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 ARCTIC ADVENTURE 
 
 BY SEA ANi:> LAND 
 
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ELTPHA KENT KANE. 
 Tlie American Arctic Discoverer 
 
,\K0T1(: IDYEiN'TURI 
 
 V SKA AND J.A.N D 
 
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 ARCTIC ADVENTURE 
 
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 BY SEA AND LAND 
 
 FROM 
 
 Clje (Bmlitst §ate k % fast tft|tbitioiis 
 
 IN S K A K C H OF 
 
 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 
 
 % 
 
 ?»,. 
 
 K 1) I T E D BY 
 
 EPES SARGENT. 
 
 
 - a. 
 
 # 
 
 ■^TVTTH :ma.i>s .A,jsrx:» iL3L.xJSTR,-A.rrioisrs. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & COMPANY. 
 
 LONDOIi : SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO. 
 
 U DCCC LVII. 
 
i-- 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year Eii!,'hteen Hundred and Fifty- 
 Seven, by EpES Sargent, in tiio Cleric's OlBce of the District Court of the United 
 States for the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 8t<7«ot7p«d hj 
 HOBART k ROBUINS, 
 
 RBW KfQLAKD VTPI AMD IITKBk fTTPB FO0NDKIIY, 
 BOBTOM. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 and Fifty- 
 he United 
 
 
 The interest in the history of Arctic adventure 
 created by the various expeditions in search of Sir 
 John FrankHn, has been wonderfully increased, of 
 late, by the deeply interesting narrative of Dr. Kane. 
 Presented to the public in two elegant volumes, and 
 embellished with some three hundred engravings 
 and wood-cuts, conveying new and striking illustra- 
 tions tf the characteristics of Arctic scenery, this 
 work is at once an honor to the American press and 
 to the much-lamented author, who exhibited the 
 rare union of those Cassar-like gifts which make 
 both the successful man of action and the skilful 
 historian. To Messrs. Childs & Peterson, of Phila- 
 delphia, the liberal publishers, we are indebted for 
 the wood-cuts which illustrate that chapter in the 
 present work devoted to Kane's expedition. 
 
 No one, we believe, can lay down Dr. Kane's 
 book, after perusal, without a strong desire to know 
 something more of Arctic adventure — something 
 of the preliminary parts of a history, of which his 
 volumes form the fascinating sequel. It has cer- 
 tainly been our fortune to hear this desire expressed 
 by many, and we have prepared the present work 
 to meet an actual demand. To the narratives of 
 Ross, Parry, Franklin, Beechey, Back, and other 
 explorers — to Sir John Barrow's abstract of Arctic 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 voyages — to the different publications on Arctic 
 subjects of the Messrs. Chambers, of Edinburgh, and 
 of Nelson & Sons, of London — to the British quar- 
 terly reviews, magazines, and journals — we have 
 been largely indebted ; in many instances adopting, 
 without alteration, the language in which events 
 are narrated. Still, with all our obligations, no 
 small amount of originfl labor and research has been 
 found necessary, in order to render our narrative 
 clear and complete. 
 
 It would be unjust if we did not mention, in this 
 connection, our indebtedness to Lieutenant Sherard 
 Osborn, the latest Arctic historian, who, in his 
 account of M'Clure's expedition, and of the discovery 
 of a north-west passage, has given us the record of 
 achievements the magnitude of which has been 
 hardly appreciated as yet. The world looked for 
 the denouement of a personal tragedy ; and turuF, 
 with comparative indifference, from the solution of 
 the great geographical problem of the last three 
 centuries. 
 
> :;» 
 
 TABLE I E CONTENTS. 
 
 .1 .■<:*. 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER I. pAcs 
 
 THE ARCTIC OCEAN. — THE NORTHMEN. — THE CABOTS. — THE CORTE- 
 REAL9. — SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBV. — FROBISHEU. — SIR HUMPHRET 
 'lILBRnr. — DAVIS. — BARENTZ. — HUDSON. — BAFFIN 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. ' #' 
 
 RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS. — DESHNEFF. — LAPTEFF. — BEHBING. — 
 
 8CHALAR0FF. — VON WRANGELL, 44 
 
 CHAPTERIII. "" 
 
 BEARNE — PHIPPS. — COOK. — MACKENZIE. — SIR JOHN ROSS'S FIRST 
 
 VOYAGE. — BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN, 60 
 
 '"' CHAPTER IV. ' ' '^ ' 
 
 •PAilRY'S FIRST VOYAGE, 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 franklin's FIRST LAND EXPEDITION, 07 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 parry's SECOND VOYAGE. — PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE, 109 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LYON's voyage. — BEECHEY'S VOYAGE. — FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND 
 
 EXPEDITION, 127 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SCORESBY. — CLAVERINQ. — PARRY's POLAR -VOYAGE, . 140 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 sir JOHN Ross's second voyage, 160 
 
Vm TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 A P T E R X . PAOB 
 
 back's LAWD expedition. - ACK'S TOYAaF IW THE TERROR. — 
 DRARU AND HIMPSON 181 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 BAE's PIRST LAVD EXPED'.TION. — sin JOHN FRANKLIW'S LAST VOYAGE, 211 
 
 ' CHAPTER XII. 
 
 EXPEDITIONS SENT IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN. — KELLETT AND MOORE. 
 
 — RICHARDSON AND RAE. — SIR J. C. ROSS, 22U 
 
 CHAPTERXIII. 
 
 OPINIONS AS TO THE FATE OF FRANKLIN. — EXPEDITIONS SENT OUT IN 
 
 1860. MEKTINO IN THE ARCTIC SEAS. THE PRINCE ALBERT'S 
 
 VOYAGE. — TRACES OF FRANKLIN. — AUSTIN'S SQUADRON, .... 250 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. ., 
 
 FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE EXPEDITIONS. — SIR JOHN ROSS. — 
 
 PENNY. GRINNELL EXPEDITION, 285 
 
 CHAPTER XV. I < 
 
 KENNEDY'S VOYAGE IX THE PRINCE ALBERT. — RAE'S JOURNEY IN 
 
 1851, 314 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DEPARTURE OP BELCHER's EXPEDITION. — INGLEFIELD's VOYAGE. — 
 THREE MORE EXPEDITIONS FITTED OUT. — m'cLURe's VOYAGE. — 
 DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE, 340 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE RESOLUTE AND INTREPID. — m'cLURE's ADVENTURES CONTINUED. 
 
 — VOYAGE OP THE PHfENIX, 386 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 belcher's squadron. — vessels ABANDONED. — THE Pn(ENIX AND 
 TALBOT. — COLLINSON. — RAE'S DISCOVERIES. — ANDERSON'S JOUR- 
 NEY, 403 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION, 424 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 EARTSTEIN'S VOYAGE. — THE RESOLUTE FOUND BY AN AMERICAN 
 
 WHALER. — HER RESTORATION, 461 
 
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TECHNICAL TERMS 
 
 PECULIAR TO THE NAVIGATION AMONG ICE. 
 
 Bay-ice. — Ice newly formed upon the surface of the sea. The expres- 
 sion is, however, applied also to ice a foot or two in thickness. 
 
 B^aET. — The situation of a ship when closely surrounded by ice. 
 
 BiGiiT. — An indentation in a floe of ice, like a bay, by which name 
 it is sometimes called. 
 
 Blink. — A peculiar brightness in the atmosphere, often assuming an 
 arch-like form, which is generally perceptible over ice or land cov- 
 ered with SHOW. The blink of land, as Avell aa that over large quan- 
 tities of ice, is usually of a yellowish cast. 
 
 Bore. — The operation of "boring" through loose ice consists in 
 entering it under a press of sail, and forcing the ship through by 
 separating the masses. 
 
 Brash. — Ice broken up into small fragments. 
 
 Cache. — Literally a hiding-place. The places of deposit of provision 
 in Arctic travel are so called. 
 
 Calf. — A mass of ice lying under a floe near its margin, and, when 
 disengaged from that position, rising with violence to the surface of 
 the water. — See Tongue. 
 
 Crow's Nest. — A small circular house, like a cask, fixed at the mast- 
 head, in which the look-out man sits, either to guide the ship through 
 the ice, or to give notice of whales. 
 
 Dock. — In a floe may be natural or artificial : the former being simply 
 a small " bight," in which a ship is placed to secure her from the 
 danger of external pressure ; and the latter, a square space cut out 
 with saws for a similar purpose. 
 
 Field. — A sheet of ice generally of great thickness, and of too great 
 extent to be seen over from a ship's masthead. 
 
 Fiord. — An abrupt opening in the coast-line admitting the sea. 
 
 Floe. — The same as a field, except that its extent can be distinguished 
 from a ship's masthead. A " bay-floe " is a floe of ice newly formed. 
 
 Floe-piece. — An expression generally applied to small pieces of floes, 
 not more than a furlong square. 
 
 Glacier. — A mass of ice derived from the atmosphere, sometimes 
 abutting on the sea. 
 
 Hummock. — A mass of ice rising to a considerable height above the 
 
X 
 
 TECHNICAL TERMS. 
 
 iC 
 
 ii 
 
 general level of a floe, and forming a part of it. Hummocks are 
 originally raised by the pressure of floes against each other. 
 
 Ice-anchor. — A hooli or grapnel adapted to take hold upon ice. 
 
 Ice-belt. — A continued margin of ice, which, in high northern lati- 
 tudes, adheres to the coast above the ordinary level of the sea. 
 
 Iceberg. — A large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier. 
 
 Ice-foot. — The Danish name of the limited ice-belt of the more 
 southern coast. 
 
 Land-ice. — Ice attached to the land, either in floes or in heavy 
 grounded masses lying near the shore. 
 
 Lane of Water. — A narrow channel among the masses of ice, through 
 which a boat or ship may pass. 
 
 Lead. — A channel through the ice. A ship is said to " take the right 
 lead " when she follows a channel conducting her into a more navi- 
 gable sea, and vice versa. 
 
 Nipped. — The situation of a ship when forcibly pressed by ice on 
 both sides. 
 
 Pack, — A large body of ice, consisting of separate masses, lying close 
 together, and whose extent cannot be seen. 
 
 Pancake-ice. — Newly-formed ice, assuming the peculiar conformation 
 of numberless patches of " sludge," and giving the surface of the 
 sea the appearance of a handsome pavement. 
 
 Patch of Ice. — The same as a pack, but of small dimensions. 
 
 Pemmican. — Meat cured, pulverized, and mixed with fat, containing 
 much nutriment in a small compass. 
 
 Sailing-ice. — Ice of which the masses are so much separated as to 
 allow a ship to sail among them. 
 
 Sludge. — Ice of the consistence of thick honey, offering little impedi- 
 ment to a ship while in this state, but greatly favoring the formation 
 of a "bay-floe." 
 
 Stream. — A long and narrow, but generally continuous, collection of 
 loose ice. 
 
 Tongue. — A mass of ice projecting under water from an iceberg or 
 floe, and generally distinguishable at a considerable depth of smooth 
 water. It differs from a " calf " in being fixed to, or a part of, the 
 larger body. 
 
 Tracking. — Towing along a margin of ice. 
 
 Water-sky. — A dark appearance in the sky, indicating " clear water " 
 in that direction, and forming a striking contrast with the *' blink " 
 over land or ice. 
 
 YouNQ-iCE. — Nearly the same as " bay-ice," but generally applied to 
 ice more recently formed than the latter. 
 
 II 
 
■iTl* 
 
 AECTIC ADVENTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ASPECTS OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. — PHENOMENA. — THE ARCTIC OCEAN. — 
 
 EARLIEST EXPLORERS. THE NORTHMEN. THE CABOTS. THE CORTE- 
 
 REALS. — SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY. — FROBISHER. — SIR HUMPHREY aiL- 
 BERT. — DAVIS. — BARENTZ. — HUDSON. BAFFIN. 
 
 The varied physical aspect of the globe oflfers as 
 much to charm or awe the eye of man as to minister 
 to his comfort and well-being. From the glowing heat 
 and gorgeous vegetation of the torrid zone, we move 
 through all gradations of climate and feature, to the 
 frigid regions of either pole, where perpetual ice and a 
 depressed temperature present an extraordinary con- 
 trast to the lands of the sun : from intensest heat we 
 pass to intensest cold ; from the sandy deserts of the 
 south to the icy deserts of the north. Yet there is as 
 much in the frozen zone to impress and elevate the mind 
 of the beholder as in the countries where nature dis- 
 plays herself in rich and exuberant loveliness. 
 
 Beyond the seventieth degree of latitude not a tree 
 meets the eye, wearied with the white waste of snow ; 
 forests, woods, even shrubs, have disappeared, and given 
 place to a few lichens and creeping woody plants, which 
 scantily clothe the indurated soil. Still, in the furthest 
 north, nature claims her birthright of beauty ; and in 
 the brief and rapid summer she brings forth numerous 
 
i 
 
 A 
 
 
 12 
 
 ARCTIC PHENOMENA. 
 
 Howers and grasses to bloom for a few days, until again 
 blasted by the swiftly-recurring winter. 
 
 In these regions certain mysterious phenomena exhibit 
 their most powerful cfl'ects. Here is the point of attrac- 
 tion of the compass needle ; and h*:^!" tlie dipping nee- 
 dle, which lies horizontal at the equator, points straight 
 downwards. Slowly, in its cycle of nearly two thou- 
 sand years, this centre or pole of magnetic attraction 
 revolves in obedience to laws as yet unknown. Two 
 degrees further toward the north is situated the pole 
 of cold — a my^vorj like the former to science, but 
 equally inciting to curiosity. If induction may be 
 trusted, the pole of the earth is less cold than the lati- 
 tudes fifteen degrees below it. 
 
 Round the shores and seas of the arctic regions ice 
 over accumulates : a circle of two thousand miles' diam- 
 eter is occupied by frozen fields and floes of vast extent, 
 or piled high with hugest forms, awful yet fantastic as 
 a dreamer's fancy. Mountain masses — 
 
 " Whose blocks of sapphire seem to mortal eye 
 Hewn from cerulean quarries in the sky. 
 With glacier battlements that crowd the spheres, 
 The slow creation of six thousand ^ears. 
 Amidst immensity they tower sublime, ^ 
 
 Winter's eternal palace, built by Time." 
 
 Here the months are divided into long periods of day- 
 light and darkness : for many weeks the sun sinks not 
 below the horizon ; for three dreary months he appears 
 not above it — 
 
 " And morning comes, but comes not clad in light ; 
 Uprisen day is but a paler night." 
 
 But, in the absence of the great luminary, the vivid 
 coruscations of the aurora borealis illuminate the wintry 
 landscape, streaming across the skies in broad sheets of 
 
 L 
 
THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 
 
 1^ 
 
 c 
 
 light, flashing in multi-colored rays, or quivering in 
 faint and feathery scintillations — a light that takes 
 away the irksoraenoss of gloom, and makes the long 
 night wondrous. 
 
 The desolate grandeur of the scene is in many parts 
 increased by the entire absence of animated nature ; in 
 others the dearth of vegetation is compensated by 
 superabundance of animal life. Wrangell tells us that 
 "countless herds of reindeer, elks, black bears, foxes, 
 sables, and gray squirrels, fill the upland forests ; stone 
 foxes and wolves roam over the low grounds. Enor- 
 mous flights of swans, geese, and ducks, arrive in 
 spring, and seek deserts where they may moult and build 
 their nests in safety. Eagles, owls, and gulls, pursue 
 their prey along the sea-coast ; ptarmigan run in troops 
 among the bushes ; little snipes are busy along the 
 brooks and in the morasses ; the social crows seek the 
 neighborhood of men's habitations ; and when the sun 
 shines in spring, one may even sometimes hear the 
 cheerful note of the finch, and in autumn that of the 
 thrush." 
 
 "Tliere is," as observed by Lieutenant-Colonel Sa- 
 bine, "a striking resemblance in the configuration of 
 the northern coasts of the continents of Asia and Amer- 
 ica for several hundred miles on either side of Behring's 
 Strait ; the general direction of the coast is the same in 
 both continents, the latitude is nearly the same, and 
 each has its attendant group of islands to the north : 
 the Asiatic continent, those usually known as the New 
 Siberian Islands ; and the American, those called by 
 Sir Edward Parry the North Georgian Group, and since 
 fitly named, from their discoverer, the Parry Islands. 
 The resemblance includes the islands also, both in gen- 
 eral character and latitude." /-■ ' ' ^ - 
 
 With respect to the Arctic Ocean, a late writer ex- 
 2 
 
14 
 
 THE NORTHMEN. 
 
 
 plains : " We may view this great polar sea as enclosed 
 within a circle whose diameter is 40°, or two thousand 
 four hundred geographical miles, and circumference 
 seven thousand two hundred miles. On the Asiatic 
 side of this sea are Nova Zembla and the New Siberian 
 Islands, each extending to about the IGth degree of 
 latitude. On the European and American sides are 
 Spitzbergen, extending to about 80°, and a part of Old 
 Greenland, whose northern extremity is yet unknown. 
 Facing America is the large island washed by Regent's 
 Inlet, Parry's or Melville's Islands, with some others, in 
 latitude 10° to 76°, and beyond these nothing is known 
 of any other land or islands ; and if we may form an 
 opinion, by inspecting the general chart of the earth, it 
 would be that no islands exist which could in any shape 
 obstruct navigation." It is to these regions, and the 
 labors of which they have been the scene, that we have 
 for a short period to direct our attention. 
 
 The history of Arctic explorations properly begins at 
 a period earlier by several centuries than is generally 
 believed. Careful researches promoted and carried on 
 of late years by the Society of Northern Antiquaries 
 of Copenhagen, and others interested in the subject, 
 have established the fact, that Newfoundland, Green- 
 land, and several parts of the American coast, were 
 visited by the Scandinavians — the Northmen and Sea- 
 Kings of old — in the ninth and tenth centuries. While 
 Alfred was engaged in expelling the Danes from Eng- 
 land, and bestowing the rudiments of civilization on his 
 country, and Charles the Bald was defending his king- 
 dom against a host of competitors, the daring sea-rovers 
 were forming settlements in Iceland. 
 
 One hundred and twenty-five years later, a. d. 1000, 
 Leif Erickson, as many antiquarians believe, led the 
 way to the westward, and landed on the shores of Mas- 
 
THE NORTHMEN. 
 
 15 
 
 sachusetts, naming the country Vinland, from the wild 
 vines which grew in the woods. These adventurers 
 made their way also to a high northern latitude, and set 
 up stones, car\ ad with Runic inscriptions, with the date 
 1135, on Women's Islands — in latitude 12° 55' — Baf- 
 fin's Bay, where they were discovered in 1824. The 
 colonists on the eastern coast of this great bay made 
 regular trips to Lancaster Sound and part of Barrow'L 
 Strait, in pursuit offish " more than six centuries before 
 the adventurous voyage of Parry," and carried on a 
 trade with the settlers in Markland, as Nova Scotia was 
 then called. Their numbers must have been considera- 
 ble, for in Greenland there were three hundred home- 
 steads or villages, and twenty churches and convents. 
 They kept up intercourse with Europe until 1406, when 
 it was interrupted by extraordinary accumulations of 
 ice upon their coasts ; and though the Danish govern- 
 ment has made repeated attempts to ascertain their fate, 
 it still remains in doubt ; the supposition is, that all 
 have perished from privation or violence of the natives. 
 Spitzbergen, too, contained numerous colonists : graves 
 are frequently met with on its shores ; in one place Cap- 
 tain Buchan saw several thousands, the corpses of some 
 of them as fresh as when first interred, preserved by 
 the rigor of the climate. 
 
 These early explorers were unable to take full advan- 
 tage of their American discoveries ; this was reserved 
 for a later period. " Intervening," observes Humboldt, 
 "between two different stages of cultivation, the 
 fifteenth century forms a transition epoch, belonging at 
 once to the middle ages and to the commen 3ement of 
 modern times. It is the epoch of the greatest discov- 
 eries in geographical space, comprising almost all de- 
 grees of latitude, and almost every gradation of elevation 
 of the earth's surface. To the inhabitants of Europe it 
 
y 
 
 ni 
 
 16 
 
 THE CABOTS. — THE CORTEREALS. 
 
 
 doubled t?ie works of creation, while at the same time 
 it offered to the intollcct now and poworiul incitements 
 to the improvement of the natural sciences in their 
 physical an I mathematical departments." 
 
 As we approach the period liere referred to, we find a 
 new spirit at work ; no longer the boisterous advr/itnrous- 
 ness of the Northmen, but an earnest spirit of enterprise. 
 In 1380, the Zeni, two Venetian navigators, voyaged into 
 the north, ignorant of the fact that the Scajidinavians 
 had preceded them by three centuries, and brought liomo 
 accounts of the countries they had seen. In 1497, dur- 
 ing the reign of Henry VII., Britisli enterprise was first 
 directed to a region in wliich it has been subsequently 
 developed to a degree without example ; and Cabot, or 
 Cabota, the vounger, landed at Labrador eighteen months 
 before Columbus saw the mainland of tropical America. 
 He contemplated also a voyage to the pole, and sailed 
 up to 61^° of north latitude. It was thought scarcely 
 possible that the newly-discovered continent stretched 
 so far from north to south without a single opening to the 
 westward, and the search for this became the prime 
 object with mercantile adventurers, who hoped to find a 
 way to the rich and gorgeous countries lying beyond. 
 
 In the year 1500, Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, 
 animated with the desire to emulate Columbus in mak- 
 ing discoveries in the western world, set sail for that 
 part of the globe, and reached the latitude of 50° north, 
 whence he appears to have run as far as 60°. The 
 account given of his voyage is very vague. After en- 
 trapping on board no less that fifty-seven of the natives 
 of the western continent, there can be very little doubt 
 for the purpose of making them slaves, he returned to 
 Portugal, carrying them away with him. He arrived at 
 Lisbon on the 8th of October, 1501. He sailed again 
 the next season with two vessels, when, in entering a 
 
THE CORTEREALS. 
 
 w 
 
 strait, supposed to be that known since as IIudKSon's, 
 the ships were separated by a storm. One of thorn 
 returned home in sal'oty, but, as if it were a retribution 
 for his kidnapping the unfortunate aborigines of tiie 
 country on his previous voyage, neither (jaspar Corte- 
 real nor his crew returned again, nor could the slightest 
 trace of their fate ever be discovered, Caspar Corte- 
 real had a brother named Miguel, who was much at- 
 tached to him, and full of the same spirit of enterprise ; 
 — he determined to set out in search of Gaspar. 
 
 In the early part of the spring of 1502, Miguel sailed 
 from Lisbon with three vessels. On reaching the nu- 
 merous straits and islets about Hudson's Ba;- the ships 
 separated with the intention of exploring each of them 
 a particular inlet. This was an impolitic measure, as 
 their union would have enabled them to give each other 
 aid in case of distress, or to bring off the crew, should 
 either of them chance to be shipwrecked on any of the 
 numerous islands, either rock or ice, which abound in 
 that dangerous navigation. The result was an unfortu- 
 nate one. Two of the ships met at the point of rendez- 
 vous, and returned home in safety. The third, with 
 Miguel Cortereal on board, shared the melancholy fate 
 of the navigators of whom it had gone from Portugal 
 expressly to get tidings, — it never returned. The 
 place where it perished, whether by storm, rock, ice, or 
 famine, was never known. The two vessels which were 
 so fortunate as to reach Lisbon reported the disaster, 
 in addition to that which had been previously known. 
 There yet remained a third brother, Vasco, who endeav- 
 ored to obtain leave of the king to set out and try to dis- 
 cover his two absent brothers. The king refused him 
 permission, upon the ground that the loss of two out of 
 such an adventurous family was much greater than he 
 
 could afibi I to sustain, in servants so enthusiastic and 
 
 2# 
 
IS 
 
 SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY — FROBISHER. 
 
 noble-minded. Thus died the brothers Cortereal ; and 
 this is all that is known of their fate to the present hour. 
 Sir Hugh VVilloughby was sent out by the Muscovy 
 Company with two ships to find a north-east passage 
 " to Kathay and India ; " and pushed liis way as far as 
 Nova Zembla, from whence, being stopped by ice, he 
 returned to a lower latitude, and in September, 1553, put 
 in at the mouth of the river Arzina, in Lapland. A mel- 
 ancholy interest attended this event, little anticipated 
 by the unfortunate leader when he wrote in his journal 
 
 — " Thus remaining in this haven the space of a weeke, 
 seeing the ycare farre spent, and also very evill wether 
 
 — as frost, snowo, and haile, as though it had beene the 
 deepe of winter, wee thought it best to winter there. '* 
 The dreary season passed away, and in the following* 
 year some Russian fishermen found Sir Hugh and his 
 crew all frozen to death. The other vessel, commanded 
 by Richard Chancelor, reached Archangel, and opened 
 the way for commercial intercourse with Russia. 
 
 Next in importance are the three voyages by Fro- 
 bisher, in 1576-78. He discovered the entrance to Hud- 
 son's Strait, and explored tliat still known as Fro- 
 bisher's, but failed in penetrating to the westward. 
 Great hopes were excited by some lumps of yellow glis- 
 tening ore v/hich he brought home, and in his later 
 voyages gold-mines werp not less to be searched for 
 than the north-west passage. The study of natural 
 phenomena was not, however, altogether lost sight of, 
 as appears by a passage from the instructions issued 
 under the authority of Elizabeth for the gallant seaman's 
 guidance. " Yf yt be possible," so runs the oflBcial 
 document, " you shall leave some persons to winter in 
 the straight, giving the i instructions how they may 
 observe the nature of the ayre and state of the coun- 
 trie, and what tyme of the yeare the straight is most free 
 
SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 
 
 19 
 
 IVom yce ; with who you shall leave • suflRcient prepara- 
 tion of victiialls iind weapons, and also a pynnas, with 
 a carpenter, and tliyngs nccessarie, so well as may be." 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert's expedition to colonize New- 
 foundland soon followed. This naval commander was 
 distinguished for his intellectual acquirements, his 
 courage, and bold actions. He was nc^arly related to 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1518, he obtained full power 
 from Queen Elizabeth to undertake a voyage of discov- 
 ery on the continent of America, and to settle such 
 parts as no Christian prince or his subjects could claim 
 from previous possession. A discourse, written by him, 
 and creditable to his talents, upon the practicability of 
 a north-west passage, is extant in Ilakluyt. 
 
 In 1583, Sir Humphrey left England, on his second 
 voyage, with five ships, sailing out of Plymouth Sound 
 on the 11th of Juno. On the 30th, four vessels 
 were in sight of Newfoundland ; one of the ships, com- 
 manded by Captain Butler, and the property of Sir 
 Walter, then Mr. Raleigh, having returned home on 
 account of a contagious disorder breaking out on board. 
 On the 3d of August they landed in Newfoundland, 
 and took possession of the harbor of St. John's, in the 
 name of the Queen of England. A discovery was made 
 at the same time of a supposed silver-mine, by a Saxon 
 miner, brought out on purpose in the squadron. The 
 vessels remaining with Sir Humphrey at this time were 
 the Delight, Golden Hinde, Swallow, and Squirrel. The 
 largest vessel was but one hundred and twenty tons, 
 while the smallest was only ten. The Swallow was 
 sent home with the sick. Sir Humphrey then embarked 
 in the Squirrel, of ten tons. 
 
 Sir Humphrey left the harbor of St. John's on 
 the 20th of August. On the 2tth, he was in lati- 
 tude 44*', with fair weather. On the 29th, a storm 
 
20 
 
 SIR irUMPHIvfiY GILBERT. 
 
 arose, and the Delight, tho largest vessel of the 
 squadron, was lost. Sixtcsen only made their escape in 
 the boat. The lirst appeaniiice of change was j. denae 
 fog, which enveloped the ships, followed by a gale of 
 wind, south by east. They could not see beyond the 
 head of the vessel. The (jfolden Jlinde, all of a sudden, 
 got entangled among rocks and shoals. The Delight 
 beat still further in among them. Finding the sound- 
 ings constantly varied, a signal was made to the Delight, 
 by the Golden Ilinde, to stand out, but it remained 
 unnoticed. She sooa afterwards struck on a ..uoal, and 
 her stern was quickly beat to pieces. This was a fatal 
 blow to the prospects of Sir IIumi)lirey. 
 
 The Golden Ilinde and Squirrel, all now left of the 
 five ships which originally set sail from Plymouth, stood 
 east by south. The water shoaled, and then deepened 
 from four to seven fathoms, and then shoaled to four or 
 five again, with a very high sea. M the time the De- 
 light went on the rocks, her boat was afloat at the 
 stern, it having fortunately been hoisted out tho day 
 before, when the weather was fine, to ]»ick up some 
 birds which had been shot. Into this boat a part of the 
 crew were, by great exertion, enabled to get, and to 
 pick up others. The captain and a hundred of the crew 
 perished with the ship ; and besides the Saxon before 
 mentioned, who said he had discovered the silver ore, a 
 learned man from Buda, in Hungary, called Budaeus on 
 board, bui whose name was Stephen Parmenius, who 
 had written a Latin poem in praise of Sir Humphrey, 
 and had gone out to write an account of the voyage, 
 and what he saw, in the Latin tongue, was among the 
 sufierers. 
 
 The bearing of Captain Browne, who had been trans- 
 ferred frori the Swallow into the Delight, was, upon this 
 occasion, of the most heroic character. When the fate 
 
Sni HUMl'IIREY fJILBKKT. 
 
 21 
 
 of tho vessel was seen to bo inevitable, he was advised 
 to save himself by tho boat, or, at least, to make the 
 attempt. JIc spurned tho counsel, refusing" to set the 
 example of desertin*; the ship and abandoning the larger 
 portion of the crew, who could have no hope of escape. 
 Tie continued to the last to exhort those on board not 
 to give way to despair ; and firndy upon the deck of 
 his vessel he awaited, with magnanimous resignation, 
 the termination of the catastrophe. He could not endure 
 the apprehension of a rei)roach for leaving his ship, 
 even when hope was extinguished. The master, named 
 Richard Clarke, was one of those preserved in the boat. 
 
 During two days, in this destitute situation, and 
 without provisions of any kind, they drifted before the 
 tempest. It was feared the boat could not live much 
 longer in such a sea unless lightened, and one of the 
 party, by name Ileadley, proposed that lots should be 
 drawn, and those who drew the four shortest of the 
 number should be thrown overboard. Thus a better 
 chance would be afforded to the survivors of keeping 
 afloat and reachin<^ land. The master nobly answered, 
 "No, we will all live or die in company!" The con- 
 duct both of the captain and master of this vessel 
 exhibited tluit striking heroism to which bravery in tho 
 field of battle is but secondary. 
 
 The third and fourth day passed over the heads of 
 these unfortunate men without sustenance. They picked 
 up the weed borne on the surface of the foaming waves 
 around them, and eagerly devoured it, drinking the 
 sea-water. Their strength was rapidly leaving them, 
 and death, in its most fearful form, was before them. 
 The man called Headlcy, and another, died on the fifth 
 day. All wished it would please God to take them out 
 of their misery. Since they had left the ship, the sun 
 had been but once visible. All the nights but one had 
 
22 
 
 SIR HUxMPHREY GILBERT. 
 
 
 been starless, so that the darkness augmented their 
 sufferings. They were all, except the master, Richard 
 Clarke, praying for death. On the sixth day after the 
 wreck, Clarke, calm and collected, still endeavored to 
 comfort them with the hope of soon making the land. 
 They expressed their doubts that they should ever 
 again cast their eyes on the welcome shore. He told 
 them to throw him overboard if they did not make land 
 on the seventh day ; and this rallied their spirits, for 
 they seem to have reposed great trust in his skill and 
 knowledge. 
 
 The seventh day broke, and one hour before noon 
 they got a sight of the shore. In the afternoon they 
 landed, but were so weak that it was with difficulty 
 they could assist each other out of the boat. They fell 
 on their knees and thanked God for their deliverance. 
 The stronger then helped the more feeble to a brook, 
 where they refreshed themselves with the water, and 
 quenched their intolerable thirst. They gathered and 
 ate of some berries they found growing wild near the 
 spot. 
 
 The next day, Clarke divided them into parties of 
 three, to search for food ; being to rendezvous together 
 at noon, with what they could collect, for the common 
 stock. They were fortunate enough to find a great 
 quantity of peas growing wild. For three days they 
 lived on these peas and on berries, and at night sheltered 
 themselves in a hut, rudely constructed of the boughs 
 of trees. 
 
 They had preserved their boat, and, being a little 
 recovered from their former feeble state, they rowed 
 along the shore, with the design of making the Great 
 Bay of Newfoundland, which was then annually fre- 
 quented by Spaniards engaged in the whale fishery. 
 When hungry, they landed to eat berries and peas. 
 
SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 
 
 23 
 
 Tliey had not proceeded far in this way, when a Spanish 
 ship fell in with them, the captain of which proved a 
 kind friend. He took them to St. Jean de Luz, in the 
 Bay of Biscay ; and when the Spaniards came on board, 
 told them they were poor fishermen cast away at New- 
 foundland. He set them on shore in the night, only 
 ten miles from the French frontiers, which they reached 
 before day broke, and, thus having escaped, travelled 
 to England through France, where they safely arrived 
 about the end of the year 1583. ' »** 
 
 Their history having thus terminated, it will be proper 
 to go back to the Golden Hinde and Squirrel. The 
 crews of these ships, dispirited at the loss of the best 
 vessel of the squadron, still continued to beat about in 
 those thick fogs which are so common on the shores of 
 Newfoundland. The crev/ of the Squirrel, already on 
 short allowance, besought Sir Humphrey Gilbert to 
 return to England. The crew of the Golden Hinde 
 joined in the same request. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
 whose enthusiasm did not seem abated by his disasters, 
 engaged them to accompany him again in the following 
 spring. On the 31st of August they altered their course, 
 during a fresh breeze and high sea, and directed it for 
 their native land. 
 
 Sir Humphrey bad hurt his foot, and, on the 2d 
 of September, went on board the Golden Hinde to get 
 it dressed by the surgeon of that ship. He repeated 
 the visit to partake of an entertainment with the captain, 
 master, and crew. He spoke of his disappointment on 
 losing hifc' papers and some ore which the Saxon refiner 
 had procured in Newfoundland, which had been lost in 
 the Delight. The Squirrel was overloaded, having 
 heavy artillery on board, and things on deck so much 
 above her tonnage, that her situation at that season of 
 the year was considered dangerous by those on board 
 
24 
 
 DAVIS. — BARENTZ. 
 
 hi! 
 
 the Hinde. They advised Sir Humphrey to shift into 
 the larger vessel. He generously replied in the nega- 
 tive. "I will not," said he, "now desert my little 
 vessel and crew, after we have encountered so many 
 perils and storms together." • -■ • 
 
 The Golden Hinde supplied the boat of the Squirrel 
 with what provisions were necessary, and Sir Humphrey 
 returned in it to that ship. They were then about three 
 hundred leagues on their voyage to England. A vessel 
 of ten tons, laden like the Squirrel, was too small to 
 resist the waves in the Atlantic, On the 9th of 
 September she foundered, and Sir Humphrey perished, 
 when they were in the latitude of England. The Squir- 
 rel was near foundering in the afternoon of the same 
 day she went down ; at which time, and when they 
 were in imminent danger. Sir Humphrey was seen from 
 the Hinde, sitting in the stern of the ship with a book 
 in his hand, and was heard to call out, " Courage, ray 
 lads 1 we are as near heaven at sea as on land ! " It 
 was about twelve o'clock at night when the ship went 
 down. ''■; _..-•-■ > . " ' '. .- « ■- 'i-'« ' '-'■5 
 
 The three voyages by Davis, in 1585-88, enlarged 
 the limits of research. By the discovery of the strait 
 which still bears his name, he opened the way to Baffin's 
 Bay and the Polar Sea ; he also surveyed a considerable 
 extent of the Greenland coast. Various attempts to 
 find a passage were also made during this century by 
 Spaniards, French, Danes, and Dutch, those of the last- 
 mentioned nation being the most memorable. To avoid 
 the risk of a voyage to India across the ocean, over 
 which Spain claimed the supremacy, they sought for a 
 shorter passage by the north-east. 
 
 The three voyages by William Barentz, l«394-96, 
 aiford striking examples of dangers encountered, and 
 manful perseverance in struggling against them. He 
 
 ij 
 
BARENTZ. 
 
 25 
 
 made his way to the sea between Spitzbergen and Nova 
 Zembla, until, to quote the narrative of the third voyage, 
 " we came to so great a heape of ice that we could not 
 sayle through it." In August of the last-mentioned 
 year, the vessel was embayed by an unusual drifting of 
 the ice, which, crushing around them with a violence 
 that "made all the haire of our heads to rise upright 
 with feare," forced them "in great cold, povertie, 
 miserie, and griefe, to stay all that winter." Thoy 
 exerted themselves to the utmost to avoid so terrible 
 an alternative ; but on the 11th of September, as is 
 related, " we saw that we could not get out of the ice, 
 but rather became faster, and could not loose our ship, 
 as at other times we had done, as also that it began to 
 be winter, we tooke counsell together what we were 
 best to doe, according to the time, that we might winter 
 there, and attend such adventure as God would send 
 us ; and after we had debated upon the matter (to 
 keepe and defend ourselves both from the colde and 
 wilde beastes), we determined to build a house upon 
 the land, to keepe us therein as well as woe could, and 
 so to commit ourselves unto the tuition of God." While 
 casting about for material for the edifice, to their great 
 joy they discovered a quantity of drift timber, which 
 they regarded rs a special interposition of Providenc(i 
 in their behalf, and "were much comforted, being in 
 ' good hope that God would show us some further favour ; 
 for that wood served us not onely to build our house, but 
 also to burne, and serve us all the winter long ; other- 
 wise, without all doubt, we had died there miserably 
 with extreme cold." ' 
 
 Parties were thereupon set to work to build the house, 
 and drag their stores from the ship on hand-sleds, in 
 which labors they were grievously interrupted by bears 
 and severity of the weather. If any one held a nail 
 8 
 
m 
 
 BARENTZ. 
 
 11 
 
 
 l< • 
 
 ff: ! 
 
 between his lips, the skin came off with as much pain, 
 on taking it out again, as though the iron had been red- 
 not ; yet, notwithstanding the cold, there was open sea 
 for many weeks an "arrow-shot" beyond their ship. 
 The dwelling, slow in progress, was finished by the end 
 of October, and thatched with sea-wrack, the more effect- 
 ually to close the chinks in the roof and walls, and " we 
 set up our dyall, and made the clocke strike." On the 
 4th of November "wee saw the sunne no more, for it 
 was no longer above the horison ; then our chirurgion 
 made a bath (to bathe us in) of a wine-pipe, wherein 
 wee entred one after the other, and it did us much 
 good, and was a great meanes of our health." All the 
 spare clothing was distributed, regulations established 
 with regard to diet, and duties apportioned ; the master 
 and pilot being exempted from cleaving wood, and other 
 rude labors. Traps were set to catch foxes for food, 
 and cheerfulness was as much as possible promoted ; 
 but at times they were snowed up, and could not open 
 their door for many days, and had no light but that of 
 their fire ; they were tormented with smoke, while ice 
 two inches thick formed in their sleeping-berths. The 
 clock stopped with the cold, after which they could 
 only reckon time by "the twelve-hour glass." 
 
 The misery they endured may be judged of by the 
 tone of some of the entries in their journal ; such suffer- 
 ing was but too frequent : "It was foule weather 
 againe, with an easterly wind and extreame cold, almost 
 not to bee indured ; whereupon wee lookt pittifuUy one 
 upon the other, being in great feare that if the extream- 
 itie of the cold grew to bee more and more, wee should 
 all dye there with cold ; for that what fire soever wee 
 made it would not warme us ; yea, and our sacke, which 
 is so hot, was frozen very hard, so that when we were 
 every man to have his part, we weic forced to melt it 
 
BARENTZ. 
 
 ^7 
 
 in the fire, which we shared every second day about 
 halfe a pint for a man, wherewith we were forced to 
 sustayne ourselves ; and at other times we dranke water, 
 which agreed not well with the cold, and we needed not 
 to coole it with snow or ice ; but we were forced to 
 melt it out of the snow." 
 
 Linen froze in an instant taken out of warm water. 
 The closeness of the hut nearly suffocated them from 
 the smoke, and if the fire became low the walls were 
 soon covered with thick ice, — even the beds were lined 
 with it. Except when employed in cookhig', they lay 
 constantly in their beds. Oftentimes they heard tre- 
 mendous noises like thunder break the fearful stillness 
 of the unbounded frozen waste around them ; it seemed 
 like the bursting asunder of mountains, and the dashing 
 them into atoms. This sound w^as probably caused by 
 the ffacture of the ice at sea. They knew not day 
 from night, the moon shining brightly. On the tth of 
 December they went on board their ship for some coals, 
 and made up a good fire in the evening, which gave 
 them much comfort. They had a narrow escape, how- 
 ever, from the vapor ; for, closing every aperture of 
 the hut to keep in the heat as much as possible, a sea- 
 man, who was indisposed, first complained of not being 
 able to bear it, and then they were all attacked with 
 vertigo, and could scarcely stand, until the door was 
 opened, when the first who reached it fell down faint on 
 the snow. Gerard de Veer recovered the fallen man by 
 sprinkling his face with vinegar, and the fresh air rush- 
 ing in restored them again. A glass of wine was then 
 served out to each man to recover him completely. 
 
 On the 19th of December they comforted them- 
 selves that half the time of the sun's absence w^as over. 
 The seamen's shocb were now frozen so hard that they 
 could not be worn, and they made themselves slippers of 
 
28 
 
 BARENTZ. 
 
 skins, and put on several pairs of socks together, to keep 
 their feet in heat. The ice was an inch thick on the sides 
 of their hut, and when they went out in clear weather 
 their clothes became white with frost and ice. They 
 increased the size of their fire, but from their recent 
 warning kept an opening for the smoke. They had 
 used all the wood laid up in their hut by the middle of 
 January, and they were obliged to shovel away the 
 snow on the outside to get at a fresh stock. This they 
 found a task of great diflficulty, from the excessive 
 rigor of the climate. A party also proceeded to the 
 ship, but found her frozen up as before, and the ice 
 accumulated within. They caught a fox in the cabin, 
 which they took to their hut and ate. 
 
 They had been economical of their wine, but they 
 kept Twelfth night with savings from their scanty allow- 
 ance, thus making as merry as their dismal situation 
 would permit. They fancied themselves at home in 
 Holland. They made pancakes with meal and oil, and, 
 soaking biscuit in their wine, drank to the three kings 
 of Cologne, and comforted themselves as if they had 
 been at a " great feast." They drew lots who should 
 be king of Nova Zembla, and it fell to the gunner to be 
 the monarch of that domain of cold and desolation. In 
 short, they made themselves as happy as if they had 
 been in their own houses among the dykes of Holland. 
 Thus does enjoyment, even in the most adverse times, 
 come to the very portal of misery at the mind's bidding. 
 
 They had stormy weather for several succeeding days, 
 till about the 15th of January, during which they 
 confined themselves to their hut. They heard the foxes 
 running over their heads, but could not catch them, 
 which they regretted, as their provisions were beginning 
 to run short. The intense cold absorbed every other 
 sensation. They applied hot stones to their feet and 
 
BARENTZ. 
 
 29 
 
 to keep 
 he sides 
 weather 
 They 
 r recent 
 hey had 
 niddle of 
 way the 
 'his they 
 excessive 
 d to the 
 1 the ice 
 le cabin, 
 
 but they 
 ity allow- 
 situation 
 , home in 
 oil, and, 
 ■ee kings 
 they had 
 o should 
 ner to be 
 tion. In 
 hey had 
 [Holland. 
 le times, 
 bidding". 
 Ing days, 
 Ich they 
 Ihe foxes 
 Ih them, 
 Bginning 
 l-y other 
 feet and 
 
 bodies to keep them warm : comforting themselves, that 
 now the sun was about returning to tliem, with a little 
 patience he would warm and gladden them again witli his 
 beams. Even sitting before their fire, their backs would 
 become white with frost, while their stockings would be 
 burned before they could feel the heat to their feet. 
 
 They visited their ship a second time, and found 
 traces of bears ; and, going below, discovered the ice a 
 foot higher in the hold than it had been originally. 
 They had little hope now that their vessel would ever 
 float again. 
 
 Gerard de Veer and Jacob Heemskirk, going with a 
 third person to the sea-side towards the south, on the 
 24th of January, the day being clear, saw the edge of 
 the sun above the horizon. They imparted the welqpme 
 news to their friends, but Barentz was incredulous, as 
 the return was thought too early by fourteen days. 
 For two days afterwards they had no opportunity ot- 
 vciifying the fact, owing to the weather being thick 
 and cloudy. , . : 
 
 They lost one of their number on the 26th ; he had 
 long been ill ; they dug a grave seven feet in the snow ; 
 and then, as is mournfully recorded, "after that we 
 had read certaine chapters and sung some psalmos, 
 we all went out and buried the man." As the days 
 lengthened, the light enabled them to take exercise, 
 though the weather still remained as severe as before. 
 A. slight relaxation of cold in February was followed in 
 tha next month by cold of increased rigor. They were 
 totally blocked up in their hut by snow on the 24th 
 of March. 
 
 On the 6th of April they attempted to shoot a bear 
 which approached close to their dwelling ; but their guns 
 missed fire, and the animal came down the steps they 
 had cut in the snow directly against their door. The 
 
 3* 
 
m. 
 
 ao 
 
 BAREN'IZ. 
 
 captain, frig-htoncd and confused, could not fix the bar 
 of wood which usually constituted the fastening, but they 
 contrived to hold the door home so fast that the animal 
 could not enter, and it then walked away. The creature 
 soon returned again, roaring around the hut, to the great 
 terror of the inmates ; at last it got on the roof, which 
 they feared it would have broken, being quite furious. 
 A sail hoisted on the outside of the hut the bear tore 
 to pieces in his anger. No other injury ensued. 
 
 The sea began to open, as early as the middle of 
 March, to within seventy-five paces of the ship ; though 
 a new frost came on, and increased the distance to five 
 hundred on the 4th of May. They did not wait to 
 see whether their vessel might again be serviceable. 
 The|r preferred the chance of going in their boats, and 
 of venturing in them to cross a sea three or four hundred 
 leagues rather than to trust an uncertain event. 
 
 They now set about preparations for departure. They 
 repaired their two boats, and had good hope " to got 
 out of that wilde, desart, irkesome, fearfull, and cold 
 countrey." On the 13th of June the survivors, 
 twelve in number, left the desolate shore, after a stay of 
 ten months. Their privations and exposures in small 
 boats, in an ice-encumbered sea, may be imagined. 
 Three of them perished, worn out with disease. The 
 indefatigable Barentz himself at last succumbed. They 
 had passed Icy Cape two days before. This cape is a 
 headland in Russian America, in the Arctic Ocean, in 
 lat. 10°. 20'. N. ; Ion. 161°. 46'. W. ; it is the furthest 
 land attained by Cook in 1118. 
 
 As they were approaching this cape, Barentz asked 
 if they had yet reached it ; and, on being told it was in 
 sight, requested he might be lifted up to see it once 
 more, the ruling passion of this adventurous seaman 
 being strong in death. About nine o'clock on the 
 
BARENTZ. 
 
 31 
 
 '#iki;.» 
 
 morning of the 20th, it was communicated to those 
 who were in the launch that Chies Andriz was near his 
 end, he being in the other boat. Barentz then told his 
 companions he should not long survive Andriz. lie 
 was at the moment examining a chart of all the coun- 
 tries and objects they had seen on their voyage, made 
 by Gerard de Veer. No one suspected that what he 
 said was so immediately to be fulfilled. Putting tlie 
 chart on one side, he asked De Veer to give him some- 
 thing to drink. Barentz swallowed what '^na given 
 him, and found himself worse immediately ; his eyes 
 moved rapidly about for a moment, and he died so sud- 
 denly, they had not time to call the captain, who was i'l 
 the other boat. Andriz expired at nearly the same 
 moment. The death of Barentz was a severe blow to 
 his companions. Upon his experience and knowledge 
 in navigation they relied for their safety in the future 
 conduct of their navigation during a perilous voyage in 
 boats, they hardly knew whither. 
 
 They struggled on, however, manfully overcoming 
 the perils that beset them ; and in September reached 
 the coast of Lapland, where " wee saw some trees on the 
 river side, which comforted us and made us glad, as if 
 wee had then come into a new world ; for, in all the 
 time that wee had been out, wee had not seene any 
 trees." On the eleventh of the same month, after a 
 voyage of eleven hundred and forty-three miles, these 
 brave-hearted men set up their boats in the " Merchants' 
 house," at Coola, as " a sign and token of their deliv- 
 erance ; " and, embarking on board a Dutch ship, in the 
 course of a few weeks ouce more set foot in their native 
 country. 
 
 The survivors appeared before the people of Amster- 
 dam in the dress they wore at Nova Zembla. Curiosity 
 was awakened everywhere respecting them. They were 
 
32 
 
 HUDSON. 
 
 ( 
 
 taken to the ministers of foreign states, at the Hague, 
 to relate their perils and give an account of the frigid 
 land, which none of the southern natives had visited 
 before. Their treatment on their arrival home must, in 
 those dfiys, have been an ample compensation to the 
 survivors for their past sufferings. 
 
 One of the boldest of early navigators, and one of the 
 most successful, was Ilcnry Hudson, the discoverer of 
 the immense bay which will carry his name and unfor- 
 tunate end to the latest times. This intrepid mariner 
 lirst uistinguished himself in 1607, being sent out by the 
 Muscovy Company on a voyage, witli instructions to 
 penetrate directly to the pole. He succeeded in push- 
 ing north as far as latitude 81^**, and returned home, 
 after coasting Spitzbergen, with the convioilon, which 
 modern experience has not impugned, that a passage 
 to the pole was completely barred out by the ice in that 
 direction. In 1608, he again set sail, to decide the 
 practicability of a north-east passage, then a favorite 
 subject of debate in the maritime countries of Europe. 
 He saw North Cape on the 3d of June, and reached 
 latitude 75", when he got among the ice. He now 
 pushed on in the parallels of 74*^ and 75*^ to the east- 
 ward, and made the coast of Nova Zembla, in latitude 
 72° 25'; but, finding a further course impracticable, he 
 returned, with the conviction that there was no hope 
 of a north-east passage ; and here again time has proved 
 his judgment to have been correct. * 
 
 The Dutch sent him, in 1609, to try this passage 
 again ; but he gave it up, after passing Wardhuys, and, 
 returning past North Cape, crossed to the coast of 
 America, where he searched for a passage, and discov- 
 ered the bay on which New York now stands, and the 
 magnificent river named after him, the Hudson. On 
 tlie 17th of April, 1610, Hudson set sail in a vessel 
 
HUDSON. 
 
 88 
 
 called the Discovery, of fifty-fivo tons' burthen, fitted 
 out in the Thames, at the expense v^f Sir Joini 
 Wolstenholrne, Sir Dudley Digues, and other distin- 
 guished persons, and victualled for six months. The 
 ship touched at the Orkney and Faro Islands, and, on 
 the lltli of May, the crew descried the south-eastern 
 part of Iceland ; but hearing breakers, and a fog coming 
 on, they cast anchor. They now found themselves 
 embayed. Weigiiing anchor, they next proceeded 
 northward along the western coast, taking a quantity 
 of fine fish during a day's calm, which overtook them, 
 A south-east wind then arose, and they reached the 
 Vestmanna Isles, where the Danes had a fort, and passed 
 the grand and awful mountain called Snow Fell, which 
 towers to a vast height over those inhospitable and 
 desert shores. They saw Mount Ilecla in the blaze of 
 an eruption, surrounded by eternal snows ; and fell in 
 soon afterwards with a mass of ice, stretching far to the 
 westward from the northern part of the island. Here 
 Hudson entered a port in the north-west side, where they 
 killed a quantity of wild fowl. They sailed, but were 
 again obliged to put back, without being able to make 
 the harbor, but fortunately fell in with another haven, 
 where they found some hot spmgs, and bathed. The 
 water of this spring was so hot it would boil a fowl. 
 
 On the first of June they set sail for Greenland, and 
 soon fancied they saw land to the westward, but it 
 proved to be fog. It was Jiot until the fourth that 
 Greenland appeared in sight. The coast was lined with 
 a vast barrier of ice. " This day," says Hudson, "wo 
 saw Greenland perfectly, over the ice ; and this night 
 the sun went down due north, and rose north-north-east ; 
 so, plying the fifth day, we were in 65^^." 
 
 Their course lay mostly west and north-west, till 
 Cape Desolation appeared on the western side. Here 
 
84 
 
 HUDSON. 
 
 thoy Haw a [^roat nuinbor of wlialos. They now iiiado 
 their course north-west, the wind proventiiijj^ th(*m IVonv 
 sailing more to the north, and iiere they lirst lell in with 
 the icebergs. At the end of June they saw an is' tud, per- 
 haps Resolution Island. Hudson would still have sailed 
 more to the north, but the wind would not permit ; so he 
 went south of the island, and found the current setting 
 to the west. They entered the stream, and were carried 
 northwest, until they fell in with ice, which was attached 
 to. the shore. Hudson then kept to the south and west 
 again, through floating ice, upon which they found 
 numerous seals. They now had a clear sea, and sailed 
 until they again encountered icebergs, and floating 
 pieces of ice, keeping north-west. They saw a. ice- 
 berg overturn, and took warning from it not to approach 
 too near them in future ; yet they wore soon obliged to 
 take shelter between two masses, owing to a storm, and 
 there lie snug. 
 
 On the cessation of the storm, they stood on, as they 
 found it clear enough of ice around them to venture. 
 Their course lay with the ice, and whenever it permitted 
 them to make a passage they moved with it, though 
 still enclosed. Hudson, trying to get clear of it by 
 steering south, found the more he tried the worse they 
 were off, until he could go no further. Here the navi- 
 gator himself was in despair, thinking they should never 
 get out of it. He, therefore, brought out his chart, and 
 showed the crew that they had sailed a hundred leagues 
 further than any of their countrymen had gone before, 
 and left it to them to say whether they should proceed 
 further or not. Some seem to have replied one way 
 and some another, but there was evidently much growl- 
 ing and discontent among them. After much labor they 
 got clear, and shaped their course north and north-west 
 It is most probable that the commander, seeing the dis- 
 
 
HUDSON. 
 
 86 
 
 contont of a part of his crew, ended the conference and 
 took his own course. He still seems to have relied 
 upon his own resources and courag(«, and to have con- 
 tinued to pursue the object of his voyage, sometimes 
 environed by the ice, yet often in a clear sea. lie found 
 a harbor among Kome islands, which he named the *' Isles 
 of (fod's Alui'cy." Here some of the crew went on shore. 
 They saw a bay to the north, with a large iceberg 
 aground, whi(^h afterwards floated away. They took in 
 drift-wood, which they found cast up on the shore. 
 
 After a good deal of sailing to the south and north- 
 west, and west, and then south, as the intricate naviga- 
 tion required, they stood to the westward in a clear, 
 open sea, and saw three headlands, which Hudson 
 named Prince Henry's Cape, King James's, and Queen 
 Anne's. They now proceeded north to double the head- 
 lands, until they saw the north shore, on which Hudson 
 put about until he made the south land again, but very 
 much to the west of what he expected, owing to a 
 strong current, which arose, no doubt, from the set-in 
 of the tide to the great bay which bears his name. They 
 now saw a hill on the south shuic, which they named 
 Mount Charles ; and soon after a cape, which was tailed 
 Cape Salisbury. Still proceeding along the south shore, 
 they came to an island, distant from the mainland abcut 
 two leagues, one point of which they named Deepes 
 Cape, the other Wolstenholme's. At this island the 
 boat was sent on shore to make discoveries. Those in 
 it were overtaken by a storm, but they succeeded in 
 landing and climbing up the rocks, when they came to 
 some level ground, in which they found a herd of deer, 
 but could not get within musket-shot of them. On this 
 island they found plenty of fowl, and some excellent 
 herbage, also sorrel and scun'^y grass. They saw some 
 hollow cells of stone, in which they found a quantity of 
 
36 
 
 HUDSON. 
 
 fowls hung up by the necks. The ship now fired a gun 
 to call ofi' the people who had landed, for a fog had come 
 on. Upon returning on board, Hudson would not 
 stay to refresh on the island, as some of the crew 
 recommended, bu proceeded, his mind, no doubt, con- 
 templating tlie discovery of the great sea on which ho 
 was about to enter. 
 
 At this time it was that the discontent, which had no 
 doubt been increasing on board, was visited by an ex- 
 ercise of the commander's authority. Some discussion, 
 it appears, took place about entering i. bay, and going 
 out of it. On this occasion, Hudson is said to have 
 revived somr^ old grudge, and to have displaced one 
 Juet from the situation of mate, and degraded the 
 boatswain for words which had been spoken some time 
 before, making Billet, or Bylot, his mate, and William 
 Wilson his boatswain. The crew thought it harsh in 
 Hudson to revive this old affair. They were obedient, 
 however, and sailed again in a northerly direction until 
 they saw land, and then to the south, and so on from 
 land to land, on the opposite side the straits. On 
 Michaelmas day they entered a bay, which >''idson 
 named Michaelmas Bay. They afterwards stood to the 
 north until they came into shoal water, with thick, foggy 
 weather. They were now obliged to anchor, and so 
 remained for eight days, when, the wind dropping, 
 Hudson insisted on heaving the anchor up, against the 
 opinions of those on board. While the crew were 
 lifting the anchor, a sea struck the ship, and knocked 
 all hands from the capstan, several of whom were mucli 
 hurt. They lost an anchor, and would have lost all their 
 cable, had not the carpenter fortunately been by with 
 an axe and cut it. 
 
 They now stood to the south and south-west, through 
 a sea clear of obstructions, but changing in soundings 
 
HUDSON. 
 
 37 
 
 and in color. After sailing further, they came into 
 shallow water, — so shallow that their boat could not 
 reach the shore, which they saw at some distance, and 
 to which they were obliged to wade. There they 
 discovered the mark^s of a man's foot in the snow, and 
 plenty of wood, of which they shipped a good stock, 
 and returned on board. Soon after, they saw a ledge 
 of rocks, upon which they ran, and remained fast for 
 twelve hours, but at length got off, not wholly unin- 
 jured. 
 
 They now began to look out for a place where they 
 might winter. The nights were become long and cold, 
 while the snow covered all the country. The party 
 sent to explore were at first unsuccessful, but on the 1st 
 of November they found a place where they might haul 
 their vessel aground. By the tenth day they were 
 frozen in, and began to look at their stock of provisions, 
 when they found they must be fed upon such an allow- 
 ance as would hardly keep in life, or last them to the 
 headlands, where fowls might be captured for their 
 supply. Hudson regulated the present allowances in 
 the best way he could, and offered a reward to those 
 who added to the general stock, by killing or capturing 
 anything serviceable for food. In this they must have 
 had success, or their subsistence from April, the 1*1 th, 
 even as far as Christmas, is a miracle, upon six months' 
 victualling. 
 
 It appears that, on taking up their winter quarters, it 
 had been proposed to Hudson to erect a house on shore, 
 which he would not hear of being done while it was 
 practicable. The severe northern winter had set in, 
 when he altered his mind, and desired the carpenter to 
 put it in hand. The latter said he neither could nor 
 would set about it. Hudson pursued to strike him, 
 calling him names, and threatened to hang him. The 
 
as 
 
 HUDSON. 
 
 carpenter made his rejoinder by telling Hudson he knew 
 his duty, — that he was no house-carpenter. Such, at 
 least, is the story of Pricket, one of those who came 
 home in the vessel ; but the subsequent noble conduct 
 of the carpenter, in refusing to desert Hudson, shows 
 that the latter must have stood high in his esteem and 
 affection, notwithstanding this altercation. The house 
 was ultimately built, but proved to be of no use. 
 
 The winter was intensely cold, and the ship's com- 
 pany ill provided with necessaries. Their sufferings 
 v/ere great, and most of them were lamed, or some way 
 injured. They eked out their provisions by wild fowl 
 of several kinds, having taken more than a hundred 
 dozen of " white partridges," as they styled them. 
 When these birds left in the spring, they had swans, 
 geese, ducks, and teal. When these had gone away, 
 they devoured moss, frogs, and buds. One of the crew 
 having brought the buds of a treefvU of some substance 
 like turpentine, a decoction of it was made by the sur- 
 geon for drink, and much ease was experienced by 
 applying it hot to their frozen limbs. While the spring 
 lasted, about the time the ice was breaking up, the 
 savages visited them, and they traflScked with them, 
 and gave the crew furs in exchange for knives, looking- 
 glasses, and buttons. 
 
 Hudson now prepared to return home. He delivered 
 out the last pound of bread to each man, jnst as tliey 
 were preparing for along and perilous voyage, without 
 provisions for the entire crew for more than ten days ; 
 and also gave what Pricket calls a " bill of returne," 
 that if ever they got home they might show it, — and 
 he wept as he gave it to them. Fourscore small fish, 
 taken just afterwards, were a seasonable relief to them, 
 though but little towards satisfying their hunger beyond 
 the moment. -. , .. , w,.^. 
 
HUDSON. 
 
 39 
 
 
 They now set sail, and came to anchor in the sea of 
 that immense bay, in which the discoverer, having 
 undergone so much suffering and danger, was to find 
 liis grave. They were without bread ; five cheeses only 
 were left, and these were equally divided by Hudson 
 among his men. 
 
 But a report calumnious of Iludson, for secreting 
 bread, was now spread among the crew. The discon- 
 tent which had been for some time excited by one Green, 
 a worthless fellow, whom Iludson had befriended, broke 
 out into open mutiny on the 2l8t of June. The 
 ship's company, both sick and well, were in berths, dis- 
 persed generally two and two about the ship. King, 
 one of the crew who was supposed to be friendly to 
 Hudson, was up, and in the morning they secured him 
 in the hold by fastening down the hatches. Green 
 then went and held the carpenter in conversation to 
 amuse him, while two of the crew, keeping just 
 before Iludson, and one, named Wilson, behind him, 
 bound his hands. He asked what they were about, 
 and they told him he should know when he was in the 
 shallop. Another mutineer, Juet, went down to King 
 in the hold, who kept him at bay, being armed with 
 his sword. lie came upon deck to Hudson, whom lie 
 found with his hands tied. Hudson was heard to call 
 to the carpenter, and tell him he was bound. Two of 
 the devoted party, who were sick, told the muti- 
 neers their knavery would be punished. They paid no 
 attention ; the shallop was hauled up to the side 
 of the vessel, and the sick and lame were made to get 
 into it. 
 
 The carpenter, whom they had agreed to retain in the 
 vessel, asked them if they would not be hanged when 
 they reached England, and boldly refused to remain 
 with them, preferring to share the fate of Hudson and 
 
 1 
 
40 
 
 HUDSON. 
 
 
 II 
 
 the sick men. He demanded his chest, which was 
 given him, and put into the boat. The names of the 
 persons put out of the ship were Henry Hudson, John 
 Hudson, Arnold Lodlo, Sydrack Faner, Phillip Staife, 
 Thomas Wodehouse, Adam Moore, Henry King, and 
 Michael Bate. The carpenter contrived to get a musket, 
 powder and shot, some pikes, an iron pot, some meal, 
 and a few other necessaries. The crew then ait the 
 boat off the ship, loosened the topsails, and stood out 
 to sea, steering to the eastward. The boat in which 
 were Hudson and his companions was seen no more, 
 nor was it ever heard of again. 
 
 The mutineers now stood to the north-east, contrary 
 to Juet's opinion, who was for steering north-west. 
 The i/cxt day they bad a storm, and ran into ice, where 
 they remained fourteen days, locked up. In that storm 
 the intrepid commander and his forlorn party in the boat 
 may have perished. It is probable they either died of 
 hunger at sea, or got out of their course, and perished 
 in the storm. They might, indeed, have been starved 
 on the shore, or killed by the aborigines. The end of 
 IIudsoT^ is a melancholy and affecting incident. His 
 talents, courage, and perseverance, rank him among the 
 first navigators of any age. In the comparative infancy 
 of discovery in the northern regions, he deserves to 
 take the lead. Loft in the great bay which he brought 
 to light, the victim of treachery, he has not been for- 
 gotten by posterity, like many of his contemporaries. 
 The mystery of his fate causes his name to be pro- 
 nounced, even now, with pity, while his skill and 
 courage make the man an object of our admiration, 
 even in these times, when a northern navigation and 
 wintering are not considered such extraordinary perils 
 by the navigator. 
 
 The ship continued her navigation homeward. Steer- 
 
HUDSON. 
 
 41 
 
 ing north-east, the mutineers shaped their course for 
 the capes or headlands where, as they supposed, the 
 wild fowl frequented. Landing on one of these, in 
 search of fowl, they fell in with a party of natives, who 
 behaved bo peaceably that the Englishmen soon began 
 to traffic with them. For this purpose, they ran the 
 ship in as near to the land as was practicable, and sent 
 a boat ashore laden with goods. Leaving Pricket in 
 charge of the boat, the rest of her crew, one of whom 
 was Green, landed and mixed among the natives, show- 
 ing them looking-glasses and other articles. Suddenly, 
 one of tr;k. savages came into the boat and attacked 
 Pricket with a knife. He defended himself, and a deadly 
 struggle ensued, in which the savage was at last killed. 
 In the mean while, those of the crew on shore were 
 attacked. Thomas and Wilson were stabbed in the 
 bowels ; Perse and Green, both dreadfully wounded, 
 fell together into the boat ; Motor jumped from the 
 rocks into the sea, and swam to the boat, where, hold- 
 ing the stern, he begged to be taken in ; Perse beat off 
 the savages with a hatchet, and Green with a frag- 
 ment of a pike. The savages then took their bows and 
 arrows. Green was killed on the spot ; Perse received 
 many other wounds, aB did all the others, but he pushed 
 off the boat, having taken in Motor. Perse and Motor 
 then rowed away, while Pricket received a bad wound 
 in his back from an arrow, as the boat came round. 
 The savages ran to their canoes, but did not pursue the 
 crew. They regained the ship, but three died of their 
 wounds. There were now scarcely hands enough left 
 to work the ship through the entrance of the strait ; 
 and the same men who worked the ship were obliged 
 to go in the boat and kill fowls for subsistence on the 
 passage home. With great labor, they killed three 
 hundred, which they salted. They then sailed to the 
 4.# 
 
42 
 
 BAFFIN. 
 
 Cape of God's Morcies, and thence bent their course 
 lor Cape Desolation, in Greenland. But, the wind coming 
 on adverse, they shaped their course for Ireland. They 
 suflfered, during the passage, the most dreadful extremi- 
 ties of famine, allowing only half a fowl a day to each 
 man, and considering it a luxury to have it fried with 
 candles, of which a weekly distribution was made 
 for that purpose. Ivet, now the sole survivor of the 
 ringleaders in the atrocious conspiracy, sank under 
 these privations. The last fowl v^as in the steep-tub, 
 and the men were become nearly desperate, when sud- 
 denly it pleased God to give them sight of land, which 
 proved to be the north of Ireland. They complain that, 
 on going ashore at Berehaven, they did not receive the 
 sympathy and kindness which they so much needed ; 
 nor was it until they had mortgaged their vessel that 
 they obtained the means of proceeding to Plymouth. 
 
 Strange to relate, no attempt was made to bring the 
 mutineers to trial ; some of them, indeed, were after- 
 wards employed in making further explorations. 
 
 Great hopes were entertained that the much-desired 
 passage would be found leading out of Hudson's Bay ; 
 and a good deal of controversy on the question arose, 
 from time to time, among contending voyagers and their 
 abettors. Between this period and 1616, those arms of 
 the sea known as Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome and Fox 
 Channel were discovered ; and in the year just men- 
 tioned Baffin sailed into and explored the vast bay, 
 eight hundred miles long, and three hundred wide, 
 named after him. For a long time his report of its 
 great length was disbelieved, but later researches have 
 confirmed the accuracy of his statements ; even the 
 latitudes laid down by him are almost identical with 
 those recently determined, with all the advantage of 
 superior instruments. Among other openings, BaflSn 
 
BAFFIN. 
 
 43 
 
 saw Lancaster Sound, and, had ho explored it, Parry's 
 discoveries would have been anticipated by two hundred 
 years, as they had been to some extent by the long- 
 forgotten Northmen. The opinion, however, at that 
 time, and, indeed, until within the past fifty years, 
 was, that no practicable opening to the Polar Sea 
 existed, except that at Bchring's Strait. From this 
 period to about the middle of last century, the outlets 
 to the west of Hudson's Bay were the points to which 
 efibrt was directed ; and truly may it be said, that these 
 earlier navigators left very little for those who came 
 later. In small vessels, varying from ten to fifty tons' 
 burthen, they accomplished more than has since been 
 effected by lavishly-equipped expeditions. 
 
 THE WALRUS. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS. — DESHNEFF. — EXPEDITIONS OF 1711. — FRUIT- 
 LESS EFFORTS. — LAPTEFF. — BEURING. — HIS SHIPWRECK AND DEATH. 
 — FATE OF THE SURVIVORS. — SCHALAROFF, — SLEDGE EXPEDITION. — 
 ADMIRAL VON WBANGELL's EXPEDITIONS. 
 
 I 
 
 Hitherto wc liave been chiefly occupied with the 
 explorations on and around Northern America, and we 
 now come to the history of those along the continent 
 of Asia, the northern limit of which extends over a 
 space of 145° of longitude. The discovery and survey 
 of this vast region is due entirely to the Kussians ; for, 
 although other nations attempted the passage, they 
 penetrated no further than the Karskoie Sea and Cape 
 North on the east. The first knowledge of the coun- 
 tries which here bound the polar basin was, as in the 
 case of the other continent, derived from private adven- 
 turers, who undertook journeys into those desolate 
 regions in hopes of a profitable trade in furs, skins, and 
 ivory. Russian traders, sailing from the White Sea 
 and mouth of the Petchora, voyaged as far as Obi and 
 the lennissei ; their vessels, similar to those of early 
 British navigators, were little better than shallops, and 
 it is impossible not to be struck with the labors of those 
 whose chief resource was indomitable perseverance. 
 
 The first endeavors under government authority 
 were made about the year 1600 ; and trading-stations 
 were establisiied at the mouths of most of the larger 
 
 M 
 

 RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS. — DESHNEFF. 
 
 46 
 
 (e 
 
 Is 
 Ir 
 
 rivers, with the double view of exploration and of sub- 
 jecting the natives to Russian authority. The Lena, 
 lana, Indigirka, Alaseia, and Kolyma, were discovered 
 before 1640, by parties sent under Cossack leaders to 
 collect tribute, who at the same time fell in with the 
 Tcliuktches, and hoard their reports of islands lying 
 olF the coast. The earliest attempt to sail to eastward 
 of the Kolyma was made in 1616, and repeated in the 
 two following years, with several small vessels, all of 
 which were wrecked, except one commanded by Desh- 
 neff, a government functionary, whose name stands high 
 among the early explorers. Ilis grand object was to 
 get round to the mouth of the Anadyr, on the eastern 
 coast, to trade for sable-skins ; and the summer of 1648 
 proving favorable to navigation among the ice, he sailed 
 along the shore, and through the strait explored by 
 Behring nearly a century later, and founded a settle- 
 ment at the place to which he was bound — the Anadyr 
 river. This is the only occasion on which such a voyage 
 has been made ; and to Deshneff and his companions 
 belongs the honor of having been the first and sole 
 nu,vigators from the Arctic Sea to the Pacific, and of 
 having proved, at a period much earlier than is com- 
 monly supposed, that the American and Asiatic conti- 
 nents are not united. 
 
 Other expeditions followed ; the Bear Islands were 
 seen ; and, to obtain accurate particulars concerning 
 them, the government of Siberia sent out two parties, in 
 1711, who crossed the ice to the Likahoflf Islands, and 
 saw others yet further to the north. On their return to 
 the mainland, the leaders were murdered by the crews, 
 who feared the hardships of further explorations. Thus 
 the work went on with var^nn^; fortune, the positions 
 mostly ill-defined, as must be the case in the absence of 
 accurate instruments, until 1134, the reign of the 
 
 
 . I 
 
t 
 
 
 ikt 
 
 46 
 
 FUUITLESS EFFORTS. — LAPTEFF. — BEIIRLNG. 
 
 Empress Anno, when the RuHsian adrr. .ilty fitted out 
 three expeditions " to obtain a correct knowlodg'e of 
 the northern coast of Siberia from the White Sea to 
 Behrinf^'s Strait ; " " one, consistinf^ of two vessels, 
 was to sail from Archangel eastward to the mouth of 
 the Obi ; another, from the Obi to the lennissei. The 
 third was to sail from the Lena, and consisted of two 
 vessels, one of which was to sail westward to the len- 
 nissei, and the other eastward, past the Kolyma, to 
 Behring's Strait." • 
 
 Insurmountable impediments to navigation, recall of 
 commanders, wintering in the rivers, overland journeys 
 to St. Petersburg, renewed attempts, scurvy, and ship- 
 wreck, comprise the history of those expeditions. One 
 of the mates, in observations on the compass, makes 
 the remark, " The variation of the needle was so great, 
 and it was so unsteady, that I am inclined to believe the 
 magnet ceases to act in these high latitudes." This 
 fact is worthy of record, as bearing on phenomena 
 which have subsequently been regarded with much 
 attention. But, on the main question, the Russian ad- 
 miralty refused to receive the reports of impossible 
 navigation ; and, in 1739, sent out another expedition, 
 under Lieut. Lapteff, who, by dint of perseverance in 
 four successive voyages, did at last pass to the eastward 
 of the Kolyma ; but here fields of \r.Qs, extending far to 
 the north, barred his further progress. 
 
 Next in order come the voyages by Behring, the 
 explorer of the strait which bears his name. In the 
 year 1Y41 this celebrated navigator set sail from the 
 harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul, in Kamtschatka, in two 
 vessels, from which he had named the port. It was the 
 4th of June when they weighed anchor, and on the 
 I2th they had reached latitude 46" without seeing land. 
 They proceeded as high as 50° of latitude with little 
 
BEIIUING. 
 
 47 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 ird 
 
 to 
 
 HuccesH. Thoy now determined to steer eastward, 
 towards the American continent. On the 20th the two 
 siiips were separated by a storm, followed by hazy 
 weather. 
 
 On the 18th of July, Behring, wliilo waiting- for the 
 other vestiel, discovered the American continent, in lat- 
 itude 58" 28', and in 50° longitude, from Awatska. Three 
 days before. Captain Tschirikov, who commanded the 
 second vessel, had fallen in with tlie same coast, at 50° 
 latitude, and 50° longitude, from Awatska. lie sent on 
 shore his long-boat and shallop with seventeen men, to 
 observe the coast, but neither the one nor the other 
 ever returned. Upon a consultation, in consequence, 
 held on board, it was resolved to return to Kamtschatka. 
 Behring, in the mean time, endeavored to explore the 
 coast he first saw, and to take in water. lie set sail on 
 the 2l8t of July, determined to run as high as 60° north. 
 He found it impossible to advance direct, the coast con- 
 stantly running out to the south-west, lie found him- 
 self in a labyrinth of islands which bordered the conti- 
 nent, so that often, when he thought himself clear, he 
 discovered land on the larboard and starboard bow. 
 He was then obliged to drop astern, and find a passage 
 that way, encountering great difKculties from calms and 
 currents. 
 
 On the 3d of September, while still among those 
 islands, they discovered some of the inhabitants, by 
 whom they were well received. The natives presented 
 whale's flesh to the Russians, — the only provision they 
 had with them, — and s med to desire they would regale 
 themselves. They had been on a fishing expedition, as 
 their canoes were drawn up on the shore ; but no females 
 or habitations were seen, their dwellings probably being 
 on the mainland. They were unarmed. After some other 
 communications with the natives, and encountering 
 

 i 
 
 48 
 
 BEHRING. 
 
 contrary winds, tlic RusHians wore ovcrtukon by a vio- 
 lent storm, wliicii lasted for seventeen days. They 
 found, though they had not k(!pt up tlicir sails, that 
 they had been driven back to 48** 18' of latitude. The 
 scurvy now began to appear among them ; hardly a day 
 passed without tlie deatli of one of the crew, and hands 
 enougli, in health, were scarcely left to niauceuvrc the- 
 vessel. , 
 
 A return to Karatschatka was resolved upon. After 
 discovering and naming several capes and islands, they 
 saw two which, by an unfortunate mistake?, they took 
 for the two first of the Kourile Isles. By this they 
 erred in their reckoning. They in vain took their course 
 to the west; the shore of Kamtschatka remained invisi- 
 ble, and there was soon no hope, so late in the season, 
 of making a port in that country. The crew, notwith- 
 standing their sufferings from cold and continued rain, 
 attended to their duty. The scurvy had already so far 
 advanced that the steersman was conducted to the helm 
 by two other invalids, who happened still to have the 
 use of their legs, by supporting him under the arms. 
 When he could no longer steer, from suffering, he was 
 succeeded by another no better able to execute the labor 
 than himself. Thus did the miserable crew waste away 
 into death. They were obliged to carry few sails, for 
 th y had not hands to reef them, if at any time it 
 should be required ; and such as they had were nearly 
 worn out, so that the slightest storm was sufficient to 
 shiver them into threads ; in this case they could not 
 be replaced from the stores, for want of sailors able to 
 bend new ones. The rain was soon succeeded by snow. 
 The nights now grew longer and darker, and they had 
 now, in addition to their former precautions, to guard 
 against shipwreck. The fresh water on board was rap- 
 
* ■ 
 
 BEHRINQ. 
 
 48 
 
 IS rap- 
 
 idly diminiBhing. The labor of tho ship became too 
 bard for the few who were still able to be al)()ut. 
 
 For Bomo days the ship had remained impasBive in 
 tho water, Ijiiig as the wind and waves drove her. On 
 the 4th of November they again endeavored to sail to 
 tho westward, without knowing in what latitude they 
 were, or at what distance from Kamtschatka ; but it 
 was the only point on which a sin^i^le hope of their 
 deliverance remained. The joy of the crew, wlien they 
 ' ame in sight of land, may bo conceived ; it was about 
 eight o'clock in the morning. They attempted to 
 approach, but they were still at a great distance, and 
 could oidy see tho tops of mountains covered with 
 snow. As they drew nearer, night came upon them. 
 It was judged best, therefore, to keep out to sea until 
 day appeared, that they might not be exposed to ship- 
 wreck in the dark. In the morning they found tho 
 cordage on tho starboard side of the vessel had given 
 way. They could not, therefore, manage the ship much 
 longer. A consultation was held. It was agreed that 
 the ship was no longer manageable, that the water was 
 much diminished, and the Bickness on board increased. 
 The humidity had been succeeded by intense cold, of 
 which the increase was now, from the season, lo be 
 expected, aid life must soon become insupportable. It 
 was, therefore, decided, at all risks, to make for the 
 land, to save the^r lives, and, perhaps, their ship. 
 
 The small sails were alone set, from the weakness of 
 the mast, after the failure of the cordage. The wind 
 was north ; the depth of water thirty-six fathoms, with 
 a bottom of sand ; two hours after, they found twelve 
 fathoms. They now contrived to get overboard an 
 anchor, and run it out three quarters of a cable's length. 
 At six the cable pcrted, and tremendous waves bore the 
 ship upon a rock, where she struck twice, yet, in a 
 6 
 
 ! 
 
 ■4 ■ 
 
 I 
 
50 
 
 BEHRING. 
 
 momont after, they had five fathoms of water. A sec- 
 ond anchor was tlirown out, and tlie cable a<^ain parted. 
 They liad no third anclior ready. While they were pre- 
 paring- to let go another, a huge wave lifted the vessel 
 over the reel. In an instant she lay in calm water. 
 The anchor was put out, and she was safely moored in 
 four fathoms and a half with a sandy bottom, and only 
 about three hundred fathoms from the shore. The next 
 morning" they discovered that, by a good providence, 
 they had been led to the only spot where it was pos- 
 sible they could have been carried over the ridge of 
 rocks, and that twenty fathoms' distance right or left 
 of the place high rocks rose out of the sea, against 
 which they must have perished during the darkness of 
 the night. 
 
 Winter was now come. The crew, worn down with 
 fatigue, reposed until mid-day, and then the boat was 
 lowered. On the 6th of November, the second in 
 command, Mr. Waxall, landed. They found the coun- 
 try barren, and covered with snow. A clear stream of 
 excellent water, not yet frozen, ran down from the 
 mountains to the shore. No trees, or even shrubs, 
 were visible. Firewood might be obtained from what 
 the sea had drifted on the land, but it must be collected 
 Irom under the snow. Hut or shelter there was none ; 
 but they discovered near the banks of a torrent some 
 deep hollows in the sand, which they prepared to clear 
 out, and cover over with the ship's sails, so as to make 
 a shelter, until they could construct cabins of wood. It 
 was accordingly resolved to take the sick on shore the 
 next day, as soon as places were prepared for them. 
 
 On the 8th of November they were landed. Some 
 died on being brought up into the air from below, oth- 
 ers in the boat, and some upon getting ashore. The 
 bodies of the dead were instantly attacked by foxes.. 
 
:i !l 
 
 BEHRINO. 
 
 61 
 
 which came to their prey without fear, as if they had 
 never before seen man. They were obliged to drive 
 these animals away from the corpses, the feet and 
 hands of which were mangled before they could bo 
 interred. On the 9th of November the captain was 
 landed, well secured from the atmosphere, and placed 
 in a hollow by himself. The sick were all brought to 
 the land in a day or two more ; but it was remarked 
 that, of all who took to their beds in the ship, not one 
 survived. These were principally such as were indif- 
 ferent to existence, or feared the disease, and suc- 
 cumbed to it. Their disorder commenced with extreme 
 lassitude, which made the person attacked spiritless, 
 and indifferent to everything. . A sort of asthma then 
 came on, which was felt on the smallest movement of 
 the body. The perscm attacked preferred inactivity, 
 and would rather lie down and die than move about. 
 Soon after, the limbs were struck with severe pains, 
 the legs became inflamed, the skin yellow, the body 
 covered with livid marks, the teeth loose, and the 
 mouth and gams bloody. Some of those attacked were 
 nervous, and terrified at the slightest sound they heard. 
 Others seemed to eat heartily, and did not think them- 
 selves in danger. They quitted their hammocks when 
 they heard the order for going on shore, dressed them- 
 selves, and believed they should quickly be well. On 
 leaving the interior of the ship, and the close, corrupted 
 air of the hold, and coming into the keen atmosphere, 
 they speedily expired. ' • 
 
 Those survived who resisted the complaint so much 
 as not to take to their beds, — who kept in motion on 
 their feet as much as possible, especially if they suc- 
 ceeded, by natural lightness of temper, in driving away 
 melancholy thoughts. The instances of successful re- 
 sistance to the disorder v/ere most observed in the offl- 
 
 i 
 
52 
 
 BEURING.— HIS DEATH. 
 
 cers of the ship, who were obliged to be on deck to 
 look into everything. The captain, alone, of all the 
 officers, died. His age and temperament inclined him 
 to inactivity. lie took his friends, at last, for his ene- 
 mies, and some could not come into his sight, on that 
 account, towards the close of his illness. Two of the 
 officers took the disease by remaining on board in the 
 bad air of the hold, after the crew had quitted the ship, 
 but they both recovered. 
 
 Bohring died on the 8th of December, IHl, on 
 the island which now bears his name. He had a great 
 passion for voyages and travels in his youth, and had 
 seen many parts of the world, and a great deal of ser- 
 vice. In a previous voyage he had sailed through the 
 strait that bears his name. lie had served under Peter 
 the Groat; was made lieutenant in ItOT, and captain- 
 lieutenant in niO. He was thus a seaman from his 
 cradle, and was chosen to command the expedition 
 from Kamtschatka on account of his previous services. 
 He left his name a record to the end of time in the 
 straits that separate Asia and America. His death was 
 singular. He was almost buried before he breathed his 
 last sigh. His men placed him in the most commodi- 
 ous spot, the day after the tlisembarkation of the sick 
 commenced. He was borne with great care into a sort 
 of tent, upon or rather in the sand, and as well secured 
 as possible. Every day he detached the loose sand 
 from the sides of the place where he lay, so that he 
 soon covered his feet with it. Those who attended him 
 cleared it away, but at last he would not suffer them to 
 doit any more. He showed anger if it were attempted, 
 and by degrees had so accumulated it about him that 
 when he died he was half covered. They buried him 
 near the spot ; and the island is his monument, bearing 
 his name in the charts of all nations. t**- 
 
FATE OF THE SURVIVORS. 
 
 68 
 
 Not long after the death of the captain, the Russians 
 saw their vessel wrecked before their eyes. It was 
 their only means of escape from the dreary spot in. 
 which they were wintering. A storm arose on the 
 29th of December, the cable snapped, and the ship 
 came ashore almost close to where the Russians were 
 living. In the morning she was found buried eight 
 or ten feet in sand, and completely shattered. The sea 
 had spoiled a great proportion of their remaining pro- 
 visions. This was a fearful loss to them. 
 
 They had now two important objects to attain. The 
 first was to discover on what part of the world they 
 had been cast. The second, to find the means of sub- 
 sistence. Parties were sent out to explore. After an 
 absence of three days, one returned, and stated that 
 they had not perceived the least trace of men, but they 
 had seen a great number of what were called in Kamt- 
 schatka sea-beavers. They had also seen a great num- 
 ber of blue and white foxes, which showed no signs of 
 fear upon observing them. Hence they concluded that 
 the country on which they had landed was not inhab- 
 ited. They set out again more in the interior of the 
 island, with the design to cross the country to the 
 opposite side from that where they had come on shore. 
 They found a high hill three or four leagues from the 
 sea, and, ascending it, could see the sea both to the 
 eastward and westward of them, from which observa- 
 tion they had no doubt they were upon an island. They 
 found no trees, except a few willows on the sides of a 
 rivulet. 
 
 Having thus satisfied themselves they were upon an 
 -island, they proceeded to examine what stores and pro- 
 visions had been left them that tlioy could use. They 
 first made a reserve of eight hundred-weight of flour, 
 which was to serve as sea stock in their voyage to 
 5* 
 
 iW rai S M M ffff m i— i iaa, . v ^a 
 
54 
 
 PPvEf'ARATIONiS FOR RETURN. 
 
 il 
 
 III 
 II 
 
 Kamtschcatka, after which they regulated tlie daily 
 allowance of each person. Although thirty of the crew 
 had died, there would not have been sufficient for their 
 subsistence, had there not been wild animals on the 
 island to eke out their stores. 
 
 The flesh of the beavers was hard and stringy. They 
 killed a great number for their skins, of which they 
 collected nine hundred. The surgeon had three hun- 
 dred to his own share when they embarked from the 
 island to return to Siberia, ' •''' 
 
 In the month of March no more beavers were seen, 
 and in their places seals made their appearance. The 
 llesh of these animals they found disagreeable. They 
 were relieved from the necessity of feeding upon them 
 by killing sea-lions, the flesh of which they found excel- 
 lent. The walrus, or sea-horse, was also taken, and 
 served them for food. One of these, of eight hundred- 
 weight, was sufficient for fifteen days' consumption. 
 The flesh was like beef, and that of the young ones not 
 inferior to the best veal. The fat, which lined the flesh 
 to the depth of three or four inches, very much resem- 
 bled lai"d ; and tlie Russians used it as a substitute for 
 Initter. They filled several hogsheads with the- flesh, 
 which they salted, as part of their provisions for their 
 future voyage, 
 
 A whale came on shore during the winter near their 
 habitation, and, being short of other food at the time, 
 they cut out the blubber in square masses, and boiled it 
 to separate the oil, which they ate. On the commence- 
 ment of spring, a second whale was cast on shore in the 
 same way, and then, rejecting the stale meat, they sup- 
 plied themselves with that which was more fresli,. 
 
 When the snow melted in the month of March, 1742, 
 these unfortunate men began to think of some means of 
 return. They were forty-five in number. The chief 
 
LAUNCH (JF TIIK VESSKL. 
 
 65 
 
 officer, Mr. Waxall, proposed that the old vessel should 
 be pulled to pieces, and a now one constructed, of" a size 
 to carry them all. This plan was unanimously adopted. 
 It was now the beginning of April, a favorable time to 
 commence operations. All took their share in the work, 
 and the entire month was employed in breaking up the 
 wreck to obtain materials for the new vessel. 
 , Three Russian carpenters had died since their arrival 
 on the island, and there was not one left. A Cossack 
 of Siberia, named Sawa Slaradoubzov, who had worked 
 in the yard at Okhotsk, offered to construct the vessel if 
 the proportions were given to .lim. He succeeded in 
 laying down the new ship, a service considered of such 
 importance, as well as ingenuity, tliat he was rewarded, 
 on his return, by being elevated to th(} rank of Sinboiar- 
 skoy, the lowest degree of nobility in Russia. 
 
 On the Gth of May they began to construct their 
 new ship. It was forty feet long by thirteen broad. 
 At the beginning of June it was ready for planking up, 
 the frame being complete. It had but one mast and 
 deck, a cabin was built on the poop, and a cooking 
 place in the forepart of the vessel ; it had four places 
 for oars on each side. Many things were still want- 
 ing, but they nevertheless proceeded to calk the planks, 
 that the ship might be got ready for sea. They took 
 care to construct a boat to accompany their vessel, capa- 
 ble of holding nine or ten persons. 
 
 ,, They launched their vessel on the 10th of August, 
 and called it the St. Peter, after the ship out of which 
 she had been built. The shot and iron-work of the old 
 vessel they employed for ballast in the new. The 
 weather was fortunately calm for six days, during which 
 time they got in the mast and rudder, bent the sails, and 
 took in their provisions. Their vessel drew five feet 
 water. All having embarked, they set sail on the IGth. 
 
56 
 
 SCHALAROFP. 
 
 '■is 
 
 'I 
 
 They cleared the rocks by the aid of their oars, and 
 continued to row until they were about three leagues at 
 sea, when they hoisted their sails with a slight breeze 
 from the north. They found that their ship sailed and 
 worked as well as if she had been built by able work- 
 men. On the 18th, they had a strong gale against them 
 from the south-west. The fear of a storm made them 
 fling a part of their ballast overboard. On the 25th, 
 they came in sight of Kamtschatka, entered the Bay of 
 Awatska the next day, and on the 2tth anchored in 
 the port of Petropalanski. 
 
 In 11Q0, Schalaroff, a merchant of Yakutsk, whose 
 name is venerated throughout Siberia, determined on 
 trying whether the passage attempted by Behring could 
 or could not be accomplished. lie persevered during 
 three seasons, in defiance of mutiny and hardships iimu- 
 merable. lie, too, was wrecked on the desolate coast 
 seventy miles east of Cape Chclagskoi, and, with all his 
 crew, died cf starvation. Three years later. Sergeant 
 Andrejeflf conducted a sledge expedition across the ice to 
 the Bear Islands ; his reports, which were much exagger- 
 ated, led shortly afterwards to the accurate survey of 
 this and the adjacent country. Cook's exploration, 
 of which we shall hereafter speak, led to another expe- 
 dition on the part of the Russians, which sailed from 
 the Kolyma in 11S1, under Captain Billings; but the 
 attempts made to navigate either to the east or the west 
 were both defeated. Further efforts were made at inter- 
 vals during the first quarter of the present century, some 
 of them mainly to search for the northern continent, 
 whose existence, far in the Polar Sea, had so often been 
 the subject of rumor. 
 
 Last we come to the expeditions commanded by 
 Lieutenant Anjou and Admiral von Wrangell, carried 
 on also by means of dogs and sledges, from the year 
 
VON WIlANaELL. 
 
 57 
 
 1820 to 1823; the latter taking the mouth of the 
 Kolyma for his starting-point, the former tlie river 
 lana. These undertakings were especially promoted 
 by the Emperor Alexander, and were conducted with 
 all the care and skill warranted by an advanced state 
 of science and philosophy. They failed but in one par- 
 ticular — the discovery of the northern continent, llow 
 diligently and perseveringly this was searched for, 
 is host proved by the narrative of perils endured, even 
 to the risk of hfe, in the arduous enterprise. Three 
 times was the frozen surface bf the sea traversed with- 
 out leading to any definite result ; on the fourth jour- 
 ney, in March, 1823, Von Wrangell reached the latitude 
 of 10° 51', longitude 175° 2Y west — one hundred and 
 five wersts in a direct line from the mainland. Sound- 
 ings gave a depth of twenty-two and a half fathoms ; the 
 ice here was thin and weak. More than once the party 
 had only been saved from breaking through by the speed 
 at which the dogs travelled over it. In the distance a 
 screen of dense blue vapor — a certain indication of open 
 water — was visible, on which the admiral remarks : 
 
 " Notwithstanding this sure token of the impossibil- 
 ity of proceeding much further, we continued to go due 
 north for about nine wersts, when we arrived at the 
 edge of an immense break in the ice, extending east and 
 west further than the eye could reach, and which at the 
 narrowest part was more than a hundred and fifty fath- 
 oms across. * * * * y^Tq climbed one of the loftiest ice- 
 hills, where we obtained an extensive view toAvards the 
 north, and whence we beheld the wide, immeasurable 
 ocean spread before our gaze. It was a fearful and 
 magnificent, but to us a melancholy spectacle. Frag- 
 ments of ice of enormous size floated on the surface of 
 the agitated ocean, and were thrown by the waves with 
 awful violence against the edge of the ice-field on the 
 
 h 
 
 
 mmsmniK t^^ w ikm- mimm 
 
58 
 
 VON WIIANGELL. 
 
 ^j 
 
 1 
 
 P. 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
 further side of tlie channel before us. The collisions 
 were so tr'jmondouH, that largo masses were every 
 insta!it broken away : and it was evident that the por- 
 tion of ice wliich still divided the channel from tlio open 
 ocean would soon be completely destroyed. Had we 
 attempted to have ferried ourselves across upon one of 
 the floating pieces of ice, wc should not have lound firm 
 footing upon our arrival. Even on our own side, fresh 
 lanes of water ''J continually forming, and extending 
 in every directio n io field of ice behind us. With 
 a painful feeling o. the i. , ossibility of overcoming the 
 obstacles which nature opposed to us, our last hope van- 
 ished of discovering the land, which we yet believed to 
 exist." ' 1 ■ ■ '., - ,■ % . .■ 
 
 On returning from this extreme limit of their adven- 
 tn.rous journey, the party were placed in a situation of 
 extreme risk. " We had hardly proceeded ^ne werst," 
 writes M. von Wrangell, "when we found ourselves in 
 a fresh labyrinth of lanes of water, which hemmed us in 
 on every side. As all the floating pieces around us 
 were smaller than the one on which we stood, which 
 was seventy-five fathoms across, and as we saw many 
 certain indications of an approaching storm, I thought 
 it better to remain on the larger mass, which offered us 
 somewhat more security ; and thus we waited quietly 
 whatever Providence should decree. Dark clouds now 
 rose from the west, and the whole atmosphere became 
 filled with a damp vapor. A strong breeze suddenly 
 sprang up from the west, and increased in less than 
 half an hour to a storm. Every moment huge masses 
 of ice around us were dashed against each other, and 
 broken into a thousand fragments. Our little party re- 
 mained fast on our ice-island, which was tossed to and 
 fro by the waves. We gazed in most painful inac- 
 tivity on the wild conflict of the elements, expecting 
 
tv 
 
 M^ 
 1 
 
 VON WUANGKLL. 
 
 69 
 
 every moment to be swallowed up. We had been tlireo 
 long hours in this position, and still the mass ol" ico 
 beneath us held together, when suddenly it was caught 
 by the storm, and hurled agaiist a large field of ice. 
 The crash was terrific, and the mass beneath us was 
 shattered into fragments. At that dreadful moment, 
 when escape seemed impossible, the impulse of self- 
 preservation implanted in every liviilg being saved us. 
 Instinctively we all sprang at once on the sledges, and 
 urged the dogs to their full speed. They flew across 
 the yielding frf.gments to the field on which we had 
 been stranded, and safely reached a part of i jf firmer 
 character, on which were several hummocks, and /here 
 the dogs immediately ceased running, consc. jus, appa- 
 rently, that the danger was past. We were saved : wo 
 joyfully embraced each other, and united in tUanks to 
 God for our preservation from such immin >t peril." 
 
 More than once during this trip the party heard from 
 the Tchuktches that land could be seen far away in the 
 northern seas. The part of the coast alluded to was 
 Cape Jakan, which the explorers afterwards visited ; 
 but, although " they gazed long and earnestly on the 
 horizon, in hopes, as the atmosphere was clear, of dis- 
 cerning some appearance of the northern land," they 
 "could see nothing of it." 
 
 )■-. 
 
 ''H ■>>,!■' 
 
 ICE-UAFT, 
 
 
ir. 
 
 ■;.'' I -7 
 
 ...1/ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OFFER OF PAnLIAMENT. — HEAUNE's JOtmNEY. — PHIPPS. — NELSON. — 
 COOK. — MACKENZIE. — SIR JOHN BOSS's FIRST VOYAGE. — DUCIIAN AND 
 FRANKMN. — DANGKR0U8 SITUATION OF TUB TRENT AND DOROTHEA. 
 
 In 1H3 the British Parliament offered a reward of 
 twenty thousand pounds to any one who should sail to 
 the north west by way of Hudson's Strait, which passage, 
 it was declared, would bo " of great benefit and advan- 
 tage to the kingdom." Between 1169-12 Mr. Ilcarnc 
 undertook three overland journeys across the territories 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the shores of the Polar 
 Sea. He failed in the first two attempts ; in the third 
 he succeeded in reaching a large and rapid river, — the 
 Coppermine, — and followed it down nearly to its mouth ; 
 but, as there is reason to believe, without actually view- 
 ing the sea. The proof of the existence of the river 
 was the most important result of Mr. Hearne's labors ; 
 for such scientific observations as ho attempted are 
 loose and unsatisfactory. 
 
