^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) % 1.0 !?" 1^ 1^ I.I '^ IIIIIH 1.8 1.25 1 1.4 |i.6 ■• 6" ► V] <^ //, /a ^ #- j^ >/' "^ '/ /A Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 873-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Cenadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur6e et/ou pellicul6e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque □ Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couieur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) □ D Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 film^es. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur □ Pages damaged/ Pages endommag6es □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6es □ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolordes, tachetdes ou piqu6es □ Pages detached/ Pages ddtachdes I 1 Showthrough/ Iv I Transparence □ Quality of print varies/ Quality in^gale de I'impression □ Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire D Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de fa^on & obtenir la meilleure image possible. D Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires; This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. lOX 14X 18X 22X / y 26X 30X 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: MacOdrum Library Carleton Univeriity L'exemplaire filmd fut reprodult grAce A la g6n6roslt6 de: MacOdrum Library Carleton University The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6x6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de l'exemplaire filmA, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — ♦- (meaning "CON- TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimis sont filmis en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmis en comm^^npant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols ^^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds 6 des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour 6tre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche 6 droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 rr r 1 THE W^^™^ 7mv, *xo - i'i- t: .; LOHKRS: l^m, f rar* mm:mi AUt: • -a W!I?!^^!sfii!lfr iffg A^ ' ': iU:CIONS ^' t-um >A\b vi:. Wftil A , '*■'"' ■■ -^Til . K MS<.tAfM*\!>FK; Til K I KAKFIX i' ' l'\i: .JOHN HKUJ;"*..' riTAUV ; ' V iU : . .,X »VJ, I OMI'AM. ^r> JS 01 is IJd.iiv. BY Ti:'? -?!*>»• »■!• • r.fi^'ift-.-;., ,y ^^ ..:»" f-A-.-^t:,, . »-,, ^, M .s w K >Ii;XA|II)EK UUil-,A.M.,KE>.A.l'. j.ALmVIN. AXJ» KB'. V.M GA{iK. To «u..,-.i ., An.,,,, , „,R-n-,i . v I,n. K..VR »v Vv.ny. Cha*.,,«, W.SruEu.H L. I, f*l^ Till vcK-"*!*; I ^ ^<;nk. ' ' PtrBHSHXD HY SCBSC2IP?IC^ 3KIY. irAETl-pr.'l). « -A'. ■ r 1 U M B r A \ ' H > K , n M p ,\ Nf Y w. K. vuiy^ «, . o..TOi.im>. oino -. p. t>kyvm: & CO . s vn prLn' :sc« cau I 7 4. H ^ 1 i i ^■^ -.-0 fl VO! %. WITH IJ THE FIJOZEN ZONE AND ITS J^LX PL( )KE11S : A COMPREHENSIVE HECOKD OF VoMcs, Travels, Ciscoyeries, Aiveutiires auil Wbale-FisliiBg IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS Foil ONE THOUSAND VKAIIS. WITH A FULL AND 1!F,LL\HLE HISTOHY OF THE LATE EXTEDI- TION UNUKll CILVKl.ES FKANCIS HALL IN THE II.I.-J^^A^TJi:i> l^OI.A^Ii IS EMnitAciNa THi; I)IS(<)\ IvKlKS AM> DKATll OF ITS COMMANDI I{ ; Till; 1 liAKKfl, bix MdNiTis' nuiKi' «)N Tin: ni;; .ioiin iikkko.n's diauy ; Tin: WKKcKoF T>"". sikamkk; a.ndiiik iixai, i:s» atk (IK CAl'TAIN lU MDIMiTON AM> CoMl'AMO.NS IN OI'KN JJOATS. ALSO, AN ACCOUNT OF THE 8EAHCH MADE FOR THE CASTAWAYS r.V TIIK IlI-ISTKATKII with One ni-M>IIEI> ANI> SuVKXTV-riVK KNOnAVINdS AMI MaI'S. WUITTEN, AND COMPILED VUOM AfTIIENTK! SOUIICF.S, IIV ALE XANDKll IlVDi:, A. M., KKV. A.C. IIAI.DWIX, AND liKV. W.L GAGK. TOWIIUII IS ADDED A SKKTCII VV I'l;. K A N P., IIV TkoF. I'll A lU.rs \V. Sll 1 KI.DS, 1). 1)., OK riilM'KTO.N (ul.l.Ktii:. G io P ''' PUELISHE3D BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. IIARTFOI.M), CONN.: rOLUMTJTAiX r.ooK COMPANY. W. E. BLISS & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO : F. UEWIXU & CO., SAX FRANCISCO, CAL. 1874. 17 En.cre.1 acconling to Act of Con,re.s. i„ the ;,ear 1874 by THE COLUMBIAN BOOK COMl>ANV. In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Wa'shington. INTRODUCTIOX. The Arctic Regions, cold, dreary and desolate, liave been tlie tlieatre of the most heroic e\j)loit8 and dar- ing adventures tli'^ world lias ever seen. Here the genius of such men as l^affin, Harentz, Hudson, Parry, Ross, Franklin, Kane and Hall, has found am[)le scope for develoimient ; and a taste of the i)erils and haid- ships of the Frozen Zone oidy served to incite them to new encountei's. No vision of "sunny fountains rolling down their golden sands," or ambition for conquest and usurpe«l power filled their minds: but the love of adventure, the advjuicement of science, and the holier impulses of humanity, were the lode- stones which drew them towai'd the Pole. To chronicle faithfully and in an attractive man- ner the brilliant achievements of these alate the heroic daring, sublime for- titude, and Christian faith and resignation under most desperate circumstances which many Ai'ctic exjjloiers have disjdayed, will be strengthened in their purpose to make the voyage of life with hope and courage. i CONTENTS. i iKCTCII or THK LIFK OF DR. KANK 1 CIIAI'TEU I. TiIK AUCTK; IlKlilOXS. Thi) Arctic Circlo— Tim Arctii- Oci'un— Tim Arctic \lj;lit— Tho Mid- ni^lit Sun — Sunimi-r iitid NViiniT— 11 iiulirul Provirtiuu if Niitiir-— ChuractirlBtic Fuaturt'S — Arctic Ksi)l(ircr8 17 CIIAI'TKU II. EA11I.Y DI8COVKUIK9 AND IIISTOHY. T\w Scandinavian Mariners ind llii'ir Vof a;ji's — Discovery of Icclund — Eric ill'! lied — Discovi^ry of (Jrccnliiiul — Tim NorthnKMi in .Vnmr- ica — Nortlurn Vovaifuof Colunibua— Sinry of tlit) I'lirly (Irccnlimd Settlers — U'lir and Pe>tili;ncu — Si-arcli fir tiie 1)^1 ColDnists— Huns Eycdc- — The Moravian Missions — A V'ist t > Liclitenfels — Tlie native (Jn-enlanders — Tliu Cahots and tlieir Voyajjes — The Lubiadi)r Col- ony — Frtcch and Portuguese Explorers '33 CIIAPTEIl III. KNOMSII EXPKDITIONa TO THE NOKTII-E.V8T. Expcflition under Sir Iluirli VVillouglilty— .\ Sloriu off the North Cape — Nova Zeiiibla Scenery — \ Winter on the Laidnml Coast — Fiite of the Explorerp — Clinncelor'H Visit to Moscdw — Tlie Stiarchthrilt and her Cruiee — Enj^liah Adventurers in Asia — Lake Baikal — Pet and Jackson— Mistakes of a Oe()<,'rai)her 40 CIIAPTKK IV. DUTCH I.XI'ICDITIOXS TO TIIIC NOnTH-EAST. Wm. IJarentz— The Orang-- Islands— Noosinjr a Bear— The Cape of Idols — Second Exjjediiion — A Hnsaian Craft — Anionjf the Sainoiedef — Corueliz Hyp — Discovery of Bear Islands and Spitzbcr^en— Impris- oned — Buildinjf a House — Life nt Icy Pi)rt — A Winter of Ilanisliips —Feast of the Kings — The Sliip Deserted — ley Ramparts— Death of Barcntz 47 fi CONTKNTfl. CIIAPFER V. ARCTIC VnYAORH (IF FKf»HIHIIKR AND DATtS. Karly Engliih AdvonturiTH— Martin Friil)i»lu'r— " Mi-U Inooijnlta"— Fight with Ksquitimux — Ui'lic* of lost Sailors— Fonmlc rrisonor* — Tri'Bi'hory of the NutivoH — FrubiHluT'H tliinl Kxpi>(lition — A Storm — Till' Kxpi'dition Astniy— "All in not (Jolil that Olittorii"— Sir Huni- pliroy (tillKTt— L0H8 of the " Squirri'l" — John Davis — Thi' " Lnnil of Di'Holntion " — A (irconlnnd Dance — Voyage with the Morniaid — Evquiinnux Incantations— Kxuuraion tu tlio Interior — The Sailor*' AVarning — DcHcrtiun of Ships S9 tTIAI»TER VI. ARCTIC VOYAGES OF IIKNIIY III'II.ION AND OTIIF.RII. Weymouth's Expedition— A cowardly Crew— Fate of ('apt. Knight— An Esquimaux Attack — Hudson's Polar Voyage— A Mermaid— Voy- age in the Half-moon— IIudNon'H last Voyage — Trouhle with the Sail- ors— Discovery— In Winter-',iiiirters— Mutiny— The Tragedy in Hud- eon's Bay — Adventures '.;'" tlie Mutineers 85 CHAPTER VII. ARCTIC VOYAOE8 OP BAFFIN AND OTIIERfl. Button nnd Bylot— Capt. Gibbons' Adventure- Buffln's early Voyages- Memorable Discoveries — Fotherby's Voyiige — Danish Expedition — MunkA disastrous Voyage — The F-:: and James Expedition — A Winter of SufTering— Final Escape — A lost Expedition— Heme — Mackenzie — Phipps- Cook 105 CHAPTER VIII. THE ARCTIC WIIAI.E-FIHIIERY. Early Fishing Expedition — The Spit/bergen Seas — Adventures of Cap- tain Edge— Dutch Enter])rise — A Winter in Spitzbergen — An Arctic Tragedy — Years ».f Peril — The Whales' Paradise — Shipwrecks — Meinoriuls of the Hollanders 122 CHAPTER IX. THE ARCTIC WHAI-K-KISHKRV. (cOXTIXfED.) Whale Catching in Baffin's Bay— Disasters in Melville Boy-" Baffin's Fair" — Yankee Whalemen— The Dundee WlialingSteamers- Rescue of the Polaris Crew 13C CHAPTER X. CRUISE OF THE ISABELLA AND ALEXANDER. Ross nnd Parry's Expedition— On the Greenland Coast— A Secluded Race — Esquimaux Ideas of a Ship — The Arctic Highlanders— Signal ^ of Return HI <'t)NTKNTfl. vii riiAiTKU xr. rRriKR or tiik iikci a ano nnirKR. I'nrry anil Litlilon KxiMulition — Kntt-rinK LiinrniiUT Siiunil— Hopes ami I )iitni)ii()intiiu'ntii— Dreary Sliorm— Tlu' Ili-wiird Knrnid — WinUT- «Hmrttr!i iind Aiminfmcntu— 'riu> Ni)r«li (Jiort^iiin 'riu-atre— Firo ! Fire I —A llrfuk-up— A KUi-ci-sfful Kxpi-ilition 131 CIIAITKU XII. rRClKR or TDK rt KY AND IIKCI.A. I'lirry ami Ljod'h Kxpidition — Tin- Siivani-I»luiiiKTH— Uipul^o llay — Frozin in— TliioviiiK Nativi-K — "Tho KivalH"— " Tin- MtTiy Dimtirii" — KKiiuiniaiix Xfijfliltorii Didrovcrrd — A»t(ini»liiiiK tlic NntiviH~An KxourHicin — A Fi(iht with Walnir«~Sliipp»Ml by Ice — Ajfnin Fri)Zin in — A rlii'iTinff Spc'ctacU- — Tlie fair KH<|itiniaux — An KMiuiinaux Magi- cian — I'arry'H third Expedition 1G3 ciiArricu XIII. VOYAflK OK THK IIdKOTUCA AMI TIIKNT. Iltiohnn ond Franklin's Kxpi'diticn— Tin- HindizvnuM at Mandaicna Bay — An Avahuiclii'— On till' Kdj^e of tho Ice— A DanKcroiiH Toxition — Escape tu Fair llavi n IH 1 CMIAITKK XIV. ihasm.in'm nusT i.am> kxi-kditiox. Arrival at York Factory —IV'rilo of River Navipation— A Winter'^ Jour- ney — Tentinj; a C'onjuriT's Skill — Indian Customs — Interview witli Akaitclio— The Wintir at Fort Knterprise— lUciption of a Cliief— Down tlie Copperniine Kiver — Bloody Falls— Kncounter with Esqui- maux—Voyage on the I'olar Sea— The Heturn Journey conmieneed — t'ros.sinjf u Kiver — Exeitinij Adventures — Building a Canoe— Sejiara- tion of the Mi'n — Junius missing— A Deserted Fort — StJirvation — Life at Fort Enterprise 184 OIIAITER XV. FnA.VKI.IN'S FinST LAND KXI'KOITION (rONTlXri.H.') Dr. Richardson's Narrative — Suspicious Conduct of Micliel— The Mur- der of Hood— Richardson Shoots Michel— The Retreat to the Fort- Arrival of Indians— Relief at Hand— The Journey to Fort York 218 » CHAPTER XVI. pkanki.in's SKCOSD I.ANI> KXPEIHTION. The Rendezvous at Oreat Bear Lake- Tlic Winter at Fort Franklin — At the Mouth of tlie Mackenzie —The Expedition in Troul)le— Contest with the Esi|uiniaux—.\ Brave Interpreter— Voyage along the Coiwt — Second Winter at Fort Franklin 231 j vm CONTKNTS. cnAiTEii xvir. ARCTIC VOYAGES OF LYONS, IllOIXIIY, AXU OTIII'.ns. Scorcsby's Diricovi-rics— Excursimi on .Inn Ahivfii— Anion;; tlio Moun- tiiins— AlVrilous Dfucent— Dt'sorti'd Ihiliitations— CniiseoftlR'Uriper — Saliino's lU'searflit's in Ilijjh Latitudt's— C)ii tlic llast tini'nland Const- Scientific Problems Solved — Lyon's Second Voyaj;e — Tlie Sniiw-lmntin^' — Hay of (lod's Mercy — Beecbey's Kxi)e(litii)n — Ap- jiroiicli to Kanicbatka — Tlio Lawrence Islanders — C'listoiiis of ilic Alaiikans — Wreck of the Baryc— Skiriiiisbes with the Natives 238 CILVPTKU XVI IL I'AKIJV'.S ru.AU VOYAGE. The Ilecla and Her Otitfit— In Treurenlieri,' IJay— The Start f)r the Pole — A Journey on Ice — Drifting South — A Hopeless Undertakini; — Ileclu Cove 255 CIIAPTEPt XIX. EXPEniTION OP .IC.HN AND .lAME.S C. HOSS. Exi)edition of John and .Tames C. Itoss — Tlio Victor}' — Life at Ilolstoin- bern — Arrival at Fury IJeach — Frozen In— Winter at Felix Harbor — King William's Land— Discovery of the Magnetic Pole— The Victory Deserted— Voyage in Open Itoats — Uescued by the Isabella — Keturn of the Lost I'^xplorers 2C1 CIIAPTEll XX. GEORCiK hack's KXrEniTIONS. Overland through Canada — AVoman's Rights at Norway House — The Batteaux and Canoes— Indian Suimner F^ncampments — '• Raising the Devil" — Sad Fate of Augustus — Running the Rapids — A Desolate Region- Voyage in the Terror— Fearful Ice-drift 278 CHAPTER XXI. I.AXn EXI>EI>ITI<)NS OK DI'.ASE, SIMPSOX, AND RAK. A Winter's .Tourney— On tlie Coasts of Alaska — Down ICseape Rapids — Winter-Ciuarters on Great Bear Lake— Return to Red River Settle- nicnt— Simpson Jlurdercd — Dr. Rae's Explorations 288 CHAPTER XXII. franklin's last VOYAGE, WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. Birth and Education — l^arly Passion for the Sea — A Jlidshipman at Trafalgar — At Battle of New Orleans— Arctic Voyages— Governor of Van Dieman's Land — The Erebus and Terror — A Lost Expedition . . . 296 CHAPTER XXIIL SEAKCIIE8 FOR FRANKLIN. Expeditions of 1848 — Voyage of Ross to I^ancaster Sound — Overland Search by Richardson and Rae — The Herald and Plover 304 'n I CONTKNT8. IX CIIAITKR XXIV. SEAUCIIES FOU FUANKLIN. (CONTIXLED.) Austin's Squiulron — Discoveries at Bcechey Island— Sledge Expedition — Larrior i'igoous — Cruise of tlic Trincc Albert — The Lady i'raiikliu. . 310 CIIAITER XXV. 8KAUC1IES FOR FUANKLIN. (cONTIN'f ED.) Ci)llinson .'ind McCiiire's Expcilition— Cruise of the Investigator— On the Cojist of the Continent— Up Prince of Wales Strait— Frozen in — Dis- covery of ;i North-west Passage— A Xiglit Adventure— Life at Mercy 15,iy-McCiintoek's Cairn— Third Winter in the Ice— Helief at Hand —Visit .)f 1/ieut. Pirn— The Ship Deserted— Hetrcat to the Resolute— (h'uise of the Enterprise — Recent Death of McClure 317 CHAPTER XXVI. SEARCHES FOR FUANKLIN. (coNTINrEn.) Second Cruise of the Prince Albert— Party Separated from the Ship — A Xiu'lit at Ciipo SeppinjJts — Ik Hot's Rescue Party— Winter at Batty Bay — A Visit to Eury Beach — Somerset House 332 CHAPTER XXVII. SEARCHES FOR FRANKLIN. (( ONTIM T.n.) Expeditions of 1852 — Belcher's Squadron — News of McClure — Pim's Journey to Mercy Bay— Kellett's Adventures — Ahandoninent of the Ships — Ik'turn to England 330 CHAPTER XXVIII. SEARCHES FOR FRANKLIN. (cilNTINrED.) Inglefield's Voyages — Cruise of the Plianix and Lady Franklin — Death of Bellot — Lieut. Cress well — Dr. Rae at Repulse Bay 345 CHAPTER XXIX. THE FIRST AMERICAN I'.XPr.DITION. TIic Advance and Rescue— Off Newfoundland— The Arctic Day — Crown Prince Islands —Kayaks 349 CHAPTER XXX. THE FIRST AMKRICAN K.\I'EDITION. (CONTINUED.) Icohprg Scenerj' — Wonders of Refracti(m— Arctic Navigation — Borgs — A Race — A Pinch — Animal Life — Frozen Families 372 CHAPTER XXXI. THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.) The Crimson Cliffs — An .Arctic Garden — Trapping the Auks— Good-hyo to Baffin — Franklin's Eneami)ment Discovered — The Graves 399 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXII. THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (CONTIirUED. ) Visit to the Resolute— The Rendezvous— A Gale— Order for Return— Frozen in— Drifting— Fighting the Enemy— The Aurora— Crisis— A Race of Pale Faces — Midnight of the Year — Returning Light 428 CHAPTER XXXIII. THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.) A Gale — An Escape — Floating Bears— Esquimaux Guests — A Night Scene — In an Ice Trap — The Escape — Tlic Governor's Mansion — The Feast — Feats of the Kayaker — Conclusion 478 CHAPTER XXXIV. DR. KANE's second EXPEDITION. Rensselaer Harbor — Camp on the Floes — Sudden Alarm — The Rescue Party — The Wanderers Found — A Bivouac — Esquimaux Visitors — Death of Baker — Adventures of Morton and Hans — Signal Cairn — The Record— The Arrest— The Punishment— Our Wild Allies- Hunting Excursion — Esquimaux Homestead — A Bear Fight 519 CHAPTER XXXV. DR. KANE'S SECOND EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.) The Cabin by Night — ^The Hut in a Storm — Hans Discouraged — Day Dreams— Joyful News — A Sun Worshiper — Famine at Etah — A Walrus Hunt — The Delectable Mountains — A Deserter — A Morning in the Cabin— Shunghu's Daughter — A Noble Savage — Enterprising Hunters 572 CHAPTER XXXVI. DR. Kane's second expedition, (continued.) Farewell to the Brig— Approach to Etah — A Midnight Festival — A Crystal Palace — At the Open Water — Good-bye to Esquimaux — Embarkation — Weary Man's Rest — The Esquimaux Eden — Lost ; Among Bergs—" The Seal ! "—Terra Firma !— The Welcome C04 CHAPTER XXXVII. the iiartstene relief expedition. Narrative of John K. Kane 635 CHAPTER XXXVIIL FRANK MN'S fate DISCOVERED. Dr. Rae's Discoveries — The Fox Expedition — Franklin's Monument — Winter in Bellot Strait — McClintock's Discoveries— The Cairn at Point Victory — Crozier's Record— A Buried Boat— Return of the Fox —Relics of Franklin— The Story of the Lost Expedition C41 I CONTENTS. XI T •w CHAPTER XXXIX. ARCTIC 8IIIERIA AND ITS EXPLORERS. Siberian Exiles — Voyage of Dcslmcf—Bering's IJiscoveries— Chelyus- kin's Explorations — The New Siberia Islands— Anjou's Travels — WrangcU's Explorations — Skill of Siberian Sledge-drivers — The " Great Russian Polynia " — The Lower Yenisei CG3 CHAPTER XL. TRAVELS IN ALASKA. The Aleutian Islands — Expeditions of Dall and \\rhyniper — Up the Yukon— A Winter at Nulato— The Alaskans— Sitka C7(5 CHAPTER XLI. DR. haves' expedition. The Voyage to Smith Sound — Winter at Port Foulke — Sledge Journey — Grinnell Land— Capo Lieber — Return (>82 CHAPTER XLII. SKETCH OF CHARLES F. HALL, AND HIS EARLIER ARCTIC TRAVELS. Early Life — Proposes to Search for Franklin — Secures Passage in a Whaler — Captain Buddington — The "George Henry" — Frozen in at Field's Bay — Visit from Ebierbing an.l Tookoolito— Excursions — Fro- hishcr IJelics — "Fisherman's Lutk" — Second Winter in the Joe — Return Home — Second Journey to the North — The Monticello — Resi- dence on the Northern Coasts of Hudson's Bay — A visit to King Wil- liiim's Land — Relics of Franklin's Expedition CSC CHAPTER XLIII. THE POLARIS KXPEDITION. Captain Hall's Plans — The Polaris and her Crew — Sketch of Otficcrs — On the Greenland Coast — Pisco — The Expedition at Upernavik — At Tessuisak — Hall's Good-bye to Civilization C'Jfi CHAPTER XLIV. THE POLARIS KXI'EIJITIOX. (CONTINUED.) Adrift on the Floes — Off the Labrador Coast — A Fearful Position — Sig- naling the Tigress — Rescued— Startling News from the Polaris — The Castaways at St. John's — Suspicions — The "Frolic" — At Washington . 70(5 CHAPTER XLV. THE POLARIS EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.) The Polaris in High Latitude — Tiiank God Harbor — Hall's Journey to the Nortli— Hall's Last Dispatch— Death of Hall— Joe's Story- Funeral UEI.IEF I.XI'EDITIOXS. Cruise of the Juniata anil Tisjrcss— The Little Juniata— The Tigress on the Trail — Buddinuton's Camp Discovered— Interview with Ksqiii- inaux — Signaling tho Juniata at Niijht 7C9 ClIAPTEU XLIX. THE POLARIS EXPEDITION. (COXCLIDED.) (.''aptain TSuddington's Narrative— The Polaris Wrecdved and Deserted — Preparing for Winter — Visit from the Natives - The Vi'iiiter nt Life- Poat Cove — The Start Homeward — The Jcurney Southward- las- cued by the llavcnscraig~A Dundee Whaler 776 ClIAPTEU L. GERMAN Aurru: i;xi'i:i)iTioNS. Destruction of the "Hansa"— Crui.-i' of the " Germiinia " — Important Discoveries— Payer's Expedition— The " Tegitlioti"" and "Isbjorn". . 787 ClIAPTEU LI. SWEDISH AN:> NOItWECIAN EXPEDITIONS. Captain Carlscn's Voyage— lee Haven Uevisited — Uelics of the Dutch Expedition — Nordenskiold's Expedit(m— The Winter at Mussel Uiiy — Startling News — The lee-Pound Fishernu-n and Their Fate-Cruiso of the "Albert" and "(inienhind "—Disaster on the Nova Zenibhi Coast— The "Diana" and "Samson" — Projioseiei) 10 4 TUE IjEHtl'E _. 18 C I'oiiTiiAir OK Sill John Kkanki.in 19 6 Scene dn the (Jkkeni-am) t'oAsr 83 7 View op Fi^^kkunaks, (;hi;eni.anii, 33 8 MoiiAViAN Si/rTi.i;.Mi;M' at Lriitenfki.s, 83 9 Ships A monci ItEu.is. 30 10 WlNTKlt IN ^ll)^<(<)\V 4-1 11 Ships EsTANoi.Kii IN Icn, 46 12 Lake Kaikai.. Kasti:kn Si:ieuia 47 13 Votive C'lmss and Midniuht Stn— N8 11 The Land of Desolation 73 IS FliEKillTEII IcnilEIHi, 73 1(1 The Mii)1)i.i: 1'ai k 81 17 A Sketch, 84 18 Ks(iri.>!Arx Htwi-TiCAMs 03 lt( lisijii.MAix Snow UoiMis 93 20 AiicTif AiiioiiA. 109 SI View on thi: Spit/f.kiuien Coast .. 109 2d Approaching Winteu -Jajieb' Uav 115 23 Arctic Paiihki.ia 115 81 The Ici-IJocnd IlAUiioK 1I« 25 The Kavakkk in a (Iai.k 1-21 20 A Whaling Scene 141 27 Kayak and Oomiak, M3 23 Whalers Stopped nv the I'ai k 113 89 An IceCatuedual 144 30 Cape Isabella 117 31 Cate Alexandeh 117 32 Track op the IIecla and (Ikipei: 157 33 Parry's Ships in Winter (^lAinKHs, 157 31 Stranded, lOj 35 The "Merry Dancers," 107 SO Watchinu rou Indian IIocse-Thieves, ISH 87 lIuNTiNO ON Snow-Shoks 191 88 DisonsED Htfpalo Uiinteus, ]!)1 39 IIUNTEUs' Winter Camp t>00 40 A Ilt'NOUY UXPLOIIEII, 217 41 Overland ExPLouER? 230 43 A Station op the IIidson's Bay Company, 231 43 The Mariner'si I'ompass 2.'i7 41 Pethopaulski, Kamchatka S-'O 45 Uosey-Combfd Iceueiiu, 25-1 XIV ILLUSTUATJONS. 46 Jack AND Ilia "Dker," 980 47 An IcB Briuue, 877 48 Indian Summkk Encampment, jgO 49 MUOHE llUNTlNO IN CANOES 28|> 60 A Lead Tunuuuu tub Kloe 387 51 WlNTEIl CUUItlKIW or TUB I'UIl COMPANY, 288 5'J KiioDED Beku, 809 53 llUMMOCKS, 316 54 BEEcnET Island, 340 65 The IcB-BAiutiEn, 340 6() Toe Advance and Uescue at Navy Yard S53 67 Oim First Icebehu 363 68 The Sukkebtoppen, 369 5i» Entekino Uisco, 869 C;; Disco IlcTS, 360 01 Inspectors' House, Lievely, 869 62 Amono the Bergs, S69 63 Group of Seals, 370 64 ICEBERO 371 65 Glaciers of Jacob's BiauT 373 66 In A Foo, 373 67 Tracking, 381 68 Kayacks, 381 6U Woman's Boat 382 70 The Devil's Thumb, 3M 71 Melville Bay, 394 7'J Esquimaux on Snow-Suoes, 398 73 Looking for Water, 403 74 Bessie's Cove, 403 75 Tub Advance in February, 465 70 Winter in tub Pack, 465 77 Bird'b-Eye View op Ice-Floe 484 7S Es(iuiMAux Beauties, 489 79 Tub Governor's Sons 493 80 Saluting tub Provknese, 495 81 Good-Bye to the Prince Albert, 490 82 Interior of a Native Hut, L'peunavik 499 83 The Governor's Mansion, 506 84 Harpooning Seals 517 85 Fastened to an Iceberg, 621 86 Parting Hawsers, 521 87 Sylvia Headland— Inspectino a Harbor 527 83 The Advance Frozen in at Kensselaer Harbor, 527 89 In the Tent, 533 90 Pinnacly Berg 533 91 Tub Rescue Party, 634 92 Loading the Faith, 643 93 First Meeting with Esquimaux, 643 94 Tent on the Floes, 649 03 The Bear in Camp, 649 96 Gathering Moss 549 97 Morton and Hans Entering Kennedy Channel 553 98 Morton and Hans LEA^^NG the Channel, 553 99 Kennedy Channel, 561 100 View from Cape Constitution, 561 101 An Es(iuiMAUX Homestead, 567 102 Wild Dog Team 567 103 Arctic Moonlight, 573 ^ ILLUSTRATIONS. XV ^ 104 Thb Ice-Foot Canopt 673 I(>5 Tub Bhiu in uek Wintkk Ckadlk 67U KMl APlMiOACIIINO TUB DE!«EI(TE1I lluT 679 1117 Tub Opkn Wateii, 670 105 AucTic Sea-Oi'll8 685 liKI KiUEii Island Di'ck.i 685 110 Tub Waluiis Hf.sxBn 601 111 Tub Atluk. oh Heal-Hole, 600 lia SUOOTINO Seai 600 ll;l WaLUUS SPOIITINO 600 111 E:4()UIMAL'X rollTHAITX— 1'AI'I.IK— AnAK— ACCOMODAH, COS 115 UltERNLANU ClIILDKEN I'l.AYINCI HaI.I., 000 llti Catcuinu Ai'Ks 000 117 HoatC'ami' I.N A Stohm. 017 lis OOOD-IIYE TO THE EtHJIlMArX, 017 110 UlKI)i< or I'llOVIKENCE (-'I.IFFS, 0^7 I'Jil I'as!iin(» the I'lHiiaoN C'Lirrn 0'J7 Itil Cape Welcome, 03.1 Vii Orn FinsT K avak im l-i'J The Faith, rM 121 A Small Wateii Pahtv (i-'iO 123 DiacovEKY op Fiianklin'h C'aiiis 0-13 120 Relics op the Lost Exi'loi!k1!s 048 127 The Gredi's and Tekuou i.s the Ice-Stukam t),j7 128 Funeral op Sir John Franklin tiri7 12!) A I'oLAB Beau I'knic W>3 l.'IO Exiles En iioute pou Siiieuia 0(13 131 A Siberian Fort 0*,j 132 Travelinu in Kamchatka, O'.ii 13.3 Aleutians C'atchino Whales OTO 134 Fort Xclato, Alaska— Al'roiul Liuiit, 070 13.) A Deer Corrai tM 130 View op Sitka, Alaska O'i'i 137 Portrait op Captain Ci;ahles ]•'. Ham (liW 1.38 Portrait op Caitain S. O. HruuiNoToN 0!)8 i;!0 Portrait op Captain (Jeorue E. Tyson, 003 140 SlIlNALINU THE TlOliESS 7(1.1 141 FiTNEBAL OP Captain Hall, at Polaris Uav, 718 142 A Bear Hunt, 7;iO 143 Meeting op the Flors 740 141 Formation op Himmock-* 708 14,> LiPB on the DllIPTIMl II K-FlKI.I) 7(10 IKi Portraits ok .Ioe, Hannah, and Sylvia 772 147 The 11 ansa Crushed— Escape op tukCkew 7S7 148 Count Wilczec in Nova Zembla 701 140 Relics of the Putcii Expedition, 703 150 Barentz's Hoi'se at Ice Haven 703 Aiid Twenty SinuUer Engraving's. MAPS, Etc. CmciTMPOLAn Map 1 Map op the American Arctic Sea, 2.3 Ancient Map op Spitzberoen, 120 Chart opthr Whale-Fish Islands .308 Chart Suowinu the Discoveries op Kane, Hayes, and Hall, (i-W FaO BLUILES, 6-19-050 i !K 1 1: t- IHi A\ K W. F! ir K A ^^. &., Ifti. I!v^ n: . e^. W. ,^-d^ ^^^t:^y^yc.^e^. '» .i-s. iMi, Of rr.'.v .•- i:*>i.4r r. ^ I ill Z,. Sf' *»ff'*'' •• 1 *. • . Lvf.rv r-'H !« -It »v ■; ,: ;/ - ''liilluwpv V ■, . . > ../ ■ ll4-!i' u ■'■- *■ - : «. *— . . V«;i' , »*ll'> :'.'»., uliM|;:- III*, spilit . » -s .>.; I ihit vVi- of pfH'fi^, m\'i Ij/Vuj;^ \-iUj tho ljf,'«i-t •. < >; who j""l<■•t^»^ ;, •ju.iff !*iu It inttmlsus, cvrii ti l!it^ ■ ' '!u.in J. •»!•.• '»f ♦'«■ r, u , ^viit^iuiod «•' it" Vii jtmiilsi tin- in ii'/rn ,, -,.-,,, . ,»...,, ,, ' .1.. 1 .|,-.- lack iioin riti" iliur - -npC wilii ti • /i;iftit>. •>! ).;•>:»• *-■ * " '* »{r»«5-»iw pi •. i.iic iwiiiios «:•■ .1' M'>. ; ' "1 lii i'ai If, f , .••.. >i'. U.I' l.w . » li."ltifui I'lH.i li'.'V, .- ii ,a. i.'.l '... ,. 'it- ... .■■■tiia Iv .. JIM'lMtlil ll, ,'(. ililli/ I TO, I .: ^hrii ;■; .tl; ■!• ii - in , ' ■•rw t') ... ilio tii';i'',.-i lurtuner, it Will \, i::jre' r, * ...,'• ,. nit' of hi!* -»•.■>-<- ■:• *t;i9 jiuhiii-. h''rv"i';c"« fiiiu liix ...i^-ilf* }'l> ■'- :• ■••••rits, tOi;r.;';jfr -,;*.■ •va itri . -.'S;.iu'i whicli isviitui '.:, >0' / t A .t' A S K E T (• II O V T II K 1. I V K O V KLISllA KENT RANK, M.D., U. S. N., PROF. CIIAULES W. SIHELDH, I). IL, OK miNCETON COLI-EOE, X. J. The Life of Dr. Kant! is alreaily a fireside talu. Kvory one is faiiiiiiar with it as llio story of a youiijjf kiiijfht-frraiit of |iliilaiitlin>])y and si'ient'c, who traversed nearly llio wliole surface of tlie ylulx", within the short period of fourteen years; wlio (gathered here and tliere a hiurel from every walk of physical research in which he strayed ; who phniii'ed into the thick of perilous adventure, abstracting in the spirit of philosophy, yet seeinj^ with the eye of ])oesy, and loviuiij with the lieart of humanity; who penetrated, under such impulses, even {o the Northern pole of the planet and remained secluded amidst the horrors of two Arctic winters; wiio returned like one come back from another world, to invest the very story of his escape with the chanus of litera- ture and art, and transport us, hy his graphic pen, into .scenes we scarcely realize as heloiiiiin^ to the earth we inhabit; and who died at length, in the flush of his manhood and the morning of his fame, lamented by his country and the world. To write the story of such a life ivs it should be written, would bo impossible within the limits assioncd to this memoir, and notliini^ more, therefore, will be here attempted than such a sketch as may serve to introduce this new edition of his works to the reader. As we trace the asual bioy-raphical themes, though in the briefest manner, it will bo found that his origin and education, the leading events in his career, the prominent traits of his character, liis p\iblic services, and his private life and last moments, together yield an impression which is suited at once to justify his fame and perpetuate the lessons he has left to the world. •< 2 LIFE OF DR. KANE. Elisha Kent Kane, the leader in the American search for Sir John Franklin, was born in Philadelphia, Fob. 3, A. D. 1820. He received the name of Iiis grandfatlier, wlio had liimself been named after his ma- ternal grandfather, the Reverend Elisha Kent, of "Kent's I'arisli," N. Y., and he was baptized by his nnclc, the Reverend Jacob J. Janeway, D. D., then pastor of the Second I'rcsbyterian Church, which hi» parents attended. Oil the father's side ho was descended from Colonel John Kane, of the British Army, his great-grandfather, who came from Ireland to tlr. colony of New York about the year 1756, retired to Dutchess County, and there married Miss Sybil Kent, dangliter of the clergyman above nanieject worthy of his matured powers and noMcst aims, and gave himself to the task with tho zeal of a votary. Dut what discouragements, what disappointments, and what difiicultics entered into that great under- taking from its outset to its close, ran be but partially seen through the veil of delieatc reserve which ho has thrown over them. Some- thing, however, may be learned in legard to them from another source, and upon authority as competent as it is disinterested and liHuorable. ii 10 LIFE OF DU. KANE. n Hi '1! '1 Cnptaiii Sliomrd Osborne, of Ilcr Majesty's Navy, in a paper advoca- ting fuitlier polar exploration, holds the following language : — " It is only fair to Dr. Kane to say, that never in our times has a navigator entereil the ico so inditterently prepared for n Polar winter. With only seventeen followers, two of them mutineers, without a steam- power for his solitary vessel, without proper sledge-equipment, without any preserved fresh meat, and a great insufficiency of preserved vege- tables, and with only coals enough to servo for twelve months' fuel, the only marvel to mo is, that he over returned to relate his sufforino's. They are only to be equaled by those of the navigator "James," in Hudson I»ay, two centuries earlier. God forbid that I should be thought to cast one reflection xipon those warm-hearted Americans who came nobly forward and said, " We too will aid in Arctic enterprise ;" but the fact is that enthusiasm and high courjxgc, without proper knowledge and equipment, on such service, infallibly lead to the suft'er- ing which Dr. Kane's followers endured; and it is that which best explains how it was, that whilst our sailors, far beyond the Esquimaux, waxed fat and fastidious, Kane's poor followers had to eat the raw flesh of animals to avert tlic ravages of scurvy, brought on by a poisonous dietary of salt meat. This much to meet the objections of those who point to Dr. Kane's thrilling narrative with a view to frighten us from Arctic exploration ; and I may add, that I know well that chivalrous man never penned those touching episodes to frighten men from high enterprise, but rather to caution us to avoid his mistakes, and to show us how nobly the worst evils may bo borne when the cause is a good one "* The narrative of that expedition is before the reader in this volume. When first given to the world, it excittnl an intense interest and drew forth universal eulogy. All classes were penetrated and touched by the story so simply, so modestly, so eloquently told. Autograph let- ters from the most eminent names in every walk of life were written in its praise. Medals and other costly testimonials were sent by the Queen of England, by different Legislatures in our own country, and by scien- tific associations throughout the world. The mere casual notices of the press, as collected by his friend Mr. Childs, the publisher, fill sev- eral albums of folio size. But the recipient of those nonors was not destined himself long to enjoy them. To the seeds of former diseases never fully eradicated, had been added that terrible scourge of Arctic life, the scurvy, together * Paper on the Exploration of the North Polar Rcjrion, rend before the Royal Geographical Society, Jan. 23d, 18G5, by Captain Sherard Osborne, U. N., C. B. from alfons high show good Royal B. ' : 'ii J LIFE OF nil. KANE. u with tlic cxlinustinj^ litcniry labors iiu-idciit to tlic piiblicaiioii iif tliis narrative, liiitiri'iy uiuU'restiiiiating those lahors (uf wliich iiuleeJ hut few can form an aiiciinate conception,) he inul been quite too thoiij^ht- Icssof tiie claims of a body he had so loii^ been a(!custoined to subject to his purpose, and oidy awoke to a discovery of the error when it was too late. With this nielanelioly conviction, ho announced the comple- tion of the work to a friend in the modest and touching .sentence: — "The book, poor as it is, has been my coflin." lie left the country for Kuiiland under a presentiment that lie .should never return. For the first time in his life, departure was shaded with forcbodiu!^. It was indeed an alarming symi)toin to find that iron nerve wh'w.h hitherto had su^tained him under shocks apparently not Ies.s severe, thus begimdng to falter; and yet even then the great pur- pose of his life he had not wholly abandoned, but, in spite of the nio.st serious entreaties, was already projecting another Arctic Expedition of research and rescue.* Before, however, he could make known his plans, or even receive the honors awaiting him, successive and more virulent attacks of disease obliged him, under medical advice, to seek the last resorts of the invalid. Attoudeu by his faithfid friend Morton, he sailed for Cuba, where he was joined by his mother and two of his brothers, and devotedly nursed during a lingering and painful illness, until his death on the IGth of February, 1857. No man of his age was ever more proudly and tenderly lamented. The journey with his remains from Havana to New Orleans, and thence through the Western States to Philadelphia, became but one long funeral triumph, with the learned, the noble, and the good mingling in its train. State and civic authorities, literary, scientific, and religious bodies, followed his bier from city to city with lavish shows of grief, until at length the national ob.sequies were completed in the Hall of Independence, in the church of his childhood, and at the grave of his kindred. Dr. Kane, so far from being one of those mere personages who move in a halo of applause, had only to be known in order to convert the coldest criticism into sympathy with the popular feeling. Whatever faults belonged to him — and his nature was too rich and strong to bo without them — yet the man himself was fully worthy of his mission, and had been actually endowed with gifts and traits quite as remark- * The particular project to which he then reverted with special interest, was on© which he had entertained in 1852, looking to a combined land and sea expedition down Mackenzie's River, and through Behring's Straits. See Paper on Alaski, lately read by his brother and literarj' executor, General T. L. Kane, before the American Geographical Society. 12 LIFE OP 1) II . KANE. ! al>Io as any of tlio circutnstimces wliieli onnspirctl to make him nn object of siicli general adiuiiatioii. W'lifii lit Ills prime, lieftirc disease liad Ix-'^mi to waste liis frame, his personal aitpi^araiiee was extremely yoiitlil'ul aiul liandsonn;, almost to the (le;free of ii feminine delieacy of form and feature, with an air of cleLcan<'e and fashiim, stij^tjestivc at tirst sinht of anylhinix Imt hardy exploits and j)liysieal ondiiraiice. Unt as his eharacter matured, the lines of his faci; revealcil tlu! energy and pnr[ti>s(> within. 'I'lierewas a certain yi;v.ts of his book, to seek relaxation in a midnight ride upon his favorite stallion "Gaona," or in a rapiil walk before breakfast, lie was a splendid horseman and marksman. In the excitements of the chase he had the keenest relish, and yet for suffering animal creatures often showed a tenderness that in another might have seemed sentimental. Natural scenery and objects lie surveyed with the eye of an artist as well as that of trained scientilic observation. His journals in all parts of the world were filled with sketches, some of them Hnished juetiires, others mere pen-and-ink outlines with verbal notes. "Could they be placed before the publie," says the artist who illustrated this work, "they would add still further, if that were possible, to his reputation as an Arctic explorer." His art'eetions for home and kindred were absolute passions. In his love for liis motlier especially, he was a child to the last. His imagin- ation strove to brighten even tin; Arctic waste with dear and familiar associations. The ice-bound haibor in wliicli he was imprisoned was made to echo with names ofteiest heard at home. lie was really prouder to call a new land or river after one of his own kinsmen, than to christen it for a Washington or a Tennyson ; and the sledge in which he sought the object of a world-wide fame was most precious in his eyes as a memorial of his brother "Littln Willie." His lieart, in 1, I r E O F D i: . K A N R . 18 uiicalciiIatinfT (generosity. In dik- of Ms voyairi"* lio snvcd tho life of an iiit'iiiit whoso itiotlior was too ill to iiiirsf it, by liiinself taking,' ciitiio cliar^o of till) littli! siiflorcr. A yomin; orjiliaiicil iiii«lslii|iiiian, witli wlioni ln^ rrail tlic Uilih^ ami Siiakspca; ' on tin- vi>yai;i! to lliazil, wlicu fomiil to i>r ilvin" of (.•onsimiution, was taki-n Inmio with him anil ten- derly imrscil lintil his iK-ath as one of thi: faniily. It woul.l have l.ccu straiiLjc if sui'h allhiritt. alVt'ction ha I not l>ccn. in soiiu" instances, lav- ished upon an nnworlhy ohject, as when a younlieity tinij;in<^ his ardent nature, if ev. r (|ui\utic in tin' eyes of the iirudent, could never havo exposed iiim to the serious mi^a]ipre- iieiisidii of any hut interior souls. Tho writer of tliis skettdi, as tin; cuhiiiist at the y Iiis more intimate knowiedi;e, and in' can not now (h» bolter than hero to reproduce so mucli of it as rehites to Iiis moral traits and achievements.* "As a votary of srionco, lie will indeed receive fitting; tiihutes. There will not ho wantinj^ those wdio shall do justice to that ardent thirst for truth, which in him amounted to one of the controlling' pas- sions; to that intellect so severe in induction, yet sauaeioiis iu conjec- ture ; and to those contrihutions, .so various and vahiai)le, to the existing stock of human knowlede'c. I>ut his memory will not he cherished aloue in plulosophi(! minds. His is not a name to 1h' honoied only within the privileged circles of tho learned. There is for him another laurel, iireener oven than that which science weaves for her most jiiftej sons, lie is endeare(l to the popular heart as its chosen ideal of tho finest sentiment that adorns our earthly natui'o. " I'hilanthropy, considered as among things which arc lovely and of good re|>ort, is the flower of human virtue. Of all the pas^il)ns tluit havo their root in tho soil of this present life, there is none which, ■when elevated into a conscious duty, is so disinterested and pure. In the domestic affections, there is something of mere blind instinct; in friendshi|), there is the limit of congeniality ; in patriotism, there arc the restrictions of local attachment and national antipathy; but in that love of race which seeks its object in man as man, of whatever kindred, creed, or clime, earthly morality appears divested of tho last dross of selfishness, and challenges our highest admiration and praise. * See Report of the Joint Committee n])i)ointC'd to receive tho remains and con- duct tliL> obsequies of liie late Elislia Kent Kane, in Dr. Elder's Biography. Funeral Discourso delivered iu tho Second Presbyterian Church. 14 LIFE OF DR. KANE. I '■ "Provulcnce, who jroverns the world by ideas, selects the fit occasions and men for their illustration. In an age when philanthropic senti- ments, through the extension of Christianity and civilization, are on the increase, a fit occasion for their display is otfered in the perils of a bold explorer, for whose rescue a cry of anguished affection rings in tlie ears of the nations ; and the man found adequate to that occasion is he whose death we mourn. " If there was every thing congruous in the scene of the achieve- ment, — laid, as it was, in those distant regions where the lines of geog- raphy converge beyond all the local distinctions that divide and sepa- rate man from his fellow, and among regions of cold and darkness, and flisease and famine, that would task to their utmost the powers of buman endurance — not less suited was the actor who was to enter upon that scene and enrich the world with such a lesson of heroic benefi- cence. Himself o{ a country estranged from that of the imperiled explorers, the simple act of assuming the task of their rescue was a beautifid tribute to the sentinvjnt of national amity ; while, as his war- rant for undertaking it, he seemed wanting in no single qualification. To a scientific education and the experience of a cosmopolite, he joined an assemblage of nioral qualities so rich in their separate excellence, and so rare iu their combination, that it is ditiicult to effect their analysis. " Conspicuous among them was an exalted, yet practical benevolence. It was the crowning charm of his character, and a controlling motive in his perilous enterprise. Other promptings indeed there were, nei- ther suppressed, nor in themselves to be depreciated. But that passion for adventure, that love of science, that generous ambition, which stim- ulated his youthful exploits, appear now under the check and guidance of a still nobler impulse. It is his sympathy with the lost and suffer- ing, and the duteous convi(;tion that it may lie in his power to liberate them from their icy dungeon, which thrill his heart and nerve him to his hardy task. In his avowed aim, the interests of geography were to be subordinate to the claims of humanity. And neither the entreaties of affection, nor the imperiling of a fame, which to a less earnest spirit might have seemed too precious to hazard, could swerve him from the generous purpose. " And yet tiiis w.'is not a benevolence which could exhaust itself in any mere dazzling, visionary project. It was as practical as it was compre- hensive. It could descend to all the minutiic of personal kindness, and gracefully disguise itself even in the most menial offices. When de- feated iu its great object, and forced to resign the proud hope of a ii>---'.f.»>x.-. .-^:L«t LIFE OF DK. KANE. 15 pliilanthropist, it turns to lavish itself on Lis suflfering comrades, whom he leads almost to forget the commander in the friend. With unselfish assiduity and cheerful patience he devotes himself as a nurse and coun- sellor to relieve their wants, and buoy them up under the most appall- ing misfortunes ; and, in those still darker seasons, when the expedition is threatened with disorganization, conquers them, not less hy kindness than by address. Does a party withdraw from him under opposite counsels, they are assured, in the event of their return, of a " brother's welcome." Are tidings brought him that a portion of the little band arc forced to halt, he knows not where in the snowy desert, he is off through the midnight cold for their rescue, and finds his reward in the grateful assurance, " They knew that he would come." In sickness ho tends them like a brother, and at death drops a tear of manly sensi- bility on their graves. Even the wretched savages, who might be sup- posed to have forfeited the claim, share in his kindly attentions ; and it is with a touch of true human feeling that he parts from them at last, as ' children of the same Creator.' "Then, as the fitting support of this noble quality, there was also an indomitable energy. It was the iron column, around wliose capital that delicate lily-work was woven. Ills was not a benevolence which must waste itself in mere sentiment, for want of a power of endurance ade- quate to support it through hardship and peril. In that slight physical frame, suggestive only of refined culture and intellectual grai'o, tliere dwelt a sturdy force of will, which no combination of mat(M'iul terrors seemed to appall, and, by a sort of magnetic impulse, suiijocted all inferior spirits to its control. It was the calm power of reason and duty asserting their superiority over mere brute courage, and compelling the instinctive homage of Herculean strength and prowess. " With what firm yet conscientious resolve does he quell the rising symptoms of rebellion whicii threaten to add the terrors of mutiny to those of famine and disease! And all through that stern battle with Nature in her most savage haunts, how he over seems to turn his mild front toward her frowning face, if in piteous appealing, yet not less iu fixed resignation ! "But while in that character, benevolence appeared supported by energy and patience, .so, too, was it equipped with a most mMrveloas tact. He brought to his beneficent task not merely the resources of acquired skill, but a native power of adapting himself to enierijcncies, and a fi.'rtility in devising expedients, which no occasion ever seemed to bafile. Immured in a dreadful seclusion, where the combined terrors of Nature forced him into all the closer contact with the passions of Ii n i 16 LIFE OF DU. KANE. man, lie not only rose, by Jiis energy, superior to tliern both, but, by his niiuiy executive talent, converted cacii to liis ministry. Even the wild inmates of that icy world, from the mere stupid wonder with which at first they regarded his imported marvels of civilization, wore, at length, forced to descend to a genuine re>pect and love, as they saw him compete with them in the practice of their own rude, stoical virtues. " To such more sterling tjuaiitics were joined the graces of an atHuent cheerj'aliu'aa, tliat never deserted him in the darkest hours — a delicate and capricious humor, glancing among the most rugged realities like the sunshine upon the rocks — and, above all, that invariable stamp of true greatness, a beautil'ul modesti/, ever sufficiently content with itself to bo above the necessity of j)rctension. These were like the ornanients of a Grecian building, which, though they mny not enter into the effect of the outline, are found to impart to it, the more nearly it is surveyed, all the grace and finish of the most exquisite sculpture. "Anil yet strong and fair as were the proportions of that character in its more conspicuous aspects, we should still have been disiippointed did we not find albeit hidden deep beneath them, a firm basis of reli- (/ions si'idiiiii'iit. For all serious and thoughtful minds this is the purest charm of those graphic volumes in which he has recorded the story of his wonderfid escapes and deliverances. There is every where shining through its pages a chastened spirit, too familiar with human weakness to overlook a Providence in his trials, and too conscious of human in- signilicance to disdain its recognition. Now, in his lighter, more pen- sive moods, we see it rising, on the wing of a devout fancy, into that regi(Mi where })icty becomes also poetry : ' I have trodden the deck and the floes, when the life of earth seemed suspended, its movements, its sounds, its colorings, its companionships; and as 1 looked on the radiant hemisphere, circling above me, as if rendering worship to the unseen centre of light, I have ejaculated in hnniility of spirit, 'Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?' And then I have thought of the kindly world we had left, with its revolving sunlight and shadow, and the other stars that gladden it in their changes, and the hearts that warmed to us there, till I lost myself in the memories of those who are not; and they bore me back to the stars again.' "Then, in graver emergencies, it appears as a habitual resource, to which lie has come in conscious dependence : 'A trust, based on experience as well as on promises, buoyed me up LIFE. OF DR. KANE. 11 at the worst of times. Call it fatalism, as yon ignorantly may, tlicro is that in the story of every eventful life which teaches the inofHciency of human means, and the present control of a Supreme Agency. See how often relief has coaio at the moment of extremity, in forms strangely unsought, almost at the time unwelcome; sec, still more, how the back has been strengthened to its increasing burdens, and the heart cheered by some conscious influence of an unseen Power.' "And, at length, we find it settling into that assurance which belongs to an experienced faith and hope : — ' I never doubted for an instant, that the same Providence which had guarded us through the long darkness of winter was still watching over us for good, and that it was jet in reserve for us — for some ; I dared not hope for all — to bear back the tidings of our rescue to a Christian land.' " We hear no profane oath vaunted from that little ice-bound islet of human life, where man has been thrown so helplessly into the hands of God ; but rather in its stead, niurnuired amid Iho wild uproar of the storm, the daily prayer, ' Accept our thanks and restore us to our homes.' Let us believe that a faith which supported him through trials worse than death, did not fail him when death itself came. " In the near approach of that last moment, he was trantpiil and com- posed. With too little strength cither to support or indicate any thiiif of rapture, he was yet sufliciently conscious of his condition to per- form sonic final acts befitting the solemn einergenc}'. In refcrcnco to those who had deeply injured him, he enjoined cordial forgivrnos. To each of the watching group around him, his hand is given in the fond pressure of a final parting; and then, as if sensible that his ties to earth are loosening, he seeks consolation from the requested reading of such Scripture sentences as had been the favorite theme of his thouo'litful hours. "Now he hears those soothing beatitudes which fell from the lips of the Man of Sorrows in successive benediction. Then he will have repeated to him that sweet, sacred pastoral — 'The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He niaketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me: Thy rod and Thy staff, they com- fort me.' "At length are recited the consolatory words with which the Saviour took leave of his weeping disciples : — 'Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also ia 18 LIFE OF DR. KANE. me. In my Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I •would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.' " And at last, in the midst of this comforting recital, he is seen to expire — so gently that the reading still proceeds some moments after other watchers have become aware that he is already beyond the reach of any mortal voice. Thus, in charity with all mankind, and with words of the Redeemer in his ear, conveyed by tones the most familiar and beloved on earth, his spirit passed from the world of men." With these last and sublimest lessons of his life, it is fitting that this sketch should close. Let every American youth, who reads his story, remember that, in an age of materialism when old faiths seem to be decaying, he illustrated, as no man ever did before, the spiritual ele- ments of our nature, and the entire compatibility of deep religious con- viction, not only with humane cftbrts, but with physical researches and with earthly toils, successes, and honors. He will not indeed have lived in vain should history hereafter rank him among the harbingers of that peaceful era when charity shall become heroic, and science be reconciled to religion. S') ttmmm 1i0^^ltfff?^\ .y ' .i 1. 1 Kitj>>'u\'v,l >v S V'.nti cl-.i .nh "'ii>i '■ i> ^.xK^.•^T , '"A^ ^/i. /Z^J7>^^^^/^A. "s ^y— •^'Vj T . t.\. ixni^ '■iiHtt.ni in every clirti lion tweiit-y-tlnvc- at•g^*>-.> ar.f' l;\v«r.»'"; < iirht ininntes f.rou) tlu^ Ncvfli P'>lf^. It r^jwinites iV Voith Kriiri'l i'rcrn tlu- Xortli Teniju-i-at^ Z<>*>«'. N'^ ^ f:<* i'>»^-l<' li(! Uj«' i\ri-:-r Ocean; nearly al] 'f-viii'^ -t' ii'-i ; ."'•uiti'/>>eru:cri, Nov;* Zernbla nrid i'tiior i-- - r^'Jju'!!' ponioiifj 'tf Notway, -SNveilci^ \vr^-!)«-rla. .V)a.>ka, and Hn'i i||i Amerii.a ; ' . •• nnkiiown iv«_rioiis n<)n;h-w»ts:u;iiv of a'i i.a.p] unt) tlf>- nv.ev •v\ \^ ,v iVs t'--^*i ^r; :!>f. is onclo-seii I'Otwton lii''' ts A.. I Ai -»*ia, .■Mid Aiiionca ^ contnu'i! li <'\V l!»i .'li I'hfi n ■i\ ijifo it a'f il I: ;!■• Hi 'jca ()L uvor toi.i' aci'. uii'l"^ iii! iV.I o \Vitli ;iM If*! «;4'^-* :■>'! Mit : ijrve KHi^a <\ 1 ,ia« a- ceunir v r »\N« of llu' \ivU\ ' , lav,'' Lt'lAvvt-n. Iritiindes 'sui.t H'* ; '■<, Uiiist iu)1 Ik le «M>ns)« l..r,.d latit I. <-v' ,;f i}]^; Arctic l'(1i< -< iicna of lar iiiiihfr "•xtt-'* r. i?h some exceptions luau, d-^w'j'ees 1^.' . T _3 Ki .l C — .«*. i'i I ly. r I, **■.■ ,,,\ m. ■^:^^ ■.jgy ■i^- i: ill ^: /^4.-.#' \ ■■ .' / X .^ .v^ -^^ ''./v;' iiy ' ' CHAPTER I. THE ARCTIC REGIONS. The Arctic Circle, as laid ihnvn on our maps, is a line drawn around the eartli, parallel Avith the ecpiator, and distant in every direction twenty-three degrees and tw^enty-eight minutes from the Noi-th Pole. It separates the North Frigid from the North Temperate Zone. Within this circle lie the Arctic Ocean ; nearly all of Greenland ; Spitzhergen, Nova Zembla and other islands ; northerly portions of Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Russia, Sil)eria, Alaska, and British America ; '. and the almost unkno^vn I'egions uorth-westerly of Greenland. The Arctic Ocean is enclosed Ijetween the northern limits of Europe, Asia, any erecting in Mmlison, Wis., a monument to tlie Vikinjjr who first discovered America. In 1477 Columlms visited Iceliind, and voyapjed a liiindred leagues beyond it, ])rol)al>ly to the westward, and, it may be, came near reviving tlie ancient discov- eries of the Northmen, and tracking tlie stejts of Bi arni, Leif, and Thoi-finn to the long lost Vinland. The original settlement of Greenland becran about the southern i)romontor3', near Cape Fare^vell, and stretched along the coast in a north-westerly direction. Farther north, and proliably extending as high as the latitude of sixty-six degrees, was a second settlement. The former is said to have included, at its most iiour- isliing period, twelve parishes and two convents ; the latter contained four pai'ishes. Between the two dis-. tricts lay an uninhabitable region of seventy miles The whole population was about six tlumsand. For some centuries a commercial intci'course Ava.s main- tained with Norway ; Init the trade Avas sul)ser|uentl3' seized as an exclusive privilege of the Danish court. The colonists of (Ireenland led a life of hardship and severe privations. They dwelt in hovels sur- rounded by moimtains of j^erpetual ice ; they never tasted 1)read, but subsisted on the fish which tliev caught, joined to a little milk obtained from their starving cows ; and, Avitli seal-skins and the tusks of the walrus, they purchased from the traders who occa- sionally visited them, tlie wood required for fuel and the construction of their huts. About the year 173G, the natives of the country, or Esquimaux, whom the Nor-vvegian settlers had in con- tempt called Dwarfs, attacked the colonies. The scanty population Avas enfeel)led by repeated alarms ; and that dreadful pestilence, termed the Black Deatliy Til KIR 8Urrt«ED FATJJ. 8i Avliicli ragod over Kuroi)^ from the yenr 1402 to 1404, nt lust extended its ravnges to Greenland, and nearly conijileted the (h'stniction. In 141S a hostile fleet, susi)eeted to ])e English, laid Avaste the eounti'v. Politieal troubles and wars in Scandinavia at a later date, caused Greenland to he neglected, and finally foi'gotten ; and it is believed that its last colonists either retreated to Iceland or ■were destroyed hy the Ks(|uiniaiix about the com- mencement of the sixteenth century. In ir)Sl and KIO"), expeditions were sent out from Denmark to see if any inhabitants of Norse origin still dwelt in Greenland; but none could be found, although traces of the ancient settlement were seen on the western coast. An idea formerly prevailed that a colony had also been planted on the ejust side of Greenland, which liad been cut off from the rest of the -woi'ld by vast bai'riers of ice accumulating on the shore. The problem w\as, whether the ill-fated ])eople had survived the catasti-oj)he, or been entombed in snow and ice, as the unhapi)y citizens of Pompeii were involved in a shower of volcanic ashes. Shi])s were sent out at different times by Denmark for their relief, but it is now evident that no such settlement ever existed. The coast of Eastern Greenland is everywhere bold and rocky, and the interior of the coimtry consists of clusters of mountains covered with eternal snows. In 1721, Hans Egede, a Norwegian pastor, who had long felt the deepest concern for the descendants of the old Christian communities of Greenland, in Avhose total destruction he could not believe, sailed from Bergen Avitli his wife, foiu' children, and forty colonists, having resolved to become the apostle of regenera- 82 TIIK Al'OSTLI': OF (iUKKNLAM). ted (Jreenlniid. They Ijindcd .July 'Ad, and hoou erect- ed 11 wooden {Impel jit the location of the i)re.sent set- tlement of (lodthad. Although Kgede met with severe trials, and was deserteil l)y nearly all the settlers, lie jjersevered in sustaining; his foothold in the country; and in 1 T.'KJ the kingof Dennnirk l)est(»wedon the nnssionan annual grant of two thousand dollars, and sent three Moravian brothel's to assist him. Epoi'tuiiity of visiting Lichtenfels, the ancient seat of the (ireeidand congregations, and onv. of the three ^[oravian settlements. J had read much of the history of its founders ; and it ^\ as with feelings almost of devotion, that I drew^ near the scene their lahoi's had consecrated. "As Ave rowed into the shadow of its rock-emhayed cove, every thing was so desolate and still, that Ave might have fancied ourselves outside t^' \\ ■ ^ of life; even the dogs — those querulous the rest of the coast P itl I'esentlv, a suddei ddt ,'ing sentinels of gn. t* our ai)proach. ii'ii lid projectini •litf brought into view^ a tjnaint old Silesiaii mansion, bris- tling with irregularly-disj)os' 1 I'himneys, its black over- lian<2:in«j: roof studded Avith dormer wind« and crowned with an anti(pie belfry. "We were met, as we landed, by a coup' 'I' grave ancient men in sable jackets and close vel skull- y KIHKEKNAKS— llOMK OK IIAN8 CliniSTIAN. le me ucli 1<''S leii' yed gilt veil sof u-li. •liti: |)i'if^- ver- mid live all- MORAVIAN SETTLKMKNT AT HCHTKNrKLS. 1^ r ", %' Ij THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS. 35 caps, such as Vandyke or Reinbrandt himself might have painted, who gave us a (luiet but kindly A\elcome. All inside of the mansion-house — the- furniture, the matron even the children — had the same time-sobered look. The sanded floor was dried by one of those huge white-tiled stoves, which have been known for gene- rations in the north of Euro])e ; and the stiff-backed chairs were evidently coeval with the first days of the settlement. The heavy-built table in the middle of the room was soon covered with its simple offei'iiigs of liospitality; and we sat around to talk of the lands we had come from and the changing wonders of tlic times. " We learned that the house dated back as far as the days of Matthew Stach ; built, no doubt, with the beams that floated so ])rovi(lentially to the shore some t\venty-five years after the first landing of Egede ; and that it had been the home of the lu'ethren anIio no^v greeted us, one for t^venty-nine and the other tAventy- seven years. The " Congregation Hall " was Avithiu the building, cheerless now with its empty benches; a couple of French horns, all that I could associate with the gladsome jnety of the Moravians, hung on each side the altar. Two dwelling-rooms, tliree cliambcrs, and a kitchen, all under the same roof, made u]) the one structure of Lichtenfels. "Its kind-hearted innnites were not without intelli- gence and education. In s[)ite of the formal cut of their dress, and somethino; of tlie stiffness that belomrs to a ])rotracted solitary life, it was imp()ssil)le not to recoo;nise, in their demeanor and course of tliou"'ht, the liberal spii-it that has always characterized their church. Two of their " children," they said, had " g(me to God "last year with the scurvy; yet they hesitated at receiving a scanty sui)i)ly of i)otatoes as a present from our store." w i i it 11 3G ESQUIJIAUX OF XORTII GREENLAND. The Danish colonies now in Greenland are scattered along some eight hundred miles of the Avestern coast, and are more flourishing tlian the ancient settlements. The European population is only about one hundred and fifty — all in the service of the Danish company excei^ting the missionaries — while the native Esqui- maux of the district, among whom they live on good terms, are estimated at aljout nine thousand. Farther north, and cut off from civilization and their more favored Ijrothers of the Danish neis-hhorlioods by imjiassaLle glaciers, are other Escpiimaux — nomads, Avho range over a narroAV l)elt extending along the coast for six hundred miles. Tliey were the neighl)ors of Dr. Kane during liis two winter^' imprisonment in Rensselaer Harbor. In his " Arctic Exjdorations," Dr. Kane pays an affecting tril)ute to their virtues and draAvs gh)omy auguries of their future : — "It is Avith a feeling of melancholy that I recall these familiar names. They illustrate the trials and modes of life of a sim])le-min(led people, for Avhom it seems to be decreed that the year must very soon cease to renew its changes. It ])ains me when I think of their ap- proaching destin}', — in the region of night and Avinter, Avhere the earth yields no fruit and the waters are locked, — without the resorts of skill or even the rude materials of art, and walled in from the world by barriers of ice Avithout an outlet. " If you point to the east, inland, Avhere the herds of reindeer run OA'er the barren hills unmolested, — for tliey have no means of captui'ing tliem, — they Avill cry " Sermik," "glacier;" and, question them as you may about tlie range of their nation to the north and south, the answer is still the same, A\ith a shake of the head, "Sermik, sermik-soak," "the great ice-Avall;" there is no more beyond. ..^"■- THE OABOTS AND TIIEIR VOYAGES. 37 " They have no " kresuk," no wood. The drift-tim- ber which blesses their more southern brethren never reaches them. The bow and arrow are therefore un- known ; and the kayak, the national implement of the Oreenlander, which, like the palm-tree to the natives of the tropics, ministers to almost eveiy want, exists among them only as a legendary word." Though a long intercourse with Europeans has somewhat modified the character of the Southern Greenlanders, and acquainted them with some of the luxuries of civilization, they still retain to a great de- gree their former customs and modes of life. This is probably owing to the sparse population, and their vagrant life. Depending wholly upon the products of the chase for their food, they are most accom- plished hunters ; and the sea is the principal source of their sustenance. England narrowly missed sharing in the honor awarded to Columbus for his great achievement. After vainly soliciting Sf>ain and Poiiugal for aid, that navigator sent his brother to Henry VII., with proi^ositions which were at once accepted ; but before the return of his messenger, Columbus, under the auspices of Isabella, had started on his voyage. The news of his success excited much interest in England ; and the king granted to John Cabot and his three sons, a patent "to sail to all parts, countries, and seas," at their own expense, as explorers. Cabot was an Italian, once a " Merchant of Venice," then livino- m Bristol, England, where his son Sebastian was born about 1477. A subsequent residence in Venice had given the son a taste for maritime enterprises, which was increased by his learning the trade of making maps. 3 t'li ii ! ; i f t : I ! i i! 38 THE LABR^UJOR COLOIfY. The explorers, in a sliip named the " Matthew," fitted out probably at the expense of the Cabots, sailed from Bristol in May, 1497. Sebastian, though only nineteen years of age, was entrusted with the com- mand, but was accompanied by his father. On the 24tli of June, they beheld portions of the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland stretched out before them. This discovery of a continent (fourteen months l)efore Columbus discovered the main land) caused the explorers little exultation, although the British claim to the thirteen colonies was primarily based thei'eon. The object of the voyage was to dis- cover a passage to India ; and to be obstiTicted by land displeased the mariners. Entering one of the chan- nels leading into Hudson's Bay, they continued on for several days, when the crew became despondent and insisted on returning. Cabot yielded to their clamors and sailed for England. In the SjDring of 1498, Sebastian, with three hun- dred men, again set sail for the region he had discov- ti*ed. These unfortunate people he landed on the bleak and inhospitable coast of Labrador, that they might form a settlement there, and then with the squadron renewed his search for the North-west pas- sage. On his return to the station, he found that the settlers had suffered intensely from cold and exposure. A number had already perished, and the balance were carried back to England. Cabot made a third voyage to the North-west in 1517, and it is believed that he discovered the two straits which now bear the names of Davis and Hud- son. In the year 1500, Gasper Cortereal, of Portugal, sailed in search of a North-west passage. He reached POETUGUESB EXPEDITIOKS. 39 . n Labrador, and sailed a long distance along its coast, and tlien with a number of natives on board returned home. The next year he guided two ships to the noiihei'n point of his fonner voyage, wliere he entered a strait ; here the vessels were separated by a tem- pest. One of thvm succeeded in extricating itself, and searched for some time in vain for its lost consort; but that Avhicli had on board the gallant leader of the expedition returned no more, and no trace could ever be obtained of its fate. The next year, Miguel Cortereal sailed with three ships in search of his brother. Two of the vessels re- turned in safety, but Miguel and his crew were never heard from. A tliird brother ^vished to search for his lost kindred, but the king would not allow him to do so. French expeditions, under Yerazzani (1523) and Cartier (1524) were equally unsuccessful in their search for the north-west passage. .i1. IH i • *; ill III ■ > i I) i I, CIIAPTEE, III. ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS TO THE NORTH- EAST. (wiLLOUGnBY CHANCELOR BUEROUGHS ETC.) In 1553, after a long slumber, tlie spirit of discov- er}' ill England was again aroused, and a voyage Avas jjlaiiiied Avith a view to reach by way of the north and north-east, the celebrated regions of India and Cathay. Sebastian Cabot was prominent in forwarding this enterprise, and though too old to lead the expedition lie drew up the instructions under which it sailed. In it the mariners were warned not to be too much alarmed when they saw the natives dressed in lions' and bears' skins, with long bows and arrows, as this formidable appearance was often assumed merely to inspire terror. He told them, that there were persons armed with bows, who swam naked, in various seas, havens, and rivers, "desirous of the bodies of men, which they covet for meat," and against whom diligent watch must be kept night and day. He exhorted them to use the utmost circumspection in their deal- ings A^dth these strangers, and if invited to dine with any lord or ruler, to go well armed, and in a postm'e of defence. The command of the expedition was given to Sir 40 ri- EXPEDITION UNDER SIB HUGH WILLOUGHBY. 41 Hugh Willoughby, and three vessels having been fitted out ^vith great care, sailed from England in the month of May. The court and a great multitude of people witnessed their departure, and the occasion was one of great interest and excitement. Willoughby wa.s furnished by King Edward, with a letter of intro- duction, addressed to all "kings, princes, rulers, Judges, and governoi*s of the earth," in which free passage and other favors were asked for the explorers; and if granted, he concluded, — " We promise, by the God of all things that are contained in heaven, earth, and the sea, and by the life and tranquillity of our kingdoms, that we will with like humanity accept your servants, if at any time they shall come to our kingdoms." On the 14th of July the explorers were near the coast of Norway, and on approaching the North Caj^e saw before them the Arctic Ocean stretching onward to the Pole. Here Sir Hugh exhorted his commanders, Chancelor and Durfooth to keep close togetlier. Soon after this there arose such " terrible wdiii'lwinds," that they were obliged to stand out to the open sea, and allow the vessels to drift at the mercy of tlie waves. Amid the thick mists of the next stormy night the vessels of Willoughby and Chancelor separated, and never again met. Willoughby's pinnace was dashed to pieces amid the tempest ; and next moraing, when light dammed, he could see neither of his com[)anions ; but, discovering at length the smaller vessel called the Confidence, he continued his voyage. He now sailed nearly two hundred miles north-east and by north, but was astonished and bewildered at not discovering any symptom of land ; whence it ap- peared that *' the land lay not as the globe made men- tion." Instead of sailing along or towards Norway, he * .'i it P' f 1; ( 1 1 1 * -4 1 42 FATE OF TIIE EXPLORERS. was plunging deeper and deeper into the unknown abyss of tlie Northern Ocean. At length land aj)peared, but high, desolate, and covered with snow, while no sound was wafted over the waves, except the crash of its falling ice and the hungry roar of its monsters. This coast ^vn.