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Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul cilchA, ii est fllmA A partir de Tangle supArleur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant ie nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants lllustrent la mAthode. >y errata ed to mt ine pelure, aqon A 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 z -c o i UJ g il O 2 Q -3 uJ Si 5 < « < ° r '^■■.s'.-p:iW!'?K;'r!H!i ^l\ A 2 -c O i t I Q ^ S* « • n I/. -V- X "! T UJ « --> CD 2 i' Q -n r tu « •- _j -g i' w s - « ? ^ 2 .= : I- Ui < '5 '^c li* .' a. V. < ° . ^^roYKiiY WO ADYEMUHE lA TTTK ^R SEAS AND REGIONS .H LE8L7K, K, H., •AR.S.B. :;' ' ■ '■ * fUi," AND TUn By E, W ^f-^ ' .^^^ftNK. J3 J TON: . ; .0!> riiw roa«. ■ UUCOCLX //iV I ! ~ ♦ '-.'% a 2 * u) s a (J DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN THE POLAR SEAS AND REGIONS. By sir JOHN LESLIE, K. H., HUeH MURRAY, Esq., F.R.S.E. WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE RECENT EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH -^ OP SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, INCLUDING THE VOYAGE OF THE "fOX," AND TUB discovert of the fate of the franklin expedition. By R. M. BALLANTYNB. •rm> LONDON: T NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. UDCCCLX I 'i (o 0 i '/IVZ. M r NORTHE'^N AFfAJKS & NATIO^^M., P.^SO'JPXES y J^- 1S64 Northern Ar/ai's library OTTAWA PREFACE. The present work was undertaken with the view of giving a complete and connected description of the varied pheno- mena of the Polar world, as well as an account of the more important voyages and expeditions, whether for profit or discovery, through which it has become known to Europe. Such a subject, it is believed, combining much that is inter- esting in natural scenery and maritime adventure, can hardly fail to prove attractive. In those climates nature is marked by the most stupendous features, and, presenting objects at once sublime and beautiful, the forms she assumes differ from her aspects in our milder latitudes almost as widely as though they belonged to another planet. The tempests and darkness of those wintry realms are strikingly varied by the brief but brilliant summer, the singular magnificence of the celestui and meteorological appear- ances, and the dreary grandeur of those enormous piles of ice which stud the land or float upon the water. Along with a characteristic range of vegetable productions, and a remarkable profusion of animal life wonderfully adapted to sustain existence in the extremity of cold, we are presented with a race of men singular alike from the circumstances to which they have conformed themselves, the manners and customs thence resulting, and the contrivances whereby they brave the utmost rigours of the clime. When, moreover, 8 PREFACE. it is considered that in the field of Northern Discovery, England laid the foundation of her maritime pre-eminence, and that the men who have earned in it the greatest glory were chiefly British, it will be admitted that the history of their adventures must have a peculiar charm for the Eng- lish reader. The narrative of these voyages, down to the close of the ninth chapter, was carefully drawn from the most authentic sources by Mr. Murray, whose labours in a similar depart- ment of literature have been received by the public with no common approbation. They include the adventures and exploits of many of those navigators of whom their country has the greatest reason to be proud. Such in early times were Willoughby, Chancelor, Frobisher, Davis, Hudson ; more recently Parry, Scoresby, Ross, the uncle and nephew, with others of little inferior note. The wild and strange scenes through which their career led, the peculiar perils with which it was beset, the hairbreadth escapes and some- times tragical events that ensued, give to their narratives an interest similar to that of romance. The tenth and eleventh chapters have been prepared by an experienced writer. They trace the history of north- western exploration through most eventful recent periods, down to the winter of 1850. The former narrates the marvellous ice-voyage of Captain (now Sir George) Back, and the completion of discovery round the mysterious coasts of Boothia ; the latter gives the substance of all that has been made known, up to 1850, in volumes, perio- dicals, and public documents, respecting the lamented expedition of Sir John Franklin, and the complicated searches for it ; and the two together, it is hoped, will be regarded by eveiy reader as an important addition to the value of this work. "■ ^ PREFACE. $ The evciits that have recently occurred in the Northern Regions in connection with the searcli for Sir John Frank- lin's ill-fated expedition, and the discovery by M'Clintock of the document recording its fate, are so deeply interesting and important, that it has been deemed advisable to issue a new edition of the present work, with the addition of all that has reached us from the dark regions of the Polar Seas. The concluding chapters will, therefore, be found to contain a complete outline of the proceedings of the searching squadron under Sir Edward Belcher, the more recent expeditions of Dr. Rae, Dr. Kane, &c., and the voyage of the " Fox" under Captain M'Clintock, who has brought us the melancholy intelligence of the total loss of the Franklin expedition. While, however, it has been the aim of the compiler to give the outline of events as much as possible in unbroken order, he has thought that a somewhat fuller detail of a few out of the many interesting events that have occurred would tend to invest the narrative with an interest which a simple outline of the whole would fail to do. Accordingly, it will be foimd that considerable prominence has been given to the narrative of the second voyage of the Prince Albert, under Mr. Kennedy— whose adventures are replete with striking incidents characteristic of the stormy Polar Seas— to the extraordinary voyage of Commander M'Clure, which resulted in the discovery of the far-famed North-West Passage — to the stirring and romantic voyage of the American brig " Advance," under Dr. Kane, and to the deeply interesting voyage of the " Fox." Besides these narratives, several of the most distinguished men of science in Scotland have lent their aid to illustrate the wonderful order of nature prevailing within the Arctic Circle. Sir John Leslie commenced the volume with a full a 10 PREPACE. examination of the climate and its phenomena, — subjects so important, that without a preliminary knowledge of them the progress of discovery would be but imperfectly unden stood. The chapter on Natural History, though the subject be treated by Mr. Murray in a popular rather than in a scientific manner, has received the careful revision of a distinguished naturalist. The Whale-fishery forms a striking feature in Arctic adventure, and is, besides, of great national as well as com- mercial importance. Of its daring operations and its vari- ous perils, the description here introduced may be the more ucceptable, as it is presumed to be the only one hitherto attempted within a moderate compass. For an account of the successive expeditions, by land or along the coast, to define the northern boundaries of the American and Asiatic continents, the reader is referred to the " Northern Coasts op America, and the Hudson's Bat Territories." In that volume are contained inter- ^ting descriptions of the wild country through which the different travellers penetrated to the shores of the Polar Sea, of the sufferings they endured, and of the valuable additions made by them to geographical science. EDINBUBaH, I860. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. TUE CLIMATE OV THE POLAR REGIONS. fkfa General View of the Subject— Lljcht thrown on it by Voyages of Dia- covery— Various Opinions and Obnvrvations discussed— Di8triba> tion of Ilcut over tlio Surface of tlio tilobe- Currents in the Atmospliere — Freezing of tlie Ai'ctlc Sea— Plienonienu of tiie Seasons in the Polar itcgions— Formation of Icebergs— Cliungci in tlie Aspect of tlie Polar Seas — Supposed Alterations in the Climate of Europe— State of the Ice in the Polar Soas— Situation of the Ancient Colonies in Greenland 17 CHAPTER II. ANIMAL AND YEaETABLB LIFE IN THE POLAR REOIORS. Remarkable Profusion of Animal Life— Means by which it is sup- ported—The Cetacea: Whale, Narwal, Walrus, Seal— The Herring —Land Animals— The Polar Bear ; its Ferocity ; Anecdotes— The Rein-deer— Wolf, Fox, Dog -Birds — Vegetable Life — Peculiar Plants— Red Snow 63 CHAPTER III. ANCIENT YOTAOES TO THE NORTH. Voyage of Pytheas— Norwegian Expeditions; Ohthere— Colonization of Iceland— The Zenl— Quirini 96 CHAPTER IV. VOTAGES IK SEARCH OF A NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. Rise of Maritime Enterprise In England— Plan of a North-east Pas- sage to India— Expedition of Sir Hugh Willoughby ; Its Issue — Chancelor reaches the White Sea ; Jouniey to Moscow— Voyage of Burroughs— Of Pet and Jackman— Dutch Expeditions— Barentz's First, Second, and Third Voyages; His Death— Hudson— Wood— UML6*«n«*«IWMttMM. ••.•..•».•••.•..•.••■.. ••....••.•....•■•••••••• lot IS CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. BARLT YOYAGES TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. r»v> Plan of a Polar Passage to India— Voyages to Cheric Island— Ilud- 8on— Poole— BaflBn—Fotliei by 144 CHAPTER VI. EARLT VOTAGES IN SEARCH OP A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. Tlie Pfitaguese; The Cortereals— The Spaniards; Gomez— Expedi- ditlons under Henry VIII. ; their Issue— Frobisher's First, Second, and Third Voyages— Davis' First, Second, and Third Voyages — Weymouth— Knight— Hudson ; Mutiny of his Men ; Disastrous Issue of the Expedition— Voyages of Button— Gibbons— Bylot — Baffin — Jens Munk, the Dane— Fox and James— Knight and Barlow— Middleton, &c 165 U^ CHAPTER VII. VOYAGES BY ROSS AND PARRY IN SEARCH OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. Spirited Views of the British Government— Ross's Expedition ; He sails round Baffin's Bay; Arctic Highlands; Lancaster Sound; His Return— Parry's First Expedition ; Entrance into the Arctic Sea; Regent's Inlet— North Georgian Islands; Winters at Melville Island; Mode of spending the Winter ; North Georgian Theatre ; Gazette ; Disappearance of the Animal Tribes ; Attempt to pro> ceed Westward during the Summer; His Retura to England- Parry's Second Expedition, accompanied by Captain Lyon ; He enter's Hudson's Strait; Savage Islands; Duke of York's Bay; Frozen Strait ; Various Inlets Discovered ; Ships Frozen in for the Winter; Polar Theatre and School; Brilliant Appearances of the Aurora Boiealis ; Intercourse with a Party of Esquimaux ; Land Excursions; Release from the Ice; Voyage Northward; Discovery of a Strait named after the Fury and Hecla ; Progress An*estcd ; Second Winter-quarters at Igloolik ; The Esquimaux ; Symptoms of Scurvy ; Return of the Expedition to England— Parry's Third Expedition ; He Winters at Port Bowen ; Shipwreck of the Fury; Return of the Hecla 212 CHAPTER VIII. boss's SECOND VOYAGE. Motives which led to the Expedition— Difficulties In Equipping it — Expense Defi-ayed by Sir Felix Booth— Accidents on the Coast of Scotland— Passage across the Ocean— Refitted at Hol- steinborg— Pausage through BaiTow's Strait and down Regent's Inlet — Discovery of the Fury's Stores — Difficult Navigatk>n— CONTENTS. Winter Station in Felix Harbour— Means Devised for Resisting tlie Cold — Visit from a Party of Esquimaux— Infornifttion Respect- ing tlie Neighbouring Coasts — Expedition to Nei-tyel-le— To Sliagavolee— To the Northward— For Cape Turnagoln— Obliged to stop at Victory Point— Return— Attempt to Sail next Summer- Arrested for the Winter— Excursion to the Northward— And across the Country— Commander Ross's Discovery of the Magnetic Pole —Another Fruitless Attempt to bring Home tl.tj Victoiy— Deter- mination to Abandon Her— Summary of Observations on the Esquimaux— Journey along the Coast to Fury Beach— Fruitless Attempt to cross Barrow's Strait— Winter at Somerset House- Successful Navigation next Summer— Reach the Isabella of Hull — Reception— Return— Joy at their Arrival— Rewards to the Adven- turers—General Results of the Voyage— Return of Captain Back 13 271 CHAPTER IX. MODERN yOTA.GE3 TOWARDS THB NORTH POLE. Expedition of Captain Pbipps (Lord Mulgrave) ; Progress arrested by the Ice; His Return— Scoresby; Various hnportant Observa- tions made by him ; '^''oyage to the Eastern Coast of Greenland; Discoveries ; Retuins to England— Claveilng's Voyage and Dis- coveries— Expedition of Graah — De Blosseville — Dutaillis — Bnchan's Expedition— Parry's Fourth Expedition, in which he attempts to reach the Pole ; Progress along the Coast of Spitz- bergen ; Tlie Boats arrive at the Ice ; Mode of Travelling ; Various Obstacles Encountered ; Compelled to Return— Question as to the Practicability of Reaching the Pole 808 CHAPTER X. EXPEDITIONS TO THE SEAS AROUND BOOTHIA. Equipment of the Terror; Dangers in Hudson's Strait; Besetment in the Ice near Frozen Strait ; Series of Dreadful Perils off South- ampton Island; Disablement and Return of the Ship — Boat Voyage of Messrs. Dease and Simpson; Labyrinth Bay; Open In]«5t from the Polar Sea to Back's Estuary; South Coasts' of Boothia and Victoria Land ; Re-entrance into the Coppermine River— Expedition of Mr. Rae; Wintering at Repulse Bay; Ex- ploration of the Gulf of 4kkolec to Lord Mayor's Bay and to the Vicinity of the Fury and Hecla Strait 844 CHAPTER XI. THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION, AND SEARCHING SQUADRONS. Equipment and Sailing of the Erebus and the Terror— Public anxiety about their Fate— Comprehensive Plan of Operations to Search for them— Proceedings of the Herald and the Plover by way of Bohrlng's Strait— Proceedings of an Overland Party on the Cen- 14 CONTENTS. Mb* tral Parts of the Arctic American Coasts— Proceedings of the Enterprise and the Investigator by way of Lancaster Sound— Sup- plementary Measures of Search— Increased Public Anxiety and Mew Searching Expeditions— Despatch of the Enterprise and the Investigator to Behring's Strait— Overland Exploration of the Coasts west of Cape Wallcer— New Government Expedition up BafRn's Bay to the Northern Arcliipelago— Private Expedition under Sir John Ross— Expeditions at the instance of Lady Frank- , Bn— Expedition from America— The North Star— Proceedings of the Prince Albert — Last View of the Exploring Ships— Traces of Sir John Franklin 870 CHAPTER XII. SBARCHINO EXPEDITIONS OP 1850-61-52. Squadrons Liberated fl'om Ice— Sledging Parties sent out — Long Journeys on Foot— Discovery of Victoria Channel — ^The American Expedition — Sir J. Ross's Theory respecting Franklin's Fate — Captain Austin's Opinion— Return of the Squadron — Squadron under Sir E. Belcher— Prince Albert Refitted and sent to Prince Regent's Inlet— Deiails of Prince Albert's Voyage and Return to England. 423 CHAPTER XIII. discotert of the north-west passage, and kews of franklin's PARTT. Sir Edward Belcher's Position and Prospects— New Expedition — In^J3tice to the Americans— Return of Captain Inglefield, and News of the Discovery of the North- West Passage— Narrative of M'Clure's Voyage— Meeting between M'Clure and Kellet— Sir E. Belcher's Squadron— More Traces of Franldin's Route Discovered — Melancholy Death of Lieutenant Beliot— Dr. Rae's Return with News of the Discovery of Part of the Franklin Expedition, and Articles belonging to Sir J. Franklin and Party, found in the hands of the Esquimaux 464 CHAPTER XIV. VOYAGES OF CAPTAIN OOLLINSON AND DR. KANE ; AND OVERLAND JOURNEYS OF DR. RAE, AND MESSRS. ANDERSON AND STEWART. Captain Collinson's Voyage in the Enterprise ; His Discoveries and Return to England— The Second American Expedition under Dr. Kane; Their Adventures, Discoveries, and Sufferings during two Winters in the Ice ; Abandonment of their Ship ; Their Arduous Boat and Sledge Journey, and Final Deliverance and Return to America— Overland Search by way of the Great Fish River by Anderson and Stewart 616 CONTENTS. 15 CHAPTER XV. ■XPIDITIOK UNDER CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK— DISCOVERT OF A RECORD or THE LOST EXPEDITION. AND THE FATE OF SIB JOHN FRANKLIN. Voyage of Captain M'Clintock in the Fox— First Winter Spent in the Paclc of Baffin's Bay— Danjpers of Disruption— Deliverance and Advance— Winter in Beilot's Strait— Aatumn and Spring Travel- ling Parties— Discovery of Remains of the Franklin Expedition- Lieutenant Hobson's Discovery of a Boat and a " Record," which Intimates tiie Death of Sir John Franklin — Skeletons and numer- ous Relics of the lost Crews found— Discoveries of Captain Young —Return Home— Franklin's Party the first to discover the North- West Passage— Proposed Expedition by the Americans towards the Pole 552 CHAPTER XVI. THE NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERT. Objects of the Whale-Fishery- Early practised on the Coasts of Europe— First Fishing Voyages to the Arctic Sea — Disputes be- tween the different Nations — Accommodation Effected — Dutch Fishery— English Fishery; Its slow Progress and ultimate Success — Various Attempts to form Fisliing Settlements on the Arctic Shores— Mode of Conducting the Fishery — Equipment- Voyage- Attack and Capture of the Whale— Operation of Flensing, &c.— Situbtions in which the Fishery is carried on; Its Dangers — Various Shipwrecks and Accidents— Recent Changes in the Fisli- ing Stations; Increased Dangers— Capital Invested in the"Tradc; Its Produce; Ports whence it is carried on— Disasters und Ship- wrecks of 1830; Adventures on the Ice; Extrication of the Re- maining Vessels; General Results— Abstract of the Whale Fishings ft-om 1815 to 1834 inclusive— Statement from 1835 to 1842— Details for 1843 and 1844 690 w s POLiR SEAS AND REGIONS. CHAPTER I. The Climate of the Polar Regions, General View of the Subject— Light thrown on it by Voyages of Discovery— Various Opinions and Observations discussed —Distribution of Heat over the Surface of the Globe— Cur- rents in the Atmosphere— Freezing of the Arctic Sea — Phe- nomena of the Seasons in the Polar Regions— Formation of Icebergs — Changes in the Aspect of the Polar Seas — Sup- posed Alterations in the Climate of Europe— State of the Ice in the Polar Seas— Situation of the Ancient Colonies in Greenland. The climate and seasons within the Arctic circle ex- chap. 1 hibit most peculiar and striking features, which modify jio^ijZjJi- in a singular manner the whole aspect of nature. An influences, investigation of those phenomena seems therefore ne- cessary for enabling the reader to comprehend the narrative, and to follow through such icy regions the paths of the daring navigator. Accordingly, in order to elucidate the subject more fully, it will be proper to give some explication of the principles that regulate generally the distribution of heat over the surface of our globe. Many of the facts relative to the Polar climate have Orlcin of been collected in the course of the bold and arduous y^yJL,^ attempts made to penetrate to India across the northern seas. Projects of this kind, after being long suspended. 18 CLIMATE. CHAP. I. Renewal of old projects. North-west passage. Valneless- noss of tho object. i I Books and mcmoii^. were in IRlft renewed, and embraced with excessive ardour by the English government. For two or three years previous to that date, the captains of ships em- ployed in the northern whale-fishery had generally concurred in representing the Arctic Sea as of a sudden become almost open and accessible to the adventurous navigator. By the more speculative relators, it was supposed that the vast icy barrier, which for many ages had obstructed those dreary regions, was at last, by some revolution of our globe, broken up and dis- persed. The project of finding a north-west passage to Asia, — a project so often attempted and so long aban- doned,— was by consequence again revived ; and the more daring scheme of penetrating to the Pole itself had likewise been seriously proposed. Of the complete success of either plan the hopes of sober thinkers were indeed extremely slender ; yet the prospect held forth seemed to be more inviting, on the whole, than at any former period when such bold undertakings were attempted. The discovery of a north-west passage, were it ever attainable, could hardly, it is true, be of any real benefit to our commerce ; since in such high latitudes, where alone it could be found, it would at all times be very precarious, and liable to interrup- tion from the prevalence of ice. The scheme of actually reaching that northern point on the surface of our globe which terminates its axis of rotation, however interest- ing in a philosophical view, can only be regarded as an object of pure curiosity, and not likely to lead to any useful or practical results. Yet was it befitting the character of a great maritime nation to embrace every chance of improving geographical knowledge, as well as of extending the basis of natural science ; and accord- ingly, about sixty years ago, the Board of Admiralty resolved to fit out an expedition for the express purpose of exploring the Arctic Ocean. The books and memoirs which contained the latest accounts of the state of the northern seas, either sug- gested the enterprise then pursued, or were brought m CLIMATE. m forward in consequence of its adoption. The Honour- CHAP. I. able Daines Barrington, a man of learning and some D„,n~ ingenuity, embraced with ardour the opinion of those Udiringtoa. who believed that it was possible to reach the Pole. In successive papers, communicated to the Royal Society of London, he not only condensed the information fur- nished by the older voyagers, but exhibited the results of the numerous queries relating to the same object, which he had circulated among persons engaged in the Greenland fishery. He thence proved, that, in certain season for favourable seasons, the Arctic Seas are for several weeks voyaging, so open that intrepid navigators might safely penetrate to a very liigh latitude. In compliance with his san- guine representations, the Admiralty in 1773 despatched Captain Phipps to explore those regions ; but this com- mander was unsuccessful in the attempt, having reached only the latitude of 80 J degrees, when his ship got surrounded by a body of ice near Spitzbergen, and escaped with extreme difficulty, though many of the whalers had in that summer advanced farther. Mr Barrington did not, however, despair ; and, following experimenu out his views, he induced Mr Nairne and Dr Higgins to make experiments on the congelation of sea- water. The various facts were collected in a small volume, to which Colonel Beaufoy subjoined an appendix contain- ing the answers made to his queries by Russian hunters (who are accustomed to spend the whole year hi Spitz- bergen), relative to the probability of travelling from that island to the Pole during winter, in sledges drawn by rein-deer. The reports of these hardy men were J^JJJJ sufficiently discouraging. They pictured the w^inter at Spitzbergen as not only severe but extremely bois- terous, the snow falling to the depth of three or five foot, and drifting so much along the shores by the violence of the winds as often to block up all communi- v» cation. The danger of being surprised and overwhelmed by clouds of snow, raised in sudden gusts, was so great that they never ventured to undertake any long journeys over the ice. Nor did they think it at all practicable CLIMATE. Mr. ScoiMby Education. S' CHAP. I. to have loaded sledges dragged over a surface so rough — and hilly by the force of rein-deer or dogs. At a recent period, the speculations of Mr Scoresby presented more than ordinary claims vo attention, as exhibiting the conclusions of a diligent, accurate, and scientific observer. Trained from infancy to the navi- gation of the frozen seas under the direction of his father, a most enterprising and successful leader, he conjoined experience with ingenuity and judgment. For several years, during the intervals of his Greenland voyages, he prosecuted a regular course of study at the University of Edinburgh, which, enriching his mind with liberal attainments, gave a new impulse to iiis native genius and ardour. It was exceedingly to be regretted, that any jealousies or official punctilios should have prevented government from intrusting the principal command of the Polar expedition to him who not only proposed it originally, but whose talents and science, joined to his activity, perseverance, and enthu- siasm, afforded assuredly the best promise of its ultimate success. Plans Egede, a benevolent enthusiast, formed a plan Hans Egede. ^f reclaiming the natives of Greenland from the errors of Paganism. After various ineffectual attempts, he at last procured by subscription, in Denmark, the sum of £2000, with which he purchased a vessel, and carried his family and forty settlers to Baal's River, in the Baal's river, q^^^ degree of north latitude, where he landed on the 3d of July 1721. He was afterwards appointed mis- sionary, with a small salary, by the Danish govern- ment, which occasionally granted some aid to the colony. During his stay, which lasted till 1736, he laboured with great zeal in his vocation. In 1767, the year before his death, he printed his Description of Greenland^ in the Danish language, at Copenhagen. A translation of that work, much improved and enlarged, with useful addi> tions by the editor, contains valuable information, tinged with a large portion of credulity. It is remarkable that two centuries of extreme aC' CLIMATE. 21 CHAP L LUtIo know- led ue ac- quired. Objects of tli(3 iaier ex- peditious. ctreme aC' tivity should have added so little to our knowledge of the Arctic regions. The relations of the earlier navi- gators who sailed to those parts possess an interest which has not been yet eclipsed. The voyage of Martens from Hamburg to Spitzbergen may be cited as still the most instructive. But the best and completest work on the subject of the northern fisheries, is a treatise in three volumes o \. CLIMATE. 27 The arithmetical mean, or 60% corresponds to the CHAP. I middle latitude of 45° ; hut the real mean of the tem- perature over the whole surface of the glohe is 67°, which should occur on the parallel of 35° 51^' It thus appear^ ,that the system of currents main- syrtem of tained in the atmosphere contributes essentially, hy its c^rrettts. unceasing agency in transferring and dispersing heat, to prevent the excessive inequality of seasons in the higher latitudes. But the motions produced in such a vast mass of fluid must evidently follow, at long intervals, the accumulated causes which excite them. Hence probably the origin of those violent winds which, suc- ceeding to the sultry warmth of summer and the sharp frosts of winter, prevail in the months of September and March, and are therefore called by seamen the Equinoc- Equinoctial tial Gales. In the Arctic Seas nature has made a fur- gales. ther provision for correcting the excessive irregularity of the action of the sun's rays. This luminary, for several months in winter, is totally withdrawn from that dreary waste ; but, to compensate for his long absence, he continues during an equal period in summer to shine without interruption. Now, from a beautiful arrangement, the surface of the ocean itself, by its alter- nate freezing and thawing, presents a vast substratum, cent voyagers have registered the coldness in advancing north- wards as much more intense. It is evident, however, that their thermometrical observations must have been affected by some latent and material inaccuracy. Were the mean tem- perature of the Arctic regions really below the point of saline congelation, the annual formation of ice in those seas would exceed the quantity dissolved, and therefore the extension of the frozen fields would, contrary to fact, be constantly pro- gressive. This argument appears to be quite conclusive ; though some attempts are made to elude its force, by alleging that thick blocks of ice, transmitting the impressions of cold with extreme slowness, may confine and exasperate the atmo- spheric rigours. But ice conducts like water near the freezing, point, when this fluid conveys the external influence of heat and cold as a solid mass, unassisted by the translocation of its particles, which can occur only in the case of sensible expan- sions. The formation and dissolution of ice are therefore simi- lar acts, that contribute equally to mitigate the vicissitudes of the Arctic climate. 28 CLIMATE. Temperature of the ocean. Heat of summer. CHAP. L on which the excesses of heat and of cold in succession are mutually spent. In ordinary cases, the superficial water, as it cools and therefore contracts, sinks down into the abyss by its superior gravity ; but wnen it grows warmer it expands, and consequently floats in- cumbent, communicating afterwards its surplus heat with extreme slowness to the mass below. But the seas within the Arctic circle being always near the verge of congelation, at which limit water scarcely undergoes any sensible alteration of volume even from a consider- able change of temperature, the superficial stratum remains constantly stagnant, and exposed to receive all the variable impressions of the sweeping winds. The piercing cold of winter, therefore, spends its rage in freezing the salt water to a depth proportional to its intensity and continuance.* The prolonged wannth of summer, again, is consumed in melting those fields of ice, every inch of which in thickness requiring a« much absorption of heat as would raise the temperature of a body of water 10^ feet thick a whole degree. The summer months are hence nearly gone before the sun can dissolve the icy domes, and shoot with entire effect his slanting rays. It may be shown, that under the Pole the action of the solar light is, at the time of the solstice, one-fourth part greater than at the Equator, and sufficient in the course of a day to melt a sheet of ice an inch and a half thick. If horizontal winds serve to balance the unequal ac- tion of the solar beams over the surface of the globe, the rising and descending currents excited in the body of the atmosphere still more effectually maintain the equilibrium of day and night. After the ground has • At Melville Island, in the latitude of 74° 45', Captain Parry observed ice to form, of a thickness from three to five inches, around the ship's sides in the space of twenty-four hours ; and in one instance it gained in that time the thickness of 7^ inches, Fahrenheit's thermometer being then 12^ below zero. Such power of congelation, it mi^ht be computed, would require the full refrigerating action of a stratum of air, at that tempera- ture, rather more than a mile in height. equilibrium maintained. CLIMATE. 29 become heated by the direct illumination of the sun, it CHAT. I. warms the lowest portion of the incumbent air, which, Reaction on being thus dilated, begins to ascend, and therefore oc- the air. casions the descent of an equal portion of the fluid. But these vertical currents, being once created, will continue their motion long after the primary cause has ceased to impel them, and may protract, during the night, the accumulation of chilled air on the surface of the earth. This effect is further augmented, in generrJ, by the fri- Anc^enta- gorific impressions which are at all times darted down- ^^"g^ wards from a clear sky.* By the operation of this combined system, therefore, the diurnal vicissitudes of heat and cold are diminished in the temperate and torrid zones. Another consequence results from such rapid and continual interchange of the higher and lower strata, that the same absolute quantity of heat must obtain at every altitude in the atmosphere. But this equal distribution of heat at all elevations is Modifying modified by another principle, which causes the regiilar *^*"*®*' gradation upwards of a decreasing temperature. In fact, air is found to have its capacity or attraction for heat enlarged by rarefaction ; so that any portion of the fluid carried to the higher regions, where it by conse- quence expands, will have its temperature proportionally diminished. The decrease of temperature in ascending the atmosphere, to moderate heights, is not far from being uniform, at the rate of about one degree on Fah- renheit's scale for every hundred yards of elevation.t * See Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. iii. part i. p. 177 ; or Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin- burgh, vol. viii. part ii. p. 465. + It should be remarked, however, that at great elevations the law of equal decrements of heat suffers a considerable de- viation. In the higher regions of the atmosphere the decrease of temperature advances proportionally faster. Such is the conclusion drawn from some nice experiments, and confirmed by a comparison of numerous actual observations. It may be sufficient to notice here a few distinct results. Thus, while at the level of the sea the mean temperature of the air or the land is, in the tropical regions, one degree colder for each hundred yards of ascent, it suffers the same decrease at the elevation of one mile for every 92 yards, at two miles for 85 30 CLIMATE. CHAP. L Limit of per- petual con* gelation. Heat of water. Predpitatiun of cold in taken. Peculiar cir- cumstances ot the Arctic 8ea% Hence the limit of perpetual congelation forms a curve, which is nearly the same as the Companion of the Cychidy bending gradually from the Equator, reverting its in- flexure at the latitude of 45°, and grazing the surface at the Pole. The mean heights of eternal frost, under the Equator, and at the latitudes of 30° and 60°, are re- spectively 15207, 11484, and 3818 feet. It is important to remark, that the heat of large collections of water seldom agrees precisely with the mean temperature corresponding to the latitude. The variable impressions received at the surface from the atmosphere will not, as on land, penetrate slowly into the mass, and become mingled and equalized at a mo- derate depth. Heat is conducted through liquids chiefly by the internal play resulting from their partial expan- sion. In the ^aore temperate regions of the globe, the superficial waters of lakes or seas, as they grow warmer, and, therefore, specifically lighter, still remain suspended by their acquired buoyancy. But whenever they come to be chilled they suffer contraction, and are precipitated by their greater density. Hence the deep water, both of lakes and of seas, is always considerably colder than what floats at the surface. The gradation of cold is distinctly traced to the depth of twenty fathoms, below which the diminished temperature continues nearly uniform as far as the sounding-line can reach. In shallow seas, however, the cold substratum of liquid is brought nearer to the top. The increasing coldness of water, drawn up from the depth of only a few fathoms, may hence indicate to the navigator who travei-ses the wide ocean his approach to banks or land. These principles, however, do not apply to the pe- culiar circumstances of the Arctic Seas. Water differs essentially, in its expansion by heat, from mercury, oil, yards, at three miles for 78 yards, at four miles for 72 yards, and at five miles, the highest summit perhaps of our globe, the decrement of a degree for 66 yards. Withm the Arctio circle the gradation of cold, in ascending the atmosphere, must be decidedly more rapid. CLIMATE. 31 or alcohol : Far from dilating uniformly, — a property which fits the latter substances for the construction of thermometers, — it swells from the point of congelation, or rather a very few degrees above it, with a rapid pro- gression to that of boiling. Near the limit of its greatest contraction, the volume of water is scarcely affected at all by any alteration of heat. When the surface of the ocean is depressed to a temperature between 28 and 44 degrees of Fahrenlieit's scale, it remains almost stagnant, and therefore exposed to the full impression of external cold. Hence the Polar Seas are always ready, under the action of any frosty wind, to suffer congelation. The annual variations of the weather are in those seas expended on the superficial waters, without disturbing the vast abyss below. Contrary to what takes place under milder skies, the water drawn up from a con- siderable depth is often warmer within the Arctic circle than what lies on the surface. The floating ice ac- cordingly begins to melt generally on the under side, from the slow communication of the heat sent upwards. These deductions are confirmed by the results of the nicest astronomical observations. Any change in the temperature of our globe would occasion a corresponding change of volume, and consequently an alteration in the momentum of the revolving mass. Thus, if from the accession of heat the earth had gained only a millionth part of linear expansion, it would have required an in- crease of five times proportionally more momentum to maintain the same rotation. On this supposition, therefore, the diurnal revolution would have been re- tarded at the rate of three seconds in a week. But the length of the day has certainly not varied one S' cond in a year since the age of Hipparchus ; for we cannot imagine that the ancient observations of eclipses could ever deviate an hour, or even 3000", from the truth. We may hence conclude, that in the lapse of three thousand years the mass of our globe has not acquired the ten-millionth part of expansion, — an effect which CHAP. I. Expansion by heut Aptitude for congelation. Astro- nomical eyi dence. Length of (Uy. 32 CLIMATE. CHAP, t Influence of the accumu- lation of ice. Interval ot wai-mth. the smallest fraction of a degree of heat would have communicated. The accumulation of ice on the surface of the ocean would likewise have occasioned a prolongation of the length of the day. This alteration would no doubt be diminished under the Arctic circle, from the proximity of the glacial protuberance to the axis ; but its influence would still cause an appreciable difference. After the continued action of the sun has at last melted away the great body of ice, a short and dubious interval of warmth occurs. In the space of a few weeks, visited only by slanting and enfeebled rays, frost again resumes its tremendous sway. Snow begins to fall as early as August, and the whole ground is covered to the depth of two or three feet, before the month of October. Along the shores and bays the fresh water, poured from rivulets or drained from the thawing of former collections of snow, becomes quickly converted into solid ice. As the cold augments the air deposits its moisture in the form of a fog, which freezes into a fine gossamer netting or spicular icicles, dispersed through the atmosphere and extremely minute, that might seem to pierce and excoriate the skin. The hoar- frost settles profusely, in fantastic clusters, on every prominence. The whole surface of the sea steams like Frost sm k ^ limekiln, — an appearance called ihefrost-smolcef caused, as in other instances of the production of vapour, by the v'ater's being still relatively warmer than the incumbent air. At length the dispersion of the mist, and conse- quent clearness of the atmosphere, announce that the upper stratum of the sea itself has cooled to the same standard ; a sheet of ice spreads quickly over the smooth expanse, and often gains the thickness of an inch in a single night. The darkness of a prolonged winter now broods impenetrably over the frozen continent, unless the moon chance at times to obtrude her faint rays, which only discover the horrors and wide desolation of the scene. The wr*»tched settlers, covered with a load Pogi ,». CLIMATE. 33 f the ocean tion of the no doubt be ! proximity ts influence has at last Old dubious of a few rays, frost ^ begins to I is covered e month of resh water, thawing of ' converted ir deposits •eezes into dispersed nute, that The hoar- on every teams like /ce, caused, ur, by the ncumbent ind conse- i that the the same be smooth inch in a inter now at, unless lint ravs, olation of til a load of bear-skins, remain crowded and immured in their CHAP. L hut, every chink of which they carefully stop against NaUvMT the piercing cold ; and, cowering about the stove or the lamp, they seek to doze away the tedious night. Their slender stock of provisions, though kept in the same kpartment, is often frozen so hard as to require to be ut by a hatchet. The whole of the inside of their ut becomes lined with a thick crust of ice ; and if Ithey happen for an instant to open a window, the mois- ure of the confined air is immediately precipitated in the form of a shower of snow. As the frost continues to penetrate deeper, the rocks are heard at a distance to 'a split with loud explosions. The sleep of death seems ^to wrap up the scene in utter and oblivious ruin.* At length the sun reappeai-s above the horizon ;f Reappear but his languid beams rather betray the wide waste ^^^^ ^^ ^^« ithan brighten the prospect. By degrees, however, the ..^rther progress of the frost is checked. In the month ,|>f May the famished inmates venture to leave their hut, Jbi quest of fish on the margin of the sea. As the sun Requires elevation his power is greatly increased. The ,|snow gradually wastes away, — the ice dissolves apace, — and vast fragments of it, detached from the cliffs, and i undermined beneath, precipitate themselves on the shores with the crash of thunder. The ocean is now unbound, * "The sound of voices which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served IS now and then to break the silence which reigned around us ; }& silence far different from that peaceable composure which ^characterizes the landscape of a cultivated country ; it was the '\ death-like stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total I, absence of animated existence." — Parry. During the winter at Melville Island, people were heard conversing at the distance of a mile. This was no doubt owing partly to the density of the frigid atmosphere, but chiefly to the absence of all obstruc- tion in a scene of universal calm and darkness. t In the Arctic regions, the atmosphere being highly con- idensed by the intensity of the cold, the horizontal retraction is I much augmented, which causes the sun to reappear several ^ days sooner than might be expected from the latitude. This curious and cheering effect was iirst remarked by the unfortu- nate Hollanders who wintered at Spitzbergen in 1596. ^,' 34 CLIMATE. CHAP. I. Breakini{ up of the ice. Dissipation of tlie slioals uf ice. Dangerous navigation Excessire heat. and its icy Jonic broken up with tremendous rupture. The enormous fields of ice, tiius set afloat, are, by the violence of wfnd and currents, again dissevered and dis- persed. Sometimes, impelled in opposite directions, tiiey approach and strike with a mutual shock, like the crash of worlds, — ^sufficient, if opposed, to reduce to atoms, in a moment, the proudest monuments of human ])ower. It is impossible to picture a situation more awful than that of the crew of a whaler, who see their frail bark thus fatally enclosed, expecting immediate and inevitable destruction. Before the end of June, the shoals of ice in the Arctic Seas are commonly divided, scattered, and dissipated. But the atmosphere is then almost continually damp, and loaded with vapour. At this season of the year, a dense fog generally covers the surface of the sea, of a milder temperature indeed than the frost-smoke, yet produced by the inversion of the same cause. Tlie lower stratum of air, as it successively touches the colder body of water, becomes chilled, and thence disposed to deposit its moisture. Such thick fogs, with mere gleams of clear weather, infesting the north- ern seas during the greater part of the summer, render their navigation extremely dangerous. In the course of the month of July, the superficial water is at last brought to an equilibrium of temperature with the air, and the sun now shines out with a bright and dazzling radiance. For a certain time before the close of the summer, such excessive heat is accumulated in the bays and sheltered spots, that the tar and pitch pre sometimes melted, and run down tiie ships' sides. Notwithstanding the shortness of the summer in tiie high latitudes, the air on land becomes often oppressive- ly sultry. This excessive heat, being conjoined with moisture, engenders clouds of mosquitoes, from the stings of which the Laplanders are forced to seek refuge in their huts, where they envelop themselves in dense smoke. Humidity marks the general character of the Arc'tic regions, which are covered during the greater '\ 1 1.1 \ ious ru pi 11 re. , are, by the ered and dis- ;e directions, ock, like the to reduce to nts of human :uation more who see their g immediate in the Arctic id dissipated, nually damp, of the year, the sea, of a t-smoke, yet cause. Tile touches the and thence thick fogs, ig the north- imer, render 1 tlie course er is at last with the air, and dazzling close of the in the bays ■e sometimes mmer in tiie oppressive- joined with , from the seek refuge ves in dense acter of the the greater CLIMATE. 35 fpart of the year with chilling fogs. The sky seldom CHAP l I appears clear except for a few weeks in winter, when Absence of itlie cold at the surface becomes most intense. Yet tlu wind, rigour of that season is not felt so severely as the thermo- iieter would iiidk-ate. When the temperature is lowest he air is commonly calm, and therefore abstracts lesf eat from the body than the exposure to a strong wind f nnieh inferior coldness. The providence of the na- ives serves to mitigate the hardships they have to suffer, 'he Esquimaux, on the approach of winter, cut the hard ice buildlns ice into tall square blocks, with which they construct egular spacious domes, connected with other smaller nes, for the various purposes of domestic economy, riiey slinpe the inside with care, and give it an even lossy surface by the affusion of water. The snowy kail soon becomes a solid concrete mass, which, being , slow conductor, checks tlic access of cold, while it idniits a sufficient portion of light. It may also be Ipmarked, that the external darkness prevails only ring a part of the day. Since twilight obtains when- Twilight ver the sun is kss depressed than 18 degrees below the . lorizon, the limits of entire obscuration occur in the latitudes of 84^° and 48^° ; in tlie former at mid-day ^in the winter solstice, and in the latter at midnight in le solstice of summer. Between these extremes the |litn:osphere at the opposite seasons glows, to a greater ,|Dr a less extent, from the middle of the day or of the ight. Accordingly, Captain Parry's party, during heir detention at Melville Island, in the latitude of 74 0', found that, in clear weather about noon, they could asiiy, in the depth of winter, read the smallest print n deck. This position corresponds to the alternating arallel of 68° 20', whkii nearly reaches Orkney, where he transparency of the nights in the height of summer s well known.* Tlie approach of twilight is, besides. This view of the subject deserves perhaps more elucidation, ^lie inhabitant of a temperate climate may nence form a better fconception of the progressive slimmer of an Arctic winter. In [a hi^^h northern latitude the diisky ^lowat noon in mid-winter I I CHAr. I. Refraction. Mid-winter moun. 89 CUMATE. advanced in the frozen regions by tlie superior refroctivo power of a very dense atmosphere. The horizontal refraction usually raises the lower limb of the sun aiA moon about the twelfth part of their diameters, ami often gives it a wavy and fantastic outline. Hence the reappearance of those luminaries is hastened within tlit- Arctic circle, thougli the quantity of anticipation hm been much exaggerated. - The ice which obstmcts the navigation of the Arctic Seas consists of two very different kinds ; the one pro- duced by tiie congelation of frcsh, and the other by At the Pole exactly resembles the summer twilight in some corresponding latitude farther south. Let L and / denote the two northern latitudes, D and d the north or Houth declination of the sun ; then will the depression of this luminary below the horizon bo expressed in winter by d-l-L— 90 . and iu summer by 90'— D—/. Assuming 23 ," for D and vhich collect along the indented shores, and in the deep bays enclosed by precipitous rocks. There this cl( ar and gelid water soon freezes, and every successive year supplies an additional investing cnist, till, after the lapse perhaps of several centuries, the icy mass rises at last to the size and aspect of a mountain, com- mensurate with the elevation of the adjoining cliffs. The melting of the snow, which is afterwards deposited >felting of oil such cnonnous blocks, likewise contributes to their ^ growth ; and by filling up the accidental holes or cre- vices, it renders the whole stnicturc compact and uni- form. Meanwhile the principle of destruction has already begun its operations. The ceaseless agitation of the sea gradually wears and undennines the base of the icy mountain, till at length, by the action of its ovn\ accumulated weight, when it has perhaps attained an altitude of a thousand or even two thousand feet, it is torn from its frozen chains, and prccipitited, with a tremendous plunge, into the abyss below. This mighty l.iunch now floats like a lofty island on the ocean ; till, driven southwards by winds and currents, it insen- fcildy wastes and dissolves away in the wide Atlantic. Such I conceive to be the real origin of the icy origin of mountains or icebergs^ entirely similar in their for- icebei^a. (ination to the glaciers which occur on the flanks of G Alps and the Pyrenees. They consist of a clear, compact, and solid ice, having the fine green tint verg- ing to blue, which ice or water, when very pure and of a sufficient depth, generally assumes. From the cavities of these icebergs, the crews of the northern whalers are accustomed, by means of a hone ov flexible tube of canvass, to fill their casks ea^iily with the finest and softest water. Of the same species of ice, the frag- ments wjiieh are picked up as they float on tlie surface CHAP. L climate: Froe/inj: of tea-water. of the ocenn } ield the adventurous naviyutor the ni' "-t refresliing beverage.* It was long disputed among the learned, whetlur the waters of the ocean are capable of being congeaUpi(ular shoots, or thin flakes, whicii detiin within tlifir interstices the stronger brine ; and its granular uponury texture has, in fact, the appearance of congealed Kvrup, or what the confectioners call water-ire. This siiliiie ice can, therefore, never yield pure water ; yet, if the strong biinc imprisoned in it be first suffered to drain off slowly, the loose mass that remains will melt into a brackish liijuid, which in home cases may be deemed drinkable.* While icebergs are the sl»)W growth of ages, the fields Oinwth cf i or shoals of saline ice are annually formed and destroyed. ^^ ^ ^ I The ice generated from melted snow is hard, pellucid, 4and often swells to an enormous height and dimen- J^^tions. But the concretion of siilt water wants solidity, ^clearness, and strength, and never attains to any very • onsiderable thickness. It seldom floats during more than part of the year ; though, in some cold seasons, f the scattered fragments may be surprised by the early I frost, and preserved till the following sunimer. >; The whale-fishers enumerate several varieties of the Vunotiesof > salt-water ice. A very wide expanse of it they call *"'' *^^' a Jieldy and one of smaller dimensions a Jfoe. When a field is dissevered by a subaqueous or yrown swell, it breaks into numerous pieces, seldom exceeding forty ■or fifty yards in diameter, which, taken collective- ly, are termed a jtack. This pack aqain, when of M broad blia[)e, is called a patch; and, when much • Captain Parry remarked, that the superficial water near finoltiim ice had scarcely any trace of saltness. In other ob- ^piTvations made about the end of July, he discovered tiie water ut the surface to contdu only the .5.)0th part of its weiji^ht of pult ; but under ten fathoms the proportion had increased to the :i;»th, and at the depth of .300 fathoms to the 37th part. Tiie friable ice of sea-water was found to hold the 11.5th part ul' salt. ice. 40 CLIMATE. : I li CHAP. I. elongated, i stream. The packs of ice are crow(lct meeting with any whales, and It if )\ 'I u CLIMATE. Advance of Greenland whalers. CHAP. L beginning to apprehend some danger, he shaped back CuptainGuy. ^^S course. At this very time, Captain Guy, after four days of foggy weather, was likewise carried to the same; point. The Polar Seas at that period must indeed have been remarkably open ; for one of the most extraordi- nary and best-authenticated voyages was performed in 1754 by Mr Stephens, a very skilful and accurate observer, whose testimony is put beyond all manner of doubt by the cool judgment of the late astronomer- royal, Dr Maskelyne. This navigator informed him, that about the end of May he was driven off Spitzbergen by a southerly wind, which blew several days, till he had reached the latitude of 84^°, and that in the whole of this run he met with little ice and no drift-wood, and did not find the cold to be anywise excessive. In different years, since that date, the Greenland whcilers have advanced to the latitude of 81 or 82 degrees. This was accomplished even in 1766 ; although, according to Kerguelen, the whole space between Iceland and the opposite coast was then frozen over. The year 177«'^, or that in which Captain Phipps performed his voyage, was still more favourable for approaching towards the North Pole. In 1806 the elder Mr Scoresby ascended to the latitude of 81° 60' ; but in the following year he could not proceed farther than the parallel of 78^°. In 1811 the higher latitudes were again accessible; and, after a short interval, the summers of 1816, 1816, and 1817, are represented as open seasons ; though none of the whalers penetrated so far into the north as had been done in many former years, and particularly in 1754. In this plain statement one can perceive no decided symptoms of any general or progressive tendency to- wards a dissolution of the Polar ice. The frozen border alters its position from one year to another, and probably returns again to the same limits after certain short periods of time. Such fluctuations are analogous to the incessant changes which affect the state of the weather in the more temperate regions. The complex system of winds AlteratlGn of frozen Iwr- der. 1. ! CLIMATE. 65 id back ber four le sam»^ ed have iraordi- rmed in accurate manner he whole ift-wood> sive. In i whalers ;e8. This according d and the ear lll^i is voyage, yrards the ascended g year he of 784°. Lccessible ; $16, 1816, 3Ugh none rth as had cularly in mo decided dency to- zen border i probably ort periods e incessant ler in the n of winds moulds the climate, and varies the features of the seasons chap. i. over the globe. It is a common remark of those who KcsuuTof » frequent the Arctic Seas, that they find the least ob- severe wiu- struction from ice when the preceding winter has been ^^^' very severe in the more southern latitudes. In the year 1766, though the frost had proved most intense through the rest of Europe, the whalers reached a high latitude ; and, not to multiply instances, the three seasons preceding 1818, reckoned very open, succeeded to winters notoriously cold and protracted. Nor is it difficult to discern the reason of this seeming paradox ; for our severe winters are occasioned by the prevalence of northerly winds, which must arrive at the Polar Seas from the South, and consequently transport so much warmth to them as may check the usual rigour of the frost. The main argument, however, brought to prove the Norse colony deterioration of the Arctic climate, is drawn from the "^nd^^''"" supposed existence of a colony which had once flourished o::. the eastern coast of Greenland, but has for several centuries been extinct ; all access to its remains being at length completely barred by the accumulation of ice. This tale, which seems to have owed its birth to Tor- fseus, the historian of Norway, has obtained very general credence. Yet a sober examination of the early Sagai, or northern chronicles, so full of wonder and fable, will show that there is no solid reason for entertaining such a notion, or believing that the first settlement of Green- land was made on the east side of the continent. The whole contexture of the original narrative indicates the very opposite conclusion. After the North had ceased to send forth her numer- SeaiwHnavian ous swarms upon the fertile provinces of the Homan "'^"°"*- empire, the Scandinavian nations, prompted by their peculiar situation, betook themselves to a life of mari- time adventure. Those bold and hardy pirates visited every sea, and pillaged, during a course of nearly three hundred years, all the coasts of Europe, from the ex- tremity of Scotland to the shores of Sicily. During CUMATE. Extensive conquests. Voyages of discovery. CHAr. I the first half of the ninth century, they conquered the Orkneys, the Shetland and Western Isles— obtained possession of Ireland — ^plundered England and France — ^and extended their ravages to Italy. In 876 the Northmen, or Normans, extorted from the weakness of the French king the cession of the fine province of Neustria, where they quietly settled; while another 111 party of these fierce invaders had occupied the fertile coast of Esthonia, on the south side of the Baltic. But the visits of those intrepid navigators were not confined to the richer countries of the South. They carried ravens with them, for the purpose of discovering . distant land by the direction in which these powerful and sagacious birds took their flight. In 861 Nadodd, a roving pirate, in one of his voyages in the northern seas, happeneJ to be cast away on an island which he Snowland called Snowland, Three years afterwards, Garder and ti'' Flocke, two Swedes, visited it; and having found a great quantity of drift-ice collected on the north side of it, they gave it the name of Icelandf which it still bears. But in 874 Ingolf and Leif, two famous Norwegian adventurers, carried a colony to this inhospitable region, — the latter having enriched it with the booty which he had ravaged from England. Other emigrants, whom the disorders of the times drove successively from home, resorted in crowds to the new settlement, which became very considerable in the space of a few years. Iceland. Iceland itself was able, after the progress of about a century, to send out likewise her colonies. Thorwald, a proud and opulent Norwegian chief, who had been lately banished thither from the court for some murder committed by him, soon died in exile, leaving his wealth and his restless spirit to his son Eric Raudcy or the Red, This youth, actuated by the same vengeful passions, killed one of his neighbours in a fight, and was obliged to withdraw himself from Iceland for the space of three years. In 982 Eric sailed in quest of adventure and discovery. Instructed by the reports of former navi- || gators, he directed his course towards the south-west. CLIMATE. 67 red the btained Franco J76 the sness of rince of another B fertile c. irere not . They covering powerful Nadodd, northern vhich he irder and found a th side of iill bears, brwegian le region, which he s, whom )ra home, h became f about a horwald, lad been le murder lis wealth the Red. passions, as obliged e of three nture and mer navi- )uth-west. Alter a quick run, he descried two lofly mountains, the chap, l one covered with snow and the other cased with ice, white shirt which he called Huitserken and Blaaserken, or the White *"** ^^"c Shirt and the Blue Shirt, and soon reached a headland which he doubled ; and having entered a spacious creek, he spent the winter on a pleasant adjacent island. In the following season, pursuing his discoveries, he ex- plored the continent, and was delighted with the fresh- ness and verdure of its coast. Contrasting this new country with the dark rocks of Iceland, he bestowed on it the flattering appellation of Greenland; and on Giccnl.md liis return invited settlers to join him, by circulating the most glowing and exaggerated descriptions. With twenty-five vessels he sailed back again ; but of these only fourteen reached their destination. This colony was soon augmented by the arrival of numerous adven- r • tuiors, not only from Iceland, but from the Orkneys and other islands planted by the Norwegians. In the year 999, Leif, a son of Eric Jlaude, having visited the court of Norway, was induced, by the zealous and earnest solicitation of King Olaf Tryggeson, to embrace the Christian faith; and, carrying with him some monks, he foimd, through their ministry, no great difficulty in persuading his father and the rest of the settlers to forsake the rites of paganism. The first colony having extended itself along the Kastem co- coast to a wide firth, another settlement beyond that '*'"*^" boundary was established farther towards the west. The former called Oestre Bygd, or the Eastern Settlement, is said to have included, in its most flourisliing state, twelve parishes and two convents ; and the latter, termed Vestre Bygd, or the Western Settlement, con- wcstom co- tained four parishes. The colonists of Greenland were lony. compelled to lead a life of hardship and severe privation. They dwelt in hovels surrounded by mountains ot perpetual ice ; they never tasted bread, but subsisted on the fish which they caught, joined to a little milk obtained from their starving cows ; and with seal-skins and the tusks of the walrus they purchased from the u. i^ii It 08 CLIMATE. Position of tliu colony. Esquimnnx tnvuKiun. CIIAP. L traders who occasionally visited them the wood required for fuel and the construction of their huts. Combining the several circumstances together, it seems clear that the original colony of Greenland began about the southern promontory, near Cape Farewell, and stretched along the coast in a north- westerly direction. Farther north, and probably as high as the latitude of 60°, the second settlement was formed.* For some centuries both of them maintained a sort of commercial intercourse with Norway; but this trade became afterwards very much reduced, in consequence of its being seized as an exclusive privilege of the Danish court. About the year 1376, the natives of the country, or Esquimaux invaders, whom the Nor- wegian settlers had in contempt called SkrcBllings or Dwarfsy attacked the western colony, which now claimed the assistance of its elder brother. The scanty population, however, was enfeebled by such repeated alarms ; and that dreadful pestilence, termed Black Death, the Black Deathf which raged throughout Europe from the year 1402 to 1404, at last extended its ravages to Greenland, and nearly completed the devastation. In fertile regions the waste of the human species is always quickly repaired ; but poor and barren countries can seldom recover from the depression caused by such severe calamities. The colonies which occupied Green- land appe'ir to have languished near one hundred years afterwards, till they became finally extinct about the commencement of the sixteenth century. But a notion has very generally prevailed, that only the western settlement of Greenland had perished, while the eastern was merely secluded from communication * A curious monument has been lately discovered, that attests the zeal with which the early Scandinavian adventur- ers pushed their settlements to the most northern parts of Greenland. It is a stone carved with Runic characters, found in 1824, planted erect in the ground on the island of Kingik- torsoak, under the parallel of 73°. The inscription has been translated by Dr Kafn, Secretary of the Royal Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen, as follows : — Destnictlon of both settlements. CLIMATE. 59 with the rest of the world by a vast barrier of ice, which had at length accumulated on its shores. The only CHAP. I. " Erling Sigvatson, and Bjarne Thordarson, and Endride Odd- Scandinavian son, erected these memorial- stones and cleared the place, on '""'c 'n- .SatJirday before Gagndag (tlie 25th of A prii), in the year 1 135." ''^' "P""^ Those enterprising settlers must therefore have, as early as the twelfth century, come into communication with the Ebqui- maux of North America. Allowing for the difference of stylo at that epoch (being three days for every four centuries), the stone was erected on the Ist of May, u,:, wliich time the ground seems to have been covered with snow. For this curious notice the author is indebted to his very in- genious, learned^ and amiable friend^ Dr T. Stewart Traill oj Liverpool.* * Dr Traill has, since the date of this acknowledgment by 8ir Jonn TiPsHe, been appointed Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the Uuiver- aiti' uf Edinburgh. 60 CLIMATE. I' Fnte of the settlersL CHAP. I. question lately entertained was, whether these ill-fated colonists survived the catastrophe, or were suddenly entombed in ice and snow, as the unhappy citizens of Herculaneum were anciently involved in a dense shower of volcanic ashes. Tremendous stories are told of the east side of Greenland being now tenanted by giants and stalking ghosts. For more than a century past the court of Denmark has, at different times, despatched ships to search after its lost colony, the crews of which, evidently under the impression of superstitious awe, found it impossible to penetrate on that enchanted coast farther than Cape Discord, in the latitude of 61**. But in favourable seasons small boats can, without much difficulty, creep along the shore to a much higher par- allel. If any settlers had ever occupied the narrow bays, they might surely have escaped either in their canoes or in sledges. The supposed existence of a colony on the east side of Greenland is clearly a fable, originating in a misap- prehension of the import of the designations applied severally to the two settlements. The one first made lay no doubt to the east, as well as to the south of the other ; but the ships which resorted from Norway held a westerly course for them both. Between them a Fftbnlous accuuntdu I- Bur. such was the scrupulous anxiety of the publishers to procure the most accurate information, that thev stopped the press to consult a gentleman in this country, aeeply skilled m the Runic,— Mr Repp of the Advocates' Library^— who has obligingly furnished the following reading of the inscription, with a translation somewhat different : — **Oelligr Siguathssonr ok Baaos Tortarson ok Oenrithi Os- son : Laugardagin fyrir ga^da^ hldthu Vardj. dis ok rytn." {The five tost figures of t^ inscription are utterly unknown.) That is, **Oelligr Sighwathson, and Baaos Tortarson, and Oenrithi Osson, on the Saturday before Gagndag* erected Thorvar^a monument, and wrote this." (.Aim then the com- pound characters.) * Gagndagr, in nominative, of which we have here the aocusative cnse Gagndag, were two holidays of the Catholic Church in Iceland. There was a greater and a {e««er.— (Gagndagrin Meiri olc Minni). As to the exact time when they oocurrea, see "Finni Johannsei Historia Ecclesiastica Islandia," under the word Qagndag in the Index, vol, iv. change f contint d of the I PoJe. CLIMATE. 61 I ill-fated suddenly itizcns of Be shower ,ld of the by gixmta y past the lespatched of which, tiouB awe, mted coast 61°. But lout much higher par- ihe narrow er in their ,he east side in a misap- lons applied B first made gouth of the {orway held een them a pubhshers to y stopped the deeply skilled 16 iry —who has le inscription, : Oenrithi Os- dis ok rytu. a unknown.) Portarson, and ndag* erected then the cm- Le aocuaatlve cnse Eland. There was As to the exact ori» Eccleaiastica mutual intercourse appears likewise to have been main- chap. I. tained, which surely could not have taken place had j^^^^ — ~ they been divided by a chain of lofty and impassable with Nor- mountains covered with eternal snow. Besides, traces '*''^* of those ancient settlements are observed, even at pre- sent, scattered along the western shores of Greenland, aa low down as the latitude of 61", though not corres- ponding altogether ^'th the poeticfd descriptions of the Icelandic Sagas. Jj^xcept the very scanty ruins of a church, the only vestiges now remaining coni»st of low naked walls, which must have served as pens for shel- tering the cattle. It may be safely affirmed that the settlements which. Modem during the last hundred years, the Danes have been ■*'"'*'"'^"** forming at various points on the western side of Green- land aie more numerous and thriving than those which existed at any former period. They consist of twenty- one colonies, stretching over an extent of 800 miles. The first establishment is only a single family, occupying Bear Island, a little to the east of Cape Farewell. Ten other hamlets, composed chiefly of Moravians, are planted at different points, from the latitude of 60° to that of 68°. Three settlements are distributed round Disoo Bay, about the latitude of 69° ; and seven more have been extended thence as high as the latitude of 73°. So far, therefore, from the population having been extirpated by the in- creased severity of the cLmate, the truth appears to be, that the present establishments on the coast of Greenland extend ten degrees farther north than the ancient settl&> ments at their most flourishing period. This advance of the colonies has been owing, no doubt, to the increased /dvancc of activity of the whale-fisheries, and to the circumstance the colonics of these pursuits having been lately carried with success mto Davis* Strait. But there is nothing certainly in their history which betrays any radical or permanent change in the climate of the Arctic regions. The same continent of ice still remains during the far greater part of the year, to bar the aooess of the navigator to the Pole. I ■ 4 w ! 1^: ANIMAL LIFE. CHAPTER II. Animal and Vegetable Life in the Polar Regions, Remarkable Frofbsion of Animal Life— Means by which it is supported — The Cetacea : Whale, Narwal, Walrus, Seal— ' ' The Herring Land Animals— The Polar Bear ; Its Fero- city ; Anecdotes— The Rein-deer— Wolf, Fox, Dog— Birds —Vegetable Life — Peculiar Plants— Red Snow. CHAP. IL When we contemplate the aspect of the northern world, Aspect of tiio — ^bleak, naked, dreary, beaten by the raging tempest, iiorriiern and subject to an extremity of fold which with us is fatal to life and to all by which life is supported, — we naturally imagine that animal nature must exist there on a small scale, and under puny forms. It might be expected that only a few dwarf and stunted species would be scattered along its melancholy shores, and that the animating principle, as it attempted to penetrate those realms of desolation, would grow faint and expire. But, on the contrary. Nature, whose ways and power far Rcsourcoj of surpass human comprehension, makes a full display of niiiure. her inexhaustible resources. She has filled the naked rocks and wintry seas with a profusion of organized beings, such as are scarcely brought forth under the most genial glow of tropical suns ; storing them with the mightiest of living things, compared to which the ele- phant and hippopotamus, which rear their immense shapes amid the marshy plains of the tropics, seem almost diminutive. Even the smaller species, of which the herring may be taken for an example, are found amid the depths of the Arctic zone, in shoals which astonish by their immensity. The air, too, is darkened by in- A.NIMAL LIFE. 63 tliern world, ng tempest, 1 witli us is •ported,— we ^ exist there It might be nted species res, and that to penetrate and expire, id power far ill display of [d the naked ►f organized ider the most ;m with the ich the ele- lense shapes Iseem almost If which the found amid lich astonish ;ened by in- numerable flocks of sea-fowl, while, even upon the chap, ii frozen surface of the land, animals of peculiar form find food suited to their various wants. By what means, or by what resources, does she support. Source « f in such circumstances, this immensity of life ? Wonder- ''^ ful as are her operations, they are always conducted agreeably to the general laws imposed upon the universe ; and we shall find, in the structure and condition of the animal world, the powers by which its various members are enabled to defy this frightful rigour of the elements. Some of the provisions whereby their frames are adapted to the extremes of climate, have, at first sight, the appear- ance of direct interposition ; yet a more profound inves- tigation always discovers the causes of them to be deeply lodged in their physical organization. It is on the seas and shores of the Arctic zone that Creative we chiefly observe this boundless profusion of creative energy ; and in conformity with that arrangement by - Tvhich Nature supports the inhabitants of the waters, by making them the food of each other, so here also we observe a continued gradation of animals, rising one above another, the higher preying upon the lower, till at last an aliment is provided for those of largest bulk and most devouring appetite. The basis of subsistence for the numerous tribes of the ^icdiisa. Arctic world is found in the genus Medusa of Linneeus, which the sailors graphically describe as sea-blubber. This is a soft, elastic, gelatinous substance, specimens of which may often be seen lying on our own shores, exhibiting no signs of life except that of shrinking when touched. Beyond the Arctic circle this production increases in an extraordinary degree, and is eagerly devoured by all the finny tribes. By far the most numerous, however, of the medusan races are of dimensions too small to be discerned without the aid of the microscope, — the application of which instrument shows them to be the cause of a pe- culiar tinge observed over a great extent of the Greenland Sea. This colour is olive-green, and the water is dark and opaque compared to that which bears the common 64 ANIMAL LIFE. mm 1 ,;, Iw ii » ; '[ II ^) ;'| .■1 ■1 1 CruHtocca. 1 Mnfi * Mh fnfi * ! II m*y nam-" ! i' ! Cctacca. i Iffilyh ! mlm ■Rjf' IP CHAP. If. cerulean hue. The portion of the ocean bo distinguis7ic<] Coioiu^f the*"^*^""*^** ^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^°^ 20,000 square miles ; and hence MO. the number of animalcules which that space contains \a far beyond calculation. Mr Scoresby estimates that two square miles comprehend 23,888,000,000,000,000 ; and 80 such an amount is above the range of human words and conceptions, he illustrates it by observing that 80,000 persons would have been employed since the creation in counting it. This green sea may be considered as the Polar pasture-ground, where whales are always seen in the greatest numbers. These prodigious creatures, it is true, cannot derive any direct subsistence irom particles so very small ; but these last form the food of other minute fishes, which in their turn support a third series, till at length, as has been already remarked, animals are produced of such size as to afford a morsel for the mighty devourers. The genus Cancer, of the same writer, or members of the class Crustacea, appear to rank second in number and importance. They present themselves under the various species of the crab, and, above all, of the shrimp, whose multitudes rival those of the medusa, and which in all quarters are seen either pursuing their prey, or becoming the food of a higher class of marine animals. So carnivorous, indeed, are the northern shrimps, that joints of meat hung out by Captain Parry's crew from the sides of the ship were in a few nights picked to the very bone. Many of the zoophy- tical and molluscous orders, too, particularly Actinia, Sepia, and several species of marine worms, are employed by Nature as the means of supplying food to various inhabitants of the deep possessing a more perfect organi- zation. Among the numberless tribes of living things which people the northern seas, one order stands highly con- spicuous. These are the Cetacea, comprehending the largest of existing animals, and having a structure wholly distinct from every other species. Although their home be entirely in the depth of the waters, they have several features in common with quadrupeds, and, in fact, belong giiisTicd id hence itoins is hat two 10; and n words ,t 80,000 nation in d as the ) seen in ires, it is particles of other rd series, imals are e mighty vriter, or ik second lemselves >ve all, of e medusa, ling their )f marine northern Captain in a few zoophy- Actiniay employed « various ct organi- igs which ghly con- iding the re wholly eir home e several it, belong n ear s Pr 1 ANIMAL UTE. 67 to the Linnscan class of Mammalia, or rack-giving crca- chap. ii. tures. They produce their young alive ; their skin is YmxMli ti Emooth and without scales ; their blood is warm ; and wluUt. the flesh tastes somewhat like coarse beef. They have a heart with two ventricles, and lungs through which they respire ; and being unable to separate the air from tlie water, as fishes do by means of their gills, they must come to the rarface in order to breathe. It is thus by K>>t • ^'^ no means strictly scientific to call tlve wha? :^ a f rh ; yet lie is entirely an inhabrtAut of the sea» l^avi; < n tail, though placed in a dlficreut pobiium iV^m thcl of ".ordinary fislies, while hit; front limbs much nim.^ resemble fins than legs, and are solely used ^.tr p&^/inap the docp. Hence the vulgar, following a r.i'/^ui'al ttT>.d d«'scii];iii/v!j classification, obstinately contiTtue to f;ive thn r^a:' ui 02 fish to these watery monsterc. But tliv mo,4 d^aTactcT' B)uhv«ft istic and important feature of the Oetact"^^ mmkii m n thick layer of fatty substaace, called M-ah' vtr, Joi^g;(i; whiich yivdds, on expression, nearly its own bulk of tliick, coaiE^;, viscid oil. It is by this covering that Provldeiioe e:aablc8 tlfeiri to defy the utmost extremity of cold, and to pix'strve a strong animal heat even under il' <) ctemnl ice of the Pole. Yet this substance, being eiibcorvieut to t'ae u&tis of man, has roused a dreadful and deadly enemy > w^'io employs against them the resource? of ar^—A pi'vvpT which mere brutal force seeks in vain to 07p<)se. Ko pursues them through ice and tempest, and dyes the seas with their blood. Thty tnem*ilre« oro meek, peaceful, sluggish; and man, in the contest which he < wages with them, is aVi ost always the aggressor; though the resistance T^^hich he then encounters is ^ sometimes tcrribUj, and his life is occasionally the forfeit. Among the cetaceous tribes the chief place is due to chief of tiir the iDhaky of all animals "mightiest that swim thec«»^'» ocean stream." Enormous as his bulk is, rumour and the love of the marvellous have represented it as being at one time much greater, and the existing race as only r.8 ANIMAL LIFE. i. reme length. Weight ^'1 Dispropor- tionate size of liead. I CHAP. II. iho degenerate remnant of mightier ancestors. Mr Scoresby, however, by collecting various good authori- ties, has proved that sixty feet was always nearly the utmost length of the mysticetuSf or great Greenland whale. Of 322 individuals in the capture of which that gentleman was concerned, none occurred of a length exceeding 68 feet ; and he therefore places no reliance on the report of any specimen exceeding 70 feet. Even 60 feet impli 's a weight of 70 tons, being nearly that of 300 fat oxen. Of this vast mass, the oil in a rich whale composes about thirty tuns, and when, as was the case some years ago, that article brought £65 or £Q0 per tun, we may fonn some idea of the great value of the prize. The bones of the head, fins, and tail, which are also valuable, weigh eight or ten tons. The olea- ginous substance, or blubber, forms a complete wrapper round the whole body, from eight to twenty inches in thickness. The head is disproportionally large, being about a third of the entire bulk ; and the lips, nearly twenty feet long, display, when open, a cavity capable of receiving a ship's jolly-boat with her crew. The whale has no external ear ; but, when the skin is re- moved, a small aperture is discerned for the admission of sound. This sense accordingly is very imperfect ; yet the animal, by a quick perception of all movements made on the water, discovers danger at a great distance. The eyes are likewise on a small scale, though the sense of seeing is acute ; more so, however, through clear water than in the open air. But the most unique fea- ture in the structure of this animal consists in the spir- acles or blow-holes, placed nearly on the crown of the head. These have been compared to natural jets d*eau throwing up water to the height of 40 or 60 feet ; though the more careful scrutiny of Mr Scoresby ascertained that they emit only a moist vapour, and are neither more nor less than huge nostrils. When, however, this vehement breathing or blowing is performed under the surface, a considerable quantity of water is thrown up into the air. The sound thus occasioned is the only Spiracles ANIMAL LIFE. 69 \spir' the Veau igh lined thing like a voice emitted by the animal, and, in the chap, il cose of a violent respiration, it resembles the discharge of a cannon. The tail is the most active limb of this monarch of the ,^^^ ^^ deep, and the chief instrument of his motion. It does not rise vertically like that of most fishes, being flat and horizontal, only four or five feet long, but more than twenty feet broad. It consists of two beds of muscles, connected with an extensive layer surrounding the body, and enclosed by a thin covering of blubber. Its power is tremendous. A single stroke throws a large boat with all its creiv into the air. Sometimes he places himself in a perpendicular position with the head downwards, and, rearing his tail on high, beats the water with awful violence. On these occasions the sea foams, and vapours darken the air ; the lashing is heard several miles off, like the roar of a distant tempest. At other times he makes an immense spring, and lifts his whole body above the waves, to the admiration of the experienced whaler, but to the terror of those who see for the first time this astonishing spectacle. Other mo- tions, equally indicative of his boundless strength, attract the attention of the navigator at a great distance. The fins, called by the French nageoires, and by Dr The flna Fleming "swimming-paws," are placed immediately behind the eyes. They are nine feet long, enclosed by very elastic membranes, and provided with bones similar in form and number to those of the human hand. Such is the spring and vitality of the parts, that, if we may believe De Reste, they continue to move for some time after being separated from the body. According to Mr Scoresby, however, while the whale swims these organs lie flat on the surface of the water, and are not at all instrumental in producing his motion, which arises en- tirely from the tail. The fins merely direct and steady the movement, and serve rather as a helm than as oars. The period of gestation in the whale is nine or ten months, and the female brings forth in February or "®****'°^ March. She is viviparous; that is, the young come forth ,tv ! V »' n 70 ANIMAL LIFE. Maternal fuudiiesa CHAP. II. alive, not enclosed in an egg ; and usually, there is not The suckers. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^* * ^-i"^®* '^^ese nurslings, about four- teen feet long and weighing somewhat more than a ton, are watched over by the female parent with the most tender care. The whalei-s strike the suckers, as they are called, not for their own value, but knowing tliat the mothers will start forth in their defence. Then ensues a contest hard and perilous, but commonly at- tended with a prosperous issue, for she never seeks safety in flight. She rushes upon the boat, drags the line with extraordinary forcCj tosses to and fro in ex- treme agony, and suffers herself to be struck by repeated harpoons without attempting to escape ; while the hu- mane captain has liis triumphant feelings damped by the consideration, that his prize has fallen the victim of maternal tenderness. According to indications afibrded by notches in the bone, which seem not, however, very distinctly ascertained, the whale does not attain his full growth under twenty-five years, and is said to reach a very great age. There is a considerable variety of these animals. The Balana physalis {Baksnoptera gihhar of La C€pede), called by the sailors razorhack is considerably longer than the mysticetus ; and, though his circumference be smaller, he is on the whole larger and much more powerful. He is also swifter, swimming at the rate of twelve miles an hour ; and Mr Scoresby has seen one, when struck with a harpoon, run off' 480 fathoms of line in a minute. An individual of this species, found dead in Davis' Strait, measured 105 feet in length. It is, as might be apprehended, extremely dangerous to attack him ; for^ by the extreme rapidity of his motion, he often breaks the line, or obliges the sailors to cut it in order to escape destruction. Martens mentions an instance of one which dragged a boat with its crew among loose ice where they all perished. Besides, as this fish contains only ten or tv/elve tuns of oil, of an inferior quality, the whalers generally shun the encoun- ter, unless when they are disposed for a daring advcn- Vorletles of the wliale. ANIMAL LIFE. 71 ture, or mistake him, as they frequently do, for a chap. il inysticetus. Besides the two pectoral fins, he has a ituisenaT horny protuherance o: fln at the extremity of the back, musculua. which part of the body, instead of being round as in the other variety, rises into a narrow ridge. The Balcena musculua or broad-nosed wliale, the Balama rostrata or beaked whale, and the Balama hoops or finner, may be considered as razorbacks on a smaller scale, with certain specific distinctions. It is usually individuals of the kinds now described that frequent the coasts of Norway and Shetland, and sometimes make their appearance in the British firths; but neither they nor the physalis ever attract the attention of an experienced fisher. The only species, besides the mysticctus, regularly cadiaiot sought after, is the cachalot {Physeter microps) or sper- maceti whale. This variety occurs occasionally in the northern seas, especially on the American coast, but abounds chiefly in the watera bordering on the Antarctic zone, and is the main object of pursuit in the southern fishery. The cachalot does not seem to have met Mr Scoresby's observation, although a male was thrown ashore at Limekiln^^ on the Forth, as described by Sir Robert Sibbald ; but, according to the description of De Reste and others, this species is distinguished by a long row of teeth on the lower and none on the upper jaw ; the back has a peculiar form, with a small bunch behind ; and the tail is of extraordinary breadth. They p^ ^ ^ appear in large herds ; while the mysticetus, called by ucrd:^ our fishers the right whale, is generally found single. These bands very often amount to two hundred, which are said to be for the most part female, and usually under the guidance of a male of very large dimensions. To attack them is a formidable undertaking ; but suc- cess is very advantageous, since ten or twelve sometimes fall in one encounter. The perils of this fishery aro described as almost exceeding belief; for which reason, it is to be regretted that Captain Day's modesty makes him decline recounting any of those which he witnessed. 'J'he quantify of oil is much smaller than in the my&- I 72 ANIMAL LIFE. Volite of speraiaceti. Nurwul. CHAP. II ticetus, usually not exceeding three tuns ; but, from its being mixed with the substance called spermaceti, is far superior in value. When warm it is fluid; but on being poured into water it congeals into large flakes. This whale yields also the peculiar aromatic substance called ambergris, formed under certain circumstances in the rectum, and voided as feeces. Another species, called the narioal, about sixteen feet long and eight in circumference, appears to diflbr little from a small wliale, except in a tusk projecting from his upper jaw three to ten feet in length, which, sug- gesting to the sailors the idea of a horn, has procured for him the appellation of the sea-unicorn. He is swift, yet is taken without much difliculty, and yields two or three tuns of very fine oil. The dolphin, another ceta- ceous animal of poetic fame, occasionally occurs ; and the grampus often appears in numerous herds, guided by some of larger size. The beluga, or white whale, is also a separate species, distinguislied chiefly by its pecu- liar colour. All the shores and borders of the Arctic zone are crowded with amphibious species, which appear to form an intermediate link between whales and quadrupeds, — the Mammalia of the sea and those of the land. Among these is to be distinguished the morse or walrus (TW- checus ro8marus)y which bears such a resemblance to our domestic quadrupeds that sailors, according to their various impressions, have given it the title of sea-horse or sea-cow. It is a large, shapeless, unwieldy creature, 12 to 15 feet in length and from 8 to 10 in circum- ference ; the head small, the limbs short, of an inter- mediate character between fins and legs. As a defence against the extreme cold, these animals not only have skins an inch thick, covered with close hair, but enjoy, like the other Cetacea, a coating of oily fat, with which their bodies are completely enveloped. Thus cased, they lie stretched on the ice in the depth of winter, without suffering any inconvenience. The most re- markable feature of the walrus, however, consists in Amphibious species. Walrus. ANIMAL LIFE. 73 '9 h d, e- iu two teeth or tusks, which project in a curved line from chap u. the upper jaw, and are nearly two feet in length. ^vuIitis" They are of beautiful white bone, almost equal to ivory, ivory, and much used in the fabrication of artificial teeth. The front face, when seen at a little distance, bears a striking resemblance to the human ; and its appearance is suspected to have sometimes given rise to the fanciful reports of mermaids in the northern seas. Like all the cetaceous tribes, to which the walrus is allied, he is dis- posed to be peaceful and harmless. Captain Parry describes the supine security with which a number ol them lay on the ice, piled over each other, without discomposing themselves at the approach of a party armed for their destruction. In Spitzbergen, however, OutiooU where they have been long the object of chase to the Russian hunters, they are reported to keep very strict watch ; it being said that one stands guard while the others sleep. Even when sensible of danger, they are not forward to face it, but rather shun the attack by rushing beneath the ice, while those "hind, with their tusks, urge forward their companions. Yet, when they conra^a are compelled to combat, they give battle with the ut- most coolness and courage ; they then stand firm by each othesr, rush in one united body against the boats, and, striking with their tusks., endeavour to overset them. When repulsed, too, they repeatedly rally, and in the end yield only to the fire-arms of Europeans, or to the stratagems of the Esquimaux. Maternal tender- ness, and the determination with which the female defends her young, are equally conspicuous in them as in the whale species. The seal, an animal well known on all the shores nicseai. of Europe, requires not to be particularly described. The Arctic species are very numerous, and are applied by the Esquimaux for a great variety of purjioses. They furnish food for his table, oil for his lamp, cloth- ing for his person ; even their bones and skins supply materials for his light portable boats and his summer tents. 74 ANIMAL LIFE. Herring Blioala. If CHAP. II. Before quitting the Polar Ocean we must notice another fish, whose periodical appearance renders it familiar to all the European coasts. Those waters, as already observed, apparently so chill and ungenial, contain not only an ample store of animal life, but a vast superabundance, with which they have been sup- posed to supply the seas of the more temperate climates. From them, in particular, if we may believe some na- turalists, are derived the valuable tribes of the herring ; the immense shoals of which, according to Bloch, Pen- nant, and others, issue from the frozen depths about January, and in March appear on the coasts of Iceland. Their column at this time, confined between Green- land and the North Cape, is of comparatively small breadth, but so dense that the water is darkened by them ; any wooden vessel let down brings up several*: they may even be taken by the stroke of a lance. They follow certain of their number larger than the rest, called kings. These leaders are held in much respect by the Dutch, who studiously spare their ma- jesties, and even liberate them when found in the net, lest, deprived of this royal guidance, the nation should not find the way to their accustomed haunts. After emerging from the Greenland Sea, this great army divides into two wings, — the right and largest bearing down directly upon Scotland ; at the north-eastern ex- tremity of which it forms that immense field wherein the Dutch for many years carried on their great na- tional fishery. A detachment smaller in number, but some of which attain to superior excellence, fills the western bays of Scotland, and, passing along Ireland, reaches the neighbouring coast of France. Meantime the left, or smaller wing, after ranging the Norwegian shore, enters the Baltic. In July all these divisions halt, and by an unknown impulse begin to retrace their course towards their northern home. De Reste con- siders it certain that the herrings, in returning, have a general point of rendezvous which still remains un- known ; but it should seem that nothing less than the Scottish flshcriea. Refurn ourthward. ANIMAL LIFEL 77 nctual discovery of tliis place of meeting can ascertain its existence. However, about the end of September they reach their destination beneath the ice of the Polar regions, where they remain three months, — all the rest of the year being spent in wandering over the face of the ocean. Such is the theory of the annual appearance oi the herring, which has been adopted without sufficient in- vestigation by many popular writers. Later observa- tion, accordingly, has thrown doubts upon the principle of Arctic migration, and referred this periodical ap- pcarance upon the coasts of Europe to that instinctive impulse which guides the finny tribes, at the season of reproduction, to places where the spawn may be deposited and the young find food. When this is ac- complished, they retire from the shores to their habita- tion in deeper waters. The female, when taken in our seas, is commonly found to contain a roe ; and as this comprises the embryo of ten thousand future herrings, such a prodigious fecundity easily repairs all the havock committed upon the species, not only by their brethren of the deep, but also by the ingenuity of man, constantly exerted for their capture and destruction. The other animals which frequent the Polar regions belong chiefly or wholly to the land. In caves, or in the hollows of the ice, dwells the most formidable of Arctic quadrupeds, the Greenland bear. This tyrant oi the cliffs and snows unites the strength of the lion with the untameable fierceness of the hyena. A long shaggy covering of white soft hair and a copious supply of fat enable him to defy the winter of this rigorous climate. Hence, when ex- posed even to the moderate heat of Britain, he appears to labour under great uneasiness. Pennant saw one, over whom it was necessary from time to time to pour large pailfuls of water. Another, kept for some years l)y Professor Jameson, evidently suffered severely from the comparative warmth of an Edinburgh summer. The haunt of this voracious inhabitant of the Polar regions CHAP. IT. Nortliern rendczvoua lAtcr nbser- vatiuns. rriHliuioim tecuudity. Greenland bcnr. Endnranco of cold. 78 ANIMAL UVE, CHAP. II. Mode of cmssing the Iliti proy. Prt'cnrlous supplies. C!onflict.i with the p()lar bear is on the frozen shoro, or on mountains of ice, some- times two hundred miles from land; yet he is not, strictly speaking, amphibious. He cannot remain under water above a few moments, and he makes his way to sea only by swimming from one icy fragment to an- other. Mr Scoresby limits his poweu in this respect to three or four miles; yet Parry found one in the centre of Barrow's Strait, where it was forty miles across. His prey consists chiefly of the smaller cetacea and of seals, which, unable to contend with him, shun their fate by keeping strict watch, and plunging into the deep waters. With the walrus he wages a fierce and doubtful war ; and that powerful animal, with his enormous tusks, frequently beats him off with great damage. The whale he dares not attack, but watches anxiously for the huge carcass in a dead state, which affords him a prolonged and delicious feast : he scents it at the distance of miles. All these sources of supply being precarious, he is sometimes left for weeks without food, and the fury of liis hunger then becomes tremen- dous. At such periods man, viewed by him always as his prey, is attacked with peculiar fierceness. The annals of northern navigation are filled with accounts of the most perilous and fatal conflicts with the Polar bear. The first, and one of the most tragical, was sustained by Barentz and Heemskerke, in 1596, during their voyage for the discovery of the north-east passage. Having anchored at an island near the Strait of Waygatz, two of the men landed, and were walking on shore, when one of them felt himself closely hugged from behind. Thinking this a frolic of one of his com- panions, he called out, in a jocular tone, " Who's there ? pray stand off.'' His comrade looked and screamed out, ** A bear ! a bear !" then running to the ship alarmed the crew with loud cries. The sailors ran to the spot, anned with pikes and muskets. On their approach the animal very coolly quitted the mangled corpse, sprang upon one of the assailants, carried him off, and plunging Iiis teeth into his body, began drinking Iiis ANIMAL UFB. m blood at long draughts. Hereupon the wliolo party, CHAP. II struck with terror, turned their bocks, and fled pre- „ — cipitately to their vessel. On arriving there they began a tear, to look at each other, ashamed in some measure of their pusillanimous conduct. Three of them immediately re- solved to avenge the fate of their countrymen, and to secure for their remains the rites of burial. They advanced, but fired at first from so great a distance that all of them missed. The purser then courage-* ously proceeded in front of his companions, and, taking a close aim, pierced the monster's skull, immediately below the eye. The bear, however, merely lifted his head, and ran towards them, holding still in his mouth the victim whom he was devouring ; but seeing lilni stagger, the three rushed on with sabre and bayonet, and soon despatched him. They collected and be- stowed decent sepulture on the mangled limbs of their comrades ; while the skin of the animal,thirteen feet long, became the prize of him who fired the successful shot. The history of whale-fishing records a number of remarkable escapes from the Polar bear. In 1668, Jf^^JV" ''^™ * „ .—. m , . . . ^ Dear. Jonge Kces, the master of a Dutch ship, undertook with two canoes to attack one, and with a lanco gave him so dreadful a wound in the belly that his immediate death seemed inevitable. Anxious, there- fore, not to injure the skin, Kees merely followed the animal till he should drop down dead. The quad- ruped, however, having climbed a little rock, made a spring from the distance of twenty-four feet upon the skipper, who, taken completely by surprise, lost rcriious hold of the lance, and fell beneath his assailant, wliich, ^*^^ **°* placing both paws on his breast, opened two rows of tremendous teeth, and paused for a moment, as if to show him all the horrors of his situation. At this critical instant a sailor, rushing forward with only a scoop, succeeded in alarming the monster, which made off, leaving the captain without the slightest injury. In 1788, Captain Cook of the Archangel, when near the coast of Spitzbergen, found himself suddenly at- : 80 ANIMAL LIFE. ^ff)flo of nitack. CHAP. II. tiickcd by a benr. He instantly called on the surgeon iJcmarkabio ^^*® accompanied him to fire ; which the latter did cscapa with such admirable promptitude and precision, that he shot the beast through the head, and delivered his commander. Mr Hawkins of the Everthorpe, in July 1818, having pursued and twice struck a lai*ge one, had raised his lance for a third blow, when it sprang forward, seized him by the thigh, and tlirew him over its head into the water. Fortunately it used this advantage only to effect its own escape. Captain Scoresby mentions a boat's crew which attacked a bear in the Greenland Sea ; but the animal having succeeded in climbing the sides of the boat, all the men dropped themselves for safety into the waves, where they hung by the gunwale. The victor entered triumphantly, and took possession of the barge, where it snt quietly till it was shot by another party. The same writer mentions the ingenious contrivance of a sailor, ^/ho, being chased by one of these creatures, threw down successively Ids hat, jacket, handkerchief, and every other article in his possession, when the pursuer pausing at each, gave the seaman always a certain advantage, and enabled him finally to regain the vessel. Though the voracity of this savage creature is such that he has been known to feed on his own species, yet maternal tenderness is as conspicuous in the female as in other inhabitants of the frozen regions. There is no exertion which she will not make for the supply of her progeny. A she-bear, with her two cubs, being hunted by some sailors across a field of ice, and finding that, neither by example nor by a peculiar voice and action, she could urge them to the requisite speed, applied her paws and pitched them alternately forward. The little creatures, as she came up, threw themselves before her to receive the impulse, and thus both she and tliey escaped from danger. None of the varieties, indeed, are devoid of intel- ligence ; while their schemes for entrapping seals and toiiileiness. such intel- s and ANIMAL UFE. 81 liiKciiutty. other animals on which they feed often display con- chap. II Hidcrable ingenuity. Tho manner in wliich the Polar bear Burjtriscs his victim lb thus described by Captain Lyon :<~-0n seeing his intended prey ho gets quietly into the water, and swims to a leeward position, from whence, by frequent short dives, ho silently makes his approaches, and so arranges liis distance, that at the last dive he comes to the spot whero the seal is lying. If the poor animal attempts to escape by roll- cutciiinK ing into the water, he falls into the paws of his enemy ; ^^'^^ if, on the contrary, he lies still, his destroyer makes a powerful spring, kilk him on the ice, and devours him at leisure. Some sailors, endeavouring to catch a bear, placed the noose of a rope under the siiow, bfdted with a piece of whale's flesh. He, however, contrived, three successive times, to push the noose aside, and unhurt to carry off the bait. Captain Scoresby had half- tamed two cubs, which used even to walk the deck ; but they showed themselves always restless under this confinement, and finally sought relief in their native clement. According to Pennant and other writers, the bear iiibernatioa forms chambers in the great ice-mountains, where he sleeps during the long Arctic night, undisturbed by the roar of the tempest ; but this regular hibeniation is doubted by many recent observers. The fact seems to be, that the males roam about all winter in search of prey, not being under the same necessity of sub- mitting to the torpid state as the black bear of America, which feeds chiefly on vegetables ; but the females, who are usually pregnant in the more rigorous season, seclude themselves nearly the whole time in their dens. The animals which belong entirely to the land, Herbiverooa and feed on herbage, are, in a climate covered with *°*'"*^"' snow nine months in the year, necessarily few both in number and species. The rein-deer, a most patient and useful creature, an inhabitant of the Polar regions, may be said to subsist as far north as animal life can 4' I I' s« I I i I ai 82 ANIMAL LIFE. Rein deer. Itstuea CHAP. II. he maintained. To the Laplander he is all in all ; and in that dreary portion of the globe he can always dig from under the snow the moss or lichen, his favourite food. Even in the severer climates he carries his summer-excursions as far as men have yet penetrated ; but at the enJ of October the intense frost no longer allows him to reach even the simple pasture in which he delights. It is then that large herds are observed to assemble and migrate to the southward. From Melville Island they were seen crossing the frozen surface of the sea, to gain a milder climate on the American shore. The people within the Arctic zone do not tame the rein-deer, nor yoke it in the sledge ; it is not even for them the staff of life ; but it affords a favourite object of summer-hunting, gives an agree- able variety to their meals, and yields their warmest and most valuable winter robes. The fur-skin becomes always richer and more copious in proportion to the intensity of the cold, against which it forms the only defence. In the chase tho deer fall easy victims, even to the rude archery of the Esquimaux, being so simple and curious, that if a man merely walks away from them, they follow. Some of these animals, which joined Captain Parry*s crews on Melville Island, played round them like lapdogs, and at setting out in the morning used to gambol by rearing on their hind-lep:8. The musk-ox, the only member of the bovine species which penetrates the Arctic zone, though in smaller numbers, constitutes also a wholesome food. Its un- wieldly form is protected from the cold by an immense profusion of hair, which envelops its whole limbs and figure, and also by an interior layer of wool, that ap- peared to Pennant the finest he had ever seen, and made, he was told, stockings superior to the richest silk. This last, we suspect, is a temporary clothing. Txi.e canine race presents several species which brave the most extreme severity of cold, and remain after every other land- quadruped, except the bear, has taken its flight to the southward. Wolves, in considerable Easy cap ture. Uusk-ox. ANIMAL LIFE. 83 numbers, continue to seek their prey in the utmost CHAP, it depths of the Polar winter. It seems difficult to dis- wolveaT cover what food they find at that season ; but a re- gular pack attended the English discovery-ships, watch- ing for whatever offal might be found exposed, and serenading them with nightly bowlings. As if by a sort of tacit oonvention, they did not presume to attack the sailors; but they advanced in the most daring manner to the sides of the vessels, and sometimes even entered the huts of the Esquimaux, whose dogs they esteemed a regular prize, and very speedily devoured ihem. The natives catch them by traps formed of little JJj^'^ *'°'^ sheds of ice, at the entrance of which is a portcullis of the same material, connected in such a manner with the bait within, that when the latter is seized by the animal the suspended portion drops, and the 'volf Is taken. Their tenacity of life is such, that after ap- parent death they often revive and occasion danger. The Arctic fox, a small beautiful white animal, with *""o^ woolly hair like a little shock-dog, occurs in still greater numbers. About a hundred were caught in Captain Parry's second voyage, some of which were half tamed and made pets of ; while others, by a harder fate, were dressed for table ; and their flesh, somewhat resembling kid, afforded an agreeable relief from the constant use of salted meat. The dog, however, is the most important quadruped Dog. of the Arctic world, and the most valuable posse&sion of its people, who have succeeded in taming and render- ing it equally useful for draught and for hunting. Those of the Greenlander, the Esquimaux, and the Kamtschadale, are large, and of a somewhat wild aspect. Captain Lyon describes them as resembling in form the shepherd's dog, rising to the height of the New- foundland, but broad like the mastiff; having shoH pricked ears, a furry coat, and a bushy tail. In general they are observed to bear a strong resemblance to tlic wolf, and the opinion is even prevalent that the forni(.r exhibit onlv the latter ia a tame state. Parrv and 'I'l -ill 84 ANIMAL LIFB. DofTs and Esquimanx dogs. CHAP. n. Richardson both mention instances in which domestio dogs were seduced away by the attractions of femtde wolves ; yet the avidity with which the wolf devours his supposed brethren does not seem quite con&ktent with so close an affinity. Nature, with provident ijare, defends them against the cold, not only by a profusion of long hair, but by a soft dowTiy covering, formed beneath it at the commencement of winter, and shed at the approach of the milder season. The Esquimaux are much reproached for their harsh treatment of these valuable servants ; yet, when young, they are used with tenderness, the women often taking them into bed, and feeding them from their own mouths. Aa soon as they can walk they are yoked to a small sledge ; in endeavouring to shake off which encum- brance they Icarn to draw it. Severe and frequent beatings, however, are necessary to train them for act- ing as a regular team. But their greatest sufferings respect the want of food ; of which, during the season of scarcity, they obtain a portion barely sufficient to maintain life, and not at all to prevent them from falling ^*nto a state the most meagre and debilitated. Their hunger is manifested by the nature of the substances with which they sometimes seek to assuage it. Captain' Parry saw one which ate a large piece of canvass, a cotton handkerchief laid out to dry, and a piece of a linen shht. The Esquimaux, we must recollect, are subject to painful scarcities, and the food of the dogs being the same with tiieir own, the animals, on such emergencies, can scarcely expect to be placed on a footing of equality. But this rough usage does not seem incompatible with a certain degree of attach, ment and commiseration. For example, they refused to sell them to the English, till assured that they would not be killed. They rejoiced greatly to see a house built for them ; and at every visit a friendly recognition took place between each dog and his old master. When these animals are yoked in the sledge, a whip of twenty feet long enforces obedience ; while Imperfect lirovislons. Tondness for tbtsm. ANIMAL LIFE. 85 le peculiar cries indicate the right or left, to turn or to chap. IT. stop. Three dogs can draw a sledge weighing 100 Ihs. — - at the rate of a mile in six minutes, and one leader is iiig.^° ^^ said to have transported 19G lbs. the same distance in eight minutes. A full team, however, comprises eight or ten ; though seven have been known to draw a loaded Rledge at the rate of a mile in four minutes and a half ; while nine, employed in conveying stores from the Hecla to the Fury, drew 1611 lbs. in nine minutes. Captain Lyon reports most favourably of tlio team that he himself formed, which used to carry him irom ship to ship, a mile distant, in the deepest darkness and amid clouds of snow-drift, with the most perfect precision, when he could not have found his own way a hundred steps. Their services in hunting are also of great value ; they can sruiF the seal in his hole, or the deer on the mountains, from a surprising dis- tance. Assembled in packs, they face even the Polar bear, keeping him at bay till their masters come up with spears to the attack. The air in those dreary regions is, almost as much as Birda the waters, peopled with its appropriate inhabitants, which fill it continually with sound and life. Here, too, the species are nearly all different from those that wing their flight through the temperate skies. They do not shine with the bright hues of the humming-bird, nor breathe tiie soft notes of the nightingale, nor do they charm the ear with the rich melody of our woodland choirs ; but the auk, the petrel, and the gull, clustering in myriads, cause all the rocks and shores of the Nortli Auk, petrol to echo with their wild clang. They are almost all *" ^^ ' rapacious and carnivorous ; the vast collections of shell- fish and marine insects with which those seas abound, and the carcasses of the huge animals that are killed, either in conflicts with each other or with man, affording them an inexhaustible supply of nutriment. The fulmar, or petrel (Prncellaria glacialis), is the p^jtrcL close attendant of the whale-ships in every stage of their progress. Termed emphatically the bird of storm, i •'Ml <'''««» distil, not the balmy and fragrant gums of Arabia and India, but rich, thick, coarse juices, whereby their uiternal heat is maintained, and which, in the shape of pitch, t may observe, that w^hen the warmth ol the returning sun S^^hUJ. has partially dissolved the surface of the snow, and thus contributed to the formation and development of these microscopical plants, the vivifying power of the solar light, aided by some peculiar and as yet unknown pro- perty belonging to the natural whiteness of the snow itself, is highly influential in the production of the beautiful colour by which they are distinguished.* » * Mr Scoresby conjectured that the red colour of the Arctic snow derived its origin from innumerable multitudes of very minute creatures beion^ng to the order Radiata. He had fre<^uently observed the ice to be tinged with an orange colour, obviously resulting from an assemblage of small transparent animals of about tne size of a pin's head, resembling the Berne globuhsa of Lamarck. Other observers have thought them- selves authorized to trace the red colour to the dung of the lite ^, .^J^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) &c {./ <_ ^ .^^ 5*^-^ J '/.. ^ 1.0 Ii£|2j8 |25 lit 122 ■ 2.2 Hi 14.0 IL25 lyyu 6" 1^ 1.6 Photographic Sciences CcaporatiGn 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 972-4503 4^ 94 VEQETABLE LIFE. CHAP IL littlo auk ( Uria alle), which abounds on many of the barren shores of the North. But neither of these supposed causes could produce the phenomenon alluded to, as observed among the central Alps of Enroi^, whore marine radiata and littlo aukd are alike unknown .M I 'l:-' i ' ' ■ ANCIENT VOYAGES. 96 CHAPTER III. Ancient Voyages to the North, Voyage of Pytheas— Norwegian Expeditions ; Obthere— Colo- nization of Iceland— The Zeni— Qiiirini. The voyages to the North, undertaken prior to the chap. Til great era of maritime enterprise and the invention of Ancienr tlie compass, were few in numher, and scarcely extended voyages, into those circumpolar regions which form the special subject of the present volume. It will be enough, therefore, to take a rapid sketch of the steps by which discovery proceeded towards those remote and almost inaccessible quarters. The Mediterranean, the shores of which constituted Earliest; the first civilized portion of the West, was the quarter maritime where European navigation originated. As Tyre, situ- ""*' , „ ated in the depth of that sea, was the earliest seat of commerce, Carthage, the daughter of Tyre, was doubtless the first state which undertook any extensive discoveries upon the ocean. These, however, were shrouded in deep mystery, prompted by the jealous and monopolizing temper of this people, once so powerful and opulent. The classic writers give only some slight and detached notices of the voyage of Himilco, who appears to have Himilca sailed along the exterior coasts of Spain and France, and to have reached the southern extremity of Britain. This, it is probable, was only the first of a series of voyages carried on with the view of procuring tin, — a metal rare and highly valued in those days. The Cas- siterides, or Tin-islands^ which appear to be Comweil U.k 96 ANCIENT VOYAGES. Pythcaa, Stnibo. CHAP. III. and the Scilly Isles combined together, were celebrated — among the primitive authors of Europe. The most distinguished of the Greek navigators who penetrated into the North was Pytheas, a citizen of Marseilles, a Greek colony, which, favoured by its situ- ation, had become the chief emporium of the commerce of Britain, already esteemed of some importance. He seems to have been the first who, Inspired by motives of intelligent curiosity, endeavoured to reach the British coast, and the remotest extremities of the sea by which it is washed. Our knowledge of this voyage is indeed imperfect, being almost entirely due to Strabo, who, while he relates it, derides the whole as a palpable for- gery ; yet the very particulars on which he founds this charge go far to establish the fact he questions. Py theas appears to have passed the Straits, and sailed along the western coasts of France and Spain, which, from pre- vious misconception, he confounds together. Thence he seems to have directed his course through the English Cliannel, and along the eastern coasts of Britain, till he reached the northern parts of the island. Not content with this achievement, he continued to sail onwards into the depths of ocean, till in six days he arrived at Thule, an idand where it appeared to him that perpetual light reigned at midsummer throughout the night as well as the day. Immediately beyond, his progress was arrested by a barrier of a peculiar nature — ^by something which was neither earth, air, nor sky, but a compound of all the three ; forming a thick viscid substance, through which it was impossible to penetrate. These statements have afforded much advantage to sceptical readers ; yet the summer days of Shetland are really very long, and the thick and gloomy mists, with which the Northern Sea is often loaded, might make a pe- culiar impression on the mind of a man who had ven- tured into this unknown ocean so far beyond the limit of former navigation : they might make him prone to believe that he had arrived at the farthest boundaries of Hiuld. Northern mists. by PYTHEAS. 97 3e, pal li- nt to of nature. It seems difficult, however, to suppose, with chap.ul ]3ougainville, tliat he proceeded as far as Kdland ; though g^^i^ there is little douht that he entered the Baltic, and also brought home a correct account of its shores, then known to the people on the Mediterranean almost solely by the qualities of the amber which was thence imported. The enterprise of Py theas, though apparently quite peguita ©f authentic, did not lead to any change in the course of tiie voyag«. the Massylian trade. It was probably found both cheaper and more convenient to transport the produc- tions of Britain through Gaul, than to convey them by means of such a lengthened f>nd perilous voyage. The only other additions to ancient knowledge respecting the northern seas were made by the Romans, who, in order to conquer, were obliged to explore the earth. Agricola, before undertaking the campaign which was to reduce Scotland into a province, sent fleets to explore Agricola. its most northern shores and bays. His countrymen, however, do not appear to have sent in that direction, nor perhaps in any other, naval expeditions having dis- covery alone for their object. Their delineation of Caledonia itself is excessively rude ; and though they had traced the shores of Europe eastward as far as Russia, the great peninsula of Scandinavia appeared to them only as a cluster of islands. In the decline of the Roman empire, that country, scancHnavfak formerly so little regarded, became the seat of a most for- midable maritime power. Norway, under the terrible dominion of Harold the Fairhaired, Denmark, under Gorm and Canute, sent forth fleets which pillaged all the coasts of Europe, and reduced many of them to subjec- tion. Their movements, however, were from the North, not to the North ; and their objects were not science, but ravage and conquest. The Runic tribes, indeed, were not without some tincture of letters and poetry ; though their sagas or poetical chronicles celebrated only the exploits of their mighty sea-kings and rovers, not any undertaking connected with commerce and the arts of peace. Yet a communication with these adventurers F 98 ANaENT VOYAGES. OIIAP.Iir. Alfred. Ohthcra Voynge to the North cupa Voyages of the North men. enabled Alfred, that illustrious monarch, to collect hi- formation respecting those extremities of the earth which had remained unknown to the Greeks and Ro- mans. Ohthere, a chief who had come from the upper tracts of Norway, afforded some intelligence respecting a voyage performed by himself along the Arctic shores of Europe. This traveller was considered a rich man in his own country, being owner of twenty oxen, twenty sheep, and six hundred tame rein-deer. Fired by a spirit of liberal research, he put to sea in order to discover the regions that lay northward of the high latitude in which his domain was situated. He sailed six days in that direc- tion, at the end of which he appears to have reached the North Cape, the farthest point of Europe ; he then turned three days towards the east, and afterwards five days to the south. All this while the land on his right was desolate, traversed only by a few wandering shep- herds and hunters of Finnish race. Then, however, he reached a large river, the opposite side of which was somewhat densely inhabited by the Biarmians, or people uf Northern Russia, who showed such a hostile disposi- tion as oblig-ed him to return. The fishery of the horse- whale (walrus) was found to be carried on here with so great advantage, that many individuals were afterwards induced to repair thither. Forster delineates the course of Ohthere as extending to the interior of the White Sea: but we do not think the period of eight days from the North Cape could have carried him farther than the river Kola, which agrees also with the supposition of his having been arrested on the fron- tier of Russian Lapland. In pursuing their favourite objects of conquest and plunder, the Northmen always bent their sails towards the south. To quit their bleak regions in search of othei-s still more bleak, would have been wholly foreign to their views ; yet, as the sea was covered with their ships, chance and tempest sometimes drove them in an opposite direction. In 861, Nadodd, during a piratical NORWEGIAN EXPEDITIONS. 99 Vinland. excursion, unexpectedly discovered Iceland ; and though chap. in. this country had little to tempt a nation of freebooters, Dtsc^ry it so chanced that there existed materials for its colo- of Iceland, nization. Harold, in making himself master of all Norway, had deprived of their rights and domains nu- merous petty chieftains, and thereby created a large body of malecontents. But he was willing to grant, and they to accept, a permanent refuge in this frozen clime ; and, accordingly, successive bands of emigrants colonization proceeded thither, where they were organized into a free and independent community. They even crossed to the opposite coast of Greenland, and formed settle- ments, which for some time were tolerably flourishing, though they have since either perished or lost all com- munication 'virith the parent state. During the eleventh century, however, chance or enterprise led them south- ward to another coast, which they called Yinland, and which has been very generally believed to be America, though, after a careful examination of the authorities on which this opinion rests, we are satisfied that the new country was merely a more southern point of Greenland. The limits of the present work, however, will not admit any detailed account of these settlements. The republican cities of Italy, during the middle ages, Medieval revived the fainting spirit of commerce and navigation, voyagers. which they raised to a degrse of prosperity, equal, pro- bably, to that attained by Tyre and Carthage during the height of their ancient glory. Their trade, however, lay chiefly within the Mediterranean, especially its eastern border, whither were brought overland, or by the Bed Sea, the commodities of India. Few were dis- posed to quit this bright and golden track to face the tempests of the northern ocean ; yet were there not wanting some adventurous spirits who incurred all the hazards of penetrating into its remote and dangerous waters. Nicolo Zeno, a noble merchant of Venice, undertook, Nicole Zeno. in 1880, a voyage to Flanders, during which a tempest drove him upon a coast that he calls Friesland. The 100 ANCIENT VOYAGES. Fi'ieslund. Prince Zivhmni. CKAP. ni. position of this unknown shore has been a su1)ject of — controversy ; and some have even had recourse to the hypothesis of its having been since swallowed up by the ocean. When, however, we find that Friesland was in fact a cluster of islands, to which are applied the names, Talas, Broas, Bres, Iscant, easily converted into Zeal, Brossa, Unst, we may conclude with Forster that it was probably one of the Shetland Isles. Being cast ashore in a state completely destitute, ho was received with great kindness by the Prince Zichmni ; who, finding him eminently skilled in naval affairs, reposed in him the highest confidence, and placed under his command various expeditions. So pleased was the Venetian with the favour of this northern potentate, that he invited his brother Antonio to join him. The only voyage, however, which seems to have carried him far to the north, was one to Greenland, and he gives a somewhat romantic account of a religious establishment already formed in that country. The convent was built on the eide of a hill, whence burst a copious spring, whose boiling waters enabled the monks to vanquish all the evils of the climate. When spread on the frozen soil, it contributed to the production of the most useful herbs and culinary plants; and when introduced into the houses, it served for warming the apartments and cooking the victuals. They were likewise supplied from the country with abundance of fish, rein-deer, and wild-fowl ; and vessels from Norway brought to them the luxuries of life. Zeno performed other voyages in a different direction, which have even been supposed to reach as far as America : but we Incline to think that the notices which have suggested this conclusion are partly misunderstood and partly interpolated.