 In the following year (ITTS), in consequence of com- 
 munications made to the Royal Society on the possi- 
 bility of reaching the North Pole, Captain Phipps (after- 
 wards Lord Mulgrave) was sent out with two vessels 
 to effect this interesting object. He coasted the eastern 
 shore of Spitzbergen to 80° 48' of latitude, and was 
 there stopped by the ice. With Phipps on this expe- 
 dition was Nelson, the future naval hero of England, 
 then a mere boy. Young as he was, he was on one 
 occasion appointed to command a boat, sent out to 
 
PIIIPPS. 
 
 61 
 
 explore a paasage into the open water. It was the 
 meaiiR of Havinjj^ another boat from imminent danjijcr. 
 One of the ofiicers hud wonnded a wah'ua. As no othc 
 animal haw so human-like an expression of countenance, 
 so also is there no one that seems to possess more of 
 the passions of humanity. The wounded animal dived 
 immediately, and brought up a nundjer of its compan- 
 ions ; and tliey all joined in an attack on the boat. 
 They wrested an oar from one of the men, and it was 
 with the utmost diiliculty that the crew could prevent 
 them from staving or upsetting her, till Nelson came 
 np : and the wah'usea, finding- their enemies thus rein- 
 forced, dispersed. Young Nelson exposed himself in a 
 most daring manner. 
 
 For a time Captain Phipps was so surrounded by ice, 
 
 that ho made preparations to abandon his ships. On the 
 tth of August the men began to haul the boats over 
 
 6 
 
G2 
 
 TOOK. — MACK TNZIR 
 
 I'' < 
 
 ttio ice. Hut on tlio 0th tlio ships wore moved a little 
 throiijj^h some small o()onings ; and in the coiirHO of the 
 day they got past the boats, aiul took them on board 
 ti<^ain. On the morrow a favorable wind H[)raiig' up ; all 
 sail was set, and, after foreing their way throug'h much 
 heavy ice, the ships cleared it, and plained the open sea. 
 The season was now so far advanced that nothiiij^ more 
 could be attempted, and the expedition returned to 
 England. 
 
 In 1776 Cook sailed on the fatal expedition which cost 
 England her famous navigator, with instructions to at- 
 tempt the passage of the ley Sea from Behring's Strait 
 to Ballin's Bay. The clause of the act abcjve referred 
 to, wherein Hudson's Strait was exclusively specilied, 
 was altered to include "any northern passage" for ships ; 
 and live thousand pounds was further voted to any one 
 who sliould get within one degree of the pole. Cook, 
 with all his perseverance, could not penetrate beyond Icy 
 Cape, latitude 70° 45', where he found the ice stretch- 
 ing in a compact mass across to the opposite continent, 
 which he also visited, sailing as far as Cape North, on 
 the coast of Asia. It would appear that expectations 
 prevailed of the enterprising mariner's success ; for a 
 vessel was sent to Baffin's Bay to wait for him, in 
 1777, in charge of Lieutenant Pickersgill. 
 
 One other journey within this century remains to be 
 noticed — that by Mackenzie, under sanction of the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company, with objects similar to those of 
 Hearne. In 1789 he left Fort Chipewyan, crossed Slave 
 Lake, and descended the Mackenzie River, a stream of 
 much greater magnitude than the Coppermine, to an 
 island where the tide rose and fell. But, as in the case 
 of his predecessor, we have no certainty that he reached 
 the ocean. Rivers, however, play an important part in 
 Arctic discovery ; and it was something gained to know 
 
ROSS AND PAKRY 
 
 G3 
 
 
 iliiit tho Hoa coiild 1)0 roacVcd l»y their moans. We may 
 ]wri' ol)sorvo, once for all, tliat those land oxpoditioriM, 
 whose jtritne object liaH been to determine the northern 
 eoast-Iiiie of" America, are not to be eonlonnded with 
 the attempts to discover the north-west passage. 
 
 The result of tliese diHconrafJCements was a cessation 
 of naval researches, which continued for many years ; 
 but at length a chanjL!;(f took place, as sudden and inex- 
 plicabhi as tlio accumulation of ice from centuries before 
 which cut off the Danish colonies in Greenland from 
 communication witli the mother country. In 1816--lt, 
 the Oreenlaiid whalers reported tho sea to bo clearer 
 of ice than at any former time within their ktiowlodge. 
 This fact engaged the attention of the British Admiralty; 
 and the Council of the Royal Society were consulted as 
 to tho prospects of renewed operations in tho Arctic 
 regions. Their reply was favorable ; and in 1818 two 
 expeditions were litted out — tho one to discover the 
 north-west passage, the other to reach the pole. Cap- 
 tain (soon Sir John) Ross and Lieut, (soon Sir Ed- 
 ward) Parry, in tho vessels Isabella and Alexander, 
 were intrusted with the former of these objects. They 
 wore especially charged to examine the great openings 
 described by Baffin as existing at the head of the vast 
 bay which ho so diligently explored ; and, in carrying 
 out these instructions, the commanders found full reason 
 to applaud the care and perseverance of the able navi- 
 gator, who had preceded them by two hundred years. 
 It must be remembered that we are now treating of a 
 perio ^ when science put forward its imperative claims, 
 and wiion, as at present, something more was required 
 than a meagre chart of a previously-unexplored coast, 
 and graphic accounts of new countries and their inhab- 
 itants. Astronomy, geology, meteorology, magnetism, 
 natural history, were all clamorous for new facts, or for 
 
I 
 
 1 
 
 ROSS AND PARRY. 
 
 Batibi'actory tests of those already known ; .and not only 
 men of science, but the public at large, looked with deep 
 interest to the results. 
 
 The open state of the sea greatly facilitated the pur- 
 poses of the expedition. On the 18th of April the navi- 
 gators sailed down the Thames, and by the end of the 
 month were oft' the Shetland Islands. On the 2Yth of 
 May they came in view of Cape Farewell, round which, 
 as usual, were floating numerous and lofty icebergs of 
 the most varied forms and tints. On the 14th of June 
 thoy reached the Whale Islands, where they were 
 informed by the governor of the Danish settlement that 
 the past winter had been uncommonly severe ; that the 
 neighboring bays and straits had been all frozen two 
 months earlier than usual ; and that some of the channels 
 northward of his station were still inaccessible, owing 
 to the ice. On the llth of June, in the neighborhood 
 of Waygat Island, an impenetrable barrier obliged the 
 discoverers to stop their course, making thomselves 
 fast to an iceberg, and having forty-five whale-ships in 
 company. Observations made ashore proved this island 
 to be misplaced on the maps by no less than five 
 degrees of longitude. On the Tth of August, in tlie 
 same latitude, a heavy gale sprang up, which, driving 
 the ice against the vessels, made a display of its terrible 
 power. Providentially, when instant destruction was 
 expected, the mass receded, and the ships, owing to the 
 extraordinary strength of their construction, escaped 
 without material injury. 
 
 Proceeding along a high mountainous coast, the 
 expedition came to a tribe of P'sqiiimaux, who, of all 
 human beings, seemed to live in a state of the deepest 
 seclusion. They had never before seen men belonging 
 to the civilized world, or to a race difTerent from their 
 own. The first party whom the navigators approached 
 
ROSS AND PARRY. 
 
 G.'^ 
 
 showed every sig'u t)f alarm, dreading, as was after- 
 wards understood, a iatal inlluence from the mere touch 
 of beings whom they regarded as members of an un- 
 known species. They soon, however, acquired greator 
 confidence, and gave the usual proof of it by making 
 free with whatever they could carry away. Following 
 the general usage, they have sledges drawn by large and 
 powerful teams of dogs ; their chase is chiefly confined to 
 hares, foxes of various colors, the seal, and the narwal. 
 They rejected with horror the proffered luxuries of bis- 
 cuit, sweetmeats, or spirits ; train-oil, as it streamed 
 from various species of fish, alone gratified their palate. 
 Captain Eoss, swa7-cd by national impressions, gave to 
 this district the na..iO of the Arctic Highlands. 
 
 In the northern part of this coast the navigators ob- 
 served a remarkable phenomenon — a range of cliffs, 
 the snowy covering of which had exclianged its native 
 white for a tint of deep crimson. The latest observa- 
 tions on this red snow have established the vegetable 
 origin of the color. 
 
 Having now passed Cape Dudley Digges, the com- 
 modore found himself among those spacious sounds 
 which Baffin had named, but su imperfectly described. 
 They all appeared to him, however, to be either bays 
 enclosed by htnd, or obstructed by impenetrable barriers 
 of ice. He sailed past Wolstenholme and Whale 
 Sounds very quickly, without approaching even their 
 entrance, concluding them to be blocked up with ice, 
 and to afibrd no hope of a passage. As these openings 
 stretched towards the north, it must be admitted that 
 they could not, in this high latitude, be considered very 
 favorable as to the ol)jcct he had in view. He came 
 next to Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, which Baffin de- 
 scribed as the most spacious in the whole circuit of 
 these coasts. This was regarded with greater attention ; 
 
 6* 
 
; ROSS AND 1>ARRY. 
 
 but Captain Ross satisfied liimsclf that he had distinctly 
 seen it, at the distan(;e of eighteen h^agnes, completely 
 enclosed by land, lie soon arrived at an extensive 
 bay, which had hitherto been unobserved; afterwards 
 to that which l>alliii called Alderman Jones's Sound : 
 but iji respect to both, the ice at their entrance, and the 
 apparent boundary of high land in the interior, led, as 
 in the other instances, to an unfavorable conclusion. 
 
 The season was now somewhat advanced, the end of 
 August approached, the sun set after an uninterrupted 
 day of two months and a half, and a thick fog rendered 
 the lengthening nights more gloomy. The land, seen 
 at some distance, consisted of very high and steep hills, 
 presenting, liowever, some spots fit for liuman habita- 
 tion. An opening forty-five miles wide, to the south- 
 ward of a promontory which was named Cape Charlotte, 
 was decided against on the usual grounds. On the 30th 
 of August the expedition came to a most magnificent 
 iidet, bordered by lofty mountains of peculiar grandeur, 
 while the water, being clear, and free from ice, pre- 
 sented so tempting an appearance, that it was impossi- 
 ble to refrain from entering*. This channel, which soon 
 proved to bo Lancaster Sound, was ascended for thirty 
 miles, during which run ofilcers and men crowded the 
 topmast, filled with enthusiastic hope, and judging that 
 it aflbrded a much fairer prospect of success than any 
 of those so hastily passed. Captain Ross, however, 
 soon thought that he discovered a high ridge stretching 
 directly across the inlet : and though a great part of it 
 was deeply involved in mist, a passage in this direction 
 was by him judged to be hopeless. The sea being 
 open, liowever, the commander procced(;d ; but about 
 twelve o'clock, Mr. Beverley, the assistant-surgeon, 
 came down from the crow's nest, and stated that he l;iad 
 seen the land extending very nearly across the entire 
 
BUCIIAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 G7 
 
 bay. Hereupon, it is said, all hopes were renounced, 
 even by the most sanguine, and Captain Ross sailed on- 
 ward merely ior the purpose of making some inagnoti- 
 cal observations. 
 
 At three o'clock, tlic sky having cleared, the com- 
 mander himself went (m deck, when he states that he 
 distinctly saw across the bottom of the bay a chain of 
 mountains, continuous, and connected with those which 
 formed its opposite shores. The weather then becom- 
 ing unsettled, he made the signal to steer the vessels 
 out of Lancaster Sound. 
 
 On regaining the entrance of this great channel, Cap- 
 tain Ross continued to steer southward along the west- 
 ern shore, without seeing any entrance which ailbrded 
 equal promise. Cmnberland Strait alone was similar in 
 magnitude ; but, as it could lead only into the higher 
 latitudes of Hudson's Bay, it ailbrded little chance of a 
 passage into the Arctic Sea. After surveying, there- 
 fore, some of these shores, he returned home early in 
 October. Tlic captain arrived in England under the 
 most decided conviction that Ballin's observations had 
 been perfectly correct, and that Lancaster Sound was a 
 bay, affording no entrance into any western sea. If 
 even any strait existed between the mountains, it must, 
 he conceived, be forever innavigable, on account of the 
 ice with wi.ich it is filled. 
 
 The Dorothea and Trent, commanded by Captain 
 Buchan and Lieut, (afterv.'ards Sir John) Franklin, com- 
 prised the expediti(jn destined for the polo. Franklin, 
 in regard to whose fate so nuich public interest was in 
 subsequent years excited, entered the navy in early life 
 as midshipman of the Porpoise, one of the ships em- 
 ployed by ('aptain Flinders on the survey of the coasts 
 of Australia, and was wrecked in her. Next in tlnj 
 rolyphemus, as midshipman and master's mate, from 
 
 I ! 
 
 ^ !l 
 
68 
 
 BUCHAN AND FIANKLIN. 
 
 ;! I 
 
 11 
 
 1801 to 1808, he was in the fleet with Nelson at the 
 iiattio of Copenlia^on. lie was next appointed acting- 
 lieutenant in the B(!dford ; and was lieutenant of the 
 Belleropiion in the battle of Trafalgar, in 1805, and also 
 in the Bedford in tlie attack on New Orleans, in 1815, 
 where he commanded in the boats, was wounded, gazet- 
 ted, and higldy spoken of. lie was considered a good 
 nautical surveyor, well versed in the use of instruments, 
 and a thorough seaman. 
 
 Captain Beechey, to whom we are indebted for an 
 interesting account of the present voyage, observes : 
 " The peculiarity of the proposed route afforded oppor- 
 tunities of making some useful experiments on the ellip- 
 tical figure of the earth ; on magnetic phenomena ; on 
 the refraction of the atmosphere in high latitudes in 
 ordinary circumstances, and over extensive masses of 
 ice ; and on the temperature and specific gravity of the 
 sea at the surflice, and at various depths ; and on mete- 
 orological and other interesting phenomena." The 
 vessels sailed in April, 1818 ; Magdalena Bay, in Spitz- 
 bergen, having been appointed as a place of rendezvous, 
 in case of separation. 
 
 Though this expedition, like that of Ross, was a fail- 
 ure in its main object, yet, unlike iiie. fther, it was not 
 owing to any want of exertion, zcai, or intelligence, in 
 the two commanders or officers ; on the contrary, the 
 two ships were supplied with some of those who, in 
 future voyages, so greatly distinguished themselves as 
 to obtain the highest steps of promotion, and to receive 
 honorary rewards. The instructions directed that they 
 were to make the best of their way into the Spitzbergen 
 Beas, where they should 'endeavor to pass to the north- 
 Vv'ard, between Spitzbergen and Greenland, without 
 stoj/ping Oil either of their coasts, and use their best 
 endeavors to reach the North Pole; v/ith a suggestion, 
 
BUCIIAN AND FRANKLiN. 
 
 69 
 
 that where the sta is deepest and least connected with 
 the land, it will be found most clear of ice. 
 
 On the 18th of May the ships encountered a severe 
 gale, and under even storm staysails were buried gun- 
 wale deep in the waves. On the 24th they sighted 
 Chorie Island, situated in lat. 14° 33' N., and long. 17° 
 40' E., formerly so t oted for its fishery, being much 
 frecjuented by walrusv.'S. For many years the Mus- 
 covy Company carried on a lucrative trade by sending 
 ships to the island for oil ; as many as a thousand ani- 
 mals being often captured by the crew of a single shi[) 
 in the course of six or seven hours. 
 
 The discovery ships passed slowly througli the small 
 floes and huge masses of ice which floated by in succes- 
 sion. The progress througli such a labyrinth of frozen 
 masses was a most interesting sight. The officers and 
 crew did not tire of watching the scene. Captain 
 Beechey thus describes the general impression created : 
 " Very few of us had ever seen the sun at midnight ; and 
 this night happening to be particularly clear, his broad 
 red disc, curiously distoitcd by refraction, and sweep- 
 ing majestically along the northern horizon, was an ob- 
 ject of imposing grandeur, wliich riveted to the deck 
 some of our crew, who would perhaps have beheld with 
 indifference the less imposing efl'ect of the icebergs. 
 The rays wore too oblicjue to illuminate more than the 
 inequalities of the floes, and, ftilling thus partially on 
 the grotesque shapes, either really assumed by the ice 
 or distorted by the unecpial refraction of the atmos- 
 phere, so betrayed the imagination that it required no 
 great exertion of fancy to trace in various directions 
 architectural edifices, grottos, and caves, here and there, 
 glittering as if with precious metals." 
 
 At Cherie Island the walruses were found very nu- 
 nsercus. Of the habits and character of the walrus 
 
 i 
 
cf 
 
 70 
 
 BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 I 
 
 (1 
 
 •If: ■ 
 
 u 
 
 Lieut. Beechey gives, after frequent intercourse with 
 them, a very interesting' account. Their aflection for 
 their young, and their unflinching courage in defending 
 them, are remarkable ; not more so tlieir compassionate 
 conduct toward a wounded companion, whom they wili 
 never leave till carried oft' to a place of safety ; and 
 even the young ones on such occasions will turn fiercely 
 against the boats of the pursuers. A single instance 
 will suffice to show the care and affection bestowed on 
 their young. 
 
 " We were greatly amused by the singular and affec- 
 tionate conduct of a walrus towards its young. In the 
 vast sheet of ice that surrounded the ships there were 
 occasionally many pools ; and, when the weather was 
 clear and warm, animals of various kinds would fre- 
 quently rise and sport about in them, or crawl from 
 thence upon the ice to bask in the warmth of the sun. 
 A walrus rose in one of those pools close to the ship, 
 and, finding everything quiet, dived down and brought 
 up its young, which it held by its breast by pressfrig it 
 with its fhpper. In this manner it moved about the pool, 
 keeping in an erect posture, and always directing the 
 face of the your»g toward the vessel. On the slightest 
 movement on board, the mother released her flipper and 
 pushed the young one under water ; but, when ever}'- 
 thing was again quiet, brought it up as before, and for 
 a length of time continued to play about in the pool, to 
 the grefit amusement of the seamen, who gave her credit 
 for ahiiitioR in tuition which, though possessed of con- 
 siderable r-^agacity, die hardly merited." 
 
 On one occasion, !>omc of the crew of the Trent, having 
 wounded a walrus, took to their boat, when they were 
 assailed by a Itrge number of walruses. These animals 
 rose, snorting with rag';, and rushed at the boat ; and 
 it wus witii the utmost difficulty they were prevento<l 
 
 
 
BUCHim AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 71 
 
 from upsetting or staving it. They would phicc their 
 tusks on the gunwale, or rush at it with their lu'uds. 
 The herd was S(j numerous, and their attacks so inces- 
 sant, that there was not time to load a musket. Tin; 
 purser fortunately had his gun loaded, and the men now 
 being nearly exhausted with chopping and sticking at 
 their assailants, he snatched it up, and, thrusting the 
 muzzle down tli(3 throat of a large and formidable wal- 
 rus, who seemed to be the leader of the herd, tired into 
 his bowels. The wound proved mortal, and the animal 
 
 ATTACK BV WALIUJSES. 
 
 fell back among his companions, who immediately 
 desisted from the attack, assembled round him, and in a 
 moment quitted the b(jat, swimming away as hard as 
 they could with their leader, whom they actually bore up 
 with their tusks, and assiduously preserved from sinking. 
 Many similar acts of compassion, on the part of these 
 animals towards their v.'oai'.ded companions, were 
 observed. On one occasion, when several waliuses 
 
72 
 
 BUCriAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 !►! 
 
 were attacked upon a beach, near Magdalcna Bay, tlie 
 first diycliarge of muskets drove all those who could 
 crawl into the sea ; but, immediately upon their panic 
 subsiding, uicjy returned to the shore and dragged their 
 wounded compani(»nh into the water, either by main 
 force, or by rolling them over with their tusks. 
 
 On the 28th of May, the weather being foggy and 
 severe, with heavy falls of snow, the ships separated, 
 and the Trent st(jod to the northward toward Magdalcna 
 Bay, the place <jf rendezvous, along the edge of the 
 main body of ice : they met here, and, scciing it impos- 
 sible to penetrate the marginal line of the ice, and the 
 season being very early, the commander determined on 
 passing a few days in that bay, in which they anchored 
 on the 3d of June. The ice was in the cove and upper 
 part of the harbor, but was in a rapidly decaying state, 
 and, on revisiting their anchorage here in the beginning 
 of August, it had entirely disappeared. Magdalcna Bay 
 is rendered conspicuous by four glaciers, the smallest 
 two hundred feet above the sea, on the slope of a moun- 
 tain. It is called the Hanging Iceberg, and seems, so 
 Beechey says, as if a very slight matter would detach 
 it from the mountain, and precipitate it into the sea. 
 The largest oi" the four extends two or three miles in- 
 land : owing to the great rents in the surface, it has 
 been named the Wagon-way, from the resemblance of 
 the fissures to ruts made by wheels. Several glaciers 
 similar to those were observed near Bane's Gut, the 
 largest about ten thousand feet in length by two or three 
 hundred feet in perpendicular height. In the vicinity of 
 these icebergs a strict observance of silence is neces- 
 sary ; the explosion of a gun scarcely ever fails to bring 
 down one ( f these masses. Mr. Beechey says that on 
 two occasions thev witnessed avalanches on the most 
 magnificent scale. 
 
BUCIIAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 78 
 
 I 
 
 " The first was occasioned by tlie discharge of a mus- 
 ket at about half a mile's distance from the glacier. 
 Immediately after the report of the gun, a noise resem- 
 bling thunder 'vas heard in the direction of the iceberg 
 (glacier), and in a few seconds more an immense pit!C(! 
 broke away, and fell headlong into the sea. The crew 
 of the launch, supposing themselves beyond the reach of 
 its inlluence, quietly looked upon the scene, when pres- 
 ently a sea arose and rolled toward the shore with such 
 rapidity, that the crew had not time to take any jn-ecau- 
 tions, and the boat was in consequence washed upon 
 the beach, and completely filled by the succeeding 
 wave. As soon as their astonishment had subsided, 
 they examined the boat, and found her so badly stove 
 that it became necessary to repair her in order to return 
 to the ship. They had also the curiosity to measure 
 the distance the boat had been carried by the wave, and 
 found it to be ninety-six feet." 
 
 In viewing the same glacier from a boat at a distance, 
 a second avalanche took place, which afforded them the 
 gratification of witnessing the creation, as it were, of a 
 sea iceberg ; an opportunity which has occu;red to few, 
 though it is generally understood that suih monsters 
 can only be generated on shore. 
 
 " This occurred on a remarkably fine day, when the 
 quietness of the bay was first interrupted by the noise 
 of the falling body. Lieutenant Franklin and myself 
 had approached one of these stupe/idous walls of ice, 
 and were endeavoring to search into the innermost recess 
 of a deep cavern that was near the foot of +he glacier, 
 when we heard a report as if of a cannon, and, turning 
 to the quarter whence it proceeded, v^e perceived an 
 immense piece of the front of the berg sliding down from 
 the height of two hundred feet at least into the sea, and 
 dispersing the water in every direction, accompanied by 
 
74 
 
 BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 a loud, grinding noise, and followed by a quantity of 
 water, which, being previously lodged in the lissures, 
 now made its escape in numberless small cataracts over 
 the front of tlie glucior." 
 
 After describing the disturbance occasioned by the 
 plunge of tiiis enormous fragment, and the rollers which 
 swept over the surface of the bay, and obliged the 
 Dorothea, then careening at the distance of four miles, 
 to aright, by releasing the tackles, he thus proceeds : 
 
 " The piece that had been disengaged at first wholly 
 disappeared under water, and nothing was seen but a 
 violent boiling of the sea, and a shooting up of clouds 
 of spray, like that which occurs ai the foot of a great 
 cataract. After a short time it reappeared, raising its 
 head full a hundred feet above the surface, with water 
 pouring down from all parts of it ; and tiien, laboring as 
 if doubtful which way it should fall, it rolled over, and, 
 after rocking about some minutes, at length became 
 settled. We now approached it, and found it nearly a 
 quarter of a mile in circumference, and sixty feet out of 
 the water. Knowing its specific gravity, and making a 
 fair allowanc( for its inequalities, we computed its 
 weight at 421,060 tons. A stream of salt water was 
 still pouring down its sides, aid there was a continual 
 cracking noise, as loud as that of a cart-whip, occa- 
 sioned, I suppose, by the escape of fixed (confined) 
 
 an* 
 
 n 
 
 Mr, Beechey confirms what has frequently leen found 
 and noticed — the mildness of the temperature on the 
 western coast of Spitzbergen, there being little or no 
 sensation of cold, though the thermometer might be only 
 a few degrees above the freezing point. The brilliant 
 and lively efiect of a clear day, when the sun shines 
 forth, with a pure sky, whose azure hue is so intense as 
 to find no parallel even in the boasted Italian sky, affords, 
 
 ( 
 
 ill I 
 {;■■ 
 
 I 
 
BUCHAN AxND FRANKLIN. 
 
 75 
 
 id 
 lie 
 
 lO 
 
 |iy 
 
 L's 
 
 las 
 Is. 
 
 li 
 
 r 
 
 in Mr. Booclicy's opinion, a full compensation for the 
 cloudy and ndsty weather, when the hills arc clothed 
 with new-fallen snow, and all appears dreary and deso- 
 late. The radiation of the sun, he observes, in some 
 sheltered situations, is so ])ovverful, during two hours on 
 either side of noon, tliat they frequently observed tlie 
 thermometer upon the ice in the ollino- ut 58°, 02°, GT° ; 
 and once at midnitjid it rose to 13°, althou<i;'}i in the 
 shade at the same time it was oidy 3(5°. Hence are 
 found varieties of Alpine j)lants, grasses, and lichens, 
 such as in the more southern aspects flourish in great 
 luxuriance ; they are here found ascending to a consid- 
 erable height, " so tliat," says Beechej'^, " we have fre- 
 quently seen the reindeer browsing at an elevation of 
 fifteen hundred feet." 
 
 On account of the mildness of the temperature, the 
 shores of Spitzbcrgeu arc frequented by multitudes of 
 animals of various descriptions. " From an early hour 
 in the morning until the period of rest returned, the 
 shores around us reverberated with the merry cry of the 
 little auk, willocks, divers, cormorants, gulls, and other 
 aquatic birds ; and, wherever we went, groups of wal- 
 ruses, basking in the sun, mingled their playful roar 
 with the husky bark of the seal." The little auks or 
 rotges (the Alca alle) are stated to be so numerous, that 
 " we have frequently seen an uninterrupted line of them 
 extending full half-way over the bay, or to a distance 
 of more than three miles, ai >1 so close together that 
 thirty have fallen at one shot. This living column 
 might be about six yards broad and as many deep ; so 
 that, allowing sixteen birds to a cubic yard, there would 
 be four millions of those creatures on the wing at one 
 time." This number, he adds, appears very largo ; 
 yet, when it is told that the little rotges rise in such 
 multitudes as to darken the air, and that their chorus is 
 
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 76 
 
 BUCHAN AiM) FRANKLIN. 
 
 distinctly audible at a distance of four miles, the estimate 
 will not appear to be exaggerated. 
 
 At Vogcl Sang and Cloven Cliff, between which is 
 Fair Haven, wherein the ships anchored, the surround- 
 ing islands are described as clothed with lichens and 
 other rich pasturage for reindeer, which creatures are 
 here so abundant (upon Vogel Sang in particular), that 
 this island alone supplied the expedition with forty car- 
 casses in high condition, the fat on the loins being from 
 four to six inches thick, and a carcass prepared for 
 dressing weighing two hundred and eighty-five pounds. 
 These fine creatures showed evident marks of affection 
 for each other. " They were at this time in pairs, and 
 when one was shot the other would hang over it, and 
 occasionally lick it, apparently bemoaning its fate ; and, 
 if not immediately killed, would stand three or four 
 shots rather than desert its fallen companion." " This 
 compassionate conduct," continues Beechey, "it is 
 needless to say, doubled our chance of success, though 
 I must confess it was obtained in violation of our better 
 feelings." These animals are said to take to the water 
 freely, and swim from one island to another. The boats 
 ■ of the Trent took four, which they w'shed to retain 
 ^ ;ilive ; but they were so wild that they broke their 
 slender limbs, and inflicted other serious wounds, so 
 that it became necessary to put an end to their suffer- 
 ings by killing them. 
 
 At one of the islets near Vogel Sang were also the 
 ' King Eider-ducks, in such numbers that it was impossi- 
 ble, almost, to walk without treading on their nests, 
 which they defended with determined resolution. If 
 driven off by foxes, or other large animals, they hastily 
 draw the down of the nest over the eggs, and glue it 
 with a yellow fluid, not only to preserve the warmth of 
 the eggs, but that, being of so offensive a nature, the 
 
 i 
 
BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 77 
 
 s ■ 
 
 1l 
 
 L 
 
 foxes would not touch the eggs tainted with it. Foxes 
 and bears are everywhere found on the shore and on 
 the ice ; and the sea about Spitzbergen is as much alive 
 as the land, from the multitude of burgomasters, stront- 
 jaggers, malmouks, kittiwakes, and the rest of the gull 
 tribe, while the amphibious animals and the fish enliven 
 both the ice and the water, from the huge whale to the 
 minute clio on which it feeds, swallowing perhaps a 
 million at a mouthful. In this respect of animal life, 
 the Arctic regions of the globe essentially differ from 
 those within the Antarctic Circle, where all appears to 
 be stillness, silence, and solitude. 
 
 - On the Tth of June the ships left Magdalena Bay, and 
 were hampered with fragments of ice, usually called 
 brash-ice, which, as they proceeded, became thicker and 
 more solid, and, indeed, imper(*.'trable ; but a breeze 
 opened and dispersed it, and carried the ships into clear 
 water. In going westerly they fell in with several 
 whale-ships, by which they learned that the ice in that 
 quarter was quite compact, and that fifteen vessels were 
 beset in it. Buchan, therefore, stood to the northward. 
 They passed Cloven Cliff, — a remarkable isolated r<»ck, 
 which marks the north-western boundary of Spitzbergen, 
 — and also Red Bay, when they were stopped by the 
 ice closing the channel between it and the shore, and 
 became firmly fixed. By great exertions, however, 
 they got into tb'i floe of ice, where they remained thir- 
 teen days, whe? the field began to separate, and to set 
 to the southward, at the rate of three miles an hour, 
 and the ships got into an open sea, where, however, 
 they were not long permitted to remain, and took 
 shelter in Fair Haven. 
 
 Finding, from the view afforded by the hills, that the 
 ice was driving to the northward, they again put to sea 
 on the 6th of July, and sailed as far as 80° 16' N., where 
 
78 
 
 BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 tijo same impenetrable barrier obstructed their further 
 progress. On the following clay, however, so rapid 
 had been the motion of the ice during the night, that 
 channels of water were observed in every quarter, and 
 the wind was favorable for proceeding along one of the 
 open channels. Captain Buchan lost not a moment in 
 pushing his ship into one of those openings, spreading 
 every sail his masts would bear, and was cheerfully 
 followed by his enterprising consort, to the great joy 
 of all on board. In the evening, however, the channels 
 began to close again, and the vessels were soon beset 
 and pressed close by the packed ice. This was the end 
 of their voyage northward, and the latitude gained 
 was 80° 34' N. In vain they labored tw^o days in drag- 
 ging the vessels witli ropes and ice-anchors ; for, though 
 they had left the ice behind them, the current had car- 
 ried them back to the southward three miles, and it 
 was clear that all attempts to get one mile further to 
 the northward would be vain. 
 
 Captain Buchan being now satisfied that he had given 
 the ice a fair trial in the vicinity of Spitzbergen, resolved 
 on standing over toward the coast of Greenland. Hav- 
 ing succeeded in getting the ships to the edge of the 
 pack, and sailing along it, a violent gale of wind came 
 on so suddenly that they were at once reduced to storm 
 staysails. The ice was setting fast upon them, and the 
 Dorothea being nearest to it, in order to escape imme- 
 diate shipwreck, it was deemed necessary to take refuge 
 among it. The Trent followed her < xample, and dashed 
 into the " unbroken line of furious breakers, in which 
 immense pieces of ice were heaving and subsiJing with 
 the waves, and dashing together with a violence which 
 nothing, apparently, but a solid body, could withstand, 
 occasioning such a noise that it was with the greatest 
 diflSculty we could make our orders heard by the crow." 
 
BUCIIAN AND FKANKLIN. 
 
 79 
 
 V 
 
 ! 
 
 " No language," he says, " 1 am convinced, can convoy 
 an adeqiuite idea of tlic terrific grandeur of the eflect 
 now produced by the collision of the ice and the tem- 
 pestuous ocean." 
 
 But when the moment arrived that the strength of 
 the little bark was to be placed in competition with that 
 of the great icy continent, and doubts might reasonably 
 have arisen of her surviving the unequal conflict, the 
 crew preserved the greatest calmness and resolution. 
 . Captain .Beechey says : . . ,:; .,... 
 j " If ever the fortitude of seamen was fairly tried, it 
 was assuredly not less so on this occasion ; and I will 
 not conceal the pride I felt in witnessing the bold and 
 decisive tone in which the orders wcfc issued by the 
 commander of our little vessel (Franklin), and the 
 promptitude and steadiness with which tliey were exe- 
 cuted by the crew. Each ])crson instinctively secured 
 his own hold, and, with his eyes fi.Kcd upon the masts, 
 awaited in breathless anxiety the moment of concussion. 
 It soon arrived ; the brig, cutting her way through the 
 light ice, ca. in violent contact with the main body. 
 If. an instant we all lost our footing, the masts bent 
 with the impetus, and the cracking timbers from below 
 bespoke a pressure which was calculated to awaken our 
 serious apprehensions." 
 
 Captain Beechey proceeds to give a vivid and graphic 
 account of tl: 3 state of the ship, accompanied by a spirited 
 and well-executed print, descriptive of her situation. 
 "Her motion," he says, "was so great, that the ship's 
 bell, which in the heaviest gale of wind had never struck 
 of itself, now tolled so continually that it was ordered 
 to be muffled for the purpose of escaping the unpleasant 
 association it was calculated to produce." After a few 
 hours the gale ceased, and the pack broke up sufficiently 
 to release the ships, which were so disabled that the 
 
t) 
 
 m 
 
 BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 
 
 Dorothea waa in a foundering condition. They made 
 the best of their way to Fair Haven in a sinking state, 
 where they repaired their damages as well as they 
 could ; it was obvious, however, there was an end to 
 any further attempt as regarded the main object of tliG 
 cx])edition. The Trent being the less damaged of the 
 two, Lieutenant Franklin requested that he might be 
 alh^wed to proceed alone in the execution of the service. 
 This could not be acceded to, as, in the event which 
 had occurred. Captain Buchan was directed by his in- 
 Rt"uctions to take command of the Trent, provided her 
 consort was rendered unserviceable ; had he done so, 
 the Dorothea, unaccompanied in her way home, might 
 have risked the lives of her crew in a ship so shattered 
 and unsafe. It was therefore decided that both should 
 return home ; and on the 30th of August they put to 
 sea, and on the 22d of October arrived at Deptford. 
 
 SITUATION' t.F TilK TRENT. 
 
 fi 
 
 f 
 
%f 
 
 ■'hf 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 parry's first voyage. — ICEBERCS. — PASSAGE THROUGH LANCASTER 
 80r!TD. — PRINCE REGENT'S INLET. — WEIiLINOTON CHANNEL. — MEL- 
 VILLE ISLAND. WINTER QUARTERS. SCURVY SNOW ItLINDNESS. 
 
 THEATRICALS. —UREA KINO UP OF THE ICE. — RETURN OF THE EX- 
 PEDITION. 
 
 \ 
 
 k 
 
 Much dissatisfaction was felt in England at the result 
 of Ross's expedition, described in the last chapter. The 
 grounds, in particular, on which Lancaster Sound, an 
 opening so spacious, and in a position so favorable in 
 respect to western discovery, had been so abruptly- 
 quitted, appeared inadmissible. The " Croker Moun- 
 tains, " which had barred the progress of Sir John 
 Ross, were affirmed by some who had borne part in the 
 abortive voyage to be an ocular illusion. This opin- 
 ion was very decidedly espoused by Lieut. Parry, the 
 second in command. It was determined, therefore, that 
 a fresh expedition should be equipped and intrusted to 
 him, that he might fulfil, if possible, his own sanguine 
 hopes, and those of the government. 
 
 He was furnished with the Ilecla, of 375 tons, and a 
 crew of fifty-eight men ; and with the Griper gun-brig, 
 of 180 tons, and thirty-six men, commanded by Lieut, 
 Liddon. These ships were made as strong as possible 
 for the navigation of the Arctic seas ; and were stored 
 with ample provisions for two years, a copious supply 
 of anti-scorbutics, and everything which could enable 
 
i 
 
 p' 
 
 \[\ 
 
 
 *.; 
 
 .i 
 
 82 
 
 th 
 
 PARRY'S FIRST VOY \nK 
 
 •lure til 
 
 .If 
 
 ho crows t»» (MPlun' in«» tiioHt cxtn'mo n^j^ors ol u polar 
 winter. 
 
 liitMit. I'lirrv, (l(>stiii'(l to outstri]) all liin |i!(Ml«MM»HsorH 
 ill tlic canM'r of iinrllicni discnvn y, wcij^lird aiirlior al. 
 iho Norc on tin- lltli May, ISI«>, and on tlio LMKJi 
 roiiiKJeil tlu' nMiiolrsl |)oiiii ol' tlio OiKiicvm. 1I(m«ihI«>iiv- 
 orcii to cross the Atlantic iiboiit tin* |>aiallcl orfjS", and, 
 though inipedtMJ diirin<;" the lirst tort night, of ihme by !i 
 cinirse of MnfuvoruMe w»'ather, ohtained, on the If.th, 
 from the distance apparently »>!' not less than forty 
 leagues, a vi(»w of the lofty clill's composing; Vn\H) Viwd- 
 \vell. On the JSth the ships tirst tell in witli icehergs, 
 i\\o air being also lilled with petrels, kittiwakes, terns, 
 mid other wiiig(»d inhabitants of the northorn sky. Jlo 
 now made tut etl'ort to push north and west, through the 
 icy masses, in tlu* direction of Lancaster Souml ; but 
 these suddenly closed upon him ; and on tlu* 'JAth boMi 
 vessels were so immovably beset, that, no power could 
 t'.iru their heads a single jx.int of the compass. Tli(\v 
 remained thus tixed. but sale, when, on the morning of 
 the s<H'ond day, a heavy roll of the sea loosened flu> 
 ice, and drovi^ it ag;ainst them with such violence, that 
 only their very strong: construction saved them Irom 
 severe injury. The discoNcrors, theridore, were fain to 
 extricate themselves as soo!i as possible ; and, resign- 
 ing- the idea of rtMching Lar.caster Sound by the most 
 direct course, resolved to ^teer northward along" tho 
 border of this g-reat icy Held till tb.ey should lind open 
 water. In this prog^ress they verified the observation 
 of Davis, that in the narrowest part of tho great sea, 
 misnamed his Strait, the shores on each sido could be 
 seen at the same moment. Thus they proceeded till 
 they reached the WomenV: Islands and Hope Sanderson, 
 in about latitude 73°. As every step was now likely to 
 carry them further from iheir destination, Parry deter- 
 
 I 
 
l'AiUlV'8 FIIU^T VOYAGE, 
 
 ^3 
 
 1 1 ill' 
 
 fho 
 
 8oa, 
 
 Id be 
 
 ll till 
 
 i-son, 
 
 ly to 
 
 ietcr- 
 
 r 
 i 
 
 iiiiiHMl u|)(Mi a <lrn|)(»rut«! jmihIi to ilio wcHtwuid. I'avorcil 
 widi 11 ino(lciat(' hn'r/c, (In- HliipH 'vcro nni into iIm; 
 (icIaclisMl picccH and Hoes td' ice, ilirodj^h wliic.li they 
 wort( lioavi'd with hawHcrn ; Iml, llio ol)sl,a(;I(.'H Ixfcoiniii^ 
 uhvays more iiisiipcralilc, lli<'y vvcro at leiif^th (toinpli'tcly 
 l)t!H(!t, and a heavy I'o^ eondn^ on, made lliein little; aliie 
 to take ailvanla^i' of any lavoiable «lianf^(\ V(!t, in tin' 
 couiKti (d' a we<'k, <Iion;jfli repeattMlly and Horncdinies 
 danj^eronsjy Huiroundctl, they vviiiiKMl their way ri()ni 
 hme to lan(! of open water, till only one; len;^lhened Hoe 
 8(?para(ed them IVoni an open soa. liy lahoiioiiHly saw- 
 ing' through this olt.strnetion, lluty finally pcMudrated tlu; 
 j^roat Itanier, and saw the shore, elear of iee, (txtctnding 
 bolore tluMn. 
 
 The navigators now Itoro diroetly for Lancast<!r Sonnd, 
 and on the JJOth July found theinselvt's at its entrances. 
 They f<dt an extraordinary emotion as tlu;}' re(!og'rd/e(l 
 this nia|;nilieent chann(d, with t!ie lofty clilTs by whieh it 
 was guarded, aware that a v(!ry short tiuKj would decide 
 the fate of their grand undertaking. They were tanta- 
 lized, however, by a fresh breeze condng directly down 
 the Hound, whieh did not suUer them to make more; than 
 u ver;' slow progress. Still, there was no appearance 
 of cbstruction either from ice or land, and even the heavy 
 swell whi(di they had I;* encounter, driving the water 
 repeatedly in at the stern windows, was hailed as an 
 indication of open sea to the west rd. 
 
 The llecla left the Griper behind, but still with(Hit 
 ! making any great way herself, till the 3d August, when 
 ^ an easterly breeze sprang up, carrying both vessels 
 rapidly forward. A crowd of sail was set, and they pro- 
 , ceeded triumphantly in their course. The minds of all 
 ^ were filled with anxious liope and suspense. The mast- 
 V heads wne crowded with ofBccrs and n)en, and tho suc- 
 • cessive reports brought down from the highest pinnacle 
 
84 
 
 PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 T ,1 
 
 rill 
 
 jli 
 
 riillod the crow's nost, were oag-orly listonod to on 
 deck. T'.icir p.-ith was Htill unol)8tructed. They passed 
 various headlands, witli several wide openings towards 
 the north and south, to which they liastily gave the 
 names of Crokcr Bay, Navy Board Inlet, and similar 
 designations ; but these it was not their present object 
 to explore. The wind, freshening more and more, car- 
 ried them happily forward, till at nn'dnight they found 
 themselves in longitude 83" 12', nearly a hundred and 
 lifty miles from the mouth of the sound, which still 
 retained a breadth of fifty miles. The success of the 
 expedition, they fondly hoped, was now, to a great 
 ei:tcnt, decided. • . • - .' .- 
 
 The Ilecla at this time slackened her course, to allow 
 her companion to come up, which she did in longitude 
 85". They proceeded together to longitude 86* 30', and 
 found two other inlets, which they named Burnet and 
 Stratton ; then a bold cape, named Fellfoot, forming, 
 apparently, the termination of this long line of coast. 
 The lengthened swell, which still rolled in from the 
 north and west, with the oceanic color of the waters, 
 inspired the flattering persuasion that they had already 
 passed the region of straits and inlets, and were now 
 wafted along the wide expanse of the polar basin. 
 Nothing, in short, it was hoped, would henceforth 
 obstruct their progress to Icy Cape, the western bound- 
 ary of America. An alarm of land was given, but it 
 proved to arise only from an island of no great extent. 
 However, more land was soon discovered, beyond Cape 
 Fellfoot, which was ascertained to be the entrance to a 
 noble recess, extending on their right, which they 
 named Maxwell Bay. An uninterrupted range of sea 
 still stretched out before them, though they were some- 
 what discomposed by seeing, on the south, a line of 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 continnons ico ; l)ut it left an opon paaaagc, and they 
 hoped to find it merely a detached stream. 
 
 A little 8pa(;e onwards, however, they discovered, 
 with deep dismay, that this ice was joined to a com- 
 pact and impenetrable body of floes, which completely 
 crossed the channel, and joined the western point of 
 Maxwell Bay. It behoved them, therefore, immedi- 
 ately to draw back, to avoid being embayed in the 
 ice, along the edges of which a violent surf was then 
 beating. The officers began to amuse themselves with 
 fruitless attempts to catch white whales, when the 
 weather cleared, and they saw, to the south, an open 
 sea, with a dark water-sky. Parry, hoping that this 
 might lead to an ur^ncumbered passage in a lower 
 latitude, steered in this direction, and found himself at 
 the mouth of a great inlet, ten leagues broad, with no 
 visible termination ; and to the two capes at its en- 
 trance he gave the names of Clarence and Seppings. 
 
 The mariners, finding the western shore of this inlet 
 greatly obstructed with ice, moved across to the east- 
 ern, where they entered a broad and open channel. 
 The coast was the most dreary and desolate they had 
 ever beheld, even in the Arctic world, presenting scarcely 
 a semblance either of animal or vegetable life. Naviga- 
 tion was rendered more arduous, from the entire irregu- 
 larity of the compass, now evidently approaching to the 
 magnetic pole, and showing an excess of variation 
 which they vainly attempted to measure, so that the 
 binnacles were laid aside as useless lumber. 
 
 They sailed a hundred and twenty miles up this in'et, 
 and its augmenting width inspired them with correspond- 
 ing hopes ; when, with extreme consternation, they 
 suddenly perceived the ice to diverge from its parallel 
 course, running close in with a point of land which 
 appeared to form the southern extremity of the eastern 
 8 
 
80 
 
 1»AIUIY\S I'llUJT VDVAOE. 
 
 Hliorc. To thiH fonjIaiKl tlicy gavo the name of Cape 
 Kator. Th(; wcHtorn liori/on alHo appeared eovereil 
 with heavy and extensive floes, a bright and dazzling 
 ice-blink extending from right to left. The name of the 
 Prince llegent was given to this spacious inlet, which 
 Parry strongly suspected must have a communication 
 with Hudson's Bay. He now determined to return to 
 the old station, and watch the opportunity when the 
 relenting ice would allow the ships to proceed west- 
 ward. That point was reached, not without some difli- 
 culty, amid ice and fog. 
 
 At Prince Leopold's Islands, on the 15th, the barrier 
 was as impenetrable as ever, with a briglit blink ; and 
 from the top of a high hill there was no water to be 
 seen ; luckily, also, tiiere was no land. On the 18th, 
 on getting once more close to the northern shore, the 
 navigators began to make a little way, and some showers 
 of rain and snow, accompanied with heavy wind, pro- 
 duced such an efiect, that on the 2l8t the whole ice had 
 disappeared, and they could scarcely believe it to be 
 the same sea which had just before been covered with 
 floes upon floes, as far as the eye could reach. 
 
 Parry now crowded all sail to the westward, and, 
 though detained by want of wind, he passed Radstock 
 Bay, Capes Kurd and Hotham, and Beechey Island ; 
 after which he discovered a fine and broad inlet leading 
 to the north, which he called Wellington. The sea at 
 the mouth being perfectly open, he would not have 
 hesitated to ascend it, had there not been before him, 
 along the southern side of an island named Cornwallis, 
 an open channel leading due west. Wellington Inlet 
 was now considered by the officers, so high were their 
 hopes, as forming the western boundary of the land 
 stretching from Baffin's Bay to the Polar Sea, into 
 which they had little doubt they were entering. For 
 
PARIIY'8 FIIUST VOYAGE. 
 
 87 
 
 this reason, Lieutenant Parry did not licsitato to give to 
 tin? pn'.it cliiinnel, which WiiH undoiHtood to eflect ho 
 dcsirabh; a junction, the merited appeUation of Harrow's 
 Strait, after tlie much-esteemed promoter of th(! expedi- 
 tion. A favorable bree/o now sprang* up, and the adven- 
 turers passed gayly and triumpiiantly akMig* the exten- 
 sive shore of Cornwallis Island, then coasted a larg-cr 
 island, named IJathurst, and next a smaller one, called 
 JJyam Martin. At this last place they judg-ed, by some 
 experiments, that they had passed the ma<^netic merid- 
 ian, situated, probably, in about 100° west longitude, 
 and where the compass would have pointed due south 
 instead of due north. 
 
 The navigation now became extremely difficult, in 
 consequence of thick fogs, which not only froze on the 
 shrouds, but, as the compass was also useless, took 
 away all means of knowing the direction in which they 
 sailed. They were obliged to trust that the land and 
 ice would preserve the same line, and sometimes em- 
 ployed the oddest expedients for ascertaining the j)re- 
 cise point. They encountered, also, a compact floe, 
 through which they were obliged to bore their way by 
 main force. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these obstacles, they reached the 
 coast of an island larger than any before discovered, 
 to which they gave the name of Melville. The wind 
 now failed, and they moved slowly forward by towing 
 and warping, till, on the 4th September, the lieutenant 
 could announce to his joyful crew that, having reached 
 the longitude of 110° west, they were become entitled to 
 the reward of five thousand pounds promised by Parlia- 
 ment to the first ship's company who should attain that 
 meridian. They still pushed forward with redoubled 
 ardor, but soon found their course arrested by an 
 impenetrable barrier of ice. They waited nearly a fort- 
 
88 
 
 PARRY'S HRST VOYAGE. 
 
 :<■ ■• 't- 
 
 night, in hopes of overcoming it, till, about the 20th, 
 their situation became alarming. The young i(' began 
 rapidly to form on the surface of the waters, retarded 
 only by winds and swells, so that the commanding offi- 
 cer was convinced that, in the event of a single liour'fi 
 calm, he v ould be frozen up in the midst of the sea. 
 
 No option was therefore left but to return, and to 
 choose between two apparently good harbors, which 
 had been recently passed on Melville Island. Not 
 without difficulty he reached this place on the 24th, and 
 decided in favor of th ; more western haven, as alTordiiig 
 the fullest security ; but it was necessary to cut his 
 way two miles through a large floe with which it was 
 encumbered. To clfect this arduous operation, the sea- 
 men marked with boarding-pikes two parallel lines, at 
 the distance of somewhat more than the breadth of the 
 larger sliip. They sawed, in the first place, along the 
 path tracked out, and then, by cross-sawings, detached 
 large pieces, which were separated diagonally, in order 
 to be floated out ; and sometimes boat-sails were fas- 
 tened to thp'^, to take the advantage of a favorable 
 breeze. On the 26th the ships were established in five 
 fathoms water, at about a cable's length from the 
 beach. For some time the ice was daily cleared round 
 them ; but this was soon found an endless and useless 
 labor, c 'id they were allowed to be regularly frozen in 
 for the winter. 
 
 Parry then applied himself to name the varied group 
 of islands along which he had passed. lie called tiiein, 
 at lirst. Now Georgia ; but, recollecting that this appel- 
 lation was preoccupied by one in the Pacific, he gave 
 the title of the " North Georgian Islands," in honor of 
 his majesty George III., whose reign had been so emi- 
 nently distinguished by the extension of nautical and 
 geographical knowledge. 
 
'^^' 
 
 ,^>-'*T?^ 
 
 4- 
 
 ^3y■ 
 
 i 
 
 .•^^.i^. 
 
 0R8 
 
 in 
 
 )iip 
 .'in, 
 
 )0l- 
 
 ivo 
 of 
 
 mi- 
 nd 
 
 .^- 
 
8.9 
 
 r"VfiUY'S FIH54T V >VaQF. 
 
 
 >t 
 
 . ni^;](t, 5f/ k---\^t'^ .f .>vt-r'.iv.im'x it, fiil, about tin; 20th. 
 their s- m^-'U ?.(.ratn«f alaimujg', Th*- v-jiint,' u'<: r>*.<u!i 
 r»f'j**?v- <>, Ji>itn t»ij tho isnrfacu of IJm' waters, rf'h\i "? .j 
 «mly !.«'. >i?4T:ftn ur.ii 8W(!lis, n-o tlud tfjc oomivnrMlinir ofii- 
 ^-»'f *"!}x ^>i-tiviMc«>d tivit, in tho event ol u Kin^-k; hour'M 
 fair*, r-. -9*-*.>»iM Ik* fw/.on nyi in tlio niidiJi oMij<« 8oa. 
 
 ?^^*t .>t ' -•♦ ^'as tJicrefore leR Liit to return, uini to 
 '-*■:>.«< -st'-w^^H two .appareiitly i-uo.! Jiurbors, v/hic.h 
 JM^J T^ *f *TT»r«tly pa>^«/'(i on ■M<»ivill. Ulai>d. Not 
 Vfit'ff. •,- •l^sftt'S .' »u^ r«:>aciK\'i th<s pijto<» on liio 2itij. uiid 
 dtri.-J?;- «'; i^vjv^" i);"fHf> :af'r<' u- .-Hlvn. hj»\'oi>. »« .lil'.r.hMK 
 ih^- }%uf**^ tSfcTinty; i.ij{ }t -A-.iX MiiKy-hmrf 4.:v cjis^t ?««$ 
 way vH'- ^i;*^ through a i:n,*c fi.)o w]ih whir', it wa.. 
 'n'-^inrsereKt 'JV» cffft-? this ariUinua opnratioa, the sca- 
 iiH'U rn.'jrk'^.Hi vnth iM-rjniiug-pikos Uw parailu) linos, «;it 
 the t]istutH'f» of isoinewiuit more than tho breadth ■>{' tiio 
 larjjTi.r snip. They pawfui, in the nrst placo, ^doni; llio 
 j atli tracK'.d Dfit, nn J fht-r;, Lr 'rs^^-^-sawhig:?, detacii- d 
 !*»?,,;.• oif^«',eP, whioh w^'Pi^ H#»pftr,?it«;?ti ♦jirpjO}>«l'y. in or.l.'r 
 i»;. i(> , 'ijfi-tt#*I <'«t : »itJ >i«.'m< itifH.-** fisrHMMsati'* ^■f't*'. 4-.v«' 
 
 
 
 Ft:*'*., 
 
 *>^<r irJ»^4 t-:ji# 
 
 : ttd i»S*;V fs^t'-JiWi^ orfif^-i'^ 
 
 '*h from ihe 
 ■ ■»'"^'i round 
 
 i'v*^- in 
 
 lor tho winter. , - 
 
 l*arry tiuui ap|yiie{l hinnst-lf to nn-no thw varuvj tfroup 
 (f Islaodrt a}oi).ii^ which he had pasKed. Jfe called Ifioni, 
 •if first. New i.oor«"ia; i)ut. recollecting that tiiis yppi't- 
 i.-ilioif v,'{i^ j>i-ooccupied by one in tfie Pncitic, he pivo 
 tiM Utk- of the •■' Xortl» <.Teorjriau Islands." in lion-o .if 
 ^* Ooorg-i lif., vv'h.ose rei^^ii had ht^»u &<- <'fni- 
 
 }ii ikk^K ' •:»t?;«ru'rihed hy ihe <.xt(.iision ,♦! .vo''iii \\m\ 
 
 rn 
 
 Q 
 
 > 
 
 z 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 Ur 
 
 so 
 

 Q 
 
 a 
 
 > 
 
 8 
 
;( 
 
 I 
 
 !l 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 ii 
 J 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 89 
 
 Hunting parties occasionally went out and procured 
 a few reindeer ; but a migration of these animals took 
 place before the close of October, leaving behind thoni 
 only wolves and foxes to keep the party company dur- 
 ing the long winter months. Even the polar hare, so 
 common in the Arctic regions, never once showed itself 
 on Melville Island in the course of the winter. The 
 musk-ox, also very common during its proper season, 
 arrived on Melville Island in the middle of May, by 
 crossing the ice from the southward, and quitted it by 
 the same way on its return towards the end of Septem- 
 ber. On the 15th the last covey of ptarmigan was met 
 with ; and on the samo day were seen fifteen deer, all 
 lying down, except one large one, probably a stag ; 
 this, after the rising of the rest, seemed to guard the 
 animals in their flight, frequently going round the 
 herd, sometimes striking them with his horns to make 
 them go on, which they appeared not much inclined to 
 do. Even seals were not found in this neighborhood ; 
 but whales of different kinds were commonly met with ; 
 gulls and ducks, however, so numerous in Davis's Strait 
 and the Georgian Islands, condescended not to visit 
 Melville Island, but " two or three specimens of a cat- 
 erpillar were obtained, one of which was brought to 
 England" — of course as an Arctic curiosity. One 
 large white bear, having pursued Captain Sabine's ser- 
 vant to the ship, was shot at and wounded, but made 
 his escape ; it was the only one met with during the 
 stay of the party, but described as being more pure'v 
 white than any they had before seen. A feeble willow, 
 a saxifrage, lichens, and stunted grasses, constitute 
 pretty nearly the Jlora of Melville Island. 
 
 The total privation of game of any kind now afforded 
 few excursions for the exercise and amusement of hunt- 
 Parties, however, had occasionally been sent out 
 
 >g- 
 
 8=* 
 
90 
 
 PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 shortly after the taking up of their winter quarters. 
 One of these did not return on beard before sunset, as 
 strictly ordered, and the consequence is stated to have 
 been as follows : 
 
 " John Pearson, a marine belonging to the Griper, 
 who was the last that returned on board, had his hands 
 severely frost-bitten, havi.ig imprudently gone av/ay 
 without mittens, and with a musket in his hand. A 
 party of our people most providentially found him, 
 although the night was very dark, just as he had fallen 
 down a bank of snow,, and was beginning to feel that 
 degree of torpor and drowsiness which, if indulged, 
 inevitably pi.aves fatal. When he was brought on 
 board, his fingers were quite stiff, and bent into the 
 shape of that part of the musket wii^'oh he had been 
 carrying ; and the frost had so far destroyed the anima- 
 tion in his fingers on one hand that it was necessary to 
 amputate three of them a short time after, notwith- 
 standing all the care and attention paid to him by the 
 medical gentlemen. The eflect which exposure to se- 
 vere frost has in benumbing the mental as well as the 
 corporeal faculties was very striking in this man, as 
 well as in two of the young gentlemen, who returned 
 after dark, and of whom we were anxious to make 
 inquiries respecting Pearson. When I sent for them 
 into my cabin they looked wild, spoke thick and indis- 
 tinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a 
 rational answer to any of our questions. After being 
 on board for a short time the mental faculties appeared 
 gradually to return with the returning circulation ; and 
 it was not till then that a looker-on could easily per- 
 suade himself that they had not been drinking too 
 freely." 
 
 So early as the 29tl. of October the thermometer was 
 down to twenty-four degrees below zero. It was now 
 
 i I 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 91 
 
 distressing to touch any metallic substance with the 
 naked hand in the open air : it produced a feeling of 
 intense heat, and took off the skin. If the eye-piece of 
 a telescope touched the face, it occasioned an intense 
 burning pain ; the remedy was to cover them and other 
 instruments with soft leather. The officers, notwith- 
 standing, indulged themselves in walking for an hour or 
 two in the middle of the day, in the depth of winter, 
 even when the thermometer was down to forty degrees 
 or even fifty degrees belov/ zero, without experiencing 
 much inconvenience from this intense degree of cold, 
 provided always that there was no wind ; but the least 
 breeze made the exposure to it intolerable. 
 
 The commander, finding himself and his ships shut in 
 for L long and dreary winter, devoted his attention, 
 with a mixture of firmness and kindness, to mitigate 
 those evils which, even in lower latitudes, had often 
 rendered an abode in the Arctic regions so fatal, and to 
 economize both the fresh provisions and fuel. 
 
 From the first. Parry was aware that nothing acted 
 more strongly as an antiscorbutic than to keep the 
 men's minds in a lively and cheerful state. Arrange- 
 ments were accordingly made for the occasional per- 
 formance of a play, in circumstances certainly very 
 remote from any to which the drama appeared conge- 
 nial. Lieutenant Beechey was nominated stage-man- 
 ager, and the other gentlemen came forward as amateur 
 performers. The very expectation thus raised among 
 the sailors, and the bustle of preparing a room for the 
 purpose, were extremely beneficial ; and when the 
 North Georgian Theatre opened with " Miss in her 
 Teens," these hardy tars were convulsed with laughter. 
 The Arctic management was extremely popular. The 
 officers had another source of amusement in the North 
 Georgian Gazette, of which Captain Sabine became 
 
PARRT 'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 ! 
 
 
 editor, and all were invited to contribute to this chroni- 
 cle of the frozen regions. 
 
 On the Ist and 2d of February the sun was looked 
 for, but the sky was wrapped in mist ; however, on the 
 3d he was perceived ftom the maintop of the Ilecla. 
 
 Ilealtli was maintained on board the ships, by enforced 
 exerci.se and other means, to a surprising degree. Early 
 in January, however, Mr. Scallon, the gunner, felt symp- 
 toms, first in the legs, and then in the gums, that de- 
 cidedly indicated the presence of scurvy, of which the 
 immediate cause appeared to be the great collection of 
 dump that had formed around his bed-place. At this 
 alarm, all the antiscorbutics on board — lemon-juice, 
 pickles, and spruce-beer — were put into requisition ; a 
 small qur,ntity of mustard and cress was also raised 
 from mould placed over the stove-pipe ; and such was 
 the success of these remedies, that in nine days the 
 patient could walk without pain. ' - < 
 
 " Some of our men," says Parry, " having, in the 
 course of their shooting excursions, been exposed for 
 several hours to the glare of the sun and snow, returned 
 at night much affected with that painful inflammation 
 in the eyes occasioned by the reflection of intense light 
 from the snow, aided by the warmth of the sun, and 
 called in America ' snow blindness.' This complaint, 
 of which the sensation exactly resembles that produced 
 by large particles of sand or dust in the eyes, is cured 
 by some tribes of American Indians by holding them 
 over the steam of warm water ; but we found a coolinj^ 
 wash, made by a small quantity of acetate of lead mixed 
 with cold water, more efficacious in relieving the irrita- 
 tion, which was always done in three or four days, 
 even in the most severe cases, provided the eyes were 
 carefully guarded from the light. As a preventive of 
 this complaint, a piece of black crape was given to each 
 
 
 fl 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGK. 
 
 a 
 
 He": 
 
 man, to be worn as a kind of Bhort \ jil attached to the 
 hut,, which we found to be very serviceable. A Btill 
 mure convenient mode, adopted by some of tlie officerri, 
 was found equally efficacious ; this consisted in taking 
 the glasses out of a pair of spectacles, and eubstitutiiig 
 black or green crapM, the glass having been found to 
 heat the eyct? and inc ease the irritation." 
 
 On the IGth ' March the North Georgian Theatre 
 was closed with an appropriate address, and the general 
 attention was now turned to the means of extrication 
 from the ice. By the 17 th of May the seamen had so 
 far cut it from around the ships as to allow them to 
 float ; but in the sea it was still immovable. 
 
 This interval of painful inaction was employed by 
 Parry in an excursion across Melville Island. The 
 ground was still mostly covered with softened snow, 
 and even the cleared tracts were extremely desolate, 
 though checkered by patches of fine verdure. Deer 
 were seen travpising the plains in considerable num- 
 bers. Towards the north appeared another island, to 
 which was given the name of Sabine. It was found 
 that those parts of Melville Island which were clear of 
 snow produced the dwfirf willow, sorrel, and poppy, 
 and that the moss was very luxuriant. On the second 
 day they saw a pair of ducks, and killed seven ptarn)i- 
 gan ; sorrel ana saxifrage were abundant. The party 
 found pieces of coal imbedded in sandstone ; passed i 
 very extensive, dreary, and uninteresting level plain, 
 covered with snow ; and this kind of ground, with occa- 
 sional ravines and foggy weather, continued for three 
 days, during which they saw not a living animal, except 
 one or two flocks of geese. 
 
 Arrived at Bushman's Cove, in Liddon's Gulf, on the 
 western side of Melville Island, the party found " one 
 of the pleasantest and most habitable spots we had yet 
 
94 
 
 PARRY'S FIROT VOYAGE. 
 
 IK 
 
 R-' 
 
 m 
 
 :f 
 
 J 
 
 ill 
 
 seen in the Arctic regions, vegetation being more 
 abundant and forward than in any other place, and the 
 situation sheltered and favorable for game." They 
 found here a good deal of moss, grass, dwart-willow, 
 and saxifrage, and Captain Sabine met with a ranunculuH 
 in full flower. Thus we see that even in this, the most 
 desolate region of the earth, the superiority of the 
 western coast predominates. The hunters saw and 
 fired at a musk-ox, but did not kill him ; they saw also 
 several golden plovers. On the 15th of June they 
 reached the ships, and were complimented by their ship- 
 mates on their good looks, and as appearing in more 
 robust health than when they departed. 
 
 "Having observed," says Parry, "that the sorrel 
 was now so far advanced in foliage as to be easily 
 gathered in sufficient quantity for eating, I gave orders 
 that two afternoons in each week should be occupied 
 by all hands in collecting the leaves of this plant ; each 
 man being required to bring in, for the present, one 
 ounce, to be served in lieu of lemon-juice, pickles, and 
 dried herbs, which had been hitherto issued. The 
 growth of the sorrel was from this time so quick, and 
 the quantity of it so great on every part of the ground 
 about the harbor, that we shortly after sent the men out 
 every, afternoon for an hour or two ; in which time, 
 besides the advantage of a healthy v^^alk, they could, 
 without difficulty, pick nearly a pound each of this valu- 
 able antiscorbutic, of which they were all extremely fond. 
 
 " By the 20th of June, the land in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the ships, and especially in low and 
 sheltered situations, was much covered with the hand- 
 some purple flower of the saxifraga oj^positifolia, which 
 was at this time in great perfection, and gave something 
 like cheerfulness and animation to a scene hitherto 
 indescribably dreary in its appearance. a' 
 
PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 05 
 
 "The suddenness with which the changes tuko phice 
 durinfT^ tlio sliort seuHoii which may be called summer in 
 this climate, must appear very striking when it ia re- 
 membered that, for a i)art of the first week in Jiuw, wc; 
 were under the necessity of thawing artilicially the 
 Know which we made use of for water during the early 
 part of our journey to the northward ; tliat, during the 
 second week, the ground was in most parts so wet and 
 swampy that avo could with dilTiculty travel ; and tluit, 
 had we not returned before the end of the third week, 
 we should probably have been prevented doing so for 
 some time, by the impossibility of crossing the ravines 
 without great danger of being carried away by the tor- 
 rents, — an accidert that happened to our hunting parties 
 on one or two occasions in endeavoring to return with 
 their game to the ships." 
 
 By the middle of June, pools were every-here formed ; 
 the water flowed in streams, and even in t n-rents, which 
 rendered hunting and travelling unsafe. There were 
 also channels in which boats could pass ; yet, through- 
 out this month and the following, the great covering of 
 ice in the surrounding sea remained entire, and kept the 
 ships in harbor. 
 
 On the 2d of August, however, the whole mass, by 
 one of those sudden movements to which it is liable, 
 broke up, and floated out, and the explorers had now 
 open water in which to pro secute their great object. 
 
 On the 15th they were enabled to make a certain 
 advance, after which the frozen surface of the ocean 
 assumed a more compact and impenetrable aspect than 
 had ever before been witnessed. The officers ascended 
 some of the lofty heightrf which bordered the coast ; 
 but, in a long reach of sea to the westward, no boundary 
 was seen to these icy barriers. There appeared only 
 the western extremity of Melville Island, named Cape 
 
X] 
 
 96 
 
 PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 DuiKlaH, and in the iliHtanco a bold coast, which iUvy 
 named Banks's Land. As even a brisk gale from the 
 east did not prodnce the slightest movement on the 
 glassy face of the deep, they were led to believe that 
 on the other side there must be a large body of land, by 
 which it was held in a fixed state. On considering all 
 circumstances, there appeared no alternative but to 
 make their way homeward while yet the season per- 
 mitted. Some additional observations were made, as 
 they returned, on the two coasts extending along Bar- 
 row's Strait. 
 
 Parry's arrival in Britain was hailed with the warmest 
 exultation. To have sailed upwards of thirty degrees 
 of longitude beyond the point reached by any former 
 navigator ; to have discovered so many new lands, 
 islands, and bays ; to have established the much-con- 
 teste^^ existence of a Polar Sea north of America ; finally, 
 after a wintering of eleven months, to have brought back 
 his crew in a sound and vigorous state, were enough. to 
 raise his name above that of any other Arctic voyager. 
 
 ESQVnrAlX SNOW-HIT. 
 
CIlArTER V. 
 
 FIlAfTKLIN'H FIRST LAND KXl'KDITIO.V. — INCIDBXTS. — BACK's JOTJllNKV. — 
 8HVERITY OK TIIK WKATIIKIl. — AlIllOUA UOUKAMS. — ANKCDOTKS. — 
 
 8UKVKY OF TUB COAST. nKTUBN TKIP. SlJFKKIUNfiS. — MI'IUIKROF 
 
 Ull. UOOD. — DEATHS. — UNEXI'ECTEU RELIEF. — ARRIVAL AT YOHK 
 FACTORY. 
 
 In September of the same year tliat Parry sailed, an 
 overland expedition started from York Factory, Hud- 
 son's Bay, under charge of Sir John Franklin, accompa- 
 nied by Dr. (now Sir John) Richardson, two midshipmen, 
 — Messrs. Back and Hood, — and Ile})burn, a seaman, 
 with the object of exploring the north coast of America 
 to its eastern extremity from the mouth of the Copper- 
 mine, There was a chance that Parry might make for 
 the coast in his ships ; and, if so, the two parties would 
 have cooperated with mutual advantage. 
 
 On the 19th of January, 1820, Franklin set out in 
 company with Mr. Back, and a seaman named Hepburn, 
 with provisions for fifteen days stowed in two sledges, 
 on their journey to Fort Chipewyan. Dr. P.ichardcon, 
 Mr. Hood, and. Mr. Connolly, -accompanied them a short 
 distance. After touching at difierent posts of the com- 
 pany, they reached their destination safely on the 26th 
 of March, after a winter's journey of eight hundred and 
 fifty-seven miles. The greatest diflBculty experienced 
 by the travellers was the labor of walking in snow- 
 shoes, a weight of between two and three pounds being 
 constantly attached to galled feet and swelled ankles. 
 
 Of the state of the temperature during this journey 
 ft 
 
ws 
 
 FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 / 
 
 ••:a 
 
 I m '' 
 
 w 
 
 
 ■w 
 
 I 
 
 there is no record, for a reason explained by Franklin, 
 who says that "this evening (18th of January) we 
 found the mercury of our thermometer had sunk into 
 the bulb, and was frozen." 
 
 On the 15th of April the first shower of rain fell ; and 
 on the lYth the thermometer rose to 7*1° in the shade. 
 The return of the swans, geese, and ducks, now gave 
 certain indications of spring. The warm weather, by 
 the sudden melting of the snow and ice, deluged the 
 face of the country. Mr. Hood says : "The noise made 
 by the frogs which this inundation produced is almost 
 incredible. There is strong reason to believe that they 
 outlive the severity of winter. They have often been 
 found frozen, and revived by warmth ; nor is it possible 
 that the multitude which incessantly filled our ears with 
 their discordant notes could have been matured in two 
 or three days." 
 
 Captain Franklin also notices the resuscitation of 
 fishes after being frozen : " It may be worthy of notice 
 here, that the fish froze as they were taken out of the 
 nets, and in a short time became a solid mass of ice, 
 and by a blow or two of the hatchet were easily split 
 open, when the intestines might be removed in one 
 lump. If, in this completely frozen state, they were 
 thawed before the fire, they recovered their animation. 
 This was particularly the case with the carp ; and we 
 had occasion to observe it repeatedly, as Dr. Richardson 
 occupied himself in examining the structure of the dif- 
 ferent species of fish, and was always, in the winter, 
 under the necessity of thawing them befbre he could cut 
 them. We have seen a carp recover so far as to leap 
 about with much vigor after it had been frozen for 
 thirty-six hours." It maybe stated tl.at the same eflcct 
 is produced on the insect tribe. 
 
 Franklin and his party, increased by the addition of 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 I 
 
 Bixteen Canadian voyageurs, interpreters, &c., left Fort 
 Chipewyan in July, 1820, for Fort Enterprise, on Win- 
 ter Lake, more than five hundred miles distant. Here, 
 after walking eighty miles to get a look at the Copper- 
 mine, they wintered, while Mr. (now Sir George) Back 
 returned on foot to Fort Chipewyan, to expedite the 
 transit of stores required for the next year's operations. 
 At the end of five months he rejoined his companions, 
 after a journey which put his powers of endurance to a 
 severe test. 
 
 Some interesting instances of Indian generosity are 
 recorded in the report of Back's long and perilous jour- 
 ney . " One of the women caught a fine pike, by making 
 a hole in the ice, which she gave to us ; the Indians 
 positively refused to partake of it, from the idea (as we 
 afterwards learned) that we should not have sufficient 
 for ourselves. ' We are accustomed to starvation,' said 
 they, 'but you are not.' " ■ \ t 
 
 Back, in this dreadful journey, was not only exposed 
 to starvation and the extremity of cold, but also to 
 the danger of perishing in some of the lakes which they 
 had to cross on foot. On a narrow branch of the Slave 
 Lake he fell through the ice, but escaped without 
 injury ; on another occasion the ice bent so that it 
 required the utmost speed to avoid falling through 
 where it gave way, as it seems to have done at every 
 step he took. In short, it was little less than miracu- 
 lous, considering the season and the severity of the 
 winter, that he ever returned safe ; which, however, he 
 had thp good fortune to do on the ITth of March, when 
 he arrived at Fort Enterprise, where, he says, " I had 
 the pleasure of meeting my friends all in good health, 
 after an absence of nearly five months, during which 
 time I had travelled eleven hundred and four miles on 
 snow-shoes, and had no other covering, at night, in the 
 
100 
 
 FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 woods, than a blanket and deer-skin, with the thermom- 
 eter frequently at — 40°, and once at — 57°, and some- 
 times passing two or three days without tasting food." 
 
 Franklin gives the following statement in regard to 
 the severity of the weather in December : " The weather 
 during this month was the coldest we experienced dur- 
 ing our residence in America. The thermometer sank 
 on one occasion to 51° below zero, and never rose 
 beyond 6° above it ; the mean for the month was 
 — 29°-'7. During these intense colds, however, the 
 atmosphere was generally calm, and the wood-cutters 
 and others went about their ordinary occupations with- 
 out using any extraordinary precautions, yet without 
 feeling any bad .effects. The heat is abstracted most 
 rapidly from the body during strong breezes ; and most 
 of those who have perished from cold in this country 
 have fallen a sacrifice to their being overtaken on a 
 lake, or other unsheltered place, by a storm of wind. 
 The intense colds were, however, detrimental to us in 
 another way. The trees froze to their very centres, and 
 became as hard as stones, and more difficult to cut. 
 Some of the axes were broken daily, and by the end of 
 the month we had only one left that was fit for felling 
 trees." 
 
 The aurora borealis made its appearance frequently, 
 with more or less brilliancy, but was not particularly 
 remarkable ; in the month of December it was visible 
 twenty-eight of the long nights. 
 
 The Indians, it appears, have nearly destroyed the 
 fur-bearing animals ; and so scarce is the beaver bpcome, 
 that in the whole journey to the shores of the Polar Sea 
 and back, one single habitation, and one dam only, of 
 that industrious and ingenious creature, were met with. 
 Among the many interesting anecdotes that have been 
 told of this animal. Dr. Richardson relates the following : 
 
 ■^ 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 101 
 
 " One day a gentleman, long resident in this coun- 
 try, espied five young beavers sporting in the water, 
 leaping upon the trunk of a tree, pushing one another 
 off, and playing a thousand interesting tricks. He 
 approached softly, u. ler cover of the bushes, and pre- 
 pared to fire on the unsuspecting creatures ; but a 
 nearer approach discovered to him such a similitude 
 between their gestures and the infantile caresses of his 
 own children, that he threw aside his gun. This gen- 
 tleman's feelings are to be envied, but few traders in 
 furs would have acted so feelingly." 
 
 On the last day of June, 1821, the whole party having 
 dragged their canoes and baggage to the bank of the 
 Coppermine, — a tedious and fatiguing service, — em- 
 barked on the rapid stream, and reached the sea on the 
 I8th July. The main object of the expedition then 
 commenced ; and, with two birch-bark canoes, each 
 manned by ten men, and fifteen days' provision, Frank- 
 lin paddled to the eastward. 
 
 Proceeding along the coast on the inside of a crowded 
 range of islands, they encamped on shore after a run of 
 thirty-seven miles, in which they experienced little inter- 
 ruption. The coast was found of moderate height, easy 
 of access, and covered with vegetation ; but the islands 
 were rocky and barren, presenting high cliffs, of a col- 
 umnar structure. In continuing their voyage, the dan- 
 gers which beset a navigator in these dreadful polar 
 solitudes thickened gloomily around them. The coast 
 became .broken and sterile, and at length rose into a 
 high and rugged promontory, against which some largo 
 masses of ice had drifted, threatening destruction to 
 their slender canoes. 
 
 In attempting to round this cape the wind rose, an 
 awful gloom involved the sky, and the thunder burst 
 over their heads, compelling them to encamp till the 
 9* • 
 
102 
 
 FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 Btorin subsided. They then, at the imminent risk of 
 having the eanoes crushed by the floating ice, doubled 
 the dreary promontory, which they denominated Cape 
 Barrow, and entered Detention Harbor, where tlicy 
 landed. Around them the land consisted of mountains 
 of granite, rising abruptly from the water's edge, desti- 
 tute of vegetation, and attaining an elevation of four- 
 teen or fifteen hundred feet ; seals and small deer were 
 the only anima!' seen, and the former were so shy that 
 all attempts to approach within shot were unsuccessful. 
 
 With the deer the hunters were more fortunate, but 
 these were not numerous ; and, while the ice closed 
 gradually around them, and their little stock of pro- 
 visions every day diminished, it was impossible not to 
 regard their situation with uneasiness. Rounding Cape 
 Kater, they entered Arctic Sound, and sent a party to 
 explore a river upon the banks of which they expected 
 to find an Esquimaux encampment. All, however, was 
 silent, desolate, and deserted ; even these hardy na- 
 tives, bred amidst the polar ices, had removed from so 
 barren a spot, and the hunters returned with two small 
 deer and a brown bear, the latter animal so lean and 
 sickly-looking that the men declined eating it ; but the 
 officers boiled its paws, and found them excellent. 
 
 Proceeding along the eastern shore of Arctic Sound, 
 to which they gave the name of Banks's Peninsula the 
 expedition made its painful way along a coast indented 
 by bays, and in many places studded with islands, till, 
 on the 10th of August, they reached the open sea ; and 
 sailing, as they imagined, between the continent and a 
 large island, found, to their deep disappointment, that, 
 instead of an open channel, they were in the centre of a 
 vast bay. 
 
 The state of the expedition now called for the most 
 serious consideration upon the part of their commander. 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 103 
 
 lound, 
 lla the 
 lented 
 is, till, 
 ; and 
 and a 
 i, that, 
 Ire of a 
 
 most 
 lander. 
 
 So much time had already been spent in exploring the 
 sounds and inlets, that all hope of reaching Repulse IJay 
 was vain ; both canoes had sustained material injury ; 
 the fuel was expended ; their provisions were sufficient 
 only for three days ; the appearances of the setting in 
 of the Arctic winter were too unequivocal to be mistaken ; 
 the deer, which had hitherto supplied them with fresh 
 meat, would, it was well known, soon disappear ; the 
 geese and other aquatic birds were already seen winging 
 their way to the southward ; while the men, who had 
 up to this moment displayed the utmost courage, began 
 to look disheartened, and to entertain serious apprehen- 
 sions for their safety. Under these circumstances, the 
 leaders resolved to return. After spending four days 
 in a careful survey of the bay, they terminated their 
 exploration at a spot which, with literal truth, was 
 named Point Turnagain, a distance, reckoning the 
 indentations of the shore, of five hundred and fifty-five 
 geographical miles. To attempt to reach the Copper- 
 mine so late in the season would have been fatal to the 
 whole of the party ; they, therefore, made for Hood's 
 River, discovered by them a few days previously, up 
 which they had ascended to the first rapid by the 26th 
 of August. Two small portable canoes were then con- 
 structed from the two larger ones, for the purpose of 
 crossing rivers on the journey now before them ; and, 
 on the 1st of September, they set off on a straight course 
 for Fort Enterprise, one hundred and fifty miles distant. 
 The fatigues and privations endured on this route are 
 scarcely to be paralleled ; short of food, ill supplied 
 with clothing, and exposed to the howling severity of 
 the climate, the escape of any one of the number appears 
 almost a miracle. Some days, when there was nothing 
 to eat, and no means of making a fire, they passed 
 entirely in bed ; on others, after a weary and exhaust- 
 
104 
 
 FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 iug travel, their only nourishment on halting for the 
 night was tripe de roche, or rock-tripe, a species of 
 lichen, a plant of most nauseous taste, and the cause of 
 cruel bowel complaints to the whole party. Daily they 
 became weaker, and less capable of exertion ; one of the 
 canoes was so much broken by a fall, that it was burned 
 to cook a supper ; the resource of fishing, too, was 
 denied them, for some of the men, in the recklessness 
 of misery, threw away the nets. Rivers were to be 
 crossed by wading, or in the canoe : on one of these 
 occasions PVanklin took his seat with two of the voya- 
 geurs in their frail bark, when they were driven by the 
 force of the stream and the wind to the verge of a fright- 
 ful rapid, in which the canoe upset, and, but for a rock 
 on which they found footing, they would there have per- 
 ished. On the 19th, " previous to setting out, the 
 whole party ate the remains of their old shoes, and 
 whatever scraps of leather they had, to strengthen their 
 stomachs for the fatigue of the day's journey. These," 
 adds Franklin, " would have satisfied us in ordinary 
 times, but we were now almost exhausted by slender 
 fare and travel, and our appetites had become ravenous. 
 We looked, however, with humble confidence to the 
 great Author and Giver of all good for a continuance 
 of the support which had hitherto been always supplied 
 to us at our greatest need." 
 
 A day or two afterwards the remaining canoe was left 
 behind ; no entreaties could prevail on the men to carry 
 it further. Dr. Richardson, too, was obliged to abandon 
 his collection of plants and minerals, from inability to 
 endure the burthen. The killing of five small deer at 
 this time, however, enabled them to rest for a couple of 
 days to recruit their exhausted strength. On the 26th 
 they came to the Coppermine, the crossing of which, 
 owing to their weak condition, the loss of the canoe, 
 
lilANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 105 
 
 as left 
 carry 
 andon 
 ity to 
 eer at 
 leof 
 26th 
 hich, 
 noe, 
 
 and having to construct a raft of willow branches, 
 detained them until the 4th of October. Dr. Richard- 
 son, actuated by the noble desire of makings a last effort 
 for the safety of the party, and of relieving his sufllcring 
 companions from a state of misery, which could oidy 
 terminate, and tliat speedily, in death, volunteered to 
 make the attempt to swim across the stream, carrying 
 with him a line by which the raft might bo hauled 
 over. 
 
 " He launched into the stream," says Franklin, " with 
 the line round his middle, but when he had got to a 
 sliort distance from the opposite bank, his arms became 
 benumbed with cold, and ho lost the power of moving 
 them ; still he persevered, and, turning on his back, had 
 nearly gained the opposite shore, when his legs also 
 became powerless, and, to our infinite alarm, we beheld 
 him sink. We instantly hauled upon the line, and ho 
 came again on the surface, and was gradually drawn 
 ashore in au almost lifeless state. Being rolled up in 
 blankets, he was placed before a good fire of willows, 
 and, fortunately, was just able to speak suflficiently to 
 give some slight directions respecting the manner of 
 treating him. He recovered strength gradually, and, 
 through the blessing of God, was enabled, in the course 
 of a few hours, to converse, and by the evening was 
 sufficiently recovered to remove into the tent. We then 
 regretted to learn tliat the skin of his whole left side 
 was deprived of feeling, in consequence of exposure to 
 too great heat. He did not perfectly recover the sensa- 
 tion of that side until the following summer. I cannot 
 describe what every one felt at beholding the skeleton 
 which the doctor's debilitated frame exhibited. When 
 he stripped, the Canadiaiis simultaneously exclaimed, 
 *Ahl que nous sommes maigres!'" They were now 
 almost in the last stage of starvation ; and, had it not 
 
106 
 
 FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 
 1 
 f 
 
 ■■ 5 
 
 been for the exertions of Repburn in collecting tripe de 
 roche, not one of them wonlcl have survived. 
 
 On the Vth, when at twenty-four miles from Fort 
 Enterprise, a division of the party took place : Franklin, 
 with eight of the men, went on, while Richardsoa stayed 
 behind at the encampment to tend on Hood, who was 
 scarcely able to move. Hepburn remained with them. 
 Franklin was most unwilling to part with any of his com- 
 rades, but saw the necessity of doing so. " And, after," 
 he says, " we had united in thanksgiving and prayers to 
 almighty God, I separated from my companions, deeply 
 afflicted that a train of melancholy circumstances should 
 have demanded of me the severe trial of parting, in such 
 a condition, from friends who had become endeared to 
 me by their constant kindness and cooperation, and a 
 participation of numerous sufferings," 
 
 Three of the voyageurs, unable to proceed with 
 Franklin, and Michel, an Iroquois, were permitted to 
 return to the halting-place, where they would be at 
 least certain of fire and rock-tripe ; but, with the excep- 
 tion of the Indian, they perished by the way — not one 
 of them was ever seen again. Franklin, with his five 
 survivors, reached Fort Enterprise on the 11th. What 
 a disappointment awaited them ! Instead of a cordial 
 welcome from friendly hunters, and abundance of pro- 
 visions, as had been promised, all was a blank ; the 
 building was tenantless. 
 
 A note was found from Mr. Back, who had journeyed 
 on in advance, stating that he had gone in search of the 
 Indians, and, if need were, to Fort Providence. This 
 was but poor comfort for the famished travellers, who 
 were obliged to take up their quarters in the dilapidated 
 edifice. The rubbish-heaps concealed beneath the snow 
 were searched for old skins, bones, or any kind of ofial 
 that might serve as food when stewed with rock-tripe. 
 
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 107 
 
 A grood fire was a luxury seldom enjoyed, for they had 
 scarcely strength to collect wood. 
 
 Eighteen weary days were passed in these painful 
 privations, wlien the monotony was interrupted by the 
 arrival of Dr. Richardson and Hepburn. Their ema- 
 ciated countenances gave evidence of their debilitated 
 state. " The doctor particularly remarked the sepulchral 
 tones of our voices, which he requested of us to make 
 more cheerful, if possible, unconscious that his own 
 partook of the same key." A partridge which Hepburn 
 had shot was held to the fire, and then divided into six 
 portions. " I and my three companions,' says Frank- 
 lin, " ravenously devoured our sliares, as it was the 
 first morsel of flesh any of us had tasted for thirhj-one 
 days, unless, indeed, the small, gristly particles which 
 we found occasionally adhering to the pounded bones 
 may be called flesh," Richardson brought the melan- 
 choly intelligence that Mr. Hood and the Iroquois were 
 both dead. Michel, in a fit of sullen spite, to which 
 uncivilized natures are liable, had shot the young and 
 talented officer at the encampment where they had last 
 parted ; and his demeanor towards the two survivors 
 becoming more and more threatening, the doctor, under 
 the imperious instinct of self-preservation, took upon 
 himself the responsibility of putting the Indian to death 
 by a pistol-shot. As afterwards appeared, there was 
 reason to believe that two of the missing voyageurs had 
 also been murdered by the Iroquois. 
 
 Two others of the wretched party died on the second 
 day after Richardson's arrival at the fort. At last, on 
 the Tth of November, relief came, borne by three In- 
 dians sent by Mr. Back. The messengers proved them- 
 selves 1 lost kind, assiduous attendants, " evincing 
 humanity that would have done honor to the most civil- 
 ized people." And, with good fires and sufficient food, 
 
108 
 
 rilAX KLIN'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 the suflbrcrs began to recover strength. A week later, 
 thoy were al)le to set out for Fort Chipewyan, where 
 tliey reniained until June of the following year. In 
 July they reached York Factory, from whence they had 
 started three years before ; and thus terminated a jour- 
 ney of live tiiousand five hundred and fifty miles, during 
 which human courage and patience were exposed to 
 trials such as few can bear with fortitude, unless, as is 
 seen in Franklin's interesting narrative, it arises out of 
 reliance on the over-sustaining care of an Almighty 
 Providence. 
 
 SIU JOHN ''RANKLIN. 
 
 "i 
 

 
 rr: ■ , • /• > ;-r* 
 
 ' ' M 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 
 parry's 
 
 SECOND 
 
 VOYAGE. — ARRIVAL AT 
 
 uudson's 
 
 STRAIT 
 
 — repulse 
 
 BAY.— 
 
 BAFFLING NAVIGATION. — ESQUIMAUX FRIENDS. — 
 
 ARCTIC CLI- j 
 
 MATK. - 
 
 -FROZEN UP AMUSEMENTS. — 
 
 ILIGLIUK. - 
 
 — lyon's journey. 
 
 — 8M0W HUTS. 
 
 LAND EXCURSIONS. HARUOR AT lOLOOIK. 
 
 — ANOTHER 
 
 WINTER 
 
 . — PARHELIA. — RETURN UOME. - 
 
 — parry's 
 
 THIRD 
 
 VOYAGE. 
 
 The possibility of entering the Polar Sea having 
 been proved by Parry's first voyage, it was considered 
 that the north-west passage might probably be effected 
 in a lower latitude than that of Melville Island, where 
 the icy barrier had proved impassable. Parry accord- 
 ingly was sent out a second time with the Hecla and 
 Fury, in May, 1821, with instructions to make for Re- 
 pulse Bay by way of Hudson's Strait. The former never 
 having been fully examined, it was supposed that some 
 opening would be found leading from it to the ocean 
 beyond. 
 
 Parry, now promoted to the rank of captain, hoisted 
 his flag on board the Fury, while Captain Lyon, already 
 distinguished by his services in Africa, received the 
 command of the Hecla. The equipment, the victualling, 
 and the heating of the vessels, were all accomplished 
 with the greatest care, and with various improvements 
 suggested by experience. 
 
 The adventurers quitted the Nore on the 8th of May, 
 1821, passed through the Pentland Frith and by Cape 
 Farewell, and on the 2d of July were at the mouth of 
 I^ idson's Strait. Parry, accustomed as he was to 
 
 10 
 
no 
 
 PARRVS Sl'CONl) VOYAOf:. 
 
 viowfl of polar doHolation, waH RtriK.'k with tlio oxcood- 
 iiig-ly dreary aspc(;t which thoHo shores prosontod. TIm; 
 naked rocks, the snow still covering- the valleys, and 
 the thick logs that hung over them, rendered the scene 
 indescribably gloomy. The ships were soon surrounded 
 by icebergs, amounting to the number of lifty-four, 
 one of which rose at least two hundred and fifty-eight 
 feet above the sea. They were attend(»d by large Hoes, 
 and rendered very formidable by their rotatory motion. 
 
 In spite of every obstruction, Tarrj^ early in August, 
 reached the entrance of Fox's Cliannol, and came in 
 view of Southampton Island. It was now the question 
 whether to sail directly up this inlet, and reach, by a 
 comparatively short route, Repulse Bay and the higher 
 latitudes, or to make the south-western circuit of South- 
 ampton Island, and ascend the beaten track of the Wel- 
 come. Parry judiciously preferred the former, notwith- 
 standing its uncertainties, on account of the great time 
 which would be saved should the course be found prac- 
 ticable. On the 15th he came to an opening stretching 
 westward, and apparently separating the island from 
 other land on the north. Hoping to find this the Frozen 
 Strait of Middleton, he entered it ; but it soon proved 
 a spacious and beautiful basin, enclosed by land on 
 every side. lie named it the Duke of York's Bay, and 
 considered it one of the finest harbors in the world ; 
 but, after ndmiring a large floe covered entirely with 
 minerals, shells, and plants, he moved out of it, and 
 pursued the voyage. 
 
 On the 21st the navigators found themselves in 
 another strait, not much encumbered with ice, but dark- 
 ened by thick fogs ; and before they knew distinctly 
 where they were, a heavy swell from the southward 
 showed that they had already passed through the 
 Frozen Strait, and were in the broad channel of the 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 from 
 
 rozen 
 
 Droved 
 
 11(1 on 
 
 , and 
 
 vorld ; 
 
 with 
 
 ;, and 
 
 es in 
 dark- 
 inctly 
 iward 
 the 
 f the 
 
 Wolcome. Thoy Hpecdily entered Ucpulse liay, in 
 which inodorii specuhition had clioriishcMl the hope of a 
 paKH.'igo ; but a Khf)rt invoHtigation iiukU; by boats in 
 every direction proved tliat it was really, as Mi(hUeto!i 
 liad described it, coinpUHely enclosed. A good deal of 
 time had thus been lost through the scepticism so un- 
 justly attached to the narrative of that eminent seaman. 
 
 The appearance of the shores of Repulse IJay was I'ar 
 from uninviting. "The surrounding land rose from six 
 or seven hundred to a thousand feet, and there was no 
 want of vegetation usually found in this part of the 
 Arctic regions, and in many parts it was extremely lux- 
 uriant." Reindeer and hares were plentiful; so were 
 ducks, dovekios, and snow-buntings. Several black 
 wlialos also were observed in the bay. In one spot the 
 remains of no less than sixty Esquimaux habitations 
 were found, consisting of stones laid one over the oth^r, 
 in very regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter ; 
 besides about a hundred artificial structures, fireplaces, 
 store-houses, and other walled enclosures four or five 
 feet high, used for keeping their skin canoes frcjm being 
 gnawed by the dogs. In various parts of the shore 
 were found numbers of circles of stones, which were 
 supposed to have been burying-places, a human skull 
 being found near one of them. 
 
 Leaving Repuioe Bay, Parry began the career of dis- 
 covery along a coast hitherto unknown. An inlet was 
 soon observed, and called by the name of Gore ; but 
 was not found to extend far into the interior. At the 
 mouth of this opening, the valleys were richly clad 
 with grass and moss, the birds singing, butterflies and 
 other insects displaying the most gaudy tints, so that 
 the sailors might have fancied themselves in some hap- 
 pier climate, had not the mighty piles of ice in the 
 Frozen Strait told a different tale. , . ^ ^ 
 
112 
 
 PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 Having passed Gore Inlet, the discoverers found 
 themselves among those numerous isles described by 
 Middleton, which formed a complete labyrinth of various 
 shapes and sizes, while strong currents setting between 
 them in various directions, amid fogs and drifting ice, 
 rendered the navigation truly perilous. However, one 
 channel was observed, by which the mariners at last 
 made their way through this perilous maze. No sooner 
 had they reached the open sea, than, being obliged to 
 run before a strong northerly breeze, they were much 
 disheartened to find themselves, on the 3d of Septem- 
 ber, at the very point which they had left on the 6th of 
 August. All the interval had been employed in the 
 merely negative discoveiy, that there was nothing to 
 discover. 
 
 The commander soon reached the northern coast, and 
 resumed his task, which was rendered very tedious by 
 the necessity of examining every opening and channel, 
 in the hope that each might prove the desired passage 
 into the Polar Ocean. He first explored a large inlet, 
 the name of which he gave to Captain Lyon ; then a 
 smaller one, which was named from Lieutenant Hopp- 
 ner ; and by connecting these with Gore Inlet, he com- 
 pleted his delineation of the coast. 
 
 The seamen had the pleasure of opening a traffic with 
 a party of Esquimaux, whose first timidity was soon 
 overcome by the hope of being supplied with some iron 
 tools. In the course of this transaction, the surprise 
 of the crew was roused by the conduct of a lady, who 
 had sold one boot, but obstinately retained the other, 
 in disregard of the strongest remonstrances as to the 
 ridiculous figure she in consequence made. At length 
 suspicion rose to such a pitch, that, all courtesy being 
 sot aside, her person was seized, and the buskin pulled 
 off. Then, indeed, it proved a complete depository of 
 
 rfHk 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 113 
 
 stolen treasure, there being* no less than two spoons and 
 a pewter plate secreted within its capacious cavity. 
 
