IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ».■ t* /. fe. %^ 1.0 I.I Hi lAQ IIIIM IIIIIM M 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 -^ 6" — ► I' V] <^ \ n >W^ c^^ >^ j' voyage on the unknown seas beyond it, and at length was rewarded by reaching an island named Thule. Here Pvtheas found, to his unbounded astonishment, that even at midnight there was no darkness ; a phenomenon well calcu- lated to excite the surprise of one, who had gazed night by night at the brilliant stars of his southern clime, and now found them superseded by the clear twilight which broods over the Shetland Isles, during those few hours, in their long summer days, when the sun sinks below the horizon. Deeply amazed at the wonders he met with, Pytheas pursued his way still further towards the untraversed regions of the west ; but his course was soon arrested by a barrier unknown to his sunny land. This he describes as "neither earth, air, nor sky, but composed of all three;" and before this mysterious obstacle he turned back, believing he had reached the furthest limits of nature. Yet for all that, Pytheas was a brave man, and a daring sailor for his times ; though with fuller knowledge, some may be inclined to hold in light honour this pioneer of Arctic discovery, who took six days to sail in his clumsy galley from Dunnet-llead to the Shetland Isles, and when there, was turned back by a thick sea-fog ! The Romans, amidst all their greatness, were utilitarians, and never encouraged expeditions which aid nov varecviy ,ena ^o ja_ willouoiiby's expedition. dignity or advancement of the Empire. The barbarous forest- clotlied countries which lay beyond its uortheru bounduiy alioid- ed little iuducemont for invasion, and there was still less hope of finding fertile lands over the vast stormy waters that washed their western shores. During the centuries of darkness and barbarism which f \egions of which tliey wcro In search. Chimerical a? was ilii^ plan, it was sot on foot by sundry Loudon niorchants, — " men ot'great wisdom and gravity," we are especially informed, — and warmly advocated by Sebastian Cabot, t)\c son of the well- Icuown navigator, himself the Grand Tilot of England, and the acknowledged oracle of the day on all nautical matters. Under such ausi)ices the project met with general encouragement, the sum of £0000 was easily raised by shares, and employed in the oquipment of three vessels : the like of which, we are assured by t'ne ( Jrand Pilot himself, " was never i" any realm seen, used, or known!" 'Ihis squadron, jn-ovisioned for eighteen months, was placed under the guidance of Sir Hugh Willoughby, a man of high Inrth, ;iud "^-Miowned in war," but possl 'y not much fitted by nautical expc^^-ienco for the dangers ar 1 difficulties of a voyage of discovery. His second in command was Kichard Cliancelor, a iwotvcje of Sir Henry Sidney, and particularly recom- mended " for the many good parts of wit in him." A letter was addressed by King Edward to " all kings, princes, rulers, judges, and governors of the earth," exhorting them to • ,3 hospitality towards: his servants; and Cabot drew up a code of regulations for the use of the officers and crews, some of which are truly admirable, and others irresistibly absurd. Of the first class may be insttmced his directions that prayers should be read on board each ship morning and evening; his prohibition of all "ribaldry and ungodly talk, dicing, carding, tabling, or other devilish games;" as well as his caution against " conspiracies, part-tak- ings, factions, false tales, which be the very seeds and fruits of contention!" He particularly directs *.h^t any natives they meet are "to be considered advisedly, and treated with gentle- ness and courtesy, without any disdain, laughing, or contempt ; " but we cannot commend the next hint, that it may be advisable occasionally to allure one on board, and make him intoxicated, because "if he be made drunk with your wine or beer, you shall know the secrets of his heart." The "liveries" of the sailors were to ))e carefully put by, and only worn on special occasions, when it was desirable to appear " in good array, for the honour and advancement of the voyage." Possibly theso 6 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. m treasured garments might be furnislied to counteract the effect which Cabot apprehended from the outlandish appearance of the natives ; for he especi^dly desires them not to be " affrighted," if savages meet them dressed in lioi o' and bears' skins, with bows and arrows in their hands, as this formidable array would only be assumed to intimidate them. The most earnest warnings, however, in the document are directed against " persons armed with bows, who swim naked in various seas, havens, and rivers, desirous of the bodies of men, which they covet for meat." Pos- sibly some vague ideas concerning sharks or alligators may have suggested this extraordinary passage; physicial geography being little understood b}^ Cabot or his compeers. Thf iOth of May, 1553, beheld the departure of the three vessels from Greenwich. The hand of death was already laid ujjon the young king, and he v/as unable to grace the spectacle by his presence, but even this circumstance scarcely shadowed the brightness of the scene. The courtiers and grandees crowded to the palace-windows, the populace lined the shores, the ships fired salutes, and " the mariners shouted in such sort that the sky rang with the noise thereof" Very different from the hope and ccjfidence excited by that triumphant commencement of the voyage, must have been AVilloughby's feelings when a tempest overtook them off North Cape, with such " flawes of wind and terrible whirlwinds," that they were forced to take to the open sea, and let the ships drift as they would. The admiral had previously assembled his com- manders, and exhorted them to keep together as much as possible, but in case of unavoidable separation to regard Ward- Imys, in Finmark, as the place of meeting. His voice was now heard in the lulls of the storm calling earnestly to his comrades to keep close together; but his vessel carried so much sail that it wos impossible to obey him, and, amidst the darkness of that tem- pestuous m'ght, Chancelor and VVilloughby parted, — never to meet again. The dawning light of the next morning showed the admiral that he was alone, but his smaller vessel, the " Confidence," soon rejoined him, and together they continued their voyage. '. The imperfect maps of the time were often totally at variance M . WILLOUGHBY S EXPEDITION. soon with the real position of the land, and Willonglihy seems to have spent the largest part of the hrief nortliern suuuner iu following their guidance till he found himself totally at fault, and then retracing his course to the point from which he had diverged. Each check, too, was rendered doubly mortifying Ly the knowledge that winter was coming on, and that he should have been far on his voyage, instead of still beating about in much the same spot, witliout having even gained certain knowledge of the right direction in whicli to proceed. After his sepanition from Chancelor, the admiral groped his way in much perplexity for many days; and land was hailed with a cry of joy as it rose before the glad eyes of the weary voyagers. As they drew near, its apjiearance gave little promise of com- fort; the snow-covered cliffs rose cokl and desolate from the dark sea, all was bleak and barren, and no sound met the ear but the wailing cry of the circling gulls, and the occasional crash of falling ice as it broke away from the frozen surface of the cliff. On this°inhospitable coast of Nova Zembla they vainly endea- voured to effect a landing ; but their efforts being bafHed, they returned again to their ships, and, in total ignorance of their real situation, sailed on far into the Northern Ocean, in the vain hope of reaching Norway, which they had in flict left to tlie south. At length they discovered their mistake, and changing their "course they steered S.W., and after many days saw the a)ast of Russian Lapland. Our sympathies are strongly called forth for these brave countrymen of ours, who set out with so much courage, and so little knowledge, on an enterprise so fraught with dan-er. Sadly and wearily must the time have passed for them, as they drifted day after day on the dark, pitiless waters; and e'vcn tlie stoutest heart among them must sometimes have quailed while musing on the unknown fate of their comrades, and their own uncertain destiny. How tliey nnist have longed, amidst that weary monotony of sea and sky, for the green fields and smiling vallevs of dear native England ; and how mockingly and sadly memory must have pictured the remembered features, the sweet home-flices, while each day made it more doubt- 8 THE ARCTIC SEGIOXS. fill if tlieir living eyes would ever gaze upon the loved originals again ! Amidst all these doubts and fears, the intensitv of the arctic winter came upon them, heralded by sleet, and frost, and driving snow, which rendered yet more drear the gloomy prospect around. Tlien apjieared the stern, awful icebergs, menacing destruction as tliey approached, and huge floating fields of ice gathered round the devoted ve.^sels, closed in, and held them helpless prisoners in that deadly clasp. It must be remembered, too, that all these rigours were unmitigated by the thousand contri- vances which inventive ingenuity has framed to render the climate endurable to seamen of the present time; and were sustained by men unprepared by previous ' information or experience to expect such hardships. They were, no doubt, rendered yet more trying by the absence of that blessed sun- light, which the captives had never so loved nnd prized as now that they were deprived of it. Amidst all this bodily and mental suffering, we cannot doubt that the passionate horne- yearnings of the exiles were rendered yet more bitterly intense by a prophetic foreboding that they were hopelessly vain ! Meanwhile months rolled by, and many loving hearts in Eng- land reckoned up the time, and looked out anxiously for the return of tiiose who never came. It is the same old tale, told over and over again in this sorrowful world, yet never losing its melancholy interest ! "Hope deferred" lingered on through time which sorrow lengthened out into a long life of suffering, till tidings came at last — tidings that some Kussian sailors, wandering by chance along that desolate coast, had seen with astonishment two large ships, apparently deserted ; had entered them, and found them floating sepulchres, tenanted only by the dead ! A note, dated January, 1554, proved that some at least had survived till then, but no other word or sign remained to east a gleam of light on the dark and mysterious fate of the first English Admiral, and his gallant crew, who vainly strove to penetrate the frozen regions of the north. We have yet to notice the less melancholy fate of Bichard Chancelor. After parting company with Willoughby, he \ willoughby's expedition. 9 V reached Wardhuys in safety, and there waited patiently for seven days, at the end of which time, not being joined by his companions, he seems to have given them up in denpair, and ajrain set sail towards the east. In course of time, he found himself in " an extensive bay," — in reality the White Sea, — and on landing made himself so popular by gifts and courteous bear- ing to tlie half-savage natives, that crowds came from all parts to gaze at the new-comers, who were reported to be " of a strange nation, of singular gentleness and courtesy ;" and by them Chan- celor found himself abundantly supplied with provisions and every other necessary. He further contrived to learn from his new friends — how, it is difficult to imagine, since the two par- ties can scarcely have possessed any common medium of commu- nication — that their country was called Muscovy, or flussia, and was governed by a Czar, who bore the. unmusical name of Ivan Vasilovitch, and held his court at Moscow. Thither Chancelor, who possessed a most indomitable spirit of enterprise, deter- mined to proceed, and notwithstanding tlie immense distance, and his total inexperience in the only practicable way of tra- velling — with sledges over the snow — he safely accomplished his journey, and brought back, on his return to England, a ftir more substantial benefit than the discovery of the imaginary north-east passage, in the permission of the Czar for the esta- blishment of trade between England and Russia. The " Muscovy Company" was in consequence speedily formed, a regular system of traffic between the two countries was organized, and Chancelor acain set out for Russia, furnished with credentials from Philip and Mary. This second voyrgo, having no connexion with arctic discovery, it is out of our province to describe. Suffice it to say, that he returned homewards with four ships heavily laden wii'h Russian commodities, having on board his own the Czar's ambassador. The home voyage proved singularly unfavourable, and he had the mortification of seeing two of his vessels wrecked off the coast of Norway ; the third reached London in safety, but that which contained the commander himself, was carried by a violent tempest as tar as Pitsligo, in Scotland, in which bay it wa^ wrecked. Chancelor made one last effort to save 10 THE ARCTIC KEGIOXS. himself and the airbassador in a small boat, but fortune was against them ; the skiff was upset, and though the Russian reached the shore and the capital in safety, the brave English- man, who had outlived the perils of the northern seas, perished amid those stormy waves, within sight of his native shores ! 1 BARENTZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA. 11 CHAPTER II. BARENTZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA. " So Zembla's rocks (the beauteous work of Frost) Kiss white in air, and glitter o'er the coast ; Pale suns, unfelt, at distance roll away, And on th' impassive ice the lightnings play; Eternal snows the growing mass supply, Till the bright mountains prop th' incumbent sky; As Atlas fix'd each hoary pile appears, The gather'd winters of a thousand years." — roPE, Tcmi^le of Fame. The tragic issue of Willoiigliby's voyage seems to have stamped a melancholy and unsuccessful character on all subsequent at- tempts; and after two more expeditions, sent out in 1550 and 1580, had returned without making any advance towards the discovery of the wished-for passage, the English were contented to abandon the enterprise. It met with cordial support, how- ever, in the United Provinces. These had just struggled into independence, and now counted upon obtaining by commerce that position among the European states which could in no other way be held by so insignificant a territory. But the ordinary lines of approach to the treasure-lands of the East were strictly guarded by the fleets of Spain ; and the Dutch, unable to cope with such formidable rivals, caught eagerly at the idea of a northern passage. Could such a way be discovered, they might yet obtain a lion's share in the precious merchandise of Cathay, without the risk of encounter with a foe whose power they feared, but could not equal. They had yet to learn that the ice-fields and mountains of the northern seas were enemies more hostile and invincible than all the armadas of Spain ! The first essay was made by a private company of merchants, who prepared three ships and a small yacht, and appointed as pilot 12 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. I i and general superintendent "William Barentz, one of the most experienced seamen of tlie day. The expedition sailed from Texel on the Gth of June, 1594, but separated into two divi- sions when they arrived at the island of Kilduin ; Barentz, with his two vessels, chose the bolder course of coasting Nova Zembla, and finding for himself a more northerly passage than liad yet been attempted ; while his less adventurous partner in command \"-as contented to follow the beaten track through the Straits of "Waygntz. The first land at which the latter party touched after their separation was the little island of Waygatz, then garbed in all the beauty of its brief, bright summer. Very pleasant and " delightsome" to the voyagers was this oasis amidst the watery desert through which they liad so lately passed; in- deed, the old Dutch chronicler waxes eloquent while dilating upon its verdant appearance, and the abundance of fl.ower3, herbs, and plants it produced, not forgetting "a great store of leeks!" On one of the capes of this island they discovered a large num- ber of wooden images, with from four to eight heads, ranged in order, with the faces turned tov ards the east. From this cir- cumstance the headland received the name of the Cape of Idols, the Dutch very naturady supposing, from the bones and frag- ments that lay near, that the Samoiedes, a people inhabiting the neighbouring coasts, were in the habit of sacrificing, and paying idolatrous worship to them. One writer, however, in detailing the circumstance, stands forth as champion to the Samoiedes, pronounces them guiltless of idolatry, and suggests that these hideous images were erected in memory of departed friends. With all desire to preserve the furthest extent of ch3,rity, we own to a little difficulty in accepting this explanation, involving, as it does, the necessity of assigning to these "departed friends" the unusual privilege of possessing six or eight heads apiece ! Proceeding onward through the Straits of Waygatz and the Sea of Kara, our adventurers found themselves involved in the ice which lined the coast of Nova Zembla; but this proved only a temporary obstacle, and was forgotten, together with all the other trials and sufferings of the voyage, in the joy with which hailed the sight of a clear expanse of blue open sea, stretch they expanse open BARENTZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA. 13 ing onward as far as the eye could reach, while the Russian coast trended away rapidly towards the S.E. In these days of diffused knowledge, when the youngest school-child gains by his map a far more accurate notion of the northern regions than the brave seamen of whom we have been speaking ever won by all their deeds of daring, we can scarcely realize how very scanty, and often how entirely erroneous, was the information collected for their guidance. The best geogra- phers of that day were still the humble disciples of Pliny, who lived and wrote hundreds of years before, and the correctness of whose teaching may be estimated by his theory concerning Asia. The northern boundary of this vast continent he held to terminate in a promontory named Tabis, from whence the voyage was short and easy to its eastern and southern shores. It was very natural, under such teaching, tliat these Dutch adventurers, weary A'dth their long voyage, and eager to reach the golden regions for which tliey were bound, shoukl leap hastily to the joyful conclusion that they had rounded the pro- montory of Tabis, and by following the coast southward cculd not fail speedily to reach Cathay. Could they but have known the reality, how it would have damped their hopes! What dreary news it would have been to hear that they had only reached the Gulf of Obe, and that a hundred degrees of longitude still lay between thein and the goal to which those swift-winged hopes had flown so speedily ! Satisfied with- the prospect of success, they did not press onward to test its reality, but turned their prows westward, and started in full sail for Holland, eager to convey their joyful tidings without delay. In the mean time, Barentz pursued his northern way, coasting Nova Zembla, but disappointed in his hope of speedily obtaining an easterly passage. Almost the only incidents recorded of this voyage are a few encounters of some of his crew with bears and walruses, in all of which the bipeds seem to have suffered the mortification of defeat. Having arrived at the northern extre- mity of Nova Zembla — a higher latitude than any navigator is recorded to have reached before — we feel almost surprised to hear that Barentz turned back, before strong opposing winds u THE ARCTIC REGIONS. * H ' , ii and floating ice, just as the passage eastward opened before him. In courage, however, this great man was never found wanting, and many circumstances connected with his ship or his crew may have made him willing to postpone to a future day his chance of discovery, and seek safety in present return. Off liussian Lapland he fell in with his companions, and the four vessels returned together to Texel. The issue of this voyage was considered so highly successful, that a large expedition was fit:ed out immediately, at the expense of the States-General, consisting of six vessels, laden with all kinds of merchandise. A light yacht was added, which was to bear them company as far as the imaginary promontory of Tabis, and from thence was to return, bearing the good news of their preservation through the most perilous part of their voyage. In northern navigation the superiority of small com- pact vessels over large massive ones is now an acknowledged fiict; it v^as then a question to be tried, and the ill success of th'3 great Dutch squadron of 1595 might well have decided it! This luckless expedition was long in reaching even the familiar Waygatz Straits, and, when arrived there, turned back in utter despair of ever making way through the masses of ice which choked the passage, and returned in a crestfallen manner to Holland, without having accomplished any one of the objects for which it had been sent out. Although great disappointment was felt at this failure, the scheme was not wholly abandoned ; and, though the States-General prudently declined supplying any more funds for equipments, they offered a reward to any one by whom the object of the voyage should be successfully accomplished. Tlie more onerous duty of supplying ways and means for making the experiment was undertaken by the Town-Council of Amsterdam, who were sensible enough to fit out their two vessels for dis- covery instead of traffic. They proved their good judgment also by selecting the pilot, Barentz, as commander of one vessel, though the choice of John Corneliz Kyp for the other does nofe seem to have been equally happy. But that over which these worthy burghers chuckled most heartily was, their own wonder- ful s/igacity in providing against any risk of home-sickness, by BARENTZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA. 1^ forming the crews entirely of unmarried men; never conceiving tlie possibility— good simple men that they were— that even a phlegmatic Dutch sailor might fall in love, and that visions of some rosy-cheeked, flaxen-haired damsel might visit the day- dreams of more than one of that bachelor crew, even amidst the cliilling snows of the north. Barentz and his party set sail on the IGth of May, 1596, under the cheering influence of bright weather, and confident expec- tations of success. Their first adventure, however, was not a happy omen, nor did they so safely escape from the onset of their ursine foe as on a former occasion. In the quaint narrative of tlieir voyage by Gerrit de Veer, who was himself an eye-witness of all the incidents he relates, the catastrophe is deemed worthy of a pictorial representation, « showing," as the label attached to it states, "how a frightful, cruel, big bear tare in pieces two of our companions." After a voyage of twenty-five days, they had ocular demonstration of their near approach to the regions of ice. " One of our men walking on deck," says De Yeer, " on a suddaine began to cry out with a loude voyce, and sayd that bee sawe white swannes : which wee that were below hearing, presently came up, and perceived that it was ice that came driv- ing from the great heape, showing like swannes, it being then about evening." They soon became beset by a very inconve- nient flock of these "white swannes," which greatly retarded their progress, and forced them to sail at a slow rate until they reached a small island of very bleak and desolate appearance. Some of the party efiected a landing, but found nothing to repay the efibrt ; they climbed one of the hills, and when arrived at the summit, finding it impossible to gain footing for their descent, were obliged to lie down and try the hazardous experi- ment of letting their own weight carry them down the steep glassy surface. They tried once more the oft-repeated experi- ment of taking a bear alive by means of a noose, and, having failed in all their attempts, set sail in disgust ; naming the highest peak "Mount Misery,"— in memory, perhaps, of their very uucomioriai/iu iuucit; ui ae3->.eiii,-=tia.t .a^...> last disappoiu mt, by bestowing u:;>on the newly-discovered 16 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. I ; spot the name of " Bear Island." Still pumiing their course to the north, they reached Spitzbergen ; and, after coasting its western shorcH for some time without finding any passage east- ward, they returned to Bear Island, where Barentz and Corneliz, who seem never to have ccn-dially acted together, differed in opinion, and finally parted company. Corneliz returned safely the following year to Holland, and as his voyage has never been chronicled, we may conclude it led to no important results. That of Barentz, however, was rife with incident; and we must plead for our reactors' indulgence, if we somewhat exceed ordinary limits, while relating the adventures of this brave man and his companions, whose courage and endurance carried them so nobly through the untried horrors of an arctic winter. As early as the beginning of August we find our voyagers in- volved in the ice, and still further perplexed by a dense fog. While this continued, they moored their vessel to a large berg for safety, and, as the weather cleared, they began cautiously to work their way from one of these masses to another, breaking m they went through the ice, which was now forming over the whole surface of the water, and "making it crack on all sides." Strange and awful must have been the scene which now pre- sented itself to their unaccustomed eyes ! The wide fields of ice covering the sea,— the blue « lanes" of water which afforded a precarious passage amongst them,— and, above all, the majestic icebergs, towering into a thousand fiuitastic forms ; some of a deep sea-green, others wrapped in a white snow-mantle ; some rooted immovably in the ocean depths, others, that had broken from their hold, and now drifted slowly at the bidding of wind and tide— grand even in their ruin— threatening destruction, as they passed, to the puny vessel which had so boldly ventured into their silent realm ! Silent, indeed !— No cry, no sound of life, broke that awful stillness ; nothing but the thundermg crash which announced the fall of a mighty fragment from some decaying iceberg, and then the startled echoes woke from rock and berg around, till it seemed as if every crag and cliff guvo back a separate voice to swell the doleful chorus. Tbrouf^h such scenes the vessel advanced slowly to the most m BARENTZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMRLA. 17 northern point of Nova Zembla, the crew being cheered by the tidings that from the Ingl; cliffs of Orange Island, clear open water had been «een to the S.E. The clfort to reach this invit- ing channel — which seemed to })romise a s])eedy realization of the object of their voyage — was frustrated by the ice, which gathered about the sliij) as it lay near shore, and gradually col- lected under and around it, till it was rais'^d far above sea-level on the summit of "a huge grounded ice-hill." All hope of re- turn before winter now vanisheil, and the cheerful courace and devout resignation with which these brave sailors submittetl to their fate, might teach a lesson to many in our more enlightened age. "It grieved us much," says their simple chronicler, "to Ive there all that cold winter, which we knew would fall out to be extrcame bitter; but, being bereaved of all hope, we were compelled to make necessitie a vertue, and with patience to at- tend what issue God would send us." They did not, however, sit down in idleness to await this " issue," but set vigorously to work to build a house upon the land ; a necessary step ; for the vessel had sustained so much injury from the pressure of the ice and the intense cold — which, acting upon the juices of the wood, caused it to split and crack — that they feared it would not long hold together. It was not easy in that inhospitable region to find materials even for the humble hut which they proposed erecting. " We had not much stuffe to make it withall," con- fesses De Yeer, " in regard that there grew no trees nor any other thing in that country convenient to build it withall." In nothing discouraged, however, Barentz went to " view the coun- try, and to see what good fortune might happen to them," — and perseverance brought its own reward. " At last," says the original narrative, " we fouud an unexpected comfort in our need, which was that we found certaine trees, roots and all, which had bin driven upon the shoare, either from Tartaria, Muscovia, or else- where, for there was none growing upon that land, wherewith (as if God had purposely sent them unto us) we were much com- forted, being in good hope that God would shoAV us some further favour; for that w^ood served us not only to build our house, but also to burne and serve us all the winter long ; otherwise^ G 18 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. J ■' without a doubt, we had died there miserably with extreame coUl." The vessel continuing to crack and give signs of speedily breaking up altogether, they worked Jit the house with increas- ed diligence, though the int(!iiso co^d was nearly beyond endu- rance, and almost every thing they touched with the naked hand, froze to it. One man, while working, incautiouslv put a nail be- tween his lips; it froze instantly, and when torn olF brought skin and blood with it ; an accident which taught them a les- son of care for the future. Their difficulties in building the hut were greatly increased by the loss of the carpenter, who died soon after the commencement of the undertaking. The ground was so hard and frost-bound, that they tried in vain to dig a g/ave, and the poor fellows were constrained to conteni them- Ives with laying their dead comrade in the cleft of a rock — the best interment they were able to give him. The work was carried on in great fear of the bears, which were numerous, and verv bold. One day, Barentz, from the deck of the vessel, saw tlnie bears stealthily approaching a party of his men, who were labouring at the hut; he shouted loudly to warn them of their peril, and the men, startled at the near approach of danger, sought safety in flight. One of the party, in his haste and perturbation, fell into a cleft in the ice, but the liungry animals fortunately overlooked him, and continued their pursuit of the main body. These gained the vessel, and began to congratulate themselves on their safety, when, to their horror, they perceived that their foes, instead of beating a retreat, had actually scaled the ship's sides, and seemed determined to follo^^ up their advantage. Matters now became serious. One of the saviors was de.