> reds ree a SS Pe ei fle a CNN eS ae a » Ss Marine Biological Laboratory Library Woods Hole Massachusetts VOYAGES - OF - EXPLORATION alsa desl \ ZA Za Collected ~ al hy RO MD — . ~ Newcoms THomeson Montgomery (1907-1986) Philadelphia architect, nephew of Thomas Harrison Me ontgomery (1873 -19{2), MBL investigator, and Prisilila Brashin Montgomery (1874-1956), MBL librarvan. Gift of ther sons Hugh Montgomery, MD. and Raymond B. Montgomery = 1987 SEN RP MR ee of OO re) x = | . | | i { i i it : Frontispiece to Vol.1. See Vahnwn IP. 461 5 = _ = nT SS j= ae ae aa ee gE REPRESENTATION or Tux SHIP ESK or WHITBY, DAMAGED tyICKanyp ALMOST FULL or WATER. DURING AN ATTEMPT TO UYVYERT HER POSITION AND BRING THE KKEL TO THE SURFACE OF THE SEA FOR REPAIRING THE DAMAGE, Hdinburgh Published by dCmstable & C€° 1620 t + AN ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, WITH A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE NORTHERN WHALE-FISHERY. BY W. SCORESBY Jun. ¥F.R.S.E. ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY-FOUR ENGRAVINGS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH: AND HURST, ROBINSON AND CO. CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. — Ap aS FES * TO ROBERT JAMESON, Eso. PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, PRESIDENT OF THE WERNERIAN SOCIETY, &e. &c. &e. AT WHOSE SUGGESTION THIS WORK WAS UNDERTAKEN, AND TO WHOSE EARLY AND UNIFORM FRIENDSHIP THE AUTHOR IS DEEPLY INDEBTED, THESE VOLUMES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. nok 7s Bree 1 ee ia ! ’ * A, - i yo 4 ‘ r i ; h = or , . a * 7 = = tae Tae 2 . ” { i “ ¥ = : . ve t i ‘ { " ; Ir . ¢ + e eS hapthge Maw PERU f SAN Gul « x i a hy: NOON PU eb oa ~ » a 1 — ‘ sy. — = 24 Rh se Ay 1 Re we a oy ' 4 « \ i : - ‘ 1 : - o*" Ls i \ y . ‘i ‘ pee; . Ss a J ms PREFACE. "Tuoven the Natural History of the Coun- tries within the Arctic Circle, and the nature and practice of the Whale-Fishery, possess peculiar, and I may add almost universal, interest ; yet it is remarkable that no original work, published in Britain, excepting a single Tract by Henry Elk- ing, appears to have been devoted entirely to ei- ther subject. In this respect, notwithstanding our important and extensive annual adventures to the Seas of Greenland and Davis’ Strait, we have been anticipated and our supineness tacitly reproved by several works that have appeared in other countries. Among foreign authors who have treated of the Regions of the North, or of the Vili PREFACE. Whale-Fishery, may be mentioned, La Marti- niere, Pierre de Mezange, Boisgelin and Fortia, though these are writers, it should be observed, who cannot be altogether followed ;—M. La Pey- ronie, and Bernard de Reste, who have given translations in French, not altogether accurate however, of works of some value;——-and Torfzus, Otho Fabricius, Olafsen, Olaving, Egedé, Crantz, Zorgdrager, Eggers, Moriniere, and a few others, who have produced works of real merit. The Accounts of Greenland by the faithful and enterprising Moravian Missionaries Hans Egedé and David Crantz, whose zeal and philan- thropy carried them into one of the most un- comfortable and inhospitable regions of the globe, but particularly the latter, are works of peculiar fidelity and value ; and the account of the Whale- Fishery given by Zorgdrager, though written considerably above a century ago, is, perhaps, on the whole, the best that has appeared in any language. The works of Egedé and Crantz have been translated into Hnglish, and, with the article of Sir Charles Giesecké, in Dr Brewster’s En- cyclopedia, and some others, included in works PREFACE. 1X on miscellaneous literature or science, form the principal sources of information on the Natural History of Greenland, published in the English language. The tract by Henry Elking, al- ready alluded to, entitled “ A View of the *“ Greenland Trade and Whale-Fishery, with “ the National and Private Advantages there- * of,” is, I believe, our only original work on this interesting subject. A considerable quantity of miscellaneous in- formation, however, relating to Arctic Countries and to the Whale-Fishery, is to be found inter- spersed through the Collections of Voyages, &c. by Hakluyt, Purchas, Churchill, Harris, Pickersgill, Goldson, Forster, Miller, Coxe, Pinkerton, Kerr, Clarke, Barrow, Burney, &c.; in the translations of the Voyages or Narratives of Barentz, Mar- tens, M. Le Roy, &c.; and in the original Voy- ages of Ellis, James, Fox, Ross, and others, into Baffin’s or Hudson’s Bay ; of Cook into Behring’s Strait; and of Phipps towards the North Pole. The work now submitted to the Public is in a great measure original, being chiefly derived from researches carried on during seventeen voyages to x PREFACE. the Spitzbergen or Greenland Whale-Fishery. It consists of two distinct parts, each occupying a volume. The first relates to the progress of Dis- covery in the Arctic Regions, and the Natural History of Spitzbergen and the Greenland Sea; the second is devoted to the Whale-Fishery as conducted in the Seas of Greenland and Davis’ Strait. Numerous authorities have been consulted in preparing these sheets for publication, and in all cases, as far as I am aware, a proper reference has been made to the works from which any infor- mation has been derived. For a small but inte- resting Mémoire by M.S. B. J. Noel, Sur ?_An- taquité de la péche de la Baleine, from which I have drawn some valuable historical information, I was indebted to the kindness of M. Noel de la Moriniere, author of an extensive work on An- cient and Modern Fisheries, now in the course of publication in France. Access to some valuable works which I had not in my own possession, and different acts of kindness or assistance were afforded me by the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Professor Jameson, P. Neill, Esq. Dr Traill, and my Father. By means of some va- PREFACE. xi luable instruments, &c. furnished me by Sir Jo- seph Banks, whose friendly suggestions and en- couragement I am happy to acknowledge, and whose kindness and liberality I shall ever re- member with gratitude, I was enabled to make some experiments on sub-marine temperature, the result of which proved novel and interest- ing. ‘These, with some facilities kindly given me by William Swainson, Esq. of Liverpool, the Reverend George Young, and Mr Thomas Par- kin of Whitby, and occasional obligations from other friends, noticed in different parts of the work, constitute, I believe, the amount of the assistance which I have received in preparing the materials which occupy the following pages. CONTENTS A eral * og re my ee Me ver a t Pa ty } ads un nisagery itt hovionst a ie ” hes arid ti int vgnn08 vee + aw / : ‘ € aabhgy — eran yy : a ks i. fi \ mess! ' ey t ( xiii) CONTENTS OF NOLUM Eo BIR SI. ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS &e. &e. ? Page CHAP. I.—ReEmarks on the celebrated Ques- tion, of the existence of a Sea-communica- tion between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North; with an Account of the Progress of Discovery in the North- ern Regions, _ = Sect. 1. General Remarks, indicating the existence of a Sea-communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North, 2. Remarks on the supposed Communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North-east, - - 3. Remarks on the supposed Communication be- tween the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North-west; with hints for conduct- ing Diseoveries in the Polar Regions, 16 X1V CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. Page Secr. 4. Remarks on the opinion of a Sea-communi- cation between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North Pole, - 40 5. Account of the Progress of Discovery in the North, - - 61 CHAP. I1.—Descriptive Account of some of the Polar Countries, = - 92 Secr. 1. Account of Spitzbergen, and the Islands immediately adjacent, - ib. a. Spitzbergen, - - ib. b. Moffen Island, - 149 c. Low Island, - 150 d. Hope Island, - 151 e. Cherie Island, = = 152 2. Account of Jan Mayen Island, - 154 CHAP. III.—Hydrographical Survey of the Greenland Sea, : - 170 Sect. 1. Situation and Extent,—Colour and degree of Transparency,—Quality, Specific Gra- vity, and Saltness of the Greenland Sea, . - ib. -2, Temperature, Depth, and Pressure of the Greenland Sea; with a Description of an Apparatus for bringing up Water from great depths ; and an Account of Expe- riments made with it, - 184 3. Remarks on the Currents of the Arctic Sea; with Observations — respecting Waves, is - 208 CONTENTS oF VOLUME FIRST. XV . Page CHAP. IV.—An Account of the Greenland or Polar Ice, : - 225 Sxct. 1. A Description of the various kinds or de- nominations of Ice, - ib. 2. On the Formation of Ice on the Sea, 238 3. Description of Ice-Fields, and Remarks on their Formation and tremendous Con- cussions, ~ - 241 4. Description of Ice-bergs, and Remarks on their Formation, . 250 5. On the Situation or general Outline of the Polar Ice, - - 262 6. Changes which take place, with the Ad- vance of the Season, in the situation of the Ice, in the Seas of Greenland and Davis’ Strait, - 270 7. Situation of the Ice in the Region visit- ed by the Greenland Ships, with Ob- servations on the Alterations which have occurred, during a series of Sixteen Years, - - 276 8. Remarks on the Properties, peculiar Move- ments, and Drifting of the Ice, . 284 9. Effects of the Ice on the Atmosphere, and of the Ice and Sea on each other, 206 10. Remarks on the closest Approximations to- wards the Poles hitherto accomplished, under different Meridians, = 306 11. Abstract of the preceding Observations on the Formation, Properties and Si- tuation of the Polar Ice,. 318 Xv CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. Page CHAP. V.—Observations on the Atmosphero- logy of the Arctic Regions; particularly re- lating to Spitzbergen and the adjacent Greenland Sea, = - 323 Sect. 1. Remarks on the Climate of the Arctic Re- gions, and the effects of Cold, - ib. 2. General Remarks on Meteorology, with an Investigation of the Mean Monthly, and Annual Temperature of the North Polar Regions, including some inferences on the constant tendency to Equalization of Temperature in the Atmosphere, 345 3. Remarks on the Pressure of the Atmosphere, with Observations on the Use of the Ba- rometer in predicting the Weather. 370 4. Appearance, Colour, Transparency, -Densi- ty, degree of Dryness, and state as to Electricity, of the Atmosphere, ~ 377 . Atmospheric Phenomena, dependent on Re- flection and Refraction, = 383 6. Observations on the Winds of the Polar Re- gions, with some Notices respecting Me- teors not aqueous, - 395 7. Aqueous Meteors, including Observations on Clouds, Rain, Hail, Snow, Frost-rime, Hoar-frost, and Fog, - 419 Oo CHAP. VI—A Sketch of the Zoology of the Ayctic Regions, : - 446 Sect. 1. A Description of Animals of the Cetaceous Kind, frequenting the Greenland Sea, 4.49 Balena Mysticetus, or Common Whale, ib, Balenoptera Gibbar, or Physalis, - 478 CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. XVli Page Balenoptera Rorqual, - 482 Jubartes, - 484 acuto-rostrata, - 485 Monodon Monoceros, - 486 Delphinus Deductor, - 4.96 Delphinapterus Beluga, - 500 Sect. 2. Some Account of the Quadrupeds inhabit- ing Spitzbergen, and the Icy Seas adja- cent, - - 502 Trichecus Rosmarus, or Sea-horse, ib. Phoce, or Seals, = 508 Canis Lagopus, or Arctic Fox, - 517 Ursus maritimus, or Polar Bear, = ib. Cervus Tarandus, or Rein-Deer, = 526 3. Remarks on the Birds frequenting the Sea and Coast of Spitzbergen, - 527 Anas Bernicla, ~ ib. mollissima, = ib. arctica, - ib. Alca Alle, _ - - 528 Procellaria Glacialis, . ib. Colymbus Grylle, - 532 Troile, - ib. glacialis, = 538 Sterna hirundo, = = ib. Larus Rissa, ~ 534 parasiticus, - ib. crepidatus, - ib. eburneus, - 535 glaucus, ~ ib. Tringa hypoleucos, - 537 Emberiza nivalis, " ib. Fringilla Linaria, : ib. XVlll CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. Page Secr. 4. A brief Account of Amphibia, Animal- cules, &c. inhabiting the Spitzbergen Sea, 538 ‘ Class AMPHIBIA. Squalus Borealis, - ib. Cyclopterus Liparis, - 540 Class Pisces. Gadus carbonarius, > ib. Mullus barbatus? - 541 Class ARTICULATA. Gammarus Arcticus, “ ib. Cancer Pulex, - - 542 Boreas, - ib. Ampulla, - ib. Nugax, - ib. Larunda Ceti, - 543 Class VERMES. Ascaris, Echinorhynchus, Tenia, &c. ib. Ascidia gelatinosa & rustica, - ib. Lernza branchialis, - ib. Clio helicina, = ib. Clio Borealis, - = 544 Sepiz, - - ib. Medusez, Animalcula, &c. - ib. CONTENTS OF ‘VOLUME FIRST. X1X APPENDIX. Page No. I.—Meteorological Tables, - i; @) II.—Meteorological Results, - Fronting (48) A. General Abstract of the foregoing Register, (ib.) B. Table for determining the Mean Annual Temperature of latitude 78° N., and of the North Pole, - (49) C. Table for ascertaining the Mean Tempe- rature of the month of April, lat. 78°. N. (50) D. Table for ascertaining the Mean Tempe- rature of the month of July, lat, 78°. N. ib.) E. Abstract of Thermometrical Observations made at the Apartments of the Royal Society, London, - (51) F. Abstract of Fifty Years Observations on the Temperature of Stockholm, - (52) G. Formule for Calculating the Mean Tem- perature of unobserved months, - (53) III. a.—Chronological enumeration of Voyages under- taken by the different Nations of the World, in search of a Northern Communication be- tween the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans ; in- cluding such other Voyages as have been conducive to the advancement of Discovery in the North, - (54) b.—Notice respecting the Effect of the Sun’s Rays, and the Decrease of Temperature on ascending in the Atmosphere, = (72) IV.—Table of Latitudes and Longitudes of Capes, Bays, &c. in Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen, derived chiefly from original Surveys, = (C73) Do. CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. ; Page No. V.—Catalogue of Plants found in Spitzbergen, (75) VI.—Notice respecting the Minerals of Spitzbergen, (76) VII.—State of the Wind and Weather, from August to May, in the Island of Jan Mayen, as collect- ed from the Journal of Seven Dutch Sailors, who wintered there in the year 1633-4, (78) VIII.—Experiments for determining the Specific Gra- vity of Ice, - - (81) ACCOUNT ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, &c. CHAPTER I. ‘REMARKS ON THE CELEBRATED QUESTION OF THE EXISTENCE OF A SEA COMMUNICATION BE- TWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS, BY THE NORTH; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTHERN REGIONS. SECT. I: General Remarks indicating the Existence of a Sea Communicaiion between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North. Pexuars there is no question connected with geo- graphical science, which has been so long in agi- tation, without being resolved, and so often re- vived with the most sanguine expectations of suc- cess, and then abandoned as hopeless,—as the VOL. I. A 2 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. question of the existence of a navigable commu- nication between the European and the Chinese seas, by the north. The first attempts to reach China by sea, were made by steering along the coast of Africa towards the south, and the next by proceeding from the European shore in a westerly direction. The former, which first proved success- ful, was accomplished by Vasquez de Gama, a Por- tugueze, in the year 1497-8; and the latter was undertaken by the renowned navigator Columbus, in 1492. The notion of steering to India by the north-west, as the shortest way, was suggested about the middle, or latter end of the fifteenth cen- tury, by John Vaz Costa Cortereal, who performed a voyage to Newfoundland, about the year 1463-4 * ; or, according to a more general opinion, by John Cabot, the father of the celebrated Sebastian Cabot, who attempted the navigation in 1497, and perhaps also in 1494-5}. ‘The idea of a passage to India, by the North Pole, was suggested by Robert Thorne, merchant, of Bristol $, as early as the year 1527; and the opinion of a passage by the north- east, was proposed soon afterwards. The universal interest which has been attached to this question of a sea communication between * Barrow’s “ Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions,” p. 37. t+ Hannris’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 191. + Pirpps’ Voyage towards the North Pole, p 1. f NORTHERN PASSAGE TO INDIA. 3 the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North, ever since it was first suggested about 330 or 350 years ago, is fully proved by the facts,—that the speculation has never but once been abandoned by the nations of Europe, for more than twenty-five years together,—and that there have been only three or four intervals of more than fifteen years, in which no expedition was sent out in search of one or other of the supposed passages, from the year 1500, down to the present time. And it is not a little surprising, that, after nearlyahundred different voyages have been undertaken, with the view of dis- covering the desired communication with the Indian Seas, all of which have failed, Britain should again revive and attempt the solution of this interesting problem. It has been advanced as a maxim, that what we wish to be true, we readily believe ;—a maxim which, however doubtful in general, has met with a full illustration in the northern voyages of discovery. A single trial is often sufficient for satisfying us as to the truth of a disputed point; but, in this instance, though nearly an hundred trials have been made, the problem is still considered as unresolved. Several facts may be brought forward, on which arguments of no mean force may be founded, in support of the opinion of the existence of a sea communication by the north, between Europe and A 2 4 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. China. Among these arguments, I shall only men- tion the nature of the currents and tides,—the fact of an amazing body of ice being yearly dissolved in the Greenland sea, above what is there generated, —the common occurrence of drift wood, and some of it worm-eaten, in most parts of the Polar seas,— the nature of the northern termination of the con- tinents of Europe and Asia, as well as that of Ame- rica, as far as yet ascertained,—and the facts of whales having passed from the Greenland sea to the Sea of Tartary, and from remote regions in the north, to the sea of Greenland; all of which cir- cumstances I conceive to be in favour of the exist- ence of such a communication. 1. The prevailing current in the Spitzbergen sea, flows, we are well assured, during nine months of the year, if not all the year round, from the north-east towards the south-west. The velocity of this cur- rent may be from 5 to 20 miles per day, varying in different situations, but is most considerable near the coast of Old Greenland *. The current, on the other hand, in the middle of Behring’s Strait, as observed by Lieutenant Kotzebue, sets strongly to the north-east, with a velocity, as he thought, of two miles and a half an hour, which is greater, ——————— leit: : : 3 As the proofs of this current will be brought forward under the division of the Hydrography of the Polar Seas, it is needless in this place to enter into particulars. NORTHERN PASSAGE TO INDIA. 5 however, by one-half, than the rate observed by Captain Cook *. 2. By the action of the south-westerly current, a vast quantity of ice is annually brought from the north and east, and conducted along the east shore of Old Greenland, as far as Cape Farewell, where such masses as still remain undissolved, are soon destroyed by the influence of the solar heat, and the force of the sea, to which they then become expos- ed from almost every quarter. This ice being en- tirely free from salt, and very compact, appears ori- ginally to have consisted of field ice, a kind which perhaps requires the action of frost for many years to bring it to the thickness which it assumes. The quantity of heavy ice, in surface, which is thus annu- ally dissolved, may, at a rough calculation, be stated at about 20,000 square leagues, while the quantity annually generated in the regions accessible to the whalefishers, is probably not more than one-fourth of that area. As such, the ice, which is so inex- haustible, must require an immense surface of sea for its generation, perhaps the whole or greater part of the so-called “ polar basin,” the supply re- quired for replacing what is dissolved in Behring’s Strait, where the current sets towards the north, being probably of small moment. The current, in opposite parts of the northern hemisphere, being * Barrow’s Voyages into the Arctic Regions, p. 358. 