 The end of September now approached, and Parry 
 found himself suddenly in the depth of winter. An 
 alarming symptom appeared in the rapid formation of 
 the soft or pancake ice on the surface of the deep. The 
 obstacle thereby occasioned was at first so slight as to 
 be scarcely felt by a ship before a brisk gale ; but it 
 continually increased, till at length the vessel, rolling 
 from side to side, became like Gulliver bound by the 
 feeble hands of Lilliputians. At the same time the 
 various pieces of drift-ice, which were tossing in the 
 sea without, had been cemented into one great field 
 called "the ice," that threatened every moment to bear 
 down upon the brigs and dash them in pieces. Under 
 these circumstances, the navigators could no longer 
 even attempt to reach the land, but determined to saw 
 into the heart of an adjoining floe, and there take up 
 their winter quarters. There was about half a mile to 
 penetrate, which, in the soft state of the pancake ice, 
 was not very laborious. It was, however, far from 
 pleasant, as it bended like leather beneath their feet, 
 and caused them sometimes to sink into the water, 
 whence it was impossible they could escape without a 
 very cold bath. > , t . ,^ .*' i 
 
 An observation of Parry shows that the Arctic cli- 
 mate, equally with our own, is influenced by a change 
 of the wind. Thus, on the 20th of October, when the 
 wind was N. N. W., the fhermomtier fell to — 10° 5 but, 
 veering to the S. E. on the 24th and 25th, it rose to 
 -j-23''. " I may possibly," he says, "incur the charge 
 of aifectation in stating that this temperature was much 
 too high to be agreeable to us ; but it is, nevertheless, 
 the fact, that everybody felt and complained of the 
 change. This is explained by their clothing, bedding, 
 
 10* 
 
 V 
 
 
114 
 
 PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 fires, anxi other precautions against the severity of the 
 climate, having been once adapted to a low degree of 
 cold, an increase of temperature renders them oppress- 
 ive and inconvenient." Another circumstance is men- 
 tioned, which may serve to confirm a conjecture which 
 has long been maintained by some, that an open sea, 
 free of ice, exists at or near the pole. " On the 2d of 
 November," says Parry, " the wind, freshened up to a 
 gale from N. by W., lowered the thermometer before 
 midnight to — 5", whereas a rise of wind at Melville 
 Island was generally accompanied by a simultaneous 
 rise in the thermometer at low temperatures. May not 
 this," he asks, "be occasioned by the wind blowing 
 over an open sea in the quarter from which the wind 
 blows, and tend to confirm the opinion that at or near 
 the pole an open sea, free of ice, exists ? " 
 
 Parry was now frozen up for another winter in the 
 midst of the Northern Sea, and he forthwith applied 
 himself to make the necessary arrangements, with that 
 judicious foresight which had been already so conspic- 
 uous in the same trying circumstances. As the result 
 of experience, not less than of several ingenious con- 
 trivances, the ships were much more thoroughly heated 
 than in the former voyage ; the provisioning, too, was 
 more ample, and antidotes against scurvy still more 
 copiously supplied. The Polar Theatre cpened, on the 
 9th of February, with " The Rivals." The two captains 
 appeared as Sir Anthony and Captain Absolute ; while 
 those who personated the ladies had very generously 
 removed an ample growth of beard, disregarding the 
 comfortable warmth which it afforded in an Arctic cli- 
 mate. The company were well received, and went 
 through their performances with unabated spirit. But 
 the discomfort of a stage, the exhibitions of which were 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 115 
 
 not 
 
 the 
 cli- 
 rent 
 But 
 rere 
 
 attended with a cold thirty degrees under the freezing- 
 point, became rather severe. 
 
 The sailors found for themselves a more sober and 
 useful, as well as efficacious remedy against ennui. 
 They established a school, in which the better instructed 
 undertook to revive the knowledge of letters among 
 those who had almost entirely lost the slight tincture 
 that they had once imbibed. These hardy tars applied 
 themselves to their book with ardent and laudable zeal, 
 and showed a pride in their new attainments like that 
 of little boys in their first class. At Christmas, sixteen 
 well-written copies were produced by those who, two 
 months before, could scarcely form a letter. Amid 
 these varied and pleasing occupations, the shortest day 
 passed over their heads almost unobserved, especially 
 as the sun did not entirely leave them. Captain Lyon 
 never saw a merrier festival than was celebrated on 
 board. 
 
 The first day of the new year is described as being a 
 very severe one in the open air, the thermometer down 
 to — 22°, and the wind blowing strong from the N. W., 
 on which it may be observed, that the effect of a strong 
 breeze on the feelings, even in temperate climates, is 
 well known, but at low temperatures it becomes pain- 
 fiil, and almost insupportable. " Thus," says Parry, 
 " with the thermometer at — bb°, and no wind stirring, 
 the hands may remain uncovered for ten minutes or a 
 quarter of an hour without inconvenience ; while, with 
 a fresh breeze, and the thermometer nearly as high as 
 zero, few people can keep their hands exposed so long 
 without considerable pain." 
 
 The monotony of the scene was now greatly relieved 
 by a friendly visit from the natives, and an invitation 
 was given to the Esquimaux to repair to the ships, 
 wlien fifty accepted it with alacrity. Partly walking, 
 
116 
 
 PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 and partly skipping, they speedily reached the vessels, 
 where a striking congeniality of spirit was soon found 
 to exist between them and the sailors ; boisterous fuii 
 forming to each the chief source of enjoyment. A 
 fiddle and drum being produced, the natives struck up 
 a dance, or rather a succession of vehement leaps, ac- 
 companied with loud shouts and yells. Seeing the 
 Kabloonas, or Whites, as they called our countrymen, 
 engaged in the game of leap-frog, they attempted to 
 join ; but not duly understanding how to measure their 
 movements, they made such over-leaps as sometimes 
 to pitch on the crown of their heads ; however, they 
 sprang up quite unconcerned. Their attention was spe- 
 cially attracted to the effects of a winch, by which one 
 sailor drew towards him a party of ten or twelve of their 
 number, though grinning and straining every nerve in 
 resistance ; but, finding all in vain, they joined in the 
 burst of good-humored laughter till tears streamed from 
 their eyes. 
 
 One intdligent old man followed Captain Lyon to the 
 cabin, and viewed, with rational surprise, various objects 
 which were presented. The performance of a hand-organ 
 and a musical snuff-box struck him with breathless ad- 
 miration ; and, on seeing drawings of the Esquimaux 
 in Hudson's Strait, he soon understood them, and point- 
 ed out the difference between their dress and appear- 
 ance and that of his own tribe. On viewing the sketch 
 of a bear, he raised a loud cry, drew up his sleeves, and 
 showed the scars of three deep wounds recived in en- 
 counters with that terrible animal. 
 
 As spring advanced, the attention of the officers was 
 almost wholly engrossed by the prospects of discovery 
 during the approaching summer. The Esquimaux, by 
 no means destitute of intelligence, and accustomed to 
 shift continually from place to place, were found to 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 117 
 
 iimaux 
 point- 
 
 |,ppear- 
 
 sketch 
 
 js, and 
 
 in en- 
 
 rs was 
 ^overy 
 IX, by 
 led to 
 |nd to 
 
 have acquired a very extensive knowledge of the seas 
 and coasts of this part of America. One female, in par- 
 ticular, named Iligliuk, who bore even among her coun- 
 trymen the character of " a wise woman," was, after 
 a little instruction, enabled to convey to the strangers 
 the outlines of her geographical knowledge in the form 
 of a rude map. A pencil being put into her hand, she 
 traced the shore from Repulse Bay with such a degree 
 of accuracy as inspired great confidence in what she 
 might further delineate. She then began to exhibit a 
 coast reaching far to the north, being, in fact, the east- 
 ern limits of Melville Peninsula. Next her pencil took 
 a western direction, when her further progress was 
 watched with the deepest interest ; in the course of 
 which she represented a strait between two opposite 
 lands, that extended westward till it opened oh each 
 side, and spread into an ocean apparently unbounded. 
 This sketch, which p'-omised to fulfil their most sanguine 
 hopes, gratified the officers beyond measure, and they 
 loaded Iligliuk with attentions. 
 
 Parry gives an interesting account of the sudden 
 appearance of an Esquimaux snow village near the 
 ships. "If the first view," he says, "of the exterior 
 of this little village was such as to create astonishment, 
 that feeling was in no small degree heightened on 
 accepting the invitation soon given us to enter these 
 extraordinary houses, in the construction of which we 
 observed that not a single material was used but snow 
 and ice. After creeping through two low passages, 
 having each its arched doorway, we came to a small 
 circular apartment, of which the roof was a perfect 
 arched dome. From this three doorways, also arched, 
 and of larger dimensions than the outer ones, led into 
 as many inhabited apartments, one on each side, and the 
 other Hieing us as we entered. The interior of these 
 
118 
 
 FABRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 presented a scene no less novel than interesting. The 
 women were seated on the beds at the sides of the 
 huts, each having her little fireplace, or lamp, with all 
 her domestic utensils about her ; the children crept 
 behind their mothers, and the dogs, except the female 
 ones, which were indulged with a part of the beds, 
 slunk out past us in dismay. The construction of this 
 inhabited part of the huts was similar to that of the 
 outer apartment, being a dome formed by separate 
 blocks of snow, laid with great regularity and no small 
 art, each being cut into the shape requisite to form a 
 substantial arcl , from seven to eight feet high in the 
 centre, and having no support whatever but what this 
 principle of building supplied." 
 
 These Esquimaux display much skill in fitting and 
 sewing their dresses, and in the manufacture of canoes, 
 weapons, and domestic implements. They eat little else 
 than animal food, and, whenever they can get it, will 
 devour from ten to twelve pounds of flesh or blubber 
 in a day. Their only domestic animal is the dog ; de- 
 prived of this useful creature, their existence would be 
 extremely precarious. On the long journeys which they 
 take in search of food, six of these dogs will draw a 
 sledge with a load of half a ton from seven to eight 
 miles an hour during a whok. day. 
 
 Captain Lyon, in the middle of March, undertook a 
 journey across a piece of land lying between the station 
 of the ships and the continent, which had been named 
 Winter Island. The party were scarcely gone, when 
 they encountered a heavy gale, bringing with it clouds 
 of drift, and a cold so intense that they could not stop 
 for a moment without having their faces covered with 
 frost-bites ; and their escape with their lives during the 
 night and following day was nearly miraculous. Their 
 sledge was lost in the snow. Some began to sink into 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 119 
 
 that dreadful insensibility which is the prelude to death 
 by cold, and to reel about like drunken men. In fact, 
 they had resij^ned almost every hope of escape, when, 
 providentially, there appeared a newly-beaten track, 
 which they determined to follow, and in ten minutes it 
 led them to the ships. Their arrival there caused 
 indescribable joy, as they had been nearly given up for 
 lost; while no one could be sent in search of them 
 without imminent risk of sharing their fate. 
 
 After various incidents, and unsuccessful attempts to 
 free the vessels from the ice, they at length, on the 2d 
 July, resumed their voyage of discovery. They had a 
 favorable run through the entrance, which formed a 
 continuation of Fox's Channel ; but a strong current 
 from the north was still bringing down the ice with 
 great force. The Hecla underwent some severe press- 
 ures, and, within five or six hundred yards of the Fury, 
 two large floes dashed against each other with such a 
 tremendous concussion, that numberless huge masses 
 were thrown fifty or sixty feet into the air. The ves- 
 sel, had she come for a second within the sphere of 
 these movements, must have been crushed to pieces — 
 happily she escaped. This current, however, was highly 
 promising, since it could not be traced to the mouth of 
 Hudson's Strait, and must therefore, they concluded, 
 have come from the Western Ocean, which they were so 
 anxious to reach. 
 
 The ice passed by, and the ships proceeded with a 
 favoring wind and tide. The shores began now to put 
 on their summer aspect ; the snow had nearly disap- 
 peared, and the ground was covered with the richest 
 bloom of Arctic vegetation. The navigators came 
 to a fine river named Barrow, which formed a most 
 picturesque fall down rocks richly fringed with very 
 brilliant plants. Here the reindeer sporting, the eider- 
 
120 
 
 PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 'it- 
 
 duck, the golden plover, and the snow bunting spread- 
 ing their wings, produced a gay and delightful scene. 
 On the 14th they reached the island of Amitioke, which 
 had been described as situated near the strait they were 
 then endeavoring to attain. 
 
 The discoverers now proceeded northwards, and saw 
 before them a bold and high range of coast, apparently 
 separated from that along which they were sailing. 
 This leature, agreeing with the indications of Iligliuk, 
 flattered them that they were approaching the strait 
 exhibited by her as forming the entrance into the Polar 
 Basin. They pushed on, full of hope and animation, and 
 were further cheered hy reaching the small island of 
 Igloolik, which she had described as situated at the very 
 commencement of the passage. Accordingly, they soon 
 saw the strait stretching westward before them in long 
 perspective ; but, alas 1 they discovered at the same 
 moment an unbroken sheet of ice from shore to shore, 
 crossing and blocking up the passage ; and this not a 
 loose accidental floe, but the field of the preceding 
 winter, on which the midsummer sun had not produced 
 the slightest change. Unable to advance, they amused 
 themselves with land excursions in different directions ; 
 and Parry at length determined, on the 14th August, 
 with a party of six, to undertake an expedition along the 
 frozen surface of the strait. ' >i 
 
 The journey was very laborious, the ice being some- 
 times thrown up in rugged hummocks, and occasionally 
 leaving large spaces of open water, which it was neces- 
 sary to cross on a plank, or on pieces of ice, instead of 
 boats. In four days they came in view of a peninsula 
 terminated by a bold cape, the approach to which was 
 guarded by successive ranges of strata, resembling the 
 tiers or galleries of a commanding fortification. The 
 party, however, scrambled to the summit, whence they 
 
PiVRRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 121 
 
 3ome- 
 
 fnally 
 
 leces- 
 
 idof 
 
 Insula 
 
 was 
 
 the 
 
 The 
 
 they 
 
 enjoyed a most gratifying spectacle. They were at the 
 narrowest part of the strait, here about two miles acrosi', 
 with a tide or current running through it at the rate of 
 two miles an hour. Westward, the shores on each side 
 receded, till, for three points of the compass, and amid 
 a clear horizon, no land was visible.* Parry doubted 
 not that from this position he beheld the Polar Sea, 
 into which, notwithstanding the formidable barriers of 
 ice which intervened, he cherished the most sanguine 
 hopes of forcing his way. He named this the Strait of 
 the Fury and Ilecla. 
 
 He now lost no time in returning to the ships, where 
 his arrival was very seasonable ; for the opposing bar- 
 rier, which had been gradually softening and breaking 
 into various rents and fissures, at once almost entirely 
 disappeared, and the vessels next morning were in 
 open water. On the 21st they got under weigh, and, 
 though retarded by fogs and other obstructions, had 
 arrived on the 26th at that central and narrowest chan- 
 nel which the commander had formerly reached. A 
 brisk breeze now sprang up, the sky cleared, they 
 dashed across a current of three or four knots an hour, 
 and sanguinely hoped for an entire success, which 
 would compensate so many delays and disappointments. 
 
 Suddenly, it was announced from the crow's nest 
 that ice, in a continuous field, unmoved from its winter 
 station, occupied the whole breadth of the channel. In 
 an hour they reached this barrier, which they found 
 soft, porous, and what is termed rotten. Spreading all 
 their canvas, they bore down upon it, and actually forced 
 their way through a space of three or four hundred 
 yards ; but there they stuck, and found their progress 
 arrested by an impenetrable mass. From this point, 
 during the whole season, the ships were unable to 
 11 
 
122 
 
 PARilY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 jnlvance a single yard ; nor had the crews any means 
 of exerting tlieir activity except in land journeys. 
 
 Captain Lyon undertook an expedition southward, to 
 ascertain if any inlet or passage from sea to sea in this 
 direction had escaped notice. The country, however, 
 was so filled with rugged and rocky hills, some a thou- 
 sand feet high, and with chains of lakes in which much 
 ice was floating, tliat he could not proceed above seven 
 miles. Though it was the beginning of September, the 
 season was only that of early spring ; and the buds of 
 the poppy and saxifrage were just unfolding, to be pre- 
 maturely nipped by the fast-approaching winter. 
 
 More satisfactory information was derived from 
 another excursion made by Messrs. Reid and Bushman, 
 who penetrated sixty miles westward along the southern 
 coast of Cockburn Island, till they reachou a pinnacle, 
 whence they saw, beyond all doubt, the Polar Ocean 
 spreading its vast expanse before them ; but tremendous 
 barriers of ice filled the strait, and precluded all ap- 
 proach towards that great and desired object. 
 
 It was now tho middle of September, and the usual 
 symptoms of deer trooping in herds southward, floating 
 pieces of ice consolidated into masbes, and the thin 
 pancake crust forming on the surface of the waters, 
 reminded the mariners not only that they could hope 
 for no further removal of the obstacles which arrested 
 their progress, but that they must lose no time in pro- 
 viding winter quarters. The middle of the strait, at the 
 spot where they had been first stopped, occurred as the 
 station whence they would be most likely to push 
 future discovery ; but prudence suggested a doubt, 
 whether the ships, enclosed in this icy prison, with 
 such strong barriers on each side, might ever be able to 
 effect their extrication. Tfic cliance of being shut up 
 here for eleven months, amid the privations of an Arctic 
 
PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 123 
 
 winter, appeared, at all events, a serious consideration. 
 By returning to Ig-loolik, they would bo ready to catch 
 the earliest opening-, which was expected to take place 
 on the eastern side, from whence a few days would 
 bring them back to their present station. 
 
 On the 30th of October, by the usual operation of 
 sawing, the ships were established in a harbor at Igloo- 
 lik. The ensuing season was passed with the most 
 careful attention to +he health and comfort of the crews ; 
 but, though their spirits did not sink, there appears to 
 have been, on the whole, less of gayety and lightness 
 of heart than in the two former years. We hear nothing 
 of the drama, or even of the school. In this position, 
 north of Winter Island, they were deprived for about 
 seven weeks of the sun's cheering beams. On the 2d of 
 December refraction still showed, from the deck of the 
 Fury, about the sixteenth part of his disk. At the New 
 Year, Arcturus and Capella, stars of the first magnitude, 
 were visible half an hour before and after mid-day. On 
 the 5th of January, 1823, the horizon was so brightly 
 suffused with red, that they hoped ere long to see the 
 sun's orb burst forth ; but a fortnight of thick fog occa- 
 sioned a disappointment. On the 19th, the sky having 
 cleared, they saw him rise, attended by two parhelia, 
 
 '.>!. 
 
 PARHELIA. 
 
 and both crews turned out to enjoy the novelty and 
 splendor of this cheering spectacle. One of tiese par- 
 
124 
 
 PAIlllY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 Vi 
 
 liclia waH very brig-ht and prismatic, being thrown upon 
 a thick cloud ; the other scarcely perceptible, having a 
 blue sky as its back-ground. To each of these mock 
 suns bright yellow bands of light were at^ ichcd, as 
 shown in the diagram. 
 
 The sailors found at Igloolik a colony of Esquimaux, 
 who received them at first with surprise and some de- 
 gree of alarm ; but, on learning they were from Winter 
 Island, and intimate with its tenants of last season, they 
 welcomed them as familiar acquaintances. The crews 
 spent the winter with them on a friendly footing, and 
 rendered important services to many individuals during 
 a period of severe sickness. •, 
 
 The spring proved unfavorable. Captain L/on at- 
 tempted to penetrate across Melville Peninsula, but 
 found the road so barred by steep chains of mountains, 
 that he was obliged to return in nineteen days, without 
 any discovery, except of two rapid rivers falling into 
 the sea near Igloolik. Lieut. Iloppner accompanied a 
 party of Esquimaux to Cockburn Island, but could not 
 make his way to any distance inland. It was the Tth 
 of August before they were able, by severe sawing, to 
 reach the open sea ; by which time Parry had renounced 
 the hope of effecting anything important during the 
 short remnant of this season. He formed, however, a 
 very bold plan, which was to bring all the stores of the 
 other vessel on board the Fury, and with it alone to 
 brave a third winter in the polar regions, hoping that 
 the succeeding summer might be more propitious. But, 
 as he was preparing to carry this too daring project into 
 effect, a report was made that symptoms of scurvy had 
 broken out on several of the crew, whose physical 
 strength appeared to be generally impaired by the two 
 hard winters through which they had passed. This left 
 no choice ; and, in compliance with the general opinion 
 
PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 
 
 125 
 
 to 
 
 of his oflBcers, ho forthwith began his voyage home- 
 wards. 
 
 The ships were drifted about in a stormy soa, covered 
 with ice, for twenty-four d;iys ; but, ])eing at last favorcl 
 with a westerly breeze, they crossed the Atlantic, and 
 on the 10th of October, 1823, arrived in Brassa Sound, 
 Shetland. 
 
 Two attempts had thus been made, each to a certain 
 point successful, but both arrested much short of the 
 completion of the grand enterprise. The govcniment 
 at home, however, were not willing to stop short in 
 their spirited career. The western extremity of Mel- 
 ville Island, and the Strait of the Fury and Ilecla, ap- 
 peared to be both so blocked up as to afford little liope ; 
 but Prince Regerio's Inlet seemed more likely to lead to 
 a prosperous issue. A passage through this channel 
 would bring the ships to tln^ great sea bounding the 
 northern coast of America, that had been seen from the 
 strait mentioned above, and by which there was the 
 fairest prospect of reaching, by the most diroct route, 
 the waters of the great Pa^'ific, To follow up these 
 views. Parry was again fitted out in Lne Ilecla ; while, 
 in the accidental absence of Captain Lyon, the Fury 
 was intrusted to Lieutenant, now Captain, Iloppner, 
 who had taken an active part in the operations of the 
 preceding voyage. 
 
 The expedition set sail from Northfleet on the 19th 
 of May, 1824, and was in Davis's Strait by the middle 
 of June. As the season, however, chanced to be pecu- 
 liarly rigorous, it was not till the 10th of September 
 that, after repeated repulses and severe straining, they 
 caught a view of the bold and magnificent shores of 
 Lancaster Sound, in which a few solitary icebergs were 
 floating. After this they thought themselves fortunate 
 when, by pushing their way through many miles of 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 
 
 ill 
 
 ;n! 
 
 tiGwIy-formed ice, they reached Port Bowen, in time to 
 make it their winter quarters. 
 
 Here they remained until the 20th of July, 1825, 
 when the voyage was resumed, but under very dis- 
 couraging circumstances. Great accumulations of ice 
 renderod it almost impossible to advance ; the Fury 
 was driven on shore, and abandoned, though most of 
 her stores were saved and piled on the beach ; and the 
 Hecla returned to England with a double complement 
 of men and officers. This was the least successful of 
 Parry's voya; , ;s, but there is a fact connected with it 
 which deserves to be recorded : it proved that the 
 anxiety and difficulty consequent on the loss of power 
 in the compasses need no longer exist. The placing of a 
 small circular plate of iron in the line of nu direction of 
 the ship, and near to the needle, effects a compensation 
 which keeps the latter in^working condition. This con- 
 trp-ance is due to Mr. Peter Barlow of Woolwich, and 
 Parrj'^ says, " Never had an invention a more complete 
 and satisfactory triumph ; for to the last moment of our 
 operations at nea did the compass indicate the true 
 magnetic direction.*' 
 
 ■ r-.i J 
 
 r J 
 
 'iy.'V 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 lyon's voyage. — beechey's expedition. — franklin's second land 
 expedition. — fort franklin. — winter at great bear lake. — 
 embarkation. — separation op the party. — progress of frank- 
 
 LIN's DIVISION. — ATTACK BY ESQUIMAUX. — RETURN TO FORT FRANK- 
 LIN. — Richardson's division. — second winter at the fort. 
 
 Concurrently with Parry's third voyage, three other 
 expeditions were undertaken, with the two-fold object 
 of making the north-west passage and of completing the 
 survey of the North American coast. The first, by 
 Captain Lyon, in the Griper, was to proceed by Hud- 
 son's Strait and Sir Thomas Rowe's AVelcome to Re- 
 pulse Bay ; then to cross over Melville Isthmus, and 
 survey the coast of America as far as where Franklin 
 left off, at Point Turnagain. The vessel sailed in June, 
 1824, but, being totally unfit for the service, except in 
 the quality of strength, she was nearly wrecked on two 
 occasions in the Welcome, and all on board placed in 
 imminent peril of their lives ; and at last. Repulse Bay 
 being eighty miles distant, the enterprise was aban- 
 doned. 
 
 The second expedition, in the Blossom, under the 
 command of Captain Beechey, was despatched in 1825, 
 to sail round Cape Horn, and enter the Polar Sea ly 
 Behring's Strait, so as to arrive at Chamisso Island, in 
 Kotzebue Sound, by the 10th of July, 182G, there to 
 wait for the third expedition, under Franklin, of which 
 more presently. 
 
128 
 
 BEECHEY'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 On the 2d of June, having left the Sandwich Islands, 
 he shaped his course for Karntschatka, and on the 27th 
 was becalmed within six miles of Pctropalauski. The 
 best guides to this harbor are a range of high moun- 
 tains, on one of which, upwards of eleven thousand feet 
 in height, a volcano is in constant action. It was a 
 serene and beautiful evening when they approached this 
 remote quarter of the world, and all were struck with 
 the magnificence of the mountains capped with peren- 
 nial snow, and rising in solemn grandeur one above the 
 other. At intervals the volcano emitted dark columns 
 of smoke ; and, from a sprinkling of black spots upon 
 the snow to the leeward, it was conjectured there had 
 been a recent eruption. 
 
 From Pctropalauski, Beechey sailed, on the 1st of 
 July, for Kotzebue's Sound. " We approached," says 
 he, "the strait which separates the two great continents 
 of Asia and America, on one of those beautiful still 
 nights well known to all who have visited the Arctic 
 regions, when the sky is without a cloud, and when the 
 midnighi: sun, scarcely his own diameter below the 
 horizon, tinges with a bright hue all the northern circle. 
 Our 3hip, propelled by an increasing breeze, glided rap- 
 idly along a smooth sea, startling from her path flocks 
 of aquatic birds, whose flight, in the deep silence of the 
 scene, could be traced by the ear to a great distance." 
 Having closed in with the American shore some miles 
 northward of Capo Prince of Wales, they were visited 
 by a little Esquimaux squadron belonging to a village 
 situated on a low sandy island. 
 
 Tlie natives readily sold everything they possessed, 
 and were cheerful and good-humored, though exceed- 
 ingly noisy and energetic. Their bows were more slen- 
 der than those of the islanders to the southward, but 
 made on the same principle, with drift-pine, assisted 
 
BEECHEY'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 129 
 
 [ce. 
 
 Inilos 
 dted 
 flage 
 
 3sed, . 
 teed- 
 3len- < 
 but 
 Isted > 
 
 with thongs of hide, or pieces of whalebone placed at 
 the back, and neatly bound with small cord. The 
 points of their arrows were of bone, flint, or iron, and 
 their spears headed with the same materials. Their 
 dress was similar to that of the other tribes on the 
 coast. It consisted of a shirt, which reached half-way 
 down the thigh, with long sleeves, and a hood of rein- 
 deer-.skin, and edged with gray or white fox fur. Be- 
 sides this they had a jacket of eider-drake skins sewed 
 together, which, when engaged in war, they wore below 
 their other dress, reckoning it a tolerably efficient pro- 
 tection against an arrow or a spear-thrust. In wet 
 weather they threw over the fur dress a shirt made of 
 the entrails of the whale, which, being well saturated 
 with oil and grease, was water-tight : and they also used 
 breeches of deer's hide, and seal-skin boots, to the 
 upper end of which were fixed strings of sea-horse 
 hide. It was their fashion to tie one of these striuga 
 round the waist, and attach to it a long tuft of hair, the 
 wing of a bird, or, sometimes, a fox's tail, which, dan- 
 gling behind as they walked, gave them a ridiculous 
 appearance, and may probably have occasioned the 
 report of the Tschuktschi recorded in Muller, that the 
 people of this country have tails like dogs. 
 
 On the 22d of July the ship anchored in Kotzebue's 
 Sound, and, after exploring a deep inlet on its northern 
 shore, which they named Ilotham Inlet, proceeded to 
 Chamisso Island, where the Blossom was to await 
 Franklin. A discretionary power had, however, been 
 permitted to Beechey, of employing the period of his 
 stay in surveying the coast, provided this could be done 
 without the risk of missing Franklin. Having, accord 
 ingiy, directed the barge to keep in-shore on the look- 
 out for the land party, he sailed to the northward, and, 
 doubling Cape Krusenstern, completed an examination 
 
130 
 
 BEECHEY'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 ^ii 
 
 of the coast by Cape Thomson, Point Hope, Cape Lis- 
 burn, Cape Beaufort, and Icy Cape. As there were 
 here strong indications of the ice closing in, and his 
 instructions were positive to keep in open water, if pos- 
 sible, he determined to return to Kotzebue's Sound, 
 whilst he despatched the barge, under his lieutenants, 
 to trace the coast to the north-eastward, q'j ^ar as they 
 could navigate. - ■ '! 
 
 On this service the barge set out, on the 1*7 th of 
 August. She proceeded along the coast, and surveyed 
 one hundred and twenty-six miles of new shore, until 
 stopped by a long, low, projecting tongue of land, to 
 which the name of Point Barrow was given, but without 
 iieeting or hearing any tidings of the expected overland 
 party ; though it was afterwards ascertained that 
 Point Barrow was distant only one hundred and forty- 
 six miles from the extreme point reached by Franklin. 
 
 In the mean time Beechey returned with the Blossom 
 to Kotzebue's Sound. There she remained at the an- 
 chorage till October, when it became necessary to 
 depart, to prevent her being frozen in for the winter ; 
 anJ, after a cruise in the Pacific, she shaped her course 
 once more for the rendezvous at Chamisso Island. Dur- 
 ing the voyage to that point, where they arrived August 
 21th, 1827, Beechey and his men had repeated inter- 
 views with the Esquimaux, whose habits and disposi- 
 tion were in no respect different from those of the 
 natives already described. They found them uniformly 
 friendly, sociable, devotedly fond of tobacco, eager to 
 engage in traffic, and, upon the whole, honest, though 
 disposed to drive a hard bargain. On some occasions 
 they attempted to impose upon their customers, by 
 skins artfully put together, so as to represent an entire 
 fish ; but it was difficult to determine whether they 
 intended a serious fraud or only a piece of humor, for 
 
FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 131 
 
 
 they laughed heartily when detected, and appeared to 
 consider it a good joke. Their persons, houses, and 
 cookery, were all exceedingly dirty, and their mode of 
 salutavion was by a mutual contact of noses ; sometimes 
 licking their hands, and stroking first their own faces, 
 and afterwards those of the strangers. 
 
 The weather proved unfavorable for further operations ; 
 there was very little open sea ; and, in endeavoring to 
 push alono- the fc:hore, the barge was wrecked, and sev- 
 eral of her crew drowned ; and on the 6th of October 
 Beechc/ was obliged to abandon further exploration, 
 grieved and disappointed that he had not the satisfac- 
 tion of bearing with him the adventurous party whom 
 he had been sent especially to meet. He arrived in 
 England October 12, 1828, having been absent on his 
 voyage three years and a half. 
 
 The party under Franklin comprised the third of the 
 expeditions to which we have referred. In 1824, Frank- 
 lin, undeterred by the recollection of the fearful hard- 
 ships endured in his former overland journey, proposed 
 a second, which, descending the Mackenzie River to 
 the sea, should there divide its force ; and, while one 
 party explored the coast easterly to the Coppermine, 
 the other should make its way westerly to ley Cape, 
 or, if possible, Behring's Strait. The project was duly 
 sanctioned, and every preparation made to insure suc- 
 cess, by building boats, providing scientific instruments, 
 and supplying abundant provisions. Besides three 
 strong and light boats, better suited to navigation 
 among ice than bark canoes, a smaller one, cove red 
 with Mackintosh's prepared canvas, weighing o ly 
 eighty-five pounds, and named " The Walnut Shell " 
 was constructed for the purpose of crossing rivers. 
 
 In the preparations nothing appears to have been 
 omitted. Scientific instruments of all kinds, fowling- 
 
132 
 
 FRAN Iv LIN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 
 pieces and ammunition, marquees and t^nts, bedding, 
 clothing, and water-proof dresses, flour, arrow-root, 
 maccaroni, portable soup, chocolate, essence of coffee, 
 sugar, and tea, not omitting an adequate supply of that 
 essential article for all North American travellers, 
 pemmican, — were supplied. 
 
 The officers under Franklin's orders were his old and 
 tried companions and fellow-sufferers in the former 
 journey, Dr. Richardson and I<ieut. Back, with Mr. 
 Kendall, a mate in the navy, and Mr. T. Drummond, a 
 naturalist. Four boats, specially prepared for the pur- 
 poses of the expedition, were sent out by the Hudson's 
 Bay Company's ship. In July, 1825, the party arrived 
 at Fort Chipewyan. They reached Great Bear Lake in 
 safety, and erected a winter dv^eUing on its western 
 shore, to which the name of Fort Franklin was given. 
 To Back and Mr. Dease, an officer in the Hudson's Bay 
 Company's service, were intrusted the arrangements for 
 their winter quarters. 
 
 From here a small party set out with Franklin down 
 the Mackenzie to examine the state of the Polar 
 Sea. The sixth day after their departure they passed 
 the last of the fir-trees, in latitude 68° 40', these being 
 succeeded by stunted willows, which became more 
 dwarfish as they approached the sea. After the dis- 
 sipation of a thick fog, the expanse of water to the 
 northward was so great, that Franklin was inclined to 
 think they had reached the sea ; and in this he was 
 almost confirmed on reaching the shore of Ellice Island, 
 where they *' were rejoiced at the sea-like appearance 
 to the northward." " This point was observed to be in 
 latitude 69° 14', longitude 135° 57', and forms the north- 
 eastern entrance of the main channel of the Mackenzie 
 River, which from Slave Lake to this point is one thou- 
 sand and forty-five miles, according to our survey." On 
 
«■• 
 
 FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 133 
 
 reaching" Garry Islaiid, they ascended the summit, and 
 from it "the sea appeared in all its majesty, entirely 
 free from ice, and without any visible obstruction to its 
 navigation, and never was a prospect more gratifying 
 than that which lay open to us." 
 
 Franklin had left England under affecting circum- 
 stances. His first wife, who was then lying at the 
 point of death, with heroic fortitude urged his depart- 
 ure at the very day appointed, entreating him, as he 
 valued her peace of mind and his own glory, not to 
 delay a moment on her account ; that she was fully 
 aware that her days were numbered, and that his delay, 
 even if she wished it, could only be to close her eyes. 
 She died the day after he left her. His feelings may be 
 inferred, but not described, when he had to elevate on 
 Garry Island a silk flag which she had made and given 
 him as a parting gift, with the instruction that he was 
 to hoist it only on reaching the Polar Sea. 
 
 On the 8th of September, Franklin and his party got 
 back to their companions on Great Bear Lake, and pre- 
 pared to pass the long winter of seven or eight months. 
 On 5th October the last swan had passed to the south- 
 ward, and on the 11th the last brown duck was noticed. 
 On 6tli May the first swan was seen, and on the 8th the 
 brown ducks reappeared on the lake. The mosses began 
 to sprout, and various singing-birds and orioles, along 
 with some swifts and white geese, arrived soon after. 
 
 It is remarked by Dr. Richardson that the singing 
 birds, which were silent on the banks of the Bear Lake 
 during the day, serenaded their mates at. midnight ; at 
 which time, however, it was quite light. On 20th 
 May the little stream which flowed past the fort burst 
 its icy chains, and the laughing geese arrived, to give 
 renewed cheerfulness to the lake. Soon after this the 
 winter-green began to push forth its flowers ; and under 
 
 12 
 
'I 
 
 134 
 
 FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 the increasing warmth of the sun's rays the whole face of 
 nature underwent a delightful change. The snow grad- 
 ually melted, the ice broke up from the shores of the 
 lake, the northern sky became red and luminous at mid- 
 night, the dwarf-birch and willows expanded their leaves, 
 and by the 3d June the anemones, the tussilago, the 
 Lapland rose, and other early plants, were in full flower. 
 
 On the 28th June they embarked upon the Mackenzie ; 
 on the 4th July they reached that part where the river 
 divides into various channels, and the two parties were 
 to pursue difierent directions. The western branch was 
 the route to be pursued by the boats of Franklin's party, 
 and the eastern branch by those of Richardson : the 
 former to proceed along the northern coast westerly 
 as far as Icy Cape, where it was expected to fall in 
 with the Blossom ; the latter to examine the coast-line 
 between the mouth of the Mackenzie and that of the 
 Coppermine. 
 
 The parties now separated. On reaching the mouth 
 of the Mackenzie, the western expedition came in con- 
 tact with the Esquimaux. Franklin proceeded to open 
 a communication with them. At first everything pro- 
 ceeded in a friendly manner. Augustus, after deliver- 
 ing a present, informed them that if the English suc- 
 ceeded in finding a navigable channel for large ships, an 
 advantageous trade would be opened. This intimation 
 was received with a deafening shout ; the boats were 
 in a moment surrounded by nearly three hundred per- 
 sons, oifering for sale their bows, arrows, and spears, 
 with a violence and perseverance which became at last 
 troublesome, and Franklin directed the boats to be put 
 to seaward. ':i f- 
 
 At this moment a kayak was upset by one of the oars 
 of the Lion, and its unhappy possessor was stuck by 
 the accident with hie head in the mud, and his heels in 
 
1 
 
 FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITIUN. 
 
 185 
 
 lin 
 
 the air. lie was instantly extricated, wrapt in a warm 
 great-coat, and placed in the boat ; where, though at 
 first frightened and angry, he soon became reconciled to 
 his situation, and, looking about, discovered many bales 
 and other articles which had hitherto been carefully con- 
 cealed. Ilis first impulse was to ask for everything he 
 saw ; his next, to be indignant that his requests were not 
 granted ; and, on joining his com})anious, he proposed a 
 plan for a general attack and pillage of both the boats. 
 This scheme was immediately carried into execution ; 
 and, though the plunderers at first afiectcd to be partly 
 in sport, matters soon assumed a serious complexion. 
 
 Two of the most powerful men, leaping on board, 
 seized Captain Franklin, forced him to sit between them ; 
 and when he shook them off, a third took his station in 
 front 4o catch his arm whenever he attempted to raise 
 his gun, or lay his hand on the broad dagger which 
 hung by his side. During this assault the two boats 
 were violently dragged to the shore, and a numerous 
 party, stripping to the waist and brandishing their long 
 sharp knives, ran to the Reliance, and commenced a reg- 
 ular pillage, handing the articles to the women, who, 
 ranged in a row behind, quickly conveyed them out of 
 sight. No sooner was the bow cleared of one set of 
 marauders, than another party commenced their opera- 
 tions at the stern. The crew in the Lion were nearly 
 overpowered, and their commander disarmed, when all 
 at once the natives took to their heels, and concealed 
 themselves behind the drift timber and canoes on the 
 beach. This sudden panic was occasioned by Captain 
 Back, whose boat at this time had been got afloat, com- 
 manding his crew to level their muskets. The Lion 
 happily floated soon after ; and as both boats pulled off, 
 Franklin desired Augustus to inform the Esquimaux that 
 
 i: 
 
136 
 
 FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND ^:;PEDIT10N. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 he would Hhoot tlio first man who veiu red to approach 
 within mu8kot-ranf>'e. 
 
 An amicable leave was, however, afterwards taken 
 of these people, and on the 13th of July Franklin put 
 to sea. On the 27th he came to the mouth of a wide 
 river, to which, as it proceeded from the British ran<^n 
 of mountains, and was near the line of demarkation 
 between Groat Britain and Russia, Franklin j^ave tho 
 name of Clarence. They were now in lat. 70° 5', long. 
 143° 55'. The further they advanced westerly the more 
 dense became the fogs ; the temperature descended to 
 35°, and the gales of wind became more constant ; at 
 night the water froze ; and, the middle of August having 
 arrived, the winter might here be said to have set in ; 
 the more early, probably, from the vicinity of the Rocky 
 Mountains, and the extensive swampy plains between 
 them and the sea. The men had suffered much, and on 
 the 18th Franklin set out on his return to the Macken- 
 zie, from the extreme point gained, named by him the 
 Return Reef, in lat. 70° 24' N., long. 149° 37' W. 
 
 About this time, as it afterward appeared, the Blos- 
 som's boat, sent by Beechey from Behring's Strait, 
 arrived on the coast, on which Franklin observes : 
 " Could I have known, or by possibility imagined, that 
 a party from the Blossom had been at the distance 
 of only one hundred and sixty miles from me, no diffi- 
 culties, dangers, or discouraging circumstances, should ' 
 have prevailed on me to return ; but, taking into account 
 the uncertainty of all voyages in a sea obstructed by 
 ice, I had no right to expect that the Blossom had 
 advanced beyond Kotzebue Inlet, or that any party 
 from her had doubled the Icy Cape." ' ' 
 
 Franklin states the distance traced westerly from 
 the mouth of the Mackenzie River to have been three ' 
 hundred and seventy-four miles, along one of the most 
 
FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 137 
 
 ie 
 
 dreary, miserable, and uninteresting" portions of sea-coast 
 that can perhaps be found in any part of the worhl ; and 
 in all that space not a harbor exists in which a ship 
 could find shelter. ^ > 
 
 On tlte 21st of September the party reached Fort 
 Franklin, after a voyage of two thousand and forty-eight 
 miles. Here they had the happiness of meeting all 
 their friends in safety ; the eastern detachment had 
 arrived on the 1st of September, after a most successful 
 voyage. 
 
 Richardson's party had been generally favored with 
 fine weather. On one occasion a storm compelled them 
 to take shelter in Refuge Cove, in lat. 69° 29', which 
 they left the following day. At their halting-place on 
 the 13th July, the doctor says : " Myriads of mosqui- 
 tos, which reposed among the grass, rose in clouds when 
 disturbed, and gave us much annoyance. Many snow- 
 birds were hatching on the point ; and we saw swana, 
 Canada geese, eider, king, Arctic, and surf ducks ; 
 several glaucous, sil- 
 very, black-headed, 
 and ivory gulls, to- 
 gether with terns 
 and northern divers. 
 Some laughing geese 
 passed to the north- 
 ward in the evening, 
 which may be con- 
 sidered as a sure in- 
 dication of land in 
 that direction." On 
 the 14th the party 
 took shelter from the fog and a heavy gale in a cove 
 called Browell Cove, in latitude 10°, longitude 130° 19'. 
 
 With some interruptions, their sail of five hundred 
 12* 
 
 EIDER DUCK. 
 
 ( 1 
 
138 
 
 FRANKLIN'S SF.COND LAND EXPP:DITI<)N. 
 
 i': 
 
 
 ,f V 
 
 
 iiiilt'«, or nine hundred and two by the cuust-line, from 
 one river to anotlier, aflbrded a pleasant voyage, during 
 which they added Boniewhat to the stores of natural 
 history, botany, and geoh)gy. 
 
 A second winter passed at the fort. The (Jbld was 
 intense, the thermometer at one time standing at 58° 
 below zero ; but such a temperature even as this may 
 be defied, with a weather-tight dwelling, plenty of pro- 
 visions, and congenial companions. A series of mag- 
 netic observations was commenced ; and, as the locality 
 lay on the opposite side of the magnetic polo to that 
 along which Parry had sailed in his voyages, some 
 interesting results were arrived at. " It appears," says 
 Franklin, "that for the same months, at the interval of 
 only one year. Captain Parry and myself wore making 
 hourly observations on two needles, the north ends of 
 which pointed almost directly towards each other, 
 though our actual distance did not exceed eight hun- 
 dred and fifty-five geographical miles ; and while the 
 needle of Port Bowen was increasing its westerly direc- 
 tion, ours was increasing its easterly, and the contrary 
 — the variation being west at Port Bowen, and east at 
 Fort Franklin — a beautiful and satisfactory proof of 
 the solar influence on the daily variation." 
 
 In addition to magnetism, observations of the aurora 
 borealis were also recorded, and the fact established 
 that no disturbance of the needle (in that locality, at 
 least) takes place during the play of the phenomenon. 
 A course of lectures, too, on practical geology, was de- 
 Kvered by Richardson — an eminently useful subject in 
 a new district. And, as an instance of what a love for 
 science may accomplish, when animated by a perse- 
 vering and self-reliant spirit, we must not omit to men- 
 tion Mr. Drummond, one of the party, who passed the 
 winter alone at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in a 
 
FllANKUN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 139 
 
 Kmall hut erected by himself, whore he collected fifteen 
 hundred specimens of plants, and two hundred birds and 
 quadruped^', besides insects. These, though points of 
 minor interest, when compared witli the grand objects 
 of the expeditions, serve, nevertheless to connect the 
 individuals whose names they distinguish, by many 
 links of sympathy and esteem, with unobtrusive thou- 
 sands who can admire where they cannot imitate. 
 
 MUSK OX. 
 
, ^•.'ikli 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SCORESBy's discoveries. — CLAVERINO. — PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. — 
 
 THE REINDEER. — HECLA COVE. — BOAT AND SLEDGE EXPEDITION. 
 
 NIGHT TRAVELLING. HUMMOCKS. — SOFTENING OF THE ICE. — DRIFTING 
 
 OP THE FLOES. — iTIGHEST POINT REACHED. — THE POLAR BEAR. — RE- 
 TURN TO THE SHIP. — HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 While Parry, under tho auspices of the Britisli gov- 
 ernment, was engaged in his second attempt to effect 
 the north-west passage, a private adventurer, Mr. 
 Scoresby, was making a voyage towards the north 
 pole, which must not be passed without notice. As 
 early as 1806, this gentleman, who was bred a practical 
 whaleman, had, in the pursuit of his calling, penetrated 
 to latitude 81° 30', being a degree higher than Phipps 
 had attained, and only five hundred geographical miles 
 from the pole. In 1817 he also made an excursion on 
 Jan Mayen's Island. He had, on both occasions, 
 made observations and explorations with an intelligent 
 and scientific eye, very unusual among those who pur- 
 sue a calling so rough and dangerous as whaling. 
 
 At Mitre Cape he ascended to the summit of the sin- 
 gular cliff of which it consists, and which is estimated 
 to be three thousand feet above the level of the ocean. 
 The view is described as sublime : on the east were 
 two finely-sheltered bays ; the sea formed an immense 
 unruffled expanse to the west, the icebergs rearing their 
 fantastic forms, glittering in the sunshine ; the ^alleyiJ 
 
' "^^j 
 
 sm- 
 lated 
 lean. 
 
 TOTe 
 
 }rise 
 thfcir 
 leyy 
 
 SCORESBY'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 141 
 
 WILD DUCK. 
 
 were enamelled with beds of snow and ice, and in the 
 interior mountains rose beyond mountains, till they 
 melted in the distant horizon. The beach of this cape 
 
 was found nearly 
 covered with the 
 nests of terns, 
 ducks, and other 
 tenants of the 
 Arctic air, in 
 some of which 
 were young*, over 
 whom the pa- 
 rents kept watch, 
 and, by loud cries 
 and quick, vehe- 
 ment movements, 
 sought to defend them against the predatory tribes 
 which hovered round. 
 
 . But the most important discoveries made by Scoresby 
 were in 1822, when he sailed in the ship Baffin, of three 
 hundred and twenty-one tons, and fifty men, for the 
 whale fishery. In search of a better fishing-ground, he 
 was led to the eastern coast of Greenland — a tract 
 absolutely unknown, unless at a few points which the 
 Dutch had approached ; and it formed a continuous line 
 with the shore on which the colonies of old Greenland, 
 the subject of much controversy, were supposed to have 
 been situated. 
 
 On the 8th of June, in 14° 6' north latitude, the coast 
 was discovered, extending fron» north to south about 
 ninety miles ; and of which the most northerly point 
 was concluded to be thij.t named on the charts Gale 
 Ilamkes's Land, while the most southerly appeared to 
 be Hudson's Ilold-with-Ilope. Scoresby's ambition, 
 however, to mount some of its crags, which no European 
 
 ' 1 
 
I 
 
 142 
 
 SCORESBY'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 foot had ever trodden, was defeated by an impassable 
 barrier of ice ; and a similar one having closed in behind 
 him, he was obliged to sail back and forward several 
 days through a narrow channel. During this interval 
 he had a good opportunity of taking the bearings and 
 directions of the principal objects on land. The lati- 
 tudi', as given in the maps, was tolerably correct, and 
 was, indeed, his only guide in tracing the positions ; 
 for the longitude, after the most careful observation, 
 was found to differ seven degrees from that in the best 
 charts, and ten degrees from what is found in those 
 usually supplied to the whale-fishers. The country was 
 generally mountainous, rugged, and barren, bearing 
 much resemblance to Spitzbergen, though less covered 
 with snow. 
 
 Scoresby followed the usual system of naming the 
 more prominent objects in the territory embraced by his 
 discoveries. The two principal bays, or inlets, were 
 designated Captain Kater and Sir Walter Scott ; while 
 two spacious forelands, or projecting peninsulas — the 
 former supposed to be an island — were assigned to 
 Dr. Wollaston and Sir Everard Home. Other bays and 
 capes were bestowed on some of the author's personal 
 friends. He now made a movement eastward, in search 
 of whales, of which he found no traces in the vicinity of 
 land. 
 
 On the 19th of July the navigators came in view of a 
 range of coast of a very bold and peculiar character, 
 extending about forty miles. It presented a mountain 
 chain from three to fonr thousand feet high, rising at 
 once from the beach in precipitous cliffs, which termi- 
 nated in numberless peaks, cones, and pyramids. In 
 one instance there appeared to rise six or seven tall 
 parallel chimneys, one of which, crowned with two ver- 
 tical towers, was called Church Mount. This coast 
 
 1 
 
SCORESBY'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 143 
 
 received the name of Liverpool, while to the mountains 
 was given that of Roscoe. The range of shore termi- 
 nated at Cape Hodgson ; beyond which, liowever, steer- 
 ijig south-west, they descried three other promontories ; 
 to these were successively given the appellation of Cape 
 Lister, Cape Swainson, and Cape Tobin. • 
 
 i Here Scoresby landed ; when he found the beach 
 much lower than that further to the north, and consist- 
 ing, in a great measure, of loose, stony hills. After 
 some examination, he came, nenr Cape Swainson, to an 
 enclosure similar to those which the Esquimaux con- 
 struct for their summer huts, and within which were 
 hollow structures, like bee-hives, such as they use for 
 stores. 
 
 Resuming his course at sea, and still holding south- 
 westwaid, he now discovered a spacious inlet, to which, 
 in looking upwards, no boundary could be seen. While 
 penetrating this opening, he observed another sound 
 branching to the northward behind the Liverpool coast, 
 and supposed to form it into an island. The opposite 
 shore of this entrance was named Jameson's Land, from 
 the eminent professor of natural history in Edinburgh. 
 Beyond Cape Hooker, the southern point of the coast 
 just described, another large inlet stretched towards the 
 north, to which was given the name of Basil Hall. It 
 had every appearance of converting Jameson's Land 
 into an island ; and the coast to the westward of it 
 received the name of Milne's Land, Between Cape 
 Leslie, constituting the northern point of that coast, 
 and Cape Stevenson, on the opposite shore, the original 
 opening continued to stretch into the interior, without 
 any appearance of a termination. There appeared a 
 strong presumption that, instead of the continuous mass 
 of land which our maps represent, Greenland composes 
 only an immense archipelago of islands. To this great 
 
m 
 
 ■■ I; 
 
 144 
 
 SCORESBY'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 inlet, the entrance of which was bounded by Cape Tobin 
 on the north, and Cape Brewster on the south, the nav- 
 igator gave the name of his father, though posterity will 
 probably be apt to associate with himself the name of 
 " Scoresby's Sound." 
 
 These coasts, especially that of Jameson's Land, were 
 found richer in plants and verdure than any others seen 
 on this occasion within the Arctic circle, and almost 
 meriting the distinction of Greenland. The grass rose 
 in one place to a foot in height, and there were mead- 
 ows of several acres, which appeared nearly equal to 
 any in England. But nowhere could a human being be 
 discovered, though there were everywhere traces of 
 recent and even frequent inhabitation. At the foot of 
 certain cliffs, named after Dr. Neill, were several ham- 
 lets of some extent. The huts appear to have been 
 wmter abodes, not constructed of snow-slabs, like the 
 cells of the Esquimaux of Hudson's Bay, but resembling 
 those of the Greenlanderr, dug deep in the ground, 
 entered by a long winding passage or funnel, and roofed 
 with a wooden frame overlaid with moss and earth. 
 The mansion had thus the appearance of a slight hillock. 
 Near the hamlets were excavations in the earth, serving 
 as graves, where implements of hunting, found along 
 with the bones of the deceased, proved the prevalence 
 here of the general belief of savage nations, that the 
 employments of man in the future life will exactly 
 resemble those of the present. 
 
 On emerging from this large sound, and proceeding 
 southward, Scoresby discovered another continuous 
 range of coast. 
 
 Disappointed as to any appearance of whales on this 
 coast, he again steered to the northward, where ice- 
 bergs surrounded him, amounting at one place to the 
 number of five hundred. This course brought him in a 
 
fe Tobin 
 ;he nav- 
 rity will 
 lame of 
 
 id, were 
 Drs seen 
 almost 
 iss rose 
 e raead- 
 squal to 
 )eing be 
 aces of 
 foot of 
 •al ham- 
 ^e been 
 [ike the 
 3mbling 
 ground, 
 I roofed 
 [ earth, 
 hillock, 
 serving 
 d along 
 valence 
 hat the 
 exactly 
 
 3eeding 
 tinuous 
 
 I ' 
 
 on this 
 jre ice- 
 to the 
 ira in a 
 

 Oi 
 
 oi 
 
 ■■A 
 C 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 a 
 
 •< 
 
 PS 
 
 o 
 
 U 
 
 K- 1 
 
8a»H^ 
 
 • m\m 
 
 115 
 
 ohin^ still b.i'^!»*^r 
 wjnctiiK'; them witii 
 
 09 
 
 S5 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 a 
 
 CM 
 
 .'red. There r.p- 
 iM^ly insular, to 
 
 •■. iiainod Sir 
 
 i ••iiitl witli 
 
 vvliore he 
 
 '.'•«: k ftiW 
 
 •! was 
 
 few *:>i\> within sigli 
 ihtui ili >$;t' ror':iitiv rfui' 
 the ovh'.M-^ which he hu'" -' 
 poured I'v l:trjjjo tcrrii* ;•' 
 whi'-h won; given the nam«!H <>? 
 belw(M;n thcrii way a most b, 
 Ilvihs^iuo;' i'avy. Jio landed t'.ii : 
 ificn tlihU* i^^il t'iftrj-ib* rod lo the lo^- 
 hopcii to hav»; fi>in«d '^ !«'nali pliiii' 
 K{»eciiMejj« of Af*;i -ioi' ; but en- 
 
 •Hteeper thai) the rv;.» ;.i^^:hed ru..i 
 
 '.fi'l, jiiid net. ibe vijjjrt - ■ . .-\^; tfji u litti<- ntjutf-tliAiryfrt 
 ;;- would have foinid much -^ * ♦"v fn" Rlidin^: duvs'iu 
 
 - - , ^*iik ^^ -.«* 
 
 «ii.'" inlet, iiaiuod u'r c T.oril M ■ '■ v 
 
 '■<■«, the j»'«h'iftd oxtrcmiiv "t' wiii 
 
 V Tlii»i j?r.' fscfttory hoing at rn ,.. , -. 
 
 v; rrt'yf^kfOt. whici; h,)d hi»f»u seeii in tho .^mi 
 
 ^'*»y, fifit^fi^ <sr»f thus contphjt^^d th« obhu-rvatitin of a 
 
 -f • of feHir is-itidjHMi TEilef? of coayt, formerly known 
 
 'he irioe.t Ip^jj^rpi^i notice."., and udiioh n^ight, 
 
 V^ ^itrietlv 00.J idcrod :*?* a now di?4<.'<>v'»ry. 
 
 ■ rwariia appi*'«i.*(.'h.o<i more rhis'dy i( i'xu- 
 
 u'trate'i a fion.-id betwiMMi it ma] the 
 
 . »»;'tr'''ntly with HnrrN 'k Inhd. lie 
 
 • Ivi ^ii:«iaRin& iiH>re of the Orcci!- 
 
 ♦ffVm hii^l i\ (air proeirt'i* 
 
 <fiA'!. i- ' /"."S-, ^. • 
 
 
 .K'-:-' ;^. 
 
 (?» 
 
 ( ;•• M * . 'r'r I 
 
 -.rf^iiVi • »> 
 
i.il 
 
 yi: 
 
 V^b;-;! 
 
 a 
 
 -•y-op."' 
 
 iVi 
 
 cc 
 
 
 -"*>?»ii>»i^- 
 
 "^^ 
 
 '»:%'- 
 
 #1^ 
 
 
 :si 
 
 "I ■ * 
 
SCORESBY'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 145 
 
 few days within sight of lands stretching still higher 
 than those recently surveyed, and coiniecting them wivh 
 the others which he had first discovered. There ap- 
 peared two large territories, seemingly insular, to 
 which were given the names of Canning and Traill ; and 
 between them was a most spacious inlet, named Sir 
 Humphrey Davy. lie landed on Traill Island, and with 
 incredible toil clambered to the top of a hill, where he 
 hoped to have found a small plain cont; ' Ang a few 
 specimens of Arctic vegetation ; but this ui mit was 
 steeper than the most narrowly-pitched r( )f of a house ; 
 and, had not the opposite side been a little smoother, 
 he would have found much difficulty in s "ding down. 
 Beyond this island, and separated from *t by a consider- 
 able inlet, named after Lord Mountnorns, was another 
 coast, the pointed extremity of which received the name 
 of Parry. This promontory being at no great distance 
 from Cape Freycinct, which had been seen in the first 
 survey, there was thus completed the observation of a 
 range of four hundred miles of coast, formerly known 
 only by the most imperfect notices, and which might, 
 therefore, be strictly considered as a new discovery. 
 
 Scoresby afterwards approached more closely to Can- 
 ning Island, and penetrated a sound between it and the 
 main, connected apparently with Hurry's Inlet. He 
 would have been happy to examine more of the Green- 
 land coast, having on one occasion had a fair prospect 
 of being able to run southward to Cape Farewell ; but 
 the ship was not his own, and his duty to his employers 
 compelled him to turn in another direction. He had 
 hitherto met with much disappointment ; and, the sea- 
 son being far advanced, he was apprehensive of being- 
 obliged to return with a deficient cargo. But, on the 
 15th of August, numerous whales appeared round the 
 ship ; of these five were struck, and three taken, which 
 13 
 
146 
 
 CLAVERINO. 
 
 i: 
 
 at once rendcrod the ship fidl-finhed, and placed him 
 among" tiie most successful adventurers of the year, 
 lie could, therefore, return with satisfactory feelings ; 
 and the pleasure of the voyage homeward was only 
 alloyed by the occurrence of a violent storm off Lewis, 
 in which Sum Chambers, one of the most esteemed and 
 active of his crew, was washed overboard. 
 
 To these discoveries some additions were made next 
 year by Captain Clavering, who was employed by the 
 British Admiralty to convey Captain Sabine to different 
 stations in the Arctic Sea, for the purpose of making 
 obHorvations on the comparative length of the pendu- 
 lum, as affected by the principle of attraction. 
 
 Clavering sailed on the 3d of May, 1823, and on the 
 2d of June arrived at Ilammerfest, in Norway, where he 
 landed the philosopher with his tents and instruments. 
 The observations being completed, he weighed anchor 
 on the 23d, reached the northern coast of Spitzbergen, 
 and fixed on a small island between Vogel Sang and 
 Cloven Cliff for further operations. 
 
 He left this coast oii the 22d of July, and steered for 
 the eastern shores of Greenland, of which he came in 
 view on the 5th of August. The scene appeared the 
 most desolate he had ever beheld. The mountains rose 
 to the height of several thousand feet, without a vestige 
 of vegetation, or the appearance of any living creature 
 on the earth or in the air. Even the dreary waste of 
 Spitzbergen appeared a paradise to this. He landed 
 his passenger and the scientific apparatus on two islands 
 detached from the eastern shore of the continent, which 
 he called the Pendulum Islands, and of which the out- 
 ermost point is marked by a bold headland rising to the 
 height of three thousand feet. 
 
 While Sabine was employed in his peculiar researches, 
 the other surveyed a part of the coast which lay to the 
 
 
 If 
 
 II 
 
 
 , 
 
 :* 
 
( 
 
 CLAVERING. 
 
 147 
 
 nortlnvanl, being tho first wliich Scorosby saw. It lay 
 at some distance, with an icy barrier interposed ; but 
 was found indented witli deep and wpacious bays, sus- 
 pected even to penetrate so far as to convert all tiiis 
 range of coast into a cluster of islands. The iidet 
 which the former navigator had assigned to Sir Walter 
 Scott was believed by Clavering to be that discovered 
 by the Dutch mariner, Gale llamkes ; but we have not 
 ventured to remove this last from the more northerly 
 position preferred by the scientific whaler. Other 
 openings, which occurred in proceeding towards the 
 north, were named by the captain P^oster's Bay, Ardin- 
 caple, and Koseneath Inlets ; and he saw bold and high 
 land still stretching in this direction as far as the 
 seventy-sixth degree of latitude. 
 
 In regard to the natives this commander was more 
 fortunate than his predecessor, who saw only their 
 deserted habitations. On landing at a point on tho 
 southern coast of Sir Walter Scott's Inlet, he received 
 intelligence of Esquimaux having been seen at the dis- 
 tance of a mile, and hastened thither with one of his 
 officers. The natives, on seeing them, immediately ran 
 to the top of some rocks ; but the English advanced, 
 made friendly signs, deposited a mirror and a pair of 
 worsted mittens at the foot of the precipice, and then 
 retired. The savages came down, took these articles, 
 and carried them away to the place of their retreat ; but 
 they soon allowed the strangers to approach them, 
 though their hands, when shaken, were found to trem- 
 ble violently. By degrees confidence was established, 
 and they conducted the visitors to their tent, five feet 
 high, and twelve in circumference, composed of wood 
 and whalebone. Their aspect and conformation, their 
 boats and implements, exactly corresponded to those 
 observed by Parry and Lyon in Hudson's Bay. A child, 
 
!( i 
 
 :! 
 
 ill I ; 
 
 ijiil: ! 
 
 148 
 
 PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 after boing diligoiitly cleared of its thick coatinpf of dirt 
 and oil, was found to have a tawny, copper-colored 
 Bkin. Tlie natives were astonished and alarmed beyond 
 measure by the efl'ect of fire-anns. A seal bein}^ shot, 
 one of them was sent to fetch it. He examined it all 
 over till he found the hole made by the ball, when, 
 thrusting his finger into it, he set up a shout of aston- 
 ishment, dancing and cajjering in the most extravagant 
 manner. Another was prevailed upon to fire a pistol ; 
 but instantly, on hearing the report, start(.'d and ran 
 back into the tent. ' 
 
 The observations were not completed till the begin- 
 ning of September, when the season was too late to 
 allow Clavering to gratify his wish of making a run to 
 the northward. Nor did ho extricate himself from the 
 ice without some severe shocks ; but nevertheless, after 
 spending six weeks at Drontheim, ho entered the 
 Thames about the middle of December. 
 
 After the abortive voyage of Buchan and Franklin, in 
 1818, no further attempt was made to reach the pole in 
 shij)^ ; but a plan was devised to accomplish that object 
 in vehicles drawn over the frozen surface of the ocean 
 — a scheme first suggested by Scorcsby, who endeav- 
 ored to prove that such a journey was neither so vision- 
 ary nor so very perilous as it might appear to those 
 who were unacquainted with the Arctic regions. 
 
 His suggestions did not, for a considerable time, 
 attract attention ; but at length Captain Parry, after his 
 three brilliant voyages to the north-west, finding reason 
 to suspect that his further progress in that direction 
 was hopeless, turned his thoughts to the probability of 
 penetrating over the frozen sea to the pole. Combining 
 Scoresby's ideas with his own observations, and with a 
 series of reflections derived by Captain Franklin from 
 his extensive experience, he submitted to the Lords of 
 
PARRY'S rOLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 149 
 
 tho Admiralty the plan of an expotlition over the polar 
 ice. Their lordHliips, liaviiig referred this proposal to 
 tho council and comniitteo of tho Koyul Society, and 
 received a favorable report as to tho advantages which 
 science might derive from such a journey, applied them- 
 selves with their usual alacrity to supi)ly the captain 
 with everything which could assist him in this bold 
 undertaking. 
 
 The IIe< la was employed to carry him to the northern 
 coast of Ijpitzbergen, where she was to be secured in a 
 safe liarbor or cove ; and with her were sent two boats, 
 to be dragged or navigated, according to circumstances, 
 from that island to the polo. These boats being framed 
 of ash and hickory, covered with water-proof canvas, 
 over which were successive planks of fir and oak, with 
 a sheet of stout felt interposed, united the greatest pos- 
 sible degree of strength and elasticity. The interior 
 was made capacious, and flat-floored, somewhat as in 
 troop-boats ; and a runner, attached to each side of tho 
 keel, fitted them to be drawn along the ice like a sledge. 
 Wheels were also taken on board, in case their use 
 should be found practicable. 
 
 Tho adventurers started on the 2Tth of March, 182t, 
 and on the 19th of April entered tho fine harbor of 
 Hammerfest, in Norway, where they remained two or 
 three weeks, and took on board eight reindeer, with a 
 quantity of picked moss for their provender. Departing 
 on the 11th of May, they soon found themselves among 
 til ice, and met a number of whale-ships. On the 13th 
 they were in view of Ilakluyt's Headland, when tho 
 captain endeavored to push his way to the north-east, 
 in the track of Phipps. The vessel, however, was soon 
 completely beset, and even enclosed in a large floe, which 
 carried her slowly along with it. 
 
 As every day was now an irretrievable loss, Parry 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 ii\ 
 
 : J 
 
 became impatient in the extreme, and formed a plan to 
 push off northward, leaving the ship to find a harbor for 
 herself, where he trusted, on his return, to trace her 
 out. But the survey of the route in the proposed di- 
 rection was most discouraging. In consequence of 
 some violent agitation the preceding season, the ice had 
 been piled up in innumerable hummocks, causing the 
 sea to resemble a stone-mason's yard, except that it 
 contained masses ten times larger. This state of the 
 surface, which would have rendered it impossible to 
 drag the boats more than a mile in the day, was found 
 to prevail for a considerable space with little interrup- 
 tion. 
 
 The current, meantime, continued to carry the ship, 
 with the floe to which she was fastened, slowly to the 
 eastward, till it brought her into shoal water. Parry 
 lowered a boat, and found some heavy masses of ice 
 attached to the bottom in six fathoms ; after which he 
 felt it quite out of the question to leave her with a 
 diminished crew, and exposed to so much danger, aris- 
 ing from the combined difficulty of unsurveyed ground 
 and Ice. Tl.ie conclusion was therefore irresistibly 
 forced upon his mind, that a secure harbor must be 
 sought for the vessel before setting out with the boats. 
 No choice was then left but to steer back for the coast 
 of Spitzbergon, where he unexpectedly lighted on a 
 very convenient recess, named by him Hecla Cove ; and 
 it proved to be part of the bay to which an old Dutch 
 chart gives the name of Treurenbcrg. 
 
 The animals met with here during the ITecla's stay 
 were principally reindeer, bears, foxes, kittiwakes, 
 glaucous and ivory gulls, torn, eider-ducks, and a few 
 grouse. Looms and rotgcs were numerous in the offing. 
 Seventy reindeer were killed, chiefly very small, and, 
 UTLtil the middle of August, not in good condition. 
 
 M 
 
 ■ ri 
 
I 
 
 PVRRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 151 
 
 ^ 
 
 : 1 
 
 Thoy wore usually met with in herds of from six or 
 oig-hi to twenty, and were most abundant on the west 
 and north sides of the bay. Three bears were killed. 
 The vegetation %vas tolerably abundant. 
 
 The neighborhood of this bay, like most of the north- 
 ern shores of Spitzbergen, appears to have been much 
 visited by the Dutch at a very early period. There are 
 thirty graves on a point of land on the north side of the 
 bay. The l)odies are usually deposited in an oblong 
 wooden coffin, which, on account of the difficulty of 
 digging the ground, is not buried, but merely covered 
 by large stones ; and a board is generally placed near 
 the head, having, either cut or paiuted upon it, the 
 name of the deceased, with those of his sliip and com- 
 mander, and the month and year of his burial. Several 
 of these wore fifty or sixty y».ars old ; one bore the date 
 pf 1138 ; and another, which Pai-ry foiand on thQ.bqach 
 
 6 ?^ 
 
i .tj i M i r»»jB^ « i ii» :i " 
 
 152 
 
 PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 ■i:n 
 
 to the eastward of Ilecla Cove, that of 1600 ; the in- 
 scription distinctly appearing in prominent relief, occa- 
 sioned by the preservation of the wood by the paint, 
 while the iinpainted part had decayed around it. 
 
 It was now the 20th of June, and the best of the 
 season had been spent in beating backwards and for- 
 wards on these ice-bound shores : he therefore resolved, 
 without further delay, to prosecute the main object of 
 his enterprise ; and, though scarcely hoping to reach the 
 polo, he determined, at all events, to push as far north as 
 possible. He took with him seventy-one days' provi- 
 sion, consisting of pemmican, biscuit, cocoa, and rum. 
 The spirit of wine, as the most portable and concen- 
 trated fuel, was alone used for that purpose. There 
 were provided changes of warm clothing, thick fur 
 dresses for sleeping in, and strong Esouimaux boots. 
 The reindeer, and also the wheels, were given up at 
 once, as altogether useless in the present rugged state 
 of the ice ; but four sledges, constructed out of the 
 native snow-shoes, proved very convenient for dragging 
 along the baggage. 
 
 On the 22d of June the expeditionary party quitted 
 the ship, and betook themselves to the boats, amid the 
 cheers of their associates. Although all the shores 
 were still frozen, they had an open sea, calm and smooth 
 as a mirror, through "wdiich, with their loaded vessels, 
 they advanced slowly, but agreeably. After proceeding 
 thus for about eighty miles, they reached, not, as 
 they had hoped, the main body of the ice, but a surface 
 iutermediato between ice and water. Tliis could neither 
 be walked nor sailed over, but was to be passed by the 
 two methods alternately ; and it was on such a strange 
 ■and perilous plain that they had to laud, in order to 
 commence their laborious journey toward the pole. 
 ^ l" Parry describes in an interesting manner the singular 
 
 % 
 
 1) a ' 
 
 ■a 
 n « 
 
 •i .« 
 
PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 153 
 
 mode of travelling which they were compelled to ado{)t. 
 The first step was to convert night into day — to begin 
 their journey in the evening, and end it in the morning. 
 Thus, while they had quite enough of light, they 
 avoided the snow-glare, and the blindness wliich it 
 usually produces ; besides, the ice was drier and harder 
 beneath them ; and they enjoyed the greatest warmth 
 when it was most wanted, during the period of sleep, 
 though they were a little annoyed by dense and fre- 
 quent fogs. Thus their notions of night and day became 
 inverted. Several of tljo men declared that they never 
 knew night from day, during the whole excursion. They 
 rose in what they called the morning, but which was 
 really late in the evening, and, having performed their 
 devotions, breakfasted on warm cocoa and biscuit ; then, 
 drawing on their boots, usually cither wet or hard 
 frozen, and which, though pcrlectly dried, would have 
 been erjually soaked in fifteen minutes, the party trav- 
 elled five or six hours, and a little after midnight stopped 
 to dine. Tliey next accomplished an equal journey in 
 what wai? called the afternoon ; and '.n the evening, that 
 is, at an advanced hour in the moriving, halted as for the 
 niglit. After applying themselves to obtain rest and 
 comfort, they put on dry stockings and fur boots, 
 cooked something warm lor supper, smoked their pipes, 
 told over their exploil.s, and, forgetting the toils of the 
 day, enjoyed an interval of uase and gayety ; then, well 
 wrapped in their fur cloaks, they lay down in the boat, 
 rather too close together, perhaps, but with very tolera- 
 l>le comfort; and in due time the sound of a bugle 
 roused them to their breakfast of cocoa, and to a repe- 
 tition of the same arduous duties. ■> « "'.»,'' -" '• ° 
 
 The progress for several days was iKiost slow antl 
 laborious. The Hoes wore small, exccodingly rough, 
 and intersected by lanes of water, which emildvixot be 
 
 "V g 
 

 ft 
 
 1 t 
 
 i,' * 
 
 154 
 
 PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 n f ; 
 
 crossed without iinloadiug the boats. It wad commonly 
 necessary to convey tlicse "and the stores by two stages ; 
 and the sailors, being obh'ged to return for the second 
 portion, liad to go three times over the same ground. 
 Sometimes they were obliged to make three stages, and 
 thus to pass over it five tiuies. 
 
 There fell as much rain as they had experienced dur- 
 ing the whole course of seven years in the lower lati- 
 tude. A great deal of the ice over which they travelled 
 was formed" into numberless irregular needle-like crys- 
 tals, standing upwards, and pointed at botn ends. The 
 horizontal surface of this part had sometimes the ap- 
 pearance of greenish velvet, while the vertical sections, 
 when in a compact s'.ate, resembled the most beautiful 
 satin spar, and asbestos when going to pieces. These 
 peculiar wedges, it was supposed, were produced by 
 the drops of rain piercing through the superhcial ice. 
 The needles at first afforded tolerably firm looting ; but, 
 becoming always more loose and movable as the sum- 
 mer advanced, they at last cut the boots and feet at-' ii' 
 they had been pen-knives. Occasionally, too, there 
 arose hummocks so elevated and rugged that the boats 
 could only be borne over tuetu. in a c^irection almost 
 perpendicular, by those vigorous operations called " a 
 standing pull and a bowline haul." 
 
 The result of all this was, that a severe exertion of 
 five or six hours did not usually produce a progress of 
 above a mile and a half or two milea, and that in a wind- 
 ing direction ; so that, after having entered upon the 
 ice on the 24th of June, in latitude 81° 13', they found 
 themselves on the 29th only in 81" 23', having thus 
 inade oidy about eight miles of direct nortliin^ Parry 
 Boor .'clinquished all hope of reaching the polo • how- 
 ever, it was re»olvod to push on as far as j^ossible ; and 
 °ti',e party coming at length to somewhat smoother ice 
 
 ^' °„ -f 
 
 o o » 
 
 f» 
 
 I 
 
 tra " 
 
 ■ift 
 
PARBY'3 POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 155 
 
 a 
 
 and larger floes, made rather better progress. While 
 the boats were landing on one of these, the commander 
 and Lieut. Koss usually pushed on to the other end, to 
 ascertain tlie best course. On reaching the extremity, 
 they commonly mounted the largest hummock, whence 
 they beheld a Hij-'at of which nothhig could exceed the 
 dreariness. The eye rested solely upon ice, and a sky 
 hid in dense and dismal fogs. 
 
 One warm day, two flies on the ice were regarded 
 with a degree of attention that would have been ludi- 
 crous under other circumstances ; and equally important 
 was the sight of an ap/i/.s horealin, in a languid state, a 
 hundred miles away from land. Amid this scene of 
 inanimate desolation, the view of a passing bird, or of 
 ice in anj" peculiar shape, excited an intense interest, 
 which they smiled to recollect ; but they were princi- 
 pally cheered by viewing the two boats in the distance, 
 the movhig figures of the men winding with their sledges 
 among the hummocks, and by hearing the sound of 
 human voices, which broke the silence of this frozen 
 wilderness. The rain and the increasing warmth of the 
 season, indeed, gradually softened the ice and snow, 
 but this only caused the travellers to sink deeper at 
 every step. At one place they sank repeatedly three 
 feet, and required three hours to make a hundred yards. 
 ITaving attained 82° 40', they began to hold it as a fixed 
 point that their efforts would be crowned with success 
 80 far as to reach the eighty-third parallel. This hope 
 seemed converted into certainty when, on the 22d, they 
 had travelled seventeen miles, the greater proportion of 
 which was directly i.orth. But tliore now occurred an 
 unfavorable change, which l)aIIlod all their exertions. ; ' 
 
 Down to the 19th, the wind had blown steadily from 
 the south, which, though without aiding theni miach.,-' 
 lad at least chocked the usual movement of the. io.e?iii^' 
 
''i 
 
 'f't 
 
 1 ■; ' 
 
 ^1 
 
 156 
 
 PARRY'S POLiVR VOYAGE. 
 
 that direction. On the last of these clays, however, a 
 breeze sprang up from the north, which opened, indeed, 
 a few lanes of water ; but this, it was feared, could not 
 compensate for the manner in which it must cause the 
 loosened masses of ice, with the travellers upon them, 
 to drift to the southward. Tliis effect was soon found 
 to take place to an extent still more alarming than had 
 been at first anticipated ; for, instead of ten or twelve 
 miles, which they reckoned themselves to have achieved 
 northward on the 22d, they were found not to have 
 made quite four. This most discouraging fact was at 
 first concealed from the sailors, who onlv remarked that 
 they were very long in getting to the eighty-third degree. 
 The expedition was now fast approaching the utmost 
 limits of animal life. During their long journey of the 
 22d, they only saw two seals, a fish, and a bird. On 
 the 24th only one solitary rolge was heard ; and it might 
 be piosumed that; from thence i;o the pole, all would bo 
 a uniform scene of silence and solitude. The adventur- 
 ers pushed on without hesitation beyond the realms of 
 life ; but now, after three days of bad travelling, when 
 their reckoning gave them ten or eleven miles of prog- 
 ress, observation showed them to be four miles south of 
 the position which they occupied on the evening of the 
 22d — the drifting of the snow-fields having in that time 
 carried them fourteen miles backward. 
 
 This WPS too much ; and to reach even the eighty- 
 third degvciv though only twenty miles distant, was 
 now I>ejond .11 reasonable hope. To ask the men to 
 V, undergo f; ■jh inparallelod toil and hardship, with the 
 'danger oi their means being exhausted, while an invisi- 
 ble power undid what their most strenuous labors 
 acjomplishtd, was contrary to the views of their con- 
 fiderato commander. In short, he determined that they 
 : . felould V takp; a dg_y Qf ^.^g^^ r,^^^ ^^iqh get out on their 
 
 # 
 
 1 1 
 
 ■ ( 
 
PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 157 
 
 roturn. This rosulution was communicatod to the crow, 
 who, though deeply disappointed at liaviiig achieved so 
 little, acquiesced in the necessity, and consoled them- 
 selves with the idea of liaving- gone further north than 
 any previous expedition of which there was a well- 
 authentiv.atcd record. 
 
 The furthest point of latitude reached was on the 23d, 
 and was, probably, to 82° 45'. " At the extreme point 
 of our journey," says Parry, "our distance from tho 
 Hecla was only one hundi-cd and seventy-two miles in a 
 S. 8° W. direction. To accomplish this distance we 
 had traversed, by our reckoning, two hundred and 
 ninety-two miles, of which about one hundred were per- 
 formed by water previously to our entering the ice. 
 As we travelled by far the greater pa^-t of our distance 
 on the ice three, and not unfroquently five, times over, 
 we may safely multiply the length of the road by two 
 and a half; so that our whole distance, on a very mod- 
 erate calculation, amounted to five hundred and (jighty 
 geographical, or six hundred and sixty-eight statute 
 miles, being nearly sufficient to have reached the pole 
 in a direct line. Up to this period we had been par- 
 ticularly fortunate in the preservation of our health." 
 Their day of rest (July 21th), before starting to return, 
 was one of the plcasant(.'st they had experienced upon 
 tho ice ; the thermometer oidy from 31" to 36" in tho 
 shade, and 31° in the sun ; no bottom with five hundred 
 fathoms of line. 
 
 The return was equally laborious as the going out, 
 and in some respects more unpleasant, from the increas- 
 ing softness of the ice and snow — depriving them of 
 confidence in any spot on which they placed their boats 
 or persons, and often sirikiug two or three feet in an 
 instant. On the 1st of August some recent bear -tracks 
 wore seen, and, soon after. Bruin himself appeared ; but, 
 
 >o^ 
 
Stass 
 
 I 111 '"'' *•' 
 
 I ^ 
 
 ri 
 
 I ■! 
 
 ^ijl 
 
 :i 
 
 Ml! 
 
 
 158 
 
 PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 though attempts were made to draw liim witliin gun- 
 shot, ho o8capod unliarrnod. But, on the 4th, a fat bear 
 
 ■-?T\'^^'\\\'S', 
 
 
 -'/M^'' ;.-,,■■■ y- ■mm 
 
 A'/ 
 
 m 
 
 
 W^^' 
 
 POr,AU BEAR. 
 
 was shot by Lieut. Ross ; and " the men were frying 
 steaks, during the whole day, over a large fire made of 
 the blnbbcr." To some the consequence of their indul- 
 gence was an indigestion. On the 10th another bear 
 was killed ; " and our encampment," sa3^8 Parry, 
 " became so like an Esquimaux establishment that we 
 were obliged to shift our place upon the floe in the 
 course of the day, for the sake of cleanliness and com- 
 fort." 
 
 At length, on the 11th of August, Parry and his party 
 heard the sound of the surge breaking against the exte- 
 rior margin of the great icy field. They were soon 
 launched on the open sea, and reached Table Island, 
 where a sup:)Iy of broad ha<l h(*v\\ dopositod ; but Bruin. 
 
I 
 
 PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 
 
 159 
 
 had discovered it, and devoured the whole. They found, 
 liowever, some uccoinmodiitions, while the 8tores lel't 
 at the Warden Island were still quite undisturbed. On 
 the 21st ti»e naviy;ators arrived in Ilecla Cove, from 
 whence, soon afterwards, they sailed for England. 
 
 Such was the result of the first and only attempt to 
 penetrate to the pole over the frozen surface of the deep. 
 All the energy and hardihood of British seamen were 
 exerted to the utmost, without making even an approach 
 towards the fultihnent of their intention ; yet there 
 seems nothing in the details just given to deter from 
 the enterprise, as impossible, or even to render it very 
 unfeasible. The unfavorable issue was evidently owing 
 to the advanced season of the year, when the thaw and 
 consequent dissolution of the ice had nuide great prog- 
 ress, and all the materials of the great northern lloor 
 were broken up. 
 
 'i =•„' 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SOUND. — UOOTIFIA. — I)rS(;uVKHY OK TlfK I'lliv's STORES. — UANfiKK- 
 
 OrS NAVIGATION. I'llKI'AllA TIONS Foil Wl.VTi:iUN(i. VISIT rituM 
 
 KSQUIMAUX. EXCUUSIO.V. SKCO.VI) WIXTKU IN TIIK ICE. — TUE MAO- 
 
 NETIC POLE. THinD AM> iulJIlTII WINTEIt. — AltANDONMENT OP THE 
 
 VICTORY. — MEETING WITH A WIIAI.EIl. 
 
 iiil; ^ 
 
 Next in clironological order is tlio expedition equipped 
 at the cost of Sir Felix Booth, and conducted by Capliiin 
 Ross, aii(<l liis nei)how, Commander (afterwards Sir James) 
 Ross. They sailed in May, 1829, in the Victory, a 
 vessel iitt(!d with a steam-engine, in addition to her 
 sails, so as to be able to navigate in calm weather, or 
 in ballling winds. The object of the voyage was to 
 search ibr the north-w^est passage, as Parry had done 
 before, by some opening leading out of llegent's Inlet. 
 
 On the 22d of July they entered a bay wliich opened 
 into two magnificent inlets, bordered by rocks of impos- 
 ing form ; and every spot, not absolutely a precipice, 
 was covered with such briglit verdure as to justify the 
 appellation of Greenland. In sailing upwards, the unex- 
 pected appearance of a Danish flag surprised the crew, 
 and they learned that they were now near a settle- 
 ment belonging to that nation, called Ilolsteinborg. 
 The governor had seen the masts above the rocks, and, 
 apprehcns've of their being those of a vessel in distress, 
 kindly sent an offer of aid. The party were immediately 
 
 I'i 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 161 
 
 coiKluctcd to tho village, whuro they liud a lM»spita])lo 
 roct.'ption, with cDtcrlaiiniKMit sucli us llicy little ex- 
 pected oil those dreary shores. 
 
 They here ibiind a disal)U'd vessel, and from it replen- 
 ished their stores and spars. The provisions were raised 
 to their full coniph.Mueut. Some boots and g-loves were 
 obtained from the natives, and the governor made a 
 useful present of six Esquimaux dogs. 
 
 On the 20 th the discoverers sailed to the northward ; 
 and on the morning of the 28th the stupendous moun- 
 tains of Disco Island, long enveloped in mist, burst on 
 their view, only a few miles distant. The range nearest 
 the shore was entirely free from snow, and the interior 
 hills were l)ut partially covered. Hare Island was 
 almost ecpially clear ; and, though forty icebergs were 
 observed, yet, as the navigators approached the latitude 
 of 14°, near to where the Ilecla and Fury had been 
 beset in 182 1, not a vestige of ice was perceived. They 
 might have fancied themselves sailing on the summer 
 seas of England, or even of the Mediterranean ; the 
 men threw olf their jackets, and worked in their shirts, 
 without shoes or stockings. They had several times 
 recourse to the engine, though, from practical defects, 
 it never enabled them to sail above a mile and a half an 
 hour ; and it was subsequently thrown overboard, as a 
 useless encumbrance. 
 
 On the 6th of August, a thick fog having dispersed, 
 the coast was suddenly d'Nplayed, with all its highlands, 
 among which Cape Byara Martin was conspicuous, cov- 
 ered with snow. On reaching the entrance of Lancaster 
 Sound, and reverting to the blame imputed to him for 
 not having explored it, the captain observes that, from 
 the deceptive appearances presented by bays and inlets, 
 similar mistakes had been made by Cook, and other 
 navigators of the greatest skill. No opinion diifering 
 14* 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-S) 
 
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 1.25 11 , .4 ,,.6 
 
 
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 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 
 ^.-^ 
 
 33 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. US80 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 

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 n. 
 
 1 
 
 162 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 from his bad been expressed by any one of his officers, 
 who, if they entertained any such, were unquestionably 
 bound to have stated it. The ice, moreover, lay ihen 
 BO thick that he could have penetrated but a fcv/ miles 
 further. 
 
 Now, however, he sailed through the middle of the 
 strait, perceiving scarcely any trace of ice or snow, 
 unless on the tops of the lofty mountains. The ther- 
 mometer stood at 40°, while the sensible heat was so 
 much greater that they felt it agreeable to dine without 
 a fire, and with half the skylight removed. For two 
 days they made only a slow and laborious progress, by 
 the aid of steam ; but, on the 9th, a welcome breeze 
 sprang up from the cast, and, all sail being set, on the 
 10th they passed Cape York, after which the land begins 
 to turn southward, and, with the opposite coast of North 
 Somerset (Boothia), forms the broad opening of Prince 
 Regent's Inlet. This being the channel by which Ross 
 hoped to accomplish his passage, he immediately steered 
 across, and reached the western shore on the afternoon 
 of the 11th, between Cape Seppings and Elwin Bay. 
 
 In sailing southward along this coast, some heavy 
 gales were encountered ; and th(» ice having been broken 
 off in the various forms of streams, packs, and bergs, 
 the full difficulties of Arctic navigation began to be 
 experienced. These were increased by the near ap- 
 proach to the magnetic pole, so that the compass 
 ceased to traverse ; and the bearings could be ascer- 
 tained only by observations on the sun, which was often 
 obscured by heavy fogs. The navigators made their 
 way, however, and on the 12th descried the place of 
 the Fury's wreck, with the poles of the tents standing. 
 They hastened, with intense interest, to examine this 
 spot. The hull of the ship, which was left on the 
 beach, had disappeared, without even a vestige remain- 
 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 163 
 
 iiig. The moving masses of ice had either carried it 
 out in a body, or broken it into fragments and scattered 
 it as drift-wood over the surrounding sea. But it was 
 an ample compensation to find that the canisters of 
 preserved provisions, after being exposed during four 
 years, were in as perfect condition as if they had been 
 newly prepared. The tightness of these vessels had 
 prevented the bear from smelling the rich feast they 
 contained for him, and to which f'therwise he would 
 soon have forced his way. The wine, spirits, sugar, 
 bread, flour, and cocoa, were, with little exception, 
 equally good, and the sails were found in complete pres- 
 ervation. After taking in all the provisions they could 
 conveniently stow, raising their stock to two years and 
 three months' supply, the accumulated pile seemed 
 scarcely diminished. Here, also, they procured a store 
 of coal. 
 
 Crossing now the broad mouth of Cresswell Bay, they 
 reached, on the 15th of August, a cape to which the 
 name of Garry has been attached, the furthest point 
 seen by Parry. The land trended in a south-south-west 
 direction, which, with few variations, it continued to 
 follow. Deprived of all aid from the compass, and often 
 enveloped in fogs, they worked their way slowly, amid 
 many diflBculties and frequent dangers, being obliged 
 to steer merely according to the direction which the 
 wind, or even the floating ice, had, in the last clear 
 interval, been observed to pursue. While r.ountains 
 of ice were tossing around them on every side, they 
 were often forced to seek safety by mooring themselves 
 to these formidable masses, and drifting with them, 
 sometimes forward, sometimes backward. In this man- 
 ner, on one occasion, no less than nineteen miles were 
 lost in a few hours ; at other times they underwent fre- 
 quent and severe shocks, yet escaped any serious dam- 
 
I 
 
 164 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 age. Ross conceives that his little bark, merely by its 
 moderate draught of water, was much better fitted for 
 such a navigation than the larger vessels employed in 
 previous expeditions, and that those of Parry would 
 have been shattered to pieces by the rocks over which 
 the Victory was carried in safety. 
 
 On several points of this coast they observed Esqui- 
 maux tents, — at one place twenty in number, — but none 
 of the natives. Many whales appeared on the surface 
 of the water close to them, without showing any appre- 
 hension of man. 
 
 Among the leading features of the coast was Brent- 
 ford Bay, of considerable extent, with some fine harbors, 
 thirty miles beyond Cape Garry. Here the captain 
 landed, displayed his colors, and, drinking the king's 
 health, took possession, in his majesty's name, of the 
 land, to which he gave the name of Boothia. 
 
 Under all impediments, in the course of August and 
 September, he worked his way along three hundred 
 miles of undiscovered coast, and to within two hundred 
 and eighty miles of the point which Franklin had 
 reached. Here the land, taking a westerly direction, 
 seemed to afford the fair promise of a passage between 
 the country now surveyed and the continent of America. 
 But, by the end of September, snow began to fall thick ; 
 the thermometer sank far below the freezing-point, while 
 ice in large masses was closing around them. They 
 therefore considered themselves fortunate when, in a 
 spacious bay between a rocky island and two icebergs, 
 they found a station in Felix Harbor, in which, after 
 due arrangements, they could reckon on passing the 
 dreary season in security. 
 
 On the Yth of October, by sawing through the ice, 
 the vessel was placed in the position where it could be 
 most advantageously lodged for the winter. On the 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 165 
 
 8th, there appeared no longer an atom of clear water ; 
 and, except some occasional points of rock, "nothing 
 but one dazzling and monotonous, dull and wearisome, 
 extent of snow was visible." The temperature, which 
 had been ranging between 10° and 22°, rapidly fell, 
 and, on the nigiit of the 20th, descended as low as 9° 
 under zero, or 41° below the freezing-point, and, before 
 the end of the month, was at — 16°. 
 • In preparing for the gloom and rigor of this long 
 winter, Ross made some improvements even upon the 
 admirable arrangements of Parvy. The upper deck 
 having been covered two feet and a half deep with 
 snow, it was trodden down to the consistence of solid 
 ice, and sand spread over it, till it resembled a rolled 
 gravel-walk. It was then roofed with canvas, which 
 was conducted over the sides till it united with a bank 
 of snow that had been formed around the vessel, thus 
 completely fencing it in on every side. The vapor from 
 the steam-kitchen and oven, instead of being allowed to 
 spread through the cabins, was conveyed by apertures 
 in the apper deck, over which were placed to receive it 
 iron tanks, with the open side downwards, where it 
 soon froze, and the ice was cleared out once a week. 
 By this plan the apartments were preserved perfectly 
 dry, and it was not necessary, as formerly, to keep them 
 up to the temperature of *?0°, in order to prevent the 
 vapor from freezing on their sides ; that of 45° was 
 found quite sufficient for health and comfort, and a 
 great saving of fuel was in consequence effected. Two 
 small ante-chambers were formed, and in the outer one 
 such of the men as had been exposed to the atmos- 
 phere were required to leave the clothes on which snow 
 had fallen. The air necessary to produce combustion 
 was introduced by a copper pipe direct to the fireplace, 
 where it was immediately warmed, and, instead of chill- 
 
1G6 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOIAGE. 
 
 U 
 
 iiig, eerved to heat and dry the room. The strength 
 and spirits of the crew were supported by regular meals 
 and constant occupation. Divine service was duly per- 
 formed, and religious instruction dispensed at a school 
 held every Sunday evening. On the other nights a 
 school also waH attended. 
 
 The stock of provisions, on examination, was found 
 sufficient for two years and ten months at full allowance, 
 a quantity which could easily be managed so as to last 
 three years. Fuel was equally abundant. The only 
 article deficient was spirits, of which th'^ie was only 
 one year's full supply ; but this want the commander 
 by no means regretted, being satisfied that their habitual 
 use impaired the strength of the seaman, diminished his 
 power of enduring cold, and rendei'ed him more liable to 
 scurvy. lie was gratified, therefore, when the crew 
 cheerfully consented to their being withheld, unless on 
 special occasions ; and he considers this circumstance 
 as having remarkably contributed to the preservation 
 of their health. 
 
 Traces of Esquimaux had been observed on difierent 
 parts of the coast, but none had been hitherto seen. 
 At length, on the morning of the 9th of January, 1830, 
 a party were discovered. Ross immediately proceeded 
 to the spot, upon which they retreated, but soon re- 
 turned with a body of their companions, ranged in a 
 line of ten in front and three deep, one man being 
 detached, who appeared to be sitting in a sledge. The 
 captain, having sent for his nephew and some of the 
 crew, desired them to remain behind, while he walked 
 toward the Esquimaux, who were armed with spears 
 and knives. He hailed them by the well-known national 
 salutation, Tima ! tima ! which was shouted by them in 
 return. The navigators then advanced, and, throwing 
 away their guns, called out, Aja, tima! upon which 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 167 
 
 ;o seen. 
 
 Ilio others tossed their knives and spears in the air, 
 repeating the shout, Aja! and extending their hands to 
 show that they had now no weapons. As they stood 
 still, however, tlie discoverers api)roached, and em- 
 braced all those in the front line, stroking their dress, 
 and receiving in their turn this customary greeting. 
 Their gratification was testified by laughing, clamor, and 
 strange gestures. Thus full confidence was at once 
 established between the two parties. 
 
 Next day the discoverers visited this people at their 
 own village, which consisted of twelve snow huts, con- 
 structed in the same manner us those observed by 
 Parry. Tliis tribe were thought, on the whole, to be 
 cleanc and better dressed than those more to the north- 
 ward ; besides, they kept a store of seal and reindeer 
 buried in the snow — a precaution not before noticed 
 among any Esquimaux. 
 
 While the British remained on these shores, they 
 held frequent intercourse with this and otlier parties of 
 natives. Some of the places about Repulse Bay being 
 named and described, they showed an intimate acquaint- 
 ance with them, stating that they had recently journeyed 
 from that quarter. Two of them, Tulluahiu and Ikmal- 
 lik, drew a sketch of the line of coast by which they had 
 travelled, and this was amended by a learned lady, Tir- 
 iksiu. The general result proved to be, that between 
 the present station and Repulse Bay there intervened a 
 very extensive gulf, of which the limits were Melville 
 Peninsula on the east, the American coast on the south, 
 and the country in which they now were, on the west. 
 
 The grand question, whether there was any navigable 
 opening further westward, could not be then ascertained, 
 though they had reason to believe that, if there was, it 
 must be very narrow. The strongest interest, however, 
 was excited by the accounts given by another party of 
 
t'4 
 
 11 
 
 '^1 
 
 :^!l! 
 
 4 
 
 1 1 
 
 168 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 a groat soa lying to the vv^cstward, and of a strait which 
 it was hoped might load into it. On the 5th of April, 
 thorc'ibro, when tho rigor of winter had soniewiuit 
 abated, Commander Koss, with Mr. Blanky, tho chief 
 raate, and two native guides, undertook an expedition 
 to explore it. Tiie weather being still very inclement, 
 they were frequently obliged to pauso and seek refuge 
 from tho driit, when tho Esquimaux in half an hour 
 erected snow huts, whicli aflbrded tolerable shelter. 
 Unluckily the lire necessary for heat and light, molting 
 the walls of this frail tenement, enveloped thorn in 
 moisture, to avoid wliich they wore obliged to creep into 
 their fur bags. 
 
 After a difficult journey of three days, they reached a 
 bay facing tho westward, and, on proceeding a short dis- 
 tance inland to tho south and south-east, discovered a 
 very extensive lake, called by the natives Nei-tyol-lc, 
 ■whence a broad river flowed into tho bay. On their 
 return to tho coast, tho guides pointed out a lofty capo, 
 beyond which there was said to be avast sea, the termi- 
 nation of which could not bo descried. They declared, 
 however, that a tract of land, or isthmus, connecting the 
 territory on which they stood with tho continent of 
 America, would render it impossible for the vessel to 
 roach tho wot'tern soa in this direction, or otherwise 
 than by a channel considerably north of her present 
 station. •« 
 
 The journey so far had issued onlj'^ in disappointment. 
 They learned that, on tho coast nearest them, facing 
 the eastward, tliere was a place called Shagavoke, where 
 the water rushed through a narrow strait with extraor- 
 dinary rapidity. Hence arose hopes that this tide 
 might come from tho opposi:e sea, and afford a channel 
 through which tho ship could bo worked. But, on 
 examination, this idea proved fallaciouj, and evovy idea 
 
ROSS'S Si:COND VOYAQK 
 
 1G9 
 
 trait which 
 
 
 1 of April, 
 
 
 somewhat 
 
 i 
 
 , the chief 
 
 I 
 
 expedition 
 
 
 inclement, 
 
 
 eek ?-efuge 
 
 
 If an hour 
 
 ' 
 
 le shelter. 
 
 
 ht, melting 
 
 
 d them in 
 
 
 J creep into 
 
 1 
 
 y reached a 
 
 
 a short dis- 
 
 
 iscovered a 
 
 
 Nei-tyel-lc, 
 
 
 On their 
 
 i 
 
 lofty cape, 
 
 3 
 
 I, the termi- 
 
 g 
 
 y declared, 
 
 1 
 
 necting the 
 
 1 
 
 ntinent of . 
 