^i>atched for a light, but, in his hurry and agitatiuu, ^ouid not induce tlie match to take fire ; the muskets were thus rendered useless, and the sailors in despair kept their enemies off by pelting them with whatever articles came first to hand. This unequal conflict con- t'jvned for some time; the invaders retreated for a minute under the influence of some well-aimed blow, but speedily returnetl to the charge, and the stock of available missiles was growing terribly low, when the combat vvas happily ended by the aeci- sive stroke of a halbert, which produced such a forcible impression r4 BAKENTZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA. 19 upon the largest bear, that he promptly retired from the field, attended by hia two coinpuiiions. J>y the middle of October, the hut wrw completed ; and, though tlie accom- modations it aiforded were Hcanty, they were glad to take up their abodo in it at once. A Kick comrade was drawn in a sledge from the ship by eight of the able-bodied men, and ti» him was assigned the most comfortable position by the centre fire, while all the rest arranged their beds as best they could, on shelves which had been built round the walls. They now commenced an examination into the state and (piantity of tlieir provisions, which led to one or two murtifying discoveries. They had on board several tons of tine Dantzic beer unopened ; and it must have been extremely vexatious to find the iron- bound casks broken to i)ieces, and the contents existing in the form of solid masses of ice, which, when melted, had all the taste of bad water ! In quick succession, upon this investiga- tion, follows the statement of the reduction which of necessity took place in the allowance of food. On the 8th Nov., " We shared our bread among us, each man having four pounds and ten ounces for his allowance in eight dales ; so that then we were eight dales eating a barrell of bread ; whereas before, we ate it up in five or six dales." Next week the sharing of their wine is recorded. " Every man had two glasses a day ; but commonly our drink was water, ^^^ich we molt out of the snow." A little later still the narrator informs us very simply, that they " had but seventeen cheeses, whereof one we ate amongst us, and the rest were divided, to every man one for his por- tion, which he might eat wh'^n he list." As the winter ad- vanced, and the scarcity of food was still more felt, they tried the plan of setting traps ; by these they caught a good many small arctic foxes, which proved very tolerable eating. The skins also were very serviceable made into caps, " to keepe them ■warme from the extreame cold." One of their chief difficulties was in washing their clothes; for directly they took them from the hot water and began to wring them, the linen froze hard in their hands ; and as for drying, the side farthest from the fire was frozen as the things hung before it ! Soon, liowever^ to add p 4 .1 i 'I I ■■ i ! I m 20 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. firinff itself bei^an to nm short, and a lieavy ,.ir suHermgs, tiring itseii oegan to run fall of snow having moreover stopped up their attempt at a chimney, they ran great risk of being at once frozen and suffo- cated. For some time they denied themselves the luxury of a lire, and tried to substitute hot stones passed from bed to bed ; but this experiment completely failing, they resolved for once to be warm, cost what it might. In pursuance of this deter- mination they lighted a large lire of sea-coal in the middle of their hut, carefully stoppe.l up every aperture by which cold might enter, and fell asleep in the enjoyment of a most delicious temperature. In a short time, however, one or two awoke in a state of suffocation, and contrived to totter dizzily to the door ; by opening which they probably saved the lives of the whole yiarty, who were long before they wholly recovered from the effects of their indulgence. The sun had now entirely taken his departure, and during the dreary three months' night, when the wild storms and intense cold prevented them from venturing beyond the walls of their hut, they had much difficulty in pre- st!rving right reckoning of time, as the cold had stopped their clocks. They several times disputed as to whether it was day or night, and, at last, were forced to construct a rude sandglass, which measured time tolerably. There is a touching sentence of De Veer's, picturing their sufferings at this time : " We lookt X)itifully one upon tlie other," he says, "being in great fear that if the extremity of the cold grew to be more and more we should all die there with cold ; for that what fire so ever we made would not warm us." The ice was now two inches thick upon the walls, and even on the sides of their sleeping-cots; their principal occupation was mending their stockings, in which they continu- ally burnt holes without warming their feet; and the very clothes they wore were whitened with frost, so that as they sat together in their hut they " were al as white as the countrymen usld to be when they come in at the gates of the towne in Hol- land with their sleads, and have gone all night." Yet amidst what we should consider unmitigated m isery, these hardy men kept brave and cheerful hearts ; and so great was their elasticity of spirit, that, remembering the 5th January was "Twelf Eve," BARENTZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA. 21 tliey determined to celebrate it as best they might. It would be little short of a sin to give this unique detail in any other words than those of the old chronicler himself " And when we had taken paines al day, we remembered ourselves that it was Twelf Even ; and then we prayed our maister that we might be merry that night, and said that we were content to spend some of the wine that night which we had spared, and which was our share, (one glass,) every second day, and whereof, for certaine dales, we had not drunke; and so that night we made merry, and drew for king. And therewith, we had two pounds of meale, whereof we made pancakes with oyle, and every man had a white biscuit, which we sopt in the wine. And so supposing that we were in our owne country and amongst our friends, it comforted us well as if we had made a great banket in our owne house. And we also made trinkets, and our gunner was King of Nova Zembla, which is, at least, eight hundred miles long, and lyeth between two seas." A few weeks more, however, brough* a partial mitigation ot their sufferings. The friendly face of the sun appeared again, and was welcomed with universal delight-nothing damped by the doubts of Barentz, who, being unacquainted with the refract- ino- power of the atmosphere, strove to convince his companions, by'' all manner of elaborate calculations, that the luminary thoy so crladly greeted, had no right to appear for fifteen days more. The severity of the cold did not yet begin to abate, but the gales and snow-storms ceased; and they were thus able to brave the outer air, and indulged for many hours each day in running, leapincr and athletic games. As the spring advanced and a thaw commenced, they began to examine into the condition of their imprisoned vessel, which, contrary to all ..pectation, still held tooether Its position, however, afforded little comtort; for as the large sea-floes disperse.!, immense fragments ot ice came drifting shorewards with every tide, and added to ihe insur- mountable barrier which already encircled it. In March these "romparts'^ could be crossed by seventy-five paces; at the begin- ning of ]May, their breadth was increased to five hundred! Ihis fact dispelled at once any hopes the ice-bound adventurers might K: i i ^ i , '■'i :•' I ; t i 22 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. d of their good ship still have entertainea oi seeing tiieir gootl snip tree once more, and sailing back in it to Holland. The only prospect of escape from their dreary prison, was afforded by the two boats. These they filled with provisions, and rigged them out nnder the gun- ner's direction, from the spoils of the poor deserted vessel, which seemed to be abandoned as a sort of propitiatory sacrifice to the offended deities of frost and snow. The whole party finally quitted the scene of so much suffering on the l-lrth June, 159G, with glad hearts; rejoicing too much in their deliverance from that long imprisonment, to estimate in its full extent the danger which attended a voyage of nearly 2000 miles in two open boats through waters still encumbered with masses of ice. Hajipy were they, too, in their ignorance of the sorrow which was still further to darken that perilous voyage. But though they knew it not, the hand of death was already coldly laid upon the brave and noble " master," whose encourage- ment and sympathy had cheered them on to duty, and the silent eloquence of whose example had preached, during those long months of pain and captivity, lessons of fortitude and self-devo- tion never to be forgotten. On the fourth day of their voyage, the frail boats became sur- rounded by immense qviantities of floating ice, which so crushed and injured them that the crews, giving up all hope, took a solemn leave of each other. De Veer had proved himself of good service in several former emergencies, and to his presence of mind and agility the whole company owed their lives on the present occasion. With a well-secured rope he leaped from one fragment of ice oo another till he gained a firm field, on which first the sick, then the stores, the crews, and finidly the boats themselves, were safely landed. Their progress was here arrested while the boats underwent necessary repair; and during this detention, upon a floating ice-raft, in the midst of the desolate region where he had overcome dangers, and survived hardships, such as no European had before endured, the gallant Barentz closed the troublous voyage of life ! He died, as he had lived, calmly and bravely ; thinking less of himself than of the welfare of his crew; a chart of these perilous seas was spread out beforo BARE^'TZ WINTERS IN NOVA ZEMBLA. 23 ce more. him, and his last words were directions as to the course in - "lich they were to steer. His death was bitterly mourned by the rough men under his command, whose warm hearts were quick to appreciate true nobility of soul. They loved and revered him as a friend and father; and even the joy of their anticipated arrival was damped by the remembrance that he who had sliared in. all their sufferings, could not partake of their consolation. The onward progress of the two boats amidst the besetting ice was tedious and dangerous in the extreme. By the 28th of July, they had only reached the southern extremity of Nova Zembla, where thev fell in with two Russian vessels, the crews of which could scarcely be persuaded that of the Dutch expedition, the strong vessel and hardy seamen, which some of them had seen the previous year, nothing was lefb but these two battered boats, with their feeble, wasted occupants. The Russians " exchanged presents," we are told, but do not seem to have offered any real assistance to the poor weary mariners, who soon parted company with them, and, at the end of August, arrived at Kola. Here, to their pleasant surprise, they found their old comrade, John Corneliz, who received them on board his vessel, and conveyed them to Amsterdam. 91 THE ARCTIC REGIOXS. I ■ If [> I !l 1 ^ I I 1; ! H ilii CHAPTER III. ' FINAL ATTEMPTS TO DISCOVER THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE.— VOYAGES TO'WARDS THS NORTH POLE. And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold, And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald. And through the drifts the snowy cli;t3 Did send a dismal sheen ; Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken,— The ice was all between. Coleridge. Up ! up ! let us a voyage take ; Why sit we here at ease? Find us a vessel tight and snug, Bound for the Northern Seas. There shall we see tlie fierce white bear, Tlie sleepy seals aground. And f'.e spouting whales that to and fro , Sail with a dreary sound. And while the unsetting sun shines on Through the still Heaven's deep blue, We'll traverse the azure waves, the herds Of the dread sea-horse to view. William IIowitt. The disastrous issue of Barentz's last voyage effectually pre- vented his sober-minded countrymen from engaging any further in such a perilous enterprise, and the English undertook again the responsibility of carrying out a scheme which they had been the first to originate. A new generation had succeeded to the one which witnessed the triumphant commencement of Wil- lougbbv's voya2:e, and mourned and shuddered over its terrible conclusion. Science had made wondrous advances during the fifty intervening years ; the experience of every unsu<:->'^C3sful ex- ATTEMPTS TO DISCOVER THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 25 plorer was so' much valuable information, for the guidance of his successors in the career of discovery ; clear water had been seen, by nearly every expedition, beyond the ice barrier which arrested their advance, and finally, " if such a passage to India really ex- isted, why might not England obtain the glory and advantage of its discovery 1 " Thus reasoned sundry members of the worship- ful Company of London Merchanl^s, and so conclusive did those arguments appear, that without loss of time they placed a vessel under the command of Henry Hudson— who had already given promise of his future prowess during a voyage to Spitzbergen— and saw him weigh anchor and drop down to Blackwall, on the 22nd April, 1 608. Profiting by the experience of others, Hudson avoided the usual track through the Straits of Waygatz, and steered boldly northward, with the purpose of rounding Capo Zelania. The surrounding ice, however, arrested his progress before he had passed lat. 75^ and, having extricated himself with some difficulty, but only "a few rubs," he shaped his course according to the wind towards the E. and S.E., and on the 2Gth gained the coast of Nova Zembla. About ten days before they reached the land, two of the crew, Thomas Hilles and Henry Rayner, " solemnly averred," that whilst standing on the deck they had been favoured with the sight of a mermaid. Their ac- count of this Lady of the Waters answered generally to the received descriptions of her mythical order, only she lacked the mirror, and her hair was black instead of the sea-green tix'sses supposed to be the distinguishing property of the marine sister- hood. Moreover, these sight-seers inform us " her tail was as of a porpoise, but speckled like a mackerel." Although June was not yet past, Hudson decided— rather prematurely we think- that a more northerly route offered no chance of success that suni- mer, and determined on trying the old Waygatz passage. His impression of Nova Zembla in its summer guise is a curious con- trast to the dreary picture of the N.E. coast, drawn by the com- panion of poor Barentz. " It is, to man's eye, a pleasant land," says the English sailor, '' much mayne land with no snow upon it; looking in some places green, and deer feeding thereon." TJie Waygatz course was given up that they might follow the u I 'i ■ } 11 26, THE ARCTIC REGIONS. I r opening afforded by a large sound, whicli tliey confidently hoped would furnish a passage to the other side of the island, while the commander calculated that a little slaughter among the herds of morse frequenting the banks would materially lighten the ex- penses of the voyage. This newly discovered sound, however, soon bi-ought them to a river, where the boats came to anchorage in oneflithom's depth of water; the morse too so cleverly avoided coming to close quarters that not one was killed, and when Hudson retraced his course, intending once more to try his for- tune in the open sea, he found his passage impeded on all sides by immense masses of ice, " very fearful to look on." He de- voutly records " the mercy of God and his mighty help" in guid- ing his vessel safely through the dangers that surrounded it, and in granting them ultimately a safe return to England. A subse- quent voyage by this brave navigator, under the auspices of tlij Dutch East India Company, was even more profitless and unsatis- factory than the one of which we have been speaking ; indeed, it was only when engaged in the career of north-western discovery which we hope to relate in future chapters — that the genius of our gallant countrymen fully displayed itself. One final attempt in a north-easterly direction was made by Captain John Wood, an enthusiastic advocate of this most chimerical of schemes. He induced the Admiralty to intrust him with two vessels, and started to achieve the passage in 167o ; but his hopes were prematurely blighted by a storm which wrecked his own ship, the " Speedwell," oft^ the further coast of Nova Zembla, and compelled him and his crew to take refuge on board tb.e " Prosperous Pink," in which vessel he returned home, « a sadder and a wiser man" than when he left it. Wood's voy- age stands on record as the last in that series of N. E. expeditions, which marked the infancy of modern navigation, and combined so much singular incident and individual heroism with such uni- versal ignorance and credulity. Long before this last attempt, however, we must bear in mind that more inviting fields of dis- covery had drawn away general attention to the north and west; and consequently, the final relinquishment of this N. E. search may be attributed fiir more to the general advancement of know- VOYAGES TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 27 tiid ledge, than to the f^iilure of the expeditions that succcbsively attempted it. In our anxiety to preserve this detail from confusion, we have followed the series of north-east voyages to their conclusion, without pausing to notice other efforts at northern discovery, which, though prosecuted durhig the same interval of time, were directed to a different object. We should be but unfaithful chroniclers, however, did we not afford a passing notice to the early voyages towards the North Pole. These do not certainly afford any of the romantic incidents which lend so strong v charm to the records of the north-eastern and north-western ex- peditions, yet they are not wholly destitute of interest, for two of the most noted men in Arctic history, Hudson and Baflin, commenced their career in these Polar voyages. The project ot reaching India by this northern route was soon proved to be impracticable, yet much solid benefit was gained to England by the attempt. Hitherto, a few morse or whales, caught near the shores of Scotland, had furnished a scanty supply of skins and oil ; but now that the treasures of the Polar Seas were more ful- ly revealed, the London merchants spsedily reaped a plentifrJ liarvcst from the discovery. We may thus truthfully aver thi.t to the unsuccessful search for a Polar passage, England owes iii a great measure her extensive and valuable Avhale fisheries. In 1603, eight years after the last voyage of Barentz, Sir Erancis Cherie, a London alderman, fitted out a vessel named the " God-speed," and sent it, under the command of Stephen Bennet, to try its fortune in the icy regions, without apparently any matured plan or defined object. Possibly a vague notion of discovering the best whaling localities may have influenced the course of the commaider, who, after pursuing the old track round the North Cape, on reaching Kola changed his direction entirely, and steered the ship N. W. till it reached the " Bear Island," where the Dutch had landed on their outward voyage. Ignorant of its previous discovery, Bennet proudly named it after his patron Cherie ; and having caught thereon two foxes and a few fish, and discovered the teeth of a defunct morse, " proving that those animals did use there," he complacently 28 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. I- i I ft I considered the acliievement sufficiently distinguished to autho- rize his return to England. He made his appearance accordingly in London about the middle of October, and so satisfied his easy- tempered patron that he was sent out during several subsequent seasons, in the same ship, and fulfilled his vocation as morse- slayer to the satisfaction of his employers mind equally as to his own. In 1G07, the first real Polar voyage was undertaken by Henry Hudson, who set sail under the auspices of the Muscovy Company, with the hope and intention of reaching India by crossing the Pole. This daring design is the more singular from being the first eflfort in this direction, and also the first voyage undertaken by the brave seaman whose name is equally imperishable in the New as in the Old World. The devout spirit in which this voyage was commenced, finds a beautiful ex- pression in the name given by this commander to the first strange land which greeted his eyes. It was "a high castellated mountain," which rose coldly up from behind a bleak snow- covered headland ; but the earnest-hearted, cheerful mariner found beauty and comfort even on this barren coast of Greenland, and his grateful spirit displayed itself in calling that desolate eminence "The Mount of God's Mercy." A more northerly cape which broke upon his sight after a long continuaiict; of heavy fog, he named, under the same feeling, " Hold- with -Hope." A few days after this we find Hudson changing his course, and keeping a N. E. direction; and on the 27th of June he approached Spitzbergen, which Barentz had discovered just twelve years before. Along the shore of this island Hudson coasted, threading his way among the ice until, according to his own calculation, he reached lat. 81^°, whilst he saw land to north as far as 82°. As the northern extremity of Spitzbergen only reaches 81", there must liave been some error here in his reckoning, or the wide ice-fields stretching far on into the distance were mistaken by him for land; and truly in such a quarter, where sea and land wear alike one uniform hue of cold and deadly whiteness, whilst the craggy outline of the precipitous shore is matched by the fantastic ruggedness of vast VOYAGES TOWAllDS THE NORTH POLE. 29 ice mountains and iiivpilerl floes breaking the level aurfoce of the ocean, it must he a difficult mutter to discern the boundary- line which separates the two. Very little was actually gained by this voyage; but the young captain who had conducted it felt more conlidence in liis own powers, Jid had acquired moreover precious experience for his next attempt ; nor were his employers discontented with the issue of their experiment since by it they had obtained certain and satisfactory intelligence of the immense herds of morse and seals which frequented the coast of Spitzbergen. In the next expedition the Muscovy Company prudently resolved to combine profit with experiment, and the Captain, Jonas Poole, was informed that, though discovery was the prin- cipal object, he might " catch at intervals some morse," or " even one or two whales," by way of defraying the expenses of the voyage. Unfortunately for the ciiuse of science, Jonas Poole seems to have possessed such an eminently practical mind as to read his instructions in an inverted orcier, and, consequently, when they reached Fair Foreland, in Spitzbergen— although there was a free, open sea ahead, and every encouragement to proceed— a large herd of morse unluckily appearing in sight, he considered it liis duty to devote himself to the pursuit as a mightv hunter; and throughout the remainder of the voyage we^'find not a word on any subject of higher interest than the slau-hter of deer and walrus, and now an ' ^.hen the capture of a whal'e. On his return, Poole brought . .xk so propitiatory an offering of oil and morse-teeth, that the Company forbore giving him tlfe reproof he deserved for neglecting the primary object of the voyage, and sent him out again, with the old instructions, the following year, in command of the " Elizabeth," although thev had so clearly proved on the previous occasion how incap- able he was of combining the two objects of profit and discovery. The result was a just and well-deserved, though severe, disap- pointment. The " JNIary Margaret" whaler, went out in company with the " Elizabeth," and the latter was to join her in taking whales and morse during the outward voyage ; parting company with 30 THK ARCTIC REGIONS. I, ! ■ ! 1: i .«■ ri I her when they reachoa the limits of the fishing territory. F..-^ and storms soon separated the vessels, and when Poole reached the coast of Spit/herrren, he found three boats full of drenched, miserable sailors, the survivors from the wrecked " 3Iary Mar- .raret" Eeccivin- these on board his own vessel, he set to work dilio-ently as before on his hunting and fishing expeditions, though the overloaded state of his small ship, with the ad.Utional crew' should have been a powerful argument against the pro- ceedim'. He succeeded in securing a cargo of oil, skins, and teeth, "amounting to twenty-nine tons; a tolerable burden, he triumphantly remarks, for a vessel of lifty ! But such gi-eediness of -ain eiKled in peril and utter disappointment. The last spoUs overweighted the little ship, which sunk with its encum- bering freightage, barely allowing the men time to escape with their "lives," whilst the avaricious commander fought hard for his amidst the floating staves, spara, and other debris of the foundering barque. Thomas Marmaduke, commanding a Hull whaler, pfcked up these unfortunate mariners; and his charity in the time of their need, Poole repays l^y such a catalogue oi cmplaints and accusations, that his biographer Purchas apologises for omitting them on the ground of their length ! We gladly turn from so painful an evidence of ingratitude and obstinacy, although the next expedition— six well-armed ships —under the command of William Baffin, cannot enlist our full approbation. The object of the armament was less that of dis- covery, than of empire. It proposed to chase from the Greenland Seas all foreign vessels that might attempt to fish there, though on Avhat ground England claimed an exclusive right on these coasts, which her sons neither discovered nor colonized, it is difficult to imagine. The following year, we rejoice to add, this imworthy assumption was abandoned, and the sails were again unfurled in the honourable career of northern discovery. Thomas Fotherby, in the '' Thomasiue," with Kaffin as pilot, set out in 1G14, in company with the great Greenland fleet, to explore the seas to the north of Spitzbergen. This " fleet " consisted of ten ships and two pinnaces, all en- gaged in the whale fishery, so that Fotherby could rely little VOYAGES TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 31 upon thidr assistance or company. Tlioy all, however, shared in the general calamity of imprisomuont early in the vovMge- eleven ships being fast in the h-e at once ! 