r^ h4 *&** &£ .% *** ^Murine Mates. E. Couch, H. F. Collins, Second Master. Stephen S. Stanley, Surgeon. H. D. Goodsir, Assistant-Surgeon. James Read, Ice Master. 12 Warrant and Petty Officers. 58 Seamen and Marines. 70 Total. Terror. Richard Crozier, Captain. Ed. Little, j Geo. H. Hodgson, > Lieutenants. John Irving, J Frederick Hornby,) Mateg# Robert Thomas, > Thomas Blanky, Ice Master. G. A. Maclean, Second.Master. John S. Peddie, Surgeon. Alex. M'Donald, Assist.-Surgeon. J. H. Helpman, Clerk in Charge. 1 1 Warrant and Petty Officers. 57 Seamen and Marines, 68 Total. In recording the names of the above-mentioned officers, those of Captain Sir John Franklin and Captain Crozier require nothing further to be said . that of Commander Fitzjames has been distinguished in the Euphrates, on the Coast of Syria, and in China ; and by his zeal and alacrity, his good humour and ever cheerful disposition, he has made himself an universal favourite in the navy ; and I am most happy to add that, in his absence, the Board of Admiralty have promoted him to the rank of Captain. Lieutenant Graham Gore served in the last fearful voyage of the Terror ; and Lieutenant Fairholme was in the Niger expedition, — excellent officers both. ( xi ) CONTENTS. Preface . CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Cause of the renewal of the search for a North-west Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific . . . Page 1 CHAPTER II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS, In the Isabella and Alexander — Proceeded up Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay into Lancaster Sound, and returned . 19 CHAPTER III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN, With the Dorothea and Trent — Towards the North Pole — Reached the northern part of Spitzbergen — Ships damaged in the Ice, and returned ...... 56 CHAPTER IV. LIEUTENANT PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE, With the Hecla and Griper— Proceeded up Davis's Strait and into Baffin's Bay, crossed over to Lancaster Sound, Regent's Inlet, through Barrow's Strait, and to Melville Island 76 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. CLAVEKING AND SABINE, To Spitzbergen and Greenland — Hammerfest and Drontheim — To ascertain the Ellipticity of the Earth, by swinging the Pendulum ........ 125 CHAPTER VI. COMMANDER PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE, In the Fury and Hecla — Entered Hudson's Strait, Fox's Chan- nel, Frozen Strait, the Welcome, discovered the Fury and Hecla Strait — passed two winters, and returned . 144 CHAPTER VII. CAPTAIN GEORGE LYON, In the Griper — Proceeded up Hudson's Strait, Fox's Channel, the Welcome — Unable to reach Repulse Bay— Returned 213 CHAPTER VIII. CAPTAIN PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE, In the Hecla and Fury — Proceeded up Davis's Strait and Baf- fin's Bay into Lancaster Sound and Prince Regent's Inlet, where the Fury was wrecked, and he returned . . 233 CHAPTER IX. CAPTAIN PARRY'S FOURTH VOYAGE, In the Hecla — As far as Spitzbergen — Thence in the Boats to- wards the North Pole — Reached nearly the 83rd degree of latitude, and returned ...... 282 CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON. Journey through North America to the Polar Sea, and along the coast from Copper Mine River to Point Turnagain 331 CHAPTER XI. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON. Second Journey to the Polar Sea, to the Mackenzie River, thence westward to the Return Cliff, and eastward to the Copper Mine River .408 CHAPTER XII. BACK'S JOURNEY Through North America — Down a River not before navigated by Europeans to its Estuary on the Polar Sea — Both now known by the name of Back . . . . .461 CHAPTER XIII. BACK'S VOYAGE Towards Repulse Bay — Shut up in the Ice, and floated oh the Ice in the midst of the Ocean off the east coast of South- ampton Island nearly a whole year .... 486 CHAPTER XIV. MISCELLANEOUS. 1. Capt. John Ross's Second Voyage, in a Merchant Vessel. 2. Select Committee of the House of Commons on that Voyage. 3. Discoveries on the South Coast of the Polar Sea. By Mr. Thomas Simpson ...... 508 ( xiv ) DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING PORTRAIT AND MAPS. Portrait to face Title. Chart of Simpson's Strait to face page 528. General Polar Chart and the Arctic Regions, at the end. ARCTIC VOYAGES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. So much has been said on the subject of a north- west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and so many erroneous notions have been afloat con- cerning it, that I deem it proper, by way of intro- duction, to account for the recent revival of the attempts to discover it. " Among the changes and vicissitudes to which the physical constitution of our globe is perpetually subject, one of the most extraordinary, and from which the most interesting and important results may be anticipated, appears to have taken place in the course of the last two or three years, and is still in progressive operation. The convulsion of an earthquake, and the eruption of a volcano, force themselves into notice by the dismay and devasta- tion with which, in a greater or less degree, they are almost always attended; but the event to which we allude has been so quietly accomplished, that it B 2 INTRODUCTION. Chap. I. might have remained unknown, but for an extra- ordinary change which a few intelligent navigators remarked in the state of the Arctic ice, and the re- ports of the unusual quantities of this ice observed in the Atlantic." The extract here quoted must, I believe, be laid at my door. The event alluded to was the disap- pearance of the whole, or greater part, of the vast barrier of ice, which for a long period of time, per- haps for centuries, was supposed to have maintained its firm-rooted position on the eastern coast of Old Greenland ; and its re -appearance in a more south- erly latitude, where it was met with, as was attested by various persons worthy of credit, in the years 1815-16 and 17; by ships coming from the East Indies and America ; by others going to Halifax and Newfoundland ; and in different parts of the Atlantic, as far down as the 40th parallel of latitude. Some of these detached masses were of an unusual mag- nitude and extent, amounting in some instances to whole islands of ice, of such vast dimensions that ships were impeded by them for many days in then- voyages ; others were detached icebergs, from a hundred to a hundred and thirty feet above the sur- face of the water, and several miles in circumfer- ence. The Halifax packet reported that she had passed a mountain of ice, nearly two hundred feet hio-h, and at least two miles in circumference. A ship, belonging to the Old Greenland Missions, Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 3 was eleven days beset on the coast of Labrador in floes of ice mixed with icebergs, many of which had huge rocks upon them, gravel, soil, and pieces of wood : in short, every account from various parts of North America agreed in stating, that larger and more numerous fields and bergs of ice had been seen, at greater distances from their usual places, in the years above mentioned, than had at any time before been witnessed by the oldest navigators. The fact, therefore, might be considered as too well au- thenticated to admit of a doubt. It was at once concluded from whence the greater part of these immense quantities of ice were de- rived. In a letter from Mr. Scoresby the younger, an intelligent navigator of the Greenland seas, to Sir Joseph Banks, he says, " I observed on my last voyage (1817) about two thousand square leagues (eighteen thousand square miles) of the surface of the Greenland seas, included between the parallels 74° and 80°, perfectly void of ice, all of which had disappeared within the last two years." And he further states that although, on former voyages, he had very rarely been able to penetrate the ice, between the latitudes of 76° and 80°, so far to the west as the meridian of Greenwich, on his last voyage he twice reached the longitude of 10° west; that in the parallel of 74° he approached the coast of Old Greenland ; that there was little ice near the land ; and he added, " that there could be no b 2 4 INTRODUCTION. Chap.I. doubt that he might have reached the shore, had he but a justifiable motive for navigating an un- known sea at so late a season of the year." This account was fully confirmed by intelligence received at Copenhagen from Iceland in the year 1816, that the ice had broken loose from the opposite coast of Greenland, and floated away to the southward, after surrounding the shores of Iceland, and filling all the bays and creeks of that island ; and that this afflicting visitation was repeated in 1817 — circum- stances hitherto unknown to the oldest inhabitant. About the same time, the whale ships that fre- quented the fishery in Davis's Straits, and the Hud- son's Bay traders, experienced an unusual number of icebergs and large floes of ice drifting to the southward down the straits and along the coast of Labrador, and past Newfoundland ; yet as to a cer- tain extent those masses of ice were of frequent oc- currence in these quarters, and occasionally met with in the Atlantic, it was those from the eastward that attracted particular notice. Whatever the cause may have been for the dis- ruption of this immense barrier of ice from the eastern coast of Greenland, whether by its own weight after centuries of accumulation, or from the partial disruption of the coast itself, the fact is un- questionable ; and the notoriety of it given in the several journals of Europe, and more especially in those of England, corroborated by various private Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 5 communications, was among the circumstances which, combined with others, gave rise to the revival of those voyages of discovery for attempting a passage round the northern coast of America to the Pacific Ocean, and also to another attempt to reach the North Pole, by proceeding between the east coast of Greenland, now freed from ice, and the west coast of Spitzbergen, generally not much hampered with ice. A naval officer, the narrator of one of the very first of the modern expeditions, which the change in the ice of the northern seas mainly occasioned, opens his account of it as follows : — " It most opportunely occurred, in the year 1817, that accounts of a change in the Polar ice particularly favourable to the undertaking, were brought to England by our whale ships ; and as it has generally happened in this country, that some individual, more sanguine than the rest of the com- munity, has, by his superior knowledge, greater exertions, or more constant perseverance, succeeded in bringing a project to bear, which, in less vigorous or pertinacious hands, would have been suffered to die away, this favourable change was turned to so good an account by an influential member of the government, and whose name is inseparable from northern discovery, that, in the following year, his Majesty George IV., then Prince Regent, was pleased to command that attempts should be made to reach the Pacific, both by the western route through Baffin's Bay, and by a northern course across the Pole." * It would be ridiculously squeamish to affect ignorance to whom the compliment in the above passage is meant to apply, and the more so as, on * Beechey's Voyage towards the North Pole. 6 INTRODUCTION. Chap. I. the whole, it is true. I am fully prepared to admit that part which relates to the " sanguine individual" who succeeded by " exertions' and " perseverance " in bringing the project to bear — a project which, like most others that are new and not well understood, could not, and therefore did not, fail to bring with it censorious remarks, and ill-natured, but ignorant, criticisms from one party, with a modicum of praise and approbation from another — as usual, laudatur ab his, culpatur ab Wis. Previously, however, to originating any proposal for the voyages herein treated of, no pains were spared in collecting whatever information could be ga- thered from the expeditions of our old travellers, the traders in the service of the Hudson Bay and the North-West Companies, from scattered remarks of whale fishers and casual travellers, such as Hearne and Mackenzie : and the information thus gained was submitted to the public at the time the first of the recent expeditions was in progress.* I did not, however, stand alone, having had the good fortune to meet with every encouragement from an able coadjutor, one ever ready to hold out a helping hand, when the promotion of science and general knowledge was the object. This patron was Sir Joseph Banks. Before, therefore, I submitted any proposal to Lord Melville, which I knew would * Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Re- gions, &c. Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 7 be referred to the President and Council of the Royal Society, as all voyages of discovery connected with science were, I thought it right to take the President's opinion as to the effect of the changes reported to have occurred in the northern regions, in which I was aware he took a particular interest, having himself, in early life, visited Iceland and climbed to the top of Mount Hecla ; and as he knew that I had also, in early life, paid a visit to the Spitzbergen seas, as high as Hakluyt's Headland, near the 80th parallel, I was sure of engaging his attention on the subject, and was not disappointed. He entirely approved of the renewal of attempts to accomplish a grand object which for three centuries had, at different times, occupied the attention of our sovereigns, philosophers, men of science, and mer- chants ; and he promised to look over and give me any information that his own correspondence might furnish : " I may be able," he said, " to name those from whom you may receive, and books from which you may derive, the information you are in quest of, but for science I must refer you to my council."* Accordingly I submitted a plan to Lord Melville, then First Lord of the Admiralty, a nobleman at all * Great Britain has seldom neglected to pay a tribute to the memory of men who have distinguished themselves by their zeal for the promotion of science and the arts ; to which end Sir Joseph Banks has largely contributed, personally and by his purse ; yet not even a biographical sketch that I know of has been published. Let Sir Edward Knatchbull and the person to whom he gave the materials look to this. 8 INTRODUCTION. Chap. I. times ready to attend to any suggestion that had for its object the improvement of science or the in- terests of navigation and commerce. It was sent as usual to the President and Council of the Royal Society, returned with their approval, and sub- mitted to Lord Liverpool, then Prime Minister, for his sanction ; and this being obtained, orders were forthwith issued by the Board of Admiralty for the preparation of four ships to be appropriated to the service in question, — two for the search of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and two to proceed from the sea of Spitzbergen towards the North Pole. It may be observed, that none of our old navi- gators were able to penetrate any part of the Polar Sea; all their discoveries were confined to the straits and inlets and islands on the eastern coast of America, and the large strait of Davis and Baffin on the western coast of Greenland. Had Baffin entered Lancaster Sound from his own strait, he would at once have discovered the sea which com- municates with the Pacific, and then there is no saying what this able old navigator and his con- temporaries might not have effected. Indeed, at the commencement of the late Arctic voyages, nothing was known of any entrance into the Polar Sea from this side of America. All that was known on the first attempt, which hardly deserves the name, was, that a Polar Sea did exist, that the ships of Captain Cook had looked at it through Behring's Strait, and that Hearne and Mackenzie, two North Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 9 American travellers, had arrived at the northern shore of North America, at different points and at different times, and reported, somewhat doubting, that they had seen the sea. From these circumstances, and, more particu- larly, from the undoubted authorities I had suc- ceeded in collecting, it was quite clear that a current was constantly found setting down Davis's Strait, and the Strait of Hudson's Bay, and also along the shore of Spitzbergen, all to the south- ward ; no doubt therefore could remain on my mind, that there must be a water communication between the seas of the Pacific and the northern Atlantic; that the water supplied through the strait of Behring (a well-established fact) into the Polar Sea, was discharged, by some opening or other, vet to be discovered, into the Atlantic. The 1 Edinburgh Review/ however, turned into ridicule the idea of a Polar Basin ; and others endeavoured to show that, if these currents existed, they must be very temporary or occasional, as they would other- wise drain this Polar Basin of its water. It may be worth the while, now that the shores of this Polar sea have been visited and surveyed, one part of them by our own navigators, and the Asiatic part by the indefatigable Baron Wrangel and others, to show to these would-be-wise gentle- men what that sea really is — what are its inpour- ings, its outpourings, and its dimensions. In the first place, it is an immense basin of water, included 10 INTRODUCTION. Ch^p. I. by the shores of Asia, of Europe, and of America. Of Asia, from Nova Zembla, in 50° E. long6., to East Cape in Behring's Strait, in 170° W. long6. : that is, 140° extent of coast. In Europe, from Nova Zembla, in 50° E., to Baffin's Bay, about 70° W., an extent of coast equal to 120°; and in Ame- rica, from the last point, 70° W., to Cape Prince of Wales, 168° W., in Behring's Strait, an extent of coast equal to 100°. These, including the opening of Behring's Strait, and that between Greenland and Spitzbergen, comprise the whole circle of 360° ; an extent of coast which no other detached sea in the world can boast of. It is a circle of two thousand four hundred geographical miles in diameter, and seven thousand two hundred miles in circumference, con- sidering the latitude of 70° to be the average boun- dary line, which it nearly is, by taking the inlets of the land to balance the outlets of the sea. And, in order to satisfy the malcontents regarding the cur- rents exhausting its waters, it may perhaps be suf- ficient to state what are its supplies. They consist of the constant influx of a stream through Beh- ring's Strait, of five or six great rivers from Asia — the Obi, the Jenisci, the Lena, the Indigirka, and the Kolima. Europe supplies the waters of the Dwina, with numerous streams from the coasts of Norway and Lapland, and the eastern coasts of Greenland, and western coast of Baffin's Bay ; and America pours in several copious streams from the Rocky Moun- tains, with the Mackenzie, the Hearne, or the Copper Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 11 Mine, the Back, and several other minor streams. To talk, therefore, of its being exhausted by the southerly currents appears to be absolute nonsense. The main object, intended to be attained by the first of the recent expeditions, was to discover an entry from the eastern side of America into the Polar Sea. But it was not done by the first, as it ought to have been done ; and, as the second most readily accomplished it, and moreover navigated one half of that sea to the westward, why, then, it may be asked, have future attempts failed to navigate the other half ? The answer is easy enough — they failed by deserting the direct path, that gave them half the passage towards Behring's Strait, and tried various new ways in search of openings into the Polar Sea, and found but one other, on the whole eastern coast of America, and that one not navigable. The old route of Parry through Lancaster Sound and Barrow's Strait, as far as to the last land on its southern shore, and thence, in a direct line, to Behring's Strait, is the route ordered to be pursued by Franklin. But it may also be asked, as it has been asked by some of that class known by the name of Utili- tarians, cut bono are these northern voyages under- taken ? If they were merely to be prosecuted for the sake of making a passage from England to China, and for no other purpose, their utility might fairly be questioned. But when the acquisition of knowledge is the groundwork of all the instruc- tions, under which they are sent forth, when the 12 INTRODUCTION. Chap. I. commanding officer is directed to cause constant observations to be made for the advancement of every branch of science — astronomy, navigation, hydrography, meteorology, including electricity and magnetism, and to make collections of subjects in natural history, — in short, to lose no opportunity of acquiring new and important information and discovery; and when it is considered that these voyages give employment to officers and men, in time of peace, and produce officers and men not to be surpassed, perhaps not equalled, in any other branch of the service, the question cm bono is easily answered in the words of the minister of Queen Elizabeth — " Knowledge is Power," — the truth of which was practically demonstrated to the grum- blers of that day by the following results. Sir Humphry Gilbert, in consequence of his grant of the island of Newfoundland, made a voyage thither, on his return from which he nobly perished ; but his knowledge did not perish with him: it laid the foundation of that valuable cod- fishery which still exists. Davis, by the discovery of the strait that bears his name, opened the way to the whale-fishery, which still continues to flou- rish ; and Frobisher pointed out the strait which conducted Hudson to the bay that bears his name, and which gave rise to the establishment of a com- pany of merchants, whose concerns are of such an extensive nature, as to be carried on across the w hole continent of America, and to the very shores of the Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 13 Polar Sea ; and already, in our time, the opening of Lancaster Sound by Parry has extended the whale-fishery into that sound. But the knowledge that has resulted from these later voyages is not less valuable, less durable, or more evanescent, nor can it be too highly appre- ciated. Let any one cast an e}~e only over the best charts of the northern regions, previous to the re- cent Arctic expeditions, and compare them with what they now are. Let him inquire what was then known, or described, of that Polar sea, or indeed of the whole northern shore of the Ameri- can continent, and the answer will be, a blank ; which however he will now find filled up. Let him ask, what was the value or amount of the geogra- phical and physical knowledge then possessed of the regions of the globe within the Arctic circle, and the reply would be, little or nothing ; whereas the objects of Nature, which the late voyages have furnished to the British Museum and other deposi- tories, are numerous and novel. Let any one turn over that extraordinary collection of engravings and descriptions of subjects in every department of* natural history, filling up no less than four large quarto volumes, whose general titles are as under — 1 . The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Quadrupeds. 2. The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Birds. 3. The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Fishes. 4. The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Insects. 14 INTRODUCTION. Chap. I. containing from three to five hundred pages each ; and all brought forward by, and under the superin- tendence of, Dr. Richardson, the fellow-traveller of Sir John Franklin, and the man to whose energy, courage, and skill Sir John has declared that he and the whole party owe their safety and their lives. Let these accessions to general knowledge have only their due weight, and they will then be duly appreciated. The value of the scientific observations and dis- coveries, made in these Arctic voyages, independent of all national and selfish considerations, is duly appreciated on the continent of Europe and in America. It is, perhaps, not generally known, that the late voyage towards the South Pole, under the command of Captain (now Sir James) Ross, had no other object but the advancement of science and general information regarding the Antarctic regions of the globe ; and that among the first subjects to be attended to was that of making a series of observa- tions on terrestrial magnetism, a subject which has of late years assumed so important a character, by its influence on the globe, that the Government of Great Britain, ever ready to take the lead in matters connected with science, has been induced to establish Magnetic Observatories in several of its colonies, distant from each other ; and, by influ- ence and example, has prevailed on other powers to do the same, the object being to conduct simul- taneous observations, at given stated times, in all of Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 15 them. Those of Great Britain are sent to Lieutenant- Colonel Sabine, who has kindly undertaken to reduce them systematically.* When Franklin's expedition was decided oh, Colonel Sabine was asked whether magnetic observations made on the Polar Sea, and registered in the same manner as in the colonial Observatories, would not be of service ? His reply was, "that he has no hesitation in saying, that the attempt to make the North-west Passage would ren- der the most important service that now remains to be performed towards the completion of the magne- tic survey of the globe/' I shall only add here, that the President and Council of the Royal Society, Sir Edward Parry, and Captain Beaufort, strongly ap- prove of the existing, and perhaps the last, attempt to make the passage through the Polar Sea into the Pacific. But what says Sir John Herschel, when speaking of the atmospheric pressure in cold climates 1 " This, with the magnetic survey of the Arctic seas, and the not improbable solution of the great geographical problem which forms the chief object of the expedition, will furnish a sufficient answer to those, if any there be, who regard such voyages as useless. Let us hope and pray that it may please Providence to shield him (Franklin) and his brave companions from the many dangers * The observations made at Toronto have already been re- duced and printed with an admirable and well-written preface by the Colonel. 16 INTRODUCTION. Chap. I. of their enterprise, and restore them in health and honour to their country." To those who are disposed to doubt the expedi- ency, " if any there be," of the present voyage under Sir John Franklin, I shall state one addi- tional motive for having adopted it, which is this : that to have abandoned any further attempt to ful- fil an object, which has never ceased to occupy the attention of the British Government since the days of our Elizabeth, and more especially, at this par- ticular time to have left it to be completed by a foreign navy, after the doors of the two extremities of the passage had been thrown open by the ships of our own, would have been little short of an act of national suicide ; or, to say the least of it, an egregious piece of national folly. In personal cou- rage the British navy has long held a proud pre- eminence in time of war, and numbers of her offi- cers have no less distinguished themselves, in times of peace, for moral courage and mental fortitude. It would therefore have been an unpardonable omission to have suffered any paltry financial con- siderations to have interfered with the employment of a couple of small barks, for the attainment of an object of such importance. Let those, then, who may be disposed to quarrel with the existing expedition, on the score of expense, be assured that, in putting it forth, it was not over- looked that, at the moment, there were two foreign Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 17 fleets in the Pacific, belonging to the only two naval powers likely to engage in the enterprise under consideration; and to either of whom, it would afford a moral triumph to accomplish what we had begun, but shrunk from completing. This is no chimera. The shortest passage for any of the homeward-bound ships of these two powers now in the Pacific is through the Polar Sea. Franklin is now on his voyage, and whether he succeeds in making good the passage or not, no- thing, I am most certain, will be wanting on his part, or on that of his gallant comrades, to accom- plish all that human means and human intellect can command. In the sentiments, with which this brave veteran seaman closes the narrative of his second Polar voyage, I most cordially concur, as I am inclined to think most of those who read it will likewise do : — " Arctic discovery has been fostered principally by Great Britain ; and it is a subject of just pride that it has been prosecuted by her from motives as disinterested as they are enlightened ; not from any prospect of immediate benefit to herself, but from a steady view to the acquirement of useful knowledge, and the extension of the bounds of science. Each succeeding attempt has added a step towards the completion of northern geography ; and the contributions to natural history and science have excited a general interest throughout the civilized world. It is, moreover, pleasing to reflect that the loss of life which has occurred in the prosecution of these discoveries does not exceed the ave- rage number of deaths in the same population at home c 18 INTRODUCTION. Chap. I. under circumstances the most favourable. And it is sin- cerely to be hoped that Great Britain will not relax her efforts until the question of a north-west passage has been satisfactorily set at rest, or at least until those portions of the northern shores of America, which are yet unknown, be laid down in our maps ; and which, with the exception of a small space on the Asiatic continent eastward of Shelatskoi Noss, are the only intervals wanting to complete the outline of Europe, Asia, and America." — p. 319. And I cannot but feel a proud gratification, which I am sure is shared by every true Englishman of whatever rank in society, in the perusal of the following honest and manly sentiments with which Captain Sir Edward Parry closes the narrative of his third voyage into the Arctic seas : — " Happy as I should have considered myself in solving this interesting question, instead of still leaving it a matter of speculation and conjecture ; happy shall I also be if any labours of mine, in the humble, though it would seem necessary office of pioneer, should ultimately contribute to the success of some more fortunate individual ; but most happy should I again be to be selected as that individual. May it still fall to England's lot to accomplish this under- taking ; and may she ever continue to take the lead in enter- prises intended to contribute to the advancement of science, and to promote, with her own, the welfare of mankind at large ! Such enterprises, so disinterested as well as useful in their object, do honour to the country which undertakes them, even when they fail : they cannot but excite the admiration and respect of every liberal and cultivated mind ; and the page of future history will undoubtedly re- cord them as every way worthy of a powerful, a virtuous, and an enlightened nation " — p. 186. CHAPTER II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 1818. A Voyage of Discovery in his Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and inquiring into the probability of a North- West Passage. By John Ross, K.S., Commander. The two ships appropriated to this service were the Isabella, 385 tons, and the Alexander, 252 tons, commanded, officered, and manned as under : — Alexander. W. E. Parry, Lieutenant com- manding. H. H. Hoppner, Lieutenant. Isabella. John. Ross, Commander, com- manding the Expedition. William Robertson, Lieutenant. William Thorn, Purser. John Edwards, Surgeon. C. J. Beverley, Assistant Surgeon. J. M. Skene, Adm. Midshipman. J. C. Ross, do. do. J. Bushnan, Midshipman and Clerk. Benj. Lewis, Master and Green- land Pilot. Thos. Wilcox, Mate and Green- land Pilot. 10 Officers. 3 Carpenter, Sailmaker, Cook. 4 Leading Men. 31 Able Seamen. 6 Marines. 54 Whole complement. Super n itineraries . 1 Captain Sabine, Royal Artillery. 1 Sergeant, do. 1 Esquimaux, Saccheous, or Sack- house. 57 Total on board. W. H. Hooper, Purser. Alexander Fisher, Assistant Sur- geon. Ph. Bisson, Adm. Midshipman. John Nias, do. do. John Allison, Greenland Master Joseph Phillips, do. Mate. James Halse, Clerk. 9 Officers. 3 Carpenter, Cook, Sailmaker. 3 Leading Men. 17 Able Seamen. 5 Marines, 37 Whole complement. 2 20 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. When looking out for proper persons to command the intended expedition, Sir George Hope, who had been flag-captain to Sir James Saumarez, and then a Lord of the Admiralty, recommended Com- mander Ross as an active arid zealous officer, and well practised in the ordinary duties of the seaman's profession. The ordinary duties of a good seaman are well known ; that he can hand, reef, steer, and heave the lead, keep the dead reckoning, and take and work an observation for the latitude ; how much be- yond this Sir George does not appear to have pledged himself. Indeed, Ross states somewhat modestly, in his introduction, — " My nautical education has taught me to act, and not to question ; to obey orders as far as possible, not to discuss probabilities, or exa- mine philosophical or unphilosophical speculations. I have here attempted nothing beyond the journal of a seaman ; if I had done more I might have done worse." Now something beyond the general character given by Sir George Hope was required from an officer, who ventured to accept the command of an expedition for the purposes of enlarging the wide field of science and discovery, and moreover for that of a peculiar discovery ; one that had baffled the skill of the most able and persevering navigators for a period at intervals of more than three hundred years. It has been truly observed, that " this is a service for which all officers, however brave and Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 21 intelligent they may be, are not equally qualified ; it requires a peculiar tact, an inquisitive and per- severing pursuit after details of fact, not always interesting, a contempt of danger, and an enthusiasm not to be damped by ordinary difficulties. " In fact Commander Ross's services, previous to this voyage, were only adapted — as Sir George Hope, and indeed he himself has stated them — to qualify for the ordinary duties of a good seaman ; but least of all, as will be seen, for conducting a voyage of discovery. " In the year 1786," he says, " I entered the royal navy ; continued in it for four years; was in the merchant service till 1794; in the East India Company's service till 1799 ; then re- turned to the navy ; acting lieutenant of the Weasel, of the Clyde, &c. Went with Lord de Saumarez as midshipman, often acting lieutenant, but ranked only as midshipman ; confirmed as lieutenant in 1805 ; served as first lieutenant in three different ships; promoted commander in 1812, and com- manded three different ships."* He might have added, never served out of the Baltic and the White Sea, except once, on the north coast of Scotland. Now it may broadly be stated that Commander Ross, by his own showing, did not at all answer the description of an officer fitted for the present * His examination before a Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Arctic Sea Expedition. 22 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. service; and his acts and his book prove it. His pa- tron who recommended him was himself a thorough- bred seaman, an honest, straight-forward, and down- right # officer, and sincerely believed, no doubt, that the person he named was an active and zealous offi- cer " in the ordinary duties of his profession ;" but there is reason to believe that, in offering him the command of a Voyage of Discovery, he had not given due consideration to the qualifications that such a command required. Lieutenant Parry, who commanded the Alex- ander, served several years on the coast of North America, where he was distinguished as an excellent navigator, theoretical as well as practical. He drew up a little treatise, especially for the use of the young officers of the fleet, on nautical astronomy, containing directions for finding the principal fixed stars visible in the northern hemisphere. A copy of this with the necessary drawings being sent to his father, Dr. Parry of Bath, he had it printed. While employed in America, led by a spirit of enter- prise, he volunteered for, and was appointed to, the Congo expedition under Captain Tuckey, but fortu- nately could not join in time. Still, however, his attention was drawn towards African discovery, and * The word reminds one of a very significant sobriquet on Admiral Sir James Saumarez, Flag-Captain Sir George Hope, and the Ship's Captain Dumaresq — the three designated as up- right, doivn-right, and never-right. Chap. II. COMMANDED JOHN ROSS. 23 about the close of 1817 he wrote to a friend, de- tailing his views on the subject ; and just as he had finished his letter, a paragraph in a newspaper, alluding to the attempt about to be made for the discovery of a north-west passage, caught his eye, and he added a postscript, referring to this, and said " he was ready for hot or for cold," — Africa or the Polar regions. His friend took this letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty,* which Parry says he had reason to believe was the immediate cause of his appointment to that expedition, then preparing for the latter object. Lieutenant Parry, it may safely be said, did not dis- appoint the expectations of those who recommended him; but he was himself grievously disappointed at the manner in which the voyage in question was conducted, and at the total want of facilities given for collecting such a body of observations, on various subjects of scientific inquiry, of geographical infor- mation, and, above all, at the careless manner in which every attempt, or rather want of attempt, was slurred over, to fulfil the instructions of Govern- ment. Owing to this, instead of being able, on their return to England, to produce any results worthy of the liberality with which the expedition had been * Mr. Barrow, who was so much pleased by the letter, and the little treatise which accompanied it, that he at once sub- mitted to Lord Melville his opinion, that he was just the man for such an appointment. 24 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. fitted out, there was not an officer in either ship that did not express mortification and disappointment. Lieutenant Robertson was an active and in- telligent officer, a good observer and surveyor ; and Lieutenant Hoppner, son of the artist, an excel- lent draughtsman. One of the midshipmen, J. C. Ross, a young man of the most active and willing disposition, has subsequently been employed in every Arctic expedition, commanded the recent Antarctic voyage of three years, and is now Cap- tain Sir James Clarke Ross, married, and enjoying the fruit of his valuable and highly praiseworthy labours. His name will frequently occur. Captain Sabine, of the Royal Artillery, well known for his scientific acquirements, and for the knowledge and use of mathematical and astrono- mical instruments, being desirous of the oppor- tunity of putting his skill into practical experi- ence, was requested to join the expedition as a volunteer, and, like the rest, had but too much cause to be disappointed and aggrieved. An ac- count of his subsequent and valuable labours, how- ever, will hereafter find a place in the present narrative. It would have been more agreeable, in the outset of the present volume, to have passed over this first voyage of discovery in the Arctic regions, than to be obliged to notice it under a feeling of disappointment, which the perusal of it so un- Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 25 avoidably and so provokingly creates ; but as it constitutes the first link in the chain of the inte- resting publications in question, it could not with propriety have been omitted, though it can afford little pleasure to pass censure where there is every desire to praise: in matters of fact, however, like the present, the truth must be spoken ; and it may be proper and only due justice to state at once, that no blame can possibly attach to any individual in the two ships, for any misstatements, negligence, or lack of information which may occur in the original narrative ; that all appear to have been anxious to effect whatever could be accomplished, to meet the views of Government, as far as the few opportuni- ties given to them would allow. At the same time, it is possible that some of the omissions may have happened from a misconception of what was re- quired of the commander, and from the novelty of the service, in the nature and peculiar duties of which he had now, obviously for the first time, been engaged; and it is so far due to him to admit further, that the appointment was not of his own seeking, but was voluntarily offered to him by one who, it would seem, was as little acquainted with the peculiar service as was Mr. Ross himself. On the 18th of April the ships left the river, arrived at Lerwick on the 30th, and on the 1st of June were somewhere on the eastern side of Davis's Strait; proceeded slowly between the ice and the 26 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. western shore of Greenland, passing a number of whale ships busily employed ; and on the 17th of June got into Waygat Strait, in which were forty- five whalers detained by the ice. This strait is formed between the shore of Greenland and the island of Disco, on which is a Danish settlement. In this neighbourhood, among the points of land, the shoals, and islands that abound, the ships were so hampered with ice, that it was not until the 3rd of July they reached the Women's Islands. Their detention, however, did not lack amuse- ment. The half-caste sons and daughters of Danes and Esquimaux danced Scotch reels on the deck of the Isabella with the sailors ; and Ross savs, — " Sackhouse's mirth and joy exceeded all bounds, and with good-humoured officiousness he performed the office of master of the ceremonies. An Esquimaux master of the ceremonies to a ball on the deck of his Majesty's ships in the icy seas of Greenland, was an office somewhat new, but Nash himself could not have performed his func- tions in a manner more appropriate. It did not belong even to Nash himself to combine in his own person, like Jack, the discordant qualifications of seaman, interpreter, draughts- man, and master of ceremonies to a ball, with those of an active fisher of seals, and a hunter of white bears." — pp. 55-6. This intelligent and amiable Esquimaux, Jack Saccheous (or Sackhouse), affords a strong example of what a little kindness and attention will effect on human beings, even in the lowest scale of existence. Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 27 Of the history of this young man there will be oc- casion to speak hereafter. On the fitting out of the present expedition, Captain Basil Hall, finding that Saccheous had a wish to join it, made his desire known at the Ad- miralty, and he was accordingly appointed inter- preter, in which capacity he proved exceedingly useful, in the very limited opportunity that occurred of holding any communication with his native countrymen. Among the mirthful group before mentioned, Ross tells us — " A daughter of the Danish resident, about eighteen years of age, and by far the best looking of the group, was the object of Jack's particular attentions ; which being ob- served by one of our officers, he gave him a lady's shawl, ornamented with spangles, as an offering for her acceptance. He presented it in a most respectful and not ungraceful manner to the damsel, who bashfully took a pewter ring from her finger and presented it to him in return ; rewarding him at the same time with an eloquent smile, which could leave no possible doubt on our Esquimaux's mind that he had made an impression on her heart." — p. 56. After some delay the wind changed and the ice began to separate, leaving an opening along the coast ; but Jack, who had gone on shore with his countrymen, had not returned. A boat was there- fore sent to bring him off; but the poor fellow was found in one of the huts with his collar-bone broken, having, under the idea, as expressed by himself, of " plenty powder, plenty kill" overloaded his gun, and the violence of the recoil had caused the accident. 28 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. In proceeding northerly the expedition came up with several groups of whalers that had passed through the floes of ice, in one of which it was also shortly after beset, in latitude 75° 35', " the Dexterity whaler now alone continuing in sight." Yet, in the same page, Ross says, " We are now arrived at a point between which and Cape Dudley Digges, land had not been seen by former navigators;" as if whale-fishers were excluded from the class of navigators. He then goes on to say that "between latitude 75° 12' and 76° the shore formed a capacious bay, in the midst of which rose a remarkable spiral rock ; this I named Mel- ville's Monument, in grateful remembrance of the late Viscount, from whom I received my first com- mission. To the bay itself I gave the name of Melville's Bay, from respect to the present First Lord of the Admiralty. It is situated between 75° 12' and 76°, and abounds with whales, many of which were taken by the ships that were persevering- enough to follow us." And no doubt numbers of whalers, for ages be- fore this, had persevered in their search of whales far beyond the latitude of 76° ; but the expedition being one for the purpose of discovery, something new, it would seem, was to be struck out at this early period, while on the Greenland side of Baffin's Bay — a coast which could afford nothing connected with the Polar Sea or with the north-west passage. Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 29 In point of fact, Ross, on the outset of the voyage, even in the title-page, misstates (he could not mis- take) the object? of his instructions. He says, the voyage was made " for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bav." Now there is not a word in the Instructions about exploring Baffin's Bay ; he was to stand well to the northward before crossing over to the westward, but not to stop on either coast : " the first and most important object of this voyage is to be the discovery of a passage through Davis's Straits, along the northern coast of America." On the western coast there could be no passage into the Polar Sea, nor towards the coast of America. Opportunely, however, an event occurred which afforded him an occasion, if not an excuse, for delay. On the I Oth of August eight sledges, drawn by native Esquimaux, were observed advancing towards the place where the ships were at anchor, and Saccheous was dispatched with a white flag and some presents to hold a parley with them, they being placed at one side of a canal or chasm in the ice, and he on the other side. After loud shouts, words, and gestures, Saccheous soon perceived that their language was the same as his, but of a differ- ent dialect ; and, holding up his presents, he called out, " Come on ;" but the reply was, " No, no ; go away :" and one of them approaching the edge of the canal repeated, " Go away ; I can kill you," holding up a knife : Saccheous threw over an 30 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. English knife, saying, "Take that." This they picked up, shouted, and palled their noses. Sac- cheous, in return, called out Heicfhyaw ! pulling his nose with the same gesture. This pulling of noses, which is represented to be their mode of a friendly salutation, is a trite matter of little moment, and would not be mentioned here but for the singular circumstance, which has been told by several of the officers, and in print, that they never saw nor heard of it till it was mentioned by Commander Ross, for the first time, at Shetland, on their return home. It is scarcely possible that such a foolish ceremony, if frequently and solemnly re- peated, could have escaped the notice of all the offi- cers except that of the commander; yet there must be something in it, for Back, in his Arctic journey, mentions rubbing of noses as an Esquimaux salu- tation. The following is somewhat curious, considering the number and frequency of whalers visiting this part of the coast, where no doubt much intercourse must have taken place between them and the inno- cent natives: Ross says, they soon became more familiar ; and, pointing to the ships, eagerly asked, " What great creatures these were ? Do they come from the sun or the moon? do they give us light by night or by day?" repeating the question, " What were they ?" to which Saccheous replied, " They were houses made of wood." They re- Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 31 sponded " No : they are alive ; we have seen them move their wings." More enlightened than these Arctic Highlanders (for so Ross calls them) did the messengers of Montezuma, on the arrival of the ships of Cortez, in like manner eagerly inquire — " What divine monsters, O ye gods, are these, That float in air, and fly upon the seas ! Come they alive or dead upon the shore?" &c.* Saccheous, it seems, succeeded at last, " by many arguments, to persuade them that he was flesh and blood ;" and the most courageous " ventured to touch his hand, then pulling himself by the nose, set up a shout, in which he was joined by Sac- cheous and three others." But enough of this — which runs through eighteen or twenty pages, fol- lowed by a whole chapter of twenty more, which, considered under all circumstances, would be amus- ing enough, did it not prepare the reader for suspi- cion as to its accuracy, as well as of many other statements subsequently recorded in the book. The titles of this extraordinary chapter are : — " The Situation of the Arctic Highlands — Nature of the Country — Produce of the Country — Language of the Arctic Highlanders — Origin of the Arctic Highlanders — Dress — Description — Subject of Re- ligion-^-Mode of Living, and Customs — Habits and Customs." Ross, indeed, suspects that this account " may appear in some points to be defective ;" he * Dry den's Emperor of Mexico. 32 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. may safely satisfy himself that it will not only appear, in some points, to be defective, but will be so pronounced in all ; in point of fact, he never set his foot on shore, and could not by any possibility have known anything of the stuff he has set down, which is of that kind of manufacture not worth the paper on which it is printed. Most readers will agree with the writer in a popular Journal, who calls it " a bill of fare like that of the landlord in the play — all the good things are stuffed into the bill, while nothing is found in the larder." Ross may certainly plead examples without num- ber, in the books of modern travellers, wherein ima- gination has very materially assisted in supplying the details ; but something approaching to fact is expected in a voyage like the present, as any de- viation, even in a trifling subject, is apt to throw a doubt on those of greater moment. No doubt, however, can be entertained of the discovery of a physical object (not new, however) found on the cliffs of this part of the coast of Baffin's Bay, not far from Cape Dudley Digges. " We now disco- vered," says Ross, " that the snow on the face of the cliffs presented an appearance both novel and interesting, being apparently stained or covered by some substance which gave it a deep crimson colour. This snow," he adds, " was penetrated even down to the rock, in many places to a depth of ten or twelve feet, by the colouring matter." Mr. Fisher says, Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 33 " It is worthy of remark that this colouring matter, be it what it may, does not penetrate more than an inch or two beneath the surface of the snow." Many conjectures of course were afloat concern- ing the cause of so unusual an appearance, but Ross says " it was at once determined it could not be the dung of birds ;" rather a hasty conclusion, for Mr. Brande the chvmist, to whom it was first submitted on the return of the expedition, for the purpose of being analysed, having detected uric acid, pronounced it at once to be the excrement of birds. It was the general opinion of the officers, who examined it with the microscope, that it must be vegetable; and in this opinion Dr. Wollaston concurred, after a minute examination both by the microscope and chemical tests — yet he even had his doubts. Mr. Brown, the celebrated botanist, conjectured it might be derived from some of the algae, conferva?, or tremellse (Tremella cruenta) : the more probable as the roots of the moss, (a spe- cies of Polytricum) common on these cliffs, are deep scarlet — deep, indeed, must they be to sanc- tion the outrageously exaggerated print of these crimson cliffs, as coloured in the volume. There is nothing new, however, in the discovery of red snow. Pliny and other writers of his time men- tion it ; Saussure found it in various parts of the Alps; Martin found it in Spitzbergen, and no doubt it is to be met with in most alpine regions. D 34 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. A little farther on, the ships were visited by three other Esquimaux, from whom information was re- ceived that the iron part of their knives was found on a mountain in great masses, and that it was a part of the mountain ; that in other places it was found in solid pieces on the surface, and that they cut it off with hard stone. Ross, however, could not succeed in obtaining any of the masses ; but a small piece, being examined in England, was found to contain the usual proportion of nickel met with in meteoric stones. Having now passed Cape Dudley Digges, which Ross found to be a few miles to the southward of the situation in which Baffin has laid it down, Wolstenholme Island came in sight to the north- ward ; and, " as we were steering for it with a fine breeze, and the sea almost clear of ice, we gave up all idea of communicating with the King of the Arctic Highlanders ; the hopes of attaining the grand object of the enterprise were now raised to such a height as to make that, which was consi- dered so desirable but a few hours before, an object of no moment whatever." It was, indeed, quite time to think of the "grand cbject," and leave be- hind that " so desirable one," — the king of a miser- able tribe of Esquimaux, the year having advanced to the 18th of August, and the " enterprise " being- no further advanced than to the western coast of Greenland, on which coast by no possibility could Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 35 a passage be found. Something more, however, than the scanty geography, which Baffin alone has afforded us, would, no doubt, have, been desirable even on this coast of Greenland. He tells us that Wolstenholme Sound was com- pletely blocked up with ice ; but if any faith is due to his own chart, he must have passed it at the distance of forty miles at least. " This sound," he says, " seemed to be eighteen or twenty leagues in depth ;" and if so, by his own account he must have seen the bottom of it, though that was a point distant from the ship at least a hundred miles : but he had previously prepared his readers for a long sight, having assured them that, in these Arctic regions, they were often able to see land at an im- mense distance ; and, further, that " we have certain proof that the power of vision was extended beyond one hundred and fifty miles!" — (p. 143.) Thus he says, "We found the entrances to this inlet" (Wolstenholme, when forty miles off) "and the general form and appearance of the land to agree extremely well with the description given of it by Baffin." Meagre enough, it must be confessed, is that of Baffin, yet it would require a very great stretch of confidence to believe, that any part of Baffin's brief description could be seen at forty miles distance. The old navigator merely says, it is "a fair sound, having an island in the midst, making two entrances, having many inlets or smaller d2 36 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. sounds within it, and is a fit place for the killing of whales." Two hours after passing Wolstenholme, they came opposite Whale Sound, and passed it at a greater distance than the former ; but they could not approach it in a direct line on account of the ice. The same evening it is stated that, near Care}r's Islands, " the sea was clearer of floes and loose ice than we had ever seen it." They had advanced about midnight of the 19th to the northern corner of Baffin's Bay, where Sir Thomas Smith's Sound opens out, and which Ross says " was dis- tinctly seen," and he named the two capes forming its entrance after the two ships, Isabella and Alex- ander. " I considered," says Ross, " the bottom of this sound to be about eighteen leagues distant, but its entrance was completely blocked up by ice." He forgets that, by his own showing, he was never nearer than sixty English miles from the entrance of it. An able and honest testimony, on this point, is contained in a small tract published by Mr. Fisher, the assistant-surgeon of the Alexander, an intelli- gent and active officer, who says that, being much interested in ascertaining whether Greenland and the west land joined, he kept the deck all day ; and though the weather was remarkably clear and fine till midnight, he could not see any such junction. " It is probable," he adds, " that the chasm or open space to the northward, where not any land could Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 37 be traced by me, might be that which Baffin calls Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, and which he de- scribes as the deepest and largest sound in all this bay ; and it is not likely," says Fisher, " that we should have seen the bottom of it at such a dis- tance, as we estimate that we are twenty leagues from the northern extreme of the west land visible." As this sound is stated by Baffin to be the largest of all the sounds he discovered, and considering its position and its magnitude, it appears by no means improbable, that it is a wide strait dividing Green- land from America, or the West Land as Mr. Fisher calls it, thus verifying the dictum given by Bur- leigh more than two centuries ago. Among the papers of this extraordinary man in the British Museum, is one on the subject of a north-west passage to Cathaia, in his lordship's own hand-writ- ing, which begins thus : — " Considering Groyne- lande is well known to be an islande, and that it is not conjoyned to America in any part ; and that there is no cause of doubte but that upon the north of Baccalaos the seas are open," &c* But Baffin's account of Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, brief as it is, ought to have induced Ross to look into it ; more especially as he voluntarily an- nounces the expedition to be " for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay." Baffin only says, " It runneth to the north of 78°, and is admirable in one * Lansdowne Collection. 38 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. respect, because in it is the greatest variation in the compasse of any part of the known world ; for by clivers good observations I found it to be above five points or fifty-six degrees varied to the westward." But the strongest reason that should have operated on Ross's mind was the possibility of this sound being a wide strait, opening directly into the Polar Sea, and affording the shortest passage through it to Behring's Strait — a discovery that would have immortalized him. He was at full liberty to use his discretion. Speaking of Davis's Strait, his in- structions say — " In the present state of uncertainty with regard to the movements of the ice, and with the very imperfect know- ledge we have of this strait, and still more so of the sea be- yond it, no specific instructions can be given for your guidance : the time and manner of proceeding to fulfil the ulterior object of your destination, in places where impedi- ments may occur, must be left entirely to your discretion, in the exercise of which we rely on your zeal and skill in your profession for the accomplishment, as far as it can be accomplished, of the service on which you are em- ployed." * On rounding the northern and turning down the western coast, after passing the entrance of Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, Mr. Fisher asserts, and ap- peals to the log of the Alexander to prove it, that " no land was seen to the northward in that direc- tion." One of the officers declares, that he saw the * Admiralty Instructions. Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 39 sun at midnight through the opening of the sound in question, just skimming above the horizon. These are powerful grounds for believing that Burleigh did not make the assertion at random, " that Green- land was well known to be an island." Of the remaining sound of Baffin, which he names Alderman Jones's Sound, all we learn from Ross is, that " it answered to the description of Alder- man Jones's Sound, given by Baffin, who discovered it." " We were near the entrance of Jones's Sound," says Captain Sabine, " but not so near as Baffin, who sent his boat on shore." So might Commander Ross have done, who remained there from the 21st to the 23rd, when " towards evening," he says, " we successively made out the north and south points of the land across the bottom of this bay or inlet ; at midnight a ridge of very high mountains was seen to extend nearly across the bottom of it, and joining another from the south ; on the 24th we had a still better view of the land about Jones's Sound :" but still no boat was sent on shore on any of these four days. It has been thought right to notice the total want of any information, in addition to that obtained by Baffin, respecting his discovery of these several sounds, as he has called them ;* and the more so after reading the following extraordinary paragraph in Commander Ross's Introduction, which can only * Probably from their affording1 soundings for ships to anchor in. 40 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. have been penned from want of knowledge of the subject: — " In re-discovering Baffin's Bay, I have derived great additional pleasure from the reflection that I have placed in a fair light before the public the merits of a worthy and able navigator, whose fate, like that of many others, it has not only been to have lost, by a combination of untoward circum- stances, the opportunity of acquiring during his lifetime the fame he deserved ; but could he have lived to this period, to have seen his discoveries expunged from the records of geography, and the bay, with which his name is so fairly associated, treated as a phantom of the imagination." Every person at all acquainted with voyages of discovery knows that Baffin was not only a skilful navigator, but so well versed in nautical astronomy as to be able to deduce the longitude from lunar observations. Whether, as pilot only to Robert Bylot, this last voyage was not exactly to his mind, and was therefore more vaguely and unsatisfactorily recorded than any of his others, his account of it is undoubtedly unlike the preceding narratives of his voyages. Baffin is so much aware of this that, in his letter to Mr. John Wolstenholme, he observes, " Some may object and aske why we sought that coast no better ?" to which he alleges in answer, the badness of the weather, the loss of anchors, the weakness of the crew, and the ad- vanced season of the year. But as to the expung- Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 41 ing his discoveries from the records of geography, the groundless assertion is itself no more than " a phantom of the imagination." Purchas excuses himself for not publishing his chart and tables on account of the expense; but expunging his dis- coveries, is a discovery of Commander Ross, and there let it remain* Hitherto Ross had carefully avoided approaching any of these sounds within forty, fifty, or sixty miles, and consequently could not, or did not, send a boat to look into any of them, and yet he boasts of exploring and having re-discovered Baffin's Bay. However, in proceeding down the western coast, and the weather being foggy, he found himself unawares nearer to the shore than was supposed, and perhaps wished; in fact he was just at the mouth of the only remaining, and by far the largest and most remarkable, as well as, from its position, the most important, sound or opening of any that had been seen on either coast — this was what Baffin has called Sir James Lancaster's Sound. There was here, at least, no ice to choke it up ; none in the vicinity of it ; the soundings, without it, are marked 1000 fathoms, within it, 660 to 674 fathoms; no appearance of any bottom wasiiere pretended to have been seen, and altogether it was utterly impossible * Pilkington had the impertinence to call Baffin an impostor, but all that was ever known and published, of Baffin's discoveries, have been preserved. 42 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. on any pretence to avoid entering it ; and the ships therefore stood in. As this sound or bay has afforded the means of pretty well settling Commander Ross's reputation as a discoverer or explorer, it is fair to give him the full benefit of his own account of it : — " During this day (30th of August) much interest was excited on board by the appearance of this strait ; the gene- ral opinion, however, was that it was only an inlet. Captain Sabine, who produced Baffin's account, was of opinion that we were off Lancaster Sound, and that there were no hopes of a passage until we should arrive at Cumberland Strait ; to use his own words, there was ' no indication of a passage,' ' no appearance of a current,' ' no driftwood,' and ' no swell from the north-west.' " — p. 171. In the first place it may be observed that Baffin never entered Lancaster Sound, and it may there- fore be presumed never gave any account of it. The rest must be altogether, and cannot be other- wise than, a misstatement. Captain Sabine might observe, merely as a fact, that no current or drift- wood appeared, which Ross by a strange mistake fancied he was ordered to search for, and constantly kept talking about ; but those who know Captain Sabine, and are acquainted with his great talents, his love for science, and his zeal in pursuit of it, will be slow to believe anything of the kind to have proceeded from him. But even were it possible he should have given utterance to an opinion, for which he had no grounds, as no human being Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 43 of any country, ancient or modern, is known ever to have entered this sound, is it not surprising that an officer of the navy, intrusted with the command of an expedition of discovery, should quote, as it were, in his own justification, and be guided by, the opinion of an artillery officer, who perhaps was at sea for the first time? What, in fact, could Captain Sabine then know of either Lancaster Sound or Cumberland Strait, except, as to the latter, that it was well known to lead only to a parcel of islands, and that Fox's Channel, South- ampton Island, the Welcome, — all must be passed before the coast of America could be approached by that route ? A brief account of the expedition, by an officer engaged in it, was published in a monthly journal, and is pronounced by Captain Sabine to be " a well- written and, which is more important, a faithful account of the proceedings of the expedi- tion :" in this account, so praised, it is stated, among other matters relating to Lancaster Sound, that " every officer and man, on the instant as it were, made up his mind that this must be the north-west passaged And it is added, " I firmly believe that every creature on board anticipated the pleasure of writing an overland dispatch to his friends, either from the eastern or western shores of the Pacific." But to return to Commander Ross's narrative : — " Soon after midnight the wind began to shift ; I therefore made all sail, and left the Alexander considerably astern. 