 1 
 
 3 vessel to 
 
 1 
 
 • otherwise 
 
 1 
 
 er present 
 
 ' 
 
 pointment. 
 
 ; 
 
 lem, facing 
 
 i 
 
 oke, where 
 
 
 th extraor- 
 
 
 this tide 
 
 
 I a channel 
 
 
 . But, on 
 
 ; 
 
 every idea 
 
 1 
 
 of a passage south of the ship's present station was 
 renounced. 
 
 It was to the north that all ho^jcs of finding the 
 desired passage were now directed. So far, liow 
 ever, as they were personally able to examine the 
 land, its aspect was unpromising, and the most intelli- 
 gent natives intin.iited that the only channel was in a 
 much more northerly (piarter, supposed to be wo other 
 than Barrow's Strait, through which Furry had already 
 navigated. 
 
 Before prosecuting further discoveries in this direc- 
 tion, another journey was resolved upon to the west- 
 ward, beyond the istiimus, to trace the coast of 
 America as it extended along the newly-discovered sea. 
 They thus hoped to reach Cai)e Turnagain, ami to con- 
 nect their discoveries Avith those of Franklin. The 
 younger Ross again set out on the Itth JSIay, with three 
 companions, e'ght dogs, and provisions for twenty-one 
 days ; and on the F)th, having crossed the great middle 
 lake of the isthmus, he reached his former station on 
 the western sea. The first view of it was celebrated by 
 three loud and even joyous cheers, though tempered 
 with regret at the diminished prospect of ever being abb; 
 to navigate it. Having to spend the night here, they 
 contrived a more comfortable sleeping-place, by ex- 
 cavating a sort of burro\' in the snow, roofing it with 
 their skin boat, and placinjj, a block of snow as a door. 
 
 After passing Cape Isabella, formed of gray granit<; 
 five hundred feet high, the party travelled along \\w 
 coast west and north for twenty miles. On the morning 
 of the 21st of May they discovered, behind a lofty point, 
 an inlet, which, from its breadth and the different char- 
 acter of its opposite coasts, afforded the hope that it 
 might open into the Folar Ocean. They therefore 
 made a complete circuit and a careful survey of its 
 15 . 
 
170 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 nliorcH ; but the only opening found wjih clearly ascer- 
 taincd to be the mouth of a river, named by tlmm (Jarry. 
 On ascending a high hill, they perceivetl several large 
 lakes extending to the north-east, and forming, in fact, 
 au almost continuous chain to Thom's Bay, near the 
 Victory's station ; with interruptions enough, however, 
 to prevent a ship passing through. Next day they pro- 
 tu.'eded north-west along the coast ; but, resolving to 
 reach the opposite land some miles distant, they crossed 
 the frozen surface of tiie strait, and came to a large 
 island, which was named Matty. They pursued their 
 fatiguing jouruey along its uorthern shore, over rough 
 ice ; and, passing another narrow strait, which they 
 called Wellington, found themselves on the mainland of 
 America. 
 
 The coast now stretched due west, and, the surface 
 being level, they proceeded with comparative ease and 
 rapidity. The direction changing to the north-west, 
 they soon arrived at a spacious bay, which was named 
 Parry. They then travelled onwards two days, but with 
 diiliculties continually increasing, and experiencing 
 great embarrassment, as regarded both their advance and 
 return, in distinguishing between land and sea. " When 
 all is ice, and all one dazzling mass of white — when 
 the surface of the sea itself is tossed up and fixed into 
 rocks, while the land is, on the contrary, very often Hat 
 — it is not always so easy a problem as it might seem, 
 on a superficial view, to determine a fact which appears 
 in words to be extremely simple." 
 
 After experiencing great hardships from the exhausted 
 state of their dogs, and the necessity of abandoning a 
 great part of their provisions, their return was attended 
 with a considerable increase of suffering. The dogs fell 
 victims to successive calamities, till, of eight, only two 
 remained alive. It was proposed to vary the scene by 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 171 
 
 koopinp: flonth of M.atty Island, nlonp tlio coast of tlio 
 <?()iiliiH'iit ; l)ut. obsorviii^ that it fornuHl an extonsivtj 
 bay with wiiidii)}^^ Khorcs. to follow the KimioHitics of 
 which would have consiinied too much time, tliey pushed 
 forward in a direct line over the frozen Hurfaco of the sea. 
 On the 8th Juiu" they arrived in a very exhausted state 
 in the neighborhood of Xei-ty(d-le, where they met a 
 party of natives, who received them hospitably, and 
 supplied them so plentifully with fish, that they wero 
 able to take a day's rest, and proceed at leisure to the 
 vessel, which they reached on tiie 13th. 
 
 Meantime, Captain Ross himself had made a journey, 
 though of more limited extent, with the intention of sur- 
 veying the isthmus of IJoothia, when ho made the partial 
 discovery of another large lake, to which he gave the 
 name of Lady Melville. 
 
 The nephew, upon his return, found that he had 
 arrived just in time. The early spring, the only season 
 when travelling is practicable in this region, was over. 
 The thaw had • set in with extraordinary rapidity ; the 
 country was under water ; the streams impassable, and 
 the surface of the ocean could not have been traversed 
 without the greatest danger. Except a short excursion 
 to procure fish, all their attention and efforts were 
 directed to the extrication of the vessel with a view to 
 her voyage northward, in which direction alone they 
 could now hope to discover a passage to the western 
 sea. But month after month rolled on, the height of 
 summer passed, and the sea remained still ^ound in 
 icy chains. In August its aspect began to present 
 hopes, but these were followed by successive disap- 
 pointments. Its close arrived, and they had the morti- 
 fication to reflect that they had remained eleven months 
 — a period in which they might have circumnavigated 
 the globe — fixed to that dreary spot. 
 
172 
 
 ROSS'S SI'X'OND VOVAGK. 
 
 At last, un tlio 17<li of Scptouilior, with u transport 
 ^•r^'y, llif'y found tlKMiisclvcs free, ami the ship, so lonj^ 
 iiniiiovabk', ag'aiii buoyant on the waves. They atl- 
 vancL'd ahont three; miles, wiion, oncounterin;;; a ri(l<.;o 
 of ice, they inach; fast to oiu; of its (extremities, in a tol- 
 erably secure position between two ber}:,-s. On th(5 'I'M 
 they were completely frozen in, and by the 30th the sea 
 C'xliil)it(Ml one unbroken surface. The greater part of 
 October was employed in laboriously sawing their way 
 through the ice, the thi(,'kness of which was always 
 increasing; and they were at length obliged to desist, 
 after reaching a spot not exactly such as could bo 
 wished, but which, amid an ocean immovable on every 
 Bide, atlbrded tolerable protection. 
 
 Another dreary winter having now sot in, it became 
 'necessary to look narrowly into the stock of provisions. 
 A certain reduction in the daily allowance was found 
 requisite, leaving, at the same time, enough to maintain 
 the crew in health and vigor, which they continued to 
 preserve uninterrui»tedly during the season. They felt, 
 however, the utter monotony of their situation pressing 
 upon them with increasing severity ; they began aluHJst 
 to envy the Esquimaux, to whom eating and sleeping 
 constituted the whole of existence. In this manner 
 passed 1830 ; nor was it till April of the following year 
 that excursions of any extent could be undertaken over 
 the frozen surface of land and sea. 
 
 The first adventure of this kind was conducted by 
 Commander Ross. One interesting circumstance in his 
 excursion was the discovery of the north magnetic 
 pole ; the situation of whi(;h on the land of Boothia is 
 marked on the circular map attached to this volume. 
 "The place of the observatory," he remarks, was as 
 near to the magnetic pole as the limited means which T 
 possessed enabled me to determine. The amount of the 
 
HOSS'.S SKCOND VOYAGE. 
 
 173 
 
 a transport 
 lii|», so loii^ 
 They ad- 
 rill^- a ridfjfo 
 ics, in a tol- 
 
 On tlio 2:M 
 iOiU tlic st'a 
 atcr part of 
 ^ their way 
 was always 
 id to desist, 
 as could bo 
 }lc on every 
 
 I, it becamo 
 
 1" provisions. 
 
 i was found 
 
 to maintain 
 
 ontinued to 
 
 They felt, 
 
 ion pressing 
 
 logan abnost 
 
 nd sleeping" 
 
 lis manner 
 
 owing year 
 
 jrtaken over 
 
 it*.. 
 
 (lip, as indi(;ated by my dipping-needle, was 80° .^»1)', 
 being thus within one minute of tin; vertical ; wiiih tho 
 proximity, at least, of this pole, if not its actual existence 
 where we stood, was further confirmed by the action, 
 or, rather, l)y the total inaction, of the several horizon- 
 tal needles then in my possession." Tiiis was very 
 nearly the position assigned to it by scientific men 
 several years earlier, and r.rrived at by protracting tho 
 direction lines of compass-net'dles in varioiis circumja- 
 C(,'nt latitudes, till they met in a central point. Parry's 
 observations placed it eleven minutes distant only from 
 the site determined bv Koss. 
 
 " As soon," says the latter, "as 1 had satisfied my 
 own mind on the snl)ject, I made known to the party 
 this gratifying result of all our joint lai)ors ; and it was 
 then that, amidst mutual congratulations, we lixed the 
 ]>ritish ilag on the spot, and took possession of tho 
 North Magnetic Pole and its adjoining- territory in tho 
 name of (Jreat ihitain and King William IV. We had 
 abundance of materials for building in the fragments of 
 limestone that covered tho beach, and wo therefore 
 erected a cairn of some magnitude, under which wo 
 buried a canister containing a record of the interesting 
 fact, only regretting that we had not the means of con- 
 Btructing a pyramid of more importance, and of strength 
 sufficient to withstand the assaults of time and of tho 
 Esquimaux. Had it been a pyramid as large as that of 
 Cheops, I am not (piitc sure that it would have done 
 more than satisfy our ambition, under the feelings of 
 that exciting day. The latitude of this spot is tO° 5' It", 
 and its longitude 96° 40' 45" west." 
 
 Even if the pole were stationary, this determination 
 
 ; could only be regarded as approximate ; but when wo 
 
 know that the centre of magnetic intensity is a movable 
 
 point, we shall readily understand that the cairn erected 
 
 15* 
 
r 
 
 174 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 ^ f 
 
 with so much enthusiasm can now only show where it 
 u)zs. According to Ilanstcen, llin pole moves 11' 4" 
 every year, and revolvos within the frigid zone in 1890 
 years, so that it will not reach the same spot in Boothia 
 until the year 3122 1 The precise determination of this 
 point, however, is said to be comparatively unimportant, 
 because its position can always be ascertained by ob- 
 servations of the compass and dipping-needles. 
 
 As soon as Commander Ross and his party returned, 
 it was thought time, amid alternate hopes and fears, to 
 watch the progress of the icc, and escape, if possible, 
 from the prison of a third dreary winter. The season 
 was not, on the whole, more favorable than that of 
 1830 ; yet, on the 28th August, a somewhat earlier 
 period, they contrived to warp out into the open sea, 
 and on the morning of the 29th were in full sail. But 
 they were baffled by changes of wind and heavy gales. 
 On the 14th of September they could again take exer- 
 cise by skating on the newly-formed ice. On the 2*7 th 
 they found themselves completely fixed for a third win- 
 ter. Their last year's navigation had been three miles 
 — this season it was extended to four I 
 
 The spirits of the adventure^ s now began to droop in 
 earnest. Their only means of escape seemed to be to 
 proceed in the boats, or draw them over the ice to the 
 wreck of the Fury, when, after supplying themselves 
 with a fresh stock of provisions out of her stores, they 
 might reach Davis's Straits, and be taken up by a whale- 
 ship. In November the scurvy began to appear. The 
 extraordinary exemption hitherto enjoyed from this 
 dreadful malady, in the absence of the grand specific of 
 vegetable food, Ross is inclined to ascribe to the abun- 
 dance with which the men were supplied with water, 
 notwithstanding the quantity of fuel requisite to melt 
 the snow ; to their never having been too long at once 
 
 ■%^i 
 
 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 176 
 
 exposed to cold, and to the caro that was taken not to 
 allow them i remain in their wot clothes. 
 V It was now determined to abandon the Victory, and 
 move away to Fury Beach, as early in the spring as 
 travelling should be practicable. The beach was one 
 hundred and eighty miles distant in a direct line, and 
 three hundred by the necessary windings. They set 
 out on the 23d of April, 1832, on the first part of their 
 expedition. The loads being too heavy to be carried 
 at once, made it necessary to go back and forward 
 twice, and even oftener, the same day. They had to 
 encounter dreadful tempests of snow and drift, and to 
 make circuits, in order to avoid impassable barriers. 
 The general result was, that by the 21st May they had 
 travelled three hundred and twenty-nine miles to gain 
 thirty in a direct line, having in this labor expended a 
 month. wi 
 
 After this preliminary movement, they returned to the 
 ship, of which they were soon to take a final leave. 
 On the 29th of May they hoisted the colors, nailed them 
 to the mast, and drank a parting glass to the Victory, 
 which they considered worthy of a better fate. In a 
 few days they reached their former deposit ; and the 
 men, extremely exhausted, were anxious to leave the 
 boats and spare provisions, and push on to Fury Beach. 
 The captain, however, considered it Indispensable to 
 carry these to the other side of Elizabeth Harbor, as 
 the nearest spot to which there was full security of 
 being able to return. The 9th of June arrived before 
 everything was brought forward to that point. It was 
 soon after arranged that his nephew and two others 
 should set forward as a light party, with a fortnight's 
 provisions, to ascertain the state of the supplies, and 
 then return with their report to the main body, who 
 
176 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 
 I ! 
 
 were to proceed by slower marches, but more heavily 
 loaded. ' ■' *'^'* 
 
 On this laborious journey Ross had an opportunity 
 of examining the coast, and ascertaining that the large 
 inlet in Brentford Bay was formed merely by a river, 
 and could afford no passage to the western sea. On 
 the 25th of June he met the advanced paily, who 
 reported that they had found three of the boats washed 
 away, but enough still left for their purpose, and all the 
 provisions in good condition. On the 1st of July the 
 whole crew reached their destination. They imme- 
 diately enjoyed a hearty meal, and soon reared a canvas 
 mansion, which they named Soni rsct House. 
 
 The month of July was spent in fitting out the boats, 
 which were ready by the 1st of August, when there 
 appeared a considerable extent of open sea, cheering 
 them with the hope of being able to penetrate through 
 Barrow's Strait into Baffin's Bay. The voyage, how- 
 ever, proved very difficult ; masses of ice, still tossing 
 amid the waves, placed them sometimes in dangerous 
 positions ; and, when they sought slielter on the beach, 
 it was mostly bordered by lofty, precipitous cliffs, from 
 which, at this season of thaw, fragments were often 
 detached, one of which might have crushed them to 
 pieces. It was the 29th of August before they passed 
 Cape Seppings, and arrived at the junction between 
 Prince Regent's Inlet and Barrow's Strait. After sev- 
 eral attempts to run along the latter, rendered fruitless 
 by the ice, tliey were obliged to haul the boats on shore 
 and pitch their tents. There was still time to have 
 accom})lished their object ; but repeated surveys from 
 the iieighboring mountains convinced them that Bar- 
 row's Strait was now, and had been during the whole 
 summer, an impenetrable mass. 
 
 By the 24th of September all were agreed that no 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 177 
 
 I that no 
 
 choice was left but to return to Fury Beach, and there 
 spend their fourth Arctic winter. Proceeding-, there- 
 fore, in the boats, on the 30th of September tliey 
 reach(Ml Batty Bay, more than half the distance ; but 
 tlie ice rendering it impossible to sail further, they 
 liauled them on sliore, and left them above higli-water 
 marlc. Tlien, currying the provisions on sledges, and 
 making a somewhat dillicult journey, they arrived, on 
 the Tth of October, at what tliey now accounted their 
 home. 
 
 The party suffered, at first, a good deal from cold, 
 against wliich their canvas covering afforded very im- 
 perfect slielter. They contrived, however, to envelop 
 it in a wall of snow, and set up an additional stove, 
 which was so effectual that the heat of 51° could be 
 maintained within. It was necessary to make a reduc- 
 tion in the allowance of preserved meats ; bread was 
 somewhat deficient ; and the stock of wine and spirits 
 was entirely exhausted. However, as they had caught 
 a few foxes, which were considered a delicacy, and 
 there was plenty of flour, sugar, soups, and vegetables, 
 a diet could be easily arranged sufficient to maintain 
 the party in health and vigor. 
 
 The winter, as it advanced, proved one of great sever- 
 ity ; and, when the cold reached its utmost rigor, their 
 slight walls could no longer keep the mansion in a com- 
 fortable heat. The tempestuous weather made it impos- 
 sible to take exercise in the open air ; and at length 
 their patience appears to have been wearied out by this 
 long and dreary imprisonment within the Arctic wastes. 
 On the IGth of February, 1833, Thomas, the carpenter, 
 died of scurvy — an event deeply regretted in itself, and 
 regarded as a warning of what was too likely to befall 
 the rest. Several of the seamen, in fact, became afll'cted 
 with this cruel disease, of which Ross himself felt the 
 
i 
 
 
 I 
 
 178 
 
 ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 sure approach, by the return of pain in liia old wounds. 
 Their situation was becoming truly awful ; sine*' if thoy 
 were not liberated in the ensuing summer, little pros- 
 pect appeared of tlieir surviving another year. 
 
 In April and May, as soon as it was possible to 
 travel, while yet the ice remained firm, it was necessary 
 to carry forward an ample stock of provisions to the 
 position of the boats, and there await the opportunities 
 of release. Though the distance was only thirty-two 
 miles, their reduced numbers, and the weight of the 
 loads, obliged them to go over the same ground eight 
 times, raising the space actually traversed to two hun- 
 dred and fifty-six miles ; so that it afforded laborious 
 employni nt for a whole month. They then returned 
 to Somerset House, where they remained till the 8th of 
 July, on which day the whole party quitted, witliout 
 regret, this dreary home, and, though much encumbered 
 by the transport of the sick, arrived, on the 12th, at 
 their boat-station in Batty Bay. 
 
 The aspect of the sea w^as now watched with intense 
 anxiety, not unmingled with dread ; yet the very habit 
 of observing and of speculating on their prospects — 
 some daily mounting the neighboring hill, and others 
 reviewing their report — kept their spirits in a state of 
 salutary activity. The pursuit of feathered game, which 
 always afforded the hope, and sometimes the reality, of 
 a good supper, also enlivened their time. A month 
 .was passed in vain expectation ; when, at length, on 
 the evening of the 14th of August, a lane of water ap- 
 peared, leading to the northward. Next morning the 
 seamen were in movement at an early hour ; and, hav- 
 ing cleared the shore of the ice that obstructed it, they 
 embarked the provisions and stores, and by eight o'clock 
 were under way, with a favorable wind. -* 
 
 . At midnight they passed Elwin's Bay, and on the 
 
 i: 
 
ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 179 
 
 16th had come to the furthest point reached in the pre- 
 ceding year, a spot whicli excited some painful recollec- 
 tions, novvever, though all passage to the east was 
 closed, there was still an open lane by which they coiild 
 proceed northwards. In the evening of that day they 
 were at the north-eastern point of America, and beheUl 
 the sea in that direction quite navigable, though encum- 
 bered with ice. At three in the morning of the Ittli 
 they were in motion, making their way through the 
 loose pieces, till, favored by a southern breeze, they 
 turned the point of the solid mass which obstructed the 
 iiilot, and saw the wide expanse of Barrow's Strait open 
 before them. Wafted on as if by magic, they reached 
 the opposite shore, which the}' sailed along to within 
 twelve miles of Cape York, having made in this day 
 seventy-two miles. In the two following they passed 
 Admiralty Inlet, and came within six or seven miles of 
 that called Navy Board ; after which they were detained 
 four days by contrary winds, and obliged to reduce 
 their allowance of provisions. On the 25th, however, 
 they could again use their oars, and reached the east- 
 ern side of Navy Board Inlet, where they found a good 
 harbor for the night. 
 
 • At four in the morning of the 26th they were roused 
 from sleep by the look-out man announcing " a sail," 
 which, viewed through a glass, proved evidently to be 
 a ship. All were presently in motion, and their hopes 
 and fears were variously expressed. But they were 
 detained by calms and light shifting airs ; an^^, a breeze 
 springing up, the vessel made sail with a rapidity which 
 left them hopelessly behind. About ten, however, they 
 descried another, which seemed to be lying to ; but she, 
 also, soon bore up under all sail, and appeared to be 
 fast leaving them. Happily, a calm succeaded ; and, 
 by hard rowing, they approached so near that their sigr 
 
180 
 
 ROSS'S SECONL VOYAGE. 
 
 ;;,' 
 
 nals were perceived, when she was seen to heave to 
 and lower a boat, which made directly towards them. 
 
 On its arrival, the mate in command asked if they 
 were in distress and had lost their vessel, proflering his 
 aid, stating, in answer to their inquiries, thot he be- 
 longed to the Isabella, of Hull, once commanded by 
 Captain Ross, now by Captain Humphreys. On being 
 told that the former person stood before him, his brain 
 was so puzzled that he declared the captain must be 
 under a mistake, as he had certainly been dead two 
 years. When satisfied, however, of the contrary, and 
 that he was in the presence of the long-absent naviga- 
 tor, he offered his hearty congratulations. 
 
 Such was the effect of previous hardship, that few of 
 Ross's men could sleep on a bed ; and some time was 
 necessary to enable them to enjoy this and other accom- 
 modations of ordinary life. 
 
 On the 30th of September, 1833, the Isabella left 
 Davis's Straits, and on the 11th of October reached 
 Stromness, in Orkney. On Ross's landing at Hull, on 
 the 18th, such crowds were attra'^ted that he could with 
 difJiculty reach the inn. He proceeded next day to 
 London, and, having reported himself to the Admiralty, 
 was presented, on the morrow, to his majesty at 
 Windsor. 
 
 TIIK PTARMIGAN. 
 
lieavt) to 
 thorn, 
 a if they 
 ering his 
 t ho be- 
 nded by 
 3n being 
 his brain 
 must be 
 ioad two 
 rary, and 
 t naviga- 
 
 at few of 
 time was 
 Dr accom- 
 
 ,bella left 
 ' reached 
 
 Hull, on 
 3iild with 
 day to 
 
 miralty, 
 ijosty at 
 
 
 n. 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 f. •> '^%- 
 
 
 4. 
 
A 80 
 
 i:-KV^'C. sy.C^hD VOVAGE. 
 
 •liil; wi;. »>..»•; «-ivi»ti, vIk.m isjie \<ru>* at'cii to Jicave to 
 nntl ! ••. V * I'oal v-'fi^.-li mu'lt; din.'f;U' )( ",v:u' ■.!)-• them. 
 
 '..* • uiru?:. ;;,,r luitt.o iii <-<>nii!t .'fi "-kod it' tliey 
 
 • • .. tllS'l•os•^^ an-i I' .,i I~,s;-. their vo.N'it i. ».»ri .;l«;i in^ hips 
 
 3 > i.i'.iiijr. ;ii .'lu.svver to Ihoir tiujinn'.;, thuf )i" lie- 
 
 * Ik'.'; '■' \\u' UuLh.'Uu, 'ij' llul!, ..,iio»' ..oniniaii'l"'-! bv 
 
 t <;••... i?i Koss, ".itw ' y Oapluin llurnphn'VM. ()u boin[^ 
 
 "H n.ir tiu lifvi M?r porson stooil lujfurc hiri:, his biaiu 
 
 f /• ;•«•> piu-.,:i'-d thai ho dec' u't'tl th» 'Jtptfwi. must bu 
 
 <! . *•: n n.i>t ik<;, as hc hud (.'•■.vuJuly }^^^(:v fU^n-A twu 
 
 . s Wiicn Kutisfied, lit»"«;-V' » • ?Ni> ''iM.'trdry, aud 
 
 i.h.. .. was in tli<; prfsoiicf tf r-u ^S? -!■ «^':rit Liuviga- 
 
 {(>1 ho "(^M"0'! luv 1 r.ry «NHj;'-r.;tli!.Ui>'11S. 
 
 .""■'luh wutf th'.' Inflect ot prcviuUH liiirdshij>, tha*^ few of 
 It;>sf}",s nura '.('uid sleop tm a Ix-d ; and some tiui*' was 
 ii(-c< ;>s}iry to oiiablc ititni to enjoy this and other accoia- 
 luddalions ol" oidiiKii-y liic. 
 
 i)n i\'.t: ^.itli <./" >»?|.tomkM'. 1X3:'. the iRabolk loft 
 
 "^ii;" ^-•>T'.^.•.^g, bi (hkl:' \. 'br ftos.*, », nob ^> ftt Ilidl. oil 
 f''' :••-•. .• - - - . ■ i- ... :,«:co.^M ^^ ith 
 
 -''''■ >->; ,v. . . . > ,.,.x.t day 1o 
 
 ■r . >:• . . : -t " ••<' \ ♦njiralty, 
 
 tc..a» ! }'♦'.<•,!.». f,, uii ti-.c !.iuir..v\r, to jjus iiiajesty at 
 'VV!:)d.-jin. 
 
 '' nu-;< 
 
 
 .i; ,'f > 
 
 I: 
 
 
 5§(f^-^^s^g^. .ti.;' _ 
 
 iV', 
 
 
 :M^0^.I' 
 
 VIIK i'lVh 111- 
 
 
 
tlUMIl, 
 
 ! if tlH'V 
 
 |f ll'J ilC 
 
 lidod bv 
 ^)ii bcinf^ 
 }iis biaiji 
 mufit be 
 Ij^jVii two 
 rary, and 
 
 at few of 
 time was 
 ;r accoiii- 
 
 ,bo!I.i left 
 
 J-; .■•lied 
 
 Hull, on 
 
 .d.I >vith 
 
 day to 
 
 '^1! rally, 
 
 ijesty ;=t 
 
 V3 
 
 ^ 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 back's LAND EXPKDITIO.V. — AKIUVAL AT FORT WILLIAM. — ANECDOTE OP 
 A CANOK PAUTY. — FIIANKLIN. — SC'ENEllY. — ASCENT OV UIVEK8. — 
 AYLMEll LAKE. — WINTER gUARTEKS. — STARVING INDIANS. — INTENSE 
 
 COLD. NEWS OK ROSs's SAI'ETY. EXl'ERT CAN(lE-MAN. — ESCjUIMAUX 
 
 FRIENDS. TUE TIILEW-EE-CIIOII. — TUE POLAR SEA. RETURN TO ENG- 
 LAND back's VOYAGE IN TUE TERROR. — REMARKABLE PERILS AMONG 
 
 TUE ICE. — HOMEWARD BOUND. — DEASE AND SIMPSON's DISCOVERIES. 
 
 Ross's protracted stay of four years in the inhospita- 
 ble north induced the governme to send out an expe- 
 dition to look for the absent >arty. Back, who was 
 then in Italy, hurried home to volunteer his services ; his 
 offer was accepted ; and with Dr. King, surgeon and 
 naturalist, he loft England in February, 1833. At Mon- 
 treal he engaged three artillery-men and some voya- 
 geurs, and embarked on the St. Lawrence in two canoes. 
 At the Sault de Ste Mary, on the 11th of May, they pur- 
 chased a third canoe, and commenced coasting along 
 the northern shores of Lake Superior. On the 20th 
 they arrived at the Hudson's Bay Company's establish- 
 ment. Fort William. 
 
 Passing the height of land which separates the waters 
 which flow into Lake Superior from those which enter 
 Hudson's Bay, the three canoes proceeded rapidly on 
 their ever-changing and romantic route, at times dash- 
 ing down rapids, then crossing small lakes, or making 
 slow progress along small and shallow rivers, so that 
 portages were often necessary. 
 
 16 
 
i 
 
 . ! 
 
 M 
 
 iin 
 
 182 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXl'EDITION. 
 
 It is rolatcd by Back, tliat, not many yca-i ap^o, a 
 canoe was pursuing its way quic^tly clown or)e of the 
 Hlreams tlirough wliicli the Arctic cxplorinj^ party was 
 now passing'. It was approaciiing" one ot" the many port- 
 a;^os with whicii these stieanis abound, and the bowman 
 and steersman were standing erect at stem and stern, 
 casting quick glances ahead and on either sidt! as they 
 neared the waterfall which obstructed tlieir progress. 
 The approach to the landing-place was somewhat dilli- 
 cnlt, owing to a point of rocks which projected into the 
 stream, in the direction of the fall, and round which 
 point it was necessary to steer with some dexterity, in 
 order to avoid being drawn into the strong current. 
 The fearless guides, however, had often passed the 
 place in former years in safety, and, accordingly, dashed 
 at the point with reckless iudillerence, their paddles 
 flinging a circle of spray over their heads, as they 
 changed them from side to side, with graceful but vigor- 
 ous rapidity. The swift stream carried them quickly 
 round the point of danger, and they had almost reached 
 the quiet eddy near the landing-place, when the stem 
 of the canoe was caught by the stream, which in an 
 instant whirled them out from the shore, and carried 
 them downwards with fearful rapidity. Another mo- 
 ment, and the gushing waters dragged them, despite 
 their most frantic efforts, to the verge of the waterfall, 
 which thundered and foamed among frightful cliasnis 
 and rocks many feet below. The stem of the canoe 
 overhung the abyss, and now the voyayt'iirs plied their 
 paddles with the desperation of men who felt that their 
 lives depended on the exertions of that terrible minute. 
 For a second or two the canoe remained stationary, and 
 seemed to tremble on the brink of destruction ; and then, 
 inch by inch, it began slowly to ascend the stream. 
 The danger was past ! A few more nervous strokes, 
 
tits:, ( 
 
 :* 
 
 '&ly 
 
 ^•1 
 
 ■■■.f 
 
 '^^^W^': 
 
 hi 
 
 t*' I 
 
 
 
 rfcRJLOtS JSSCArK OF VOV.\«ELK>^. 
 
 I'. t<a, 
 
182 
 
 ft\('K';^ ?.\>'f' FXPKDmoN. 
 
 It W 'r-iU'i iy J'>;i( k, that, not ftJfaoy yearrf a«-o, a 
 
 c.'Ui'i' ' t'>- pur.siiin^^'- itn \\.\y (luictiy d'^v-n , ne oi" the 
 
 st!-.-iur. 'u:-:**.!- v<-i.,,»; 'h<-: Arctic r Nfr-'.-'if, ; L>iu'y was 
 now |iL. I ..'uH tipprJjiK^biui^' ." '.j( rh, '.isany j».,,i 
 
 / '?; .jtiiiu.M vv<'n? siaiidiug- cn-Jl ut Htoiit and shin, 
 •: . )^' v:j!a<k ^laii^ns ahoud and on father sid-- .;■; tin y 
 .--li'i li.f waU'ifall .vhich obstrncted ilioii- mioi^toss. 
 i Isv »»'t'''>fi*^dt t'» ihc I.viidiiig-]:l.iro vv.ii^ >?i)n..Mvlir;. diili- 
 . . '•'*, owing lv:t a poini of rockn Mh.^ ' i»jt>,j< '(tMl into ^lio 
 f\ isn. m lljf- dii«.i-rioii ol' the ^*U d^j^* *•<■•?'' 'v-ii.-h 
 ^hm\l U was ncctSRfarv tu «tonr -h Miti! ':>>;3U' *=• Aterity, in 
 -Tder ty ikvoid bciug" dr«vo .i!l.» the strong cuireiit. 
 Til'-' ftiurles* guides, ln.wrM'r h:td ofttrii passed ilio 
 jilui'O in ii-naoi". }»,'aiiji in M.i'cty, ■.\.u>\, acoord:iigly, das:i"d 
 :i! the point svitlr ro<;kI-...-s iudi,neii'!!.'e, their paddh s 
 Hi'ig-iiig a circle of 8pray over their heails, as tiiey 
 chanircd Iherti IVom side iv nidc, with graceful but \i.>\!r- 
 v>o^ r'ipiijty. 'i'ue ;• f^ i:*'f .-ficain earrici cheru nnivjdy 
 rv:;.^.,^; thv {loi'il i f dariu'-i, af:d they li-i«^ .ibi.t'^s*t n,'a«,hed 
 
 f^v ':mei *":4v ;fa. t^. l*;,;UU> ; *IV«:^i ^V^rl! th*- St(;m 
 
 ir.* 
 
 'n> ^*- 
 
 •"!•.• «n 
 
 ;"i>. iw^i, w;'?M fj in a a 
 
 ;,S 1„ 
 
 J'y. 
 
 : *• .rt- :*:«* 
 
 Mtrne 
 
 
 ''V^i 
 
 W it. 
 
 ''Hit 
 
 i'n'i rapidit; 
 
 iioUier roi 
 
 did ilj>^ .(iusl.'iti):^ uat''iv drajr^ed thtuii, despite 
 
 'he vor^e of tlie vvaterliiU, 
 
 th'ir most !Vh' (K 
 which l!iuud<: 
 
 i.<» 
 
 i eu 
 
 and /oiiiiiivl aiuoii'r frijiliiru] uha.si 
 
 ns 
 
 and rocks inuiiv feet 1 
 
 X'ltjiV. 
 
 Ti 
 
 le st'.-'iH V 
 
 ft! 
 
 le {.'aij<ie 
 
 overhung tiic al.yHS, and now ilie voi/uiji nrs plied thclc 
 ^paddloB with the desperati )n of men wlio felt that tijoii 
 lives depended on the excrlionB of th.it t.-rrible nxinnte. 
 For a seooiid or (wo Ihe eanoo remainetl statiee.ar 
 scorned toiicnil le on llu: I >rii.i of de«tri.ict,i^ 
 
 y, an-, I 
 
 n ; i*»H 
 
 I th 
 
 an hdowiy to ascend the sIj'C; 
 
 en, 
 mi . 
 
 if inch by inch, it !• 
 
 The danger vvaB p ii^t ! A io'.v nioie nervuUKS strokes, 
 
PERILOrS ESCAPE OF VOYAGEUllS. 1'. 1S2. 
 
L 
 
BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 183 
 
 and the trembling bark shot like an arrow out of the 
 current, and floated in safety on the still water under 
 the point. The whole thing, from beginning to end, 
 was the work of a few seconds ; yet who can describe 
 or comprehend the tumultuous gush of feelings created, 
 during thcb ^ short seconds, in the bosoms of the care- 
 less voyageurs? The sudden, electric change from tran- 
 quil safety to the verge of almost certain destruction — 
 and then — deliverance ! 
 
 On the 6th of June the canoes arrived at Fort Alex- 
 ander — situated at the southern extremity of Lake 
 Winipeg. Here Back remained a few days, to await 
 the arrival of Governor Simpson. During this period 
 he and Mr. King made some observations on the dip of 
 the needle, while the men busied themselves in unpack- 
 ing and drying the provisions and packages. 
 
 The mosquitos here were very numerous and annoy- 
 ing. Of the sand-flies, near the lakes, Back says, that 
 even the Indians do not contrive any way of escaping 
 this tormenting insect. Their usual mode is to throw 
 themselves on their faces to the ground, and to moan 
 with pain. Back thought of killing them by smoke ; 
 upon which Maufelly, his interpreter, expressed surprise 
 that he " should be so unlike the old chief, who would 
 not destroy a single mosquito." By the "old chief" 
 was meant Sir John Franklin, of whom Back says : "It 
 was his custom never to kill a fly ; and, though teased 
 by them beyond expression, especially when engaged 
 in taking observations, he would quietly desist ".om his 
 work, and patiently blow the half-gorged intruders from 
 his hands: 'the world was wide enough for both.'" 
 
 Leaving Fort Alexander on the 11th of June, Back 
 coasted Lake Winipeg, toward Norway House, where 
 he arrived on the 17 th. Here he obtained the requisite 
 number of voyageurs and attendants, amounting to 
 
184 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 a I 
 
 '■i „;•: 
 
 eighteen in all ; and, in high spirits, they started for their 
 winter quarters on the eastern shore of Great SUive 
 Lake. 
 
 On the 21st of July they arrived at Portage La Loche, 
 the high ridge of landwhieh divides the waters running 
 into Hudson's Bay from those flowing into the Arctic 
 Ocean. Here they had to carry their canoe and bag- 
 gage over the ridge, a distance of fourteen miles — a 
 tedious labor, which consumed eight days. 
 
 01 .he scenery at this place Mr. King says: " Within 
 a mile of the termination of the portage, a most exten- 
 sive and magnificent scene burst upon our view, and we 
 discovered ourselves, through an opening in the trees, 
 to be on a hill upw^ards of a thousand feet high, and at 
 the brink of a tremendous precipice. We were cer- 
 tainly prepared to expect an extensive prospect, but the 
 beautiful landscape before us was far superior to any- 
 thing that could be anticipated from the nature of the 
 country we had hitherto seen. At a depth of two 
 hundred fathoms below the summit on which we stood, 
 the Clear Water Kiver was to be seen winding its ser- 
 pentine course in beautiful meanders for thirty miles, 
 broken here and there, and interrupted by intervening 
 woods ; while 
 
 ' the tall pines dwindled as to shrubs. 
 
 In dizziness of distance ! ' 
 
 " The valley, at once refreshed and adorned by the 
 smooth pellucid stream, was embanked by two parallel 
 chains of hills extending towards the west, till it became 
 lost in the purple hue of distance. The inclining heights, 
 here and there covered with stately forests, and occa- 
 sionally interspersed with barren spots or promontories of 
 the most luxuriant verdure, were beautifully contrasted 
 
m\.t^^ 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 185 
 
 with the icincrated tiiigo wliich overspread vast tracts 
 of country whore once the dense forests had been con- 
 sumed by lire." 
 
 Tlie party arrived at Fort Chipewyan the 21)tli of 
 July; at Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake, the 8tli 
 of August. Here, having- obtained all possible informa- 
 tion from the Indians relative to the course of the 
 northern rivers of which lie was in search, he divided 
 his men into two parties, five being left as an escort for 
 Mr. McLeod, and four being appointed to accompany 
 himself in search of the Thlew-ee-choh or Great Fish 
 River, since named after Back himself. 
 
 On the lOtii of August, Back and his men begar -ne 
 ascent of the Hoar Frost River. Its course was a series 
 of the most fearful cascades and rapids. Almost im- 
 pervious woods of stunted firs, bogs, and swamps, 
 occasioned great trouble to the party. They arrived, at 
 length, in an open space, where the scene was one of 
 barrenness and desolation : crag was piled upon crag 
 to the height of two thousand feet from the base, and 
 the course of the river here, in a state of contraction, 
 was marked by an uninterrupted line of foam. 
 
 Rapid now succeeded rapid ; scarcely had the party 
 surmounted one fall than another presented itself, rising 
 like an amphitheatre before them to the height of fifty 
 feet. They, however, gained at length the ascent of 
 this turbulent and unfriendly river, the romantic betvUty 
 and wild scenery of which were very remarkable ; and, 
 after passing successively a series of portages, rapids, 
 falls, lakes, and rivers, on the 27th Back observed from 
 the summit of a high hill a very large lake, full of deep 
 bays and islands, and which has been named Aylmer 
 Lake, after the Governor-General of Canada at tliat 
 time. The boat was sent out, with three men, to search 
 for the lake, or outlet of the river ; which they discov- 
 IG* 
 
18G 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 \f ^ 
 
 ■ i? : 
 
 1 
 
 cicd on the second day, and Back himseli", during" their 
 absence, also accidentally discovered its source in the 
 Sand Hill Lake, nut far Ironiliis encanii)nient. Yielding- 
 to that pleasurable emotion which discoverers, in the 
 first bound of their transport, may be pardoned for in- 
 dulging. Back threw himself down on the bank, and 
 drank a hearty draught of the limpid water. '-t 
 
 On the 30th of August they began to move toward 
 the river, but, on reaching Musk-ox Lake, it was found 
 impossible to stand the force of the rapids in their frail 
 canoe, and, as winter was approaching, their return to 
 the rendezvous on Slave Lake was determined on. At 
 Clinton Colden Lake some Indians visited them from the 
 chief Akaitcho, who had been a guide of Sir John 
 Franklin. Two of these hidians remembered Back, one 
 having accompanied him to the Coppermine River on 
 Franklin's first expedition. At the Cat or Artillery 
 Lake they had to abandon their canoe, and perform the 
 rest of the journey on foot over precipitous rocks, 
 through frghtful gorges and ravines, heaped with 
 masses of granite, and along narrow ledges, where a 
 false step would have been fatal. At Fort Reliance the 
 party found Mr. McLeod had, during their absence, 
 erected the frame-work of a comfortable residence for 
 them, and all hands set; to work to complete it. After 
 many obstacles and difficulties, it was finished. Dr. 
 King joined them on the 16th of September, with two 
 laden batteaux. 
 
 On the 5th of November they exchanged their cold 
 tents for the new house, which was fifty feet long by 
 thirty broad, and contained four rooms, besides a spa- 
 cious hall in the centre, for the reception and accommo- 
 dation of the Lidians, to which a sort of rude kitchen 
 was attached. . .y>: 
 
 An observatory was constructed at a short distance, 
 
BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 187 
 
 '4 
 
 wherein certain mysterious and complicated instruments 
 were fixed and erected ; iron in all forms being carefully 
 excluded, and a fence run round it to guard it more el- 
 fectually from the men, as they walked about with their 
 guns, ice-chisels, and axes. Here Back and Mr. King 
 used to sit in solemn conclave for many an hour during 
 the winter, closely observing the various interesting 
 phenomena of earth and sky ; and awfully mysterious 
 did this building appear to the simple Indians and voy- 
 ageurs. They would approach as near as they dared, 
 and, with their arms folded, brows knit, and heads down, 
 would stand for hours wondering at the dead silence of 
 its occupants, broken only at long intervals by such 
 exclamations as "now " — " stop " — insomuch that they 
 at last, after very mature and grave deliberation, came 
 to the conclusion that they were " raising the devil I " 
 
 As the winter advanced bands of starving Indians 
 continued to arrive, in the hope of obtaining some 
 relief, as little or nothing was to be procured by hunt- 
 ing. Tiiey would stand around while the men were 
 taking their meals, watching every mouthful with the 
 most longing, imploring look, but yet never uttering a 
 complaint. 
 
 At other times they would, seated round the fire, 
 occupy themselves in roasting and devouring small bits 
 of their reindeer garments, which, even when entire, 
 aflbrded them a very insufficient protection against a 
 temperature of 102° below freezing point. 
 
 The sufierings of the poor Indians at this period are 
 described as frightful. " Fami.ae, with her gaunt and 
 bony arm," says Back, " pursued them at every turn, 
 withered their energies, and strewed them lifeless on 
 the cold bosom of the snow." It was impossible to 
 aiford relief out of their scanty store to all, but even 
 small portions of the mouldy pemmican intended for 
 
188 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 'ill 
 
 U h 
 
 ii' 
 
 :;; i 
 
 the dogs, unpalatable as it was, wore gladly received, 
 and saved many Ironi perisliinj^'. "Often," adds J3ack, 
 "did I siiare my own plate with the children, whoso 
 helpless state and piteous cries were peculiarly distrcss- 
 mg. Compassion ibr the lull-grown may or may not 
 be lelt, but that heart must be cased in steel which is 
 insensible to the cry of a child ibr food." 
 
 To add to the distress of Back, he received informa- 
 tion that his friend Augustus, the aftectionate Esquimaux 
 interpreter vyho had accompanied him on a former jour- 
 ney, hearing of his being again in the country, set out 
 from Hudson's Bay, in company with a Canadian and an 
 Iroquois ; they lost their way, were separated, and poor 
 Augustus fell a sacrifice to famine. His remains were 
 Ibund on the barrens not far from the iviviere a Joan. 
 It appeared that the gallant little fellow was retracing 
 his steps to the establishment, when, either exhausted 
 by sufiering and privation, or caught in the midst of an 
 open traverse in one of those terrible snow-storms, 
 which may be almost said to blow through the frame, 
 he had sunk to rise no more. "Such," says Back, 
 " was the miserable end of poor Augustus! a faithful, 
 disinterested, kind-hearted creature, who had won the 
 regard, not of myself only, but, I may add, of Sir John 
 Franklin and Dr. Kichardson also, by qualities which, 
 wherever found, in the lowest as in the highest forms 
 of social life, are the ornament and charm of humanity." 
 
 At this critical juncture, Akaitcho made his appear- 
 ance with an opportune supply of a little meat, which 
 in some measure enabled Back to relieve the suilerers 
 around him, many of whom, to his great delight, went 
 away with Akaitcho. The stock of meat was soon ex- 
 hausted, and they had to open their pemmican The 
 officers contented themselves with the short supply of 
 half a pound a day, but the laboring men could not do 
 
BACKS LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 181) 
 
 with loss than a poiiiul ami three quarters. The cohl 
 now set in with an intensity which JJaek had nev(>r be- 
 fore experienced, — the thermometer, on tiio Hth of 
 January, beiii<^- T()° ludovv zero, "Such, indeed," ho 
 says, "was the abstraction of lieat, that, with oig'hL 
 hir^e h)n-H of dry wood on tlio fire, I eouhl not f^-et the 
 thermometer liij^lier than 12° below zero. Ink and 
 paint froze. Tlio sextant cases and bt)xes of seasoned 
 wood, i)rincipally fir, all s[)lit. The skin of the hands 
 hccame dry, cracked, and opened into unsig'.tly and 
 smarting gashes, wdiich wo vto obliged to anoint with 
 grease. On one occasion, after washing my face within 
 three feet of the fire, my hair was actually clotted with 
 ice before I had time to dry it." 
 
 The hunters snllered severely from the intensity of 
 the cold, and compared the sensation of handling their 
 guns to that of touching red-hot iron ; and so excessive 
 was the pain, that they were obliged to wrap thongs of 
 leather round the trig-gers, to keep their lingers from 
 coming into contact with the steel. 
 
 The suflerings which the party now endured were 
 great, and, had it not been for the exemplary conduct 
 of Akaitcho in procuring them game, it is to be doubted 
 wliether any would have survived to tell thf, misery 
 they had endured. The sentiments of this worth}'' sav- 
 age were nobly expressed — "The great cliief trusts in 
 us, and it is better that ten Indians perish than that one 
 white man should perish through our negligence and 
 breach of faith." 
 
 About the middle of A pril preparations were begun 
 for their intended journey to the sea-coast ; but on the 
 25th a messenger arrived bringing to Back the welcome 
 intelligence of the safety of Ross and his party. His 
 feelings at this news are thus described: "In the ful- 
 ness of our hearts, we assembled, and humbly oflered 
 
; I 
 
 I 
 
 
 i 
 
 ■ ii 
 
 
 190 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 Up our thanks to that morcifiil Providence which, in 
 the beautiful hinftuage of Scripture, hatli said, ' Mine 
 own will I bring again, as I did sometime from tli(3 
 deeps of the sea.' " 
 
 On the 7th of June, Back and Mr. King left Fort Re- 
 liance for the Polar Sea. Their boat, thirty feet long, 
 was placed on runners, and dragged over the yet un- 
 nielted ice of the lakes and swamps. A singular fact 
 in regard to temperature is mentioned. About the end 
 of May, just before they set out, the weather was sul- 
 try, the temperature in the sun being 106" ! an extraor- 
 dinary contrast to that of January ITth, when it was 
 *10° below zero. They now experienced some cold and 
 foggy weather. McLeod, with a party of Indians, was 
 sent on ahead to hunt and make cacJies of the meat, to 
 be picked up as the main party belnnd came up to 
 them. 
 
 On the 28tli of June they were fairly launched on the 
 head waters of the Thlew-ee-choh. From this time till 
 their approach to the sea, a constant succession of falls, 
 and rapids, and cataracts, more or less obstructed their 
 progress, and, as Back says, " made him hold his breath, 
 expecting to see the boat dashed to shivers against 
 8om'3 protruding vocks amid the foam and fury at the 
 foot of a rapid." in passing down one of these, where 
 the river was full of large rocks and bowlders, the boat 
 was obliged to be lightened ; and Back says, " I stood 
 on a high rock, with an anxious heart, to see her run it. 
 Away they went with the speed of an arrow, and in a 
 moment the foam and rocks hid them from my view. I 
 heard what sounded in my ear like a wild shriek ; I fol- 
 lowed with an agitation which may be conceived, and, 
 to my inexpressible joy, found that the shriek was the 
 triumphant whoop of the crew, who had landed saftjly 
 in a small bay below." In short, strong and heavy 
 
 ¥ 
 
 lb' 
 
BACK'S LAiiD EXI'EDITIUN. 
 
 191 
 
 rapids, with IuUh and wliirl|)0(d8, kept the men, I'tir 
 eighty or ninety miles, in a conntunt btute of exertion 
 and anxiety. 
 
 lie giveH an instance, on one occasion, of the consum- 
 mate Bkill of l)e Ciiarloit, a half-l)reed canoe-man, who 
 " ran our rickety and shattered canoe down four success- 
 ive rapids, which, under less able mana<j;-ement, would 
 have whirled it, and everybody in it, to certain destruc- 
 tion. Nothing- could exceed the self-possession and 
 nicety of judf^rnent with which he guided the frail thing 
 along the narrow line between the high waves of the 
 torrent and the returning eddy. A foot in either direc- 
 tion would have been fatal ; but, with the most perfect 
 ease, and, I may add, elegant and graceful action, his 
 keen eyes iixed upon the riiu, he kept her true to her 
 course through all its rapid windings." 
 
 On the 13th of July a glimpse of sunshine tempted 
 the captain to halt for the purpose of taking observa- 
 t'ons ; and, while ho was thus engaged, the men were 
 permitted to scour the country in pursuit of deer and 
 musk-oxen, which literally swarmed in the barren 
 grounds. The hunters soon returned with four fine 
 bucks, which afforded them an agreeable change from 
 the customary meal of pemmican. 
 
 The latitude was 65° 38' 21" N., and longitude 106° 
 35' 23" W. At this place the river began tv. take an 
 easterly bend, which perplexed them much ; causing 
 great anxiety as to whether it would ultimately lead 
 them to .the Frozen Sea, or terminate in Hudson's Bay. 
 In any case, they had nothing for it but to push on ; and 
 their labors were rcw\arded by their finding that the 
 river trended again in a northerly direction, and their 
 hopes were further increased by the discovery, on the 
 loth of July, of some old Esquimaux encampments. 
 Once, indeed, they thought they saw tents of the Esqui- 
 
192 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 I i 
 
 .i] 
 
 ; i; 
 
 m.'iux iihoiid ; but, on a nouror approiich, they IuiiumI out 
 to 1)0 HoMK! luxuriant cluiups of willows, wliicli wcro 
 iiihiibitcd by thouHiUHls of geoso, which lui.l scdcctod the 
 H[)ot UH couvoniciit lor tho oixsrutiori of casiinj^ their 
 IcjithcrH. Thousuuda u[)Oii thousands of tho most exccl- 
 lont quills woro lound scattonul ovor tho sand. A curi- 
 ous Ibaturo in this part of the country was tin; number 
 of hug'o bowldor-stoncs, not only in the river, but on 
 the very pinnacles of tho highest hills. 
 
 On the 28th of July they met the first Esquimaux, 
 who, as usual on their first seeing Europeans, exhibited 
 consternation by shouts, yells, antics, and gesticula- 
 tions ; under tho impression, apparently, that by so 
 doing they would frighten their new visitors away. 
 The boat continued to approach the shore, despite the 
 brandishing of spears and other belligerent demonstra- 
 tions ; whereupon the whole nation formed in a semi- 
 circle round the spot where the boat grounded, and 
 stood on the defensive. iJack, however, soon estab- 
 lished friendly relations with them, by walking boldly 
 up, unarmed, and alone, at tho same time calling out 
 Tima — peace — with great emphasis, tossing* up his 
 arms in true Esquimaux stylo, and, finally, shaking 
 hands all round. This quieted them, and they soon 
 mingled witn the men, from whom they received a few 
 buttons with great delight. 
 
 A portage had to bo made at this place, and the 
 Esquimaux here aided them in transporting their boats, 
 to which Back's party were wholly unequal ; so that to 
 the natives he was indebted for getting to the sea at 
 all. 
 
 On the 29th of July, while threading tlieir course be- 
 tween some sand banks, with a strong current, they first 
 caught sight of a majestic headland in tho extreme dis- 
 tance to the north, which had a coast-like appearance. 
 
BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 108 
 
 This iinportiuit promontory Back HiibHOcpiciitly named 
 Victoria. " Tiiis, then," ol)Hervc8 Back, " may bo cou- 
 sidcnul as th(3 moutli of the Tlilcw-co-clioli, which, iiflcr 
 a violent and tortuous course of five hundred and thirty 
 geographical miles, running through an iron-ribhcd 
 country, without a single tree on the whole lino of ittj 
 banks, expanding into live large laket', with clear horizon, 
 most embarrassing to the navigator, and broken into 
 falls, cascades, and rapids, to the nund)er of eighty- 
 three in the whole, pours its water into the Polar Sea, 
 in lat. 6t° 11' N., and long. 94° 30' W., that iy to say, 
 about thirty-seven miles more south than the mouth of 
 the Coppermine River, and nineteen miles more south 
 than that of Hack's River, at the lower extremity of 
 Bathurst's Inlet." 
 
 For several days Back was able to make but slow 
 progress along the eastern shore, in conscqueiiv.v> "** the 
 solid body of drift-ice. A barren, rocky elevation of 
 eight hundred feet high was named Cape Beaufort. A 
 blufi' point on the eastern side of the estuary, which he 
 considered to be the northern extreme, he named Cape 
 Ilay. Dcase and Simpson, however, in 1839, traced the 
 shore much beyond this. The difficulties met with hero 
 began to dispirit the men. They were almost without 
 water, without any means of warmth, or ax\y kind of 
 warm or comforting food, and sinking knee-deep, as 
 they proceeded on land, in the soft slush and snow. 
 So damp was the weather that for ten days, while 
 encamped on Montreal Island, they could not light a 
 spark of fire, or obtain a warm meal. 
 
 The low, flat country ""vas the picture of desolation. 
 " It was one irregular plain of sand and stones ; and, 
 had it not been for a rill of water, the meandering «jf 
 which relieved the monotony of the sterile scene, one 
 might have fancied one's self in one of the parched 
 
 U 
 
V \ / 
 
 194 
 
 BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 plains of the East, rather than on the shores of the 
 Arctic Sea." 
 
 With unflinching ardor did Back push forward, in the 
 hope of reaching a more open sea, and connecting their 
 discoveries with those of Captain Franklin at Point 
 Turnagain. On the 1th of August they reached the 
 extreme point of land which terminates the wide mouth 
 of the river, and whence the coast trends to the west- 
 ward. This was named Point Ogle, and another cape, 
 seen far to the west, was named Point Richardson. 
 Several portions of the coast of Boothia Felix were also 
 seen in the distance to the northward. Here they were 
 completely baffled in every attempt to advance. Back 
 sent, however, a small party to the westward to trace 
 the coast, which was all that could be done ; but they 
 were only able to follow the shore about fifteen miles. 
 The surface was level, and void of vegetation. They 
 found, however, several pieces of drift-wood, one of 
 which was nine feet long and nine inches in diameter, 
 which the men jocularly called "a piece of the north 
 pole." 
 
 Back now resolved to retrace his steps. Before 
 doing so, however, the British flag was unfurled, and 
 the land taken possession of, with thiee enthusiastic 
 cheers, in the name of His Majesty William IV. The 
 latitude of the place was 68° 13' bV N., longitude 94° 
 58' 1" W. 
 
 In the middle of August they left the cold precincts 
 of the Arctic Sea. In retracing his route Back ascended 
 the high grounds which divide the northern from the 
 southern streams. The Aylmor, the Artillery, and the 
 Clinton Colden Lakes embellish the landscape, and 
 discharge their waters into the Great Slave Lake. 
 Here he found a splendid cascade, of which he says : 
 " The color of the water varied from a very light to a 
 
 fl 
 
BACK'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 195 
 
 lores of the 
 
 very dark green ; and the spray, which spread a dim- 
 ness above, was thrown up in clouds of light gray. 
 Niagara, Wilberforce's Falls in Hood's River, the fulls 
 of Kakabikka, near Lake Superior, the Swiss or Italian 
 falls, although they may each ' charm the eye with 
 dread,' are not to be compared to this for splendor of 
 eifect. It was the most imposing spectacle I had ever 
 witnessed ; and, as its berg-like appearance brought to 
 mind associations of another scene, I bestowed upon it 
 the name of our celebrated navigator, Sir Edward Parry, 
 and called it Parry's Falls." 
 
 Of the Indians, Back gives, in his narrative, some 
 interesting anecdotes. 
 
 Once, speaking with the Camarade de Mandeville, a 
 potent Chipewyan chief, regarding the due observance 
 of certain moral precepts for his future guidance, the 
 chief listened with most profound attention and gravity. 
 When Back had concluded, he raised his head a little, 
 and, with eyes fixed on the floor, said, in a low and 
 solemn tone, " The chief's words have sunk deep into 
 my heart, and I shall often think of them when I am 
 alone. It is true that I am ignorant ; but I never lie 
 down at night in my lodge without whispering to the 
 Great Spirit a prayer for forgiveness, if I have done any- 
 thing wrong that day." 
 
 On the 11th. of September the return party met Mr. 
 McLeod, according to appointment, at Sandy-IIill Bay. 
 He had long been expecti.g them, and had spent many 
 an anxious hour in watching the distant objects in the 
 direction of their route. With this gentleman they 
 returned to Fort Reliance, where they arrived on the 
 2Yth, " after an absence of nearly four months ; tired, 
 indeed, but well in health, and truly grateful" for the 
 manifold mercies we had experienced in the course of 
 our long and perilous journey." 
 
:T 
 
 196 
 
 BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 ■;'> 
 
 i ^ 
 
 Proparations woro sooti set on foot to spend aiiofhor 
 winter in tho wildornoss. Onco more tho woods 
 resounded with tlie woodman's axe, and the littk^ rooms 
 gh)wed with the bhizinp; fires of wood. Again the nets 
 were set and tlie guns loaded, and tlie white man and 
 tlie red ranged the woods in company ; while liack and 
 Mr. King" Ibund ample and intc>resting occupation in 
 niapi)ing their discoveries and writing their journals. 
 On the 2Sth of JMay, 1835, Buck bade adieu to the polar 
 regions, and returned to England, where he arrived on 
 the 8th of September, after an absence of two years and 
 seven months. 
 
 This was not the last of Back's labors. In 1836, at 
 the instance of the Cieographical Socic^ty, the British 
 government equipped an expedition to complete tiie dis- 
 covery of the coast-liiu^ between Regent's Inlet and 
 Point Turnagain. The ship Terror was set apart for 
 the service ; and Captain Back, just returned from his 
 great land journey, was ai)pointed to the connnand. 
 
 The Terror left Chatham on the Uth of June, 1836. 
 On the 29th of July, when a good way across the nu)uth 
 of Davis's Straits, slie came first in view of the ice. The 
 quantity of it was great, and one enormous berg pre- 
 sented a vertical face of not less than three hundred feet 
 in height. Occasional clear and pleasant runs were 
 afterwards made, but, in general, the obstructions were 
 incessant and tremendous. And, so early as from tho 
 1st to the 3d of August, when the ship was near the 
 vexed and foggy shores of Resolution Island, she had 
 to bore and mantcuvre her way among dense floes, high 
 packs, and surging whirlpools. 
 
 On the 8th of August she was moored to a large ice- 
 berg for protection from a gale. But the berg looked 
 dangerous, and was anxiously watched by the oflicers, 
 lest it should capsize and overwhelm them. Early 
 
III. 
 
 ipciul another 
 ) tho wot)tls 
 10 littlo rooniH 
 Vgain the nets 
 ^vhite man and 
 /hiU; Hack and 
 occupation in 
 their journals, 
 oil to the pohvr 
 he arrived on 
 [" two years and 
 
 •s. In 1836, at 
 []\y, the British 
 oniplete the dis- 
 -nt's Inlet and 
 ts set apart for 
 turned from his 
 
 connnand, 
 
 1 of June, 1830. 
 
 ,crosa the moutli 
 of the ice. The 
 mo us berg pve- 
 •00 hundred feet 
 ,sant runs were 
 )structions were 
 
 |arly as from th(^ 
 [lip was near the 
 Island, she had 
 flense floes, high 
 
 to a large ice- 
 Ithe berg looked 
 ll by the oflicers, 
 li them. Early 
 
 BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 107 
 
 next morning it was violently struck on the weather- 
 side by a lieavy drifting floe, and for some muiutes it 
 rocked and osciUatod in awful menace of an Overturn ; 
 but a large piece fell witii a splash into the sea from one 
 of its corners, and providentially restored the equi- 
 librium. 
 
 On the 14th of August tlic Terror entered the nar- 
 rows between Salisbury Island and the north coast. A 
 resolution was now taken to steer for the Frozen Strait. 
 Tho course for four days continued to be severe, yet 
 aflbrded considerable promise. But, on the 18th, after 
 tho shi}) had worked for some time in only one hole of 
 water, she was arrested by a dense unbroken pack., of 
 fearful extent and most wiklly rugged surface. Yet tho 
 ship pushed bohlly into it, and very soon, to the sur- 
 prise and joy of all, the stupendous mass went asunder, 
 and disclosed a path through wliat seemed an impenO' 
 trable barrier. 
 
 On the 23d of August they sighted Bafiin Island, 
 which flanks the north side of the entrance of tho 
 Frozen Strait. But they found not a channel or a water- 
 lane, even of the width of a brook, to invite them on. 
 The scene everywhere around was a tumulated sea of 
 ice, without one break, without one cheering feature, 
 and with a surface so rough, and heaved, and peaked, 
 that no human being could have travelled on it for more 
 than a very brief distance. They all but abandoned 
 expectation of ever getting into the Frozen Strait, and 
 wore now glad to attempt to work their way toward 
 Southampton Island. They warped and bored, and 
 sp(Mit many an liour in feverish excitement. On the 25th 
 they made sf)mo littlo distance through a slack ; but at 
 sunset they were stopped near an extensive Hoc, where, 
 from tho effects of pressure, some ponderous masses, 
 not unlike the blocks of a Titaniau ruiu, had been heaped 
 
 11* 
 
198 
 
 BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 ■ ■ -ft! 
 
 up to the height of thirty feet. " The land, blue from 
 distance, and beautifully soft as contrasted with the 
 white cold glare of the interminable ice around, reflect- 
 ing by the setting sun the tints of the intervening 
 masses thrown into the most picturesque groups and 
 forms, spires, turrets, and pyramids, many iu deep 
 shade, presented altogether a scene sufficient for a time 
 to cheat the imagination, and withdraw the mind from 
 the cheerless reality of their situation." 
 
 On the 5th of September, when they were firmly fixed 
 about sixteen miles from Southampton Island, and saw 
 some tempting lanes of water at no great distance, they 
 fell to the spirited task of cutting a way through the 
 ice by mechanical force. All the ship's company, offi- 
 cers and men, seized axes, ice-chisels, hand-pikes, and 
 long poles, and vied with one another in driving the 
 blocks asunder, and in driving them away to the nearest 
 pool. They at length succeeded in setting the ship 
 free, and got her into a run of several miles toward the 
 land ; but so early as next morning, they were once 
 more "in a fix." High winds and foul weather at the 
 same time came on, and seriously bewildered them, yet, 
 on the whole, did them good service, by driving them 
 slowly toward the shore. 
 
 On the 14th of September, within about four miles of 
 the Cape Comfort of Baffin, the ship became severely 
 "nipped." A violent, agitative, landward motion 
 pressed all the surrounding ice into the utmost possible 
 compactness, raised much of it into ponderous pointed 
 heaps of twenty feet and upwards in height, and jammed 
 the ship with perilous tightness between the nearest 
 masses. 
 
 The hapless ship was for many days drifted backward 
 and forward along the coast, and away from it, over a 
 range of about thirty miles, just as the wind or the cur- 
 
 X 
 
OR. 
 
 md, blue from 
 sted with the 
 tround, reflect- 
 le intervening 
 10 groups and 
 nany in deep 
 ;ient for a time 
 the mind from 
 
 3re firmly fixed 
 5land, and saw 
 ; distance, they 
 ay through the 
 
 company, offi- 
 land-pikes, and 
 in driving the 
 f to the nearest 
 tting the sliip 
 iles toward the 
 ley were once 
 
 weather at the 
 ered them, yet, 
 y driving them 
 
 it four miles of 
 came severely 
 dward motion 
 itmost possible 
 derous pointed 
 it, and jammed 
 en the nearest 
 
 fted backward 
 from it, over a 
 nnd or the cur- 
 
 
 TM^fr 
 
 t 
 
 ^- 
 
 '<.\5S 
 
 Jf 
 
 
 - ^. 
 
 '^ m 
 
 
 ■m 
 
 4- 
 
 
 
 f ^-. 
 
 W^ 
 
 .,«*-'v'- 
 
 
 ■•f!r- 
 

 
 I 1 1 
 
 V ! 
 
 ^i 
 
 VJ^ 
 
 IJ)> t: 
 
 di=.t 
 
 «A» K> V«>VAflE IN THi: ITRUOR. 
 
 hrijr-hi oj' thirty fe(t. ''Tliu lat; i.llue ii-^An 
 and Iw'iu;rilui!y aoft a,^ cuatrui'tctl with ilio 
 
 ')ir Oil 
 
 Id dare of thi' iu'n'nnin.j 
 
 M. 
 
 iiround, rctl".;t- 
 
 uv the >U'tt!iiM' ^'I'i I'l" *^'d« <>•' t'"'* ivitervcnin; 
 
 in*'' 
 
 U!"^ 
 
 i 
 
 ro\»'!) into tlie iii*':st picturesiiue groups uiid 
 tnvrotB. aiul. pyraniids Tnauy in doep 
 
 ■!TK, 
 
 •=l»;idc, pivsonccd altop.^lhor u scene riuitiriont for a time 
 t.. (jlu-at. the iinagiiuitiuTi, and v^dtii'lraw +' ■• Dnxtd IVoru 
 
 r»)(' 
 
 rieyts realnv of tlivir '^ifjaii 
 
 on 
 
 t\ 
 
 IV 
 
 •tii uf r\ I t'sribcv, vvK- .; y wra- nrmly lixcd 
 it'-.,-M^ >*ixr(-fn ::vu! .^ Iri/in *^. rt^ifun-piiMi iriajsd, and saw 
 .•7< n.' I' r.ptiiiu' !atH>'^ wj" wator .-if. h'. jrrrut dit lauce, they 
 r<'ii t(.. tbf' .Mi,,iriu*! iu.:-; of .^'.niug- a way ihrongh the 
 a;(.' !•:> iji<-M!lianicai '"•vc!.'. Ai! llui ship's coi;ii>any, offi- 
 cers :ind n:' n, •-'. •/."i.l. -txcs. icM^-ohi.^ols, iiand-pikos, and 
 lonA' poles, and vied wirh one anr;Uier in driving- the 
 blooks asunder, :.ti.i in driving l.ln'tn .-iway to tho nearest 
 pool. Tliey nl !• i.g-'l> sut-oeedod in set.iino- the s.iip 
 iir.e., .*iid gtd h^r into -j. run of sovt^ral ndlns toward Lhe 
 'Hndrbot. H.> f;.iriy Wi i.ext i^^ovning. Uit-y were otice 
 .^j^i' ' m H tix ■' llJ-iiJ ^ti.ulft and fb-ii wraiher at the 
 •*.H:it« rifi^f i":»-'<: o- .^r^d «'••.•• us' r ^M^vhh-rod thcin, yet, 
 <ui t^:- ««,;:•'•.. flj.. '>s»^*'^ j:^.^= strvJ'^*.. ny drividg- tiiem 
 
 fiS<,.»^|v lM'.VHV.i 'ho hhoK'. 
 
 «;ii thc' bstij of :'^^-ptenjher, within abont ftmr milej-' of 
 {h<; (':ip' Cui'iiji'l- -d jJafllu, the .Jiip bocanic fjoverely 
 "nippfd." A. viohMit, ag-itativ •, laadvvard nsotion 
 pressed aii the i^urronndine; ice into the utmost possi'do 
 C"i;ij.>actnrw>r^, raised much of it into ponderous pointed 
 heaps id" twenty feet and npu-ards in }ieii.jht, and jannneil 
 tho ship with peribus tigiitne.ss between the ueaiXKf. 
 maBHOs. 
 
 't hehai/ieF.d ship wad for inai^y days drifted backward 
 and t'..rward alon^^ (Ise coast, and away from it. ovi-r h 
 ran^o of alK)iit taiity nules, just as the win<l or the our- 
 
R. 
 
 id,.llue from 
 tod with ibo 
 ounrl, rcti'!Ct- 
 • intervc-niiig 
 ^ gvoupH and 
 any in (ioep 
 out for a time 
 '•.• Diuid from 
 
 ;<> nrmly fixod 
 jiii.i, aiid saw 
 .iu'taiice, they 
 y ihvough Iho 
 coiiij'any, offl- 
 uui-pikos, and 
 n driving- the 
 to th(.' 11 ear*' ft 
 
 |lilicr lliC •.>,ilp 
 
 :i toward tlie 
 
 ,' were 0'i((3 
 
 .iiier at tlie 
 
 ■ ■ vijcrn, yet, 
 
 i^ lug tueiu 
 
 f'.fur mile-J- cf 
 a'-uc severely 
 vara inotiou 
 mast possii'lo 
 •rous poiiitod 
 and jair.rjH'ft 
 tlie Jiearuh^i. 
 
 d backM-ard 
 m it. oviM- » 
 
 / or tL*' ■■ur- 
 
 
 r 
 

 
 ' '•! it*. 
 
 •r. 
 
 
 ^ i 
 
 = ; 
 
BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 199 
 
 rent or the tide directed. The black frowning cliffs of 
 Cape Comfort might have seemed to the most sluggish 
 imagination to grin upon her in irony. She lay in the 
 grip of the ice-masses as helplessly as a kid does in the 
 folds of a boa-constrictor ; and once, when she slipped 
 from that grip, or was hurtled into a change of position, 
 she left her form as perfectly impressed behind her as if 
 it had been struck in a die. The many old Greenland 
 seamen on board all declared tha^ they had never before 
 seen a ship which could have resisted such a pressure. 
 The perils, too, were increasing; and at length, on 
 the 24th of September, the oflScers unr^nimously ex- 
 pressed a conviction, founded on the experience of the 
 preceding thirty-four days, that all hope of making 
 further progress that season toward Repulse Bay was 
 gone. 
 
 Captain Back now resolved to cut a dock in the only 
 adjacent floe which seemed sufficiently large and high 
 to afford the ship fair protection. But, on the very next 
 day, by one of those extraordinary convulsions which 
 are the last hope of the ice-bound Arctic voyager, the 
 whole body of ice, for leagues around, got into general 
 commotion, and burst into single masses, and, commenc- 
 ing an impetuous rush to the west, tossed many blocks 
 into heaps, ground others to powder, whirled all into a 
 hurly-burly, and bore away the ship like a feather toward 
 the Frozen Strait. Nothing could be done by the crew 
 but to await the issue ; and when the storm subsided, 
 they found themselves midway between Cape Comfort 
 and the en'.rance of the Frozen Strait, about three miles 
 from the shore, without any prospect of either forcing 
 their way into a harbor, or finding some little shelter in 
 a floe. They were once more firmly beset, with the ad- 
 ditional calamity of being so much tilted up, that the 
 stern of the ship lay seven and a half feet above the 
 
rT" 
 
 
 ] 
 
 ii 
 
 fr 
 
 % 
 
 II 
 
 
 '^ 1 
 
 J 
 
 f 
 
 M'i, 
 
 
 200 
 
 BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 luiii/iJiikal, and the bow was jammed downward on the 
 masses ihcad. "Thus," says liack, " ended a month 
 of vexation, disappointment, and anxiety, to me per- 
 sonally more distressing and intolerable than the worst 
 pressure of tlie worst evils whieh had befallen mc in 
 any other expedition." 
 
 After a long series of such trying vicissitudes, a time 
 of repose followed. The long calm of winter seemed 
 at hist to have set in. Back, remembering the example 
 of Parry, induced the officers to assist him in contriving 
 some amusement for the men. Theatricals were got up, 
 and the farce of Monsieur Tonson went oft' with hearty 
 laughter and abundant plaudits. An evemng school 
 also was instituted, and kept vigorously going. But a 
 startling event was at hand. 
 
 The iloe, which had been at once cradle, wagon, and 
 bulwark, to the ship, now cracked and split to within 
 about forty paces of it, and gave fearful omen of being- 
 ready to go to pieces. It had become a home to the 
 crew, and had been made snug with snow-walls, snow- 
 houses, galleries, and court-yard, which served well 
 some of the best purposes of a deck. It still held to- 
 gether, shattered and crazy, for three or four days, and 
 carried them within sight of Seahorse Point, the south- 
 eastern extremity of Southampton Island. Early on 
 the mo'ning of the 18th of February, there occurred, in 
 rapid succession, first, a terrific crash on the eastern 
 edge of the floe ; next, a hoarse rushing sound across it ; 
 next, several severe shocks against the ship, and next, a 
 visible rending of the floe right through the centre. The 
 ship now began to strain and quiver ; and she then 
 heeled over to port, and relieved herself about six 
 inches from an embankment which had been built against 
 her side. At this time the crashing, grinding, rushing 
 noise beneath the ship, and all over the floe, were appall- 
 
 K 
 
 % 
 it- 
 
 » 
 
BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TEilROK. 
 
 201 
 
 iiig. About two hours af'tor, a comiuotiuii like an caith- 
 (juako took place, and luade ' racks across the snow- 
 houses, g-alh'ries, and court-yard, and lorc(!d tlie ship to 
 creak throu[^h all her timbers. A semi-circular rampar. 
 of ico advanced from the opened sea beyond the lloe ; 
 and enormous hillocky masses, some round and niassy, 
 and others like small packs, had broken loose, and 
 seemed bi";- with woe anil niin. At this awful moment 
 the tumult suddenly ceased. ]iut the ship was in a 
 most jjerilous position ; the ice all around was so splin- 
 tered and jagged, aiid so fissured and holed, that it 
 could neither bear a boat nor be made a depository of 
 provisions ; and the land was seven or nine miles dis- 
 tant, and probably could not have been reached by even 
 the expertest ice-man, who should have had nothing but 
 his own life to take care of. 
 
 On the following day the perils continued and in- 
 creased, and on the 20th they reached a crisis. All 
 the ice was again in motion, and ono of its heaves broke 
 up the floe jdong the starboard side of the ship, and 
 threw down everything in its way. Some of the galle- 
 ries now floated away, looking like tunnels ; and the 
 ship herself was in open water, subject to the rubs and 
 nips of the ice-masses. A little after, she was violently 
 struck far below the water-line, and creaked hideously 
 from stem to stern, as if she were about to go asunder. 
 All the crew were confounded, and even the poor sick 
 went tottering aft, in an agony of terror. But the ship 
 lifted herself fully eight inches from the pressure of a 
 force which would have crushed a less strengthened 
 vessel to atoms ; and the assailing ice-mass either passed 
 in part beneath the bottom, or was wedged against the 
 large masses at the extremities. For upwards of three 
 weeks, similar scenes, and worse, were frequent ; and 
 never on the polar seas was there a more marvellous 
 
202 
 
 BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 i f ,; I 
 
 scene of awful diinj^ers without n catastrophe, and of 
 providential deliverances, without any instrunientali'y 
 of man. The scenery was soinetinves niag-nlficently sol- 
 emn, with such a p(U8pectivi; of movin<:^, frowning", stu- 
 pendous towers and bulwarks, as few human bein<;'H 
 have ever witnessed ; and often, on the contrary, was it 
 so enwrapped in fog-, that its dreadful perils were much 
 more readily heard than seen. ' 
 
 On several occasions the ship was violently nipped, 
 and lifted herself up vertically to more than twice the 
 former height, and groaned from the severity of the un- 
 der-pressure. Once the ice-masses near her came im- 
 petuously on, and tossed their enormous weight ag-ainst 
 her, and threw her up and coi. siderably over to star- 
 board. At another titne the lateral pressure crushed 
 the contiguous ice into debris, and threw up a huge 
 mass fully nineteen feet above the general level, and 
 rolled the adjacent floe into hummocks, mounds, peaks, 
 splinters, walls, and ramparts. At another time, after 
 some alternations of commotion and quiet, and when all 
 bad symptoms of an uproar had disappeared, the vast 
 contiguous masses suddenly started into tumult, rubbed 
 and tossed one another in furious conflict, flung piece 
 over piece till all was a chaos, made the ship rise up 
 abaft and tremble through hull and rigging, and accom- 
 panied the whole with such a whining, and screechhig, 
 and howling, as might have been taken for a revelry of 
 demons. Worse scenes than even these followed ; and 
 one of the chief of them will be best given in Back's 
 own graphic words. 
 
 After describing two remarkable escapes from the 
 tremendous shocks of driving ice, hurled together like 
 mountain masses by an earthquake, he observes: "On 
 the 16th of March another rush drove irresistibly on 
 the larboard quarter and stern, and, forcing the ship 
 
BACK'S VUVAOK IN THE TKKIloK 
 
 iioa 
 
 ahead, raiHod hor upon the Ice. A chaotic ruin fol- 
 lowed ; our poor uud chcrinhod court-yard, its wall aud 
 arched doors, gallery, and well-trodden patliH, were rent, 
 and in some jjarts plou;^lied up like dust. The sliip was 
 careened fully lour streaks, and sprang- a leak as before. 
 Scarcely wer(» ten minutes left us ior the expression of 
 our astonislimeiit that anythiu}^* of human build could 
 outlive such assaults, when another ecpially violent rush 
 succeeded ; and, in its way ti>ward the starboard quar- 
 ter, threw up a rolling- wave thirty feet high, crowned 
 by a blue sipuire mass of many tons, resembling the 
 entire side of a house, which, after hanging for some 
 time in doubtful poise on the ridge, at length fell with a 
 crash into the hollow, in which, as in a cavern, the 
 aftcr-j' irt of the ship seemed irjibcdded. It was indeed 
 an awful crisis, rendered more frightful from the misti- 
 ness of the night and dimness of the moon. The poor 
 ship cracked and trembled violently, and no one could 
 say that the next minute would not be her last ; and, 
 indeed, his own too, for with her our means of safety 
 would probably perish." 
 
 During all the perio^l of disasters nfter the disruption 
 of the floe, the ship was carried hither and thither over 
 a range of from twenty-six to forty-eight miles north- 
 west of Seahorse Point, and seldom further than about 
 ten miles from the nearest land. But, afver the 16th of 
 March, she set pretty steadily toward the south-east, 
 and kept a good deal nearer the shore. The officers, at 
 a formal consultation, agreed that she now seemed 
 liable to be lost at any moment, and that a light-boat, 
 with provisions, should, if possible, be landed to serve 
 as a last resource, to communicate with the Hudson's 
 Bay Company's factory, in the event of her going down. 
 She still held marvellously firm, and continued to be 
 cradled on a small piece of floe. On the 16th of April, 
 
I 
 
 204 
 
 BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 apparently by some conflicting action of strong calm 
 currents, she lost the sides of her cradle ; yet even 
 then she retained the base of it, and was borne along 
 on this as on a truck. 
 
 So late as the 20th of June, the ship still lay immov- 
 ably fixed '.n the middle of a large floe, and, though dis- 
 ruptions and openings then became common, at com- 
 paratively small distances from her, she continued as 
 firm in her cradle as in the beginning of February. No 
 alternative offered but to cut her out with implements ; 
 and this proved an riormous labor, and occupied all the 
 crew till the 11th uf July. On that day the men had 
 paused to draw breath, when suddenly the ice-rock 
 burst asunder, barely allowing them time to clamber up, 
 in hot haste, for safety. " Scarcely," says Captain Back, 
 "had I descended to my cabin, when a loud rumbling 
 notified thot the ship had broken her ice-bonds, and was 
 sliding gently riown into her own element. I ran in- 
 stantly on deck, and joined in the cheers of the officers 
 and men, who, dispersed on different pieces of ice, took 
 this significant method of expressing their feelings. It 
 was a sight not to be forgottei> Standing on the tafif- 
 ridl, I saw the dark bubbling water below, and enormous 
 masses of ice gently vibrating and springing to the sur- 
 face : the first lieutenant was just climbing over the 
 stern, while other groups were standing apart, separated 
 by this new gulf; and the spars, together with working 
 implements, were resting half in the water, half on the 
 ice, whilst the saw, the instrument whereby this sudden 
 effect had been produced, was bent double, and in that 
 position forcibly detained by the body it had severed." 
 
 A piece of the base of the ship's ice-cradle, however, 
 still clung to her, and continued to do so till the 13th ; 
 and when it did break up, it did not set her free. On 
 the contrary, she slowly rose, heeled over to port, and 
 
 
BACK'S VOYAGE IN THE TERROR. 
 
 205 
 
 seemed for some moments to be entirely capsizing. 
 Those of her company who were on board felt suddenly 
 as if on the verge of eternity. Yet they evinced no 
 confusion, and cleared off and provisioned the boats 
 with astonishing coolness and promptitude. She went 
 so completely on her beam ends, that no man in her 
 could move without holding on ; but she went no 
 further. A submerged ice-mass, whose end was con- 
 gealed to her bottom, and whose other end projected 
 right out from her, was the cause of her overturn, and 
 it now held her firm in lier perilous position. Officers 
 and men beheld it with awe, and set promptly and ener- 
 getically to the arduous task of sawing it off. Thoy 
 worked from eleven o'clock in the forenoon till two in 
 the following morning, afraid that a squall might arise 
 and ruin theni ; and when at last they had only ten feet 
 more to saw, but were compelled by fatigue and drowsi- 
 ness to go in quest of a short repose on the deck, 
 suddenly there was a grating sound of breaking ice, and, 
 before a word could be spoken, the ship sprang free, 
 and entirely righted. The cheering of the crew was 
 vociferous, and their joy unbounded. Four months, all 
 but a day, had the ship been in the grip of the ice ; and 
 now, after a romance of perils, and a cycle of providen- 
 tial deliverances, she was again subject to the control 
 of man. 
 
 The last scenes we have described took place in the 
 vichiity of Charles Island, about midway between Cape 
 Comfort and the mouth of Hudson's Strait. The query 
 was naturally raised, whether anything could now be 
 done to prosecute the object of the expedition ; but the 
 ship was found to be far too shattered to go again in 
 her present state into collision with the ice, and a 
 serious doubt soon arose whetnor she should be able 
 to cross the sea to a British harbor. There was noth- 
 18 
 
'fr^" 
 
 ! 
 
 Si 
 
 m\ 
 
 
 I 
 
 ! S 
 
 i t 
 
 
 ' 
 
 i H f 
 
 206 
 
 DBASE AND SIMPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 iiig for it but to run her, with all possible speed, toward 
 home. She was utterly crazy, and broken, and leaky ; 
 and not even her perilous tumbling among the ice-masses 
 around the dismal Cape Comfort and the horrid Sea- 
 horse Point were more perilous than the struggling, 
 staggering, water-logged voyage which she made across 
 the northern Atlantic. She at last reached the north- 
 west coast of Ireland, gradually sinking by the head, 
 and was run ashore in Lough Swilly on the 3d of Sep- 
 tember ; and, had she been three hours longer at sea, 
 she would certainly have gone to the bottom. Her 
 whole frame proved to be strained and twisted ; many 
 of her bolts were either loosened or broken ; her fore- 
 foot was entirely gone ; and upwards of twenty feet of 
 her keel, together with ten feet of her stern-post, had 
 been driven over more than three feet and a half on one 
 side, leaving a frightful opening astern for the free 
 ingress of wat r. Well, therefore, might her crew, 
 when they afterwards looked on her as she lay dry on 
 the beach at low water, express astonishment that ever 
 they had floated back in her to British shores ; and ample 
 occasion had they to cherish adoring gratitude to the 
 all-powerful and all-benevolent Being who had preserved 
 them. '■.'■-■■ 
 
 Almost simultaneously with Back's expedition in the 
 Terror, in 1836, the Hudson's Bay Company resolved on 
 completing, if possible, the survey of those portions of 
 the northern coast which Franklin and Back had failed 
 to reach. This service was intrusted to Messrs. Dease 
 and Simpson, two of their employees, with a party of 
 twelve men, who were instructed to descend the Mac- 
 kenzie River, and, on arriving at the sea, endeavor to 
 follow the coast to the westward, either by land or water, 
 as weather and other circumstances permitted, to the 
 point at which Beechey turned back. They were after- 
 
 M 
 
 ■ ' I'. 
 
DBASE AND SOIPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 207 
 
 wards to explore to the eastward from Point Turnaguin 
 of Franklin ; to determine whether Boothia Felix were 
 a peninsula., as Ross supposed, or an island ; and then to 
 push on in the same direction to some known point which 
 had been visited by Back. 
 
 In July, 1837, they had reached Return Reef, where 
 Franklin was stopped. Beyond this all was new. Two 
 large rivers were discovered, the Garry and Colville, the 
 latter more than a thousand miles in length. Although 
 in the middle of the dog-days, the ground was frozen so 
 hard at four inches beneath the surface, that they could 
 scarcely drive in their tent-pegs. So keen was the 
 north-easterly wind, that " the spray froze on the oars 
 and rigging ; and out in the bay the ice lay smooth and 
 solid, as in the depth of a sunless winter." Yet even 
 here a few flowers cheered the eyes of the travellers, 
 and enlivened the stubborn soil. On the 1st of August, 
 further progress by water being impracticable, — they 
 had lE^-ained but four miles on the four previous days, — 
 Mr. Simpson, with some of the men, continued the jour- 
 ney on foot, while Mr. Dease and the others remained 
 in charge of the boats. The walking-party, after two 
 or three days' travel, fell in with a number of Esqui- 
 maux, from whom they hired an oomiak, or family-canoe, 
 in which to pursue the voyage along the lanes of open 
 water occasionally visible close to the beach. On the 
 4th, after passing the mouth of a large, deep river, " I 
 saw," says Mr. Simpson, " with indescribable emotions, 
 Point Barrow stretching out to the northward, and enclos- 
 ing Elson Bay, near the bottom of which we now were." 
 This, it will be remembered, was the furthest point 
 attained by the Blossom's barge in 1826, an exploit com- 
 memorated by naming the bay after Lieut. Elson, one of 
 the officers in command. 
 
 The party returned to the winter station on Great 
 
208 
 
 DEASE AND SIMPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 ;- 
 
 i? 3 
 
 { - ' i\ 
 
 
 Bear Lake, and, while there, received instructions to 
 renew their search to the eastward, and were informed 
 of Sir G. Back's expedition, with which they were, if 
 possible, to communicate. They were descending the 
 Coppermine in" June, 1838, in pursuance of these in- 
 structions, when the stream was swollen by spring- 
 floods, and encumbered w'n. floating ice ; and, in shoot- 
 ing the numerous rapids, " had to pull for their lives, 
 to keep out of the suction of the precipices, along 
 whose base the breakers raged and foamed, with over- 
 whelming fury. Shortly before noon, we came in !.,ight 
 of Escape Rapid of Franklin ; and a glance at the over- 
 hanging cliffs told us that there was no alternative but 
 to run down with full cargo. In an instant," continues 
 Mr. Simpson, " we were in the vortex ; and, before we 
 were aware, my boat was borne towards an isolated 
 rock, which the boiling surge almost concealed. To 
 clear it on the outside was no longer possible ; our only 
 chance of safety was to run between it and the lofty 
 eastern cliff. The word was passed, and every breath 
 was hushed. A stream which dashed down upon us 
 over the brow of the precipice, more than one hundred 
 feet in height, mingled with the spray that whirled 
 upwards from the rapid, forming a terrific shower-bath. 
 The pass was about eight feet wide, and the error of a 
 single foot on either side would have been instant 
 destruction. As, guided by Sinclair's consummate skill, 
 the boat shot safely through those jaws of death, an 
 involuntary cheer arose. Our next impulse was to turn 
 round to view the fate of our comrades behind. They 
 had profited by the peril we incurred, and kept without 
 the treacherous rock in time." 
 
 They had navigated but a short distance along the 
 coast when they were stopped by ice, and lingered many 
 days at Boathaven, in a state of utter hopelessness. The 
 
:ries. 
 
 instructions to 
 were informed 
 they were, if 
 lesccnding the 
 3e of these in- 
 len by spring- 
 and, in shoot- 
 Por their lives, 
 cipices, along 
 led, with over- 
 came in t.ight 
 ce at the over- 
 ilternative but 
 it," continues 
 md, before we 
 s an isolated 
 oncealed. To 
 ible ; our only 
 and the lofty 
 every breath 
 own upon us 
 one hundred 
 that whirled 
 shower-bath, 
 he error of a 
 been instant 
 ummate skill, 
 of death, an 
 3 was to turn 
 hind. The^' 
 kept without 
 
 ce along the 
 ngered many 
 ssness. The 
 
 DEASE AND SIMPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 209 
 
 time ibr returning had arrived ere any real work had 
 been accomplished. At length, on the 20th of August, 
 Mr. Simpson started with seven men for a ten days' 
 walk to the eastward, on the lirst of which they passed 
 Point Turnagain, the limit of Franklin's survey in 1821. 
 By the 23d they had toiled onwards to an elevated cape, 
 rising from a sea beset with ice ; and, the land closing all 
 round to the northwards, further progress seemed to 
 be impossible. " With bitter disappointment," writes 
 Mr. Simpson, " I ascended the height, from whence a 
 vast and splendid prospect burst suddenly upon me. 
 The sea, as if transformed by enchantment, rolled its 
 free waves at my feet, and beyond the reach of vision 
 to the eastward. Islands of various shape and size 
 overspread its surface, and the northern land terminated 
 to the eye in a bold and lofty cape, bearing east-north- 
 east, thirty or forty miles distant, while the continental 
 coast trended away south-east. I stood, in fact, on a 
 remarkable headland, at the eastern outlet of an ice- 
 obstructed strait. On the extensive land to the north- 
 ward I bestowed the name of our most gracious sover- 
 eign. Queen Victoria. Its eastern visible extremity I 
 called Cape Polly, in compliment to the governor of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company." 
 
 In 1839 they were more successful, and, favored vrith 
 mild weather and an open sea, they sailed through the 
 narrow strait that separates Victoria Land from the 
 main. On the 13th of August they doubled Point Ogle, 
 the furthest point of Back's journey in 1834 ; an event 
 which terminated the long-pursued inquiry concerning 
 the coast-line. They had thus ascertained that the 
 American continent is separated from Boothia to the 
 westward of Back's Estuary. The survey was now 
 conjplete. A day or two later, the party, with flags 
 flying, crossed to Montreal Island, in Back's Estuary, 
 18^ 
 
210 
 
 DBASE AND SIMPSON'S DISCOVERIES. 
 
 [i 
 
 where they discovered a deposit of provisions which 
 Back had left there five years previously. The pemnii- 
 can was unfit for use ; but out of several pounds of 
 chocolate, half decayed, the men contrived to pick sufii- 
 cient to make a kettle-full of acceptable drink in honor 
 of the occasion. There were also a tin case and a few 
 fish-hooks, of which, observes Mr. Simpson, " Mr. Dease 
 and I took possession, as memorials of our having 
 breakfasted on the identical spot where the tent of our 
 gallant, though less successful precursor, stood that 
 very day five years before.^' 
 
 They had now obeyed their instructions to the letter ; 
 the coast-line was determined, and connected with what 
 was previously known to the eastward. It was time to 
 think of returning, but it still remained a question 
 whether some part of Boothia might not be united to the 
 continent on the eastern side of the estuary. Doubling, 
 therefore, its eastern promontory, they passed a point 
 of the continent which they named Cape Britannia, 
 and another called Cape Selkirk, and proceeded toward 
 some islands in the Gulf of Akkolee, so far as to satisfy 
 themselves that they were to the eastward of any part 
 of Boothia. By the 20th of August they had sailed fur 
 enough to see the further shore, with its capes, of the 
 Gulf of Boothia, which runs down to within forty miles 
 of Repulse Bay ; and they then turned back. On their 
 return, they traced sixty miles of the south coast of 
 Boothia, where at one time they were not more than 
 ninety miles from the site of the magnetic pole, as deter- 
 mined by Sir James Ross. A long extent of Victoria 
 Land was also examined ; and, on the 16th of Septem- 
 ber, they once more happily entered the Coppermine, 
 after a boat voyage of more than sixteen hundred miles, 
 the longest ever performed in the Polar Sea. 
 .-- - ,,-... (L.'/.t; 
 
)son, " Mr. Dease 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 BAE's land expedition. — SHORES OP HUDSON'S BAY. — ESQUIMAUX 
 CANOES. — REPULSE BAY. — GAME IN PLENTY. — SLEDGE TRAVELLING. 
 — SNOW-HOUSES. — RETURN. — RENEWED INTEREST IN THE DISCOVERY 
 OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. — THE EREBUS AND TERROR. — SIR JOHN 
 franklin's LAST VOYAGE. — MYSTERY OF HIS FATE. 
 
 The supposed great bay, extending- from the furthest 
 point reached by Messrs. Dease and Simpson, eastward 
 to the Fury and Ilecla Strait, now became an object of 
 intense interest. The mystery which overhung the 
 north-east corner of the American mainland seemed, at 
 last, to be almost revealed. Let but the coast-line from 
 the mouth of the Castor and Pollux to the eastern ex- 
 tremity of the Gulf of Akkolee be examined, so as to 
 connect the discoveries of Messrs. Dease and Simpson 
 with those of the second voyage of Parry, and those of 
 the second voyage of John Koss, and all would become 
 plain. 
 
 In 1846, accordingly, the Hudson's Bay Company 
 fitted out an expedition to effect this object ; and Dr. 
 John Rae was appointed to the command. lie was 
 just the man for it : he was surgeon, astronomer, steers- 
 man, and leader to the party ; had spent several years 
 in the service of the company ; and added to his other 
 attainments the not unimportant accomplishments of a 
 first-rate snow-shoe walker and a dead shot. 
 
 On the 8th of October, Rae landed at York Factory, 
 after a canoe journey of about two months' duration, 
 
■^Iff^ 
 
 m 
 
 m ! 
 
 212 
 
 RAE'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 through the interior, from Canada. Here he wintered, 
 and, on the 12th of June, set sail in two boats, with six 
 men to each, along the shores of Hudson's Bay, which 
 are here low, flat, and uninteresting. On the 21th they 
 landed at Churchill. They found the people here en- 
 gaged in killing white whales, which are often seen 
 rolling their bulky forms up the rivers that flow into 
 the bay. Their flesh is used as food for dogs, the house 
 in which it is kept being called the blubber-house ; to 
 find which house, especially in summer, the simple 
 direction, " follow your nose," is sufficient. 
 
 Having taken on board Ooligbuck, an Esquimaux 
 interpreter, and the son of Ooligbuck, a sad thief, who 
 had a peculiar fancy for tobacco and buttons, they left 
 Churchill July 5th, 184G. During the day they passed 
 the Pau-a-thau-kis-cow river, where they were overtaken 
 by three Esquimaux, in their kayaks. These little 
 canoes were propelled by their vigorous occupants so 
 swiftly, that they easily kept up with the boats, while 
 sailing at the rate of four miles an hour. The kayak is 
 about twelve feet in length, and two in breadth, taper- 
 ing off from the centre to the bow and stern, almost to 
 a mere poin^ The frame is of wood, covered with seal- 
 skin, having an aperture in the centre, which barely 
 admits of the stowage of the nether man. They are 
 used solely for hunting, and, by means of the double 
 paddle, are propelled through the water with the veloc- 
 ity of the dolphin. No land animal can possibly escape 
 when seen in the water ; the least exertion is sufficient 
 to keep up with the reindeer when swimming at its 
 utmost speed. 
 
 The oomiuk, or women's boat, is much clumsier, 
 slower, and safer, more in the form of a boat than a 
 co.noe, and is used to convey the female portion of the 
 community and their families from one part of the coast 
 
RAE'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 213 
 
 ere he wintered, 
 
 ''^^B 
 
 boats, with six 
 
 ,5j^K. 
 
 son's Bay, which 
 
 ''ii^^^B 
 
 Dn the 2nh they 
 
 j^^H 
 
 people here en- 
 
 
 are often seen 
 
 
 rs that flow into 
 
 
 • dogs, the house 
 
 
 ubber-house ; to 
 
 
 mer, the simple 
 
 W^^K 
 
 lent. 
 
 
 , an Esquimaux 
 
 
 a sad thief, who 
 
 'J^^^^^H' 
 
 buttons, they left 
 
 
 day they passed 
 
 
 y were overtaken 
 
 '^^^^^^Hl 
 
 s. These little 
 
 '^^^^^B 
 
 us occupants so 
 
 !^h| 
 
 the boats, while 
 
 
 •. The kayak is 
 
 ^"^^K 
 
 n breadth, taper- 
 
 '^g^^^^^^^E 
 
 stern, almost to 
 
 '^'^B^^^^B' 
 
 3vered with seal- 
 
 a'^^^^^^B 
 
 -e, which barely 
 
 
 man. They are 
 
 
 s of the double 
 
 
 ? with the veloc- 
 
 
 possibly escape 
 
 
 tion is sufficient 
 
 
 wimming at its 
 
 }'; ;'j;';. 
 
 much clumsier, 
 
 
 a boat than a 
 
 
 portion of the 
 
 
 art of the coast 
 
 i 
 
 
 ,1 
 
 to another, being propelled by the women, who use 
 small paddles for the purpose. 
 