6 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. thus found to follow the same line of direction, in- dicates a communication between the two, across the Poles ; and the inexhaustible supply of ice, affording about 15,000 square leagues to be annually dissolv- ed, aboye the quantity generated in the known parts of the Spitzbergen seas, supports the same conclu- sion. 3. The origin of the considerable quantity of drift wood, found in almost every part of the Green- land sea, is traced to some country beyond the Pole, and may be brought forward in aid of the opinion of the existence of a sea communication between the Atlantic and Pacific; which argument receives ad- ditional strength from the circumstance of some of the drift-wood being worm-eaten. Thislast fact, I first observed on the shores of the Island of Jan Mayen, where I landed in August 1817, and confirmed it by more particular observation, when at Spitzbergen the year following. Having no axe with me when I observed the worm-eaten wood, and having no means of bringing it away, I could not ascertain whether the holes observed in the timber, were the work of a Ptinus or a Pholas. In either case, how- ever, as it is not known that these animals ever pierce wood in the arctic countries, it is presumed that the worm-eaten drift-woed is derived from a trans-polar region. Numerous facts of this nature might be adduced, -all of which support the same conclusion. In the ft NORTHERN PASSAGE TO INDIA. f Danish settlement at Disco, is a mahogany table made out of a plank which was drifted thither by the current, and is now in the possession of the go- vernor. A tree of logwood was also picked up not far from the same place. Another log of mahogany was picked up at sea by Admiral Lowenorn, in 1786, when on his voyage attempting the re-dis- covery of Old Greenland. This piece of wood, which was so large that they were obliged to saw it in two before they could get it on board, they found within sight of the coast of Greenland, in latitude 65° 11, longitude 35° 8’ west of Paris. It was much perforated by worms, which circumstance the Admiral conceived might assist in giving it suffi cient buoyancy to swim in the water *. These logs of wood, the produce of the Isthmus which connects North and South America, could only reach the places where they were severally found, by floating up the west coast of America, towards the north, through Behring’s Strait, and so along the northern face of Asia or America, or across the Northern Pole. Had they come by the way of the Gulf of Mexico, they might have floated to the banks of Newfoundland, by the action of the Gulf Stream, and been carried from thence to any part of the western shore of Europe ; but they could not possibly have passed northward from Newfound- * Quarterly Review, No. 36. p. 445. 5 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. land into Davis’ Straits, or to the east coast of Greenland, in direct opposition to a current which perpetually flows towards the south-west *. 4. The northern faces of the contents of Ku- rope and Asia, as well as of that of America, so far as yet known, are such, as renders it difficult, even to imagine such a position for the wnascertaimed regions, as to cut off the communication between the frozen sea, near the meridian of London, and that in the opposite part of the northern hemisphere, near Beh- ring’s Strait. 5. And, another argument which goes still far- ther to support the opinion of the existence of the communication in question, is the fact of whales which have been harpooned in the Greenland seas, having been found in the Pacific Ocean ; and whales with stone lances sticking in their fat, (a kind of weapon used by no nation now known,) having been caught both in the sea of Spitzbergen, and in Davis Strait. ‘The following are some of the authorities for this fact, which, of all other arguments yet of- fered in favour of a trans-polar passage, seems to me to be the most satisfactory. A Dutch East India captain, of the name of Jacob Cool, of Sardam, who had been several times at Greenland, and was cf course well acquainted with the nature of the apparatus used in the whale- * Quarterly Review, No. 36. p. 445. NORTHERN PASSAGE TO INDIA. 9 fishery, was informed by the Fischal Zeeman of India, that in the sea of Tartary there was a whale taken, in the back of which was sticking a Dutch harpoon, marked with the letters W. B. This cu- rious circumstance was communicated to Peter Jansz Vischer, probably a Greenland whaler, who discovered that the harpoon in question had belong- ed to William Bastiaanz, Admiral of the Dutch Greenland fleet, and had been struck into the whale in the Spitzbergen sea *. Muller refers to a similar circumstance when re- cording the first discovery by sea, of the peninsula of Kamtchatka by the Russians, in the year 1716. ‘The crew of the discovery vessel having wintered on the western coast of Kamtchatka, he informs us, that during their stay there, “ the sea cast upon the shore a whale that had in its body a harpoon of European workmanship, marked with Roman let- ters t.” Another account of the same nature, given by Henarick Hamel, in his “ Unfortunate Voyage of the yacht Sparwer, in the year 1653,” and pu- blished in the “ Recueil des Voyages,” corroborates the testimony of Muller. Hamel, in his narrative of the loss of this vessel on the Island of Quel- paert, observes, that “in the sea to the north-east * Beschryving der Walvisvangst, vol. ii. p. 38. t+ Mutienr’s Voyages from Asia to America; Jeffrey’s Translation, p. 42, 10 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. of Korea, they take every year a great number of whales, in some of which are found harpoons (or striking-irons) of the French and Dutch, who prae- tise the whale-fishery at the extremities of Europe ; whence we infer (he continues) that there is surely a passage between Korea and Japan, which com- municates to the Strait of Waigatz*,” separating Nova Zembla from the Continent of Europe. Other circumstances can be adduced to the same effect. The master of the Volunteer whaler of Whitby, when near the coast of Spitzbergen, Ju- ly 19. 1813, shewed me part of a lance which had been taken out of the fat of a whale killed by his crew a few weeks before. It was formed of a hard grey stone, of a flinty appearance, about three inches long, two broad, and two-tenths thick. ‘Two holes were pierced in one end of it, by which, it appeared the stock or handle had been secured. It was com- pletely embedded in the blubber, and the wound was quite healed. A small white scar on the skin of the whale, alone marked the place where the lance had entered. In the year 1812, the crew of a Hull fisher (the Aurora) met with a whale in the same region having a harpoon made of bone, sticking in its back; and a few years ago a lance of stone, somewhat like the one above mentioned, fixed to a piece of bone, forming a socket for the stock, was like- * Quarterly Review, No. xxxv. p. 217. NORTHERN PASSAGE TO INDIA. ll wise found in a whale by the people of another Green- landman of Hull: this stone-lance is now deposited in the interesting collection of natural rarities belong- ing to Mr Hornsea of Scarbrough *. To these facts we might add many of a similar kind, together with others of whales struck in Davis’ Straits ha- ving been killed near Spitzbergen, and vice versa ; but the above will be sufficient for affording a strong confirmation of the opinion, that a sea communi- cation between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by the North, does exist. For, with regard to the stone-lances and bone-harpoons found in the bodies of whales, it may be remarked, that as the Esqui- maux of Davis’ Straits and Hudson’s Bay, have now, from their long intercourse with Europeans, become well supplied with weapons calculated for the capture of the whale made of iron, these in- struments of stone and bone, so much inferior, must have been used by some other persons who have not yet had intercourse with the civilized world; but as they are precisely the kind of wea- pons which were in common use among the Esqui- maux a century ago, it is probable that the in- struments alluded to were struck by some tribe of the same nation, inhabiting the shores of the fro- zen ocean, on the northern face of the American Continent, yet unexplored. If so, these facts go * Plate II. fig. 1. is a representation of this instrument. 12 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. far towards establishing the existence of a communi- cation between the Spitzbergen sea and the Pacific Ocean. SECT.1f. Remarks on the supposed Communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North- East. Tur Russians, it appears, have at intervals dis- covered all the navigation between Archangel and the Strait of Behring, excepting a portion of about 200 miles, occupied by the eastern part of a noss or promontory lying between the nvers Khatanga and Piacina. The northern extremity of this noss, called Cape Ceverovostochnoi, appears to have been doubled by Lieutenant Prontschitscheff, in the year 1735 so that ice, and perhaps some small islands, seem in this place to form the great ob- struction to the navigation. As far as can be well substantiated, the portion of the route between Archangel and Kamtchatka, which has been hi- therto accomplished, was performed in the following manner. Lieutenant Morovieff accomplished the naviga- tion from Archangel towards the river Obe, as far as the latitude 72° 30’ on the west coast of the pe- NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 1g ninsula separating the Gulfs of Kama and Obe, in the years 1734-5. ‘This navigation was continued in 1788 by Lieutenants Malgyin and Skurakoff, who doubled Cape Jalmal on this promontory, and sailed into the Gulf of Obe. Lieutenants Offzin and Iwan Koskeleff, the same year performed the route from the Obe to the Eniesi or Jenisei. And the pilot, Feodor Menin, sailed in the same sum- mer from the Kniesi towards the Lena. He reach- ed the latitude of 73° 15’, and when he came to the mouth of the Piacina, his progress was stopped by the ice; and finding the passage completely block- ed up, he returned to the Eniesi. Thus the navi- gation from Archangel to the Piacina, a distance of 47 degrees of longitude towards the east, was completed. Lieutenant Prontschitscheff sailed in 1735 from Yakutsk down the Lena, then to the westward to the Olonec, where, owing to numerous interruptions from the ice, he found it necessary to winter. In the month of August of the following year, he passed the rivers Anabara and Khatanga, then penetrated the ice as far as latitude 77° 25, and coasted along the western side of the most north- exly promontory of the Samoieds’ country towards the Piacina, alittle beyondthe Bay of T'aimourska, where he was stopped by an impenetrable barrier of ice *. * Coxr’s “ Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America,” p. 308.—According to Muller, Prontschit< scheif did not quite reach the Bay of Taimourska. 14 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. From near Taimourska, therefore, to near the Pia- cina, was not accomplished *. In the same sum- mer, Lieutenant Lassenius sailed from the Lena eastward towards Kamtchatka, and wintered in the river Charaulack, lying between the Lena and the Jana, where, of 52 persons composing his crew, 46 died of the scurvy. Lieutenant Dmitri Lap- tieff, after an attempt which failed in 1736, was again sent from the Lena in 1739 towards the east. He wintered in the Indighirsa, where he lost his vessel, but prosecuted his voyage in another, the following spring, as far as the river Kovima, from whence he crossed the Isthmus of the Tchuktchi country to the river Anadir, communicating with the sea of Kamtchatka}. The navigation round the great promontory of the Tchuktchi, constitu- ting the north-eastern termination of Asia, was ac- complished by one of three vessels which sailed from the Kovima, in order to penetrate into the Eastern Ocean, on the 20th of June 1648. This expedi- tion, indeed, is said to have originally consisted of seven kotches, four of which were never heard of after they sailed. One of the other three, which proceeded for some time in company, was wrecked * Muller mentions, that in 1738 Lieutenant Chariton Lap- tieff was sent from Petersburgh, to take up the task. assigned to Prontschitscheff, and to go through with it by sea or land ; but it appears he also failed.—Translation, p. 19. + Muller’s Voyages,—Translation, p. 19, 20. NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 15 on the great promontory : the two remaining vessels were soon afterwards separated, and one of them, commanded by Simon Deshneff, a chief of the Cos- sacks, after being driven about by tempestuous winds until the month of October, was wrecked near the Olutora, lying on the east side of Kamt- chatka, in the 60th degree of latitude, and the crew consisting of 25 persons, afterwards reached the Anadir *. This brief account clearly proves, that if a sea communication between the Atlantic and Pacific by the north-east, really exists, it could never be practicable in one year. As, indeed, the Russians were five or six years in performing so much of the navigation as has been described, though they em- ployed a number of different vessels in the under- taking, it is probable that the voyage could never be performed in one vessel, unless by mere accident, in less than eight or ten years. It is therefore clear, that the discovery of a “ North-East Pas- sage,” could never be of any advantage to our com- merce with China or India. Though, however, the voyages undertaken in search of a north-east passage by the different na- tions of Europe, have amounted to about twelve, besides numerous partial attempts by the Russians, and though all of them have failed in their princi- pal intention, yet they have not been wholly lost * Coxe’s Russian Discoveries, p. 313,-320. ? 2 16 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. to us; the Spitzbergen whaie and seal fisheries, so valuable to the country, with the trade to Archangel, having arisen out of them. ShOt: LEE Remarks on the supposed Communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, by the North-West ; with Hints for conducting Dis- coveries in the Polar Regions. The voyages of Davis in the years 1585, 6 and 7, of Hudson in 1610, and of Baffin in 1616, were the source of the greatest part of the discoveries which have been made in the countries situated to the north- ward and westward of the south point of Greenland. To these regions, consisting of what have been cal- led Bays and Straits, the names of these celebrated navigators have been applied. All the voyages, in- deed, since undertaken for discovery in the same quarter, amounting to nearly thirty, have done lit- tle more than confirm the researches of these three individuals, and show how little there was to be found, instead of discovering any thing of moment. Though the secret design of some of these voy- ages, was the hope of finding gold or other treasures, or of making an advantageous traffic with the na- tives of any new country which might be found ; vet the ostensible object. of almost the whole, was NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 17 the discovery of a shorter passage to India than that by the Cape of Good Hope, by the north-west. But, notwithstanding the number of expeditions ‘which have been fitted out, the existence of a “ north-west passage,” is not yet either proved or refuted; and though much has been done towards the decision of this question, yet so long as any cor- ner of Hudson’s Bay or Baffin’s Bay remains unex- plored, the question must rest in uncertainty. A great number of papers, and some volumes, have been written at different periods, to prove the existence of a north-west passage, some of which certainly possess very considerable merit*. The ar- guments on this subject, given by Henry Ellis, in his account of “ A voyage to Hudson’s Bay,” are, I think, as satisfactory as any I have yet met with. He infers, that such a passage, extending from the northern part of Hudson’s Bay, does exist, from the following considerations: From the want of trees on the west side of Hudson’s Bay, beyond a certain latitude,—from the appearance of a certain ridge of mountains lying near the same coast, and extending in a direction parallel to it,—from the direct testi- mony of the Indians, which tends to prove, that VOL. I, B * Besides the papers published by Purchas, Hackluyt, Churchill, and those included in the published voyages of the navigators who have embarked in the discovery, we have works by Pickersgill, Goldson, and others, written exclusive- ly on the subject. é 18 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. they have seen the sea beyond the mountains, and have observed vessels navigating therein; and, most particularly, from the ‘nature and peculiarities ob- served in the tides. This latter argument is by far the most conclusive, and as such will alone be con- sidered here. Ellis sets out with the general prin- ciples, that in inland seas, having but small outlets, there is little or no tide; that in such places, what tide there is rises highest in the inlet, where the sea is narrowest, and becomes less and less consider- able, in proportion as the sea expands within ; that the highest tides in such situations, are occasioned by winds blowing into the inland sea, in the direc- tion of its strait communicating with the main ocean, or in the direction of the course of the tide on the exterior coast; and that the time of high-water is soonest at places near the en- trance of the inland sea, and progressively later in other situations, according to their distance from the strait through which the tide flows. These facts, in the very small degree in which they are observed, he derives from observations on the winds and tides in the Baltic, Mediterranean, and other inland seas. From the application of these principles, Ellis proceeds’ to shew, that every circumstance with regard to the tides in Hudson’s Bay, is different from what would take place in an inland sea; and then concludes, that Hud- son’s Bay is not such a sea, but has some opening ft NORTH-WEST PASSAGE: 19 which communicates with the frozen ocean on the north-west. Just within the entrance of Hudson’s Strait, at Cary-Swan’s-Nest, the tide was found by Captain Fox to rise but six feet ; whereas, on the west side of the bay, where, from the great expan- sion of the waters, the tide, aceording to theory, ought to have been scarcely perceptible, it rises in different places ten, thirteen and seventeen feet. The flood-tide on the west side of Hudson’s Bay flows towards the south; and the time of high-water is soonest the farthest towards the north; both of which circumstances, supposing Hudson’s Bay to be an inland sea, with only one entrance from the east, should, Ellis conceives, according to the doe- trines of tides, have been just the contrary. And, lastly, the highest tides on both sides of Hudson’s Bay, are produced by north and north-west winds; whereas, were it an inland sea, it is clear, that east or south-east winds, blowing directly through the strait, or in the direction of the flood-tide without, would produce the highest tides. Hence he con- eludes, that the tide of flood flows into Hudson’s Bay, through some other entrance than that called Hudson’s Strait; not from Baffin’s Bay either, be- cause the tide is there inconsiderable; but from the north-west, or from the icy sea*, by which conclu- B 2 * It is not at all reasonable to suppose, that the consider- able tides observed in Hudson’s Bay should be occasioned by 20 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. sion, all