15ut time, which re- lieves so many misforiunes, brought theirs to an end also, and, by the Gth of June, the Tliomasine had reached Hakluyt's Head- land; there, however, the ice again arrested them, not by im- prisoning the ship itself, but, as in stalemate at chess, by bloc -vUig up every avenue of exit or egress. Magdaleua Bay— IVIaudlen Sound, as Fotherby calls it— was lined unbrokenly from shore to shore; to the north of Ilakluyt's Headland the ice agani pre- sented an impenetrable 1)arrier ; and though he sailed for twenty- eight leagues to the west, he could discover no oj.eniug towards th° north, and returned bullied to his former position. Two Dutch ships, sent out with a like mission to his own, gave up hope, and disappeared to the south on their homeward way • but Fotherby determined on a final effort, and pushmg oil from Cape Barren, he gained twenty-four leagues before he came face to face with the relentless ice ngain. Nothing daunted by the severity of the climate, or even by the murmurs of the crew, who were impatient to follow the Dutchmen's example, the com- mander ventured up Kedclilfe Sound in a boat, after the weather had forced the ship into harbour. The ice had formed u].on the water even there to the thickness of a half-crown piece, and they were glad to return to the ship. On their way back they ob- served that the Dutch haxpeditions to the stormy north. The " Dennis," a large vessel, vv^s so crushed by an iceberg at the entrance of Frobisher's Strait, that it sank almost before the startled crew could reach the other ships. Nor did these wholly escape disaster. The gale increasing to a storm, huge masses of ice struck the sides of the trembling vessels, whilst all the sailors could do in defence of their "wooden walls," was to suspend planks and poles over each side, with a view to break the force of blows powerful enough to shatter in pieces planks three inches thick. " At length," says the devout old navigator, " it pleased God with his eyes of mercy, to look down from heaven;" the wind subsided, the ice drifted away, and the squadron was enabled to proceed. A thick fog prevented any clear view of the shore, along which they sailed for some considerable way before Frobisher could be convinced they were not actually pro- ceeding up the strait already alluded to. Had he persevered in the course before him, he would doubtless have gained the distinc- tion won by his successor, Hudson, through the discovery of that fine bay which bears his name; but finding this course was really a new one, Frobisher resolutely turned back, and in time reached his former station. Here a consultation was held. The materials brouc^ht out for building a house of timber were very incomplete; one portion having sunk in the " Dennis," and another havmg been destroyed in warding ofif the ice. Captain Fenton of the *' Judith," proposed to brave the winter, with sixty men, in such a hut as could be constructed with the remainder ; but the car- penters required two months for such a work, and, with the ice gathering around, the ships could only remain half that time at the most. In despair, Frobisher suggested that some effort at discovery might yet cast a redeeming lustre over their luckless VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 41 voyage; but here again his captains perplexed him with doubts, and urged the shortness of the time, and the danger of the intri- cate channels, so forcibly, that he finally yielded to their opinion, and steered direct for England. What reception they met with on their return, and how their patrons bore their disappointment, we are not told. Frobisher himself followed Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies, commanded one of the largest vessels opposed to the Spanish Armada, and ended his active life while attacking a small French Fort, on behalf of Henry IV,, during the war with the LeafTue. A more careful investigation must soon have proved the utter worthlessness of the " glittering stone," since no further mention is made of it ; and when sundry Loudon merchants again " cast in their adventure," and sent out John Davis, in l5^o, his mis- sion was solely to i^eek for a north-west passage to India. The two ships with which he was entrusted bore the luminous appella- tions of ''■ Sunshine," and " Moonshine," and besides all usual and necessary equipments provided for the expedition, a liand ot music was attached to it, in order, Ave find, "to cheer and recreate the spirits " of the natives ! Before Davis arrived in sight of Greenland, his ships were surrounded by icebergs ; and when land at length broke on their view, its aspect was dismal in the extreme. The south-west coast he describes as " deformed, rocky, and mountainous, like a sngar-loaf standing to our siglit above the clouds. It towered above the fog like a white mist in the sky, the tops altogether covered with ;3now, the shore beset with ice, making such irksome noyse, that it was called the Land of Desolation." The very sea which bordered this dreary coast was " black and thick like a standing pool," and the voyagers were glad to turn from such a gloomy shore — being prevented all near approach by the ice — and steer through the open water to the north-west, " hoping, through God's mercy," adds the commander, "to find our desired passage." A few days iajer he again sighted land, which, though the northern part of the same coast, presented a less inhospitable appearance. A body of natives here met a party of the sailors, when the latter advanced towards them, making gestures of friendship, and 42 THE ARCTIC REGIO^JS. f t 11 \^ * H dancing merrily to the music of the hand. "We do not learn if grave John Davis footed it with his shipmates, but the Esqui- maux appeared decidedly propitiated by the exhibition of Jack Tar's ao-ility ; and the seamen having imitated the signs of the natives, by pointing to the sun, and beating their breasts, a friendly understanding was forthwith established. A few trifling presents served to gain skins, furs, and even the clothing they wore. The next day brought a still larger party, equally eager to maintain this unequal traffic, and the barter continued until a brisk wind carried the strange visitants away from their simple- minded friends. The remainder of the season Davis employed in sailing up a broad channel, twenty or thirty leagues wide, and free from ice, which ai)peared to tend to the north-west, and afforded him sanguine hopes of accomplishing the often-baffled project. This noble passage still bears the name of its discoverer, and is now familiar to all as Davis's Strait. The approach of winter com- pelled him to return before he had followed this new track of promise further than sixty leagues ; but he managed to inspire those at home with a portion of his own ardent enthusiasm, and so plausibly was the prospect set forth, that no difficulty was found in refitting the vessels, and Davis looked to the approaching summer for complete success. l! I r 1 VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE KOUTH-WEST FASSAGE. 43 CHAPTER Y. FARLY VOYAGES IN SEAHCIl Or THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. On the frozen deep's repose, 'Tis a dark and dreadful hour, When round the ship the ice-liclds close, And the northern night-clouds lower. But let the ice drift on ! Let the cold blue desert sjiread ! Tlifir courfC xvith mast and tlag is done, — Even there sleep England's dead. Mrs. Uemans. Thy soul was nerved with more than mortal force, Hold mariner upon a chartless sea, With none to second, none to solace thee ! Alone, who daredst keep thy resolute course Through the broad waste of waters drear and dark, 'Mid wrathful skies, and howling winds, and worse — The prayer, the taunt, the threat, the •aautter'd curse. Of all thy brethren in that fra^jile barque. TUPPER. The " Sunshine " and the " Moonshine " were joined in this their second voyage by the "Mermaid," a vessel of 120 tons, and left the British coast under the control of the same steady hand which had guided them so well during the previous sum- mer. Stormy weather prevented the expedition from reaching its former anchorage — lat. 64° — until the 29th of June, 1586, though they were within sight of the southern extremity of Greenland on the 15th ult. On landing, Davis and his men were immediately recognised by the natives with whom they had been familiar during the first visit, who now crowded round the sailors with an abundance of signs and unintelligible greetings. Davis confirmed these friendly feelings in the Esquimaux by the munificent gift of twenty knives, which con- verted the chief men of the tribe from acquaintances into devoted 44 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. If' 1 ! i :S 1 Ib il !, « M ^ 1 1 ; I J 1 ! ' ! i"> . ;' ' j 1 . « fi < 11 o 'w S 1) 11 1 1 t If . 1 : . i adherents. For some time the natives occnricd themselves ha m. lessly, in foot-race.s, wrestling and leaping matches with then new associates; but as they grew more familiar they greatly shocked the latter by " mauy and solemn incantations, the men- tion of which Davis couples with a devout expression of thanks for their f tilure. During the time spent on this coast, the com- iD-mder undertook an expedition int.o the intenor ot he countiy , here the " broad river," which he proposed to follow to its source proved CO be only a shallow creek, and though he tried to mount Various eminences suitable for observation, " the mountains, he says, '' were so many and so mighty, that liis purpose availed not " On his return to the coast he was assailed by the an- gry complaints of his meu against the Esquimaux, whose thievish propensities had long irritated the sailors, though, to the com- mander, such acts had only " ministered an occasion of laughter. The system of depredation had now, however, grown serious ; even tht; cables and boats belonging to the expedition were not safe • and after vainly endeavourhig to intimidate, by havmg two 'pieces fired over their heads, '' which," says the narrator, - did sore amaze them,"-some loose iron being abstracted ten hours afterwards, and kindness and gifts equally failing to work a reform,-the chief ringleader, a " master of mischief, was de- tained as prisoner, and his companions fled precipitately before the advance of their former allies. A brisk wind favoured the project of the advf^nturous captain for pushing across the bay, and on the 17th of July, he summoned his .rew on deck to gaze on the strange new country which they were rapidly approaclung. Far as the eye could reach extended a high line of coast, diver- sified by numerous creeks and inlets, and lofty mountains stood boldly out in their snowy majesty against the clear background of the sky, excluding effectually all view of the scenery beyond them Already the elated navigator saw himself hailed as a re- nowned discoverer-already he had peopled this terra *nco^m^c. with a new race-already he had seen in fancy beyond that mountainous range, sheltered valleys whose scanty verdnre look- ed enchanting to the eye, wearied with the sterile whiteness of the long coast-line-already he beheld this new-found territory VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. i5 explored, named, and defined in tlie chart of these northern seas wliich lay spread out on his cabin-table — when a cry of disap- pointment from those on deck hastily summoned him to the mortifying discovery, that the land of his proud hopes was in reality nothing but " a most mighty and strange quantity of ice ! " The centre of Baffin's Bay is often filled with an immense tract of ice for the greatest portion of tlie season, and this mis- take on the part of the explorers was the natural result of their ignorance as to the character of these ''floes." After following for some days the coast of this enormous field, a fog came on, during which ropes, sails, and cordage were alike fast frozen, and the seamen, hopeless of accomplishing the pnssnge, warned their commander that " by his over-boldness he might cause their widows and fatherless children to give him bitter curses." Un- able wholly to resist this appeal, Davis left the " jVIermaid" and "Sunshine" to return home, and pusLed on in the "Moonlight" with the boldest men of the three crev/s. In this shi]) he reach- ed the opposite shore of Baffin's Bay at the beginning of August, and coasted southward from lat. 06" 30', in hopes of finding some opening westward ; he did not attempt either Cumberland or Frobisher's Straits, however, and, by some unaccountable over- sight, missed the magnificent channel opening into Hvlson's Bay. Ofif the coast of Labrador, two of his sailors were killed by the natives ; and September being ushered in with a v iolent tempest, Davis gave up further attempts for the year, and returned to England. One more chance was granted to his earnest en- treaties, and the 10th of June, 1587, saw him once more nearins Greenland, in his old-tried barque the " Sunshine," in company with the " Elizabeth" and a pinnace. The supplies for this voy- age being furnished under the express condition that the atten- dant expenses should be lightened as much as possible by fishing at all suitable times, the two large ships were stationed for that object near the part of the coast which they had formerly visit- ed ; whilst Davis steered forward in the small vessel, which alone remained at his disposal, and which must have been ill- suited for such an enterprise, since it was found to " move through the water like a cart drawn by oxen." HI '1} 46 f J ' N. i( i ; ■J 1 i » * 1 '■ f ^1 . 1 ui V ' ;l ; THE ARCTIC REGIONS. In the fuce of sucli discouragements this earnest-minded navi- gator reached ktt. 713° N. by tiie 28t}i of Juue. and named tlio ponit at which ho touched " Sandci-Hon's Hope:" from then c« he tackud to the ^Y., iu wliicli direction liis course was arrested by the mighty ice barrier whidi had so deceived him and his crew on tlie previous voyage. 'J'ime and perseverance WToiight out a deliverance here, and by the 19th July he had crossed to the opposite side of the Strait which bears his name, and sailed for two days up Cumberland Strait, whicb, it will be remembered, he discovered on his first expedition. It is difficult to imagme what prevented Davis from following up this promising com- mencement, but the fact is on record; he returned to the main channel in the belief that Cumberland Strait was an enclosed gulf, and, after passing the entrance to Hudson's Bay without an effort to investigate it, repaired to the rendezvous appointed for the whaling vessels to meet him on their way to Engbind. To the consternation of Davis ar.d his men, they discovered that their unworthy companions had si)read their sails across the Atlantic, unmindful of the peril to which the small pinnace would be necessarily subjected in braving alone tlie homeward voyage. The courage of these stout sailors did not fail them, and by the good Providence which ever befriends the true- hearted, the little barque— hardly sea-worthy, short of provisions, and with barely half a hogshead of water on board— lived through the storms and dangers of the Atlantic; and its crew furled their sails at length in safety. Manifold must have been the perils and privations of that homeward voyage; want of space forbids our even faintly sketching them; but we love i^ record the fact, wherein forti- tude and courage triumphed over such an array of physical suffering and impending danger. Harder than the war uf the elements and the desertion of his companions, was the after experience of disappointment to the energetic voyager. In vain did Davis strive to promote the despatch of another expedition, for which he prophesied, with the sanguine temper of a time sailor, certain and infallible success. The spirit of the nation waa chilled by three successive disappointments; and aU that VOYAGLS IN SEAIICII OF TUi: XORTil-WEST PASSACIE. 47 even Mv. Sanderson — his most steady and influential friend — ■ )uld oilor by )lation, globe made by Moly- y oi conHoiation, was neux, the lirat artist of that day, setting tbrtli fully all Davia's discoveries. This curious production of early art is still pre- served in the Middle Temple Library. After a pause of liftcen years, northern discovery again found favour in the eyes of the nierchaiit-princes of London, and Cap- tain George Weymouth set sail for India by the north-west route, with \wo vessels, the ** Godspeed" and " Discovery," under the united au!t;pices of the Muscovy and Levant Companies, a.d, 1G02. Passing Greenland — which appeared to him "a main bank of ice" — \A''ey mouth gained sight of the American coast by the end of June, and proceeded by the usual track up Davis's Straits. The progress of this expedition was greatly retarded by fogs, which prevented all knowledge of the real position of the ships, and often exjiosed them to great danger from their unknown proximity to bergs and icelields. On one occasion a pai-ty having landed on a " floe" to procure ice for melting, ima- gined themselves near the land from the sound of the waves as if breaking upon an adjacent shore, but examination proved it to be only " the noise of a great quantity of ice, which was very loathsome to be heard." The impenetrable mist around seemed rather to thicken than disperse, and as progress was out of the question when they could not see two ships' length before them, the Captain issued orders for the sails to be taken down. So well had the strong northern frost done its work, however, that even in " this chiefest time of summer they could not be moved," and, upon renewing the attempt the following day, it was only by cutting away the ice from tlie ropes that they succ ded. The sailors, unused to the severities of an Arctic climate, took panic at these symptoms of prbinature winter, and much secret consultation led to a unanimous conspiracy to overpower the captain, confine him as a prisoner to his cabin, and " bear up the helm for iingland." Weymouth, acting with the prompt energy which formed a striking feature of his character, on the first in- timation of this df^siorn assembled the wljolo crew, with " Mr. Cartwright, the preacher," and " jNIr. Cobreth, the master," as « I '<^\ > t ■■i » r f I 1. 1, 48 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. witnesses upon his side, boldly taxed them with the intended mutiny, and appealed to them for an explanation of such con- duct. The crew maintained a resolute position, but without violence in word or act ; they produced in writing their reasons for the step, insisted on a change of course, but pledged them- selves to serve with heart and will in any attempt at discovery in a more southerly direction. Resistance to such a powerful and united movement was worse than useless, and Weymouth was too sensible a man for one moment to attempt it. The helm was "put about" by the men, while he retired to his cabin to deliberate, and though he punished tlie ringleaders afterwards, he was wise enough to pass over the offence at the time. The remainder of tlie fleeting summer was spent in sailing up a pro- mising inlet, which seemed to afford good hope oi the wished-for north-west passage. According to the commander's own calculations the two ships penetrated 100 leagues up this channel, before a violent storm drove them back to the open sea, but from his own account of his course the distance is manifestly overstated. This part of his progress forms by far the most important feature of the voyage, and some consideration is due to the man who nearly forestalled Hudson in his great discovery; and in reality paved the way for his more fortunate successor, by drawing pulilic at- tention to this inlet, now so well known as the entrance to Hudson's Bay. A terrible storm marked the liome-vard voyao-e, but "the Lord delivered his unworthy servants," and "tliey reached Eiigland in all safety. A melancholy issue awaited the next attempt. In 1606, the Muscovy and East Ijidia merchants took heart once more, and sent out John Knight— a brave sailor who had gained experi- ence in the Greenland seas— with a v?ssel of forty tons. Mis- foi-tunes attended this voyage from its commencement ; the ship was detained in the Pentland Frith for upwards of a fortnight by stress of weather ; during Iier passage across the Atlantic she was cruelly used by wave and win.. , and finally, as she neared the coast of Labrador, was so crushed and bruised by the icebergs with which she came in contact, that the crew wero VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 49 thankful to take shelter in the first cove that presented itself, and lost no time in drawing their frail craft high up on the dry sand beyond the tide mark, where she might undergo the neces- sary repairs. This position, however, proving far from com- modious or satisfactory, the captain manned his boat next day, and while the rest of the crew were briskly at work, sailed across to the other side of the inlet in hope of discovering some more convenient anchorage. Leaving all the men, except the mate and one other, in charge of the boat. Knight with his two com- panions landed to explore the strange coast. They climbed the steep acclivity of the shore, lingered for a moment on the summit of the cliffs— their figures showing clear against the sky, as they exchanged gestures of greeting and flirewell with the party in the boat, — and then they disappeared on the other side, and the eyes of their messmates had looked on them for the last time— for they never came back again ! Those who remained waited on the shore till evening with their boat, marvelling much that their three companions returned not; muskets, trumpets, and earnest voices praying for some response, all fliiled to evoke an answering sound, and Avhen evening had darkened into night, and eleven o'clock arrived without any sign or signal of the missing party, they returned sadly enough to tlie ship with these dreary tidjngs. During this melancholy night— which the for- lorn crew passed in alternate lamentations over the loss of their brave commander and comrades, and plans for search and rescue, — the ice had so accumulated in the channel which poor Knight crossed the day before, that though the boat was speedily rigged for the expedition, and the party who occupied it were one and all uncontrollably impntient to start, the morning light convinced the most daring of the iuiposslbility of venturing into such an ice- encumbered s^ii*. Thus passed two miserable days, the suffering of wl\ich was greatly aggravatetl by the inactivity in which these restless ardent spirits were forced to remain. On tiie night of the last, Saturday, June 28, tlie little encamp- ment was furiously attacked by a large party of i natives, who comuienced the assault by launching a shower of arrows through the darkness, and, coming into closer quarters, crowded into the E THE ARCTIC REGIONS. shallop, snrruiirtled the little camp, and broke the stillness of the night by wild and discordant cries. The English, startled from their sleep, and bewildered by the sndden and unexpected onset, collected themselves as none bnt English sailors would, and although they were only eight in number, and the natives, at the most moderate computation, must have exceeded fifty, they marched out in such formidable array, with a large dog at their head, and the unanimous volley with which they greeted thc;ir visitors did such execution, that the invaders, appalled at such an unexpected reception, made off with all possible speed. The ice detained them within musket-range for some little time, and the shots by which the sailors continued to express their vexa- tion at this disturbance of their night's rest, took good effect, as the retreating party were heard "crying to each other very Efore." The aggressors are described as a diminutive, tawny- coloured, flat-nosed, beardless, and man-eating people. Of the latter attribute those who thus depicted them had happily no 02:>portunity of judging. Several days had now elapsed since the loss of the master, and this attack, while it left little doubt of his fate, proved only too clearly the danger which surrounded them, and the certain de- struction to which a longc>r tarj-iance would expose the whole party. These considerations induced them without loss of time to brave the homeward voyage, though their vessel was minus a rudder, and the leaks were so numerous that the painps were worked witliout even half an hour's cessation duriuGf the three weeks which elapsed between the time of setting sail and reaching Newfoundland. Here they received most friendly hospitality, their vessel was again made sea-worthy, and after a good passage they carried their tale of disasters to headquarters in London. The next individual in the well-lilled list of these Arctic heroes, has already become flirailiar to us in the career of N.E. and Polar voyages, but it is by the search for the N.W, route that Hudson has made himself a name and memory in the hoai'ts of his countrymen, and this no less by his grand discovery than by his dauntless perseverance and energy through discord aii'i insubordination, harder to battle with than the perils of VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE NOllTH-WEST PASSAGE. 51 wind and tide; while all tliafc is gentle and pitiful in the human heart must shrink and tremble at the dark fate which ended th^ eventful career of this bold leader in northern discovery. Hudson commenced his eventful voyage under the patronage of Sir John Wolstenholme and Sir Dudley Digges, who do not seem, however, to have contributed much beyond their names to the expedition, which was fitted out on a very inexpensive scale, consisting only of one vessel of fifty-live tons, provisioned for six months, and manned by a crew who speedily proved themselves in every way unworthy of the name of British sailors. The ship left the Thames on the 17th April, IGIO, and aft^r rounding Cape Farewell, the commander found himself by the end of June in the same broad channel which Weymouth had already in some measure explored. The navigation of these straits was very intricate, large masses of ice encumbered the surface of the water, and the danger which menaced the vessel of being drifted by one of the frequent eddies or currents against some of the numerous grounded ice-islands, was rendered yet more imminent by the dense fogs to which they were continually subject. Amidst these difficulties, the crew — shamefully difierent from the brave, hardy men who had shared so unmurmuringly the perils of Willoughby and Barentz — repined and despaired, and their own companion, Abacuk Pricket, who, by his own narrative, stands convicted as a mean-spirited coward, confesses that many of them fell sick through fear. Their dauntless commander, willing to rouse them by kindly means from this faint-hearted- ness, assembled the entire crew, spread out his chart before their eyes, pointed out the undeniable fact that they had outstripped all former navigators in this direction by a hundred leagues, and finally appealed to the rialecontents themselves, whether, with such a prospect of success before them — almost within their reach — they would tamely relinquish it, and return? Had any latent nobility of soul existed in the breasts of his sullen auditors, it would have kindled into flame at this manly, energetic address; but though one or two caught a momentary glow from his en- thusiasm, and spoke " honestly respecting the good of the action," the majority voted for return at all risks, and Hudson, disgusted I t I Ifjir w i'l *^ 1;' ^1 52 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. by the total absence of enterprise and ambition which this deci- sion displayed, dismissed them from his cabin, and followed his own course. Pressing forward along this unknown channel, they reached at last a fair island, covered with vegetation, and peopled by large herds of deer and jflocks of sea-fowl. Here the indolent crew craved leave to rest and enjoy themselves, and their enmity to their commander was not a little increased by his refusal ; though he had on his side cogent arguments, in the shortness of the yet remaining summer, and the necessity of pressing forward, to reach, if possible, some more temperate clime before winter fairly set in. A few days more passed on, spent by the crew in murmurs and discontent, and by the commander in earnest longing and ardent expectations of success; and then the repinings were cheeked, and the ambitious dream was satisfied, for the shores between which they sailed suddenly trended away to the right and left, and revealed a boundless blue expanse of v^ater, rippling and sparkling in the morning sunshine. Hudson's Bay lay before them, but the discoverer himself was happy in the belief that the north-west passage was indeed accomplished, and that his glad eyes looked upon the bright waters of the Pacific. It was now the beginning of August, and the crew considered that the passage had been accomplished, and nothing prevented a speedy return home ; but Hudson was bent upon completing the adventure, and wintering, if possible, on the sunny shores of Cathay itself. For the next three months, therefore, they tro eked the south coast of this inland sea, considering it as the northern boundary of America. November arrived before they had reach- ed any comfoi ^able haven ; the ice closed round, and the explorers were left to brave the winter without possessing among them that spirit of cheerful unanimity which would have enabled them ccmtentedly to endure the hardships it entailed. Their six months' supply of provisions was now nearly exhausted, and though "Providence dealt mercifully" in sending white par- tridges and fish, they were reduced ere the spring to cat iVoga and moss. The time must have past drearily enough to poor Hudson, who not only shared in all their privations, but was VOYAGES IN SEARCH OP THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 53 L murmurs regarded by all as the cause; but conscious rectitude, and the earnest following out of a great purpose, would sustaiix a noblo hearted man in even yet more trying circumstances; and amidst the loneliness of that unfriendly companionship, h nay perhaps have realized in feeling what a modern writer has so forcibly ex- pressed in words — " The isolated state is the highest grandeur upon earth, if a man knows that the Suj3reme Judge is his friend, or at least his one confidant." The spring, to which Hudson had looked forward as the ter- mination of all this bodily and mental suffering, brought the dark tragedy to its conclusion. The ship was again afloat; and when the day broke on the 21st of June, 1611, the captain came forth from his cabin, refreshed by sleep and strong in body and mind, to meet the duties and trials of the day. As he stepped on deck, his arms were suddenly pinioned, and he found himself helplessly in the power of three of his men. He looked round the deck in momentary dismay. On every side were surly, cruel-featured men, their faces darkened by evil passions, and tiieir hands fully armed. Inquiry, expostulation, entreaty, and command, failed alike to elicit a word, and the unfortunate com- mander at last resigned himself as only a brave man can, and looked on calmly at the ominous preparations which were going forward. A small open boat was in waiting, and into this, Hudson — his hands being previously tied behind his back — was lowered ; some powder and shot and the carpenter's box came next, followed by the carpenter himself, a strong, brave fellow, Hudson's one devoted adherent among the rebellious crew. The boat's cargo was completed by all the sick and infirm sailors, who coidd be of no use on board the ship ; and, with an unheard of refinement of cruelty, were thus abandoned by their messmates, while their presence nullified the slender chance of escape which a vigorous crew might have afforded their unfortunate commander. If any thing could still further aggravate the iniquity of this most atrocious proceeding, it would be the fact that Henry Green, the chief ringleader, had gained admittance into the crew by Hud- son's hunipnity, after having been cast off by all his friends, and was regarded with particular favour by his kind deceived patron. 