 On tiie 13th, Chesterfield Inlet was passed. Walruses 
 were here seen. " They were grunting and bellowing," 
 says Rae, "making a noise which T fancy would much 
 resemble a concert of old boars and buflaloes." At the 
 head of Repulse Bay, where they landed on the 25th, 
 they fell in with more Esquiraaux, and procured from 
 them some seal-skin boots. When about to put on a 
 pair of these boots, says Rae, "one of our female visit- 
 ors, noticing that the leather of the foot was rather 
 hard, took them out of my hands, and began chewing 
 them with her strong teeth." By this process they 
 were softened for the wearing. 
 
 They quitted the head of Repulse Bay, in latitude 
 6G° 32' north, and succeeded in conveying one of their 
 boats to the southern extremity of the Gulf of Akkolee, 
 in latitude 01° 13' north. They found a chain of lakes 
 lying across the isthmus, and derived great aid from it 
 in the conveying of the boat. They proceeded along 
 the coast of the Gulf of Akkolee till the 5th of August, 
 and they observed the tides to be, on the average, far 
 higher than in the Polar Sea, but exceedingly irregular, 
 and varying in rise from four to ten feet ; and already 
 they began to entertain a strong presumption that 
 Boothia, after all, is a peninsula of the American main- 
 land. But they were utterly baffled in their progress 
 by ice and fogs and northerly winds, and felt obliged to 
 return at about latitude 67° 30' north, and spend the 
 winter at Repulse Bay. There they built a house, and 
 procured a stock of provisions by hunting and fishing, 
 principally reindeer and salmon ; and, excepting what 
 was used for cooking, they had no fuel throughout the 
 winter. The sporting-book for September showed that 
 they had been diligent : sixty-three deers, five hares, 
 

 t 
 
 s 
 
 ■ ■ 
 
 • } K 
 
 ! .; I! 
 
 '^B 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 t 
 
 
 'S 
 
 '1 
 
 
 1 ^' 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 214 
 
 L^E'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 one seal, one him^rcd and seventy-two partridges, and 
 one hundred and sixteen salmon and trout, having been 
 brought in. • 
 
 On the 5th of April, 184T, six of the party again 
 started north with sledges, drawn by dogs, and travelled 
 along the west shore of the Gulf of Akkolee ; and, on 
 the 18th, they reached the vicinity of Sir John Ross's 
 most southerly discoveries. The question of the sup- 
 posed communication with the Polar Sea was here to be 
 set at rest. They decided now to strike off from the 
 coast across the land as nearly north as possible ; and 
 they had a tiresome march through snow, and across 
 three small lakes ; and, at noon, when near the middle 
 of another lake of about four miles in length, they ascer- 
 tained their latitude to be 69** 26' 1" north. They 
 walked three miles more, and came to still another lake ; 
 and, as there was not yet any appearance of the sea, 
 Rae gave orders to the men to prepare their lodgings, 
 and went forth alone to look for the coast. lie arrived 
 in twenty minutes at an inlet of not more than a quarter 
 of a mile wide, and traced this westward for upwards 
 of a league, and there found his course once more 
 obstructed by land. 
 
 Some rocky hillocks were near, and, thinking he saw 
 from the top of these some rough ice in the desired 
 direction, he inhaled fresh hope, pushed eagerly on to 
 a rising ground in the distance, and there beheld 
 stretched out before him an ice-covered sea, studded 
 with innumerable islands. But it was the sea of Sir 
 John Ross, the Lord Mayor's Bay of the disastrous 
 voyage of the Victory ; and the islands were those 
 which Sir John had named the Sons of the Clergy of 
 the Church of Scotland. Rae, therefore, had simply 
 crossed a peninsula of the orulf of Akkolee ; and thus 
 did he ascertain that the shores which witnessed the 
 
RAE'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 215 
 
 le party again 
 3, and travelled 
 kolec ; and, on 
 ir John Ross's 
 jn of the sup- 
 was here to be 
 e off from the 
 ; possible ; and 
 ow, and across 
 lear the middle 
 ^th, they ascer- 
 north. They 
 11 another lake ; 
 ice of the sea, 
 their lodgings. 
 
 woes of the "Victory, the eastern shores of Boothia, are 
 continuous with the niaiuhind of America. 
 
 On this expedition, " our usual mode," says Rae, 
 "of preparing lodgings fur the night was as follows : 
 As soon as we had selected a spot for our snow-house, 
 our Esquimaux, assisted by one or more of the men, 
 commenced cutting out blocks of snow. When a suffi- 
 cient number of those had been raised, the builder com- 
 menced his work, his assistants supplying him with the 
 material. A good roomy dwelling was thus raised in 
 an hour, if the snow was in a good state for building. 
 Whilst our principal mason was thus occupied, another 
 of the party was busy erecting a kitchen, which, although 
 our cooking was none of the most delicate or extensive, 
 was still a necessary addition to our establishment, had 
 it been only to thaw snow. As soon as the snow-hut 
 was completed, our sledges were unloaded, and every- 
 thing eatable (including parchment-skin and moose-skin 
 shoes, which had now become lavorite articles with the 
 dogs) taken inside. Our bed was next made, and, by 
 the time the snow was thawed or the water boiled, as the 
 case might be, we were all ready for supper. When we 
 used alcohol for fuel (which we usually did in stormy 
 weather), no kitchen was required." 
 
 Sir James Clarke Ross, who figured in the voyage 
 of the Victory as Commander Ross, says, "Mr. Rae's 
 description of the inlet he crossed over to in the south- 
 east corner of Lord Mayor's Bay, accords so exactly 
 with what observed whilst surveying its shores, that 
 I have no doubt of his having reached that inlet on 
 which I found the Esquimaux marks so numerous, but 
 of which no account was published in Sir John Ross's 
 narrative." Rae appropriately named the peninsula 
 Sir John Ross's Peninsula ; and the isthmus, connecting- 
 it with the mainland, and flanking the inlet. Sir James 
 

 ! 
 
 
 21G 
 
 RAE'S LAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 Rohh's Istlinius. TliP latter is only one nnile broad, Jind 
 has three Hniall ponds ; but it bears evident marks of 
 beinj^ an aiitinnnul deer-pass, and, tjierelbre, a favorite 
 resort of the Ks(piiinaux. llae had thus reached the 
 goal of his wishes. 
 
 A progress to tlie furthest point reached by Messrs. 
 Bease and Simpson was not attempted, for it was now 
 iiscertained tliat this must comprise a journey over 
 land, and either a voyage across a large land-locked 
 estuary, or a coasting along its shores ; and for thesj 
 the explorers had neither time nor resources. They 
 forthwith began to retrace their route to the fort at 
 Repulse Bay. All the caches of provisions which had 
 been made during the outward journey were found quite 
 safe, and thus aflbrded them a plentiful supply of food. 
 On the morning of the 5th of May they reached some 
 Esquimaux dwellings on the shores of Christie's Lake, 
 about fifteen miles from Fort Hope. "At two p. m. 
 on the same day," says Rae, "we were again on the 
 march, and arrived at our home at halfpast eight p. m., 
 all well, but so black and scarred on the face, from the 
 combined effects of oil, smoke, and frost-bites, that our 
 friends would not believe but that some serious accident 
 from the explosion of gunpowder had happened to us. 
 Thus successfully terminated a journey little short of 
 six hundred English miles, the longest, I believe, ever 
 made on foot along the Arctic coast." wt:-^ 
 
 On the 12th of May, at the head of a similar party, 
 Rae set out to examine the east side of the gulf; and on 
 the 27th, in a bewildering snow-storm, he reached his 
 ultimatum, at a headland which they called Cape Cro- 
 zier. But, during a blink of the storm, he got a clear 
 view of a headland nearly twelve miles further on, 
 which he called Cape Ellice, and computed to be in lat- 
 itude 69° 42' north, and longitude 85" 8' west, or within 
 
FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 
 
 217 
 
 clicd by Messrs. 
 
 1, for it was now 
 
 a jonnioy ovor 
 
 xrge land-lockod 
 
 s •, and for thesj 
 
 esources. They 
 
 c to the fort at 
 
 gions which had 
 
 were found quite 
 
 1 supply of food. 
 
 »y reached some 
 
 Christie's Lake, 
 
 "At two p. M. 
 
 ere again on the 
 
 -past eight p. m., 
 
 le face, from the 
 
 it-bites, that our 
 
 serious accident 
 
 appened to us. 
 
 little short of 
 
 , 1 believe, ever 
 
 about ten miles of the Fury and llecla Straits, " Our 
 
 journey," says Dr. Rae, " hitherto had been the most 
 
 fatiguing I hud ever experienced ; the severe exercise, 
 
 with a limited allowance of food, had reduced the whole 
 
 party very much. However, we marched merrily on, 
 
 . tightening our belts, — mine came in six inches, — the 
 
 : men vowing that whcui they got on full allowance they 
 
 , would make up for losjt time." On the 12th of August 
 
 , the whole original party embarked at Repulse Bay, and 
 
 on the 3lBt arrived at Churchill. 
 
 The return of Captain Sir James Clarke Koss, in 181:4, 
 from his brilliant career in the Antarctic Ocean, gave a 
 sudden stimulus in England to the old craving for the 
 discovery of a north-west passage. The ships Erebus 
 and Terror were now famous for their fitness to bravo 
 the dangers of the ice, and could be reequipi>ed at com- 
 paratively small cost. Naval officers and whale-fisher- 
 men and hardy seamen were fired with the spirit of, 
 adventure. Statesmen panted to send the British flag 
 across all the breadth of the Polar Sea ; scientific gen- 
 tlemen longed for decisions in terrestrial magnetism, 
 which could be obtained only in the regions around the 
 magnetic pole ; and, though merchants and other utilita- 
 rians could never again regard the old notion of a com- 
 mercial highway to the Indian seas through Behring's 
 St "ait as worthy of consideration, yet multitudes of the 
 carious, among all classes of society, were impatient to 
 have the veil penetrated which had so long hid from th(» 
 . world's wondering gaze the mysteries of the ice-girt 
 archipelago of the north. The very difficulties of the 
 v^nterprise, together with the disasters or failures of all 
 fcrmer expeditions, only roused the general resolution. 
 Sir John Barrow, Secretary to the Admiralty, had for 
 thirty years been the fervent advocate of every enter- 
 prise which could throw light on the Arctic regions, and 
 19 
 
n 
 
 4 
 
 lliil 
 i I' 
 
 113 
 
 218 
 
 FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 
 
 had incessantly bent in tliat direction the powerful influ- 
 ence which he wielded ; and now ag'ain was ho at his 
 vocation. Lieut. Col. Sabine, also, wiiose opinion car- 
 ried much weight, declared " that a final attentpt to 
 make a north-west passag'o would render the most 
 important service that now remained to be performed 
 toward the completion of the ma<j^netic survey of the 
 g-lobe." The Lords of the Admiralty and the Council 
 of the Royal Society gave a formal assent ; and Sir 
 John Franklin, the hero of some most perilous exploits 
 within the Arctic circle, who now stood out to view as 
 the likeliest man to conduct the desired enterprise, had 
 said in 183G, and continued to say still, "that no ser- 
 vice was nearer to his heart than the completit)n of the 
 survey of the north-west coast of America, and the 
 accomplishment of a north-west passa<^e." 
 
 The Er( bus aiul the Terror were ordered to bo g-ot 
 ready. Botli had braved all the perils of the Antarctic 
 expedition under Sir James C. Ross, and the latter was 
 the shi[) of the terrific ice-voyage of 188G, in ]ludson's 
 IJay. They wore the best-tested and the best-ai)purte- 
 nanced vessels which had ever faced the frozen regions ; 
 and each was now fitted with a small steam-engine and 
 screw-propeller. Sir John Franklin was appointed to 
 the chief command, and hoisted his flag in the Erebus; 
 and Captain Richard Crozier, who lunl been the distin- 
 guished colleague of Sir James C. Ross in the Antarctic 
 voyage, wa^-; a[)pointed to the Terror. So many naval 
 officers volunteered their services, that, had all been ac- 
 cepted, they might themselves have completely manned 
 the ships. The total number of persons put on boiU'd 
 was one huiulred ami thirty-eight ; and they formed as 
 select, resolute, and experienced ;i luuly <>f adventurers 
 as ever w(Mit to sea. The transport Daretto Junii>r, 
 also, under the connnand of Lieut, (irillith, was laden 
 
FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 
 
 219 
 
 owcrful influ- 
 viis ho at liis 
 opinion car- 
 il uttontpt to 
 er the most 
 be performed 
 survey of the 
 I the Council 
 ent ; and Sir 
 ilouB cxplt>its 
 mt to view aa 
 iitcrprisc, had 
 " that no scr- 
 plction of the 
 rica, and the 
 
 ed to be j?ot 
 the Antarctic 
 he hitter waa 
 in Jludson'a 
 best-appurte- 
 vAon re^'ions ; 
 n-en.i2;inc and 
 jippointed to 
 I the Erebus ; 
 :n tlie distin- 
 he Antarctic 
 I) many naval 
 all been ac- 
 tely manned 
 ut on boiU'd 
 •y formed as 
 adventurcn-H 
 'tto Juni(.>r, 
 , was laden 
 
 with out-stores, to be discharged into the ships in 
 Davis's Strait. 
 
 The oflicial instructions to Sir Ji»hn Franklin W(M-e 
 miinite, compreliensive, and far-si<;-hted, and made pro- 
 vision for all important continp,-encies. But only those 
 i)f them which relate to the main conduct of the expedi- 
 tion possess much public interest ; aiul these, taken in 
 fomiection with the mournful and excitinj;" mystery into 
 which the ships so soon passed, seem too momentous to 
 allow of much abridgment, "On putting to sea," said 
 they, " you are to proceed, in the iirst place, by such a 
 route as, from the wind and weather, you may deem to 
 he the most suitable lor despatch, to Davis's Strait, 
 taking the transport with you to sucdi a distance uj) 
 that strait as yi'U may be able to proceed without iniped- 
 in>ent from ice, being careful not to risk that vessel by 
 allowing her to be beset in the ice, or exposed to any 
 violent contact with it. You will then avail yourself 
 of the earliest opportunity of clearing the transport of 
 the provisions and stores with which she is charged for 
 the use of the expedition ; and j-^ou arc then to send her 
 back to England, giving to the agent or master such 
 directions for his guidance as may appear to you most 
 proper, and reporting by that opportunity your proceed- 
 ings to our secretary for our information. You will 
 then proceed, in the execution of your orders, into Baf- 
 fin's Bay, and get, aa soon as possible, to the western 
 side of the strait, provided it should appear to you that 
 the ice chiefly prevails on the eastern side or near the 
 middle^ the object being to enter Lancaster Sound with 
 as Irttle delay as possible. 
 
 " But, as no specific directions can be given, oAving 
 to the position of the ice varying from year to year, you 
 will, of course, l>e guided by your own (d)servations as 
 to the course most eligible to be taken, in order to 
 

 I 
 
 I; 
 
 IliM 
 
 tl itill 
 
 ll« » 
 
 i m I' 
 
 
 w'm 
 
 220 
 
 FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 
 
 insure a speedy arrival in the sound above-mentioned. 
 As, however, we have thought fit to cause each ship to 
 be fitted with a small steam-engine and propeller, to be 
 used only in pushing the ships through channels be- 
 tween masses of ice when the wind is adverse, or in a 
 calm, we trust the difficulty usually found in such cases 
 will be much obviated. But, as the supply of fuel to 
 be taken in the ships is necessarily small, you will use 
 it only in cases of difficulty. ? 
 
 " Lancaster Sound and its continuation through Bar- 
 row's Strait, having been four times navigated without 
 any impediment by Sir Edward Parry, and since fre- 
 quently by wlialing-sliips, will probably be found with- 
 out any obstacles from ice or islands ; and Sir Edward 
 Parry having also proceeded from the latter in a straight 
 course to Melville Island, and returned without experi- 
 encing any or very little difficulty, it is hoped that the 
 remaining portion of the passage, about nine hundred 
 miles, to Behring's Strait, may also be found equally 
 free from obstruction ; and in proceeding to the west- 
 ward, therefore, you will not stop to examine any open- 
 ings either to the northward or southward in that strait, 
 but continue to push to the westward, without loss of 
 time, in the latitude of about H^", till you have reached 
 the longitude of that portion of land on which Cape 
 Walker is situated, or about 98° west. From that 
 point' we desire that every effort be used to endeavor to 
 penetrate to the southward and westward, in a course 
 as direct towards Behring's Strait as the position and 
 extent of the ice, or the existence of land, at present 
 unknown, may admit. 
 
 " We direct you to this particular part of the Polar 
 Sea as affording the best prospect of accomplishing the 
 passage to the Pacific, in consequence of the unusual 
 magnitude and apparently fixed state of the barrier of 
 
FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 
 
 221 
 
 vc-mentioned. 
 3 each ship to 
 fopeller, to be 
 . channels be- 
 Lverse, or in a 
 . in such cases 
 )ply of fuel to 
 [, you will use 
 
 L through Bar- 
 igated without 
 and since fre- 
 be found with- 
 ,nd Sir Edward 
 ;ter in a straight 
 without experi- 
 hoped that the 
 t nine hundred 
 found equally 
 g to the west- 
 ,niine any open- 
 ■d in that strait, 
 [without loss of 
 III have reached 
 n which Cape 
 ,t. From that 
 to endeavor to 
 d, in a course 
 c position and 
 ,nd, at present 
 
 :t of the Polar 
 jomplishing the 
 lof the Uiiusual 
 r the barrier of 
 
 ice observed by the Ilecla and Griper in the year 1820, 
 oif Cape Dundas, the south-western extremity of Mel- 
 ville Island ; and we therefore consider that loss of time 
 would be incfurred in renewing the attempt in that 
 direction. But, should your progress in the direction 
 before ordered be arrested by ice of a permanent appear- 
 ance, and should you, when passing the mouth of the 
 strait betwen Devon and Cornwallis's Islands, have 
 observed that it was open and clear of ice, we desire 
 that you will duly '"Onoider, with reference to the time 
 already consumed, as well as to the symptoms of a late 
 or early close of the season, whether that channel might 
 not offer a more practicable outlet from the archipelago, 
 and a more ready access to the open sea, where there 
 would be neither islands nor banks to arrest and fix the 
 Heating masses of ice. 
 
 " And if you should have advanced too far to the 
 south-westward to render it expedient to adopt this 
 new course before the end of the present season, and if, 
 therefore, you should have determined to winter in that 
 neighborhood, it will be a matter for your mature delib- 
 eration whether, in the ensuing season, you would pro- 
 ceed by the above-mentioned strait, or whether you 
 should persevere to the south-westward, according to 
 the former directions. 
 
 "You are well aware, having* yourself been one of the 
 intelligent travellers who have traversed the American 
 shore of the Polar Sea, that the groups of islands that 
 stretch from that shore to the northward, to a distance 
 not yet known, do not extend to the westward further 
 than about the one hundred and twentieth degree of 
 western longitude ; and that beyond this, and to Beh- 
 ring's Strait, no land is visible from the American shore 
 of the Polar Sea. In an undertaking of this description, 
 much must be always left to the discretion of the cora- 
 19* 
 
*illi 
 
 ;l nil 
 
 
 222 
 
 FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 
 
 maiiding officer ; and, as the objects of this expedition 
 have been fully explained to you, and you have already 
 liad much experience on service of this nature, we are 
 convinced we cannot do better than IcaVe it to your 
 judgment." 
 
 He was instructed, also, in the event of reaching 
 Behring's Strait, to proceed to the Sandwich Islands 
 and Panama, and to put an officer ashore at the latter 
 place with despatches. 
 
 The ships sailed from the Thames on the 19th of 
 May, 1845. The Erebus and tlie Terror received the 
 transport's stores, and dismissed her in Davis's Strait, 
 and then had abundant provisions of every kind for 
 three years, besides five bullocks. They were seen by 
 the whaler Prince of Wales, on the 2Gth of July, moored 
 to an iceberg, waiting for an opening through the long 
 vast body of ice which extends along" the middle of Baf- 
 fin's Bay. They were then in latitude 14° 48' north, and 
 longitude 66° 13' west, not far from the centre of Baffin's 
 Bay, and about two hundred and ten miles from tlio 
 entrance of Lancaster Sound. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ANXIETY IX REGARD TO FRANKLIN AND HIS SHU'S. — THREE EXPEDI- 
 TIONS OP SEARCH SENT OLT. — KEM.KTT AND JIOUUK's EXPEDITION UV 
 
 BEHRING'S STRAIT. — ITS RETURN. RICHARDSON'S AND RAe's LAND 
 
 EXPLORATIONS.- - IR J. C. ROSS's EXPEDITION BY LANCASTER SOUND. 
 
 — THE EXPLORERS RETURN UNSUCCESSFUL. LIEUT. PULLEN, FROM TUB 
 
 BEHRIXG STRAIT EXPEDITION, ASCENDS THE MACKENZIE. RETURN TO 
 
 THE ARCTIC SEA AND BACK. THE SEASON OP 1850. PULLEN'S ARRI- 
 VAL IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Toward the end of the year 1847, anxiety heg-an to 
 be felt in regard to tlie fate of Franklin and liis men. 
 No^ a word had been heard from them since they had 
 been seen by the Prince of Wales whaler ; and appre- 
 hension became general that they had shared a similar 
 fate to the Fury of Sir Edward Parry, or the Victory of 
 Sir John Ross. The government, therefore, promptly 
 determined to send three expeditions in search of them. 
 The first was a marine expedition, by way of Beh- 
 ring's Strait, to be conducted by Captain IIenf*y Kellett, 
 of the ship Herald, of twenty-six guns, then in the 
 Pacific, aided by Commander Thomas E. L. Moore, in 
 the Plover, surveying vessel ; and this was designed 
 to relieve Sir John Franklin and his companions in 
 the event of their having gone through the north-west 
 passage, and stuck fast at some advanced point of the 
 Polar Sea. The second was an overland and boat expe- 
 dition, to be conducted by Sir John Richardson, to 
 descend the Mackenzie River, and to examine the coast 
 eastward to the Coppermine ; and this was designed to 
 afford relief in the event of the adventurers having 
 
M 
 
 ii hi 
 
 :{ l! I 
 
 224 
 
 KELLEIT AND MOORE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 taken to their boats westward of the Northern Archi- 
 pehigo, and forced their way to the American continent. 
 The third was a marine expedition, to be conducted 
 by Sir James Clarke Ross, with the ships Enterprise and 
 Investigator, through Lancaster Sound and Barrow's 
 Strait, to examine all the tracks of the missing ships 
 westward as far as they could penetrate into the archi- 
 pelago ; and this was designed to aflbrd relief in the 
 event of the adventurers having been arrested either in 
 the very throat of the supposed passage, or at some 
 point on this side of it, and of their attempting to 
 retrace their steps. This plan of search seemed com- 
 prehensive and noble, and was carried with all possible 
 promptitude into execution. The Plover left Sheerness 
 on the 1st January, 1848 ; but, being a miserable sailer, 
 did not reach Oahu, in the Sandwich Islands, till the 22d 
 August. She was then too late to attempt, that season, 
 any efficient operations within the Arctic Circle, and 
 she passed on to winter quarters at Noovel, on the coast 
 of Kamtschatka, The Herald, meanwhile, had received 
 instructions from home, and gone northward as far as 
 Cape Krusenstern, in Kotzcbuo Sound, the appointed 
 rendezvous. But, not being- prepared to winter there, 
 nor prepared for explorations among ice, she returned, 
 in autumn, to the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 On the 30th June, 1849, th ) Plover left Noovel, and 
 on the 14th July anchored ofl" Chamisso Island, at the 
 bottom of Kotzebue Sound. Next day she was joined 
 by the Herald and by the Nancy Dawson, the latter a 
 yacht belonging to Robert Shedden, Esq., who, in the 
 course of a voyage of pleasure round the globe, got 
 intelligence in China of the intended expedition through 
 Bohring's Strait in search of Sir John Franklin, and 
 nobly resolved to devote his vessel and himself to its 
 aid. On the 18th the three vessels left Chamisso; on 
 
IN. 
 
 KELLETT AND MOORE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 225 
 
 Lherii Archi- 
 ,n continent. 
 e conducted 
 iterprise and 
 nd Barrow's 
 lissing ships 
 to the archi- 
 relicf in the 
 <ted either in 
 , or at some 
 ttempting to 
 seemed com- 
 [i all possible 
 eft Sheerness 
 5eral)le sailer, 
 is, till the '22d 
 ;, that season, 
 |C Circle, and 
 , on the coast 
 had received 
 rd as far as 
 |ic appointed 
 winter there, 
 he returned, 
 
 Noovel, and 
 sland, at the 
 
 Avas joined 
 [the latter a 
 I who, in the 
 globe, got 
 tion through 
 ]-anklin, and 
 Imself to its 
 
 lamisso ; on 
 
 the 20th they were off Cape Lisburn ; and on the 25th, 
 after having passed Icy Point, they despatched a boat 
 expedition, under Lieut, Pullen. 
 
 Tliis boat expedition was designed to connect the 
 proceedings of the present voyage with those of the 
 overland expedition under Sir John Richardson, and to 
 institute search and provide succor for the missing 
 adventurers on the likeliest part of the coast and main- 
 land west of the Mackenzie River. It consisted of the 
 Ilerald's pinnace, decked over, and three other boats, 
 and comprised twenty-five men, and had nearly three 
 months' provisions for its own use, besides five cases of 
 pemmican for the use of Sir John Franklin's party. But 
 it was accompanied also by Mr, Sliedden in his yacht. 
 It was directed, after proceeding a certain distance along 
 the coast in-shore, to return to a rendezvous with the 
 Plover at Chamisso Island, but at the same time to des- 
 patch from its furthest point a detachment in two whale- 
 boats, well provisioned and equipped, to extend the 
 search to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and then to 
 ascend that river, and proceed homeward by Fort Hope 
 and York Factory, in the summer of 1850. 
 
 The Herald and the Plover, in the mean while, bore 
 away to the north, and on the 26th, in latitude 71° 5' 
 north, reached the heavily-packed ice. They sailed 
 sometimes along the edge of this, and sometimes 
 through streams and among" floes, till the 28th, when 
 they could proceed no further, on account of the per- 
 fect impenetrableness of the pack. They were then in 
 latitude 12° 51' north, and longitude 163° 48' west. 
 The ice, as far as it could be seen from the mast-head, 
 trended away west-south-westward ; yet, while densely 
 compact for leagues distant, seemed to be broken by a 
 water-line in the northern horizon. On the 28th the 
 ships came again to the land, and the Herald bore 
 
■.»'riWI 
 
 •*3U/£««* 
 
 l!t»i 
 
 I 
 
 li 
 
 226 
 
 kelli:tt and moore's expedition. 
 
 in to examine Wainwriglit's Inlet, while Commander 
 Moore went on shore, erected a mark, and buriiul a 
 bottle containing information about the boats. This 
 place, unliappily, was found too shallow to allbrd harln>r- 
 age ; else it would have proved an excellent retreat, on 
 account, at once, of its high latitude, of its being a resort 
 for reindeer, of the friendliness of the natives, and of 
 theio being no nearer harbor to the south than Kotze- 
 bue's Sound, while even that place was regarded by the 
 a "-masters as aii unsafe wintering quarter. 
 
 .!• / :n the 1st of August till the lltii, Cape Lisburn 
 being appointed for a rendezvous, the ships made 
 active explorations in various directions near shore, 
 and away northward as far as they could penetrate. On 
 the nth the Herald discovered a new territory. " At 
 forty minutes past nine," on that day, says Captain 
 Kellett, " the exciting report of ' Land ho ! ' was made 
 from the mast-head : both mast-heads were soon after- 
 wards crowded. In running a course along the pack 
 toward our first discovery, a small group of islands was 
 reported on our port-beam, a considerable distance 
 within the outer margin of the ice. Still more distant 
 than this group (from the dock), a very extensive aiid 
 high land was reported, which I had been watching for 
 some time, anxiously awaiting a report from some one 
 else. There was a fine clear atmosphere (such a one 
 as can only be seen, in this climate, except in the direc- 
 tion of this extended land), where the clouds rolled in 
 numerous immense masses, occasionally leaving the 
 very lofty peaks uncapped ; where could be distinctly 
 seen columns, j^illars, all very broken, which is charac- 
 teristic of the higher headlands in this sea — East Cape 
 and Capo Lisburn, for example. With the exception of 
 the north-east and south-cast extremes, none of the lower 
 land could be seen, unless, indeed, what I took, at first. 
 
JN. 
 
 KELLETT AND MOOllE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 227 
 
 CommaTulcr 
 md buricil a 
 .)oats. Thiri 
 illbrd liarlior- 
 iit retreat, on 
 l)eing a resort 
 tives, and of 
 I than Kotzc- 
 garded by the 
 
 Cape Lisburn 
 I ships Riade 
 s near shore, 
 penetrate. On 
 rritory. " At 
 says Captain 
 o ! ' was made 
 ;;re soon after- 
 ong the pack 
 of islands was 
 able distance 
 more distant 
 extensive and 
 watching' for 
 •om some one 
 (such a one 
 It in the direc- 
 )ud8 rolled in 
 leaving the 
 be distinctly 
 lich is charac- 
 I — East Cape 
 exception of 
 of the lower 
 :ook, at first, 
 
 for a small group of islan<ls within the pack edge w^^ 
 a point of this great land. This island, or point, w; s 
 distant tvventy-liVe miles from the ship's tiack ; higlu.r 
 parts of the laud seemed not less, I consider, than sixty. 
 When we hove to otf the first land seen, the northern 
 extreme of the great land showed out to the eastward 
 for a moment, and so clear as to cause some who had 
 doubts before to cry out, ' There; sir, is the land quite 
 plain.' " They afterwards ran up to the island, and 
 hnded upon it, and found it a sob'-l and almost inaccess- 
 ible mass of granite, about four mk; x half miles long, 
 two and a half miles broad, au'^ foi-neen hundred feet 
 high. Its situation is latitude tl° 20' north, and longi- 
 tude 175° 16' west. The dist' nt mouritainons land 
 seemed to be extensive, and "'Vas supposed by Captain 
 Kellett to be a continuation c the lofty range seen by 
 the natives off Cape Jakan, in Asia, and mentioned by 
 Baron Wrangell, in his Polar Voyages. 
 
 In the vicinity of Cape Lisburn, on the 24:th August, 
 the Nancy Dawson, and the return boats of Lieut. 
 Pullen's expedition, rejoined the Herald. They had 
 searched the coast as far east as Dease's Inlet, and had 
 there parted with the two whale-boats ; and had, at 
 several points, made deposits of provisions, but had not 
 obtained the slightest intelligence of the missing adven- 
 turers. Mr. Shedden had been particularly active and 
 daring, and had many times put his yacht in peril. 
 And, it is pahiful to add, though this is said in antici- 
 pation of the date, that he fell a victim to his excessive 
 exertions during the noble service. He died, eigiit or 
 ten weeks after, at Mazatlan. 
 
 On the Ist of September the two ships and the yacht 
 rendezvoused in Kotzebue Sound. Upwards of a fort- 
 night was now spent in making an interesting explora- 
 tion up the Buckland River, and in establishing friend}y 
 

 228 
 
 RICHARDSON'S AND RAE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 relations witli the natives. The whoh? month of Sop- 
 tenibcr was rcMiuirkably fine, the frost to the hitest so 
 li^iit as not to arrest tlie streams, and strong winds 
 generally blowing from the east. The Plover prepared 
 to winter in Kotzebuc Sound, with the view of making 
 further researehes, and received from her consort as 
 much provisions as she could stow or take care of. 
 And on the 20th September the Herald and the yacht 
 weighed anchor, and stood away for the south. 
 
 On the 10th July, 1850, the Herald again joined the 
 Plover at Chamisso Island ; and the two ships then set 
 out together on another exploration. They proceeded 
 northward till they sighted the pack-ice, and then sepa- 
 rated — the Herald to return in quest of another and 
 stronger expedition which had sailed from England, 
 and which we shall afterwards have occasion to notice ; 
 and the Plover to prosecute the search eastward along 
 the coast. Commander Moore, by means of his boats, 
 made minute examination of all the inlets between Icy 
 Cape and Point Barrow ; he and his men suffered se- 
 verely from cxposuro to cold ; but they were entirely 
 unsuccessful in the object of their search. The two 
 ships again fell in with each other ofl' Cape Lisburn on 
 the 13th August; and Captain Kellett eventually gave 
 full victualling to the Plover, ordered her to winter in 
 Grantley Harbor, and then, toward the close of the open 
 season, returned through Behring's Strait on his way to 
 England. Thus, in October, 1850, ended this first west- 
 ern searching expedition, without having thrown one 
 ray of light on the probable fate of Sir John Franklin. 
 
 The second searching expedition was the overland 
 one, under the command of Sir John Richardson. In 
 preparation for it, several boats, seven tons of pemmi- 
 can, large quantities of other provisions and stores, five 
 seamen, and fifteen sappers and miners, wore embarked 
 
at Gravosend, on board of .1 • 
 
 co„,p,.„y, „„ „,, ,„;;^;f '"ps of ti,o n„,,„„,, ^.^ 
 
 "'■d Mr. JUo loft Live ,0, ! ';, ^"- ''"''" 'f-el.a.M.s.m 
 and succeeded in ovor 7:"'" ■'"' ^^'''^'K l«l« 
 
 of 'he boat., and I c > ^'T''''''''''' ''''"' ''-I'-- 
 20th June. The wh le 1 .;;' "^r"'-'' ^'"'-'"ffo, on ,ho 
 on Slave Ri,er on iJj.Tf '"'''' "'" '"''' P"'taffo 
 '•"'; a -.award or « „,!, l"':^;-'' f-- ".e, liividfd 
 anlson and Jfr. ]{,,„, ,,„j ,,^,, ;"^' "'»'<•■>■ «i.- John Rie|,. 
 ""'lof Mr. Bell T ,0 .„ "''"''' "'^ ■'"•""'■"'v party 
 
 ■^-r?. -th mil .oi;:o7;r; ,r^ -'-P-v/tir^' 
 
 and nmnediatel^ on.barked T "T' 7" ^'■*'''"«"' '"on, 
 pn.sed two boats and the sto I f" ™''' P"''^ «»">. 
 "•ere d.rected to ,nako the blst of o' '"'"" "»' ""'d 
 Bear Lake, to coast ronnd i^f ' "'' ^''^^ '» «reat 
 
 Franklin, for the convcnil, c "V"" ""■■ ^'^^ "^ ^ort 
 t'e event of its havi„. ot^ , " '"''"^'"■J P^^J. in 
 *e erect, at its nortl,-oa!tl' v •'" "'^ Mackenzie; 
 of the Bease River sn^HU '■'"•"'""3'. near the inflnx 
 houses tbr winter q™" :'-;'"!"S*o«ses and sto" 
 Soptcuber, to ae.^T^l,^^;^ '"^ ^««'"'"'"fe' of 
 "afve hunter to the banksTf ' o r ''' """" '""' * 
 h-nt till the 20th of that Lo,,» ^"PP"™'™, there to 
 
 °'^-'^- for the arrival Of tTtr''"'"^"^*-"^-" 
 The seaward party reached ! 
 
 ^-Sm. On the^ way down tl '"" "" ""^ ""> »f 
 Good Hope, the lowest of tl '"'^ ''"' "^'""-e- at fort 
 *^^eke„.ie, three ba"s of '/ '""''^"^'^ P^'^ »" the 
 P-ty from the Plov:?, or C""? '"■• *"« "«« of any 
 ^''''0 might reach that el ,^ i ' ^''""'' ^"''''» «l>ip.s - 
 
 «on, also, whicb fo ms Tl 1 1 "t', f ''"'"' Separ. 
 kende, they deposited onee °^ "'f ''«"'' of the Mac- 
 bottle of memoranda and Iter "' P^'""'<'^»n and a 
 
 ^-■-""•^ party, bn;y;:;t:ir:.r:;«''-^"'- 
 
 20 "^ ^"cu'Tiference of 
 
230 UICHARDSON'S AND RAE'S KXPLOUATIONS. 
 
 a circle with a ton-feet radius, from tiie point of a broad 
 arrow painted on a signal-post; and they afterwards 
 did the same tiling, or similar, on Whale Island, at the 
 mouth of the Mackenzie ; on Point Toker, in latitude 
 C9» 38' north, and longitude I.'J'i" 15' west ; on Capo 
 Bathurst, the most northerly i)oint between the Mac- 
 kenzie and the (Joppermin ■ ; and o!i Cape Tarry, at the 
 east side of the entrance of Franklin Bay. 
 
 The explorers cncountouMl head winds throughout 
 most of their prognvss of eight hundred miles or up- 
 wards, from the exit of the Mackenzie to the mouth of 
 the Coppermine ; and they always kej)t near the shore, 
 and landed at least twice a day to cook, occasionally to 
 hunt, often to look out from the high capes, and com- 
 monly, at nig-ht, to sleep on shore. Immediately oft' the 
 efflux of the IMackenzie they had an interview with 
 about three hundred Esquimaux ; and at many subse- 
 quent points they communicated with other parties, 
 who were assembled on headlands to hunt whales, or 
 scattered along" the coast iii pursuit of reindeer and 
 water-fowl. The Escjuimaux were confiding and frank, 
 and all said that no ships had recently appeared on the 
 coast ; and those west of Capo Bathurst further said 
 that during the preceding six weeks they never saw 
 any ice. 
 
 One fellow alone, in answer to inquiries after white 
 men, said, "A party of men are living on that island," 
 pointing, as he spoke, to Richard's Island. As Rich- 
 ardson had actually landed there on the preceding day, 
 he ordered the interpreter to inform him that he knew 
 that he was lying, lie received this retort with a smile, 
 and without the slightest discomposure, but did not 
 repeat his assertion. Neither the Esquimaux nor the 
 Dog-rib or Ilare Indians feel the least shame in being 
 detected in falsehood : and they invariably practise it, 
 
P"tt.v cM.is. Kv,,, i/n*^; ''"'•'■^7 «■'"■" ""r "f ti,..,-,. 
 
 '"«'="H'o ; a,„l if „„.y »„e, e!^ ,''" "."^, "•""' ■"' <1"' m„t 
 -'"msl...,ont, „,„i, f„ , ;',■ ' "■"'^"'"f'' "'l-"v.M„„ or 
 
 -"'•'■»- ■•« iu-« t,.„u, ,•,::';■':■ ;"'"•'■ "-■ i.- his 
 
 '"«;;. ' '" """"'"-'y to elicit the ,-oal 
 
 W ™t and fast Grecian,! ilr ,,'''' '""■ ""••'"<]!"& 
 "ato .I.eir nearest apnr Id . I " """'• ''""'"y "'^r 
 
 ■""-'-'. there ,-.„:„,^^^,^'-'»t -a.' range l.ere 
 
 ""'■ any variation bevn 1 ^ ^'^^ '" "'^•'•'' 'anffnag,. 
 
 ^»^-C a mere pro^ .-r"";,:"'^ l? -'--•«'" 
 
 ^l"" was born on tl,o East Main ' *''" '"""■|^'-'-'f">-- 
 
 James's Bay, ,,„., „o J^ ^f^ "■ <"' -ostern shore of 
 
 ""d makin,. m,„.olf under tood.T,'" """"^^^-^-^'"^ 
 "'« '-tnary of the Maeke, ^.^ ,,'' l' ''^^"™''»^ "^ 
 coast line „,e „,•,,,„,, , * ^ • "ffh y the nearest 
 
 "^^w^rsr:::tfoi:tr"^r-'^-^- 
 
 «"l-ation,- „„d ,„„, of , ::t hT r*' *""'"*-^ "f 
 
 he company's service at ho f ■""" '•■"^■''" "'t" 
 
 '- -ays Of their whit Lso ..tt'T^'f' ''"' "'^"''^ ■•"*» 
 
 '■'ous, I'andy, and intelli J,U ;h;\r , "''" """■'' ""'»«- 
 
 '» orpreters of the nation thltT.^' ^"'^'""'- '"'-' fo' " 
 
 '^-ft(fourinall)„ere ™ t Iv, '^' ""•""" '''^'J"'"-"*' ■' 
 
 .y icason to believe that 
 
fl 
 
 ,^j-i nf ■■u. ■:; iffifryf*"^'"-?^'^'^ 
 
 l! 
 
 >n 
 
 232 
 
 RICHARDSON'S AND RAE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 within their own community the rights of property are 
 held in great respect, even the hunting-grounds of fami- 
 lies being kept sacred. Yet their covetousness of the 
 property of strangers, and their dexterity in thieving, 
 are remarkable, and they seem to have most of the vices, 
 as well as the virtues, of the Norwegian Vikings. Their 
 personal bravery is conspicuous, and they are the only 
 native nation on the North American continent who 
 oppose their enemies face to face in open fight. In- 
 stead of flying, like tlio northern Indians, on the sight 
 of a stranger, they did not scrnple, in parties of two or 
 three, to come off to our boats and enter into barter ; 
 and never, on any occasion, showed the least disposi- 
 tion to yitid anything belonging to them through fear." 
 The Esquimaux winter huts are thus described : 
 
 " These buildings are generally placed on points 
 where the water is deep enough for a boat to come to 
 the beach, such a locality'' being probably selected by 
 the natives to enable them to tow a whale or seal more 
 closely to the place where it is to be cut up. The 
 knowledge of this fact induced us generally to look for 
 the buildings when we wished to land. The houses are 
 constructed of drilt-timber, strongly built together, and 
 covered with earth to the thickness of from one to two 
 feet. Light and air are admitted by a low door at one 
 end ; and even this entrance is closed by a slab of snow 
 in the winter time, when their lamps supply them with 
 heat as well as light. Ten or twelve people may seat 
 themselves in the area of one of these houses, though 
 not comfortably'' ; and in the winter the imperfect admis- 
 sion of fresh air, and the effluvia arising from the greasy 
 bodies of a whole family, must render them most disa- 
 greeable as well as unwholesome abodes. I have been 
 told that when the tiimily alone are present, tlie several 
 members of it sit partly or even wholly naked." 
 
KAL S EXPLORATIONS. 233 
 
 The exploi-ors mot /loos of rh'r. • 
 ^fter roundi.. Oupo iC/ , ^'^^ ^^^ ^^-' ^^'-t time 
 more niirneruu«Iy as iho.r ^^ encountered them 
 
 f -it. 0,. u/z r:;:rf " f "'""■■' -"^ ^'^^ 
 
 Ihcmselvos hem„,c..l ,•„ by j,„ '!' '"""'"'S they fbund 
 "« «'e eye could reaeh. TJ,„ tV ;' ; "-'""'"''"*? "« '^'^ 
 ffomal, but now it parsed Tt, , ''' '""' '"■"'«'■"' beo„ 
 que.-,t snovv.«to™.. T, , o •"■'''"""'' '■'•"^'' ^""' fro- 
 '"•«' great difficulty ; a d ^r .? '"'""'-■'"'■»' S"' «" 
 ™'' u- the west s^-dc ,f ^f" ' .'"^ ''•^<' P«'otrated 
 '■"S'fod by ri.o..ous\ tL :: 'T,'^'"^' "-^we..e 
 'tondon their boats. They i,.,' , "" """P<--»>--^ to 
 J"lhl a portiou of their offidT;/ '■'■■' '™'-'^ "'■='l'le to 
 
 them to e..a„,i„e the we te .'"f ""■^' "•'"^■'"'"-tod 
 Wollaston Laud, lyiu,.'', ' 1 '"""'"■" >*''»'•«« of 
 ''"d duriug elev„';°r;;"-^f°f Coronation «"if,- 
 September, they travXd I ^,f ,'■" "^ '^tb of' 
 (^oppermine, to their appoint ' " ''"^^'y "'' «>« 
 
 Ooufidcuce, at the north e^" '""•"'' '"'"'« ^t Fort 
 
 Bear Lake. J,-,,t «u , L -1 j! t'^P- T '^ "'' «'« «''-' 
 to England. *"' '^"^"' ^''ehardson ret,u-ued 
 
 I'' hi.s official repoi't tn ti c 
 
 Si- John ,.,,.. ..';:'tt;trb7<'^'''-^^'>-'ty, 
 
 z.eandCoppern,ine,Icareldl^ """"' "'« ^''^"oko.i- 
 
 -fuctions With ; ;: " ' ^;::'^"'«' «-•'• 'ord.ship». 
 «>a»t.]i„e, and became fullv ci .'''^'"""""'•"n of the 
 ''■■"' passed within view of he ■'.""■'^ "''" »" «'"> 
 "-■'y i™p..ssib,e that t ey eor/d 'f '""• " ■•«' ""kod, 
 ^''■■-ocl by son,e of ,|,e ,'LT " ''""« «" ""ob- 
 
 ?" «.e look-ont for . ::°"■;v'"'■"■"°f^^«^"■•"'-- 
 ;"f»'■">od by the Esquimau of R V. T"'"' ""'■•«°^«'-, 
 ''»d I'oen pressinr. on t ! ''^ ' '"''^' """ tho icj 
 
 '"-: and its elotc W,d r ;'r'^ ''" '^'-'^ -'"•- 
 
 - «- «h of SepteX lat ' r:; ..n"'"". ^™ ""■' '•'■ ' 
 
 20* ^ '"«^''3^ ""probable 
 
 
'I- 
 
 i 
 
 2M RTCriARUSON'S AND RAE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 wi 
 
 that it would open for ship navigation hitor in the 
 season. 
 
 " I regretted extremely that the state of the ice pre- 
 vented me from crossing to Wolhiston Land, and thus 
 completing, in one season, the whole scheme of their 
 lordshi[)s' instructions. The opening between Wollas- 
 ton and Victoria Lands has always appeared to me to 
 possess great interest ; for through it the flood-tide evi- 
 dently sets into Coronation (Julf, diverging t'o the west- 
 ward by the Dolphin and Union Strait, and to the east- 
 ward round Capo Alexander. By the fifth clause of Sir 
 John Franklin's instructions, he is directed to steer 
 Bouth-wcstward from Cape Walker, which v/^ould lead 
 liim nearly in the direction of the strait in question. If 
 Sir John found Barrow's Strait as open as when Sir 
 Edward Parry passed it on four previous occasions, I 
 am c<mvinced that (complying as exactly as he could 
 with his instructions, and without looking into Welling- 
 ton Sound, or other opoTu'ngs either to the south or north 
 of iiarrow's Strait) he pushed directly west to Cape 
 Walker, and from thence south-westwards. If so, the 
 ships were probably shut np on some of the passages 
 betvN^een Victoria, Banks', and Wollaston Lands. 
 
 " Being apprehensive that the boats I left on the 
 coast would be broken up by the Esquimaux, and being, 
 moreover, of opinion that the examination of the open- 
 ing in question might be safely and efficiently p(U'formed 
 in the only remaining boat 1 had fit fur the transport 
 from Bear Lake to the Coppermine, I d'^'ermined to 
 intrust this important service to Mr. Rae, wiio volun- 
 teered, and whose ability and zeal in the cause I cannot 
 too highly commend. He selected an excellent crew, 
 all of them experienced voyageurs, and capable of find- 
 ing their way back to Bear Lake without guides, should 
 any unforeseen accident deprive them of their leader. 
 
 li 
 
SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 235 
 
 In the month of March (1819) a sufficient supply of 
 pcmmican, and other necessary stores, with the equip- 
 ments of the boat, were transported over the snow on 
 dog--sledges to a navig-able part of the Kendall River, 
 and left there under the charge of two men. As soon 
 as the Dease broke up in June, Mr. Rae would follow, 
 with the boat, the rest of the crew, and a party of Indian 
 hunters, and would descend the (Joppermine River about 
 the middle of July, at which time the sea generally 
 begins to break up. He would then, as soon as possi- 
 ble, cross from Cape Krusenstern to Wollaston Land, 
 and endeavor to penetrate to the northward, erecting 
 signal-columns, and making deposits on conspicuous 
 headlands, and especially on the north shore of Banks' 
 Land, should he be fortunate enough to attain that 
 coast. JLe w^as farther instructed not to hazard the 
 safety of liis party by remaining too long on the north 
 side of Dolphin and Union Strait, and to be guided in 
 liis movements by the season, the state of the ice, and 
 such intelligence as ho i. i'!;ht obtain from the Esqui- 
 maux. He was also requested to engage one or more 
 families of Indian hunters to pass the summer of 1850 
 on the banks of the Coppermine River, to be ready to 
 assiSt any [)arty that may direct their course that way." 
 Mr. Rae repeated iiis elaborate and perilous mission in 
 the summer of 1850. 
 
 The third and most important of the three searching- 
 expeditions of 1848 was the marine one conducted by 
 Captain Sir James Clarke Ross. This comprised two 
 superb shi})s, — the Enterprise, of four hundred and sev- 
 enty tons and seventy men, and the Investigator, of 
 four imndred and twenty tons and seventy men, both 
 as strong as they could be made, and furnished with 
 every possible appliance. Each was provided with a 
 scrcw-propcllod steam-launch, thirty-one and a half feet 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 * 
 t 
 
 Ei 
 
 i 
 
236 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPFDIIiON. 
 
 '!';ti^ 
 
 long, and capable of an avcrag-o speed of eleven miles 
 an hour. Captain E. J. Bird was appointed to the com- 
 mand of the Investig-ator, Tiie ships were instructed 
 to proceed together to the liead of Barrow's Strait ; and 
 the Enterprise, if possible, to push on to a vintering- 
 place about Winter Harbor or Baid<s' Land, while the 
 Investigator should try to find harborage somewiiere 
 about (iarnier Bay or Gape lleimell. Parties were to 
 go from the Enterprise along respectively the eastern 
 and the westfjrn sliores of Banks' Land, to cross Sir 
 John Richardson's expedition on the mainland ; and 
 parties from the Investigator were to explore the coasts 
 of North Somerset and Boothia, 
 
 The expedition l(;ft the Thames on tlio 12th of May, 
 1848, and entered Baflin's Bay early in July. A letter 
 was written by Sir James Clarke Ross, from the Danish 
 settlement of Upernavik, on tlie 12ih of July, stating 
 that if, after passing a second winter at or near Port 
 Leopold, he shouh^ get no intelligeiue of Sir John 
 Franklin and his party, he would send the Investigator 
 home to Ertgland, and prosecute a further search in the 
 Enti I'prise alo)!i'. The Lo.-ds of the Admiralty took 
 alarm at the po,-'i' io, or even probable, consequences 
 of this excessive heroism, and ordered the North Star 
 store-ship, under command of Mr. James Saunders, to 
 get ready with all speed to take out instructions and 
 supplies to the expedition. Iler prime object was to 
 be the replenishing of the expedition's stock of pro- 
 visions, and the enjoining of the Investigator not to 
 return to England in the way Sir James C. Ross had 
 indicated, but to remain in company with the Enter- 
 prise ; and if the North Star should not succeed in 
 promptly fulfilling this object, she was instructed to 
 land the supplies at the furthest prominent point she 
 could readily reach, and by all means to keep hersolf 
 
SIR J. C, RUSSS EXPEDITION. 
 
 237 
 
 !n miles 
 :ho com- 
 structcd 
 lit ; and 
 iiitoring- 
 ^hilo the 
 [new acre 
 were to 
 3 eastern 
 :;ross Sir 
 nd ; and 
 he coasts 
 
 1 of May, 
 A letter 
 lie Danish 
 y, statin*^' 
 near Port 
 Sir John 
 estigator 
 irch in the 
 i)lty took 
 icqnences 
 orth Star 
 indcrs, to 
 tions and 
 t was to 
 of pro- 
 r not to 
 iRoss had 
 ho Enter- 
 liccced in 
 ucted to 
 point she 
 [p hers'/i** 
 
 free from besetment in the ice, and to return hofore the 
 close of the season. She sailed from the Thames on the 
 IGth of May, 1849, and did not return that season ; and 
 nhe also became a subject of much public anxiety. 
 
 The Enterprise and the Investigator left Upernavik 
 on the 13tli < f July, JHbS ; and, alter running through 
 ill' Intricaie aichipelago near the mainland, they arrived, 
 on the 2()th, oil' (/ape Shackleton, and there made fast 
 to a grounded iceberg. Tliey were joined there by the 
 Lord Gambier whaling-ship, whose master informed them 
 that, having run to the southward with the rest of the 
 whalers, and having atirefully examined the pack, he 
 had found it all so close, compact, and heavy, as not to 
 afford the slightest hope of any ship being able to find 
 an opening through it that season to the west. He had, 
 therefore, returned to the north, and expected that all 
 the other whalers would soon Ibllow him ; and he had a 
 very confident ho})e that he should get round the north 
 end of the pack by the first week of August. But " the 
 middle ice," as this great barrier along BalTin's Ba}' -j 
 called, has ever put the wits of the whale-fisliors to thr 
 severest trial. The earliest date at which it has buon 
 passed in any year is the 12th of June ; th<> latest at 
 which it has been found impassable is the 9th of Septem- 
 ber : and the average date of the first ship of the season 
 passing it is about the 13th of July. But in 1848 it 
 could be passed only with extreme difficulty, and only 
 by far rounding to the north ; and, as was afterwards 
 ascertained, the first and almost only vessel which then 
 got past it was the Prince of Wales, of Hull, on the (Jth 
 of August, about latitude 75°. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 2Ist of July, the expedi- 
 tion cast ofl" from the iceberg, and began to tow their 
 way through loose streams of ice tijwtu'd some lanes of 
 vatcr in the distance. But both on this day and on the 
 
 
 
 
 ^ff ' 
 
 w^ 
 
i 
 
 i 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 238 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 following few days they made slow progress, and were 
 often in dilTiculty. On the morning of the 20th, when 
 they were olfthe Three Islands of JJallin, in latitude Y]° 
 north, at the clearing away of a fog, they saw the Lord 
 Ganibier at some distance, standing under all sail to the 
 southward — the unusually bad state of the ice having 
 overturned her master's hopes, and altered liis purpose. 
 They pursued their course northward amid much per 
 plexity ; and, though still fully expecting to bore their 
 way through tlie pack, they were so excessively retarded 
 by calms and barriers, as soon to lose all hope of being 
 able to accomplish any considerable part of their mission 
 before the setting in of winter. They spared no exer- 
 tions, but forced a progress, and even drove on at the 
 expense of danger. 
 
 On the 20th of August, during a strong breeze from 
 the north-oast, the ships, under all sail, bored through 
 a moderately thick pack of ice, studded with perilously 
 large masses ; and they sustained severe shocks, yet, 
 hapi)ily, did not receive any serious damage. They 
 gained the open water on the afternoon of that day, in 
 latitude 1.51° north, and longitude 68° west, and then 
 steered direct for Pond's Bay. That, as is well known, 
 is the grand scene of the whale-fishery ; and thither the 
 expedition went to inquire of any whaler's crew who 
 might have got across to the west, and also of the 
 Esquimaux who annually visit that locality, whether 
 they had seen anything of the missing adventurers. ' 
 
 On the 22d of August they approached the shore, 
 about ten miles south of Pond's Bav, and saw" the main 
 pack so closely pressed home to the land, some three or 
 four miles further south, as to leave no room for ships 
 <»r boats to pass. They next stood in to the bay, and 
 pauseu within half a mile of the points on which the 
 Esquimaux are known to have their summer residences ; 
 
-m- 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 239 
 
 and they fired guns every lialf-liour, and closely exam- 
 ined every part of the shore with their glasses, but did 
 not get sight of a single human being. They then went 
 slowly to the northward, and sometimes could not hohl 
 their own with the current, and always kept so close to 
 the land that neither boats nor persons could escape 
 their notice, yet still were unsuccessful. 
 
 On the 26Lh they arrived oft' Possession Bay, at the 
 south side of the entrance of Lancaster Sound. A party 
 there went ashore to search for traces of Sir John Frank- 
 lin having touched at tnat general point of rendezvous, 
 but they found nothing except a paper recording the 
 visit of Sir Edward Parry, in 1819. The expedition now 
 sailed along the coast of Lancaster Sound, kecjjing close 
 in-shore, scrutinizing all the seaboard both from the 
 deck and from the mast-head, and fully expecting every 
 hour to see those of whom they were in search. Every 
 day they threw overboard, from each sliii), a cask con- 
 taining papers of information of all their proceedings ; 
 and in every fog they periodically fired guns, in every 
 time of darkness they burned rockets and blue lights, 
 and at all times they kept the ships umler such easy 
 sail that any boat seeing the signals might have reached 
 them. The drift of the information in thoycasks told the 
 missing adventurers that no assistance could be given 
 them at Pond's Bay, or anywhere else on the west coast 
 of Baffin's Bay ; that the Entarprise and the Investi- 
 gator were on their way to form a depot ' f provisions 
 at Port Leopold ; and that, if the adventurers would 
 go on to that place, they would either find one of the 
 ships there, or see, ah)ng with the provisions, a notice 
 of where she might be found. 
 
 On the 1st of September the expedition arrived oft" 
 (^'ape York, at the east side of the entritnco of Prince 
 Regent's Inlet. A party was there sout ashore, under 
 
ii 
 
 240 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 very difficult circnmstancos, to seek for Sir John Frank- 
 lin's company, or for traces of thorn, and to set up a 
 conspicuous mark, with a paper containing? similar in- 
 formation to that in the casks. From Cppo York the 
 expedition stood over toward North-East Cape, till they 
 came to the edge of a pack about fourteen miles broad, 
 lying in the way to Leopold Island, and too dense fur 
 them to penetrate. They wished to get with all possi- 
 ble speed to Port Leopold, to fulfil the promise made in 
 their notices, and were glad to observe that the pack 
 which now arrested them was still in motion, and might 
 be expected soon to go to pieces under some favorable 
 change. But, that no available time might be spent in 
 inaction, they stood away, in the mean time, to the 
 north shore of Barrow's Strait, to examine its numer- 
 ous inlets, and to seek for a retreat harbor. They 
 thoroughly explored Maxwell Bay, and several smaller 
 indentations; and they got so near the entrance of Wel- 
 lington Channel as to see that it was firmly and impen- 
 etrably barred from side to side by ice, wliicli had not 
 been broken up that season. Even Barrow's Strait was 
 embarrassed by a greater quantity of ice than had ever 
 before been seen in it at the same period of the year. 
 
 They now stood to the south-west to seek for a har- 
 bor near Cape Rennell : but they found a heavy body 
 of ice extending from the west of Cornwallis's Island, in 
 a compact mass, to Leopold Island. They coasted along 
 this pack during stormy and foggy weather, and had 
 difficulty during the nights in keeping the ships fioiu 
 being beset. With the thermometer every night at 15°, 
 young ice formed so rapidly, and became so thick, as to 
 defeat all th(>ir efforts to pass through some of even the 
 looser streams. Yet, after several days of anxious and 
 ardnouH toil, thoug-h the pack still lingered about Leo- 
 pold Island and North-East Capo, they succeeded in 
 
SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 241 
 
 getting through it, and entered the harbor of Port Leo- 
 pold on the 11th September ; and, had they not got in 
 on that day, they would not have got in at all ; for, on 
 the following night, the main pack came close home 
 to the land, and completely sealed the mouth of the 
 harbor. 
 
 They were happy in having reached Port Leopold, 
 both for their own sake and for the sake of their mis- 
 sion. They had doubted wliotlier the anchorage would 
 be good ; but they found it excellent, and saw at onco 
 that there could not bo a bettor wintering place for the 
 Investigator. Nor could there have been a litter local- 
 ity for making a grand deposit of provisions, and 
 preparing a temporary retreat for any of Sir John 
 Franklin's company who might be entangled among the 
 intricacies of the archipelago. Port Leopold is situ- 
 ated at the junction of the four great channels of Lan- 
 caster Sound, Barrow's Strait, Wellington Channel, and 
 Prince Regent's Inlet, and lies closely adjacent to any 
 route which Sir Johii Franklin could have been likely to 
 pursue in the event of his having had to retrogress from 
 the vicinity of Cape Walker ; so that a lodgment in it 
 by the present expedition could scarcely escape the 
 notice of any of Sir John's company who might happen 
 to be proceeding from any part whatever of the archi- 
 pelago toward Baffin's Bay. 
 
 An effort was made to bring the Enterprise out, with 
 the view of her going westward to some harbor nearer 
 Cape Walker. But she was irretrievably ice-bound. 
 The pack which closed the harbor's mouth never once 
 afforded a chance for the egress of even a boat ; and 
 across the isthmus, as far as could be discerned from the 
 neighboring heights, the same extensive mass of heavy 
 hurnmocky ice, which repelled and limited the expedi- 
 tion's movements before entering, remained imniovable, 
 
 21 
 
 
 
flifl 
 
 242 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 and formed a firm barrier all the way over to the 
 shore of North Somerset. Even if the Enterprise had 
 got out, she could not have proceeded far ; and in all 
 probability would cither have been perilously beset in 
 the pack, or conipcUed to sail away from it to England. 
 On the I'ith October, therefore, the two ships wei* laid 
 fast in their wintering position, within two hundred 
 yards of each other. 
 
 The earliest days after entering the harbor were de- 
 voted to the landing of a good supply of provision8 
 upon Whaler Foint, In this service the steam-launch 
 proved of most eminent value, not only c.irrying a large 
 cargo herself but towing two deeply-laden cutters at 
 the rate of four or five knots through the sheet of ice 
 which then covered the harbor, and which no boat, 
 unaided by steam, could have penetrated beyond her 
 own length. The crews spent the dead of winter in a 
 similar manner to those of former Arctic expeditions. 
 But they probably felt much depressed by thinking on 
 the fate of those whom they had been unsuccessfully 
 seeking, and they had to contend against a rigorous 
 cold, prolonged unusually far into the spring ; so that, 
 though they had more comforts, better appliances, and 
 much richer fruits of experience, than the crews of Sir 
 Edward Parry's and Sir John Ross's ships, they were 
 not by any means so healthy. During the winter a 
 great many white foxes were taken alive in traps, and, 
 as they are well known to travel great distances in 
 search of food, they were fitted with copper collars, 
 containing engraved notice,:, jf the position of the ships 
 and depots of provisions, and then set at liberty, in the 
 hope that they would be caught by the crews of the 
 Erebus and the Terror, 
 
 In April and the early part of May short journeys 
 were made to deposit small stores of provisions west- 
 
SIR J. C ROSS'S EXPEPITION. 
 
 243 
 
 to the 
 rise bad 
 1(1 ill all 
 beset in 
 Fingland. 
 ^vei' laid 
 
 bundred 
 
 were de- 
 irovisions 
 irn-launch 
 ig a large 
 cutters at 
 eet of ice 
 no boat, 
 3yond ber 
 vinter in a 
 ipcditions. 
 linking on 
 ccessfully 
 rigorous 
 ; 80 tbat, 
 inccf^, and 
 3WS of Sir 
 |thcy were 
 winter a 
 Iraps, and, 
 litances in 
 ^r collars, 
 ' tbc sbips 
 rty, in tbe 
 |ws of the 
 
 journeys 
 ions west- 
 
 ward of Capo Clarence, and southward of Capo Sop- 
 pings. On the I5th May a party of tbirtoon, headed by 
 Sir James C. Ross, and taking witii thorn forty days' 
 provision, and a supply of clotlics, blankets, ami other 
 necessaries, on two sledges, started on an exploratory 
 journey to the south. Tboy were accompanied for live 
 days by a fatigue party of nearly thirty, under Cai)tain 
 Bird. Tbeir object was to penetrate as far as possible 
 in the direction which Sir John Franklin was instructed 
 first to pursue, and to make a close scrutiny of every 
 bay and inlet in which any ships tiiight have found 
 shelter. They got on with difficulty, and did their work 
 with much toil, yet went resolutely forward. 
 
 The north shore of North Somerset trends slightly to 
 the northward of west, till it attains its highest latitude, 
 the highest latitude of continental America, a few miles 
 beyond Capo Rennell ; it thence trends slightly to the 
 southward of west till it rounds Cape Bunny ; and then 
 it suddenly assumes a direction nearly due south. From 
 high land adjacent to Capo Bunny tboy obtained a very 
 extensive view, and observed that all Wellington Chan- 
 nel on the north, and all the space between Capo Bunny 
 and Cape Walker on the west, wore occupied by very 
 heavy hummocky ice ; but that the frozen expanse south- 
 ward, along the west flank of North Somerset, was 
 smoother. They proceeded to the south, tracing all the 
 indentations of the coast, and heroically enduring great 
 exposure and fatigue, but not without the pain and 
 dolav of several of their number becoming useless from 
 lameness and debility. Thoy stopped on the 5th of June. 
 They were then too weak to go further, and had con-' 
 sumed more than half of their provisions ; and thoy 
 encamped for a day's rest, preparatory to their return. 
 
 Their brave leader and two of the men, however, 
 went onward to a vantage-ground about eight or nine 
 
 lit 
 
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 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
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 PholDgraphic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 1458^ 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 
 
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244 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXl'ELITION. 
 
 inilos distant. This extreme point of the journey is the 
 western extremity of a small high peninsula, situated in 
 latitude 12° 38' north, and longitude 95° 40' ./est. The 
 atmosphere at the time was peculiarly clear, and would 
 have carried the eye to land of an}'^ great elevation at 
 the distance of one hundred miles. But the most dis- 
 tant visible cape in the direction toward Boothia and 
 Victoria Land was not further off than fifty miles, and 
 lay nearly due south. Several small bays and inlets 
 intervened, and though, perhaps, not forming a contin- 
 uous sweep of the sea, they prove Prince Regent's Inlet 
 at Cresswell and Brentford Bays to be separated from 
 the western ocean by a very narrow isthmus — a dis- 
 tinct natural boundary between North Somerset and 
 Boothia. 
 
 The party resting at the encampment were not idle. 
 Lieut. McClintock, who headed them, took some mag- 
 netic observations, which had groat value, on account 
 of the near vicinity of the place to the magnetic pole. 
 Two of the men pierced the ice, and found it to be 
 eight feet thick, and set in a stick for ascertaining the 
 state of the tides ; and all the others who could work 
 erected a large cairn, into which was put a copper 
 cylinder, containing all requisite information for the 
 guidance of any of Sir John Franklin's company who 
 might journey along that coast. The time for expecting 
 those missing ones there that season, on the supposition 
 of their having abandoned their ships in the vicinity of 
 Melville Island, had almost or altogether passed. The 
 thaw had commenced, the suitable conditions for travel- 
 ling were over, and the present explorers had, at least, 
 the satisfaction of knowing that no wanderers from the 
 Erebus and the Terror then lay unheeded or perishing 
 on the coast of North Somerset. 
 
 The explorers began their return journey on the 6th 
 
SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 245 
 
 June. They forced their way through various difli- 
 culties, and arrived at the ships on the 23d. Tliey 
 were so worn and injured, that every man of them, from 
 some cause or other, went into the doctor's hands for 
 two or three weeks. One of the assistant surgeons, 
 too, had died ; several men of both crews were severely 
 ailing ; and the general health was far from good. 
 
 During the absence of the large exploring party in 
 North Somerset, three small ones were despatched by 
 Captain Bird in other directions. One, under the com- 
 mand of Lieut. Barnard, went to the north shore of 
 Barrow's Strait ; another, under the command of Lieut. 
 Browne, went to the east shore of Prince Regent's 
 Inlet ; and the third, under the command of Lieut. Rob- 
 inson, went to the west shore of that inlet. These 
 parties were comparatively a short time away ; yet 
 all — especially the last, who penetrated several miles 
 beyond Fury Beach — suffered from snow-blindness, 
 sprained ankles, and debility. 
 
 Preparations were now made for leaving Port Leo- 
 pold. The season was far advanced, and a strong 
 desire was felt to have the ships as soon as possible set 
 free, in order to push them on toward the west. But 
 something further was first done to extend the appli- 
 ances of the place as a refuge for the missing adven- 
 turers. A house was built of the spare spars of the 
 ships, and covered with such of the housing-cloths as 
 could be wanted. The depot of provisions and fuel 
 was raised to a suflScient quantity to serve for a 
 twelvemonth. And the Investigator's steam-launch 
 was lengthened seven feet, and made a fine vessel, 
 capable of conveying the whole of Sir John Franklin's 
 party to the whale-ships. . > 
 
 The crews were ill able to work the ships out of the 
 harbor, and to set them once more before the breeze ; 
 21* 
 
Il 
 
 246 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 but they went with a will to the task. The season was 
 far advanced, and exceedingly unpromising, and seemed 
 clearly to demand the utmost promptitude and strenu- 
 ousness of exertion. At a time when most other navi- 
 gable parts of the Arctic seas wore open, Port Leopold 
 continued as close as in the middle of winter. Not a 
 foot of water was to be seen on the surface of the sur- 
 rounding ice, except only along the line of gravel about 
 the harbor's mouth ; and small prospect existed that 
 any natural opening would occur. The crews were 
 obliged to cut a way out with saws. All hands that 
 were at all able went to work, and made a canal two 
 miles in length, and sufficiently wide to let the ships 
 pass outward to the adjacent sound. They did not 
 complete this till the 15th of August, and then had the 
 mortification to see that the ice to seaward remained, to 
 all appearance, as firmly fixed as in the winter. But it 
 was wasting away along the shores, and it soon broke 
 up, and gave promise of a navigable channel. The 
 ships got out of the harbor on the 28th of August, 
 exactly one fortnight less than a twelvemonth from the 
 time when they entered it. 
 
 They proceeded toward the north shore of Barrow's 
 Strait, with the view of making further examination of 
 Wellington Channel, and of scrutinizing the coasts t nd 
 inlets westward to Melville Island. But they were 
 arrested about twelve miles from the shore by fixed 
 land-ice, which had remained unbroken since the pre- 
 vious season, and which appeared to extend away to 
 the western horizon in a uniform heavy sheet. They 
 were in a loose pack, struggling with blocks and streams 
 as they best cotild, and they kept hovering about the 
 spot which afibrdod the greatest probability of an open- 
 ing. But, on the 1st of September, the loose pack was 
 suddenly put in commotion by a strong wind, and it 
 
SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 247 
 
 came down upon them and beset them. During two or 
 three days the heavy masses at times severely stj[ueezed 
 them, and ridges of hummocks were tlirown up all 
 around them, and then the temperature fell nearly to 
 zero, and congealed the whole body of ice into a solid 
 mass. The crew of the Enterprise were unable, for 
 some days, to unship the rudder, and when at last they 
 released it, by means of the laborious operation of saw- 
 ing away the hummocks which clove to the stern, they 
 found it twisted and damaged ; and, at the same time, 
 the ship was so much strained as to increase the leakage 
 from three inches in a fortnight to fourteen inches in a 
 day. ... 
 
 The ice now remained for some days stationary. The 
 lighter pieces had been so interlaced and imbricated by 
 pressure, as to form one entire sheet across the whole 
 width of Barrow's Strait, and away eastward and west- 
 ward to the horizon ; and all the blocks and strata below 
 them were so firmly cemented by the extreme severity 
 of the temperature as to seem little likely to break up 
 again that season. The ships appeared fixed for the 
 winter ; and who could tell whether they might not be 
 exposed to a series of as terrific perils as those which 
 Bo often menaced the Terror with destruction in her 
 awful ice-voyage of 1836 ? 
 
 On the wind shifting to the west, the crews, with a 
 mixture of hope and anxiety, beheld the whole body 
 of ice beginning to drive to the eastward, at the rate 
 of eight or ten miles a day. They made all possible 
 efforts to help themselves, but made them in vain, for 
 no human power could have moved either of the ships a 
 single inch. The field of ice which held them fast in 
 its centre was more than fifty miles in circumference. 
 It carried them along the south shore of Lancaster 
 Sound, and then went down the west side of BaflSn's 
 
248 
 
 SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 i' If • !' 
 
 Bay, till they were abreast of Pond's Bay, and there it 
 threatened to precipitate them on a barrier of icebergs. 
 But, just in the very crisis of tlieir alarm, it was rent, 
 as if by some unseen power, into innumerable fragments, 
 and they were set almost miraculously free. 
 
 The crews sprang from despair to hope, and from 
 inaction to energy. All sail was set, and warps were 
 run out from each quarter to work the ships past the 
 heavy floes. The Investigator got into open water on 
 the 24th, and the Enterprise on the 25th. "It is impos- 
 sible," says Ross, "to convey any idea of the sensation 
 we experienced when we found ourselves once more at 
 liberty ; many a heart poured forth its praises and 
 thanksgivings to Almighty God for this unlocked for 
 deliverance." The harbors of Baffin's Bay were now 
 all closed by ice, and the course to the west was barred 
 by the pack from which the ships had just been liberated. 
 The expedition, therefore, had no alternative but to 
 return to England, and they arrived off Scarborough on 
 the 3d of November, 1849. Thus ended the third of 
 the government explorations in search of Sir John 
 Franklin. 
 
 Lieutenant Pullen, who, it will be remembered, was 
 despatched from the Plover on the western coast, and 
 ordered to extend his search to the mouth of the Mac- 
 kenzie, ascended that river and reached Fort Simpson 
 on the 13th of October. Here he wintered, and, while 
 on his way to York Factory, the following spring, re- 
 ceived instructions by express to attempt a passage in 
 boats across the sea to Melville Island. He immediately 
 hurried back, and, on being supplied with four thousand 
 five hundred pounds of pemmica.i and jerked venison 
 by Rae, descended the Mackenzie. The season of 1850 
 proved more severe, however, than that of the previous 
 year. Pullen found the sea, from the Mackenzie to 
 
SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 249 
 
 Cape Bathurst, covereci with unbroken ice, a small chan- 
 nel only exiHting in-shore, through which he threaded 
 his way to the vicinity of the cape. Failing in finding 
 a passage out to sea to the north of Cape Bathurst, ho 
 remained in its vicinity, watching the ice for an open- 
 ing, until the approach of winter compelled him to 
 return to the Mackenzie. lie had reached the sea on 
 the 22d of July, a.id he did not quit it till the 1st of 
 September. As he ascended the Mackenzie, ice was 
 driving rapidly down. " It was one continued drift of 
 ice and heavy snow-storms." lie reached Fort Simp- 
 son on the 5th of October, and arrived in England to 
 take command of the North Star, and join the expedition 
 under Sir E. Belcher. 
 
 
 <\ui 
 
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 ) 1 :" iV 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 - ' 
 
 I 
 
 '"fit;ii 
 
 OPINIONS IN REQARD TO THE FATE OP FBA:iKLm. — CLIMATE. — RESOURCES 
 OP GAME. — REWARDS OFFERED. — RIJPORTS FROM WHALERS. — RE- 
 NEWED SEARCHES. — COLLINSON AND m'cLURE. — RAE'S INSTRUCTIONS. 
 — OTHEI'. EXl'EDITLONS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. — GRINNEI l'S EXPEDI- 
 TION. MEETING IN THE ARCTIC SEAS. TRACES OP FRANKLIN. 
 
 GRAVES. — SLEDGING PARTIES. — RETURN HOME. 
 
 I 
 
 It was the opinion of Sir John Richardson, the fornner 
 companion of Franklin, that his plans were to shape his 
 course, in the first instance, for the neighborhood of 
 Cape Walker, and to push to the westward in that 
 parallel ; or, if that could not be accomplished, to make 
 his way southwards, to the channel discovered on the 
 north coast of the continent, and so on to Behring's 
 Strait ; failing success in that quarter, he meant to 
 retrace his course to Wellington Sound, and attempt a 
 passage northwards of Parry's Islands ; and if foiled 
 there also, to descend Regent's Inlet, and seek the 
 passage along the coast discovered by TIessrs. Dease 
 and Simpson. 
 
 Captain Fitzjames, the second in command under Sir 
 John Franklin, was much inclined to try the passage 
 northward of Parry's Islands ; and he would, no doubt, 
 endeavor to persuade Sir John to pursue this course, if 
 they failed to the southward. In a priv^-te letter to 
 Sir John Barrow, dated January, 1845, Fitiyames writes : 
 " It does not appear clear to me what led Parry down 
 Prince Regent Inlet, after having got as tar as Melville 
 Island before. The north-west passage is certainly to 
 
 ' m 
 
FATE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 251 
 
 be gone througli by Barrow's Strait, but whether south 
 or north of Parry's Group, remains to be proved. I am 
 for going north, edging north-west till in longitude 14:0°, 
 if possible." 
 
 Captain Sir John Ross records, in February, 1847, his 
 opinion that the expedition was frozen up beyond Mel- 
 ville Island, from the known intentions of Sir John 
 Franklin to put his ships into the drift-ice at the western 
 end of Melville Island: a risk which was deemed in the 
 highest degree imprudent by Lieutenant Parry and the 
 oflicers of the expedition of 1819-20, with ships of a less 
 draughr of water, and in every respect better calculated 
 to sustain the pressure of the ice, and other dangers to 
 which they must be exposed. The expedition certainly 
 did not succeed in passing Bchring's Strait ; and, if not 
 totally lost, must have been carried by the drift-ice to 
 the southward, on land seen at a great distance in that 
 direction, from which the accumulation of ice behind 
 them would, as in Ross's own case, forever prevent the 
 return of the ships. When we remember with what 
 extreme difficulty Ross's party travelled three hundred 
 miles over much smoother ice after they abandoned their 
 vessel, it appears very doubtful whether Franklin and 
 his men, one hundred and thirty-eight in number, could 
 possibly travel six hundred miles. 
 
 In the contingency of the ships having penetrated 
 some considerable distance to the south-west of Cape 
 Walker, an laving been hampered and crushed in the 
 narrow channels of the archipelago, which there are 
 reasons for believing occupies the space between Victo- 
 ria, Wollaston, and Banks's Lands, it is remarked by 
 Sir John Richardson, that such accidents among ice are 
 seldom so sudden but that the boats of one or of both 
 ships, with provisions, can be saved ; and, in such an 
 event, the survivors would either return to LaucaBtor 
 
252 
 
 KATE OP FRANKLIN. 
 
 Strait, or mako fur the continent, according to their 
 nearnesa. 
 
 Colonel Sabine remarks, in a letter dated Woolwich, 
 6th of May, 1817 : "It was Sir John Franklin's inten- 
 tion, if foiled at one point, to try, in HUCceHsion, all the 
 probable openings into a more navigable part of the 
 Polar Sea. Tiie range of coaisi Ir, considerable in which 
 memorials of the ships' progress would have to bo 
 sought for, extending from Melville Island, in the west, 
 to the great sound at the head of Baflin's Bay, in the 
 east." 
 
 Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, in his report to the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty, Nov. 24, 1849, ob- 
 oerves : " Th^re are four ways only in which it is likely 
 that the Erebus and Terror would have been lost — by 
 fire, by sunken rocks, by storm, or by being crushed be- 
 tween two fields of ice. Both vessels would scarcely have 
 taken fire together ; if one of them had struck on a rock, 
 the other would have avoided the danger. Storms in 
 those narrow seas, encumbered with ice, raise no swell, 
 and could produce no such disaster ; and, therefore, by 
 the fourth cause alone could the two vessels have been 
 at once destroyed ; and, even in that case, the crews 
 would have escaped upon the ice — as happens every 
 year to the whalers ; — they would have saved their 
 loose boats, and reached some part of the American 
 shores. As no traces of any such event have been 
 found on any part of those shores, it may, therefore, be 
 safely aflSrmed that one ship, at least, and both the 
 crews, are still in existence ; and, therefore, the point 
 where they now are is the great matter for consid- 
 eration, r .1 
 
 " Their orders would have carried them towards Mel- 
 ville Island, and then out to the westward, where it is 
 therefore probable that they are entangled amongst 
 
m^ 
 
 FATE OF FliANKLIN. 
 
 258 
 
 islaiidH and ice. For, should thoy have been arrcHtod 
 at Hoiiic intermediate place, — for iiiHtanco, Capo VValk«'r, 
 or at one of the northern chain of islands, — they would, 
 undoubtedly, in the course of the three folhAvin^ years, 
 have contrived some method of sending- notices of 
 their position to the shores of North Somerset or to 
 Harrow's Strait. 
 
 " If they had reached much to the southward of 
 Baidvs's Land, they would surely have communicated with 
 the tribes on Mackenzie River ; and if, failing to get to the 
 westward or southward, they had returned with the 
 intention of penetrating through Wellington Channel, 
 they would have detached })artie8 on the ice towards 
 liarrow's Strait, in order to have deposited statements 
 of their intentions. The general conclusion, therefore, 
 remains that they are still locked up in the .irchipelago 
 to the westward of Melville Island." 
 
 Captain Sir George Back, in a letter to the Secretary 
 of the Admiralty, December Ist, 1849, says ; " You 
 will be pleased, sir, to impress on my Lords Commis- 
 sioners that I wholly reject all and every idea of any 
 attempts on the part of Sir John Franklin to send boats 
 or detachments over the ice to any point of the mainland 
 eastward of the Mackenzie River, because I can say, 
 from experience, that no toil-worn aad exhausted party 
 could have the least chance of existence by going 
 there. On the other hand, from my knowledge of Sir 
 John Franklin, — having been three times on discovery 
 together, — I much doubt if he would quit his ship at 
 all, except in a boat ; for any attempt to cross the ice 
 a long distance on foot woulc be tempting death ; and 
 it is too laborious a task to sledge far over such an 
 uneven surface as those regions generally present. That 
 great mortality must have occurred, and that one ship 
 may be lost, are greatly to be feared : and, as on all 
 
 22 
 
254 
 
 FATE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 former expeditions, if the survivors are paralyzed by 
 the dcproHsiiip attacks of scurvy, it woul i then bo 
 impossiblo for them, however desirous they mi^ht be, to 
 leave the siiip, which must thus become their last most 
 anxious abode. 
 
 " If, however, open water should have allowed Sir 
 John Franklin to have resorted to his boats, then I am 
 persuaded he would make for cither th(; Mackenzie 
 River, or, which is far more likely, from the almost cer- 
 tainty he must have felt of finding provision, Cap(? 
 Clarence and Fury Point. 1 am aware that the whole 
 chances of life, in this painful case, depend on food ; but 
 when 1 reflect on Sir John Franklin's former extraor- 
 dinary preservation under miseries and trials of the most 
 severe description, living often on scraps of old leather 
 and other refuse, I cannot despair of his finding the 
 means to prolong existence till aid be happily sent 
 him." 
 
 In regard to the advantages of an exploration by the 
 way of Behring's Strait, Sir John Richardson writes : 
 
 " The climate of Arctic America improves in a sensi- 
 ble manner with an increase of western longitude. 
 On the Mackenzie, on the 135th meridian, the sum- 
 mer is warmer than in any district of the continent 
 in the same parallel ; and it is still finer, and the 
 vegetation more luxuriant, on the banks of the Yucon, 
 on the 150th meridian. This superiority of climate 
 leads me to infer that ships well fortified against drift- 
 ice will find the navigation of the Arctic seas more 
 practicable in its western portion than it has been found 
 to the eastward. This inference is supported by my 
 own personal experience, as far as it goes. I met with 
 no ice in the month of August, on my late voyage, till I 
 attained the 123d meridian, and which I was led, from 
 
 .Ji.;*.--- 
 
FATE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 255 
 
 that circumstance, to suppose coiiiculcd with the west- 
 ern limits of Parry's Archipelago. 
 
 "The greater facility of navigating from the west has 
 been powerfully advocated by others on f)rnier occa- 
 sions ; and the chief, perhaps the only reason why the 
 attempt to penetrate the I'olar Sea from that quarter 
 has not been resumed since the time of Cook is, that 
 the length of the previous voyage to Behring's Strait 
 would considerably diminish the store of provisions ; 
 but the facilities of obtaining supplies in the Pacific are 
 now 80 augmented, that this objection has no longer the 
 same force." 
 
 It was urged that, though the crews of the Erebus 
 and the Terror had provisions with them for only throe 
 years, they could make these serve, by reduced allow- 
 ance, for a somewhat longer period, and would in all 
 probability obtain large additions to them by means of 
 their guns. The Arctic regions, far from being so d(?s- 
 titute of animal life as might be supposed from the bleak 
 and inhospitable character of the climate, are proverbial 
 for the boundless profusion of various species of the 
 animal kingdom, which are to be met with in diflferent 
 localities during a great part of the year. 
 
 The air is often darkened by innumerable flocks of 
 Arctic and blue gulls, the ivory gull, or snow-bird, the 
 kittiwake, the fulmar petrel, snow-geese, terns, coons, 
 dovekies, &c. The cetaceous animals comprise the 
 great Greenland whale, the sea-unicorn, or narwhal, 
 the white whale, or beluga, the morse, or walrus, and 
 the seal. There are also plenty of porpoises occasion- 
 ally to be met with ; and, although these animals may 
 not be the best of food, yet they can be eaten. Of the 
 land animals, we may instance the polar bear, the musk- 
 ox, the reindeer, the Arctic fox, and wolves. 
 
 Parry obtained nearly four thousand pounds' weight 
 
256 
 
 FATE or FRANKLIN. 
 
 V 
 
 i; 
 
 of animal food during his winter residence at Melville 
 Island ; Ross nearly the same quantity from birds alone, 
 when wintering at Port Leopold. 
 
 Sir John Richardson, speaking of the amount of food 
 to be obtained in the polar region, says : " Deer migrate 
 over the ice in the spring from the main shore to Vic- 
 toria and Wollaston Lands in large herds, and return 
 in the autumn. These lands are also the breeding- 
 places of vast flocks of snow-geese ; so that, with ordi- 
 nary skill in hunting, a large supply of food might bo 
 procured on their shores, in the months of June, 
 July, and August. Seals are also numerous in those 
 seas, and are easily shot, their curiosity rendering them 
 a ready prey to a boat-party." In these ways, and by 
 fishing, the stock of provisions might be greatly aug. 
 mented ; and we have the recent example of Mr. Rae, 
 who passed a severe winter on the very barren shores 
 of Repulse Bay, with no other fuel than the withered 
 tufts of a herbaceous andromada, and maintained a 
 numerous party on the spoils of the chase alone for a 
 whole year. 
 
 With an empty stomach the power of resisting exter- 
 nal cold is greatly impaired ; but when the process of 
 digestion h '^oing on vigorously, even with compara- 
 tively scanty clothing, the heat of the body is preserved. 
 There is, in the winter time, in high latitudes, a craving 
 for fat or oleaginous food ; and for such occasions the 
 flesh of seals, walruses, or bears, forms a useful article 
 of diet. Captain Cook says that the walrus is a sweet 
 and wholesome article of food. Whales and seals would 
 also furnish light and fuel. The necessity for increased 
 food in very cold weather is not so great when the 
 people do not work. 
 
 In March, 1848, the British Admiralty announced 
 their intention of rewarding the crews of any whaling- 
 
REWARDS OFFERED. 
 
 257 
 
 ships that brought accurate information of the missing 
 expedition, with the sum of one liundred guineas or 
 more, according to circumstances. Lady Franklin, also, 
 about the same time offered rewards of two thousand 
 and three thousand pounds, to be distributed among the 
 owner, oflBcers, and crew, discovering and affording 
 relief to her husband, or making extraordinary exertions 
 for the above object, and, if required, bringing Sir John 
 Franklin and his party to England. 
 
 On the 23d of March, 1849, the British government 
 offered a reward of twenty thousand pounds "to such 
 private ship, or by distribution among such private 
 ships, or to any exploring party or parties, of any coun- 
 try, as might, in the judgment of the Board of Admiralty, 
 have rendered efficient assistance to Sir John Franklin, 
 his ships, or their crews, and might have contributed 
 directly to extricate them from the ice." This, also, 
 was meant mainly for the whalers, but was not pro- 
 rnulged till most of them had sailed, and had no adapta- 
 tion to compensate owners and masters and crews pro- 
 portionately to their losses on the fishery, and, there- 
 fore, did not produce any effect. 
 
 In the spring of 1849 Mr. Parker, master of the 
 whaling-ship Truelove, carried out from Lady ! ranklin 
 a supply of provisions and coals for the possible use of 
 the missing expedition, and landed them on the con- 
 spicuous promontory of Gape Hay, on the south side of 
 Lancaster Sound. 
 
 In 1849 Dr. Goodsir, brother of the assistant surgeon 
 of the Erebus, embarked in the whaling-ship Advice, of 
 Dundee, on her annual trip to Baffin's Bay, in the hope 
 that he might get early intelligence of the missing expe- 
 dition. Mr. William Penny, the master of the Advice, 
 was well known for enterprise and energy, and had 
 made strenuous efforts, in 1834, to assist Sir John Ross 
 
 90* 
 
258 
 
 COLLINSON AND M'CLURE. 
 
 and his party, and now felt fervid and generous zeal to 
 be useful in the affair of Sir John Franklin. They pro- 
 ceeded in the ordinary manner of a whaling cruise, yet 
 penetrated into Lancaster Sound, and proposed to go as 
 far as Prince Regent's Inlet ; but were stopped, on the 
 4th of August, by a firm, compact barrier, extending 
 quite across, in crescentic outline, from Cape York, on 
 the south, to the vicinity of Barnet's Inlet, on the north. 
 They were only seven days within sight of the shores of 
 Lancaster Sound, and saw few other parts of them than 
 such as had been closely scrutinized by the Enterprise 
 and the Investigator ; yet they searched them with a keen 
 eye, and deposited on them several conspicuous notices. 
 
 The demanu for new researches now became pressing. 
 Three great divisions of search were adopted. These 
 corresponded, in general sphere and character, to the 
 three primary searching expeditions of 1848. One was 
 marine, by way of Behring's Strait ; another was over- 
 land, to the central northern coasts ; and the third was 
 marine, by way of Baffin's Bay, 
 
 The ships Enterprise and Investigator were refitted 
 with all possible speed, to go round South America, and 
 up to Behring's Strait. Captain Richard Collinson was 
 put in command of the Enterprise, and Commander 
 M'Clure, who had served as first lieutenant of the Enter- 
 prise in the recent expedition under Sir James C. Ross, 
 was put in command of the Investigator. The ships 
 were provisioned for three years, and supplied with bal- 
 loons, blasting appliances, ice-saws, and many other 
 contrivances for aiding their movements and research. 
 Each, also, was provided with a pointed piece of mech- 
 anism, about fourteen pounds in weight, attached by a 
 tackle to the end of the bowsprit, suited to be worked 
 from the deck, and capable, by means of a series of sud- 
 den falls, to break ice of any ordinary thickness, and 
 
COLLINSON AND M'CLURE. 
 
 259 
 
 open a passage through a floe or light pack. The ships, 
 though dull sailers, were the only ones fit for the ser- 
 vice which could be got promptly ready ; and, in order 
 to expedite their progress, steamers were put in requisi- 
 tion to tow them in more than one part of their voyage, 
 and particularly through the Magellan Strait, the Wel- 
 lington Channel, and on to Valparaiso. 
 
 They sailed from Plymouth Sound on the 20th of Jan- 
 uary, 1850. The captains had minute orders for their 
 guidance on the way to Behring's Strait, and with ref- 
 erence to the previous expeditions of the Herald and the 
 Plover ; and were also furnished with memoranda, sug- 
 gestions, and conditional instructions, for their aid in the 
 polar seas ; but, with the exception of two or three 
 general commands, bearing comprehensively on the 
 grand object of their mission, they were left almost 
 entirely to their own discretion, after they should enter 
 the ice. They were told to reap all the advantage they 
 could from the experience of the Herald and the Plover ; 
 to form a depot, or point of succor, for any party to fall 
 back upon ; to retain the Plover, and get her replen- 
 ished from the Herald, and send her a wintering and 
 cruising on nearly her former ground till the autumn of 
 1853 ; to keep the Enterprise and the Investigator 
 steadily in each other's company, and onward as far as 
 safety would permit to the east ; to cultivate the friend- 
 ship of the Esquimaux, and induce them to carry mes- 
 sages to the Hudson's Bay Company's settlements ; to 
 throw occasionally overboard tin cylinders containing 
 information, and to use every precaution against getting 
 into any position which might possibly hold them fast 
 till their provisions should become exhausted. 
 
 Both ships made a comparatively speedy passage to 
 Behring's Strait. On the 29th of July the Enterprise 
 reached the western end of the Aleutian Chain ; on the 
 
260 
 
 RAE'S INSTRUCTIONS. 
 
 11th of August she reached the island of St. Lawrence ; 
 and on the IGth of August fell in with the ice. But the 
 weather was then so unfavoruble, and tlie ice so thick, 
 that Captain CoUinson abandoned a purpose which ho 
 had formed to attempt to penetrate that season to Cape 
 Bathurst. After several encounters with the ice, he 
 reached Grantley Harbor, and there found the Plover 
 preparing for winter quarters, and was next day joined 
 by the Herald. On consulting with Captains Kellett 
 and Moore, he determined, instead of wintering in the 
 north, to proceed to Hong Kong, there to replenish his 
 provisions, and not to set out again for the north till at 
 least the first of April, 1851. The Investigator was 
 later in getting through th(3 Pacific than the Enterprise ; 
 and Commander Moore, of the Plover, writing at sea, in 
 latitude 51° 26' north, and longitude 112° 35' west, on 
 the 20th of July, gave a sketch of his intended opera- 
 tions, and said that no apprehension need be enter- 
 tained about his safety till the autumn of 1854, as he 
 had on board full provisions of every kind for three years 
 after the first of September, and intended to issue, in 
 lieu of the usual rations, whatever food could be obtained 
 by hunting parties from the ship. 
 
 Dr. Rae, it will be remembered, was left by Sir John 
 Richardson to attempt to overtake, in the summer of 
 1849, an unaccomplished part of the objects of the over- 
 land expedition of 1848. This had special reference to 
 the examination of the coasts of Victoria Land and Wol- 
 laston Land ; and now that Sir John Franklin's ships 
 were believed to have certainly gone beyond Cape 
 Walker, and to have probably bored their way south- 
 westward to some position between that place and the 
 mainland, this was deemed to be much more important 
 than before. Early in 1850 instructions were despatched 
 to Dr. Rae, by Governor Sir George Simpson, of the 
 
AUSTIN'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 261 
 
 •cuce ; 
 ut the 
 thick, 
 ich ho 
 D Cape 
 ce, he 
 Plover 
 joined 
 Kellett 
 <; in the 
 lish his 
 h till at 
 or was 
 3rprise ; 
 b sea, in 
 rest, on 
 1 opera- 
 e enter- 
 >4, as he 
 ee years 
 issue, in 
 ibtained 
 
 sir John 
 nmer of 
 le over- 
 ence to 
 nd Wol- 
 's ships 
 d Cape 
 y south- 
 and the 
 portant 
 patched 
 . of the 
 
 Hudson's Bay Company, requiring him, in the event of 
 his explorations of 1849 having been unsuccessful, to 
 organize another expedition for the summer of 1850. 
 This was to penetrate further, to range more vv^idely, 
 and to examine the coasts of Banks's Island, the coasts 
 around Cape Walker, and the north coast of Victoria 
 Land. Two small parties, at the same time, were to 
 ])roceed westward on the mainland in the direction of 
 Point Barrow ; and one of these was to descend the 
 Mackenzie, and explore the coast to the west of it, 
 while the other was to pass on to the Colville River, 
 and to descend that stream to the sea ; and both were 
 to induce the natives, by rewartls and otherwise, to 
 prosecute the search, and spread intelligence in all direc- 
 tions. Dr. Rao was particularly instructed to keep an 
 ample supply of provisions, clothing, ammunition, fish- 
 ing-tackle, and other necessaries, at Fort Good Hope, 
 as that seemed an eminently probable retreat to which 
 j)arties of the missing adventurers might try to force 
 their way. But in most other matters, and especially 
 in all the details of the expedition, he was left solely to 
 his own discretion. 
 
 The expedition equipped by the British government 
 for renewed search by way of Baffin's Bay and Lancas- 
 ter Sound comprised two strong teak-built ships, — the 
 Resolute and the Assistance, — and two powerful screw- 
 propelled steam-vessels — the Pioneer and the Litrepid. 
 These ships had a tonnage, the former of five hundred, 
 and the latter of four hundred and thirty tons, and were 
 alike strong, commodious, e^'^^ant, and admirably ap- 
 purtenanced. The steam-vessels had strength and 
 adaptation not only for towing the ships in. open chan- 
 nels, but for conflicting with the perils of the polar seas, 
 and forcing a passage through small floes and thin 
 packs of ice. Captain IF. T. Austin was put in com- 
 

 262 
 
 ROPS.- PENNY. 
 
 mand of the Eesolute, Caj,tain E. Ommapey of the 
 Assistance, and Lieut. Sherard Osborne of the Pioneer. 
 Multitudes of oflScers nobly vied as volunteers to obtain 
 the subordinate appointments ; and some of the most 
 experienced whale-fisliers were obtained for the fore- 
 castle. The instructions given were similar in scope 
 and spirit to those of the Behxing's Strait expedition, 
 and differed chiefly in adaptation to the difi'erent route. 
 The expedition sailed in the spring of 1850. ^' ' 
 
 An expedition under the command of the veteran Sir 
 John Ross was equipped by a public subscription, 
 toward v;^hich the Hudson's Bay Company contributed 
 five hundred pounds. This consisted of a schooner- 
 rigged vessel of one hundred and twenty tons (which 
 Sir John called the Felix, in honor of his late patriotic 
 friend. Sir Felix Booth), and of a small tender, of twelve 
 tons, called the Mary. They were provisioned for 
 eighteen months, and they set sail in the latter part of 
 April. Sir John was in excellent spirits, as full of fire 
 and daring as in his younger years ; and he enlisted in 
 his service an old expert Esquimaux interpreter. His 
 plan was to proceed as quickly as he could to Barrow's 
 Strait to commence operations at Cape Hotham, on the 
 west side of the entrance of Wellington Channel ; to 
 examine all the headlands thence to Banks's Land, and 
 then, if still unsuccessful, to leave the Mary there as a 
 vessel of retreat, and to push the search in the Felix 
 alone during another year. 
 