44 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. At a little before four o'clock a.m. the land was seen at the bottom of the inlet by the officers of the watch ; but before I got upon deck, a space of about seven degrees of the compass was obscured by the fog. The land which I then saw was a high ridge of mountains, extending directly across the bottom of the inlet. Although a passage in this direction appeared hopeless, I was determined completely to explore it, as the wind was favourable, and therefore con- tinued all sail. I sounded, and found six hundred and seventy-four fathoms. There was, however, no current. Although all hopes were given up, even by the most san- guine, that a passage existed, and the weather continued thick, I determined to stand higher up, and put into any harbour I might discover, for the purpose of making magnetical observations. . . . About one, the Alexan- der being nearly out of sight to the eastward, we hove-to for half an hour to let her come up a little ; and at half- past one, she being within six or seven miles of us, we again made sail. I intended to have sounded during this interval, but I found the south-east swell had so much in- creased, and the drift was so great, that it was impractic- able."—pp. 172-174. In Lieutenant Parry's private journal it is said, " The swell comes from the north-west, compass, (that is, south-south-west true,) and continues just as it does in the ocean. It is impossible to remark this circumstance without feeling a hope that it may be caused by this inlet being a passage into a sea to the westward of it." A happy and rational hope that, within twelve months, Parry had the good fortune to realise. But to continue further extracts from Ross on this part of the voyage: — Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 45 " At half-past two (31st August), when I went off deck to dinner, there were some hopes of its clearing, and I left orders to be called on the appearance of land or ice a-head. At three the officer of the watch, who was relieved to his dinner by Mr. Lewis, reported, on his coming into the cabin, that there was some appearance of its clearing at the bottom of the bay ; I immediately therefore went on deck, and soon after it completely cleared for about ten minutes, and I distinctly saw the land, round the bottom of the bay, forming a connected chain of mountains with those which extended along the north and south sides At this moment I also saw a continuity of ice, at the distance of seven miles, extending from one side of the bay to the other, between the nearest cape to the north, which I named after Sir George Warrender, and that to the south, which was named after Viscount Castlereagh. The mountains which occupied the centre, in a north and south direction, were named Croker's Mountains, after the Secretary to the Admiralty. The south-west corner, which formed a spa- cious bay, completely occupied by ice, was named Barrow's Bay, and is bounded on the south by Cape Castlereagh, and on the north by Cape Rosamond, which is a head-land that projects eastward from the high land in the centre. The north corner, which was the last I had made out, was a deep inlet ; and as it answered exactly to the latitude given by Baffin of Lancaster Sound, I have no doubt that it was the same, and consider it a most remarkable instance of the accuracy of that able navigator." — pp. 174, 175. It was, indeed, a most remarkable instance of accuracy in Baffin, which can be explained only by supposing him to have been gifted by Arctic vision of one hundred and fifty miles, without which he never could have got sight of Ross's 46 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. North Corner from the sea — for he never came near even the entrance of Lancaster Sound, " there being," says this old and able navigator, " a ledge of ice between the shore and us." All this is deplorable enough, and it may be considered as not worth the while to dwell longer on this part of the narrative, or to notice " the accurate view of Baffin's Bay," and "the special chart of the land,"— the putting about the ship, assisted by a whale-fisher, the only officer on deck — the sole spectators of Croker's Moun- tains and the vast barrier of ice, seen only by Mr. Lewis and James Haig, the leading-man, while all the other officers were enjoying their dinner, and ig- norant of what was going on, — which is not the usual custom in a man-of-war when the ship is going about. Too glad to get out of Lancaster Sound, " It became advisable," says Ross, "to stand out of this dangerous inlet, in which we were embayed, being within it above eighty miles!' Captain Parry and Captain Sabine both say thirty miles. Since the period of this dangerous inlet being navigated by Parry, not less than four times, it has been visited annually by whalers, without danger, and without molestation by the ice. Nay, Ross himself had the courage— can it be called "moral courage?" — to revisit, some years afterwards, this horrible spot in a miserable kind of ship, fitted out at the expense of a private individual for some purpose or other, which ship, however, he left frozen Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 47 up at the bottom of Regent's Inlet ; and, with great fatigue and difficulty, succeeded in getting back to Lancaster Sound, and had the good luck to be picked up, in this " dangerous inlet" by a whaler — the very identical Isabella which he once commanded. The unsatisfactory manner in which he hastened out of Sir James Lancaster's Sound, and ran past the Alexander, without the least communication with Lieutenant Parry, seems to have drawn from him a strange sort of something that he probably con- ceived to be a justification of his proceedings : — 11 As I have given a particular chart of the bay or inlet which was explored between the 29th of August and the 1st of September, by the expedition under my command, and as there will be found on the preceding pages copies of the meteorological logs of the two ships, which were sup- plied and corrected by the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, from the official documents which were lodged in his office, on the arrival of the ships, it must be unnecessary for me to recapitulate the facts which I have already stated, as, by referring to these authenticated documents, they will be seen by inspection. But it may not be amiss to point out the parts in my official Instructions, which are printed in the beginning of this work, wherein I am directed to pay particular attention to the currents, and to be guided by them ; and also to the part which recommends me to look for the north-east point of America, or, in other words, the north-west passage, about the seventy-second degree of lati- tude. As it was fully proved that no current existed in this inlet, which we had just explored, or to the northward of it, it naturally followed that I should have supposed myself still to the northward of the current, which had been 48 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. so confidently asserted to exist ; and that, therefore, this inlet was not the place to persevere in forcing a passage, but that there was reason to expect it would be found fur- ther south. My orders, * to stand well to the north,' had already been fully obeyed, and no current had been found ; and if ' a current of some force ' did exist, as from the ' best authorities ' we had reason to believe was the fact, it could be nowhere but to the southward of this latitude. As, in my Instructions, I am also directed ' to leave the ice about the 15th or 20th of September, or at latest the 1st of October,' I had only one month left for my operations, in which month the nights are long, and, according to a fair calculation, not more than two days' clear weather out of seven could be expected. It may, therefore, with propriety be stated that I had only eight days remaining to explore the remainder of Baffin's Bay, a distance of above four hundred miles. Of this space nearly two hundred miles had never been examined : a range including the supposed place of the discontinuity of the continent, and that to which my attention had been particularly called, and where the imaginary current, which was to be my guide, was to be expected. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add that, under these circumstances, I was anxious to proceed to the spot where it must be evident I had the best chance of success. Yet my anxiety, on the other hand, to leave no part of the coast unexplored, even after all hopes of a passage were given up, determined me to persevere as I did, notwith- standing there was no current, a material decrease in the temperature of the sea, and no driftwood, or other indica- tion of a passage, until I actually saw the barrier of high mountains, and the continuity of ice, which put the question at rest. That I did so persevere became afterwards a source of great satisfaction, as I was fortunate enough to succeed also in exploring every part of the coast to the southward to which my attention was to be directed, and Chap. IT. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 49 where I was led to expect that the current was to be found. This was a much more essential part of my duty than the making of magnetical observations, which was the only in- ducement still remaining to linger in that dangerous bay, where much time might have been wasted in attempting to land, perhaps without success, or, at any rate, without attaining any adequate results. My opinions were men- tioned to several of the officers, after I had determined to proceed to the southward ; and also to Captain Sabine, who repeated, on every occasion, that there was no indication of a passage." — pp. 182-184. This can only be looked upon as a pitiable ex- cuse for running away home, and is a most clumsy perversion of his Instructions, the obvious meaning of which he has not only misconceived, but mis- quoted. A species of infatuation, with regard to currents, appears to have seized on his mind ; he is for ever hunting for, but never gets scent of, a, current. The Lords of the Admiralty had merely suggested that if he should meet with a current, which, " from the best information " (not authorities, as he quotes) " we have been able to obtain, runs from the northward, towards the upper part of Davis's Strait." And again, " In passing up the strait *' (of Davis), " if such a current should be discovered, it will be of the greatest importance to you, as leading you direct to the opening by which it may be supposed to pass from the Arctic Sea into Davis's Strait." Again, " If it should come from the north-west or west, it will prove the best guide you can follow, to lead you to the discovery, E 50 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. of which you are in search."* His failure in the discovery of this imaginary current is so far a reflection on his sagacity, as every navigator, both before and after his time, who has entered Davis's Strait, has experienced a current of considerable force settino* down that strait ; and it is now known that the water of the Polar Sea passes through several channels, and down the sea of Spitzbergen into the Atlantic. On taking leave of Lancaster Sound on the 31st of August, and proceeding homewards along the same coast, the following day Ross sent a boat on shore, in a small bay near Cape By am Martiu, with orders " to take possession of the country, in the name and on behalf of His Britannic Majesty," with the usual silly ceremony — the more silly when the object is worthless, as in the present case — a barren, uninhabited country, covered with ice and snow, the only subjects of His Majesty, in this portion of his newly-acquired dominions, consisting of half- starved bears, deer, foxes, white hares, and such other creatures as are commonly met with in these regions of the globe. Lieutenant Parry had com- mand of the shore party, and obtained what are said to be " some valuable specimens, and the officers of both ships were equally active and zeal- ous." The whole of this coast, that is to say from latitude 73° 37' to latitude 62° 51', down to Cum- * Admiralty Instructions. Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 51 berland Strait, is peopled abundantly on the chart with great, but un prolific names, chiefly from Scot- land ; and among the rest the territory is divided into a couple of Scotch counties. That he did not obtain " a perfect geographical survey of this coast was " (as he says) " of the less importance, from its not being the main object of the expedition." A boat, however, was once more sent to take pos- session of a small island, which was named Agnes's Monument ; and a large iceberg being seen about the distance of seven leagues from the said island, Lieutenant Parry, Mr. Ross, and Mr. Bushnan, with a party, were despatched to make observations of it, and upon it. Having landed (if it may be so called) with some difficulty, they ascended this iceberg, found the top flat, and a large white bear in quiet possession, who, not desirous to engage the invaders, quietly walked off to the opposite side, and gave a plunge into the sea, over a precipice fifty feet high. Parry reported that he found this iceberg to be four thousand one hundred and sixtv- nine yards long, three thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine yards broad, and fifty-one feet high, aground in sixty-one fathoms^ and that it had nine unequal sides. On the 1st of October, when in latitude 62° 51', no land to the westward being in sight, Com- mander Ross had no doubt that the opening was Cumberland Strait — that strait which alone, of all e2 52 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II others on this coast, afforded hopes of a passage ; " however," the Commander says, " we crossed the entrance of Cumberland Strait, and steered south- south-east," that is, we turned our backs upon it, left it unmolested, and steered direct for England ; and Captain Sabine gave no sign, no indication about currents and driftwood, and swell from the north- ward ;* but Ross does give a reason, and a sufficient one, had he not spoiled it by a total misconstruction as usual of his Instructions. He says, " As the 1st of October was the latest period which, by my In- structions, I was allowed to continue on this service, I was not authorized to proceed up this strait to ex- plore it." The real drift, intention, and meaning of the Instructions are, that, after giving up all further search for a passage, as he had now done, he was not to remain in Davis's Strait so long as to be caught in the ice, and obliged to winter on any part of the eastern coast of America, or the western coast of Old Greenland, but to leave the ice on the 20th of September, or the 1st of October, f Without entering into any detail of scientific observations made on this voyage, and collections for adding to the natural history of the Arctic * Without giving a direct contradiction to Commander Ross's statement regarding Captain Sabine's opinion of Lancaster Sound, it was thought better to leave that to Captain Sabine himself, to deal with as he might think proper. t Admiralty Instructions. Char II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 53 regions, the several appendices, amounting to up- wards of one hundred and forty pages, will afford all the information gained, and which, though meagre enough, considering the very limited and restricted means afforded by boats for the attain- ment of it, displays a considerable share of talent, attention, and industry by the several respective officers of both ships, who have given full proof how much more would have been accomplished had more frequent opportunities been afforded to them. The names of individual observers and col- lectors are always given by the commanding officer of expeditions of this nature — that of Ross forms an exception. Commander John Ross was promoted to the rank of captain in December, 1818, on paying off the ships ; and, singular enough, no other officer appears to have been promoted, not even Parry, who commanded the second ship, and who was not only suffered to remain a lieutenant, but was sent out, the following year, with two ships under his com- mand, on a similar expedition, still as lieutenant, with Instructions addressed to " Lieutenant Wil- liam Edward Parry, commanding." Among the little irregularities of Commander Ross, it cannot escape notice that he addresses all his letters and orders, issued during the voyage, and unnecessarily printed in his book, as from John Ross, Captain of the Isabella. His promotion to that 54 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. rank on his return was easily acquired, being ob- tained by a few months' voyage of pleasure round the shores of Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, which had been performed centuries ago, and somewhat better, in little ships of thirty to fifty tons. It is a voyage which any two of the Yacht Club would easily accomplish in five months, and during that time might run far enough up Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, to ascertain the insularity, or otherwise, of Old Greenland. There are, among the members of that club, gentlemen sufficiently high spirited to undertake to solve that national question, and prove the accuracy of old Burleigh, and thus remove a blot from the geography of Northern Europe, for a part of that division of the globe Greenland is now ascertained to be. There is nothing to be appre- hended from the severity of the temperature. During the three or four months that the ships of the present voyage were in the Arctic seas, the thermometer never fell below 26J°; the general average was between 35° and 37°; no deaths took place, and scarcely a day's illness. Parry, by anticipation, doubts not that a ship, provided with sufficient food, warm clothing, and fuel, "might winter in the highest latitude we have been in, without suffering materially either from cold or dis- ease;" he very soon proved it to be so. In taking leave of Ross, it may be stated that the observations made on his strange conduct have Chap. II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 55 relation only to his unfitness for conducting the voyage of discovery, where science and accuracy were indispensable. In practical seamanship it is understood and admitted that he is sufficiently well skilled, as may be inferred from Sir George Hope's recommendation, as well as from the nature of his early and various services in ships of war in the Baltic, in merchant ships, and in ships trading to the East Indies. CHAPTER III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 1818. A Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole, performed in his Majesty's ships Dorothea and Trent, under the Com- mand of Captain David Buchan, 1818. To which is added a Summary of all the early attempts to reach the Pacific by way of the Pole. By Captain F. W. Beechey, one of the Lieutenants of the Expedition. The two ships appropriated to this service were the Dorothea and the Trent, commanded, officered, and manned as under: — Dorothea. David Buchan, Captain. Arthur Morell, Lieutenant. John Duke, Surgeon. John Jermain, Purser. George Fisher, Astronomer. Charles Palmer, Admiralty Mate. Wm. J. Dealy, do. Wm. G. Borland, Assist.-Surg. Cyrus Wakeham, Clerk. Peter Bruce, Greenland Master. George Crawford, do. Mate. Thomas Hebron, Carpenter. 12 Officers. 43 Seamen and Marines. Trent. John Franklin, Lieut, and Comr. Frederick Beechey, Lieutenant. William Barrett, Purser. Andrew Reid, Admiralty Mate. George Back, do. Alex. Gilfillan, Assist.-Surg. William Castell, Clerk. George Fife, Greenland Master. George Kirby, do. Mate. James Bowden, Carpenter. 10 Officers. 28 Seamen and Marines. 38 Total complement. 55 Total complement. Captain David Buchan was an active and en- terprising officer, who for several years had been Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 57 accustomed to the navigation of the icy seas in the neighbourhood of Newfoundland, and received his promotion to the rank of commander in 1816, for his zeal and good conduct on that station. He also made a land journey over ice and snow nearly across the island, in order to procure an interview with the native islanders, he being the first Euro- pean that ever ventured to go among them. On his return from the present expedition he was ap- pointed in 1820 to the Grasshopper, in which ship he returned to Newfoundland, and served on that station till 1823, when he was promoted to the rank of captain. In coming from India he was lost in the Upton Castle, a ship that was never heard of after the 8th of December, 1838. Lieutenant Franklin entered the navy in early life as midshipman of the Porpoise, one of the ships employed by Captain Flinders on the survey of the coasts of Australia, and was wrecked in her. Next in the Polyphemus as midshipman and master's mate from 1801 to 1808, and was in the fleet with Nelson at the battle of Copenhagen. He was next appointed acting-lieutenant in the Bedford ; and was lieutenant of the Bellerophon in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and also in the Bedford in the attack on New Orleans in 1815, where he com- manded in the boats, was wounded, gazetted, and highly spoken of. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1822, on returning from his first 58 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. land Arctic expedition. He was considered a good nautical surveyor, well versed in the use of instru- ments, and a thorough seaman. In 1821 he was made commander. Lieutenant Morell was promoted to the rank of commander in 1828, and appointed commander of the Tortoise store-ship at Ascension in 1844, where he now is. Lieutenant Frederick Beechey, the son of the eminent artist, went through his probation in the naval service with great credit. In 1806, at ten years of age, he entered Lord St. Vincent's flag- ship, and served in various ships ; was engaged as a mate in several actions ; and was in the Vengeur, and employed in the boats at the attack of New Orleans in 1815, and made lieutenant in that year. As might be expected, he was skilful as a draughts- man, which he practised on the present voyage with great success, as* the prints in his book testify. We next find him as lieutenant of the Hecla, in Parry's first voyage, in which he was fully employed as draughtsman and surveyor ; also in assisting in all the requisite observations. Being of an active and enterprising mind, he was next employed, in the years 1821 and 1822, to survey and examine, in company with his brother, the north coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward, comprehending the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica, and the ancient cities com- posing the Pentapolis. In January, 1825, he was Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 59 appointed commander of the Blossom, destined for a voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Strait, with instructions, among other things, to co-operate with the Polar land expeditions ; to keep the Blossom, however, in open water, and not to risk her being beset in the ice. Finding in Kotzebue Sound the sea clear of ice, all hands on board were most anxious to try for a north-east passage, but his instructions did not admit of it. He did all he could, which was, to send his master, Elson, in the decked launch, in which he proceeded along the coast of America, until impeded by a neck of land, running to the northward, and encumbered with ice. In 1827 Beechey was made captain, while on this service, in which he remained to the year 1828, and pub- lished a very clever book on the shores and islands of the Pacific. He has since been employed in various surveying duties, in which he has greatly distinguished himself, and has been for some years past, and still is, employed in conducting the sur- vey of the coasts of Ireland, and the west coast and islands of Scotland. Charles Palmer and W. J. Dealy, then acting- mates, were promoted to lieutenants in 1821, and remain still in the same rank. Andrew Reid was promoted at the same time ; went with Parry on his first and second voyages, and still remains on the list of lieutenants. George Back followed up the service from his 60 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. Ill, first entry, but has been mostly employed on land expeditions, and has highly distinguished himself by his active, zealous, and vigorous conduct, on various occasions of great difficulty and peril, having con- tributed mainly, and at the risk of his own life, to save those of his fellow-travellers, Franklin and Richardson. For these and other services, which will be pointed out, he was advanced to the rank of captain, and received the honour of knighthood. Compare the progress thus made, by adhering to the service, with the stationary position of his superior comrade in this present voyage, and the conclusion to be drawn is evident. George Fisher was employed on Parry's second voyage as chaplain and astronomer, and proved himself a valuable and useful officer; he is now chaplain and head master of the Greenwich Hos- pital Naval Schools. The narrative of this voyage comes forth under peculiar circumstances, and was not published until the year 1843, twenty-five years after it was per- formed contemporaneously with that under Com- mander Ross who proceeded to the north-west, while the destination of this was to the north-east. Its publication, as already stated, came out under different circumstances from that of Ross. Com- mander Buchan, from ill health it is said, declined to bring out any account of the voyage, — rather from immediate and active employment it may be Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 61 suspected ; but there was another reason, as we learn from Captain Beechey. " Captain Buchan abstained from publishing his own journal from a feeling that the matter it contained was not of sufficient interest to engage the attention of the general reader;" and Beechey further says, " I regret also that my immediate commander, Sir John Franklin, has not had leisure to attend to the publication of a voyage in which he bore so conspicuous a part." He too, it may be sus- pected, declined from a feeling of delicacy, so long as the commander of the expedition was living, and might consider the time gone by after his death. Lieutenant Beechey having preserved materials for arranging into the shape of a journal at some future time, and having put them in order, submitted it to Captain Buchan, who returned it with this observation : — That " all the most pro- minent features of the expedition were brought forward in perfect accordance with his views :" and he adds, — " My only regret in not having published the proceedings of our attempt to reach the Pole, is the privation of making the public acquainted with my entire approbation of the conduct of the officers and seamen I had the honour to com- mand." What delayed the appearance of the narrative of a voyage made in 1818, to the year 1843, Captain Beechey does not say ; it could not be diffidence of 62 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. his talent for writing, as he 'had long before pub- lished a voyage in the Pacific and to Behring's Strait, a well-written volume of 700 pages. It appears indeed that the public would not have had the present work at all, but for the persua- sion of a friend, who casually saw and read the manuscript, when taking a little trip in the vessel he commanded in the Irish Channel. This friend* found it to be interesting, and, as the produce of a voyage set forth by Government, he advised him, and absolutely compelled him, as it were, to pub- lish it ; and for that purpose took it with him to London. It is a well-written and interesting nar- rative, disencumbered of the frequent recurrence of nautical remarks and observations, which are not always understood or relished by the general reader; and it contains lively descriptions of the manners and habits of the various living crea- tures that abound on the shores of Spitzbergen, its seas, and islands of ice; and they are given in so clear and lucid a manner, without the techni- calities peculiarly employed in the description of objects of natural history, that the book is suited for all classes, and may be recommended as a model for future voyagers. Though this expedition, like that of Ross, was a failure in its main object, yet, unlike the other, it was not owing to any want of exertion, zeal, or * Mr. John Barrow. Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 63 intelligence in the two commanders or officers ; on the contrary, the two ships were supplied with some of those who in future voyages so greatly distinguished themselves, as to obtain the highest steps of promotion, and to receive honorary re- wards— need the names of Franklin and Back be mentioned ? The Instructions directed that they were to make the best of their way into the Spitzbergen seas, where they should endeavour to pass to the north- ward, between Spitzbergen and Greenland, without stopping on either of their coasts, and use their best endeavours to reach the North Pole — with a suggestion, that where the sea is deepest and least connected with land, it will be found most clear of ice. Their instructions on objects of scientific in- quiry on the voyage, and particularly on those to be noticed on and about the Pole, are carefully drawn up and in great detail, the latter part of which were unfortunately not called into practice. The other portions of a general nature appear to have been carefully attended to, and well described by Lieu- tenant Beechey, who introduces his reader into the Greenland sea in noticing the interest taken by those who, for the first time, witnessed the ship working its way among floating masses of ice ; and who viewed the bright sun darting its oblique rays among them at midnight; conveying to the eye, assisted by the imagination, and by the lights 64 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. and shadows, the appearance of " architectural edifices, grottos, and caves, here and there glit- tering as if with precious metals;" so that, he says, " it was usual to deviate from nautical phraseology and shape a course for a church, a tower, or bridge, or some similar structure in the lumps of ice." So early as the 24th of May the expedition had reached Cherie Island, in latitude 74° 33', so called by Stephen Bennet in 1603, on or near which the walruses were so numerous, that not fewer than nine hundred or a thousand of those large animals were captured, in the short space of seven hours, by the crew of a single vessel. Of the habits and character of the walrus, Lieutenant Beechey gives, after frequent intercourse with them, a very interesting account. Their affection for their voung, and their unflinching courage in de- fending them, are remarkable ; not more so their compassionate conduct towards a wounded compa- nion, whom they will never leave till carried off to a place of safety ; and even the young ones on such occasions will turn fiercely against the boats of the pursuers. Although one of these animals was brought alive to England in 1608, as we learn from Purchas, yet it was but the other day that the British Museum could boast even of a stuffed spe- cimen. Why should not the Zoological Society offer a price for a living one to keep the white bear Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 65 company ? They could easily get one. A single instance will suffice to show the care and affection bestowed on their young. " We were greatly amused by the singular and affec- tionate conduct of a walrus towards its young. In the vast sheet of ice that surrounded the ships, there were occasion- ally many pools ; and when the weather was clear and warm, animals of various kinds would frequently rise and sport about in them, or crawl from thence upon the ice to bask in the warmth of the sun. A walrus rose in one of these pools close to the ship, and finding every thing quiet, dived down and brought up its young, which it held by its breast by pressing it with its nipper. In this manner it moved about the pool, keeping in an erect posture, and always directing the face of the young toward the vessel. On the slightest movement on board, the mother released her flipper, and pushed the young one under water ; but when every thing was again quiet, brought it up as before, and for a length of time continued to play about in the pool, to the great amusement of the seamen, who gave her credit for abilities in tuition, which, though possessed of considerable sagacity, she hardly merited." — pp. 80, 81. On the 28th of May the weather being foggy and severe, with heavy falls of snow, the ships se- parated ; and the Trent stood to the northward towards Magdalena Bay, the place of rendezvous, along the edge of the main body of ice ; they met here, and seeing it impossible to penetrate the marginal line of the ice, and the season being very early, the commander determined on passing a few days in that bay, in which they anchored on the 3rd of June. The ice was in the cove and upper F 66 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. Ill part of the harbour, but was in a rapidly decaying state ; and on revisiting their anchorage here in the beginning of August, it had entirely disappeared. Magdalena Bay is rendered conspicuous by four glaciers, the smallest two hundred feet above the sea, on the slope of a mountain. It is called the Hanging Iceberg, and seems, so Beechey says, as if a very slight matter would detach it from the mountain and precipitate it into the sea. The largest of the four extends two to three miles in- land : owing to the great rents in the surface, it has been named the Waggon-way, from the resem- blance of the fissures to ruts made by wheels. Several glaciers similar to those were observed near Dane's Gut, the largest about ten thousand feet in length, by two or three hundred feet in perpendi- cular height. In the vicinity of these icebergs a strict observance of silence is necessary ; the explo- sion of a gun scarcely ever fails to bring down one of these masses. Mr. Beechey says that on two occasions they witnessed avalanches on the most magnificent scale. " The first was occasioned by the discharge of a musket at about half a mile distance from the glacier. Imme- diately after the report of the gun, a noise resembling thunder was heard in the direction of the iceberg (glacier), and in a few seconds more an immense piece broke away, and fell headlong into the sea. The crew of the launch, supposing themselves beyond the reach of its influence, quietly looked upon the scene, when presently a sea arose Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 67 and rolled towards the shore with such rapidity, that the crew had not time to take any precautions, and the boat was in consequence washed upon the beach, and completely filled by the succeeding wave. As soon as their astonish- ment had subsided,. they examined the boat, and found her so badly stove, that it became necessary to repair her in order to return to the ship. They had also the curiosity to measure the distance the boat had been carried by the wave, and found it to be ninety-six feet."— pp. 155, 156. In viewing the same glacier from a boat at a distance, a second avalanche took place, which afforded them the gratification of witnessing the creation, as it were, of a sea iceberg, an opportunity which has occurred to few, though it is generally understood that such monsters can only be generated on shore. "This occurred on a remarkably fine day, when the quietness of the bay was first interrupted by the noise of the falling body. Lieutenant Franklin and myself had ap- proached one of these stupendous walls of ice, and were endeavouring to search into the innermost recess of a deep cavern that was near the foot of the glacier, when we heard a report, as if of a cannon, and turning to the quarter whence it proceeded, we perceived an immense piece of the front of the berg sliding down from the height of two hun- dred feet at least into the sea, and dispersing the water in every direction, accompanied by a loud grinding noise, and followed by a quantity of water, which being previously lodged in the fissures, now made its escape in numberless small cataracts over the front of the glacier." — pp. 156, 157. After describing the disturbance occasioned by the plunge of this enormous fragment, and the f2 68 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. rollers which swept over the surface of the bay, and obliged the Dorothea, then careening at the dist- ance of four miles, to aright, by releasing the tackles, he thus proceeds : — " The piece, that had been disengaged, at first wholly disappeared under water, and nothing was seen but a vio- lent boiling of the sea, and a shooting up of clouds of spray, like that which occurs at the foot of a great cataract. After a short time it reappeared, raising its head full a hundred feet above the surface, with water pouring down from all parts of it ; and then labouring as if doubtful which way it should fall, it rolled over, and after rocking about some mi- nutes, at length became settled. " We now approached it, and found it nearly a quarter of a mile in circumference, and sixty feet out of the water. Knowing its specific gravity, and making a fair allowance for its inequalities, we computed its weight at 421,660 tons. A stream of salt water was still pouring down its sides, and there was a continual cracking noise, as loud as that of a cart-whip, occasioned, I suppose, by the escape of fixed (confined) air." — pp. 157, 158. Mr. Beechey confirms what has frequently been found and noticed — the mildness of the temperature on the western coast of Spitzbergen ; there being little or no sensation of cold, though the thermo- meter might be only a few degrees above the freezing point. The brilliant and lively effect of a clear day, when the sun shines forth, with a pure sky, whose azure hue is so intense as to find no parallel even in the boasted Italian sky, affords, in Mr. Beechey 's opinion, a full compensation for the Chap, III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 69 cloudy and misty weather, when the hills are clothed with new-fallen snow and all appears dreary and desolate. The radiation of the sun, he ob- serves, in some sheltered situation, is so powerful during two hours on either side of noon, that they frequently observed the thermometer upon the ice in the offing at 58°, 62°, 67°; and once at mid- night it rose to 73°, although in the shade at the same time it was only 36°. Hence are found va- rieties of Alpine plants, grasses, and lichens, such as in the more southern aspects flourish in great luxuriance : they are here found ascending to a considerable height, " so that," says Beechey, " we have frequently seen the rein-deer browsing at an elevation of fifteen hundred feet." On account of the mildness of the temperature, the shores of Spitzbergen are frequented by multi- tudes of animals of various descriptions. " From an early hour in the morning until the period of rest returned, the shores around us reverberated with the merry cry of the little auk, willocks, divers, cormorants, gulls, and other aquatic birds ; and wherever we went, groups of walruses basking in the sun mingled their playful roar with the husky bark of the seal." The little auks or rotges (the Alca alle) are stated to be so numerous, that " we have frequently seen an uninterrupted line of them extending full half way over the bay, or to a distance of more than three miles, and so close together, that thirty have fallen at one shot. This 70 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. living column might be about six yards broad and as many deep ; so that allowing sixteen birds to a cubic yard, there would be four millions of these creatures on the wing at one time." — p. 46. This number, he adds, appears very large ; yet when it is told that the little rotges rise in such multitudes as to darken the air, and that their chorus is distinctly audible at a distance of four miles, the estimate will not appear to be exag- gerated. In fact, their numbers dwindle into a small figure when compared with Audubon's pas- senger-pigeon, on the banks of the Ohio, which, estimated on the wing at one time, he makes 1,115,000,000 and upwards. Too much confidence ought not to be placed on calculations such as these. At Vogel Sang and Cloven Cliff, between which is Fair Haven, wherein the ships anchored, the sur- rounding islands are described as clothed with lichens and other rich pasturage for rein-deer, which creatures are here so abundant (upon Vogel Sang in particular), that this island alone supplied the expedition with forty carcasses, in high condi- tion, the fat on the loins being from four to six inches thick, and a carcass prepared for dressing- weighing two hundred and eighty-five pounds. These fine creatures showed evident marks of affec- tion for each other. " They were at this time in pairs, and when one was shot the other would hang over it, and occasionally lick it, apparently be- moaning its fate; and if not immediately killed, Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 71 would stand three or four shots rather than desert its fallen companion." " This compassionate con- duct," continues Beechey, " it is needless to say, doubled our chance of success ; though I must con- fess, it was obtained in violation of our better feelings." These animals are said to take to the water freely, and swim from one island to another. The boats of the Trent took four, which they wished to retain alive ; but they were so wild, that they broke their slender limbs, and inflicted other serious wounds, so that it became necessary to put an end to their sufferings by killing them. At one of the islets near Vogel Sang were also the King Eider ducks, in such numbers, that it was impossible almost to walk without treading on their nests, which they defended with determined reso- lution. If driven off by foxes or other large animals, they hastily draw the down of the nest over the eggs, and glue it with a yellow fluid, not only to preserve the warmth of the eggs, but that, being of so offensive a nature, the foxes would not touch the eo-gs tainted with it. Foxes and bears are eve^- where found on the shore and on the ice ; and the sea about Spitzbergen is as much alive as the land, from the multitude of burgermesters, strontj aggers, malmouks, kittiwakes, and the rest of the gull tribe ; while the amphibious animals and the fish enliven both the ice and the water, from the huge whale to the minute clio on which it feeds, swal- lowing perhaps a million at a mouthful. In this 72 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. respect of animal life, the Arctic regions of the globe essentially differ from those within the Antarctic Circle, where all appears to be stillness, silence, and solitude. On the 7th of June the ships left Magdalena Bay, and were hampered with fragments of ice, usually called brash-ice, which, as they proceeded, became thicker and more solid, and indeed impe- netrable ; but a breeze opened and dispersed it, and carried the ships into clear water. In going west- erly they fell in with several whale ships, by which they learned that the ice in that quarter was quite compact, and that fifteen vessels were beset in it. Buchan, therefore, stood to the northward. They passed Cloven Cliff — a remarkable isolated rock, which marks the north-western boundary of Spitz- bergen, and also Red Bay, when they were stopped by the ice closing the channel between it and the shore, and became firmly fixed. By great exertions, however, they got into the floe of ice, where they remained thirteen days, when the field began to separate, and to set to the southward, at the rate of three miles an hour ; and the ships got into an open sea, where however they were not long permitted to remain, and took shelter in Fair Haven. Finding from the view afforded by the hills that the ice was driving to the northward, they again put to sea on the 6th July, and sailed as far as 80° 15' N., where the same impenetrable barrier ob- structed their further progress. On the following Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 13 day, however, so rapid had been the motion of the ice during the night, that channels of water were observed in every quarter, and the wind was favour- able for proceeding along one of the open channels. Captain Buchan lost not a moment in pushing his ship into one of these openings, spreading every sail his masts would bear, and was cheerfully fol- lowed by his enterprising consort, to the great joy of all on board. In the evening, however, the channels began to close again, and the vessels were soon beset and pressed close by the packed ice. This was the end of their voyage northwards, and the latitude gained was 80° 34' N. In vain they laboured two days in dragging the vessels with ropes and ice-anchors; for though they had left the ice behind them, the current had carried them back to the southward three miles; and it was clear that all attempts to get one mile farther to the northward would be vain. Captain Buchan being now satisfied that he had given the ice a fair trial in the vicinity of Spitz- bergen, resolved on standing over towards the coast of Greenland. Having succeeded in getting the ships to the edge of the pack, and sailing along it, a violent gale of wind came on, so suddenly, that they were at once reduced to storm-stay-sails. The ice was setting fast upon them, and the Dorothea being nearest to it, in order to escape immediate shipwreck, it was deemed necessary to take refuge amongst it. The Trent followed her example, and 74 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. III. dashed into the " unbroken line of furious breakers, in which immense pieces of ice were heaving and subsiding with the waves, and dashing together with a violence which nothing apparently but a solid body could withstand, occasioning such a noise that it was with the greatest difficulty we could make our orders heard by the crew." " No language," he says, " I am convinced, can convey an adequate idea of the terrific grandeur of the effect now pro- duced by the collision of the ice and the tem- pestuous ocean," But when the moment arrived that the strength of the little bark was to be placed in competition with that of the great icy continent, and doubts might reasonably have arisen of her surviving the unequal conflict, the crew preserved the greatest calmness and resolution. Captain Beechey says : " If ever the fortitude of seamen was fairly tried, it was assuredly not less so on this occasion ; and I will not conceal the pride I felt in witnessing the bold and decisive tone in which the orders were issued by the commander of our little vessel (Franklin), and the promptitude and steadiness with which they were executed by the crew. Each person in- stinctively secured his own hold, and with his eyes fixed upon the masts, awaited in breathless anxiety the moment of concussion. It soon arrived— the brig, cutting her way through the light ice, came in violent contact with the main body. In an instant we all lost our footing, the masts bent with the impetus, and the cracking timbers from below be- spoke a pressure which was calculated to awaken our serious apprehensions." — pp. 123, 124. Captain Beechey proceeds to give a most formid- Chap. III. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN. 75 able account of the state of the ship, accompanied by a terrific and well-executed print, descriptive of her situation. " Her motion," he says, " was so great that the ship's bell, which in the heaviest gale of wind had never struck of itself, now tolled so continually that it was ordered to be muffled, for the purpose of escaping the unpleasant association it was calculated to produce." After a few hours the gale ceased, and the pack broke up sufficiently to release the ships, which were so disabled that the Dorothea was in a foundering condition. They made the best of their way to Fair Haven in a sinking state, where they repaired their damages as well as they could ; it was obvious, however, there was an end to any further attempt as regarded the main object of the expedition. The Trent being the less damaged of the two, Lieutenant Franklin requested he might be allowed to proceed alone in the execu- tion of the service. This could not be acceded to, as, in the event which had occurred, Captain Buchan was directed by his instructions to take command of the Trent, provided her consort was rendered un- serviceable; had he done so, the Dorothea, unac- companied in her way home, might have risked the lives of her crew in a^ ship so shattered and unsafe. It was therefore decided that both should return home ; and on the 30th August they put to sea, and on the 22nd October arrived at Deptford. CHAPTER IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 1819, 1820. Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-west Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. By W. E. Parry, Commander of the Expedition. The two ships, appointed for this service, were the Hecla, a bomb of 375 tons, and the Griper, a large gun-brig of 180 tons, raised upon ; and they were commanded, officered, and manned as under : — The Hecla. Wm. Edw. Parry, Lieut.-Comms- Capt. E. Sabine, Astronomer. F. W. Beechey, Lieutenant. John Edwards, Surgeon. W. H. Hooper, Purser. Alexander Fisher, Assist.-Surg. Joseph Nias, Wm. J. Dealy, Charles Palmer, iMidshipmen. Jas. Clarke Ross, John Bushnan, James Hulse, Clerk. 12 Officers. Gunner, Boatswain, Carpenter, Greenland Master, Greenland Mate, Cook, 4 Leading Men, Quarter Master, Gunner's Mate, Boatswain's Mate, Carpenter's Mate, Armourer's Mate, Sail- maker. 22 Able Seamen. 8 Marines, including 2 Serjeants. 58 Total on board. The Griper. Matthew Liddon, Lieut.-Comms H. Perkyns Hoppner, Lieutenant. Chas. Jas. Beverly, Assist.-Surg. Andrew Reid, *„.,",. A. M. Skene, I Midship- W. Nelson Griffiths, ) Cyrus Wakeham, Clerk. men. 7 Officers. 12 Warrant and Petty Officers. 12 Able Seamen. 5 Marines. 36 Total on board. Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 77 The most remarkable feature in this expedition is, that Lieutenant Parry having been selected to the command of it, for the purpose of carrying into effect the instructions which Ross, from misappre- hension, indifference, or incapacity, had failed to do, should have been sent out as a Lieutenant only, in which rank he continued for nearly two years before he obtained that of Commander; while the latter, for an unprofitable voyage of seven summer months, was advanced at once to the rank of Captain— why, is best known to those who con- ferred it. Again, Lieutenant Parry proceeded on this second voyage of discovery with the rank or title only of Lieutenant commanding, and did not obtain the next step till the 8th November, 1820, being then absent. On the same day, and while in the service of the expedition, Lieutenant Liddon, his second in command, was also made Commander, in which rank he still remains on the list of naval officers. Lieutenant Beechey's services have already been mentioned ; and Hoppner continued to serve as lieutenant in the Hecla on Parry's second voyage, and on the third was appointed commander of the second ship, the Fury. Nias and Reid were promoted to the rank of lieutenants on the second voyage, and served in Parry's ship. Skene, Ross, and Bushnan were in the first voyage, 78 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. and so were Alexander Fisher, assistant-surgeon, and James Hulse, clerk. There can be but one opinion as to the view in which the report of Captain Ross was considered by the Board of Admiralty, were it to be inferred only from the instructions given to his successor, Lieut. William Edward Parry ; in which the examination of the great and open bay, Sir James Lancaster's Sound, was ordered to be considered as the first and most particular object of his voyage ; and, more- over, not succeeding in that direction, to examine Alderman Jones's Sound and that of Sir Thomas Smith, neither of which had been examined, nor even entered, by the commander of the late expedition. The two ships ordered to be fitted out for this expedition — the Hecla, a bomb of 375 tons, and the Griper, a gun-brig — were taken into dock for repairs and strengthening, and the Griper to be raised, as early as the middle of December : and on the 16th January, 1819, Lieutenant Parry was appointed to the command of the former and of the expedition, and Lieutenant Liddon to the latter. The subordinate Lieutenants of the two ships were, F. W. Beechey to the Hecla, and H. P. Hoppner to the Griper, both having served on the late expedition; five Midshipmen to the former ship, Nias, Dealy, Palmer, Clarke Ross, Bushnan ; and to the latter three, Reid, Skene, and Nelson Griffiths. Captain Sabine, of the Royal Artillery, Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 79 joined the expedition as astronomer, and to have charge of the magnetical observations to be made on the voyage. The Hecla had a surgeon, an assistant-surgeon, and a purser; the Griper, an assistant-surgeon and a clerk. The narrative of this voyage has supplied, for the interests of science and geography, numerous and important facts and observations ; and, above all, has opened the door to the discovery of the main object — the North- West Passage. " In this work," it has been said, " we find no display of self-importance, no attempt to deceive, or to throw dust in the eyes of the pub- lic; no marvellous stories to disgust or confound, and make the ignorant stare ; no figures set down at random ; no chart-lines drawn ad libitum ; no representations of objects the mere fancies of the brain ; but, on the contrary, a plain statement of facts and occurrences, and a detail of scientific ob- servations, made with unimpeachable accuracy, and recorded in the clearest and most simple and un- affected language." On the 11th May the ships left the river, and on the 28th June were about the middle of the entrance into Davis's Strait, proceeding to the north ward along the edge of the ice, and between it and the western coast of Greenland ; and on the 3rd July crossed the Arctic Circle, having on that day passed at least fifty icebergs of large dimensions ; and on the following day, a more extended chain of a larger 80 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. size, against which a heavy southerly swell was violently agitated, " dashing the loose ice with tremendous force, sometimes raised a white spray over them to the height of more than one hundred feet, and being accompanied with a loucl noise exactly resembling the roar of distant thunder, pre- sented a scene at once sublime and terrific." Be- tween one of these icebergs and a detached floe, drifting with a southerly current, the Hecla had nearly, as the whalers call it, been f ' nipped ; " that is to say, squeezed flat. The berg was about one hundred and forty feet high, and aground in one hundred and twenty fathoms, so that its whole height probably exceeded eight hundred feet. On the 21st the land, called by Davis ' Hope Sander- son/ and also the ' Woman's Island,' were seen; and " we found ourselves," says Parry, " in the midst of a great number of very high icebergs, of which I counted, from the crow's nest, eighty-eight, besides many smaller ones." Having now reached the latitude of 73°, and being unwilling to pass the latitude of Lancaster Sound, Parry determined to make an attempt to pass through the icy barrier, in order to get into the open sea, which the experience of the former voyage induced him to believe he should find on the oppo- site coast ; it took him, however, seven days' sailing, tracking and warping occasionally, to get into open water, the width of the barrier being not less than Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 81 eighty miles ; but the navigation among fields and floes of this kind is more tedious than dangerous. Having got into the open stream, the water here was found to have deepened so much that no bot- tom was obtained with three hundred and ten fathoms of line ; no ice in any direction, and the temperature of the water had risen from 31° to 37°. Whales, too, were abundant ; no less than eighty- two large ones being counted in the course of the day. Parry observes, that " if any proof were wanting of the value of local knowledge in the navigation of the Polar Seas, it would be amply furnished by the fact of our having now reached the entrance of Sir James Lancaster's Sound just one month earlier than we had done in 1818, although we had then sailed above a fortnight sooner, with the same general object in view, namely, to penetrate to the western coast of Baffin's Bay, where alone the north- west passage was now supposed to be sought for and found." He omits, however, one important cause of his early approach to Lancaster Sound,— that of taking the shortest route, instead of circum- navigating Baffin's Bay. On the 31st a party landed at the spot they had visited the preceding- year, when Lancaster Sound was abandoned. The flag-staff was still standing ; the ground free from ice or snow ; the marks of their shoes as fresh as if imprinted but a few days before — a circumstance G 82 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. which led Parry to conclude that little or no sleet or snow had fallen since his former visit. On the 1st of August the ships entered upon that portion of the voyage, which was to determine the success or failure of the expedition— that magnificent piece of water called Sir James Lancaster's Sound. An easterly breeze and a crowd of sail carried the ships rapidly to the westward. On the morning of the 2nd, it being calm, soundings were taken with the deep-sea clams, and one thousand and fifty fathoms by the line were found ; but the drift being considerable on account of the swell, Parry believes that the depth of water did not exceed eight or nine hundred fathoms. The sea was open before them, free from ice and land. Lieutenant Parry says, " It is more easy to imagine than to describe the almost breathless anxiety which was now visible in every counte- nance, while, as the breeze increased to a fresh gale, we ran quickly up the sound. The mast-heads were crowded by the officers and men, during the whole afternoon ; and an un- concerned observer, if any could have been unconcerned on such an occasion, would have been amused by the eagerness with which the various reports from the crow's nest were received, all however hitherto favourable to our most san- guine hopes." — p. 31. They were soon relieved from their anxiety re- specting the supposed continuity of land, which had been stated in the most peremptory manner to extend across the bottom of this magnificent inlet in which they were sailing ; having reached the Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 83 longitude of 83° 12', the two shores here, the north and south, were still thirteen leagues apart, without the slightest appearance of any land to the westward of them. They had now advanced to what Parry has called Barrow's Strait ; previous to which, how- ever, he had named a large opening on the northern shore, Croker's Inlet ; " being anxious to seize," says a waggish critic, " as it would seem, the earliest opportunity of making some compensation for hav- ing transformed, as with a touch of Harlequin's wand, the magnificent and insuperable range of mountains, which a former expedition had assigned to one Secretary of the Admiralty, into a broad and uninterrupted passage, bearing the name of the other Secretary." " We now began to flatter our- selves," says Parry, " that we had fairly entered the Polar Sea, and some of the most sanguine among us had even calculated the bearing and distance of Icy Cape, as a matter of no very difficult or impro- bable accomplishment." But in an icy sea, and more especially in narrow passages interrupted by islands, great uncertainty must always prevail. Having passed Barrow's Strait, a small island occurred, between which and the shore to the northward a floe of ice was found to extend. As this floe blocked up the passage to the westward, and they here noticed a large opening that appeared on the southern coast, Parry thought it better to proceed to the examination of it than to g2 84 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV- remain for an indefinite period idle in the western passage. It was found to be ten leagues wide at the mouth, and no land visible in the line of its southern direction. He stood down an open channel of water on the eastern side along the edge of ice that occupied the middle of the strait ; and hopes were entertained that it might lead them nearer to the coast of America than Barrow's Strait, and if so, to a lower degree of latitude, in which it might be advantageous to make their passage to Behring's Strait. And as the inlet increased in width as they proceeded to the southward, it was calculated to raise their hopes on this score : but, to their great disap- pointment, the disappearance of land to the south- west, and its place supplied by a barrier of ice be- yond which no water was in sight, determined Parry to return to Barrow's Strait. To the inlet he left he gave the name of Prince Regent, having en- tered it on his Royal Highness s birth-day, the 12th of August. To a bay on its eastern shore he gave the name of Port Bowen. The latitude of the southernmost point to which he had proceeded was 71° 53' 30", longitude 90° 03' 45', and the distance from its entrance about 120 miles. It had been observed that, from the moment they entered Lan- caster Sound, the motion of the compass-needle was very sluggish, and both this and its deviation in- creased as they proceeded to the westward, and con- tinued to do so in descending this inlet. Having Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 85 reached latitude 73°, " they witnessed for the first time the curious phenomenon of the directive power of the needle becoming so weak as to be completely overcome by the attraction of the ship ; so that the needle might now be said to point to the north pole of the ship." It was the 19th of August before they again reached the northern shore of Barrow's Strait, and found the ice still remaining around Leopold's Islands, yet not impassable ; but on that and the following day the weather was thick, and much snow had fallen. They now, on the 21st, had the satis- faction of finding nothing to interrupt their pro- gress to the westward. The sea was entirely free from ice, and " so perfectly clear that it was al- most impossible to believe it to be the same part of the sea which but a day or two before had been completely covered with floes to the utmost extent of our view." On the evening of the 22nd, after passing several bays and headlands on the northern shore, they came before the mouth of a channel of more than eight leagues in width, looking up which on a beautiful clear evening, neither land nor ice could be seen from the mast-head. " To this noble channel," says Parry, " I gave the name of Wellington, after his Grace the Master-General of the Ordnance." " The arrival off this grand opening was an event for which we had long been looking with much anxiety and impatience ; for the continuity of land to the northward had 86 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV always been a source of uneasiness to us, principally from the possibility that it might take a turn to the southward, and unite with the coast of America. The appearance of this broad opening, free from ice, and of the land on each side of it, more especially that on the west, leaving scarcely a doubt on our minds of the latter being an island, relieved us from all anxiety on that score ; and every one felt that we were now finally disentangled from the land which forms the western side of Baffin's Bay ; and that, in fact, we had actually entered the Polar Sea. Fully impressed with this idea, I ventured to distinguish the magnificent opening, through which our passage had been effected from Baffin's Bay to Wellington Channel, by the name of Barrow's Strait, after my friend Mr. Barrow, Secretary of the Admiralty, both as a private testimony of my esteem for that gentleman and as a public acknowledgment due to him for his zeal and ex- ertions in the promotion of northern discovery." — pp. 51, 52. He then pays the compliment of assigning to the capes, inlets, and groups of islands the names of Hotham, Barlow, and Cornwallis; and goes on to say :— " Though two-thirds of the month of August had now elapsed, I had every reason to be satisfied with the progress we had hitherto made. I calculated upon the sea being still navigable for six weeks to come, and probably more, if the state of the ice would permit us to edge away to the southward in our progress westerly : our prospects, indeed, were truly exhilarating ; the ships had suffered no injury ; we had plenty of provisions ; crews in high health and spirits ; a sea, if not open, at least navigable ; and a zealous and unanimous determination in both officers and men to accomplish, by all possible means, the grand object on which we had the happiness to be employed." — p. 52. It is delightful to dwell upon such joyful hopes, Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 87 prospects, and satisfaction as are expressed in the terms of this passage, and in the course of a voyage of so novel, so perilous, and so precarious a nature as this. It is a just and well-deserved compliment paid by a writer in a periodical journal, who says that, " After a most attentive perusal we can con- fidently say, that few books since the commence- ment of our labours have afforded us more to praise or less to censure, and that not one has inspired us with more respect for the character of its author." The expedition continued to proceed westerly, but made only slow progress on account of the de- tached floes of ice and foggy weather. To the northward as far as could be seen the land was apparently composed of clusters of islands. To the westward the sea for the most part was covered with a compact body of ice, yet a channel was open for the ships between it and the shore. On reaching Sir Byam Martin's Island, the nearest to Melville Island, Captain Sabine and Mr. James Ross, ac- companied by Messrs. Edwards and Fisher, were despatched on shore to make the necessary observa- tions, and to examine and collect specimens of the natural productions of the country. These officers reported, on their return, that they landed on a sandy beach near the east point of the island, which they found to be more productive and altogether more interesting than any other part of the shores of the polar regions that had yet been visited. Remains of Esquimaux habitations were found in 88 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. four different places ; some of them consisted of stones rudely planned in a circular form, and were from seven to ten feet in diameter ; traces of reindeer and musk-oxen were seen in many situations ; the ravines were covered with luxuriant moss and other vegetation, the character of which differed very little from that at the bottom of Possession Bay. The basis of the island consisted chiefly of sandstone, be- sides which were some rich granite and red feld- spar. The latitude of the place of observation was 75° 09' 23", and the longitude 103° 44' 37"; the dip of the magnetic needle 88° 25' 58" ; and the variation was now found to have changed from 128° 58' W. in the longitude of 91° 48' (where the last obser- vations on shore had been made), to 165° 50' 09" E. at their present station. " So that we had," says Parry, "in sailing over the space included between those two meridians, crossed immediately to the northward of the Magnetic Pole, and had undoubt- edly passed over one of those spots upon the globe, where the needle would have been found to vary 180°, or, in other words, where the North Pole would have pointed to the South." In point of fact, though from the weakness and sluggish per- formance of the needles, observations that required great nicety could not be depended on ; yet Parry thinks that one of those spots he alludes to, would at that time have been somewhere not far from the meridian of 100° W. of Greenwich. The " spot alluded to" was, of course, the Magnetic Pole, dis- Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 89 covered eleven years after this, by Commander James Ross, and which is only about two or three degrees " from the meridian of 100° W. of Green- wich." " It would undoubtedly have been extremely interesting to obtain such an observation, and in any other than the very precarious navigation in which we were now engaged, I should have felt it my duty to devote a certain time to this particular purpose; but, under present circumstances, it was impossible for me to regret the cause which alone had prevented it, especially as the importance to science of this observation was not sufficient to compensate the delay which the search after such a spot would necessarily have occa- sioned, and which could hardly be justified at a moment when we were making, and for two or three days continued to make, a rapid and unobstructed progress towards the accomplishment of our principal object."