the difficulties with regard to the tides are easily solved. How far Ellis may be correct, will, perhaps, be soon determined. Other arguments which have been offered in fa- vour of the separation of Greenland from America, are deduced from the existence of a current setting from the north,—from the circumstance of ice-bergs and drift wood being brought down by the current, —from whales wounded in the Spitzbergen seas ha- ving been caught in Davis’ Strait,—from the posi- tion of the land, as represented on skins by the na- tive American Indians, and from the occurrence of certain plants in Greenland, which are natives of Kurope, but have never been found on any part of the American continent*. | As, however, it would take up too much of this work to enlarge on, or even to enumerate all the ar- guments founded on the nature of the tides, cur- rents, ice, winds, country, &c. which have been brought forward to prove the existence of a north- west passage, I shall proceed to make a few general remarks on the probable advantages of such a discov-. the flood flowing through some strait communicating with Baffin's Bay, where the tide is so much less, unless this bay be connected with the Frozen Ocean ; as the tides, in penetrating an extensive sea, and pursuing a long circular course, must. evidently be diminished, rather than increased. * Quarterly Review, N° xxxvi. p..439.. t NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. at ery, and to offer a few hints for conducting discover- ies in these frozen regions. I conceive the opinion to be quite incorrect, that if a passage were discovered, it would, probably, be open above half the year; for, supposing there real- ly be a sea communication, near the parallel of 70°, between the southern part of Baffin’s Bay, er the northern part of Hudson’s Bay and Behr- ing’s Strait, it would not only, I believe, (judg- ing from the known situations occupied by the ice, and the known coldness of these regions,) not be open above half the year, but, I ima- gine, it would be at intervals only of years that it would be open at all; and then, perhaps, for not longer than eight or ten weeks in a season. Hence, as affording a navigation to the Pacific Ocean, the discovery of a north-west passage could be of no ser- vice; for no one would have encouragement to at- tempt a passage, if the chance of succeeding were so small, for the sake only of the possibility of gaining a few months in an India voyage, when it could always be accomplished in the old way with so much more certainty. Nevertheless, the expectation of improving our geographical knowledge, and the pos- sibility of discovering something which might lead to an extension of our commerce, as well as the pros- pect of discovermg more of the nature of several physical phenomena, which are more observable in high latitudes than in any other part of the globe, and of extending our knowledge in the several 99 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. branches of natural history, relating to polar coun- tries; these, together with the popular feeling of cu- riosity, peculiarly attached to every thing connected with those remote and dangerous regions, are of themselves sufficient to render the examination of those interesting countries, an object worthy of the attention of a great nation. The advantages that have already arisen to Bri- tain, from the voyages hitherto undertaken in search of a north-west passage, are the establishment of the Davis’ Straits whale-fishery, and of the trade of the Hudson’s Bay Company ; so that the expence incurred, though it has certainly been great and of- ten fruitless, has not altogether been lost to the na- tion. The adventurous spirit manifested by our early navigators, in performing such hazardous voyages in small barks, in which we should be scrupulous of trusting ourselves across the German Ocean, is calculated to strike us with surprise and admiration ; while the correctness of the investigations resulting from their laborious exertions, notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which they were conduct- ed, gives us a high opinion of their perseverance and talents. These two remarks are easily illustrated. The famous voyage of Baffin, in which the bay bearing his name was discovered, was performed in a vessel of only 55 tons burden; that of Hudson, in which, also, the bay called by his name was first t NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 25 navigated, in the very same vessel ; and the voyages of Davis, chiefly in vessels of 50, 35, and 10 tons burden. The recent voyage of Captain Ross into Baffin’s Bay, has done a degree of credit to the me- mory of Baffin, by substantiating his accuracy and faithfulness which were begun to be disputed, and by showing them to be greater in extent than his most sanguine advocates could have expected. Another observation which must be made by every reader of the voyages of our old navigators, and. which must be particularly gratifying to those who consider religion as the chief business of this life, is the strain of piety and dependence on Divine Pro- vidence, which runs through almost every narrative. Their honest and laudable acknowledgments of a particular interference of the Almighty, in working out deliverance for them in times of difficulty and danger ; and their frequent declarations, expressive of their reliance upon Providence, for assistance and protection in their adventurous undertakings, are worthy of our imitation. ‘Thus, while our modern voyagers are much in the habit of attributing their most remarkable deliverances to “ luck,” “ chance” and “ fortune,” those of old evidenced certainly a more Christian-like feeling under such circumstances, by referring their deliverances to that Great Being from whom alone every good thing must be deriv- ed. They only who have a similar dependence on Providence, and who have been occasionally in try. Bd, ACCOUNT OF FHE ARCTIC REGIONS. ing situations, can duly appreciate the confidence and comfort which this belief is calculated to afford under the most appalling circumstances. 'Ehe class of vessels best adapted for discovery im the Polar Seas, seems to be that of 100 to 200 tons . burden. All the great discoveries which have been made in the neighbourhood of Greenland, have been effected, it may be observed, in a description of vessels still smaller; which kind of ships, in some respects, possesses a material advantage over that of larger dimensions. ‘They are stronger, more easily managed, in less danger of being stove or crushed by ice, and are less expensive. But of these advantages of a small vessel, the most. important is its greater comparative strength; as ships become weaker, it can easily be shown, as they increase in magnitude. A small sloop, carelessly and unscien- tifically built, can he aground with a full lading of heavy goods on board, on a very uneven surface, and yet sustain little or no injury ; nay, loaded sloops, which have been driven on shore upon a sandy beach, in a storm, accompanied with a heavy sea, have sometimes been launched or floated off with- out having sustained any material damage; where- as a frigate or a line-of-battle ship, though built of the strongest materials, and in the most scientific maaner, if laid aground in the very best situation, and under the most favourable circumstances, is of- f NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 25 ten ruined. The fact is, that the materials of which the largest vessels are built, are only of the same strength as those used in the construction of the smallest, while the timbers and planks in a line-of-battle ship, when compared with those of a small vessel, are by no means of a thickness proportionate to its tonnage. Hence a large vessel, however firmly built, can never possess the same comparative strength as a small one. Besides, the momentum of a large heavy vessel striking a rock, a mass of ice, or other similar body with a given ve- locity, is so much greater than that of a small ship, that the difference of the shock is vastly greater than the difference of the strength of the two. Thus, we will suppose, the weight of two vessels with their ballast and stores, one of 400 tons and another of 100 tons burden, to be proportionate to their tonnage, and that they both strike an immove- able mass of ice with the same velocity, say, six miles per hour. Then the momentum of the for- mer will be represented by the number 24, and of the latter by 6, or as four to one, being in the same relation as their tonnage. But the comparative difference of strength of the two, we know, will pro- bably be not greater than as two to one; consequent- ly, the capability of the smaller vessel for resisting the concussion, will be twice as great as that of the larger; or, in other words, the vessel of 100 tons burden, would bear a blow impinged with a velo- eity of eight miles per hour, as well as the larger 26 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. one would bear a stroke given under half that velo- city. With regard to pressure between two sheets of ice, it is clear, that a large vessel would have an advantage over a small one, were it not that a small vessel, if of a proper construction, often rises, when squeezed, several feet above her usual floating-mark, while a large heavy ship, under the same circum- stances, remains nearly fixed, and is, consequently, much more compressed. In the perilous and remarkably disastrous voyage performed by Captain James, in the years 1631 and 1632, when he wintered in Hudson’s Bay, the smallness of his vessel affording an extraordinary degree of strength, compared with a larger vessel, was the means of saving himself and his crew under a variety of dangers. This vessel, of only 70 tons burden, endured six or seven such beatings against rocks and ice, as would doubtless have occasioned the destruction of almost any. vessel of such a size as was lately employed for discovery in the Polar re- gions *. Captain James’s little vessel, besides en- during its full share of heavy storms and high seas, both under sail in the main ocean, and at anchor in shallow water; besides beating and driv- ing about among ice for twenty days together, and lying all winter, full of water, on an uneven and * The four vessels equipped for discovery in the year 1818, were from 250 to 380 tons burden. f NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. oF stony beach,—was two or three times exposed to a dreadful beating from ice, agitated by a heavy sea, and was four times on shore upon rocks, during strong winds or considerable swells, in one of which instances, she was left by the tide hanging on the point of a sharp rock, so that the greatest appre- hension was excited that she would upset; yet, after passing through all this uncommon series of dangers, the little bark took home its crew in safe- ty *. Henee, it is evident, that a vessel intended for discovery in the Polar Seas, should be just large enough for conveying the requisite stores and pro- visions, and for affording cemfortable accommodation to the navigators, but no larger. Perhaps a vessel of about 150 tons burden, would be fully sufficient to answer every purpose. The numerous disasters to which Captain James was exposed, are to be attributed to his total igno- rance of the nature of the ice, and of the countries which he explored ; and to his having refused, on his outset, to take along with him any persons, who, in these respects, were better informed thanhimself. But he soon had occasion to regret his want of practical knowledge of these peculiar regions, his deficiency in which led him into numerous difficulties. His * Captain James’s voyage is included in Churchill’s “ Col- lection of Voyages ;” in Clarke’s “ Naufragia,” &c.. The original edition was published by the command of King Charles I. in 1633, 28 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. first mistake, was to get entangled among the ice lying about Cape Farewell, where he had nearly lost his vessel ; and his subsequent errors were also pro- ductive of many distresses. It is strange,that any one should have imagined, that unacquaintance with the country intended to be explored, could be of advan- tage to the voyager. The navigation of the Polar seas, which is peculiar, requires in a particular man- ner, an extensive knowledge of the nature, proper- ties, and usual motions of the ice; and it can only be performed to the best advantage, by those who have had long experience in working a ship in icy situations. It may be remarked, in support of this assertion, that all the great discoveries to the north and west of Greenland, have been made by persons well acquainted with the navigation of the arctic ‘seas. Baffin, when he discovered the bay bear- ing his name, and boldly traversed it with only one small bark, had been employed on three several voyages of discovery before, as well as on one or more voyages to the Spitzbergen whale-fishery. Davis and Hudson also had each had experience in the navigation of these seas, before they made discoveries of any consequence ; Hudson, we know, having been three voyages on discovery, and Davis two, before they found’ the straits and bay which are still called by their names*. * Want of experience in the navigation of icy seas, is the only objection to. Officers of the Royal Navy having the direc- y My § t NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 99 It might be a material assistance to those em- ployed in completing the examination of Baffin’s Bay, as well as productive of some interesting in- formation in meteorological phenomena, were a ves- sel or two to remain in the northern part of this bay during the winter. Vessels having to penetrate the ice from the main sea in the usual way, cannot probably obtain a passage into the Bay before the middle or end of the month of July, when the sea- son is so far advanced, that if the navigators intend to return, they can only calculate upon an interval of six or eight weeks, before it will be prudent for them to make their escape out of the Bay. But by wintering in the northern part of the Bay, there is little doubt but that the vessel would be released by the ice as early as May or June, and thus be afforded about double the time for research that could be obtained by wintering out of the Bay; at tion of expeditions tended for discovery in the arctic regions. No one has a higher opinion of the nautical skill and bravery of our naval commanders than I have, (having myself served some time in the Navy, and witnessed their talents,)—yet I cannot yield the palm to them for that description of talent re- quisite for performing to the best advantage the navigation among ice. No officer, I believe, would expect to equal the river pilots, or the masters of the Gravesend boats, in working their little vessels up or down the Thames ;—for no judgment, however profound,—no talent, however acute, could supersede the necessity of practice for performing this navigation with the beauty and correctness with which it is accomplished by these practised pilots and boatmen. 30 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. least, such we know would be the ease in other si- milar parts of the Polar countries. In Hudson’s Bay, for instance, the ice clears away from the nor- thern shore long before the southern part is at all accessible *; and at Spitzbergen, though the sea should be so encumbered with ice as to prevent our approaching its coasts beyond the 76th degree of latitude until the end of May or beginning of June, yet near the western and northern parts of the shore, there is usually a navigable sea much earlier. There would not, I imagine, be any very great danger in making this experiment, provided a suf- ficient quantity of fresh provisions for the prevention of the scurvy among the crew were taken out +, and certain precautions for the preservation of the ships adopted. An ingenious apparatus now in use at Leith, invented by Mr ‘Thomas Morton, ship- builder, and for which he has recently taken out a patent, might, I think, be made use of to advan- tage by any vessel proceeding to distant regions om discovery. A trifling damage sustained by a ship employed in such a voyage, is often sufficient for putting a stop to any further research ; but the use ad * See Ellis’s Voyage to Hudson’s Bay, p. 321. + Fresh provisions certainly form one of the best preventives of the scurvy, and may be taken out in any quantity to the polar countries, without any preparation whatever; the action of the cold to which they soon become exposed, preventing putrefaction. t NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 81 of Mr Morton’s apparatus would afford the means of repairing every ordinary damage in almost any country. The contrivance consists of a simple frame of wood, adapted for supporting a vessel in an up- right position, traversing on a kind of rail-way, fixed on an inclined plane at the margin of a river or the sea, and extending from above the reach of the tide down to the low-water mark. This frame being launched into the sea, as far as the lower end of the rail-way, receives the vessel upon it at high- water, when, by the use of blocks or chocks of wood placed on the sides of the frame, moveable by means _ of ropes towards the centre, the vessel is supported in an upright position, and then, by the application of a mechanical purchase, consisting of a combination of wheels and axles, constituting a powerful winch, the frame and the contained vessel are drawn up together on dry land. With this apparatus, a ves- sel of 200 to 300 tons burden, might be taken, by 12 or 18 men, entirely beyond the reach of the tide in the course of about an hour *. The advan- tage of such an apparatus in a vessel bound to the * The intention of Mr Morton’s invention is to supersede the necessity of dry docks, over which it possesses several ad- vantages. An apparatus calculated for taking up a vessel of 300 tons burden, can be built for the sum of 5002. or 6001. ; and, when once fixed, vessels can be taken up for an expence of 25s. to 30s. ; whereas the common charge for putting a ship ito a graving-dock, is, in some places, as high as 10/. 