 An expedition also was equipped at the instance of 
 the devoted Lady Franklin, wholly by her own zeal, and 
 mainly at her own expense. This was put under the 
 command of Mr. Penny, formerly master of the Advice 
 wh«?.le-ship, and consisted of a fine ship of two hundred 
 and twenty-five tons, called The Lady Franklin, and a new 
 clipper-brig of one hundred and twenty tons, named the 
 
FORSYTH'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 263 
 
 ►f the 
 jneer. 
 obtain 
 
 most 
 3 fore- 
 
 scopo 
 dition, 
 
 route. 
 
 ran Sir 
 ription, 
 ributed 
 hooner- 
 (which 
 )atriotic 
 f tweb- e 
 ned for 
 part of 
 1 of fire 
 listed in 
 r. His 
 arrow's 
 , on the 
 iiel ; to 
 ,nd, and 
 ire as a 
 le Felix 
 
 tance of 
 ieal, and 
 ider the 
 Advice 
 lundred 
 id a new 
 Imed the 
 
 Sophia. The larger vessel was fitted up at Aberdeen, 
 and the smaller one at Dundee — both with great celer- 
 ity, and in a style of the best possible adaptation to an 
 Arctic voyage ; and they also sailed in the spring of 
 1850. Their proposed plan of procedure was somewhat 
 coincident with that of the government expedition ; yet 
 entirely independent, except in the way of cooperation 
 or mutual aid, and liable to be much controlled or mod- 
 ified by circumstances. 
 
 Another expedition, supplementary to the preceding, 
 was equipped at the instance of Lady Franklin. She 
 herself defrayed about two thirds of the cost of it, by 
 means of selling out of the funds all the money whioh 
 she could legally touch ; and her friends defrayed the 
 rest. The only vessel was the Prince Albert, a 
 schooner-rigged craft of ninety tons, but as fine a little 
 structure as ever " walked the waters," and strength- 
 ened and fitted in the most artistic way for buffeting 
 the perils of the Arctic seas. She was commanded by 
 Commander Charles C, Forsyth, of the Royal Navy; and 
 was served in a variety of capacities, most laboriously 
 and dexterously, by Mr. W. P. Snow, — both volunteers, 
 who wished no compensation but the honor of the en- 
 terprise. The object was to examine the shores of 
 Prince Regent's Inlet and the Gulf of Boothia, and to 
 send out travelling parties to explore the west side of 
 the land of Boothia down to Dease and Simpson's 
 Strait. At the time when Sir John Franklin sailed, a 
 belief was general that Boothia was an island, and that 
 Prince Regent's Inlet communicated with the Polar Sea 
 through Dease and Simpson's Strait ; so that, in the 
 event of his being baffled in finding a north-west pas- 
 sage by way of Cape Walker, or up Wellington Chan- 
 nel, he would very probably enter Prince Regent's Inlet, 
 with the view of passing round the south of Boothia. 
 
264 
 
 DE HAVEN.— NORTH STAR. 
 
 Ilencc the present expedition. The Prince Albert sailed 
 from Abordo(!n on the 5th of June. 
 
 An expedition also was equipped in Amerca. This 
 was g-ot up mainly by the exertions and at the cost of 
 Henry Grinnell, Esq., a merchant of New York, but 
 was put in order and sent forth by the United States 
 Navy department. It consisted of two vessels, the 
 Advance and the Rescue, of respectively one hundred 
 and twenty-fi\ e and nimety-five tons ; and was put under 
 the command of Lieut. De Haven, who had served in 
 the United States Exploring Expedition, under Commo- 
 dore Wilkes, in the Antarctic seas. It sailed from New 
 York on the 24th of May, and was accompanied for two 
 days in his yacht by Mr. Grinnoil. Its object was to 
 push promptly forward, in any way it could, in the di- 
 rection of Melville Island and Banks's Land ; to winter 
 wherever it might happen to stick fast, in the pack, or 
 out of the pack ; and to move on and make search as 
 long as it might be able, in any direction which should 
 offer most promise of succocs. 
 
 The North Star transport, which left England in 1849 
 to convey stores to the expedition under Sir James C. 
 Ross, may in some ocnse be regarded likewise as one of 
 the exploring ships of 1850. She became beset in Mel- 
 ville Bay on the 29th of July, 1849, and gradually drifted 
 till the 26th of September ; and being then abreast of 
 Wolstenholme Sound, and able to bore a way through the 
 loosened ice, she pressed up to the head of that sound, 
 and there wintered i:i lat. 16'"' 33' N., being the most north- 
 erly position in which any vessel, except Dr. Kane's, has 
 been known to be laid up. She lost four of her crew 
 during the disnial seclusion of the Arctic night, but not 
 from causes attributable to the climate ; and she found a 
 large proportion of the preserv id meats she had brought 
 from E:igland to he of bad quality, and was obliged to 
 
niOGRESS OF THE EXPEDITIUN. 
 
 205 
 
 iled 
 
 sal 
 
 This 
 
 JOSt v)f 
 
 rk, but 
 . States 
 ;ls, the 
 lundred 
 it under 
 jrved in 
 Commo- 
 om New 
 
 I for two 
 t was to 
 
 II the di- 
 to winter 
 
 pack, or 
 search as 
 ;h should 
 
 put the surviving^ crew upon two-thirds allowance. 
 She got out of Wolstenholmc Sound on the lat of xVuj^ust, 
 1860, passed through "the middle ice " in the centre 
 of Ross's Bay, reached Possession Bay on the evening 
 of the 8th, left despatches there, and arrived at Leopold 
 on the 13th. She found that harbor full of ice, and was 
 not able to land stores at it, and with great dilhculty 
 communicated with the shore by boat, to leave a notice 
 of her visit. She next went toward Port Bowen, but 
 found that place entirely blocked with ice ; and then 
 stretched across out of the inlet, and spoke first the 
 Lady Franklin, and afterwards the Felix, and got intel- 
 ligence from them of the great searching operations of 
 that season. She next proceeded to Navy Board Inlet, 
 and there, on the mainland, behind Wollaston Island, 
 she put ashore her surplus stores of fuel and provisions. 
 She had suddenly to scud away before a gale ; and, run- 
 ning out of the mid-channel of Lancaster Sound, on the 
 28th of September she arrived in Scotland. 
 
 The several expeditions of 1850 up Baffin's Bay en- 
 countered enormous difficulties from "the middle ice " 
 and the Melville Bay barrier. Though the ships sailed 
 from widely diflferent points at widely difl'erent periods, 
 they nearly all got into view of one another, and most 
 were for some time closely in company. All were at 
 several times arrested or beset ; and the best and largest 
 spent five weeks in effecting a northward distance of 
 thirty miles. The perils which +; :y braved were only 
 a degree or two less terrible thn tl )3e of the Terror in 
 Hudson's Bay in 1836. The crev .j of the smaller ves- 
 sels were repeatedly all prepared, with their bundles 
 and loose stores, to leap on the ice from expected ship- 
 wreck, and to betake themselves to sledging or foot- 
 travelling for escape to the land. The environment, by 
 massive towering icebergs, was sometimes so complete 
 23 
 
266 
 
 THE PRINCE ALBERT. 
 
 us to exclude every perceptible outlet, Bomctimes so 
 cloHO as alinoHt to rub the ships, and Houietimes bo un- 
 steady or whirliup^ as to threaten overwlK'huinj]^ somer- 
 sets. Some \vhaliii|^-ships which got early to the north, 
 though comnuinded by the most experienced masters, 
 and manned by the most select crews, turned about and 
 sailed back to the south, fully believing the penetration 
 of Melville Bay that season to be either an impossibility 
 or practicable only at fearful hazards. 
 
 The expedition ships, however, were little, if at all, 
 daunted, conscious of possessing higher powers, and 
 resolutely determined to get on. The means which 
 they used for forcing their way comprised all the known 
 methods of boring, tracking, and cutting, and were 
 sometimes effected with prodigious labor and indomita- 
 ble perseverance : and they comprised also, in the case 
 of the British government expedition, the smashing of 
 all thin floes, and sometimes the perilous assault of 
 thick ones, by the impetus of the steamers. The 
 smaller vessels of the private expeditions might have 
 seemed incompetent for such rough work ; but, though 
 ill able to attack, they were well able to run and manoeu- 
 vre ; and, on the average of the voyage through the 
 ice, they were found to be fully as safe, and more than 
 fully as manageable, as the large ships. 
 
 The little Prince Albert, in particular, did wonders ; 
 and on one occasion, disdaining to lie ice-fast, she made 
 a daring attack upon a neck of ice which lay between 
 her and an open piece of water. With a tremendous 
 blow, that for the moment made her rebound and trem- 
 ble, she struck the ice in the exact point, and rent it 
 into fragments. 
 
 The steamers, for a long way, accelerated the prog- 
 ress not only of the government ships, but also of the 
 Felix and the Prince Albert, by towing them through 
 
MOVEMENTS OF THE SHIPS. 
 
 267 
 
 [\C8 8" 
 
 BO un- 
 Bomcv- 
 north, 
 I asters, 
 3ut and 
 jtration 
 isibility 
 
 f at all, 
 jrs, and 
 9 which 
 known 
 nd were 
 ndomita- 
 the case 
 ishing of 
 Bsault of 
 prs. The 
 trht have 
 t, though 
 i manoeu- 
 •ough the 
 nore than 
 
 wonders *, 
 
 she made 
 
 f between 
 
 emendous 
 
 and trein- 
 
 ,nd rent it 
 
 the prog- 
 
 klao of the 
 
 through 
 
 pervious inassos of loose ice, and hy forcing a pasHugo 
 through irnpediincnts. One of the scones, deHcribod by 
 Snow, in this part of the voyage illuKtnit<'M its arduous- 
 ncss and novelty: " We came to a h(Mivy nip, and all 
 the vessels had to bo made fast to a floe until a pas- 
 sage could be cleared. The Pioneer, iinmodiately on 
 casting oil' the Kesolute's tow-rope, was directed to dash 
 at the impediment, under full power. This she did 
 boldly and fearlessly, rushing stem on, and fairly dig- 
 ging her bows into it in a most rennirkable manner. 
 Backing instantly astern, and tiien again going ahead, 
 she performed the same manoeuvre, fairly lifting herself 
 up on end. like a prancing war-horse. By this time tho 
 nip was too heavy to be so broken, though both tho 
 steamers had previously cleared many similar impedi- 
 ments in that manner. It was now, however, necessary 
 to resort to other means ; and, accordingly, parties from 
 every ship were sent on the ice to assist in blowing it 
 up, and removii ^ the fragments as they got loosened. 
 Tho same plan as that, I believe, adopted in blasting 
 rocks, was here pursued. Powder was sunk to a certain 
 depth, a slow match applied, and at a given signal 
 ignited. Due time was allowed, and then tho enormous 
 masses would be seen in convulsive movement, as 
 though shaken by a volcanic eruption, until piece upon 
 piece was sent in the air, and the larger bodies were 
 completely rent into innumerable fragments. The 
 isteamers then darted forward, and with warps dragged 
 f ut the immense blocks that had been thus dissevered. 
 Several efforts had to be made by blasting and forcing 
 the ice before a passage could be cleared." 
 
 On the 14th of August the Lady P'ranklin and the 
 Sophia were for a little while in company with the other 
 ships, and then, amidst deafening cheers, stood away, 
 under all sail, to the west. On the following night, 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 t 
 
208 
 
 MOVKMKNTS OF THE SIIII'S. 
 
 wIkmi th(» lidlo n<M>t wore ofl" (Jiipij Diulh'y Dig'^os, the 
 Iiitr<>|)i(l, till* AKsistidicc, uiul the l''(>lix, parted coiiipiiiiy 
 ti) miik(> ii Hcjircli in W'olstciiliolmc Souihl. Oii tlio ITitli 
 tlio I'ioiu'cr, the Hcsoliitc, iiiid 1Im> !*iiiit'(5 Albert, vvoro 
 (juito into tlio " North Water," uvvay from tlio ice ; and 
 1)11 the Kith Captain Austin announced liin intention to 
 call at l*«)iMrH Hay and J\)HHesHion Ha^ . Ilc^ exprcKned 
 a wish that the J'rini'e Albert would examine tin; Houth 
 ishore of liancaster Souml from Capc^ Hay onward; and 
 stated- that the Intrepid and the AHsistaneo would ex- 
 amine the north nhore, and come to a rende/vouH with 
 the Resolute Homewhere about the mouth ol' W'ellingtou 
 Chaiuiel. 
 
 Karly on the 'Jlst of Auj;ust the Prince Albert arriv<'d 
 oft' Port Leopold. A landing:; waH ell'ected with jj^reat 
 dilVu'ulty in a ^utta-pereha boat, and could not have 
 been etl'ected at all in any ordinary boat. The houno 
 constructed by Sir Jamea C. Hoaa was found much rent 
 in several places on the top and at the sides, but other- 
 wise in excellent order, and quite lit to be a temi)orary 
 retreat to any forlorn or cast-away Arctic adventurers. 
 The stores were abundant and in prime condition. The 
 steam launch seemed a noble little vessel, in which a 
 brave-hearted party might venture anywhere, and was 
 so placed that she could very easily be run into the sea. 
 But not a trace was found of the visit of any wanderer 
 from the Erebus and the Terror. 
 
 The Prince Albert now stood away down Prince Re- 
 gent's Inlet ; and towards evening, when she was glid- 
 itig past the ice of Batty Bay, her crew were startled 
 for a moment into a thrill of hope. The men on deck 
 thought they heard a gun iircd on shore ; the olTicers 
 ran to scrutinize the land through their glasses aloft ; 
 the vessel was steered closer to the bay ; the howitzer 
 was cleared away, and tired ; but not the sliglitest sign 
 
MOVKMENTS OF TIIF, HllIPS. 
 
 209 
 
 '«, the 
 npuny 
 10 ir)th 
 ,, wcro 
 ? ; aiul 
 tioii to 
 
 J BOlltli 
 
 (I; uud 
 
 HlUl t!X- 
 
 UH with 
 Uingtou 
 
 ; anivod 
 Ih ^leat 
 lot have 
 
 10 llUUHC 
 
 mch ront 
 nt othcr- 
 'inporary 
 outurevs. 
 on. The 
 winch a 
 and was 
 ) tho Foa. 
 wanderer 
 
 'rn\cc Rc- 
 |was pi id- 
 startled 
 1 1 on dock 
 ie officers 
 Isos alol't ; 
 howitzer 
 litest sign 
 
 of lilo couKl 1)0 Roon ; not tho faintewt ariHworing' Hound 
 wuH hoard. Tho Hupposod Hhot had horn inoroly tlio 
 fallinjif of a pioce of rock, or tho collision of soino heavy 
 uiaHscH of ico. 
 
 •' No.vt morning th(3 vohhoI waH off Fury Bcacli, ami ii» 
 a thick fog; and when the fog cleared away, she j)rovo(l 
 to 1)0 in a bight of th(^ ic(!, within a f(!w yards of a con- 
 tinuous, heavy, hunnnoeky expanse, which conlaincMl 
 not, as far as it could be seen from the crow's ntst, one 
 j)ool or crack, or the; slightest promise of an opening. 
 Tho officers examineil this long and anxiously, and wero 
 forced to conclude that any attempt to penotraie it that 
 season woulil lu; impracticable. They gloomily but 
 irresistibly felt the specific object of tluMr voyage, tlio 
 examination of the shores of IJoothia, to be defeated ; 
 and saw at once that they must turn about and lose 
 little time in returning to Britain. Hut they resolved 
 first to look at some of the most accessible shores and 
 headlands about tho throat of Barrow's Strait, and u 
 brief way up Wellington ('haniM;!. 
 
 During twenty-four hours, Mr. Sikjw, with a small 
 boat party, made a romantic land search of tho coast 
 around Batty Bay, and on to Port Leopold ; and he found 
 tho latter place far more blocked up than on the 21st, 
 and did not get away from it without enormous labor 
 and difliculty. When he again reached his vessel they 
 had to stand well away to avoid collision with a heavy 
 stream of ico which fiiled a large portion of tho adjacent 
 sounds. When they got a little way into Barrow's 
 Strait, they saw coming right towards them a schooner, 
 which they first supposed to bo tho Felix, but afterwards 
 found to be the American brig Advance. On tho 
 morning of the 24:th, they wero standing across to Capo 
 nurd, under a clear sky and with a moderate breeze, 
 while a heavy pack was visible from the crow's nest, 
 23* 
 
 Vb\ 
 
270 
 
 MEETING IN THE ARCTIC SEAS. 
 
 extending all along the coast of North Somerset, from 
 outside of Leopold Island on the east, to the vicinity of 
 Cape Ilennell, where it appeared to enlarge, and began 
 to take a curved direction toward Cape Ilotham. 
 The Advance was still behind tliem ; the Lady Franklin 
 and the Sophia were to windward, struggling along 
 shore in the vicinity of Radstock Bay ; and, as the day 
 wore on, three more ships were observed at the mouth of 
 Wellington Channel. 
 
 An liour before noon of the 25th, when the Prince 
 Albert was off Cape Spencer, her oflScers saw that she 
 must stop. An extensive pack was then a short dis- 
 tance ahead, broken only by a few lanes of water, 
 through which the ships in advance had evidently 
 passed ; and the wind was blowing in a direction, 
 happily, quite favorable for carrying these ships rapidly 
 on to the regions of most desirable search, but fitted 
 also to make a prompt closure of the pack against any 
 return that season to the east. If the Prince Albert 
 sliould now go forward more than a mile or two, she 
 might be suddenly caught by the ice, and helplessly and 
 uselessly shut up for the winter. At noon, therefore, 
 she bore up when about midway between Cape Spencer 
 and Point Innes ; and then Mr. Snow went to the mast- 
 head to take a last view of the position and seeming 
 prospects of the several exploring vessels. 
 
 Cape Ilotham was seen to the west enveloped in a 
 thick haze. The Assistance appeared some distance to 
 the north-east of it, endeavoring to get to it, seemingly 
 cither in a hole of water or along a lane. The Lady 
 Franklin was not far from the Assistance, but, proba- 
 bly, about mid-channel, cither working toward Cape 
 Hothani, or trying to get right away to the west. The 
 Sophui, also under all sail, was some distance astern 
 of the Lady Franklin, and more to the east. The Res- 
 
TRACES OF FKANKLIN. 
 
 271 
 
 , from 
 ity of 
 began 
 )tliara. 
 •anklin 
 along 
 he day 
 outh of 
 
 Princo 
 hat she 
 ort dis- 
 ' water, 
 vidcntly 
 irection, 
 5 rapidly 
 ut fitted 
 inst any 
 e Albert 
 wo, she 
 ssly and 
 herefore, 
 Spencer 
 he mast- 
 seeming 
 
 cue was still further to the east, considerably in-shore, 
 and apparently beset. All these vessels were among 
 heavy ice. The Advance could not be seen, but was 
 supposed to be behind one of tlie points of land ; and 
 she was afterwards spoken in tlie vicinity of Cape Riley, 
 close in-shore, fast to an iceberg. The Intrepid, too, 
 was not then visible, but had been seen in the morning. 
 All Wellington Channel, as far as the eye could reach, 
 was filled with one solid pack, broken only here and 
 there by a small lane. Some high land, appearing dim 
 and filmy from haze and distance, was seen toward 
 Cape Bowden, trending apparently to the north-west. 
 One heavy pack extended athwart all the south-west, 
 and seemed to be impenetrable. The only clear water 
 visible lay immediately around the Prince Albert, and 
 backward along the way by which she had come. 
 
 On the same day, soon after iu.^. Prince Albert had 
 turned her bow homeward, a flag-staff, like a signal- 
 post, was observed on Cape Riley. The officers, sup- 
 posing this to have been set up by a party from some 
 one of the exploration ships, sent a boat ashore to 
 ascertain what it meant. A cylinder was found at the 
 flag-staff, containing a notice that the officers of the 
 Assistance and the Intrepid had landed on Cape Riley 
 on the 23d ; that they had collected there distinct 
 traces of an encampment by some party belonging to 
 the royal navy of Britain ; that they had found traces 
 of the same party on Beechey Island, and that they 
 purposed to proceed thence to Capo Hothara and Cape 
 Walker, in search of further traces. 
 
 The little boat-party from the Prince Albert were too 
 zealous to be satisfied with this mere notice. They 
 looked eagerly around, and soon observed five spots 
 on which tents seemed to have been fixed, and also 
 obtained a piece of navy rope, a piece of canvas, a chip 
 
 ;» f 
 
272 
 
 TRACES OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 of timber, and a number of meat-bones. These, all 
 poor and pitiful thou<^h they might seem of themselves, 
 seemed to throw so perceptible a light on at least the 
 commencement of the mystery of the Franklin expedi- 
 tion, that they were esteemed a precious prize. 
 
 The Prince Albert arrived at Aberdeen on the 1st 
 of October ; and the relics from Cape Riley were 
 speedily sent to the Admiralty, and subjected there to a 
 rigorous scrutiny. The piece of rope was found to be 
 of navy-yard manufacture, not later than 1841 ; the 
 piece of canvas to have a corresponding character ; 
 the chip of timber to have a recent cut, with seemingly 
 an European axe ; the meat-bones to bear exactly the 
 marks of a ship's provisions used about five years 
 back ; the reported tent-marks to be nearly such as 
 might be expected from a party making a long stay for 
 the purpose of scientific observation ; and the entire 
 circumstances of the traces on Cape Eiley unaccount- 
 able by any known or supposable event, except a pro- 
 longed visit, in 1845 or 1846, by a party from the Erebus 
 and the Terror. 
 
 The first traces of the missing ships were discovered 
 by Captain Ommaney, in the Assistance, at Cape Riley, 
 on the 23d August, 1850. The cape is a point at the 
 eastern entrance of Wellington Channel ; about three 
 miles west of it rises the bold abrupt coast of Beechey 
 Island ; and between the shores of this isle and the 
 mainland lies a bay to which extraordinary interest is 
 now attached. On its coast were observed numerous 
 sledge-tracks ; and at Cape Spencer, about ten miles 
 from Cape Riley, up Wellington Channel, the party 
 discovered the ground-place of a tent, the floor neatly 
 paved with small smooth stones. 
 
 Around the tent a number of birds' bones, as well as 
 remnants of meat-canisters, seemed to indicate that it 
 
TRACES OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 273 
 
 e, all 
 elves, 
 Lst the 
 ixpedi- 
 
 ;he 1st 
 r were 
 3re to a 
 d to be 
 ,\ ; the 
 iracter ; 
 emingly 
 ctly the 
 e years 
 such as 
 stay for 
 le entire 
 ^accoviiit- 
 )t a pro- 
 e Erebus 
 
 scovered 
 )e Hiley, 
 it at the 
 )ut three 
 Beechey 
 
 and the 
 iterest is 
 lumerous 
 ten miles 
 |he party 
 
 »r neatly 
 
 well as 
 [e that it 
 
 had been inhabited for some time as a shooting- station 
 and a look-out place, for which latter purpose it was 
 admirably chosen, commanding a good view of Barrow's 
 Strait and WcHington Channel. 
 
 Some sledge-tracks -led northward for about twenty 
 miles, but the trail ceased south of Capo Bowden, and 
 an empty bottle and a piece of newspaper were the last 
 things found. The results of examining Beechey Island 
 must be given in more detail. Lieut. Osborne says : 
 " A long point of land slopes gradually from the south- 
 ern bluffs of this now deeply interesting island, until it 
 almost connects itself with the land of North Devon, 
 forming on either side of it two good and commodious 
 bays. On this slope a multitude of preserved-meat-tins 
 were strewed about ; and near them, and on the ridge 
 of the slope, a carefully-constructed cairn was dis- 
 covered ; it consisted of layers of fitted tins, filled with 
 gravel, and placed to form a firm and solid foundation. 
 Beyond this, and along the northern shore of Beechey 
 Island, the following traces were then quickly dis- 
 covered : the embankment of a house, with carpenters' 
 and armorers' working-places, washing-tubs, coal-bags, 
 pieces of old clothing, rope, — and, lastly, the graves of 
 three of the crew of the Erebus and Terror, bearing 
 date of the winter of 1815-6. We, ihertfore, noiv had 
 ascertained the first winter quarters of Sir John Franklin. 
 
 " On the eastern slope of the ridge of Beechey Island a 
 remnant of a garden (for remnant it now only was, having 
 been dug up in the search) told an 'nteresting tale ; its 
 neatly-shaped, oval outline — the border carefully formed 
 of moss lichen, poppies, and anemones, transplanted 
 from some more genial part of this dreary region — con- 
 trived still to show symptoms of vitality ; but the seeds 
 which, doubtless, they had sowed in the garden, had 
 decayed away. Nearer to the beach, a heap of cinders 
 
274 
 
 TRACES OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 IP 
 
 
 
 and scraps of iron showed the armorers' working-place; 
 and, along an old water-course, now chained up by 
 frost, several tubs, constructed of the ends of salt-meat 
 casks, left no doubt as to the washing-places of the men 
 of Franklin's squadron. Happening to cross a level 
 piece of ground, which as yet no one had lighted upon, 
 I was pleased to see a pair of cashmere gloves laid out 
 to dry, with two small stones on the palms to prevent 
 their blowing away ; they had been there since 1846. I 
 took them up carefully, as melancholy mementoes of 
 my missing friends. In another spot a flannel was 
 discovered ; and this, together with some things lying 
 about, would, in my ignorance of wintering in the Arctic 
 regions, have led me to suppose that there was consid- 
 erable haste displayed in the departure of tlio Erebus 
 and Terror from this spot, had not Captain Austin 
 assured me that there was nothing to ground such a 
 belief upon, and that, from experience, he could vouch 
 for these being nothing more than the ordinary traces 
 of a winter station ; and this opinion was fully borne 
 out by those officers who had, in the previous year, 
 wintered in Port Leopold, one of them asserting that 
 people left winter quarters too well pleased to escape, 
 to care much ibr a handful of shavings, an old coal-bag, 
 or a washing-tub." 
 
 The most interesting traces of winter residence were 
 the graves of Franklin's three seamen. Each grave 
 was marked by an oaken head and foot board, and the 
 inscriptions were as follow : 
 
 " Sacred to the memory of J. Torrington, who de- 
 parted this life January 1st, 1846, on board of II. M. S. 
 Terror, aged 20 years." 
 
 "Sacred to the memory of J. Ilartnell, A.B., of 
 IT. M. S. Erebus, died January 4th, 1846, aged 23 years. 
 
TRACES OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 275 
 
 place ; 
 
 up by 
 
 ,t-nicat 
 
 le men 
 
 1 level 
 
 I upon, 
 
 aid out 
 
 prevent 
 
 L846. I 
 
 toes of 
 
 lel was 
 
 rs lying 
 
 e Arctic 
 
 I consid- 
 
 1 Erebus 
 Austin 
 
 I such a 
 
 Id vouch 
 y traces 
 y borne 
 us year, 
 ing that 
 escape, 
 coal-bag, 
 
 Qce were 
 ;h grave 
 and the 
 
 who de- 
 ll. M. S. 
 
 A.B., of 
 ]23 years. 
 
 Thus saifh (he Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways. — 
 llaggai 1:1." 
 
 "Sacred to the memory of Wm. Braine, R.M., of 
 II. M. S. Erebus, died April 3d, 184G, aged 32 years. 
 Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. — Josh. 24 : 15." 
 
 Lieut. De Haven, of the Advance, landed on Cape 
 Riley on the morning of the 25th August, where he 
 examined the traces of Sir John Franklin, before de- 
 scribed, and erected a second signal-post. On the same 
 day the Prince Albert visited the place, and by her, as 
 we have seen, the first intelligence of the discovery was 
 carried to England. Afterwards Captain Penny and 
 his officers examined Beechey Isla: 'i and the whole 
 neighborhood very carefully and mmutely. But the 
 thorough search made by all these parties failed to 
 discover any memorandum or record to indicate Frank- 
 lin's past efforts or future intentions. 
 
 All that can be learned from the traces discovered is, 
 that Franklin's ships wintered, in 1845-6, on the south 
 side of Beechey Island, and that three of his men died 
 at that point. The mortality does not exceed that of 
 previous expeditions ; and we may tlierefore conclude 
 that the expedition was in highly effective order when 
 it left that anchorage, with only a moderate inroad into 
 its stock of preserved meats, the seven hundred empty 
 tins found on the island forming but a small proportion 
 of the twenty-four thousand canisterr with which the 
 ships were supplied. 
 
 How long Franklin's ships remained at Beechey Island, 
 when and under what circumstances they left, and what 
 course they pursued, are mere matters of conjecture, as 
 to which various opinions have been formed. Some ex- 
 perienced officers believe that the expedition did not 
 leave its winter anchorage till the end of August or 
 beginning of September, 1846. It is also inferred, from 
 
276 
 
 SLEDGING PARTIES. 
 
 some appearances, that it left suddenly ; that probably a 
 great and unexpected disruption of the ice had sum- 
 moned the crews to resume progress in tlie ships ; but 
 this is contested by other officers of equal experience, 
 who contend that there could have been no hurry in 
 removing from Beechey Island, as everything bore the 
 stamp of order and regularity, utterly forbidding tho 
 idea that Franklin had been forcjd away by the ice. 
 
 On the 8th September, 1850, most of the searching 
 vessels got once more free from tho ice, and unfurled 
 their sails in open water, along the south side of Corn- 
 wallis Island. They bore boldly away, in the hope of 
 penetrating well to the west, but were soon arrested by 
 a vast floe, which extended from the south-west end of 
 Griffith Island, as far as the eye could reach. They 
 kept close to this, and strove with it, from the 10th till 
 the 13th, and then began again to get forward; yet pro- 
 ceeded only a short distance, amid great embarrassment 
 and severe exertion, when they were compelled to stick 
 fast for the winter. The government ships were locked 
 up in the ice between Cornwallis Island and Griffith 
 Island ; and all the others were sufficiently near to 
 admit of easy communication among the whole squad- 
 ron. 
 
 Arrangements were early made* for performing explor- 
 atory journeys with sledges in spring. Captain Aus- 
 tin superintended those for the lands and islands along 
 what may be called Parry's Strait, — the band of sea 
 westward from Barrow's Strait to Melville Island, and 
 the nortli end of Banks's Land ; and Captain Penny un- 
 dertook to conduct the search of Wellington Channel. 
 Sledges were sent out, before the severest period of the 
 winter, to place provisions in depot for the use of the 
 explorers in spring ; and exercises of walking and sledge- 
 dragging were afterwards, in all favorable weather, prac- 
 
SLEDGING PARTIES. 
 
 277 
 
 ably a 
 I Hum- 
 , ; but 
 L-ieuce, 
 \n-y in 
 )re the 
 ng tlie 
 
 CG. 
 
 arching 
 mfurled 
 >f Com- 
 lope of 
 ;sted by 
 ; end of 
 . They 
 10th till 
 
 yet pro- 
 L-assmcnt 
 
 to stick 
 
 e locked 
 Griffith 
 
 near to 
 10 squad- 
 
 tised near the ships, to keep the men vigorous, and to 
 train them for their journoyings. 
 
 On the 12th of April the parties for the westward ex- 
 ploration, amounting to one hundred and four men, with 
 fourteen sledges, were all ready, and proceeded, under 
 the command of Captain Ommaney, to an encampment 
 at the north-west end of Griffith Island. There they 
 underwent a close inspection by Captain Austin, and 
 spent three days in repose, and in waiting for the abate- 
 ment of a tempestuous wind. On the evening of the 
 15th they united in a special prayer to the Divine Be- 
 ing for protection and guidance, and then, with enthu- 
 siastic determination, started on their arduous enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Six of the parties were "extended" ones, — to go 
 to the utmost possible distance, — three along the south 
 shore, and three along the north shore. The first sledge 
 on the south shore, the Reliance, under Captain Omma- 
 ney, travelled four hundred and eighty miles, discov- 
 ered two hundred and five miles of previously un- 
 known coast, and was absent sixty days. The second, 
 the True Blue, under Lieut. Osborne, travelled five 
 hundred and six miles, discovered seventy miles of 
 coast, and was absent fifty-eight days. And the third, 
 the Enterprise, under Lieut. Browne, travelled three 
 hundred and seventy-five miles, discovered one hundred 
 and fifty miles of coast, and was absent forty-four days. 
 In this travelling sails were occasionally hoisted on the 
 sledges, and large kites were also attached. When the 
 wind was high, these aids propelled the sledge very 
 rapidly, and the whole of the party then rode ; but when 
 the wind fell, the sledges, with their provisions ami 
 stores, had to be dragged by main force over the ice 
 by the men harnessed to them. The most western point 
 reached was the extreme one of the True Blue, and is 
 
 24 
 
278 
 
 SLEDGINQ PARTIES 
 
 situated in west longitude 103° 25', almost half way 
 between Leopold Island and Point Turnagain on tlio 
 American continent. 
 
 The first sledge on the north shore, the Lady Frank- 
 lin, under the command of Lieut. Aldrich, travelled five 
 hundred and iif^y miles, discovered seventy miles of 
 coast, and was absent sixty-two days. The second, the 
 Perseverance, under the command of Lieut. M'Clintock, 
 trav(;lled seven hundred and sixty miles, discovered 
 forty miles of coast, and was absent eighty days. And 
 the third, the Resolute, under the command of Surgeon 
 Bradford, travelled six hundred and sixty-nine miles, 
 discovered one hundred and thirty-five miles of coast, 
 and was absent eighty days. Lieut. M'CIintock's party 
 achieved the farthest westing of the three ; and the fur- 
 thest, indeed, which has ever been attained in the polar 
 seas, — a point in latitude 14° 38' and west longitude 
 114° 20'. 
 
 lie left the ships on the 15th of April, and, taking a 
 course due west, reached Point Griffith, on the eastern 
 shore of Melville Island, on the 11th of May. On the 
 21st he sighted Winter Harbor : but, there being neither 
 ships, tents, nor any sign of human habitation, to be 
 seen, he deferred any close scrutiny of it until his return. 
 By the 21th of May he had reached Cape Dundas, at the 
 western extremity of Melville Island ; and on the follow- 
 ing day, ascending a high cliff, made out the coast of 
 Banks's Land. . 
 
 To the north of Banks's Land, at a distance from it 
 of about seventy miles, he discovered a range of land 
 apparently running nearly due west. " This does not 
 present steep cliffs, but a bold and deeply indented 
 coast ; the land rising to the interior, and intersected 
 by valleys rather than rav. i." The sea he imagined 
 to continue to the westward. Following the coast of 
 
SLEDGING PiVKTIEa 
 
 279 
 
 Melville Island to the north-cast, he entered Liddon 
 (julf, and here saw fragments of coal of good quality. 
 Leaving the shore, he crossed the gulf to gain liushinan 
 Cove, where Parry, in his journey across the island, in 
 1820, had left the " strong but light cart," in which lie 
 had carried his tent and stores. On the 1st of June 
 M'Clintock reached the west point of the cove, and, 
 leaving two men to prepare supper, he commenced a 
 search, with four others, for Parry's encampment of the 
 nth of June, 1820 : 
 
 " On reaching the ravhie leading into the cove," ho 
 says, "we spread across, and walked up, and easily 
 found the enca ,)ment, although the pole had fallen 
 down. The very accurate report published of his jour- 
 ney saved us much labor in finding the tin cylinder and 
 ammunition. The crevices between the stones piled over 
 them were fdled with ice and snow ; the powder com- 
 pletely destroyed, and cylinder eaten through with rust, 
 and filled with ice. From the extreme difficulty of 
 descending into such a ravine with any vehicle, I sup- 
 posed that the most direct route, where all seemed 
 equally bad, was selected ; therefore sent the men di- 
 rectly up the northern bank, in search of the wheels 
 wliich were left where the cart broke down. They 
 fortunately found them at once ; erected a cairn about 
 the remains of the wall built to shelter the tent ; placed 
 a record on it, in one tin case within another. We then 
 collected a few relics of our predecessors, and returned 
 with the remains of the cart to our encampment. An 
 excellent fire had been made with willow stems ; and 
 upon this a kettle, containing Parry's cylinder, was 
 placed. As soon as the ice was thawed out of it, the 
 record it contained was carefully taken out. I could 
 only just distinguish the date. Had it been in a better 
 
 
 y I 
 
 *« 
 
 

 • 
 
 'M^ 
 
 280 
 
 SLEDGING PARTIES. 
 
 state of preservation, I would have restored it to its 
 lonely position. " 
 
 As the weather was misty, M'Clintockdid not explore 
 the head oftlie ^ulf, but struck directly across the land 
 for Winter JIarbor. It was evident that no one had 
 visited the place since Parry's departure, in 1820. 
 
 On the shore, above Winter Harbor, is a large sand- 
 stone bowlder, near the site of Parry's observatory, on 
 the flat face of which Mr. Fisher, his surgeon, had cut 
 this inscription : 
 
 His Britannio Majesty's 
 Ships IIECLA anl CJUIl'ER, 
 
 Cominanded by 
 
 W. E. Parry ami Mr. Litldon, 
 
 Wintered ia the adjacent 
 
 Harbor 181'J-20. 
 
 A. Fiaher, Sculpt. 
 
 This inscription, M'Clintock says, appeared quite 
 fresh. A hare, discovered at the foot of this rock, 
 was so tanrie that she entered the tent, and would almost 
 allow the men to touch her. "I have never seen," 
 ho says, " any animal, in its natural state, so perfectly 
 fearless of man ; and there cannot be a more convincing 
 proof that our missing corntrymen have not been here. 
 A ptarmigan alighted on the rock, and was shot, without 
 in the least disturbing puss as she sat beneath it." 
 
 M'Clintock carved the figures 1851 on the rock, and 
 left it and the hare. 
 
 On the 6th June he left Winter Harbor, and reached 
 the ships on the 4th of July. The latter part of his 
 journey was fatiguing, from the extensive pools of 
 water in the ice ; but all his men arrived in excellent 
 health and spirits. He was out eighty days, and had 
 travelled seven hundred and seventy miles. Several 
 reindeer, musk-oxen, and bears, were shot, besides 
 numerous birds ; and the food thus obtained was of 
 
SLEDGING PARTIES. 
 
 281 
 
 very matorial importance to the pooplo. Thoy travollod 
 when 11 ' coM was ho iiitiMiHO that bottles of water, car- 
 ried by the men in their breasts, froze after an hour or 
 80 ; salt pork broke like snet, and rum thickeiuMl. This 
 journey made it certain that Franklin liad not passed 
 west of the Parry Islands. 
 
 The other two parties moved in higher latitudes, and 
 were stopped a little west of Sabine Island, yet they 
 traversed tracts and encountered incidents of high 
 interest. 
 
 The parties of less limited range than the " extended " 
 ones deposited provisions, set up marks, made obser- 
 vations, ascertained positions, and effected minor ex- 
 plorations ; and were absent during periods of from 
 twelve to tliirty-four days. They may seem to have had 
 easier work than the others ; yet they suffered more 
 severely, for no fewer than twenty-eight of their men 
 were frost-bitten, and one died from exhaustion and 
 cold. The extended parties got back in good health, 
 and needed only a little rest and comfort to repair the 
 effects of their privation and fatigue. But not one of 
 all the parties, near or remote, obtained the slightest 
 trace of the missing adventurers ; and Captain Austin, 
 after receiving and considering well the reports of all, 
 " arrived at the conclusion that the expedition under 
 Sir John Franklin did not prosecute the object of its 
 mission to the southward and westward of Wellington 
 Strait." 
 
 The sledge-parties for the exploration of Wellington 
 Channel amounted to six, and comprised forty-one men, 
 and were officered by Captain Stewart, Messrs. Marshall, 
 Reid, and J. Stuart, and Surgeons Sutherland and 
 Goodsir. They started on the 11th of April, under the 
 general superintendence of Captain Penny ; but they 
 soon encountered severe weather, and were buffeted 
 
 ^' ^ 24* 
 
Jf I 
 
 fi 
 
 ■ 
 
 '■', t ■ 
 / ; ■ 
 
 
 
 
 282 
 
 SLEDGING PARTIES. 
 
 rtiid bafllcd by it for a Bcrios of days, and coiiipcllod to 
 rtjturn ; and on the Gtli of May, after Kpoeial prayer to 
 God for support they again wtarted. Some coursed so 
 lar and so curvingly as to make a near approacii to the 
 most northerly of Captain Austin's parties; and all 
 (i;^iired largely and respectably in the scpiadron's aggre- 
 gate of exploits. But their chief feat — the feat, at least, 
 of those on the channel and west of it — was a discovery 
 which put a stop to their progress toward the north, 
 and gave an entirely new complexion to the search in 
 which they were engaged, — the discovery of a wide 
 westward strait of open water, lying along the further 
 side of the lands which liank Barrow's Strait and I'arry's 
 Strait. 
 
 Captain Penny personally shared in this discovery, 
 and made great exertions to follow it up. The explor- 
 ers, proceeding up Wellington Channel, arrived in 
 latitude 15° 22' at Capo Duhorn, and thence ten miles 
 north-westward to Point Decision. Penny, on the 15th 
 of May, went from this point, over the ice, north-west 
 by north, to an island which he called Bailie Hamil- 
 ton Island. The ice was in a very decayed state ; and 
 on the nth, after travelling round the island, first in a 
 north-easterly and next in a north-north-westerly direc- 
 tion, he arrived at the open strait, saw in it twenty-five 
 miles of clear water, and discovered a headland fifteen 
 miles distant, west by north, over-canopied by a dark 
 sky, which indicated an expanse of open water on the 
 further side. This point was found to be in latitude 76° 2' 
 and west longitude 95° 55' ; and the strait received the 
 name of Victoria Channel. 
 
 Penny hastened back to the ships for a boat, and used 
 every exertion to have one promptly mounted on sledges 
 and sent forward ; but he did not get it up to the strait 
 without vast effort, and some tantalizing delays. But 
 
KETURN UOME. 
 
 283 
 
 lit length ho launched it, loaded it, and puslicd ofT. ITo 
 had proceeded only ten miles, when he wati oblig'od to 
 seek refuge in a bay from a westerly gale and a strong 
 head sea ; and he afterwards contended much and 
 almost constantly with unfavorable winds and rapid 
 tides ; yet ho succeeded in examining three hundred 
 and ten miles of coast, and did not desist till his stock 
 of provisions began to fail. Jle put about on the 2()th 
 of July, and made his way to the sliips amid constant 
 rain and tempest, insomuch that, in the route over the 
 ice, he had to ford rapid streams. 
 
 Penny thus ranks high as a discoverer ; but as to the 
 immediate object of his adventures, he had all his labor 
 for nothing, lie found not a trace of the Erebus and 
 the Terror ; yet he confirmed his convictions that they 
 had gt)ne up Wellington Channel and along Victoria 
 Channel. • 
 
 The American explorers were prevented from taking 
 any part in the searching operations of the spring, by 
 their experiencing the same kind of involuntary ejection 
 from Lancaster Sound which befell Sir James Ross's ex- 
 pedition in the Enterprise and the Investigator. Their 
 vessels were frozen in opposite Wellington Channel, and 
 were carried thence to the east, slowly and rigidly, and 
 in stern defiance of all 'possible resistance by man, to a 
 point south of Capo Walsingham. They drifted a 
 linear distance of at least one thousand and fifty miles, 
 and suffered much from the commotion of the ice, and 
 were not set free till the 10th of June. 
 
 Captain Austin seems to have concurred with Sir John 
 Ross in the opinion that the Erebus and the Terror had 
 gone back to Baffin's Bay. After the failure of searches 
 for further traces of them west and north of the mouth 
 of Wellington Channel, Austin supposed that they 
 probably tried to reach the Polar Sea through Jones's 
 
 1 
 
lii 
 
 284 
 
 RETURN HOME. 
 
 Sound, which opens off the north side of the upper part 
 of Baffin's Bay. He accordingly wont round to that 
 place with his two steamers, and explored it. IIo found 
 it about sixty miles wide at the entrance, — a width 
 which greatly exceeds that given it in the Admiralty 
 charts ; and he sailed about forty-five miles up its 
 southern shore, and was there arrested by a fixed bar- 
 rier of ice ; and he then sailed along the face of that 
 barrier, twenty-five miles, to the northern shore, and 
 traced that shore down to the entrance. But he saw 
 nothing to indicate that the Erebus and the Terror had 
 been there ; and he judged, from well-defined appear- 
 ances to the west, that the sound is closed by land not 
 very far above tlie point which he reached, and has no 
 communication with the Polar Sea. lie then thought 
 all further attempts at exploration cither useless or 
 inconsistent with his instructions, and set sail for Eng- 
 land, where he arrived in the autumn of 1851. 
 
 ESQUIMAUX KAVAK. 
 
 ft. . 
 
 •jili .(' 
 

 I ' • I 
 
 / . > 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 further pautrculaus of the seanciiing expeditions. — sir john ross 8 
 
 voyage. results. carrier-pigeons. — penny's expedition. dr. 
 
 Sutherland's scientific observations. — glaciers and icebergs. — 
 
 WINTER climate. ANECDOTES. — ESylllMAUX DOGS. — USE OP SNOW. 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. — ADVENTURES IN THE ICE. — WINTER 
 
 IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. — DANGEROUS DRIFTING. — BREAKING DP OF THE 
 ICE. — RETURN. ' . ; 
 
 Having sketched generally in the last chapter the prog- 
 ress of the vessels which cooperated, in 1850, in pros- 
 ecuting the search for Sir John Franklin from the direc- 
 tion of Baffin's Bay, we shall now take up each expedi- 
 tion separately, and present such further details as may 
 tend to add interest and completeness to our history of 
 their proceedings. 
 
 Of the four vessels comprising the squadron of Com- 
 modore Austin, and also of the Prince Albert, we liave 
 already related all that is important, concluding with 
 their safe return to England. 
 
 Sir John Ross, in the Felix discovery yacht, with her 
 tender, the Mary, after obtaining an Esquimaux inter- 
 preter at Ilolsteinborg, and calling at Whale Fish 
 Islands, proceeded northward through Waygat's Straits, 
 Jind overtook Commodore Austin's squadron on the 11th 
 of August, 1850. Arrangements were made with that 
 officer for a combined examination of every part of the 
 eastern side of a north-west passage, in wliich it was 
 probable that the misshig ships could be found. On the 
 
286 
 
 SIR JOHN ROSS'S VOYAGE. 
 
 13th of August, in company with Lieut. Cator in the 
 Intrepid, Ross hold communication with a party of Es- 
 quimaux near Cape York, who told him a story, the 
 purport of which, according to his interpreter, was that 
 in the winter of 1846 two ships were crushed in the ice 
 in the direction of Cape Dudley Digges, and afterwards 
 burned by a fierce tribe of natives ; and that their crews, 
 some of whom were described as wearing epaulets, 
 were subsequently killed by the natives. Although 
 Mr. Petersen, the interpreter attached to the Lady 
 Franklin, which lay a few miles off, wholly discredited 
 this story, and gave a translation of the Esquimaux com- 
 munication wholly at variance with the other, it was 
 thought of sufficient consequence by Capt. Austin to 
 merit an investigation. Meantime the further informa- 
 tion was received that a ship had passed the last winter 
 safely housed in Wolstenholme Sound. A party, taking 
 both interpreters, was accordingly sent to examine 
 Wolstenholme Sound ; and by them it was ascertained 
 that the ship which wintered there was no other than 
 the North Star, and that in all probability that circum- 
 stance was the whole foundation of the Esquimaux 
 story, whatever it might have been. Nevertheless, Sir 
 John Ross, who was long ago noted for "jumping at 
 conclusions," still seems to have had a lingering belief 
 that in this wild tale he had learned the fate of the 
 Erebu3 and Terror. It was perhaps this belief which 
 led him soon after to announce his intention of return- 
 ing to England : and even after his arrival there he is 
 said to have adhered to his theory that Franklin and his 
 companions perished in Baffin's Bay. He pressed on to 
 Cape Riley, however, before leaving the field of discov- 
 ery, and bore his part in the search there made fur 
 traces of the missing navigators. 
 
 There is little more to relate concerning his expedi- 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 i I 
 
 CARllIER-PIGEONS. 
 
 287 
 
 • in the 
 y of Es- 
 ory, the 
 ^as that 
 1 the ice 
 terwards 
 ir crews, 
 jpaulets, 
 Although 
 he Lady 
 scredited 
 aux com- 
 jr, it was 
 Yustin to 
 informa- 
 tst winter 
 by, taking 
 examine 
 kcertained 
 her than 
 circum- 
 squimaux 
 eless, Sir 
 imping at 
 ng belief 
 te of the 
 [ief which 
 of retm-n- 
 here he is 
 in and his 
 ssed on to 
 of discov- 
 made for 
 
 lis expedi- 
 
 1 
 
 tion. The only results of which we have any account 
 are stated by himself to be that he was able to make 
 "many important corrections and valuable additions to 
 tlie charts of the much-frequerted eastern side of Baf- 
 fin's Bay, whicli," he adds, "has been more closely ob- 
 served and navigated by this than by any former expe- 
 dition ; and, much to my satisfaction, confirming the 
 latitude and longitude of every headland I had the 
 opportunity of laying down in the year 1818." 
 
 One interesting incident, however, is worthy of men- 
 tion before we take leave of Sir John Ross. When ho 
 left England on this expedition, he took with him four 
 carrier-pigeons belonging to a lady in Ayrshire, intend- 
 ing to liberate two of them when the state of the ice 
 rendered it necessary to lay his vessel up for the winter, 
 and the other two when he discovered Sir John Frank- 
 lin. A pigeon made its appearance at the dove-cot in 
 Ayrshire, on the 13th of October, which the lady recog- 
 nized by marks and circumstances that left no doubt on 
 her mind of its being one of the younger pair prcocnted 
 by her to Sir John. It carried no billet, but there were 
 indications, in the loss of feathers on the breast, of one 
 having been torn from under the wing. Thougli it is 
 known that the speed of pigeons is equal to one hun- 
 dred miles an hour, the distance from Melville Island to 
 Ayrshire, being, in a direct line, about twenty-four hun- 
 dred miles, is so great, that evidence of the bird having 
 been sent off as early as the 10th of October was required 
 before it could be believed that no mistake was made in 
 the identification of the individual that came to the dove- 
 cot. It was afterwards ascertained that Sir John Ross 
 despatched the youngest pair on the 6th or Tth of Octo- 
 ber, 1850, in a basket suspended to a balloon, during a 
 W. N. W. gale. By the contrivance of a slow-match, the 
 birds were to be liberated at the end of twenty-four 
 
288 SUTHERLAND'S SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 hours. The reader can form his own opinion as to the 
 identity of the pigeon in question. 
 
 We have aheady alluded to Captain Penny's expedi- 
 tion, fitted out by Lady Franklin. Ilis little vessels, 
 the Lady Franklin and the Sophia, entered Davis's Strait 
 on the 26th of April, 1850 ; but they did not get into 
 the open water at the head of BaflSn's Bay until the 18th 
 of August. Nearly four months they were squeezed 
 about among the drifting ice in this tedious and terrible 
 passage, sometimes closely wedged on the shore-ioe, 
 and sometimes tracking by manual labor tlirough the 
 breaking pack. Some facts of a scientific interest are 
 mentioned by Dr. Sutherland, who accompanied Penny. 
 
 The first great difficulty the Arctic voyager has to 
 contend with is the capricious state of the navigation 
 in the grand approach to the Polar Sea. The melting 
 of the ice and snow in the north of Baffin's Bay pro- 
 duces a continuous stream of water, which flows stead- 
 ily to the south. As soon as this current leaves the 
 projecting points at the head of the bay, a thin film of 
 ice is formed on it. This ice gets thicker and thicker 
 as it moves southwards, by congealing new layers of 
 sea-water on its under surface, and by storing up snow 
 and sleet above, until it becomes what the whaler calls 
 the middle-ice of the bay. In winter it extends from 
 shore to shore ; but in summer it is separated from the 
 Greenland coast by an open lane of water, in conse- 
 quence of its connection with tlie fringe of land, ice be- 
 ing dissolved where northerly winds prevail. An open 
 space of water is always left by this southward drift of 
 the ice-pack at the northern extremity of Baffin's Bay ; 
 the extent of the space varies, however, with tlic 
 season. In winter, it is diminished by the shooting out 
 of the land-ice towards the drift, and the quickened funn- 
 ation of the young ice ; in summer, it is increased by the 
 
GLACLEKS AND ICEBERGS. 
 
 289 
 
 s to the 
 
 expedi- 
 vessels, 
 's Strait 
 get into 
 the ISth 
 squeezed 
 i terrible 
 diore-ice, 
 uugh the 
 erest are 
 :d Penny. 
 ;cr has to 
 lavigation 
 lG melting 
 Bay pro- 
 ws stead- 
 leaves the 
 tin film of 
 id thicker 
 layers of 
 up snow 
 aler calls 
 mds from 
 from the 
 in conse- 
 [id, ice be- 
 An open 
 ■d drift of 
 fin's Bay; 
 with the 
 oting out 
 ned forin- 
 ied by the 
 
 breaking up of the ^nd-ice, and the arrest of the forma- 
 tion of young ice. The great object of the mariiior 
 bound to Lancaster Sound is to push his way through 
 the open lane of water along the Greenland coast, 
 and to get round the northern extremity of the drift- 
 ice. But he finds this to be no easy task: every 
 southerly gale crushes the ice in upon the shores of the 
 bay, and squeezes any unfortunate vessel chancing to 
 be placed therein before it, often wedging it up immov- 
 ably, or even breaking it to pieces under the violence 
 of the nip. The only resource of the captive voyager, 
 under such circumstances, is to seek a refuge beneath 
 the lee of some huge ice-mountain that has grounded a 
 mile or two off the land, or to take timely warning, and 
 cut docks in the solid land-floe, into wliich he may re- 
 tire when the pressure comes. The driving iceberg is, 
 however, a fearful neighbor, if the water prove not 
 shallow enough to arrest its movement ; for it will then 
 sometimes plough its onward way through miles and 
 miles of field and pack ice, heaving up the frozen masses 
 before its tremendous impulse, and sweeping every- 
 thing away that opposes its course. 
 
 According to Dr. Sutherland, there is more chance of 
 an easy passage to the open water at the head of Baf- 
 fin's Bay early in the season, before the shore-ice is 
 much broken, and when the middle-ice moves away 
 from it bodily, without any intervening detritus, than 
 later in the season, when there is a greater quantity of 
 loosened ice to be packed into the channel. 
 
 The entire length of the Baffin's Bay coast of Green- 
 land is indented with bays and fiords, towards which gla- 
 ciers descend from the higher interior land. At Cape 
 Farewell the termination of the glacier-ice is still miles 
 away from the sea ; between Cape Farewell and Cape 
 York, the land, devoid of the incursions of glacier-ice, 
 25 
 
290 
 
 GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS. 
 
 gets narrower and narrower. North of Cape York the 
 ice-stream projects into the sea itself, even beyond the 
 line of prominent headlands. It is from this region that 
 the vast icebergs, drifted out into the open Atlantic by 
 the southward current, are derived ; for it is a singular 
 fact that there is no glacier-ice along the shores west- 
 ward of Lancaster Sound. All the snow which there 
 falls, even so far north as tt" latitude, escapes to the 
 sea in streams of water, carrying with them vast quan- 
 tities of mud and shingle. The land on both sides of Bar- 
 row's Strait is composed of limestone ; but Greenland, 
 and the coasts which form Davis's Strait, Baffin's Bay, 
 and Lancaster Sound, where the fallen snow is retained 
 for ages before it slips, as the solid glacier, back to the 
 ocean, are all made of hard crystalline rock. Dr. Suth- 
 erland thinks that this difference of mineral constitution 
 may in some way affect the temperature, and so deter- 
 mine the abundance of glaciers in the one position, and 
 their absence in the other. 
 
 We may here remark that the ice which obstructs the 
 navigation of the Arctic seas is of two kinds : the one 
 produced by the congelation of fresh, and the other by 
 that of salt water. In those inhospitable tracts, the 
 snow, which annually falls on the islands or continents, 
 being again dissolved by the progress of the summer's 
 heat, pours forth numerous rills and limpid streams, 
 which collect along the indented shores, and in the deep 
 bays enclosed by precipitous rocks. There this clear 
 and gelid water soon freezes, and every successive year 
 supplies an additional investing crust, till, after the 
 lapse, perhaps, of several centuries, the icy mass rises at 
 last to the size and aspect of a mountain, commensurate 
 with the elevation of the adjoining cliffs. The melting 
 of the snow, which is afterwards deposited on such 
 enormous blocks, likewise contributes to their growth ; 
 
GLAQERS AND ICEBERGS. 
 
 291 
 
 [•k the 
 id tho 
 »n that 
 itic by 
 ngular 
 J west- 
 1 there 
 to the 
 ;t qnan- 
 1 of Bar- 
 lenland, 
 .'b Bay, 
 retained 
 k to the 
 )r. Suth- 
 stitution 
 so deter- 
 tion, and 
 
 and, by filb'ng np the accidental holes or crevices, it 
 renders the whole structure compact and uniform. 
 Meanwhile the principle of destruction has already be- 
 gun its operations. The ceaseless agitation of the sea 
 gradually wears and undermines the base of the icy 
 mountain, till at length, by the action of its own accu- 
 mulated weight, when it has perhaps attained an alti- 
 tude of a thousand or even two thousand feet, it is torn 
 from its frozen chains, and precipitated, with a tremen- 
 dous plunge, into the abyss below. This mighty launch 
 now floats like a lofty island on the ocean ; till, driven 
 southwards by winds and currents, it insensibly wastes 
 and dissolves away in the wide Atlantic. Icebergs have 
 been known to drift from Baffin's Bay to the Azores. 
 
 Such is believed to be the real origin of the icy 
 mountains or icebergs, entirely similar in their formatioii 
 to the glaciers which occur on the flanks of the Alps and 
 the Pyrenees. They consist of a clear, compact, and 
 solid ice, having the fine green tint, verging to blue, which 
 ice or water, when very pure and of a sufficient depth, 
 generally assumes. From the cavities of these icebergs 
 the crews of the northern whalers are accustomed, by 
 means of a hose or flexible tube of canvas, to fill their 
 casks easily with the finest and softest water. 
 
 The projecting tongues of the glaciers are not dis- 
 solved where they extend into the sea, but broken off 
 by a species of "flotation." Heavy spring-tides are 
 driven into the head of the bay, and up the fiords, by 
 strong southerly winds ; and the buoyant ice is heaved 
 up by the rising water, and broken ofi" from its parent 
 stream. The floating power of large masses of ice must 
 be enormous. Dr. Sutherland observed ijpon a small 
 island, at an elevation of forty feet, a block of granite 
 that measured sixteen feet in length, and must have 
 contained at least one hundred and eighty-six tons of 
 
 .y^ 
 
h 
 
 \ 
 
 292 
 
 GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS. 
 
 solid rock ! lie calciilutod that a cube of ice, forty feet 
 across the side, could easily have carried oft" this burden 
 in water seven fathoms deep. Icebergs thus broken off" 
 from the parent glacier were often observed tumbling 
 about in the sea. Some of these were four times bigger 
 than St. Paul's Cathedral, and shrouded themselves in 
 a veil of spray as they rolled over, emitting sounds that 
 could only be compared to terrific thunder-peals, and 
 turning up the blue mud from depths of two and three 
 hundred fathoms. Oscillations in the sea were pro- 
 duced by such disturbances, which, after travelling a 
 dozen miles, pounded into fragments the ice-field on 
 which they ultimately fell. 
 
 While icebergs are the slow growth of ages, the 
 fields or shoals of saline ice are annually formed and 
 destroyed. The ice generated from melted snow is 
 hard, pellucid, and often swells to an enormous height 
 and dimensions. But the concretion of salt water wants 
 solidity, clearness, and strength, and never attains to 
 any very considerable thickness. It seldom floats dur- 
 ing more than part of the year ; though, in some cold 
 seasons, the scattered fragments may be surprised by 
 the early frost, and preserved till the following summer. 
 
 Captain Penny's expedition reached the entrance of 
 Wellington Channel on the 25th of August. On the 
 14th of September young ice formed round the ships ; 
 and they were compelled to take up their winter quar- 
 ters in Assistance Bay, near the south-west point of 
 Wellington Channel. Captain Austin's squadron, of 
 four ships, was fixed on Griffith's Island, a few miles 
 further west. November 7th, the sun was beneath the 
 horizon at noon, the thermometer was seven degrees 
 below zero, and the sea-ice three feet thick. January 
 13th, mercury froze for the first time. At the end of 
 January the ice was five feet thick. The sun rose 
 
y feet 
 )urdeii 
 en off 
 Tibling 
 bigger 
 Ives in 
 els that 
 Is, and 
 i three 
 re pro- 
 filing a 
 field on 
 
 res, the 
 ned and 
 snow is 
 is height 
 ter wants 
 Ittains to 
 jats dur- 
 )me cold 
 »rised by 
 summer, 
 ranee of 
 On the 
 e ships ; 
 ter quar- 
 point of 
 ,dron, of 
 ;ew miles 
 oath the 
 degrees 
 January 
 le end of 
 sun rose 
 
 % ''V, 
 
 
 '■> ;, ■,'tiBi*. 
 
 ^'1 .\ 
 
 =.*«. 
 
 i 
 
 .:i<!ff 
 111' 
 
 
 ' ■'■'^ji^im-- 
 
I 
 
 f-l 
 
 
 .' .*:m;< A.vn t»m-:t'K»v}?* 
 
 *1 
 
 ». 
 
 ' . ' '"< tiiH.1 ;. (!.«}•• -r ire, f'ti'fv t' ft. 
 \',| ..«•,,. 1 »vi' < o'f.'-ft i.u ; . ■ bm'ti-' i 
 . • ifh tiis )«•<••' 1' ','»'(; rL":-* ti'\..- lirok.'Ji crt 
 •• i..ir"iu glacier wvrn ol'iou o^wmvlmI turnbliiv' 
 ! ■■,!..•'•'. -a Sotii ^ «.f tlios' w<T'..' tV.ur tinjf'Mhii.af-r 
 '■ • - ! rriura iJatlfdral, and fthr« .id( J tlictu: 'tlven 
 ■ •. , ,« )■ sirniy us they rollod 'vcr. Mnitlirig ; 'Ui-ds tliu 
 /r.; f on'v h'^ rttm|)uro;! to n^rrifl' '.nnder-pifib, -iii-i 
 h/: '.i:;s? up u^'' i'lj'-v fimd I'n-nV (l< jiH.-; >>i' iwo and tlire*^ 
 . und-^'d fu'l'. u..-. ')isc.ill:tti<nis ;!i tlw m'H v^'fvr p'/u 
 dii'td ;.y siuiii «iu,iui!-iiib OH. v. itch. Jvt'ler truiv^'lHr.- « 
 iiozon idHos, p<»injdcd ijitu -fmctrntiiis l\ui lce-!'ol<i Ofi 
 \vh'"( I: t]t<>y ulilmately h^li. 
 
 \Vh 
 
 d" :('ci)rvu;'fl 
 
 yre 1hf slow t.:ro\vt,l) of {«; 
 
 th 
 
 lirldrf (.>r :*iji>alH of MiliiR' u'.e ure {tiii.ually ftirnied and 
 
 dostrovi'fi. The ice 
 
 >nil'v! frcMii nicllc'd t^iiow 
 
 Ijard, pclUh-irl yud <dtfu swells to an c.soniinus height 
 and dJnH.'nsioiis. Hut: i.hc coiicretioji of snit svatcr^^anis 
 BoVidity, cleaiMiosw, and ;-!tr<:itj^^tlj, and luncr aU:iifiB to 
 ar?/' .LTV oon.siderabic thiokai>H -It sclfl aa iioatfi dur- 
 iiiff mm*' than nart f^f lU': yoar ; ilioiurh. in r^oino cold 
 
 I' \ 
 
 Wfi 
 
 irifj-iou <Jhann»'' 
 
 on 
 
 ^iiTT-^-i- ' •• -nrpri-icd by 
 
 ■ \ ':!;' ■ - -V ui^i: punnnifir, 
 iti . I rviuUrd thf! entrance ot' 
 
 dn 2.>tb of Aiir.rnft. On th'-: 
 
 u». 
 
 14th of Scpii.'mbor young" iro rbriricd round the shipc* 
 and thoy were (,< iMiell'"-*! to take uj* ihtii- winter 4 
 ters in Assistanv^ Bay, Tienr the Boath-v\-( st poinl 
 VVcilijnrton Channel. Cipt.aii; AnHthrh tsquadron, 
 
 fo 
 
 nr s 
 
 hips. 
 
 was i\\od on Griffith".^ iHiand, a l'«'w tni' 
 
 fun I 
 ho! 
 
 KM* 
 
 /est. Nuvonibcv Tth. Jii" !-»uri wus boiieath thi 
 
 i:'.o!i at noon, iijf. -I herniome;^; wan nevon (h-gatMs 
 bel'>\v /'oro, and t!)'' i«'''::-ic«* tirti- ]fV«rt thick January 
 18(h. in- i-'Tirv froze for i'-n; iir^t tinK:. At. tlie < n;! i!" 
 
 Ja') u 
 
 ('.•v 
 
 ih*» 
 
 >.\'as iive Jy^'i hie 
 
 T] 
 
 le siUi ii-s' 
 
 2? 
 
 o 
 
 5; 
 
 33 
 
 w 
 
 1; 
 
 I 
 
• t.-K 
 
 oM on 
 
 MSOW lo 
 
 t;linR K> 
 a IS dur- 
 uio col'l 
 i Oil ''V 
 
 r.i 
 
 < > 
 
 ;ice ot' 
 
 n 
 
 bipj? 
 
 M." S 
 
 I or qUrt.- 
 iHl 111': 
 
 
 !A 
 
 <:'U 
 
 } 
 
 >!* 
 
 i 
 
 •li V' 
 
I 
 
 . 
 
WINTIIR CUM AT K. 
 
 21 >S 
 
 ubovo lli(! Hdutlicni liori/on for an iiiHtutit iit noon, 
 Frbnmry 7(li. l-'rliniiiry 'Jllli wuh IIk^ roMcHt diiy, 
 lh(! Iliriiiidinclcr Hiiikin^' luily livr dcj^iccH Ix'low zero. 
 April JM, llic i('(! WiiH Hrvcn fret lliick. In Hm! iM'^iiinin^- 
 of Miiy it iittiiiiKMl itH iiiiixiiniiiii tliicknrHH of H(!V<Mt t'cct 
 
 IlilU) illcllCH. iJuiH! PJMl, tll(5 tluMIMOUM'tcr r<»H(! to 1^)^)°, 
 
 llic lii^lirHt point of tlic hcmihoii. 'i'wo duyH nl'Uw, tlm 
 (irst I'ilitl It'll. At tll(! (Mill of .JlllM! Htiiull h(i-<>!iiiih of 
 
 wjit«;r bc^iiii to How fVotn tin; land. 7\t ilio end of Jnly 
 tlio H<ni-ic(5 wuH diininiHlidd in a llii(;kn(3HH of four fotit by 
 (lie nn'lliii^ of th(? upper Hurlii(M». Au^iirtt, Mtli, the buy- 
 ii^o broko up, and H(!t tlu; Hlii|)H Wvm, aft(3r olcvuii 
 uiontliH' cloHt^ (bjtcnlion. l"'our dayn al'tcrvvardM, tlio 
 youn/^' ico bc^^an ii';'ain lo rnrni on tlio Hoa at ni;^lit. 
 
 Throughout thin winlfir of intense eold, tlu; tfinipcra- 
 tun; of the wea remained nearly unil'orin. It never Hank 
 NO low as twenly-nino (le}^'r(>eM. A hole; wan kept open 
 lhrou;;h the ice, near the Hlii|)H, for the jjurposo of 
 observinj.^* the water, as well as for notiiMnj^- the rino 
 and fall of llu! tid(;H. The ico invariably increased its 
 thickn<\sH by additions to its lower surliu^o. As the 
 s(ia-water iVo/e, a considerabUj [)ortion of its salt was 
 separated from it, and blown alouf^ the surlaco of the 
 ice, mixing with the fnish-fallen snow as it went. On 
 this account snow-wreaths could never bo used for 
 melting into water ; the- snow on the land often con 
 taincd traces of salt, miles away from the sea. Tiio 
 sea-ice hardly over contained more than one (j[uarter the 
 quantity of salt found in an equal volume of sea-water. 
 
 The interior of the ships was warmed to between 
 forty and lifty degrees. This was found to bo the 
 highest limit of safety ; in it, the hoar-frost was never 
 thawed in the beds ; the blankets and night-caps of the 
 sleepers often adhered inconveniently to the ships' 
 planks. With a higher temperature, the vapor of the 
 25* 
 
 ;.!> 
 
'■ 
 
 iil 
 
 > 
 
 ilte 
 
 294 
 
 WINTER CLIMATE. 
 
 interior of thtf ships was deposited in the beds as moist- 
 ure instead of ice, and then rheumatic attacks were 
 troublesome among the crew. With this range, the 
 difference of heat experienced on going into the open 
 air often amounted to one hundred degrees. 
 
 Much less food was consumed during the winter's 
 rest than during the labors of summer. On this ac- 
 count, the provisions were served out without weighing, 
 and considerable weekly savings were effected. The 
 men took instinctively just what nourishment the waste 
 of their bodies required. 
 
 A vast abundance of the lower forms of life was found 
 everywhere in the inclement region in which the ships 
 sojourned. Small cavities, from two to six feet deep, 
 studded the under surface of the sea-ice. A greenish, 
 slimy substance, composed of animalcules and micro- 
 scopic plants, was found in these. The cavities, in 
 fact, had been hollowed out by the Iiigher temperature 
 attendant upon the vital action going on in these minute 
 creatures. The most intense cold seemed to have the 
 power of destroying some kinds of life-germs. Mity 
 cheese, th\t had been exposed throughout the winter, 
 never again manifested any return of crawling propen- 
 sity. 
 
 The influence of solar light was exceedingly small 
 during the depth of winter. A little trace of daylight 
 was always perceptible at noon; but for seven days 
 before and after the 22d of December, chloride of silver 
 was not blackened by exposure to the south horizon. 
 On the 1st of January it began to assume a slight leaden 
 tinge. Mustard and cresses were reared with great 
 care ; but the young plants were composed of ninety- 
 four per cent, of water, and contained only half the 
 quantity of nutritious and antiscorbutic matters that 
 had been present in the seeds. .: . >; . :.,i 
 
 of 
 
 dis 
 
 tli( 
 
 per 
 
 for 
 
 wet 
 
ESQUIMAUX DOGS. 
 
 295 
 
 oistr 
 
 ivere 
 
 the 
 
 open 
 
 iter's 
 a ac- 
 :hing, 
 The 
 waste 
 
 found 
 
 ships 
 , deep, 
 3enish, 
 micro- 
 ties, in 
 erature 
 minute 
 kve the 
 Mity 
 winter, 
 
 ropen- 
 
 small 
 laylight 
 In days 
 If silver 
 lorizon. 
 , leaden 
 great 
 ninety- 
 lialf the 
 trs that 
 
 The men were kept amused during the winter by the- 
 atrical representations, balls, and masquerades, after 
 Captain Parry's example ; but the schools and libraries 
 were the most valuable auxiliaries in preventing ennui. 
 Geographical studies were especially popular. After 
 the nightly lessons, it was often necessary to settle 
 forecastle disputes as to the insular character of Cape 
 Horn, the Roman Catholic faith of the Chinese, and the 
 identity of the crocodiles of the Nile with the alligators 
 of the Mississippi. 
 
 Far from the least interesting members of this Arctic 
 community were a kennel of Esquimaux dogs, that had 
 been established in a snow-hut near the ships. The 
 four oldest had accompanied Mi. Petersen, the Danish 
 interpreter, from Greenland. But these had thriven 
 and multiplied amid the congenial scenes of ice and 
 snow, so that complete teams for two sledges could be 
 furnished out in spring. They were great favorites 
 among the seamen, and flocked eagerly round the first 
 person who emerged from the snow-covered ships in 
 the morning. They were, nevertheless, of highly jeal- 
 ous temperament ; for, if one of them chanced to receive 
 more notice than his companions, the lucky fellow was 
 forthwith attacked by the rest of the pack. This so 
 constantly occurred, that some of the cunning young 
 dogs became afraid of the men's caresses, and ran away 
 the moment any marked demonstrations of kindness 
 were directed towards them. 
 
 In many points, amusing instances of the adaptation 
 of canine instinct to the necessities of Arctic life were 
 displayed. In fine, sunny weather, the dogs satisfied 
 thoir thirst by lapping the surface snow ; but in colder 
 periods of the season they burrowed some inches down 
 for their supply of frozen water. In extremely severe 
 weather, they constantly coiled themselves closely up, 
 
u 
 
 296 
 
 ESQUIMAUX DOGS. 
 
 and covered their noses with the shagj^y fur of their 
 tails. At these times, they never rose even to shake 
 oft' the accumulating wreaths of falling snow ; if their 
 masters called them, they answered by turning their 
 eyes, but without removing their natural respirators 
 from their nostrils, and no demonstration, short of a 
 determined kick, could make them shift their quarters ; 
 but, at other times, they lay stretched out at full length, 
 and were on their legs in obedience to the first lone of 
 a familiar voice. 
 
 The young dogs had to learn some painful expe- 
 riences. The first time they were taken to the open 
 water, they mistook it for ice, coolly walked into it, 
 and were nearly drowned. One poor fellow undertook 
 to lick a tempting morsel of fat from an iron shovel, 
 when, greatly to his surprise, the cold metal stuck fast 
 to his tongue, and he dragged the shovel along for some 
 distance, at last only extricating himself from it by a 
 strong efibrt, and at the expense of leaving some inches 
 of mucous membrane behind him. When the dogs 
 were employed in sledging-work, it was no uncommon 
 thing for them to start off with their loads in full pur- 
 suit of bears. In the spring, two carrier-pigeons were 
 despatched in the car of a small balloon. The balloon 
 fell upon the ice, while still in sight, and dragged along 
 for some distance. An object that was so full of interest 
 to their masters could not, by any means, be slighted 
 by the dogs ; in a moment they were all off after it, the 
 men following them pell-mell to save the pigeons. The 
 four-footed animals had by far the best of the race ; but 
 the balloon, fortunately for its freight, cleared the edge 
 of the ice just as they came up with it. When the ice 
 around the ships broke up, the dogs understood the 
 indication, and galloped about in mad joy, leaping from 
 piece to piece, and whining restlessly, or swimming 
 
USE OF SNOW. 
 
 297 
 
 f their 
 shake 
 f their 
 T their 
 )irators 
 rt of a 
 alters ; 
 length, 
 lone of 
 
 i\ expe- 
 he open 
 into it, 
 idertook 
 shovel, 
 :uck fast 
 for some 
 L it by a 
 le inches 
 he dogs 
 common 
 full pur- 
 ns were 
 balloon 
 ■ed along 
 interest 
 slighted 
 iv it, the 
 IS. The 
 ice ; but 
 Ithe edge 
 the ice 
 Itood the 
 iing from 
 rimming 
 
 round the ship until they were picked up and established 
 upon the decks. • ' 
 
 The Esquimaux dog is described as resembling in 
 form the shepherd's dog, rising to the height of the 
 Newfoundland, but broad like the mastiff; having short 
 pricked ears, a furry coat, and a bushy tail. In general 
 they are observed to bear a strong resemblance to the 
 wolf, and the opinion is even prevalent that the former 
 exhibit only the latter in a tamed state ; but the avidity 
 with which the wolf devours his supposed brethren does 
 not seem quite consistent with so close an affinity. 
 Frequent beatings are necessary to train these dogs for 
 acting as a regular team. But their greatest sufferings 
 respect the want of food. Captain Parry saw one which 
 ate a large piece of canvas, a cotton handkerchief laid 
 out to dry, and a piece of a linen shirt. When these 
 animals are yoked in the sledge, a whip of twenty feet 
 long enforces obedience ; while peculiar cries indicate 
 the right or left, to turn, or to stop. 
 
 A singular fact is related in Dr. Sutherland's journal 
 in regard to the use of snow for allaying thirst : " 'The 
 use of snow when persons are thirsty does not by any 
 means allay the insatiuble desire for water ; on the con- 
 trary, it appears to be increased in proportion to the 
 quantity used, and the frequency with which it is put 
 into the mouth. For example : a person walking along 
 feels intensely thirsty, and he looks to his feet with 
 coveting eyes ; but his sense and firm resolutions are 
 not to be overcome so easily, and he withdraws the? 
 open hand that was to grasp the delicious morsel and 
 convey it into his parching mouth. He has several 
 miles of a journey to accomplish, and his thirst is every 
 moment increasing ; he is perspiring profusely, and 
 feels quite hot and oppressed. At length his good res- 
 olutions stagger, and he partakes of the smallest par- 
 
 i& 
 
298 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 .1. 
 
 
 tide, which produces a most exhilanitiug effect ; in leas 
 than ten minutes he tastes again and again, always 
 increasing the quantity ; and in half an hour ho has a 
 gum-stick of condensed snow, which he masticates with 
 avidity, and rephices witli assiduity the moment that it 
 has melted away. But his thirst is not allayed in the 
 slightest degree ; he is as hot as ever, and still per- 
 spires ; ; ;,-' mouth is in flames, and he is driven to the 
 necessity of quenching them with snow, which adds 
 fuel to the fire. The melting snow ceases to please ti\e 
 palate, and it feels like red-hot coals, which, like a fire 
 cater, he shifts about with his tongue, and swaiiows 
 without the addition of saliva. He is in despair ; but 
 habit has taken the place of his reasoning faculties, and 
 lie moves on with languid steps, lamenting the severe 
 fate which forces him to persist in a practice which in 
 an unguarded moment he allowed to begin. ... I 
 believe the true cause of such intense tliirst is the ex- 
 treme dryness of the air when the temperature is low." 
 
 The result of Captain Penny's labors, so far as explor- 
 ation is concerned, is already known. Sledging parties 
 went out in the spring. A large whaling-boat was 
 dragged bodily up Wellington Channel, and launched 
 in the clear water beyond the ice-barrier. Two thou- 
 sand miles w^ere travelled over, seven hundred and ten 
 of which were in districts seen for the first time by human 
 e^^es. No further traces of the missing expedition were, 
 however, found. The Lady Franklin and Sophia left 
 Assistance Bay, homeward bound, on the 12th of Au- 
 gust ; five weeks afterwards, they were in the Thames. 
 
 We have seen that Mr. GrinnelFs expedition was 
 undertaken with two small brigs — the Advance and the 
 Rescue. The Advance was intended originally for car- 
 rying heavy castings from an iron foundery. Both ves- 
 sels were strengthened with great skill and at large 
 
in leas 
 always 
 3 has a 
 cs with 
 , that it 
 in the 
 till per- 
 1 to the 
 3h adds 
 3ase the 
 [e a fire 
 waiiOWS 
 air; but 
 ties, and 
 c severe 
 which in 
 . . I 
 5 the ex- 
 is low." 
 s explor- 
 g parties 
 oat was 
 aunched 
 o thou- 
 and ten 
 IV human 
 on were, 
 [phia left 
 li of Au- 
 Chanies. 
 tion was 
 and the 
 for car- 
 Joth ves- 
 lat large 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 299 
 
 expense for the Arctic service. The vessels were 
 placed under the command of Lieut. De Haven. His 
 officers consisted of Mr. Murdoch, sailing-master ; Dr. 
 E. K. Kane, surgeon and naturalist; and Mr. Lovell, 
 midshipman. The Advance had a crew of twelve men 
 when she sailed ; but two of them complaining of sick- 
 ness, and expressing a desire to return home, were left 
 at the Danish settlement at Disco Island, on the coast 
 of Greenland. 
 
 The expedition passed the eastern extremity of New- 
 foundland, June 3d, 1850, ten days after leaving Sandy 
 Hook, and then sailed east-north-east, directly for Cape 
 Comfort, on the coast of Greenland. The weather was 
 generally fine ; and only a single accident occurred on 
 the voyage to that country of frost and snow. Off* the 
 coast of Labrador they met an iceberg making its way 
 toward the tropics. The night was very dark ; and the 
 Advance, going at the rate of seven or eight knots an 
 hour, ran against the huge voyager, and lost her jib- 
 boom. 
 
 The voyagers did not land at Cape Comfort, but, 
 turning northward, sailed along the south-west coast of 
 Greenland, sometimes in an open sea, and sometimes in 
 the midst of broad acres of broken ice (particularly in 
 Davis's Straits), as far as Whale Island. From this 
 place a boat, with two officers and four seamen, was 
 sent to Disco Island, a distance of about twenty-six 
 miles, to a Danish settlement there, to procure skin 
 clothing and other articles necessary for use during the 
 rigors of a polar winter. The officers were entertained 
 at the government house, while the seamen were com- 
 fortably lodged with the Esquimaux, sleeping in fur 
 bags at night. They returned to the ship the following 
 day, and the expedition proceeded on its voyage. 
 When passing the little Danish settlement of Uper- 
 
 
 
 II 
 
 
 I 
 
 
300 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 navik, they were boarded by natives for the first time. 
 They were out iu government whale-boats, hunting for 
 ducks and seals. These hardy children of the Arctic 
 Circle were not shy, for through the Danes, the Fnglish 
 whalers, and government expeditions, they had become 
 acquainted with men of other latitudes. , ■■ ■ .-.v.„ 
 
 When the expedition reached Melville Bay, which, 
 on account of its fearful character, is also called the 
 Devil's Nip, the voyagers began to witness more of the 
 grandeur and perils of Arctic scenes. Icebergs of all 
 dimensions came bearing down from the polar seas like 
 vast squadrons, and the roar of their rending came 
 over the waters like the booming of the heavy broad- 
 sides of contending navies. They also encountered 
 immense floes, with only narrow channels between ; 
 and at times their situation was exceedingly perilous. 
 
 On one occasion, after heaving through fields of ice 
 for five consecutive weeks, two immense floes, between 
 which they were making their way, gradually approached 
 each other ; and for several hours they expected their 
 tiny vessels — tiny when compared with the mighty 
 objects around them — would be crushed. An immense 
 calf of ice, six or eight feet thick, slid under the Rescue, 
 lifting her almost "high and dry," and careening her 
 partially upon her beam ends. By means of ice-anchors 
 (large iron hooks) they kept her from capsizing. In 
 this position they remained about sixty hours, when, 
 with saws and axes, they succeeded in relieving her. 
 The ice now opened a little, and they finally warped 
 through into clear water. While they were thus con- 
 fined, polar bears came around them in abundance, 
 greedy for prey, and the seamen indulged a little in the 
 perilous sports of the chase. 
 
 ..,t The open sea continued but a short time, when they 
 again became entangled among bergs, floes, and hum- 
 
m 
 
 FIItST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 301 
 
 'U 
 
 mocks, and encountered the most fearful perils. Some- 
 times they anchored their vessels to icebergs, and some- 
 times to floes and to masses of hummock. On one of 
 these occasions, while the cook, an active Frenchman, 
 was upon a berg, making a place for an anchor, the 
 mass of ice split beneath him, and he was dropped 
 through the yawning fissure into the water, a distance 
 of almost thirty feet. Fortunately, the masses, as is 
 often the case, did not close up again, but floated apart, 
 and the poor cook was hauled on board more dead than 
 alive, from excessive fright. It was in this fearful 
 region that they lirst encountered pack-ice, and there 
 they were locked in from the tth to the 23d of July. 
 
 While in this situation they were joined by the British 
 yacht Prince Albert, under Captain Forsyth, and to- 
 gether the three vessels were anchored, for a while, to 
 an immense field of ice, in sight of the Devil's Thumb, a 
 high, rocky peak, situated in latitude 74° 22'. It was 
 now about thirty miles distant, and, with the dark hills 
 adjacent, presented a strange aspect where all was 
 white and glittering. The peak and the hills are masses 
 of rock, with occasionally a lichen or a moss growing 
 upon their otherwise naked surfaces. In the midst of 
 the vast ice-field loomed up many lofty bergs, all of them 
 in slow and majestic motion. 
 
 From the Devil's Thumb the American vessels passad 
 onward through the pack toward Sabine's Islands, 
 while the Prince Albert essayed to make a more west- 
 erly course. They reached Gape York at the beginning 
 of August. Far across the ice, landward, they discov- 
 ered, through their glasses, several men, apparently 
 making signals ; and for a while they rejoiced in the 
 belief that they saw a portion of Sir John Franklin's 
 companions. Four men were despatched, with a whale- 
 boat, to reconnoitre. They soon discovered the men to 
 
 26 
 
802 
 
 FIBST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 be Esquimaux, who, by signs, professed great friend- 
 ship, and endeavored to get the voyagers to accompany 
 them to their homes beyond the hills. They declined ; 
 and, as soon as they returned to the vessel, the expedi- 
 tion again pushed forward, and made its way to Cape 
 Dudley Digges, which they reached on the tth of 
 August. 
 
 At Cape Dudley Digges they sighted the Crimson 
 Cliffs, a name suggested by the patches of red snow, 
 which in the distance impart a rose-hue color to the 
 acclivities. Those lofty cliffs are of dark brown stone. 
 It was a magnificent sight, in that cold region, to see 
 such an apparently warm object standing out in bold 
 relief against the dark blue back-ground of a polar sky. 
 This was the most northern point ti) which the expedi- 
 tion penetrated. The whole coast which they had 
 passed from Disco to this cape is high, rugged, and 
 barren, only some of the low points, stretching into the 
 sea, bearing a species of dwarf fir. North-east from the 
 cape rise the Arctic Highlands, to an unknown altitude ; 
 and, stretching away northward, was the then unex- 
 plored Smith's Sound, filled with impenetrabh ice. 
 
 From Cape Dudley Digges, the Advance and Rescue, 
 beating against wind and tide in the midst of the icv3- 
 fields, made Wolstenholme Sound, and then, changing 
 their course to the south-west, emerged from the fields 
 into the open waters of Lancaster Sound, Here, on the 
 18th of August, 1850, they encountered a tremendous 
 gale, which lasted about twenty-four hours. The two 
 vessels parted company during the storm, and remained 
 separate several days. Across Lancaster Sound, the 
 Advance made her way to Barrow's Straits, and on the 
 22d discovered the Prince Albert on the southern shore 
 of the straits, near Leopold Island, a mass of lofty, pre- 
 cipitous rocks, dark and barren, and hooded and draped 
 
HRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 303 
 
 ricnd- 
 ipany 
 ined ; 
 xpedi- 
 » Cape 
 th of 
 
 rimson 
 
 snow, 
 
 to the 
 
 stone. 
 , to see 
 in bold 
 lar sky. 
 expedi- 
 ey had 
 ;ed, and 
 into the 
 rom the 
 Ititude -, 
 n unex- 
 
 !e. ' 
 
 Rescue, 
 
 the ice- 
 langing 
 le fields 
 
 ^, on the 
 lendous 
 Che two 
 3mained 
 |ind, the 
 on the 
 rn shore 
 
 |fty, pre- 
 draped 
 
 with snow. The weather was fine, and soon the officers 
 and crews of the two vessels met in friendly greeting. 
 Those of the Prince Albert wore much astonished at the 
 encounter. They had left the Americans in Melville 
 Bay on the 6th, pressing northward through the pack ; 
 and could not conceive how they so soon and safely 
 penetrated it, when the Prince, though towed by a 
 steamer, had made such poor progress. Captain For- 
 syth had attempted to reach a particular point, where 
 he intended to remain through the winter ; but, finding 
 the passage thereto completely blocked up with ice, he 
 had resolved, on the very day when the Americans 
 appeared, to return home. 
 
 The two vessels remained together a day or two, 
 when they parted company, the Prince Albert to return 
 to England, and the Advance to make further explora- 
 tions. Ofi" Leopold Island, on the 23d of August, the 
 Advance took the lead through the vast masses of float- 
 ing ice. " The way was before them," says Mr. Snow, 
 of the Prince Albert, who stood upon the deck of the 
 Advance ; " the stream of ice had to be either gone 
 through boldly, or a long detour made ; and, despite the 
 heaviness of the stream, they pushed the vessel through 
 in her proper course. Two or three shocks, as she came 
 in contact with some large pieces, were unheeded ; and 
 the moment the last block was past the bow, the officer 
 sang out, * So I steady as she goes on her course ; ' and 
 came aft as if nothing more than ordinary sailing had 
 been going on. I observed our own little bark nobly 
 following in the American's wake ; and, as I afterward 
 learned, she got through it pretty well, though not with- 
 out much doubt of the propriety of keeping on in such 
 procedure after the ' mad Yankee,' as he was called by 
 Our mate." 
 
 From Leopold Island the Advance proceeded to the 
 
304 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 noi* "'-west, and on the 25th reached Cape Eiloy, anotlier 
 amorphous mass, not so roguhir and precipitate as 
 Leopold Lshmd, but more lofty. Here a strouj^ tide, 
 settiuf^ ill to the shore, drifted the Advance toward the 
 beach, where she stranded. Around her were small 
 bergs and large masses of floating ice, all under the 
 influence of the strong current. It was about two 
 o'clock in the afternoon when she struck. By diligent 
 labor in removing everything from her deck to a small 
 floe, she was so lightened, that at four o'clock the next 
 morning she floated, and soon everything was properly 
 replaced. 
 
 Near Cape Riley the Americans fell in with a portion 
 of an English expedition ; and there also the Rescue, 
 left behind in the gale in Lancaster Sound, overtook the 
 Advance. There was Captain Penny, with the Sophia 
 and Lady Franklin ; the veteran Sir John Ross, with 
 the Felix, and Commodore Austin, with his flag-ship 
 the Resolute. Together the navigators of both nations 
 explored the coast at and near Cape Riley, and on the 
 21th they saw in a cove on the shore of Becchey Island, 
 or Beechey Cape, on the east side of the entrance to 
 Wellington Channel, unmistakable evidence that Sir 
 John Franklin and his companions were there in April, 
 1846. There they found the articles known to belong 
 to Franklin's ships, as described in the preceding chap- 
 ter. They also visited the graves, the inscriptions on 
 which we have already given. 
 
 How much later than April 3d (the date upon one of 
 the head-boards) Franklin remained at Beechey, cannot 
 be determined. There were evidences of his having 
 gone northward, for sledge-tracks in that direction were 
 visible. It was the opinion of Dr. Kane that, on the 
 breaking up uf the ice in the spring. Sir John Franklin 
 passed northward with his ships through Wellington 
 
FIIIST GRINNKLL EXl'EDITION. 
 
 305 
 
 other 
 te as 
 
 tide, 
 rd tlio 
 
 small 
 iY the 
 t two 
 ili{2,-cut 
 1, small 
 e next 
 ■operly 
 
 portion 
 
 Icsciie, 
 
 3 ok the 
 Sophia 
 
 39, with 
 ag-sliip 
 nations 
 on the 
 Island, 
 ance to 
 lat Sir 
 II April, 
 belong 
 g chap- 
 ions on 
 
 one of 
 cannot 
 having 
 
 on were 
 on the 
 ranklin 
 
 [UingtoQ 
 
 Channel into the great polar basin, and that he did not 
 return. This, too, was tlie opinion of Captain Fenny, 
 who zealously urged the Britisii government to send a 
 powerful screw steamer to pass through that ciiaiinel 
 and explore the coasts beyond. 
 
 Leaving Beechey Cape, the American expedition 
 forced its way tlirough tlie ice to Barlow's Inlet, where 
 they narrowly escaped being frozen in for tiic winter. 
 They endeavored to enter the inlet, for the purpose of 
 
 ADVANCE AND RESCUE IN BAULOW's INLKT. 
 
 making it their winter quarters, but were prevented by 
 the mass of pack-ice at its entrance. 
 
 It was on the 4th of September, 1850, when the 
 Advance and Rescue arrived at Barlow's Inlet ; but, 
 
 26* 
 
 & 
 
 I 
 
806 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDI'nON. 
 
 hS)'"* 
 
 after rcrnaiiiinj^ Hcveii or eight diiys, tlicy abuiiduiied the 
 attempt to enter. On the right and left of the entrance 
 were dark rocks, in the centre the frozen waters, and 
 beyond, a range of hills. There was nuich smooth ice 
 within the inlet, and, while the vessels lay anchored to 
 the " field," officers and crew exercised and amused 
 themselves by skating. On the left of the inlet they 
 discovered a cairn (a heap of stones with a cavity), 
 eight or ten feet in height, which was erected by Capt. 
 Ommaney, of the English expedition then in the polar 
 waters. Within it he had placed two letters, for " whom 
 it might concern." Commander De Haven also depos- 
 ited a letter there. It is believed to be the only post- 
 office in the world free for the use of all nations. The 
 rocks here presented vast fissures made by the frost ; 
 and at the foot of the clill' on the right that powerful 
 agent had cast down vast heaps of debris. 
 
 From Barlow's Inlet the American expedition moved 
 slowly westward, battling with the ice every rood of 
 the way, until they reached Griffin's Island, at about 
 96° west longitude from Greenwich. This was attained 
 on the 11th of September, and was the extreme westing 
 made by the expedition. All beyond seemed impene- 
 trable ice ; and, despairing of making any further dis- 
 coveries before the winter should set in, they resolved 
 to return home. Turning eastward, they hoped to reach 
 Davis's Straits by the southern route, before the cold 
 and darkness came on ; but they were doomed to disap- 
 pointment. Near the entrance to Wellington Channel 
 they became completely locked in by hummock-ice, and 
 soon found themselves drifting with an irresistible tide 
 up that channel toward the pole. 
 
 Now began the most perilous adventures of the navi- 
 gators. The summer day was drawing to a close ; the 
 diurnal visits of the pale sun were rapidly shortening, 
 
FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 307 
 
 lod the 
 itruuce 
 1*8, aiul 
 oth i»'c 
 orod to 
 amuBcd 
 ct thoy 
 cavity), 
 )y Capt. 
 lie polar 
 "whom 
 depos- 
 ily post- 
 is. The 
 10 frost; 
 powerful 
 
 n moved 
 rood of 
 
 at about 
 attained 
 westing 
 impenc- 
 ther dis- 
 resolved 
 to reach 
 the cold 
 to disap- 
 Channel 
 -ice, and 
 tible tide 
 
 tho navi- 
 lose; the 
 ortening, 
 
 and soon the long polar night, with all itH darkiioss and 
 horrors, would fall upon thorn. Slowly thoy drifted in 
 those vast lields of ice, whither, or to what result, thoy 
 knew not. Locked in the moving yet compact mass ; 
 liable every moment to be crushed ; far away from land ; 
 the mercury sinking daily lower and lower from the zero 
 figure, toward the point where that metal freezes, thoy 
 felt small hope of ever reaching home again. Yet they 
 prepared for winter comforts and winter sports, as cheer- 
 fully as if lying safe in Barlow's Inlet. As the winter 
 advanced, the crews of both vessels went on board the 
 larger one. They unshipped the rudders of each to 
 prevent their being injured by the ice, covered the deck 
 of the Advance with felt, prepared their stores, and 
 made arrangements for enduring the long winter, now 
 upon them. I'liysical and mental activity being neces- 
 sfi-ry for the preservation of licalth, they daily exercised 
 in the open air for several hours. They built ice huts, 
 hunted the huge white bears and the little polar foxes, 
 and, during the darkness of the winter night, they 
 arranged in-door amusements and employments. 
 
 Before the end of October, the sun made its appear- 
 ance for the last time, and the awful polar night closed 
 in. Early in November they wholly abandoned the 
 Rescue, and both crews made the Advance their perma- 
 nent winter home. The cold soon became intense ; the 
 mercury congealed, and the spirit thermometer indi- 
 cated 46" below zero. Its average range was 30° to 
 35°. They had drifted helplessly up Wellington Chan- 
 nel almost to the latitude from whence Captain Penny 
 saw an open sea, supposed to be the great polar basin, 
 where there is a more genial clime than that which inter- 
 venes between the Arctic Circle and the T5th degree. 
 Here, when almost in sight of the open ocean, that 
 mighty polar tide, with its vast masses of ice, suddenly 
 
 ii 
 
 I 
 
308 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 I :« 
 
 ebbed, and our little vessels were carried back, as resist- 
 lessly as before, through Barrow's Straits, iuto Lancaster 
 Sound. All this while the immense fields of hummock- 
 ice were moving', and the vessels were in hourly danger 
 of being crushed and destroyed. At length, while drift- 
 ing through Barrow's Straits, the congealed mass, as if 
 crushed together by the opposite shores, became more 
 compact, and the Advance was elevated almost seven 
 feet by the stern, and keeled two feet eight inches, star- 
 board. In this position she remained, with very little 
 alteration, for five consecutive months ; for, soon after 
 entering Baffin's Bay in the midst of the winter, the ice 
 became frozen in one immense tract, covering millions 
 of acres. 
 
 Thus frozen in, sometimes more than a hundred miles 
 from land, they drifted slowly along the south-west coast 
 of Baffin's Bay, a distance of more than a thousand miles 
 from Wellington Channel, Tor eleven weeks that 
 dreary night continued, and during that time the disc of 
 the sun was never seen above the horizon. Yet nature 
 was not wholly forbidding in aspect. Sometimes the 
 aurora borealis would flash up still further northward ; 
 and sometimes mock suns and mock moons would appear, 
 in varied beauty, in the starry sky. Brilliant, too, were 
 the northern constellations ; and when the real moon 
 was at its full, it made its stately circuit in the heavens 
 without descending below the horizon, and lighted up 
 the vast piles of ice with a pale lustre, almost as vivid 
 as the morning twilights of more genial skies. 
 