^ evi- dently that of Nova Zembla ; Ijut there Avas no point at which a landing could be made. After another at- tempt to push to the northwaril, they turned to the south-west, and in a few days saAV the coast of Rus- sian Lapland. Here they must have been veiy near the o]^)ening into the White Sea, into ^vhich, had for- tune guided their sails, they would have rejiched Archangel, have had a joyful meeting with their com- rades, and spent the winter in comfort and security. An evil destiny led tliem westward. The coast was naked, uninhabited, and destitute of shelter, except at one point, where they found a shore bold and rocky, but with one or two good har- boi-s. Here, though it was only the middle of Sep- tember, they felt already all the prematm'e rigors of a northern season ; intense frost, snow, and ice diiving through the air, as though it had been the depth of winter. The officei*s conceived it therefore most ex- pedient to search no longer along these desolate shores, but to take up their cpiartei's in this haven till the ensuing spring. The narrative here closes, and the darkest gloom involves the fate of this first English expedition. Neither the commander nor any of his brave compan- ions ever returned to their native shoi-es. After long- suspense and anxiety, tidings reached England that some Russian sailors, as they Avandered along these dreary boundaries, had been astonished by the view ■:.w- n CIIANCELOR 8 VISIT TO RUSSIA. of two large ships, wliich they entered, and found the gallant crews all lifeless. There was only the journal of the voyage, Avith a note written in January, show- ing that at that date the crews were still alive. "\\'^hat •vvas the immediate cause of a catastrophe so dismal and so complete, whether the extremity of cold, fam- ine, or disease, or whether all these ills united at once assailed them, can now only be matter of sad conjec- tui-e. Thomson thus pathetically laments their fate : — " Miserable they, Who, here entangled in the gathering ice, Talic their last look of the descending sun, While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost, The long, long night, incumbent, o'er tlieir heads, Falls horrible. Such was the Briton's fate, As with^/f)*s< prow (what have not Britons dared !) Be for the passage sought, attempted aiuce So much in vain. " After parting M-ith the other two ships Chancelor reached the port of Wardhuys and after Avaiting seven days for his companions, pushed fearlessly on toward the noi-th-east, and sailed so far that he came at last " to a place Avliere they found no night at all." Tlien they reached the entrance of an immense bay (the AVhite Sea) and espied a fishing boat, the crew of which, having never seen a vessel of similar magnitude, were as much astonished as the native Americans had been at the Spaniards, and, taking the alarm, fled at full speed. Chancelor, with his party, iiui*sued and overtook them ; ^^•]lereupon they fell flat on the ground half-dead, crying for mercy. He immediately raised them most courteously, and by looks, gestures, and gifts, expressed the most kind intentions. Being then allowed to depart, they spread everywhere the report of the arrival " of a strange nation, of singular gentle- ness and courtesy." The natives came in crowds, and ii i;, I .' II f •, 44 DEATH OF CIIANCELOU. the sailors were copiously sii2ii)lie(l with provisions and eveiything they wanted. C'hancelor now learned that he was at the extremity of a vast country obscurely known as Russia or Mus- covy, ruled by a sovereign named Ivan Vasilovitch, and obtained peraiission to visit him at his court at IMoscow. The journey was made on sledges, and Chancelor returned Avith a letter from the Czar, grant- ing privileges to tradei-s, which led to the formation of the Muscovy Company. Chancelor went to Russia a second time, iu the employ of this company ; and on the homcAvard voyage with four ships and an am])assador from the Czar, tAVo of the vessels were wrecked on the coast of Nor- way ; a third reached the Tliames ; but the fourth, in which were the chiefs of the expedition, was driven ashore on the coast of Scotland, Avhere it went entirely to pieces. Chancelor endeavored, in a very dark night, to convey himself and the ambassador ashore in a boat. The skiff was overwhelmed by the tempest, and Chancelor was droAvned, though the ambassador succeeded in reaching the land. He thence proceeded to London, whei'e Philip and Mary gave him a splen- did and pompous reception. In 1556, a vessel called the Searchthrift, was fitted out and placed under the command of Stephen Bur- roughs, who had gone mth Chancelor on his first voyage. Enthusiasm and ho})e seem to liave lisen as high as at the departure of the first expedition. Se- bastian Cabot came doAvn to Gravesend with a laro-e party of ladies and gentlemen, and, having first gone on board, and rtaken of such cheer as the vessel afforded, invitea Burroughs and his company to a splendid banquet at the sign of the Christopher. I ^4 5 H IS c r. c ^ ;i)l fitted Bur- iirst laro'e gone vessel to a •plier. i 1 I ill ill! ! ? ENGLISH TRA\T:LER8 IN ASIA. 45 Among the islands of Waygatz, the voyagers fell in with a UiisHian craft, and on giving the master there- of a i)n'sent of pewter spoons, he stated that the ad- joining country was that of the wild Samoldes, who were said to eat Russians when oi)portunity offered. At a deserted encampment of these people, Hun-oughs saw three hundred of their idols — human figures of hoirible as})ect. After tliis. Burroughs aj)proached Nova Zembln, hut as winter was near he concluded that it would be useless to attempt further explorations that season, and so turned homeward. The Muscovy Company now attempted to open communication with Persia and India across the Cas- pian, and by ascending the Oxus to Bochara. This scheme they ])rosecuted at great cost, and by a series of l)old adventures, in which Jenkinson, Johnson, Al- cocke, and other of their agents, penetrated deep into the interior regions of Asia. An unusual deij^ree of courage was indeed necessary to undertake this expe- dition, which was to be begun by passing round the North Cape to the "Wliite Sea, then by a land journey and \'oyage down the Volga, across the Avhole breadth of the Russian empire to Astrakhan, before they could even embark on the Caspian. It was soon ascertained, that no goods could bear the cost of such an immense and dangerous conveyance by sea and land. This channel of intercourse with the Indies haWncr failed, attention was again attracted to the nnite by the north and east of Asia. John Balak, anIio had been living at Duisburg, sent on much infomiation of the country, and of the attempts of a traveler named Assenius to penetrate to the eastAvard. He described a river, probably the Yenisei, doAvn which came m: ^ \ : 46 ENGLISH TRAVELERS IN" ASIA. ' "< " great vessels laden "with rich and preeions merchan- dise, brought l)y l)lack or swart people." In ascend- ing this ri%'er, men came t<^ the great lake of Baikal, on Avhose banks were the Kara Kalmucs, who, he as- serted, were the very jieople of C.^athay. It was added, that on the shores of this lake had been heard sweet harmony of bells, and that stately and large buildings had been seen therein. Eeasonint; from this new infonnation Gerard Mer- cator, the famous geographer and map-maker of those days, claimed that a short passage bej'ond the limit already reached by navigators "would carry them to Japan and Cliiiia. This "was undei-rating the Itreadth of Asia l>y a hundred degrees of longitude, or more than a foui'th of the circumference of the globe. To realize these views, t\vo vessels under Arthur Pet and Charles Jackson left England in 158<). On reaching high latitudes they were surrounded witli fields of ice. Tliey were also enveloped in fogs, and obliged to fasten to icebergs, wliere, "abiding the Lord's leisure, they continued with patience." Finally they found their Avay home without making an}' prog- ress at solving the problem. ■:] i\ r- •e it X) h re It >n th id be ly ?!::fe . I I I n ■\ |!t 1 ' ^? I ^ cq CHAPTER IV. DUTCH EXPEDITIONS TO THE NORTH-EAST. (WM. BARENTZ CORNELIZ RYP.) The English attempt to find a Nortli-east passage to the Indies having all signally failed, tli^ Dutch took up the enterprise, and a r, /ciety of merchants fitted out three vessels, which sailed from the Texel on the 5th of June, 159-4, under the general guidance of William Biu-entz, a noted pilot, and an exj)ert sailor. On approaching Nova Zembla two of the ships at- tempted to pass by the old route of the Strait of Way- gatz ; but Barentz himself, taking a bolder course, endeavored to pass round to the northward of Nova Zembla, Avhich oppose'1 his eastward ^"•I'ogress. Pass- ing the Black Cape and William's Isle, they saw various features characteristic of the Arctic Avoi'ld. At the Orange Isles, they came upon three hundred wal- rus, lying in heaps upon the sand and basking in the sun. Supposing that these animals were hel})less on sliore, the sailors nuuvhed against them with i)ikes and hatchets, but, to theii" surprise, were obliged to retire in dishonor. The crews had a fierce encounter with a Polar bear. Having seen one on the shore, they entered their shallop, and discharged se\eral balls at him, but \vith- 4.7 !r 11 " I I J H I l!i '- 1 I '.! 48 DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. out Inflicting any deadly wound. Tliey were then happy when they succeeded in throwing a noose about his neck, hoping to lead him like a laj)dog, and carry him as a trophy into Holland. They were not a little alarmed by his mighty and tremendous struggles ; but what AVcis their consternation, when he fastened his paws on the stern and entered the boat ! The whole crew e: pected instant death, either from the sea or from his jaws. Providentially at this moment the noose got entangled Avith the iron work of the rudder^ and the creature struggled in vain to extricate him- seK. Seeing him thus fixed, they mustered courage to advance and despatch him with their spears. Barentz, -""iched the northern extremity of Nova Zembla by ^. igust 1st ; but the wind blew so strong, that he and his crew gave up hope of passing that point, and resolved to return. The two other vessels meantime pushed on along the coast. On turning a point the Dutch observed one of those great collections of rudely carved images which had been formerly remarked by Burroughs. These consisted of men, women, and children, some- times having from four to eight heads, all with their faces turned eastward, and many horns of reindeer ly- ing at their feet ; it was called, therefore, the Caj)e of Idols. After passing through the strait of AVaygatz, and sailing for some space along the coast of Nova Zembla, they were repelled T)y the icy barriers ; but having hy perseverance rf>unded these, they arrived at a wide, blue, open sea, Avith the coast l>ending rapidly soutli- ward ; and though this was only the shore of the Gulf of Obi, they doubted not that it was tlie eastern boundary of Asia, and would afford '! I ■' 60 DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIOXS. J It- ■ I 1 !| being a f cast- Jay, tliey refused meat, butter, and cheese ; but, on being offered a raw herring, eagerly swallowed it entire, liead and tail inclusive. Tlie navigators, after considerable search, fell in Avith a party of Samoiedes, who manifested much jealousy of the strangers, and on the approach of the interpreter, drew their arrows to shoot him ; but he called out, " We are friends "; upon which they laid down their weapons, and saluted him in the Rus- sian st}le, by bending their heads to the groiuid. On hearing a gun fired, they ran away and leaped like madmen, till assured that no harm was intended. A sailor l)t)ldly went up to the chief, dignified in the narrative with the title of king, and presented him with some biscuit, Avhich the monarch graciously ac- cepted and ate, though looking round someAvhat sus- piciously. At length the parties took a friendly leave; but a native ran after the foreigners with sicrns of erreat ancrer, on account of one of their rude statues which a sailor had carried off. Being informed that a few days' sail would bring them t(» a point beyond which there was a large open sea, they made repeated attempts to reach it, but were driven back by floating ice, and at the end of Sep- tember A\cre forced to return to Holland without having acc<>m])lished any one of the brilliant exploits for wliich they had set out. Another exj)edition of two vessels, entrasted to Barentz and Corneliz R}'p, sailed from Amster- dam on the 10th of May, 1590. As homesickness was suspected to have some relation to the failure of formei" ex]>editions, none but unmarried persons were admitted as mend^ers. Avoiding the coast of Russia they pushed north- DISCOVERY OP BPITZBERGEN, 51 erly, and on the 22d saw the Shetland Islands. On the 9th of June they discovered a long island rising abruptly into steep and lofty cliffs, and named it Bear Island. Tlie horror of this isle to their view must have been unspeakable: the prospect dreary; black where not hid with snoAV, and broken into a thousand precipices. No sounds but of the dashing of the waves, the crashing collision of floating ice, the dis- cordant notes of myriads of sea-fo^vl, the yelping of Arctic foxes, the snorting of the walruses, or the roarinir of the Polar l)ears. Proceeding onward, they reached the latitude of 80°, and discovered the coast of the Spitzbergen Archipel- ago, a cluster of islands lying nearer the Noi-th Pole thau any other known land, excei)ting the regions dis- covered by Kane, Ilaj'es, and Hall. Notwithstand- ing its high latitude, Spitzbergen has been much fre(|uented by whaling-ships, ^valrus hunters and ame- teur sportsmen. The mariners, finding their progress eastward stop- ped by this line of coast, now retraced their nmte along its deep bays, still steering southward till they found themselves again at Bear Island. Here Corneliz and Barentz separated ; the former proposing to push again northward. Barentz proceeded south-easterly intending to round the northern point of Nova Zeml)la. On the 0th of August, he fastened his vessel to a large iceberg amid drifting ice, off Cape Nassau. On the 10th, the ice began to separate, and the sea- men remarked that the l)ero: to which thev were moored Avas fixed to the bottom, and that all the others struck asfainst it. Afraid that these loose pieces would collect and enclose them, they sailed on, If \ ! ! 52 DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. VVi '' 1 ti ■ f i 1 ? i ! \l4 ■ / ?>> e'M y >. ' Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY 14580 (716) 873-4503 o ,<'^ ^ 56 DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. '" I I ly moping in the hut, the men went out daily, em- ployed themselves in walking, running, and athletic games, which wanned their bodies and presen-ed their health. "With the sun, however, appeared their old enemy, the bear. One attacked them amid so thick a mist that they could not see to point their pieces, and sought shelter in the hut. The bear came to the door, and made the most desperate attempts to burst it open ; but the master kept his back firaily set against it, and the animal at last retreated. Soon after he mounted the roof, where, having in vain at- tempted to enter Ijy the chimney, he made furious attempts to pull it down, ha^^ng torn the sail in which it was Avrapped ; all the while his frightful and hungry roarings sj^read dismay through the mansion beneath ; at length he retreated. Another came so close to the man on guard, who was looking another way, that, on receiving the alarm from those Avithin and looking about, he saw liimseK almost in the jaAvs of the bear; however, he had the presence of mind instantly to fire, -svlien the animal was struck in the head, retreated, and was afterward pursued and de- sj)atched. In February, a heavy north-east gale brought a cold more intense than ever, and buried the hut again under snow. Tlils was the more deeply felt, as the men's strength and supply of generous food to recruit it were alike on the decline. They no longer at- tempted daily to clear a road, but those who were able went out and in by the chimney. A dreadful calamity then overtook them in the failure of their stock of wood for fuel. They began to gather all the fi'agments which had been thrown away, or lay scat- tered about the hut ; but these being soon exhausted. THE SHIP DESERTED. 57 it belioovecl them to carry out their sleilge in search of more. To dig the trees, however, cmt of the deep snow, and drag them to the hut, was a task which, in their present exhausted state, wouhl have appeared impossible, had they not felt that they must do it or perish. In the course of March and April, the weather be- came milder, yet the baiTiera which enclosed the ship continued, and, to their inexpressible grief, rapidly in- creased. In the middle of March these ramparts Nvere only 75 paces broad, in the beginning of May they were 500. These piles of ice resembled the houses of a great city, interepersed with apparent towei-s, steeples, and chimneys. The sailors, viewing with despair this position of the vessel, earnestly entreated pennission to fit out the two boats, and in them to undertake the voyage homeward. The mere digging of the boats from under the snow was a most laborious task, and the equipment of them would have been next to im- possible, but for the enthusiasm with Avhich it was un- dertaken. By the 11th of June they had the boats fitted out their clothes packed, and the provisions embarked. Then, however, they had to cut a way through the steeps and walls of ice which intervened between them and the open sea Amid the extreme fatigue of dig- ging, breaking, and cutting, they were kept in jjlay by a huge bear w'hich had come over the frozen sea from Tartary. At length the crew, having embarked all their clothes and jirovisions, set sail on the 14th with a westerly breeze. In the three following days they passed the Cape of Isles, Cape Desii-e, and came to Orange Isle, always working their wtiy through much 68 DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDniOXS. I I I 4 M encum'bering ice. Ah they were off Icy Cupe^ Bar- entz, Avlio luul Leen long struggling with severe ill- uess, desired to be lifted up that he might take a last view of that fatal and terrible boundary, and he gazed upon it for a considerable time. On the following day the boats were again involved amid masses of drift-ice ; but one of the men boldly took a rope to a solid floe, and by this means all the crew, then the st(M'es, and finally the boat itself, reach- ed a secure position. During this detention Barentz died, to the great grief of all his crew. On tlu; 22(1 there appeared open sea at a little dis- tance, and having dragged the boats over successive pieces of ice, they were again afloat. In the three fol- lo\ving days they reached Cape Nassau, the ice fre- quently stopping them, but opening again like the gates of a sluice, and allowing a })assage. On the 2Cth they Avere obliged once more to disembark and f)itch their tents on the frozen surface. On the 7th of July they again dragged the boats to an open sea, anvhen a I'^rench ship ai»]K!arealle«l ut this disaster one of the remaining vessels turned hack, but Frubisher in the third one pushed forward, and on the22d of July reached the ice-bound coasts of Lal>rador. Sailing nortlnvard he came in Auirust to more accessible land, and named it " Meta Incognita." Seeing seven boats plying along the beach, Frobisher sent out c»ne of his own, the crew of which, l>y holding up a white cloth, induced a native canoe to api)roach ; but on seeing the ship the people immediately turned back. Frobisher then went on shoi'e, and, by the dis- tnbutiou of presents, enticed one of the natives on board. This person, being well treated with food and drink, made on his return so favorable a report, that nineteen followed his example. The natives were next day more shy. and Avith some difficulty one of them, by the allurements of a bell, was draAvn on board. Frol)isher, ha\ing no in- tention to detain him, sent a boat with fiAe men to put him on shore ; but, urged by curiosity, they went on to join the main body of the natives, and were never allowed to return. Afte: spending two days firing guns, and looking for the missing men, Fro- bisher sailed for home, where he arrived in October. Although Frobisher had made but little progress towards a western passage, his voyage was considered highly creditable, and interest in the new countiy was greatly excited from the fact that a large shining stone, which Frobisher had brought home and divid- ed among his friends, was pronounced by the gold- smiths to be gold ore. A new exj)edition of three ships was immediately organized ; England Avas thro^^^l into a ferment of joy ; and Frobisher being invited Tl at I : III '': 1 1 ' y\\ 62 FU0BIS1IEU8 8EC0ND VOYAGE. to visit the queen, received lier hand to kiss, with many gracious expressions. The new expedition sailed on the Sfith of IMay, 1577 ; on the 8th of June it touched at the Orkneys for fresli water. The poor inhabitants, having, it is pi'()l)al)le, suffered from the inroads of pirates, ried from tlieir houses with cries and shrieks, but were soon, by courteous treatment, induced to retuin. Tlie Englisli now entered on their perilous voyage through the northern ocean, during which they were much cheered with the perpetual light. At length they touched at the sound or deep indentation of ^\'uter8 known as Frobisher Strait — afterwards said to be a sound, and recently proved such by the researches of the late Captain Hall. Tlie coast, hoAvcver, was found guarded by a mighty wall of ice, which the ships could not penetrate ; but the captain, with two of his boats, worked his way into the sound, and began to surv^ey the country. So oi'ude were then the ideas respecting the geography of these regions, that they imagined the coast on their left to be America, and that on their right Asia. Landing on the American side they 8cramT)led to the top of a hill, and erected a column, which, after the great patron of the expedition, was called Mount AVarwick. On their return, cries were heard like the lowing of bulls, and a large body of natives ran up to them in a very gay and cordial manner. Tliey began an eager traffic for the tiifling ornaments displayed by their ^^sitors, yet declined eveiy invitation to go on board, while the English on their part did not choose to accede to their overtures of going into the countr}'. Frobisher and a compan- ,ion, meeting two of the natives apart, i-ashly seized i FIGIIT Wrni ESQUmACX. 68 and began dragging tlieni to the "boats, hoping to gain their friendwhip by presents and couilesy. On the HHi)peiy giound, however, their feet gave way, the EsfALF. rnisoxEiw. 06 ing, and stood their ground with the most savage and desperate valor. Overwliehned with clouds of ar- rows, th(;y picked them up, plucking them even out of their bodies, and returned them with fur}'. On feeling themselves mortally wounded, they plunged from the rocks into the sea, lest they should fall into the hantls of the conquerors. At length, completely worsted, and having lost five or six of their number, they sprang up among the cliffs and eluded jmrsuit. There fell into the hands of the assailants only two females, who caused some speculation. One was stricken in years, and present- ed a v-isage so singularly hideous, that her moccasins were j)ulled oif to ascertain if she was not the gi-eat enemy of mankind in disguise. The other female was young, with a child in her arms ; and bf Ing, from her peculiar costume, mistaken for a man, had been fired at and the child wounded. It was in vain to apply remedies ; she licked off with her tongue the dressings and salves, and cured it in her own way. She and the male captive fonuerly taken appeared to be strangen?, but on becoming intimate found nuicli comfort in each other's society, and showed a strong mutual attachment. Frol)isher still cherished hopes of recovering his men. A large party appearing on the top of a hill, signs were made of a desire ft)r a fi-iendly interview. A few of them advanced, and were introduce I ^; .ilflii ra LOSS OF TIIE "squirrel." of -wliicli was jibamlc^ned, wliile with the remainder Sir Iliiiuplirey pursued liis voyaire along tlie eoiust towards tlie south. On liis war, the largest remain- ing sliip with its ore was wrecked, and a hundred souls perished. Iveturn Avas now considered necessary, and in the midst of teirible stt)rms and temi)ests, the prows were turned homeward. 8ir Humphrey had chosen to sail in a little tender, called tlie 8(piirrel, and when the storm came on he was urwd to shift his flau: to a larger vessel. But he refused to do so, savinu:: " 1 will not desert my little company, Avith whom I have passed so many storms and perils." The %; Mf :!iii>' iiil .!• ' i THE "land of desolation." 75 Davia sailed on the 7th of June, 1585. On the 10th of July, as the seamen approached (lie Arctic houndary, they heard, amid a calm sea Ije.set with thick mist, a mighty roann;.;, as of the waves dashing on a rocky shore. The captain and master pushed oil in the boat to examine this supposed Leach, hut were mucli 8ur])rised to find themselves involved amid numei'(>us icebergs, while all this noise had been caused by the rolling and beating of these masses against each other. Next day they came in view of Greenland, ^vh^ch appeared the most dreary and desolate ev(!r seen ; "deformed, rocky, and mountainous, like a sugar-loaf, standing to our sight above the clouds. It towered above the fog like a white list in the sky, the tops altogether covered with snow, the shore beset A\ith ice, making such irksome noise that it was called the IadkI of lAsohtti'on." After sailing for several days along this dreary shore, Davis pushed out north-westward into the open sea, hoping in " God's mercy to find our desired j)as- sage." On the 29th he came in view of a land in G4° north latitude, which was still only Greenland ; ])ut as the wind was unfavorable for proceeding westward, the air temperate, and the coast free from ice, he re- solved to go on shore and take a view of ths countiy and people. In the company of two others, he landed on an island, leaving directions for the rest to follow as soon as they should hear any loud signal. The party mounted the top of a rock, whence they -svere espied In" the natives, who raised a lamentable noise, with loud outcries like the howling of wolves. Davis and his comrades hereupon struck up a high note, so modulated, that it might at once be alluring to the natives, and might summon his own crew to deeds :« ¥1T t Wl til 1' '1 1 i : |l ; I i; iffli iM'f li I'l . 'H 7G A OllEENLANI) DANCF- »> either of courtesy or valor. Burton, tlie iimst(;r, n\u\ othern, luistened, "vvt'll armed, yet with tlie hand of inuHic ])hiying, and dancing to it with tlie most invit- ing nigns of friendship. In accordance witli this gay summons, ton canoes luistened from the otlu'r ishinds, and tlie people crowded round the strangers, uttering in a hollow voice unintelligible simnds. The English continued their friendly salutations, while the other ]>ai'ty still showed jealousy, till at length one of them began pointing towards the sun and beating his breast. These signs being returned by John Ellis, master of the IMoonshine, the natives were induced to a])i)roach; anil being presented with caps, stockings, gloves, etc., and continuing to be hailed with music and dancing, their fears gave place to the most cordial amity. Next day there appeared thirty+;even canoes, the people from which kindly invited the English on shore, showing eager impatience at their dela}'. Dji- vis manned his boats and went to them ; one of them shook hands with him, and kissed his hand, and the two parties became extremely familiar. The natives paiied with every thing, the clothes from off their backs, their buskins of well-dressed leather, their darts, oars, and five canoes, accepting cheerfully In return whatever their new visitors chose to present. Davis next steered directly across the strait, or rather sea, which still bears his oAvn name. On the 6th of August he discovered high land, which he named Mount Raleigh, being part of Cumberland Island. Here, anchoring in a fine road, the seamen saw three white animals, which seemed to be goats. Desirous of fresh -victuals and sport, they pursued them, but discovered instead three monstrous white bears. VOYAGE WITH THE MKUMAID. If Davis, nfter oonflting al)oiit for some days, again found liiins«']f at tlie t-ajK' \vliicli lie had at first reach- ed on his tTOHHing from tlie ()|)i»oHite shore of Green- land. Tills promontory, wliii'li lie called (lod's Mercy, he now turned, when he f(»und himself in a sound stivtcliing north-westward, twenty or thirty leagues })road. After ascending it sixty leagues, he found an island in the mid-channel. About the end of August, however, heing involved in fogs and contraiy winds, he determined to suspend operations for the season and return to England. On one of the islands in this sound the seamen heard dogs howling, and saw twenty a])i)roach, of wolf-like ai)pearance, but in most peaceful guise. Im- pressed, however, with the idea that only animals of ])rey could be found on these shores, they fired and killed two, round (mc of whose necks they found a collar, and soon after discovered the sledge to which he had been yoked. Davis sailed on a second expedition on t\te 7th of May 158(3 with his two former vessels, and another one called the Mermaid. On the 21)th of June he reached the scene of his former visit in Greenland. The natives came out in tlieir canoes at first with shouts and cries; but, recognizing their companions of the former year, they hastened forward, and hung round the vessel with every expression of Joy and welcome. Davis, seeing them in such favorable disposi- tions, went ashore and distiibuted y)resents. The most intimate acquaintance was now^ begun ; yet they never met the strangers anew -without crying, "Iliaout!" beating their breasts and lifting their hands to the sun, by which a fresh treaty was ratified. t I. H, h illfi I li' > .Jill ilii J li i 78 ESQUIMAUX IN0ANTATI0N8, The two parties aimiHed tljenmelves by contests in bodily exercises. The Ksiiuiniaux coukl not match their opponents in heaping ; but in wrestling they showed themselves strong and skillful, and threw some of the best English wrestlers. By degrees tliey began to manifest less laudable (jualities. 'Jlicy exer- cised many and solemn incantations, though, Davis thanks God, without any etl'ect. They kindled a iii'e by rubbing two sticks against each other, and invited hhii to pass through it; but he, in contempt of their sorcery, caused the fire to be trodden out and the embers thrown into the sea. Tlie natives, however, soon began to show less amiable traits, and finally reached the highest pitch of audacity. Tliey stole a spear, a gun, a sword, cut the cables and even the INIoonshine's boat from her steru. The leading pers»)nages of the crew remonstrated with Davis, that for their security he must " dissolve this new fi'iendship, and leave the compaiiy of the thiev- ish miscreants." Davis fired two pieces over their hemls, which " did sore amaze them," and they fled precipitately ; but in ten liours they again appeared \vith many promises and presents of skins ; when, on seeing iron, "they could in nowise forbear stealing." The commander was amiin besiejjed with the com- plaints of his crcAV ; however, " it only ministered to him an occasi(m of laughter," and lie told his men to look out for their goods, and not to dejil hardly with the natives, who could scarcely be expected in so short a time " to know their evils." Davis now undertook an e pedition into the inte- rior, lie sailed up Avhat appeared a broad river, but which proved only a strait or creek. A violent gust of wind having obliged him to seek the shelter of AX KXPKIMTION TO TIIK INTKUIOU. 70 llli^. iite- biit TfllSt of knd, lie attempted to ascend a very lofty peuk; but "the inountaiurt were so many and Hi) mii^lity, that his nnriMKse pn^vailed not." AVhile the men were L'atliei'ing muscles for su[)])er, lie was anuised )»y vi«;w- inf^ for the first time in his life, a water-spout, which he describes tus a mighty whirlwind taking up the water and whirling it round for three houi-s without intermission. During the captain's absence matters had become worse with the Es(piimaux ; they had stolen an an- chor, cut the cable, and even thrown stones of half a pound weight against the Moonshine. Davis invited a part}' of them on board, made them various little presents, taught them to run to the tojmiast, and dis- missed them apparently (piite pleased. Yet no sooner had the sun set than they began to " practise their devilish nature," and threw stones into the IMoonshine, one of which knocked down the boatswain. The captain's meek spirit was at length kindled to Avratli, and he gave full warrant for two boats to cluise the culprits ; Init they rowed so swiftly that the pursuers returned with small content. Two days after, five natives presented themselves with uvertui'es f(jr a fresli truce ; but the master came to Davis, remonstrating that one of them Avas " (he chief ringleader, a nuister of mischief," and w ;h xvhe- ment not to let him go. lie was made c;ipti\e, and, a fair wind suddenly springing up, the English set sail, and carried him aAvay, many doh^ful signs being then exc.'lianged. between him and one of his comitry- men ; hoAvever, on being well treated, and presented, with a new suit of frieze, his spirits rcvi\-ed, he be- came a pleasant companion, and used occasionally to assist the sailors. M , 1 Hi i it I ; if ' i I, .li .1' K;| HI: 1 'I - j i iji' ii 1 80 DAVIS WARNED BY HIS SAILORS. Oil the 17tli of July tlie mariners descried a land diversilied with hills, bays, and capes, and extending farther than the eye could reach ; but "what was their horror on approaching, to And that it Avas only " a most mighty and strange (piantity of ice !" It was, in fact, that great barrier known as the Middle Pack. As they coasted along this mighty field, a fog came on, by \vhich the rojies, shrouds, and sails A\ere all fast frozen, — a phenomena which, on the 24th of July, api)eared more than strange. Dismayed by these ob- servations, the seamen considered the passage hope- less, and, in a respectful yet firm tone, warned Davis, that by "his over-boldness he might cause their wi(Unv-s and fatherless children to give him bitter curses." Davis was willing to consider their case; yet, anxious not to abandon so great an enterprise, he de- tei'inined to leave behind him the Mermaid, and to push on in iLe Moonshine with the boldest part of his crew. Having found a favorable breeze, he at last, on the 1st of August, turned the ice, and in Lit. ()C)° 3;V reached land ; along Avhich he now coasted south- Avard for about ten degrees, entangled among a num- ber of islands, and missing, in his progress, tiie inlets to Hudson's Bay. On the coast of Labrador, five men Avho landed were beset by the natives, and two of them killed and two wounded. Davis then re- turned to England. Throusjjh the influence of his friend Mr. Sanderson, Davis sailed on a third exj>edition with the Sunshine, the Elizabeth, and a pinnace, and on the lOth of June, 1587, arrived among his old friends on the coast of Greenland. The natives received him as before Avith the cry of illaout and the exhibition of skins, but lost to liis ast, Vltll- um- ets ive wo I'e- •;on, iiie, me, of •itli Lost m W< ■ m III I ' ! '' 1 il ' i ^ 1 !t ::\ I' !tf ' ! I I I I 1 |j ; .:|| ? 1 Ir 1 j ll r ii i DESEKTIOX OF TWO SIITPS. no time in tlie renewal of their former system of tliieving. It was now arranged that the two large vessels should remain to tish, while Davis in the pin- nace should stretch out into a higher latitude witli a view to discoveiy. In pursuance of this plan he took his departure, and, continuing to range the coast to the northward, on the 28th he reached a point which he named Sanderson's Hope, in upwards of ^S'', still finding a wide open sea to the west and north. Here, the wind having shifted, Davis resolv- ed to hold on a western tack across this sea, and proceeded for f rty leagues without sight of land or any other obstruction, when he was arrested by tlie usual barrier of an immense bank of ice. Tempted by an apparent opening, Davis involved himself in a bay of ice, and was obliged to wait the moment when the sea beating and the sun shining on this mighty mass should effect its dissolution. At length, on the lOtli of July, he came in view of Mount Ilaleigh, and at midnight found himself at the mouth of the inlet discovered in the first voy- age, and Avhich has since been called Cumberland Strait. Next day he sailed across its entrance, and in the two following days ascended its northern shore, till he was again involved among numerous islands. lie now concluded this strait to be an enclosed gulf, and retreated alone: the southern shore. He now crossed the mouth of an extensive gulf, in one part of which his vessel was carried along by a violent cur- rent, while in another the water was whirling and roarinc: as is usual at the meetinj? of tides. This was evidently tlie grand entrance to Hudson's Bay. Davis now hastened to the point of rendezvous i:i 84 SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF DAVIS. ': S' I . fixed with the two other vessels ; but, to ]jis deep dis- appointment and just indignation, he found tliat they had departed. It was not without hesitation that, with his small stock of provisions he ventured to sail for England ; but he arrived safely. Davis had succeeded in reaching a much higher lati- tude than any former navigator, and, \vith the excep- tion of the barrier of ice on one side, had found the sea open, blue, of vast extent, and unfathomable depth, lie considered, therefore, that the success of a spirited attempt was almost infallible. But three failures had exhausted all interest in the subject, and the invasion by the Spanish Armada which soon followed, engaged for a season all the energies of the nation. Davis tried in vain to procure means for another Arctic Ex})edition. He subsecpiently made several vo}'ages to the East Indies, in the service of the Dutch, and was killed during a fight with Japanese pirates on the coast of Malacca in 1605. i iK?' t fill 1.1 ■'\ i CHAPTER VI. ARCTIC VOYAGES OF WEYMOUTH, KNIGHT, AND HUDSON. In 1602, the Muscovy Company and the Levant Company united in new efforts for a North-west route, and sent out George Weymouth with two vessels, the Discovery and Goodspeed, which sailed on the 2d of May. On the 28th of June, Weymouth came in view of a snow-clad promontory on the American coast. The vessels were tossed to and fro by violent currents and involved in thick fogs, and they came quite near to an iceberg on which some of the crew landed. Hear- ing a great sound like the dashing of waves on the shore, they approached it, and were dismayed to find it " the noise of a great quantity of ice, which was very loathsome to be heard." The mist became so thick, that they could not see two ships' length, and on attempting to take down the sails, they were aston- ished to find them so fast frozen to the riijorins: that in "this chief est time of summer they could not be moved." Next day they renewed the attempt ; but it was only by cutting away the ice from the ropes that they could be made to move through the blocks. The following day the fog lay so thick and froze so 85 li'V i» f i- iir ^ 86 A COWARDLY CHEW. iiil '■ I . ■M ; ii h i m m\ W\ 1 1 1 fast, that ropes, sails, and rigging remained irainoval)le. These plienoraena produced a disastrous effect on the minds of the sailors, who began to hold secret conferences, ending in a consj)iracy " to bear up the helm for England." It was proposed to seize Wey- mouth, and confine him in his cabin till he gave his consent ; but the captain, receiving notice of this ne- farious design, called the seamen before him, and in presence of Mr. Cartwright the preacher, and Mr. Cobreth the master, called upon them to answer for thus attempting to overthrow a voyage fitted out at such ample cost by the honorable merchants. The men stood firm, and produced a paper signed by themselves, in which they justified the proposed step as founded on solid reason, without any tincture of fear or cowardice. They represented, that if they should suffer themselves to be enclosed in an un- known sea, by this dreadful and premature winter, they would not only be in imminent danger of perish- ing, but could not hope to commence their career of discovery next year sooner than May ; while by setting sail in due time from England they might easily reach this coast in that month. Weymouth retired to his cabin to deliberate, when he heard it announced that the helm "was actually borne up. Hastening on deck, and asking M'^ho had done this, he was answered, " One and all ; " and he found the combination such as it was impossible to resist, though he took occasion . x*^vard to chastise the ringleaders. The men, how- e,R. d'^clared themselves ready to hazard their lives iP ;-.iv: discovery which might be attempted to the Bouiihv ard. Descending the coast, Weymouth found himself at the entrance of an inlet, into which he sailed in a ;, .,!.- ,|. , FATE OF CAPTAIN KNIGHT. 87 soiitli-west direction, a liundred leagues ; but encount- eiiiif fogs and lieavy gales, and finding the season far si)ent, lie deemed it necessary to regain tlie open sea. Tliis inlet Avas in fact the grand entrance of Hudson's Ba3'. In 55" Weymouth found a fair land, consisting of islands and "goodly sounds," apparently the place Avhere the Moravian settlement of Nain was aftenvard foiiued. Soon after, a dreadful hurricaue from the west seemed to take up the sea into the air, and drove the ships before it with the utmost impetuosity. Had it been from any other quarter they must have been dashed to pieces on rocks; however they ranged through the open sea, and in the greatest extremity "the liord delivered us liis unworthy servants." They had now an easy navigation to England. Ko farther attempts Avere made till IGOG, when East India merchants fitted out a vessel of forty tons under John Ivnight, who had been employed in the Danish voyages to Greenland. On the 19th of June he had reached the coast of Labrador, but the vessel had been so much damaged by collisions with ice that it became necessary to repair it thorougldy, and for this jnirpose it was hauled ashore in a little cove. On the 2Gth, Knight, Avith some of his men well armed, Avent across to the opposite coast in a boat, to take a survey (^f the country. Here the captain -w-ith two of his ofiicers, Avent over a hill, leaving three men in charge of the boat, who waited the whole day in anxious expectation of the return of the party; they then sounded trumj)ets, fired muskets, and made other signals but without effect. After waiting till eleven at niglit, they gave up hopes, and returned to the ship with the doleful tidings. The crew were :3 il I ., .1 i! .' 1^ 1^'^' 1 1'' ! (' 1 ' ;. . 1 1 1 ,| By I 88 A.V ESQn.MAt'X ATTACK. struck with the deejiest dismay at having thus hist their captain and best officers, and heing themselves left in such deplorable circumstances. The boat was fitted out next morning for search, but could not cross the channel on account of the ice. On the night of the 2Sth, as the boatswain was keep- ing watch in advance of the tents, he suddenly saw rushing thrcnigh the darkness a great body of men, who, on desciying him, let fly their arrows. lie in- stantly fired, and gaNe the alarm ; but before the ci'ew could stai't from bed and 1)6 mustered, the shallo]) Avas filled Avith fifty savages, mIio, with loud cries and men- acing gestures, showed themselves prepared for im- mediate attack. The English mustered onl}' eight men and a larije doo:, and thoucfh the rain fell in tor- rents, they determined rather to perish bra\ely, assail- ing this savage enemy, than to wait their onset. They advanced, thei'efore, placing the dog foremost. This bold front appalled the savages, who leaped into their boats, and made off Avith all speed ; but they were entangled in the ice, and detained a considerable time, during Avhich the pursuers continued firing, and the savages were heard " crying to each other, very sore. H The mariners, placed in this alarming situation, made all the haste they could to fit their shattered bark for again taking the sea. They had first to cut a way for her through the ice ; but they had nothing which could be called a rudder, and the leaks were so large, that the sailors could scarcely enjoy half an hour's relief from the pump. At length they suc- ceeded in reaching the coast of Newfoundland, and found, among the fishing vessels on that station, friends who supplied all their wants. After twenty ft? Hudson's voyage toavard the pole. 89 (lays siient in repairing their ship they sailed for home. Captain Ileniy Hudson, a Londoner, of whose early life very little is known, was employed, as he Bays, "l)y certaine worshipfull merchants of London, for to discover a passage hy the North Pole, to Japan and Cliiiia." With only ten men and his little son, he snik'd in a small vessel on the first of May, 1607, with instructions to sail, if possible, directly over the Nortli Pole. This was the first attempt to make this hazai'dous trip, and the first recorded voyage of this eminent navigator. On the 18th of June, the ship was involved in thick fog, the shrouds and sails being frozen ; but when it cleared next morning, the sailors desciied a high and l)old headland, on Greenland coast, mostly covered with snow, behind Avliich rose a castellated mountain, named the Mount of God's Mercy. Rain noAv fell, and tlie air felt temperate and agreeable. Tliey steered eastward to clear this coast ; but, after being for some time enveloped in fogs, again saw land, very high and bold, and without snow even on the top of the loftiest mountains. To this cape, in 73°, they gave the name of Hold-with-IIope. Hudson now took a north-eastward direction, and on the 27th, faintly perceived, amid fogs and mist, the coast of Spitzbergen. He still pushed no]i:liward, till he passed the 79th degree of latitude, where he found tlie sun continually ten degrees above the hori- zon, yet the Aveather piercingly cold, and the slirouds and sails often frozen. The ice obliged him to steer in various directions ; but em})racing eveiy oj^portu- nity, lie pushed on, as appeared to him, to SI'*, and saw land still continuously stretching as far as 6 00 A MEKMAID DISCOVERED. ! I, ;lt , 82®. He returned, coasting along Spitzbergeii, some parts of which appeared very agreea})le ; and on the 15th of September arrived in the Thames. On Hudson's return from Spitzbergen, the London merchants still hoping to find a route to the North- east, sent him out on a voyage in that direction. On the 3d of June, 1608, he passed the North Cape, and pushed on to the north and east till he reached the latitude of 75®, when he found himself entangled among ice. He at first endeavored to push through, but failing in this attempt, turned and extricated himself with only "a few rubs." On the 12th of June he experienced a thick fog, and had his shrouds frozen ; but the sky then cleared, and afforded bright sunshine for the whole day and night. On the 15th, Thomas Hilies and Robert Rayner solemnly aveiTed, that, standing on deck, they had seen a mermaid. This marine maiden is described as having a female back and breast, a very white skin, and long black hair flowing behind ; but on her turning round they descried a tail as of a porpoise, and speckled like a mackerel. Hudson continued to push on eastward, between the latitudes of 74® and 75®. On the 25th, heavy north and north-easterly gales, accompanied with fog and snow, obliged him to steer south-easterly ; and this course brought him to the coast of Nova Zembla. Here, he concluded that it was fruitless to attempt to hold a more northerly course and resolved to try the old and so often vainly-attempted route of the "Waygatz. From this he was diverted by the view of a large sound, which appeared to afford an equally promising opening. On its shores also were numerous herds VOYAOB IN TIIK HALF-MOON. 91 of walrus, from which he hoped to defray the expense of the voyage. Nova Zembla, on the whole, seen under this Arctic midsummer, presented to him somewhat of a gay aspect. He says, it is " to man's eye a pleasant land ; nmch mayne land, with no snow on it, looking in some places green, and deer feeding thereon." The sound, however, terminated in a large river, and the boats soon came to anchorage in shallow water. The ice now came in great masses from the south, " very fearful to look on ;" and though " by the mercy of God and His mighty help," Hudson escaped the danger, yet by the 6th of July he was " void of hope of a north-east passage," and, determining to put his employers to no farther expense, hastened home to England. The " worshipfull merchants," discour- aged by these failures, refused to fit out any more ex- peditions for him. The bold Englishman now sought employment from the Dutch East India Company, and sailed from the Texel under their auspices in a little vessel called the Half-Moon, with a crew of twenty men, on the 25th of March 1609. On the 5th of May he passed the North Cape, and on the 19th came in view of Wardhuys. Here he turned his prow and steered across the Atlantic to America. His reasons for so doing are not known ; but it is conjectured that his seamen accustomed to seek India by the tropical route, were alarmed by the fogs, tempests, and floating ice of the north, and that Hudson prefen'ed to seek for a north- western route. On the 2d of July Hudson reached the coast of Newfoundland, and then proceeding southward visit- ing several places along the coast, he arrived in Au- gust off Chesapeake Bay, where John Smith at that rTWf 92 DI8C0\'TiKY OF THE lIUDrtOX KIVKll. . . •■•' ! I !'■' ''' "'ili* Bll hji! I;!^' m time was ongtiged in founding the first English settle- ment in Ameriou. Hudson then Hiiiler in what is now kn«j\vn as the Lower Bay of New Yoi'k City. After ascending the Hudson TJiv^T for ahout a hun- dred and fifty miles, Hudson hegan to pereeive fliat the track to India was yet undiscovered ; so lie turned his prow southward and heatslowly down the strctam, havinir several ii'dits witli the natives on the way. On the 4th of Octoher lie hsft New York Ihiv, and proceeded to England, where he A\'as detained for a while hy an order of the English court, Avho were Jealous of th(^ enterprise of the Dutch. Hudson sailed on his last and lainentahle \'oyage on the Itth of April, lOlO. His one ship Avas pro- visioned for six monllis, and had Leeii titted out 1)y eminent Englishmen. On the 11th of ^hiy he de- scried the eastern part of Iceland, and Avas enveloped in a thick south fog — hearing the sea dasliiiitc aufainst the coast without seeing it. He Avas thus ol)llged to come to anchor; but, as soon as the Aveather cleared, he ])roceeded AA'cstAA'^ai'd along the coast till he reached SnoAV Hill (Snaefell,) which rears its aA\'ful head above the sea that leads to the frozen shores of Green- land. On their Avay the navigators saAV Ilecla, the volcano of Avhich Avas then in activity, A'omiting tor- rents of fire doAvn its suoav}"^ sides, Avith smoke ascend- ing to the sky — an olg'ect not only feai-f ul in itself, but Avhich struck them Avith alarm as an indicaticm of unfaA^orable Aveather. LeaA-ing the Icelandic coast they noAV sailed west- Avard, and, after being deceived by illv.sory apj^ear- ances of land, at length saAV the Avhite cliffs of Green- land toAvering behind a mighty Avail of ice. Without I. ., I' hi fj Li ' 11 KSQUIMAUX SNOW IlOUSICh. a. ,'j. I i I iii ¥i\ f>r |i y ■■' '. 1 !#' 'H 1 1 '1 1 [■■'•*^ 1 'f'; i '■ '^ I '^i ■'■ ■ i! 1? ii ii ll.ll HUDSON S LAST VOYAGE. 95 attempting to approach the coast, Hudson sailed to- wards the south-west, and passed what he imagined to be Frobisher's Strait, which in fact long continued to be laid down on the coast of Greenland. Hudson now rounded Cape Farewell, and " raised the Desolations," making careful observations of those coasts, which he found not well laid down on the charts. The marin- ers soon began to descry, floating along, the mighty islands of ice, — a sight which appalled all but the stoutest hearts. OnAv^ard they sailed, however, some- times enjoying a clear and open sea, but often encom- passed by these mighty masses, or by the small and drifting heaps ; and at length they had to steer as it were between two lands of ice. They sometimes moored themselves, on occasions of peril, to tliese ice- bergs ; but seeing one of them fall with a tremendous crash into the sea, they no longer trusted to such a protection. On the 25th of June land appeared to the north, was again lost sight of, and aftervvai'd discovered to the south ; so that they found themselves at the bi-oad entrance of the channel which has since obtained tlie name of Hudson's Strait. They were now still more troidded with ice in various forms, particularly that of large islands standing deep in the water, which were more difficult to avoid from the violent ripples and currents. Thus they were often obliged, especially amid thick fogs, to fasten themselves to the largest and firmest of tliese masses, upon which they used to go out from time to time to ])rocure the water melted in the hollows, which proved to be sweet and good. Amid tliese vicissitudes many of the sailors became feai-ful and some of them sick, and Hudson to enc(Mir- ao:e them called them together and sho^\'ed tliem his 96 TROUBLE "Wim THE SAILOBS. !1M il II : I M' li"iiJ 81 . ■<'■■■■ |i 1 chart, from wMch it appeared that they had penetrated farther into the straits by a hundred leagues than any former expedition ; he then put it to vote whether they should proceed on or not. This was a bold experiment, but did not succeed. Some, it is true, expressed themselves "honestly respecting the good of the action;" others declared they would give nine-tenths of all they were worth, so that they were safe at home; others said they did not care where they went, so they were out of the ice. Hudson, vexed and disappointed, broke up the conference, and determining to follow his own course made his way onward, having sometimes a wide and clear sea, and being occasionally involved amid moun- tains of ice. Certain rocky islands, in which he found a tolerable harbor, were called " Isles of God's Mercy ; ' ' but even this refuge was rendered dangerous by hid- den reefs ; and the island adjoining to it contained only " plashes of water and riven rocks,'' and had the appearance of being subject to earthquake. At length they arrived at a broad opening, having on each side capes to which Hudson gave the names of the two chief patrons of the voyage, Wolstenholme and Digges. Landing at the latter and mounting a hill, the men descried some level spots abounding in sorrel and scurvy grass — ^plants most salutary in this climate ; while herds of deer were feeding, and the rocks were covered with unexampled profusion of fowls. Seeing such ample materials both for sport and food, the crew, who had ever shown the most anxious concern for their own comfort, earnestly besought Hudson to allow them to remain and enjoy themselves for a few days on this agreeable spot ; but he would not consent as Bi DISCOVERT OF HUDSON'S BAY. 97 tlie season for discovery was rapidly passing away. After proceeding a short distance through the open- ing, the coasts on each side were seen to separate, and lie beheld before him an ocean-expanse, to which the eye could discover no termination. It seemed to him, doubtless, a portion of the mighty Pacific, though really Hudson's Bay. Here, however, Hudson's nar- rative closes, without expressing those feelings of pride and exultation which must have filled his mind at this promised fulfillment of his highest hopes. The narrative of Pricket, one of Hudson's men, must be the foundation for the remaining history of the voyage. The 3d of August had now anived, a season at "which the boldest of northern navigators had been ac- customed to think of returning. Little inclined to Buch a course, Hudson continued to sail along the coast on the left, hoping probably before the close of Autumn to reach some cultivated and temperate shore where he might take up his winter-quarters. The shores along this bay, though not in a veiy high lati- tude, are subject to a climate the most rigorous and inclement. Entangled in the gulfs and capes of an unknown coast, struggling with mist and storm, and ill-seconded by a discontented crew, he spent three months without reaching any comfortable haven. It was now the 1st of November, the ice was clos- ing in on all sides, and nothing remained but to meet the cheerless winter which had actually begun. The Bailors were too late at attempting to erect a wooden house; yet the cold, though severe, does not seem to have reached any perilous height. Their chief alarm was respecting provisions, of which they had now only a small remnant left. Hudson took active measures to relieve this want, and offered a reward )M i'H (I Ui i.i' '^i rl ■ I. m il i ; 98 IN WINTEB QUABTERS. to wlioever should kill beast, fish, oi' bird; and "Providence dealt mercifully," in sending such a supply of Avhite partridges, that in three months they killed a hundred dozen. In the spring these birds disappeared, but were succeeded by flocks of geese, swans, and ducks, not denizens of the spot, but on their flight from south to north. When these were gone the air no longer yielded a supply, but the sea began to open, and having on the first day taken five hundred fishes, they Avere much encouraged ; but their success at fishing did not continue ; and being reduced to great extremity they searched the woods for moss. Hudson now undertook an excursion with a view to open an intercourse with the natives, but they fled, setting fire to the woods behind them. Parley was obtained with one, Avho was loaded with gifts, yet he never returned. Discontents arose as to the distribu- tion of the small remaining portion of bread and cheese, to allay which the captain made a general and equal partition of the whole. This ^vas a bad meas- ure among such a crew, many of whom knew not how " to govern their share," but greedily devoured it as long as it lasted. Hudson had from the first to straggle with an un- principled, ill-tempered crew, void of any concern for the ultimate success of the voyar e. He had probably hoped, as the season should advance, to push on south- ward and reach next summer the wealthy regions which he was commissioned to search. The sailors, on the contrary, had fixed their desire on " the cape where fowls do breed," the only place where they ex- pected to obtain both present supply and the means of returning to England. Ringleaders were not want- PE0GKES8 OF THE MUTINY. 99 ing to head this growing party of malcontents. At the entrance of the bay the captain had disi)laced Tvet, the mate, who had shown strong propensities for re- turning, and appointed in his room Byh>t, a man of merit, who had always shown zeal in the general cause. He had also changed the boatswain. Among the crew was a AVTetch named Green, whom Hudson had taken on board and endeavored to reclaim. He was possessed of talents Avliich had made him useful, and even a favorite with his sujie- rior ; and among other discontents of the crew, it was reckoned one that a veil was thrown over several fla- grant disorders of which he had been guilty. Yet some hot expressions of Hudson so acted on the fierce spirit of this ruffian, that, renouncing eveiy tie of gratitude and all that is sacred among mankind, he became the chief in a conspiracy to seize the vessel and expose the commander to perish. After some days' consultation, the time was fixed for the perpetration of a horrible atrocity. On the 21st of June, 1611, Green and Wilson the boatswain, came into Pricket the narrator's cabin, and announced their fatal resolution ; adding, that they l)ore him so much good-will as to wish that he should remain on board. Pricket avers most solemnly, that he exhaust- ed eveiy argument which might induce them to desist from their horrid purpose, beseeching them not to do so foul a thing in the sight of God and man, which would for ever banish them from their njitive country, their waves, and children. Green ^wildly answered, that they had made up their minds to go through with it or die, and that they would ratlier be hanged at home than starve here. An attempt was then made to negotiate a delay of three, two, or even one day, If 1 1 m mi ft i lit In •I i ilil 'Hi ' 1 H i 1 \\i : 1 i 1 '■ '■''; [nj i . i'! m •;; '" II ll ml ' ii' ' i> 100 THE APPROACHING TBAGEDY. but all without effect. Ivet declaring that he would Justify in England the deed on which they had re- solved. Pricket according to his own story, then per- suaded them to delay till daylight the accomplishment of their crime. ' Daybreak approaching, Hudson came out of his cabin, when he was instantly set upon by Thomas, Bennet, an'^ Wilson, who seized him and bound his hands behind hit, hack; and on his eagerly asking what they me.:^: t, i' :d. him he should know when he was in the snallop. Ivet then attacked King, the car- penter, known ^ ^he conmander's most devoted ad- herent. That brave fello.v, i.;!'/ing a sword, made a formidable resistance, and would have killed his as- sailant had not the latter been speedily reinforced. The mutineers then offered to him the choice of con- tinuing in the ship ; but he absolutely refused to be detained otherwise than by force, and immediately followed his master whom the conspirators were al- ready letting down the sides of the vessel. Hudson's son, a boy, was also sent into the boat. The mutineers then called from their beds and, drove into the boat, six sick and infirm sailors whose support would have been burdensome. They threw after them the carpenter's box, with some powder and shot, and cutting loose from the boat sailed away. Hudson and his companions thus abandoned, were never heard of more ; and undoubtedly perished on those remote and desolate shores. As soon as the mutineers had time to reflect, rueful misgivings began to arise. Even Green, who now as- sumed command, admitted that England at this time was no place for them, nor could he contrive any better scheme than to keep the high sea till, by some iji I ADVENTURES OF THE MUTINEEB8. 101 means or other, tliey might procure a pardon. The vessel was now embayed and detained for a fortnight amid fields of ice which extended for miles around it ; and, but for some cockle-grass found on an island the crew must have perished by famine. Disputes with respect to t^'e steerage arose between I vet and Bylot, who alone had any pretensions to skill ; but the latter, at length guided them to Cape Digges, the longed-for spot, the breeding place for fowls, clouds of which still continued to darken the air. The party imme- diately landed, spread themselves among the rocks, and began to shoot. While the boat was on shore they saw seven canoes rowing towards them. The savages came forward beating their breasts, dancing and leaping, ^vith every friendly sign. The utmost intimacy commenced, the parties went backward and forward, showed each other theii' mode of catching fowls, and made mutual presents and exchanges. In short, these appeared the most kind and simple people in the world, and " God so blinded Henry Green," that he viewed them with implicit confidence. One day, amid the height of this intimacy. Pricket, sitting in the boat, suddenly saw a native close to him with a knife uplifted and ready to strike. In attempting to arrest the blow his hand was cut, and he could not escape three wounds; after which he got hold of the handle of the knife and wrenched it from the assassin, whom he then pierced with his dagger. At the same time a general attack was made on the English crew dispersed in different quarters. Green and Perse came tumbling down wounded into the boat, which pushed off, while Moter, " seeing this medley," leaped into the sea, 1! K 1 J ii^j? ' J '■a-'^ : -i \r , ^y iff ■ ii' |i:>' . 1 i h '1 ir' v' !< 1 •n 1* ' m ■'!■' If) 102 THE RINGLEADEES KILLED BY NATIVES. ¥ swam out, and, getting hold of the stern was pulled in by Perse. The sav^iiges then fired arrows at the boat, one of which struck Green with such force that he died on the spot, and his body was thrown into the sea. At length the party reached the vessel ; but Moter and Wilson died that day, and Perse two days after. Thus penslied the chief perpetrators of the late dreadful tragedy, visited by Providence with a fate not less terrible than that which they had inflicted on their victims. The crew thus deprived of their best hands were in extreme pei-plexity, obliged to ply the shij) to and fro across the straits, and unable without the utmost fear and peril to venture on shore ; although it was absolutely necessary for obtaining provisions to carry them to England. They contrived during some anxious and unhappy excursions to collect three hundred birds, which they salted and preserved as the only stock whereupon to attempt the voyage. They suffered during the passage the most dreadful extremities of famine, having only half a fowl a day to each man, and considering it a luxury to have them fried with candles. Ivet, now the sole survivor of the ringleaders in the late dreadful transaction, sunk under these ]:)riva- tions. The last fowl was in the steep-tub and the men were become careless or desperate, when suddenly it pleased God to give them sight of land, which proved to be the north of Ireland. On going ashore at Berehaven they did not meet with much sympathy or kindness; but by mortgaging their vessel they obtained the means of proceeding to PlymoutL CHAPTER YII. ARCTIC VOYAGES OF BUTTON, BYLOT, BAFFIN, MUNK, JAMES, AND OTHERS. NoTWiTiisTANDmG the (lejilorable issue of Hudson's last voyage, tlie discovery tliereT)y made of a great open sea in the west seemed to justify the most flat- tenng hopes of accomplishing a passage, and the next year, 1612, Captain Button was sent out, with Bylot and Pricket as guides. He soon made liis Avay through Hudson's Straits, and pushing directly across the great sea which opened to the westward, came in view of an insular caj^e, which afterward jirove*! to be the most southern point of Southampton Island. Nothing else broke the apparent continuity of the ocean, and he cherished sanguine hopes that the first coast he should see would be that of Japan. Sudden- ly the alarm of land was given, when there appeared before him an immense range of Arctic coast, stretch- ing north and south, and barring all farther progress. Button, deeply disappointed, gave it the name of Hope Checked. Before he had time to look for an oj)ening, the gloom of the northern winter began to gather, and he had to seek quarters for the season, and found them in the same creek and river which afterward became 103 m li'flr II ;! m\ iMi jl 'f ; Mi'! |:J:'! '. J 1 1 ft ' ri:f.' il li m I 't: '!«!> :ii! 104 CAPTAIN gibbon's ADVENTURE. the principal settlement of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. In spite of his best precautions he lost several men through the severity of the cold, and was unable to extricate himself from the ice till the middle of June. He then steered northward, and sought an opening through the broad bay between the continent and Southampton Island, since called Roe's Welcome. Seeing this channel, however, become narrower and narrower till it apparently closed, he gave up the at- tempt, and after touching at several points of the island just named returned to England. Although Button had been thus baffled by the un- welcome encounter of the western shore of Hudson's Bay, the merchants still considered it by no means ascertained that this coasifc was so extensive and con* tinuous aa to preclude all passage into the ocean be- yond America; accordingly they fitted out (in 1614) two vessels under Captain Gibbons, an officer of repu- tation, pronounced by Button " not short of any man that ever yet he carried to sea." But either his repu» tation went beyond his merits or fortune was singu- larly adverse, for never was there a more abortive voyage. He was early entangled in a bay on the coast of Labrador, in which he was detained the whole summer, and which was afterward dignified with the appellation of ''Gibbons his Hole." Hav- ing here sustained some damage from the ice, he had no sooner extricated himself than he returned home. The merchant adventurers, still undismayed, sent out next summer (1615) the Discovery, under By- lot, who was accompanied by William Baffin, a skill- ful pilot and the most learned navigator of the age. Baffin had already made two voyages to the Green- land seas, the first in 1613, with six well-armed ships, BAFFIN'S EARLY VOYAGES. 105 whose object seems to have been to chase away the whaling vessels of other nations. The next year, 1614, he accompanied, as pilot, Robert Fotherby, who was sent out with the ship Thomasine, to accom- pany the great Greenland fleet of ten ships and two pinnaces. While they were fishing, Fotherby and Baffin were to devote themselves mainly to dis- co veiy; but their craise resulted in nothing of interest. Bylot and Baffin entered Hudson's Straits, and having on the 2d of June heard from the north- ern shore a great barking of dogs, landed and found five tents covered with seal-skin, among which were ininning about thirty-five or forty of these ani- mals, of a blinded black color, resembling wolves. They had collars and harness suitable for sledges lined with fish-bone which were standing by. In one of the houses was a bag with little images of men. The navigators soon descried a canoe with twenty individuals, whom they hailed with Greenland words of courteous import, holding up knives and other toys. Friendly salutations were given in return ; but neither party chose to trust themselves within reach of the other. At a little distance, the conflict of opposite currents amid large icebergs caused so fear- ful a grinding that they gave to the adjoining land the name of Mill Island. There they would have been in extreme danger " had not God, who is strong- er than ice or stream," delivered them. The policy of Bylot in this voyage seems to have been to keep close to the northern shore of the strait ; and thus, entering Hudson's Bay at a higher latitude, he hoped to keep clear of those lands which had barred the westerly career of his predecessors. On ml m " 1; 1 I'l 1 t 1 1 ' ; ! \ W 'I .,, .^' \ II m 'i; , 1; J " V ,jv'' !,; I ■ '•' \;| ! ii' it 1 <^!^f' 1 1 III ^'«! m ll lOG VOYAGE OF IJYLOT AND BAFl'lN. reacliing, tlierefore, Hudson's Isles of God's Mercy instead of steering southward to Cape Dudley Digges, lie i)roeeeded directly west, and ari'ived in the broad expanse afterward called the Fox Channel. At length he saw land, hut it was bounded by a cape Avliieh had every a])i)earance of being the most northerly point of America. He called it Cape Com- fort ; though this name it soon appeared Mas pi'cma- ture, for a single day had not elapsed when " his sudden comfort was as soon quailed." Tliey -were now on the eastern coast of Southamp- ton Island, which spread on every side its almost measureless extent, seeming to preclude every jirospect of an opening on either hand. Disa2)pointment, the lateness of the season, and the pressure of the ice, concurred in persuading Bylot that there was nothing to be hoped for here, and determined him to set sail immediately for England ; whither he carried a most iinfavoral)le report as to any prospect of peneti'ating westward in that direction. But the adventurers were not discouraged by this adverse result. Turning their hopes to a different quarter, next year (1616) they again fitted out Bylot and Baffin with instnictions no longer to attempt the passage by Hudson's Bay, 1)ut to enter Davis's Straits, and push due north till they reached lat. SO'', if an oj)en sea should allow them to proceed so far ; then, turning to tli'^ westward, to round, if practicable, the extreme point of America, and to bear down upon Japan. Following the course pointed out, Baffin readied, on the 30th of May, Hope Sanderson, the farthest point of Davis's progress, and soon afterwai'd came to a number of small islands on which they found only MEMORABLE DISCOVERIES. 