted, exercises the driver's utmost powers. " If they see a fox crossing the ice," writes Hayes, " or come upon a bear-track, or ' wind ' a seal, or sight a bird, away they dash over snow-drifts and hummocks, prick- ing up their short ears and curling un their long bushy tails for a wild, wolfish race after the game. If the whip-lash goes out with a fierce snap, the ears and the tails drop, and they go on about their proper business ; but woe be unto you if they get the control. I have seen my own driver sorely put to his mettle, and not until he had brought a yell of pain from almost every dog in the team did he conquer their obstinacy. They were running after a fox, and were taking us toward what appeared to be unsafe ice. The wind was blowing hard, and the lash was sometimes driven back into the driver's face ; hence the difficulty. The whip, however, finally brought them to reason ; and in full view of the game, and within a few yards of the treacherous ice, they came first down into a limping trot, and then stopped, most unwillingly. Of course, this made them very cross, and a general fight, fierce and angry, now followed, which was not quieted until the driver had sailed in among them and knocked them to right and left with his hard hickory whip-stock." During the winter of 1860-61 Hayes deeply studied the nature and formation of the glaciers and icebergs that surrounded Port Foulke ; and as he has had abundant opportunities during his three Arctic voyages to Jl •'J r;]0 ARCTIC EXPEDrriOXS FROM FOREIiiS SHORES. ■ I a I I tlioroiij^hly examine tlieso in the localities in whieli they are produced in liiglier ixM'^ection than in any other quarter of th(> ^lohe -the vaUeys and shores of Greenland ; and, furthei-, as ho has carried on his inquiries in the light of the nuH'e strictly scientific investigations on the same snbjecc by I'rofessors Tyndall and Huxley, his claims to be heard on tliis interesting toi)ic arc probal)ly higher than those of any other inquirer 'who has actually seen with his own eyes what he describes and tries to account for. After explaining that Grecnlarid seems to be one immense reservoir of ice, he states that it has become what it is, in obedience to the law of chnildtioii, Avhich acts within the Arctic circle with as nuuh regularity and certainty as ill the temperate and torid zones. In t)bedience to tliis law, the Avatery vajiours thrown ott' by evaporation circulate through the air as clouds, and, falling as rain or snow, return again to the sea. " We have seen that the great sea of ice," writes Hayes, "which covers Greenland, and makes it the I>and of Desolation that it is, is formed from snow-Hakes. That formation takes place only in certain conditions of temperature, which of course vary with the degiees of latitude. The formation of glaciers has been for a hmg time a fruitful source of .speculation among men of science. Into these wo will not enter at any length, for my purpose is rather to give the results of jiersonal observation and incidents of adventure, than to recite either the facts or reflections of others. Yet a few words of discussion may not bo licre out of place. Every reader is aware that in the upper regions of tho atmosphere the moisture Avhich is precipitated on the mountain-top assumes the form of snoAv, while down at the mountain's base it is ruin. In descend- ing a mountain nothing is more common than to pass from one condition to tho other — first a storm of dry sno"\v, then moist snow, then water. In Greenland the snow falls dry. Tho mountains are lofty, and it never rains upon them at all. A fresh layer of snow is laid on every year. Should this continue uninterruptedly, of course the mountains would rise to an indefinite extent. Enormous quantities break loose, and roll down the mountain sides in avalanches ; but this is but a small amcnuit in comparison with the deposit. The glaciers are the means of drainage of these great snow-fields. These snow-fields are turned to ice by a Aery sinq)le process, and tho ice flows to the sea. The surface snow on the mountain is while, dry, and light. Deeper doAvn it is hanl ; still deeper it is clear transi:)arent ice. The clear ice which forms such grand and beautiful arches of blue and green in the glaciers, as seen along the Greenland coast, Avas once poAvdery snoAV upon the loftiest mountains, probably in tho very interior of tho continent. Tho transforma- tion is an interesting process, and tho movement of the ice itself from the mountain to tho sea is one of the strange mysteries of nature. With respect to tho former. Professor Tyndall has stated tho case so clearly that I cannot refrain from quoting the following passage from his excellent Avork, entitled GLACIER I'ORMATION. 737 ' Tlie Glaciers of the Alps:' 'Could our vision penetrate into the body of the glacier, we should find that the change from white to blue essentially consists in the gradual expulsiim of the air which was originally entangled in the meshes of the fallen snow. AV'hiteuess always results from the inti- mate and irregular mixture of aii" and a transparent solid. A crushed diamond would resemble snow. If "s\ e pound the more transparent rock- salt into powder, wo have a substance as white as the whitest culinary salt ; and the colourless glass vessel which holds the salt would aiso, if pounded, give a powder as white as the salt itself. It is a law of light that, in passing from one substance to another jiossessing a ditt'erent power of refraction, a portion of it is always reflected. Hence, wl .n light fi;lls upon a transi)arent solid mixed with air, at each passage of light from the air to the solid, and from the solid to the air, a portion of it is reflected ; and in the case of a powder, this reflection occurs so frequently that the passage of the light is practically cut off". Thus, from the mixture of two perfectly transparent substances we obtain an opaque one ; from the intimate inixture of air and Avater we obtain foam. Clouds owe their opacity to the same principle ; and the condensed steam of a h comotivc casts a shadow upon the fields adjacent to the line, because the sunlight is wasted in echoes at the innu- mci-able limiting surfaces of wa.cr and air. The snow which falls upon high riountain eminences has often a temperature far bolow the fre jzing-point of water. Such snow is dry, and. if it always continued so, the formation of a glacier from it Avould be impossi!dc. The first action of the summer's sun is to raise tlio temperature of the supei'ficial snow to 82°, and afterwards to melt it. The water thus formed percolates through the colder mass under- neath ; nnd this I take to be the first active agency in expelling the air entangled in the suoav. But as the liquid trickles over the surftices of granules colder than itself, it is partially deposited in a solid form on the surfaces, thus augmenting the size of the granules, and cementing them together. When the mass thus formed is examined, the air within it is found as round bubbles. Now it is manifest that the air caught in the irre- gular interstices of the snow can have no tendency to assume this form so long as the snov/ remair'=' solid ; but the process to which I have referred— the saturation of the lower portions of the snow by the water produced l)y the melting of the superficial portions — enables the air to form itself ijito globules, and to give the ice of the neve its peculiar character. Thus we see that, though the sun cannot get directly at the deeper portions of the snow, by liquefying the upper layer he charges it with heat, and makes it a mes- senger to the cold subjacent mass. The frost of the succeeding winter may, I think, or may not, according to circumstances, penetrate through this layer, and solidify the water which it still retains in its imerstices. If the winter set in with clear frosty Aveather, the penetration will probably take 5 A i ■I 'I i I ii: 738 AIICTIC EXPEDITIOWS FIIOM FOREIUX SflOnF.fl. ! i R place; but if heavy snow occur at the conuneucement of winter, thus throw- ing a protective covering over the iiece, freezing to any great deptli may bo prevented. Mr lluxk>y's idea seems to be quite within the range of possi- biHty, that water-cells may be transmitted from the origin of the glacier to its end, retaining their contents always liquid.' " The small crew of the " United States " had plenty of agreeable occupa- tion on hand during the whiter at Port Foulke. Their ship was a comfort- able house, their table was spread daily with abundance of fresh meat, they were furnished with books for amusement and study ; they had iL ' dogs to train, the routes for the spring sledge parties to make out, and the journeys to prepare for. The little settlement of natives near the port afforded inex- haustible matter for reflection and amusement. Then the neighboiu'hood abounded in game. Hayes reports that during the winter over two hundred reindeer were shot, together with a considerable number of seaJ and walrus, and (in the summer) an immense number of ducks and little auks. Two or three terrific bear-fights brightened the annals of the first winter ; and displays of aurora frequently lit up the Arctic night with broad-blazing unearthly fires. Perhaps the most splendid, most impressive, auroral display occm'red on the night of the 6th January 1861, and Dr Hayes' description of it will at once convey a vivid idea of this singular phenomenon to readers of lower latitudes, tUid serve as a favourable example of the doctor's gi-aphic — Teled, joined at Godhaven ; and Hans, who had made himself so useful in the expeditions of Kane and Hayes, was taken on board (with his wife and several children) at Uppernavik. For speisd as well as success in his main purpose (that of attaining the highest possible north latitude), no explorer has to this day been so success- ful as Captain Hall. He reached Uppernavik on the 18tli August, resumed his northward voyage on the 21st, passed Rensselaer Harbour on the 27th, reached lat. 81° 35' N. on the 28th, and entered Kane's " open Polar sea, " (which turned out to be only an open reach of Smith Strait), passed through Kennedy Channel, discovered, named, and sailed across Hall Basin and Robeson Channel, and on the 80th August found himself in lat. 82° IG' N. No vessel had ever penetrated farther north on this route than just within the entrance of Smith Sound ; Hall sailed through the sound and up the strait a distance of 250 miles. In doing so he carried his ship nearer to the North Pole than had ever been done previously on any route. Clements Markham, who sailed in the "Assistance" with Captain Ommanney in 1850-51, says that "the 'Polaris' had attained this high latitude without a check or obstacle of any kind;" and his kinsman. Captain A. H. jMarkham, who has so briUiantly distinguished himself in the latest and greatest of English Arctic expeditions, is equally candid in admitting the remarkable success o" ''.iptaiu Hall. He says : '-The most striking fact connected with the voyuj,? s that the 'Polaris,' in August 1871, went from Cape Shackleton to ler extreme northern point up Smith Sound in 82" 16' N., in Jireihiiif, and even then she was stopped merely by loose fli.'^s through which a powerful ves.^icl like t!ie ' Arctic ' could easily have forced a passage. I was indeed iniormed," con- tinues Captain Markham, "that the 'Polaris' was stopped by a very insig- nificant stream of ice, which, in addition to its offering no real obstruction, had a clear lead through into open water, with a magnificent water-sky as far as could be seen to the northward. Hall was most reluctant to turn back, but being no sailor, and having no experience in ice-navigation, he thought he had no alternative but to follow the advice of his sailing-master. Captain Buddingfcon. This old whaling skipper, fearing that if they persevered they might be unable to retrace their steps, advised a retrograde movement, and thus ended all further attempts to reach the North Pole." It must now be stated that at an early stage of her progress, dissension, I S! 748 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. even open discord, prevailed on board the '' Polaris," Hall, who was by no means a born leader of men, was not strong enough in spirit and determina- tion to stamp out the incipient insubordination which he noted in both officoi's and men. Having reached his farthest point north, he wrvs desirous of pressing onward into the unknown and open (though not the Polar) sea. Tyson and Chester were also anxious to advance, but Buddington's influence prevailed, and the " Polaris " was allowed to drift southwards, until, in lat. 81° 38', she was able (Septembei" 3d) to get into winter quarters in a sort of harbour formed by u small grounded iceberg on the east side of the strait, and which was named Thank God Bay. While preparations were being made for wintering, Captain Hall, accom- panied by his first mate, Chester, and by the two Eskimos, Hans and Joe (the latter an intelligent native from Northumberland Inlet), started away northward on a sledge journey. The party proceeded north to lat. 82°, discovering and naming Newman Bay — the northern entrance to which ai)pears on the charts as Cape Brevoort. On October 24th, the party returned to the ship. Captain Hall, who had been much chilled on the sledge journey, was incautious enoujh on reaching the "Polaris" to go below at once and drink hot coffee, without having previously divested himself of his furs, and allowed his system to become toned up to the high temperature of thf* warii) cabin. Three hours afterwards he bscame seriously ill — in a fortnight he was dead. Captain Tyson, to whom fell the task of writing the narrative, of the voyage of the " Polaris," thus describes the death and burial of the com- Tuander : " Last evening (7th November) the captain himself thought he was better, and would soon be around again. But it seems he took worse in the night. CajDtain Buddington came and told me he ' thought Captain Hall was dying.' I got up immediately, and went to the cabin and looked at him. He was quite unconscious — knew nothing. He lay on his face, and was breathing very heavily; his face was hid in the pillow. It was about half-past three o'clock in the morning that he died. Assisted in preparing the grave, which is nearly half-a-mile from the ship, inland; but the ground was HO frozen that it was necessarily very shallow — even with picks it was scarcely possible to break it uu. ... At half-past eleven this morn- ing, November 11, we placed all that was mortal of our late commander in tho frozen ground. Even at that hour of the day it was almost dark, so that I had to hold a lantern for Mr Bryan to read the prayers. I believe all the ship's company were present, unless, perhaps, the steward and cook. It ■\\'as a gloomy day, and well befitting the event. The place also is rugged and desolate in the extreme. Away oft', as far as tho dim light enables us to s( e, we are bound in by huge masses of slate rock, which stand like a barricade, guarding the barren hind of the interior ; between these rugged hills lies the ri! ^i- i! DEATH OF HALL 749 snow-covcrcd plain ; beliiml us the fruzoii waters of rolaris Bay, the shore strewn with great ice-blocks. The little hut which they call an observatory bears aloft, upon a tall flag-staff, the only cheering object in sight; and that is sad enough to-day, for the stars and stripes droop at half-mast. As we went to the grave this morning, the coflin hauled on a sledge, over which was spread, instead of a pall, the American flag, we walked in procession. I walked on, with my lantern, a little in advance ; then came the captain and officers, the engineer, Dr Bessels, and ^leyers ; and then the crew hauling the body by a rope attached to the sledge, one of the men on the right holding another lantern. Nearly all are dressed in skins ; and, were there other eyes to see us, wo should look like anything but a funeral cortege. The Eskimos followed the crew. There is a weird sort of light in the air, partly boreal or electric, through which the stars shone brightly at eleven A.M., while (we were) on our way to the grave." It Avas Dr Bessels' opinion that Captain Hall's death was caused by apoplexy, materially assisted by his own want of caution when returning very cold from the sledge journey, liessels, Chester, and others, all believed that, had he lived, the expedition would have been a complete success. His pre- mature death, due api^arently to mere accident, taking place in the hour of his triumph, and cutting off all possibility of further triumphs, otherwise prob- able, has, like the fate of Bellot, awakened the regretful regard of men of all nations. An ascetic in his habits, he was an enthusiast in his aspirations — a. dreamer of dreams, devoured by " the last infirnuty of noble minds." To him who was already " good," it was only noble to be great. And a certain greatness he attained. He rests at the foot of the wild crags, — surrounded by the snow-covered peaks and uplands, the solitudes of which he was the first to throw open to the gaze of civilised men. His merits as a single-minded man and a famous explorer, have been gracefully acknow- ledged by the leaders of the English expedition of l87o-76, who, hoisting the American flag, placed a brass tablet, bearing the following inscription, with all due solemnities at the foot of his grave : " Sacred to the JNIemory of Captain C. F. Hall, of the U.S. Ship ' Polaris,' who sacrificed his Life in the advancement of Science, on the 8th November 1871. This Tablet has been erected by the British Polar Expedition of 1875, who, following in his footsteps., have profited by his experience." The scientific and other results of the sojourn of Captain Hall's expedi- tion in Thank God Bay have been best sunnnarised by Captain INIarkham, who, from ample information given to him personally by Cai)tain Buddington, Dr Bessels, Mr Chester, anrl other ofHcers belonging to the expedition, is probably the best authority on this subject. He says : " The winter quarters of the ' Polaris,' in 81" 38', are the most northern position in which civilised man has ever wintered ; and all details respecting the temjierature and the It 11? 