54: THE ARCTIC REGIONS. All being ready, at a given signal tlie boat, with its unhappy fi'eight, was cast adrift, the sails of the vessel were spread, and the last despairing cry for mercy was borne faintly past the mutineers by the breeze that whistled through their cordage, and carried them briskly over the foaming billows on their homeward course. The evil deed was effectually done — no tidings or traces of the deserted commander were ever gained, and until that day when '•'the sea shall give up her dead," and the murderers and their victim shall once again stand face to face, it must remain one of those secrets to which Time, the great revealer of mysteries, brings no elucidation. Ill} i I ■s 1 1; ■ VOYAGES IN SEAllCH OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 65 i unhappy d, and the mutineers nd carried ird course. ,ces of tlie day when and their ain one of mysteries, CHAPTER VI. EARLY VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE NORTIT-M'EST PASSAGE. In storm and in sunsliine, "Whatever assail, ■We'll onward and conquer, And never say fail ! Anon. But the mutineers did not escape wholly unpunished. The strictest search through the private cabin of their unfortunate commander brought no hidden store of provisions to light, and during a fortnight's imprisonment among the ice, they sustained life by the cocklegrass found on a neighbouring island. Having reached at last Cape Digges— " the Cape where fowles do breed," as Pricket expressed it— their guns procured food in plenty, and they established friendly relations with a party of natives who met them on landing. " God so blinded Henry Green," adds the conscience-stricken narrator, that he believed their professions of cordiality, and a large party were lured on shore and taken at a disadvantage by their treacherous allies. Green died before the boat could be pushed from the shore; two othera expired soon after they reached the ship, and a fourth two days after; Pricket himself escaped, severely wounded. Thus perished the c/we/ actors in that infamous conspiracy, by a doom a^ certain and unexj^ected as that to which they had consigned their victim ! Ivet, the last survivor of the ringleaders, sunk under the hardships of the homeward voyage, which was per- formed imder the extremity of famine; their whole stock of provisions being only 300 birds, rhot off Cape Digges. Half a bird WHS the daily allowance of each man, and it was considered an induh^'ence to be allowed to fry them in grease obtained from candles, which were distributed every week for this purpose. 56 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. i 1- 1 Ir f i' f in " The account of the great expanse of sea which had been reached stirred public curiosity not a little, and Sir Thomas Button set sail the next year with Pricket and Bylot — another of the mutineers — as guides. He pushed boldly across the bay, und to his great mortitication, instead of reaching Japan, found himself confronted by a range of bleak coast, — the western boun- dary of the great bay, — which he named in his disappointment, "Hope Cliecked." He examined the western and northern shores without finding any indication of a channel in the right direction ; but the London merchants, unwilling to abandon all their highly raised hopes on his single testimony, sent out, in 1G14, Captain Gibbons; who was pronounced by Button himself " not short of any man that ever yet he carried to sea." This voyage did not add much to his reputation; all he achieved was an entanglement among some loose ice, w^hich ended in his si>endiijg the whole summer blocked up in a bay on the coast of Labrador; named in com])liment to the exploit, " Gibbons His Hole !" Next went Bylot, now promoted to tiie rank of com- mander himself, with Baffin as his pilot. He too skirted the northern shores of the bay, and came back in despair of any success from efforts in that quarter. The same men were sent out again in IGIG, with directions to try their fortune beyond Davis's Straits, Of this voyage — one of the most important of the series, if we regard results as the criterion — we possess only a few meagre details furnished by Baffin himself. They followed the Greenland coast from Santlorson's Hope northwards, and made the circuit of the immense bav now called Baffin's, namino- the different points they passed after the chief patrons of the expedition, who are still commemorated in " Cape Dudley Digges," and Wolstenholme, Smith, Jones, and Lancaster Sounds* It is curious to notice the cursory indifferent manner in which Baffin speaks of these several inlets, upon which he never seems to have bestowed a thought of investigation; indeed, directlv after mentioning Lancaster Sound — the highway to fields of later western discovery — he observes that his hopes of finding a v/estern passage diminished daily ! His report of this vast en- closed bay, with no indication of a western channel, greatly dis- VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. oT oouraged any furtlier attempts, and the next eflfort was made by Jons Mimk, a Dane, who set out with two good vessels, under the patronage of his king. Christian IV., 1G19. Tliis worthy met with no better success than his predecessors in his survey of the coasts of Hudson's Bay, and was fain to take up winter quarters at the mouth of Chesterfiekl inlet. Here the scurvy — that scourge of sailors — began its ravages, and, ignorant of the right way of treating it, the only remedy employed was spirits; this soon frightfidly aggravated the disorder, the number of sufferers increased daily, provisions began to foil, and when Munk, after four days spent in his lonely hut without food or solace, crept feebly out, he met two miserable shadow-like beings, the sole survivors from the fifty-two fine healthy men, who had set sail with him from Denmark. How these three men gi-adually rallied into strength again, how they rigged out the smallest of their vessels, and navigated it %vith so few hands, and how, finally, after a voyage fraught with perils, they reached home once more, would tax time and space too much to relate. King Christian, discouraged by tlieir failure, sent out no more expeditions, and England, believing nothing farther was to be hoped from Baffin's Bay, confined all efforts to Hudson's Bay. In this direction Captains Fox and James set out and returned in 1G31-2, without accomplishing any thing. Knight and Barlow were despatched on the same errand, 1719. Not return- ing as expected, Captain Scroggs was vainly sent the next sum- mer to search for them, and their fate remained a mystery for fifty years, till the wrecks of two vessels, discovered on Marble- island, afforded a probable solution. In 1741, Captain Middle- ton sailed up Roe's Welcome, tried Wager Inlet and Eepulse Bay in vain, and returned home. His patron, Mr. Dobbs, dis- ci'editing Middleton's report, so wrought upon the public mind that 1 10,000 was subscribed for a new equipment, and £20,000 offered as the reward of success. Captains Moor and Smith set out with it, 174G, ascertained the already well-known fact that the Wager afforded no passnge, and — came back! The Admiralty papers contain notices of the armed brig "Lion" being sent out in 1776 and 1777, to I lOT II j I' ■ fill ■"I' I j I 58 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. meet Captain Cook, slioui,] h Beliring's Strait, but notJiin. coiumuntlers. We lia e succeed accomi.lisiied by either of the was making tlie passage by voya-es and if n l ^"^ ""^'^ «'^"elu(k.l the record of early N.W. too ijor :,„:::::;;: '7'-\"'- »"»- ^^w-.... to a.'n cue objecMn'a ; r : : ::r:uLr=''^^ ""^"^'•'■*™ '-' yet had we altogether on' l,!' .^'-^^ ■^'""r''''"7 = liave been a mere ,li-v o.fni 7 *''® '*""''"' ^™«1J Bults ,tm , ^ '-"talogue ol vessels, commanders, and re- sults— still mere luiiiiterestincr we siil,r„;f fi *u its more lengthened ferm. W I .t , ' IZ <•' T?-*"'^ '"^ -0 consider it the dnt, of all iui 1 f Ui t Lnt^'to '1^ ^"'™'' earnest effort afrer l-,„.»,i i^ i , "'^^"i^«ins to pas« over no it fails of snec;t ° "" -"vaneement, merely because of Arctic diL"'"' 'T/"''" '^'""^^■' " *''^ P™t--te i 31 t If i il ii ii ■ i !' I I nil 60 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. clionis Is wfifted faintly to our ear, as the ponderous anchor rises slowly and unwillingly to the surface of the water — now a long, deafening cheer breaks from the light-hearted tai-s, swelled and prolonged by the multitudes that line the shore, and so the ships take their course over the " vasty deep." All speed to the venturous mariners who, on this 4th of June, 1773, have thus inaugurated the career of modern northern discovery ! Resuming our narrative in the appropriate past tense, we can report but indifferent success to the etlbrts of Captain Phipps, whose mission was less to attempt the direct northern route to India, than to penetrate, if possible, to the Pole itself. The ice to the north of Spitzbergen baffled every endeavour to proceed, and after vainly trying east and west to find a passage round, or amongst it, the ships at last became surrounded, and when thus ice-bound, little chance seemed to offer for their escape. Sawa made very slight impression on ice twelve feet thick, and the slow advance such means would effect towards the west, wae; more than counteracted by the rapid progress eastward of the ice-field in which they were imbedded. Under these circum- stances an effort was made to drag the boats over the ice, in the hope of reaching some Dutch whalers returning homewards; as the English had neither provisions nor equipments to brave the winter. This was slow work, however, and before many milea had been accomplished, a providential thaw, together with a brisk N.E. wind, enabled the ships to fight their way again into clear water. After this deliverance, and a brief refit in the harbour of Smeeremberg, they made a speedy return to Eng- land. We are indebted for some of the most interesting modern researches connected with the Polar regions to Mr. Scoresby, who, familiarized from early youth with the perils and adven- tures of the whale fishery, combined much practical knowledge with an earnest love and desire for the advancement of science. To him belongs the distinction of having advanced nearer to the Pole than any previous voyager. In l80{j, he attained lat. 81° 30', when a distance of only five hundred geographical miles MODERN VOYAGES TO THE NORTH POLE. 61 lay between him and the ?ole. Nor must we overlook his examination of the eastorn coast of Greenland — previously little known — which alone woidd furnish subject-matter for a most interesting narrative. In 1818, another attempt to reach the Pole was made by Captain Buchan, with the ships " Dorothea " and " Trent." Af- ter much difficulty, these vessels gained lat. 80** 34', nor^h of Spitzbergeu ; but were obliged speedily to withdraw, aiid try their fortune off the western edge of the pack. Here, however, a wild war of ice and waves prevailed, so that choice and neces- sity equally induced the bold experiment of dashing through it, to take shelter in the pack. First went the " Dorothea," and then the " Trent," whose crew seemed to a man imbued with tlie dauntless spirit of the Lieutenant in command — Franklin — the gallant officer whose fate we have now to deplore. A dreadful pause preceded the critical moment. "Each person," says Beechey, in his narrative, " instinctively secured his own hold, and, with his eyes fixed upon the masts, awaited in breathless anxiety the moment of concussion. It soon ar- rived — the brig, cutting her way through the light ice, came in violent contact with the main body. In an instant we all lost otir footing, the masts bent with the impetus, and the cracking timbers from below bespoke a pressure which was calculated to awaken our serious apprehensions." The gloominess of the scene and circumstances was not cheered by the dolorous tolling of the ship's great bell, which never sounded of itself in the rough- est gale, but now was so swung by the violent motion of the ship, that its deep tones pealed forth like a death-knell, and the offi- cers, fearing the awakened superstition of rl^o r o, ordered it to be muffled. A few hours released the vessel : :rom their im- prisonment, but the " Dorothea " was found to be completely disabled. A short time at Fairhaven in Spitzbergen was spent in necessary repairs, and even then :■ . e was unfit for any further service than the voyage to England. Franklin volunteered to prosecute the enterprise with the " Trent " alone, but the Ad- miralty orders opposed such a proceeding, and the vessels re- turned home in company. f .. : u • i r * li N I it ^ t ■ ftiii THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Five years later, the nature of the northern ice was ao-ain tested by the " Griper," gim-brig. On board this little shiirwas Caj^taiii (now Colonel) Sabine, whose name is so deservedly dis- tinguished by various arduous scientific experiments. He had befor(3 this been engaged in an important series regarding the comparative length of the pendulum as affected by tlxc jn-inciple of attraction, both at Sierra Leone and the West Indies. A similar course of observations in the higher latitudes being very desirable, the " Grij^er,'' under the command of Captain Claver- ing was commissioned for this service ; and, after a short delay at Hammerfest, in Norway, Captain Sabine was landed on a small inland to the north of Ilaiduyt's Headland, Spitzbergen. Here Captain Clavering left him, wiMi a party of eight men, and the launch stored with six mon.:. provisions, as a resource in case of accident overtaking the "Griper," which now spi.ad her sails and stood boldly for the Tole. Clavering was ultimatelv compc]led,however,like his predecessors, toretire baffled beforethe unyielding ice, which closed all approach to a higher latitude than 80° 20'. The next station occupied by Captain Sabine was one ot two small islands off the east coast of Greenland, named, in commemoration of the experiments carried on there. Pendulum Islands. Not a trace of civilisation now remains on this deso- late eastern coast, where, in a. p 1400, there existed such a flourishing Danish colony, with its cathedral— within which seventeen bishops were enthroned in succession— its sixteen parishes, and its two hundred and eighty forms. The wilder- ness has reclaim -1 its own, and possesses it in tenfold desolation. Clavering describes the northern point where they landed as a spot to which " Spitzbergen was a paradise." During an excur- £ion of thirteen days, which brought them to the shores of the great l)ay or basin discovered by, and named after the old Dutch voyager, Gael llamkes, in 1G54, they met only one dwindled tribe of Esquimaux, numbering in all twelve persons; and thou wiiusc scientitic attainments we allnrlArl ;^ ^ i x earlier « I !' ^ t,:: T" '" ""''T''' «--' ^ "-nth instead of roundinl i" X c, ' 'f '"" *"'■"" ^^^"^"'^ ^^^ before them, no tic „f nl T ?'"""' •='"" ""^ ^"^^ ^veretobes en thesoun, '^ ' °''' "^"'^''' fountains" ^ act.ii, tjie sounaino,.tan art,o .„ thoi,- scanty bill „f fe^e, an,, any bones wlbl u a pulxcr,..,! voatc. Tlio two canoes had been vecklexslv broken „p by tbe,.- weary bearer, and on reael.ing a b.-a h of he Coppernune River several .^^ys were eonsu,,,:! in „ at t mpt. at framing a raft on wluoh to eross it. Dr, Eic Clsl attempte, to swnn across with a rope, b,u failed from w "k„ and was rtrawn back to the bank in a nearly lifeless eintoio' ,a ;ii:rB:ni""^^^^^ 1 ^iiiy ciossea. But the streni^t h of all wis f-n'llnrr n of the Canadian, had already luUen ^tal^'l^^ "^-y™.., of :^;r hXrnTon^^^^^^^^^^^^^ , ' ^' * *"'PP'y of the rock-tripe, while Franklin pursued h.s journey with the others capable of beari, . M aeon iiankin with the remamn.g five, reached Fort Enterprise all tl greeting they found was a note from Back stati i' le \I a heap of old bones, enabled the wanderers to keen T T\ of Xrirtv t, "^ E'charfson and Hepburn, the sole survivoL i-^'iSnoSistL-it:^^ a base and treacherous shot from the hand of a Canad ^ whomtheyhad before suspectedofthe:tlroftwirSfsr: omrades, and were at last obliged to shoot as a ma t r o "^' defence. Franklin's two faithful Canadians died a dav ort after the.r amval, and the three Englishmen dra.-ld on " n^lancholy existence till the 7th of November, w'hen three Indians sent Kv Back brought them timely succour afterawMte they were enabled to join this valuable frLd-wl ose su^erin RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 73 t mi^lit be I very ini- nes whieli and eaten vecklesslv branch of I vain at- lichai'dsou weakness, condition, tbe whole ne or two ' rejoined 'ould pro- men, liad 'i^so; and with the Franklin lim com- ' to join id when prise, all he had ins, and he vital ble days irvivors ' of poor , but by •yageur, missing of self- Y or so 1 on a 1 three a while feriugs had fully equalled theirs— at Moose-deer island, and the following year brought them in safety back to England. The issue of Parry's last voyage inspired the most sanguine hopes of success, and the "Hecla" and "Fury" were prepared with all despatch for anotJicr northern trip. A general opinion prevailed that Regent's Inlc\, which had been only partially ex- plored the previous summer, was connected with Hudson's Bay, and it was thought probable that a communication thus opened, a westerly channel might be discovered in a lower latitude than Harrow's Strait. To ascertain the truth of these suppositions was Parry's present mission. During the summer months of 1821 the expedition attained the north shores of Hudson's Bay, and minutely examined Southampton Island, Ptepulse Pay, and Frozen Strait, proving in almost every particular the truth of the report given by the much maligned Captain Middleton, who, it will be remembered, first explored these localities seventy-nine years before. Little way was made, however, owing to the large masses of ice in these waters, which held the ships help- lessly in their grasp, and often carried them back in a few days to the very spot which they had left a month before. Owing to these circumstances winter came while their enterprise was yet in its commencement, and the ships took up their quarters in " an open roadstead," to the south of Melville Peninsula. The winter passed much in the same way as before ; many of the officers and crew had shared Parry's former voyage, and though the novelty of the scene had worn off, experience brought with it increased comfort from the power of accommodating them- selves to circumstances. The theatre was again established, musical parties were got up, a magic-lantern frequently exhibit- ed, and to these was added the more solid benefit of an evening- school on board each ship. At Christmas sixteen well-written copies proved that instruction had not been lost upon men who tv/o months before could hardly form a letter, and by the time the ships returned, Captain Parry had the gi'atification of know- iiig that '•' every man on board could read his Bible." The mono- tony of the winter was diversified during February by visits from a party of Esquimaux^ who proved gentle and friendly, and 74 THE AllCTIC KEGIOXS. f' i I P' y 1 i ^LeI mi after a prolonged st.'i}- on board conducted some of the party to their owu abode. The «ailor.s found a complete cluster of snow- housea, each built in a dome neven or eight feet higli, with a piece of clear ice lot in at the top as a window. The neatne;ss and dexterity with which the.se habitations were raised calling forth the sailors' warm praise, the natives readily reared one that they might see the process, the women assisting with the greatest alacrity to shape the blocks of snow emi)loyed in its eiecti(/n. Tlieso simple pjople grew intimate with the strangers ; and so far from exhibiting the tliievish propensities which had so annoyed former explorers, they proved scrui)ulously honest, not only abstaining from pilfering, out carefully returning any article the sailors might have left in the huts. One of the women, Iligliulc by name, proved singularly diilurent to her tribe in both mind and manners, and had she enjoyed the ad- vantages of civilisation, would doubtless have been an ornament to her sex. Parry describes her love for music as amounting to a passion, and hei- quickness of comprehension such that she soon became an established interpreter between her own jieople and the English. The nature of a map having been explained to her, she readily sketched the outlines of the adjoining coast, and being desired to continue it further, she delineated, to the ex- treme delight of the spectators, the eastern shore of Melville .Peninsula, and the abrujrt turn which it makes to the west and afterw^ards to the S. W. This information greatly encouraged the whole party, and its truth v/as eagerly tested as soon as the shii)s could move again, v/hich was not till Jic 8th of July. After sustaining extreme danger from the ice, the vessels reached an island correctly laid down in the Esquimaux chart, and called by the natives Igloo- lik. Here they had the mortitication of finding the entire pas- sage choked with ice, and as it showed no symptoms of melting till the following summer, Parry crossed the intervening land to examine in person the channel which Iligliuk had placed be- tween Melville Peninsula and Cockburn Island. It afforded every prospect of success for the next summer, and having named it in joyful anticipation the Hecla and Fury Strait, he returned RECENT NOKTII-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 75 to the ships, whicli were already placeii iu clock for their secoucl winter. A sclieme had been arrani^'cd between Parry and Lyon, to send llic ' HecUi" home next summer under command of tlio luttor, whilo tliO " riiry," reinforced with all the supertlmjus pro- viaioiis of her companion, might prolong her voyage till I8l'.5, by wluth th) (5 chey ealeulaied upon the necessary accomplishment of fhe 1! -rth-east passage. But the thir.l summer, when it came, showed sich a general failure in the health and spirits of the Bailors, that their brave commander shrank from carrying ont his i)laii; and as, on the ships regaining their freedom on the lUth Augiist, scarcely six weeks of navigable weather remaii)/ '., he was easily persuaded to abandon the design and return home, which the vessels reached by the middle of October, 18-23, when their prolonged absence had extinguished almost every hojjc of their preservation. During the next year, 1824, Captain Lyon was sent out in the " Griper," for the purpose of tracing the northern coast of America. His orders were to laud at Wager Hiver olf IJepulse Bay, cross Melville Peninsula, and proceed overland to Point Turnagain, where Franklin's journey terminated. The " Griper " was fitted for this service in point of strc-gth, but was lamentably deficient in all sailing qualities, proving heavy, sluggish, and inconvenient. Even across the Atlantic she was towed continually by tha " Snap," whicli accompanied her with provisions, and when they parted company at the commencement of the ice, the " Gri})er '* soon got into difficulties. Notwithstanding such slight accidents as striking on a rock, and " continually shipping heavy seas," the little vessel reached Southampton Island, and proceeded up the Welcome by the 22nd of August, The compasses here ceased to afford any guidance, and amidst thick fogs and a heavy sea their situation was one of extreme peril, as the waves broke every in- stant over the decks, and the surf upon the neighbouring beach defied all chance of escape, should the tide drive them upon it. The boats were pre[)ared, and officers and men drew lots for them with the utmost composure, though they well knew, as Lvon tells us, that " two of the boats would have been swamped the instant they were lowered." The gale continuing through the 76 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. > • . I II Pi • I: ;i '■ U,' = 1 ■ \) Vi. night, all hope of being saved was taken away ; with true Bri- tish fortitude the men dressed themselves in their warmest cloth- ing, that "life might be supported as long as possible," and the officers secured their most valuable instruments for observation, about their persons. Ti.en their commander assembled them all on deck, sioke to them calmly on the fate which was so closely approaching, and concluded with j)rayer; thus fortified and pre- pared, no va'n regrets or lamentations were indulged, but ofhcers and men alike lay down in the most sheltered parts of the deck, and, while seeking the temporary repose they so much needed, awaited with composure and fortitude the final shock. But from this great peril they were delivered, the tide sank no lower, the next niorning saw them in couiparative safety in the centre of lioe's Welcome, and the scene of their late deliverance received the appropriate name of " The Bay of God's Mercy," They succeeded shortly afterwards in reaching the mouth of Yv^ager River ; but here another gale overtook them, the cables parted one after another, and the ship having, contrary to all expectation, survived the nigiit, was found by morning light to be in such a crippled condition that an immediate return to England afforded the only ch; nee of safety, and was happily accom[)lished. Thou.gh thoroughly disabled for active service, the " Griper" still survives, and is spending its old age as a hulk in Chichester harbour. The two voyages made by Parry, although both to a certain degree successful, had been arrested in each case sh'^.rt of the de- sired object. Prince Begent's Inlet, discovered in his first voyage, presented the most promising field for a new attempt ; the ice-barrier which had then i'ltercepted his progress, was one of those which so frequently give way in a single night, and there was every probability that a communication would be found to exist between this noble channel and the sea north of America, which had been discerned from the Fury and ITecla Strait. To ascertain this, the same well-tried vessels were sent out again in 182-i-, under Parry, with Captain Hoppner as second in com- luamb An unusually scivcre season had so increased the ice in Ballin's Bay, that the 10th of Sept^-mber had arrived before they RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 77 made their way tlirough it, and arrived at the entrance of Lnu- caster Sound, which proved, "as nsnal, entirely fre.