* Quirini, another Italian nobleman, in 1431, engaged in a similar enterprise, and was likewise driven by a tempest on the coast of Norway. The crew arrived in Voyage to (ireciilund. Snpposed voyage to America. • A recent writer views the whole narrative as a complete forgery, — ^a conclusion to which we are not willing to accede. QUIHINI. 101 [ed a in Bte |e. the most miserable plight, having lost the ship, and been chap. HL obliged to take to their boats, after the greater part oi Qyii-inj^" them had perished by hunger, cold, and thirst. They were thrown first on a small uninhabited island, where, having erected two tents, and found a large fish, they contrived to support life. After some days, a fisherman ^^jj^q and two boys coming in a boat to the island, were at flaiioimcn. first terrified at the sight of the strangers ; but, by soothing language and importunity, were at length pre- vailed upon to take with them two of the sailors, — Gerard of Lyons and Cola of Otranto. They rowed to a village on the neighbouring island of Rest, where they met the kindest reception ; and, as it chanced to be Sunday, the priests exhorted the congregation to afford all the assistiince in their power to these unfortunate strangers. Six boats were fitted out, the appearance of jiogpHanty wliich filled Quirini with joy ; and his satisfaction was still farther increased by receiving a supply of bread and beer, as well as a cordial invitation to proceed with his deliverers to Rost. He and his people were treated with uninterrupted kiudness during a stay of three months, in which time they completely recovered from all their distress and fatigue. The natives of this little island, about 120 in number, subsisted on salt fish, J^nUve pro which they carried to the market of Bergen, where purchasers arrived from Germany and other countries ; also on sea-fowl, which in vast flocks covered all the surrounding rocks, ant^ oven built on the sides of the houses. Many of these I'rds were so tame that, when the natives walked up to their nests, they were wont to step off, allow two or three eggs to be taken, and then resume their seat. The people were most strict in their attention to religious duties, and carried their resignation to the will of Providence so very far that they rejoiced, and sometimes even held a festival, at the death of near relations. The Italians, accustomed to the feelings of southern jealousy, were extremely surprised to see all ^ubi'^*'*' the members of a family sleeping together in one apart- ment, which they themselves were permitted to share 102 ANCIENT VOYAGES. manners CHAP. III. without the remotest feeling of impropriety. In sum- SimpHcTty of "*®''» ^°*^ sexes walked naked to the nearest pool, and bathed promiscuously, all in perfect innocence, and without awakening any suspicion, — a practice, indeed, which pretty generally prevails in the northern coun- tries of Europe at the present day. The summer having arrived, Quirini took occasion to go with the annual ship to Drontheim, and, travel- ling theuce by land to Sweden, he found a vessel bound for Rostock, in which he finally returned to Italy by way of England. NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. 103 CHAPTER IV. Voyages in Search of a North-east Passage. Rise of Maritime Enterprise in England— Plan of a North-eaat Passage to India— Expedition of Sir Hugh Willoughby ; its Issue — Chancelor reaches the White Sea ; Journey to Mos- cow—Voyage of Burroughs— Of Pet and Jackman— Dutch Expeditions — Barentz*s First, Second, and Third Voyages ; His Death— Hudson— Wood— Litke. The latter part of the fifteenth century may be fixed CHAP, rv upon as that period in the history of the world when GreaTinari- maritime discovery was prosecuted on the greatest scale, time nndor- and with the most splendid results. Travellers and navigators of the present day have displayed an enter- prise which cannot be exceeded ; but there remained for their efforts only the distant boundaries of ocean, or the interior of barbarous continents. On the contrary, vast kingdoms, new worlds, regions teeming with un- bounded wealth, rewarded the daring career of Gama and Columbus. A new direction was given to human ambition and industry ; and the discovery of distant regions became not only a commercial speculation with individuals, but one of the grandest objects of national policy. England had always shown herself ready to embark English od- in eveiy scheme of adventure and utility ; yet she was ^*'"''"*"' not altogether prepared for these extensive undertakings. The nations of southern Europe were then nearly a century in advance of those ruder states which lay behind the Alps find the Pyrenees. Venice, Genoa, Seville, Lisbon, and not London or Amsterdam, were 104 NORTir-EAST V0YA0E8. tlon. Henry VII. CHAP. IV. the great schools of comnierco and navigation. Tiio EarlyMhooli habits and ideas of tho feudal system, its proud indolence of naviga- and contempt of mechanical pursuits, were only in tlio course of being superseded ; and tho mercantile interest possessed OB yet only a small share of that importance to which it has since attained. Henry VII., amid these unfavourable circumstances, and with nothing of the heroic or adventurous in lus composition, possessed qualities which enabled him to appreciate the advantages of maritime discovery. Every thing which promised to fill his coffers was congenial to his taste ; and for this reason ho showed himself ready to meet the views of Columbus with greater zeal than any other monarch of the age. That great navigator, after vain solicitation at tho courts of Spain and Portu- gal, sent his brother Bartholomew to make propositions to tho English sovereign, which were very favourably listened to ; but before his messenger returned to Castile, the Genoese captain, under tho auspices of Isabella, was already crossing tho Atlantic. It was afterwards with tho countenance of Henry, though not at his expense, that John Cabot, in 1407) made that important voyage in which he discovered Newfound- land,— an island which, though not fitted for culture, has become the seat of one of the greatest fisheries in the world. He was also the first European who camo into contact with any part of the American continent. The same prince, in 1498, furnished to him the means of fitting out another expedition, which appears to have been conducted by his son Sebastian. He subsequently granted to Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst, and m-fstol Cora- John Thomas, merchants of Bristol, in conjunction with three natives of Portugal, letters-patent, to undertake the discovery of lands and regions unknown ; but the result of their expedition is not recorded. Notwithstanding these proceedings, England had not yet thoroughly imbibed the true spirit of maritime enterprise. Kindled at a foreign shrine, the flame, when deprived of external support, gradually Ian- Jotui Oabot paiiy. RISE OP MARITIME ENTERPRISE IN ENOLAND. lO/J giiihlicd ; and it became nearly extinct during the long chap iv. reign of Henry VIII. Considering the character of this HoniTvm despot, full of bustle, needy of money, and not devoid of intelligence, ho might have been supposed rather prompt to embark in such undertakings ; but, involved in numerous disputes, domestic and theological, and studying, though with little skill, to hold the balance between the two great continental rivals, Charles and Francis, he was insensible to the glory and advantages to be derived from naval expeditions.* Sebastian Cabot, f.*j',"y/''"* in order to obtain employment, was obliged to quit England and repair to Spain, where he was received with much favour, and spent the greater part of his life, either in attempts at discovery, or in a quiet resi- dence at Seville, where ho was consulted and revered as a nautical oracle. After a long slumber the maritime genius of England * Tliis passage has drawn forth the indignation of a lato Kxpctlifions author (Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, Lond. 1831), who repro- 'V"'""* '**^"*^ bents the writer of this department of the work, in conjunction ^ '"• with his illustrious predecessors, Robertson and Forster, as wholly disregarding '* the evidence which strikingly evinces the earnest and continued exertions of Henry VIII. in reference to this project" (p. 281). Yet his utmost research has only proved tnat this prince, in the course of a reign of thirty-eight years, while all Europe was filled with the enthusiasm of maritime discovrry, fitted out two expeditions, both seemingly in compliance with very urgent representations. Mr Thome, the chief English promoter of naval discovery, entirely concurs with us when ho says to Henry, in a letter written during the eighteenth year of his reign, ^ Perceiving that your Grace icay at vour pleasure, to your greater glory, by a godly mcane, vritli little cost, perill, or labour to your Grace or any of your sub- jects, amplifie and inrich this your sayd realme, I know it is my bounden duety to manifest this secret unto your GrvLCOfWhich hithertOy as I suppose^ hath beene Atdf."— Hakluyt, i. 213. The single expedition fitted out in the course of the succeeding twenty years could not materially alter the character of Henry as a promoter of discovery. A consideration of the simple fact, that Sebastian Cabot, during nearly the whole reign of this monarch, was obliged to seek patronage in a foreign country, is surely decisive as to his pretended zeal in the cause of discovery. There does not therefore appear the slightest ground for any alteration in the passage as it stands m the text. 106 NORTH-EAST VOYAGES Edward VI Cabot Royal interest CHAP. IV. was suddenly roused ; bursting forth under a young prince of high hope and promise. In 1653, the sixth year of the reign of Edward VI., the merchants of London, among whom are said to have been " men of great wisdom and gravity," felt an unwonted and ex- treme ardour in the cause of discovery. There chanced at that critical moment to be in their city no less a person than Sebastian Cabot, with whom they entered into deep consultation, and with his assistance formed the general plan of a voyage, having in view to reach, by way of the north and north-east, the celebrated regions of India and Cathay. The obstacles to such an undertaking could not yet be fully appreciated ; no just idea having been formed of the immense breadth of Asia, its extension towards the north, and the en- ormous masses of ice with which its shores are encum- bered. The youthful monarch, whether he had any influence in inspiring this general ardour, or whether he caught the flame from his people, showed the most eager in- terest in the cause. He had already named Sebastian grand pilot of England, with a salary, considerable in that age, of £166. It was not by royal munificence, however, that the funds were supplied for prosecuting this arduous enterprise. An association, or senate as it is called, was formed, who judged it most advisable to divide the concern into shares of £25, by which means the sum of six thousand pounds was easily raised, and employed in the construction and equipment of three vessels fitted for northern navigation. The preparations, with a due regard to the formidable character and length of the voyage, were made on a scale of which there had Scale of pro- been no previous example. Cabot says, " The like was pani on. neyej. in any realm seen, used, or known." The timbei-s were made of extraordinary strength, by the best ship- wrights; the keel was covered with thin sheets of lead, — a contrivance then practised for the first time, — and provisions for eighteen months were put on board. The grand pilot, though unable, probably from his age, to AfiROcintion lunned. IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD VI. 107 IS Connc!! of r to accompany the expedition, drew out a series of instruc- CHAP. IV. tions, in which the whole conduct to be observed by the codroTin- officers and crew is minutely laid down. He enjoins stmctions. strict attention to morals; that morning and evening prayers be read on board each ship, either by the chap- Iain or master ; and that there be no ** ribaldry or imgodly talk, di( ing, carding, tabling, nor other devilish games." He prohibits all acts tending to the breach of discipline, "conspiracies, part-takings, factions, false iales, which be the very seeds and fruits of contention." Naval subordination being in that age only imperfectly established, and the tendency to mutiny very strong, these exhortations were most seasonable. All questions respecting the steering of the ship were to be decided tweiva' by a council of twelve, the captain having only a double vote. Persons skilled in writing were, in each vessel, to keep a daily record of the course of navigation, the celestial observations, the aspect of the lands along which they sailed, with every other interesting occurrence. The different masters were to meet weekly, compare these records, and enter the result in a common ledger. Du'ections were even given for adjusting weekly ac- counts, keeping the cook-room and other parts of the ship clean, and preventing any liquor fron. being spilled upon them. The natives of the countries which they visited were "to be considered advisedly, and treated J'owards with gentleness and courtesy, without any disdain, foreigners laugliing, or contempt." Particular endeavours were to be made by fair means to allure some one on board, where he was to be well clothed and treated, so as to attract others; but we cannot so much apulaud the hint, tliat " if he be made drunk with "your wme or beer, you shall know the pccrets of his heart." The mariners are exhorted, however, to use the utmost circumspection in their dealings with these strangers, and, if invited to dine with any lord or ruler, to go well armed, and in a posture of defence. The liveries furnished to the sailors were to be carefully kept by the mercantile agents, and to be worn only when their Conduct 108 NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. Naval liveries. Sir Hugh Wlllougliby. CHAP. IV. captain considered it an object to show them " in good array for the advancement and honour of the voyage." He warns the mariners not to be too much alarmed when they saw the natives dressed in lions' and bears* skins, with long bows and arrows, as this formidable appearance was often assumed merely to inspire terror. However, he seems to suggest a still more chimerical fear, when he tells them that there are persons armed with bows, who swim naked, in various seas, liavens, and rivers, " desirous of the bodies of men, which they covet for meat," and against whom diligent watch must be kept night and day. We know not whether some confused rumour of the shark and alligator had an in- fluence in suggesting this strange precaution. It now became necessary to elect a suitable com- mander, and many offers were made both by persons qualified and unqualified. The choice for the supreme direction fell on Sir Hugh Willoughby. His recom- mendations, as mentioned by Adams, were high birth, tall and handsome person, valiant conduct and skill in war, — merits probably enhanced by admiration of the heroism which impelled him to engage in this new and daring career. No mention being made of nautical experience, it may be suspected that, amid so many brilliant qualities, this most essential requisite was not duly taken into account. The charge of the next vessel was confided to Ricliard Chancelor, an ^leve of Hemy Sidney, father of Sir Philip, and who first gave lustre to that great name. Sidney stood high in the favour of the king, and was animated with the most ardent zeal for the promotion of the voyage. Chancelor is specially commended for " the many good parts of w^it in him," tending to inspire the most sanguine hopes of his success. The preparations being completed, Edward drew up Koyoi letter, a letter addressed to all "kings, princes, rulera, judges, and governors of the earth ;" which, if composed by himself, certainly reflects very considerable credit upon his spirit and judgment. He observes to these unknown fnexperi' ence. Richard Chancelor. pot giv sue frie SIR HUOH WILLOUGHBY. 109 potentates, that *Hhe great and Almighty God hath chap. IV given unto mankind, above all other living creatures, objectTor such a heart and desire that every man desireth to join the voyagei friendship with other, to love and to be loved, also to give and receive mutual benefits." He represents, therefore, the duty of showing kindness to strangers, and especially to ** merchants, who wander about the world, search both the land and the sea, to carry such good and profitable things as are found in their countries to remote regions and kingdoms." With this view, it is stated that a valiant knight. Sir Hugh Willoughby, and other trusty and faithful servants^ had departed from England. '*We therefore desire you, kings and princes, and all other to whom there is any power on earth, to permit unto these our servants free passage by your regions and dominions, for they shall not touch any thing of yours unwilling unto you." If such kindness were shown, he concludes, " We promise, by the God of all things that are contained in heaven, earth, and the sea, and by the life and tranquillity of our kingdoms, that we wOl with like humanity accept your servants, if at any time they shall come to our kingdoms." It was judged inexpedient to delay the sailing of the j^^^ ^^ ^^jj. vessels beyond the 10th of May, lest they should being, overtaken by winter in the northern latitudes. All the members of the expedition took a solemn and tender leave of their relations, kindred, and "friends dearer than kindred," and were at their station on the ap- pointed day. Early in the morning they dropped down from Ratcliffe to Greenwich, where the court, and, as it were, the nation, were assembled to witness their departure. The king himself was confined by illness. Departure but the principal courtiers stood at the palace-windows, the rest of the household mounted the towers, while the people in crowds lined the shore. The ships fired their guns, causing the hills and valleys to resound ; and "the mariners shouted in such sort that the sky rung with the noise thereof. In short, it was a very no NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. Number of Contrary wiada. CHAP. IV. triumph.'* The thought of the distant and unknown Befts, into which they were so perilously plunging, was either forgotten in this moment of exultation, or served only to heighten its enthusiasm. The expedition, which consisted of three vessels, after stopping a few days at Blackwall, sailed down to Gravesend, and thence to the coast of Essex, where contrary winds unfortunately detained them till the 23d. Then, with a favouring gole, they quitted Eng- land and shaped their course into the open expanse of the German Sea; the sailors fixing their eyes on their native land as it gradually receded, and many, unaccustomed to these distant voyages, dropped a few natural tears at the thought that tliey were seeing it perhaps for the last time. Sir Hugh was desirous of touching at the coast of Scotland ; but this was rendered impossible by con- trary winds, which ol)liged him also to make fi^quent changes of course, " traversing and tracing the seas." On the 14th July he found himself involved in that labyrinth of isles which stud the coast of Norway between the 66th and 68th degrees of latitude. The ships then altered their course and proceeded till they came to the larger range of the Lofoot (Loffoden) Isles. The people, subject to Denmark, were gentle and courteous; but the English, evidently ignorant of this coast, sought in vain to learn how these islands were situated with regard to the Norwegian shore. They proceeded onward to the large island of Seynam or Senjan, where they endeavoured without success to procure a pilot. They were now approaching the North Cape, and saw before them the abyss of the Arctic Ocean stretching onwards to the Pole, and soon to be filled with snows and tempests. In this critical conjuncture Sir Hugh assembled the commanders, and exhorted them to keep close together ; but, in case of separation, appointed their rendezvous at Wardhuys, understood to be the principal port of Finmark. The wisdom of this precaution soon appeared ; for, before Course of voyage. tlu of to to mifl SIR HUGH WILLOUOHBY. HI i>^ tlicy could enter a harbour, there arose such ** flaws CHAP. IV. of wind and terrible whirlwinds," that they were obliged separation of to stand out to the open sea, and allow the vessels the shipo. to drift at the mercy of the waves. Amid the thick mists of the next stormy night the two principal ships separated, and never again met. Clement Adams, who was with Chancelor, says, that as they were driving before the gale, the admiral loudly and earnestly called upon them to keep close to him ; but that he himself carried so much sail, and his vessel was so superior, that the other could not possibly obey this order. Willoughby's pinnace was dashed to pieces amid the tempest ; and next morning, when light dawned, he Tompost. could see neither of his companions ; but, discovering at length the smaller vessel called the Confidence, he continued his voyage. He now sailed nearly two hun- dred miles north-east and by north, but was astonished and bewildered at not discovering any appearance of a shore ; whence it was manifest that " the land lay not as the globe made mention." The imperfect maps of those days appear not to have shown that rapid bend towards the south which the coast takes near the great opening of the Waranger Fiord, on which Wardhuys is situated. Instead, therefore, of approach- ing the borders of Norway, he was plunging deeper and deeper into the abysses of the Northern Ocean, At length the soundings, indicating a depth of 160 fathoms, proved that, as the navigators were out at sea, they must have fallen into some great and perilous error. They then for some time steered to the south- uncertalntj east, yet afterwards again turned to the north, and "><* '«"*"• continued shifting their courses amid doubt and un- certainty. As they groped their way in this manner through these vast and stormy seas, land at length appeared, but high, desolate, and covered with snow, ^ while no sound could be wafted over the waves except the crash of its falling ice, and the hungry roar of its monsters. This coast was evidently that of Nova Zembla ; but there was no point at which a landing could 112 NORTH-BAST VOYAGES. land. RiRour of the season. CHAP. iv. be made. After another attempt to push to the noitti- ward, the mariners became sensible that Norway must KaMian Lap- be sought in an opposite direction. They turned to tlie south-west, and having folio v.red that course for a number of days, saw the coast of Russian Lapland. At this point they must have been very near the opening of the White Sea, into which had fortune guided their sails, they would have reached Archangel, have had a joyful meeting with their comrades, and spent the whiter in comfort and security. An evil destiny led them westward, in the hope, probably, of reaching Wardhuys, the only point in those im- mense seas of which they had any distinct knowledge. The coast was naked, uninhabited, and destitute of shelter, except at one point, where they found it bold and rocky, but with some good harbours. Here, though it was only the middle of September, they felt already all the rigours of a northern season ; intense irost, snow, and ice, driving through the air as though it had been the depth of winter. For these reasons, the officers conceived it inexpedient to search any longer along those desolate shores, but to take up their quarters in this haven till the ensuing spring. They were sur- prised by the appearances of rein-deer, foxes. Polar bears, and " divers beasts to them unknown, and there- fore wonderful." The narrative here closes, and the darkest gloom involves the fate of this first English expedition, for neither the commander nor any of his brave com- panions ever returned to their native land. After long suspense and anxiety, tidings reached home that some Russian sailors, as they wandered along those dreary tracts, had been astonished by the view of two large ships, which they entered, and found the gallant crews all lifeless. There was only the journal of the voyage, with a note written in January, showing that at that date they were still alive. What was the immediate cause of a catastrophe so dismal and so complete, — whether it was the extremity of cold, famine, or disease, or whetJier Loss of the expedition. CHANCELOR. 113 ■'J te |e Ir all these ills united at once to assail them,— can now chap. iv. only be a matter of sad conjecture. Thomson thus pathe^ poetic"" tictUly laments their fate : — iiunent Miserable they, Who, here entangled in the gathering ice, Take their last look of the oescending sun ; While full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost, The long long night, incumbent o'er their heads. Falls horrible. Such was the Briton's fate. As ynih first prow (what have not Britons dared !) He for the passage sought, attempted since So much in vain. We must now advert to the fortunes of Chancelor, chanceior. with whom we parted amid the tempests which over- took the ships on the farthest shores of Norway. This commander pressed on, and, by keeping close to the land, or by obtaining better information, succeeded without any difficulty in reaching Wardhuys. There he waited for his companions seven days ; after which, disregarding the alarming representations of the natives as to the dangers of the wild ocean which beats on their coast, he again set sail. ** He held on his course towards that unknown part of the world, and sailed so far that he came at last to the place where he found no night at all, but a continual light and brightness of the sun, shining clearly upon the great and mighty sea." As it was now the month of August, it seems difficult to comprehend how the perpetual light of the northern midsummer should not have been perceived sooner, and that it should now be ascribed to the pro- gress eastward. Probably a course of gloomy weather had preceded, so that, at this period, it became for the first time sensible. By this means, however, the adventurers were guided to the entrance of an im- mense bay, which was no other than the White Sea, gj®^^*® as yet unknown to Western Europe. They espied a little fishing-boat, the crew of which, having never seen a vessel of similar magnitude, were as much astonished as the native Americans had been at the Spaniards, and taking the alann, fled at full speed. 114 NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. natives. Muscovy. Journey to MObCOW. CHAP. IV. Chancelor, with his party, pursued and overtook them ; Terror of uie whereupon they fell flat on the ground, half-dead, cry- ing for mercy. He endeavoured in the most soothing manner to relieve their apprehensions, and by looks, gestures, and gifts, expressed the kindest intentions. Upon being allowed to depart, they spread every where the report of the arrival ** of a strange nation, of sin- gular gentleness and courtesy." The natives came in crowds, and the sailors were plentifully supplied with provisions and every thing they wanted. Chancelor now, inquiring on what part of the world he had been thrown, learned that he was at the ex- tremity of a vast country, then obscurely known in Britain by the title of Russia or Muscovy, and which was under the absolute rule of a sovereign named Ivan Vasilovitch. Although the court at Moscow was im- mensely distant, and could only be reached by sledges over the snow, he sought and at length obtained per- mission to visit the capital of this great potentate. His journey to that city carrying him out of the sphere of Arctic discovery, it will suflice to say, that he was received in the most satisfactory manner, and returned with a letter from the czar, expressing a cordial desire to open an intercourse with England, and to grant to the Merchant-adventurers every privilege necessary to en- able them to cany on traffic in his kingdom. Those traders now assumed the title of the Muscovy Com- pany ; and the same officer was again sent out with credentials from Philip and Mary, who, in conse- quence of the premature death of Edward, then filled the throne. The original object of finding an eastern passage was not lost sight of; the captain being in- structed to make every possible inquiry on the subject. The spirit of discovery at home was too ardent, how- ever, to wait his retrirn ; and a small vessel, called the Searchthrift, being fitted out in 1666, was placed under the command of Stephen Burroughs, who on the first voyage had acted as master of Chancelor*s vessel. En- thusiasm and hope seem to have risen as high as at the The JTns- covy. Company. STEPHEN BURROUGHS. US departure of the former expedition. Sebastian Cabot CHAP. iv. went down to Gravesend with a large party of ladies Second expo- and gentlemen, and, having partaken of such cheer ae dlUon the ship afforded, invited the navigator and his company to a splendid banquet ashore. After dinner, a dance being proposed, the venerable pilot started up and tripped it along with the most youthful of the party. Under these cheerful auspices, the Searchthrift, on Tiie Search the 29th April, sailed from the Thames ; but various """^ circumstances delayed, till the middle of July, her arrival at the islands and straits of Waygatz between Nova Zembla and the continent. On the 21st the crew saw what they imagined to be land, but it proved to be a " monstrous heap of ice, v/hich was a fearful sight to see." They were soon entangled in it, and for six hours could with difficulty avoid one mass without striking upon another. Soon afterwards an immense whale came * so close that they might have thrust a sword into him ; but, alarmed lest he should overset the vessel, Bur- roughs called together his men, and caused them to shout with all their might ; upon which this mighty animal, which is neither fierce nor very courageous, plunged into the depths with a terrible noise. Among the islands of Waygatz they descried a Rus- Russian sian sail. The master, named Loshak, seemed willing vessel to avoid them, under the pretext that he was in extreme haste ; but, on receiving a glass, two pewter spoons, and two knives, he presented seventeen wild geese, and gave much information. He told them that they were on the coast of the wild Samoiedes, who owned no subjection to the czar, but " will shoot at all men to the uttermost of their power that cannot speak their speech ;" it was even said that they ate the Russians. He then conducted Burroughs to a place left by these people, where there were still three hundred of their idols, the rudest work- Native idola manship he ever saw. They consisted of figures of men, women, and children, " very grossly wrought ; the eyes, mouths, and other parts, stained with blood." We may bore mention that Johnson, one of the party, when at 116 NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. Native magic. MflRicnl triclis. CHAP. IV. the Pechora, liad been present at a mighty scene of magical incantation, performed by one of the great northern wizards. This personage first took a great sieve, somewhat resembling a drum, then he began to sing ''as we use in Enghmd to halloo, whoop, and shout at hounds," to which the company responded with^ ightty igha, igha ! At length the magician fell into con- vulsions, and dropped down as if dead, though he could still be heard breathing. The visiter having asked the meaning of all this, was told — ^** Now doth our God tell him what we shall do !" Having thus allowed him to remain for a short time, the people began to cry aghaoy aghao ! whereupon he rose and again began to sing. He next took a sword and thrust it through his body, causing it to enter at the breast and issue at the back. Johnson saw it go into the shirt before and come out at the shirt beliind, but does not seem to have scrutinized with any diligence its actual passage through the person. The magician then sat down with a vessel of hot water before him, and a line or rope of deer-skin passed round his body, over all which, as well as himself, a spacious mantle was spread. The ends of the line being left outside the robe, were drawn tight by two men, till something was heard falling into the dish. The English- man, asking what this was, learned with horror that it was the magician's head, shoulder, and left arm, severed from the body by the violent pulling of the rope. He entreated that he might be allowed to lift the cloak and view this awful spectacle, but was assured that no one could do so and live. After the multitude had sung and hallooed for some time, the covering was removed, when the wizard came forth perfectly entire, all the parts cut asunder having it seems been miraculously replaced. This imposture, however gross and obvious, appears to have completely succeeded with the ignorant natives. Burroughs had passed fifteen leagues beyond the mouth of the Pechora, and the soundings indicated an approach to Nova Zembla, when he came to the conclusion that all attempts to penetrate farther this year would bo Ridiculous credulity. STEniKN BURUOUOIIfl. 117 abortive. Among other causes, ho mcntion% the un- chap. IV. towui'd north and north-oasterly winds, which were q^^j^^JI^i^ ^.^ more powerful than in any other place he ever knew ; couutcicd. the great and terrible abundance of ice, of which he had reajson always to expect greater store ; the nights waxing dark, and Winter with his storms beginning to draw on. Under these considerations lie determined to return and pass the gloomy season at Colmogro, stating his intention to resume next summer the attempt to penetrate cast- wai'd ; but tliis, in consequence of other employment, was never carried into effect. 'Jliere occurred now a tragical incident connected with TrnRicnl in. northern discovery. The czar, Ivan Vasilovitch, sent *'' *'"'' with Clmncelor an ambassador and orator, as he is termed, Osep Ncpea Grogorowitcli, in charge of four ships heavily laden with furs, wax, train-oil, and other Russian com- modities, to the value of upwards of jC20,(K)0, which belonged partly to the merchants and partly to the im- perial envoy himself. On tliis homeward voyage, two Wreck of of the vessels were wrecked on the coast of Norway, a y "^^^J^ third reached the Thames, but the Edward Bonaventure, in which the chiefs of the expedition had embarked, was driven by the tempest into the Bay of Pitsligo, in the north of Scotland, where it went entirely to pieces. The English captain attempted, in a very dark night, to con- vey himself and the ambassador ashore in a boat ; but the skiff was overwhelmed by the waves, and the former drowned, while the latter with great difficulty succeeded in reaching the land. He thence proceeded to London, where Philip and Maiy gave him a splendid reception. From these events, an apprehension of disaster and j^^^ feeling of dismay were associated with all such voyages pi^jects. along the northern boundary of Europe and Asia. This would not probably have damped the high spirit of enterprise by which the British were then animated ; but the Muscovy Company, at the same period, had their attention diverted by the project of opening a communication with Persia and India across the Caspian, and by ascending the Oxus to Bokhara. Tliia object 118 NORTII-EAST VOYAOES. Afllatlc TO' Marches. li;iiuruiice. CHAP. IV. they prosecuted at great expense, and by a scries of fwld adventures, in the cuurso of which Jenkinson, Johnson, Alcocke, and others, penetrated deeply into the interior of Asia. An unusual degree of courage was indeed ne- cessary to undertake this expedition, which was to be begun by passing round tiie North Capo to the White Sea ; then, by a land journey and voyage down the Volga, across the whole breadth of the Russian empire to Astracan, before they could even embark on the Caspian. Tlie truth is, such a scheme was marked by the ignorance not less than by the boldness of early mercantile enterprise. It was soon ascertained that no goods could bear tiie cost of so long a carriage by sea and land ; that the products of Indiii could be brought, and those of Europe returned, much cheaper and more com- modiously, by the way of Aleppo and the Mediternmean, than by this vast circuit round the stormy North. If the former conveyance, therefore, could not stand a competition with the w^ater-carriago by the Cape of Good Hope, how could the latter 1 It was abandoned, and no attempt for a long time was made to revive it. This channel of intercourse with India having failed, the attention of commercial and nautical adventurous was again attracted to the possibility of effecting a pas- sage by the north and east of Asia. Intelligence had just been received respecting the river Oby, which was reported to enter the ocean by seventy mouths, and therefore seemed likely to communicate with the most important countries in the interior. John Balak, who had taken up his residence at Duisburg, on the Osella, wrote to Gerard Mercator, the famous cosmographer, a particular account of this river, and of the efforts made by Assenius, a native of the Netherlands, to penetrate eastward along the Asiatic coast. He mentions in par- ticular another river, described as a tributary of the Oby, but which, from the details, appeal's rather to have been the Yenisei, down which came " great vessels laden with rich and precious merchandise, brought by black or swart people." In ascending this river, men came to the large Renewed northern projects. John Balak. PET AND JACKMAN. 110 lake of Kittay (Biiikul!), on whose banks were the chap. IV. Kara Kalinucksy who, he iiMserts, wore the very people »., J~. , of Cathay. It was added, that on the shores of tills lake had been I leard sweet harmony of bells, and that stately and largo buildings had been seen therein, llenco Mer- eator, in n letter to Ilakliiyt, mfcrs that a very small progress beyond the limit already rcaehed by navigators woi Id carry them to the spacious realms of Japan and China. He nmmtained that the cai)e bounding the Gulf ^^^^^"^ of Oby was no uthor than the great promontory of Tabis, which, according to Pliny, formed the north- eastern boundary of Asia ; which being turned, the fortunate mariner would bear down direct upon Serica, Cathay, Cambalu, — those regions with which ancient and modem rumour had identified the position of the Chincso empire. This was underrating the breadth of Asia hy a hundred degrees of longitude, or more than a fourth of the circumference of the globe ; yet so imperfect wero the sources of knowledge in those days, that the error, however immense, cannot be considered as fatal to the reputation of this great geographer. To realize these views, Arthur Pet and Charles Jack- The Goorjce man were supplied in 1680 with two vessels, the George ""^ wiiUttni. and the William. On the 23d June they arrived at Wardhuys; from which they sailed on the Ist July. Approaching Nova Zembla they found themselves en- closed in a bay of ice, whence they were obliged to come out as they entered, and had much trouble before they were able to round the large field to which it belonged. On the 19th of the same month they saw Waygatz, and waygati. endeavoured to steer along its southern coast ; but found the water so shallow that they were compelled to turn and make a circuit by the north. Proceeding onwards they came to a fair low island, and found a passage between the ice and the shore, which, however, at length closed, and they could advance no farther. At the same time the ships were separated by large fields of ice, and could communicate only by beating drums and firing muskets, till they were able to rut about and rejoin 120 NORTH-EAST VOYAOES. Ympedlng ice. Groat dan> ger. CHAP. IV. each other. They enjoyed now the most favourable breeze ; but all was rendered vain by the state of the ice, " Winds we have had at will, but ice and fogs too much against our wills, if it had pleased the Lord God other- wise." The captains therefore determined to return to Waygatz, where they might confer together, and endea- vour to find a more open passage. They were now obliged to warp from one piece of ice to another, some of them 80 large that they could not see beyond them from the topmast. They were repeatedly enclosed by these masses, enveloped with dark fogs, and obliged to make fast to icebergs, where, " abiding the Lord's leisure, they con- tinued with patience." On the 13th August they were involved among loose ice, a fragment of which broke the stock of their anchor, " and many other great blows we had against the same, that it was marvellous the ship was able to abide them." The boat, being between the floe and the brig, was stinick, its side driven in, and the vessel itself was made to recoil backward. Pet and Jack- Fatal error, man did not reach Waygatz till the 16th August ; by which time, it being found impracticable to penetrate again to the eastward, they sought only to repass the North Cape. They appear to have been zealous, well- intentioned men; but, not duly acquainted with the phenomena of ice, they adhered too closely to the land, whence large masses are continually detached or carried down by tlie rivers, while the open sea might have afforded better hopes of a prosperous navigation. The United Provinces, when roused to resistance by the ferocious bigotry of Philip and by the cruelties of the remorseless Alva, after a long, hard, and glorious struggle, succeeded in establishing their little territoiy as an independent republic. Thenceforth they began to look to the sea as the source of their greatness and pro- sperity. This element surrounded their country on all sides, — it toweied, as it were, above them ; and they had employed its inundations to defend their small domain against immensely superior forces. Commerce, — a com- merce embracing the globe, — was necessary to compensate The UnJted Pi'ovinces. DUTCH EXPEDITIONS. 121 for tlie narrow limits within which they were hemmed^ CHAP. rv. and to raise them to the first rank among European ye,,elmity for states. The East was the most promismg quarter ; but coumerco. its approaches were strictly guarded, and they had not yet a fleet which could cope with the mighty armadas of Spain in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The North alone was open to their enterprise ; and, by passing its frozen boundaries, they hoped to arrive at the rich and celebrated empires whence so ample a tide of wealth had flowed into Europe. The first expedition was undertaken by a private Private society of merchants, upon asking permission only of the **^<^'*^'<*"* States and their high admiral. Prince Maurice. Three vessels, with a small yacht, were equipped at Amsterdam, Enchuysen, and Zealand. The pilot of the ship belonging to the capital, and to whose guidance the expedition was generally intrusted, was William Barentz, one of the most expert nautical men of the age. The squadron sailed from the Texel on the 6th June First oxpedu 1694, and on the 23d arrived at the island of Kilduin ^'°°* in Muscovy. Approaching Nova Zembla it was formed into two divisions, one of which attempted to pass by the old route of the Strait of Waygatz ; but Barentz himself, taking a bolder course, endeavoured to pass round to the northward of Nova Zembla, that gr*^at insular mass which opposed, like a barrier, his eastward progress. Here he coasted the Bay of Loms, so called pay of Loma from the numerous flocks of the bird of that name, probably the penguin, with wings so small, compared to its ample body, that it seemed astonishing how they could support the creature's motion in the air. Passing the Black Cape and William's Isle, his people saw various features characteristic of the Arctic world ; among others the walrus in large herds, of which they give a very good description. Subsequently, at the Orange Isles, they came upon two or three hundred lying in heaps upon the sand, and basking in the sun. Having fonned the erroneous idea that these animals are help- less on shore, the sailors marched against them as to an XOttTH-KAMT voYAnra. CHA1\ IV Attook of thc> WalriM lltipxpoctwl I'osisttinco. Northern point Tlio coni- pttiiion VttevllL nsHurcil victory, ooiigrutuliitin^ tlu'inwlvrs t»n tlio nml- titiule of valuiiMo tiTth wliicli would l)ocoiiio an vtwy prize. Dut 80 complotoly wcro tUvy iiiiHtukcn, tliiit tiic8e galliuit nmphiliiii boat tlu'in oiF with Iohb and diis- honour, bmilviiig in piocos tliu ])ilvOH, Iiatcliots, and Bal)rcs, employed in this fruitleHS (usHiuiIt. Thu crewH Hustnined also the fierce encounter of the Polar bear. Having seen one on the shore, they entered their shal- lop and discharged several balls at him, but without inHieting any deadly wound. They were then happy when they succeeded in throwing a noose about his neek, hoping to lead him like a lapdog, and carry him as a trophy into Ilcdland. They were not a little alarmed by his mighty and tremendous struggles ; but what was their consternation, when ho fastened his paws on the stern and entered the boat I The whole crew hastily clung to the poop, expecting instjuit death, either from the sea or from his jaws. Providentially at this moment the noose got entangled with the iron work of the rudder, luid the creature struggled in vain to extricate himself. Seeing him thus fixed, they at length summoned courage to advance, and despatched him with their spears. Barentz, by the Ist August, reached the northern ex- tremity of Nova Zcmbla, in hit. 77° ; but the wind blew 80 strong, separating the ice into largo ilakes, that he and his cix;w, rather early it should seem, gave up hope and resolved to return. The two other vessels meantime pushed on along tlu> coast, and in due time arrived at Waygatz. This island had a very agreeable aspect, being covered with verdure and abundance of flowers, herbs, plants, and particularly a great store of leeks. Large trees were lying piled in heaps over each other, which appeared ver^' surprising, when neither on this nor the opposite coast was there a single one growuig; but it was rightly judged that they were brought down the rivers of Tartary, and drifted hither by winds and currents. On turning a point the Dutch observed one of those great collections Tlu MTTcjiT KxrM'inrrroNK. 123 CHAP. IV. of riidoly (wvcil iiiuix<'H which hiul hccn formerly ro- iiifirkud by Hllrrou^^hH. ThoHo figiiroH rcprcHcnti'd men. woinon, and cliildrcii, hoiiiu <»f tluMii liuviii^ from four to eight hoa'«"**■ which, and shilling for somo spaco along the coast of Nova Zembla, they wero repelled by the icy barricm. Havuig by persevoranco rounded these, they arrived at n wide, blue, open sea, with the coast trending rapidly southward ; and, though this was only the shore of the Gulf of Oby, they doubted not that it was the eastei-n boundary of Asia, and would afford an easy passiigc down upon China. Instead, however, of prosecuting this voyage, they detcrmuied to hosten buck and com- mimicate to their countrymen the joyful intelligence. The two divisions met on the coast of Russian Lapland, and arrived in the Tcxcl on the 16th September. The information conveyed in regard to the supposed s,infn«lno success of this expedition kindled the most simguine hopes. hopes in the government and people of Holland. Princo Maurice and the States-general no longer confined them- selves to empty praise, but supplied funds to aid in a fresh voyage. Six vessels were fitted out, not as for adventure and discovery, but as it were to carry on an extensive traffic in the golden regions of the East. They were laden with merchandise, and well supplied with money ; while a seventh, a light yacht, was in- structed to follow them till they had passed the pro- montory of Tabia ; when, having finally extricated themselves from the Polar ices, and directed their M r} \ If; 'e"'i'y parties took a friendly leave ; but a native ran after the foreigners with signs of great anger, on account of one of the rude statues which a seaman had carried off. It was now concluded that these figures were local divini- ties, ond that the bones found lying before them were tlic remains of sjicrifices. The Dutch seem to have formed a still lower estimate than Bun'oughs of Sam- oicde sculpture. The images are described as little better than logs, somewhat rounded at the top to represent a head, with a slight projection for the nose, two little lioles for eyes, and one larger aperture to represent the mouth. The discoverers, in answer to repeated inquiries, had Renewed been informed, that beyond a point which might be*"''"'^*' reached in about five days, there extended a lurge open sea to the south-east. They made several attempts to reach this point ; but, after emerging from the passage of Waygatz, were always driven back by large bodies of floating ice. They persevered till the end of September, when these masses entered the strait in such force, that they were obliged with all speed to quit it by the west- ern opening, and bend their sails towards Holland, Y i'\ w^ 126 NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. CHAP. iv. without having accomplished any one of the brilliant objects for which they had been sent out. General dis- A Very considerable disappointment was experienced appointment, q^^ ^^e failure of an expedition concerning which such sanguine hopes had been cherished. The States-general declined to supply funds for a fresh armament ; but they proclaimed a reward to any individual or body of men by whom the end in view should be successfully accom- plished. The town-council of Amsterdam, with great spirit, determined to fit out another squadron on a smaller scale, and equipped only for discovery. They prepared two vessels, which were respectively intrusted, one to Barentz, and the other to John Comeliz Ryp, seemingly with equal power. Suspecting, perhaps, a prevalence of nostalgia, they admitted on board none but unmarried peisons, who, it was hoped, would be animated with a more resolute spirit, and less inclined to long for home. The vessels, still rather too late, set sail on the 10th of May 1696. Their object seems to have been to avoid the coast of Russia and the Straits, to shun even Nova Zcmbla, and to direct their course through the wide expanse of the Northern Ocean. They stood, however, too much towards the west, and on the 22d came in view of the Shetland Islands. Barentz urged that they should now turn due east in order to compensate this deviation ; but Comeliz represented that this would carry them at once into the Strait of Waygatz, the scene of so many abortive efforts, and insisted upon steering towards the north-noi*th-east. After changing their course, they saw the most brilliant celestial pheno- menon they had ever witnessed. The sun was attended by two parhelia or mock suns, while a bright rainbow traversed all the three, and two other bows crossed the heavens in different quarters. On the 6th June some sailors called out that a multitude of white swans were swimming in the water ; *^'7t the more experienced gave v/aming that these swaii^^ would prove pieces of ice, and accordingly they soon found themselves in the midst of Tlilrd expe dition. lea ice. DUTCH EXPEDITIONS. 127 these moving masses. For some days they proceeded CHAP. IV. between two currents of them as between two lands ; strange vvhile the colour of the water, which was as green as ocean tint grass, gave them the idea of being near the country called Greenland : but Scoresby has shown, as is else- where noticed, that this tint is produced by the contents of the sea itself. On the 9th they observed a long isl- and rising abruptly into steep and lofty cliffs, the high- est of which has borne the appropriate name of Mount Misery. Pennant, who erroneously supposes that Ben- net, in 1603, had the merit of originally making it known, remarks, — " The horror of this isle to the first Horrors of discoverers must have been unspeakable ; the prospect the ice. dreary ; black where not hid with snow, and broken into a thousand precipices. No sounds but of the dashing of the waves, the crashing collision of floating ice, the discordant notes of myriads of sea-fowl, the yelping of Arctic foxes, the snorting of the walruses, or the roaring of the Polar bears." The hills were so ex- cessively steep, that though a party contrived to clamber up they duret not look down, and the descent threatened the adventurers with no small danger. At length, ap- plying their backs to the precipice, they slid down with safety ; which Barentz, who looked up, could never have thought possible. From a bear, which they at- tacked, and vainly attempted to secure by a noose, they gave to it the name of Bear Island, which the English afterwards attempted to supplant by that of Alderman Cherie. Proceeding onward, still by too northerly a course, they reached the parallel of 80°, and discovered a coast, which soon proved to belong to a country of great extent. This was Spitzbergen, which, from the latitude they had attained, they probably approached Spitzbergen near its northern point, called Hakluyt's Headland. The name of Greenland, which has in some degree ad- hered to this island, was given under the erroneous im- pression of its being a part of that extensive coast, so called by the Icelanders ; to distinguish it from which, the epithet East has usually been applied to it. 128 NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. Retracing the coune. Nvtva Zunibla. CHAP. IV. The Dutch, finding their prepress stopped by this nnexpectcd shore, nowr retraced their steps along its deep bays, still steering southward, till they found themselves again at Bear Island. Here Comcliz and Barentz differed once more ; the former still maintaining his original views, and recommending that they should instantly push northwards, and endeavour to find their way along the eastern coast of the newly discovered land ; but Barentz insisted, more rationally, that they ought to steer east-south-east, and endeavour to round the northern point of Nova Zembla. Being unable to agree, and the latter having resolved for this time not to yield, they determined to separate, and each to make trial of his respective course. Barentz, whom we follow, proceeded according to his plan, till at mid-day, on the l7th July, he found himself off the coast of Nova Zembla ; but, as he had gone too far south, he wa« obliged to turn northwards once more. He pushed on as vigorously as possible ; yet it was not till the 6th August that he doubled Cape Nassau ; when, finding the ice drifting along in large masses, and being involved in deep fogs, he judged it expedient to moor his vessel to a large iceberg. As the master was walking on deck, he saw a large bear endeavouring to scale the sides of the ship. He immediately called out, " All hands up !" and the crew having mustered, raised loud cries, which induced the monster to retreat ; but he soon returned to the charge. They had now a sail raised along the deck, and four guns loaded, which were fired with such effect that the savage animal finally withdrew. Separation of On the 10th of August the ice began to separate, and '^ ^^ the r'eamen remarked that the berg to which they were moored was fixed to the bottom, and that all the othera struck against it. Afraid that these loose pieces would collect and enclose them, they quitted their position, and sailed on. The ice was already forming on the surface, and the ship in sailing through made it crack on all sides. Notwithstanding, they worked on their way, fastening themselves to successive fragments, one DUTCH EXPEDITIONS. 129 of which rose like a steeple, bciiig twenty fathoms above chap. IV. and twelve below the water. At one time they saw pjo^^pT ^^^ round them more than four hundred large icebergs, the burgs. fear of which made them keep close to the shore, not aware of that being the quarter where these dangerous bodies were formed, and along which they chiefly ranged. However, they still proceeded, and having passed what they called Little Icy Cape came to Orange Island, which constitutes the northern extremity of Nova Zem- bla. Here ten men swam on shore, and having mounted certain piles of ice, which rose as it were into a little mountain, they had the satisfaction of seeing the coast trending southward, and a wide open sea to the south- cast. They hastened back to Barentz with these joyful tidings, and the success of the voyage was now considered almost secure. << But these hopes were delusive ; for, after doubling DonWinpr what was called Cape Desire (Zelania), the icebergs ^*P^ ^''^"'*^ mustered in such force that the crews gave up all idea of doing more than reach the Strait of Waygatz on their return home. They were driven, however, so rapidly before the floating masses, that three men, who had mounted one of them to reconnoitre, would have been left behind, but for extraordinary exertions of agility. They were now drawn into what they called Icy Port, jey Port and the vessel was thrown into a position almost per- pendicular, with one end nearly touching the bottom. From this critical attitude they were relieved next day ; but fresh masses of ice continually poured in, augmenting the terrible ramparts with which they were enclosed. One side of her was raised by successive pieces jammed Critical noal beneath it, but the other was similarly elevated ; so that Uuu. she was lifted to the top of the ice as by machinery. All this time the cracking, both around them and w^ithin the ship itself, was so dreadful that they were in con- tinual fear of its parting into fragments ; but the internal noise, arising merely from the freezing of the juices of the timber, was much less dangerous than they imagined. They now felt that they must bid adieu for this year H .!'l 130 NORTH-EAST VOYAGES. ImprlHoncd in the ice. Floating wood. CHAP. IV. to all hopes of escape from their icy prison. As the vessel was cracking continually, and opening in different quarters, they made no doubt of its going to pieces, and could only hope to survive the winter by constructing a hut, which might shelter them from the approaching rigour of the season. Parties sent into the country re- ported that they had seen footsteps of rein-deer, also a river of fresh water, and, what was still more important, a great quantity of line trees, with the roots attached to them, strewed upon the shore. Not one of these could have grown on the frozen soil of Nova Zembla ; but, as already noticed, they were all brought down the rivers of Muscovy and Turtary, and wafted over the ocean by winds and currents. This circumstance gave a pecu- liarly cheerful colour to the hopes of the mariners. They trusted tliat Providence, which had in this sur- prising manner furnished nui,terlals to build a house, and fuel to warm it, would supply also whatever was necessary for their passing through the approaching winter, and for returning at length to their native country. A sledge was instantly formed, and three men cut wood, while ten dre w it to the spot marked out for the hut. They were desirous to raise a rampart of earth for shelter and security, and with this view kindled a lire in the hope of softening the ground, but in vain. — The cai-penter having died, it was found im- possible to dig a grave for him, and they lodged his body in a cleft of the rock. The building was carried on with ardour, as affording the only hope of life ; yet the cold endured in this operation was intense, and almost insupportable. Wlien a nail was put into the mouth, it froze to the lip, and brought the skin away, drawing blood. The snow some- times fell so thick, for days successively, that the seanven Polar Bear, could not stir from under cover. They had at the same time perpetual combats with the Polar bear. On one occasion the master saw from the ship three of these furious animals making their way towards the working- party, to whom he gave warning by uttering loud cries. Cutting wood. Building. DTJTn EXPEDI. 0N«. I'M lea. They iinmedirttcly ran towards the Nrcsst-l ';ien oi A chai*. IV. them, in his haste, fell into a cleft in tli ice, an( v;ia given up for lost ; but the bearsf overlooi ng hini» con- tinued their chase of the main body. The ^wilors Imviug Ewnpo from at length reached the ship, mode the circuit of it, and bears, mounted from behind ; but their pursuers entered in front, and advanced furiously to the attack. A man, sent down to the kitchen to light a match, was in too great haste and agitation to accomplish that simple pro- cess, and the muskets were thus useless. The crew could now only parry the assault by throwing at their assailants whatever came first to hand, by which the attention of the animals was always for a moment at- tracted, though they returned to the charge with fresh vigour. At length, when matters seemed approaching to extremity, a halberd was darted at the largest, which struck him on the mouth with such force that ho retreated from the vessel, and the others followed. Notwithstanding this intense rigour, winter had not Tenpornry yet thoroughly set in. Several days of south-west wind *^"'^' dissolved a vast quantity of ice, and the mariners saw a wide open sea without, whUe the vessel was enclosed within, as it were, by a solid wall. By October they completed their hut, and prepared to convey thither their provisions and stores. Sonie painful discoveries were now made. Several tuns of fine Dantzic beer, of an agreeable and medicinal quality, and from which they had anticipated much comfort, had frozen so hard as to break the casks, bursting even the iron hoops by ofbeerr which they were bound. The contents, indeed, exisfeed in the form of ice ; but this, when thawed, had merely the taste of bad water ; and though in the middle they found a liquor concentrating in itself the whole strength of the beer, it had not the true flavour of that beverage. They made trial of mixing the two together, but without being able to restore its proper relish and virtue. The sun, which had hitherto been their only pleasure i^eparture of and consolation, now began to pay only short visits, and to give signs of his approaching departure. He rose in Destruction « H^ . •'■ 132 N0RTH-EA8T V0YA0K9. wliitur. CHAP. IV. the south-sou tli-cnst, nnd set in tlio south -south- west, Tlio moon. ^^^**'Jg ^''*J moon was Hcnrcoly dimmed hy his presence. On the 1st Novemher liis full orh was still seen for n short interval ; on the 2d it rested on the horizon, from whicli it did not detaeh itself; nnd on tlio 4th the sky WAS calm And clear, but no sun rose or set. The dreary winter niH:ht of three months, whieh had now set in, was not, however, without some alleviations. The moon, whieh happened to be nt the full, wheeled her pale circle round the whole horizon. With the sun disappeared also the bear, and in his room came the Arctic fox, a beautiful little creature, whose flesh re- sembled kid, and furnished a variety to their meals. They found great difficulty in the measurement of time, and on the 0th, ns they did not rise till it was late, a controversy ensued whether it was really day or night. The cold had stopped all the clocks ; but they afterwaixls formed a sjuid-gloss of twelve hours, by which they contrived tolerably well to estimate the duration of their dreary solitude. On the 3d December, ns the sailors lay in bed, they heard from without a noise so tremendous, ns if all the mountains of ice by which they were surrounded had fallen in pieces over each other. In fact, the first light whicli they afterwards obtained showed a considerable extent of open sea ; yet this disruption must have been produced by some internal movement of the ice, and not by any tendency townrds thaw. Intense cold, ^.s the season advanced the cold became more and more intense. Early in December a heavy fall of snow stopped up all the passages by which the smoke could escape ; so that a fire, at all fitted for the dreadful in- clemency of the season, led to the danger of suiFocation. The men were thus obliged to keep the room at a miserably low temperature, for which they used the imperfect remedy of heated stones, passed from one bed to another. An unwonted difficulty accompanied every Wasiiing. attempt to wash their clothes : whenever they took these up from the boiling water, and began to wring them, Breaking of tliti ice. DUTCH KXIM'-DITIONH. i:m tlic llnrn frozo in thrir Imiuls ; and wlu-n they Inin^ CHAP. IV. (Iicni up to dry, tlio hMc farthost from tho firt' wan Iwird ^ " — _ tro/tMi. Ihc cold bcc'oiniii^ always iiion* rigorous, ice Umn. two inclicH thick was t'oniu-d on tlio waHs. At length their suflcrings camo to such an extremity, that, canting at each other languishing and sorrowful hxdvs, they an- ticipated that this must end in the extinction of life. They now resolvc■: shore, and was fain to submit. A considerable number of English sailors seem to have been on board these foreign ships, who were all forcibly taken out. It seems difficult to discover on what ground the subjects of King James attempted to establish their right to these coasts, since they had neither been the first dis- coverers, nor held them in any sort of occupation. In fact, they were not able ultimately to make good the pretensions which they urged in so violent a manner. There is no mention of any effort on the part of Baffin for the purpose of discovery. On the contrary, Marmaduke, who had again endeavoured to penetrate to the north of Spitzbergen, was chidden for having thereby hindered the voyage, and was prohibited from any farther attempts of the kind during the season. The former, however, made some curious observations on the effects of refraction in high northern latitudes. CAPTAIN FOTHERBY. 151 The Company still did not consider the question of a cilAP. V. northern passage decided, as, indeed, since the time of ^.^ rj~" Hudson, it could not be said to have been seriously at- iiobcrt tempted. In 1614 they appointed Robert Fotherby, in ^'otherby. the Thomasinc, to accompany their Greenland fleet of ten ships and two pinnaces, with instructions, while the rest were fishing, to devote himself mainly to discovery. Baffin accompanied him as pilot. After considerable obstructions, eleven vessels being at one time fast among the ice, the captain, by the 6th of June, pushed on to Hakluyt's Headland. He endeavoured to penetrate through Magdalena Bay, which he calls Maudlcn Sound ; but the weather was foul, and the ice lay unbroken from shore to shore. On the 10th he stood farther out, Coiwrse pnr- and succeeded in passing to the north of the headland, when he again encountered an impenetrable barrier. He then steered westward, in hopes of discovering a more favourable opening; but the ice trending south- west, he sailed twenty-eight leagues without success, and then returned to the Foreland. About the middle of July, the air becoming clear and favourable, he and Baffin ascended a high hill, to see what prospect there was of getting forward ; but as far as they could dis- cern, ice lay upon the sea, which indeed seemed wholly whaie fish- " bound with ice," though in the extreme distance there '"*' was an appearance of open water, that inspired some hope. After amusing themselves for some days killing whales, they again mounted a very lofty cmmence, from which they saw an extensive channel, but much im- peded with ice. This was Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, which they afterwards ascended to its head, and found a good harbour, very advantageously situated for the whale-fishery. It was now the 9tli of August, and Fotherby saw two Persevw- Dutch ships, which had been sent out for northern dis- *"*^®' covery, making their way homeward, after relinquishing the undertaking in despair ; but he was determined not to be baffled in his attempt without some farther struggle. He pushed towards the north from Gape I *:;<;: 152 EARLY POLAR VOYAOES. CHAP. V, Intorruptloti from leu. Sinpculnr giiuvuiice. South-west gala Hetuini. Barren, oiid had made twcnfey-four leagues, when he again met the ice. He coasted along it two days, hoping to find an opening among its shattered fragments ; but a north wind sprang up, with heavy snow, and every thing being colil, thick, and winter-like, ho was forced onco more into harbour. The shore and hill being now covered with snow, the crew were seized with the desire of returning to England ; but the captain was still un- willing to depart without some farther satisfaction. He went in a boat up RedclifFe Sound, and though ice was newly formed upon it, of about the thickness of a half- crown piece, he pierced through, and got into open water. The snow, however, continued to fall thick, and the east wind blew in the ice so forcibly, that he was glad to return to the ship. Passing a point, it was ob- served that a cross which our countrymen had erected, with the king's arms and a sixpence nailed upon it, had been taken down, ** sixpence and all," by the Dutch, and Prince Maurice's arms substituted ; this grievance, however, was speedily redressed. About the end of August a gale sprang up from the south-west, and brought milder weather than at any former period of the season ; and the strength of tlie thaw was proved by huge masses falling from the snowy banks into the sea with a sound like that of thunder. Conceiving better hopes, the navigator pushed out again, in a north-west direction, till he came nearly to the latitude of 80°, when he heard a mighty noise of the waves, as it were, breaking on an extensive shore. It proved, however, that he was now on the mai^in of the great northern ice. He coasted for some time along that grand barrier ; but was soon embayed, whence it was not without difficulty that he extricated himself. The season advancing, he took the benefit of a fair wind to steer homewards, and on the 4th October arrived at Wapping, with his whole crew of twenty-six men in perfect health. Fotherby, having recommended hhnself on this voy- age by spirit and diligence, was sent out next year ice beg disc upo oblij he sire. CAPTAIN FOTHERBY. 153 (1G16) by the worshipful Company, in the Richard, a chai* v pinnace of only twenty tons. After many conflicts with socoijd wy- ice and fog, he reached Hakluyt's Headland about the Jf^®, °'. beginning of July. He forthwith began his career of ° "" ^' discovery ; but a strong southerly gale driving him upon the ice, shattered his bark considerably, and obliged him to return. As soon as his vessel was refitted, he endeavoured, by a westerly course, to find an opening among the ice, which projected in various points and capes, but remained still fixed, and he found himself pushed by it southwards to the latitude of 76°. How- ever, he sailed still farther west, towards what he thought should have been the southern part of Hud- son's Greenland ; and seafowls in vast flocks seemed to indicate land, but the fog lay so thick, " that he might easier hear land than see it.'* When about lat. 71 J°, the air cleared, and he descried a snowy hill very high amid the clouds, while the fog lying on each side made it appear like a great continent. It proved, however, j^,, y^^^yf^^ to be only an island, probably Jan Mayen ; and as the island, shores presented nothing but drift-wood, and appeared as if fortified with castles and bulwarks of rock, no shelter was afforded from a heavy gale which began to blow. This induced him to stand out to sea, when he regained the northern point of Spitzbergen, and began to beat for a Polar passage. The wind, however, blew so strong from the north-north-east, that he gave up the attempt, only resolving, on his way home, to take a survey of Hudson's Hold-with-Hope. He came to the place where it ought to have been, but finding no land, he insisted that his predecesror must have been mistaken England. in the position assigned to it, — a suspicion which has been recently confirmed by Mr Scoresby. Availing himself then of a brisk northerly breeze, he shaped his course for England. Fotherby, on baing asked his opinion as to the pro- bability of a passage through the Arctic Ocean, replied, that though ho had not attained in this respect his de- sire, nothing yet appeared to exclude hope. There was, 154 EARLY POLAR VOYAGES. coaa. CHAP. V. lie remarked, a spftcioiis sea between Greenland and Continued Spitzbcrgen, thotigh niucli pestered with ice ; and there- hopes of »uc- fore he would not dissuade the worshipful Company from a yearly adventure of ill 50, or i!200 at the most. The little pinnace, with ten men, in which he had sailed two thousand leagues, appeared to him more convenient for that purpose than vessels of larger dimensions. A very long period, however, elapsed before any attempt of this nature was resumed. EAIILY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. 156 CHAPTER Vr. Earlji Voyages in Search of a North-west Passage, Tho i ortugucso ; The Coacroales— Tho Spaniards ; Gomez— Expeditions under Henry VIII. ; their Issue— Frobisher's First, Second, and Third Voyages— Davis* First, Second, and Third Voyages— Weymouth— Knight— Hudson ; Mu- tiny of his Men ; Disastrous Issue of the Expedition— Voy- ages of Button— Gibbons— Bylot— Baffin— Jens Munk, the Dane— Fox and James— Knight and Barlow— Middleton, &c. Notwithstanding the repeated efforts to find a passage chap, vl by the east and north-east, the west finally became the pavonrlbr scene of the grandest naval enterprises, and flattered the the North- nation longest with the hope of this signal discovery, ^®*'^^'*'**'^* The maritime world were not yet aware of the immense breadth of America at its northern limit. That conti- nent was imagined to terminate in a cape, after rounding which, and passing through the Strait of Anian, — an imaginary channel, supposed by the early gcographera to separate America from Asia, — ^an entrance would be opened at once into the Pacific, in which the navigator might proceed full sail to Japan, Cliina, the Spice Is- lands, and all the other regions abounding in Oriental wealth. Of the European nations, Portugal was the first to Portujcuosc embark in the career of ocean-discovery. Her monarchs fi^^eipnae. and nobles employed their utmost exertions to double the southern point of Africa, and thereby to overcome the obstacles opposed by that continent to a direct com- merce with India. Their efforts were crowned with 156 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Cortereal's enthusiasm Cliiinis of John Vuz, Gil spar CorteruaL CHAP. VJ, success ; and tlie passage by the Cape would have been the most brilliant exploit ever performed, had it not been rivalled by the contemporaneous discovery of America. Enough might seem to have been done, botli for the benefit and the glory of the nation, without di- recting their efforts into any other channel ; yet one of the most illustrious houses of that kingdom, with much enthusiasm and no small loss, devoted itself to western navigation. We allude to that of Cortereal ; for a member of which, named John Vaz, claims, though somewhat doubtful, have been advanced for the honour of having reached the shores of Newfoundland some time before the celebrated voyages of Columbus or Ca- bot. In 1500, his son Graspar, immediately upon hearing of the successful labours of the former of these com- manders, resolved to follow his steps. Having obtained from the king two vessels, he touched at Terceira, one of the Azores, and proceeded in a north-west direction, endeavouring to find his way to India by some of the higher latitudes. Respecting the details of this voyage there remain only detached notices, which Mr Barrow has collected with his usual learning and diligence. He reached the coast of America about the parallel of 50°, probably on the northern shore of Newfoundland, where he found a bay containing numerous islands which he calls the Golfo Quadrado,— conjectured to be the Straits of Belleisle. He then steered northwards, and passed Reaching the *^^^^ a coast which Europeans have since commonly called Labrador, but which in the early maps bears from him the name of Corterealis, In some of the nar- ratives it is designated Terra Verde (Greenland), but it has nothing in common with the country to which Eu- ropeans have still more improperly affixed that appella- tion. The territory is represented as amply stocked with timber, — a description which applies to the spa- cious forests of fir and pine that clothe the region con- tiguous to Canada on the north. The natives are correctly described as a mild and laborious race ; — and no less tlian fifty-seven being allured or carried on coast of LHbrador. boar( this E to a } Rami tainec the ei now 8 winte which Arctic and tt It wat home, ber 15 •Th< along th treated of "A 1 most no] of St hi brador. ^ martyrs attention no propr dem ffeoj and Labi perfectly nion and observati duced by Firsty \ rooted toi very. Bi coarse be ment of tl ente (betv from Lisb reaching s which W01 before reai ern for ev reach Am would plac Second, natives (m most striki COI.TEREAL. 157 le he iU- la- IliRhcst latitude attained. Terrible aspect of tlie northern winter. board, were conveyed to Portugal. After a run along chap, vl this shoi'e, estimated at about 700 miles, Cortereol camo to a point which seemed to preclude all farther progress. Ramusio, indeed, states that tlie highest latitude he at- tained was only 60°, which would coincide nearly with the entrances into Hudson's Bay. But the season was now somewhat advanced ; and the approach of the Polar winter, the floating mountains of ice, the thick snows which filled the air, — the gloomy characteristics of an Arctic climate, — must, to a crew accubtomed to warm and temperate seas, have appeared peculiarly terrible. It was therefore judged absolutely necessary to return home, and Cortcreal arrived at Lisbon on the 8th Octo- ber 1501.* That this necessity, however, was con- • The yiew here taken of Cortereal's voyage, as extending along the coast of Labrador, has been lately contested, and even treated as an ** absurd hypothesis," by the anonymous author of ** A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot." He maintains that the most northern point reached by that navigator was in the Gulf of St Lawrence, or at farthest the southern extremity of La- brador. This question, relating to one of the most iflustrious martyrs in the cause of early discoverer, seems to merit some attention. It may be premised, that this hypothesis can with no propriety be called ourst since it is the general belief of mo- dem geographers, expressed by the very names of Corterealis and Labrador, always applied to this coast. Doubtless it was perfectly open for the author, if he could, to disprove this opi- nion and establish his own ; but it is conceived tnat a very few observations, founded in a ^eat measure on documents pro- duced by himself, will prove it to be palpably erroneous. First, The voyage is allowed on all hands to have been di- rected towards the north, and with a view to northern disco- very. But as the objects lay westward, the direction would of course be modified accordinely, and we may accept the state- ment of the Italian ambassador, that it was tra maestro e pon- ente (between north-west and west). But such a course, either from Lisbon or Terceira, could scarcely be compatible with his reaching any point south of the St Lawrence, certainly not one which would admit of 600 or 700 miles of northerly navigation before reaching that river. By supposing one degree of north- ern for every four of western sailing, we should make him reach America in about the latitude of 50 degrees, which would place him on the northern coast of Newfoundland. Second, The mild and laborious character ascribed to the natives (tnolto mansueti—excellentia da fatiga), presents the most striking contrast to the fierce and proud indolence of the 158 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VL sidercd to arise from the season only, and that no panic was struck into the mind of this intrepid navigator, was Undaunted courage. i\ North American Indians ; it applies exclusively to the Esmii- maux tribes. The habit of subsistini; almost wholly on fish, the clothing formed almost entirely or seal-skin, the roofing of the huts with skins of fishes, are features which, occurring to such an extent, become strikingly characteristic of shores in- habited by Esquimaux. These two first observations concur to render our conclusion highly probable ; the third seems to remove every shadow of doubt. After sailing along this coast six or seven hundred miles, the navigator was arrested by a frozen sea and prodi- gious falls of snow imare agliazato e infinita cojAa de neve) ; e then sailed homewards, and arrived at Lisbon on the 8th of October. Hence the above phenomena, marking the setting in of the utmost severity of an Arctic winter, must have presented themselves not later than the middle of September. Surely no one at all acquainted with the phenomena of climate can con- cur with the author of the Memoir in the sunposition that at that season the expedition could be arrested, in the mannei above described, in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Respecting the latitude reached by Cortereal, there occur two different statements. Some make it 50°, others 60". The author zealously adopts the former, considering it as the ulti- mate point reached oy that navigator. So anxious is he to accumulate authorities upon this head, that he quotes first Oomara and then Fumee, as if they had been separate authors, although he knows the one to be only the translator of the other. The truth is, there is not the slightest discrepancy be- tween the statements. There are two positions to be con- sidered ; that at which Cortereal first touched the American coast ; and the one where, after sailing 600 or 700 miles, he terminated his coasting-voyage. The latitude of SO'' seems evidently to correspond to the first point, where he found the Golfo QuadradOf the extensive pine-forests, and the country wearing a smiling aspect. The verv expression of Galvano, that " he sailed into that climate which standeth under the north in 50 degrees," clearly implies this as the latitude at which America was reached ; and this, as already observed, agrees exactly with the direction in which Cortereal sailed from Portugal. The latitude of 60° again appears as clearly to be the most northern point, where his progress was arrested by the frozen sea, and the air filled with wintry tempests ; and it is remarkable, that ten degrees, the difference between these two latitudes, corresponds exactly with the space of 600 or 700 miles, which he is represented to have sailed along the American coast. The only feature that seems at all to support our author's hypothesis, and on which indeed he seems to place his sole re- liance, is the verdant and smiling aspect whion the navigators the or'a CORTEREAL. 159 sufficiently testilied by his appearing on the sea next chap. vr. season with two vessels, which he steered directly to „ ~ — the most northerly point attained in the former voyage, attempt Here he is described as entering a strait, Hudson's per- haps, or more probably Frobisher's ; but at this critical moment the two ships were separated by a tempest, . amid the floating ice with which these narrows are in- of the iiiipt fested. One of them succeeded in extricating itself, <'.nd searched for some time in vain for its consort ; but this last, which had on board the gallant leader of the expe- dition, was seen no more, and no intelligence could ever be obtained of its fate.* ascribed to this reffion. This does not exactly correspond with our ideas on the subject ; but the truth is, that certain tracts wholly uncultivated, even in the neighbourhood of the Arctic circle, e^^hibit, when arrayed in their summer robe, an appearance peculiarly pleasing. The varied vegetation, the profusion of wild flowers, and the bushes loaded with delicious berries, compose a gayer scene than is displayed on more southern shores that are covered with the dark luxuriance of tropical foliage. * We consider it a somewhat hasty conclusion formed by the author of the Memoir of Cabot, that it " cannot be doubted that the objects of Cortereal's second voyage were timber and slaves.'* This seoms to harmonize verv ill with the character of the navigator, and the lofty spirit of Emanuel, by whom he was employed. These objects appear, indeed, from the letter of a Venetian ambassador, to have been mentioned, but chiefly, we suspect, to satisfv that class of persons who considered mercantile profit as tne only legitimate object of maritime dis- covery. Osorio, a verv eminent Portuguese historian^ who wrote the history of Emanuel's reign under the sanction of one of his sons, gives a very opposite view of the motives of Gortereal. He says, in regard to the first voyage, ** GlorisB cu^iditate vehementer incensus, ad sui nominis memoriam pos- tens aliquo facto memorabili prodendam pertinere arbitratus est." (Powerfully inflamed by the desire of glory, he thought it concerned him to transmit his name to posterity by some memorable exploit.) With regard to the second voyage, the observation is : — ^" Cum ad spem multo plura cognoscendi ra- peretur— ut latius littora illius omnia pervagaretur, et gentis mores et instituta perdisceret.'* (Being urged by the hope of obtaining more extensive knowledge— that ha might traverse more widely all the shores of that country, and might learn thoroughly the manners and customs of the people.) — Be Bebiu Mmanuelis^ &c., 63. 160 EARLY NORTH-WEST V0YA0E8. CurtcreaL CiiAi'. VL When these gloomy tidings were conveyed to Por- tugal, Miguel Cortereal, a younger brother, animated with the most tender affection for Caspar, and with a congenial spirit of enterprise, determined to put to eea in search of him. Having equipped three vessels, he sailed on the 10th May 1602 from the port of Lisbon. On arriving at the numerous openings uito t^^ *' . Hudson's Bay, the captains adopted the plan of explor- the mouth of. . i .1 . . 1 5 mu* i. Hudson's ing separately the vanous mlets. This, however pro- ^'^y- mising in some respects, was an imprudent step ; for nothing could have conduced more to their mutual safety than to keep close togethet, and be ready to aid each other in those dreadful exigencies to which this navigation is liable. It proved a fatal measure; two of them, indeed, met and returned ; but Miguel and his crew shared the fate of those whom they had gone to seek ; and it was never known where or how they perished. The survivors reported at Lisbon this heavy aggravation of the former distress. Fra- ternal affection and daring courage seem to have char^* acterized the whole of this noble race. There was still a third brother, Vasco Eanes, who besought of the Vaxo Eanc8 king permission to search for his lost kindred amid the abysses of the northern ocean ; but on this project a royal veto was absolutely imposed ; his majesty de- claiing that it was more than enough to have lost in this cause two of his best and most faithful servants. After a commencement so gloomy, and such gallant efforts made in vain, it does not appear that the project of effecting a passage in the Arctic sea was ever re^ rived in Portugal. Spain, which had made the discovery of America, and from that success derived so much glory and wealth, might have been expected to take a deep in- terest in every thing connected with its farther explora- tion. The fact, however, appears to be, that revel- ling amidst the rich plains and glittering treasures of Mexico and Peru, she felt little attraction towards the bleak coTi^nes of the Northern Pole. Only one Inertness of Spain GOMEZ. 161 voyage is mentioned, that, namely, which was untUr- chap. Vt taken in 1624 by Gomez, with the view of seeking a yoy, "7of shorter passage to the Moluccas. He is understood Oumuz. to have tcuched at Newfoundland, sailed along the ix>ast of New England as far as the 40th degree of latitude, and returned, after a voyage of ten months, bringing with him a few of the natives, but without making any material addition to the information col- lected by Cabot. Britain at last assumed the task of discovery, and uritisii made it almost exclusively her own. Her efforts, *"' *''" ^ indeed, were long in vain : — the barriers of nature were too mighty ; — ar/d Aiiv ric.«:; stretching her shores into regions thai 1i«; liewuatb. Ihj perpetual sweep of tlic northern tempeiiif., itiiceii's navije^ation precarious and doubtful. Mote i^ct^.ntly, however, sho has earned high glory in thic 'iaseer ; aho liHf fonviod in it seme of her greatest' naval ximroandt'ir ; lias opt n. id new channels for Iho vvliale-fjai)*^^ j Psed tho linuvi of the western contJrcnt ; and c .cplond Oio widu ?eaa wid large islands which rang ; alor(g itb :;emiM(?8t uhcvcH. But even in this couiiiiy ihert' was a lor.g ".;it(;v- indifferonce ruption in maritime discuvc.fy, Henry YlJf.. aa y^e^^^^^^^y formerly observed, showed from his accession almost an entire absence of the t:eal manifested bv 'h'm pre- decessor; and Scbfistian Cebot, who litd ej'med per- haps the highest Tiamo in Europe for navrtl skill and 'enterprise, finding no encoui-ageniw a1 , reaolved *.o transfer his services to the court of Spain. Amid this neglect, however, he yecma to hp\e prestr »ed the strongest Sehastian attachment to his native country. He repaired thither '^ " in 1517> anti prevail ei upon the king to fit out an expedition with the usual object of discovering a new route to tj.e East. Unfortunately the command was intnistc?^ not to Cabot himself, the early and able leader of such expeditions, but to Sir Thomas Pert, Sir Thrmas who though he held the high rank of vice-admiral ^'^^^ of England, seems to have been destitute of the quali- ties requisite for this arduous field of enterprise. The K 162. EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VL other was allowed to act only as his pilot ; yet in this Course ex- Capacity he guided the vessel, according to his own pioroiL statement in a letter to Ramusio, to the latitude of 67^° N. ; and the researches of the author of " A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot" have even given reason to con- clude that he actually entered Hudson's Bay, and was ascending what has since been called the Fox Channel. He considered the voyage so far as having been quite prosperous, and declares that he both could and would have gone to Cataia (China) ; but the courage of the commander, as well as of the crew, appears to have failed, and they refused to proceed any farther. By the unsuccessftil issue of this voyage, the monarch seems to have been confirmed in his previous indiffer- ence to discovery. Cabot was again obliged to have recourse to Spain, and was soon after created grand pilot of that kingdom ; nor did he return to England till the period of Henry's deatJi. Ten years after this failure, his majesty, urged by a strong representation on the part of Mr Thome of Bristol, who seems to hint that on account of his apathy on this subject he was unworthy to reign, was induced to fit out another expedition for the same object. The records of it are most imperfect ; though the author of the " Memoir " has found that the names of the vessels were the Mary and the Sampson, and that they reached the latitude of 63° N. ; but, having probably set out too early in the season, they were arrested there by ice and snow, and turned to the southward. One of them appears afterwards to have touched at Porto Rico. This undertaking was followed, at the distance of nine years, by another, which was set on foot by Mr Hore of London, a wealthy individual, who easily induced thirty young gentlemen of family and fortune, some of whom were from the Inns of Court, to embark along with him. In this case also Hakluyt had to lament the absence of written records ; but he found out Mr Oliver Dawbeny, who sailed in one of the Remon- strance of Mr. Thorno of Bristol. Mr. Hore of London MR. HORE. 163 vessels ; and having learned that a son of Sir William chap. VI Buts of Norfolk had been of the party, and was still sonrce of alive, he rode two hundred miles for the purpose ol inwnnotlon. conversing with that gentleman. From these sources he was informed that the band of volunteera mustered in military array at Gravesend, and, having taken the sacrament, went on board. They had a long and tedious voyage, during which their buoyant spirits con- siderably flagged. At the end of two months they reached Cape Breton, then held as part of the West captj Breton. Indies; whence, in fulfilment of their views, they endeavoured to shape a more northerly course. They reached Penguin Island, the same probably since called Birds' Island, abounding in fowls as large as a goose, and even in bears, which made such tolerable food that all their wants were supplied. Having proceeded to Newfoundland, Dawbeny one day called on his comrades to come and view a boat with the " natural Newfound, people of the country," whom they had earnestly !«»<*• desired to see. A barge was fitted out to treat with them ; but the savages, alarmed, fled precipitately, relinquishing the side of a bear which they had been roasting; and all attempts to overtake them vvere fruitless. The country, indeed, appears to have been singularly barren and desolate. Food, it was said, could be procured only by purloining from the nest scircity of of an ospray the fish collected for her young. It seems ***o^ strange that they should have remained on this shore, where famine soon rose to such a pitch as to drive them to a most frightful extremity. Several of them waylaid a companion, killed him, and deposited his flesh in a secret place, to which they repaired, and having roasted it in successive portions, eagerly fed upon it. An accident betrayed this dreadful secret. One of the crew, walking with a comrade who had shared in the cannibal feast, smelt the savour of broiled * meat, and reproached him with keeping a private hoard, while others were in ouch fearful want. They came to high words, when the guilty person said, 164 FARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Capttire of a Fit II eh vessol GUAR VI «« Well, ff you will have it, it is a piece of 's Remon flesh." This heing reported to the captain, he called Spuin."^*^* together the ship's company ; and solemnly represent- in3^ to them the dreadful crime they had committed, ohtained a promise that it should be carried no farther. The famine, however, becoming always more pressing, they were at length driven to the necessity of pursuing this horrible expedient systematically, and had ar- ranged the casting of lots to decide whose life should be sacrificed to save the rest, when a French ship appeared in view. Finding it to be well stored with provisions, they scrupled not to attack and seize it, recommending the ejected crew to the ill-provided bark which they themselves had left. They made their way in all haste home, which they reached in the most squalid and miserable state. So changed was young Buts that neither Sir William nor his mother could recognise him, till he displayed a secret mark ttSjich.^^ which proved him to be their son. Meantime the Frenchmen arrived in their own country, and raised loud complaints against the cruel and unwarrantable manner in which they had been treated. Henry, un- able to deny the extreme hardship of their case, yet moved with pity towards his own subjects, whom he was unwilling to punish, liberally paid from his private purse the full extent of the loss. From so slight a narrative it were rash to form any very positive conclusion ; yet we cannot help observing, that there is little appearance of the adventurers having gone out duly prepared for their arduous undertaking, and little display of nautical skill, prudence, or good conduct, in the whole of the expedition. After so disastrous an issue, the spirit of western discovery slumbered. The great zeal kindled in the succeeding reign of Edward VI. turned wholly to the eastward, producing the voyages of Sir Hugh Willough- by and others, which have been recorded in a former chapter. It was otherwise during the government of Queen Elizabeth ; though that princess, however much men. Want of uklU shown. Abandon- nr.ent of tlie western ex- pforation. MARTIN FEOBISHER. 165 inr'med to favour whatever might contribute to the glory and interests of her kingdom, did not originate any of these schemes. Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Mr Richard Willis wrote treatises, where learned observations were combined with fanciful reasonings and erroneous reports ; but all calculated to influence the public mind in sup- port of 3uc h undertakings. The first voyage was planned and coDuucted by Martin Frobisher, an officer who aftenvards distinguished himself by naval exploits in every quarter of the globe, but who earned his early fame by contending with the snows and tempests of the northern deep. Regarding the western passage as the only great thing in the world still left undone, he solicited during fifteen years, in city and court, the means of equipping a small flotilla capable of accom- plishing this important object. The mercantile bodies manifested a coldness very unlike the ardour displayed on former occasions ; but some influential persons proved at length more favourable, and, through the interest of the Earl of Warwick, he was enabled, in the year 1676, to fit out three vessels, respectively of S5, 30, and 10 tons. These little barks, or rather boats, seemed ill fitted for navigatuig the Arctic deep ; yet Mr Scoresby has observed, that such vessels are better calculated for threading their way through channels obstructed by ice, and even for withstanding somewhat rude sliocks from it, than larger and more unwieldy fabrics. Frobisher, on the 8th June, dropped down from Deptford to Greenwich, where the court then resided, and, in passing the palace, fired a round in his best style. The queen looked fi-om the windows, cheering and waving her hand, and Secretary Walsingham went on board, wished the captain success, and exliorted the crews to good order and obedience. Having on the 19th reached Yarmouth, he thence stood out to sea, and on the 26th saw before him Sumburgh Head, a bold pro- montory in Shetland, while he had Fair Isle to the north-west. In the remainder of his course, he only gives his distances, latitudes, and directions. On the CHAP. VT. Treatises of Gilbert and WiUis. MarMn Frobisher. Interest of tlie Earl of Warwick. Depaitnre of Frobialier. ,A 166 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Greenland. Stopped by tiie ice. CHAP. VL nth July he saw a range of precipitous summits which, FirstsiKht of even in the height of summer, were all white with snow. He concluded this coast to he the Friesland of Zeno, hut in fact it was the southern point of Grreenland, near Cape Farewell. A boat put out towards the coast, but found it so barred with ice and obscured by fog that it was impossible to land. The navigators now steered westward, suffering severely from northerly gales. On the 14th the wind shattered their fore-yard, and bore the mizzenmast overboard ; and on the 16th the topntast with its sail broke off, and fell into the sea. They continued, however, to press on ; and upon the 22d a thick mist dispersing, showed a long line of coast, conjectured to be Labrador. Ice, however, formed an impassable barrier between them and the land, while the lead went down 100 fathoms without touching the ground. The current was very strong, but from the im- possibility of coming to anchor, could not be measured ; yet it seemed not less than a league and a half an hour. On the 1st August the discoverers approached to make observations on a large island of ice, which, as they were vie ing it, went to pieces, and fell into the sea with a tremendous crash. Having on the 18th reached a more accessible coast, they were desirous to ascertain if it was inhabited. Seeing seven boats plying along the beach, they sent out one of their own, the crew of which, by holding up a white cloth, induced a canoe to approach ; but on seeing the ship the natives immediately turned back. Frobisher then went on shore, and, by the distribution of several little presents, enticed one of them to come on board. This person being well treated with meat and drink, mfide when he landed so favourable a report that Appearanoo. nineteen followed his example. The sailors had then a full opportunity of observing this Esquimaux race. They are described as " like to Tartars, with long black hair, broad faces, and flat noses, having boats of seal-skin, with a keel of wood within the skin." Next day they appeared more shy, and with some difficulty one of them, Interview vrlth the natives. MARTIN FROBISHER. 167 by the allurement of a bell, was drawn on board. The chap. VT. captain, having no intention to detain him, sent a boat i^^s'^ve with five men to put him on shore at the angle of a men, rock ; but these, urged by curiosity and blinded by false confidence, went on to join the main body of the natives — a fatal step ; they were never allowed to return Frobisher spent two days firing guns, and making inquiries at every point, but without success. On tlie 26th August, without any very particular Return reason assigned, the navigator turned his face towards *"™®" home, and reached Harwich in the beginning of October. He had made little progress towards a western passage ; yet, having with such slender means penetrated thus far and discovered a new country, dignified with the title of Mcta Incognita, his voyage was considered highly creditable, and as affording good promise for the future. The public interest was excited by another circumstance of a very illusory nature. All his friends importuned him to give them something or other which had come Meta inco©- from Meta Incognita. At a loss to satisfy this desire, he "'^'^ cast his eyes on a large stone which, from its glittering appearance, he had bf^en induced to take on board. He broke it into piece j, aud distributed them among the circle of his acquaintances. One portion was received by a lady, who happened to drop it into the fire, where, after burning for some time, it appeared to glitter like gold. Being thereupon submitted to the goldsmiths, they were so ignorant, or so misled by the enthusiasm of the moment, as to pronounce it a valuable ore of the most precious of metals. This false decision threw all False hopes. England into a ferment of joy. There was no difficulty now in equipping an expedition. The queen contributed the ship Ayde of 180 tons, besides means for enabling Frobisher to fit out two other vessels, the Michael and Gabriel, of 80 tons each. Being invited to visit the queen at Lord Warwick's seat in Essex, he was allowed to kiss her majesty's hand, and heard from her lips many gracious expressions. He sailed again on the 2Gth May 1577, with such a 168 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Second voyuge, Continuous liKlit. CHAP. VI. " nierrie wind" that on the 8th June he touched at the Orkneys for fresh water, allowing his gentlemen and soldiers to go on shore for recreation. The poor inhabi- tants, having, it is probahle, suffered from the inroads of pirates, fled from their houses with cries and shrieks ; but were soon, by courteous treatment, induced to return. Their accommodations were found truly mi- serable ; they had no chimneys in their houses, the fire being placed in the middle of the floor, the one side of which was occupied by the family, and the other by the cattle, while oat-cakes and ewe-milk were their only food. The discoverers now entered on their perilous voyage through the Northern Ocean, during which they were much cheered with the perpetual light, as it allowed them at all hours to read or otherwise amuse themselves ; which, it is observed, is peculiarly agreeable to such as " wander in unknown seas and long naviga- tions, where both the winds and raging surges do pass their common course." They were surprised to see large fir-trees, torn up l>y the roots, floating in the midst of the waves. On the 4th July, Friesland presented its awful front, a range of inaccessible mountains entirely covered with snow, unless where, from the extreme steep, ness of the cliffs, it had broken off and fallen into the sea. During four days* sail they saw, whenever the thick fogs dispersed, a coast equally dreary, without any landing-place, and without a sign of human habitation or even of lifi ; yet little birds, apparently bewildered in the mist, came and alighted on board, and gave the impression that there might be a milder region in the interior. But the inexperienced part of the crew were especially struck by the islands of ice, rising thirty or forty fathoms above the water, and rooted at the bottom, which the line could not reach. Frobisher now sailed across to Labrador, and touched at a sound which received his name. The coast, how- ever, was found guarded by a mighty wall of ice, which the ships could not penetrate ; though the captain, with two of his boats, succeeded in working his way into tbe Friesland. Labrador. MARTIN FROBISHER. 169 strait, and began to survey the country. So crude were CHAP. \t then the ideas of seamen respecting the geography of cnidT~ these regions, that they imagined the shore on their i>otionnoft/k« left to be America, and that on their right to be Asia. Landing on the former they scrambled to the top of a hill, and erected a column, which, after the great patron of the expedition, was called Mount Warwick. On ifount their return cries were heard like the lowing of bulls, ^*'^*'*'^ and a large body of natives ran up to them with an air of cordiality and confidence. They entered eagerly into traffic for the trifling ornaments displayed by their visiters, yet declined every invitation to go on board ; while the English, on the other hand, did not choose to accede to their proposal of going into the country. Frobisher and one of his people meeting two of the natives apart, rashly attempted to drag them to the boats, hoping there to gain their friendnhip by presents find good usage. On the slippery ground, however, their feet gave way, the Esquimaux broke loose, and Attnckofthe found behind a rock their bows and arrows, which they "'*''^®^ began to discharge with great fury. The captain and his companion, seized with a panic scarcely justified by two such miserable assailants, fled full speed, and the former reached the barge with an arrow sticking in his leg. The crew, imagining that something serious must have happened to their commander, gave the alarm, and ran to the rescue. The two barbarians instantly retreated ; but Nicholas Conger, a stout fellow, servant to Lord Warwick, seized one of them and dragged him into the boat. Meantime the ships outside were involved in a dread- Tempest ful tempest, being tossed amid those tremendous ice- islands, the smallest of which would have been sufficient to have crushed them into a thousand pieces. To avoid « dangers which so closely beset them, they were obliged to tack fourteen times in four hours ; but with the benefit of constant light, the skill of their steersman, and the aid of Providence, they weathered the storm without being compelled to drive out to sea and abandon ihi' 170 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYA(JES. CHAP. VI. Mistaken discovery. EfTects of a iiorth-wctit Kule. Siiapicions entertained. AttACk on the iitttivea their friends ashore. On the 19th Frohisher wont aboard, carrying with him a hirge store of glittering stone ; upon M'hich, says Dionise Little, " wo were all rapt with joy, forgetting both where we were and what wo had suf- fered. Behold," says he, " the glory of man, — to-night looking for death, to-morrow devising how to satisfy his greedy appetite with gold." A north-west gale soon sprung up ; before which, like magic, the mighty barriers of ice by which they had been shut out from the land melted away. They had now a broad and open passage, whereby they en- tered the Sound, which, in their imagination, was still identified with a strait leading into the Pacific Ocean. In a run of more than thirty leagues they landed at different points, and, mounting to the tops of hills, took possession of the country, with solemn ceremonies, in name of her majesty. Having found in one place a bridle of singular construction, they oxiuiiined their captive upon it, who thereupon seized a dog, attached the bridle, yoked the animal in a sledge, and exhibited the Esquimaux mode of driving. This person admitted that he was not entirely ignorant respecting the five men captured the preceding year, but repelled most strenuously the insinuation that tliey had been killed and eaten. However, a dark source of suspicion was soon opened ; for in some of their boats were found, along with bones of dogs, flesh of unknown animals, and other strange things, an English canvass doublet, a shirt, a girdle, three shoes for 'ontrary feet, — apparel which, beyond all doubt, belonged to their lost countrymen. Anxiously hoping to recover them, they left a letter in the boat, and pen, ink, and paper, with which to return an answer. With the same view, still more vigorous measures were adopted. Forty men, under Charles Jackman, marched inland to take the natives in the rear, and drive them upon the coast, where Frobisher with a party waited to intercept them. The savages, meanwhile, had removed their tents into the interior ; but the invadei-s, after proceeding over several moun- 4' I MARTIN FROBISIIER. 171 tains, descried another cluster of huts, supposed at first chap, vl to belong to a diiFcrent horde. The agitation ond alarm, j^i^,^ however, which were visible the instant our country- men were observed, showed that this was the guilty band ; and, accordingly, hastening to their canoes, and pushing out full speed to sea, they rowed with a rapidity which would have baffled all purauit, had not the captain with his boats held the entrance of the sound. As soon OS they saw themselves thus bcuet, they landed among the rocks, abandoning their skiffs, wrhich they hoped to render useless by breaking the oars. The English immediately rushed to the assault ; while the natives ^^^g^ult of stationed on the rocks resisted the landing, and stood the uativca their ground with the most desperate valour. Over- whelmed with clouds of arrows, they picked them up, plucking tliem even out of their bodies, and returned them with fury. On feeling themselves mortally wounded, they plunged into the sea, lest they should fall into the hands of the conquerors. At length, completely worsted, and having lost five or six of their number, they sprang up among the clifTs and eluded pursuit. There fell into the hands of the assailants only two females, who caused some speculation. One N«Hve was stricken in years, and presented a visage so sin- gularly frightful as to suggest to some of the crew the uncomfortable suspicion that the great enemy of man- kind stood before them in person. This impression gaining ground, it was resolved to ascertain whether or not she possessed the cloven foot. Her buskins were plucked off, to satisfy the credulous sailors as to the fact whether she did not present that peculiar structure of the lower extremities supposed to characterize the dread foe of the human race. As this essential mark was found wanting, it was instantly determined, by liberating her, to deliver their eyes from so hideous a spectacle. The other female was young, with a child Young in her arms ; and being, from her peculiar costume, '"'""'^ mistaken for a man, had been fired at and the infant wounded. It was in vain to apply remedies ; she licked 172 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Attscliment of QAtlvec Interview with the Utttiveai Noffotlation entered Inta CHAP. VI off with her tongfue the dressings and salves, and curc>e it in her own way. She and the mnle captive formerly taken looked strange at first ; but on becoming intimate, found much comfort in each other's society, and showed a strong mutual attachment. Frobisher still cherished hopes of discovering his men. A large party appearing on the top of a hill, signs were made of a desire for mutuf/. accommodation. A few of them advanced, and were introduced to the captives. The parties were deeply affected, and spent some time without uttering a word ; tears then flowed ; and when they at last found speech, it was in tones of tenderness and regret, which prepossessed tiie English much in their favour. The capttiin now assured them that, on con- dition of their restoring his five men, they should receive back their own friends, with the addition of sundry of those little articles on which they set the highest value. This they promised, and also to convey a letter to the prisoners. Doubtless by this time these unfortu- nate individuals no longer lived, and the natives conse- quently liad no means of redeeming their pledge ; but they determined, by force or stratagem, to effbct their purpose. Three men appeared holding up flags of bladder. Inviting the Europeans to approach ; but the latter, who saw the heads of others peeping from behind the rocks, resolved to proceed with the utmost cautioUc The savages began by placing in view large pieces of excellent meat ; and when their enemy could not be caught by that bait, one of them advanced very close, feigning lameness, and seeming to ofli;r himself an easy prey. Frobisher allowed a shot to be fired, by which this person was cured at once, and took to his heels. Seeing all their artifices fail, the barbarians determined upon main force, and pouring down to the number of a hundred, discharged their arrows with the greatest fury. They even followed a considerable way along the coast, regardless of the shot directed against them by the sailors ; these last, in the mean time, being too distant from the shore to sufi^er the slightest annoyance. Ntttlvti BttilciL MARTIN FROBISHER. 173 d a Formation of Ice. Several of his men, indied, oaked permission from their CHAP. VI. leader to land and attack the barbarians ; but this he refused, as only calcuhitcd to defeat tlicir main object, and to cause useless bloodshed. The 21st of August had now arrived, tlie ice was be- ginning to form around the ships, and though little progress had been made towards China, the crews had put on board two hundred tons of the precious mineral. They therefore mounted the highest hill, fired a volley in honour of the Countess of Warwick, and made their way home. Notwithstanding the vicissitudes which had marked this Return to voyage, the arrival of the ships was hailed with the utmost ^"***"'^ exultation. Enthusiasm and hope, both with the queen and the nation, rose higher than ever. The delusion of the golden ore continued in full foir^e, and caused those desolate shores to be regarded as another Peru. Special commissioners, men of judgment, art, and skill, were named by her majesty to ascertain both the quality of the shining substance and the probability of effecting a voyage to India. After due inquiry, a most favourable report was made on both subjects, recommending not only that a new expedition on a great scale should be fitted out, but a colony established on that remote coast, who might at once be placed in full possession of its treasures, and be on the watch for every opportunity of farther discovery. To brave the winter of the Polar proposed regions was a novel and daring enterprise ; yet such p?'*'" «"'<>• was then the national spirit, that the appointed number of a hundred was quickly filled up. There were forty mariners, thirty miners, and thirty soldiers, in which last number were oddly included not only gentlemen, • but gold-finers, bakers, and carpenters. Materials were sent on board the vessels fit for being converted into a fort or house. The squadron was the largest that had yet ventured to plough the northern deep. It consisted of fifteen vessels, furnished by various ports, especially by those of the west ; and the rendezvous took place at Harwich on the 27th May 1678, whence they sailed 174 KaRLY nortif-west voyaoks. New expoiU kluiu Perilims Kltuatluik OHAP. Vl on the 31 st. Tlic cupUiins wuitod on tho queen ftt Greenwich, nnd were personally addressed by her in i\w most gracious manner, — Frobisher receiving n chain of gold, and the honour of kissing her majesty's hand. It has been already observed, that expeditions got up on tho greatest scale, and with the most ample means, have usually proved the most unfortunate. A numer- ous fleet is ill calculated to steer through tho icc-cn- timgled straits, and amid tho huge masses which are found floating in all parts of tho Arctic ocean. On reach- ing the Queen's Forelond, at tho opening of Frobishcr's Strait, the navigators found it frozen over from side to side, and barred as it were with successive walls and bulwarks. A strong easterly wind hod driven many icebergs upon the coast, and hence the situation of the mariners soon became very perilous. The Dennis, a large vessel, on board of which was part of the projected house, i-eceived such a tremendous blow from a mountain of ice, that it went down almost instantly, the men being with difficulty saved by another ship which hastened to their aid. This spectacle alarmed tho other crews, who felt that the same fate might next moment be their own. The danger was much augmented when the gale increased to a tempest, and the icy masses, tossing in every direction, stiiick furiously against the sides of the vessels. Invention was now variously at work to find means of safety. Some moored themselves to these floating islands, and being carried about along with them, escaped the tremendous concussions which they must otherwise have encountered. Others held, sus- pended by the sides of the ship, oars, planks, pikes, avert danger, poles, every thing by which the violence of the shocks might be broken ; yet the ice, " aided by the surging of the sea and billow," was seen to break in pieces planks three inches thick. The commander considers it as redounding highly to the glory of his poor miners and landsmen, wholly unused to such a scene, that they faced with heroism the assembled dangers that besieged them round. " At length it pleased God with his eyep Fatile attempts tn T1 1 MARTIN FUOniHIIKIt. 175 of mercy to look down from heaven," — n brisk south- CHAP. VI. west wind dispersed the Ice, and gave them on open scu through which to navigate. Having spent a few days In repairing his squadron, Courm pnr Frobisher again used all his efforts to penetrate to the *"*^ spot where he was to found his colony. After consider- able exertion he made his way into the strait, wlien he discovered that ho was sailing between two coasts ; hut owing to the mists and thick snow which darkened this northern midsummer, nothing could be distinctly seen. As, however, clear intervals occasionally occurred, af- fording partial glimpses of the land, the surmise arose, that this was not the shore along which they had for- merly sailed. Being little inclined to listen to a doubt which would have convicted him of having thrown away much of his time and labour, he still pressed onwards. Once the mariners imagined they saw Mount Warwick, but were soon undeceived. At length Chris- cimngo of topher Hall, chief pilot, stood up and declared, m the r*^"'"* hearing of all the crew, that he never saw this coast before. The commodore still persevered, sailing along a country more populous, more verdant, and better stocked with birds, than the one formerly visited. In fact this was probably the main entrance into Hudson's Bay, by continuing in which he would have made the most important discoveries. But all his ideas of mineral wealth and a successful passage to India were associated with the old channel ; and, on being obliged to own that this was a different one, he resolved to turn back. In this retreat the fleet was so involved in fogs and violent currents, and so beset with rocks and islands, that the sailors attributed to a special interposition of Providence the fact of their getting out in safety. When they had Return to the reached the open sea, and arrived at the mouth of the "i"^" ^*^^ desired strait, it was almost as difficult to find an en- trance. However, the resolute navigator was constantly on the watch, and wherever there appeared any opening, it is said, " he got in at one gap and out at another," till at length he reached his purposed haven in the 170 EA.RLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. OIIAP. VI. Turdy hrrival at the desired locality Obstacles to colonization. Failure of tlie (ixpedi- tion Meta Incog- nita. depths of the North. But, before the crews were com- pletely landed, the 9th of August had come, thick snows were falling, and it behoved them to hold a solemn consultation as to the expediency of persevering in the establishment of the projected colony. There remauied of the house only the materials of the south and east sides ; the rest had either gone down in the Dennis, or been shattered into fragments while suspended from the ships to meet the strokes of the ice. Great part of the bread was spoiled, and the liquors had sustained a woful leakage ; in short, there was no longer an adequate provision for a hundred men during a whole year. In these circumstances Captain Fenton of the Judith sug- gested, that what remained of the house might be formed into a hut for sixty men, with whom he undertook to pass the winter; but the carpenters being consulted, declared that such a structure could not be erected in less than two months, while their stay could not possibly be protracted beyond twenty-six days. Renouncing the idea of settlement, Frdbisher still asked his officers whether they might not, during the remaining interval, attempt some discovery to throw a redeeming lustre on their unfortunate enterprise ; but in reply, they urged the advanced season, the symptoms of winter already approaching, and the danger of being enclosed in these narrow inlets, where they would be in the most immi- nent danger of perishing ; — in short, that nothing was now to be thought of but a speedy return homewards. This was at length eflFected, not without *he dispersion of the fleet, and considerable damage to some of the vessels. The record of these voyages contains notices of the country and people, which strikingly agree with those collected by recent navigators. This Meta Incognita, which includes only the countries near the entrances of Hudson's Bay, is considered as a cluster of large islands, separated by narrow inlets, — an idea perhaps not so un- founded as was for some time supposed, — and consisting of high lands, covered with snow even in the midst of MARTIN FROBISHER. 177 summer. The navigators were surprised to find in lati- CHAP. Vl tude €0° and 61° a cold much more intense than at the Appearuico North Cape and Wardhuys in latitude 72°. The people *'*}"» are described as of a ripe olive complexion, with long black hair, broad faces, and flat noses, much resembling Tartars, or, more strictly, Samoiedes, to whom, accord- ing to the best information Frobisher could obtain, they were also similar in their habits of life. The land could scarcely yield either grain or fruit, and the inhabitants made no attempt to cultivate them, eating merely shrubs and grass, ** even as our kine do ;" or, as Settle ex- presses it, " such grass as the country produceth they pluck up and eat, not daintily or saladwise, but like brute beasts devouring the same." In other respects. Food. he observes, they seek ** by their hunting, fishing, and fowling, to satisfy their greedy paunches, which is their only glory." They use neither seat, table, nor cloth ; but, " when they are imbrued with blood knuckle deep, they use their tongues as apt ins: *-uments to lick them clean." From the disgusting manner in which they devoured their meat, very often in a putrid state, with- out any attempt at cookery, an inference is somewhat rashly drawn, that they would not make the least hesi- tation to partake of human flesh. Frobisher saw only their summer-houses, which are described as poor caves, like ovens, having for doors holes resembling those of a Summer- fox or cony burrow. They are said to be formed of pieces of whalebone meeting at top, and covered with seal-skin, and to have in the inside a layer of moss, which serves for beds to sleep on. At the same time they were found to be sharp-witted, and showed by signs great readiness, both in their understanding and replies. If they could give no information on any subject, they shut their eyes; if they did not comprehend what was said to them, they stopped their ears. They took the greatest delight in music ; repeating and keeping time to any tune Lore of with voice, head, hand, and foot. Their darts, arrows, and other weapons, were skilfully contrived, and used with a courage amounting even to desperation, of wliich L lunidc CHAP. VI 178 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. r . %Z^ 7^3FT Skin buatft Native cap- livca. Resuio of ffkUure. Kayak, or Greenlandcr'i Canoe. repeated instances have been given. Their little boats of skin (kayak) were moved by one oar, with a swift* neSB which no English sailor could match. The as- tonishment of one of them was very great when he saw himself in a mirror. <* He was upon the sudden much amazed thereat, and beholding advisedly the same with silence a good while, at length began to question with him as with his companion ; and finding him dumb, seemed to suspect him as one disdainful, and would have grown into choler, until at last, by feeling and hai^dling, he found the deceit, and then, with great noise and cries, ceased not wondering, thinking that we could make men live and die at our pleasure." Great signs of mutu£d attachment appeared between the male and female captives who were brought home on the second voyage. She killed and dressed the dogs for him, and tended him carefully when sick, while he, on the other hand, picked out the sweetest and fattest mor- sels, and laid them before her ; yet they lived entirely as brother and sister, without the slightest impropriety. Our naval records do not inform us of the feeling excited in the nation by the return from this perilous and unsuccessful voyage. The failure of repeated at- tempts, and especially of one got up with so much cost, probably produced the usual effect of indifference and despondency. The glittering stone, which was to have converted this northern Meta into another Peru, was never more heard of; a few careful assays having doubtless established its utter insignificance. Frobisher recommended strongly a trial of the first inlet which he JOHN DAVIS. 