— p. 62. It may now be said it was well he did not, as the spot, since discovered by Commander Ross, was then, as it probably still is, unapproachable by such ships as those of Parry. On the 1st of September Parry inserts in his narrative a table showing a daily abstract of the monthly meteorological journals, consisting of columns indicating the temperature of the air and the sea, state of the barometer, prevailing winds, and prevailing weather ; and in this form a tabular series is repeated on the 1st of every month. From the one in question it appears that the mean tempe- rature in August was, in the shade, 33° 67', on sea- water 31° 93'. It would be desirable that such a 90 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV form should be kept and made imperative, at all times and in all places, on board every ship of war. The expedition continued its course westerly, among patches of ice and in a foggy atmosphere, giving names to small islands, bays, and headlands as they occurred ; and on the 4th of September Parry ob- serves : — " We had the satisfaction of crossing the meridian of 110° W. from Greenwich, in the latitude of 74° 44' 20", by which his Majesty's ships under my orders became en- titled to the sum of five thousand pounds, being the reward offered by the King's Order in Council, grounded on a late Act of Parliament, to such . of his Majesty's subjects as might succeed in penetrating thus far to the westward with- in the Arctic Circle." — p. 7'2. To the bluff head, where the observation was made, the men gave the name of Bounty Cape, a very appropriate name, after the gallant Commander had announced to them officially that their exer- tions had so far been crowned with success as to entitle them to this reward. On the 5th of September, after having worked their way along the southern coast of the largest island of the group they had recently passed, the boats landed, for the second time, in a bay which, for its soundings and shelter, appeared the most safe and convenient that had occurred to anchor in ; and, accordingly, the Bay of the Hecla and Griper, so named by Parry, became the first spot where the expedition had dropped anchor, since leaving the coast of Norfolk. Considering the advanced period Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 91 of the year, it occurred to the Commander that this place appeared to mark, in a very decided manner, the completion of one stage of their voyage. " The ensigns and pendants were hoisted, and it created in us no ordinary feelings of pleasure to see the British flag waving, for the first time, in those regions, which had hitherto been considered beyond the limits of the habitable world." Parry gave to this large island the name of Melville, being that of the First Lord of the Admiralty. Parry determined however to extend their ope- rations for prosecuting disco veiy in these regions, though it became necessary to secure the ships every night from ten till two o'clock, when it was too dark to keep under way, more especially as no trust whatever could be placed in the com- passes. But his hopes were damped when from the crow's nest he perceived a compact body of ice, extending completely in to the shore, near the point which formed the western extreme of the island ; the ship ran, however, sufficiently close to be assured that no passage to the westward could then be effected, the floes being literally upon the beach, and not a drop of clear water visible beyond them. The shore was covered nearly with large masses of ice aground in four or five fathoms of water, of which they would have drawn at least ten, if set afloat ; these masses the people were in the habit of calling bergs, but they were very different to those met with in Baffin's Bay, none of which kind 92 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. were seen to the westward of Barrow's Strait. The length of the night, when darkness prevailed in seas such as this, was little suited for prosecuting disco- veries; yet as September is considered the most valuable month of the year, on account of the sea being then more free from ice than at any other time, Parry states his strong conviction that the ultimate accomplishment of the object must depend, in a great measure, on the further progress to be made this season, and, therefore, he determined to extend their operations to the latest possible period. He soon, however, perceived that the season was at an end. On the 9th of September the floes of ice were observed to be sensibly approaching the shore, and matters grew worse till the 12th, when the ships were actually beset and in a perilous situ- ation. There was no possibility of moving them ; a party, therefore, was sent on shore to collect coal, which had been discovered not far off. Another party, consisting of Mr. Fife, Greenland mate, and six men of the Griper, having been sent on shore, a heavy snow-storm came on, in which they lost their way ; not appearing when night ap- proached, other parties were sent out in search of them — no less than four ; and it was not till three cold days and more severe nights had passed away, that they all got on board, most of them exhausted by cold and fatigue, and severely frost-bitten in their toes and fingers. A tempestuous night of six or seven hours of darkness, accompanied with stormy Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 93 weather, without any shelter on the shore, made it expedient for them to endeavour to retrace their steps to the eastward. Other parties were sent out, and several days were passed in great anxiety before the whole of them returned. About this time, the 14th of September, the change in the temperature was a very striking one, the mercury having descended as low as to 9° ; and from this day the commencement of winter might fairly be dated. The 18th was a day of severe trial for the ships. Endeavouring to return along the land, the bay ice had become so thickened that, with the pressure of the floes without, the ships were arrested in their progress and unable to move a single foot a-head ; and there was but too much reason to apprehend that they would be driven on shore, or forced by the floes against the heavy ice on the beach. From this time till the 20th of the month, the perilous situation of the ships is minutely described, when on that day a large floe forced the Griper on shore, where she lay aground on the beach. At this time Lieutenant Liddon, who had recently recovered from a rheumatic complaint, caused by the harassing circumstances of the last fortnight and the increased cold, which reduced the mercury down to 15°, was brought to a very debilitated state. Parry, therefore, proposed to him to allow himself to be removed to the Hecla till the Griper was again afloat. To this proposal he would by no means listen, saying he should be the last man, instead of 94 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. the first, to leave the Griper ; and, resolute in his pur- pose, like a true British sailor, he remained seated against the lee-side of the deck giving the necessary- orders. The time was now more than arrived when the ships, if possible, should be got into winter-quarters. A harbour being pitched upon, and, on the 24th, the Griper having got afloat and joined, the two ships were secured in the proper position for com- mencing operations. A sailor is never at a loss for contriving and executing the means of overcoming such difficulties, as few landsmen would venture to encounter. On the present occasion they cut a canal through the solid ice of the average thickness of seven inches, and completed it in three days, the whole length of which is stated to have been four thousand and eighty-two yards, or two miles and one- third nearly. In the afternoon of the 26th the ships were hauled into their winter-quarters, with three loud and hearty cheers from both ships' com- panies. " Having now reached the station where, in all proba- bility, we were destined to remain for at least eight or nine months, during three of which we were not to see the face of the sun, my attention was immediately and imperiously called to various and important duties, many of them of a singular nature, such as had for the first time devolved on any officer in his Majesty's navy, and might, indeed, be considered of rare occurrence in the whole history of navi- gation. The security of the ships and the preservation of the various stores were objects of immediate concern. A regular system to be adopted for the maintenance of good Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 95 order and cleanliness, as most conducive to the health of the crews, during the long, dark, and dreary winter, equally demanded my attention." — p. 101. The housing over the ships was one of the first considerations, being calculated to contribute to the comfort of the officers and men, as well as to the preservation of that extraordinary degree of health, which had hitherto been enjoyed in both ships. Warmth and dryness of the berths and bed-places were the next important matters to be secured, the thermometer having now fallen below zero. An iron box, or air-vessel, with three tubes of two inches diameter communicating from below with the ex- ternal air, and uniting above with a metal box, was so contrived as to convey the heated air to the men's berths ; and this apparatus, Parry says, with a moderate fire, produced a current of air of the temperature of 87° at the distance of seventeen feet from the fire-place. The quantity and quality of provisions were to be regulated, having regard to the preservation of health. An anti-scorbutic beer had been issued in lieu of a proportion of spirits ; but when the weather became extremely severe, the beer would not ferment so as to make it palatable. Every attention was paid to the issuing of fuel, to the article of proper clothing, and to the nature of the provisions and little luxuries to be distributed. In short, the able and careful manner in which every article of ships' stores appears to have been 96 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. dealt out to the men, and while judicious in qua- lity, abundant in quantity, and at the same time economically administered, gave satisfaction to all. Both men and officers were fully aware of the neces- sity there was to secure a supply for the winter, and for the following season. But Parry, with right feeling and judgment, and, it may be added, with a knowledge of human nature, in order to obviate any approach to murmuring or despondency, adopted a measure admirably calculated for pre- venting them. " Under circumstances of leisure and inactivity, such as we were now placed in, and with every prospect of its con- tinuance for a very large portion of the year, I was desirous of finding some amusement for the men during this long and tedious interval. I proposed, therefore, to the officers to get up a play occasionally on board the Hecla, as the readiest means of preserving among our crews that cheer- fulness and good humour which had hitherto subsisted. In this proposal I was readily seconded by the officers of both ships ; and Lieutenant Beechey having been duly elected as stage-manager, our first performance was fixed for the 5th of November, to the great delight of the ships' companies. In these amusements I gladly took a part myself, considering that an example of cheerfulness, by giving a direct countenance to every thing that could con- tribute to it, was not the least essential part of my duty, under the peculiar circumstances in which we were placed. " In order still further to promote good humour among ourselves, as well as to furnish amusing occupation, during the hours of constant darkness, we set on foot a weekly newspaper, which was to be called the North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, and of which Captain Sabine Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 97 undertook to be the editor, under the promise that it was to be supported by original contributions from the officers of the two ships : and though some objection may, perhaps, be raised against a paper of this kind being generally re- sorted to in ships of war, I was too well acquainted with the discretion as well as the excellent disposition of my officers, to apprehend any unpleasant consequences from a measure of this kind : instead of which I can safely say that the weekly contributions had the happy effect of employing the leisure hours of those who famished them, and of diverting the mind from the gloomy prospect which would sometimes obtrude itself on the stoutest heart." — pp. 106, 107. Nothing more was wanting than such devices as these, resorted to in a moment of peculiar and ex- traordinary difficulty, to establish the character of Parry for ready and happy expedients, accompanied by a sound judgment, which thus kept alive the active powers of the mind, and prevented it from falling into a habit of inactivity and listlessness, and from sinking into that worst of all conditions, a state of morbid torpor. His plan was, as it could not well be otherwise, completely successful. Besides his editorship, Captain Sabine had abun- dance of employment of a very difficult and more important kind, the results of which are given in detail in the Appendix, under the head of Magnetic Observations, Experiments on the Pendulum, and in the description of objects of Natural History. His first attention, on the arrival of the ships in their winter quarters, was the selection of a proper place for the observatory, which was erected on a con- H 98 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. venient spot for communication with the ships, and also with a house built on the beach for the recep- tion of the clocks and other instruments. The walls of this were of double plank, with moss between, so that a high temperature could be kept up in it, without difficulty, by a single stove. Hunting parties occasionally went out and pro- cured a few rein-deer; but a migration of these animals took place before the close of October, leav- ing behind them only wolves and foxes to keep the party company during the long winter months. Even the Polar hare, so common in the Arctic re- gions, never once showed itself on Melville Island in the course of the winter. The musk ox (Bos mo- schatus), also very common, during its proper season, arrived on Melville Island in the middle of May, by crossing the ice from the southward ; and quitted it by the same way on its return, towards the end of September. On the 1 5th, the last covey of ptarmigan was met with ; and on the same day were seen fifteen deer, all lying down, except one large one, probably a stag ; this, after the rising of the rest, seemed to guard the animals in their flight, frequently going round the herd, sometimes striking them with his horns to make them go on, which they appeared not much inclined to do. Even seals were not found in this neighbourhood ; but whales of different kinds were commonly met with: gulls and ducks, however, so numerous in Davis's Strait and the Georgian Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 99 Islands, condescended not to visit Melville Island, but " two or three specimens of a caterpillar were obtained, one of which was brought to England," — of course as an Arctic curiosity. One large white bear, having pursued Captain Sabine's servant to the ship, was shot at and wounded, but made his escape; it was the only one met with during the stay of the party, but described as being more purely white than any they had before seen. A feeble willow, a saxifrage, lichens, and stunted grasses con- stitute pretty nearly the Jlora of Melville Island. This desolate and miserable island was destined to be the abode of our countrymen for nine to ten dreary winter months, during three of which, as they had been able to anticipate, the sun did not shed on them so much as one benign ray. No wonder then that not a single human being was found to inhabit so repulsive a spot; and it re- quired no little consideration, on the part of the Commander of the expedition, to find employment for the people under his command and protection, to preserve their health, and to ward off despond- ency for so long a period. The method hit upon by Lieutenant Parry had produced, to a great degree, an admirable effect. Yet something more was still required than the acting of plays and the writing and reading of gazettes. Both mind and body demanded exercise, as the only means of protection against disease ; which a large share of leisure, and h2 100 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV a continued state of mental inactivity, were but too sure to produce. The total privation of game of any kind afforded few excursions for the source of exercise and amusement, which hunting is known to confer. Parties, however, had occasionally been sent out shortly after the taking up of their winter quarters. One of these did not return on board before sunset, as strictly ordered, and the conse- quence is stated to have been as follows : — " John Pearson, a marine belonging to the Griper, who was the last that returned on board, had his hands severely frost-bitten, having imprudently gone away without mittens, and with a musket in his hand. A party of our people most providentially found him, although the night was very dark, just as he had fallen down a bank of snow, and was beginning to feel that degree of torpor and drowsiness which, if in- dulged, inevitably proves fatal. When he was brought on board his fingers were quite stiff, and bent into the shape of that part of the musket which he had been carrying : and the frost had so far destroyed the animation in his fingers on one hand that it was necessary to amputate three of them a short time after, notwithstanding all the care and atten- tion paid to him by the medical gentlemen. The effect which exposure to severe frost has in benumbing the mental as well as the corporeal faculties, was very striking in this man, as well as in two of the young gentlemen, who returned after dark, and of whom we were anxious to make inquiries respecting Pearson. When I sent for them into my cabin they looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a rational answer to any of our questions. After being on board for a short time the mental faculties appeared gradually to return with the Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 101 returning circulation ; and it was not till then that a looker- on could easily persuade himself that they had not been drinking too freely." — p. 108. This was fully sufficient for the attentive and kind-hearted Commander to adopt effective mea- sures against a recurrence of so painful a result. So early as the 29th October the thermometer was down to 24° below zero. It was now distressing to touch any metallic substance with the naked hand in the open air ; it produced a feeling of in- tense heat, and took off the skin. If the eye-piece of a telescope touched the face, it occasioned an intense burning pain ; the remedy was to cover them and other instruments with soft leather. The officers, notwithstanding, indulged themselves in walking for an hour or two in the middle of the day, in the depth of winter, even when the thermometer was down to 40° or even 50° below zero, without experiencing much inconvenience from this intense degree of cold; provided al- ways that there was no wind ; but the least breeze made the exposure to it intolerable, when the mercury was even several degrees above zero. The following passage is so naturally and so well expressed, that the desire to extract it is irresist- ible. Speaking of their short walks on shore Parry says : — " It may well be imagined that at this period there was but little to be met with in our walks on shore which could either amuse or interest us. The necessity of not exceeding 102 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. the limited distance of one or two miles, lest a snow-drift, which often rises very suddenly, should prevent our return, added considerably to the dull and tedious monotony which day after day presented itself. To the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that, in some parts, a few hum- mocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the general level. Nor did the land offer much greater variety, being almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown patch of bare ground, in some exposed situations, where the wind had not allowed the snow to remain. When viewed from the summit of the neighbouring hills, on one of those calm and clear days which not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as to induce con- templations which had, perhaps, more of melancholy than of any other feeling. Not an object was to be seen on which the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the spot where the ships lay, and where our little colony was planted. The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial cheerfulness to this part of the pro- spect; and the sound of voices, which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned around us — a silence far different from that peace- able composure which characterizes the landscape of a culti- vated country ; it was the death-like stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated exist- ence. Such, indeed, was the want of objects to afford relief to the eye or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more than usual size appearing above the snow, in the direction to which wTe were going, immediately became a mark, on which our eyes were unconsciously fixed, and towards which we mechanically advanced. " Dreary as such a scene must necessarily be, it could Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 103 not, however, be said to be wholly wanting in interest, espe- cially when associated in the mind with the peculiarity of our situation, the object which had brought us hither, and the hopes which the least sanguine among us sometimes entertained, of spending a part of our next winter in the more genial climate of the South-Sea Islands. Perhaps too, though none of us then ventured to confess it, our thoughts would sometimes involuntarily wander homewards, and in- stitute a comparison between the rugged face of nature in this desolate region, and the livelier aspect of the happy land which we had left behind us." — pp. 124, 125. Nothing could be more judicious than the arrange- ments made for the employment of the men each day in the week ; and on Sundays divine service was invariably performed, and a sermon read, on board both ships. " The attention," says Parry, " paid by the men to the observance of their reli- gious duties was such as to reflect upon them the highest credit, and it tended in no small degree to the preservation of that regularity and good con- duct for which, with very few exceptions, they were invariably distinguished." The minor arrange- ments made by Parry to find employment and to vary the occupations of both men and officers, dur- ing the long unbroken night of three months, appear to have been very judicious. The former, after at- tending divisions morning and evening, cleared up the decks, attended the officers round the ships, ex- amined their berths and bed-places, and in the even- ing went to their supper, while the officers took their tea. After this the men were permitted to amuse 104 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. themselves as they pleased, and games of various kinds, as well as dancing and singing, occasionally went on upon the lower deck till nine o'clock, when they retired to rest, and their lights were extin- guished. " It is scarcely necessary to add," Parry observes, " that the evening occupations of the officers were of a more rational kind, than those which en- gaged the attention of the men. Of the former, read- ing and writing were the principal employments, to which were occasionally added a game of chess, or a tune on the flute or violin, till half past ten, about which time we all retired to rest." On Christmas-day, which had now arrived, the weather was raw and cold, with snow ; but to mark the day in the best manner that circumstances would permit, divine service was performed on board the two ships ; " and I directed a small increase in the men's usual proportion of fresh meat, as a Christ- mas dinner, as well as an additional allowance of grog, to drink the health of their friends in Eng- land. The officers also met at a social and friendly dinner, and the day passed with much of the same kind of festivity by which it is usually distinguished at home ; and," he adds, " to the credit of the men be it spoken, without any of that disorder by which it is too often observed by seamen.', The good order, regularity, and discipline of the two ships, in this most trying of situations, is above all praise; wholly deprived, as they were, of the Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 105 sight of the sun for eighty -four days, which may be reckoned, as it really was, one continued night, lighted up only, and that partially, by the moon, and occasionally by the fleeting Aurora Borealis. Their extraordinary good conduct, under such cir- cumstances, must in a great degree be ascribed to the example set them by their excellent Com- mander, cordially seconded by Lieutenant Liddon and the other officers. It is well understood in the navy, that obedient and good conduct on the part of seamen, and a high state of discipline in a man- of-war, are the sure results of able and intelligent officers, kind and attentive to those under their command, yet, at the same time, strictly requir- ing from them a ready and willing obedience to the orders of their superiors, and to the rules and regula- tions of the service. Such were the men, and such their commanders, on the present service ; and the consequence was, that every man (with the exception of one poor fellow, who carried out with him an in- curable disease) was brought home in as high a state of health as that in which he left England. One case of scurvy was reported on the 2nd of January. Mr. Scallon, gunner of the Hecla, com- plained of pains in his legs, and the appearance of his gums left no doubt of the symptoms being scor- butic, which Mr. Edwards, the surgeon, ascribed to the deposit of moisture in his bed-place. The Com- mander, ever anxious for the preservation of health 106 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV- in his ship, put in requisition all their anti-scor- butics for his recovery, consisting of preserved vege- table soups, lemon juice and sugar, pickles, pre- served currants and gooseberries, and spruce-beer. He also raised in his cabin a quantity of mustard and cress, of which, even in the severity of the winter, he could generally ensure a crop at the end of the sixth or seventh day. So effectual were these remedies in Scallon's case that, on the ninth evening from the attack, he was able to walk about on the lower deck, and "he assured me," says Parry, " that he could then run a race/' Thursday, the 3rd of February, was a day not to be forgotten. At twenty minutes before apparent noon the sun was seen from the Hecla's main-top (at the height of fifty-one feet above the sea), being the first time that this luminary had been visible to them since the 11th of November — a period, as already said, of eighty-four days, that is, twelve clays less than the time of its remaining actually beneath the horizon, independently of the effects of atmo- spherical refraction. Throughout February, how- ever, the intensity of the cold, instead of being some- what mitigated by the rays of the sun, feeble as they were, was increased. On the 24th a fire broke out in the shore-house, and in the exertions to save the valuable instruments, not fewer than sixteen men incurred frost-bites, the thermometer during the day being from — 43° to - 44°. Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 107 "Among these there were four or five cases which kept the patients confined for several weeks ; but John Smith, of the artillery, who was Captain Sabine's servant, and who, together with Serjeant Martin, happened to be in the house at the time the fire broke out, were unfortunate enough to suffer much more severely. In their anxiety to save the dipping-needle, which was standing close to the stove, and of which they knew the value, they immediately ran out with it ; and Smith, not having time to put on his gloves, had his fingers in half an hour so benumbed, and the anima- tion so completely suspended, that, on his being taken on board by Mr. Edwards, and having his hands plunged into a basin of cold water, the surface of the water was imme- diately frozen by the intense cold thus suddenly communi- cated to it ; and notwithstanding the most humane and unremitting attention paid to him by the medical gentle- men, it was found necessary, some time after, to resort to the amputation of a part of four fingers on one hand and three on the other." — pp. 148, 149. "The appearance," says Parry, "which our faces presented at the fire was a curious one, almost every nose and cheek having become quite white with frost-bites, in five minutes after being exposed to the weather ; so that it was deemed necessary for the medical gentlemen, together with some others ap- pointed to assist them, to go constantly round while the men were working at the fire, and to rub with snow the parts affected, in order to restore anima- tion. " On the 16th day of February the greatest degree of cold was experienced, the thermometer having descended to - 55°, and remained for fifteen hours at 108 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. - 54° ; the less to have been expected as the old year had closed with mild weather. On the following day Parry says, " Notwithstanding the low tem- perature of the external atmosphere, the officers contrived to act, as usual, the play announced for this evening ; but it must be confessed that it was almost too cold for either the actors or the audience to enjoy it, especially those of the former who under- took to appear in female dresses." It is some conso- lation, however, to be told that there was no wind; and the severest cold has been stated to be tolerable in a calm. In March the snow began to melt, with a temperature of 20° to 30° in the sun, but with - 22° to — 25° in the shade. Luminous arches, parhelia, and the Aurora were frequent, but not particularly remarkable. Towards the end of April the ther- mometer continued above the freezing point in the shade for the greater part of two days ; and about the middle of May the ships were once again afloat, the operation of cutting the ice round them being completed. Parry, however, observes that it was sufficiently discouraging to his hope of a further progress to the westward, to perceive that on the last day of May, " the sea still presented the same unbroken and con- tinuous surface of solid and impenetrable ice, and ice that could not be less than from six to seven feet in thickness, as we knew it to be about the ships. When to this circumstance was added the considera- Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAG& 109 tion that scarcely the slightest symptoms of thawing had yet appeared, and that in three weeks from this period the sun would again begin to decline to the southward, it must be confessed that the most sanguine and enthusiastic among us had some rea- son to be staggered in the expectation they had formed, of the complete accomplishment of our en- terprise." It may here be remarked that the whole of the navigation, hitherto performed, had been from the 1st of August, when Lancaster Sound was en- tered, to the 26th of September, when the ships were anchored on the coast of Melville Island. Lieutenant Parry has elsewhere observed that the month of September is one of the most favourable for navigation among masses of ice ; but the shores of Melville Island, at least, appear to be an exception ; to be, in fact, the recipients of the greatest part of the ice driven to the eastward by the westerly winds about that parallel, this island being the outermost of the Georgian chain, and considered by Parry as by far the worst he ever met with. Previous, however, to their departure from this dreary, dismal, and detestable abode, Parry deter- mined to make a journey across Melville Island to the northward, and to return by a different route. He was accompanied by Captain Sabine, Messrs. Fisher, Nias, and Reid, a serjeant of marines, and a 110 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. serjeant of artillery, together with three seamen and two marines, making in the whole a party of twelve. They took with them tents, provisions, and a cooking- apparatus. It was found that those parts of the island, which were clear of snow, produced the dwarf willow, sorrel, and poppy, and that the moss was very luxuriant. On the second day they saw a pair of ducks {Anas spectabilis), and killed seven ptarmigan; sorrel and saxifrage were abundant. They found pieces of coal embedded in sandstone ; passed a very extensive, dreary, and uninteresting level plain covered with snow; and this kind of ground, with occasional ravines and foggy weather, continued for three days, during which they saw not a living animal, except one or two flocks of geese {Anas bernicla). Parry being desirous of obtaining a view of the sea, on the northern shore, took with him the two midshipmen Nias and Reid, with a quarter-master of the Griper. After a long and disagreeable march they came to what they considered to be the sea. Anxious, however, to leave nothing uncer- tain, they walked a few hundred yards upon the ice, and endeavoured by means of a boarding-pike and their knives to make a hole through it, in order to taste the water; but after two hours' labour they only succeeded in getting through two feet of very hard, brittle, and transparent ice, more so than that of salt-water usually is. This did not satisfy Parry, Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. Ill who returned to the party left behind and carried them back with him to the spot. The floe was penetrated, and proved to be fourteen feet and four inches in thickness; the water flowed up within fifteen inches of the surface of the ice, and was found to be " not very salt ;" sufficiently so, however, to convince them all that it was the sea on which they were standing. On the 9th of June they set out on their return, killed three ptarmigans and saw a pair of ducks ; and two days after, a great number of brent geese, some ptarmigan, and many snow-buntings; the constant and cheerful note of the latter reminded them of a better country — a worse, perhaps, it would be difficult to find,— it reminded them of home, this darling little bird being considered the robin red- breast of the snowy regions.* Arrived at Bushnan's Cove, in Liddon's Gulf, on the western side of Mel- ville Island, the party found " one of the pleasantest and most habitable spots we had yet seen in the Arctic regions, the vegetation being more abundant and forward than in any other place, and the situ- ation sheltered and favourable for game. They found here a good deal of moss, grass, dwarf-willow, and saxifrage, and Captain Sabine met with a ranun- culus in full flower. Thus we see that even in this the most desolate region of the earth the superiority of the western coast predominates. The hunters * See Captain Lyon's Voyage regarding this bird. 112 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. saw and fired at a musk-ox, but did not kill him ; they saw also several golden plovers, and one or two boatswains (Lestris). On the 15th they reached the ships, and were complimented by their ship- mates on their good looks, and was appearing in more robust health than when they departed. Towards the end of June the ice began to move in the offing, with a loud grinding noise ; and on the 5th of July the thermometer rose from 50° to 52°, and on the two following days to 55°. The ice in harbour also began to dissolve, and was there covered with pools of water. On the 17th the tem- perature rose to 60°, the highest point it ever reached at Melville Island. On the 24th everything was complete for proceeding to sea; "the sails were bent in readiness for starting at a moment's notice, though it must be confessed that the motive for doing; so was to make some show of moving, rather than any expectation I dared to entertain of soon escaping from our long and tedious confinement ; for it was impossible to conceal from the men the painful fact, that in eight or nine weeks from this period, the navigable season must unavoidably come to a conclusion.'* Another painful fact was, that before the expiration of July the approach of winter announced itself in the diminution of temperature, which seldom reached 40° by day, and also by the falls of sleet and snow, as well as by the pools of water frozen over in the night. Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 113 On the last day of July the whole body of the ice in the harbour was perceived to be slowly moving out, breaking away for the first time at the points which form the entrance of the harbour. The latitude and longitude of Winter Harbour is thus stated : — Latitude by 39 meridian altitudes . 74° 47' 19" N. Longitude by 692 sets of observations, consisting of 6862 lunar distances . 110° 48' 29" W. Dip of magnetic needle . . .88° 43' Variation 127° 47' 50'' E. On the 1st of August, the day on which Lancaster Sound had been entered, the two ships stood out of Winter Harbour, after having passed ten whole months and a part of September and August in that dreary place of imprisonment. They stood along the shore of Melville Island to the westward, occa- sionally running in, near to the beach, to avoid the masses of ice in motion ; in one place the Hecla being within twenty yards of the beach, a point of land which was lined all round with large hum- mocks of ice, rendered it a most dangerous situation; and the more so as the body of the ice coming in from the westward being distant from the ship less than half a mile, was composed of floes infinitely more heavy than any they had elsewhere met with during the voyage. Lieutenant Liddon sent word that the Griper was also in a situation exactly similar to that of the Hecla, where u nipping " i 114 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. appeared unavoidable if the floes should come in. Parry desired Liddon not to join him, as there was not room for two ships, " and the chances of saving one of them from the catastrophe we had reason to apprehend were greater by their being separate." By chance, and it was by chance entirely, they escaped ; but had the apparent catastrophe taken place, which they had reason to apprehend, not a single being could have survived the melancholy fate that must inevitably have awaited them ; all must have perished from famine and the intense cold of the approaching winter. This state of things, and, indeed, every circumstance connected with this abominable island, must serve as a beacon to warn off any future navigator from coming even within sight of it, but to avoid it as the ancients did Scylla or Charybdis. It is to be hoped, and there is reason to believe, that Sir John Franklin's attention has been particularly drawn to this part of Sir Edward Parry's narrative. The ships remained, however, at or near the same place, and a mass of about an acre in extent drove in and gave the Hecla a considerable "nip," and then grazed past her to the westward. The fol- lowing day another floe came in, "and gave the ship a heavy rub." Parry, however, still per- severed in creeping along the shore of Melville Island, the ships sustaining such frequent and " severe rubs " that nothing short of the stoutest Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 115 timber, the most sound and flexible iron, and the most judicious construction of the fabrics, could possibly have withstood these frequent rubs to which they were exposed. Persevering, how- ever, in this beach- sailing, generally within half a mile of it, till they arrived very nearly to the westernmost point of the island, the Commander believing there was little hope of making further progress to the westward, and having experienced during the first half of the navigable season such a continued series of vexations, disappointments, and delays, accompanied by such a constant state of danger to the ships, felt it now to be no longer justifiable to persevere in a fruitless attempt to get to the westward. On consulting the officers of both ships, they agreed with him that any further attempt to pro- ceed to the westward in that parallel would be al- together fruitless ; they also agreed in the plan he proposed of running back to the eastward along the edge of the ice, to look out for any opening that might lead them to the American continent, and failing to find any such, to return to England. On the 26th of August, therefore, they turned the ships' heads to the eastward, and on the morning of the 27th had passed the eastern end of Melville Island, in an open channel not less than ten miles wide, all hands heartily rejoicing to take leave for ever of this island. We are told, however, in a note, i 2 116 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. that the island, during their stay of nearly twelve months, had afforded them the following quantity of game : three musk-oxen, twenty-four deer, sixty- eight hares, fifty-three geese, fifty-nine ducks, and one hundred and forty-four ptarmigans, amounting in weight to three thousand seven hundred and sixty-six pounds of meat ; that is to say, it afforded to each of ninety-four men three pounds and a half of meat per month ! the produce of an island which is stated to exceed five thousand square miles. On the 31st of August they repassed Lancaster Sound, and on the 1st of September bore up and ran along the land, taking their departure from the flag- staff in Possession Bay, on the south-eastern point of the said sound. As the whole of this coast was run down in 1818, and partially examined, it is not necessary to follow the present expedition in any remarks upon it ; but before the ground be quitted on which no less than twelve months were passed, from September, 1819, to August, 1820, the tem- perature of the air in the shade may be noticed : — Maximum 60°, Minimum 50°, Range 110°. The mean of the twelve months + 1°,33. The lowest temperature registered on the ice was — 55° ; it did not rise above 54° for seventeen hours on the 14th and 15th of February, 1820. On the whole of this eastern coast of Baffin's and Davis's Strait they called only at one place, Clyde's River, in latitude 70° 22'. Here they received Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 117 visits from a tribe of Esquimaux, whose appearance and conduct pleased them all very much — lively, good-natured, and cheerful, with a great inclination to jump about when much pleased, "rendering it," says Parry, "a penalty of no trifling nature for them to sit still for half an hour together." They were decently clothed, male and female, and their children equally so, in well-dressed and neatly-sewn seal- skins. They were, in fact, in all respects, infinitely superior to Ross's Arctic Highlanders, who pulled or rubbed noses as a salutation, and asked if ships were not living creatures. But Parry shall himself mark the contrast : — " Upon the whole, these people may be considered in pos- session of every necessary of life, as well as of most of the comforts and conveniences which can be enjoyed in so rude a state of society. In the situation and circumstances in which the Esquimaux of N. Greenland [Ross's Highlanders] are placed, there is much to excite compassion for the low state to which human nature appears to be there reduced — a state in few respects superior to that of the bear or the seal, which they kill for their subsistence. But with these it was impossible not to experience a feeling of a more pleasing kind : there was a respectful decency in their general behaviour, which at once struck us as very different from that of the other untutored Esquimaux ; and in their persons there was less of that intolerable filth by which these people are so generally distinguished. But the superiority for which they are most remarkable is, the perfect honesty which characterised all their dealings with us. During the two hours that the men were on board, and for four or live hours that we were subsequently among them on shore, on 118 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. both which occasions the temptation to steal from us was, perhaps, stronger than we can well imagine, and the oppor- tunity of doing so by no means wanting, not a single in- stance occurred, to my knowledge, of their pilfering the most trifling article. It is pleasing to record a fact no less singular in itself than honourable to these simple people." —p. 287. Nothing material occurred on their way across the Atlantic till the afternoon of the 26th of October, when they struck soundings in seventy fathoms in latitude 59° 55'. On the 28th they were between Fair Island and the Orkneys; on the 29th made Buchaness, and on the following day the Com- mander landed at Peterhead, accompanied by Captain Sabine and Mr. Hooper, who proceeded without delay to London, where they arrived on the morning of the 3rd of November, 1820. " Such was the excellent state of health which we at this time continued to enjoy on board the Hecla, that during the whole season of our late navigation from Winter Harbour to the coast of Scotland, being a period of thirteen weeks, not a single case had been entered on our sick-list, except from one or two accidents of a trifling nature ; and I had the happiness of seeing every officer and man on board both ships (with only one exception out of ninety-four persons) return to their native country in as robust health as when they left it, after an absence of nearly eighteen months, during which time we had been living entirely on our own resources." — p. 309. It is not intended here to enter into any detail of the observations made during the voyage, nor of the scientific operations carried on whenever an Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 119 opportunity occurred. Nothing was omitted which highly intelligent officers and the best instruments could supply. An appendix, drawn up on a clear and well-arranged principle, contains such observ- ations and remarks as were deemed of most im- portance. The volume itself exhibits the conduct and the character of both officers and men in the most praiseworthy point of view ; and with regard to the enlightened Commander by whom it is written, it need only be repeated here what has been said elsewhere : " No one can rise from the perusal of this work without being impressed with the fullest conviction that his merits as an officer and scientific navigator are of the highest order ; that his talents are not confined to his professional duties ; but that the resources of his mind are equal to the most arduous situations, and fertile in expedients under every circumstance, however difficult* dangerous, or unexpected." In addition to all this, Parry may be said to possess the true character and spirit of a British sailor — open, straightforward, and up- right; his education was such as to inspire him with a love of the profession, having entered the service in 1803, been made a lieutenant in 1810, and continued to serve in that rank on the coast of America till 1817, when he was selected, as has been related in the preceding voyage, to command the Alexander, as second to Ross. On the present voyage he was most cheerfully 120 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. and energetically obeyed and assisted by all his officers in both ships; and in addition to the ordinary services which navigation and nautical astronomy require, he had the benefit of Captain Sabine's valuable and cordial co-operation in carry- ing out a series of experiments in a branch of science unconnected with any that regards naviga- tion— the swinging a pendulum for ascertaining the ellipticity of the earth. Captain Sabine, being a connection of Mr. Henry Browne, of Portland Place, had unrestricted access to that gentleman's observatory and valuable collection of astronomical instruments, some of which were supplied to the present expedition ; and the practical use of them was well known to Captain Sabine. In the ap- pendix to Commander Parry's narrative we find the Captain joined with other officers in making observations on the dip, the variation and declination of the magnetic needle ; in ascertaining the latitudes and longitudes by thermometers jointly with Parry, Beechey, and Hooper ; and lunar observations taken at Winter Harbour and at sea with Parry, Beechey, Hooper, and Ross, amounting to the ex- traordinary number of six thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. Sabine, in addition to all these, describes (in the appendix) the subjects of natural history collected in the three classes of mammalia, birds, and fishes. But the most important will probably be considered Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 121 that of No. 8, " An account of the experiments to., determine the acceleration of the pendulum in dif- ferent latitudes," which would appear to have been the joint labour of Parry and Sabine. " The acci- dental discovery," it is said, "that a pendulum, on being removed from Paris to the neighbourhood of the equator, increased its time of vibration, gave the first step to our present knowledge that the polar axis of the globe is less than the equa- torial, and that the force of gravity at the surface of the earth increases progressively from the equator towards the poles." In the present instance two clocks were used in these experiments, being the property of the Royal Society, and the same which accompanied Captain Cook round the world ; and the result is stated to be, that the mean daily accele- ration of the two clocks was seventy-four thousand seven hundred and thirty-four vibrations, which is considered as the true acceleration of a pendulum between the latitudes of 51° 31' 08" (London) and 74° 47' 14" (Melville Island) ; and the deduction, which was obtained from the result of the accelera- tion, between London and Melville Island gives the diminution of gravity from the pole to the equator to be ,0055258; and this decimal gives for the ellipticity of the earth -^. But as Captain Sabine in the year 1821 (the next following that of his arrival in England) embarked on a most arduous undertaking to investigate the 122 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. last-mentioned subject in high latitudes, an account of his voyages and operations will be resumed here- after. It may, perhaps, be deemed presumptuous in a landsman venturing to differ from so expert and complete a seaman as Commander Parry; but it is under a conviction that he will not be displeased at, but take in good part, a few desultory remarks, though not exactly correspondent with his own opinion. " Our experience," he says, " I think has clearly shown that the navigation of the Polar seas can never be performed with any degree of certainty without a continuity of land. It was only by watch- ing the occasional openings between the ice and the shore that our late progress to the westward was effected ; and had the land continued in the desired direction, there can be no question that we should have continued to advance, however slowly, to- wards the completion of our enterprise." The objec- tion about to be offered is not to the " slow advance," but to the chance of no advance at all, and to the extreme hazard of the loss of the ship and crew, which had nearly happened in the present instance, and did actually happen to the ship on a future occasion, by a nip, or rub, or pressure between the ice and the shore ; to say nothing of the constant apprehension, the anxiety, and incessant threatening of momentary destruction, which occurred along the whole coast of Melville Island, and the frequent Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 123 " rubs " and " nips," which both ships experienced between the sea-ice and the shore-ice, when nothing but extreme watchfulness and good management could possibly have saved them from being crushed. Instead, therefore, of having to " watch the occa- sional openings between the ice and the shore,,, would it not be more advisable to avoid placing the ship between the ice and the shore ; to keep as far as possible from the shore, and trust to an open sea, free from land of any kind, even with the usual quantity of loose ice, hummocks, or floes ? A ship, it is presumed, may always make her way through such a sea with little or no danger, as is well known to the whale-fishing ships, which carefully avoid coming near an ice-bound coast. Against wintering in the ice there are numerous objections, though the detention cannot always be avoided. One of them, but perhaps the least serious, is the great inconvenience and discomfort which the officers and crew must unavoidably be subject to, without any chance of compensation by carrying out the objects of the expedition — without hope of thereby advancing discovery or geographical knowledge. And although the hardships of winter- ing in the ice have been shown, on the present occasion, to admit of mitigation, when they happen under so able and discreet an officer as Commander Parry, whose resources are inexhaustible, it may fall to the lot of another, whose mind is less fertile 124 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IV. in expedients to soften them. Another objection may, perhaps, be raised against the danger that is likely to be incurred ; but this by caution and at- tention may, generally, be provided against. A third, and one of the first importance in most cases, is the utter inutility of wintering in the Arctic seas ; for no harbours are known that are not filled with ice for eight or nine months in the year, and the ship must be secured in ice that is already thick and firm by the close of the season, generally making it necessary to cut a canal, at an immense labour, so as to be floated to a place of safety ; and it is most likely to happen that, before she can be got out again, the following season is so far expired, that all the service she can then undertake is to get home, with the loss of a year. After all, it is but a choice of evils, to winter or return when the first obstruction commences. In that portion of the globe in question a short passage home is next to certain, whether beset in the ice, or in an open sea, as the wind is generally favourable for a southern voyage, and the current almost al- ways so ; but it may happen that no choice is left, and then to winter has become a matter of neces- sity ; and Parry has laid down an admirable code of instructions for any one reduced to that emer- gency. CHAPTER V. COMMANDER CLAVERING AM) CAPTAIN SABINE, R.A. 1822—1823. 1. Journal of a Voyage to Spitzbergen and the East Coast of Greenland, in His Majesty's Ship Griper, D. C. Clavering, Esq., Commander. 2. An Account of Experiments to determine the Figure of the Earth by means of the Pendulum vibrating seconds in dif- ferent latitudes ; as well as on some other subjects of Philo- sophical Inquiry. By Edward Sabine, Captain in the Royal Artillery. It was considered expedient to introduce a brief notice of this voyage, among those specially sent into the Arctic Regions for the purposes of dis- covery, and for two reasons : first, that Commander Clavering was to be ordered to proceed to Spitz- bergen, and thence to the East Coast of Greenland, and that on the latter he succeeded to reach a higher degree of latitude than any former or subsequent navigator had effected: and secondly, that he carried out, first in the Pheasant, and then in the Griper, Captain (now Lieutenant- Colonel) Sabine, who, very shortly after his return from the 126 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. first voyage of Parry to the Arctic Sea, recom- menced that series of observations on the length of the seconds' pendulum, which were made in the Hecla. Captain Sabine, impelled by the zeal and love of science, for which he is distinguished, hastened to proceed, in the first instance, to Sierra Leone, in the Iphigenia, on the 22nd February, 1822, and completed his pendulum experiments there in April. Sir Robert Mends there assigned the Pheasant to convey him to the several Atlantic stations, where he was desirous to swing his pendulum, mostly in the West Indies and to the southward of the line, as far as Ascension. Commander Clavering, of the Pheasant, was an officer well versed in the scientific duties of a navi- gator; and a friendship was speedily formed between the two officers, that ceased only with the death of the sailor, which happened when, in the year 1827, he commanded the Redwing, which ship sailed from the Coast of Africa and, being never after heard of, is supposed to have foundered, and all on board to have perished. It is stated by Mr. James Smith, the editor of the voyage, that such was the able and zealous manner in which Com- mander Clavering co-operated with Captain Sabine, that the latter was not only enabled to make the observations at every station in the most satis- factory manner, but without the slightest accident Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 127 ever having taken place in moving the numerous and delicate instruments to and from the ship. The observations being completed at Sierra Leone, the places next to be visited were the Island of St. Thomas, Ascension, Bahia, Maranham, Trinidad, Jamaica, and New York; to all of which places Captain Sabine was conveyed in succession by the Pheasant, and made his pendulum observations at each of them in a manner satisfactory to himself; and those observations were published by the Board of Longitude, and will briefly be noticed here. The two officers, it is said, executed a valuable and extensive series of observations on the direction and force of the equatorial current. Immediately after the arrival of the Pheasant in England, on the 5th February, 1823, Captain Sabine suggested, through Sir Humphry Davy, that the extension of similar experiments would be desir- able if carried on in high latitudes, and that he was ready (as he ever is when the calls of science require it) to undertake this service. The Griper, gun-brig, was appropriated forthwith for that pur- pose ; and on the 26th February Clavering was ap- pointed to command her. The plan of the voyage proposed by Captain Sabine was, to proceed in the first instance to Hammerfest, near the North Cape of Norway, about the 70th degree of latitude ; thence to a second station, in or near the 80th parallel, on the northern coast of Spitzbergen ; afterwards to 128 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. make the east coast of Greenland, in as high a lati- tude as the barrier of ice, which renders that coast difficult of access, would permit, and having got within the barrier to ascend the coast to the north- ward as far as might be compatible the same year, in order to obtain a third pendulum station for Captain Sabine's experiments, at the highest degree of latitude that might be there attained. He was then to return to the southward, and if Captain Sabine should wish for a fourth station on the coast of Iceland, he was to use his discre- tion, according to the state of the weather and the time of the year, to stop at that island ; if not, a fourth station might be sought elsewhere, in or about the same parallel, and after that to return to England. The equipment of the Griper being com- pleted, and the magnetical pendulum, with the various instruments for astronomical and other scientific purposes, being embarked by the second week in May, she sailed from the Nore on the 11th of that month for Hammerfest, where she arrived on the 4th June. This place, built on a small island named Qualoen, or Whale Island, is said to consist of about a dozen houses. The bay is small, but the anchorage good and safe; the only provisions to be got here were rein-deer, which were cheap ; the trade is entirely in fish and oil. The natives are described as kind and hospitable, and were pleased at the idea of a Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 1 29 visit from even such a small man-of-war as the Griper. The women are fair and pretty, and dress much like our own ; remote from the civilized world, they are untainted by either its vices or its wants. Morality and religion strictly predominate ; and deviations from either are rare. Mr. Crowe, an English merchant, who acts as consul, resides here, and paid the visiters much attention. The latitude 70° 40'; the dip of the needle 77° 40'. On the 23rd June, Captain Sabine having finished his observations, the Griper put to sea the same evening ; on the 27th fell in with the first ice off Cherry Island, in lat. 75° 5', a gale of wind then blowing ; saw Spitzbergen in the evening, and fell in with a great number of walruses. On the 30th rounded Hakluyt's Headland, anchored abreast of a small island, one of the inner Norweys, and the same on which Captain Phipps made his observations in 1773 ; disembarked the tents and instruments, and sent parties on shore to erect them. Two rein-deer and a walrus were killed on the neighbouring island of Vogel Sang. From hence Commander Clavering determined to push as far to the northward as he could, while Captain Sabine was carrying on his pendulum observations ; leaving here for his assistance a party of six men under the command of Mr. Foster, and Mr. Rowland, assist- ant-surgeon, together with his launch, and six months' provisions and fuel, to carry them to Ham- K 130 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. merfest, should any accident happen to the Griper in her absence. He sailed on the 5th July, and ran due north twenty-five miles from Cloven Cliff; found himself embayed among the ice ; and on the 6th the ship struck against something which turned out to be ice. This was discovered on the fog dispersing, when a field of packed ice presented itself to view, extending east and west as far as the eye could reach ; the latitude observed was 80° 20', which was the most northern obtained ; for having skirted the margin in a line nearly west for about 60 miles, and finding it trending to the southward, and everywhere closely packed, and perceiving no appearance of an opening, or of clear water, it was deemed useless to proceed farther, and the Griper returned to the station, which she reached on the 11th July. Captain Sabine having completed his operations ; a party having killed about fifty rein-deer, as a supply of fresh provisions, and every thing being re-embarked on the 22nd July, on the 24th they put to sea, and steered S.W. for the eastern coast of Greenland, a course that would bring them to Gael Hamkes' Bay in about the latitude of 74° ; this being considered as the highest point known to the north on that coast. After many impediments from fields of ice, they reached, on the 8th August, a tolerably open channel between the ice and the coast, and sent a boat on shore at a point which was named Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 131 Cape Borlase Warren ; " Than which," Clavering says, u never was there a more desolate spot seen ; Spitzbergen was, on the whole, a paradise to this place." Proceeding along the coast, among floes of ice, they discovered two islands, to which they gave the name of the Pendulum Islands. Clavering passed them and stood on to the north- ward, till stopped by ice ; and he had now reached what he considered to be the N.E. point of Green- land, formed by an island, in lat. 75° 12', from the heights of which could plainly be seen high land, due north, at least as far as lat. 76°. He named the island Shannon Island, and the S.E. extremity Cape Philip Broke, " from the ship it was my good fortune to serve in, and under her gallant commander here named." Getting under way, the Griper returned to the southward, in a narrow channel close to the shore, on which she grounded in 2| fathoms ; was got off by lightening her ; anchored in a sheltered bay between one of the Pendulum Islands ; landed Captain Sabine, the observatory, tents, and instruments ; and pre- pared the yawl and wherry for a distant excursion, while Sabine was employed in his pendulum experi- ments. On the 16th August he set out, taking with him three officers and sixteen men. They landed- on Cape Borlase Warren, about eighteen miles to the southward, with each a boat-cloak and a blanket; slept in them, and found no incon- k2 1 32 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. venience from the cold ; and this was continued for twelve nights, the temperature not lower than 23°. Here they found traces of natives, and several graves. Proceeding up an arm of the bay, which runs inland, a tent of seal-skins was found on the beach, and two natives appeared on the heights. They were at first rather shy, but by degrees ac- quired confidence. They appeared not to differ in any respect from the common race of Esquimaux ; the whole tribe amounted but to twelve. Their sur- prise was roused only by witnessing some of the crew firing at a mark with muskets. A pistol was given to one of the natives, who fired into the water ; the recoil startled him so much that he immediately slunk away into his tent. The following morning, being the third, it was found they had all departed, leaving every thing behind them : their sudden retreat being no doubt occasioned by their alarm at the firing. The party had now advanced to an extensive bay, or rather an inland basin, whose circumference could not be less than fifty miles. It was perfectly free of ice, not one piece being visible in this im- mense sheet of water. Clavering thinks it the same which was discovered by Gael Hamkes in 1654, and which bears his name. In an inlet from this bay, the mountains on both sides were of a great height, ending in immense glaciers, at least 5000 feet high. On the 29th of August they reached the ships, after Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 133 a fatiguing absence of thirteen days. On the fol- lowing day Captain Sabine concluded his observa- tions, the tents and instruments were re-embarked, and on the 31st of August the Griper got under weigh. The latitude of the observatory on Pendu- lum Island is 74° 32' 19" N., longitude 18° 50' W. The shore to the southward continued about 3000 feet high, along which the ship proceeded in a channel of clear water, the ice being five or six miles from the shore. About Cape Parry, how- ever, latitude 72^°, in a narrow lane of water, two floes suddenly closed together, and the tongues projecting beneath {calves they are usually called) pressed the Griper between them and lifted her abaft considerably out of the water. She got clear without much damage, but the ice was hanging about Cape Parry so close to the shore, that the Commander wisely stood out to sea, and on the 13th September the Griper finally quitted the coast of Greenland; the whole line along which they had sailed being from 2000 to 3000 feet in height, with mountains in the interior perhaps double that height. A violent gale came on, and the ship was secured to a mass of ice ; received several severe shocks ; the hawsers and stream cables gave way ; also two chain cables and two large hawsers ; the gale increased ; large masses continually rolled in ; the pressure became so vio- lent that the whole of them parted before daylight. " Our situation," says the Commander, " was now a most anxious one ; the gale continued with un- 134 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. abated violence, and the ship drove to the south- ward amongst loose ice and heavy floes, which from the darkness of the night we could neither see nor avoid." The admirable manner, he says, in which the little Griper had been strengthened, al- lowed her to bear the severe shocks without being injured ; the heaviest shocks she received must have knocked a Greenlandman to pieces. The gale continuing drove them to the south- ward, and on the 23rd of September they made the coast of Norway in latitude 63° 55r. On the 1st of October the Griper struck hard on a sunken rock, and got off undamaged ; on the 4th entered Dront- heim Fiord, and on the 6th anchored in the har- bour; and "we were received," says Clavering, " with the greatest kindness and hospitality." Captain Sabine having completed his experiments here, the Griper proceeded down the fiord on the 13th of October, was detained in the narrows till the 19th, and again windbound till the 3rd of December, when she was liberated, and reached Deptford on the 19th of that month, 1823. We now proceed to give a brief account of Captain Sabine s labours. The volume of Captain Sabine, from which the following notice is taken, affords an extraordinary instance of personal and mental application, on dis- tant voyages and various climates within the tropics and the Arctic regions, and of intellectual exertion Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. ] 35 and industry, not easily to be paralleled. It consists of more than five hundred pages of observations carefully arranged, under various heads, made with transit instruments, chronometers, clocks, and pen- dulums ; containing besides numerous experiments at the several stations touched at by Commander Clavering, as already noticed, amounting to eight in number on the two sides of the Atlantic, at each of which the chief authorities manifested the utmost readiness to afford everv assistance, both in our own colonies and at places belonging to foreign powers. Any attempt here to explain them would give but little notion of the labours successfully accom- plished by Captain Sabine ; the tables detailing the several kinds of observations must be seen in order duly to appreciate their importance, to say nothing of the calculations necessaiy to arrive at the deduc- tions and conclusions which have resulted from them. The observations may be stated to comprise a series of six in number at each station : — No. 1. Times of transit of stars to ascertain the rate of the clock ; >. 