107 females, some of very great age. These at fii'st ran and liicl tlicinselvos umong tlio rocks ; but the sallom liaving rcfic'luMl two dames, one of Avhom Avas estima- ted at fourscore, aud liavlng prescutcd to tluau bits of ii'oii aud the usual toys, the latter carried a fa« voral)le report to their youthful countiy women. The Avhole l)arty soon came down to the shore, and four even "weut on board tlu^ boat. The charms of these ladies were heightened or disiigured by long black streaks made in their youth Avith a sharp Instni- meut, and lodged so deep that they could not now be effaced. The navigators sailed onwards in hit. 74°, wlicn they Avere arrested by a large body of ice, ,'uul obliged to turn into a neighboring sound to wait its melting. Here they recei\'ed rejieated visits from about forty natives, the only acconnt of w'hoin is, that they brought an extraordinary mm<', '• }? A WINTEB OF SUFFEKIXO 117 ful expedient ; but after ull the provisions and articles needed liad been taken on shore, it was adopted; al- though the crew, generally never supposed that the ship could be laised amin. They had much confidence in their captain and obeyed all his commands iraplicitl}'. ''^" If," said he, " we end our days here, Ave are as near heaven as in England; and we are much bound to God Almighty, for having gi\'en us so large a time for r(?pcntance, and having thus, as it were, daily called upon us to prepare our souls for a better life in heaven. He does not, in tlie meantime deii}' that we may use all j^roper means to save and prolong our lives ; and in my Judgment, Ave are not so far past hope of return- ing to our native country, but that I see a fair Avay by Avhich we may eiiect it.' Under direction of the carpenter timber was cut, and the building of a large boat was begun, in which they might escape if the ship was destroyed. All worked hai'd upon it, and the carpenter ]:)ecame so ill and weak that he could scarcely Avalk and subsequently died. Tlie shoes of the men Avei-e all Avorn out, and they suffered much from cohl for many successive months. During all this season of (li^;ti'ess Captain James and his creAV ncA^er omitted rcLfular devotional ser- vices. They particularly solemnized Easter day, the 2{)th of April 10;>2 ; and on that day Avhile they Avere sitting round their fire, the captain })r()posed to attempt, on the first opening of the Avarm Aveather, to clear the ship of ice. This was considered by some of the crew impossible ; because they believed her to be filled A^'ith one solid mass of ice. The attempt, hoAvever, Avas re- solved upon ; but their only implements for the work were two iron bars and four broken shovels. m 118 ITNAL ESCAPE. ! ;f|1 1 J i I r ii '« The time passed miserably on, till the middle of May, when efforts were made to clear the decks of snow. From this period the vessel began to occupy much of the attention of the captain and his crew. The great cabin was found to be free from ice and water, and a fire was lighted to clear and dry it. One of the anchors, which Avas supposed to have been lost, was found under the ice and recov- ered. Soon afterwards they came to a cask, and found it full of good beer ; which was a cause of great i-e- joiclng. They then dug through the ice on the outside oi the vessel, and plugged the holes made in scuttling it. The weather grew warmer which thawed the ice in the hold, the water was punuied out, and many barrels of beer and salt beef were found in good condition. Open water first appeared on the 19th of June ; four days after the ship was reloaded, and the sails reset. A cross was then erected on land, and to the top of it were tied pictures of the king and queen. On the 2d day of July, after the captain and his crew had all devoutly paid thanksgiving to the Almighty for their providential deliverance, they weighed anchor, and proceeded on their voyage, and reached England in October. The Hudson's Bay Company^ an association of mer- chants was organized in 1670 under the patronage of Prince Rupert, second cousin of Charles II. Its very favorable charter conferred on them the right to the exclusive trade of the region, and territorial posses- sion of the vast domain. It imposed on the Com- pany the duty of making strenuous exertions for the discovery of a western passage ; but its officers paid little attention to the subject till 1719 when they fit- A LOST EXPEDITION 119 ted out an expedition under Kniglit and Barlow. These officers never returned, and a vessel sent next j'ear under Captain Scroggs could learn no tidings of tlieui. Nor was it till nearly fifty years afterward that the wrecks of their armament were found on Marl)le Island, where they had been cast ashore. In 1741, Captain Middleton obtained the command of two vessels, with which he examined Wager Inlet, and then sailed up Hoe's Welcome — a channel lying west of Southampton Island — to its northern extremity. Here he found a spacious opening, which gave him at first great hopes of success ; but finding it shut in by land, he named it llepulse Bay. lie then followed the coast in an easterly direction till he came to a channel, which, from the accumulation of ice at its entrance, he called the Frozen Strait. He returned lionie, expressing a decided conviction that no practi- cable passage existed in that direction. Mr. Dobbs, the mover of the expedition, was deeply disappointed l)y this result ; and from liis o^vn reflec- tions, and the statement of several of the Inferior offi- cers, became satisfied that Middleton had given a verj'' false and imperfect statement of the facts ; though such was not the case. £1 0,000 was subscribed for a new expedition, and a standing off er of a reward of £'20,000 to the discoverers of a Nor'tli-"vvest passage was made by the English government. Captains Moor and Smith commanded this new expedition, which sailed in 174(5; like many others equipped with peculiar ' -^p^p and circumstance, it entirely failed. They n. . A ascertained, what was pretty well known before, that the Wager Inlet afforded no passage ; and after spending a severe winter there, returned to England. ii 111 ^ ii n 120 IIKUNE AND PlIIPPS. ■»■, 1 ,1) : .li |!h:|;i||i|ii In 1770, Samuel IIoriK^, uii offiecu* of tl»<^ Iludaon'a Bay Company, descended to tlie moiitli of the Cop- j)(!nnine Iliver, and thus openinl the way for 8ul)He- ([uent ex])loreiu His journal of the trip lay for many years in a " pigeon-hole " at the head-quarters of the company. When the fortunes of war found the French Admii'al La Perouse the cajjtor of Fort York, he there found Heme's journal, read it, and was so [)l(^'ised with it that he told the officer that if he would ])le(lge his honor that it should be pul)lished, he might have back his fort and all that pertained to it. The offer was accepted, the French retired, and thus it came about that Heme's record was put in print. In June, 1773, an expedition under Captain John Phip])s (afterward known as Loixl Mulgrave) consist- ing of two b()m])-vessels — the " Kacehorse " and the " Carcass " — sailed fi'om England to seai'ch for the North Pole. The Carcass was commanded by Lieut. Lutwidge, under whom Horatio Nelson, afterward the naval hero of England, served as cockswain. The route was up the Greenland Sea, and the highest lat- itude reached was 80* 48^, and the most easterly point was near the Seven Islands to the north of Spitz- bergen in longitude 20*^. To the north and north- east was a solid pack of ice covered with snow. Here the ships were becalmed and frozen in amid a beautiful and picturesque scene ; but as the crew were starting over the ice to attempt to reach the Dutch whaling-ships, the ice opened and the ships escaped to the south and reached England in September. In 1776, Captain Cook sailed from England on his last voyage, and in 1778 passed up Bering's Strait, expecting to proceed along the coast of America to Baffin's Bay, where a vessel was sent to meet him. CAPTAIN COOK S VOYAGE. 121 rait, to But Lc was unaldt' to ponotnite fuitlior l.han Try Cape on account of tlio ice, and after examining tlio coasts on both sides of the strait, he went to the Snndwich Islands, where he was IdUed in an aftray with the natives. In 1789, Akxander Mackenzie reached the mouth of the great river whidi hears his name, and looked out on the Arctic Sea. In a second journey he crossed the Rocky Mountains, and followed Frazer Kiver to its mouth at the Georgian Gulf, opposite Vancouver's Island, where he arrived in July, 1792. rth- )W. fere Itch )ed Um. >■ m m H'i II II i i| r«^ 4 c f CHAPTER VIII. THE ARCTIC AVHALE-FISHERY. p The Arctic seas are the native regions of the true whale, and he never leaves them. Man, ever search- ing for objects of use and profit, early discovered in these huge creatures a variety of substances fitted for the supply of important wants. No sooner, therefore, had the course of discovery opened a way into the seas of the north, than daring fishermen ventured thither and commenced a branch of com- merce which has proved of great importance to the world, but which is more full of adventure and peril, than any other occupation in which man engages for a livelihood. As early as the ninth century, whales were cap- tured on the Norway coast; but they were then valued chiefly for their flesh, which satisfied the hunger and even gratified the tastes of primitive man — wli ale's tongues being counted among the luxuries of the middle ages. In later years, when civilization rejected the flesh of the whale as an article of food, the oil was needed to supply the winter lamp, and for other purposes; while the firm, flexible, elastic bone was found to be peculiai'ly adapted for various articles of dress, ornament, and common use. The English were the first who pushed whaling 122 ler. EARLY FISni^TG EXPEDITIONS. 123 operations into the liigli latitudes of the Arctic seas. The discovery of Spitzbergen, by Barentz, was followed hy the voyage of Stephen Bennet, who re-discovered Bear Island and named it Cherie Island. A series of voyages for the capture of walrus ensued, in which Bennet, Jonas Poole, and others took a part ; but the attention of these hardy walrus-hunters was soon attracted to a game more worthy of their steel. The voyages of Hudson led the way to a great and flourishing whaling trade, in which many nations competed for pre-eminence, and which opened one of the most interesting chapters in the history of En- glish and Dutch commercial enterprise. Henceforth, for more than two centuries, that part of the frontier of the unexplored region which extends from Spitz- bergen to Greenland, was annually frequented by fleets of whalers. Hudson, on returning from his Polar voyage, re- ported having seen large numbers of whales along the coast of Spitzbergen; and in 1611, the Muscovy Company sent out the " Mary Margaret " with every- thing then considered requisite for catching whales. Captain Edge, her commander, succeeded in taking one small whale, which yielded twelve tons of oil — the first, he believed, that was ever extracted in the Greenland seas. Soon afterward the Mary Margaret was wrecked, and her crew in three boats were found at Spitzbergen by Captain Poole, of the Elizabeth, a craft of fifty tons. Poole caught so many wali'us on this trip, that their hides caused the destruction of his vessel, for they shifted in the hold and capsized her. Poole and his crew escaped, and were taken' home by Captain Marmaduke. Notwithstanding the unfortunate termination of 124 THE SPITZBERGEN WHALING-GROUNDS. i' ■:«; their first whaling venture, the Muscovy 'Company sent out two shij)s under Poole the next season to follow ujj the unclei-taking. Meantime the Dutch, intent on every form of commercial adventure, had sent vessels to the Greenland seas for the same pur- pose. These the Englishmen considered as inter- lopers; and being the strongest party they com- pelled their rivals to leave. Next year the same company obtained a royal charter, prohibiting all besides themselves to intermeddle in any shape with this valuable branch of industry. To make good this privilege, the company fitted out an expedition of seven well-armed ships, luuler command of William BaflRn, Avho, on reaching the seas round Spitzbergen, found them filled with ships of different nations, Dutch, French, and Spanish. All were compelled to depart, or to fish under the condition of delivering half of the proceeds to the English as the lords of the northern seas. This interference with the whaling vessels of other uatious, was denounced as a flagrant example of the tyranny of the new mistress of tlie ocean; and the Dutch determined not to submit, but to repel force by force. For this j)urpose, they sent out fleets so numerous and so well-armed, that for some years thei-e was but slight interference with their rights. At length, in 1G18, a general encounter took place, whicli resulted disastrously to the English, for one of their ships was taken and carried to Amsterdam. Tht; Dutch government, anxious for peace, rewarded the caj)tors but restored the vessel. This led to a com- promise, and at last to a division of the Spitzbergen whaling-grounds among the nations whose ships had been accustomed to resort there. There waa plenty ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN EDGE. 125 of room for all ; but business did not prove profitable to the English owners ; the gains of their fishery were absorbed by losses ; and, eventually, for many years, scarcely an English ship sailed nortliward. But during the time that English mariners were in the ascendant in the Spitzbergen waters, from the voyage of stout Henry Hudson in 1607 to about 1G22, they did excellent geographical work. Greenland was the name applied in those days to the Spitzber- gen Archipelago. In 1013 and 1G14 they dis- covered Hope Island, and other islands to the south- eastward of Spitzberg(ui. In IGIG Captain Edge, one of the leading spirits in the early whaling enterprises, sent a pinnace to the eastward, to explore Edge Island, and other land on the east side, as far as 78*^ north. This pinnace was a boat of twenty tons, with a crew of twelve men. She is portrayed on the curious old chart of Spitzbergen in " Purchas's Pilgrimes," pulling up Stor Fiord. The pinnace's crew killed a thou- sand sea-horses on Edge Island, and got 1,300 tons (barrels?) of oil. In 1(513, the Dutch followed the example, and the Dutch and English seamen often came to blows over the exclusive nsdit of the fisherv. One of the English expeditions of this period discov- ered a large island to the eastward of Spitzbergcin, which was never visited ao-ain until three Norwegian sealing vessels reached it in 1872. This discovery is thus recorded in Purehas : — "In the yeare 1617 the Com])any set out for Green- land fourteene sayle of ships, and their two pinnasses, furnished with a sufficient number of men and all other provisions fitting for the voyage, under the com- mand of Thomas Edge. . . . They employed a ship of sixtietunnes, with twenty men in her, who discovered wmmmffmmm llllf'' U: l> .ft 1 1 ANCIEST MAP OF SPITZBEKGEN-FKOM " PUBCHAS HIS PILUIilMS." DUTCH ENTEllPUISE — A DESERTED MLLAOE. 127 to the eastward of Greenland, as far to the nortli- wards as seveutie-nine degrees, an iland which he named Wiches Iland, and divers other ilauds as bv the map appeareth, and killed stoie of sea-iiorses there, and then came into Bel Sound, where he found his lading of oyle left by the captayne, which he tooke in. This yeare the Hull men set a small ship or two to the eastwards of Greenland, for the Hull men still followed the steps of the Londoners, and in a yeare or two called it their discoverie, which is false, and untrue, as by oath in the Admiraltie doth ap- peare. The Dutch likewise practice the same course." The Dutch whale-fisheries, unlike those of the English, became the source of great national wealth. An immense capital was invested in the business, and it was carried on with characteristic ])rudence, dili- gence, and consequent success. A settlement was founded at the Smeerenberg Bay at the north-west coi'ner of Spitzbergen, where the re<|uisite apparatus for extracting oil and bone was erected on an immense scale. During the summer, Smeerenberg was a crowded and populous village, and in this dreary corner of the \vorld were to he found many of the luxuries of civilized life. But a chano-e came over Smeerenbery;. Gradually and at last almost entirel}^ the whales,deserted its bay and sought refuge in distant waters. Thither their pur- suers followed them, and at last, finding the expense; and delay of conveying their prizes to Smeerenberg too onerous, they contrived an arrangement ])y which the whale, being fastened to the sides of the ship, was cleared of its blubber and bone. Smeeren- ])erg then lost every foundation on which its pros- i)erity had rested. The furnaces, tanks and other 8 i^i 111 128 A WINTER IN SPITZBERGEN. ill! Ml nilli mw'\ M ii! I lb articles were carried away, and it is now difficult to trace the spot on which stood that once flourishing village, in whose bay there had sometimes been as many as two hundred vessels. In 1638, the Dutch planned another settlement fur- ther to the north, and seven sailors volunteered for this arduous undertakinii:. On the 30th of Aug;ust the fleet left them in North Bay, where they not only undertook to live during the winter, but even to pro- vide themselves with fresh provisions. They visited all the surroundinij shores, took three reindeer and a number of sea-swallows, collecting also a great quan- tity of a species of watercress. Their great ambition was to catch a whale ; but, though tantalized by the sight of many, all their attempts failed. Severe cold began to be felt in October, and on the 15th, only a small portion of the sun's disk could be seen above the horizon, and in a few days it entirely disappeared ; there was still a foint twilight of eight hours, which was soon reduced to five, and became every day shorter and shoiter. In November, the cold increased to the utmost pitch ; they could not sleep in their beds, but were obliged either to crouch over the fire, or run full speed through the hut, to keep up the vital energy. At length they ranged all their couches round tlie fire-place and a stove, yet still found i'j necessary to lay themselves down between the stove and the fire, holding their feet to the very embei's. Nic-ht and winter continued in their utmost in ten- sity till the 22d of January, when they again enjoyed a twilight of six hours ; at midday of the 2Cth, tlieie was no longer a star to be seen ; but it was on the 22d of February ere, from a mountain-top, they could 't S' <' I.^ FIGHTING THE TIGER. 129 descry any portion of tlie sun's disk. Throughout the whole period they had dreadful contests with the Polar bear. Thus these seven persons passed through this liard winter without any severe attack of scurvy ; and on the 27th of May they wore overjoyed by the view of a boat, Avhich conveyed them to a neighboring bay, where seven Dutch ships had assembled for the fishery. The success of this experiment induced the Dutch Company to repeat the attempt in the following year, when seven other sailors, well furnished with victuals, and apparently with every means of withstanding the rigor of the climate, undertook to winter in Spitz- bergen. They appear, however, to have been of a less active disposition than their predecessoi's, and failed in every attempt to procure fresh victuals. The sun having quitted them on the 20th of October, they shut themselves up in their hut, out of which they scarcely ever stirred. In a few Aveeks they were attacked by scui'vy under its most malignant form, which, amid this recluse life, and in the absence of fresh meat and vegetables, assumed continually a more alarming type, till three died, whose bodies the others with difficulty enclosed in coffins. The sur- vivors killed a dog and a fox, which afforded some relief, but not enough to arrest the pi'ogress of the malady. The bears began to ap])roacli the hut, and would have been a blessing, had the men retained strene-th either to shoot the animals or to drair home the carcass. The sun appeared on the 24tli of Feb- ruary; but they could no longer derive aid from this benignant luminary. The last entry in their journal is in the following terms : — "We are all four stretched on our beds, and are y^Mt 130 AN ARCTIC Tit AG ED Y. ..i : it i mA ■■ p-'>\r still alive, and would eat willingly, if any one of us were able to rise and light a fire. We im})lore the Almighty, with folded hands, to deliver us from this life, which it is impossible to prolong Avithout food or any thing to warm our frozen limbs. None of us can help the other, each must supjjort his own misery." Early in spring the fishing vessels arrived, and a party hastened to the hut. They found it so fast closed, that an entrance could only be effected by opening the roof They found it a tomb. Three of the men were enclosed in the coffins which had been framed for them ; the other four Iny dead, two in their beds, and two on a piece of sail spread on the floor. These last had j^erished in consequence of mere ina- bility to make the effort necessary for lifting and dressing the food. About the same time the Dutch made an attempt to establish a colony on Jan Mayen Island, but witli a result equally fatal. The journal of the unfortunate seamen contains little except a register of the weather. The next instance of wintering in Spitzbergen arose from necessity and disaster. A Russian vessel which, had sailed from Archangel for the whale-fishery in 1743, being driven by the wind to the eastern coast of Spitzbergen, found itself beset amid floating ice without hope of deliverance. One of the party recol- lected that a hut had been erected on this coast by some of his countrymen, under the apprehension of being obliged to spend the winter there. He and three others set out to discover the place. With much difficulty they reached the shore, leaping from fragment to fragment of moving ice; then, spread- ing themselves in different directions, they found the cottage, which, though ruinous, afforded shelter for the night. ADVENTURES OF RUSSIAN WHALEMEN. 131 Early in the morning they liastened to the shore, to convey to their comrades this happy intelligence. But what must have been their hoi-ror, when they saw only a vast open sea, without a vestige of the ship, or even of the numerous icebergs which had been toss- ing through the waves ! A violent gale had dispersed them all, and apparently also sunk the vessel, which was never heard of more. These four unfortunate seamen, abandoned on this dreadful shore, having the long winter to pass with- out food, or arms and implements to procure any, did not, however, give way to despair. They had a gun with which they shot twelve deer ; then their ammu- nition failed ; but some pieces of iron were found on the shore, which they contrived to fashion into pikes. At the moment when their stock of venison was nearly exhausted, they found occasion to employ these weapons against a Polar bear by which they were assailed. The animal, being vanquished and killed after a formidable struggle, supplied for the present all their wants. His flesh was food, his skin clothing, his entrails, duly prepared, furnished the string which alone had been wanting to complete a bow. With that instrument they were more than a match for the reindeer and the Arctic fox, with the spoils of which they filled both their pantry and theii* wardrobe; and thenceforth they avoided, unless in cases of necessity, the encounter of the bear. Being destitute of cooking utensils, they were oldiged to devour the food nearly raw — dried either by suspen- sion in the smoke during the long winter, or by ex- posure to the heat of the sun during the short summer. Yet this regular supply of fresh meat, and, above all, the constant exercise to which neces- >' • 132 SIX YEARS OF PERIL. i. 1 4 ' It iH Jil'l >''i|!| til , ... J' ' %■ sity prompted, enabled them to preserve their health entire during six years, in which they looked in vain for deliverance. In this time they killed ten bears, two hundred and fifty reindeer, and a multitude of foxes. At the end of the six years one of the men died, when the three survivors sunk into de8i)ondence, giving up all hopes of relief, and looking forward to the mo- ment when the last of them would become the prey of the bears. Suddenly, on the 15th of August, 1749, they descried a vessel at sea. They lighted fires on the heiijhts, hoisted a flacr formed of reindeer skins, and were at length discovered by the shij), which proved to belong to their native country. The exami^le thus involuntarily set by these Rus- sian sailors has been followed, to a considerable extent, by their countrymen, some of whom have since regularly wintei-ed in huts on the Spitzbergen coast, and employed themselves in chasing the walrus and seal along the shore, the deer and Arctic fox in the interior. They are constantly engaged in hunt- ing, unless when interrupted by tempest ; and, even when the hut is blocked uj^ with snow, they find their way out by the chimney. Commodore Jansen, of the Dutch Navy, makes the following interesting remarks on the Spitzbergen fishery of his countrymen : — " When our Avhalers first came to Spitzbergen, they met with the whales in great quantities, enjoying all the luxury of this most exquisite feeding-ground, the best perhaps in the whole Arctic region. The whales were found spoi*"- ing in open water oif shore, with their huge back'* above water, or taking their siesta in a calm bay, surrounded by abundance of food. This was a most THE whale's pa K a disk 1 33 t glorious time for whales — the paradise of their history. In s{)ite of the yearly increase of whalers, and the irreat number of whales that were killed on the same i-ipot, they always resorted to this favoi'ite ground. " During this first period, called the ' Shore I'^ish- ery,' we had an oil-boiling establishment at Smeeren- burg, on Amsterdam Island. Every year our whalers went straight to this island ; each vessel had six or seven boats, and a huge complement of men, who were enijdoyed in killing Avhales, bringing them ashore, and making oil as fast as possilde. Thousands and thousands of whales were killed, and at last, from about 1G40-50, they ceased for a time to come at all to the west coast of Spitzbergen. As soon as the scarcity of whales was felt, the directors of the Dutch Whaling Company made great efforts to follow them to their place of retreat. Several ships were sent out on exploring expeditions, but they did not find any islands besides those round Spitzbergen, nor any whaling-ground as easy and profitable as Smeer- enburg and its vicinity had been." The year 1777 was one Avliich exhibited, on a large scale, all the vicissitudes of this occupation. Captain Broerties, in the Guillamine, arrived that year on the 22d of June at the great bank of northern ice, where he found fifty vessels moored and busied in the fishery. The day after, a tempest drove in the ice Avith such violence that twenty-seven of the ships were beset, of which ten w^ere lost. The Guillamine with four other ships, succeeded in reaching a narrow basin, enclosed by icy barriers on every side. On the 1st of August the ice began to gather thick, and a violent storm driving it against the vessels, placed them in great peril for a number of days. On iiir 1' ' I'M 1! ! B t ♦ m ,.:i i .,;il ik SniPWRECKS. the 20th, a dreadful i^ale arose from tlie north-east, in which the Guilhmiine suffered coHsiderabli! daiiuij^e. In this awful tempest, out of the five ships two went down, a third sprung a leak, and their erews were taken on hoard of the two remaininri: harks. On the 25th these wei'e eom])letely frozen In, and it was resolved to send a party of twelve men to seek aid from four vessels which a few days hi'fore had been driven into a station at a little distance ; l)ut by the time of their airival, two of these had been dashed to pieces, and the others were in the most deplorable condition. Meantime the Guillamine and her companions drifted in sight of Gale Ilamkes' Land, in Greenland, and the tempest still pushing them gradually to the southward, Iceland at length appeared on their left. The crews were beginning to hoj)e that they might reach a harbor, when, on the l.^th of September, a whole mountain of ice fell upon the Guillamine. The men, half naked, leaped out ni)on the frozen sur- face, saving with difficulty a small portion of their provisions. The broken remnants of the vessel were soon buried under enormous piles of ice. By leaping from one fragment of ice to another, the men contrived to reach the other vessel, which, though in extremti distress, received them on board. Shattered and overcrowded, she was obliged immediately after to accommodate fifty other seamen, the crew of another vessel which had just gone down, the chief har- pooner and twelve of the mariners having perished. These numerous companies, squeezed into one crazy bai'k, suffered every kind of distress, and famine, in its most direful forms, began to stare them in the face. MEMORIALS OF THE HOLLANDERS. 135 All rt'iiioter fearis, howovor, gav(i way, when in October, the vessel went to pieces in the same sud- den manner as the others, leaving to the unfortunate sailors scarcely time enough to leap iijion the ice with their remaining stores. With great difficulty they I'eached a field of sonu! extent, and contrived Avitli their torn sails to rear a sort of covering; but, sensible that, by remaining on this desolate spot, they must certainly perish, they saw no safety except in scrambling over the frozen surface to the coast of Greenland, which W'as in view. With infinite toil they effected their object, and ha})pily met some inhabitants who i-eceived them liospitably, and regaled them with dried fish and seals' flesh. Thence they puslied across that dreary I'egion, treated some- times well, sometimes churlishly ; but by one means or other they succeeded at length, on the 13th of March, in reaching the Danish settlement of Frede- rikshaab, where they were received with the utmost kindness. The whaling trade of the Hollanders gradually came to an end in the last half of the last century. Many names round the Spitsbergen i^hores, and large num- bers of graves, remain as memorials of their former hardihood. f ii » • CHAPTER IX. THE ARCTIC WHALE-FISHERY. (CONTINUI'T).) Ii^ 1719 the Dutch opened a whale-fishery in Davis' Strait, wliich proved very remunerative and comparatively safe ; for, in a pei'iod of sixty ye^irs, out of over three thousand ships fishing there, only sixty-two were Avrecked. English whalers soon began to frequent the same fishery ; but in spite of old William Baifin's judicial advice, no vessel ever followed in liis track until 1817, and the whales were permitted to remain for two centuries in tranquil enjoyment of the North Water of Bafiin's Bay. Baffin had gallantly led the way thither and no man had dared to follow him. At last two English whalers successfully passed the middle pack, and found whales so plenty that from that day to this, veiy i'ew years have passed during which whalers have not forced that bari'ior. Melville Bay used to be a place of dread and anxi- ety for the whaling fleet ; for whei' a southerly wind brouglit the drifting pack in violent and irresistible contact with the land-lloe, the ships, slowly creeping along its edge, were frequently crushed like so many walnuts. In 1819, as many as fourteen ships were 13G t> i^' *< I: WIlALmG DISASTEKS IN MELVILLE BAY. 137 smaslied to pieces in this way; in 1821, eleven; and in 1822, seven. The year 1830 was the great season of disaster for the whalers, for nineteen ships were entirely destroyed, occasioning immense loss. On the 19th of June, a fresh gale from the south-west drove masses of ice into Melville Bay, and nipped the whole fleet against the land-floe, about forty miles to the southward of Cape York. In the evening tlie gale increased, and the floes began to overlap each other. A huge floe then came down upon the devoted ships, and a scene of indescribable hori-or ensued. In a (piarter of an liour sev^eral fine ships were converted into shattered fragments ; the ice, with a loud grinding noise, tore open their sides, masts were seen falling in all direc- tions, great snips were squeezed flat and thrown broadside on to the ice, and one whaler, the " Rattler," was literally turned inside out. The shipwrecked sailors only just had time to jump on the ice, and take refuge on board their more fortunate consorts — for even in 1830 several ships escaped l)y digging deep docks in the land ice. It must be under- >iood that there is little dansjer of loss of life in Melville Bay, for even if a solitary whaler is de- stroyed, when no other is i.; sight, the retreat in boats to the Danish settlements is generally prac- tical^le and easy. When the fearful catastrophe occurred in 1830, there were a thousand men en- <;am})ed on the ice, the clusters of tents were a scene of joyous dancing and frolic, for Jack had got a holiday, and the season was long remembered as "Bnffiii'sFair." The whale-fishery has been carried on from the United States with greater vigor and success than WTu^ 1 1* if 'V' 1:11:1^*^ |l I fr' •• i , ■■' 1 ill ^ ■■: ,1 ji 4 I i 138 YANKEE WHALEMEN. from any other country, and from an early period. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the business was a very lucrative one ; and several flourishing towns were built up thereby. At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts alone had nearly two hundred vessels engaged in the northern seas, besides many in the southern. The great Eng- lish Statesman, Burke, in 1774 paid the following tribute to Yankee enterprise : — " Look at the manner in which the New England people carry on the whale-fishery. While we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis Strait ; while we are looking for them beneath the Arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold ; that they are r.t the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the Soutli. Falk- land Island, which seemed too remote and t(w i-oman- tic an object for the gra«D of national ambition, is but a stage and resting-place for tlieir \ictorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discour- aejina: to them than the accumulated winter of both the Poles. We learn that while some of them draw the line or strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along the coast of Brazil." The war put a temporary stop to the whaling bus- iness of the United States, but it was renewed with energy as soon as peace was declared, and again broken up by the war of 1812. Its recovery was, however, rapid. In 1844, the American whaling fleet comprised six hundred and fifty vessels, manned by over seventeen thousand men, while the English THE DUNDEE WHALING STEAMERS. 139 fleet at the same date numbered only eighty-five ves- sels. In 1849, the American whaling fleet was nearly as large as in 1844. The Northern Pacific, extend- ino- from the coast of America to Kamchatka, was at tliat time the great harvest field of American whalers, iind Bering Strait, and the Ai'ctic Ocean to whicli it leads have since been visited by intrepid American whalemen. Owing to the scarcity of whales, the use of gas, and the discovery of petroleum, the whaling business of the United kStates has dwindled down to very small proi)()rtions compared with what it once was. Dangers (bsasters, and suff'erings are, however, still inciden fo Jie profession. In 1871, the North-west whaling fleet was shut in by the ice, and many of the ships had to bo abandoned. Quite recently three New Bedford whalers have been lost in Hudson's Bay, and another which has just returned was impris- oned for three months amid the desolations of Repulse I>,ay. ^ . Although never wholly abandoned, the whaling trade of Great Biltain fluctuated for many years ; until it was found that an Indian fibre, when manip- ulated with whale oil, could be manufactured into a great variety of useful falu'ics. The extension of the manufacture of jute in Dundee, Scotland, caused the revival of the whale-fisheiy in Baflfin's Bay. A mil- lion bales of jute are now annually imported into Dundee, e(|ual to one hundred and forty-three thou- sand tons ; and the bulk of the whale oil is required by the jute manufacturers of Dundee and the neigh- borhood. Thus the port of Dundee has now become the centre of the English whale-fishing trade ; and car- goes of oil from the Arctic regions may be seen dis- 'IH ■ iTn 140 RI'=;CUE OF THE POLARIS CREW. ,! ■ '> r !■ n l|f>:i 1 . '^f '1 t i II { I l;| i I'V'j i.i lis .«i! I." charging alongside of cargoes of jute from Calcutta, both being essential to the prosperity of the port. Of late years steam has made a great change in naviga- tion, and the steam whalers are not ex])osed to the same risks and detentions as fall to the lot of sailing ships. The first steam whaler sailed from Dundee in 1858, and now a whaling fleet of ten steamt s leaves every spring for Baffin's Bay and returns in the fall. Each carries eight whale boats, manned by nearly the Avhole crew of sixty men ; for few remain on the ship when the cry of " There she spouts ! " is heard. It was a steamer of this line, the Ilavenscraig, which rescued the crew of the wrecked Polaris, and the party were carried to Dundee in two others, tht Intrepid and the Arctic. The latter steamer had, dur- ing her trip, penetrated into the Gulf of Boothia. ^i.-^^ 4 CHAPTER X. CRUISE OF THE ISABELLA AND ALEX- ANDER. (JOIIN KOSS — PARRY.) The Northern seas, .as a theatre of adventure, had been unoccupied for lialf a century, and the grand question in whicli Engkind had taken so deep an in- terest was still open. For several years preceding 1818, vast masses of ice had floated down from the I'egions of Baffin's Bay, and an unusual opportunity of discovering a North-west passage to the Pacific Ocean, seemed to present itself. In that year the English government fitted out two expeditions; one to search foi'the North-west passage, the other to attempt a voyage across the Pole. The first consisted of th.e Isabella of 885 tons, commanded l\y Captain John Ross, an officer of reputation and experience, who had twice wintered in the Baltic, had T)een employed in surveying the White Sea, and been as far north as Bear Island; and the Alexander of 252 tons, conmianded by Lieutenant Wm. E. Parry, afterwards famous as an Arctic exjilorer. On the 18th of April the vessels left the Thames, and on the 27tli of May came in view of Cape Fare- well, round which as visual Avere floa ling numerous and h)fty icebercrs of the most varied forms and tints. 141 .•;*•■■ 'fWfW^ :'^ll ,.,,; illi 1 ;Ir] 11 ■ n ! II r ! |s| !■ Ji r 1 t !i If"'-' ; 1 < 1 i ."• '' 5 . il ■ [) i ('' i 'i' 1, ? i ^ 142 A DANISH I5J:A(TY. On the 14tli of June they readied the Whale Islands, wliere they were informetl by the governor of the Danish settlement, that the i)ast winter had been iin- coninionly severe — the neighboring bays and straits having been all frozen two months earlier than usual — and that some of the channels ncn-thAvard of his station were still l)ound in with ice. On the I7th of June, an impenetrable barrier of ice stopping their c(mrse, they fastened to an iceberg hav- ing forty-five M'hale-ships in com])any. At length the ice attached to the eastern shore broke up, though still forming a continuous rampart at some distance to the ^vestward, but in the intermediate space they wei-e enabled to move forward slowly along the coast, laboring through narrow and intricate channels amid mountains and loose fragments of ice near the Danish settlement. Their detention had not lacked amuse- ment ; the half-caste sons and dau\ v^ip. I'l ■■'■ t i I !lii;t^il,/'' I IMi y:. \ ! I iiiiii '■!■ ■ I fi: i; I' ilk I A SECLUDED RACE. 145 The worlJ, or of a race dift'ereiit from tlieir own. first small party whom the navigators approached sliowed every sign of the dee2:)est alarm ; dreading, as was afterward understood, a fatal influence from the mere touch of these beings of an unknown spe- cies. Yet they seem to have felt a secret attraction towards the strangers, and advanced, holding fast the long knives lodged in their boots, and looking signifi- cantly at each other. Having come to a chasm whj/'h separated them from the English, they made e;irriest signs that only the interpreter, who bore a resemldance to themselves, should come across. He went forward and offered his hand. They shrunk back for some time in alarm ; at length the boldest touched it, and finding it flesh and l)lood set up a loud shout, which three others Joined. The rest of the party then came up, to the number of eight, with fifty dogs which helped their masters in raising a tremendous clamor. Ross and Parry now thought it tim6 to come for- ward. This movement excited alarm and a tendency to retreat ; but Saccheous having taught these officers to pull their noses, this sign of ami^y was graciously acceiDted. A mirror was now held up to them, and on seeing tlieir faces in it they showed the greatest aston- ishment ; they looked around on each other a few moments in silence, then set up a general shout, suc- ceeded by a loud laugh of delight and surprise. The ship was the next object of their speculation. They began by endeavoring to ascertain its nature by interrogating it, for they conceived it to be a huge bird, spreading its vast wings and endoAved with reason. One of them, pulling his nose with the ut- most solemnity, began an address : I t' "I r 1 4 c ill . I. ■ 1 ^ IM , , ] 146 ESQUIMAUX IDEAS 01-' A SHIT. " Who are you ? Whence come you ? Is it from th(^ suu or the moon ?" The Hhii) renmining siU^nt, tliey at lenc^th applied to SaeeheouH, wlio ai-^sured them that it was a frame of timber, the work of liuman art. To them, liowever, wlio liad never seen any wood hut slight twigs and stunted lieath, its immense planks and masts were ob- jects of amazement. Wliat animal, they also asked, could furnish those enormous akins A\dueh Avere spread for the sails. Their admiration was soon followed by a desire to possess some of the objects which met their eyes, but with little discrimination as to the means of effecting their end. They attempted first a spare topmast, then an anchor; and these proving too ponderous, one of them tried the smith's anvil; but finding it fixed, made off with the large hannner. Anotlier wonder for them was to see the sailors mounting to the topmast • nor was it without much hesitation that they ventured their own feet in the shrouds. A little terrier dog appeared to them a contemptible object, wholly unfit for drawing burdens or being yoked in a sledge, while the grunt of a hog filled them with alarm. These Esquimaux had a king who rnled seemingly with gentle sway ; for they described him as strongs very good and very much beloved. The discoverers did not visit the court of this Arctic potentate ; but they understood that he drew a trilmte, consisting of ti'ain- oil, seal-skins, and the bone of the unicoi'u. Like other Greenlanders, they liad sledc::es drawn by large and powerful teams of dogs. They rejected with hor- ror biscuit, sweetmeats and spii-its ; train-oil, as it streamed from the seal and the unicorn, alone grati- fied their palate. Captain Koss, swayed by national '■• n. ' ; "1 1 ley i-ge lor- 5 it ■ati- •nal CAl'K ISAIIKM,. IM mm' I'} ..j^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 1.0 I.I 1 1^ i^ '" I— 12.2 :^ ii£ llilio 1.8 1.25 1.4 1 16 ^ 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation m ,\ 4- \\ ^ 6^ ^%^^ 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14S80 (716) 873-4503 % <^ ■^^ o (A /. ii 11 Il I'll ;)«: 1 w\ if '' " 1 n ■j iHil w If I *^1 1 1 III THE ABCnC UIOH' ANDEXtS. 149 impressions, gave to this tribe the name of Arctic Jlighlandera. In the northern part of this coast the navigators observed a remarkable phenomenon, — a range of cliffs, the snowy covering of which had ex- changed its native white for a tint of dark crimson. The latest observations have established its vegetable origin. Having now passed Cape Dudley Digges, Captain Ross found himself among those spacious sounds which Baffin had named but so imperfectly described. He seems, however, to have followed the same hasty method. He sailed past AVolstenholme and Whale Sounds without even approaching their entrance, concluding them to be blocked up with ice, and to af- ford no hope of a passage. Ross next came to Smith's Sound, which Baffin had described as the most spar cious and promising of the whole circuit of these coasts. It was viewed with greater attention ; but believed to be completely enclosed by land. The two capes at its entrance were named after the ships Isabella and Alexander. He then came to a spacious bay, which had hitherto been unknown and unobserved, and afterward to that which Baffin had called Jones's Sound ; but in respect to both was led to a prompt and unfavorable conclusion. On the 30th of August, the expedition came to a most magnificent inlet, bordered by lofty nioiintuiiia of peculiar grandeur, while the water being clear and free from ice, presented so tempting an appearance that it was impossible to refrain from entering. This channel, which soon proved to be the Lancaster Sound of Baffin, was ascended for thirty miles ; during which run, officers and men crowded the topmast filled with enthusiastic hope, and judging that it af- 150 SIGNAL OF RETURN. li' >. {* r 1 :{li ii I .1 h 1 h i i foinled much fairer hopes of success than any of those so hastily passed. Captain Ross however, and those whom he consulted, never showed any sanguine ex- pectations. He soon thought that he discovered a high ridge stretching directly across the inlet ; and though a great pai-t of it was deeply involved in mist, yet a passage in this direction was judged to be hope- less. The sea being open, the ship proceeded ; but an officer came down from the crow's nest, stating that he liad seen the land stretching very nearly across the entire bay. Hereupon it is said, all hopes were re- nounced even by the most sanguine, and Captain Ross sailed onward merely for the i)urpose of making some magnetical observations. At three o'clock, the sky having cleared, the com- mander himself went on deck, when he states that he distinctly saw across the bottom of the bay a chain of mountains continuous and connected with those which foniied its opposite shores. The weather then becom- ing unsettled, he made the signal to steer the vessels out of Lancaster Sound. Lieutenant Parry, however, declares that to him, in the Isabella, this signal ap- peared altogether mysterious, being himself full of the most sanguine expectations, and seeing no ground for this abiiipt retreat ; but his duty obliged him to follow. On regaining the entrance of this great channel, Captain Ross continued to steer southward along the western shore of Baffin's Bay and Davis's Strait, with- out seeing any entrance which afforded equal promise, and returned home early in October. Ross arrived in England under decided conviction that Baffin's observations had been perfectly correct, and that Lancaster Sound was a bay. CHAPTER XI. CRUISE OF THE HECLA AND GRIPER. (PAKRY AND LIDDON.) It being detemiined that a new exjiedition should he fitted out and intrusted to Lieutenant Parry, that lie might fulfill, if possible, his own sanguine hopes and those of his employers, he was furnished Avitli the Ilecla of 375 tons, and a crew of fifty-eight men ; and with the Griper gun-brig of 180 tons and thirty- six men, eonnnanded by Lieutenant Liddon. Thesu ships were made as strong and as well-fitted as possi- ble for the navijxation of the Arctic seas ; and were stored with ample provisions for two years, a copious supply of antiscorbutics, and eveiy thing which could enable the crews to endure the extreme rigoi-s of a Polar winter. Lieutenant Parry, destined to outstrip all his prede- cessors in the career of Arctic discover}', left the Xore on the nth of May, 1819, and on the loth of June came in view of the lofty cliifs of Cape Farewell. On the 18tli the ships first fell in with icebergs, and made an effort to j)ush through the icy masses in the direc- tion of Lancaster Sound ; but these suddenly closed upon him, and on the 25th the two ships were immove- ably beset ; but on the second day the ice was loosened and driven against them with much violence. 151 152 ENTERING LANCASTER SOUND. I VI I ..I Resigning the idea of reaching Lancaster Sound by the most direct route, the explores coasted northward along the border of this great icy field in search of open water, and proceeded, till they reached lati- tude 75''. As every step was now likely to carry them farther from their destination, Parry determined upon a desperate push to the westward ; and by sjiwing and Avaqiing, finally penetrated the icy barrier and saw the western shore clear of ice extending be- fore them. Tlie navigators now bore directly do\\'Ti upon Lan- caster Soiuid, and on the iJOth of July found them- selves at its entrance. They felt an extraordinary emotion as they recognized this magnificent channel, with the lofty cliffs by which it was guarded, aware that a very short time would decide the fate of their grand undertaking. They Avere tantalized, however, by a fresh breeze coming directly down the sound, which suffered them to make only very slow progress. There was no appearance, of any obstructions either from ice or land, and even the heavy swell Avhieh came down the inlet, driving the water repeatedly in at the stern-win«lows, was hailed as an indication of open sea to the westwanl. On the 3d of August an easterly breeze sprung up, cariying both vessels rapidly forward. A crowd of sail was set, and they pushed triumphantly to the ■westward. Their minds were filled with anxious hope and suspense. The mast-heads were crowded with officers and men, and the successive reports l)rought doAvn from the topmast pinnacle were eagerly listened to. They passed various headlands with several wide openings towards the north and south, but these it was not their present object to explore. The wind, HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS. 158 freshening more and more carried tliem liappily for- ward, till at midnight they found themselves a liun- dred and fifty miles from the mouth of the grand in- let, which still retained a breadth of lift}' miles. The success of the expedition they hoj^Mjd was now to a great extent decided. The ships proceeded on and found two other inlets, then a bold cape named Fellfoot, forming apparently the tennination of this long line of coast. The length- ened swell which still rolled in from the north and west, with the oceanic color of the -vvaters, inspired the hope that they had already i)assed the region of ritraits and inlets, and were now Avufted along the Avide expanse of the Polar basin. Nothing, it was supposed, would now obstruct their progress to Icy Cape, the western boundary of America. An alarm t)f land was given, but it proved to be t)nly from an island of no great extent ; more land was soon discovered beyond Cai>e Feilfoot, which was ascertained to be the headland to a noble bay extend- ing on their right, which they named Maxwell Bay. An nninternipted range of sea still stretched out before them, though they saw on the south a line of continuous ice. Some distance ouAVurd they discover- ed, with deep dismay, that this ice Avas joined to inq^ene- trable floes, which completely crossed the channel and joined the western j)oint of MaxAvell Bay. A vio- lent surf was beating along the edges, and they drew back to avoid entanglement in the ice The officers began to amuse themselves with fruit- less attempts to catch Avhite Avhales, Avhen the Aveather cleared, and they saAV to the south an open sea Avith a dark Avater-sk}-. Parr}', hoping that it might lead to a free passage in a loAver latitude, steered toward I Ill 1 '< 11; SI mm P II J' I Si' ■i !« I' *1 , ■<'!' I'I' 'f "I ■■ if ■■■■. I J I im 154 DBEART SHORES. it, and found himself at the mouth of a great inlet, ten leagues broad, with no visible teiinination ; to the two eajws at its entran(!e he gave the names of Clarence and Seppings. Finding the western shore of this inlet deeply en- cumbered with ice, they moved across to the easteni where was a broad and open channel. The coast was the most dreary and desolate they had ever be- held even in the Arctic world, presenting scarcely a semblance either of animal or vegetable life. Navi- gation Avas rendered more arduous from the irregular- it^'' of the compass. After sailing a hundred and twenty miles up this inlet, the increasing width of which inspired them with cori'esponding hoj^es, with extreme consternation they suddenly perceived the ice to diverge from its parallel coui-se, close in and nin to a point of land which appeared to fonn the southern extremity of the eastern shore. The western horizoji also appeared covered with heavy and extensive floes, a bright and dazzling ice-blink extending from shore to shore. Parry now determined to return to the old station, and watch the opportunity when the relenting ice would allow the ships to proceed westward. On the 1 8th, after getting once more close to the noi-thern shore the navigators began to make a little progress, when some showers of ruin, accompanied Avith heavy wind, produced such an effect that on the 21st the Avhole ice had disappeared ; they could scarcely believe it to be the same sea Avliich had just before been covered with floes as far as the eye could reach. Pariy now croAvded all sail to the Avestward and passed Beechy Island ; after which he reached a fine and broad inlet leading to the north, which he named TIIK lUiWAKl> EAUNED. 155 Wellington. The sea up this inlet being perfectly open lie would have ascended it, had there not been before him an open channel leading due west. A favorable breeze now spning up, and the adven- turere passed gayly and triumphantly along the shores of Cornwallis Island and two smaller ones. The nav- igation then became extremely difficult in consequence of thick fogs, which not only froze on the shrouds but, as the compass was useless, took awa)' all means of knowing the direction in ■which they sailed. They were obliged to trust to the land and ice preserving the same line, and sometimes employed the most odd expedients for ascertaining the precise point. Pushing westward through many obstacles they at length reached the coast of an island larger than any hefoi-e discovered, to -svliich they gave the name of Melville. The Avind noAV failed, and they slowly moved forward by towing and Avarping, till, on the 4th of September, Pui'ry announced to his joyful crew, that, having reached the longitude of llC AV., they liad become entitled to the reward of £5000 prom- ised by Parliament to the first crew Avho should attain that meridian. The mariners pushed forward Avith redoubled ardor, but soon found their course arrested by an impene- trable icy l>aiTier. They Avaited nearly a fortniglit in hopes of OA'^ercoming it, Avhen the }'oung ice began rapidly to form on the surface of the Avaters, and Parry Avas convinced that in the cA'ent of a single hour's calm he Avould be frozen up in the midst of the sea. No option was therefore left l)ut to return to a harbor Avhich had been passed on Melville Island. It Avas reached on the 24th, but they Avere obliged to cut tAvo miles through a large floe Avith Avliich it Avas 15C THE NORTH OEOTIOIAN THEATRE. i!i I .f .. I >l filled. On the 20cli, the Hhips were unchored at about a culjle's length from the l>eaeli, and hooii Uo/.vu in. The commander, finding himself and his ships shut in for a long and dreary av inter, e very economical of fuel, the small (piantity of moss and turf which could be collectepeared congenial. BeeehyMas nominated stage-manager, and the ofHceis came forward as amatcMir performers. The very ex- pectation thus raised among the seamen, and the bus- tle of pi'cparing a room for the pui'[K»se, Avere extreme- ly salutary ; and A\hen the Xortli (Jcorgian theatre openeffieei*s, dur- ing the brief twilight, had taken a regidar walic of two or three hotu's, although never longer than a mile lest they should l)e overtaken by snow-drift. There wjis a want of objects to divei^sify this walk. A dreary monotonous surtatie <)f dazzling white cover- (m1 land and sea: the view of the shij)s, th<^ smoke a?-^- ceiidliig from thenj, and the somul of human voices, >vliich through the calm and cold air was carried to nu extraordinary distance, alone gave any animati(m to this wintry scene. The officers, however, persevered in their daily walk, and exercise was also enforced upon the men, who, even Avhen prevented by tlu! weather from leav- ing the vessel, were made to I'un r()und the deck, keeping time to the tune of an organ. This move- ment they did not at first entirely relish ; but no jdea ayainst it beinjj admitted, they converted it at last into matter of frolic. By these means health Avas maintained on board the ships to a surj>rising degree, altljongh several of the crew had symptoms of scurvy as early as January. Further on in the season oilier cases of scurvy oc- curred, which were aggravated by an accident. As the men were taking their musical perambulation round the deck, a house erected on shore and contain- ing a number of the most valuable instruments was seen to be on fire. The crew instantly ran, pulled off 160 fibe! fibe! I,.' '*i!!'"i I'd the roof with ropes, knocked down a part of the sides, and being thus enabled to throw in large quantities of snow succeeded in subduing the flames. But their faces now presented a curious spectacle ; every nose and cheek was white with frost-bites, and had to be rubbed with snow to restore circulation. No less than sixteen were added to the sick-list in conse- quence of this fire. The animal tribes disappeared early in the winter from this frozen region, and there remained only a pack of wolves, which serenaded the ship nightly, not venturing to attack, but contriving to avoid being captured. A beautiful white fox was caught and made a pet of. On the 16th of March the North Georgian theatre was closed with an appropriate address, and the gene- ral attention was now turned to the means of extrica- tion from the ice. By the iTth of May the seamen had so far cut the ice from around the ships as to allow them to float ; but in the sea it was still immova- ble. This interval of inaction was employed by Cap- tain Parry in an excursion across Melville Island. The ground was still mostly covered with softened snow, and even the cleared tracts were extremely desolate, though checkered by intervals of fine verdure. Deer were seen traversing the p^ains in considerable num- bers. To the north appeared another island to which was given the name of Sabine. By the middle of June pools were every where formed ; the dissolved water flowed in streams and even in torrents, which rendered hunting and travel- ing unsafe. There were also channels of water in which boats could pass ; yet throughout June and July the great covering of ice in the surrounding sea A BREAK-UP. 161 remained entire, and kept the ships in harbor. On the 2d of August, however, the whole mass broke up and floated out ; and the explorers had now open water in which to prosecute their discovery. On the 4th of August they reached the same spot where their progress had been formerly ari'ested. On the loth they were enabled to make a certain pro- gress ; after wliicli the frozen surface of the ocean assumed a more compact and impenetrable aspect than had ever before been witnessed. The officers ascended some of the lofty heights which bordered the coast ; but in a long reach of sea to the westward no boundary was seen to these icy barriers. There appeared only the western extremity of Melville Island, named Cape Dundas ; and in the distance a bold high coast, which they named Banks Land. As even a brisk easterly gale did not produce the slightest movement in this frozen surface, they were led to believe that on the other side there must be a large barrier of land, by which it was held in a fixed state. On considering all circumstances, there ap- peared no alternative but to make their way home- ward while yet the season permitted. Lancaster Sound was left behind on the 1st of September. Passing do\\Ti the west shore of Baffin's Bay, they stopped at Clyde's River, where they re- ceived viiiits from a tribe of Esquimaux, whose appear- ance and conduct j)leased them all very much — lively, goovere only two miles from the ships, but had not, strange to say, been before discovered, although there was a settlement of five houses and sixty j)eople with their canoes, sledges and dogs. The huts were made en- tirely of snow and ice, with ice Avindows at the top to admit light ; entrance was effected by creeping through low passages with arched doors ; the roofs were per- fect arched domes, and from a circular a2)artment in the centre, arched doorways connected with three other rooms. The interior of these mansions presented a scene novel and interesting. The Avomen were seated on the beds at the sides, each one having a little fire- place, or lamp, with domestic utensils around her. The children crept behind their mothers, and the dogs, excepting those on the beds, slunk out doors in dis- may. Outside, the village aj)peared like a cluster of hillocks, but successive falls of snow filled up the spaces between the huts and made the surface nearly level, so that the children played on the roofs, and as summer advanced occasionally thrust through them a leg or a foot. After a cheerful and friendly visit, an invitation was given to the Esquimaux to repair to the ships, when fifty accepted it. Partly walking and partly dancing they quickly reached the vessels, Avhere a strik- ing congeniality of spirit was soon found to exist be- tween them and the sailors — boisterous fun forming AST0NI81UNO TILK NATIVES. 171 to each the chief source of enjoyment. A fiddle and drum being [)roduced, the natives struck up a dance, or rather a succession of vehement leaj)s, accomj)anied witli loud shouts and yells. Seeing the Kabloonas or Whites, as they called the strangers, engaged in the game of leai)-frog, tliey attempted to join ; but not duly understanding liow to measure their movements, they made such over-leaps as sometimes to come d(>\vn on the crown of their heads. Their attention was specially attracted to the effects of a winch, by whicdi one sailor forcibly drew towards him a party of ten or twelve of their number, though grinning and sti-ain- ing every nerve in resistance ; but finding all in vain, they joined in the burst of good-humored laughter till tears streamed from tlieir eyes. One intelligent old man follo\ved Lyon to the cabin, and viewed with rational surprise various objects which were presented. The pei-formance of a hand- ortran and a musical snuff-box struck him with breath- less admiration; and on seeing drawings of the Esipii . maux in Hudson's Strait, he soon understood tliem and showed the difference between their dress and a[)- pearance and that of his own tribe. On seeing the sketch of a bear, he raised a loud cr}-, drew up his sleeves, and showed the scars of three deep wounds received in encounters with that terrible animal. The seamen sought to treat their visitors to such delicacies as the ship afforded, but were for some time at a loss to discover how their palate might be gratified. Gn)g, the seaman's choicest luxury, only one old woman could be induced to taste. Sugar, sweetmeats, gin- gerbread, were eaten from politeness but with evident disgust ; but oil and anything consisting of fat or grease, Avas swallowed in immense quantities, and '^!'".'l f: M 172 ASTOMHIIINO THK NATIVES. •>' Id *^l I with symptoms of exciuisite delight. An ohl woman, wlu) Hokl her oil-pot, took cui'e to swnllow its contents and lick it cleim with her tongue l)efore parting with it. Captain Lyon, being (iisposed to ingratiate him- Ntfir with a rather handsome young damsel, presented her with a candle; she ate the tallow with eveiy symptom of enjoyment, and then thrust the wick into her mouth. A large pack of wolves remained in the vicinity through the whole winter, in eager watch for any vic- tim which might come within their reach. They took a station between the huts and the ships, ready to act against either as circumstances might dictate. They diw falling so thick that they could not see a yard before them. They Avere soon bewildered, and wandered they Icnew not where among heavy hummocks of ice; some began to sink into that insensibility which is the pre- lude to death by cold, and to reel about like drunken men. After resigning almost every hoj)e of deliver- nnct; they providentially reached the ships, where their arrival caused indescri})able joy, as they had been given ni> for lost, while no party could be sent in search of them without imminent risk of shai'ing theii' fate. In May, Captain Lyon undertook another ;|ourney. He crossed AVinter Island, and also the frozen strait separating it from the continent. lie then proceeded some distance along the coast, crossing several bays upon the ice, and at last came in view of a bold cape, which he vainly hoped was the extreme western point of America. Here the 2>arty were overtaken by a storm of snow, which kept them imprisoned in their tents for sixty-eight hours, which dreary interval they eidivened by reading in turn from three books they chanced to have with them ; as soon as the sun began to shine they hastened back to the ships. The end of May presented a gloomy aspect, the sea- son being more backward than it had been in the higher latitude of Melville Island. The snow was 174 A FIOIIT WITH WALRUS. * IH dissolved only in spots, and hardly any symptoms of vegetation were visible ; but as there was an expanse of open water in the sea without, Captain Parry de- termined upon sawing his way through to it. This was a most laborious jjrocess, and after the seamen had continued at it more than a fortnight, and w'ere within forty-eight hours of completing a canal, the body of the ice made a movement which closed it en- tirely up. Another passage opened, and then closed, but at last open water was reached, and the ships sail- ed on the 2d of July. The shores now began to put on their summer as- pect ; the snow had nearly disappeared, and the ground was covered with the richest bloom of Aictic vegetation. The explorers came to a fine river named Barrow, which formed a most picturesque fall do^vn rocks richly fringed with very brilliant j)lants. Here the reindeer sporting, the eider-duck, the golden 2)lover, and the snow-l)unting, spreading their wings, pro- duced a gay and delightful scene. On the 1-ltli they reached the island of Amitioke, where they saAV about two hundred walruses lying piled over each other on the loose drift-ice. A boat's crew from each ship ])ro- ceeded to the attack; br.t these gallant amphibia, some with their cubs mounted on their backs, made the most desperate resistance ; three only Avere killed. They now proceeded northward, and saw before them a bold and high range of coast, sei)arate(l ap- parently from that along which they were sailing. This feature agreeing with the map drawn by the fair Iligliuk, flattered them that they were appi-oach- ing the strait exhibited by her as forming the entrance "ito the Polar basin. They pushed on full of hope and animation, and were farther cheered by reaching STOPl'ED JiY ICE. 175 the small island of Igloolik, wliicli slie liad described as situated at the commencement of the passage. They soon saw the strait stretching westward before them in long perspecthe ; but, alas ! they discovered at the same moment an unbroken sheet of ice from shore to sliore, crossing and blocking np the passage ; and this not a loose accidental floe, but the ice of the preceding winter, on which the midsummer sun had not produced the slightest change. Unable to advance a single step, they amused them- selves with land excursions in different directions; and Captain Parry undertook, on the 14th of August, Avith a i)arty of six, an expedition along the frozen sui'face of the strait. The journey was very laborious, the ice being sometimes thrown up in rugged hummocks, and occasionally leaving large spaces of open Avater, which it was necessary to cross on a plank, or on pieces of ice instead of boats. In four days they came in view of a peninsula terminated by a bold cape, the ajiproach to which was guarded by successive ranges of strata, resembling the tiers or galleries of a high and commanding fortification. The party scrandiled to the summit, Avhence they enjoyed a most gratifying spectacle. They were at the narrowest part of the strait, here about two miles across, and a tide or cur- rent A\ as runninc; throuiih it at tlie rate of two miles an hour. Westward the shores on each side receded, till, for three points of the compass and amid a clear horizon no land was visible. The captain doubted not that from this position he beheld the Polar sea; and hoped notwithstanding the formidable barriers of ice Avhicli intervened to force his way into it. He named this the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, and gave the sailors an extra can of grog, to drink a safe and speedy passage through its channel. i 1 ; li I if].! 