179 had entered, as being, in comparison of the other, chap. VL broader, and every way more promising ; but the public probWier^ could by no means be roused to any farther efforts, and plans. he was obliged to seek in other climaieb employment for his daring and active spirit. He accompanied Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies ; he commanded one of the largest ships in the fleet which opposed the Spanish Aimada ; and fought with such bravery that he was decorated with the honours of knighthood. Being afterwards sent to assist Henry IV. against the League, he was employed in the attack of a small fort on the coast of France, where he received a wound from a ball, which, through unskilful treatment, proved fatal in November 1694, Seven years after Frobisher's last voyage, the spirit New expedJ- of the nation was again roused. Divers opulent mer- **"* chants of London and of the west determined to " cast in their adventure ;" and, leaving wholly out of view the delusive hopes of gold which had misled the captain now named, directed theirs entirely to the discovery of a passage to India. They fitted out two vessels, the Sunsiiine and Moonsliine, of 60 and 86 tons respectively, which were placed under the command of John Davis, captain John a steady and determined seaman. He was endowed also ^*^'** with a large portion of good humour, by which he was likely to render himself acceptable to the rude natives of those inhospitable shor«*s ; and to promote still farther this important object, he was provided, not only with an ample supply of the gifts most suited to their taste, but with a band of music to cheer and recreate their spirits. On the 7th June 1686 he set sail from Dart- mouth ; and on the 19th July, as he approached the Arctic boundary, the seamen heard, amid a calm sea covered with thick mist, a mighty roaring, as of waves dashing on a rocky shore. Though the soundings gave 300 fathoms, the captain and master pushed off in the boat to examine this supposed beach, and v.ere nmch surprised to find themselves involved amid numerous icebergs, and that all this noise had been caused by the I 180 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Const of Greenland. Lnnd of deaolation. CHAP. Vl, rolling and beating of these masses against each other. ~~" He landed on several of these floating islands, and broke off pieces of ice, which, being carried to the ship, were converted into good water. Next day he came in view of the south-w^estem coast of Greenland, which appeared the most dreary and desolate ever seen ; " de- formed, rocky, and mountainous, like a sugar-loaf, standing to our sight above the clouds. It towered through the fog like a white list in the sky, the tops altogether covered with snow, the shore beset with ice, making such irksome noii^ie that it was called the Land of Desolation" The water on this coast was black and thick, like a standing pool, and though they saw many seals floating, and birds beating upon the surface, none could be caught. ' After sailing several days along this dreary shore, without being able to approach on account of the ice, Davis pushed out north-west ward into the open sea, hoping in " God's mercy to find our desired passage." On the 29th he came in sight of a land in 64° north latitude, which was still a part of Greenland ; hul as the wind was unfavourable for proceeding in the proper direction, while the air was temperate, and the coast free from ice, he resolved to go on shore and take a view of the country and people. Accompanied by only two inuividuals, he landed on an island, leaving directions for the rest to follow as soon as they should hear a sig- nal. The party mounted the top of a rock, whence Discovery of they were espied by the natives, who raised a lamentable noise, with loud outcries like the howling of wolves. Davis and his comrades hereupon strack up a high note, so modulated, tlia'ii it might at once amuse the savages and put his own crew on the alert. Burton, the master, and others hastened, well armed, yet «\'ith the band playing, and dancing to it with the most inviting signs cf friendbbip. In accordance with this gay sum- mons, ten canoes hastened from the other islands, and the people crowded round the strangers, uttering in a hollow voice unintelligible sounds. The English con- natives. JOHN DAVIS. 181 tinued their friendly salutations, wliile the Esquimaux CHAP. VI. still showed signs of jealousy and alarm, when at length FViondiy one of them began to point towards the sun and beat interview. his breast. These signs being returned by John Ellis, master of the Moonshine, they were induced to approach ; when, on being presented with caps, stockings, gloves, and other articles, their fears gave place to the most cordial amity. Next day there appeared thirty-seven canoes, tlie crews of which kindly invited the strangers on shore, expressing the utmost impatience at their delay. Davis manned his boats and went to them ; upon which one of their number, after shaking his hand, kissed it, and all resigned themselves to confidence and affection. The barbarians parted with every thing, the clothes Liberality of from off their backs, consisting of seal-skins, and birds* "*^ ^""^ skins with the feathers on them, their buskins of well- dressed leather, their darts, oars, and five canoes, accept- ing cheerfully in return whatever their new visiters chose to give, and kindly aiding each other under the privations thus occasioned. They offered to return next day with an ample store of furs and skins, which they saw the foreigners value so highly ; but a favour- able breeze springing up, the captain very properly determined to allow nothing to interfere with his schemes of discovery. He steered directly across the strait, or rather sea, which still bears his own name. DavfR* On the 6th August he discovered high land, which Strait*, he named Mount Raleigh, being part of Cumberland Island. Here, anchoring in a fine road, the seamen saw three white animals, which seemed to be goats. De- sirous of fresh victuals and sport, they pursued them, v/hen they soon perceived that they were in chase of three monstrous bears. The animals rushed on with great fury, till, being received with several balls, they retreated, apparently not much hurt, but were followed end at last killed. There w >re no symptoms of their having fed on any thing except grass ; but it was ne- cessary to clear away a very large quantity of fat before the flesh could be eaten. u 11 1 182 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Katlvo dogs. CHAP, vt Daris, after coasting about for some days, again found CaneofGod's Jiim^lf at tho cape which he had at first reached on his Mercy. crossing from the opposite shore of Greenland. This promontory, which he called God's Mercy, he now turned, when he entered a sound stretching north-west- ward, twenty or thirty leagues broad, free from ice, and its waters havmg the colour and quality of the main ocean. After proceeding sixty leagues, he observed an island in the mid-channel, which still, however, afforded an open passage ; so that his hopes daily increased, till about the end of August, when bein^ involved in fogs and contrary winds, he determined to suspend operations for the season and return to England. On one of the islands in this sound the seamen heard dogs howling, and at length saw twenty of them approach, having the appearance of wolves. Impressed, however, with the idea that only animals r f prey could be found on these shores, they fired and killed two, round one of whose necks they found ft collar, and soon afterwards discovered the sledge to which he had been yoked. Davis observed abundance of the black and glittering stone of Frobisher, and many of the rocks appeared " orient like gold ;" but little attention was now excited by these delusive appearances. Although nothing was actually done by this expedi- tion, yet the views which it liad opened up inspired sanguine hopes, and facilitated the equipment of a fresh expedition. To the slender armament of the Sunshine and Moonshine was now added the Mermaid of 120 tons, with a boat or pinnace. Davis sailed again from Dart- mouth on the 7th May, and on the 16th June came in view of the southern extremity of Greenland ; but, owing to severe storms, it was the 29th befow he reached the land formerly visited in lat. 64°. As he approached, the natives came out in their canoes at first with shouts and cries; but, recognising their companions of the preceding year, they hastened forward, and hung round the vessiel with every expression of joy and wel- come. Seeing them in such favourable dispositions, the Effects of tlio expedition. JOHN DAVI8. 183 captain went ashore and distributed in presents twenty CHAP. Vl knives, refusing the offer of skins in return. The most Meeting with intimate acquaintance was now resumed ; yet they never the natirai. met the strangers anew without crying " Iliaout I" beat- ing their breasts and lifting their hands to the sun, by which a fresh treaty was ratified. The two parties amused themselves by contests in bodUy exercises. The Esquimaux could not match their opponents in leaping; but in wrestling they showed themselves strong and skiU fill, and threw some of the best among the sailors. By de- grees they began to manifestless laudable qualities. They exercised many and solemn incantations, though, Davis thanks God, without any effect. They kindled a fire by rubbing two sticks against each other, and invited him to pass through it ; but he, in contempt of their sorcery, caused the fire to be trodden out and the embers thrown into the sea. They also showed the very inconvenient Thefts, propensity of appropriating every article, especially iron, which came under their notice. Perhaps it was impru- dent ever to have made presents, thus suggesting the idea, which does not seem to have before entered their minds, that any thing might be obtained without an equivalent. Be this as it may, they soon reached the highest pitch of audacity ; they stole a spear, a gun, a sword, cut the cables, and even the Moonshine's boat from her stem. The principal officers remonstrated with the captain, and reminded him, that for their security he must " dissolve this new friendship, and leave the company of those thievish miscreants." He fired two pieces over their heads, which " did sore amaze Alarm of iha them,'* and they fled precipitately. But in ten hou ihey again appeared, with many promises and presents of skins ; when, on seeimg iron, " they could in nowise forbear stealing." The commander was again besieged with the complaints of his crew ; however, " it only ministered to him an occasion of laughter," and he bid his men look vigilantly to the safety of their own goods, and not deal hardly with the natives, who could scarcely be expected in so short a time " to know their evils." natives. 184 eauly north-west voyages. CHAP. VI. ExepditloD to the in- terior. Moderation in dealing with the natives Capture of a nativa Davis now undertook an expedition to obsei've some- what of the interior. He sailed up what appeared a broad river, but which proved only a strait or creek. A violent gust of wind having obliged him to seek the shelter of land, he attempted to ascend a very lofty peak ; but ** the mountains were so many and so mighty, that his purpose prevailed not." While the men were gathering muscles for supper, he was amused by viewing, for the first time in his life, a waterspout, which he de- scribes as a powerful whirlwind, taking up the water and whisking it round for three hours without intermission. Next day he re-embarked, and penetrated higher up the channel ; but was surprised to find, instead of the huge unbroken continent which he had supposed, only waste and desert isles, with deep sounds and inlets passing between sea and sea. During the captain's absence matters had become worse with the Esquimaux, and on his return the sailors opened a fearful budget ; stating that the natives had stolen an anchor, cut the cable, and even thrown stones of half a pound weight against the Moonshine ; and he was asked if he would still endure these injuries. Davis, who probably suspected that their own dealings had not been very gentle, bid them have patience, and all should be well. He invited a party of the savages on board, made them various little presents, taught them to run to ^He topmast, and dismissed them apparently quite pleased. Yet no sooner had the sun set than they began to " practise their devilish nature," and threw stones into the Moonshine, one of which knocked down the boatswain. His meek spirit was at length kindled to wrath, and he issued orders for two boats to chase the culprits ; but they rowed so swiftly that the pursuers soon returned with " small content." Two days after, five of them presented themselves with overtures for a fresh truce ; upon which the master came to Davis, de- claring that one of them was " the chief ringleader, a master of mischief," and urged vehemently not to let him go. He was made captive, and a fair wind suddenly JOHN DAVI8. 185 Springing up, the discoverers set sail, and carried him CHAP. VT away, many doleful signs being exchanged between him cheowJiinew and one of his countrymen ; however, on being w^ell of the cai). treated, and supplied with a new suit of frieze, his spirits "^^ revived, he became i pleasant companion, and used occasionally to assist the sailors. Davis, finding the wind favourable, pushed across the Voyapo par- bay, in hopes of attaining the object of his voyage. On '" the l7th July the ship's company descried a land diver- siiied with hills, bays, and capes, and extending farther than the eye could reach ; but what was their disap- pointment on approaching, to find that it was only " a most mighty and strange quantity of ice 1" It was, in fact, that immense barrier which often, for a great part of the season, fills the middle of Baffin's Bay. As they coasted along this wide field a fog came on, by which the ropes, shrouds, and sails, were all fast frozen, — a pheno- menon which, on the 24th July, appeared more than strange. Dismayed by these appearances, the seamen considered the passage hopeless, and, in a respectful yet firm tone, warned Davis, that by " his over-boldness he might cause their widows and fatherless children to give him bitter curses." He was not unwilling to consider their case ; yet, anxious not to abandon so great an Perseverance enterprise, he determined to leave behind him the Mer- maid, as a vessel less convenient and nimble, and to push on in the Moonshine with the boldest part of his crew. Having found a favourable breeze, he at last, on the 1st August, turned the ice, and in lat. 66° 33' reached land ; along which he now coasted southwards for about ten degrees, entangled among a number of islands, and missing in his progress the different inlets which afforded an entrance into Hudson's Bay. The sliores were crowded with incredible flocks of gulls and seamews, and the water so abounded in fish that, though their tackle was very indifferent, in the running of an hour-glass the crew caught a hundred cod. On reaching Labrador, the coast was seen covered with ample forests of pine, yew, and birch ; but five men who landed were 180 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAOES. CHAP VI. Return. New expedl- tian. beset by the natives, and all killed or wounded except one. The ship, too, being exposed to a violent tempest, and September now approaching, the captain judged it wisest to return to England. The public mind wea considerably damped by the issue of this expedition ; so that Davis found no small difficulty in obtaining the means for equipping another. He W08 obliged to hold out the inducement that, by proper arrangements, the outlay might be defrayed by fishing, and no additional expense incurred on account of discovery. By these arguments, and by the exertions of his zealous friend, Mr Sanderson, he succeeded in fitting out the Sunshine, the Elizabeth, and a pinnace. This last, to which he mainly trusted for discovery, an- swered very ill the character which hod been given of it, and was found to move through the water like a cart drawn by oxen. On the 16th June 1687 the adven- turers arrived at their old coast, and were received by the natives as before with the cry of iliaout and the exhibition of skins. These savages, however, lost no time in renewing their former system of thieving ; for which great opportunities were afforded during the putting together of a boat cor sisting of materials brought from England. They cai.ied off the deals, and when fired at placed them before their bodies as shields, thus securing both their planks and persons. It was now Plan ofdis- arranged that the two large vessels should remain to covery. g^j^^ while Davis in the pinnace stretched out into a higher latitude with a view to discovery. In pursuance of this plan he took his departure ; and, continuing to range the coast to the northward, on the 28th he reached a point, which he named Sanderson's Hope, in upwards of 72 degrees, still finding a wide open sea to the west and north. Here, the wind having shifted, he resolved to hold on a western tack across this sea, and proceeded forty leagues without sight of land or any other obstruc- tion, when he was arrested by the usual barrier of ice. He first endeavoured to round it by the north, but, seeing uo passage on that side, turned to the south, beating JOHN DAVIS. 187 about several days without success. Tempted by an CHAP. VI apparent opening, he involved himself in a bay of ice, Dangeii from which he was not extricated without much diffi- ^o™ *«* culty and some danger ; being obliged to wait till the sea beating and the sun sliining on tliis mighty mass should effect its dissolution or removal. At length, on the 19th July, he came in view of Mount Raleigh, nnd at midnight found himself at the mouth of the inlet discovered in the first voyage, and which has since been called Cumberland Strait. On the morrow he sailed across its entrance, and in the two following days as- CumberUnrt cended its northern shore, till he was again involved Strait among numerous islands. He seems now to have con- cluded that this strait must be an enclosed gulf, and shaped his course to reach the sea; but, being becalmed in the bottom of the bay, he could not till the 29th, by coasting along the southern shore, effect his retreat. Frobisher's Strait was now passed, seemingly without being recognised as such, but was called Lumley's Inlet. He next crossed the mouth of an extensive gulf, in one part of which his vessel was carried along by a violent current, while in another the water was whirling and roaring as is usual at the meeting of tides. This recess, being terminated by Cape Chidley, was evidently the rape Chia- grand entrance afterwards penetrated by Hudson. Hav- *^* ing now, however, only half a hogshead of water left, he hastened to the point of rendezvous fixed with the two other vessels ; when, to his deep disappointment and just indignation, he found that they had departed. It was not without hesitation that, with the slender store remaining in his little bark, he ventured to sail for England ; but having scarcely any altemative, he under- took the voyage, and happily accomplished it. Davis wrote once more to Mr Sanderson in sanguine High expe* and almost exulting terms. He had reached a much ^ °°*' higher latitude than any former navigator, and with the exception of the barrier of ice on one side, had found the sea open, blue, of vast extent and unfathom- able depth. He considered, therefore, that the success i^^ I n ^ ^^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4^ I A Ui(|j£ 125 I.I y,|^ ■ 22 ^ L£ 12.0 iJ& ||i:25||,.4|,.6 ^ 6" ► Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WeST MAIN STREET WiBSTIR.N.Y. 145S0 (716)«72-4S03 ^ iV •s^ 4 k \ k 188 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VI. FubHc interest ex- baitsted. Death of WTiUsinghan) Tlie Levant Company. New expedi- tion. of a spirited attempt was almost infallible. Eut the interest taken by the public in such enterprise s seems only capable of being sustained for a certain period. Three failures had exhausted that interest, and made men indisposed to listen or inquire further into the subject. It became the cry, as he informs us, — " This Davis hath been three times employed ; why hath he not found the passage?" The death of Secretary Walsingham, occurring at this period, was a severe blow to the cause ; while the invasion by the Spanish Armada soon followed, and engrossed for a space all the thoughts and energies of the nation. Mr Sander- son still continued the steady friend of the navigator ; but, unable to obtain resources for a new attempt, he could only employ Molyneux, the best artist of his time, to construct a globe which comprised all his friend's discoveries, and is still preserved in the library of the Middle Temple. In 1602 the spirit of enterprise revived. To the Muscovy Company, who had taken the lead in all the early schemes of discovery, was now added the Levant Company ; and these two great bodies, finding the course to India by the Cape still beset with many dangers, determined upon a joint eflFort to penetrate thither by the north-west. They sent out Captain George Weymouth with two vessels, the Discovery and God-speed, which they called fly-boats, though they were respectively of 70 and 60 tons. He left London on the 2d May, and on the 18th June came in view of the coast of Greenland, which appeared to him "a main bank of ice." The water was in many places as thick as puddle, making him imagine himself among shallows, till the sounding-line gave 120 fathoms without any ground. This, which was formerly observed by Davis, is probably the green cloudy sea of Scoresby, thickened by the infusion of numberless animalcules. Weymouth having made sail westward with a fa- vourable breeze, came on the 28th in sight of the JOHN DAVIS. 189 coast of America. There appeared a promontory covered CH ai*. vl with snow, which he concluded to be Warwick's Fore- captaiiT land ; but the vessels were tos.«d to and fro by violent Weymouth currents, or overfalls, as he calls them, and involved in fogs so thick, that they were once quite close to a bank of ice before it was perceived. However being in want of water, the party landed, loaded theif boat with ice, and found it to make very palatable drink. The attention of the crews was arrested by a loud sound like the dashing of waves on the shore ; and on approaching the place they were dismayed to find it "the noise of a great quantity of ice, which was very loathsome to be heard." The mist became Thick foga so thick that they could not see two ships* length, and determined to take down the sails ; but were petrified to find them so fast frozen to the rigging, that, in **thl8 chiefest time of summer, they could not be moved." Next morning they renewed the attempt ; but it was orly by cutting away the ice from the ropes that they could be made to pass through the blocks. The following day the fog lay so thick, and froze so fast, that ropes, sails, and rigging, remained immovable. These phenomena produced an unfavourable eficct on the minds of the sailors, who began to hold secret Mutiny. conferences, ending in a conspiracy "to bear up the helm for England." It was proposed to seize Wey- mouth, and confine him in his cabin till he gave his consent ; but he, receiving notice of this nefarious design, summoned the seamen before him, and, in pre- sence of Mr Cartwright the preacher and Mr Cobreth the master, called upon them to answer for thus at- tempting to defeat a voyage fitted out at such ample cost by the honourable merchants. The men stood Defence of firm, producing a paper signed by their own hands, ^toii""*'*''^ b\ which they justified the proposed step as founded on solid reason, without any tincture of fear or cowardice. They represented that if they should suiOTer themselves to be enclosed in an unknown sea, by this dreadful and premature winter, they would not only be iu ,* 190 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Coarse dianged. New load. CHAP. Yl. immment danger of perishing, but could not hope to Apprehended commence their career of discovery next year sooner dangers. than May ; while by setting sail in due time from England they might easily reach this coast in that month. He retired to his cabin to deliberate, when he was soon informed that the helm was actually borne up. Hastening on deck, and asking who had done this, he was answered, "One and all!" and he found the combination such as it was impossible to resist, though he took occasion afterwards to chastise the ringleaders. The men, however, declared them- selves ready to hazard their lives in any discovery which might be attempted to the southward. Accordingly, on descending to lat. 61° N., the cap- tain perceived the entrance of an inlet, into which he sailed, in a south-west direction, a hundred leagues by reckoning ; but, encountering fogs and heavy gales, and finding the season far spent, he deemed it neces- sary to regain the open sea. This inlet, however, was thought to present more favourable hopes of a passage than any other that had yet been discovered. It appears in fact to have been the grand approach to Hudson's Bay ; so that Fox justly ascribes some merit to Weymouth for directing his distinguished successor into this spacious expanse. Still, as his course of west by south must have led him from the main channel of this large strait, and thrown him UngavaBay. on the western shore of what is now called Ungava Bay, his estimated reckoning of a hundred leagues is evidently overrated. In 55° he found a fair land, consisting of islands and "goodly sounds," apparently the place where the Moravian settlement of Nain was subsequently formed. Soon afterwards a dreadful hur- ricane from the west seemed to take up the sea into the air, and drove the ships before it with the utmost impetuosity. Had it been from any other quarter they must have been dashed to pieces on rocks ; how- ever, they ranged through the open waters, and in the greatest extremity "the Lord delivered us his JOHN KNIGHT. 191 unworthy servants." They had now an easy navigation chap. vi. to England. No &Tther proceedings occurred till 1606, when Captain Joha the Muscovy and East India merchants fitted out a^*****" vessel of 40 tons under John Knight, who, having been employed in the Danish voyages to Greenland, was considered a stout and enterprising sailor. He sailed from Gravesend on the 18th April, but was detained a fortnight in the Pentland Frith ; how- ever, * 8 at the broad entrance of the channel which has since obtained the name of Hudson's Strait. They were now still more annoyed with ice in various forms, particularly that of large islands standing deep in the water, which were very difficult to avoid from tiie violent ripples and currents. Thus they were often obliged, especially amid thick fogs, to fasten their vessel to the firmest oi these masses ; and they even used to land upon them from time to time, collecting the water melted in the hollows, which proved to be sweet and good. Amid these vicissitudes many of the sailors fell sick ; and though Pricket does not choose to assert that their sole malady was fear, yet in several he saw no signs of any other. The crews of this period, indeed, display few tokens of that hardihood with wliich the followers of Willoughby and Frobisher were wont to brave the northern tempests. Hudson seeing his men in this depi-essed state of mind, bethought himself of an ex- pedient by which he hoped to animate them. He called them together, showed them his chai-t, from which it appeared that they had penetrated farther Into the Straits by a hundred leagues than any former expedition, and put it to themselves whether they would advance, — ^yea or nay? This w^as a bold experiment, but did not succeed. Some, it is true, expressed them- selves " honestly respecting the good of the action ;" but others declared they would give n?>^xe -tenths of al\ they were worth, so that they were safe ji home ; while a third party said they did not care where they went, so they were out of the ice. Vexed and disappointed, he broke up the conference, and followed his own determination. This, we think, is evidently the real state of the case, though Pricket represents that the captain himself was in a state of alarm and doubt. He accuses him also of having remembered too long some of the speeches made on this occasion, to the disadvantage of those by whom they had been uttered. Notwithstanding this failure, Hudson, buoyed up by his own courage and resolution, seeing land alternately CHAP. VL HadHon'fl Strait Apprelion- siona of iho scameiu Unavailing appeal to their pride. m 196 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Maiisflcid Island. CHAP. VL on one side and the other, having sometimes a wide and PerMTerancc ^^^^^ sca, and being occasionally involved amid moun- of Hudson, tains of ice, made his way onward. Certain savage islands in which, when severely pressed by the wind and floe, he found a tolerable retreat, were called ** Isles of God's Mercy ;" but even this harbour was rendered dangerous by hidden reefs ; and the land adjoining to it contained, according to Pricket, only "plashes of water and riven rocks," and had the appearance of being subject to earthquakes. At length they arrived at a broad opening, having a cape on each side, to which the commander gave the names of the two chief patrons of the voyage ; to the one on the continent, tliat of Wol- stenholme ; to the other on the large island of Mansfield, that of Sir Dudley Digges. Landing at the latter, and mounting a hill, the men descried some level spots abounding in sorrel and scurvy-grass, plants most salu- tary in this desert region ; while herds of deer were feeding, and the rocks were covered with an unexampled profusion of fowls. Seeing such abundant materials, both for sport and food, the crew, who had ever shown the most anxious concern for their own comfort, earnestly besought their captain to allow them to remain and enjoy themselves for a few days on this agreeable spot ; but he, perceiving that the season for his chief enterprise was rapidly passing away, refused to comply. He had not proceeded long in this channel when the coast on each side was observed to separate, and he beheld before him a wide ocean, to which the eye could discover no termination. It seemed to him, doubtless, a portion of the mighty Pacific. Here, how- over, his narrative closes, without expressing those feelings of pride and exultation which must have filled liis mind at this promised fulfilment of his highest hopes. The relation of Pricket, on which we must now depend, allows too clearly that many of his followers would have hiud no sympathy with such elevated feelings. The expanse thus discovered by the navigator was the great inland sea, called from him Hudson's Bay ; Expanse of Hudson'i Bay HENRY HUDSON". 197 r d and it was a grand discovery, though not exactly what CHAP. VI. ho imagined. Tho 3d of August waa now arrived, acommcilce- season at which the boldest of northern adventurers had ">«"* "' will tfi P been accustomed to think of returning. Dut, little in- clined to such a resolution, he continued to sail along the coast on the left, which must have appeared to him the western boundary of America, — hoping probably before the close of autumn to reach some cultivated land, in a temperate climate, where he might take up his winter quarters. The shores along this bay, however, though not in a very high latitude, are subject to the rigours of a most inclement sky. Entangled amid the Rnconipn9»- gulfs and capes of an unknown coast, struggling with '"k ti'fl^c»»i- mist and storm, and ill seconded by a discontented crew, he spent three months without reaching any comfortable haven. It was now the first of November : the ice was closing in on all sides ; and nothing remained but to meet the cheerless winter which had actually begun. The sailors were too late of attempting to erect a wooden house ; yet the cold, though severe, does not seem to have reached any perilous height. Their chief alaim respected provisions, of which they had brought only a six months* supply, and consequently had now but a Fanin«prttbordin(i> and the means of returning to England. Ringleaders were not wanting to head this growing party of mole- contents. At the entrance of the bay the captain had displaced Ivet the mate for insubordination, and ap- pointed in his room Bylot, a man of merit, who had always shown zeal in the general cause. He had also changed the boatswain. But the most deadly blow was struck by Green, a wretch whom, after being cast off by all his friends, the captain from humanity had taken on board, and endeavoured to reclaim and restore to society. He was possessed of talents which made him useful, and had even rendered him a favourite with his superior ; and among other discontents it was reckoned one, that a veil was thrown over several flagrant dis- orders of which he was accounted guilty. Yet some hot expressions of Hudson, caused, it is said, by a Uun. BaMneas of firueiL HKNRY HUDSON. 199 inisuiidcrstAndiiig uboiit tho purchtmo uf u gray coat, so CIIAP. VL acted on the fierce spirit of this ruffian, tliat, renouucing „ 37"^ A- V i'A I J 11 xi 1 • 1 ^ o Conspiracy. every tie of gratitude, and nil that is tMicred among mankind, he became the chief in a conspiracy to seize the vessel and expose tho commander to perish. After some days' consultation, tlie time was fixed for Pricket tho perpetration of this horrible atrocity. On the 2l8t June,lGll, Green, and Wilson the boatswain, came into Pricket's cabin, and announced their cruel resolution,— adding, that they bore him so much good- will as to wisli that he should remain on board. The narrator avers most solemnly, tliat he exhausted every argument to induce them to desist from their horrid purpose, be- seeching them not to do a thing so foul in the sight of God and man, and which would for ever banish them from tlieir native country, their wives, and their children. Green wildly answered, that they had made RoaoluMon d up their mmds to go through with it or die, and that JJiJ^""' they would rather be hanged at home than starve here. An attempt was then made by him to negotiate a delay of three, two, or even one day, but all without effect. Ivet came next, of whom, as being a person of mature age, there seemed more hope ; but he was worse than Green, declaring that he would justify in England the deed on which they had resolved. John Thomas and Michael Perse now came in, proving themselves " bJi^ds of a feather," and Meter and Bennet having followed, an oath was administered to the following tenor : — ** You shall swear truth to God, your prince, and oath admio* country ; you shall do nothing but to the glory of ^^tered. God and the good of the action in hand, and harm to no man." Pricket complains of the reproach thrown upon him for having taken this oath, the bare terms of which are certainly unexceptionable ; but the dark proceedings by which they were illustrated marks them as containing an implied obligation to remain at least passive on this dreadful occasion. All was now ready^ but the conscientious historian of the voyage succeeded in persuading them to postpone till I 200 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VI Seizare of Hudson. Barbarity of the tnuti* ueers. Insubordina- tion in tlie ship. daylight the accomplishment of their crime. They, however, kept strict watch through the night, and held themselves ready to act at the first appearance of dawn. Daybreak approaching, the captain came out of his cabin, when he was instantly assaulted by Thomas, Bennet, and Wilson, who seized him and bound his hands behind his back; and on his eagerly asking what they meant, told him he should know when he was in the boat. Ivet then attacked King the carpen- ter, known as the commander's most devoted adherent. That brave fellow, having a sword, made a formidable resistance, and would have killed his assailant, had not tlie latter been speedily reinforced. The mutineers then offered to him the choice of continuing in the sliip ; but he absolutely refused to be detained other- wise than by force, and immediately followed his master, whom the conspirators were already letting down the sides of the vessel into the shallop. Then, with a barbarity beyond all example, they called from their beds and drove into it, not simply the friends of Hudson, but the sick and infirm sailors who could afford no aid, and whose maintenance would have been burdensome. They threv/ after them the carpenter's box, with some powder and shot ; and scarcely was this transaction completed, when they cut the boat from the stem, " out with their topsail," and set off, flying as from an enemy. The great navigator, thus abandoned, was never heard of more ; and he undoubtedly perished on those desolate shores, though the form or duration of the distress to which he fell a victim must be for ever unknown. The sailors, as soon as the guilty deed was accom- plished, regarding the ship as a captured vessel, broke open every chest, and seized on every remnant of food which could be discovered. Green, however, who now assumed the command, used some vigour in restoring (frder. He placed the cabin and provisions under the charge of Pricket, who was afterwards accused of a matter no less than treason, that of secreting some cakes of bread. As soon as the mutineers had time to think, HENRY HUDSON. 201 painful reflections began to arise. Even Green admitted CHAP. VL that England at this time was no place for them, nor pearaof the could he contrive any better scheme than to keep the mutincera high sea till, by some means or other, they might pro- cure a pardon under his majesty's hand and seal. The vessel was now embayed, and detained for a fortnight amid fields of ice, which extended for miles around it and, but for some cockle -grass found on an island, they must have perished by famine. Considerable disputes with respect to the steerage arose between I vet and Disputes as to Bylot, who alone had any pretensions to skill ; but the ° ^' °^^^ latter, being justly regarded with the greatest confidence, at length guided them to Cape Digges, the longed-for spot, the breeding-place of fo\vls, clouds of which ac- cordingly continued still to darken the air. The party immediately landed, spread themselves among the rocks, and began to shoot. While the boat was on shore, they saw seven canoes rowing towards them, whereupon " they prepared themselves for all assaycs." However, the savages came forward, beating their breasts, dancing, leaping, and displaying every token of friendship. The Friendly ad- utmost intimacy commenced, the parties went back and vances of the forward, showed each other their mode of catching fowls, and made mutual presents. In short, the natives ap- peared the most kind and simple people in the world, and "God so blinded Henry Green" that he trusted them with implicit confidence. One day, when at the height of this affectionate harmony. Pricket, sitting m the boat, suddenly saw a man's leg close to him. Rais- ing up his head, he perceived a savage with a knife uplifted and ready to strike. In attempting to arrest Assault. the blow, his hand was cut, and he could not escape two wounds, one in the breast, and one in the right thigh ; by which time he got hold of the knife and wrenched it from the assassin, whom he then pierced with his dagger in the left side. At the same time a general attack was made on the crew, dispersed in dif- ferent quarters. Green and Perse came tumbling down wounded into the boat, which pushed off; while Moter, v. 202 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VI Death of Gi'uua. Perplexity the crew Sufferings during the voyage. Failure of lirovisions. "seeing this medley," leaped into the sea, swam out, and, getting hold of the stern, was pulled in by Perse. Green now cried coragio, and he and Perse brandished their weapons with such vigour that the savages ceased attempting to enter the boat ; but they poured in clouds of arrows, one of which struck the former with so sure an aim that he died on the spot, and his body was thrown into the sea. At length the party reached the vessel ; but Meter and Wilson died that day, and Perse two days after. Thus perished the chief perpetrators of the late dreadful tragedy, visited by Providence with a fate not less temble than that which they had inflicted on their illustrious and unfortunate leader. The crew, thus deprived of their best hands, were in extreme perplexity, obliged to ply to and fro across the straits, and unable, without the utmost fear and peril, to venture on shore ; which yet was absolutely neces- sary for obtaining provisions to carry them to England, They contrived, at the expense of much toil and hazard, to collect three hundred birds, which they salted and preserved as the only stock whereupon to attempt the voyage. They suffered, during the passage, the most dreadful extremities of famine, allowing only half a fowl a-day to each man, and considering it a luxury to have them fried with candles, of which a weekly distri- bution was made for that purpose. Ivet, now the sole survivor of the ringleaders in the atrocious conspiracy, sunk under these privations. The last fowl was in the steep-tub, and the men were become nearly desperate, when suddenly it pleased God to give them sight of land, which proved to be the north of Ireland. They complain that, on going ashore at Berehaven, they did not receive the sympathy and kindness which they so much needed ; nor was it until they had moilgaged their vessel that they obtained the means of proceeding to Plymouth. Purchas closes the narrative by saying, — " Well, Mr Pricket, I am in much doubt of thy fidelity ;" and he is not singular in this suspicion. It seems clear, at all CAPTAIN BUTTON. 203 Saspiciona tit Pricket Hopes es- cited. Captain iiuttou. events, that he did not avail liimself of the means by CHAP. VI which he might have attempted to check the horrible mutiny. But, on the other liand, it is probable that, had he been an active agent in the crime, some of his accomplices would have betrayed him, or, had their mutual guilt bound them to each other, some story would have been invented to palliate or conceal the offence ; whereas it is set foilh by his narrative in all its atrocity. Notwithstanding the calamitous issue of this voyage, the discovery thereby made of a great sea in the west seemed to justify the most flattering hopes of accom- plishing a passage. To follow out this object, Captiiin, afterwards Sir Thomas Button, was despatched next year (1612), having By lot and Pricket as guides. This officer, who seems to have been active as well as resolute, soon made his way through the Straits, and pushing directly across the sea that opened to the westward, came in view of an insular cape, called by him Carey's Swan's Nest, and which afterwards proved to be the most southern point of Southampton Island. Nothing else broke the apparent continuity of the ocean, and there- fore he cherished sanguine hopes that the first shore he should see would be that of Japan. Suddenly an an- nouncement was made that land was in sight, when there appeared before him an immense range of coast, stretching north and south, and barring all farther pro- gress. Button, deeply disappointed, gave to it the name of Hope Checked. Before he had time to look for an opening, the gloom of the northern winter began to gather, when it behoved him to seek quarters for the season ; and these he found in the same creek, which afterwards became the principal settlement of the Hud- son's Bay Company. In spite of his best precautions, he lost several men through the severity of the cold, and was unable to extricate himself from the ice till the middle of June. He then steered northward, seeking an outlet through the broad bay between the continent and Soutliampton Island, since called Roe's Welcome. i1 Retornot winter. 204 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGE^. CHAP. VL Disappoint- roent Hopftfl still (intertalned. New expedi- tion. Ai Bylot and Baffin. lininonso loebers. Observing, liowever, that the channel became narrower and narrower, till it apparently closed, he gave up the attempt, and, after touching at several points of the island just named, returned to England. Although Sir Thomas had been thus baffled by the unwelcome encounter of the western shore of Hudson's Bay, the merchants justly considered it by no means ascertained that the land was so continuous as to pre- clude all passage into the ocean beyond America ; for which reason they resolved to make another attempt, and accordingly, in 1614, they fitted out two vessels under Captain Gibbons, an officer of reputation, pro- nounced by Button " not short of any man that ever yet he carried to sea." But either his character went beyond his merits, or fortune was singularly adverse, for never was there a more abortive voyage. He was early entangled in & bay on the coast of Labrador, where he was detained the whole summer, and which was afterwards dignified with the appellation of " Gibbons his Hole." Having here sustained some damage from the ice, he no sooner extricated himself than he returned home. * The merchant-adventurers, still undismayed, sent out next summer the Discovery under Bylot, who in all the late voyages had approved himself an able navigator, and was accompanied by Baffin, whose name was now established as the most skilful steersman and best nau- tical observer of the age. After passing Cape Farewell, they saw some most tremendous islands of ice, one of which rose 240 feet above water, and, according to the usual estimate, which m^kes this visible part only a seventh of the whole, had probably an entire height of 1680 feet. Having entered the Straits, and, on the 2d June, hearing from the northern shore a furious barking of dogs, they landed and found five tents covered witli seal-skin, amongst which were running about thirty or forty of those animals, of a brindled black colour, re- sembling wolves. They had collars and harness suitable for certain sledges, lined with fish-bone, which were BYLOT AND BAFFIN. 205 ire standing by. In one of the houses was a bag containing chap. VL little images of men, the only specimen observed of such j^ ^ — ^^ fabrication upon this coast. The navigators soon descried oampment. a canoe with twenty individuals, whom they hailed in tlieir native language, holding up knives and other toys. Friendly salutations were given in return ; but neither party chose to trust themselves within reach of the other. At a little distance, the conflict of opposite cur- rents amid large icebergs caused so fearful a grinding that they gave to tlie adjoining land the name of Mill [sland. There they would have been in extreme danger, '^had not God, who is stronger than ice or stream," delivered them. The policy of Bylot in this voyage seems to have been Conrse of to keep close to the northern shore of the strait ; and ^*°*' thus, entering Hudson's Bay at a higher latitude, he hoped to steer clear of those lands which had barred the westerly progress of his predecessors. Therefore, on reaching the Isles of God's Mercy, instead of holding southward to Cape Dudley Digges, he proceeded directly west, and arrived in the broad expanse afterwards called the Fox Channel. At length, indeed, he saw land, but fox Chan- it was bounded by a cape which had every appearance '^*'* of being the most northerly point of America. He called it Cape Comfort ; though this name, it soon ap- peared, was prematurely given, for a single day had not elapsed when ** his sudden comfort was as soon quailed." They were now on the eastern coast of Southampton Island, which spread on all sides to a very great extent, pisappoint. seeming to preclude every prospect of an opening on ment either hand. Disappointment, the lateness of the season, and the pressure of the ice, concurred in persuading Bylot that there was nothing to be hoped for here, and determined him to set sail immediately for England ; whither he carried a most unfavourable report as to any prospect of penetrating westward in that direction. But the adventurers were not yet discouraged. Turn- ing their hopes to a different quarter, they next year again fitted out Bylot and Baffin, with instructions no !i H 2C6 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VI. New course proposed. Native fenialea MjmIc of !ii:pultur& NaH\-e truflia longer to attempt tlie passage by Hudson's Bay, but to enter Davis* Strait, and push du(p north till they reached let. 80°, if an open sea should allow them to proceed so far ; then, turning to the westward, to round, if practi- cable, the extreme point of America, and to bear down upon Japan. Respecting this voyage, which, perhaps^ of all those to the North, produced the most memorable discoveries, Baffin has favoured us with only a very meagre narrative. Following the course pointed out, he reached, on the 30th May, Hope Sanderson, the farthest point attained by Davis. Soon afterwards the expedition came to a number of small islands, on which tliey found only females, some of very great age. These at first ran and hid themselves among the rocks ; but the sailors having reached two dames, one of whom was estimated at fourscore, and having presented bits of iron and the usual toys, induced them to carry a favourable report to their youthful countrywomen. The whole party soon came down to the shore, and four even went on board the boat. The charms of these ladies were heightened or disfigured by long black streaks made on their faces in early life with a sharp instrument, and so deep that they could not now be effaced. It was ob- served, too, that the dead were buried merely by piling stones over them, through which the body appeared, secured, however, from putrefaction by the extreme cold of the climate. The navigators sailed onwards in lat. 74°, when they were arrested by a large body of ice, and obliged to turn into a neighbouring inlet to await its melting. Here they received repeated visits from about forty of the natives, the only account of whom is, that they brought an extraordinary quantity of the bones of sca-unicoms, or narwals, great numbers of which animals were seen in the water. Hence this was called Horn Sound. The mass of ice now dissolved before tlie powerful influence of the sun, and the discoverers sailed northwards among its fragments; but still snow fell every day, and the shrouds and sails were often so hard frozen as to make it impossible to handle them. In 76° the III:, '! it il if BYLOT AND BAFFIN. 207 m rom is, the lich lied tlie tiled fell lard 76° they came to a fair cape, and then to a goodly sound, to CHAP. VT which they gave the respective names of Digges and progrcMof Wolstenholme, the two main promoters of this under- Byiot taking, and whose zeal was already associated with localities in the interior of Hudson's Straits. After having sustained a severe storm, they discovered another inlet, which would have supplied them with a multitude of whales, had they been duly provided with the means of capture : this they called Whale Sound. Next, in 78°, appeared a third, the widest and greatest in all this sea, and which was named for Sir Thomas Smith, one of the chief patrons of discovery. This opening, which Baffin seems to have examined very supcriicially, abounded almost equally in whales, and caused particu- lar astonishment by the extraordinary aberration of the needle, to which nothing similar had been ever witnessed. Between these two sounds was an island which was de- nominated Hakluyt, after the venerable recorder of early English discoveries. Proceeding now along the Numemn* south-western boundary of this great sea, the next ^bsenrei "fair sound" received the name of Alderman Jones, another encourager of these laudable pursuits. It may be remarked that Baffin notices all these inlets, of which he was the first discoverer, in the most cursory manner, without mention of any attempt to trace, in their interior depths, an opening into any sea beyond. In lat. 74° there appeared another broad opening, which was called Sir James Lancaster's Sound ; but while he calls it great, he seems scarcely to have noticed this future entrance into the Polar Sea ; on the contrary, he observes, at the very same moment, that the hope of a LarKastcr passage became every day less and less. He sailed on but a barrier of ice prevented him from approaching the shore till he came within the " indraft" of Cumberland's Isles, " where hope of passage could be none." Finding the health of his crew rather declining, he sailed across to Greenland, where an abundance of scurvy-grass boiled in beer quickly restored them ; and " the Lord then sent a speedy and good passage homeward." sound. 2()8 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VI Baffin's Bay. Danish expe dition. Jens Munk. Winter quarters On returning, he expressed the most decided conviction that the great sea which he had traversed was enclosed on all sides, and afforded no opening into any ocean to the westward ; and his judgment was received hy the public, who named it from him Baffin's Bay. He for- cibly, however, represented the great encouragement it held out to the whale-fishery, as those huge animals were seen sleeping in vast numbers on the surface of the water, without fear of the ship " or of any thing else." Davis' Strait, accordingly, has ever since been a favourite resort of the fishers, who did not, however, till lately venture into those high latitudes, where whales are de- scribed as more peculiarly abundant. There was now a pause in English discovery ; evexy quarter had been tried, and none seemed to afford any farther promise ; nor was it till 1619 that Denmark, which has always felt an interest in northern navigation, made an attempt to follow up the success of Hudson and Baffin. At the period just named. Christian IV. sent out two well-appointed vessels under Jens Munk, who had the reputation of a good seaman. He succeeded in penetrating through Hudson's Straits into the bay, whereupon he took upon himself to change the whole nomenclature of that region, imposing the names of Christian's Straits and Christian's Sea, and calling the western coast New Denmark. But this innovation, which was contrary to every principle recognised in such cases, has not been confirmed by posterity. When September arrived, and the ice closed in, he thought it prudent to seek winter-quarters, and accordingly esta- blished himself in the mouth of an opening which, it is highly probable, was that channel which has since been called Chesterfield Inlet. The season seemed to open with the best promise, commodious huts were constructed, and there were both abundance and variety of game. His people witnessed some of those brilliant phenomena that are peculiar to high latitudes ; at one time were two and at another three suns in the sky ; and the moon was once environed by a transparent circle, within )pen jted, ime. DANISH EXPEDITIONS. 209 t\-hich was a cross cutting through its centre. But, chap. Vl instead of amusing their minds and improving science Rem7rkat)>t by noting these beautiful appearances, they were de- pUenoroe.ia. pressed by viewing them as a mysterious presage of future evils. Frost now set in with all its intensity ; their beer, wine, and other liquors, were converted into ice ; the scurvy began its ravages ; while they, ignorant of the mode of treating it, employed no reniedy .except a laige quantity of spirits, which has always been found to aggravate that frightful disorder. Unfit for the ex- ertion necessary to secure the game with which the Digj^ggg ^^ country abounded, they soon had famine added to their the crew, other distresses ; and their miseries seem to ha*/e been almost without a parallel, even in the dark annals of northern navigation. Munk himself was left four days in his hut without food ; at length, having crawled out, he found that of the original crew of fifty-two no more than two survived. He and they were overjoyed to meet, and determined to make an effort to preserve life. Gathering strength from despair, they dug into the snow, E^orta of under which they found herbs and grass, which, being survivors. of an antiscorbutic quality, soon produced a degree of amendment. Being then able to fish and shoot, they gradually regained their natural vigour. They equipped anew the smaller of the two vessels, in wliich they reached home on the 26th September 1620, after a stormy and perilous voyage. The commander declared his readiness to sail again ; and there are various reports as to the cause why he did not. Some say, that having in a conference with the king been stung by some ex- dSwiC ^ pressions which seemed to impute the disasters of the late enterprise to his mismanagement, he died of a broken heart. But Forster relates that, during several successive years, he was employed by his majesty on the North Sea and in the Elbe, and that he died in 1628, when engaged in a naval expedition. The !l^iglish, after Baffin's attempt, appearing to re- linquish every prospect of discovery in the more northern seas, confined for a long time all their efibrts in the N 210 EARLY NORTH-WEST VOYAdES. CHAP. VI EiiRlliih ex- pcdltluitn. CnittnlHM Fur MUt Jauios. m IIiKlMOnV Hay sotllcmonu Middlofoirn Qxpediticn. direction of l[udt(on*8 Bny. But m thuse did not IcntI to nny important results, and are chiefly connected witli tho remoter settlements of America, we shall introduce hero only a very slight sketch of tliem. Captains hox and James were fitted out in 1631 . Tlu^ former examined two passages leading to the northward, one on the western side of Southampton Island, called Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome ; the other on tho eastern side, called from himself Fox*s Channel ; but ho did not trace either to any groat height. James, entangled in the southern extremity of Hudson's Boy, spent a winter under the most extreme suffering from cold, and returned next summer to England. About 1668 a settlement was formed hi tho bay just specified, and an extensive company established for the traffic in furs; but this association, though bound by their charter to make tho most strenuous exertions for the discovery of a western passage, concerned themselves very little with tho subject till 1710, when they were in a manner compelled to fit out an expedition under Knight and Barlow. These officers, however, never re- turned, and a vessel sent next season under Captain Scroggs could learn no tidings of them ; nor was it till nearly fifty years afterwards that the wrecks of their armament were found on Marble Island, where they appear to have been cost ashore and lost. In 1741, after a long interval, Captain Middleton, sup- ported by a gentleman of tho name of Dobbs, obtained the command of two vessels, with which he sailed uj) the Welcome. He came to a long inlet called the Wager, but it appeared quite enclosed by a shore, with a river falling into it. Proceeding to its northern extremity, he found a spacious opening, that afforded at first the gi*eatcst hopes ; but being disappointed by the appear- ance of land, he named it Repulse Bay. The coast then taking an easterly direction, he followed it till he came to a channel which, from the accumulation of ice at its entrance, he called the Frozen Strait. A current ran through it, which, however, appeared to him to be CAPTAIN MIDDLKTON. 211 merely the ono that hod entered by Iluduon's Strait, and ciiAl*. VL proceeded cirouitously round Southampton Island. Ho returned home, oxprcming a decided conviction that no practicable passage existed in tliat direction. Mr Dobbs, the mover of the expedition, was deeply (innnccoufui disappointed by this result ; ond from his own reflections, "w"^^*- and the statement of several of the inferior officers, became convmced that Middleton hod given a very incorrect statement of the facts. Of this ho so fully convinced both the Parliament and the nation, that £10,000 was subscribed for a new expedition, and a reward of £20,000 promised to the discoverers of the projected passage, thw object. Captains Moor and Smith, in 1740, commanded this annament, which, like most of those equipped with great pomp and circumstance, entirely failed. They merely ascertained, what was pretty well known before, that the Wager afforded no outlet ; and, after spending a Complete severe winter there, returned next season to England. iMiiitre. It appears, by notices which Mr Barrow has drawn from the Admiralty records, that the armed brig Lion was sent in 1776, under Lieutenant Pickcrngill, and in 1777, under Lieutenant Young, with the view of acting in concert with Captain Cook, who in his third voyage might, it was hoped, make his way round from Behring's Strait into the Atlantic. These officers reached respec- tively the latitudes of 68** and 72% without effecting or almost attempting any thing farther. id up ager. river mity, t the ^ M *i pear- ,then :■,.-:■• came at its ■"",.-'• t ran f'.J'^'^' ;o be f' --■ „ 212 MODEBN N0STHWE8T VOYAOFJI. ill CHAPTER VII. Voyaget hy Rots and Parry {n Search of a North-west ' '^ Passage, Spirited Views of the British Goyeramenft— Ross's Expedition ; He sails round Baffin's. Bay ; Arctic Highlands ; Lancaster Sound ; His Return— Parry's First Expedition ; Entrance into the Artie Sea ; Regent's Inlet ; North Georgian Islands ; Winters at Melville Island ; Mode of spending the Winter ; North Georgian Theatre ; Gazette ; Disappearance of the Animal Tribes ; Attempt to proceed Westward during the Summer ; His Return to England— Parry's Second Expedi- tion, accompanied by Captain Lyon ; He enters Hudson's Strait ; Savage Islands ; Duke of York's Bay ; Frozen Strait ; Various Inlets discovered ; Ships Arozen in for the Winter ; Polar Theatre and School ; Brilliant Appearances of the Aurora Borealis ; Intercourse with a Party of Esqui- maux ; Land Excursions ; Release from the Ice ; Voyage Northward ; Discovery of a Strait named after the Fury and Hecla ; Progress arrested ; Second Winter-quarters, at Igloolik ; The Esquimaux ; Symptoms of Scurvy ; Return of the Expedition to England— Parry's Third Expedition ; He winters at Port Bowen ; Shipwreck of the Fury ; Return of the Hecla. CHAP. VIL Britain had seen other nations carry off all the great Tardy^vai prizes in naval discovery. She had scarcely a vessel on the ocean, when the nations of the Iberian peninsula laid open new worlds, and appropriated the golden trea- sures of the East and of the West. But her energies bein^ once roused, her efforts were from the beginning bold and adventurous, though sometimes made with inadequate means, on a small scale, and often with a X9a] of Britain. NAVAL ZEAL OP BRITAIN. 213 Tho AMcan disastrous issue. Advancing, however, with regular chap, vil steps, she first rivalled and finally surpassed all other EnereiTs modem states. The reigns of George III. and of his roused, eldest son fomiod the era wliich decided both her mari- time supremacy and hpr special eminence in the depart- ment of discovery. Sli« arhieved almost entirely tho exploration of tlie vast expanse of tho South Sea, with its great and nii nerous islands, leaving to tho exertions of Franco only a scanty gleaning. Tho re- volutionary war, indeed, for some time employed the attention and resources of the nation ; but as soon as her signal triumphs had left Britain without an enemy in the seas of Europe, she looked again to this theatre of her former glory. Even amid the din of arms, tho African Association pursued their enlightened and phi- ti»itocVat(our lanthropic course ; and the important results to which they attained finally induced the government to take an interest in their undertaking, and to aid them with means wliich no private body could command. Mr Barrow, who by his personal exertions had illustrated some of the most interesting portions of the globe, took the chief direction, — prompting and guiding every step with an energetic perseverance and practical judgment never before extended in an equal degree to similar object**. The measures pursued with respect to Africa do not come within the compass of the present work ; but when the spirit was once roused, it did not confine itself to a single point. The northern seas, as a theatre of adventure, had been unoccupied for half a century. There prevailed, indeed, a general impression that so many fruitless expeditions had set the question at rest ; Barrow. but when Mr B^urrow applied to it the powers of his vigorous and penetrating judgment, he became sensible that this conclusion was quite groundless. Baffin had once sailed round that great sea, which by him was called a bay, and still bears his name ; but his examination had been quite superficial, and insufficient to establish that continuity of land with which the maps had so thoroughly enclosed it. There were even striking facts indicating ■|!| i!!iii 214 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VII Supposed coinmnnica- tlon with the Pacific Ocean. Admiralty expeditions. Ross and Parry. Course of the navigators. Cnrlons phenomenon. that there must he a communication with the Greenland Sea on the one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Even in regard to Hudson's Bay, no progress was made since Parliament had offered a reward of £20,000, and sent out the large expedition under Captains Moor and Smith. Thus the grand prohlem in which the country had long taken so deep an interest was still unsolved ; and to decide it nothing more seemed necessary than the application of that skill and undaunted courage, of which British seamen have shown themselves so emi* nently possessed. In 1818 the Admiralty fitted out two expeditions; one destined for the discovery of the north-west passage, the other to attempt a voyage across the Pole. The first, which is the one we are at present to follow, con- sisted of the Isahellaof 385 tons, commanded hy Captain John Ross, an officer of reputation and experience, who had twice wintered in the Baltic, had heen employed in surveying the White Sea, and heen rs far north aa Bear or Cherie Island. Another vessel, the Alexander of 252 tons, was intrusted to Lieutenant Parry, a young officer of rising merit, who has since amply justified the choice made by his employers. On the 18th April the navigators sailed down the Thames, and by the end of the month were off the Shetland Islands. On the 27th May they came in view of Cape Farewell ; round which, as usual, were floating numerous and lofty icebergs of the most varied forms and tints. On the 14th June they reached the Whale Islands, where they were informed by the governor of the Danish settlement that the past winter had been uncommonly severe ; that the neighbouring bays and straits had been all frozen two months earlier than usual ; and that some of the channels northward of his station were still inaccessible, owing to the ice. A curious assertion was here made by the Esquimaux, that they could see across the whole breadth of the bay, though not less than two hundred miles, which, indeed, would be an extraordinary instance of the power of re- ROSS AND PARRY. 215 fraction ; but it ought to be observed, that tlie frozen cuap. Vll. surface of the sea often presents deceptive appearances way^ of land. On the I7th June, in the neighbourhood of island. Waygat Island, an impenetrable barrier obliged the dis- coverers to stop their course, making themselves fast to an iceberg, and having forty-five whale-ships in com- pany. Observations made ashore proved this island to be misplaced on the maps by no less than five degrees of longitude. At length the ice attached to the eastern side of the strait broke up, though still forming a con- ^f j*g\"^ ^' tinuous and impenetrable rampart at some distance to the westward, in which direction it had drifted ; but in the intermediate space they were enabled to move for- ward slowly along the coast, labouring through narrow and intricate channels. They steered their course, how- ever, to the higher parts of the bay, and in about lat. 76° came to a coast which had not been visited by former navigators. They were struck, as Baffin had been, by the great number of whales which were slumbering se- curely in these deep recesses, never having been alarmed by the harpoon. On the 7th August, in the same lati- tude, a heavy gale sprung up, which, driving the ice ^^^^ against the vessels, made a display of its terrible power. Providentially, when instant destruction was expected, the mass receded, and the ships, owing to the extraordi- nary strength of their construction, escaped without material injury. Proceeding along a high mountainous coast, the ex- Native^ pedition came to a tribe of Esquimaux, who, of all human beings, seem to exist in a state of the deepest seclusion. They had never before seen men belonging to the civilized world, or to a race different from their own. The first party v/hom the navigators approached showed every sign of alarm, — dreading, es was after- wards understood, a fatal influence from the mere touch of beings whom they regarded as members of an un- known species. Yet they seem to have felt a secret attraction towards the strangers, and advanced, holding fast the long knives lodged in their boots, and looking settlement »S 216 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. * Interview with the natives. Sifmof amity. 4 CHAP. VII. significantly at each other. Having come to a chajsm which separated them from the strangers, they made earnest signs that only Saccheous, the interpreter,* who bore a certain resemblance to themselves, should come across. He went forward and offered his hand; but they shrunk back for some time in alarm. At length the boldest touched it, and finding it flesh and blood, set up a loud shout, in which three others joined. The rest of the party then came up, to the number of eight, with fifty dogs, which joined their masters in raising a tremendous clamour. Ross and Parry now thought it time to advance. This movement excited alarm and a tendency to retreat ; but Saccheous having taught these officers to pull their noses, this sign of amity was gra- ciously accepted. A mirror was now held up to them, and on seeing their faces in it they showed the most extreme astonishment, looking round on each other a few moments in silence, then setting up a general shout, succeeded by a loud laugh of delight and surprise. The ship was the next object of their speculation ; the nature of which they endeavoured to ascertain by interrogating itself; for they conceived it to be a huge bird spreading its vast wings, and endowed with reason. One of them, pulling his nose with the utmost solemnity, began thus to address it : — " Who are you ? Wlience come you ? • This young man was a native of Greenland, who had ac- companied the Thomas and Anne, Captain Newton, one of the Leitn whalers, on her homeward voyage in 1816; and the following year he went out to the fishery, returning a second time to Europe. During this period, being intelligent and do- cile, he made considerable proficiency in a course or elementary study, in the prosecution of which he received every assistance from his friends in Leith. On the equipment of the Arctic expedition, his wishes to accompany the discovery-ships having been communicated to government through the medium of Captain Basil Hall, he was immediately engaged as interpreter. His services in that capacity, as the narrative shows, were of eminent utility ; and, on his return, the Admiralty, desirous to have him properly instructed, in the event of a future expedi< tion, sent him to Edinburgh for that purpose. Here, however, in the ensuing spring, he was unfortunately attacked with an inflammatory fever, which carried him off in a few days. Curiosity of the natives. •e BSQUIMA'JX ?5l..t'DOE. J he L»i) i'liMif.; fiavc .''(tst^ <^i'■>• tv. il ;c!im' of J. gi — rajji- iJil 210 yi' .J. I" ■Wi'JiT %'OY/»OES. Interview with the nat *'.3. Slcn^ of aM •<>me iimo in ulariu. At iengili tx:? •it.kit ton. •>)("! H, ftmi fiiulinpr it Hr-sh and blood. s;t V^ fe itMid i^»x-v, iu Mhich three x>thtis joined. Tbe 'ifty Uxeii c^iv.fj u]), to the iiuiiibci oK eight, ■i^ ^*'^ich Ji!»?icd their masters hi ri-isiiii^- a • vr, R«>8ft itmi Purry now tliought it Thm rt-r,vmaeTi*. exclied alarm aiul a ■. t'uf. ; but Sncchv/oas h.Hvirtgt"\iight the.se r^ft'Ki^^ U) pnil tiicir \\ot-(% this fiyn of a- .Ity was gra- clou>i(Iy riceepted. A miirc^ vats tjovv hold up to them, and on weuj^; their lacis iu it they ahowv-d the mo.st extreme astoiiishuieiit. L'^k'nii^- reuiid on each otlier a few uiojDents iii aileuce, tlien setting up a general shout, succeeded by a loud laugh of delight and surprise. The ship -^-as the next object of tlicir speeulation ; the nature or whk'h th^^y ertdeuvonred to >!.scertaiu by iiiterrogathig 't^fU'l ior thoy cfiueeived ^t i/> be a hu^e bird spreading t4« ^.'^t, mnffM, Ui.'i endowed n-ith reusoi). Oite of them, >*f'' \^ hi> m<»t*'. with i^W- ut?r-''^ -^lemnity, began thus JrcS6 rJ ■; "^ Whf? ur(» ; Vvlivnee cOiUe you? «''r-!-frtty of > 'uiij youD^j mwj \v«8 a liativo of Greenbrid, who hnd ac- aed the Tht/Mr!« i\nd Aiui«, Captain No\Ai;on, one of tho »• hrdcrs. yti her homeward voya^o iu IClfi ; and tho '-r year ha wci-t out to tlie fifllirry, returnia^ a Focond ■ '^ope Oui'iii^ tliiii period, beiu;;; intelligojit and do- '■■■ . ; le co:.si.lprah!o prnnciency in a course oi elementary .' ':« prosfHintioi; of which hn received evcrj assistan *'i that c"s|;i.<'".i,ty, as Lue oarrativo show?, were <>f einineru v.„f , . ; and, on ni** return, 'h<» Admiralty, desiron? to have hiu! ■ 'v )T!-ftniet*Hh in the event of a future expedi- tion^ sent )■ ■ ■bur«jh tor tlmt purpose. Hero, however, in tlie ontiniojk, .-.fntx^ ho Vas uni<-rtuuatcly attacked with an inflammatory it v' r hi ti cjMru'ii W,m off iu a tew days. £te<* Hi ■4~ ^• [lie ho h'i « it>- \n ■' ice ,ic of ur. of lo lii- f> in ^i,iii^iii,!pdl!'i'i:''if|i)''' ESQUIMAUX SLEDGE. l"av t.i(|iiiinaii:: have ".Ictlges drawn by 'nrsc and powerful team^ of dogs— Page "JiS, ROSS AND PARRY. 217 Is it from the sun or the moon V* The ship remaining chap, vit silent, they at length applied to the interpreter, who inq„]^ assured them that it was a frame of timber, the work of respecting human art. To them, however, who had never seen '''® ''''*^ any wood but slight twigs and stunted heath, its im- mense planks and masts were objects of amazement. What animal, they also asked, could furnish those enor- mous skins which were spread for the sails. Their ad- miration was soon followed by a desire to possess some of the objects which met their eyes, and with little ^p|jj®y ceremony or discrimination as to the means of effecting their end. They attempted first a spare topmast, then an anchor; and these proving too ponderous, one of them tried the smith's anvil ; but, finding it fixed, made off at last with the large hammer. It was not less wonderful in their eyes to see the sailors mounting the rigging ; nor was it without much hesitation that they ventured their own feet in the shrouds. A little terrier- dog appeared to them a contemptible creature, wholly unfit for drawing burdens or being yoked in a sledge, while the grunt of a hog filled them with alarm. This tribe, in features, form, and even language, be- EsqiUmaox. long evidently to the Esquimaux, — a race widely dif- fused over all the shores of the Arctic Ocean. They appear to have little or no communication with the rest, and amid the general resemblance have some distin- guishing characters. The boat, large or small, which we almost instinctively associate with our idea of the Greenlander, is here wholly unknown. Much of their food is found in the deep, and procured at various parts of the icy surface which incrusts it during tlie greater part of the year. Yet they have one important ad van- possession of tage, not only over other Esquimaux, but over the most *"""• civilized of the native Americans. Their country affords iron, which, being flattened by sharp stones, and inserted in a handle made of the horn of the sea-unicorn, forms knives much more efficient than those framed of bone by the neighbouring hordes. Again, unlike the other tribes, they have a king, who rules seemingly with 218 MOPKRN NORTH- WEST VOYAnRa. 1^ I Rod snow. hljii Mill I cnxr. VII. gontlo avvjiy ; for they doaeribcd liiin lU) strong, very ~^ good, and very much beloved. Tlic disco verere did not gov«rnra«nt visit the court of this Arctic potcntnto ; hut they under- stood that ho draws a tribute, consisting of truui-oil, Bcol-skins, and the bono of the scu- unicorn. Following the general usage, they have sledges drawn by large and Dojr nlodgca powerful teams of dogs ; their cliase is chiefly confined to hares, foxes of various colours, the seol, and the nar- wal. They rejected with horror the proffered luxuries of biscuit, sweetmeats, or spirits ; train-oil, os it streamed from various species of fish, alone gratified their palate. Cuptain Ross, swayed by national im|>rcs8ion8, gave to this district the nami' of the Arctic HighUinds, In the northern part of this coast the navigators ob- served a remarkable phenomenon, — a r.uigo of cliftH, the snowy covering of which had exchanged its native white for a tint of deep crimson. This red snow was not only examined on the spot, but a portion of it was brought to England, and analyzed by the most learned men both at home and abroad, who have entertained various opin- ions as to the origin of the colour. The latest observa- tions, as elsewhere observed, have established its vege- table origin,* Cnpc nudipy Having now passed Cape Dudley Digges, the commo- DiKKca. ^j^j^ found himself among those spacious sounds which Baifin had named, but so imperfectly described. They all appeared to him, however, to bo cither bays enclosed by land or obstinicted by impenetrable barriers of ice. lie sailed past Wolstenholme and Whjile Sounds very quickly, without approaching even their entrance ; concluding them to be blocked up with ice, and to afford no hope of a passrge. As these openings stretched towards the north, it must be admitted that they could not in this high latitude be considered very favourable as to the object he had in view. He came next to Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, which, we may recollect, Baffin described as the most spacious in the whole circuit of • See chap, i p. 22, note ; chap ii. p. 91-94, Smith's Sound. ROSS AND PARRY. 210 He these coAsis. This was regarded with greater attention ; citap. vil. but Captain Ross witisfied himself that he had distinctly -— seen it, at the distance of eighteen leagues, completely c„i,tiiin Hom enclosed by land. lie soon arrived at an extensive bay, which had hitherto been unobserved, — afterwards to that which Baffin called Alderman Jones* Sound ; but in respect to both, the ice at their entrance, and the ap- parent boundary of high land in the interior, led, as in tlie other instances, to an unfavourable conclusion. The season was now somewhat advanced ; the end of Close of iho August approached ; the sun set after an uninterrupted ■'•''"*<*"• day of two months and a half; and a thick fog rendereB«. Ward. Favoured with a moderate breeze, the ships were ••HKe througii run into the detached pieces and floes of ice, through which they were heaved with hawsers; but the ob- stacles becoming always more insuperable, they were at length completely beset, and a heavy fog coming on made them little able to take advantage of any favour- able change. Yet in the course of a week, though re- peatedly and sometimes dangerously surrounded, they warped their way from lane to lane of open water, till only one lengthened floe separated them from an open sea. By laboriously sawing through this obstruction, they finally penetrated the great barrier, and saw the shore, clear of ice, extending before them. The navigators now bore directly for Lancaster Sound, and on the SOth July found themselves at its entrance. They felt an extraordinary emotion as they recognised this magnificent channel, with the lofty cHAb by which it was guarded, aware that a very short time would decide the fate of their grand undertaking. They were tantalized, however, by a fresh breeze coming directly down the Sound, which did not sufi^er them to make more than a very slow progress. Still there was no appearance of obstruction, either from ice or land, and even the heavy swell which they had to encounter, driving the water repeatedly in at the stem-windows, was hailed as an indication of open sea to the westward. The Hecla left the Griper behind, but still without making any great way herself, till the 3d August, when an easterly breeze sprung up, carrying both vessels rapidly forward. A crowd of saQ was set, and they proceeded triumphantly in their course. The minds of all were filled with anxious hope and suspense. The mast-heads were crowded with officers and men, and the successive reports brought down from the highest pinnacle, called the crow's nest, were eagerly listened to on deck. Their path was still unobstructed. They passed various headlands, with several wide openings towards the north and south, to High hopes entertained PARRY. 22n which they hastily gave the names of Croker Bay, CHAP. Vfl Navy Board Inlet, and similar designations ; hut those opcnTnm it was not their present ohjcct to explore. The wind, pusacii. freshening more and more, carried them happily for- ward, till at midnight they found themselves in longi- ttttde 88° 12', nearly a hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the sound, which still retained a breadth of fifty miles. The success of the expedition, they fondly hoped, was now to a great extent decided. The Hecla at this time slackened her course to allow Junction or her companion to come up, which she did in longitudt- J,na "wpei 85°. They proceeded together to longitude 86° 30', and found two other inlets, which they named Burnet and Stratton ; then a bold cape named Fellfoot, form- ing, apparently, the termination of this long line of coast. The lengthened swell which still rolled in from the north and west, with the oceanic colour of the waters, inspired the flattering persuasion that they had already passed the region of straits and inlets, and were now wafted along the wide expanse of the Polar Basin. Nothing, in short, it was hoped, woulc* henceforth ob- struct their progress to Icy Cape, the western boundary of America. An alarm of land was given, but it proved to arise only from an island of no great extent. How- Appearanco ever, more land was soon discovered beyond Cape Fell- oi land, foot, which was ascertained to be the entrance to a noble recess, extending on their right, which they named Maxwell Bay. An uninterrupted range of sea still stretched out before them, though they were somewhat discomposed by seeing on the south a line of continuous ice ; but it left an open passage, and they hoped to find it merely a detached stream. A little space onwards, however, they discovered, with deep di^nnei oi^ dismay, that this ice was joined to a compact and im- structeii penetrable body of floes, which completely crossed the channel, and joined the western point of Maxwell Bay. It behoved them, therefore, immediately to draw back, to avoid being embayed in the ice, along the edges of which a violent surf was then beating. The officers 224 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Kew coursa !,}' Desolate scene. ")l j CHAP. VII began to amuse themselves with fruitless attempts to catch white whales, when the weather cleared, and they saw to the south an open sea with a dark water-sky. Parry, hoping that this might lead to an unencumbered passage in a lower latitude, steered in this direction, and found himself at the mouth of a great inlet, ten leagues broad, with no visible termination ; and to the two capes at its entrance he gave the names of Clarence and Seppings. The mariners, finding the western shore of this inlet greatly obstructed with ice, moved across to the eastern, where they entered a broad and open channel. The coast was the most dreary and desolate they had ever beheld even in the Arctic world, presenting scarcely a semblance either of animal or vegetable life. Naviga- tion was rendered more arduous from the entire irregularity of the compass, now evidently approaching to the magnetic pole, and showing an excess of variation which they vainly attempted to measure, so that the binnacles were laid aside as useless lumber. They sailed a hundred and twenty miles up this inlet, and its augmenting width inspired them with corresponding hopes ; when, with extreme consternation, they sudden- ly perceived the ice to diverge from its parallel course, running close in with a point of land which appeared to form the southern extremity of the eastern shore. To this foreland they gave the name of Cape Kater. The western horizon also appeared covered with heavy and extensive floes, a bright and dazzling iceblink extending from right to left. The name of the Prince Regent was given to this spacious inlet, which Parry strongly sus- pected must have a communication with Hudson's Bay. He now determined to return to the old station, and watch the opportunity when the relenting ice would allow the ships to proceed westward. That point was reached, not without some difficulty, amid ice and fog. At Prince Leopold's Islands, on the 16th, the barrier was as impenetrable as ever, with a bright blink ; and fi .>m the top of a high hill there was no water to be RcneM'ed bopes. Prince Regent'* Inleb PARRY. 225 ■"J to id [d d seen ; luckily also there was no laud. On the 18th, chap. Vli on getting once more close to the northern shore, the sndden" navigators began to make a little way, and some showers change. of rain and snow, accompanied with heavy wind, pro- duced such an effect, that on the 21st the whole ice had disappeared, and they could scarcely believe it to be the same sea which had just before been covered with floes upon floes as far as the eye could reach. Mr Parry now crowded all sail to the westward, and, Voyage though detained by want of wind, he passed Radstock *^''*^^"''<*- Bay, Capes Hurd and Hotham, and Beechey Island ; after which he discovered a fine and broad inlet leading to the north, which he called Wellington, the greatest name of the age. The sea at the mouth being perfectly open, he would not have hesitated to ascend it, had there not been before him, along the southern side of an island named Cornwallis, an open channel leading due west. Wellington Inlet was now considered by the officers, so high were their hopes, as forming the west- ern boundary of the land stretching from Baffin's Bay to the Polar Sea, into which they had little doubt they were entering. For this reason Lieutenant Parry did not hesitate to give to the great channel, which was un- rj^i- derstood to eff^ect so desirable a junction, the merited ap- strait. pellation of Barrow's Strait, after the much-esteemed promoter of the expedition. A favourable breeze now sprung up, and the adventurers passed gaily and tri- umphantly along the extensive shore of Cornwallis Islc_d, then coasted a larger island named Bathurst, and next a smaller one called Byam Martin. At this last place they judged by some experiments that they iiad passed the magnetic meridian, situated probably in about 100 degrees west longitude, and where the nfiticiiieri- compass would have pointed due south instead of due ^''"^ north. The navigation now became extremely difficult, in consequence of thick fogs, which not only froze on the shrouds, but, as the compass was also useless, took away all means of knowing the direction in which they sailed. They were obliged to trust that the land and o iiT0V.''8 The magf- 226 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VII 1 ^^tiAr. Novel diffl- culties. }'<' ■ Success of tlie cxpedi- tioiL Compelled to return. DifflcuUies overcome. ice would preserve the same line, and sometimes em- ployed the oddest expedients for ascertaining the precise point. They encountered also a compact floe, through which they were obliged to bore their way by main force. Notwithstanding all these obstacles they reached the coast of an island larger than any before discovered, to which they gave the name of Melville. The wind now failed, and they moved slowly forward by towing and warping, till on the 4th September the lieutenant could announce to his joyful crew, that, having reached the longitude of 110" W., they were become entitled to the reward of £6000, promised by Parliament to the first ship's company who should attain that meridian. They still pushed forward with redoubled ardour, but soon found their course arrested by an impenetrable barrier of ice. They waited nearly a fortnight in hopes of overcoming it ; till, about the 20th, their situation became alarming. The young ice began rapidly to form on the surface of the watera, retarded only by winds and swells ; so that the commanding oflicer was convinced that, in the event of a single hour's calm, he would be frozen up in the midst of the sea. No option was therefore left but to return, and to choose between two apparently good harbours, which had been recently passed on Melville Island. Not without difficulty he reached this place on the 24th, and decided in favour of the more western haven, as affording the fullest security ; but it was necessary to cut his way two miles through a large floe with which it was encum- bered. To effect this arduous operation, the seamen marked with boarding-pikes two parallel lines, at the distance of somewhat more than the breadth of tba larger ship. They sawed, in the first place, along the path tracked out, and then by cross-sawings de- tached large pieces, which wore separated diagonally in order to be floated out ; and sometimes boat-sails were fastened to them to take the advantage of a favourable breeze. On the 26th the ships were established in five fathoms water, at about a cable's length from the beach. ,,iili!i-'i filial i li ' ■ |:vi;' 'I'l: Pf 1 iil ilillWiili;- ' I, r !ii ■11 'Wiii'i ^ - "I cr "• w • h : Z J c ^ z « of z •: t " I- ii 3 - O - ''I'lIlP il'lill /I KVRi;.7. 2iT Fit *oine timv the ice was daily cleared ro;in«] them ; chap, vil btit thiB w.'iR noon found an eiKilesp and us^kss Jabour, (.vj^je'n",^ f^^ and they wi,*«> allowed to be rctful.ii'iy irozen in for tlu- ii'c wiiucr. wjiiter. Mr Parry then applied himself to r^mo the varied y^"""j'* '''^ '^'^ p^roup of »::l.«'vls along whieli iic had p<'is,sw pro-ocrupied by one in the Pacific, he gavfl tit." title of "tin* North Georgian Islands," in honouv of his Majesty George Hi., whose reign had been bo eminyntly di&iiTit»uislied by the extension ot nautical and geograpl. ical knowiedgo. The .v)iumander, findiuiir lu'mself and his ships shut .JiiiHons in for a long and dreary winter, devoted iiis^ actention, fii^o",!!^"^ with a mixture of finnncsy ;ind Ui'uSn'?-*, to i.iiLigat'. uiunuer. tlioso evils wK>"clt ev^t-Ti in lo>«'cr latitudes, ka«i often rendered an atvodt^ m tlio Arctic regions so i\%ki\. Him provisions being- verj' amide, he substituted for j; poun<' of saJt ix^ef weekly i [w>und of Dotikln's preserved meat, and rt pint of conccntivited nouft : beer niid -^'iLe were regularly served instead of spirits ; and a certain nllow- nncc was ?pade of souv-kiX)ut, pickies, aud vinegar. The fiiiiloT^j wfire also called together daily, and required to swallow a quantity of lime-juice and sugar in presence of tlic officers, their improvidence being sucli as to afford no other Sicurity for their imbibing this salutary draught. Their gums and shins were also carefully examined, in order to detect srurvy in its earliest symptoms. It was p,.ev(.ntiv« necesAHrv to h> very »' f^nomieal uf tvicl, the small inwa 11110113. qiiantity of mobS and turf whieli - paratiis for baking in a '^entral position, and by scjveral other arrangements, the cabin was maintained in a very comfortable tenij)eratur*: ; but still, around its extremi- ties and )n tile bed-place.^, ste;an, vapour, and oven the breath, mottled, iirbt as moisture and therp as ice. To remove Uie'^c annoyances became accordingly a part of their doily einploym««t. From tho t"rst, Mr Parry wa.^ aware that nothing tuitm li ^ II Ml Hi *ll !^ Ml I I I" I II -.Tj, •**>'^i ^,.. .J"^:z- t* ,r\s -—4 if ; ? Si: .t . ":>. /: ' W < 1 PARRY. 227 J : i»'^. ■ ( ^ Fur some time the ice was daily cleared round them ; but this was soon found an endless and useless labour, and they were allowed to be regularly frozen in for the winter. Mr Parry then applied himself to name the varied group of islands along which he had passed. He called them at firat New Georgia ; but, recollecting that this appellation was pre-occupied by one in the Pacific, he gave the title of "the North Georgian Islands," in honour of his Majesty George III., whose reign had been so eminently distinguished by the extension of nautical and geographical knowledge. The commander, finding himself and his ships shut in for a long and dreary winter, devoted his attention, with a mixture of firmness and kindness, to mitigate those evils which, even in lower latitudes, had often rendered an abode in the Arctic regions so fatal. His provisions being very ample, he substituted for a pound of salt beef weekly a pound of Donkin*s preserved meat, and a pint of concentrated soup ; beer and wine were regularly served instead of spirits ; and a certain allow- ance was made of sour-krout, pickles, and vinegar. The sailors were also called together daily, and required to swallow a quantity of lime-juice and sugar in presence of the officers, their improvidence being such as to afford no other security for their imbibing this salutary draught. Their gums and shins were also carefully examined, in order to detect scurvy in its earliest symptoms. It was necessary to be very economical of fuel, the small quantity of moss and turf which could be collected being too wet to be of any use. By placing the ap- paratus for baking in a central position, and by several other arrangements, the cabin was maintained in a very comfortable temperature ; but still, around its extremi- ties ard in the bed-places, steam, vapour, and even the breath, settled, first as moisture and then as ice. To remove these annoyances became accordingly a part of their daily employment. From the first, Mr Parry was aware that nothing acted CHAP. VIL Frozen in for tlie winter. Namps of the Inlands. Judicious tiriniiess of the com- niunder. \: II Preventive precaiitiousk 228 MODERN NORTH- WEST VOYAGES. North Georgian Tlieuti-e. CHAP. VIL more strongly as an antiscorbutic, than to keep the men's DrHmatTc *»>nds in a lively and cheerful state. His plans tor this recrvatioiih. purpose were very original, and proved not less effectual. Arrangements were made for the occasional performance of a play, in circumstances certainly very remote from any to wliich the drama appeared congenial. Lieutenant Beechey was nominated stage-manager, and the other gentlemen came forward as amateur performers. The very expectation thus raised among the sailors, and the bustle of preparing a room for the purpose, were extremely beneficial ; and when the North Georgian Theatre opened with ** Miss in her Teens," these hardy tars were convulsed with laughter ; not a little excited, perhaps, by viewing their officers in so singular and novel a position ; at all events, the Arctic management was extremely popular. As the small stock contained in one or two chance volumes was exhausted, original compoji- tions were produced, and afterwards formed into a little collection. The officers had another source of amusement in the North Georgian Gazette, of which Captain Sabine became editor, and all wece invited to contribute to this chronicle of the frozen regions. Even those who hesi- tated to appear as writers, enlivened the circle by severe but good-humoured criticisms : — Thus passM the time Till, through the lucid chambers of the south, Look'd out the joyous Sun. It was on the 4th November that this great orb ought to have taken his leave ; but a deep haze prevented them from bidding a formal farewell, and from ascertaining the period down to which refraction would have rendered liim visible ; yet he was reported to be seen from the mast-head on the 11th. Amid various occupations and amusements, the shortest day came on almost unex- pected, and the seamen then watched with pleasure the twilight gradually strengthening at noon. On the 28th January none of the fixed stars could be seen at that hour by the naked eye ; and on the 1st and 2d of Feb- ruary the sun was looked for, but the sky was wrapped North Guorgian Gazette. Disappear- ance ()t tlie feuii. S PARRY. 229 rht in mist; however, on the 3d he was perceived from ciiAr.vn. the maintop of the Hecla. Throughout the winter, the ,{e. ~~a,_ officers, at the period of twilight, had taken a regular unce ui the walk of two or three hours ; not proceeding, however, *""• farther than a mile, lest they should be overtaken by snow-drift. There was a want of objects to diversify this promenade. A monotonous surface of dazzling white covered land and sea ; the view of the ships, the Dreary smoke ascending from them, the sound of human voices, ^'^"^ which through the calm and cold air was carried to an extraordinary distance, alone gave any animation to this wintry scene. The officers, however, persevered in their daily excursion, and exercise was also enforced upon the men, who, even when prevented by the weather from leaving the vessel, were made to run round the deck, keeping time to the tune of an organ. This move- ment they did not at first entirely relish ; but, no plea against it being admitted, they converted it at last into matter of frolic. By the above means health was maintained on board Tiireat of the ships to a surprising degree. Early in January, ^''*^*"^ however, Mr Scallon, the gunner, felt symptoms, first in the legs and then in the gums, that decidedly indicated the presence of scurvy, of which the immediate cause appeared to be the great collection of damp that had formed around his bed- place. At this alarm, all the antiscorbutics on board, lemon-juice, pickles, and spruce- beer, were put into requisition; a small quantity of mustard and cress was also raised from mould placed over the stove-pipe ; and such was the success of these remedies, that in nine days the patient could walk without pain. Farther on in the season a number of slighter cases occurred, which were somewhat aggravated Danger from by an accident. As the men were taking their musical Pre. perambulation round the deck, a house erected on shore, and containing some of the most valuable instruments, was seen to be on fire. The crew instantly ran, pulled off the roof with ropes, knocked down a part of the sides, and being thus enabled to throw in large quantities 230 MODEllN NORTU-WEST VOYAGES. 1 ' ciiAr. VII Kflfect of Dl«iappear- ance of aiiiinuls. Wolves. Ptarmigan SlluL Snow blind- ness. of snowr, succeeded in subduing the flames. Now, how- ever, their faces presented a curious spectacle, every nose and check being white with frost-bites, while the medi- cal gentlemen, with their assistants, were obliged to run from one to the other, and rub them with snow in order to restore animation. With one man the amputation of several Angers became necessary, and no less than sixteen were added to the sick-list. The animal tribes disappeared early in the winter from this frozen region. The officers, on the 15th October, made a shooting-excursion, enjoying a very fine day, though with the thermometer 47° below the freezing- point ; but they did not find a deer, a grouse, nor any creature that could be ranked as game. All of them, deserting this wintry realm, had crossed the seas to America. There remained only a pack of wolves, which serenaded the crews nightly, not venturing to attack, but contriving to avoid being captured. A beautiful white fox was caught and made a pet of. On the 12th May one of the men gave notice that he had seen a ptarmigan ; and attention being thus excited, Mr Be- verley next morning shot one, and on the 15th three coveys presented themselves. The footsteps of deer were also seen, which, from the impression made on the snow, seemed to be moving northwards. From this time ptar- migans were supplied in considerable numbers; but they were made strictly a common good, being divided equally among the crew, with only a preference in favour of the sick. There was found, also, mixed with moss under the snow, an abundance of the herb sorrel, a most potent antidote against scurvy. By these supplies, and under the influence of the more genial weather, the health of the crew, which at the end of March had been in a somewhat alarming state, was completely restored before the beginning of June. In extending their ex- cursions, however, they were considerably incommoded by that distressing inflammation of the eyes, which, proceeding from the glare of snow, is called snow-blind- neas. It was cured in a few days by cold applications, PARRY. 231 while, for the future, it was prevented hy covering the CHAP. Vil. eyes, or by wearing Bpectacles, in which crape was used — instead of glass. On the 16th March the North Georgian Theatre was Active work closed witli an appropriate address, and tiie general lesumed. attention was now turned to the means of extrication from the ice. By tlie I7th May the seamen had so far cut it from around the ships as to allow them to float ; but in the sea it was still immovable. This interval of painful inaction was employed by Mr Parry in an ex- cursion across Melville Island. The ground was still mostly covered with softened snow, and even the cleared tracts were extremely desolate, though chequered by patches of fine verdure. Deer were seen traversing the AppcRranc plains in considerable numbers. Towards the north of dcers. appeared another island, to which was given the name of Sabine. By the middle of June pools were every where formed ; the water flowed in streams, and even in torrents, which rendered hunting and travelling un- safe. There were also channels in which boats could pass ; yet throughout this month and the following the great covering of ice in the surrounding sea remained entire, and kept the ships in harbour. On the 2d of August, however, the whole mass, by one of those sudden movements to which it is liable, broke up and floated BrenkinR up out ; and the explorers had now open water in which to prosecute their great object. It was consolatory to think that this was the very season at which they had last year entered Lancaster Sound ; and if they could make as brilliant a voyage this summer, the following one would see them not far from Behring*s Straits, But it was not without some obstructions that on the 4th they reached the same spot where their progress had been formerly arrested. On the 16th they were enabled to make a certain advance ; after which the frozen surface of the ocean assumed a more compact and impenetrable aspect than had ever before been witnessed. The officei's ascended some of the lofty heights which bordered the coast ; but, in a long reach of sea to the w^estward, no 232 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. to further procedure, ' Return to Brituiii. I ;. i' M i CHAP. VII boundary was seen to these icy barriers. There appeared impodimcnts ^^^^ *^® Western extremity of Melville Island, named * ■ Capo Dundas ; and in the distance a bold coast, which they named Banks' Land. As even a brisk gale from the east did not produce the slightest movement on the glassy face of the deep, they were led to believe that on the other side there must be a large body of land, by which it was held in a fixed state. On considering all circumstances, there appeared no alternative but to make their way homeward while yet the season permitted. Some additional observations were made, as they re- turned, on the two coasts extending along Barrow's Strait. Mr PaiTy's arrival in Britain was hailed with the warmest exultation. To have sailed upwards of thirty degrees of longitude beyond the point reached by any former navigator, — to have discovered so many new lands, islands, and bays, — to have established the much- contested existence of a Polar Sea north of America, — finally, after a wintering of eleven months, to have brought back his crew in a sound and vigorous state,* — were enough to raise his name above that of any other Arctic voyager. No hesitation was felt as to sending out another ex- pedition ; but, considering the insuperable nature of the obstacles which had twice arrested the progress of the last, it became important to consider whether there was not any other passage by which the Polar Sea, now as- certained to exist, might be reached with greater facility. In Hudson's Bay neither of the great northern sounds called the Welcome and Fox's Channel had been traced to a termination. Middleton, in the former inlet, had ascended higher than any previous discoverer ; but a thick cloud had been raised around his reputation, and his Frozen Strait, after all, might very likely prove to • Only one man died in the course of their long and perilous voyage, and his disease was no way referable to the toils or urivations of the expedition, the orij^in of his malady havin;^ been of a date anterior to the saiUng of the ships. Vrenh expedition r\RRY AND LYON. 233 ids ed lad a Lnd to lous or he only a temporary barvior. If from either of these CHAI*. vii sounds an opening should bo efFeeted into the Aretic Sea, xntlcipatio' t it could be navigated in a much lower latitude than that of n wett.ru in which Parry had wintered, and might perhaps be also P*"*^«"* free from those large islands among which he had been entangled. There was accordingly fitted out a new ex- pedition, in which the Fury, of 327 tons, was conjoined Fury nmi with the Hecla ; the commander conceiving that two **''<'''*• vessels of nearly equal dimensions were best calculated for co-operating with each other, while the examination of coasts and inlets could be carried on by boats. This active officer, now promoted to the rank of captain, hoisted his flag on board the Fury ; while Captain Lyon, already distinguished by his services in Africa, received the command of the Hecla, and proved himself fully competent to the arduous duties of this new service. The equipment, the victualling, and the heating of the vessels, were all accomplished with the greatest care, and with various improvements suggested by experience. The adventurers were ready to sail on the 8th May 1821, and having then quitted the Nore, passed through tife exi'cdi the Pentland Frith and by Cape Farewell, though not ^'^n without suffering repeated detention ; but we shall not pause till we find them, on the 2d July, at the mouth of Hudson's Strait. Captain Parry, accustomed as he was to views of Polar desolation, was struck with the exceedingly dreary aspect which these shores presented. The naked rocks, the snow still covering the valleys, and the thick fogs that hung over them, rendered the scene indescribably gloomy. The ships were soon surrounded by icebergs, amounting to the number of fifty-four, — one of which rose at least 258 feet above the sea. They icebergs. were attended by large floes, and rendered very formid- able by their rotatory motion. The peculiar danger of these straits, often remarked by former navigators, arises from the strong tides and currents that rush in from the ocean, and cause violent movements a.nong the huge masses of ice with which they are usually filled. Captain Lyon had an alarming proof of their strength ; 234 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. [■ the ie& CHAP. VII. for two of his hawsers were carried away, and the best Strength oi bower anchor, weighing more than a ton, was wrenched from the bows, and broken off as if it had been crockery- ware. During these disasters the sailors vvare amused by the sight of three companion-ships, two belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, and one bringing out settlers for Lord Selkirk's colony. The emigrants on board the last, who were chiefly Dutch and Germans, were seen waltzing on deck often for hours together, and were only driven into their cabins by a severe fall of snow. Amid these obstructions the ships spent nineteen days in making seventy miles ; which course, however, brought them, on the 21st, within two leagues of what are called the Savage Islands. On the following after- noon a loud shouting was heard over the ice, and soon after there appeared a numerous band of natives, paddling their canoes through the lanes of open water, or, where these failed, drawing them over the pieces of ice. Among a great number of kayaks^ or boats rowed by a single man (see plate p. 178), were five oomiakSj or women's Slow pro- gress. Women's bouts. OomlHk, or Woman's Boat. boats, constructed of a framework of wood and whale- bone covered with deer-skins, having flat sides and bot- tom, and of considerable size. One of them, 26 feet by 8, contained women, boys, and young children, to the number of twenty-one. Presently began a merry, noisy scene of frolic and traffic. The natives carried it on with eagerness and even fury, stripping themselves of the very skins wliich formed their only covering, till ~T PARRY AND LYON. 235 they were in a state of absolute nudity, except the ladies, chap. Vll. who always made a laudable reservation of their breeches. « . — ' . They drove what they meant should be an excessively ti»e nativea hard bargain ; yet, being wholly ignorant of the value of the rich skins with which nature has invested the animals of this climate, they raised shouts of triumph when they obtained in exchange a nail, a saw, or a razor. Their aspect was wilder and more dishevelled than that of any other tribe even among this rude race ; their character also seems fiercer and more savage ; and in- deed it is in this quarter that most of the tragical encounters with Esquimaux have occurred. Some of q. . the old women were pronounced to be the most hideous women objects that mortal man ever beheld ; inflamed eyes, wrinkled skin, black teeth, and deformed features, ren- dered them scarcely human ; hence much apology was found for the dark suspicions cherished by Frobisher*8 crew respecting one of these dames, and the odd investi- gation to which it had prompted. The children were rather pretty ; though, from being thrown carelessly into the bottom of the boats, they had much the appear- ance of the young of wild animals. Besides traffic, the barbarians indulged in a great deal of rather rude frolic, like tiiat of ill-regulated schoolboys. One of them got behind a sailor, shouted loudly in one ear, and gave him a hearty box on the other, which was hailed with a loud and general laugh. They also displayed their merriment in a dance, consisting chiefly of violent leap- ing and stamping, though in tolerable time. In spite of every obstruction. Captain Parry, early in August, reached the entrance of Fox's Channel, and ^"*'^ came in view of Southampton Island. It was now the question, whether to sail directly up this inlet, and reach, by a comparatively short route. Repulse Bay and the higher latitudes, or to make the south-western cir- cuit of Southampton Island, and ascend the beaten track of the Welcome. The captain judiciously preferred the former, notwithstanding its uncertainties, on account of the great time which would be saved should the course 236 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Course adopted. CHAP. VII be found practicable. On the 15th he came to an open- ing stretching westward, and apparently separating the island from other land on the north. Hoping to find this the Frozen Strait of Middleton, he entered it ; but it soon proved a spacious and beautiful basin, enclosed by land on every side. He named it the Duke of York's Bay, and considered it one of the finest harbours in the world ; but, after admiring a large floe covered entirely with minerals, shells, and plants, he moved out of it, and pursued the voyage. On the 21st the navigators found themselves in another strait, not much encumbered with ice, but darkened by thick fogs ; and, before they knew distinctly where they were, a heavy swell from the southward showed that they had already passed through the Frozen Strait, and were in the broad chan- Repulse Bay ngj ©f the Welcome. They speedily entered Repulse Bay, in which modem speculation had cherished the hope of a passage ; but a short investigation made by boats in every direction proved that it was really, as Middleton had described it, completely enclosed. A go d deal of time had thus been lost through the scep- ticism so unjustly attached to the narrative of that eminent seaman. Captain Parry, having come with all speed out of Repulse Bay, began the career of discovery along a coast hitherto unknown. An inlet was soon observed, and called by the name of Gore ; but was not found to extend far into the interior. At the mouth of this opening the valleys were richly clad with grass and moss, the birds singing, butterflies and other insects displaying the most gaudy tints, so that the sailors might have fancied themselves in some happier climate, had not the mighty piles of ice in the Frozen Strait told a diflbrent tale. Hunting-parties traversed the country in various directions, and the game-laws of the preceding year were strictly enforced, by which every beast or bird was to be relinquished for the general good, allow- ing only the head and legs as a douceur to the captor. The latter, however, adopted and made good a theory, Course of discovery. as A or PARRY AND LYON. 237 agreeably to which the description head was greatly chap.vil extended, so as to include even several joints of the back- — bone. Having passed Gore Inlet, the discoverers found pgriis of iiie themselves among those numerous isles described by voyage. Middleton, which formed a complete labyrinth of various shapes and sizes, while strong currents setting between them in various directions, amid fogs and drifting ice, rendered the navigation truly perilous. The Fury was assailed by successive masses ; her anchor was dragged along the rocks with a grinding noise, and on being drawn up, the two flukes were discovered to be broken off. The same vessel was afterwards carried forward by a violent stream, amid thick mist, the people on board finding it impossible either to guide or alter her direction ; so that Captain Parry considers it altogether providential that she was not dashed to pieces against the surrounding rocks. However, one channel, and one only, was observed, by which the mariners at last made their way through this perilous maze. No sooner had they reached the open sea, than, being obliged to un before a strong northerly breeze, they were much ^disheartened to find themselves, on the 3d of September, at the very point which they had left on the 6th of August. All the interval had been employed in the merely negative discovery, that there was nothing to discover. The commander soon reached the northern coast, and Caitsesor resumed his task, which was rendered very tedious by ^^^^^' the necessity of examining every opening and channel, in the hope that each might prove the desired passage into the Polar Ocean. He first explored a large inlet, the name of which he gave to Captain Lyon, — ^then a smaller one, which was named from Lieutenant Hopp- ner ; and by connecting these with Grore Inlet, he com- pleted his delineation of the coast. The seamen had again the pleasure of opening a traffic with a party of Esquimaux, whose first timidity was soon overcome by the hope of being supplied with some iron tools. lu » i 238 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. I i I •. . 8 1 f r Traffic with the natives Native thufts Winter set iu. CHAP. VII the course of this transaction, the surprise of the crew was roused by the conduct of a lady, who had sold one boot, but obstinately retained the other, in disregard of the strongest remonstrances as to the ridiculous figure she in consequence made. At length suspicion rose to such a pitch, that, all courtesy being set aside, her per- son was seized, and the buskin pulled off. Then indeed it proved a complete depository of stolen treasure, there being no less than two spoons and a pewter-plate se- creted within its capacious cavity. The end of September now approached, and Captain Parry found himself suddenly in the depth of winter. Snow had been falling during the whole of the short summer ; but the united warmth of the air and eartli had melted it as it fell, and left the ground still open to the sun's rays. In one moment, as it were, it made good its lodgement, spreading its white and dazzling mantle overland and sea; and the solar beams being then no longer able to reach the soil, the whole became subject to permanent and impenetrable frost. Some parts of the snow were indeed dissolved, and then refro-nen in varied and beautiful forms of crystallization ; whereas at Melville Island the covering once spread over nature had never changed its aspect. A more alarming symp- 1 orniatlon of tom appeared in the rapid formation of the soft or pan- cake ice on the surface of the deep. The obstacle thereby occasioned was at first so slight as to be scarcely felt by a ship before a brisk gale ; but it continually increased, till at length the vessel, rolling from side to side, became like Gulliver bound by the feeble hands of Lilliputians. At the same time the various pieces of drift-ice, which were tossing in the sea without, had been cemented into one great field called ** the ice," that threatened every moment to bear down upon the brigs, and dash them in pieces. Under this combination of circumstances, the navigators could no longer even at- tempt to reach the land, but determined to saw into the heart of an adjoining floe, and there take up their win- ter-quarters. There was about half a mile to penetrate, ite. PARRY AND LYON. 239 which, in the soft state of the pancake-ice, was not very chap, vn laborious. It was, however, far from pleasant, as it ^j^j^ bended like leather beneath their feet, and caused them quarters, sometimes to sink into the water, whence it was impos- sible they could escape without a very cold bath. Captain Parry was now frozen up for another winter Winter in the midst of the Northern Sea, and he forthwith ap- """cements. plied himself to make the necessary arrangements with that judicious foresight which had been already so con- spicuous in the same trying circumstances. As the result of experience, not less than of several ingenious contrivances, the ships were much more thoroughly heated than in the fonner voyage ; the provisioning, too, w^as more ample, and antidotes against scurvy still more copiously supplied. The Polar Theatre opened on the 9th November with "The Rivals." The two captains appeared as Sir Anthony and Captain Absolute ; while those who personated the ladies had very gener- ously removed an ample growth of beard, disregarding the comfortable warmth which it afforded in an Arctic climate. The company were well received, and went through their performances with unabated spirit ; yet this season does not seem to have gone off quite with the same eclat as the preceding. Novelty, from the first the chief attraction, had worn off, and the discomfort of a stage, the exhibitions of which were attended with a cold thirty degrees under the freezing-point, became rather severe. The sailora found for themselves a more sober and useful, as well as efficacious remedy against ennui. They established a school, in which the better instructed undertook to revive the knowledge of letters bUshed. among those who had almost entirely lost the slight tincture that they had once imbibed. These hardy tai3 applied themselves to their book with ardent and laud- able zeal, and showed a pride in their new attainments like that of little boys in their first clasr. At Christmas sixteen well- written copies were produced by those who, two months before, could scarcely "crm a letter. Amid these varied and pleasing occupations, the shortest day I i School esta- 240 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Ce1*;brHMnn ol Chiiiitmas. Hares anl f0Xl;8. CHAr. VII. passed over their heads almost unobseiTed, especially as the sun did not entirely leave them. Captain Lyon never saw a merrier festival than was celebrated on board. The sailors, being amply regaled with fresh beef, cranberry-pies, and grog, became so extremely ele- vated, that they insisted on drinking, with three hearty cheers, the health of each officer in succession. The animal creation in this less rigorous climate, even though the ground was completely frozen over, did not disappear so entirely as on Melville Island. A few so- litary hares were caught ; but they were in a miserable state of leanness, weighing only five or six pounds, and had a purely white covering, \vhich resembled swan's down rather than hair. About a hundred white foxes were snared in the nets during the winter. These beautiful creatures, when fii"st taken, were perfectly wild and ungovernable ; but in a short time the young ones at least threw off this timidity. A delicate little quadruped entrapped one day proved to be an ermine ; but it was excessively frightened, and to the general regret died soon afterwards. The winter months were also enlivened by various striking appearances which the sky at that season pre- sented. The northern world, when the sun departs, is by no means involved in that monotonous gloom which such a privation might seem to indicate. After the solar beams have finally quitted the earth, and the long winter has closed in, the heavens become a gay scene, through which the most brilliant meteors are perpetu- ally playing, rhose singular streams of light, called commonly the Aurora Borealis, keep up an almost in- cessant illumination, and were frequently witnessed in full splendour by Captains Parry and Lyon during their Arctic residence. The light had a tendency to form an irregular arch, which, in calm weather, was often very distinct, though its upper boundary was seldom well defined ; but, whenever the air became agitated, showers of rays spread in every direction, with the rapidity of lightning. Sometimes lon^ streaks of lijht were spread Vortliem plieuoiiicua. Aurora borealis. PARRY AND LYON. 241 in- in leir an rers of head The nu'iry Molse made out with inconceivable swiftness, but always appearing chap. vil. to move to and from a fixed point, somewhat like a riband held in .he hand and shaken with an undulatory motion. No iuic, however, could be traced in the movement of those lighter parcels called " the merry dancers," which ?i.e\y about perpetually towards every quarter; becom'ng in stormy weather more rapid in their motions, and sharing all the wildness of the blast. They gave an indescribable air of magic to the whole scene, and made it not wonderful that, by the untaught Indian, they shov^ 1 be viewed as " the spirits of his fathers roaming through the land of souls." Several questions have been agitated with respect to the Aurora. It has been said to be accompanied with by tlTe a hissing and cracking noise ; and indeed Captain Lyon Aurora observes, that the sudden glare and rapid bursts of those wondrous showers of fire make it difficult to fancy their movements wholly without sound ; — ^yet nothing was ever really heard. Captain Parry complains that he could not expose his ears to the cold long enough com- pletely to ascertain the point ; but his colleague de- clares that he stood for hours on the ice listening, and at a distance from every sounding body, till he became thoroughly satisfied that none proceeded from the AU' rora. It has also been questioned whether this meteor ever completely hid the stars ; and it was generally ^^^ opaqao. decided, on this occasion, that it dimmed the lustre of those heavenly bodies, as if a thin gauze veil had been drawn over them, — an effect which was augmented when several luminous portions were spread over each other. In a clear atmosphere these lights shone with a brightness which gave the impression that they were nearer than the clouds ; but whenever these last over- spread the sky the Aurora was hid by them, and must therefore have been more distant. To Captain Parry it appeared to assume tints of yellow and lilac ; but to 1^" colour. Captain Lyon its colour always resembled that of the Milky- Way, or of very vivid sheet-lightning. The present writer saw this phenomenon once, and only 242 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. •fU Luminous metcoi's Mock suns. CHAP. VII. once, in its utmost brilliancy, and exhibiting all the ^~ appearances described by these northern observers. His impressions agree perfectly with those of Captain Lyon. Other luminous meteors, arising apparently from the refraction caused by the minute and highly crystallized spicule of ice, appear in succession to embellish the northern sky. The sun and moon are often surrounded with halos, — concentric circles of vapour, tinted with the brightest hues of the rainbow. Parhelia, or mock suns, frequently adorned with these accompaniments, shine at once in different quarters of the firmament. Ellis, who was with Moor and Smith in Hudson's Bay, has seen six at the same moment. They are most brilliant at daybreak, diminish in lustre as the sun ascends, but again brighten at his setting. The solar orb itself, for some time before it finally departs for the winter, and also after its reappearance in spring, tinges the sky with hues of matchless splendour. The edges of the clouds near that luminary often present a fiery or burnished appearance, while the opposite horizon glows with a deep purple, gradually softening as it ascends into a delicate rose-colour of inconceivable beauty. As at these periods he never rises more than a few degrees above the horizon, he is, as it were, in a state of permanent rising and setting, and seems to exhibit longer and more variously the beautiful appear- ances produced by that position. At this time the naked eye can view him without being dazzled ; and Captain Lyon considers the softened blush-colour that his rays exhibit through frost as possessing a charm which surpasses even that of an Italian sky. Notwithstanding all these resources, the monotony of the scene was beginning to be oppressive, when it was relieved by an unexpected incident, which at- tracted universal attention. On the morning of the Ist February, a number of distant figures were seen moving over the ice, and, when they were viewed through glasses, the cry was raised, "Esquimaux! Esquimaux!" As it was of great importance to deal Ai)pearanco of natives. ;ony n it at- the seen wed ux! deal i'.n •u CHAP.VII. OllCf Op; Lu' llOllfl 1 met. .