32 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Polar regions on discovery, might be very great, provided, in the place where there should prove a necessity for using. it, the rise of tide should be sufficient for admitting its application, and the beach should be of a sloping nature. It could be prepared in short pieces, so as to be fitted together with screws; and though intended for sustaining the weight of a ship, would be by no means very cumbrous. Indeed, any vessel of 200 tons burden or upward, might easily carry it out in her hold, without materially, if at all, interfering with the room requisite for her stores. Thus a vessel having occasion to winter in Baffin’s Bay or Davis’ Strait, would require only the adjustment of the frame and ways, which three or four skilful mechanics might effect in a few days, before she could be hauled up on dry land, quite beyond the reach of either ice or tides, where she would constitute as comfortable ‘a dwelling as could be expected in such a country. The apparatus could even be applied where there was not a fall of tide equal to the depth of water drawn by the vessel, by the use of a small coffer- dam, sufficient only to stop out the tide at low- water, until the rail-way should be adjusted so far down that at high-water the vessel could float up- on the frame while resting on the rail-way. Then the force of the ship’s company would be amply suf- ficient for drawing the vessel up on land. In seas perpetually encumbered with ice, and probably crowded with islands, if not divided by t NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 33 necks of land, the chance of great discoveries and of extensive navigations toward the north-west, even under the best arrangements, and under the boldest seamen, is but small. The most certain method of ascertaining the existence of a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific, along the nor- thern face of America, would doubtless be by jour- neys on land. Men there are, who, being long used to travel upon snow in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, would readily undertake the journey from the interior lakes of North America to the Frozen Ocean, or, in case of a continuity of land being found, to the very Pole itself; of whose suc- cess we should certainly have a reasonable ground of hope. ‘The practicability of this mode of ma- king discoveries has been fully proved by the jour- neys of Mackenzie and Hearne ; and the possibility of performing very long journeys on snow, can be attested, from personal experience, by any persons who have wintered a few times in Hudson’s Bay. The mode of travelling in these northern countries, is peculiar. A long journey can best be performed when the ground is covered with snow. In this case, each traveller is provided with a pair of snow- shoes, and a sledge of eight to twelve fect in length, and one foot in breadth, on which, all the appa- ratus and provisions requisite for the journey, are drawn by hand. Sometimes dogs are used to assist in drawing the sledges; but as the travellers are Vou. 1 c 34 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. apt to fall short of provision for them, they cannot place absolute dependance on their continued help. Without the use of dogs, a strong experienced tra- veller can perform, on an average, about twenty miles a-day, dragging after him 100 to 150 pounds weight of articles upon his sledge. When the sur- face of the snow is frozen and firm, he can occasion- ally accomplish forty miles in a day, but this re- quires an effort too laborious to be continued for many days together. ‘The best opportunity for passing these almost desert countries, is when the ground is covered with snow; the best time of the year, perhaps in the spring months; and the most favourable hour, from one or two in the morning until sun-rise. After sun-rise, the surface of the snow is apt to become soft, on which the further progress of the traveller is suspended; he then rests until the evening, or until the following morning, when the snow having become encrusted with ice, he advances with ease and celerity. If he finds himself much pinched with cold when he rests, he sets out and walks until the proper heat of his body is xestored, then refreshing himself with a little nourishment, composes himself to sleep. He must bivowac on the snow. Here, without shelter from hut or tent, he rests, if not as comfortably, at least as contentedly, as those accustomed to more re- finement can, in their well-arranged couches. He usually hollows out a place in the snow to sleep in,and ft NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 35 on the windward side piaces his sledges on their edges for a defence against the wind; then laying down a few twigs of bushes or trees, when he can meet with them, in place of a bed, he wraps him- self in his blanket, covers himself with his upper garments, which he makes a practice of throwing off when he rests, and enjoys his repose. The principal articles provided by the experienced tra- veller for his subsistence, consist of tea, oatmeal, bacon, bread, and sometimes a few fish or fowls, but no spirits; and whenever he finds it necessary to use artificial stimuli for accelerating the circulation of the blood, and promoting the heat of the system, instead of resorting to spiritous liquors, knowing them to be injurious, he drinks freely of warm tea, which the plentifulness of wood for fire in the in- terior of North America, generally affords him a ready opportunity of preparing. His relish, with his tea, consists of a bit of broiled bacon, and perhaps a little oatmeal porridge; which articles, when other supplies of fowl, fish or quadruped, fail, being effectual for his nourishment, he lives on with contentment. With these measures and re- sources, travelling usually in the night or morn- ing, and bivouacking on the snow; subsisting, when necessary, on the scanty provision taken out with him, but always depending on occa- sional supplies of birds, fishes and quadrupeds, which seldom wholly desert these countries; and C2 36 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. directing his route by the compass, with the assis- tance generally of Indian guides, he performs jour- neys of 1000 or 1500 miles in the course of two or three months. The plarmigans or willow-par- tridges, which are generally plentiful in winter near Hnudson’s Bay; the musk-oxen, the wild buffaloes, the rein-deer, and the hares, which are found in cer- tain situations throughout the northern parts of America, even to the Frozen Ocean, together with the quantity of fishes which occur in almost every river and lake, afford a tolerably regular supply of provisions *. * The willow-partridges are caught in a very simple way. They are attracted by an artificial surface of gravel spread on a hillock of snow, on sight of which, these birds requiring this article for assisting digestion in the winter time, when they feed on the tops ef the willows, descend in large flocks upon it with precipitation: A net extended by poles is erect- ed near the edge of the surface of gravel, and a string con- nected with the props by which it is supperted, is held by a person on watch in any neighbouring cover, who, on observ- ing a sufficient number of birds on the gravel, pulls away the supports of the net, so that it falls upon them, and often en- tengles above fifty at a@ haul. In this way 200 or 300 birds have frequently been taken in a winter’s morning. Hares are commonly taken with snares, sometimes to the amount of forty or fifty in a night ;—the oxen, buffaloes and deer are hunted or shot ;—and fishes are caught with nets extend- ed beneath a surface of ice in a lake or across a river, or taken by a baited hock introduced into a small hole made in the ice. which, ta be effectual, is kept in continual motion. f NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 37 The plan of performing a journey in this way, for discovering the northern termination of the American Continent, and for tracing it round to its junction with the coasts of the same country washed by the Atlantic, might be in some measure as follows. The party intended for this expedition, which should consist of as few individuals as pos- sible, ought, perhaps, in the course of one summer, to make their way to one of the interior settlements of the Hudson’s Bay Company, or of the Canadian traders, such as Slave Fort, on the Great Slave Lake, situated in the 62d deeree of latitude, or Fort Chepewyan, near the Athapescow Lake, in latitude 58° 40’, from whence Sir Alexander Mackenzie embarked on his voyage to the Frozen Ocean; and there abide during the first winter. Supposing the travellers to winter at Slave Fort, they might cal- culate on being within the distance of 200 leagues, or thirty or forty days journey, moderate travelling, of the Frozen Ocean *. In the month of March * Mackenzie performed his voyage from the western angle of the Great Slave Lake to the island in latitude 69° 14’, which formed the termination of his navigation towards the north, in fourteen days. Here, if not actually in the frozen ocean, he was evidently very near it, and in a sea communti- cating with it, of which we have full preof, from his having observed traces of Esquimaux, fragments of whalebone, boats covered with skins, and most particularly from the circur- stance of his having seen several white-whales, (Balena al- bicans,) animals which, though common in the rivers of Hud- son’s Bay, are never seen far from the sea. 38 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. or April, the party consisting of two or three Eu- ropeans, one or two Ksquimaux. interpreters, and two or more Indian‘ guides, provided with every thing requisite for the undertaking, might set out towards the north. The bad effects to be appre- hended from the enmity known to exist between the Indian and Esquimaux, would probably be pre- vented, by having persons of each nation along with them; indeed, that enmity, which was a few years ago so implacable, and of which such a horrid in- stance was witnessed by Hearne in the year 1771, is now, happily, considerably assuaged *. On the arrival of the travellers among the Ks- quimaux, their Indian guides, from fear of this nation, would probably desert them, but the pre- sence of their Ksquimaux interpreters would secure them a good reception. When once they should meet with these people, they would have a strong evidence of their being near the sea, as it is well * Between the Indians and the Esquimaux a mortal enmity used to exist. An Indian who was unfortunate in losing his friends, or in suffering any other particular calamity, was in the habit of superstitiously attributing it to the agencies or witcheries of the Esquimaux: to revenge himself, there- fore, and to soften the anger of his tutelar deity, he thought it necessary to engage in an “ Esquimaux hunt,” and thus glut his vile passion for bloodshed, by destroying a certain number of these unoffending people. This horrid practice, however, is now, from the advance of civilization, rapidly sinking into disuse. t NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 39 known the Esquimaux never retire far from the coast. This is a strong confirmation that the waters seen both by Hearne and Mackenzie, were arms of the sea. On their arrival at the coast, it would be necessary to associate with the Esquimaux, to sub- mit in some measure to their mode of living; and to effect any considerable discovery, it might be requisite to spend a winter or two among them ; in which case they might trace the line of the Frozen Ocean to such a length, that the place where it joins the western coasts of Baffin’s Bay, or Hud- son’s Bay, or the eastern side of Greenland, would be determined. Or, if it should be objection- able wintering among the Esquimaux, several expeditions might be sent out at the same time from different stations, and on different meri- dians. One, for instance, might start from the north-western part of Hudson’s Bay, and pro- eeed to the north-west, and another from the same place towards the north; a third might start from the Slave Lake towards the north-east ; and a fourth from the same station towards the north or north-west; the expence of all which would pro- bably be less than that of one expedition by sea. We have several proofs of the practicability of this plan ;—from the journeys which the settlers at Hud- son’s Bay and the North American Indians fre- quently make; from the voyage of Mackenzie, and the journeys of Hearne; and from the willingness AD ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. of persons well acquainted with the nature and dan- gers of the enterprise, to undertake it *. SECT._TV. Remarks on the Opinion of a Sea Communica- tion between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the North Pole. THE scheme suggested by Robert Thorne of Bristol, of finding a passage to India across the North Pole, about the year 1527, appears to have been immediately attempted, by an expedition con- * I have conversed with some persons who have performed journeys of above 1000 miles, over a surface of snow, during the winter, in the way above described, and who would not be unwilling to undertake an expedition for making discoverics in the Frozen Ocean. Since this sheet was sent to press, I have learned with sa- tisfaction, from authority which is unquestionable, that Go- vernment, in concert with the Hudson’s Bay Company, have taken measures for the immediate investigation of the coast of the Frozen Ocean, from the mouth of the Copper M ine River, eastward to Hudson’s Bay, or Baffin’s Bay, or other coast, with which it may, en examination, be found to be connected. Lieutenant Franklin, it is said, accompanied by persons expe- rienced in the modes of travelling in that country, is to be em- ployed on this interesting service. From this officer’s known zeal and activity, and from the promising character of this mode of making discoveries, the most satisfactory results are to be anticipated ; for, whatever progress may be made in tracing the snores of the Frozen Ocean to the eastward, will be a certain atep towards the completion of the discoveries which have ex- gited such uncommon interest. f TRANS-POLAR PASSAGE. 4L sisting of two ships, sent out by order of Henry Vit. One of the ships, we are informed, was lost: of the nature of the success of the other, we have but a very unsatisfactory account *. After this voyage, Barentz, Heemskerke and Ryp, attempted the trans-polar navigation in 1596 ; Hudson in 1607; Jonas Poole in 1610 and 1611; Baffin and Fotherby in 1614; Fotherby in 1615; Phipps in 1773, and Buchan and Franklin in 1818. The highest latitude attained by any of these navi- gators, did not,it would appear, exceed 81°. Hudson’s highest latitude by observation, was 80° 23’. Poole’s greatest latitude attained, was 79° 50’ on his first voyage, and about 80° on his second. Baflin and Fotherby reached about 80° 16’. Captain Phipps 80° 48’, and Captain Buchan about 80° 20’. My Father, in the ship Resolution of Whitby, in the year 1806, with whom I then served as chicf-mate, sailed to a much higher latitude than any of these voyagers already enumerated. Our latitude, on three occasions, in the month of May, as derived * Hackluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii. p. 129. One of the ships employed in this service was called the Dominus Vobiscum ; but as to the names of the voyagers we have no account. From the bare information Hackluyt was able to collect, it would appear that the endeavours of the commanders had been directed more towards the north-west than towards the North Pole, though the latter appears evidently to have heen the original design of the voyage. 492 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. from observations taken with a sextant by myself and my father, was 80° 50’ 28’, 81° 1’ 53”, and 81° 12/ 42” after which, we sailed so far to the north- ward, as made it about 81° 30’; which is one of the closest approximations to the Pole which I conceive has been well authenticated. ‘The Honourable Daines Barrington, it is true, informs us, in his dis- cussion on “ the probability of reaching the North Pole,” of several vessels having sailed much farther towards the north. In his first two papers, of “ in- stances of navigators who have reached high northern latitudes,” he produces four examples of vessels ha- ving sailed to latitude 814° ; seven to 82° or upward ; three to 83° or more ; six vessels in company to 86° ; three examples to 88° ; two ships in company to 89°, andone to 894° *, besides several others brought for- ward inhis later papers. But with regard to these ex- amples, I may observe, that all the instances of navi- gations having been performed beyond the 84th de- gree, are given from very loose authority, such as the vague reports of the Dutch whale-fishers ; and in no case, I believe, from the direct’ communi- cations of the voyagers themselves. As such, I conceive, there is no reliance whatever to be placed upon these extraordinary instances. It may not, however, be so easy to get rid of the accounts of ships having sailed as far as 82° or 83°, the instan- ces being so very numerous, and some of them so _eeeeiene ee ‘* * Miscellanies,” p. 1,-40. TRANS-POLAR PASSAGE. 43 very particular ; but still, there is room for some re- marks on them. It may be observed, that though the latitudes in some of the cases noted by Bar- rington, are said to have been derived from celestial observations, yet it appears, that they all, or nearly so, were given from memory, by the persons who them- selves performed the voyages, or by others who had had intercourse with them. But with regard to those accounts, communicated by the voyagers who had themselves made the observations, we find, that above half of them were from oral testimony only, at the distance of eighteen to thirty years, from the time when the several navigations were performed. Hence, the faithfulness ot their memories, after a lapse of so many years, may reasonably be question- ed. One of the most modern instances, indeed, may be objected to, on very good grounds. Captain Clarke is said to have sailed to 813°, and Captain Bateson to 82° 15,in the year 1773*. Now, this was the year in which Captain Phipps proceeded on discovery towards the North Pole, who, notwith- standing he made apparently every exertion, and exposed his ships in no common degree; though he repeatedly traced the face of the northern ice from the longitude of 2° E.., where the ice began to trend to the southward, to 20° E., where he was so dan- gerously involved, was never able to proceed beyond * BarRineton’s “ Miscellanies,” p. 38 and 41, 44, ACCOUNT GF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. So 48’ N., and even that length only once in the season. Is it reasonable, therefore, to suppose, that whale-fishers, sailing in clear water, without any particular object to induce them to proceed far to- wards the north, should exceed the length to which Captain Phipps attained in the same year, and within a few days of the same time, by eighty-seven miles towards the north? I imagine, on the con- trary, that both Captain Clarke and Captain Bate- son had been mistaken in their latitude, and had not been so far as Captain Phipps, or at least not farther. But I by no means wish to infer, that all the cases brought forward in Barrington’s Miscel- lanies are equally objectionable, or that no voyager has ever sailed beyond the latitude of 81° or 82; though I feel persuaded, that, among the numerous instances produced to prove this point, few of them ean be relied on. The prevailing desire, indeed, to communicate extraordinary circumstances, has a tendency, in some measure, to bias the judgment of the most candid person, and has, no doubt, occasion- ed very many exaggerated statements ; for all navi- gators who have proceeded to a very great extent mto any unknown region, especially where they have little opportunity of determining their real si- tuation, naturaliy give the farthest point in their opinion, when they are in doubt, rather than the nearest. Even so late as the year 1817, we have a striking illustration of this fact. The Larkins of TRANS-POLAR PASSAGE, 45 Leith, which succeeded in the whale-fishery in Baf- fin’s Bay, at an unusual season, and in an unusual latitude, was reported, on her arrival in Britain, even, I believe, by the master himself, to have been as high as 80° in Baffin’s Bay; but on minute inquiry being made, as to the authority on which the Cap- tain founded the belief of his having been to so high a latitude, and so far beyond what was supposed to have constituted the limits of the Bay, he could only declare with full confidence, that he had been to about 77°*. Now, had this circumstance passed over unnoticed for fifteen or twenty years, as was the case with the greater number of the instances quoted by Barrington, the master of the Larkins himself, though without the least design to deceive, would, in all probability, have stated it as a fact, and would have believed his own statement to have been correct, that he had actually proceeded as far as the latitude of 80°. Many other illustrations might be brought forward, of the tendency to add to any thing extraordinary, rather than to detract ; so that persons relating the same circumstance oc- casionally through a series of years, and thus pre- serving the recollection of the story as they last communicated it, though they might have long for- gotten the original event, have, by the most trifling, and at the time apparently unimportant additions, * Quarterly Review, No. xxxv. p. 212. 