 Around the vessels the crews built a wall of ice ; and 
 in ice huts they stowed away their cordage and stores, to 
 make room for exercise on the decks. They organized a 
 theatrical company, and amused themselves and the offi- 
 cers with comedy well performed. Behind the pieces of 
 hummock eacli actor learned his part ; and by means of 
 
,s resist- 
 ancaster 
 immock- 
 Y danger 
 lile drift- 
 iss, as if 
 ,rae more 
 )st seven 
 :hes, star- 
 vQiVj little 
 ;oon after 
 er, the ice 
 g millionB 
 
 ired miles 
 -west coast 
 sand miles 
 greeks that 
 
 the disc of 
 i^et nature 
 
 ctimes the 
 
 lorthward ; 
 
 uld appear, 
 
 ;, too, were 
 real moon 
 
 fie heavens 
 lighted up 
 
 -st as vivid 
 
 Dfice; and 
 |d stores, to 
 )rganizcd a 
 lud the offi- 
 Ic pieces of 
 means of 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 309 
 
 calico tliey transformed themselves into female charac- 
 ters, as occasion required. These dramas were acted 
 upon the deck of the Advance, sometimes while the ther- 
 mometer indicated 80° below zero ; and actors and audi- 
 ence highly enjoyed the fun, Tiiey also went out in par- 
 ties during that long night, fully armed, to hunt the polar 
 bear, the grim monarch of the frozen north, on which 
 occasions they often encountered perilous adventures. 
 They played at foot-ball, and exercised themselves in 
 drawing sledges heavily laden with provisions. Five 
 hours of each twenty-four they thus exercised in the 
 open air, and once a week each man washed his whole 
 body in cold snow-water. Serious sickness was conse- 
 quently avoided ; and the scurvy, which attacked them, 
 soon yielded to remedies. 
 
 Often, during that fearful night, they cxj^ected the 
 disaster of having their vessels crushed. All through 
 November and December, before the ice became fast, 
 they slept in their clothes, with knapsacks on their 
 backs, and sledges upon the ice, laden with stores, not 
 knowing at what moment the vessels might be demol- 
 ished, and themselves forced to leave them, and make 
 their way toward land. On the 8th of Decenber, and 
 the 23d of January, they actually lowered th^ir boats 
 and stood upon the ice, for the crushing masf- -"s were 
 making the timbers of the gallant vessel creak, and its 
 docks to rise in the centre. They were then ninety 
 miles from land, and hope hardly whispered an encour- 
 aging idea of life being sustained. On the latte- occa- 
 sion, when officers and crew stood upon the ice, with the 
 ropes of their provision-sledges in their hands, a terrible 
 snow-drift came from the north-east, and intense dark- 
 ness slirouded them. Had the vessel then been crushed, 
 all must have perished. 
 
 A strange picture might have been seen on Christmas 
 
310 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 day, 1850, by a spirit who could have roamed from end 
 to end of the icy continent, and taken it in at a glance. 
 No less than tej; Arctic discovery-ships were winter- 
 ing within a few hundred miles of each other. Under 
 GriflSth's Island lay her majesty's ships the Resolute, 
 Assistance, Pioneer, and Intrepid ; in a small bay in 
 North Devon were securely sheltered Captain Penny's 
 two brigs ; the Investigator lay in Prince of Wales 
 Strait ; and at the mouth of Lancaster Sound, drifting 
 helplessly in the pack which had borne them already 
 twelve degrees to the eastward, were the two unfortu- 
 nate ships of the Grinnell expedition. But this was not 
 all. Only three to lour hundred miles from the Investi- 
 gator's winter quarters, Mr. Rae was waiting on the 
 border of Great Bear Lake for weather that would allow 
 him to start on his land journey. And, in all human 
 probability, on that same Christmas day. Sir John Frank- 
 lin and his men, the objects of so many expeditions and 
 so much anxious hope, were miserably subsisting on 
 short allowance somewhere in King William's Land, 
 or on the bank of Peel Sound. 
 
 Dr. Kane, who wrote a deeply interesting account of 
 the first Grinnell expedition, says, under date of Febru- 
 ary 28th, 1851, when, for some days, the average tem- 
 perature was 53 degrees below zero : " Cold as it was, 
 our mid-day exercise was never interrupted unless by 
 wind and drift-storms. We felt the necessity of active 
 exercise ; and, although the effort was accompanied with 
 pains in the joints, sometimes hardly bearable, we man- 
 aged, both officers and crew, to obtain at least three hours 
 a day. The exercise consisted of foot-ball and sliding, 
 followed by regular games of romps, leap-frog, and tum- 
 bling in the snow. By shovelling away near the 
 vessel, we obtained a fine bare surface of fresh ice, 
 extremely glib and durable. On this we constructed a 
 
 ■ r' '-1 
 
FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 311 
 
 om end 
 
 glance. 
 
 winter- 
 Under 
 
 ,e solute, 
 bay in 
 
 Penny's 
 
 f Wales 
 
 , drifting 
 
 i already 
 unfortu- 
 
 s was not 
 
 3 Investi- 
 
 ig on the 
 
 )uld allow 
 
 ill human 
 
 )hn Frank- 
 
 itions and 
 
 sisting on 
 's Land, 
 
 account of 
 of Febru- 
 |;rage tem- 
 as it was, 
 [unless by 
 of active 
 [anied with 
 }, we man- 
 Ihree hours 
 id sliding, 
 [, and turn- 
 near the 
 fresh ice, 
 Istructed a 
 
 skating-ground and admirable slides. I walked regu- 
 larly over the floes, although the snows were nearly 
 impassable. With all this, aided by hosts of hygienic 
 resources, feeble, certainly, but still the best at my 
 command, scurvy advanced steadily." 
 
 On the 21st April Dr. Kane encountered a bear on the 
 ice, on which he remarks : " We are at least eighty 
 miles from the nearest land. Cape Kater ; and channels 
 innumerable must intervene between us and terra firma. 
 Yet this majestic animal, dependent upon his own pred- 
 a+ciy resources alone, and, defying cold as well as hun- 
 ger, guided by a superb instinct, confides himself to 
 these solitary, unstable ice-fields. 
 
 " Parry, in his adventurous polar effort, found these 
 animals at the most northern limit of recorded observa- 
 tion. Wrangell had them as companions on his first 
 Asiatic journey over the Polar Ocean. Navigators have 
 also found them floating upon berg and floe far out in 
 open sea ; and here we have them in a region some 
 seventy miles from the nearest stable ice. They have 
 seldom or never — if we except Parry's Spitzbergen 
 experience — been seen so far from land. In the great 
 majority of cases, they seem to have been accidentally 
 caught and carried adrift on disengaged ice-floes. In 
 this way they travel to Iceland ; and it may have been 
 so, perhaps, with the Spitzbergen instances. 
 
 " There is something very grand about this tawny 
 savage : never leaving this utter destitution, this frigid 
 inhospitableness ; coupling in May, and bringing forth 
 in Christmas time ; a gestation carried on all of it 
 below zero, more than half of it in Arctic darkness ; 
 living in perpetual snow, and dependent for life upon a 
 never-ending activity ; using the frozen water as a raft 
 to traverse tlie open seas, that the water unfrozen may 
 yield him the means of life. No time for hibernatiou 
 has this polar tiger ; his life is one great winter." 
 

 ^ H 
 
 ) 1 
 
 312 
 
 FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 Early in February the northern horizon began to be 
 streaked with gorgeous twiliglit, the herald of the 
 approaching sun ; and on the 1.8th his disc first appeared 
 above the horizon. As the golden rim rose above the 
 glittering snow-drifts and piles of ice, three hearty 
 cheers went np from those hardy mariners, and they 
 enthusiastically welcomed their deliverer from the chains 
 of frost. Day after day the sun rose higher and higher, 
 and vast masses of ice began to yield to his fervid influ- 
 ences. The scurvy disappeared, and from that time, 
 until their arrival home, not a man suffered from sick- 
 ness. As they slowly drifted through Davis's Straits, 
 and the ice gave indications of breaking up, the voy- 
 agers made preparations for sailing. The Rescue was 
 reoccupied (May 12th, 1851), and her stern-post, which 
 had been broken by the ice in Barrow's Straits, was 
 repaired. To accomplish this, they were obliged to dig 
 away the ice, which was from twelve to fourteen feet 
 thick around her. They re-shipped their rudders ; 
 removed the felt covering ; placed their stores on deck, 
 and then patiently awaited the disruption of the ice. 
 This event was very sudden and appalling. It began 
 to give way on the 5th of June, and in the space of 
 twenty minutes the whole mass, as far as the eye could 
 reach, became ore vast field of moving floes. 
 
 On the 10th of June, 1851, they emerged into opon 
 water a little south of the Arctic Circle, in latitude 65° 
 30'. They immediately repaired to Godhaven, on the 
 coast of Greenland, where they re-fitted, and, unappalled 
 by the perils through which they had just passed, they 
 once more turned their prows northward, to encounter 
 anew the ice squadrons of Baffin's B^y, Again they 
 traversed the coast of Greenland to about the V3d degree, 
 when they bore to the westward, and on the *7th and Htli 
 of July passed the English whaling-fleet near the Dutch 
 
FIBST GRINNELL EXPEDITION. 
 
 313 
 
 I to be 
 
 of tho 
 
 ppeared 
 
 ove the 
 hearty 
 
 nd they 
 
 le chains 
 
 i higher, 
 
 vid influ- 
 
 lat time, 
 
 [•cm sick- 
 
 B Straits, 
 
 , the voy- 
 
 (scne was 
 
 )st, which 
 
 raits, was 
 
 p;ed to dig 
 
 rteen feet 
 rudders ; 
 
 ; on deck, 
 
 ,f the ice. 
 It began 
 space of 
 eye could 
 
 into open 
 Ititude 65° 
 m, on i\\G 
 hn appalled 
 
 Issed, they 
 encounter 
 
 .gain they 
 
 1 3d degree, 
 
 1th and 8th 
 
 the Dutch 
 
 Islands. Onward they pressed through the accumulat 
 ing ice to Baffin's Island, where, on the 11th, they were 
 joined by the Prince Albert, then out upon another cruise 
 They continued in company until the 3d of August, when 
 the Albert departed for the westward, determined to 
 try the more southern passage. Here again the Ameri- 
 cans encountered vast fields of hummock-ice, and were 
 subjected to the most imminent perils. The floating ice, 
 as if moved by adverse currents, tumbled in huge masses, 
 and reared upon tho sides of the sturdy little vessels 
 like monsters of the deep intent upon destruction 
 These masses broke in the bulwarks, and sometimes fell 
 over upon the decks with terrible force, like rocks 
 rolled over a plain by mountain torrents. The noise 
 was fearful — so deafening that the mariners could 
 scarcely hear each other's voices. The sounds of these 
 rolling masses, together with the rending of the icebergs 
 floating near, and the vast floes, produced a din like the 
 discharge of a thousand pieces of ordnance upon a field 
 of battle. ' -\ 
 
 Finding the north and west closed against further 
 progress, by impenetrable ice, De Haven was balked ; 
 and, turning his vessels homeward, they came out into 
 an open sea somewhat crippled, but not a plank seri- 
 ously started. During a storm ofi" the banks of New- 
 foundland, a thousand miles from New York, the vessels 
 parted company. The Advance arrived safely at tlio 
 Navy Yard, at Brooklyn, on the 30th of September, 1851 ; 
 and the Rescue joined her there a few days afterward. 
 Toward the close of October the government resigned 
 the vessels into the hands of Mr. Grinnell, to be usfd iu 
 other service, but with the stipulation that they were to 
 be subject to the order of the Secretary of the Navy in 
 the spring, if required for another expedition in seai ch 
 of Sir John Franklin. 
 
 27 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE PHINCK AliBEIlT REFITTED BY LADY FRANKLIN. — MR. KENNEDY THE 
 
 COMMANDER. — DEI'AUTUUK OF THE VESSEL. — XJPERNAMK. TRIAL OF 
 
 CARRIER-PIGEONS. — DISASTROUS SEPARATION. — RELIEF AND REUNION. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING. WINTER JOURNEYS. — VISIT TO 
 
 FURY BEACH. — THE GRAND JOURNEY. — SEVERE GALE. — THE FURY's 
 STORES. — DOGS. — CAIRNS NOT ALWAYS SEEN. — CAPE WALKER. — 
 
 RETURN TO BATTY BAY. HOMEWARD BOUND. BELLOT. RAE's LAND 
 
 JOURNEY IN 1S51. 
 
 The discovery of the traces of Franklin's visit to 
 Point Riley, the account of which was brought home by 
 the Prince Albert, gave encouragement for a renewal of 
 the search. On the 3d of June, 1851, the Prince Albert, 
 which had been refitted by Lady Franklin for the pur- 
 pose of exploring the shores of Prince Regent's Inlet, 
 set sail from Stromness. She was under the command 
 of Mr. William Kennedy, formerly in the service of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, and who has published an 
 interesting narrative of his adventures. 
 
 The Prince Albert had been well strengthened for 
 encounters with ponderous masses of ice. Along her 
 sides, from the keel to about two feet above the water- 
 line, there was a doubling of elm planking of fully two 
 and a half inches thick, intended not only to fortify tlie 
 hull of the little vessel, but to preserve her sides from 
 the tear and wear of sailing through, and rubbing 
 against, sharp, rasping pieces of ice. The bow and 
 stern-post were sheathed with wrought iron a quarter 
 of an inch thick, and a broad strip of thick sheet-iron 
 
 Jo] 
 of 
 
 Fd 
 resj 
 buil 
 
BELLOT.— HEPBURN. 
 
 315 
 
 tKDY THE 
 TUIAL OF 
 REUNION. 
 . VISIT TO 
 BE fury's 
 rALKEB. — 
 
 lab's land 
 
 visit to 
 
 home by 
 
 inewal of 
 
 fe Albert, 
 the pur- 
 
 ^t's Inlet, 
 jomniand 
 ice of the 
 lished an 
 
 lened for 
 Uong ber 
 |:he water- 
 fully two 
 lortify the 
 tides from 
 l\ rubbing 
 how and 
 la quarter 
 sheet-iron 
 
 ran iilonjj;' the water-line as far aft as the main-mast. 
 Her hold was a perfect labyrinth of cross-beams and 
 massive fastenings, to enable her to withstand the evil 
 consequences of a "nip ; " and the arrangements gener- 
 ally were conducted in a manner which, while it indi- 
 cated the dangerous nature of the service, also served 
 to assure her crew that nothing had been left undone 
 which could in any way conduce to their comfort and 
 safety. 
 
 She vvas supplied with several boats. One was made 
 of gutia-percha, and another of mahogany ; the third 
 being a small dingy, of the ordinary kind. She had also 
 one of Ilalkett's Mackintosh boats, and a tin kayak, 
 made in imitation of those used by the Esquimaux. 
 Dressed moose-skins and parchment, to be converted 
 during the voyage into moccasins, snow-shoes, doo^- 
 sledge-traces, &c., were abundantly supplied. Pro- 
 vision for two years was put on board, and part of this 
 consisted of a ton and a half of pemmican. v, v 
 
 The ship's company consisted of eighteen in all, in- 
 cluding Mr. Kennedy, the commander. Lieutenant J. 
 Bellot, the second in command, and Mr. Cowie, the sur- 
 geon. Bellot was a spirited young officer from the 
 French navy, whose romantic love of adventure led him 
 to offer his services to Lady Franklin in the search 
 which had now been going on for some years. He 
 soon proved himself to be in every way a most useful 
 auxiliary, and an honor to the nation to which he 
 belonged. 
 
 Among the crew, who were all picked men, there was 
 John Hepburn, who will be remembered by every reader 
 of Arctic travel as the faithful attendant of Sir John 
 Franklin during his first adventurous, and in some 
 respects tragic journey, through North America. Hep- 
 burn's spirit was fired with an irresistible desire to assist 
 
816 
 
 UPERNAVIK. 
 
 in searching for the hero with whom, in his youth, ho 
 had shared the perils of the wilderness ; and now, in his 
 old age, he was going to face a wilder form of perils on 
 the ice-laden waters of the Pohir Sea. Another of the 
 men had travelled with Dr. Rae, on his first expedition 
 to Repulse Bay ; and another had accompanied Sir 
 John Richardson in his boat journey through the inte- 
 rior of America. Lady Franklin herself was present to 
 jee the vessel oft". She took an afl'octionate leave of 
 Dfficers and crew ; and the Prince Albert bounded from 
 the shore and stretched out into the Avide Atlantic, the 
 Union-Jack at her peak, and the French flag, in honor 
 of Lieutenant Bellot, Hying at the fore. • .. 
 
 On Sunday, the 24th of June, they descried the coast 
 of Greenland on the distant horizon. In Baffin's Bay 
 they were visited by the captains of two whaling-vessels, 
 who created great excitement by telling them of the 
 discovery of Franklin's winter quarters in 1845, with 
 the details of which the reader is already acquainted. 
 This information induced Kennedy to direct his course 
 to Upernavik, the Danish colony on the west coast of 
 Greenland, partly for the purpose of taking in additional 
 supplies for the use of the winter travelling parties, but 
 chiefly with the hope of gaining further information of 
 the recent discoveries, from the American searching 
 vessels which had wintered in the pack. In this, how- 
 ever, he was disappointed. 
 
 Of Upernavik, which he reached June 10th, 1851, 
 Kennedy says : " It is one of that interesting group of 
 little colonies with which the enterprise of the Danes 
 has dotted the west coast of Greenland. Here, con- 
 siderably within the Arctic Circle, we found a Christian 
 community, not only living, but, after a fashion, thriv- 
 ing. We were informed by the governor that there were, 
 even at this early period of the season, one thousand 
 
UPERNAVIK. 
 
 817 
 
 Danish tons of oil and blubber stored, from the produce 
 of the summer lisliory. There w, likewise visible evi- 
 dence in every direction of an abundance of venison, 
 water-fowl, and cg^s, as well as seals. The houses 
 were built of wood, very small, and had a singularly 
 amphibious look about them, from being covered with 
 tar from top to bottom, — appearing, for all the world, 
 like so many upturned herring-boats, ready, on any 
 emergency, to ta^ke to the water. 
 
 " A party of the Esquimaux, attached to the settle- 
 ment, had c lie in with the produce of some hunting 
 excursion in vl h they had been engaged ; and I was 
 much struc with their intelligence, and their well-cla^l, 
 comfortable, and healthy appearance. This, I learned, 
 was in a grc .t measure due to the benevolent interest 
 of the D nish government in their belialf There is not 
 a station, I was given to understand, along the whole 
 coast of Greenland, which has not its missionary and 
 its schoolmaster for the instruction of the natives ; and, 
 judging from what we saw and learned at Upernavik, 
 the Danish exchequer is not without material and sub- 
 stantial proofs of the gratitude of the poor ' Inmnt.' 
 Thus instructed^ cared for, and their energies disciplined 
 and directed, the Esquimaux of Greenland give employ- 
 ment to six ships annually, in carrying the produce of 
 their hunts and fisheries to Denmark." 
 
 At this place six large Esquimaux dogs, for dragging 
 sledges, were purchased. A few pairs of seal-skin 
 boots, shoes, and trousers, a la E.^^quimaux, were also 
 procured, and the Prince Albert proceeded on her 
 voyage. The much-dreaded "middle ice'' was reached 
 soon after leaving, and four days were spent in passing 
 through it to the western side of the bay, during which 
 time the men were constantly employed in sailing, 
 boring, pushing, thumping, and warping — not unfre- 
 
 21* 
 
818 
 
 CARRIEIU-PiaEONS. — ESQUIMAUX. 
 
 qucntly exposed to tl)C perilous nips, which are some- 
 times productive of such dire consequences. At this 
 point in the voyage it was deemed advisable to test the 
 powers of some carrier-pi;j:oons with which they had 
 been provided ; but the poor birds refused to take the 
 long liig'ht to England, and resolutely persisted in 
 returning to the ship again, after a short survey of the 
 icy region in which they were let loose. 
 
 During the passage of the middle-ice, a large quantity 
 of provisions had been got up on deck, to be ready in 
 case an unfortunate crush should sink the vessel. This 
 was now re-stowed in the hold, on getting into the 
 cpmparativoly clear western waters of Baffin's Bay. 
 
 One evening about this time, while they were sailing 
 quietly among beautiful and fantastically formed frag- 
 ments of ice, which obliged them frequently to deviate 
 a little from their course, a shout was heard ringing 
 through the calm, still atmosphere, and very soon four 
 Esquimaux paddled out to them in their seal-skin kayaks. 
 They speedily clambered on board, and one of the crew 
 happening to have some slight knowledge of English, a 
 vigorous flow of query and reply commenced, in the 
 course of which much useful information as to the 
 nature of the coast and inlets was obtained. One, 
 especially, proved to be an expert draftsman, and by 
 means of a bit of chalk drew on the deck the outlines 
 of various parts of the coast, which were of some service. 
 
 The progress of the vessel was now much interrupted 
 by ice and contrary gales. All attempts to reach Cape 
 Riley, and, subsequently, to enter Leopold Harbor, 
 were completely frustrated. Far as the eye could reach 
 down the west side of Prince Regent's Inlet, — which 
 was to be the scene of their searching operations, — 
 huge barriers of ice met the view. The voyagers 
 pushed boldly in amongst it, however, and succeeded. 
 
DISASTROUS SEPARATION. 
 
 319 
 
 after a tortuous course, in reaching Elwin Bay, which 
 they found quite closed up. Butty Bay and Fury Beach 
 were next viwited, where they met witli similar disap- 
 pointment, and where tliey also perceived that the ice — 
 between which and the shore they had hoen sailing' — 
 was setting down upon them ; so they were obliged to 
 beat a hasty retreat, in order to escape being crushed 
 to pieces. It was now obviously fViiitless to attempt 
 the western side of the inlet under present circum- 
 stances ; so they put about and ran for Port Bowen, on 
 the eastern shore, which was comparatively free from 
 ice. Here they found traces of the party which wintered 
 at this s[)()t with Sir Edward Parry, in 1825. 
 
 To winter here, while all their intended work lay ori 
 the other shore of the inlet, was quite out of the ques- 
 tion ; so it was resolved at all hazards to attempt a 
 landing again. Accordingly, on the 9th of September, 
 they recrossed the strait, and succeeded in approaching 
 close enough to the shore to render an attempt to l.ind 
 somewhat feasible. The gutt;i-percha boat was the re- 
 fore got out, and Kennedy, with four of his men, jumped 
 into her and rowed for the beach. This they reached 
 without difficulty, by means of a narrow lane of open 
 water which was opportunely discovered. On ascend- 
 ing the clifls of Cape Seppings, Kennedy found, to his 
 joy, that the harbor of Port Leopold was quite free from 
 ice, and, if the ship could maintain her position for a few 
 hours longer, he had no doubt of being able to effect an 
 entrance. On descending to the beach, however, he 
 found, to his consternation, that the passage by which 
 they had entered was blocked up. The boat had not 
 been fastened to the beach, but to a large piece of ice, 
 which, with the whole body of the pack, was drifting 
 down the inlet, carrying boat, ship, and men, along 
 with it. To make matters worse, night was coming on, 
 
 (i 
 
820 
 
 DIS.VSTROUS SEPARATION. 
 
 and nothing could bo seen or heard around but huge 
 ina88(3H of ice grinding, tossing, and rearing luriouHly 
 on every side. To return to the ship under these cir- 
 cumstances was out of the question ; so they made for 
 the sliorc as fast as possible, dragging the boat along 
 with them. On reaching it, they pulled the boat up and 
 turned it over so as to form a kind of shelter from the 
 night-air, and then prepared to pass the nigiit under it, 
 although little sleep was anticipated ; for, besides the 
 anxiety occasioned by their strange position, their 
 clothes were almost covered with ice, and they had no 
 blankets or coverings of any kind. From his former 
 experience in Arctic scenes, Kennedy knew the danger 
 of falling asleep under such circumstances ; and, notwith- 
 standing the strong desire that he and his men felt to 
 indulge in repose, he oidy allowed them to rest for an 
 hour at a time, obliging them during the remainder of 
 the night to keep in active motion. 
 
 With the dawn of the following morning the shivering 
 party scrambled to the top of the highest clilf of Cape 
 Seppings, but not a vestige of the vessel was to be seen I 
 The consternation of the poor men, who were thus cast 
 away on this bleak shore, may be imagined. Without 
 provisions, scantily clad, no vessel, and an approaching 
 hyperborean winter, their condition seemed forlorn 
 indeed. One fortunate circumstance, however, cheered 
 them not a little ; and this was the fact that, two years 
 before. Sir James Ross had left a deposit of provisions 
 at Whaler Point, on the other side of the harbor. 
 Should this be found in good condition, there wa. every 
 reason to hope that they might manage to pass the 
 winter in at least some degree of comfort. Thither, 
 therefore, Kennedy and his four men now directed their 
 steps. A short walk brought them to the spot, where, 
 to their great joy, they found the provisions just as they 
 
mSASTROUS SEPARATION. 
 
 821 
 
 Juul h(.'(>ii \o\'t, and quite good, with the exception of a 
 cuHk of tallow, a ease of chocolate, and a barrel of bis- 
 cuit, which had been dcHiroyed, and their contents de- 
 molished, by the bears and foxea. A house erected by 
 Sir Jiinies Koss was also found in pn^ttygood condition, 
 being only a little damaged in the roof. Near to this 
 there was a tlag-staff, to which a cylinder was attached, 
 contaiidng a notice of the de[)osit of provisions, and of 
 tluf future intentions of the party by whom they had been 
 left. 
 
 " It was now," says Kennedy, " the 10th of Septem- 
 ber. Winter was evidently fast setting in, and, from the 
 distance the ship had been curried during that disas- 
 trous night, — whether out to sea or down the inlet wo 
 could not conjecture, — there was no hope of our being 
 able to rejoin her, at least during the pn^sent season. 
 There remained, therefore, no alternative but to make up 
 our minds to pass the winter, if necessary, where we 
 were. The first object to be attended to was the erect- 
 ing of some sort of shelter against the daily increasing 
 inclemency of the weather ; and for this purpose the 
 launch, left by Sir James Ross, was selected. Tier main- 
 mast was laid on supports at the bow and stern, about 
 nine feet in height, and by spreading two of her sails 
 over this a very tolerable roof was obtained. A stove 
 was set up in the body of the boat, with the pipes run- 
 ning through the roof; and we were soon sitting by a 
 comfortable fire, which, after our long exposure to the 
 wet and cold, we stood very much in need of." 
 
 Kennedy now arranged his plans for the future. To 
 undertake a long winter journey over the country on 
 foot had been his original intention ; but, under the 
 present circumstances, this was impossible, lie there- 
 fore determined first to send it travelling parties, ais 
 soon as the state of the ice £:. did permit, to institute 
 
 ^1 
 
 I 
 
 i; 
 
 I: 
 
822 
 
 DISASTROUS SEPARATION. 
 
 ifll' 
 
 a strict search for the ship in every direction in which 
 it was likely that slie could have been carried ; and, 
 secondly, in the event of being unsuccessful in this, it 
 was determined to make a journey early in spring- <<» 
 Cape Walker, to search in that direction for traces of 
 Captain Franklin and his crews ; and so accomplish at 
 least part of the object for which this expedition had 
 been fitted out. 
 
 There were difficulties in the way, however. Shoes 
 were wanted. AVithout shoes nothing could be done 
 at all ; so it behoved them to exert their ingenuity. 
 There was nothing in the depot of provisions that could 
 be turned to this use ; but, fortunately, a good deal of 
 the canvas covering of the old house was left, and out 
 of this several pairs of shoes were made. They answered 
 pretty well, although, indeed, they lasted not much 
 longer than a few days ; so two of the party were set 
 to wo'^k to devote their whole time to the making of a 
 supply of canvas shoes, which should last them during 
 the whole winter. 
 
 In contriving and constructing such clothing and 
 implements as were absolutely necessary, and in pre- 
 paring for their intended journeys, they now spent 
 much of their time. The Sabbaths were always days 
 of rest, and devoted to tlie worship of God, whose ten- 
 der care had thus provided them with all the necessaries, 
 and not a few of the comforts, of life. 
 
 On the Itth of October, while they were engaged in 
 the usual routine of daily duty, a shot was heard to 
 reverberate among the cliffs of Cape Seppings. So 
 unwonted a sound caused them to rush tumultuously 
 from their occupations, when they found, with emotions 
 of inexpressible thaidifulness and joy, that it proceeded 
 from a party of seven of the Prince Albert's men, headed 
 by Bellot, who had dragged the jolly-boat all the way 
 
RELIEF AND REUNION. 
 
 323 
 
 from Batty Bay, in the hope of finding and succoring 
 their long-lost comrades. 
 
 "1 cannot refrain," writes Kennedy, "from record- 
 ing here my warmest thanks to Mr. Bellot, not only for 
 this, but two other attempts which he had made to 
 communicate to us the intelligence of the Prince 
 Albert's position, and to bring us a supply of clothing. 
 He had set out with two men to come by land to Port 
 Leopold, the third day after getting into Batty Bay ; 
 but, after three days' march, over the wild and rugged 
 hills, wading through deep snow, and walking agaijist 
 continual drift, tiiey were obliged to return to the ship, 
 after much suflering from cold and wet. He next made 
 a gallant attempt along shore by means of dogs and 
 sledges ; but, getting on weak ice, fell through, and had 
 again to return, with the loss of the sledge and part of 
 its contents. The third (the present) attempt was more 
 successful. The little boat, as already stated, had been 
 dragged all the way, in case of any occasion arising for 
 its use whore the ice had not formed. They found the 
 ice, however, formed all the way to this point, and in 
 many places so rough that they had often to drag their 
 boats over points of land." 
 
 From those who had thus opportunely arrived to 
 succor them they learned that the Prince Albert was 
 securely moored in Batty Bay ; and, as there was noth- 
 ing now to prevent their setting out to rejoin the vessel, 
 preparations were commenced immediately. The activ- 
 ity and reactionary flow of spirits among the men was 
 very high, at thus meeting with their long-lost com- 
 rades. Five weeks had elapsed since their disastrous 
 separation ; and that evening a truly joyous party 
 assembled under tlie covering of the old launch, and 
 caused her timbers to quake witli the sound of rough 
 old sea-songs, and tough yarns, while they quaffed brim- 
 
 \'" 
 
 I 
 
324 
 
 RETURN TO THE SHIP. 
 
 
 miiig bowls of hot, strong chocolate to the Buccess of 
 tlieir expedition. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 22d of October, their prepara- 
 tions being completed, a paper was deposited in the 
 cylinder, containing an account of their proceedings, 
 and they commenced their journey to Batty Bay, 
 
 A strong sledge had been made, on which the boat 
 was placed ; then all their goods and provisions, etc., 
 had been securely stowed away in the latter, and hauled 
 down to the ice on Leopold Harbor, which stretched out 
 a smooth and level plain before them. The mast was 
 then erected, the saiis set, and, the whole party jumping 
 in, away they went over the bay before a spanking 
 breeze, at a rate that \;^as quite marvellous. But, just 
 as they got about ho.li-way across the bay, the sledge 
 broke down, leaving them to repair damages for the 
 remainder of the day. Night overtook them ere they 
 could gain the land ; and, as it was not desirable to sleep 
 on the frozen sea, they were obliged to make their way 
 on in the dark, which was rendered, if possibh.', still 
 more palpable by a heavy fall of snow. After much 
 stumbling into crevices and cracks, frequent wanderings 
 about they knew not where, and occasional dashirgs of 
 the shins upon sharp pieces of projecting ice, a small 
 bit of solid land was found in the shape of a flat lune- 
 stone rock, surrounded by large masses of stranded ice. 
 Here they erected a tent, and with some coals which 
 had been brought from Whaler Point boiled a large 
 kettle of tea, and enjoyed themseh^es exceedingly after 
 the fatiguing and protracted march of the day. 
 
 But they experienced some embarrassment in dispos- 
 ing themselves to rest. The tent was small, and the 
 party numbered thirteen. Six sat down on one side, 
 and six on the other, by which they managed to have 
 about three feet of space for stretching their legs. 
 
SNOW HOUSES. 
 
 325 
 
 Bellot — whose good-humored aptitude to accommodate 
 liimsolf to all varieties of circumstances was always 
 conspicuous — undertook to squeeze in under the twelve 
 pairs of leg's, a small space at one end being left clear 
 for his head. But the arrangement was not propitious 
 to sleep ; and it was resolved to " make a night of it." 
 They had a candle, but no candlestick ; so each man 
 held the candle for a quarter of an hour, and then 
 passed it to his neighbor. SoTigs were sung, and there 
 was some hilarious merriment. But the candle went 
 out, and then there was a renewal of the abortive 
 attempts to sleep. These were accompanied with nods, 
 groans, ajid sighs, — especially from poor Bellot, on 
 whom the weight of twenty-four heavy legs began to 
 te^l with the oilect of a hydraulic press. At length the 
 gn\y dawn warned them to rise and resume their 
 journey. 
 
 Tht."; discomforts had been such that they determined 
 in future to adopt the Esquimaux plan of building a 
 snow hut each night, in which to sleep, Kennedy's 
 description of these primitive dwellings is interesting : 
 '■'The process of constructing- a snow-house goes on 
 something in this way, varied, of course, by circum- 
 stances of time, place, and materials. First, a number 
 of square blocks are cut out of any hard-drifted bank of 
 snow you can meet with, adapted for +he purpose ; 
 which, when cut, have precisely the apMCirance of 
 blockt^ of salt sold in the donkey-carts in the sti'cets of 
 London. The dimensions we generally selected were 
 two feet in length by fourteen inches in height, and nine 
 inclies in breadth. A layer of these blocks is laid on 
 the ground nearly in the form of a square ; and then 
 another layer on this, cut so as to incline slightly 
 inwards, and the corner blocks laid diagonally over 
 those underneath, so as to cut off the angles. Other 
 
 lis 
 
 f! 
 
326 
 
 PRi:PAB VI [ON? FOR WINTERING. 
 
 M I 
 
 
 liiyors folic \r in the Kanr^; way, until you have gradually 
 a dome-shaped structure rising before you, out of which 
 you have only to cut a small hole for a door, to find 
 yourself within a veiy li^''ht, comfortable-looking bee- 
 hive on a large scale, in which you can bid defiance to 
 wind and weather. Any chinks between the blocks are 
 filled up with loose snow with the hand from outside ; 
 as these are best detected from within, a man is usually 
 sent in to drive a tliin rod through the spot where he 
 discovers a chink, which is immediately plastered over 
 by some one from without, till the whole house is as 
 air-tight as an egg.^' 
 
 In these snowy dwellings fhey afterwards passed 
 many niglits in considerable comfort, and on the pres- 
 ent occasion certainly found thoni a •^v(:it improvement 
 on the small tent. In a few d.iys they reached the 
 ship, where a hearty welcome from their comrades 
 greeted them. ' 
 
 Preparations w«ro now vigorously begun for passing 
 the next eight months of the winter of 1851-2 in the 
 ice, and for getting ready for the land journeys which 
 it was intended to make during that season. Portions 
 of the stores were removed from the vessel's hold to 
 the shore, where snow-houses were built to receive them. 
 A wash-house, a carpenter's shop, a forge, and a powder- 
 magazine, were also built of the same material. Tiie 
 decks of the Prince Albert were covered with a housing, 
 and an embankment of snow as high as the gunwale 
 built around her. 
 
 In all the excursions of the adventurers, Bellot, the 
 young Frenchman, seems to have been ever foremost. He 
 headed travelling parties, so soon as the ice permitted, 
 to make deposits of provisions, etc., for the grand trav- 
 elling expeditions in prospect ; and, besid'^s lending 
 very efficient assistance in all department; ja board, 
 
 
 -.^'s 
 
wintj:;r jouaiJuis. 
 
 327 
 
 made daily pilf^rimagos to a hill In i'il- Tir^i^i-hborhood, 
 where he occasionally succeeded in o' ; liniijg' a meridian 
 observation of the sun, and alway^i b '';ecdod in j^ettin^ 
 his fiiif^ers frozen in the operation. 
 
 Kennedy, being almost the only man on board who 
 had ever seen a snow-shoe or a dog--sledg*e before, was 
 constantly engaged in constructing these indispensable 
 implements for winter travelling, and in teaching his 
 crew the use of them. Thus occupied, the time passed 
 cheerfully by. The nights were long and dark, and grew 
 rapidly longer and darker. The cold winds howled over 
 them from off the chilly regions around the pole, bear- 
 ing in their course blinding clouds of snow, circling and 
 screaming madly round the solitary ship, and whistling 
 among the rigging as if impatient for its destruction, 
 and then roaring away over the frozen sea, to spend 
 their fury at last on the black wa^'Cis of Hudson's Bay. 
 Sometimes the sun shone brightly out in a clear, cloud- 
 less sky, glittering on the icy particles which floated in 
 the still, cold atmosphere, and blazing on the tops of the 
 neighboring hills, whose white atline< were clearly and 
 sharply defined against the blu': .iea-vcns *, and, as if Na- 
 ture desired to make some ctiMpensation for the length- 
 ened period of darkness to whic') siie doomed the land, 
 one, and sometimes two mock-smi;-;. or, as the sailors 
 sometimes call them, "sun-dogs," idione in the firma- 
 ment, vicing in splendor with the glorious orl) of day 
 himself. 
 
 About the 5th of January, 1852, all was ready for the 
 commencement of the long-talked-of winter Journeyy, 
 and the morning of that day was ushered in witli the 
 clattering of snow-shoes and sledges, the ci'iicking of 
 whips, the shouts (jf men, and the howling and yelping 
 of dogs. Although all the men of the Prince Albert 
 were out upcn the ice, only five of them wore appointed 
 
 mt 
 
 
 PI 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 Sffel 
 
 h'M 
 
 X. 
 
 m 
 
328 
 
 WINTER JOURNEYS. 
 
 i'* -r 
 
 to undertake the first exploratory journey. These were 
 Kennedy, Bolh)t, and three of the hardiest ainoug tlie 
 crew. " Tiie first obj'ejt of the journey," says Ivennedy, 
 " was, of course, t(j ascertain whether Fury Beacli liad 
 been a retreating- point to any of Sir Jolin Franklin's 
 party since it was visited by Lieut. Kol)inson, of the En- 
 terprise, in 1849. A secondary object, should our ex- 
 pectations in this respect not be realized, was to form a 
 first depot of provisions here, with the view of carrying 
 out a more extended search as soon as circumstances 
 would permit. It was desirable at the same time to 
 ascertain the state of the roads, by which, of course, I 
 mean the yet untrodden surface of the snow or ice, in 
 the direction in which we meant to go, before com- 
 mencing any transport, on a large scale, between the 
 ship and Furj'^ Beach ; and it was thought advisable, 
 therefore, to go comparatively light. A small supply 
 of pemmican was all we took with us in addition to our 
 travelling requirements, consisting of a tent and poles, 
 blanketing and provisions for a week, some guns and 
 ammunition, fuel, and a cooking apparatus, in all 
 weighing from two hundred to two hundred and fifty 
 pounds." 
 
 Troubles and difficulties, not, however, of a very seri- 
 ous kind, assailed them at the very commencement. 
 The " roads " were so bad as to be almost impassable, 
 owing to the ice being detached from the shore, and so 
 leaving as their only pathway the beach at the base of 
 stupend(ni8 cliffs. Huge fragments of ice and large 
 bowlder stones met them at every turn, often rendering 
 it a work of extreme difficulty for the united efforts of 
 dogs and men to drag the sledge along. Occasionally 
 they met with what is termed a " pressure," or a set 
 of ice upon the shore, which blocked up the path alto- 
 gether, and compelled them to have recourse to axes 
 
BELLOT. 
 
 329 
 
 to cut their way through ; and sometimes they came to 
 banks of hard-drifted snow sloping down the face of the 
 clilFs, and leaving only an inclined plane to drag the 
 sledge over. On one occasion Bellot was pitched head 
 foremost into one of these huge snow-drifts, leaving 
 only six inches of his protruding legs to tell of his 
 whereabouts. 
 
 The first night, not having time to erect a snow-hut, 
 owing to the lateness of the hour, they slept in the tent, 
 but found it very small and uncomfortable ; so that, on 
 the following evening, they stopped for the night, after 
 eight hours' walking, and built their snow-hut at the 
 foot of a high precipice, with a perpendicular mass of 
 stranded ice at the bottom, which served for a gable. 
 The ice, which was undergoing a " pressure," groaned, 
 ground, and crashed around them all night, and finally 
 left them in the morning with a pile at least thirty feet 
 high, within a few yards of the encampment. 
 
 On the 8th, being within a short distance of Fury 
 Beach, it was resolved to leave the sledge and two of 
 the men, while Kennedy and Bellot, with one man, 
 should proceed forward unencumbered. Accordingly 
 they started, and got over the ground much more rap- 
 idly than before. That night they reached Fury Beach, 
 and stood upon the spot around which, for reveral days 
 past, their anxious hopes had been circling ; but all 
 was still and desolate as the grave. " Every object dis- 
 tinguished by the moonlight in the distance," says Ken- 
 nedy, "became; animated, to our imaginations, into the 
 forms of our long-absent countrymen ; for, had they 
 been imprisoned anywhere in the Arctic seas, witliin a 
 reasonable distance of Fury Beach, here, we felt as- 
 sured, some of them, at least, would have been now. 
 But, alas for these fond hopes ! " 
 
 It was with sad feelings and slow steps that Keii- 
 28* 
 
 i'ti 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 11 
 
 ' TV 
 
830 
 
 WINTER OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 u 
 
 
 nody and Bcllot entered the ruined walls of " Somerset 
 House," and prepared to take a few hours' repose. A 
 fire was li;:!,-hted iu tlie stove, which had heated the end 
 of the building- occupied by Sir John Koss's crew during 
 the dreary winter of 1882-33. Around this they sat 
 and supped ; and, after reposing-, set out, about eleven 
 p. M., on their return to the encampment where the 
 sledge had been left. 'They reached it about two a. m. 
 of the following- morning. Prom this point they retraced 
 their steps again to the ship, where they arrived on the 
 10th, at live o'clock in the afternoon, without having 
 encountered anything worth recording. 
 
 During the winter, travelling parties were occasion- 
 ally sent out for the purpose of placing provisions en 
 cache, for the benefit of those who should afterwards 
 undertake a journey along shore to the southward, and 
 across the country in various directions. These parties 
 were oi'ian arrested by violent gales and snow-storms, 
 which seem to have prevailed very much during the 
 whole winter ; so much so, indeed, that the veteran 
 Hepburn observed, " that he had known but one gale 
 since entering Batty Bay, and that was the gale which 
 began when they came, and ended when they went 
 aAvay ! " 
 
 They had a good library on board, and spent much 
 of their time in reading. The doctor kept school, and 
 the crew would often sit in groups, listening to his dis- 
 courses, or employed in making flannel socks, canvas 
 jackets, and other useful articles. 
 
 Spring now drew on apace. This was indicated by 
 the increasing power of the sun and length of the day, 
 though the country retained its wintry aspect for months 
 afterwards. About the middle of February, 1852, every- 
 thing being in a proper state of advancement for the 
 commeucement of the " grand journey," preparations 
 
KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 831 
 
 :s, canvas 
 
 for an immediate start were made ; and, on the 25th of 
 that month, equipped witii anow-shoes, sledges, and 
 dogs, they left the vessel. 
 
 The party which now set out were a detachment of 
 five men, under the command of Kennedy. These were 
 to be followed in a few days by another detachment, 
 under Bellot, who was to be waited for at P'ury Beach, 
 whence the whole, amounting to fourteen men, were to 
 start upon hitherto untrodden ground. They were es- 
 corted as far as the south point of Ba+iy Bay by part 
 of the ship's company, who were to remain l)ehind. 
 At this point they separated with many kind farewells 
 and throe hearty cheers, after which they were soon lost 
 to each other in th(; mist. 
 
 During the first part of the journey, the equinoctial 
 gales blew with great violence. They wore frequently 
 detained for whole days at a time iji their encampment 
 by these fierce winds, from whose bitter i'liry they were, 
 however, well protected by the snow-houses which they 
 built. "The gale," says Kennedy, " of Saturday (28th 
 Fe])ruary) continuing during three days, we were of 
 necessity com 3elled to remain in camp. During a short 
 interval, abou : the 2d of March, the weather appearing to 
 get more moc crate, we were enabled to return for what 
 cargo had been left behind during our former trip. It 
 was taken onward as far as we dared, and we returned 
 to the camp against a wind so keen, that no face escaped 
 being frost-bitten — the strong wind, in this instance, 
 being tho cause rather than the degree of temperature, 
 for this was comparatively moderate. On the morning 
 of the 3d a lull of an hour or so enticed us to bundle 
 up and lash our sleigh. No sooner hcid we done this, 
 and proceeded a short distance, than the gale came on 
 with redoubled fury, in consequence of which we had 
 to hasten back to our snow retreat, and wore glad 
 
 In I 
 
 

 832 
 
 KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 enough to have been still so near a sliclter when caught 
 hy it, as we had much difliculty in keeping on our feet, 
 from the violence of the whirling eddies that came 
 8weei)ing along an exposed headland near us. Such 
 was the force of the wi'ul, that column after column of 
 whirling spray was raised ;V it out of a continuous lane 
 of water, more than a mile broad, which the present 
 gale had opened out along the coast, at the distance of 
 only a few yards from our present encampment. As 
 these successive columns were lifted out of the water, 
 they were borne onward with a speed scarcely less 
 rapid than the 'wings of the wind' itself. Whilst de- 
 tained here, we narrowly escaped being buried by an 
 infimt avalanche ; a hardened mass of snow of several 
 tons' weight having been disengaged from the summit 
 of the clilf above us." 
 
 So severe did this part of the road prove, that the 
 sledges, moccasins, and snow-shoes, were severely dam- 
 aged. On the whole party being collected at Fury 
 Beach, it was found necessary to send back to the ship 
 for additional supplies. They were much indebted here 
 to the old stores of the Fury, which were found to be 
 in excellent preservation, although they had lain for 
 thirty years exposed to the weather on the shores of 
 these icy seas. 
 
 The journey on which they had now entered would 
 occupy, it was supposed, about three months, during 
 which time they hoped to survey upwards of a thousand 
 miles. It was found, upon calculation, that six men 
 could not carry a sufficient quantity of provisions to 
 sustain them for so long a period ; so the plan was 
 adopted of taking fourteen men as far as Brentford 
 Bay, from which point eight of the travellers wore to 
 return to the ship, while the remaining six would pro- 
 
KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 833 
 
 coed onwards with as much as thoy could jjossibly drag 
 or carry of the necessaries of life. 
 
 Ainoiij^ their provisioim and ecinipincnta, procured 
 from the oUl ik'posit at Fury JJeaeli, were seveu hun- 
 dred and fifty jxHinds of [)enimiean, one small sack of 
 Hour, live gallons of spirits of wine, a liundred and 
 twenty pounds of coal, four hags of biscuits, and various 
 knives, saws, astronomical instrument!^, &c. 
 
 Of these old stores of tiio Fury, Ivennedy says, he found 
 the provisions "not only in the best preservation, but 
 much superior in quality, after thirty years of exposure 
 to the weather, to some of our ov u stores, and those 
 supplied to the other Arctic expeditions. This high 
 state of preservation I cannot help attributing in some 
 measure to the strength and tiiickness of the tins, in 
 which the preserved meats, vegetables, and soups, hiid 
 been i)lace(l. The Hour had all caked in solid hnnps, 
 which had to be reground and passed through a sieve 
 before it was fit for the cook's hainls. In other respects 
 it was fresh and sweet as ever, and supplied us with a 
 stock of excellent biscuit." 
 
 These articles, with tiic tackling and sledges, made 
 altogether a total dead weight of about two thousand 
 tons ; the whole being lashed down, to the smallest i»os- 
 sible compass, on four flat-bottomed Indian sledges, two 
 f)f which were drawn by the five dogs, assisted by two 
 of the men, the other two being dragged by the rest of 
 the party. 
 
 It was a fine, clear, mild day when they started, and 
 they found the travelling very good m first, the beach 
 being flat, and the ice sufficiently smootli to admit of 
 proceeding with facility. Fortune, however, seldom 
 favors Arctic travellers long. They soon iound their 
 bright sky overcast, and the mild breeze changed into 
 a cold, bitter, frosty gale. Under these circumstances 
 
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 (716) 872-4503 
 
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 KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 they travelled from day to day, enduring it as stoically 
 as possible, and making up to some extent for their dis- 
 comfort while travelling by enjoying themselves beneath 
 their snow-burrows during the few hours allotted to re- 
 pose. The frost-biting of their faces, however, became 
 at last so intolerable, that they fell upon the expedient 
 of protecting the parts most vulnerable by means of 
 sundry curious and original kinds of coverings. "For 
 the eyes," says Kennedy, "we had goggles of glass, of 
 wire-gauze, of crape, or of plain wood with a slit in the 
 centre, in the manner of the Esquimaux. For the face, 
 some had cloth-masks, with neat little crevices for the 
 mouth, nose, and eyes ; others were muffled up in the 
 ordinary chin-cloth, and, for that most troublesome of 
 the facial members, the nose, a strong party, with 
 our always original carpenter at their head, had 
 gutta-percha noses, lined with delicate soft flannel." 
 These contrivances, though admirable in theory, proved 
 complete failures in practice. They were ultimately 
 discarded, with the exception of the chin-cloths and 
 goggles. . 
 
 The daily routine of operations was as follows : They 
 rose at six, but o'd not dress — having slept in their 
 clothes, that operation was unnecessary ; then they 
 breakfasted ; after which came the bundling up and 
 lashing of the sledges, and the harnessing of the dogs — - 
 the latter operation always being accomplished amidst 
 considerable uproar. Then came the start ; Kennedy 
 leading the way, Bellot following, and the party in a 
 string bringing up the rear. So on they went, over hill 
 and dale and along shore, from morn till night, stopping 
 every hour for five minutes to rest the men and breathe 
 the dogs, and halting, when opportunity offered, to find 
 their latitude and longitude. The construction of a 
 enow-hut, and the consumption of the evening meal, 
 
KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 335 
 
 concluded the labors of the day, which were seldom 
 over before nine or ten at night. 
 
 On the 6th of April they arrived at Brentford Bay, 
 and the fatigue-party began their retrograde journey to 
 the ship. 
 
 At this point Kennedy discovered a strait running 
 westward, which was found to separate North Somerset 
 from Boothia Felix, and was named Bellot Strait, in 
 honor of the gallant young Frenchman, who had secured 
 the aifectionate regard not only of the leader of the 
 party, but also of all the men. Thence Kennedy crossed 
 over Victoria Strait to Prince of Wales Land, naming 
 the most prominent headlands, bays, and islands. Nu- 
 merous tracks of deer, wolves, bears, and musk-oxen, 
 were seen ; but none of the animals themselves, except 
 one bear, which came incautiously close to the snow- 
 hut, and was chased away by the dogs. 
 
 On the nth April the thermometer indicated -|-'^2 ; 
 " a temperature," says Kennedy, " which, to our sensa- 
 tions, was absolutely oppressive. One of our dogs, 
 through over-exertion, combined with the unusual heat, 
 fainted in his traces, and lay gasping for breath for a 
 quarter of an hour ; but, after recovering, went on as 
 merrily as ever. These faithful creatures were perfect 
 treasures to us throughout the journey. They were all 
 suflfering, like ourselves, from snow-blindness, but did 
 not in the least relax their exertions on this account. 
 The Esquimaux dog is, in fact, the camel of these north- 
 ern deserts ; the faithful attendant of man, and the 
 sharer of his labors and privations." 
 
 During a great portion of the journey the men were 
 much annoyed by snow-blindness, caused by the fierce 
 glare of the sun upon the snow ; and this was rendered 
 all the more unbearable by the sharp winds which pre- 
 vailed so much, and dashed the drift into their eyes. 
 
Hi 
 
 f 
 
 836 
 
 KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 The country over which they travelled was generally 
 very flat, rendering it a matter of no small difficulty to 
 keep their westerly course, the compasses being of lit- 
 tle use in such close proximity to the magnetic pole. 
 Their great hope in travelling westward was, that they 
 should meet with a sea which would conduct them 
 northward to Cape Walker, and so enable them to 
 ascertain whether or not there was any promising west- 
 ern channel or strait through which Franklin might have 
 penetrated. After thirteen days' marching, however, 
 they reached the hundredth degree of west longitude 
 without meeting with the wished-for ocean ; so it was 
 resolved to turn their steps northward. 
 
 "Being now satisfied," says Kennedy, "that Sir 
 James Ross had, in his land journey along the western 
 shore of North Somerset, in 1849, mistaken Me very 
 low and level land over which we had been travelling 
 for a western sea, I felt no longer justified in continuing 
 a western course. Whatever passage might exist to 
 the south-west of Cape Walker, I felt assured must now 
 be on our north. I determined, therefore, from this time 
 forward, to direct our course northward, until we should 
 fall upon some channel which we knew must exist not 
 far from us, in this direction, by which Franklin might 
 have passed to the south-west." - ■• 'T 
 
 The weather still continued boisterous and change- 
 able. The channel of which they were in search was 
 nowhere to be found. Scurvy, too, began to show itself 
 among the m n ; so it was resolved to turn eastward 
 again, and proceed towards the channel laid down to 
 the east of Cape Bunny, which they resolved to follow 
 up to Cape Walker. 
 
 During the march they met several herds of deer, and 
 succeeded in shooting a few brace of ptarmigan. As 
 they had no means of cooking them, however, they 
 
KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 337 
 
 adopted the practice, common among Indians, oi freez- 
 ing them, and, wliile in this state, eating them raw ; 
 and we are assured that a "frozen ptarmigan, after a 
 hard day's march, is by no means an unwelcome addi- 
 tion to an Arctic traveller's bill of fare ! " 
 
 At last they arrived at Cape Walker. Its bold and 
 conspicuous headland first met their gaze on the 4th 
 of May ; but here, as at Fury Beach, they were doomed 
 to disappointment. Not a sign of Franklin's expedition 
 having visited the spot was to be met with. Bellot 
 carefully followed the windings of the rough ice outside 
 the beach, in order to have a commanding view of the 
 cliffs, while Kennedy searched along shore ; but all with- 
 out success. Ignorant that he had been preceded by 
 Captain Austin's parties, Kennedy mistook the large 
 cairn they had erected for a part of the cliff, and actu- 
 ally walked over a smaller one deeply covered with snow, 
 without for a moment suspecting that the spot had been 
 previously visited. If the large cairns, formed by the 
 parties of Ommaney and Osborne the previous spring, 
 v.„uld thus be overlooked, might not signals erected by 
 Franklin have been equally undistinguishable amid the 
 deep snow which enveloped this bleak and rugged 
 coast ? 
 
 Their stock of provisions now getting very low, Ken- 
 nedy's party were obliged to go on short allowance ; 
 «,nd, to make it last longer, they fed the dogs, from this 
 time forward, on "old leather shoes, and fag-ends of 
 buffalo robes" — on which, we are told, "they thrived 
 wonderfully." It is added that one old snarling brute, 
 who had received the name of Boatswain from the men 
 on account of his ill-nature, " never seemed thoroughly 
 to enjoy his meals till put upon a course of old shoes." 
 
 From this time the men grew worse and worse with 
 scurvy ; but were much revived by lighting upon a 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
338 
 
 KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 
 
 small depot of provisions, which hud boon left near 
 Cape McClintock by Sir Jarnca Ross, in 1849. This 
 enabled them to start again with vigor for Whaler 
 Point, wliich thoy reached on the 15th, and at which 
 place they remained until tlie 27th, making free use of 
 the lime-juice, cranberries, etc., which were deposited 
 there. After being sufficiently restored, they started 
 on their return to the ship, which they finally reached 
 on the 30th of May, having been absent ninety-seven 
 days, during which time six men with five dogs had 
 travelled about eleven hundred miles, dragging, for 
 most of the way, two thousand pounds' weight, sleep- 
 ing in snow-houses, encamping at times on frozen seas, 
 and rarely having fire when they halted to recruit. 
 
 The travellers found that all had gone on well at 
 Batty Bay, in their absence. Nothing now remained 
 but to get the ship clear of ice and return home. But 
 there was little as yet in the appearance of ice or land 
 to indicate that June had returned, except the falling in 
 of some of tlie snow-houses. Gradually, however, the 
 fierce glare of the sun began to make itself felt : and, 
 on the 6th of August, after some sawing and blasting, 
 the imprisoned vessel was liberated. On the 19th Ken- 
 nedy reached Beechey Island, where he found the depot- 
 ship North Star, attached to SirE. Belcher's expedition, 
 engaged in sawing into winter quarters. On the lib. of 
 October, 1853, the Prince Albert arrived in England. 
 
 In concluding his narrative, Kennedy remarks of the 
 young Frenchman who was associated with him, and 
 whose subsequent fate, in connection with the history 
 of Arctic discovery, is interesting : '' To M . Bellot, 
 my constant companion, not only do I owe the most 
 valuable assistance from his scientific attainments, but 
 his amiable (Qualities ha\'e cemented a deep personal 
 regard, which can only end with my life." 
 
RAE'S LAND tquRNEY. 
 
 339 
 
 near 
 Thia 
 baler 
 yvhich 
 ise of 
 osited 
 tartecl 
 jached 
 -seven 
 >'S had 
 ,g, for 
 , sleep- 
 n seas, 
 it. 
 
 well at 
 jmained 
 e. But 
 or land 
 lling in 
 ver, the 
 t: and, 
 lasting, 
 th Ken- 
 e depot- 
 edition, 
 e Uh of 
 Hand. 
 
 of the 
 nn, and 
 history 
 Bellot, 
 le most 
 nts, but 
 ;:>crsonal 
 
 Meanwliile researches from the North American coast 
 were renewed by Mr. Rae. He left Fort ConruU'nce, on 
 the Coppermine, April 25tli, 1851, witli four men and 
 three sledges drawn by dogs. Reaching tlie coast ^lay 
 1st, he found the ice favorable for travel. On the 5th 
 he landed at Douglas Island, and on the tth gained tlie 
 opposite shore. Traversing it to tlie east, until ho 
 reached 110° W. longitude, where his survey met that 
 of Dease and Simpson, he retraced his steps, and ad- 
 vanced west until lie turned Cape Baring, past latitude 
 70°, and longitude 117° W. From some elevated 
 ground in this neighborhood high land could be seen 
 to the north, but none was visible to the west. He got 
 back to his provision station on the Kendall River upon 
 the 10th of June, having travelled eight luindred and 
 twenty-four geographical, or nine hundred and forty- 
 two English miles, in forty days. In this lengthened 
 journey his arrangements were much the same as during 
 his survey of Committee Bay. lie slept in snow houses, 
 and, as he advanced, buried provisions to serve for his 
 return. In the months of July and August he explored 
 the coast of Victoria Land, east and north, in boats ; 
 marking every indentation, from the 101st to the llltli 
 degree of latitude — an achievement, under the circum- 
 stances, of which any oflBcer might be proud. On this 
 newly-discovered coast he met many parties of Esqui- 
 maux ; but his inquiries as to the grand subject were 
 all fruitless. The American coast had now been dili- 
 gently examined, from the entrance of Behring's Strait 
 to the head of Hudson's Bay ; and the conclusion was, 
 that Franklin never reached so low a latitude. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 BIU EDWARD BELCIIKr's KXPEDITIOK. — ARRIVAL IX BAFFIN'S BAY. — 
 THB AMERICAN WIIALKR. — ARRIVAL AT BEECHEY ISLAWU. — BKARCil 
 
 COMMENCED. INGLEFIELD'S VOYAGE. THREE MORH EXPEDITIONS. 
 
 INGLEFIELD's return. NEWS FROM m'cLTJRE. PARRY AND FRANK- 
 
 Li:f. — m'cLUHE'S EXPLORATIONS. — ADVENTURES WITH ESQUIMAUX. — 
 PERILOUS NAVIGATION. — DISCOVERY OF THB NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. — 
 PERSONAL PERILS. — ABUNDANCE OP GAME. — WINTER QUARTERS. — 
 BLEDGE-PARTIES. — STILL FROZEN UP. — PLAN OF ESCAPE. 
 
 The unexpected and somewhat premature return of 
 the squadions under command of Captains Austin and 
 Penny, in the autumn of 1851, Increased the universal 
 desire that the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin's 
 expedition should be thoroughly investigated. The 
 interesting details brought back of the discovery of 
 Franklin's winter quarters on Beechey Island, in 1845- 
 46, revived the hopes that had begun to fade rapidly 
 away. The opinion of those engaged in the sledging 
 operations of 1851, that the missing ships had pro- 
 ceeded up Wellington Channel, and entered the open 
 sea discovered by Captain Penny, and believed by him 
 to be the great polar basin, — and the supposition that 
 the lost ones might still be imprisoned, and alive, in its 
 gloomy solitude of ice, — all tended to influence the 
 public mind in favor of a continuance of the eearch. 
 
 Accordingly, in the spring of 1852, another expedi- 
 tion — the most extensive that had yet sailed for the 
 polar regions — was fitted out, and placed under the 
 command of Sir Edward Belcher. This squadron con- 
 sisted of five vessels — i;he Assistance, the Resolute, 
 
SIR EDWARD BELCHER'S EXPEDITTON. 
 
 341 
 
 the North S^ar, and two steamers, the Pioneer and 
 Intrepid. These sot sail in April fur BalTin's Bay, pnr- 
 posing to make lieochey Island their head-quarters, 
 whence the various vessels were to set out, separately 
 or together, as might be thought best, to search the 
 neighboring coasts. The Assistance and Pioneer were 
 directed to sail up Wellington Channel, under the com- 
 n and of Sir Edward lielcher. The other two were to 
 proceed, under Captain Kellett, to Melville Island, there 
 to deposit provisions for the use of Captain Collinson 
 and Commander M'Clure, should these gentlemen bo 
 successful in making the passage from Behring's Strait, 
 for which they had set sail, it will be remembered, in 
 January, 1850. The North Star was to remain at 
 Beechey Island, as a depot store-ship. 
 
 The squadron sailed from England on the 28th April, 
 1852. Ori the Gth of July it was making its way through 
 the ice in Baffin's Bay, in company with a fleet of 
 whalers, which were there beset. Caught at the head 
 of a bight in the ice, with the Assistance and the Pio- 
 neer, the Resolute was, for the emergency, docked 
 there ; and, by the ice closing behind her, was for a 
 while detained. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet, 
 whalert, and discovery ships, passed on by a little lane 
 of water, the American whaler McLellan leading. 
 
 The North Star, '>f the English squadron, followed the 
 McLellan, Along >, lin stretched out behind, — whalers 
 and government ships, as they happened to fall into line, 
 — a long three quarters of a mile. It was lovely weather, 
 and, though the long lane closed up so that they 
 could neither go back nor forward, nobody appre- 
 hended injury, till it was announced, on the morning of 
 the Tth, that the McLellan was nipped in the ice, and 
 her crew were deserting her. Sir Edward Belcher sent 
 his carpenters to examine her, put a few charges of 
 
 29* 
 
342 
 
 blU EDWARD IIELCIIEU'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 powder in the ice to relievo the pressure upon lier, 
 and by the end of the day it was ai^ieed that her injuries 
 could be repaired, and her crew went on board ag'ain. 
 liut the next niorning- there wtv* ii I'resh wind, the Mc- 
 LelUui was caug'ht aj^'ain, and the water poured into her, 
 u steady stream. Siie drifted about, unnianii^.;:ible, now 
 into one sin'p, now into another ; and the English whale- 
 men began to pour on board, to help themselves to such 
 l)lunder as they chose. At the captain's request, Sir 
 Edward Belcher, to put an end to this, sent sentries on 
 board ; and he also sent working- parties, to clear her as 
 lar as might be, and keep account of her stores. In a 
 day or two more she sank to the water's edge, and a 
 (•harge or two of powder put her out of the way of 
 harming the rest of the licet. After such a week spent 
 together, it will easily be understood that the New 
 London whalemen did not feel strangers on board one 
 of Sir Edward's vessels, when, as we shall see, they 
 fcnind her " ready for occupation," three years and more 
 afterwards. 
 
 Ou the 10th August the squadron reached its ap- 
 pointed hcad-cjuarters at Beechey Island. The season 
 was remarkably open ; Wellington Channel and Bar- 
 row's Straits were equally clear of ice. On the 14th Sir 
 E. Belcher, with the Assistance and Pioneer, stood up the 
 channel ; and the following day Capt. Kellett, with the 
 Resolute and Intrepid, sailed in open water for Melville 
 Island. In this position we leave the expedition for the 
 present, and proceed to give an account of the next that 
 entered the field. 
 
 In consequence of the report, set afloat by Sir John 
 Ross, on the authority of liis Esquimaux interpreter, 
 that Franklin and his crews had been murdered, by the 
 natives, at Wolsteuholme Sound, Lady Franklin refitted 
 the Isabel screw-steamer, and sent her out, under Com- 
 
ING LEFIELD'S KX I'KDITION. 
 
 343 
 
 mandor Iiij::lofi«'l(l, to iiHccrttiiii tlin tnitli of tho Hlory. 
 Inf^Iclicld HsiiliMl irom Eiigluiid on tin; (Jtli July, IH52 ; 
 coasted the injrtlicu'M shores of JJullin's Bay ; advanced 
 much furtlier up Whale Sound than any previous navi- 
 fi^ator, — findiufji', as he procec^ded, an immense expanse of 
 open water ; and pushed throup;-!! Smith's Sound as far 
 as latitude 7^i** 28' 21" north, without discovering^ any 
 opposing^ land. Instead of the narrow strait which 
 Smith's Sound has usually been thought, Captain Ing'le- 
 field found it about thirty-six miles across, expanding 
 considerably as it extended northward. The sea was 
 open — that is, free from islands, except one looming in 
 the extreme distance, to which the discoverer gave the 
 nani'^ of Louis Napoleon.* From appearances, the 
 header of the expedition iiderred that he had reachtul a 
 more genial climate than that of Baflin's Bay ; instead 
 of the eternal snow which he had left behind, the rocks 
 appeared of their natural color. Tiiere was ice, indeed, 
 and in pretty large quantities ; some of the mariners 
 conceived they saw an ice-blink to the north ; but the 
 captain thought he could steam through. A gale, how- 
 ever, arose, which, increasing in violence, fairly blew 
 them back — perhaps providentially, for they were not 
 well fitted to winter in those high latitudes, with the 
 probability of being held fast for an indefinite time. 
 
 " It was deemed, by every one on board, madness to 
 attempt a landing ; and thus," says Inglefield, " I was 
 forced to relinquish those desires ere we bore up, which, 
 
 ♦ " An island similar in position to that design ted by Capt. Inglefield 
 as Louis Napoleon does not exist. Tho land sighted in that direction 
 may have been tho top of a high mountain on tho north side of Franklin 
 Piercfi IJay, though this pupposition retiuires us to assume an error in the 
 bearing ; for, as given in tho chart, no land could be within the range 
 of sight. In deference to Capt. Inglefield, I have continued for this prom- 
 ontory tho name which he had inipreseed upon it as an island." — Kane^s 
 Narrative of the Second Grinndl Expedition, vol. i., page 323. 
 
844 
 
 INGLEFIELD'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 with the liOHvy f^ulo that now bhiw, waH tho most pru- 
 doiit Htop 1 could take. Tho rent of th(! 27th and the 
 foUowin^ day wore spent in rcaciiing, under snug* sail, 
 on either tack, whilst tho pitiless northerly gale drove 
 tho sleet and snow into our faces, and rendered it pain- 
 ful work to watch for tlic icebergs, that we were contin- 
 ually passing. On this account, I could not heave the 
 ship to, as the diflicuUy of discerning ohjects rendered 
 it imperative that she should bo kept continually under 
 full command of tho helm. The temperature, 25®, and 
 tho continual freezing of tho spray, j>.s it broke over the 
 vessel, cond)ined with the slippery state of tho docks 
 from the sleet that fell and the ice which formed from 
 the salt water, made all working of ropes and sails not 
 only disagreeable, but almost impracticable ; so that I 
 was not sorry when the wind moderated. 
 
 " By four a. m., of tho 29th, it fell almost to a calm ; 
 but a heavy swell, the thick fog and mist remaining, 
 precluded our seeing any distance before us ; and thus 
 wo imperceptibly drew too near the land-pack ofl' the 
 western shore, so that, a little after Mr. Abernethy had 
 come on deck, in the morning watch, I was called up, 
 as he said that the ship was drifting rapidly into the 
 ice. Soon on deck, I found that there was no question 
 on that score ; for even now tho loose pieces were all 
 round us, and the swell was rapidly lifting the ship fur- 
 ther into the pack, whilst the roar of waters, surging 
 on the vast floe-pieces, gave us no very pleasant idea 
 of what would be our fate if we were fairly entrapped 
 in this frightful chaos. The whale-boat was lowered, 
 and a feeble effort made to get her head off shore ; but 
 still in we went, plunging and surging amongst the 
 crushing masses. 
 
 " While I was anxiously watching the screw, upon 
 which all our hopes were now centred, I ordered the 
 
INGLEFIKLD'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 845 
 
 boiler, which had been under repair, and was partly 
 diHconnocted, to bo ra[)idly sccMired, the iiroH to bo 
 lig'hted, and to <^vt up the Htoain ; in the mean tini'j the 
 tacl<U.'S were ^ot up lor hoiHtin^ out our loii<]^-boat, and 
 every preparation was made Ibr the worst. Each man 
 on board knew ho was working- Ibr his lite, and each 
 toiletl with his utmost mig-ht ; ice-anchors were laid out, 
 and haw^sers got u[)on either bow and ([uarter, to keep 
 the ship from drivinj.^ furtljer in ; but two hours must 
 elapse before we could expect the use of the en<;-ine. 
 Eager were tlie incpiiries when will the steam be up ? 
 and wood and blul)ber were heaped in the furnace to get 
 up the greatest heat we could conunand. 
 
 "At last the engineer reported all was ready; and 
 then, warping the ship's head round to seaward, wo 
 screwed ahead witli great caution ; and at last found 
 ourselves, througb God's providence and mercy, relieved 
 from our difliculties. It was a time of the deepest sus- 
 pense to me ; the lives of my men and the success of our 
 expedition depended entirely on the safety of the screw ; 
 and thus I watched, with intense anxiety, the pieces of 
 ice, as wo drifted slowly past them ; and, passing the 
 word to the engineer, * Ease lier,' * Stop her,' till the 
 huge masses dropped into the wake, we succeeded, with 
 much difficulty, in saving the screw from any serious 
 damage, though the edges of the fan were burnished 
 bright from abrasion against the ice." 
 
 Besides penetrating one hundred and forty miles 
 further than previous navigators, and finding an open 
 sea stretching northwards, from ^^affin's Bay, to at 
 least the latitude of 80°, Captain Inglefield discovered 
 a strait, in about ^1^°, which he named Murchison 
 Strait, and which he supposed to form a northern bound- 
 ary to Greenland. In addition to the shores of the 
 polar basin, he more accurately surveyed the eastern 
 
346 
 
 THREE MORE EXPEDITIONS. 
 
 Bide of Balliu's Bay, IVoiii Carey's IslaiiTls to Capo Alex- 
 ander, often reiiKiiniiij^ ( n deck the four-antl-tweiity 
 hours round — for night there was none. He entered 
 Jones's Sound, but was stopped by the ice, and came to 
 the conclusion that there is no available channel from 
 the sound into the; polar basin, thoug'h there is possibly 
 some narrow frozi'U strait. Inglelield then made for 
 Beochey Island, where he arrived on the 1th Septend)er, 
 and where he met the North Star, the depot ship of the 
 Admiralty expedition. Tiience, after a short delay, ho 
 shaped his course houioward. In spite of the advancing 
 season, he examined a considerable i)art of the western 
 coast of Baflin's Bay ; and, though sorely beset on more 
 than one occasion, nuimiged to get through, and reached 
 Stromness on the 4th of November — exactly four 
 months from the date of his departure from Woolwich. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to add that Inglelield's investi- 
 gations established the utter falsity of the story told 
 by Sir John Koss's interpreter. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1853 three expeditions 
 were fitted out, partly to continue the search for Frank- 
 lin, and partly to reinforce the vessels already in the 
 field of action. The ^Rattlesnake, under Commander 
 Trollope, and the Isabel screw-steanier — again refitted 
 by Lady Franklin, and placed under the command of 
 Mr. Kennedy — sailed for Behring's Strait, in order to 
 carry supplies to Captains ColHnson and M'Clure. Mr. 
 Rae was again despatched to the Isthmus of Boothia, to 
 make a further examination of the coast in that quarter ; 
 and Commander Inglelield was sent to Barrow's Straits, 
 with the Ph(xinix aiid the Lady Franklin, to reinforce 
 the squadron under Sir E. Belcher. Mr. Grinnell, of 
 New York, aided by Mr. Feabody, of London, also fitted 
 out an expedition, under the command of Dr. E. K. 
 KaJie, and sent it to explore the passages leading out 
 
TIDINGS OF M'CLURE. 
 
 347 
 
 of Bnftin's Bay into the unknown ocean around the 
 pol( '. 
 
 In the autumn of 1853 the deep interest of tlic British 
 nation was aroused by tlie return of Captain Inglelicld, 
 in tlic Phoinix, witli desi)atclie8 conveying the intelli- 
 gence tluit the north-west passage had at length be(>n 
 discovered by Captain M'Clure, of the Investigator, who 
 liad passed through Behring's Strait, and sailed to 
 within a few miles of the most westerly discoveries 
 made from the eastern side of America, at wiiich point 
 ho had been fro/en up for more than two years, and 
 where his ship still lay, unable to advance or to retreat. 
 No vessel had yet made the entire passage ; but, from 
 the two extreme points of discovery, on either side, 
 parties from the Investigator had walked over the frozen 
 ocean; and one gentleman — namely, Lieut. Cresswell, 
 the bearer of despatches Trom Captain M'Clure — had 
 sailed from England, entered Behring's Strait, and 
 returned again to England by the Atlantic Ocean, hav- 
 ing thus passed through the long-sought north-west 
 passage. ' 
 
 This interesting intelligence, coupled with the an- 
 nouncement of M'CIiire's safety, concerning which mucl; 
 anxiety had begun to be felt, was joyfully received ; 
 and Lieut. Cresswell, the bearer of the good news, was 
 treated with marked attention in England. At a public 
 dinner, given him in his native town of Lynn, Sir Edward 
 Parry, who was present, made some remarks on the 
 probable fate of Sir John Franklin, which will be read 
 with interest in this connection : 
 
 " While we are rejoicing over the return of our friend, 
 and the probable return of his shipmates, we cannot but 
 turn to that which is not a matter of rejoicing, but rather 
 a matter of sorrow and regret — that there has not been 
 found a single token of our dear long-lost Franklin and 
 
t :l 
 
 m 
 
 348 
 
 SIR EDWARD PARRY'S OPINIONS. 
 
 his companions. Not only has that been the case in the 
 expedition in which Lieut. Gurney Cresswell has been 
 engaged, but I understand it to be tlie case with Sir 
 Edward Belcher, who has gone up the Wellington Inlet, 
 where I certainly thought traces must be found, because 
 at Beechey Island we knew Franklin passed the first 
 winter when he went out. There we found three graves 
 of his men, — and that is, up to the present moment, 
 the only token whatever we have received of him. I 
 do consider it a most mysterious thing,* and I have 
 thought of it as much as anybody. I can form but a 
 single idea of the probable fate of Franklin. I do not 
 agree with our friend Garney Cresswell about the prob- 
 ability of both ships having gone down, and nothing 
 been seen of them, because, although it is true that 
 nothing might have been seen of the ships themselves, 
 I do not believe the crews would have all perished 
 at one moment. I think there is that stuff and 
 stamina in one hundred and thirty Englishmen, that, 
 somehow or other, they would have maintained them- 
 selves as well as a parcel of Esquimaux would. They 
 would have found the Esquimaux, and there would have 
 been something like a trace of them, if they had been on 
 earth. The only thing which I can suggest is this : 
 Wellington Strait was discovered by myself, on the 
 expedition I spoke of. It is a large opening from Lan- 
 caster Sound. 
 
 " When I was going up westward from Melville 
 Island, we saw Wellington Strait perfectly free from 
 ice, and so I marked it on my chart. It was not my 
 business to go north as long as I could get west, and, 
 therefore, we ran past and did not examine it ; but it 
 has always been a ftivorite idea of those who imagined 
 that tlie north-west passage was to be easily made by 
 going north. That, we know, was the favorite idea of 
 
SIR EDWARD PARRY'S OPINIONS. 
 
 349 
 
 Franklin ; and we know he did intend, if he could not 
 p^et westward, to go up Wellington Channel. We have 
 it from his own lips. My belief is still that, after the 
 first winter, he did go up that channel ; and that, having 
 steam-power (which I had not in my thne), it is possible 
 he may have gone up in a favorable season ; for you 
 cannot imagine anything more different than a favorable 
 and an unfavorable season in those regions. You can- 
 not imagine the changes that take place in the ice there. 
 I have been myself sometimes beset for two or three 
 days together by the ice, in such a way that from the 
 mast-head I could not see sufficient water to float that 
 bottle in ; and in twenty-four hours there was not a bit 
 of ice to be seen — nobody could tell why — I cannot 
 tell why ; and you might have sailed about as you may 
 in your own river, as far as ice is concerned. 
 
 " Therefore, in a favorable season he may have gone 
 up that inlet, and may, by the power of steam and 
 favorable circumstances, have got so far to the north- 
 east that, in an ordinary season, he could not get back 
 again. And those who knew Franklin know this — 
 that he would push on, year after year, so long as his 
 provisions lasted. Nothing could stop him. He was 
 not the man to look back, if he believed the thing was 
 still possible. lie may have got beyond the reach of 
 our searching parties ; for Sir Edward Belcher has not 
 been able to get far up, and we have not been able to 
 get the investigation completed. In speaking of Frank- 
 lin, every one will feel sorrow for his probable fate. 
 My dear friend Franklin was sixty years old when he 
 loft this country ; and I shall never forget the zeal, the 
 almost youthful enthusiasm, with which that man entered 
 upon that expedition. Lord Haddington, who was then 
 first lord of the Admiralty, sent for me, and said, ' T 
 see, by looking at the navy-list, that Franklin is sixty 
 30 
 
350 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 years old : do you tliiiik wc ought to let him go?' I 
 said, ' He is a litter man to go than any I know ; and if 
 you don't let him go, the man will die of disappoint- 
 ment.' lie did go, and has been gone eight years ; and, 
 therefore, I leave to yourselves to consider what is the 
 probability of the life of that excellent and valuable man. 
 In the whole course of my experience I have never 
 known a man like Franklin. I do not say it because he 
 is dead — upon the principle de mortais nil nisi bonum ; 
 but I never knew a man in whom different qualities 
 were so remarkably combined. In my dear friend 
 Franklin, with all the tenderness of heart of a simple 
 child, there was all the greatness and magnanimity of a 
 hero." 
 
 To this toucliing tribute, from the lips of a fellow- 
 navigator, we append the following beautiful lines, 
 quoted by a writer in one of the British quarterly re- 
 views : 
 
 " Where is he ? — where ? Silence and darkness dwell 
 About him ; as a soul cut ofif from men : 
 Shall wo behold him yet a citizen 
 Of mortal lil'o ? Will he return to tell 
 (Prisoner from Winter's very citadel 
 Broken forth) what ho before has told, again 
 How to the hearts and hands of resolute men, ■ • ' 
 
 God aiding, nothing is impossible ? . j j 
 
 Alas ! the enclosure of the stony wave 
 Is strong, and dark the depths of polar night ; , 
 
 Yet One there is omnipotent to save, z* 
 
 And this we know, if comfort still wc crave, ; . < vt 
 
 Into that dark he took with him a light — 
 
 The lamp that can illuminate the grave." ., 
 
 It will be remembered that Captains Collinson and 
 M'Clurc sailed for Behring's Strait in 1850, through 
 which, in connection with the Plover and Herald, they 
 endeavored to pass, but without success, except in the 
 case of the Investigator (Captain M'Clure), which was 
 
M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 351 
 
 seoii on the -ith August, 1850, bearing' gallantly into 
 the heart of the " polar pack." The Enterprise (Cap- 
 tain Collinson), finding it impossible to follow, sailed to 
 I long-Kong, and wintered there ; but in May, 1851, 
 returned to Behring's Strait, and succeeded in enter- 
 ing the ice. The Plover remained at Port Clarence, as 
 a reserve for these two vessels to fall back upon, while 
 the Herald returned to England. From that date 
 nothing was heard of these two vessels, until the arrival 
 of the Phcjenix, with the despatches of Captain M'Clure, 
 bringing assurance of the safety of the Investigator. 
 
 On parting company with the Ilorald in Behring's 
 Strait, in July, 1850, Captain M'Clure stood to the 
 nortli-north-west, with a fresh breeze, with the intention 
 of making the ice, which was accomplished on the 2d 
 of August. During several days the Investigator battled 
 with the foe — now boring through densely-packed 
 masses, and then winding among the lanes which 
 opened here and there as the currents or winds acted 
 upon the pack. Occasionally they struck with consid- 
 erable violence, but succeeded, at len.gth, in rounding 
 Point Barrow, and discovered clear water on the after- 
 noon of the Tth — so far ahead, however, that it could 
 only be seen from the "crow's nest.'* 
 
 Hundreds of walruses were seen huddled together on 
 the ice, like sheep in a fold. M'Clure seems to have 
 been rather favorably impressed in regard to these ani- 
 mals, on account of the aftection shown by the mothers 
 for their young. He would not allow them to be shot. 
 
 The most remarkable feature of the walrus consists in 
 two teeth, or tusks, which project in a curved line from 
 the upper jaw, and are nearly two feet in length. They 
 are of beautiful white bone, almost equal to ivory, and 
 much used in the fabrication of artificial teeth. The 
 front face, when seen at a little distance, bears a striking 
 
 
 P 
 
352 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLOKATIONS. 
 
 1:' 
 
 resemblance to the human ; and its appoirance is sus- 
 pected to have sometimes given rise to the fanciful 
 reports of mermaids in the nortliern seas. The wah'us 
 is monogamous, and the mother brings forth her young 
 only one at a birth, either on tlie shore or on the ice. 
 Like all the cetaceous tribes, to which the walrus is 
 allied, he is disposed to be peacefd and harmless. 
 Pavry describes the supine security with which a num- 
 ber of them lay on the icp, piled over each other, with- 
 out discomposing themselves at the approach of a party 
 armed for their destruction. In Spitzbergen, however, 
 where they have been long the object of chase to the 
 Russian hunters, they are reported to keep very strict 
 watch ; it being said that one stands guard while 
 the others sleep. Even when sensible of danger, they 
 are not forward to face it, but rather shun the attack by 
 rushing beneath the ice, while those behind, with their 
 tusks, urge forward their companions. Yet, when they 
 are compelled to combat, they give battle with the 
 utmost coolness and courage ; they then stand firm by 
 each other, rush in one united body against the boats 
 (as in the attack on the Trent's boat, page Tl), and, strik- 
 ing with their tusks, endeavor to overset them. When 
 repulsed, too, they repeatedly rally, and in the end 
 yield only to the fire-arms of Europeans, or to the strat- 
 agems of the Esquimaux. Maternal tenderness, and 
 the determination with which the female defends her 
 3'oung, are equally conspicuous in them as in the whale 
 species. The walrus must live near open water. 
 
 " The wind," writes McClure, " almost immediately 
 failing, the boats were all manned, and towing com- 
 menced amid songs and cheers, which continued, with 
 unabated good-humor, for six hours. Being in perfectly 
 clear water in Smith's Bay, a light air springing up, we 
 worked to the eastward. At two a. m. of the 8th, being 
 
 IJiUll 
 
M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 353 
 
 off Point Drew, I sent Mr. Court (second master) on shore 
 to erect a cairn, and bury a notice of our having- passed. 
 Upon landing, we were met by three natives, wlio at 
 first were very timid ; but, upon exchanging signs of 
 friendship, which consisted of raising the arms three 
 times over the head, they approached the boat, and, 
 after the pleasant salutation of rubbing noses, became 
 very communicative ; when, by the assistance of our 
 valuable interpreter, Mr. Micrtsching, we found the 
 tribe consisted of ten tents (this being the only approach 
 to their numbers he could obtain) ; that they had ariived 
 only three days previously, and that they hold commu- 
 nication with a party inland, who trade with the Kussian 
 Fur Company." They had observed us the evening 
 before, and had thought our masts were trees in motion, 
 and wondered at the sight. 
 
 The natives seen here had spent their lives between 
 the Coppermine River and Point Barrow ; and, from the 
 circumstances of their not having met with any of 
 Franklin's party, M'Clure concludes that the latter 
 could not have been lost on these shores. " The coast," 
 says he, " is inhabited throughout, and the natives are, 
 to all appearance, a kind and merry race ; and, when 
 we gave them presents, through the medium of the 
 interpreter, we told them that we were looking for our 
 lost brothers, and if they saw any white men in distress 
 they were to be very kind ; to which they ivssented by 
 saying that they would, and would give them ' plenty 
 of deer's flesh.' " 
 
 So narrow was the passage of open water between 
 the ice and the shore, along which the Investigator had 
 to pass, that she had great difficulty sometimes in tack- 
 ing, — requiring to do so, in some places, pearly every 
 ten minutes ; and, on one occasion, they actually took 
 the ground while " in stays." Fortunately the bottom 
 30* 
 
854 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 ■ 
 
 was soft clay, and they hove ofl" ag-aiii irn.:^cdiatoly. 
 (JradtiaUy, liowover, the hiuc widened, the reaches 
 became long'er and long-er, and all ap})rehension of being 
 forced on shore was soon over. On the 10th of August, 
 1850, tlwy passed the mouth of the Colville River, the 
 influence of which stream was found to extend twelve 
 or fourteen miles out to sea ; the surface, at that dis- 
 tance from shore, being of a dirty mud-color, and 
 scarcely salt. ■ • 
 
 At this part of the coast they again fell in with 
 natives, who came off in two haidars, to the number of 
 thirty. A very animated and curious scene ensued. A 
 vigorous barter was immediately commenced, after the 
 curiosity of the wondering Esquimaux with regard to 
 the ship was satisiied. Their imitative propensity was 
 rather oddly brought into play during the traffic. See- 
 ing- the sailors cut the tobacco into pieces, to give in 
 exchange for salmon-trout, they at once began to do 
 the same with i\\<) fish ! but were soon checked in this, 
 and were obliged to succumb to the white men. 
 
 During the afternoon, while standing along a low flat 
 island, a pair of seal-skin inex^^ ressiblos were observed 
 fluttering from the top of a pole, held up by a number 
 of natives, who took this method of intimating their 
 desire to receive a visit. Li obedience to the signal, 
 the boats were lowered, and pulled in to the shore. 
 The Esquimaux appeared to regret their temerity, how- 
 ever ; for, on the near approach of the sailors, the inex- 
 pressibles were dropped, i\\u\ the whole tribe fled. As 
 usual, however, they regained courage on observing the 
 friendly gesticulations of the whito men, and soon 
 approached them, tossing up their arms, and making 
 other signs of friendship ; ending, at last, by rubbing 
 noses with, and affectionately embracing, the gallant 
 tars. ' = - ^ ....•.,- r ..,.-, > ■ v- -.)?•■ 
 
M'CLURE S EXPLORATIU^•S. 
 
 365 
 
 TIicso poor people }>ad never seen white men before : 
 they had no article of European manufacture about their 
 persons, and spent their lives in liunting walruses and 
 seals on these low islands during the summer months, 
 retiring to their warm residences on the mainland during 
 winter. Afto" holding some communication with them, 
 throu "h the medium of the interpreter, Captain M'Clure 
 l'>ft them, having first made them a few presents, and, 
 among other things, a boat's ensign, in commemoration 
 of the first man-ol-war whose Hag has floated over these 
 sterile regions. The magnificence of this latter gift 
 quite astounded them, and caused them to rush tumult- 
 uously to their canoes to carry it off to their women, 
 whiO were encamped on another island close at hand. 
 
 Some of these primitive people were apparently 
 addicted to stealing. While M'Clure was placing some 
 presents in the right hand of a chief, in token of good 
 will, he felt the fellow's left hand in his pocket. The 
 Esquimaux, however, laughed heartily when they were 
 caught in their thefts ; and so the Englishmen thought 
 best to do the same, and not allow peccadilloes to mar 
 the harmony of their intercourse. ^ 
 
 Coasting along, as they found opportunity, the voy- 
 agers advanced slowly — sometimes with much and some- 
 times with little water — till the morning of the 13th, 
 •^hen the ice clqsed round, and hemmed them in com- 
 pletely. In this dilemma, the boats were bcut to sound, 
 and shortly returned, reporting a pract. .al' passage in 
 three fathoms water. Unfortunately, the;' hit on a spot 
 with only two and a half fathoms, and so were soon fast 
 aground. As it turned out, however, the bottom was 
 sandy, so that no damage was done to the ship ; but 
 one of the whale-boats, which contained part of the 
 cargo taken out to lighten the vessel, upset, and eleven 
 casks of salt beef were lost. This was a serious loss at 
 
856 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 II ; 
 
 sue tiiiio. Al'Uii' five hours' hard work, they got 
 
 once ihore ijjto deep water. 
 
 In this way thoy continued to coast along the margin 
 of the pack lor Hl)out four or live hundred miles, when 
 it became sumevvliat more open. It was now resolved 
 to shape a ccnirse to the north-north-west for Banks's 
 Land. In doing this, however, they were frequently 
 obliged to alter, and often to retrace their course, owing 
 to the deceptive nature of the lanes of water, and the 
 perplexing fogs that constantly prevailed, obliging them 
 to proceed chiefly by soundings. ,? 
 
 On the 2l8t of August they passed the mouth of the 
 Mackenzie Kiver, and made the Pelly Islands. Soon 
 after, they reached Warren Point, where natives were 
 seen on the shore ; and as M'Clure wished to forward 
 despatches by them, if possible, to the Hudson's Bay 
 Company's posts on the Mackenzie, the boats were 
 ordered out. M'Clure believed the natives to have 
 been in connection with these posts, and expected a 
 friendly reception from them. " Great, therefore," says 
 he, " was my surprise, upon approaching the beach, to 
 find, instead of being greeted by the usual friendly signs, 
 that two savages, with gesticulations the most menacing, 
 having bended bows, with arrows on their strings, and 
 one with a large knife, which he brandished most signifi- 
 cantly, waved us ofl". Taking no heed of these hostile 
 demonstrations, we pulled in ; they retreated, yelling 
 furiously. Upon our reaching the beach, we made the 
 same signs of friendship which we had used with the 
 Esquimaux further west, but without any effect, until 
 joined by the interpreter, who was in full native costume. 
 This gave them confidence, and, upon his explaining our 
 friendly intentions, they approached ; but when within 
 about thirty yards, remarking some muskets which the 
 boat's crew had, their fury revived. To pacify them, 
 
M'CLUttE'S EX1»L01UTI0NS. 
 
 357 
 
 licy got 
 
 ) margin 
 !8, when 
 resolved 
 Banks's 
 cquently 
 e, owing 
 , and the 
 ing them 
 
 th of the , 
 :8. Soon 
 ves were 
 ) forward 
 on's Bay- 
 tats were 
 I to have 
 cpected a 
 re," says 
 Deach, to 
 ly signs, 
 ncnacing, 
 ings, and 
 st signifi- 
 50 hostile 
 , yelling 
 made the 
 with the 
 ect, until 
 costume, 
 iniug our 
 tn within 
 ■hich the 
 lify them, 
 
 they were laid upon tiio gronnd, whore they bccatne tlio 
 object of a cautious cxuiiiiiiation. Still unsatislled, tlicy 
 beckoned to take them to the boat. Seeing that noth- 
 ing short of this would allow of any communication, 1 
 sent them away, wiicn tii(?y approached, and perndtted 
 us to examine their bows and arrows." 
 
 It was found that these Es(|uiinaux had no communica- 
 tion with the Mackenzie, in consequence of their being at 
 war with the neighboring tribes, and having had several 
 skirmishes with tiie Indians of tliat (juarter. This may 
 in some measure account for their fierce dispositions, 
 BO very diilerent from tiiose previously met with. A 
 flat brass button was observed suspended from the ear 
 of one of the chiefs of tliis tribe ; and, on being ques- 
 tioned as to where he got it, he replied that "it had 
 been taken from a white man who had been killed by 
 one of his tribe. The white man belonged to a party 
 which had landed at oint Warren, and there built a 
 house ; nobody knew now they came, as they had no 
 boat ; but they went inland. The man killed had 
 strayed from the party, and he (the chief) and his son 
 had buried him upon a hill at a little distance." 
 
 No satisfactory or intelligible reply could be got as 
 to when this event occurred. M'Clure remained at 
 this place for a short time to investigate the matter, 
 but only found two huts, which, from the rottenness of 
 the wool of which they were built, appeared to be of a 
 very old date indeed. The grave of the white man was 
 not found. - 
 
 All along this coast they met with parties of natives, 
 who almost invariably showed a hostile front on their 
 first appearance, and as invariably became amicable 
 after a little coquetting. In these interviews they had 
 frequently curious scenes, especially in the distribution 
 of presents to some natives near Cape Bathurst, who 
 
3.08 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 could scarcely bo rostraiuod when the j^'iiudy g"iftH were 
 iu'esented to tluur loii^^iiig- eyes. Mv, Miertschiiig, the 
 interpreter, was always of the greatest use on these 
 occasions, and won so much the esteem of one old 
 chiel', that, in the fulness of his heart, lie i)rayed him to 
 stay with the tribe forever; and, by way of inducement 
 to do so, presented him with his daug-hter, a pretty girl 
 of about fifteen, to be ids wife, assuring him, at the 
 same time, that a t<mt, and all the etceteras of an 
 Esquimaux establishment, should be given to him along 
 with her I They were frequently invited to partake of 
 native hosi)itality in the shape of roasted whale and 
 venison, besides salmon, blubber, and other Arctic 
 delicacies. 
 
 Great numbers of whales were seen about this time ; 
 also a polar bear on a fragment of ice. On the r)th of 
 Septendier, the hopes of the navigators were suddenly 
 raised, and as speedily cast down again. " The weather," 
 says M'Clure, " which had been squally, accompanied 
 by a thick fog during the early part of the day, cleared 
 towards noon, when a large volume of smoke ' was 
 observed about twelve miles south-west. ... As 
 divers opinions were in circulation respecting its proba- 
 ble cause, and the ice-mate having positively reported 
 that from the crow's nest he could distinguish several 
 persons moving about, dressed in white shirts, and 
 observed some white tents in the hollow of the cliff, I 
 certaiidy had every reason to imagine they were a party 
 of Europeans in distress ; for I was convinced that no 
 travellers would remain for so long a period as we had 
 remarked the smoke, for their pleasure ; therefore, to 
 satisfy myself, equally as others, I determined to send a 
 boat on shore, as it was now calm. The first whale- 
 boat, under Lieut. Cresswell, with Dr. Armstrong and 
 Mr. Miertsching, was despatched to examine into the 
 
ifts woro 
 liiip^, tlU5 
 m tlioHO 
 Olio old 
 (I liim to 
 lucoinont 
 •etty girl 
 n, at tho 
 as of an 
 lira aloiij:^ 
 intake of 
 lialc and 
 )r Arctic 
 
 Ilia time ; 
 ;he 5th of 
 suddenly 
 iveatlior," 
 ompanied 
 , cleared 
 okc ■ was 
 As 
 |its proba- 
 rcported 
 h several 
 irts, and 
 |hc cliff, I 
 a party 
 I that no 
 we had 
 leforc, to 
 ■o send a 
 t whale- 
 long and 
 into the 
 
 M'CLUIiE'fcJ EXI'LUKATIU.NS. 
 
 CUU80, who, on their return, reported tliat the snioke 
 einatiated from fifteen small inonnds of voh;anic appt.'ar- 
 unco, occnpyin;^ a H[)ace of ai)()ut lifty yards, tlio place 
 stroiij^ly impregnated with snlphur, the lower inonnds 
 being about thirty feet above the seadevel, the high- 
 est about lil'ty feet. Tiie land in its viirinity was blue 
 clay, much intersected with ravines and deep water- 
 courses, varying in elevation from three hundred to live 
 hundred teet ; the mark of a reindeer was traced to a 
 small pond of water immediate ly above the monnds. 
 Notice of our having landed was left, which would noo 
 lc:ig remain, as the elilV is evidently rapidly crnnd)ling 
 away. Thus th(j mystery of the white shirts and tents 
 was most satisfactorily exi)lained.'' 
 
 At four A. M. of tho Gth they were ofl' the small 
 islands, near Cape Parry, bearing north-east-by-north, 
 with a fine westerly breeze. The same day, high land 
 was observed on the port-bow, on tho western shore of 
 which the main body of tho ice rested. This was tho 
 first sight obtained of terra incogiiHa. Hitherto they 
 had been sailing along a shore which had in foriner 
 years been surveyed, on foot and in boats, by Fraidvlin, 
 Back, Deaae, Simpson, and others ; althongh, indeed, 
 theirs was the first sliip that had sailed in these waters ; 
 bnt the land which now appeared to them on the left 
 bow was quite new. Accordingly, they hove to, and 
 landed and took possession in tho name of her majesty, 
 calling it " Baring's Island," in honor of tho first lord 
 of the Admiralty. The south cape of this land, a fine, 
 bold headland, rising almost perpendicularly to tho 
 height of about a thousand feet, was named " Lord Nel- 
 son's Head." The latitude was found to be 11" 6' north, 
 longitude 123° 0' west. A note of their progress being 
 deposited here, they returned to the ship and sailed 
 along the eastern coast, as being freer from ice tliaii 
 
3G0 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 m I 
 
 that on the west. It was afterwards found that the land 
 taken possession of, instead of being an island, was the 
 southernmost point of the shore which had been named 
 " Banks's Land," by Parry, in 1820. The name Baring 
 Island was accordingly changed to Baring Land. 
 