•rn tt4t- M( of imtiv'w. 242 MvK>f-.ttN NOWTH-WKST VOYAGES. V ?U ntu.'»et IriUiHi.ry, Mn? c^ihibiting all tli. ' rihfi^ tv t'h* n.>rihcrii observers. U;.- .;/ -^^yyii *"■"'.? •*'i'J» thoHc of Captain i.ycti. ■ iuiDJiio"- ■ ><, ftTm'f»nAnr in PurcoKsion to cHish thi- «rrM v»«1.|j M<"'>r •»«*< iAf»M,h :» liiulsou'a lUy» J'*» »»**-'*!>,. ♦-•.I \:% ;IH it WeVO, ill i» ■•W' ci |.'. , .i'.M« • ill nMy ?• va^ ,n4t»tf,'% imd seems t«i »*^«l.;. ii, ioniii^er and more variously the biuutiful jipptar- j(iu*,<«.*i» produced by ihai position. At this time th<. RiUi'd eye can virvv him \vitlu>nt being diizzied ; aijaJ ii»j tain l.yon considers the sotteDcd blash-colour tha^ ^.<:'i mys exhibit thrtn^gh f'-ost as posscfssing a chavus fihfch buip.i<;ses oven that of aa Italian hInv. N*>twitht: 1|* F'.hfitnry, a number of dLstimt figures were mm nmYtjj^ 9V«T tl-e ice, and, when th(^y were vievv-fci^ through , Js^i:-«<», *hf* cry \n tis raised, " Es<{uiniau\ i Ksqujmrt'tt.i.i" As it was of great importance to a -id liars u^ : rvi- . tM. ;M u« In 4 f>» '^ en r C g CD -; r -; CO 2 Z c W \v\% -al l-':-^ PARRY AND LYON. 2-13 kindly and discreetly with these strangers, the two CllAP.vil commanders, attended by a small party, proceeded to- prj,,,^- wards them, walking in files behind each other, that irruviingn they might cause no alarm. The natives then formed themselves into a line of twenty-one, advanced slowly, and at length making a full stop, saluted the strangers by the usual movement of beating their breasts. They were substantially clothed in rich deer-skins, and ap- peared a much quieter and more orderly race than their rude countrymen of the Savage Islands. As soon as the seamen produced their precious commodities, knives, nails, and needles, an active traffic was set on foot ; and Tmfflc the females, on seeing that much importance wl'a at- tached to the skins which constituted their clot^unjt;_, began immediately to strip thr-n off, l.ue ca^jtcJusr were alarmed for the consequences './i a temvyGra.uri) more than fifty degrees below the freezing point j but were soon consoled by observing that tt.i Iddky, had another comfortable suit under the furo. Th,e s.tj'inf.Ci-s were now cordially invited to entec their Itabitotfoa,'?, to which they agreed most readilj , althongh fchiie ap- peared no habitations to enter. However, t^e;y were led to a hole in the snow, and instructed to pLcc ih^yn" selves on their hands and knees, in which position, ^j^'v^i'fj*^^ having crept through a long winding pasaop^ they arrived at a little hall with a dome-shp.ped root', whenrjc doors opened into three apartments, each occ'jjied by n separate family. These proved to be five distinct man- sions, tenanted by sixty-four men, women, and child rcw. The materials and structare of these abodes were still more singular than their position. Snow, tlio insepar- able accompaniment of the northern tempests, i[)cca'ne here a protection against its own oold. It was formed into curved slabs of about two feet lop.fs, and halt a foot thick, put together by a most j- dicious masonry, so as^^^^n to present a species of structures resembling cupolas, rising about seven fpct ^oove the ground, and from fourteen to sixtoer. in diameter. The mode of inserting the key-slab, which bound the whole together, would. masonry. C' 244 MODERN NOP.TH-WEST VOYAGES. N;\fivo villuga CHAP. VII. it is said, have been satisfactory to the eye of a regularly Icegiasl ^^^^^ artist. A plate of ice in the roof served as a winap. in the form of a rude map. A pencil being put into her hand, she traced the shore from Repulse Bay with such a degree of accuracy as inspired great confidence in what she might fai'ther delineate. She then began to exliibit a coast reaching far to the north, being, in fact, the eastern limits of Melville Peninsula. Next her pencil took a western direction, when her farther progress w^as watched with the deepest interest ; in the course of which she represented a strait between two opposite lands, that extended westward till it opened on each side, and spread into an ocean apparently un- bounded. This sketch, which promised to fulfil their most sanguine hopes, gratified the officers beyond measure, and they loaded Iligliuk with attentions which unluckily soon turned her head, and made her so conceited and disdainful, that they were obliged to discontinue their notice of her. Captain Lyon, in the middle of March, undertook a journey across a piece of land, lying between the station of the ships and the continent, "< 'hich had been ' named Winter Island. The party wi;r(j scarcely gone winter when they encountered a heavy gale, bringing with it ^'*''*"*** clouds of drift, and a cold so intense that they could not stop for a moment without having their faces covered with frost-bites. After some vain struggles they determined to pitch their tent ; but as the tem- perature within was at zero, and continually lowering, they felt that they could not live through the night under such shelter. Tliey therefore dug a cave in the earth, and by huddling together round a fire, immersed in smoke, to whicu no vent was allowed, contrived to keep up some portion of warmth, though still ten or fifteen degrees below the freezing-point. In the morn- ing their sledge was too deeply buried beneath the drift to leave any hope of digging it out, and they could not reach the ships, now six miles distant, except by pro- 250 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGEa ii Snn^v Mlnd- uess. CHAP. VII. ceeding on foot through a tempest of snow falling so — thick that they could not see a yard hefore them, the exploring Finding sometimes no track, sometimes several leading party. jn different directions, they were soon bewildered, and wandered they knew not whither among heavy hum- mocks of ice. The frost-bites were so numerous that they could not muster hands enough to rub the parts affected, and some began to sink into that dreadful in- sensibility which is the prelude to death by cold, and to reel about like drunken men. In fact, they had resigned almost every hope of escape, when providenti- ally there appeared a newly beaten track, which they determined to follow, and in ten minutes it led them to the ships. Their arrival there caused indescribable joy, as they had been nearly given up for lost ; while no one could be sent in search of them without imminent risk of sharing their fate. On the 8th May, in a more favourable season, Cap- tain Lyon undertook another journey. In a few hours he crossed Winter Island, and reached the strait se- parating it from the continent, covered with heavy grounded ice very difficult to walk upon. The sun, now powerful, produced such a glare on the snow as affected several of his attendants with severe blindness ; while the only means of procuring water was by hold- ing up plates of ice in the solar rays, by which they were gradually melted. The party, having reached the mainland, proceeded a considerable way along the coast, crossing several bays ; but at last they came in view of a bold cape, which they fondly hoped was the extreme point of America. Here they were overtaken by a storm of snow, but not accompanied like the other with perilous cold ; it melted as it fell, and formed a pulp which penetrated into their tents, yet did not dissolve so completely as to be fit for drinking. This storm kept them imprisoned sixty- eight hours ; which dreary interval they enlivened by reading in turn from three books they chanced to have with them, and as soon as the sun began to gleam they hastened to return to the ships. Sqom storm. Tht Boasoi northc snow PAREY AND LYON. 251 torm The end of May presented a gloomy aspect, the chap, vil season being still more backward than in the more ^gpg";^7^ northerly and rigorous climate of Melville Island. The May. snow was melted only on some spots, and hardly any symptoms of vegetation were yet visible ; but, as there was an extent of open water in the sea without. Captain Parry determined upon sawing his way to it. This was a most laborious process, the ice being much thicker and stronger than at the commencement of the season ; and after the men had continued at it more than two weeks, and were within forty-eight hours of completing a canal, the body of the ice made a movement which closed it entirely up. As they were looking on in despair at this disaster, another passage opened, which they attempted to render available ; but it, too, was closed in the same manner. Yet these agitations had at last the effect of causing the whole mass to float out into the open sea, and thus leaving to them an unob- structed outlet. On the 2d July they resumed their voyage of discovery. Voyage They had a favourable run through this entrance, which ''<^^""*®*^ formed a continuation of Fox's Channel ; but a strong \ current from the north was still bringing down the ice with great force. The Hecla underwent some severe pressures, and, within five or six hundred yards of the Fury, two large floes dashed against each other with such a tremendous concussion that numberless huge masses were thrown fifty or sixty feet into the air. The vessel. Escape of the had she come for a second within the sphere of these ^"T- movements, must have been crushed to pieces, — ^happily she escaped. This current, however, was highly pro- mising, since it could not be traced to the mouth of Hudson's Strait, and must therefore, they concluded, have come from the Western Ocean, wliich they were so anxious to reach. The ice passed by, and the ships proceeded with a snmmtit. favouring wind and tide. The shores began now to put on their summer aspect ; the snow had nearly disap- peared ; and the ground was covered with the richest ML \f H 252 MODERN NOETII-WEST VOYAGES. BaiTOVir River. Wul ruses. Coast dis- covered. CTTAP. vii bloom of Arctic vegetation. Tlie navigators came to a fine river named Barrow, which formed a most pictur- esque fall down rocks richly fringed with very brilliant plants. Here the rein- deer sporting, the eider-duck, the golden-plover, and the snow-bunting, c^reading their wings, produced a gay and delightful scene. On the 14th they reached the island of Amitioke, which had been described as situated near the strait they were then endeavouring to attain. They saw about two hundred walruses lying piled, as usual, over each other on the loose drift-ice. A boat's crew from each ship proceeded to the attack ; but these gallant amphibia, some with their cubs mounted on their backs, made the most des- perate resistance, and one of them tore the planks of a boat in two or three places. Three only were killed, the flesh of which was found tolerable, affording a variety amid the ordinary sea-diet. The discoverers now proceeded northwards, and saw before them a bold and high range of coast, apparently separated from that along which they were sailing. This feature, agreeing with the indications of Iligliuk, flattered them that they were approaching the strait exhibited by her as forming the entrance into the Polar Basin. They pushed on full of hope and animation, and were farther cheered by reaching the small island of Igloolik, which she had described as situated at the very commencement of the passage. Accordingly, they soon saw the strait stretching westward before them in long perspective ; but, alas ! they discovered at the same moment an un- broken sheet of ice from shore to shore, crossing and blocking up the passage ; and this not a loose accidental floe, but the field of the preceding winter, on which the midsummer sun had not produced the slightest change. Unable to advance a single step, they amused themselves with land-excursions in different directions ; and Captain Parry at longth determined, on the 14th August, with a party of six, to undertake an expedition along the frozen surface of the strait. The journey was very laborious, the ice being sometimes thrown up in rugged hummocks, Impediment of icu PAERY AND LYON. 2f)3 and occasionally leaving large spaces of open water, which chap, aml it was necessary to cross on a plank, or on pieces of ice, overirmii histcad of boats. In four days they came in view of a expedition. peninsula terminated by a bold cape, the approach to which was guarded by successive ranges of strata, resem- bling the tiers or galleries of a commanding fortification. The party, however, scrambled to the summit, whence they enjoyed a most gratifying spectacle. They were at the narrowest part of the strait, here about two miles across, with a tide or current running through it at the rate of two miles an hour. Westward the shores on each side receded till, for three points of the compass and amid a clear horizon, no land was visible. The captain doubted not that from this position he beheld the Polax Sea ; into which, notwithstanding the formidable bar- riers of ice which intervened, he cherished the most sanguine hopes of forcing his way. He named this the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, and gave the sailors an extra can of grog, to drink a safe and speedy- passage through its channel. He now lost no time in returning to the ships, where his arrival was very seasonable ; for the opposing barrier, I'oliir Sea. Disnppeor aiice. which had been gradually softening and breaking lntoofti i i •ill 'il ! CHAP. VII various abodes, the first of which partakes somewhat of the nature of purgatory ; but the good spirits passing through it find the other mansions improve, till at a great depth they reach that of perfect bliss, wliere the sun never sets, and where, by the side of large lakes that never freeze, the deer roam in vast herds, and the seal and walrus always abound in the waters. We now return to the progress of the expedition. The spring was singularly unfavourable. Captain Lyon attempted to penetrate across Melville Peninsula, but found the route so rugged and so barred by steep chains of mountains, that he was obliged to return in nineteen days without any discovery, except of two rapid rivers falling into the sea near Igloolik. Lieutenant Hoppner accompanied a paHy of Esquimaux to Cockburn Island, but could not make his way to any distance inland. It was the 7th of August before they were able, by severe saving, to reach the open sea ; by which time Captam Farry had renounced the hope of effecting any thing important during the short remnant of this season, lie formed, however, a very bold plan ; which was to bring all the stores of the other vessel on board the Fury, and with it alone to brave a third winter in the Polar regions, hoping that the succeeding summer might be more pro- pitious. But, as he was preparing to carry this too daring project into effect, a report was made that symp- toms of scurvv had broken out on several of the crew, whose physical strength appeared to be generally im- paired by the two hard winters through which they had passed. This lef no choice ; and, in compliance with the general opinion of his officers, he forthwith began his voyage homewards. The ships were drifted abitut in a stormy sea covered with ice for twenty-four days ; but, being at last favoured with a westerly breeze, they crossed the Atlantic, and on the 10th of October 1823 arrived in Brassa Sound, Shetland. After two successive years thus passed in the depths of the frozen world, whence not the faintest i*umour of their existence had reached Britain, the officere and men were viewed Appearanco ot scurvy. I % TARRY AND HOPPUER. 267 almost as persons risen from the dead. The bells of chap. VII Lerwick were rung, and other extraordinary demonstra- Ret„7nf tions of joy made on their arrival. In a few days they entered the Thames. Two attempts had thus been made, each to a certain undumitea point successful, but both arrested much short of thei*"teii>»i'HJ. completion of the grand enterprise, TI ^ government at home, however, were not willing to stop short in their spirited career. The western extremity of Melville Island, and the Strait of ihe Fury and Hecla, appeared to be both so blocked up as to afford little hope ; but Prince Regent's Inlet seemed more likely to lead to a pros- perous issue. When explored during the recent voyage, it had indeed presented an icy barrier, but such as so often gave way suddenly and almost instantaneously, tlint the obstacles opposed by it early in the season could not be considered very alarming. A passage through this channel would bring the ships to the great sea bounding the northern coast of America, tliat had been seen from the strait mentioned above, and by which there was the fairest prospect of reaching, by the most direct route, the waters of the great Pacific. To follow up these views, Captain Parry was again fitted out in the Hecla ; while, in the accidental absence of Captain Lyon, the Fury was intrusted to Lieutenant, now Captain Iloppner, who had taken an active part in the operations of the preceding voyage. The expedition set sail from Northfleet on the 19th New expcdl May 1824, and was in Davis' Strait by the middle of """• June. As the season, however, chanced to be peculiarly rigorous, it was not till the 10th September that, after repeated repulses and severe straining, they caught a view of the bold and magnificent shores of Lancaster Sound, in which a few solitary icebergs were floating. After this they thought themselves fortunate, when, by pushing their way through many miles of newly formed ice, they reached Port Bo wen, in time to make it their winter-quarters. The provision made for the physical well-being ol #1^ ^1- i| 1 f 268 MODERN NORTH-WEST V0YA(;KS. i'\ I i t!|l CHAP. VII ProvlHlons for tho expeUltluu. Fttvoumble ■piing. Cftpe Suppinga. m the expedition during tl»e cold season wxa still more complete than in the former voyages. The heat of the cabins was kept up to between 60 and 00 degrees, and the seamen wore next the skin a clothing of fur, — a Hubstance which nature has endowed with a warmth far surjnissing that of any human fabric. Yet the deeji monotony produced by the uniform aspect of external nature, instead of becoming less sensible by habit, was only tlic more painfully felt. As the Arctic theatre had lost ittj attraction, Captain Iloppncr started the idea of miiaquerades, which were, perhaps, still more out of keeping with the place and persons ; but the sailors caught at it with pleasure, and on these occasions all of them acted their part with great spirit, and with the strictest decorum. The salutary and steady influence of tho schools was again revived, and the whole crew gave their presence, either as teachers, scholars, or spectators. The spring was unusually favourable, and, with com- paratively easy sawing of the ice, the navigators warped out to sea on the 19th July 1826. As it appeared most desirable to coast southward along the western shore of the inlet, they stood across the bay, but were soon arrested by a continuous barrier of ice, which, however, left an open space on the opposite side. A fruitless attempt was now made to penetrate southward, the channel being found completely impeded ; hence it was judged advisable, with the view of seeking a less- encumbered passage, to stretch to the northward. An adverse gale, by which they were overtaken near the mouth of the inlet, now drove them eastward ; but at last they regained their course, and soon came in view of the bold face of the Leopold Isles, the rocks of which rise in horizontal strata of limestone to the height of 600 or 700 feet, resembling a huge and impregnable fortress. Having touched at Cape Seppings, Captain Parry proceeded down the inlet, where he was no longer arrested by the unbroken barrier. The sea, however, m P.UIRY AND HOITUER. 200 was still heavily cncuinlKi'od by numerous small fra^- chap. VIL inents, that were tossing' about in every direction, and Pi^.^si,^ of nrcssed upon the hhips so hard that the men wished for ^^'^ ji co!jtrary wind ; which, cominj,' from the south, would open and disperse the masses collected and driven jigaimt them hy the north wind. In this anxious and precarious state they worked slowly on till the 1st August, when they reached the latitude of 72° 42', longitude 91° SCV. Here the Fury received a most severe shock by a large floe, which forced her against the gi'ounded ice of the shore ; and tidings soon came to the Ilecla that she had been very shm-ply nipped^ and was admitting water copiously. Tiie commander trusted that this would prove as harmless as the many shocks int„ry of the wliich this vessel had already endured ; that the water ^uly made its entry by means of the twisted position into which she had been thrown ; and that, when she was relieved from pressure, her leaks would close. But the next accounts were, that she could not be kept clear of water except by the action of four pumps, at which the whole crew, officers and men, were obliged to work. It became evident, that the evils under which she laboured could only be discovered and remedied by the operation of heaving down, by which her position being reversed, the parts now under water would be exposed to view. This expedient required a harbour, and there was none at hand ; however, something was formed which resembled one, by connecting with anchors and bower-cables the grounded ice to the shore. Four days were then spent in unlading the Fury of those ample stores with which she had been provided. The opera- tion was interrupted, too, by a violent storm of snow ; while the external ice being driven in, demolished, in a great measure, the slender bulwarks by which the vessel was secured. Her holds were filled with water, and a minuter examination proved the damage of her hull to be still more serious than was at first apprehended. No means nor prospect appeared, either of saving her in her present situation, or of floating' ber to any known place of ^. # IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) & // ^/ ^ >. « .v' ^ ^jM 1.0 iaai2.8 u 1^ £f U£ 12.0 111 ttlttu IL25 IHI 1.4 I HiotQgraphic ^Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M5S0 (716) 872-4503 4 •NJ V <^ ^ V ^ 270 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Fury aban (loued. i«H\ CHAP. VII. safety. I^ these circumstances, Captain Parry, without expressing any opinion of his own, called for a report from Captain Hoppner and his principal officers, all of whom agreed "that an absolute necessity existed for abandoning the Fury." Signals, therefore, were imme- diately made to the officers and men to carry their clothes and effects on board the Hecla. The stores, owing to want of room, were necessarily sacrificed along with the ship ; and barrels of beef, beer, biscuit, and other valuable articles of provision, were left exposed on those savage and desolate shores, where they were then sup- posed unlikely to afford aid or benefit to any human being. After such a disaster, and the end of August having arrived, there was just time enough left to bring the Hecla home with a fair prospect of safety, — an object which was in due time accomplished. ,.--.^-^' ', . "'""■, ■i.'': \- ' "* • ''! ■% *- ' *'-'-^ ^^ * *' =■ <:\. -i' '•. •: .f. ' h ... V ■■'.': --H ■ " i , "4 \'-^\-:l- .. y ;.*.-; ,'t.; .,/ \ ,fc-, ;: - ''■'-h . '^' JL - ii:iid'''p-- ,1* 5^1 1 4 t '■,,-- -^'^H ' -' - ROSS 8 SECOND VOYAGE. 271 CHAPTER VIII. Ross's Second Voyage, Motives which led to the Expedition—Difficulties in equipping it— Expense defrayed by Sir Felix Booth— Accidents on the Coast of Scotland — Passage across the Ocean— Refitted at Holsteinborg— Passage through Barrow's Strait and down Regent's Inlet— Discovery of the Fury's Stores— Difficult Na- vigation— Winter Station in Felix Harbour— Means devised for resisting the Cold— Visit from a Party of Esquimaux- Information respecting the neighbouring Coasts— Expedition to Nei-tyel-le— To Shagavoke— To the Northward — For Cape Tumagain — Obliged to stop at Victory Point — Return —Attempt to sail next Summer— Arrested for the Winter- Excursion to the Northward— And across the Country — Commander Ross's Discovery of the Magnetic Pole— Another fruitless Attempt to bring home the Victory— Determination to abandon her— Summary of Observations on the Es'^ui- maux — Journey along the Coast to Fury Beach— Fruitless Attempt to cross Barrow's Strait — Winter at Somerset House— Successful Navigation next Summer— Reach the Isabella of Hull — Reception— Return— Joy at their Arrival — Rewards to the Adventurers— General Results of the Voyage — Return of Captain Back. So long a series of efTorts, fruitless as to the ultimate chap, viil object, and without the prospect of any decisive result, perseverance not only wearied out the perseverance of the British wearied out. government, but combined with the severe spirit of economy, which began to pervade its councils, in in- ducing a determination not to send any more ships in „^ quest of a north-west passage. Under this chilling influence, even the Board of Longitude was abolished, I I I 272 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. National eiitliuslasm Zeal of Ciip- tAiii Hoax CHAP. VIII and likewise th« reward of £20,000 ofFered by Parlln- ment for the discovery which it was meant to promote. This somewhat premature' removal of public patronage was however, in a great degree, compensated by the entlmsiasm wliich had arisen in the nation itself. The bold enterprise of one individual, and the splendid munificence of another, led, after no long interval, to the equipment of an expedition, which, in point of interest, has equalled any that ever adventured into the Arctic seas. Captain Ross was ambitious of resuming the under- taking which, in 1818, he had pursued with partial success ; and it appeared to him that the invention of steam-sailing might be applied with benefit to this pe- culiar field of discovery. Vessels thus propelled could take advantage of all those openings in the sea, which are so often rendered innavigable from adverse gales ; while the power of directing them, in opposition even to wind and tide, might be made available in avoiding a collision with formidable masses of ice. In soliciting, however, from different quarters, the means of fitting out a ship on this principle, repeated disappointments were experienced. Government declined the proposal on the grounds already stated. A merchant, whom Captain Ross endeavoured to tempt by the premium of £20,000, viewed it, not without reason, as a very precarious speculation. Mr (now Sir Felix) Booth, felt, on the contrary, so nice a sense of honour, that he would not embark in the enterprise so long as there could appear a possibility of his being swayed by any sordid motive. But when the parliamentary offer of £20,000 was withdrawn, the scruples of this high- minded individual were removed, and he generously engaged to furnish from his ample fortune the whole of what might be necessary for this grand adventure. Captain Ross purchased the Victory steam-vessel, of 85 tons, which had for some time been employed between Liverpool and the Isle of Man. Additions were made which extended her to 150 tons ; and two S?r Felix Bouth. Victory titeam -vessel ROSS S SECOND VOYAGE. 273 London artisans produced an engine on a new plan, which unfortunately, however, did not answer expecta- tion. Provisions were laid in for a thousand days. The Admiralty, though they withheld all pecuniary aid, afforded the use of books and instruments, and even a decked vessel of sixteen tons that had been employed in the Polar expedition ; also two boats formerly used by Captain Franklin. So great an interest was excited, that officers high in the navy tendered their services, and even offered to bear a share in the expense ; but Captain Ross had already chosen for his second in command his nephew, who had been employed in every one of the recent northern voyages. The ship's company were twenty 'two in numbt.^ including a purser, surgeon, and three mates. On the 23d May 1829, the vessel, after being visited by the Lords of the Admiralty, by the present King of the French, and other eminent characters, was moved down the river. The steam-engine was soon found to be most miserably imperfect. At the utmost, it did not propel the vessel more than three miles an hour ; and its action ofien required to be suspended altogether, in order to stop leaks and make necessary repairs. On the 7th June, however, they had reached the Mull of Galloway, when a dreadful accident occurred. William Hardy, the principal stoker, having lost his footing, one of his arms was entangled in the machinery, and so dreadfully shattered, that the captain, in the absence of the surgeon, who had not yet joined, was obliged to perform an immediate amputation, and treat it as he best could. The poor man was afterwards landed, conveyed to Stranraer, and placed under the care of a regular practitioner. In hopes of remunerating Sir Felix Booth for his large outlay, the John of Greenock had been purchased, and fifty-four seamen engaged, with the view of carry- ing on the whale-fishery, and perhaps bringing back part of the Fury's stores. This crew joined at Port Logan, on the Scottish coast; but they proposed the R CHAP. vnr. New Bteam- engine.. Impediments to the Toyage. Dreadful acctdeDt Plan for return of outlay. 274 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Plan defeated. Tempest CHAP. VII i unreasonable condition that, whatever the fortune of the fishery might be, they should be paid the same amount as if they came home with a full ship. As they persisted in this extravagant demand, and otherwise behaved in a manner extremely mutinous, it was judged necessary to relinquisli this part of the plan altogether. The seamen of the Victory, who, in this crisis, conducted themselves admirably, were recompensed for the loss of their shares by an agreement to give them fuU pay ac- cording to their rating. On the ISth June, Captain Boss steered his course through the North Channel, the wind being at first tolerably fair ; but on the 14th, after passing the island of Ratlilin, the vessel was assailed by so dreadful a tem- pest, that the top of the foremast gave way with a terrible crash, and only a few splinters kept it from falling into the sea. In crossing the ocean, they liad a fair wind, and sailed without aid from steam. On the 1st July they descried, though at the distance of thirty- one leagues, a point of land, which they concluded to be Cape Farewell. On the 3d, they were oflF that southern extremity of Greenland, having already had served out to them their Arctic dresses. They now en- joyed so favourable a gale, that on the 6th and 7th they ran 278 miles, and reached the latitude of 61° 33', where several large pieces of drift-wood were picked up, which proved extremely useful. On the 16th, they crossed the track pursued by the Isabella in 1818, and next day were in latitude 65° 34'. The wind becoming moderate and less favourable, they endeavoured to bring the en- gine into play ; but it was so defective as to afford only very limited aid ; besides that leaks and other damages were continually occurring, which were not repaired without much labour and difficulty. By the 22d, therefore, very little way had been made, though the opportunity was taken to employ themselves in catching fish, of which they obtained a large supply. An inlet being now discovered, Commander Ross was sent to ex- amine whether it contained any good harbour ; in which Greenland. Defective steam- engiua ROSS S SECOND VOYAGE. 275 case it was determined to put in, and repair damages. CHAP. Vill The report was, that a cove had been found, perfectly ^^ T~ . safe, but so small that it would merely receive the ship. liuibuur. The bay, when entered, was seen to open into two mag- nificent inlets, bordered by rocks of imposing form ; and every spot, not absolutely a precipice, was covered with such bright verdure as to justify the appellation of Greenland. In sailing upwards, the unexpected appear- ance of a Danish flag surprised the crew, and they learned that they were now near a settlement belonging to that nation, called Holsteinborg. The governor had settlement seen the masts above the rocks, and, apprehensive of their being those of a vessel in distress, kindly sent an offer of aid. The party were immediately conducted to the village, where they got a hospitable reception, with entertainment such as they little expected on those dreary shores. The settlement of Holsteinborg lies in 66° 68' N. Hoistein- lat. and 63° 64' W. long. The governor, named Kail, ''"'■*^* and the clergyman with his wife and family, are the only European inhabitants. The place consists of about forty huts ; the church, which can contain two hundred persons, is well attended, the Danish sovereign display- ing a laudable concern for the spiritual welfare of his Arctic subjects. The vicinity is, of course, devoid of trees, but abounds with angelica, scurvy-grass, and sorrel : and in the prmcipal garden, salad, radishes, and turnips, are reared. The people are exclusively em- ployed in hunting and fishing. About 8000 rein-deer skins, and a quantity of whale and seal oil, varying ac- cording to the fluctuations of the season, are annually exported to the mother-country. A singular casualty had occurred here, which proved Fortunate of great benefit to the expedition. The Bookwood whaler, from London, having struck on a rock near Woman's Islands, had put in to refit ; but proving to be damaged beyond repair, she was abandoned, and now lying a complete wreck. A part of her stores had been sold to the Danes, and the remainder left in the custody 276 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. . i:""l I m ! : 'la m-'J r"s Unexpected tnpplies Disco Island. CHAP. VIII. of the governor, who took a great interest in the adven- turers, and offered any tiling belonging to the vessel which could be of service to them. Captain Ross thus found himself, as it were, in a dockyard. The mizzen of the Rookwood, without any trouble, was fitted in instead of his damaged foremast. The provisions were raised to their full complement, the owner being referred for payment to Sir Felix Booth. Some boots and gloves were obtained from the natives, and the gov- ernor made a useful present of six Esquimaux dogs. On the 26th, the discoverers sailed to the northward ; and on the morning of the 28th, the stupendous moun- tains of Disco Island, long enveloped in mist, burst on their view only a few miles distant. The range nearest the shore was entirely free from snow, and the interior hills were but partially covered. Hare Island was al- most equally clear; and though forty icebergs were observed, yet, as the navigators approached the latitude of 74°, near to where the Hecla and Fury had been beset in 1824, not a vestige of ice was perceived. They might have fancied themselves sailing on the summer seas of England, or even of the Mediterranean : the n^n threw off their jackets, and worked in their shirts, without shoes or stockings. They had several times recourse to the engine ; and though, from practical de- fects, it never enabled them to sail above a mile and a half an hour, yet as, without it, they could have made no way at all during these calms, the opinion in favour of steam-navigation in the Arctic ocean seems in prin- ciple confirmed. On the 6th August, a thick fog having dispersed, the coast was suddenly displayed, with all its high lands, among which Cape Byam Martin was con- spicuous, covered with snow. On reaching the entrance of Lancaster Sound, and reverting to the blame imputed to him for not having explored it, the captain observes that, from the deceptive appearances presented by bays and inlets, similar mistakes had been made by Cook and other navigators of the greatest skill. No opinion dif- fering from his had been expressed by any one of hia fjancn«teT Sound. \ Ross's SECOND VOYAGE. 277 officers, who, if they entertained any such, ^ve^e iin- chap. Vllt questionahly bound to liave stated it. The ice, more- .. ~ over, lay then so thick, that ho could have penetrated mini but a few miles further. Now, however, he sailed ^'^^t'*'^''' through the middle of the strait, perceiving scarcely any trace of ice or snow, unless on the tops of the lofty mountains. The thermometer stood at 40° ; while the sensible heat was so much greater, that they felt it agreeable to dine without a fire, and with half the sky- light removed. For two days they made only a slow and laborious progress by the aid of steam ; but on the 9th a welcome breeze sprung up from the east, and, all sail being set, on the 10th they passed Cape York, after which the land begins to turn southward, and, with the opposite coast of North Somerset (Boothia), forms the broad opening of Prince Regent's Inlet. This being the channel by which Captain Ross hoped to accomplish his passage, he immediately steered across, and reached the western shore on the afternoon of the 11th, between Cape Seppings and Elwin Bay. In sailing southward along this coast some heavy iieavy gaiee gales were encountered ; and the ice having been broken off in the various forms of streams, packs, and bergs, the full difficulties of Arctic navigation began to be ex> perienced. These were increased by the near approach to the Magnetic Pole, so that the compass ceased to tra- verse ; and the bearings could be ascertained only by observations on the sun, which was often obscured by heavy fogs. The na ; ^gators made their way, however, and on the 12th descric 1 the place of the Fury's wreck, with the poles of the tents standing ; but, to their mor- tification, a strong current carried them from the spot, and even out to sea. With great exertion they regained the coast, at what proved to be the opening of a very Adelaide extensive bay, which was named Adelaide. They were ^^' then considerably beyond the desired point, and, with great effi^rts against wind and tide, came again in sight of the Fury's station. They hastened, with intense interest, to examine this 278 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAOES. Fury. Pro^i8ion8 of the Fury, CHAP. Vlll. spot, on tlio state of which the success of the voyage Wreckof the *"^ their very means of existence in some measure de- pended. The hull of the ship, which was left on the beach, had disappeared, without even a vestige remain- ing. The moving masses of ice had either cari'ied it out in a body, or broken It into fragments, and scattered it as driftwood over the surrounding sea. But it was an ample compensation to find that the canisters of preserved provisions, after being exposed during four years, were in as perfect condition as if they had been newly pre- pared. The tightness of these vessels had prevented the bear from smelling the rich feast which they con tained for him, and to which otherwise he would soon have forced his way. The wine, spirits, sugar, bread, flour, and cocoa, were, with little exception, equally good, and the sails were found in complete preservation. By an occurrence as singular as it was interesting, did they obtain, on this remote and desolate shore, a supply as abundant as if they had been lading at Wapping or Rotherhithe. After taking in all the provisions they could conveniently stow, raising their stock to two years and three months' supply, the accumulated pile seemed scarcely diminished. Here, also, they fortunately procured a store of coal. Thus provided, they again set out on their career of discovery. Crossing the broad mouth of Cresswell Bay, they reached, on the 15th August, a cape to which the name of Garry has been attached, the farthest point seen by Captain Parry. The land now trended in a south-south-west direction, which, with few variations, it continued to follow. Deprived of all aid from the compass, and often enveloped in fogs, they worked their mcouutered. way slowly, amid many difficulties and frequent dangers, being obliged to steer merely according to the direction which the wind, or even the floating ice, had, in the last clear interval, been observed to pursue. While mountains of ice were tossing around them on every side, they were often forced to seek safety by mooring themselves to these formidable masses, and drUting with Supply of cuaL Difflcnltles \ ROSS S SECOND VOYAGE. 279 them, Bometimes forward, sometimes bftckward. In CHAP.viil. this manner, on one occasion, no less than nineteen D„n"Ii^of miles were lost in a few hours ; at other times they an arctic underwent frequent and severe shocks, yet escaped any ^•'y^^e- serious damage. Captain Ross draws a lively picture of what a vessel endures in sailing amid those moving hills. He reminds the reader that ice is stone, as solid as if it were granite ; and he bids him ** imagine these mountains hurled through a narrow strait by a rapid tide, meeting with the noise of thunder, breaking from each other's precipices huge fragments, or rending each other asunder, till, losing their fonner equilibrium, they fall over headlong, lifting the sea around in breakers, and whirling it in eddies. There is not a moment in which it can be conjectured what will happen in the fjjjjj,®" next ; there is not one which may not be the last, tropiiicai The attention is troubled to fix on any thing amid such confusion ; still must it be alive, that it may seize on the single moment of help or escape which may occur. Yet with all this, and it is the hardest task of all, there is nothing to be acted, — ^no effort to be made,— he must be patient, as if he were unconcerned or careless, waiting, OS he best can, for the fate, be what it may, which he cannot influence or avoid." He conceives, however, that his little bark, merely by its moderate draught of water, was much better fitted for such a navigation than the larger vessels employed in previous expeditions; and that those of Captain Parry would have been shat- tered to pieces by the rocks over which the Victory was carried in safety. On several points of this coast they observed Esqui- rsqnJraaux maux tents ; at one place twenty in number, but none **^"^^ of the natives. Many whales appeared on the surface of the water close to them, without showing any appre- hension of man ; whence it is inferred that a rich har- vest would be reaped by any vessel which should first venture upon these shores. Among the leading features of the coast was Brent- Brentford ford Bay, of considerable extent, with some fine har- ^'^^' s\ k 280 MODEAN yOBTH^WEBT VOYAOSS. BootlilAi »(>■ II >• Pmsjesf niudo. |i'!3 ■I 1 CHAP. VIII hours, thirty miles hcyond Capo Garry. Here the captain landed, displayed his colours, and, drinking the king's health, took possession, in his majesty's name, of the land, to which he gave the name of Boothia. Port Logan proved a good harbour, but without any deep in- let. Far south of this, Elizabeth and Eclipse harbours, closely adjoining each other, were found to be extensive and commodious. Immediately beyond the latter ap- peared Mary Jones' Bay, large, but encumbered with ice. Under all these impediments, in the course of August and September, he worked his way along 300 miles of undiscovered coast, and to within 280 miles of the point which Captain Franklin had reached. Here the land, taking a westerly direction, seemed to afford the fair promise of a passage between the country now surveyed and the continent of America. But by the end of Sep- tember snow began to fall thick ; the thermometer sunk far below the freezing-point ; while ice in large masses was closing around them. They therefore con- sidered themselves fortunate when, in a spacious bay be- tween a rocky island and two icebergs, they found a sta- tion in Felix Harbour, in which, after due arrangements, they could reckon on passing the dreary season in se- curity. On the 7th October, by sawing through the ice, the vessel was placed in the position where it could be most advantageously lodged for the winter. On the 8th, there appeared no longer an atom of clear water ; and, except some occasional points of rock, ** nothing but one daz- zling and monotonous, dull and wearisome extent of snow was visible." The temperature, which hod been ranging between 10° and 22°, rapidly fell, and on the night of the 20th descended as low as 9° under zero, or 41° below the freezing-point, and before the end of the month was at minus 16°. Captain Ross makes some interesting observations on the power of the human jrame to resist cold, which appears to vary remarkably in different constitutions. His general conclusion is, that Winter barbour. !lOSS*8 SECOND VOYAOl?. 281 the ruddy, elastic, florid, or clear-complexioncd man, chap. Vlli endowed with what physicians call the sanguine tein- p„<^,^,ce pcroment, has a peculiar power of retaining heut ; while uf cuUL tliose having pale, flabby, and sallow countenances, whose temperament is said to bo phlegmatic, or melancholic, are very unflt for enduring the rigours of an Arctic winter. The most ample clothing will not compensate the deficiency, having power only to retain the internal heat; but if this be wanting, one might as well attempt ** to warm a piece of ice by means of a blanket." He places his chief reliance on abundance of food, the failure Abundance of which would inevitably lead to starvation from cold. ° It is considered, therefore, a primary object to secure a full supply of the best victuals ; and any restriction in this respect should be adopted only in cases of extreme necessity. The enormous quantity with which the Es- quimaux cram themselves appears to conduce greatly to their endurance of cold, — an cffijct heightened by the peculiarly fat and oleaginous quality of their diet. The captain regrets that British seamen should give way to their natural antipathy to such food, which seems not insurmountable, since patients in hospitals, treated with fish-oil for the cure of rheumatism, often acquire an extreme fondness for it. In preparing for the gloom and rigour of this long winter winter, he made some improvements even upon the a"'a"Ke- admirable arrangements of Captain Parry. The vessel was previously cleared of the steam-engine, from which no farther benefit could be expected. All the crew saw with pleasure its last fragment removed, and vciiuable space thereby gained for stowage. The upper deck having been covered two feet and a half deep with snow, it was trodden down to the consistence of solid ice, and sand spread over it till it resembled a rolled gravel walk. It was then roofed with canvass, obtained from the spare sails of the Fury and Rookwood, which was conducted over the sides till it united with a bank of snow that had been formed around the vessel, thus completely fencing it in on every side. The vapour from the steam- 282 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Heated ▼apuur. Antecham- bers. CHAP. VIIL kitchen and oven, instead of being allowed to spread through the cabms, was conveyed by apertures in the upper deck, over which were placed to receive it iron tanks, with the open side downwards, where it soon froze, and the ioe was cleared out once a-week. By this plan the apartments were preserved perfectly dry, and it was not necessary, as formerly, to keep them up to the temperature of 70°, in order to prevent the vapour from freezing on their sides ; that of 45° was found quite sufficient for health and comfort, and a great saving of fuel was in consequence effected. Two small ante- chambera were formed, and in the outer one such of the j. men as had been exposed to the atmosphere were re- quired to leave the clothes on which snow had fallen. The air necessary to produce combustion was introduced by a copper pipe direct to the fireplace, where it wns immediately warmed, and, instead of chilling, served to heat and dry the room. The strength and spirits of the crew were supported by regular meals and constant occupation. Divine service was duly performed, and religious instruction dispensed at a school held every Sunday evening. This was considered, not only to have a salutary effect on their general conduct, but in a par- ticular manner to promote mutual union and harmony. On the other nights a school also was attended ; and with such ardour did these gallant tars apply themselves to repair the deficiencies of their education, that it was a subject of regret to many of them when the termination of the long winter interrupted their studies. The stock of provisions, on examination, was found sufficient for two years and ten months at full allowance, — a quantity which could easily be managed so as to last three years. Fuel was equally abundant. The only article deficient was spirits, of which there was only one year's full supply ; but this want the commander by no means regretted, being satisfied that their habitual use impaired the strength of the seaman, diminished his power of enduring cold, and rendered him more liable to scurvy. He was gratified, therefore, when the crew Religious services. Abundant pruvisionsL ROSS S SECOND VOYAGE. 283 ; it was found wance, to last J only ily one by no aal use ed his liable e crew cheerfully consented to their being withheld, unless on chap. viil. special occasions ; and he considers this circumstance as ... — , *^ . Ill X M . 1 1 . 1 . t Disuse of having remarkably contributed to the preservation oi spirits. their he/dth. In fact, the end of the year arrived with- out any illness, except that of the armourer, who had imprudently engaged in the voyage while labouring under a fatal disease, which the climate might aggravate, but had no share in producing. The rest were in a good state, not only of health, but of spirits, having felt scarcely any weariness, although they Jiad not sought to dispel it by light amusements. The year 1830 opened with an incident which greatly Appearance enlivened the gloom of the succeeding winter. Traces of Esquimaux had been observed on different parts of the coast; bat none had been hitherto seen. At length, on the morning of the 9th January, a party were dis- covered by a seaman from the observatory. Captain Ross immediately proceeded to the spot ; upon which they retreated, but soon returned with a body of their companions, ranged in a line of ten in front and three deep, one man being detached, who appeared to be sitting in a sledge. The captain having sent for his nephew and some of the crew, desired them to remain behind, while he walked towards the Esquimaux, who were armed with spears and knives. He hailed them by the interview well-known national salutation, Tima! timal which was shouted by them in return. The navigators then advanced, and throwing away their guns, called out, Aja, tima ! upon which the others tossed their knives and spears in the air, repeating the shout, Aja! ancF extending their hands to show that they had now no Mutnai weapons. As they stood still, however, the discoverers ei^eting approached, and embraced all those in the front line, stroking their dress, and receiving in their turn this customary greeting. Tiieir gratification was testified by laughing, clamour, and strange gestures ; thus full confidence was at once established between the two parties. These barbarians were found to be most comfortably 284 MODEEN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP, vin Nntive clutliing. Si^htofa iniri'ur ii Visit to tlie Esquimaux village. um\ !i Contlnueil intercuurae. clothed in a doiiblo covering of deer-skin, having the hair both within and without. They possessed knives pointed with iron, one of which bore the mark of English manufacture ; and being prevailed on to enter the ship, they each received with the utmost delight the present of a piece of iron hoop. They did not manifest surprise at the vessel itself, nor at the wall of snow by whicli it was guarded, but were struck with astonishment on seeing themselves in a mirror, and at the engraved por- traits of their countrymen from drawings made in former voyages. Some preserved meat of excellent quality was placed before them, which they began to eat, one of them even declaring it to be good ; but, on being cross-ques- tioned, he confessed that he had not spoken the truth. He was then permitted to lay it aside ; and being regaled with oil, pronounced it to be " really good." The othei-s, taking courage by his example, threw away also the offered treat, and betook themselves to their favourite mess. Next day the discoverers visited this people at their own village, which consisted of twelve snow-huts, con- structed in the very same manner as those observed by Captain Parry. Tliis tribe were thought, on the whole, to be cleaner and better dressed than those more to the northward ; besides, they kept a store of seal and rein- deer buried in tlie snow, — a precaution not before noticed among any Esquimaux. While the British remained on these shores, they held frequent intercourse with this and other parties of na- tives ; and we shall endeavour afterwards to collect into one view their observations, so far as any new light is thrown on the habits and character of this remarkable race. It concerned the navigators more immediately to discover that this horde wandered as widely as those who occupied Melville Peninsula, and that they had equally in their peregrinations acquired a considerable extent of geographical knowledge. Some of the places about Repulse Bay being named and described, they showed an intimate acquaintance with them, stating Ross's SECOITD VOYAGE. 285 Western Soa that they had recently journeyed from that quarter, chap. vili. Two of them, TuUualiiu and Ikmallik, drew a skoUih NatJve~eo. of the line of coast by which they had travelled, and jrrnpiiicni this was amended by a learned lady, Tiriksiu. The •^«»»«*tions. general result proved to be, that between the present station and Repulse Bay there intervened a very ex- tensive gulf, of which the limits were Melville Peninsula on the east, the American coast on the south, and the country in which they now were on the west. The grand question, whether there was any navigable opening farther westward, could not be then ascertained, though they had reason to believe that, if there was, it must be very narrow. The strongest interest, however, was ex- cited by the accounts given by another party of a great sea lying to the westward, and of a strait which it was hoped might lead into it. On the 6th of April, therefore, when the rigour of winter had somewhat abated. Com- mander Ross, with Mr Blanky the chief mate, and two native guides, undertook an expedition to explore it. The weather being still very inclement, they were fre- quently obliged to pause and seek refuge from the drift, when the Esquimaux in half an hour erected snow-huts, which afforded tolerable shelter. Unluckily the fire necessary for heat and light, melting the walls of this frail tenement, enveloped them in moisture, to avoid which they were obliged to creep into their fur-bags. After a difficult journey of three days, they reached a bay facing the westward, and, on proceeding a short distance inland to the south and south-east, discovered '°^'^d ^^^ a very extensive lake, called by the natives Nei-tyel-le, whence a broad river flowed into the bay. On their return to the coast the guides pointed out a lofty cape, beyond which there was said to be a vast sea, the ter- mination of which could not be descried. They declared, however, that a tract of land, or isthmus, connecting the territory on which they stood with the continent of America, would render it impossible for the vessel to reach the western sea in this direction, or otherwise than by a cliannel considerably north of her present station. 286 MODERN KORTH-WEST VOYAGES. CHAP. VIII. Disuppuint- ntent. H' 1.1 m Second ovcr- The journey so for had issued only in disappointniont ; but they learned that, on the coast nearest them, focing the eastward, there was a place called Shagavoke, where the water rushed through a narrow strait with extraor- dinary rapidity : hence arose hopes that this tide might come from the opposite sea, and afford a chaimel througli which the ship could be worked. The natives, indeed, discouraged every such idea ; but on a point so deeply affecting the principal object of the voyage, it was thought Improper to rest satisfied with any thing short of ocular evidence. Commander Ross, therefore, on the morning of the 21st, set out with a fresh guide ; and luiid journey travelling, regardless of all inconvenience, fifty miles in the day, he reached the place before midnight. The channel at its entrance was about five miles broad, but four miles upwards it narrowed to 120 feet ; and this small space was so encumbered with rocks, that it ap- peared doubtful if even a boat could effect a passage. The question proved of very little consequence, since, on tracing it farther, though the strait widened, it became ultmiately a mere inlet, the rapidity of the current being derived from the large quantities of snow, by the melting of wliich it was fed. Every idea of a passage south of the ship's present station was renounced. On their return, a somewhat ludicrous incident occurred : the dogs ran off with the sledge over the rough ice, when the stores and instruments were scattered in every direc- tion, the guide testifying his amusement by shouts of laughter. It was to the north that all hopes of finding the desired passage were now directed. Some of the natives having mentioned a place in that quarter, whence they con- sidered it possible to get round by sea to Nei-tyel-le, Commander Ross undertook a journey thither on the 27th of April, accompanied by Abemethy the mate and two native guides. After encountering many hardships, they discovered, on the 1st of May, from the top of a high hill, an inlet, which might possibly reach the western sea ; but the numerous obstacles which inter- Nortliern overland journey. Ross's SECOND VOYAGE. 287 vened, and the exhausted state of the party, obliged chap. VI 1 1, them to return without ascertaining the point. Its uati^ aspect, however, was unpromising; and the most in- iidvicc telligent natives intimated that the only channel was in a much more northerly quarter, supposed to be no other than Barrow's Strait, through which Captain Parry had already navigated. Before prosecuting further discoveries in this direction. New western another journey was resolved upon to the westward, J""'^""^' beyond the isthmus, to trace the coast of America as it extended along the newly discovered sea. They thus hoped to reach Cape Turnagain, and to connect their discoveries with those of Captain Franklin. The younger lloss again set out on the 17th May, with three com- panions, eight dogs, and provisions for twenty-one days ; and on the 19th, having crossed the great middle lake of the isthmus, he reached his former station on the western sea. The first view of it was celebrated by three loud and even joyous cheers, though tempered with regret at the diminished prospect of ever being able to navigate it. Having to spend the night here, they contrived a more comfortable sleeping-place, by excavating a sort of bur- row in the snow, roofing it with their skin-boat, and placing a block of snow as a door. After passing Cape Isabella, formed of gray granite rape 600 feet high, the party travelled along the coast west ^«*bciia, and north for twenty miles. On tlie morning of the 21st May, they discovered, behind a lofty point, an inlet, which, from its breadth and the different charac- ter of its opposite coasts, afforded the hope that it might open into the Polar ocean. They therefore made a complete circuit and a careful survey of its shores ; but the only opening found was clearly ascertained to be the mouth of a river, named by them Garry. On ascending a high hill, they perceived several large lakes extending to the north-east, and forming in fact an almost con- tinuous chain to Thom's Bay, near the Victory's station ; with interruptions enough, however, to prevent a ship i ■W.''}iH 288 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAQES. CHAP. viiL passing through. Next day they proceeded north-west Crowlnffthe ^^^^S ^^® coast; but resolving to reach the opposite >«•• land some miles distant, they crossed the frozen surface of the strait, and came to a large island, which was named Matty. They pursued their fatiguing journey along its northern shore, over rough ice ; and passing another narrow strait, which they called Wellington, found themselves on the mainland of America. The coast now stretched due west, and the surface being level, they proceeded with comparative ease and ra- pidity. The direction changing to the north-west, they soon arrived at a spacious bay, which was named Parry ; they then travelled onwards two days, but with difficul- ties continually increasing. One great embarrassment, Difflcnlty ol ^ regarded both their advance and return, was how to distinguish- distinguish between land and sea. ''When all is ice, inK land and ^j^^ ^jj ^^^ dazzling mass of white, — when tihe surface of the sea itself is tossed up and fixed into rocks, while the land is, on the contrary, very often flat, — ^it is not always so easy a problem as it might seem on a super- ficial view, to determine a fact which appears in words to be extremely simple." The advancing season, in- stead of favouring the journey back, might render it very perilous, by converting ice into water, or at least into a soft and sinking mass. But the circumstance which most restricted their progress was the necessity of eating, for the suspension of which they could not forbear indulging some vain wishes. Their stock of provisions, however, not only imposed a limit on their excursion, but encumbered them with a heavy load, which the dogs could no longer assist in dragging. These animals, unable to travel without occasional days of rest, were now completely exhausted, and became themselves a burden. On the 27th, although the food had already been reduced below the full allowance, a still farther diminution was requisite, to render it possible for them to continue the journey two days longer. This, amid such heavy toil, was a very severe privation ; yet. Load of pro- vitiionflb Ross's SECOND VOYAGE. 289 when the commander made the proposal, he found that chap. viii. the party had of themselves resolved to suggest it to him. voiantary Having deposited every thing that could for the privationi. present be dispensed witli, they set out on the 28th with only four days' provisions. On the 29th they reached Cape Felix, when the direction of the coast cape FeUx. changed to south-west, and there was before them an expanse of ocean, which appeared altogether unbounded. Having travelled along it for twenty miles, their station next morning was in lat. 69*» 46' 19", long. 98« 32' 49". They seemed in the direct route to Franklin's Cape Turnagain, which as many more days as they had already spent in their journey would have enabled them to reach ; but for these days the very mears of existence were wanting. They had brought with them from the ship provisions for only three weeks ; much more than half was consumed, and they had but ten days' very short allowance for their journey back, which was not reckoned at less than 200 mUes. They could not, there- fore, have a moment's hesitation, though with intense regret and disappointment, to make this the boundary of their progress. The spot on which they stood was victory named Victory Point, while the most distant one in ^"^'* view, estimated to be in long. 99** 17' 68", was called Cape Franklin. At the former place they reai'ed a cairn of stones six feet high, and lodged in it a narrative of their proceedings, though scaixsely hoping that it would ever meet the eye of any European. The return was attended with a considerable increase calamities in of suflfering. The dogs fell victims to successive calami- ''^^^^ro'nK ties, till, of eight, only two remained alive. It was proposed to vary the scene by keeping south of Matty Island, along the coast of the continent ; but observing that it formed an extensive bay with winding shores, to follow the sinuosities of which would have consumed too much time, they pushed forward in a direct line over the frozen surface of the sea. On the 8th June, they arrived in a very exhausted state in the neighbour- hood of Nei-tyeUe, where they met a party of natives^ s I' 290 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. •W'h Native hos- pitality. Return of apriiig. Contlnnanco of tlie ice. CHAP. VIII. who received them hospitably, and supplied them so plentifiilly with fish, that they were able to take a day*s rest, and proceed at leisure to the vessel, which they reached on the 13th. Meantime, Captain Ross himself had made a journey, though of more limited extent, with the intention of surveying the isthmus of Boothia, when he made the partial discovery of another large lake, to which he gave the name of Lady Melville. The nephew, upon his return, found that he had arrived just in time. The early spring, the only season when travelling is practicable in this region, was over. The thaw had set in with extraordinary rapidity ; the country was under water ; the streams impassable ; and the surface of the ocean could not have been traversed without the greatest danger. Except a short excursion to procure fish, all their attention and efforts were directed to the extrication of the vessel with a view to her voyage northward, in which direction alone they could now hope to discover a passage to the western sea. But month after month rolled on ; the height of summer passed, and the sea remained still bound in icy chains. In August its aspect began to present hopes, but these were followed by successive disappointments. Its close arrived, and they had the mortification to re- flect that they had remained eleven months, — a period in which they might have circumnavigated the globe, — fixed to that dreary spot. At last, on the l7th of September, with a transport of joy, they found them- selves free, and the ship, so long immovable, again buoyant on the waves. They advanced about three miles, when, encountering a ridge of ice, they made fast to one of its extremities, in a tolerably secure position between two bergs. Next morning, a change of wind and heavy fall of snow confined them to this precarious shelter; and in the evening a heavy gale sprung up, which^ on the three following days, drove the icebergs, and the vessel along with them, to the vicinity of some rocks, causing considerable pressure, Danger of tlte vesiiel. \ Ross's SECOND VOYAGE. 291 tn BO day's they rney, on of e the J gave e had season I over. r; the i; and pversed !ursion } were riew to e they western light of in icy hopes, ,ments. to re- period [lobe, — 7th of them- again three made secure I change I to this ry gale I, drove to the ressure, though no serious injury. On the 23d they were coni' ciiAP. viil. pletely frozen in ; and by the 30th the sea exhibited prozenTn. one unbroken surface. This state of things seems to have been chiefly produced by the northerly windf which prevailed during the autumn, particularly in September, and continually brought down fresh masses of ice. " It was as if the northern ocean were sending all its stores into this quarter ;** and these were driven into the bays, and so closely wedged in by the tides, that they appeared as much a part of the coast as the rocks themselves. The greater part of October was employed in laboriously sawing their way through the ice, the thickness of which was always increasing ; and they were at length obligei to desist after reaching a spot not exactly such as could be wished, but which, amid an ocean immovable on every side, afforded toler- able protection. Another dreary winter having nowg^p^^^ set in, it became necessary to look narrowly into the \Vi»tor. stock of provisions. A certain reduction in the daily allowance was found requisite, leaving, at the same time, enough to maintain the crew in health and vigour, wliich they continued to preserve uninterruptedly dur- ing the season. They felt, however, the utter monotony of their situation pressing upon them with increasing severity ; they began almost to envy the Esquimaux, to whom eating and sleeping constituted the whole of existence. In this manner passed 1830; nor was it till April of the following year that excursions of any extent could be undertaken over the frozen surface of land and sea, -, u - ? The first adventure of this kind was conducted by Nortiiw n Commander Boss, who proceeded towards the iioi'th, g^JjJj^Jjj with the view of examining the inlet formerly men- tioned, which, from the report of some, they had been led to hope might reach between the two seas. Setting out on the 20th day of the month just specified, after a journey rendered severe by the drifting snows, he arrived on the 24th at the place, in about lat. 70° 38' 32". The fii-st distinct view convinced him that it could not 292 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. nrontford Dtiy. ■It' Second expeditiun, CHAP. VII be that described by the Esquimaux, who had repre- sented it as in some parts so broad, that from the one shore the opposite coast could not be discovered. He did not leave it, however, till, by a minute investigation, he had ascertained that it stretched only a small distance inland. There was still another opening at Brentford Bay, in lat. 71° 65' ; but this as yet they had not ex- amined, and he had not provisions enough for travelling to so distant a point. On the 16th May the two principal officers set out togetlier on another trip, crossing the country in the direction of the chain of lakes which had been observed from the inlet on the west coast. They passed along the river Lindsay, and also that of Saumarez, situated farther south ; then a large lake, which they named Krusenstem after the eminent Russian navigator ; next a smaller, with the appellation of which Captain Jekyll was complimented ; and afterwards two others, to which the name of Professor Hanstein was assigned. The short intervals between these large sheets of water were filled by smaller ones, so that there was scarcely an interruption across the whole continent ; though it is more than probable that there will never exist any motive to complete this natural communication. Tak- ing a new direction. Captain Ross reached Cape Isabella, whence he returned, while his nephew proceeded along the western coast. The discovery of the Magnetic Pole, which the ob- Poie. "*^"®"*' servations of Captain Parry showed to be situated in this quarter, was one of the leading objects in the pre- sent voyage ; there being every where a great desire to obtain all the light that could be thrown upon the mysterious agency by which vessels trace their path through the ocean. Calculations made by the learned in Europe had placed this interesting spot in lat. 70* north, and long. 98* 30' west. Commander Ross, in his expedition of 1880 along the coast of America, when near Cape Felix, had approached within ten miles of it ; but from the want of the necessary instruments, he Discoveiy of R08S*8 SECOND VOYAGE. 293 was unable to make the requisite experiments. After chap. viil. his return to the vessel, however, a long and careful jj^JJ^c series of observations led him to the conclusion, that the expeditioa above position had been erroneously assigned, and that the real point lies in lat. 70* 6' 17" north, and long, 96° 46' 45" west, which would place it on the western coast of Boothia. To this point, therefore, he directed his course. The journey was tedious and laborious, not only from the rigour of the season and the rugged- ncss of the surface, but from the care with which he examined every inlet and remarkable object. He set out on the 27th May, and on the 1st June, at eight in the morning, readied the spot to which his calculations referred. The instruments were the same day put in operation. The amount of the dip was 89° 69', being only one minute less than 90°, the vertical position, which would have precisely indicated the polar station ; and the horizontal needles, when suspended in the most delicate manner possible, did not show the slightest tendency to move. He looked, however, in vain for Monotony of some object to mark so important a fact in physical * ^ »«*'"«- science ; for there was merely a low Hat coast, rising about a mile inland into ridges fifty or sixty feet high. ** Nature had here erected no monument to denote the spot which she had chosen as the centre of one of her great and dark powers." The commander, notwith- standing, placed upon it a flag, and to the locality has since been assigned the name of William IV. ; he also Memorial erected a cairn of some magnitude, in which was lodged ^*'"*' a record of his visit. The state of the provisions did not allow him to proceed more than a few miles farther along the coast, which he saw still extending ten or twelve miles in a continuous line due north. It was conjectured, though of coui-sc without any certainty, that it follows the same direction till at Cape Walker, in lat. 74° 15', it joins the northern coast of the penin- sula discovered by Captain Parry. As soon as he returned, it was thought time, amid alternate hopes and fears, to watch the progress of the li 204 MODERN NORTH-WEST V0YA0E8. rartlal breuklnff ap uf thtt ice. Pinnppoiut lUC'ltC. CHAP. viii. ice, and escnpo, if possible, from the prison of a third dreary winter. Tlie season was not, on the whole, more favourable than that of 1830 ; yet, on the 28th August, a somewhat earlier period, they contrived to warp out into the open sea, and on the morning of the 20th were in full sail. Changes of wind prevented them from making more than four miles, and at evening the threatening aspect of the weather induced them to t^ike shelter at the mouth of a small bay, wliich formed a secure harbour. They had cause to rejoice in having found this refuge, as a heavy gale came on, with a storm of snow ; and next morning, from the top of a hill, they saw nothing but one heap of hummocky ice, which had completely blocked up their former harbour. They now anxiously watched an opportunity of getting themselves again afloat, and were occasionally cheered by a transient hope, which proved quickly fallacious. On the 14th of September they were little gratified to find that they could again take exercise by skating on the newly formed ice. On the 27th, the painful alter- nations of hope and disappointment were terminated, inasmuch as they found themselves completely fixed for a third winter. Their last year's navigation had been three miles ; this season it was extended to four. Abandon. The spirits of the adventurers now began to droop in Sextricaffi earnest. They soon became sensible that, at all events, tho vcsseL it would be most perilous to wait another season in the hope of extricating the vessel, in which they could never return to England, and had no alternative but to abandon her amid the Arctic regions. Their only means of escape was to proceed in the boats, or draw them over the ice, to the wreck of the Fury, when, after supplying themselves with a fresh stock of pro- visions T)ut of her stores, they might reach Davis* Straits, and return in one of the whale- ships. It was proposed, before abandoning the vessel, to plac« her in a situation where she might sink, and be drawn up by some future navigator. Observing that the preserved meats brought out in the Fury in 1823 remained, after the lapse of \ R088 8 SECOND VOYAGE. fiQti eight years, as perfect as at first, it was imagined tl\at chap. Vlii. they would keep for a period altogetlier induhnite ; and that possibly, after tho lapse of centuries, another generation might from these specimens discover the style of coukery adopted in England at the present day. About ilw end of November, considiTublo alarm was Symptoms of excited by symptoms of scurvy appearing in one of the •curvy, rrew. Tlio extraordinary exemption hitherto enjoyed fr(/in this dreadful mnlady, in the absence of the grand specific of vegetable food. Captain Ross is inclined to ascribe to the abundance with which the men were supplied with water, notwithstanding the quantity of fuel requisite to melt the snow ; to their never having been too long at once exposed to cold ; and to the care that was taken not to allow them to remain in their wet clothes. Constant employment and exercise were also provided ; and no little advantage is ascribed to the precautions against mental depression, and to the with- holding of the usual allowance of ardent spirits. As no further communication was henceforth held Ohservationa with the Esquimaux, we shall, before tracing the re- ','"tive». turn of this adventurous crew, bring together the par- ticulars observed by them respecting that people. It is unnecessary, indeed, to enter into much detail, as they are evidently the very same race observed by Captain Parry, Their snow-houses, their dogs, their mode of hunting and fishing, were precisely similar. In regard to food, they seem to have displayed a greater degree of foresight, having often large stocks in reserve ; so that a ton of salmon was once purchased from them with articles which had cost only about 7s. 6d. Yet they manifested the same extra^ordinary appetite which had astonished a former expedition. On one occasion, a party of them were invited to what seems to have been considered only as a lunch ; yet it amounted to fourteen pounds of raw salmon for each person. In this enormous eating, they sought, not merely to satisfy hunger, but also the gratification of their gross desire, making pauses to recruit their powers, and then beginmng afresh. I I Ml ; 296 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. HI' EnonnoiM WUlDg. Tbeits. CHAP. VI 11. Commander Ross conceives that, with plenty before thorn, nothing will ever Induce them to stop, except the absolute impossibility of forcing another morsel beyond the top of tlie throat. They retained the bame distaste for European luxuries. When they found a store of rum and lemon-juice deposited for the use of the officer just named in one of liis expeditions, they carefully emptied these liquora out of the vessels as " very dirty water." The intercourse had not continued long, when in- stances of petty theft began to be discovered, consisting chiefly in their abstracting iron and glass articles, — a pair of snuffers, a hammer, and a reading-lens. The navigators soon found themselves possessed, in the eyes of the natives, of the power of conjuration, effected, as was supposed, by their scientific instruments, and still more by their arms ; on the firing of which, it was im- mediately asked ** what the guns had said." Of this impression they availed themselves somewhat too largely, in awing the people into confession and restitution. When detection took place, the thieves were derided by their neighbours, and considered as having the laugh againsb them, rather than as the objects of due censure. The same very slight degree of disgrace was incurred by the falsehoods in wliich they occasionally indulged. Their matrimonial arrangements are more singular, and in some points more exceptionable, than could naturally have been expected. Convenience and interest seem the ruling motives. A widow left with a large family, and without property, is with us considered an object peculiarly helpless ; but in Boothia she ranks as a great heiress, and is immediately surrounded by pressing suitors. The deeply felt obligation on the part of children to assist their parents, even by marriage, renders them a species of treasure, without which the former may, in old age, be reduced to extreme distress. More culpable accommodations are sometimes procured by polygamy, even in the form of two men having one wife, and by an exchange of wives, either permanent or temporary. Blatrimoniiil arrange- ments. Value of cbildren. EOSS S SECOND VOYAGE. 297 Friendly and liberal con- duct Hostile feel- ings excittsd. On the whole, the conduct of the Esquimaux to their chap. viii. visiters was friendly, good humoured, and, when occa- sion required, even liberal. To this there was only one remarkable interruption. As Commander Ross, with two companions, was setting out on a journey, he approached an Esquimaux village ; when, instead of the usual cheerful shouts, he was much surprised to be re- ceived in deep and gloomy silence. The women and children had been sent away, a usual prelude to combat, and the men were furiously brandishing their weapons. One old man, with the tears streaming down his cheeks, rushed out of a hut, and was about to throw at them tlie large knife used in attacking bears, when his arm was arrested by one of his sons. The natives, however, with a threatening aspect, attempted to surround the visiters, and their numbers rendered them formidable ; but the levelling of a gun induced them to fall back. The two parties, nevertheless, maintained a hostile atti- tude, until one of the women rushed forward and dis- closed the mystery. A fine boy, the adopted son of the enraged old man, had been killed the preceding night by the fall of a stone, — a catastrophe which the stran- gers were believed to have produced through the super- natural powers which they were supposed, and, as we have seen, had admitted themselves to possess. The^ now solemnly abjured those pretensions, which they had injudiciously advanced ; and the people, being with much difficulty persuaded that they had no con- cern in the boy's death, made every effort to obliterate the impression caused by symptoms of anger proceeding from an imaginary cause. The navigators, on taking a general view of their intercourse with these people, had the satisfaction to reflect, that they had supplied them with some useful tools and materials, and had even instructed them in the art of making nets, the value of which was fuU^ appreciated, though it seemed doubtful if they would ever have the means of forming them on any adequate (icale. An Esquimaux having lost his leg, a wooden Bcneflctnl intercourse 298 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. M 111 CHAP. VIII. A wooden leg supplied. Abandon- ment of tho Victory. Stores on Fury Beach. ■t I Difficulties encountered. one was constructed in its place, — a truly precious gift, by which he was converted from a helpless object to an active and efficient hunter. His gratitude was extreme ; in testimony of which, he pressed the services of an eminent Angekok, to cure by conjuration the armourer, then in the last stage of illness ; but this was too serious a case to admit of trifling. It was also a satisfactory reflection, that they had not taught them the use of spirits, had communicated no diseases, and had done nothing to make them discontented with the humble condition in which they were placed. As already stated, the discoverers had abandoned every hope of returning home in the Victory ; and they durst not even venture to await the period when her extrication might have been possible, as it would then have proved too late to attempt their journey over the ice. They therefore determined to move as early in the spring as travelling should be found practicable. The task v/as very laborious, as they had not only to proceed on foot, but to drag provisions and boats over a vast expanse of rugged ice. The only thing which rendered the undertaking hopeful, was the prospect of finding on Fury Beach an ample store of boats and pro- visions ; though this spot was distant 180 miles in a direct line, which, by the necessary windings, would be extended to 300. The plan was, first to carry forward the boats and a portion of food a certain length, deposit- ing the former in a convenient position, in the event of its becoming necessary to fall back upon them. The party were then to push forward to the wreck, and ascertain whether the valuable supplies which had been left were still to be found. On the 28d April 1832 they set out on the first part of their expedition. The loads being too heavy to be carried at once, made it necessary to go back and for- ward twice, and even oftener, the same day. They had to encounter dreadful tempests of snow and drift, and to make circuits in order to avoid impassable barriers. The general result was, that, by the 21st May, they had ROSS S SECOND VOYAGE. 299 travelled 829 miles to gain 30 in a direct line, having chap. viil. in this labour expended a month. — After this preliminary movement, they returned to pinai the ship, of which they were soon to take a final leave, leaving the On the 29th May they hoisted the colours, nailed them to the mast, and drank a parting glass to the Victory, which they considered worthy of a better fate. Captain Ross describes himself as deeply affected ; this being the first vessel he had been obliged to abandon, of thirty-six in which he had served, during the course of forty-two years. In a few days they reached their former depo- sit ; and the men, extremely exhausted, were anxious to leave the boats and spare provisions and push on to Fury Beach. The captain, however, considered it indis- pensable to carry these to the other side of Elizabeth Harbour, as the nearest spot to which there was full security of being able to return. The 9th June arrived before every thing was brought forward to that point : it was soon after arranged, that his nephew and two others should set forward as a light party, with a fort- night's provisions, to ascertain the state of the supplies, and then return with their report to the main body, who were to proceed by slower marches, but more heavily loaded. On this laborious journey Captain Ross had an oppor- tunity of examining the coast, and ascertaining that the large inlet in Brentford Bay was formed merely by a river, and could afford no passage to the western sea. On the 26th June he met the advanced party, who re- ported that they had found three of the boats washed away, but enough still left for their purpose, and all the provisions in good condition. On the 1st July the whole crew reached their destination. They imme- diately enjoyed a hearty meal, and soon reared a canvass mansion, which they named Somerset House, The month of July was spent in fitting out the boats, Fitting out which were ready by the 1st of August, when there ap- boatu. peared a considerable extent of open sea, cheering them with the hope of being able to penetrate through Bar- Examination ot tlie coast 300 MODEtlN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. *4 .:( ■;n 111;' Mi M iiil. ii m Difflcnlties of the voy- age. CHAP. VIII. row*8 Strait into Baffin's Bay. The voyage, however, proved very difficult ; masses of ice, still tossing amid the waves, placed them sometimes in dangerous posi- tions ; and when they sought shelter on the beach, it was mostly bordered by lofty precipitous cliifs, from which, at this season of thaw, fragments were often de- tached, one of which might have crushed them to pieces. It was the 29th August before they passed Cape Sep- pings, and arrived at the junction between Prince Re- gent's Inlet and Barrow's Strait. After several attempts to run along the latter, rendered fruitless by the ice, they were obliged to haul the boats on shore and pitch their tents. There was still time to have accomplished their object ; but repeated surveys from the neighbouring mountains convinced them that Barrow's Strait was ^®*"™J" h "®^' ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ during the whole summer, an im- penetrable mass. By the 24th September all were agreed that no choice was left but to return to Fury Beach, and there spend their fourth Arctic winter. I'roceeding therefore in the boats, on the 30th Septem- ber they reached Batty Bay, more than half the distance ; but the ice rendering it impossible to sail farther, they hauled them on shore, and left them above high- water mark. Then, carrying the provisions on sledges, and making a somewhat difficult journey, they arrived on the 7th October at what they now accounted their home. The party suffered at first a good deal from cold, against which their canvass covering afforded very im- perfect shelter. They contrived, however, to envelop it in a wall of snow, and set up an additional stove, which was so effectual, that the heat of 61° could be maintained within. It was necessary to make a reduction in the allowance of preserved meats; bread was somewhat deficient ; and the stock of wine and spirits was entirely exhausted. However, as they had caught a few foxes, which were considered a delicacy, and there was plenty of flour, sugar, soups, and vegetables, a diet could be easily arranged sufficient to maintain the party in health and vigour. Winter station. ROSS S SECOND VOYAGE. 301 The winter, as it advanced, proved one of great chap, vilt severity ; and when tlie cold reached its utmost rigour, m^" their slight walls could no longer keep the mansion in winter. a comfortable heat. The tempestuous weather made it impossible to take exercise in the open air ; and at length their patience appears to have been wearied out by this long and dreary imprisonment within the Arctic wastes. On the 16th February 1833, Thomas, the carpenter, died p^^^ effects of scurvy, — an event deeply regretted in itself, and re- of scurvy, garded as a warning of what was too likely to befall the rest. Several of the seamen, in fact, became affected with this cruel disease, of which Captain Ross himself felt the sure approach by the return of pain in his old wounds. Their situation was becoming truly awful ; since, if they were not liberated in the ensuing summer, little prospect appeared of their surviving another year. In April and May, as soon as it was possible to travel. Movements while yet the ice remained firm, it was necessary to carry forward an ample stock of provisions to the position of the boats, and there wait the opportunities of release. Though the distance was only 32 miles, their reduced numbers, and the weight of the loads, obliged them to go over the same ground eight times, raising the space actually traversed to 256 miles; so that it afforded laborious employment for a whole month. They then returned to Somerset House, where they remained till the 8th of July ; on which day the whole party quitted, without regret, this dreary home, and, though much encumbered by the transport of the sick, arrived on the 12th at their boat-station in Batty Bay. The aspect of the sea was now watched with intense Watching anxiety, not unmingled with dread ; yet the very habit ^^® *®^ of observing and of speculating on their prospects,— some daily mounting the neighbouring h^ I, and others reviewing their report, — kept their spirits in a state of salutary activity. The pursuit of feathered game, which always afforded the hope, and sometimes the reality, of a good supper, also enlivened their time. A month was passed in vain expectation ; when at length, on the 302 MODERN NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Embarka- tion CHAP. VIII. evening of the 14th Au^st, a lane of water appeared leading to the northward. Next morning the seamen were in movement at an early hour ; and, having cleared the shore of the ice that obstructed it, they embarked the provisions and stores, and by eight o'clock were under weigh, with a favourable wind. At midnight they passed Elwin's Bay, and on the 16th had come to the farthest point reached in the preceding year, — a spot which excited some painful recollections. However, though all passage to the east was closed, there was still an open lane by which they could proceed northwards. In the evening of that day, they were at the north- eastern point of America, and beheld the sea in that direction quite navigable, though encumbered with ice. At three in the morning of the l7th, they were in mo- tion, making their way through the loose pieces, till, favoured by a southern breeze, they turned the point of the solid mass which obstructed the inlet, and saw the wide expanse of Barrow's Strait open before them. Wafted on as if by magic, they reached the opposite shore, which they sailed along to within twelve mUes of Cape York, having made in this day seventy-two miles. In the two following they passed Admiralty Inlet, and came within six or seven miles of that called Navy Board ; after which they were detained four days by contrary winds, and obliged to reduce their allowance of provisions. On the 26th, however, they could again use their oare, and reached the eastern side of Navy Board Inlet, where they found a good harbour for the night. At four in the morning of the 26th, they were roused from sleep by the look-out-man announcing " a sail," which, viewed through a glass, proved evidently to be a ship. All were presently in motion, and their hopes and fears were variously expressed. But they were detained by calms and light shifting airs ; and, a breeze springing up, the vessel made sail with a rapidity which left them hopele^^sly vehind. About ten, however, they descried another, which seemed to be lying-to ; but she, Enter Barrow's Strait. Ship In siglit. appeared 3 seamen ig cleared inbarkcd )ck were midnight come to r, — a spot However, ! was still rthwards. le north- El in that with ice, re in mo- ieces, till, le point of d saw the )re them. J opposite e miles of ;wo miles, inlet, and led Navy • days by allowance )uld again of Navy iir for the ere roused «a sail," ;ly to be a leir hopes hey were , a breeze ity which ver, they ; but she, «• i.,« CHAP. Yiii ev tilling ^,i^m^ j*0HTn-wivjT vovAOi:a. Uoii Siraa. tigitt 'i ^Ns »4^ Af»i;%WW a lari« of water u.h*-^ ' WvKfc i^; j i.r y^tim'^Xii ^imt »-ly Itour ; ami, having • i thtj 43K« r.U4» k«s fiSwi tiW.mctiMl ifc, tluy oniL tb« |N^> «*?» MM4 sW^rcH, /uid by eii^iit o'clock «i-Tt itt^sk* ^ ?if;fe, w#tfe »i favoamble wuhl. At luiJ" ♦.J**v if».;?^i^a rjwih'» U.y, ai\J on the 10th had eou. ' .?ti| }»t tK^vnt touIhkI i.i tho i»rcci .lin^ year, — i^> • v ^ .... q:cj;W«1 .■h>«ip ^mAiiK?i rfccojlcctioiis. He «**-<'. tw*'%:fe 41 J f».w»w»f e to tiio i-ast woi^i closed, tliore w»^ f»i4il ^ «>,|.^r!a j'liiti by which ihty couKl proceed north ^vi*^iw. la ih& «jrf:Biiig of thttt y wtTG detained four days -.y fs»»t*mij jiTHidSj'and obli^id to reduce their allown .c. ;fr|^»vb$ions. On the 25t.h, however, they could au^ .n ^m their otus, and reached the eastern aide of ."s ,vy Boaj-d Inhit, where they (bund a good harbour i' •? u\t slight. At foui* ill the monung of tlio 2Gih, they were m.-r^t^fl fmm skep by the look-out-man aiin(Hincing '' a !t;)ij"' wteis* vi»l vved througlv a gi-iss, proved evidently io bo a iMf, All \\ere presently in motioij, ajul their y)]u\- SMs4 ^^!iMH»i were variously expressed. But they vuh; d^towi hf. calm^: and light sliiiting airs ; and, a brt^'e Hjiciug^fU^ |;^j, the vessel made sail with ;i rapidity wbi^^it left theiTi iv,>jmles*ly hehind. A f)out leu, however, tl!0\ descri«:d .-iii(?thtr, which seemed to be iying-to ; but Ju , i o - m ' r t < - 33 I ? =, o : 0 - V r w ? X !i! Wdl 0 I 3 0 cn en > z c I < iuii*« ...il 1-,— hM* • - lioof .. )c nt?-^' - Li jn {■•.'«;. vvitli '.'<•, (1 «a"' -t:W )re th •"' . e mil- !< ! Avo Tsiii; •. n\vX, 'i'> I lo'.l JNf4 y t allows " of ,>.v ^.)e IV :'-'.■'' i 'a -.!'."' tlv to 'iO H ich- i.ujH'T key V. cic i, ;l, UV^".'/e iiiy wli^-i: t.vcr, tb.o\ - m I ^ ^ 0 : 0 ? 3! r 0 = > M < V, Ross's 8K. VD I (lYAOK. 303 ftlso, soon l)ore up under all ove the sea ; and being seen at the distance of thirty or forty leagues, proves a conspicuous landmark to the mariner. The first objects that attracted the eye were three magnificent icebergs, which rose to a very great height, stretching from the base of the mountain U) the water's edge. Their usual greenish-gray colour, diver- sified by snow-white patches resembling foam, and witli black points of rock jutting out from the surface, gave them exactly the appearance of immense cascades, which in falling had been fixed by the power of frost. A party ascended an eminence which constituted only the lower ridge of the hill, yet was itself 1600 feet high ; and they were not long in discovering that the materials which composed it were entirely volcanic. They trode only upon ashes, slag, baked clay, and scorise ; and whenever these substances rolled under mution. their feet, the ground beneath made a sound like that of empty metallic vessels or vaulted caverns. On the summit they observed a spacious crater, about 600 feet deep and 700 yards in diameter, the bottom of which was filled with alluvial matter, and which, being en- compassed by rugged walls of red clay half-baked, had the appearance of a spacious castle. A spring of water penetrated its side by a subterranean canal, and disap- peared in the sand. No attempt was made to ascend the principal cone, which towered in awful grandeur, white with snow, above the region of the clouds ; but at its feet was seen another crater surrounded by an im- mense accumulation of castellated lava. A large mass of iron was found, that had been smelted by the interior fires. The volcano was at this time entirely silent ; but next year smoke was seen rising from it to a great heig}^, I mid the same phenomenon had, in 1818, been 320 MODERN POLAR VOYAGES. Important discoveries. Refraction. CHAP. IX. discerned by Captain Gilyott of the Richard, who even remarked a shining redness like the embers of a large fire. The most important discoveries, however, effected by Mr Scoresby, took place in 1822, when he sailed in the ship Baffin, of 321 tons and 50 men, for the whale- fishery. In search of a better fishing-ground, he was led to the eastern coast of Greenland, — a tract absolutely unknown, unless at a few points which the Dutch had approached ; and it formed a continuous line with the shore on which the colonies of Old Greenland, the sub- ject of much controversy, were supposed to have been situated. In approaching this interesting coast, he was amused by the singularly refractive power of the Polar atmo- sphere, when acting upon ice and other objects discerned through its medium. The rugged suiface assumed the forms of castles, obelisks, and spires, which here and there were sometimes so linked together as to present the appearance of an extensive city. At other times it resembled a forest of naked trees ; and Fancy scarcely required an effort to identify its varieties with the pro- ductions of human art,— colossal statues, porticos of rich and regular architecture,— even with the shapes of lions, bears, horses, and other animals. Ships were seen in- verted, and suspended high m the air, and their hulls often so magnified as to resemble huge edifices. Objects really beneath the horizon were raised into view in a most extraordinary manner. It seems positively ascer- tained, that points on the Greenland shore, not above 3000 or 4000 feet high, were seen at the distance of 160 miles. The extensive evaporation of the melting ice, with the unequal condensation produced by streams of cold air, ai-e considered as the chief sources of this ex- traordinary refraction. It was on the 8th of June that, in 74° 6' north lati- tude, the coast was discovered, extending from north to south about ninety miles, and of which the most north- erly' point was concluded to be that named on the charts Sin (Hilar deceptive appearances. MR. SCORESBY. 32] Gale Hamkes' Land, while the most southerly appeared chap, ix to be Hudson's Hold-with-Hope. Mr Scoresby*s am-Q^ig bition, however, to mount some of its crags, which no Hamkee' European foot had ever trodden, was defeated by an "**" impassable barrier of ice ; and a similar one liaving closed in behind him, he was obliged to sail back and forward several days through a narrow channel. During this interval he had a: good opportunity of taking the bearings and directions of the principal objects on land. The latitude, as given in the maps, was tolerably correct, and was indeed his only guide in tracing the positions ; for the longitude, after the most careful observation, was found to differ seven degrees from that in the best charts, and ten degrees from what is found in those usually supplied to the whale-fishers. The country was generally mountainous, rugged, and barren, bearing much resemblance to Spitzbergen, though less covered with snow. It could not be fully ascertained whether some low ground might not be interposed between the sea and the mountains ; but their aspect, and the general analogy of the Arctic shores, suggested the idea that these mighty clifiB dipped perpendicularly into the waves. Mr Scoresby followed the usual system of naming the Somen of the more prominent objects in the territory embraced by tonr/'''^'^' his discoveries. The two principal bays or inlets were designated Captain Kater and Sir Walter Scott ; while two spacious forelands or projecting peninsulas, the former supposed to be an island, were assigned to Dr Wollaston and Sir Everard Home. Other bays and capes were bestowed upon Sir Thomas Brisbane, Dr Brinkley, Colonel Beaufoy, Dr Holland, Mr Herschel, and some of the author^s personal friends. Afterwards, obtaining the view of some smaller bays to the south, he was enabled to pay a similar compliment to Sir George Mackenzie, Sir Charles Giesecke, Baron Hum- boldt, M. de la Place, and M. Freycinet. He now made a movement eastward in search of whales, of which he found no traces in the vicinity of n ill !iil Vi 322 MODERN POLAR VO'SAGES. CHAP. IX. \m rn J m Distressing accident. A new coast. land, — a change of purpose which was attended with a very distressing circumstance. William Carr, one of his most expert barpooners, and a fine active fellow, had struck a whale, which flew ofl* with such rapidity that the line was jerked out of its place, and threatened the sinking of the boat. Having snatched the rope to re- place it in the proper position, he was caught by a sud- den turn, mstantly dragged overboard, and plunged under water to rise no more. The boat having at once righted itself, the sailors looked round and asked, ** Where is Carr V* One man only had seen him disap- pear, but so instantaneously, that he could not describe the manner of the accident. On the 19th July the navigators came in view of a range of coast, of a very bold and peculiar clxaracter, extending about forty miles. It presented a mountain- chain from three to four thousand feet high, rising at once from the beach in precipitous cliffs, which termi- nated in numberless peaks, cones, and pyramids. In one instance there appeared to rise six or seven tall T>b,rallel chimneys; one of which, crowned w rh two vertical towers, was called Church Mount. T^' ast received the name of Liverpool; while to tli un- tains was given that of Roscoe. The range of shore terminated at Cape Hodgson ; beyond which, liowever, steering south-west, they descried three other promon- tories ; to these were successively given the appellation of Cape Lister, Cape Swainson, and Cape Tobin. Here Mr Scoresby took, for the first time, the opportunity of landing ; when he found the beach much lower than that farther to the north, and consisting in a great mca- Capo Swain- sure of loose stony hills. After some examination, he came, near Cape Swainson, to an enclosure similar to those which the Esquimaux construct for their sum- mer-huts, and within which were hollow structures like bee-hives, such as they use for stores. There were also some remains of fuel, charred drilt-wood, half burnt moss and ashes ; which last was considered as indicating the place that must have been occupied at no distant ftUlL ! i! MR. SCORESBY. 323 period. As a farther ronfirmation of this opinion, he CHAP. IX. likewise found instruments of wood and bone, one of them tipped with iron. Resuming his course at sea, and still holding south- Jameson's westward, he now discovered a spacious inlet, to which, Lund. in looking upwards, no boundary could be seen. While penetrating this opening he observed another sound branching to the northward behind the Liverpool coast, and supposed to form it into an island. The opposite shore of this entrance was named Jameson's Land, from the eminent professor of natural history in Edinburgh Beyond Cape Hooker, the southern point of the coast just described, another large inlet stretched tow^ards the north, to which was given the name of Captain Basil Hall. It had every appearance of converting Jameson's Land into an island ; and the coast to the westward of it received the name of Milne's Land. Between Cape Milne's L»u«!L Leslie, constituting the northern point of that coast, and Cape Stevenson, on the opposite shore, the original opening continued to stretch into the interior, without any appearance of a termination. Combining this ob- servation with the position of Jacob's Bight in tlie same latitude on the western coast, which Sir Charles Giesecke traced to the height of 160 miles, where it opened into a sort of inland sea, there appeared a strong presumption that, instead of the continuous mass of land which our maps represent, Greenland composes only an immense archipelago of islands. To this great inlet, the entrance of which was bounded by Cape Tobin on the north and Cape Brewster on the south, the navigator gave the name of his father, though posterity will probably be apt to associate with himself the name of *'■ Scoresby's Sound." These coasts, especially that of Jameson's Land, were Artie flom found richer in plants and verdure than any others seen on this occasion within the Arctic circle, and almost meriting the distinction of Greenland. The grass rose in one place to a foot in height, and there w^ere meadows of several acres which appeared nearly equal to any in 324 MODERN POLAR VOYAGES. Esquimaux liuta. Native gruv liglit materials used by the Esquimaux in the construc- tion of their boats, and drawn either by rein-deer <>»*„,. dogs. The former animals are so fleet, that, in favour- team, able circumstances, they might go and return in a fortnight, while the best dog-team would require live or six weeks ; the latter, however, vrould be more tractable, mid bettc£ fitted for f;.kimming over thin or broken ice» Tl..)u;rii. the toW 'vould be very severe, vet, as no ala.-r.unff increii^e occuiTcd between the seventieth and eiglitielh r!«^grees of JaUtude, there was little ground ^o ap[;r.:hen(! Umt in th« r/ppor.,i*j)lo. For provwions were reconim*:nd!.-d jnvrtftbic sciHp , ]iotted ni'^Jits, and other sukcjuicesj whkh> Aith ilitk v\'*;ig1)f,, contained much nourishm/ nt. These suggestions dA njt for n, oonsideif CQ a OC 3 • 0 ^J cc ^ - n - c UJ 8 3 h T 5 Ui I I- Z ; r I lit I %'' H ^5 % CA.i'iAiN back:. •>r the title directefl. The black fn'^nir? rsuf \. OoniCovt ir.'i'ht have sconied to rh«j most ti»i~,*' xV^inution to t-M*'" upon her ni .rony. bae hrV »» it« 5j,iip of the icfi-masBes r.s helplessly as a kid tiijf fc iJi '^^fl JoWa of a boa-constn<'tur ; and once, whtii iJfiiB tlvf^pi'A iroiu that ja'ip, <»i' was huitlod into a ch?'.nge stf )A»iim*, she left, hcv form as perf«'ctly impressed b^hirKl hifit na if it had Inau struck in a die» i'lie niauy «*'*l Qreenland st'^mau ou board ali declared that tliey it*n- ut-vx-r before been a ship which confd have resist^l so«;i a prebJ^arf^ The perils, too, v»t^r« increas- Idl: ; AM-.i Ht '«ngi.ii. on \Ue 24th of Septt'n\b ,>tjv' ' itd Hijgb to afford the ship fair pvotcction, iJ^ii^.*",. ' k| (lay, by one oi those ortraordinan p. r-Yrr '^; . k-.nh are the hist hope of tht i<;>^-bound Arrc»- vtiyitner, thp ^vhule b'.x.'y of ice for league-- around got into ^t?nerai commotion, and biir&i "nto single masses ; and com- jijeucij^g ail fupetaons rw!i>h to tho west, tossed mawy blocks* int^i heaps, gr<.tund uthers to powder, whirled ail aitU> a hurl',' burly, and bt^re away the slnp like a a «fomi fkttlher towuni the Frozen Snait. K.>thinK could bf !!S'j J 7r,w^j d Jone by the crew but to await the mue ; and when the fie » '=<»*eri storni subsided tiiey found them.selvea mMway bj,'tw<»»»n ' Oiipe Comfort and tiie eiitrauce of th« Frozen Strait 4K)ut Ihrtx- miles from tht' shore, without any ^irospert of witlior i'-i-cing their way iijt.u a lijirbour or hndirg Bom-:? iittitt shfit^i' in a tloe. They v.ere once mort» firmly •^'fiet, wilh tUe additii'Tjal calamity of bttiog bo jnnch ed up that th«^ btcru ot th« ^hip lay aevt-n and a half i*et auove the horizontal, and thi^ bow wan jannn»»d it«wnwRrd on the nmases tlu^ad. '"J hM«/' savf? («tp ma Back, "ended a month o^ vcxatiuji, disajip'ifeit ■ 4: St i 1 'i M' f" ;i i .-, 1 ; . 4v i-i ■j4 ' J ; .i:i f \-'A ill - lis .•5.V ^fc' .•Sf,.i r'>f ^ ' >■ ■.'^fe fir*.,,.. ■^ A» > Mfti !N- %; ■'*».. ^" .SY*' ,«^»-- * ■i8: ■r i^ ^'Iti CAPTAIN BACK. 349 the current or the tide directed. The black frowning CHAP. X. cliffs' of Cape Comfort might have seemed to the most gluggish imagination to grin upon her in irony. She lay in the grip of the ice-masses as helplessly as a kid dues in the folds of a boa-constrictor ; and once, when she slipped from that grip, or was hurtled into a change of position, she left her form as perfectly impressed behind her as if it had been struck in a die. The many old Qreenland seaman on board all declared that they had never before seen a ship which could have resisted such a pressure. The perils, too, were increas- ing ; and at length, on the 24th of September, the aii hope of officers unanimously expressed a conviction, founded on ^^re^'^iJail^ the experience of the preceding thirty- four days, that doned. all hope of making further progress that season toward Repulse Bay was gone. Captain Back now resolved to cut a dock in the only adjacent floe which seemed sufficiently large and high to afford the ship fair protection. But on the very next day, by one of those extraordinary convulsions which are the last hope of the ice-bound Arctic voyager, the whole body of ice for leagues around got into general commotion, and burst into single masses ; and com- mencing an impetuous rush to the west, tossed many blocks into heaps, ground others to powder, whirled all into a hurly burly, and bore away the ship like a a stomi feather toward the Frozen Strait. Nothing could be J'Sp^oward done by the crew but to await the issue ; and when the the Frozen storm subsided they found themselves midway between Cape Comfort and the entrance of the Frozen Strait, about three miles from the shore, without any prospect of either forcing their way into a harbour or finding some littlis shelter in a floe. They were once more firmly beset, with the additional calamity of being so much tilted up that the stern of the ship lay seven and a half feet above the horizontal, and the bow was jammed downward on the masses ahead. "Thus," says Cap- tain Back, "ended a month of vexation, disappoint- %<■ 350 EXPEDITIONS TO THE SEAS AROUND BOOTHIA. Smyth Har- bour. CHAP.x. roent, and anxiety, to me personally more distressinfy and intolerable than the worst pressure ot the woi-st evils which had befallen me in any other expedition." In October, the ship gradually righted, and then was carried through a series of vicissitudes not much dis- similar to her bygone disasters. On the 1st of Novem- ber, the warming apparatus was specially needed, and put vigorously into requisition, but wofully fiEiiled. On the 7th a party walked to the land, and surveyed a harbour one mile and a half long, and half a mile broad, to which they gave the name of Smyth Harbour. The ship had now lain so long at rest on her ice-cradle, that hopes were entertained of uninterrupted quietness till the end of the season ; but from the 8th till the 19th, she was again whirled hither and thither by tlie fury of storms and currents ; and on one occasion, she was borne within 3,650 yards of the inaccessible cliifs of Gape Comfort, and seemed ir no small peril of being; unmoved from her icy bed, and crushed to a jelly against the rocks. But she remained firm on the floe, merely overhung and menaced for days by the tumults of tlie shore ice. This was thrown up on the shelving cliffs, in some places to the height of thirty or forty feet, and it everywhere sank and rose and tumbled like a crashing chaos. It was a spectacle not less sublime than appal- ling, well fitted to fill any reflecting observer with awe, and at the same time, to inspire him with devout grati- tude to the Divine Being, whose providence watched over the ship's company, and preserved them in the midst of such dreadful perils. A time of repose followed. The long calm cf winter seemed at last to have set in. Captain Back, remem- bering the example of Parry, induced the officers to assist him in contriving some amusement for the men. Theatricals were got up ; and tiie farce of Monsieur Tonson went off with hearty lavghter and abundant plaudits. An evening school also was instituted, and kept vigorously going. The men, too, were encouraged Amusements among the crew. CAPTAIN BACK. 351 to promote mirth and jollity among themselves ; and CHAP X all could read, most could write, some recited whole pages of poetry, and others sang French songs. Yet they were miserable. Few had the reckless light-heart- edness of thorough man-of-war-men ; and fewer still the steady gladsomeness of experienced Christians. Most had been colliers or whale-hshermen, and still retained all the roughness of their rough calling. They were unsociable and morose, suspicious and moody, and com- monly gave a cold reception, o' no reception at all, to the hearty efforts of the officers to lead them into the wholesome habit of amusing themselves with games, or to cheer their spirits, and while away the long hours of the winter evenings. Periods of inaction, therefore, were Gloom and periods of gloom and sadness, and came also to be periods dcncy" of sinking into despondency under trivial attacks of sick- ness ; so that the fearful incidents of this most fearful voyage had at least the advantage of rousing up the minds of the crew from a ruinous indulgence of morbid feeling. A hurricane burst forth on the 22d of December, and Tremendous continued to rage till the 24th. No man could face it. ^^'^•*«««- The topmasts shook like wands, and the lee-rigging was forced out like a bow. The temperature was higher by twenty degrees than it had been a few days before ; and yet so rapidly did the careering air abstract the heat from the human body, that a very short exposure to it would have certainly killed the hardiest. Several sea- men, who endeavoured to perform some duty outside the ship, were instantly frost-bitten, and driven back ; and the officer of the watch, when merely going from the housing to the tafrail to register the thermometers, w\s frost-bitten over all his face. The wind, happily, was off shore, and did not much threaten to break up the floe ; but it acted nearly at right angles against a strong tidal current, and drove the floe to the east, — insomuch that, after it subsided, the ship was found to be twelve or fourteen miles distant froiu Cape Comfort. Early in January, several commotions^ and crashes^ 352 EXPEDITIONS TO THE SEAS AROUND BOOTHIA. F.xtrciiio MUl'urhig Rending of Uie ice. CHAP. X. and disruptions occurred ; and before the middle of tlmt month, the Terror was carried on her ice-cradle some sixteen miles farther along the coast. During the next four weeks much suffering was endured from intense cold, a severe gale, the death of two of the crew, and the bad health of several. Everything now was inex- pressibly dreary. "The eight months since we left England," says Captain Back, " seemed longer than any three years of my former not unadventurous life ; days were weeks, weeks months, and months almost years.'* But an event was at hand, which, for some time, allowed not a moment more for moodiness. The floe, which h CAPTAIN BACK. 359 and when it did break up, it did not set her free. On the contraiy, she slowly rose, heeled over to port, and seemed for some moments to be entirely capsizing. Those of her company who were on board felt suddenly as if on the verge of eternity. Yet they evinced no confusion, and cleared off and provisioned the boats with astonishing coolness and promptitude. She went so completely on her beam ends that no man in her could move without holding on ; but she went no farther. A submerged ice-mass, whose end was congealed to her bottom, and whose other end projected right out from her, was the cause of her overturn, and it now held her firm in her perilous position. ' Officers am^ men beheld it with awe, and set promptly and energeti-::)ally to the arduous task of sawing it off. They worked from eleven o^clock in the forenoon till two in the following morning, afraid that a squall might arise and ruin them ; and when at last they had only ten feet more to saw, but were compelled by fatigue and drowsiness to go in quest of a short repose on the deck, suddenly there was a grating sound of breaking ice, and, before a word could be spoken, the ship sprang free and entirely righted. The cheering of the crew was vociferous, and their joy unbounded. Four months, all but a day, had the ship been in the grip of the ice ; and now, after a romance of perils, and a cycle of providential deliver- ances, she was again subject to the control of man. The last scenes we have described took place in the vicinity of Charles Island, about midway between Cape Comfort and the mouth of Hudson Strait. The query was naturally raised whether anything could now be done to prosecute the object of the expedition ; but the ship was found to be fisir too shattered to go again in her pre- sent state into collision with the ice, and a serious doubt soon arose whether she should be able to cross the sea to a British harbour. There was nothing for it but to run her, with all possible speed, toward home. She was utterly crazy, and broken, and leaky ; and not even CHAP. X. She is thrown on her beam- ends by a submerged ice-masa. She is set free. She is found to be thorouglily disabled. J*' I M!-.- ff 360 EXPEDITIONS TO THE SEAS AROUND BOOTHIA. M h Return of the Terror to Ireland. CHAP. X. her perilous tumbling among the ice-masses, around tlie dismal Cape Comfort and the horrid Seahorse Point, were more perilous than the struggling, staggering, water-logged voyage which she made across the Northern Atlantic. She at last reached the north-west coast of Ireland, gradually sinking by the head, and was run ashore in Lough Swilly on the 3d of September ; and had she been three hours longer at sea, she would cer- tainly have gone to the bottom. Her whole frame proved to be strained and twisted ; many of her bolts were either loosened or broken ; her forefoot was en- tirely gone ; and upwards of twenty feet of her keel, together with ten feet of her stem-post, had been driven over more than three feet and a half on one side, leav- ing a frightful opening astern for the free ingress of water. Well, therefore, might her crew, when they afterwards looked on her as she lay dry on the beacli at low water, express astonishment that ever they had floated back in her to British shores, and ample occa- sion had they to cherish adoring gratitude to the all- powerful and all-benevolent Being who had preserved them. u N Messrs. Deaseand Simpsons* expedition. Main part of the object for which the Terror expedi- tion was fitted out in 1836, and which all then sufiered so sad a defeat through the disasters of the voyage,, was accomplished by widely different means in 1839. Allu- sion is made, on page 307, to Arctic land expeditions in 1837 and 1838, by Messrs. Dease and Simpson, two officers of the Hudson's Bay Company ; and a reason is there given for not introducing a notice of these expe- ditions to this volume. But another expedition, of broader character and &.r more extensive results, was conducted by the same parties in 1839. This was ac- complished, in a great degree, in boats on the sea ; it traversed unknown straits and inlets as extensively as had been done by some of the maritime expeditions ; it traced much of the tract between Regent's Inlet and \ DEASE AND SIMPSON. 361 Point Tumagain, and discovered a seeming strait be- chap. x. tween Boothia Felix and the American mainland ; and it was supposed to stultify two of the principal assertions of Sir John Boss, and to contribute an impoHant ele- ment toward the solution of the vexed question of the north-west passage ; and for these reasons a brief ac- count of at least the most striking details of it seems here desirable. * Messrs. Dease and Simpson descended the Coppermine Commcnrc River, and on the 3d of July they took advantage of"^^^^^^^^ the first opening of the ice to commence their voyage. They had a week's hard work to reach the rocky heights of Cape Barrow, at the west side of the entrance of Bathurst Inlet ; and thence they beheld the great ex- panse of Coronation Qulf, extending away from their feet to the horizon, partially cleared of ice, though long after the same date in the preceding year it was seen . ' compactly frozen. They arrived at Point Turnagain at midnight, on the 20th, and were detained there four days by a violent easterly gale, and they encountered great peril in doubling Cape Alexander, on the 27th and Cape the 28th, amidst very heavy drifting ice. This cape is -^i''*^^". situated in lat. 68® 66' N., and long. 106° 40^ W. ; and was discovered and named by the expedition in the preceding year, and was within a few miles of the farthest point which they then reached. The rise and fall of the tide at it was about three feet, and was the greatest which they observed in the Arctic Seas. A lai^e tract of territory, with a bold lofty cape in the front, and separated from the mainland by a consider- able stmit, extends far away on the north, and this was called Victoria Land. The south side of the interven- ing strait, eastward from Cape Alexander to a remark- Labyrinth able headland. Capo Geddes, in lat. 68» 33' N., and ^^ long. 93® lO' W., is a spacious bay, reaching as far south as 67® 40', and intricately diversified by innu- merable islets, and by a countless succession of minor inlets and long narrow projecting points. si 11 362 EXPEDITIONS TO THE SEAS AROUND BOOTHIA. White Bear Point CHAP. X. Messrs. Dease and Simpson found the route through this bay extremely intricate, and the labour of survey- ing it not a little harassing ; but while perplexed be- yond measure to thread their way among the labyrinths, they derived great advantage from the protection which the islets afforded from the crushing force of the seaward ice. On one little headland which projects beyond the range of the islets, and is situated in lat. 68** 7' K., and long. 103* 37' W., and to which they gave the name of White Bear Point, they were detained by the ice from the 1st to the 6th of August. Esquimaux, mostly old persons, were met with whenever they landed, and ap- peared to subsist in single families, or in very small parties, and to spend^the months from June till October in deer-hunting inland, and from October till June in seal-catching on the coast. A river, to which the ex- EUice River, plorero gave the name of EUice River, falls into the sea in lat. 68' 2' N., and long. 104"* 16' W., and has twice the volume of the Coppermine, and is much frequented by rein-deer and musk-oxen in summer. The country around comprises green flats, small lakes, and knotty knolls. Finding all the east side of the great bay tending in a northerly direction, Messi-s. Bease and Simpson ex- pected nothing else than to be carried on to the Gape Felix of Sir James 0. Boss; but on rounding Gape Geddes, on the evening of the 10th of August, they suddenly opened a strait extending to the southward of east where the rapid rush of the tide left scarcely a doubt of open sea-communication with the estuary of Back's River. This strait is ten miles wide at either extremity, but contracts to three miles in the centre, and has there a deep, though narrow channel. On the 12th of August, the explorers encountered a most ter- rific thunderstorm, and next day they had a rough wind from the west, accompanied by a very dense fog. But tiiey ran rapidly along the strait, passed Point Richard- son and Point Ogle, entered the estuary of Back's Inlet to Back's Esta tuy. DEA8E AND SIMPSON. 363 River, and careered on till the darkness of the night and chap. x. the increasing fury of the gale drove them ashore heyond ""* Point Pechell. The wind veered to the north-east, and continued till the 16th, and then they directed their course, with flags flying, to Montreal Island, and landed Montreal on it near the spot where Back had encamped. isiwid. They had thus ascertained that the American continent is separated from Boothia to the westward of the Back Estuary ; and though they might now have very justly regarded their mission as completed, they had too much of the arduous and adventurous spiiit of geographical discoverers not to feel anxious to ascertain, even at the cost of peril and privation, whether a separation existed also to the eastward. They therefore rowed toward the furthest visible land in the north-east, a bluff, bold, rocky, singularly-shaped promontoiy, situated in lat. Cape 68" 4' N., and long. 94° 35' W. They reached this at "'"»""»»• sunrise on the 17th, after six hours of unremitting labour at the oar, and they called it Cape Britannia. Here they remained wind-bound till the 19th; and on a beetling rock which sheltered their encampment from the sea, and which forms the most conspicuous object ; over a great extent of coast, they erected a strong coni- cal cairn, fourteen feet in height. On the 19 th they first crossed a fine bay, due east, with no small toil and danger, and then made a fine run of forty miles along a north-eastern stretch of coast ; and next day they struggled all morning among shoals and breaker;::, with- out gaining a greater distance than three mt.c^, and then felt obliged to take refuge in the mouth of a small river. This proved the extreme point of their voyage, The extreme and they called it Castor and Pollux. From a lime- J2|,"aga "'^ stone ridge about a league inland they saw in the north- east some very remote blue land which seemed, in all probability, one of the southern promontories of Boothia ; they saw also two considerable islands far in the offing, and other islands, high and distant, extending from the oast to the east north-east, and they observed that the t i •J Si ■t .n;; it 1 I I I: 364 EXPEDITIONS TO THE SEAS AROUND BOOTUIA. CHAP. X. Supposed IiiHiilatiun of Uodthiu FeUx h Examination of the south shore of Boothia low main-shore in their immediate vicinity, first stretched only about five miles to the east, and then appeared to turn off greatly to the right. They could scarcely doubt, therefore, that they had arrived at the large gulf variously called Akkolee and Boothia, which merges northward into Prince Regent's Inlet, and extends southward to within forty miles of Repulse and Wager Bays. ■' ■ " • . r .