46 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. been carried at last to the most extravagant lengths. And that they themselves believe to be true what they communicate, cam be shown, from the dreum- stance of their not scrupling to tell the story in the . presence of persons, who, they well knew, were joint- ly with themselves, observers of the original fact. Sech cases I have often met with; and such have leas attended to things of this aeibate:” a uncertainty of oral testimeny- However dubious we may be of receiving the ac comnts brought forward by the Henourable Daines Barrington, to prove theoceasional accessibility of the 83d or Sith parallel of north latitude, to enterpris- ime vovagers, of this, I conceive, we may be as- sared, that the opimion of am open sea round the Pole, is altezether chimeniaal. We must allow, imdeed, that when the atmosphere is free from about the time of the summer solstice, greater zi the Pole. by nearly one-fourth, than at the equster*. Hence it is umeed, that this extrandi- mary power ef the sun, destroys all the ice geneat- tare ef the Pole. warmer and more congenial to feel- * Ea@mbersh Review, No ux. p 11. ‘ TRANS-POLAR PASSAGE. 47 tor. Now, if it be admitted, that the infiuence of the sun at the time of the summer solstice be near- ly one-fourth greater at the Pole than it is at the that this influence in the parallel of 78°, where it is only about one forty-fifth part less than what it is at the Pole*, musi also be considerably greater than at the equator; and, therefore, that whatever effects are produced by the sun’s peeuliar action at the Pole, the same, In a proportionate degree, must be felt at the parallel of 78°. We shall endeavour to ascertain, whether the presence of the sun during several months together in the Spitzbergen sea, produces any thing like the effect presumed by the advocates of an open sea at the Pole. From various meteorological calculations, founded on a careful investigation of the laws of tempera- * As the solar influence 1s proportional to the sines of the sun's altitade, the power of the srm at the Pole, is to its power at the same time in any other latitude where it does not set, as the sine of the sun's altitude at the Pole, is to half the sum of the sines of the sun's greatest and least altitude during the day im the other latitude referred to, nearly. Thus the solar influence at the Pole at the solstice, on 2 given horizontal surface, repre- sented by the number 1, is equivalent to the sine of 231, the sun's altitude (the multiplier im this case being 1, and divider or radius being also 1) or 3988. And im the latitude of 72°, the sine of 355, the sun's greatest altitude or 5907, added to the sine or 114, the sun's least altitude or 1904, and the amount divided -by 2, gives 3900, for the solar influence at the solstice in latitude 78°; which is less by about J th part, than the solar influence at the Pole, bet greater tham it is at the Equator. 48 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ture, it has been deduced by Professor Kirwan, that the means of temperature of the months of May, June and July, in latitude 78’, are respectively as high as 37°, 51°.5, 50°.5, and the mean of the year 33°.2 or, according to other meteorologists 34°.2, notwithstanding no allowance appears to have been made for the supposed extraordinary power of the sun when continually above the horizon. But from caleu- lations founded on twelve years observations on the temperature of the icy regions, I have determined the mean temperature of the month of May, latitude 78°, to be 22°.5, of June 31°.4, of July 37; and of the whole year 17°, being below the temperatures calculated, by 14°.5 in May, 20°1 in June, 13°.5 in July, and 16° or 17° in the mean annual tempe- rature *. Hence, so far from the actual influence of the sun, though acknowledged at a certain season to be greater at the Pole than at the Equator, be- ing above what it is calculated to be by the ordi- nary formule for temperature, it is found in lati- tude 78° to be greatly below it,—how then can the temperature of the Pole be expected to be so very different ? From the remarks in the ensuing pages it will be shown, that ice is annually formed during nine months of the year in the Spitzbergen sea; and that neither calm weather, nor the proximity * Appendix No. I., contains the whole series of Meteorolo- gical Tables for the year 1807 to1818 inclusive; from whence these results, as included in No. II., are derived. TRANS-POLAR PASSAGE. 49 of land, is essential for its formation. Can it then be supposed, that at the Pole, where the mean an- nual temperature is probably as low as 10°*, that the sea is not full of ice? And as the quantity of ice dissolved every summer near Spitzbergen, by the action of the sun only, is very small when com- pared with the quantity that is there generated,— can it be imagined, that the whole quantity gene- rated at the Pole during the year should be dis- solved by the power of the sun in the course of two or three summer months? Were the mean temperature of the Pole, indeed, above the freezing point of sea-water, that is, as high as 31° or 32°, as it is usually estimated, and the mean heat of latitude 78° as high as 33° or 34°, then the circumpolar seas would have a chance of being free from ice; but while the temperature of the former can be shown to be about 18°, and the latter 11° below the free- zing temperature of the sea, we can have no rea- sonable ground, I conceive, for doubting the con- tinual presence of ice in all the regions immediate- ly surrounding the Pole t. VOL.. I. D * See Appendix, No. II. + Should there be land near the Pole, portions of open water, or perhaps even considerable seas, might be produ- ced by the action of the current sweeping away the ice from one side of it almost as fast as it could be formed ; and vacans 50 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. jf Though the extent to which our early navigators attained in their attempts to reach the Pole, may be a little doubtful, yet the limit to which the Po- lar Seas are now navigable towards the north, will have a fair chance of being determined, in conse- quence of the alteration which has been made in the act of Parliament offering a reward of 50007. to the person who shall first sail beyond the 89th degree of north latitude. This premium was first offered by act 16th Geo. III. c. 6.; but though it has now been in force 43 years, it has never produced any discovery, nor even, perhaps, a single attempt. The reason is obvious. No one employed in the whale- fishery, who had the opportunity, would hazard his life, his property, and the success of his voyage, in seeking after a reward which he had every reason to believe was quite beyond his reach ; especially as he well knew, that although he should sail to within a few miles of the extent, which would entitle him to the premium, and there be interrupted by some insurmountable obstacle, yet he could have no claim on the reward. Hence, while he considered the prize as beyond his reach, the adventurous voyager had no stimulus to lead him forward ; cies in such a case might also be produced on the leeward side of the land during any powerful and continued winds ; but the existence of land only, I imagine, can encourage an expec- tation of any of the sea northward of Spitzbergen being annu- ally free from ice. PREMIUMS FOR POLAR DISCOVERIES. 51 whereas, had a proportionate reward been offered for a proportionate success, he would have had every encouragement to make the attempt. In the ses- sion of 1818, this subject was brought before Par- liament, and the law respecting rewards for dis- coveries in the Polar Seas, &c. underwent revi- sion, and was modified and improved by the pas- sing of a new act. After the nomination of “ commissioners for discovering the longitude at sea,” and for “ judging all proposals, experiments and improvements relating to the same, and for rewarding persons making useful discoveries and improvements in or connected with navigation,’— this act offers encouragements for the discovery of the longitude, and other useful inventions tend- ing towards the improvement of navigation, and then gives the regulations and conditions on which rewards may be claimed for finding a nor- thern passage into the Pacific, and for approach- ing within a degree of the North Pole, or for ac- complishing certain proportions of the said passage, or approach. The act still offers a reward of 20,000 /. to the owners of such ship or ships, if be- longing to subjects, or to the commanders, officers, seamen and marines, of such ships, if belonging to his Majesty, which shall first find out and sail through any passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in any direction or parallel of the Northern Hemisphere *. And a reward of 50001. * Act 58th Geo. III. c. 20. § 10. o ts) 52 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS:- to the owner of any merchant vessel, or to the com= mander, &c. of any King’s ship, which shall first ap- proach within one degree of the Northern Pole, (§ 11). It then provides for the reward of certain partially successful attempts, permitting commissioners, by memorial, to “ propose to his Majesty in Council to direct proportionate rewards to be paid to such persons: who shall first have accomplished certain proportions of the said passage or approach,” and then directs, that if his Majesty shall sanction the said proposal, “ the same shall be published in the London Gazette; and any person accomplishing such passages, or the specified proportions of them, shall be entitled, on the award of the commission- ers, to receive such total or proportionate sums as _ may have been offered *,” (( 12.) Since the passing of this act, the commissioners appointed by Parliament have arranged two scales of premiums for discoveries towards the North Pole, and north-west, which have received the sanc- tion of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and * By the next section commissioners are authorised to take such measures as shall satisfy themselves of the correct- ness of such claims for rewards, on the subject of disco- very, as shall be made upon them; and being fully satisfied with the examination and proof offered, they are authorised to pay the said rewards, or such proportion of them as the claim- ant may under this act, or such order in Council, be entitled. to receive.—Act 58th Geo. III. c. 20. § 13. t PREMIUMS FOR POLAR DISCOVERIES. 53 have been published in the London Gazette accord- ingly *. ‘They are to the following effect : “1. To the first ship belonging to any of his Ma- jesty’s subjects, or to his Majesty, that shall pro- ceed to the longitude of 110° west, or the mouth of Hearne’s or Coppermine River, by sailing within the Arctic circle, 5000/. ; to 130° west, or the Whale Island of Mackenzie, 10,000 /.; to 150° west, by sail- ing westward, within the Arctic circle, 15,000 /. ; to the Pacific Ocean, by a north-west passage, as before allotted, the full reward of 20,000 /. “2. To the first ship, as aforesaid, that shall sail to 83° of north latitude, 1000 Z. ; to 85°, 2000/7. ; to 87°, 3000/.; to 88°, 4000 /.; and to 89°, as before allotted, the full reward of 5000 J.” As this scale for discoveries towards the North Pole, commences with a latitude which there may be at least a hope of attaining, there will be no doubt of attempts being made to penetrate to the farthest navigable point, and of that extreme accessible point being soon ascertained. * The memorial of the commissioners, presented to the Prince Regent, includes the remark, “ That the progress of discovery has (it appears) already advanced on the eastern coast of America, and within the Arctic circle, as far as 90° west longitude, or thereabouts, from Greenwich ;” but that “ northwards it has not yet arrived, according to any-well authenticated accounts, so far as 81° of north latitude.”— (London Gazette, 23d March 1819). This corresponds with what has been advanced in the foregoing pages, respecting the instances of high navigations, given in Barrington’s Mis- cellanies. 5A ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. If the masses of ice which usually prevent the advance of navigators beyond the 82d degree of north latitude, be extended in a continued series to the Pole, (of which, unless there be land in the way, I have no doubt),—the expectation of reach- ing the Pole by sea, must be altogether chimerical. But though the access by sea be effectually inter- cepted, I yet imagine, notwithstanding the objec- tions which haye been urged against the scheme, that it would by no means be impossible to reach the Pole by travelling across the ice from Spitz- bergen. This project having been given at some length in the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society *, it may be unnecessary here to repeat the arguments in favour of its practicability. Yet it might not be well to dismiss the subject without a few brief remarks. As the journey would not exceed 1200 miles, (600 miles each way), it might be performed on sledges drawn by dogs or rein-deer, or even on foot f. Foot-travellers would require to draw the appara- tus and provisions necessary for the undertaking, on sledges by hand; and in this way, with good des- patch, the journey would occupy at least two months; but with the assistance of dogs, it might * Vol. ii. p. 328. + When the paper on the Polar Ice, in which this project is included, was presented to the Wernerian Society, I was not aware of the extensive journeys, occasionally performed on snow without the assistance of any quadruped, which have re- cently come to my knowledge. PRACTICABILITY OF A POLAR JOURNEY. 55 probably be accomplished in a little less time. With favourable winds, great advantage might be derived from sails set upon the sledges; which sails, when the travellers were at rest, would serve for the erec- tion of tents. Small vacancies in the ice would not prevent the journey, as the sledges could be adapted so as to answer the purpose of boats; nor would the usual unevenness of the ice, or the depth or softness of the snow, be an insurmountable difh- culty, as journeys of near equal length, and under sunilar inconveniencies, have been accomplished. The Russian adventurers who occasionally proceed from Archangel andneighbouring places to Spitzber- gen, and spend the winter in this dreary country, for the purpose of taking sea-horses, seals, and other ani- mals frequenting the coast, have been supposed, from their uncommon opportunities for observation, capa- ble of giving an opinion of much weight, on the prac- ticability of the journey to the Pole. As such, Co- lonel Beaufoy (who it seems entertained the same opinion as myself, that the only access to the Pole was by a journey over the ice) proposed to them several judicious queries on this subject, with others on the nature of the climate at Spitzbergen in winter, their replies to which were altogether dis- couraging *. But these men, it may be observed, * These queries, with their answers, which are uncommon- ly interesting, first appeared in Dr Thomson’s Annals of Phi- losophy, vol. ix. p. 381. ; and were afterwards (in 1818) reprint- ed in a small volume, including Barrington’s Polar Tracts, 56 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. who know little or nothing of the nature of field- ice, must be less adequate judges of the practica- bility of the scheme than any of the whale-fishers ; as it is in expectation that fieldace would be met with throughout, that renders the project feasible. On the kind of ice, indeed, which occurs generally on the coast of Spitzbergen, in small irregular mas- ses, constituting what is called drift-ice, heaped one piece upon another to a considerable height, intermixed with fragments of ice-bergs, and form- ing as rough a surface as can well be imagined, the journey would doubtless be impracticable; but on . field-ice, found commonly within a few leagues of the sea in high latitudes, in sheets of many miles in diameter, and frequently of very even surface, the difficulties of travelling would be very inferior *. * Few of the Russian fishers, it is probable, who only fre- quent the coast, ever saw any field ice. In the answers to queries 19. and 25. of Colonel Beaufoy, we find the ice represented as mountainous ; as appearing “ monstrously large and lofty ;” and as running flake upon flake to a great height, so as to make the passage on foot very difficult. Now, this kind of ice is pee culiar to the coast, and is totally different from field ice. In- deed its roughness is chiefly occasioned by the resistance of the coast, when the ice is forcibly driven against it by the power of strong winds. And the large openings of water ob- served, also result from the same cause ; for whenever the wind blows for a length of time from the shore, the ice, being afloat, is generally drifted away. But such effects do not take place at a distance from land. I have myself, indeed, been many times so closely fixed among ice, that not the smallest opening could be observed from the mast head, in any direction. TRAVELLING OVER ICE OR SNOW. 57 Were, however, the opinion ever so general, that the journey could not be accomplished, I should still conceive, that one established fact of a journey having been performed in a similar region on si- milar ice, and under similar disadvantages, would be a sufficient answer. But several accounts can be brought forward to establish the fact of similar journeys, and some of them equally difficult, ha- ving been accomplished. I shall mention a few instances. Ellis informs us, in his “ Voyage to Hudson’s Bay*,” that the North American Indians, who trade with the factories of the Hudson’s Bay Company, frequently “ travel 200 or 300 miles in the depth of winter, through a wide open country, without meeting with any house to receive them, or carry- ing any tent to protect them.” And that on such journeys, when benighted on any open plain, they are forced to lie down without fire, under shelter only of the snow. He also mentions, that a man can conveniently draw a load of above an hundred weight upon a sledge, a distance of fifteen or sixteen miles, in a winter’s day f. More recent travellers and voyagers inform us, that the Indians frequently perform much longer journeys in winter ; and it is an established fact, that many persons in the service of the Hudson’s Bay * Page 195. + Id. p. 163. 58 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Company, who reside at their settlements, have travelled 1000 or 1500 miles through snow on foot, in the course of a winter. Muller makes mention of the Tchuktchi nation, being in the habit of travelling on the ice of the sea, in sledges drawn by rein-deer*. ‘The same author, speaking of the power of the dogs of the Kamtchadales in drawing great burdens, illustrates the fact by stating, that in the year 1718, the go- vernor, Knees Mischewski, ordered a whole pipe of brandy to be brought from the convent of Ketskoe to the city of Beresowa, which was accomplished by sixteen dogsf. After the lamentable death of the illustrious na- vigator Captain Cook, the Resolution and Dis- covery, on their second advance into the Polar Sea, put into the bay of Avatscha in Kamtchatka, for obtaining a supply of naval stores and provisions. No supplies, however, being to be had at the neigh- bouring town of St Peter and St Paul, a despatch was sent off in a sledge drawn by dogs to Bolshe- rietzkoi, a distance of 135 English miles, an an- swer to which was returned on the fourth day; so that a journey of 270 miles upon snow, was per- formed in little more than three days and a-halft. * « Voyages from Asia to America,” Transl. p. vii. 4 Adon: xi: ¢ Coox’s Third Voyage, Journal, 3d of May 1779. TRAVELLING ACROSS ICE. 59 But this speed, though so considerable, was by no means equal to what the Kamtchatka dogs are ca- pable of performing ; the governor of 4amtchatka, Major Behm, (who so liberally and so disinterest- edly supplied the wants of our voyagers,) having as- sured the officers belonging to these discovery ships, that the journey from St Peter and St Paul to Bol- sherietzkoi and back, was usually performed in two days and a-half; and that he had once received an ex- press from the bay of Avatscha, which is the harbour of St Peter and St Paul, in twenty-three hours*. But the argument which goes farthest towards proving the practicability of travelling over ice, is the fact, of a Cossack having actually performed a journey of about 800 miles, in a sledge drawn by dogs, across a surface of ice lying to the northward of the Russian dominions. This remarkable ex- ploit, as related by Muller, is to the following ef- fect. Alexei Markoff, a Cossack, was sent from Yak- utsk, to explore the frozen ocean, in the summer of the year 1714, by order of the Russian govern- ment; but finding the sea so crowded with ice, that he was unable to make any progress in disco- very, he formed the design of travelling in sledges, during the winter or spring of the year, over the ice, which might then be expected to be firm and * Idem, Journal, 3d May 1779. 