'il 750 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. i f amount of animal life arc consequently most interesting?. The lowest tem- perature registered was — 48° Fahr., with very little wind blowing at the time. The prevailing winds were from the north-east. The fall of snow during the two winters passed by the 'Polaris' up Smith Sound was remarkably small, the heaviest snow-storm occurring in the month of June, and that was not of any extraordinary amount. In the latitude of their winter quarters musk-oxen were met with, and twen<"-six were shot. Foxes and lemmings were also seen, but other animals were comparatively scarce, and only one bear was seen during the whole year. Narwhal and walrus were not seen to the north of 79°, but seals were obtained up to the extreme point in 82° 16'. They were of three kinds, namely, the common Greenland seal, the ground seal, and the fetid seal. The bladder or hooded seal was not met with. On the western side it was stated by the Etah Eskimos, that Ellesmere Land abounded with musk-oxen; and, judging from the configuration of Grinnell Land, the same abundance of animal life is to be found there also. The birds all disappeared during the winter, though ptarmigan and a species of snipe made their appearance early in the spring ; and in the summer all the genera found in other parts of the Arctic regions were abundant. With the exception of a salmon seen in a frch water lake not fiir from the beach, no fish were met with. The contents of the stomachs of the seals they caught were found to consist of shrimps and other small shell-fish. Dr Bessels used the dredge on several occasions, but owing to the ice, he could seldom do so at a greater depth than eighteen or twenty fathoms, uie results being generally unimportant, and with the exception of a few shrimps and other Crustacea, nothing of interest was obtained. No less than fifteen species of plants, five of which were grasses, were collected by the doctor at their highest latitude, on which the musk-oxen must subsist. He gave me four si)ecimens of the Jlora of 82° N. Mr Chester presented mo with a fossil from the Silurian limestone of that high latitude. Dr Bessels made a fair collection of insects, principally flies and beetles, two or three butterflies and mosquitos ; and birds of seventeen different kinds were shot in 82°, including two sabine gulls and an Iceland snipe." It is necessary to add to this well-informed passage that musk-oxen were numerous, even considerably lo the north of the winter quarters, that rabbits and lemmings abounded, and that Eskimo stone-circles were found, proving that at one time this district was once inhabited by this people, Avho, however, have now for the most part removed southward to the settlements near the entrance to Smith Sound. After the death of Hall, the command of the expedition devolved upon Captain Buddington. This " old whaling skipi)cr " seems to have been an altogether unaccountable personage. He at once abolished the Sunday service, thus playing directly into the hand of his disorderly, undisciplined DRIFTING. 751 crew, for it is well kno\vii that Suuilay snrvico at sea has a l)oiieficial effect upon the inon all the world over. Further, he organised exploring cxp>.di- tions, and then recalled thoni for reasons unexplained. In this way the spring summer passed without any valuable result. The expedition, regarded as an organisation for the advancement of geographical science, was now at an end, and but for the most singular fortunes of its members, it would cease here to have further interest for us. The " Polaris " was freed from the ice in June 1872 ; and on the 12th August the homeward voyage was commenced. S'. ortly afterwards she was caught in the ice, and drifted out into Baflin Bay. On the 15th October the ship was severely nipped. Captain IJuddington — a " phantasm captain," it is to be feared— was seized with panic, jMid shouted, "Throw everything on the ice." On the word, as was to be crcpoctcd, the wildest confusion arose. Stores, provisions, bundles — one of them enveloping a couple of Ilans's children — were thrown pell-mell upon the ice. Captain Tyson tells us that he and some of the men got on the floe, and endeavoured to calm the crowd of people who were already on the ice. " Suddenly," says JMarkham, " the ship broke out, and flew before the wind at the rate of ten or eleven knot.s, leaving nineteen hands on the floe — men, women, and children— with the boats and provisions." Tyson, one of the castaways, writes : "We did not know who was on the ice, or who was on the ship, but I knew some of the children were on the ice, because almost the last thing I had pulled away from the crushing keel of the ship were some musk-ox skins ; they Avero lying across a wide crack in the ice, and as I pulled them toward me to save them I saw that there were two or three of Ilans's children rolled up in one of the skins. A slight motion of the ice, and in a moment more they would either have been in the water, and drowned in the darkness, or crushed between the ice. Morning showed the castaways that their floe was over a mile in diameter. Among the unfortunates were two Eskimo women and five children, including Charlie Polaris, Hans's baby, born on board the ship in Polaris Bay (lat. 82° N.), probably a more northern birthplace than that of any human being living. At the close of October it was found that the quantity of provisions for the support of these people on the floe comprised 11^ bags of bread, 680 lbs. of pemmican, 14 small hams, and some cans of meat and soups, with a smal^ quantity of chocolate and sugar. Another month, and the store of provisions being fearfully diminished, the dogs that had shared the fate of the castaways were killed and eaten. Meantime their floe was drifting southward from day to day. On the 29th December a seal was caught, and eagerly devoured. On the 9th January the floe, now much smaller in dimensions, had floated southward to about the middle of Davis Strait. In February seals were frequently caught. On the 11th INIarch the floe broke. ,1 762 ARCTIC r-XPEDITroyS FJiOM FOIiEiaX SIIOTiES. and tlio wretched people found themselves on a piece of ice not more than a hundred yards in length, by seventy in breadth. From this unsafe raft of ice Captain Tyson succeeded in transfening his comi)anions to the main pack. From the 15th October 1872 to the 3()th April 187:5, Tyson and his eighteen companions continued to drift southward on the pack through IJailhi Bay, and during all this time their sufferings from hunger and cold were extreme. On the morning of the 80th April, the watch on the look-out descried a steamer coming through the fog, and immediately roused his companions. " On hearing tuc outcry," says Tyson, " I sprang up as if endued with new life, ordered all the guns to be fired, and set up a loud, simultaneous shout. ... In a few minutes the steamer was alongside of our piece of ice." The vessel proved to be the " Tigress," of Conception Bay, Newfoundland, on which the castaways Averc conveyed to St John's, whence they end)arked for Washington, where all arrived safely on the 5th June. Tvlcantime the " Polaris," with fourteen men on board, including Budding- ton, Bessels, Ches^r.r, and Morton, after being severely nijiped on the 15th October J 872, had been driven northward to the east shore of Smith Sound, and was safely moored off Life Boat Cove, in lat. 78° 23'. Unloading the boat, these fourteen men built a house on shore, and passed the winter, during which they Avere plentifully supplied with fresh meat by the Eskimos of the neighbourhood. From the timbers of the " Polaris " they constructed two boats, in which they set sail for the south on the 3d June. On the 23d they reached INIelville Bay, where they were picked up by the " Ravenscraig " (whaler) of Dundee. Here let us fancy ourselves transported for a moment to the deck of the "Arctic," a whaling steam-ship, belonging to Dundee. The "Arctic " is oif the entrance to Admiralty Inlet, near the mouth of Lancaster Sound. Com- mander A. H. Markham of the Eoyal Xavy is at present on board of her, nominally serving as second mate. He has imdertaken a whaling cruise in Baffin Bay, " for the purpose of gaining experience in Arctic navigation, of witnessing the methods of handling steam-vessels in the ice, and of collecting information respecting the ice in Baffin Bay, which might prove useful," should the Arctic expedition proposed to be sent out from England at that time (1873) bo favourably considered by Government. lie had just gone down to bed on the night of July Cth when the engines of the "Arctic " were suddenly stopped, and he heard the captain hailing. " Suddenly I caught the sound of the words ' Polaris ' and ' survivors,' " writes Captain Mai-kham, " which caused me to jump speedily out of bed ; but before I could dress, a mes- senger had been sent down to tell me that a portion of the crew of the ' Polaris ' had been picked up by the ' Ravenscraig,' and that our captain had gone on board. Hastily dressing, I lost no time in following him, and i , c I on the quarter-deck of the ' llavcnscraig ' was introduced to Captain Bud- dington and Dr Bessels of the ill-fated cxjiloring sliip. The news that we heard at Lievely, relative to a i)art of the crew of the ' Polaris' having been picked up off the coast of Labrador, was now corroborated, eigliteen of them having been drifted olf on a tioe ; and the remaining fourteen having passed the winter of 1872-73 near their ship, to the northward of Cape Alexander, in the entrance of Smith Sound. The vessel herself was run on shore. On the 4th of June the party of fourteen left for the south in a couple of boivts of their own construction, flat-bottomed scows made from the bulwarks ami other timber, and were picked up by the 'Eovenscraig,' twenty-five miles south-east of Cape York, on the 23d, liaving by that time only two or three days' fuel left, but in other respects they were well supplied. During the boat- voyage they encountered no special dangers or hardships. The greatest inconvenience they experienced was the want of tobacco. They consoled themselves by smoking tea, which they say was a very fair substitute. As Captain Adams was anxious to take some of the crew of the ' Polaris ' on board the 'Arctic,' it was eventually arranged that Dr Bessels, Mr Chester the first mate, Mr Schumann the engineer, and four men, should come Avith us, the others remaining on lioard the ' Eavenscraig.' It was six a.m. befi>re all arrangements were concluded, and we bade farewell to the ' llavcnscraig,' which vessel proceeded up the sound, v/hilst we steamed out to the middle ice. The expedition of the ' Polaris,' under the command of Charles Francis Hall, will always be remarkable for having proved the navigability of the strait leading from Smith Sound to the north. At present the ' Polaris ' has reached a higher northern Latitude than any other .ship on record." In the course of the homeward voyage to Dundee many conversations i-especting the result of the " Polaris " expedition and the discoveries made by her captain and officers took place between Dr Bessels and Captain Markham, Avho was eager, in the interests of naval science and in the anticipation of sailing in the same waters, to learn every scrap of intelligence respecting Smith Strait. It appears that the officers of the " Polaris " saw, or thought they saw, land to the north and west, which they estimated to extend as far north as 84". Captain Nares carefully searched for this land, in all conditions of the atmosphere, in 1876, but saw none, and docs not believe in the existence of any. Dr Bessels mentioned the curious fact that while the south coast of Greenland is gradually subsiding, the north coast is rising. As pi'oof of this, Dr Bessels brought away a sea-water shrimp, which he had taken out of a fresh-water pond, thirty-eight feet above sea- level; and he picked up some marine shells at an elevation of 1200 feet above the sea. A mussel-shell was found at the height of IGOO feet, in lat. 81° 45'. The most interesting discovery, and one which Cajitain Nares had abundant opportunity of verifying, was that the tidal waves from the north 5 c V 754 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. and south meet at Cape Frazer (Grinnell Land), and that consequently thcro is constant ■vvavc-motion, and presumably constant open water, in Smith Strait. "As regards the work of previous American expeditions in Smith Sound," writes Markham, " I was informed that all the coast-line laid down l)y Hayes, and the ' open polar sea ' of Kane, are quite imaginary. Morton, the steward, who is said to have discovered the wide, immeasurable ocean, was on board the 'I'olaris,' and we brought him homo in the 'Arctic' Ho is an Irishman from Dublin, and a very good man, and ho took the mild chaft' that was levelled at him about his famous ' open polar sea ' very good- humouredly. Cape Constitution of Kane has been determined to be about fifty miles south of the position formerly assigned to it by that explorer, and the entire coast-line must be placed considerably further to the eastward." And so ends the eventful history of American exploration in the Arctic seas down to the present date — 1877. ; I PART XIV. RECENT EUROPEAN EXPEDITIONS. 'ii! CHAPTER I. THE GERMAN EXPEDITION, 1869-70— GULLS AND GULLED— FIRST ICE. Among European nations Germany has been the last naval power to enter upon the field of i^ rctic exploration. In 18G8 Dr Petermann, the eminent geographer, fitted out a small vessel, named the "Germania," for an Arctic voyage of discovery, and placed her under the command of Captain Karl Koldewey, of Bucken, near Hoya, in the province of Hanover. Koldewey •was born in 1886, Avent to sea in 1858, subsequently stutlied navigation at the Polytechnic School in Hanover, vad physics and astronomy at the University of Gottingen during the winter sessions of 1867 and 1868. On 24th May 1868 he set sail from Bergen in the "Gcrmania" for the east coast of Greenland, with a crew of only eleven men. In his attempt to push northward along the Greenland coast he was frustrated by pack-ice. Un- willing to return, however, without having achieved something, he sailed away eastward for the Spitzbergen seas, and had the good fortune to reach a high latitude, 81° 5', otf- the north coast of Spitzbergen. He then sailed down Hinlopen Strait, sighted Wiche Island, and thence setting sail for home, arrived safely at Bergen on the 30th September 1868. The " Second German Arctic Expedition," as the voyage of the " Ger- mania" and "Hansa" in 1869-70 was named, was organised soon after Koldewey's return from his first Arctic command. The " Germania " was a screw steamer of 140 tons, with a crew of seventeen oilicers and men ; the sister ship, the " Hansa," was a schooner, almost new, of 76f tons burden, under the command of Captain Ilegemann, and having fourteen officers and men. No German ship had ever previously sailed from the German coast with the intention of passing a winter season in Arctic latitudes ; the victualling and outfit of these vessels, therefore, were proceeded with slowly :ii i ^ 756 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. and very carefully. Special attention was given to the completeness and abundance of tlio supplies of provisions, which were intended to last for two years, and every precaution was taken to make certain that all articles were of the best quality. The ships did not carry much dried or salted meat, while the sujiply of preserved meats in tins was unusually ample. There was also " a good supply of drinks," which Captain Koldewey regards as " so necessary on an Arctic voyage." The vessels set sail on the 15th June 1869 from T?remei-haven, in the presence of King AVilliam of Prussia, Count Bismarck, and Generals Von lloon. Von Moltke, and others whose names became as household words soon afterwards. Gradually, as the ships were towed out, the last cheers died away in the distance. On reaching the open sea the tugs were cast off, and the last of the private friends went away in the pilot cutter. "We were now fiiirly left to ourselves," says Captain Koldewey, " and with a cheerful song the sailors set one sail after another ; and thus, with a light south-westerly breeze, which had just sprung up, under full sail for the north, we left our native land, to meet an uncertain future. The prevailing frame of mind was serious; every man of us knew what depended ujDon himself, and what was expected of us ; that the whole world of letters was watching the undertaking ; but still Ave had full confidence in the cause, and were fully determined to return to our native shore only with honour." For some time wind and weather continued favourable, the ships sailed well in company, and there was frequent and very agreeable intercourse between the officers of the " Germania " and " Hansa." From the 16tli Juno storms were almost constant till the beginning of July — the vessels making no more headway in sixteen days than with a fair wind they could have made in two days and a half. On the 1st July the ships had passed lat. 61° N., and entered that region of the North Atlantic known in Germany as the Nnrdmeer. It was observed here that between the north wind that now prevailed and the sweep of the Gulf Stream, which here sets toward the east, the vessels were carried far east toward the Norwegian coast. The wide and solitary seas of the " high latitudes " — beyond the ordinary tracks of commerce — were now reached, and peculiar phenomena were observable. In the beginning of July the sun did not set till a quarter-past ten, and even at midnight there was so much light that the finest print could be easily read. The voyagers now found themselves " alone upon the broad surface, which, to some, offers only a joicture of boundless void and lasting sameness, but in others exciting a deep feeling of the might and sublimity of boundless Nature." The vessels were about this time surrounded by immense numbers of sea-birds — a circumstance due in a gi *■. measure to the neighbourhood of laud — and the naturalists of both vessels were in their glory. The following i sketch of the appearance and habits of the •' thrcc-toed " and of the dreaded " robber " gull, is at once novel and vivid : " The ship was surrounded nearly the whole day by the three-toed sea-gull {Lams tridactt/lns, L.) in flocks of from twenty to fifty, with the swiftness and lightness of wing peculiar to this small gull, following the ship with manifold unwearying windings and turn- ings, spying for prey in the dead-water, and then darting like lightning upon some little crab tossed in the current; or sitting sociably some short distance from the ship's side upon the smooth or even strongly-heaving water, sunning themselves, trimming their plumage, or fishing. They also liked to whirl round the mast, accompanying the truck in all its waving to and fro, and sometimes settling upon it. If we mounted into the top, the birds were not at all shy, but hovered about with fluttering wings, apparently standing still, and from time to time shootin"- nearer to the observer, Avho might almost fancy that he could clasp them easily in his hand, thus having a good oppor- tunity of observing this really handsome bird at his leisure. The round head, with the knowing dark eyes, turns backwards and forwards upon the short neck, the wings move in graceful lines, the small black feet are drawn tight under the tail. The whole under-part of the bird is a pure white, whilst the upper part is bluish-grey. But what strikes the eye the most is that the tips of the slender wings and the fan-shaped tail are jet black. In rather lighter black, difiering according to the age and time of year, are marks on the head and neck, one in particular looking like a collar. In spite of all this outward beauty (in which property they are far surpassed by the ivory gull) there remains an ugly peculiarity connnon to this species, namely, their ever harsh and grating cry. In fair or foul weather, in slow and in swift flight, the sharp ' ih, ih, ha, ha,' is ever heard without inter- mission, and in every possible cadence. These are the same gulls that in northern neighbourhoods flock together in thousands, make their nests in the rocks, and thus form the so-called 'gull mountains,' of which Fr. Boie, Faber, Brehm, ar' other travellers cannot relate enough. These creatures ax-e, upon the whole, known to be very sociable and gentle, so their cry only exj^resses contentment and liveliness. Now and then, however, our attention would be aroused when those tones were (piicker, more decided, and fell heavily on the ear. We naturally looked round for the cause, and saw three of them flying terror-stricken; followed by another bird with darkor plumage, longer wings, and a quicker, strcmger flight. It is the robber gull {Lestri^); and now an odd spectacle is presented to our sight. One of our small gulls has just caught a little fish, which, prompted by curiosity, had come to the surface, and flies hurriedly forward, anxious to devour it. His plundering dark cousin, not far off', roving apparently purposeless above the waves, scarce has time to espy this, when he darts swiftly down, catches the flying gull, and sets upon it unmercifully, until bursting into this scream of terror. ;' II ■§ .