^ from ico, except here and there a berg floating about in solitary grandeur." The season was too far advanced to do any thing in the way of discover^ , and Parry thought himself fortunate to reacli Regent's Inlet, and get his ships safely jilaced in Port Bosveu before the winter set in. This season passed in much the same way as the former one; masquerades were substituted for tlu'a- tricals, and the evening school was, as usual, eagerly attci: led, and productive of both pleasure and advantage. The inten.;ity of the cold may be estimated by the fiict that the thermometer stood below zero for a nundred and thirty-one days, not rising above that point till the 11th April; this circumstance Parry records as unparalleled in his experience. During the sprinpr several travelling parties were despatched to survey accurately the neiglibouring coasts, and by the 19th of July the vessels were again free and in good sailing order. Parry eagerly set forwaro, therefore, this time coasting North Somerset, as in his former voyage he had followed the east shore of the inlet to Cape Kater. It would have- been well, however, if he had again followed his former route, for the present instance proved no exception to the general rule, that the w^estern shores of bays and inlets are usually more encumbered by ice than the eastern ones. At first a narrow channel between the ice and the shore afforded free room for advance, but by the 28th of July the ice was in rapid extension towards the land, and the ships were immediately and helplessly encompasse'b From this time all real advance ceased ; the vessels sometimes got afloat for a short time at high water, but were speedily driven aground again by the ice,, not without a great deal of straining and "nii^ping" from violent pressure between the ice and the shore. This hard usage so injured the "Fury," that though a vigorous attempt was made to repair her in a sort of dock cut with great labour in the pack, she was speedily driven ashore again by the coast- ice, and was found to be in a hopelessly shattered condition. It now ])ecam8 a matter of necessity to abandon her, and as the choicest part of the summer had been wasted in fruitless attempts 78 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. M , I i< w ' h ' If * •' ft -' K i ' to save her, there was little hope of making any material discovery in tlio short remaining time. The crew and valuables of the ''Fury" were, therefore, received on board the "Hecla," the provisions were left for ^lie solace of any wandering Esqui- maux who might chance to visit the spot, and tlie poor disabled sliip was given up to the mercy of the relentless ice, while her companion made the best of her wav to England Among all the instances of hopeful enterprise, under full knowledge of attendant suffering and danger, which a detail of Arctic navigation furnishes, we think few are more striking than the voluntary offer made by Captain Franklin, in 1825, to uiulertake the command of an expedition to the same North American shores where he had sufTered such extremity of hard- ship four years before. Lieut. Back and Dr. Richardson, his former companions in misfortune, were equally ready once more to bear him company, and many distinguished officers were eager to be placed under his command. Taught by experience, a far more adequate preparation was made for the necessities of their projected journey than previously; and before the members or the expedition settled down for the winter at " Fort Franklin," on the shores of Bear Lake, a journey of investigation, down the Mackenzie Eiver to the sea, had been successfully prosecuted. Early in the next summer, tlie whole party set out in two divisions, of two boats each, commanded respectively by Franklin and Richardson; the former proposing to explore the western coast, and the latter the eastern. Space will not allow us to follow in detail either of these expeditions, which were happily unclouded by the incidents which gave so painful an interest to the particulars of the former terrible journey. It was well ascertained tliat this passage was unfit to be attempted by lar^e ships, as Franklin found no harbour suitable for a tolerable sized vessel in all the line of coast he traversed, and Richardson found only one, which was rendei-ed difficult of r.ccess by masses of sunken r-"":. On the 21st September, the two parties met again- at Fort Franklin, in health and safety; the western detachment having traversed 2048, and the eastern party 1080 statute miles. RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 79 In 1829-33, an irregular expedition was undertaken byCap- tfiin, now Sir John, Ross and liis nephew in the "Victory," at the exi)ense of a private individual, Mr. Felix Booth, in compli- ment to whom the tract of land which Commander James Ross succeeded in discovering, was named Boothia Felix ; to him also we owe the discovery of the magnetic pole,— indeed all that was accomplished during this protracted voyage seems to have been effected by the nephew. While proceeding down Regent's Inlet, the captain of the " Victory" helped himself liberally to the stores of tlie deserted " Fury"— every other trace of which had by this time disappeared— and these additional previsions enabled him to brave the hardships of such a prolonged detention. During these five years of absence, the western shore of Regent's Inlet, and mucli of the adjacent country was explored by travelling parties from the vessel, which suffered a more continuous imprisonment among the ice than is usually experienced even in such high latitudes. In her first winter quarters at Felix harbour, she remained exactly a year, being set free on tlie 17th September, 1830, On the 23rd of the same month, after advancing three miles, she was frozen in again for eleven months ; and after being warped into open water, 28 th August, 1831, and sailingy6^M• miles, she was again enclosed by the ice on the 27th September. Seven miles in two years was a rate of progress affording little hope of ever seeing old England again; the only chance left was, .o abandon the vessel; and endeavour by means of the boats left among the Fury's stores, to i-each Hudson's Bay, and get a homeward pas- sage in .ome whaler. Accordingly, the '' Victory's" cc]:.ars were na'led to the mast-head, as the last service they could do her, ami tlv-n officers and crew took leave of the ill-f..tecl : ^ lie vessel on tlie l-'Srd xVprll, 1832. The journey to B-irrc .v's Stniits was performed on foot, and rendered very tedious by the necessity of dragging on sledges the needful large amount -Ji provisions, am' wlien the party reached tlie N.E. extremitj- of North Somer- set, although tliey built a canvass liouse there — dignified by the title of Somerset Mouse- -and remained till ''.'•e 1st of Auirust fitting up the boats, the season was too fir advanced for such an experiment, and they were fain to retrace thoir steps, ■ (I « ^iii^. ' }, tif Jtsi 80 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ' 1 1 ., 4-\ and spend the winter of 1832-33 on Furj Beach. The ensuing July foun united crews 140 men. His mission was to attempt once more the north-west passage, and sanguine hopes - ■ entertained, from the well-known character and experiencr commander,' that by these means the loug-vexed questioi. , ight be set at rest. The issue of this voyage, as fer as is known, and of those which have been undertaken in search of the gallant commander and his crew, are the only northern expeditions that remain for our consideration. We are well aware of the imperfections of the pi-esent sketch —how cursory it needs must be, and how little justice it does to the gallant actions and gallant men of whom it treats; neverthe- less, we trust that our readers will not close our brief record of the brave deeds done in those regions of danger and intense cold, both in ancient and modern times, without exclaiming with Purchas, the graphic chronicler of the early nortliern navigators — "How shall I admire your heroicke courage, ye marine worthies, beyond names of worthiness?" Q 82 THE ARCTIC KEGIOXS. U] I fef'f '!U P CHAP. jx. RECKNT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. There are to whom tliat ship was dear, For love and kindred's sake ; AVlien tliese the voice of rumour hear, Their inmost heart shall quake, Sliall doubt, and fear, and wish and grieve, Believe, and lonjr to disbelieve, But never cease to ache ; Still doom'd in sad suspense to bear The Hope that keeps alive Despair. James MoNTGOMrnr. We need not repeat tlie oft-told tale of disappointment! General converse or the public prints must have made all our readers long since acquainted with the uncertainty which broods over the fate of the veteran commander and his gallant men, and perchance this page may meet the eye of some to whom that fate is no mere matter of passing import, but one of vital and heart- stn-ring interest ; — some whose lives are bound up with one cherished life on board, whose hearts with true magnetism of affection, still turn instinctively to the north, and who, through all the alternations of hope and fear, expectation and disappoint- ment, still love and pray for the lost ones. God comfort all such, and send that their prayers and i)atience may not be in vain ! A letter from Sir John Franklin, dated from the Whalefish Islands, Baffin's Bay, July 12, lS4o, is the last communication from the expedition ever received in England : their first winter- quarters have been discovered, as we shall relate presently ; but from the spring of 1 840 all traces vanish ; no grave, no cairn, no relic marks their progress ; no broken spar or shattered mast give even the melancholy certainty of shipwreck aiul death- the waters and the wildern-iss guard their strange secret well, and RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. S3 lOMr.ur. nut I Dent! :le all our cli broods men, and Kit fate is tid lieart- vvith one letisin of , throuo'h sappoint- rnfort all lot be in Vlialefish jnication t winter- tly; but cairn, no last give ath; the i^ell, and ^ * '? "there is neither voice nor any that answereth," to guide the progress of the noble-minded men who voluntarily dare the same dread fate in their search for their missing comrades. How arduously and well that search has been prosecuted, it will be our object briofiy to relate. Sir John Franklin's official instructions directed him to proceed through I^arrow's Straits iintil he reached Ca])e Walker (lat. Ti** 15 N., long. 98'^ W.), and then to steer S. W. direct fo- Behring's Straits. In January, 1848, the brig "Plover" was despatched to the last-mentioned locality to assist the " Erebus" and " Terror" on their arrival, should they prove much disabled by their conflict with the ice. This duty, however, was never required of her, and we need only notice this little barque further, to say that she was afterwards joined by the '^ Herald," and still continues on service, having been moved to Point Barrow as a store-vessel. During the ensuing spring anxiety at the prolonged absence of the " Erebus" and " Terror" became general, for their return had been confidently expected at the close of 1847; and while two vessels were in ju-eparation to carry Sir J. C. Ross to their rescue, Sir John Richardson— the old tried friend and companion of Franklin, in his memorable journey up the Coppermine River set out once more on the 25th March. 1848, accompanied by Mr. Rue, reached the mouth of the Mackenzie by the 4th August, and commenced a minute investigation of the coast between that river and the Coppermine, in which he was greatly assisted by boat parties from the "Plover" and "Herald." He was unable personally to conduct the expedition during the whole of the time, but Mr. Rae proved a most able substitute, and fol- lowed up the search indefatigabl}^, though unsuccessfully, first on the American coast, and subsequently in 1851 on Wollaston Land and the whole surrounding district, in the intricate, ice- choked channels of which he had vainly hoped that the missing vessels night be found. Sir James C. Ross, in the " Enterprise" and "Investigator," set sail in June, 1848, three months after Richardson's departure. After encountering much difficulty from the ice in Baffin^s Bay, they entered Barrow's Strait, and had examined it nearly to the entrance to Wellinotim if H THE ARCTIC REGIONS. M-.! II ;1 h ' M- I ' i M ( -, I ! Channel, when the close of the season drove them into winter quarters. The explorers established themselves at Leopold Island, wiiich lies at the entrance to Regent's Inlet, and is only sejmrated by the intervening strait from the quarters occupied by Franklin's party two winters before. Some singular fatality must have prevented them from discovering this circumstance, for Sir James Ross made the most of the spring by sending out exi)lor- ing parties in all directions, and himself surveyed nearly the whole coast of North Somerset, while another detachment ex- amined the north shore of Barrow's Strait, and must have been close upon Cape Riley when they turned back witli the report that no traces existed in that district ! Sir J. C. Ross's intention on getting clear of the ice in 1849, was to sail -up Wellington Channel and examine the shores of Melville Island. As the vessels stood out from shore the prospect around was singularly cheerless. — no open sea, — not even a narrow channel between noes and cebergs, — nothing but a white, compact body of ice to the north and west, as far as the eye could reach. The unf )r- tunate voyagers had not even time to deliberate on the best course to pursue, for even wliile they gazed on the whitened plain around, the demon of the Polar seas was binding them also fast in his cold crystal fetters. The loose pack ice came driving up around them, and quickly settled into a solid mass, the ther- mometer fell to zero, ridges and heaps of ice — technically known as " hummocks " — collected over any original slight inequality, and by the early days of September the wliole of Barrow's Strait had become impassable. Here, then, the hardy sailors cheerfully prepared to spend another winter, though no summer liberty had separated it from the preceding one; but before they had settled themselves for their new captivity, the wind changed from east to west, the body of ice, still firm and impenetrable, became detached from the shore, and the occu])ants of the two vessels found, to their no small consternation, that they were drifting to the east at the rate of eight or ten miles a-day, witk the prospect of almost certain destruction on their arrival at Baffin's Bay, from the grounded icebergs which line its shallow RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 8/1 western coast. For days this terrible suspense continued, and the sufferers, powerless either to avert or postpone the catastrophe, learnt at last to look forward to it with composure and resigna- tion. Its near approach was announced by the sight of a range of icebergs forming a barrier across the mouth of Lancaster Sound. Onward drove the ice, bearing on its bosom the devoted ships, while the officers and men gathered on deck, gazed calmly and solenmly on the death that drew so near to them. Onward, onward still ! — there is a death-like stillness in earth and sky, — a terrible pause of expectation for the shock which shall send the crushed vessels and their freight to the dark waters below ! Hark ! a loud, sharp report breaks the silence, — another, — and another, — suddenly, as at some appointed signal, the vast ice-field is broken into a thousand frngments, which uprear themselves in the tossing water and crash against each other with mad and impotent fury, while the emancipated ships plough tbeir way proudly through the angry ice- waves, and soon reach the clear open water ! It was of course impossible to make tbeir way back through the tumult of warring ice and ocean from which they had just escaped, and duty and inclination agreed in indu- cing Ross and his men to steer direct for England, where their absence had begun to cause much anxiety, and where the detail of their narrowly escaped fate scarcely tended to lessen tho apprehension felt concerning the luckless crews of the " Erebus" and " Terror." A doom very similar, and as narrowly avoided, threatened the " North Star," a small vessel sent out with provisions for Sir J. C. Ross, which became involved in an ice-field near Melville Sound, at the very same time as the ships to whose relief sho was sent. In this case the corner of the field struck an immense iceberg, which threatened to overwhelm it, and the shock turn- ing it round and rending it open, afibrded the " North Star " a free passage out. The disappointment which Sir J. C. Ross's failure produced, only seemed to urge on further efforts for the relief of those who had now been lost for three years beyond the rightful time of their return. The " Enterprise " and " Investigator " were sent out again, .■Sail 80 I % V I' I' > ti trij *■ S 1^ •it, .;p fet-- it THE ARCTIC llEGIONS. in I60O, under Captain CoUinson and Commander M'CIure to Behnng's Straits; while an efficient force was despatched' to prosecute the searcli tlirough tlie more familiar route of Baffin's Bay. ihe vessels engaged in searching this district durinc. the summer of 18a0 were uo less than ten in uumber; they wer^dis- tnbnted thus;-l. A squadron, under Captain Austin, consisting of his own ship, the 'a^esolute;" the "Assistance," Captain Om- nianney; and the "Intrepid" and ^Pioneer," two steam- tugs, commanded by Lieutenants Cator and Osborne. 2. Two fast-sall- mg brigs, the "Lady Franklin"' and the « Sophia," under Mr Peimy an experienced seaman, for many years captain of a whaler in Baffin s Bay. 3. The " Felix," with the " Mary " as tender under the command of Sir John Boss. 4. Two American vessels, the "Rescue "and "Advance," iitted out by the libe- rahty of Mr. Henry Grinnell, a Kew York merchant, and com- manded by Lieutenant De Haven and Mr. Griffin 5 The " Prince Albert," a small sailing-vessel, the private property of J^ady l^ranklm, under Commander Forsyth. It is neither in our wish nor our power to enter into full detail of the varied fortunes of each gallant vessel; the narra- tives published by many of the officers afford both interest and information to all who have leisure and opportunity to pernse them; our object is merely to recount in few words what ha,3 been done and discovered by these worthy successors to the lieroic navigators of the olden time. Overcoming all difficulty from the Baffin's Bay ice by the powerful aid of the steamers Captain Austin's squadron reached the entrance to Lancaster bound-Penny keeping pace with them. There they separated and while the " Eesolute " and " Pioneer " lingered to examine the neighbourhood of Pond's Bay, Captain Oinmannev enjoyed the enviable distinction of discovering the first ^traces of Franklin's expedition yet brought to light. Captain Austin and hhs attendant screw, Penny, and the Americans, soon joined the " Assistance " at Cape Riley ; and minute investigation only confirmed the importance of the discovery, and proved this to have been the scene of Franklin's first winter quarters. A hut SohdV built in a circular form, neatly paved, and furnished with ^ RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. a fireplace, in which still lay the ashe;s of the last fi 87 - ve they had kmuled, was discovered north of Cape 8i)encer, and from thence to Cape Uilcy trao>s ahounded. The site of an encampment was marked as distinctly by fragments of paper written and printed, bones of animals, empty pemmicun tins, staves of casks, pieces of oak and other wood, ends of navy rope—easily distin- guishable by the peculiar " middle yarn,"— washing-tubs, coal- bags, and broken bottles, as by the more important remains of a ear})enter s shed, a forge, and a large • store-house, and— most touching relic of all— a little garden, shaped into a neat oval, and filled with moss, lichens, poppies, and anemones— the only plants which that bleak clime would nourish, but which had pleasantly beguiled the idle time of some flower-loving sailor, who had cherished by them, perchance, a dearer memory of the bright little garden before some sweet wliite English cottage. Death had crept in among the adventurers thus early on their outward voyage; for three graves, bearing the names of W. Braine and John Ilartnell, of the " Erebus," and John Tor- rington, of the "Terror," sanctify the solitude. Ah! if the tenants of these lonely graves conld have been roused, and questioned of their comrades — how they had fared, and whither tbt'V had bent tlieir course when summer set them free! In vain. The silence of deatli rests alike upon the quiet sleepers here, and upon those who left them in such buoyant life and hope; and no cairn or mound contained the slightest docu- mentary evidence of their future course, though diligent search for such was made in all possible and impossible places. Papers were left at Cape Riley by each ship in its turn, and the " Assistance " landed provisions at Whaler Point, . for the succour of Franklin's crew, should they ever reach that place. The winter was now rapidly approaching, and little more could be done that season. Penny pushed up Wellington Channel as far as Cornwallis Island, but turned back before an impassable barrier of ice, beyond which he had both the pleasure and morti- fication of discovering open water as far as the eye could reach. The "Lady Franklin" and "Sophia" took up their winter » ' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TAIiGET (MT-3) ^ iio A 4'. {/. 1.0 I.I ■iilM 11121 ■^ ||3.2 1 2.2 1^ m 1^ 12.0 hiuu nil ■ 1.25 1.4 1.6 ■« 6" ► v] <^ ^3 /. M Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 8?2-4S03 5% -^ "^rN *t,v k6 \ s \ ^ ^ «- - " ^ ' Ihi.; ^--:^fc.^t'^^'::g'ii ' ii ' JU»^WHi-MUJJ| l »JUfa 88 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. I'' r' i r .\, quarters in Assistance Harbour, at the. southern extremity of Cornwallis Land ; they were speedily joined by Sir John Rosa's vessel, the " Felix;" and Captain Austin's squadron soon became fast fixed in the floe which filled up the channel between Griffith's Island and Cornwallis Land. The " Prince Albert" set sail for England before winter set in, and her example was followed by the American vessels; but for these fate had resei-ved more perilous adventures than a simple passage for New York could have furnished. The Stars and Stripes parted company with the Union Jack on the 13th of September, below CapeHotham, and De Haven, who had anticipated an easy homeward passage, was not a little disturbed to find his voyage arrested at its commence- ment by the ice, Avhich ga,thered strength hour by hour, and soon deprived the Americans of all hope of es(*ape for the winter. The ice-field in which they were thus fixed now carried them help- lessly along with it; by the 18th they had drifted as far north as Cape Bowden, and each succeeding day saw them steadily advancing up Wellington Channel. By the end of the month they had passed through it into Maury Channel, which is now known to lead into the noble Queen's Channel, but then had never been explored. During the whole of October and Novem- ber this state of things continued. The Americans suffered severely from the climate, a winter's sojourn in these regions having been neither contemplated nor provided for; their ships wera drifted to and fro at the caprice of every changing wind and tide, and both vessel and crew were exposed to imminent peril should the ice-field on which they were cradled break up. It held together, however, and carried them on its restless jour- neys up and down Wellington Channel till the beginning of December, when a violent storm drifted it clearly into Barrow's Strait, and on to Lancaster Sound. Several times during this perilous pa^^sage they were in imminent danger from the ice opening round the vessels, and closing suddenly again; on such occasions they only escaped being " nipped" by their small size and strong build, which enabled them to rise above the opposing ed^ves instead of being crushed between them. Even on thei" arSval in Baffin's Bay they were not immediately liberated: RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 89 lity of Ross's )ecame ■iffith's sail for red by [ more ; could ith the -m, and go, was meflce- id soon winter, m help- r north steadily I month is now len had Novem- suffered regions ir ships ig wind eminent ■eak up. 3S8 jour- ming of 3arrow's ing this . the ice on sucli nail size opposing on thei" .berated : " lanes of water" continually appeared in the most tantalizing manner beyond inteiwening ice, and it was not till the 9th of June, 1851, that they were entirely freed from their eight months' imprisonment in the pack. After recruiting the exhausted crew at ^nisco Island, the gallant commander determined to return and prosecute the search during the remainder of the season ; but the discouraging reports of the whalers induced him to change his purpose, and the ships and crews reached New York at the beginning of October, having passed through perils such as few have endured, and still fewer have lived to recount. In contrast to such a season of restlessness and anxiety, it is quite pleasant to return to the quiet quarters of our seven Eng- lish ships; and that you may better realize how cheerfully that winter passed for the brave tavs on board (and how the present days and weeks are now being spent by many of the same men in Sir Edward Belcher's squadron), we would crave permission, gentle reader, to transport you for a while to these arctic solitudes, and invite you, in Captain Austin's name, to spend a day on board the " Eesolute." Although no vehement gale has occurred lately, the ice offers a very rough uneven surfoce to the foot, but being well shod and muffled we get on tolerably, for the strong exercise and the clear- ness of the atmosphere prevent us from feeling the intense cold in any thing like the degree we expected, though the thermome- ter is far below zero, and the moisture of our breath alone fringes hair ^nd eyelashes with ice. The clear full moon renders every object as distinct as by d ylight, and as our eye wanders over the strange and novel scene, we are forced to own it is not with- out its own peculiar beauty. The wide expanse of whiteness,— the huge, fantastic snow-wreaths which the wind has piled around,— the ridges of broken ice glittering in the moonlight, and casting their deep shadows on the plain beyond,— the cliffs and headlands of Cornwallis Land bounding the scene with their undulating line; while nearer lie the dark masses of the ice- bound ships— the only objects that speak of life amidst the cold, stern grandeur of this land of desolation; and then, as we raise our eyes, the glit«- nng beauty of the indescribably brilliant stars, I ''i IPi ' MkiM m 00 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. which fill the deep blue sky with ten thousand radiant points ; and the large bright moon shedding over the white world be- neath a flood of light, cold and pure as the snow on which it falls, to say nothing of the fitful glories of the aurora borealis; say, gentle reader, have you not already ceased to regret both fire and sunlight, and do you not thank us for biinging you to a scene of such strange lovel-'-xessI But we are bound for the good ship ''Resolute" which lies yonder, and on we come at a rattling pace, not heeding in this calm weather the friendly line of guide-posts which wind away in the distance for tlie benefit of wandering sailors passing in a snow-storm from one vessel to the other. Ah ! honest Jack has been exercising his skill in modelling to good purpose here — what an array of snow sculp- ture! The smooth space round the ship is half filled with this heterogeneous assemblage of sphinxes, vases, and cannon, pre- sided over by Britannia herself, as large as life, " ruling" not " the waves," but the ice at present. The deck where we now stand is, you see, completely roofed over with a kind of penthouse, and cleared of every unnecessary article ; here the men take exercise when the weather will not allow them to leave the vessel. The stoves keep up a comfortable temperature oO"^ above zero — in the lower decks and cabins, as we discover while descending thither; for we are early visitors, and all hands are below at breakftist. The atmosphere here is rendered thick and misty both by the steaming cocoa, which occupies a pro- minent position at every mess-table, and by the candles and oil lamps, which look decidedly vulgar in contrast with the moon- light we have just left; nevertheless, the honest tars seem thorou'^dily to enjoy themselves, and their merriment is so con- tagious, that in five minutes we find ourselves laughing heartily at one of the jokes which are circulating so freely. Now there is a general move ; breakfast is over, and while some remain to " clear away" and prepare for dinner, the majority array them- selves in all manner of warm garments, and appear on deck for the morning muster. Very odd figures many of them look, but when the therm.ometer stands at 40" below zero, it is not the time to be particular about appearance. Besides, after all, an RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 91 arctic toilette is a very elaborate thing in its way, as you may judge by this list of requisites: — Indoors. — 1 flannel shirt with sleeves ; 1 cotton ditto ; 1 waistcoat with sleeves, lined with flannel; 1 pair of drawers, flannel ; 1 pair of trousers, box cloth, lined with flannel ; 1 pair of thick stockings ; 1 pair of thin ditto ; 1 pair of horsehair soles; 1 pair of carpet boots. Additional dotJdng for walJdng. — Box clotli pea-jacket; Welsh wig; sealskin cap; beaver skin mitts; shawl, or comfortable; and men with tender faces require a cloth face-cover from the wind. Thus equipped, and the daily muster over, the officers and men disperse, and from the deck we can see the various groups running races, leaping, and walking, some of the latter with tmns, on murder mis thoughts intent with regard to the bears, for the hares and foxes soon learn the feelings entertained towards them by the intruding bipeds, and generally possess the prudence to keep out of gunshot range. A busy group is collected under the lee cf the vessel, and as we join it a merry- faced sailor informs us they are "sending off" the postman;" this functionary being a poor little white fox, who, less wary than his brethren, was last night beguiled into a trap, and is now to be set free, invested with a hollow copper collar containing intelligence concerning the whereabouts of provisions, which, though a great incumbrance to himself, will be of essential service to Sir John Franklin, if ever the four-legged messenger should come in his way, and he should be in a condition to profit by the tidings. Thus passes the time till noon, and now we may inspect the sailors' dinner, which consists of soup or preserved meat, and occasionally preserved ] potatoes. Then comes the officers' dinner, at two P.5I., to which we are invited; a short walk on the ice or deck, and the intelligent converse of some of our kind entertainers, agreeably tills up the three succeeding hours; and after tea we are introduced to the evening-school. Yery curious it is to see some veteran seaman, whose strong fingers have reefed the top- sails in many a storm, now serving his apprenticeship to the grey-goose quill, and bewildered amidst all the preliminary 92 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. iji f 1 1*1 lif- li diflBculties of pot-hooks and hangers. Another by his side is buried "fathoms deep" in the contemphition of a sum in simple addition, and records the results he arrives at in figures which bear the slightest possible resemblance to the characters lo which we are accustomed. Others, more advanced, are busied with maps and calculations of an alarmingly intricate appearance; some are engrossed with books, or with the " Illustrated Gazette," which is regularly issued every week ; and more than one tall able man is repeating a lesson by rote with all the gravity and docility of a " pattern-boy ; " while the self-constituted teachers are pictures of busy importance. In the officers' cabin the scene though less noisy is quite as varied. Reading and writing are going on here likewise; some are drawing, as best they may, by candle-light; chess, cards, and draughts, are all in request; and, at one end of the cabin, some really choice music is heard from two or three instruments and several harmonious and well- blended