60 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. compact. Accordingly, he prepared several of the country sledges drawn by dogs; and, accompanied by eight persons, he set out on the 10th of March *, from the mouth of the Jana, in latitude 70° 30’, and longitude about 138° E. He proceeded for seven days northward, as fast as his dogs could draw, which, under favourable circumstances, is 80 or 100 versts a-day +, until his progress was impeded about the 78th degree of latitude, by ice elevated into pro- digious mountains. ‘This prevented his further ad- vance; at the same time, falling short of provisions for his dogs, his return was effected with difficulty : several of his dogs died for want, and were given to the rest for their support. On the 3d of April he arrived at Ust-Janskoe Simowie, the place from whence he started, after an absence of twenty-four days{, during which time, he appears to have travel- led about 860 miles . Hence, I conceive, that Markoff must have met with every inconvenience which could be anticipat- ed, in a journey from Spitzbergen to the Pole, or * March the 15th, according to Forster, in his “ Observa- tions made during a voyage round the World,” p. 82. + The verst, being about 53 furlongs, (3500 English feet,) the average progress of 90 versts per day, is equal to about 62 miles, amounting to 434 miles in 7 days. +t According to Forster, 19 days. § Muller's Voyages, &c. Transl. p. 18. DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTH. 61 to the nearest land in the direction of the Pole. And as this account, derived by Muller from the archives of Yakutsk, shows us that Markoff’s jour- ney, which was nearly equal in extent to the pro- jected journey to the Pole, was accomplished with safety to the travellers, there appears no very great reason why a person equally adventurous as Mark- off and better provided, might not, in a similar man- ner, reach the Pole.. SECT.V. Account of the Progress of Discovery in the North. Some brief remarks have already been made, in the foregoing pages, relative to the discovery of se- veral of the polar countries, since the period when anorthern passage to China and India became a po- pular speculation; but for tracing the progress of discovery in the north with any degree of fulness, it will be necessary to go back to a period of many centuries, before the passage to India in this way was, perhaps, ever thought of. The first considerable discovery which appears to have been made in or near the Arctic Circle, was the result of accident; one of the numerous Scan- dinavian depredators, who, in the ninth century, 62 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. cruised the northern seas in search of plunder, ha- ving been driven by a long continued storm from the eastward, upon, the coast of Iceland, in the year 861. This island, from the quantity of snow. seen on the mountains, was by its discoverer Nap- popb, at first called Schnee or Snowland. It was visited by a Swede of the name of Gardar Suaffarson, three years after its discovery, who win- tered there ; and afterwards by another Swede cal- led Flocke, who, for assisting him in the naviga- tion to this remote country, the compass being then unknown, is said to have carried out ravens along with him, by the flight of which, when set at liber- ty, he directed his course, and was led to the re- quired country. ‘This island, which had been deno- minated Iceland by Flocke, was again visited in the year 874 by Ingolf and Lief, two Norwegians, to whom the country presented so many natural ad- vantages, that they, with a few followers, were in- duced to settle there about four years afterwards. In the course of a few years, they were joined by a number of Norwegian families, who resorted thither from political oppression ; so that they soon consti- tuted a considerable colony. The coast of Norway, to the entrance of the White Sea, was examined about this period by a person of the name of OuTHERE, a Norwegian, who himself gave an account of his voyage to Al- fred the Great, by whom it has been handed down DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTH. 63 to us along with his translation of the Ormesta of Orosius. 3 About the middle, or towards the end of the tenth century, an extensive country to the west- ward of Iceland was discovered, by one of the colo- nists of the name of GuNBIORN*, which country was visited in the year 982, by one Eric Raupa, a person who had fled from Norway to Iceland, to avoid the punishment due to the crime of murder, with various other misdemeanours, of which he had been guilty. Rauda wintered in the southern part of the country; and after spending part of three years in exploring it, returned to Iceland. For the purpose of encouraging persons to become settlers in the newly discovered country, he deno- minated it Greenland, and gave a most exagger- ated account of its products and appearance. In consequence of his representations, a fleet of twenty- five sail was shortly afterwards equipped, which, laden with people of both sexes, and the requisite stores and cattle for forming a settlement, put off for Greenland ; but only about one-half of the fleet arrived safe at their destination. ‘These people were soon joined by others, both from Iceland and Nor- way; so that, in a few years, they also became a re- spectable colony. * Forster’s “ Voyages and Discoveries made in the North,” p- 79. 64 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. A regular trade being now established between Norway, Greenland and Iceland, one of the Iceland colonists, BrorN by name, about the year 1001, while following his father to Greenland, from whom he had been separated while on a trading voyage in another ship, was accidentally driven by a storm considerably to the south-west of Green- land, where he discovered a new country covered with wood. ‘This discovery being made known on his return to Iceland, Lief, the son of Eric Rauda, fitted out a ,vessel, and with Biorn as a pilot and a crew of thirty-five men, revisited the country just discovered. Here he traversed a considerable extent of coast, and sailed up a river to a lake from which it took its rise, where he wintered. In this country, called by the discoverers Winland or Vin- land, from the circumstance of grapes having been found in it, the day was eight hours long in winter ; from whence it appears, that they must have been somewhere on the coast of North Ame- rica, or contiguous islands, near the parallel of 50°, probably on the shore of Newfoundland. Lief returned to Greenland the following spring. His brother Thorwald afterwards proceeded to Win- land, where he pursued the discovery of the adja- cent countries during two years, without seeing any inhabitants; but, in the third year, he met with three boats upon the coast, covered with leather, containing three Indians each, which he seized, and PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 65 wantonly and barbarously murdered the whole of the men in them, excepting one who made his escape. An attack was made a little while after by the injured natives upon Thorwald’s vessel ; and, though the assailers were repulsed, Thorwald met with a just retribution for his cruelty, by the wound of an arrow, which occasioned his death. These savages, on account of their low stature, were called Skreellingers, signifying dwarfs. They were pro- bably the same race of people as are at present known by the appellation of Esquimaux. Other adventurers then visited Winland, and succeeded in establishing a goo! understanding with the na- tives,andin carrying on among them an advantageous traffic for furs and other produce of the country. Thorfin, one of these adventurers, attempted to establish a colony in Winland, and allowed the people with him a free traffic with the natives in any articles excepting weapons of war, the barter- ing of which he expressly forbid. One of the na- tives, however, contrived to steal from the Iceland- -ers a battle-axe, trial of which he presently made on one of his companions, and killed him on the spot. The dangerous weapon was immediately seized by another of his countrymen, and thrown into the sea *. VOL. I. E * Forster's Voyages, p. 83. » 66 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. The Christian Religion was introduced into Ice- land and Greenland about the year 1000, and with- in a hundred years afterwards generally diffused. Above sixteen churches were then built, and two convents. These buildings, as well as the habi- tations of the colonists, were erected near the south- ern point of Greenland. They had two settle- ments, the most western of which increased up to four parishes, containing ene hundred farms or vil- lages ; and the most eastern to twelve parishes, one hundred and ninety villages, one bishop’s see, and two convents *. The intercourse between Green- land and the rest of the world, was intercepted about the year 1406, when the seventeenth bishop attempted to reach his see, but was prevented by ice. Since the beginning of the fifteenth century, these unfortunate colonists have been, of necessity, left to themselves, and, not having been heard of, are supposed to have perished; but whether they were destroyed by their enemies the Esquimaux, who inhabit the same country, or perished for want of their usual supphes, or were carried off by a de- structive pestilence, as some have imagined, is still matter of doubt. It is not indeed known that none of them yet remain, though, from the circum- stance of several of the ruins of their convents ha- ving been seen by the zealous missionary Hans Kgede, in the year 1723, it is clear, that the west- “= Barrow’s Voyages, p. 12. PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NoRTH. 67 ern colony is not now in existence; but as to the eastern colony, Egede was of opinion, that there was a probability of some of the people being yet alive *. Various attempts have been made by order of the Danish Government, for the recovery of this coun- try, and for ascertaining the fate of the unfortunate colonists, but most of them were spiritless, and all of them failed in their object. Richard Hackluyt, in his “ Voyages, Navigations, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation,” gives a quotation from the History of Wales, by Dr David Powel, stating the discovery of Ame- rica or the West Indies by Madoc, the son of OweEN GUyYNETH, prince of North Wales, in the year 1170. Madoc left his country, it is said, in consequence of family contention, and proceeded in search of adventures by sea towards the west. Leaving Iceland far to the north, he arrived at length at “a land unknown, where he saw many strange things.” Here he left most of his compa- nions, and returned home for more people “ to inha- bit this fair and large country,” and then went out again with ten sail of ships +. EQ * One of the Iceland bishops, who was driven very near the coast of Greenland, while on a voyage to Norway, about the middle of the sixteenth century, is said to have seen the inhabitants driving their cattle in the fields —Thormeder Tor- Jager. + Hackluyt’s Voyages, &c. vel. iii. p. 1. 68 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Near the close of the fourteenth century, Nicno- ~AS and ANTONIO ZENO, two Italians, made voy- ages of discovery ‘in the north and west, from the islands of Shetland or Faroe, as is generally believed. Nicholas, it appears, visited Greenland, and Antonio, according to Forster, sailed to a country supposed to have been that of ancient Win- land, and afterwards visited Greenland and Ice- land. After this period, a new stimulus was offered to the enterprising trader, which was the well-found- ed hope then entertained, of performing the passage from Europe to India by sea, from whence immense riches were expected to be derived. The celebrated navigator COLUMBUS, conceiving India, to be much more extensive than it really is, calculated, from’ the known spherical form of the earth, that he should soon reach it by sailing to the westward, and was very anxious to make the at- tempt. After a number of disappointments and much tedious delay, he was employed, for the purpose of putting his project into execution, by the Queen of Spain. He sailed from Palos in August 1492; and the result of his voyage was the discovery of the West Indies, the islands of which were so named, from the supposition that they lay contigu- ous to the coast of India. Soon after Columbus's voyages, the Portugueze navigator, Vasquez de Ga- ma, succeeded in reaching India by sailing round the Cape of Good Hope; but before this successful PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 69 attempt, another expedition by the same. nation, it appears, tried the passage by the west, on a parallel far to the northward of that pursued by Columbus. This was undertaken by Joun Vaz Costa Cor- TEREAL, about the year 1463 or 1464, in which voyage the land of Newfoundland appears to have been. seen *. After Cortereal, SEBASTIAN CaABOT, a Venetian, resident in England, seems to have been the next to attempt the voyage to India by the north-west, in the year 1497, on which occasion he coasted the American shore from the parallel of 674° down to that of 38°; though it is supposed his father, Joun Capor, made a voyage to Newfoundland, or Prima Vista, as he called it, in 1494, and discovered the island of St John, which he so named, because it was first seen on St John’s day +. Sebastian Cabot having, after this time, been several years employed in the service of the King of Spain, returned to England in 1548, when he was placed at the head of the Society of Merchant Adventurers, afterwards called the Muscovy or Russia Company; and was subsequently endowed by Edward VI. with a pen- sion of 166/. 13s. 4d. a-year, for good and accept- able services done and to be done by him. Gaspar CorTrerEAL, son of the voyager John Vaz Costa Cortereal above mentioned, sailed from * Barrow’s Voyages, p. 37. + Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 190. 70 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Lisbon in the year 1500, on a voyage of discovery towards the north-west, in search of a passage that way to the Spice Islands. He first saw the promon- tory of Greenland, then discovered the coast of La- brador; and after proceeding as far towards the north as the mountains of ice with which he met would admit, he coasted towards the south, and ‘discovered the River St Lawrence, together with several islands contiguous to the North Ameri- ean coast. The following year the same naviga- tor, with two vessels, undertook a second voyage, when he again saw Terra Verde (Greenland); but being separated from his companion in a storm, it is apprehended his vessel was wreeked among the ice of Cape Farewell, as his consort return- ed to Lisbon without him, and he was never heard of afterwards. Search for the unfortu- nate Cortereal was immediately commenced by his brother, MrcHarL CorTEREAL, grand door- keeper of the king Don Manuel, who sailed from Lisbon with three vessels on the 10th of May 1502. But the result of this voyage was as disastrous as the former; for, on the vessels separating, with the view of making a more effectual search for the lost navigator, Michael shared a similar fate as his bro- _ ther, and perished. A third brother was anxious to renew the search, but the King determinately — refused permission for him to embark personally im the undertaking. lest he should also be lost, but PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 71 readily permitted other individuals to pursue the humane design, though without effect *. An unimportant voyage was undertaken by one Aubert or Hubert, a Frenchman, in the year 1508, wherein he visited Newfoundland ; and another in 1524 by Estevan Gomez, a Spaniard or Portugueze, of the result of which little or nothing is known. An English voyage was attempted three years af terwards towards the North Pole, one of the vessels employed in which was called the Dominus Vobis- cum ; but the proceedings in this first expedition undertaken entirely by the English, for sailing in a northerly direction to India, are little known. A few more unimportant voyages undertaken by the French, Spanish, and English, bring us down to the period when the spirit for adventure among our countrymen burst forth, under the auspices of Edward VL., and under the judicious assistance and suggestions of Sebastian Cabot, with a degree of brilliancy scarcely before known. The first voyage undertaken for discovery towards the north-east, was eommenced by Sir HtcH WILLovcGHsy, in the year 1553, at the charge of * The Company of Mer- chant Adventurers.” This expedition, consisting of three ships, with a pinnace and a boat belonging to each, left Ratcliffe, and dropped down to Deptford. * Barrow'’s Voyages, p. +6. 