\ I 758 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. it opens its beak and lets the booty fall. The robber having now gained his end, quits the chase, and rushes after the falling fish, ■\vhicJ: with incredible agility, he catches half-way. In the next moment we see the bird again quietly circling above the waves as if nothing had happened, or sailing slowly in the distance, bouL upon robbing other gulls of their hard-earned meal." On the 5th July, at five minutes before midnight, the " Hansa " crossed the Arctic circle (lat. 66' 3;V) in longitude 0" 15' W. At midnight they were called on deck. A gun was fired, the familiar salute " Ship ahoy ! " was heard, apparently from the waves ahead of the vessel, and presently three Avonderful figures clambered over the bowsprit into the vessel. First of these was Neptune, dressctl on this occasion in Eskimo furs, wearing a long cotton beard, and wielding a dolphin harpoon by way of trident in one hand, and a speaking trumpet in the other. The sea-god was followed by his barber and assistant. The usual civilities having passed — Neptune wel- coming the strangers into his watery domain, and wishing them success on their voyage, and the officers of the watch dutifully and respectfully respond- ing— the awful question came, "Any green hands on board 1 " It hajniened that on both vessels — on which similar ceremonies on crossing the circle were observed — the green hands embraced the whole of the scientific staff' — naturalists, astronomers, and medical men, who — fiir from ever having crossed the equator or penetrated the Polar regions— had, in most cases, passed all their life in a university town. These gentlemen, doctors and professors, were now for the first time in their lives subjected to an examination which they were in no sense qualified to pass ; and had not the very best under- standing subsisted throughout the voyage hitherto between forecastle and cabin — the men knew the merits of a good cigar, and the " professors " were frank and generous — they Avould doubtless have been subjected to the usual rough shave and christening. Dr Gustavus Laube of the "Hansa," Pro- fessor of Zoology and Lecturer to the University and Polytechnic School in Vienna, describes his examination : "A tarpaulin was spread on the quarter- deck, and a stool placed upon it. It looked like a judge's bench, Here each of us was seated with eyes bound, while the masked followers of the northern ruler went through the customary proceedings. I was soaped and shaved ; god Neptune Avas most favourable to me ; he knows Avhat good cigars are and has great respect for those to wlu)m they belong. Then came the christening, which in this case was not applied to the head (as is usual), but to the throat and stomach. Neptune put some questions to me through his speaking trumpet, desiring me to answer. I saw his object, answered with a short 'yes,' and then closed my lips. The mischievous waterfall rattled over me, causing universal merriment. They then took the bandage from my eyeS; that I might see my handsome face in the glass ; but instead : i A FIRST ICE. 759 of a looking-glass, it was the coml)ing of the wooden hatchway, which, with great gravity, Avas held before my face liy the l)arlicr's a? istant, I was now absolved, and could laugh with the others, whilst seeing my conu-ades obliged to go through the same course one after the other." "Universal gi'og on board both ships brought the time-honoured and merry ceremony to a close." Snow fell on the 7th July, and on the following day the /)^ began its rule of terror, a rule which prevailed during sixteen out of the next twenty days. The wild, rugged, bleak shores of Jan INIayen Island were passed on the 9th, and about the same time the midnight sun of the Polar world was for the first time seen, liovering over the edge of the limitless sea, like a great crim- son ball, and surrounded by gold and purple-violet clouds. The ships were now well within the region of their search, and the representatives of the different scientific departments continued hard at work from morning till night. The temperature of the surface water was taken every two hour^, and that of greater depths every four hours. In connection with these observations, Drs Borgen and Copeland began a series of experiments relating to the quantity of salt in the surface and the deep water. Notice was also taken of the colour of the sea, the character of the driftwood met with, etc. These observations were of no small interest, as they were in that part of the somewhat changing boundary where the warm (so-called) Gulf Stream coming up from the south, and the cold Arctic current coming down from the north, just meet. "This Gulf Stream," writes Koldewey, "is known not only by its relative warmth, but by the greater saltness and deep blue colour of its waters. The beautiful l)lucness of the sea struck us as soon as we left the North Sea. But from this time until we reached the ice, the colours changed continually, and sometimes very quickly, from dirty blue, light blue, greenish blue, bluish green, clear and transparent green, greyish green, and so on, so that our attempts at representing a series of these colours became a failure." The Greenland seal {Phoca GronJandka) was seen in large numbers in the seas around Jan ISIayen Island. The skin and fat of a young seal are worth from 7s. Gd. to 9s. Koldewey states that a single Bremen ship sometimes takes from eight to ten thousand seals. In 1868 five German, five Danish, fifteen Norwegian, and twenty-two British ships took no less than 237,000 seals. The " crow's-nest " had been rigged on the main-mast early in July, and near midnight of the 12th, the first piece of ice was seen from the declc of the " Germania." On the 14th, the ice-sky was seen glistening yellowish- v.'hite away to the north-west and west, and the border of the ice was reached on the foUoAving day. After leaving Jan ISIaycn Island, Captain Koldewey saw nothing of the "Ilansa" for several days. The appointed place of rendezvous for both 1^1 760 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. ships Avas in latitude 75°, on the border of the ice on the east coast of Green- land. The " Germania " had headed this position, and on the 18th July the "Ilansa" came in sight. Captain Hegemann and other officers of the " Hansa" came on board the " Germania," and discussed plans for the future with Captain Koldcwoy. It was agreed that, in case of separation, the next rendezvous for the vessels should be Sabine Island. The vessels then sailed in company southward, along the ice-line of the east coast of Gi-ecnland, in search of a break in the ice, through which they miglit reach the land-water between the shores and the floes. The object of the expedi- tion was to explore the east coast of Greenland by sailing along this land- Avater to the highest possible point— to the North Pole itself The " Ger- Mania" continued sailing along the ice. The wind was S.S.W., and the " Hansa " was sailing a few miles to windward of the larger vessel. It was arranged that the capt lins should have another interview on the night of the 10th July, and accordingly Koldewey signalled to Hegemann to "come M'ithin hail." The "Hansa" misunderstood the signal. She "set more sail," says Koldewey, " and di^iappeared in the now thickly-rising fog before we could succeed in following her." Thus a fatal misunderstanding separ- ated the two ships, and that for ever. I \ U GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. •Gl CHAPTER II. GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION, 1869-70 — WRECK OP THE " IIANSA " — ON THE ICE-RAFT — THE "NIGHT OF THE NORTH -TAME BIRDS. Separated from lier sistei' ship the " Germania " on the 20th July, the " Hansa " continued to beat about the edge of the floe, in the neighbour- hood of Sabine Island (the rendezvous) but always somewhat to the south of that position. On the 28th, Captain Hegemann found himself in lat. 72" 56'. On the 5th August the current had carried the schooner twenty-six miles southward. A valorous attempt was then made to push northward to the appointed meeting-place, and lat. 7i° 16' was reached. On the 14th August the " Hansa," which had been battlirr among the ice for more than three weeks, was again hemmed in on all bides. On the 25th the vessel reached its nearest to Sabine Island, but was still distant thirty-five nautical miles to the south. "Taking into consideration," says Hegemann, "the strong ice-pressure to which the ship was continually subject, we made ready the boats, and divided the fur clothing. We saw before us the imminent prospect of being obliged to pass the winter oiF the coast. We began seriously to talk of using our coal-bricks to build on the ice, to which we might fly for refuge, in case the ship were lost. September 2d, rain and storm from the south-east. Morning of the 6th, fine weather, light south- east wind ; sailed twenty nautical miles in a north-westerly direction, partly by the side of an ice-field, ^teew nautical miles long, until eight in the evening, when calm, fog, and ice, brought us once more to a stand. This was oar last sail. Had we had steam, we should most likely have reached the open water, which we saw along the coast. The next day wo laid the ' Hansa ' between two promontories of a large ice-field, which eventually proved a raft of deliverance. Now began the complete blockade of our ship in the ice." It was soon freezing visibly, and the new ice between the floes was strong enough to bear a man. The schooner was lying on the 7th September blocked up on the east side of the large ice-field already mentioned, while to the west of the ice-field open water, the channels of which, how over, were too narrow to admit the vessel, extended to the land. On the 11th a she- 5d 762 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. ' i « boar and cub were seen on a neighbouring ice-field, and a boat was soon put off to hunt them. " The pair soon espied us, and tramped to the edge of the ice, near the boat — the old one gnashing her teeth and licking her chaps. Wo fired as soon as we could take a steady aim, and the bear fell dead in the snow. Over the young one, Avhich remained by her side, licking and caressing her in the most affecting way, we repeatedly cast a noose, which, however, it always eluded." The young one was afterwards caught, and attached with a collar and chain to the ice-anchor. A snow-house was built for it, but it exhibited the true Arctic spirit by preferring to camp on the snow. In a few days it escaped, chain and all ; but must have sunk in the Avater from the weight of the iron attached to it. The crew of the "Hansa" much enjoyed the fresh meat of the older bear, which tasted excellent either as a roast joint or in chops. Before the close of September, it became evident to Captain Hegemann that the coming winter must be passed on the ice with or without the ship. That fourteen men might pass the winter in the ice in their three boats was possible, but would certainly be highly dargerous. How, in such circum- stances would it be possible to provide tolerable sleejiing accommodation or Avarm food 1 It was evident to all that a house would have to be built on the ice-field. " Immediately," writes Hegemann, " the building of the afore- said coal-house was clamoured for. Bricks were already there in the shape of coal-tiles, an excellent building material, which would absorb the damp and keep the warmth in the room. Water and snow fonned the mortar. For the roof, in case of a real settlement on the ice-field on account of the loss of the ship, we proposed taking the snow roofing of the deck of the ' Hansa.' Before anything else was done the boots were cleared out, and two of them, the ' Hope ' and the ' Bismarck,' covered with the snow roof. For each of these, provisions were kept ready on deck. Captain Hegemann sketched the plan for the building. The length was 20 feet, the breadth 14 feet, and the height 6J feet in the gable, the side walls being only 4 feet 8 inches high. A firm spot, free from any fracture, was chosen about 450 paces from the ship ; and we had no cause to fear that the floe might soon break from fric- tion with any other drifting ice-field. Had the house been a greater distance from the ship, the difficulty of bringing up the heavy materia s would have been greater, and thus have retarded the progi'ess of the building. The work began on the 27th of September with the foundations, which here were more ready to hand than on land. With snow-axes and ballast-shovels, we then cleared away from the fiirn mass of ice about a foot and a half of snow. We had intended to raise the walls with a double row of stones ; but unfor- tunately had overrated orr stock, and were therefore obliged to economise, and only use the 9-inch broad stones up to about two feet, and after that lay them singly. A brook, which we had dug in the ice hard by, and which j... )1 WRECK OF THE "ffAXSA." 7G:3 gave us the sweetest of water, also afforded the most excellent cement. Whilst wall-building on land has to be given up in frosty weather, our building on the contrary progressed the more rapidly. We only needed to strew finely-powdered snow between the grooves and cracks, pour water upon it, and in ten minutes all was frozen to a strong compact mass, from which one single stone would with difficulty have been extracted ! The roof for the present was composed of sad-cloth and some matting, which had by chance been left on the ' Hansa ' after her last West Indian voyage. (This was made of reeds, and was laid down in the cabin when company was expected.) The rafters were made out of the spars and staves of tubs ; the first-named were laid crossways upon the latter. On this framework the sail-cloth and matting were nailed ; and in order to give this somewhat airy building more solidity and firnmcss, snow was thrown upon the top. A double door, two feet and a half wide, we made on board ; the floor was filled in with coal blocks ; and thus in seven days, namely, on the 3d of October, we began to provide the finished house with j^rovisions for two months — about 400 lbs. of bread, two dozen tins of preserved meat, a side of bacon, some coffee and brandy; afterwards fuel, and some boxes of coal. At the same time the plank roofing, in case of wintering on boa'>:. was erected. This wooden roof, covered with felt, rested on the one side uu the mast, and on the other on the bidwarks. It reached from the maiiuuast to the after part of the ship. Amidships and to the fore, sails were stretched. The whole work was favoured by fine weather and a medium temperature of 20° to 9° Fahr." Wild weather came on the 8th of October, just after the completion of the coal-brick house. A few days of it would have compl-^tely destroyed both house and ship. From the 5th to the 14th October the ice-field to Avliich the ship Avas attached drifted seventy-two miles in a south-south-west direction, and the hope of the castaways was that this drift would continue until the floe on which they were moored, having approached the shores of south Greenland, they might be able to escape by their boats to land. On the morning of the 18th October the ice " began to thrust and press aroimd the ship. This unpleasant noise lasted until the afternoon. At regular intervals underneath, the ice, like a succession of waves, gToaned and cracked, squashed and puffed ; now sounding like the banging of doors, now like many human voices raised one against another; and lastly, like a drag on the wheel of a railway engine. The evident immediate cause of this crushing was that our field had turned in drifting, and was now pressed closer to the coast-ice. . . . For a time the 'Hansa' was spared, though trembling violently. The masts often swayed so much that it seemed as though some one was climbing them." The weather cleared in the aftex*- noon ; but still wilder disruptions of the ice were to be feared as the winter P« iii 764 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. advanced, and pi'eparations — however vain these might prove to be — were made to meet these. Provisions, fuel, and clothing were got up from the hold, and placed in readiness on the deck of the " Hansa." Early on the 19th a fear- ful snow-storm from north-north-west broke over the vessel. Ice-pressure was of course expected to follow as a natural consequence! The air was gloomy and thick, and the coast, though only four miles distant, was invisible. The rnearthlv lois^s of the squeezed ice were first heard at ten a.m. In the earlj T' er i' the deck seams sprang amidships. The bow of the vessel was 1 . : !' "eventeen feet. "The rising of the ship was an extraordinary and aM *i, u- ^•plendid spectacle, of which the whole crew were witnesses from the .ce. Ii^ " haste *he clothing, nautical instruments, journals, and cards were taken over the landing-bridge. The after-part of the ship, unfor- tunately, would not rise ; and therefore the stern post had to bear the most frightful pressure, and the conviction that the ship must soon break up forced itself upon our minds." Soon it was found that there were seventeen inches of water in the hold, and though the pumps were instantly set work- ing, the water continued to make — the leak, or leaks, being undiscoverable. " Enough ! " exclaims Hegemann, " the fate of the ' Hansa ' was sealed ; our good ship must go to the bottom ! " A number of men had been sent into the fore-peak if bring up firewood. They returned with anxious faces, stating that the water had risen so high in the hold that the loose firewood was floating. When the captain learned that this was really the case he ordered the men away from the pumps. There was no saving the vessel now — she must be abandoned. " The first thing to be done," writes Hegemann, " was to bring all necessary and useful things from the 'tween decks on to the ice — bedding, clothing, more provisions, and coal. Silently were all the heavy chests and barrels pushed over the hatchway. First comes the weighty iron galley* then the two stoves are happily hoisted over ; their possession ensures us the enjoyment of warm food, the heating of our coal-house, and other matters indispensable for a wintering on the floe. At three o'clock the water in the cabin had reached the table, and all movable articles were floating. The fear that we should not have enough fuel made us grasp at every loose piece of wood and throw it on to the ice. The sinking of the vessel was now almost imperceptible, it must have found support on a tongue of ice or some promontory of our field. There was still a small medicine chest, and a few other things, which, in our future position, would be great treasures — such as the cabin-lamp, books, cigars, boxes of games, etc. The snow-rocf, too, and the sails, were brought on to the ice ; but still all necessary work was not yet accomplished. Eound about the ship lay a