-■■ Thus apparently were Sir John Ross's assertions, that an isthmus connects Boothia Felix with the American mainland, and that the Polar Sea has a level of thirteen feet higher than the Qulf of Boothia, ascertained to be thorough errors. Hence came the declaration to be made in high quarters, " Where, according to Sir John Ross, the broad ocean leans against the land, Messrs. Dease and Simpson navigated a continuous sea, without leaping the imagined isthmus, or looking down the descent of thirteen feet measured by Sir John Ross's theodolite.'* The explorers, however, made allusion to Sir John mainly to express their admiration, as well they might, of his extraordinary escape from this peril- ous region. They themselves could not have attempted to penetrate &rther without being desperately fool- hardy. But they wished to make the most of their circumstances, and therefore resolved to take a look on their way back at the northern shores of the sti'ait which they had navigated. On the 21st of August they left Gape Britannia, and commenced their voyage homeward ; and on the 24th they crossed over from Point Richardson to the southern shore of Boothia. This shore they traced westward for about sixty miles, to a promontory which they called Cape Herschel, and which is situated nearly opposite Cape Geddes, and they found it to be a low uninterest- ing limestone tract, abounding in rein-deer, musk-oxen, and old native encampments. A good deal of ice was teen to the west, and a cairn was constructed on Capo Uerschel. On the 25th they reorossed the strait, and DEASE AND SIMPSON. 365 ElUce lUver retraced, for some time, their outward route. The chap, x weather now became unstittled and severe, and confined them during four days to one spot. But on the 6th of September, when better weather had returned, they struck from the Ellice River twenty-two miles north- Ti>e w»/>ff north-westward to an extensive island, ran for twenty miles north-westward along the coast of this, and then struck about the same distance northward to the nearest point of Victoria Land. The latter part of this run was performed under night, and they say respecting it, *' We have never seen anything more brilliant than the phosphoric gleaming of the waves when darkness set in ; the boats seemed to cleave a flood of molten silver, and the spray dashed from their bows before the fresh breeze fell back like showers of diamonds into the deep. It was a cold night, and when we at last made the land, cliffs faced with eternal ice obliged us to run for a couple of leagues before we could take the shore with safety." They explored the coast of Victoria Land for upwards Hie coast of of 160 miles, and found it incomparably the boldest LanS*'* which they had anywhere seen in the Arctic Seas. Often, near the shore, no bottom could be reached with thirty- five fathom of line, and everywhere the cerulean hue of the water indicated a profound depth. There are several noble bays, and the largest, which they called Wellington Bay, recedes to lat. 69® 40' N., and is twenty miles wide, correspondingly long, and screened by snow-clad mountains. The extreme point reached by the expedition bore by computation fifty miles north-north-east of Gape Barrow ; and there the coast begins again to trend northward of west. What relation Victoria Land bears to Wollaston Land, situated north of the west side of Coronation Gulf, was not ascertained ; but probably the two countries are separated by a wide channel. On the 10th of September, with a side wind and a rough sea, Messrs. Dease and Simpson recrossed the u- >i £ y\i 111 • m nm t.5i. 36R EXPEDITIONS TO THE SEAS AROUND BOOTHIA, CHAP. X magnificent isltit-studded sound to the mainland ; and tliey were greatly delighted, on the passage, by the firm bearing of their gallant, old, severely-tried boats. They afterwards were vexed for several days by furious windn ; Return of but on the 16th they entered the Coppermine River, DciwI^and after by far the longest voyage ever performed by boats Simpnon up on the Polar Sea ; and on the 24th, they safely reached the Copper- „ . ^ - , ' i a . -Mi 374 THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. M'hat to do at Cape Walker. CHAP XI. to the northward or southward in that strait, but con- — tiuue to push to the westward without loss of time, in the latitude of about 74|^, till you have reached the longitude of that portion of land on which Cape Walker is situated, or about 98° west. From that point we desire that every effort be used to endeavour to penetrate to the southward and westward in a course as direct to- wards Behring's Strait as the position and extent of the ice, or the existence of land, at present unknown, may admit. " We direct you to this particular part of the Polar Sea as affording the best prospect of accomplishing the passage to the Pacific, in consequence of the unusual magnitude and apparently fixed state of the barrier of ice observed by the Hecia and Griper in the year 1820, off Gape Dundas, the south-western extremity of Mel- ville Island ; and we therefore consider that loss of time would be incurred in renewing the attempt in that direction. But should your progress in the direction before ordered be arrested by ice of a permanent ap- pearance, and that when passing the mouth of the strait, between Devon and Cornwallis* Islands, you had ob- served that it was open and clear of ice, we desire that you will duly consider, with reference to the time already consumed, as well as to the symptoms of a late or early close of the season, whether that channel might not offer a more practicable outlet from the Archipelago, and a more ready access to the open sea where there would be neither islands nor banks to arrest and fix the floating masses of ice. And if you should have advanced too far to the south-westward to render it expedient to adopt this new course before the end of the present season, and if, therefore, you should have determined to winter in that neighbourhood, it will be a matter for your mature deliberation whether, in the ensuing sea- son, you would proceed by the above mentioned strait, or whether you would peraevere to the south-westward according to the fornner directions. What to do respecting Wellington Strait THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 375 CHAP. XI How much left to Sir John's own discretion. " You are well aware, having yourself been one of the intelligent travellers who have traversed the Ameri- can shore of the Polar Sea, that the groups of islands that stretch from that shore to the northward to a dis- tance not yet known, do not extend to the westward further than about the 120th degree of western longi- tude, and tha( beyond this, and to Behring*s Strait, no land is visible from the American shore of the Polar Sea. In an undertaking of this description, much must be always left to the discretion of the commanding officer, and, as the objects of this expedition have been fully explained to you, and you have already had much experience on service of this nature; we are convinced we cannot do better than leave it to your judgment.'* He was instructed also, in the event of reaching Behring*s Strait, to proceed to the Sandwich Islands and Panama, and to put an officer ashore at the latter place with despatches. The ships sailed from the Thames on the 19th of May 1846. The Erebus and the Terror received the transport's stores and dismissed her in Davis' Strait, and then had abundant provisions of every kind for three years, besides five bullocks. They were seen by the The sailing whaler. Prince of Wales, on the 26th of July, moored o^t^e Erebus to an iceberg, waiting for an opening through the long vast body of ice which extends along the middle of Baf- fin's Bay. They were then in lat 74** 48' K, and long. 66® 13' W., not far from the centre of Baffin's Bay, and about 210 miles from the entrance of Lancaster Sound. Toward the end of 1847, prolonged, earnest, disap- pointed expectation of their return gave place to anxiety about their safety. Not a word had been heard from them, nor the slightest trace of them obtained since they were seen by the Prince of Wales whaler ; and apprehension became strong and general that they had shared a similar fate to the Fury of Sir Edward Parry, or the Victory of Sir John Ross. The government, therefore, promptly determined to send three expedi- and the Terror. Public anxiety about their safety. .-' 4 m 376 THE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1848-49. A plan of searching expeditions. CHAP. XL tions in search of them. The first was a marine expe* dition by way of Behring's Strait, to be conducted by Captain Henry Kellett, of the ship Herald, of twenty- six guns, then in the Pacific, aided by Commander Thomas E. L. Moore, in the Plover, surveying vessel ; and this was designed to relieve Sir John Franklin and his brave companions in the event of their having gone through the north-west passage, and stuck fast at some advanced point of the Polar Sea. The second was an overland and boat expedition, to be conducted by Sir John Richardson, to descend the Mackenzie Biver, and to examine the coast eastward to the Coppermine ; and this was designed to afford relief in the event of the ad- venturers having taken to their boats westward of the Northern Archipelago, and forced their way to the American continent. And the third was a marine ex- pedition to be conducted by Sir James Clarke Ross, with the ships Enterprize and Investigator, through Lancas- ter Sound and Barrow*s Strait, to examine all the track of the missing ships westward as far as they could pene- trate into the Archipelago ; and this was designed to afford relief in the event of the adventurers having been arrested either in the very throat of the supposed pas- sage, or at some point on this side of it, and of their attempting to retrace their steps. This plan of search seemed comprehensive and noble, and was canied with all possible promptitude into exe- cution. We, of course, cannot follow its three parts simultaneously, nor can we well mix up with the narra- tive of any of them an account of increasing anxieties and additional measures which arose before the three were completed ; and we think we shall best promote eleamess by narrating each to the end before saying anything of the next. We must also consult the utmost possible brevity, and shall therefore avoid all iri'elevant details, except such as involve discovery or sc me strik- ing novelty. The Plover left Sheerness on the 1st of January 1848| Prompt execution of tlie plan. \ THE rLOVER AND HERALD, ETC. 377 bat, being a miserable sailer, did not reach Oahu, in chap. XL the Sandwich Islands, till the 22d of August. She was then too late to attempt, that season, any efficient operations within the Arctic circle, and she passed on The sailing to winter quarters at Noovel, on the coast of Eamts- J^d the Ue? chatka. The Herald meanwhile had received instruc* ^^' tions from home, and gone northward as far as Gape Krusensteru in Eotzebue Sound, the appointed rendez- vous. But not being prepared to winter there, nor prepared for explorations among ice, she returned in autumn to the Sandwich Islands. On the 30th of June 1849, the Plover left Noovel, and on the 14th of July she anchored off Ohamisso Island, at the bottom of Eotzebue Sound. Next day she was joined by the Herald and by the Nancy Dawson, the latter a yacht belonging to Robert Shedden, Esq., who, in the course of a voyage of pleasure round the globe, got intelligence in China of the intended expedi- tion through Behring's Strait in search of Sir John Franklin, and nobly resolved to devote his vessel and himself to its aid. On the 18th the three vessels left Chamisso ; on the 20th they were off Cape Lisburne ; i and on the 25th, after having passed Icy Point, they despatched a boat expedition under Lieutenant PuUen. This boat expedition was designed to connect the Boat cxpedi- proceedings of the present voyage with those of the over- Lieu?emuit land expedition under Sir John Richardson, and to I'uiien. institute search and provide succour for the missing adventurers, on the likeliest parts of the coast and main • land west of the Mackenzie River. It consisted of the Herald^s pinnace, decked over, and three other boats, and comprised twenty-live men, and had nearly three months' provisions for its own use, besides five cases of pemmican for the use of Sir John Franklin's party. But it was accompanied also by Mr. Shedden in his yacht. It was directed, after proceeding a certain dis- tance along the coast inshore, to return to a rendezvous with the Plover at Chamisso Island, but at the same t in 1 *i 1 ' 1 1'^ 1 37S TIIKHKAtloniNrt KXI'KPITIONSOF 1840 no. CHAP. XI. time to t1i>ni»ntn1i from its fiirtlicBt point a detnolimont in two wliiiie bofttH, well proviHioned nnd equipped, to extend the senrch to the mouth of the Mackenzie liiver, nnd then to ascend that river nnd proceed homeward hy Fort Hope and Yorl( Factory in the summer ot 1800. Ti»o HnmM Tlio Herald and the Plover, in the meanwhile, hore Svt.i"atti.o J^way to the north, and on the 20tii, in lat. 71'' b' N., pack. i\xey reached the heavily-packed ice. They sailed some times along the edge of this, and some times through streams and auKmg floes till the 28th, when they could proceed no further on account of the perfect impono- trahleness of the pack. They were then in lat. 72° 61' N., and long. 163" 48' W. The ice, as far as it could be seen from the mast-head, trended away west-south- westward ; yet, while densely compact for leagues distant, seemed to he broken by a water-line in the northern horizon. On the 28th the ships came again to the land, And the Herald bore in to examine Wainwright*s Inlet, while comman nKiiALP. 37« (liHCOvery, a ninnll gmiip of iHlntidA wan reported on our CHAP. Xf. |Mirt hevtvn, a conniderahlo diBtiince within tlie outer nmrgin of the ice. 8till more disinnt t)mn ih'm Kr<>up (from the dcek) a very extensive and high Innd was n>porte- '• ' Tlie explorers encountered head winds throughout most of their progress of eight hundred miles or up- wards, from the exit of the Mackenzie to the mouth of the Coppermine ; and they always kept near the shore, and landed at least twice a-day to cook, occasionally to hunt, often to look out from the high capes, and com- monly at night to sleep on shore. Immediately off the efflux of the Mackenzie they had an interview with about three hundred Esquimaux ; and at many subse- quent points they communicated with other parties, who were assembled on headlands to hunt whales, or scattered along the coast in pursuit of rein-deer and water-fowl. The Esquimaux were confiding and frank ; and all said that no ships had recently appeared on the coast; and those west of Cape Bathurst further said, that, during the preceding six weeks, they never saw any ice. The explorers met floes of drift ice for the first time after rounding Cape Parry ; but they encountered them more numerously as they approached Dolphin and Union Strait. On the 22d of August they had a strong gale from the west; and on the next morning they found themselves hemmed in by dense packs, extending as far Interviews with the Es- quimaux, i I* SIR JOHN RICHARDSON. 383 as the eye could reach. The weather had hitherto heen chap, xi genial ; but now it passed into perpetual frost, with fre- quent snow-storms. The expedition, henceforth, got on with great difficulty; and when they had penetrated Arrestment well up the west side of Coronation Gulf, they were en- ^Jj^^„ girdled by rigorous winter, and felt compelled to aban- don their boats. They, therefore, were unable to fulfil a portion of their official instructions, which directed them to examine the western and southern shores of Wollaston Land, lying north-west of Coronation Qulf ; and during eleven days, from the 2d till the 13th of September, they travelled by land, up the valley of the Coppermine, to their appointed winter-home at Fort Con- fidence, at the north-eastern extremity of the Qreat <* Bear Lake. Next summer Sir John Richardson returned to England. In his official report to the Secretary of the Admiralty, Sir John says — " In the voyage between the Mackenzie and Coppermine, I carefully executed their lordship*s instructions with respect to the examination of the coast line, and became fully convinced that no ships had passed Sir John within view of the mainland. It is, indeed, nearly im- omdaur ' possible that they could have done so unobserved by port. some of the numerous parties of Esquimaux on the look- out for whales. We were, moreover, informed by the Esquimaux of Back's Inlet, that the ice had been press- ing on their shore nearly the whole summer ; and its closely-packed condition when we left it, on the 4th of September, made it highly improbable that it would open for ship navigation later in the season. " I regretted extremely that the state of the ice pre- vented me from crossing to Wollaston Land, and thus completing in one season the whole scheme of their lordship's instructions. The opening between Wollaston and Victoria Lands has always appeared to me to possess great interest; for through it the flood-tide evidently sets into Coronation Gulf, diverging to the westward by the Dolphin and Union Strait, and to the eastward round u iV. ■sm. I 384 THE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1849-50. CHAP. XI. Conjecture respecting Mr John Franklin's position. Farther ex- ploration en< trusted to Hr. Utte. Cape Alexander. By the fifth clause of Sir John Prank- lin^s instructions, he is directed to steer south-westward from Cape Walker, which would lead him nearly in the direction of the strait in question. If Sir John found Barrow Strait as open as when Sir Edward Parry passed it on four previous occasions, I am convinced that (com- plying as exactly as he could with his instructions, and without looking into Wellington Sound, or other open- ings either to the south or north of Barrow Strait) he pushed directly west to Cape Walker, and from thence south-westwards. If so the ships were probably shut up on some of the passages between Victoria, Banks, and Wollaston Lands. "Being apprehensive that the boats I left on the coast would be broken up by the Esquimaux, and being, moreover, of opinion that the examination of the open- ing in question might be safely and efficiently performed in the only remaining boat I had fit for the tmnsport from Bear Lake to the Coppermine, I determined to entrust this important service to Mr. Rae, who volun- teered, and whose ability and zeal in the cause I cannot too highly commend. He selected an excellent crew, all of them experienced voyageurs, and capable of find- ing their way back to Bear Lake without guides, should any unforeseen accident deprive them of their leader. In the month of March (1849), a sufficient supply of pemmican, and other necessary stores, with the equip- ments of the boat, were transported over the snow on dog-sledges, to a navigable part of the Kendall River, and left there under the charge of two men. As soon as the Dease broke up in June, Mr. Bae would follow with the boat the rest of the crew and a party of Indian hunters, and would descend the Coppermine River about the middle of July, at which time the sea generally begins to break up. He would then, as soon as possible, cross from Cape Krusenstem to Wollaston Land, and endeavour to penetrate to the northward, erecting signal- columns, and making deposits on conspicuous headlands, \ SIR JAMES BOSS. 385 ; crew. and especially on the north shore of Banks* Land, should chap, zl he he fortunate enough to attain that coast. He was '" further instructed not to hazard the safety of his party by remaining too long on the north side of Dolphin and Union Strait, and to be guided in his movements by the season, the state of the ice, and such intelligence as he might obtain from the Esquimaux. He was also re- quested to engage one or more families of Indian hunters, to pass the summer of 1850 on the banks of the Copper- mine River, to be ready to assist any party that may direct their course that way." Mr. Bae also repeated his elaborate and perilous mission in the summer of 1850. The third and most important of the three searching The expert expeditions of 1848 was the marine one conducted by sir"jamM a Captain Sir James Clarke Boss. This comprised two Uosa. Bupeii) ships, the Enterprise of 470 tons and seventy men, and the Investigator of 420 tons and seventy men, both as strong as they could be made, and fur- nished with every possible appliance. Each was pro- vided with a screw-propelled steam-launch, 31 i feet long, and capable of an average speed of eleven miles an hour. Captain E. J. Bird was appointed to the com- | mand of the Investigator. The ships were instructed to proceed together to the head of Barrow's Strait ; and the Enterprise, if possible, to push on to a wintering place about Winter Harbour or Banks* Land, while the Investigator should try to find harbourage somewhere about Gamier Bay or Cape Rennell. Parties were to go from the Enterprise along respectively the eastern and the western shores of Banks' Land, to cross Sir John Richardson's expedition on the mainland; and parties from the Investigator were to explore the coasts of North Somerset and Boothia. The expedition left the Thames on the 12th of May 1848, and entered Baffin's Bay early in July. A letter Letter from was written by Sil- James Clarke Ross, from the Danish |oj,Jj"upS. settlement of Upemavick on the 12th of July, stating navlck. that, if after passing a second winter at or near Port 2 a 386 THE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1848-49. CHAP. XI. Despatch of the North Star atore- sliip. The Entcr- rrise and the nvestigatov off Cape Shackle :on. Leopold, he should get no intelligence of Sir John Frank- lin and his party, he would send the Investigator home to England, and prosecute a further search in the Enter- prise alone. The Lords of the Admiralty took alarm at the possible, or even probable, consequences of this excessive heroism ; and ordered the North Star store-ship, under command of Mr. James Saunders, to get ready with all speed to take out instructions and supplies to the expe- dition. Her prime object was to be the replenishing of the expedition's stock of provisions, and the enjoining of the Investigator not to return to England in the way Sir James 0. Boss had indicated, but to remain in com- pany with the Enterprise ; and if the North Star should not succeed in promptly fulfilling this object, she was instructed to land the supplies at the farthest prominent point she could readily reach, and by all means to keep herself free from besetment in the ice, and to return be- fore the close of the season. She sailed from the Thames on the 16th of May 1849, and did not return that sea- son; and as she also became a subject of much public anxiety, this anticipatory notice of her has been given in order to prepare the way for a statement or two re- specting her, which must be made at a future stage of our narrative. The Enterprise and the Investigator left Upeinavik on the 13th of July 1848 ; and after running through an intricate archipelago near the mainland, they arrived, on the 20th, off Gape Shackleton, and there made fast to a grounded iceberg. They were joined there by the Lord Gambier whaling-ship, whose master informed them that, having run to the southward with the rest of the whalers, and having carefully examined the pack, he had found it all so close, compact, and heavy, as not to afford the slightest hope of any ship being able to find an opening through it, that season, to the west. He had, therefore, returned to the north, and expected that all the other whalers would soon follow him ; and he had a very confident hope that he should get round the north SIR JAMES KOSS. 387 end of the pack by tlie first week of August. But " the CHAP. XL middle ice," as this great barrier along BaflBn's Bay is state~of the called, nas ever put the wits of the whale-fishers to ".mWdieko." the severest trial, and sometimes quite baffled and stul- tified them ; and so, in some degree, did it do, un this occasion, to the master of the Lord Gambler. The ear- liest date at which it has been passed in any year is the 12th of June; the latest at which it has been found im- passable is the 9th of September ; and the average date of the first ship of the season passing it is about the 1 2th of July. But in 1848 it could be passed only with extreme difficulty, and only by far rounding to the north ; and, as was afterwards ascertained, the first and almost only vessel which then got past it was the Prince of Wales of Hull, on the 6th of August, about lat. 75**. Early on the morning of the 21st of July the expe- dition cast off from the iceberg, and began to tow their way through loose streams of ice toward some lanes of water in the distance. But both on this day and on the following few days, they made very slow progress, and were often in difficulty and embarrassni< nt. On the morning of the 20th, when they were off the Three Islands of Baffin, in lat. 74^ N., at the clearing away of a fog, they saw the Lord Qambier at some distance, standing under all sail to the southward, — the unusually bad state of the ice having overturned her master's hopes, and altered his purpose. They pursued their course Difflcult pro- northward amid much perplexity and vicissitude; and, oJtheisiandi though still fully expecting to bore their way through of Buffla the pack, they were so excessively retarded by calms and barriers as soon to lose all hope of being able to accomplish any considerable part of their mission before the setting in of winter. They spared no exertions, but forced a progress, and even drove on at the expense of danger. On the 20th of August, during a strong breeze from the north-east, the ships, under all sail, bored through a moderately thick pack of ice, studded with perilously large masses ; and they sustained severe !'i 388 THE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1848-49. Arrival at Tond's Bay. CHAP. XL shocks, yet, happily, did not receive any serious damage. They gained the open water on the afternoon of that day, in lat. 75 i° N., and long. 68° W., and then steered direct for Pond's Bay. That, as is well known, is the grand scene of the whale-fishery ; and thither the ex- pedition went to inquire of any whaler's crew, who might have got across to the west, and also of the Esquimaux who annually visit that locality, whether they had seen anything of the missing adventurers. On the 23d of August, they approached the shore about ten miles south of Pond's Bay, and saw the main pack 80 closely pressed home to the land, some three or four miles farther south, as to leave no room for shipb or boats to pass. They next stood in to the bay, and paused within half a mile of the points on which the Esquimaux are known to have their summer residences ; and they fired guns every half hour, and closely ex- amined every part of the shore with their glasses, but did not get sight of a smgle human being. They then went slowly to the northward, and sometimes could not hold their own with the current, and always kept so close to the land that neither boats nor persons could escape their notice, yet still were unsuccessful. On the 26th they arrived off Possession Bay, at the south side of the entrance of Lancaster Sound. A pai'ty there went ashore to search for traces of Sir John Frank- lin having toiiched at that general point of rendezvous; but they found nothing except a paper recording the visit of Sir Edward Parry in 1819. The expedition now sailed along the coast of Lancaster Sound, keeping close in shore, scrutinizing all the sea-board both from the deck and from the mast-head, and fully expecting every hour to see those of whom they were in search. Every day they threw overboard, from each ship, a cask containing papers of information of all their proceedings ; and in every fog they periodically fired guns ; and in every time of darkness they burned rockets and blue ]:ghts; and at all dmes, thev kept the ships under such easy Ssratlny of the coast of 1 .ancostcr Suiind. SIR JAMES ROSS. 389 tail that any boat seeing the signals might have reached chap. Xl them. The drift of the information in the casks told infoi^tion the missing adventurers that no assistance could be given tiirown over them at Pond's Bay, or anywhere else on the west coast casks. of Baffin's Bay, — that the Enterprise and the Investi- gator were on their way to form a depdt of provisions at Port Leopold, — and that, if the adventurers would go on to that place, they would either find one of the ships there, or see, along with the provisions, a notice of where she might be found. On the 1st of September, the expedition arrived off Cape York, at the east side of the entrance of Prince Regent's Inlet. A party was there sent ashore, under very difficult circumstances, to seek for Sir John Frank- lin's company, or for traces of them, and to set up a con- spicuous mark, with a paper containing similar informa- tion to that in the casks. From Cape York the expedi- tion stood over toward North-East Cape, till they came to the edge of a pack about fourteen miles broad, lying in the way to Leopold Island, and too dense for them to penetrate. They wished to get with all possible speed to Port Leopold to fulfil the promise made in their notices, and were glad to observe that the pack which now arrested them was still in motion, and might be expected soon to go to pieces under some favourable change. But, that no available time might be spent in inaction, they stood away, in the meantime, to the north Examinatfon shore of Barrow's Strait, to examine its numerous in- shore oniatw lets, and to seek for a retreat harbour. They thoroughly '"oWa strait explored Maxwell Bay, and several smaller indentations ; and they got so near the entrance of Wellington Chan- nel as to see that it was firmly and impenetrably barred from side to side by ice, which had ro* been broken up that season. Even Barrow's Strait was embarrassed by a greater quantity of ice than had ever before been seen in it at the same period of the year. They now stood to the south-west to seek for a har- bour near Cape Rennell ; but they found a heavy body I 390 THE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1848-49. CHAP. XI. Taklnpf har- bour at Port Leopold. Advantage- ous position of Port Leopold. of ice extending from the west of Cornwallis* Island, in a compact mass to Leopold Island. They coasted along this pack during stormy and foggy weather, and had difficulty during the nights in keeping the ships from being beset. With the thermometer eveiy nij^ht at 16*', young ice formed so rapidly, and became so thick, as to defeat all their efforts to pass through some of even the looser streams. Yet, after several days of anxious and arduous toil, though the pack still lingered about Leopold Island and North-East Cape, they succeeded in getting through it, and entered the harbour of Port Leopold on the 11th of September; and had they not got in on that d^jf they would not have got in at all ; for, on the following night the main pack came close home to the land, and completely sealed the mouth of the harbour. They were happy in having reached Port Leopold, both for their own sake, and for the sake of their mission. Tiiey had doubted whether the anchorage would be good, but they found it excellent, and saw at once that there could not be a better wintering-place for the Investigator. Nor could there have been a fitter locality for making a grand deposit of provisions, and preparing a temporary retreat for any of Sir John Franklin's company who might be entangled among the intricacies of the Archi- pelago. Port Leopold is situated at the junction of tho four great channels of Lancaster Sound, Barrow's Strait, Wellington Channel, and Prince Regent's Inlet, and lies closely adjacent to any route which Sir John Franklin could have been likely to pursue in the event of his having had to retrogress from the vicinity of Cape Walker ; so that a lodgement in it by the present expe- dition could scarcely escape the notice of any of Sir John's company who might happen to be proceeding from any part whatever of the Archipelago toward Baffin's Bay. An effort was made to bring the Enterprise out, with the view of her going westward to some harbour nearer Cape Walker. But she was irretrievably ice-bound. The il SIR JAMES ROSS. 301 pack which closed the harbour's mouth never once ciiap.xi- afforded a chance for the egress of even a boat ; and across the isthmus, as £ax as could be discerned from the neighbouring heights, the same extensive mass of heavy hummocky ice which repelled and limited the expedition's movements before entering, remained immoveable, and Tnabiltty of formed a firm barrier all the way over to the shore of p^M tog^et North Somerset Even if the Enterprise had got out, *"r"»« ^^st she could not have proceeded far, and, in all probability, would either have been perilously beset in the pack, or compelled to sail away from it to England. On the 12th of October, therefore, the two ships were laid fast in their wintering positioui within 200 yards of each other. The earliest days after entering the harbour were de- voted to the landing of a good supply of provisions upon Whaler Point. In this service the steam-launch proved of most eminent value, not only carrying a large cargo herself, but towing two deeply-laden cutters at the i-ate of four or five knots, through the sheet of ice which then covered the harbour, and which no boat unaided by steam could have penetrated beyond her own length. The crews spent the dead of winter in a similar manner to those of former Arctic expeditions. But they pro- bably felt much depressed by thinking on the fate of those whom they had been unsuccessfully seeking, and they had to contend against a rigorous cold, prolonged wintering unusually fer into the spring, so that, though they had ^^fd. more comfoi'ts, better appliances, and much richer fruits of experience than the crews of Sir Edward Parry's and Sir John Boss's ships, they were not by any means so healthy. During the winter a great many white foxes were taken alive in traps, and as they are well known to travel great distances in search of food, they were fitted with copper collars, containing engraved notices of the position of the ships and depdts of provisions, and then set at liberty, in the hope that they would be caught by the crews of the Erebus and the Terror. , >' 'f i 1< 392 THE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1848-49. CHAP. XL Exploratory Journey to the south. m ■ m :■ :. ^ t i TIew from the vicinity of Cape Bunny. In April and the early part of May short joumeya were made to deposit small stores of provisions westward of Cape Clarence and southward of Cape Seppings. On the 16th of May, a party of thirteen, headed by Sir James C. Ross, and taking with them forty days* provision and a supply of clothes, blankets, and other necessaries on two sledges, started on an exploratory journey to the south. They were accompanied for five days by a fatigue party of nearly thirty, under Captain Bird. Their object was to penetrate as fai as possible in the direction which Sir John Franklin was instructed first to pursue, and to make a close scrutiny of every bay and inlet in which any ships might have found shelter. They got on w^ith difficulty, and did their work with much toil, yet went resolutely forward. The nortli shore of North Somerset trends slightly to the north- ward of west till it attains its highest latitude the highest latitude of Continental America, a few miles beyond Cape Rennell ; it thence trends slightly to the southward of west till it rounds Cape Bunny ; and then it suddenly assumes a direction nearly due south. From high land adjacent to Cape Bunny, they obtained a very extensive view, and observed that all Wellington Cliannel on the north, and all the spa?'^ between Cape Bunny and Cape Walker on the west, v»ere occupied by very heavy hummocky ice, but that the frozen expanse southward, along the west flank of North Somerset, was smoother. They proceeded to the south, tracing all the indentations of the coast, and heroically enduring great exposure and fatigue, but not without the pain and delay of several of their number becoming useless from lameness and debility. They stopped on the 5tli of June. They were then too weak to go farther, and had consumed more than half of their provisions ; and they encamped for a day's rest preparatorily to their return. Their brave leader and two of the men, however, went onward to a vantage ground about eight or nine 'VU A ' Hr. ,i 4n cf 15^ r' J i aOi Tllfc, blUiu^HING JtXl'WlinoNiji o* 18t8-4i;. CllAP. XI. tlits tuAtll. Tiow fioi.i tht! vicinity of Cap») In April hw\ the «aitv |»j%H '>f Mhv short j •• were innur u» 'iefx^'t Miifitl i»u«re.sof provisions w<' of GuKj nUfwiiw iiif.i oi.it.i»\v>nxl of C.i))o 8i(* .'/ Ma.v, »^ I'l^i't.v .>t th'n < oon, litadfvl by Sir J -•r'lft^ 0. Ho«^ Hwd ♦i^.Wintr with thern Joity days* pr^r^^w AT' I tv ^upyly of clotheB, blaiikotu, and otluT nc^C)'.' ftn tt^O'^-UJc^'b. ittfti'ted on an ftjcplorfttorv j« , fatii^uo |>Hrly of neniiy thirty, -iindor Ortjitain 1'Hfcir rbject waft to pciU'tnitens (ax u>. possible i:\ <^* r'ir»»ciion •.vl:ifh Sir ..' )hT» Franklin was in8truct''i< t U' jHirisOf. Hi. I t.> m'»i(H •«. dose ficnitiny of ever\ . . aiKl iniuL in wiiioli any Hhijts nii^ht have found pIw)*. They got oil with ',; Ct'pnnel on tho north, and ull I ho space between (X^'^' Bunny aiid Cajfe Walke* on tlie v/est, were occupied Uy vury heavy hunimucky ice, but th.ifc the frozen eNi.!ari»'.> si'Uthwaid, along tiie west flank of North Sjniers'et, W'ii' smoother^ They T)raceeded to tho sontli, traointi nli the inde)itations of the coast, an i heroically endurm-,^ gruiit exposure and fatigue, but not without the p^in anci delay of sev'iral of tlieir number bccondn;? nseU's.H from bimenefes and debility. They 8topp«;d on the !^th of Ja«u'. They were tiien too weak to \]o farther, end bad contfijmt'l mort; than half of their provisions; ^n I they encanttH-d for a dayV lest preparatorily to their return. I'heir brave i'-ader and two of the men, however, Went onward to a vantage ground about ei^^ht or nine \ =• m 2 33 - I/) * Z -: Z ;: tn 1 0 ; C m n i fi \ SIR JAMES ROSS. 393 miles distant. This extreme point of the journey is CHAr. XL the western extremity of a small high peninsula situ- ated in lat. 72*' 38' N., and long. 95° 40* W. The at- mosphere at the time was peculiarly clear, and would have carried the eye to land of any great elevation at the distance of 100 miles. But the most distant view from visible cape in the direction toward Boothia and Victoria {Jiinf ofthe Land was not farther oflF than fifty miles, and lay nearly journey, due south. Several small bays and inlets intervened, and though perhaps not forming a continuous sweep of sea, they prove Prince Regent's Inlet at Cresswell and Brentford Bays to be separated from the western ocean by a very narrow isthmus. And that isthmus which is probably longish and like a neck, is a very distinct natural boundary between North Somerset and Boothia. The party resting at the encampment were not idle. Lieutenant M'Clintock, who headed them, took some magnetic observations which had great value on account of the near vicinity of the place to the Magnetic Pole. Two of the men pierced the ice and found it to be eight feet thick, and set in a stick for ascertaining the state of the tides ; and all the others who could work erected a large cairn, into which was put a copper cylinder con- taining all requisite information for the guidance of any of Sir John Franklin's company who might joumey along that coast. The time for expecting those missing state nt ones there that season, on the supposition of their having ^^[^ '^ abandoned their ships in the vicinity of Melville Island, Somerset. had almost c altogether passed. The thaw had com- menced, the suitable conditions for travelling were over, and the present explorers had at least the satisfaction of knowing that no wanderers from the Erebus and the Terror then lay unheeded or perishing on the coast of North Somerset. The explorers began their return journey on the 6th of June. They forced their way through various diffi- culties, and arrived at the ships on the 23rd. They were so worn and injured that every man of them, from rt?: I- 394 THE seahching expeditions op 18i8-49. Other exploratory Joui'iieys. CHAP. XI some cause or other, went into the doctor's hands for two or three weeks. One of the assistant surgeons, too, had died ; several men of both crews were severely ailing ; and the general health was far from good. During the absence of the large exploring party in North Somerset, three small ones were despatched by Captain Bird in other directions. One, under the com- mand of Lieutenant Barnard, went to the north shore of Barrow's Strait ; another, under the command of Lieu- tenant Browne, went to the east shore of Prince Regent's Inlet ; and the third, under the command of Lieutenant Robinson, went to the west shore of that inlet. These parties were a comparati\ ely short time away; yet all — especially the last, who penetrated several miles beyond Fury Beach — suffered from snow- blindness, sprained ancles, and debility. Preparations were now made for leaving Port Leo- pold. The season was far advanced, and a strong desire was felt to have the ships as soon as possible set free in order to push them on toward the west. But something farther was first done to extend the appliances of the place as a refuge for the missing adventurers. A house was built of the spare spars of the ships, and covered with such of the housing-cloths as could be wanted. The dep6t of provisions and fuel was raised to a sufficient quantity to serve for a twelvemonth. And the Investi- gator's steam-launch was lengthened seven feet, and made a fine vessel, capable of conveying the whole of Sir John Franklin's party to the whale ships. The crews were ill able to work the ships out of the ot Uie^season. harbour, and to set them once more before the breeze ; but they went with a will to the task. The season was far advanced and exceedingly unpromising, and seemed clearly to demand the utmost promptitude and strenu- ousness of exertion. At a tim'^ when most other navi- gable parts of the Arctic Seas were open. Port Leopold continued as close as in the middle of winter. Not a foot of water was to be seen on the surface of the sur- Lflteness \ SIR JAMES ROSS. 395 rounding ice, except only alons^ the lino of gravel about the harbour^s mouth ; and small prospect existed that any natural opening would occur. The crews were obliged to cut a way out with saws. All hands that were at all able went to work, and made a canal two miles in length) and sufficiently wide to let the ships pass out- ward to the adjacent sound. They did not complete this till the 15th of August, and then had the mortification to see that the ice to seaward remained, to all ap- pearance, as firmly fixed as in the winter. But it was wasting away along the shores, and it soon broke up and gave promise of a navigable channel. The ships got out of the harbour on the 28th of August, exactly one fortnight less than a twelvemonth from the time when they entered it. They proceeded toward the north shore of Barrow's Strait, with the view of making further examination of Wellington Channel; and of scrutinizing the coasts and inlets westward to Melville Island. But they were arrested about twelve miles from the shore by fixed land-ice, which had remained unbroken since the previ- ous seaso'^ and which appeared to extend away to the western horizon in an uniform heavy sheet. They were in a loose pack, struggling with blocks and streams as they best could, and they kept hovering about the spot which afforded the ; reatest probability of an opening. But on the 1st of September the loose pack was suddenly put in commotion by a strong wind, and it came down upon them and beset them. During two or three days the heavy masses at times severely squeezed them, and ridges of hummocks were thrown up all around them, and then the temperature fell nearly to zero, and con- gealed the whole body of ice into a solid mass. The crew of the Enterprise were unable, for some days, to unship the rudder, and when at last they released it, by means of the laborious operation of sawing away the hummocks which clove to the stern, they found it twisted and damaged ; and at the same time the ship CHAP. XI Extrication of the ships from Port Leopold. They are l)csct and squeezed. m \ 396 THE SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1818-49. They seem flxcd for the wiuter. CHAP. XI. was SO much strained as to increase the lealcage from three inches in a fortnight to fourteen inches In a day. The ice now remained for some days stationary. The lighter pieces had been so interlaced and imbricated by pressure as to form one entire sheet across the whole width of Barrow's Strait, and away eastward and west- ward to the horizon ; and all the blocks and strata below them were so firmly cemented by the extreme severity of the temperature as to seem little likely to break up again that season. The ships appeared fixed for the winter, and who could tell whether they might not be exposed to a series of as terrific perils as those which 80 often menaced the Terror with destruction in her awful ice-voyage of 1836 ? On the wind shifting to the west, the crews, with a mixture of hope and anxiety, beheld the whole body of ice beginning to drive to the eastward at the rate of eight or ten miles a day. They made all possible efforts to help themselves, but made them in vain, for no human power could have moved either of the ships a single inch. The field of ice which held them fast in its centre was more than fifty miles in circumference. It carried them along the south shore of Lancaster Sound, and then went down the west side of Baffin's Bay, till they were abreast of Pond's Bay, and there it threatened to precipitate them on a barrier of icebergs. But just in the very crisis of alarm it was rent as if by some unseen power into innumerable fragments, and set them almost miraculously free. The crews spranj;; from despair to hope, and from inaction to energy. All sail was set, and warps were run out from each quarter to work the ships past the heavy floes. The Investi- gator got into open water on the 24th and the Enter- prise on the 26th. " It is impossible," said the brave commander, who had passed through so many hundreds of most terrible perils in both the Arctic and the Ant- arctic Seas, " it is impossible to convey any idea of the sensation we experienced when we found ourselves once Tliey expe- rience a wonderful deliverance< i ■ SIR JAMES ROSS. 397 more at liberty, whilst many a heart poured forth its chap, xi praises and thanksgivings to Almighty God for this — unlooked-for deliverance." The harbours of Baffin's Bay were now all closed by the ice, and the path to the west was barred by the pack from which the ships had just been liberated. The expedition, therefore, had no nicy return alternative but to return to England, and they arrived ^ ^"Bia"*^ off Scarborough on the 3d of November. Thus ended the third of the government explorations in search of Sir John Franklin. But, in the meantime, within the sphere which it had swept, there were or had been going on some other operations which now require to be noticed. One of these was a government affair, and the rest were matters of private enterprise. In 1848, the afflicted, devoted, noble-minded wife of Rewanifi Sir John Franklin, who then and since has won for her- Jjd'y fnuik- self the admiration of the civilized world, offered a re- iii>« ward of £2000, and in 1849 a reward of £3000, to any whale ships which, by departing from the usual fishing grounds, might discover or relieve all or part of the ships* companies of the Erebus and the Terror. The reward was to be cut down and proportioned to the : degree of service rendered, and was to be distributed among the owners, masters, officers, and seamen on the same principle as if similar value of produce from the fishery had been obtained. The stimulus worked well on a few minds who could appreciate the nobleness of tiie motive, but proved not strong enough to affect the the grosser ones who looked only or mainly at the money. If the reward had been offered for exertion, irrespective of success, they too would no doubt have been moved. On the 23d of march 1849, the government offered a Reward reward of £20,000 « to such private ship, or by distribu- gj^e^m^nt tion among such private ships, or to any exploring party or parties, of any country, as might, in the judgment of the Board of Admiralty, have rendered efficient assist- ance to Sir John Franklin, his ships, or their crews, and II ■jrif i u 398 THE SEAKCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1849. T!ic whaling ship Ti'uo- love. CHAP. XL might have contributed directly to extricate them from — the ice." This also was meant mainly for the whalers, but was not promulged till most of them had sailed, and had no adaptation to compensate owners and masters and crews proportionately to their losses on the fishery, and therefore did not produce any effect. In the spring of 1849, the intrepid Mr. Parker, master of the whaling ship Truelove, carried out from Lady Franlclin a supply of provisions and coals for the possible use of the missing expedition, and landed them on the conspicuous promontory of Gape Hay, on the south side of Lancaster Sound. At Pond's Bay Mr. Parker learned from Mr. Kerr, the master of the whal- ing ship Ohieftian, that when that ship arrived there some Esquimaux came on board, and, without being ques- tioned, drew a coarse representation of four ships beset in the ice in an inlet, and intimated that two of them had been on the west side of the inlet for four years, that the other two had been on the east side for one year, and that the inlet was distant a number of days* travelling which seemed to identify it with Prince Regent's Inlet. Some other particulars were added, all tending to show that the first two ships were the Erebus and the Terror, and the second two the Enterprise and the Investigator. Mr. Parker and Mr. Kerr felt strong hope from this story, and sailed away in their ships to verify it ; but they were stopped by a solid barrier of ice, extending quite across Lancaster Sound, from Ad- miralty Inlet to Croker's Bay, and were obliged to return. The story soon got wing through Britain, and produced a powerful sensation. It was eagerly believed by fond hearts which had long throbbed with anguish for the absent, but was peremptorily or indignantly re- jected by the cool-minded, who reflected that the alleged position of the beset ships was too near the whalers to have escaped their notice, and that Sir John Frank- lin could not possibly have lain four years in such a place without successfully attempting to send some in- Flctltious rcDort about Sir John Franklin. THE WHALE SHIP ADVICE. 390 telligence, by boat, by travelling party, by the Esqui- chap. xi. maux, or otherwise, of his besetment. In 1849, Dr. Eobert A. Goodsir, brother of the assis- Thewhniing tant surgeon of the Erebus, embarked in tlie whaling "^'^^ ^^"^^ ship Advice of Dundee, on her annual trip to Baffin's Bay, in the hope that he might get early intelligence of the missing expedition. Mr. William Penney, the master of the Advice, was well known for enterprise and energy, and had made strenuous efforts in 1834 to assist Sir John Boss and his party, and now felt fervid and generous zeal to be useful in the affair of Sir John Frfiuklin. They proceeded in the ordinary manner of a v;haling cruise, yet penetrated into Lancaster Sound, and proposed to go as far as Prince Begent's Inlet, but were stopped on the 4th of August by a firm compact barrier, extending quite across, in crescentic outline, from Cape York on the south to the vicinity of Bumett*s Inlet on the north. They were only seven days within sight of the shores of Lancaster Sound, and saw few other parts of them than such as had been closely scrutinized by the Enterprise and the Investigator ; yet they searched them with a keen eye, and deposited, on them several conspicuous notices, and on one occasion ^ saw something on them which, for a few moments, electrified them with hope. This last must be told in Dr. Goodsir's own words. " We had," says he, " run past the magni^cent head- land of Gape Byam Martin, and Possession Bay was opening to our view. It still continued beautifully clear, but every object within sight was transformed by re- fraction— a phenomenon, the effects of which so often incident at attract the attention of the Arctic voyager. A long ^J^^^sbiou point of ice stretched out ahead. I was standing on the forecastle, examining with a telescope every part of the shore with an anxious eye, when, with a thrill of joy, I recognised a flag-post and ensign. I gazed earnestly at it ; there could be no mistake ; I could almost make out the waving of the flag. Without saying a word I .. * I 4(X) TIIK flKAROIIINO KXPEDITIONH OF 1819. CHAP. X. Effect of r(!ri'iu'tioii oil tlio ice. FcRrn nbout 8ii- .lolin Friuiklin's fiite. Reasons foi' liopo respecting hiin. put the glass into the liancls of a man who was Btandini^ iioar ine and tuld him to loolc at tlie point aliead. lie did so, and, witli a start, iinmediatuly exclaimed that lie saw a signal flying. Delighted and overjoyed, I snatched tlie glass from his hands and again applied it to my eye. For an inntiint I saw the wished-for signal, but for an instant only — it faded, and again appeared, but now dis- torted into a broken and disjointed column, now into an upturned and inverted pyramid. The refraction had caused a hummocky piece of ice to assume these forms." The Advice, like each of the previous searching vessels, returned home without obtaining the slightest trace of the missing expedition. Thus did all these supplementary efforts to find Sir John Franklin, as well as the three primary and ])rinci- ])al ones, prove utter failures. What was to be done now 1 What was to be thought 1 Many persons began to fear that the Erebus and the Terror had foundered in Baffin's Bay, — either overwhelmed by an iceberg, or otherwise sent so suddenly and bodily to the bottom, as to leave not a spar to record their fate. Others feared that they had been beset or crushed to destruction too far from land to allow the possibility of the crews reach- ing a place of safety in the boats or over the ice. And many more, though they did not exactly join in either of these opinions, concluded, from the length of time that the ships had been amissing, and from the fruitless- ness of the searches which had been made for them, that, in some way or other, they were too surely lost. But the personal friends of the missing adventurers, the general intelligence of the nation, statesmen, the admiralty, and all persons well acquainted, from history or experience, with the Arctic Seas, still had hope, high hope, in many instances unabated hope. A summary loss of the crews of the Erebus and the Terror seemed eminently improbable. Some of the most competent judges even pronounced it impossible. The narrow seas and tumultuous ice-inasses of the •RRM A KKS ON FRANK UN EXPEDITION. 401 Korthern Arcliipelago are perilous enough to Bhips, but alFord ready ineann of escape to crews. " There are no heavy seas," aw Dr. Scoresby afterwards remarked, " which could prevent escape from a siiipwrccic, nor could any imaginable catastrophe, by the ice of these regions, sud- denly overwhelm two cintire crews. For in tliia latter (Vise the very ice which might destroy the discovery «hips would yield a solid platform for refuge from the present danger, so as to give time for ulterior measures for improving, by deliberate consideration, the opportu- nity of escape." Nor, in the case of either shipwreck or ruinous besetment, or any other cause of the disper- sion of the crews — short, at least, of the central parts of the Polar Sea— could it easily be supposed that, out of 138 men, the pick of Britain for strength and bravery, intimately acquainted with the character of the Arctic regions, and possessed of some of the choicest appli- ances of modern science, some small party would not have made their way, by boats or sledges, to some po^t of communication with the peopled world. The ma-» jority might have perished; but surely a few of the most vigorous would escape. Or if the ships were merely beset and not injured, th» crews could scarcely be yet suffering serious detriment, from the prolonged rigours of the climate, or from the> exhaustion of their stores. They all knew well, and their leader perhaps more than any other living man> how to cope with the difficulties and dangers of the frozen regions, and all had great strength of will and high powers of both mental and physical endurance, and were in every way likely to perform as grand exploits of both active and passive bravery as any of their pre- decessors in Arctic adventure. But how wonderful had been the endurance of Barentz in Nova Zembla, — of the eight Englishmen who were left by mischance in Green- land in the year 1630, — of Franklin himself in his teriffic journeys on the American mainland, — of Sir John Ross iind the crew of the Victory, — ^and of many moi-e whose 2it .J illl CHAP. XI Farllltlf's ff>r CACHIIC fl'(tlll (Icntructkve Ico. Instances of great endurance in the Polar Regions. I :t 1 . m 'I' 4 ■ » 402 REMARKS ON FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. Nattirnl 8up])lius of food among tiiu ico. CHAP. XI. names have been crystallized by the rigours of the north ' into imperishable fame ! And though the crews of the Erebus and the Terror had provisions with them fur only three years, they could make these serve, by re- duced allowance, for a somewhat longer period, rad would, in all probability, obtain large additions to them by means of their guns. Sir John Richardson observed the shores of Wollaston Land and Victoria Land to abound in snow-geese and seals ; Sir Edward Parry, during his stay at Winter Harbour, killed 3766 pounds weight of rein-deer, musk-oxen, and other game ; Sir James C. Ross, during the winter which he spent at Port Leopold, killed about 4000 pounds weight of loons, dovekies, and other esculent animals ; Mr. Rae, during the winter which he spent at Repulse Bay, supported all his party almost entirely on the produce of the chase, and at the same time had never any fuel except for mere cooking; and why might not Sir John Franklin, who knew the Arctic regions as well as any of them, and possessed as ample appliances as most, and carried with him the inventiveness of long and terrible experi- ence, be able to eke out his three years' supplies to a Buflficiency for five or even seven or eight years t The probability seemed to be that the expedition had pushed far to the west, and were struggling to get forward. The weather during the three weeks following the day when they were last seen in Baffin's Bay was peculiarly favourable, and would allow them to make their way well through the Archipelago. They perhaps got so far, either that season or the next, as to think success at- tainable, or so far as to feel encouraged onward ; and though they might be perilously hampered — scarcely able to extricate the ships at all during the short autumnal period of hoi)e — they might believe, with Colonel Sabine and Baron Wrangell, on the evidence of the analogous case of the Asiatic side of the Arctic Ocean, that open water would be found on reaching a certain latitude, und might, in consec|[uence, be induced to persevere. Probable position of Sir Jolin Krunklin. liijii 1 DEMAND FOR NEW EXPEDITIONS. 403 ** By the case of Sir Jolm Ross," remarked Dr. Scoresby, chap. XI " we may account for their not improbable detention, whilst yet safe, through a period of four years ; and if so, it must be obvious that a variety of causes, even because the expedition was safe, might explain a still further detention." These and such as these were the reasonings of multi- Demand tudes. A ci-y loud and long, therefore, was raised for J^arehTnj? new searching expeditions. The brave adventurera, if expediUuni. alive, had increasing need every hour of the promptest possible supply of fuel and provisions ; and they might be struggling with disease, enfeebled by privation, em- barrassed by disaster, crippled and clogged by any one of not a few causes which a relieving expedition could mitigate or remove. The past searches had only shown, and shown most forcibly, the necessity for new ones. They had scrutinized known ground, and raised a high presumption that Sir John Franklin had gone to the unknown ; but they had not obtained an atom of infoima' tion about either his progress or his direction. He seemed certainly to be away beyond Cape Walker or beyond the Wellington Channel, — away in the wide west Polar Seas, — or among unknown lands in their frozen bosom ; and thither must he be pursued ; or at least on the borders of that great region, 700 or 800 miles in length, and several geographical degrees in breadth, must he be sought. The demand for new searches became what is called Tiiis demand a topic of the day. The United States took it up and topic"of\ho met it ; Russia took it up and met it ; the Hudson's <^y> Bay Company, who wielded powers in reference to it as great as those of a great state, made most cordial response to it ; and Britain treated it as a question of national humanity and national honour. Lady Franklin, in a pathetic appeal to the President of the United States, which kindled thousands of hearts on both sides of the Atlantic into action, remarked, " how noble a spectacle it would be to the world if three great nations, possessed Ip M \ 4(>i NKW HKAIH'IMNU KX riCIUTH»NM. S|ii NiMuiin^ fortli uu oxpo«liti«>n to ivmMii> (ho iivtm of tlio Hulijorl.N of niiol|ii>r nation, niul llio honour of Kiigliiiiil i*(M|iiii'oi| (Imi <iro hcltl Miinihir liinKnii)(o. Tin* noNvn|m|UM' pronN, of ovory \imi\n untl lino, wiw onrncHl nn«l iinpiUiont. for iioiion. All iho w«ll-inf*»rinoil cIunhoii of tho coininnnity «l(mir(Ml i\ noiiroh for Hir .John Frank- lin to iho fnll UN forvontly hh ovit ihi; iinpUMNionod fow liiid iloNiriMl a NiMUvh for a north-wtmt paNiiap;^. Mnlti- tmloM ihoiight of tho Hoiiroh with tho mine ron^h iriovoronro, yot. with tho naino rod-hot forvtnir, as If it had hoon an allair of tho tuif or tho hoath, and hoKini to Npoak of it an " thiN niont oxoiting of all linntH.** And at latit tho hoad of tho admiralty Maid in IiIh plaoo in parlianumt, " that ho had novor dono tho Honsoof Ooin- nionN or tho country tho injUMtico to HnppoHO that ox- ponso wouhl ho an (d>staoh* when tho livos of tlioir foUow-nuMi woro at st^iko, and that uvorything which human powor could do Mhouid ho dono to oavo tho lost expedition, whilo ho waH glad to nay tliat IIIh Imporial IM.'ijosty, tho Kmporor of llusNia, tho United StatoH of America, and tho Hudson's Itay Ooini>any, liad nioHt cordially enterod into thuso views, and nianifeitted tho niovst earnest sympathy." Tltrro croHt Tliroo great divisions of search woro adopted. These neViioarvll corresponded, iu general sphero iiml charaotor, to the three primary searching expeditions of 1848. One was inarino hy way of Behrin,i;*s Strait, another was over- land to tho central northern coasts, and the third was marine by way of BaHin's IJ.iy. Wo shall, therefore, treat them on tho same general plan on which we • XU.I.INMON ANh M', iind <;oiniimndae, it will be remembered, was left by Sir John Richardson to attempt to overtake, in the summer of 1849, an unaccomplished part of the objects of the over- land expedition of 1848. This had special reference to Renewal oi the examination of the coasts of Victoria Land and glJ^'ch.*^*^*^* Wollaston Land ; and now that Sir John Franklin's ships were believed to have certainly gone beyond Cape Walker, and to have probably bored their way south- westward to some position between that place and the mainland, this was deemed to be much more important than before. Early in 1850, instructions were despatched to Dr. Rae, by Governor Sir George Simpson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, requiring him, in the ovent of his explorations of 1849 having been unsuccessful, to organize another expedition for the summer of 1850. h i i ( i J 408 SKARCIlINd IlXrEDlTlONa OF 1860. dHAP. XI. DIvlMnni of ovtnlfttid explurutlon. Now public cxpotiitlon bv way of ButHu's Bay. Tliis wns to penetrate further, to range more widely, and to examine the coasts of Banks' Lnnd, the coaHts Around Cape Walker, and the north coast of Victoria Land. Two small parties, at the same time, were to proceed westward on the mainland in the direction of Pt)int Barrow; and one of these was to descend the INIackenzie, and explore the coast to the west of it, while the other was to pass on to the Colville River, and to descend that stream to the sea ; and both were to induce the natives, hy rewards and otherwise, to prosecute the search and spread intelligence in all directions. Dr. Rae was particularly instructed to keep an ample supply of provisions, clothing, ammunition, fishing-tackle, and other necessaries at Fort Good Hope, as that seemed an eminently probable retreat to which parties of the missing adventurers might try to force their way. But in most other matters, and especially in all the details of the expedition, he was left solely to his own dibcro* tion. The expedition equipped by fjovernment for renewed search by way of BatUn's Bay and Lancaster Sound com- prised two strong teak-built ships, the Resolute and the Assistance, and two powerful screw-propelled steam ves- sels, the Pioneer and the Intrepid. The ships had a tonnage, tlie one of 500, and the other of 430, and were alike scrong, commodious, elegant, and admirably appur- tenanced. The steam vessels had strength and adapta- tion, not only for towing the ships in open channels, but for conflicting with the perils of the Polar Seas, and forcing a passage through small floes and thin packs of ice. Captain H. T. Austin was put in command of the Resolute, Captain E. Ommanney of the Assistance, and Lieutenant Sherard Osborne of the Pioneer. Multi- tudes of officers iiobly vied as volunteers to obtain the subordinate appointments ; and some of the most ex- perienced whale-fishers were obtained for the forecastle. The instructions given were similar in scope and spirit to those of the Behring's Strait expedition, and ditiered f/ I ] HIR JOHN ROHH AND LADY FUANKf^FN. 400 cliiffly in adiiptalion to tlio different route. The ex- CHAP. XI pedition sailed in the Bpring of 1850. ~ An expedition, under the conunand of the veteran Sir Kxp««iiHon John R088, was equipjied hy a public 8ul)8cription, to- joiuiVioM ward which tiie lludHon^s Bay Company contributed L.500. This consisted of a schooner-rigged vewsel of 120 tons, which Sir John called the Felix, in honour of his late patriotic friend Sir Felix Booth, and of a small tender of twelve tons, called the Mary. Tliey were pro- visioned for eighteen months ; and they set sail in the latter part of April. Sir John was in excellent spirits, and as full of fire and daring as in his younger years; arul he obtained an old, expert, Enquimaux interpreter, and possessed fair promise of being able to achieve fully as much in his little vessels as if he had been in com- mand of the best government ships. His plan was to proceed as quickly as he could to Barrow's Strait, to commence operations at Cape Uotham, on the west side of the entrance of Wellington Channel, to examine all the headlands thence to Banks' Land, and then, if still uns'^ H^^^ul, to leave the Mary there as a vessel of re- trtei^ "" to push the search in the Felix alone during another year. An expedition also was equipped at the instance of the devoted Lady Franklin, — wholly by her own zeal, and mainly at her own expense. This was put under the command of Mr. Penney, the quondam master of Expedition the Advice whale ship, and consisted of a fine ship of pe|y,liji''^* 225 tons, affectingly called the Lady Franklin, and a new clipper-brig of 120 tons, named the Sophia, in honour of Miss Sophia Cracroft, the intimate companion of Lady Franklin, and a most anxious mourner after the missing adventurers. The larger vessel was fitted up at Aberdeen, and the smaller one at Dundee, — both with great celerity, and in a style of the best possible adaptation to an Arctic voyage ; and they also sailed in the spring of I80O. Their proposed plan of procedure was somewhat coin* cident with that of the government expedition, yet eu- 410 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1850. Tlie cxpedl. tion of the Prince Al- bert. CIIAP. XI. tirely independent, except in the way of co-operation or mutual aid, and would be much controlled or modified by circumstances. Another expedition, supplementary to the preceding, was equipped at the instance of Lady Franklin. She herself defrayed about two-thirds of the cost of it, by means of selling out of the funds all the money which she could legally touch ; and her friends defrayed the rest. The only vessel was the Prince Albert, a schooner- rigged craft of 90 tons, but as iine a little structure as ever "walked the waters," and strengthened and fitted in the most artistic way for bufleting the perils of the Arctic Seas. She was commanded by Commander Charles C. Forsyth of the Royal Navy, and sei*ved in a variety of capacities, most laboriously and dexterously, by W. Parker Snow, Esq., — both volunteers, who wished no compensation but the honour of the enterprise. The object was to examine the shores of Prince Regent's Inlet and the Gulf of Boothia, and to send out travel- ling parties to explore the west side of the land of Boothia down to Bease and Simpson's Strait. At the time when Sir John Franklin sailed, a belief was gene- ral that Boothia was an island, and that Prince Regent's Inlet communicated with the Polar Sea through Bease and Simpson's Strait; so that, in the event of his being baffled to find a north-west passage by way of Cape Walker or up Wellington Channel, he would very pro- bably enter Prince Regent's Inlet with the view of pass- ing round the south of Boothia. Hence the present expedition. The Prince Albert sailed from Aberdeen on the 5th of June. *»» An expedition also was equipped in America. This was got up mainly by the exertions and at the cost of Henry Grinnel, Esq., a merchant of New York, but was put in order and sent forth by the United States Board of Administration for Maritime Affairs. It consisted of two vessels, the Advance and the Rescue, of respectively 125 and 95 tons ; and was put under the command of The Ameii can expedi' tlon. THE ORINNELL EXPEDITION. 411 Lieutenant De Haven, who had served in the United chap, xl States' exploring expedition, under Commodore Wilkes, in the Antarctic Seas. It sailed from New Yoi-k on the 24th of May, and was accompanied for two days in his yacht by Mr. Grinnell. Its object was to push promptly Bold deter- forward, in any way it could, in the direction of Mel- Sc"Ame"icLi ville Island and Banks' Land, — to winter wherever it searchers. might happen to stick fast, in the pack or out of the pack, — and to move on and make search as long as it might be able, in any direction which should offer most promise of success — reckless at once of nice precautions and of all ordinary obstacles. The North Star transport which left England in 1849, to convey stores to the expedition under Sir James C. Boss, may in some sense be regarded likewise as one of the exploring ships of 1850. At all events, she entirely failed to do the particular work for which she was de- spatched, and yet almost mingled in the early move- ments of the new Baffin's Bay expeditions. She be- came beset in Melville Bay on the 29th of July 1849, and gradually drifted till the 26th of September; and being then abreast of Wolstenhome Sound, and able to bore a way through the loosened ice, she pressed up to the head of that Sound, and took a position there for the winter. She lost four of her crew during the dismal seclusion of the Arctic night, but not from causes attributable to the climate ; and she found a large pro- portion of the preserved meats she had brought from England to be of bad quality, and was obliged to put the surviving crew upon two-thirds allowance. She got out of Wolstenhome Sound on the 1st of August 1850, passed through " the middle ice *' in the centre of Ross's Bi.y, reached Possession Bay on the evening of the 8th, left despatches there, and arrived at Port Leo- Tiie North pold on the 13th. She found that harbour full of ice, uopSidT^'* and was not able to land stores at it, and with great difficulty communicated with the shore by boat to leave a notice of her visit She next went toward Port Bowen, !'' i'fli 412 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1850. North Star to Britain : N I* h CHAP. XI. but found that place entirely blocked with ice ; and then stretched across out of the inlet, and spoke first the Lady Franklin, and afterwards the Felix, and got intelligence from them of the great searching operations of that sea- son. She next proceeded to Navy Board Inlet; and there, on the mainland, behind Wollaston Island, she put ashore her surplus stores of fuel and provisions. She had suddenly to scud away before a gale, and ran Return of the careeringly out of mid channel of Lancaster Sound ; and on the 28th of September she arrived in Scotland. The several expeditions of 1850 up Baffin's Bay en- countered enormous difficulties from " the middle ice " and the Melville Bay barrier. Though the ships sailed from widely different points at widely different periods, they all more or less got into view of one another, and most were for some time closely in one another's com- pany. All were at several times arrested or beset ; and the best and largest spent five weeks in effecting a north- ward distance of thirty miles. The perils which they braved were only a degree or two less terrible than those of the whale ships in Melville Bay in 1830, or those of the Terror in Hudson's Bay in 1836. The crews of the smaller vessels w^ere repeatedly in preparation, with their bundles and loose stores, to leap on the ice from expected shipwreck, and to betake themselves to sledging or foot-travelling for escape to the land. The environment, with massive towering icebergs, was some- riirpiTiirMei' times so complete as to exclude every perceptible out- viile Bay. j^^.^ sometimes so close as almost to rub the ships, and sometimes so unsteady or whirling as to threaten over- whelming somersets. Some whaling-ships which got early to the north, though commanded by the most ex- perienced masters, and manned by the most select crews, turned about and sailed back to the south, fully believing the penetration of Melville Bay that season to be either an impossibility, or practicable only at fearful hazards. The expedition ships, however, were little, if at sJl, daunted, conscious of possessing higher powers, and re- Dangers of the fiscovery 412 qi-:;AUCivrN»} F.xprnrnoNS of 1850. CllAP. XI. liut f«>un(l that plaw'c Mif.irely l»);K:kei.l with ice ; writ th»n 8irett tW iim\y Fi'Auk\\n, t iuU') -. ^v-o froii' rlifttj of tin- j?veHt scnrchin-^ '.'P'-'rations of t »:.\ in.-i- 601). ?Utt n€Xt i)i'0«'CH"ied to Navy Boiini Ii»lH; m,ti ih^Tf. on the Hiainland, behind Wolia&tou IalKii4, sliu put Awhorti liyr 8Uij»hid stores of tuel and provi-kioiui. Slie iitid i!fth«' cart'^iini'ly •■ut of mid channel of fj;u>o-astev Souiid ; aod iim«la''' ''' "" ^^^ -^^^^ of ijeptf libber t«bo arrived in Scotland The jseveral txptditinns of 1850 up B:«ilin's Uuy v^ - wnniter"^^ tnonr. 'ns diiiuulties from *' the middU; »m v^ iih'\v cidleront points at widely diiTjreTit ()eriini«, tluy all more or h';;s got into view of one another, and ".^ most w«n-e for some time (.li'sely in one another's t-nm- pany. All were at several times arrested or beset ; a^id the best nud largest spent five veeks in oti'ectinpf a ijo;tli- ward distance of thirty mil.^a. The perils which tbty LiTived were only a det^rce or two less terril)le than tliospi of the while ships in Mel vi lie Buy in 1830, or those of tho Teiroi i.» jiiudrfun'a iiAv in 1836. The crewa of the small or vessels were rcpt^atedly in ]>reparati a heavy nip** says he, " and all the vessels had tu be xnada fast to a floe until a passage could be cleared. The Pi i'» = tlirouyh Ute neer, immediately on casting off the Eeaciute's { :\v^ rope, was directed to dash at the impediment under full power. This she did boldly and fearlessly, — lUBiiing, F:iav,-"ite stem on, and fairly digging her bows into it iii a most remarkable manner. Backing instantly asteip, Mid thiiii '^*'- again going ahead, she performed the same mLAffiuvre, fairly lifting herself up on end like a prancing war- horse. By thio time the nip was wo heavy to be so broken, though both the steamers had previously cleared many similar impediments in that manner. It was now, how- ever, necessary to resort to other means; and, accord- ingly, parties from every ship were sent on the iac to assist in blowing it up, and removing the i'ragmerts as they got loosened. The same plan hs that, I believe, adopted in blasting rocks, iv{».4 iiere pursued. Powder was sunk to a certain deptli, a slow match applied, and at a given signal ignited. Due time was allowed, and 416 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1850. Aljicrity and y.on1 of the crewa. CHAP. XL then the enormous masses would be seen in convulsive movement, as though shaken by a volcanic eruption, until piece upon piece was sent in the air, and the larger bodies were completely rent into innumerable fragments. The steamers then darted forward, and with warps drag- ged out the immense blocks that had been thus dis- L "Qred. Several efforts had to be made by blastin" and forcing the ice before a passage could be cleared ; and during the whole time it was quite a pleasure to see how both officers and men worked at it. Captain Austin himself was as busy as any one,— directing, and handling, and unceasingly working. Neither falls, nor a rough knock now and then, did he care for ; but maintained his post on the floes and pieces of ice until he had made a passage for his own ships, and the two little ones he had so kindly taken in charge.** On the 14th of August, the Lady Franklin and the Sophia were for a little while in company with the other ships, and then, amidst deafening cheers, stood away under all sail to the west. On the following night, when the little fleet were off Cape Dudley Digges, the Intrepid, the Assistance, and the Felix, parted company to make a search in Wolstenhome Sound. On the 15th, the Pioneer, the Resolute, and the Prince Albert, were quite into the " North Water,'* away from the ice ; and on the 16th, Captain Austin announced his intention to call at Pond's Bay and Possession Bay, expressed a wish that the Prince Albert would examine the south shore of Lancaster Sound from Cape Hay onward, and stated that the Intrepid and the Assistance would examine the north shore, and come to a rendezvous with the Resolute somewhere about the mouth of Wellington Channel. Early on the 21st of August, the Prince Albert ar- rived off Port Leopold. A landing was effected with great difficulty in a gutta percha boat, and could not have been effected at all in any ordinary boat. The house constructed by Sir James C. Ross was found much rent in several places on the top and at the sides, but otl\er- Plan ot pro- cedure up Lancaster Sound. THE PRINCE ALBERT, ETC. 417 wise !n excellent order, and quite fit to be a temporary CiiAr. XL retreat to any forlorn or castaway Arctic adventurers. The stores looked most abundant and in prime condi- tion. And the steam-launch seemed a noble little ves- sel, in which a brave-hearted party might venture any- where, and was so placed that she could very easily he run into the sea. But not a trace was found of the visit of any wanderer from the Erebus and the Terror. The Prince Albert now stood away down Prince Re- The Prir.co gent's Inlet; and toward evening, when she was gliding piincJ. Re- past the ice off Batty Bay, her crew were startled for a sent* s inict moment into a thrill of hope. The men on deck thought they heard a gun fired on shore ; the officers ran to scrutinize the land through their glasses aloft ; the ves- sel was steered closer to the bay; the howitzer was cleared away and fired ; but not the sliglitest sign of life could be seen, — not the faintest answering sound was heard. The supposed shot had been merely the falling of a piece of rock, or the collision of some heavy masses of ice. Next morning the vessel was off Fury Beach, and in a thick fog; and when the fog cleared away, elie proved to be in a bight of the ice, within a few yards of a con- tinuous, heavy, hummocky expanse, which contained not, as far as it could be seen from the crow's nest, one pool or crack, or the slightest promise of an opening. The officers examined this long and anxiously, and were forced to conclude that any attempt to penetrate it that season would be utterly impracticable. They gloomily defeat of the but irresistibly felt the specific object of their voyaj,fe, voyago. the examination of the shores of Boothia, to be defeated ; and saw at once that they must turn about and lose little time in returning to Britain. But they resolved first to look at some of the most accessible shores and headlands about the throat of Barrow's Strait, and a brief way up Wellington Channel. During twenty-four hours Mr. Snow, with a small boat party, made a romantic land-search of the coast around 2o It 418 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1850. The Prince Albert in Barrow's Strait CiiAP. XL Batty Bay, and on to Port Leopold i and he found the latter place far more blocked up than on the 2l8t, and did not get away from it without enormous labour and difficulty. When he again reached his vessel they had to stand well away to avoid collision with a heavy stream of ice which filled a large portion of the adjacent sounds. When they got a little way into Barrow's Strait, they saw coming right toward them a schooner, which they first supposed to be the Felix, but afterwards found to be the Advance. On the morning of the 24th, they were standing across to Cape Hurd under a clear sky and with a moderate breeze, while a heavy pack was visible from the crow's nest, extending all along the coast of Horth Somerset from outside of Iieopold Island on the east, to the vicinity of Cape Reanell, where it appeared to enlarge, and began to take a curved direc- tion toward Cape Hotham. The Advance was still be- hind them ; the Lady Franklin and the Sophia were to windward, struggling along shore in the vicinity of Rad- stock Bay ; and, as the day wore on, three more ships were observed at the mouth of Wellington Channel. The Prince Albert's own voyage outward had been re- markable,— the last of the expedition vessels to leave Britain, and the first to reach Barrow's Strait ; but since she was now retrograding, the appearance of the others so fiir to the west, so soon after their long and dis- couraging besetment in Melville Bay, was vastly more cheering, and must have breathed hope and invigoration into the hearts of their brave crews. An hour before noon of the 25th, when the Prince Albert was ofi* Cape Spencer, her officers saw that she must stop. An extensive pack was then a short dis- tance ahead, broken only by a few lanes of water, through which the ships in advance had evidently passed ; and the wind was blowing in a direction, happily, quite favourable for carrying these ships rapidly on to the regions of most desirable search, but fitted also to make a prompt closure of the pack against any return that Hopeful pro- gress of the other ships. LAST VIi^W OF THE SQUADRON. 419 Fcason to the east. If the Prince Albert should now go CUAP. xt. forward more than a mile or two, she might be suddenly caught by the ice, and helpiCssly and uselessly shut up for the winter. At noon, therefore, she bore up when about midway between Cape Spencer and Point Innes ; and then Mr. Snow went to the mast-head to take a last view of the position and seeming prospects of the several exploring vessels. Cape Hotham was seen to thu west enveloped in a ^^^^ ^ew of thick haze. The Assistance appeared some distance to ^\S^i^' "* "'^ the north-east of it, endeavouring to get to it, seemingly either in a hole of water or along a lane. Tbe Lady Franklin was not far from the Assistance, but probably about mid-channel, either working toward Cape Ilotliani, or trying to get right away to the west. The Sopljia, also under all sail, was some distance astern of the Lady Franklin, and more to the east. The Rescue was still farther to the east, considerably in shore, and apparently beset. All these vessels were among heavy ice. The Advance could not be seen, but was supposed to be be- hind one of tho points of land ; and she was afterwards spoken in the vicinity of Cape Riley, close in shore, fast to an iceberg. The Intrepid, too, was not then visible, but had been seen in the morning. All Wellington ^*,"5®*" Channel, as far as the eye could reach, was filled with cimnnui. one solid pack, broken only here and there by a small lane. Some high land, appearing dim and filmy from haze and distance, was seen toward Cape Bowden, trend- ing apparently to the north-west. One heavy pack ex- tended athwart all the south-west, and looked to be im- penetrable. The only clear water visible lay imme- diately around the Prince Albert, and backward along the way by which she had come. On the same day, soon after the Prince Albert had turned her bow homeward, a flag-staff, like a signal-post, w&s observed on Cape Riley. The officers, supposing this to have been set up by a party from some one of the exploration ships, sent a boat ashore to ascertain .^ u 420 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1860. liiley. CHAP. XI. wliat it meant. A cylinder was found at the flag-staHj containing a notice that the officers of the Assistance and the Intrepid had landed on Gape Riley on tlie 23d, that tliey had collected there distinct traces of an encamp- ment by some party belonging to the royal navy of Traces of sir Britain, that they had found traces of the same party liii on Cupe" on Beechy Island, and that they purposed to proceed thence to Cape Hotham and Cape Walker in search of further traces. Here at last, then, were vestiges of Sir John Franklin and his companions. What they were was not said ; but they at least possessed sufficient dis- tinctness, and involved sufficient evidence, to induce the officers who had found them to bear right away to the west. The little boat party from the Prince Albert were too zealous to be satisfied with the mere notice. They looked eagerly around, and soon observed five spots on which tents seemed to have been fixed, and also obtained a piece of navy rope, a piece of canvass, a chip of timber, and a number of meat-bones. These, all poor and piti- ful though they might seem of themselves, seemed to throw so perceptible a light on at least the commence- ment of the mystery of the Franklin expedition, that they were esteemed a countle-ssly precious prize. How fortunate that the Prince Albert did not go down Lan- caster Sound, till they were got, and how relieving to the oppressed hearts of thousands of mourners, that they could be so promptly brought to Britain ! The Prince Albert arrived at Aberdeen on the 1st of October; and the relics from Cape Riley were speedily sent to the Admiralty, and subjected there to a rigorous scrutiny. The piece of rope was found to be of navy- yard manufacture, not later than 1841, — the piece of canvass to have a corresponding character, — the chip of timber to have a recent cut with seemingly an European axe, — the meat-bones to bear exactly the marks of a ship's provisions used about five years back, — tlie re- ported tent-marks to be nearly such as might be ex- pected from a party making a long stay for the pui'pose Relics from ("ape Klley Bunt to the Aduiiralty. •A ■■^.;V / ■/i>' /h n «l \/ of y of of ise Jl •^^ HEUiCS OF THE FRAh'KLIN IXPEDITION. t. IMrecti 111 i>u»i n't up by ui« miiwing naviyatorv 8. Ctiiivv from the 'I'crrt.r. 4. '....|)« mat, uin'.iii>>.' u 6. The sw'h'xunvil Hock. (■ Motti iHu« mill Hv'.H* l»h I'v '.lif F.:tbu» ai r»pi! ftttitf^ P«H» 4?a. If t 420 yEARCHlNCi f rClF.DlTIONS OF 1S£»0. CI TAP. XI, .T(»liii Kfink. Ui'ey. »*- (n'^t; KUcv ff'iU to tiio Admiralty. wliat, it meant. A tvlmJifr was f>iiiul at llie fir' - contaiuing a n»t.f{^f» that tlie oftHvin of the Assistu. ilw lu^rpid }nitl l;niJf i)ivy ha»l CM>l{«w:t,oJ ih«re
  • i\ tMmmf i*f Os^»* Ht>th*ia and Cape Walker in seiu further t!anj«*. llerp at ]ft»t, tht»n, were vestiges a jial'.n Fr?!.nk{in und his eompatiions. W!ut tUr;i w»is not ^wud; Invt liuy Rt least pohscssed Buflicier tinfti»t*&.^rid inv.'hv^d siUlicitat eviileuce, to indri' offu '>rs wlio Ijad found them to be;ir riyht awav ■ west. The little luuf. oarty from thePiii)i.e All/ert too zealous to he satisiied with the mere notice. ]u'>ked eayerly around, and soon observed live sp >: which tent8 seemed to hav«» Jieen fixed, and also obt-i. ^ a piece of navy rope, a piece of canvasfi, a chip of tin>'*« and a number of meat-hones. These, ^11 poor &i:^\ ■. fill though they miglit seem of tliemselves, seeuj^i %^ thji ieretjptible a light on at least the commefii^ ri'*f*iiii, «#t *i*:« my«t*!^ ;»f th«^ Franklin exptditioH; > th«ty were esteemed a countlessiy precious prize. ;■ ^ fsirri; ;,S rhat the Prince Albert di-l not go dtvvTi im-z^- Ciistv . .. und, tiil fhey were got. and how lelievinn « tlie o;>pres.'5ed liearts of tliou:^ands of mourneri>, that ?*»► . ' ould be so pron ntly brought to Britain I Tlje Prince Albert arrived at Aberdeen on the 1«# f October; and tlie rolics from C\pv llilty were sj-v- ifsni U* (he Admiralty, and subjected there to a rii > •c^'utiny. Tht» piece of rope nos f(»und to be of n*i^ yar< nianiifactn. ,>, not later than 1841, — the \i\mm ^ c*nv;i^ to have a corresponding ctiar.icter,-~t]i*' tJ- '4 timber in Jiave n. r.cent cut wiih beemingly nn J'Mrt»ft?m« j*xe,— ^he rnv,?it-bonps to bear exactly the mark ^i n ship's provisions used about th e years b;u;k, — vue i** [jorted lent-nrirks to ne nettrly such as mi^dir, }>«»#»- pectcd Iruni a j arty makiUj^ a long J^tay for the j^iu|tt-afi '9f a« RELICS OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 1. The three urnves n; Cape IlilpT. 2. Direclioii post ^et ui) hy the niisiing navigntora, H. Cniiviis from the Terror. 4. Ui'pe mat, uiitiiii.shi.'d. 5. The smith's ainil hluck. 0. Meal c-niis and sacks left hy the Erebus at Cape Uik-y. Pngt; 420. k':, f^t 111 I RELICS OF FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. 421 of scientific observation, — and the entire circumstances chap, xi of the traces on Cape Riley unaccountable by any known or Bupposable event, except a prolonged visit in 1 845 or 1846 by a party from the Erebus and the Terror. ' Concluding thoughts. 422 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1861. CHAPTER XII. Expeditions of 1850-61-62 in Search of Sir John FranUin. Squadrons Liberated from Ice— Sledginj? Parties sent out — Long Journeys on Foot — Discovery of Victoria Channel — The American Expedition — Sir J. Ross's Theory Respecting Franklin's Fate— Captain Austin's Opinion — Return of the Squadron — Squadron under Sir E. Belcher — Prince Albert refitted and sent to Prince Regent's Inlet — Details of Prince . ^ Albert's Voyage and Return to England. CHAP. XIL The traces of the encampment of Sir John Franklin's ^ ,P'"'tyi at the mouth of Wellington Channel, in the winter Sir John ®^ 1845-6, proved very ample, and perfectly conclusive. Franklin's They Comprised scraps of paper, fragments of clothing, P**"*^* bits of wood and metal, stacks of empty meat-tins, re- mains of observatory, carpenter*s shop, and armourer's forge, and — most striking of all — three graves, bearing the names of two men of the Erebus and one of the Terror. All showed that the encampment had been of long continuance, and in full organization ; and some seemed to indicate that it had been hurriedly broken up, — that probably a great and unexpected disruption uf the ice, in the summer of 1846, had suddenly summoned the crews to resume progress in the ships. EfTirtsof tiio On the 8th of September, 1850, most of the searching S"we'flt" *° vessels got once more free from the ice, and unfurled their sails in open water, along the south side of Corn- wallis Island. They bore boldly away, in the hope of penetrating well to the west, but were soon arrested by a vast floe, which extended from the south-west end of Griffith Island, as far as the eye could reach. They kept close to this, and strove with it, from the 10th till THE SLEDGE EXPLORATIOyq. 423 the 13th, and then began again to get forward ; yet pro- chap, xil ceeded only a short distance, amid great embarrassment "" and severe exerMon, when they were compelled to stick fast for the winter. The Qoyernment ships were locked up in the ice between Gornwallis Island and Griffith Island ; and all the others were sufficiently near to admit of easy communication among the whole squadron. Arrangements were early made for performing explo- ArranKc- • 'iU 1 J • • rt L ' k \.' menu f..r ratory journeys with sledges m spring. Captain Austin oxpiorationii superintended those for the lands and islands along ^^''^"^ what may be called Parry*s Strait, — ^the baud of sea westward from Barrow's Strait to Melville Island and the north end of Bank*s Land ; and Captain Penny undertook to conduct the search of Wellington Channel. All parties were hearty, and went through their prepa- rations with alacrity and high hope. Sledges were sent out, before the severest period of the winter, to place provisions in depot for the use of the explorers in spring; and exercises of walking and sledge-dragging were afterwards, in all favourable weather, practised near the ships, to keep the men vigorous, and to train them for their journeyings. On the 12th of April, the parties for the westward exploration, amounting to 104 men, with fourteen sledges, w^ere all ready, and proceeded, under the com- mand of Captain Ommaney, to an encampment at the northwest end of Qriffith Island. There they under- went a close inspection by Captain Austin, and spent three days in reflection and repose, and in waiting for the abatement of a tempestuous wind. On the evening of the 15th, after special prayer for success, the various parties set forth over the ice with kites attached to the boats, sails hoisted on the masts, and the men singing at the drag- ropes. Six of the parties were "extended" ones, — to go to Exp'o^tio"" the utmost possible distance, — ^three along the south gouth shore shore, and three along the north shore. The first sledge Jf^rit^^ * on the south shore, the Reliance, under Captain 424 SEAROniNO EXPEDITIONS OP 1851. CHAP. XII. Explorations aloiif; the north Bliore of Parry's strait Lesser west ward explo- rations Ommaney, travelled 480 miles, discovered 206 miles ot previously unknown coast, and was absent sixty days. The second, the True Blue, under Lieutenant Osbornu, travelled 606 miles, discovered seventy miles of coast, and was absent iifty*eight days. And the third, the Enterprise, under Lieutenant Browne, travelled 376 miles, discovered 160 miles of coast, and was absent forty-four days. The most western point reached, was the extreme one of the True Blue, and is situated in west longitude lOS*' 26', almost half way between Leo- pold Island and Puint Turnagain on the American continent. The iirst sledge on the north shore, the Lady Frank- lin, under the command of Lieutenant Aldrich, travelled 660 miles, discovered seventy miles of coast, and was absent sixty-two days. The second, the Perseverance, under the command of Lieutenant M'Olintock, travelled 760 miles, discovered forty miles of coast, and was absent eighty days. And the third, the Resolute, under the command of Surgeon Bradford, travelled 669 miles, dis- covered 136 miles of coast, and was absent eighty days. Lieutenant M'Clintock*s party achieved the furthest westing of the three, and the furthest indeed which has ever been attained in the Polar Seas, a point in latitude 74^ 38' and west longitude 114° 20' ; and they also reached a position of very eminent importance, in con- nection with the immediate object of their search, mi' ^^J;'""*^'" . and were officered by Captain Stewart, Messrs. Marshall, Reid, and J. Stuart, and Surgeons Sutherland and Qoodsir. They started on the 17th of April, under the general superintendence of Oaptain Penny ; hut they soon encountered severe weather, and were buffeted and bafiled by it for a series of days, and compelled to return ; and on the 6th of May, after special prayer to God for support, they again started. Some coursed so far and so curvingly as to make a near approach to the most northerly of Oaptain Austin's parties ; and all figured largely and respectably in the squadron's aggre- gate of exploits. But their chief feat — the feat at least of those on the Channel and west of it — was a discovery which put a stop to their progress toward the north, and gave an entirely new complexion to the search in which they were engaged, — the discovery of a wide westward piscoveryof strait of open water, lying along the further side of the Vicioi la lands which flank BaiTOw's Strait and Parry's Strait. Captain Penny personally shared in this discovery, and personally made enormous exertions to follow it up. The explorers, proceeding up Wellington Channel, ar- rived in latitude 75** 22' at Cape Duhorn, and thence ten miles north*westward to Point Decision. Captain Penny, on the 16th of May, went from this point, over the ice, north-west by north, to an island which he 426 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1851. ■•< CHAP. XIL called Bailie Hamilton Island. The ice was in a very decayed state ; and on the 17th, after travelling round the island, first in a north-north-easterly, and next in a north-north-westerly direction, he uriived at the open strait, saw in it twenty-five miles of clear water, and discovered a headland fifteen miles distant west by north, over-canopied by a dark sky, which indicated an expanse of open water on the further side. This point was found to be in latitude 76" 2' and west longitude 95° 55' j and the strait received the name of Victoria Channel. Exploration Captain Penny hastened back to the ships for a boat, ChanS** *^^ drove every means to have one promptly mounted on sledges and away, but did not get it up to the strait without vast e£fort, and some tantalizing delays. But at length he launched it, laded it, and pushed off to the unknown. He proceeded only ten miles, till he was obliged to seek refuge in a bay from a westerly gale and a strong head sea ; and he afterwards contended much and almost constantly with unfavourable winds and rapid tides ; yet he succeeded in examining 310 miles of coast, and did not desist till his stock of provisions sank admo- nishingly low. He put about on the 20th of July, and he made his way to the ships amid constant rain and tempest, insomuch that, in the route over the ice, he had to ford rapid streams. Importance Captain Penny thus ranks high as a discoverer. Vic- air.'ncL** ^orla. Channel, with its far-north position and its iceless water, is quite as remarkable an object as anything dis- covered by Sir John Ross, and not much less so than the things discovered by Sir Edward Parry. As to the immediate design of his adventures, however, Captain Penny had all his labour for nothing. He found not a trace of the Erebus and the Terror. Yet he acquired strong conviction that they had gone up Wellington Channel and along Victoria Channel ; and if he could have got one of Captain Austin's steamers, he would have instantly gone in search of them through the latt'T ; or if he could have promptly procured one on THE SLEDGE EXPLORATIONS. 427 his arrival ii: Britain in September, he would have gone CHAP. xiL back, late tliuugh the season was, in the hope of pene- *""" trating, by the route of his new discovery, into the Polar main, and there obtaining a solution of Sir Juhu Franklin*s fate. The American explorers were prevented from takrng The Ameri- any part in the searching operations of the spring by <^*" expedi- their experiencing the same kind of involuntary ejection from Lancaster Sound which befel Sir James Ross's expedition in the Enterprise and the Investigator. Their vessels were frozen in opposite Wellington Channel, and were carried thence to the east, slowly and rigidly, and in stem defiance of all possible resistance by man, to a point south of Cape Walsingham. They drifted a linear distance of at least 1050 miles, and suffered much from the commotion of the ice, and were not set free till the 10th of June. Sir John Ross's connexion with the searching squa- RjgJj'JSeory dron was mainly distinguished— or at least is so in the respecting popular estimation of it — by a peculiar theory which he p^ :kiin'g formed, on the faith of an adopted Esquimaux, respect- ^'^ ing the fate of Sir John Franklin's party, — that they were all massacred by a tribe of natives on the east coast of Baffin's Bay. This theory was mooted, during the outward voyage, when most of the squadron were in company, near the scene of the alleged massacre, and was anxiously investigated by a council of the officers, and pronounced utterly incredible. Sir John Ross, too, was understood to discard it ; yet, in spite of the opinion of the council, and in spite of subsequent sure evidence that the Erebu? and the Terror had wintered far to the west, he revived the theory, and on his return home, made formal offer of it, as his solution of all the mys- teries of the Franklin expedition. Yet Captain Austin seems to have thought, as well as Captain Sir John Ross, that the Erebus and the Terror had gone opinion. back to Baffin's Bay ; for, after the failure of the searches for further traces of them west and north of 428 SEARcniNo expeditions op 1851-52. CHAP. XII. the mouth of Wellington Channel, he supposed that Examination *^^^^ probably tried to reach the Polar sea through of Jones' Jones* Sound, which opens off the north side of the Sound. upper part of Baffin's Bay. He accordingly went round to that place with his two steamers, and explored it. lie found it about sixty miles wide at the entrance, — a width which greatly exceeds that give© it in the Admiralty chart; and he sailed about forty-five miles up its southern shore, and was there arrested by a fixed barrier of ice ; and he then sailed along the face of that barrier, twenty-five miles, to the northern shore, and then traced that shore down to the entrance. But he saw nothing to indicate that the Erebus or the Terror had been there ; and he judged from well-defined ap« pearances to the west, that the Sound is closed by land not very far above the point which lie reached, and has no communication with the Polar Sea. He then thought all further attempts at exploration either use- less or inconsistent with his instructions, and set sail for England. The unexpected and somewhat premature return of the squadrons under command of Captains Austin and Penny in the autumn of 1851, tended very much to iijcreaso the universal desire that the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin's expedition should be thoroughly investigated. The interesting details brought back of the discovery of Franklin's winter quarters on Beecliy Island, in 1845-46, revived the hopes that had begun to fade rapidly away. The opinion of those engaged in the sledging operatic ns of 1851, that the missing ships had proceeded up Wellington Channel, and en- tered the open sea discovered by Captain Penny, and believed by him to be the great Polar Basin — and the supposition that the lost ones might still be imprisoned, and alive, in its gloomy solitude of ice — all tended to influence the public mind in favour of a continuance of the search. Accordingly, in the spring of 1352 LADY FRANKLIN S EXPEDITION. 429 Sir Edward Belclior's squadron. another expedition,— the most extensive that had yet CilAP. xn. sailed for the polar regions, — was fitted out, and placed ~~" under the command of Sir Edward Belcher. This squadron consisted of five vessels — ^the Assistance, the Resolute, the North. Star, and two steamers, the Pio- neer and Intrepid. These set sail in April for Baflins Bay, purposing to make Beechy Island their head quarters, whence the various vessels were to set out separately or together, as might be thought best, to search the neighbouring coasts. The Assistance and Pioneer were directed to sail up "Wellinposed, would very probably be visited by the crews of the missing expedition, in the event of their be- ing obliij;ed to abandon their ships, as it was well-known to them that a large quantity of provisions had been left there by Sir E. Parry in 1823. The adventurous and deeply interesting voyage of this little vessel deservea our special regard, for more reasons than one. Sho had sailed under the command of Mr. William Kennedy, a gentleman who, besides be- ing possessed of the energy and resolution necessary for the hazardous enterprise which he was called upon 'f 430 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1851-62. Mr. Ken- nedy. CHAP. XII. to conduct, was also thoroughly experienced in the manner of travelling by land in the snowy regions of the north — an experience whi'ch gave him an immense advantage over all the other navigators who had gone before him ; for a very considerable portion of the ground explored in 1851 having been done on foot and with sledges, they had difficulties to overcome which a slight experience in northern land-travelling would have rendered much less formidable. Mr Kennedy's previous acquaintance and familiarity with the snow* shoes and the dog-sleigh, the moccasin and the arctic bivouac, admirably i]ualified him for the exploration of Prince Begent*8 Inlet, much of which had to be performed in the dead of winter, and on foot ; and tiie details of his proceedings as given in his lively nar- rative, have in consequence a dash of novelty which many of the later arctic expeditions do not possess. We shall enter, therefore, somewhat more fully into this, the private expedition of Lady Franklin, and glance in a more cursory manner at the p^oceedinj^s of the other vessels that were engaged in the searcii, as our limits do not permit of a full account of each expedition's proceedings, even were such desirable. On the 22d of May 1851, the Prince Albert set sail from Aberdeen. For a considerable time previous to her departure she had been undergoing a thorough repair, in order to fit her for battling with the pon- derous ice which she was soon to encounter. Along her sides, from the keel to about two feet above the water-line, there was a doubling of elm planking of fully two and a half inches thick, intended not only to strengthen the hull of the little vessel, hi\t to pre- serve her sides from the tear and wear of saiiinpf through, and rubbing against, sharp, rasping pieces of ice. The bow and stern-post were sheathed with wrought iron a quarter of an inch thick, and a broad strip of thick sheet iron ran along the >vater-line as far aft as the main mast. Her hold was a perfect Departnre of the Prince Albert in 185L MR. KENNEDY AND THE PRINCE ALBERT. 431 labyrinth of cross beamc and massive fastenings, to CHAP. xn. enable her to withstand the evil consequences of a *nip;' and the arrangements generally were con- ducted in a manner which, while it indicated the dan- gerous nature of the service, also served to assure her crew that nothing had been left undone which could in any way conduce to their comfort and safety. As boats, in the regions for which they were bound, are of Il'\^'^®^*'' great service, and require to be made of excellent materia], it was deemed advisable to supply the little Prince with three. One was made of gutta-percha, and another of mahogany, the third being a small dinffy of the ordinary kind, besides one of Halkett's Mackintosh boats, which have been frequently of the greatest service to Arctic travellers, and have, on more occasions than one, drawn forth their expression of warm gratitude to the inventor. Mr, Kennedy's knowledge of the nature of the country to which he was bound, and his conviction that the search for Franklin would have to be ultimately conducted by boat and land expeditions, induced him to provide a supply of "raw material," in the shape of dressed moose skins and parchment, to be converted during the voyage into moccasins, snow-shoes, dog-sledge- traces, &c. He also got a tin hayaJe, made in imitation of those used by the Esquimaux, intending to adopt the native method of travelling, in the event of the ship and boats being rendered by any accident unser- viceable. Provision for two years was put on board, and part of this consisted of a ton and a half of that invaluable kind of food called pemmican, which is made by the demi-savage half-breeds of the prairies ; and, in consequence of its nutritive qualities, its com- pact solidity, and durability, forms the principal food of arctic travellers. The ship's company consisted of eighteen in all, in- J^® Albert's eluding Mr. Kennedy, the commander, Lieutenant J. Bellot, the second in command, and Mr. Gowle, the •K- 432 SEARCniNG EXPEDITJONh OF 1861-62. Lieutenant Uellut. CHAP. XIL surgeon. Mr. Bollot was a spiiited young officer in the French navy, whose romantic love of adventure led him to offer his services to Lady Franklin in the search which had now heen going on for some years. He soon proved himself to he in every way a most useful auxiliary, and an honour to the nation to which he belonged. Among the crew, who were all picked men, there were several who had previously tried their metal in the polar regions; and it is with almost a thrill of interest that we read that one of them was John Hepburn, who every reader of arctic travel dur- ing the present century will recollect, was the faithful attendant of Sir John Franklin during his first adven- turous, and, in some respects, tragic journey through North America. His spirit had fired with an irresis- tible desire to assist in searching for the hero with whom, in his youth, he had shared the perils of tiie wilderness ; and now, in his old age, he was going to face these perils anew in their wilder forms, on the ice-laden waters of the Polar Sea. Another of the men had travelled with Dr. Rau, on his first expedition to Repulse Bay; and another had accompanied Sir John Richardson in his boat journey through the in- terior of America. Almost all of them, in one way or other, possessed some experience in arctic travellin;^, 80 that a better ship's company could scarcely be found than the one which stood on the deck of the Prince Albert, on the 3d of June 1861, to bid farewell to the noble hearted Lady Franklin, who had come to Stromness to witness the departure of the expedition, and breathe a fervent prayer for its success. One by one she took leave of the officers and crew ; and then, stepping over the side, she returned to the shore, while the men gave three hearty, hopeful cheers, as the little vessel bounded from the ^hore and stretched out into the wide Atlantic, the Union-Jack at her peak, and the French flag, in honour of Lieutenant Bellot, flying at the fore. Lady Frank- lin lind the Albert's crew. THE PRINCE ALBERT. 433 le, as ed Ler .nt As we have seen them now fairly afloat on the hlue chap, xii waves, it may not be uninteresting here to consider the plan of their proceedings. "While the Prince Albert," says Mr. Kennedy, "is proceeding rapidly forward with a succession of delightful weather towards Gape Farewell, let us take a cursory glance at our in- pian of structions. We know nothing at this time, it must be '«*'*^''* remembered, of the movements of Captains Austin's and Penny's squadrons, nor of the disco\ cries in Wel- lington Channel, and the lands to the south and wes^, of Cape Walker. The locality allotted for our search included Prince Regent's Inlet, and the passages con- necting it with the western sea, south-west of Cape Walker, to which latter quarter Sir John Franklin was required in the first instance to proceed. " This search was assumed to be necessary on the fol- lowing grounds : — " 1 . The probability of Sir John Franklin having aban- doned his vessels to the south-west of Cape Walker. " 2. The fact, that when Franklin sailed, he believed that an open passage was to be found from the west- ward into the south part of Prince Regent's Inlet, according to the chart supplied to him from the Ad- miralty, and which does not exhibit the discoveries of Bae, made si.bsequently to that period. *• 3. Sir John Franklin would, it was thought, be more likely to take this course, through the country known to possess the resources of animal life, with the wreck of the Victory in Felix Harbour for fuel, and the stores at Fury beach, further north, in view, than to fall back upon an utterly barren region of the north coast of America. " 4. He would be more likely to expect succour to be sent to him by way of Lancaster Sound, and Barrow's Straits, into which Prince Regent's Inlet opens, than in any other direction." For these reasons, then, and with this end in view, the Prince Albert spread her sails to the breeze. The 2d 1%^. A.1I. ; 'j ;r 434 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1851-62. Kxclting newtk CHAP. XII. wind was fur the most part favourable. The crested ""^ billows of the Atlantic tossed her sometimes, it is true, but did not retard her. Day by day the favouring; gales carried them farther from home, and gradually the indications of a high latitude began to thicken round them. Ice occasionally floated past, in light- green, fairy-like islands ; now and then a blow on the bow told of the enemy, whose terrible power renders the mysterious seas of the north almost impenetrable; frequently a jet of water and a heavy roll of some dark object in the sea, betrayed the presence of the arctic whale ; and, at length, on Sunday the 24th of June, they descried the coast of Greenland on the dis- tant horizon. In Baffin's Bay they were visited by the captains of two whaling vessels, who threw them into great ex- citement by telling them of the discovery of Franklin*» winter quarters in 1845, with the details of which the reader is already acquainted. This information in- duced Mr. Kennedy to direct his course to Upernavik, the Danish colony on the west coast of Greenland, partly for the purpose of taking in additional supplies for the use of the winter travelling parties, but chiefly with the hope of gaining further information of the recent discoveries, from the American searching vessels which had wintered in the pack. In this, however, he was disappointed. , The little colony, in whose sheltering harbour the Prince Albert now anchored, is graphically described by Mr. Kennedy. " Upernavik,'* says he, '* which we reached on the morning of the 10th, is one of that in- teresting group of little colonies with which the enter- prise of the Danes has dotted the west coast of Green- land. It was perhaps natural in one who had recently come from a British possession;* in some respects Colony of Upcniayik I t ; • Mr. Kennedy had formerly been iii the service of the Iludaon's Buy Conirany. THE PRINCE ALSERT. 435 the bed we in- ter- jen- itlv • ects Bny analogous, althoush infinitely superior in productive- CHAP. xif. ness and cnpability of improvement — I mean the ter- ritories around Hudson's Biiy — to take some interest in these remarkable and unique examples of coloniz- ing under difficulties. My first impression was cer- tainly one of gratified surprise, that here, ccisiderahly iiuercstinir within the Arctic Circle (within a degree or two in the c<>iony. fact, of the entrance of Wellington Channel, where Franklin, had he remained, must, according to some lugubrious authorities, have long ago perished of star- vation), there was a Christian community, not only living, but, after a fashion, thriving. We were in- formed by the governor that there was, even at this early period of the season, one tliousand Banish tuns of oil and blubber stored, from the produce of the sum- mer fishery. There was likewise visible evidence in every direction of an abundance of venison, water-fowl, and eggs, as well as seals. The houses were built of wood, very small, and had a singularly amphibious lock about them, from being covered with tar from top to bottom, looking for all the world like so many up- turned herring-boats, ready on any emergency to take to the water. " A party of the Esquimaux, attached to the settle- BencvcUnt ment, had come in with the produce of some hunting ti,^ i).',„ish excursion in which they had been engaged, and I was government. much struck with '.heir intelligence, and their well- clad, comfortable, and healthy appearance. This, I learned, was in a great measure due to the benevolent interest of the Danish government in their behalf. There is not a station, I was given to understand, along the whole coast of Greenland, which has not its missionary and its schoolmaster for the instruction of the natives; and, judging from what we saw and learned at Upernavik, the Danish exchequer is not without material and substantial proofs of the grati- tude of the poor * InnuiC Thus instructed, cared for, and their energies disciplined and directed, the H 436 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1861-52. Ptingcrfl of tlie inlddir Ice. .} CHAP. XIL Efcquiinaux of Greenland give employment, as I Am informed, to six ships annually, in carrying the pro- duce of their hunts and fisheries to Denuiurk."* Uwiinuvlk.** ^^ *^''* P^*°® '^'^ ^^''8® Esquimaux dogs were pur- chased. These were intended to assist in dragging sledges during the winter, a species of work to wliicli dogs in these lands are much accustomed, and fur which they are peculiarly well adapted. A few pairs of seal'skin boots, s.ioes, and trowsers d /* Esquimaux^ were also procured, and the Prince Albert proceeded on her voyage. The much-dreaded '^ middle ice" was reached soon after leaving, and four days were spent in passing through it to the western side of the bay, during which time they were constantly employed in sailing, boring, pushing, thumping, and warping — not unfi-equently exposed to the perilous nips, which are sometimes productive of such dire consequences — and occasionally set fast altogether. At this point in the voyage it was deemed advisable to test the powers of some carrier-pigeons with which they had been pro- vided ; but the poor birds refused to take the long flight to England, and resolutely persisted in returning to the ship again, after a short survey of the icy region in which they were let loose. During the passage of the middle ice, a large quantity of provisions had been got up on deck, to be ready in case an unfortunate crush should sink the vessel. This was now re-stowed in the hold, on their getting into the comparatively clear western waters of Baffin's Bay. One evening about this time, while they were sail- ing quietly among beautiful and fantastically formed fragments of ice, which obliged them frequently to deviate a little from, but did not interrupt, their course, a shout was heard ringing through the calm still at- mosphere, and very soon four Esquimaux paddled out • Narrative of a Second Voyage of the Prince Albert, by Mr. William Kennedy. THE PRINCE ALBKKT. 437 to them in their seal-skia kayaks. They speedily chap. xU. cltiiubered on board ; and one of the crew happening to have some slight knowledge of their language, a vigorous flow of query and reply coinnienced, in the i,RQ„|,n„„:, course of which much useful information as to the neuicrupher nature of the coast and inlets was obtained from them. One, especially, proved t( be a very expert draftsman, and by means of a bit of chalk he drew on the deck the outlines of various parts of the coast, wliich helped them not a little. After extracting all the information from them that could be got, it was suggested that the present was an excellent t>ccasion for trying:; the effect of music on "the savage breast." Before they left England, Prince Albert had presented the crew with a splendid barrel-organ, which it was supposed would prove a source of much grutification to th^ ice-bound marin^Ts during their lengthened sojourn in the Arctic regions. This instrument was now produced and set in motion. " Its effect," writes Kennedy, " was any- thing but soothing up(m our visitors. From the iirst it was evidently regarded as possessed of some myste- rious powers of life and volition, which tliey acknow- ledged by dancing and singing around it in the most uproarious manner. One poor fellow was particularly distinguished by the oddity and extravagance of liis behaviour. At the first note he was observed to ' grin horribly a ghastly smile;* this was followed by a whoop, and a yell, and a leap in the air, as if he were possessed by a legion of demons ; and so he went on leaping, and howling, and using all the frantic gesti- culations of a madman, till, in mercy to the poor creature's wits, we were forced to stop the organ and his ecstacies together.'* Their progress after this was very much interrupted by ice and contrary gales. All attempts to reach Cape Uiley, and, subsequently, to enter Leopold Harbour, were completely frustrated. Far as the eye could reach down the west side of Prince Regent's Inlet- Effects of music. II IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 \23. 125 m m 12.2 ^ 1^ 12.0 IL25 i 1.4 li 6" 1.6 0% '/ V Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WfST MAIN STRUT WEBSTH,N.Y. USM (716) 873-4503 Ilellcs of Tttrry's ex- pedition in 438 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1851-52. CHAP. XIL which was to be the scene of their searching opera- tions — huge barriers of ice met the view. They pushed boldly in amongst it, however, and succeeded in winding a tortuous course to Elwin Bay, which they found quite closed up. Batty Bay and Fury Beach were next visited, where they met with similar disappointment, and where they also perceived that the ice — between which and the shore they had been sailing — was setting down upon them ; so they were obliged to beat a hasty retreat, in order to escape being crushed to pieces. It was now obviously fruitless to attempt the western side of the Inlet under present circumstances, so they put about and ran for Port Bowen on the eastern shore, which was comparatively free from ice. Here they found traces of the party which wintered at this spot with Sir Edward Parry, in 1825. Among other relics they discovered a soli- tary grave. A rude headstone bore the name of John Cottrell, seaman of H. M. S. Fury. There is some- • thing inexpressibly desolate and sad in the thought of this solitary grave. Far from the home where the mouldering forms of his kindred repose — on the sterile, almost unknown and untrodden shores of an ice-bound sea, with no eye, not even that of a stranger, to read the rough inscription cut by some kindly shipmate on his tomb, and undisturbed by any sound save the thunder of disrupting ice, or the dreary, bitter howl- ing of the Arctic breeze. To winter at this place, while all their intended work lay on the other shore of the Inlet was quite out of the question, so it was resolved at all hazards to attempt a landing again. Accordingly, on the 9th September they recrossed the strait and succeeded in approaching close enough to tjie shore to render an attempt to land in the boat somewhat feasible. The Landing tho gutta-pci'cha boat was therefore got out, and Mr. gujtta-percha Kennedy with four of his men, — named respectively, Matheson, Smith, Irvine, and Sutherland— jumped THE PRINCE ALBERT. 