2. Adjustment of telescope to the same vertical plane ; No. 3. Daily rate of chronometers from pre- 2 sding transits ; No. 4. Comparison of chronometer and clock at exact intervals ; Nos. 5 and 6 comprise an account of the coincidences in the double series of each pendulum. Each .able of course occupied several days. The Pheasant left Sierra Leone early in April, and 136 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. arrived at New York on the 10th December; com- menced observations on the 22nd, and concluded on the 2nd Jan., 1823, in the two last of which Sabine had a co-operator. The observations were carried on at Columbia College; and Captain Sabine says, " I must ever deem myself to have been most highly fortunate in the association which it procured me of the Professor of Natural and Experimental Philo- sophy and of Chemistry, Mr. James Renwick, whose interest in the experiments was so strongly excited as to induce him to give me his unremitting co- operation, a circumstance peculiarly desirable and satisfactory on an occasion in which the results may hereafter come in question, in the comparison of the standard measurements of the two countries." On the 5th of February, 1823, the Pheasant ar- rived at Portsmouth ; and Captain Sabine had the satisfaction of finding that a letter which he had written to Sir Humphry Davy from Maranham, proposing the extension of the experiments to the high latitudes, had met the approbation of the Commissioners of Longitude ; that Lord Melville's consent had been obtained for the employment of one of His Majesty's ships in its prosecution ; and that the Griper sloop of war, which had been en- gaged in the expedition of 1819-20, would forth- with be commissioned by Commander Clavering. The interval, however, of the Griper's equipment was occupied by Captain Sabine in repeating the Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 137 trial of the pendulums in Portland Place, to ascer- tain that they had undergone no alteration in the course and by the events of the preceding voyage. The process of these experiments, the preparation of an apparatus for the clock and pendulum, and providing cover and protection for the instruments, which experience in the Northern expedition, and particularly at Melville Island, had taught Captain Sabine to be necessary, were simultaneously com- pleted with the equipment of the Griper. That vessel left the Nore on the 11th of May, and arrived at Hammerfest, the place designated by him as his first station, on the 4th of June. A spot was se- lected for the observations at Fugleness, where Mr. Crowe, a gentleman at the head of a large com- mercial establishment, resides, and who gave every possible assistance and attention to the party. Here Captain Sabine repeated the same routine of obser- vations— the transits of the sun and stars — the de- termination of the rate of chronometers by zenith distances — the coincidences observed with two pen- dulums. These were all completed by the 23rd of June — the instruments embarked, and the Griper arrived at Fair Haven, on the coast of Spitzbergen, on the 1st of July. The Griper anchored at one of the Norweys which forms, with the coast of Spitzbergen, the har- bour of Fair Haven. Here the experiments pro- ceeded without interruption, being the same series as that practised at Hammerfest, and were con- 138 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. eluded on the 19th of July. From hence Captain Sabine, being desirous of preserving unbroken the continuity of the account of the pendulum experi- ments, proposed that no time should be lost in pro- ceeding to a proper station on the E. coast of Green- land ; which the Griper successfully accomplished in a higher latitude than is recorded to have been pre- viously traversed, namely, between the 74th and 75th degrees/in the second week of August. Being stopped, however, soon after he had passed the 75th parallel, and the season advancing, he returned along the coast to a harbour of safe anchorage in latitude 74° 30', which he had noticed in passing to the northward. Here the Griper was anchored, and became the station for conducting the pendulum experiments. This harbour is formed by the channel which separates the main land from an island, on which the experiments were made, and which is secured from the access of heavy ice from the ocean by a smaller island in the mid- channel of the entrance. The group, of which these islands form a part, consists of two nearly of the same size, and two others much smaller, being rather rocks than islands : they ex- tend from the latitude of 74° 30' to that of 74J 42', and were distinguished by the officers and seamen of the Griper by the appellation of the Pendulum Islands. It had been the intention of Captain Sabine to make Reikiavik, in Iceland, the concluding station of the Pendulum experiments in the high Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 139 latitudes; but when the 17th of September had arrived, before they found themselves finally disen- gaged from the Greenland ice — the season of navi- gation drawing to a close — the autumnal gales already commenced, and the nights above sixteen hours long — it was deemed not prudent to risk the approach to the coast of Iceland. It was, therefore, thought preferable to recross the Northern Ocean, and to seek a pendulum station on the coast of Nor- way, nearly in the same latitude as Reikiavik ; and Drontheim appearing to be the most eligible for the purpose, the Griper arrived there on the 8th of October. Captain Sabine says, " It had been the good fortune of Captain Clavering and myself to have experienced at each of the inhabited stations which we had visited the most marked hospitality and kindness, but at none were our obligations in these respects greater than at Drontheim. Among others he mentions the Governor (Count Trampe), Mr. Schnitler, the British Consul, and Mr. Knutson and his amiable family, from whom every English- man that visits this part of Norway is sure to meet with a kind reception. Every assistance was af- forded towards the accomplishment of this last series of experiments, and they were enabled to weigh anchor at Drontheim on the 13th Novem- ber ; but owing to violent gales of wind, and very bad weather, the Griper did not arrive at Deptford till the 19th December, 1823. Captain Sabine 140 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. says, the boisterous weather they had was accom- panied by very vivid lightning, which is particu- larly unusual in high latitudes in winter, and by the frequent appearance and continuance, for seve- ral minutes at a time, of balls of fire at the extremi- ties of the yard-arms, and mast heads ; of these not less than eight were counted at one time. All the experiments were carefully gone over in London, and examined by the Council of the Royal Society and Board of Longitude, with other indi- viduals most conversant in these observations ; and with the calculations for determining the variations in the length of the seconds pendulum ; from whence the following general deduction is drawn for indicating the ellipticity of the earth, which is all that can be given here, the various calculations and the experiments occupying a large volume. The result then is: — 39,01520 inches is the length of the equatorial pendulum ; 0, 20245, the increase of gravitation between the Equator and Pole ; and the ellipticity -^. That deduced from the in- crease of gravitation between London and Melville Island was ^ 312.6* Thus, says Captain Sabine, " the attempt to de- termine the figure of the earth, by the variations of gravity at its surface, has been carried into full execution on an arc of the meridian of the greatest accessible extent, and the results which it has pro- duced are seen to be consistent with each other, in combinations too varied to admit a probability of Chap. V. COVERING AND SABINE. 141 .» the correspondence being accidental." They are, in fact, the combinations of Captain Sabine's 13 stations ; of the French savans' 8 stations ; of the British survey, 7 stations : making in all 28 sta- tions. This result, however, of the ellipticity " differs," says Sabine, " more considerably than could have been expected from ^jb, which had been previously received on the authority of the most eminent geometrician of the age, as the concurrent indica- tion of the measurements of terrestrial degrees, of pendulum experiments, and of the lunar inequalities dependent on the oblateness of the earth." The success that has attended the experiment of investigating the figure of the earth by means of the pendulum, encourages, as Captain Sabine thinks, the belief that an equally satisfactory conclusion, and one highly interesting in the comparison, might be obtained by the measurement of terrestrial degrees ; that is to say, by an actual measurement of a degree of the meridian. This has in fact been done in various parts of the world, but centuries ago, when the instruments were inferior, and the mode of their most advantageous employment less understood than at present. In India an arc has recently been measured, and one of an old date at the Cape of Good Hope re-measured ; but Captain Sabine points out Spitzbergen, being near to the Polar extremity of the meridian, " as the land of most 142 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V. convenient access in either hemisphere." He says : — " The access to all parts of the interior is greatly facili- tated by the extensive fiords, and arms of the sea, by which the land is intersected in so remarkable a manner ; these, whether frozen over, as in the early part of the season, or open to navigation, as in the later months, form routes of communication suited to the safe conveyance of instruments, either in sledges or boats : the fiord in particular which separates the western and eastern divisions of Spitzbergen, would be of great avail : it extends in a due north and south direction for above 120 miles, with a breadth varying from 10 to 30 miles, and communicates at its northern ex- tremity, by a short passage across the land, with the head of another fiord, proceeding to meet it from the northern shores of the island, and affording similar facilities for carry- ing on either a triangulation, or a direct measurement on the surface of the ice at the level of the ocean." — p. 362. He adds, what is very true, that the measure- ment of a portion of the meridian is one of the many experimental inquiries beyond the reach of individual means to accomplish. This officer, indefatigable in the pursuit of prac- tical science, writes, in February 1826, to Mr. Davies Gilbert on the subject, enforcing the plan by additional proofs of its practicability, and offer- ing his services : " Should the Council of the Royal Society think that I could be advantageously em- ployed in conducting such an investigation, my services, as you well know, are at their command. " He has, however, been reserved for a more labori- Chap. V. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 143 ous and not a less important task. The geographi- cal determination of the direction and intensity of the magnetic forces at different points of the earth's surface has been regarded as an object worthy of especial research. To examine, in different parts of the globe, the declination, inclination, and inten- sity of the magnetic force, and their periodical and secular variations, and mutual relations and depen- dencies, could only be duly investigated in fixed magnetical observatories. On the continent some such observatories were established, to which, in the year 1836, the attention of British philosophers was specifically drawn by a letter from the Baron Von Humboldt to the Duke of Sussex, then President of the Royal Society. In consequence thereof ob- servatories for this special purpose were established at Greenwich, Dublin, Canada, Hobart Town, St. Helena, Cape of Good Hope, and other places. The observations made at Toronto have been re- ceived, examined, and printed, under the superin- tendence of Lieutenant-Colonel Sabine— a work of extraordinary care and labour.* He has undertaken besides to examine and arrange the rest as they come in ; which it is expected will be in the course of the present year, 1845. The volume now printed is introduced by an able and well- written preface by Colonel Sabine. * See note in Introduction, p. 15. CHAPTER VI. CAPTAIN PAREY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 1821-22-23. Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North- West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in his Majesty's ships Fury and Hecla. The two vessels appointed for this voyage were strong and well-built bombs : the Fury, of 377 tons, and the Hecla, 375 tons; commanded, officered, and manned as under : — Fury. W. Edward Parry, Commander. George Fisher, Chaplain and As- tronomer. Joseph Nias Kieutenants> Andrew Reid,J John Edwards, Surgeon. W. Harvey Hooper, Purser. James Skeoch, Assistant-Surgeon. John Henderson, 1 Fr. K. M. Crozier, /Midshipmen. Jas. Clarke Ross, J John Bushnan, Assistant Sur- veyor and Midshipman. James Halse, Clerk. 12 Officers. 5 Warrant Officers. 11 Petty Officers. 24 Able Seamen. 8 Marines (including 1 Serjeant). 60 Total on board. Hecla. Geo. Francis Lyon, Commander. Hen. Parkyns Hoppner, 1 T . Charles Palmer, J Alexander Fisher, Surgeon. John Germain, Purser. Allan M'Laren, Assist-Surgeon. Joseph Sherer, \ Charles Richards, I Midship- W. Nelson Griffiths, | men. Edward Bird, J William Mogg, Clerk. 11 Officers. Joseph Macklin, Gunner. Joseph Lilly, Boatswain. Charles Purfur, Carpenter. George Fife, Greenland Master. Alexander Elder, do. Mate. 5 Warrant Officers. 1 1 Petty Officers. 24 Able Seamen. 7 Marines. 58 Total on board. Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 145 George Francis Lyon was a smart, clever lieu- tenant, at first appointed as acting in the Berwick by- Sir Edward Pellew ; he was wounded in an attack made on that ship's boats, and had his commission confirmed to her in 1814. He was then appointed to the Albion, and was in the battle of Algiers in 1816. Being of an adventurous turn, while he was serving in the squadron under Sir Charles Penrose, he asked and obtained permission from Sir Charles to join Mr. Ritchie, a gentleman appointed on a mission to Tripoli, Mourzouk, and other parts of North Africa, who was most desirous of having a naval officer to accompany him. Ritchie died shortly after, and Lyon succeeded him ; who con- cluded, reasonably enough, that among the Arab tribes the Lieutenant might advantageously take upon him the title of Captain — a rank which, it appears, he nominally carried into the present voy- age of discovery. On his appointment to the Hecla he received the rank of Commander ; and on the return of the ships in 1823 was raised to that of Captain. Many of the officers who had served on the first voyage were employed on this : Hoppner, as lieu- tenant of the Hecla ; Edwards, as surgeon ; mid- shipman Palmer, as lieutenant of the Hecla. The midshipmen Nias and Reid were promoted as lieu- tenants of the Fury ; and Ross, Bushnan, and Griffith remained to serve as midshipmen. Hooper the L 146 AECTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. purser, and Halse the clerk, each continued, as did Allison and Crawford, the Greenland master and mate, in the service, and aboard the Fury. She had also four midshipmen : two new ones, John Henderson and F. R. M. Crozier ; besides Ross and Bushnan, who had served in the preceding voyage. Commander Parry observing on the late expedi- tion a large inlet, not less than ten leagues wide at its mouth, opening out on the southern coast of Barrow's Strait, and extending southerly, with an inclination to the westward, ran the ships into it, and continued to the southward about one hundred and twenty miles. The soundings were found to be two hundred fathoms and upwards. The closeness of the ice, however, to the south-west induced him to return to the northward ; but his impression was that this strait might lead to the coast of America, and that the east and west lands which enclose it were probably islands : and he says, " On an inspec- tion of the charts, I think it will also appear proba- ble, that a communication will one day be found to exist between this inlet and Hudson's Bay, either through the broad and unexplored channel called Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome, or through Repulse Bay, which has not yet been satisfactorily examined. It is also probable that a channel will be found to exist between the western land and the northern coast of America." Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 147 In the passage above quoted a foundation appears to have been laid for a voyage, if not two, in further search of a north-west passage. That search was not likely to be abandoned, when so experienced and talented a man as Commander Parry pointed out what appeared to be a channel by which a pas- sage might be found through the western land to the northern coast of America. Accordingly, in a few months after his return from the last voyage, on the 30th of December, 1820, a commission was signed, appointing him Commander of the Fury ; and on the 4th of January Lieutenant Lyon was appointed Commander of the Hecla. His Majesty having, on the representation of Lord Melville, ordered another attempt to be made to discover a passage by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to ascertain the geography of the northern boundaries of the American con- tinent, Parry's instructions were to proceed towards or into Hudson's Strait. He was then to pene- trate to the westward through that strait, until he should reach, either in Repulse Bay or on some other part of the shore of Hudson's Bay, to the north of Wager River, some portion of the coast which he should feel convinced to be a portion of the continent of America. Failing of this, he was then to keep along the line of this coast to the northward, always examining every bend or inlet which should appear likely to afford a practicable l2 148 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. V passage to the westward, in which direction it was the principal object of the voyage to endeavour to find a way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. # These instructions were sufficiently explicit, and accorded with the view taken by Commander Parry, in his narrative of the former voyage. On the 8th of May, 1821, the Fury and Hecla, accompanied by the Nautilus transport (freighted with stores and provisions to be transhipped on arriving at the ice), sailed from the Nore, and owing to bad weather, it was not till the 14th of June that they found themselves in lat. 60° 48', and saw the first iceberg. At the depth of 460 fathoms the temperature of the sea was 40° ; that of the surface 40 J°, and of the air 41 J°. On the 2nd of July they were close to Resolution Island, the val- leys of which were filled with snow and, with the fog that hung over it, " rendered the scene before us indescribably dreary and disagreeable." " It re- quires," says Commander Parry, " a few days to be passed amidst scenes of this nature to erase, in a certain degree, the impressions left by more ani- mated landscapes ; and not till then, perhaps, does the eye become familiarized, and the mind recon- ciled, to prospects of utter barrenness and desola- tion such as these rugged shores present.'1 The numerous icebergs, of which Commander Lyon counted fifty-four, in sight at one time, some of * Admiralty Instructions. Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 149 them not less than two hundred feet above the sea, were not calculated to enliven the scene. On the 2nd the ships were closely beset, though drifting rapidly about by the tides during the night. The ice consisted of loose masses of broken floes, among which the ships continued to be driven, sometimes in one direction and then in an opposite one ; and among these masses were counted thirty icebergs in sight at a time, many of them whirled about by the tides with great rapidity. Several of these immense bodies were from fifty to ninety feet above the surface of the sea, each probably almost as many fathoms below it. The Commander, how- ever, states that the bergs which thus drive about, are less dangerous to approach than those aground, against which a ship is liable to be carried with the whole force of the tide. On the 8th they were still drifting about among the ice, close to Resolution Island, without know- ing, during the night, in what direction they were carried ; but when it cleared up, they were surprised to find the Hecla eleven or twelve miles to the westward, though still beset in the ice. On the 9th the ice closed round them, and they remained im- movably beset for a week, though carried by it daily from one to four miles. This is precisely what was alluded to at the conclusion of the last expedition ; and it appears that the two ships were in less danger (in fact, there was none) than those on the shore of Melville Island. They were stilly 1 50 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. however, in the entrance only of Hudson's Strait, which, being exposed to the swell of the main ocean, and completely open to the influence of the whole Atlantic, has always been considered, by the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, a most dan- gerous and difficult position : three of these were seen here in a similar predicament with the dis- covery ships. In proceeding up the strait, several Esquimaux canoes, or kayaks, made their appear- ance, offering seal and whale oil, spears, skins of the seal, bear, fox, &c, for sale. After them came a large oomiak, or woman's boat ; their filthy cus- toms, however, disgusted the seamen, who gave them no sort of encouragement. " On the whole," says Parry, " it was impossible for us not to receive a very unfavourable impression of the general behaviour and moral character of the natives of this part of Hudson's Strait, who seem to have acquired, b}^ an annual intercourse with our ships for nearly a hundred years, many of the vices which unhappily attend a first intercourse with the civilized world, without having imbibed any of the virtues or refinements which adorn and render it happy." Having reached Southampton Island, near its northern extremity, where the continuity of the land appeared to be dissolved, Parry concluded they were not far from the eastern entrance of the Frozen Strait, which had occasioned so much angry discussion a hundred years ago, as to whether Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 15 L any such strait existed, or whether it was not a chimera invented by Captain Middleton. As this geographical point had never been decided, Parry had some difficulty in determining the question of trying it or not, as in his present position with regard to Repulse Bay, which he was ordered to examine, the distance was not more by passing that Strait than fifty leagues ; whereas if com- pelled to pursue a route round the south end of Southampton Island, it would make the distance from one hundred and seventy to two hundred leagues. " After the most anxious consideration I came to the resolution of attempting the direct passage of the Frozen Strait, though, I confess, not without some apprehension of the risk I was in- curring, and of the serious loss of time which — in case of failure, either from the non-existence of the strait, or from the insuperable obstacles which its name implies — would thus be inevitably occasioned to the expedition." His decision was right ; and though much ham- pered by floes, and hummocks, and packs of ice, he was still less so than in the neighbourhood of Reso- lution Island; and he was rewarded by the dis- covery, not far from its entrance, of what he calls " a magnificent bay ;" which the officers honoured with the name of the * Duke of York's Bay,' having been first entered on his birth-day. It is situated on the north-eastern extremity of Southampton Island. The bay, however, on the western side 1 52 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. was shut in by a low shore, which it was concluded could be no other than " the low shingly beach like Dungeness," of Middleton. He found it necessary, therefore, to retrace his steps, and to encounter once more the Frozen Strait with its rocks and islets, its irregular tides and hummocks of floating ice; and, what was perhaps worse than all, dark foggy weather, with compasses that had almost lost their action. He soon, however, got into water nearly free from ice, which allowed him to proceed westerly, but entirely by the lead for five or six hours, when, on the weather clearing np, he found himself almost entirely surrounded by land, " having unconsciously entered Repulse Bay, in which not a piece of ice was to be seen that could obstruct us in its thorough examination." This full examination was certainly given to it ; and whatever doubts might hitherto have been enter- tained respecting its communication with the Polar Sea, Commander Parry and his party, by their com- plete investigation of the whole of its shores, have set that question entirely at rest. The boats entered every little creek and corner, " and thus was the question settled as to the continuity of land round Repulse Bay, and the doubts and conjectures which had so long been entertained respecting it set at rest for ever." Parry takes the opportunity, more- over, of doing ample justice to that injured and persecuted navigator, Captain Middleton. " The whole account," he says, " that he has given of this Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 153 bay, with the exception of its geographical position, is in general very accurate, particularly in the ap- pearance of the lands, their relative situation, and in the nature and depth of the soundings." And with respect to the Frozen Strait, there can be little doubt, he says, that the account which Middleton has given of its appearance, as seen from Cape Frigid, is in the main a faithful one : " Above all, the accuracy of Captain Middleton is manifest upon the point most strenuously argued against him by Mr. Dobbs ; for our subsequent experience has not left the smallest doubt of Repulse Bay, and the northern part of the Welcome, being filled with a rapid tide flowing into it from the eastward, through the Frozen Strait." The appearance of the shores of Repulse Bay was far from uninviting. " The surrounding land rose from six or seven hundred to a thousand feet, and there was no want of vegetation usually found in this part of the Arctic regions, and in many parts it was extremely luxuriant." Rein-deer and hares were plentiful ; so were ducks, dovekies, and snow- buntings. Several black whales also were observed in the bay. In one spot the remains of no less than sixty Esquimaux habitations were found, consisting of stones laid one over the other in very regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter ; besides about a hundred artificial structures, fire-places, store- houses, and other walled enclosures four or five feet high, used for keeping their skin canoes from being 154 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. gnawed by the dogs. In various parts of the shore were found numbers of circles of stones, which were supposed to have been burying-places, a human skull being found near one of them. Among these stones the Hudson mouse was very abundant. " I do not know," says Parry, " whether the seals' flesh remaining on some of the bones was any at- traction to these creatures, but it is certain that two of them being put together into a cage, the larger killed the other and eat a part of it." Commander Parry having now satisfactorily de- termined the non-existence of a passage to the westward through Repulse Bay, he was next, in compliance with his instructions, tl to keep along the line of this coast to the northward, always examining every bend or inlet which might appear likely to afford a practicable passage to the west- ward ;" and he congratulates himself on having reached this point so early, and especially " at hav- ing passed almost without impediment the strait to which, on nearly the same day seventy-nine years before, so forbidding a name had been applied." He had not yet, however, got rid of that formid- able strait, with its obnoxious name. In coasting down the northern shore of Repulse Bay it was necessary again to cross the northern part of the Frozen Strait, and through Hurd's Channel nearly blocked up by Bushnan Island, which leaves only a narrow passage at each extremity to get to the east- ward, and, when passed, other islands and narrow Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 155 channels occur, among which such rapid tides hurling large masses of ice about, as to carry the ships every moment into imminent danger. And when they had in some measure got through this labyrinth, after long, anxious, and toilsome labour, a fresh gale from the northward, on the 3rd of Sep- tember, drifted the large floe of ice, to which the ships were attached, to a greater distance than " I ever remember," says Parry, " to have happened before in the same time under any circum stances." But the most mortifying of all was the discovery that, after all their toil, they had been driven back past Baffin Island towards the two remarkable hills on Southampton Island, from which they were at noon not more than seven or eight leagues distant. " Thus," says Parry, " after a laborious investiga- tion, which occupied one month, we had, by a con- currence of unavoidable circumstances, returned to nearly the same spot as that on which we had been on the 6th of August. This untoward event may serve to show the value of even the smallest geogra- phical information, in seas where not an hour must be thrown away or unprofltably employed." The whole of this voyage, from the first entrance of Hudson's Strait to the point now reached, has proved so harassing, so unproductive, and so dan- gerous withal, as to have required from him who had the conducting of it a more than ordinary share of patience, perseverance, and equanimity, 156 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. possessing a temper not easily to be ruffled; and such an officer was Parry. His great object when in extreme difficulty, he tells us, was to cheer up the spirits of his people, and to keep them constantly on the alert and moving whenever such diffi- culty occurred, even when there was no prospect of the ships stirring ; to keep, in short, both their bodies and minds in a state of activity. Thus he says on the present disheartening occasion, " In the afternoon an attempt was made to move, for the mere sake, it must be confessed, of moving and keeping the people on the alert, rather than with the slightest prospect of gaining any ground.'' Indeed throughout the whole of his Arctic Voy- ages of Discovery, the resources of his own mind never failed to supply the means of conveying a happy state of contentment into the minds of those who were serving under him, and of gaining their confidence. The present was a trying moment. The 5th of September had arrived, the navigable season had nearly expired, and they were only at the commencement of their discoveries. By the 15th of September, however, they had examined numerous inlets and openings on the American coast ; and among others a very extensive and deep one, to which Parry gave the name of Lyon's Inlet. Various creeks and coves were also exa- mined by the boats ; but the continuity of the land was everywhere determined, and no passage found Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 157 to the westward. They fell in with a small tribe of Esquimaux, whose habitations were visited, and the inmates found to be u a good-humoured and decent sort of people." One lad in particular is described as " uncommonly quick and clever in comprehend- ing our meaning, and seemed to possess a degree of good humour and docility which, on our short acquaintance, made him a great favourite among us. In some of the bays and inlets the ice remained fixed and unbroken and, as far as could be seen, grounded along the coast. Still they proceeded, passing by no creek or inlet without landing or boating to examine it thoroughly. On the 1st of October some rain fell, and immediately freezing made the decks and ropes as smooth and slippery as glass. For several days before, the thermometer had permanently fallen below the freezing point ; and the rapid formation of young ice near the shores gave pretty evident notice of the approach of winter. On the 6th of October, Parry says, " There being now only an hours daylight remain- ing, the young ice fast increasing, and a strong tide running in the offing, I was obliged to relinquish the idea of moving till the morning/ ' On the 8th the thermometer was down to zero, and the sea was covered with young ice, of which we have the fol- lowing description : — " The formation of young ice upon the surface of the 158 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VrI. water is the circumstance which most decidedly begins to put a stop to the navigation of these seas, and warns the seaman that his season of active operations is nearly at an end. It is indeed scarcely possible to conceive the degree of hindrance occasioned by this impediment, trifling as it always appears before it is encountered. When the sheet has acquired a thickness of about half an inch, and is of considerable extent, a ship is liable to be stopped by it unless favoured by a strong and free wind ; and even when still retaining her way through the water, at the rate of a mile an hour, her course is not always under the control of the helmsman, though assisted by the nicest attention to the action of the sails, but depends upon some accidental in- crease or decrease in the thickness of the sheet of ice, with which one bow or the other comes in contact. Nor is it possible in this situation for the boats to render their usual assistance, by running out lines or otherwise ; for having once entered the young ice, they can only be propelled slowly through it by digging the oars and boat-hooks into it, at the same time breaking it across the bows, and by rolling the boat from side to side. After continuing this laborious work for some time with little good effect, and considerable damage to the planks and oars, a boat is often obliged to return the same way that she came, backing out in the canal thus formed to no purpose. A ship in this helpless state, her sails in vain expanded to a favourable breeze, her ordinary resources failing, and suddenly arrested in her course upon the element through which she has been accustomed to move without restraint, has often reminded me of Gulliver tied down by the feeble hands of Lilli- putians ; nor are the struggles she makes to effect a release, and the apparent insignificance of the means by which her efforts are opposed, the least just or the least vexatious part of the resemblance." — pp. 116, 117. The expediency of fixing upon some eligible Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 159 place for the security of the ships for the winter, could no longer be doubted nor delayed. A small island lying off the northern point of the entrance into Lyon's Inlet was agreed upon by the two Com- manders, being found to afford good anchorage on its southern coast. " We now," says Parry, " for the first time walked on board the ships ; and before night we had them moved into their places by sawing a canal for two or three hundred yards through the ice." He adds, " In reviewing the events of this our first season of navi- gation, and considering what progress we had made towards the attainment of our main object, it was impossible, how- ever trifling that progress might appear upon the chart, not to experience considerable satisfaction. Small as our actual advance had been towards Behring's Strait, the extent of coast newly discovered and minutely explored in pursuit of our objects, in the course of the lasteight weeks, amounted to more than 200 leagues, nearly half of which belonged to the continent of North America. This service, notwithstanding our constant exposure to the risks which intricate, shoal, and unknown channels, a sea loaded with ice, and a rapid tide concurred in presenting, had providentially been effected without injury to the ships, or suffering to the officers and men ; and we had now once more met with tolerable se- curity for the ensuing winter, when obliged to relinquish further operations for the season.- Above all, however, I derived the most sincere satisfaction from a conviction of having left no part of the coast from Repulse Bay eastward in a state of doubt as to its connexion with the continent. And as the mainland now in sight from the hills extended no farther to the eastward than about a N.N.E. bearing, we ventured to indulge a sanguine hope of our being very near 160 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. the north-eastern boundary of America, and that the early part of the next season would find us employing our best efforts in pushing along its northern shores." — p. 118. Being now fixed in their winter quarters, it is scarcely necessary to say that the first and earliest attention of the provident Commander was directed to the security of the ships, the arrangements for the preservation of cleanliness, health, and comfort, during a long prospective winter, as well as for the economical expenditure of provisions, fuel, and all other stores. At first, and for some time, apprehen- sion was entertained respecting the security of the ships in an open roadstead, facing the South ; as the grounded masses on the shores of the bay began to show symptoms of instability, one or two having fallen over, and others turned round, so that instead of being a protection these masses might be looked upon rather as dangerous neigh- bours ; other circumstances were calculated to ex- cite apprehensions of danger, but happily they escaped them all ; and the ships once frozen in and beset by solid ice remained firm as rocks. It may be quite certain that nothing was omitted by Parry that could tend to the health and comfort of his crew, as due attention to cleanliness, superior warmth, drying of clothes, airing the bedding, and sleeping in hammocks, by which ventilation is materially promoted. He says, " While care was thus taken to adopt all physical means within our reach for the maintenance of health and comfort Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 161 among the crews, recourse was also had to some of a moral nature, which experience has shown to be useful auxi- liaries in the promotion of these desirable objects. It would perhaps indeed be difficult to imagine a situation in which cheerfulness is more to be desired, or less likely to be main- tained, than among a set of persons (and those persons sea- men too) secluded for an uncertain and indefinite period from the rest of the world ; having little or no employment but that which is in a manner created to prevent idleness, and subject to a degree of tedious monotony ill according with their usual habits. It was not, however, simply as a general principle, applicable in a greater or less degree to all situations and societies, that the preservation of cheerful- ness and good humour was in our case particularly de- sirable, but as immediately connected with the prevention of that disease to which our crews were most liable, and which indeed, in all human probability, we had alone any cause to dread. The astonishing effects produced by the passions of the mind, in inducing or removing scorbutic symptoms, are too well known to need confirmation or to admit of doubt ; those calculated to excite hope and to impart a sensation of pleasure to the mind, having been invariably found to aid in a surprising manner the cure of this extraordinary disease, and those of an opposite nature to aggravate its fatal malig- nity. As a source, therefore, of rational amusement to the men, I proposed to Commander Lyon and the officers of both ships once more to set on foot a series of theatrical entertainments, from which so much benefit in this way had on a former occasion been derived. This proposal was immediately and unanimously acquiesced in. Lyon oblig- ingly undertook to be our manager, and some preparation having been made for this purpose previous to leaving England, everything was soon arranged for performing a play on board the Fury once a fortnight. In this, as in more important matters, our former experience gave many M 162 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. useful hints. Our theatre was now laid out on a larger and more commodious scale ; its decorations much im- proved ; and, what was more essential both to actors and audience, a more efficient plan adopted for warming it, by which we succeeded in keeping the temperature several degrees above zero on each night of performance throughout the winter."— pp. 122, 123. And he adds, in a note — " I cannot omit to mention, that just before we left Eng- land, a large and handsome -phantasmagoria, or magic lan- tern, had been presented to me, for the use of the expedi- tion, by a lady, who persisted in keeping her name a secret from those whom she was thus serving. This apparatus, which was excellent of its kind, was frequently resorted to during this and the succeeding winter ; and I am happy to avail myself of this mode — the only one in my power — of thanking our benefactress ; and assuring her that her pre- sent afforded a fund of amusement, fully answering her kind intentions." No man was better acquainted with the character and feelings of seamen than Parry. He knew that mirth, and other excitements to cheerfulness, if too often repeated with little or no variation, are apt to lose their effect. Fully aware of this, and with a view to higher objects, it did not escape his reflec- tion that, during the long winter nights, when for a certain period the whole day was in fact a night, an opportunity might be afforded for instructing* the men of both ships in at least the elementary parts of education. To this end he says, " To furnish rational and useful occupation to the men, on the other evenings, a school was also established, under Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 163 the voluntary superintendence of Mr. Hulse, for the instruc- tion of such of the men as were willing to take advantage of this opportunity of learning to read and write, or of im- proving in those acquirements. The same plan was adopted on board the Hecla : Benjamin White, one of the seamen who had been educated at Christ-church school, volunteer- ing to officiate as schoolmaster. Tables were set up for the purpose in the midship part of the lower deck ; some of the men, already thus qualified, undertook the task of assist- ing in the instruction of their shipmates ; and thus were about twenty individuals belonging to each ship occupied every evening, from six to eight o'clock. I made a point of visiting the school occasionally during the winter, by way of encouraging the men in this praiseworthy occupation ; and I can safely say, that I have seldom experienced feelings of higher gratification than on this rare and interesting sight."' —pp. 123, 124. And well might he be gratified ; for we are as- sured by him, on the return of the ships to Eng- land, that " every man on board could read his Bible." Nor were the interests of science neglected while these domestic arrangements were in progress. A portable observatory was erected for magnetical ob- servations, and a house built for the reception of the requisite instruments for astronomical observations, and for various experiments .recommended by a committee of the Royal Society. In short, nothing was neglected or omitted that could contribute to the fulfilment of the instructions received by the Commander of the expedition from the Lords of the Admiralty. m2 164 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. An observation of Parry shows that the Arctic climate, equally with our own, is influenced by a change of the wind. Thus, on the 20th of October, when the wind was N.N.W., the thermometer fell to —10°; but veering to the S.E. on the 24th and 25th, it rose to + 23°. " I may possibly," he says, " incur the charge of affectation in stating that this temperature was much too high to be agreeable to us ; but it is, nevertheless, the fact, that everybody felt and complained of the change. This is ex- plained by their clothing, bedding, fires, and other precautions against the severity of the climate; having been once adapted to a low degree of cold, an increase of temperature renders them oppressive and inconvenient.,, Another circumstance is men- tioned, which may serve to confirm a conjecture which has long been maintained by some — that an open sea, free of ice, exists at or near the pole. " On the 2nd of November/' says Parry, " the wind, freshened up to a gale from N. by W., lowered the thermometer before midnight to — 5° ; whereas a rise of wind at Melville Island was generally accom- panied by a simultaneous rise in the thermometer at low temperatures. " May not this," he asks, " be occasioned by the wind blowing over an open sea in the quarter from which the wind blows, and tends to confirm the opinion that at or near the Pole an open sea free of ice exists ? ' If the ice which a single night of six months' continuous Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 165 duration must produce were not dispersed by the current that is known to exist, and which the Pole itself may probably be the cause of producing, the north wind, instead of being cold and boisterous, would be mild. The aurora and haloes round the sun and moon were of frequent appearance, but none of them very remarkable. The magnetic needle, attentively watched, was not found to be at all affected by any of these phenomena. The shortest day passed without any interest being attached to it. " On a former occasion, novelty and the peculiarity of our situation gave it importance. Now the case was very different; their wintering was no longer an experiment ; their comforts were greatly increased, and the prospect of an early release as favourable as could be desired." On Christmas-day Divine service was performed on board the Fury, and attended by the officers and crews of both ships ; an additional allowance of provisions was issued, " and the day was marked by the most cheerful hilarity, accompanied by the utmost regularity and good order." Among the luxuries was a joint of good English roast-beef, preserved by the outside being rubbed with salt. The last day of the year brought with it the high gratification of observing the excellent health and spirits enjoyed by almost every officer and man in both ships. The one invalid was so much im- proved that sanguine hopes were entertained of his continued amendment. 166 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. Having provided for the employment and recrea- tion of the men, Parry still seemed to think that it might be imagined, as indeed had been antici- pated, that want of novelty was a disadvantage likely to render the confinement of the officers more tedious than before at Melville Island ; but this, he says, was not the case; the men had always employment to prevent their being idle, though not perhaps sufficient to prevent unpleasant thoughts from occasionally obtruding themselves; but the officers also had mostly resources within themselves. With regard to them, he observes, that " what with reading, writing, making and calculating observations, observing the various natural pheno- mena, and taking the exercise necessary to preserve our health, nobody I believe ever felt any symptoms of ennui during our continuance in winter quar- ters." He adds, — " Among the recreations which afforded the highest gra- tification to several among us, I may mention the musical parties we were enabled to muster, and which assembled on stated evenings throughout the winter, alternately in Com- mander Lyon's cabin and in my own. More skilful ama- teurs in music might well have smiled at these, our humble concerts ; but it will not incline them to think less of the science they admire, to be assured that, in these remote and desolate regions of the globe, it has often furnished us with the most pleasurable sensations which our situation was capable of affording : for independently of the mere gratifi- cation afforded to the ear by music, there is perhaps scarcely a person in the world really fond of it, in whose mind its sound is not more or less connected with ' his far-distant home.' There are always some remembrances which render Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 167 them inseparable, and those associations are not to be despised which, while we are engaged in the performance of our duty, can still occasionally transport us into the social circle of our friends at home, in spite of the oceans that roll between us. " With our time thus occupied, our comforts so abundant, and the prospect to seaward so enlivening, it would indeed have been our own faults had we felt anything but enjoy- ment in our present state, and the most lively hopes and expectations for the future." — p. 148. The first day of the new year is described as being a very severe one in the open air, the ther- mometer down to— 22°, and the wind blowing strong from the N.W.. on which it may be observed, that the effect of a strong breeze on the feelings, even in temperate climates, is well known ; but at low tem- peratures it becomes painful and almost insupport- able. " Thus," says Parry, " with the thermome- ter at — 55°, and no wind stirring, the hands may remain uncovered for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour without inconvenience ; while, with a fresh breeze and the thermometer nearly as high as zero, few people can keep their hands exposed so long without considerable pain." By means of Sylvester's stove, however, and a judicious arrange- ment of the flues, no inconvenience was felt in the ships, even at the temperature of — 59°. During the cold month of January, frequent opportunities occurred of making a variety of me- teorological observations on the Aurora Borealis, on parhelia, and paraselene ; and ?tt the same time Mr. Fisher was fully employed in observing the dip, 168 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. variation, and inclination of the magnetic needle. The electrometer was frequently applied to the mast-head chain, and the magnetic needle constantly watched during all the appearances of the Aurora ; but neither of these was on any one occasion sensibly affected. Franklin, it may be observed, on the shores of the Polar Sea, found it otherwise. On the 1st of February a new source of novelty and amusement most unexpectedly presented itself in the approach of some strange people towards the ships. But Parry must describe the interview. " On the morning of the 1st of February it was reported to me that a number of strange people were seen to the westward, coming towards the ships over the ice. On directing a glass towards them we found them to be Esqui- maux, and also discovered some appearance of huts on shore at the distance of two miles from the ships, in the same direction. I immediately set out, accompanied by Com- mander Lyon, an officer from each ship, and two of the men, to meet the natives, who, to the number of five-and-twenty, were drawn up in a line abreast, and still advanced slowly towards us. As we approached nearer they stood still, remaining as before, in a compact line, from which they did not move for some time after we reached them. Nothing could exceed their quiet and orderly behaviour on this oc- casion, which presented a very striking contrast with the noisy demeanour of the natives of Hudson's Strait. They appeared at a distance to have arrows in their hands, but what we had taken for bows or spears proved to be only a few blades of whalebone, which they had brought either as a peace-offering or for barter, and which we immediately purchased for a few small nails and beads. Some of the women, of whom there were three or four, as well as two children, in this party, having handsome clothes on, which Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 169 attracted our attention, they began, to our utter astonish- ment and consternation, to strip, though the thermometer stood at 23 below zero. We soon found, however, that there was nothing so dreadful in this as we at first imagined, every individual among them having on a complete double suit. The whole were of deer-skin, and looked both clean and comfortable." — p. 159. This party conducted themselves with great de- corum, and without any apprehension visible on their countenances or manner; therefore as soon as all that they had to sell had been purchased, a wish was expressed by signs to accompany them to their huts. The description which follows is curious and interesting : — " When it is remembered that these habitations were fully within sight of the ships, and how many eyes were continually on the look-out among us for anything that could afford variety or interest in our present situation, our surprise may in some degree be imagined at finding an establishment of five huts, with canoes, sledges, dogs, and above sixty men, women, and children, as regularly, and to all appearance as permanently fixed, as if they had occupied the same spot for the whole winter. If the first view of the exterior of this little village was such as to create astonish- ment, that feeling was in no small degree heightened, on accepting the invitation soon given us, to enter these extra- ordinary houses, in the construction of which we observed that not a single material was used but snow and ice. After creeping through two low passages, having each its arched door-way, we came to a small circular apartment of which the roof was a perfect arched dome. From this three door- ways, also arched and of larger dimensions than the outer ones, led into as many inhabited apartments, one on each side, and the other facing us as we entered. The interior 170 AKCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. of these presented a scene no less novel than interesting. The women were seated on the beds at the sides of the huts, each having her little fire-place, or lamp, with all her do- mestic utensils about her ; the children crept behind their mothers, and the dogs, except the female ones, which were indulged with a part of the beds, slunk out past us in dis- may. The construction of this inhabited part of the huts was similar to that of the outer apartment, being a dome formed by separate blocks of snow, laid with great regu- larity and no small art, each being cut into the shape re- quisite to form a substantial arch, from seven to eight feet high in the centre, and having no support whatever but what this principle of building supplied. I shall not here further describe the peculiarities of these curious edifices, remarking only that a cheerful and sufficient light was admitted to them by a circular window of ice, neatly fitted into the roof of each apartment." — p. 106. When we reflect how many volumes have been written, how much discussion has taken place, how much learned conjecture, on the invention and origin of the arch, even in this later age, what merit are we prepared to bestow on one of the most rude, the most simple, and most isolated race of human beings that exist ? Nature, assisted per- haps by observation, has taught this people the true principle and construction of the arch. " We found," says Parry, " our new acquaint- ance as desirous of pleasing us as we were ready to be pleased." A favourable impression was made on the first interview, which was not diminished durino* a constant intercourse of three or four months. These poor creatures, who, with all their unfortunate race, have been thrown by fate into Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 171 the least habitable portions of the globe, amidst eternal ice and snow, possess many valuable and amiable qualities, among some others that are less so, and are common to all savage or uneducated people. Those of the tribe here met with are described in their behaviour as being, in the highest degree, respectful, orderly, and good humoured. They gave the voyagers every reason to believe 4;hat they possessed, in no ordinary degree, the quality of honesty — a quality not usually found among an uncivilized people ; " but a quality," Parry observes, " the more desirable to us, as we had on shore, besides the house and observatory, all our boats and other articles, which, had they been disposed to pilfer, it would have required all our vigilance to guard. If we dropped a glove or a handkerchief without knowing it, they would immediately direct our attention to it by pointing ; and if the owner had left the hut before they dis- covered it, they would run out after him to return it. Nay, more ; if anything happened to be left at the huts, they would travel down to the ships to return it to the owner. A pair of their dogs was purchased in the Hecla, which broke loose and disappeared ; but next day two were found chained up on board the Fury, which, on inquiry, proved to be the ani- mals in question, and which had thus been faithfully restored to their rightful owners. Many other in- stances satisfied the voyagers that dishonesty is not a prominent vice among these poor people. 