chaotic mass of heterogeneous articles, and groups of feeble rats struggling with death, and trembling with the cold ! All articles, for greater safety, M )t! ON THE ICE-RnFT. 765 must bo conveyed over a fissure to about thirty galley we at once took on a sled-" *'' *'"" ' ige )aces farther inland. The to the !k)v!s. as we sh dd want it to We then i^ jked after the sailor Max nearly the whole ■ Uij followed, and now th. give us v.arm coffee in the evening. Schmidt, who was suffering from frost-bite, .. d brought him on planks under the fur covering to the coal-house. By nine a.m. all were in the new asylum, which was lit by the cabin-lamp, and looked like a dreary tond). Pisased with the completion of our heavy day's work, though full of trouble fo/ the future, we prepared our couch. A number of planks were laid upon the ground, and sail-cloth spread over them. Upon these we lay down, rolled in our furs. A man remained to watch the stove, as the temperature in the room had risen from 2° Fahr. to 27 >^' F. It was a hard, cold bed ; but sleep soon fell up our weary, over-worked limbs. On the morning ot the 21st we went agu i t the ship to get more fuel. The coal-hole was, however, under wat •. "" therefore chopped down the masts, and hauled them, with the w. oi. of the tackle, on to the ice, a work which took us At eleven, the foremast fell ; at three, the mainmast II ansa' really looked a complete, comfortless wreck." After a few ^\vp spent in completing their house, covering it with a warm coating oi ou nv, etc., the crew of the "Hansa" were at last safely, and in a measure comfortably housed on the ice. And now from week to week their ice-raft continued to drift slowly to the south. Early in November a walrus was killed, its fat aff'ording a very accept- able quantity of first-ra^o fuel. Some of this was burned in the open air, with the view of drawing out the bears. One of these animals only came sniffing toward the fire, and was greeted with three shots, and killed. The four hams of the carcass weighed, in all, 200 lbs., and were roasted as a great treat, one on each successive Sunday. On the 18th December the lowest temperature felt during the whole voyage — 20° Fah. below zero — was registered. Early on the morning of the 2Gth December, after having cele- brated a quiet and happy Christmas, the sleepers in the house on the floe were roused by the sailor on the watch shouting, " We are drifting to land — an island straight ahead!" The island proved to be an ice one — a huge, drifting ice-berg — which the field on which the castaways were floating passed without accident. On the 2d January the officers thought they heard a peculiar rustling noise, as if some one was shuffling his feet on the floor ; but as it w^as soon over, they took no further notice. " In the afternoon," writes the caj^tain, " as we were resting after dinner, we suddenly heard the same rustle, but much louder. It was a scraping, blustering, crackling, sawing, grating, and jarring sound, as if some unhappy ghost was wandering under our floe. Per- plexed, we all jumped up and Avent out ; we thought that our store house had fallen in. Some of the sailors going in front with the lamp carefully •60 ARCTIC EXPEDITIOXS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. \ » scarcliod the path to it. But in whatever direction the light fell on the s])aildiiig and glittering ice-walls, we saw nothing. Immo.able hrng the ligid icicles, often a foot long ; evidently nothing was amiss here. "We rum- niagod in the snow-path before the house. Although completely snoMed-up (indeed the whole house was buried more than a foot deep in ice), we all rushed out, but of course we could not see more than the steps, nor hear anything but the howling of the storm. Still, between whiles, we could detect the same rubbing and grinding. For a change, we laid ourselves flat down, with our ears to the floor, and could then hear a rustling like the singing of ice when closely jammed, and as if water was running under our great floe. There could be no doubt but that it stood in great danger of being smashed to pieces, either from drifting over sunken rocks, and bursting up, or breaking against the ice border ; perhaps both at once. We packed our furs and filled our knapsacks with provisions. Our position, if the floe should be destroyed, seemed hopeless." Still it was well to make such poor preparations against impending fate as were possible. Eopes were fastened from the house to the boats, which lay at a distance of fifteen paces, so tliat the men might be able to reach them, should the ice break up even imder the house. " In the morning," continues Ilegemann, " some of us went out in the direction of the quay ; for thus we had christened the spot, 500 steps from the house, where the sunken ' Hansa ' lay. They there found a new wall of ice, and recognised to their horror that this wall was now the boundary of our floe, whilst on all sides of it large pieces had been broken oft', and rose in dark shapeless masses out of the drifted snow. The bad weather lasted with undiminished violence till two in the afternoon. On the morning of the 4th of January it had com- pletely worn itself out ; the air was clear, and alloAved an open view over the ice-field to the coast. Our floe had lost considerably in circumference, and changed its round form into a long one. The diameter, which before was two nautical miles, was now at the utmost but one. On three sides, our house was only 200 steps from the edge of the floe. On the fourth it was about 1000, where before it had been 3000. The distance to the coast amounted to scarcely two nautical miles. Besides the island seen on the 1st of January, we caught a glimpse of several others with different pyramidi- cally rising cliffs in the north-west. We named them the 'New Year's Islands,' as we had seen the first on the 1st of January. They lay near the east cape of a deep bay which, from the never-to-be-forgotten danger we had passed through, we christened ' Bay of Horrors.' In the background rose snow-covered mountains, which by the rising sun were lit up with a beautiful Alpine glow, and here and there in the bay were small glaciers visible. The extreme land to the south-west stood out as a steep cape, which we called Cape Buchholz ; another to the west (Hildebrandt) Avas close to THE "NIGHT OF THE NORTH r 707 us, only two nautical miles off; that is tlio noavcst l.ind. Wo thus found ourselves in the mouth of the bay. After the dangers gone through, and as our ice-raft seemed to aftbrd us less security than formerly, it was pi'oposed that wo should make an attempt to get to the coast with the boats, and suf- ficient provisions, so as to have some prospect of reaching the inhabited part of Greenland, the south-westerly side, in the mild time of year. But, un- fortunately, wo found that wo could get no farther than the edge of our field. Short broken fragments succeeded, so covered over with snow that one could see neither the gaps nor crevasses. To get to the coast honco seemed impracticable, and, as before, our ice-field was our only means of deliverance." As giving a vivid idea of the scene and of the feeling of the men at this juncture, the following extract from the day-book of one of the sailors, dated "January 9th, Northern Hotel," is interesting as well from its peculiarly German tone, as from the scenery of the " Bay of Horrors " to which it refers : " The weather in the past night was calm and clear. The moon shone bril- liantly ; the northern lights and the stars glittered upon the dead beauty of a landscape of ice and snow. Listening at night, a strange, clear, sounding tone strikes the ear, then again a sound as of some one draAving near, with slow and measured steps. We listen — who is it ? All still ! not a breath stirring I Once more it sounds like a lamentation or a groan. It is the ice ; and now it is still, still as the grave ; and, from the glance of the moon, the ghastly-outlined coast is seen, from which the giant rocks are looking over to us. Ice, rocks, and thousands of glittering stars. O thou wonderfully ghost-like night of the north ! " On the 11th January the splitting of the floe still continuing, the men stood huddled together for protection from the bad weather. " Water on the floe close by ! " shouts the watch. The ice-field began again to split up on all sides. On the spot between the house and the piled up store of wood, wliich was about 25 paces distant, there suddenly opened a huge gap. The sadly diminished floe now rose and fell like a small raft. "All seemed lost," says Hegcmann. " From our split-up ice-field all the firewood was drifting into the raging sea. And in like manner we had nearly lost our boat ' Bismarck ; ' even the whale-boat was obliged to be brought for safety into the middle of the floe. The large boat, being too heavy to handle, we were obliged to give up entirely. All this in a temperature of —9.^°, and a heavy storm, was an arduous piece of work. The community were divided into two parts. We bade each other good-bye with a farewell shake of the hands, for the next moment we might go down. Deep despondency had taken hold of our scientific friends; the crew were still and quiet. Thus we stood or cowered by our boats the whole day, the fine pricking snow penetrating through the clothes to the skin. It was a miracle that just that part of the : I 1 76S ARCTIC EXPEDITFOXS FROM FOREJCN SHORES. floe on which wo stoofl slinuhl from its soundness keep to<,'other. Our floo, now only l.")!) feet in diameter, was the \^'^ to 40 feet nucleus of the fcmnerly extensive field to which wo had entrusted our preservation. Towards evening the masses of ice became closely packed again. At the sania time the heavy sea had subsided, and immediate danger seemed j)ast. Relieved, we partook of something in the house and lay down, after setting a good watch. It was past midnight, when we were roused from our sleep by a cry of terror ; the voice of the stiilor on watch exclaiming, ' Turn out ; we are drifting on to a high iceberg ! ' All rushed to the entrance ; dressed wo always were ; we had no time to run through the long snow passage, but burst open the roof, climbed on to the door, and so out. What a sight ! Close upon us, as if hanging over our heads, towered a huge mass of ice, of giant proportions. ' It is past,' said the captain. Was it really an iceberg, or the mirage of one, or the high coast ? We could not decide the question. Owing to the swiftness of the drift, the ghastly olyect had disappeared the next moment." After a day or two of moderate weather, a frightful storm sprang up on the 14th. Around the house in which the men were living, the ico broke up, and the broken fragments rose up high around. All was hurry now, to secure the provisions and stores on sledges, though the driving storm made it almost impossible to breathe. Some of the men that night slept in the boats, some in the now half-dismantled house. On the 15th the dreadful weather lasted the whole day. " We lay in the boat half in water, half in snow, shivering with the frost, and wet to the skin. We also passed the night of the 15th to the 16th in the same comfortless position." A new house was built on a sound piece of the floe, but as only six men could be accom- modated in it, the remaining eight had to sleep in one of the boats, which had been roofed in and covered with a sail. In the midst of all this danger and exposure, the men remained cool, uncomplaining, undismayed. Cook was a great figure among them. He never lost his good-humour or his gaiety even in the most distressing circumstances. As long as he had tobacco he made no trouble of anything. On one occasion, while the ice was breaking up all round, and threatening every moment to give way and engulf the house, cook, Avho was repairing the coff'ec-kettle at the time, proceeded with his tinkering undisturbed. " If the floo would only hold together until he had finished his kettle ! he wished so to make the evening tea in it, so that, before our departure, we might have something warm ! " These days of tempest and disruption, however, passed over. On the 1st February the spring tide set free a piece of the floe that had been broken off the main piece, but still remained in connection, and caused it to float away. The " Hansa " men had then an opportunity of estimating the thickness and strength of their field. The ice of the fi-agment was seen through the clear TAME llUlhS. 7<59 water, shining to tlio depth of thirty to thirty-hvc feet. The fiehl from which it hiid been broken off conld not bo k\ss thick, so that tli(! men had some reason to hope, that unless anotlier crisis overtook them, tlieir line mi,i;ht even yet carry them into a hititude from which they miylit be able to reach the nearest West Greenland settlement. One very striking effect of the sutl'erings and the situation of these men is worthy of notice. They became indifferent to their possessions and eilccts to a degree unenualled, so far as we remember, in any previt)us expedition. "The most costlj- books," says Ilegemann, "are torn up for the most trilling purposes. The gilded frame of our cabin looking-glass has long since been used as firewood, and the glass thrown on one side. Streams of petroleum and brandy How in the course of heating the stove ; packets of toljacco fur- nish a welcome means of warmth. \Vhy is gunpt)wder of no use to us h We like letting it off in fireworks for our pleasure, and to pass away the time!" But the feelings that gave rise to indittcrence in others had a dif- ferent effect upon Dr Buchholz, surgeon to the "Ilansa." During all tlio trials of January, Buchholz had exhibited great courage and resolution. In the beginning of February, however, he became melancholy ; a nervous disorder developed itself, which he did not get quit of luitil ho returned to Germany. On the 18th ISIarch the castaways, on their ice-raft, had drifted as fiir south as 64° 2', or considerably over 000 miles along the ice-fringed coast of Greenland. On the 29th, to their great joy, the men fouml themselves in the latitude of Nukarbik, in the bight of which they Avere detained for four weeks. After release from this bay, three weeks of continuous southern drift brought the men as far south as lat. 61° 4'. Meantime the animal life of this region became again cheerfully active. Linnets and snow-buntings were numerous and tame. " Some of them," Avritcs one of the officers, " will almost perch upon our noses, and in five minutes allowed themselves to be caught three times." Still there was no open water. The thaw, however, was proceeding rapidly, and with the disappearance of the snow on the ice-field many articles that were believed to have been lost " turned up." Among these articles was the always useful carpenter's chest. Open water, leading in the direction of the land, was first seen on the 7th May. "A stiff south-easter had cleared the sky during the night, and in the grey morning the watch heard through the fog a rushing and roaring- sound, which could be nothing but the sea. The thought had now to bo seriously entertained as to whether the time had not come for our release from the floe. And it had '^.ome. Wind id weather remained fiivourable. The strip of water in the ; 'ith-west cam • ;arer and nearer, the wind sepa- rating masses of small flees and driving them northwards. At half-past twelve the captain, after having uninterruptedly observed the ice and the 11 n Il 770 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGX SHORES. Avcatlier for some time, decided, with the agreement of all the oHicers, that, according to his opinion, the moment had come when they should leave the floe, and try to save themselves by reaching the coast in the boats. l]ut he did not wish to bear the entire responsibility of such an impoi'tant step, believing that if the abandonment of the floe and the taking to the boats »vere decided upon "with unanimous consent, or at least with that of the majority of his comrades, their prospect of ultimate preservation would be greatly enhanced by increased individual exertions. How well founded this opinion was, time would prove. It was also found that this daj a observa- tions gave a latitude of 61° 12'; more northerly than that of yesterday, as on the Cth we were in Gl' 4'. This view of the captain's therefore received unlimited approbation, Dr Laube only showing some hesitation, which was overruled. Our decision stood firm. After a hasty mid-day meal we at once began to clear the boats. This was troublesome work. First we took out all the provisions, clothing, sails, masts, oars, instruments, and so forth, so that the boats might be hauled emi)ty over tlu*ee floes ; and the whole of the contents were carried after them, partly on sledges and partly on the back, and they were again reladen. In feverish haste and impatience this work was accomplished, and in three hours all was ready. \Vc took one last thankful look at our faithful floe ; through numerous dangers and calamities, from the region of terror and death, it had borne us here in 200 days, into a more hosj^itable latitude ; and now, filled with fresh courage, we might hope for a speidy release." The party set sail at four I'.M. on the 7th, and that night, after advanci)ig " seven nautical miles," encamped on a floe. Bad weather and successive barriers of ice delayed the progress of the explorers, and it was not till the 24th May that an advance party reached the island of Illuidlek, oft' the Greenland coast, and in latitude about G0° 55' N. From this point it was necessary to drag the boats across the ice to the island, but these were so heavy, and the ice so rough, that only a very short distance was made daily. On tiie night of the SOtli to the 31st ISIay the party advanced 1200 paces. As they drew the boats to their destination, C'ajjtain Hegemann, aaIio had been active in dragging the boats the whole night, was overcome with his labours, and fiiinted. On the 4th June the boats were landed on Illuidlek. On the Gth June, having trimmed their small craft, the party set sail for F"'riedrichsthal, the nearest colony on the south-west coast of Oreeuland. In the evening they hauled up their boats for the first time on the mainland of Greenland, about five miles north of Cape Vallcic. " For the first time, now that we had no longer the crowding ice to fear, did we give ourselves com- pletely and quietly up to rest. The light of another bright, sunshiny dawn sliowed us some signs of vegetation inland. There were sorrel, dandelit)n, and cin(|uefoil, which wc sought for eagerly in the fissures and rents of the in rniEDRICIISTIIAL. 