72 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. on the 20th of May. ‘The following day it passed Greenwich with great display, in view of the Court, who were then there, and amid the warmest accla- mations of a great number of people of all ranks, who had assembled to witness its sailing. One of the ships, the Edward Bonaventure, commanded by Richard Chancellor, pilot-major of the fleet, was se- parated from the rest of the little squadron, in a storm, on the 3d of August, when they were near the northern termination of Lapland, called, by Ste- phen Burrough, who accompanied Chancellor, the North Cape; on which Sir Hugh Willoughby, in the Bona Esperanza, accompanied by the Bona Confidentia, proceeded in search of Wardhuus, ‘the place appointed for a rendezvous; but, missing it, stretched to the eastward, until the 14th of August, when he discovered an unknown coast, lying in la- titude 72°. On this coast, now called Nova Zem- bla *, he was unable to land, from the shoalness of * As Sir Hugh Willoughby was 160 leagues, by estimation, E. by N. from Seynam, an island on the east coast of Norway, in latitude 70°, when he discovered land ; and the distance to Nova Zembla, according to Arrowsmith, is not more than 220 leagues, I have no doubt but the coast seen by him was Nova Zembla. Besides, from the length of time he was in getting to the westward, to his wintering harbour, it is evident he was much farther to the eastward than he imagined. Indeed the courses and distances given in his journal, imperfect as they are, give sufficient westing for the distance between Nova Zembla and Lapland. And had he been mistaken in his lati- 2 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 73 the water. After beating three days to the north- ward, and probably making very little progress, he _ bore up with the wind at north-east, and ran about 70 leagues towards the south-south-east, when, fall- ing into 7 fathoms water, without seeing land, he hauled by the wind to north-westward. From that time, 21st August, until the 14th September, he coasted to the westward, seeing the Russian shore occasionally ; and, on the 18th, took up his winter quarters at the mouth of the river Arzina, a har- bour in the 70th degree of latitude, on the north- eastern face of Lapland. Here, owing to the seve- rity of the cold, and the want of proper food, him- self and two ships’ companies, consisting of 70 per- sons, exhausted by the combined effects of cold, hunger, and disease, perished in the ensuing spring. In the mean time, Chancellor, with the Edward Bonaventure, was more fortunate. He _ proceed- ed to Wardhuus, the place of rendezvous, from whence, after waiting seven days, he sailed a short distance to the northward, and then changing his course, fell in with the Russian territory, on the east side of the White Sea. In one of the Russian harbours, in this region, the ship remained through- out the winter. Chancellor, during their stay, tra- velled to Moscow, where he was handsomely enter- tude, and had the land seen been any of the islands lying near the northern part of Russia, it is evident he could not have steered 70 leagues to the S. S. E., as he afterwards did. 74 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. tained by Juan Vasilovich, Czar of Moscow, and re- ceived permission of a free trade. He returned to England in 1554, and the followmg summer was sent out again accompanied by Richard Gray and George Killingworth *, “ factors,” for establishing a regular trade with Russia by the way of the White Sea, which was accomplished under various privi- leges. STEPHEN BuRROUGH also, was sent out in a small vessel the following year (1556), for making discove- ries to the eastward. He visited Nova Zembla, and discovered the Island of Weigats, near which, in fruit- less endeavours to get to the eastward, he spent above three weeks, and then, proceeding to the westward, he wintered at Colmagro; and, after making some search for the Bona Esperanza, and Bona Confiden- tia, returned to England in 1557. After the complete establishment of the Russian trade, and the discovery of all the northern face of Russia, from the White Sea to the eastward of the Weigats, the chance of further discovery in that di- rection appeared so little, that a passage to Cathay or India, by the north-west, again became a popular spe- enlation. MartTin FrosisHer, who was one of the ‘most sanguine advocates of the practicability of this * This Killmgworth was remarkable for the length and beauty of his beard. It was of a yellowish colour, thick and broad, measuring 5 feet 2 inches in Jength. PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 75 scheme, after having for above fifteen years endeavour- ed in vain to accomplish an expedition, was at length, through the assistance of Dudley, Karl of Warwick, and a few friends, enabled to effect the equipment of two small barks of 35 and 30 tons, and a pinnace of 10 tons, with which he proceeded on discovery, on the 8th of June 1576. In this voyage he dis- covered a strait, in latitude 63° 8, afterwards na- med Frobisher’s Strait; but its situation being long supposed to be on Greenland, instead of on the Labrador side, the name of Lumley’s Inlet was applied to the same place. Omitting the two subsequent voyages of Fro- bisher, which were chiefly undertaken in search of treasure, and others in which nothing was discover- ed, we come to the commencement of a period of about thirty years, when all or the greater part of the discoveries which have been made towards the north-west, and north, were accomplished. The first important voyage was performed by JOHN Davis, who, with two vessels, the Sunshine of 50 tons, and the Moonshine of 35 tons, sailed from Dartmouth in search of a north-west passage. on the 7th of June 1585. They fell in with ice on the east side of Greenland, on the 19th of July ; and the following day got sight of a rocky moun- tainous land, appearing as if above the clouds, in form of a sugar loaf, to which Davis gave the name of the Land of Desolation. After doubling Cape 70 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Farewell, they stood to the north-westward ; and in four days saw land to the eastward, in latitude 64°15’, being the west side of Greenland. It con- sisted of islands, some of them inhabited, and con- tained many harbours, in one of which they an- chored. They afterwards stretched across an open sea to the north-westward, and again discover- ed land in latitude 66°40’, on the 6th of August, and anchored under a mount which they named. Mount Raleigh. To different parts of this coast, since denominated Cumberland Island, they ap- plied names. The foreland to the northward of them, they called Dier’s Cape; that to the south- ward Cape Walsingham ; and a great bay between the two capes they named Hweter Sound ; and their anchorage they called Totness Road. On the 11th of August, having returned a little to the south- ward, they sailed to the westward, in a strait 20 or 30 leagues in width, and free from ice, which has since been denominated Cumberland Strait. The cape which they rounded to enter this strait, they called the Cape of God’s Mercy, as being the place of their first entrance for discovery. On proceed- ing 60 leagues to the westward, they fell in with a cluster of islands in the midst of the passage, which, with the commencement of fog and unfavourable weather, put an end to their discovery. After re- maining six days in expectation of a change of weather, they sailed homeward, and arrived safe at Dartmouth on the 30th September. “They met t PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. . 77 with a multitude of natives in the course of the voyage, whom they found a very tractable people, and liberal in their mode of trafficking. The discovery by Davis of a nation with whom it seemed practicable to enter into an advantageous traffic, with the great expectations, excited by the open navigation of the strait into which he sailed, of a communication with the Pacific Ocean, occa- sioned Davis with his two barks, to which were added a trading vessel of 120 tons, and a pinnace of 10 tons, to be again dispatched the following year. They left Dartmouth on the 7th May. After making the land near Cape Farewell, they proceeded along the west coast of Greenland, where the natives came off to their ships in 40, 50, or even 100 canoes at a time, bringing with them skins, fish, fowls, and other produce of the country. Davis having, on his passage across the Atlantic, sent two of his vessels to the eastward of Green- land, with orders to seek a passage to the north- ward between Greenland and Iceland, as far as la- titude 80°, was now deserted by his only remaining companion, and proceeded alone on his discovery, in the Moonshine of 35 tons. From the coast of Greenland, in 66° 33’, which he discovered, he sail- ed westward 50 leagues until he fell in with land again in latitude 66° 19’; he cruised about this coast for some time, and then stretched to the southward, examining inlets in the Labrador shore as he went, until the 11th September, when he left the 738 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. coast about the latitude of 54°, and arrived in England in October. The North Star of 10 tons burden, one of the vessels sent to the eastward of Greenland, parted from her consort in a storm on the 3d of September, and was never afterwards heard of. Though this voyage was productive of no discovery of any consequence, yet Davis was sent out again the next year (1587) with three vessels. They proceeded as before along the west coast of Greenland, but to a greater extent, ha- ving had an observation in latitude 72°12’. This_ land, lying on the east side of the strait now called Davis Strait, they named the London Coast. From hence, the wind shifting to the northward, they stretched across the strait to the westward, got entangled among ice, and made their way through it to the southward. After again sailing up Cumberland Strait as far as before, they went across the mouth of the strait discovered by Fro- bisher, which they named Lumley’s Inlet, and passed a headland called by them Warwick's Fore- land; then crossing a large gulf forming the en- trance of the strait afterwards sailed through by Hudson, they came to the southermost cape of the gulf lying in latitude 61°10, to which they ap- plied the name of Cape Chidley. Soon afterwards they returned to England. AA passage to India and China by the north-east, presenting many apparent advantages, the Dutch, PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 79 as soon as relieved from the yoke of Spain, em- barked in the enterprize of discovering it. Four ships were equipped for this purpose in the year 1594, part of which, under the command of Cor- NELIS CORNELISON, passed the strait of Weigatz, and proceeded about 40 leagues to the eastward, when, finding the sea clear, and every prospect of a passage, instead of pursuing the discovery, they turned back to communicate the news of the happy probability! Another part of the expedition un- der the direction of WititiamM BarEeNntz, exa- mined at the same time the western side of Nova Zembla, giving names to several remarkable parts of the coast from latitude 77° 25’ down to 71°. After another expedition of seven ships, expen- sively prepared, had been sent out in the same di- rection, and altogether failed, two ships under the command of Jacob Van Heemskerke and Cor- nelis Ryp, with WILLIAM BaRENTzZ as chief pilot, were sent out from Amsterdam on the 10th May 1596, for discovering a north-east passage. On an island that they discovered in latitude 74° 35, they killed an immense bear, from which circum- stance the place was called Bear Island. From hence, at the suggestion of Cornelis Ryp, they pro- ceeded to the northward, with the hope of getting round the ice with which the coast of Nova Zem- bla is encumbered, and thus discovered land when in latitude 80° 10’, on the 17th of June, which they 80 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. named Spitzbergen, or Sharp Mountains. They examined the coast hastily, as far to the southward as latitude 76° 50’, and then saw no more land un- til they approached Bear Island, (afterwards called Cherry Island,) on the Ist of July. Being doubt- ful of the situation of the newly discovered region, with regard to the continent of Europe, or any other known land, the two ships pursued different courses, that the navigators might satisfy them- selves of its true position; and Cornelis, sailing back again from Bear Island, direct north, arrived at a place on the west coast of Spitzbergen, which they had before denominated the Bay of Birds *. Barentz, in the mean time, proceeded to the eastward, with the hope of accomplishing the main object of his voyage, and reached the coast of Nova Zembla on the 17th of July. Then persevering to the northward and eastward, with the expectation of getting round Nova Zembla, they got entangled among the ice on the coast, and were brought to the dreadful necessity of wintering in this desolate and frozen country. ‘To attempt any description of their proceedings, their observations, or their afflic- tions during this severe trial, would, within the limit of a few lines, to which it is my wish to con- fine my remarks in this place, but spoil a most in- teresting and affecting narrative. “ The journal * De Brye, Indiz Orientalis pars undecima, tom. iii. p. 48.— st PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 81 of the proceedings of these poor people, as Mr Bar- row beautifully observes, “ during their cold, com- fortless, dark and dreadful winter, is intensely and painfully interesting. No murmuring escapes them in their most hopeless and afflicted situation ; but _ such a spirit of true piety, and a tone of such mild and subdued resignation to Divine Providence, breathe through the whole narrative, that it is im- possible to peruse the simple tale of their suffer- ings, and contemplate their forlorn situation, with- out the deepest emotion *.” Part of the sufferers made their escape in two open boats from this dismal country in the follow- ing summer ; and, after a perilous and painful voy- age of above 1100 miles, arrived in safety at Cola; but Barentz, with some others, was overcome by the severity of the climate, and the extraordinary exer- tions which he was obliged to make, and died. GrorGE WeEymoutH, who was sent out by the Museovy and Turkey Companies, with two vessels, in the year 1602, found an inlet in the land to the northward of the Labrador coast, in lati- tude 61° 40’, into which he said he sailed W. by 8S. a hundred leagues. If so, he must have been in the channel now called HHudson’s Strait, and of course was the discoverer of it. VoL: I. F * « Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Re- gions,” p. 151. 82 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Three voyages towards the north-west by Jamzs Hatt, and one by JouN KNIGHT, were performed. after that of Weymouth, but the next discovery worth mentioning was made by Henry Hupson, who, in 1607, in a voyage towards the North Pole, traced the east coast of Greenland, from a little to the northward of Iceland, as high as latitude 73°, which extreme point of his navigation this way he ealled Hold with Hope. We then proceeded more to the eastward, made the coast of Spitzbergen, sailed as high as latitude 81°, and explored a bay between the north end of Charles’ Island and the Main, and returned home in safety. ‘This navigation was performed in a very small vessel, with a crew only of ten men and a boy. In the year 1608, Hudson was employed in search of a north-east passage ; the year afterwards, in a nor- thern and western voyage in the Dutch service, the design of which is not well understood ; and in the season of 1610, this enterprising navigator embarked on a voyage of discovery from England, towards the north-west, in a vessel of fifty-five tons burden. On this occasion, which terminated fatally to him- self, he passed the Strait, the mouth of which was first observed by Davis, and said to have beer entered by Weymouth, then discovered the bay which bears his name, hauled his ship on shore in a convenient situation, and wintered there. The ship being victualled only for six months, they fell PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 83 short of provisions ; and soon after the vessel was got afloat in the summer of 1611, the crew mutinied, barbarously forced their Captain, his son, and seven of the crew, mostly invalids, into a boat, with a most scanty supply of the necessaries of life, and abandoned them to a miserable fate. The chief of the mutineers, one Green, who had received the most distinguished favours from Hudson, being preserved by him from ruin, taken into his own house, and afterwards allowed to accompany him on his voyage, met with a speedy requital for his base in- gratitude. He landed with some of his companions near the western extremity of Hudson’s Strait, where he met with some savages, who, though at first they appeared on friendly terms, unexpectedly attacked his party, killed the base ingrate, and mortally wounded three others. Another person, said to be also among the chiefs in the mutiny, died of want on the passage homeward. Sir THomas Burron, with two ships, proceed- ed towards the north-west in the year 1612, on the same track as the unfortunate Hudson pursued. He first stretched across to the western shore of Hud- son's Bay, examined a part of the coast, and then took up his winter quarters in a creek on the north side of a river which he discovered, and named Nel- sows River. As soon as the ice cleared away, he examined the western side of the bay, as high along Southampton Island as latitude 65°, gave names FQ $4 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. to several headlands and islands, and returned to England in the autumn of 1613. In the year 1615, Ropert By Lor, accompa- nied by the celebrated William Baffin as mate and companion, with one small vessel, visited the same quarter, and examined the eastern side of South- ampton Island, as high as latitude 65°26". After spending three months in the frozen sea, without making any considerable discovery, they returned to England. The next year, (1616), Bylot, accom- panied by WiLLIAM BaFrrin as Pilot, proceeded to the examination of the sea lying north and west of Davis’ Strait. They had but one vessel, the Discovery, of fifty-five tons burden, which had be- fore been employed in four similar voyages, under Hudson in 1610, Button in 1612, Gibbon in 1614, and Bylot in the preceding year. In this little vessel, with seventeen persons on board, Baffin traced the west coast of Greenland up Davis’ Strait, as high as the extremity of the extensive sea in the 78th degree of latitude, now named after him, as the discoverer; proceeded round by the western part of the bay as near the shore as the ice would permit, and down to the latitude of 65°40’; ha- ving seen land, probably, all the way, excepting in the openings of some of the sownds, and in the in- terval between the latitudes of 70°30’ and 68°, where he fell in with a large body of ice, and was under the necessity of taking a cirenit to the east- t PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 85 This voyage of Baffin’s beg one of the most re- markable and important navigations ever accom- plished in the same quarter of the globe, is worthy amore particular description. I shall, therefore, give an abstract of Baffin’s narratiye, as published by Purchas *. They sailed from Gravesend on the 26th of March 1616; but owing to bad weather and con- trary winds, did not clear the Channel until the 20th of April. After a good passage across the Atlan- tic, they proceeded without interruption, excepting from contrary winds, up Davis Strait to latitude 70° 20’, where they anchored in a “ fair sound” near Davis’s London Coast. Here the tides rising only eight or nine feet, and keeping no certain course, Baffin was discouraged in the hope of a passage. After remaining two days at this place, from whence all the inhabitants had fled, they weighed and plyed to the northward. On the 26th of May they fell in with a dead whale, and made the ship fast, to secure it: after having obtained 160 fins or blades of whalebone from it, a storm ensued, and it broke away from them. May 30th, they reached Hope Sanderson, the northernmost land visited by Davis, lying between the parallels of 72° and 73° ; and on the same evening fell in with ice, which they immediately entered, and pass- * Pilgrimes, vol. itl. p. 844. 86 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ed through the following day. The wind then blow- ing very hard at N. N, E., they put in among some islands, in latitude 72° 45’, from which the in- habitants fied on their approach, leaving only a few women behind, who hid themselves among the rocks. From this circumstance, the group was cal- led Women’s Islands. 'The wind being moderate, though still contrary, they sailed on the 4th and plyed to the northward, in a channel seven or eight leagues wide, between the ice and the land. Being much pestered with ice on the 9th, they anchored near three small islands, lying eight miles from the main, in latitude 74°4’. The flood-tide here was very weak, but the ebb ran with a considerable stream, which Baffin attributed to the melting of the snow on the land. From hence they attempt- ed to get to the northward and north-westward ; but finding the ice impervious, though in a rapid stateof dissolution, they putin among some islands in latitude 73° 45’, until there should be more room. Here they were visited by the natives to the amount of forty-two persons, who bartered skins and pieces of the tusks of sea-horses, and what are usually cal- led unicorn’s-horns, for beads, iron, and such like; from which the anchorage was named Horn Sound. On the 18th they put to sea, and found the ice astonishingly dispersed, having stood to the west- ward nearly twenty leagues, and to the northward, as far as latitude 74° 30’, before they met with any PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 87 interruption. Afterwards, however, they experi- enced considerable inconvenience from ice, being occasionally beset, (yet never passing a day with- out making some progress,) until the Ist of Ju- ly, when, in latitude 75° 40, they got into an open sea. Here they stood twenty leagues off shore, be- fore they fell in with ice, and the hope of a passage was again revived; but, on trying the tide on their return to the coast, this hope was again depressed. The wind, on the 2d of July, veered to the south- east, and blew hard; and though the weather was thick, they were bold enough to run along the land to the northward. On the morning of the 3d, they passed a headland, in latitude 76° 35’, which they ealled Sir Dudley Diggs’ Cape; and twelve leagues beyond it, they opened a bay, having an island in the midst, under which they anchored ; but, in two hours time, the wind still blowing very hard, the ship drove, with two anchors down, and obliged them to set sail. This bay, which Baffin reckons a fit place for killing whales, he named Wosten- holme Sound. On the 4th, the storm veered to W. by S., and was so furious that it blew away their fore-sail, and obliged them to lie adrift. Finding themselves embayed when the weather cleared a little, they set sail, and stretched across to the south-eastward, into a little cove, where they attempted “ to bring up;” but the squalls from the hills being violent, 88 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS: they lost both anchor and cable. The wind sooit after abated, and they stood forth. This bay, ly- ing in latitude 77° 30’, abounded with whales, and was, in consequence, named Whale Sound. Ano- ther large opening to the northward of this, extend- ing beyond the latitude of 78°, they called Str Thomas Snuth’s Sound ; an island between these two bays was named HHackluyt’s Isle; and a group lying twelve or thirteen leagues from the shore, they called Carey’s Islands. 