176 AGAIN FROZEN IN. ' . - i:- ,^ « I I. M'H PaiTy now lost no time in retiiiiiing to the sliips, where his arrival was seasonable, fortlie opposini^ l)ar- rier which had been gradually softening and ci'acldiig, at ouce almost entirely disappeared. On the 21: t the ships got under way ; and, though retarded by fogs and other obstructions, arrived on the 26th at that narrowest channel which the commander had formerly reached. A brisk breeze now sprang up, tlie fsky cleared, they dashed across a current of three or four knots an hour, and sanguinely expected entire success. Suddenly, from the crow's nest above, it Avas an- nounced that ice filled the channel. In an hour they reached this barrier, and finding it soft, spread all their canvas and forced their way into it a distance when they were stopped. From this point, during the whole season, the ships were unable to advance. Captain Lyon undertook an expedition southward, to ascertain if any inlet or passage from sea to sea in this direction had escaped notice. The country was so filled with high rocky hills, and \vith chains of lakes in which much ice was floating, that he could not proceed above sev^en miles. Though it was the begimiing of September, the season was only that of early spring. Another excursion was made by a party who penetrated sixty miles westward along the southern coast of Cockbum Island, till they reached a pinnacle, whence they saw the Polar ocean spread- ing before them ; but tremendous barriers of ice filled the strait, and i)recluded all approach. It was now the middle of September, and the usual symptoms of deer trooping in herds southward, float- ing pieces of ice consolidating into masses, and the thin crust forming on the surface of the waters, re- minded the mariners not only that thev could hope M A CJIELUIXG SPECTACLE. irr for no farther removal of the obstacles Avhich arrested their progress, but that they must h«e no thne in pro- viding Avinter-qiiarters. The middle of the strait, at the spot where they had been first stopped, was a fav- orable station for future discovery ; but prudence sug- gested a doubt whether the ships enclosed in tliis icy prison could ever 1)e released. On the 30th of October, l>y the usual operation of sawing, the ships were cstablif.hed in a harbor at Igloolik. The ensuing season Avas passed witli the most careful attention to the health and comfort of the crews; but thou -h their spirits did not sink, there appears to have been on the wliole, less gayety and lightness of heart than in the tAvo former winterinijs, and the drama and school were not revived. On the 5th of Januaiy 1823, the horizon was so brightly suf- fused with red, that they hoped to see the sun ; but a fortnight of thick fog occasioned a disappointment. On the 19th, the sky having cleared, they saw it rise attended by two j^arhelia, and both crews turned out to enjoy the novelty and splendor of this cheering spectacle. The sailors found at Igloolik a colony of Esqui- maux, who received them at first with surprise and some degree of alarm ; but on learning they Avere from Winter Island and intimate with its tenants of last season, they hailed them at once as familiar acquaint- ances. These natives belonged to the same trilie, and were connected by alliance and close relationship with many individuals of the Winter Island party, of whom, therefore, they were delighted to receive tid- ings. The crews spent the winter Avith them on quite a friendly footing, and rendered important services to them during a period of severe sickness. im '/'S M ]^ f:^ fflW 178 THE I'Alll ESQUIMAUX. m\ ■if- 1, "^ ■■.in.ni The navigators were received with the most cordial hospitality into the little huts, where the best meat was set before them, and the women vied with each other in the attentions of cooking, drying and mend- ing their clothes. "The women working and singing, their husbands quietly mending their lines, the chil- dren playing before the door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a cheerful lamp," gave a pleasing picture of savage life. Yet a continued intercourse showed that the Esquimaux inherited their full share of human frailty. The fair Esquimaux are charged with a strong propensity to slander, which was natural to them as they sat in circles round the door mending their lines. Their own conduct, meantime, is said to have afforded ample scope for censure, especially in regard to con- nubial fidelity. The principal deity of these people was Aywillai- yoo, a female, immensely tall, vnth only the left eye, and wearing a pigtail reaching to her knee. Lyon witnessed a mighty incantation, in which Toolemak, the chief magician, summoned Aywillaiyoo to the upper world to utter her oracles. The party ^^'ere assembled in a hut, whei'e light after light was put out till they Avere left in total darkness. Toolemak then, after loud invocations, professed to descend to the world below to bring up the goddess. Soon there arose a low chant of peculiar sound, imagined to be the voice of Aywillaiyoo. During half an hour, in reply to the loud screams and questions of her votaries, she uttered dubious and mystical responses ; after which the sound died away, and she was supposed to descend beneath the earth; then Toolemak with a shout announced his own return to the upper world. The natives believe also in a future world, the em- AN ESQUIMAUX 31AGICIAN. 179 ployments and pleasures of ^vllich, according to the usual creed of savage races, are all sensual. The soul descends beneath the earth through successive abodes, the first of which has somewhat of the nature of jnir- gatory ; but the good spirits passing through it lind the other mansions successively improve, till they reach that of perfect bliss, far beneath, where the sun never sets, and where, by the side of large lakes that never freeze, the deer roam in vast herds and the seal and Avalrus always abound in the waters. One of the Esquimaux having lost his wife, as it was very difficult to dig a grave, the sailors piled (n-er her a heap of stones to protect her from wild animals. The man gave thanks, but not cordially ; he even ex- pressed a dread lest the weight would be painfully felt by his deceased spouse ; and soon after, when an infant died, he declared her wholly incapable of bear- ing such a burden and would allow nothing but snow to be laid over her. The spring proved singularly backward, and it was the 7th of August before they Avere able, by hard saw- ing, to reach the open sea; by which time hope of effecting any thing important during that season was reliiKpiished. The voyage homeward was soon after- ward commenced, and the explorers reached England in October. As nothing had been heard of them during their two years' absence, they were viewed almost as men risen from the dead. The bells of Ler- Avick Avere rung, and other extraordinary demonstra- tions of joy made on their arrival. A third expedition under Parry sailed from Eng- land on the 19th of May, 1824. It consisted of the two ships Avith Avhich he had made his last voyage — the Hecla and Fury, the latter being commanded wmmtmm 180 PAREY 8 THIRD EXPEDITION. i!ecuted by the crew. Each person instinctively secured his own hold and, ^vith his eyes fixed iij)on 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 Ixxly. In an instant w^e all lost our footing, the masts bent with the impetus, and the cracking timljers from below be- S})i>ke a pressure which was calculated to awaken our serious apprehensions. The ship's motion was so great that the bell, which in the heaviest gale of w ind liad never struck of itself, now tolled so continually that it was ordered to be muffled for the jiurpose of escaping the unpleasant associations it was calculated to produce." For a few hours the explorers remained fast in this ti'ying position ; then the gale ceased, and the pack broke up sufficiently to release the shi])s which ^vere greatly damaged — the Dorothea being in a foundering condition. They made their way to Fair Haven, and after partially repairing the ships sailed for homo vliere they arrived in October. This was Franklin's first Arctic voyage. 11 M I L'll I I :::i' i CHAPTER XIV. FRANKLIN'S LAND EXPEDITIONS TO THE SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA. The English Government having determined upon sending an Expedition from the shores of Hudson's Bay l)y land, to explore the northern coast of America from the mouth of the Coppermine River to the east- ward, Ijieut. John Franklin was appointed its com- mander, and, with Surgeon John Richardson and Midshipmen George Back and Rohert Hood, all of the Ro}'al Navy, embarked on Sunday the 28d of May 1811), at Gravsend, England, on board the ship Prince of Wales, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company. The ship arrived at its destination, York Factory, on the western shores of Hudson's Bay, Aug. 30th, hav- ing narrowly escaped total wreck — being carried on to the rocky coast of Labrador in a dense fog, from which position she was extricated in a leaky condition. At this time a violent competition for the fur trade existed between the Noilh-west and the Hudson's Bay Companies, Avhich finally led to the extinction of the first named. The officers and employes of both companies were directed by the Government to len- der the explorers every aid needed. Governor Wil- liams of the II. B. Co. received them at York Factory, and they "were soon fitted out with a suital)le boat, and a cre^v made up mostly from the ship's company. Ou 184 FKANKLIN's riKST LAND EXPEDITION', 185 HE upon Lson's verica ! east- com- 1 and of tlie ipany. iry, on I, luiv- ied on from llition. trade Llsou's iit'tlon l)Otll ren- Lctoi-y, [t, and On tlie Otli of September, they Iwgaii tlieir journey hy way of the rivers ami hikes, to the mouth of the C()])per- iiiine lliver, distant over fifteen hundred nules, on the shores of the Polar J^e:i. Tliey Avere soon afterAvards overtaken hy hoats of tlie Company. A poiiion of the following history of their travels is given in the Avords of Franklin and liis eompanions. "We embarked at noon, and were honored with a .salute of eight guns and three cheers from the Gov- ernor and all the innuites of the fort, assembled to ■witness our dei)arture. AVe gratefully returned their cheers, and then made sail, much delighted at having now c(mimenced our voyage into the interior of America. The wind and tide failing us at the dis- tance of six miles above the Factory, and the current heing too rai)id for using oars to advantage, the crew had to commence tracking, or (h'agging the boat by a line, to which they were harnessed. This oj)cration is cxti'emely lal)orious in these rivers. At sunset Ave landed, and jjitched the tent for the night, having iiiiule a progress of tAvelve miles. A large fire Avas quickly kindled, supper speedily jjrepared, and as readily despatched, Avlien A\"e retired Avith t)ur buil'alo rohes on, and enjoyed a night of sound repose. "On the morning of the l(Sth, the country Avas clothed hi the livery of Avinter, a heavy fall of snoAV having taken jdace during the night. It is not easy for any hut an eye-Avitness to form an adecpnite idea of the ex- ertions of the Orkney boatnun in the navigation of tills river. The necessity they Avere under of fre- quently junii)ing into the Avater, to lift the ]/oats over tlie rocks, compels then) to remain the Avliole day in Met clothes, at a season Avhen the temperatiu'e is far helow the freezing point. The immense loads too, m 7T^ 18G PEUILH OF UIVKU NAVKJATIOX. I, yi, ic'>. 1 :*f- H^ which thoy cjiiTy overtho jxH'tagOH, is not moron mat- t('r of Nurj)ris(^ timn the nhicrity with whicli they ix-i*- form these lu})orioiiH duties. " On the 22(1, our route led us amongst miuiy woo(h'd ishmds, which lying in hmg vistas, produced scenes of much heauty. In tlie course of the day we crossed the Uj)j)er Portag<', surmounted the Devil's Landing Place, and urged the boats with ])oles througli (Jroundwater Creek. At the u])|)er end of this creek, our l)ownmii haviiii^ ijiven the l)oat too l)road a sheer, to avoid the rock, it Aras caught on the broadside by the cm'- rent, and, in defiance of our utmost exertions, hurried down the ra])id. Fortunately, however, it groiuided against a rock high enough to ])revent the current from oversetting it, and the crews of the other bouts liaving come to our assistance, we succeeded, after several trials, in throwing a rope to them, with which they dragged our almost sinking vessel stern foremost up the stream, and I'escued us from our perilous situ- ation. " The Painted Stone is a Ioav rock, ten or twelve yards across, remarkable f(^r the marshy streams Avhich arise on each side of it, takim; different courses. On the one side, the water-course Avhich we have nav- igated from York Factory conmiences. On the otlier side of the st(^ne the Echemamis arises. IIa\ing launched the boats over the rock, we commenced the descent of that river, and reached the mouth of the Saskatchawan at midnight, October 0th. " On the morning of the 20th Ave came to a party of Indians, encamped behind the bank of the river, on the borders of a small marshy lake. Here Ave Avere gratified Avith the ahcav of a A^ery large tent ; its cover- ing Avas moose deer leather, Avitli apertures for the ess- FUANKLIN S I'lKST LAM) KXITDITION. 187 mat- per- ihIciI eH of \ {\w .'lace, SVtltt'l' ^VUKlll n\ the c'ur- i\in(letl •urveiit Y l)()ilts I, after Avliic'h eiiiost us Hitu- twelve streams •oiirses. ,ve 11 av- e otlier Having iCed tlie of tlie )arty of Kver, on |ye were t8 cover- tlie es- cap(5 of tlie Hinoke from tlu^ fires wliieli wen; j)lace(l at eaeli end ; n ledge of wood was ])laeed on tlu; ground on l)otli sides of the wh()le length of tin; tent, witliin wliieh were the sh'eping pLiees, arranged ])ro])al)ly ac- cording to families ; and the drnms and other instru- laents of enchantment were ])iled nj) in tin; centn;. (Jovernor Williams gave a dram anxhlbite ! fi ^ 1 '* Mil. t f .t i I 1: ' !l ! if 1 i u I If I (* ,«'.. , I M' 188 A WINTEIl's JOUKNEY. to Fort Cliipewyan, eight Jinndred and fifty-seven miles to the north. Tliey were pi'ovided witli two carioles and two sh'dijes, with tlieir dri\'ers and doo-s. Being accompanied Ly Mr. Mackenzie, of the Hud- son's Bay Comjxmy, avIio Avas going to Isle a la Crosse, Avith four sledges under his cliarge, they formed (pnte a procession, keeping in an Indian file, in the track of the man who preceded the foremost dogs. The travelers rested occasionally at the trading posts which lay (Mi their route. At Carlton House the}' were visited hy the Stone Indians, who lived in that section and were famous for stealinij: everythino they could find, particularly horses, Avliich they maintained were common property sent hy the Al- mighty for the general use of man. They kept in amity with their neighbors the Crees, from motives oi interest ; and the two trihes united in determined hos tility aijainst the nations dwelliiuj to the westward, which were genei-ully called Slave Indians — a tei'm of reproach ai)plied hy the Crees to those tril>es against "whom they have waged successful wars. While at Carlton House;, Franklin Avent six miles to visit a Cree encampment. The chief's tent had heen arranged for the occasion, fresh grass Avas spread on the ground, and Initfalo rol)es Avere placed opjiosite the door to sit on ; and a kettle Av^as on the fire to cook meat. The chief, nn old man, Avelcomed him A\"ith a hearty shake of the hand and the customary salutation of "What cheer?" " After a feAv minutes' couA^ersation, an inA'itation Avas given to the chief and his hunters to smoke the calumet Avith us, as a token of our friendship: this Avas loudly announced through the cam]->, and ten men from the other tents immediately Joined our party. itloii the this men n-ty. •! i m f*^" Ij^i M 'I'lh^' \m Him [f!\l m' mimf, ' II -!' ii f 1- l\ ,:li;;^!■ en TJ Pi rec he to ter 0ff( on] Wll( 2)er! 1 hrrr o hors — an ^\]ie] A elers hh aiiotl the 2 there on wi Dr. winte; accoui m]io a\ "T]i Those relief ; to (list; nenced FKAIS'KLI]M S IlKST LA^U EXPEDITION. 189 On tlieir entrance the women and cliildren, whose pres- ence on sucli occasions is contrary to etiquette, withdrew. The calumet haA'ing been prepared and liglited l)y Mr. Pruden's clerk, was presented to the chief, who, on receiving it, performed the following ceremony before he commenced smoking : — lie first j)ointed the stem to the south, then to the west, north, and east, and af- terwards to the heaveni=i, the earth, and the fire, as an offering to the presiding spirits; — he took three Avhiifs only, and then passed the pipe to his next comi)anion, who took the same number of whiffs, and so did each person as it went round." The Crees catch buffalo by driving them into a large enclosure or pound ; they also hunt them on liorseback ; ajid when the creatui'es are very shy they cra^l towards them diso-uised in the skins of the wolf — an animal with which the buffalo are familiar, and, when in herds, not afraid of. At their dej^arture from one trading post the trav- elers were much amused by a salute of musketry fired l)y half-l)reed women — the men being all absent. At another place a dance was given in their honor. On the 2Gth of March they reached Foi-t Chipewyan, and there halted for their companions who were to come on Avith the boats after navigation opened. Dr. Richardson, who with I\Ir. Hood passed the winter at Cumberland House, gives an interesting account of his residence there, and of the Ci-ee Indians, mIio were frequent visitors at the fort : — " Tlie winter proved extremely severe to the Indians. Those who Avere aide came to the fort and received relief ; but many who liad retired with their families to distant corners, to pursue their winter hunts, expe- rienced all the horrors of famine. One evening a poor i$ ! .1 ■ I i/ ''iiillifj*^ I H I IV 190 TESTING A CONJUIIEU'S SKILL, Indian entered the North-west Company's House, car- rying Lis only child in his arms, and followed by his starving wife. They had been hunting ai)art from the other bands, had T)een unsuccessful, and whilst in want were seized with the epidemical disease. They had -walked several days ■without eating, yet exerting themselves far beyond their strength that they might save the life of the infaiit. It died almost Avitliin sight of the house. ]Mr. Connolly, who Avas then in charge of the post, received them with the utmost humanity, and instantl}' placed food before them ; but no lana:uau:e can describe the manner in Avliich the miserable father dashed the morsel from his lijjs and deplored the loss of his child. IMisery may harden a disposition naturally ])ad, but it never fails to soften the heart of a good man. " Every Cree fears the medical or conjuring powers of his n(n ii^i i i the chief was discovered in the headmost, which was paddled by two men. On landing at the fort, the chief assumed a very grave aspect, and walked up to Mr. Wentzel with a measured and dignified step, looking neither to the right nor to the left, at tlie persons who had assembled on the beach to witness his del)arkation, but preserving the same immovability of countenance until he reached the hall, and was in- troduced U) the officers. When he had smoked his pipe, drank a small portion of spirits and water him- self, and issued a glass to each of his companions, who had seated themselves on the floor, he commenced his harangue, by mentioning the circumstances that led to his agreeing to accompany the expedition, an en- gagement which he was quite pre])ared to fulfill. " Akaitcho and the guides having communicated all the infomiation they possessed on the different points to which our questions had been directed, I placed my medal round the neck of the chief, and the officers presented theirs to an elder brother of his and the two guides. Being confen-ed in the presence of all the hunters, their acquisition was highly gratifying to them, liut they studiously avoided any great expres- sion of joy, because such an exposure would liave been unbecoming the dignity which the senior Indians assume during a conference. "We presented to the chief, the two guides, and. the seven hunters, who had engaged to accompany us, some cloth, blankets, tobacco, knives, daggei-s, besides other useful iron matenals, and a gun to each ; also a keg of veiy weak spirits and water, which they kept until the evening, as they had to try their guns before dark, and make the necessary prepai-ations for com- mencing the journey on the following day. The In- FUANKLINS FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 195 tlians, however, did not leave U8 on the next day, as the cliief was desirous of >)eing present, with his party, at the dance, which was given in the evening to our Ciinudian voyagers. They were liighly entertained hy the vivacity and agility displayed by our companions in tlieir singing and dancing : and especially ])y their imitating the gestures of a Canadian, who j)laced him- self in the most ludicrous postures ; and, whenever this was done, the gravity oj the chief gave way to violent bursts of laughter. In return for the gratifi- cation Akaitcho had enjoyed, he desired his young men to exhil)it the Dog-Ilil> Indian dance." Franklin and his three companions, with Frederic "VVentzel of the North-west Co., John IIe])l)urn, >ev- enteen Canadian voyagers, and three Indian intei'pre- ters, left Fort Providence on the 2d of August, in three canoes. Thei'e was also a smaller canoe to con- voy the wives of three of the voyagei's, and their three children, in company with a fleet of Indian canoes they paddled up the Yellow Knife River, toward a country ^vhicli had never been visited by Enr()])eans. "Akaitcho caused himself to be paddled by his slave, a young man, of the Dog-Ril) nation, whom he had taken by force from his friends ; when he thought himself, however, out of reach of our observation, he laid aside a good deal of his state, and assisted in the lal)or ; and after a few day's further acquaintance with us, he did not hesitate to paddle in our presence, or even carry his canoe on the portages." The party met with some hardships, were at times short of provisions, and some of the voyagers showed a spirit of insubordination ^vhich Fi'anklin promptly cpielled by threats of severest punishment. Ou the 20th of August they halted on the bank of »;'■■■?■ 196 TlfE WINTETl AT FORT ENTERPRISE. ( -■ '4i i Winter Lake, and built Fort Enterprise, where tliey passed the winter; its distance from Fort Chipewyan was 5;J.'J miles. Franklin was anxious to push on to the sea that fall, but was forced t(^ reliiujuish the idea from the rof usal of Akaitcho to go with him owing to scarcity oL''game on the route. Oil the 18th of October, Mr. Back and Mr. "Went- zel, set out for Fort Providence, accompanicul by two voyagers, Beaubarlant and Belangcr, and two Indians, with their wives. " On the 2.'klof November, Belanger returned alone; he had walked constantly for the last six-and-thirty hours, leaving his Indian comj)anions encamped at the last woods, they l)eing unwilling to accompany liiin across the barren i^rcnnids duriu Junius. The former spoke English. Parties also ar- rived from time to time bringing on the stores which had been left at Fort Pyovidence. " On the 17th of March, Mr. Back returned from Fort Cliipewyan, having traveled since he started out more than one thousand miles on foot, with no shel- ter at night excepting a blanket and deer skin, and often without food. The Indians had sometimes given him a fish or bird which they caught, with the remark, "we are accustomed to starvation, and you are not." " On the 21st of April, all our men returned from the Indians, and Akaitcho was on liis way to the fort. In the afternoon two of his young men arrived to an- nounce his visit, and to recjuest that he might be re- ceived with a salute and otlier marks of respect that he had l)een accustomed to on visiting Fort Providence in the Spring. I complied with his desire altliough I regretted the expenditure of ammunition, and sent the young men away with tlie customary present of powder to enable him to return the salute, some to- bacco, vei'milion to paint their faces, a comb, and a lookinLC-iijlass. " At eleven Akaitcho arrived ; upon the first notice of his appearance the flag was hoisted at the fort, and ui:)on his nearer approach, a number of muskets were fired by a 2^arty of our peo])le, and returned by his young men. Akaitcho preceded by liis standard- bearer, led the l)arty, and advanced with a slow and solemn step to the door ^vliere JVIr. Wentzel and I re- ceived him. The faces of the party were daul^ed with vermilion, the old men having a sj)ot on the riglit cheek, the young ones on the; left. Akaitcho himself was not painted. On entering he sat down on a cliest, the rest placing themselves in a circle on the floor. h franklin's first land expedition. 199 Tlie pipe was passed once or twice round, and in the meantime a LoavI of spirits and water, and a present considerable for our circumstances, of cloth, blankets, capots, shirts, pearaiice in a body should Uh- i m ' ''• (^ Mr n m T ' 'J 'f 1 i"i"ii 1 K J ^1 'V 1 '■" '.^ Im^-^ -r, fl yd If-'''^ ■'^ If J'' 1 « ■ P ^' * i/i 11 rf" )OT I ^Im ^ 1 HI J ! di ^ FKANKLINS FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 201 alarm them, we advanced in a long line, at the head of ^vhieh was Augustus. We were led to their bag- gage, which they had deserted, by the howling of the dogs ; and on the summit of the hill we found, lying behind a stone, an old man, who was too iniirm to ef- fect his escape \\'itli the rest. He was much terrified ^\ hen Augustus advanced, and probably expected im- mediate death ; but tliat the fatal blow might not be uiirevenged, he saizel his spear, and made a thrust with it at his sup]>osed enemy. Augustus, however, easily repressed his feeble eifort, and soon calmed his fears by presenting him with some pieces of iron, and assuring him of his friendly intentions." On the I7th, nine Esquimaux appeared on the bank of the river opposite the encampment, canying their canoes on their backs, but they tied on seeing the tents. Not only were these people alarmed, but the Indians also were so terrified that they insisted on re- turning the next day ; nor could Franklin induce even one hunter to remain with him. The interpreters too were much f riglitened and re(iuested their discharge ; but it was refused, and they were closely watched to prevent their desertion. The reduced party proceeded, and on the 18th of July reached the Polar Sea. The Canadians Avere nuK'h interested at the first view, although despondent, and Hepburn, the English sailor, was (juite elated at beholding again his favorite element. On the 19th, Mr. Wentzel and four dischai'ged Ca- nadians started on their return southward. The party nc)\v numbered about twenty, who, in two canoes witli fifteen day's provisions, embarked 21st July, to navi- gate the sea to the eastward. They proceeded on, along a dreary coast, making new ^: fif M'i i { liK- m '0 202 THE KETUKN JOURXEY C03DIENCED I ! Ii' H! 4 'k \'^:, i.i.l r, 1, .- : i ! lihl discoveries, but meeting no Esquimaux from whom they had hoped to get pro\nsions, which were rapidly diminishing. A few deer and a bear were caught, and a veiy few fish. On the 30th of July they passed the mouth of a river which they named Hood. On the 5th of Au- gust they reached the mouth of a river which is now known as Back, or Great Fish Kiver. On the loth of August the canoes were found to be in an unseaworthy condition, and there was only three day's supply of provisions remaining, with poor prospects of obtaining more. " It was evident that the time spent in exploring the Arctic and Melville Sounds and Bathurst's Inlet, had precluded the hope of reach- ing Repulse Bay, which at the outset of the voyage we had fondly cherished ; and it was equally obvious that as our distance from any of the trading establish- ments would increase as we proceeded, the hazardous traveree across the barren grounds, which we should have to make, if compelled to abandon the canoes up- on any jiart of the coast, would become greater." The most eastern land seen was Point Turn-again, distant from Coppermine River by the way they came nearly six hundred miles. The return journey was begun on the 22d of August, and on the 25th the party encamped on the banks of Hood's River, at the foot of tlie fii*st rapids. " Here terminated our voyage on the Arctic sea, during which we had gone over six hundred and fifty geographical miles. Our Canadian voyagers could not restrain their expressions of joy at having turned their backs on the sea, and they passed the e\'ening talking over their past adventures with much humor and no little exaggeration. The consid- eration that the most painful, and certainly the most 'I :,H '^' w fkanklin's first land expedition. 203^ hazardous, part of tlie journey was yet to come, did not depress their spirits at all." At a few miles up Hood's River, it runs for about a mile through a nan'ow chasm, the walls of which are upward of two hundred feet in height, and quite perpendicular. Through this chasm the idver precip- itates itself in two magniiicient falls, close to each other. The large canoes not being suited to this river, two smaller ones were constructed out of their mate- rials, to be used -when crossing rivers. The construction of the new canoes detained them till the first of September, when it was decided to make a direct line to the pai*t of Point Lake opposite the Spring encampment, distant only 140 miles in a stmight line from where they were. Having proceeded twelve miles, a snow-storm obliged them to encamp, and on the 3d, the last piece of pemmican and a little arrow- root were distributed for supper. The violence of the storm continued till the 7th ; and for several days, having nothing to eat, and no means of making a fire, they remained whole da3's in bed, and, with a temperature of 20*^, without fire, tlie party weak from fasting, their garments and tents frozen stiff and the ground covered A\ith three feet of snow, their condition was very unfit for traveling in such a country. On trying to proceed, Fi'anklin was seized with a fainting-iit, in conse(iiience of exhaust- ion and sudden exposure to the wind, but on eating a moreel of portal^le soup he recovered. One of the canoes was broken to pieces, and a fire was made with it to cook the remnant of portable soup and arro\v- root ; a scanty meal after three days' fasting. The next t^vo days the surface of the barren grounds was covered with large stones, bearing a I.' ' I i mv •! i.ii 204 CllOSSIXG A KIVER. I' ■ ''. J I J I. lichen which the Canadians call trijw de roclie or, rock- tripe, a substance to Avhich tlie travelers may be said to owe their snfet}" and existence ; without it they must all have died of starvation. An unknown river was crossed on the 0th. The canoe being put into the Avater was found very leaky, but it was managed with much dexterity by St. Ger- main, Adam, and Peltier, who ferried over one pas- senger at a time, causing him to He flat in its bottom. The next day a musk-ox was shot. To skin and cut up the animal Avas the work of a few minutes. The contents of its stomach were devoured upon the spot, and the raw intestines, which Avere next attacked, Avere pronounced by the most delicate to be excellent. On the 13th seA^eral of the party Avere sick from eating rock-tripe, and it Avas then discovered that the fishing nets had been throAvn aAvay l)y some one, and that the floats had been burned, thus depriving the party of their chief resource for food. On the morning of the 14th, AAdiile the officers AA'^ere assembled round a small fire, Perrault, one oi the A'oy- agers, presented each of them Avitli a small piece of meat, Avhich he had saved from his alloAvance. " It was received," s«iys Frankliix, " Avith great thankful- ness, and such an act of self-denial and kindness, be- ing totally unexpected in a Canadian voyager, filled our eyes Avith tears." On the same day, Franklin, St. GeiTnain, and Be- langer, embai'ked in the canoe to cross the river, and Avhen in the midst of it, tlie current and a strong breeze drove the canoe to the A^ery brink of a tremen- dous rapid. Belanger, unluckily, applied his paddle to avert the danger of being forced doAvn the rapid; he lost his balance, and the canoe OA-erset in the midst of the rapid. FRANKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 205 " We fortunately kept hold of it, until we touched a rock where the water did not reach higher than our waists; here we kept our footing, notwithstanding the strength of the current, until the water was emptied out of the canoe. Belanger then held tlie canoe steady whilst St. Gennain placed nie in it, and afterwards embarked himself in a very dexterous manner. It was impossible, however, to embark Belangei", as the canoe would have been hurried down tlie rapid, the moment he should have raised his foot from the rock on which he stood. We were, therefore, compelled to leave him in liis perilous situation. We had not gone twenty yards before the canoe, sti'iking on a sud- den rock, went down. Tlie place being shallo^v, we were again enabled to empty it, and the third attempt brought us to the shoi'e. "In the mean time Belanger was suffering extreme- ly, immersed to his middle in the centre of a rapid, the upper part of his body covered with wet clothes, exposed in a temperature not much above zero, to a strong breeze. He called piteously for relief, and St. Germain on liis retui'ii endeavored to embark him, but in vain. The canoe Avas hurried down the rapid, and when he landed he was rendered by the cold incapa. ble of fui'ther exertion, and Adam attempted to em- bark Belanger, but found it im})ossible. An attempt was next made to carry out to him a line, made (»f the slings of the men's loads. This alse my sensations as I wit- nessed the various unsuccessful attempts to relieve Belanger. The distance i)i'evented my seeing distinct- ly what was going on, and I continued pacing ui> and down upon tlie rock on which I landed, reganlless of the coldness of ray drenched and stiifening garments. The canoe, in every attempt to i*each him, was huriied down the rapid, and was lost to the view amongst the rocky islets, with a rapidity that seemed to threaten certain destruction ; once, indeed, I fancied that I saw it overwhelmed in the waves. Such an event would have been fatal to the whole party. Separated as I was from my companions, without gun, ammunition, hatchet, or the means of making a iire, and in wet clothes, my doom would have been si)eedily sealed. My companions too, driven to the necessity of coast- ing the lake, must have sunk under the fatigue of rounding its innumerable arms and bays, which, as we have learned from the Indians, are very extensive. By the gotnlness of Providence, however, Ave were spared at that time, and some of us have been permit- ted to oifer up our thanksgivings, in a civilized land, for the signal deliverances we then and afterward ex- perienced. " On the 20th we got into a hilly country, and the marching became much more laborious. Mr. Hood was particularly Aveak, and was obliged to relinquish his station of second in the line, Avhich Dr. Richard- son now took, to direct the leading man in keeping franklin's first land expedition. 2or ' m the appointed course. I was also unable to keep pace with tlie men, wlio put forth their utmost speed, en- couraged by the hope, which our reckoning had led us to form, of seeing Point Lake in the evening, l)ut we were obliged to encamp without gaining a view of it." On the 22d they came to a lai'ge lake and ft)llowearty being assem- bled in anxious expectation on the beach, St. Germain FRANKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 211 embarked, and amidst our prayers for his success, suc- ceeded in reaching the opposite shore. The canoe was then drawn back again, and another person trans- ported, and in this manner, by drawing it backwards and forwards, they were all conveyed over without any serious accident. " That no time might be lost in procuring I'elief, I immediately despatched Mr. Back with St. Germain, Solomon Belanger, and Beauparlant, to search for the Indians, directing him to go to Foi-t Enterprise, where we expected they would be, or where, fit least, a note from Mr. Wentzel would be found to direct us in our search for them. If St. Germain should kill any ani- mals on his way, a portion of the meat was to be put up securely for us, and conspicuous marks placed over it. "It is impossible to imagine a more gratifying change than was produced in our voyagers after we were all safely landed on the southern banks of the river. Their spirits immediately revived, each of them shook the officers cordially by the hand, and declared they now considered the worst of their difficulties over, as they did not doubt of reaching Fort Enter- prise in a few days, even in their feeble condition. "Our advance from the depth of the snow was slow. Mr. Hood, who was now very feeble, and Dr. Richardson, who attached himself to him, walked together at a gentle pace in the real' of the party. I kept with the foremost men, to cause them to halt occasionally, until the stragglers came up. We had a small quantity of this tripe de roclie in the evening, and the rest of our supper was made up of scraps of roasted leather." About this time two of the men, Credit and Vail- '■■■ ' ?.WI '"1 ini M, v V 212 SEPARATI02f OF THE COMPAJTY. f: -j ! I •1 ' m ?. ! isr I*-" lant, gave out, and were reported to be a mile behind, in the snow. Dr. Kichardson went back and found Vaillant much exhausted \Nitli coTd and hunger, but was obliged to leave him. J. B. Belanger then went to his aid and brcmght on his burden, but could not arouse him, and neither he nor Vaillant Avere seen afterwards. Junius, too, had left some days before to hunt, and never returned. Tlie men we^'e unable to carry tlieir loads further, and, to relieve tliem and be in condition to assist any who might give out, Mr. Hood and Dr. Richardson proposed to remain behind. " The weather was mild next morning. AV^e left the encampment at nine, and a little befi)re noon came to a pretty extensive thicket of small willows, near which there appeared a supply of trtpe de rocJte on the face of the rocks. At this place Dr. Richardson and ]\[r. Hood determined to remain, ^vith John Hei)burn, wlio volunteered to stop with tliem. The tent Avas securely pitched, a few willows collected, and the ammunition and all other articles were deposited, except each man's clothing, one tent, a sufficiency of anununition for the journey, and the officer's Journals. I had only one blanket, which was carried for me, and two pair of shoes. The offer was now made for any of the men, who felt themselves too weak to proceed, to re- main with the officers, but none of them accepted it. Michel alone felt some inclination to do so. After we had united in tlianksgiving and prayers to Almighty God, I separated from my comi)anions." Tliis part- ing took i)lace on the 7th of October, at a distance of about twenty-f(nir miles from Fort Enterprise. "Descendinn; afterwards into a more level countrv, we found the snow very deep, and the labor of Vs"m\- ing through it so fatigued the whole party, that we FRANKLIN 8 FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 213 were comjDelled to encamp, after a march of four miles and a lialf. Belanger and Michel were left far behind, and when they arrived at the encampment appeared quite exhausted. The former, bursting into tears, declared his inability to proceed with the pa^'ty, and begged me to let. him go back next morning to the tent, and ehoi-tly afterwards Michel made the same recpiest. Kot Tjeing able to find any trijye de roche, we drank an infusion of the Labrador tea plant, and ate a few morsels of burnt leather for supper. We were unal)le to raise the tent, and found its weight too great to cany it on ; we, therefore, cut it ^^p, and took a paii; of the canvas for a cover. The night was bitterly cold, and though we lay as close to each other as possible, having no shelter, we could not keep ourselves sufficiently warm to sleep. A strong gale came on after midnight, which increased the severity of the weather." In the morning Belanger and Michel were pennit- ted to go back, and Avere left sitting in the encamp- ment. Soon afterward tAvo of the other men Perrault and Fontano, were seized with dizziness and betrayed sym[)toms of extreme debility ; one of them, bursting into tears, declared his inalnlity to go on, and the other, tlie next day, was completely exhausted ; each, at his own request, was permitted to return to Dr. Richard- sou's encampment, where fire and rock-tripe Avere to be obtained. Only one of them, however, (]\Iichel, the Iro(|U(us,) arrived; the other three were nev- er heard of ; and fortunate indeed would it liave been if the survivor had perished Avith the rest. Fontano Avas an Italian, a faithful man, for Avhom Franklin had a tender ref^ard. The party, now reduced to five, Augiistiis having ■\r 214 A DESERTED FORT. ;•» ■ gone ahead, continued the journey with no alleviation of their sufferings, excepting the comfort one day of a large fire — the first deserving the name since leaving the coast. Ha\nng no rock-tripe they drank some tea and ate some of their shoes for supper. "At length we reached Fort Enterpiise, and to our in- finite disappointment found it a perfectly desolate hab- itation. There was no deposit of provision, no trace of the Indians, no letter from Mr. Wentzel to point out where the Indians might be found. It would be impossible for me to describe our sensations after en- tering this miserable abode, and discovering how we had been neglected ; the whole party shed tears, not so much for our own fate, as for that of our friends in the rear, whose lives depended entirely on our send- ing immediate relief from this place. " I found a note, however, from Mr. Back, stating that he had reached the house two days ago, and was going in search of the Indians, at a place where St. Germain deemed it probable they might be found. If he was unsuccessful, he purposed walking to Fort Providence, and sending succor from thence. "We now looked round for the means of subsistence, and were gratified to find sevei'al deer skins, which had been thrown away during our former residence. The bones were gathered from the h*^ap of ashes ; these with the skins, and the addition ot 'ripe de rocli^, Ave considered would support us tolerably well for a time. We procured fuel by pulling up the flooring of tlie other rooms, and water for the purpose of cooking by melting the snow. Whilst we were seated round tlie fire singeing the deer skin for supper, we were rejoiced by the unexpected entrance of Augustus. He had followed quite a different course from ours. PEANKLIN 8 FIEST LAKD EXPEDITION. 215 "In the afternoon of the 14tli, Belanger arrived with a note from Mr. Back, stating that he had seen no traces of the Indians, and desiring fiirtlier instructions as to the course he should pursue. Belanger's situa- tion, however, required our first care, as he came in al- most speechless, and covered with ice, having fallen into a rapid, and for the third time since we left the coast, narrowly escaped drowning." Franklin decided to start for Fort Providence, and sent hy Belanger directions to Back to meet him at l-iainl)ow Lake ; hut one of the men, Adam, became unahle to travel, and leaving Peltier and Samandre behind with him, the oilier three started ofi. alone. " No language that I can use could adetpiately de- scribe the parting scene. I shall only say there was far more calmness and resignation to the Divine Avill evinced by every one than could have been expected. We were all cheered by the hope that the Indians would be found by the one X^^'^^'^y? ^^^'■^ relief sent to the other. Those ^vho remained entreated us to make all the haste we could." Franklin w\is unable to keep up Avith his compan- ions, and leaving them to go on alone, returned to the house, where he fonnd the men much dis])irited and failino;, two of them beinc: unable to leave their beds. " AVe perceived our strength decline every day, and every exertion began to be irksome ; when we were once seated tlie greatest effort was necessary in order to rise, and Ave hud f recpiently to lift each other from our seats ; Imt even in this pitial)le condition we C(m- versed clieerfully, being sanguine as to the speedy ar- rival of tlie Indians. Having expended all the wood wliich Ave couhl jn'ocure from our present dwelling, witliout endanu-erimj: its fallinu:, Peltier bec^an this 18 ,!)- ■it * f 1 - ¥ ■ y^ 216 STARVATION LIFE AT FOKT ENTERPKISE. H 3 '*'■ •), > 1 ', 'i\"Hssed near his sleeping-place in the morning, and although he did not come up with them, yet that he found a Avcdf which had heen killed hy the stroke of a deer's horn, and had l)rought a part of It. We implicitly helieved tliis story then, hut afterwards hecame convinced from circumstances, the detail of Avlilch may he spared, that it nuist have been a portion of the body of Belanger or Perrault. "A question of moment liere presents Itself; name- ly, whether he actually murdered these men, or either of them, or whether he found the bodies on the snow. Captain Franklin conjectures, that ]Michel having already destroj'ed Belanger, completed his crime by Perrault's death, In order to screen himself from detec- tion. "On the following morning the tent was 2^i^^l'^t^> and Michel went out early, refused my offer to accom- pany him, and remained out the whole day. He would not sleep In the tent that night, but chose to lie at the fireside. "On the l.'Uli there was a heavy gale of wind, and we passed the day by the fire. Next day, about two P. M., the gale abating, Michel set out as he said to hunt, but returned unexpectedly in a veiy short time. This conduct surprised us, and his contradictory and evasory answers to our (piestlons excited some suspic- ions, but they did not turn towards the truth. B m ■s'r Ik., '" 222 Dll. llICnARDSON 8 NARRATIVE. ! f 3 ! I <■ ":M " Ocfoher lath. — In the course of thiH day Michel expressed iniich regret that he hud staid luHiind Mr. Franklin's party, and declared that he would set out for the house at once if he knew tlie way. We en- deavored to soothe him, and to raise his hopes of the Indians speedily coming to our relief, but without success. " Next day he refused either to hunt or cut wood, spoke in a very surly manner, and threatened to leave us. Under these circumstances, INIr. Ilood and I deem- ed it better to promise if he Avould hunt diligently for four days, that then we wouhl give IIepl)urn a letter for Mr. Franklin, a comjiass, inform him what course to pursue, and let tliem proceed together to the fort. "On the I7th I went to conduct Michel to where Vaillant's blanket was left, and after walking about three miles, pointed out the hills to him at a distance. lie proposed to remain out all night, and to hunt next day on his way back. lie returned in the after- noon of the ISth, having found the blanket, together with a bag containing two pistols, and some other things Avhich had l)een left beside it. We had some tn'jje de roche, in the evening, Init j\lr. Hood, from the constant gri])ing it produced, was unable to eat more than one or two spoonfuls. lie was now so weak as to be scarcely able to sit uj) at the fireside, and com- plained that the least breeze of M^nd seemed to blow through his frame. He also suifered much from cold during the night. " On the lOtli Michel refused to hunt, or even to as- sist in carrying a log of wood to the fire, which Avas too heavy for Hepburn's strength and mine. Mr. Hood endeavored to point out to him the necessity and duty of e:rertion, and the cioielty of his quitting E3^ n po FUANKLIN S FIUST LAND EXPEDITION. 228 118 without leaving something for our support ; but the diwcoui'se, fur from producing any beneficial effect, seemed only to excite his anger, and amongst other ex- pressions he made use of the following renuirkable one : " It is no use hunting, there are uo animals, you had better kill and eat me." " (h'toher 20. — In the mornincr we airain urjjed morning agam Michel (o go a hunting, that he might if iH)ssil»le leave us some ])rovision, to-morrow being the day appointed for his quitting us ; but he showed great unwilling- ness to go out, and lingered about the fire, under the preteuse of cleaning his gun. After we had read the morning service, I went about noon to gather some tri2)e de voclie^ leaving Mr. Hood sitting before the tent at the fireside, arguing with ]\Iichel ; Hepburn was employed cutting down a tree at a short distance from the tent, being desirous of accumulating a (pian- tity of fire- wood before he left us. A short time after I went out, I heard the report of a gun, and about ten minutes afterwards Hepburn called to me in a voice of great alarm, to come directly. When I arrivetl, I found poor IIt)od lying lifeless at the fireside, a ball having apparently entered his forehead. I was at first horror-struck with the idea, that in a fit of despond- ency he had hurried himself into the presence of his almighty Judge, by an act of his own hand ; but the conduct of Michel soon gave rise to other thoughts, and excited suspicions which were confirmed when upon examining the body, I discovered that the shot had entered the back part of the head, and passed out at the forehead, and that the muzzle of the gun had been applied so close as to set fire to the night- cap behind. The gun, which was of the longest kind, supplied to the Indians, could not have been placed I , ; 224 DR. RICHARDSON S NARRATIVE. Ifi! i 2 iV i> T 1! . H'ir '^ i s in a position to inflict sneli a wound, except hy a sec- ond person. " Upon inquiring of IMicliel liow it liappened, lie replied, that Mr. Hood had sent him into the tent for a short a:un, and that diiriiii; his absence the lone: ijun had gone off, he did not know A\hether by accident or not. He held the short gun in his hand at the time he was speaking to me. IIepl)urn afterwards informed me, that pre\ious to the report of the gun, Mr Hood and Michel were speaking to each other in an elevated, ang)'y tone ; that ]\[r. ^lood being seated at the fireside, was hid from him by intervening wil- lows, but that on hearing the report he looked up, and saw INIichel rising up from before the tent door, or just behind where Mr. IJood was seated, and then go- ing into the tent. Thinking that the gun had been discharged for the purpose of cleaning it, he did not go to the fire at first ; and when Michel called to liira that Mr. Hood was dead, a considerable time had elapsed. Although I dared not ojjenly to evince any susi)icion that I thought Michel guilty of the deed, yet he repeatedly protested that he was incapable of committing such an act, kept constantly on his guard, and carefully avoided leaving Hepburn and me to- gether.. He was evidently afraid of permitting us to converse in private, and whenever' Henburn spoke, he incjuired if he accused him of the murder. " We removed the body into a clump of willows behind the tent, and, returning to the fire, read the funeral service in addition to the evening prayers. The loss of a young ofiicer, of such distinguished and varied talents and application, may be felt and duly appreciated by the eminent characters under whose command he had served ; but the calmness with which ^^^ FIIANKLIN S FIRST LAND lOXPKDlTIOX. 225 lie c'onteni[)lated tlie proLuLle termination of a life of iinconinion proniine ; and tlie patience and fcniitude Avitli wliicli he sustained, I may venture to say, unpar- alleled bodily sufi'erings, can only be known to tlie comj)anions of Lis distresses, Jiickerstetlti^ S(:i'!pture Help Avas lying ojjen beside tlie body, as if it had fall- en frt)m his hand, and it is probable that he was read- ing it at the instant of his death. '' A\ e })assed the night in the tent together without rest, every one being on his guard. " Next day, having determined on going to the Fort, we began to patch and pi-epare our clothes for the journey. We singed the hair off a part of the buffalo robe that belonged to ^Iv. Jlood, and boiled and ate it. JNIichel tried to persuade nie to go to the woods on the Coppermine lli\er, and hunt for deer, instead of going to the Fort. In tlu^ afternoon a flock of par- tridu'es comiiuc near the tent, he killed several, which lie shared with us. "Thick snowy weather and a head wind ]irevented us from starting the following day, but on the morn- ing of tlie 23d we set out, carrying with us the re- mainder of the singed rol)e. Hepburn and Michel had each a gun, and I carried a small pistol, which Hepburn had loaded for me. In the c(nirse of tlie inai'ch, Mii'hel alarmed us much })y his gestures and conduct, was constantly muttering to himself, express- ed an unwillingness to go to the Fort, and tried to persuade me to go to tlu^ southward to the woods, where he said he could maintain himself all the winter by killing deer. In consequence of this behavior, and the expression of his countenance, I requested him to leave us and to go to the southward by himself. This* propctsal increased his ill-nature, he threw out some !■. f ii " m i i^^ HA m' ^ >l: i h HI 226 DR. rJCHAEDSON S NARRATIVE. obscure hints of freeing liiniself from all restraint on tlie morro^v ; and I ovei'heard liini muttering threats against IlepLurn, whom he oj^enly accused of having told stoi'ies against him. lie also for the first time, assumed such a tone of superiority in addressing me, as evinced that he considered us to be completely in liia power, and he gave vent to several expressions of hatred toAvards the white people, or as he termed us in the idiom of the voyagers, the French, some of ■whom, he said, had killed and eaten his uncle and two of his relatiims. " In short, taking every circumstance of his conduct into consideration, I came to the conclusion, that he would attempt to destroy us on the first oj)i)ortunity that offered, and that he had hitherto abstained from doing so from his ignorance of the way to the Fort, but that he would never suffer us to go thither in company with him. Hepburn and I were not in a condition to resist even an open attack, nor could we by any device escape from him. Our united strength was far inferior to his, and, beside his gun, he was armed Avith two pistols, an Indian bayonet, and a knife. In the afternoon, coming to a rock on which there was some frijje de roche^ he halted, and said he Avould gather it -whilst we went on, and that he w^ould soon oveiinke us. "llepbni'n and I were now left together for the first time since Mr. Hood's death, and he acquainted me "sWtli several material circumstances which he liad observed of Michel's behavior, and which confirmed me in the opinion that there was no safety for us ex- cept in his death, and he offered to be the instrument of it. I determined, however, as I was thoroughly convinced of the necessity of such a dread ad act, to FEANKUN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 227 take tlie whole responsibility upon myself ; find imme- diately upon Micliel's coming up, I put an end to lils life by slic^oting liim tlirougli the Lead -with a pistol. Had my own life alone been threatened, I would not have purchased it by such a measure ; but I considered myself as intrusted also with the protection of IlejD- burn's, a man, who, l)y his humane attentions and de- votedness, had so endeared himself to me, that I felt nn)re anxiety for his safety than for my o^vn. Michel had gathered no tripe de roche, and it was eN'ident to us tliat he had halted for the purp(jse of putting his gnu in order, with the intention of attacking us, per- haps, ^.iulst we were in the act of encamping. " I luiv u ^.avelt in the preceding part of the narrative upon many circumstances of Michel's conduct, not for the purjiose of aggravating his crime, but to put the reaiil,'^''' i 1 i *'- 1 fl^ 'r-i!!) i-i ■! I ' Ifl Ir hill '*j ■•$i^: 228 DPw eiciiardson's naerative. enal)le us to preserve a straight course, we remained encamped amongst a few Avillows and dwai"f pines, about liA^e miles from the tent. On tlie 2(3tli, tlie weather l^eing clear and exti-emely cold, v>e resumed our march, Avhich was very painful from the depth of the snoAV, particidarly on the margins of the small lakes that lay in our route. AVe frequently sunk under the load of our blankets, and were obliged to assist each other in getang up. "AVe came in siirht of the fort at dusk on the 20th, and it is impossible to describe our sensations, when on attaining the eminence that overloc ks it, we be- held the smoke issuing from one of the chimneys. From not having met Avith any footsteps in the snow, as Ave drcAV nigh our once cheerful residence, Ave had been agitated by many melancholy forebodings. Upon enteihig the noAV desolate building, Ave had the satisfaction of embracing Captain Franklin, but no Avords can couA'ey an idea of the filth and Avretched- ness that met our eyes on looking around. Our oAvn misery had stolen upon us by degrees, and A\'e Avere accustomed to the contemplation of each other's ema- ciated figures, but the ghastly countenances, dilated eye-balls, and sepulchral voices of IMr. Franklin and those Avith him, Avere more than Ave could at first bear." The morning of October »*] 1st aa^is A^eiy cold, and matters did not improA'e at Fort Enterprise. At- tempts to kill drawn by dogs. They ar.'ved at Fort Providence on the 11th, and were there visited ! 1>. I ■ ; * 1 " I Ml 2S0 ARRIVAL AT FORT YORK. •. 5' i':i ' ill iff il III I 'f I, '* 'ii iji. . 'k . by Akaitcho and his band, with Adam, who had united with them. In the course of conversation Akaitcho said to Franklin, " I know you write down every oc- currence in your books ; but probably you have only noticed the bad things we have said and done, and omitted to mention the good." Starting southward again, the party reached Moose- Deer Island on the l7tli, where they found Mr. Back, who gave an affecting detail of the proceedings of his party since the separation. His narrative is but a continuation of the same kind of suffering by famine and cold. For days they had nothing to eat, and one of his men, Beauparlant, died on the way. On the 2Gth of May, after a five months' residence at Moose-Deer Island, the party started for Fort Chipew- yan, Avhere they met Mr. Wentzel ; his excuse for fail- ing to keep a supply of provisions at Foi-t Enterprise was that he could not control the Indians. I'ranklin, Richardson, and Augustus arrived at Fori; York on the 14th of July 1822. Aii«l thus termina- ted their long, fat" --Ming, and disastrous travels in North America, having Journe}'ed l)y Avater and by l.md (including their navigation of the Polai* Sea,) five thousand five hundred and fifty miles. i I ti i I i II .) w f-.'S :.M. . !^ > ; i; .-U ij i^n '■ ■"?l.:ii . .,J ^W ^ J ?/■■■' r ' ^'^l j':v^ ' •1 Jill m sell their hows, arrows, and s])ears, and although their iin[)ortunities were trouldesome, tliey showed no unfriendly disposition until an accident occurred which was productive of annoying conse(piences. "A kayak being overset by one of the Lion's oars, its o\vner was plunged into the Avater with his head in the mud, and ai)])arently in danger of being drowned. We instnntly extricated him from his unpleasant situ- ation, and took him into the boat imtil the water could be thrown out of his kayak ; and Augustus, seeing him shivering with cold, wrai)ped him up in his own great-coat. At first he was exceedingly angry, but soon became reconciled to his situation ; and, look- ing about, discovered that Ave had many bales and other articles in the boat, which had been concealed from the pe()[)le in the kayaks, l)y the coverings being carefully spread over all. lie soon began to ask for everything he saw, and expressed nuich displeasure on our refusing to comply with his demands ; he also, as we afterwards learned, excited the cupidity oi others by his account of the inexhaustible riches in the Lion, and several of the younger men endeavored to get into both our boats, but we resisted all their attempts." IMeantime the water havinof ebbed so that it was only knee deep where the boats lay, the natives seized ::.'»i.i '■' ' v^ w*^ ^^m iHi <>, '^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 tii»2^ |2.5 |50 ■^™ Ml^B >^ 1^ 12.2 1^ K£ IIIIIM iim 1.25 |U 1.6 ^ 6" — ► Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 ¥ n Ill 'I! ■ It I i i«i 234 THE EXPEDITIOX IX TROUBLE. the Reliance and drau^ged it to the beach. Franklin, who was in the Lion, says : — "Two of the most powerful men, jumping on board at the same time, 8eizeu show your contrition by restoring the stolen goods. The whitt^ ]>eo]»le love the Ksipiimaux, and wish to show them the same kiiulness that they bestow uixm the Indians. ])o not deceive yourselves, and su])]»ose they are afi'aid of you ; I tell you they are not; and that it is entirely owing to their humanity that many of you were not killed to-day ; for they have all guns, w ith which th^y can 'ii-i 236 SECOND WINTEB AT FORT FUANKLIN. 1 1 tlestroy you eitlier when near or at a distance. I also have a gun, anarty reached Fort Franklin in safety on the 21st of September, after traveling in three months two thousand and foi'ty-eight miles. Here they found Dr. Richardson and his party, who had sailed eastward from the mouth of the Mackenzie Iliver to the mouth of the Coppermine, and thence overland to the rendezvous, making altogether a journey of one thousand nine hundred and eighty miles. A second winter, and an intensely cold one, was passed pleasantly at Fort Franklin. At this same time Captain Parry was wintering amid the ice at a THE MAGNETIC POLE. 287 point further north, as related in former chapters. It chanced that the magnetic pole lay at this time between them. " For the same months," says Fi'ank- lin, "at the interval of only one year, Captain Parry and myself were making houi'ly observatii^ns on two needles, the north ends of which pointed almost direct- ly towards each other, though our actual distance apart did not exceed eight hundred and fifty-five geo- graphical miles ; and while the needle of Port Bowen was increasing its westerly dii'ection, ours was increas- ing its easterly, and the contrary — the variation being west at Port Bowen, and east at Fort Franklin — a beautiful and satisfactory proof of the solar influence on the daily variation." When spring opened Franklin and his companions staiiied southward, and arrived in London in Septem- ber. ' m f ^s w% cii ■V -|i CHAPTER XYIT. ARCTIC VOYAGES OF SCORESBY, CLAVER- ING AND SABINE, LYONS, AND BEECIIEY. It must not be forgotten that while we are greatly indebted to scientific and amateur discoverei-H for our knowledge <)f the Arctic I'egionn, we are also luider obligations to practical seamen ; and among them no one has shown more zeal and intelligence than Cajit., afterwards Dr., Score8l>y. This gentleman, bred and reared, as it were, amid the tempests and snows of the North, and inheriting the love of adventure from his father who was also a captain in the whale ser- vice and gave his son a mai'ine education, observed the phenomena of the Northern seas, with an eiKiuir- ing and scientific eye unusual among those who pur- sue the rough life of a whaler. In 1800, Capt. Scoresby, then acting as mate under his father who commanded a Greenland ship, made a nearer api)roaoh to the North Pole than had hitherto been fully authenticated ; for the statements of the Dutch and other navigators who boast of having gone much nearer, are subject to great doubt as to the cor- rectness of their observations. Proceeding by Jan Mayen into the whale-bight, they found the Avaters encumbered by much broken 238 8COKE8BY A DISCOVEUIKS. 239 ice, through which they made their way into an ojien sea so extensive that its tonnination couhl not be dis- covered, but was estimated to extend four or five hundred sijuare leagues. Advancing northward, they arrived at a very ch>se continuous fiehl of bay-ice, compacted by drifting fragments. Pushing their way through this by the most laborious exertions, they succeeded in reaching another oj)cn sea, un})ounded, except by ice on the south and land in the distant east. As their ol)ject was to catch whales, and not to visit the Pole, they sailed in a north-west direction, swiftly crossing the short meria('k- Avards to ITakluyt's Headland, where he was rewarded for his fidelity to his empl(>yers l>y catching twenty- four whales, from which were extracted two hundred and sixteen tons of oil. (^apt. Scoresby, the younger, afterwards had abun- dant opportunity to gratify his love of adventure. In 1817 he made an excursion on Jan May en's Island. f Ul if-!- 240 KXCUK810N ON JAN MAYEN. t^h k tl r '» The most striking feature was the inoun^''in Beer- enberg, which reui-s its head 6870 feet above the sea ; and, being seen to the distance of thirty or forty leagues, proves a conspicuous landmark to the mar- iner. The first objects which attracted the eye were three magnificent icebergs, which rose to a veiy great height, stretching from the base of Beerenberg to the water's edge. Their usual greenish-gray color, diver- sified by snow-white patches resembling foam, and with black points of rock jutting out from the sui'face, gave them exactly the ai>pearance of immense cas- cades, which in falling had been fixed by the powor of frost. A i)arty ascended a mountain which composed only the l)aae of Beerenberg, yet was itself 1500 feet high. They were not long in discovering that the materials composing this eminence were entirely volcanic. They trod only upon ashes, slag, baked clay, and scorijc; and whenever these substances rolled inider their feet, the ground beneath made a sound like that of empty metallic vessels or vaulted caverns. On the sununit they discovered a spacious crater, about GOO feet deep, and 700 yanls in diameter, the bottom of which was filled with alluvial matter, and which, being surrounded by rugged walls of red clay hall'-bakecl, had the appearance of a spacious castle. A s[)ring of water penetrated its side by a subterranean cavern, and disappeared in the sand. Xo attempt was made to ascend Beerenberg, which towered in awful gran- deur, white with snow, above the region of the clouds ; but at its feet was seen another crater surrounded by an immense accumulation of castellated lava. A large ^lass of iron was found, that had been smelted by the interior fires. The volcano was at this time entii'ely AMONG THE .MOIXTAINS. 241 silent, but the next year Scoresby saw smoke arising from it to a great licidit. In 1818 lie landed near IMitn^ Cape, and undertook to reach the sununit of the siui^ularly insulated cliff of which it consists. Much of the ascent was over fragments of rock so loose that the foot in walking slid back every step. At one jdace th«^ ]>arty found a ridge so steep that Scorcsby could scat himself across it as on the back of a hoi'sc. They reached the sunnnit, estimated as .'?()()() feet high, about midnight Mhen the sun still shone on its snow-caj)i)C(l pinnacle, causing such a rapid melting that streams of water were flowing around them. The view from this sunnnit isst on a level with the summits of the mountains, wluwe cavities they filled, while the sun illumined, but could not dissolve them. The valleys were enamelled with beds of snow and ice, one of which extended beyond reach of the eye. In the interior, mountains rose beyond mountains till they nu'lted into distance. The cloudless can()j)y al)ove, and the positit watch, and, by loud ci'ies and vehement gestures, sought to defend them against the gulls and other ])redatory tribes hov- ering around. Sevei'al sailors who had robbed these nests were f<»llowe«l to a considerable distance with loud and violent screams. In a subseipient whaling voyage along the coast of Greenhuul in the good shi[> BatHn, Scoresby made some important geographical discoveries, and his attention was j)articularly attracted to the refractive power of the l*olar atmosphere when acting on ice and other objects discerned through its medium. The rugged surface assume«l the forms of castles, obelisks, and spires, which here and there were sometimes so linkents of hunting, found along with the bones of the deceased, proved the prev- alence here of the general belief of savage; nature, that the employments of man in the future life will exactly resendile those of the jn-esent. Our navigator would have Ix'en ha]>py to examine more of the Greenland coast, but the ship was not his own, and the object of his voj-age being tt) catch whales, he was compelled to turn in another direction. Scoresby's discoveries and observations are appro- priately followed by those of Captains Edward Sabine and D. C. Clavering, which were made more in 244 CUUI8K OF THE Gltll'KU. t belmlf of Hcicnoo than ^t'ogrnpliicul (liwoveiy. Sal)'m(> had long been iiitt-n'stcd in ])hil()H<)|)liical expcrinients on thii nhapc of ilu^ earth l>y nieann of tlui ])r>n(1ulun), and under tlie ])atronage of tlie Knglirth (rovernnient Imd visited Sierra Ii<'one, St. Thonuis, TrinithMl and titlier AVest India iMlan«lH, and also New York, in the ship Pheasant eonunanded by C'lavering. So eon- genial wan the soeiety of these two gentlemen, that when it was proposed to Sa})ine to <»xtend liis obm^r- rations into the Polar regions, lie requested that (^lav- ering might command the gun-brig, (Jriper, whieh had been designated to convey him northward ; aneril l)eing imminent, the long boat was prepared to l>e hoisted out with the four small ones, and the officers and men drew lots with great conij)osui'e for their respective boats, although two of the boats Avould have been swamped the instant they were lowered. " Alth, when all hoj)e of life had lell us. God was merciful to us ; the tide almost miraculously fell no lower, the wind ceased and we were saved." This locality was very properly named Bay of God's Mercy. I ill .1 ' i ;l P iil \\\r: Im'' ^W- \U y 250 APPIIOACII TO KA5ICIIATKA. A similar storm occurred in September, opposite the mouth of Wager's River, dui'ing which one anchor after another parted, and the vessel drifted away in the darkness, but escai)ed wreck. The sit- uation, however, was still a precarious one, and with- out anchors and in a crippled condition, the ship was headed for England where it arrived in November. The object of Captain Beeehey's expedition to Bering's Straits in 1825, was not so much for the purposes of discovery as to render assistance to Parry and Franklin, and especially to the latter — who was then on his second land expedition — should he be successful in Avorking westward from the Mackenzie River to Kotzebue Sound, the place of rendezvous for both explorers. Beechey sailed from England in the sloop Blossom, May 19th, 1825, with instructions to proceed around Ca])e Horn, visit the English possessions in the Pacific Ocean, and arrive at the rendezvous by July, 1820, there to remain till the approach of winter, in case neither Franklin nor Parry were heard from. Late in June 1826, the Blossom api)roached Petro- ])aulski, after having sailed seven hundred miles in a dense fog, which now cleared up and revealed the lofty mountains and volcanoes of Kamchatka. " Noth- ing could surpass the serenity of the evening, or the magnificence of the mountains capped with perennial snows, rising in majestic array above each other. The volcano emitted smoke occasionally, and from a sprinkling of black dots on the snow to the leeward of the crater, we concluded there had been a recent eruption." At Petropaulski, Beechey found dispatches announ- cing the return of the expedition under Parry. Cor- R f C W al a lut in- I il.:---^. i' U f. ^ W " ^* **"" dial by i comj that End sentc Oi Lawi out i lady upon peltr; cauti( it, an( a goc woulc trade the g of tii( eles li suspic if the of the those h.'inds Bee tlie tv still n Arctic Avhen below northe contin( TIIE LAWRENCE-ISLANDERS. 