771 rocky gvouiul, and with which, with the help of some pickle, wc improvised a salad. . . . (jot once more under sail, and in the evening had left twenty miles behind us. Our quarters this night were close to the south end of Greenland (60° 34')." On June 13th, starting at four in the morning, the party were resolved to push on to Friedrichsthal. They sped before the wind through the Strait of Torsukatek, and then rowed westward, looking out sharply for the expected bay. " There, suddenly, after rounding a low l)romontory, the longed-for bay lay before us. It was a never-to-be-forgotten moment. The wind was now favourable, so we at once set sail, and hoisted our flag. A fcAV hundred steps from the shore, on the green ground, stood a rather spacious red house, topped by a small tower. It was the mission- house. . . . This gTcen flat spot oi land the iNEoravian brotherhood have chosen for their most southerly mission station. The Northmen had already lived here. As the brothers' house was being built, traces were found of their old settlement in the ground, rriedrichsthal is, indeed, one of the most lovely spots in Gvccnland. Open and pleasantly situated on the grassy sward, and enclosed in a wide semi-circle of high mountains, it makes a good impression on all comers; how much more so on us, comijnratively raised from the dead ! "'Hurrah! hurrah! European houses, Friedrichsthal!' Indeed, there lay before us two low red-painted houses. At this moment sprang up a most Avelcome breeze, and from our flagstaft" the German flag fluttered lustily. I sat l)ehind, with the glass to my eye, viewing the land. At the door of the mission-house a blue dress was visible for a moment, and then disappeared ; now came a whole company from the house down to the strand ; they had seen us. The rocks of the look-out hill, too, were alive. A European strode up and down, like an oflicial guardian of order. "Was it possible that in Greenland were already to be found harbour-masters and other government ofiiccrsl What I had at first conjectured to be a heap of stones now stood upright. It was a group of oddly-dressed human l)eings— natives — who, crol^clling close together, with their skin clothes and fawn- coloured faces, could not be distinguished from the clitfc. Xoav the boats neared the shore. Even the water Avas alive. A man approached us in a canoe, but when he saw us would have turned quickly back again. The call of the Europeans to him from the clitt' made him bolder ; he came towards us, greeted us, and, nodding pleasantly, accompanied us into the harbour. "Still it was unceitain whether the missionaries were Danish, but wo heard, ' That is the German flag ! They are our people ! Welcome, welcome to Greenland !' Germans, Germans in Greenland ! The first word, after so long a tim(\ heard from strange lips was German ; the first sound, our dear (aM'nuin motlu'i'-tongue ; and their people the first to offer us help and IM refre.-jhment— who can describe our wonder and delight ? l: I'i 772 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. " The land reached, each wanted to be first on the bank. I sprang into sliallow water. We ahnost forgot the boats ; the men could not finish the work quickly enough. What hand-shaking and grasping on all sides. Words died away in the throat, and the voice trembled. The man from the cliffs, too, and the natives had come up to greet us. The supposed guardian of public security was Mr Starick, the missionary, \v'ho, with Mr Gericke, superintended the mission. The good people opened their eyes Avhen they heard some short details of our voyage ! But this was Germany. As a token, we have Mr Gericke's command : ' Wives, go and get ready at once some good coff"ee ; in the meantime, we men will drink a bottle of wine as a welcome.' Xo sooner said than done. Whilst the men on the strand were busy making fast and unloading the boats, we followed the missionaries to the house, relating and listening alternately." Thus Avas the crew of the " Hansa " rescued, after one of the most extra- ordinary experiences in the history of navigation. At Julianshaab, the nearest seaport on the west coast of South Greenland, they procured a pas- sage in the " Constance " which conveyed them safely to Copenhagen, Avheuco they immediately set out for Germany. 1 GEILUAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 77[ CHAPTER III. VOYAGE OF THE " GERMANIA " — GREAT GAME— IN WINTER QUARTERS — KLENTZER's adventure — CARRIED OFF BY A BEAR — RESULTS OF SLEDGE JOURNEY. For several days after the disappearance of the " Ilansa " Captain Koklewcy lingered about near lat. 74° N., in the expectation of again falling in with the sister ship. On the 27th July the vessel was in lat. 73° 7'. On the 1st August, having steamed toward the coast until arrested by solid ice, Kolde- wey resolved to wait for a change There was open water, no doubt, ex- tending along the Greenland shore ; but between the vessel and this water a broad band of ice intervened. On the 3d, after having steamed away among the ice in a north-west direction, the " Germania " was brought up in lat. 74° 18'. Starting westward on the morning of the 4th, Koldewey reached to within five German miles from the coast. A group of islands lay clear and distinct before the vessel. The water was open, and the captain steered straight for the Greenland coast. All the officers were greatly excited, and in spite of the cold, remained on the deck nearly all night. " In the early morning," writes Koldewey, "we had a fall of snow, giving the sliip a thick white covering. A few miles from land a large bnish lay direct in our course ; this we sailed round, and at last anchored in a small bay, which was afterwards our winter harbour. On the oth of August we dropped anchor on Greenland soil, and a loud 'hurrah !' arose as Ave planted our flag, which also waved proudly from the mainmast." A number of minor excursions were made by Lieutenant Tayer and others [during the months of August and ...eptcmber. These were, in tlio main, resultlcss for all practical purposes. The principal fact upon which Koldewey congratulates himself was not that he had achieved anytliing, but that he had reached a point from «'hich it was possible to achieve something during the coming summer. He says : " We found ourselves in a field (which, scientifically, was almost unknown), on a coast respecting which tlie most unreliable and contradictory repoi ts obtained ; anil nearly^dl our discoveries and observations seemed new, thus aft'ording important contri- butions to the knowledge of the Arctic region." Events proved that ii w i I V 1^' 1^ ftl ' ;7l ARCTIC EXPEDTTIOXS FROM FORF.'Gy SHORES. Captain Koldcwcy was \'vj\\i in clioosin,;:^ the coast of East Greenland for tlio basis of Arctic cx2)l(iration, instead of Dr Pctermann's suggestion of advancing;' betAvecn Nova Zenibla and SpitzlxM-gcn to tlie Nortli Polo. On tlie 14tli Septenilun' a party of six men, under Captain Koldcwcy and Lieutenant Payer, set out to travel north-west on an cxplorin;4 expedition. On the IGth the party discovered Pli^ely Fiord, between Kuha Island and the mainland of Kin^- AVilliam Laud. Li this \\vji\\ latitude (about 7")° X.) herds of musk-oxen and reindeer were seen. On the morniuy of the lOth l^ny noticed on the south side of Kuhn Island a stone of very li<^ht colour, A\ hicii i'ormed solid, overhanging crystals, to the li^Mght of 2000 feet. " lie therefoi'c left the sledge, and, to his great astonishment, tumbled upon an enormous layer of coal, alternating with sandstone." This discovery of a coal layer is of the greatest importance for the future investigation of the Greenland coast. The ordinary preparations for wintering in the little harbour on the south side of 8al>ine Island were being carried out, when a discovery was made which had a cheering elfect on the people of the "Gerriiniia." It Avas dis- covered that the island on which they were wintering WMS iVcquentcd both by reindeer and musk-oxen. This led to a famous hunting excursion, Avhich serves to enliven the somewhat dull chronicle of the fortunes of the expedition during its first few weeks in winter quarters. Dr li. Copoland, who had been the first to discover that Sabine Island was a haunt of musk-oxen, is an Englishman, born at Woodplumpton, in liaucashire, England. lie acquired a scientific education in England, travelled in foreign countries, and studied astronomy at Gottingen in 1 ■'''" '>7, and afterwards became voluntary assist- ant in the G("ittin;:'Mi ol)serMi:uj y. Ho and his companion, Dr il/irgcn, had volunteered to take charge ol uio de])artments of astronomy and physical science in the German Arctic expedition of 1809-70. On the morning of the 14th September he set out, accompanied by Wagner, the stoker of tlio " Germania," to hunt the great game ho had discovered on the previous day. "As we neared the irasenl)erg," writes Copcland, "we saAv our friends, by the help of a pocket telescope, peacefully resting on the snow, at a height of i'rom 1050 to 1200 feet above us, on the side of the mountain looking land- wards. W(5 climbed as quickly as possible, and after about an hour's time found ourselves near them. But although we tried on every side to get close to them, we could not succeed without their seeing us. At last we Avcn-o obliged to agree to try with less circumspection. At first they seemed quito contented with their work of chewing, not dreaming of any threatened danger, but suddenly, with a bound, they were off. I was so beyond myself at ^his ndsha]!, that, from sheer desperation, T s'Mit some shots after them, of coui.se without any result. If their gi'(\at speed and agility had astonished us the day before, our wonder was greater to-day, as we saw them bound up GREAT GAME. i I ') tlic acclivity, which was as steep as basalt fragra<-V!\>-; Cviuul r ■.•-'■»i> ^^- ^^^ the utmost, they Averc not more than three i^r iViur ^uiii'.io-; loachiuy tiio height of 450 feet, which the top of the mounuiui ,;;>] ^ iivd to reach. Wo followed slowly after them, and really the ascpiu, \w.ls a-y 'ifUcult that it took us quite half-an-hour to do what the oxen hoi; uosio in a few minutes. We found a slight trace of blood, therelty concludinjTj that the chance shots had not been without effect. Upon reaching the sunnnit, we saw that they had climbed to a steep snow furrow on the outer slope of the roof-shaped mountain. As we knew that by following them we should only hasten their flight, we sat down and took some refreshment. It did not escape us, how- CA er, that the oxen had ceased to mount, and had withdrawn to the nortli- Avest side of the mountain. Here the ground was very uneven ; deep rifts, alternating Avith stcnv hills. AVe noAV distinctly saw that one of the bulls Avas less active than ilie other, and as the unharmed one seemed resolved not to leave his conu-ade, they Avent but slowly forward. We Avaited until they Averc out of our sight behind the hills, and then folloAved as quickly as the stony nature of the ground permitted. We uoav passed quickly, but cauti- ously, one hilly range after another, and, at every open spot Avhere the oxen miglit perceive us, Avc looked carefully to see if they Avere not in the next holloAv. Thus Ave had passed several hills, and had begun to fear that our prey had escaped us again, Avhcn at that moment av ' espied the back of one. It AA^as grazing, and coming straight toAvards us. i fell back tit once, and, after draAving Wagner's attention, dropped upon hands and knees, and thus approached the luisuspecting beast. Sc A>''o they suspected anything, avo Avere alongside of all three. Wagn;'"''s . j.',.-lriaii brecch-loadei' and my double-ljarrelled gun made it possible *'/ give tliem the three shots in as many seconds ; one of the oxen Avas (jaite incapable of combat. Wagner looked after the other, Avith Avhich it seemed that lie avoii 1 1 have enough to do. The poor terror-s* ken coav tried to blr.i.do'' doAvn the slope, anu t ran after her. In tAVO or uree minutes I stoo't l^ut a fcAV steps from her and fired, aiming at the head. It Avas th'^ first and last time that E tried this shot upon a musk-ox. I struck the coav exactly in the middle of the fore- head, about an inch aboA'c the eyes ; she scarcely seemed to shrink, and I Avas glad to be able to give her another in the shoulder innnediately, as she seemetl inclined to try as aat she could do Avitli I'er short, crooked horns in self- defence. Wagner in the meantime had finished his part of the Avork, so that, after cutting tluiir throats, avo rolled them some hundred feet doAvn the deep, steep slope, Avhere they rested upon a comparatively smootli snoAv heap. Then foUoAved the less agreeable but neces.siU'} Avork of skinning them. Wagner was Avilling enough and, our l)elongings seemed able to defy both storms and bears. lUit other things remained to be done. One or two men had to help build the stone houses ; and the engineer and tho stoker were busy taking the machinery to pieces. One of these stone houses was intended for an observatory. . . . To keep out the snow and wind, and also to keep in the warmth, a tent of strong sail-cloth was stretched over the ship; and finalh, a three-inch thick layer of moss was spread over the deck. The tent roof had been prepared before our departure, so it had only to be put up. ... As has already been said, this was composed of the strongest sail-cloth, and the dillerent parts were so hrmly put together that we dared to hope it would resist the storm ; and t}ie more so as the sharp front lay towards the north wind. . . . Whilst the outside was thus putting on its winter clothing, many alterations Avere made Avithin. Tho question here Avas not only the greatest protection from cold, but the making it really habitable and home-like. Wo already found that tho Avarmcst half Avas the fore-cabin, just abaft the forecastle, and Avhich Avas built like a cage in the middle of the hokl, Avhich surrounded it on all four sides. Hereupon a Avinter cabin for the captain had to be made, as tho former, from its isolated position in the after-part of the ship, ."oquired too much coal to Avarm it." ^V Avail of iec-blocks Avas built around tie ship, and from this rampart a rope Avas led by a lino of ice-pilasters to the shove. Tho sun disai)peared for the Avinter on the Gth November. Except for frc(iuent and violent storms, the latter part of the vear Avas in no sense note- Avorthy. In its natural course, Christmas came round ; and as KoldcAvey and his oflicers and croAv Avere the first Germans Avho had ever Avintered on this coast, it Avas resolved tliat the Christmas tree should not be Avanting on the " Germania." The " tree " Avas a Avonderful structure, the framoAvork of Avhich was due to the carpenter, Avhile the foliage consisted of tho andro- nieda, Avhich has been so often mentioned in these pages. " Somewhat later," Avrites Dr Pansch, " folloAved a hot supper, in Avhich tho cook aston- ished us Avith some delightful cakes. Healths Avere drunk in Ibaming Avine of the Neckar, and at dessert a large chest, which had taken its place in the 5 F \i I 778 ARCTIC EXrEDITWXS FROAf FORETaX STfORES. W- cabin since yesterday, was opened. It contained a valuable present from Mainz : a nnml)er of bottles of excellent LMiine wine. You .should have seen the men of the 'Germania!' Heart and mind were in a ghnv, they joked and chattered, speeches were made, and healths drunk, and the ship resoiuided with many a hearty cheer. We thought of our loved ones ut home, our brothers on the ' Ilansa,' and our ever dear country! But wo still wanted a song. Each one had his song-book, a gift from the publisher, (I. AVestermann, and — were Ave not Germans, ' Vcrcint zur frohen Stunde T ►So it was not long before we had a song. "Was it a warning that the ' \N\acht am Ehein ' should resound in the Arctic night ? As it was a wonderfully warm, soft air, the suggestion of a dance on the ice received universal apjjro- b.ition. Soon wc were dancing merrily on the white snow, whilst the boat- man, wra])ped in a reindeer's skin, played the new harmonica with an artist's hand. More bottles were opened, more healths drunk, and midnight had passed before we retired to rest." The months of January and February passed by almost without incident, the sailors busy in their evening school, for the most part, and the ofticers engaged in teaching them, and in taking meteorological and other observa- tions. There was no eininl on board, for a great geographical expedition was to be undertaken in jNIarch, and every spare hour was occupied in preparing for it; and, in the meantime, had not the men the great adventure of Theodor Klentzer to talk about ? " Our Theodor," as Dr Pansch calls him, went out by himself one morning, when the men Avere either out taking their daily Avalk, or otherAvise busy. He ascended an icy hill, Avhich had been named the Germaniaberg, at some distance from tie vessel, lieaching the summit of the hill, he seated himself, and in cxaltaMon of spirit sang to himself a song of Fatherland. The song rang pleasantly enough in the still air, but happening to look round after he had finished it, Klentzer beheld a huge liear Avatching him Avitli gravity at the distance of a fcAv paces. Under other cu'camstances, the presence of this unexpected auditor Avould not have materially discomposed our Theodor, Avho Avas a silent, decisive man, and had a pretty Avay Avith the breech-loader. On the present occasion, hoAvevei", ho had no breech-loader, no pistol, not even a knife. We leave Dr I'ansch to finish the narrative : " Thus Klentzer saAV himself, unarmctl and alone, far from his companions, and close to the bear. Flight is the only, though a doubtful, chance of safety, and the audacious th()iji;(Mr,s own uccoiint of this foarful Lncoiuitcr is ilirilliiij,', yet modest and tnitlifiil. lie says: "Alxnit a quartci' ht'loiv nine p.m. 1 luul ^-oiic out to ol)sciVL' the occuUution of a star, Avliicli was to take phiee about tliat time, and al.so to take the meteorologieal readings. As I was in tlie act of gettin*^ on shore, Captain Kokh'wey came on to the ice. We .spoke for a few moments, when I went on shore, wliih* ho returned to the cal»in. On my return from tlie obscrvatoiy, about fd'ty steps from tlie vessel, I hear^ # # Photographic Sciences Corporation #> V ^> V lV ^^ \ \ 6^ '^ 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 ^1> k- d 7S3 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. l)itos, two especially, from four to six inches long, ran along the scalj^, the edges of which hung loose, leaving the skull bare for one-third to two-fifths of an inch. TL'e other wounds, about twenty in number, were in part caused by striking against the fragments and rough broken edges of tlie ice. It is Worth while mentioning that neither during the act of receiving the wounds nor during the jn-ocess of healing, which progressed favourably, did I expe- rience the smallest pain.* The next day, upon the ice, at some distance from the scene of the accident, the chronometer and the gun were found, sJKJwing the force of the blow, and also the sail-cloth boots, which had dropj)ed off while cro.ssing the ice. " 'Hiis accident was an additional proof how dangerous it was ever to go out alone in the dark ; for weajions are but of little avail if one is not aware of the approach of the animal. This precaution, which was, as a rule, strictly ()l)served, was in my case neglected simply because the next day the whole crew were to start on a sledge expedition to the north, which had now to be postponed for a da}." The .spring journey toward the north was connnenced on the 8th ^I;rrch, but such were the dilliculties of the route from roughness of ice, extreme cold, etc., that it was considered wi.se to rettu-n for a time to the ship. This was accordingly done. The weather had improved toward the close of March, and on the 24tli !March the party (eleven men, under the conunand of Kuldewey and Payer) again set out. On the 31st thoy penetrated between Shannon Lsland and the mainland. Koldewey Island was discovered on the IJlst; Mount Haystack, which C'lavering had misnamed an island, was reached on the 2d April. On the morning of the 4th a bear attacked the party in their tent, but was soon killed and inunediately eate>\— raw. On the 0th, lat. 76^ N. was jiasscd, and the explorers were astounded to find here the remains of Eskimo summer tents — circles of stones holding down hide coverings. An enormous reddish wall, rising to the height of 3280 feet, was named the Devil's Cape, and Payer is inclined to believe that behind it the Greenland coast, trending towards the north-west, is probably connected with Smith Sound. Dove V>;\y and East Island were reached. Storm Pay and C'ai)e Bismarck^the latter in 70" 47' — were discovered and named on the llth. On the loth A})ril they reached their farthest point, 77° 1', and there erected the North German and Au.strian flags, and deposited a record. " Like so many of our predecessors," says Payer, " we, too, longed to lift the veil hanging over the whole of the Arctic world, so opposed to the mandate, ' Thus far shalt thou go, and no further ; ' and, like so many others, found that our object gained fell far siiort of our bokl flights of fancy ; and * "Siiiiilaily Livingstone, wlio, on being torn liy a lion, tells us 'there wa.s no sense of pain nor feeling of terror. It was like what patients jiartly unilor the influence of chlomforin describe, who sec all the operutiou, but feel not the knife' (Missionary Travels, S. Afr., p. 12)." ifESui/rs OF SLEDai-: jourxey. 