voices. This is a quiet evening they tell us, but had they been apprised beforehand of our visit, they would have arranged some entertainment in our honour; for they manage really creditable concerts among the men. They have a theatre where the performance is considered — under the circumstances — first rate, and only last week they got up a fancy bull, where the characters embraced every variety, from " Sir Charles Grandison" and an "old English gentleman," to a "Capuchin fnar- and a " Spanish dancing girl ! " But it is time for us to bid adieu to our friends, who honour us at lea\ing with three hearty cheers, and a parting ovation of skyrockets, which, by the way, they use occasionally on the chance that their missing comrades may be near without knowing that help is at hand. Fire-balloons are sent up in the same hope, and sometimes, when the wind favours, to one of these is attached a cage, containing a carrier-pigeon freighted with tidings, and so arranged that at a given time the bird may be set free, having been in the mean time borne far upon its journey. As the spring advanced, the space between the " hummocks'* became filled up with snow, and as soon as a tolerably even sur- face was thus formed, the sledges were prepared, and searching P! RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 93 parties organized. The four ships sent out in all fifteen sledges, and an hundret' and five men, so tliat only seventy-five hands were left in charge of the vessels. Want of space again forbids us to give any full detail of these well-planned and brave attempts, the " prosecution of which involved more hardship than had been en- dured throughout the whole of the winter preceding. Fatigue, caused by drawing heavily laden sledges over rugged and often precipitous ice — suffering from the intense cold and piercing wind, which no amount of clothing could counteract — continual cases of frost-bite — and, worse than all, that terror of the arctic voya- ger, snow-blindness, which prevailed to such an extent that in one party of thirty, sixteen men and one officer were blind at the same time; all these told heavily against them, and- to these was added the still heavier weight of disappointment. Each party returned son^owfully to the squadron, hoping, that though they had failed, fortune might have favoured their companions, and each in turn told the same tale— no sign of the lost ships- no trace of living being— no footstep— no ruin— no relic— not even the mournful certainty of a grave! Several parties from the "Lady Franklin" were sent up Wellington Channel; one of these Penny commanded himself, and finding the channel too open to admit of sledge-travelling, he returned to his vessel, provided himself with a boat, commenced his journey anew, and after a series of adventures and difficulties, wLich he overcame with courage worthy of a hero, he penetrated up Queen's Channel as far as Baring Island and Cape Beecher, where most reluctantly he was compelled to turn back. A fine open sea stretched invitingly away to the north, as far as the eye could reach, but his boat was small and fragile, his men were few, and he had neither provisions nor equipments for a voyage of discovery. Penny seems to have been honestly persuaded that Sir John Franklin had gone by that route, and that if his ships were ever to be discovered they must be sought upon the untrack- ed waters of the Polar Ocean. He failed, however, in convinc- ing Captain Austin of the truth of his theory, and as without that officer's co-operation nothing could be effected by staying out a second winter, Penny was compelled, however unwiliingly, \h THE ARCTIC REGIONS. to follow the course pointed out by the Admiralty squadron, which, after two ineffectual attempts to enter Smith's and Jones' Sounds, returned i;0 England. Lady Franklin's little vessel, the " Prince Albert," did not stay to share with her companions the inclemencies of an arctic Christmas, but leaving them preparing for winter-quarters, she brought home the welcome intelligence of the discoveries at Beechy Island, which inspired all interested in the cause with lively hope, and served not a little to expedite preparations for prosecuting the search during the next season. No time was lost in refitting the brave little craft, which was placed under the charge of Mr. Kennedy, the second in command being Lieu- tenant Bellot, that noble volunteer in the cause of humanity, whose generous self-devotion has procured him a brother's place in the hearts of all true Englishmen, and whose untimely fate cannot be more deeply deplored in his own country than it is in ours. The object of the present voyage was principally to ex- amine Regent's Inlet and the coast of North Somerset, an im- portant district for which no provision seemed to have been made in the Admiralty plan of search ', for nothing could then be known in England of the sledge parties by which Captain Austin was at that very time partially supplying the deficiency. The easterly gales had formed a barrier of ice across Barrow's Straits, cutting off all access to Cape Eiley or Griffith Island, so the little vessel was fain to turn at once into Regent's Inlet, and take temporary refuge from the wind in Port Bo wen. As it was very undesirable, however, to winter on the opposite coast to that along which lay their line of search, Kennedy, with four of his men, crossed to Port Leopold amid masses of ice, as well to reconnoitre the western line of coast as to ascertain whether any documents had been left at this point by previous searching parties. After an hour spent in examining the locality and seeking for papers, they prepared to return, but to their dismay found their passage cut off by the ice, which had closed together, leaving only large fissures here and there, which proved hopeless impedi- ments when they attempted to reach the vessel on foot. A more RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS, 95 deplorable situation can scarcely be fancied. Darkness was fast closing round them, the mass of ice on which they stood was drifting rapidly tlown the channel, and the ear was deafened by the crashing of huge ice-blocks, which dashed furiously against each other, and threatened momentarily to shiver in fragments the field they occupied. A speedy return to shore was the only alternative, and having reached it below Cape Seppings, they spent the night as best they might, having no shelter but their boat, under which each man in turn took an hour's rest ; the others, wearied as they were, seeking safety in brisk exercise, for the cold at this season — September 10th — was intense, and their clothes were little else than a mass of ice. Under these circum- stances, it may be imagined with what feelings they discovered by the early light of morning that the ship had disappeared 1 There was now no resource — they must brave the winter as well as they could, and endeavour in the spring to rejoin their vessel, which must have drifted down the inlet with the ice, and by this time was most likely imprisoned by it. Fortunately the depot of provisions left by Sir James Ross at Whaler Point was easily accessible, and finding all in good preservation, they began, with all the ingenuity of contrivance which sailors so remark- ably possess, to fit up the launch, which had been left at the same time as the stores, for a temporary abode. The mainmast was laid on supports at the bow and stern, two sails spread over it with a httle arrangement made a tolerable roof, a stove was set up, and in a short time the bravt Mlows were sitting com- fortably round a cheerful fire, carrying on winter preparations by the manufacture of garments — cut out fi )m the blanket bags found at the depot, and sewn with sail needles and twine, — and shoes, for which they could find no better material than the old canvass housings of Sir James Ross's *' Somerset House." After having thus resigned themselves to their fate, it must have been a most joyful surprise when, on the 17th October, the stillness around was bro?;en by the sound of well-known voices, and M. Bellot appeared, with a party of seven men, who had dragged the jolly-boat with them all the way from Batty Bay. It appeared that this gallant oi£cer had made two attempts before to reacu tue 9G THE ARCTIC REGIONS. : ! i :fii deserted party, who now forgot all the miseries of their five weeks' detentiou as they accompanied their friends back to the ship. The long winter passed on board the Prince Albert in much the same routine that has already been described ; the monotony of their days having one agreeable alleviation from the barrel organ, so kindly presented on their departure by the illustrious Pdnce from whom their little vessel derived its name. A few excursions took place, either to form provision depots for their contemplated sledge journey, or to survey the icy prospect, and calculate how soon they might start. On the 25th February, the grand expedition departed! It consisted— exclusive of the fatigue party, which accompanied it as far as Brentford Bay— of Kennedy, Bellot, and six men, together with four sledges, two of which were drawn by five Esquimaux dogs, assisted by two men at each sledge, and tha other two the rest of the men took between them. With this slender equipment, it is truly aston- ishing to contemplate what these brave men effected. They traced the coast of North Somerset to its south extremity, cross- ed Victoria Strait, explored thoroughly Prince of Wales' Land, visited Cape Walker, and followed the north coast of North Somerset to Batty Bay again, having in an absence of ninety- seven days accomplished a journey of eleven hundred miles, without illness or accident. After the breaking up of the ice, the " Prince Albert" repaired to Cape KUey, where the " North Star," Captain PuUen, was stationed as depot-ship to Sir Edward Belcher's squadron. Ur. Kennedy and M. Bellot were at first anxious to remain out another season, and contemplated sending the vessel back under the charge of the master, and remaining as volunteers in the present expedition. Circumstances, however, induced them to abandon this project, and the little vessel reached Aberdeen, with her full complement of men, on the 7th October, 1852. The entrance to Smith's Sound, which had baflled Captain Austin, was subsequently obtained by Captain Inglefield, during tiie summer of 1852, in his small screw schooner, the "Isabel." This officer commenced his voyage with the avowed intention of RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 97 exploring the sounds to the north of Baffin's Bay, as, should they prove to be open channels, either one might he Franklin's route in return' iiff from the Polar Sea, and at all events in ihat loca- lity he might have sustained an accident on his homewaid voyage, concerning which intelligence would best be gained from the Esquimaux of that neighbourhood. Most of our readers are well av/are that on this most essential point of all, his researches failed to cast any light ; but in the cause of geographical advance, he has done much by his adventurous cruise. By pushing boldly up Smith's Sound, he has proved it to be, instead of the narrow inlet by which it is represented even in recent maps, a noble channel, wide and deep, opening in all probabihty directly into the mysterious Polar Ocean. He next attempted Jones' Sound, and entered it sufficiently to see it expand into a wide channel, which he was prevented from exploring by ice and contrary winds. On his return, he passed through Barrow's Strait, reached Sir Edward Belcher's squadron, and communi- cated with the officers left in charge, the commander himself and the largest part of his crew being absent on searching expeditions. Having received and imparted the latest intelli- gence, the " Isabel's" prow was once again turned homewards, where she anived safely after her four months' absence. Captain Inglefield's second cruise, last year, in the " Phoenix," was equally prosperous in its course, but was clouded by the melancholy death of the brave French officer, M. Bellot, who had volunteered his services a second time, and was lost in the fissure of a large ice-field. On its return, the *'■ Phcenix " brought home Lieutenant Cresswell, the bearer of Captain M'Clure's despatches, and the first man who has ever performed the north-west passage, having entered the arctic regions by Behring's Straits, and quitted them by Baffin's Bay ! This long-standing question may therefore' be considered as virtually solved. M'Clure's last despatch is dated April 5th, 1853, fiom Mercy Bay, Baring Island. In it he gives cheering accounts of the health of the crew, and the promising nature of his own prospects. Lieutenant Cresswell was sent home in charge of those sailors who had suffered from the climate, but wtmt 98 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. I I I i 3' •» W the commander announces his own intent'>>p. of remaining' in the " Investigator/' until the passage so Imppily begun is suc- cessfully acconiplislied. In the course of the ensuing summer, therefore, we may anticipate his return. The only unexplored part where we may still cherish hopes of discovering traces of our lost countrymen lies to the north of Wellington Channel, which our most experienced navigators concur in pronouncing to have been Franklin's probable route. There are now five ships employed in the search — viz., the "Assistance," Sir E. Belcher; *« Resolute," Captain Kellet; "North Star," Commander Pullen; "Pioneer," Commander Osborne; and the " Intrepid," Commander Catoi. The whole strength of this squadron is directed to the examiuction of this one district, aud we would fain hoi)e that when the next report of their proceedings reaches us, it may convey at least some clue — some trace of the lost ones: of their restoration after nearly nine long years, we scarcely dare to dream. Yet who shall say what untold blessings may crown the patience of an earnest and loving search ? Far be it from us to cast even a momentary gloom over any lingering hope which the cold finger of time lias not yet withered; rather let us honour with full trust and confidence the liero-hearted men who count not their own lives dear for the sake of those to \^*hom most of them are bound by nought but the link of a common humanity I Surely to them we may say in the words of the poet, " Go forth and prosper, then, cinprizin» band ; Jray He who in the hollow of Ills hand The ocean holds, and rules the whirlwind's sweep, Assuage its wrath, and guide you on the deep I " The preceding part of this volume havinpr been prepared before the return of Sir E. Belcher and Dr. Rac, the two concluding chapters have been added to finish np the history of the Arctic proceedings to the present time. NOVEMBES, 1854. RKCENT NOaiH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 99 Liniiifj in 1 is suc- summcr, explored traces of Jhannel, ouiicing »^iz,, the Kellel.; imauder e whole L of this t report 3t some )n after et wlio ;e of an even a he cold ur with unt not of them nanity ! 1 of SirE. sh np the CHAPTER X. " The summer went, the winter came, We could not rule the year ; ]Jut 8ummcr will melt the ice again, Ami ojien a path to the sunny main, Whereon our ships shall steer. " The winte. went, the summer went, The winter came around ; I5ut the hard green ice was strong as death, And the voice of Hope sank to a breath, Yet caught at every sound." The voyage of the " Investigator," from the 30th of July, 1850, I/O the 5th April, 1853, is fully detailed in the published despatclies of Captain M'Clure; a short abstract of .vliich is necessary to make this slight sketch complete. At the com- mencement of the narrative, the "Enterprise" and "Investiga- tor" had already parted company, and the latter was working its way along the edge of tlie pack. On the 8th August a party landed to erect a cairn on Point Drew, and fell in with a party of Esquimaux, who furnished satisfactory proof that Franklin's vessels had r.ot reached their coast, by the ast(mishment they evinced at the sight of the ship. The masts they imagined to be large trees, and the great "omiac" they distinguished, for want of a better word, as " the fast moving island." M'Clure moved slowly along this coast for several days, holding frequent intercourse with the natives — who came in crowds to behold the marvellous sight — and trying to discover whether any report or even feint rumour existed, of white men havmg reached tbeir territories. In this he was disappointed, the " pale-faces" were evidently a strange, new race ; ho^vever, their gifts and concilia- tory behaviour quite gained the hearts of the simple tribe, who I 11 1 1^ 1^ 100 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. lamented their departure, and took leave, promising, " if any of their brothers came, to be very kind, and give them plenty of deer's flesh." Another tribe, with whom our voyagers fell in shortly after, were equally friendly and ignorant; they were particularly attracted by the size of the sails, which they termed *' handkerchiefs," and scarcely knew how to value sufficiently the magnificent gift of a boat pennon, bestowed on them in consi- deration of their undertaking to forward a despatch for the Admiralty, to the Russian post on the Colville. On the 24th, the " Investigator" approached Port Warren, and a party landed, hoping to find that the natives traded with the Hudson's Bay Company, and that through this channel another despatch could be transmitted to England. Great was their surprise, therefore, at being received with brandished knives, bended bows, and cries of defiance, which warlike demonstrations were only pacified with much difficulty. After a friendly footing had been esta- blished, some of the party observed a brass button of European manufacture suspended from the ear of the chief, and questioned him concerning it. To their surprise he candidly confessed that it had belonged to a white man, one of a party who had arrived at Point Warren — no one knew from whence; they had no boat or means of conveyance, but had built .i house, and after staying there some time, had finally departed inland. The owner of the brass button had wandered from his company, had been killed by one of the natives, who had now fled at the sight of the great ship, and the chief and his son had buried him on a neighbouring hill. With regard to time, however, the chief's account was sin- gularly vague, and he could by no means be induced to fix any more definite date than -' it might be last year, or when he was a child." This story of course gave rise to a thousand conjectures; many were of opinion that the wandering white men could be none other than Franklin's party, and all agreed in the necessity of thoroughly testing the truth of the report, by a personal examination of the relics still remaining. A thick fog, which compelled them to return to the ship, prevented them from reaching the white man's grave ; but a searching party, on the following day, discovered two huts in thu situation indicated RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 101 by the chief. All the hopes any might have cherished of find- ing even traces of their missing comrades, vanished, however, before the sight of these frail tenements, which were evidently of ancient date, and overgrown with moss and weeds; while the decayed wood which composed them, bore not the slightest trace by which to glean information of the former tenants. The interpreter believed the story to have its rise from an affray between some early discoverers and the ancestors of the present race, who cherish the tradi^' n, and adopt purposely a vague phraseology, in order to identity themseh -s, if possible, with so important an event. At all events, there was nothing upon which to establish the slightest connection with Franklin's fate, and therefore nothing to cause further delay in their onward voyage. Another tribe of Esquimaux was encountered about the end of August, off Cape Bathurst, who proved friendly, and undertook to Convey to the Hudson Bay Company those despatches which it had been found impossible to transmit by the Point Warren tribe. A distribution of trifling presents of course took place in return ; and M'Clure gives an amusing account of the way in which the women gradually grew unmanageable as the tempting display of treasures was unfolded, and finally broke the line of boundary, waded to the boat, broke through the sailors, and, lifting one another in, seized without compunction upon what- ever met their eyes and hands! Order was at length restored; but though they parted amicably, it was with great difficulty ■ that their acquisitive propensities were checked. On the 5th of September great excitement prevailed on board; a volume of smoke, which had been observed for two days about twelve miles S.W., had excited considerable specula- tion and interest. It was agreed that no traveller would remain so long in one spot for i3leasure; and now the interest mounted rapidly to fever heat, when the deep tones of the ice-mate announced, that from tlie crow's nest he could clearly distinguish some white tents pitched in the hollow of a cliff, and persons dressed in white moving about them. Of course, these could only be some of Franklin's men, and, full of the most sanguine expectations, a boat hp^tened to the shore. Bitterly were the \, Ui S*ii m m 102 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. eager inquirers disappointed, however, to find the tents trans- formed into fifteen small volcanic mounds of a sulphurous nature, while the tracks of reindeer, coming for water to a neighbouring spring, clearly explained the mystery of the white moving figures! The "Investigator" continued slowly coasting the shores of Prince Albert Land till the end of September, when, the ice began rapidly to form, and it became necessary to choose winter quarters without loss of time. A suitable harbour was discovered on the east coast of the Prince of Wales' Strait, and there, on the Sth of October, their " perplexities terminated" for the season. A short sledge excursion to the northern part of the strait, filled up the succeeding interval between the business of getting fixed in winter quarters, and the long dreary season of ice and snow which held the vessel prisoner till the following July. On the 18th of April, 1851, three exploring sledge parties were sent out under Lierteuant Haswell, Lieutenant Cresswell, and Mr. Wynniatt, respectively to the S.E., N.W., and N.E., with six weeks' pi-o visions each. By these gentlemen's observations, the surrounding coast lines were accurately laid down, but no traces of the missing vessels could be discovered. A tribe of friendly Esquimaux were discovered by the first mentioned party, and subsequently visited by Captain M'Clure; they proved remarkably intelligent, and readily traced on paper the coast line of Wollaston and Victoria Lands, thereby deter- mining the long disputed point, whether or not thes3 districts belonged to the mainland of America. Above eight hundred miles, in direct distance, were traversed by these three parties, who diligently erected cairns and deposited documents wherever they would be likely to arrest the attention of wanf many winters may silver their glittering spars, and through many a summer day the sun may look upon their blanching timbers, as they lie tenantless and inactive, like quiet corpses from which the soul has fled. And so, perchance, long years 114 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. .:;■! m. a ti.. will pass, till the snow and ice may liave m^pt round and over them, and they bear less resemblance to noble English vessels than to shapeless masses of glitte-ing crystal; or, more likely, some coming winter storm may end the bars of their prison, and drive them out in its fury to heave and toss once more for a brief minute upon the surging waves, until the angry ice again gather round its prey, and, crashing them like nutshells in its mighty grasp, send a sullen booming roar over the water— the knell of these last intruders on the ancient arctic solitudes! It is something, however, to know that the " Enterprise" has escaped tlie fate of her less fortunate companion, and will not swell the number of devoted ships. Tidings have been received, since the return of Sir E. Belcher's expedition, that she was safe in Port Clarence, Behring s Straits, the 23rd of August last, with all liands on board in good health, having only lost three of her crew. From this we may conclude, that Captain Collin- son found and protited by Captain Kellett's advice, or, at least, discovered some of the documents left by Lieutenant Mecham, and acted upon the information they conveyed. We are now relieved from all anxiety respecting any fellow-countrymen im- prisoned in those inhospitable regions. We have no longer to seek for the living, but the dead— for, as the following particu- lars only too plahily prove, Franklin and his unhappy com- panions nmst now be reckoned among that number. Collinson has not been more successful in the search than others, and we have still to rest contentt^l with Dr. Rae's narration. Meanwhile, though we have relinquished the search, an Ame- rican e:q)edition, under the auspices of Mr. Grinnell— the same philanthropic merchant who sent out the "Rescue" and "Ad- vance," in 1850— is at this present moment feeling its way over the w'aters, or along the shores of Smith's Sound. The " Ad- vance," which bore the winter trial so bravely, is now sent out again, but the chief feature of the expedition is to be sledge travelling, which the commander had projected on a more adven- torous scale tb.an any before attempted ; intending to leave the ship directly she is safe in winter quarters, and start with a lie sledge •e adven- leave the ; with a on ice or water — and some dog sledges. Provision depots for spring journeys are to be formed on the way; and when they have reached their furthest limit they intend to leave . boat and pro- visions, on the chance of seeing them again in the spring, but exposed, meantime, to weather, bears, and other mischances, and return on foot to the ship. There is something very bold and original in this plan, which has the advantage of giving the greatest amount of toil before tlie men have been tried by the winter, and relieving the spring parties from the necessity of venturing on untried tracks, or burdening themselves with any great weight of provisions. All honour to their disinterested and noble effort ; though, from the startling information lately brought by Dr. flae, we know too well that search in that direction can only end in disappointment. Dr. Eae's report, gathered from the Esquimaux, was avowedly transmitted through two or three individuals, and is painfully vague and unsatisfactory ; still the very ideas it dimly suggests ai-e so full of hopelessness and horror, that we would fain hope it may have gained some particulars through frequent repetition. Making every allowance, however, for exaggeration and embel- lishment, we fear it cannot be doubted that at least thirty of our unhappy countrymen perished miserably from stai-vation in 1850 ! Dr. Eae's report to the Secretary of the Admiralty is as follows. — It should be premised that these particulars came to light in the course of his researches at the head of a party in the employ- ment of the Hudson Bay Company. "REPUiiSE Bay, July 29. « SiR^ — I have the honour to mention, for the information of ny Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that during my journey over the ice and snow this spring, with the view of completing the survey of the west shore of Boothia, I met with Esquimaux in Pelly Bay, from one of whom I learned that a party of ' white men' (Kablo. lans) had perished from want of food some distance to the westward, and not far beyond a large river, containing many falls and rapids. Subsequently, further particulars were received, and a number of articles purchased, which places the fate of a portion, if not of all, of the then sur- fi., > ;.i M 116 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. vivors of Sir John Frauklin's long-lost party beyond a doubt — • a fate terrible as the imagination can conceive. "The fjubstance of the information obtained at various times and from various sources was as follows : — " In the spring, four winters past (spring, 1850), a party of 'white men,' amounting to about forty, were seen travelling southward over the ice, and dragging a boat with them, by some Esquimaux, who were killing seals near the north shore of King William's Land, which is a large island. IS'one of the party could speak the Esquimaux language intelligibly, but by signs the natives were made to understand that their ship, or ships, had been crushed by ice, and that they were now going to where they expected to find deer to shoot. From the appearance of the men, all of whom, except one officer, looked thin, they were then supposed to be getting short of provisions, and purchased a small seal from the natives. At a later date the same season, but previous to the breaking up of the ice, the bodies of some thirty persons were discovered on the continent, and five on an island near it, about a long day's journey to the N.W. of a large stream, which can be no other than Back's Great Fish River (named by the Esquimaux Doot-ko-hi- calik), as its description, and that of the low shore in the mighbourhood of Point Ogle and Montreal Island, agree exactly with that of Sir George Back. Some of the bodies had been buried (prol)ably those of the first victims of fiiraine), some were in a tent or tents, others under the boat, wdiicli had been turned over to form a shelter, and seve- ral lay scatr^ered about in different directions. Of those found on the island one was supposed to have been an officer, as he had a telescope strapped over his shoulders, and his double-barrelled gun lay underneath him. " From the mutilated state of many of the corpses, and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched country- men had been driven to the last resource — cannibalism — as » means of prolonging existence. " There appeared to have been an abundant stock of ammuni- tion, as the powder was emptied in a heap on the ground by the natives out of the kegs or cases containing it; and a quantity of doubt — IS times party of 'avelling bv some shore of ,he party by signs )r ships, to where ranee of ley were •chased a 3 season, of some ve on an »f a lame ih River icription, int Ogle ?ge Back. the first rs under and seve- )se found IS he had barrelled and the country- ■m — as a ammuni- nd by the lantity of RECENT NORTH-WEST EXPEDITIONS. 