251 dial was the hospitality extended to the explorers by the citizens of the little town, and the i)aHtor, in compliance with the injunctions of his grandfather, that he sliould send a calf to the captain of every English man-of-war that miglit arrive in tlie port, pre- sented Beeehey with one of his own rearing. On the voyage north the Blossom st<)]i])ed off Lawrence Island, and the natives innncdiatcly came out in boats, evidently anxious for a trade. One old lady amused the crew by her attempts to impose upon their credulity. She was seated upon a bag of l>eltry, from which she now and then drew out a skin, cautiously exhil)ited the best part of it with a look implying that it was of great value, repeatedly hugged it, and endeavored to coax her new accpiaintances into a good bargain ; but it was easy to see that her furs would not bear close examination. The tricks of trade are not confined to civilization. Tobacco was the great want of the men, and needles and scissors of the women, and with both l)lue beads were aiii- cles highly esteemed. They, however, seemed a little suspicious of the Latter, and bit them, possibly to see if they were made of wax. The mode of salutation of these natives was by rubbing their noses against those of their friends and drawing tli(i palms of their hfmds over the face. Beeehey passed Bering's Strait, which sei)aratos the two great continents, on one of those beautiful still nights well known to all who hav^e visitess of their barge, and subsecjuently the civw of the Blossom liad wkir- mishe?«, Asith them in which several of the seamen were wounded by arrows, and one or more of thc! Esquimaux killed. Beechey did not punish them as they deserved, as he was unwilling to awaken senti- ments which might prove injurious to other Euro- peans. The balance of the season was passed in futile attempts to find Franklin, and grieved and disap- pointed, Capt. Beechey left KotzeV)ue's Sound, Oct. Cth, 1827; but did not arrive in England till the autumn of 1828, having been absent three and a half years. m If CHAPTER XVIII. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. The scheme of reaching the Pole by traveling over the frozen surface of the ocean was first suggesti'il hy Mr. ScoresLy. He believed that the Polar Sea in some meridians presented one continuous sheet of tol- erahly smooth ice, which could be traversed without ^roat difficulty. The idea was taken uji by Capt. Parry, whose brilliant voyages to the North-west had led him to suspect that further ])rogress in that di- rection was hopeless, and an expedition was fitted out which left England, April 4th, 1827, in the sloop lied a. The plan was to proceed in this vessel as ftir north as possible, when a portion of the crew weie to leave the shiji, Avith two boats on runners, which were to be dragged or navigated as circumstances might admit, over the unknown and desolate expanse be- tween Spitzbergen and the Pole. These boats were twenty feet long and seven broad, with runners at- tached to each side of the keel so that they could be drawn on the ice like sleds. Wheels were also taken along for use, if practicable. At Hammerfest eight noble reindeer were taken on board ship, with which the adventurers hoped to make a stage journey to the Pole. As each boat with 255 .1 '•' i. ii iw ^«^l unmn im 1 \ mi ^ K yi P 1 1 1 250 I'AUUV AND HIS DEER. I fi J ■■' ■ I ifi I* M , t-Jh.! bi .!;: its cargo wcij^luvl nearly two tons, a four-in-liand team would certainly l»c an aitl on the icy road. At all events tlie deer served to beguile the tediousness of the pas- sage to Spitzbergen, and all hands became much attach- ed to them. Tlie reguhir allowance of clean moss i'or each deer was lour |>ounds daily, but in case of neces- sity they would go iive or six days without jnov- cnder and not sulVer nuiterlally. Theadaj)tion of these aninuds to the Friijrid Zone is wonderful. Snow is their favorite drink, — if the bull may be j)ardone(l, — and cold, hard ice is as comfortable andel.istic a bed as they desire; at least they never comjdain when fur- nished with such slee])ing accommodations, canopied over by the vaulted arch of heaven. Parry was enamored with his deer — the only draw- back to his happiness being the thought that dire ne- cessity might compel him and his crew to eat them. The Ilecla rounded Ilakluyt's Headland May 14th, and met with a tremendous gale which almost lay the ship on her beam ends, and tossed her like a feather; and she was soon completely Ijcset by a lai'ge floe which carried her eastward. After release from this tedious imprisonment of twenty-four days, came along and anxious search for a secure harbor. At length the Ilecla was anchored in a fine harbor ^vhich the Dutch had named Treurenberg Bay, Init now rechristened as Hecla Cove. Numerous graves were found on the shore. The bodies had been depos- ited in oblong boxes and covered with stones : a board near the head recording the name of the deceased and the time of his death. C ne was dated as far back as 1090, and Parry was right in conjecturing that the Dutch name of the bay was derived from treuren, to lament, on account of the mortality which Lad oc- THE START FOU THE POLE. 257 curred here. Tliis was not cncournging to tlu; pni'ty who were to remain with the nhij), but there was no time to be lost, and brave sailors must not be frightened by graves or ghostly shadows. On the 22d of June the excursion i)arty left the ship amid the cheers of their associates. The boats were severally commanded by Parry and James C. Ross. Lt. Crozier, after »,ards second in connnand of the lost Franklin expedition, was one of the officers who remained with thellecla. Provision forstnenty days were taken along, but the "eight tiny reindeer" were left behind, with the wheels, Parry having seen enou};!i of the miffed surface of the ice to convince him that they would be of more use to Santa Clans than to himself. What became of these animals which had so much interested Parry, he omits to mention. The stern realities of the Northern Sea probably drove all sentimentalism from his mind. For eighty miles they proceeded due north, sailing slowly through a calm and smooth oj)en sea. In lati- tude 81® 12^ 51 ''they were stoj)ped by slush ice, which could neither be walked nor sailed ovei-, but was to be passed by the two methods alternately. Here com- menced the real labor of their fatiguing and monot- onous journey. The first step was to convert night into day ; to begin their journey in the evening and end it in the morning. Thus their notions of night and day became inverted. They rose in what they called the morning, but which was really late in the evening, and having performed their devotions, breakfasted on warm co- coa and biscuit. They then drew on their boots, usually either wet or hard frozen ; and which, though perfectly diied, would have been equally soaked in lilr r" {f-^ ||i i'. *,^ • 1.1 J 258 A JOURNEY ON ICE. M r- I i id I a 1 1! 11 fifteen minutes. The party then traveled five or six hours, and a little after midnight stopped to dine. They now performed an equal journey in what was called the afternoon ; and in the evening, that is, at an advanced morninr; hour, halted as for the niirht. They then appi'ed themselves to obtain rest and comfort, put on dry stockings and fur-boots, cooked something warm for supper, smoked their pipes, told over their exploits, and, forgetting the toils of the day, enjoyed an interval of ease and gayety. Then, wrapping them-elves in their fur-cloaks, they lay down in the boat, rather too close together jierhaps, Init with very tolerable comfort. The sound of a bugle roused them at night to their breakfast of cocoa, and to a repetition of the same round. Instead of a smooth, level surface, which they ex- pected to find, over which a coach might be driven, the ice f^onsisted of small, loose and ruir2;ed masses, compelling the men to make two or three trips in order to bring up the boats and baggage. One day during heavy rain they advanced but lialf a mile in four hours. In short, it was found, by an observation taken at midnight on the 30th of June, that since they started on the ice, on the 25th, they liad jirogressed nortliward only about twelv^e miles. All expectation of reaching the Pole was now relinquished, but hopes of reacliinii; the 83d de<2;ree were entertained. The party came at length to smoother ice and larger floes, and making better progress, persevered till the 20tli of July, when they were mortified to find that their latitude was less than five miles to the north- ward of where it was on the 17th, although they had certainly traveled twelve miles in that direction. Parry began now to suspect that the ice was floating south- DRIFTING SOUTH. 259 ■ward, and that they were in the condition of the frog jumping out of a well, which jumped tliree feet and fell back two. Such a suspicion was disheartening to the officers, but was not communicated to the men who often laughingly remarked, " We are a long time getting to this eighty-third degree." On the 2Gtli they were only one mile further north than they were on the 2 1st, though they had in that time traveled ixorthward twenty-three miles ; thus it was ascertained that the southern drift of the ice ^^'as at the rate of over four miles per day. Parry con- cluded it was useless to persevere in the attempt even to reach the 88d parallel, and communicated the facts and his intentions to the men. Great had lieen their exertions, and great was their disappointment. They consoled themselves however with the belief^hat they had gone fui-ther noi'th than any previous explorers. The highest latitude reached was 82°-i0', which is a trifle farther north than the Polaris penetrated on her late trip. Their greatest distance from the Ilecla was only one hundred and seventy-two miles, but to ac- complish it they had probably traveled far enough to reach the Pole, as they had so many times ti'ebled their track. , Nothing? remarkable occurred on the return. It was no small satisfaction to the explorers to know that there would be no backsliding and that every mile of advance southward would count two or three miles. They arrived at Hecla Cove on the 21st of August, where they were received, says Parry, " with that warm and cordial welcome which can be felt but not described. Considering our constant expos- ure to wet, cold and fiitigue, our stockings having been generally drenched in snow water for twelve M)| i '•■> m,*. m -' ■i Mff W ''- 4* . i WIbN r H-^ K 1 }M ' ' s « wt>. Hjl. ;!- k. .'i.'^'jif ii' h«<:|9ll Ii- W^^ I. ^Ki j ,- Li '«H» hitii m mm ■ t^l! ... ..JUMP '■< .' n:0i K uwm ^:# i'!:iH ':ii fh r: ■ * P 1»1 H '1 m\ 11 V' '■• 1 ' '-:A--1 i •• ] i i-i iJWflM '■ ' it:^ yf' mv. ^ "1. 'i ;■ i t r'f , ' !« f . !^': 11 -'i f : 1 260 RETURN TO HECLA COVE. hours out of every twenty-four, I had great reason to be thankful for the excellent health in which upon the whole we reached the ship." The Hecla soon afterward sailed for England, and thus ended the first and only attempt that has been made to penetrate to the Pole over the frozen surface of the deep. All the jirowess, energy, and hardihood of British seamen were exerted to the utmost without making even an approach towards the fulfillment of their object. The late Captain Hall hoped to reach the Pole by a sled journey over the ice and land, starting from the highest point that the Polaris could obtain ; but there is little doubt that if he had lived to make the attempt, it would have proved an unsuc- cessful if not disastrous one. The Pole is a reality, and some benefit to science w^ould accrue from obser- vations taken thereon ; but we may as well conclude that when God gave man dominion over the whole earth, that locality Mas not included or was considered unworthy of his presence. CHAPTER XIX. ARCTIC EXPEDITION OF JOHN AND JAMES C. ROSS. John Ross, whose Expedition made under the au- spices of th'^ British Admiralty in 1818 was sorely criticised by the press and pronounced a failure, was not content to remain in inglorious ease, but felt an ambition so common to adventurers, to try his fortune once more. Ross's faith in the North-west passaj2;e never was very great ; and the second expedition seems to have been undertaken more from a love of adventure and a desire to retrieve his good name, than from any well-grounded hope of success in its professed object. The perseverance and energy displayed in carrying it out were worthy of better results than it actually ac- complished. From his experience in his first Arctic adventure, and from careful study of the voyages of others, Ross became convinced that a small steamship would make better headway among the floes and fields of ice than a sailing vessel ; and accordingly presented his views to t!ie Admiralty as early as 1827, asking government aid for his new project. This proposal was not favor- ably received, and he then applied to his friend. Sir Felix Booth, a wealthy gentleman, who listened kindly to his statements, but finally decided not to embark 261 f' ,1 ;■ w- m n n «i ::'' !! kN ^ .•';»': lija MM , I lit , i..; 262 SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN IIOS.S. ,■!'■ r ^,^;: ■j '*« ■\'7 in the enterprise, lest it might he construed by the public as a mere mercanlile speculation, in hopes of securing the reward of £20,000 ollered by Parliament for the discovery of the North-west passage. Not baffled by this second rebuff, Ross again applied to the Admiralty, submitting a modified, and as he thought, an improved plan of navigating the Arctic Seas by means of steam. Tlie decided answer of the Admiralty was : — " Government docs not intend to send out any more expeditions on this enquiry." Soon after this Parliament revoked its oiler of £20,- 000, which had tempted so many adventurers into the Polar Seas. This removed Booth's objection to aiding Ross, and he advanced the money necessary to buy and fit out the Victory, a steamer of one hundred and fifty tons. The whole cost was £17,000. With his nephew, James Clark Ross, as commander, a purser, surgeon, and a crew of seventeen, Ross steamed down the Thames on the 23d of May, 1 829. The steam fixtures did not prove to be as efiicient as he expected, and his main reliance for the trans-atlantic voyage and indeed for the whole expedition, was upon sails. On the 23d of July the Victory came to anchor in the harbor of Holsteinberg, a Danish settlement on the coast of Greenland, and was soon surrounded by ca- noes filled Avith Esquimaux, among whom were two whites clothed like the natives, who proved to be Mr. Kail, the governor, and Mr. Kijer, a clergyman, both well educated gentlemen who had resided in the country for six years. At the house of the latter the oflicers of the Victory were treated with great kindness, Mrs. Kijer doing the honors at the table, and Esquimaux girls, neat- ly dressed in native costume, doing the service. The settlement consisted of the governor's and clergyman's LIFE AT IIOLSTEIXBERG. 263 houses, a cliurch, two store-houses, and about forty Es- quimaux huts. The church was a neat simple struc- ture, surmounted with a small steeple, and havini,^ an audience-room furnished with an organ and seats for two hundred persons. Ilolsteinberg is a roman- tic and interesting place, but the governor and clergyman must have led self-denying lives in this solitude, away from all the social privileges of civili- zation. Peace and happiness are however of no coun- try or situation, and here in this narrow and appa- rently contented circle they seemed to exist in per- fection. No disorderly or immoral conduct was noticed among the natives ; and Mr. Kijer represented the Greenlanders as so pacific in their dispositions that quarrels among them were very rare. As an instance of their honesty, Capt. Ross relates that on the morning of his departure from Ilolstein- berg, a poor Esquimaux came alongside of the Victory, bringing an oar which had been lost from one of the boats, and adds : " I know not how fir the exertions of the worthy clergyman deserve to share in the merit of this and the other good conduct which we witnessed, but be this as it may, I do but justice to the natural character of this race, almost everywhere in our experi- ence, to say that they are among the most worthy of all the rude triljes yet known to our voyagers in any part of the world." The singing of the Esquimaux girls in church as- tonished and delighted the captain, and he was assured that they learned to sing the most refined sacred mu- sic of the German school with great facility, and the Moravian missionaries have made music a powerful auxiliary in religious instruction and civilization. Some of the Esquimaux have not only been taught 16 1 |.. '■• \ i I i ' % fk liir Hi ,.|*||; ^i I III ' \ ^' ft- 264 SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN ROSS. to sing, but to play, and construct their o^vn instru- ments. On the 7th of August the Victory stcamorl into Lancaster Sound. The sea was covered witli minute marine animals and ducks, and gulls Avere in sight; no ice of any kind was to be seen. Ross proceeded westerly, till he reached Prince ^Regent Inlet, into which he turned his ship and sailed southerly in search of the place Avhere the Fury was wrecked, lioping to replenish his stock of provisions from her stores. On the 13th of August the Victory entered a bay, which was christened Adelaide in honor of the Duchess of Clarence, it being her birtli-day. On the afternoon of the next day. Commander Ross, who had been the lieutenant of the Fury, recognized a high-projectiui;' precipice as being some three miles from the wreck, for which all eyes were looking ; and, an hour after- ward, the tents were seen on the mound Avhere the shipwrecked stores had been deposited. The same evening the Victory was safely moored in an ice har- bor, within a quarter of a mile of the coveted goods. The coast was found almost lined with coal; and one tent — the mess-tent of the Fury's oflicers — remained whole, though it was evident the bears had paid it frequent visits. A pocket near the door of this tent, in which Commander Ross had left his memorandum- book, was missing. The preserved meats and vegeta- bles were found in good condition. The canisters had been piled up in two heaps, and though exposed to all the vicissitudes of the climate for four years, they had not suffered in the slightest degree. There had been no water to rust them, and the security of the joinhigs had prevented the bears from smelling the contents. Had they known the feast of fat things contained within those shining tins, not much would THE WRECK OF THE YVllY. 2G5 have remained for the crew of the Victory. The wine, sugar, bread, flour, and cocoa, were found in equally good condition. The lime-juice and the pickles had not suffered much, and even the salis were not only dry, but looked ns if they had never been wet. Not a trace of the hull of the Fury was to be found. The stores, not the wreck, Mere what Capt. Ross wanted. With great delight the crew set about em- barking a sufficiency of stores to complete the equip- ment of the Victory for over two years. This fitting out a vessel in an abandoned region of ice and ro; ks, was a novel scene. Without money and without price the crew carried on board the Victory canister after canister of provisions, and yet all they could store away on board seemed scarcely to diminish the pile. Ten tons of coal, some anchors, and some carpenter's stores were also appropriated. The powder nuigazine had become unroofed, but the patent cases had kept the powder perfectly dry, and with a portion of this the new outfit was ended. Captain Ross' plan was to make a thorough survey of Prince Regent's Inlet, and ascertr.in whether thero was any outlet from it to the Polar Sea ; he therefore proceeded from Fury Beach southward. The voyage now began to acquire its pecidiar interest as the Victory was traversing a comparatively unknown region. The land seemed to extend in a south-west direction con- tinuously, and the captain gave it the name of Boothia, in honor of his patron. Many whales came clo. e to the ship, thus proving that they had never had a taste of the harpoon. The geological structure was limestone, containing shells. Some sandstone and gneiss were also observed, and in many of the small bays, there were accumular I" k K !■■ t . «*■ ; I 266 SE«;()NU LXrEDlTlON OF JOHN ROSS. •I vy tiona of snnd. The soundings were in clay, so tounli as to re(|iiire great force to extract the lead from it. There was no wood ; a heath with stems about an inch thick, being the largest plant growing. A harbor was found sufficiently deep and large to accommodate the whole British navy, and to this was given the name of Elizabeth, in compliment to a sis- ter of Mr. Booth. In many parts of it there were five fathoms of water close to rocks or shore, wIrmc vessels might lie as at a pier ; and from marks on the rocks it was judged that the spring-tide rose eight feet. Near the sea the land was generally bare, but inland there were plains and valleys of considerable extent covered with vegetation. In the valleys were numerous lakes, some of them two miles long, and all well stocked with fish. As the season advanced navigation became more and more difficult and haz- ardous. The Victory drawing but a few feet of water, had great advantage in navigating the Arctic Seas, but still her perils were many. Captain Ross thus graph' ically describes the appearance of those seas. " To those who have not seen a northern ocean in winter, the term ice, exciting but the recollection of what they know of it at rest in an inland lake, con- veys no idea of what it is the fate of the Arc tic navigator to witness. But let them remem])er that ice is stone, a floating rock in a stream, a promontory or an island when aground, not less solid than if it were granite. Then let them imagine, if they can, these mountains of crystal, hurled through a narrow strait by a rapid tide ; meeting as mountains would meet, with the noise of thunder, breaking from each other precipices, huge fragments, or rending each other asunder, till, losing their former equilibrium, FROZEN IN. 207 they fall over headlong, lifting the sea around in break- ers, and whirling it in eddies, while the llutter fields of ice, forced against these masses, or against the rocks by the wind and stream, rise out of the seji (ill they fall back on themselves, adding tg the indescrib- able commotion and noise which attend these occur- rences." On the last day of September Captain lloss deter- mined that further progress was impossible for the season, and that his next duty was to look out for winter quarters. An inevitable detention among im- movable ico made his men feel like captives upon whom the prison doors were being closed for long and weary months. Making an inland excursion, he as- cended a high liill to take a general survey of the sit- uation. At the south-west appeared a succession of uniform low hill, beyond which no water was to bo seen. In the interior he could see even throuu-h the snow, that the plains were covered with vegetation. Many tracks of hares were seen, and some of these an- imals were shot, Avhich were at this early date (juite white, showing that their change in color is not the eflbct of temperature, but a prospective arrangement for meeting the cold of winter. There were also many Esquimaux traps with a gi'eat number of cairns or stones, which at a distance reseml)le men, and are erected by the Esquimaux for the purpose of fright- ening the deer and turning them within reach. In the meantime the crew were set to work unlad- ing the ship of the steam engine and fixtures which had pioved an incumbrance. Thenceforth the Victory was simply a sailing vessel. By October 8th there was not an atom of water to be seen anywhere, and excepting the protrud- W i -''lirfl E f,, em "'rmm :|l.l1; I" k r'l , ! 268 SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN ROSS. ing point of some dark rock, nothing but one dazzling and monotonous, dull and woarisomo extent of snow "was visible. Captain Ross describes the eflect of this uniformity, silence and death as paralyzing to both body and mind. Nothing moves, nothing changes; all is forever the same — cheerless, cold, and silent. The Victory had not made the progress expected of her, but she went into winter quarters one hundred and sixty-six miles be}ond the wrecking-groiuid of the Fury. An examination of the provisions and fuel gave the comforting assurance that there was enough of both to suppy all wants for more than two years; and oflicers and crew settled down for a long winter's repose. The record of the winter is monotonous. Captain Ross studied carefully the effects of the cold upon him- self and men, and came to the conclusion that there is great difference in individuals as to their power of generating heat. A ruddy, elastic, • florid, or clear complexioned man, is secured by nature against cold ; while the pale, sallow, and melanclioly-looking, are not the men for an Arctic voyage. The deck of the Victory being covered Avith snow to the depth of two-and-a-half feet, it was trod down till it became a solid mass, and was then cov- ered with sand, so as to have the appearance of a solid gravel walk. Above this a roof was built, and the sides of the vessel were banked with snow up to the roof so as to form a perfect shelter from the wind and Avard off much of the extreme cold. On this deck the men walked for exercise when the cold was too cxccs^ sive for them to venture abroad. From six o'clock in the evening till nine, the men were required to attend school, and on Sunday prayers were offered LIFE AT FELIX IIAUUOR. 2G9 and a sermon read ; the good efibcts of their educa- tional and rehgious duties were manifest in the conduct of the men, who seemed to feel that they belonged to one family, and evinced much mutual kindness and a remarkable propriety of deportment. The use of spirituous liquors was abandoned, and even the habit of swearini^ Avas broken up. Christmas was celebrated with a liberal dinner, of which roast beef formed the essential and orthodox portion. The stores from the Fury came into play on this day, as they included mince pies and iced cherry brandy. Flags were displayed from the ship and shore, the church service allotted for the day read, and one and all enjoyed the festival more probably than those whose lives of uniform ease, peace, and luxury, render them insensible to hard-won enjoyment. The thermometer ranged from 18 to 22 below zero. January 9th, some Esquimaux appearing on the shore, the officers went out to meet them and found them armed with spears and knives. Captain Ross hailed them with the Esquimaux salutation, tim,a, tima, and was answered by a general shout of the same kind, the natives throwing their weapons into the air, and extending their arms. An embrace on the part of Captain Ross, and a stroking of the dress of the Esquimaux, the sign of friendship, established unhesitating confidence, which they manifested in the great deliglit apparent on their countenances, and in laughing, clamor, and strange gestures. They w^ere all well drassed in excellent deer-skins, the upper gar- ments double and encircling the body, and extending from the chin to the middle of the thigh. Of the two skins which formed this double dress, the inner one had the hair next to the body, and the outer one in tvik a 'li» Pi 1 ?v H 1 1 lllf "^ .; 1 ■ I. 11 ,' iriH W' T' lit •"■I? < ' J Til L*l 1/ II i; i#^ 270 SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOILV IIOS.--'. a reverse direction. The trousers were also of deer skin, rea(;liin fcLM.MKU KN■*»*' M ,(■ i .j (• \ a 'It i ti5: :|St. '% : i'' «i*iW<«'l INDIAN 8LMMER ENCAMPMENTS. 281 or lounging on tlieir elbows^ to watcli the frizzling of a rich marrow bone, the customary perquisite of their labors. Women were lighting or tending the fires, ovtr which were suspended lows of thinly sliced meat, some screaming to thievish dogs, and otiiers with still louder screams, endeavoring to drown the shrill cries of their children, who, swaddled and unable to stir, were half suffocated with the smoke ; while to com- plete the scene, eight or ten boys at play, were turn- inrj themselves over and under some white bai'k canoes like so many land d()l[)hins. Their hapi)iness was at the full; at that moment they were witliout care, enjoying themselves according to their nature and cai)acity. Is human happiness ever much more than this ? Oil the 29th of August, Back reachtjd one of the tributaries of the Great Fish River, and yielding to that pleasing emotion which discoverers, in the first bound of their transport, may be pardoned for indul- ging, he threw himself down on the bank and drank a hearty draught of the limpid water. He then returned to winter-quarters at Fort Reliance on Slave Lake where a house was erected. As winter came on the sufferings of the Indians in the vicinity were extreme. " Famine," says Back, "with her gaunt and bony arm pursued them at eveiy turn, and strewed them lifeless on the cold bosom of the snow. Often did I share my own plate with the children, whose helpless state and piteous cries Avere peculiarly distressing. Compassion for the full-gr(n\ n may or may not be felt, but that heart must be case>servatory lcej)t the deer at a distance and caused their Rufl'erings. Even tin; voyageui'S were suj>erstit;ins- ly impressed, and on one occasion two of them listened by the fence l>uilt around the observatory, and hear- ing at intervals the Avords "now" and "siop," always succeeded by silence, the}' turned hastily away and reported to their companions that they verily believed the captain Avaa " raising the devil." In November, the chief Akaitcho, the old acquaint- ance of Franklin, arrived very opportunely Avith some meat which was of great benefit to all. When he went aAvay he took some of the starving Indians with him, and promised Back that he should not want as long as he had anything to send to the fort. And he kept his word, and during a most ajialling period of suffering and calamity proved himself the firm friend of the expedition ; the dawn of each morning saw him prepared for the hunt, and he boldly encountered every difficulty and* made others act by the force of his example. In describing the scenes of this winter Back says: — — "No sooner had one party closed the d(K)r than another feebly opened it, and confirmed by their half- famished looks and sunken eyes their heart-rending tale of sufferings. They spoke little, but crowded in silence around the fire, as if eager to enjoy the onl\' comfort renif ining to them. A handful of mouldy pounded meat which had been intended for the dogs ■was all we could give them ; and this, with the cus- tomary presentation of the friendly pipe, was suffi- cient to efface for a moment the recollection of their sorrows, and even light up their faces with a smile of hope." SAD FATE OF AU0USTU8. 283 Tn IMarch, information cnnio tliat Aii,!::fU8tua, the Es([uiniaux interpreter nny ([ualities, which, ^•herever found, in the lowest as in the liighest forms of social life, are tlie ornament and charm of human- ity." On the 2r)th of April 1834, a messenger arrived with the c:lad tidings of the safe return of Ross and ]n^ party to England. Back, however, thought it his duty to explore Fish Rivei', and on the Tth of June left Fort Reliance for this purpose. Though no lonm-er stimulated with the desire to render aid and comfort to Ross, he ^vas heartily glad to get away from scenes of suffering and death, and launch out again into stii'rino; adventure. In descending the Fish River, eighty or ninety miles of the distance was a succession of falls and rapids, kee}»ing the men in a constant state of exertiini and anxiety. Cataracts, too, obstructed their passage. In passing down one of these, where the river ^vas full of rocks and boulders, the boat was obliged to be lightened. ^^- ■y.\ 284 KUNNING THE EAPIDS. Im iiW s?i |B| " hi: "I stood," says Back, "on a high rock, with an anxious heart, to see her run it. Away they went with tlie speed of an arrow, and in a moment the foam and rocks hid them from my view. I heard wliat sounded in my ear like a wild shriek ; I followed with an agitation which may be conceived, and, to my inexpressible joy, found that the shriek was the ti'iumpliant whoop of the crew, who had landed safely in a small bay ]>elow." Near the close of July, Back approached the mouth of the Fish Iliver and discovered a majestic headland which he named Victoria. He thus sums up a gen- eral view of the tempestuous stream which he had successfully descended : — "This, then, may be considered as the mouth of the Thlew-ee-choh, which, after a violent and tortuous course of five hundred and thirty geographical miles, running through an iron-ri])bed country, without a sin- gle tree on the whole line of its banks, expanding into fine large lakes with clear hf)rizons, most eml)arrass- ing to the navigator, and broken into falls, cascades, and rapids to the number of no less than eighty- three in the whole, pours its waters into the Polar Sea in latitude 07*11' K, and longitude 1)4'^ 80^ W." Brift-ice was here encountered, and further prog- ress was slow, but on the 7th of August the party I'eached Point Ogle, the northern extremity of the land on the western side at the mouth of the estuary. From this point portions of the coast of Boothia were seen to the northward. Further explorations by water -were ini])Ossi})le, but a i)arty proceeded westerly along the coast of the Arctic Ocean for about fifteen miles, in the direction of Cape Turn-again. The country was low, level and desolate and pro- %i I A DESOLATE REOIOIT. 285 duced nothing but moss and fern, whicli was so wet that it would not Lurn. The weather w^as cliilly, damp and foggy, and the situation of the exph)rers grew clieerless and miserahle. Surrounded on every side by comi^lete desolation, without fire or any kind of warm food, with heavy rains followed by thick snows, " it cannot " says Back, " be a matter of aston- ishment, and much less of blame, that even the best men, benunil)ed in their limbs, and dispirited by the dreary and un[>romising prospect before them, broke out for a moment into low murmurino-s that theirs' was a hard and painful duty." Back had now no choice but to start on the return journey, which was conmienced the middle of August. Before setting out, the Bi'itish flag was unfurled, and saluted with three cheers " in honor of his most gra- cious majesty," and the name of William the Fourth's Land was given to this part of America. The many difficulties which had been experienced in going down the river were at least doubled in leturning, but the ex[)lorers reached Fort Beliance in safety on the 27th of September. Preparations were iiujiiediately made for si)ending another winter in tLis (h'eary place. Hunting and fishing were the Older of the day, and wood was collected to keep off the cold, which ])roved to l)e less severe than usual. About the last of May they gladly bade adieu to the inliosj)itable region, and reached Noi'way House on the 24th of June. Back returned home by way of Montreal and New York, and received many kind attentions during his Journey through the United States. He reached England in Septeml)er, after an absence of over two and a half years, and was there honored by an audience with the king. mM^^ ,.*!: ■ffr'T'j !°1ri^ 286 VOYAGE IN THE "TERROR." ; i hU ^11 ll-M\ i«. hi' Soon afterwards, tlie English admiralty decided to send out an expedition to comi)lete the survey of the coast between Regent's Inlet and Point Turn- again, and for this j)urpose Captain Back sailed from England in the "Terror," with a crew of seventy- three men. Near tlie Savage Islands they encountered a fleet of kayaks and oomiaks, and were hailed by their occupants Avitli vociferous ci-ies of ieijma. Back says that the conduct of the women was particularly outrageous ; besides disjiosing of their garments they offered to barter their chikh-en, and one of them noticing that an officer had but little hair on his head, offered to supply him with her own. Early in September, Avlien near the entrance of Frozen Strait, the Terror was seized l)y tlie ice as with the grasp of a giant, and during the Avhole of tliat month was whirled backward and forwai'd Just as the wind or tide directed. " It was," says Back, " a month of vexation, disappointment, and anxiety, to me more distressing and intolera])le than the worst pressure of the worst evils which had befallen me in any other expedition." It was soon evident that there could lie no escape for several months, and that nothing could be done but to make the situation as comfortable as possible. Snow walls and galleries were built on the floes ; and towards si)ring, for annisement, some of the men cut figures of houses, forts, vessels, and men and women, from 1 )locks of snow. Most of the crew could read, some could recite long passages of j)rose and poetry, others could sing ; and by bringing out the talents of each for the common benefit, the whole were made at times comparatively happy. Thus drifting about and. at times undergoing terrif b; fc K VOYAGE m THE "tERKOR." 287 ic nips, tlie Terror remained fast in the ice till the 11th of July, when, after several clays spent by tlie crew in attempting to cut her free, a loud rum- bling noise was heard, and the ship broke her ice- bonds and slid gently into her own element; but so much of the base of her ice cradle still clung to her, that she remained on her beam ends for three days after. Kothins: now remained but to cjet home as soon as possible with the crazy, broken and leaky Terror, and the voyage thither was as j)erilous as her encoun- ters Avith the ice had been. On I'eaching the coast of Ireland, the ship was run asliore in a sinking con- dition, and could hardly have floated a day longer. She -was afterwards refitted, and with her and the Erebus, James C. Ross made his explorations in the Southern Seas. Subse(piently, Franklin and his lost expedition sailed in the same famous ships. The ice-drift experiences of the Terror much resem- ]Ae those of the Advance and Rescue while searching for Franklin — a full history whereof is given in Dr. Kane's narrative of the First American Expedition. Bf i VS 1 W' m mm. ^ f r i! ./. Ml' It ' CHAPTER XXL i1 ! 1 il;l.< HI ill- e. "^ m * '' In ^1 1, IT' :■■■ ii',,>2.j,i LAND EXPEDITIONS OF DEASE AND SIMP- SON, AND IIAE. As a consiclerahle extent of the northern coast of America still remained nnexploretl, the Hudson's Bay- Company determined, in 188(5, to equip an exjiedi- tion of twelve men under the lead of two of its own officers — Peter W. Dease and Thomas Simpson. The latter was a young and well-educated Scotchman who had resided in the territory since 1829 ; he was full of zeal for scientific discovery, and the astronomer and historian of the expedition. Before setting out, Mr. Simpson spent several months at the Red River Settlement, situated near the 50th parallel at an elevation of eight or nine hun- dred feet ahove the sea, which then stretched for upwards of fifty miles along the wooded hoi'tlers of the Red and Assinohoine Rivers which flow through a level country of vast extent. There was no specu- lative motive to induce him to color his picture of this region, and he may the more readily be relied on when he states, that the climate is saluhrious, the soil good, horses, cattle, hogs and poultry numerous ; and that wheat, harley, oats, and potatoes thrive well iu the vast Red River Valley. This testimony should 288 r. {■ C c SI ir. w ML [val av of un •11- lof lie lis: 111 rm ,1 , £v«-'*^ m m' i5 IT;? ■' > * t fi hi,< A WINTEU S JOURNEY. 289 remove the suspicions wLicli some have, that more recent travelers in this section have been induced to give glowing descriptions thei'eof from mercenary- considerations. Mr. Simpson left this colony on the 1st of Decem- ber for liis winter journey of one thousand tw*.) hun- dred and seventy-seven miles to Fort Chipewyan, the starting point of the expedition. A gay cariole and three sledges drawn by dogs, with three picked men as drivers, made up the retinue. Much of the route lay ovei' the frozen channels of the streams, and fre- quently the tinklings of the dog-bells rous(^d the moose-deer from their lairs. At times the snow w^as so deep that snow-shoes had to be worn by the travelers. Fort Chipewyan, where Mr. Dease awaited his comi)anion, was reached on the first of February. The travelers took their departure from this place on the 1st of June 1887, and on reaching Great Slave Lake, ten days afterwards, were disappointed at findinij: it covered with ice which detained them till the 21st of June — a delny which they beguiled with hunting, ajid with observing the wonderful mirage of this region and the games and sjwrts of the Indians. A dance was also given to the men in which the Indian women joined. It furnished nuich sport, and was concluded with a generous su])per, tea being the only beverage. The games of the people witliout the fort were generally at their height at midnight, when the coolness of the atmosphere incited to exertion. Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River' was reached on the 1st of July, and on the 9th, the Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the river was seen, and saluted with joyous cheers. As the season was favorable, the V- i -•tlj i i. liH '-'■ Ti --ii m f i 290 ON THE COASTS OF ALASKA. Mi-r um\ explorers proceeded westerly along the coast, and on the 2'^^\ of July arrived at Return Reef, where Frank- lin had been stopped. Beyond this was unexi)lored territory. Pushing on, they discovered the mouth of a river and named it the Colville. They supi)osed it to be a large one, for it freshened the wutci's of the ocean to a distance of three leagues. Their conclusions were right, for the Colville River, now in the United States territory of Alaska, has since been ascertained to be a thousand miles long. They also discovered another noble river, the Garry, whose mouth was a mile in width. Thouiih the ground was frozen four inches deep, a few flowers cheered the eye of the travelers. On t\\o, 1st of August the party had arrived within tAvo degrees of Point Barrow, the most eastern i)oint reached by the barge of the Blossom. As further progress was here prevented by the ice, Simpson with five com- panions pushed on afoot, and on the 4tli had the great satisfaction of seeing the long, low spit of land called Point Barrow stretching to the nortlnvard. On reaching it, they unfurled the British flag with three cheers and took possession of this gravelly cape in the name of their king. The last portion of the journey to Point Barrow had been made in an oomiak which was borrowed of a party of Esquimaux met on the way. The landing at Point Barrow was made at a place half way between a winter village and summer camp of the natives, and in the vicinity was an immense cemetery, where the remnants of humanity lay on the ground in the usual seal-skin clothing. The natives were generally friendly, but thievish. Having reached the limit of their explorations in DOWN JvSCAi'E J:AI'1D. 291 this direction, the whole party returned to winter- qiijirtei's at Great Bear Lake. In the siinimer of 18.38 they again conimen(!ed tlieir travels, and on the 25tli of .Tune were nearing the mouth of the Co])i)ennine. Fr.'inklin had descended the lower part of this river when it had fallen to its sunnner level, l)ut Dease and Simpson were swept dow^n it l)y the spring flood, in wliich floated cakes of ice, while the hanks were i>iled up with pondrous fragments. Mr. Sim])S()n thus describes some of the perils of the ])assage : — " The day was bright and lovely as we shot down rapid after rapid, in many of which we had to pull for our lives, to keep out of the suction of tlie i)reci- pices, along whose base the breakers raged and foamed with overwhelming fury. Shortly before noon we came in sight of Escape Raj)id of Fi-anklin, and a glance at the overhanging cliffs told us that there was no alternative but to run down Avitli a full carijo. In an instant we were in the vortex, and, before we were awai'e, my boat was borne toAvards an isolated rock, which the boiling surge almost concealed. To clear it on the outside was no longer possible. Our only chance of safety w^as to run between it and the lofty eastern cliff. The word was passed, and every breath was hushed. A stream, which dashed down upon us over the brow of the precipice, more than a hundred feet in height, mingled with the spray that whirled upw^ard from the rapid, forming a terrific shower-ljath. The pass was about eight feet wide, and the error of a sinsfle foot on either side would have been instant destruction. As, guided by Sin- clair's consummate skill, the boat shot safely through those jaws of death, an involuntary cheer arose." On the 1st of July the party reached the sea, and " I i B fi 1 ilir 292 WINTER-QUARTERS ON GREAT BEAR LAKE. !■ '.i;- ■;:,'- , I on the ITtli tlicy started to coast along its hIiotcm to the eastward. On arriving, a])out the 10th of August, in the vicinity of Point Turn-again the l)oats were arrested by ice. On the 20th, Simpson witli seven men started on a walk along the coast. On the 2.']d they came to an elevated rocky ridge Avhich Avas named Ca[)e Alexander. On ascending it, a vast and splendid prospect Lurst suddenly upon the travelers. The sea, as if transformed l)y enchantment, rolled its free waves at their feet, and extended to the eastward as ftir as could be seen. Islands of various shapes and sizes overspread its sui-face ; and the northei-n land terminated to the eye in a bold and lofty cape thirty or forty miles distant. On the extensi\e land to the northward, Simpson bestoAved the name of Victoria, and he called its eastern extremity Cape Pelly. After surveying nearly one hundred and forty miles of new coast easterly of Point Turn-again, the foot party returned to the l)oats. Early in Septem])er the return journey up the Coppermine was commenced, and on the 14th of that month Fort Confidence, the old Avinter-quarters on Great Bear Lake, was safely reached. Here the winter of 1838-9 was passed by the explorers, and in June 1839, undaunted 1)y the dan- gers and privations of the previous season, they again started on their third successive visit to the Arctic Sea. On the 3d of July their boats emerged from the Coppermine, and sailing eastward the party encamped on the 2Gth at Cape Alexandei*. Continuing their voyage, they discovered, on the 10th of August, a strait three miles AA^ide through which tliey passed. Three days afterward, they were delighted at reaching Cape Ogle at the mouth of the Great Fish Kiver. IIETUKN TO UKD IJIVEU SlirrLK.MENT. 293 All the ()l)j(!cts for Mliicli tlie expedition was fitted out hud now been aceonii)lished. The nortlieiii limits of America to the westward of the (treat Fish or Buck's Uiver had been surveyed, l>ut it still remained a (lucstion whether Jjoothia might not he nnited to the continent on the other side of the estuary. So the ])ui'ty pushed on to a j)oint distant altout two dcu'recs from Point Ogle, where thev canu^ to the month of a river, which they numed the Custor und Pollux after their two boats. This river was tho limit of their eastern explorations. In returning to the Coppermine River they crossed over to the northern side of the strait, and traced the southern coast of King William's Island for about sixty miles till it turned to the noi-th at Cape Ilerschel, distant ninety miles from the magnetic pole. Along these same dreary coasts the party of Sir John Frank- lin attemjited to make good their retreat about ten years later; and one of his boats, with skeletons, guns, etc., was subsecpiently found some distance above Cape Herschel. The explorers also surveyed the coasts of Victoria Land for a long distance, and reached the Coppermine on the inth of September, having made a voyage of over sixteen hundred miles on the Polar Sea — the longest one ever made thereon in open boats. Mr. Simpson left Fort Confidence on the 2Gth of September, 1839, and after a Journey of 1910 miles m.'ide on foot within sixty-one days, he arrived at lied River Settlement early in February, 1840. Here he reaiained waiting ^ ' 'thority from England to pro- ceed on a new exi>v;uit. )n which he had proposed to lead. Deeply mortified at not' receiving answers to his dispatches as soon as he ex^^ected them, he left 1^ M ' litt l< !'■; Ilil .ll-i ii 294 MU. RIMPKON MT'UDKUKD. tlio scttlonient on tlio 0th of ,huw -vvitli n party of lialf-l)ivtMls anll<'ctliig provisions and fuel for a ten luoutlis' winter. To one less e.\])erieneed and hardy, tluf (lesolate shores of Repulse Jiay would have forbidden such an attempt. They yielded neitlier di'ift-wood nor shnd)- by plants of any kind; but Dr. l*ae employed jmrt of his men to gather the withered stems of a small hci'bjiceous ])lant whic-h gi'cw in abundance on the rocks, and ^' 1 coast of Committee Bay, and on the 27th had 1 d his farthest point .at a headland, which he ca; Cape Crozier, situated about twenty miles souih of the west end of the Fuiy and Ilecla Strait. He then returned to Repulse Bay, and the whole party arrived afely at Fort Churchill on the last day of August. *■ 'le entire expedition had been an emi- nently succ il one, and proved that Dr. Rae was Avell calculu 1 for an Arctic explorer. 18 *| m -^ t. j M'i H w M'*i'j ,.J,„ J\-. •! iiJi' I m CHAPTER XXn. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE, WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. One of the most enthusiastic and indefatigable ex- plorers of the Arctic regions of this, or any other age, was Sir John Franklin. His history as an eminent navigator, — his persistent, cheerful zeal for the accom- plishment of a favorite object through obstacles, dan- gers, and oftentimes intense suffering, ^von for him the admiration and respect of the civilized world ; and especially has the uncertainty of his fate excited an almost universal interest. John Franklin was born at Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England, April 16th, 1786. He was the youngest son of a respectable farmer in moderate circumstances, with a family of twelve children to provide for and educate. John was intended by his parents for the Church, and at an early age was placed in a grammar school to prepare ultimately for the ministry. But his tastes led him in a different direction. He had a passion for the sea. While a school-boy at Louth, he took advantage of a holiday to walk twelve miles, with a companion, to look at the ocean, which he then beheld for the first time. The effect upon his mind was wonderful. He gazed upon it for hours with emotion? of intense delight, and from that day his 296 LIFE OF SIR JOUN FRANKLIN. 297 heart burned as it never did before, to trace its bound- aries and explore its mysteries. His father, thinking his son carried away by a boy- ish romance, and that he had no idea of the unpoet- ical shade of a sailor's life, hoped that a little expe- rience of its hardships and discomforts would break the charm, and cure him of his folly. Accordingly he gave John permission to make a voyage in a merchant vessel to Lisbon. But the experiment proved an un- fortunate one, so far as the father's wishes were con- oornccl, for it only served to intensify the boy's passion for a sea-faring life. Mr. Franklin, becoming convinced that it was useless to attempt any longer to change the propensity of his son, yielded to his wih^hcs, and procured for him a position in the navy as a midship- man, at the age of fourteen. He was jdaced on board the Polyphemus, a ship of the line, and served in her at the battle of Copenhagen, April 2d, 1801. During the engagement, a young midshipman and comrade was shot dead standing by his side. In the ensuing summer he was more pleasantly em- ployed on board tlie Investigator, a government ship commanded by his cousin, Captain Flinders, who was commissioned to explore the coasts of Australia. After nearly two years spent in this service, which was an excellent preparatory school to qualify him f( r future pursuits, he with the officers and crew sailed for home in the Porpoise, a store-ship — the Investi- gator having been condemned as unseaworthy. Hut the Porpoise, shortly after leaving port, was wrecked upon a reef about two hundred miles from Australia. Here he and his companions remained fifty (lays, upon a small sand-bank, until relief came to them from Port Jackson. The crew was now dia- ) 'i If i -If- '" p Am H M- Wi ;!.••[« ,/■ ill i"t J-^"k:J IhJ if ; i' iir» ' 't 'A m n,' <. Hi' 298 LIFE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. persed, and Franklin was taken to Canton, where he obtained a passage to England on board an armed In- diaman. On their way home they were attacked by a French man-of-war, which, after a severe conflict, was compelled to retire in a crippled condition. Dur- ing the battle, young Franklin distinguished himself for bravery and efficiency. On reaching England he was ordered to Join the ship- ofthe-line, Bolleroplion, and in 1805 took part in the memorable battle of Trafiilgar, in Adiich ho discharged the responsible duties of signal midshipman, with re- markable coolness and courage, in the midst of a hot and most destructive fire from the enemy's sharp-shoot- ers. Of forty persons who stood around him on the poop of the ship, many fell, and only seven escaped unhurt. Subsequent to this, he served six years on board the Bedford, on various stations, the last of which was ou the coast of the United States, during the war of 1812 -15. He commanded the boats of the Bedford in a battle with the American gun-boats at New Orleans, one of which he boarded and captured, though at the expense of a severe wound. For his gallantry in this action, he was promoted to a lieutenancy. In 1818 Franklin made his first Arctic voyage as connnander of the Trent, and witli Captain Buchan attempted to sail over the North Pole. In 1819 ho started on his first great overland journey to the sliores of the Arctic Ocean, which occupied about three years. In 1823 he was married to Eleanor Porden, daugh- ter of an eminent architect, a lady of superior abil- ities, who distinguished herself at a very early fige by her remarkable attainments in Greek and Latin, LIFE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 299 and also in several modern lanfjuages. She was also a proficient in botany, chemistry, and geology. She was, in addition, a poetess of no ordinary promise. In 1818, she published the "Arctic Expedition" — a poem. This led to her acquaintance with Franklin, to whom she was united in marriage in 1823. About a vear and a li(df after his marriage, Frank- lin was appointed to the command of another over- land expedition to the Arctic Ocean. The appoint- ment, though in accordance with his chivalric enthusi- astic nature, was, in one respect, very inopportune. His devoted wife was in a rapid decline, and evidently drawing near her end. When the day assigned for his departure arrived, she was lying at the point of death. To leave her, in such circumstances, was like tearing out his heart-strings; but she insisted that he should not delay his departure an hour on her account, and as he took his leave of her, she, with a kiss, gave him as a parting gift, a silk flag, with a request that he would hoist it on reaching the Polar Sea, which he did. She died, much lamented, the day after her husband left England. On his return from his two overland journeys, Franklin published narratives thereof; no one can read them without deep respect and admiration for the l)rave Christian spirit which sustained him and his companions during the most appalling hardships. The most interesting portions of these narratives have been given in preceding chapters. In 1828, Franklin was married to Miss Jano Grifltin, daughter of John Griffin Esq., and born about 1800. She still survives, and has distinguished herself the world over, by her public spirit, and her indomitable perseverance in search of her lost husband. In the ay the tiuie they have fixed upon ; and I must beg of you to give them the benefit of your advice and experience when that time arrives, for you knov/ well that without success in our object, even after the second winter, we should wish to try i-ome other cliannel if the state of our provis- ions and the health of the crews justify it." The ships started nortlnvard again on the loth of July; on the 2Ctli of July they were spoken near lat- itude 75° by the whaler Prince of Wales, which was boarded by seven officers of the expedition, who in- vited the captain to dine with Sir John on the follow- ing day. But as a breeze fivoraljle for tlie wiialer sprang up in the night, its captain set sail without receiving on board any of the letters which the ex- plorers doubtless intended to give him 1)efore he left them. When the Prince of Wales left the two ships, they were moored to an ice-berg. This was the last ever seen of the " Erebus " and " Terror," iind the last direct intelligence that has been received from Sir John Franklin and his men to this day. Years elapsed before any indication of their fate or the fumtest trace of the lost explorers were discovered. i4 '•■t [^' • . J' ,: CHAPTER XXIII. SEARCHES FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. (expeditions of 1848.) As the year 1847 drew to a close without bringing any intelligence from Franklin, great solicitude for his safety was felt in England, and the government resolved to send out three distinct expeditions to search for him. Each of these was to have its own independent route, but all were to conv(M*ge toward the Arctic Archij)elago, through whose intricate and unexplored channels and sounds Fi'anklin was supposed to be striN'ing to force his way. One of these expe- ditions was to sail direct to Lancaster Sound, and follow in the track of the missing ships; another was to proceed overland down the Mackenzie River, and examine the coasts of the continent ; and the third was to go by way of Bering's Sti'aits. The command of the first named expedition was given to Captain James C. Ross, who sailed from England, June l:]tli, 1848, with two ships, the Enter- prise and Investigator — the latter being commanded by Captain E. J. Bird. Each ship was provided with a steam launch. The passage through Baffin's Bay was difficult and tedious, and Lancaster Sound was not reached till nearly the last of August. At its 304 JAMES C. KOSS S EXPEDITION. 305 entrance and while sailing along its coasts, the shores were carefully scrutinized for traces of Fi'anklin. Guns were fired when foggy; rockets and lights were fre(]uently l)urned ; and rasks containing information for the benefit of the missing men were daily thrown overboard. On the 1st of September, Ross reached Cape York at the east side of tlie entrance to Prince Regent's Inlet. He then crossed the inlet, and coasted the northern shores of Barrow's Strait, far enough to see that Wellington Channel was firmly frozen. On the 11th of SeptemlxT he with great difficulty reaehed Port Le<)})()ld, which is situated at the Junction of the four great channels, Lancaster Sound, Banvnv's Strait, Wellington Channel, and Pi'ince Regent's In- let. The next day the ice-pack closed the mouth of the harbor and the ex]iedition was fast for the winter, which the cr(;ws ])nssed in a comfortable manner. Over fifty white foxes were taken alive during the season in traps constructed of casks, and after being fitted to copper collars upon which were engraved the position of the shi{)s and ])i'ovision depots, they Avere set at liberty, in the hope that some of them might l)e caught by Franklin's nuMi. On the 15th of May, Ross and Lieut. McClintock with twelve men, made a journey to the south, and examined the northern and western shores of North Somerset, but found no traces of Franklin, and the party returned to the shi})s, June 23d, in an ex- hausted condition. In their absence other unsuccess- ful searches had been made, and one party visited the house on Fury Point in which Sir John Ross passed the winters of lS.'V2-3. It was now midsummer, but the Enterprise and T>^i** i^tfi ^'^^ !\\ mi*" w^M IP' Uv If I ^(|. it :■.' !• 'f I 1 t tSf 1 4 1--^:^ it If 111, : "• ** 30G 8EAUCIIES FOR FRANKLIN. Investigator were still l^loclvaded l>y the ice. rj('j)a- rations for leaving were however made, and, as a refuge for lost explorers, a house covered Avitli can- vas was erected on the shore of 8])ars and other ma- terial. A large supply of provisions was stored therein ; and one of the launches was put in good order, to l)e left hehiiid. After an imprisonment in the ice of one year less fourteen days, the ships were lil)erated on the 2St]i of August, and steered toward the northern shore of Barrow's Strait ; l)ut they Avere soon surrounded Ly ice, and it seemed prohahle that they would remain therein for another winter. Soon afterwai'd, however, the M'hole body of ice hegan to drive to the eastwai'd, and the shi])S were carried with it through Lancaster Sound and down the westerly shores of Baffin's Bay. Here a great nnmher of icebergs sti'etched across the ])ath, and presented the crews a fearful jn-ospect of the destruction of their vessels. But when least ex- pected by them, the great ice-floe was rent into innu- merable fragments, as if by some unseen powei", and the vessels were i-eleased from its grasji. But it was evident that the hunt of the Enterpi'ise and Investigator was over for that season ; so the}^ "were turned homeward, and reached Eniiland in November 1840. The searchers had found no clue as to where the lost exploi'ers were, but had learned of some j)laces where they were not. The overland search for Franklin M'as entrusted to Sir John Richardson assisted by Dr. John Rae. These gentlemen left Liverj)ool March Sath, bS48, and reached the Hudson's Bay Company territ mt, via New York and Montreal. Proceeding thencc lO Great Slave Lake by the usual route, they crossed it, lUCHAUDSON AND llAES EXrEUlTION. 807 and entered the Maclvon/Zie Tvlvcr, July 21st. The ssea was reached early in August, and here E8(|uimaux ■were met in gieat nund)ers — all anxious to trade, or steal, as opportunity offered ; but of Franklin or his shii)s they knew nothing. After entering the Arctic Ocean, T?i chard son coasted eastward for some eight hundred miles, lio])ing to reach and ascend the Co]>2iennine Kiver; l)ut when near its mouth, ice pi-evented further ])rogi'('ss of the boats, and they were hauled into a safe position, as far as the elements were C(mcerned, and abandoned ■with nearly all their contents. It was subsetpiently ascertained that the goods were a])i)ropriated by the Esquimaux, who also destroyed the boats to secure the iron and copper used in their construction. The party noAV i)i'oceeded on foot to the Copper- mine Kiver and up its valley, and reached Fort Con- fidence on Great Bear Lake, Sept. ] r)th. Ilej-e they passed the Avinter. The next summer, Di*. Kae with six men descended the Coppermine for the purpose of searching the coasts of Wollaston and Victoria Land ; but the strait was so full of ice that lie could not cross it, and the party returned to Fort Confidence at the close of August. Dr. Kichardson left the fort on the 7th of May, and i-eached Liverj)ool in Novem- ber after an absence of nineteen months. Not the slightest information of Franklin had been obtained; but provisions and letters were buried in several places, and signal posts indicating the precise spots set up to attract the attention of the castaways if they chanced to come that -way. The expedition by way of Bering's Strait was put under command of Captain Henry Kellett, of the ship Herald, which was then in the Pacific. On 308 SEAKCIIES FOR FKANKLIN. I iff, F' '''» , .w' ^ iir-'^ 'f': receiving instructions from home to that effect, Kel- lett proceeded to Kotzehuo Sound, hut returned to winter at the Sandwich Ishmds. Another vessel, the Pkiver, commanded l>y Thomas E. L. Moore, started from Enghind January Ist, 1848, to join the Herald, and passed the winter of 1848-9 at Noovel, Kam- chatka. On the 14th of July, 1840, the Plover anchored off Chamisso Island, Kotzebue Sound, the appointed rendezvous, where she was joined the ntixt day by the Herald, and hy the j^acht Nancy Dawson, in which its owner, Robert Shedden, had started on a pleasure trip around the world. AVhile in China, Mr. Shedden heard of the intended expedition, and resolved to join it in the search for Franklin. On the 18th, the three vessels sailed north, and on the 25th had reached ley Cape. At this point an expedition of four l)oats under Lieut. Pullen, accom- panied by the yacht, proceeded up the coast as far as Dease's Inlet. The yacht and two of the boats then returned to the ships, which meantime had cruised to the north until ice was encountered. Lieut. Pullen, with the other two boats, continued the search easterly to the mouth of the Mackenzie, which he ascended, reaching Fort Simpson on the 18th of October. Here he wintered ; and in the following season he descend- ed the river, and remained on the sea coast till the first of September. Eeturning to Fort Simpson he proceeded to England, and again joined in the search as commander of the North Star. In September, the three vessels rendezvoused in Kotzebue Sound, and on the 29th of that month, leaving the Plover to winter there, the Herald and the Nancy Dawson started south. The gallant Shed- TIIK HEKALD AND PLOVEK. 809 den, who Imd taken an active and daring part in the Hunnner's search, died at Mazatlan soon afterward. In July, 1850, tlie Ilerahl again joined the Plover at the rendezvous, and the two vessels started noi'tli together, but on encountering ice separated. The coast V)etween Icy Cape atid Point Harrow was care- fully examined by the Plover. The two vessels met again in August, and fell in with the Enterprise — Ca[)tain Collinson — which had just arrived to join in the search. When winter came on the Herald sailed for England, and the Plover anchored in Grantley Harbor. At a subsequent date the Plover also re- turned home. ^ r ^^ i' ^. i--'-''^l ill w CHAPTER XXIV. SEARCHES FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. (EXPEDITIO:jfS OF 1850.) Frvi'j years had now ipsed since Franklin left England, and not a word had been heard from him since the Prince of Wales parted from the Erebus and Terror in Baffin's Bay. Hojies were however enter- tained that the missing explorers were stili alive, and the desire to rescue them became intense. The search, in which the United States now joined, Avas accord- ingly renewed with increased vigor. Several fresh expeditions were dispatched from England to the scene of action. One of them consisting of two ships, the Enterprise and Investigator, under Collinson and McClure, sailed for Bering's Strait, via Caj)e Horn ; and others, whose history is given in this: chapter, took the old route up Baffin's Bay. The most important of these expeditions via B." ffin's Bay, was entrusted to the conmand of Captain il. T. Austin, and comprised tv/o ships--the Resolute and Assistance — and two screw steamers — the Pioneer and Intrepid. These vessels were commanded respect- ively by Captain Austin, Captain E. Ommaney, Lieut. S. Osborne, and Lieut. B. Cator. Captain Austin's squadron sailed from England in May, 1850, its par- 310 AUSTIN a SQUADRON. nil ticuLar mission heing to search the shores of Welling- ton Cliannel, and Melville Island. The season proved an imfavoralde one for Arctic navigation, and the ships, being beset by ice in Mel- ville Bay, did not reach Lancaster Sound till August. The Assistance and Intrepid undertook the exaiiiiiia- tion of the north shores of tliis sound, and on tlie 28d readied Cape Riley, at the entrance to Wellington Channel, where were found the first traces of the lost expedition. The Rescue, one of the U. S. explor- ing vessels, was also at Cape Riley at the time and shared in this discovery. Soon afterward sevei'al ships of other ex^ieditions wore in the neighborhood of Cape Riley ; and on Beechey Island, three miles distant from the cape, were fomid very interesting relics of Franklin's party, and the craves of tliree of his men. All Avent to show that the crews of the Erebus and Terror had here made their first winter-rpiarters. Dr. Kane, of the Advance, carefully examined all these traces of Frank- lin, and liis descriptions thereof will be found in a f;uhse(pient chapter of this book. Leaving; Beechev Island and sailinnj Avesterlv, Aus- tin's squadron reached a position between Cornwallis Island and (xriffith's Island where the vessels were frozen in the ice for the winter. In the spring, sledge excursions were made along Farry's Strait. Ca]>tain Ommaney with one hundred and four men and four- teen sledges, traveled four hundred and eighty miles — two hundred and five of Avhidi had ne\ er been exjilored. In this journey, occupying sixt}' days, sails were occasionally hoisted on the sledges, and large kites were also attached. When the wind was high, these aids propelled the .dedge very rapidly, 19 ■V. *<*■'■ ^..