783 tliat, rosting after endless troubles at the end of our journey, Ave still looked in vain for the solution of the many riddles which science expected of us. The con,jecturo, once broached, of an open Arctic sea, we coidd, from our stand-point, only reject as idle. To the farthest point of the horizon the sea was covered with a solid covering of ice, over which, had it not been for the want of provisions, wc could have continued our sledge journey. The outer coast-line stretched in an almost northerly directi(m ; to the north-west, tho prosjject was closed in by lofty ice-covered mountains, only a few miles dis- tant." Captain Koldewcy, in reference to tho high latitude reached, says : " Ftdly convinced that perhaps never, or at least only in very particularly favour- able years, could any ship advance along this coast, we set out on our roturn journey ; the ice gave one the impression of a rampart built for eternity. With sledges it is possible, if the erpiipment is adequate, ... to go con- siderably beyond 80." Tho return journey, commenced on the 10th, was successfully completed on the 27th April. The summer of 1870 was spent by the scientific staff of tho " Germania " in surveying the coasts we have named. Beyond the discoveries already noted little of more than mero tcihnical interest was achieved during the summer months. On the lGtl\ August the return voyage to Europe was commenced, and on the 11th September 1870 the "Germania" arrived at Bremerhavcn. rR4 ARCTIC KXrKDITIO.XS lUUM FoREKJX SHUIiKS. CHAPTER IV. AISTHIAN EXPEDITION, lS":J-74 — THE VOYAfiE OF THE " T:'Ject, simply and broadly stateil, was the exploration of the still uidviiown Arctic regions, and it was their belief that a vessel woidd i)i'netrate farther into this region by the route between Novaya Zendya and Spitzbi'rgen, where the 'Isbjom' in her j)ionei>r voyage found the ice nioie loose and navigable than had been imagined jjossilile." Tile '•'I' gctthoif" was a steam vessel oi 'I'lO tons burden, with an engine of 100 hor.se-pouer. She Mas fitted out Tor two years and a half, and was manned l)y a crew of twenty-two Germans, Italians, Sclavs, and Hun- garians. Counting the two commanders, the " Tegetthoff " carried in all twenty-four souls. There were also eight dogs on board. The vessel set sail fnmi Tromsoe on the 14th July ls7'_'. The ice was first sighted on July l.'5th, in lat. 74°. Northerly winds had prevailed for some time, and the ice broken up by the wind was seen dis- posed in long loo.se lines. These became gradually closer, and in lat. 74° 44', long. 5'J m' E. (reached on July I'Slth), the assistance of steam was required to force the vessel through the Hoes. In many cases progress was only to be made by clniriilwj the ice. On the night of the tidth, an apparently impene- trable barrier extended across the " Tegetthotf's " bows; but the tactics of charging under steam again cleared a passage, and the ship penetrated intt) a larger "ice-hole." I'robably no other Arctic explorer has displayed so much true insight, combined with true artistic taste, in his descriptions of Arctic scenes, as Lieutenant Payer. Here are two companion pictures of the frozen ocean in gloom and in sunshine, which will servo to convey a vivid idea of nature in the remote north : " For some days we had entered into a world utterly strange to most of us on board the 'Tegetthotf.' Dense mists frequently enveloped us, and from out of the mantle of snow of the distant land the rocks, like decayed battlements, frowned on us inhospitably. There is no more melancholy sound than that which accompanies the decay and waste of the ice, as it is constantly acted on by the sea and thaw, and no picture more sad and solemn than the continuous procession of icebergs floating like huge white biers towards the south. Ever and anon there rises the noise of the ocean swell breaking amongst the excavations of the ice-floes, Avhile the water oozing out from their icy walls falls with monotonous sound into the sea ; or perhaps a mass of snow de])rived of its support, drojis into the waves, to disappear in them with a hissing sound as of a flame. Never for a moment ceases the o-ackling and snajiping sound, produced by the bursting of the external portions of the ice. ^Magnificent cascades of thaw water prccii»itato coMi\ { \fo\ picTunns. II!' tliomsclvcs down the sides of the icd >f»iL;s, which sonietimos rond with a noise as of thuii(U>r, as tlie hoams of the sun phiy on them. 'Ww fall t»f tho Titanic mass raises hii,i:;c volumes of foam, ami the sea-l»irds, which had rested on its sunuiiit in ])eaceful confidence, rise with terrified screams, soon to •gather aj^ain on another ice-colossus. ]>ut what a chanj,'e, when tho sun, surrounded by glowinj? cirrus clouds, lireaks through the mist, and the blue of tho heavens gradually widens out! The ma.sscs of vapour, as they well up, recede to the horizon, and the cold ice-floes become in the sun-light dark borders to tho 'leads' which gleam between them, on the trembling surface of which the midnight .sun is mirrored. "Where the rays of the sun do not directly fall on it, the ice is sufliised with a faint ro.^y haze, which deepens more and more as the source of light nears the horizon. Then the sunbeams fall drowsily and softly, as through a veil of orange gauze, all forms lose at a little distance their definition, the shadows become fainter and fainter, and all natiire as.sumes a dreamy aspect. In calm nights the air is so mild that we forget wo are in the home of ice and snow. A deep idtramarino sky stretches over all, and the outlines of the ice and the land tremble on tho glassy surface of tho water. If we pull in a boat over the unmoved mirror of tho ' ice-holes,' close beside us a whale may emerge from its depths, like a black sliining mountain ; if a .ship penetrates into the waste, it looks as weird as tho 'Flying Dutchman/ and the dense columns of smoke, which rise in eddies from her funnel, remain fixed for hours until they gradually melt away. When the sun sinks at midnight to ihe edge of the horizon, then all life becomes dumb, and the icebergs, the rocks, the glaciers of tho land, glow in a rosy cffiilgence, so that we are hardly conscious of the desolation. Tho sun has reached its lowest point — after a pause it begins to rise, and gradually its paler beams are transformed into a dazzling brightness. Its softly warming light dissolves the ban under which congelation has placed nature, tho icy streams, which had ceased to run, pour down their crystal walls. The animal creation only still enjoys its rest ; the Polar bear continues to repose behind some wall of ice, and flocks of sea-gulls and divers sit round the edge of a floe, calmly sleeping with their heads mider their wings. Not a sound is to be heard, save perhaps tho measured flapi)ing of tho sails of tho ship in tho dying breeze. At length the head of a seal rises stealthily for some moments from out the smooth waters ; lines of auks, with the short quick beat of their wings, whiz over the islands of ice. Tho mighty whalo again emerges from the depths, far and wide is heard liis snorting and blow- ing, which sounds like tho murmurs of a waterfi\ll when it is distant, and like a torrent when it is near. Day reigns once more Avith its brilliant light, and the dreamy character of tho spectacle is dissolved." Tho " Tegctthoff"' was beset on the 20th July ofl" the west coast of Xmaya Zemlya, ni lat. 74° 39', long. 53' E. Getting up steam, hoM-evor, Weyprccht 788 ARCTIC KXPEDITIOXS FROM FOREIGN SHORKS. I 1 1 ■»*s t\ broke out (»f his prison on the nij;ht of the 2(1, roacl;c(l the open coast water, twenty mih's broiul to the northward of jNIatotsclikin Strait (which separates the two chief islands of Novaya Zendya), and steered away due north. Tiio country is described as much resendjling Spitzhergen — abounding in pictur- esque glaciers and mountains. On the I'Jth the " Tegetthoft'" was joined by the "IsbjCtrn," which had been Ijrought out to these seas by Count Wilezek (ono of the chief supporters of the Austro-IIungarian expedition), for the purpose of depositing a store of provisions for the exi)lorers, on the north coast of Novaya Zendya. West of Cape Nassau are the Barentz Islands, the rocks of which arc composed of black, friable slate, alternating v/ith strata of mountain limestone, filled with countless numl)ers of fossil trilobites, mussels, corals, etc., which are utterly foreign to the frozen ocean us it now is, and which form in themselves an iu(h"sputable proof that there was once in these high latitudes a warm sea, which could not possibly exist with such great glaciers as those which now extend into the seas of Novaya Zendya. On August 14th the depot of provisions was formed on the Barentz Islands, and secured against bears. This depot was intend'Ml to be the first place of refuge in the event of the ship being lost. Or Will August the ofticers of the " Tegetthott'" went on board the "Isl, tcj bid adieu to Count Wilezek and his friends. Weyprecht then steered away northward, antl soon the little vessel left behind had disappeared from view. In the after- noon of this day, the Austrian shiji was stopped by barriers of ice, in hit. 76° 32' N., long. (}:r 31' E. " Ominous were the events of that day," writes Payer, " for inunediately after wo had made fast the ' Tegetthott" to that floe, the ice closed in upon us from all sides, and wo became close prisoners in its grasp. No water was to be seen around us, and never again were we destined to sec our vessel in water. Happy is it for men that inextinguish- able hope enables them to endure all the vicissitudes of fate which ar^ to test their powers of endurance, and that they can never see, as at a glance, the long series of disappointments in store for them ! We must have been filled with despair, had we known that evening that we were henceforward doomed to obey the caprices of the ice, that the ship would never again float on tho waters of tho sea, that all the expectations with which our friends, but a few hours before, saw the ' Tegetthoft" steam away to the north, were now crushed: that we were in /act no lowjer discoverers, but passenf/ers against our will on the ice. From day to day we hoped for tho hour of our deliverance ! At first we expected it hourly, then daily, then from week to week ; then at the seasons of the ye£ir and changes of the weather, then in the chances of new years ! But that hour never came; yet the light of hope, which supports man in all his sufferings, and raises him above them all, never forsook us, amid all the depressing influence of expectations cherished only to bo disappointed." DUU'TISG SOIiTII. •so The " Tt'^fi'tthoir" now continued to 'Irilt slowly noitliwanl aIon<,' tlio coast of Xovaya Zcmlya. On the t.M Octol)er she had passed the 77th de- t,Tec of nortli Uititude. On the «>th October the first l>ear was killed and };iven to the doj,'s, " for as yet," says Payer, " we liad not learnt to regard th(f flesh of these animals as the most precious jjart of oui- provisions." As the month wore on the vessel drifted more rapidly, and by the li'tli of the month there was nothing to be seen of Novaya Zemlya but a line of heights about thirty miles to the south. vVt last every trace of land had disappeared. On the 13th October, as two ofllcers sat at breakfast, the floe burst across right under the ship, "liushingon deck," .says Payer, "we discovered that we were surrounded and scpieezed l)y the ice ; the after-part of the shij) was already nipped and pressed, and the rudder, which was the first to encounter its assault, shook and groaned; but as its ga-eat weight did not admit of its being shipped, we were content to lash it finnly. We next s})rang on the ice, the tossing trenudous motion of which literally tilled the air with noises, as of .shrieks and howls, and we quickly got on board all the materials which were lying on the floe, and bound the fissures of the ice hastily together by ice-anchors and cables, filling them up with snow, in the hope that fiost wouM ecmiplete our work, though we felt that a single heave might .shatter our labours. But, just as in the risings of a people, the wave of revolt spreads on every side, so now the ice uprose against us. Mountains threat(>ningly roared themselves from out the level fields of ice, and the low groan which "issued from its depths grew into a deep rumbling sound, and at last rose into u furious howl as of myriads of voices. Xoise and confusion reigned su})reme, and step by step destruction drew nigh in the crashing together of the fields of ice. Our floe was now crushed, and its blocks piled up into mountains, drove hither and thither. Here they towered fathoms high above the ship, anil forced the protecting timbers of massive oak, as if in mockery of their purpose, against the hull of the vessel ; there masses of ice fell down as into an abyss under the ship, to be engulfed in the rushing waters, so that the quantity of ice beneath the ship was continually increased, and at last it began to raise her quite above the level of the .sea. About 11. SO in the fore- noon, according to our usual custom, a portion of the IJible was read on deck, and this day, quite accidentally, the portion read was the history (,)f Joshua : but if in his day the sun stood still, it was more than the ice now showed any inclination to do." To add to the gloom and horror of the situatit)u, the sky was over(;ast, and one could only guess at the position of the sun. " In all haste wo began to make ready to al)andon the ship, in case it should be crushed, a fate which seemed inevitable, if she were not sufficiently raised through tho pressure of the ice. About I'i.oO the pressure reached a frightful height, every part of the vessel strained and groaned ; the crew, who had been sent down I *li^ 'on AliCTIC KXri-niTlOXS FliOM J'OliKiaX SI K Hi lis. I ! ■ t ■ to (lino, nishod on dock. The 'Toifotthoff" liad lioolod over on her side, and huj^o piles of ico throatoneil to prc'cipitatc; thcnisclvos upon hor. Jint the pressure abated, and the ship righted herself; and about one o'cloek, uhen the donj^or was in sonio de<,n-oo over, the crew went below to dine. lUit ajfain a strain was felt through tho vessel, everything which hung freely began to oscillate violently, and all hastened on deck, .some with tho un- iinished dinner in their hanils, others stnllnig it into their pockets. C'ahnly and silently, amid the loud .sounds emitted by the ico in its violent move- ment, the oflicers assumed and carried out the special duty which had been a.ssigned to each in the contemplated abandonment of the ship. Lieutenant AVeyjuH'cht got ready the boats; ]5rosch and Orel dojirod out the supply of ])rovision to be taken in them ; Kepes, our doctor, had an eye to his drugs ; the Tyndese opened the magazine and got out tho rifles and annnunition — I myself attended to tho sledges, tho tents, and tho sacks for sleeping in, and d'strilmtod to tho crew their fur coats. Wo now stood ready to start, each with a bundle — whither, no one pretended to know ! Yov not a fragment of tho ice around us had remained whole ; nowhere could the eyo discover a still perfect and uninjured Hoe, to serve as a place of refuge, as a vast floo had before been to tho crow of tho ' Ilansa.' Nay, not a block, not a table of ico was at rest, all shapes and sizes of it were in active motion, some rearing up, some turning and twisting, none on tho level. A .sledge would at once have been swallowed up, and in this very circimistancc lay tho horror of our situation. For, if tho ship .should sink, whither should wo go, even with the smuUest stock of provisions 1 — amid this confusion, how reach the land thirty miles distant without tho most in- di.spen.sablc necessaries ? The dogs, too, demanded our attention. They had spnmg on chests and stared on the waves of ice as they rose and roared. Every trace of his fox-nature had disappeared from 'Sumbu.' His look, at other times so full of cunning, had assumed an expression of timidity and humility, and unbidden he offered his paw to all passers-by. Tho Lapland dog, little Pekel, sprang upon me, licked my hand, and looked out on the ice as if he meant to ask mo what all this meant. The largo Newfoundlands stood motionless, like scared chamois, on the piles of chests." Again, on Octoljer 14th, a strain was felt throughout the tindjors of the " Tegetthoflf,'' '"^nd inmiediatcly every one, with his fur dress on, and carrying his bundle in his hand, was on deck. So will it bo throughout the winter, think some of the officers. When all was calm, every one sot about making a bag to contain tho gear he meant to take with him in tho event of the ship being crushed. " JNline," says Payer, " contained the following articles : One pair of fur gloves, one pair of woollen gloves, a pair of snow spectacles, six pencils, a rubber, three note-books, the journal of my Greenland expedi- tion, a book of drawings, ten ball cartridges, two pairs of stockings, a knife, a X/'Jir LASDS DISCO villi Ell 701 casoof needles and thread. On tlio loth we had nenUrlcd to itioxitli^ onr- selves Mith maps of Xovaya Zeiulya; two of these I now inchuU'd anion;;' my stock of necessaric'S. Six Lefauchenr rifles, fonr Werndl ritlt-s, two thousand eartriil;;es, two hir^c and two smaller sledijes, a tent for ten, one for six men, two j;reat sleeping-sacks, each for ei;;ht, and a smaller one for six men, were l)laced in the boats. Althou<,'h all these preparations wonld have been quite vain if the ship had sunk with the ice in motion to crush us, we must, fin* our nuitual enecnn-a^cment, keep up the appearance of believing in them. About six o'clock in tlu^ evening the full moon rose, like a co[»]»er coin fresh from the mint, above our horizon on the deep blue of the heavens. In the evening the ico was at rest, and for the fust time for .some days wo ventiu'cd to undress on going to bed." And so, amid perpetual alarms, the year wears av.ay, while the vess(>l is still drifting away north-east into void space. Christmas comes, the New Year comes, the 'immer of 1S73 comes, but still the .same doom seems to surround the "Tegetthoff." In the miildlo of July l!S73 an attemi)t is made to measure the thickness of the ice, l>ut the borer, alter jjiercing through suc- cessive ice-tables to the