439 Drit'tine of the ship. into her and rowed for the beach. This they reached CHAP, xii without difficulty by means of a narrow lane of open — " water which was opportunely discovered. On ascend- ing the cliflfs of Cape Sepping, Mr. Kennedy found, to his joy, that the harbour of Port Leopold was quite free from ice, and if the ship could maintain her position for a few hours longer, he had no doubt of being able to effect an entrance. On descending to the beach, however, it was found, to the consternation of Mr. Kennedy and his men, that the passage by which they had entered was now'blocked up. The boat had not been fastened to the beach, but to a large piece of ice, which, with the whole body of the pack, was drifting down the Inlet, carrying boat, ship, and men along with it. To make matters worse, night was coming on and nothing could be seen or heard around but huge masses of ice grinding, tossing, and rearing furiously on every side. To return to the ship under these circumstances was impossible, so they made for the shore as fast as pos- sible, dragging the boat along with them. On reach- ing it they pulled the boat up and turned it over so as to form a kind of shelter from the night air, and then prepared to pass the night under it although little sleep was anticipated ; for, besides the anxiety occa- sioned by their strange position, their clothes were almost covered with ice, and they had no blankets or coverings of any kind. From his former experience in Arctic scenes, Mr. Kennedy knew the danger of falling asleep under such circumstances, and, notwith- standing the strong desire that he and his men felt to indulge in repose, he only allowed them to reat for an hour at a time, obliging them during the remainder of the night to keep in active motion. - With the dawn of the following morning the shiver- Ship out of ing party scrambled to the top of the highest cliff of * ^^^ Cape Seppings, but not a vestige of the vessel was to be seen ! The consternation of the poor men, who were tiius cast away on this.bleak shore, may be more readily 440 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1851-52. Joy at And Ing provi- sions. CHAP. XII. conceived than described. Without provisions, scan- — - tily clad, no vessel, and an approaching hyperborean winter, their condition seemed forlorn indeed. One fortunate circumstance, however, cheered them not a little, and this was the fact that, two years before. Sir James Boss had left a deposit of provisions at Whaler Point on the other side of the harbour. Should this be found in good condition there was every reason to hope that they might manage to pass the winter in at least some degree of comfort. Thither, therefore, Mr. Kennedy and his four men now directed their steps. A short walk brought them to the spot, where, to their great joy, they found the provisions just as they had been left, and quite good, with the exception of a cask of tallow, a case of chocolate, and a barrel of biscuit, which had been destroyed and their contents demolished by the bears and foxes. A house erected by Sir James Ross was also found in pretty good condition, being only a little damaged in the roof. Near to this there was a flag-staff to which a cylinder was attached containing a notice of the deposit of provisions, and of the future intentions of the party by whom they had been left. One can form but a faint idea of the dreary, deso- late situation in which these five unfortunate human beings were now placed. Accustomed as we are to read and hear of the romantic and the marvellous until our minds cease to make an effort to compre- Featfal pros- hend what is so very difficult of comprehension, it is ^^^^ not easy to understand, in all its horrors, the prospect which lay before these men of spending an Arctic winter of seven or eight months among the desolate wastes of ice and snow which encompassed them on every side. Even in the event of their surviving it, there was the possibility of their being obliged to re- main much longer, until some passing vessel should carry them away from their dreary home. It is interesting to trace the workings of men*s minds in Buch straits. ' ^ ' THE PRINCE ALBERT. 441 " It was now," says Mr. Kennedy, " the 10th of cilAP. xii. September. Winter was evidently fast setting in, and from the distance the ship had been carried during that disastrous night, (whether out to sea or down the Inlet w« could not conjecture), there was no hope of our being able to rejoin her at least during the present season. There remained, therefore, no alternative but to make up our minds to pass the winter, if necessary, where we were. I pass over the anguish of the re- flection of such a termination of our enterprise, so full as we had been of hope, confidence, and determination to accomplish the duty th&^ had been assigned to us. .... It was a relief, therefore, to my own sorrowful contemplations, to begin to discuss with the men, with as much cheerfulness as I could command, our little plans for our future proceedings. The first object to Preparations be attended to, was the erecting of some sort of [Jjg^*"*'^'^' shelter against the daily increasing inclemency of the weather, and for this purpose the launch, left by Sir James Boss, was selected. Her main-mast was laid on supports at the bow and stern, about nine feet in height, and by spreading two of her sails over this a very tolerable roof was obtained. A stove was set up in the body of the boat with the pipes running through the roof, and we were soon sitting by a com- fortable 4re, which, after our long exposure to the wet and cold, we stood very much in need of. '' There was a plentiful supply of blanket bags in the dep6t, by aid of which we were soon in possession of as comfortable bedding as we could desire. Out of the same material we were able to supply ourselves with some excellent clothing, using, in the absence of ordinary needles and thread, sail needles 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 very tolerable approach to comfort and contentment.** In the midst of these wild scenes, it is pleasing tQ Sabbath exercisei Mr Kenn«r ay's plans 442 SBABOHINQ EXPEDITIONS OF 1851-62. , CHAP. XII. observe the effects of early religious training on those — ' whose profession is but too much characterized by a reckless indiflference to spiritual things. The following quotation from Mr. Kennedy's journal indicates a healthful state of feeling pervading the little band. " Sunday i 21<^ September, — We were able to enjoy a day of rest, after a severe and laborious week of exer- tion. It was a pleasing sight, in the absence of the regular means for conducting the exercises appropriate to the day, to observe how the men were occupied in recalling to mind some of the sacred melodies of their native land, and the simple hymns, stored up in their memories from childhood, as well as those exquisite cullings from the Word of Truth, embodied in the Shorter Catechism of the Church of Scotland." Mr. Kennedy now arranged his plans for the future. To undertake a long winter journey over the country on foot had been his original intention, but under the present circumstances this was impossible. He there- fore determined, first, to send out travelling parties, as Boon as the state of the ice should permit, to institute a strict search for the ship in every direction in which it was likely that she could have been carried ; and, secondly, in the event of being unsuccessful in this, it was determined to make a journey early in spring to Cape Walker, to search in that direction for fl'aces of Captain Franklin and his crews ; and so accomplish at least part of the object for which this expedition had been fitted out. There were difficulties in the way, however. Shoes were wanted. Without shoes nothing could be done at all, so it behoved them to exert their ingenuity. There was nothing in the depdt of provisions that could be turned to this use ; but, fortunately, a good deal of the canvass covering of the old house was left, and out of this several pairs of shoes were made. They answered pretty well, although, indeed, they lasted not much longer than a few days, so two of the Slioemaking. THE PRINCE ALBERT. 443 party were set to work to devote their whole time to chap. XII the making of a supply of canvas shoes which should last them during the whole winter. Snow shoes, after gno^ giioes. the fashion of those used by the North American Indians, were also required ; Kenneth Sutherland, the carpenter, was therefore set to construct frames out of such timber as he could find among the stores, out of which he also soon constructed a sleigh after the Esquimaux model. Being much annoyed every morn- ing by smoke while the fires were being lighted, in consequence of the small size of the pipes which formed chimneys, they cast about to devise a remedy. One was soon found. A preserved potato case was cut up and made into new pipes of sufficient calibre, and the smoke found no further difficulty in following the bent of its inclination to ascend. A grindstone was wanted, and here again human ingenuity was put to the test and triumphed. A block of sandstone was found — the carpenter's persevering energy was brought to bear on it — and the grindstone was made ! Thus they spent their time, in contriving and con- structing such implements as were absolutely neces- sary, and in preparing for their intended journeys. These occupations were occasionally varied by excur- sions in the neighbourhood of their dwelling, made sometimes for exercise, and sometimes with the view of capturing one of the bears which prowled around it^ar huut- the boat, attracted, doubtless, by the savoury odours ^"s* that proceeded from their kitchen. In these hunts, however, they were not successful, but they furnished a beneficial degree of excitement which helped to keep up the spirits of the men and to enliven their other- wise monotonous existence. The Sabbaths were always days of rest, and devoted to the worship of God, whose tender care had thus provided them with all the necessaries, and not a few of the comforts, of life. . On the 17th of October, while they were engaged in the usual routine of daily duty, a shot was heard to 444 SEARCHINO EXPEDITIONS OP 1851-52. other cotU' rudcs. cnAP. XII. reverberate among the cliffs of Oape Seppings. So un- wonted a sound caused them to rush tumultuously from their occupations, when they found, with emo- tions of inexpressible thankfulness and joy, that it pro- ceeded from a party of seven of the Prince Albert's Unexpected men, headed by Mr. Bellot, who had dragged the jolly- Beiiot and boat all the way from Batty Bay, in the hope of find- ing and succouiing their long-lost comrades. " I can- not refrain," writes Mr. Kennedy, "from recording here, my warmest thanks to Mr. Bellot, not only for this, but two other attempts which he had made to communicate to us the intelligence of the Prince Albert's position, and to bring us a supply of clothing. He had set out with two men to come by land to Port Leopold, the third day after getting into Batty Bay, but after three days march, over the wild and rugged hills, wading through deep snow, and walking against continual drift, they were obliged to return to the ship after much suffering from cold and wet. He next made a gallant attempt along shore by means of dogs and sledges, but getting on weak ice, fell through, and had again to return with the loss of the sledge and part of its contents. The third (the present) attempt was more successful. The little boat, as already stated, had been dragged all the way, in case of any occasion arising for its use where the ice had not formed. They found the ice, however, formed all the way to this point, and in many places so rough, that they had often to drag their boat over points of land." From those who had thus opportunely arrived to Preparations succour them, they learned that the Prince Albert was ship. '" * securely moored in Batty Bay ; and, as there was nothing now to prevent their setting out to rejoin the vessel, preparations were commenced immediately. The activity and reactionary flow of spirits among the men was very high at thus meeting with their long lost comrades. Five weeks had elapsed since their disas- trous separation, and, that evening, a truly joyous party Previous efforts of Bellot THE PRINCE ALBERT. 445 and assembled under the covering of the old launch, and chap. xir. caused her timbers to quake with the sound of rough old sea songs, and tough yarns, while they quaffed brimming bowls of hot strong chocolate to the success of their expedition. On Wednesday, the 22nd of October, their prepara- tions being completed, a paper was deposited in the cylinder, containing an account of their proceedings, and they commenced their journey to Batty Bay. It is a trite but true saying that " truth is stranger than fiction,** and the truths which we occasionally meet with in Arctic narrative, go a great way to strengthen the proverb. The mode of travelling now adopted by Mr. Kennedy and his men, was of a kind, Cnrtons if not quite novel, at least exceedingly curious. First !Je,f^e*'tra- of all a strong sleigh was made, on which the boat was veiling. placed, then all their goods and provisions, &c., were securely stowed away in the latter, and hauled down to the ice on Leopold Harbour, which stretched out a smooth and level plain before them. The mast was then erected, the sails set, and the whole party jump< ing in, away they went over the bay before a spanking breeze at a rate that was quite marvellous. But, alas ! for the uncertainty of human affairs. The prosperous commencement of their journey was soon followed by an unfortunate crash. The sledge proved to be too fragile for this dashing style of progression, and broke kn accident, down just as they got a* mt half way across the bay, leaving them to repair dtaages for the remainder of the day. The evil consequences of the accident did not terminate here. Night overtook them ere they could gain the land ; and, as it was not desirable to sleep on the frozen sea if they could possibly avoid it, they were obliged to stumble on in the dark, which was rendered, if possible, still more palpable by a heavy fall of snow. After much stumbling into crevices and cracks, frequent wanderings about they knew not where, and occasional dashing of the shins upon sharp 446 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1851-62. Perplexing case. CHAP. Xir. pieces of projecting ice, a small bit of solid land was found in the shape of a flat limestone rock, surrounded by large masses of stranded ice. Here they erected a small tent, and, with some coals which had been brought from Whaler Point, boiled a large kettle of tea, and enjoyed themselves exceedingly after the fatiguing and protracted march of the day. It was a feature of their whole journey, however, that difficul- ties presented themselves at every turn, and after tea one of a somewhat perplexing nature arose. The tent, it has been said, was little, and the party numbered thirteen, none of them small — and one, the carpenter, of colossal proportions. Now these certainly got in and sat down round the kettle ; but it was painfully obvious that they could not indulge in horizontal repose that "« night. The problem was difficult but it was partially solved at last. Six of the party sat down on one side of the tent and six on the other, thus leaving a space of about three feet clear to stretch their legs ; while Mr. Bellot — whose good-humoured aptitude to accom- modate himself to all circumstances was very con- spicuous during the whole expedition — agreed to squeeze in below the said twelve pair of legs, a small space at one end being allowed for the egress of his head. Finding it impossible under these peculiar circum- jl^AniRhtof stances to sleep, it was resolved to have "a night of it/* and, accordingly, a candle was lighted. No candle- stick was there however, so each agreed to hold the light for a quarter of an hour and then pass it to his next neighbour. Songs were then proposed and hilariously executed until the candle went out, when the whole party made a vigorous but abortive attempt to sleep, groaning, nodding, and sighing deeply — especially poor Mr. Bellot, on whom the ever-increasing weight of the twelve pair of legs began to tell with the effect of a hydraulic press — until the grey dawn warned them to rise and resume their journey. THE PRINCE ALBERT. 447 tion of enow huta. The discomforts of the past night made them deter- CIIAp. xii. mine in future to adopt the Esquimaux plan of buihl- ing a snow hut each night, in which to sleep. Mr. Kennedy*8 description of these primitive dwellings is interesting. ** The process of constructing a snow- house/* says he, "goes on something in this way- varied, of course, by circumstances of time, place, and materials. First, a number of square blocks are cut Constntc- out of any hard drifted bank of snow you can meet with, adapted for the purpose, which, when cut, have precisely the appearance of blocks of salt sold in the donkey carts in the streets of London. The dimen- sions we generally selected were two feet in length, by fourteen inches in height, and nine inches in breadth. A layer of these blocks is laid on the ground nearly in the form of a square, and then another layer on this, cut so as to incline slightly inwards, and the corner blocks laid diagonally over those underneath, so as to cut off the angles. Other layers follow in the same way, until you have gradually a dome-shaped struc- ture rising before you, out of which you have only to cut a small hole for a door, to find yourself within a very light, comfortable looking bee-hive on a large scale, in which you can bid defiance to wind and wea- ther. Any chinks between the blocks are filled up with loose snow with the hand from outside ; as these are best detected from within, a man is usually sent in to drive a thin rod through the spot where he dis- covers a chink, which is immediately plastered over by some one from without, till the whole house is as air- tight as an egg." In these snowy dwellings they afterwards passed many nights in considerable comfort, and on the present occasion, certainly found them a great im- provement on the small tent. In a few days they reached the ship, where a hearty welcome from their Arrival at comrades awaited them. In these regions shipmates ® ' ^ could ill be spared. At the post of duty every man 448 SEAtlCHlNO EXPEDITtONB OP 1861-52. rrppnrntlonB for winter. CHAP. xir. is needed) and at the mess-table the absence of a single individual of the little community is felt. It was therefore with considerable warmth and energy that the whole ship's company grasped the hands of their commander and companions, whom, more than once, it was feared they mi^ht never see again. Preparations were now vigorously begun for passing the next eiglit months of the winter of 1851-2 in the ice ; and fur getting ready for the land journeys which it was intended to make during that season. Portions of the stores were removed from the vessel's hold to the shore, where snow-houses were built to receive them. A wash-house, a carpenter's shop, a forge, and a powder magazine were also built of the same ma- terial. The decks of the Prince Albert were covered with a housing and an embankment of snow as high as the gunwale, built around her. Mr. Kennedy's notions of Arctic travelling were somewhat different from those of his predecessors. Instead of waiting till spring to commence the land journeys, he made them in the dead of winter, so that the men were set to the preparatory work of making snow-shoes, moccasins, and sledges, for eight hours every day, instead of pass- ing the time in those winter amusements and recrea- tions which figure so largely in the narratives of former navigators. " We were indebted,'* says Mr. Kennedy, " to the generous kindness of my esteemed friend, Mr. Barrow, of the Admiralty, for an excellent Library and and well assorted library, supplied to the Prince Albert on her first voyage, and again on this, by means of which, we were enabled to pass our long winter evenings both pleasantly and, I trust, profitably. We had our Arctic school too, after working hours, superintended by Mr. Cowie, who occasionally en- livened his prelections on the mysteries of the multi- plication table, and the curving of 'pot-hooks and hangers,' by reading aloud, from some work in our library, such extracts as were adapted for the enter- echooL THE PRINCE ALBERT. 419 tainment or instruction of his pupils. Nor did we chap, xir omit, as the appropriate and botitting conclusion to the labours of each day, to offer up to Him who ' tem- pers the wind to the shorn lamb/ our heartfelt prayers that we might be guided by his infinite mercy to the accomplishment of the great object in which wo were engaged, and be blessed as the instruments of carrying relief to our long-lost brethren." During all their doings, the spirited young French- man, M. Bellot, seems to have been ever foremost. Rciiot'a ucti- lie headed travelling parties, so soon as the ice per- ^''^' mitted, to make deposits of provisions, &c., for the grand travelling expeditions in prospect; and, besides lending very efficient assistance in all departments on board, made daily pilgrimages to a hill in the neigh- bourhood, where he occasionally succeeded in obtain- ing a meridian observation of the sun, and always suc- ceeded in getting his fingers frozen in the operation 1 Mr. Kennedy, being almost the only man on board who had ever seen a snow-shoe or a dog-sledge before, was constantly occupied in constructing these indis- pensable implements for winter travelling, and in teaching his crew the use of them. Thus occupied, the time passed cheerfully by. The nights were long and dark, and grew rapidly longer and darker. The cold winds howled over them from off tho chilly Winter, regions around the pole, bearing in their course blind- ing clouds of snow, which circled and screamed madly round the solitary ship, and whistled among thci rig- ging as if impatient for its destruction, and then roared away over the frozen sea, to spend its fury at last on the black waves of Hudson*s Bay. Sometimes the sun shone brightly out in a clear cloudless sky, glitter ing on the icy particles which floated in the still cold atmosphere, and blazing on the tops of the neighbour- ing hills whose white outlines were clearly and sharply defined against the blue heavens ; and, as if Nature desired to make some compensation for the lengthened 2e winter Jou; nejr. i 460 SEARCniNO EXPEDITIONS OP 1861-62. . CHAP. ZIL period of darkness to which she doomed the land, one, '-—* and sometimes two, mock-suns, or, as the sailors some- times call them, sun>dogs, shone in the firmament, vieing in splendour with the glorious orh of day him- self. Amid scenes such as these — scenes fitted to inspire the soul with a deep sense of the power and majesty of tlieir great Creator — the crew of the Prince Albert spent the first part of the winter in busy healthful occupation. About the 6th of January 1862, all was ready for the commencement of the long-talked-of winter jour- neys, and the morning of that day was ushered in with the clattering of snow-shoes and dog sleighs, the cracking of whips, the shouts of men, and the howl- ing and yelping of dogs driven nearly mad with im- patience and pain. Although all the men of the Prince Albert were out upon the ice, only five of them were appointed to undertake the first exploratory journey. These were Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Bellot, and three of the hardiest among the men. They were all cased from head to foot in clothing in which warmth and comfort were the grand indispensable objects, and elegance of appearance quite a secondary affair — if, indeed, it was an object at all. After a good deal of bustle on the part of the men, and an astonishing degree of yelping on the part of the dogs, they con- trived to set out, accompanied part of the way by nearly the whole crew. " The first object of the con- Objects of the Journey, mm templated journey," says Kennedy, " was, of course, to ascertain whether Fury Beach had been a retreat- ing point to any of Sir John Franklin's party since it was visited by Lieutenant Robinson of the Enterprise of 1849. A secondary object, should our expectations in this respect not be realized, was to form a first depdt of provisions here, with the view of carrying out a more extended search as soon as circumstances would permit. It was desirable at the same time to ascertain the state of the roadsj by which, of course, I THE PRINCE ALBERT. 451 mean the yet untrodden surface of the snow or ice, in chap, xii the direction in which we meant to go, before com- mencing any transport, on a large scale, between the ship and Fury Beach, and it was thought advisable, therefore, to go comparatively light. A small supply of pemmican was all we took with us in addition to oul' travelling requirements, consisting of a tent and poles, blanketing and provisions for a week, some guns and ammunition, fuel, and cooking apparatus, in all Ammun!- weighing from two hundred to two hundred and fifty *^""' ^'^ pounds. This, with ordinary roads, was what the four dogs, now with us, could draw on a flat native sleigh with the utmost ease; but on such ground as that we soon met with, on rounding the south head- land of Batty Bay, to which we were escorted by Messrs. Leask and Gowie, and a part of the crew, we soon found that we required the united efforts of both men and dogs to get along at all ; and, ac- cordingly, for the rest of the journey, we pulled together in the most amicable and fraternal style imaginable." Troubles and difficulties, not, however, of a very serious kind, assailed them at the very commencement of the journey. The " roads" were so bad as to be Troubles am almost impassable, owing to the ice being detached difiicuiticii. from the shore, and so leaving as their only pathway the beach at the base of stupendous cliffs. Huge frag- ments of ice and large boulder stones met them at every turn, often rendering it a work of extreme difficulty for the united efforts of dogs and men to drag the sleigh along. Occasionally they met with what is termed a " pressure," or a set of ice upon the shore, which blocked up the pa li altogether, and compelled them to have recourse to axes to cut their way through ; and sometimes they came to banks of hard drifted snow sloping down the face of the cliflFs, and leaving only an inclined plane to drag the sleigh over. As may be supposed, this was anything but easy, and not unfre- 452 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1851-62. Upsettinjf of the sledga CHAP. XIT. qiiently led to very amusing upsets, one of which hap- pened to Mr. Bellot. The whole party had succeeded, after much straining and exertion, in dragging the sledge to the top of one of these slopes, and were felici- tating themselves not a little on the accomplishment of the feat, when a sudden lurch in the sleigh sent it spinning over the edge of the declivity. In a moment the men threw off the drag lines, which were round their shoulders, in order to avoid being pulled along with it. Poor Mr. Bellot, however, was not sufficiently alert, the jirk threw him down, and in another second away they went, dogs, sleigh, and man, careering down the slope in a very lively and unexpected manner, until they reached the soft snow at the foot, in which ^ they were totally engulfed; the only objects left to tell the tale being six inches of Mr. Bellots legs, pro- jecting above the scene of devastation. They were all dug out, however, in perfect safety, and with a large addition to that wisdom which is founded on experi- ence. The first night, not having time to erect a snow hut, owing to the lateness of the hour, they slept in the tent, but found it veiy small and uncomfortable; so that, on the following evening, they stopped for the night, after eight hours walking, and built their snow- hut at the foot of a high precipice with a perpendicu- lar mass of stranded ice at the bottom, which served for a gable. While reposing comfortably under this edifice, they were serenaded with the peculiar noise, familiar to the ear of all Arctic travellers, which is A " Dres- caused by a " pressure " in the ice ; and which, on this sure" iu tho occasion, groaned, ground, and crashed around them ^^^ all night, and finally left them in the morning with a pile of ice at least thirty feet high, within a few yards of the encampment. On the 8th, being within a short distance of Fury Beach, it was resolved to leave the sledge and two of the men, while Messrs. Kennedy and Bellot, with one THE PRINCE ALBERT. 453 man, should proceed forward unincumbered. Accord- CHAP. XIL ingly they started, and got over the ground much more rapidly than before. That night they reached Fury Beach, and stood upon the spot around which, 2:"'*^ « ** u r 11 * *u • • u u J V tury Beach. fur several days past, their anxious hopes had been circling ; but all was still and desolate as the grave. "Every object," writes Kennedy, "distinguished by the moonlight in the distance, became animated, to our imaginations, into the forms of our long absent countrymen ; for had they been imprisoned anywhere in the Arctic Seas, within a reasonable distance of Fury Beach, here, we felt assured, some of them at least would have been now. But, 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, and 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 imagina- tion had fled from our hearts The spot on ^^ ^^ .,(.g, „, which we now stood had so long been associated in our Fiunkiin. minds with some clue to the discovery of the solution of the painful mystery which hung over the fate of Franklin, and had so long unconsciously, perhaps, 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 we found all our long-cherished anticipations shattered at a blow by the scene that met our eyes." It was with sad feelings and slow steps that Mr. Kennedy and the young Frenchman entered the ruined walls of Somerset House, and prepared to take a few hours repose. A fire was lighted in the stove, which had heated the end of the building occupied by Sir John Ross's crew during the dreary winter of 1832-33. Around this they sat and supped; and, after a few hours* rest, they set out about eleven p.m. on their return to the encampment where the sledge had boon 464 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1851^62. Return to tlie sliip. CHAP. XII. left, which they reached about two a.m. of the follow- ing morning. From this point they retraced their steps again to the ship, which they reached on the 10th at five o'clock in the afternoon, without having encountered anything worth recording. During the winter, travelling parties were occasion- ally sent out for the purpose of placing provisions en cache for the benefit of those who should afterwards undertake a journey along shore to the southward and across the country in various directions. These parties were often arrested by violent gales and snow-storms, which seem to have prevailed very much during the whole winter; so much so, indeed, that our veteran friend Hepburn observed, " that he had known but one Arctic winda 6*^® ®^°°® entering Batty Bay, and that was the gale V which began when they came, and ended when they went away!" It is almost vain to attempt to give any idea to those who have not felt it, of the violence and bitter intensity of the wind in these regions during winter. They seem to revel in the enjoyment of un- restrained freedom to an extent almost unknown in other parts of the globe. They may not, indeed, ex- ceed the violence of those fearful gales which spread death and devastation in the lands of the sirocco and the monsoon; but, accompanied and impregnated as they are with clouds of fine impalpable particles of ice and snow, there is a bitterness and fury in them — a sort of fieri/ fierceness, as they howl madly over the frozen plains of the Polar regions, that beggars all description. The little Prince Albert was a sort of beacon on which they seemed to take a special delight in venting their fury, as they whistled through the rigging and covered her with clouds of snow. While thus imprisoned in their wooden home, the time was fully taken up in preparations for future sledge journeys. The school was also vigorously kept up by the doctor, who, besides instructing the men in various branches of useful knowledge, used to trim his THE PRINCE ALBERT. 455 lamp and read to them portions of the excellent books chap. xij. with which their library was filled ; and one can ima- """" gine the degree of comfort and enjoyment they must have felt at such times, when, relieved from the severer duties of the Arctic navigator's life, they sat in groups within the warm bulwarks of their ship, busily em- ployed in the construction of snow-shoes, canvass jackets, flannel socks, and the like, listening to the doctor's voice, whose subdued tones would contrast strangely and pleasingly with fierce storms that so often howled without. So a great part of the winter sped away, and spring Spiinfj, drew on apace. This was indicated by the increasing power of the sun and length of the day, though the country retained its wintry aspect for months after- wards. About the middle of February 1852, everything being in a proper state of advancement for the com- mencement of the " grand journey," preparations for The grand an immediate start were made ; and on the 25th of l°'*''"">- that month, they left the vessel with snow-shoes, sledges, and dogs. The party which now set out on their exploratory journey, were a detachment of five men under the command of Mr. Kennedy. These were to be followed in a few days by another detachment under Mr. Bellot, who was to be waited for at Fury Beach, whence the whole, amounting to fourteen men, were to start upon hitherto untrodden ground. They were escorted as far as the south point of Batty Bay by part of the ship's company, who were to remain behind, and at this point they parted with many kind farewells and three hearty cheers, after which they were soon lost to each other in the mist. During the first part of the journey, the equinoxial gales blew with great violence. They were frequently detained for whole days at a time in their encamp- ment by these fierce winds, from whose bitter fury they were, however, well protected by the snow-houses 456 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 1851-52. the gales. CHAP. XIL which they built. Mr. Kennedy's journal at this ■"■" period shows their "experiences" to have been some- Violence ol what curious. " The gale," says he, " of Saturday (28th February) continuing during three days, we were of necessity compelled to remain in camp. During a short interval, about the second of March, the weather appearing to get more moderate, we were enabled to return for what cargo had been left behind during our former trip. It was taken onward as far as we dared, and we returned to the camp against a wind so keen, that no face escaped being frost-bitten — the strong wind in this instance being the cause rather than the degree of temperature, for this was comparatively moderate. On the morning of the third, a lull of an hour or so enticed us to bundle up and lash our sleigh. No sooner had we done this and proceeded a short dis- tance, than the gale came on with redoubled fury, in consequence of which we had to hasten back to our snow retreat, and were glad enough to have been still so near a shelter when caught by it, as we had much diflBlculty in keeping on our feet from the violence of the whirling eddies that came sweeping along an ex- posed headland near us. Such was the force of the wind, that column after column of whirling spray was raised by it out of a continuous lane of water, more than a mile broad, which the present gale had opened out along the coast, at the distance of only a few yards from our present encampment. As these successive columns were lifted out of the water, they were borne onward with a speed scarcely less rapid than the * wings of the wind * itself. Whilst detained here, we narrowly escaped being buried by an infant avalanche. A hardened mass of snow of several tons weight having been disengaged from the summit of the clifT above us by the sweeping winds, came rolling down with a noise that told fearfully of its approach. In its descent it carried along with it several fragments of rock that lay in its path, and at length, being able to advance no NiUTOW escapCi THE PRINCE ALBERT. 46': farther, lodged itself within a few yards of our present CHAP, xu dwelling, after ploughing up a bed for itself in the hard packed snow before it, and doing us no other harm than scattering a few harmless masses of snow about the base of our encampment." So severe, indeed, did this part of the road prove to Badness of be, that the sledges, moccasins, and snow-shoes, were ti»o i""^* very severely damaged, and, on the whole party being collected at Fury Beach, it was found necessary to send back to the ship for additional supplies. They were much indebted here to the old stores of the Fury, which were found to be in excellent preservation, although they had lain for thirty years exposed to the weather on the shores of these icy seas. The journey on which they had now entered would occupy, it was supposed, about three months, during which tim,e they hoped to survey upwards of a thou- sand miles. It was found upon calculation that six men could not carry a suflBcient quantity of provisions to sustain them for so long a period, so the plan was adopted of taking fourteen men as far as Brentford Bay, from which point eight of the travellers were to return to the ship, while the remaining six would pro- ceed onwards with as much as they could possibly drag or carry of the necessaries of life. ' Their provisions and equipments from Fury Beach were as follows : — 8 l-3d cases of pemmican, each 90 lbs., 4 bags of biscuit, each 75 lbs., 1 small sack of flour, 3 bags of coal, each 40 lbs., Several bundles of firewood, about 3 tin cases spirits of wine, say 5 gallons, A case of ammunition, knives, files, books, &c., intended for the Esquimaux, .... 1 bag containing astronomical instruments, books, &c., Several bags containing bedding, sugar and tea, guns, axes, saws, cutlasses, kettles, pots and pans, lbs. Provisions 750 for tlie gQQ Journey. 30 120 112 25 60 30 200 In all about 1627 458 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1851-62. faces. CHAP. XII. This, with the tackling and sledi^es, made altogether ""~" a total dead weight of about 2000 lbs, the whole being lashed down, to the smallest possible compass, on four flat-bottomed Indian sleighs, two of which were drawn by the five dogs, assisted by two of the men, the other two being dragged by the rest of the party. It was a fine clear mild day when they started, and they found the travelling very good at first, the beach being flat and the ice sufficiently smooth to admit of proceeding with facility. Fortune, however, seldom favours Arctic travellers long. They soon found their bright sky overcast, and the mild breeze changed into a cold, bitter, frosty gale. Under these circumstances they tr& veiled from day to day, enduring it as stoically as possible, and making up to some extent for their "^ discomfort while travelling by enjoying themselves be- neath their snow-burrows during tlie few hours allotted Frost-bitten to repose. The frost-biting of their faces, however, became at last so intolerable, that they fell upon the expedient of protecting the parts most vulnerable by means of sundry curious and original kinds of cover- ings. " For the eyes," says Kennedy, " we had goggles of glass, of wire-gauze, of crape, or of plain wood with a slit in the centre, in the manner of the Esquimaux. For the face, some had cloth-masks, with neat little crevices for the mouth, nose, and eyes; others were muffled up in the ordinary chin-cloth, and, for that most troublesome of the facial members — the nose (which I verily believe was made only to be frozen), a strong party, with our always original carpenter at their head, had gutta-percha noses, lined with delicate soft flannel, which warmed one*s heart to look at." Like many other human inventions, these contrivances did admirable in theory, but proved complete &ilures in practice ; and they were ultimately discarded as nui- sances, with the exception of the chin cloths and goggles, which held their ground to the last. The daily routine of operations was as follows :—- Inp^enious devices. THE PRINCE ALBERT. 4r>9 They rose at six, but did not dress; having slept in chap. xil. their clothes, that operation was rendered unnecessary : then they breakfasted ; after which came the bundling up and lashing of the sledges, and harnessing the dogs — the latter operation always being accomplished amidst considerable uproar. Then came the start — the comical Roxitine of blinking of the still sleepy eyelids, and the sluggish 'he journey. unwilling motion of still wearied, and but half-roused limbs; and they soon left the night's encampment far behind, M. Kennedy leading the way, Mr. Bellot fol- lowing, and the party in a string bringing up the rear. So on they went, over hill and dale and along shore from morn till night, stopping every hour for five minutes to rest the men and breathe the dogs, and halting, when opportunity offered, to find their lati- tude and longitude. The construction of a snow-hut, and consumption of the evening meal, concluded the labours of the day, which were seldom over before nine or ten at night. On the 6th of April, the fatigue party began their retrograde journey to the ship. At this point they pJrtyTeturn discovered a strait running westward, which was found to separate North Somerset from Boothia Felix, and was named Bellot Strait, in honour of the gallant Beii"<^ strait young Frenchman, who had secured the aflfectionate *^'^"^*^'*'*^ regard not only of the leader of the party, but also of all the men. Thence they crossed over Victoria Strait to Prince of Wales Land, naming the most prominent headlands, bays, and islands, as they went along. Numerous tracks of deer, wolves, bears, and musk-oxen were seen, but none of the animals themselves, except one bear, which came incautiously close to the snow- hut, and was chased away by the dogs. During a Snow-biind- great portion of the journey, they were much annoyed by snow-blindness, caused by the fierce glare of the sun upon the snow, and this was rendered all the more unbearable by the sharp winds which prevailed so much, and dashed the drift into their eyes. The 4G0 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1861-62. CHAP. XII. country over which they travelled was generally very flat, rendering it a matter of no small difficulty to keep their westerly course, the compasses being of little use in such close proximity to the magnetic pole. Their great hope in travelling westward was that they should meet with a sea which would conduct them north- ward to Gape Walker, and so enable them to ascer- Hopes and tain whether or not there was any promising western Sr'°*' channel or strait through which Franklin might have penetrated. After thirteen days' marching, however, they reached the hundredth degree of west longitude without meeting with the wished>for ocean, so it was resolved to turn their steps northward. " Being now satisfied," says Kennedy, " that Sir James Ross had, in his land journey along the western shore of North ^ Somerset in 1849, mistaken the very low and level land over which we had been travelling for a western sea, I felt no longer justified in continuing a western course. Whatever passage might exist to the south- west of Cape Walker, I felt assured must now be on our north. I determined, therefore, from this time forward, to direct our course northward, until we should fall upon some channel which we knew must exist not far from us, in this direction, by which Franklin might have passed to the south-west." The weather still continued boisterous and change- able. The channel of which they were in search was Symptoms of nowhere to be found. Scurvy, too, began to show itself among the men, so it was resolved to turn eastward again and proceed towards the channel laid down to the east of Cape Bunny, which they resolved to follow up to Cape Walker. During the march they met several herds of deer, and succeeded in shooting a few brace of ptarmigan. As they had no means of cooking them, however, they adopted the practice, common among Indians, oi freezing them, and, while in this state, eating them raw ; and we are assured that " a frozen ptarmigan, after a hard scurvy. THE PRINCE ALBERT. 461 day's march, is by no means an unwelcome addition to chap. XIL nn Arctic traveller's bill of fare !" An incident of a kind that might have turned out serious, occurred at this time. — " As I was proceeding in advance of the party," says Kennedy, " with the view of selecting the most level track for sleighs, I was alarmed by a cry from the men that Richard Webb*s feet were frozen. Sure enough, on placing the poor fellow on the sleigh, ^'eet nearly and stripping o£f his moccasins, both feet were as cold as two lumps of ice, and one already slightly frozen. I immediately caused the men to form a circle round him to protect him from the wind, while John Smith and myself proceeded to restore circulation by rubbing the affected parts well over with snow. This done, I pulled out a pair of warm dry moccasins, which I always carried under my belt, ready for next day's wear ; and John Smith supplied a pair of dry socks out of his bosom. As soon as these had been drawn on, and poor Dicky placed on his legs again, we were ready for a fresh start, and in less than a quarter of an hour we were all once more on the march, and our patient as lively and vigorous as ever." At last they arrived at Cape Walker. Its bold and Arrive at conspicuous headland first met their gaze on the 4th of wuiker. May ; but here, as at Fury Beach, they were doomed to meet with disappointment. Not a sign of Franklin's expedition having visited the spot was to be met with. Mr. Bellot carefully followed the windings of the rough ice outside the beach in order to have a commanding view of the cliffs, while Mr. Kennedy searched along shore, but all without success. Their stock of provi- sions was now getting very low, obliging them to go on short allowance ; and, to make it last longer, they fed the dogs from this time forward on " old leather shoes, and fag-ends of buffalo robes !" We should feel some- what inclined to charge our travellers with cruelty to animals when we read this, were we not farther assured by Mr. Kennedy that they not only lived, but thrived 462 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OP 186l-i52. Opportune discovery of provisions* CHAP. XII. wonderfully on ihiB food; and that "one old snarling brute, that had been called Boatswain, by the men, in consequence of his fierce, ill nature, never seemed thoroughly to enjoy his meals till put upon a course of old shoes ! '* From this time they grew worse and worse with scurvy, but were much revived by lighting upon a small dep6t of provisions, which had been left near Cape M'Ciintock by Sir James Ross in 1849. This enabled them to start again with vigour for Whaler Point, which they reached on the 15th, and at which place they remained until the 27th, making free use of the lime>juice, cranberries, &c., which were deposited there. After being sufBciently restored, they started on their return to the ship, which they finally reached on the 30th of May, having been absent ninety-seven days, during which time they had traversed about 1100 miles. Nothing now remained to be done but to get the ship clear of the ice as soon as possible, and return to England. This, however, was not easily accomplished. There was little in the appearance of ice or land to indicate that June had arrived, except the falling in of some of the snow-houses which had been erected around the ship. Gradually, however, the fierce glare of the dog-days began to tell upon the face of nature, and finally carried all before it ; liberating them from the cold embraces of Batty Bay on the 6th of August. On the 19th, they got comparatively clear of the ice, and finally hoisted their sails to a favouring breeze, which soon carried them into the broad Atlantic, and wafted them in safety to the shores of Britain, which they reached on the 7th of October. " I cannot," writes Mr. Kennedy, ^t the conclusion of his extremely interesting journal, " close this brief narrative of a voyage, accomplished under unnsuak difficulties, and in the absence of many appliances possessed by others engaged in the prosecution of an Return to England. THE PRINOE ALBERT. 463 extensive exploration of the Arctic Seas, without record- CHAP. XII. ing here, first, my gratitude to the Ahnighty for the pro- c^n'^on ^f tet'tion he has in his mercy vouchsafed to us ; and my the rnnce oUUgatlons to the crew of our little vessel, by whose hardi- Albert's hood, perseverance, and uniform good conduct alone, we ^°^**°' were enabkd to effect what we did. To Mr. Bellot, my corftstant companion, not only do I owe the most valuable assistance from his scientific attainments ; but his amiable qualities have cemented a deep personal regard^ which can end only wiih my life." 464 DISCOVERY OP THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. CHAPTER XIII. Discovery of the North- West Passage, and News of FranUirCs \ Party. ; Sir Edward Belcher's Position and Prospects — New Expedition — Injustice to the Americans — Return of Captain Inglefield, and News of the Discovery of the North-West Passage — Narrative of M'Clure's Voyage — Meeting between M'Clure and Kellet — SirE. Belcher's Squadron — More Traces of Franklin's Route Discovered — Melancholy Death of Lieu- tenant Bellot — Dr. Rae's Return with News of the Discovery of Part of the Franklin Expedition, and Articles belonging to Sir J. Franklin and Party, found in the hands of the Esquimaux. CHAP xiir. Although the expedition under Mr. Kennedy failed to accomplish the principal object for which it had been fitted out, it had done soifiething in the way of adding to our knowledge of these desolate coasts in a geographical point of view, and had brought home chf ering intelligence of the progress of the searching squadron, which sailed, as men- tioned at the beginning of the last chapter, under Sir Edward Belcher, and which had proceeded up Wellington Channel so early as the month of August 1852. Captain Kellet had also been successful in advancing towards Melville Island, which he hoped to reach before the winter set in. ' " In the beginning of 1852, various rumours arose as to the fate of the missing ships. One of these was to the. Expedition of SirE. Belcher in Wellington ChanneL SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS OF 1853. 465 effect, that two vessels, supposed to be the Erebus and chap, xiil Terror, had been seen by an American trader set fast in an „ iceberg in the North Atlantic, apparently abandoned by regarding their crews. Another, was the story (already alluded to) FrankUn. invented by the Esquimaux interpreter of Sir John Ross, who said that Franklin and his crews had been murdered at an Esquimaux settlement at Wolstenholme Sound, on the north of Baffin's Bay. The story was believed by Sir John Boss himself, and obtained some credence for a time, but was proved afterwards to be a mere fabrica- tion. In consequence of this last rumour, however. Lady ingiefleid Franklin refitted the Isabel screw-steamer, and sent her Expedition, out under Commander Inglefield, R.N., to ascertain the truth of the story. After an absence of four months, he returned, having made a minute examination of both coasts of Baffin's Bay and the settlement at Wolstenhohne Sound, without discovering anything to indicate the occur- rence of such a tragical event there. In the beginning of the year 1863, three expeditions New Expe- were fitted out, partly to continue the search, and partly ***t^on8. to reinforce the vessels already in the field of action. The Rattlesnake, under Commander TroUope, and the Isabel screw-steamer— again refitted by Lady Franklin, and placed under the command of Mr. Kennedy — sailed for Behring's Straits, in order to carry supplies to Captains CoUinson and M'Clure. Mr. Rae was again despatched to the Isthmus of Boothia, to make a further examination of the coast in that quarter; and Commander Inglefield was sent to Barrow's Straits with the Phoenix and the Lady Franklin, to reinforce the squadron under Sir E. Belcher. Mr. Grinnell, of New York, also fitted out an expedition, and sent it to explore the passages leading out of Baffili's Bay into the unknown ocean around the Pole. It may not be out of place here, perhaps, to make a inju^'tico. to few remarks on the injustice which has been done to America by England, in regard to the discoveries in Wellington Channel during the autumn of 1850. In 2p Anict'icu. 466 INJUSTICE TO AMERICA. !i M The Ri itish AUiuiniity. n H CHAP. XIII. September of that year, the vessels sent out by Mr. Grinnell of New Yrr]c were carried northwards and up the channel, past all the points hitherto discovered, until they reached lat. 75" 25^, when they saw land to the north, which was named Grinnell Zand by Lieutenant De Haven, who commanded the expedi- tion. The following year (1851), this same land was seen by Captain Penny, and named by him Albert Land. Of course it was supposed by the Americans that when the fact was made known that this land had been discovered by De Haven about eight months before it was reached by Captain Penny, the name of " Albert" would be dropped, and that of ** Grinnell" sub- stituted. This, however, was not done. A strange, ^ and, certainly, not a very honourable feeling of jealousy seems to have induced the Admiralty and the Geo- graphical Society to shut their eyes to the fact that the discovery of this land was due to the Americans, that it was proved to have been by them discovered, by the official report of Lieutenant De Haven— a gentleman who, we have every reason to believe, was eminently qualified for the service in which he was engaged — by the journal of Dr. Kane, the narrative of Mr. Griffin, and the logs of the American ships ; and, notwithstanding all this, the disputed territory now stands on the English maps as Albert Land, To enter into minute particulars regarding this matter, is im- possible here. The question is taken up and fully elaborated in a pamphlet by Colonel Peter Force, who shows, very clearly, that the honour of the discovery of Grinnell Land is due to the American flag. Among other things that strike us, in reading this pamphlet, is the somewhat cool and presumptuous way in which it is assumed that the land discovered by De Haven was Baillie Hamilton Island, thereby insinuating that that gentleman, though an able officer in the American navy, was incompetent to ascertain his true position. It was attempted also to show that this same land was CoTonel Force's pamphlet INJUSTICE TO AMERICA. 467 Mr. d up ered, land d by :pedi- i was ilbert L'icans I land Lontlis me of r'sub- irange, salousy e Geo- ct that ericans, lovered, ,ven — a ive, was he was ative of js; and, >ry now To enter r, is im- nd fully rce, who liscovery Among lamphlet, in which e Haven ,ting that American position. land was '/ / discovered by Captain Ommanney on the 25th of chap. xiii. August 1850 — an attempt which has, however, been frustrated by that gentleman's own journal, which asserts that on that day no land was visible north- ward. It is deeply to be regretted that so unjustifiable an attempt should have been made to advance the glory of the British flag at the expense of the stripes and stars of America. There is too much of this feeling of jealous rivalry between us already; but we feel as- sured that the British nation does not sympathize with this dishonourable action, which has been done (we hope in ignorance) under the sanction of the British Government — an action which reflects all the more dis- credit upon those engaged in it, when we consider that it blots from the map of North America the name of a man whose philanthropic effbrts in behalf of our long- lost countryman. Sir John Franklin, are beyond all praise. In the autumn of 1853 the deep interest of the nation News of the was once more aroused by the arrival of Captain Ingle- ^^!I7^^ **[ field of the Phoenix with despatches from the Arctic passage. Regions, conveying the intelligence that the North-West Passage had at length been discovered by Captain M^Clure of the Investigator, who had passed through Behring's Straits and sailed to within a few miles of the most westerly discoveries made from the eastern side of America, at which point he was frozen up, and where his ship was finally abandoned. No vessel has yet made the entire First man passage ; but, from the two extreme points of discovery J^.'Jyg^.^^j ^,,g on either side, parties from the Investigator walked Noitn-Wcst over the frozen ocean ; and Lieutenant Cresswell, the rassage. bearer of despatches from Captain M'Clure, is the first who has sailed from England, entered Behring's Straits, and returned again to England by the Atlantic Ocean, having thus passed through the far-famed, much- sought-after, and at length discovered, North-West Pas- sage. 468 CAPTAIN M'cLURE. ColUnson and M'Clure enter tlie Polar raclc CHAP. xiiL As a detailed account of this event cannot but prove deeply interesting to all classes of readers, we shall endeavour to lay before them as connected a narrative Eis possible, quoting, as occasion may require, from the public despatches and newspapers. It will be remembered that Captains CoUinson and M'Clure sailed for Behring*s Straits in 1850, through which, in connection with the Plover and Herald, they endeavoured to pass, but without success, except in the case of the Investigator (Captain M'Clure), which was last seen on the 4th August 1850, bearing gallantly into the heart of the " Polar pack." The Enterprise (Captain CoUinson) finding it impossible to follow, sailed to Hong-Kong, and wintered there ; but in May 1851 re- turned to Behring's Straits, and succeeded in entering the ice. The Plover remained at Port Clarence as a reserve for these two vessels to fall back upon, while the Herald returned to England. From that date we remained in ignorance of the fate of these two vessels, until the arrival of the Phoenix, in 1853, put us in possession of the despatches of Captain M'Clure, and assured us of the safety of the Investigator. On parting company with the Herald in Behring's Straits in July 1850, Captain M'Clure stood to the north-north-west with a fresh breeze, with the inten- tion of making the ice, which was accomplished on the 2d of August. During several days, the Investigator battled with the foe — now boring through densely- packed masses, and then winding among the lanes which opened here and there as the currents or winds acted upon the pack; occasionally they struck with considerable violence, but succeeded at length in round- ing Point Barrow, and discovered clear water on the afternoon of the 7th — so far a-head, however, that it could only be seen from the " crow's nest." Hundreds of walrusses were seen huddled together on the ice like sheep in a fold. Cliecked by ice. CAPTAIN M'cLURE. 460 " The wind," writes M'Clure, " almost immediately chap. xiii. failing, the boats were all manned, and towing com- menced amid songs and cheers, which continued with unabated good humour for six hours, when their labo- rious work was brought to a successful termination. Being in perfectly clear water in Smith's Bay, a light air springing up, we worked to the eastward. At two A.M. of the 8th, being off Point Drew, sent Mr. Court (second master) on shore to erect a cairn, and buiy a notice of our having passed. Upon landing, we were Meet with met by three natives, who at first were very timid j "''^'^•^'*' but upon exchanging signs of friendship, which con- sisted of raising the arms three times over the head, they approached the boat, and after the pleasant salu- tation of rubbing noses, became very communicative ; when, by the assistance of our valuable interpreter, Mr. Miertsching, we found the tribe consisted of ten tents (this being the only approach to their numbers he could obtain), that they had arrived only three days previously, and that they hold communication with a party inland, who trade with the Russian Fur Com- pany. The evening before, they had observed us, but could not imagine what large trees were moving about (our masts), and all the tribe had assembled on the beach to look at them, when they agreed that it was something very extraordinary, and left the three men who met the boat, to watch! They also gave the pleasing intelligence that we should find open water along the coast from about three to five miles distant during the summer: that the heavy ice very seldom informatfon came in, or never left the land farther than at present : [he'^cel"'' that they did not know if there were any islands farther north, as they found it impossible to go in their ka- yacks, when in pursuit of seals, farthei than one day's journey to the main ice, and then the lanes of water allowed of their proceeding three quarters of a day farther, which brought them to very large and high ice, with not space enough in any part of it to allow 470 CAPTAIN M'CLURE. M'Clure's opinion re- Rai'dins; Fiuukliii, CHAP. xilL tlitiir kayacks to enter. The probable distance, Mr. • Miertsching therefore estimates, from his knowledge of the Esquimaux habits, to be about forty miles off-shore, and, from what I have seen of the pack, I am inclined to think this is perfectly correct, for a more unbroken mass I never witnessed." The natives who were here met with had spent their lives between the Coppermine River and Point Barrow, and, from the circumstance of their not having met with any of Franklin's party, Captain M'Clure con- cluded that they could not have been lost on these shores. " The coast," says he, " is inhabited through- out, and the natives are, to all appearance, a kind and merry race ; and, when we gave them presents, through *> the medium of the interpreter, we told them that we were looking for our lost brothers, and if they saw any white men in distress, they were to be very kind, to which they assented by saying that they would, and give them 'plenty of deer's flesh.'" 7 So narrow was the passage of open water between the ice and the shore, along which the Investigator had to pass, that she had great difficulty sometimes in tack- ing,— requiring to do so, in some places, nearly every ten minutes ; and, on one occasion, they actually took Bhii: touches the ground while " in stays." Fortunately, the bottom tiegiom ^^ g^£j. ^i^y^ ^^^ ^Y^Qy hove oiF again immediately. Gradually, however, the lane widened, the reaches be- came longer and longer, and all apprehension of being forced on shore was soon over. On the 10th, they passed the mouth of the Colville River, whose influence was found to extend twelve or fourteen miles out to sea ; the surface, at that distance from shore, being of a dirty mud colour, and scarcely salt. At this part of the coast, they again fell in with natives, who came off in two haiJars to the nuirber of thirty. A very ani- mated and curious scene ensued. — A vigorous barter H'as immediately commenced, after the curiosity of the wondering Esquimaux with regard to the ship was CAPTAIN m'cLURE. 471 satisfied. Their imitative propensity was rather oddly chap. xiii. brought into play during the traffic. Seeing the sailors "~* cut the tobacco into pieces, to give in exchange for salmon-trout, they at once began to do the same with the fish! but were soon checked in this, and were obliged to succumb to the white men. During the interesting afternoon, wliile standing along a low flat island, a pair ™fth e^uI- ' of sealskin inexpressibles were observed fluttering from maux. the top of a pole, held up by a number of natives, who took this method of intimating their desire to receive a visit. In obedience to the signal, the boats were lowered, and pulled in to the shore. The Esquimaux appeared to regret their temerity, however, for on the near approach of the sailors, the inexpressibles were dropt, and the whole tribe fled. As usual, however, they regained courage on observing the friendly gesticu- lations of the white men, and soon approached them, tossing up their arms, and making other signs of friend- ship ; ending at last by rubbing noses with, and affec- tionately embracing, the gallant tars. These poor people had never seen white men before : they had no article of European manufacture about their persons, ' and spent their lives in hunting walrusses and seals on these low islands during the summer months — ^retiring to their warm residences on the mainland during winter. After holding some communication with them, through the medium of the interpreter. Captain M'Clure left them, having first made them a few presents, and, among other things, a boat's ensign, in commemoration of the first man-of-war whose flag has floated over these sterile regions. The magnificence of this latter gift quite astounded them, and caused them to rush tumultu- ously to their canoes to carry it off to their women, who were encamped on another island close at hand. Coasting along, as they found opportunity, they ad- vanced slowly — sometimes in clear, sometimes in foggy weather — sometimes with much, and sometimes with little water, till the morning of the 13th, when the 472 CAPTAIN m'cLURE. OIIAP. XIII. S)iip gets a-grouiid. Navifration diiflcult, owing to fi'ga. Unfriendly natives. ice closed round, and hemmed them in completely. In this dilemma, the boats were sent to sound, and shortly returned, reporting a practicable passage in three fathoms water. Unfortunately, they hit on a spot with only two and a half fathoms, and so were soon fast a-ground. As it turned out, however, the bottom was sandy, so that no damage was done to the sln'p; but, unfortunately, one of the whale boats, which contained part of the cargo taken out to lighten the vessel, upset, and eleven casks of salt beef were lost. This was a serious loss at such a time. After five hours' hard work, they got once more into deep water. In this way, they continued to coast along the mar- gin of the pack for about four or five hundred miles, when it became somewhat more open, and it was re- solved to shape a course to the north-north>west for Banks' Land. In doing this, however, they were fre- quently obliged to alter, and often to retrace their course, owing to the deceptive nature of the lanes of water, and the perplexing fogs that constantly pre- vailed, obliging them to proceed chiefly by soundings. On the 21st of August, they passed the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and made the Pelly Islands. Soon after, they reached Warren Point, where natives were seen on the shore ; and as Captain M'Clure wished to forward despatches by them, if possible, to the Hud- son's Bay Company's posts on the Mackenzie, the boats were ordered out. Captain M'Clure believed the natives to have been in connection with these posts, and expected a friendly reception fi'om them. " Great, therefore," says he, " was my surprise, upon approaching the beach, to find, instead of being greeted by the usual friendly signs, that two savages, with gesticulations the most menacing, having bended bows, with arrows on their strings, and one with a large knife, which he brandished most significantly, waved us ofT. Taking no heed of these hostile demonstra- tions, we pulled in ; they retreated, yelling furio\isly. CAPTAIN m'cLURE. 473 Upon our reaching the beach, we made the same signs chap, xni of friendship which we had used with the Esquimaux ' further west, but without any effect, until joined by the interpreter, who was in full native costume. This gave them confidence, and, upon his explaining our friendly intentions, they approached ; but when within about thirty yards, remarking some muskets which the boat's crew had, their fury revived. To pacify them, they were laid upon the ground, where they became the object of a cautious examination. Still unsatisfied, they beckoned to take them to the boat. Seeing that nothing short of this would allow of any communica- tion, I sent them away, when they approached, and permitted us to examine their bows and arrows." It was found that these Esquimaux had no com- munication with the Mackenzie, in consequence of their being at war with the neighbouring tribes, and having had several skirmishes with the Indians of that quarter. Tliis may in some measure account for their fierce dispositions — so very different from those pre- viously met with. A flat brass button was observed suspended from the ear of one of the chiefs of this ^ tribe, and on being questioned as to where he got it, he replied, that ^' it had been taken from a white man who had been killed by one of his tribe. The white man belonged to a party which had landed at Point Warren, and there built a house: nobody knew how they came, as they had no boat ; but they went inland. The man killed had strayed from the party, and he strange story (the chief) and his son had buried him upon a hill at par?y of '^ * a little distance." No satisfactory or intelligible reply ^lute men. could be got as to when this event occurred. Captain M'Clure remained at this place for a short time to in- vestigate the matter, but only found two huts, which, from the rottenness of the wood of which they were built, appeared to be of a very old date indeed. The grave of the white man was not found. All along this coast, they met with pfirties of natives, m 474 CAPTAIN m'cLURE. CHAP. XIII. Tlio Inter- preter tein})ted to remain with tlio KsquU muuxl Hopes sud- denly raised and oust down. who almost invariably showed a hostile front on their first appearance, and as invariably became amicable after a little coquetting. In these interviews, they had frequently curious scenes, especially in the distribution of presents to some natives near Cape Bathurst, who could scarcely be restrained when the gaudy gifts were presented to their longing eyes. Mr. Miertsching, the interpreter, was always of the greatest use on these occasions, and won so much the esteem of one old chief, that, in the fulness of his heart, he prayed him to stay with the tribe for ever ; and, by way of induce- ment to do so, presented him with his daughter, a pretty girl of about fifteen, to be his wife, assuring him, at the same time, that a tent, and all the etceteras of an Esquimaux establishment, should be given to him along with her 1 They were freqn ntly invited to par- take of native hospitality in the sh&pe of roasted whale and venison, besides salmon, blubber, and other Arctic delicacies. Great numbers of whales were seen about this time, and a Polar bear was also observed on a fragment of ice. On the 6th of September, the hopes of the navigators were suddei^y raised, and as speedily cast down again, in the following manner : — " The weather, which had been squally, accompanied by a thick fog during the early part of the day, cleared towards noon, when a large volume of smoke was observed about twelve miles south-west. ... As divers opinions were in circulation respecting its probable cause, and the ice- mate having positively reported that from the crow*s nest he could distinguish several persons moving about, dressed in white shirts, and observed some white tents in the hollow of the cliff, I certainly had every reason to imagine they were a party of Europeans in distress, convinced that no travellers would remain for so long a period as we had remarked the smoke, for their pleasure : therefore, to satisfy myself, equally as others, I determined to send a boat on shore, as it was CAPTAIN M'CLUllE. 475 now calm. Tlie first whale boat, u uler Lui \jnant chap. xiii. Cresswell, with Dr. Armstrong and Mr. Miert, hing, was despatched to examine into the cause, who, on their return, reported the smoke to emanate from fifteen small mounds of volcanic appearance, occupying a space of about fifty yards, the place strongly impreg- voUanic nated with sulphur, the lower mounds being aiwut "^''""^'*- thirty feet above the sea-level, the highest about fifty feet. The land in its vicinity was blue clay, much intersected with ravines and deep watercourses, vary- ing in elevation from 300 to 600 feet : the mark of a reindeer was traced to a small pond of water immedi- ately above the mounds. Notice of our having landed was left, which would not long remain, as the cliff is evidently rapidly crumbling away. Thus the mystery of the white shirts and tents was most satisfactorily explained." At four A.M. of the 6th, they were off the small islands, near Cape Parry, bearing north-east-by-north, with a fine westerly breeze. The same day, high land was observed on the port-bow, on the western shore of which the main body of the ice rested. This was the ncw land first sight obtained of terra incognita. Hitherto they discovered. had been sailing along a shore which had in former years been sui-veyed, on foot and in boats, by Franklin, Back, Dease, Simpson, and others ; although, indeed, theirs was the first ship that had sailed in these waters ; but the land which now appeared to them on the left bow was quite new. Accordingly, they hove Baring's to ; and, with the first whale boat and cutter, landed '**'""ituated in the centre of a wide plain, about fifteen miles distant: the sight to seaward was favourable in the extreme ; open water, with a very small quantity of ice, for the distance of full forty miles towards the east, insured good progress in that direction. The weather becoming foggy, our lead was the only guide until ten a.m. of the 9th ; it then cleared for a short time, when land was observed to the eastward, about fifteen miles distant, extending to the northward as far as the eye could reach. The mountains in the interior are lofty and snow-covered, while the low ground is quite free. Several very remarkable peaks were dis- cernible, apparently of volcanic origin. This discovery was named Prince Albert's Land. . . . The wind becoming fair, and weather clearing, all the studding- sails were set, with the hope of reaching Barrow's Strait, from which we were now distant about seventy miles. The water was tolerably clear in that direction, although much ice was lying against the western land ; . much loose ice was also in motion, and, while endeavouring to run between two floes, at the Snow-clad mountnins in the interior. m CAPTAIN M'cLURK. 477 fgle of four knots, they closed so rapully, one upon chap xni. either heam, that our way was instantly stopped, and the vessel lifted considerably ; in this position we were rx)tained a quarter of an hour, when the pressure eased, and we proceeded. Our advance was of short duration, hs at two P.M. the wind suddenly shifted to the north- east, and be;j;an to freshen; the water, which a few iiours previous had excited sanguine hopes of a good run, became soon so thickly studded with floes, that Deset by ice. about four p.m. there was scarcely sufficient to keep the ship freed; this by much exertion was however effected until two A.M. of the 14th, when we were beset.'* From this time forward, baffling winds and impene- Hamuyg trable floes of ice conspired to retard the progress of the ^'"^'** Investigator. They frequently ran great risk of being cut in two, or crushed by the rushes of ice which assailed them in the narrow strait along which they weie sail- ing ; and more than once the good skip was placed in one of those terrible predicaments in which man's power is vain, and the Arm of God alone can save. But that Arm was not wanting in the time of need, and the vessel was carried forward in safety till the 17th of September, when the wind, which had been light, gradutvlly died away, and thoy were almost immediately beset. " There were several heavy floes in the vicinity ; one, full six miles in length, passed at the rate of two knots, crush- ing everything that impeded its progress, and grazed our starboard-bow. Fortunately, there was but young Narrow ice upon the opposite side, which yielded to the pres- '''*'^*'i"''- sure: had it otherwise occurred, the vessel must inevit- ably have been cut asunder. In the afternoon, we se- cured to a moderately sized piece, drawing eight fathoms, which appeared to offer a fair refuge, and from which we never afterwards parted.'* To this lump of ice the Investigator clung with the tenacity of a bosom-friend, and followed it, literally, through thick and thin ! There is something almost ludicrous, as well as striking, in M*Clure's account of 478 CAPTAIN M'CLURE. ill Extraordi- nary drift yir\th an ice- berg. CHAP. XIII. their connexion with this bit of ice. " It conveyed us,'* says he, *' to our farthest north-east position, lat. 73° 7' north, long. 11 7'' 10' west, back round the Princess Royal Islands ; passed the largest within 600 yards to lat. 72° 42' north, long. 118® 42' west, return- ing along the coast of Prince Albert's Land, and finally freezing in at lat. 72° 60' north, long. 117° 55' west, upon the 30th of September, during which circumnavi- gation we received many severe nips, and were fre- quently driven close to the shore, from which our deep friend kept us off. To avoid separation, we had secured with two stream-cables, one chain, two six and two five- inch hawsers. As our exposed position rendered every precaution necessary, we got upon deck twelve months' provisions, with tents, warm clothing, &c., and issued to each person a pair of carpet-boots and a blanket-bag, so that in the event of any emergency rendering it im- perative to quit the vessel, we might not be destitute. On the 8th of October, our perplexities terminated with a nip that lifted the vessel a foot, and heeled her 4° to port, in consequence of a large tongue getting beneath her, in which position we quietly remained." Here the Investigator passed the winter of 1850-51, during which season a journey w^as made over the ice to the shores of Barrow's Strait, which they found to be connected with the strait in which they wintered ; thus establishing the fact of the existence of a North- West Passage in that direction. Various other jour- neys with sledges were undertaken along the shores of Baring Island towards Banks' Land, with which it was found to be connected ; and also towards the southern extremitj' of the island, and along the shores of Prince Albert's Land, but without the slightest trace of Sir John Franklin's party being met with. In these ex- cursions, they frequently found traces of Esquimaux, who seem to have inhabited the island in great num- bers many years ago. Only one party was met with, however, from whom they obtained no information Tr:ioes of inhabitants lotig ago. CAPTAIN M'cLURE. 479 worthy of record. The only other inhabitants of the chap. xiii. soil with whom they met, were deer, musk oxen, and bears. One of these last, on being opened, was found to have dined on raisins, tobacco, pork, and adhesive plaster! This extraordinary medley led Captain A bear's M'Clure to suppose that the Enterprise must be near, '""*^'"* and a search was instituted accordingly, which only resulted in the discovery of a preserved meat canister, containing similar articles, and from which Bruin, doubtless, had procured his curious meal. On the 13th of June 1851, all the sledge-parties had returned in safety to the ship, and everything was in readiness to set sail, the instant the huge barriers of ice, with which they were surrounded, should set them free. The account of the commencement of operations in spring is full of interest. We give it in M'Clure*s own words. " The first indication of open water," says he, Commenco- " occurred to-day (July 7th), extending some distance spring. along the shore of Prince Albert's Land, about a mile in width; the ice in every direction is so rapidly de- caying, being much accelerated by sleet and rain, with a thermometer standing at forty-five degrees, that, by the 14th, that which for the last few days had been slightly in motion, with large spaces of water interven- ing, suddenly and noiselessly opened around the vessel, leaving her in a pond of forty yards ; but seeing no possibility of getting without its limits, we were com- Disruption pelled to secure to the floe which had for ten months befriended us, and, with the whole of the pack, gradu- ally drifted to the southward, towards the Princess Royal Islands, which w^e passed on the eastern side within half a mile. Upon the 17th, at ten a.m., being among loose ice, we cast off from the floe and made sail, with the hope of getting upon the western shore where the water appeared to be making, but without shipping the rudder, in consequence of being in the vicinity of several large floes, and at two p.m. again of the ico. 480 CAPTAIN m'cLURE. I 'I i!i( " CHAP. xiiL secured to a floe between the Princess Royal and Bir- ■— ~ ing's Islands (we passed over a shoal having nineteen fathoms). On the 20th, at half-past eleven a.m., a light air sprang up from the south-west, which, slack- ing the ice, gave hopes of making progress to the north- east, in which direction I was anxious to get for the Siiip drifted purpose of entering Barrow's Strait, that, according to about by the circumstances, I might be enabled to carry out my original intentions of proceeding to the northward of Melville Island, as detailed in my letter to the Secre- tary of the Admiralty, of July 20, 1850; or, should such not be practicable, return to England through the strait. The ship was cast off, and a mile gained, when the wind died away, and we were again beset. On the morning of the 22d, open water appearing in the north- east, the rudder was shipped in expectation of a start, which was not, however, realized until the afternoon of the 23d, when a light south-west wind set the ice to the north-east, carrying us over a shoal upon which there was much ice grounded in thirteen fathoms ; the corner of the floe to which we were attached coming in contact with some of these masses, gave way, throw- ing pieces of twelve and fourteen feet square com- pletely out of the water. It grazed the hard bottom with a sound not unlike distant thunder, as it crashed, crumbled, and upheaved, throwing an enormous mound up in its centre, as if under the influence of volcanic agency, and then rent asunder, the part we were secured to remaining firmly grounded, while the other and lighter portion, being forced onwards with accelerated ToiTibie nisii speed, came direct for our unprotected stern. To let the^iitp**"^* ^^ warps and anchors was but the work of a minute, and most fortunate were we in accomplishing it, as, ere they could be got on board, it struck the stern, forcing the ship ahead at the rate of two knots. A small space of open water, occasioned by the grounding of the floe, allowed of our advance j when, by wai-ping and towing, we speedily got beyond its influence. Had CAPTAIN m'cLURE. 481 our position been less favourable, nothing could have chap. xiii. saved the vessel from momentary destruction, and at half-past eleven p.m., with a breeze from the south- east, we made sail through large leads of water towards the eastern side of the strait, and by the afternoon of the 24th, had nearly reached Point Armstrong, upon which the ice was resting, where our course was checked. There was much driftwood on the beach, of Drtft-wood large dimensions, mostly American pine. The cutter large qianu- was consequently despatched for a load, and some of ^^^^ the pieces appeared so fresh, that Mr. Ford, the car- penter, was of opinion that two years was the extreme of their quitting the forest. The wind veering to the westward during the night, set large bodies of ice into the water we occupied, which was rapidly filling. To prevent being forced on shore, we were obliged, at eight A.M. of the 25th, to run into the pack, where we drifted, according to the tide, about a mile and a half from the beach ; but, during the twenty-four hours, made about two miles and a half to the north-east, from which I am of opinion, when taken with the quantity of drift- wood that is thickly strewed along the beach, that on this side of the strait there is a slight current to the north-east, while, upon the opposite one, it sets to the southwr ,'d, upon which there is scarcely any wood, and our progress, while similarly situated, was in a southern direction. We continued drifting in the pack, without meeting any obstruction, until ten a.m. of the 1st of August, when a sudden and most unexpected motion of the ice swept us with much velocity to the north-east, towards a low point off which were several shoals awash, having many heavy pieces of grounded ice upon them, towards which we were directly setting, decreasing the soundings from twenty-four to nine and a half fathoms. Destruction was, apparently, not far distant, when, most DanKera in. opportunely, the ice eased a little, and a fresh wind ^^^^^^ coming from the land, sail was immediately made, which, assisted by warps, enabled the ship to be forced 2g t* i 482 CAPTAIN M*CLURE. CHAP. XIII. Blastinpc tho floes with gunpowder. Commence to coast the western shores of Barine'8 Island. ■ n 1 1 I: **■ ahead about 200 yards, which shot us clear of ice and point into sixteen and a half fathoms, in which water we rounded the shoals ; the ice then again closed, and the ship became fixed until the 14th, when the fog, which since the previous day had been very dense, cleared, and discovered open water about half a mile from the vessel, with the ice' loose about her." The difficulty of clearing away large masses of ice was, to some extent, obviated by blasting. "Previously to quitting the floe, I was desirous of trying what effect blasting would have upon such a mass. A jar con- taining thirty-six pounds of powder was let down twelve feet into the water near the centre; the average thickness was eleven feet, and its diameter 400 yards. The result was most satisfactory, rending it in every direction, so that with the greatest ease we could effect a passage through any part of it." Notwithstanding his persevering efforts, however, Oaptain M'Clure failed in penetrating into Barrow's Strait, and, having been foiled in attempting this pas- sage— the latter end of one season, and the beginning of another — he considered it altogether impracticable, ex- cept under the favourable circumstances of a continu- ance of westerly gales, which would drive the ice into Barrow's Strait. On the 16th of August, they finally put about with the intention of coasting round the western shores of the island, hoping to make the passage to the north- ward of Banks' Land. The difficulties to be overcome, and the dangers en- countered, in this attempt, may be gathered from the following extracts from the despatches : — " At four p.m. of the 18th, being off a very low spit of sand (Point Kellet), which extended to the westward for about twelve miles, in the form of a horse-shoe, having its seaside thickly studded with grounded ice, while the interior was exempt from any, I sent Mr. Court (second master) to examine it, who reported an excellent and CAPTAIN M'cLURE. 483 commodious harbour, well sheltered from north-west chai'. xiil. to south, carrying five fathoms within ^^n yards of the beach, which was shingle, and covered with drift- wood. A set of sights was obtained, and a cask, con- taining a notice, was left there. Upon the morning of the 19th, we left this low coast, and passed between two small islands lying at the entrance of what ap- peared a deep inlet, running east-south-east, and then turning sharp to the north-east. It had a barrier of chamctev of ice extending across, which prevented any examina- *^*^ ^"^"'^ tion. Wishing to keep between the northernmost of these islands and the mainland, to avoid the pack, which was very near it, we narrowly escaped getting on shore, as a reef extended from the latter to within half a mile of the island. Fortunately, the wind being light, we rounded to with all the studding-sails set, and let go the anchor in two and a half fathoms, having about four inches to spare under the keel, and warped into four, while Mr. Court was sent to find a channel, in which he succeeded, carrying three fathoms, through which we ran for one mile, and then continued our course in eight, having from three to five miles between the ice and land. At eight p.m., we neared two other islands, the ice resting upon the westernmost, upon which the pressure must have been excessive, as large masses were forced nearly over its summit, which was upwards of forty feet. Between these and the main we ran through a channel in from nine to fifteen fathoms, when an immediate and marked change took suddcn place in the general appearance and formation of the the appear- land: it became high, precipitous, sterile, and rugged; anceofthe intersected with deep ravines and watercourses, having sixty-five fathoms at a quarter of a mile, and fifteen fathoms one hundred yards from the cliffs, which proved exceedingly fortunate, as the whole pack, which had apparently only just broken from the shore, was within half a mile, and, in many places, so close to it, that, to avoid getting beset, we had nearly to touch the land. 484 CHAP. XIII Critical posi- tion of the luvestigator. ]| ■ i1 • iili'W Frlffhtftil i MiH ' " convulsions hH among the j ^H ice. H 1 ■ >* ■ - 1 n .-» ' 1 ,, j^, 1 •" i :' ^: 1 iii ii %' i CAPTAIN M CLURE. land : indeed, upon several occasions, the boats were compelled to be topped up, and poles used m keep the vessel off the grounded ice, which extends all along this coast ; nor could we round to, fearful of carrying the jib-boom away against its cliffs, which here run nearly east and west. The cape forming its western extreme I have called Prince Alfred, in honour of his Royal Highness. On the morning of the 20th, our further progress was impeded by finding the ice rest- ing upon a point, which formed a slight indentation of the shore, and was the only place where water could be seen. To prevent being carried away with the pack, which was filling up its space, we secured to the inshore side of a small but heavy piece of ice, grounded in twelve fathoms seventy-four yards from the beach — the only protection against the tremendous Polar ice (setting a knot per hour to the eastward before a fresh westerly wind), which at nine p.m. placed us in a very critical position, by a large floe striking the piece we were fast to, and causing it to oscillate so considerably, that a tongue which happened to be under our bottom, lifted the vessel six feet ; but, by great attention to the anchors and warps, we suc- ceeded in holding on during the conflict, which was continued several minutes, terminating by the floe being rent in pieces, and our being driven nearer the beach. From this until the 29th, we lay perfectly secure, but at eight a.m. of tliat day, the ice began suddenly to move, when a large floe, that must have caught the piece to which we were attached under one of its overhanging ledges, raised it perpendicular thirty feet, presenting to all on board a most frightful aspect. As it ascended above the foreyard, much apprehension was felt that it niight be thrown completely over, when the ship must have been crushed beneath it. This suspense was but for a few minutes, as the floe rent, carrying away with it a large piece from the founda- tion of our asylum, when it gave several fearful rolls CAPTAIN M'CLURE. 485 anci resumed its former position ; but, no longer capable ciiap. xiii. of resisting the pressure, it was hurried onward with tlie drifting mass. Our proximity to the shore com- pelled, as our only hopes of safety, the absolute neces- sity of holding to it; we consequently secured with a chain, stream and hemp cable, three six and two live- inch hawsers, three of which were passed round it. In this state we were forced along, sinking large pieces beneath the bottom, and sustaining a heavj' strain against the stern and rudder; the latter was much damaged, but to unship it at present was impossible. At one P.M., the pressure eased, from the ice becoming Rudder stationary, when it was unhung and laid upon a large ^^'"'^K'^''* floe piece, where, by eight p.m., owing to the activity of Mr. Ford, the carpenter, who is always ready to meet any emergency, it was repaired, just as the ice began again to be in motion ; but as the tackles were hooked, it was run up to the davits without further damage. We were now setting fast upon another large piece of a broken floe, grounded in nine fathoms upon the debris formed at the mouth of a large river. Feel- ing confident that, should we be caught between this and what we were fast to, the ship must inevitably go to pieces, and yet being aware that to cast off would certainly send us on the beach (from which we were never distant eighty yards), upon which the smaller ice Endeavour to was hurled as it came in contact with these grounded biSng.^ masses, I sent John Kerr (gunner's mate), under very difficult circumstances, to endeavour to reach it and effect its destruction by blasting ; he could not, how- ever, find a suflficient space of water to sink the charge, but remarking a large cavity upon the sea face of the floe, he fixed it there, which so far succeeded, that it slightly fractured it in three places, which, at the moment, was scarcely observable, from the heavy pres- sure it was sustaining. By this time, the vessel was within a few feet of it, and every one was on deck in anxious suspense, awaiting what was apparently the 486 CAPTAIN m'CLURE. Thrilling sxupinsu. CHAP. XIII. crisis of our fate; most fortunately, the sternpost took it 80 fairly, that the pressure was fore and aft, bringing the whole strength of the ship to bear; a heavy grind, which shook every mast, and caused beams and decks to complain, rs she trembled to the violence of the shock, plainly indicated that the struggle would be but of short duration. At this moment the stream-cable was carried away, and several anchors drew : thinking that we had now suflBciently risked the vessel, orders were given to let go all the warps, and with that order [ had made up my mind that in a few minutes she would be on the beach ; but, as it was sloping, con- ceived she might still prove an asylum for the winter, and possibly be again got afloat ; while, should she be crushed between these large grounded pieces, she must inevitably go down in ten fathoms, which would be certain destruction to all ; but before the orders could be obeyed, a merciful Providence interposed, causing the ice, which had been previously weakened, to sepa- Dcliverance. rate into three pieces, and it floated onward with the mass, our stern still tightly jammed against, but now protected by it. The vessel, which had been thrown over fifteen degrees, and risen bodily one foot eight inches, now righted and settled in the water; the only damage sustained was several sheets of copper ripped off and rolled up like a sheet of paper, but not a fast- ening had given way, nor does any leakage indicate the slightest defect. By midnight the ice was stationary, and everything quiet, which continued until the 10th of September; indeed, from the temperature having fallen to sixteen degrees, with all appearance of the setting in of the winter, I considered our farther pro- gress stopped until next year.** ' From this time forward to the end of September, their course was one unvarying scene of battling against difflculties, apparently altogether insurmountable. At one time, they were forced by the ice almost ashore — at another, swept into the dangerous embrace of the Hopes of farther pro- Kt-ess given up. CAPTAIN M'CLFRE. 487 "Polar pack;" — now retarded by fogs, and blinding drifts of sleet, and sometimes grounding on, or grazing, the low shallows which stretched out from the shore on every side. On one occasion, they were almost crushed between the rushing masses of ice that de- scended upon them ; but, through the merciful protec- tion of an ever-watchful God, escaped with the loss of tlie bulwarks on one side of the ship, which were entirely swept away. About the end of September, they reached the western extremity of Banks* Land, and, finding that it was totally impossible to advance any farther that season, they made preparations for going into winter quarters at this point. '' I determined," continues M'Clure, "to make this our winter quarters, and, having remarked upon the south side of the bank on which we had grounded, a well protected bay, Mr. Court was despatched to sound it ; and, shortly making the signal that there was sufficient water, we bore up, and at forty-five minutes past seven a.m., we anchored in four and a half fathoms, and that night were firmly frozen in in what has since proved a most safe and excellent harbour, which, in grateful remembrance of the many ])erils that we had escaped during the passage of that terrible Polar Sea, we have named the " Bay of Mercy ;'* thus finally terminating this short season^s operations, having been actually only five entire days under way. Preparations were now made for housing in, and every- tiiing was completed by October Ist, except hauling over the cloth, which was not done, that the daylight should be enjoyed as long as possible, and a saving in lights effected. On t.hat day, as a precautionary mea- sure, the crew were placed upon two-thirds allowance of all species of provisions. Upon the 4th, Mr. Court was sent with a travelling-party to connect our position with that visited by Lieutenant Cresswell in May la^tt, fi-om which we were only distant eighteen miles. On the 7th, he returned, which service completed the search CHAP. XIll Prepare to go into winter garters. Frozen In for tlie winter in tlio " Bay of Mercy." Crew put on two-tliirds allowance ^j/-»»r;iLy^ 488 CAPTAIN M'CLURE. I M CHAP. xilL around the entire coastline of this island ; he reported —"^ open water a few miles from the shore, which, gradu- ally extending, readied the cliffs of Banks* Land. Upon the 6th, as, witli two men, he was examining a few miles to the south-eastward of his tent, the current detached the heavy grounded land-ice from its base, drifting the whole party off shore to the north-west ; fortunately, being unencumbered with the sledge, tliey succeeded with difficulty, and by much agility, jump- ing from piece to piece, in regaining the shore, and that evening no ice could be remarked in the strait, the whole being set into the Pular Sea. On the 10th, Mr. Sainsbury (mate), with a travelling-party, went to examine an inlet which appeared to run some distance , to the south-west from the south side of the bay, but upon the following day returned, finding it extended only twelve miles, the water shoaling, until it finally terminated in a large marsh, which, from the numerous traces of animals and wild fowl, may be considered as a favourite resort during the summer. As there ap- peared much game in the vicinity, and the weather continued mild, shooting-parties under Lieutenant Cresswell, Messrs. Wynniatt, Court, and Piers, and the marines, under Sergeant Wood, were established in dif- ferent directions between the 9th and 23d ; so that, with what was killed from the ship, our sux)ply of fresh pro- visions at the commencement of the winter consisted of nine deer, fifty-three hares, and forty-four ptarmigan, all in fine condition, the former having from two to three inches of fat. "The weather during the winter has been much more boisterous, but in each month several degrees more mild than was experienced in the Prince of Wales Strait — ^nearly a degree and a half farther south — last year, which, in conjunction with the animals remaining in numbers in this locality the entire winter, must, I suppose, be taken as a proof of its mildness, although lying exposed to the north-west winds, direct from the ShootinK>« parties sent out. The climate and weather. CAPTAIN M'CLURE. 489 Polar Sea, which, upon our first being frozen in, led to chap. xirr. the anticipation of having to encounter a very severo season. In consequence of our favoured position, the crew were enabled to ramble over tiie hills ahnost daily in quest of game, and their exertions happily supplied a fresh meal of venison three times a fort- night, with the exception of about three weeks in January, when it was too dark for shooting. The small game, such as ptarmigan and hares, being scarce, were allowed to be retained by the sportsmen as pri- vate property. This healthy and exhilarating exercise kept us all well and in excellent spirits during another tedious winter, so that on the 1st of April we had up- wards of 1000 pounds of venison hanging at the yard- arms. All wearing so fair an aspect, and being desirous Party crosH of visiting Winter Harbour, Melville Island, with the Meitme" hope of meeting an officer there with whom arrange- isJi^nd. ments might be made in the event of any accident occurring, which would render it necessary to quit the ship, I proceeded on the 11th with Mr. Court (second master) and a sledge-party for that port ; but in con- sequence of thick weather coming on a few hours after leaving the vessel, and continuing unintermittingly for several days, we did not reach until the 28th. Upon the 16th, we observed a very lofty cape, bearing north- east-by-east thirty miles, which I have called Queen Victoria, in honour of Her Most Gracious Majesty (the same which had been remarked last autumn from the high land near the ship). The land to the north-east forms the bottom of Lyddon Gulf, while that upon its western side stretched to the north-west in one un- broken mountain line as far as the eye could reach. At Winter Harbour we obtained a set of sights for the Winter Har- £ , .• 1 . 1 • 1 bour reached purpose of testing our chronometers, which were ascer- and North- tained to be going exceedingly well ; and having de- ^^^^^ *'"^" .- ..11 8^{?® accom- posited a notice of our visit under the same cairn pushed or* where Lieutenant M'Clintock left one last year, upon ■^*^^^' a large fragment of sandstone, bearing this inscription 490 CAPTAIN M'CLURE. cirAP. xiii — namely, 'His Britannic Majesty's ships Ilecla and Griper, Commanders Parry and Lyddon, wintered in the adjacent harbour during the winter of 1819-20, A. Fisher, sculpsit.' At six p.m. commenced our re- turn, travelling upon flat ice nearly the entire way, accomplishing in ten days what occupied eighteen upon the outward trip, and reached the ship upon the 9th of May;» Captain M'Clure and his party were thus the first to complete the North -West Passage— that is to say, they were the first who had actually traversed the Polar Seas from the westward to that point which had already ^ been reached, by former navigatora, from tiie east. The winter of 1851-2 was spent cheerfully by the crew of the Investigator in their far-distant home in Mercy Bay, and their health continued almost unin- terruptedly good. Their time was spent much in the same way as on the previous winter ; and in spring, when game of every kind abounded, they enjoyed ex- cellent sport. Musk oxen were very numerous, and hunting these huge animals furnished them with amusement — dp'!ued, occasionally, with a spice of ad- venture. On one of these occasions, Sergeant Wood of the marines, while in pursuit of a wounded deer, unex- with a musk pectedly met a couple of musk bulls, which he suc- ceeded in killing, evincing the most soldierlike cool- ness and intrepidity during the entire transaction; having expended his ammunition, as one of the wounded and infuriated monsters rushed towards him, he fired his " worm" when at a few yards, but without much effect. The animal continued his advances, evi- dently, however, weak from loss of blood, till he had reached within six ieet, when, putting his head to the ground previous to his final rush, the sergeant, as his last resource, fired his iron ramrod, which, entering behind the left shoulder, passed through the heart and out at the right flank, dropping him dead at his feet. Wood's adventure CAPTAIN m'cLURK. 491 Spring passed awuy, and summer came — at least tliat cua'^. xrii season of the year which ought to have been summer, ^ — ~ but it was no summer to our Arctic navigators. Snow the Arctic covered the ground ; ice covered the sea ; and all ^''^e*""* around wore the pallid and cheerless aspect of winter. True, the sun became somewhat powerful, and, occa- sionally, lanes of water were seen, but there was no indication of that general breaking up of the iue which alone could deliver them from their harbour. At last No hope of it became too obvious that the winter was again setting ^e"v"»*"<=*^'« in, and all hope of deliverance during that reason was consequently cut oflF. " On the 20th of August, 1852," continues M'Clure, " the temperature fell to 27**, when the entire bay was completely frozen over, and on the 27th, to 19°, so that the whole aspect was cheerless in the extreme, the young ice being two and a half inches thick, so that the whole bay might be safely perambulated ; indeed, the Eummer was fairly gone, for the uplands were all snow- Commcnce- covered, the wild fowl all departed, and the flowers, Jl^inle" in which gave cheerful variety to this bleak land, were all August 18S2. withered. The very season might be considered as one long sunless day, as since the latter part of May that luminary had been scarcely visible, or his influ- ence felt, upon those icy masses which block Barrow's Strait entirely across ; nor do I imagine that the Polar Sea had broken up that season, as not a drop of water had been seen in that direction. During July, and the early part of August, the crew were daily employed gathering sorrel, of which there was a great quantity upon the hills in this vicinity, and, eaten as a salad, with vinegar, or boiled, when it resembled spinach, it was found a most admirabk anti-scorbutic, and a great benefit to all, being exceedingly relished ; but that hardy and miserable herbage could not withstand this rigorous summer beyond the 16th of the month. For several days the ice had been perfectly stationary, and no water visible in aa^ direction, that along the cliffs .» 1 492 CAPTAIN M'cLURE. ' i ! M'Clure determines on future operutiuns. i'?n m CHAP. XIII. of Banks* Land being frozen, so that I felt assured that the winter had fairly set in, and all hopes of any release this year were totally annihilated, the younj^ ice being five inches thick. Having previously determined what course I should adopt under circumstances thus un favourable, upon the 8th of September I announced my intentions to the crew of sending half of them to England next April, with all the officers not in charge of stores, via Baffin's Bay (taking the boat from Cape Spencer) and the Mackenzie, detaining the remainder with the hope of extricating the vessel during the summer of 1853; or, failing that, to proceed with sledges in 1854 by Port Leopold, our provisions ariuro with vlio ice in and around Wellington Chnriicl Liuaor.sii quaiitJt ies Sir E. ''s^'-- of ice had been met with, and gTO-'\t 'AiiUculty c.^ipuritucf.d !','^';J"^ " ^*"'* in doing anything towards the chi'cf object iw view with r :;iftn,K)U the ships at all. It was therefore resolved by Sir EdYt-aid Belcher that as much as possible should bo done by iiKians of sledging parties so long as the state of UtC icy slvouid permit. Indeed, from the experieuce tliat Vile squadron lingly put in hat was pos- , the end of ils embarked of the expe- jourt-martial he exception luitted, as a id.ving acted led to them, bation. Sir )ved for not lies, and had !e. )lace to enter which very In justice to state that wever it may )f the Admi- nenlightened / // reader that he acted conscientiously for the best — that he chap. xiii. did not infringe the letter of his instructions, and that it cq^^J^- would be a puzzling thing to point out how he could have opinions of acted better. On the other hand. Captain Kellet and ^^^'c^e'' *"<^ Kellet others, men whose opinions are not to be lightly esteemed, have broadly stated that they would not have abandoned their ships unless they had been ordered to do so by their superior officer ; and that they believed there was quite a sufficiency of provisions to have enabled them to spend another winter in the ice, and so afford succour to Captain Colinson and his men. While these things were going on in England, another note of information sounded from the Frozen Seas ; but its tone was very sad. In October, Dr. Rae arrived from Repulse Bay, with the news that part of Sir John Frank- lin's expedition had been seen alive by Esquimaux in 1850, and that their remams had been discovered by another party of Esquimaux in 1851. In corroboration of the above. Dr. Rae brought with him a variety of articles, Dr.Rae'sdis- chiefly silver spoons and forks, with the names of several coveries. of Franklin's party marked thereon, and one small piece of silver-plate bearing the name of the ill-fated commander —all of which were procured by Dr. Rae from Esquimaux, who stated that they had obtained them from another band who had found the mutilated bodies of about forty of the party. The tale of their death is very sad, and all the more so that it took place so recently, and in the very neighbourhood of the brave men who have perilled life and limb to help them. The following extract from Dr. Rae's journal gives a graphic and harrowing account of the end of part, at least, of this devoted band. Dr. Rae was following up his discoveries in the neigh- Meeting with bourhood of Boothia. " On the morning of the 20th," says »" ^«i"*- he, " we were met by a very intelligent Esquimaux, driving neigiibour- a dog-sledge laden with musk-ox beef. This man at once hood of consented to accompany us two days' journey, and in a few ^o°*^'** minutes had deposited his load on the snow, and was ready to join us. Having explained to him my object, he said ' 1 / / fi 612 DR. rae's land expeditions, 1863-4. CHAP. XIII, that the road by which he had come was the best for us, and, having lightened the men's sledges, w.e travelled with more facility. We were now joined by another of the natives who had been absent seal-hunting yesterday, but, being anxious to see us, had visited our snow-house early this morning, and then followed up our track. This man was veiy communicative, and on putting to him the usual questions as to his having seen * white man' before, or any ships or boats, he replied in the negative ; but said that a party of * Kabloomans' had died of starvation a long distance to the west of where we then were, and beyond a large river. He stated that he did not know the exact place, that he never had been there, and that he could not accompany us so far. The substance of the information then and subsequently obtained from various sources was to the following effect : — "In the spring, four winters past (1850) while some Esquimaux families were killing seals near the north shore of a large island, named in Arrowsmith's charts King William's Land, about forty white men were seen travelling in company southward over the ice, and dragging a boat and sledges with them. They were passing along the west shore of the above-named island. None of the party could His inteiu- Speak the Esquimaux language so well as to be understood, gence. jjut by signs the natives were led to believe that the ship or ships had been crushed by ice, and that they were now going to where they expected to find deer to shoot. From tlie appearance of the men — all of whom, with the excep- tion of an officer, were hauling on the drag-ropes of the sledge, and looked thin — ^they were then supposed to be getting short of provisions, and they purchased a small seal, or piece of seal, from the natives. The officer was described as being a tall, stout, middle-aged man. When their day's 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 conti^ent| and DR. RAE*S LAND EXPEDITIONS, 1863-4. 613 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 River (named by the Esquimaux Oot-koo-hi-ca-lik), as its description and that of the low shore in the neighbourhood 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 he had a telescope strapped over his shoulders, and a double-barrelled gun lay underneath him. " From the mutilated state of many of the bodies, and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the dread alternative of cannibalism as a means of sustaining life. A few of the unfortunate men must have survived until the arrival of the wild-fowl (say until the end of May), as shots were 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 <;ontaining it, and a quantity of shot and ball was found below high- water mark, having probably been left on the ice close to the beach before the spring commenced. There must have been a number of telescopes, guns (several of them double- barrelled), watclies, compasses, &c., all of which seem to have been broken up, as I saw pieces of these different articles with the natives, and I purchased as many as pos- sible, together with some silver spoons and forks, an Order of Merit in the form of a star, and a small silver plate engraved * Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.' " Dr. Rae concludes by saying that he is of opinion that no violence had been offered to the sufferers by the natives, but believes that they were starved to death. The follow- ing is a list of the articles obtained from the Esquimaux : — 21 dHAP. XIIL Probable dis- covery of the miaslng Ex- pedition. Condition of the remaiiia. Relics of Franldin Ex- pedition. 514 DR. BAE'S land expeditions, 1853-4. ■f. ■ Lint of srticlM re- covered by Dr. Uae. Rae retumn tu England. CHAP. xiii. 1 silver table-fork— crest, an animal's head with wings extended above ; 3 silver table-forks— crest, a bird with wings extended ; 1 silver table-spoon — crest, with initials " F. R. M. C." (Captain Crozier, Terror) ; 1 silver table- spoon and 1 fork— crest, bird with laurel branch in mouth, motto, "Speromeliora;" 1 silver table-spoon, 1 tearspoon, and 1 dessert-fork— crest, a fish's head looking upwards, with laurel branches on each side ; 1 silver table-fork— initials, " H. D. S. G." (Harry D. S. Goodsir, assistant- surgeon, Erebus) ; 1 silver table-fork — initials, " A. M*D." (Alexander M'Donald, assistant-surgeon. Terror) ; 1 silver table-fork — initials, " G. A. M." (Gillies A. Macbean, second master. Terror); 1 silver table-fork — initials, "J. T.;" 1 silver dessert-spoon— initials, "J. S. P." (John S. Peddie, surgeon, Erebus); 1 round silver plate, engraved, "Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.; a star or order, with motto, "iV«c aspera terrent, G. R. III. MDCCCXV." On obtaining the above information. Dr. Rae instantly hastened to England for the purpose of preventmg any further expeditions being despatched in search of the lost navigators. His report, as might have been expected, was subjected on all hands to criticism and comment. Many were of opinion that the information obtained did not war- rant the conclusion that the whole party was lost. Among others. Dr. Scoresby was inclined to this opinion. The discoveries made by Dr. Rae on this journey set at rest the question as to a passage westward existing at the head of Pelly Bay. After quitting that bay he crossed the land in a westerly direction, and travelled to Castor and Pollux River— Dease and Simpson's extreme — ^when he searched a pillar erected there but found no records. It must ever be regretted that while here, within so short a distance of the spot where the crews of Franklin's ships were reported to have perished. Dr. Rae did not continue his journey westward in search of relics and records. He seems to have felt it his duty not to turn aside from the main object of his journey — ^the exploration of the Boothian Peninsula; so, after searching the pillar referred to, he DR. rae's land expeditions, 1853-4. 515 crossed Inglis and Shepherd's Bays to Cape Colville, where CHAP. XIIL the coast turns abruptly to the north. He followed it to Point de la Guiche and Balfour Bay, which latter was his extreme northern limit. Bad weather rendering it impos- sible for him to complete the survey between the Magnetic Pole and Bellot Strait, he returned to Repulse Bay and arrived at York Factory on the 31st August 1854. 610 CAPTAIN COLLINSON, 1851-2. ■ ,(. '' i CHAPTER Xiy. Voyages of Captain CoUinson and Dr. Kane; and overland journeys of Dr. Roe, and Messrs. Anderson amd Stewart. Captain Collinson's Voyage in the Enterprise — His Discoveries and Return to England — The Second American Expedition under Dr. Kane — Their Adventures, Discoveries, and Suffer- ings during two Winters in the Ice — Abandonment of their Ship — Their Arduous Boat and Sledge Journey, and Final Deliverance and Return to America — Overland Search by way of the Great Fish River by Anderson and Stewart. CHAP. XIV. The history of Polar Seas and Regions has, during the last • ten or eleven years, resolved itself into a history of the search for Sir John Franklin. Remarks on Year by year expeditions by land and sea have gone that the At last, as we have seen, in 1850 and 1854 the position of their first winter's quarters, and evidence of their having been wrecked, reached us. Since that year several expeditions have returned, each having filled up a portion of our charts of the Polar Seas, or procured some additional information in regard to the unfortunate Erebus and Terror. It will be remembered that Collinson and M'Clure set out together in the Enterprise and Investigator at the beginning of 1850, for the purpose of proceeding to Behring's Straits, and sailing thence eastward to meet the Franklin Expedition. On the 10th of July 1851, Captain Collinson left Port Clarence in Behring's Straits, and entered the ice, which surrounded and carried him (fortu- formerExpe- forth, and returned to tell the same sad tale, lost vessels had neither been heard of nor seen. CAPTAIN COLLINSON, 1851-2. 617 nately) in the direction in which he ■wished to go. Point CHAP. xiv. Harrow was douhled on the 2Gth. Proceeding along tiic ,. """" northern coast of America with some difficulty, owing to durinK first tiie ice, he passed the mouth of the Mackenzie River on »u>««ner. the 8th of August. The effect of this river was to widen the channel hetween the pack and the land to 50 miles, at which distance from the shore no bottom was obtained at 160 fathoms. On the 20th they sighted the Pelly Islands, and discovered two islets to the north-east of them. On the 2Gth Cape Parry was in sight, and Capo Erebus was discovered to the northward. " Hauling up close to the land," writes Collinson, " we entered a strait on the 28th, in which, on the following day, two islets were seen ; on landing I found a whale-boat and dep6t of pro- visions, with a notice of Commander M'Clurc's, dated June 15, 1851. Continuing our course we reached the north end at midnight, on the 30th, when another beacon was seen on the north shore, where similar information to that deposited on the Princess Royal Isles was found. Here in lat. 73° 30' N., and long. 114° 35' W., our progress was barred by large fields of ice, leaving no coast water in which a ship could navigate, either to the eastward or westward." Finding it impossible to advance, Captain Collinson winter looked out for winter quarters in Prince of Wales Strait ; Jgfy^^^" ^ but, failing to find a suitable spot, he proceeded to the western coast of Baring Island, where, on Point Kellet, he found another record of M'Clure's ship, dated August 18, 1861. On the 7th September he reached a small islet in lat. 70° 64', long. 125° 12', where his advance was checked for that season. Returning to the south\frard he finally found winter quarters in a spot on Prince Albert's Land, near to the entrance of Prince of Wales Strait. To the south of their position a sound, 60 miles deep (Minto Inlet), was discovered. They were frozen in on 21st October 1851, and early in April 1852 dep6ts for travelling parties were laid out. The Southern Expedition, under Lieutenant Jago, ex- 618 CAPTAIN COLLINSON, 1851-2. ■' 1 ' Two Blcdgo parties sent to the northward. CHAP. XIV. ploiod the coast towards Wollaston Land. It was found siedtfcTxpe- *^ niaintaiu a southerly direction to lat. 70" 38', when it dition under assumod an easterly trend. The persevering and daring Lieutenant efforts of Captain Collinson were doomed to comparative disappointment, inasmuch as, while all the danger and trouble of discovery were undergone, the honours were found to have been snatched away beforehand by Captain M'Clure, whose cylinders and records were everywhere met with. Lieutenant Jago, on this expedition, reached lat. 70° 32^, long. 115° 25'; here a party of Esquimaux were met with, who, however, showed no sign of having met with the missing vessels. A sound here lay before them. It appeared to be 20 miles wide, and so deep that its easterly termination was not seen. At this point Lieu- tenant Jago returned back and reached the ship after 49 days' absence. To the northward two expeditions were sent out on the 16th of the same month,— one under Captain Collinson, the other under Lieutenant Parkes. They proceeded through the Prince of Wales Strait together and then diverged— Collinson to the eastward, along the north coast of Prince Albert's Land towards Cape Walker ; Parkes to the northward, across the ice towards Melville Island, which he was to reach if possible. Had he done so, he would have thus accomplished the connecting link of that channel of the north-west passage — an honour which, as we have already seen, was reserved for M'Clure. Parkes found the ice impassable, and returned to the ship on the 21st of May. The captain reached lat. 72° 45', and long. 113° 40', where he found a deep bay— now named CoUin- son's Inlet— and returned to the ship on 6th June. The season of 1852 remained closed till the first week in Sep- tember, when they succeeded in sailing into the inlet examined by Lieutenant Jago, which they hoped would lead them " into the centre of the Archipelago." It proved to be a gulf, however, and is now named Prince Albert's Sound. By this discovery Captain Collinson proved that Wollaston, Victoria, and Prince Albert's Lands are joined. CAPTAIN OOLLINSON, 1852-3. 510 The captain now made tlio bold determination of push- chap. xiv. ing south-eastward, through Dolphin and Union Straits, and wintering at the south-eastern extreme of Victoria Land. The attempt was hazardous, owing to the uncertain depth of these narrow channels, the increasing darkness, and the absolute uselessness of the compasses, owing to the vicinity of the magnetic polo. They reached Cambridge Bay on the 26th of September, and met with a party of Esquimaux, among whom were found some implements of brass and iron which were supposed to have belonged to Franklin's Expedition, but no information could bo obtained regarding them. Another winter passed, and, early in April 1853, dep6ts East const of were sent out to facilitate the exploration of the east coast ^ictoria of Victoria Land. On the 12th of that month the sledge j.iored. party set forth, following the coast, which trended to the southward of east as far as the 102d meridian, where it turned to the north. Proceeding onward they reached an islet (Gateshead Island) in lat. 70° 26' N., and long. 100° 45' W., beyond which no land was seen. Returning to the main of Victoria Land they found that it trended westward as far as lat. 70"* 12' N. and long. 102° W. This was their furthest point. But here, again, they found that the honours of discovery had been gathered beforehand by Traces of Dr. Rae, who, in 1851, had reached nearly the same point "*®'' ^''" ciiscoTcrcu* and left a record in a cairn which they discovered. Little did either Rae or Collinson know, at that time, that they had actually reached the neighboiu-hood of the fatal spot where Franklin's ships had been wrecked. The recent return of Captain M'Clintock in the Fox now shows that the spot where Franklin perished is only a few hours' journey from the south-eastern corner of Victoria Land. In 1851 Dr. Rae had descended the Coppermine River, Dr. Rae in and crossing Dolphin and Union Straits to WoUaston ^^^*" Land, he explored that coast eastward to 110° W., and westward to 117° 17' W., but without discovering any trace of the lost expedition. 620 CAPTAIN COLLINSON, 1853-4. '»!', !'^'* CHAP. XIV. fielics found. Il^ Winter of 1803-4. CoUinson's return to England. Second Grin- nel expedi- tion under Dr. Kane. UWi I ' li fr^ Captain Collinson was more successful. Besides the brass and iron implements above referred to, a fragment of a companion-hatchway, or door-frame, was found on an island of the Finlayson group. This was afterwards con- veyed to England, proved to have been supplied by Government, and supposed, therefore, to have belonged either to the Erebus or Terror. Failing to discover further traces of Franklin, Captain Collinson now deemed it right to make good his retreat from the Polar Regions. In August the Enterprise once more put to sea and turned her prow westward for Behring's Straits ; but she was destined to spend another winter in the ice. The winter of 1853-54 was passed in Camden Bay. Here they were visited by a party of Esquimaux who had in their possession a notice, printed on board the Plover in 4th July 1853, by which they learned that at that date the Investigator had not been seen, concluding that Captain M'Clure must tiierefore be shut up on the west face of Baring Land ; Collinson determined to open communication with Commander Maguire, to obtain provisions that ht might return to M'Clure's relief. On reaching Port Clarence, however, the news of M'Clure's safety rendered this unnecessary, and, on the 16th September 1854, the Enterprise sailed, via Hong Kong, for England. We now turn to the most stirring and romantic of all the expeditions that have been sent out in search of Sir John Franklin's ships, — namely, the second American Expedition fitted out by Mr. Grinnell, of America, and placed under the command of Elisha Kent Kane, of the 13.8. navy. This heroic young officer, whose end was undoubtedly hastened by the sufferings which he endured on this expedition, has left behind him a record of energy, perseverance, endurance, and courage, under the most trying circumstances, than which nothing more remarkable has appeared in the annals of Arctic story. The quiet, deep-seuted enthusiasm of the leader, and the manly, straightforward, irresistible energy of his little band of ■ 'i ^* • Kcniur>u>> i■v^i I . 6-20 \i CAl'TAIM COLlJyAON', KSuL'-4. vv I ! CHAP. XIV. iiclics fouiiu. Cf'tllM*OU' Captain C<'iiiU8('n wa.'i iut-t-e <»UM.*>slui. f}csi«iei ihc ]tr;jiji>> iUid irun iiuplciucnttt *?4/vc ri^funetl to,uliHgUa:xii<.( ji. coil '4>! i^civ and t)b»»"i her prow A\eMwwj' i't IJehriu.c'tj ^ti:ii{;< ; owt ahc wa^? ^erft vit'tc*} i'V a party uf Esciyimanx ndio Jia»i in their jVKSts&ion a notice, piinicd on 1)Mard the Plover in 41 ii July \^o,], 1>y which tlioy iearued thai it ilwd date tiie fuvcstigaiui had ~i<)u \n\n AKivu, i;ouc]u>j rta«Uiiui >•-.'. i'ii*»t5tK;c, iiowever, ti-c ;u.'i?jf '•» M'C.'ttfi' s ^»ty fejnkrti<* tins n!i»ii;«;tjKssary, and, 'Hi t.i«? t^ti' ^tpt*ttit t** .186 1:. thw ls.i.i.efjpvu*e sailed, via Wt» vv'*^ t» »^ M. 'tli€ litodt >>Lrnf;? MtO rociautic of all Ik Jut-n Ai J»vto '"^^ •'Ci.t Ml in seauh of Sir jt'ip*,- nAUieiy, the second Amencan .'eu s«:! by Mi". (iruvi«<,ii, of Auienca., and »im«HAntl of Kiisiia Kent Kar c, of tin' \*nuig oftnier, whose -'-nd waw vjtioringa Tsliioii he ludiircd 5 i nirfi a rorvrtl uf eneruy, ''• 'y,'e, under tin; nn>.st J i ng ai t 'ro r^r : ail: a) jio .