^^ hi; fill ll'i ■' I"- 1 III if' A f itl« t Hi ' I f T I ~ I ' .1 i'\ S12 SEARCHES FOR FUANKLIX. and tlie wliole of the pui'ty then rode ; hut when the wind fell, the sledges, with their pi'ovisions and stores, had to he dragged ])y main force over the ice hy tlie men harnessed to them. A s<.'cond sledge excursion, under Lieut. McClin- tock, traveled seven hundred and sixty miles, discov- ered forty miles of coast, and achieved the furthest Avesting that had ever been attained in this part of the Polar Sea— a point in latitude 74"^ 88^ and longi- tude lU^ 20'. To the north of Bank's Land and at a distance of about seventy miles, he discovered a rang(! of land appareutly running nearly due west. Followiiiii: the coast of Melville Lsland to the north- east, he entered Liddon Gulf, and here saw fi'iigmcnts of coal of good fpiality. Li June he found ]\irry's encampment of 1820, and the "strong hut light cart" in wiiich Pai'iy carried his tent and stores, and the kettle containing the cylinder in which was enclosed Pai'i'v's record. Placing the kettle over the tire, the cylinder was thawt'^. out and the record carefully unfolded; Init nothing hut the date could be distin- guished. INicClintock then struck across the land to Winter Harbor, another of Parry's encampments, which evidently had not been visited since 1820. The inscri])tion there cut on a large sandstone boul- der was still le<2:il)le. On the Oth of June he started to return to the ship, and reached it July 4th. These searches having resulted in finding no traces of tlie Erebus and Terror west and north of the mouth of Wellington Channel, Austin concluded that they had probably steered for the Polar Sea thi'ough Jones' Sound, and he therefore visited that locality with his two steamers. After going up the sound some forty- five miles he was arrested by a fixed banier of ice. SIR JOHN Ross's EXPEDITION. 313 lie found no traces of Frunkliu's party, and, conclud- ing tliat any furtlier effort would be useless, he set sail for England wliere he arrived in the autumn of 1851. Amono; the searchers for Fi'anklln "was the veteran Sir John Ross, who sailed from England, April, IH;")*), in a small vessel called the Feli.v, accompanied by his (twn yacht, tlie Mary, as a tender. Sir Jt)hn overtook Austin's scpiadron off the const of (Ireenland on the 11th of August, and on the l.'Jth fell in with some Esquimaux near Cape York, who told him, that in the Avinter of 1846 two shi]>s were oia>l-ed in the ice a little further up the coast, and Lu(.lr crew^s, some of whom wore epaulets, kilh^l by the natives. A subsequent investigation led Austin to ])elieve that the whole story was unti'ue ; but Ross, long after his return to England, adhered to his theory that the lost explorers ])erishe(l in Baffin's Bay in the manner indicated by the Esquimaux. Ross, however, continued the search as jtreviously arranged with Austin, and on the lUth of August when off Admirality Inlet, was overtaken by tin; Ad- vance, Lieut. l)e Haven, at just about the s])ot wlusn; Ross had been j ticked U]) by the Isabella seventeen years l)efore. Ross bore a ]^art in the discoveries made at Cape Rilt-y and vicinity, and subsequently wintered in the ice near Austin's ships. When Ross left England a lady gave him four car- rier ])igeons, two of which he was to liberate at a stated time, and the othei- two when he found Frank- liii. Ross sent off' the first pair on the 0th of October in a basket suspended to a balloon, during a noi'th- west gale. By a slow-match arrangement the birds would be hberated at the end of twenty-four hours. ^Vi w I: .1 li fit lUm if [ \ i f i.'f m :yi i*l,i( -Truf :1 : . ;'l; v-. •'.I ' iii ' Hi 31J: SEAHCUES FOR F11A>'KLIX. On the 13tli of October a pigeon arrived at the dove- cot of the lady, which she believed to be one of tliose given to Boss. It brought no message, but that was believed to have been lost during the long transit. Another of the expeditions of 1850 was fitted out wholly through the efforts of Lady Franklin, and mostly at her exj^ense. It consisted of a ship and a brig, the Lady Fi-anklin an'^ the Sophia, and was placed in charge of Captain Peuiiy, who had had much Arctic experience as master of a whaling ship. Although the expedition was an independent one, Penny co-operated with the ^^thers, and after partici- pating in tlic search at Cape Riley his vessels were frozen up for the winter a few miles easterly of x\us- tin's squadron. In the spring, Captain Penny undertook the search of Wellington Channel, and on the 1 7th of April six sledge ]iarties started imder his general supei'inteud- ence. The principal discovery Avas a wide strait to the north of Cornwallis Island, which was named Victoria Channel. Full of faith that Franklin had gone up this chan- nel Penny hastened l)ack to the ships for a boat, which he mounted on sledges, and after incredible fatigues and tantalizing delays, he launched on the channel and examined three hundred and ten miles of the coast, when, his provisions failing, he was compelled reluctantly to retrace his course. His ])ei'severance on this expedition entitles him to an honorable name among Arctic explorers. On the 12th of August, 1851, the Lady Franklin and Sophia, again free from the ice-grip, were started homeward, and arrived stifely in England about the middle of September. \:-im TUE I'liUX'E ALJ3EUT. 315 Supplementary to Captain Penny's expedition was that of the schooner Prince Albert under Captain Forsyth. Lady Franklin had still some funds left, and thought they could not )>e better invested than in equipping another vessel to go in searjh of her lost husband. Making use of all her avaihible means she defrayed about two-thirds of the cost of this expedition, and her friends paid the balance. Captain Forsyth A\as aldy assisted by Commander AV. P. Snow, and both were volunteers, who desired no fur- ther compensation than the satisfaction of I'endering aid to a noble man and an equally noble lady. They were instructed to examine the shores of Prince lie- gent's Inlet, which at the time Franklin sailed was sui)posed i ) communicate with the Polar Sea through Dease's Strait. ■ Captain Forsyth sailed from Aberdeen on the 5th of June, and on the 21st of August arrived off Port Leopold. Here he landed, and found that tlie honse constructed by Sir John Poss was in c'ood condition to furnish a retreat for Aj'ctic adventures, and the stores were abundant and in good order. Losing no time here, the Prince Albert Itoldly en- tered Prince Regent's Lilet When they were sailing jiast Batty Bay the crew were greatly excited by hear- ing what they supposed was the tiring of a gun on shore. The officers directed their glasses to the land, but nothing human was to be seen. The howitzer was tired, but there was no response, and reluctantly they concluded that the noise they had heard was occasioned by ilie falling of a rock or masses oi' ice. When oft' Fui} Beach, the scliooner's progi'ess was stopped by a dense fog, .'U id when .his cleared the vessel was found in a bighi of ice within a few yards i: . ^ .*»., - -;• W "W Ik ^K'.nM ■"I "ll i^i ■!! ii: 316 SEAKCIIES FOK FUANKLIN. of a liummocky field, in which not one crack of open water could be seen from the crow's-nest. Forsyth and Snow concludetl that their mission to Boothia was effectually thwarted for that season, and turnint^ the bow of the Prince Albert northward, proceeded to the vicinity of Cape Iviley, Avhere they fell in with several vessels of the English and American expe- ditions. Learning of the discoveries which had ])een made there but a day or two previously, they joined in the search, and then, with some of the relics of Franklin's i)aj-t\', started homeward where they arrived on the 1st of October. One other vessel which was in Barrow's Straits in 1850 should here be mentioned. The North Star left England in 1849, with stores for the ex})editi()n of .>anies C. Ross, but she was beset by ice in Mel- ville Bay and drifted up the coast of Greenland, where Khe wintered in lat. 76*^ ;?.'>'. Four of her crew died before she escaped fi'om the ice. She arrived at Port Leopold, Aul;'. 18th, but iiiiding the harbor full of ice, procei ^d to Navy Board Inlet ih-ar Wollaston Laud, where she put on the mainland her sur]»his stores and f. el. Then scud dins' befoi'e a mile, slie sailed through Lancaster Sound, and arrived iu Scot- laud on the 28th of September, 1850. ^?^ CIIAPTEK XXV. • I (' SEAKCIIES FOR SIR JOHN FR \NKLIN. (discovery of a north- west passage.) The Bering^s Strait EAppditlon referred to in the last c'lia})ter, consisted of two sliips, th*^ Enterj)rise, Cap- tain Ricliard Collinson, and tlie Investi^'ator, Command- er Robert McClure. These l)rave men sailed on tlieir benevolent and hazardons mission, January 2<)th, 1850, and made a safe and speedy passage to Bering's Strait. On the 28th of August Collinson had reached a posi- tion north of Point Barrow, but being unable to pene- trate further ^ ^\ 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY 14580 (716) 872-4S03 w ^0 '«»'-'- J Ill ' ill'. ill ■' 322 SEARCHES FOR FRANKLIN. Melville Sound to be seen from Mount Observation, Parry had sailed eastward into Baffin's Bay and thence home ; and McClure had sailed easterly from Bei'ing's Sti'ait almost to Parry's starting point and into watei's connecting therewith. The great problem for the solution of which so many Arctic explorers had risked their lives was now solved. A large cairn was erected, a record of the discovery placed therein, and then came the fatiguing return joui'ney to the Investigator, during which McClure came near perishing. When within a few miles of the Investigator he pushed on ahead of his party who were slowly drawing the sledge, that he might tell his comrades the glorious news; but night overtook him ere he reached the vessel, and with it came a dense mist which obscured everytliing. He pushed on, guiding his couise by the direction of the wind, until repeated falls over the rough ice admonished him of the danger of broken bones. " I now climbed," says McClure, " on a mass of squeezed-up ice in the hope of seeing my l)arty, siiould they pass near, or of attracting the attention of some one on board the vessel by firing my fowling-piece. Unfortunately I had no other amnumition than what it was loaded with. After waiting for an liour patiently, I was rejoiced to see through the mist tlie glare of a blue light, evidently burnt in the direction in which I had left the sleduje. I immediatelv fiivd to denote my position, but my fire was unobserved, and both barrels being discharged I was unable to repeat the signal. My only hope now rested on tlie ship's answering, but nothing was to be seen, and there seemed no probability of my having any other shelter for the night that what the floe afforded. J- mcclure's Nioirr adventure. 323 " It was now half-past eight. There were eleven Lours of night before me, a temperature 15* below zero, bears prowling about, and I with an unloaded gun in my hands. The sledge party might, liowever, reach the ship, and, finding I had not arrived, search would be made and help be sent ; so I walked to and fro upon my hummock until, I suppose, it must have been eleven o'clock, when that hope fled likewise. Descending from the top of the slab of ice upon wliich I had clambered, I found under its lee a famous bed of soft, dry snow, and thoroughly tired out, I threw myself upon it and slept for perhaps three hours, when upon opening my eyes, I fancied I saw the flash of a rocket. Jumping upon my feet I found that the mist had cleared off, find that the stars and aurora borealis were shining in all the splendor of an Arctic night. Although unable to see the islands or the ship, I wandered about the ice in different directions until daylight, when, to my great mortification, I found I had passed the ship fully the distance of four miles." MeClure finally reached the Investigator before the arrival of the sledge-party, and great was the rejoicing on board at the news of the discoveiy of the North- west passage. During the winter and sjiring, sledge-parties were sent out in various directions, but no ti'aces of Frank- lin were found and no important geographical discov- eries made. Reindeer, musk-ox and other animals were occasionally met with all through the long Arc- tic night, and McClure concluded that it was a mistake to suppose that these inhabitants of the Arctic Archf- pelago migrated south to avoid the extreme cold of the winters. ^1 824 6EAKC1IE8 FOR FUANKHN. In July, 1851, the ice-floe in which the ship had rested began to break up, and on the I7th the shij) was once more free. But she enjoyed her liberty for only a short time, being soon captured by the pack- ice and again carried back and forth through Prince of Wales Strait as on the previous year. The situa- tion was aggravating in the extreme. At times only twenty-five or thirty miles separated McClure and his crew from an open sea, through which, if they could only reach it, they might sail to Baffin's liay and England the same summer. The alternative was to pass another gloomy and hazardous winter amid the ice. But all attempts to get the ship further to the north-east than it was drifted by the ice proved unsuccessful ; and it turned out that the North-west passage was not much of a passage after all, so far as the Investigator was concerned. The great trouble was, that an ice-bridge several miles in length obstructed the way. McClure now decided to retrace his steps if possible to the southerly point of Banks' Land and to sail up its western coast. In this attempt he was so success- ful, that on the 10th of August he had passed Point Kellett, and was rapidly progressing northward through a lane of open water nearly five miles wide. Soon after this the lead became very narrow and much obstructed by floating ice, while the pack, be- tween which and a precipitous coast they were sail- ing, was of fearful thickness — extending fifty feet below the water, which was very deep, and rising in places into hills a hundred feet high. The situation was full of peril, for had the ice set towards the abrupt cliffs along which they were sailing, nothing could have saved the ship. LIFE AT MERCY BAY. 325 On the 20th of August, the Investigator was fast lietween the ice and the beacli at the north-west cor- ner of Banks' Land, and remained so till the 29th, wlien the immense floe to which she had been fastened AMIS raised edgeways out of the water by the cro\\ding of the surrounding ice, and lifted perpendicularly some thirty feet close to the ship's bows. It seemed as if the ship must capsize, and had the ice tojipled over, as appeared likely, it would have sunk her. But the floe, after frightful oscillations, righted itself and drifted onward. At another time the wreck of the Investigator seemed certain, and all that McClure could hope for was " that the ship might be thrown up sufficiently to serve as an asylum for the wintei'." At length on the 24th of SeptemV)er, the explorers drifted into a large bay on the northern shores of Banks' Land, where they found a secure harbor, and here they passed the winter. In gratitude for past deliverances McClure called the place Mercy Bay. Game was abundant, and hunting parties rambled over the hills almost daily throughout the winter, excei)ting when prevented })y occasional snow-storms, or when it was too dark for shooting. Some of the hills were three hundred feet high with wild and picturesque gorges between them. On their sides abundance of wood was found, and in many j)laces layers of trees were visilde, some protruding a dozen feet. One of the largest of these tnmks measured nineteen inches in diameter. The hunters met with various adventures, and one poor negro followed a wounded deer so far that he became bewildered and could not retrace his steps. He was so frightened out of his senses, that when found he stood crying, fancying himself frozen to in III ilii I I 826 8EAUCIIE8 FOU FRANKLIN. death, and could not be induced to make any exer- tion to return. In spite of his prayer to be let alone to die, his comrade carried and rolled him down the hills to the ship, where he soon recovered his strength and senses. In April, 1852, a sledge jouraey was made across Banks' Strait to Winter Harbor on Melville Island, where Parry had wintered. Here a cairn was found containing information that Lieut. McClintock of the Intrepid had been there on a previous summer. In this same cairn McClure deposited a notice of his own visit, and of the situation of the Investigator at Mercy Bay. This information subsequently led to the rescue of himself and crew. During the summer of 1852 the scurvy made its appearance among the crew. On the 1st of July six of the men were confined by it to their beds, and numbers more began to feel its symptoms. To add to their troubles the summer proved a very cold one, and before the close of July it became pretty manifest that the Investigator must spend another long winter's night in her present moorings. The grip of the ice was worse than the grip of the Tartar. During July and August the crew were daily employed in gather- ing sorrel which grew in the vicinity ; eaten as a salad or boiled, it was found to be a most valuable anti-scor- butic, and proved an efficient medicine for the scurN-y patients. Sledging parties w^ere also sent out in hopes to accomplish the great mission of the Investigator — the finding of Franklin ; but not a trace of his party was discovered. " Although," says McClure, " we had already been twelve months upon tAvo-thirds allowance, it was necessary to make preparations for meeting eighteen , 4 RELIEF AT HAND. 327 months more ; a very severe depnvation and constitu- tional test, l)ut one which the sen'ice we were eini)loy- ed upon called for, the vessel l>eing as sound as the day she entered the ice; it would, therefore, he dis- creditahle to desert her in 185.*^, when a favorable season would run her through the straits and admit of reaching England in safety, where the successful achievement of th(? long-sought-for and almost hope- less discovery of the Noith-west passage Moidd be received with a satisfaction that wouhl amj)ly com- ])ensate for the sacrifices made and hardships endured in its most trying and tedious accomplishment." In November the ship was housed over, and banked up Avith ice and snow, and preparations completed for spending a second winter at Mercy liay. The crew kept up their spirits; hunting was again the order of the day ; and deer, hares, and ptarmigan were })lenty. Christmas was celebrated with great eclat^ and all vied to make it a cheerful and happy one. Each mess was gayly illuminated, and decorated with original paintings by the lower-deck artist, exhibiting the ship in her perilous positions during the transit of the Polar Sea, and divers other subjects. Dainties in great ])rofusion graced the lower deck, and a stran- ger witnessing the scene would hardly su])pose that he saw a crew which had passed over two years in those dreaiy regions, depending entirely on their own resources. So passed away the winter of 1852-3; and when spring came the men were all making preparations for carrying out a i)lan which McClure had previously decided on. One-half of the crew and some of the officers were to remain with the ship and endeavor to liberate it during the summer. The rest of the men 20 m ; llll> 328 SKAKCIIES FOR FRANKLIN. were to start for England — a part by way o^ Macken- zie River and Canada, and a part Wy way of Baffin's Bay. All were sad at the prospect of separation, for the sojourn and the journeys were alike full of gloom, and the death, April 5th, of a comrade who had pois- oned himself, add.^d to the general depression of spirits. But une.\'j)efted relief was at hand, and its arrival can be best described in ]\IcClure'8 own words: — " While walking near the ship, in conversation witli the first lieutenant upon the subject of digging a grave for the man who died yesterday, and disci.: ing how we could cut a ijrave in the ground whilst it was ^•,) hardly frozen, we pei'ceived a figure walking ra[)i(lly towards us from the rough ice at the entrance of the bay. From his pace and gestures we botli naturally supposed, at first, that he was some one of our jiarty pursued by a bear ; l)ut, as we aj^proached him, doubts arose as to who it could be. lie was certainly unlike any of our men ; but, recollecting that it was possil)lo some one might be trying a new traveling-dress pre- ])aratory to the departure of our sledges, and certaiij that no one else was near, we continued to advance. "When within about two hundred j'ards of us, the strange figure threw up his arms, and made gesticula- tions resembling those used by Esquimaux, besides shouting at the top of his voice words which, from the wind and intense excitement of the moment, sounded like a wild screecli : and this broujjht us ])()tli fairly to a stand-still. The stranger came quietly on. and we saw that his face wasasblack(from lamp-smoke) as ebony ; and really, at the moment, we might he pardoned for wondering whether he was a denizen of this or t)]e other world ; as it was, we gallantly stood our ground, and, had the skies fallen upon us, THE INVESTIGATOR DESERTED. 329 we could hardly have been more astonif^hod than when the dark-faced stranger called out, ' I'm Tiicn- tenant Pirn, lute of the Herald, and now in the Ucso- lute. Captain Kellett is in her, at Dealy Island.' "To rush at and seize him by the hand was the fii-st inijmlse, for the heart was too full for the tongue to speak. The announcement of relief being close at hand, when none was supposed to be even within the Arctic Circle, was too sudden, unexpected, and joyous, for our minds to conij)rehend it at once. The news flew with ligiitning rni)idity ; the shi[) was all in com- motion ; the sick, forgetful of their maladies, h'aped from their hammt)cks; the artificers dropped their tools, and the lower deck Avas cleared of nu-n ; for they all rushed for the hatchway, to be assured that a stranger w as actually among them, and th.it his tale was true. Despondency fled the shij>, and Lieut. Pirn received a wehHMne — pure, hearty, and giateful — that he will surely remember and cherish to the end of his Lieut. Pim's companions on this journey soon arrived at the ship, with the Fit/.james, a small sledge drawn \)y dogs. On the 8th of April they set out to return to the Kesolute, accompanied hy McClure and some of his men, and reached their shi]> on the ll»th. On the 2d of May, an ollicer arrived from tlie Investigator with news of the death of two more of her crew. McClui'e, with the surgeon of the Resolute, then returned to his ship, intending to send home all the crew^ who were unfitted f(»r service, and to allov.' such others as wished to accomi)any them to do so. AVith the balance he hoped to sav(i his vessel; but on consultins: the crew only four were willing to remain, although all the officers volunteered to stand )lll i' 'I' III! 1 1 1 |i' 830 SEARCHES FOR FKAXKLiy. by tlieir ship. After landing boats and stores for tlio use of CoDinson, Franklin, or any other exph)rer, t\w colors were hoisted to the main-mast on the 3d of June, 1853, and the officers and crew, in all sixty men, bade farewell to the gallant Investigator and started for Dealy Island. After sharing the fortunes of Captain Kellett's ships, the Kosolute and Intrepid, until April, 1854, Cai)t;:in McClure and his men started with sledges, for Beechey Island, where they took up quarters on the North Star. When that ship, later in the season, sailed for England with the crews of five deserted vessels, the brave discoverers of a North-west pas- sage were among the number. It will be remembered by the reader, that Captain Collinson of the Enterprise, not succeeding in enteiing the Polar Sea in the fall of 1850, went to Hong Kong to winter. In 1851 he sailed north, doubled Point Barrow, and following the track of the Investigator through the Continental Channel and up Prince of AVales Strait, penetrated a few miles further north than McCIure had gone. But as no passage through the ice could be found, he sailed southerly and passed the winter of 1851-2 at Walker's Bay, on the eastern side of the entrance of Prince of Wales Strait. Search expeditions were sent out, and portions of Banks' Land, Albert Land, and Victoria Land examined. During the next summer, Collinson took his ship southerly and easterly through Dolphin and Union Strait and Dease Strait, and passed the winter of 1852 -3 at Cambridge Bay, on the southern coast of Vic- toria Land. From this point sledge parties were sent out to explore the western shores of Victoria Strait. Had they crossed this Strait to King William's Land^ KECKNT DKAin OF MtCLUUE. 331 tbeir search for traces of! the lost exj)lorers would have Ikh'II more successful. lieing unable to force a passaj^o throuj^h the ice to till' eastward the next season, Oollinsou wtiiited for Urriiig's Strait, but the Enterprise was cauglit in the ice beibre reaching Pt)int Harrow, and a thiril winter was passed on the noithern coast of Anierica. The exploits of McClure were duly a]>preiiated by his countrymen. lie received the honors of kiiiuht- hood, and his commission as Ca])tain was dated back to the day when, from a hill on Banks' L.uid, lie gazed on a continuous ocean. Gold oi."';ils were uwardiid to him by the English and French (reograjjhi- cal Societies, and a select committee of tlu^ House of Commons resolved that the officers anl('tely closed, and that the whole pack was drifting down the inlet, carrying the shij) with it. Little could be seen or heard but the tovsing, roaring auossil>le. Nothing could be (buie but to make thejusclves as comfortable for the niijht as frozen clothes and cold winds would allow. The boat was hauled up on shore, and under its shelter, but Avitlioiit blankets or coverings of any kind, Kenned v and his men made the best of their situati(»n. No <)ne was permitted to slec]) but an hour at a time for fear of being frozen. AVith the dawn of day the shivering party ascended the highest cliff of Cape Seppings and strained their eyes in search of the Prince Albert. Not a sign of 334 S£AUCU£S FOB FKANKLIN. B^S' H ' the vessel was to be seen ; and here they were, alone on a ]>leak coast at the cominencement of an Arctic wintei', without shelter, provisions or fuel, and scan- tily clad. Fortunately, Kennedy was aware that two years before Sir James lloss had made a depot of pro- visions at Whaler Point on the other side of the har- bor. To this depot the little company directed their way, and were overjoyed to find plenty of provisions and the canvas hut which Ross had erected. "It was now," says Kennedy, "the lOtli of Septem- ber. Winter was evidently fast setting in, and, from the distance the shi[) had been carried during that dis- astrous night (whether out to sea or down the inlet we could not conjecture) there was no hope of our being able to rejoin her, at least during the present season. There remained, therefore, no altei'native but to make up our minds to pass the winter, if necessary, where we were. The first object to be attended to ^vas the erecting of some sort of slielter against the daily in- creasing inclemency of the weather; and for this pur- pose the launch, left by Sir James llo^s, was selected. Her mainmast Avas laid on supports at the bow and stern, about nine feet in height, and by spreading two of her sails over this a very tolerable roof \vas ob- tained. A stove was set np in the body of the boat, with the pipes running through the roof; and we were soon sitting by a comfortable. fire, which, after our long exposure to the wet and cold, we stood very much in need of." Ca})tain Kennedy was not the man to sit down idle and wait for something to turn np. He immediately began devising plans for future operations. The fii-st thing was to search ft)r the Prince Albert, and the second was to hunt for Franklin. Before either pro- BELLOT8 RESCUE PARTY. 335 ject could be earned out it was necessary to provide some additional clothing and especially shoes. Ma- terial for both was at hand in the slmi)e of canvas, and the party passed their days — Sundays excepted — in making it up. To their credit, be it said, that their Sabbaths were observed strictly as holy time, and He who had so wonderfully preserved them in theii" extremity was duly honored. AVliile thus busily employed in preparations for their exploi-ing expeditions they were smldenly star- tled, on the 17th of October, by the firing of a gun in the direction of Cape Seppings. Rushing eagerly from their house thev discovered seven of the Prince All)ert's men, headed by Lieut. Bellot, who had come in search of their lost comrades. The mutual coni^rat- ulations and thanksij^ivinors can be better imai^ined than described. Bel lot reported that the Prince Al- bert was securely moored in Batty Bay, and that he and his men had come up on the ice, dragging a boat with them for use if needed, Bellot had made two previous attempts to reach Port Leopold, but had been baffled once by deep snows, and again by weakness of the ice, through which the sledge broke and was lost. Five weeks had elaj)sed since Bellot ha till the 18th of August, and an attem})t was then nnuh' to get them to Beeehey Island ; but it proved unsuccessful, and early in September they were again fast in the new ice. For two months the ships drifted back and forth with the floe, and then came to a stand-still in longitude 101°, at a place due east of AVintei- Har])or. Ilei-e they passed the winter of 1853-4. In the sj)ring, searches for Franklin were renewed, and in A})ril, Lieut. Mea- ehani found at Princess Royal Island, documents left by Collinson in August, 1852. On returning to the ships, IVIeacham found all hands busy preparing to abandon them, as })erein})tory orders to that eifect had been received from Belcher. Every- thing al)Out the vessels was put in perfect order; and then the hatches were calked down, and Kellett and his men started with sledges for Beeehey Island where McClure and his crew had already gone. On Belcher's arrival at Beeehey Island, the officers and men of the five deserted shij»s took passage for home on the North Star. Just as they were starting, two vessels — the Phoenix and Talbot, bringing dis- patches and supplies for Belcher — hove in sight. Thereupon, a portion of the men went aboard Captain 21 ^^m- , ! 844 KETUUN TO KNOLAND. I m Inglcfu'Ul'H HliipH, and the tliroc sailed for England, where they arrived Septenilx'r 28th, 1854. Of the five ves.sels thus abandoned in 185.3-4, only one has since l)een heard from. In September, 1m55, as Captain James Bud*'*< Hyft I n i-fci?i iiUti ¥W^ mi 348 SEARCHES FOR FRANKLm. " Poor Bellot !" " Poor Bellot !" was the exclamation of all, Esquimaux included, as they learned his un- timely end. His was a generous, noble nature. With sincere sympathy for Lady Franklin, he entered the English service for the sole purpose of aiding in the discovery of her noble husband ; and of the many who are buried in the waters and frost-bound lands of the Arctic regions, the memory of none is cherished more ardently by his companions than Lieutenant Bellot. England showed her appreciation of his services by a liberal subscription to his family and by a monu- ment to his memory in Greenwich Hospital. Ino-lefield returned to Ens-land in the autumn of 1853. He was accompanied by Lieut. Creswell of the Investigator, who carried home dispatches announ- cing the discovery of a North-Avest l^assage. In 1853, Dr. Rae, who had made a land expedition in 1851 in which he had thoroughly explored the coast of North America as far east as longitude 110'', was induced to undertake a similar expedition un- der the auspices of the Hudson's BayCcmipany. His former survey had made him thoroughly acquainted with the coast, and had proved that he was the right man to head another expedition. In this year he however advanced only as far as Bepulse Bay, which he reached on the 15t]i of August, and then went into winter-quarters. His researches the succeeding sum- mer, and his important discoveries, which proved to be the key that unlocked the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin, are related in a succeeding chapter. CHAPTER XXIX. THE FmST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. When the year 1848 had arrived without any tidings of Sir Jolin Franklin or his party, Great Britain, as heretofore stated, dispatched three expeditions to look fori Pern. But peculiar drawbacks seemed to attend their efforts, and hefore the beginning of 1850 they had all abandoned the search, almost with- out attaining the first threshold of inquiry. Their failure aroused every where the. generous sympathies of men. Science felt for its votaries, hu- manity mourned its fellows, and an impulse, holier and more energetic than either, invoked a crusade of rescue. That admirable woman, the wife of Sir John Franklin, not content with stimulating the re- newed efforts of her own countrymen, claimed the co-operation of the world. In letters to the President of the United States, full of the eloquence of feeling, she called on us, as a ** kindred people, to join heart and hand in the enterprise of snatching the lost navi- gators from a dreary grave." The delays incident to much of our national legis- lation menaced the defeat of her appeal. The bill making appropriations for the outfit of an expedition lingered on its passage, and the season for commenc- ing operations had nearly gone by. (lit"; hm ^ 350 OEIGIN OF EXPEDITION. :' ; At this juncture, a noble-spirited mercliant of Ne\v York fitted out two of his own vessels and proffered them gratuitously to the government. Thus prompted by the munificent liberality of Mr. Grinnell, Congress hastened to take the expedition under its charge, and authoi'ized the president to detail from the na^'y such necessary oflScers and seamen as might be willing to engage in it. The command was given to Lieutenant Edwin De Haven, and the two vessels, named " Ad- vance " and " Rescue," sailed from New York on tlie 22d day of May, 1850. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, a native of Philadelphia, already distinguished for his world-wide travels, scien- tific enthusiasm and gallant bearing, having repeatedly volunteered for the service, accompanied tlie expedi- tion as its senior medical oflicer and naturalist, and on his return published its history in the form of a " Personal Narrative." From this work we give, by permission, in Dr. Kane's own words, a condensed account of the UNITED STATES GEIITITELL EXPEDITION. On the 12th of May, while bathing in the tepid waters of the Gulf of Mexico, I received one of those courteous little epistles from Washington which the electric telegraph has made so fanuliar to naval offi- cers. It detached me from the coast survey, and or- dered me to *' proceed forthwith to New York, for duty upon the Arctic Expedition." Seven and a half days later, I had accomplished my overland journey of thirteen hundred miles, and in forty hours more our squadron was beyond the limits of the United States : the Department had calcidated my traveling time to a nicety. THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE, 351 A very few books and a stock of coarse woolen clothing, re-enforced by a magnificent robe of wolf- skins, that had wandered down to me from the snow- drifts of Utah, constituted my entire outfit ; and with these I made my report to Commodore Salter at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Almost within the shadow of the line-of-battle ship North Carolina, their hulls completely hidden beneath a projecting wharf, were two little hermaphrodite brigs. Their spars had no man-of-war trigness ; their decks were choked with half-stowed cargo ; and for size, I felt as if I could straddle from the main hatch to the bulwarks. At this first sight of the Grinnell Expedition, I con- fess that the fastidious experience of naval life on board frigates and corvettes made me look down on these humble vessels. They seemed to me more like a couple of coasting schooners than a national squad- ron bound for a perilous and distant sea. Many a time afterward I recalled the short-sighted ignorance of these first impressions, when some rude encounter with the ice made comfort and dignity very secondary thoughts. The "Advance," my immediate home, had been orig- inally intended for the transport of machinery. Her timbers were heavily moulded, and her fastenings of the most careful sort. She was fifty-three tons larger than her consort, the *' Rescue ;" yet both together barely equaled two hundred and thirty-five tons. Of my brother officers I can not say a word. I am so intimately bound to them by the kindly and un- broken associations of friend and mess-mate, that I shrink from any other mention of them than such as my narrative requires. All told, our little corps of AiM^ I aM n .; .*nt; ;,M: ti^a 352 LEAVE NEW YORK nAllBOR. officers numbered four for each ship, including that non-effective limb, the doctor. Our two crews, with the aid of a cook and steward, counted twelve and thirteen; giving a total of but thirty-three. ADVANCE. Officers. Lieutenant Commanding — Edwin J. De Haven, commanding the expedition. Passed Midshipman — William H. Murdaugh, acting master and first oflicer. Midshipman — William I. Lovell, second officer. E. K. Kane, M.D., passed assistant surgeon. it'*. h W RESCUE. Officers. Acting Master — Samuel P. Griffin, commanding the Rescue. Passed Midshipman — Rohort 11. Carter, acting master and first officer. Boatswain — Henry Brooks, second officer. Benjamin Vreeland, M.D., assistant surgeon. About one o'clock on the 2 2d of May, the asthmatic old .stocun-tng that was to be our escort to the sea moved slowly off. Our adieux i'rom the Navy Yard were silent enough. We cost our country no compli- mentary gunpowder; and it was not until we got abreast of the city that the crowded wharves and shipping showed how much that bigger community sympathized with our undertaking. Cheers and hur- ras followed us till we had passed the Battery, and the ferry-boats and steamers came out of their track to salute us in the bay. The sky was overcast before we lost sight of the spire of old Trinity ; and by evening it had clouded over so rapidly, that it was evident M'^e had to look for a dirty night outside. Off Sandy Hook the wind fresh- ened, and the sea grew so rough, that we were forced to part abruptly from the frioiuls who had kept us ADVANCE ASP KKSUUl'; AT l. OUU KIIIST ;('K.llK,R(i •Ills i •i. hi r *r in- i , %'■■:. > Jim ■m '1 Vii m r l^■i pi *~''r » \ -m: ^N It ■■'.[. '' ■■■.;! . 1 ITT-,:- P ' ft :• 5. t .^A im\ i\ fyiir"^" -^^ m w !WHI[ ' 1 Si' M 1 lil n ^lii 1 i i-:'t' THE GOOD-BY. 355 company. We were eating and drinking in our little cabin, when the summons came for them to hurry up instantly and leap aboard the boat. The same heavy squall which made us cast loose so suddenly the cable of the steamer gathered upon us the night and the storm together; and in a lew minutes our transition was complete, from harbor life and home associations to the discomforts and hardships of our career. The difference struck me, and not quite pleasantly, as I climbed over straw and rubbish into the little pe- culium which was to be my resting-place for so long a time. The cabin, which made the homestead of lour human beings, was somewhat less in dimensions than a penitentiary cell. There was just room enough for two berths of six feet each on a side ; and the area between, which is known to naval men as " the coun- try," seemed completely filled up with the hinged ta- ble, the four camp-stools, and the lockers. A hanging lamp, that creaked uneasily on its " gimbals," illus- trated through the mist some long rows ol' crockery shelves and the dripping step-ladder that led directly from the wet deck above. Every thing spoke of cheer- less discomfort and narrow restraint. By the next day the storm had abated. AVe were out of sight of land, but had not yet parted with the last of our well-wishers. A beautiful pilot-boat, the Washington, with Mr. Grinnell and his sons on board, continued to bear us company. But on the 2.5th we saw the white flag hoisted as the signal of farewell. We closed up our letters and took them aboard, drank healths, shook hands — and the wind being fair, were out of sight of the schooner before evening. I now began, with an instinct of future exigencies, to fortify my retreat. The only spot I could call my I IM i i i 'H 1 356 CREATURE COMFORTS. IP I! ; f i ^.^ \ ' ' hi / ilii own was the berth I have spoken of before. It was a sort of hunk — a right-angled excavation, of six feet by two feet eight in horizontal dimensions, let into the side of the vessel, with a height of something less than a yard. My first care was to keep water out, my second to make it warm. A bundle of tacks, and a few yards of India-rubber cloth, soon made me an im- penetrable casing over the entire wood-work. Upon this were laid my Mormon wolf-skin and a somewhat ostentatious Astracan fur cloak, a relic of former travel. Two little wooden shelves held my scanty library ; a third supported a reading lamp, or, upon occasion, a Berzelius' argand, to be lighted when the dampness made an increase of heat necessary. My watch ticked from its particular nail, and a more noiseless monitor, my thermometer, occupied another. My ink-bottle was suspended, pendulum fashion, from a hook, and to one long string was fastened, like the ladle of a street- pump, my entire toilet, a tooth-brush, a comb, and a hair-brush. Now, when all these distributions had been happily accomplished, and I crawled in from the wet, and cold, and disorder of without, through a slit in the India- rubber cloth, to the very centre of my complicated re- sources, it would be hard for any one to realize the quantity of comfort which I felt I had manufactured. My lamp burned brightly ; little or no water distilled from the roof; my furs warmed me into satisfaction; and I realized that I was sweating myself out of my preliminary cold, and could temper down at pleasure the abruptness of my acclimation. From this time I began my journal. At first its entries were little else than a selfish record of personal discomforts. It was less than a fortnight since I was OFF NEWFOUNDLAND. 357 under the sky of Florida, looking out on the live oak with its bearded moss, and breathing the magnolia. Comlbrtable as my bunk was, compared with the deck, I was conscious that, on the whole, I had not bettered my quarters. But with the 7th of June came fine, bright, bracing weatlier. We were off Newfoundland, getting along well over a smooth sea. We had been looking at the low hills near Cape Race, when, about noon, a great mass of whiteness was seen floating in the sunshine. It was our first iceberg. It was in shape an oblong cube, and about twice as large as Girard College. Its color was an unmixed, but not dazzling white : indeed, it seemed entirely coated with snow of such unsullied, unreflecting purity, that, as we passed within a hund- red yards of it, not a glitter reached us. It reminded me of a great marble monolith, only awaiting the chisel to stand out in peristyle and pediment a floating Par- thenon. There was something very imposing in the impassive tranquillity with which it received the lash- ings of the sea. The next day we were off St. John's, surrounded by bergs, which nearly blockaded the harbor. A boat's crew of six brawny Saxon men rowed out nine miles to meet us, and offer their services as pilots. They were disappointed when we told them we were " bound for Greenland ;" but their hearty countenances bright- ened into a glow when we added, " in search of Sir John Franklin." We ran into an iceberg the night after, and carried away our jib-boom and martingale: it was our first adventure with these mountains of the sea. We thumped against it for a few seconds, but slid off smoothly enough into open water afterward. ,if*:i^r hi'. fL.,J :\ f 1 358 THE AKCTIC DAY. i- t yl i We wore now drawinfj noar to Davis's Straits, and the names which recorded our prog^ress upon the charts were full of Arctic associations. The Meta Inroffnita of Frobisher and the Cape of God's Mercy |;,'reetcd lis from the American coast : Cape Farewell was on our starboard quarter, and the " Land of Desolation" nearly abeam. Our enemies, the iceberpfs — for we had not yet learned to regard them as friends — made their appear- ance again on the 16th. One of them was an irreg. ular quadrangle, at least a quarter of a mile long in its presenting face. The night had now left us : we were in the contin- uous sunlight of the Arctic summer. I copy the en- tries from my journal of the 17th. " We are just ' turning in,' that is, seeking our den for sleep. It has been a long day, but to me a God- send, so clear and fogless. My time-piece points to half past nine, and yet the sunshine is streaming down the little hatchway. "Our Arctic day has commenced. Last night we read the thermometer without a lantern, and the binnacle was not lighted up. To-day the sun sets after ten, to rise again before two; and during the bright twilight interval he will dip but a few degrees below the horizon. We have followed him for some time past in one scarcely varying track of brightness. The words night and day begin to puzzle me, as I rec- ognize the arbitrary character of the hour cycies that have borne these names. Indeed, I miss that soothing tranquillizer, the dear old darkness, and can hardly, as I give way to sleep, bid the mental good-night which travelers like to send from their darkened pillows to friends at home. and larta rnita id us 1 our early t yet )pear- irreg- ng in 'ontin- he en- ur den a God- ints to down ht we d the 11 n sets n ' i* D 1 8 C . 371 the north and south. It is rentlercd insular by a large strait, called the Waigat, which inosculates with the hay. So much for Disco. Paul Zachareus, long-haired, swarthy. Christian Paul, said that the wind was fair: Lovell, like a good sailor, exercised his authority over the doctor: the furs were packed, my sketches and wet hortus siccus properly combined, and we started again for our little brig. We left the Whale-fish Islands on the 29th, in com- pany with the Rescue. On the 30th we doubled the southwest cape of Disco, and stood to the northward, through a crowd of noble icebergs. On the first of July, early in the morning, we encountered our first field-ice. From this date really commenced the char- acteristic voyaging of a Polar cruise. V-fv.; &., m ■ I il F"l /« ''1 f f tr:^ M CHAPTER XXX. THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (continued.) ' "Jul// 1. This morning was called on deck at 4 A.M. by our commander. " About two hundred yards to the windward, form- ing a lee-shore, was a vast plane of undulating ice, in nowise diflering from that which we see in the Dela- ware when mid-winter is contending witli the ice- boats. There was the same crackling, and grinding, and splashing, but the indefinite extent — an ocean in- stead of a river — multiplied it to a din unspeakable; and w'ith it came a strange imdertone accompaniment, a not discordant drone. This was the iloe ice ; per- haps a tongue from the ' Great Pack,' through which we are now every day expecting to force our way. A great number of bergs, of shapes the most simple and most complicated, of colors blue, white, and eartli- stained, were tangled in this floating field. Such, however, was the inertia of the huge masses, that the sheet ice piled itself up about them as on fixed rocks. " The sea immediately around, saving the ground- swell, was smooth as a mill-pond ; but it was studded over with dark, protruding little globules, about the size of hens' eggs, producing an effect like the dimples of so many overgrown rain-drops fallen on the water. These, as I afterward found, were rounded fragments of transparent and fresh-water ice, the debris and de- (372) luont, per- wliicli . A ami tirtli- SiK'h, at the ocks. ound- udded it the mples water, raents 1(1 de- li.. ft :>} I I fVL - 'i> •• '-'id' "I ■ '"■'' '^ j i 'im\ i r fl^HHI hi.f 1 f . t! s i 1 i 1^, i^ 1, 1 p ' ■''''^' i !! r ■ * ■& i i9i r ? OMENAK S FIORD. 375 tritus of the bergs. We sailed along this field about ten miles. " At 9 P. M. the fogs settled around us, and we en- tered again upon an area full of floating masses of berg. As it was impossible to avoid them, they gave us some heavy thumps. "At 11 we cleared the floes, and, favored with a free wind, found ourselves nearly opposite Omenak's Fiord, a noted seat of iceberg growth and distribution." How far we were from land I could not tell ; but we saw distinctly the configuration of the hills and the deep recesses of the fiord. The sun, although nearing midnight, was five degrees above the horizon, and threw its rich colorino; over the snow. Manv large bergs were moving in procession from the fiord, those in the foreground in full sunshine, those in the distance obscured by the shadow of their parent hills. Omenak's Fiord, known as Jacob's Bight, is one of the largest of those strange clefts, which, penetrating the mountain range at right angles to its long axis, form so majestic a feature of Greenland scenery. Its inland termination has never been reached ; and it is supposed by Scoresby to be continuous witii the large sounds, which on a corresponding parallel (70° 40') enter from the eastern coast. It is up this fiord, probably in the chasms of the trap, that those enormous glaciers accumulate which have made Jacob's Bight, perhaps, the most remarka- ble locality in the genesis of icebergs on the face of the globe. It is not uncommon to have the shore here completely blocked in by these gigantic monsters : I myself counted in one evening, the 3d of July, no less than two hundred and forty of primary magnitude, from the decks of our vessel. vi . '■ ,u^' •m ■ r; f. .f^. \ .«» \K--;^- , ( ■ r^." ■•'i ■■ ' 'V -■ ,. ,>* , '-.'■■■ ' " 1 '■?' .." -H ■ !l ■ ■■ IM . If 376 FORMATION OP ICEBERGS. The glaciers which abut upon this sound are prob- ably offsets from an interior mer de glace. The val- leys or canals which conduct these offsets were de- scribed to me as singularly rectilinear and uniform in diameter, a fact which derives ready confirmation from the known confiji^uration of a dioritic country. Now the protrusion of these abutting faces into the waters of the sound has been a subject of observation among both Danes and Esquimaux. Places about Jacob's Harbor, remembered as the former seats of habitation, are now overrun by glaciers ; and Mr. Olrik told me of a naked escarpment of ice, twelve hundred feet high, which he had seen protruding nearly half a mile into the sea. The materials thus afforded in redundant profusion are rapidly converted into icebergs. The water at the bases of these cliffs is very deep — I have in my note- book well-established instances of three hundred fath- oms ; and the pyramidal structure of the trap is such as to favor a precipitous coast line. The glacier, thus exposed to a saline water base of a temperature above the freezing point, and to an undermining wave ac- tion, aided by tides and winds, is of course speedily detached by its own gravitation. Jull/ 2. The next day we passed this fiord and stood on our course beyond an imposing headland, known on the charts as Cape Cranstown, tlirough a sea un- obstructed by floe ice, but abounding in bergs. In the afternoon the wind subsided into a mere cat's-paw, and we were enabled to visit several of the icebergs. Certain it is that no objects ever impressed me more. There was something about them so slum- berous and so pure, so massive yet so evanescent, so majestic in their cheerless beauty, without, after all, "i»«'i''! ICEBERG SCENERY. 377 any of the salient points which give character to de- scription, that they ahnost seemed to me the mate- rial for a dream, rather than things to be definitely painted in words. The first that we approached was entirely inaccess- ible. Our commander, in whose estimates of distance and magnitude I have great confidence, made it nearly a mile in circumference. The next was a monster ice mountain, at least two hundred feet high, irregularly polyliedral in shape, and its surface diversified with hill and dale. Upon this one we landed. I had never appreciated before the glorious variety of iceberg scenery. The sea at the base of this berg was dashing into hollow caves of })ure and intense ultramarine ; and to leeward the quiet water lit the eye down to a long, spindle-shaped root of milky whiteness, which seemed to dye the sea as it descended, until the blue and white wei e mixed in a pale turkois. Above, and high enough to give an expression akin to sublimity, were bristling crags. The general color of a berg I have before compared to frosted silver. But when its fractures are very ex- tensive, the exposed ftices have a very brilliant lustre. Nothing can be more exquisite than a fresh, cleanly- fractured berg surface. Voyagers speak of the effects of Arctic refraction in language as exact and mathematical as their own cor- rection tables. It almost seems as if their minute ob- servations of dip-sectors and repeating-circles had left them no scope for picturesque sublimity. This may excuse a literal transcript from my diary, which runs perhaps into the other extreme. " Friday, 11 P. M. A strip of horizon, commencing about 8° to the east of the sun, and between it and ...^1^': ,?3*' i*^,| I wmm. m «' . n^ \t ^ m \m iw^^^^HU r* m pHli f iff * ' 378 WONDERS OF REFRACTION. i» -^ ' '4 'I the land, resembled an extended plain, covered with the debris of ruined cities. No ellort of imagination was necessary for me to travel from the true watery horizon to the false one of refraction above it, and there to see huge structures lining an aerial ocean- margin. Some of rusty, Egyptian, rubbish-clogixed propyla, and hypa^thral courts — some tapering and columnar, like Palmyra and Baalbec — some with architrave and portico, like Telmessus or Athens, or else vague and grotto-like, such as dreamy memories recalled of Ellora and Carli. " I can hardly realize it as I write ; but it was no trick of fancy. The things were there half an hour ago. I saw them, capricious, versatile, full oi' forms, but bright and definite as the phases of sober life. And as my eyes ran round upon the marvelous and varying scene, every one of these well-remembered cities rose before me, built up by some suggestive feat- ure of the ice. " An iceberg is one of God's own buildings, preach- ing its lessons of humility to the miniature structures of man. Its material, one colossal Pentelicus; its mass, the representative of power in repose ; its distribution, simulating every architectural type. It makes one smile at those classical remnants which our own pe- riod reproduces in its Madeleines, Walhallas, and Gi- rard colleges, like university poems in the dead lan- guages. Still, we can compare them with the iceberg; for the same standard measures both, as it does Cliim- borazo and the Hill of Howth. But this thing of re- fraction is supernatural throughout. The wildest Irolic of an opium-eater s revery is nothing to the phantas- magoria of the sky to-night. Karnaks of ice, turned upside down, were resting upon rainbow-colored ped- • i OFF UPERNAVIK. 379 estals: great needles, obelisks of pure whiteness, shot up above tlieir false horizons, and, after an hour-glass- like contraction at their point of union with their du- plicated images, lost themselves in the blue of the upper sky. ** " While I was looking — the sextant useless in my hand, for I could not think of angles — a blurred and wavy change came over the fantastic picture. Pris- matic tin tings, too vague to admit of dioptric analysis, began to margin my architectural marbles, and the scene faded like one of Fresnefs dissolving views. Suddenly, by a flash, they reappeared in full beauty ; and, just as I was beginning to note in my memo- randum-book the changes which this brief interval had produced,they went out entirely, and left a nearly clear hori/.on." The Gth of July found us in latitude 72° 54', beatr ing to windward, as usual, between " the pack " and the land. This land was of some interest to us, for we were now in the neighborhood of the Danish set- tlement of Upernavik. With the exception of one subordinate station, eight- een miles further to the north, this is the last of the Danish settlements. It is the jumping-ofi" place of Arc- tic navigators — our last point of communication with the outside world. Here the British explorers put the date to their official reports, and send home their last letters of good-by. We sent ours without the delay of seeking the little port; for a couple of kayacks boarded us twenty miles out to sea, and for a few bis- cuits gladly took charge of our dispatches. The hon- esty of these poor Esquimaux is proverbial. Letters committed to their care are delivered with unerring safety to the superintendent of the port or station. , ■^ ' ■-••) y m ~ ,t ii ti I •■■*. ■i 380 FAST IN THE ICE. We were boarded, too, by an oomiak, or woman's boat, returning from a successful seal hunt. From the crew, consisting of three women and four men, we purchased a goodly stock of eider eggs and three young seals. July 7. We had now passed the seventy-third de- gree of latitude without being materially retarded by ice. The weather was one unbroken sunshine, and worthier of the Bay of Naples than Baffin's. The coast on our right hand consisted of low islands, so grouped as to resemble continuous land. To our lelt was a coast of a different character — the ice. On the morning of the 7th, a large vacant sheet of water showed itself to the westward,, penetrating the ice as far as the eye could reach ; and from the top- mast-head we could see the southern margin of tliis ice losing itself in a clear, watery h()ri;:on. It was a strong temptation. Our conunandor determined to try for a passage through. " We now entered fairly the so-tliought open water, keeping the shore on our starboard beam, and steering for the northeast and north, at a rate of six knots, through an apparently unobstructed sea. But the sanguine anticipations of our commander were soon to be moderated. By four in the afternoon, after phir- ing at least fifty miles between us and the coast, thi> leads began to close around us. Fearing a separation from the Rescue, we took her in tow and contiiuicd our efforts ; but from 5 P. M. until the termination of the d.'iy, our progress was absolutely nothing. The morning of the 8th opened upon us fast in summer ice. " July 9. Although we commenced bright and early to warp our way through the impacted ice, we found, ^vatcr, tccring laiots, lut the 1-0 soon iY plao- ist, til'' la ration litinucil Ition of The kumnicr |d early found, "TKAtKINO. ^.li!~>.--=" ^■•^^■ KAYACKS. OOMIAK, OR WOMAN'S UOAT. m* ■ > -m f rll %. ;4I .iiyif L^aSi p S( k sc a sv in t« an ab 111 ice th tal sta ani CM wo Th are Pre ma the brii ban ARCTIC NAVIGATION. 383 after much labor, tliat the entire day's reward wa'« about three miles. We are now again fast, completely >■ 1.,^^ JjJ, mi ■Mil W^' I 388 MELVILLE BAY. i ' " t tumultuous margin. Before we had bored into it more than ten yards, we were on the edge of a nearly sub- merged iceberg, which, not being large enough to re- sist the swell, rolled fearfully. The sea dashed in an angry surf over its inclined sides, rattling the icy frag, ments or " brash" against its irregular surface. Our position reminded me of the scenes so well described by Beechy in the voyage of the Dorothea and Trent. For a time we were awkwardly placed, but we bored through ; and the Rescue, after skirting the same ob- struction, managed also to get through without damage. We continued to run along with our top-sail yard on the cap, but the growing fog made it impossible to keep on our course very long. After several encoun- ters with the floating hummocks, we succeeded in ty- ing fast to a heavy floe, which se "med to be connected with the land, and were thus moored within that mys- terious circuit known as Melville Bay. It is during the transit of this bay that most of the catastrophes occur which have made the statistics of the whalers so fearful. It was here, about twenty miles to the south of us, that in one year more than one thousand human beings were cast shelterless upon the ice, their ships ground up before their eyes. It is rarely that a season goes by in which the passage is attempted without disaster. The inshore side of the indentation is lined by a sweep of glacier, through which here and there the dark headlands of the coast force themselves with se- vere contrast. Outside of this, the shore, if we can c'j,ll it such, is again lined with a heavy ledge of ground ice, thicker and more permanent than that in motion. This extends out for miles, forming an icy margin or beach, known technically as the " land ice," BERGS. 389 or " the fast." Against this margin, the great " drift" through which we had been passing exerts a remitting action, receding sometimes under the influence of wind and currents so as to open a tortuous and uncertain canal along its edge, at others closing against it in a barrier of contending floes and bergs. Our initiation into the mysteries of this region was ominous enough. It blew a gale. The offing was a scene of noisy contention, obscured by a dense fog, through which rose the tops of the icebergs as they drifted by us. Twice in the night we were called up to escape these bergs by warping out of their path. Imagine a mass as large as the Parthenon bearing down upon you before a storm- wind ! The immediate site of our anchorage was about eighteen miles from the Black Hills, which rose above the glacier. It was truly an iron-bound coast, bergs, floes, and hummock ridges, in all the disarray of win- tery conflict, cemented in a basis of ice ten feet thick, and lashed by an angry sea. It was the first time I had witnessed the stupendous results of ice action. I went out with Captain De Haven to observe them more closely. The hummocks had piled themselves at the edges of the floes in a set of rugged walls, some- times twenty feet high ; and here and there were ice- bergs firmly incorporated in the vast plain. Ovir at- tention was of course directed more anxiously to those which were drifting at large upon the open water ; but we could not help being impressed by the solid majes- ty of these stationary mountains. The height of one of them, measured by the sextant, was two hundred and forty feet. It was the motion of the floating bergs that sur- rounded us at this time, which first gave me the idea .0^1 « t.' f 1 "' i ? : « 390 A RACE. of a great under-current to the northward. Their drift followed some system of advance entirely independent of the wind, and not apparently at variance with the received views of a great southern current. On the night of the 30th, while the surface ice or floe was drifting to the southward with the wind, the bergs were making a northern progress, crushing through the floes in the very eye of tha breeze at a measured rate of a mile and a half an hour. The disproportion that uniformly subsists bet\/een the submerged and upper masses of a floating berg makes it a good index of the deep sea current, especially when its movement is against the wind. I noticed very many ice-mount- ains traveling to the north in opposition to both wind and surface ice. One of them we recognized five days afterward, nearly a hundred miles on its northern journey. In the so-called night, "all hands" were turned to, and the old system of warping was renewed. The unyielding ice made it a slow process, but enough was gained to give us an entrance to some clear wa- ter about a mile in apparent length. While we were warping, one of these current-driven bergs kept us constant company, and at one time it was a regular race between us, for the narrow passage we were striving to reach would have been completely barri- caded if our icy opponent had got ahead. This exciting race, against wind and drift, and with the Rescue in tow, was at its height when we reached a point where, by warping around our opponent, we might be able to make sail. Three active men were instantly dispatched to prepare the warps. One took charge of the hawser, and another of the iron crow or chisel which is used to cut the hole; the third, a OUIl PROSPECTS. 391 brawny seaman, named Costa, was in the act of lift- ing the anchor and driving it by main force into the soUd ice, when, with a roar like near thunder, a crack ran across the berg, and almost instantly a segment about twice the size of our ship was severed from the rest. One man remained oscillating on the principal mass, a second escaped by jumping to the back ropes and chain shrouds of the bowsprit ; but poor Costa ! anchor and all, disappeared in the chasm ! By a mer- ciful Godsend, the sunken fragment had broken oiF so cleanly that, when it rose, it scraped against the fractured surface, and brought lip its living freight along with it. Scared half to death, he was caught by the captain as he passed the jib-boom, and brought safe on board. This incident, coming thus early in our cruise, was a useful warning. ^'^ Ay gust 2. * Warping !' Tired of the very word ! About 2 P.M. a lead, less obstructed than its fellows, enabled us to crowd on the canvas, and sail with gen- tle airs for about two miles to the eastward, and then, losing what little wind we had, we tied up again to our friend the land ice ; the little Rescue, as usual, a few yards astern. "We have learned to love the sunshine, though we have lost the night that gives it value to others. It coines back to us this evening, after the gale, with a circuit of sparkling and imaginative beauty, like the spangled petticoat of a ballet-dancer in full twirl to a boy on his first visit to the opera. I borrow the com- parison from one of my mess-mates; but, in truth, all this about sunshine and warmth is only compara- tive at the best, for, though writing on deck, * out of doors,' as they say at home, the thermometers give us but 43^" U F u«'-" ilMt''^* 1*' f r' f^ ! T 392 MELVILLE'S MONUMENT. The bergs were an interesting subject of study. I counted one morning no less than two hundred and ten of them from our decks, forming a beaded line from theN.N.W.totheS.S.E. ^^ August 10. Another day of sunshine. Were we in the Mediterranean, there could not be a warmer sky. It ends with the sky though ; for our thermom- eters fell at four A.M. to 24°. A careful set of observa- tions with Green's standard thermometers gave 18° as the difference between the sunshine and shade at noonday. The young ice was nearly an inch -thick. Myriads of Auks were seen, and the usual supply duly slaughtered. " Melville's Monument appeared to-day under a new phase, rising out from the surrounding floe ice, either a salient peninsula or an isolated rock. " The land ice measured but five feet seven inches, the reduced growth, probably, of a single season. The open leads multiply, for we made under sail about fifteen miles N.N.W." As the next day glided in, the skies became over- cast, and the wind rose. Mist gathered about the horizon, shutting out the icebergs. The floes, which had opened before with a slender wind from the north- ward, now shed off dusty wreaths of snow, and began to close rapidly. Moving along in our little river passage, we ob- served it growing almost loo narrow for navigation, and every now and then, where a projecting cape stretched out toward this advancing ice, we had to run the gauntlet between the opposing margins. It is under these circumstances, with a gale prob- ably outside, and a fog gathering around, that the whalers, less strengthened than ourselves, and taught HUMMOCKING. 393 over- it the I which north- began re oh- ration, cape liad to proh' [at the taught by a fearful experience, seek protecting bights among the floes or cut harbors in the ice. For us, the word delay did not enter into our commander's thoughts. We had not purchased caution by disaster ; and it was essential to success that we should make the most of this Godsend, a "slant" from the southeast. We pushed on ; but the Rescue, less fortunate than ourselves, could not follow. She was jammed in be- tween two closing surfaces. We were looking out for a temporary niche in which to secure ourselves, when we were challenged to the bear hunt I have spoken of a few pages back. Upon regaining the deck with Mr. Lovell's prize, we were struck with the indications of a brooding wind outside. The ice was closing in every direction ; and our master, Mr. Murdaugh, had no alternative but to tie up and await events. The Rescue did the same, some three hundred yards to the southward. By five A.M., a projecting edge of the outside floe came into contact with our own, at a point midway between the two vessels. This assailing floe w as three feet eight inches thick, perhaps a mile in diameter, and moving at a rate of a knot an hour. Its weight was some two or three millions of tons. So irresistible was its momentum, that, as it impinged against the solid margin of the land ice, there was no recoil, no in- terruption to its progress. The elastic material cor- rugated before the enormous pressure ; then cracked, then crumbled, and at last rose, the lesser over the greater, sliding up in great inclined planes : and these, again, breaking by their weight and their continued impulse, toppled over in long lines of fragmentary ice. This imposing process of dynamics is called "Hummocking." Its most striking feature was its P- fit II ' Mi m Kni M 394 A PINCH. f i h»J unswerving, unchecked continuousness. The mere commotion was hardly proportioned either to the in- tensity of the force or the tremendous effects which it produced. Tables of white marble were thrust into the air, as if by invisible machinery. First, an inclined face would rise, say ten feet ; then you would hear a grinding, tooth-pulling crunch : it has cracked at its base, and a second is sliding up upon it. Over this, again, comes a third ; and here- upon the first breaks down, carrying with it the sec- ond ; and just as you are expecting to see the whole pile disappear, up comes a fourth, larger than any of the rest, and converts all its predecessors into a cha- otic mass of crushed marble. Now the fragments thus comminuted are about the size of an old-fashioned Conestoga wagon, and the line thus eating its way is several hundred yards long. The action soon began to near our brig, which now, fast by a heavy cable, stood bows on awaiting the onset. It was an uncomfortable time for us, as we momentarily expected it to " nip" her sides, or bear her down with the pressure. But, thanks to the in- verted wedge action of her bows, she shot out like a squeezed water-melon seed, snapping her hawser like pack-thread, and backing into wider quarters. The Rescue was borne almost to her beam ends, but event- ually rose upon the ice. We cast off again about 7 A.M. ; and after a weari- some day of warping, tracking, towing, and sailing, advanced some six or eight miles, along a coast-line of hills to the northeast, edged with glaciers. The currents were such as to entirely destroy our steerage way. Our rudder was for a time useless; and the surface water was covered by ripple marks i it nere 5 in- ch it into then h: it ig up here- e sec- whole Lny of a cha- ts thus hioned way is fh now, ng the as we or hear the in- like a [ser like The It event- weari- sailing. )ast-line troy our (useless ; marks THE devil's Tlir.MB. :>'}\'e : MbLVlLLIi; UAY. » - !