172 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. Judging from the sample who visited the ships at Winter Island, they exhibit none of those traits of stupidity by which they have generally been dis- tinguished; but would rather appear to be lively and cheerful, than to show any signs of dullness. Quiet and orderly, however, as they were disposed to be on their first visit, they betrayed a strong inclination to merriment ; for, Parry observes, that on Commander Lyon's ordering his fiddler to* exhibit upon the Hecla's deck, they danced with the seamen for an hour, and then returned in high glee and good humour to their huts. Another party took great delight in listening to the organ, and to anything in the shape of music, singing, or dancing, of all which they appeared to be remark- ably fond. The same party were asked to go through the process of building a snow-hut, for the amusement and information of the Europeans. " From the quickness," says Parry, " with which they com- pleted this, our surprise at the sudden appearance of the village ceased ; as we now saw that two or three hours would be more than sufficient to have completed the whole establishment just as we at first found it." The following day a number of natives came on board, according to promise, to re- build the hut in a more substantial manner, and to put a plate of ice in the roof as a window, which they did with great quickness, as well as care, several of the women cheerfully assisting in the Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARKY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 173 labour. The men seemed to take no small pride in showing in how expeditious and workman-like a manner they could perform this ; and the hut, with its outer passage, was soon completed. But they extend the use of this transparent material, applying that of frozen hummocks to other purposes. A sledge was required to carry a youth to some dis- tance, and none at hand : — " We found, however, that a man, whom we had observed for some time at work among the hummocks of ice upon the beach, had been employed in cutting out of that abundant material a neat and serviceable little sledge, hollowed like a bowl or tray out of a solid block, and smoothly rounded at the bottom. The thong to which the dogs were attached was secured to a groove cut round its upper edge ; and the young seal-catcher, seated in this simple vehicle, was dragged along with great convenience and comfort." — p. 206. Captain Parry being desirous of trying how far they might be disposed to part with their children, proposed to buy a fine lad, named Toolooak, for the valuable consideration of a handsome butcher's knife. His father, apparently understanding the meaning, joyfully accepted the knife ; and the boy set off in high spirits, and at first assisted in draw- ing a sledge; but beginnings by some additional signs, more clearly to comprehend the true mean- ing of his situation, took the opportunity to slink off among some hummocks of ice, so that when the party arrived on board Toolooak was missing. Toolooak, however, was a constant visiter to Parry, and considered himself fully privileged to 174 AKCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. find his way into the cabin. " He sat with me," says Parry, " one day for a couple of hours, quietly drawing faces and animals, an occupation to which he took a great fancy ; and we often were reminded by this circumstance, of a similar propensity dis- played by his amiable countryman, our lamented friend, John Sackhouse." He goes on to say : — " We soon found that Toolooak possessed a capacity equal to any thing he chose to take an interest in learning ; and could he, at his present age, have been voluntarily removed from his companions, and his attention directed to the acquirement of higher branches of knowledge than that of catch- ing seals, he would amply have repaid any pains bestowed upon his education." An overture made by Parry to this effect, and of removing him, brought forward, as it was intended, a fine trait of feeling and character in this youth, and probably not uncommon in this too much de- spised people. Parry adds, — " I had always entertained a great objection to taking away any such individual from his home, on the doubtful chance of benefiting himself, or of his doing any service to the public, as an interpreter. My scruples on this head had hitherto been confined to the consideration due to the individual himself, and to the relatives he leaves behind. In our present case, however, not the smallest public advantage could be derived from it ; for it had long ago become evi- dent that we should soon know more of the Esquimaux language than any of them were likely to learn of English, in any reasonable period of time : I was, therefore, far from desiring to receive from Toolooak an answer in the Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 175 affirmative, when I to-day plainly put the question to him, whether he would go with me to Kabloona Noona (European country)? Never was a more decisive negative given, than Toolooak gave to this proposal. He eagerly repeated the word, Na-o (No), half a dozen times, and then told me that if he went away his father would cry. This simple but irresistible appeal to paternal affection, his decisive manner of making it, and the feelings by which his reply was evi- dently dictated, were just what could have been wished. No more could be necessary to convince those who witnessed it that these people may justly lay equal claim, with our- selves, to these common feelings of our nature ; and having once satisfied myself of this, I determined never again to excite in Toolooak's mind another disagreeable sensation, by talking to him on this subject." — pp. 173, 174. On an early visit to the huts, which was made by Parry, he found only women and children, the men having gone on a sealing excursion ; one of the former, named Iligliuk, the mother of the lad Toolooak, favoured him with a song, which, he says, gave proofs of her " having a remarkably soft voice, an excellent ear, and a great fondness for singing. We had, on their first visit to the ships, remarked this trait in Iligliuk's disposition, when she was listening, for the first time, to the sound of the organ, of which she seemed never to have enough ; and almost every day she now began to display some symptom of that superiority of understanding, for which she was so remarkably distinguished." This Esquimaux female was indeed a most extra- ordinary creature, and one that would have distin- guished herself in any society, not merely by her 176 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. musical cravings, for her whole soul appears to have been music, but more by her untaught intellectual powers. In her exhibition of the former quality, on various occasions, she is chargeable only with one of the two vices which Horace brings against the whole tribe of singers in his clay — omnibus cantoribus — so far from requiring to be coaxed, she was always most ready to sing ; but Parry says, " there was scarcely any stopping her when she had once be- gun." A party of her countrywomen were one day on board, when, to amuse them, the little band of flutes and violins was struck up, and also some songs, with which they were all delighted. " I feared," Parry says, " that some of them, especially Iligliuk, would have gone into fits with rapture, when we introduced into our song some of their names mingled with our own." It was enough, we are told, for this interesting creature just to make the motion of turning the handle of the organ, which, conveying to her mind the idea of music, was always sure to put her immediately into high spirits. A trait of the superior character and proud feel- ino- of this remarkable female manifested itself at an early period, which, among many others, appears to be quite sufficient to prove that such persons as Iligliuk, her son Toolooak, and John Sackhouse, require but a moderate degree of edu- cation to give them a due place in civilized society. Parry says, — Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 177 " On the 28th February, Okotook (the husband of Ilig- liuk), with his wife, came on board, when an occurrence took place, which, as it shows the disposition of the Esqui- maux, and especially of one of the most intelligent and interesting among them, I may here relate. Some time before, Iligliuk, who from the superior neatness and clean- liness with which she performed her work, was by this time in great request as a sempstress, had promised to cover for me a little model of a canoe, and had in fact sent it to me by the serjeant of marines, though I had not rightly under- stood from the latter from which of the women it came. Believing that she had failed in her promise, I now taxed her with it, when she immediately defended herself with considerable warmth and seriousness, but without making me comprehend her meaning. Finding that she was wasting her words upon me, she said no more till an hour afterwards, when the serjeant accidentally coming into the cabin, she, with the utmost composure, but with a decision of manner peculiar to herself, took hold of his arm to engage his atten- tion, and then looking him steadfastly in the face, accused him of not having faithfully executed her commission to me. The mistake was thus instantly explained, and I thanked Iligliuk for her canoe ; but it is impossible for me to describe the quiet, yet proud satisfaction displayed in her countenance, at having thus cleared herself from the im- putation of a breach of promise." — pp. 179, 180. But the superior intelligence of this extraordinary woman was perhaps most apparent in the readiness with which she was made to comprehend the mode of communicating a knowledge of the geographical outline of the sea -coast of the country, and of the islands that were near it. The first attempt of this kind was by placing several sheets of paper N 178 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. before Iligliuk, and drawing roughly on a large scale an outline of the land about Repulse Bay and Lyon Inlet, and continuing it northerly to the pre- sent winter station of the ships. The scale being large, it was necessary when she came to the end of one piece of paper to tack on another, till at length she had filled ten or twelve sheets, and had com- pletely lost sight of Winter Island at the other end of the table. Two charts, one made by Iligliuk for Commander Lyon, are given (in the volume) on a reduced scale ; and very extraordinary they are, con- taining, though with much error, a general correct view of the coast, and of its communication with the western coast of the Polar Sea. Parry says, — " Being extremely desirous of obtaining more certain information on this part of the subject, it occurred to me to attempt the thing with Iligliuk on a smaller scale, such as might enable her to keep in view, at the same time, every part of the coast to be delineated. This attempt was also much favoured by our having lately obtained the Esquimaux words for the four cardinal points of the horizon, which were, therefore, previously laid down by lines on the chart. Having in addition to this delineated the usual portion of the coast, and made Iligliuk ' box the compass' repeatedly, so as to render her quite familiar with the exact relative position of the lands we had laid down, we desired her to complete the rest, and to do it mikkee (small), when, with a countenance of the most grave attention and peculiar intelli- gence, she drew the coast of the continent beyond her own country, as lying nearly north from Winter Island. The most important part still remained, and it would have amused an unconcerned looker-on to have observed the anxiety and Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 179 suspense depicted on the countenances of our part of the group, till this was accomplished, for never were the tracings of a pencil watched with more eager solicitude. Our sur- prise and satisfaction may therefore, in some degree, be imagined when, without taking it from the paper, Iligliuk brought the continental coast short round to the westward", and afterwards to the S.S.W., so as to come within three or four days' journey of Repulse Bay. The country thus situated upon the shores of the Western or Polar Sea is called Akkoolee, and is inhabited by numerous Esquimaux ; and half-way between that coast and Repulse Bay Iligliuk drew a lake of considerable size, having small streams running from it to the sea on each side. To this lake her countrymen are annually in the habit of resorting during the summer, and catch there large fish of the salmon kind, while on the banks are found abundance of rein- deer. To the westward of Akkoolee, as far as they can see from the hills, which she described as high ones, nothing can be distinguished but one wide-extended sea. Being desirous of seeing whether Iligliuk would interfere with Wager River, as we know it to exist, I requested her to continue the coast -line to the southward of Akkoolee, when she im- mediately dropped the pencil, and said she knew no more about it."— pp. 197, 198. Well might Parry consider this new information, thus unexpectedly opened to him, as a satisfactory prospect of his soon rounding the north-eastern point of America ; which, in point of fact, he sub- sequently discovered to be as, and where, repre- sented by this intelligent woman. To her alone, therefore, is the merit due of the discovery of the extreme northern boundary of America, or, which is the same thing, the north-eastern extremity of n2 180 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. that continent, which Captain Parry is told, in his instructions, to be the object next to the finding a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is true that he might, in his progress along the coast on which he was about to proceed, have made the dis- covery, but the confidence he placed in the indica- tion he had acquired from the Esquimaux lady was sufficient to induce a more than common attention to the spot where it received full confirmation. Nor were the powers of mind in this superior woman confined to the love of music, or drawing, or needlework ; every thing she observed the people of the ships to be employed upon caught her atten- tion. One day, accompanied by her husband and son, they paid a visit to the ships, and the season for departure approaching, being desirous, says Parry, of entertaining them well, after providing abundance to eat, we showed them everything about the ship that we thought likely to amuse them : — " Of all the wonders they had ever witnessed on board, there was nothing that seemed to impress them so strongly with a sense of our superiority as the forge, and the work which the armourer performed with it. The welding of two pieces of iron especially excited their admiration, and I never saw Iligliuk express so much astonishment at any thing before. Even in this her superior good sense was observable, for it was evident that the utility of what she saw going on, was what forced itself upon her mind ; and she watched every stroke of the hammer, and each blast of the bellows, with extreme eagerness, while numbers of other Esquimaux looked stupidly on, without expressing the Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 181 smallest curiosity or interest in the operation, except by desiring to have some spear-heads fashioned out by this means." — p. 210. Her attention to her husband, who was taken ill, was very striking. Having, together with him, been three hours on a sledge, Mr. Bushnan, who was of the party, told Parry that Iligliuk had scarcely taken her eyes off her husband's face the whole time, and seemed almost worn out with fatigue and anxiety. Her husband took a dose of physic for the first time in his life, and not without great dread ; (i before he put the cup to his lips with one hand, he held on by his wife with the other, and she by him with both hers, as though they expected an explosion. Iligliuk had one side of her hair loose, and now loosened the other also, fancying Okotook to be worse; for even in this sequestered corner of the globe dishevelled locks bespeak mourning." Hers, however, Parry says, was not the mere sem- blance of grief, for she was really much distressed throughout the day. It is pleasing to dwell on these amiable traits of character in one whom the world at large would set down, being an Esquimaux, as little removed, if at all removed, from the ordinary race of savages ; and it is only from such a man as Parry and his associates that her virtues, and her unaccountable strength and clearness of understanding, could have been brought out and duly appreciated. Would 182 AECTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. that, by making publicly known to the world, that this despised and persecuted race, (for nothing short of persecution could have driven them to take up their abode in these extreme parts of the globe, amidst ice and snow, where worse than Cimmerian darkness dwells for half the year) — would that they might be looked upon more generally than they are, as rational beings, and treated accordingly. Theirs, it must be confessed, is a most cruel and wretched lot, for whom any permanent relief ap- pears to be hopeless, surrounded as they are in every part of the coast-land, bounding the dreary Polar Sea — in Asia, Europe, and America — and driven, as they are, into bye creeks and corners, or what is still worse, by the savage Indians of the northern parts of America, to the very shores of that sea — the Ultima Thule of all civilization — what hope, then, is there that any change or any exertion of humane and well-disposed communities can afford them relief from a state of perpetual op- pression, misery, and starvation? At the same time that Parry dwells with plea- sure on the virtues and the superior understanding of Iligliuk, he is not blind to her failings, the chief of which appears to be vanity (to which he has himself not a little contributed), selfishness, and ingratitude. " I am compelled to acknowledge," he says, " that in proportion as the superior under- standing of this extraordinary woman became more Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 183 and more developed, her head (for what female head is indifferent to praise ?) began to be turned with the general attention and numberless presents she received." She refused, it seems, on the eve of parting, Commander Lyon's request to her to make for him a few little models of their clothing ; " which," Parry observes, " shows in a strong light that deep-rooted selfishness that, in numberless instances, detracted from the amiability of her dis- position." It is not quite clear from what occurred on the day that Okotook and Iligliuk came on board, to pay their last visit, that Parry did not uninten- tionally offend the pride of the latter. He says, — " As these good folks found themselves perfectly at home in my cabin, I was usually in the habit of continuing my occupations when they were there without being disturbed by them. Being now engaged in writing, my attention was unexpectedly directed towards them by Iligliuk's suddenly start- ing from her seat, moving quickly towards the door, and, without saying a word, either to me or any of the officers present, hastening directly on deck. Okotook, indeed, as he followed her out of the cabin, turned round and said, ' Good bye ;' and without giving us time to return the compliment, they both hurried out of the ship, leaving us in some astonishment at this singular leave-taking." It is not unnatural to suppose that after so long and 184 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. friendly an intercourse they should on this particu- lar visit feel themselves somewhat neglected ; it could hardly be expected that they should not feel, on such an occasion, an apparent indifference so contrary to the uniform attention and kindness they had received. But Parry found a change had taken place in Iligliuk's conduct, and explains the causes which gave rise to it. " I am, however, compelled to acknowledge that the superior decency and even modesty of her behaviour had combined, with her intellectual qualities, to raise her in our estimation far above her companions ; and I often heard others express, what I could not but agree in, that for Iligliuk alone, of all the Esquimaux women, that kind of respect would be entertained which modesty in a female never fails to command in our sex. Thus regarded, she had always been freely admitted into the ships, the quartermasters at the gang-way never thinking of refusing entrance to the ' wise woman,' as they called her. When- ever any explanation was necessary between the Esquimaux and us, Iligliuk was sent for, quite as an interpreter ; infor- mation was chiefly obtained through her, and she thus found herself rising into a degree of consequence to which, but for us, she could never have attained. It may not, therefore, be wondered at, if she became giddy with her exaltation, assuming airs which, though infinitely diversified in their operation, according to circumstances, perhaps universally attend a too sudden accession of good fortune, in every child of Adam from the Equator to the Poles. The conse- quence was, Iligliuk was soon spoiled ; considered her admis- sion into the ships, and most of the cabins, no longer as an indulgence, but a right ; ceased to return the slightest acknowledgment for any kindness or presents ; became list- Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 185 less and inattentive in unravelling the meaning of our ques- tions, and careless whether her answers conveyed the infor- mation we desired. In short, Iligliuk in February, and Iligliuk in April, were confessedly very different persons ; and it was at last amusing to recollect, though not very easy to persuade one's self, that the woman who now sat demurely in a chair, so confidently expecting the notice of those around her, and she who had at first, with eager and wild delight, assisted in cutting snow for the building of a hut, and with the hope of obtaining a single needle, were actually one and the same individual." — pp. 219, 220. Iligliuk was unquestionably altered and spoiled ; and to Captain Parry and his associates was owing the metamorphosis; but it was a natural conse- quence, and could not be otherwise ; nor does the change in her conduct detract in any degree from that quiet, orderly, and cheerful behaviour which prevailed almost universally among the tribe to which she belonged. Of the peculiar habits, the disposition, the general character, the resources and employments, and the state of society among these poor creatures, doomed to consume their lives in this country, the most dreary and dismal perhaps in the whole world, Parry has given a full account in his concluding Chapter. Here, however, the occurrences only will be men- tioned. As a general one it may be stated that during the months of March, April, and May, when they depend mostly on the capture of the seal and the walrus, which is attended with the greatest dif- ficulty and watchfulness on the ice, the whole tribe may be said to be literally in a state of starvation. 186 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. Had they not indeed, on many occasions, been sup- plied from the ships, numbers of them must un- doubtedly have perished of hunger. All the bread dust was collected and preserved for their use ; yet in the height of their distress they appeared never to be deprived of that happy and cheerful temper of mind, and that good humour which they na- turally possessed, and preserved, even when severely pinched by hunger and cold, and wholly deprived for days together of food, and light, and fuel, priva- tions to which they were constantly liable. But no calamity of this kind, frequently as it occurs, has taught them to be provident. They live but from day to day : with them it is always a feast or a famine; they will eat, at any period of the day, when victuals are to be had, from fiye to eight pounds of animal food. From May to October, when the migratory animals have arrived from the southward, the musk-ox, the rein-deer, the hares, the swans, and various other fowls and quadrupeds, they are able to procure a good supply of food ; and those few who add frugality to their industry, contrive to pound the flesh with the fat of the ani- mal, and make a little of what they call pemmican, for preservation — a compound well known to our Arctic voyagers. In the early part of April some of the tribe that frequented the Winter Island began to migrate from the sea-shore to the westward, in quest of food; and the change of scene in their once happy village, and more especially in their Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE, 187 clean and comfortable snow huts while new, is thus described : — " On going out to the village, we found one-half of the people had quitted their late habitations, taking with them every article of their property, and had gone over the ice, we knew not where, in quest of more abundant food. The wretched appearance which the interior of the huts now pre- sented baffles all description. In each of the larger ones some of the apartments were either wholly or in part de- serted, the very snow which composed the beds and fire- places having been turned up, that no article might be left behind. Even the bare walls, whose original colour was scarcely perceptible for lamp-black, blood, and other filth, were not left perfect, large holes having been made in the sides and roofs for the convenience of handing out the goods and chattels. The sight of a deserted habitation is at all times calculated to excite in the mind a sensation of dreari- ness and desolation, especially when we have lately seen it filled with cheerful inhabitants ; but the feeling is even heightened rather than diminished when a small portion of these inhabitants remain behind to endure the wretchedness which such a scene exhibits. This was now the case at the village where, though the remaining tenants of each hut had combined to occupy one of the apartments, a great part of the bed-places were still bare, and the wind and drift blow- ing in through the holes which they had not yet taken the trouble to stop up. The old man Hikkeiera and his wife occupied a hut by themselves, without any lamp, or a single ounce of meat belonging to them ; while three small skins, on which the former was lying, were all that they possessed in the way of blankets. Upon the whole, I never beheld a more miserable spectacle, and it seemed a charity to hope that a violent and constant cough with which the old man was afflicted would speedily combine with his age and in- firmities to release him from his present sufferings. Yet in 188 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. the midst of all this he was even cheerful, nor was there a gloomy countenance to be seen at the village." — pp. 201, 203. There is something very extraordinary, as it would appear, in the physical constitution of these people. At this moment, when in want of every kind of subsistence, and kept alive by the distribu- tion of bread-dust, on a hint from the Commander that he wished the females to let him witness some of their games, the proposal was scarcely made when every female that was left in the village, not excepting even the oldest of them, joined in the performance of singing and in never-ceasing merri- ment and laughter. " Neither the want of food and fuel, nor the uncertain prospect of obtaining any that night, were sufficient to deprive these poor creatures of that cheerfulness and good humour which it seems at all times their peculiar happiness to enjoy." Their hilarity was not disturbed this night, for positive intelligence arrived from the ice that two walruses had been taken. " If," says Parry, " the women were only cheerful before, they were now absolutely frantic." The end of May having arrived, and the Esqui- maux being ready to depart to the northward, the Commander made them what they considered a most valuable present, which produced in the women such immoderate fits of laughter as to amount al- most to hysterics, which were succeeded by a flood of tears. The men seemed thankful, though less Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 189 noisy, in their acknowledgments. " On taking their departure," says Parry, " these good-hu- moured and ever-cheerful people greeted us with three cheers in the true Kabloona (English) style." Little deserving of notice occurred till the middle of June, when the expedition also was prepar- ing to depart to the northward, by cutting out the ships from the ice, taking down the tents and the observatory, and embarking the instruments; but before they quitted Winter Island, after a resi- dence of nine months, Commander Parry states, " It becomes my painful duty to turn from these busy occupations, where animation, cheerfulness, and hope prevailed, to the sad and solemn scenes of sickness and of death ; for with both of these did it please the Almighty to visit us at this period." Two seamen, Souter and Reid, in Parry's ship died ; and one, Pringle, in Lyon's. They were buried in the same grave ; the former with a hand- some tomb of stone and mortar over it, and a slab with a suitable inscription of the same kind over the latter. It was not till the 2nd of July that the ships were moved out of their winter's dock ; and they put to sea on the 8 th, with no very favourable auspices of what was to befal them in their pro- gress to the northward, along the eastern coast of North America. The dangers that threatened them at starting will be seen from Commander Lyon's report : — 190 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. " The flood-tide coming down loaded with a more than ordinary quantity of ice, pressed the ship very much between six and seven a.m., and rendered it necessary to run out the stream cable, in addition to the hawsers which were fast to the land ice. This was scarcely accomplished when a very heavy and extensive floe took the ship on her broad- side, and, being backed by another large body of ice, gra- dually lifted her stern as if by the action of a wedge. The weight every moment increasing obliged us to veer on the hawsers, whose friction was so great as nearly to cut through the bitt-heads, and ultimately set them on fire, so that it became requisite for people to attend with buckets of water. The pressure was at length too powerful for resistance, and the stream cable, with two six and one five inch hawsers, went at the same moment. Three others soon followed. The sea was too full of ice to allow the ship to drive, and the only way by which she could yield to the enormous weight which oppressed her was by leaning over the land ice, while her stern at the same time was entirely lifted more than five feet out of the water. The lower deck beams now complained very much, and the whole frame of the ship underwent a trial which would have proved fatal to any less strengthened vessel. At this moment the rudder was unhung with a sudden jerk, which broke up the rudder case and struck the driver boom with great force. In this state I made known our situation by telegraph, as I clearly saw that, in the event of another floe backing the one which lifted us, the ship must inevitably turn over, or part in mid -ships. The pressure which had been so dangerous at length proved our friend, for by its increasing weight the floe on which we were borne burst upwards, unable to resist its force. The ship righted, and, a small slack opening in the water, drove several miles to the southward before she could be again secured to get the rudder hung ; circum- stances much to be regretted at the moment, as our people had been employed with but little intermission for three Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 191 days and nights, attending to the safety of the ship in this dangerous tideway." — p. 258. The Fury had almost as narrow an escape as the Hecla. The next day the Fury for an hour or two was continually grazed, and sometimes heeled over by a degree of pressure which under other circum- stances would not have been a moderate one. " A little before noon a heavy floe some miles in length, being probably a part of that lately detached from the shore, came driving down fast towards us, giving us serious reason to apprehend some more fatal catastrophe than any we had yet encountered. In a few minutes it came in contact, at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, with a point of the land-ice left the preceding night by its own separation, breaking it up with a tremendous crash, and forcing num- berless immense masses, perhaps many tons in weight, to the height of fifty or sixty feet, from whence they again rolled down on the inner or land side, and were quickly succeeded by a fresh supply. While we were obliged to be quiet spectators of this grand but terrific sight, being within five or six hundred yards of the point, the danger to our- selves was twofold ; first, lest the floe should now swing in, and serve us much in the same manner ; and secondly, lest its pressure should detach the land ice to which we were se- cured, and thus set us adrift and at the mercy of the tides. Happily, however, neither of these occurred, the floe re- maining stationary for the rest of. the tide and setting off with the ebb which made soon after." — p. 260. In addition to the danger which threatened to crush and overwhelm the ships among these tre- mendous masses of ice thus thrown into violent motion, was the chance of being beset in the midst 192 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. of the floes, and in that helpless state swept away with the flood- tide and current to the southward, and drifted back again to Southampton Island, as had happened to them before, and thus again would the labour of weeks be inevitably lost. By the 12th of July, however, after long and unremitting perseverance, and by taking advantage of every opening and breeze of wind to move the ships to the northward, they had reached the latitude of 67° 18', opposite to a considerable opening in the land, out of which a strong current was observed to set into the sea. It had not the least appearance of a passage ; but as it offered a security against any ice coming in, Parry determined to anchor as near it as possible, and to examine what he justly supposed to be a fresh-water river; and a fresh- water river, as may be supposed, was too great a luxury as well as novelty in a region of ice and snow to be slightly passed over. The boats of both ships were therefore employed in landing parties to partake of this oasis in the desert. " Landing on the south shore and hauling the boats up above high-water mark, we rambled up the banks of the stream, which are low next the water, but rise almost im- mediately to the height of about two hundred feet. As we proceeded we gradually heard the noise of a fall of water ; and being presently obliged to strike more inland, as the bank became more precipitous, soon obtained a fresh view of the stream running on a much higher level than before, and dashing with great impetuosity down two small cata- Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 193 racts. Just below this, however, where the river turns almost at a right angle, we perceived a much greater spray, as well as a louder sound ; and having walked a short dis- tance down the bank, suddenly came upon the principal fall, of whose magnificence I am at a loss to give any adequate description. At the head of the fall, or where it commences its principal descent, the river is contracted to about one hundred and fifty feet in breadth, the channel being hol- lowed out through a solid rock of gneiss. After falling about fifteen feet at an angle of 30° with a vertical line, the width of the stream is still narrowed to about forty yards, and then, as if mustering its whole force previous to its final descent, is precipitated in one vast continuous sheet of water almost perpendicular for ninety feet more. So nearly, in- deed, is the rock perpendicular, that we were enabled to let down a sounding lead and line, for the purpose of measuring its actual height, while a man descended from crag to crag with a second line attached to him, to see when the lead touched the water below. The dashing of the water from such a height produced the usual accompaniment of a cloud of spray, broad columns of which were constantly forced up, like the successive rushes of smoke from a vast furnace, and on this, near the top, a vivid iris or rainbow was occasion- ally formed by the bright rays of an unclouded sun. ' The roaring of the mountain-cataract,' which constitutes a prin- cipal feature of the sublime in scenery of this magnificent nature, was here almost deafening ; and as we were able to approach the head of the fall, even so close as a single yard, the very rock seemed to suffer a concussion under our feet. The basin that receives the water at the foot of the fall is nearly of a circular form, and about four hundred yards in diameter, being rather wider than the river immediately below it. The fall is about three quarters of a mile above our landing-place, or two miles and a quarter from the entrance of the river. After remaining nearly an hour, o 194 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. fixed as it were to the spot by the novelty arid magnificence of the scene before us, we continued our walk upwards along the banks ; and after passing the two smaller cata- racts, found the river again increased in width to above two hundred yards, winding in the most romantic manner ima- ginable among the hills, and preserving a smooth and un- ruffled surface for a distance of three or four miles that we traced it to the south-west above the fall. What added extremely to the beauty of this picturesque river, which Commander Lyon and myself named after our mutual friend, Mr. Barrow, secretary to the Admiralty, was the richness of the vegetation on its banks, the enlivening bril- liancy of a cloudless sky, and the animation given to the scene by several reindeer that were grazing beside the stream." — pp. 264, 265. Returning on board, they found a strong south- erly breeze to have driven the ice off from the shore, affording an open channel between the ice and the land of not less than nine miles in width. Up this they proceeded, and passed several head- lands, to each of which they gave a name. Such was the advantage of a fair wind and open water, that, as Parry says, " we had been favoured with an unobstructed run of fifty miles : an event of no trifling importance in this tedious and uncertain navigation." The great increase in the number of seahorses confirmed the navigators in the belief that they were now approaching Amitioke, the country of Iligliuk, in the neighbourhood of which she and her companions had frequently represented them as abundant. As they proceeded, these wal- Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 195 ruses became more and more numerous every hour, lying in large herds upon the loose pieces of drift- ice, huddled close to and lying upon each other, in separate droves of from twelve to thirty, the whole number near the boats being probably about two hundred. On the 16th a great deal of high land was brought in sight to the northward and eastward, which, on the first inspection of the Esquimaux charts, was decided to be that large portion be- tween which and the continent lay the promised strait, that was to lead the ships to the westward into the Polar Sea. So far all was satisfactorv ; " but, after sailing a few miles farther, it is impos- sible to describe our disappointment and mortifica- tion on perceiving an unbroken sheet of ice, ex- tending completely across the supposed passage from one land to the other." Here they were joined by several Esquimaux, but none of their old friends, who had not yet arrived at any of their stations. They obtained from the new ones, however, one very interesting piece of informa- tion, namely, that it was Igloolik on which they were now about to land, and which they knew from their Winter Island friends, Iligliuk in parti- cular, was near to the strait that was to conduct them into the Polar Sea. In this neighbourhood were numerous Esquimaux of the same friendly and cheerful character as those of Winter Island, o2 196 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. but apparently somewhat less intellectual. Parry now, however, had but one great object at heart, which was to attempt the navigation of the strait. The ships made several ineffectual endeavours, but the whole entrance, up to the narrowest part, was so blocked up with old ice not likely to remove, and the middle of August having arrived, he deter- mined at least to satisfy his mind as to its commu- nication with the Polar Sea. It will readily be believed that " every hour's delay added an indescribable weight to his anxiety ;" and " stopped," he says, " as we had now been, at the very threshold of the North-west passage for nearly four weeks, without advancing twice as many miles to the westward, suspense at such a crisis was scarcely the less painful because we knew it to be inevitable." He therefore determined on attempting a journey to the westward, endeavouring first to reach some of the islands lying in that di- rection, and by passing from one to the other, at length to gain the main land, from whence it might not perhaps be difficult to travel to the strait itself, and " thus to end every doubt as well as every conjecture respecting it." Accordingly on the 14th of August he set out, on the 17th crossed the Bouverie Islands, and on the following day arrived at a peninsula, which he examined, and proceeded to its extreme northern point, which was found to overlook the narrowest Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 197 part of the desired strait, of which he gives the fol- lowing brief account : — " The strait lay immediately below us, in about an east and west direction, being two miles in width, apparently very deep, and with a tide or current of at least two knots, setting the loose ice through to the eastward. Beyond us to the west, the shores again separated to the distance of several leagues ; and for more than three points of the com- pass, in that direction, no land could be seen to the utmost limits of a clear horizon, except one island six or seven miles distant. Over this we could entertain no doubt of having discovered the Polar Sea ; and, loaded as it was with ice, we already felt as if we were on the point of forcing our way through it along the northern shores of America. " After despatching one of our party to the foot of the point for some of the sea-water, which was found extremely salt to the taste, we hailed the interesting event of the morning by three hearty cheers, and by a small extra al- lowance of grog to our people, to drink a safe and speedy passage through the channel just discovered, which I ven- tured to name by anticipation the Strait of the Fury and Hecla. Having built a pile of stones on the promontory, which from its situation with respect to the continent of America I called Cape North-East^ we walked back to our tent and luggage, these having, for the sake of greater ex- pedition, been left two miles behind ; and, after resting a few hours, set out at 3 p.m. on our .return." — p. 312. This little journey proved satisfactory as far as it went ; it gave to Parry a personal view of the strait, and satisfied him that its water was that of the sea. But as the north-east point from which he saw it forms the eastern entrance only from 198 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. the south side of the strait, and he deemed it expedient that something more of it should be known, he took measures accordingly. In the course of a week following, a light north-easterly breeze allowed the ships to be steered under all possible sail up the strait. By keeping on the south or continental shore, and passing along by Cape North-East, within two or three hundred yards of the rocks, they succeeded, with the assist- ance of the boats ahead, in getting through the narrow channel. The length of this narrowest part of the strait is said to extend about three miles in the direction of west by north : it is here two miles across, and keeps its width the whole way through this narrow part. Two considerable islands almost shut up the said part, named by Parry Orrnond and Liddon Islands; the southern point on the former of which, being directly opposite to Cape North-East, forms the northern point of the narrow entrance, to which Parry assigned the name of Cape Ossory. The ships, however, were soon stopped by apparently permanent ice clinging to the shores of the above-mentioned islands and of the continent ; "and thus," says Parry, "after a vexatious delay of six weeks at the eastern en- trance of the strait, and at a time when we had every reason to hope that Nature, though hitherto tardy in her annual disruption of the ice, had at length made an effort to complete it, did we find Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 199 our progress once more opposed by a barrier of the same continuous, impenetrable, and hopeless nature as at first." Hopeless as it was that much more could be done, as concerned the movements of the expedition, now that the month of August was just expiring, Parry very properly determined that all doubts should be satisfied, as well as that every information should be gained, as to the length of the strait, and the extent of the fixed ice therein. For this pur- pose three exploring parties were sent out in differ- ent directions ; that for deciding the point in ques- tion consisted of Mr. Bushnan with three men, under the orders of Lieutenant Reid, who was in- structed to proceed along the northern coast of the strait to the westward, to gain as much information as possible respecting the termination of the strait, and to return to the ships in four days. By his report it appears that, by an observation on the second day of his journey, the latitude he reached was 70° 00' 05" ; and that from this point he could perceive that the opposite or mainland (that is, the south shore of the strait) gradually trended to the southward, leaving a broad entrance into the western sea. He says, " the weather being clear, afforded us an extensive prospect to the westward, and we could now perceive that a bluff near the north shore, which had before appeared insular, formed in reality the northern point of the entrance, and I named it Cape Hallowell, out of respect to Vice- 200 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. Admiral Sir Benjamin Halkr.vell." To a fine bay on the Cockbnrn Island shore (the north) he gave the name of Autridge ; and, to an inlet in the same land, that of White ; and he concludes this part of his report by saying that " the opening of the strait into the Polar Sea was now so decided, that I con- sidered the principal object of my journey accom- plished." It would have been more satisfactory if Mr. Reid had been a little more circumstantial in his observation on the two western points of the strait ; that which is named Englefield on the chart, but by whose authority does not appear, is not men- tioned as a cape, gradually trending to the south- ward, and leaving a broad entrance into the Western Sea. It may hardly be necessary to observe that a point of land seen obliquely from a distance of twenty or thirty miles must be very unsatisfactorily laid down on paper. The width between the two shores opening into the sea appears to be about six or seven miles, which, compared with its length of sixty miles, can scarcely be called a " magnificent passage.5' Its capacity, however, notwithstanding the obstructing islands, may be amply sufficient to admit a passage into the Polar Sea, for ships of a moderate size ; though it is pretty certain that no ship will ever attempt it, not merely on account of the ice with which it appears to be permanently blocked up, but also of the perpetual current setting- down it, occasioning such a tumultuous swell and disturbance among the ice, as must render it still Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 201 most dangerous for ships to anchor in any part near the eastern mouth of the strait. The 24th of September having now arrived, Parry considered it no longer safe to venture the ships to remain in this sea, their situation being one of almost constant and unavoidable danger. He determined, therefore, to run over to Igloolik, in search of winter quarters, which was accom- plished, though not without imminent danger to both ships. The situation was not very favourable for passing the winter in, but by cutting a canal in the ice as usual, they were placed in security. The whole length of this canal was four thousand three hundred and forty-three feet ; the thickness of the ice in the level and regular parts from twelve to fourteen inches, but in many places where a sepa- ration had occurred it amounted to several feet. " I cannot," says Parry, "sufficiently do justice to the cheerful alacrity with which the men continued this laborious work during thirteen days, the ther- mometer being frequently at zero, and once as low as — 9° in that interval.'* Being now established in winter quarters for the second time in the present voyage, Parry's thoughts were naturally employed in considering what further steps should be pursued, and what expedient he should have recourse to, on their liberation from the ice some ten or eleven months hence. His resolute and enterprising character was not likely to be satisfied with the little progress that had been 202 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. made in the discovery of a North-West passage, which was the main object of the voyage. The mea- sure he contemplated appears to have been a bold one, and one which, situated as the ships were, could not possibly have been attended with any advantage to that object, and would to a certainty have been productive of fatal results to himself and the whole crew ; but let him speak for himself : — " Flattering as our prospects appeared at the commence- ment of the past summer, our efforts had certainly not been attended with a proportionate degree of success ; and little satisfaction remained to us at the close of the season, but the consciousness of having left no means within our reach untried, that could in any way promote our object. It re- quired indeed but a single glance at the chart to perceive that whatever the last summer's navigation had added to our geographical knowledge of the eastern coast of Ame- rica and its adjacent lands, very little had in reality been effected in furtherance of the North-west Passage. Even the actual discovery of the desired opening into the Polar Sea had been of no practical benefit in the prosecution of our enterprise ; for we had only discovered this channel to find it impassable, and to see the barriers of nature impenetrably closed against us, to the utmost limit of the navigable season. " Viewing the matter in this light, it appeared to resolve itself into the single question, by what means the resources of the expedition could possibly be extended beyond the period to which they were at present calculated to last, namely, the close of the year 1824. Only one expedient suggested itself by which that object could be attained ; and this I determined to adopt, should no unforeseen occurrence arise to prevent it.— It was to send the Hecla to England in the following season, taking from her a twelvemonth's Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 203 provisions and fuel to complete the Fury's resources to the end of the year 1825, and then continuing our efforts in that ship singly as long as a reasonable hope remained of our ultimate success. One or two collateral advantages occurred to me as likely to be derived from this plan ; the first of which was the opportunity thus afforded of trans- mitting to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty a full account of our past proceedings and present situation and intentions, whereby perhaps much needless anxiety on our account might be prevented. It would also, as I hoped, allow their Lordships the option of making any alteration which they might now deem requisite in the arrangements pointed out in my instructions respecting the ship to be sent to meet us near Behring's Strait, for which the orders might not perhaps leave England before the arrival of the Hecla there, in the autumn of 1823. These were, however, minor and less important considerations ; my principal object and determination being to persevere, to the utmost extent of our resources, in the prosecution of the enterprise with which I had the honour to be charged. Having suggested this expedient to Captain Lyon, I had much satisfaction in finding his opinion entirely coincide with my own ; and without at present mentioning it to the other individuals belonging to the expedition, we continued to consult toge- ther from time to time during the winter, concerning the arrangements it would be requisite to make for commencing the execution of our plan in the course of the following spring."— pp. 372—374. One of the first operations was to build a wall of snow twelve feet high round the Fun', and at the distance of twenty yards from her, " forming a large square, like that of a farm-yard," by which not only was the snow-drift kept out, but a good sheltered walk was afforded against every wind. 204 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. > The Fury and the Hecla were separated on account of the large hummocks of ice. " The distance between the two ships, though not such as to prevent constant intercourse, was nevertheless too great to allow of our continuing the theatrical entertain- ments, by which our former winters had been considerably enlivened. This was, however, the less requisite, and in- deed entirely unnecessary, on account of our neighbourhood to the Esquimaux, whose daily visits to the ships throughout the winter afforded both to officers and men a fund of con- stant variety and never-failing amusement, which no re- sources of our own could possibly have furnished. Our people were, however, too well aware of the advantage they derived from the schools, not to be desirous of their re- establishment, which accordingly took place soon after our arrival at Igloolik ; and they were glad to continue this as their evening occupation during the six succeeding months." —pp. 377-78. In the mention of the Esquimaux, some of whom it appears had come from Amitioke, and among whom were many of the old acquaintances of Winter Island, it might have been expected that Iligliuk would have been among the first and foremost; but, strange as it may appear, the name even of this ex- traordinary person, from whom so much valuable and correct information had been received, is only once mentioned, and then rather reproachfully, as a name in the general account of these people ; an account that extends to at least a hundred pages, descriptive of their character, manners, and customs, and detailing the various transactions that took Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 205 place during the confinement of the ships. Among the visitors from Amitioke was that distinguished youth Toolooak, the son of Iligliuk, who is repeat- edly mentioned and commended. " I counted to- day," says Parry, "on a girdle worn round the waist by Toolooak's mother, twenty-nine deer's ears, procured by this young man's own exertions — a girdle which she constantly wears as a proud trophy of her son's exploits ; and," he adds, " there are few mothers indeed who might not be proud of such a son as Toolooak, who, on longer acquaintance, quite maintained his former character, of possessing many excellent qualities both of head and heart." Poor Iligliuk ! a name appearing to be no longer remem- bered but as Toolooak's mother; but Parry no doubt meant to say that Toolooak wore the girdle, " which was worn {usually) round the waist of his mother." But enough for the present of the Esquimaux. The appearance of scurvy in some slight but un- equivocal symptoms could scarcely be a subject of wonder, considering the length of time the ships' crews had no other dependence than upon their own resources, unassisted as they had been by any supply of fresh anti-scorbutic plants or other vege- tables, a case unparalleled in the annals of naviga- tion. The month of August had commenced when, as Parry observes, " incredible as it may appear, the ships were as securely confined in the ice as in the middle of winter, except that a pool of water about 206 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. twice their own length in diameter was now open around them. I determined therefore," he adds, " notwithstanding the apparent hopelessness of saw- ing our way through four or five miles of ice, to begin that laborious process." By the 6th of August about four hundred yards of ice were sawn through and floated out, leaving now a broad canal eleven hundred }Tards in length. Through this, and by the disruption of the floe, the Fury w7as liberated and floated into open water on the 8th of August ; and on the 12th w7as followed by the Heel a. Parry, now that the ships were once more afloat, began to reflect on what he had proposed to do on the return of summer. " When the lateness of the season to which the ships had now been detained in the ice is considered, with reference to the probability of the Fury's effecting anything of import- ance during the short remainder of the present summer, it will not be wondered at that, coupling this consideration with that of the health of my officers and men, I began to entertain doubts whether it would still be prudent to adopt the intended measure of remaining out in the Fury as a single ship ; whether, in short, under existing circumstances, the probable evil did not far outweigh the possible good. In order to assist my own judgment on this occasion, upon one of the most material points, I requested the medical officers of the Fury to furnish me with their opinions as to the probable effect that a third winter passed in these regions would produce on the health of the officers, seamen, and marines of that ship, taking into consideration every circumstance connected with our situation." — p. 470. Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 207 The reply of Mr. Edwards the surgeon was, as might be expected, decisive. Under any circum- stances, he stated that an increase of general de- bility, with a corresponding degree of sickness, might be expected ; but considering the matter as in a single ship, it assumes a much more important shape. In that view the increase of labour and ex- posure, from the separation of the vessels, the pri- vation of many salutary occupations, mental and corporeal, attending their union; and, at this late period of the season, the hopelessness of the success of the ensuing navigation being such as to excite feelings sufficiently lively to counteract those de- pressing causes. The substance of the answer being sent to Commander Lyon, after noticing the great change he had observed in the constitution of the officers and men of the Hecla, from the continuance of one particular diet, almost total deprivation of fresh animal and vegetable food for above two years, and the necessary and close confinement for several months of each severe winter, " I conceive," he says, " that a continued exposure to the same deprivations and confinements, the solitude of a single ship, and the painful nionotony of a third winter to men whose health is precarious, would in all probability be attended with very serious conse- quences." But he goes further, and notices the inutility of the measure. From the circumstance of being de- 208 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. tained in the ice until the present time, the 10th of August, "I am of opinion," he says, "that the season in which it is possible to navigate has now so far passed that nothing material can be effected either by one or both ships. We know from the experience of last year that it is not before the end of August, or the beginning of September, that the ice breaks up in the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, and that it is not until that period that you will be enabled to re-examine its western entrance." And he wisely concludes by advising that the Fury and Hecla return to England together, which Parry as wisely accepts. " Under such circumstances," he says, " I no longer considered it prudent or jus- tifiable, upon the slender chance of eventual success now before us, to risk the safety of the officers and men committed to my charge, and whom it was now my first wish to re-conduct in good health to their country and their friends." Having come to this decision, and having extri- cated the ships from their confinement, on the 12th of August they stood out to the eastward, and finally took their departure from Igloolik. The current rapidly hurried them to the southward, their drift being twenty-one miles in twenty-four hours, though closely beset, and without a single pool of water in sight the whole time. At one place the ships were whirled round a headland at the rate of two or three knots an hour. After Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PAKRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 209 passing the Barrow River, they were drifted out nine or ten miles from the land, the influence of this river having probably thus set them out. On the 30th they were close to Winter Island. " Thus had we," says Parry, " in a most singular manner once more arrived at our old winter-quarters, with scarcely a single successful exertion on our parts towards effecting that object. The distance from Ooglit to our present station was about one hundred and sixty miles along the coast. Of this we had never sailed above forty, the rest of the distance having been accomplished, while we were immoveably beset, by mere drifting. The interval thus employed having been barely eight days, gives an average drift to the southward of above fifteen miles per day." — p. 478. Being set fast in the ice in proceeding to the southward, a strong westerly breeze on the 17th of September allowed them to shape their course for the Trinity Islands in a perfectly open sea. From hence they ran down Hudson's Strait without meeting with any obstruction, and on the 10th of October entered the harbour of Bressay Sound in Lerwick, where they enjoyed the " first trace of civilized man that they had seen for seven and twenty months." The kindness which they re- ceived from these poor but hospitable people is thus feelingly described : — " I feel it utterly impossible adequately to express the kindness and attention we received for the three or four days that we were detained in Bressay Sound by a conti- nuance of unfavourable winds. On the first information of 210 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. our arrival the bells of Lerwick were set ringing, the inha- bitants flocked from every part of the country to express their joy at our unexpected return, and the town was at night illuminated, as if each individual had a brother or a son among us. On the 12th, being Sunday, the officers and men of both ships attended divine service on shore, when the worthy minister, the Reverend Mr. Menzies, who was before well known to many among us, offered up in the most solemn and impressive manner a thanksgiving for our safe return ; at the same time calling upon us, with great earnestness, never to forget what we owed to Him who had been ' about our path, and about our bed, and who spieth out all our ways.' The peculiarity of the circumstances under which we had joined the congregation, the warmth of feeling exhibited by every person assembled within the sacred walls, together with the affectionate energy of the preacher, combined to produce an effect of which words can convey but little idea, but which will not easily be effaced from the minds of those who were present on this affecting occasion." — p. 486. On the 18th Captain Parry arrived at the Ad- miralty, and the ships were paid off on the 16th of November. On looking back at the horrible navigation, from the entrance of Hudson's Strait to Winter Island, through Middleton's Frozen Strait, along the coast of the land which separates Prince Regent's Inlet from Fox's Channel, and the same villainous kind of navigation along the same coast from Winter Island to Igloolik, near the mouth of the Fury and Hecla Strait, there does not appear to be the slightest encouragement ever to send another ship Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 211 to that quarter, even had the navigation of that strait been always open, safe, and convenient ; for in that case it could not afford any advantage. It opens into a strait among islands of the Polar Sea, called Prince Regent's Inlet, of the lower part of which nothing was at this time known beyond Iligliuk's information (correct in all other parts), that it terminates at Akkolee, nearly opposite to Repulse Bay. But had it extended to the coast of America, the islands in that corner are so clustered and crowded together as to admit of no probability of a navigable passage there for large ships to the westward ; and no man in his senses would take that line of route to get into Lancaster Sound, when he could go there direct in half the time, and without any of the danger which Fox's Channel and the Fury and Hecla Strait would occasion. Towards the conclusion of his narrative, Captain Parry repeats his opinion of the advantages of cow - tinuous land in the navigation of the Polar Seas ; and that the principle of coasting the northern shore of America must still be carefully kept in view ; and he adds, " there is no known opening which seems to present itself so favourably for this purpose as Prince Regent's Inlet." This opinion, thus pub- licly given, is obviously an indication of the ex- pedition which succeeded this, and which may possibly have made some change in Captain Parry's sentiments on this head. Ample proof has since p2 212 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. been given by the reports of Franklin, Richardson, Back, and subsequently by Simpson, that the coast of North America, which is the southern shore of the Polar Sea, is navigable throughout but by canoes or boats only, and that large ships could not attempt it unless at a very considerable distance from the shore on the sea, and outside the nu- merous chains of small islands that, on the eastern portion in particular, run parallel to the coast. CHAPTER VII. CAPTAIN GEOKGE F. LYON. 1824. Narrative of a Voyage to Wager River, or Repulse Bay, in his Majesty's ship Griper, and thence to the Polar Coast of North America over land. The Griper was commanded, officered, and manned as under : — George F. Lyon, Captain. Peter Manico, j Lieutenants. Francis Harding, J Mr. Kendal, Assistant-Surveyor. Thomas Evans, Purser. John Tom, Midshipman. William Leyson, Assistant-Surgeon. 7 Officers. 1 Gunner. 7 Petty Officers. 1 Corporal of Marines. 25 Able Seamen. 