\u'tac story. Tiie quiet, deep aaat;,d ont4!«%i:;»m '4 t^- .ottdtr, and the juaniy, litraightferv.ard, \ir^\sU^ >■ -Mer^' ^f Iii^ little V«jid ol ..n lhu» 4 ^ ' pWS€;^ eri'.«c9, trying circuii! has appeared u f t e i S ]■■■ . Gallant con- duct of crews in midst of danger. i I 628 SECOND GEINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. ing over his windward flanks and his forehead ploughmg up the lesser ice as if in scorn. The bergs encroached as they advanced. The channel narrowed to a width of about forty feet, compelling them to brace the yards to clear the impending ice-walls, and they passed in safety ; but it was a close shave, — so close that the port-quarter boat would have been crushed had they not taken it in from the davits. Kext moment they were under the lee of a berg in a com- paratively open lead. "Never," concludes Dr. Kane, " never did heart-tried men acknowledge with more grati- tude their merciful deliverance from a wretched death." This is but one of the numerous storms and dangers to which the American Expedition was exposed on its adven- turous voyage to the far north. There are many such stirring incidents recorded in Dr. Kane's most interesting volume, but limited space compels us unwillingly to pass the most of them over in silence. The conduct of the crew on these nerve-trying occasions was beyond all praise. In speaking of this the doctor says : — " During the whole of the scenes I have been trying to describe, I could not help being struck by the composed and manly demeanour of my comrades. The turmoil of ice under a heavy sea often conveys the impression of danger where the reality is absent; but, in this fearful passage, the parting of our hawsers, the loss of our anchors, the abrupt crushing of our stoven bulwarks, and the actual deposit of ice upon our decks, would have tried the nerves of the most experienced ice-men. All — oflScers and men- worked alike. Upon each occasion of collision with the ice which formed our lee-coast, eflforts were made to carry out lines; and some narrow escapes were incurred, by the zeal of parties leading them into positions of danger. Mr. Bonsall avoided being crushed by leaping to a floating fragment; and i:o less than four of our men at one time were carried down by the drift, and corld only be recovered by a relief party after the gale had subsided." After this the brig got into shallows and frequently grounded, but fortunately sustained little damage beyond lead ploughing I encroached as width of about rds to clear the ety ; but it was ter boat would from the davits. I berg in a com- des Dr. Kane, nth more grati- bched death." J and dangers to ed on its adven- are many such most interesting iwillingly to pass tduct of the crew id all praise. In re been trying to by the composed The turmoil of le impression of ;, in this fearful 8s of our anchors, :s, and the actual J tried the nerves ficers and men— ollision with the re made to carry incurred, by the 3 of danger. Mr. ing to a floating nen at one time only be recovered led." and frequently damage beyond i M*' ^^■ THR FAiTrt. Ci« of the bOAM in which Dr. Kane and h!« ^'ivrty > r ajw, > I'o3£r». Cbiids ami i'«l'er»o», Phlisik- •*)28 SECOND OFINNETJ. EXPEt^lTlON, 185M-4. ■ H CllAP. XIV. lug over his windward i'ar>u» at.d his forehead ploiighiii<,' ,, 7 up the Itf.ser ke an if '"n viorvt. The lx»i?a eiicroaclied as imti,inent thc}' advaured. The cictrmel nanowed to a width of about danger. foiiy feet, ocmpfclJins; tiit'tii to brace the yards to ck^r the impending icc-\v*i«Sj nm\ they paawd ia safety; but it wiuij .a clos«:; slfaTe,— »o chX'Mi that the p' rt-i(iiarter boat would hav»» beftii (Ta:sbed had thty not taken it lo from the davits*. Next im.ir.ent they wire nm\ev X\l Um? of a l)erg in a com- ■parativc.ly open iea«l. '* Nen-f " e«>n<'Vade8 Dr. Karie. •'nceruui iieart triftd iver a<^kj(n wif'^' with more grati- tude their Tiicici*'iM dehverRiiee from a wi-ct. htd death." This is but one of the nuiaerous storms uri'l dangers to Avhich the American Expedition was exposed on it« adven- turous voyage to the far north. There are many 8uch stirring incidents recorded in Dr. Kane's most interesiiing vohnne, but liinited sijace eompels ua unwillingly to piis.s tlie most of tlioni over in silence. The conduct of the crew on tliese nerve-trying occasionb was beyond all praise. In speaking r.f this il.'e doctor says: — Oaiiaiif ron- '' During the whole of the scenes i hav(? been trying to dnct of(!r(MV8 (^e^crilio I could iiot help i'eojo atr.xk by the composcii iti midst of , , , 1' ' I nil- .L -1 • and rnardy Uiincrmour >t my coirinidts. The tunnod (' •jttiigvir. ice undt-r a. lieavy ec^ '^ften couveya the impression vi d*T»ger wi'»"r© the reality m ^km^^i but, io this fearfi.i 'ii-^i&ffi :,k.. :vi5rttag of oar iwtw«i:!3», tUa loss of our anchor.-, tii.^ fj» ; if "MiM^f of V'Ht titatrcn imiwiu-ks, and the actus; uij^jttfr:.. ' r . ■> :poii our d^'k», would have tried the nerve« i^llie \M\m e.xperiv^noo out lii.eri; tujAJ 'I'n':^ ?jarrov7 eseapcs were mcnrrcd, by if-. zeal of p'lr'iiT'^' j»..i ;,'.." ; ^.c-m into position.s of danger. 31; BouRall avoidef* .f .-hed by leaping? to a floati'5 fragment; and n ,• •• th>urof our men at one Uu-. were carried iluxtTi i.»^v tiv^ i^it, and could only be recover e«> by a relief p^ty iU'f.et Hm m^^<& ha4 subsided.'' A fid tliis the brig jw^ «itf> shallows and freq'it.ni1l' gK'unded, but fortitnatay rtsitained iittle dairia^e beyt^t lead plovi^hiii'j; i eiicroa<;lied as width of about rOs to clear the sty ; but it Wii^ ter boat would T'f^iYi tUc davitis. berg in a com- ics Dr. Kane, itli more grati- .h«d death." and dangerjs to id on its ad ven- tre many such lost interesi-ing viUingly to pass luct of the crew I all praj'sC In ; been trying to y rha coiu posed The tunnoli of i impression of in this fearful ; of our anch<.>rs, , and t])0 actu«i tried the nerves eers and niei>-*- lliaioLi with the made to earj'ji incurred, by ih* jf danger. Mr. y^ to ;i flodU'.fe'' en at one iiaw,' >nly be recove^e^i and freon..'i='; daiaa^e beyv#5 Tr^-- THE FORLORN HOPE. Page 529. a .' THE FAITH. One of th« boats in which Dr. Kane and his party escaped ;_„ow at the store of Messrs. Childs and Peterson, Philadelphia. I i 4? SECOND GBINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. 529 the losing of her false keel. On one occasion, however, chap, xiv they had a narrow escape from fire. While a party were ^ "^_ on the ice-helt "tracking" the brig along by means of difficulties of ropes, she took the ground at high water. As there was navigaUon. no hope of getting her off before the next tide. Dr. Kane ordered heavy tackle to be fastened to the rocks which lined the base of the cliffs, and trusted to the strength of the noble little craft enabling her to withstand the strain to which she was subjected. The succeeding high tide rose and retired, but she still remained fast, and fears were entertained as to her being got off at all Everything that could be got out on the rocks was landed, all the boats were filled with heavy stores alongside, the rudder was simk astern, the heavy anchor was lowered into one of the quarter boats, and heavy hawsers were fastened to a grounded lump of ice, ready for instant bearing. While they were in this position, the brig suddenly heeled over during the night, tumbled the men out of then: berths, and upset the cabin stove, which was filled with glowing anthracite. The deck blazed smartly for a time, but the fire was happily smothered, at the cost of a pilot-cloth coat which was sacrificed for the public good, and several buckets of water finally extinguished it. Finding it impossible to advance further at this time The " forlorn with the brig, a boat expedition was planned and carried hope." into effect, under the title of the " forlorn hope." Into the details of this interesting journey we cannot enter. It was rough and toilsome. The boat was soon abandoned, and the advance continued on a sledge. Their usual night halts were upon knolls of snow under the rocks, on one of which they were caught by the rising tide, and not being able to efi'ect a retreat in time, had to stand in the water holding their sleeping gear in their arms, until the tide fell. The skeletons of Musk oxen were foimd in various places along the coast, which was rocky and wild in the extreme. Protruding tongues of glaciers and wide chasms in the ice-belt were crossed with much difficulty; and when, at last, they arrived at places over which the sledge could 2k fl CHAP. XIV. Mary Min- trnii River. Capes Thackeray and Francis Hawkes. Retnm to Rensselaer Harbour. 630 SECOND ORINNELL RXPEDITION, 1863-4. not be taken, the provisions and scientific instruments were strapped on the shoulders of the stoutest men, and the journey was continued on foot. On their fifth day out they found that they had advanced forty miles to the northward, and soon after, they came upon a large bay of open water, into which a noble river emptied itself. This river— the largest yet known in North Greenland — was about three quarters of a mile wide at its mouth. It was named the Mary Mintum River, after the sister of Mrs. Henry Grinnell. Here they encamped, and listened with delight to the unusual sound of running waters; and " here," writes Dr. Kane, " protected from the frost by the infiltration of the melted snows, and fostered by the reverberation of solar heat from the rocks, we met a flower growth, which, though drearily Arctic in its type, was rich in variety and colouring. Amid festuca and other tufted grasses, twinkled the purple lychius and the white star of the chickweed; and, not without its pleasing associations, I recognised a solitary hesperis, the Arctic representative of the wallflowers of home." Numerous tracks of deer were found in the moss-beds near this river, which is situated near 78° 62^ north latitude, and 78° 41' west longi- tude. Sixteen miles beyond this they reached a bold headland which was named Cape Thackery. Eight miles further on another headland was gained, and named Cape Francis Hawkes. This was their turning point at that time. From his observation of the coast and state of the ice, Dr. Kane came to the conclhsion that a further advance in the brig that season was impossible, so he made up his mind to lay her up in the bay in which she had been left, and to continue the search by means of sledges during the winter. On returning, the order was at once given to warp into the bay, which was named Rensselaer Harbour, and the brig was securely moored in seven fathoms water, within the shelter of the surroimding rocks. It was destined tc be a long resting-place for the good little craft that had 8EC0in> 0RI17NEIX EXPEDITION, 1853-4. 631 battled so long and bravely ivith the ice, '^ for the same chap. xrv. ice is around her still." Preparations were now made for spending the winter in Preparations these remote and dreary regions. By the 10th of Septem- '<>' winter- ber the thermometer had fallen to 14°, and the young ice "'" had cemented the floes, so that they could walk and sledge round the brig. The long dark night, too, began to set in, and before the middle of October the sun took final leave of them, and the only indication of day was a faint gleam of light on tlie horizen. Even this faded away at last, and the whole ice-bound region would have been shrouded in total darkness, but for the Aurora Borealis, and the stars which shone as bright at noon-day as at night. Their winter was sunless for one hundred and forty days. The effect of this long continued darkness was depressing Effect of in the extreme, especially on the poor dogs, many of which darknew on died during the winter. Referring to this. Dr. Kane ^°^*' writes: — "This morning at five o'clock— for I am so aflBiicted with the insomnium of this eternal night, that I rise at anytime between midnight and noon — I went upon deck. It was absolutely dark; the cold not permitting a swinging lamp. There was not a glimmer came to me through the ice-crusted window-panes of the cabin. While I was feeling my way, half puzzled as to the best method of steering clear of whatever might be ? ^cre me, two of my Newfoundland dogs put theu* cold noSvS against my hand, and instantly commenced the most exuberant antics of satisfaction. It then occurred to me how very dreary and forlorn must these poor animals be, at atmospheres 10°in-doors and 60° without; living in darkness, howling at an accidental light as if it reminded them of the moon; and with nothing, either of instinct or sensation, to tell them of the passing hours, or to explain the long-lost day- light. They shall see the lanterns more frequently." During the course of the first winter they made several sledge excursions to the northward, and when not engaged in this way, they occupied themselves in hunting and in 632 SECOND QRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1863-4. A day's occu- pution in winter. ■» r CHAP. XIV. taking scientific observations^ besides the domestic routine — * of their little domicile. The doctor's graphic description of a day's occupations is most interesting: — ** At six in the morning M'Gary Is called with all hands who have slept in. The decks are cleaned, the ice-hole opened, the refreshing beef-nets examined, the ice-tables measiured, and things aboard put to rights. At half-past seven all hands rise, wash on deck, open the doors for ventilation, and come below for breakfast. We are short of fuel, and therefore cook in the cabin. Our breakfast, for all fare alike, is hard tack, pork stewed, stewed apples frozen like molasses-candy, tea and cofifee, with a dehcate portion of raw potatoe. After breakfast the smokers take their pipe till nine; then all hands turn to, idlers to idle, and workers to work; Ohlsen to his bench, Brooks to his * preparations' in canvas, M'Gary to play tailor, Whipple to make shoes, Bonsall to tinker. Baker to skin birds, and the rest to the * Office.' Take a look into our Arctic Bureau ! One table, one salt pork lamp with rusty chlori- nated flame, three stools, and as many waxen-faced men with their legs drawn up under them, the deck at zero being too cold for the feet. Each has his department. Kane is writing, sketching, and projecting maps; Hayes copying logs and meteorologicals ; Sontag reducing his work at Fern Rock; a fourth, as one of the working members of the hive, has long been defunct; you will find him in bed studying *Littells' Living Age.* At twelve, a business round of inspection, and orders enough to fill up the day with work. Next, the drill of the Esquimaux dogs, — my own peculiar recreation,— a dog-trot spocially refreshing to legs that creak with every kick, and rheumatic shoulders that chronicle every descent of the whip. And so we get on to dinner-time, the occasion of another gath9r- ing, which misses the tea and coffee of breakfast, but rejoices in pickled cabbage and dried peaches instead. " At dinner as at breakfast the raw potatoe comes in, our hygienic luxury. Like doctor-stuff generally, it is not as appetizing as desirable. Grating it down nicely, leaving Continued. SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1863-4. 633 out the ugly red spots liberally, and adding the utmost oil CHAP. Xiv. as a lubricant, it is as much as I can do to persuade the ""^ mess to shut their eyes and bolt it. Two absolutely refuse to taste it. " Sleep, exercise, amusement, and work at will, carry on a day's oocu- the day till our six o'clock supper, a meal something like P»"o|» ^^ breakfast, and something like dinner, only a little more scant; and the officers come in with the reports of the day. Doctor Hayes shows me a log, I sign it; Sontag the weather, I sign the weather; Mr. Bonsall the tides and thermometers. Thereupon comes in mine ancient Brooks, and I enter in his journal No. 3. all the work done under his charge, and discuss his labours for the morrow. M'Gary comes next, with the clearing up arrangements inside, out- side, and on decks; and Mr. "Wilson follows with ice- measurements; and last of all comes my own record of the day gone by; every line, as I look back upon its pages, giving evidence of a weakened body and harassed mind. We have cards sometimes, and chess sometimes, and a few magazines, Mr. Littell's thoughtful present, to cheer away the evening. " All this seems tolerable for common-place routine ; but Continued, there is a lack of comfort which it does not tell of. Our fuel is limited to three buckets-full of coal a day, and our mean temperature outside is 40° below zero ; 46° below as I write. London Brown Stout, and somebody's Old Brown Sherry, freeze in the cabin lockers ; and the carlines over- head are hung with tubs of chopped ice, to make water for our daily drink. Our lamps cannot be persuaded to bum salt lard ; our oil is exhausted, and we work by muddy tapers of cork and cotton floated in saucers. We have not a pound of fresh meat and only a barrel of potatoes left. Not a man now, except Pierre and Morton, is exempt from scurvy ; and as I look round upon the pale faces and haggard looks of my comrades, I feel that we are fighting the battle of life at disadvantage, and that an Arctic night and an Arctic day age a man more rapidly and harshly than a yeax anywhere else in all this weary world." Tempera- tore. Preparations for spring search. 534 SECOND outnnell expedition, i853-4. CHAP. XIV. This record of daily routine in their Arctic home was given in March— a month that turned out to be the coldest of the Polar year, although, in the experience of previous voyagers, February had proved the coldest month. The mean temperature in March was 41° below zero, while that of Parry in lat. 74° 30' was only 29° below zero. It was observed that at such a low temperature the snow offered great resistance to the sledge-runners, the particles resemb- ling tine dry sand, which creaked as the sledges passed over them. During the winter Dr. Kane and his men busied them- selves in making preliminary arrangements for the spring search after Sir John Franklin, as well as in providing for their daily necessities. Dep6ts of provisions were placed at considerable intervals along the intended line of search to facilitate the advance of sledge parties, and form a reserve on which to fall back in case of disaster. A party was also sent out under Dr. Hayes to explore the interior of the country and ascertain its resources as a hunting field. This party penetrated into the interior about ninety miles, when their progress was arrested by a glacier, 400 feet high, and extending to the north and west as far as the eye could reach. This magnificent body of interior ice formed on its summit a complete plateau — a mer de glace, abutting upon a broken plain of rock. They found no lakes, but saw a few reindeer at a distance, and numerous hares and rabbits. Among other annoyances they were much pestered by rats during their residence in the Polar Regions. These creatures swarmed in every comer of the ship, ate or destroyed everything that they could, and at last became so insolent and insufferable that a determined effort was made to smoke them out. The crew set about this task with their usual vigour. The vilest possible compound of smells was created by vapours of brimstone, burnt leather, and arsenic. Then the hatches were shut and the rats left to enjoy their new atmosphere, while the men spent a cold night in a deck bivouac to give the experiment fair Interior explored. Rats! SECOND ORINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. 535 play. The rats, however, survived the ordeal, so it was chap. xiv. resolved to try the effect of burning charcoal. Accordingly, jj^rrow" three stoves were started in full blaze, the hatches shut eMtpe from down, and every fissure that communicated aft pasted up, ^'■''• in order to give the enemy the full benefit of the fumiga- tion. As the gas generated rapidly great caution had to be exercised, but Pierre Schubert, the cook, stole below, against orders, to season a soup, and well-nigh fell a victim to his professional zeal. Morton fortunately saw him staggering in the dark, and, reaching him with great diffi- culty as he fell, both were hauled up at last almost in a state of insensibility. Not long after this their vessel caught fire near one of the stoves, but before much damage was done Dr. Kane and a few of the men succeeded in extinguishing it. The doctor refers to this narrow escape with feelings of awe and thankfulness ; — as well he might, for to have been burnt out of their wooden home in such a spot would have insured to them protracted sufferings and a miserable death. The winter of 1853, with its toils and trials, passed away First tracu and spring at length drew near. The first traces of return- of remrniurf ing light were observed on the 21st of January, when the * southern horizon had for a short time a distinct orange tint. They had been nearing the sunshine for thirty-two days, and had just reached that degree of mitigated dark- ness which made the extreme midnight of Sir Edward Parry in latitude 74*^ 47'. An attempt was made to ascertain the solar influence on the 31st by means of two very sensitive daguerreotype plates, treated with iodine and bromine, but no impression whatever was made on them when exposed to the southern horizon at noon. The camera was used in-doors to escape the effects of cold. The thermometers about this period indicated remark- Thermome- ably low temperature. So cold did it become that they *«"• found it almost impossible to continue the magnetic obser- vations in the observatory on Fern Island, which was in fact an ice-house of the coldest imaginable description, notwithstanding fires, buffalo-robes, and an arras of invest- '^•UK'MAfdMMHAUi M* III' U» '^AUm ■ J*o- CHAP. XIV, Maf^netic term-day. Ih Observations made under difficultiea. Thermome- ters. 636 SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. ing sail-cloth. The mean temperature could not be kept up to the freezing point, and it was quite common to find the platform on which the observer stood fully 20° below zero. Referring to the severe duties connected with this ice- ' house observatory, the doctor writes, — " Imagine it a term- day, a magnetic term-day. The observer, if he were only at home, would be the * observed of all observers.* He is clad in a pair of seal-skin pants, a dog-skin cap, a rein-deer jumper, and walrus boots. He sits upon a box that once held a transit. A stove, glowing with at least a bucketful of anthracite, represents pictorially a heating apparatus, and reduces the thermometer as near as may be to ten degrees below zero. One hand holds a chronometer, and is left bare to warm it ; the other luxuriates in a fox-skin mitten. The right hand and the left take it * watch and watch about.' As one burns with cold, the chronometer shifts to the other and the mitten takes its place. Perched on a pedestal of frozen gravel is a magnetometer ; stretch- ing out from it, a telescope ; and, bending down to this an abject human eye. Every six minutes said eye takes cog- nizance of a finely divided arc, and notes the result in a cold memorandum - book. This process continues for twenty-four hours, two sets of eyes taking it by turns ; and, when twenty-four hours are over, term-day is over too." The doctor pleases to write facetiously on this subject, but a little thought will convince us that such work was no trifling matter at the time. It was the pursuit of science under the most trying circumstances, and at a time, too, when a severe battle was going on for the bare main- tenance of life and health. On the 17th of January the thermometers stood at 49° below zero— on the 20th they ranged down to 67" below zero. On the 5th of February they indicated the — we might almost say— terrible temperature of 75° below zero, or 107° below the freezing point of water! At such temperatures chloric ether became solid, and carefully .—" - I^-T:' ■■"■ -.-= :- - ^--:ZL. .._.-r_^v. . DRi KANE IN THE MAONET»4, Ob:^* K< VATaRY. fircbcit on » ped(«l«^ of ii-ozou sravi-! 1« > r.iftt-noi-. tt^^t'T ; •ir.l<'hinR o'li from U, a UJ«j.oi/pn , iud bciidit'.g down lo thu m: abjtci liuicitn oye.— I'fige 5'Hl « ' ^sVt' fn I- I! ! If 1 1!; ,H, ' >36 SECOIVD GRINNEIJ, EAPEtHTiON, 1853~4. CUAP. ■«v. lug saii-duth. The be •ciuin. '.rnp iiit- jt Uviivciature could not be kept lip to the frcczintf fniid, vad it was quite coinnvni to iiiih,t.tfe ^r^iiected with this ice- lou^e ohsrn-utary, the dr-^jk>? .»»?%(»c-* " Injngine it a teriu- >U/, » ifm-'Hiik tynjrt-d*'.'. TniJ ivf>sK?.fv«r, if be were only at fe»»n4 wmM \^ %ht -.i«^rn»4 t>f all '>bKorv(.TS.' Ho is fUn ii> ^ p-'iir of jsssi j(^.;,i;. j>uit*, iitA-. Ua ^jrs t.j...|, ,^ v^,x that oi»ce htAa a transit /i 5v.jvf'. glowin? »-ith ut iffist a kickctful oi; anthracite, iej>r&ix laicutefi ••.ni'i eye takes co«^- nl^ncB of a liiuily dividt-i arc, mui notes the result in ?> f-*H i'ufmiOTmdnm-ht.K^k, Tkis proces?) a»ntiraies for twei!iy#rf*^r hoi«ra, two. sets of eyes takiua it by turns: and^ •^hm kvm^-u-uic hy^m aie orer, trrro-da^ is ova: •The dock-r |4*^^ i-i w)*tie fiicetiousiy on this subject, lammidai' ^'"'^ ^ ^'^^'■- ^i'^^#*^- '^f''^'^ convince us that such work was no trillirig ii wttor at th« time. It was tlie pursuit of sci«.«nce under the mmt «ryi«g circamsnauv es, and at a time, too, when a severe mxk Viu going on for the bare main^ tenance of life and heni'it. On the 17th of Jaifi^^rv tNf thcruiometers stood at 49° below zero- -on the 20th i':.ik vrnged down t(; 67" below zero. On the Svh of y^fli^k^{y they iiulicated the— we might idniost say-^tem'bh. k-rriH..r:itin-e of lo" below v.mv, or J 07"' below the freezing p<^int of water! At such temper;^ ruros chloric tether bea^nio solid, and carefully Olmcvvutions 'riv.'rnnmie- tais. -4. >t, be kept I this i ce- il a tenii- were only s.' lie is I, reiu-deer that once Mickcfefnl be to ten letcr, and a fox-skin .Yiilcii arjd ronomefcer Pen: he- i io thii^ iin akes cog- .'Siiit ill a lilies for Dv t'.irna : LV ifi ove: ^ sultject. work was (nr«iuit of at a time, ire main-< ■ Hi at 49° below tbc-~W0 4ow v.eit), At snch carefullj' 11 4 DR. KANE IN THE MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY. Perched on • pedestal of frozen gravel is a maptietonietcr ; stretching out from it, a telescope; and bending down to this an abject human eye. — Page 5:tG. 1 ^n ■■* H SECOND GRIimELL EXPEDITION, 1863-4. 637 prepared chloroform exhibited a granular pellicle on its chap. xiy. surface. Spirit of naphtha froze at 64°, and oil of sassafras , , ,^ IntenBe cold. at 49 . The exhalations from the surface of the body in- vested the exposed or partially clad parts with a wreath of vapour. The air had a perceptible pungency upon inspira- tion, and when breathed for any length of time it imparted a sensation of dryness to the air-passages, inducing the men to breathe guardedly with compressed lips. The return of the sun was a gladsome event in the Retnmofthe history of the sorely tried crew of the Advance. On the **"•• 21st of February the doctor started off to a hill-top with characteristic energy, despite scurvy and general debility, to welcome back the great luminary, which for some days past had been silvering the ice between the head-lands of the bay. We can fancy that he realized that day, more fully than he had ever done, the import of that passage in Scripture, " It is a blessed thing for the eyes to behold the sun." From this time things began to wear a more favourable The dogs, and cheerful aspect, and active preparations were made for the spring search, notwithstanding the loss of most of the dogs. Kane had counted on these noble animals as his chief reliance in the intended sledge operations, but during that severe winter nine splendid Newfoundlanders and thirty-five Esquimaux dogs had perished. Only six out of the whole pack remained, and even of this small number one was unfit for draught. Still, with these he resolved to push into the unknown regions of the north in search of Franklin and his comrades. The first of the expeditions organized for the purpose of Expedition making a dep6t of provisions in advance, was despatched *o ™*^'« on the 20th of March. The manner in which Kane started *^ it was characteristic. The carpenter had urged him to use the Greenland sledge for this purpose, and he had agreed to this— although against his better judgment. " I saw the dep6t party off yesterday," he writes. " They gave the usual three cheers, with three for myself. I gave them the whole of my brother's great wedding-cake and 538 SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-^ CHAP. XIV, Stort with tbe sledge. Another sledge fitted oub The sledge changed and sleepers snr- pilsed. my last two bottles of port, and they pulled the sledge they were harnessed to famously. But I was not satisfied. I could see it was hard work ; and besides, they were without the boat, or enough extra pemmican to make their deposit of importance. I followed them, therefore, and found that they encamped at 8 p.m. only five miles from the brig. When I overtook them I said nothing to discourage them, and gave no new orders for the morning ; but after laugh- ing at good Ohlsen's rueful face, and listening to all Petersen's assurances that the cold, and nothing but the cold, retarded his Greenland sledge, and that no sledge of any other construction could have been moved at all through minus 40° snow, I quietly bade them good-night, leaving all hands under their buffalo-robes. " Once returned to the brig all my tired remainder-men were summoned. A large sledge with broad runners, which I had built somewhat after the neat Admiralty model sent me by Sir Francis Beaufort, was taken down, scraped, polished, lashed, and fitted out with track ropes and ivie- raddies [shoulder belts] ; the lines arranged to draw as near as possible in a line with the centre of gravity. We made an entire cover of canvas, with snugly adjusted fastenings; and by one in the morning we had our discarded excess of pemmican and the boat once more in stowage. " Off we went to the camp of the sleepers. It was very cold, but a thoroughly Arctic night. The snow just tinged with the crimson stratus above the sun, which, equinoctial as it was, glared beneath the northern horizon like a smelting furnace. We found the tent of the party by the bearings of the stranded bergs. Quietly and stealthily we hauled away their Esquimaux sledge, and placed her cargo upon the * Faith.' Five men were then rue-raddied to the tracklines, and, with the whispered word, * Now, boys, when Mr. Brooks gives his third snore, off with you !' off they went, and the ' Faith' after them as free and nimble as a volunteer. The trial was a triumph : we awakened the sleepers with three cheers ; and, giving them a second SECOND ORINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. 639 good-bye, returned to the brig, carrying the dishonoured vehicle along with us. And now, bating mishaps past anticipation, I shall have a dep6t for my long trip." The party which started thus auspiciously were doomed to disappointment and disaster. Their final rescue by Dr. Kane and his enfeebled men, is one of the most heroic deeds on record in the annals of Arctic daring, and exhibits forcibly that indomitable energy and perseverance on the part of their leader, which was more than once the means of saving the little band of adventurers from de- struction. The dep6t party had been absent upwards of a week, when, one night, towards midnight, those on board the brig heard steps approaching, ana the next minute, three of the absentees, Sontag, Ohlsen, and Petersen, tittered the cabui. Their manner startled Kane even more than their unexpected appearance on board. They were swollen and haggard, and hardly able to speak. Their story was a fearful one. They had left their companions on the ice, risking their own lives to carry the news to the brig. Brooks, Baker, Wilson, and Pierre (the remainder of the party), were lying frozen and disabled. Where ? they could not tell; somewhere in among the hummocks to the north and east. It was drifting heavily round them when they parted. Irish Tom had remained behind to care for the others. Those who had thus pushed forward to tell the tale, were so worn out with fatigue and hunger, that they could scarcely be rallied sufficiently to point out the durection in which they had come. Kane's first impulse was to start off at once ; but where to search among the drifts was the difficulty that pressed most heavily on his mind. Instant action, however, was necessary, and Kane was not a man to lube a moment in such an emergency. Orders were promptly given, and as promptly obeyed. Ohlsen seemed to have his faculties more at command than the others, "but if he accompanied the rescue party to point the way, it was clear that he must be carried, as he was sinking from exhaustion. CHAP. XIV. DIsastrons expedition. Unexpected aiTival of absentees. Preparations to rescue tha lo»t men. i '.,:■ li I Startlnff of the roscuu paity. C40 SECOND ORINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. CHAP. XIV While some of the men busied themselves in preparing fbod for, and attending to their disabled comrades, others were rigging out the sledge called the " Little Willie," with a buffalo cover, a small tent, and a package of pemmican. oiiBien As soon as the arrangements could be hurried through, with^tb^"'^ Ohlsen was strapped on in a fur bag, his legs wrapped in dog-skins and eider-down, and they were off upon the ice. This rescue party consisted of ten men, including Dr. Kane, almost all of whom woidd, in ordinary circum- stances, have been placed on the sick list. But life and death were in the balance now, and every man nerved himself to the work. The thermometer stood at 70 degrees* below the freezing point, nevertheless, they started with no other covering than the clothes on their backs. After sixteen hours' travel they lost their way. Ohlsen, who had been for fifty hours without rest, fell asleep the moment they began to move, and awoke with unequivocal signs of mental disturbance, so that the poor fellow became a use- less incumbrance to the party. Dr. Kane knew that the lost men must be within a radius of forty miles from where they stood, but there was nothing to indicate the point of the compass towards which they ought to travel. Pushing ahead of the party, Kane clambered over some rugged ice- piles, from which he descried a long level floe, which, he thought, might probably attract the eyes of weary men in circumstances like their own. Here he gave orders to pitch the tent, abandon the sledge, and disperse on foot in all directions. The thermometer had now fallen to 49° below zero, and a sharp breeze was blowing from the north- west, so that it was absolutely impossible to prevent them- selves from freezing except by unremitting and vigorous exercise. They could not even melt water for drink, and any attempt to eat snow was instantly followed by bloody lips. The men nov^ spread themselves in all directions. " But though they all obeyed heartily," says Kane, " some pain- ful impress of solitary danger, or perhaps it may have been The search. SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. 641 the varying configuration of the ice-field, kept them closing OHAP. xiv. up continually into a single group. The strange manner """ in which some of us were affected I now attribute as much to shattered nerves as to the direct influence of the cold. Men like M'Qary and Bonsall, who had stood out our severest marches, were seized with trembling fits and short breath ; and, in spite of all my efforts to keep up an example of sound bearuig, I fainted twice on the snow. " We had been nearly eighteen hours out without water Trace* or lost or food, when a new hope cheered us. I think it was v^^^y 'o"*"^ Hans, our Esquimaux hunter, who thought he saw a broad sledge-track. The drift had nearly effaced it, and we were some of us doubtful at first whether it was not one of those accidental rifts which the gales make in the surface snow. But as we traced it on to the deep snow among the hum- mocks, we were led to footsteps ; and, following these with religious care, we at last came in sight of a small American flag fluttering from a hummock, and, lower down, a little Masonic banner hanging from a tent-pole, hardly above the drift. It was the camp of our disabled comrades. We reached it after an unbroken march of twenty-one hours." The doctor was not the first to reach the tent, but on The t«nt coming up, he found the men standing silently in file on di»«.vered. each side of it. With a kindness and delicacy of feeling that might scarcely have been looked for, they intimated their wish that he should enter first. Crawling in, Kane was received with a burst of joyful welcome by the four poor fellows who ■ were stretched on their backs. " They had expected him; they were sure he would come ! " And well might they trust him, for their noble-hearted leader never failed his comrades in the hour of need. They were now fifteeA souls : the thermometer 75° below Trying situa. the freezing point, and their sole accommodation a tent, *'°°* barely able to hold eight men. Half of the worn-out party had therefore to keep themselves from literally freezing to death, by walking up and down outside while the others 642 SECOND OBINNELL EXPEDITION, 1863-4. Effects of Ibttfnie and cold. CHAP. XIV. slept. Each party slept for two hours, and then they pre- ArronffT pwed for the homeward march— a journey of fifty hours. inents for the The sick men, with their limbs sewed up in deer-skins, sick. ^gfQ lashed on a sledge, and so rolled up in furs that only an opening opposite their mouths was left for breathing. The operation of stripping, refreshing, and packing the men, cost their rescuers four hours of hard laboiu*, and several frost-bitten fingers. After repeating a short prayer, they started for the ship. But terrible was the trial they underwent before reaching it. The ice was almost impassably rough, and the sled- load of men very heavy, and before they got to within nine miles of the tent they had pitched on the floes, the energies of the whole party failed, almost without premonition. Bonsall and Morton, two of the stoutest men, begged per- mission to lie down on the snow and sleep, — " They were not cold ; the wind did not enter them now ; a little sleep was all they wanted.'* Presently Hans was found nearly stifi" under a drift ; Thomas, bolt upright, had his eyes closed and could hardly articulate, and John Blake threw himself down and refused to rise. Aware of their extreme peril. Dr. Kane wrestled, boxed, ran, argued, jeered, and repri- manded in vain. A halt was called, the tent pitched with great difficulty, the sick men placed within it, and as many of the others as it could hold. Without food, without fire, and without spirits (for even the whisky had frozen), they huddled together in deep sleep, while their indomitable captain pushed forward with William Godfrey, leaving orders for the party to follow after four hours' rest. His object was to reach the tent, make a fire, thaw some snow and pemmican, before the others should arrive. The two went forward, they scarce knew how, in a sort of stupor, and reached the tent in four hours. They retained a con- fused recollection of what happened by the way, but they A bear seen, remembered seeing a bear which walked leisurely before them, and tore up, as he went, a jumper that M*Gary had thrown away the day before. It also overturned the tent, but went away without doing any further injury. SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1853-4. 643 On arriving, they crept into their sleeping bags without chap. xiv. speaking, and instantly fell into profound slumber, from which the doctor awakened to find his long beard a mass of ice, and fast frozen to the buffalo skin. Godfrey had to cut him out with a jack knife. When the party rejoined them, hot soup was prepared, and after a short rest they continued the journey. But the broken ice became worse Difflcuities and worse, so that their progress was slow and tedious, andtriaiaof Halts, too, had to be made more frequently, and on these ® J°"™®y" occasions they fell, half-sleeping, on the snow. The doctor could not prevent it, so he timed the men, and allowed them three minutes sleep at a time. Short though it was, this homoeopathic dose of slumber did them good. At last they reached the brig, but in such a state of mental and bodily prostration, that they were quite delirious, and moved about like men in a dream. A few days after, Kane writes in his journal : " The rescued men are not out of danger, but their gratitude is very touching. Pray God that they may live ! " They did live, with one exception. Jefferson Baker died Baker'a of lock-jaw, and was buried on Fern Rock. ^^^^' Soon after this a party of Esquimaux arrived at the brig, Esquimaux, and an intimacy was begun with these simple inhabitants of the north which lasted, almost unbroken, till the voyagers left their winter home. They hunted together, travelled together, and frequently slept together in the snow villages which were built, often, in a few hours. In the month of April 1854, the first exploring party First expior- started, under command of Dr. Kane. It consisted of ing party sets himself and seven men, with a dog-sledge. " This was," says the leader, " to be the crowning expedition of the campaign, to attam the Ultima Thule of the Greenland shore, measure the waste that lay between it and the un- known West, and seek round the furthest circle of the ice for an outlet to the mysterious channels beyond." This journey was undertaken under the most disadvantageous circumstances, the men being reduced in strength and health; but it was carried on with unflagging energy in CHAP. XIV. Provisions doatroyed. Sclmbert't duatli. Dr. Hayes* Journey. Morton's ex- pedition. 644 SECOND OBINNELL EXPEDITION, 1863-^1. the face of inconceivable difficulties. At one point they were almost stopped by the depth and softness of the snow; at another they found that the bears had destro}'ed tlie cache of provisions, on which they chiefly depended, and worse than all, symptoms of scurvy began to break the men down. Dr. Kane himself had to be strapped on the tdedge and dragged along for some time, having frozen his foot, besides being so unwell as to become delirious. Dr. Hayes, in his report, says of Kane, that he was carried to the brig nearly insensible by the more able-bodied men of the piirty, and so swollen from scurvy as to be hardly recognisable. His recovery at the time was regarded as nearly hopeless. But about this time another of the party was struck down. The doctor writes thus:— "Poor Schubert is gone. Our gallant, merry-hearted companion left us some ten days ago, for, I trust, a more genial world. It is sad, in this dreary little homestead of ours, to miss bis contented face, and the joyous troll of his ballads." Although foiled, the crew of the Advance were not disheartened. Dr. Hayes, being almost the only fresh man on board, was sent out with a dog-sledge and party, on an expedition to the north, on the 20th May. He was to cross Smith's Straits, and make, as near as possible, a straight course for Cape Sabine. On the 1st of June he returned, and had to be led to Kane's bedside to make his report, being perfectly snow-blind. The gallant surgeon did not cease to advance on this journey imtil they broke down — dogs and all. For some time they were so aflfected by snow-blindness as to be obliged to encamp until they got better. The highest latitude reached was 79° 46' north, longitude, 69° 12^ west. The coast here trended to the westward, and Vas sighted for thirty miles to the north- ward and eastward. This was the culminating point of Dr. Hayes' survey. Two large headlands. Capes Joseph Leidy and John Frazer, indicate it. Another expedition was set on foot in June, and placed under the command of Morton. On this journey they proceeded as far north as latitude 81° 22^ north, and dis- BBOOND ORINNELL EXPEDITION, 1854-6. 64fl covered an open ocean entirely free from ice. A lofty cape here baffled all hif efforts to advance. It was named Cape Constitution. There, from a height of 480 feet, which commanded a horizon of almcvut forty miles, his ears were gladdened wifb the novel music of dashing waves. " Be- yond this cape all is surmise. The high ridges to the north-west dwindled off into low blue knobs, which blended finally with the air." Animal life was extremely abundant. The furthest north point of land seen was named Mount Edward Pany, in latitude 82° Z(f, longitude 66° west. Here, then, was a discovery that seemed to justify the theoiy of an open polar basin, and earnestly did Dr. Kane long to launch forth upon its bright and lonely waters; but it had been otherwise ordained. The Advance was not freed from the ice that season, and the approach of another winter found her still locked in the cold, but irresistible, embnvce of Renssellaer Harbour. Seeing that there was little hope of release that year. Dr. Kane planned a boat expedition to Beechy Island, to communicate with Sir Edward Belcher's squadron, and procure supplies for another winter. About the middle of July the attempt was made most energetically, but failed; and they returned to the brig about the beginning of August. A last effort was then made to extricate the brig from her ice-cradle by means of sawing, blasting, &c., but without success. The prospect, indeed, was hopeless. They were beset by heavy ice which grounded on the shallows, and long chains of icebergs also took the ground in their neighbourhood, and obstructed the passage of the floes. At last the young ice began to form, and the winter of 1854 closed in on the luckless crew. The prospect was indeed dreary. Sick in mind and body, without fresh provisions and short of fuel, they had to face the tedium of another long and dreary winter. On August 20, the journal entry runs thus: " Sunday. Rest for all hands. The daily prayer is no longer, * Lord, accept our gratitude and bless our undertaking,' but * Lord, accept pur gratitade and restore us to our homes.' The ice shows 2l CHAP. XIV. OpcnPoUr buln. BoAt ezpedU tlOD to Beechy laUnd. Another win- ter closes round them. Council of the crewr summoned. 646 SECOND GRTNNELL EXPEDITION, 1864-5. CHAP. XIV. no change; after a boat and foot journey around the entire south-eastern curve of the bay, no signs I " Dr. Kane now made up his mind, ill prepared though he was, to stand by the brig for another winter ; but, feeling that he had no right to expect that his men would run similar risk, he summoned a council of the crew, stated their circumstances and prospects, and left it to themselves to remain or to attempt the long and dangerous journey to the south Greenland colonies. Eight agreed to remain. The others, nine in number, left the brig with a fair share of food and stores on the 28th August, and with a written assurance that, should they be compelled to return, they would receive " a brother's welcome." One of the men returned a few days afterwards; but weary months went by before the rest were driven back to their old home in Kenssellaer Harbour. We cannot enter into the details of the sufferings heroi- cally endured by the doctor and his gallant crew during the succeeding winter. The following extract shows the risks they sometimes ran while seal-hunting. Dr. Kane and his Esquimaux hunter were on their dog sledge travelling out on the floes : " Hans sang out at the top of his voice, *Pusey! puseymut! seal! seal!* At the same instant the dogs bounded forward, and as I looked up, I saw crowds of grey netsik— the rough or hispid seal of the whalers — disporting in an open sea of water. " I had hardly welcomed the spectacle when I saw that we had passed upon a new belt of ice that was obviously unsafe. To the right, and left, and front, was one great expanse of snow-flowered ice. The nearest solid floe was a mere lump, which stood like an island in the white level. To turn was impossible ; we had to keep up our gait. We urged on the dogs with whip and voice, the ice rolling like leather beneath the sledge runners. It was more than a mile to the lump of solid ice. Fear gave the poor beasts their utmost speed, and our voices were soon hushed to silence. " The suspense, unrelieved by action or effort, was in- Dangen of leal hunting. Unsafe ice. SECOND GEINNELL EXPEDITION, 1854-5. 647 tolerable. We knew that there was no remedy but to chap. xiv. reach the floe, and that everything depended on our dogs, d,. Kane ana and our dogs alone. A moment's check would plunge the Hans break whole concern into the rapid tideway. No presence of t^^fo'^gh the mind or resource, bodily or mental, could avail us. This desperate race against fate could not last. The rolling of the tough salt-water ice terrified our dogs; and when with- in fifty paces of the floe they paused. The left hand ninner went through ; our leader, * Toodlamick,* followed, and in one second the entire left of the sledge was sub- merged. My first thought was to liberate the dogs. I leaned forward to cut poor Tood's traces, and the next minute was swimming in a little circle of pasty ice and water alongside him. Hans, dear good fellow, drew near to help me, uttering piteous expressions in broken English ; but I ordered him to throw himself on his belly, with his hands and legs extended, and to make for the island by cogging himself forward with his jack-knife. In the mean time— a mere instant— I was floundering about with sledge, dogs, and lines, in confused puddle around me. " I succeeded in cutting poor Tood's lines and letting imminent him scramble to the ice, for the poor fellow was drowning ganger of Dr. me with his piteous caresses, and made my way for the sledge ; but I found that it would not buoy me, and that I had no resource but to try the circumference of the hole. Around this I paddled faithfully, the miserable ice always yielding when my hopes of a lodgment were greatest. During this process I enlarged my circle of operations to a very uncomfortable diameter, and was beginning to feel weaker after every effort. Hans meanwhile had reached the firm ice and was on his knees, Uke a good Moravian, praying incoherently in English and Esquimaux. At every fresh crushing in of the ice he would ejaculate * God !' and when I recommenced my paddling he recommenced his prayers. " I was nearly gone. My knife had been lost in cutting out the dogs ; and a spare one which I carried in my trousers-pocket was so enveloped in the wet skins that I Saved I 648 SECOND OIlINN£LLi:XPEDITION, 1854- fi. CHAP. XIV. could not reach it. I owed my extrication at last to a His effTt to J*6wly-broken team dog, who was still fast to the sledge, escape. and in struggling carried one of the runners' chock against the edge of the circle. All my previous attempts to use the sledge a& a bridge had failed, for it broke through, to the much greater injury of the ice. I felt it was a last chance. I threw myself on my back, so as to lessen as much as possible my weight, and placed the nape of my neck against the rim or edge of the ice ; then with caution slowly bent my leg, and, placing the ball of my moccassined foot against the sledge, I pressed steadily against the runner, listening to the half yielding crunch of the ice beneath. ** Presently I felt that my head was pillowed by the ice, and that my wet fiu: jumper was sliding up the surface. Next came my shoulders ; they were fairly on. One more decided push and I was launched upon the ice and safe. I reached the ice-floe and was frictioned by Hans with fi'ightful zeaL We saved all the dogs, but the sledge, Kayack, tent, guns, snow-shoes, and everything besides were left behind. The thermometer at 8° will keep them frozen fast in the sledge till we can come and cut them out.'* Their exploits with bears and walrus in company with natives were numerous, and always more or less accom- panied with danger. But at times they were totally de- serted by natives, bears, and walrusses, and scurvy broke them down so thoroughly that there was scarcely a man of the whole crew fit even for the lightest duties, and Dr. Kane himseK had at last to undertake the cleaning and cooking of the ship. Despite all this he planned future lines of search, but was never permitted to carry them out. It soon became evident that the ship was destined to remain for ever, a monument of baffled en- terprise, in Benssellaer harbour. On the 20th of May 1855, the crew quitted the brig and made for the open water to the south, dragging their boats on sledges after them. But many a long day and night of toil and trial did they undergo ere they reached the south Greenland Trials and vicissitudes^ Thebrif; abandoned. SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1854-5. 649 settlements, and many a hair-breadth escape they had in chap. xiv. traversing the solid ice plains under sail as if they were actually on the open sea, and in afterwards ploughing through the ice-encumbered ocean. Sometimes they received help from the Esquimaux. Kindnewof Once their sledge broke so far through the ice that the *® ^"'i"^' boat floated off. " Just then," says Kane, " seven of the natives came up to us— five sturdy men, and two almost as sturdy women— and without waiting to be called on, worked with us most efficiently for more than half a day, asking no reward." In the course of the voyage another of their comrades, Ohlsen, was struck down by death, and was in- Death of terred near a cape which now bears his name. More than Ohi»en« once they were nearly nipped by the floes, and towards the end of their voyage they were on so short allowance of food that they had scarce strength left to manage their boats, and were on the point of being starved to death, when, providentially, they came on a seal which was seemingly fast asleep on a lump of ice. " But," writes Kane, " he was not asleep, for he reared his head when we were almost within rifle-shot ; and to this day I can remember the hard, careworn, almost despairing expression of the men's thin faces as they saw him move : their lives depended on his capture." Providentially they got within range and shot the seal The starving dead. "I would have ordered another shot," continues ^^'*°°'" the narrative, "but no discipline could have controlled the men. With a wild yell, each vociferating according to his own impulse, they lurged'both boats upon the floes. A crowd of hands seized the seal and bore him up to safer ice. The men seemed half crazy. I had not realized how much we were reduced by absolute famine. They ran over the floe, crying, and laughing, and brandishing their knives. It was not five minutes before every man was sucking his bloody fingers or mouthing long strips of raw blubber." This was the beginning of good fortune. Soon after, more seals were shot, and in a few days they neared the Danish settlements. There is something inexpressibly ■Hii The crew of lUrl the Advance ■^m] reach the ■hHi Danish ■ BettlementH. 650 SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 1854-5. CHAP. XIV. touching in the simple record of the feelings that gushed -,._J . over these heart-tried men as they heard the first sound of i'lrat Bonna ._..,., _ . . of a civilized the voice of Civilized man. It was a misty day, and they Toice. were toiling at the oars when a faint " halloo" was heard. " * Listen, Petersen ! oars, men !' * What is it ?'— and he listened quietly at first, and then, trembling, said in a half whisper, Dannemarkers ! .... By-and-by the single mast of a small shallop showed itself ; and Petersen, who had been very quiet and grave, burst out into an incohe- rent fit of crying." About the beginning of August they landed in safety at the Danish settlements, having lived for eighty-four days in the open air. " Our habits," says Kane, " were hard and weatherworn. We could not remain within the four walls of a house without a distressing sense of suffocation. But we drank coflFee that night before many a hospitable threshold, and listened again and again to the hymn of welcome, which, sung by many voices, greeted deliverance." Here the long lost mariners learned that Sir John Franklin had perished nearly a thousand miles to the south of where they had been searching for him ; and here, too, they met the squadron of the gallant men who had been sent out to search for them. Dr. Kane and his men went out to meet them in the little boat that had carried Meeting with them through many miles of ocean. "Presently," he Captain writes, " we were alongside. An officer, whom I shall ever remember as a cherished friend. Captain Hartstene, hailed a little man in a ragged flannel shirt — ' Is that Dr. Kane ?' and with the * Yes !' that followed, the rigging was manned by our countrymen, and cheers welcomed us back to the social world of love which they represented." The kind heart and gallant spirit that had battled so long and so bravely with the northern ice was soon called Death of Dr. to another world where love reigns supreme. A constitu- tion which had never been strong was irreparably shattered by the severe trials and privations it had undergone. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane died at Havannah in February 1857. Just at the conclusion of Dr. Kane's voyage, another Kane. ANDERSON AND STEWART, 1865. 651 expedition by land was in course of preparation. This ex- pedition was fitted out and conducted by the Hudson's Bay Company. It consisted of a bark canoe, and was placed under the command of Messrs Anderson and Stewart, gentlemen in the servico of the company. Its object was to proceed down the Great Fish River to its mouth, and examine Montreal Island and its neighbourhood, near which, according to Esquimaux reports, Franklin and his followers perished. Little more was accomplished by this expedition than the corroboration of the report brought home by Dr. Rae. They set out on their journey on the 22d June 1855, and on their way down the river fell in with Esquimaux with whom were seen various articles which had evidently be- longed to a boat — such as tentpoles, paddles, &c., formed out of ash oars, and pieces of oak, elm, mahogany, and pine ; also, copper and sheet iron boilers, tin soup-tureens, pieces of instruments, a letter-nip dated 1843, and sundry tools, — all of which, they were informed, had come from a boat, and that the white men who owned it had been starved to death. This information was conveyed to them by signs, as none of the party could speak the Esquimaux language. About the end of August they reached Montreal Island which was carefully examined, and several Esqui- maux cdx;hes were found containing chain-hooks, chisels, a bar of unwrought iron, and several other articles ; a small piece of stick was also found, on which was cut "Mr. Stanley," surgeon of the ^Erehus* A piece of wood was also found with the word * Terror^ cut on it. But not a scrap of paper could be found ; and although a strict searcj was made on the island and on the neighbouring main, not a vestige of the remains of the unfortunate crew was dis- covered. After a ten days' search the expedition returned to winter quarters. It seems to have been a strange over- sight to have sent off an expedition of this kind — ^which was designed to make a thorough investigation — ^without an interpreter ! Little could have been expected from it, and we are not surprised that little was accomplished. CHAP. XIV. Nature and objects nt tlia expedition. They set out for the mouth of the Great Fish River. Relics found on Montreal Island. 652 VOYAGE OP THE FOX— m'CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. CHAPTER XV. Expedition under Captain M'Clintock—Discoverp of a Record of the lost Expedition, and the fate of Sir John Franklin. Voyage of Captain M'Clintock in the Fox — First "Winter Bpent in the Pack of Baffin's Bay— Dangers of Disruption — Deliverance and Advance — Winter in Bellot's Strait— Autumn and Spring Travelling Parties — Discovery of Remains of the Franklin Expedition— Lieutenant Hobson's Discovery of a Boat and a " Record," which intimates the Death of Sir John Franklin — Skeletons and numerous Relics of the lost Crews found — Discoveries of Captain Young — Return Home — Franklin's Party the first to discover the North- West Pass- age— Proposed Expedition by the Americans towards the Pole. CHAP. XV. The voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas in the years 1867, '68, and '69 (recently published), brings down the Temwl**'^ history of Polar Seas and Regions to the present time, and clears up the mystery of the fate of the Franklin Expedi- tion, the search for which has been so long and so energe- tkt}\y carried on by Great Britain and also by America. It is now ascertained beyond doubt, from a document dis- covered in the Arctic Regions, that the crews of the Erebus and Terror perished while travelling on foot over the ice towards the mouth of the Great Fish River, that the gallant Sir John Franklin was the discoverer of the North-West Passage, and that he died on the 11th of No detaUed June 1847. No detailed records of the ill-fated expedition recordaofthe jjayg \^qqj^ found,— no letters or documents to afford us the pedition ' melancholy satisfaction of dwelling on the last moments found. aid the last words of the leader. Knough, and only enough, has been reclaimed from the Arctic Seas to assure us that all have perished. It seems as if the Almighty had mercifully permitted one mysterious whisper from the unseen world to reach us, to allay that anxiety which has VOYAGE OF THE FOX— m'cMNTOCK, 1867-8-9. 653 80 long been felt by the nation, and burdened the hearts chap. xv. of the noble-spirited Lady Franklin and the relations of the lost crews. Before proceeding with our epitome of Captain M'Clin- tock's most interesting journal, it may be well to remind the reader of the state of Arctic research at the time of the Fox's setting sail. It will be remembered that the last expeditions which state of returned in 1854 added nothing to the intelligence pre- "^'^J?'' Jf *'*'* viously ascertained, namely, that the Erebus and Terror the Fox set had spent their first winter (1845-46) at Beechy Island, »aiL from which they departed without leaving any discoverable record of their past doings or future intentions. The next information we have of the lost ships was brought by Dr. Rae, who, as we have seen, was told by the Esquimaux, later in the same year (1854), that forty white men had been seen on the west coast of King William Land in the spring of 1850, who were travelling southward, and were supposed to have perished at the mouth of a large river, which Rae concluded must be the Great Fish Biver. In the following year (1855), as has been shown, the Continued. Hudson's Bay Company fitted out a canoe expedition which, under the command of Mr. Anderson, one of their own officers, explored the Great Fish River from the interior to its mouth. Anderson did little more than prove the correctness of Rae's supposition. He foimd that part of the missing crews had been on Montreal Island, at the mouth of that river, and he discovered a few relics, but having no interpreter, he could hold no intercourse with the Esquimaux except by signs. Unfortunately, his slender bark canoes were almost worn out by the rough treatment they had experienced in descending the turbulent rapids and crossing the rough portages of that river to the sea, so that he was compelled to discontinue the search at that very point beyond which it might have been prosecuted with good hope of a successful issue. On Mr. Anderson's return, it seemed as if the Govern- ment of this country had abandoned all hope of discovering Lady Frank- lin's perse- verance. 554 VOYAGE OF THE POX — M'OLINTOCK, 1«57-8-9. CHAP. XV. the remains of the Franklin expedition. It was generally ""^ believed that there could not now be a survivor of the unfortunate crews, and, believing that any further search, while it could not save life, would be inciuring needless risk, and entailing unnecessary expense, it was resolved that the attempt should be finally abandoned. The feelings that still actuated the sorrowing but brave heart of Lady Franklin, who had herself fitted out three expeditions, still urged her to "hope against hope." Having appealed most earnestly, but unsuccessfully, to Government, she resolved once more to fit out an expedi- tion at her own expense. She was backed in this noble effort by many of Sir John Franklin's friends, who, resolv- ing that she should not bear the entire expense of such an undertaking, subscribed largely towards it. The Govern- ment also, when the project was regularly set on foot, came forward with supplies of stores and much of the needful materiel of an Arctic voyage, so that, although the season of 1856 had been lost by Lady Franklm in vain entreaties, there was now an activity and enthusiasm in the preparations which guaranteed that there should be no further delay. Correctness It is worthy of remark here, that the news brought home of Dr. King's jjy i\^q Pq^ is Singularly corroborative of the correctness of proved. the opinion of Dr. King as to the whereabouts of the missing ships. Referring to this subject, a writer in the Medical Times says : — " The news recently brought home as to the fate of Sir John Franklir shows very remarkably the fault committed by Government in neglecting to follow the advice of a well-known member of our profession, Dr. King. It is now known that Franklin's ships were wrecked close to an island— King William's Island— lying off the western land of North Somerset ; and traces of the expedition have been found on the southern shore of this island, at Point Ogle on the continent of America, and at Montreal Island in the estuary of the Great Fish Kiver. Now, in February 1846, Dr. King proposed to Lord Grey, then VOYAGE OF THE FOX — M'cLINTOCK, 1 867-8-9. 555 in then Colonial Secretary, to go by the Great Fish River to the western land of North Somerset to aid the Franklin expe- dition in its survey. Two years afterwards, when anxiety was felt for the fate of the expedition, Dr. King made his second offer to Lord Grey to go by the same route to the same coast to search for and assist the expedition in its dificulty. The letter making this offer was dated Jime 10, 1847, and, curiously enough, it is now shown that Franklin died on the 1 1th of June, one day only after this letter was written, near the very spot which Dr. King pro- posed to explore. After Franklin's death, it appears from the records found by Captain M'Clintock, 105 survivors were on the road to the Great Fish River in April 1848 ; so that had Dr. King's proposals of 1845 and 1847 been accepted, he must have met the party and rescued them. Year after year Dr. King reiterated his warnings and offers, and in 1856 memorialized the Admiralty to arrange a combined effort by sea and land, again directed to the precise spot where the remains of the expedition have been found. Had his offers been accepted, not only would our gallant countrymen have been rescued, but no neces- sity would have arisen for the expeditions of Ross, Rich- ardson, Collinson, Austin, Penny, Belcher, or Kellett, at a Government expense of two millions ; nor for the private expeditions under Ross, Kennedy, and M'Clintock, or the American efforts of De Haven and Kane." Lady Franklin's first care was to provide a suitable vessel and an able commander. A screw steam yacht, named the Fox, of 177 tons burthen, was purchased by her at a cost of £2000 in the spring of 1857, and the command of her was offered to, and at once accepted by, Captain M'Clintock, R.N., a gentleman who had already served in three previous expeditions, from 1848 to 1854, and who, besides being eminently fitted for the work, by long expe- rience in Arctic travel, and by scientific attainments^ also had his " whole heart in the cause."* * We are happy to learn that the gallant M'Clintock has recently been knighted. CHAP. XV. Dr. King's proposals to Government The Fox pur- chased and M'Clintock appointed to command her. 656 VOYAGE OP THE FOX~M*CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. Reflttlng of the Fox. CHAP. XV. Before proceeding to sea, the Fox had to undergo a com- plete refit. The velvet hangings and splendid furniture, and everything not constituting a part of the vessel's strength- ening, were removed. The large sky-lights and capacious ladder-ways were reduced to limits more adapted to a Polar clime. The whole vessel was externally sheathed with stout planking, and internally fortified by strong cross beams, longitudinal beams, iron stanchions, and dia- gonal fastenings ; the false keel was taken off ; the slender brass propeller replaced by a massive iron one ; the boiler taken out, altered, and enlarged ; the sharp stem was cased in iron until it resembled a ponderous chisel set up edge- ways, and the rig considerably altered. " Internally the little vessel was fitted up with the s 'detest economy in every sense, and the officers were cmiLmed into pigeon- holes, styled cabins, in order to make room for provisions and stores." The mess-room, for five persons, measured eight feet square. Of course the stores and supplies of every kind were ample and of the best quality. Powder and shot, rockets, maroons, and signal-mo: Inis ; ice anchors, saws, and claws ; pemican and provisions of every kind for twenty- eight months, besides scientific instruments were supplied by Government. In short, few vessels ever left our shores 60 well, and none better, fitted out for an Arctic cniise ; but then, it must be remembered that few, if any, expedi- tions have set forth on such a hazardous enterprise as this ; for, while most other ships have gone in twos and threes to dare the dangers of the ice, and in later years these northern seas have been crowded with ships of every shape and size, the Fox set out on her voyage alone at a period in Arctic history when all other vessels had re- turned home discomfited— all, at least, that had not shared the fate of Franklin, and been wrecked in the Polar Seas. British " pluck " is well known. At the very outset this expedition called it forth. M'Glintock, in writing on the subject, says, — ''Expeditions of this nature are always popular with seamen, and innumerable were the applica- Storeo, rap- plies, provi aions, iic British "pluck. VOYAGE OP THB FOX— M*CLINTOCK, l<^7-8-9. ^7 tions sent to me ; but still more abundant were the oifen cBkf. xv. to * serve in any capacity' which poured in from all parts — of the country, from people of all classes, many of whon had never seen the sea." It is this chivalrous love of difficult and dangerous work, this dare-anything spirit of enterprise, that has contributed so largely to make Britain what she is. The crew of the Fox— in addition to Captain M'Clintock, Crew of the Lieutenant W. R. Hobson, E.N., Captain Allen Toung, *"°^ who joined as sailing-master, and David Walker, M.D., who volunteered for the post of surgeon — consisted of twenty-one men, among whom we find the name of Carl Petersen, the Esquimaux interpreter, familiar to all who have read the account of the expeditions under Captain Penny and Dr. Kane. On the last day of June 1857 Lady Franklin went on Lady Frank- board the Fox to say farewell and bid them God-speed. JJJewJu!***™ Her " instructions" to M'CIintock might well be taken as a pattern by the Admiralty. Placing unlimited confidence in the man to whom she had committed the charge of her expedition, she simply wrote him a short letter explaining what she wanted him to do, and left it to his own judg- ment to determine how to do it. " As to the objects of the expedition and their relative Her •• in- importance," she wrote, " I am sure you know that the "'■oc«:i<»>»«'" rescue of any possible survivor of the Erebus or Terror would be to me, as it would be to you, the noblest result of our efibrts. For this object I wish every other to be subordinate ; and next to it in importance is the recovery of the unspeakably precious documents of the expedition, public and private, and the personal relics of my dear husband and his companions. And lastly, I trust it may be in your power to confirm, directly or inferentially, the claims of my husband's expedition to the earliest discovery of the passage, which, if Dr. Rae's report be true (and the Government oif our country has accepted and rewarded it as such), these martyrs in a noble cause achieved at their last extremity, after five long years of labour and sufiiering, if not at an earlier period." 558 VOYAGE OP THE POX— M'CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. CHAP. XV. Intended plan of search. Sailing of the Fox for the Polar Seas. Arrival at Frederick- shaah. The intended plan of search was, first, to touch at some of the Danish settlements in Qreenland to purchase sledge- dogs ; then to proceed to Beechy Island, and there to fill up stores from the dep6t left by Sir E. Belcher. Next, to endeavour to proceed down Peel Sound (supposed to be a strait), but, failing by that channel, to try down Regent's Inlet, and by the supposed Bellot Straits to reach the neighbourhood of the Qreat Fish River. They were to search the adjacent shores during the summer of 1857 and following spring, and then return home either by the Atlantic, or through Behring's Straits and across the Pacific. On the 1st of July 1857 the Pox set forth on her lonely voyage, and on the 12th of the same month they sighted Greenland. As one of the men had showed symptoms of diseased lungs the captain determined to land him at Frederickshaab. In order to accomplish this it was necessary to force their vessel through the remarkable and dangerous stream known as the Spitzbergen current, which carries a thick pack of heavy ice down the eastern coast of Greenland, round the cape, and up along the western coast for a distance of 250 miles. The whalers dread this current, for many good ships and valuable lives have been lost there, and it blockades the ports of south Greenland during the greater j, >rt of the summer. The Spitzbergen current, however, like everything else in this world, has its good points. It conveys to the shores of the Greenlander an immense number of bears and seals, and furnishes him with a large and valuable supply of drift wood from the rivers of Siberia. The Fox forced this barrier in safety, and reached Fred- erickshaab in time to procure a homeward passage for the ailing seaman. Referring to these Danish colonies, M*Clintock says, — "For trading purposes Greenland is monopolized by the Danish Government. Its Esquimaux and mixed population amoimt to about 7000 souls. About 1000 Danes reside constantly there for the purpose of conducting the trade, which consists almost exclusively in VO^'AOE OF THE POX— m'cLINTOCK, 1557-8-9. 660 the exchange of European goods for oil and the skins of chap. xv. seals, leindeer, and a few other animals. The £squi- "T"* maux are not subject to Danish laws, but, although proud colonies or of theu nominal independence, they are sincerely attached oreenUnd. to the Banes, and with abundant reason. A Lutheran clergyman, a doctor, and a schoolmaster, whose duty it is to give gratuitous instruction and relief, are paid by the Government, and attached to each district ; and when these improvident people are in distress, which not unfrequently happens during the long winters^ provisions are issued to them iree of cost. Spirits are strictly prohibited. All of them have become Christians, aud many can read and write." Continuing the voyage they reached the island of Disco Voyage con- on th() 31st of July. Here they met with the commanders """*"* ^ of two whale-ships that had been crushed to pieces by the ice in Melville Bay a few weeks before. Captain M'Clintock speaks of Disco fiord as the most enticing spot in Greenland for a week's shooting, fishing, and yachting ; hares, ptar- migan, wild-ducks, and splendid sahnon trout being abundant. Having procured some Esquimaux dogs and a native driver named Christian, besides a supply of smoked and dried salmon trout, they pushed out into the ice-laden waters of Baffin's Bay. In passing part of the Disco shore a low range of sandstone cliffs were seen, in which there were horizontal seams of coal. The opportunity was too good to neglect. The anchor was let go and coaling vigorously commenced forthwith. Their Esquimaux, Christian, was a volunteer, about Christian, twenty-three years of age, unmarried, and an orphan. *^® Esqui- When he came on board the men soon thoroughly cleaned and cropped him, soap and scissors being novelties to an Esquimaux. They then rigged him in sailors' clothes. He was evidently not at home in them, but was not the less proud of his improved appearance. At the little settlement of Proven, and also at Upernivick, more dogs and food were obtained, and on the 7th of August, having landed the last letters for home, they set CHAP. XV. Foiled in at- tempting to cross BttfBu's Bay. Magnificent glacier of Melville Bay. Perpetual cunihine. 660 VOYAGE OP THE FOX— m'CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. sail, and soon left the last traces of semi-civilized human life behind them. An attempt was now made to cross Baffin's Bay by penetrating the "middle ice," the edge of which they reached about seventy miles to the west of Upernivick ; but it waa found to be impenetrably packed together, so that although they ran along its edge for forty miles, no passage could be found. Pushing northward, therefore, in search of an opening, they reached Melville Bay on the 12th, and sighted a magnificent glacier— the parent of many ice- bergs that floated round them. " There is much," writes M'Clintock, " to excite intense admiration and wonder around us. One cannot at once appreciate the grandeur of this mighty glacier, extending unbroken for forty or fifty miles. Its sea-cliflfs, about five or six miles from us, appear comparatively low ; yet the ice- bergs detached from it are of the loftiest description. Here, on the spot, it does not seem incorrect to compare the ice- bergs to mere chippings off its edge, and the floe ice to the thinnest shavings. The far-off outline of the glacier, seen against the eastern sky, has a faint tinge of yellow. It is almost horizontal, and of unknown distance and elevation. There is an unusual dearth of birds and seals. Everything around us is painfully still, excepting when an occasional iceberg splits off from the parent glacier ; then we hear a rumbling crash like distant thunder, and the wave occar sioned by the launch reaches us in six or seven minutes, and makes the ship roll lazily for a similar period. I can- not imagine that within the whole compass of nature's varied aspects there is represented to the human eye a scene so well adapted for promoting deep and serious reflection, for lifting the thoughts from trivial things of every-day life to others of the highest import." At this time the Fox sailed in a blaze of perpetual sun- shine. Midnight differed from mid-day only in this-that the sun skimmed along the horizon instead of across the zenith. A seaman's chest was picked up here. It con- tamed only a spoon, a fork, and some tin canisters. VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK 1857-8-9. 661 On the 17th they pushed into the ice, but thick fog chap. xv. came on, and a gale of wind closed up the floes, thus cut- ~ . ting off retreat and precluding advance. From this time the ice. forward, until they were fairly beset, their voyage was a tough battle with the ice, in which they succeeded in mak- ing only a few miles— sometimes a few yards — at a time. Every effort was made to force a passage. The saws and blasting-powder were resorted to, but without success ; and at length it became evident to the anxious comma^nder of the expedition that they were doomed to spend the winter in the pack. During their struggles in the ice Christian, the Esqui- seai hunting, raaux, became a successful hunter of seals, and secured so *"^ ^^« many that the dogs fared sumptuously. "Forty-three ^^ "* seals," writes M'Clintock, " have been secured for the dogs ; one dog is missing, the remaining twenty-nine devoured their two days' allowance of seal's flesh (sixty or sixty-five pounds) in forty-two seconds ! It contained no bone, and had been cut up into small pieces, and spread out upon the snow, before they were permitted to rush to dinner. In this way the weak enjoy a fair chance, and there is no time for fighting." About the 18th of September the Fox was completely Frozen in for frozen in. Nevertheless, although all their plans had been ? ®J^'"*J* '" thus prematurely blasted, and they were doomed to spend a long winter of absolute inutility and in comparative peril and privation, the commander and his men faced their difficulties cheerfully, and prepartions for wintering and sledge travelling were carried on with unflagging energy. On the 24th two bears were seen and chase was given, but without success. Games upon the ice and skating, with occasional seal-shooting excursions, served to fill up leisure time. Among other sources of amusement they had a beautiful hand-organ on board. It had been presented by Prince Albert to the searching vessel bearing his name, which was sent out by Lady Franklin in 1851, and was now about to pass its third winter in the Arctic regions. Its effect on Christian was amusing and interesting. Of 2 M Ship housed over. School started. 662 VOYAGE OP THE FOX— M'cLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. CHAP. XV. course he had never seen such an instrument before, and he regarded it with such awe and admiration, and seemed so entranced as he turned the handle, that his shipmates felt quite envious ! As there was now no hope of release, the ship was housed over and banked up with snow all round ; but although she was thus stationary in the pack, the little Fox was by no means at rest, — the ice was carried steadily and slowly to the southward. With reference to tho ice round them, however, all remained hard and fast. Rambles over the floes were now of daily occurrence, both for the sake of killing seals and bears, and the keeping up of health. Furious gales frequently swept over their wooden home ; but they had warm cabins and heeded them not. A school was set on foot under the auspices of Dr. Walker, and was immediately filled with zealous students of "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic," from the forecastle. Some experiments were also made to determine the mean hourly change of oscillation of a pendidum due to the earth's diurnal motion ; but as the pendulum was only 11^ feet in length, accuracy could not be obtained. The mean of several observations gave 17° 14', whereas the Scientific change due to their latitude was about 14° 30'. A single experiments, experiment gave 14° 10', and this was the longest in point of time of any of them, the pendulum having swung for thirty-six minutes. A little box perforated with small holes was fastened to the mast about fifty feet high,, in which was placed a piece of prepared paper to detect the presence and amount of ozone in the air. As the winter advanced the days shortened until per- .:' petual night settled down over the dreaiy sea. But the sailors were light-hearted and sanguine, and their mono- tonous life was occasionally relieved by such exciting inci- dents as the following : " There was a sudden call * to A bear! arms' to-night. Whether sleeping, prosing, or schooling, every one flew out upon the ice on the instant, as if the magazine or the boiler was on the point of explosion. The alarm of *a bear close-to fighting with the dogs,* was the VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. 663 cause. The luckless beast had approached to within chap. xv. twenty-five yards of the ship ere the quartermaster's eye ^he^^ detected his indistinct outline against the snow ; so silently ngiit and the had he crept up that he was within ten yards of some of victory, the dogs. A shout started them up, and they at once flew round the bear and embarrassed his retreat. In crossing some very thin ice he broke through, and there I found him surrounded by yelping dogs. Poor fellow ! Hobson, Young, and Petersen, had each lodged a bullet in him ; but these only seemed to increase his rage. He succeeded in getting out of the water, when, fearing harm to the numer- ous bystanders and dogs, or that he might escape, I fired, and luckily the bullet passed through his brain. He proved to be a full-grown male, seven feet three inches in length. As we all aided in the capture, it was decided that the skin should be offered to Lady Franklin. " For the few moments of its duration the chase and Exciting death was exciting. And how strange and novel the scene I "»*''ii« «>f the A misty moon affording but scanty light ; dark figiires glid- ing singly about, not daring to approach each other, for the ice trembled under their feet ; the enraged bear, the wolfish bowlings of the dogs, and the bright flashes of the deadly rifles!" On the evening of the 28th October there occurred an unwonted and alarming disruption of the ice not 200 yards from the vessel. The sound sometimes resembled the continued roar of distant surf; at other times it was loud and harsh, as if trains of heavy waggons with ungreased axles were slowly labouring along. The sun took his final leave for the winter on th'? 1st Departure of November, and thenceforth they dwelt in constant lamp- '^^ *""• light inboard, and occasional star-aurora-moonlight out- side ; but oftentimes these latter were quenched in stormy ^ clouds and whirling drifts of snow. Arctic foxes white and blue, bears, and numbers of seals, kept about them nearly the whole winter, affording an abundant supply of food for the dogs and occasionally for the men. The dogs were not allowed to sleep on board. Death of Scott, the engine* driver. 664 VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*CLINTOOK, 1857-8-9. CHAP. XV. Little holes were excavated in the bank of snow round the ship, and in these icy kennels the hardy animals lived in comparative comfort — each having a hole to himself. Up to this time it had fared well with all on board the Fox, but in the beginning of December death visited the little community. Scott, the engine-driver, died in conse- quence of internal injuries occasioned by a fall. On the 4th of December a hole was cut through the ice to the water and the body was committed to the deep. The loss of this man was seriously felt, as there was only one other man on board who could work the engines, and afterwards, when the Fox was. struggling with the ice, the surviving engineer was obliged to do duty as long as overtaxed nature would permit, and then the engines were stopped for a time while he snatched a few hours repose ! It is with difficulty that the mind can form any con- ception of the position of these voyagers. Unable to move from their icy bed, yet constantly drifting over miles and miles of ocean — uncertain as to the where or the when of their deliverance from the pack — exposed to the terrible dangers of disrupting ice, and surrounded by the depressing gloom of the long Arctic night. The winter passed away at length, and returning day cheered their spirits and revived their hopes, which, how- ever, to do the men justice, had scarcely ever sunk. But as deliverance drew near, danger increased tenfold. In the earlier part of winter we find M'Clintock writing thus : — Drifting in the paclc Dangers of the disrupt- ing ice. a Nov 16. — A renewal of ice-crushing within a few hundred yards of us. I can hear it in my bed. When the heavy masses come into collision with much impetus, it fully realizes the justness of Dr. Kane's descriptive epithet, * ice-artillery.' Fortunately for us, our poor little Fox is well rtithin the margin of a stout old floe ; we are, there- fore, undisturbed spectators of ice-conflicts, which would be irresistible to anything of human construction." We cannot forbear reflecting on the fate that would have overtaken the Fox had she not been within the margin of that stout old floe^ to which she had been led by the VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. 565 merest chance, or rather, by the merciful hand of God. chap. xv. " Immediately about the ship," continues M^Clintock, " all —^ is still, and, as far as appearances go, she is precisely as she would be in a secure harbour — housed all over, banked up with snow to her gunwales. In fact, her winter plumage is so complete that the masts alone are visible." As spring advanced, however, they not only witnessed, but feit the power of the ice. In February the record runs thus: "Daylight reveals to us evidences of vast ice- Vast ice- movements having taken place during the dark months ""ovementB. when we fancied all was still and quiet, and we now see how greatly we have been favoured, what innumerable chances of destruction we have unconsciously escaped. A few days ago the ice suddenly cracked within ten yards of the ship, and gave her such a smart shock that every one rushed on deck with astonishing alacrity. One of these sudden dis- ruptions occurred between me and the ship when I was returning from the iceberg; the sun was just setting as I found myself cut off. Had I been upon the other side I M'Ciintock would have loitered to enjoy a refreshing gaze npon this Jw***hi^'°°* dark streak of water ; but after a smart run of about a mile along its edge, and finding no place to cross, visions of a patrol on the floe for the long night of fifteen hours began to obtrude themselves! At length I reached a place where the jagged edges of the floes met, so crossed, and got safely on board." ' Again, in March : — " Last night the ice closed, shutting up our lane, but its opposite sides continued for several hours to move past each other, rubbing off all projections, crushing, and forcing out of water masses four feet thick. Although 120 yards distant, this pressure shook the ship and cracked the intervening ice." Soon after we find that a heavy gale burst on them from the S.E. which blew so Heavy (jaies furiously, and encircled them with snowdrift so dense, that J".!^"®** they could neither hear nor see what was going on twenty yards off. At night the ship became suddenly detached from her winter bed, and heeled over to the storm, inducing them to believe that the whole pack had been broken up I Fox <8 nipt by the ice. Once more afloat. 666 VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*OLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. CHAP. XV. and was pressing against them. This was not the case ; but when the storm abated they found that their guardian floe had been fearfully curtailed, and that ice of four and a half feet thick had in some places been crushed to atoms for a distance of about fifty yards. Soon after the floe yielded, and the Fox received a " nip," which inclined her to port, and lifted her stern about a foot, while occasional groanings within her sturdy little hull replied to the wild surgings of the ice without. The danger was so great that boats, provisions, sledges, knapsacks, &c., were got ready for a hasty departure should the ship go down. All this time seals were being constantly shot, and narwhals were fre- quently seen migrating northward. Bears were also numerous, as was evidenced by their tracks, but they seldom ventured near the ship except at night. In April the floe on which the Fox rested cracked across, and she was once more afloat ; but the only thing that could be done was to warp her into a place of comparative security within a projecting point. Soon the floes all round began to break up under the influence of continued gales which raised a heavy swell. On the 24th M'Clintock writes, — " It is now ten o'clock ; the long ocean swell already lifts its crest five feet above the hollow of the sea, causing its thick covering of icy fragments to dash against each other and against us with unpleasant violence. It is, however, very beautiful to look upon — the dear old familiar swell ! it has long been a stranger to us, and is welcome in our solitude. A floe-piece near us, of 100 yards in diameter, was speedily cracked so as to resemble a sort of labyrinth, or, still more, a field-spider's web. In the course of half ^'■^'^i"Kup an hour the family resemblance was totally lost, they had so battered each other, and struggled out of their original regularity. The rolling sea can no longer be checked ; * the pack has taken upon itself the functions of an ocean,' as Dr. Kane graphically expresses it." Gradually the ice opened out, and the Fox, by aid of wind and steam, lored slowly, but steadily out of the pack, receiving and returning many a sounding thump that caused of tlie pack. VOYAGE OP THE FOX— M'CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. 667 her frame to shake, her bells to ring, and her crew to chap. xv. stagger. Towards the end of April 1858, they were p^nliT mercifully delivered from their dangerous position, having among ice. drifted down Baffin's Bay and Davis Straits 1194 geogra- phical, or 1385 statute miles, during their sojourn of 242 days in the packed ice. On being set free M'Clintock immediately sailed for the coast of Greenland, in order to refit and repair damages before recommencing the voyage northward. Passing over that part of the voyage up Baffin's Bay, which was a repetition of that of the previous year, we resume our narrative at the point where the Fox escapes from the much dreaded "Middle Ice," and sails for Ponds Bay on the western shores of Baffin's Bay. On the 14th of July 1858, they were becalmed off Cape Horsburgh, when shouts on shore were heard, and soon Meet with after three famihes of Esquimaux boarded them. Peter- Esquimaux, sen's powers as interpreter were immediately put to the test, but no information regarding the missing ships was obtained. On the 26th they fell in with the Diana whaling steamer off Cape Walker, the Captain of which took charge of their letters for England, and, on the 27th, they arrived in Ponds Bay. Here again they met with natives, and a very close and prolonged inquiry was instituted, but no satisfactory information was ootained. These natives, we are told, had excellent memories for names and places. They remembered the visits of foiiner navigators to that part of the coast, and described the positions of wrecks that had taken place long ago, and with the existence and position of most of which Captain M'Clintock was already well acquainted, but no wrecks of recent date were known to them. While here the Fox had another narrow escape. The Narrow ice forced her almost ashore, and for two hours she was in ^^'^^p®- imminent danger, and was only saved by ice-blasting and warping, by which she got clear of the drifting masses only /ow/ wmi^^ea before these were crushed up against the rocks. Quitting Ponds Bay they now steered into Lancaster 668 VOYAGE OP THE FOX — M'CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. CHAP. XV. Sound, in which they experienced some severe weather. ""'' On the nth August they anchored inside Cape Riley, and commenced embarking coals, &c., from the dep6t left there Marble tablet by former expeditions. At Godhaven a marble tablet was Fr'"kT'^°^ found which had been sent out by Lady Franklin, in the American expedition of 1866, for the purpose of being erected at Beechy Island to the memory of Sir John Franklin and his unfortunate crews. The Americans had failed to accomplish their object, and Captain M'Clintock had now the melancholy satisfaction of setting the tablet up in its destined place,— on the raised flagged square in the the centre of which stands the cenotaph recording the names of those who perished in the Government expedition under Sir £. Belcher. Kear the same spot there is also a tablet erected to the memory of the gallant Lieutenant Bellot. These objects completed, they once more set sail on the 16th of August. And now the interesting part of their voyage began. Hitherto, for many months, they had been engaged in an almost desperate struggle to reach the ground they wished to search. That ground was at length gained, and henceforth they were to proceed with the prospect, at any hour, of discovering the remains of the Erebus and Terror. At first it seemed as if the ice had relented, and was resolved to obstruct them no more, for they had a rapid and almost uninterrupted run down a considerable part of Peel Strait; but on the 18th their rising hopes were crushed, by the sight of an unbroken barrier of solid ice, extenduig across it from shore to shore. M'Clintock saw at a glance that there was no chance of its breaking up soon, so he immediately put about, and passing round the north of North Somerset, ran down Prince Regent's Inlet, intending to attempt to reach the southern waters of Peel Strait by way of Bellot Strait, which had been discovered by Mr. Kennedy, during his adventurous voyage in the Prince Albert in 1861. On the way they anchored at Port Leopold, to examine the state of the steam-launch, provisions, and stores, left there in 1849, as adverse circumstances might oblige them to fall Fox runs down Peel Strait own the :ait, his the ;ate > in faU VOYAGE OF THE POX— M'CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. 669 back upon it as a point of support. On the 21st they chap. xv. approached Brentford Bay, and anchored in a convenient bay near to Possession Point. As a dep6t of provisions was landed here, it was temporarily named Dep6t Bay. They had now reached Bellot Strait, and, entering upon Beiiot strait its unknown waters, forced the ship eight miles to the reached, westward — about half way through it — when they were checked by five or six miles of close, heavy pack-ice. As a clear channel was seen beyond, however, their hoj)es were not much disappointed, and it was confidently expected that the barrier would soon pass away. But dangers as usual beset them on every side. "At the turn of the tide," writes M*Clintock, "we per- Dangers in ceived that we were being carried, together with the pack, ^^^ strait, back to the eastward ; every moment our velocity was increased, and presently we were dismayed at seeing grounded ice near us, but were very quickly swept past it at the rate of nearly six miles an hour, though within 200 yards of the rocks, and of instant destruction ! As soon as we possibly could, we got clear of the packed ice, and left it to be wildly hurled about by various whirlpools and rushes of the tide, imtil finally carried out into Brentford Bay. The ice-masses were large, and dashed violently against each other, and the rocks lay at some distance off the southern shore. We had a fortunate escape from such dangerous company." The appearance of Bellot Strait is described as being very Appearance grand and rugged, about twenty miles long, and scarcely a of '^f 'i"' mile wide in the narrowest part ; within quarter of a mile of the north shore the depth was ascertained to be 400 feet. Some of the hill ranges rise to about 1600 feet above the sea, and the granitic cliffs were bold and precipitous. The tides in this strait were found to run through it with tremendous rapidity, and it was observed that the tide from the west was the stronger. The next few days were spent in fruitless efforts to penetrate the strait, in landing stores, &c., at Depdt Bay, and in searching for a more southerly passage. While thus engaged the captain took Strait. 570 VOYAGE OP THE FOX— M'cLINTOCK, 1857-8-9 Ramble into the interior. CHAP. XV. an opportunity to land and explore the interior of the country for a short distance. " I enjoyed a delightfully refreshing ramble," he writes, " a mile or two inland, through a gently ascending valley, then two miles along the narrow margin of a pretty lake between mountains, beyond which lay a much larger one, four or five miles in diameter ; this further lake was only partially divested of its winter ice. Here the scenery is not only grand, but beautiful. There was enough of vegetation to tint the craggy hillsides, and to make the sheltered hollows absolutely green. Deer-tracks and the foot-prints of wild fowl were everywhere numerous along the water-side. I saw two decayed skulls of musk oxen, and circles of stones, by the little lake, doubtless, at some remote period, the summer residence of wandering Esqui- maux ; hence I infer that fish abound in the lake, and that this valley is a favourite deer-pass Yesterday Petersen shot an immense bearded seal. It sank, but floated up an hour afterwards. This animal measured eight feet long, and weighed about five hundred pounds. We prefer its flesh to that of the small seals, and its blubber will afford a valuable addition to oiu: stock of lamp oil for the coming winter." It was very tantalizing to our discoverers to behold an Jl!^*^^°^®" open sea clear of ice as far as the eye could reach to the eastward, while, to the west, the direction in which they wished to go, little or no open water was visible. But, bitterly disappointed though they were, they hoped against hope. Again and again did they storm the ice battlements of this narrow pass, only to return vanquished to their fortress in Depdt Bay. That our language is not exagger- ated, such a paragraph as the following shows : — " Last evening's amusement was most exciting ; nor was it without its peculiar perils. With cunning and activity worthy of her name, our little craft warily avoided a tilting match with the stout blue masses which whirled about, as if with wilful impetuosity, through the narrow channel. Some of them were so large as to ground in six or seven Tantalizing 6ca. VOYAGE OP THE FOX— M'cLINTOCK, 1657-8-9. 671 fathoms water. Many were drawn into the eddies, and, chap, xv acquiring considerable velocity in a contrary direction, cn^j^of suddenly broke bounds, charging out into the stream, and ice-maMea. entering into mighty conflict with their fellows. After such a frolic the masses would revolve peacefully or unite with the pack, and await quietly their certain dissolution. May the day of that wished for dissolution be near at hand ! Nothing but strong hope of success induces me to encounter such dangerous opposition. I not only hoped, but almost felt, that we deserved to succeed." Two plans now occupied the mind of M'Clintock. One Plans of was to find some series of valleys, or chain of lakes, or con- '«*'*<^''- tinuous lowland, to the coast of Peel Strait, along which sledge loads of provisions might be dragged in autumn and deposited at intervals along the route of search, which he intended to follow up with sledges in spring,— for it was now becoming evident that they were doomed to pass the winter at the eastern end of Bellot Strait. The other plan was to land a small depdt of provisions sixty or seventy miles to the southward, and down Prince Regent's Inlet, in order to facilitate communication with the Esquimaux, either that autumn or early the following spring. Both of these plans were afterwards successfully carried out. Mean- while strenuous but unavailing eflforts to pass through the strait, both by ship and boat, were continued up to the close of the season. The Fox did, indeed, succeed in pene- trating to its western extremity, but here the solid pack, stretching far and wide over Peel Strait, arrested their progress, and finally convinced them that sledge journeying in spring was their only hope of accomplishing the main object of the voyage. During one of the excursions made to the neighbouring Large lake hill tops, a long level lake was discovered, occupying a <^'*<^^®'"^*** valley which lies between a small inlet near Cape Bird au«i Hazard Inlet. This was a fortunate discovery, as it would afford a good level road to the west, through a country so rugged that grave doubts had been forced upon the captain as to the practicability of sledge travelling over it at all. As 672 VOYAGE OP THE FOX — M'cLINTOCK, 1857-8-0. Approach of winter. CHAP. XV. to Bellot Strait, from the continual breaking up of its ice by the tide, there was little prospect of its being pass- able in winter. Preparations for spending the winter were now heartily commenced. September had set in, the days were shortening, the thermometer was falling, and the approach of the reign of ice became evident. Hunting became the order of the day. The sailors were supplied with muskets and ammunition, and the country was scoured in quest of game. But birds and other animals were becoming scarce. Three seals were shot one day, and a bear seen ; on an- other, only two hares, an ermine, and an owl were observed, but not sliot. Some peregrine falcons were bagged, how- ever, which Petersen declared were " the best beef in the country, and that the young birds were tender and white as chicken." Among other incidents of minor importance, a mouse was discovered alive in a cask of biscuit. This cask was a strong, water-tight one, had been packed on shore at Aberdeen in June 1857, and remained ever since unopened. As there was no hole in it by which the mouse could get in or out, it was evident that it had subsisted all that time on rrnfined air and dry biscuit ! Up to the latest hour the ship was held in readiness to prosecute the voyage should the ice at the western extremity of Bellot Strait open up ; but at length severe frost set in, snow fell in abundance, and after a last desperate effort to get through, they ran back to their winter harbour, which was now named Port Kennedy, after the discoverer of the strait. They had delayed almost too long. On the 28th of September M'Clintock writes : " It was only yesterday that we left the western ice, and in consequence of the vast accumulation of young ice in Bellot Strait, we had considerable difficulty in reaching the entrance of Port Kennedy. All within was so firmly frozen over, that after three hours' steaming and working we only penetrated a hundred yards ; however, we are in an excellent position, although our wintering place wiU be further out by a quarter of a mile than I intended." Fox runs Into winter quarters. VOYAGE OF THE FOX— m'cLINTOCK, 186'7-8-9. fi73 The business of winter-quarters was now commenced in ciia»*. xv. earnest,— unbending sails, unsliinping and landing stores, prcil^j„n, housing over and banking up with snow, building obser- furwintciini; vatories with blocks of ice, and shooting deer and seals, '" '"" occupied their minds fully for a considerable time ; but at length the novelty of all this wore off, the perjjetual night of winter settled down on them, and their chief efforts were directed to warding oft' the gloom and eiinui of an Arctic winter. Their vicinity to Bellot Strait proved in one respect to be most unfortunate. Owing to tiie strength of the tide before referred to, parts of it were kept open during the whole winter, and the black vapours arising from the holes proved to be a constant source of annoy- ance. Moreover, the strait itself seemed as a sort of funnel for the biting winds of these regions to howl through, and, no matter what the state of the weather in other parts of the country, there were almost continual storms revelling around Port Kennedy, which confined the crew of the Fox, much more than would otherwise have been the case, to their cabins. In spite of this, however, they managed to live in tolerably good health and spirits, and kept up their various meteorological and scientific observations with the utmost regularity. Dep6t parties were also despatched at various times, and caches of provisions made along the routes of the intended spring search. Three separate expeditions were planned and eventually Three expe- carried out. Each party was to consist of a leader and five ^t'lons men, with a dog sledge,— M'Clintock, llobson, and Young, ^ ^^^^ being the leaders. The first party, under M'Clintock, was to proceed to the Great Fish River, examining the shores of King William's Land in going and returning. The secund party, under Hobson, was to explore the western coast of Boothia as far as the magnetic pole, during the early part of the current winter, and from Gateshead Island westward, next spring. The third party, under Young, was to trace the shores of Prince of Wales Land from Lieutenant Browne's furthest DiilneM of winter. Narrow escape of depdt party under llobson. 674 VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. CHAP. XV. to the south-westward, to Osbom's furthest, and, if pos- sible, to exarame between Four River Point and Cape Bird. Two months* provisions were to be taken by each party, and about the middle of March was fixed for setting out. Meanwhile the winter dragged heavily on. We find the following entry in the journal, of date 2d November: " Very dull times. No amount of ingenuity could make a diary worth the paper it is written on. An occasional raven flies past; a couple more ptarmigan have been shot; another N.W. gale is blowing, with temperature down to 12°." And again, in reference to a dep6t party that had gone off under Hobson : " Saturday night. The N.W. gale blew without intermission for seventy hours, the tempera- ture being about 16°; we hoped that our absent ship- mates might be housed safely in snow huts. This afternoon all doubts respecting them were dispelled by their arrival in good health, but they evidently have suffered from cold and exposure during their absence of nineteen days. For the first six days they journeyed outward successfully; on that night they encamped upon the ice. It was at spring tide; a N.E. gale sprung up, and blowing offshore, detached tlie ice, and drifted them off ! .... As soon as they dis- covered that the ice was drifting off shore with them, they packed their sledges, harnessed the dogs, and passed the night in anxious watching for some chance to escape. When the ice got a little distance off shore, it broke up under the influence of the wind and sea, until the piece they were upon was scarce 20 yards in diameter. This drifted across the mouth of a wide inlet until brought up against the opposite shore. The gale was quickly followed by an intense frost, which, in a single night formed ice sufficiently strong to bear them in safety to the land, although it bent fearfully beneath their weight." A second time death visited this band of sorely tried voyagers. During the winter, Mr. Brand, the engineer, was found dead in his berth. It is supposed that the cause was apoplexy. His remains were interred on shore, and a Death of Brand. VOYAGE OP THE POX— h'cLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. 675 headboard with an inscription was placed over them. There was now no one left on board who understood, or could manage the machinery of the steam-engine. Two of the preliminary searching expeditions set out on their travels on the 17th of February. They were led by M*Oiintock and Young. "Our equipment," writes the former, consisted of a very small brown Holland tent, Mac- intosh floor cloth, and felt robes; besides this, each man had a bag of double blanketing, and a pair of fur boots to sleep in. We wore mocassins over the pieces of blanket in which our feet were wrapped up, and, with the exception of a change of this foot-gear, carried no spare clothes." On the 1st of March M'Clintock's party encamped about the neighbourhood of the magnetic pole, and here they met with Esquimaux, one of whom had a naval button on his coat, which, they said, had been obtained from some white pe(yple who were starved upon an island where there are salmon. This was the first indication of the Franklin expedition they obtained. Next day they accompanied the Esquimaux to their village, and here many more relics of the lost ships were obtained, and some information gained. The relics purchased from tliem were as follows: — six silver spoons and forks; a silver medal, the property of Mr. A. M'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 constructed of materials obtained from the same source. One of their sledges was made of two stout pieces of wood, which might have been a boat's keel. The information obtained was to the effect that a ship having three masts had been crushed by the ice out in the sea to the west of King William's Island, and sank, but that all the people had landed safely. That the white men had travelled towards Montreal Island, whe^e they had perished, and that none of themselves had seen the whites, but that one of them had seen their bones on the island where they died. The information thus obtained bore out the principal statements of Dr. Rae, and also CHAP. XV. Preliminary searching expeditious set out. Esquimaux met. with at the magnetic pole; Information regarding wrecks, &c. CHAP. XV. M'Cllntock's party return. Captain Allen Young's dep6t party. Provisions brought from Fury Beach. 676 VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. accounted for the disappearance of one of the ships, but left the fate of the other still uncertain. Their provisions being now expended, M'Clintock and his party turned to retrace their steps, and reached the Fox on the 14th March 1859, having been absent twenty- five days, during which they travelled 420 English miles, and completed the discovery of the coast-line of continental America, thereby adding 120 geographical miles to oiu* charts. The mean temperature throughout the journey was 30° below zero of Fahrenheit. Captain Allen Young and his party had arrived before them, on the 3d March, having met with nothing worthy of particular notice. They placed their dep6t, however, on the shore of Prince of Wales Land, about seventy miles S.W. of the ship. Young seems to have been fond of rough travel, for on the 18th of the same month we find him, during a N.W. gale heading another party consisting of two men and eighteen dogs, which were despatched to Fury Beach dep6t ioi the purpose of procuring three casks of sugar, a deficiency to that extent of that indispensable article of food having been ascertained to exist in the stores of the Fox. Dr. Walker, also, was a zealous sledge traveller. Young's party returned with eight cwt. of sugar on the 25th. Their labours had been very severe. The ice was so rough that sledge travelling was almost impossible. One sledge btoke down, and all the sugar had to be piled upon the other, the consequence of which was that it would only run freely on smooth ice, and directly any hummocks were encountered, the dogs, with their usual instinct not to drag a sledge unless it runs freely, would lie down and oblige Captain Young and his two men to unload, and carry the packages over the obstacles on their backs. After this. Young and one of his men became snow-blind, and the third man had to lead, load, and unload them, when these portages occurred. On the 2d of April the extended searching expeditions set foiiih. Captain M'Chntock and Lieutenant Hobson VOYAGE OP THE FOX — M CLINTOOK, 1857-8-9. 677 travelled in company as far as Cape Victoria, where they chap. xv. separated ; the former proceeded southward down the east t~~r\ coast of King William's Land ; the latter marched direct searching for Cape Felix, intending to travel down its western expediuom shores. Proceeding southward, along his old track, "®* M'Clintock extended his journey onward to Montreal Island. He completed the exploration and circuit of King William's Land, passed on foot through the only feasible North-West Passage in that direction, and obtained additional information and relics of the Franklin expedi- tion. The Esquimaux with whom they fell in corro- borated the information formerly obtained. They said information that two ships had been seen by the natives of King Ji^eLu^""* William's Island. " One of them," writes M'Clintock, maux. " was seen to sink in deep water, and nothing was obtained from her, a circumstance at which they expressed much regret; but the other was forced on shore by the ice, where they suppose she still remains, but is much broken. From this ship they have obtained most of their wood, &c., and Oot-loo-lik is the name of the place where she grounded." It was also said that the body of a man was found on board the ship ; that he must have been a very large man, and had long teeth. Little now remained of the wreck, they said, and she was without masts. There had been mani/ books, but the weather had destroyed them long ago. An old woman and a boy were pointed out as having been the last to visit the wreck, in 1857— 68. From this old woman they learned that many of the white men had dropped by the way as they went to the Great River ; that some were buried, and some were not. M'Clintock could not, however, arrive at any approximation to the numbers of the white men, nor to the years that had elapsed since they had perished. Relics of the wreck were found in the possession of the Esquimaux all along the route. Montreal Island was searched, but the only relics found were a piece of a preserved meat tin, two pieces of iron hoop, some scraps of copper, and an iron hoop bolt. No record of any kind was discovered. The 2 N Belles fonndt 578 VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M'CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. CHAP. XV. Dr. King's cache. Point Ogle examined. Skeleton of one of the Franklin expedition discovered. ground at the time being covered with snow rendered a search almost useless. We cannot help expressing sur- prise, however, that no effort was made to discover the cache made by Dr. King on that island many years before. This cache was known to exist by Franklin, and doubtless must frequently have been referred to by him in the presence of his officers, who, there is every reason to suppose, would have sought it out and placed some record in it during the period of their sojourn on and in the neighbourhood of Montreal Island. Captam M'Clintock does not even refer to this cache, leading us to suppose that he had never heard of its existence. From Montreal Island they began the return journey, and in doing so passed Point Ogle Peninsula, which they examined with care ; and it will here be observed that M*Cliiitock, having joined the track of Dease and Simpson from the westward, proved the existence of a North-West Passage in that direction. The party were now, however, on the point of discovering that sad record which, while it told of the death of Sir John Franklin, also showed that his party had actually been the first to traverse the last link of that celebrated passage. "We were now," says M'Clintock, "upon the shore along which the retreating crews must have marched. My sledges, of course, travelled upon the sea ice close along the shore ; , and, although the depth of snow which covered the beach deprived us of almost every hope, yet we kept a very sharp-look nut for traces, nor were we unsuccessful. Shortly after midnight of the 25th May, when slowly walking along a gravel ridge near the beach, which the wind kept partially bare of snow, I came upon a human skeleton, partly exposed, with here and there a few frag- ments of clothing appearing through the snow. The skeleton, — ^now perfectly bleached, — was lying upon its face, the limbs and smaller bones either dissevered or gnawed away by small animals. " A most careful examination of the spot was of course made, the snow removed, and every scrap of cloth gathered jurse lered VOYAGE OP THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. 579 up. A pocket-book afforded strong grounds for hope that some information might be subsequently obtained respect- ing the unfortunate owner and the calamitous march of the lost crews, but at the time it was frozen hard. The substance of that which we gleaned upon the spot may thus be summed up : — "This victim was a young man, slightly built, and perhaps above the common height ; the dress appeared to be that of a steward or officer's servant, the loose bow- knot in which his neck handkerchief was tied not being used by seamen or officers. In every particular the dress confirmed our conjectures as to his rank or office in the late expedition, — the blue jacket with slashed sleeves and braided edging, and the pUot-cloth great-coat with plain covered buttons. We found, also, a clothes brush near, and a horn pocket-comb. This poor man seems to have selected the bare ridge top, as affording the least tiresome walking, and to have fallen upon his face in the position in which we found him. It was a melancholy truth the old woman spoke when she said, * They fell down and died as they walked along.' " M'Clintock had strong hope of finding some record in the cairn which was known to have been erected at Cape Herschel, but was disappointed in this. About twelve miles beyond the cape, however, a small cairn was found. It had been built by Lieutenant Hobson's party, who had passed the spot six days previously, without having seen anything of the wreck or of natives. But Hobson had found a record for which the gallant crevv of the Fox had sought so diligently, — a record of the Franklin expedition. He found it at Point Victory on the N.W. coast of King William's Land. This paper contained the brief and touch- ing story of the Franklin expedition up to the desertion of the ships in 1848. It was ono of the printed forms usually supplied to discovery ships for the purpose of being enclosed in bottles and thrown overboard at sea, with a printed note in six different languages requesting any one who should find it to forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty. CHAP. XV. Substance of the information gatliered. Cape Her- schel cairn. Record dis- covered by Hobson. f 111 I I • Error In the dateSb 680 VOYAGE OP THE FOX— m'cLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. CHAP. XV. Here we transcribe M*Clintock's narrative : — "Upon it," he says, "was written, apparently by Lieutenant Gore, as follows : — {H. M. Ships Erebus and Terror wintered in the ice in lat. 70» 06' N., long. QS" 23' W. Having wintered in 1846-47 at Beechy Island, in lat. 74" 43' 28" N., long. 91° 39' 16" W., after having ascended Welling- ton Channel to lat 77% and returned by the west side of Com- wallis Island. Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. All well. Party consisting of two officers and six men left the ships on Monday 24th May, 1847. (Signed) Gm. Gore, Lieutenant. Chas. F. Des Voeux, Mate. " There is an error in the above document,— namely, that the Erebus and Terror wintered at Beechy Island in 1846-47 ; the correct dates should have been 1845-46 ; a glance at the date at the top and bottom of the record proves this, but in all other respects the tale is told m as few words as possible of their wonderful success up to that date. May 1847. " We find that, after the last intelligence of Sir John Franklin was received by us (bearing date of July 1845) from the whalers in Melville Bay, his expedition passed on to Lancaster Sound, and entered Wellington Channel, of which the southern entrance had been discovered by Sir Edward Parry in 1819. The Erebus and Terror sailed up that strait for 150 miles, and reached, in the autumn of 1845, the same latitude as was attained eight years subse- quently by H. M. S. Assistance and Pioneer. .... Having accomplished this, they returned southward from latitude 77° north, which is at the head of Wellington Channel, and re-entered BaiTow's Strait by a new channel between Bathurst and Comwallis Island." Thus, during his first season, Franklin accomplished more than almost any previous navigator ; and when the ships went into winter quarters at Beechy Island in 1846-6, the results of their first year's labour must have Proceedings of the Fi-anklin expedition after 1845. VOYAGE OF THE FOX — M'CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. 681 been most cheering. " These results were the exploration CHAP. XV. of Wellington and Queen's Channels, and the addition to ~ our charts of extensive lands on either hand. In 1846 expedition in they proceeded to the south-west, and eventually reached 1846-7. within twelve miles of the north extreme of King William's Land, when their progress was arrested by the approach- ing winter of 1846-7. That winter seems to have passed without any serious loss of life ; and when in the spring Lieutenant Gore leaves with a party for some especial purpose, and very probably to connect the unknown coast- line of King '*'' lUiam's Land, between Point Victory and Cape Herscliel, those on board the Erebus and Ten'or were * all well,' and the gallant Franklin still commanded. " But alas ! roimd the margin of the paper, upon which Lieutenant Gore in 1847 wrote those words of hope and promise, another hand had subsequently written the fol- lowing words: — '"April 25, 1848.— H. M. Ships Terror and Erebus were Marginal deserted on the 22d April, 5 leagues N.N.W. of this, having note on the been beset since 12th September 1846. The officers and crews, record, onsisting of 105 souls, under the command of Captain F. K. M. Crozier, landed here in lat. 69° 37' 42" N., long. 98° 41' W. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th June 1847; and the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date, 9 officers and fifteen men. (Signed) ' F. K. M. Crozier, ' Captain and Senior Officer, * and start (on) to-morrow, 26th, for Back's Fish River.' (Signed) ' James Fitzjames, * Captain H. M. S. Erebus. " This marginal information was evidently written by Captain Fitzjames, excepting only the note stating when and where they were going, which was added by Captain Crozier. " There is some additional marginal information relative Additional to the transfer of the document to its present position information, (namely, the site of Sir James Ross's pillar), from a spot four miles to the northward, near Point Victory, where it had been originally deposited by the late Commander Gore. This little word late shows us that he, too, within the twelvemonth; bad passed away. 682 VOYAGE OF THE FOX— m'cLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. CHAP. XV. Remarks on the fate of the Franklin expedition. Forlorn hope. Boat dis- covered by M'Clintock. "In the short space of twelve months how mournful had become the history of Franklin's expedition ; how changed from the cheerful * all well ' of Graham Gore ! The spring of 1847 found them within ninety miles of the known sea off the coast of America ; and to men who had already in two seasons sailed over 600 miles of previously unexplored waters, how confident must they have felt that that forth- coming navigable season of 1847 would see their ships pass over so short an intervening space ! It was ruled other- wise. Within a month after Lieutenant Gore placed the record on Point Victory, the much loved leader of the expedition. Sir John Franklin, was dead ; and the follow- ing spring found Captain Crozier, upon whom the com- mand had devolved, at King WiUiara's Land, endeavouring to save his starving men, 106 souls in all, from a terrible death, by retreating to the Hudson Bay territory up the Back, or Great Fish River." Those who have read the account of Franklin's previous travels through the desolate part of the territory referred to, will be able to form some faint idea of how desperate a forlorn-hope these gallant men attempted, and they will not be surprised that they perished in the attempt. Hobson's note conveying this information to M'Clintock also told him that quantities of clothing, and articles of all kinds, were lying about the cairn, as if the crews had been aware that they were retreating for their lives, and had abandoned everything they considered super- fluous. M*Clintock now pushed forward with redoubled ardour, in the hope of discovering the wreck which Hobson had missed, owing, he thought, to the bad weather he had ex- perienced. M'Clintock was now following Hobson's track along the western coast of King William's Island, the extreme west point of which he named after Captain Crozier. From Cape Crozier the coast turned sharply to the eastward. On the 30th May another sad relic was found,— a boat which had belonged to the Franklin expedi- tion,—and in it was found a note from Hobson, stating that VOYAGE OP TBB FOX— M'CUNTOCK, 1857-8~9. 683 30, he had been there, and had examined the boat, but without discovering record, journal, pocket-book, or memorandum of any description. Having now followed M'Clintock thus far on his home- ward journey, we will turn back to Lieutenant Hobson's expedition, and trace it to the same point. Having parted from M^Clintock at Cape Victoria, he crossed to Cape Felix, near to which he discovered a cairn. Quantities of clothes and blankets were found here. Continuing along shore, he discovered a large cairn on the 6th of May, inside of which he found the melancholy record already mentioned. Much clothing, &c., was found here, also a sextant, on which was engraved the name of Frederick Hornby. Near Cape Crozier he found the boat (before referred to) by a small iron stanchion which was just visible above the snow. The boat was immediately cleared out, and two human skeletons were found lying at tlie bottom of it, one of these under a heap of clothing. There were also watches, chronometers, silver spoons, money, a number of Bibles, Prayer-books, and other religious books, and a copy of the * Vicar of Wakefield,* but not a single line of writing to throw light on the intended proceedings of the retreating crews. Two guns rested on the side of the boat, one barrel of each being loaded and cocked. The boat had evidently been equipped with the greatest care for the ascent of the Great Fish River. Paddles sup- plied the place of oars and rudder. A sloping canvas roof formed part of the equipment. There were fifty fathoms of deep sea sounding line, and an ice-grapnel near her. The boat was mounted on an oak sledge of unusual weight and strength. Among other portions of clothing, &c., there were seven or eight pairs of boots, — cloth winter boots, sea-boots, heavy ankle-boots, and strong shoes ; silk handkerchiefs, black and white ; figured towels, soap, sponge, tooth-brush, and hair combs; besides which were found a large quantity of small stores; but the only provisions that could be found were a little tea and chocolate, and a small portion of CHAP XV. Lieutenant Hobson dis- covers the cairn near Cape Felix. Skeletons and relics found in the boat. Relics, Ac, found in tlie boat. C84 VOYAGE OF THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. CHAP. XV. tobacco. The position of the boat was about fifty miles from Point Victory, seventy miles from the skeleton found near Cape Ilerschel, and 150 miles from Montreal Island. As the boat's head was turned in a N.E. direction, M'Clintock concludes that the exhausted crews having found it too heavy to drag were on their return to tho ships, and that the two men found in it had been unwell, and were left by their comrades with a supply of provisions to last until they could rejoin them. As the wreck was Probable fate not discovered, it is supposed either that it is lying on oftiiesiiipa. gome of the numerous islands to the westward of King William Island, or that it has been run over by the ice. Another record was found by Hobson, which had been deposited by Lieutenant Gore, on the south side of Back Bay in 1847, but it contained no additional infor- mation. This, then, is probably the last that we shall ever learn regarding the ill-fated expedition of Sir John Franklin. The fate of our brave countrymen is now known, although the minute details of their sufferings have been, perhaps mercifully, witheld. The venerable hero of Arctic dis- covery sleeps in his icy tomb, unmindful now of those biting frosts and howling northern winds, against which he battled so long, so often, and so valiantly, for the good of science and the honour of his country's name. No marble monuments of purest white could mark the scat- tered graves of our lost countrymen, half so appropriately as the mighty bergs that shall surround them hencefor- ward in these dark regions of everlasting ice and snow. After carefully examining the boats and relics. Lieu- tenant Hobson examined the coast beyond Cape Crozier, and returned to the Fox on the 14th of June. He was in a very exhausted state, having suffered from scurvy so severely diwing the whole journey, that he had been for many days upon his sledge, and had to be carried in and out of his tent by his gallant comrades. Five days after- wards Captain M'Clintock arrived, having been absent eighty days, m course of which he had surveyed the Hobson returns to the Fox. ever. VOYAGE OP THE FOX— M'CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. 686 coast from Bellot Strait to the Magnetic Pole ; travelled CHAP. xv. completely round King William Island and filled up its M'Ciiiitock'i unknown coasts, besides making valuable observations discoveriei. with a dip circle which he carried with him. lie found that another of his little band had fallen before the King of Terrors. The steward of the Fox had died of scurvy a Death of the few days previously, and was buried beside his shipmate •Reward. Brand. The third expedition under Captain Young had not re- turned, and as some anxiety was felt as to the cause of such a prolonged absence, M'Clintock went off in search of him. His party was found in a very exhausted state travelling slowly towards the ship. Young had com- menced his spring exploration on the 7th of April with a sledge party of five men, four of whom he sent back, how- ever, and continued his travels with only one man for forty days, encamping in such snow huts each night as they were able to build ; and this, too, although he was in so bad a state of health that the doctor had entered a written protest against his leaving the ship ! On this hazardous journey Young had crossed Victoria Captain (now Franklin) Straits, discovered M'Clintock Channel, \°2naHd coasted along Prince of Wales Land to the north-westward, diacoveriea. and proved it to be an island by travelling to the point reached by Captain Sheraid Osborn from the north. He then returned to the ship, and again setting out, re-crossed Franklin Strait to complete the search to the northward upon Prince of Wales Land, and the unknown land of North Somerset. It need scarcely be added that he met with no trace of the Franklin expedition. The object of the voyage having now been accomplished, the crew of the " Fox " henceforward spent their time in recruiting their exhausted energies, in shooting such game as came near them, and in making preparation for their voyage home. The captain, among other duties, undertook to work the engines, which had been left by the deaths of Scott and Brand without any one who understood how to control them. About the middle of July there was open Fox to England. 686 VOYAGE OP THE POX— m'olintock, 1867-8-9. CHAP. XV. water in Bellot Straits, but Prince Regent Inlet was still fast, and continued in this condition so long, that the anxious discoverers began to entertain fears that they should not escape. But the Almighty, who had guided thera hitherto in safety through so many dangers, merci- fully willed it otherwise. A gale arose on the 7th of August, and broke up the ice. On the 9th, steam was got up, and, bidding adieu to the harbour in which they had spent eleven months, they pushed out into the pack. On the following day the north side of Creswell Bay was reached, and here they were nearly crushed between the ice and the land, but by hanging on to a grounded mass Return of the of ice they escaped. From this time they met with little obstruction in their homeward voyage, and on the 20th of September 1859, the Fox arrived in England. * * * * * Before closing this brief account of the last Arctic ex- pedition, we think it right to make a few remarks in reference to the closing words of M'Clintock's interesting narrative, in which he states that Franklin's party, before they perished, " achieved the grand object of their voyage^ Remarks on — the Discovery of the North-West Passaged Those who the diacovery ^^q acquainted with the conformation of the Polar regions, of the North-, /; , , ,. , , .\ - j, Ti West know that a vast archipelago stretches from the northern shore of North America towards the pole, and that it has been amongst those islands the ships of the civilized world — especially those of England — have been battling for centuries past, to discover the north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Captain M*Clure, of the Investigator, was the first (in 1854) to convey to this country the intelligence that such a passage really existed round the north of Bank's Land. Long prior to this voyage of M'Clure, the northern coast of America had been surveyed by various travellers (among whom was Sir John Franklin himself) from Behring Straits eastward to Simpson's furthest, near the peninsula of Boothia. From Behring Straits to Point Barrow was surveyed by Mr. Elson in the barge of the Blossom^ which Pasaageir VOYAGE OP THE FOX— M*CLINTOCK, 1857-8-9. 587 went out to co-operate with Franklin's land expedition in chap. xv. 1826, which, at the same time, surveyed the coast from „ r~ • « .1 vr I .I.. 1 T^ . m Rem»rkion tho north of the Mackenzie lliver to Pomt Tumagain. thodiwovery Messrs. Dease and Simpson connected the survey of the of the North coast between Points Tumagain and Barrow in 1837, and pJ2J,gr. in the summers of 1838-39 they continued their survey eastward to Castor and Pollux River. From this point eastward tho peninsula of Boothia extended, as has been proved by Dr. Rae, who, in 1854, traversed the isthmus from Repulse Bay, connected his discoveries with those of Pease and Simpson, and proved that the north-wost passage did not lie in this direction. It romairod, thei ♦ore to be ascertained whether the sea did not oxtc fd m al nrj-roken line northward round the shores vl jBo >thia J4;\d iN^orth Somerset. Former navigators, entenng Hof.v seas from the east by Barrow Strait, had traced t'u siior.'! of North Somerset a considerable distance *:o t)ie roui'a. VarioiJS travellers, as we have shown, had t.rf;ced iLe ^horf:S of :he Arctic Sea from Behring's Suaits on the n^eai. ?;ad Rae pushed on the discovery in this direction .i <:;:pRid(3'iltle distance along the western shore cf Boolhja. Ihere wjid, therefore, only a small portion of uncx plore^l reg'.oifA betw een these two points lying to the noi-thwaid of King W'iiiiim Land. This portion we now knoT/ to be the ocean, aud, from the record brought home by M'Clintock, we kam that it was traversed on foot hy the FrayJdin erpeditioiii in 1848, — four ye.'vrs before M'Clure discovered his ci/i*.)) :ie! of the north-T;est passage. In commenting on this subject, sorrie wiiterr liav.3 some- what unnecessarily stood up in defence of M'Clure's dis- covery. They seem to forget that the ^^^^eat problem to be solved was, not the practicability y but, the existence of a north-west passage. V7c have Already shown that its existence was discove cd by the Franklin expedition in 1848, while M'Ciuie made his discovery in 1852. We readily graat that M*Clure and his party were the first who actually traversed the north-west passage, entering at Behring's Straits and emerging into the Atlantic. But 688 VOYAGE CP THE POX— M*CLINTOCK, 1867-8-9. CHAP. XV. M'CIure and Franklin. Remarks on the practica- bility of the pa8sag& New expedi- tion project- ed by the Americana it must be remembered that M'Clure's ship still lies in the Bay of Mercy. He and his party completed the passage on foot over the ice. If the honour of having discovered the north-west passage is due only to him who sails from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, round the northern coast of America, then no oiie has discovered it. Captain, now Sir R. M'Clure, discovered its existence in 1852, and in addition to this, accomplished it, with his gallant men, on foot. Sir John Franklin's heroes, all unknown to the world, discovered the north-west passage in 1848, and, having fulfilled the object of their voyage, they died on the scene of their triumph. In reference to the practicability of any particular passage, opinion and experience lose much of their weight when we find that the opinion and experience of one year are flatly and practically contradicted by another. Lieutenant Browne (of the Austin and Ommaney expedi- tion) explored the western coast of Peel's Sound to lat. 72° 49' N., long. 96° 40' W., and pronounced it as his opinion that it was mostly frozen solid to the bottom, and therefore rarely, if ever, open to navigation. Yet there is the strongest reason for believing that Sir John Franklin's two ships sailed ri^ht through, and far beyond this channel in the year 1S46. As the sad fate of the gallant Franklin has been ascer- tained, and the north-west passage has been discovered, we might have supposed that these realms of ice would henceforth be left to the bears and the Esquimaux. But man's ambition is not easily satisfied. We learn from a transatlantic paper that—" Another Arctic expedition is preparing to start next spring. Dr. I. I. Hayes, the surgeon of the Kane expedition, will be at the head of it, and it will be entirely sustained by the scientific associa- tions of the United States, which have entered into it with great interest. The leading object wiU be to complete the explorations commenced by Dr. Kane, and settle the question of the open Polar Sea, and the other scientific problems connected with it. As there is no reason for voyagj op the pox— m'clintock, 1857-8-9. 589 following the course of former explorations again, Dr. chap. xv. Hayes proposes to push rapidly up the Kennedy Channel, ~~" and directly on towards the pole with as little delay as It is probable, therefore, that we have not yet written the last chapter of ** Polar Seas and Regional* 590 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. CHAPTER XIL Th^ Northern Whale-Fishery, Objects of the Whale-fishery— Early practised on the Coasts of Europe— First Fishing-voyages to the Arctic Sea — Disputes between the different Nations— Accommodation effected— Dutch Fishery — English Fishery ; Its slow Progress and ultimate Success— Various Attempts to form Fishing Settle- ments on the Arctic Shores— Mode of conducting the Fishery — Equipment — Voyage — Attack and Capture of the Whale — Operation of Flensing, &c. — Situations in which the Fishery is carried on ; Its Dangers — Various Shipwrecks and Acci- dents— Recent Changes in the Fishing-stations ; Increased Dangers — Capital invested in the Trade ; Its Produce ; Ports whence it is carried on — ^Disasters and Shipwrecks of 1830 ; Adventures on the Ice ; Extrication of the remaining Vessels ; General Results — Abstract of the Whale-fishings from 1815 to 1834 inclusive — Statement from 1835 to 1842— Details for 1843 and 1844. Arctic life CHAP. xvr. We have frequently had occasion to notice the great number and stupendous magnitude of those animal forms with which nature has filled the abysses of the Arctic Ocean, The cetaceous orders, which, in some respects, belong exclusively to those northern depths, would for ever have remained undisturbed in the vast domain which Providence has assigned to them, had not the spirit of ava- rice commenced a deadly warfare. Man, ever searching for objects which may contribute to his accommodation, discovered, in those huge animals, a variety of substances fitted for the supply of his wants. Even after his more refined taste rejected their flesh as food, the oil was re- Tlic cetace- ous urdeiu NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 691 quired to trim the winter lamp, and to be employed in chap. xvi. various branches of manufacture ; while the bone, from ^haj^iL its firm, flexible, and elastic quality, is peculiarly fitted for various articles of dress and ornament. It has been generally supposed that whale-fishing, as Antiquity of a commercial pureuit, arose subsequently to the revival i'lf ^''*^'* of navigation in Euro^x ; but the researches of Mr Scoresby leave no doubt t lat, on a small scale at least, it existed at a much earlier period. Even the voyage of Ohthere, in 890, shows that its operations were already carried on with some activity on the coast of Norway : indeed, it was natural that, in this native region of the cetacea, their capture should commence sooner than else- where, and at an era probably ascending far beyond human records. Still this was not the true whale, — an animal which never leaves its haunts within the Arctic zone. It was that species of dolphin called bottle-nose, which alone reaches the northern extremities of Europe ; is occasionally stranded on the coasts of Orkney and Shetland ; and at times penetrates much farther south. The Northmen, in their career of conquest and settle- wimie ment, introduced on the coast of France the hunting of ^^^^^^ "' ^^^ the whale, which, to these hardy mariners, was at once a trade and a sport, — having found in the southern seas an inferior species, attracted thither by the shoals of herrings on which it feeds. These smaller fish frequent the Bay of Biscay, to which they seem to make a periodical mi- gration, and where they are arrested by the wide circuit of its shores. Ancient documentsprove that the Normans, the Flemings, and even the English, regarded them as a valuable commodity ; less, however, for the oil, which in this species is not very abundant, than for the flesh, which satisfied the hunger and even pleased the palate of our rude ancestors. Whales' tongues are ranked among the delicacies that adorned the table during the middle ages. The bay just named was the principal scene of this Bay of fishery, which was almost entirely engrossed by the^''"^^'' people inhabiting its interior shores ; those of Beam and 692 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Basqno tlallCl'Bi Modern bUterpiidOc CHAP. XVI. Gascony on the French side, and of Biscay on the Spa- nish. The Basques in particular soon surpassed all other nations, and carried to such perfection the processoa connected with this pursuit, that the most expert whale- fishers in modern times have done little more than copy their usages. By degrees they extended their adven- tures into the northern seas, where they met the people of Iceland, a Norwegian colony, who had already engaged in this trade ; and here, comhining their efforts with tliose of the natives, they soon brought it into a very flourishing state. It was still, however, conducted on a small scale, when compared with the enter' rise of modem times. Yet the first northern navigators were not attracted thither by this special object, but stumbled on it, as it v/ere, in the course of their attempts to accomplish a passage to India by the Arctic seas. Barentz, in 1696, discovered Spitz- bergen, long the main seat of the fishery, and even ex- amined a considerable extent of its shores ; but as the obstruction presented by this island defeated his hopes of reaching India, and as his voyage closed at last in disaster, no other result was obtained beyond a certain knowledge of geography and of the animal kingdom. The English were the first who pushed their opera- tions into the depth of the Arctic Ocean. The Bear Island of the discoverer just mentioned, being rediscovered and named after Alderman Cherie, gave rise to a series of voyages for the capture of the walrus, of which some account has been already given. The vie ats of the mer- chants were much extended, when Hudson, having en- gaged in his daring attempt to reach the Pole, surveyed Spitzbergen or East Greenland to its northern extremity ; and although unable to penetrate farther, he gave infor- mation regarding the immense number of whales which were seen on those shores. Thenceforth the adventurers fitted out for discovery were instructed to cover their expenses, as far as might be, by the occasional capture of these valuable animals. This arrangement, as formerly remarked, was not happy> so far as the interests of ■ ' S \ English operutioDS. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 693 geographical science were concerned, since the considera- CHAP. XVL tions of profit too often superseded the main object o^coptiun" the voyage. Poole, in 1610, confined his views almost I'oole. entirely to the capture of the walrus ; but, as he saw a great abundance of whales, the Company next year sent out the Mary Margaret, furnished with Biscayan har- pooners, and with every thing requisite for the great fishery. Captain Edge accordingly succeeded in taking a small whale, which yielded twelve tuns of oil ; the first, pj^j ^^j^jg as he conceives, that was ever extracted in those seas, fishery. Though the termination of this voyage was unfortunate, the Muscovy Company next season sent out two ships, the Whale and the Seahorse, to follow up the design. The Dutch, meantime, intent on every form of commercial adventure, had vessels that very year for the same pur- pose in the Greenland waters. These our countrymen chose to consider as interlopers, and, being the stronger party, compelled them to decamp without even attempt- ing the fishery ; and the following summer the Company obtained a royal charter, prohibiting all besides them- selves to intermeddle in any shape with this valuable branch of industry. To make good this privilege, which the Dutch were not disposed to consider well founded, they fitted out seven well-armed ships, whose com- wUh tile" manders, on reaching Spitzbergen, saw themselves an- Dutch, ticipated by vessels belonging to different nations. All these they compelled either to depart, or to fish under the condition of delivering half of the proceeds to the English as the lords of the northern seas. So busy were they, however, in excluding others, that they themselves returned very slenderly laden. Foreigners exclaimed against this interference as a most flagrant instance of tyranny perpetrated by the new mistress of the ocean ; and, indeed, the grounds on which England rested her claim do not, in any point of view, appear valid. She alleged, indeed, the prior occupation by Sir Hugh Wil- loughby ; but supposing that the mere glimpse, through mist and tempest, of the Spitzbergen coast could have 20 ii'ii Contentlona 694 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. CHAP. XVI. Extravagant elaimfc Pradent con- duct of the Dutch. DIvIrfon of the fislung grouiuL. established a permanent right to rule over the neigh- bouring watei-s, this discovery was shown by Peter Plancius the cosmographer to have been made by Barentz, and not by Sir Hugh. The commencement of the fishery by our countrymen formed certainly a better claim ; though by no means sufficient to establish a perpetual sovereignty over those vast seas. The Hollanders, there- fore, determined not only to refuse acquiescence, but to repel force by force ; for which purpose they sent out fleets BO numerous and so well armed, that for some years only slight annoyances were sustained by them ; while the two governments appear to have looked on and allowed the adventurers to fight it out. At length, in 1618, a general encounter took place, which termi- nated to the disadvantage of the English, one of whose ships was taken and carried into Amsterdam. The Dutch administration, reluctant to involve themselves in a quarrel with their powerful neighbour, prudently re- stored the vessel with its lading and crew, — ^bestowing at the same time a reward on the gallant seamen who had made the capture. It now appeared expedient to put an end to this unseemly collision. There was ad- mitted to be room enough for all the nations of Europe, provided they ceased to interfere with each other ; and therefore a division was made of the coasts and bays of Spitzbergen among such states as had been accustomed to resort to the fishery. The English, allowed in some sense to have the best claim, were favoured with the first choice ; they pitched upon Horizon Bay, Clock Bay, Safety Port, and Magdalena Bay, in the more southern part of the coast, and near the large island called Charles' Foreland. Then followed the other nations in the order of their adjudged rights. The Dutch selected the fine island at the north-west extremity, which they named Amsterdam, with three bays, one of which, between it and the mainland, they called Hollandera' Bay. The Danes and Hamburghers found an island and a bay between the Dutch and English stations: while the \ NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY 695 some first Bay, them larles* order e fine amed en it The bay the Muscovy Company. Great succew French and Spaniards were obliged to content themselves chap. xvi. with Biscayners* Point and other bleak promontories along the northern coast. The Muscovy Company by this arrangement were allowed full scope for carrying on the trade, from which they diligently excluded the rest of their countrymen. Their pursuits, however, were probably too various, and their transactions on too great a scale, for permit- ting them to bestow on this difficult branch that close attention which could alone render it productive. The gains of their fishery being more than absorbed by ex- tensive losses, they gradually limited their transactions, till England scarcely sent a ship to the north, and saw all the markets filled by her industrious rivals. The Dutch, meantime, succeeded in converting it into a grand source of national wealth. At first, according to the usage of the time, they constituted an exclusive company, though on a somewhat liberal scale. The original body, formed at Amsterdam, was obliged to admit others belonging to Zealand and Friesland, and finally to receive into their number many wealthy individuals of the province of Holland. The nation^ having thus invested an immense capital in this trade, carried it on with their characteristic prudence, and soon raised it to the highest pitch of prosperity. On theii first arrival in the northern seas, the whales were seen extended on the face of the deep without any fear, and presenting themselves, as it were, to the stroke of the harpoon. The only difficulty was to carry them home ; for one or two such large animals were sufficient to fill a ship. They therefore adopted the plan of ex- tracting on the spot the oil and bones ; thus reducing all the valuable substance into so small a compass, that one ship could convey the produce of an extensive fish- ery. They founded the village of Smeerenberg, in the bay of the same name, where fish were discovered in extraordinary abundance. Boilers, tanks, coolers, and all the requisite apparatus, were erected on an immense scale; and this station, during the summer, became village of Smeei-eiiber2 fouaded. 596 NORTHEEN WHALE-FISHERY. Changes of the fishing groond. CHAP. xvi. crowded and populous, realizing in some degree the Industry and '^^^^ ^^ * northern Batavia. In this dreary comer, too, luxmy. were enjoyed all the luxuries of life, among which are specially mentioned hot rolls, prepared every morning ; and upon a bell being rung, all the inhabitants ran to supply themselves with a dainty that seemed to belong to a different climate. Zorgdrager mentions that he entered this bay in 1697, and found it occupied by 188 vessels, having on board the produce of 1959 fish. Under these circumstances, the trade, even in the hands of an exclusive company, became an abundant source of wealth. Soon, however, it experienced an unforeseen reverse. The whales, pursued and killed in such vast numbers, learned to dread the assault of that mighty destroyer who had invaded their haunts, undis- turbed for so many ages. They gradually, and at last almost entirely, deserted Smeerenberg, removing into North Bay, where they were still taken with facility ; but much loss of time was incurred in the conveyance of the carcasses to the former station. From this re- treat, also, they gradually receded, and the fishers were obliged to follow them into the open sea, where both the capture and transportation became more and more difficult. These valuable animals relinquished part after part of their native deeps, and were every where com- pelled to give way before a power which they could not othorwise escape ; seeking their final I'efuge near that great bank of ice which forms the western boundary of the Whale-fishers' Bight in the Greenland Sea. Thither Increaslnj? ^* behoved the pursuers to repair; where, mooring difflcuities of themselves to frozen fields, they watched with no small t e iei7. ha^jard the movements of their prey. The expense and delay of conveying their prizes, sometimes 2000 miles, to the harbour of Smeerenberg, becoming very incon- venient, arrangements were made, by which the whale, being fastened to the sides of the ship, was flensed^ or cleared of its blubber and bone ; after which the carcass was consigned to the deep. The port then lost every Ibundation on which its prosperity had rested. The NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 59: jvery The stores, furnaces, capacious vessels, and numerous uten> chap. xvt. sils, were carried away ; hence it is now difficult to sme^berii trace the spot on which stood that once-flourishing deserted, settlement. At the same time the trade, becoming at once expensive and perilous, was no longer considered advantageous to an exclusive body. The company was accordingly dissolved, and the fishery thrown open to all who chose to engage in it : and such is the ^.ctivity of individual enterprise, that, even under a diminished prospect of success, a greater number of ships than ever were fitted out from the ports of Holland. The English meantime did not remain altogether un- London concerned spectators of this commercial industry on the Company part of their neighbours. After the Muscovy Company was off the field, another was instituted under the title of ''The Company of Merchants of London trading to Greenland." They subscribed a capital of £40,000, which was increased successively to £82,000, though only £45,000 was actually paid. This undertaking proved so disastrous that in nine years the entire funds were lost and the concern broken up. Its fall is traced by Elking to the wasteful management incident to large ossociations carrying on their business by uninterested agents. Their officers and men were paid by a fixed salary instead of receiving a share of the produce ; and therefoi'e it is not surprising that they should have spent long intervals on shore, amusing themselves with hunt- ing deer, and appropriating to their own use the fruits of the chase. The wreck of their last ship, after the capture of eleven whales, precipitated their ruin. The legislature, mortified that this trade, which was Sonth Sea enriching the neighbouring nations, should prove so Company fruitless in the hands of Britons, redoubled their en- couragements, and exempted from all duty the produce of the national whale-fisheries. Thus favoured, and stimulated by the representations of Mr Elking, the South Sea Company determined to embark in this pursuit a large proportion of their capital ; and accord- ingly in 1726 they built twelve large vessels, fully sup- I'l' \ 1 098 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Failure of their attempt Di itlsb zoaL CHAP. XVI. plied with all fishing-implements. These ships went out in spring, and returned with twenty-five fish, which did not quite pay the expense of equipment ; howevei this, upon the whole, was thought not a bad beginning, and gave hopes of improvement, which were fur from being fulfilled. In 1730 twenty-two were sent out, and returned with only twelve whales ; so that a loss was incurred of nearly X9000. The following season was little better; and the Company, finding that in eight years they had expended an immense sum with- out the least prospect of repayment or profit, threw up the trade altogether. Notwithstanding these repeated and signal failures, the British government did not relax their zeal. In 1732 a bounty of twenty shillings per ton was granted to every ship exceeding 200 tons employed in the whale- fishery. Several private individuals were thus induced to embark in the trade, and with tolerable success ; yet there being still no appearance of its rising to any national importance, the bounty was extended, in 1740, to forty shillings. This produced at length the desired effect. In 1762 no fewer than forty sail went out, including several from Scotland, whose merchants, in 1760, had begun to participate in the adventure. In five years they increased to eighty-two ; and down to 1776 the trade continued in a varying but generally prosperous state. Some regulations had been intro- duced, with the view of making it more efficient as a nursery of seamen ; and in 1769 it was considered firmly established, after the nation had paid in bounties up- wards of £600,000, then reckoned an enormous sum. These considerations induced the legislature, in 1777, to reduce the rate to thirty shillings ; but the fishery could not support itself on this encouragement, and between the years 1776 and 1781 the vessels employed fell from 105 to 39. The allowance of forty shillings being restored, it regained its full prosperity, which soon appeared so steady as to admit the reduction of tlie bounty ; the total amount of which, paid down to Scottish enterpiise. BouTitieo paid. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 699 1786, had not fallen short of £1,266,000. It was there- CilAP. xvi. fore reduced, in 1787, to thirty shillings; in 1792, to succeMofthe twenty-five shillings ; and in 1795, to twenty shillings. British whole Even under this lowest grant the fishery increased ; able ""*"""•• uid intelligent whale-captains were formed ; and Britain soon outstripped all other nations in a pursuit in which her first steps had been so tardy. Another circum- stance doubtless much favoured this progress. The Dutch, having imprudently admitted the French into their territory, were soon absorbed in the destructive vortex of that revolutionary power. Involved in her long war with the mistress of the seas, and subjected to the anti-commercial policy of Napoleon, Holland saw all her fisheries, with every other branch of her foreign commerce, completely annihilated, and British^esselb enjoying the undisturbed possession of the northern seas. Peace, indeed, at length re- opened to that nation all these channels of industry ; but during a suspension of twenty years their habits were altered, their con- nexions dissolved, their most skilful and intrepid whale- fishers had died out ; while England, which had been in a state of constant activity and improvement, was now every way an overmatch for her formerly success- ful rival. Before proceeding to describe the operations of the Attempt at whale-fishery, it may be proper to mention some at- puia^'JjJlJJI* tempts which, with a view to its more effectual pro- nie& secution, were made to establish colonies on the shores of the Polar Sea, In 1633 the Dutch planned a settlement on the north- em coast of Spitzbergen, seven sailors having volun- teered for this arduous undertaking. On the 30th August the fleet left them in North Bay, where they not only undertook to live during the winter, but even to provide themselves with fresh provisions. They visited all the surrounding shores, took three rein-deer and a number of sea-swallows, collecting also a great quantity of a species of water-cress. Their great am- bition was to catch a whale ; but, though tantalized by 600 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Setting in of •itremeoold. CHAP. XVf. the sight of many, all their attempts failed. Even one found dead and fresh on the margin of the sea won floated out by the tide before they could secure it. It was on the Sd October that the extreme cold began to be felt, accompanied by the flight of numerous birds passing to the southward. On the ISth one of the casks of beer was frozen three inches thick. The winterers were obliged to break the ice in pieces, and thaw it before the fire ; but it made a very unpalatable liquor. On the 16th, having ascended one of the neighbouring mountains, they could see only a small portion of the 6un*8 disk on the verge of the horizon, and in a few days it entirely disappeared ; there was still a faint twilight of eight hours, which was soon reduced to five, and became every day shorter and shorter. In November the cold inci'cased to the utmost pitch ; they could not sleep in their beds, but were obliged either to crouch over the fire or run at full speed through the hut, to keep up the vital energy. At length they ranged all their couches round the fire-place and a stove, yet still found it necessary to lay themselves down between the stove and the fire, holding their feet to the very embers. On the 20th December they saw a very bright illumina- tion, resembling the Aurora Borealis, over the southern part of the sky. They could not, however, believe it to be the real Aurora, which they afterwards saw of pecu- liar splendour in its proper place. Night and winter continued in their utmost intensity till the 22d January, when they again enjoyed a twilight of six hours; at mid-day of the 26th there was no longer a star to be seen ; but it was the 22d February ere, from a moun- tain-top, they could descry any portion of the sun's disk. Throughout the whole period they had dreadful contests to maintain with the Polar bear. On the 8d March one of these animals had received two balls in the throat, which he was endeavouring to pluck out with his paws, when the whole seven sailors rushed on him with their lances. The bear dashed at one of them, tore the lance from his hand, and threw him on the ground ; but, as Anrom Borealit. Contests with the Polar bear. the saih war plui It win 27t whi< seve actii I NOKTIIERN WHALE-FISHERY. 601 the animal was about to destroy his victim, another CHAP. xvi. enilor struck and obliged him to quit his hold. After- — wards, however, though pursued by all the seven, he plunged into the sea and escaped. It is remarkable that these persons passed this hard Health of the winter without any severe attack of scurvy ; and on ti»e ^^'^"^^ 27th May they were overjoyed by the view of a boat, which conveyed them to a neighbouring bay, wliere several Dutch ships had assembled for the fishery. The active life led by these seamen must have been the chief cause by which their health was so well preserved. The success of this experiment induced the same p^„j,^gQfjjj^ Company to repeat the attempt in the following year, second when seven other sailors, well furnLshed with victuals, **^^™P^ and apparently with every means of withstanding the rigour of the climate, undertook to winter in Spitzbergen. They appear, however, to have been of a less active dis- position than their predecessors, and failed in every at- tempt to procure fresh victuals. The sun having quitted them on the 20th October, they shut themselves up in their hut, out of which they scarcely ever stirred. In a few weeks they were attacked by scurvy in its most malignant form, which, in the absence of fresh meat and vegetables, assumed continually a more alarming type, till three died, whose bodies the others with difficulty enclosed in coffins. The survivors killed a dog and a fox, which afforded some relief, but not enough to arrest the progress of the malady. The beai's began to approach the hut, and would have been a blessing, had the men retained strength either to shoot the animals or to drag fj^\^^^*' home the carcass. Their mouths became ulcerated ; they death. were unable to chew their biscuit; and only Jerome Carloen had power to rise from bed and kindle a fire. The sun appeared on the 24th February ; but they could no longer derive aid from this benignant luminary. The last entry in their journal is in the following terms : — ^ ' " We ai'e all four stretched on our beds, and are still alive, and would eat willingly, if any one of us were able to rise and light a lire. We implore the Almighty, 602 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. CHAx». XVI. with folded l^nds, to deliver us from this life, which it Retm^ftbe ^ impossible to prolong without food or anything to Bhipa. warm our frozen limbs. None of us can help the other ; each must support his own misery." — Early in spring the fishing- vessels arrived, and a party hastened to the hut. It was so fast closed that an entrance could only be effected by opening the roof. They found it a tomb. Three of the men were enclosed in the coffins which had been framed for them ; the other four lay dead, — two in their beds, and two on a piece of sail spread on the floor. These last had perished in consequence of mere inability to make the effort necessary for lifting and dressing the food ; and they had suffered convulsions so dreadful, that their knees and chin had come into contact, and their bodies resembled a rounded block. The Dutch about the same time made an attempt to establish a colony on the island of Jan Mayen, but with a result equally fatal. The journal of the unfortunate seamen contains little except a very exact register of the weather. No farther attempts were made at that time to colon- ize Spitzbergen ; and the next instance of wintering on those dreary shores arose from necessity. A Russian vessel, which had sailed fram Archangel for the whale- fishery in 1743, being driven by the wind to the eastern side of the island, found itself beset amid floating ice without hope of deliverance. One of the party recol- lected that a hut had been erected on this coast by some of his countrymen, under the apprehension of being obliged to spend the winter there. He and three others set out to discover the place. With much difficulty they reached the land, leaping from fragment to frag- ment of moving ice ; then, spreading themselves in dif- ferent directions, they found the cottage, which, though ruinous, afforded shelter for the night. Early in the morning they hastened to the shore, to convey to their comrades this happy intelligence. But what must have been their horror, when they saw only a vast open sea, without a vestige of tho ship, or even of the numerous Rnssian Wiuterlng. ^ NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 603 icebergs which had been tossing through the waves. A CHAP. XVL violent gale had dispersed them all, and apparently also destroyed the vessel, which was never heard of more. These four unfortunate seamen, abandoned in such courage and fixghtful circumstances, having the long winter to pass persever- without food, or implements to procure any, did not, however, give way to despair. They had a gun, with which they shot twelve deer ; then their ammunition failed ; but some pieces of iron were found on the shore, which they contrived to fashion into pikes. At the moment when their stock of venison was nearly ex- hausted, they found occasion to employ these weapons against a Polar bear by which they were assailed. The Successful animal, being vanquished and killed after a formidable fts"*"'* "" « struggle, supplied for the present all their wants. His flesh was food, his skin clothing, his entrails, duly pre- pared, furnished the string, which alone had been want- ing to complete a bow. With that instrument, they were more than a match for the rein-deer and the Arctic fox, with the spoils of which they filled both theiv lantry and their wardrobe ; and thenceforth they avoiaed, un- less in cases of necessity, the encounter of the bear. Being destitute of cooking-utensils, they were obliged to devour the food nearly raw — dried either by suspension in the smoke during the long winter, or by exposure to the heat of the sun during the short summer. Yet this regular supply of fresh meat, and, above all, the constant exercise to which necessity prompted, enabled them to preserve their health entire during six years, in which i^esattu"^ they looked in vain for deliverance. In thii time they killed 10 bears, 250 rein- deer, and a multitude of foxes. At the end of the period one of them died, when the three survivors sunk into despondence, giving up all hopes of relief, and looking forward to the moment when the last of them would become the prey of the bears. Suddenly, on the 15th August 1749, having de- , scried a vessel at sea, they lighted fires on the heights, hoisted a flag formed of rein-deer skins, and were at length discovered by the ship, which proved to belong ('. .1" B l^ r '■if 604 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Escape from the ice. Rnssiai^ adventure CHAP. XVI. to their native country. They loaded her with such a quantity of skins and lard as enabled them to pay eighty rubles for their passage, and afterwards to make a profitable voyage. The example, thus involuntarily set by these Russian sailors, has been followed to a considerable extent by their countrymen, some of whom have since regularly wintered in huts on the Spitzbergen coast, employing themselves in chasing the walrus and seal along the shore, and the deer and Arctic fox in the interior. They are constantly engaged in hunting, unless when inter- rupted by tempest ; and, even when the hut is blocked up with snow, they find their way out by the chimney. They have a reserve of salt provisions ; but as much as possible subsist on the flesh and drink the warm blood of the rein-deer, digginj under the snow for cochlearia, sorrel, and other plants that act as antidotes to scurvy. By this regimen they generally preserve their health completely uninjured ; though the British employed in whale-fishing have occasionally found the body of a Russian who had fallen a victim to this dreadful malady. It is now time to give some account of the mode of catching whales, as practised by the two great fishing- nations of the present day, — the British and the Dutch. The first object is to fit out a ship suited to the trade. While the fishery was carried on in bays, or on the ex- terior margin of icy fields, very slight fabrics were suffi- cient ; but now that the vessels depart early in the seafcon, and push into the very heart of the northern ices, they are liable every moment to the most severe shocks and concussions. The ship, therefore, must be con&iructed in such a manner as to possess a peculiar degree of strength. Its exposed parts are secured with double or even treble timbers ; while it ia fortifiedf as the expression is, externally with iron plates, and in- ternally with stanchions and cross-bars, so disposed as to cause the pressure on any one part to bear upon and be supported by the whole structure. Mr Scoresby re- commends the dimension of 350 tons as the most eligible. Wiiole Bhipa ^*. Fortified bows. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 605 A ship of this size is sometimes filled ; and the number CHAP. XVI. of men required for its navigation, being also necessary ^j^g^ ^^^ for manning the boats employed in the fishery, could tonnage, not be reduced even in a much smaller vessel. A larger tonnage than 350, being scarcely ever filled, involves the proprietor in useless expense. The Dutch are of opinion, tliat the vessels destined for this service should be 112 feet long, 29 broad, and 12 deep, carrying seven boats, and from forty to fifty seamen. One of the most essential particulars is the crow's nest, a species of sentry-box made of canvass or light wood, pitched on the maintop-mast, or top-gallant-mast head. This is the post of honour, and also of severe cold, where the master, provided with a telescope and a speaking- trumpet, often sits for hours in a temperature thirty or forty degrees below ♦he freezing-point, and whence he can descry all the movements of the surrounding seas, and give directions accordingly. The whaling- vessels usually take their departure inJJ.^J'J^Inf such time as to leave the Shetland Isles about the be- vesueis. ginning of April, and before the end of the month arrive within the Polar Seas. It was long customary to spend a few weeks at what is called the Seal-fisher's Bight, extending along the coast of Greenland, ere they pushed into those more northern waters where, amid fields of ice, the whale is commonly found ; but in later times it has become usual to sail at once into that centre of danger and enterprise. As soon as they have arrived in those seas, the crew ^lertness of must be every moment on the alert, keeping watch day and night. The seven boats are suspended by the sides of the ship, ready to be launched in a few minutes ; and, when the state of the weather admits, one of them is usually manned and afloat. These boats are from 25 to 2U feet long, about 5^ feet broad, and constructed with a special view to lightness, buoyancy, and easy steerage. As soon as the person in the crow's nest hears the blowing of the huge animal which tlicy seek to at- tack, or sees its back emerging from the waves, he gives ii' li; '■!! 1 1 il!i| m m i 1 i I ;' I ; h' If 606 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Whale in SighL Hurpooa. CHAP. xvr. notice to the watch who are stationed on deck, part of whom leap into a boat, which is instantly lowered down, and followed by others. Each of the boats has a harpooneer and one or two subordinate officers, and is provided with an immense quantity of rope coiled up and stowed in different quarters of it, the several parts being spliced together so as to form a continued line, usually exceeding four thousand feet in length. To the end is attached the harpoon (fig. 1), an instrument formed, not to pierce and kill the animal, but, by enter- ing and remaining fixed in the body, to prevent its escape. One of the boats is now rowed towards the whale in the deepest silence, cautiously avoiding to give an alarm, of which he is very susceptible. Sometimes a circuitous route is adopted in order to attack him from behind. Having approached as near as is con- sistent with safety, the harpooner darts his instrument into the back of the monster.* This is a critical mo- ment ; for, often when the mighty animal feels the wound, he throws himself into violent convulsive move- ments, vibrating in the air his tremendous tail, one lash of which is sufficient to dash a boat in pieces. More commonly, however, he plunges rapidly into the sea, or beneath the thickest fields of ice. While he is thus moving, c.t the rate usually of eight or ten miles an hour, the utmost diligence must be used, that the line to whicli the harpoon is attached may run off smoothly and readily along with him. Should it be entangled for a moment, the strength of the whale is such that he would draw down the boat and crew after him. The first boat ought to be quickly followed up by a second, to supply more line when the first is run out, which often takes place in eight or ten minutes. When this inconvenience is dreaded, the men hold up one, two> or three oars, to intimate their pressing need of a supply. striking the whale. Signals. • The harpoon is sometimea discharged from a peculiar species of gun, in which lase the form fig. 4 is employed ; but this mode has not come into very general use. ^ NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 607 f CHAP. XVI. ■hi ifl !I1 !! , ! I'iii il Iculiar ; but 1. Hand Harpoon. 2. Pricker. 8. Blubber Spade. 4. Gun Harpoon. 6. Lance. ■lit: •litll 608 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Retarding the line. Snminonlng tlie crew. CHAP. XVI. At tlie same time they turn the rope once or twice round a kind of post called the bollard or billet-head, by which the motion of the line and the career of the animal are somewhat retarded. This, however, is a delicate operation, which brings the side of the boat down to the very edge of the water, and if the rope is drawn at all too tight, may sink it altogether. While the line is whirling round the bolard, the friction is so violent that the harpooneer is enveloped in smoke, and water must be constantly poured on to prevent it from catching fire. When, after all, no aid arrives, and the crew find that the line must run out, they have only one resource, — ^they cut it, losing thereby not only the whale, but the harpoon and all the ropes of the boat. When the whale is first struck and plunges into the waves, the boat's crew elevate a flag as a signal to the watch on deck, w^ho give the alarm to those asleep be- low, by stamping violently on the deck, and crying aloud — " A fall ! A fall !" (Dutch, val, expressing the precipitate haste with which the sailors throw themselves into the boats.) On this notice they do not allow themselves time to dress, but rush out in their sleeping- shirts or drawers into an atmosphere the temperature of which is often below zero, carrying along with them their clothing in a bundle^, and trusting to make their toilet in the interval of manning and pushing off the boats. The period during which a wounded whale remains under water is various, but is averaged by Mr Scoresby at about half an hour. Then, pressed by the necessity of respiration, he appears above, often considerably dis- tant from the spot where he was harpooned, and in a state of great exhaustion, which the same ingenious -writer ascribes to the severe pressure that he has en- dured when placed beneath a column of water 700 or 800 fathoms deep. All the boats have meantime been spreading themselves in various directions, that one at least may be within a starts as it is called, or about 200 yards of the point of his rising, at which distance they Reappear- ance of the whale. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 609 DcAth of tha can easily reach and pierce him with one or two more chap. xvi. harpoons before he again descends. On his re-appearance Qene^ a general attack is made with lances (fig. 5), which arc attack. struck as deep as possible, to reach and penetrate the vital parts. Blood mixed with oil streams copiously from his wounds and from the blow-holes, dyeing the sea to a great distance, and soiiutimes drenching the boats and crews. The animal now becomes more and more exhausted ; but, at the approach of death, he often whaie. makes a convulsive struggle, rearing his tail high in the air, and whirling it with a noise which is heard at the distance of several miles. At length, quite overpowered, he lays himself on his side or back, and expires. The flag is then taken down, and three loud huzzas raised from the surrounding boats. No time is lost in piercing the tail with two holes, and through these ropes are passed, by which the fish is towed to the vessel. The whale being secured to the sides of the ship, the Fienslnip next operation is that oifienaing^ or removing the blub- ber and whalebone, — a process which, if the full strength of the crew be put upon it, may be executed in about four hours, though a much longer time is often employed. The captain goes round and gives a dram to each sea- man, with double allowance to important personages called the kings of the blubber (Dutch apeck-kdning), whose office it is to receive that precious commodity, and stow it in the hold. Another high functionary, called the specksioneer, has the direction of all the cut- ting operations. The first step is to form round the Specksioneer. fish, between the neck and the fins, a circle called the kentf around which ell proceedings are to be conducted. To it is fastened a machinery of blocks, called the kent- purchase, by whicii, with the aid of a windlass, the body of the whale can be turned on all sides. The har- pooneers then, under the specksioneer's direction, begin ' with a kind of spade (fig. 3), and with huge knives, to make long parallel cuts from end to end, which are divided by cross-cuts into pieces of about half a ton These are conveyed on deck, and, being reduced into 2p I'! 'II I !■' ! '. .:t; 610 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Packing the blubber. Vaning Eucceas. CHAP. XVL smaller portions, arc received by the two kings, who stow them in the hold. Finally, being by other pro- cesses still farther divided, the blubber is put into casks, and the packing completed by the instrument No. 2. As soon as the cutting officers have cleared the whoK> surface lying above water, which does not exceed a fourth or a fifth of the animal, the kcnt-uiachinery is applied, and tui*ns the carcass round till another part yet untouched is presented. This being also cleared, the mass is again turned, and so on till the whole bus been exposed, and the blubber removed. The kent it- self is then stripped, and the bones of the head being conveyed on board, there remains only the Arcngr, a huge heap of muscular substance, which is abandoned, either to sink, or be devoured by the flocks of ravenous birds and sharks which duly attend on this gratifying occasion. The success of the fishery varies with the spot in which whales are found ; the most advantageous beini; the border of those immense fields of ice, with which a great extent of the Arctic Ocean is covered. In the open sea, when a whale is struck, and plunges beneatli the waters, he may rise in any part of a wide circuit, and at any distance from the boats ; so that, before a second harpoon can be struck, he may plunge again, and by continued struggles effect his extrication. But, in descending beneath the ice he is hemmed in by the floor above, and can only find an atmosphere to breathe by returning to its outer boundary. The space in which he can rise is thus contracted from a large circle to a semicircle, or even smaller segment. Hence a whale in this position is attacked with much better chance of success ; even two may be pursued at the same moment, — a measure which, in the open sea, often occasions th(? loss of both. In the flourishing state of the Dutch fishery, a hundred of their vessels have been seen at once ranged on the margin of one of those vast fields, along which the boats formed so continuous a line that no whale could rise without being immediately struck. Advantap:es near the ice. \ i\'\\ NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 611 Thig situation, at the same time, is attended with con- CHAP. XVI. siderable danger from the disruptions and concussions to which these plains are liable. When the ship is surrounded with floating fragments AdrBntapM of ice, the fishery, though difficult, is usually productive, ^*^ »^»««r* But the case is very different when these pieces are packed together into a mass impervious to the boats, yet leaving numerous holes or openings, through which the whale can mount and respire, without coming to the open margin or within reach of his assailants. The fishers, when they see the whale blowing through one of these apertures, must alight on the ice, and run full speed to the spot with lance and harpoon. Attack in such circumstances, however, is extremely perilous; and even when the whale is killed, the drapging of his body either under or over the ice to the ship is a most laborious task, which, in the last case, cannot be effected without cutting the carcass in pieces. In the progress of the season, when the frozen surface Bay ico. becomes open at various points, the fishery is liable to the same evils as occur among packed ice. Still worse is the case when the sea is overspread with that thin, newly formed crust called bay-ice ; for the whale easily finds or beats a hole through this covering, while the boats can neither penetrate nor the men walk over it, without the most imminent danger. Yet Mr Scoresby mentions p plan by which ho continued to carry on his movements, over a very slender suiface of this kind. He tied together his whole crew, and made them thus fncenJous walk in a long line one behind another. Ther« never fell in above four or five at a time, who were easily helped out by the rest. The sufferers had a dram to console them after their cold plunge ; and the com • pensation was considered so ample, that Jack was sus- pected of sometimes allowing himself to drop in with the view of being thus indemnified. Another grand distinction respects, first, the Green- land fishery, which, generally speaking, is that already described, and is chiefly distingulsiied by the immense ■JM 612 NORTHERN WII/ LE-FISHKRY. Diiv's' Strait fishery. ITTZ'tnIs of tiiu tiahury. CHAP. XVI. fields of ice which cover the ocean ; nnd, secondly, tlic Davis* Strait fishery, where that element appears chiefly in the form of moving mountains, tossing through the deep. This last is dangerous, but usually productive. It commenced at a comparatively late period, since it is not mentioned by the Dutch writers prior to 7719 ; and Mr Scorcshy has been ur.ible to ascertain the date when it was begun by the British. At a comparatively recent period, however, it experienced a remarkable extension, of which a full account will be given in the coui'se of this chapter. The hazards of the whale-fishery, in spite of the utmost care, and under the direction even of the most experienced mariners, are many and great. The niost obvious peril is that of the ship being beset and sometimes dashed to pieces by the collision of the icy mountains with which those seas are continually filled. The Dutch writers mention numerous shipwrecks, among which the following are the most remarkable :— Didier Albert Raven, in 1G39, when on the border of the Spitzbergen ice, was assailed by a furious tempest. Though the ship was violently agitated, he succeeded in steering her clear of the great bank, and thougkt him- self in comparative safety, when all at once there ap- peared before him two immense bergs, upon which the wind was violently driving his vessel. He endeavoured, by spreading all his sails, to penetrate between them ; but in this attempt the ship was borne against one wuth so terrible a shock that it was soon felt to be sinking. By cutting the masts she was enabled to proceed ; yet, as she continued to take in water, several boats were launched, which, being overcrowded, sunk, and all hands perished. Those left on board found their con- dition more and more desperate. The fore-part of the vessel being deep in the water, and the keel rising almost perpendicular, made it extremely difficult to avoid falling into the sea ; while a mast, to which a number had clung, broke, fell down, and involved them in the fate of their unfortunate companions. At Didier /Iboit Raven. > NORTHERN WITALE-FISIIERY. 613 ismg t to ch a )lved At length the stem separated from the rest of the vessel. CflAP. XN'I. carrying with it several more of the sailors. The snr- -^ ^ 'a vivors still adhered to the wretched fragments, hut one mffoiiug*. after another was washed off hy the fury of tlie waves, while some, half-dead with cold and unable to retain their grasp of the ropes and anchors, dropped in. The crew of eighty-six was thus reduced to twenty-nine, when the ship suddenly changed its position, and as- sumed one in which they could more easily keep their footing on board. The sea then calmed, and during the respite thus afforded they felt an irresistible propensity to sleep ; but to somo it was the fatal sleep of extreme cold, from which they never awoke. One man sug- gested the construction of a raft, which was accordingly framed, contrary to the captT}t 10,440 yards, or about six miles of line. Unluckily, through the disengagement of a harpoon, a boat and thirteen lines, nearly two miles in length, were detached and never recovered. Whale-fishers sometimes meet with agreeable sur- prises. The crew of the ship Nautilus had captured a fish, which being disentangled and drawn to the ship, some of them were employed to haul in the line. Sud- denly they felt it pulled away as if by another whale, and having made signals for more line, were soon satisfied, by the continued movements^ that this was the case. At captora 622 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Double cap- ture of CHAP. XVI. length a large one rose up close to them, and was quickly killed. It then proved that the animal, while moving: through the waters, had received the rope into its open mouth, and struck hy the unusual sensation, held it fast between its jaws, and thus became an easy prey. — A Hull ship, the Prince of Brazils, had struck a small fish, which sunk apparently dead. The crew applied all their strength to heave it up ; but sudden and violent jerks on the line convinced them that it was still alive. They persevered, and at length brought up two in suc- cession, one of which had many turns of the rope wound round its body. Having been entangled under water, it had, in its attempt to escape, been more and more implicated, till, in the end, it shared the fate of its companion. Recent new channelA of tlie trade. Remarkable chanKes of k>cality. A view of the whale-fishery, as it existed prior to 1820, has thus been drawn from ample and authentic materials afforded by the Dutch and other early writers, as well as by the valuable work of the younger Mr Scoresby. Hav- ing understood, however, that the trade had been turned into several new channels, we applied in 1834 to certain intelligent individuals at the principal ports, from whom we obtained such valuable information as enables us to continue to that period the history of its operations. We can now add some recent information, which will bring it down to the end of 1844. Remarkable changes have lately taken place as to the waters in which the fishery is carried on. For more than a hundred years it was confined to the sea between Spitz- bergen and Greenland ; but early in the eighteenth cen- tury Davis' Strait began to be frequented, and the ships sent thither gradually increased in number. A somewhat more ample return, in fact, was drawn from those western seas, though Mr Scoresby conceives that the longer and more expensive voyage, and the increased hazards, fully counterbalanced this advantage. At the time he wrote, the Greenland fishery was still the more considerable, and the ships proceeding thither were in the proportion NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 623 of three to two. Since that perioJ, however, the wlmlcs, CHAP, XVf. which during the course of two centuries had been gra- Abandon- dually retiring from place to place, sought refuge in the nient of remoter depths of the Icy Sea. — Hence this fisliery was ***° *" almost abandoned, — ^having employed in 1829 only ono vessel ; in 1831, the number was increased to nineteen, but in the succeeding year it declined to three ; and in 1835 was again reduced to one. To compensate for tho loss of their original ground, the whalers have had a more extensive iield opened up to them on the western coast. The important expeditions sent out by govern- ment under Ross and Parry have made them acquainted with a number of admirable stations on the farther side of Davis* Strait and in the higher latitudes of Baffin's Bay, which were before little known and scarcely ever frequented. The vessels destined for that quarter sail usually in Time of March, though some delay their departure till the middle ** "* or even the end of April. They proceed first to the northern parts of the coast of Labrador, or to the mouth of Cumberland Strait, carrying on what is called the South-west Fishery. After remaining there till about the beginning of May, they cross to the eastern shore of the strait, and fish upwards along the coast, particularly in South-east Bay, North-east Bay, Hingston Bay or Horn Sound. About the month of July they usually cross Baffin's Bay to Lancaster Sound, which they some- times enter, and occasionally even ascend Barrow's Strait twenty or thirty miles. In returning, they fish down the western shore, where their favourite stations are Pond's Fayonrtte Bay, Agnes' Monument, Home Bay, and Cape Searle. •'*'*^"*' If the ships be not previously filled, they commonly remain till the end of September, and in some instances persevere till late in October. Our informant at Peter- head mentions a vessel from that port which was clean on the last day of September ; yet the captain proceeded with such spirit and resolution that after this date he caught five whales, making his cargo equal to the aver' 624 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Remarkiible MauiUtitta. Wrecka. CHAP. xvr. age of the year, and reached home by the 27th of the following month. This fishery has always been subject to remarkable casualties, which have been still farther increased since the vessels took a wider range, and ventured into the higher and more frozen latitudes. Our correspondent at Aberdeen states that, — In 1819, out of 63 ships there were lost 10 ...1822, 60 7 These wrecks have generally occurred in attempting to pass from the eastern coast to Lancaster Sound, across that great barrier of ice which fills the centre of Baffin's Bay. The sides of the vessels have sometimes been crushed together ; at other times they have been pressed out of the water and laid upon the ice. But experience seems to have enabled the mariners to guard in some degi'ee against these dangers. In 1829, of eighty-eight ships only four were lost; namely, the Dauntless, Bramham, of Hull ; the Rookwood, Lawson, of London ; the Jane, Bruce, of Aberdeen ; the Home Castle, Stodart, of Leith. Several of these shipwrecks have been attended with very peculiar circumstances. In 1825, the Active, Cap- tain Gray, of Peterhead, was so completely beset in Exeter Sound, that on the first October the crew were obliged to abandon her and take a passage in other ships. Next year a vessel, sent out to ascertain her fate, found her on the beach, at a little distance from the place of besetment, completely uninjured. She was got off in a few days, and brought home with her cargo to Peterhead, where she arrived on the 12th September. In 1826, the Dundee, Captain Dawson, of London, having ventured into the higher parallels of Baffin's Bay, was in latitude 74° 80' so completely enclosed, that the crew could obtain no assistance from the other ships. Recovery of tli« Active. The Dundea NORTHERN WHALE-HSHERY. 625 To add to their distress, a Dutch vessel near them was CRAP. xvr. completely wrecked ; and the men, to the number of Dutchriilp- forty-six, came on board entirely destitute. They were wiwk. supported from the 28d August to the 6th October, when they set out in their boats to endeavour to reach the Danish settlement of Levely ; but, as this was 850 miles distant, much doubt was entertained whether they would ever arrive at their destination. The crew of the Dundee, reduced to extreme distress by the want of provisions, succeeded in killing some seals and bears, on Oreat privo- whose coarse flesh they were thankful to sustain life. ^'""' On the 1st February they caught a whale, and on the 16th a second, which afTorded great relief, especially as other fishes were attracted by the desire to feed on the carcass of this huge animal. Unfortunately for their repose, the sea was not so completely frozen but that enormous icebergs were still tossing through it with thundering noise, tearing up the fields by which the ship was surrounded. On the 22d February, one of uncommon magnitude was seen bearing directly upon their stem, its collision with which appeared inevitable ; whereupon the seamen, snatching their clothes, leaped out upon the ice, and ran to some distance. The iceberg rolled on with a tremendous crash, breaking the field into fragments, and hiding from their view the ship, which they expected never to see again ; but happily it passed by, and the Dundee appeared from behind it un- injured,— a spectacle that was hailed with three enthu- siastic cheers. The mariners lost sight of the sun for seventy-five days, during which they suffered such se- Extreme vere cold that they could not walk the deck for five ^^ minutes without being frost-bitten. Luckily they were able to pick up a quantity of spars and staves belonging to the Dutch wreck, which afforded a supply of fuel, otherwise they must have perished from the intensity of the frost. By great good fortune, too, the body of ice in which they were enclosed drifted to the southward more than eleven degrees (from 74° 30', down to 63°), or about 800 miles^ and was thus brought nearly to the ■ \' - 2 Q W 626 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Fortunate wcspea. Commercial relations. CHAP. XVI. mouth of Davis' Strait. On the let April, when the Lde, Captain Lee of Hull, had just commenced her fishing, the crew were agreeably surprised by meeting the Dundee, whose catastrophe had excited the greatest intei'est at home ; they bupplied her liberally with pro- visions, and every necessary for enabling her to reach Britain. She accordingly got free of the ice on the 16th April, and on the 2d June arrived on the coast of Shet- land, whence intelligence was immediately spread of her happy escape. Finally, the whale-fishery deserves to be considered in its commercipl relations, under which aspect it pos- sesses considerable importance, whether we consider the large capital invested, or the amount and value of the proceeds. The principal employment of funds in this trade con- sists in the construction and fitting out of the vessels adapted for its various purposes. This expense greatly exceeds that required for other ships of the same dimen- sions, owing to the manner in which the timbers must be doubled and fortified, the necessity of having seven boats, a copious supply of line, numerous casks, and fishing implements. Mr Scoresby states, that the Re- solution, of 291 tons, was built in 1803 with all these equipments, but without the outfit for a voyage, at Great outlay. £6321. In 1813 the Esk of Whitby, of 354 tons, cost £14,000 ; but this included the outlay for her first ad- venture, which, being supposed to amount to £1700, would make the original expense only £12,300. The sum of £14,000 is stated to us from Hull as the estimate for building and furnishing at that port a ship of 350 tons in the year 1812. Since that period a great reduc- tion has taken place. Mr Cooper, in 1824, reported to \ the House of Commons that the sum required was only £10,000 ; and according to the information received in July 1830 from the different ports, we found that such a ship could then be built and completely equipped for about £8000. A Dundee correspondent calculates that half of this amount is expended in carpenter- work, and NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 627 o, cost rst ad- £1700, The imate of 350 reduc- rted to IS only ved in ,t such )ed for es that ■k, and the remainder in sails, rigging, casks, lines, and other chap, xvl apparatus. Besides this original cost, a large annual expenditure Annual is incurred in the prosecution of the fishery. There is •"I'e'"*""'* first the outfit, being the provisions and other supplies put on board before the ship goes to sea. Mr Scoresby estimates the expense of fitting out the Resolution, in 1803, at £1470, — namely, provisions, coals, and similar necessaries, £769 ; insurance, £413 ; advance-money to seamen, £288. The statements forwarded, at the date mentioned above, from the several ports, vary in a re- markable degree. At Leith the amount is from £700 to £1200 ; at Aberdeen, £1400 ; at Peterhead, from £1200 to £1500 ; while at Hull it is reckoned at £2000, exclusive of seamen's wages. Probably there may be some difference as to the articles comprehended in these calculations. An English crew, besides, may expect to be more amply provisioned, while the voyage from Hull is undoubtedly somewhat longer. To this firat outlay must be added the contingencies occurring in the diff^erent stages of the fishery, as well as in preparing the cargo for sale. The pay of the master and har- Mode ef pooneers depends almost entirely upon their success, as paymont. they receive a certain sum for every vhale struck, and afterwards for every tun of oil extracted : the seamen also, though they must have their monthly wages, ob- tain additional allowances in the event of a prosperous voyage. At Peterhead, it is estimated that, if a ship comes home clean, the entire loss will exceed £2000 ; while at Hull the total expense of a voyage, producing 200 tuns of oil, is considered to be £3500 exclusive of Insurance. The produce of the fishery consists of oil and whale- Produce of bone ; none of the other articles, in an estimate of this ^® ^sbery. kind, being worthy of much consideration. The prices of these two commodities vary greatly, both at different periods and from one year to another. Whale-oil, in 1742, is stated to have sold for £18 per tun ; but in the following year it fell to £14. In 1801 628 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. the vulue of OIL Value of wliuleboue. CHAP. xvi. it rose so high as £50 ; but in 1802 was only £31 ; and Vaiiations in ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ '^^"^ ^ ^^^ ^ ^^^* ^^ ^^^^ ^^ reached a higher price than ever, the finest quality being sold at £60 ; but the prosperous fishery of 1814 brought it down again to £32. Mr Scoresby reckons the average of the nineteen years ending with 1818, at £34, 15s. ; while an intelligent correspondent at Aberdeen stated that of the twenty preceding at £28, 16s. The price in July 1830 was given in the Scotch ports at from £2-1 to £26 ; in Hull at £24. Since that time it has run nearly between £25 and £30 ; which last rate for the last two or three years has been fully supported. Whalebone bore anciently a very high price, when the rigid stays and expanded hoops of our grandmothers produced an extensive demand for this commodity. The Dutch have occasionally obtained £700 per ton, and were accustomed to draw £100,000 annually from Eng- land for that one article. Even in 1763 it brought £500 ; but it soon fell, and has never again risen to the same value. During the present century the price has varied between £60 and £300, seldom falling to the lowest rate, and rarely exceeding £150. Mr Scoresby reckons the price in the five years ending 1818 at £90 ; while in July 1830, it was stated from the different ports to be from £160 to £180. The average price of the twenty years to 1834 was estimated at £163. The rate in 1844 is reported to us at £300. This is for what is called the me-bone, or such pieces as measure six feet or upwards in length ; those below this standard are usually sold at half-price. It may appear singular that whalebone should rise while oil has been so de- cidedly lowered ; but the one change, it is obvious, has really caused the other. Oil being the main product of the fishery regulates its extent, which being dimi- nished by the low price, the quantity of bone is lessened, while the demand for it continuing as great as before, the marketable value consequently rises. The whale-fishery, for one ship and one season, is a complete lottery, the result of which, according to the : ■ \ Increase in price. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 629 skill and good fortune of the persons employed, fluctu* chap, xvl ates between a large profit and a severe loss. Sometimes ^ 7~-~ a vessel is so unlucky as to return clean ; another brings of the trade, only one fish ; while no fewer than eight or nine of these, producing about ninety tuns of oil, are necessary to make an average voyage. But there are many in- stances of a much larger produce. The greatest cargo ever known by Mr Scoresby to have been brought from the northern seas was that of Captain Souter, of the Resolution of Peterhead, in 1814. It consisted of forty- Greatest four whales, yielding 299 tuns of oil, which, even at the '^®"*"'* reduced rate of £32, sold for £9568, raised by the whale- bone and bounty to about £11,000. In 1813, both the elder and younger Mr Scoresby secured cargoes, less in quantity indeed, but which, from the oil selling at £60 per tun, yielded a still larger return. The former, in the course of twenty- eight voyages, killed 498 whales, whence were extracted 4246 tuns of oil, the value of which and of the bone exceeded £150,000. The Dutch have published tables, exhibiting the re- Dutch tables suits of their fishery for the space of 107 years, between 1669 and 1778,* both inclusive. During that period they sent to Greenland 14,167 ships, of which 661, or about four in the hundred, were lost. Th*y took 67,690 whales, yielding 8,106,596 quardeelent of oil, and 93,179,860 pounds of bone, which sold for £18,631,292.1 The expense of fitting out the ships amounted to £11,879,619 ; the value ox those lost was £470,422 ; and the expense of preparing the oil and bonb was £2,667,109,— total expenses, £14,917,160; leaving a profit of £3,714,142. The Davis' Strait fish- ery, between 1719 and 1778, employed 3161 vessels, of m U IS a the • The years 1672, 1673, and 1674, are not included, the war with Franoe having caused a suspension of the fishery. t A quardeel of oil contains from 18 to 21 stekans, or firom 77 to 90 imperial standard gallons ; and 100 Dutch pounds are equal to ]091Jbs. avoirdupois nearly. X In couvertinir the Dutch estimates into English money, the florin is valued at 20Bd. sterling. 630 NORTHERN WHALi^FISHERY. Greenland and Davii' Strait flaUeriei. BrIUsh flaLery, CHAP. XVI. which 62 were ^ost. The produce was ^£4,288,235, which, deducting; £3,410,987 of expenses, left a profit of £877,248. The Greenland fishery would tL s have yielded a profit of about 25 per cent., and the Davis' Strait of about 26 per cent. ; but it may be observed that the Dutch, in their estimate of expenses, have not included the original cost of the vessels. From 1785 down to 1794, the number of ships was reduced to sixty, and the trade is said to have been carried on with abso- lute loss. Tlie British fishery for some time yielded a produce much exceeding in value that of the Dutch even during the period of its greatest prosperity. In the five years ending with 1818, there were imported into England and Scotland 68,940 tuns of oil, and 3420 tons of whale- bone ; which, valuing the oil at £36, 10s., and the bone at £90, with £10,000 in skins, raised the whole to £2,834,110 sterling, or £566,822 per annum. The fishery of 1814, a year peculiarly fortunate, produced 1437 whales from Greenland, yielding 12,132 tuns of oil, which, added to the produce from Davis* Strait, formed altogether, even at comparatively low prices, a value of above £700,000.* It may be mentioned that this trade is now carried on without legislative en- couragement, no bounty having been granted since the year 1824. There has also been a somewhat singular change as to the ports in which the fishery is pursued. In London were undertaken all the discoveries which led to its es- tablishment ; and for some time a complete monopoly was enjoyed by the great companies formed in that city. Even between the years 1780 and 1790, the metropolis sent out four times the number of vessels that sailed from any other town. It was observed, however, that her efforts were on the whole less fortunate than those of the rivals who had sprung up ; and her merchants Chnnge of the purts. * In all these statements the measure employed is the tun of 252 old wine gallons, equal to 209 1^ Imperial standard gallons. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 631 were so much discouraged that, in Mr Scoresby's time, chap. xvi. they equipped only seventeen or eighteen vessels. They Entero-i f have since entirely abandoned the trade, employing in Hull. 1827 no more than two ships, in 18S5 only one; at present none. Hull early became a competitor with the capital, having sent out vessels from the very com- mencement. Although checked at first by the influence of the privileged bodies, as soon as the trade became free she prosecuted it with distinguished success. In the end of the last century that town attained, and for forty years preserved, the character of the first whale-fishing port in Britain. Since 1887 it declined so much as to send in 1842 only two vessels. The two following yeare, however, showed a great revival. Whitby en- gaged in this pursuit in 17^3, and carried it on for some time with more than common fortune ; but her opera- tions have since been discontinued. Liverpool, after embarking in the undertakmg with spirit, has now entirely relinquished it. Newcastle, though much de- clined, still can'ies on a moderate trade. Meantime the eastern ports of Scotland gradually extended their Scottlalt transactions, while those of the country at large were '^**"** diminishing. The increase was most remarkable at Peterhead ; and indeed this place, compared especially with London, must derive a great advantage from avoiding, both in the outward and homeward voyage, 600 miles of somewhat difficult navigation. It is now decidedly the chief port in the United Kingdom. Leith, Montrose, and Aberdeen, after starting with spirit, entirely withdrew, though the last again sent a vessel in 1844. Dundee, and on a smaller scale Kirkcaldy, have kept up a steady trade ; while Bo*ness also de- spatches one vessel. The following summary has been collected from Mr Scoresby's work, as the average quantity of shipping fitted out in the different ports for nine years ending with 1818 ; since which time it will appear hereafter that the amount has considerably declined. CHAP. XVI. Average quantity of iliippiug. Disasters otuao. .1 Causes 632 NORTHERN WHALE-PISHERY. Areraffeof 1810-18. England,— Berwick !{ Grimsby li Hull 53| Liverpool 1| London ; 171 Lynn If Newcastle 4| Whitby 88 91| BcoTLAND,— Aberdeen A 10| Banff. I Dundee 7| Greenock § I Kirkcaldy | Kirkwall { Leith 8i ,' Montrose 2^ i Peterhead 6i A — _m Total 131| The year 1880 was the most disastrous that ever occurred in the annals of British fishery. Melancholy as the details are, they possess a deep interest, and may afford useful lessons to future navigators ; we have therefore taken some pains to procure such materials as might enable us to exhibit, in a full and connected view, the occurrences of this calamitous season. We consider ourselves particularly fortunate in having ob- tained journals, written by individuals who were pre- sent at the different scenes of shipwreck ; and these not only give a minute detail of the events, but forcibly re- present the emotions which the view of them excited. A variety of interesting documents have also been re- ceived, from intelligent friends at the respective fishing- ports, in reply to queries transmitted to them on the subject. In tracing the causes of these dreadful disasters, it will be necessary to explain the manner in which masses of ice are formed, and the positions they occupy \ NORTHEEN WHALE-FISHERY. 633 in that extensive inlet, to the successive parts of which chap, xvl we give the names of Davis* Strait and Baffin's Bay. por,jJ^n This sea, though not constituting, as was once supposed, of muases or a completely enclosed gulf, has yet no opening so wide ^^^ as materially to interrupt the continuity of its shores on either side. Ice of a certain description may cover the greatest expanse of water ; but every one knows that it is formed most extensively, and of the most compact texture, in bays and along a precipitous beach. The winding and generally elevated coast of this strait has always produced it in the greatest varieties, among which those of bergs and floes have been most conspi- cuous. The land-ice, during the rigour of winter,I'aail-ico. remains fixed in an unbroken sheet, stretching many miles out to sea. Under the warmth of spring and early summer, numerous fragments are detached, which, through the action of tides and currents, are floated out into the ocean, and sometimes reach even low latitudes on the shores of America. The greater proportion, however, coming from the opposite coasts, meet in mid- channel, and unite into a compact and continuous bar- rier, through which, till a very advanced period of the season it is impossible for the navigator to penetrate. Between this central body, called the middle-ice, and that attached to the land, there intervenes a narrow and precarious passage, always more or less encumbered, and often entirely closed up ; yet through which the adventurous mariner can generally, in the course of two or three months, wind his course into the higher latitudes in the direction of Lancaster Sound. Prior to the voyages of Ross and Parry, the range of Voyages of operations had been limited to the south-west fishery, pairy. and to that on the eastern shore as far as Horn Sound. These fields, however, gradually shared the fate of those in the Greenland Sea, — being, as it vf eve, fished out ; the whales having learnt to take refuge from the destroying power of their assailants in some more distant recesses of the Arctic Ocean. When it was reported, therefore, by the officers employed in discovery, that, on the 634 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. CHAP. XVL Revived spirit of euterprise. Conrse of upproach. Point of daugor. north-western shores of Baffin's Bay, fish had been seen in vast numbers, the spirit of enterprise was kindled, and success soon crowned its efforts. Since that period, not only the Greenland Seas have been nearly deserted, but the original fishing-grounds in Labrador and Davis' Strait have been regarded only as secondary objects; while every nerve has been strained to reach those interior shores, where whales arc still found in an abundance elsewhere unexampled. To arrive at this more important station, the captains may proceed along either of the coasts of that great in- land sea. The western might appear at first sight tho more eligible one, leading most directly to the object, and avoiding that middle barrier which is so peculiarly dangerous. This shore, however, is exposed to the great body of ice, which, at the beginning of the season, floats down from the north, rendering the navigation at once tedious and dangerous. Hence the usual practice among whalers is to work their way up the eastern passage till they turn Cape York ; beyond which the sea becomes much narrower, the central ice usually terminates, and an opening is found stretching to the western side. Before reaching Cape York, however, and after passing that formidable promontory called the Devil's Thumb, they must cross the spacious ex- panse of Melville Bay, bounded on the north by a bold shore, covered with perpetual ice and snow. Here those dangers occur which have proved fatal to so many navigators. A strong wind from the south-west loosens the ice, and drives its severed fragments directly into the bay just specified. Arrested by its northern bound- ary, these are crowded together, and tossed with a violent commotion, which involves the mariner in the most deadly peril. This place, accordingly, was almost exclusively the scene of the calamitous shipwrecks in 1830, which are now to be described. Most of the vessels destined for the fishery that year sailed between the middle and end of March ; but, hav- ing a tedious voyage out, they did not reach the en- NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. C35 trance of Diivis* Strait till the close of April. This CHAP. xvi. delay, chiefly occasioned by the prevalence of adverse Effect* of* winds attended with rain, also prevented many of them tedious from crossing over to Labrador, and attempting the ^°J'*«* south-west fishery. They proceeded, therefore, directly ** up the country," as they terra it ; that is, northwai^ along the eastern coast of the strait ; and the sea being , remarkably open, and very few whales in sight, they made an uncommonly rapid run. When beyond Disco Island, indeed, they were detained a whole week by the ice ; yet, even there, an unusual extent of open water was observed to tlie westward ; seemingly in conse- quence of the south-westerly gales, w^hich had iu a great measure broken up the field in mid-channel, and driven its loosened fragments into a more northerly quarter. We have been informed, that several vessels made an attempt to cross the strait in this latitude, though without success. Working slowly upwards, they at last reached the opening of Melville Bay, where, on the 10th of June, about a month before the usual period, more than fifty sail were assembled. This recess, however, presented a most alarming aspect ; Alannlnff being crowded with floes of ice that had been driven *|^g^ in by the winds, and arrested by the rugged margin of the northern shore. If, however, they could by any means reach the western boundary of the ice, they might hope to find an open sea leading directly to the great fishing-ground. With eager impatience, therefore, they looked around for some canals by which they might proceed through it; but they saw only a few lanes, forming narrow and dangerous defiles. It is a maxim, however, that the ship which first reaches the open water is sure of a good fishing ; hence an eager emulation is excited, and, as our Peterhead correspondent observes, ** when one begins to trip through, all the rest follow.** The St Andrew of Aberdeen, accordingly, entered one of these openings which appeared the most promising i twenty-two others imitated her example, and the re- maming vessels were eagerly pressing onward, when. ,i\ 636 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Getting through Um ice. Fated ■quudron. CHAP. XVI. fortunately for them, two mosses of ice closed together and shut them out, barring, at the same time, the return of those that had advanced. These last, separating into groups, took diiferent directions, and made various de- grees of progress ; a few even came in sight of the open water ; but all were finally arrested, and hemmed in by the ice. One of the largest of these squadrons, and that wliose eventful story we can relate in the greatest detail, con- sisted of six very fine vessels, the St Andrew of Aber- deen, the Baffin and the Rattler of Leith, the Eliza Swan of Montrose, the Achilles of Dundee, and the French ship Yille de Dieppe. They began by making them- selves fast to some icebergs, but soon quitted these in order to attempt a passage to the western side. On the 19th a fresh gale sprung up from the S. S. W., and drove in upon them masses of ice, by which they were soon beset, in lat. 76° 10' N., long. 60° 30' W., about forty miles to the southward of Cape York. They ranged themselves under the shelter of a large floe, having water barely sufficient to float them. Here they formed a line one behind another, standing stem to stem so close as to aflbrd a continued walk along their decks ; being at the same time so pressed against the ice that in some places a boat-hook could with difficulty be inserted in the interval. In the evening of the 24th the sky dark- ened, the gale increased, the floes began to overlap each other, and closed upon the ships in an alarming manner. The sailors then attempted to saw out a sort of dock, where they hoped to be relieved from this severe pres- sure ; but soon a huge floe was driven upon them with a violence completely irresistible. The Eliza Swan (whose surgeon, Mr Maccall, has also furnished us with some particulars) received the first shock, and was saved only by the ice raising her up. It caused her indeed to strike with such force on the bow of the St Andrew that her mizzen-mast was nearly carried ofl^, after which it passed from under her, after damaging severely her stem and keel. It next struck the St Andrew, midship, PeriTons poaiUou. TheElizD Swaa. NORTHERN WHALE-PISHERY. C37 breaking about twenty of her timbers, and staving a CflAP. xvi. number of casks ; but it then fortunately moved along compieTe her side, and went off by the stem. Now, however, >»"*« or four pursuing its career, it reached successively the Baffin, ' ' ^^ the Achilles, the Ville de Dieppe, and the Rattler, and dashed against them with such tremendous fury that these four noble vessels, which had braved for years the tempests of the Polar deep, were in a quarter of an hour shattered into fragments. The scene was awful, — the grinding noise of the ice tearing open their sides ; the masts breaking oflP and falling in every direction ; were added to the cries of two hundred sailors leaping upon the frozen surface, with only such portions of their wardrobe as they could snatch in a single instant. The Battler is said to have become the most complete wreck Complete almost ever known. She was literally tumed inside Rattier, out, and her stem and stem carried to the distance of a gunshot from each other. The Achilles had her sides nearly pressed together, her stem thrust out, her decks and beams broken into innu merable pieces. The Ville de Dieppe, a very beautiful vessel, though partly filled with water, stood upright fourteen days, and the greater part of her provisions and stores were saved ; as were also some belonging to the Baffin, two of ivhose boats were squeezed to pieces. All the other boats were dragged out upon the ice, and were occupied by the sailors as their only home. Not far from the same spot the Progress of Hull was crushed to atoms by an iceberg on the 2d of July ; and on the 18th of the same month, the Oxenhope, also of that port, became a total wreck. The Resolution of Peterhead, Laurel of Hull, Letitia Sncceeding and Princess of Wales of Aberdeen, had advanced consi- w*"®*^ derably farther to the north-west, being in lat. 76° 20' N., long. 62° 30' W. They were lying side by sMe, and, having cut out a dock in the ice, considered them- selves perfectly secure. But the gale of the 26th drove the floes upon them with such fury that the sides of the two first were pierced ; and being filled with water to the deck, were pressed so forcibly against the Laurel 638 NORTHERN WHALE-PISHERY. CHAP. XVI. Ttie Hope of Pitterbead. Tho Spencer oudLoe. Eflcnpe of tho Dordon of HuU. Later diaaatera. which lay between them, as almost to raise that vessel out of tho water. This lost, however, remained for the present In safety, and tho seamen busied themselves in carrying on board of her the provisions and stores of her two wrecked companions. But, on the 2d of July, she, along with the Hope of Peterhead, was exposed to a gale if possible still more terrible than the former, when they both shared the fate of the Resolution and Letitia. The Hope, which was standing in the water clear and secure, was overwhelmed with such rapidity that in ten minutes only tho point of her maintop-gallant-mast was seen above the ice. The tempest, on the 2Cth June, assailed also the Spencer and the Lee, which had penetrated farther north than any of the other vessels, having reached the latitude of 76°. The latter escaped with only a number of her timbers shattered ; but the former, after a long and vigorous resistance, had her hold burst open and filled with water, so that she soon became a complete wreck. Sufficient warning, however, had been given to enable the sailors to lodge on the ice their most valuable effi;cts. In this vicinity the William and Ann of Whitby ond the Dordon of Hull were attacked at the same moment. The latter, fortunately, was raised up by the pressure of the ice into a safe position ; but the other being exposed to the action of two opposite floes, was crushed to pieces so rapidly that nothing could be saved out of her ; and a boat, into which the captain had thrown a few articles from the cabin- windows, was itself soon afterwards sunk. In the same latitude, a few miles to the westward, the tempest also proved fatal to the Old Middleton of Aberdeen. A similar disaster befell part of a large group, amounting to twenty-two sail, which had not entered the ice, but remained considerably to tke southward, in about lat. 74° 20' N. They seem scarcely to have felt the storm of the 25th June, and remained in tolerable safety, though beset, till the night of the 80th. A NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 630 heavy gale then sprung up, and increased conthiunlly chap. xvi. till the morning of 2d July, when it swelled to a fright- fvigiJ^ ful tempest. The howling of the wind, the showers o( tompMt hail and snow, the dark and fearful aspect of the sky, grave warning of approaching danger. At seven in tiie moriiltig a signal of distress was hoisted hy the William of Hull, and in a short time thereafter she appeared altnost huried uudar masses of ice. Ahout ten the North Briton was reduced to a complete wreck ; and at eleven the Gilder was in a similar predicninent. During six hours the storm slightly abated, but return- ing after that interval with augmented fury, pressed the ice with additional force upon the Alexander ofSucccsMve Aberdeen and the Throe Brothers of Dundee, — two of tUe ihipi fine vessels, so strongly built that an observer might have supposed them capable of withstanding any shock whatever. They made accordingly a very stout resist- ance ; the conflict was dreadful, and wos beheld with awful interest by the sailors as they stood round : at length their timbers gave way at every point, — the sides bursting open, the masts crashing and falling with an astounding noise ; the hull of the Three Brothers was t so much twisted that the two ends of the ship could scarcely be distinguished : finally, only some broken masts and booms appeared above the ice. The crews, spectators of this awful scene, gave three cheers in honour of the gallant resistance made by their vessels to the overpowering element by which they had been vanquished. Our correspondent here observes, — some- power of the what as Captain Parry had already done at a critical '«* period, — that a ship, even the strongest which human art can construct, becomes like an egg-shell when op- posed to the full force of this terrific agent.* It is a gratifying circumstance that, in the whole of • The shipwreck of these vessels is well represented in a lithographic print, from a drawing by Mr Laing, surgeon to the Zephyr of Hull. To this gentleman, as well as to Mr Alexander, surgeon to the Three Brothers of Dundee, we have to acknowledge ourselves indebted for some useful information. 640 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Colony of sliipwrecked mariners. CHAP. XVL these sudden and dreadful disasters, there should not Escape of the have Occurred the loss of a single life. The very element, crewa. indeed, which destroyed the vessels, was in so far propi- tious, as it afforded to the crews a secure though un- comfortable retreat. By leaping out upon the ice in the moment of wreck, they all effected their escape, though we have heard of several instances in which the danger was almost inevitable. Sometimes the seamen, before they could snatch their clothes and bedding, found them- selves up to the middle in water. The surgeon of the North Briton beheld the ice rushing in and meeting from opposite quarters in the cabin, before he was able to make his retreat. The shipwrecked mariners, nearly a thousand in num- ber, were now obliged to establish temporary abodes on the surface of that rough and frozen sea where their ships "^ had been destroyed. They erected tents of sails detached from the broken masts ; they kindled fires, and procured provisions, either out of their own shattered vessels, or from those of their companions which had happily es- caped. But still their situation, though not desperate, was dreary in the extreme ; producing the feeling that they were like outcasts in the most desolate region of the earth, without any assured means either of subsistence or return. Yet such is the elastic spirit of British tars, that, as soon as the first shock was over, they began with one consent to enjoy themselves, exulting in the idea of being their own masters. Finding access, unfortunately, to considerable stores of wine and spirits, they began a course of too liberal indulgerce. The rugged surface of the Arctic deep was transformed into a gay scene of festivity. The clusters of tents with which it was covered, the various scenes of ludicrous frolic, the joy- ous shouting of our sailors, and the dances and songs of the French, suggested the idea of a festival ; some even gave it the name of Baffin Fair. The Frenchmen de- clared that they had never been so happy in their whole lives. Excursions of considerable extent were made over the ice from one party to another ; a communication was Wild festivltlca. NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 641 was even opened between the northern and southern detach- chap, xvl inents of the fleet, and so regularly carried on as to be Baiiinfidr. called by the latter the " north mail." A few days after the different shipwrecks, the seamen, down the in almost every instance, proceeded to a very exti'aordi- "^P* nary operation, — that of setting fire to the vessels, and burning them down to the water's edge. The object was, that, when the upper surface of the ship was thus re- moved, the casks and chests containing the clothes and provisions might float. A sailor, who witnessed this operation with the first four wrecks, describes it as having completely answered its purpose. Others depre- cated the practice as causing a very wanton destruction of property, which might have been preserved for the use, at least, of other crews. The ships were for some time borne up on the surface by the ice on which they rested ; but when it was melted, they sunk and disap- peared, and the waves were then strewed with floating fragments of every shape and size, — ^blocks, chests, casks, ropes, shattered pieces of masts and yards, and timber of all dimensions. We have already noticed the pleasing circumstance Low of lif* that, in the first awful catastrophe of the vessels, there was not a single life lost ; but we must add that a few died afterwards in consequence of fatigue and exposure to cold. Several also perished in excursions over the ice, particularly in one undertaken by the captains of the Laurel, Letitia, and Progress. Not finding sufficient room in the Bon Accord, where the shipwrecked crews had been received, they departed in search of some other vessel which might have more accommodation. The three masters carried merely their clothes, and after travelling a direct distance of twenty miles, much in- creased by the circuitous track they were obliged to follow, they reached the ships Dee and Mary Frances, into which they were kindly received. But the seamen imprudently encumbered themstlves with a boat, which I hey had frequently to drag over the ice : they thus 2 R i, 642 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. Cannes of death. CHAP. XVI spent a much longer period, and exposed themselves to each severe cold that five of them died ; while others, reduced to a most distressing state, were recovered only by the extreme care with which they were treated. With regret we must subjoin, that some deaths appear to have arisen from the too free use of intoxicating liquors. A certain quantity, indeed, was rendered ne- cessary by fatigue and cold ; but that measure was greatly exceeded ; and in passing over the icy surface, which was at once very rugged, and filled with various holes and crevices, several plunged in to rise no more. One man expired of mere intoxication. Yet it is satis- factory to add, amid these irregularities as well as the thoughtless gayety which every where prevailed, that, whenever the exertions of the sailors were required for the general service, the utmost activity was manifested, and complete subordination observed. After these disasters, the ships remained still closely beset, and their situation became the subject of a daily increasing anxiety. They had gone out wholly unprovided for wintering in the Arctic zone ; while the extensive loss of provisions and fuel, with the numerous crews crowded on board the ships, rendered the prospect still more gloomy and doubtful. On the 21st July, in con- sequence of some favourable appearances, the St Andrew, Eliza Swan, and other ships on the northern station, determined to attempt penetrating to the westward. The men, though quitting the scene of gayety which they had formed for themselves, obeyed the summons with much alacrity. In a few minutes the tents were struck, the crews of the wrecked ships were distributed among the surviving ones, and all hands began towing forward the vessels. They separated in various directions ; but some, being driven considerably to the northward, were so long detained, that they repeatedly lost all hope of ever effect- ing their extrication. The men caught and dragged a few whales through holes in the ice ; but one harpooner re- lates, that these animals were so extremely vigilant that Dangers of the remain* tng BblpSi NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 643 luch the the the he could effect nothing unless he approached them with- CHAP. xvi. out his shoes, and thus prevented an alarm. September vigiiaiice of arrived, and the ice was forming so rapidly, that in two w»e wholes. days a place where a boat could have sailed might be safely walked over. The St Andrew and several other vessels had been driven about thirty miles N. W. of Cape Dudley Digges, intolat. 76°2'N., long. 68°46' W. At last, after mucli laborious sawing and towing, they suc- ceeded, on the loth of September, in making their way into open water. Most of those which had taken a more southern direction reached the western coast towards tlie close of August, and in lat. 71° N. The feelings excited at home by the intelligence of Effects of these unparalleled misfortunes may be more easily con- at homT'*' ceived than described. The appearance, each successive year, at the great ports, of the first vessel returning from the fishery, is, in all cases, attended with deep interest and anxiety ; and this season, in consequence of the long delay, these emotions had been wound up to an intense pitch. The tidings were brought to Peterhead, on the 8th October, by the James, Captain Hogg ; and to Hull, on the 10th, by the Abram, Captain Jackson, Our correspondents describe, in the strongest terms, the universal gloom that overcast these towns ; the eager throng which besieged the houses of the captains, and every place where information could be hoped for ; as also the alarm of the females, making hasty inquiries after their brothers and husbands, to which only doubt- ful answers could be returned. It was a scene of public General and general calamity. The news being conveyed to S"amUy, Aberdeen by the next day's mail, spread equal conster- nation in that city. A subscription was opened at Hull on behalf of the seamen, many of whom were exposed to great distress, in consequence of their pay having been stopped from the period at which the wreck of their vessels took place. The following list contains the entire number of ships which were lost in this disastrous year : — \' 644 NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. CHAP. XVI. Ships lost Aberdeen, ...4.— Amonnt of loss. Loss of produce. Hull, .6.— Lbith,. 2.- DUNDEE, 2.- F£TERHEAD,..2.- Whitby,. 1.- MoNTROSE,.. .-I.- Greenock,....1.- DlEPPE, 1.- Ttons. Alexander 262 Letitia 318 Old Middleton 829 Princess of Wales 308 Gilder 360 Laurel 321 North Briton 262 Oxenhope 286 Progress. 307 William 350 -Baffin 321 Rattler 348 -Achilles 367 Three Brothers 339 Hope 251 Resolution (Philip) 400 William and Ann 362 Spencer. 340 John 316 -Ville de Dieppe 400 The amount of the loss occasioned hy these ship- wrecks is estimated as follows : — - Value of 19 British ships, including stores, &c., average £5000 £95,000 Value of outfit, provisions, and wages, £2000 38,000 Twelve damaged ; repairs of each cost on an ave- rage £800 9,600 £142,600 A still severer loss was sustained in the great failure of the produce, very imperfectly compensated, by a rise of the oil and whalebone to more than double the for- mer price. The following table, derived from sources which may be fully relied upon, exhibits a complete summary of the results of the whale-fishery during the twenty years from 1815 to 1834 inclusive : — NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 645 M > iliip- 5rage 5,000 8,000 nay yof ears Cn t— ' •4 in I—" ■MM tt»- MU } 00 90 00 00 00 00 ' ) W CO S» CO to tS I > 08 U) H^ O CO 00 < ' » ?0 05 •-- I «-■•-• t0090»0i00O««OC0©C0 •4 00(0 00 1 H^ O O) Cn !--• to Cn I— • O U» 0) •f^' >^ H^ 00 05"^OJOO«000*4"^COOO-^»OJOJ— IOfCiOJOTi^*fc (Oif^tOOl-'OOCOtSOCOCOtsSOCO'MOOCCOObiOO -^1 •'a 00 08 CO 00 00 00 «0 ►-- H- t-i 10 Or Or 0» Or Or >^ rf*. 05*4i--OOH-COCOOOCwO>-^H-COCOCO'^©050> Cn)f^c«oaOU)&tC»if^>— docott^cooiio ^ — ooooi-a 4 ^ «« s# COOM H-- C) 00 O: 1^ lO*t»>00 00 I-* 1— ' t-J CO'-^&»C0COi^Mh-i&»C7t»-'O900*''&8 1OU)Gt»-'H- 'if>>0090 N« M t« i« CVJWTW}^[WW}V0^— [\^«MCQ(^U}UO -~< It^ 1^ 00 &t w) H-OH-O©-^1CiC0O'^l*M-4C5to»i»k.O00-MC00p )tk.OOO)f^&ttOO}0300»-i|f>>&9COCn»->tOH->OtO .>• <»^ <«_ >•_ _-•! . •4 O00C7t&rl0t00T»tfc«J0T0J»»>'*4Oi— •JCO'.O«>4C0Cn00C0O>^O>00>-'t0t0M0S ceoooo*-^ooto»->»-i)(^toosooo9toi-')->to&90)f>> i_.(_j»_noost5»-'t-'ipt3i-'t--tototo&sc»ootoe» 09000oa>OtOCOOOil^rt>'^I^OOOSp->biO->aoo o ^» tOOTCnCn&aii^&TOiOoocoCnGtOOOOi&fO lO^ &0O !_. i_* i»* i_< OS lo hs *-' ^^ to "-^ ^- lo f*s C»80003CaOO'^C«0«COOSi— '"^OJ^^OSOJOIO dOOOOiOCnOOOOObiObrOObT sg 13 _ 00 «-! 00 eo CO 09 lO OOOCnOOOOrOOtOOOOCirO H-H- i-it3iUb3tOiOC»00lO»-'b3 C7»Ol"^l^-Q^-t0uiH- k-iOOJOO OCrtOOi ---- ---- 5S a a^ E g CHAP. XVI. Sammary ot the results ol the whale fishery from 1816 to loai G^a NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. CHAP. XVI. The following statement of the results for 1834 shows Statement of ^^^ ports from which the fishery was carried on : — rosulijL Fishery of Greenland seal fisher/. Ships. Tonnage- FUh. on. Boue. TuBk Tout. Cwl>. 27,Hull 8906 723 1131 310 953 .%2 3076 1979 2789 1591 688 1847 273 16 25 34 22 20 99 72 115 92 25 79 2696 149 283 220 173 144 1093 801 1036 743 177 699 146 8 17 11 9 7 67 45 63 38 9 37 10 "i 3 2 7 .6 9 10 6 10 4 2, Whitby 3. Newcastle I. Berwick 3. London 3. Montrose 11. Peterhead 6. Aberdeen ; 8. Dundee....... 5. Kirkcaldv....^. 2. Burntisland 5, Leith 76 SM,955 872 8214 441 10 The fishery of 1835 was very disastrous, no less than six vessels being lost, though the crews were fortunately saved. Since that time the trade, which had already experienced a diminution, rapidly declined, till in 1842 only eighteen ships were sent out. In 1843 and 1844, however, it rallied considerably. There has been a certain return to the Greenland seas, wliich from 1833 to 1836 had been neaiiy deserted. Another novel fea- ture is the fitting out of vessels entirely for the Green- land seal-fishery, where the vast number of those animals compensates for the small quantity of oil in each. Some endeavour to combine both objects. The following general view of results from 1835 to 1842 inclusive, is derived from the truly valuable Com- mercial Dictionary of Mr M*Culloch : — Tears. Ships. Whales caught. Imperial Tuns of OU. Price. Tons of Whale- bone. Strait. Total UtL 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1 3 15 31 29 11 11 14 70 58 37 8 12 20 8 4 71 61 62 39 41 81 19 18 6 2 I 2 167 70 1-22 466 115 22 62 64 2623 707 1356 4345 1441 412 647 668 £28 32 85 25 25 25 31 .30 65 236 79 14 22 t( di tl CI w NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. 647 The following details for 1843 have been communi- chap, xvl cated to us by an intelligent correspondent : — j^ ~ 1848. Ports. Ships. 1- Seals. Tuns of Oil. Whale- 1 D,>*i*' Htiait Creenliii.d t Tod. 1 4 1)0 ne> 1 Whale. 8«a. 1 Tod-. Cwt» Hull 2 2 o 2 1 3 15 1 3 2 m 3 5 2 5 2 1 9 1353- 791- 1622 - 746- 322 - 2040 1 26.i 11 41 41 3,625 23,200 300A 132' 359 154 58 648 14 7 22 9 4 22 17 6 16 3 2 Newcastle- Dundee Kirkcaldy.. IJo'ness Peterhead.. 4 ' 5 24 6874 1 146 26,825 165U 80 1 4l Unfortunately Mr Coltish of Hull, who was accus- tomed to collect an annual statement of the produce, died in 1844 ; and no one has undertaken in his stead the same good work. "We have thus been able to pro- cure only the shipping" and tonnage for that year, which will show a considerable increase over the two preceding. Porta. Ships. Hull Newcastle. Kirkcaldy. Bo'ness Dundee.... Aberdeen.. Peterhead. Davit' Strait 6 2 2 1 5 1 4 Oreenlnnd. Whale. Seal. 20 8 Total. 10 2 2 1 5 1 11 Tonnage. 2645 791 696 322 1622 313 2917 32 ' 9.306 DetaiU for 1844. n^ INDEX. Akkolce Gnlf, 367. America, Injustice to, idS. American expcditiun in search of . Sir John Franldin, sent out by Mr. Grinnell of New Yorlc, 411, 427, 465; proposed new expedi- tion, 588. Anderson and Stewart canoe expe- dition in search of Franldin, 551. Austin, Captain, in Resolute (Frank- lin searcli), 408, 423. Aurora Borealis, 240. Barrin^ton, Dalnes, 19, 308. Barents, William, Expeditions of, 121-138. Baffin's Bay, 20a Baffin, William, Polar expedition of, 150 ; voyage in search of North- West Passage, 204. Barrow, Mr. (afterwards Sir John), 2ia Barrow's Strait, 225, 389. Back, Captain, overland expedition, 806 ; voyage in the Terror, 344. Back's, estuary to river, 362. Bank's Land, 232. Baring's Island, Discovery of, 475. Bear, the Polar, 77; anecdotes of, 7a Bennet, Stephen, 144. Belcher, Sir Edward (squadron in search of Franklin), 429, 464, 501, 505. Beilot, Lieutenant, 432; hii death, 497. Bellot Strait, 459, 669. Booth, Sir Felix, 272. Boothia, 280; expeditions to the seas around, 344 to 3C9. Breadalbane transport. Loss of, 496. Britannia, Cape, 363. Burroughs, Stephen, 114. Button, Sir Thomas, Expeditions ot, 20a Buchan, Captain, 331. Beglot and Baffin, voyage in search of North- West Passage, 204. Cabot, John, 104, Cabot, Sebastian, 105, 161. Cliancelor, Richard, 108, 113, Climate of Polar Regions, 17; of Europe, 49. Clavering, Captain, 826. Collinson, Captain, sets sail in search Franklin, 405, 468 ; voyage of tlie Enterprise, 516. Cortereals, The, Voyages of, 156, 160. Danish colony, Baffin's Bay, 434. Danish expeditions, 208, 328. Davis, John, Voyages of; 179, 190. Dease and Simpson, 307, 860. De Haven, Lieutenant, 411, 46a Digges, Sir Dudley, 193, 2ia Digges, Cape Dudley, 197. Disco Island, 276, 5A9. Dogs, Esquimaux, 83, 182. 650 INDEX. EKe«ie Hans, the Danish missionary, ' 20. Ellice River, 862, 3CS. Erebus and TeiTor, The sailing of, in 1845, 375. Esquimaux, 166, 170, 177, 181, 192, 206, 215, 234, 242, 256, 266, 283, 296, 327, 845, 382, 437, 469, 471, 472, 474, 611, 543, 567, 575. Felix, Cape, 677. Forsyth, Commander C, 410. Fothcrby, Captain, Poiar voyages of, 151. Foxes, Arctic, 83, 240. Fox, Cuptain, 210. Fox, Voyage of the, under Cap- tain M'ClintocIc, 652. Franlclin, Sir John, his expedition in search of a north-west passage, 370 ; Sir Jolm's opinion, 371 ; sailing of, 375. Franlilin searching expedition, plan, 376 ; expeditions of 1848-49, Plo- ver and Herald, 378; Lieutenant Fulien's boat expedition, 377 ; Sir John Uichardson's overland expedition, 381; Rae, 884, 407; Sir James Clarke Rosa, 885 ; True- love whaler, Mr. Park •.;■ 398 ; Dr. Goodsir, 399; Whalor Advice, Mr. William Penney, 399; de- mand for new expeditions, 403 ; expeditions of 1850-51-52, 422; Collinson and M'Clure, 405; Sir John Ross, 409 ; Mr. William Pen- ney, 409 ; the Prince Albert, 410; the Grinnell (American) expedi- tion under De Haven, 410; traces of the Franklin expedition at Cape Rliey, 420; Mr. Kennedy in Prince Albert, 429; Sir £. Belcher's squadron, 429; expeditions of 1853,464; Captain M'Clure, 469 ; expeditions of 1854, 603; Rae, 611; relics found, 613; Captain Collinson's voyage, 616 ; relics found, 620; second Grinnell (Ame- rican) expedition Under Kane, 620; Anderson and Stewart, 651 ; relics found by Anderson and Stewart, 651; expedition of 1867-^9, under Captain M'Clintock, 662; relics found, 677, 678; record found, 579, 582, 583, Franklin, Lady, Rewards offered by, 397 ; expeditions sent out by, 429, 465, 652. Franklin Strait, 585. French expeditions, 339. Froblsher, Martin, Voyages of; 166, 177. Frazer, Cape John, 644. Frederickshaab, 658. Goodsir, Dr. R. A., 899. Gomez, Voyage of, 161. Greenland, 51 ; whale fisheries of, 62; 690 ; Norse colony of, 55 ; eastern and western colonies of; 67 ; mo- dcm settlements of, 61; Danish settlement, 276; Danish expedi- tion to, 328 ; French expeditions to, 329. Grinnell Lsnd discovered, 466. Grinnell, Mr., of New York, his first expedition under De Haven, 411; second expedition vnder Dr.Kane, 620, 621. Hawkes, Cape Francis, 630. Herschel, Cape, 579. Herring, Periodical appearance of; 74. Hecla, Mount, Discovery of, 193. Herald and Plover, Sailing of, 377, 378, 379 ; second exploration, 380. Hoppner, Voyage of Parry and, 267. Hobson, Lieutenant (finds record of Franklin), 679, 683. Holsteinborg, in Greenland, 276. Hore, Mr., Expedition of, 163. Hudson, Henry, 139; his employ- ' inent by the Dutch, 141; Polar expedition, 146; north-west voy- age of, 193, 201 ; mutiny against, 199; death of, 200. Hudson's Straits, 196. Hudson's Bay, 196; settlement, 210. Ice, Formation of, 22; accumulation of, 32; varieties of, 39; blink, 40; colour of; 41; reduction, 44; ex- ( INDE. ^m tent of, 52; periodical chcngeit of, 68. Icobergg, Origin of, 37; growth of, 89; floating of, 41; dlMwlvlng of, 43 ; size of, 46. Iceland, 56, 99, 193. Inglefleld, Commander, 465, 502. James, Captain, 210. Jameson's Land. 823. Jan Mayen's Island, 163, 319. Kane, Dr. (second), Grlnnell expe< ditlon, 620. Kellet^ Captain Henry, 876, 878, 380, 494. Kennedy, Mr. William, sent out by Lady Franklin, 429, 465. Kennedy, Port, 672. King, Dr. 654. King William's Land, 575. Knight, Captain John, Expedition of, 19L Labrador, 166. Labyrinth Bay, 361. Lancaster Sound, 207, 219, 222, 888; Franklin searching squadron In, 416. Leidy, Cape Joseph, 544. Leopold, Port, 390. Lyon, voyage of Parry and, 233. Magnetic Pole, Discovery of the, 292. Maritime enterprise, 103, 161, 212, 308. Mary Minturn river, 630. Marten's voyage to Spitsbergen, 21. Melville Bay, 413. Melville Island, 226. Meta Incognita, 167, 176. Meteors, 242. M'Clure sets sail in search of Frank- lin, 405; voyage of the Investi- gator, 469. M'Clintock, 424; voyage in the Fox, 552. Middle ice in Baffin's Bay, 387, 412. Middleton, Captain, Expedition of, 210L M(K)r*, C<»ni Munk, Jen*, under, 2' . Mask ox, 8«;. Mer Thw " t„ il6 uanUh ,^>^dtiioa North-west Passage, IS; early voy> ages in search of, 155, 211; Kosa and Parry, 214; Parry, 221; Parry . and Lyon, 233 ; Parry and Hop- pner, 267; Ross's second voyage, 271, 807; the Franklin expcditiun to, of 1845, 870; discovery of, 464; remarks on discovery of, 686. North Cornwall discovered, 602. North Georgian Islands, 225. North Star store-ship, 386, 411. North Somerset, 392. North Kent Island discovered, 502. North Pole, 18, 341. Norway and Denmark, Piratical voyages ft'om, 56, 98. Norwegian expedition, 98. Nova Zombla, 129; Russian expo* dition to, 142. Ocean, Temperature of, 28; peculiar circumstances of, 30; freeeing point of, 39 ; profusion of life in, 63. Ohtherc, Voyage of, 98. Ommanney, Captain, in Assistance (Franklin search), 408, 423. Osborne, Lieutenant Sherard, in Pioneer (Franklin search), 408, 424. Parry, Sir William Edward, Polar voyage 47 ; Parry and Ross, 214 ; second voyage of, 221 ; and Lyon, 233; and Hoppner, 267; Polar voyage of 333. Parry, Mount Edward, 645. Pet and Jackman, voyage of, 119. Penney, Mr. (search for Franklin), 399, 409, 423, 425. Phipps, Captain (Lord Mulgrave), Polar expedition of, 309. Plover, Sailing of, 376. Poole, Jonas, Polar expeditions ol^ 147. Polar Regions, Climate of, 17; animal and vegetable life in, 62, 82. Polar phenomena, 240, 315, 320 €62 INDEX. InitoncM of great enduranco iu, 401. Pond> Bay, 888. Port Leopold, 890. Poi-tugueie voyagci, 106. Prlnoo Albert schooner, 410, 413, 417, 420, 420 ; sent out under Mr. Kennedy, 420. Prince ReKent'fi Inlet, 324. Prince of Watts' Land, fi76, S8S. Pullen, Lieutenant, boat expedition, 377. Pytheos, Ancient voyage ot, 96. Quirlni, Expedition of; 101. Kao, Dr., coasting and overland ex- peditions, 3G6, 381, 384, 407, 4C5, 611, 619. Reindeer, 82. Rensselaer Harbour, 680. Itopulse Bay, 367. Richardson, Sir John's, overland searching expedition, SSL Ross, Captain (Sir John), Voyage of, 214; second voyage of, 271, 807; search for Franklin, 409. Ross, Sir James Clarke, search for Franklin, 885. Ross's Peninsula, 368. Russian expeditious to Nova Zembla, 143. Samoiedea, Account of the, 115, 124, 257. Stibine, 337. Scoresby, 20; Polar voyages of, 816, 832; opinion regarding Franklin, 403. Shedden, Robert, his yacht voyage In search of Franklin, 877; his death, 380. Sledges, 218. Smith's Sound, 218, 623. Snow, red, 91, 218. Spitzbergen, 127, 144, 310, 427. Tbackery, Cape, 630. Tlilew-oe-choh, or Great Fish river, 806, 561. Trollope, Commander, 466. Ungava Bay, lOa Uppemavik, 434. Victoria Archipelago discovered, 602. Victoi-ia Channel, 436. Victoila, Cape, 577. Victoria L»nd, 519. Voyages, Origin of Polar, 17; of discovery, 66; ancient, to the north, 05, 102. Voyages In search of a North-east Passage, 103, 143. Voyages, Early, towards the North Pole, 144, 164. Voyage^ Early, in search of North- west Passage, 165, 211. Voyages, Modem, in search of North-west Passage, 212, 307. Voyages, Modern Polar, 308, 348. Voyages in search of the Franklin expedition, 376. Walrus, 72, 263. Waygat Island, 316. Wellington Channel, 326, 806, 374, 419, 608. Weymouth, Captain George, Voyage of, 188. Whale, 67, 71. Whale fishery, Account of northern, 690. Willoughby, Sir Hugh, Expedition o(;i06. Wolstenholme, Sir John, 198. Wulstenholrae, Cape, 196. Wolves, 83. Wood, Captain John, 141, Young, Captain Allen, 676, 586. Zeus, Nicolo, his voyage to the nWh, 99.