depth of twenty-seven feet, still strikes on ice. The latter half of August 1873 was .spent in hunting, esi)ecially fin- seals ; for it was only by obtaining supplies of fresh meat that the olUcers coidd contend with or prevent cases of scurvy. But though anxiously employed in hunting, these mariners cannot drive away the thoughts that assail them. Two summers in the ice ! With sad resignation they now looked forward to another winter. Often, as ihey went on deck and gazed over the icy wastes, the despairing thought recurred that next year they should return home with- out having achieved anything — taking nothing with them but a narrative of a long drift in the ice. " Not a man among \\»" says Payer, " believed in the possibility of discoveries, though discoveries beyond our utmost hopes lay immediately before us. A memorable day was the GOtli August 1873, in 79° 43' lat. and 59' 33' E. long. That day brought a surprise, such as only the awakening to a now life can produce. About mitl-day, as wo were lean- ing on the bulwarks of the ship and scanning the gliding mists, through which the rays of the sun broke ever and anon, a wall of mist, lifting itself up smldenly, revealed to us afar off in the north-west the outlines of l)okl rocks, which in a few minutes seemed to grow into a radiant Alpine land ! At first we all stood transfixed, and hardly bi'lieving what we saw. Then carried away by the reality of our good fortune, we burst forth into .shouts of joy : ' Land, land, land at last ! ' There was now not a sick man on board the ' Tegetthoff.' The news of the discovery spread in an instant. Every one rushed on deck to convince himself, with his own eyes, that the expedi- tion was not after all a failure — there before us lay the prize that could not be snatched from us. Yet not by om* own action, but through the happy li 7ii'2 ARCTIC i:xri:i)iTioss ihum fork /ox siiohes. oaprite of our lloo ntid as in a drcaiu liad wo won it ; Imt when wo tliou^dit of the lloo, (lriftin<^' without intonnisHion, wo folt with ro(h)ul)K'(l pain that ■wo wore at tho nioirv of its niovonionts. As yet wo liad sscourod no win- tor harl»otir, from wliich tho oxploration of tho stranj,'oland oould bo suocoss- fiilly iindortak'Mi. For tho prosont, too, it was not within tho vor;^'c of jiossihility to roacli and visit it. If wo had loft oiu- Moo, wo shoidd havo })oon out ot!" and lost. It was only undor tho inlluonoo of tho lirst oxcito- niont that wo inado a rush ovor our ice Hold, althou<,di wo know that nnin- liorloss li.ssnr(\s niado it inipossilih^ to roaoh tho land. I5ut, dillionltics notwithstamliii,i;', whon wo ran to tho odt^o of our lloo, av bohold from a ridj,'o of ico tho mountains and <ot, and then dre.ssed the ' Tonotthotf ' with Ha<,'s. All eares, for tho present at least, disappeared, and with them tho passive monottmy of our lives. There was not a day, there was hardly an hour, in which this mysterious land did not henceforth occupy our thoughts and attontitm. We di.scussod Avhother this or that elevation in tho grey and misty distance wore a mountain, or an i.sland, or a glacier. All our attempts to solve tho (;,'t'tlh()ll" was coiuuvned, hatl lemained "close" throu;;h- out, was now at an end. Anionj,' oUht stores, the stock of K-nioii jnice was now nuicli reduced, and the commanders of the expedition [)erci'ived that it MouM l)e necessary to aljandon the vessel durinj,' the sunnner of l.s74, and to risk everything' in the attempt to return to iMu-ope by means of sledi^es and 1)oats. IMeantime, however, there was work yet to l)e done. "On the 1st of October we were driven so near the laud that we found our.selves in tlu! midst of the destruction j^oinj,' on in the ico. Our ice-Hoo was shattered and broken, and so rapidly had it diminished in size that the distance of the ship from the edye of the Hoe, which was 13(tO paces on the 1st, amounted to only 875 two days afterwards. On the (ith it had dimini;:K,'d to :i(»0 l>aces, so that it was reduced to a mere fra;;meut of its former size. The shocks it now received caused the ship to (piiver and shake, and we heard the crackin^f and straininj,' in its tindx-rs, which ke[)t us on the tenter-hook of expectation lest the ice .should suddenly break up. It seemed as if we were dot)med to a repeti!'on of the trials and dangers of the precciling winter. The bags of necessaries to be taken with us, if wc should be forced to leave the ship, were kept in readiness for immediate use. As we watched the advancing wall of ice, and heard the too well-known howl it sent forth, and saw how fissures were formed at the edge of the floe, the days of ihe ice- pressures were painfully recalled, and the thought constantly returned — what will be the end of all this ? The land wc had so longed to visit lay indeed before us, but the very sight of it had become a torment ; it seemed to be as unattainable as before ; and, if our ship should reach it, it appeared too likely that it would be as a wreck on its inhospitable shore. Many were the plans wc formed and debated, but all were alike impracticable, and all owed their existence to the wish to escape from the destruction that stared us in the ftice." On the 1st November the new land was seen lying in the dim twilight toward the north-west. The lines of rocks were so clearly defined that Payer was convinced the shore could be reached without endangering his return to the ship. The attempt was made. The men clambered over a rampart of ice fifty feet high, dashed across the smooth surface of the young ice that lined the coast, crossed the ice-foot that was soldered down upon the shore, and at last stepped ujion actual land. It was a ecantry of snow, rocks, and broken ice ; a more desolate land could not be conceived ; but to the di-scoverers it was a paradise, and they gave to it the name of a much- loved friend — Wikzek Island. The explorers examined the features of the land with fondness and 5 11 794 A RCTIC ILXPEDITIONS FROM FORKIGS Sf/OIiFS. \: tk'linlit, as Olio i)ei'us'js the liiioamoiits of a lavourito child. " Wo lookod into ovory rout in the rocks, we touched every block, we were ravished with the varied forms a'ul outlines which each crevice presented. , . . Tho voLjotation was indescribably meagre and miserable, consisting merely of a few lichens. . . . The land ai)peared to be without a single living crea- ture. . . . There was something sublime to the imagination in the utter loneliness of a land never before visited ; felt all the more from the extra- ordinary character of our i)osition. "We had become exceedingly sensitive to n( w impressions, and a golden mist, which rose on tho southern liori/on of an invisible ico-holo, and which spread itself like an undulating curtain before the glow of tho no(.)ntide heavens, had to us the charm of a landscai)o in Ceylon." Over the incidents of the second winter (1873-74) spent in the ice wo must not linger. In the spring tiiree great sledge journeys were under- taken, with the view of exploring the new country, and were successfully carried out by Lieutenant Payer. The results of these exploring expeditions are best given iu Payer's "General Description of Kaiser Franz- Josef Land :" " The country, even in its already ascertained extent, is almost as largo as Spitzbergen, and consists of two main masses — Wik^zek Land on the east, and Zicliy Land on the west — between which runs a broad sound calleil Austria Sound, extending in a northerly direction from Cape Frankfort till it forks at tho extremity of Crown Prince Eudolf Land, 80° 40' N.L. Ono branch of it, a broad arm running to tho north-east — Eawlinson Sound — wo traced as far as Cape Buda-Posth. Wilczek and Zichy Lands are both inter- sected by many fiords, and numerous islands lie off their coasts. A continu- ous surface of ico extends from tho one land to the other. At tho time of our exploration, this expanse was formed of ice, for the most part not more than a year in groAvth. but crossed in many places with fissures and broad barriers of piled-up ico. Throughout its whole extent we saw many ice- bergs, which wo never did in the Xovaya Zemlya seas ; whence it is to bo inferred that they sail away in a northerly direction. Our track lay over this ice-sheet. As long as it remains unbroken, every fiord might servo as a winter harbour • but if it should break up, not a single locality suitable to form ono presented i'.self along the coast we visited, which had no small indentations. ... As I have had the privilege of visiting all tho Arctic lands north of tho Atlantic, I have boon able to compare them and observe their resemblances as well as their differences. West Greenland is a hiuh uniform glacier plateau ; East Greenland is a magnificent Alpine land, with a comparatively rich vegetation and abundant animal life. How and where the transition betwoer. these opposite charactovs takes place in the interior is as ^et utterly unknown. We may form some notion of Spitzbergen and FRAXZJOSEF LAXD DESCRIliFlK '95 Novaya Zonilya, if we inia,i,'ino a inotiiitain-ranij;o, liko that of tin* Ootzthal with its j^iaciors, rising- from the lovol of tho soa, if that U>vt'l were raised about DOOO feet. There is more softness, however, in l)oth these countries tlian is usual in the regions of the liigh north. Jiut Franz- Josef Land lias all the severity of the higher Arctie lands ; it appears, espeeially in spring, to bo denuded of life of every kind. Enormous glaciers extend from the lofty solitudes of the mountains, which rise in bold conical forms. A covering of dazzling whiteness is spread over everything. The rows of basaltic columns, rising tier above tier, stand out as if crystallised. The natural colour of the I'ocks was not visible, as is usually the case : even the steepest walls of rock were covered with ice, the cous'>quenco of incessant precipitation, and of the condensation of the excessive moisture on the cold faces of the rock. This mois- lure in a country whose mean annual temperature is about - 13° R., seems to indicate its insular character, for Greenland and Siberia arc both remarkablo for the dryness of their cold, and it was singular that even north winds occa- sioned a fall of temperature in Franz-Josef Laud. In consequence of their enormous glaciation, and of the fre(pient occurrence of plateau forms, tho new lands rccalleil the characteristic featui'es of West Greenland, in the lower hn'el of the snow-line connnou to both, and in their volcanic formation. Isolated groups of conical mountains and tablelands, which are peculiar to the basaltic formation, constitute the mountain system of Franz-Josef Land ; chains of mountains were nowhere seen. These mountain forms are tho results of erosion and denudation ; there were no isolated volcanic cones. 1'hc mountains, as a rule, arc about 2000 or HOOO feet high, except in tho south-west, where they attain the height of about oOOO feet. . . . Tho dolerite of Franz-Josef Land greatly resembles also the dolerito of Spitz- bergen. After the return of the expedition I saw in London some photo- graphic vic'.v's of tho mountains of North-East Land, Spitzbergon, taken by ]S[r Leigh Smith, and I was at once struck with tho resemblance between their forms and those of Franz-Josef Land. 1 learncil also from Professor Nordenskjold, the celebrated explorer of Spitzbergen, as I passed through Sweden, that the rock of North-East Land was this same hyperstenito (hypersthene). Ilencc the geological coincidence of Si)itzbergen and Franz- Josef Land would seem to be established ; and this geological allinity, viewed in connection with the existence of lands more or less known, appears to indicate that groups of islands will be found in tho Arctic seas on the north of luirope, as wo know that such abound in the Arctic seas of North America. Gilles Land and King Karl Land are pcKhaps the most easterly islands of the Spitzbergen group ; for it is not i)robable that these and the lands wo discovered form one continuous unint(M'rupted whole. . . . Some of tho islands of the Spitzbergen and Franz-Josef Land grouj) must be of consider- able extent, because they bear enormous glaciers, which are possible only in 700 ARCTIC EXPElJiriONS FROM FOREIGN SHORES. f ■■ i> m !:■: :. 1 extensive countries. Their terminal precipices, sometimes mofe than 100 feet high, form generally tho coast-lines. The colour of all the glaciers wc visited inclined to gi"ey, we seldom found the dull, gi"een-l)lue hue ; the gian- ules of their ice were extraordinarily large ; there were few crevas.ses ; and tho moraines were neither large nor frequent. Their movement Avas slow ; and the snow-line commences at about 1000 feet above the level, whereas on the glaciers of Greenland and Spitzbergcn the like limit is generally 2000 or even 8000 feet, and in these countries also, all below that line is free from snow in summer. Franz-Josef Land, on the contrary, appears even in summer to be buried under jjerpetual snow, interrupted only where pre- cipitous rock occurs. Almost all the glaciers roach down to the sea. Cre- vasses, even when the angle of inclination of the glacier is very gi'cat, arc much less frequent than in our Alps, and in every respect the lower glacier regions of Franz-Josef Land approach tho character of the nvces of our latitudes. There only was it possible to determine the thickness of tho annual deposits of snow and ice. In these lower portions, the layers were from a foot to a foot and a half iliick ; fine veins, about an inch "vvide, of blue, alternating with streaks of white ice, ran through them, which occurred with peculiar distinctness at the depth of about a fr.thom. On the v hole, this peculiar structure of alternating bands or veins was not so distinctly marked as it is in the glaciers of the Alps, because the alternations of temperature and of the precipitations are very much less in such high latitudes. . . . It is well knoAvn that the north-east of Greenland, as well as Xovaya Zemlya and Siberia, are sloivly rising from the sea, naii, that all the northern regions of the globe have for ages ])articipated in this movement. It was therefore exceedingly interesting to observe the characteristic signs of this upheaval in the terraced beaches, covered with debris containing organic remains along tho coast of Austria Sound. The ebb and flow, which elevates and breaks up the bay-ice only at tho edge, is to be traced on the shores of Austria Sound by a tidal -mark of two feet. . . . Driftwood, chiedy of an old date, we frequently found, but in small quantities. On the shore of Cape Tyi'ol, we once saw a log of pine or larch, one foot thick and several feet long, lying a little above the water-line, and which might have been driven thither by the wind, as the 'Tegetthoff" was. The fragments of wood we found — the branches on which showed that they did not come from a ship — were of the pine genus {Pinus picea, Du Koy), and must have como from tho southern regions of Siberia, as the large broad rings of growth showed. Franz-Josef Land is, as may be supposed, entirely uninhabited, and we never came to any traces of settlements. It is very questionable \ hether Eskimos would have l)een able to find there the means of subsist- ence, and if anywhere, most likely on the western side of Wilczek Island, where an " ice-hole " of considerable extent remained open for a gi'cat part RETREAT AND RESCUE. '^7 of tlio year. In the soutlicrn parts it is destitute of every kiiul of animal life, with the exception of Polar bears and migratory birds. North of lat. Si ', tho snow bore nundjcrless fresh tracks of foxes, but though their footmarks ■were imprinted on the snow beyond the possibility of mistake, wo never saw <>»P- • . . The scanty vegetation forbade the presence of the reindeer and musk-ox. It is not, however, imjiossiblc that there may bo reindeer in tho more westerly parts of the country, which we did not visit. Tho character of that particular region approximates to that of King Karl Land and Spitzbergen, on the pastures of which herds of these animals live and tluive." Tho purposes of the expedition being thus triu.nphantly attained, Wcy- prccht and Payer, with their crew, abandoned the " Tegcitthoff " on the 20tli INIay in three boats, which they dragged across the frozen ocean towards Darentz Islands, on which, as we have seen, a depOt of provisions had been placed. Tho expedition reached and landed on Novaya Zcndya, but wero luiable to penetrate to the depot. The adventures of the travellers on tho ice, on their southward march, along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, recall the retreat of Kane and the famous drift of the " Ilansa." On tho L>4th August, when the retreating men, who had just made an equal division of the remainder of their provisions, were passing Cape Britwin, they beheld a small boat, with two men in it, engaged in bird-catching. A cry of joy arose from tho retreating boats as from one voice. The boat pulled towards the exhausted explorers, "and," says Payer, "before eitho)- party could explain itself, we tiu-ncd a corner of the rock, and — there lay two ships." On cue of these, the Russian schooner " Nikolai," the ofHccrs and crew of tho ' Tegctthofl'" rctiuned to Europe in safety early in September 1874. \ \\\ PART XV. THE GREAT ENGLISH EXrEDlTION OF 1875-76. CHAPTER I. ORGANISATION OF EXrF.DITIUN UNDER CAPTAIN NARES — OBJECTS AND EXPECTED RESULTS — THE OUTWARD VOYAGE- lORCING TIIROrOH THE "MIDDLE ICE" PORT EOULKE VISITED — CHARGING THE ICE Ol'E HAVES SOUND — MISTAKES IN THE CHART OF SMITH SOUND — GREAT SUCCESS ! After the return of Sir Edward IJelcher in October ISM, and the abandon- ment of the " Investigator," "Assistance," " Pioneer," " Kcsolute," and " In- trepid " in the ice, with their colours gloriously " nailed to the mast," the ]>ritish Government appear to have considered Arctic discovery as a play that was hardly worth the somewhat expensive candles used in its illumina- tion. From that date liritish credit in the Arctic seas was for twenty years maintained by private enterprise exclusively. But, in the opinion of many of ovu' most eminent geographers, professors of natural science, and naval commanders, it was considered unfortunaio for the naval renoAvn of England that geographical discoveiy and physical research in the laneare. iStiiff'Sitiyeon — Delgnive Niuiils, il.D. •Siinjeon — 1». W. Coiijiinger, M.D. ..I ssivl'iiil-I'iiipiuDiter — Tliouuw Mitcholl. Enyiiiinr — Danii-I Cartmel. M. K. Miller. XulumUHl—W. C. Hart. C/ut])htin — Itev. C. E. Hod-son. The vessels, which were fitted with all the most improved appliances, and provisioned for three years on a scale at once liberal and complete, left Ports- mouth Harbour on the 29th May iSZo, amid cheers from a vast concourse of spectators ok Southsea beach, and from the crews and passengers of an endless variety jf ships, s tamers, and small craft. The discovery ships were accompanied by the store-ship "Valorous," with additional supplies of provisions and coals for transhipment at God- haven. Mr Clements K. Markham, secretary of the Koyal Geographical Society, and formerly of the Arctic ship "Assistance," was permitted to accompany the expedition, sailing in the "Alert " as for as Disco, Avhere he was taken on board the " Valorous," and thus returned to England. jNIark- ham informs us that almost as soon as the ships had left British Avaters con- trary w uds, with very heavy weather, prevailed, " Xo ^Vrctic expedition on record,' says this writer, " has had so long or so boisterous a passage across the A .lantic, yet this was not without its coiuitervailing advantages. All the gear aloft was thoroughly tried, all things below wore shaken into their places, and the men, amidst discomfort and hard work, more quickly formed that brotherhood, upon the strength of which so much depends." The bad weather began on June 11th, and continued till the 27th, on which day the "Alert," having rounded Cape Farewell, was proceeding north along tin; west coast of Greenland. The first ice was seen on the 27th, and " on the 29th, from daylight until ten a.m.," writes INIarkham, "the 'Alert' was pass- ing through a stream of very heavy floe-pieces, and sustained several severe bumps, whicii brought the shij) up all standing. Some of the pieces were 200 or 300 yards long, others were fragments of pressed-up hummock ridges from 20 to 30 feet high. ]Many were worn into fantastic and beautiful 5 I 'i;. '! 