| l\^ (•' III SI Vwi ill ill *■•« m\ * * 4^' -^w I i iw 11 1 If I Nil: I f mi' m0m fi t \>. ■ ' f., i % t 1 ,^l TR 400 THE CEIMSON CLIFFS, latitude 76° 04' N., nearly. It was a little cove, bor- dered on one side by a glacier ; on the other, watered by distillations from it, and green with luxuriant mosses. It was, indeed, a fairy little spot, brightened, perhaps, by its contrast with the icy element, on which I had been floating for a month and a half before ; yet even now, as it comes back to me in beautiful com- panionship with many sweet places of the earth, I am sure that its charms were real. The glacier came down by a twisted circuit from a deep valley, which it nearly filled. As it approached the sea, it seemed unnble to spread itself over the horse- shoe-like expansion i.. which we stood; but, retaining still the impress marks of its own little valley birth- place, it rose up in a huge dome-like escarpment, one side frozen to the cliffs, the other a wall beside us, and the end a rounded mass protruding into the sea. Close by the foot of its precipitous face, in a fur- rowed water-course, was a mountain torrent, which, emerging from the point at which the glacier met the hill, came dashing wildly over the rocks, green with the mosses and carices of Arctic vegetation ; while from the dome-like summit a stream, that had tun- neled its way through the ice from the valley still higher above, burst out like a fountain, and fell in a cascade of foam- whitened water into the sea. To return to the "Crimson Cliffs." We found tlio red snow in greatest abundance ui)on a talus fronting to the soiitliwest, which stretched obliquely across the glacier nt the seat of its emergence from the vallfv. It was here in great abundance, staining the surface in patches six or eight yards in diameter. Similar patches Avere to l)e seen at short intervals extending up the valley. Bessie's cove, 401 Its color was a deep but not bright red. It resem- bled, with its accompanying impurities, crushed pre- served cranberries, with the seed and capsule strewn over the snow. It imparted to paper drawn over it a nearly cherry-red, or perhaps crimson stain, wiiich l;r- canie brown with exposure ; and a handful thav.cJ. in a glass tumbler resembled nuuldy claret. Its coloring matter was evidently soluble ; for, on scrajjing away the surface^ we foiuul that it had dyed the snow beneath witli a, pure and beautiful rose color, which }>enetrated, with a gradually softening tint, some eight inches below the surface. At 4 P.M. we left this interesting spot, for which some pleasant associations had suggested to n>e the name of " Bessie's Cove," and commenced beating to the no'-thward. The sea was crowded with entomos- traca and clios, on which myriads of Auks were feed- ing. The prospects of open water were most cheering. One mile from the shore, we got soundings in rocky bottom, at twenty-three fathoms, and then, wishing to "till up" Avith water before attempting our ])assage to the Ave.-it, Ave stood close in, seeking a favorabh^ s])ot. About eleven o'clock ^ve, were attracted by a bight midway l)etween Capes York and Dudley Digg.s. Its foreground was of rugged syenitic rock!*, and over these we could distinctlv -ee the Avatcr rushini; down in u foaming torrent. Here Avas ;i ^vatering-jdace. By means of our old friends the wai-j)s, we liauled in so elo;-!e that the sides of our vessels touched the rocks. A few inches (mly intervened Ijetween our keel ami the shining i)ebbles. We could jump on shore as fiom a wharf. The sun was .s(» low at this midnight liour as to bathe every thing in an atuK^sphere of Italian })ink, dellciously unlike the Arctic rei^Ions. The rece.-;.-; Lu-.f^ ■I 'ip ':i lli'i ■r ," I iMi I! 'i ■' lf''H'!- If ^»fi«t 1 ■' i 1 , , i z h 402 A.N A EC TIC GARDEN was in blacke>jt slmdow, Lut tlie cliffs wliioli forined the Avails of the cove rose up into fnll snnshine. The Auks crowded these rocks in myriads. So, Avith gun and sextant, I started on a tramp. The cove itself measured but six hundred yards from bluff to bluff. It was recessed in a regular ellipse, or rather horseshoe, around which the strongly-featured gneisses, relieved, as usual, with the outcroppings of feldspar, formed lofty mural precipices, I estimated their mean elevation at twelve hundred feet. At their bases a mass of schistose rubbish had accumulated. I have described this recess as a perfect horseshoe : it was not exactly such, for at its northeast end a rug- ged little water-feeder, formed by the melting snows, sent down a stream of foam which buried itself under the frozen surface of a lake. Yet to the eye it was a nearly absolute theatre, this little cove, and its arena a moss-covered succession of terraces, each of indescrib- able richness. Strange as it seemed, on the immediate level of snow and ice, the constant infiltrations, aided by solar rever- beration, had mauj an Arctic garden -spot. The sur- fiice of the moss, owing, probably, to the extreme altern- ations of lieat and cold, was divided into regular hex- agons and other polyhedral figures, and scattered over these, nestling between the tufts, and forming little groups on their southern faces, was a quiet, unobtru- sive community of Alpine flowering plants. The weak- 3iess of individual growth allowed no ambitious species to overpower its neighbor, so that many families were crowded together in a rich flower-bed. In a little space that I could cover with my pea-jacket, the veined leaves of the Pyrola were peeping out among chickweeds and saxifrages, the sorrel and Ranunculus. I even found a mow ever- ! sur- liex- td over little ^obtru- we Lik- ^pe cies were sp \ce leaves ds and da loan LUOkil.NU 4'Olt WATER. llt:JSIK ri (JOVK. r iPl 'i! I ::'f til- .UlHi .A'V Ui ml ■1 I I.,.. J; \\-"' -s. . 'IP ■ I, f!? 9ti ^ •••r T:^ '^•^liK n i>* Wl«i ^ i n\ m II e h :a^s FLORULA. 405 poor gentian, stunted and reduced, but still, like every thing around it, in all the perl'ection of miniature pro- portions. As this mossy parterre approached the rocky walls that hemmed it in, tussocks of sedges and coarse grass began to show themselves, mixed with heaths and birches ; and still further on, at the margin of the horse- shoe, and fringing its union with the stupendous piles of debris, came an annulus of Arctic shrubs and trees. Shrubs and trees ! the words recall a smile, for they only typed those natives of another zone. The poor things had lost their uprightness, and learned to escape the elements by traiUng along the rocks. Few rose above my shoes, and none above my ankles ; yet shady alleys and heaven-pointing avenues could not be more impressive examples of creative adaptation. Here I saw ^lie bleaberry {Vaccinium uUginusuni) in llower and in fruit — I could cover it with a wine-glass ; the wild honeysuckle (Azalea prociimhens) of our Penn- sylvania woods — I could stick the entire plant in my button-hole ; the Andromeda tetragona, like a green marabou feather. Stranjjest among these transformations came the willows. One, the ^alix he?-bacea, liardly larger than !i trefoil clover ; another, the S. glaiica, like a young althea, just bursting from its seed. A third, the S. lanata, a triton among these boreal minnows, looked like an unfortunate garter-snake, bound here and there by claw-like radicles, which, unable to j)enetrate the inhospitable soil, had spread themselves out upon the surface — traps for the broke.i lichens and fostering moss \vhich formed its scanty mould. I had several opportunities, while taking sextant el- evations of tht» headlands, to measure the moss-beds mm ': . r'A 1 * m ' i 1' ]l'iim-W^\ 2 t "ll * !«**• - ■#Ii;-i« J 400 MOSS-BEDS. of this cove, both by sections where streams from the hike had Jeft denuded faces, and by piercing through them Avitli a pointed stafi', Tliese mosses formed an investing mould, built up layer upon layer, until it had attained a mean depth of five feet. At one place, near the sea line, it was seven feet ; and even here the slow processes of Arctic decomposition had not entirely de- stroyed the delicate radicles and stems. The fronds of the pioneering lichens were still recognizable, en- tangled among the rest. Yet these little layers represented, in their diminu- tive stratification, the deposits of vegetable periods. I counted sixty-eight in the greatest section.^ Those chemical processes by which nature converts our au- tumnal leaves into pabulum for future growths work slowly here. My companions were already firing away at the Auks, which covered in great numbers the debris of fallen rock. This was deposited at an excessive in- clination, sometimes as great as 47^ ; its talus, some three hundred feet in height, cutting in cone-like proc- esses against the mural faces of the cliff, Ther ' was something about this grp.it inclined plane, with its enormous fragments, their wild distribution, and steep ingle of deposit, almost fearfully charncter- istic of the destructive agencies of Arctic congelation. I had never seen, not even at the bases of the miu'al traps of India and South America — or better, perhaps, than either, our own Connectu'ut — such evidences of active degradation. It is not to the geologist alone ♦ I popy the number of those layers as I find it marked in my joiinial ; yet I do so, not witiiout some fear that I may be misled by the chirography of a very hurried note. My recollections an; of a very largo number, yet not so large as that which my n spect lor the littera scripta induces me to retain io the text. ^ ATTKS NESTS. 407 that these talus and debris are impressive. They tell of changes which have begun and been going on since the existence of the earth in its present state by the t'riction of time against its surface ; and they carry us on with solemn force to the period when the dehiscent ed«res and mountain ravines of tliis same earth shall have been worn down into rounded hill and gentle val- ley. Well may they be called " geological ciironome- ters."* They point with impressive finger to the ro- tation of years. The dial-phite and tiie index are both there, and human wisdom almost deciphers the nota- tion ! On the steeper fianlrs of these rocky cones the little Auks had built their nests. The season of incubation, though far advanced, had not gone by, for the young fledglings were looking down upon me in thousands; and the mothers, with crops full of provender, were constantly arriving from the sea. Urged by a wish to study the domestic habits of these little Arctic emi- grants at their homestead. I foolishly chimbered up to one of their most popular colonies, without thinking of my descent. The angle of deposit was already very great, not much less than 50°; and as I moved on, with a walk- ing-pole substituted for my gun, I was not surprised to find the fragments receding under my feet, ''ind rolling, with a resounding crash, to the plain below. Stop- ping, however, to regain my breath, I found that above, ben<'ath, around me, every thing was in motion. The entire surface seemed to be sliding down. Ridiculous as it may seem to dwell upon a matter apparently so trivial, my position became one of danger. The accel- erated velocity of the masses caused them to leap off • MantpH's " Wonders of Geology." 408 TRAPPING THE AUKS. ■."If I! 1 I. \ir: i 4i) I ir in (leflocted lines. Several uncomfortable fragments had already passed by me, some even over my head, and my walking-pole was jerked from my hands and buried in the ruins. Thus helpless, I commenced my own half-involuntary descent, expecting momentarily to follow my pole, when my eye caught a projecting outcrop of feldspar, against which the strong current split into two minor streams. This, with some hard jumps, I succeeded in reaching. As I sat upon the temporary security of tliis little rock, surrounded by falling fragments, and awaiting their slow adjustment to a new equilibrium before 1 ventured to descend, I was struck with the Arctic orig- inality of every thing around. It was midnight, and the sun, now to the north, was hidden by the rocks ; but the whole atmosphere was pink with light. Ovei head and around me whirled innumerable crowds of Auks and Ivory gulls, screeching with execrable clam- or, almost in contact with my person. The calm which had given us these two days of shore rambles left us suddenly on the 18th. We stood towards Wolstenholme Sound, and bore across to the west in more open water than we had seen for several weeks. It was now beyond doubt that we were to winter somewhere among the scones of Arctic trial. We were past the barrier, heading direct for Lancas- ter Sound, with the motion of waves once more under us, and a breeze aloft. As I refer to my journal, I see how the tone of feeling rose among our little party. We began again with something of confidence to con- nect the probable results with the objects of the ex- pedition. We had lost three weeks off the Devil's Tongue, the British steamers were far ahead of us in point of time, and their superior ability and practice m GOOD-BY TO BAFFIN. 400 would still keep thein in the advance ; and we were ignorant of their course and intended scheme of search. We had dreamed before this, and pleasantly enough, of fellowship with them in our efforts, dividing be- tween us the hazards of the way, and perhaps in the long winter holding with them the clieery intercourse of kindred sympathies. We waked now to the prob- abilities of passing the dark days alone. Yet fairly on the way, an energetic commander, a united ship's com- pany, the wind freshening, our well-tried little ice- boat now groping her u ay like a blind man through fog and bergs, and now dashing on as if reckless of ail but success — it was impossible to repress a sentiment almost akin to the so-called joyous excitement of con- flict. AVe were bidding good-by to '*ye goode baye ol'old William Baffin ;" and as we looked round with a I'are- well remembrance upon the still water, the diminished icebergs, and the constant sun which had served us so long and faithfully, we felt that the bay had used us kindly. Though I had read a good deal in the voyagers' books about Baffin's Bay, I had strangely and entirely misconceived the prominent features of its summer scenery. There is a combination of warmth and cold in the tone of its landscapes, a daring, eccentric Viiri- ety of forms, an intense clearness, almost energy of ex- pression, which might tax Turner and Stanfield to- gether to reproduce them with an approach to truth. How could they trace the features of the iceberg, melt- ing into shapes so boldly marked, yet so undefined ; or body forth its cold varieties of unshaded white, or the azure clave-obscure of the ice-chasm! There are the black hills, blots upon rolling snow; the ice-plain, mar- m f iV -no CONTINUOUS DAYLIOflT. I .! ■^' •■ ; m gined with glaciers, and jiittiii«]f out in (rnpcis from th« clilied shore: there is the still blue water. Or, il' ym want action instead of repose, In^re is the crasliin;,' floe, the grinding hunnnocrkjUtid the uioiuinientMl IxM'g ris- ing above both! itself, though perishable, a seeming porinanency compared with the ephemeral ruins that baat {(gainst its sides. All this is attempered by the Wiirm glazing of a tint- ed atmosphere. The sky of Jialhn's Jiay, though hut eight hundred mih^s from the Pohir limit of all nortli- ernness, is as warm as the Bay of Na])h;s after a .Tune rain. What artist, then, could give this mysterious union of warm atmosphere and cold lands(;ape t The per|)etual . IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I iiiiii M 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 * 6" ► Photographic Sdences Corporation 4 V ^ <> '% .V <^' 6^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 ^ f^ <' !■ 412 CAPTAIN penny's SQUADKON. Tho ico in Melville Bay had bothered both parties alike ; Commodore Austin, with his steamer tenders, was three days ago at Carey's Islands, a group near- ly as liiyrli as 77° north latitude; the North Star, the missing provision transport of last summer, was safe somewhere in Lancaster Sound, probably at Leopold Island. For the rest, God speed ! " As she slowly forged ahead, there came over the rough sea that good old English hurra, which we in- herit on our side the water. ' Three cheers, hearty, with a will !' indicating as nmch of brotherhood as sympathy. * Stand alol't, boys !' and we gave back the greeting. One cheer more of acknowledgment on each side, and the sister flags separated, each on its errand of mercy. ** The sea is short and excessive. Every thing on deck, even anchors and quarter-boats, have ' fetched away,' and the little cabin is half afloat. The Rescue is staggering under heavy sail astern of us. We are making six or seven knots an hour. Murdaugh is ahead, looking out tor ice and rocks ; De Haven con- ning the ship. " All at once a high mountain shore rises before us, and a couple of isolated rocks show themselves, not more than a quarter of a milo ahead, white with break- ers. Both vessels are laid to." The storm reminded me of a Mexican " nortlibf." It was not till the afternoon of the next day that we were able to resume our track, under a doubie-reefod top-sail, stay-sail, and spencer. We were, of course, without observation still, and could only reckon that we had passed the Cunningham Mountains and Capo Warrender. About three o'clock in the morning of the 21st, an- SIR JOHN llOSS. 413 other saii was reported ahead, a top-sail schooner, tow- ing after her what appeared to be a launch, decked over. ** When I reached the deck, we were nearly up to her, lor we had shaken out our reels, and were driving before the wind, shipping seas at every roll. The lit- tle schooner was under a single close-reefed top-sail, and seemed fluttering over the waves like a crippled bird. Presently an old fellow, with a cloak tossed over his niglit gear, appeared in the lee gangway, and saluted with a voice that rose above the winds. "It was the Felix, commanded by that practical Arctic veteran. Sir John Uoss. I shall never forget the heartiness with which the hailing officer sang out, in the midst of our dialogue, * You and I are ahead of them all.' It W'tS so indeed. Austin, with two vessels, was at Pond's Bay; Penny was somewhere in the gale; and others of Austin's squadron were exploring the north side of the Sound. The Felix and the Advaiice were on the lead. "Before we separated. Sir John Ross came on deck, and stood at the side of his officer, lie was a square- built man, apparently very little stricken in years, and well able to bear his part in the toils and hazards of life. He has been wounded i!i four several engage- ments — twice desperately — and is scarred from head to foot. He has conducted two Polar expeditions al- ready, and performed in one of them the unparalleled feat of wintering four years in Arctic snows. And here he is again, in a flimsy cockle-shell, after contrib- uting his purse and his influence, embarked himself in the crusade of search for a lost comrade. We met him off Admiralty Inlet, just about the spot at which he was picked up seventeen years before." 1 414 THE PRINCE ALBERT. ■> I Soon after midnight, the hind became visible on the north side of the Sound. We had passed Cape Charles Yorke and Cape Crawfurd, and were fanning along sluggishly with all the sail we could crowd for Port Leopold. It was the next day, however, before we came in sight of the island, and it was nearly spent when we found ourselves slowly approaching Whaler Point, the seat of the harbor. Our way had been remarkably clear of ice for some days, and we were vexed to find, therefore, that a firm and rugged barrier extended along the western shore of the inlet, and apparently across the entrance we were seeking. It was a great relief to us to see, at half past six in the evening, a top-sail schooner working toward us through the ice. She boarded us at ten, and proved to be Lady Franklin's own search-vessel, the Prince Albert. This was a very pleasant meeting. Captain For- syth, who commanded the Albert, and Mr. Snow, who acted as a sort of adjutant under him, were very agree- able gentlemen. They spent some hours with us, which Mr. Snow has remembered kindly in the journal he has published since his return to England. Their little vessel was much less perfectly fitted than ours to encounter the perils of the ice ; but in one respect at least their expedition resembled our own. They had to rough it : to use a Western phrase, they had no fan- cy fixings — nothing but what a hasty outfit and a lim- ited purse could supply. They were now bound for Cape Rennell, after which they proposed making a sledge excursion over the lower Boothian and Cock- burne lands. The North Star, they told us, had been caught by CAPE RILEY. 415 the ice last season in the neighborhood of our own first hnprisonment, off the Devil's Thumb. After a peril- ous drift, she had succeeded in entering Wolstenholnie Sound, whence, after a tedious winter, she had only re- cently arrived at Port Bowen. They followed in our wake the next day as we push- ed through many streams of ice across the strait. We sighted the shore about five miles to the west of Cape Ilurd very closely ; a miserable wilderness, rising in terraces of broken-down limestone, arranged between the hills like a vast theatre. On the 25th, still beating through the ice off Rad- stock Bay, we discovered on Cape Riley two cairns, one of them, the most conspicuous, with a flag-staff and ball. A couple of hours after, we were near enough to land. The cape itself is a low projecting tongue of limestone, but at a short distance behind it the (jliff rises to the height of some eight hundred feet. AVe found a tin canister within the larger cairn, contain- ing the information that Captain Ommanney had been there two days before us, with the Assistance and In- trepid, belonging to Captain Austin's squadron, and had discovered traces of an encampment, and other indications "that some party belonging to her Britan- nic majesty's service had been detained at this spot." Similar traces, it was added, had been found also on Beec'hy Island, a projection on the channel side some ten miles from Cape Riley. Our consort, the Rescue, as we afterward learned, had shared in this discovery, though the British com- mander's inscription in the cairn, as well as his offi- cial reports, might lead perhaps to a different conclu- sion. Captain Griffin, in fact, landed with Captain Ommanney, and the traces were registered while the two officers were in company. i- 4ii; FRANKLIN S ENCAMPMENT. I inspected tliese different tmces very carefully, and noted vvliat I observed at the moment. The appear- ances which connect them with the story of Sir John Franklin have been described' by others ; but there may still be interest in a description of them made while they were under my eye. I transcribe it word for word from my journal. " On a tongue of fossiliferous limestone, fronting to- ward the west on a little indentation of the water, and shielded from the north by the precipitous cliffs, are five distinct remnants of habitation. " Nearest the cliffs, four circular mounds or henp- ings-up of the crumbled limestone, aided by lar<,'er stones placed at the outer edge, as if to protect the leash of a tent. Two larger stones, with an interval of two feet, I'ronting the west, mark the places of en- trance. " {Several large square stones, so arranged as to serve probably for a fire-place. These have been tumbled over by parties before us. " More distant from the cliffs, yet in line with the four already described, is a larger inclosure ; the door facing south, and looking toward the strait : this so- called door is simply an entrance made of large stones placed one above the other. The inclosure itself tri- angular; its northern side about eighteen inches high, built up of flat stones. Some bird bones and one rib of a seal were found exactly in the centre of this tri- angle, as if a party had sat round it eating ; and the top of a preserved meat case, much rusted, was found in the same place. I picked up a piece of canvas or duck on the cliff side, well worn by the weather : the sailors recognized it at once as the gore of a pair of trowsers. FRANKLIN S ENCAMPMENT. 41 t( A fifth circle is discernible nearer the cliffs, which may have belonged to the same party. It was less perfect than the others, and seemed of an older date. " On the beach, some twenty or thirty yards from the triangular inclosure, were several pieces of pine wood about four inches long, painted green, and white, ami black, and, in one instance, puttied ; evidently parts of a boat, and apparently collected as kindling wood." The indications were meagre, but the conclusion they led to was irresistible. They could not be the work of Esquimaux : the whole character of them con- tradicted it: and the only European who could have visited Cape Riley was Parry, twenty-eight years be- Ibre ; and we knew from his journal that he had not encamped here. Then, again, Ommanney's discovery ollike vestiges on Beechy Island, just on the track of a party moving in either direction between it and the channel : all these speak ol' a land party from Frank- lin's squadron. Our commander resolved to press onward along the eastern shore of Wellington Channel. We were un- der weigh in the early morning of the 2Gth, and work- ing along with our consort toward Beechy — I drop the " Island," for it is more strictly a peninsula or a promontory of limestone, as high and abrupt as that at Cape Riley, connected with what we call the main by a low isthmus. Still further on we passed Cape Spencer ; then a fine blufl* point, called by Parry Point Innes ; and further on again, the trend being to the east of north, we saw the low tongue, Cape Bowden. Parry merely sighted these points from a distance, so that the shore line has never been traced. I sketch- ed it myself with some care ; but the running survey '.•5*^ 1 /i^^ ^+>- -- ■>■; •I 41S FRANKLIN S ENCAMPMENT. of this celebrated explorer had left nothing to alter. To the north of Cape Innes, tho; jh the coast retains the same geognostical character, the bluff' promonto- ries subside into low hills, between which the beach, composed of coarse silicious limestone, sweeps in long curvilinear terraces. Measuring some of these rudely afterward, I found that the elevation of the highest plateau did not exceed forty feet. Our way northward was along an ice channel close under the eastern shore, and bounded on the other side by the ice-pack, at a distance varying from a quarter of a mile to a mile and three quarters. Off" Cape Spen- cer the way seemed more open, widening perhaps to two miles, and showing something like continued free water to the north and west. Here we met Captain Penny, with the Lady Franklin and Sophia. He told us that the channel was completely shut in ahead by a compact ice barrier, which connected itself with that to the west, describing a horseshoe bend. He thought a southwester was coming on, and counseled us to pre- pare for the chances of an impactment. The go-ahead determination which characterized our commander made us test the correctness of his advice. We push- ed on, tracked the horseshoe circuit of the ice without finding an outlet, and were glad to labor back again almost in the teeth of a gale. Captain Penny had occupied the time more profita- bly. In company with Dr. Goodsir, an enthusiastic explorer and highly educated gentleman, whose broth- er was an assistant surgeon on board the missing ves- sels, he had been examining the shore. On the ridge of limestone, between Cape Spencer and Point Innes, they had come across additional proofs that Sir John's party had been here — very important these proofs as P tt A N K L I N S t. N C A M !• M E N T. 419 extending the line along the shore over which the pai- ty jnust have moved from Cape lliley. Among the articles they had found were tin canis* ters, with the London maker's label ; scraps of news- paper, bearing the date 1844 ; a paper fragment, with the words " until called" on it, seemingly part of a watch order ; and two other fragments, each with the name of one of Franklin's officers written on it in pen- cil. On the 27th, the chances of this narrow and capri- cious navigation had gathered five of the searching vessels, under throo different commands, within the same quarter of a mile — Sir John Ross', Penny's, and our own. Both Ross and Penny had made the effort to push through the sound to the west, but found a great belt of ice, reaching in an almost regular cres- cent from Leopold's Island across to the northern shore, about half a mile from the entrance of the channel. Captain Ommanney, with the Intrepid and Assistance, had been less fortunate. lie had attempted to break his way through the barrier, but it had closed on him, and he was now fast, within fifteen miles of us, to the west* After breakfast, our commander and myself took a boat to visit the traces discovered yesterday by Cap- tain Penny. Taking the Lady Franklin in our way, we met Sir John Ross and Commander Phillips, and a (conference naturally took place upon the best jjlans for concerted operations. I was very much struck with the gallant disinterestedness of spirit which was shown by all the officers in this discussion. Penny, an energetic, practical fellow, sketched out at once a plan of action for each vessel of the party. He him- self would take the western search ; Ross should run 25 ^ .,■■1*' 420 THE GRAVES. m ■III I L5»'" i over to Prince Regent's Sound, communicate the news to the Prince Albert, and so relieve that little vessel from the now unnecessary perils of her intended expe* dition ; and we were to press through the first open- ings in the ice by Wellington Channel, to the north and east. It was wisely determined by brave old Sir John that he would leave the Mary, his tender of twelve tons, at a little inlet near the point, to serve as a fall* back in case we should lose our vessels or become sealed up in permanent ice, and De Haven and Penny engaged their respective shares of her outfit, in the shape of some barrels of beef and flour. Sir John Ross, I think, had just left us to go on board his little craft, and I was still talking over our projects with Captain Penny, when a messenger was reported, mak- ing all speed to us over the ice. The news he brought was thrilling. " Graves, Cap. tain Penny! graves! Franklin's winter quarters!" We were instantly in motion. Captain De Haven, Captain Penny, Commander Phillips, and myself, join- ed by a party from the Rescue, hurried on over the ice, and, scrambling along the loose and rugged slope that extends from Beechy to the shore, came, after a weary walk, to the crest of the isthmus. Here, amid the ster- lie uniformity of snow and slate, were the head-boards of three graves, made after the old orthodox fashion of gravestones at home. The mounds which adjoined them were arranged with some pretensions to symme- try, coped and defended with limestone slabs. They occupied a line facing toward Cape Riley, which was distinctly visible across a little cove at the distance of flome four hundred yards. The first, or that most to the southward, is nearest to THE GRAVES. 421 the front in the accompanying sketch. Its insorip tion, cut in by a chisel, ran thus : " Sacred to thn memory , of W. Draink, R. M., H. M. S. i:rcbu8 Died April 3''i II W 424 CONCLUSIONS. » s I -^ilf- Similar traces were seen toward Caswell's Tower and Cape Riley, which gave additional proofs of sys- tematic journeyings. They could be traced through the comminuted limestone shingle in the direction of Cape Spencer; and at intervals further on were scraps of paper, lucifer matches, and even the cinders of the temporary fire. The sledge parties must have been regularly organized, for their course had evidently been the subject of a previous reconnoissance. I observed their runner tracks not only in the limestoiie crust, but upon some snow slopes further to the north. It was startling to see the evidences of a travel nearly six years old, preserved in intaglio on a material so perishable. The snows of the Arctic regions, by alternations of congelation and thaw, acquire sometimes an ice-like durability ; but these traces had been covered by the after-snows of five winters. They pointed, like the Sastrugi, or snow- waves of the Siberians, to the march- es of the lost company. Mr. Griffin, who performed a journey of research along this coast toward the north, found at intervals, almost to Cape Bowden, traces of a passing party. A corked bottle, quite empty, was among these. Reach- ing a point beyond Cape Bowden, he discovered the indentation or bay which now bears his name, and on whose opposite shores the coast was again seen. It is clear to my own mind that a systematic recon- noissance was undertaken by Franklin of the upper waters of the Wellington, and that it had for its object an exploration in that direction as soon as the ice would permit. There were some features about this deserted home- stead inexpressibly touching. The frozen trough of an CONCLUSIONS. 425 old water channel had served as the wash-house stream lor the crews olthe lost squadron. The tubs, such as Jack makes by sawing in half the beef barrels, al- though no longer fed by the melted snows, remained as the washers had left them five years ago. The lit- tie garden, too : I did not see it ; but Lieutenant Osborn describes it as still showing the mosses and anemones that were transplanted by its framers. A garden im- plies a purpose either to remain or to return : he who makes it is looking to the future. The same officer found a pair of Cashmere gloves, carefully "laid out to dry, with two small stones upon the palms to keep them from blowing away." It would be wrong to measure the value of these gloves by the price they could be bought for in Bond Street or Broadway. The Arctic traveler they belonged to intended to come back for them, and did not piobably forget them in his hurry. The facts I have mentioned, almost all of them, have been so ably analyzed already, that I might be ex- cused from venturing any deductions of my own. But it was impossible to review the circumstances as we stood upon the ground without forming an opinion ; and such as mine was, it is perhaps best that I should express it here. In the first place, it is plain that Sir John Franklin's consort, the Terror, wintered in 1845-6 at or near the promontory of Beechy ; that at least part of her crew remained on board of her ; and that some of the crew of the flag-ship, the Erebus, if not the ship herself, were also there. It is also plain that a part of one or both these crews was occupied during a portion of the win- ter in the various pursuits of an organized squadron, at an encampment on the isthmus I have described, ■1^! .■"'I'l 426 CONJECTURE. I '^ 'If!' •■■■'' aiitt a position which commanded a full view of Lancaster Sound to the east of south, and of Wellington Chan- nel extending north. It may be fairly inferred, also, that the general health of the crews had not suflered severely, three only having died out of a hundred and thirty odd ; and that in addition to the ordinary details of duty, they were occupied in conducting and comput- ing astronomical observations, making sledges, prepar- ing their little anti-scorbutic garden patches, and ex- ploring the eastern shore of the channel. Many facts that we ourselves observed made it seem probable that Franklin had not, in the first instance, been able to prosecute his instructions for the Western search ; and the examinations made so fully since by Captain Aus- tin's officers have proved that he never reached Cape Walker, Banks' Land, Melville Island, Prince Regent's Inlet, or any point of the sound considerably to the west or southwest. The whole story of our combined operations in and about the channel shows that it is along its eastern margin that the water-leads occur most frequently: natural causes of general application may be assigned for this, some of which will readily suggest themselves to the physicist ; but I have only to do here with the recognized fact. So far I think we proceed safely. The rest is con- jectural. Let us suppose the season for renewed prog- ress to be approaching ; Franklin and his crews, with their vessels, one or both, looking out anxiously from their narrow isthmus for the first openings of the ice. They come : a gale of wind has severed the pack, and the drift begins. The first clear water that would meet his eye would be close to the shore on which he had his encampment. Would he wait till the continued drift had made the navigation practicable in Lancas- b! I M CONJECTURE. 427 ter Sound, and then retrace his steps to try the upper regions of Baffin's Bay, which he could not reach with- out a long circuit; or wouUl he press to the north through the opon lead that lay before him i Those who know Franklin's character, his declared opinions, his determined purpose, so well portrayed in the late- ly published letters of one of his officers, will hardly think the question difficult to answer : his sledges had already pioneered the way. We, the searchers, were ourselves tempted, by the insidious openings to the north in Wellington Channel, to push on in the hope that .some lucky chance might point us to an outlet beyond. Might not the same temptation have had its influence for Sir John Franklin ? A careful and dar- ing navigator, such as he was, would not wait for the lead to close. I can imagine the dispatch v^ith which the observatory would be ilismantled, the armorer's es- tablishment broken up, and the camp vacated. I can understand how the preserved meat cans, not very val- uable, yet not worthless, might be left piled upon the shore ; how one man might leave his mittens, aiu)tlier his blanket coat, and a third hurry over the search for his lost key. And if 1 were required to conjecture some explanation of the empty signal cairn, I do not know what I could refer it to but the excitement at- tendant on just such a sudden and unexpected release Ihini a weary imprisonment, and the instant prospect of energetic and perilous adventure. ^-. f *|:' ■',4.!]. :rt t: \ ■f-i'i u?:"'* ^;' CHAPTER XXXII. TIIE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (continued.) *^ August 28. Strange enough, during the night, Captain Austin, of her majesty's search squadron, with liis flag-ship the Resolute, entered the same little in- dentation in which five of us were moored before. His steam-tender, the Pioneer, grounded off the point of Beechy Island, and is now in sight, canted over by the ice nearly to her beam ends. " I called this morning on Sir John Ross, and had a long talk with him. He said that, as far back as 1847, anticipating the ' detention' of Sir John Franklin — I use his own word — he had volunteered his services for an expedition of retrieve, asking for the purpose four small vessels, something like our own ; but no one list- ened to him. Volunteering again in 1848, he was told that his nephew's claim to the service had re- ceived a recognition ; whereupon his own was with- drawn. ' I told Sir John,' said Ross, * that my own ex- perience in these seas proved that all these sounds and inlets may, by the caprice or even the routine of sea- sons, be closed so as to prevent any egress, and that ti missing or shut-off party must have some means of falling back. It was thus I saved myself from the abandoned Victory by a previously constructed house for wintering, and a boat for temporary refuge.' All this, he says, he pressed on Sir John Franklin before VISIT TO THE RES07-.UTE. 429 he set out, and he thinks that Melville Island is now the seat of such a house-asylum. ' For, depend upon it,' he added, ' Franklin will he expecting some of us to be following on his traces. Now, may it he that the party, whose winter quarters we have discovered, sent out only exploring detachments along Wellington Sound in the spring, and then, when themselves re- leased, continued on to the west, by Cape Hotharn and Barrow's Straits V I have given this extract from my journal, though the theory it suggests has since been disproved by Lieutenant M'Clintock, because the tone and language of Sir John Ross may be regarded as characteristic of this manly old seaman. " I next visited the Resolute. I shall not here say how their perfect organization and provision ibr win- ter contrasted with those of our own little expedition. I had to shake off a feeling almost of despondency when I saw how much better fitted they were to grap. pie with the grim enemy, Cold. Winter, if we may judge of it by the clothing and warming appliances of the British squadron, must be something beyond our power to cope with ; for, in comparison with them, we have nothing, absolutely nothing. " The officers received me, for I was alone, with the cordiality of recognized brotherhood. They are a gen- tlemanly, well-educated set of men, thoroughly up to the history of what has been done by others, and full of personal resource. Among them I was rejoiced to meet an old acquaintance, Lieutenant Brown, whose admirably artistic sketches I had seen in Haghe's lith- otints, at Mr. Grinnell's, before leanng New York. When we were together last, it was among the trop- ical jungles of Luzon, surrounded by the palm, the cycas, and bamboo, in the glowing extreme of vegeta- h M II m if ^ ' i^S'^^ ^^^^^bI«Ih« 6 1 !iE:{n CTtWIMt. 1 i^2l ' H^ Si h^bB^HRb^B V ' B X' tWi^fefllflllW^HRfii^Hv ■ -* « ;./ 'oi'li l^Mpfl^M'M 'B'n ^i^K^wHii ..< ■ >'''" ipH HIi^mII •* " f ■ wflilHK''*''' / IB ;;*n,^ wmImPI ■HP ;/ ilflflln^^^H ~ ',.j- '« Bff BMI^^^^^M] II H Wk I 430 VISIT TO PENNY. Mi u I r^ ble exuberance : here we are met once more, in the stinted region of lichen and mosses. He was then a j unior, under Sir Edward Belcher : I — what I am yet. The lights and shadows of a naval life are nowhere better, and, alas ! nowhere worse displayed, than in these remote accidental greetings. " Returning, I paid a visit to Penny's vessels, and formed a very agreeable acquaintance with the med- ical officer, Dr. R. Anstruther Goodsir, a brother of as- sistant surgeon Goodsir of Franklin's flag-ship, "In commemoration of the gathering of the search- ing squadrons within the little cove of Beechy Point, Commodore Austin has named it, very appropriately, Union Bay. • It is here the Mary is deposited as an asylum to fall back upon in case of disaster. " The sun is traveling rapidly to the south, so that our recently glaring midnight is now a twilight gloom. The coloring over the hills at Point Innes this even- ing was sombre, but in deep reds; and the sky had an inhospitable coldness. It made me thoughtful to see the long shadows stretching out upon the snow toward the isthmus of the Graves. " The wind is from the north and westward, and the ice is so driven in around us as to grate and groan against the sides of our little vessel. The masses, though small, are very thick, and by the surging of the sea have been rubbed as round as pebbles. They make an abominable noise." The remaining days of August were not character- ized by any incident of note. We had the same al- ternations of progress and retreat through the ice as before, and without sensibly advancing toward the western shore, which it was now our object to reach. The next extracts from my journal are of the diite of September 3d. ICE DRIFTING. 431 " After floating down, warping, to avoid the loose ice, we finally cast ofT in comparatively open water, and began beating toward Cape Spencer to get round the field. Once there, we got along finely, sinking the eastern shore by degrees, and nearing the undelineated coasts of Cornwallis Island. White whales, narwhals, seals — among them the Phoca leonina with his puffed cheeks — and two bears, were seen. " The ice is tremendous, far ahead of any thing we have met with. The thickness of the upraised tables is sometimes fourteen feet ; and the hummocks are so ground and distorted by the rude attrition of the floes, that they rise up in cones like crushed sugar, some of them forty feet high. But that the queer life we are leading — a life of constant exposure and excitement, and one that seems more like the ' roughing it' of a land party than the life of shipboard — has inured us lo the eccentric fancies of the ice, our position w^ould be a sleepless one. ^^ September 4, 2 A.M. Was awakened by Captain De Haven to look at the ice : an impressive sight. We were fast with three anchors to the main floe ; and now, though the wind was still from the northward, and therefore in opposition to the dril't, the floating masses under the action of the tide came with a west- ward trend directly past us. Fortunately, they were not borne down upon the vessels ; but, as they went by in slow procession to the west, our sensations w^ere, to say the least, sensations. It was very grand to see up-piled blocks twenty feet and more above our heads, and to wonder whether this fellow would strike our main-yard or clear our stern. Some of the moving hummocks were thirty feet high. They grazed us; but a little projection of the main field to windward shied them off. 11 §11 'w JmBm K ' ^rs^ n' 1^^^^ ' if' 1 ^[ffi' ■ BHm' ■i-'X-" w P^K^I ' 1 ni Al.^Ui n '^■> m^m 432 ICE FORMING. "We were seated cosily around our little table in the cabin, imagining our harbor of land ice perfectly secure, whon we were startled by a crash. We rush- ed on deck just in time to see the solid floe to wind- ward part in the middle, liberate itself from its attach- ment to the shore, and bear down upon us with the full energy of the storm. Our lee bristled ominously half a ship's length from us, and to the east was the main drift. The Rescue was first caught, nipped astern, and lifted bodily out of water; fortunately, she withstood the pressure, and rising till she snapped her cable, launched into open water, crushing the young ice before her. The Advance, by hard warping, drew a little closer to the cove ; and, a moment after, the ice drove by, j ust clearing our stern. Commodore Austin's vessels were imprisoned in the moving fragments, and carried helplessly past us. In a very little while they were some four miles off." The summer was now leaving us rapidly. The thermometer had been at 21° and 23° for several nights, and scarcely rose above 32° in the daytime. Our lit- tle harbor at Barlow's Inlet was completely blocked in by heavy masses ; the new ice gave plenty of sport to the skaters ; but on shipboard it was uncomfortably cold. As yet we had no fires below; and, after draw- ing around me the India-rubber curtains of my berth, with my lamp burning inside, I frequently wrote iny journal in a freezing temperature. "This is not very cold, no doubt" — I quote from an entry of the 8th— " not very cold to your forty-five minus men of Arctic winters ; but to us poor devils from the zone of the liriodendrons and peaches, it is rather cool for the September month of water-melons. My bear with his arsenic swabs is a solid lump, and some birds that RENDEZVOUS. 4X\ are waiting to be skinned are absolutely rigid with frost." In the afternoon of this day, the 8th, we went to work, all hands, officers included, to cut up the young ice and tow it out into the current : once there, the drift cftiried it rapidly to the south. We cleared away in this manner a space of some forty yards square, and at five the next morning were rewarded by being again under weigh. We were past Cape Hotham by break- fast-time on the 9th, and in the afternoon were beat- ing to the west in Lancaster Sound. " The sound presented a novel spectacle to us ; the young ice glazing it over, so as to form a viscid sea of sludge and tickli/-benders, from the northern shore to the pack, a distance of at least ten miles. This was mingled with the drift floes from Wellington Chan- nel ; and in them, steaming away manfully, were the Resolute and Pioneer. The wind was dead ahead ; yet, but for the new ice, there was a clear sea to the west. AVhat, then, was our mortification, first, to see our pack-bound neighbors force themselves from their prison and steam ahead dead in the wind's eye, and, next, to be overhauled by Penny, and passed by both his brigs. We are now the last of all the searchers, except perhaps old Sir John, who is probably yet in Union Bay, or at least east of the straits. " The shores along which we are passing are of the same configuration with the coast to the east of Beechy Island ; the cliffs, however, are not so high, and their bluff appearance is relieved occasionally by terraces and shingle beach. The lithological characters of the limestone appear to be the same. " We are all together here, on a single track but lit- tle wider than the Delaware or Hudson. There is no I- m'.: 434 RENDEZVOUS i l!k. getting out of it, for the shore is on one side and the fixed ice close on the other. All have the lead of us, and we are working only to save a distance. Omman- ney must be near Melville by this time : pleasant, very ! "Closing memoranda for the day: 1. I have the rheumatism in my knees ; 2. I left a bag containing my dress suit of uniforms, and, what is worse, my win- ter suit of furs, and with them my double-barrel gun, on joard Austin's vessel. The gale of the 7th has carried him and them out of sight. "September 10. Unaccountable, most unaccounta- ble, the caprices of this ice-locked region ! Here we are again all together, even Ommanney with the rest. The Resolute, Intrepid, Assistance, Pioneer, Lady Franklin, Sophia, Advance, and Rescue ; Austin, Om- manney, Penny, and De Haven, all anchored to the * fast' off Griffith's Island. The way to the west com- pletely shut out." "September 11, Wednesday. Snow, light and fleecy, covering the decks, and carried by our clothes into our little cabin. The moisture of the atmosphere con- denses over the beams, and trickles down over the lockers and bedding. We are still along side of the fixed ice off Griffith's Island, and the British squad- ron under Commodore Austin are clustered toypther within three hundred yards of us. Penny, like an in- defatigable old trump, as he is, is out, pushing, work- ing, groping in the fog. The sludge ice, that had driven in around us and almost congealed under our stern, is now by the ebb of the tide, or at least its change, carried out again, although the wind still sets toward the floe. W^^ A GALE. 4.'55 id the of us, nman- )asant, ve the taining ly win- el gun, fth has icounta- lere we the rest, r, Lady tin, Om- d to the est com- "At three the Rescue parted, her cable's hold, and was carried out to sea, leaving two men, her boat, and her anchors behind. We snapped our stern-ciihh^, lost our anchor, swung out, but fortunately held hy the I'orwnrd line. All the English vessels were in similar peril, the Pioneer being at one time actually I'ree ; and Commodore Austin, who in the Jle.solute occuj)icd the head of the line, was in momentary I'ear of coming ilou II upon us. Altogether I have seldom seen a night ol' greater trial. The wind roared over the snow Hoes, and every thing about the vessel froze into heavy ice situlactites. Had the main tloe parted, we Inul been carried down with the liberated ice. Fortumitcly, ev- ery thing held ; and here we are, safe and sound, 'i'be Kescue was last seen beating to windward against the •rale, probably seeking a lee under Griffith's Island. Tliis morning the snow continues in the form of a fine cutting drift, the water freezes wherever it touches, and the thermometer has been at no time above 17°. ^^ September 12, 10 P.M. Just from deck. How very dismal every thing seems ! The snow is driven like sand upon a level reach, lifted up in long curve lines, and then obscuring the atmosphere with a white dtirk- iiess. The wind, too, is howling in a shrill minor, singing across the hummock ridges. The eight ves- sels are no longer here. The Rescue is driven out to !sea, and poor Penny is probably to the southward. Five black masses, however, their cordage defined by rime and snow, are seen with their snouts shoved into the shore of ice : cables, chains, and anchors are cov- ered feet below the drift, and the ships adhere mys- teriously, their tackle completely invisible. Should any of us break away, the gale would carry us into streams of heavy floating ice ; and our running rig. 20 n y if Mi;.* 11 *. '* Wmm' l^ffiHliit .M. WhWiSfW 1 Mr-liiiti -. ; tf ' 11 i^&iinu ,,.^^|i|i|MM|l|p|lj '^'^'^ IimI'mIh^KIIv^l 1 ' I^IMral' J' »fi [' 1 tit'iVi .5 ■' ' 0M i.f 'h -ilf L 'J fti I 'i ' '41 If! ' ' i:!,, *'.n Mi\\ r'i ,i?irlJilli ^Im PKlM 1 ' \mm B^Hlii i "% !■ a«Si;l I'i il ^Hi ;..,.«^, ilj^^j ,■■■■,,. iSk IttMIU t'f ' U !! |!H.4,'i«|l' 4.'WJ TIlC GALE. ging is so coated with icicles as to make it impossible to work it. The thermometer stands at 14''. "At this temperature the young ice I'orms in spite of the increasing movement of tin; wavers, stretcliinj,' out from the floe in long, /igz-ag lines of smocjtiint'.vs resembling waty , and the we kii»'\v our posi- iscovcved Mjro, unJ tho qnes- id. ll:J l^ ( ■^'4 fi ^t./ .v', r'^^i^ Km Wwa K t H Wm II ; . ..( 'JralB ffi ... "tff tt' 1 . 11' 'if yik 1 m-' *:• 1 :* »f'i V I i!-' 438 ORDER FOR RETURN. the cabin hatch, and, but for our .strong bows, seven and a half solid feet, would have stove us in. Anoth- er time, we cleared a tongue of the main pack by rid- ing it down at eight knots. Commodore Austin seems caught by the closing Hoes. This is really sharp work. "■4 P.M. We continued beating toward Griffith's Is- land, till, by doubling a tongue of ice, we were able to force our way. The English seemed to watch our movements, and almost to follow in our wake, till we came to a comparatively open space, about the area of Washington Square, where we stood off and on, the ice being too close upon the eastern end of Grifiith's Island to permit us to pass. Our companions in this little vacancy were Captain Ommanney's Assistance ; Osborne's steam tender the Pioneer, and Kater's steam- er the Intrepid. Commodore Austin's vessel was to the southward, entangled in the moving ice, but mo- mentarily Hearing the open leads. While thus boxing about on one of our tacks, we nearod the north edge of our little opening, and were hailed by the Assistance with the glad intelligence of the Eescue close under the island. Our captain, who was at his usual post, conning the ship from the foretop- sail yard, made her out at the same time, and immedi- ately determined upon boring the intervening ice. This was done successfully, the brig bearing the hard knocks nobly. Strange to say, the English vessels, now joined by Austin, followed in our wake — a com- pliment, certainly, to De Haven's ice-mastership. We were no sooner throudi, than siy-nal was made to the Rescue to ' cast off,' and our ensign was run up from the peak : the captain had determined upon at- tempting a return to the United States. In a little while w'e had the Rescue in tow, and were THE RESCUE N I 1' P E D , 439 heading to the east. She had had a fearful night of it after leaving us. She beat about, short-handed, clogged with ice, and with the thermometer at 8°. The snow fell heavily, and the rigging was a solid, al- most unmanageable lump. Steering, or rather beating, she made, on the evening of the 1 2th, the southern edge of Griffith's Island, and by good luck and excel- lent management succeeded in holding to the land hummocks. She had split her rudder-post so as to make her luiworlxihlc, and now we have her in tow. An anchor wath its fluke snapped — her best bower ; and her little boat, stove in by tlie ice, w\as cut adrift. We were now homeward bound, but a saddened homeward bound for all of us. The vessels of our gallant brethren soon lost themselves in the mist, and we steered our course with a fresh breeze for Cape Hotham. The night gave us now three hours of complete darkness. It was danger to run on, j'et equally dan- ger to pause. Grim winter was following close upon our heels ; and even the captain, sanguine and fear- less in emergency as he always proved himself, as he saw the tenacious fields of sludge and pancake thick- ening around us, began to feel anxious. Mine was a jmnble of sensations. I had been desirous to the last degree that we might remain on the field of search, and could hardly be dissatisfied at what promised to realize my wish. Yet I had hoped that our wintering would be near our English friends, that in case of ti'oulde or disease we might mutually sustain each other. But the interval of fiftv miles between us, in these inhospitable deserts, was as complete a sc^para- tion as an entire continent ; and I confess that I look- ed at the dark shadows closing around Barlow's Inlet, I "i1 440 FROZEN IX, the prison from which we cut ourselves on the seventh, just six days before, with feelings as sombre as the landscape itself The sound of our vessel crunching her way throucrh the new ice is not easy to be described. It avus not like the grinding of the old formed ice, nor was it the slushy scraping of sludge. We may all of us re- member, in the skating frolics of early days, the pecu- liar reverberating outcry of a pebble, as we tossed it froui us along the edges of an old mill-dam, and heard it dying away in echoes almost musical. Imagine such a tone as this, combined with the whir of rapid motion, and the rasping noise of close-grained sugar. I was listeninii: to the sound in mv little den, after a sorrowful day, close upon zero, tr\'ing to warm up mv stifil'iied limbs. Presently it grew less, then increased, then stopped, then went on again, but jerking and ir- regular ; and then it Avaned, and waned, and waned away to silence. Down came the captain : " Doctor, the ice has caught us : we are frozen up." On went my furs at once. As I reached the deck, the wind was there blowing stiff. and the sails were filled and pufling with it. It was not \'et dark enough to hide the smooth surface of ice that iilled up the horizon, holding the American expe- dition in search of Sir John Franklin imbedded in its centre. There we were, literally frozen tight in the mid-channel of Wellinti-ton's Straits. The region, wdiich ten days before was teeming with animal lile, was now almost deserted. "We saw but one narwhal and a few seal. The Ivorv les, as they clashed together in the darkness of early dawn, I saw for the first time the luminous appearance, which has been described by voyagers as attending the collision of bergs. It was very marked ; as decided a plios- pliorescence as that of the lire-fly, or the fo x-fue of the Virginia meadows. Still, amid all the tumult, our drift was toward the north. From the bearings of the coast, badly obtained through the fogs, it was quite evident that we had passed beyond any thing recorded on the charts. Cape Bowden, Parry's fiu^thest headland, was at least twen- DRIFT TO T II li N U T U W A R D . 443 ty-five miles south of us ; and our old landmarks, Cape Hotliam and Beccliy, had entirely disappeared. Even the high bluffs of Barlow's Inlet had gone. I hardly know why it was so, but this inlet had some how or other been for me an object of special aversion : the naked desolation of its frost-bitten limestone, the cav- ernous recess of its cliffs, the cheerlessness of its dark shadows, had connected it, from the first day 1 saw it, with some dimly-remembered feeling of pain. But how glad we should all of us have been, as we floated along in hopeless isolation, to find a way open to its grim but protecting barriers. " Septemher 20. I have been keeping the first watch, and anxiously observing the ice ; for I am no sailor, and in emergency can only wake my comrades. The darkness is complete. '• We are now, poor devils ! drifting northward again. Creatures of habit, those who were anxious have for- gotten anxiety : glued fast here in a moving mass, we eat, and drink, and sleep, unmindful of the morrow. It is almost beyond a doubt that, if we find our way through the contingencies of this Arctic autumn, we must spend our winter in open sea. Many miles to the south. Captain Back passed a memorable term of vigil and exposure. Here, however, I do not antici- pate such encounters with drifting floes as are spoken of in Hudson's Bay. The centre of greatest cold is too near us and the communication with open sea too distant. "I was in the act of writing the above, when a start- ling sensation, resembling the spring of a wxdl-drawn bow, announced a fresh movement. Running on deck, I found it blowinur a furious gale, and the ice ao-ain in motion. I use the word motion inaccurately. The jLil '/ ■:< Hl^ fi It ;*•»(! ^ I ''] 444 IN WELLINGTON CHANNEL. field, of which we arc a part, is always in motion; that is, drifting with wind or current. It is only when other ice bears down upon our own, or our own ice is borne in against other floes, that pressure and resist- ance make us conscious of motion. '' The ice was again in motion. The great expanse of recently-formed solidity, already bristling with hum- mocks, had up to this moment resisted the enormous incidence of a heavy gale. Suddenly, however, the pressure increasing beyond its strength, it yielded. The twang of a bow-string is the only thing I can compare it to. In a single instant the broad field was rent asunder, cracked in every conceivable direction, tables ground against tables, and masses piled over masses. The sea seemed to be churning ice. " By the time I had yoked my neck in its serape, and got up upon deck, the ice had piled up a couple of feet above our bulwarks. In less than another min- ute it had toppled over again, and we were floating helplessly in a confused mass of broken fragments. Fortunately the Rescue remained fixed ; our hawser was fast to her stern, and by it we were brought side by side again. Night passed anxiously; i. e., slept in my clothes, and dreamed of being presented to Queen Victoria. I am reluctant to burden my pages with the wild, but scarcely varied incidents of our continued drift through Wellington Channel. We were yet to be fa- miliarized with the strife of the ice-tables, now broken up into tumbling masses, and piling themselves in angry confusion against our sides — now fixed in cha- otic disarray by the fields of new ice that imbedded them in a single night — again, perhaps, opening in treacherous pools, only to close round us with a force FIGHTING THE ENEMY. 445 that threatened to grind our brigs to powder. I shall have occasion enough to speak of these things here- after. I give now a few extracts from my journal; some of which may perhaps have interest of a differ- ent cliaracter, though they cannot escape the sadden- ing monotony of the scenes that were about us. I begin with a partial break-up that occurred on the 23d. " September 23. How shall I describe to you this pressure, its fearfulness and sul)limity ! Nothing that I liave seen or read of approaches it. The voices of the ice and the heavy swash of the overturned hum- mock-tables are at this moment dinning in my ears. ' All hands' are on deck fighting our grim enemy. " Fourteen inches of solid ice thickness, with some lialf dozen of snow, are, with the slow uniform advance of a mighty propelling power, driving in upon our ves- sel. As they strike her, the semi-plastic mass is im- pressed with a mould of her side, and then, urged on by the force behind, slides upward, and rises in great vertical tables. When these attain their utmost height, still pressed on by others, they topple over, and form a great embankment of fallen tables. At the same tiiuO others take a downward direction, and when pushed on, as in the other case, form a similar pile un- derneath. The side on which one or the other of these actions takes place for the time, varies with the direc- tion of the force, the strength of the opposite or resist- ing side, the inclination of the vessel, and the weight of the superincumbent mounds ; and as these condi- tions follow each other in varving succession, the ves- sel l)ecomes perfectly iml)edded after a little while in crumbling and fractured ice. " Perhaps no ^•es el has ever been in this position m~ ■'•^Vl\ j'<* i4 h/a i^' 446 TRAPPING FOXES. 'Sr ■ ( ■.ii but our own. With matured ice, nothing of iron or wood could resist such pressure. As for the British vessels, their size would make it next to impossible for them to stand. Back's ' Winter' is the only thing I have read of that reminds me of our present predica- ment. No vessel has ever been caught by winter in these waters. " We are lifted bodily eighteen inches out of water. The hummocks are reared up around the ship, so as to rise in some cases a couple of feet above our bul- warks — five feet above our deck. They are very often ten and twelve feet high. All hands are out, laboring with picks and crowbars to overtuin the fragments that threaten to overwhelm us. Add to this darkness, snow, cold, and the absolute destitution of surrounding shores. " September 2(j. The hummocks around us still re- main without apparent motion, heaped up like snow- covered barriers of street rioters. AVe are wedged in a huge muss of tables, completely out of water, cra- dled by ice. I wish it woidd give us an even keel. We are eighteen inches higher on one quarter than the other. " Afar off, skipping from hummock to hummock, I saw a black fox. Poor desolate devil ! what did he, so far from his recorded home, seven miles from even the naked snow-hills of this dreary wilderness? In the night-time I heard him bark. They set a trap for him ; but I secretly placed a bigger bait outside, with- out a snare-loop or trigger. In the morning it was gone, and the dead-fall had follen upon no fox. How the poor, hungry thing must have enjoyed his supper! Our position, at the end of September, thanks to the rapidly increasing cold, gave promise of a certain FIXED FOR THE WINTEU. 447 deorec of security and rest. The Advance had been driven, by the superior momentum of tlie floes that pressed us on one side, some two liundred and fifty I'eet into the mass of less resisting floes on the other ; the Rescue meanwhile remaining stationary ; and the two vessels were fixed for a time on two adjacent sides of a rectangle, and close to each other. We felt that we were fixed for the winter. We ar- rano;ed our rude embankments of ice and snow around us, l)egan to deposit our stores within them, and got out our felt covering that was to serve as our winter roof The temperature was severe, ranging from 1° 5, and 4° to -f- 10° : but the men worked with the energy and hope too, of pioneer settlers, when building up their first home in our Western forests. " October 1, Tuesday. To-day the work of breaking hold commenced. The coal immediately under the main hatch was passed up in buckets, and some five tons piled upon the ice. The quarter-boats were hauled about twenty puces from our port-bow, and the sails covered and stacked ; in short, all hands were at work preparing for the winter. Little had we calculated the caprices of Arctic ice. 'About ten o'clock A. M. a large crack opened nearly cast and west, running as far as the eye could see, sometimes crossing the ice-pools, and sometimes l)reak- ing along the hummock ridges. The sun and moon will be in conjunction on the 3d ; we had notice, there- fore, that the spring tides are in action. " Captain Grilfm had l)een dispatched with Mr. Lov- ell before this, to establish on the shore the site for a depot of provisions : at one o'clock a signal was made to recall them. At two P.M., seeing a seal, I ran out upon the ice ; but losing him, was tempted to continue 448 ICK oim::;i.\<; ii w m ^^ on about a mile to tlie eastward. The wiiul, which had been from the westward all the morning, now (shifted to the southward, and the ice-tables began to be again in motion. The humming of bees and up- heaving hunnnocks, together with exploding cracks, warned me back to the vessel. "At 3.20, while we were at dinner, commentino- with some anxiety upon the condition of things witli- out, that unmistakable monitor, the ' younj pu/iplrs,' began. Runing on deck, we found a large fissure, nearly due north and south, in line with the Advance. A few minutes after, the entire floe on our starboard side was moving, and the ice breaking up in every direction. " The emergency was startling enough. All hands turned to, ofhcers included. The poor Land party, re- turning at this moment, tired and dinnerless, went to work with the rest. Vreeland and myself worked like horses. Before dark, every thing was on board except the coal ; and of this, such were the unwearied eflbrts of our crew, that we lost but a ton or two. " October 3. I write at midnight. Leaving the deck, where I have been tramping the cold out of my joints, I come below to our little cabin. As I open the hatch, every thing seems bathed in dirty milk. A cloud of vapor gushes out at every chink, and, as the cold air travels down, it is seen condensing deeper and deeper. The thermometer above is at 7° below zero. " The brig and the ice around her are covered by a strange black obscurity — not a mist, nor a haze, but a peculiar, waving, palpable, unnatural darkness: it is the frostrsmoke of Arctic winters. Its range is very low. Climbing to the yard-arm, some thirty feet above the deck, I looked over a great horizon of black smoke, and above me saw the blue heavens without a blemish. B 11 U T I N G SEAL. 449 " October 4. Tlie open pools can no longer bo called pools; they are great rivers, whose hiiiniiioek-lined shoretf look dimly through the haze. Contrasted with the pure white snow, their waters are blaek even to inkiiiess, and the silent tides, undisturbed by ripple or wash, pass beneath a pasty lihu of constantly lorniing ice. The thermometer is at 10°. Away from the slii[), a long way, I walked over the older ice to a spot where the open river was as wide as the Delaware. Here, after some crevico-jumping and tiddy-hcnder crossing, I set myself behind a little rampart of hum- mocks, watching for seals. " As I watched, the smoke, the frost-smoke, came down in wreaths, like the lambent tongues of burning turpentine seen without a blaze. I was soon enveloped in crapy mist. " To shoot seal, one must practice the Esquimaux tactics of much patience and complete innnobility. It in no fun, 1 assure you after full experience, to sit mo- tionless and noiseless as a statue, with a cold iron musket in your hands, and the thermometer 10° below zero. But by-and-by I was rewarded l)y seeing some overgrown Greenland calves come within shot. I missed. After another hour of cold expectation, they came again. Very strange are these seal. A counte- nance between the dog and the mild African ape — an expression so like that of humanity, that it makes [iun-murderors hesitate. At last, at long shot, I hit one. God forgive me ! " October 6, Sunday. A dismal day ; the wind howl- ing, and the snow, fine as flour, drifting into every chink and cranny. The cold quite a nuisance, although the mercury is up again to -\-G°. It is blowing a gale, What if the floe^ in which we are providentially glued. ^\^ I ("ifl^': * '.' ;a\> ij m i P* 450 AGAIN I) U I F T I N O . shouM Liiko it into its hoad to break off, and carry us on a cniiso bc'lbre the wind ! " 12 Midnij^lit. Tlioy report us adrift. Wind a '^ah from tlie nortliward and westward. An odd cniiso this! The Anieriean expedition fast in a liiini) of ice about as ])ig as WashinL,^ton Scjuare, and driving, like the shanty on a raft, before a howling gale. " October 8. To day seemed like a wave of the hand- kerchief from our receding summer. Winter is in every thing. Yet the skies came back to us with warm ochres and pinks, and the sun, albeit from a lowly altitude, shone out in fall brightness. It was a mockery of warmth, howcvci', scarcely worthy the unpretending sincerity of the great planet ; for the mercury, exposed to the full radiance of his deceitful glare, rose l)ut two degrees from -|-7° to 9°. In spite of thi.s, the day wa.s bcautifid to remember, as a type of the sort of thhig which we once shared with the woild from which we arc shut out; a parting picture, to think about during the long night. These dark days, or rather the dark day, will soon be on us. The noon shadows of our long masts almost lose themselves in the distance. "A little white fox was caught alive in a trap this morning. He was an astute-visaged little scamp ; and although the chains of captivity, made of spnn-yarn and leather, set hardly upon him, he could spare abundant leisure for bear bones and snow. He Avoukl drink no water. His cry resembled the inter-parox- ysmal yell of a very small boy undergoing spanking. The note came with an impulsive vehemence, that expressed not only fear and pain, but a very tolerable spice of anger and ill-temper. . " He was soon reconciled, however. The very next day ho was tame enough to feed from the hand, and 'S tiling ich we ;luring (lark of oivc nee. ip this ) ; and n-vavn spare would parox- nking. e, that llcrable fy next lid, and TAMING A FOX 451 had lost all that startled wildness of look which Im sup- posc'il to characturizo hi.s tribe. lie was o\ ideally un- used to man, and without the educated instinct of ili'dit. Twice, when sulVered to escai)e from tiie ves- sel, he was caught in our traps the wime night. In- deed, the white foxes of this region — we caught moro than thirty of them—seemed to look at us with more curiosity than fear. They would come directly to the shii)'s side; and, though startled at first when we fired at them, so(m came back. 