'They tow stood a considerable distance to the westward, and were be- calmed on the 10th near the land, beside another opening, which they named Alderman Jones’ Sound. Near this place a boat was sent on shore. The land was now found trending to the south- ward, and began to show likea bay. Steering then along shore, they opened another large sound, im Ja- titude 74° 20’, on the 12th of July, to which they gave the name of Sir James Lancaster's Sound. From this opening a ledge of ice was connected with the shore, along which they coasted till the 14th, “ by which time,” says Baffin, “ we were in the latitude of 71°16’, and plainly perceived the land to the southward of 70° 30’; then we having so much ice round about us, were forced to stand more eastward, supposing ta have been soon clear, and to have kept on the off side of the ice, until we had come into 70°, then to have stood in again.” But in this they were disappointed ; for they had PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 89 to run above sixty leagues to the eastward, before they got clear of the ice, and were many times so hampered that they could get no way. ‘They were unable to approach the shore again until the 24th of July, when they were in latitude about 68° ; and then, though they saw the land, they could not get nearer thaneight or nine leagues. From this situation the ice led them into the latitude of 65° 40’, where, being hopeless of a passage, considering themselves in the indraft of Cumberland Islands, and the season be- ing too far spent to return to the head of the bay to seek for whalebone, they stood across to the coast of Greenland, and put into Cochin Sound, in latitude 65° 45, to refresh the crew, several of whom were sickly. Here, by the use of scurvy-grass, which they found in great abundance, and other suit- able regimen, they were restored to health in a few days. ‘This sound, described by Baffin as a very good harbour, they left on the 6th of August, and anchored all well (excepting one man, who died in Davis’ Strait,) on the 30th of the same month in Dover Road. Such was the extensive nature of the discoveries made on this occasion, and such the remarkable po- sition given to the land, that, combined with the meagerness of all published accounts of the voyage, ‘and the suppression of the chart and tables to which Baffin refers, occasioned a considerable doubt 90 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. both as to the truth of the narrative and the extent of the navigation. Thelate voyage, however, by Cap- tain Ross and Lieutenant Parry, how much soever the public may feel disappointed as to the general is- sue, affords a pleasing confirmation of the faithfulness and accuracy of Baffin; and when we observe the brief and unostentatious manner in which he nar- rates the transactions of this important voyage, we cannot withhold our warmest admiration. After the voyage of Baffin, it would be tedious even to enumerate the various expeditions which have been sent out on discovery into the Arctic seas, all of which have failed in their principal ob- ject. I shall therefore close this brief and imper- fect sketch of the progress of northern discovery, with observing, that, whatever has been added to the discoveries of Willoughby, Davis, Hudson and Baffin, among English voyagers, and to the dis- coveries of Barentz, Heemskerke, and Ryp, a- mong the Dutch, consists only in the explorations by the Russians and the Dutch of the northern shores of the Continent of Europe and Asia, and in the researches by the British about the shores of Spitzbergen, and in the bays of Hudson and Baffin. A tabular enumeration of all the voyages under- taken in search of a northern communication be- tween the Atlantic and Pacific, with a brief view PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. QI of the result of each expedition, which is included in the Appendix to this volume, No. ILL, will af- ford all the information requisite to be given in this work, with regard to those voyages that I have passed over without notice, 92 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. CHAPTER II. DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE PO.- LAR COUNTRIES *, SECT. I. Account of Spitzbergen and the Islands im- mediately adjacent, SpirzBERGEN extends farthest towards the north of any country yet discovered, It is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean or Greenland Sea; and though * When I first formed the design of presenting to the public the result of my observations, made in the course of repeated visits to the coast of Spitzbergen, and neighbouring regions, it was my intention to give a general description of all the countries lying within the Arctic Zone; but the excellent works of Sir George Mackenzie, and of the Reverend Ebenezer Henderson, on Iceland, which have recently appeared, and the voyages of our navigators into Baffin’s Bay, and the work of Professor Giesecké on Greenland, which have been announced, render it unnecessary for me to give any account of these - countries. I now, therefore, abridge my original plan, by ex- cluding the intended description of Iceland and West Green- land, and confine my remarks to those regions, of which, from personal observation in general, I am better able to give an original description. SPITZBERGEN. 93 the occasional resort of persons, drawn thither for purposes of hunting and fishing, does not appear to ~ have ever been inhabited. It les between the la- titudes 76° 30’ and 80°7’ N., and between the lon- gitudes of 9° and perhaps 22° E..; but some of the neighbouring islands extend at ieast as far north as 80° 40’, and still farther towards the east than the mainland of Spitzbergen. ‘The western part of this country was discovered by BARENTZ, Heemskerke and Ryp, in two vessels fitted out of Amsterdam, on the 19th of June 1596, who, from the nume- rous peaks and acute mountains observed on the coast, gave it the appropriate name of Spitzbergen, signifying sharp mountains. It was afterwards named Newland, or King James’ Newland, and then Greenland, being supposed to be a continuation towards the east of the country so called by the Icelanders. It was rediscovered by Henry Hudson, an English navigator, in 1607, and four years af- terwards became the resort of the English, for the purpose of taking whales, since which period, its shores have annually been visited by one or other of the nations of Kurope, with the same ob- ject, to the present time. And though the soil of the whole of this remote country does not produce vegetables suitable or sufficient for the nourish- ment of a single human being, yet its coasts and adjacent seas have afforded riches and indepen- dence to thousands. 4, ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, This country exhibits many interesting views, with numerous examples of the sublime. Its stu- pendous hills rising by steep acclivities from the very margin of the ocean to an immense height; its surface, contrasting the native protruding dark-co- loured rocks, with the burden of purest snow and magnificent ices, altogether constitute an extraor- dinary and beautiful picture. The whole of the western coast is mountainous and picturesque ; and though it is shone upon by a four months’ sun every year, its snowy covering is never wholly dissolved, nor are its icy monuments of the dominion of frost ever removed ‘The val- leys opening towards the coast, and terminating in the back ground with a transverse chain of moun- tains, are chiefly filled with everlasting ice. The inland valleys, at all seasons, present a smooth and continued bed of snow, in some places divided by considerable rivulets, but in others exhibiting a pure unbroken surface for many leagues in extent, Along the west coast, the mountains take their rise from within a league of the sea, and some from its very edge. Few tracts of table-land of more than a league in breadth are to be seen, and in many places the blunt termination of mountain-ridges project beyond the regular line of the coast, and overhang the waters of the ocean. The southern part of Spitzbergen consists of groups of insulated mountains, little disposed in chains, or in any de- terminate order, having conical, pyramidal, or ridged SPITZBERGEN. 95 summits, sometimes round-backed, freauently ter- minating in points, and occasionally in acute peaks, not unlike spires. An arm of a short mountain- chain, however, forms the southern Cape or Point- look-out; but a low flat, in the form of a fish’s tail, of about forty square miles in surface, consti- tutes the termination of the coast. Other promon- tories lying nearly north and south, are of a similar nature. ‘The middle of Charles’ Island is occupied by a mountain-chain of about thirty miles in length, rising on the west side from the sea, and on the east from a small stripe of table-land, only a few feet above the level of the ocean. In some parts of the coast, indeed, the table-land, from which the mountains take their rise, is even below the level of the high water mark, and is only prevented from being covered, by a natural sea-bank of shingle, thrown up in many places to the height of ten or fifteen feet. To the northward of Charles’ Island, the moun- tains are more disposed in chains than they are to the southward. The principal ridge lies nearly north and south; and the principal valley ex- tends from the head of Cross Bay to the northern face of the country, a distance of 40 or 50 miles. An inferior chain of hills, two or three leagues from the coast, runs parallel with the shore, from which lateral ridges project into the sea, and termi- nate in mural precipices. Between these lateral 96 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ridges, some of the most remarkable icebergs on the coast occur. Along the northern shore of Spitz- bergen, and towards the north-east, the land is neither so elevated, nor are the hills so sharp-point- ed,as on the western coast. Indeed, some of the islands, and considerable tracts of the main, consist of comparatively low land. With regard to the land about Red Hill, it has been observed, that there is more natural earth and clay, though with even less vegetation, than on almost any other part of the coast which has been visited. The most remarkable mountains I have seen, are situated near Horn Sound, on Charles’ Island, and near King’s Bay. Horn Mount, or Hedge-hog Mount, so called from an appearance of spines on the top when seen in some positions, takes its rise from a small tract of alpine land, on the southern side of Horn Sound. It has different summits, chiefly in the form of spires, one of which is remarkably acute and elevated. I had an opportunity of deter- mining its height in the year 1815. From one set of observations, its altitude came out 1457 yards, and from another 1473, the mean of which is 1465 yards, or 4395 feet *. Another peak, a few miles farther to the northward, appeared to be 3306 feet high. * See a representation of this Mountain in Plate 3. SPITZBERGEN!——MOUNTAINS. 97 On Charles’ Island is a curious peak, which juts into the sea. It is crooked, perfectly naked, be- ing equally destitute of snow and verdure, and, from its black appearance or pointed figure, has been denominated the Devil’s Thumb. Its height may be about 1500 or 2000 feet. The MMurd- dle-Hook of the Foreland, as the central part of the chain of mountains in Charles’ Island is called, is a very interesting part of the coast. These mountains, which are, perhaps, the highest land adjoining the sea which is to be met with, take their rise at the water’s edge, and by a con- tinued ascent of an angle at first of about 30°, and increasing to 45° or more, each comes to a point, with the elevation of about six-sevenths of an Eng- lish mile. This portion of the chain exhibits five distinct summits, the elevation of the highest of which, as determined by Captain Phipps, is 4500 feet, and of the lowest, by estimation, above 4000 feet. Some of these summits are, to appearance, within half a league, horizontal distance, of the margin of the sea. The points formed by the top of two or three of them, are so fine, that the ima- gination is at a loss to conceive of a place, on which, an adventurer, attempting the hazardous exploit of ‘climbing one of the summits, might rest *. Were such an undertaking practicable, it is evident it could not be effected without imminent danger. VOL. I. G * See Plate 3. fig. 3. 98 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS, Besides extraordinary courage and strength requi- site in the adventurer, such an attempt would need the utmost powers of exertion, as well as the most irresistible perseverance. Frederick Martens, in his excellent account of a “ Voyage to Spitzbergen,” undertaken in the year 1671, describes some of the cliffs as consisting of but one stone from the bottom to the top, or as appearing like anold decayed wall,and as smelling very sweet, where covered with lichens. In Magdalene Bay, the rocks he describes as lying in a semicircular form, having at each extremity two high mountains, with natural excavations, “‘ after the fashion of a breast-work,” and at their summits, points and cracks like battlements. Some of the mountains of Spitzbergen are well proportioned four-sided pyramids, rising out of a base of a mile or a mile and a half, to a league square ; others form angular chains, resembling the roof of a house, which recede from the shore in pa- rallel ridges, until they dwindle into obscurity in the distant perspective. Some exhibit the exact resem- blance of art, but in a style of grandeur exceeding the famed pyramids of the East, or even the more wonderful Tower of Babel, the presumptive design and arrogant continuation of which, was checked by the miraculous confusion of tongues. An instance of such a regular and magnificent work of Nature, is seen near the head of King’s Bay, consisting of three piles of rocks, of a regular form, known by SPITZBERGEN.—MOUNTAINS. 99 the name of the Three Crowns. ‘They rest on the top of the ordinary mountains, each commen- cing with a square table or horizontal stratum of rock, on the top of which is another of similar form and height, but of a smaller area; this is continued by a third, a fourth, and so on, each succeeding stratum being less than the next below it, until it forms a pyramid of steps, almost as regular, to ap- pearance, as if worked by art. J do not know that the Three Crowns have ever been visited, or what may be their actual form; but the appearance I have attempted to describe, is that which they exhibit at the distance of from five to ten leagues. In Plate 3. is a representation of these interest- ing objects, seen at the distance of at least thirty miles. Many of the mountains of Spitzbergen are inac- cessible. ‘The steepness of the ascent, and the loose- ness of the rocks, with the numerous lodgments of ~ ice in the clefts or sides of the cliffs, constitute, in many places, insurmountable obstacles. Some hills, indeed, may be climbed with tolerable safety, but generally the attempt is hazardous. Martens no- tices the necessity of marking every step with chalk, as the adventurer climbs the rugged mountain, otherwise he will not know how to get down. In advancing, he observes, it seems easy enough to be done, but in descending, it is found so difficult and q 2 100 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. dangerous, that many have fallen and. lost their lives in the attempt *. When Barentz, and Heemskerke discovered Cherry Island, on their advance towards the north, when they also discovered Spitzbergen, some daring fellows among their sailors, who had been collecting birds’ eggs, climbed a high steep mountain, resem- bling those of Spitzbergen, where they unexpect- edly found themselves in a most perilous situation ; for, on turning to descend, the way by which they had advanced presented a dismal assemblage of pointed rocks, perpendicular preeipices, and yawn- ing chasms. ‘The view of the danger of the de- scent struck them with terror. No relief, however, could be afforded them, and they were obliged to make the attempt. They soon lost the track by which they had reached the summit, and were bewildered among the rocks. At length, after a most anxious and painful exercise, in which they found it necessary to slide down the rocks, while lying flat on .their bodies, they reached the foot of the cliff in safety. Barentz, who had observed their conduct from the shore, gave them a sharp reproof for their rash te- merity t. * Martens’ Voyage, originally printed in the Dutch lan- guage, has been translated into English, and published in “ An Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries to the South and North.” London, 1694, Svo. + Beschryving, &c. vol. iii. SPITZBERGEN.—ICEBERGS. 101 A merchant of Holland, of the name of Kiin, who accompanied the first Dutch ship which sailed to the Spitzbergen whale-fishery, in the year 1612, undertook the dangerous achievement of climbing -one of the principal mountains on Charles’ Island. He made some progress in the bold attempt, but ‘slipping his foot, he fell down the steep acclivity and broke his neck. One of the most interesting appearances to be found in Spitzbergen, is the Iceberg. ‘This term, written Ysberg by the Dutch, signifies ice-moun- tain. I speak not here of the islands of ice which are borne to southern climates on the bosom of the ocean, but of those prodigious lodgments of ice which occur in the valleys adjoining the coast of Spitzbergen and other Polar countries, from which the floating icebergs seem to be derived. _ Where a chain of hills-lies parallel to the line of the coast, and within a few miles distance of the sea-beach, having lateral ridges jutting towards the sea, at in- tervals of a league or two, we have a most favour able situation for the formation of icebergs. Such is precisely the nature of the situation a little to the northward of Charles’ Island, where the con- spicuous bodies of ice noticed by Martens, Phipps and others, and known by the name of the Seven Icebergs, occur. Each of these occupies a deep valley, opening towards the sea, formed by hills of about 2000 feet elevation on the sides, and termina; 102 ACCOUNT OF FHE ARCTIC REGIONS. ted in the mterior by the ehain of mountains, of perhaps 3000 to 3500 feet in height, which follows the line of the coast. They are exactly of the na- ture and appearance of glaciers; they commence at the margin of the sea, where they frequently con- stitute a considerable precipice, and extend along the valley, which commonly rises with a gentle slope, until they are either terminated by the brow of the mountain in the back-ground, or interrupted by a precipitous summit. Besides these icebergs, there are some, equally large, near the north-west angle of Spitzbergen, in King’s Bay and in Cross Bay, and some of much greater magnitude near Point-look-out, besides many others of various sizes, in the large sounds on the western side, and along the northern and eastern shores of this remarkable country. The Seven Icebergs are each, on an average, about a mile in length, and perhaps near 200 feet in height at the sea-edge; but some of those to the southward are much greater.