802 THE GREAT ENGLISH EXPEDITIOS OF 1875-70. i\ shapes, the wash of the sea haviii*^ frequently worked laterally into the ice- Mocks, until they consisted of two floors connected by ice-i)illars of the deepest l)lue. This old ice was streaming round from the east coast of Greenland with the current, which is usually lost or deflected again near the Arctic circle. The ship was clear of the ice before noon, and only the fol- lowing night a gale of wind came on> and a very heavy confused sea with high perpendicular waves, which made her roll gunwales under, and ship seas over the stern and forecastle. Everything began to fetch way ; a tre- mendous sea came down into the ward-voom, the masts laboured heavily, and there were several leaks from the upper deck. The 1st of July was a lovely day, and in the afternoon the ' Discovery ' was sighted about ten miles in shore." From this point the ships proceeded north along the coast in company, passing Sukkertoppen on the 3d, Ilolsteinborg on the 4th, and reaching the harbour of Godhaven or Lievely, at the south-west extremity of Disco Island, on the 6th July. At Godhaven the ships fdled up with provi- sions and fuel fi'oni the " Valorous," the otticers of which were ready to supply everything the "Alerts" or "Discoverers" desired — "from a top- mast to a harmonium." The transference of stores was completed on the 15th, and having taken twenty-four good Greenland dogs on boai'd the ".VIert " at Godhaven, as well as nine sheep from the " Valorous," Captain Nares set sail up Disco Bay on the afternoon of that day, accompanied by the " Discovery " and the transport ship. At Ritenbenk the " Discovery " took on board the twenty Greenland dogs that, by pre-arrangement, the Danish Government had provided at this settlement in the interests of the English expedition. Petersen, the Dane, who had served in Hayes' expedi- tion in 1860-61, had joined the "Alert" in England as dog-driver; a second dog-driver, Frederick, an Eskimo, was engaged at Godhaven. At four a.m. on the 17th July the " Valorous " sailed from llitenbenk, the "Alert " and "Discovery" following; and at eight a.m., says Markham, an eye-witness of what he here describes, " the Arctic ships could be made out from the stern of the ' Valorous,' with their mastheads and yards showing above the ice- bergs. . . . From the (Disco) hills there was a magnificent view of ice- bergs, streaming out of the Tossukatek Fiord (at the head of which there is a great discharging glacier) and down the Waigat, and among them the iVrctic ships could be seen, over on the Greenland side of the strait, under all plain sail. They were standing down the Waigat (the 'Alert ' leading), ap- pearing and disappearing behind ^ae huge icebergs, about six miles ott'." At five r.M. the " Valorous " hoisted a signal at all three mastheads — " Farewell ! Speedy lleturn ! " It was not seen for a long time, but at last the " Dis- covery " hoisted " Thank You," and afterwards the "Alert " also acknow- ledged the farewell. A slow fog now settled down upon the sea, and when it lifted a few hours after the Arctic ships had disappeared, and the " Valor- 1 Foncixa TiuiiUdii the ' miudlk iciir 803 cms," turning her prow towjinl the .south, steamed away on the return vovai^c to England, ^^oanwhih^ the discovery ships, pushing o^ toward the north, touclied at Prf)ven, where Hans Christian, that most useful of Eskimos, who had done yeoman's service in the expeditions of Kane, Hayes, and Hall, was taken on board with his fanuly. The expedition reached Uppernavik on the •21st, and left on the following day. "On the morning of the "Jod," writes Captain Nares, "after an anxious night, passed with a dense fog and a .strong tidal current in a narrow channel, in which i/c could obtain no bottom with 100 fathoms of line at a cable's length of the shore, and with the 'Di.scovery' in tow, during a momentary clearance of the atmosphere, two Eskimos in their kayacks were observed close to us. After consulting with them through Christian Petersen, Danish and Eskimo interpreter, they volunteered to conduct us to an anchorage. On following them to the position they denoted, and obtaining no bottom with the nand-lead line at the main chains, I felt the bow of the ship glide slowly upon the ground. Through the fog we could then see that the land was within fifty yards of us. The Eskimos had evidently not considered that our ships required a greater depth of water to Hoat in than their own frail canoes. As it was nearly low water, and the tide still falling, I allowetl the ship to remain quiet where she was, the ' Discovery ' still hanging to us by her towing hawser, and took advantage of the enforced delay by landing the ships' companies to wash their clothes. The fog lifted slightly as the day advanced, and as the tide rose the ship floated without having incurred any strain or damage whatever. I then proceeded to sea, discharging the pilot, who was not to blame for our mishap, off the north shore of Kangitok, the outlying island of the group, after passing which the channel presents no difficulties. ... By four p.m. we had passed the Brown Islands with a sea perfectly clear of ice before u.id around us. Having given much study and consideration to the question, and a high and very steady barometer follow- ing a south-east wind, denoting that the calm settled weather we had lately enjoyed was likely to continue, I decided to force my way through the middle ice of Baffin Bay instead of proceeding by the ordinary route round Melville Bay. Accordingly both ships proceeded at full speed to the westward, racing in company for Cape York, with only about a dozen icebergs in sight ahead, floating quietly on a calmly mirrored sea to dispute our passage. As we passed out from the land the fog gradually dissolved, and revealed a magnificent and unique panorama of the ice-capped mountains of Greenland which give birth to Uppernavik Glacier, fronted by innumerable icebergs, and, at a long distance in advance, by the group of scattered black islets, among which wo had passed the previous night, and of which Kangitok is the northernmost. At 1.30 a.m. of the 24th we ran into the pack at a distance of seventy miles from Kangitok. It consisted of open sailing ice 'H \\\ ''II '11 !!' I 804 THE GREAT ESGLISn FXPKDITTON OF l«75-70. I from ono to throo foot, and occasionally four foot in thickno- Tlio floos wore at first not larj^'or than 2.')(l yards in dianiotor, and vo-- en, dividijipf readily, and opening;' a eliannel when accidentally strnek . mo ship. Tho relleetion in the sky near tho hori/on denoted that Avhilo tho ico was very open to tho southward of us, it was apparently closer packed to the north- ward. About six A.M., when we had run thirty miles thronj,di tho ico, it <,'radually became closer, and tho Hoe.s larger, estimated as nioasnrinj;' one mile in diameter, and necessitated a discriminatinj;' choice to be made of tho best channels. For fourteen hours, during' which time wo ran sixty miles, the ice continued in nuich tho same state, never close enouj,di to suy:gest tho probability of a barrier occurring, and yet keoi)in_i;' tho look-out in tho crov s-nest fully employed. After eight p.m. the chann(>ls of water became decidedly broader and more numerous, so I gradually altered course to tho northward, steering directly for Capo York, tho ice becoming more and more open as we advanced. At 0.30 a.m. of July 25, wo sighted the high land north of Cape York, and at eleven o'clock, nuich to the astonishment of tho Scotch ico-(piartermasters, who continually declared, ' It will ne'er bo credited in I'eterhcad,' wo wore fairly in the ' north water,' and able again to think about economising coal, having come through tho middle ice in thirty-four hours without a check ; but it is my duty to add, with not a few scratches along the water-line." It has been mentioned elsewhere that by the use of steam Arctic navi- gators may now sometimes push through tho dreaded middle pack into tho north water leading to tho mouth of Smith Sound in as few liours as their predecessors took days. But Captain Nares was not vain of his swift run north- ward, lie knew that his great success Avas, in a sense, fortuitous, and that tho best navigator, in the most powerful of steamers, will often find the pas- sago of tho ico impossible. " In conseciuonco," he writes, " of our having made a successful voyage through the middle ice, it should not be too hastily concluded that a similar passage can always be commanded. The middle pack is justly dreaded by tho most experienced ice navigators. Largo ice- bergs and surAico-ice, floating in water at various dejjths, when affected either l)y wind or an ocean current, move at different rates ; hence, when in motion, as one passes the other, the lighter surface-ice, incapable of controlling its course, is readily torn in pieces by tho heavy massive iceberg ; therefore, a ship once entrapped in pack-ice among icebergs, unless she has water space to allow her to move out of the way, is constantly in danger of being carried forcibly against a berg. On such occasions man is powerless, for he can take no possible means to save his vessel. Before steam vessels were used for ice navigation the masters of sailing ships, being unable to take full advantage of a favourable calm, very wisely seldom ventured to force their way through the middle ice, and chose in preference the chance of delay in :|^ ill 1 I . UM>. 8(n> rations of provisions was landed on the northern side of Cape .Schott, and a notice of our pro,t,'ress deposited in a cairn on the summit of Washington Irvinf^ Island. Two cairns were found there, but they contained no docu- ments, and were much too old to have been built l>y Dr Hayes in isGO, the only time any traveller has journeyed past the position." On the morning of the IGth the ships advanced to within five miles of C*apo Frazer. In this reach of the strait the character of the pack was considerably changed. The few icebergs seen were mostly aground, and the floes consisted of old hummocky pieces, from twelve to tv*enty feet thick, pressed together and " studded over with worn-doAvn luuumocks of a blue bottle-glass colour, which denotes great age." On the 19th Cape Frazer was passed, and in the evening the ships had fairly entered Kennedy Chamud, and were fast to a floe off Cape .lohu Ba^-row. ".Soon after midnight," continues the captain (who proceeds to point out a number of errors in the chart of Smith .'^j trait), " the ice moving off shore opened a pas ^ .,■ ;, and again allowed us to proceed ; the Avater spaces becoming more frequent and larger as we advanced northward. Passing the mouth of a large bay about ten miles deep, after making a very tortuous course through the ice, and many narrow escapes of being driven to the southward again in the pack, we reached what we supposed to be Capo Collinson, the second of two capes to the north of the large bay, which must be intended to be represented on the chart as Scoresby Bay. But as Cape Frazer is placed eight miles and Scoresby Bay twenty miles too far north, and the rest of the western land very incorrectly delineated on the charts, it is difficult to say where we arrived, and yet for the present it is necessary for me to describe the advance of the expedition by reference to the published charts. I shall therefore continue to do so, with an occasional necessary reference to our correct latitude. Between Cape Collinson and Cape M'Clintock, the north point of Scoresby Bay, is a slight indentation in the coast from half to three-quarters of a mile in depth, but affording no protection. Nf)rtli of Cape Collinson the land trends slightly to the Avcstward, and about three miles north of the cape turns sharp to the west forming Richardson Bay, which is much deeper than represented, probably four miles broad and six deep." On the evening of the 21st August the ships, after a tioublesome pas- sage through three miles of heavy floes, reached open leads of water, extend- in" north-east up the strait. Nares carefully examined the western shores in the latitude given for Karl Hitter Bay, but could discover no inlet answer- ing to the description of that supposed bay. Steaming to the northwai'd, he cndeaA )ured to close the western shore south of Cape Cracroft, but found himself obliged to bear up eastward for Capo Bryant. Passing this head- land the captain found the pack extending across the strait from Cape INIorton and Joe Island to Cape Lieber. At Cape Morton he landed a small depot 5 K 810 THE GREAT EXGLlSIl EXPEDITION OF 187.> 70. for the use of any party that might be sent south to explore Petermann Fiord. On the 2AX\\ Xarcs ascended Cape Morton. We shall leave him to state in his ov;n words what he saw from the cape, and what use he made of the information gained : " On the 24th, the south-west wind still continu- ing, which I knew would open the ice on the western shore of Hall Basin, I ascended Cape Morton. At an altitude t)f 2000 feet it was perfectly calm, with a clear sky. The prominent capes of the channel were clearly visible — Cape Union seventy miles distant, and Cape Sumner fifty miles, the one locking in beyond t;'P other to within five degrees. All the west coast of Kennedy Channel, up to Cape Lieber and Lady Franklin Sound, was clear of ice, with navigable water through the ice-streams in the middle of the channel far to the northward. From Joe Island to the north, and east to Polaris Bay, the ice was clearly packed, but between Capo Lupton and Beechey was more open. Hurrying to the boat the ships were signalled to get under way, and we ran quickly to the northward across the channel under sail. Five miles north of Cape Lieber the i^ack obliged me to enter Lady Franklin Sound, on the northern shore of which an indentation in the land gave promise of protection. On a nearer approach we discovered a largo and well-protected harbour inside an island immediately west of Cape Bellot, against which the pack-ice of the channel rested. Here the ships were secured close to the shore on the morning of August 25. On entering the harbour we had the satisfaction of sighting a herd of nine musk-oxen, all of which were killed ; our joy at the good luck of the sportsmen and our- selves being gi-eatly increased by the news that the vegetation was consider- al>ly richer than that of any part of the coast visited by us north of Port Foulke, the Elysitun of the Arctic regions. Finding that th" harbour was suitable in every way for winter quarters, and the abundance of the spare Arctic vegetation in the neighbourhood giving every promise of game being procurable, I here decided to leave the ' Discovery,' and to push forward with the 'Alert' alone." Taking with him Lieutenant Kawson and seven men belonging to the "Discovery" (who were to form a separate sledge party). Captain Nares sailed still fiirther north in the "Alert." On the 28tli ho reached Cape Beechey, Robeson Channel, where he Avas detained some time ; his sports- men, however, making the best use of their leisure in hunting musk-oxen, three of which were killed. They formed a most welcome addition to the supply of fresh meat. Nares arrived at Lincoln Bay on the 29tli, and on the oOth landed a depot of 1000 rations, for the use of the travelling parties. Wait- ing at the edge of the pack oft" Lincoln Bay, with the view of taking advant- age of the first opening that might present itself, the "Alert " was suddenly assailed by the ice, " and," says the captain, " having just sufficient warning to enable me to pick out the softest-looking place near us, that is, to get as far GREAT SUCCESS! 811 possible from the lieavy ice. It completely .'led the ship I eiicir she was hopelessly beset in a very heavy pack, consisting of old Hoes of eighty feet in thickness, and from one to four miles in diameter, the intervals between the floes being filled with broken-up ice of all sizes, from the blue- ice rounded hummocks, which were sufficiently high above the water-line to lift the quarter-boats bodily as they passed underneath whilst grinding their way along the ship's side, down to the smaller pieces which the previous nipping together of the heavy floes had rounded and polished like the boulders and pebbles in a rapid river." Captain Nares noted, that as he ascended Smith Strait the ice seemed to alter gi-adually, but cojisiderably in appearance and formation. Oft' Cape Sabine the heaviest floes were only eight and ten feet in thickness ; oft" Cape Frazer the floes were older, and considerably over twenty feet thick ; " but," he writes, " up to the present time, when the main pack consisted entirely of heavy ice, I had failed to realise that, instead of approKchbu} a rerjum faroured with open water and a warm climate, we were gradually nearing a sea where the ice was of a totally difterent formation to what we had ever before experienced, that few Arctic navigators had met, and only one battled with successfully ; that in reality we must bo approaching the same sea which gives birth to the heavy ice met with off" the coast of America by CoUinson and jM'Clure.. and which the latter in 1851 succeeded in navigating through in a sailing vessel for upwards of 100 miles, during his memorable and perilous passage along the north-west coast of Banks Land from Cape Prince Alfred to the Bay of Mercy, but thei-e sealed up his ship for ever ; which Sir Edward Parry met with in the same channel in 1820, but with the more difficult task before him of navigating against stream and prevailing wind, and was forced to own conquered even him and his experienced companions ; which, passing onwards to the eastward from Melville Strait down M'Clintock Channel, beset, and never afterwards released, the ' Erebus ' and * Terror,' under Sir John Franklin and Captain Crozier; and which, intermixed with light Spitzbergen ice, is constantly streaming to the southward along the eastern shore of Greenland, and there destroyed the ' Hansa ' of the last German Arctic expedition." Escaping on the 31st by the power of steam, which enabled him to pene- trate the pack, which to the old voyagers was impassable, Nares ran up the channel, at the rate of 9^ knots an hour, between the western shore and the pack, which was driving fast to the north before a gale from the south. This favouring gale enabled the "Alerts " to achieve the first signal triu'nph of the expedition. ''By noon" (of September 1st), writes Nares, "having carried her Majesty's ship into latitude 82^ 2-4' N., a hi J THE ALERT PRESSED ON SHORE IN KENNEDY CHANNEL i! i I 6 SUCCESS AND COSCLUSION. HV.\ CHAPTER II. TIIK WINTKIl AT FL