117 ball and shot \, -.3 found below high-water mark, having probably been left on the ice close to the beach. There must have been a number of watches, compasses, telescopes, guns (several double- bfirrelled), &c., all of which appear to have been broken up, as T saw pieces of those different articles with the Esquimaux, together with some silver spoons and forks. I purchased as many as I could get. A list of the most important of these I enclose, with a rough sketch of the crests and initials on the forks and spoons. The articles themselves shall be handed over to the Secretary of the Hudson's Bay Company on my arrival in London. " None of the Esquimaux with whom I conversed had seen the ' whites,' nor had they ever been at the place where the bodies were found, but had their information from those who had been there, and who had seen the party when travelling. « I offer no apology for taking the liberty of addressing you, as I do so fi-om a belief that their lordships would be desirous of being put in possession, at as early a date as possible, of any tidings, however meagre and unexpectedly obtained, regarding this pain- fully interesting subject. " I may add that, by means of our guns and nets, we obtained an ample supnly of provisions last autumn, and my small party passed the winter in snow-houses in comparative comfort, the skins of the deer shot affording abundant warm clothing and bed- dint^. My spring journey was a foilure, in consequence of an accitmulation of obstacles, several of which my former experience in arctic travelling had not taught me to expect.— I liave, &c., "JOHN EAE, C.F., « Commanding Hudson's Bay Company's Arctic Expedition" To such a tragic detail as this nothing can be added. There is little from which to draw consolation, and imagination requires no aid to portray the weary longing for rest and home, which not even the a-ony of hunger could subdue— vain desires, hope- less cravings, never to be realized on earth ; but can we for a moment doubt, that the merciful All-Father looked pitifully down upon the homeless ones, and, in his tender love, closed their long wanderings, and gave them a calmer home and » -118 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. rxtr more perfect rest than the best that earth could offer • There is much to speculate upon in this brief narrative. What had be fall of health and vigour, nine short years ago. This painful narrative accounts only too clearly for forty, but where are the Hundred? Then, again, another question arises, how had the mtermediate time been spent between the winter passed at Beechey Island, 1845-6, and the piteous tragedy of 1850? Searching parties have visited every probable spot where they could have touched, and since some were certainly alive at such a comparatively recent date, it seems quite inexplicable that we should not have come upon some traces, either of winter quar- ters s edging parties, or shipwreck. How was it, again, that Willie the Esquimaux lived comfortably through the winter, the Mghsh party in the same district were a prey to all the agonies of starvation ^ Questions like these might be multiplied to any extent, but how shall t'ley be answered ? We are thankful to hnd that there is every probability of a searching party beinc organized next spring, to proceed overland to the proposed scene ot the melancholy occurrence, and make every investigation, both m the vicmity, and among the neighbouring tribes, for relics and documents. By this means we earnestly hope some certainty as to the fVite of our gallant countrymen will be obtained. Tlie feet that the last trace of their progress was a grave at Cape iviley, conveyed a melancholy portent which we were slow to IK3rceive till now, when no knowledge of intervening events mars the force of the touching contrast between the dead sailor, ten- derly laid in his quiet grave by his sorrowing comrades, and those very comrades themselves dying slowly on a distant shore, their last hours unsoothed, unattended, and their bones left to whiten m the sun and wind ! It is said sometimes that the age of mys- tery and romantic adventure is past-let those who utter the un hmking words study the details of arctic research within the last nine yeai^, and then decide, whether history or romance ever fiirnished any thing more heroically bravef more darkly ana his lollowers! 11' There is '> had be- 5se shores i painful ■ are the had the >assed at )f 1850? ere tliey ! at such that we er quar- lin, that iter, the agonies I to any ikful to y being 3d scene )n, both lies and jrtainty Jtained. a.t Cape slow to ts mars or, ten- d those e, their whiten )f mys- ;er the )in the >manco darkly anklia APPENDIX. liADY Franklin's Letter to the Lords of the Admiralty we only mention, in order to express — in common with the general number of those who have read it — our heartfelt respect and admiration for the noble woman by whom it was penned. We cannot but join in her indignant protest against the cold-hearted inconsistency by which — while a fine squadron was in full activity of search, and while additional provisions were sent out before the original term of absence had expired — those who, by their very ardour of inquiry, they professed to believe alive, were suddenly treated as dead, their names erased from the Navy List, their pay stopped, and their places filled ! Nor did this act derive any shade of excuse from time or circumstances. No discouraging report had been received; no expedition had lately returned unsuccessfully ; the latest accounts of the preceding autumn were full of hopeful anticipation from the results of sledge travelling during the ensuing spring. Surely common humanity might have suggested the suspension of the sentence of death until we heard what had been the success of this last efibrt ! The eloquent and earnest pleading of the letter will best speak for itself; and, though recent disclosures have sadly shown how fallacious were her fondly-cherished hopes, we gladly pub- lish it, feeling that such a tribute to the memory of the gallant dead, and such an evidence of noble-hearted energy and womanly devotedness in the living, should not be left without more en- during record than the pages of a newsjiaper. The following return to an address of the Hon. the House of Commons, dated March 17, 1854, (for ''copy of letter addressed by Lady Franklin to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated the 24th of February, 1854, in reference to their lordships' announcement in the London Gazette, of the 20th day of January, 1854, respecting the officers and crews of her Majesty's ships ; y i; l^l mi THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ' Erebus * and ' Terror,' and a copy of sn jh notice,") was published just two days before the ■cruel sentence of death pasi^ed on Sir John Franklin and his missing companions was intended to be carried out: — "NOTICE RESPECTING THE OFFICERS AND CREWS OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIPS 'EREBUS' AND 'TERROR.' " Admiralty, Jan. 19, 1854. " Notice is hereby given, that if intelligence be not received before the 31st March next of the officers and crews of her Majesty's ships 'Erebus' rud 'Terror' being alive, the names of the officers will be removed from the Naiy List, and they and the crews of those ships will be considered as having died in lier Majesty's service. The pay and Avages of the officers and crews of those ships will cease on the 31st day of March next j and all persons legally entitled, and qualifying themselves to claim the pay and wages then due, will be paid the same on apijlication to the Accountant-general of her Majesty's navy. " Security will be required in certain cases, for which special provision will be made. " By command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. ''W. A, B. HAMILTON, Secretary." The above notice was inserted in the London Gazette of Friday, Jan. 20, lb54. LETTER FROM LADY^ FRANKLIN TO THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY. 4, Spring Gardens, Feb. 21, 1854. My Lords, — In a letter which I had the honour to address to the First Lord of the Admiralty on the 20th of January, and which, at my request, he kindly forwarded to the Board, I expressed, in language of deep emotion, the feelings of pain and wonder to which your summary and unexpected sentence on my husband, Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin, and the officers and crews of the '-'Erebus" and "Terror," had given rise. You have been pleased to explain to me, in terms of which I cannot but acknowledge the courtesy, that it is for the con- ■N'ftiiience of winding up the accounts of tlitj iinuncial year, which closes on the 3Lst of March, that vou have fixed upon that mo- APPFNDIX. 121 iblished on Sir ;d to be HER 9, 1854. received of her lames of hey and died in !ers and ih next; elves to lame on lavy. L special niiralty. etart/," izette of SIGNERS 1, 1854. address January, Board, I 3aiu and e on my cers and which I bhe con- -r, which hat mo- ment for consigning 135 seamen in her Majesty's service simultaneously to the grave, unmindfid of the discordant fact, that her Majesty's ships on the other side of the Atlantic are now, and will be on the 31st of March next, preparing to dis- cover the abodes of these very men, considered as living beings, yet to be rescued. My lords, I make no vain complaints of the manner in which your lordships' intentions have been communicated to the pub- lic, distressing as it is to the feelings of the living, and little respectful as it has the semblance of being to the memory of those who, if they have " died in her Majesty's service," might have been deemed entitled to more regretful mention. All who are most deeply concerned in this announcement must be well aware, that nothing could be further from your lordships' inten- tions than to produce such an impression ; and we lose our pain- ful sense of the hard official language of your Gazette notice, in the severer shock which its meaning gives to those hopes and that reliance which we hove hitherto placed in you, as, under God, our sole help and refuge. Neither, perhaps, can we presume to complain that an ex- penditure, which cannot be proved to be lawfully due, should be suspended, even had there been no immediate exigencies of the public service, if such exist, to justify its withdrawal. I believe there are few among the representatives of the absent who have not felt that the Admiralty have acted liberally, kindly, and generously, in continuing, during years of uncertainty, the pay and wages, as if certain of their returning to claim their own. The search might have gone on though the payment was sus- pended, and none would have doubted that on the safe return, however distant, of the rightful claimants, those wages, so hardly won, would have been paid them to the full, and their right standing in her Majesty's navy restored to them, even though other brave men had been worthily promoted to fill their vacant places. It is not, then, of the retrenchment, but of the reason on which you have thought fit to base it, that we have cause to complain. Your lordships say, in your Gazette notice, that the officers and crews of the " Erebus" and " Terror" are, on the 31st of March next, to be considered as dead, if no intelligence arrive in the meantime to the contrary, your lordships being aware that the aiTJ v'al of any intelligence before that date is physically impossil -'e. We know, my lords, that this sentence cannot realize the doom 122 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. II ■■ : m : "I of its victims, whose possible return you are compelled for your own financial security to admit; that it is null as touching the fact can be connidered no evidence in a court of law, and leaves the truth, whatever it be, untouched. Yet does it sound on the public ear, and more deeply in the ear of many heart-anxious listeners, as the knell of departed hopes, the warning voice that tells us we are to prepare for the abandonment of those unhappy men to their fate. And if it be not so, and that your lordships have used this language only as a means of legalizing your financial measure, would that you had explained to us that the search now carrying on wouhl not be affected by it, but would be continued till its especial object was accomplished according to the expectations raised reasonably and inevitably by your lordships' own previous course of action. The special object of the present expedition was to search for the missing ships in that quarter of the Arctic Seas where they had not yet been looked for; it was recommended by a great majority of Arctic officers appointed to consider the question, who believed that my husband and his companions had passed that way, and were vet to be found alive. The expedition of 8ir Edward Belcher, founded on these con- clusions, was provisioned for a certain absence of three years, and only six months ago was re-provisioned for a longer period. It is not yet two years since the expedition sailed, and it has not yet accomplished its mission, nor been absent its expected term of service, nor can we obtain any information as to its proceedings till next autumn, nor perhaps then, unless a special messenger be sent for the purpose, nor shall we learn, perhaps, at that period, the total result of the explorations made or vet making. ^ These facts, so inaccordant with your lordships sentence ot death, are the ground of my hopes that that decree may not involve the fatal conclusion as to your intentions, to which, by a too inexorable reasoning, it would seem to lead. Yet m the meantime an unauthorized impression is produced, most dis- couraging and painful, tending directly to extinguish hope, to paralyse exertion, and even to suppress the expression of honest sentiment. I am under the necessity, in spite of my innate trust m your lord^^hips' iuKt'ce and compassion, of dealing with the Gazette notice as f found it, in its literal sense, and it must therefoi-e be my endeavour to prove in this letter why I cannot accept APPENDIX. 123 your lordships' sentence, but am compelled to record my respect- ful, but most earnest remonstrance and protest against it. The grounds on which it appears to me reasonable that my husband and his companions in the "Erebus" and "Terror'* sh'^'.dd not be considered dead, but living, are these : — First — Because no evidence has been discovered of any cata- strophe having befallen tliem. Secondly — Because the quarter of the Arctic Sea, where it is most probable that the missing parties would be found living, or their fate ascertained, has never yet, so far as we know, been explored; Sir Edward Belcher, when last heard of, having advanced only to the verge of the open sea to the noii;h-west, but without entering it ; and because the part thus indicated is one of the two courses pointed out to my husband in the Admiralty Instructions for him to follow, and also because it has been pronounced, after a thorough examination of the other course, that he could not have passed that way. Thirdly— Because within this unexamined region the resources for supporting life are probably abundant ; and. Fourthly— Because my husband and his officei-s steadily con- templated, and from the first provided for, a detention extenc.ling over an indefinite period, should difficulties occur to prevent their return at the time expected. I. And first, as to the absence of all signs of wreck or disaster. This negative evidence of the safety of the expedition has been gained in every part of the Arctic Sea which has yet been visited. Neither the bodies of men, nor parts of ships, timbers, spars, stores of any description, have been found, either afloat in the currents, or washed upon the shores. In Wellington Channel, where the missing ships are known to have been, nothing has been found (beyond the signs of their well-being at winter quarters) but some drift pine-wood, belonging to the forests of a milder climate to the north or west. The captains of .whaling shii)S, men the most experienced in such matters, concur in asserting that it is next to impossible that two ships like the " Erebus or " Terror" could be crush' ^nd destroyed, without any of their crews escaping, and wj^hout some traces of the disaster being found; and one of our most distinguished Arctic navigators has very recently declared, that he wa?; never more strongly of opinion than he is now, that it is 124 THE ARCTIC llEGIONS. m hi. f.i : i; f I' ' I utterly improbable that Franklin's ships, men and all, have been de.stroyed by any accident among the ice. 1 do not think it necessary to adduce any contrary opinions, because they appear to have been adopted rather as a last resort for the solu- tion of a so-called mystery, than from any indisputable data. There was a time, it is true, when it was somewhat unscru- pulously asserted that both the ships had been swallowed up in the ice in their passage across Baihn's JJr.y, during their first summer, and this opinion, which was utterly devoid of even the semblance of justification, obtained somedegree of credit till the discovery of their lirst winter quarters, on the other side of the supposed field of disaster, put a summary end to the gratuitous tale. And next we were assured that our brave navigators, whose high sense of duty had never been questioned before, had deliberately turned their backs upon the work before tiicm, after oidy one winter's absence, and been crushed, or had foundered on their way home. It would be presuming too mucli on your lordships' patience, to dwell on other absurd stories of murders, burnings, tfec, in- vented by the mendacious half-caste Esquimaux, Adam Beck, when he desired to put an end at once to the search, in order to get earlier back to the home he had been enticed to leave. But there is yet a more recent report, wliich, visionary as I am myself disposed to deem it on the authority of persons ex- perienced in Arctic visual phenomena, has been deemed other- wise than necessarily a delusive appearance by persons entitled to every respect. And yet I need not argue in addressing your lord- ships against this spectrcle of the supposed "Erebus" and "Terror" drifting away on the top of an iceberg from some unknown quarter to the banks of Newfoundland, since assuredly had your lordships bt'lieved it at the time the report reached England, which was in the .spring or summer of 1852, you Avould not have lost a moment in taking stejos to search the shores which those ships, if such they were, must have quitted, and where they must have left their human freight, still living, behind, since the spec- tators of the phenomenon affirm their conviction that there was not a living soul on board. And I am the more persuaded of tliis, since it was at this very period that I olfered for the Ad- miralty's acceptance, nay, entreated their acceptance of, my little vessel, the Isabel, equipped and provisioned for Arctic service, which had M\m into my hands after the failure of Mr. Bcutson'a expedition, and thus a search of the shores alluded to, at no APPENDIX. 125 '♦ further expense to her Majesty's government than the manning and ollicuriug of the little vessel, might have been eil'ected with- out a moment's delay. I could not myself, however, have been expected to submit to tlie particular attention of the board a search after these iceberg sliips, in whicli I had no faitli, especially in the quarter to which it would probably have been directed, namely, the coast cf Lt^ibrador. Nevertheless, if it should now be your lordshipiL, ])leasure to cause inquiries to be made by any of your returning ships on the coast of Labrador for the unfor- tunate people alive so late as 1851, and thus, as it is supjiosed, bereft of their lloating home and means of transport, I could not but regard the measure with grateful satisfaction, though I may humbly express my opinion, that it is not from the coast of Labrador that these supposed discovery ships could have drifted. But it is always an advance towards the undisputed settlement of our missing navigators' position, to know where they are not; and, indeed, I would really give heed to this, or any other not impossible conjecture which promotes search, if it were nut that, by so doing, efforts are diverted from the only course which I believe to be the right one. But before closing these observations on tht, '^bsence of all evidence of any fatal catastrophe h.aving happeneci uO the missing expedition, I am reminded of a passage in a desjjatch of Captain M'Clure, deposited on Melville Island, which has been exnltingly quoted by a writer in The Times, ii confirmation of his opinions to the contiary. Captain M'Clure siys, " It is my intention, if possible, to re- tvrrn to England this season, touching at Melville Island and Port Leopold, but should we not be again heard of, in all prO" bability we shall have been carried into the Polar pack, or to the westward of Melville Island, in either of which cases to attempt to send succour would only be to increase the evil, as any ship that enters the Polar pack must be inevitably crushed." And again he says, " A ship stands no chance of getting to the westward by entering the Polar Sea, the water alongshore being very narrow and wind contrary, and the pack impenetrable." The value of these remarks of Captain M'Clure is, I conceive, to be limited by his personal observation and experience. It is evident he was speaking of that portion of the Polar Sea with which he was himself acquainted, without noting the distinction which appears to have been recognised of late years, between the sea lying within fifteen degrees around the Pole and that section I 1'2G THE ARCTIC REGIONS. I e i. ft. H of it to tlie sonthwarfl, between tlie chain of the Parry Islands and the face of the American continent, vvliicli, in the earlier an- nals of Arctic discoveiy, was included in the g(Mieral name of Polar Sea, and is so called in the publinhed nairatives of my husband's overland expeditions. We have had no description of ice seen in those northern seas which I believe the missing ships to have entered, corresponding to that encountered by Captain M'Clure in the narrow channels and in tlio ice-clogged shores of Banks' Lnnd and Melville Island, where it is supposed to be caused by the prolongation of the laud westward toward Behriiig Strait. Dr. Scorcsby has justly ob- served, that had the chain terminated near the meridian of Mercy Bay, a far wider space of open water should have been observed tiiero after tiie southerly gale than seems to have occurred. It appears, therefore, not reasonable to draw any unfavourable con- clusion as to the safety of ships which entered a Polar Sea north of the chain of islands, from any appearances which come under the observation of Captain M'O^ure in his lower latitude and confined position. And this reasoning, as it atfects the safety of the " Erebus" and " Terror," will be the more readily admitted when it is remembered that the passage between Melville Island and Banks' Land, respecting which Captain M'Clure's observation was made, was expressly pointed out to Sir John Franklin in his instructions, to be avoided. It -.vas the only part of the Arctic seas which he was enjoined not to approach; and whatever, therefore, may be the nature of the ice within or near, the miss- ing expedition has assuredly avoided exposure to it. For this reason I have always been persuaded that there was no probabi- lity of the ships ever being found, or even retreating upon Winter Harbour, or any where on the south coast of Melville Island, which has been the object of so many attempts both from the east and from the west, and has become, in fact, in consequence of its halfway position, the rendezvous of the searching squadron. I may add that, though in that portion of the Polar Sea •which Captain M'Clure hr.d in his eye, he believes no ships could live, yet that, towards that other part of the Polar Sea, which I doubt not my husband entered, a little solitary vessel, of less than 150 tons, bearing the American flag, is now dauntlessly pursuing her way, undeterred by any conjectural dangers, but aiming to solve in some degree, in subordination to the higher obiect of hnmanitv. the fffiooratihical problem of what exists ftirther north tlian any discoverer has yet penetrated. APrr:Ki)ix. 127 TT. T have ventnretl to nial\e the asHcrtioii, that my hu.shar.d ami h'lH connMinioiis liave never yet Immjii looked for in that jjart ot tlitj Arctic seas, where a great probability exists that they woulil be found. By your lordships, who are acquainted with the proceedings of every successive expedition, of each division of the seurch, and of the results of the whole, this jjosition will hardly be disputed. To the j^reat majority of the public, who have heard of oiiC costly expedition after another, and believe that by this time the superficial area of Arctic waters must well nigh be swe2)t, it W(ndd appear a startling assertion difficult of acceptance. Yet it requires but a transient glance at the Folar chart, as it ap- pears with the very latest geogra[ihical acquisitions, to see that between the meridian of Wellington Channel and Behring Strait there lies a blank space, in which neither sea, nor coast, noi* island is laid down. It comprises about seventy degrees of longitude, or, if measured in the parallel of seventy-eight degrees (the most southerly which could apparently have been navigated by the discovery ships), between 800 and DOO miles. What disco- veries my husband may have made in this space he has not returned to tell ; no one has followed him there. And lest it should be objected that Inssumo too much in asserting that this must have been the course taken by the missing ships, allow me a few further explanations. It cannot be denied that the Admiralty instructions presented to my husband two routes by which to ender^'-our to effect a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The southern, by Barrow's Strait to the south-west, was recommended to him in ])refercnco, or in the first instance, and was the object of his own in-edilections, inasmuch as, if practicable, it would lead to the northern front of the American continent, already known to him by his ovAn and other surveys. But my husband anticipated that before arriving on these familiar shores, he would probably meet, in particular latitudes and longitudes which he pointed out, with insuperable obstacles, and accordingly his mind was greatly occupied before his departure with the alternative course, or northern passage, which was wholly new, and moreover extremely popular amongst his officers. It w^as anticipated with enthusiasm by Captain Fitzjames,the commander of the "Erebus," that be ships would descend from a high northern latitude upon the coast of Asia, and that he would be sent home with my husband's despatches through Siberia, 128 THE ARCTIC KEGIONS. ^ I m m, Mil 1,; ■ f One tiling I can affirm with certainty, tliat it was my La!*- , band's determination to try both routes before his return; and so strong was the feeling of interest and importance attached, as it was said, by the Vdmiralty themselves to that which led to the unknown northern waters, that a confident expectation existed that, even should the ships effect a passage into the Pacific by the southern coarse, they would, on their return to England, be despatched afresh on another voyage of discovery to report upon the high Polar region «. In confirmation of these facts, or of the inferences to be derived from them, we find the first winter quarters of the "Erebus" and "Terror" at the opening of Wellington Channel, where the northern route separates from the western one, and whence each could be watched with advantage. The passage westward was probably first tried, and found impracticable, as it afterwards proved to Sir J. Ross and Captain Austin, and thus with increased eagerness and solicitude would the commanders of the expedi- tion fix their attention upon the northern passage. It has been found that their sledge tracks were multiplied in this direction, and, at a look-out station commanding it, papers were picked up, showing that the watches were unremitting. Who can doubt that the same open water, seen by Captain Penny from the heights of Cape Spencer, verified afterwards by himself and his parties, when so early as the month of May the progress of their sledges was arrested by it — who can doubt that this open water was first seen by the observers of the "Erebus" and "Terror," and that the earliest disruption of the intervening barrier of ice was the signal for their departure from Beechey Island, accom- plished, as it evidently was, in haste, but without disorder ? All the conjectural dilTiculties and impediments which were brought before the Arctic committee contrary to this presumption, have been overthrown by the undeniable fact, that Sir Edward Belcher has since carried his ships in clear water up the same channel, even to the very verge of an expanse of sea to the north-west, to which he saw no limit, and which is all we require to com- plete the presumptive evidence. It has been wondered at and much deplored that no writings were found at the winter quarters on Beechey Island, to indicate to those who might come after them the course the ships were about to take. It appears to me that writings could scarcely have made it clearer ; but it may be that the suddenness and hurry of their departure caused the eager voyagers to neglect APPENDIX. 