'J'hey even sull'crcd us to ap])roach them almost within reacli of the hand, ran around us, as we gave the halloo, in a narrow circle, but stopped as soon as wo Avore still, and stared us in- quisitively in the face. One little follow, when we let him loose on the ice after keeping him prisoner for a day or two, scampered back again iucontinently to his cubby-hole on the deck. There may be nuitter of re- flection for the naturalist in this. Has this animal no natural enemy but famine and cold ? The foxes i^eased to visit us soon after this, owing probal)ly to the un- certain ice between us and the shore : they are shrewd ice-mastors. We remained during the rest of this month icc-cra- dlcd. and driftiuf^ about near the outlet of AVelllni'ton Channel. Our thoughts turned irresistibly to the broad expanse of Lancaster Sound, wdiich lay wild iind rugged before us, and to the increasing probal)ility that it was to bo our field of trial during the long dark winter — perhaps our final liome. AVith this feeling came an increasing desire to com- municate with our late associates of Union Bay. I had volunteered some weeks before to make this trav- erse, and had busied myself witU arrangements to car- ry it out. The Rescue's India-rubber boat was to car- 27 452 A PROPOSED EXCURSION. ry the party through the leads, and, once at tlie shore, three men were to j)ress on with a light tent and a few days' provisions. The project, impracticable per- haps from the first, was foiled for a time by a vexa- tious incident. I had made my tent of thin cotton cloth, so that it weighed, when completed, but four- teen pounds, soaking it thoroughly in a composition of caoutchouc, ether, and linseed oil, the last in quan- tity. After it was finished and nearly dried, I wrap- ped it up in a dry covering of coarse muslin, and placed it for the night in a locked closet, at some distance from the cook's galley, where the temperature was be- tween 80° and 90°. In the morning it was destroyed. The wrapper was there, retaining its fonn, and not discolored ; but the outer folds of the tent were smok- ing; and, as I unrolled it, fold after fold showed more and more marks of combustion, till at the centre it was absolutely charred. There was neither flame nor sjiark. The moon made its appearance on the loth of Oc- tober. At first it was like a bonfire, warming up the ice with a red glare ; but afterward, on the 15th, when it rose to the height of 4°, it silvered the hummocks and frozen leads, and gave a softened lustre to the snow, through which our two little brigs stood out in black and solitary contrast. The stars seemed to have lost their twinkle, and to shine with concentrated brightness as if through gimlet-holes in the cobalt can- opy. The frost-smoke scarcely left the field of view. 1 1 generally hung in wreaths around the horizon ; but it sometimes took eccentric forms ; and one night, I remember, it piled itself into a column at the west, and Aquila flamed above it like a tall beacon-light. DRIFTING. 453 m\ nor The moiitli of November found us oscillating still with the winds and currents in the neighborhood of Beechy Island. Helpless as we were among the float- ing masses, we began to look upon the floe that car- ried us as a protecting barrier against the approaches of others less friendly ; and as the month advanced, and the chances increased of our passing into the sound, our apprehensions of being frozen up in the heart of the ice-pack gave place to the opposite fear of a continuous drift. ^'■November 29. The doubt is gone. Our floe, ice- cradle, safeguard, has been thrown round. Its eastern margin is grinding its way to the northward, and the west is already pointing to the south. Our bow is to Baffin's Bay, and we are traveling toward it. So far, ours has been a mysterious journeying. For two months and more, not a sail has fluttered from our frozen spars ; yet we have passed from Lancaster Sound into the highest latitude of Wellington Chan- nel, one never attained before, and have been borne back again past our point of starting, along a capri. ciously varied line of drift. " On deck ; looming up in the very midst of the haze, land ! so high and close on our port beam, that we felt like men under a precipice. We could see the vertical crevices in the limestone, the recesses con- trastinji in black shadow. What land is this ? Is it the eastern line of Cape Riley, or have we reached Cape Ricketts ? "There is one thing tolerably certain : the Grinnell expedition is quite as likely to be searched for here- after as to search. Poor Sir John Franklin ! this night- drift is an ugly omen. m !fil ! '' m ■ii; V'\ H 454 THE AURORA. "Do you remember, in the Spanish coasting craft, down about Barcelona and the Balearics, the queer little pictures of Saint Nicholas we used to see pasted up over the locker — a sort of mythic effigy, which the owner looked upon pretty much as some of our old commodores do the barometer, a mysterious some- thing, which he sneers at in fair weather, but is sure, in the strong faith of ignorance, to appeal to in foul ! Well, very much such a Saint Anthony have we down in the cabin here, staring us always in the face. Not a vermilion-daubed puerility, with a glory in Dutch leaf stretching from ear to ear ; but a good, genuine, hearty representative of English flesh and blood, a mouth that speaks of strong energies as well as a kindly heart, and an eye — the other one is spoiled in the lithography — that looks stern will. Many a time in the night have I discoursed with him, as he looked out on me from his gutta percha frame — ' Sir John Franklin ; presented by his wife ;' and sometimes I have imagined how and where I was yet to shake the glorious old voyager by the hand. I see him now while I am writing ; his face is darkened by the lamp- smoke that serves us for daylight and air, and he seems almost disheartened. So far as help and hope of it are afloat in this little vessel, Sir John, well you may be! " It is Sunday : we have had religious service as usual, and after it that relic of effete absurdity, the reading of the ' Rules and Regulations.' "We had the aurora about 7 P.M. The thermom- eter at —33° and falling ; barometer, Aneroid, 30*^. "^ • ^^ December 2. Drifting down the sound. Every thing getting ready for the chance of a hurried good- by to our vessels. Pork, and sugar, and bread puf up A BREAK-UP. 4:00 in small bags to fling on the ice. Every man his knapsack and cliange of clothing. Arms, bear-knives, ammunition out on deck, and sledges loaded. Yet this thermometer, at —30°, tells us to stick to the ship while we can. " This packing up of one's carpet-bag in a hurry re- quires a mighty discreet memory. I have often won- dered that seamen in pushing off from a wreck left so many little wants unprovided for ; but I think I un- derstand it now. After bestowing away my boots, with the rest of a walking wardrobe, in a snugly- lashed bundle, I discovered by accident that I had left my stockings behind. "4 P.M. Brooks comes down while we are dining to say we are driving east like a race-horse, and a crack ahead: 'All hands on deck!' We had heard the grindings last night, and our floe in the morning was cut down to a diameter of three hundred vards: we had little to spare of it. But the new chasm is there, already fifteen feet wide, and about twenty-five paces from our bows, stretching across at right angles with the old cleft of October the 2d. " Our floe, released from its more bulky portion, seems to be making rapidly toward the shore. This, how- ever, may be owing to the separated mass having an opposite motion, for the darkness is intense. Our largest snow-house is carried away; the disconsolate little cupola, with its flag of red bunting, should it sur- vive the winter, may puzzle conjectures for our En- glish brethren. "Mr. Griffin and myself walked through the gloom to the seat of hummock action abeam of the Rescue. The next fonr days were IVill of excitement and anxiety. One crack after another passed across our i^^ '^4 i ^'iN i '.l im 456 CRISIS. floe, still reducing its dimensions, and at one time bringing down our vessel again to an even keel. An hour afterward, the chasms would close around us with a sound like escaping steam. Again they v/ould open under some mysterious influence ; a field of ice from two to lour inches thick would cover them ; and tiien, without an apparent change of causes, the separated sides would come together with an explosion like a mortar, craunching the newly-formed field, and driving it headlong in fragments for fifty feet upon the floe till it piled against our bulwarks. Every thing betokened a crisis. Sledges, boats, packages of all sorts, were dis- posed in order; contingencies were met as they ap- proached by new delegations of duty ; every man was at work, officer and seaman alike ; for necessity, when it spares no one, is essentially democratic, oven on ship- board. The Rescue, crippled and thrown away from us to the further side of a chasm, was deserted, and her company consolidated with ours. Our own brig groaned and quivered under the pressure against her sides. I give my diary for December 7. ^^ December 7, Saturday. The danger which sur- rounds us is so immediate, that in the bustle of prep- aration for emergency I could not spend a moment upon my journal. Now the little knapsack is made up again, and the blanket sewed and strapped. The little home Bible at hand, and the ice-clothes ready for a j ump. Dec. 1. Uvc. 4. CRISIS. 457 " The above is a rough idea of our hiist three days' positions and changes. " Tlie ice, as I have sketched it, December 7, began to close at 11 A.M., and, at the same time, the brig was driven toward the open crack of December 4 (r). At 1 P.M. this closed on us with fearful nipping. " 1 P.M. Ran on deck. The ice was comparatively quiescent when I attempted to write; but it recoui- menced with a steady pressure, which must soon prove irresistible. My journal does not tell the story ; but it is worth noting, as it illustrates the sedative effect of a protract- ed succession of hazards. Our brig had just mounted the tloe, and as we stood on the ice watching her vi- bration, it seemed so certain that she must come over on her beam-ends, that our old boatswain. Brooks, called out to "stand from under." At this moment it occurred to one of the officers that the fires had not been put out, and that the stores remaining on board would be burned by the falling of the stoves. 8wiiig- ing himself back to the deck, and rushing below, he found two persons in the cabin ; the officer who had been relieved from watch-duty a few minutes before, quietly seated at the mess-table, and the steward as quietly waiting on him. "You are a meal ahead of me,'' he said ; " you didn't think I. was going out upon the it-e without my dinner." m 458 A It A C E OF PALE FACES. i I. 3 f '^ Dccembe?' 21, Saturday. To-day at noon we saw, dimly looming up from the redness of the soiitliorii horizon, a low range of hills; among them some coiios of great height, mountains of a cJiaracter diihu'ing irom the naked table-lands of the northern coast. The land on the other side of Croker's Bay, with one high head- hind, supposed to he Cnpe Warrender, is in view. From all of which it is clear that we are drifting reg- ularly on toward BafHii's Bay. "An opening oc(;urred last night in the ice to the north ward. It is not more than a hundred yards from uS, a 'I I it is already seventy wide. '' U i i men are hard at work preparing for the Christ- mas theatrt, the arrangements exclusively their own. E ! to niono'v is a day more welcome than Christmas — the suistiti.'il il y of greatest darkness, from which we may begin to date our returning light. It makes a man feel badly to see the faces around him bleach- ing into waxen paleness. Until to-day, as a looking- glass does not enter into an Arctic toilet, I thought I was the exception, and out of delicacy said nothing about it to my comrades. One of them, introducing the topic just now, told me, with an utter unconscious- ness of his own ghostliness, that I was the palest of the party. So it is, 'All men think all men,' &c. Why, the good fellow is as white as a cut potato !" In truth, we were all of us at this time undergoing chauges unconsciously. The hazy obscurity of the nights we had gone through made them darker than the corresponding nights of Parry. The complexions of my comrades, and my own too, as I found soon after- ward, were toned down to a peculiar waxy paleness. Our eyes were more recessed, and strangely clear. Complaints of shortness of breath became general. T HE MIDNIGHT O F T II E Y E A It , 43'J ^^Decemher 22, Sunday. The solstice ! — the ini(hiight of the year ! It commences with a new niovemeut in the ice, the open lead ol' yesterday piling up into hum- mocks on our port-beam. No harm done. "The wind is from the west, increasing in fresh- ness since early in the morning. The weather over- cast ; even the moon unseen, and no indications of our drift. We could not read print, not even large news- piiper type, at noonday. We have been unable to leave the ship unarmed for some time on account of the bears. We remember the story of poor Barentz, one of our early predecessors. One of our crew, Blinn, a phlegmatic Dutchman, walked out to-day toward the lead, a few hundred yards oil', in search of a seal-hole. Suddenly a seal rose close by him in the sludge-ice: lie raised his gun to fire ; and, at the same instant, a large bear jumped over the floe, and by a dive followed the seal. Blinn's musket snapped. He was glad to get on board again. '^December 25. 'Y" Christmas of y' Arctic cruisers I' Our Christmas passed without a lack of the good things of this life. ' Goodies' we had galore ; but that best of earthly blessings, the comuiunion of loved sympa- thies, these Arctic cruisers had not. It was curious to observe the depressing influences of each man's home thoughts, and absolutely saddening the effort of each man to impose upon his neighbor and be very boon and jolly. We joked incessantly, but badly, and laughed incessantly, but badly too ; ate of good things, and drank up a moiety of our Ileidsiek ; and then we sang negro songs, wanting only tune, measure, and harmony, but abounding in noise ; and after a closing bumper to Mr. Grinnell, adjourned with creditable jollity from table to the theatre. ii< 1 Mf;-j; St:' u ^ it 11: ■hH Ml B^ni If ■Ihnh 1 u 1 II 400 CHRISTMAS FROLICS. "It was on deck, of course, but veiled from the sky by our felt covering. A large ship's ensign, stretched from the caboose to the bulwarks, was understood to hide the stage, and certain meat-casks and candle- boxes represented the parquet. The thermomoter gave us — G° at first; but the favoring elements soon changed this to the more comfortable temperature of -4°. "Never had I enjoyed the tawdry quackery of the stage half so much. The theatre has always been to me a wretched simulation of realities ; and I have too little sympathy with the unreal to find pleasure in it long. Not so our Arctic theatre : it was one continual frolic from beginning to end. " The ' Blue Devils :' God bless us ! but it was very, very funny. None knew their parts, and the prompter could not read glibly enough to do his office. Every thing, whether jocose, or indignant, or commonplace, or pathetic, was delivered in a high-tragedy monotone of despair ; five words at a time, or more or less, ac- cording to the facilities of the prompting. Megrim, with a pair of seal-skin boots, bestowed his gold upon the gentle Annette ; and Annette, nearly six feet high, received it with mastodonic grace. Annette was an Irishman named Daly ; and I might defy human be- ing to hear her, while balanced on the heel of her boot, exclaim, in rich masculine brogue, ' Och, feather !' with- out roaring. Bruce took the Landlord, Benson was James, and the gentle Annette and the wealthy Me- grim were taken by Messrs. Daly and Johnson. "After this followed the Star Spangled Banner ; then a complicated Marseillaise by our French cook, Hen- ri ; then a sailor's hornpipe by the diversely-talented Bruce ; the orchestrii — Stewart, playing out the inter- THE DRIFT. 461 vals on the Jews-harp from the top of a lard-cask. In fact, we were very happy fellows. We had had a foot-race in the morning over the midni.t 401 OUR FLOE. *■ ! ilisiuptious of the ico which \vp had oncountt'rod tto far, had always heeii at tho periods of spriiif^'-tidu. Tlio sun and moon wore in conjunction on tlio 21st of Do- cemhor ; and, adopting Captain Parry's observation, that tho greatest etllux was always within live fivs after the new moon, we liad looked with some an to the closing weeks of that month. But they had gone by without any unusual movement; and there needed only an equally kind visitation of the January moon to give us our tinai struggle with the Eaihn's Bay ice by daylight. Yet I had remarked that the southern shore of Laii- caster ti^^ound extended much further out to the east- ward than the northern did ; and 1 had argued that we might begin to feel the current of Ballin's Bay in a very few days, though we were still considerably to the west of a line drawn from one cape to the ot'"^r. The question received its solution without waitii the moon. I give from my journal our position in the ice on the 11th of January : "''January 11, Saturday. The floe in w^hicli we are now imbedded has been steadily increasing in solid- ity for more than a month. Since the 8th of Decem- ber, not a fracture or collision has occurred to mar its growth. The eye can not embrace its extent. Even from the mast-head you look over an unbounded ex- panse of naked ice, bristling with contorted spires, and ridged by elevated axes of hummocks. The land on either side rises above our icy horizon ; but to the east and west, there is no such interception to pur wintery- ness. "The brig remains as she was tossed at our provi- dential escape of last month, her nose burrowing in the ]V'. TIIK ADVANL'K IN FKIIUUAUY. 't M •m>*< WIXIEU IX Tilt; I'ACK. ff l?1 I M I \]m:^ ■y- .*^^i^ M > ■./ «•« i'> MPt* Bi * i •:.! !. S flSt'Rl ti^'i' j^, InflHfl' ■ MWfiS-^'',^j t . lIlP wK COMMOTION OF THE ICE. 4G7 snow, and her stern perched high above the rubbish. Walking deck is an up and down hill work. She re- tains, too, her list to starboard. Her bare sides have been banked over again with snow to increase the warmth, and a formidable flight of nine ice-block steps admits us to the door- way of her M^inter cover. The stores, hastily thrown out from the vessel when we expected her to go to pieces, are still upon the little remnant of old tioe on our port or northern side. The Kescne is some hundred yards off to the south of east." The next day thin'rs underwent a change. The morning was a misty one, giving us just light enough to make out objects that were near the ship ; the wind westerly, as it had been for some time, freshening per- haps to a breeze. The day went on quietly till noon, when a sudden shock brought us all up to the deck. Running out upon the ice, we found that a crack had opened between us and the Rescue, and was extending in a zigzag course from the northward and eastward to the southward and westward. At one o'clock it had become a chasm eight feet in width ; and as it contin- ued to widen, we observed a distinct undulation of the water about its edges. At three, it had expanded into a broad sheet of water, filmed over by young ice, through which the portions of the floe that bore our two vessels began to move obliquely toward each other. Night closed round us, with the chasm reduced to forty yards and still narrowing; the Rescue on her port- bow, two hundred yards from her late position ; the wind increasing, and the thermometer at —19°. My journal for the next day was written at broken intervals; but I give it without change of form: ^^ January 13, 4 A.M. All hands have been on deck since one o'clock, strapped and harnessed for a fare- 1 ", lil« ,i« t ''l\ f i:b MM\ i«-*r r..^i 4G8 COMMOTION OF THE ICE. well marcli. The water-lane of yesterday is covered by ibur-inch ice ; the floes at its margin more than three I'eet thick. These have been closing for some time by a sliding, grinding movement, one upon the other; but every now and then coming together more directly, the thinner ice clattering between them, and marking their new outline with hummock ridges. They have been fairly in contact for the last hour : we feel their pressure extending to us through the elastic floe in which we are cradled. There is a quivering, vibratory hum about the timbers of the brig, and ev- ery now and then a harsh rubbing creak along her sides, like waxed cork on a mahogany table. The hununocks are driven to within four feet of our coun- ter, and stand there looming fourteen feet high through the darkness. It has been a horrible commotion so far, with one wild, booming, agonized note, made up of a thousand discords ; and now comes the deep still- ness after it, tlie mysterious ice-pulse, as if the ener- gies were gathering for another strife. " 6i A.M. Another pulse ! the vibration greater than we have ever yet had it. If our little brig had an an- imated centre of sensation, and some rude force had torn a nerve-trunk, she could not feel it more — slift fairly shudders. Looking out to the north, this ice seems to heave up slowly against the sky in black hills ; and as we watch thein rolling toward us, the hills sink again, and a distorted plain of rubbish melts before us into the night. Ours is the contrast of ut- ter helplessness with illimitable power. '* 9.50 A.M. Brooks and myself took advantage of the twilight at nine o'clock to cross the hummocky fields to the Rescue. I can not convey an impression of the altered aspects of the floe. Our frozen lane has ICE COMMOTION.. 4G9 disappeared, and along the line of its recent course the ice is heaped up in blocks, tables, lumps, powder, and rubbish, often fifteen feet high. Snow covered the decks of the little vessel, and the disorder about it spoke sadly of desertion. Foot-prints of foxes were seen in every imaginable corner ; and near the little hatchway, where we had often sat in comfortable good-fellowship, the tracks of a large bear had broken the snow crust in his efforts to get below. "The Rescue has met the pressure upon her port- bow and fore-foot. Her bowsprit, already maimed by her adventure off Griffith's Island, is now completely forced up, broken short off at the gammoning. The ice, after nipping her severely, has piled up round her three feet above the bulwarks. We had looked to her as our first asylum of retreat ; but that is out of the question now ; she can not rise as we have done, and any action that would peril us again must bear her down or crush her laterally. " The ice immediately about the Advance is broken into small angular pieces, as if it had been dashed against a crag of granite. Our camp out on the floe, with its reserve of provisions and a hundred things be- sides, memorials of scenes we have gone through, or ap- pliances and means for hazards ahead of us, has been carried away bodily. My noble specimen of the Arc- tic bear is floating, with an escort of bread barrels, nearly half a mile off. "The thermometer records only — 17° ; but it blows at times so very fiercely that I have never felt it so cold : five men were frost-bitten in the attempt to save our stores. " 9 P.M. We have had no renewal of the pressure since half past six this morning. We are turning in; 28 : II) 1 t?i' M! 'I il ■»! 11 j •■•TS ;fe! i'f v.l :Vs.' 'i! 11 11 H m:4^ '■ H i::l^ :'■ 1 i s lit ''' ft iiPIV 470 ICE COMMOTION. the wind blowing a fresh breeze, weather misty, ther- mometer at —23°." The night brought no further change ; but toward morning the cracks, that formed before this a sort of net- work all about the vessel, began to open. The cause was not apparent : the wind had lulled, and we saw no movement of the floes. We had again the same voices of complaint from the ship, but they were much feebler than yesterday ; and in about an hour the ice broke up all round her, leaving an open space of about a foot to port, indented with the mould of her form. The brig was loose once more at the sides ; but she remained suspended by the bows and stern from hummocks built up like trestles, and canted forward still five feet and a quarter out of level. Every thing else was fairly afloat: even the India-rubber boat, which during our troubles had found a resting-place on a sound projection of the floe close by us, had to be taken in. This, I may say, was a fearful position ; but the thermometer, at a mean of — 23° and — 24°, soon brought back the solid character of our floating raft. In less than two days every thing about us was as firmly fixed as ever. But the whole topography of the ice was changed, and its new configuration attested the violence of the elements it had been exposed to. Nothing can be conceived more completely embodying inhospitable desolation. From mast-head the eye trav- eled wearily over a broad champaigne of undulating ice, crowned at its ridges with broken masses, like breakers frozen as they rolled toward the beach. Be- yond these, you lost by degrees the distinctions of sur- face. It was a great plain, blotched by dark, jagged shadows, and relieved only here and there by a hill ig raft. 1 C K COMMOTIO N. 471 of upheaved rubbish. Still further in the distunc'e came an unvarying uniformity of shade, cutting with saw-toothed edge against a desohite sky. Yet there needed no after-survey of the ice-fieUl to prove to us what majestic forces had been at work upon it. At one time on the 13th, the hummock- ridge astern advanced with a steady march upon the vessel. Twice it rested, and advanced again — a dense wall of ice, thirty feet broad at the base and twelve feet high, tumbling huge fragments from its crest, yet increasing in mass at each new effort. We had ceased to hope ; when a merciful interposition arrested it, so close against our counter that there was scarcely room for a man to pass between. Half a minute of progress more, and it would have buried us all. As we drifted along five months afterward, this stupendous memento of controlling power was still hanging over our stern. We had lost all indications of a shore, and had ob- viously passed within the influences of Baffin's Bay. We were on the meridian of 75°; yet, though the re- cejit commotions could be referred to nothing else but the conflict of the two currents, we had made very little southing, if any, and had seen no bergs. But on the 14tli the wind edged round a little more to the northward, and at six o'clock in the morning of the 15tli we could hear a squeezing noise among the ice- fields in that direction. By this time we had become learned interpreters of tlie ice- voices. Of course, wo renewed our preparations for whatever might be com- ing. Every man arranged his knapsack and bhmket- bag over again with the practiced discretion of an ex- pert. Our extra clothing sledge, carefully repacked, was made free on deck. The India-rubber boat, only useful in this solid waste for crossing occasional chasms, was launched out upon the ice for the third time. mmM 11^ ■:»i.;;iA^i' Jt*"!?!* r'^t: 472 THE DOG-STAB. Ji: P' i* The appearances which heralded the sun's return had a degree of interest for us which it is not easy to express in words. I have referred more than once al- ready to the effects of the long-continued night on the health of our crowded ship's company. It was even more painful to notice its influence on their temper and spirits. Among the officers this was less observable. Our mess seemed determined, come what niiglit, to maintain toward each other that honest courtesy of manner, which those who have sailed on long voyages together know to be the rarest and most difficult proof of mutual respect. There were of course seasons when each had his home thoughts, and revolved per- haps the growing probabilities that some other Arctic search party might seek in vain hereafter for a memo- rial of our own ; yet these were never topics of con- versation. I do not remember to have been saddened by a boding word during all the trials of our cruise. With the men, however, it was different. More de- ficient in the resources of education, and less restrained by conventional usages or the principle of honor from communicating to each other what they felt, all sym- pathized in the imaginary terrors which each one con- jured up. We were called up one evening by the deck-watch to see for ourselves a " ball of fire floating up and down above the ice-field." It was there sure enough, a disk of reddish flame, varying a little in its outline, and flickering in the horizon like a revolving light at a dis- tance. I was at first as much puzzled as the men; but glancing at Orion, I soon saw that it was nothing else than our old dog-star friend, bright Sirius, come back to us. Refraction had raised him above the hills, so as to bring him to view a little sooner than we ex- pected. His color was rather more lurid than when APPROACH OF DAY. 473 he left us, and the refraction, besides distorting his out- line, seemed to have given him the same oblateness or horizontal expansion which we observe in the dislcs of the larger planets when nearing the horizon. For some days the sun-clouds at the south had been changing their character. Their edges became better defined, their extremities dentated, their color deeper as well as warmer; and from the spaces between the lines of stratus burst out a blaze of glory, typical of the longed-for sun. He came at last : it was on the 29th. My journal must tell the story of his welcoming, at the hazard of its seeming extravagance : I am content that they shall criticise it who have drifted for more than twelve weeks under the night of a Polar sky. ^^ January 29. Going on deck after breakfast at eight this morning, I found the dawning far advanced. The whole vault was bedewed with the coming day ; and, except Capella, the stars were gone. The southern horizon was clear. We were certain to see the sun, after an absence of eighty-six days. It had been ar- ranged on board that all hands should give him three cheers for a greeting; but I was in no mood to join the sallow- visaged party. I took my gun, and walked over the ice about a mile away from the ship to a sol- itary spot, where a great big hummock almost hem- med me in, opening only to the south. There, Par- see fashion, I drank in the rosy light, and watched the horns of the crescent extending themselves round to- ward the north. There was hardly a breath of wind, with the thermometer at only —19°, and it was easy, therefore, to keep warm by walking gently up and down. I thought over and named aloud every one of our little circle, F. and M., T. and P., B. and J., and our dear, bright little W. ; wondered a while whether • \<\\ ;•l^ f\ \ . f rmh m^s |i 474 SUNRISE, NOON, AND SUNSET. there were not some more to be remembered, and called up one friend or relative after another, but always came back to the circle I began with. " Very soon the deep crimson blush, lightening into a focus of incandescent white, showed me that the hour was close at hand. Mounting upon a crag, I saw the crews of our one ship formed in line upon the ioe. My mind was still tracing the familiar chain of home affections, and the chances that this one or the other of its links might be broken already. I bethought me of the Sortes VirgiliansE of my school-boy days : I took a piece of candle paper pasteboard, cut it with my bowie-knife into a little carbine target, and on one side of this marked all our names in pencil, and on the other a little star. Presently the sun came : never, till the grave-sod or the ice covers me, may I forego this blessing of blessings again ! I looked at him thankfully with a great globus in my throat. Then came the shout from the ship — three shouts — cheering the sun. I fixed my little star-target to the floe, walk- ed backward till it became nearly invisible ; and then, just as the completed orb fluttered upon the horizon, fired my * salutJ I cut M in half, and knocked the T out of Tom. They shall draw lots for it if ever I get home ; for many, many years may come and go again before the shot of an American rifle signalizes in the winter of Baffin's Bay the conjunction of sunrise, noon- day, and sunset. ^'January '60. The crew determined to celebrate 'El regresado del sol,' which, according to old Costa, our Mahonese seaman, was a more holy day than Christ- mas or All-Saints. Mr. Bruce, the diversely talented, favored us with a new line of theatrical exhibition, a divertissement oMome&tic composition, 'The Country- never, THE PLAY. 475 man's first Visit to Town ;' followed by a pantomime. I copy the play-bill from the original as it was tacked against the main-mast : ARCTIC THEATRE. To be performed, on the night of Thursday, the 30th day of January, the Comic Play of the Countryman. After which, a Pantomime. To begin with A Song By R. Bruce. THE OOUNTRYISAN. Countryman R. Baggs. Landlady C. Berry. Servant T. Dunning. FANTOraiME. Harlequin James Johnson. Old Man R. Bruce. Rejected Lover A. Canot. Columbine James Smith. Dcors to be opened at 8 o'clock. Curtain to rise a quarter past 8 punctually No admittance to Children ; and no Ladies admitted without an escort. Stage Manager, S. BENJAMIN. The strictest order will be observed both inside and outside. We sat down as usual on the preserved-meat boxes, which were placed on deck, ready strapped and beck- eted [nautice for trunk-handled) for flinging out upon the ice. The affair was altogether creditable, how- ever, and every body enjoyed it. Here is an outline of the pantomime, after the manner of the newspapers. An old man (Mr. Bruce) possessed mysterious, semi- magical, and wholly comical influence over a rejected ' % H 47^ THE PLAY. lover (M. Auguste Canot, ship's cook), and Columbine (Mr. Smith) exercised the same over the old man. Harlequin (Mr. Johnson), however, by the aid of a split-shingle wand and the charms of his " motley wear," secures the affections of Columbine, cajoles the old man, persecutes the forlorn lover, and carries off the prize of love ; the fair Columbine, who had been industriously chewing tobacco, and twirling on the heel of her boot to keep herself warm, giving him a sentimental kiss as she left the stage. A still more sentimental song, sung in seal-skin breeks and a " nor- wester,^^ and a potation all round of hot-spiced rum toddy, concluded the entertainments. " It is Washington's birth-day, when ' hearts should be glad;' but we have no wine for the dinner-table, and are too sick for artificial merriment without it. Our crew, however, good patriotic wretches, got up a theatrical performance, ' The Irish Attorney ;' Pierce O'Hara taken by the admirable Bruce, our Crichton. The ship's thermometer outside was at —46°. Inside, among audience and actors, by aid of lungs, lamps, and housings, we got as high as 30° below zero, only gixty-two below the freezing point! ! probably the low- est atmospheric record of a theatrical representation. " It was a strange thing altogether. The conden- sation was so excessive that we could barely see the performers : they walked in a cloud of vapor. Any extra vehemence of delivery was accompanied by vol- umes of smoke. The hands steamed. When an excit- ed Thespian took off his hat, it smoked like a dish of potatoes. When he stood expectant, musing a reply, the vapor wreathed in little curls from his neck. This was thirty degrees lower than the lowest of Parry's North Georgian performances. THE SCURVY. 477 The lowest temperature we recorded during the cruise was on the 22d of this month, when the ship's thermometer gave us —46°; my oflkhip spirit, —52° . Cold as it was, our mid-day exercise was never in- terrupted, unless by wind and drift storms. We felt the necessity of active exercise ; and although the ef- fort was accompanied with pains in the joints, some- times hardly bearable, we managed, both officers and crew, to obtain at least three hours a day. The ex- ercise consisted of foot-ball and sliding, followed by regular games of romps, leap-frog, and tumbling in the snow. By shoveling away near the vessel, we obtained a fine bare surface of fresh ice, extremely glib and durable. On this we constructed a skating- ground and admirable slides. I walked regularly over the floes, although the snows were nearly impassable. With all this, aided by hosts of hygienic resources, feeble certainly, but still the best at my command, scurvy advanced steadily. This fearful disease, so often warded off* when in a direct attack, now exhib- ited itself in a cachexy, a depraved condition of sys- tem sad to encounter. Pains, diffuse, and non-loca- table, were combined with an apathy and lassitude which resisted all attempts at healthy excitement. These, of course, were not confined to the crew alone : out of twenty-four men, but five were without ulcerated gums and blotched limbs ; and of these five, strange to say, four were cooks and stewards. All the officers were assailed. Old pains were renewed, old wounds opened ; even old bruises and sprains, received at barely-remembered periods back, came to us like dreams. The close of the month found this state of things on the in' . and the strength of the party still waning. *'\ It ■>*,. ;■ i- ; ' lift ■ I. H-' t ' ^u ^m i ' ' CHAPTER XXXIII. THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (continued.) Our brig was still resting on her cradle, and her consort on the floe a short distance off, when the first month of spring came to greet us. AVe had passed the latitude of 72°. To prepare for our closing struggle with the ice- fields, or at least divide its hazards, it was determined to refit the Rescue. To get at her hull, a pit was sunk in the ice around her, large enough for four men to work in at a time, and eight feet deep, so as to ex- pose her stern, and leave only eighteen inches of the keel imbedded. This novel dry-dock answered per- fectly. The hull was inspected, and the work of re- pair was pressed so assiduously, that in three days the stern-post was in its place, and the new bowsprit ready for shipping. We had now the chances of two ships again in case of disaster. The 19th gave us a change of scene. I was aroused from my morning sleep by the familiar voicp Murdaugh, as he hurried along the halfde' opening" — " Open leads off our starb — "Frost-smoke all around us!" Fivr inute.- /ter- ward, Henri had been summoned from tlu; galley ; and, carbine in hand, I was tumbling over the hui mocks. I.-. A OALE. 479 '^ March 20. Thursday, tho 20tli of Mnrch, opens \viih a gJilo, a roj^iilar gale. On roachin«( dcM'k after ; .. ukfast, I found tho wind from tho southeast, tho ,;,('rnioinoter at zero, and rising. Thoso southeast i.tornis are looked upon as luiving an iniportiint iiillu- cnee on the ice. Tliey are always warm, and by the soa which they excite at tlio .southern mar«,nn of the pack, have a great elfect in breaking the floos. Mr. Olrik tohl me that tliey were anxiously h)oked for on the Greenhind coast as precursors of open water. The (lute of the southeast gale hist year, at Uppernavik, was April 25th. Our thermometer gave +o-' at noon- day, + 7° at one, and +8° at three o'clock!! " This is tlie heaviest storm we have had sinco en- tering Lancaster Sound, exactly seven months ah«l a (lay ago. The snow is whirled in such quantities, that our thick felt housing seems as if of gauze: it not only covers our decks, but drives into our clothes like fine dust or flour. A plated thermometer was in- visible fourteen feet from the eye: from the distance of ten paces off on our quarter, a white opacity cov- ers every thing, the compass-stand, fox-traps, and all beyond: the Rescue, of course, is completely hidden. This heavy snow-drift exceeds any thing that I had conceived, although many of my Arctic English friends had discoursed to me eloquently about their perils and discomforts. As to facing it in a stationary position, nothing human could; for a man would be buried in ten minutes. Even in reaching our little Tuscnlum, we tuinble up to our middle, in places where a few minutes before the very ice was laid bare. The en- tire topography of our ice is changing constantly. " 7 P.M. ' The wind is howling.' ■Ar i NliH' tw 480 AK ESCAPE. M r-Sw (■<•«■' "March 23, Sunday. After divine service, started for the ice-openings. We are now in the centre of an area, which we estimated roughly as four miles from north to south, and a little more east and west. On reaching what was yesterday's sea-beach, I was forced to recant in a measure my convictions as to the force of the opposing floes. " A new crack was reported at one o'clock, about the third of a mile from our ship ; and the bearings of the sun showed that our brig had, for the first time since entering Baffin's Bay, rotated considerably to the northward. Here were two subjects for examin- ation. So, as soon as dinner was over, I started with Davis and Willie, two of my scurvy henchmen, on a walk to the openings. Reaching the recent crack, we found the ice five feet four inches thick, and the black water, in a clear streak a foot wide, running to the east and west. I hod often read of Esquimaux being carried off by the separation of these great floes; but, knowing that our guns could call assistance from the brig, we jumped over and hurried on. We were well paid. " I was tempted to stay too long. The wind sprang up suddenly. The floe began to move. I thought of the crack between me and the ship, and started off. The walking, however, was very heavy, and my scur- vy patients stiff" in the extensors. By the time I reached the crack, it had opened into a chasm, and a river as broad as the Wissahiccon ran between me and our ship. After some little anxiety — not much — 1 saw our captain ordering a party to our relief. The sledges soon appeared, dragged by a willing par- ty ; the India rubber boat was lowered into the lead, and the party ferried over. FLOATING BEARS. 481 ^^ April 21, xilonday. I have more than common cause for thankfulness. A mere accident kept me from starting last night to secure our bear. Had 1 done so, I would probably have spared you reading more of my journal. The ice over which we traveled so carelessly on Saturday has become, by a sudden movement, a mass of floating rubbish. " In the walk of this morning, which startled me with the change, I saw for the first time a seal upon the ice. This looks very summer-like. He was not accessible to our guns. To-day, for the first time too, the gulls were flying over the renovated water. Com- ing back we saw fresh bear tracks. How wonderful is the adaptation which enables a quadruped, to us associated inseparably with a land existence, thus to inhabit an ice-covered ocean. We are at least eighty miles from the nearest land, Cape Kater ; and chan- nels innumerable must intervene between us and terra firma. Yet this majestic animal, dependent upon his own predatory resources alone, and, defying cold as well as hunger, guided by a superb instinct, confides himself to these solitary, unstable ice-fields. " There is something very grand about this tawny savage; never leaving this utter destitution, this frigid inhospitableness — coupling in May, and bringing forth in Christmas time — a gestation carried on all of it below zero, more than half of it in Arctic darkness — living in perpetual snow, and dependent for life upon a never-ending activity — using the frozen water as a raft to traverse the open seas, that the water un- frozen may yield him the means of life. No time for hibernation has this Polar tiger: his life is one great winter." ; I 482 THE BREAK-UP. "June 5, Thursday. We notice again this morn ing the movement in the trench alongside. The float ing scum of rubbish advances and recedes with a reg ularity that can only be due to some equable undula tion from without to the north. We continue perch ed up, just as we were after our great lift of last De cember. A more careful measurement than we had made before, gave us yesterday, between our height aft and depression forward, a difference of level of G feet 4 inches. This inclination tells in a length of 83 feet — about one in thirteen. "P.M. The BRF.\K-up AT last! a little after five this afternoon, Mr. Griffin left us for the Rescue, alter topoobaphy op the floe, may 31. A. Advance. B II. Shorter riinmeter, 3\ miles. K. Hcscuc. C C. Loiigur dmiiiotcr, SJ miles. Distance between the vessels, £00 j urdj. THE RESCUE FREE. 483 making a short visit. He had hardly gone before I heard a hail and its answer, both of them in a tone of more excitement than we had been used to for some time past ; and the next moment, the cry, ' Ice crack- ing ahead !' " Murdaugh and myself reached the deck just in time to see De Haven crossing our gangway. We fol- lowed. Imagine our feelings when, midway between the two vessels, we saw Griffin with the ice separat- ing before him, and at the same instant found a crack tracing its way between us, and the water spinning up to the surface. ' Stick by the floe. Good-by ! What news for home?' said he. One jump across the chasm, a hearty God - bless - you shake of the hand, a long jump back, and a little river divided our party. " Griffin made his way along one fissure and over another. We followed a lead that was open to our starboard beam, each man for himself In half a minute or less came the outcry, ' She's breaking out : all hands aboard !' and within ten minutes from Grif- fin's first hail, while we were yet scrambling into our little Ark of Refuge, the whole area about us was di- vided by irregular chasms in every direction. "All this was at half past five. At six I took a bird's-eye sketch from aloft. Many of the fissures were already some twenty paces across. Conflicting forces were at work every where ; one round-house moving here, another in an opposite direction, the two vessels parting company. Since the night of our Lancaster Sound commotion, months ago, the Rescue had not changed her bearing : she was already on our port- beam. Every thing was change. "Our brig, however, had not yet found an even keel. i ■ ■i SJ^^Klj < I 1 i n < '•*: 484 THE ADVANCE. is=r bird's-eye view of floe, JUNE 5. A. Adrance. D. Floe adhering to the Advance. R. Rescue. (;. Path between brigs before break-up. II II. Hummocks. The enormous masses of ice, thrust under her stern by the action of repeated pressures, had gUied themselves together so completely, that we remained cradled in a mass of ice exceeding twenty-five feet in solid depth. Many of these tables were liberated by the swell, and rose majestically from their recesses, striking the ship, and then escapi u" above the surface for a moment, with a sudden vault. "To add to the novelty of our situation, two cracks coming together obliquely, met a few yards astern of us, cleaving through the heavy ice. AN EVEN KEEL. 485 \ stern by emselves Idled in a |id depth. roll, and 1 the ship, I moment, ro cracks lastern of "June 8, Sunday. Even keel again!!- Once more floating ship-fashion, in a ship's element. It was be- tween twelve and one o'clock this morning. Mur- daugh went down upon the fragment, which was still adhering to our starboard side. He had hardly rested his weight upon it, when, with certain hurried, scarce- ly premonitory grindings, it cleared itself. lie had barely time to scramble up the brig's side, tearing his nails in the effort, before, with crash and turmoil, it tumbled up to the surface, letting us down once more into clear water. When I reached the deck, I could hardly realize the level, horizontal condition of things, we have been accustomed to this up and down hill work so long. •' 9 P.M. At 1 o'clock P.M. the wind freshened from the northward, enough to make sail. We cast off, and renewed the old times process of boring, standing ir- regularly among the fragments to the southward and eastward. We received some heavy bumps, but kept under weigh until 6 P.M., when an impenetrable ice- fog caused us to hanl up to a heavy floe, to which we are now fast by three anchors. We estimate our prog- ress at six miles. The Rescue is not visible. " From the heavy floe to which we are secured we obtained fresh thawed water. This is the first time since the 15th of September that I have drunk water liquefied without fire. Eight months and twenty-four days : think of that, dear strawberry and cream eating family ! It had been determined bv our commander that we should refresh at Whale Fish Islands, and then hast- en back to Melville Bay, the North Water, Lancaster Sound, and AVellington Channel ; and certainly there was no one on board who did not enter heart and soul 29 J a.' i ^ .i- ^ '\t ia !* (II • I 486 KRONPRINSEN. into the scheme. It was in pursuance of it that we were now bending our course to the east. The circumstances that surrounded us, the daily in- cidents, our destination and purpose, were the same as when approaching the Sukkertoppen a year bel'ore. Tiiere were the same majestic fleets of bergs, the same Iftorions of birds of the same varieties, the same anx- ious look-out, and rapid conning, and fearless eiicomi- ter of ice-fields. Every thing was unchanged, except the glowing confidence of young health at the outset of adventure. We had taken our seasoning : the ex- perience of a winter's drift had quieted some of our en- thusiasm. But we felt, as veterans at the close of a campaign, that with recruited strength we should be better fitted for the service than ever. All, therefore, looked at the well-remembered clitfs, that liung over Kronprinsen, with the sentiment of men approaching liome for the time, and its needed welcomes. We reached them on the 16th. Mr. Murdaugh, and myself, and four men, and three bottles of rum, were dispatched to communicate with the shore. As we rowed in to the landing-place, the great dikes of in- jected syenite stood out red and warm against the cold gray gneiss, and the moss gullies met us like lli- miliar grass-plots. Esquimaux crowded the rocks, and dogs barked, and children yelled. A few lusty pulls, and after nine months of drift, and toil, and scurvy, we w^ere once more on terra firma. God forgive me the revulsion of unthankfulness ! I ought to have dilated with gratitude for my lot. Winter had been severe. The season lagged. The birds had not yet begun to breed. Faces were w^orn, and forms bent. Every body was coughing. In one hut, a summer lodge of reindeer and seal skins, was ,1 i.sl;:* • .^> AT GODHAVEN. 487 a dead child. It was many months since I had look- ed at a corpse. The poor little thing had been foi once washed clean, tlnd looked cheerfully. The fa- ther leaned over it weeping, for it was a boy; and two little sisters were making lamentation in a most natural and savage way. I gave the corpse a string of blue beads, and bought a pair of seal-skin boots for twenty-five cents; and we rowed back to the brig. In a very little while we were under sail for God haven. AVe were but five days recruiting at God haven. It was a shorter stay than we had expected; but wo were all of us too anxious to regain the searching ground to complain. We made the most of it, of course. We ate inordinately of eider, and codlisli, and seal, to say nothing of a hideous-looking toad fish, a Lepodogaster, that insisted on patronizing our pork-baited lines; chewed bitter herbs, too, of every sort we could get; drank largely of the smallest of small-beer; and danced with the natives, teaching tlieni the polka, and learning the pee-oo-too-ka in re- turn. But on the. 22d, by six o'clock in the morning, we were working our w^ay again to the north. We passed the hills of Disco in review, with their terraced summits, simulating the Ghauts of Ilindos- tan ; the green-stone cliffs round Omenak's Fiord, the great dockyard of bergs; and Cape Cranstoun, around which they w^ere clustered like a fleet waiting for con- voy. They "were of majestic proportions; and as we wound our way tortuously among them, one after an- other would come into the field of view, like a tem- ple set to be the terminus of a vista. At one time '>ve had the whole Acropolis looking down upon us in silver; at another, our Philadelpia-copy of the Par- ¥ii I'i-i h ^>- '''V m il W> i\r r l|V 1 5!v|sil|!jitf^,r i i m 488 B !•: U G s. thonon, tlie monumental Bank of the United States, stood out nlone. Then, ajrain, some venerable Cathe- dral, with its deep vaults and hoary belfries, would spread itself across the sky ; or perhaps some wild combination of architectural impossibilities. We moved so slowly that I had time to sketch sev- eral of these dreamy fabrics. The one which is en- graved on the opposite page was an irregular quad- rangle, projected at the extremity of a series of ice- structures, like the promontory that ends an isthmus: it was crowned with ramparts turreted by fractures; and at the water-line a great barreled arch went back into a cavern, that might have fabled as the haunt of sea-kings or smugglers. Oif Storoe, a white fox (C. lagopus) came to us on the loose ice : his legs and the tip of his tail were black. He was the first we had seen on the Green- land coast. He was followed the next day by a party of Esqui- maux, who visited us from Proven, dragging their ka- yacks and themselves over seven miles of the pack, and then paddling merrily on board. For two glasses of rum and a sorry ration of salt-pork, they kept turn- ing somersets by the dozen, making their egg-shell skiffs revolve sideways by a touch of the paddle, and hardly disappearing under the water before they were heads up again, and at the gangway to swallow their reward. The inshore ice opened on the thirtieth, and toward evening we left tie hospitable moorage of our iceberg, and made for the low, rounded rocks, which the Hosky pointed out to us as the seat of the settlement. The boats were out to tow us clear of the floating rubbish, as the light and variable winds made their help nee- ESQUIMAUX GUESTS. 489 essary, and we wore slowly approaching' our anchor- ago, when a rough yawl boarded us. She brought a pleasant company, Unas the schoolmaster and parish priest, Louisa his sister, the g'ontle Amalia, Louisa's cousin, and some others of humbler note. The baptismal waters had but superficially roj^on- erated these savages: their deportment, at least, did not conform to our nicest canons. For tli(^ first live minutes, to be sure, the ladies kept their laces close covered with their hands, only withdrawing iliem to blow their noses, which they did in the iiiost ])rinii- tive and picturesque manner. But their modesty thus assured, they felt that it needed no further illustration. They volunteered a dance, avowed to us confidential- ly that they had educated tastes — Amalia that she smoked, Louisa that she tolerated the luore enliven- ing liquids, and both that their exercise in the open air had made a slight refection altogether acceptable. Hospitality is the virtue of these M'ild regions: our hard tack, and cranberries, and rum were in recj^uisi- tion at once. It is not for the host to tell tales of his after-dinner company. But tlie truth of history may be satisfied without an intimation that our guests paid niggard ;ui 490 PROVEN. Vi'. honors to tlio jolly god of a irillder cliino. The veri- est prince, of bottle nuiinories, M'oiild not have t|iiiir- reled with their heel-taps. * '* '^ AVe were inside the rocrky islands of Pniven harbor ns onr watc^hes told lis that another djiy had begun. 'I'he time was (!ome for parting. The ladies shed a few kindly tears as we handed them to the stern- .«!: mon- ster hills. But they can not be said to smile a wel- come upon the navigator. Summer comes slowly upon Proven. "When we arrived, the slopes of the hills were heavily patched with snow, and the surface, where it showed itself, was frozen dry. The Avater-line was toothed with fano-s of broken ice, which scraped against the beach :^)'m x)r :;!; irion- a wel- THE HOUSE OF PROVEN. 401 as the tides rose and fell; and an iceberg solnello^v or other had found its way into the little port. It was a harmless lump, too deep sunk to float into dan- gerous nearness; and its spire rose pleasantly, like a village church. '*JuIi/ 'S. I am writing in the *IIosky' House of Cristiansen. Cristiansen is the Danish governor of Proven, and this house of Cristiansen is the House of Proven. Its owner is a simple and shrewd old Dane, hale and vigorous, thirty-one of whose sixty-four win- ters have been spent within the Arctic circle, north of 70'^ N. Lord in his lonely region — his four sons and five subordinates, oilmen, the only white i'aces about him, except when he visits Uppernavik — the good old man has the satisfaction of knowing no superior. His habits are three fourths Esquinniux, one eighth Dan- ish, and the remainder Provenish, or peculiarly his own. His wife is a half-breed, and his family, in lan- guage and aspect, completely Esquimaux. " When the long, dark winter comes, he exchanges books with his friend the priest of Uppernavik. ' The Dantz Penning Magazin,' and * The History of the Uni- tas Fratrum,' take the place of certain well-thumbed, ancient, sentimental novels ; and sometimes the priest comes in person to tenant the ' spare room,' which makes it very pleasant, * for we talk Danish.' " Except this spare room, which elsewhere would be called the loft of the house, its only apartment is the one in which I am. And here eat, and drink, and cook, and sleep, and live, not only Cristiansen and all his descendants, but his wife's mother, and her chil- dren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who are growing up about her. It is fil'teen feet broad by six- teen long, with just height enough for a grenadier, I' 4 . beams. The Inuno ol' the liouso is of Norway pine, coated with tar, with its interspaces caulked witli ino^s, and small window-panes inserted in a deep casiny^ ol' wood. "The most striking decorative feature is a le(i and stalwart fellows, practiced in the kayack, and the sledge, and the whale-net, adroit with the harpoon and expert with the rifle, are constant at the chase, and bring home their spoil, with the honest pride becoming good providers of their household. And the women, iu their nursing, cooking, tailoring, and housekeeping, are, I suppose, faithful enough. But what f ivora])le hiipression that the mind gets through other channels can contend against the information of the nose ! Or- gan of the aristocracy, critic and tfiagiafrr inorif/ii of all civilization, censor that heeds neither argument nor ronionstrance — the nose, alas ! it bids me record, that to all their possible godliness cleanliness is not super- added. "During the short summer of daylight — it is one of the many apparent vestiges, among this people, of ancient nonuidic habits — the whole family gather joy- '' L r' 494 ESQUIMAUX LIFE. '■■t n V I M .1 ■:! W m i^-V ously in the summer's lodge, a tent of seal or reindeer skin, pitched out of doois. Then the room has its an- nual ventilation, and its cooking and chamber furni- ture are less liable to be confounded. For the winter the arrangement is this : on three sides of the room, close by the ledge I have spoken of, stand as many large pans of porous steatite or serpentine, elevated on sliglit wooden tripods. These, filled with seal-bkib- ber, and garnished with moss round the edge to serve as a wick, unite the functions of chandelier and stove. They who quarrel with an iJl-trimmed lamp at home shoukl be disciplined by one of them. Each boils its half-gallon kettle of coffee in twenty minutes, and smokes — like a small chimney on fire; and the three burn togethei There is no flue, or fire-place, or open- ing of escape. "On the remaining side of the room stand a valued table and three chairs; and with these, like a buhl cabinet or fancy etagere, conspicuous in its modest corner, a tub. It is the steeping-tub for curing skins. Its contents require active fermentation to fit them for their office; and, to judge from the odor, the process had been going on successfully." We warped out to sea again on the afternoon of the third, with our friend the cooper for pilot ; the entire settlement turning out upon tlie rocks to wish us good- by, and remaining there till they looked in the dis- tance like a herd of seal. But we found no opening in the pack, and came back again to Proven on the fourth, not sorry, as the weather was thickening, to pass our festival inside the little port. Our celebration was of the primitive order. We saluted the town with one of the largest balanced stones, which we rolled down from the cliff above; Ui A NIGHT SCENE. 495 and iTuiile an egf^-iiogj^ of eider etrrra ; and tlie men hiul a lIo^^ky ball ; and, in a word, we all did our best to nuike the day dilTer Ironi other days — which at- tempt failed. Still, God ever bless the loinilil The sixth was Sunday, and we attended eluucli in the morning- at the schoohnaster's. The service coii- sisted of a long-winded hymn, aiul a longer winded sermon, in the Esquimaux — surely the longest of long- winded languages. The congregation \\ere some two dozen men and women, not counting our par^y. We put to sea in the afternoon. The weatluM- was soft and warm on shore ; but outside it was perfectly d(Uightful : no wind — Ihe streams of ice b(>yond en- forcing a most p)erfect calm upon the water; the ther- mometer in the sunshine frequently as high as 7()^, and never sinking below 30^ in the shade. 1 basked on deck all i;ight, sle<'ping in the sun. And such a night! I saw the moon at mnhiight, while the sun was slantinjj along the tinted iiori/on, and duplicatf'd by reflection from the wtiter below it: the dark bergs to seaward had outlines of silver; and two wild catara(!ts on the shore-side were falling froja ice-backed cliffs twelve hundred feet into the sea. m ',ii wt\ ■'s v\ ''*!' it (*■■' If 1 liii ,•" PI^M '1\ I'll i ff' \ ; ■ ,i ' '■ '1; ; l.i rJ- I ir' i it LM •«fc {S* f! I 49r< BRITiSII WHALERS. Juhj 7. I was awakened from my dreamy sleep to receive the visits of a couple of boats that were work- ing slowly to us through the floes. An English i'ace — two l*]nglish faces — twelve English faces : what a hap- py sight ! We had had no one but ourselves to speak our own tongue to for three hundred days, and were as glad to listen to it as if we had been serving out the time in the penitentiary of silence at Auburn or Sing-Sing. Their broad North Briton was music. It was not the offensive dialect of the provincial English- man, with the affectation of speaking his language correctly ; but a strong and manly home-brew of the best language in the world for words of sincere and hearty good- will. They had to turn up their noses at our seal's-liver breakfast ; but, when they heard of our winter trials, they stuffed down the seal without tasting it. I felt sorry after they were off, that 1 had not taken their names down every one. The whaling vessels to which they returned were in the freer water outside the shore stream, the Jane O'Boness, Captain John Walker; and the Pacific, Cap- tain Patterson. The next day, beating hard to windward, we made TJppernavik igain. The scene. y around it was very striking, exhibiting some magnificent mural sections of giieiss and slates. The entering hoadland was some fifteen hundred feet high. We found all the liills patched with snow to the water's ed^e, where their bases are abraded by the moving fioes from one year's end to another. Mr. IMurdaugh and myself visited the town ; that is to say, the priest's house, the governor's house, the oil house, the school-church house, and sundry native huts. The wood-cut at the bottom of page 499 gives UPPER NAVIK. 49 the interior of one of them, in which we superintend- ed the manufacture of a dish of coffee. We were received by the governor, accompanied by an okl friend of ours from Proven, a sort of secretary there, " plenty-scribe-'em" as he styled himself. The old gentleman had arrived at two that morning, in a whale-boat, with his stalwart sons, after thirty-two miles of pulling through the ice against the wind. " Keesey ver bod," he said ; " the ice was very bad." The governor, superior in tone to Cristiansen, who is a self-made man, welcomed us with fine Danish good-breeding, and there is no good-breeding better. We found hiin out to be a desperate conservative, fear- ful of nothing but change. His house was after the fashion of Mr. Moldrop's, of Godhaven, and scrupu- lously clean. Coffee was served ; and we had the honor of being introduced to three young ladies of the half-breed, absolutely with frocks on. I thought I could see that one of them had pantalettes of seal-skin peeping out from under her skirt, and a wiser critic than myself might have said that all their dresses were somewhat antique of fashion. But they met us, on the other hand, with a lady-like disregard of our own outlandish costume ; and though our language ■■ is somewhat composite in its idiom, for I understand nei- ther the Danish nor the Hosky, and they understood very little English, we managed to keep up quite an animated conversation. It was very pleasant to re- hipse in their company for a while, into the manners of society at home. We saw also the family of Petersen, Penny's dog and Esquimaux manager, all neat and pleasing per- sons ; the sons, frank, manly fellows, and the eldest daughter really quite refined and pretty. But we did ;^:- :h:i' \\ ti f! / ■,. ■i •' ! .( ; ■I !■■ >. r 498 Baffin's islands. not remain long. Our Aberdeen friends had transfer- red to us s. full supply of newspapers which tliey had brought for Penny ; so, after prescribing for the gov- ernor's child, and receiving a dog-skin juniper for my fee, we returned on board to review the annals of the outer world for the past year. We now pursued our way very smoothly. We had delightful weather; not the best, indeed, for men whose errand lay ahead, but still very welcome to those who had roughed it of late so severely. Summer was con- centrating all its strength and beauty in the long, sun- encircled day, Both our vessels were carrying home Esquimaux dogs. By continued kindness and over-feeding, i suc- ceeded in quite changing the nature of ours : both Disco and Hosky v. ere on the high road to civilization. But tliose on board the Rescue and the Albert were still as wild as jackals : let loose upon the ice, it was almost impossible to -"itch them again. One after- noon, a little below tht. ' 'evirs Thumb, when the dogs of the Albert were out on the floe for exercise, a sud- den breeze allowed her to work to windward through an open lead. One poor dog was left behind. Boats were sent out to recover him, and we all tried by voice and gesture to coax him toward us. But the half savage, though, he stood gazing at us wildly v,hen we were at a distance, ran skulking and wolf-like as soon as we were near. We were forced at last to abandon him to his fate. We could see him for hours, a dark speck upon the white floe ; and afterward, as far oft' as the spy-glass served, still with his head raised and his body thrown back on his haunches. Worse than tliis ; such was the quiet expanse of ice and water, that we heard the poor creature's howling, waxing c;i)OD-BY 10 TllL riil.NCE ALBERT, Mi:i.\n,LE BAY. ..'AV.r |i(lj|{jg,^>^v/i.i INTI.RIOn OK A NA IVI, HIT. I ITEHNAVIK. •r'N^jf^'^ ' iY*^} >.'i' .inlf #'')■'•! I- m^^ H' ¥i I i ( -• . j !> k. "'^- ; i . 1 i ^ ,)i iHi ■'I/* ••. d ' M !»*' r: !■/' f II ESQUIMAUX DOGS. ."JOl fainter and fainter, for eight hours after we left the ice. Tlie training of these animals by the natives is of the most ungracious sort. I never heard a kind ac cent from an Esquimaux to his dog The driver's whip of walrus hide, some twenty feet long, a stone or a lump of ice skillfully directed, an imprecation loud and sharp, made emphatic by the fist or foot, and a grudged ration of seal's meat, make up the winter's entertainment of an Esquimaux team. In the sum- mer the dogs run at lar