41 Total on board. This incomplete voyage has only an indirect relation to the discovery of a north-west passage ; its sole object having been to complete the land sur- vey of the eastern portion of the north coast of North America, from the western shore of Melville Peninsula, as far as to Cape Turn-again, where Captain Franklin's late journey terminated. Being therefore connected with Arctic discovery, and 214 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. under the orders of an officer who commanded the second ship in Parry's second voyage, and being directed to proceed to the same portion of the Arc- tic Seas where he had already been with Parry, it is deemed right and proper to give to this expe- dition a place in the present narrative ; and the more so, as it furnishes a beautiful and striking example of that obedience to orders, that calm and uncomplaining submission, accompanied with pious resignation to the Divine will in the hour of ex- treme danger, and when the awful moment of death is approaching — which, all so conspicuous in the character of British seamen, are exemplified in this voyage. In order to effect the object in view, it was de- cided, as being the readiest and most simple mode of proceeding, to send a small vessel to Wager River, or Repulse Bay, under the orders of an in- telligent officer, who, with a small party, should be instructed to cross the Melville Peninsula from one or other of the above-mentioned places, and traverse, by land, the western shore of that penin- sula, and the northern shore of North America, to Point Turnagain. Captain Lyon having been promoted for his services, was selected by Lord Bathurst for this duty ; and the Lords Commis- sioners of the Admiralty having appointed the Griper, a gun-brig of 180 tons, to receive him, gave him directions to leave the ship, during Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 215 his land journey, id charge of the senior lieu- tenant. Lieutenant Francis Harding, after paying off the Griper, served three years as lieutenant of the Espoir, then in the Hecla, and was made Com- mander in 1830 ; he served in that rank in several ships till the year 1839, and was promoted to the rank of Captain in the general promotion of 1841. Lieutenant Peter Manico was made in 1814, served in the present voyage, and is still on the list of lieutenants. John Tom was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1826, where he still remains. The Griper was considered a very useful vessel of her class ; her strength was proved between the ice and the shore of Melville Island, and Captain Clavering had but arrived in England in her, at the end of the preceding year, from a voyage to Spitzbergen and Greenland. She was now, for her present voyage, examined and well strength- ened ; but on being stored, and amply provisioned, was found to be too deeply laden to cross the Atlantic alone, and therefore His Majesty's survey- ing vessel the Snap, commanded by Lieutenant Bullock, was ordered to receive a portion of them, and to accompany the Griper until she reached the ice, or arrived off Cape Chidley. They sailed from Yarmouth Roads on the 19th June, and arrived at Stromness on the 30th. " On the 3rd July," Captain Lyon says, " we hoisted in 216 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. two very powerful little ponies, procured at Kirk- wall, the only two on the island, and which had been sent from Shetland to an Orkney laird ; one was forty inches, the other thirty-eight in height." They also received a fat cow, and eight sheep, for the crew. The poor cow, it seems, refused to eat, and was therefore killed for present use ; but the ponies proved better sailors, walked about the ship as familiarly as large dogs, and improved in their appearance daily. On examining the bags of pemmican, to their great mortification it was found that the fat had melted, and that the water- proof caoutchouc was oozing in a clammy state through the canvas. The worst of all was that the sluggish Griper required to be towed by the Snap, till a strong breeze and a heavy swell for two days' continuance obliged the former to cast off; when she shipped so many tremendous seas that it became necessary to bring her to under storm- staysails, which was the more mortifying on observing her companion to be perfectly dry. In short, throughout the whole pas- sage across the Atlantic the Griper was obliged to be towed by the Snap every second or third day, with- out which she could not have made any progress. On the 3rd of August, however, the two ships made the ice, consisting of bergs among the floes ; when, according to the Instructions, they began to remove the stores and provisions out of the Snap, by which the decks of the Griper were com- Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 217 pletely crowded. Lyon says the gangways, fore- castle, and abaft the mizen-mast, were filled with casks, hawsers, whale-lines, and stream-cables ; the lower deck crowded with casks and other stores; not a place left vacant except the mess-tables of the men. Thus lumbered and brought down deep, her sailing qualities, bad enough before, were now expected to be much worse. It was found also by observation that for two days they had been ex- posed to the united force of the strong currents from Davis's and Hudson's Straits, towards the latter of which they were approaching. On the 4th of August the Snap parted company, to proceed in the further execution of her services. On the 6th the Griper had approached Resolu- tion Island, the sea covered with loose heavy ice, but the day described as lovely, and the sky bril- liant ; yet the brilliancy and loveliness which sur- rounded Captain Lyon were not sufficient to pre- vent him from " yielding to a sensation of loneli- liness he had never experienced on the former voyage." " I felt most forcibly/' he says, " the want of an accompanying ship, if not to help us, at least to break the death-like stillness of the scene." No wonder at this feeling, when all the circumstances of his position are considered. It must indeed be owned that there was a more than usual want of prudence in sending such a small and sluggish ship alone, through a naviga- 218 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. tion which had been proved and condemned as one of the most difficult and dangerous of the many difficult ones that occur in this part of the Arctic Seas. The old voyagers, it is true, proceeded in ships much inferior in size and strength to the Griper ; yet they rarely navigated those seas alone, and not unfrequently with three or four in com- pany. Captain Lyon says, however, that he was amply compensated for want of a more extensive society, " by having the happiness of knowing that I had officers and men with whom I was confident of continuing on the most friendly terms." Two days after this the ship struck on a rock ; and the heavy and continued shocks heeled her so much that the Commander " imagined she was turning over." She might have gone down, in which case Lyon's "ample compensation' would have been of little use in this uninhabited and desolate part of the globe. The constant shipping of seas and the continued wet weather had rendered everything within the ship " very damp." The two ponies, therefore, with the ducks, geese, and fowls, were handed out upon the ice, where, the Captain says, " they pre- sented a most novel appearance." To enliven the scene, about sixty Esquimaux, men and women, in kayaks and oomiaks, visited the strangers, made a loud screaming noise, and brought with them some trifling articles of barter, chiefly weapons and skin Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 219 clothes : and our Captain says, " I blush while I relate it, two of the fair sex actually disposed of their nether garments — a piece of indecorum I had^ never before witnessed." There was no need, how- ever, of blushing, for in the same neighbourhood Parry was offered the same thing ; but his blushes were spared on finding that the lady wore a double set. Lyon must have been present when Parry's blushes were spared. Notwithstanding the Gripers dull sailing they contrived to get her past Charles's Island, Digges's Island, and Cape Wolstenholm, by the 20th of August; and two days after saw the high land of Southampton Island. Off Cape Pembroke their compasses were found to be quite useless with the ship's head to the southward, and so powerless that the north point stood wherever it was placed by the finger ; but with the ship's head to the northward they all traversed again. This has been always a constant complaint within the Arctic Circle, and particularly near to and between the two northern magnetic poles. It is a subject of such great im- portance, and has excited so much interest, and for the last five years has been so extensively inquired into experimentally, that there is every reason to hope the principles of terrestrial magnetism will receive a satisfactory elucidation, assisted by the observations conducted under the direction of Captain Sir James Ross in the southern antarctic 220 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. seas, and also by those which Sir John Franklin has been instructed to make on his present voyage. Captain Lyon suggests whether this wildness in the compasses may be caused by the absence of the sun, or the presence of the aurora. Mr. Kendall, he says, observed that, during the prevalence of a brilliant aurora, the larboard binnacle compass would remain stationary at no particular point ; while the starboard one, by a bearing of the pole star, had lessened its usual error two points. As Captain Lyon was taking his walks on shore, he fell in with a little incident which gave expres- sion to a sentiment of that kindly feeling he was known to possess, and which his own words will best convey. He was crossing an Esquimaux burial place : — " Near the large grave was a third pile of stones, covering the body of a child, which was coiled up in the same man- ner [as the other]. A snow-bunting had found its way through the loose stones which composed this little tomb, and its now forsaken, neatly-built nest was found placed on the neck of the child. As the snow-bunting has all the domestic virtues of our English red-breast, it has always been considered by us as the robin of these dreary wilds ; and its lively chirp and fearless confidence have rendered it respected by the most hungry sportsman. I could not, on this occasion, view its little nest, placed on the breast of infancy, without wishing that I possessed the power of poetically expressing the feelings it excited." * — p. 68-9. * On reading this passage to an accomplished lady, she said she felt a desire to try what she could do with so in- Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 221 The farther they proceeded to the northward up the Welcome, the more sluggish and irregular the compasses got; and Lyon quotes a passage out of Ellis, in his account of Dobbs's expedition in the year 1746, to show that they were the same at that time. A thick fog and a heavy sea, and no land to be seen nor any trust to be placed in the compasses, and withal the water shallowing; the ship not able to face the sea or keep steerage way on her, Captain Lyon says, " I most reluctantly brought her up with three bowers and a stream anchor in succession ; but not before we had shoaled to five and a half fathoms, the ship pitching bows under, and a tremendous sea running." In this teresting a subject in the way wished for by Capt. Lyon, and produced the following lines : — ■ TO THE SNOW-BUNTING. . Sweet bird ! the breast of innocence Hath fadeless charms for thee ; Although the spirit long has fled, And lifeless clay it be ; Thou dreadest not to dwell with death, Secure from harm or ill, For on an infant's heart thy nest Is wrought with fearless skill. And, like our own familiar bird That seeks the human friend, Thou cheer'st the wandering seaman's thoughts With home, his aim and end. Georgiana. 222 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. perilous condition, ignorant in what direction and how distant the land might be, and under the dread, moreover, that the falling tide (from twelve to fifteen feet) would most probably occasion the total destruction of the ship — in order to provide for such an unfortunate event the long boat was prepared to be hoisted out with the four small ones, and ordered to be stored with arms, ammunition, and provisions ; the officers drew lots for their respective boats, and the ship's company were stationed to them. " Every officer and man," says the Captain, " drew his lot with the greatest composure, although two of the boats would have been swamped the instant they were lowered." In the mean time the heavy seas continued to sweep over the crowded decks. On the weather clearing a little a low beach was dis- covered, all round astern of the ship, on which the surf was running to an awful height ; and " it ap- peared but too evident that no human power could save us if driven upon it." At this moment the ship, beins: lifted bv a tremendous sea, struck with great violence the whole length of her keel. This was naturally conceived to be the forerunner of her total wreck. The decks were continually and deeply flooded : for twenty-four hours, it is stated, most of the men had not quitted these decks, and the Captain had not been in bed for three nights. In such a hopeless case Captain Lyon did that which a right-minded British naval officer never Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 223 fails to do on the apparent approach of the last extremity. But it is due to him and his brave seamen to describe their situation and conduct on this trying occasion in his own words. " Although few or none of us had any idea that we should survive the gale, we did not think that our comforts should he entirely neglected ; and an order was therefore given to the men, to put on their best and warmest clothing, to enable them to support life as long as possible. Every man therefore brought his bag on deck, and dressed himself; and in the fine athletic forms, which stood exposed before me, I did not see one muscle quiver, nor the slightest sign of alarm. The officers each secured some useful instru- ment about them, for the purposes of observation, although it was acknowledged by all, that not the slightest hope remained. And now that everything in our power had been done, I called all hands aft, and to a merciful God offered prayers for our preservation. I thanked every one for their excellent conduct, and cautioned them, as we should, in all probability, soon appear before our Maker, to enter his presence as men resigned to their fate. We then all sat down in groups, and, sheltered from the wash of the sea by whatever we could find, many of us endea- voured to obtain a little sleep. Never perhaps was wit- nessed a finer scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all hope of life had left us. Noble as the character of the British sailor is always allowed to be, in cases of danger, yet I did not believe it to be possible, that among forty-one persons, not one repining word should have been uttered. The officers sat about wherever they could find shelter from the sea, and the men lay down conversing with each other with the most perfect calmness. Each was at peace with his neighbour and all the world ; and I am firmly 224 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. persuaded that the resignation which was then shown to the will of the Almighty was the means of obtaining His mercy. God was merciful to us ; and the tide, almost miraculously, fell no lower."— pp. 79, 80. They were saved ; and the place of their extreme danger was, as speedily as possible, ascertained b}r observation to be in lat. 63° 35' 48", long. 86° 32' 0", and it was very properly named the Bay of God's Mercy. On the fog clearing away it was found to be immediately in the centre of the Welcome. They now discovered that their fresh water, on the 4th of September, was so greatly reduced, that in their present condition and the situation of the ship, none could be afforded for the poor little ponies, which had survived the storm ; they were therefore obliged to be sacrificed ; their hay besides had been all thrown overboard in the storm. On the 12th of September, when they had arrived opposite the mouth of the Wager River, and between it and Southampton Island, a gale of wind arose, and with it also the sea ; the dull Griper now made no progress, but " remained actually pitching fore- castle under, with scarcely steerage way." One alternative alone remained, and that was to bring the ship up. " We found that the anchors held, although the ship was dipping bowsprit and fore- castle under, and taking green seas over all. Thick falling sleet covered the decks to some inches in depth, and withal the spray froze as it fell." To Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 225 add to their anxiety, two or three streams of ice, with deep solid pieces among them, were seen in the evening to be driving down upon the ship. The night was piercingly cold, the sea washed the decks fore and aft, constant snow fell, the lower deck was afloat, the men's hammocks thoroughly soaked, and the poor fellows could get no rest. " Never shall I forget the dreariness of this most anxious night. Our ship pitched at such a rate that it was not possible to stand even below ; while on deck we were unable to move without holding by ropes, which were stretched from side to side. The drift-snow flew in such sharp heavy flakes that we could not look to windward, and it froze on deck to above a foot in depth. The sea made incessant breaches quite fore and aft the ship ; and the temporary warmth it gave while it washed over us was most painfully checked by its almost immediately freezing on our clothes. To these dis- comforts were added the horrible uncertainty as to whether the cables would hold until daylight, and the conviction also that if they failed us we should instantly be dashed to pieces ; the wind blowing directly to the oxuarter in which we knew the shore must lie. Again, should they continue to hold us, we feared, by the ship's complaining so much forward, that the bitts would be torn up, or that she would settle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of the tre- mendous seas which burst over." — pp. 100, 101. The hurricane continuing, it can better be ima- gined than told what kind of night they were doomed to pass. " I never beheld," says Captain Lyon, " a darker night." At dawn on the 13th the best bower-anchor parted, and the gale blew with such terrific violence as to leave little reason Q 226 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. to expect that the other anchors would hold long. In short, the prospect was now most perilous and pitiable. " At 6 a.m. all further doubts on this particular point were at an end ; for, having received two overwhelming seas, both the other cables went at the same moment, and we were left helpless, without anchors or any means of saving ourselves, should the shore, as we had every reason to expect, be close astern. And here again I had the happiness of witnessing the same general tranquillity as was shown on the 1st of September. There was no outcry that the cables were gone ; but my friend Mr. Manico, with Mr. Carr, the gunner, came aft as soon as they recovered their legs ; and, in the lowest whisper, informed me that the cables had all parted. The ship in trending to the wind lay quite down on her broadside ; and as it then became evident that nothing held her, and that she was quite helpless, each man instinctively took his station, while the seamen at the leads, having secured themselves as well as was in their power, re- peated their soundings, on which our preservation depended, with as much composure as if we had been entering a friendly port. Here again that Almighty power which had before so mercifully preserved us, granted us his protection." —pp. 102, 103. They were still, however, in a very melancholy condition, expecting every moment to strike, and not having the least idea where they had anchored and where they now were; every rope was encrusted with a thick coating of ice, the decks so deeply covered with frozen snow and freezing sea water as to make it scarcely possible to stand ; and all hands being wet and half frozen, without having had any Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 227 refreshment for so many hours, " our situation," says the Captain, " was rendered miserable in the extreme." " In the afternoon, having well weighed in my mind all the circumstances of our distressed situation, I turned the hands up, and informed them that, having now lost all our bower-anchors and chains, and being in consequence unable to bring up in any part of the Welcome ; being exposed to the sets of a tremendous tideway and constant heavy gales, one of which was now rapidly sweeping us back to the south- ward, and being yet above eighty miles from Repulse Bay, with the shores leading to which we were unacquainted ; our compass useless, and it being impossible to continue under sail with any degree of safety in these dark twelve-hour nights, with the too often experienced certainty that the ship could not beat off a lee-shore, even in moderate weather, I had determined, in making southing, to clear the narrows of the Welcome, after which I should decide on some plan for our future operations." — p. 105. Their situation indeed was a hopeless one; with- out anchors, and with a crippled ship, compasses which instead of guiding only misled them, what plan could be devised to pursue ? To approach the shore was the next step to the destruction of the ship, and in that event to land in a snow-covered, frozen, and desolate country, producing nothing of food for man, and destitute of human beings, would be equally and inevitably destruction to every living creature that might have escaped from the ship. Two alternatives therefore only were left — either to endeavour to let the ship float with the southerly q2 228 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. current, with what sail she could carry, to Hudson's Bay, or to continue a direct course for England. In consulting his officers what they considered best to be done, they individually answered that, de- prived as the ship was of anchors and much of her stores, with the little reliance to be placed on the compasses, they thought the best to be done would be to return to England without further delay : a course was shaped accordingly. The voyage along this eastern coast of North America has been tried many times, and always found more or less disastrous. It is a route utterly void of interest in the best of ships, in the best of weather, and in the best part of the season. Parry, with his two well-equipped ships, was teased and hampered with the floating ice, the fogs, and the currents, which the state of his compasses also made still more embarrassing. But of this harassing navigation, in the present instance, nothing more need be said, as nothing further occurred on the return passage that requires any notice, unless it be the intercourse they had in the lower part of the Welcome with a party of Esquimaux, whose cha- racter, so different from that generally of this mild and quiet race, is no doubt truly explained. " I could not but compare the boisterous, noisy, fat fellows who were alongside, in excellent canoes, with well- furnished iron-headed weapons, and handsome clothing, with the poor people we had seen at Southampton Island ; Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 229 the latter with their spear-heads, arrows, and even knives of chipped flint, without canoes, wood, or iron, and with their tents and clothes full of holes, yet of mild manners, quiet in speech, and as grateful for kindness as they were anxious to return it ; while those now alongside had, perhaps, scarcely a virtue left, owing to the roguery they had learnt from their annual visits to the Hudson's Bay ships. An air of saucy independence, a most clamorous demand for pre- sents, and several attempts at theft, some of which were successful, were their leading characteristics. Yet I saw not why I should constitute myself the censor of these poor savages ; and our barter was accordingly conducted in such a manner as to enrich them very considerably." — pp. 128, 129. Notwithstanding the indifferent character here given to this tribe, Captain Lyon allows them credit for considerable ingenuity. " Nothing new," he says, " was seen at this visit, if I except a most ingenious piece of carving, from the grinder of a walrus : this was a very spirited little figure of a dog lying down and gnawing a bone ; and although not much above an inch in length, the animal's general expression was admirable."* He adds that they procured a few little ivory bears well executed. * The spirited original of this little figure was presented by Captain Lyon to the writer of this narrative, and is truly an ingenious piece of carving, though the wood engraving is far from doing it justice. 230 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. The passage to England produced nothing re- markable ; the Griper arrived at Portsmouth on the 10th November, her crew much exhausted by the severity of the weather and wash of the sea over the ship; and three were sent to the hospital. Captain Lyon thus concludes his narrative ; — " Thus ends the Journal of our unsuccessful expedition. Before I take leave of my readers, I hope I may be allowed to make a few observations respecting my shipmates, sea- men as well as officers, whose conduct on all occasions was such as to entitle them to the warmest praise I can bestow. I may with truth assert that there never was a happier little community than that assembled on board the Griper. Each succeeding day, and each escape from difficulties, seemed to bind us more strongly together ; and I am proud to say, that during the whole of our voyage, neither punish- ment, complaint, nor even a dispute of any kind, occurred amongst us." — p. 144. The narrative of this unsuccessful voyage displays a fine example of manly resolution under the most distressing difficulties, and of pious resignation to the Divine will, on the part of both officers and men, at a time when a fatal crisis appeared to be inevitable. It is one of the many cases in which the devoutly religious character of our British sea- men is eminently conspicuous, and which never fails to guard them against despondency, though surrounded with dangers and difficulties such as, to men unaccustomed to them, would be apt to create despair. Whether in the present instance the critical eye of a thorough-bred seaman might or might not Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 231 discover something approaching to indiscretion in conducting the navigation of the ship during a dense fog, with compasses inactive, or acting only to deceive, unknowing in what direction the land lay; whether it was judicious to let go all the an- chors at once — these are points that are to be decided only by nautical men and by a direct knowledge of all the circumstances existing at the time. That which is here to be observed upon, especially by a landsman, is the cool, the unflinching, the obedient demeanour of the men, and the steady undisturbed conduct of the officers — these are the subjects under consideration, and which are deserving of the highest degree of admiration and praise. The drawing of lots for the choice of boats, " two of which must inevitably have swamped the moment they were let down into the sea," and the cool and orderly manner in which every man brought up his bag and dressed himself in his best clothes, to take leave of this world, are traits peculiar in the character of British seamen not to be found in any other class of men, and are worthy of all admiration. The ship is commended by the Captain for her strength, but condemned for her sluggish and bad sailing qualities. She appears, indeed, to have been utterly unfit to contend with this worst of all possible navigations, though she had on more than one occasion to contend with the icy seas of the Arctic regions, both in the Polar and the Spitz- 232 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. bergen seas. But however fit a ship may be to encounter those seas, it certainly is not fitting, when employed on peculiar service, that any ship should be sent into them alone. The smallness of her size is no objection. Our old navigators were content with barks of ten, fifteen, up to fifty tons' burden ; but then, as before stated, they were rarely if ever sent alone; two or three, and frequently more, formed their expeditions of discovery, and the reason is ob- vious : a single ship wrecked in those seas, whose coasts are uninhabited by human beings, must entail certain destruction on the life of every creature on board. There yet remains to be told, in the course of this narrative, another instance of the miraculous escape of a single ship, sent nearly into the same quarter, and for a similar purpose — an oversight which, it is to be earnestly hoped, may never again be repeated. The people of England know the value of their seamen, and never grudge the expense which is fairly and honestly bestowed on her navy, the soul of which is her seamen, whose lives, were it only out of mere policy, ought not heedlessly, or from a mistaken frugality, to be endangered. CHAPTER VIII. -PARKY'S THIRD VOYAGE, 1824, 1825, For the Discovery of a North- West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in H. M. Ships Hecla and Fury. The two ships appointed for this service were the same as on the former voyage, but Parry now took command of the Hecla, and Hoppner of the Fury. They were commanded, officered, and manned as under. The Hecla. William Edward Parry, Captain and Commander. J. Land Wynn, ^ Joseph Sherer, > Lieutenants. Henry Foster, J Samuel Neill, M.D., Surgeon. W. H. Hooper, Purser. William Rowland, Assist.-Surg. John Brunton, F. R. M. Crozier, Charles Richards, Hor. Nelson Head, (•Midshipmen. 11 Officers. James Harrison, Clerk. J. Brothers, Gunner. William Smith, Boatswain. George Fiddis, Carpenter. John Allison, Greenland Master. Geo. Champion, Greenland Mate. 6 Warrant Officers. 45 Seamen and Marines. 62 Total on hoard. Fury. H. P. Hoppner, Commander. Hor. Thos. Austin, ) Lieutenants. James Clark Ross, j A. M'Laren, Surgeon. James Hulse, Purser. Thomas Bell, Assistant-Surgeon. Berkley Westropp, Chas. Crump Waller, > Edward Bird, J wSUM!-- men. 9 Officers. William Mogg, Clerk. James Moore, Gunner. William Wentworth, Boatswain. Charles Purfer, Carpenter. George Crawford, Greenland " Master. Thomas Donaldson, Greenland Mate. 6 Warrant Officers. 45 Seamen and Marines. 60 Total on board. 234 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. Any thing approaching the shape of an apology from Captain Parry himself will be deemed, as it ought to be, superfluous ; nor will it be thought necessary that, on the introduction of his narrative, he should be called upon for any explanation. He says, — " I have considered it expedient to avoid all minute and technical description of our first season's operations, which, whatever vexation they may have cost ourselves, would pro- bably have afforded little interest or amusement to the public. In the circumstances attending our second season's navigation, and particularly those relating to the loss of the Fury, I have deemed it right to enter more into detail ; considering, on the one hand, that the loss of one of His Majesty's ships is an event too serious to be lightly disposed of; and on the other, that I could thus alone do justice to the unwearied zeal and exertions of Captain [Commander] Hoppner, our officers and men, on that occasion." — Intro- duction, p. xiii. Commander H. P. Hoppner served as Lieu- tenant with Parry in the Alexander, and also as Lieutenant in Parry's two preceding voyages, in all of which he was considered an able, active, and zealous officer. He had therefore worked his way to the rank of Commander. " To Commander Hoppner, who," says Parry, " has been my con- stant companion from the very commencement of these enterprises, I feel every possible obligation for his steady and persevering zeal in this service, and for his advice and assistance on every occasion." Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 235 Lieutenant Foster is highly spoken of hy Captain Parry " for the various and multiplied branches of useful science to which his attention was at all times directed ;" and he adds, " our observa- tions upon atmospheric refractions in high latitudes, and on the diurnal variation, and change of inten- sity of the magnetic needle, together with Lieu- tenant Foster's experiments with an invariable pendulum, have been communicated to and read before the Royal Society. He was also first Lieu- tenant of the Hecla, which carried Parry to Spitz- bergen on his attempt to reach the Pole. He ac- companied Clavering and Sabine in the Griper to Spitzbergen and Greenland in 1823, and proved a most useful and intelligent assistant in the pen- dulum observations. His last service was that of co-operating with Mr. Lloyd in levelling across the isthmus of Panama, when he was unfortunately drowned in the river Chagres. By his death, the service was deprived of one of its most useful, able, and scientific navigators ; and his loss was felt and deeply lamented by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. His character, in fact, was esta- blished as among the first scientific officers of his time. Lieutenant James Clark Ross. — Too much cannot be said in praise of this young officer, who worked himself, entirely by his own exertions, to the rank of Lieutenant ; and by his own self- taught acquirements, which extended to every de- 236 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. partment of science, he arrived at the highest step in the service (short of the flag) : but more of him hereafter. Lieutenant Horatio T. Austin, after distinguish- ing himself as an able officer, and having much good and active service, received his promotion as Captain in 1838, and is now Captain of the William and Mary yacht. Lieutenant Joseph Sherer by his good service raised himself to the rank of Captain in 1841, and received the honour of K.H. " The public," Parry says, " are very highly indebted to Dr. Samuel Neill, who, in addition to his professional duties, entirely superintended the public collection of specimens of natural his- tory, and has furnished a variety of important geological notices ;" and he refers to the Zoological Appendix by Lieutenant Ross as " furnishing ample evidence of the attention paid by that gentleman (Neill) to this department of science, in addition to the immediate duties of his station." F. R.-M. Crozier, midshipman, a most zealous young officer, who, by his talents, attention, and energy, has succeeded in working himself up to the top of the service. He was Lieutenant of the Hecla in Parry's Polar voyage, and volunteered with Captain James Ross to go in the midst of winter into the Arctic Seas, for the relief of the missing whale ships ; was made Captain in 1841, and com- manded the second ship in Captain James Ross's Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 237 Antarctic expedition, and is now second in com- mand with Captain Sir John Franklin. John Brunton, the colleague of Crozier in this voyage, arrived at no higher step than that of Lieutenant, and is now serving as such in the Coast Guard. C. Richards and Horatio Nelson Head, mid- shipmen, do not appear on the list of naval officers. Berkley Westropp, midshipman, was made a Lieutenant in 1825, and still continues so, having left the navy for a civil employment in the Humane Society. Edward Bird appears on the list as a Captain of 1843, but he is not to be found among the Arctic voyagers. Alan M'Laren was appointed surgeon of a ship of the line. William Harvey Hooper, purser, was the friend and associate of Captain Parry, and served with him in the Alexander in Ross's voyage, and in all the three of Parry, a most faithful and trust- worthy officer; and was rewarded for his services bv a civil appointment in Greenwich Hospital, where he died ; and his widow is- now matron of the Greenwich Schools. The ships sailed from the Nore on the 19th May, 1824 ; the William Harris, transport, accompanying them. Their instructions were to make the best of their way to Davis's Strait and cross over to Lan- 238 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. caster Sound, and, proceeding through Barrow's Strait, endeavour to make, through Prince Regent's Inlet, a passage into the sea which bounds the con- tinent (of America), on its northern coast, and thence westward to the Pacific. The reason assigned for this route in the Instructions, is, — " The strong opinion which you have conveyed to us in favour of the attempt through Prince Regent's Inlet, the con- fident hope which you express that the ice, which at the period of the year when you visited the Inlet obstructed your passage, was likely to be removed by circumstances of season and weather, within the navigable part of the year ;" and, it is added, " the confidence which we are justified in placing in your judgment and experience, determine us to authorize and direct you to pursue the course which you consider the most promising, namely, through Prince Regent's Inlet." On the 18th June, having reached the lat. of 60-f °, they saw the first iceberg, and from that time fell in with those bodies of ice almost daily. At a Danish settlement in Davis's Strait, called Lievely, they found Lieutenant Graat, who had been em- ployed on a survey of the Greenland coast, and received much civility from him and other gentle- men belonging to the settlement. As soon as the stores and provisions were transhipped the William Harris was released and ordered to return home. On leaving the harbour the Hecla struck on a Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 239 sunken rock. On the 17th July the ice began to close round the ships. " From this time," Parry says, " the obstructions from the quantity, magni- tude, and closeness of the ice were such as to keep our people almost constantly employed in heaving, warping, or sawing through it; and yet with so little success that, at the close of July, we had only penetrated seventy miles to the westward." Here, on the 1st August, being closely beset, a gale of wind pressing the ice together, and overlaying mass upon mass, " The Hecla received several very awk- ward ' nips,' and was once fairly laid on her broad- side by a strain which must inevitably have crushed a vessel of ordinary strength." The 9th September had arrived " before we succeeded in releasing our- selves from the more than ordinary barrier of ice in the middle of Baffin's Bay." They had continued their efforts to push to the northward, but it was not till the 29th of August that they reached the latitude 73° 15', longitude 63° 40', in which situation, from the experience of 1819, they had reason to expect there would scarcely have been any ice at this season. The obstructions, however, continued till the 8th of September, then in latitude 74° 7r and longitude 69° 54', being about 110 miles to the N.N.W. of the situation in which they cleared the " pack ' in the year 1819. Forty miles from hence they passed through the barrier of ice, after an unwearied 240 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII.. exertion of eight tedious weeks by the officers and men to overcome it. The extraordinary weather, which accompanied the low temperature of August, is noticed as some- thing remarkable. It is stated by Parry that, of the thirty-one days in that month, there was ac- tually but one in which they had not a deposit of snow, sleet, rain, or fog, during some part of the twentv-four consecutive hours ; and the northerly wind, which is the usual harbinger of a clear, dry, wholesome atmosphere, was just as thick as any other. And he adds, "for ten weeks in July, August, and September, though we were constantly watching for an opportunity of airing the ships' companies' bedding on deck, we could only venture to do so once." In their struggle through the ice of Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, Parry noticed the set of the currents by which the whole body of the ice might be actuated. " It was obvious," he says, " that a daily set to the southward obtained, when the wind was northerly, differing from two or three to eight or ten miles per clay, according to the strength of the breeze; but a northerly current was equally apparent when the wind blew from the southward." But he observes as a remarkable circumstance, that a westerly set was frequently apparent, even against a fresh breeze blowing from that quarter. On the 10th of September they entered that Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 241 "magnificent inlet," Sir James Lancaster's Sound, and found it entirely, as usual, free from ice, except here and there a berg, " floating about in that solitary grandeur," of which these enormous masses are said to convey so sublime an idea. Proceeding "vexatiously slow' on the 13th, they had the mortification to perceive the sea ahead covered with young ice, on entering which recourse was had to "sallying," breaking it with boats ahead, and various other expedients, all alike ineffectual, with- out a fresh and free breeze furnishing a constant impetus; "so that after seven or eight hours of unsuccessful labour in this way, we were obliged to remain as we were, fairly and immoveably beset." Thus for three days they continued struggling with the young ice, to little or no purpose, now and then gaining half a mile of ground to windward, in a little " hole " of open water ; and after all rather losing ground than otherwise, while the young ice was every hour increasing in thickness. On the 17th they found themselves driven back to the eastward of Admiralty Inlet, the young ice still increasing in thickness. This was certainly a most severe trial of the patierice and perseverance of Captain Parry, of a different kind but equally annoying as that of " Fox's Channel " and the " Frozen Strait." It once occurred to him that as, in crossing Baffin's Bay, he had expended unex- pectedly nearly the whole of the season, and as, R 242 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. under particular circumstances, his instructions authorized him to return to England, it was high time to make up his mind, which was to him a point speedily decided. " I could not," he says, " have a moment's hesitation as to the propriety of pushing on as far as the present season would per- mit, and then giving a fair trial, during the whole of next summer, to the route I was directed by my instructions to pursue; and in this view Com- mander Hoppner entirely concurred. The fact is, that the summer or season was already ex- pended before they got into the inlet, and might probably, also, be expended in the following year before it should be found practicable to get out of their winter quarters ; unless indeed, as will shortly appear, these quarters were so favourably circum- stanced as to admit of an early departure from them. It would be useless to enter into a detail of the trials of temper and patience they were compelled to undergo, after this decision ; one of which, how- ever, may be stated. In a strong current setting to the eastward at the rate of two miles an hour, without a chance of stemming it, and beset as they were in young ice, during an unusually dark night of nine or ten hours' duration, with a heavy fall of snow, they found themselves utterly in a helpless state. " The consequence was, that, when we made the land on the morning of the 23rd, we had been drifted the incredible distance of eight or nine Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 243 leagues during the night ; finding ourselves off the Wollaston islands, at the entrance of Navy Board Inlet." Still they persevered, and the help of an easterly breeze which sprang up on the 26th, and gradually freshened, promised in earnest to take them, as at last it did, into Prince Regent's Inlet on the 27th; and by beating up, they came to the entrance of Port Bowen, " where," says Parry, " for two or three days past, I had determined to make our wintering place ; if, as there was but little reason to expect, we should be so fortunate as to push the ships thus far." The old process of cutting a canal in the ice for the reception of the ships was resorted to, and as Parry states, " On the evening of the 1st of October we had accomplished enough for our purpose, and the ships were warped into their winter stations, which we had the satisfaction to think were extremely favourable for an early release in the spring." Nothing remarkable was observed in the passage through Lancaster Sound. A boat was sent on shore in a bay near Cape Warrender. Dr. Neill reports, " the beach was covered with fragments of flesh-coloured feldspar, closely studded with red garnets, in size of a pea to that of a walnut ; the rock was of gneiss formation, the greater part of it composed of large plates thickly set with garnets. The surface of the ground was almost entirely covered either with snow or, in absence of it, with r 2 244 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. luxuriant rein-deer moss. The party succeeded in killing three rein-deer out of a small herd. Higher up the strait on the side of a hill, at three or four hundred feet above the level of the sea, Lieutenant Ross found several pieces of coal, which burned with a clear bright flame ; he saw two hares, and killed one of them, also a fox, a pair of ravens, some wingless ducks, and several snow-buntings. Parry says they observed a number of whales in every part of Lancaster Sound. They observed also a great many narwhals and a few walruses in Bar- row's Strait, and thinks they might have seen many more of both, but for the continual presence of the young ice. This being the fourth winter which Parry was doomed to pass in the frozen regions of the North, he knows not, he says, how he can do better than pursue a method similar to that heretofore prac- tised, by confining himself rather to the pointing out of any difference observed now and formerly, than by entering on a fresh description of the actual phenomena. " To those who read, as well as to those who describe, the account of a winter passed in these regions can no longer be expected to afford the interest of novelty it once possessed ; more especially in a station already delineated with tolerable geographical precision on our maps, and thus, as it were, brought near to our firesides at home. Inde- pendently, indeed, of this circumstance, it is hard to con- ceive any one thing more like another than two winters Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 245 passed in the higher latitudes of the Polar regions, except when variety happens to be afforded by intercourse with some other branch of ' the whole family of man.' Winter after winter, nature here assumes an aspect so much alike, that cursory observation can scarcely detect a single feature of variety. The winter of more temperate climates, and even in some of no slight severity, is occasionally diversified by a thaw, which at once gives variety and comparative cheerfulness to the prospect. But here, when once the earth is covered, all is dreary monotonous whiteness — not merely for days or weeks, but for more than half a year together. Whichever way the eye is turned, it meets a picture calculated to impress upon the mind an idea of inanimate stillness, of that motionless torpor with which our feelings have nothing congenial ; of anything, in short, but life. In the very silence there is a deadness with which a human spectator appears out of keeping. The presence of man seems an intrusion on the dreary solitude of this wintry desert, which even its native animals have for a while forsaken." — pp. 40, 41. Among* the winter arrangements, Captain Parry speaks in the highest terms of Silvester's " warm- ing apparatus," to which he ascribes the comforts and conveniences, and with them the general health of the seamen, which exceeded those of any former experience — " a contrivance," he says, " of which I scarcely know how to express my admiration in adequate terms." " The alteration adopted on this voyage of placing this stove in the very bottom of the hold, produced not only the effect naturally to be expected from it, of increasing the rapidity of the current of warm air, and thus carrying it to all the officers' cabins with less loss of heat in its passage ; 246 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. but was also accompanied by an advantage scarcely less important which had not been anticipated. This was the perfect and uniform warmth maintained during the winter in both the cable-tiers, which, when cleared of all the stores, gave us another habitable deck, on which more than one- third of the men's hammocks were berthed : thus affording to the ships' companies, during seven or eight months of the year, the indescribable comfort of nearly twice the space for their beds, and twice the volume of air to breathe in. It need scarcely be added, how conducive to wholesome ven- tilation, and to the prevention of moisture below, such an arrangement proved ; suffice it to say that we have never before been so free from moisture, and that I cannot but chiefly attribute to this apparatus the unprecedented good state of health we enjoyed during this winter." — pp. 44, 45. It is greatly to be lamented that this testimony of the good effects of a very simple contrivance had not been attended to before the inefficient, trouble- some, and expensive quackery apparatus had been permitted in certain of her Majesty's ships. The preparations and precautionary measures necessary for securing the ships occupied all hands for some time, and they were not finally settled till about the middle of October. Parry omits no opportunity of recording whatever may appear to be conducive to the benefit of trade or navigation. Thus he states : — " Late as we had this year been in reaching Sir James Lancaster's Sound, there would still have been time for a ship engaged in the whale fishery to have reaped a tolerable harvest, as we met with a number of whales in every part of it, and even as far as the entrance of Port Bowen. The Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 247 number registered altogether in our journals is between twenty and thirty, but I have no doubt that many more than these were seen, and that a ship expressly on the look- out for them would have found full occupation for her boats. Several which came near us were of large and * payable ' dimensions." — pp. 36, 37. The occupation and diversion of the seamen's minds, as well as the regularity of their bodily exercise, were not likely to be unattended to, by so prudent and experienced a commander as Captain Parry ; but he was equally attentive to what had been done on former voyages; and as the same officers and men were among the present ones, a little variety therefore was thought to be desirable. " Our former amusements/' he says, " being almost worn threadbare, it required some ingenuity to devise any plan that should possess the charm of novelty to recommend it." This purpose was com- pletely answered, however, by a proposal of Com- mander Hoppner to attempt a masquerade, in which officers and men should alike take a part; but which, without imposing any restraint whatever, should leave every one to their own choice, either to join in this diversion or not. Parry was de- lighted with it. "It is impossible that any idea could have proved more happy, or more exactly suited to our situation. Admirably dressed characters of various descriptions readily took their parts, and many of these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine humour which would not have disgraced 248 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. a more refined assembly ; while the latter might not have disdained, and would not have been disgraced by, copying the good order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble masquerades presented. It does especial credit to the dispositions and good sense of our men, that, though all the officers entered fully into the spirit of these amuse- ments, which took place once a month, alternately on board each ship, no instance occurred of any thing that could interfere with the regular discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men towards their superiors. Ours were masquerades without licentiousness — carnivals without ex- cess."— pp. 49, 50. But an occupation of less amusement, perhaps, but not less assiduously pursued, and of infinitely more eventual benefit, was furnished by the re- establishment of schools, under the voluntary super- intendence of Mr. Hooper in the Hecla, and of Mr. Mogg in the Fury. " By the judicious zeal of Mr. Hooper, the Hecla's school was made subservient, not merely to the improvement of the men in reading and writing (in which, however, their pro- gress was surprisingly great), but also to the cultivation of that religious feeling which so essentially improves the character of a seaman, by furnishing the highest motives for increased attention to every other duty. Nor was the benefit confined to the eighteen or twenty individuals whose want of scholarship brought them to the school-table, but extended itself to the rest of the ship's company, making the whole lower deck such a scene of quiet rational occupation as I never before witnessed on board a ship. And I do not speak lightly when I express my thorough persuasion that to the moral effects thus produced upon the minds of the men, were owing, in a very high degree, the constant yet Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 249 sober cheerfulness, the uninterrupted good order, and even, in some measure, the extraordinary state of health which prevailed among us during this winter." — pp. 50, 51. The several officers had full employment during their winter confinement in the various observations to which their attention was to be directed. Mag- netism was one of the earliest subjects after the erection and arrangement of the observatory on shore. The interesting fact was discovered of an increase in the variation of the magnetic needle, since their former visit in 1819, amounting to about nine degrees, namely from 114° to 123°. A regular series of hourly experiments on the magnetic in- tensity was instituted, by which was found a diurnal change of intensity, exhibiting a regular increase from the morning to the afternoon, and as regular a decrease from the afternoon to the morn- ing. "It also appeared,'' says Parry, "that the sun, and, as we had reason to believe, the relative position of the sun and moon, with reference to the magnetic sphere, had a considerable influence both on the intensity and diurnal variation, although the exact laws of this influence may still remain to be discovered." It is to be hoped that the result of the observations that have been carrying on for three years, by England and its colonies, and also in various parts of Europe and in America, in obser- vatories especially erected for observations and experiments, in all that regards terrestrial mag- 250 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. netism, will throw much light on this interesting and, it may be said, mysterious subject. The refraction of the atmosphere is fully con- sidered, and the method of obtaining it in low temperatures is given in a paper by Mr. Fisher. The observed refractions of stars at low altitudes and temperatures, the solar and terrestrial refrac- tions by observations of the several officers, are care- fully registered in the Appendix. The various meteorological observations employed a considerable portion of their time ; but this winter, Parry says, afforded but few brilliant displays of the aurora. One of them, however, is noticed as something remarkable. " While Lieutenants Sherer and Ross and myself were admiring the extreme beauty of this phenomenon from the observatory, we all simultaneously uttered an exclamation of surprise at seeing a bright ray of the aurora shoot sud- denly downward from the general mass of light, and between us and the land, which was there distant only three thousand yards. Had I witnessed this phenomenon by myself, I should have been disposed to receive with caution the evi- dence even of my own senses, as to this last fact ; but the appearance conveying precisely the same idea to three individuals at once, all intently engaged in looking towards the spot, I have no doubt that the ray of light actually passed within that distance of us." — p. 62. It is unnecessary to enumerate the number of lunar observations for the longitude, and those for the latitude by the sun and various stars, by all the officers; the account of the rates of the chrono- Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 251 meters, all of which are given in the Appendix, with an account of the Borealian Quadrupeds and Birds by Dr. Richardson, of Botany by Professor Hooker, and of Zoophytes by Dr. Fleming. And it is but justice to all the officers to say that they most willingly and cordially followed the example of their excellent, intelligent, and indefatigable Commander, in their regularity and attention requisite for making the various observations.* It will readily be imagined with what anxiety, in the early part of the year, the re-appearance of the sun was looked for. Some, by ascending a high hill, got a glimpse of him on the 2nd Feb- ruary ; on the 15th he was visible at the Observa- tory ; and at the ships on the 22nd ; " after an absence of one hundred and twenty-one days." But it is a long time after the sun's re-appearance that the effect of his rays, as to warmth, becomes perceptible : week after week passes over with scarcely any rise in the thermometer, except for an hour or two during the day. In this year Parry says the thermometer did not rise above zero till the 11th April, having remained below that point of the scale for one hundred and thirty-one succes- sive days ; but he mentions this as the only instance of the kind he had ever known. * An account will be given at the close of this chapter of the several subjects contained in the Appendix, and of the officers employed upon them. 252 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. Parties were sent from Port Bowen to travel by land on the sea-coast, on each side of the port. The first, however, was directed to proceed inland to the eastward under Commander Hoppner. This party returned, after a very fatiguing journey, having with difficulty travelled a degree and three quarters easterly, in the lat. 73° 19'; but no appearance of sea was observed in that direction ; the country consisted of ravines, many of them four or five hun- dred feet deep, and very precipitous. During the whole fortnight's excursion scarcely a patch of vege- tation could be seen ; a few snow-buntings and some ivory -gulls were all the animals they met with, to enliven this most barren and desolate country. Hares, foxes, and bears were sparingly met with ; and the last animal is not disposed to have any affec- tion for mankind. Instances, however, did occur to show that maternal affection is not wanting in this animal, but was as apparent in it as in that of the walrus described by Beechey : — " A she-bear, killed in the open water, on our first arrival at Port Bowen, afforded a striking instance of maternal affection in her anxiety to save her two cubs. She might herself have easily escaped the boat, but would not forsake her young, which she was actually ' towing ' off, by allowing them to rest on her back, when the boat came near them. A second similar instance occurred in the spring, when two cubs having got down into a large crack in the ice, their mother placed herself before them, so as to secure them from the attacks of our people, which she might easily have avoided herself." — p. 79. Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 253 The two other parties, consisting of four men each, under the respective commands of Lieutenants Sherer and Ross, were directed to travel, the former to the southward, and the latter to the northward, along the coast of Prince Regent's Inlet, for the purpose of surveying it accurately. Parry was anxious also to ascertain the state of the ice to the northward, to enable him to form some judgment as to the probable time of their liberation. These parties found the travelling along shore so good, as to enable them to extend their journeys far beyond the points intended. Lieutenant Ross brought the welcome intelligence of the sea being perfectly open and free from ice at the distance of twenty-two miles to the northward of Port Bowen, " by which," says Parry, " I concluded — what indeed had long before been a matter of probable conjecture — that Barrow's Strait was not permanently frozen during the winter." From the tops of the hills about Cape York, beyond which promontory Lieutenant Ross travelled, no appearance of ice could be distin- guished. Lieutenant Sherer returned to the ships about the same time, having performed a rapid journey as far as 72J°, and making an accurate survey of the whole coast to that distance ; and Parry regrets that he was not furnished with more provisions and a larger party to have enabled him to travel round Cape Kater, which is probably not far distant from 254 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. one of the northern Esquimaux stations, mentioned in his journal of the preceding voyage. On the 12th July the ice began to break up in the neighbourhood, and about the same time the ice which crossed the mouth of the harbour de- tached itself at an old crack, and drifted off, leaving onty about one mile and a quarter between the ships and the sea. The men were now employed, with the greatest cheerfulness and alacrity, from seven in the morning till seven in the evening, daily, when on the 19th a very welcome stop was put to their operations by the entire separation of the floe across the harbour. By a renewal of their labour for the whole night till the following morning, they succeeded in getting the ships clear, and also, in two hours' towing, out to sea, after an imprison- ment of between nine and ten months. " On standing to sea we sailed," says Parry, " with a light southerly wind, towards the western shore of Prince Regent's Inlet, which it was my first wish to gain, on account of the evident ad- vantage to be derived from coasting the southern part of that portion of land called in the chart * North Somerset,' as far as it might lead to the westward ; which, from our former knowledge, we had reason to suppose it would do, as far at least as the longitude of 95°, in about the parallel of 72f°, that is, at Cape Garry." But on his first voyage he had been below 70° (Cape Kater), on the east Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE, 255 coast, and the two shores were nearly parallel to each other : and there the crossing might not have been difficult ; besides the certainty of going down an eastern coast, in comparison of taking a western one, according to Captain Parry's own showing, makes it the more remarkable he did not choose the former. It might also have been supposed that a desire to extend the knowledge of the eastern coast might have been a strong inducement, even if only to examine the opening of the Fury and Hecla Strait into the Regent's Inlet, which Mr. Reid's report leaves in rather an unsatisfactory state, and also to have looked into the Gulf of Akkolee, which is described by the Esquimaux lady. Parry, however, had doubtless good reasons for his choice, one of which was the apparent tendency to the westward of the shore of North Somerset. That he had well weighed the case, appears by his own showing : — " I shall first mention (he says) a circumstance which has particularly forced itself upon my notice in the course of our various attempts to penetrate through the ice in these regions, which is, that the eastern coast of any portion of land, or, what is the same thing, the western sides of seas or inlets, having a tendency at all approaching to north and south, are, at a given season of the year, generally more encumbered with ice than the shores with an opposite aspect. The four following instances (he continues) may be adduced in illustration of this fact, and cannot but appear somewhat striking when considered in viewing a map which exhibits the relative position of the shores in question."— p. 176. 256 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. These four instances lie gives are generally known, and admitted to be as he says. First, — In the Northern Sea, from lat. 60° to 80°, bounded on the east by Lapland and Spitzbergen, and on the west by Greenland, the whole of the latter coast is blocked up by ice throughout the summer, so as to make it at least a matter of no easy enterprise to approach it, while the navigation of the eastern portion of that sea is annually and without difficulty performed by whalers and others. The second instance is equally well known in the navigation of Davis's Strait, which from about Resolution Island in 61^°, to the parallel of 70°, is inaccessible as late as the month of August, while the sea is open on the eastern side of the strait (the western coast of Greenland) many weeks before that time. The third he mentions is his own case, when coast- ing the eastern shore of Melville Peninsula, on his first voyage, so loaded with ice as to make the navi- gation difficult and dangerous. The fourth instance mentioned by Parry is the eastern side of Fox's Channel, where, from that navigator's account in 1631, and that of Baffin in 1615, "as from our own observation," there is little or no ice during the summer season ; but he might also have added that the eastern coast of South- ampton Island appears to be always choked with ice. Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 257 The fourth and last instance of the same kind, " which," says Parry, " I shall mention, is that of Prince Regent's Inlet, and of which the events of this and a former voyage furnish too striking a proof, the ice appearing always to cling to the western shore, in a very remarkable manner, while the opposite coast is comparatively free from it." And a fifth, on account of the accumulation of ice, may be added to the list, by mentioning the southern and eastern coast of Melville Island, whose shores appear to be the receptacle of all the ice that is driven eastward from the western sea, of which it is supposed to be the outermost barrier island ; at least Sir John Franklin, from the view he had on the southern coast, thinks it to be so. Captain Parry is not a man to act hastily or in- discreetly, and it would appear that the preference given to the western coast was influenced, partly at least, by an ardent desire of acquiring an accession to the geographical knowledge of a strait or inlet, which he had reason to believe would conduct him into the Polar Sea, through which he conceived the sought-for passage to the Pacific could best be made ; for he says, — " It was the general feeling at this period (24th July) among us, that the voyage had but now commenced. The labours of a bad summer, and the tedium of a long winter, were forgotten in a moment, when we found ourselves upon ground not hitherto explored, and with every apparent s 258 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. prospect before us of making as rapid a progress, as the nature of this navigation will permit, towards the final accomplishment of our object." The trending of the western shore to the westward might also have contributed to the choice of that side; the only surprise is, that after the cases he has given, all of them adverse to it, he should have resolved to adopt it. The ships continued to proceed southerly close in with the western shore, having alternately open water and floating ice, to which they had occasionally to make fast. On the 28th the ice was observed to be in rapid motion towards the shore. The Hecla was immediately beset, in spite of every exertion ; and after breaking two of the largest ice-anchors, in endeavouring to heave in to the shore, was obliged to drift with the ice. On the 29th the ships were so close in with the shore, that, after shifting the Hecla into " a less insecure berth" Parry says " he walked to a broad valley facing the sea near us." The cliffs next the sea, four or five hundred feet perpendicular height, were continually breaking down ; and " the ships lay so close to the shore as to be almost within the range of some of these tumbling masses, there being at high-water scarcely beach enough for a person to walk along the shore." On the 30th July the Hecla's berth was shifted to a greater distance from the shore, by which Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 259 Parry says " the security of the ship was much altered for the worse ;" the Fury remained where she was, "there being no second berth, even so good as the bad one where she was now lying." On the 31st it blew a hard gale, which brought the ice closer and closer till it pressed with very con- siderable violence on both ships, " though the most upon the Fury, which lay in a very exposed situa- tion." The Hecla had only two or three hawsers broken. Early the next morning (the 31st) Com- mander Hoppner sent to inform Captain Parry that the Fury had been forced on the ground, where she still lay ; but that she would probably be hove off without much difficulty at high-water, provided the external ice did not prevent it. A broad channel of water appearing at a little distance, and a fresh breeze springing up, the ships were cast, and their heads the right way, to reach this channel, when the ice came bodily in upon the ships, which were almost instantly beset, and in such a manner " as to be literally helpless and unma- nageable." Captain Parry observes that, in such cases, " the exertions made by heaving at hawsers, or otherwise, are of little more service than in the occupation they furnish to the men's minds under circumstances of difficultv ; for when the ice is fairly acting against the ship, ten times the strength and ingenuity could in reality avail nothing." The body of ice setting to the southward, the two s2 260 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. ships were carried with it to some short distance, when the Hecla, after thus driving about a mile, quite close to the shore, struck the ground forcibly several times, and being brought up by it, remained immovable. The Fury, continuing to drive, u was now irresistibly carried past us, and we escaped, only by a few feet, the damage invariably occa- sioned by ships coming in contact under such cir- cumstances." She drove about three hundred yards, the ice pressing her on as well as along the shore, when she received a severe shock from a large floe-piece, forcing her directly against a grounded mass of ice upon the beach. The Hecla and Fury continued both aground, the latter, by Hoppner's report, so severely " nipped ' and strained, as to leak a good deal ; and that she was heavily pressed both upon the ground and against the huge mass of ice. Both ships, however, got off at high-water ; but on the night of the 2nd August the ice once more forced the Fury on shore, and the Hecla narrowly escaped. " I rowed on board the Fury," says Parry, " and found four pumps constantly going, to keep the ship free, and Commander Hoppner, his officers and men, almost exhausted with the incessant labour of the last eight-and-forty hours." The two com- manders set out in a boat to survey the shore to the southward, in search of a place where the Fury, unable to proceed any further without repairs, Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 261 might be hove down, ruinous as such a necessity must be. At about a mile farther down they found a place where three grounded masses of ice had three to four fathoms water within them, and which, with the assistance of art, might afford something like shelter. On returning, the ice had closed in, so as not only to prevent their moving, but that the smallest external pressure must in- evitably force them ashore, neither ship having more than two feet water to spare. They were, however, soon relieved, and both ships were en- abled to proceed to the place of the three bergs ; and here the formation of a basin was commenced and completed by the 16th August; all the Fury's stores, provisions, and other articles landed, and the Fury hove down on the 18th. A gale of wind, however, destroyed the bergs, and made it neces- sary for both ships to be towed out into the sea, or rather the ice. The Fury was re-loaded, but on the 21st this unfortunate ship was again driven on shore. As every further attempt to put her into a state of repair was now hopeless, Parry, after visiting her for the last time, says, " every endeavour of ours to get her off, or if got off, to float her to any known place of safety, would be at once utterly hopeless in itself, and productive of extreme risk to our remaining ship." A survey, therefore, was held upon her; and Commander Hoppner, with the 262 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. other officers, were of opinion, " that an absolute necessity existed for abandoning the Fury :" " my own opinion," says Parry, " being thus confirmed, as to the utter hopelessness of saving her, and feeling more strongly than ever the responsibility which attached to me, of preserving the Hecla un- hurt, it was with extreme pain and regret that I made the signal for the Fury's officers and men to be sent for their clothes, most of which had been put on shore with the stores." The incessant labour, the constant state of anx- iety, and the frequent and imminent danger into which the surviving ship was thrown, in the attempts to save her comrade, which were continued for five-and-twenty days, destroyed every reason- able expectation hitherto cherished, of the ultimate accomplishment of this object. " I was therefore," says Parry, " reduced to the only remaining con- clusion, that it was my duty, under all the circum- stances of the case, to return to England, in com- pliance with the plain tenor of my instructions. As soon as the boats were hoisted up, therefore, and the anchor stowed, the ship's head was put to the north-eastward, with a light air off the land, in order to gain an offing, before the ice should again set in-shore." A breeze springing up on the 27th from the northward, immediate advantage was taken of it for the Hecla to stretch over to the eastern shore of Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 263 Prince Regent's Inlet, which was done with scarcely any obstruction from ice, and the Hecla entered Neill's Harbour (a little to the southward of Port Bowen) in order to prepare the ship completely for crossing the Atlantic. Here one man, John Pages, seaman of the Fury, departed this life, having been for several months affected with a scrofulous dis- order, the only case which proved fatal in either ship. All being ready, and the sea clear of ice, the Hecla weighed, and stood out to sea on the last day of August. On the 1st September she entered Barrow's Strait, the sea there perfectly open, by which they were enabled to bear away to the east- ward. In crossing Lancaster Sound they observed a more than usual quantity of icebergs, being in proportion of at least four to one that they had ever before observed there. They entered Baffin's Bay, still in an open sea. On the 7th September they had reached the latitude 72° 30', having, in the course of eighty miles, only made a single tack, when they came to the margin of the ice, and got into an open sea, on its eastern side. At this time there were thirty-nine bergs in sight, " and some of them certainly not less than 200 feet in height." On the 10th October they made Mould Head, near the north-west end of Orkney Islands. Captain Parry landed at Peterhead on the 12th, and arrived at the Admiralty on the 16th ; the Hecla at Sheer- 264 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. ness on the 20th October, where she was paid off at Woolwich on the 2 1st of November. This last attempt for the discovery of a north- west passage, it must be admitted, is the least successful of the three that Captain Parry has now made, not merely as to any information regarding the passage, but as to any extension of geographical knowledge or of natural history. Of all the arctic countries visited by him, the two shores of Prince Regent's Inlet are the most naked and barren, the most dreary and desolate, that have been seen — not excepting even Melville Island — not merely desolate of human beings, but almost de- prived also of all animal and. vegetable life; a gloomy, sad, and melancholy land. " We have scarcely," says Parry, " ever visited a coast on which so little of animal life occurs. For days together only one or two seals, a single sea-horse, and now and then a flock of ducks were seen." An exception, however, occurred in the numberless kittiwakes flying about, and some hundreds of white whales sporting about the place where the Fury was abandoned. The transient view which was taken of Prince Regent's shores on the first voyage was favour- able enough to impress on the mind of Parry, on the failure of his second voyage, that to get fairly into the Polar Sea " there is no known open- ing which seems to present itself so favourably for Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 265 this purpose as Prince Regent's Inlet." And he repeats, in the voyage now under consideration, " to that point therefore I can, in the present state of our knowledge, have no hesitation in still recom- mending that any future attempt should be directed." His advice was followed, and a second ship was left behind. A third, it is to be hoped, will never again attempt this vile inlet, even al- though it has since been ascertained, from another quarter, that its waters do communicate with the western portion of the Polar Sea ; such communi- cation, however, gives no encouragement for ships of any size to make the trial of a passage into the Polar Sea by this route ; but more of this hereafter. An indifferent person, who has but carelessly glanced over the three expeditions, or another who has studied and taken an interest in the subject, would most probably come to a different opinion with Captain Parry ; and be disposed to think that, in any further search for a north-west passage, the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, and the Prince Re- gent's Inlet, should equally be avoided, for, leading into one another, they may be considered as one and the same thing, and alike unfavourable to safe navigation. The additional encouragement which Parry says has been afforded by the favourable ap- pearances of a navigable sea, near the south-western extremity of Prince Regent's Inlet, if it had any existence beyond appearances, might certainly lead 266 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. to the conclusion, that the northern coast of Ame- rica could be approached by that route ; but neither Parry, at this time, nor indeed any one, being at all aware of what the American coast consisted of, with its sea encumbered with ice aud islands, and navigable only by boats or ca- noes, could have been of a very different opinion. Franklin and Richardson, Dease and Simpson, have now fully acquainted us with the nature of that coast. It is true it is a continuous coast from the bottom of Regent's Inlet, and therefore falls in with the settled opinion of Captain Parry; who says, " he is more than ever impressed with the belief, that the only way in which a ship can, with tolerable certainty, succeed in penetrating any considerable distance, is by watching the openings occasionally jDroduced by winds and tides, between a body of ice, when detached and moveable, and some land continuous in the same direction." This passage was written on the second voyage, and remains, he says, wholly unaltered in the present, which is the more remarkable after the constant and imminent danger to the two ships, and the total loss of one of them, while struggling to make way along continuous land, between which and masses of ice, always in motion, the ships were to make their progress. It is difficult to imagine how a ship at anchor, or loose, placed near the shore on which large masses of ice are thrown, Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 267 capriciously it may be said, for it is never known to what point they may be directed, can possibly escape destruction, especially among straits and narrow passages between islands. Suppose a person of ordinary intellect should be told, as Captain Parry will tell him, that during the time his ships were made fast on the dangerous coast which has been spoken of, " the ice was setting to the south- ward, and sometimes at a rapid rate, full seven days out of every ten," would not such a person naturally ask, why was advantage not taken of such an auxiliary when going in the right direction? Captain Parry has replied to such a question. "On numerous occasions the ships might easily have been placed among the ice, and left to drift with it, in com- parative if not absolute security, where the holding them on has been preferred, though attended with hourly and immi- nent peril. This was precisely the case on the present occasion ; the ships might certainly have been pushed into the ice a day or two or even a week beforehand, and thus preserved from all risk of being forced on shore ; but where they would have been drifted, and where they would have been again disengaged from the ice, or at liberty to take advantage of the occasional openings in-shore (by which alone the navigation of these seas is to be performed with any degree of certainty), I believe it impossible for any one to form the most distant idea." — p. 148. It will, perhaps, be considered indiscreet in a landsman to question the opinion of one of such great nautical skill and so well experienced in the navigation of seas hampered with ice ; whose exer- 268 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. tions have been so honourable to himself and satis- factory to his employers ; but he is of too liberal a na- ture to take amiss, on a matter of fact, what is well meant, however it may differ from his own opinion. Fully persuaded that none can rise from the perusal of his ' Northern Voyages ' without being impressed with a decided conviction that his merits as an officer and scientific navigator are of the highest order ; that his talents are not confined to his pro- fessional duties; but that the resources of his mind are equal to the most arduous situations, and fertile in expedients under every circumstance, however difficult, dangerous, or unexpected — such a man may safely venture not merely to tolerate but even to invite criticism, when candidly, honestly, and faithfully offered. Parry's heart still continues to cling to the accomplishment of a north-west pas- sage, and most undoubtedly would put in practice such measures as, in his opinion and experience, he considers most likely to attain that object. He says, — " I feel confident that the undertaking, if it be deemed advisable at any future time to pursue it, will one day or other be accomplished ; for, setting aside the accidents to which, from their very nature, such attempts must be liable, as well as other unfavourable circumstances which human foresight can never guard against, nor human power con- trol, I cannot but believe it to be an enterprise well within the reasonable limits of practicability. It may be tried often, and often fail, for several favourable and fortunate Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 269 circumstances must be combined for its accomplishment ; but I believe nevertheless that it will ultimately be accom- plished."—pp. 184, 185. He goes on to say, " I am much mistaken in- deed, if the north-west passage ever becomes the business of a single summer; nay, I believe that nothing but a concurrence of very favourable cir- cumstances is likely even to make a single winter in the ice sufficient for its accomplishment. But this is no argument against the possibility of final success ; for we now know that a winter in the ice may be passed not only in safety, but in health and comfort." This is very true, at least in his own particular case, who has so many resources at his command ; and no objection can be raised on the additional expense in wear and tear, in provisions and stores, and in the double pay of officers and men, except by that particular class of persons known by the name of utilitarians; the liberal minded would not consider the increased expense thrown away when the honour of the nation, the interests of science, the improvement of navigation, and the employment of our rising officers and best seamen, are the objects contemplated. While on this point, it is too remarkable a cir- cumstance to be omitted, that none of our early navigators in the Polar regions ever passed a winter in those regions, and rarely lost one of their small and fragile barks of 50, 40, 30, and down 270 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. to 15 tons. Parry takes occasion to bestow a well- deserved testimony to the valuable, persevering, and extraordinary labours of these men. " I should be doing but imperfect justice to the memory of these extraordinary men, as well as to my own sense of their merits, if I permitted the present opportunity to pass without offering a still more explicit and decided testimony to the value of their labours. The accounts of Hudson, Baffin, and Davis (and first of all Frobisher) are the pro- ductions of men of no common stamp. They evidently relate things just as they saw them, dwelling on such nautical and hydrographical notices as, even at this day, are valuable to any seaman going over the same ground, and describing every appearance of nature, whether on the land, the sea, or the ice, with a degree of faithfulness which can alone perhaps be duly appreciated by those who succeed them in the same regions, and under similar circumstances. The general outline of the lands they discovered was laid down by themselves with such extraordinary precision, even in longitude, as scarcely to require correction in modern times ; of which fact the oldest maps now extant of Baffin's Bay and the Straits of Hudson and Davis, constructed from the original materials, will afford sufficient proof. The same accuracy is observable in their accounts of the tides, soundings, and bearings, phenomena in which the lapse of 200 years can have wrought but little change. It is indeed impossible for any one personally acquainted with the phenomena of the icy seas, to peruse the plain and unpre- tending narratives of these navigators, without recognising in almost every event they relate, some circumstance familiar to his own recollection and experience, and meeting with numberless remarks which bear most unequivocally about them the impress of truth. " While thus doing justice to the faithfulness and accu- Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 271 racy with which they recorded their discoveries, one cannot less admire the intrepidity, perseverance, and skill with which, inadequately furnished as they were, those discoveries were effected, and every difficulty and danger braved. That any man, in a single frail vessel of five-and-twenty tons, ill-found in most respects, and wholly unprovided for wintering, having to contend with a thousand real difficulties, as well as with numberless imaginary ones, which the superstitions then existing among sailors would not fail to conjure up — that anv man, under such circumstances, should, two hundred years ago, have persevered in accomplishing what our old navigators did accomplish, is, I confess, sufficient to create in my mind a feeling of the highest pride on the one hand, and almost approaching to humiliation on the other: of pride, in remembering that it was oar countrymen who per- formed these exploits ; of humiliation, when I consider how little, with all our advantages, we have succeeded in going beyond them. " Indeed, the longer our experience has been in the navi- gation of the icy seas, and the more intimate our acquaint- ance with all its difficulties and all its precariousness, the higher have our admiration and respect been raised for those who went before us in these enterprises. Persevering in difficulty, unappalled by danger, and patient under distress, they scarcely ever use the language of complaint, much less that of despair ; and sometimes, when all human hope seems at its lowest ebb, they furnish the most beautiful examples of that firm reliance on a merciful and superintending Providence which Is the only rational source of true for- titude in man. Often, with their narratives impressed upon my mind, and surrounded by the very difficulties which they in their frail and inefficient barks undauntedly encountered and overcame, have I been tempted to exclaim, with all the enthusiasm of Purchas, ' How shall I admire your heroicke 272 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. courage, ye marine worthies, beyond names of worthiness !' —pp. 181, 182, 183. This is the third and last attempt of Captain Parry to discover a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; but it is by no means his last attempt at Polar discovery ; it has in fact been followed up with an enterprise not more novel than perilous — an attempt to approach the North Pole, in which he will again appear, in the present nar- rative, in that bold and fearless character, which, if it fail of complete success, will at least most un- questionably have deserved it. It may not be amiss, in closing the narrative of this voyage, to insert a few desultory remarks chiefly from the Appendix. During the winter months in which the ships were shut up in Bowen's Harbour, the respective officers employed them- selves in collecting and arranging the observa- tions that were made in the course of the voy- age,* down to the period of their release, a very brief extract from which must here serve. It is almost unnecessary to say that all astronomical observations connected with navigation were strictly attended to by the Commander of the expedition and his colleague Hoppner, by Lieutenants Foster, * There is no Appendix in the Second Voyage : the collec- tions of natural history, and certain of the observations, are in- cluded in the present one. Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 273 Sherer, Ross, and by Mr. Hooper, as observations for determining the longitude : — By occupations of fixed stars. By fixed stars and the Moon — Foster. By transit of the Moon — Foster. By Jupiter's satellites — Foster. Magnetic dip of needle — Parry and Foster. Variation — Parry and various officers. The Board of Longitude having suggested that one of the objects of the present voyage should be the determination of the figure of the earth, by means of the vibration of a pendulum, the appa- ratus of Captain Henry Kater's construction was supplied to the expedition, and placed in charge of Lieutenant Henry Foster. As it was necessary that the number of vibrations of the same pendulum should be known at different places, Mr. Pond, the Astronomer Royal, allowed the trial to be made at Greenwich. The results of the experiments, as stated by Lieutenant Foster, give briefly — Number of vibrations at Greenwich . . 86,159,434 Ditto at Port Bowes . . 86,230,242 Length of seconds' pendulum in the latitude of Greenwich .... 39*13911 inches Ditto at Port Bowen 39*203468 do. Whence, Mr. Foster says, the fraction expressing the diminution of gravity from the pole to the equator is -0054155, and The ellipticity of the earth ^-^. That of the French Geometricians^^. Sabine from the north 289.1 Sabine, Melville Island ~ 312.6* 274 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. From Lieutenant James Clarke Ross the Ap- pendix contains a brief account of the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects, and invertebrate animals. There is also an account by Sir William Hooker of the plants found in the course of this voyage. These may be briefly stated as under, embracing both east and west coast of this portion of America. Quadrupeds. — The Polar Bear — Arctic Fox — Lemming — Polar Hare — Rein-deer — Rough Seal — Black Whale — Narwhal. Birds. — Iceland Falcon — Snowy Owl — Raven — Lapland Finch — Snow Bunting — Ptarmigan — Rock Grouse — Wil- low Partridge — Golden Plover — Phalarope, 2 species — Gulls, 6 species — Eider Ducks, and various others — Little Auk, and 2 others. Fishes.— Ophidium, 2 species — Cottus, 2 species — Pleu- ronectes, not very numerous. Insects. — 12 species, 4 of them Spiders, 1 Bee, 1 Ant, 1 Gnat, 1 Butterfly ; the other 4 are Simulium, Cteno- phorae, Bombus, and Bombyx. The Invertebrate animals, which are numerous and not of very familiarised names, in Latin, may be passed over. The Botany of the two last voyages, by Sir William Hooker, embraces 21 families of the natural order, but, as he observes, " a small number of species, owing to the few opportunities that were afforded for the officers to go on shore, as well as to the extreme poverty of the soil in those places that were visited." Of the notes on the geology of the countries visited, in the second and the present voyage, by Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 275 Professor Jameson, who also gives a few concluding remarks on the geology of the four Arctic Expe- ditions, a brief abstract is as follows : — 1. That the regions explored abound in primi- tive, transition, and secondary rocks ; partial allu- vial deposits ; modern volcanic rocks not met with; few traces of tertiary strata. 2. That primitive and transition islands at one time probably connected, and formed a mass with the continent of America, in the plains and hollows of which were deposited the secondary limestones, sandstones, gypsum, and coal ; on these again the tertiary rocks. 3. 4, 5. Purely speculative. 6. The boulders or rolled blocks afford evidence of the passage of water across the places where found. 7. No traces of the agency of modern volcanos any where except in Jan May en's Island. 8. No intimations of older volcanic action, except in the presence of secondary trap-rocks, such as basalt, greenstone, trap-tufa, and amygdaloid. 9. That black bituminous coal (the oldest forma- tion) found in Melville Island and in Old Greenland, forms an interesting feature in the geognostical constitution of Arctic countries. 10. That the red sandstone of Possession Bay, &c, renders it probable that rock-salt may occur in that quarter. t 2 276 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. 11. That the regions explored by Captain Parry have afforded various interesting and highly useful ores, such as octahedral, or magnetic iron ore, rhomboidal or red iron ore, prismatic or brown iron ore, and chromate of iron ; also the common ore of copper, or copper pyrites, and sulphuret of molybdaena ; ore of titanium, and that valuable mineral, graphite or blacklead. 12. That gems are not wanting in the Arctic regions, is proved by the abundance of the precious garnet, which on more particular examination of the primitive rocks, will no doubt be found to pre- sent all the beautiful colours and elegant forms for which that stone is so much admired. Rock-crystal, bervl, and zircon have also been met with. 13. That these countries exhibit the same general geognostical arrangements as occur in other coun- tries examined by the naturalist ; " a fact," says the Professor, " which strengthens that opinion, which maintains that the great features of nature, in the mineral kingdom, are every where similar, and consequently that the same general agencies must have prevailed generally during the formation of the solid mass of the earth." 14. And Professor Jameson concludes his re- marks, in the 14th paragraph, with a general observation, so beautifully expressed in language, and so true in substance, that it would be well worth the attention of the modern physiologist, Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 277 with his New Creations springing out of fiery mists, to leave his unsubstantial visions, and imitate the Professor's creed. M That the apparent irregularities which at first sight present themselves to our attention in the grand arrange- ments in the mineral kingdom, are the offspring of our own feeble powers of observation, and disappear when the phe- nomena are examined in all their relations. It is then in- deed that the mind obtains those enduring and sublime views of the power of the Deity, which, in geology, reward the patient observer, raise one of the most beautiful and interesting departments of natural science to its true rank, and prove that its relations connect, as it were, in the scale of magnitude, the phenomena of the earth with those more extensive arrangements presented to our intelligence in the planetary system, and in the grand frame-work of the uni- verse itself." — App. p. 151. Captain Parry, in observing on the extreme faci- lity with which sounds are heard at considerable distances in severely cold weather, relates a circum- stance that occurred at Port Bowen in confirma- tion of the fact. " Lieutenant Foster having occa- sion to send a man from the observatory to the opposite shore of the harbour, a measured distance of 6696 feet (about a mile and two-tenths), in order to fix a meridian mark, had .placed a second person half-way between, to repeat his directions ; but he found on trial that this precaution was unnecessary, as he could without difficulty keep up a conversa- tion with the man at the distant station. The ther- mometer at the time was 18° ; the barometer 30* 14 inches ; weather calm, clear and serene." 278 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. The Aurora is stated to have appeared forty-seven nights from October to March, fifteen times in January, five in March, and two in October. Nothing particular is said of its appearance, and no one ever heard any sound produced. The Aurora had no effect on the variation-needles, which were suspended (not supported) in the most delicate manner. The atmosphere during the winter months is stated to have been favourable to the excitement of electricity ; but none could be made apparent, though Parry says the electrometer with gold- leaf was applied to the chain, attached to the mast-head by glass-rods, the upper link, above the mast-head, being 115 feet above the level of the sea ; but it was without the slightest percep- tible effect. A word on the difference of temperature, and of the different quantities of ice on the east and west shores of continents, islands, or straits, a well-known fact, but which does not appear to have been satis- factorily explained, — why the western coasts of con- tinents and islands, of straits and inlets, should be less subject to be hampered with ice than the eastern ones; the fact is decidedly so, as many instances, in addition to those mentioned by Cap- tain Parry, might be given. If the easterly winds were the most prevalent and powerful, the floes and masses of ice would no doubt be driven by them to the easterly coast; but it would rather Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 279 appear that within the Arctic circle the northerly and westerly winds mostly prevail. The same thing obtains with regard to temperature, whether on the coasts of continents or islands, or even in the broad streets of towns, lying in a north and south direc- tion. Thus on the western coast of America, up as far as Cook's river, between the latitude of 55° and 60°, the little certhias and the humming birds are said to be chirping and singing, when from New- foundland in 50°, down to Philadelphia in 40°, frost and snow cover the water and the ground. At home the difference of temperature between the western coast or islands of Scotland and the eastern coast is so great that the late Lady Bute found the Isle of Bute more congenial with her constitution than even England. The coast of Devonshire is of a much milder temperature than the coast of Nor- folk. On the same principle the east side of Regent Street (facing the west) will always be found more dry and free from moisture than the opposite side, facing the east ; and so will the east side of Regent's Park be more dry, and the houses more free from moisture, than on the western side. From what cause does this proceed? May it not be explained by the fact, that at or a little before sunrise, the temperature of the atmosphere is much lower than at or a little after sunset, and that from the former period to the meridian, the influ- 280 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VIII. ence of the sun is considerably less than from the meridian to the latter ; in other words, that the power of the sun during the first half of the day, when his rays pass over the eastern land, is much less than when he is pouring his beams on the western land for the second half of the day ? If it be conceded that the setting sun shedding its rays on a western coast creates a more warm or mild temperature than is felt by the more oblique rays at the same time shed on the eastern land, perhaps it may assist to solve the problem ; but the differ- ence is not so great as to explain the cause of the permanently fixed ice for instance on the east coast of Greenland, or of Southampton Island, and many other coasts running north and south. " These facts, when taken together," Parry says, " have long ago impressed me with an idea that there must exist in the Polar region some general motion of the sea towards the west, causing the ice to set in that direction, when not impelled by con- trary winds, or local and occasional currents, until it butts against those shores which are actually found to be most encumbered by it ;" and he gives instances of ships being set to the westward in opposition to a strong wind blowing from that quarter ; and, having stated the facts, he concludes by suggesting, for the consideration of others, whether such a tendency of the sea as that no- Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. v 281 ticed, may not have some connexion with the motion of the earth on its axis. Such an idea, it is apprehended, is not tenable, as it is generally understood that the motion of the earth carries* with it both the sea and the atmosphere. CHAPTER IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 1827. Narrative of an Attempt to reach the North Pole in the Year 1827. By Captain W. E. Parry. When it is considered that Captain Parry, since the year 1818, has made four voyages into the Arctic seas, and has passed four winters in the ice, and that we now find him again coming forward in the year 1827 (having but just returned from his last voyage), and proposing to Lord Melville a plan of an attempt to reach the North Pole by means of travelling with sledge-boats over the ice, # or through any spaces of water that might occur — this daring attempt brings back to our recollection the extreme sufferings of Franklin and Richardson on their first journey to the shores of the Polar Sea, which did not deter them from immediately setting- out a second time ; and that Franklin is now on his voyage in search of a north-west passage — and if to these we add the indefatigable labours of Sir * He adds in a note, " This plan, as originally proposed by Captain Franklin, was given to me by Mr. Barrow soon after my return from the expedition of 1824-25." Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 283 James Clarke Ross, who has passed seven or eight winters of his life in the ice, and has recently re- turned from a three years' expedition into the Ant- arctic Ocean — when these several cases are promi- nently brought before us, the only conclusion to be arrived at is this — that tne desire for ^distinction, and the confident hope they shall merit it by some new discovery, overpower every apprehension of danger or difficulty, satisfied they possess resources within themselves, and a sufficient stock of moral courage to struggle against and to conquer both difficulty and danger. There is also something inviting to a seaman's mind to explore new coun- tries, and not the less relishing by the access to them being beset with obstacles, which to over- come must sometimes require extreme suffering, and even the sacrifice of life. The enterprise about to be described had plenty of novelty, difficulty, and danger to recommend it ; but Parry was not a man to rush headlong into a novel and perilous scheme without making inquiry into its nature. On consulting Phipps's voyage of 1773, he finds Capt. Lutwidge describing the ice for ten or twelve leagues as u one continued plain of smooth unbroken ice, bounded only by the horizon." Mr. Scoresby's account was stronger still. " I once saw," he says, " a field that was so free from either fissure or hummock, that I ima- gine, had it been free from snow, a coach might 284 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. have been driven many leagues over it in a direct line, without obstruction or danger." Great en- couragement these reports certainly afforded for the progress of a sledge-borne boat. Captain Parry however adds a further stimulus — that his hopes of success were principally founded on the propo- sition that had been made by his friend and brother officer Captain Franklin, who had himself volun- teered to conduct it. Two boats were specially constructed for this purpose, twenty feet long and seven feet broad, flat- floored, and built as stout as wood and iron could make them ; and so fitted as to contain nautical and other instruments, bags of biscuit, pemmican, spare clothing, and a variety of smaller stores, chiefly provisions. " A bamboo mast nineteen feet long, a tarred duck sail, answering also the purpose of an awning, a spreat, one boat-hook, fourteen paddles, and a steer-oar, completed each boat's comple- ment." Two officers and twelve men (ten of them seamen and two marines) were selected for each boat's crew. Each boat, with all her furniture, tools, instruments, clothing, and provisions of every kind, weighed 3753 pounds, being 268 pounds in weight for each man, exclusive of four sledges, weighing 26 pounds each. " My own impartial conviction," says Parry, " at the time of setting out on this enterprise, coincided (with a single exception) with the opinion expressed Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 285 by the Commissioners of Longitude, in their me- morial to the King, that " the progress of discovery had not arrived northwards, according to any well- authenticated accounts, so far as 81° of north lati- tude." The exception he alludes to is in favour of Mr. Scoresby, who states his having, in the year 1806, reached the latitude of 81° 12' 42" by actual observation, and 81° 30' by dead reckoning. " I therefore consider," says Parry, " the latter parallel as, in all probability, the highest which had ever been attained prior to the attempt recorded in the following pages." When all was ready Captain Parry was appointed to the command of H. M. sloop Hecla, with instruc- tions to proceed in her to Spitzbergen, to place her in some safe harbour or cove, and, leaving her in charge of Lieutenant Foster, to proceed with the boats directly to the northward, using his best en- deavours to reach the North Pole ; to be careful to return to Spitzbergen before the winter sets in, and early enough in the autumn to insure the Hecla not being frozen up and obliged to winter there. He was to direct Lieutenant Foster to survey the northern and eastern coasts of Spitzbergen in his absence. The officers attached to the Hecla were Lieutenants Foster and Crozier, the former a most distinguished scientific navigator, who, as already said, lost his life on the Isthmus of Panama ; the latter now captain of the Terror, on the existing 286 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. voyage of Sir John Franklin, having been the second in command to Captain James Ross in the South Pole expedition. Lieutenant James Ross, on the present voyage, commanded the second boat. On the 4th of April, 1827, the Hecla weighed anchor and made sail from the Nore, and on the 19th arrived at Hammerfest, where they were to receive on board eight rein-deer with a supply of moss {Cenomyce rangiferina) for their provender. Here Parry gleaned some instructions for the ma- nagement of the deer. " Nothing can be more beautiful than the training of the Lapland rein-deer. With a simple collar of skin round his neck, a single trace of the same material attached to the pulk or sledge, and passing between his legs, and one rein fastened like a halter round his neck, this intelligent and docile animal is perfectly under command of an experienced driver, and performs astonishing journeys over the softest snow. When the rein is thrown over on the off-side of the animal he immediately sets off at full trot, and stops short the instant it is thrown back to the near side. Shaking the rein over his back is the only whip that is required." — p. 6. The quantity of clean moss, per day, for each deer, is stated to be four pounds, but they go five or six days without provender, and without suffering ma- terially. Snow is to them the best kind of water, and ice a comfortable bed. It may well be ima- gined how valuable such animals were likely to be to the party, and Parry observes that " the more we became accustomed, and I may say, attached Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 287 to them, the more painful became the idea of the necessity which was likely to exist, of ultimately having recourse to them as provisions for ourselves." On the 14th of May the Hecla rounded Hak- luyt's Headland, and met with such a tremendous gale of wind and gusts from the high land, as almost to lay the ship on her beam-ends, and oblige them to reduce the canvas to the main-top sail and storm- sails, and let her drive to leeward. Parry suggests it might have been such a storm as this that gave the name of this headland, in an old Dutch chart, the DuyveVs Hoek. From this time till the em- barkation in boats, which did not take place till after " a close and tedious * besetment' of twenty- four days," that is, from the 14th of May till the 8th of June, may be looked on as so much lost time. Indeed, after being released, it required a long, anxious, and tedious search for a properly secure harbour in which to leave the Hecla, where she might conveniently be found on the return of the boats from the northward. Such a spot was at length discovered. " On the evening of the 18th June, while stand- ing in for the high land to the eastward of Vorlegen Hoek, which, with due attention to the land, may be approached with safety, we perceived from the crow's-nest what appeared a low point, possibly affording some shelter for the ship, and which seemed to answer to an indentation of the coast 288 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. laid down in an old Dutch chart, and there called Treurenburg Bay ;" and a fine sheltered bay they found it, warped in the Hecla with the greatest alacrity, and dropped anchor in Hecla Cove, in thirteen fathoms. The neighbourhood of this bay, like most of the northern shores of Spitsbergen, appeared to have been much visited by the Dutch at a very early period; of which circumstance, records were fur- nished at almost every spot where the party landed, by the numerous graves they met with. Thirty of these were found on a point of land on the north side of the bay. The bodies had been generally deposited in oblong wooden coffins, not buried, but merely covered with large stones; a board near the head records the name of the deceased, the ship, her commander, and her date ; one was so far back as 1690. Parry is right in supposing the name of the bay to be from treuren, to lament, on account of the mortality that has occurred there. Having now made his final arrangements, and given proper directions to Lieutenants Foster and Crozier, Captain Parry left the ship, with his two boats, which he named the Enterprise and the Endeavour, Mr. Beverly being attached to his own, and Lieutenant Ross, accompanied by Mr. Bird, in the other. As the season had so far advanced, he took only seventy-one days' provisions ; and as it appeared highly improbable, from what had been Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 289 seen of the very rugged nature of the ice they would first have to encounter, that " either the reindeer, the snow-shoes, or the wheels, would prove of any service for some time to come, I gave up the idea of taking them. We however constructed out of the snow-shoes four excellent sledges, for dragging a part of our baggage over the ice; and these proved of invaluable service to us, while the rest of the things just mentioned would only have been an incumbrance." What became of those interesting little creatures, the eight reindeer, which were spoken of with a kind of affectionate regard, while it was hinted, that the painful necessity might arise of having recourse to them as provision, is not stated. It was soon evident, indeed, from the appearance of the ice, that they could not be of the slightest use, but a great incumbrance in the boats : of their ultimate fate no mention is made in the narrative. Lieutenant Crozier accompanied the boats as far as Walden Island, where a deposit of provisions was left ; and hence they proceeded to Little Table Island to examine and re-secure the provisions that had been left there for their return. The prospect to the northward was favourable enough, only a small quantity of loose ice being in sight ; the weather calm and clear, with the sea as smooth as a mirror ; thus, " we set off without delay, at half-past ten, taking u 290 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. our final leave of the Spitzbergen shores, as we hoped, for at least two months. The walruses here were very numerous, lying in herds upon the ice, and plunging into the water to follow us as we passed. The sound they utter is something between bellowing and very loud snorting, which, together with their grim, bearded countenances, and long tusks, make them appear, as indeed they are, rather formidable enemies to contend with. " Steering due north, we made good progress, our latitude, by the sun's meridian altitude at mid- night, being 80° 51' 13". At noon the next day, after a run of two hours in open water, with a westerly wind, we were stopped by close ice, and obliged to haul the boats upon a small floe-piece ; the latitude by observation being 81° 12' 51." As this voyage is of so bold and daring a cha- racter, and in all its circumstances so novel and perfectly unique, no description of it, except in the words of the commander of the Enterprise himself, can convey to the reader an adequate idea of the arrangements and the management of it. The usual mode pursued by this gallant party on their adventurous voyage is thus described : — " Our plan of travelling being nearly the same through- out this excursion, after we first entered upon the ice, I may at once give some account of our usual mode of proceeding. It was my intention to travel wholly at night, and to rest by day, there being, of course, constant daylight in these regions during the summer season. The advantages of this plan, Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 291 which was occasionally deranged by circumstances, con- sisted, first, in our avoiding the intense and oppressive glare from the snow during the time of the sun's greatest altitude, so as to prevent, in some degree, the painful inflammation in the eyes, called 'snow-blindness,' which is common in all snowy countries. We also thus enjoyed greater warmth during the hours of rest, and had a better chance of drying our clothes ; besides which, no small advantage was derived from the snow being harder at night for travelling. The only disadvantage of this plan was, that the fogs were some- what more frequent and more thick by night than by day, though even in this respect there was less difference than might have been supposed, the temperature during the twenty-four hours undergoing but little variation. This travelling by night and sleeping by day so completely in- verted the natural order of things, that it was difficult to persuade ourselves of the reality. Even the officers and myself, who were all furnished with pocket chronometers, could not always bear in mind at what part of the twenty- four hours we had arrived ; and there were several of the men who declared, and I believe truly, that they never knew night from day during the whole excursion.* " When we rose in the evening, we commenced our day by prayers, after which we took off our fur sleeping-dresses, and put on those for travelling ; the former being made of * " Had we succeeded in reaching the higher latitudes, where the change of the sun's altitude during the twenty-four hours is still less perceptible, it would have been essentially necessary to possess the certain means of knowing this ; since an error of twelve hours of time would have carried us, when we intended to return, on a meridian opposite to, or 180° from, the right one. To obviate the possibility of this, we had some chronometers constructed by Messrs. Parkinson and Frodsham, of which the hour-hand made only one revolution in the day, the twenty-four hours being marked round the dial-plate." u 2 292 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. camlet, lined with racoon-skin, and the latter of strong blue box-cloth. "We made a point of always putting on the same stockings and boots for travelling in, whether they had dried during the day or not ; and I believe it was only in five or six instances, at the most, that they were not either still wet or hard frozen. This, indeed, was of no conse- quence, beyond the discomfort of first putting them on in this state, as they wrere sure to be thoroughly wet in a quarter of an hour after commencing our journey ; while, on the other hand, it was of vital importance to keep dry things for sleeping in. Being ' rigged ' for travelling, we break- fasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit, and after stowing the things in the boats and on the sledges, so as to secure them, as much as possible, from wet, we set off on our day's jour- ney, and usually travelled from five to five and a half hours, then stopped an hour to dine, and again travelled four, five, or even six hours, according to circumstances. After this we halted for the night, as we called it, though it was usually early in the morning, selecting the largest surface of ice we happened to be near, for hauling the boats on, in order to avoid the danger of its breaking up by coming in contact with other masses, and also to prevent drift as much as pos- sible. The boats were placed close alongside each other, with their sterns to the wind, the snow or wet cleared out of them, and the sails, supported by the bamboo masts and three paddles, placed over them as awnings, an entrance being left at the bow. Every man then immediately put on dry stockings and fur boots, after which we set about the necessary repairs of boats, sledges, or clothes ; and, after serving the provisions for the succeeding day, we went to supper. Most of the officers and men then smoked their pipes, which served to dry the boats and awnings very much, and usually raised the temperature of our lodgings 10 D or 15°. This part of the twenty- four hours was often a time, and the only one, of real enjoyment to us ; the men told Chap. IX. PAKllY'S'POLAK VOYAGE. 293 their stories, and 'fought all their battles o'er again,' and the labours of the day, unsuccessful as they too often were, were forgotten. A regular watch was set during our resting- time, to look out for bears, or for the ice breaking up round us, as well as to attend to the drying of the clothes, each man alternately taking this duty for one hour. We then concluded our day with prayers, and having put on our fur dresses, lay down to sleep with a degree of comfort which perhaps few persons would imagine possible under such cir- cumstances ; our chief inconvenience being, that we were somewhat pinched for room, and therefore obliged to stow rather closer than was quite agreeable. The temperature, while we slept, was usually from 36° to 45°, according to the state of the external atmosphere ; but on one or two occa- sions, in calm and warm weather, it rose as high as 60° to 6Q°, obliging us to throw off a part of our fur dress. After we had slept seven hours, the man appointed to boil the cocoa roused us, when it was ready, by the sound of a bugle, when we commenced our day in the manner before described. " Our allowance of provisions for each man per day was as follows : — Biscuit .... 10 ounces. Pemmican . . . 9 ,, Sweetened Cocoa Powder .1 „ to make one pint. Rum . . . .1 gill. Tobacco . , .3 ounces per week. Our fuel consisted entirely of spirits of wine, of which two pints formed our daily allowance, the cocoa being cooked in an iron boiler, over a shallow iron lamp, with seven wicks. We usually found one pint of the spirits of wine sufficient for preparing our breakfast, that is, for heating 28 pints of water, though it always commenced from the temperature of 32°. If the weather was calm and fair, this quantity of 294 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. fuel brought it to the boiling point in about an hour and a quarter, but more generally the wicks began to go out before it had reached 200°. This, however, made a very com- fortable meal to persons situated as we were. Such, with very little variation, was our regular routine during the whole of this excursion." — pp. 55 — 59. The party must have been grievously disap- pointed on finding the state of the ice wholly the reverse of what it had been represented before setting out. Instead of being a fine smooth level plain, " over which a coach might have been driven many leagues ;" instead of compact floes, it consisted entirely of small loose and rugged masses, oblig- ing them " to make three journeys, and sometimes four, with the boats and baggage, and to launch several times across narrow pools of water." And yet the descriptions given by Captain Lutwidge and Mr. Scoresby might be quite correct at the time, though now totally different, the condition of the ice varying from year to year. One day, we are told, during heavy rain, they advanced but half a mile in four hours. At another time, in thick weather, the ice was so much in motion as to make it dangerous to cross with loaded boats, the masses being so small. Another day they landed on a small floe, but " it proved so rugged that we were obliged to make three and sometimes four journeys with the boats and provisions, and this by a very circuitous route; so that the road by which we made a mile of northing, was a full mile and a half Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 295 in length, and over this we had to travel at least five, and sometimes seven times." In short, from the 25th, the day they started, to the 30th, it was found by an observation at midnight they had reached no higher than 81° 23'; " so that we had made only eight miles of northing since our last observation at noon on the 25th. " Captain Parry observes that the temperature by night and day being liable to little variation, was attended with some inconvenience with regard to noticing the time. To obviate any mistake which at or near the Pole might lead them, by taking the wrong twelve hours, to a meridian 180° from the intended one, they had some chronometers of which the hour-hand made only one revolution in the day, the twenty-four hours being marked round the dial-plate. — (See page 291 and Note on this subject.) The 1st July brought them to no better ice ; a few small floes occurred with pools of water between them, the ice less broken up, and sometimes toler- ably level ; but six to eighteen inches of soft snow lying on the surface made the travelling very fatiguing, and obliged the party to undergo at least two, and sometimes three, journeys with their loads. On the boats landing on a floe-piece, Parry and Ross generally walked on a-head to select the easiest road for the boats to follow; the sledges 296 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. came after them, by which the snow was trodden down, and made easier for the boats. What follows is too interesting to be omitted. " As soon as we arrived at the other end of the floe, or came to any difficult place, we mounted one of the highest hummocks of ice near at hand (many of which were from fifteen to twenty-five feet above the sea) in order to obtain a better view around us ; and nothing could well exceed the dreariness which such a view presented. The eye wearied itself in vain to find an object but ice and sky to rest upon ; and even the latter was often hidden from our view by the dense and dismal fogs which so generally prevailed. For want of variety the most trifling circumstance engaged a more than ordinary share of our attention ; a passing gull, a mass of ice of unusual form, became objects which our situation and circumstances magnified into ridiculous im- portance ; and we have since often smiled to remember the eager interest with which we regarded many insignificant occurrences. It may well be imagined, then, how cheering it was to turn from this scene of inanimate desolation to our two little boats in the distance, to see the moving figures of our men winding with their sledges among the hummocks, and to hear once more the sound of human voices breaking the stillness of this icy wilderness. In some cases Lieu- tenant Ross and myself took separate routes to try the ground, which kept us almost continually floundering among deep snow and water. The sledges having been brought up as far as we had explored, we all went back for the boats ; each boat's crew, when the road was tolerable, dragging their own, and the officers labouring equally hard with the men. It was thus we proceeded for nine miles out of every ten that we travelled over ice ; for it was very rarely indeed that we met with a surface sufficiently level and hard to Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 297 drag all our loads at one journey, and in a great many instances, during the first fortnight, we had to make three journeys with the boats and baggage ; that is, to traverse the same road five times over."— pp. 67, 68. When they had the good fortune to reach a small floe, the snow on its surface was so deep, and the pools of water so frequent, that after a laborious day's work the distance traversed was perhaps two miles, arid rarely exceeded five. The snow more- over was so soft as to take them up to the knee at almost every other step, and frequently still deeper ; so that they were sometimes five minutes together in moving a single empty boat with all their united strength. The rain produced a greater effect on the snow than the sun. Parry says that Ross and himself, in their pioneering duty, were so frequently beset, that sometimes, after trying in vain to extri- cate their legs, they were obliged to sit down to rest themselves; and the men in dragging the sledges were often under the necessity of crawling on all fours to make any progress at all. In one place thev were more than two hours in proceeding one hundred and fifty yards. Yet the men worked with cheerfulness and good will, hoping to reach the spot (though they had long passed it), where Captain Lutwidge found " one continued plain of smooth unbroken ice, bounded only by the horizon." One day of great fatigue, after stopping to empty their boots and wring their stockings, 298 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. " We halted for the night at half an hour before mid- night, the people being almost exhausted with a laborious day's work, and our distance made good to the northward not exceeding two miles and a quarter. We allowed our- selves this night a hot supper, consisting of a pint of soup per man, made of an ounce of pemmican each, and eight or ten birds which we had killed in the course of the last week ; and this was a luxury which persons thus situated could perhaps alone duly appreciate. We had seen in the course of the day a few rotges, a dovekie, a loom, a mollemuck, and two or three very small seals." — p. 70. On the 12th of July they had reached the latitude 82° 14' 28"; a brilliant day and clear sky over- head, " an absolute luxury to us." The pools and streams on the floes increased, and caused the men to make a very circuitous route. " If anything could have compensated for the delay these occa- sioned us, it would have been the beautiful blue colour peculiar to these super-glacial lakes, which is certainly one of the most pleasing tints in nature.' ' The next day they were in lat. 82° IT 10"; no bot- tom with 400 fathoms of line ; temperature of water brought up, 31°; of surface water, 32J°; of the ice, 33°; of the air, 36°. "On this day we saw," says Parry, " during this last journey, a mollemuck, and a second Ross gull ; and a couple of small flies (to us an event of ridiculous importance) were found upon the ice," but whether living or dead, is not recorded. No improvement on the 14th, after five hours' unceasing labour; the progress was a mile and a Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 299 half due north ; though from three to four miles had been traversed, and ten at least walked, having made three journeys a great part of the way ; launched and hauled up the boats four times, and dragged them over twenty-five separate pieces of ice ; no improvement in the travelling. " After more than eleven hours of actual labour on the 18th, re- quiring for the most part our whole strength to be exerted, we had travelled over a space not exceeding four miles, of which only two were made good." But this snail-like progress was not the worst that befel them ; it was very small, but still it was progress. Now, however, the 20th of July, Parry says, " We halted at 7 a.m., having, by our reckoning accom- plished six miles and a half in a N.N.W. direction, the distance traversed being ten miles and a half. It may therefore be imagined how great was our mortification in finding that our latitude by observation at noon was only 82° 36' 52", being less than five miles to the northward of our place at noon on the 17th, since which time we had certainly travelled twelve in that direction." — p. 94. Under these discouraging circumstances it was deemed prudent to avoid making the fact known to the men; at the same time a very serious calamity was narrowly escaped : the floe, on which they were, broke under the weight of the boats and sledges, and the latter were nearly lost through the ice ; some of the men too went through, and were providentially saved. On the 22nd, however, the ice had consi- 300 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. derably improved ; the floes large and tolerably level, and some good lanes of water occurring, it was calculated they had made between ten and eleven miles, and traversed a distance of about seventeen, after more than twelve hours' actual travelling, by which the people were extremely fatigued ; " but while the work," says Parry, " seemed to be repaid by anything like progress, the men laboured with great cheerfulness to the utmost of their strength." It may readily be ima- gined that the improvement of the ice, and with, it the increased progress, gave much satisfaction ; though the encouraging prospect was but of short duration. " In proportion then to the hopes we had begun to enter- tain, was our disappointment in finding at noon that we were in latitude 82° 43' 5", or not quite four miles to the north- ward of yesterday's observation, instead of the ten or eleven which we had travelled ! However, we determined to con- tinue to the last our utmost exertions, though we could never once encourage the men by assuring them of our making good progress ; and setting out at seven in the evening, soon found that our hope of having permanently reached better ice was not to be realized, for the floe on which we slept was so full of hummocks, that it occupied us just six hours to cross it, the distance in a straight line not exceeding two miles and a half." — pp. 98, 99. Such a result was disheartening enough to the officers, who knew to what little effect the struggles were made, of which, however, the men appeared to Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 301 have no suspicion, though Parry says, u they often laughingly remarked that ' we were a long time getting to this 83°.' This was merely the point assumed, as the}T certainly had no suspicion that on their arrival at that point they would have been entitled to one thousand pounds.* But had they known it thev could not have laboured more ear- nestly than they did. In their slow advance to the northward the ice became so small that a single piece only could be found to place the boats upon. On the 26th Parry says, " The weather improving towards noon on the 26th, we obtained the meridian altitude of the sun, by which we found ourselves in latitude 82° 40' 23;/ ; so that, since our last observation (at midnight on the 22nd), we had lost by drift no less than thirteen miles and a half; for we were now more than three miles to the southward of that observation, though we had certainly travelled between ten and eleven due north in this interval ! Again, we were but one mile to the north of our place at noon on the 21st, though we had estimated our distance made good at twenty-three miles. Thus it appeared that for the last five days we had been struggling against a southerly drift exceeding four miles a day."— p. 102. It now became obvious that the sea in this lati- tude had assumed a character utterly unfit for the kind of navigation, or rather of floe-travelling, which had hitherto been pursued — in short, that it had become hopeless to pursue the journey any further. * By order in council. 302 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. " It had, for some time past, been too evident that the nature of the ice with which we had to contend was such, and its drift to the southward, especially with a northerly wind, so great, as to put beyond our reach anything but a very moderate share of success in travelling to the north- ward. Still, however, we had been anxious to reach the highest latitude which our means would allow, and with this view, although our whole object had long become unattain- able, had pushed on to the northward for thirty-five days, or until half our resources were expended, and the middle of our season arrived. For the last few days the eighty- third parallel was the limit to which we had ventured to extend our hopes ; but even this expectation had become considerably weakened since the setting in of the last north- erly wind, which continued to drive us to the southward during the necessary hours of rest, nearly as much as we could gain by eleven or twelve hours of daily labour. Had our success been at all proportionate to our exertions, it was my full intention to have proceeded a few days beyond the middle of the period for which we were provided, trusting to the resources we expected to find at Table Island. But this was so far from being the case, that I could not but consider it as incurring useless fatigue to the officers and men, and unnecessary wear and tear for the boats, to per- severe any longer in the attempt. I determined, therefore, on giving the people one entire day's rest, which they very much needed, and time to wash and mend their clothes, while the officers were occupied in making all the observa- tions which might be interesting in this latitude ; and then to set out on our return on the following day. Hav- ing communicated my intentions to the people, who were all much disappointed in finding how little their labours had effected, we set about our respective occupations, and were much favoured by a remarkably fine day." — pp. 102, 104. Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 303 In fact, the commander of the expedition, the officers and men, had all of them been laboriously and uselessly employed for thirty-five days of con- tinuous and most fatiguing drudgery, to be com- pared in its effect to nothing less than the labour of rolling the stone of Sisyphus, the floe on which they were traversing, as they supposed, ten or twelve miles one day, having rolled them back again ten or twelve miles, and often more, the next. The furthest point of latitude reached was on the 23rd, and probably was to 82° 45' ; that of their return 82° 40' 23", and long. 19° 25' east. The day was one of the warmest and most pleasant they yet had experienced upon the ice ; the thermometer only from 31° to 36° in the shade, and 37° in the sun ; no bottom with 500 fathoms of line. " At the extreme point of our journey our distance from the Hecla was only one hundred and seventy-two miles in a S. 8° TV. direction. To accomplish this distance we had traversed by our reckoning, two hundred and ninety-two miles, of which about one hundred were performed by water previously to our entering the ice. As we travelled by far the greater part of our distance on the ice, three, and not unfrequently five, times over, wre may safely multiply the length of the road by two and a half; so that our whole distance, on a very moderate calculation, amounted to five hundred and eighty geographical, or six hundred and sixty - eight statute miles, being nearly sufficient to have reached the Pole in a direct line. Up to this period we had been particularly fortunate in the preservation of our health ; neither sickness nor casualties having occurred among us, 304 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. with the exception of the trifling accidents already men- tioned, a few bowel complaints, which were soon removed by care, and some rather troublesome cases of chilblains, arising from our constant exposure to wet and cold." — pp. 104, 105. On this day of rest from their labours, Parry says, " Our ensigns and pendants were displayed during the day ; and severely as we regretted not having been able to hoist the British flag in the highest latitude to which we had aspired, we shall perhaps be excused in having felt some little pride in being the bearers of it to a parallel consider- ably beyond that mentioned in any other well-authenticated record." On the 27th thev set out on their return to the southward, and, says Parry, " I can safely say that, dreary and cheerless as were the scenes we were about to leave, we never turned homew7ards with so little satisfaction as on this occasion." No man nor body of men are chargeable with blame for not accomplishing impossibilities : the party in question have done more than had ever been done at any time, or more probably than will ever be done again on the same plan ; it is much to say that they succeeded, in advancing towards the Pole of the earth, to" a point which no human being before them had ever reached, and after a cheerful and patient endurance of laborious drudgery, which, it is to be hoped, no human being will ever hereafter be induced to repeat. It will not be necessary to follow our voyagers Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 30o on their return ; the permanency of the southern current, for so it would seem, afforded them the satisfaction of feeling, that whatever length of jour- ney they made to the northward would be so much gain, and no back-sliding; every mile would tell ; they had, moreover, the advantage which is noticed by Parry, of getting rid of the glare from the snow, on account of the lowness of the sun at night, as also the comfortable change when looking out for the road ; and had the sun be- hind them, instead of facing it, as on the out- ward journey. Nothing very remarkable occurred on. their return. A quantity of snow was met with, tinged to the depth of several inches with some red colouring matter : this red snow occurred in two or three spots, some of which they bottled, and found, on examination in England by Sir William Hooker, as former specimens were, to be the Palmella nivalis, one of the Algae, and which, long before, Bauer had pronounced to be Uredo nivalis. "A fat she-bear crossed over a lane of water to visit us, and approaching the boats within twenty yards, was killed by Lieut. Ross. The scene which followed was laughable, even to us who participated in it. Before the animal had done biting the snow, one of the men was alongside of her with an open knife, and being asked what he was about to do, replied, that he was going to cut out the heart and liver, to put into the pot which happened to be then boiling for our supper. In short, before the bear had been dead an x 306 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. hour, all hands of us were employed, to our great satisfac- tion, in discussing the merits not only of the said heart and liver, but a pound per man of the flesh ; besides which, some or other of the men were constantly frying steaks during the whole day, over a large fire made of the blubber." —p. 114. The consequence of thus gormandizing on fat bear's flesh was obvious. Devoured as it was with such avidity by the men, some of them complained for several days of pains such as usually arise from indigestion, " though they all," says Parry, " amus- ingly enough, attributed this effect to the quality, and not the quantity of meat they had eaten." On the 8th of August they hauled up the boats only once, and had made, though by a winding channel, four or five miles of southing. " This was so un- usual a circumstance, that we could not help enter- taining some hope of our being at no great distance from the open sea, which seemed the more pro- bable from our having seen seven or eight narwhals, and not less than two hundred rotges, a flock of these little birds occurring in eveiy hole of water." On the 10th, a strong southerly wind that had blown from that quarter for the last thirty hours, had blown them back to the northward only four miles, which it is said " afforded a last and striking proof of the general tendency of the ice to drift southwards about the meridians on which we had been travel- ling." Arrived at 81° 30', the sea was found to be Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 307 crowded with shrimps and other sea-insects, prin- cipally the Clio Borealis and Argonauta Arctica, on which numerous birds were feeding. This was the 11th of August; on the morning of which the first sound of the swell was heard under the hollow margins of the ice, and in a quarter of an hour we reached the open sea, which was dashing with heavy surges against the outer masses. " We hauled our boats," says Parry, " upon one of these, to eat our last meal upon the ice." They were now fifty miles distant from Table Island, which they reached about noon, and found that the bears had devoured all the bread, which occasioned a remark among the men, that " Bruin was only square with us." Captain Parry's observation on finally quitting the ice, after taking up his abode upon it for forty-eight days, was, " I cannot describe the comfort we expe- rienced in once more feeling a dry and solid foot- ing." Of the forty-eight days, thirty-three were passed on the outward, and fifteen on the return voyage ; such is the difference between going with the stream and against it. Table Island, however, afforded no place for the men to rest. So rugged and inhospitable is this northern rock, that not a single spot was found where the boats could be hauled up. To the islet lying off Table Island, which, Parry says, " is inter- esting, as being the northernmost known land upon the globe, I have applied the name of Lieutenant x 2 308 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. Ross in the chart ;" adding, " for I believe no indi- vidual can have exerted himself more strenuously to rob it of this distinction." Anything that con- fers a distinction on the name of James Ross is worthy of recording ; and such is the following pas- sage from Sir William Hooker on the " Botany :"— " Those species that were gathered in Ross's Islet are peculiarly interesting, from the circumstance of that island constituting the most northern known land in the world." The plants named are — Bryum — Hypnum (two species) — Tricostomum — Polytrichum — Jungermannia — Gyrophora (Rock- tripe, two species), Cetraria — Cenomyce (Rein- deer grass, two species), Stercoiolon — Sphseropho- ron — Alectoria — Cornicularia — Ulva— Philota. It was not till the 21st of August that they ar- rived on board the Hecla, after an absence of sixty- one days, " being received, " says Parry, "with that warm and cordial welcome which can alone be felt and not described." Thus ended at Spitzbergen this novel and perilous expedition, of which, though the object was not accomplished, every officer and man employed in it may be proud. Thus far Parry concludes his narrative : " The distance traversed during this excursion was five hundred and sixty-nine geographical miles; but allowing for the number of times we had to return for our baggage during the greater part of the journeys over the ice, we estimated our actual travelling at nine hundred and seventy- Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 309 eight geographical, or eleven hundred and twenty-seven statute miles. Considering our constant exposure to wet, cold, and fatigue, our stockings having generally been drenched in snow-wTater for twelve hours out of every four- and-twenty, I had great reason to be thankful for the excel- lent health in which, upon the whole, we reached the ship. There is no doubt that we had all become, in a certain de- gree, gradually weaker for some time past ; but only three men of our party now required medical care, two of them with badly swelled legs and general debility, and the other from a bruise ; but even these three returned to their duty in a short time. " I cannot conclude the account of our proceedings with-- out endeavouring to do justice to the cheerful alacrity and unwearied zeal displayed by my companions, both officers and men, in the course of this excursion ; and if steady per- severance and active exertion on their parts could have accomplished our object, success would undoubtedly have crowned our labours. I must also mention, to the credit of the officers of Woolwich Dockyard, who took so much pains in the construction of our boats, that notwithstanding the constant and severe trial to which their strength had been put — and a more severe trial could not well be devised — not a timber was sprung, a plank split, or the smallest injury sustained by them ; they were indeed as tight and as fit for service when we reached the ship, as when they were first received on board, and in every respect answered the intended purpose admirably.'* * — pp. 1'28, 129. Captain Parry gives all due credit for the diligent and active manner in which Lieutenants Foster and Crozier fulfilled their instructions during his ab- * A well-deserved compliment to the artificers of that yard, and to their able master-shipwright, Mr. Oliver Lang. 310 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. sence, and for the complete state in which he found the Hecla on his return— the various observations interesting to science sedulously performed, speci- mens of natural history carefully collected and pre- served, and all the duties of the ship carried on to his perfect satisfaction. Many interesting observa- tions were made on the inclination, dip, and in- tensity of the magnetic needle. "Among other magnetical observations," says Parry, " an interest- ing series of hourly experiments had been made on the diurnal changes of variation and intensity, and continued for several days without interruption, by the two Lieutenants." From these it appears that a diurnal oscillation of the magnetic needle takes place, usually amounting to about a degree and a half, and in some instances to 2f°, the maximum variation being about 4h 22' p.m. The change of intensity giving an increased action, was about 10h 20' a.m., and minimum intensity about mid- night. The animals met with on the shores of Treuren- berg Bay and of Waygat Strait were of the same kind, but less plentiful than those on the west coast of Spitzbergen ; they consisted chiefly of sea-horses, narwhals, and white whales, but no black ones ; the more common animals were principally reindeer, bears, foxes, glaucous and ivory gulls, tern, eider- ducks, and grouse. Seventy reindeer were killed, chiefly small, and until the middle of August not Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 311 in good condition ; they were met with in herds, from six or eight to twenty. Three bears were killed, one of which was of more than ordinary dimensions, measuring eight feet four inches from the snout to the root of the tail. The boat expedition was less fortunate with re- gard to animals; few living creatures were seen, and these mostly gulls, and one insect found on a piece of ice, and it was a dead Aphis. It has a chapter to itself in the Appendix, headed Insect. Parry says, " I am indebted to the friendship of Mr. J. Curtis for the following description of the only insect that was obtained during the voyage." The description gives no intelligible information, only that it resembles another species called A. picea. " The circumstance of the Aphis borealis having been found on floating floes of ice on the Polar Sea, at one hundred miles distance from the nearest known land, and as far north as 82|°, ren- ders it in a more than ordinary degree interesting. As the one it resembles feeds on the silver fir, so it is supposed that the floating trees of fir that are to be found so abundantly on the shores and to the northward of Spitzbergen, might possibly be the means by which this insect has been transported to the northern regions." Perhaps so; but it may be asked by what possible means were the Jirs thus transported ? Sir Edward Parry, at the conclusion of his nar- 312 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. rative, after observing that the object is of more difficult attainment than was before supposed, even by those persons who were the best qualified to judge of it, is still of opinion that, after much consideration, and some experience of the various difficulties which belong to it, he cannot re- commend any material improvement in the plan lately adopted. With all deference to the opinion of so distinguished a sea-officer in possession of so much experience as Sir Edward Parry, there are others who express dislike of such a plan ; and it is not improbable, that many of his readers will be disposed to come to the conclusion, that so long as the Greenland Seas are hampered with ice, so long as floes and hummocks and heavy masses continue to be formed — so long as a determined southerly current prevails ; so long will any attempt to carry out the plan in question in like manner fail. No laborious drudgery will ever be able to conquer the oppos- ing progress of the current and the ice. Besides, it can hardly be doubted this gallant officer will admit, on further consideration, that this un- usual kind of disgusting and unseamanlike-labour is not precisely such as would be relished by the men ; and it may be said, is not exactly fitted for a British man-of-war's man ; moreover, that it re- quired his own all-powerful example to make it even tolerable. Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 313 The narrative having thus far advanced, a con- versation with Sir Edward Parry prepared the writer in some degree for the following letter : "Admiralty, 25th Nov. 1845. " My dear Sir John, — Understanding that you are pre- paring an account of the proceedings of all the expeditions by- sea and land which have been engaged in Arctic discovery in our own times, I venture to trouble you with my present views as to the practicability of reaching the North Pole over the ice, to which you may possibly make allusion in the course of the interesting narratives which you have under- taken. "It is evident that the causes of failure in our former attempt in the year 1827 were principally two : first, and chiefly, the broken, rugged, and soft state of the surface of the ice over which we travelled ; and secondly, the drifting of the whole body of ice in a southerly direction. On ma- ture re-consideration of all the circumstances attending this enterprise, I am induced to alter the opinion I gave as to its practicability in my Journal, p. 144 ; because I believe it to be an object of no very difficult attainment, if set about in a different maimer. My plan is, to go out with a single ship to Spitzbergen, just as we did in the Hecla, but not so early in the season ; the object for that year being merely to find secure winter quarters as far north as possible. For this purpose it would only be necessary to reach Hakluyt's Headland by the end of June, which would afford ample leisure for examining the more northern lands, especially about the Seven Islands, where, in all probability, a secure nook might be found for the ship, and a starting point for the proposed expedition, some forty or fifty miles in advance of the point where the Hecla was before laid up. The winter might be usefully employed in various preparations for the journey, as well as in magnetic, astronomical, and 314 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. meteorological observations of high interest in that latitude. I propose that the expedition should leave the ship in the course of the month of April, when the ice would present one hard and unbroken surface, over which, as I confidently believe, it would not be difficult to make good thirty miles per day without any exposure to wet, and probably without snow-blindness. At this season, too, the ice would probably be stationary, and thus the two great difficulties which we formerly had to encounter would be entirely obviated. It might form a part of the plan to push out supplies previously, to the distance of one hundred miles, to be taken up on the way, fso as to commence the journey comparatively light ; and as the intention would be to complete the enterprise in the course of the month of May, before any disruption of the ice or any material softening of the surface had taken place, similar supplies might be sent out to the same dis- tance, to meet the party on their return. "It might, further, be worth while to take reindeer from Hammerfest in passing, with the chance of keeping them alive during the winter on such farinaceous food as the pro- vision of the ship could furnish. " I will only add, that this plan might be accomplished without the ship incurring any material risk, since the navi- gation both out and home need only be performed at a sea- son when the sea is very little encumbered with ice ; and, moreover, an opportunity would be afforded during two sea- sons, of stretching far to the northward in the ship if the state of the ice should prove favourable. " I remain, yours, &c. " Sir John Barrow, Bart." " W. Parry. The plan here described is no doubt an im- provement over the one that failed ; but without presuming too much, not being altogether un- acquainted with a ship's navigating among what Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 315 is called sailing-ice, it may be allowable to sug- gest another and a different plan, and perhaps on the whole less objectionable. It would consist of two small ships similar to those which, after three years' service in the Antarctic Seas, are now engaged in the ice of the North Polar Seas; they should be sent in the early spring along the western coast of Spitzbergen, where usually no im- pediment exists, as far up as 80° ; take every oppor- tunity of proceeding directly to the north, where, about 82°, Parry has told us, the large floes had dis- appeared, and the sea there was found to be loaded only with loose, disconnected, small masses of ice, through which ships would find no difficulty in sailing, though totally unfit for boats dragging ; and as this loose ice was drifting to the southward, he further says, that before the middle of August a ship might have sailed up to the latitude of 82°, almost without touching a piece of ice. It is not then unreasonable to expect that beyond that pa- rallel, even as far as the Pole itself, the sea would be free of ice during the six summer months of perpetual sun through each of the twenty-four hours ; which, with the aid of the current, would in all probability destroy and dissipate the Polar ice. If then, on the return of Sir John Franklin's ships, the screw-propeller supplied to each should have been found to answer, a fair opportunity 316 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. would be afforded of deciding the question. The trial would soon be made, and from the experience of Parry would be made without danger of loss to ships or men, for it is probable they would not have any ice-bound shores to contend with. The distance from Hakluyt's Headland to the Pole is 600 geographical miles. Granting the ships to make only twenty miles in twenty-four hours (on the supposition of much sailing-ice to go through), even in that case it would require but a month to enable the explorer to put his foot on the pivot or point of the axis on which the globe of the earth turns ; remain there a month, if ne- cessary, to obtain the sought-for information, and then, with a southerly current, a fortnight, probably less, would bring him back to Spitzbergen. To such as may venture to raise their feeble ob- jections against this, and other daring enterprises if not attended with the prospect of probable pro- fit, let them receive the answer given by that brave old navigator, Sir Martin Frobisher, when attempts were made by his friends to dissuade him from engaging in the discovery of a north-west passage — " It is the only thing -in the world that is left yet undone, whereby a notable mind might be made famous and fortunate." We may still say — " The North-Pole is the only thing in the world about which we know nothing ; and that want of all knowledge ought to operate as a spur to adopt Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 317 the means of wiping away that stain of ignorance from this enlightened age." But there are others besides the utilitarians that make objections to inquiries of this nature, on the score of religious prejudices ; and will say, that God never intended us to scrutinize places against which He had set his barrier. Thus the Rev. Lewis Way, the wealthy proprietor of Stansted, and so staunch an advocate for the conversion of the Jews, that he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with that object in view — this reverend gentleman one day said to a friend, " I know Sir Joseph Banks very well, and he was a good friend of mine, though he used to joke with me sometimes about my endeavour to convert the Jews ; but I told him that my scheme was, at any rate, a much wiser one than his ; he was trying to send ships to the North Pole, which it was clear God never intended ; while the con- version of the Jews was an event which we all know was to be brought about some time or other." This may be looked upon, as doubtless Sir Joseph Banks looked upon it, as sheer nonsense. Every intelligent mind must be satisfied, that the more closely we investigate the works of the creation, the more, as rational beings, we must be convinced that nothing therein has been made in vain, nor without a preconceived and settled design, the finished work of a beneficent and Almighty Power ; and if Mr. Lewis Way had recollected a passage in the most 318 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. ancient record of his favourite Jews, he would re- collect his having found therein, that God gave to man " dominion over all the earth," and made no exception of the North Pole. The Royal Society, however, and the Commis- sioners of Longitude, were less scrupulous on the subject. To encourage a visit to the North Pole they recommended to His Majesty in Council, to pass an Order granting the payment of a reward of five thousand pounds to the first ship that shall approach within one degree of the North Pole. This Order is not to be considered as merely an in- ducement for making the attempt, but chiefly to manifest their opinion of the value of the scheme. It is pretty well understood that British naval officers, who, like Parry, Franklin, and others, embark on arduous and hazardous enterprises of this nature, are influenced not so much by motives of pecu- niary rewards, as by the hope of contributing, by their exertions, to the enlargement of knowledge and science ; their additional object, and that a laudable one, being the acquirement of present reputation and future fame. " Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble minds) To scorn delights and live laborious days." Dr. Johnson said that the man who had seen the Great Wall of China might be considered as shedding a lustre on his grandchildren. But what Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 319 is the wall of China? which has not only been seen by Lord Macartney and his party, but scaled, and its broad parapet trodden on, by them. With how much more brilliant a lustre would this great moralist have decorated the descendants of that man, who had stood on the pivot whereon this globe of ours for ever turns, and hoisted the British flag on the most remarkable spot on the earth's surface? The wall of China may be seen any day, and any one without the least difficulty might ob- tain a view of it, by a trip in one of our yachts to the Gulf of Leatung, into which it descends and terminates. To describe what a visitor to the Pole might ob- tain in the way of science, it can only be said, in our present state of ignorance, that the whole field would be open to him ; every thing would be novel, and that alone would rouse his attentive faculties. Est hominum natura novitatis avida. The difficulties that would occur may be appreciated at home, but they will be greater or less according to circum- stances, of which we yet know nothing; that is, whether the Pole be covered with an open sea, an icy sea, or by land ; and which of the three would create the greatest difficulties in the way of acquir- ing information ? In all respects an open sea would appear to be the most disadvantageous. In the first place it would in all probability be so deep, that the ship could not anchor; or deep 320 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX- enough not to admit of her keeping steadily her place for making accurate observations ; in the next, by her moving about, her commander would very speedily find out that, as every meridian must lie in the direction of south, he had lost that on which he had approached the Pole; and conse- quently would be at a loss to shape his course homewards. The settling of this point will na- turally suggest itself as first among the many novel phenomena which will arrest his attention ; and the following observations will probably occur to him. In the first place, it will be obvious that the time of day— or rather, of the twenty-four hours — would no longer be marked by any apparent change in the altitude of the sun above the horizon ; because, to an observer at the Pole, no such change would take place, except to the small amount of the daily change of declination. Thus, not only to the eye, but also for the practical purpose of obtaining the time by astronomical observation, the sun would appear throughout the twenty-four hours neither to rise nor fall, but to describe a circle round the heavens parallel to the horizon. It follows that this mode of obtaining the time would utterly fail ; and, indeed, however startling the fact may seem, it may nevertheless be asserted with truth, that there would no longer be any such thing, strictly speaking, as apparent time at all. This will appear Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 321 clear by considering that apparent time refers only to the particular meridian on which an observer happens to be placed, and is marked and deter- mined only by the distance of the sun or other heavenly body from that meridian. An observer at the Pole being on no one meridian, but at the point where all meridians meet, apparent time has to him no longer either existence or meaning. Before our navigators entered upon this expe- dition, their attention was naturally directed to the best, and, indeed, only certain, method of ensuring their return from the Pole on the right meridian. Two methods, and, we believe, only two, present themselves for this purpose ; the one being by the compass, the other by means of chronometers, From the observations already made in the Arctic regions, it may be considered as certain that, at the Pole, the magnetic needle would freely traverse, and the compass remain an efficient practical instrument. For as it is to the magnetic pole, and not to the pole of the earth, that the needle is directed, and as the dip of the needle only amounts to 82° 22' at the most northerly point yet reached, it is probable that the horizontal or directive force of the needle would continue strong and efficient at the Pole ; and consequently, that the magnetic bearing of any point on the globe might be accurately obtained by it. Indeed, none of the singular phenomena relat- ing to the magnetic needle observed by Parry on 322 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. his former voyage through Barrow's Strait, such as the north end of the needle pointing due south, and then south-east, and the entire uselessness of the compasses, owing to the iron in the ship proving stronger than the directive power of the needle, were to be anticipated on reaching the pole of the earth. For the same reason it was not to be .ex- pected that the achievement since performed by his gallant companion James Ross, of actually planting the British flag on the magnetic Pole, could now be accomplished, as it was already known that the point upon the earth's surface which is so designated, lay in a much lower latitude. The other method of ensuring the return of our travellers upon the right meridian, namely, by means of chronometers, was one which required some consideration. It is obvious that to an ob- server standing upon the Pole, the sun would, at the precise moment of apparent noon at any given place, appear to the observer exactly in the direc- tion of that place, and that consequently this, as ascertained by chronometers, would prove an un- erring guide as to the right direction. But in the ordinary mode of marking the dial-plates of watches, from one hour to twelve only, there was reason to apprehend that the wrong twelve o'clock might be taken, under circumstances of constant sunshine, and without any change in the altitude of that luminary, to distinguish day from night. To avoid Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 323 the possibility of this mistake, the precaution was taken of constructing chronometers (each officer carrying one in his pocket), having the dial-plates marked with twenty-four hours, and the hour-hand making only one revolution in that period. Thus, whenever the chronometers indicated apparent noon at Greenwich, the sun would be exactly over the meridian of that place, and so of any other place of known longitude ; for instance, the harbour where our travellers had left their ship, and to which they desired to return. In visiting a part of the globe on which the foot of man has never before trodden, it is impossible to say what benefits may accrue to science. But, in the enterprise to which we are now alluding, there is one object of the very highest scientific interest which might be attained by travelling to the Pole — namely, the measurement of a degree of the me- ridian commencing from the Pole itself. Many readers of this narrative are aware, that the form of the globe has long since been ascertained to be that of an oblate spheroid, having its equatorial diameter considerably longer than the polar ; in more popular language, that the earth is flattened at the poles. But it still remains a matter of doubt in what de- gree this flattening exists ; and as no method of as- certaining this is so conclusive as the actual measure- ment of a meridian at the Pole and at the Equator, this object alone would well repay any effort that might be made to effect it ; but if a sufficient length y2 324 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. of line could be measured in one of the meridians that are clustered on the Pole, the difficulty of pre- serving it would require the most rigid attention. The swinging of a pendulum is perhaps a less accurate method of obtaining the ellipticity of the earth, but it is the operation of a single person, whereas the actual measurement of the meridian line requires several ; and as an increase of gravi- tation takes place from the Equator to the Pole, the latter makes it most desirable that the requisite observations should be made there, or as near to it as possible ; but a ship on an open or icy sea would not answer.* The tides at the Pole would be an interesting subject to examine ; but it does not appear that any contrivance on an open sea, or a sea of ice, could be made use of to ascertain the rise and fall. Magnetism, atmospherical electricity, and the Aurora Polaris, and all other meteorological obser- vations, would afford scope enough on board ship. Should land, however small the portion, be found at or near the Pole, all the various observa- tions would be conducted to a successful issue. It may be presumed that any such land will not be mountainous, as no icebergs are ever sent down from that quarter, these masses having been ascer- tained as products of glaciers on the sides and valleys of high mountains, as in Spitzbergen and Green- * The reader is referred to the several portions of this volume for the pendulum observations that have been made and herein given. Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 325 land. On a piece of land the pendulum may be swung, and the rise, fall, and direction of the tides observed. It would also be interesting to examine into the nature of the soil, and its vegetable produc- tions ; the disposition of the strata, and the mineral products, if any : and if the land be of a tolerable extent, a meridional distance may be measured. Other matters of interest and novelty would occur to a scientific and skilful observer. These are mere speculations, thrown out at random, but may serve, among other suggestions, as objects of attention. Captain Sir Edward Parry, having now con- cluded his fifth voyage into the Arctic regions, in four of which he commanded, and was second in the other ; and there being no further attempt in contemplation at the conclusion of the last voyage to continue the search, he deemed it expedient to close his honourable and useful naval career, at least in sea-going ships ; and it may therefore not be out of place here to put on record a memorandum of the valuable services rendered to his country in various situations, and to the navy in particular, with whose interests he is still connected. It has been stated, in the fifst Arctic voyage, in what manner he was introduced into that line of service, by being selected to command one of the discovery ships. In 1818. The Alexander, as Lieutenant-Commanding ; being second to Commander Ross. 326 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. 1819. The Hecla. — Appointed as Lieutenant to command her, and as Commander of the expedition : two years. 1820. The Fury.- — Appointed as Commander, and to the command of the expedition ; advanced to the rank of Captain in November, 1821. 1823. Acting Hydrographer to the Admiralty, 1823, in the room of Captain Hurd, deceased. 1824. Hecla. — Appointed as Captain (though only a sloop) and as commander of the expedition. Acting Hydrographer, second appointment, the va- cancy not having been filled up. 1826. Appointed to the command of the Hecla, and of the expedition towards the North Pole. 1827. Third appointment as Hydrographer, and continued to act until May, 1829 : and in the same year received the honour of knighthood. Resigned the situation of Hydrographer, and Captain Beaufort appointed, who still holds it. 1829. Went out to New South Wales, as Commissioner to the Australian Agricultural Company, by per- mission of the Admiralty, and returned in Novem- ber, 1834. 1835. Assistant Poor-Law Commissioner in Norfolk ; but his health failing, laid by for one year. 1837. Appointed to organize the Packet Service, then transferred to the Admiralty. 1837. Appointed Comptroller of Steam Machinery, in which important situation he still remains ; a situation that requires all that talent and assiduous atten- tion which he is known to possess, and which it is to be hoped he may long continue to hold, to his own satisfaction, and for the benefit of the public service. Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 327 The character and conduct of Sir Edward Parry, as a Captain in command of a ship of war, has been fully exhibited in the present narrative, abridged as it is : prompt in difficulty, cool in danger, fertile in expedients, and rich in resources, he was never unprepared in the hour of need : to the people under his charge he was kind, consider- ate, and attentive ; and while rigidly exacting the performance of their duties, was ever studious to administer to their comforts and their welfare, in- structing them that these benefits could only be acquired and preserved by a strict obedience to command, steady good conduct, and due regard to the duties of religion. If an officer who has accompanied Captain Parry in all his Arctic and Polar voyages were passed over in silence, it would properly be considered as a dereliction of justice and of duty, in the writer of this narrative. The following memorandum of Captain Sir James Ross's services will put the reader in possession of an abstract of what he has performed : — In April, 1812, he entered the navy. 18121 to 1817. 1818 Admiralty Midshipman in the Isabella in Com- mander Ross's voyage of discovery to the Arctic seas. 1819 ) Admiralty Midshipman in the Hecla, in Captain 1820 I Parry's 1st voyage of discovery to the Arctic seas. Volunteer 1st class, Midshipman, and Mate with Commander Ross. 328 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. 1821 1 Admiralty Midshipman in the Fury in Captain 1822 1 Parry's 2nd voyage of discovery to the Arctic seas ; 1823] was made Lieutenant, 26th December, 1822. 1824j Lieutenant in the Fury, Captain Hoppner, 3rd voyage -,«* A of Captain Parry. To draw charts and make 1825] . r J I drawings. 1827 First-Lieutenant in the Hecla, Captain Parry ; ac- companied him in command of the 2nd boat in his attempt to reach the North Pole. Promoted on return, 8th November, 1827. 1829] In private steam-vessel, Victory. to > On the 1st of June, 1831, planted the Union-jack on 1833J tne North Magnetic Pole. On return presented by the College of Arms with an addition to the arms of Ross ; representing the flag flying on the Magnetic Pole, with additional crest, " on a rock, a flag-staff erect, thereon hoisted the Union-jack, inscribed with the date, 1st June, 1831." 1834 Promoted to the rank of Captain, 28th October, 1834. 1835 Employed making magnetic observations, preparatory to commencing the magnetic survey of England. 1836 Captain in the ship commissioned by the Admiralty, sent in search of the missing whalers, in the depth of winter.* * On a representation from Hull that eleven whale ships and six hundred men were left in the ice and in danger of perish- ing, and requesting the Admiralty to send out relief, Captain James Ross volunteered to go out in the depth of winter, and the three lieutenants, Crozier, Inman, and Ommanney, with the three mates, Jesse, Buchan, and John Smith, and Mr. Hallett, clerk in charge, volunteered to join him. He hoisted his pennant on the 21st December, and after a stormy voyage arrived in Davis Strait, and found nine of the missing ships were by that time in England, that the tenth was released and on her passage, and the eleventh was probably lost, as some of her casks had been picked up at sea. Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 329 1837 ) Employed, at the desire of the Lords Commissioners 1838 / of the Admiralty, in determining the variation of the compass on all parts of the coast of Great Britain, and the general magnetic survey for determining duration of the time of equal varia- tion, dip, and intensity, in conjunction with Pro- fessor Lloyd, Colonel Sabine, and Professor Phillips, at the request of the British Associa- tion. And lastly, from 1839 to 1843, Captain H.M.S. Erebus, in command of the Antarctic expedition. 13th March, 1844, received the honour of knight- hood. 20th June, 1844, Hon. D.C.L., Oxford. Received gold medals of Geographical Societies of England and of France. It will be seen that Mr. James (now Sir James) Ross has risen by regular gradation from the lowest to the highest rank in his profession, and to the honours he now enjoys, by his indefatigable zeal, self-taught abilities, and diligence. It is due to him, therefore, in taking leave of his Arctic labours, at the same time with his friend and Commanding Officer Sir Edward Parry, to express a conviction, in common with that of his brother officers and associates, that few men possess, in a more eminent degree, the qualities required in most arduous at- tempts. To a strong and vigorous constitution, and bodily powers of no ordinary kind, James Ross unites an ardent love of enterprise, a determined perseverance in the attainment of his object, and a 330 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. IX. mind undaunted by difficulty or danger. To these qualities must be added that advancement in navigation, astronomy, natural history, and other branches of science, which few naval officers can boast of, but which were such as fitted him pecu- liarly for selection to the command of the recent Antarctic expedition, for the results of which, from his pen, public expectation is more than usually alive. CHAPTER X. CAPTAIN JOHN FRANKLIN. 1819-20-21-22. Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea. By John Franklin, Capt. R.N., F.R.S., Commander of the Expedition. This expedition, under the command of Commander (now Captain Sir John) Franklin, has not only added greatly to the geography, geology, and na- tural history of that portion of the northern coast of North America within the Arctic regions, but more especially to that which borders on the south- ern shores of the Polar Sea ; and has also contri- buted largely to, and firmly established, that esti- mate of the physical, mental, and moral character of British seamen, equally good when serving on shore as afloat — an estimate which we Englishmen had long formed, and of which we are justly proud. It has also supplied traits of character, and of the physical constitution of the various native tribes. " The narrative of Captain Franklin ' (the writer is here borrowing from himself) " adds another to the many splendid records of the enterprise, zeal, and energy of British sea- men— of that cool and intrepid conduct which never forsakes them on occasions the most trying — that unshaken con- 332 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. stancy and perseverance in situations the most arduous, the most distressing, and sometimes the most hopeless that can befall human beings ; and it furnishes a beautiful example of the triumph of mental and moral energy over mere brute strength, in the simple fact, that out of fifteen individuals enured from their birth to cold, fatigue, and hunger, no less than ten (native landsmen) were so subdued by the aggra- vation of those evils to which they had been habituated, as to give themselves up to indifference, insubordination, and despair, and finally, to sink down and die ; whilst of five British seamen, unaccustomed to the severity of the climate, and the hardships attending it, one only fell, and that one by the murderous hand of an assassin. A light buoyant heart, a confidence in their own powers, supported by a firm reliance on a merciful Providence, never once forsook them, nor suffered the approach of despondency, but brought them safely through such misery and distress as rarely, if ever, have been surmounted." The five persons mentioned were Captain John (now Sir John) Franklin, at this time commanding an expedition, not for attempting the discovery of a North- West Passage, but to supply the means of facilitating one, and to extend the geography of a part of the Polar regions very little known ; Doctor Richardson, a naval surgeon, now Medical Inspec- tor of the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar; " To Doctor Richardson, in particular/' Sir John says, " the exclusive merit is due of whatever collections and observations have been made in the department of natural history ; and 1 am indebted to him in no small degree for his friendly advice and assistance in the preparation of the present Narrative. The Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 333 Appendix (upwards of two hundred and eighty pages) is mostly his own." Doctor Richardson volunteered to accompany Captain Franklin on his second expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea ; also Mr. George Back and Mr. Robert Hood, Admiralty midshipmen, to make observations, draw- ings of the land, of the natives, and objects of natural history; the former of whom is now Cap- tain Sir George Back, and the latter was the victim (above alluded to) of an assassin. The fifth was John Hepburn, a true, faithful, and affectionate English seaman, and their only attendant, who, on the conclusion of the expedition, was deservedly rewarded with a permanent situation in one of the dockyards. Of this seaman, the testimony of Sir John Franklin is too valuable to be omitted. " And here/' he says, " I must be permitted to pay the tribute due to the fidelity, exertion, and uniform good conduct, in the most trying situations, of John Hepburn, an English seaman, and our only attend- ant, to whom, in the latter part of our journey, we owe, under Divine Providence, the preservation of the lives of some of the party." # The instructions which Franklin received from Earl Bathurst, by whom he was appointed, on the recommendation of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, informed him that the main object of the expedition was to explore the northern coast of * Introduction. 334 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. America, from the mouth of the Copper-Mine River to the eastward ; to lay down the line, or trending, of that coast, as far as to the eastern extremity of that continent ; in short, to take all means for obtain- ing accurate information respecting that unknown line of coast. And it is to the credit of the then Board of Admiralty for suggesting this expedition, which might be of the utmost importance in aiding the ships under Commander Parry, which were to proceed about the same time for the Polar Sea, and might have to touch upon the coast in question. On the 22nd of May, 1819, the little party, hav- ing received their credentials from the several au- thorities at home, embarked on board the Hudson Bay Company's ship Prince of Wales. Contrary winds and foul weather daring the first week obliged the ship to anchor in Yarmouth Roads, where the officers and passengers ventured on shore for a few hours; but the wind suddenly changing, the Com- mander caused guns to be fired, as an intimation of putting to sea; the passengers forthwith embarked, but Mr. Back was missing ; no time, however, was to be lost, and shortly after, the ship sailed without him and arrived at Stromness on the 3rd of June, where business with the Hudson's Bay agent, and the difficulty of obtaining four boatmen to assist in the navigation of the lakes and rivers of North America, detained them till the evening of the 9th, " when we had the gratification," says Franklin, " of Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 335 welcoming our absent companion, Mr. Back. His return to our society was hailed with sincere plea- sure by every one, and removed a weight of anxiety from my mind. It appears he had come down to the beach at Caistor, just as the ships were passing by, and had applied to some boatmen to convey him on board, but discovering the emergency of his case, they demanded an exorbitant reward, which he was not at the instant prepared to satisfy ; and in con- sequence, they positively refused to assist him. Though he had travelled nine successive days, al- most without rest, he could not be prevailed upon to withdraw from the agreeable scene of a ball-room, in which he joined us, until a late hour." " This un- toward circumstance," as Franklin called it at the time, afforded a sample of his eagerness and energy, and gave to Back himself a gentle specimen of what he was doomed thereafter to undergo with infinitely more severity. The incidents of the voyage require not to be related ; pleasant enough until they approached that dangerous and by all abhorred island, Resolu- tion, in the mouth of Hudson's Strait, near the rocky shores of which, usually, beset with heavy ice, fogs, and irregular currents, the vessel nar- rowly escaped shipwreck. Passing this, however, they arrived in safely at York Factory, in Hudson's Bay, on the 30th of August. Here they were cor- dially received by the Governor and servants of the 336 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. Hudson's Bay Company, and were furnished by them with a boat of the largest size, well stored with provisions and ammunition, as much as she could carry. They were also furnished with letters to all their agents in the several factories in the country, directing them to give every possible as- sistance towards furthering the object of the expe- dition. Here also they had the good fortune to meet with several of the partners of the North- West Company, from whom they also received the most friendly and full assurance of the cordial en- deavours of the wintering partners of their esta- blishment, to promote the interest of the expedition. This was the more gratifying, as there then existed a violent commercial rivalry between the two Com- panies. With the knowledge of this, and with that prudence and propriety of conduct that has at all times been the characteristic of Franklin, he deemed it expedient " to issue a memorandum to the officers of the expedition, strictly prohibiting any inter- ference whatever in the existing quarrels, or any that might arise, between the two Companies : and on presenting it to the principals of both the parties, they expressed their satisfaction at the step I had taken." On the 9th September, the boat being completed, arrangements were made for their departure, and at noon they embarked under a salute of eight guns, and three cheers, which they gratefully re- Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 337 turned, and made all sail. The route was settled to be by Cumberland House, and through the chain of posts to the Great Slave Lake. It is not deemed necessary to notice the multitude of lakes, rivers, portages, and the numerous difficulties and impediments which beset the traveller throughout his arduous journey in the northern regions of America ; these having been so frequently described by various travellers since the time of Hearne and Mackenzie. Suffice it to say that, from the time of their leaving York Factory, on the 9th Septem- ber, to their arrival at Cumberland House, on the 22nd October, they had travelled over a distance of very nearly seven hundred miles, with and against the streams of some ten different rivers, and nine lakes, to say nothing of rocks, rapids, and portages. The charts and views, from the observa- tions and pencils of Messrs. Hood and Back, afford a more clear description than any written account could convey. The services of those two officers, in these and other respects, were of incalculable benefit, and highly spoken of by the commander of the expedition. Nothing could exceed the kindness of the Gover- nor of Fort Cumberland : he forthwith set about enlarging the premises, to make this their intended winter-quarters as convenient and agreeable as possible. But Franklin, after many conversations with Governor Williams, and other gentlemen in z 338 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. charge of northern posts, was convinced of the necessity of proceeding, during the winter, into the Athobasca department, to the northward of the Great Slave Lake; from whence only, guides, hunters, and interpreters were to be procured. He therefore requested Governor Williams that he might be furnished, by the middle of January, with the means of conveyance for three persons, having previously arranged that Messrs. Back and Hepburn should accompany him, whilst Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood should remain till the spring at Cumberland House. This arrangement was quite consistent with the true character of Franklin ; whenever an arduous, severe, or inconvenient service was to be performed, he was always ready to relieve the party he com- manded from the burthen, and to undertake it him- self. With this view, on the 18th January, 1820, Franklin, with Back as his companion and the faithful Hepburn, took leave of Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, who were to follow with their baggage in the spring. But before taking a brief view of the expedition of the first three to Carlton House, and thence to Fort Chipewyan, it may be expedient to glance over the proceedings of the two latter at Cumberland House, to which a Chapter is separately appropriated in the Narra- tive. The district of Cumberland is stated by Dr. Chap. X. FKANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 339 Richardson to contain upwards of 20,000 square miles, is peopled by about 120 Indian hunters, most of them married, with an average of five to each family, or the whole Indian population may be estimated at 2500. Their mode of life subjects them to great privations ; the hooping-cough and measles at this time were spreading through the whole tribe ; many died, and most of the survivers were so enfeebled as to be unable to pursue the necessary avocations of hunting and fishing; the scenes of misery were heart-rending, and the few who had escaped disease were not able to afford relief to the sufferers. " One evening, in the month of January (says Dr. Richardson), a poor Indian entered the North- West Com- pany's House, carrying his only child in his arms, and followed by his starving wife. They had been hunting apart from the other bands, had been unsuccessful, and whilst in want were seized with the epidemical disease. An Indian is accustomed to starve, and it is not easy to elicit from him an account of his sufferings. This poor man's story was very brief; as soon as the fever abated, he set out with his wife for Cumberland House, having been previously reduced to feed on the bite of skin and offal which remained about their encampment. Even this miser- able fare was exhausted, and they "walked several days without eating, yet exerting themselves far beyond their strength, that they might save the life of the infant. It died almost within sight of the house. Mr. Connelly, then in charge of the post, received them with the utmost humanity, and instantly placed food before them ; but no language can describe the manner in which the miserable z 2 340 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. father dashed the morsel from his lips, and deplored the loss of his child. Misery may harden a disposition naturally bad, but it never fails to soften the heart of a good man." — pp. 60, 61. A great part of the chapter is employed in a minute account of the Crees, or, as named by the French Canadians, Knisteneaux. Much curious information regarding their manners, customs, and character is developed, and apparently on correct authority, but the detail would be out of place in the present Narrative. It may suffice therefore to give the Doctor's conclusion, where he says, — " We may state the Crees to be a vain, fickle, improvident and indolent race, and not very strict in their adherence to truth, being great boasters; but, on the other hand, they strictly regard the rights of property, are susceptible of the kinder affections, capable of friendship, very hospitable, tolerably kind to their women, and withal inclined to peace." He then gives an instance of their kind feeling towards the softer sex. " An Indian visited the fort in the winter. The poor man's wife had lost her feet by the frost ; this compelled him not only to hunt, but to do all the menial offices himself, and, in the winter, to drag his wife with their stock of furniture from one encampment to another. In the performance of this duty, as he could not keep pace with the rest of the tribe, he more than once nearly perished of hunger." Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 341 In such a mode of life, in such a country, and in such society, it would be too much to expect a state of refinement, or of moral purity, even in females of the better part of the community, especially when the male portion of it is so debased. " The girls at the forts, particularly the daughters of Canadians, are given in marriage very young ; they are very frequently wives at twelve years of age, and mothers at fourteen. Nay, more than one instance came under our observation of the master of a post having permitted a voyager to take to wife a poor child that had scarcely at- tained the age of ten years. The masters of posts and wintering partners of companies deemed this criminal in- dulgence to the vices of their servants necessary to stimulate them to exertion for the interest of their respective concerns. Another practice may also be noticed, as showing the state of moral feeling on these subjects amongst the white resi- dents of the fur countries. It was not very uncommon, amongst the Canadian voyagers, for one woman to be com- mon to, and maintained at the joint expense of, two men ; nor for a voyager to sell his wife, either for a season or altogether, for a sum of money proportioned to her beauty and good qualities, but always inferior to the price of a team of dogs."— p. 86. The products of this part of the country are noticed by Dr. Richardson. Of vegetables he mentions two species of poplar ; two species of spruce fir, three other pines, one larch, the canoe- birch, alder, and various willows ; the sugar maple, elm, ash, and abor vitce (Thuya occidentalis). Of fruits are two species of plums, one very astringent is known by the name of choke-cherry. Cur- 342 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. rants, gooseberries, raspberries, and strawberries, common ; cranberries, wortleberries, and others, plentifully met with on swampy and heathy grounds. Of the quadrupeds hunted for food are mostly the moose and the reindeer, the buffalo or bison, the red-deer, jumping-deer, long-tailed-deer, and a species of antelope. Of the fur-bearing ani- mals, are foxes of various kinds, distinguished as black, silver, cross, red, and blue ; the wolverene, the lynx, the martin, the fisher, the otter, and the beaver. The Indians, it appears, have nearly destroyed the fur-bearing animals ; and so scarce is the beaver become, that in the whole journey to the shores of the Polar sea, and back, one single habitation, and one dam only of that industrious and ingenious creature, were met with. Among the many interesting anecdotes that have been told of this animal, Dr. Richardson relates the follow- ing : — " One day a gentleman, long resident in this country, espied five young beavers sporting in the water, leaping upon the trunk of a tree, pushing one another off, and playing a thousand interesting tricks. He approached softly under cover of the bushes, and prepared to fire on the unsuspecting creatures, but a nearer approach discovered to him such a similitude betwixt their gestures and the infantile caresses of his own children, that he threw aside his gun. This gentleman's feelings are to be envied, but few traders in furs would have acted so feelingly." — p. 92. It has been stated that on the 18th January, Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 343 1820, Sir John Franklin, Mr. Back, and John Hepburn left Cumberland House for Carlton House, to proceed from thence to Fort Chipewyan, there to make preparation for proceeding to the northern coast. A circumstantial account is given of the mode of travelling, of the rivers, lakes, and portages, of the posts of the two Companies, of the snows that fell, and the numerous hardships that the traveller in winter must necessarily undergo, daily and nightly, till he arrives at his destination, and the close of the spring mitigates the severity of the temperature. What the state of that temperature had been from the 18th of January to the 26th of March, when the party reached Chipewyan, there is no record, for a reason explained by Franklin, who says that " this evening (18th January) we found the mercury of our thermometer had sunk into the bulb, and was frozen. It rose again into the tube on being held to the fire, but quickly re- descended into the bulb on being removed into the air; we could not, therefore, ascertain by it the temperature of the atmosphere, either then or during our journey. Mr. Hood, however, who made a journey from Cumberland House to the Basquian Hill, not far from the former, states in his Journal, that on the 25th March the thermometer fell in the open air to 15° below zero, although it rose the following day to 60° above it. The sudden changes that take place in the northern parts of North 344 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. America are very remarkable. On the 15th of April Mr. Hood records that M the first shower of rain fell we had seen for six months, and on the 17th the thermometer rose to 77° in the shade." He also observes that " on the 10th or 12th April the return of the swans, geese, and ducks, gave certain indications of the advance of spring." The warm weather, by the sudden melting of the snow and ice, deluged the face of the country, and gave rise to a remark of Mr. Hood, the truth of which has been proved by many well-attested facts. He says, " the noise made by the frogs, which this inundation produced, is almost incredible. There is strong reason to believe that they outlive the severity of winter. They have often been found frozen, and revived by warmth ; nor is it possible that the multitude which incessantly filled our ears with its discordant notes, could have been matured in two or three days." Strong doubts had long- before this been entertained of the correctness of the fact here stated, but experiments made by competent persons proved that not only frogs, but leeches, snails, grubs, fishes, and other animals, could be frozen by artificial cold, and revived. It was further ascertained that frogs would revive if the heart even was frozen, but that if the brain was congealed, life became so irrecoverably extinct that not only could no degree of warmth produce symptoms of recovery, but the animal was rendered Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 345 incapable of being affected by the galvanic action. " I have frequently," says Hearne, " seen frogs dug up with the moss, frozen as hard as ice ; in which state the legs are as easily broken off as a pipe- stem, — but," he adds, " if they be permitted to freeze again they are past all recovery." Captain Franklin also notices the resuscitation of fishes after being frozen. " It may be worthy of notice here, that the fish froze as they were taken out of the nets, and in a short time became a solid mass of ice ; and by a blow or two of the hatchet were easily split open, when the intestines might be removed in one lump. If in this completely frozen state they were thawed before the fire, they recovered their animation. This was particularly the case with the carp, and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly, as Dr. Richardson occupied him- self in examining the structure of the different species of fish, and was always, in the winter, under the necessity of thawing them before he could cut them. We have seen a carp recover so far as to leap about with much vigour, after it had been frozen for thirty-six hours." — p. 248. Nay, it may be stated that the same effect is pro- duced on the insect tribe. It is reported by Mr. Ellis, that at the Hudson's Bay factory, a black frozen mass of a peat-like substance being brought before the fire and thawed, there came from it a cloud of living musquitoes. Captain Buchan ob- served myriads of insects frozen on the surface of a lake in Newfoundland, and embodied in the solid ice ; the next day, by the powerful rays of the sun 346 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. they were loosened from durance, became reani- mated, and took their flight into the air. Mr. Hood in his journey also makes an observa- tion of a different kind regarding this most annoy- ing animal. " We had sometimes before procured a little rest, by closing the tent, and burning wood, or flashing gunpowder within, the smoke driving the musquitoes into the crannies of the ground. But this remedy was now ineffectual, though we employed it so perseveringly as to hazard suffocation ; they swarmed under our blankets, goring us with their en- venomed trunks, and steeping our clothes in blood. We rose at daylight in a fever, and our misery was unmitigated during our whole stay. " The food of the musquito is blood, which it can extract by penetrating the hide of a buffalo ; and if it is not dis- turbed, it gorges itself so as to swell its body into a trans- parent globe. The wound does not swell, like that of the African musquito, but it is infinitely more painful ; and when multiplied an hundred fold, and continued for so many suc- cessive days, it becomes an evil of such magnitude, that cold, famine, and every other concomitant of an inhospitable cli- mate must yield the pre-eminence to it. It chases the buf- falo to the plains, irritating him to madness ; and the rein- deer to the sea-shore, from which they do not return till the scourge has ceased." — pp. 188-89. To return to Captain Franklin and his companion Back. A description is given of the sledges, the coricles, the snow-shoes, and the clothing of a win- ter-traveller in this cold and dreary climate ; a re- petition of which would afford but little entertain- ment to the general reader. Dr. Richardson, in Chap. X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 347 his account of the Crees, says that tattooing is as common among them as in the Oriental Islands, notwithstanding it is a most painful operation : " a half-breed, whose arm I amputated, declared that tattooing was not only the most painful operation of the two, but infinitely more difficult to bear, by its tediousness, having, in his case, lasted three days." Captain Franklin has also some notices of the Crees, but is more particular respecting the Stone Indians, residing near the Company's post of Carlton House ; " they are more prepossessing,'' he says, " in their looks, but addicted to thieving, and grossly and habitually treacherous. Their coun- tenances are affable and pleasing, their eyes large and expressive, nose aquiline, teeth white and regu- lar, the forehead bold, the cheek-bones rather high. Their figure is usually good, above the middle size, with slender but well-proportioned limbs. Their colour is a light copper, and they have a profusion of very black hair." Back has supplied a very striking portrait. They steal whatever they can, particularly horses, maintaining that they are common property sent by the Almighty for the general use of man, and therefore may be taken wherever met with. This avowed disposition calls for the strictest vigilance at the several posts. " In the afternoon of the 26th of March we had the pleasure of arriving," says Captain Franklin, " at Fort Chipewyan, and thus terminated a win- 348 ' ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. ter's journey of eight hundred and fifty-seven miles ; in the progress of which there was a great inter- mixture of agreeable and disagreeable circum- stances." The latter, he thinks, if balanced, would preponderate, and that walking in snow-shoes was among the most prominent. To the inexperienced, indeed, the suffering occasioned by walking in snow- shoes appears to be dreadful, " and can be but faintly imagined by a person who thinks upon the inconvenience of marching: with a weight of be- tween two and three pounds constantly attached to galled feet and swelled ankles." But Mr. Hood will best describe it. " The miseries endured during the first journey of this nature are so great, that nothing could induce the sufferer to undertake a second while under the influence of present pain. He feels his frame crushed by unaccountable pres- sure, he drags a galling and stubborn weight at his feet, and his track is marked with blood. The dazzling scene around him affords no rest to his eye, no object to divert his attention from his own 'agonizing sensations. When he rises from sleep, half his body seems dead, till quickened into feeling by the hirritation of his sores. But, fortunately for him, no evil makes an impression so evanescent as pain. It cannot be wholly banished, nor recalled with the force of reality, by any act of the mind, either to affect our deter- minations, or to sympathise with another. The traveller soon forgets his sufferings, and at every future journey their recurrence is attended with diminished acuteness." — pp. 173, 174. Preparations were forthwith to be made at Chipe- wyan for prosecuting the main object of the expe- Chap X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY. 349 dition, and in the consultation with the principals of the two great and contending companies. Frank- lin, by his persuasive and conciliating manners, brought about a cordial desire on the part of both to render mutual assistance to the forwarding of that object. Here, too, in the early part of July, he had the sincere gratification of welcoming his long-separated friends Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, who arrived in perfect health : and he re- cords the zeal and talents displayed by these two gentlemen, and speaks in the highest terms of ap- probation of the manner in w7hich their several duties had been discharged since their separation. The Chipewyans are the neighbouring tribe of the Stone Indians, with less promising features, but more honest, rude in their manners, and extremely superstitious. Their features also are against them; they have broad faces, projecting cheek-bones, and wide nostrils; but generally good teeth, and fine eyes ; they are reserved and selfish ; they beg with unceasing importunity everything they see.