129 '» this precaution, or (which I think still more likely) that they left nothing behind them because they expected no one to follow. They were beyond the reach of the whalers, and consequently of all communication with England; were not contemplating dis- aster,^ but thinking only of progress; and looking rather to Behring Strait for succour if needed than to any thing in the rear. The answer made by my husband to the commander of the transport which left him at Disco, proves this fact. But, be the cause of the absence of records what it may, it is clear that all were alike influenced by it. Not au officer or a man in those two ships has deposited a line on the spot where he spent so many months of rest and leisure. It was not then to be expected that such documents were to be found higher up, at a greater distance from the winter settlement. None, I believe, have been found, nor any vestiges whatever, which seems to me so far from discouraging, that I do not see what more favourable evidence could be desired of their having passed without obstacle into the open sea, which retains no ship's track upon its bosom. There may be vestiges of their course, or rather of their second winter quarters, further on; but to this point they have not been followed. Tt seems to have been thought, until now, that one season was sufficient to overtake ships which may have been yeara striving to advance, till retreat, even if desired, was im- possible. On the negative evidence, in favour of my husband's having taken the northern pas ctge, a few words will suffice. It is un- necessary to enter minutely into the researches of each expedi- tion, esf)ecially as all, or almost all, had to go over the same ground before they could take a step in advance ; and as this ground was minutely examined by each party in succession, we had the discouraging rejiort of " no traces of Sir John Franklin" echoed and re-echoed, till it produced, I believe, upon the minds of many who were not aware of this explanatory fact, the pain- ful and delusive impression, that it was of no use looking any longer for those who were not any where to be found. ^ Tlie coasting expedition of Sir John Richardson between the rivers Coppermine and Mackenzie, tii-st proved that the ships he was seeking had not arrived on that part of the American coast, and consequently, as it might be inferred, on the coast further to the westward. Thus the examination of this closing portion of the south-western route narrowed the search, but it could not prove that my husband had not taken that I course h< il mr ffi THE AECTIC REGIONS. rested iu it by obstaeles in the nearer and earlier rortion of it. ™rconch,sion however, was at length obtained by a branch of cSriSrexpedition in 1851, ^^^^^^^^^^12 and Lientenant Osborne, advauemg beyond the 1™''^ °' F«"»'^ explorers examined on foot the coast which trends soathwarU be ™d the one hundredth degree of west longitnde, bemg the pr- ecise course pointed out to my husband .n h.s \"^\™;*-°%J not two ofacers came to the conclusion, not on., that he had not passed that way, but that there was no "^^''g^"';;';^""^^^ 'ships in that direction. There remained no °*er leasonable alternative but that the missing ships had P^«^«' "P )^ ^'^"8*°" Channel, which had always been little less probable than the other course, though as yet unexamined. if my owi steadfast convictions ^ to my husband s plan of action can give any additional force to the arguments I have al- ^ady adduced, my Arctic friends will bear witness to the an x- ["y 'l ht™ ever frit for the exploration of the route through and beyond Wellington Channel, from the earliest period. It was not however till the intelligence received from Sir James Ross, ^t he cTosetf 1848, showed L improbability o«ts coming wiA- in the sphere of his operations, that I T<=»*"«\,.*:/7 J^ at! Admira ty to make it a distinct ^^^V^'"}^'^ "}'i''fJ'^J}^'^'-^,< tention Failing to persuade them to allow the " Noith btai tCabout to be°despatchcd with supplies for Sir James Ross o remafn out for the examination of this strait, and fading also m my el^ours to equip a private ve..sel for the express purpose 7examini„g at leasl tL headlands of the c^-^^^^I X\he Dundee and asked Captain Penny if he %yould ""/'^'^ke the search in case that the Admiralty could be '»f .^^^ X^^'^t,^,^ services. His enthusiastic reply was followed (^te *<^ "i*"'^ of the sovemment expedition the same autumn, 1849) by hi^ :,bm ttTng Tis wishes U plans to the Hoard of Admiralty ami grateful indeed did I feel for their ultimate acceptance of his Srlosi and wll Captain Austin's nobly-appointed exped.- tZwas o'rgrized, it ap^red to me that both the south-western Z the northern iwtes lore now snr. to be ''""-oughy explored. It was not till then that I despatched my own little vessel, the "Prince Albert," into Regent Inlet (which --;»»; "-'^^^d in the instructions g-ento either expe.U^^^^^^^^^ that if the crews of the " Erebus and I error Imfi oeen . to abandon their ships on the south-western "»'«• f" ^^.^^t" yet i-norant which rouoo they had taken, they might retie^t to- APPENDIX. 131 n of it. •anch of manney previous fSiYd be- the pre- These had not nnel for ELSonable illington ,han the s plan of have al- bhe anx- 3ugh and It was nes Ross, incc with- plore the their at- •th Star," 3 Ross, to ig also in s purpose went to rtake the accept his he return 9) by his iralty, and ice of his id expedi- ;h-westem ' explored. Ltle vessel, t included ir the idea >een fovced )r we were retreat to- wards the perhaps nearer and well-known resources in that quarter, rather than upon the iiore distant and mora barren shores of North America. The " Prince Albert," in her way back, touched at Beecliey Island, and brought home in September, 1850, some small vestiges of the missing ships, which had been found on Cape Riley, and reported the traces of an encampment. It was the first gleam of light that had been shed on the expedition. A year elapsed, and then came accumulated and exuberant evi- dence of the winter quarters of the ships, and their prosperous condition at this spot up to the spring of 184G. But it was the searching ships themselves that brought home prematurely the news. The south-western coast had been explored in vain, but this northern one had not been attempted. Doubt even was thrown on the open water expanding to the north, which had been seen by Captain Penny; — that most important discovery which alone at this critical period saved the pioneers in the " Erebus'' and " Terror" from being consigned to destruction. But their doom was dela3''ed. In 1852, Sir Edward Belcher was sent out to make further researches in Wellington Channel, a,nd in the autumn of the same } ear the '• Prince Albert," touching again at Beechey Island, brought home the joyful intelligence that he had already passed up the channel in open water ; and a month later Captain Ingle- field arrived in the " Isabel," with the additional and satisfactory information that Sir Edward Belcher had not returned, and had, therefore, probably met with no obstacles. Both ships brought home despatches and letters, showing that additional supplies were urgently wanted, if the objects of Sir Edward Belcher and those of Captain Kellett to the west were not to be brought to a premature conclusion; and, accordingly, last summer large reinforcements were sent out in the " Phoenix" steamer, under Captain Inglefield, for the use of both branches of the squadron. 'When this officer left the depot at Beechey Island, on the 24th of Auixust last, it was known that Sir Edward Belcher had verified the existence of the open sea to the north and north- west, beyond Wellington Channel ; and it was also known that Captain Kellett had despatched a foot and sledge expedition, prepared for an absence of ninety days, across Melville Island to the north and north-west, with the view of exploring such portion of the northern shores of this laud us could bo elTcciud with the resources at command. m 132 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. n i f f 1 This exploi'ation, under the leadership of that most able and energetic officer, Commander M'Clintock, is one of the utmost importance, as being in the right direction; but, when Captain Inglefield sailed from Beechey Island its result was not known, the period not having elapsed for Captain M'Clintock's return. This is the latest intelligence we have from the Arctic regions, and this, alas I is the moment chosen by your lordships for pro- nouncing authoritatively on the fate of the absent. It is true that Captain Inglefield brought home also in the '' Phoenix" the news from another branch of the searching sqnad- ron of the discovery of the N.W, passage. It was great and wel- come tidings, of itself perhaps a sufficient compensation for all the pains and all the expenditure bestowed, with exclusive intention, as we have your lordships' authority for stating, on the other and still nobler cause of humanity. And yet the solution of the geographical problem appears to have sealed the doom of my unfortunate husband and his brave associates; of those without whose self-sacrifice for the same object, in the fulfilment of their duty, this geographical problem might never have been solved at all. The intelligence of tho N.W. passage was brought home in October last, and before the close of the year the removal of the names of the officers and crews of the "Erebus" and "Terror" was, if I am iiot misinformed, under deliberation, and was confidently announced in The Times, which paper, notwithstanding that your lordships assured me at the time that it had no authority for tho statements, proved to be the correct exponent of your lordships' sentiments. My lords, I cannot but feel that there will be a stain on tho page of the naval annals of England, when these two events, the discovery of the north-west passage, and the abandonment of Franklin and his companions, are recorded in indissoluble asso- ciation. It is with reluctance I have spoken of my own efforts, for the purpose of proving that from the beginning, and not recently only, and in consequence of the failure of expeditions in other parts, or from an insatiable desire for random explorations, have I urged upon your lordships the examination of tlie Northern Sea, its coasts and islands, between Wellington Channel and Behring Strait, or beyond, as the quarter where the missing ships and crews have yet to be looked for. The expedition of the " Isabel" screw-steamer, which, for two able and ) utmost Captain kuowii, return. 3 regions, ! for pro- in the ig squad- and wel- or all the ntention, ither and n of the n of my 1 without b of their n solved home in al of the ror" was, nfideutly ing that luthority of your 1 on tho 'ents, the iment of ible asso- ^, for the recently in other 3ns, have STorthern Quel and missing for two APPENDIX. 133 successive seasons, it has been my endeavour to send to Behring Strait, has had the same object in view, namely, that of enter- ing, though at the opposite extremity, this unexplored region, or, at least, of discovering a channel into it. Yet your lordships are well aware that it was only as, year after year, my entreaties that you Avould yourselves send effective steam- vessels to this quarter were unavailing, that I felt myself forced to resort to my own feeble resources. The expedition of the "Isabel" met with the most cordial support and ap] iroval from the president and many distinguished members of the Geographical Society, from the hydrographer of the Admiralty, and from many Arctic officers, including all those whose experience in Behring Strait gave them the best title to judge of its utility. I was assured by the latter, that if I could succeed in getting my little vessel to reach the field of search in season, her services might be valuable. Nor did your lordships, though declining to take the measures which were recommended to you at this period, refuse to help me in my own. Without your kind aid, or that of your prede- cessors in office in 1852, I could not have obtained possession of the vessel; without the facilities which last year you kindly gave me for her outfit, and especially without that valuable documenfc addressed to your officers in the Pacific, which seemed to promise all the aid that could be required in time of need, I could scarcely have ventured to send the "Isabel" to sea. My lords, I felt grateful for these benefits; yet, if I could have foreseen that on the first emergency, and when the greatest difficulties of the oatw^ard voyage were already jjassed, you would have denied the interpretation which, in the opinion of the com- mander-in-chief in the Pacific, it was capable of, and which would have enabled the " Isabel" to carry on her mission, it would have been a kinder thing to refuse me all. Much toil, anxiety, and money would then have been spared, and the vessel would not now be lying at Valparaiso, a monument of my own blighted efforts and of your unlooked-for desertion. I have purposely omitted, as in no way affecting the question of the necessity of such an expedition as that in which the " Isabel" has failed, the researches of the " Enterprise" and " Investigator,"' in their course eastward from Behring Strait to Melville Island. In this course, Captain M'Clure has been fortunate enough to find that much-desired link between previous discoveries on the east and on the west, which, like the keystone of the arch, binds* I 134 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. »' I Ih H /" \\ ^ the labour of former and present generations together. But as affects the fate of the missing expedition, his brilliant discovery leaves it untouched. Indeed it might have been confidently predicated of tliose ships, by those who knew the results of Captain Austin's expedition, which were unknown to their com- manders, that on the route the " Investigator" was taking, and in which the "Enterprise" appears to be following her, the missing navigators could never be found. Hundreds of miles and inter- vening land separate the courses north and south of the opposite navigation. III. ISTotwifchstanding, the experience of Captain M'Clure, during his voyage and long detention in the ice, is not devoid of important deductions. It proves that men may be absent in Arctic climes three or four years, and need not on that account be given up for lost — nay, that they may return in full health and vigour, thus adding new force to the remarkable fact, that the loss of life in the Arctic service, whether arising from casualty or disease, is less than in any other part of the globe where our navy is employed, in spite of all the hardships and dangers which necessarily attend it. To bring forward the unknown fate of the " Erebus" and " Terror" in opposition to this statement, would evidently be a begging of the question. Ra- ther may it be asserted, that justice has not been done to the favourable side of the argument. We know that Captain M'Clure was safe and well after nearly four years' endurance of icy imprisonment; that Sir John Ross, under much more unfavourable circumstances, and after a somewhat longer absence, returned home in safety to tell his fate; and that the four Russian sailors, thrown without resources of any kind upon the coast of Spitzbergen, were not liberated till after the lapse of between six and seven years. But shall it be affirmed in any of these cases, and especially in that of the Russian sailors, who endured the longest, and were yet found in health and good condition, that the moment of their liberation or rescue was the utmost term to which their existence would have been pro- longed? And yet such is the conclusion too often involved in the reasonings upon this subject ; and because at the end of seven or eight years the crews of the " Erebus" and "Ter»\>r" have not been rescued, or liberated, or heard of, tliey are considered to be dead ! Indeed I think this is a rash and unjustifiable conclusion, and that it would be more reasonable to argue, that if they could APPENDIX. 135 r live six or seven years, as the Russian sailors did, who wero still in health and vigour, they might live double that period or more. It will be said we do not know that they have lived seven years. No, my lords, but we know nothing to the contrary; and it may be that the reason we do not know they are living men is, because your messengers of mercy and deliverance have not been to the spot where alone the truth is to be found, for their voices cannot reach you across the waste of waters, and they are helpless to extricate themselves. Captain M'Clure was shut up in a position from which he could, by abandoning his ship, fall back upon an inhabited coast, or advance on foot to a depot of provisions of which he knew the existence at Port Leo- pold. Sir John Ross also was not so far distant from the fishing grounds of the whalers but that he could risk embarking in an open boat to reach them. The Russian sailors were on an island vis." .ed annually by ships; but the lost crews of the " Erebus" and " Terror" are presumed to be in a part of the Arctic seas where, having lost all locomotive power, they may hoist their signals of distress in vain. And if this be their position it may well move our deepest compassion, but it is not such as should lead us to despair of their prolonged existence. One of the most experienced of Arctic explorers has consoling- ly assured us, that life may be maintained in the ftirthest Arctic lar.ds under circumstances at first sight seemingly the most hopeless; and I believe the same accurate and philosophic observer has remarked liow readily nature accommodates herself to circumstances, and that the hardships and sufferings of the first years would be mitigated afterwards. But still fiirther. There are grounds for hope that in the higl' latitudes, where we believe our exiled navigators to be imprisoned, a dreary existence may be rendered more supportable by a climate of less intense severity, and by an increased abun- dance of natural resources. Even in the lower latitudes with which we are best acq\iainted, both sea and land are described, here and there, as " teeming with animal life ; " but as Dr. Kane remarks, " at the utmost limits of northern travel attained by man, hordes of animals of various kinds (including tiie ruminating ani- mals whose food is a vegetation) have been observed travelling still further north. Birds, of which such almost incredible num- bers are occasionally seen, take their flight northward, and the highest waters yet attained are freqnentedby the whale, the walrus, and the seal, which furnish not only food, but fuel and clothmg. 136 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. l^r 'I! The experience of Captain M'CU :e adds sometliing to the mass of facts we already possessed on this subject, for he found a large island where only a blank space exited on our charts before, abounding in game of the noblest description, and sup- porting a race of well-conditioned and contented Esquimaux, whose existence in that part had never been suspected. Why should not such another island, or more than one, be found in that northern space, the white pnper of the charts, of the nature of which we at home know nothing, though it may even now be the abode, and if not timely rescued by Divine or human interposition, may become the grave of our hapless country- men? Again, the experience of Captain M'Clure seems to add something also to our evidence in favour of a less inhospitable temperature in the north; for he tells us, though apparently without drawing any conclusion from the fact, tliat whenever the north wind blew it was warmer. Nor should it be forgotten, in enumerating the elements of a reasonable confidence in the prolonged existence of the absent voyagers, that they were most abundantly supplied with ammunition, and that, as Captain Penny has judiciously observed, they were all the more likely to be preserved in health, because they would have to seek their subsistence, and thus have their minds and bodies actively employed. ly. I shall not trouble your lordships by dwelling further on this head. My husband's conviction, that where Esquimaux can live, there also can Englishmen, with their superior intelli- gence and larger appliances, has been often quoted. But it is not so constantly remembered that Englishmen are also more provident than Esquimaux, and that at the very outset of his voyage, and while Captain Fitzjames was writing home, and so deep and heavily laden were the ships, that if they reached the Pacific that year some of the provisions must be thrown over- board for safety — while this sanguine officer was thus writing, my husband, than whom no one could know better what the day of need might require, was diligently adding to his already abundant stock, by mems of the guns of his shooting i)arties, and contemplating a detention of several years. The evidence of this latter fact, and of the early means he was taking to provide for it, is undeniable. The deposition of Captain Martin of the "Enterprise," whaling- V' f i APPENDIX. 137 sliip, who was for some time in compariy with the ""Erebus" and " Terror" in the middle ice of Baffin's Bay, was to this effect : that " Sir John assured him, in answer to questions put to him by- Captain Martin, that ' he had provisions for five years, and if it was necessary, he coukl make them spin out sc^^en;' moreover, that 'he would lose no opportunity of adding to his stock.' Other officers mad(3 the same declaration, stating also, that the ships would winter where they could find a convenient place, and in spring push out as far as possible, and so on, year after year." This " solemn declaration" of Captain Martin was made before the provost of Peterhead, who has assured me, as have also several other respectable inhabitants of that place, that he is a man of the strictest integrity, truthfulness, and accuracy. The declaration of Captain Walker, of the whale-ship "Union," who, at the time alluded to, was first mate of the " Enterprise," was also made before the provost of Peterhead, and was precisely to the same effect. Your lordships are aware that there are letters from the expe- dition, dated in Baffin's Bay, of like purport; that from Mr. Blenby, ice-master of tlie " Terror," to his wife, begging her to let no one dishearten her as to the length of their absence, which might be six or seven years, has been published. Mr. Blenby had shared the rude captivity of Sir John Ross in Regent Inlet, and knew how the long absent may be given up for lost, and yet return again to their homes and country. These last words of men o full of fiiith and hope, at a moment when they were about to quit the precincts of the known world to plunge into the unknown, seem to me a touching appeal to the long-enduring sympathy and untiring patience of their countrymen. And even if their hopes may be considered too high, or that they can be convicted of rashness in entering into those unknown seas (were not all the Arctic seas once unknown 1) without any harbours of refuge in advance, or any line of depots in their rear, without assurance of reinforcements or relief froni home, or any promise but that which their own heart-trust in their country and in you gave them of being looked after; even if this were rashness, is that a reason to abandon them? They went forth, my lords, at your bidding, and went to those seas, which you gave them liberty to explore; you gave them no restrictions, such as have abounded in the orders of those who have gone in search of them j they were not told to spare themselves, 138 THE ARCTIC EEQIONS. .' '"'If u W ' m ^^BUt^t',' : 11 ^ni 1 K ' not enjoined to run no risks, nor restricted in time, though their mission was evidently thought to be a much shorter and much easier matter tlian it has proved to be. Tliey were themselves prepared, however, to do a work of unknown difficulty and danger, and I well know were not prepared to return till they had spent themselves in its attainment. They have deserved, — surely, I may say, they have deserved of their country that she should ascertain their fate ! And I need not tell your lordships that to follow them whither they have gone is not to encounter the same dangers that they have done; I could not urge it if it were so. But with such vastly superior ships as you have now in the Arctic seas, pro- vided with powerful steam- machinery, and other ai)pliances, with the experience in sledge travelling which has been of late years acquired, and with those large precautionary measures as to depots in advance and in the rear, which you know so well how to devise, it could, I believe, be done with comparative safety. And, doubtless, it will one day be doiie. The most northern portion of our globe will not always be a terra incognita. When Arctic expeditions for the sake of the missing navigators have long ceased to be familiar to the public ear, and wars and rumours of wars have passed away, the interest in those geographical and other problems which were left unsolved in the year 1854, will again appear worthy of a great national effort for their solution; and then will arise, in touching association, the memory of the men who, in pursuit of this knowledge, and in obedience to their country's command, first penetrated into the fastnesses of the north and were left there to their fate. Perhaps it will be the wonder of that future generation that this should have been Jlone, or that any discoveries of cfreat scientific interest and importance should have been abandoned by the government at the conspicuous moment when it had at its disposal a fleet of in- vulnerable ships, fit, and fit alone, for Arctic service, and still afloat in Arcfic seas, and a host of trained and brave explorers, better disciplined for their work than ever, a combination such as was never seen before, and may never be seen again. Pardon me, my lords, that I express myself thus strongly. I would not appear ungrateful for what has been already done. When I look at that fleet of invulnerable ships, at that phalanx of gallant and devoted men in hard conflict with nature, yearn- ing for the distinction of saving their fellow men, and consider the generous expenditure and the boundless sympathy which APPENDIX. 139 have produced the noble spectacle, I pause, and for a moiuunt doubt whether I should luive written as I have dune. And yet it is still true that your noble work is incomplete, and that the glory which has hitherto iiivested it is about to set in clouds and darkness. It will remain an imperishable fact, that the search for these brave martyrs to their duty was given up, not because every part of the Arctic seas had been searched for them in vain, as it is too often asserted, but because you have not distinctly authorized, nor sufliciently enabled them to bo followed whei'e alone they are to be sought, with any probability of success. Any attempt to divert men's minds from this melancholy truth will, I am sure, eventually fail. It is to record my own dissent from sucli a fatal conclusion, and res[)ectfully to protest against the arbitrary decree you have announced, that I have just ventured to address you. Would that others who might prevail with you better than I can do, had rendered my hard task unnecessary ; that they could induce you to feel that the blessing of them who were ready to perish might yet be yours ! My advocacy must be weakened, perhaps even my facts sus- pected, because I am too deeply interested, and indeed in some respects my position is a false as well as painful one; for as I could not have dared to plead with you at all unless I had had a husband's life at stake for my excuse, so it may look as if for his sake alone I pleaded, and expected such great things to be done. There are some, I tnist, amongst those who share with me a common sorrow, who will not judge me thus; and all I think must feel that, had my humble endeavours met with any measure of success, it would have been for the good of the whole, as well as of him whose name has sometimes been too exclusively used as the representative of a corporate misfortune. As to the approbation or the censure to which any poor efforts on my part have been obnoxious, my heart has been too full, and is so still, to be either oppressed by the obloquy or elated by the praise. It remains for me only to thank your lordships for the communication you have been pleased to make to me, that the widows of those who are to be considered as having died in the service of their country, after the 31st of March next, will be en- titled to pensions, according to the existing regulations. Your lordships will scarcely require me to tell you, after what I have I 140 THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ''! written, that I do not feel it iu my power either to daim or to acce[)t a widow's pension. Be. ire conchidiug this long and painfnl letter allow me to express a hope that I have not now, nor at any time, abused the privilege which belongs to weakness and irresponsibility, or whicli has been accorded to nie by your generous indulgence; and if any hasty expression, such as I ouglit to have avoided, has escaped my pen, I entreat you to overlook it, as not intentionally disrespectful. — I have, &c,, (Signed) Jane Franklin. m TUE END. ii^ M'CORQUODALK AXD CO., PRINTERS, lOSDOS. WOllKS — NEWTON. iim or to >w rae to )used tho or wliicli nd if any 3 escaped utionally NKLIN. I ! il^d i 1, ', It MM r- .«s -•* ". f P: i rf-.-^ ^W^ * ^a*K^?'f 1#i^- .'.1*. h^J^Jmm'