 " We observed,'^ writes M'Cliire, "numerous traces 
 of reindeer, hare, and wild-fowl. Moss, and divers 
 species of wild-flowers, were also found in great abun- 
 dance ; many specimens of them, equally as of otlier 
 subjects of interest to the naturalist, were selected, with 
 much care, by Dr. Armstrong. From an elevation 
 obtained of about five hundred feet, we had a fine view 
 towards the interior, which was well clothed with moss, 
 giving a verdant appearance to the ranges of hills that 
 rose gradually to between two thousand and three 
 thousand feet, intersected with ravines, which must con- 
 vey a copious supply of water to a large lake situated 
 in the centre of a wide plain, about fifteen miles distant. 
 The sight to seaward was favorable in the extreme ; 
 open water, with a very small quantity of ice, for the 
 distance of full forty miles toward the east, insured 
 good progress in that direction." ■...:•{ 
 
 At noon, September 9th, 1850, observations placed 
 the Investigator only sixty miles from Barrow's Strait. 
 "I cannot," writes M'Clure, "describe my anxious 
 feelings. Can it be possible that this water communi- 
 cates with Barrow's Strait, and shall prove to be the 
 long-sought north-west passage ? Can it be that so 
 humble a creature as I am will be permitted to perform 
 what has baffled the talented and wise for hundreds of 
 years "^ But all praise be ascribed uiito Him who hath 
 conducted us so far in safety. His ways are not our 
 ways : nor the means that He uses to accomplish his 
 ends within oui comprehension. The wisdom of the 
 world is foolishness with Ilini." Land was observed to 
 
 ...-y > 
 
M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 361 
 
 t the land 
 [, was the 
 en named 
 lie Baring- 
 id. 
 
 JUS traces 
 jid divers 
 reat abun- 
 } of other 
 E!cted, with 
 elevation 
 a fine view 
 with moss, 
 ,f hills that -. 
 
 and three 
 h must con- 
 ike situated 
 liles distant, 
 e extreme ; 
 ice, for the 
 ,st, insured 
 
 l^ons placed 
 j)w's Strait, 
 ay anxious 
 communi- 
 to be the 
 ,be that so 
 to perform 
 lundreds of 
 who hath 
 ^re not our 
 pmplish his 
 lorn of the 
 :)bHerved to 
 
 the eastward, to which M'Clure gave the name of 
 Prince Albert's Land. Several remarkable peaks ap- 
 peared to be of volcanic origin. 
 
 On the 16th the Investigator was making slow 
 progress toward Barrow's Strait; and on the 17th of 
 September, 1850, they reached their most advanced 
 position, in latitude T3° 10' north, and longitude 111° 
 10' west, about thirty miles from the waters of that series 
 of straits, which, under the names of Melville, Barrow, 
 and Lancaster, communicate with Baffin's Bay. At 
 this tantalizing distance the ship ceased to drift, and 
 the ice appeared to have reached a point beyond which 
 some unknown cause would not allow it to proceed. 
 The heavy pack of Melville Strait, lying across the head 
 of the channel, was supposed to be the reason of the 
 ice of Prince of AVales Strait ceasing to move on to 
 the north-east ; and the impassable nature of the pack 
 in the same direction, in the following year, confirmed 
 this hypothesis. 
 
 On the 9th of September M'Clure tells us he had de- 
 bated in his mind whether to abandon all hope of reach- 
 ing Burrow's Strait that year, and retrace his course 
 southward in search of a wintering place, or to hold on, 
 so far as he might, and run the risk of wintering in the 
 pack. " I decided," he says, " on the latter of these 
 two courses ; " and the consideration which influenced 
 him in this difficult choice was, " that to relinquish the 
 ground obtained through so much labor and i.nxiety, for 
 the remote chance of finding safe winter quarters, would 
 be injudicious, thoroughly impressed as I was with the 
 absolute importance of retaining every mile to insure 
 any favorable results while navigating these seas." 
 Besides this, it was desirable to hold as advanced a 
 position as possible, in order that the spring sledge- 
 31 
 
362 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 IS 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
 III 
 
 i 
 V' 
 
 II 
 
 parties in 1851 might bo at once set to work upon new 
 and unsearchod coast-lines. 
 
 The smallest pools of water now became rapidly cov- 
 ered with ice ; the eider-duck, the hardiest of Arc lic birds, 
 was last seen on the 23d of September. On the 2*7th, 
 the temperature being then at zero, preparations were 
 begun for housing over the ship. These preparations 
 were made under circumstances that might well shake 
 the nerves of a strong man. As the ice e.irged, the 
 ship was thrown violently from side to side, now lifted 
 out of water, now plunged into a hole. " The crushing, 
 creaking, and straining," says Captain M'Clure, in his 
 log, "is beyond description ; the officer of the watch, 
 when speaking to me, is obliged to put his mouth close 
 to my ear, on account of the deafening noise." 
 
 The officers had just time to congratulate themselves 
 upon the escape from past dangers, and to express 
 gratitude at having lost only thirty miles of latitude by 
 the drifting of the pack, when a change of wind set it 
 all again in motion. The 28th was spent in breathless 
 anxiety, as, helpless in their icy trammels, they swept 
 northward again toward the cliffs of Princess Royal 
 Island. 
 
 These cliffs rose perpendicularly from the sea at the 
 part against which the ship appeared to be setting, and, 
 as the crew eyed them for a hope of safety, if the good 
 craft should be crushed against their face, they could 
 see no ledge upon which even a goat could have estab- 
 lished a footing, and an elevation of four hundred feet 
 precluded a chance of scaling them. To launch the boats 
 over the moving pack was their sole chance, — and that 
 a poor one, rolling and upheaving, as it was, under the 
 influence of wind, tide, and pressure. > . 
 
 " It looks a bad job, this time," inquiringly remarked 
 one of the sailors, as he assisted another in coiling down 
 
DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 363 
 
 pon 
 
 new 
 
 idly cov- 
 idc birds, 
 the 2*7 th, 
 ions were 
 iparations 
 rell shake 
 irged, the 
 now lifted 
 crushing, 
 uvc,in his 
 i\\Q watch, 
 outh close 
 
 }} 
 
 themselves 
 to express 
 latitude by 
 ind set it 
 breathless 
 |they swept 
 |cess Royal 
 
 sea at the 
 3tting, and, 
 lif the good 
 they could 
 Ihave estab- 
 indred feet 
 kh the boats 
 I — and that 
 under the 
 
 ly rcTnarkcd 
 l)iliiig down 
 
 neatly a frozen hawser. " Yes 1 " was the rejoinder, as 
 the other shaded his eyes from the driving snow, and 
 cast a glance at the dark clift' looming through the 
 storm, "the old craft will double up like an old basket 
 when she gets alongside of them rocks 1 " - ' 
 
 ."'he Investigator's hour was not yet come, however ; 
 and, when within five hundred yards of the rocks, the 
 ice coach-wheeled her along them, and finally swept her 
 past the islands upon the eastern side. 
 
 No water was in sight from the mast-head ; yet 
 onwards they drifted slowly, and on the 30th became 
 again stationary, in latitude Vl° 60' N., and longitude 
 in° 55' W., very nearly as far north as they had sailed 
 a fortnight before. 
 
 " On the 8th of October," says M'Clure, " our per- 
 plexities terminated with a nip that lifted the vessel a 
 foot, and heeled her four degrees to port, in conse- 
 quence of a large tongue getting beneath her, in which 
 position we quietly remained." Here the Investigator 
 passed the winter of 1850-51. 
 
 From the 10th to the 21st of October, preparations 
 were made to despatch a sledge-party to the northward 
 to reach Barrow's Strait, and get assurance of the fact 
 of the discovery of a north-west passage. A remarka- 
 ble rise of temperature to 24° plus of Fahrenheit, from 
 2° minus, with the wind blowing fresh from north-east, 
 would seem to indicate that the winter of this region is 
 modified by the warm air from the open water of Bar- 
 row's Strait. This sudden change was iu. from pleas- 
 ant to thcj crew ; and the old bauds warned the novices 
 against " being fools enough to pull their clothes ofi* on 
 account of such a bit of sunshine ; for, perhaps, in an 
 hour's time Zero would be about again." 
 
 On the 21st October, 1850, IM'Cluro started for Bar- 
 row's Strait, with a sledge manned with six men ; but it 
 
864 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 \ ij 
 
 broke down before they had proceeded far, and they had 
 to send to the ship for another. It did not reach them 
 till the next day. After some difficulty in crossing 
 ridges of broken ice, they reached vast fields of smooth 
 ice of the present season's formation ; and here a new 
 obstacle awaited them. The autumnal snow had accu- 
 mulated upon the surface of these young ice-fields, and, 
 weighing them down, caused the sea-water to flow 
 through sufficiently to render the under part of the 
 snow almost as tenacious as clay. The fatigue of haul- 
 ing two hundred pounds apiece over such a road was 
 excessive. Unfortunately, no water could be had, and 
 the crew suficred much from thirst ; for every handful 
 of snow which they thrust into their parched mouths 
 augmented rather than assuaged their suflerings, as it 
 contained more or less of the salts of the sea-water. 
 
 On the 24th a cape was seen at what appeared a dis- 
 tance of twelve miles, and every man now dragged with 
 a will, in the hope of reaching that night the end of his 
 journey ; but, after seven hours' labor, the cape still 
 retained its original position, and they seemed not a 
 mile nearer to it. M'Clurc then saw that he had been 
 much deceived in its apparent distance, owing to the 
 clearness of the atmosphere, and that thirty miles was 
 a nearer estimate than twelve of the probable length 
 of their march. After a night's rest, and another hard 
 day's work, they were still two miles off the cape, when 
 night closed in, obliging them to halt and encamp. 
 Though disappointed in not sighting Barrow's Strait on 
 the 25th, they were all much cheered by the multiply- 
 ing proofs around them of its close proximity. Away to 
 the north-east they already saw that wonderful oceanic 
 ice described by Sir Edward Parry in his voyage to 
 Melville Island, in 1819. The latitude was now 13° 25' N. 
 
 The morning of the 26th October, 1850, was fine and 
 
DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 8G5 
 
 hey had 
 zh. them 
 crossing 
 ■ smooth 
 re a new 
 ^ad accu- 
 ;lds, and, 
 • to flow 
 I't of the 
 
 of haul- 
 road was 
 
 1 had, and 
 ry handful 
 3d mouths 
 
 L-ings, 
 
 as it 
 
 L-water. , 
 3ared a dis- 
 igged with 
 end of his 
 cape still 
 imed not a 
 had been 
 ing to the 
 miles was 
 He length 
 other hard 
 |cape,when 
 id encamp. 
 I's Strait on 
 multiply- 
 Away to 
 ■ul oceanic 
 voyage to 
 13°25'N. 
 ,s fine and 
 
 cloudless. It was with no ordinary feelings of joy and 
 gratitude that M'Oluro and his party started before sun- 
 rise to obtain from the adjacent hill a view of that sea 
 which connected their discoveries with those of Sir 
 Edward Parry. Ascending a hill six hundred feet above 
 the sea-level, they patiently awaited the increase of 
 light to reveal the long-soughi-fur north-wed passage from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 As the sun rose, the panorama slowly unveiled itself. 
 First the land called after Prince Albert showed out on 
 an easterly bearing ; and, from a point since named 
 after Sir Robert Peel, it evidently turned & < y to the 
 east, and formed the northern entrance of tlie channel 
 upon that side. 
 
 The coast of Banks's Land terminated about twelve 
 miles further on than where the party stood ; and thenca 
 it turned away to the north-west, forming the northern 
 coast of that land, tae loom of which had been so cor- 
 rectly reported by Parry more than thirty years before. 
 Away to the north, and across the entrance of Prince 
 of Wales Strait, lay the frozen waters of Barrow's, or, 
 as it is now called, Melville Strait ; and, raised as they 
 were at an altitude of six hundred feet above its level, 
 the eye-sight embraced a distance which precluded the 
 possibility of any land lying in that direction between 
 them and Melville Island. 
 
 The north-west passage was discovered 1 All doubt 
 as to the water communication between the two great 
 oceans was removed ; and it now alone remained for 
 M'Clure, his officers and men, to perfect the work by 
 traversing the few thousand miles of known ground 
 betvreen them and their homes. 
 
 The position, of Mount Observation, from which the 
 important discovery had been made, was ascertained to 
 be in latitude 73" 30' 39" N., longitude 114" 39' W. 
 31* 
 
 

 M! 
 P* 
 
 M ^ 
 
 3GG 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIOXS. 
 
 Tho travellers encamped that night on Cape Lord JoJin 
 Russell, and cheered lustily as they reached the shores 
 of Barrow's Strait. A mimic bonfire, oi a broken 
 sledge and dwarf willow, was lighted by the seamen 
 in celebration of the event. 
 
 The question of a north-west passage was now placed 
 beyond all doubt. From the point in Bo,rrow's Strait 
 upon which they were looking — a point opposite to 
 Cape Hay, in Melville Island — Parry had sailed into 
 Baffin's Bay and home. The existence, therefore, of a 
 water communication round the north coast of America 
 was finally demonstrated. They had not found any 
 trace of Franklin ; but tliey had done the next best 
 thing, and enough for M'Clure's fame. 
 
 The rapid fall of temperature now warned M'Clure 
 that he should return without delay to the ship. From 
 Point Lord John Russell, the coast of Banks^s Land 
 was seen to trend away to the westward, and increase 
 in boldness of outline and altitude. Much vegetation, 
 for this latitude, was observed, and numerous traces of 
 animals, such as the deer, hare, and ptarmigan, as well 
 as of the fox and wolf; but no animal was seen. A 
 large cairn was constructed, a duo record of the visil; 
 of the part}'' placed therein, and then, in the teeth of a 
 south-east gale, they commemed their return to the 
 Investigator. 
 
 M'Clure came near perishing in trying to get back. 
 On the 30th of October, at two p. m,, having seen the 
 Princess Royal Isles, and knowing the position of the 
 ship from them, he left his sledge, with the intention of 
 pushing for the ship, and having a warm meal ready for 
 his men on their arrival. When still six miles from the 
 ship the night overtook him ; and with it came a dense 
 mist, accompanied with snow-drift, which rolled down 
 the strait, and obscured every object. Unable to see 
 
DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 367 
 
 3rd John 
 c shores 
 i broken 
 3 seamen 
 
 3W placed 
 vv's Strait 
 )posite to 
 ailed into 
 ifore, of a 
 f America 
 found any 
 next best 
 
 d M'Clure 
 lip. From 
 iks^s Land 
 [id increase 
 vegetation, 
 
 s traces of 
 
 ■an, as well 
 seen. A 
 
 3f the visit 
 teeth of a 
 
 ,urn to the 
 
 D 
 
 get back, 
 g seen the 
 tion of the 
 ntention of 
 il ready for 
 Hes from the 
 ,me a dense 
 rolled down 
 able to see 
 
 hia road, but endcavorhig to preserve a couro by the 
 wind, M'Clure continued to hasten on, until repeated 
 and heavy falls amongst the broken ice warned him to 
 desist, or incur the additional peril of broken limbs. 
 
 " I now," he says, " climbed on a mass of squeezed-up 
 ice, in the hope of seeing my party, should they pass 
 near, or of attracting tlie attention of some one on 
 board the vessel by firing my fowling-piece. Unfor- 
 tunately, I had no other ammunition than what it was 
 ioaded with ; for I had fancied, when I left the sledge, 
 that the two charges in the gun would be all I should 
 be likely to require. After waiting for an hour patiently, 
 I was rejoiced to see through the mist the glare of a blue 
 light, evidently burnt in the direction in which I had left 
 the sledge, I immediately fired to denote my position ; 
 but my fire was unobserved, and, both barrels being dis- 
 charged, I was unable to repeat the signal. My only 
 hope now rested upon the ship's answering ; but noth- 
 ing was to be seen ; and, although I once more saw, at 
 a greater distance, the glare of another blue light from 
 the sledge, there seemed no probability of my having 
 any other shelter for the night than what the floe 
 afforded. Two hours elapsed ; I endeavored to sec the 
 face of my pocket-compass by the light of a solitary 
 lucifcr match, which happened to be in my pocket ; but 
 in this hope I was cruelly disappointed, for it fizzed 
 and went out, leaving me in total darkness. 
 
 " It was now half-past eight ; there wore eleven hours 
 of night before me, a temperature 15° below zero, bears 
 prowling about, and I with an unloaded gun in my 
 hands. The sledge-party might, however, reach the 
 ship, and, finding I had not arrived, search would bo 
 made, and help be sent ; so I walked to and fro upon 
 my hummock until, I suppose, it must have been eleven 
 o'clock, when that hope flsd likewise. Descending 
 
b(j8 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 from tde top of the slab of ice upon which I had clam- 
 bered, 1 found under its lee a famous bed of soft, dry 
 snow ; and, thoroughly tired out, I threw myself upon it 
 
 
 
 
 '■!*^*rfL.^j5;^ *"' 
 
 *S?*- 
 
 UKSTING IN THE SNOW. 
 
 and slept for perhaps three hours, when, upon opening 
 my eyes, I fancied I saw the flash of a rocket. Jump- 
 ing upon my feet, I found that the mist had cleared off, 
 and that the stars and aurora borealis were shining in 
 all the splendor of an Arctic night. Although unable 
 to see the islands or the ship, I wandered about the ice 
 in different directions until daylight, when, to my great 
 mortification, I found I had passed the ship fully the 
 distance of four miles." 
 
 Ketracing his steps, M'Clure reached the Investigator 
 on the 31st October, very tired, but otherwise none the 
 worse for his rough and dangerous exposure to a win- 
 ter's night in 1S° north latitude. A few hours after- 
 wards the sledge arrived, and great was the rejoicing 
 on board at the news confirming the discovery of a 
 north-west passage. . 
 
 During the absence of the captain and his party, the 
 officers of the Investigator had no ' 3en idle. Upon 
 the adjacent shores of Prince of vYales Strait they 
 
i clam- 
 ji't, dry 
 upon it 
 
 > "V 
 
 1 opening 
 t. Jump- 
 leared off, 
 shining in 
 ^h unable 
 ut the ice 
 my great 
 fully the 
 
 Ivestigator 
 none the 
 to a win- 
 
 |>urs after- 
 rejoicing 
 
 [very of a 
 
 )arty, the 
 le. Upon 
 Irait they 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE NOllTU-WEST PASSAGE. 3G0 
 
 succeeded in killing a fine herd of nuisk-uxen, consisting 
 of three bulls, a cow, and a calf, and yielding a supply 
 of twelve hundred and ninety-six pounds of solid nicut. 
 
 During the first fortnight in December the teinpor- 
 ature of the external air ranged from 23° to 37° below 
 zero, whilst between decks from -\-iO° to -f-^^'' was 
 the average. From the 9th January, 1851, to the IGth, 
 was the coldest period on board the Investigator — the 
 thermometer showing 40° to 50° below zero. 
 
 Early one dark and icy morning in January, a man 
 named John Eames was walking out upon the floe, 
 when he saw a small Ik - 1 of reindeer trot by. " It is 
 pretty evident," says M'Clure, "that, during che whole 
 winter, animals may be found in those straits, and that 
 the want of sufficient light alone prevents our larder 
 being stored with fresh food." " Subsequent observa- 
 tion," says Commander Osborne, " has completely over- 
 thrown the idea that the reindeer, musk-ox, or other 
 animals inhabiting the archipelago of islands north of 
 America, migrate southward to avoid an Arctic winter. 
 Throughout Banks's Land, Melville Island, Bathurst, 
 and Cornwallis Land, there have been found indubitable 
 proofs of the reindeer, bear, musk-ox, marmot, wolf, 
 hare, and ptarmigan, — in short, all the Fauna of these 
 climes, — wintering in the latitudes in which they 
 are found during the summer." A raven, which had 
 haunted the ship during the period of cold and dark- 
 ness, left it before the sun reappeared, and his departure 
 was sensibly felt by every one on board. 
 
 Early in March, 1851, a whale-boat was carried on 
 sledges, with much labor, to the Princess Royal Island, 
 and a depot established of three months' victualling for 
 the entire crew. In April three sledges were laden 
 with provisions for six weeks, and, with six men to each 
 sledge, were sent on different courses. One sledge. 
 
 ii 
 
 n 
 
870 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 comniamlcd by Lieut. Ilaswoll, was directed to proceed 
 to the south-east, ibHowing' the coast of Frinco Allx.'rt's 
 Land, toward the land seen north of Dolphin and Union 
 Strait, and named by its discoverer Wollaston Land ; 
 another sledge, under Lieut. Cresswell, was to follow the 
 coast of Banks's Land to the north-west ; whilst the 
 remaining' party, with j\[r. Wynniatt, was charged with 
 the duty of examining the coast of Albert Land to the 
 north-east, toward Cape Walker. On the 18th April the 
 several parties, with their sledges, left the ship to search 
 for traces of Sir John Franklin and his men. 
 
 They returned, after intervals of from three to seven 
 weeks, but without having found any traces of the miss- 
 ing navigators, or gained any contributions of moment 
 for geographical science. The most important incident 
 seems to have been Lieut. IlaswelFs encounter with 
 some Esquimaux, who said they had never before cast 
 eyes on a white man. Copper of the purest descrip- 
 tion seemed to be plentiful with them, for all their im- 
 plements were of that metal ; their arrows were tipped 
 with it, and some of the sailors saw a quantity of it in 
 a rough state in one of the tents. ri'Clure afterwards 
 had some friendly interviews with these people, in 
 whoso lecaying prospects he became quite interested. 
 
 Ab cpring advanced, signs of a change began to mul- 
 tiply. First came a seal at the hole in the floe kept 
 open near the ship in case of fire ; then a large polar 
 bear ; and, lastly, hares and ptarmigan. Among the 
 startling narratives of Arctic escapes, few exceed that 
 of Whitfield, one of the hunters, who lost his way in a 
 snow-drift, and was found within a yard of 4,he tent, 
 stifl and rigid as a corpse, his head thrown back, his 
 eyes fixed, his mouth open and filled with snow, his 
 gun slung over his shoulder, and his body being fast 
 buried in a snow-wreath. When happily brought to 
 
DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PlsSAGE. 371 
 
 proceed 
 \ll)(n-l'H 
 lI Union 
 I Lund ; 
 How the 
 lilst ll>o 
 red with 
 id to the 
 \pnl the 
 to search 
 
 to seven 
 the miss- 
 [ moment 
 t incident 
 nter with 
 efore cast 
 it descrip- 
 their im- 
 !re tipped 
 y of it in 
 Xterwards 
 leople, in 
 ;erestod. 
 in to mul- 
 floe kept 
 irge polar 
 ong the 
 Iceed that 
 way in a 
 the tent, 
 back, his 
 mow, his 
 \)emg fast 
 ^'ought to 
 
 lilrnsolf, he i latcd lliat wliilst Ktniggling witli the snow- 
 storni lie Iblt a fliill, and then a lit came on, during 
 wliicii li(! iniagincd people came close to iiim ; \w had 
 j)artially recovered, and, discovering a track, liad nearly 
 reached the tent-door, when he was overtaken by 
 another lit, and had sunk down, a yard from the tenl- 
 door, in the attitude of snpi)li(:ation in which he was 
 found. Had not one of the hunters looked out of the 
 door by chance, he must have been frozen to death in 
 that position, within a yard of a place of refuge ! 
 
 Tlnn-o was great joy on board the Investigator from 
 the lOtii to the 14th of July, 1851. Tiie floe had com- 
 menced breaking up, and on the 17th the good ship cast 
 off, — only, however, to be caught in the pack-ice, and 
 once more drifted with the crushing floes against the 
 cliffs of Princess Itoyal Island. Finally she drifted to 
 the tantalizing distance of twentj'-five miles from the 
 waters of Barrow's Strait. Further than that, no effort 
 could advance the ship ; the young ice at nights had 
 already begun to form again, the sun once more set at 
 night, the pack-ice closed up the exit, and M'Clure was 
 obliged to give the passage up as a hopeless thing, and 
 to retrace his stops, in order that, by going round by the 
 south of Banks's Land, he might try and reach Melville 
 Island frci that direction. 
 
 It was a truly grievous position to be placed in, to bo 
 within some thirty miles of a clear . ^a, which, had they 
 once been able to pass into, they could have reached 
 England the same summer, — and to have to turn back 
 with the prospect of another winter in tlio polar regions. 
 But the ice was as inexorable as if the Isthmus of Pan- 
 ama had stood between them and the Atlantic ; and there 
 was no help for it. At first matters went on well, in 
 their southerly progress ; not a particle of ice was met 
 wuth. Floes, hummocks, and the huge piles of ice that 
 fringed the coast, had alike disappeared. 
 
m 
 
 372 
 
 M'CLUUE'8 EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 »!i| 'i 
 
 On the 24th of July tlioy had nearly reached Toiiit 
 Armstrong, upon which the ice was resting. Hero their 
 courHc was checked. ThciO was much drift-wood on 
 the beach, of large dimensions, mostly American pine. 
 The cutter was consequently despatched for a load, and 
 some of the pieces appeared so fresh that the carpenter 
 was of opinion that two years was the extreme of their 
 quitting the forest. "The wind, veering to the west- 
 ward during the night," says M'Clure, "set large 
 bodies of ice into the water we occupied, which was 
 rapidly fdling. To prevent being forced on shore, we 
 were obliged, at eight a. m. of the 25th, to run into the 
 pack, where we drifted, according to the tide, about a 
 mile and a half from the beach ; but, during the twenty- 
 four hours, made about two miles and a half to the 
 north-east, from which, when taken with the quantity 
 of drift-wood that is thickly strewed along the beach, I 
 am of opinion that on this side of the strait there is a 
 slight current to the north-east, while upon the opposite 
 one it sets to the southward, upon which there is 
 scarcely any wood, ;ind our progress, while similarly 
 situated, was in a southern direction. We continued 
 drifting in the pack, without meeting any obstruction, 
 until ten a. li. of the 1st of August, when a sudden and 
 most unexpected motion of the ice swept us with much 
 velocity to the north-east, toward a low point, off which 
 were several shoals, having many heavy pieces of 
 grounded ice upon them, toward which we were directly 
 setting, decreasing the soundings from twenty-four to 
 nine and a half fathoms. Destruction was apparently 
 not far distant, when, most opportunely, the ice eased 
 a little, and, a fresh wind coming from the land, sail was 
 immediately made, which, assisted by warps, enabled 
 the ship to be forced ahead about two hundred yards, 
 which shot us clear of the ice and the poiut into sixteeu 
 
Toiiit 
 i tliuir 
 od oil 
 
 piuo. 
 kd, and 
 peutei* 
 f their 
 3 weatr 
 
 large 
 ch was 
 ore, wo 
 into tho 
 about a 
 tweuty- 
 ; to the 
 ][uantity 
 beach, I 
 ere is a 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 873 
 
 and a half iathoriiH, in which water wo rounded tho 
 nhoals ; th«; ice thou uf^'ain closed, and tiio HJiip b(!Ciuno 
 fixed until the 1 Itli of* August, when the foj?, which 
 Hinee the previous day had b(!en very dense, ch'ared, 
 and di8cK)8ed open water about half a mile from tho 
 vessel, with the ice loose about her." 
 
 Tho dilHculty of clearing away large masses of ice 
 was, to some ext(Mit, obviated by blasting. " Previously 
 to quitting the floe," says M'Clure, " I was desirous of 
 trying what eflect blasting would have upon such a 
 mass. A jar containing thirty-six pounds of powder 
 was let down twelve feet into the water near the cen- 
 tre ; the average thickness was eleven feet, and its 
 diameter four hundred yards. The result was most sat- 
 isfactory, rending it in every direction, so that with ease 
 we could effect a passage through any part of it." 
 
 Cape Kellett was rounded with some little difliculty, 
 the ship passing between the edge of grounded ice and 
 the coast. The land was now so low that the hand 
 lead-line became for a while their best guide ; the sound- 
 ings happily were regular, and, aided by it and a fair 
 wind, they advanced apace to the northward. Through- 
 out the 19th of August, 1851, the ship sometimes ran 
 as much as seven knots per hour, the width of the lane 
 of water in which they were sailing varying from three 
 to five miles. Noon that day found them in 73** 55' 
 north latitude, and 123** 52' 30" west longitude ; and 
 already did M'Clure count upon extending his voyage 
 to the north of Melville Island, and then striking for 
 some strait or sound leading into Baffin's Bay. 
 
 That night, however, a sudden and remarkable change 
 took place. They had just crossed Burnet Bay, within 
 Norway and Robilliard Island, when the coast suddenly 
 became as abrupt and precipitous as a wall ; the v/ater 
 w.as very deep, — sixty fathoms by the lead-line withiu 
 32 
 
 
■Ii 
 
 371 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 
 four hundred yards of the face of the cliffs, and fifteen 
 fathoms water when actually touching them. The lano 
 of water had diminished to two hundred yards in width 
 where broadest ; and even that space was much ham- 
 pered by loose pieces of ice aground or adrift. In some 
 places the channel was so narrow that the quarter-boats 
 had to be topped up to prevent their touching the clifls 
 upon the one hand, or the lofty ice upon the other ; and 
 so perfectly were they running the gauntlet, that on 
 many occasions the ship could not " round to," for want 
 of space. ' 
 
 Their position was full of peril ; yet they could but 
 push on, for retreat was now as dangerous as progress. 
 The pack was of the same fearful description as one 
 they had fallen in with in the offing of the Mackenzie 
 lliver, during the previous autumn ; it drew forty and 
 fifty feet of water, and rose in rolling hills upon the 
 surface, some of them a hundred feet from base to sum- 
 mit. Any attempt to force the frail ship against such 
 ice was of course mere folly ; all they could do was to 
 watch for every opening, trust in the mercy of God, 
 and push ahead in the execution of their duty. If the 
 ice at such a time had set in with its vast force against 
 the sheer cliff, nothing, they all felt, could have saved 
 them. 
 
 Enough has been said to give a correct idea of the 
 peril incurred at this stage of the voyage, without en- 
 tering into minute details of the hair-breadth escapes 
 hourly taking place ; but one instance may be given as 
 a sample of the rest. After the 20th of August the In- 
 vestigator lay helplessly fixed off the north-west of 
 Banks's Land ; the wind had pressed in the ice, and for 
 a while all hopes of further progress were at an end. 
 On the 29th of August, however, a sudden move took 
 place, and a moving floe struck a huge mass to which 
 
DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 875 
 
 i fifteen 
 the laiio 
 n width 
 ch ham- 
 In some 
 tcr-hoats 
 Aid clifl's 
 ler; and 
 , that on 
 for want 
 
 ;ould but 
 progress. 
 )n as one 
 lackenzio 
 forty and 
 upon the 
 se to sum- 
 linst such 
 lo was to 
 f of God, 
 If the 
 against 
 
 xve 
 
 :aved 
 
 lea of the 
 ithout cn- 
 li escapes 
 
 given as 
 st the In- 
 i-west of 
 te, and for 
 [t an end. 
 10 ve took 
 
 to which 
 
 llic ship had been secured, and, to the horror of those 
 on board, such was the enormous power exerted that 
 the mass slowly reared itself on its edge close to the 
 ship's bows, until the upper part was higher than the 
 fore-yard ; and every moment appeared likely to be the 
 Investigator's last, for the ice had but to topple over to 
 sink her and her crew under its weight. At the criti- 
 cal moment there was a shout of joy ; for the mass, 
 after oscillating fearfully, broke up, rolled back in its 
 original position, and they were saved. 
 
 Hardly, however, was this danger past than a fresh 
 one threatened ; for the berg to which the ship was se- 
 cured was impelled forward by the whole weight of the 
 driving pack toward a low point of land, on which with 
 frightful pressure the great floes were breaking up, and 
 piling themselves tier upon tier. The Investigator had 
 no power of escape ; but every hawser was put in re- 
 quisition, and hands stationed by them. An attempt 
 to blow up a grounded berg, upon which the ship was 
 driving, only partially succeeded ; the nip came on, the 
 poor ship groaned, and every plank and timber quivered 
 from stem to stern, in this trial of strength between her 
 and the ice. " Our fate seemed sealed," says M'Clure ; 
 and he made up his mind to let go all hawsers. The 
 order was given, and with it the wreck of the Investi- 
 gator seemed certain : all the leader hoped for was — to 
 use his own words — "that we might have the ship 
 thrown up sufficiently to serve as an asylum for the 
 winter." li she should sink between the two con- 
 tending bergs, the destruction of every soul was inev- 
 itable. 
 
 But, at the very moment when the order to " let go 
 all hawsers " was given, and even before it could be 
 obeyed, a merciful Providenoe caused the berg, which 
 most threatened, to break up, and the Investigator. was 
 
316 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 once more saved ; though still so tightly was she beset, 
 that there was not room to drop a lead-line down round 
 the vessel, and the copper upon her bottom was hang- 
 ing in shreds, or rolled up like brown paper. By mid- 
 night the ice was stationary, and everything quiet. 
 
 They were now upon the north-west extreme of 
 Banks's Land, and here officers and men rambled into 
 the interior, which they did not find so sterile as the 
 view from the sea had led them to expect. Traces of 
 musk-oxen and deer abounded, and both were seen ; 
 but perhaps the mast extraordinary discovery of all was 
 a great accumulation of fossil trees, as well as frag- 
 ments not fossilized, lying over the whole extent of the 
 land, from an elevation of three hundred feet above the 
 sea to its immediate level. Writing on the 21th of 
 August, M'Clure says : " I walked to-day a short dis- 
 tance into the interior ; the snow that had fallen last 
 night lay unthawed upon the high grounds, rendering 
 the prospect most cheerless. The hills are very remark- 
 able, many of them peaked, and standing isolated from 
 each other by precipitous gorges. The summits of these 
 hills are about three hundred feet high, and nothing can 
 be more wildly picturesque than the gorges which lie 
 between them. From the summit of these singularly- 
 formed hills to their base, abundance of wood is to be 
 found ; and in manj places layers of trees are visible, 
 some protruding tv/elve or fourteen feet, and so firm 
 that several people may jump on them without their 
 breaking : the largest trunk yet found measured one 
 foot seven inches in diameter." 
 
 Again, on September 5th, some miles from the hills 
 just alluded to, M'Clure says : " I entered a ravine some 
 miles inland, and found the north side of it, for a 
 depth of forty feet from the surface, composed of one 
 mass of wood similar to what I had before seen. The 
 
WINTER IN THE BAY OF MERCY. 
 
 377 
 
 beset, 
 round 
 haug- 
 y mid- 
 it. 
 
 me of 
 }d into 
 I as the 
 aces of 
 I seen ; 
 all was 
 iS frag- 
 t of the 
 (ove the 
 2nh of 
 lort dis- 
 len last 
 mdering 
 remark- 
 ed from 
 lof these 
 ling can 
 [hich lie 
 gularly- ^ 
 lis to be 
 visible, 
 I so firm 
 it their 
 red one 
 
 |he hills 
 
 le some 
 
 for a 
 
 of one 
 
 11. The 
 
 wliole depth of the ravine was about two hundred feet. 
 The ground around the wood or trees was formed of 
 sand and shingle ; some of the woci was petrified, the 
 remainder very rotten, and worthless even for burning." 
 
 At a subsequent period, Lieutenant Mecham met 
 with a similar kind of fossil forest in Prince Patrick 
 Island, nearly one hundred and twenty miles further 
 north. 
 
 This phenomenon gives rise to speculation as to some 
 period in the world's history when the absence of ice 
 and a milder climate allowed forest-trees to grow in a 
 region where now the ground willow and dwarf birch 
 have to struggle for existence. ' 
 
 On the 1st of September, 1851, winter appeared to 
 have overtaken the Investigator in her forlorn position ; 
 but on the 18th the wind veered, and the ice went off 
 from the coast, carrying the ship with it, drifting her to 
 the northward. On the 19th, having got free of the ice 
 which clung to her sides, the ship got int i a lane of 
 water stretching eastward ; and, on the 22d, rounding 
 Cape Austin, fairly entered into Melville Strait. At 
 length, on the 24th, they found themselves in a largo 
 bay at the western extremity of Banks's Land, and, 
 seeing that it was impossible to round its north-eastern 
 horn, M'Clure made up his mind to winter where he 
 was ; and, in token of his gratitude for his many provi- 
 dential escapes, he appropriately called the place "The 
 Bay of Mercy." That night they were firmly frozen in. 
 
 It was now certain that they would have to spend 
 another winter in the ice. With slight exceptions, the 
 arrangements made were much the same as those of the 
 previous winter. The allowance of food was reduced, 
 to meet the contingency of an escape from the ice not 
 being efiected the following year ; but this inconvenience 
 was, to some extent, obviated by its being discovered 
 
 32* 
 
 \\ 
 
J**** 
 
 878 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 that the land teemed with deer and hares. "As there 
 appeared much game in the vicinity," writes Captain 
 M'Clure, " and the weatlier continued mild, shooting' 
 parties were estahlislied in diflbrent directions between 
 the 9th and 23d of October ; so that, with what was 
 killed from the ship, our supply of fresh provisions at 
 the commencement of the winter consisted of nine deer, 
 fifty-three hares, and forty-ibur ptarmigan, all in fine 
 condition, the former having from two to three inches 
 of fat." 
 
 The herds of deer and troops of hares that congregated 
 on the broad plains of dwarf willow, reindeer-moss, and 
 coarse grasses in the interior, are described as perfectly 
 marvellous. Wolves and foxes also abounded, and, as 
 cold and darkness increased, the former, pressed by 
 hunger, used to haunt the ship to a disagreeable extent ; 
 and the sad prolonged howl of these gaunt creatures in 
 the long nights added, if possible, to the dismal char- 
 acter of the scene. Two ravens also established them- 
 selves as friends of the family in Mercy Bay, and used 
 to trick the ship's dog out of his meals by enticing him 
 away, flying a few j^ards at a time, he running at them 
 till they had got him some distance away, when they 
 would make a direct flight back, and have done good 
 execution before the mortified dog detected the imposi- 
 tion practised upon him, and rushed back again. 
 
 " In consequence of our favored position," says 
 M'Clure, "the crew were enabled to ramble over the 
 hills almost daily in quest of game, and their exertions 
 happily supplied a fresh meal of venison three times a 
 fortnight, with the exception of about three weeks in 
 January, when it was too dark for shooting. The small 
 game, such as ptarmigan and hares, being scarce, were 
 allowed to be retained by the sportsmen as private 
 property. This healthy and exhilarating exercise kept 
 
Is there 
 Captain 
 iliootiiig 
 between 
 hat was 
 isions at 
 ne deer, 
 . in fine 
 e inches 
 
 Tiegated 
 loss, and 
 perfectly 
 , and, as 
 essed by 
 3 extent ; 
 latures in 
 nal char- 
 led them- 
 and used 
 icing him 
 at them 
 [len they 
 >ne good 
 |e imposi- 
 
 /' says 
 
 lover the 
 
 exertions 
 
 times a 
 
 reeks in 
 
 'he small 
 
 fee, were 
 
 private 
 
 )ise kept 
 
 HUNTING PARTIES. 
 
 879 
 
 ns all well and in excLiient spirits during another 
 tedious winter, so that on the 1st of April we had 
 upwards of a thousand pounds of venison hanging at 
 the yard-arms." 
 
 Musk-oxen were very numerous. They were found 
 to be very ferocious, and great danger sometimes 
 attended the attacks. They were easily approached, 
 but when wounded they ran headlong at their assailant. 
 On one. occasion, Sergeant Woon, of the marines, while 
 in pursuit of a wounded deer, unexpectedly met a 
 couple of musk-bulls, which he succeeded in wounding. 
 Having expended his shot, as one of the wounded and 
 infuriated monsters rushed towards him, he fired his 
 " worm " when at a few yards, but without much effect. 
 The animal continued his advances, evidently, however, 
 weak from loss of blood, till he had reached within six 
 feet, when he put his head to the ground, as if for a 
 final rush. As his last resource, the sergeant fired his 
 iron ramrod, which, entering behind the animal's left 
 shoulder, passed through the heart and out at the right 
 flank, dropping him lifeless. - ; 
 
 December found the crew of the Investigator passing 
 their time cheerfully in their far-distant home in Mercy 
 Bay. The month came in with a succession of those 
 tremendous snow-storms, which are, perhaps, the most 
 frightful visitations of the polar regions. But, after the 
 new year (1852) began, the weather was fine, with a 
 keen and steady cold of from seventy to eighty degrees 
 below the freezing-point of water — a temperature which 
 severely tests the vital energies of man. Yet, what 
 with cheerfulness, exercise, and regular habits, the crew 
 were in good health. 
 
 One of the hunting parties had well-nigh proved fatal 
 to a colored man serving on board the ship. He had 
 wounded a deer, and chased it till a fog came on, and 
 
 i 
 
380 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 he lost his way. It was in January, and the weather 
 was bitterly cold ; the poor fellow began to fancy him- 
 self frozen to death, and lost his wits entirely. While 
 in this state, Sergeant Woou met him, and offered to 
 lead him to the ship. The negro, beside himself with 
 terror, could not be made to understand anything, and 
 stood crying and shuddering till he fell down in a fit. 
 The sergeant waited till he was restored, and then 
 either carried him on his back or rolled him down hills 
 and hummocks for ten long hours, till he got him within 
 a mile of the ship. But the sergeant was by this time 
 exhausted. He exerted all his powers of eloquence 
 upon the negro to induce him to walk. The poor creat- 
 ure only begged to be " let alone to die." Finding all 
 his arguments unavailing, the sergeant laid him in a 
 bed of deep snow, and, with all his remaining strength, 
 ran alone to the ship. lie procured assistance directly, 
 and, returning to the place where he had left the negro, 
 found him with his arms stiff and raised abo'^e his head, 
 his eyes open, and his mouth so firmly frozen that it 
 required great force to open it to pour down restora- 
 tives. He was alive, however, and eventually recov- 
 ered, though his hands, feet, and face, were much frost- 
 bitten. This case, and a similar one already related, 
 illustrate, in a striking manner, not only the effect of 
 intense cold on the body and mind, but also how much 
 the safety of the former depends on the exercise of the 
 latter. -'■.', a,-.' r. ■ .« > - '-■ ■ 
 
 On the 5th of February the sun was seen above the 
 horizon, and the sportsmen became more successful, 
 scarcely a day passing without a deer or har*^ being 
 shot ; and keen must have been the hunger of those 
 sportsmen, for more than one of them, when, after a 
 long and weary walk, he shot a deer or hare, refreshed 
 himself with a draught of the animal's hot blood, or by 
 
A THIRD WINTER APPROACHING. 
 
 381 
 
 B weather 
 tincy hira- 
 ^ While 
 offered to 
 mself with 
 thing, and 
 n in a fit. 
 
 and then 
 down hills 
 him within 
 f this time 
 
 eloquence 
 poor creat- 
 Finding all 
 d him in a 
 g strength, 
 ce directly, 
 i the negro, 
 
 e his head, 
 zen that it 
 
 wn restora- 
 
 ally recov- 
 uch frost- 
 
 ,dy related, 
 
 |e effect of 
 how much 
 cise of the 
 
 above the 
 |successful, 
 
 lare being 
 |r of those 
 
 2n, after a 
 I, refreshed 
 lood, or by 
 
 eating a mouthful or two of the raw meat. The wolves 
 had also become exceedingly bold, and tales are told of 
 the sportsman pulling at one end of a slain deer, and 
 the wolves at the other 1 
 
 On the 11th of April, 1852, a sledge excursion waa 
 made to Winter Harbor, Melville Island, — the old 
 winter quarters of Sir Edward Parry, — and notice found 
 of Lieutenant M'Clintock's having been there from the 
 west, the previous summer. M'Clure here deposited a 
 notice of his own visit, under the same cairn that had 
 protected the notice left by his predecessor. 
 
 It is remarkable that, shortly after M'Clure's visit to 
 this spot, a sledge-party from the Enterprise, which had 
 wintered at the south end of Prince of Wales Strait, 
 after having been up to near its northern extremity, and 
 having been foiled, like the Investigator, in getting into 
 Melville Strait, actually visited the same spot, without 
 either party knowing that the other was so close, so 
 great is the difficulty of meeting one another in regions 
 like those of the Arctic archipelago. , ; 
 
 Although the sportsmen continued to meet with great 
 success, and at one period no less than twenty head of 
 deer were hanging up round the ship, yielding a thou- 
 sand pounds of meat, scurvy began to show itself, and to 
 make marked progress among the crew. On the 1st of 
 July there were six men in their beds, and sixteen had 
 evident symptoms of debility, with incipient scurvy. 
 On the 16th open water was seen in the straits, but the 
 ice in the bay prevented their getting to it, and on the 
 24th the lead of water had closed. ! It became too obvi- 
 ous that the winter was again setting in. All hope of 
 deliverance for another season was cut off 1 
 
 "On the 20th of August, 1852," says M'Clure, "the 
 temperature fell to 21°, when the entire bay was com- 
 pletely frozen over; and, on the 2Uh, the te*iiperature 
 
382 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 fell to 19°, so that the whole aspect was cheerless in 
 the extreme. The young ice was two and a half inches 
 thick, so that the whole bay might be safely perambu- 
 lated. Indeed, the summer was fairly gone, for the 
 uplands were all snow-covered, the wild-fowl all de- 
 parted, and the flowers, which gave cheerful variety to 
 this bleak land, were all withered. The very season 
 might be considered as one long, sunless day, as since 
 the latter part of May the great luminary had been 
 scarcely visible, or his influence scarcely felt upon those 
 icy masses which block Barrow's Strait entirely across ; 
 nor do I imagine that the Polar Sea had broken up that 
 season, as not a drop of water had been seen in that 
 direction. 
 
 ** During July, and the earlj'^ part of August, the 
 crew were daily employed gathering sorrel, of which 
 there was a great quantity upon the hills in this vicinity. 
 Eaten as a salad, with vinegar, or boiled, when it 
 resembled spinach, it was found a most admirable anti- 
 scorbutic, and a great benefit to all, being exceed- 
 ingly relished ; but this hardy and miserable herbage 
 could not withstand the rigorous summer beyond the 
 15th of the month. 
 
 " For several days the ice had been perfectly station- 
 ary, and no water visible in any direction, that along 
 the chff's of Banks's Land being frozen ; so that I felt 
 assured that the winter had fairly set in, and all hopes 
 of any release this year were totally annihilated, the 
 young ice being five inches thick. Having previously 
 determined what course I should adopt under circum- 
 stances thus unfavorable, upon the 8th of September I 
 announced my intentions to the crew of sending half of 
 them to England next April, with all the officers not in 
 charge of stores, via Baffin's Bay (taking the boat from 
 Cape Spencer) and the Mackenzie, detaining the re- 
 
GALLANT RESOLVE 
 
 ^83 
 
 rlcss in 
 f inches 
 erambu- 
 for tlio 
 all dc- 
 iriety to 
 J season 
 as since 
 lad been 
 ion those 
 y across ; 
 n up that \ 
 1 in that 
 
 gust, the 
 of which 
 s vicinity. 
 , when it 
 ■able anti- 
 exceed- 
 herbagc 
 lyond the 
 
 [ly station- 
 lat along 
 
 bhat I felt 
 all hopes 
 
 ilated, the 
 )reviously 
 
 |r circum- 
 
 Iptember I 
 
 ig half of 
 
 Icrs not in 
 
 [boat from 
 
 Ig the re- 
 
 mainder with the hope of extricating the vessel during 
 the summer of 1853 ; or, failing thr.t, to proceed with 
 sledges in 1854 by Port Leopold, our provisions admit- 
 ting of no other arrangement. 
 
 " Although we had already been twelve months upon 
 two thirds allowance, it was necessary to make prepara- 
 tions for meeting eighteen months more ; a very severe 
 deprivation and constitutional test, but one which the 
 service we were employed upon called for, the vessel 
 being as sound as the uay she entered the ice ; it would, 
 therefore, be discreditable to desert her in 1853, when 
 a favorable season would run her through the straits 
 and admit of reaching England in safety, where the 
 successful achievement of the long-sought-for ind almost 
 hopeless discovery of the north-west passage would 
 be received with a satisfaction that would amply com- 
 pensate for the sacrifices made and hardships endured 
 in its most trying and tedious accomplishment. This 
 statement was well received, and its execution will, I 
 hope, be carried out without difficulty." 
 
 « It is due to Captain M'Clure to reproduce one passage 
 in the dispatch which he had prepared to send home 
 with the land parties he was about to forward in the 
 spring of 1853. r,^ ' r ' 'f ^ ^j' 
 
 ♦."Should any of her majesty's ships be sent for our 
 relief, and we have quitted Port Leopold, a notice, con- 
 taining information of our route, will be left on the door 
 of the house at Whalers' Point, or on some conspicuous 
 position. If, however, no intimation should be found 
 of our having been there, it may at once be surmised 
 tnat some fatal catastrophe has happened, either from 
 our being carried into the Polar Sea, or smashed in Bar- 
 row's Strait, and no survivors left. If such be the case, 
 — which, however, I will not anticipate, — it will then 
 be quite unnecessary to penetrate further to the west- 
 
384 
 
 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 
 ward for our relief, as, by the period that any vessel 
 could reach that port, wo must, from want of provi- 
 sions, all have perished. In such a case, I would 
 submit that the officers may be directed to return, and 
 by no moans incur the danger of losing other lives in 
 quest of those who will then be no more.'* 
 
 The ship was banked up with snow and he used over 
 on the 18th of November, and every preparation made 
 for spending a third winter in this region of icy desola- 
 tion. The spirits of the crew, however, did not flag. 
 Resort was again had to the hunting expeditions which 
 had occupied and cheered them so much in previous 
 years, and their larder was kept well stocked with pro- 
 visions. The wolves so harassed the deer, that the 
 latter poor creatures actually fled to the ship for pro- 
 tection. 
 
 " The hares and ptarmigan," writes M'Clure, "have 
 descended from the high ground to the sea ridges, so 
 that a supply of game has been kept up during the win- 
 ter, which has enabled a fresh meal to be issued twice 
 weekly, and the usual Christmas festivities to pass off 
 with the greatest cheerfulness. As it was to be our 
 last, the crew were determined to make it memorable, 
 and their exertions were completely successful ; each 
 mess was gayly illuminated and decorated with original 
 paintings by our lower-deck artists, exhibiting the ship 
 in her perilous positions during the transit of the Polar 
 Sea, and divers other subjects ; but the grand features 
 of the day were the enormous plum-puddings (some 
 weighing twenty-six pounds), haunches of venison, 
 hares roasted, and soup made of the same, with ptar- 
 migan and sea pies. Such dainties in such profusion I 
 should imagine never before graced a ship's lower-deck ; 
 any stranger, to have witnessed this scene, could but 
 faintly imagine that he saw a crew which had passed 
 
PLAN OF ESCAPE. 
 
 885 
 
 ny vosBol 
 of provi- 
 I would 
 'turn, and 
 r lives iu 
 
 used over 
 ktion made 
 icy desola- 
 i not flag, 
 ions which 
 in previous \ 
 1 with pro- 
 r, that the 
 hip for pro- 
 lure, "have 
 |a ridges, so 
 ng the win- 
 Issued twice 
 to pass off 
 to be our 
 memorable, 
 ssful; each 
 ith original 
 ng the ship 
 ,f the Polar 
 d features 
 ngs (some 
 f venison, 
 with ptar- 
 iprofusion I 
 ower-deck ; 
 , could but 
 had passed 
 
 upwards of two years in these dreary regions, and 
 three entirely upon their own resources, enjoying niich 
 excellent health — so joyful, so happy: in'eed, such a 
 mirthful assemblage, under any circumstances, would 
 be most gratifying to any oflBcer ; but, in this lonely 
 situation, I could not but feel deeply impressed, as 1 
 contemplated the gay and plenteous sight, with tho 
 many and great mercies which a kind and beneficout 
 I'rovidence had extended toward us, to wliom alone 
 is due the heartfelt praises and thanksgivings of all for 
 the great blessings which we have hitherto experienced 
 in positions the most desolate which can be con- 
 ceived." 
 
 So another winter passed. The spring again returned, 
 and the season rapidly approached when the crew was 
 to divide, and the travelling parties were to set out on 
 their long and perilous journeys : the one to return home 
 by the way of the Mackenzie River and Canada ; the 
 other to proceed to Cape Spencer (where a boat and 
 provisions had been deposited), and thence by Barrow's 
 Strait to make their way to the nearest inhabited coast. 
 That these journeys would prove long and dangerous 
 in the extreme, could not be doubted ; for the return 
 parties were composed of the most weakly hands, thirty 
 of the healthiest men being retained to stand by th% 
 ship with the captain, and brave the rigors of another 
 Arctic winter. • ■ .< ■• v , m 
 
 But, while M'Clure and his gallant comrades were 
 thus about to resort to their last desperate expedient 
 for communicating with the civilized world, relief was 
 at hand of which they had little expectation. Provi- 
 dential circumstances interposed to do away with the 
 necessity of committing their forlorn hopes to the snow 
 and ice deserts of the polar regions. These extraor- 
 dinary circumstances will be narrated in another chapter. 
 33 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 VOYAGE or THE RESOLUTE AND INTHEPin. — ABBIVAL AT DEALT I8LA5D. 
 — 8LRDGE-PARTIES. — PARUy's 8AND8rC.«,E AOAIX. — NEWS FROM THE 
 INVESTIOATOB. — PIM's JOURNEY. — MEETING WITH m'cLURE. — RETURN 
 TO THE RESOLUTE. — MORE DEATHS REPORTED. — ABANDONMENT OP THB 
 INVESTIGATOR. — A WEARY SUMMER. — t'RESSWELL SENT WITH DIS- 
 PATCHES. — INCIDENTS IN THE VOYAGE OP THE PIICENIX. — LOSS OP THB 
 BREDALBANE TRANSPORT. — DEATH OF "ELLOT. — HIS AMIABLE CHAR- 
 ACTER. — THB PHIENIX AND TALUOT SENT OUT. 
 
 A parentV; policitude for his son saved the crew of 
 the Invcsti.^ator. We must now again take up the story 
 of Sir Edward Belcher's expedition, which we left at 
 Beechey Island on the 15tli of August,' 1852, just sep- 
 arating into two divisions, — one to proceed north, the 
 other west. It is the westward division with which we 
 have now to do. It was suggested to the British Ad- 
 miralty by Mr. Cresswell, who had a son with M'Clure, 
 that that part of Belcher's expedition which was des- 
 tined for Wellington Channel should be directed upon 
 iMelville Island, as it was the opinion of General Sabine 
 and Captain Kellett that if Captains Collinson and 
 M'Clure were unable to reach that island with their 
 ships, still they would push in there with their sledges. 
 The senior lord of the Admiralty saw the soundness of 
 Mr. Cresswell's views ; and the Resolute and Intrepid, 
 under Captains Kellett and M'Clintock, were ordered to 
 proceed to Melville Island. . 
 
 In nearing Assistance Bay, only thirty miles from 
 Beechey Island, at which point Captain KelJott was to 
 leave a depot, the Resolute grounded, was left with but 
 
SLEDGE-PARTIES. qo_ 
 
 seven ibet of wafftr ih^^ 
 
 there as 1,0 proceeded fa T;t'';7'"^ f"'""' ''"^« »"<' 
 I'acI reached Melville Ishnd ' "'"• "'' "'" «"""""' 
 
 t--ncd by Parry ,-,. Z;^""' ^';-»tor„m„at p,„-„t at- 
 
 party which had been he e s ";:""■"'"'«' f'e o„|y 
 °ver with sledges fro,„ a° ."'"' ""'^' '""■"'ff «"™e 
 the reader will mer" ''''"''"'"■ "' 1«51, as 
 
 "'en Capt. Kellett a ,d ,. „ ^ "'"'^'^.l-'e-'s ; and 
 began to prepare for the ll?. . ' '""' S'-ea' spirit, 
 
 • the next spri::g. offi!!:;: ; i\--'"-".' p-«- «; 
 
 proposed lines of search -n!^ ^ assigned to the 
 
 "earehes as much asTossibl ;". ?'" *° ^«-'^ the 
 for the work when it sho Id 1 , '"'''"'' "'« ">en 
 
 -nt forward to make Idvald d^f '•'^"''•""" ""'« 
 under the charge of thel27 ""1'' '" "■« ^"t"n.n, 
 n»e them in the spring ^ """'" ^'"' ^""Id have to 
 
 One of these parties — the "C!n,m ,• 
 Wand" party -was „nde a s2t . "' "' ^^'"■"'-' 
 Mr. Mecham, who had seen » ? "'^ ^"""^ °«eer, 
 tion. He had two si dgos he d"'' "" ""^ ''^' ^^P^""' 
 'f «. a depot of twenty davl'l?''-"'''^ """ *'"' ^«'»'- 
 the spring, and enough toT twenr?" '" "^ "^"^ '" 
 »»«• All the Bledges had !««!«'' ' ''''^^' P"'''"* 
 f nng lady friends of st e ! 7%"''" "^ ^°">e 
 Mecham's bore an armed hafd. ^'^'"'''''- ^r. 
 ground, with the mot^ . p" ""'^ '''"'' <"■ ^ ^hite 
 ffWm." Over mud laml « ""'''"' ^'"' '«•'•«'», P«r 
 their burden ; and wei-e L;. "7' T' T' *^^ "-'^e^ 
 of October, 1852 Mr lu t ^ *' ''''"■"■ °n the I2th 
 52, Mr. Mecham visited "Parry's Sand! 
 

 388 
 
 A DISCOVERT. 
 
 um* 
 
 "I'l 
 
 li'l , 
 
 lir 
 
 I 
 
 stone," near Winter Harbor, where he had been bidden 
 to leave a record. He went on in advance of his party, 
 meaning to cut the date, 1852, on the stone. On top 
 of it was a small cairn, built by M'Clintock the year 
 before. Mecham examined this, and, to his surprise, a 
 copper cylinder rolled out. " On opening it," he says, 
 " I drew out a roll folded in a bladder, which, being 
 frozen, broke and crumbled. From its dilapidated ap- 
 pearance, I thought, at the moment, it must be some 
 record of Sir Edward Parry ; and, fearing I might damage 
 it, laid i; down with the intention of lighting the fire to 
 thaw it. My curiosity, however, overcame my pru- 
 dence, and, on opening it carefully with my knife, I came 
 to a roll of cartridge-paper with the impression fresh 
 upon the seals. My astonishment may be conceived on 
 finding it contained an account of the proceedings of. 
 her majesty's ship Investigator since parting company 
 with the Herald (Capt. Kellett's old ship), in August, 
 1850, in Behring's Strait ; also a chart which disclosed 
 to view not only the long-sought north-west passage, but 
 the completion of the survey of Banks's and Wollaston 
 Lands. I opened and endorsed Commander M'Clintock's 
 dispatch, and found it contained the following additions : 
 
 ' Opened and copied by his old friend and messmate, upon this date, 
 April 28, 1852. Robekt M'Clubb. 
 
 * Party all well, and return to Investigator to-day.' " -^ * • , Jav 
 
 1 ■■'. 
 
 I 
 
 ,' 1 
 
 A great discovery, indeed, to flash across one in a 
 minute 1 The Investigator had not been heard from for 
 more than two years. Here was news of her not yet 
 six months old I The north-west passage had been 
 dreamed of for three centuries and more. Here was 
 news of its discovery, — news that had been known to 
 M'Clure for two years 1 M'Clure and M'Clintock were 
 
A FORLORN HOPE. 
 
 389 
 
 been bidden 
 Df his party, 
 me. On top 
 ck the year 
 is surprise, a 
 it," he says, 
 which, being 
 lapidated ap- 
 lust be some 
 night damage 
 ing the fire to 
 ame my pru- 
 Y knife, I came 
 pression fresh 
 e conceived on 
 jroceedings of. 
 rtlng company 
 p), in August, 
 hich disclosed 
 ist passage, but 
 and WoUaston 
 jrM'Clintock's 
 ving additions : 
 
 |atc, npoti this date, 
 loBERT M'Clubb. 
 
 press one in a 
 
 1 heard from for 
 
 [of her not yet 
 
 ]age had been 
 
 re. Here was 
 
 Leen known to 
 
 I'CUntock were 
 
 lieutenants together in the Enterprib: when she was 
 sent after Sir John Franklin, in 1848, and wintered to- 
 gether in her at Port Leopold. Now, from difl'erent 
 hemispheres, they had come so near meeting at this old 
 block of sandstone ! Mr. Mecham bade his mate build 
 a new cairn, to put the record of the story in, and hur- 
 ried on to the Resolute with his great news. 
 
 It thus became known to Kellett and his companions 
 that the Investigator had been frozen up in the Bay of 
 Mercy, only one hundred and seventy miles from their 
 own position. It must have been a sore trial, to all par- 
 ties, to wait the winter through, and not even get a 
 message across. But, until winter made it too cold and 
 dark to travel, the ice in the strait was so broken up 
 that it was impossible to attempt to traverse it, even 
 with a light boat for the lanes of water. So, the differ- 
 ent autumn parties came in, and the officers and men 
 entered on their winter's work and play, to push off the 
 winter days as quickly as they could. 
 
 The system of travelling in the fall and spring 
 abridges materially the length of the Arctic winter as 
 Ross, Parry, and Back, used to experience it ; and it 
 was only from the 1st of November to the 10th of 
 March that Kellett's party were left to their own re- 
 sources. Late in October one of the Resolute's men 
 died, and in December one of the Intrepid 's ; but, ex- 
 cepting these cases, they had little sickness — for weeks 
 no one on the sick-list ; — indeed, Capt. Kellett says that 
 a sufficiency of good provisions, with plenty of work 
 in the open air, will insure good health in the Arctic 
 climate. 
 
 As early in the spring as he dared risk a travelling 
 
 party, namely, on the 10th of March, 1853, he sent 
 
 what they all called a forlorn hope across to the Bay 
 
 of Mercy, to find traces of the Investigator ; for they 
 
 33* 
 
390 
 
 PIM'S JOURNEY. 
 
 scarcely ventured to hope that she was still there. This 
 start was earlier by thirty-five days than the early par- 
 ties had started on the preceding expedition. But it 
 was every way essential that, if M'Clure had wintered 
 in the Bay of Mercy, the messenger should reach him 
 before he sent off any or all his men, in travelling par- 
 ties, in the spring. The little forlorn hope consisted of 
 ten men, under the command of Lieut. Pirn, an officer 
 who had been with Kellett in the Herald on the Pacific 
 side, had spent a winter in the Plover up Behring's 
 Strait, and had been one of the last men whom M'Clure 
 and his crew had seen before they sailed into the Arctic 
 Ocean, to discover, as it proved, the north-west pas- 
 sage. 
 
 Lieut. Pim started with a sledge and seven men un- 
 der his own immediate command, and a dog-sledge with 
 two men under Dr. Domville, the surgeon, who was to 
 bring back the earliest news to Captain Kellett. There 
 was also a relief-sledge to accompany the party a por- 
 tion of the way. Pirn's orders were to go at once to 
 the Bay of Mercy in search of the Investigator ; if she 
 was gone, to follow any traces of her, and if possible to 
 communicate with her or her consort, the Enterprise. 
 
 One of the sledges broke down soon after the party 
 started, and they had to send back for another. Bad 
 weather came on, and compelled them to encamp on the 
 ice. "Fortunately," says the lieutenant, "the temper- 
 ature arose from fifty-one degrees below zero to thirty- 
 six below, and there remained ; " while the drifts accu- 
 mulated to such a degree around the tents, that within 
 them the thermometer was only twenty below, and 
 when they cooked rose to zero. There they lay three 
 days, smoking and sleeping in their bags. On the 
 fourth day a new sledge arrivx^d from the ship, and they 
 got under way again. Thus far they were running 
 
PIM'S JOURNEY. 
 
 891 
 
 re. This 
 sarly par- 
 But it 
 wintered 
 ■each him 
 filing par- 
 nsisted of 
 an officer 
 the Pacific 
 Behring's 
 m M'Clure 
 the Arctic 
 i-west pas- 
 
 T." 
 
 m men tm- 
 sledge with 
 who was to 
 ^ett. There 
 arty a por- 
 at once to 
 ,tor ; if she 
 possible to 
 iterprise. 
 r the party 
 ither. Bad 
 amp on the 
 the temper- 
 ■0 to thirty- 
 drifts accu- 
 that within 
 Ibelow, and 
 ;y lay three 
 On the 
 |p, and they 
 ire running 
 
 along the shore ; but they soon sent back the relief-party 
 which had brought the new sledge, and a few days after 
 set out to cross a strait, some thirty miles wide, which, 
 when it is open (as no man has yet seen it), is one 
 avenue of the north-west passage discovered by these 
 expeditions. 
 
 They got on slowly, and with great difficulty. Only 
 three miles the first day, four miles the second day, two 
 and a half the third, and half a mile the fourth ; this 
 was all they gained by most laborious hauling over the 
 broken ice, dragging one sledge at a time, and some- 
 times carrying forv/ard the stores separately, and going 
 back for the sledges. Two days more gave them 
 another eight miles, but on the seventh day of their 
 passage across this narrow strait the great sledge 
 slipped off a smooth hummock, broke one runner, and 
 brought the party to a stand-still. 
 
 Having now nothing but the little dog-sledge tc carry 
 them on, — with the ship a hundred miles ofi", and the 
 thermometer at eighteen below zero, — the two officers 
 had some discussion as to their future proceedings. 
 Dr. Domville, whose sledge, the James Fitzjames, was 
 still sound, thought they had best leave the stores and 
 go back ; but Lieut. Pirn, who had the chief command, 
 thought otherwise ; so he took the James Fitzjames, 
 with the two men belonging to it, and pushed on, leav- 
 ing the doctor in the floe, but giving him directions to 
 take the broken sledge back to land, and there wait for 
 him to return. /, 
 
 On went the lieutenant and his two men, over ice, 
 over hummock, — feeding their dogs on preserved meats 
 for want of game, — until they left the strait behind, 
 and came to Banks's Land. Still they found no game, 
 Pim was taken sick, and for a whole day was obliged 
 to remain shut up in the tent. A few hours' sleep re- 
 
892 
 
 MEETING WITH M'CLURE. 
 
 freshed him, and the party started on again. At last, 
 after many weary days' travel, they got upon the Bay 
 of Mercy. No ship was in sight. Right across the 
 bay went the lieutenant to search for records, when, at 
 two o'clock p. M., one of the men saw something black 
 in the distance. Pim looked through his glass, and 
 made it out to be i ship. Forthwith the whole party 
 proceeded as fast as possible toward it. Pim, hurrying 
 along, soon got in advance of the sledge, and walked 
 on alone. 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1853, the little crew of the In- 
 vestigator was in low spirits : one of their comrades 
 had just poisoned himself. All hands were preparing 
 for the separation which was to take place in the follow- 
 ing week, and were looking forward with gloomy fore- 
 bodings to their slender chances of escape, when an 
 event occurred, which we give in M'Clure's own words : 
 
 " While walking near the ship, in conversation with 
 the first lieutenant upon the subject of digging a grave 
 for the man who died yesterday, and discussing how we 
 could cut a grave in the ground whilst it was so hardly 
 frozen (a subject naturally sad and depressing), we per- 
 ceived a figure walking rapidly towards us from the 
 rough ice at the entrance of the bay. From his pace 
 and gestures we both naturally supposed, at first, that 
 he was some one of our party pursued by a bear ; but, 
 as we approached him, doubts arose as to who it could 
 be. He was certainly unlike any of our men ; but, 
 recollecting that it was possible some one might be try- 
 ing a new travelling-dress preparatory to the departure 
 of our sledges, and certain that no one else was near, 
 we continued to advance. 
 
 " When within about two hundred yards of us, the 
 strange figure threw up his arms, and made gesticula- 
 
. At last, 
 n the Bay 
 across the 
 3, when, at 
 hing black 
 glass, and 
 vhole party 
 n, hurrying 
 and walked 
 
 1 of the In- 
 ir comrades 
 e preparing 
 n the follow- 
 gloomy fore- 
 )e, when an 
 ; own words : 
 3rsation with 
 iging a grave 
 ising how we 
 'as so hardly 
 Ing), we per- 
 jus from the 
 •om his pace 
 at first, that 
 la bear ; but, 
 |who it could 
 men; but, 
 [light be try- 
 le departure 
 le was near, 
 
 Is of us, the 
 le gesticula- 
 
 ': 
 
 MEETING WITH M'CLURE. 
 
 393 
 
 tions resembling those used by Esquimaux, besides shout- 
 ing at the top of his voice words which, from the wind 
 and intense excitement of the moment, sounded like a 
 wild screech : and this brought us both fairly to a stand- 
 still. The stranger came quietly on, and we saw that 
 his face was as black* as ebony ; and really, at the mo- 
 ment, we might be pardoned for wondering whether he 
 was a denizen of this or the other world ; as it was, 
 wo gallantly stood our ground, and, had the skies fallen 
 upon us, we could hardly have been more astonished 
 than v/hen the dark-faced stranger called out, ' I 'm Lieu- 
 tenant Pirn, late of the Herald, and now in the Reso- 
 lute. Captain Kellett is in her, at Dealy Island.' 
 
 " To rush at and seize him by the hand was the first 
 impulse, for the heart was too full for the tongue to 
 speak. The announcement of relief being close at 
 hand, when none was supposed to be even within the 
 Arctic Circle, was too sudden, unexpected, and joyous, 
 for our minds to comprehend it at once. The news 
 flew with lightning rapidity ; the ship was all in com- 
 motion ; the sick, forgetful of their maladies, leaped 
 from their hammocks ; the artificers dropped their tools, 
 and the lower deck was cleared of men ; for they all 
 rushed for the hatchway, to be assured that a stranger 
 was actually among them, and that his tale was true. 
 Despondency fled the ship, and Lieut. Pirn received a 
 welcome — pure, hearty, and grateful — that he will 
 surely remember and cherish to the end of his days." 
 
 On the 8th of April, Pirn and his men, accompanied 
 by M'Clure with a sledge-party, set out on their return. 
 Dr. Domville, who had improved his time by mending 
 the broken sledge and killing five musk-oxen, joined 
 them on the way ; and on the 19th they all arrived at 
 the quarters of the Resolute and Intrepid. Capt. Kellett 
 
 ' , * Rendered black by the lamp-smoke in his tent. 
 
3y4 
 
 ABANDONMENT OF THE INVESTIGATOR. 
 
 was at fli'st inclined to favor M'Clure's plan of endeav- 
 oring to save the Investigator : but on the 2d May 
 Lieut. Gresswell arrived from her witli the report of two 
 more deaths. Then it was arranged that Dr. Domville 
 should go back with M'Clure and hold a survey on the 
 health of the crew ; that those who were unfitted to 
 stand another winter should be ordered home, and that 
 the healthy should have their option of going or re- 
 mainiuGT. The result was that only four men were will- 
 ing to remain^ though the officers all gallantly volun- 
 teered to stand by the vessel. Boats, stores, &c., were 
 accordingly landed to form a depot for the use of Collin- 
 son, Franklin, or any other person who might happen 
 along, and on the 3d June, 1853, the colors were hoisted 
 to the mast-head, and officers and crew bade a last 
 farewell to the Investigator. They arrived at Dealy 
 Island on the Itth, and were accommodated on board 
 the Resolute and Intrepid. , ' ■ < ^ . , / * v.'/ 
 
 Kellett's plan was to send them down to Beechey Island 
 in the Intrepid at the first breaking up of the ice. More 
 than half his crews were out on searching expeditions 
 when the Investigator's men arrived. Parties under 
 M'Clintock, Mecham, and Hamilton, were searching 
 every foot of land to the north and north-west of Mel- 
 ville Island. They all came in at last, having found no 
 traces of Sir John Franklin. Finding that nothing more 
 could be done in a north-west direction, Kellett deter- 
 mined to take both vessels to Beechey Island as soon as 
 the ice would admit. All his arrangements were made 
 for starting at any moment. He built a store-house on 
 the inland, stocked it well with provisions, and left in it 
 this record : 
 
 " This is a house which I have named the * Sailor's Home,' under the 
 especial patronage of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 
 
 " Here royal sailors and marines are fed, clothed, aod receive double 
 pay for inhabiting it." ^ ^ 
 
f eudeav- 
 i 2d May 
 ort of two 
 . Domville 
 ey on the 
 infitted to 
 }, and that 
 )ing or re- 
 L were will- 
 ntly volun- 
 i, &c., were 
 le of CoUin- 
 rht happen 
 rere hoisted 
 bade a last 
 ;d at Dealy 
 id on board 
 
 schey Island 
 ice. More 
 [expeditions 
 Irties under 
 searching 
 [est of Mel- 
 ig found no 
 )thing more 
 jllett deter- 
 as soon as 
 were made 
 :e-house on 
 id left in it 
 
 le,* under the 
 ralty. 
 [■eceive double 
 
 LOSS OF BREDALBANE TRANSPORT. 
 
 395 
 
 
 All the other usual expedients were resorted to to while 
 away the time ; but after the excitement of the search- 
 ing parties was over the summer passed drearily. The 
 ice showed no sign of breaking up. Mr. Roche, mate 
 of the Resolute, who had been sent down to the North 
 Star for provisions, returned unexpectedly, having been 
 to Beechey Island and back, a distance of six hundred 
 miles, in six weeks. Capt. Richards arrived from North- 
 umberland Sound, bringing news from Belcher's divi- 
 sion. Little else occurred to break the monotony. 
 
 Meanwhile Lieut. Cresswell had been sent down to 
 Beechey Island with dispatches for the Admiralty. 
 There he had the good fortune to bo taken on board of 
 the Phoenix, in which, as we have seen, he returned to 
 England, bringing the first news of the safety of the 
 Investigator, and the discovery of the north-west pas- 
 sage. ' ' 
 
 Before we proceed further w'th the adventures of the 
 companions whom he left at Dealy Island, there are some 
 other matters of interest connected with this voyage 
 of the Phoenix, which it will be well to relate in this 
 place. One of these is the loss of the Bredalbane trans- 
 port, by one of those terrible " nips " which are so often 
 encountered in the polar seas. This occurred near Cape 
 Riley, on the 21st August, 1853, and was witnessed by 
 the crew of the Phoenix, in which vessel the Bredalbane's 
 crew took refuge. It shows how very easily a vessel 
 may be destroyed in the Arctic regions, without a ves- 
 tige being left behind to tell the tale. We give the 
 incident in the words of Mr. Fowckner, the agent for 
 the ship, who was on board at the time : 
 
 "About ten minutes past four the ice passing the 
 ship awoke me, and the door of my cabin, from the 
 pressure, opened. I hurriedly put on my clothes, and, 
 on getting up, found some hands on the ice endeavor- 
 
896 
 
 LOSS OF BREDALBANE TRANSPORT. 
 
 ing to save the boats, but these were instantly crushed to 
 pieces. I went forward to hail the Phcenix, for men to 
 save the boats ; and whilst doing so the ropes by which 
 we were secured parted, and a heavy nip took the ship, 
 making her tremble all over, and every timber in her 
 creak. I looked in the main hold, and saw the beams 
 giving way ; I hailed those on the ice, and told them of 
 our critical situation. I then rushed to my cabin, and 
 called to those in their beds to save their lives. On 
 reaching the deck, those on the ice called out to me to 
 jump over the side — that the ship was going over. I 
 jumped on the loose ice, and, with difficulty, and the 
 assistance of those on the ice, succeeded in getting on 
 the unbroken part. After being on the ice about five 
 minutes, the timbers in the ship cracking up as matches 
 would in the hand, the nip eased for a short time, and I, 
 with some others, returned to the ship, with the view 
 of saving some of our effects. Captain Inglefield now 
 came running toward the ship. He ordered me to see 
 if the ice was through the ship ; and, on looking down 
 in the hold, I found all the beams, &c., falling about in 
 a manner that would have been certain death to me 
 had I Vv.ntured down there. It was too evident that 
 the ship could not last many minutes. I then sounded 
 the well, and found five feet in the hold ; and whilst in 
 the act of sounding, a heavier nip than before pres'^ed 
 out the starboard-bow, and the ice was forced right into 
 the forecastle. Every one then abandoned the ship, 
 with what few clothes he could save — some with only 
 what they had on. The ship now began to sink fast, 
 and from the time her bowsprit touched the ice until 
 her mast-heads were out of sight it was not above one 
 minute and a half. From the time the first nip took her 
 until her disappearance, it was not more than fifteen 
 minutes." 
 
DEATH OF BELLOT. 
 
 897 
 
 crushed to 
 for men to 
 3 by which 
 k the ship, 
 iber in her 
 the beams 
 )ld them of 
 cabin, and 
 lives. On 
 ut to me to 
 ig over. I 
 ty, and the 
 getting on 
 ! about five 
 ) as matches 
 time, and I, 
 ith the view 
 glefield now 
 me to see 
 >oking down 
 ing about in 
 eath to me 
 ivident that 
 len sounded 
 nd whilst in 
 ore pres'^ed 
 d right into 
 I the ship, 
 e with only 
 sink fast, 
 te ice until 
 above one 
 lip took her 
 ;han fifteen 
 
 But the saddest episode in Arctic history that Ingle- 
 field had to report was the death of Lieut. Bcllot, the 
 gallant young Frenchman who acted so prominent a 
 part in the voyage of the Prince Albert, under Kennedy. 
 Bellot's zeal and enthusiasm had led him again into the 
 regions of ice and snow, under Inglefield. While there, 
 he volunteered to lead a party over the ice, in August, 
 1853, to Sir Edward Belcher's squadron, which was at 
 that time near Cape Beecher, in Wellington Channel. 
 This party consisted of four men — namely, Harvey, 
 Johnson, Madden, and Hook. 
 
 On Friday, the 12th of August, he started, with his 
 little band, from Beechey Island (at which place the 
 North Star was lying), in charge of dispatches from 
 Captain Pullen. At this season of the year travelling 
 on ice is always considered dangerous, both on account 
 of its decayed condition, and its liability to separate 
 fruiii the shore and break up. Accordingly, Pullen cau- 
 tioned Bellot to keep as close to the eastern shore of 
 Wellington Channel as possible, and provided the party 
 with one of the light India-rubber boats, which could be 
 easily dragged on their sledge, and without which, at 
 such a season, it would have been very unsafe to travel. 
 
 That evening they encamped about three miles from 
 Cape Innes. Next day they made considerable progress, 
 and when night approached made their bed upon the 
 broken ice over which they had been plodding during 
 the day. This was near Cape Bodwen. On the follow- 
 ing day, which was Sunday, they passed a crack about 
 four feet wide, running across the channel. During all 
 this time no doubts were entertained as to the safe con- 
 dition of the ice ; and Bellot, in his usual encouraging 
 way, cheeied on the men, and put his shoulder to the 
 tracking-lines, saying that he wished to get to a cape 
 which was seen a good way ahead, and which he called 
 34 
 
398 
 
 DEATH OF BELLOT. 
 
 i||i '<;i!l 
 
 Cape Grinnell. . ear this it was desirable to encamp 
 in-shorc, if possible. 
 
 On arriving iit the capo, it was found that there was 
 a broad bolt of water between the ice and the shore. 
 This would have been a matter of little moment, had 
 there been no wind, as they could have easily crossed 
 it in the boat ; but there was unfortunately a strong 
 breeze blowing from the south-east, which curled up the 
 surface of the cold black waves in a very ominous way. 
 There was no help, however ; so the boat was launched, 
 and Bellot endeavored to reach the shore in it alone, 
 intending to convey a line by which the remainder of 
 the party and the provisions might be dragged over. 
 In this attempt he failed, the violence of the gale being 
 too much for him ; he therefore returned to the ice, 
 and ordered Harvey and Madden to get in and attempt 
 the passage together. This they did, and were suc- 
 cessful in landing ; after which they began the opera- 
 tion of passing and repassing the boat between the ice 
 and the shore, by means of linos. In this way three 
 loads were landed from the sledge, and the party on the 
 ice were hauling the boat oft' for a fourth, when Mad- 
 den, who had hold of the shore-line, and was up to his 
 middle in the water, called out suddenly that the ice 
 was on the move, and driving ofi" shore. It was evi- 
 dent that he could not hold the line longer without 
 being dragged into deep water ; so Bellot called out to 
 him to let go, which he did. 
 
 Bellot and his two men then hauled the boat on to 
 the sledge, and ran it up to the windward side of the 
 ice, intending to launch it there and make for the shore. 
 Ere this could be accomplished, however, the ice, whose 
 motion was rapidly increasing, had drifted so far from 
 the shore as to render all idea of reaching it hopeless. 
 It may be imagined with what feelings Madden and 
 
MATH OF BElLOr. ggg 
 
 Harvoy now hastened to .„ 
 
 "'oir comrades dnfting. out T, """'""""'• ""^ watched 
 
 '■"PO of escape ™rf rt ' "'""-''' "'"' '■"'•"'cr from 
 
 »"-..' two ho'ulti;.?;' """^"^^ "- ""fti»S i^ 
 '-t they were los i It "f ""^ "«""• "■'"I "t 
 When last seen, th two J ""'"' "'" ^'''^'"^ »"-• 
 Pledge, and Uelbt o t "tonn-r T" ''""'""^ "^ the 
 
 Madden and jr '°P °' " '"""mock, 
 
 and instantly bo>r-,!r>f •'""' '"'•''''""'ded to the shore 
 i:"oy wa.ted'ror G ffi': '^^"'nr""^ *" *•"= «'">' 
 s>ons, and reached Caoe . 1 7' "'"' '""■^ ""'« P^W- 
 to take some rest. Wh,l T, '"' "''"'^ ''"'^ ™'»-''ed 
 hastening toward them ToT- *"" """' '''"' ^««n 
 joy, these proved to hp T i ^'''"" surprise and 
 
 almost n>imculo„;iy Lied ;"""',>.'""' ^°*' '^''O "ad 
 o" the ice ; but tliTZ'''[Z '"'' """'"'^ P»-«on 
 that their companion, ZbZTT'""': *"" '^'^ *<"<» 
 gone. _ '""^'^ young Frenchman, was 
 
 ■ though not without ™„ch diffl t '"'^ ""^"""^ '■" safety! 
 The melancholy fateTfpo fBe"; ^ ""^ ^^^"^ P-'afon. 
 than by giving i^ ;„ th'e word "of' J T' '" '''""• '<"•» 
 "-ith him on the ice at tZT "'^.'^ohnson, who was 
 got the provisions on shore'' sf f " ^"''^- " ^^ 
 honth^ After we hadlne^t V'""'''"'^^''^^' 
 the ,ce Hook, Lie„t. Bellot Zi ' ^''^ ■'O'nained on 
 the sledge, Mackintosl^lfr. '"T'' '■^^"'S-ith us- 
 -onced trying to draw the" 'fan'd ,'"!"' """'■ ^''- 
 '^ard, but found the ice l^T ''''''se to the south- 
 
 *dge and took the boat o7 '^ '"' """ -" 'o" tl-o 
 strong at the time that ifblew';; 'f '""^ "'°'J -as so 
 We then took the boat with ,7 . ""' "^"^ ""d over, 
 of .-00, and Mr. Bellot 'on r;,™^*^: ^'"^'ter of a piece 
 :-■ """"'OS oommenced cutting 
 
400 
 
 DEATH OF BELLOT. 
 
 an icc-houso with our knives for slielter. Mr, Bellot sat 
 for half an hour in conversation with us, talking on the 
 danger of our position. I told him I was not afraid, and 
 that the American expedition was driven up and down 
 this channel by the ice. lie replied, ' I know they 
 w(.'re ; and when the Lord protects us, not a hair of our 
 heads shall be touched,' 
 
 " I then asked Mr. Bellot what time it was. lie said, 
 ' About quarter past eight a. m.' (Thursday, the 18th), 
 and then lashed up his books, and said he would go and 
 see how the ice was driving. lie had only been gone 
 about four minutes, when I went round the same hum- 
 mock under which we were sheltered to look for him, 
 but could not see him ; and, on returning to our shelter, 
 saw his stick on the opposite side of a crack, about five 
 fathoms wide, and the ice all breaking up. I then 
 culled out ' Mr. Bellot 1 ' but no answer — (at this time 
 blowing very heavy). After this, I again searched 
 round, but could see nothing of him. 
 
 " I believe that when he got from the shelter the 
 wind blew him into the crack, and, his south-wester 
 being tied down, he could not rise. Finding there was 
 no hope of again seeing Lieut. Bellot, I said to Hook, 
 ' I 'm not afi'aid : I know the Lord will always sustain 
 us.' We commenced travelling, to try to get to Cape 
 De Haven, or Port Phillips ; and, when we got within 
 two miles of Cape De Haven, could not get on shore ; 
 and returned for this side, endeavoring to get to the 
 southward, as the ice was driving to the northward. 
 We were that night and the following day in coming 
 across, and came into the land on the eastern shore a 
 long way to the northward of the place where we were 
 driven off. We got into the land at what Lieut. Bellot 
 told us was Point Hogarth. 
 
 " In drifting up the straits towards the Polar Sea, we 
 
DEATH OF BELLOT. 
 
 401 
 
 Bcllot sat 
 [ig on the 
 fraid, and 
 md down 
 now tlioy 
 liair of our 
 
 , IIo said, 
 the ISth), 
 uld go and 
 been gone 
 game lium- 
 )k for liim, 
 3ur shelter, 
 , about five 
 p. I then 
 it this time 
 n searched 
 
 shelter the 
 luth-wester 
 there was 
 ^d to Hook, 
 lys sustain 
 ;et to Cape 
 got within 
 on shore ; 
 get to the 
 [northward, 
 in coming 
 irn shore a 
 e we were 
 eut. Bellot 
 
 ar Sea, we 
 
 saw an iceberg lying close to the shore, and found it 
 on the ground. We succeeded in getting on it, and 
 remained for six hours. I said to David Hook, ' Don't 
 be afraid ; we must make a boat of a piece of ice.' 
 Accordingly, we got on to a piece pasaiiig, and I hud a 
 paddle belonging to the India-rubber boat. By this 
 piece of drift-ice we managed to reach the shore, and 
 then proceeded to where the accident happened. 
 Reached it on Friday. Could not find our shipmates, or 
 any provisions. Went on for Cape Bowdon, and 
 reached it on Friday night." 
 
 When the Esquimaux heard of Bellot's death, they 
 shed tears, and cried "Poor Bellot 1 poor Bellot!" 
 Two years before, he had seen an Esquimaux dragging 
 himself painfully over the ice, with a broken leg. To 
 call the carpenter, give him directions to make a wooden 
 leg for the poor fellow, and to teach him to walk with it, 
 were matters of course for the generous young French- 
 man ; but they were unupual kindnesses for a white man 
 to show to an Esquimaux, and the simple-hearted peo- 
 ple remembered it when they cried " Poor Bellot ! " 
 
 Poor Bellot 1 — his was a brave, a generous, and a 
 kindly heart. His talents and energy were deeply 
 appreciated by the nation to which he had volunteered 
 his services ; and his affectionate, manly disposition 
 had endeared him to the comrades with whom he had 
 spent so many stormy days and nights in the regions 
 of ice and snow. The howling blast of the north, and 
 the dark waters of the polar seas, are sweeping over 
 his mortal frame; but an imperishable wreath — a 
 tribute of gratitude and afiection, twined by the hands 
 of France and England — shall rest upon his brow for- 
 ever. 
 
 Mr. Bellot is another added to the list of those brave, 
 enthusiastic spirits, that have been thus prematurely 
 34* 
 
 I 
 
402 
 
 DEATH OF BELLOT. 
 
 snatched away, and vrrapt in the cold embrace of the 
 Arctic seas. The English have expressed their sense 
 of his services and his virtues by a subscription for his 
 family, and for a monument to be erected to his memory 
 in Greenwich Hospital. 
 
 Capt. Inglefield, in his steamer the Phoenix, accom- 
 panied by the sailing-vessel Talbot, was sent to the 
 Arctic regions again in 1854, with dispatches and sup- 
 plies for Sir E. Belcher. There we shall hear of him 
 again in the course of our narrative. 
 
 ! . r 
 
 » 
 
 1m- 
 
 
 \ 
 
 , ' . ■ I 
 
 ■*-• n ■ -^ ^ 
 
3e of the 
 
 eir sense 
 m for his 
 3 memory 
 
 x, accom- 
 
 nt to the 
 
 and sup- 
 
 ar of him 
 
 jx ■■ n i 
 
 ■.*'■ 
 
 ^.^r 
 
 * 1^ 
 
 \A\ I'-iH 
 
 ■••i 
 
 ■■■,v,in.T 
 
 
 ,.?> Cild* 
 
 
 » 
 
 - 
 
 M-» 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 fc*-^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^c 
 
 ;;,«? 
 
 
 
 '-^ 
 
 r- -;.-Jr 
 
 
 - -.^ 
 
 
 '^ ,'''i 
 
 l*-' fi'-jf 
 
 ! '■•' f'5 ;' P 
 
 ,i'r 
 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE KESOLTJTE AND INTREPID. — BESET AGAIN. — WINTER IN THE PACK. 
 
 BOTH VESSELS ABANDONED. BELCHER's EXPLORATIONS. REMAINS 
 
 OF STRUCTURES. — ATTEMPT TO REACH BEECHEY ISLAND. — ABANDON- 
 MENT OF THE ASSISTANCE AND PIONEER. — ALL PARTIES ASSEMBLE AT 
 
 BEECHEY ISLAND. ARRIVAL OF THE PHCENIX AND TALBOT. — RETURN 
 
 TO ENGLAND. — OUTWARD VOYAGE OF THE PHCENIX. — COLLINSON's 
 VOYAGE. — RAe's EXPEDITION. — RELICS OF FRANKLIN. — ANDERSON'S 
 JOURNEY. 
 
 The Resolute and Intrepid, with their inmates, includ- 
 ing the sixty men from the Investigator, remained ice- 
 bound at Dealy Island during the best part of the 
 summer of 1853. At last, on the 18th of August, a 
 strong gale blowing off shore broke up the ice. The 
 vessels at once got under way ; by night they were at 
 sea, and the navigators congratulated themselves that 
 they were now fairly making progress towards homo. 
 But within twenty-four hours they were brought up by 
 the pack of Byam Martin Channel ; and there they lay 
 watching for an opening to dash across to BathurstLand, 
 and run for Beechey Island under its lee. 
 
 Day after day passed. The drifting pack presented 
 no available opening. Winter was fast advancing. 
 The prospect of escape before another season began to 
 look gloomy. Still, the navigators did not abandon 
 the hope ; but they occupied themselves in securing 
 game, as a provision against the coming winter. This 
 they found in abundance, especially musk-oxen ; and 
 some ten thousand pounds were obtained and frozen. 
 An attempt was finally made to force through the pack ; 
 
404 
 
 THE RESOLUTE AND INTREPID. 
 
 but on the 9th of September the vessels became firmly 
 imbedded in the newly-formed ice, and, a north-west gale 
 forcing the pack upon them, they were fairly beset, and 
 obliged to go whither it and Providence listed. 
 
 Two months they were drifting helplessly, amidst 
 great perils. Right pleased was Kellett to find that 
 after the 12th of November the ships were at rest, 
 having reached a point about due east of Winter Harbor, 
 Melville Island, in longitude 101° west, — an admirable 
 position for an early escape in the ensuing season. 
 Here they passed the winter of 1853-4, — long months 
 of darkness and weariness, but with no worse mishap 
 than the loss of one officer, who died on the 14th of 
 November. 
 
 The log-book of that winter is a curious record ; the 
 iugenuity of the officer in charge was well tasked to 
 make one day differ from another. Each day has the 
 first entry for " ship's position " thus : " In the floe oif 
 Cape Cockburn ; " and the blank for the second entry 
 thus : " in the same position." Lectures, theatricals, 
 schools,„etc., whiled away the time. 
 
 The spring of 1854 arrived. M'Clure and his crew 
 started with sledges on the 14th of April for Beechey 
 Island, to find a resting-place on board the North Star 
 and at the depot. Kellett made arrangements to con- 
 tinue the search. While thus engaged, he received a 
 letter from Sir Edward Belcher, suggesting that, rather 
 than risk the detention of another season, he should 
 abandon his ships and meet him (Belcher) at Beechey 
 Island before the 26th of August. Kellett remon- 
 strated, stating that the vessels were in a favorable 
 position for escape ; that they had abundance of pro- 
 visions, and that parties concerned in deserting ships 
 under such circumstances " would deserve to have the 
 jackets taken off their backs." Then came a positive 
 
REMAINS OF ESQUIMAUX HOUSES. 
 
 405 
 
 i firmly 
 est gale 
 set, and 
 
 ^ amidst 
 ind that 
 at rest, 
 : Harbor, 
 ,dmirable 
 ■ season. 
 cr months 
 e mishap 
 ! 14th of 
 
 cord; the 
 tasked to 
 ly has the 
 ;he floe off 
 ond entry 
 eatricals, 
 
 his crew 
 Beechey 
 forth Star 
 |ts to con- 
 received a 
 |at, rather 
 tie should 
 Beechey 
 tt remon- 
 Ifavorable 
 le of pro- 
 [ng ships 
 1 have the 
 positive 
 
 order from Belcher. Both vessels were to be aban- 
 doned. 
 
 Two distant travelling parties were already out on 
 searching expeditions. Word was left at a proper point 
 for their guidance. Then, having fitted the Intrepid's 
 engines so that she could be got under steam in two 
 hours, having stored both ships with provisions, and 
 made them in every respect " ready for occupation," Kel- 
 lett ordered the hatches to be calked down, all hands 
 looked their last on the Resolute and Intrepid, and on 
 the 15th of May, 1854, they started, with sledges, for 
 Beechey Island, where their unexpected arrival caused 
 much surprise to the officers and crew of the Investi- 
 gator, who had preceded them. 
 
 All this time the other division of the squadron, 
 consisting of the Assistance and Pioneer, under Sir 
 Edward Belcher, which, as we have seen, sailed north 
 on the day before Kellett sailed west, namely, on the 
 14th of August, 1852, had been engaged in exploring 
 Wellington Channel. Having reached latitude '1Q° 52', 
 
 ^ and longitude St" west, the vessels came to anchor 
 in a locality near Cape Beecher, which was chosen for 
 their winter quarters. Boat and sledge explorations to 
 the northward were commenced on the 23d of August. 
 On the 25th, when rounding a point where the coast 
 suddenly turns to the eastward, the remains of several 
 well-built Esquimaux houses were discovered. " They 
 were," says Belcher, " not simply circles of small 
 stones, but two lines of well-laid wall in excavated 
 ground, filled in between by about two feet of fine 
 gravel, well paved, and, withal, presenting the appear- 
 ance of great care — more, indeed, than I am willing to 
 attribute to the rude inhabitants or migratory Esqui- 
 
 ' maux. Bones of deer, wolves, seals, etc., were numer- 
 ous, and coal was found." There is no mention of any 
 
406 
 
 BELCHER'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 i 
 
 search having been made for a record, though in all 
 probability this was not neglected ; yet the absence of 
 any cairn would seem to render it unlikely that such a 
 document existed. 
 
 The explorations led to the discovery of various lands, 
 to the most extensive of which the name of North Corn- 
 wall was given, and of several islands washed by a sea 
 open to the north, which Belcher regarded as the polar 
 basin. The name of Victoria Aj'chipelago was given to 
 a group of islands in 1S° 10' ; and the easternmost, form- 
 ing the channel which communicates with the Polar Sea, 
 was named North Kent. ... . ,, 
 
 On the 2d of May, 1853, the north-east division of the 
 sledging-parties loft the ship, and soon reached the limit 
 of their discoveries of the previous year. 
 
 During this journey Belcher pushed toward North 
 Cornwall and Jones's Strait ; but was unexpectedly 
 stopped beyond Cape Disraeli, about the end of the 
 month on which he set out, by the early disruption of 
 the ice. 
 
 " The sight which I obtained from this cape," says 
 he, " elevated six hundred and eighty feet above the 
 sea, led me to hope for better success duo east. On 
 that course we proceeded three days on a smooth floe, 
 making thirty-six miles, when v e reached, on the 18th, 
 the entrance of a splendid channel. Fog had for 
 some time worried us with indistinct glimpses of the 
 approaches ; but, as it now cleared off, and the sun 
 enlivened the scene, we were regaled with such a mag- 
 nificent view of successive beetling headlands on either 
 side of the channel, and extending for about twenty 
 miles, that it really became a puzzling matter to find 
 names for them. Of one thing I felt quite convinced — 
 namely, that we were now really in Jones's Channel. 
 The latitude, the direction, the limit in longitude to 
 
BELCHER'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 407 
 
 h in all 
 ence of 
 t such a 
 
 IS lands, 
 :th Corn- 
 by a sea 
 ;he polar 
 ofiven to 
 ost, form- 
 >olar Sea, 
 
 ion of the 
 [the limit 
 
 ird North 
 
 jxpectedly 
 
 pd of the 
 
 uption of 
 
 ^pe," says 
 ibove the 
 least. On 
 looth floe, 
 the 18th, 
 had for 
 5es of the 
 the sun 
 ich a mag- 
 Is on either 
 lut twenty 
 ler to find 
 ivinced — ■ 
 Channel, 
 igitude to 
 
 wliich we could see, only required an extension of sixty 
 miles to lead to the cairn erected by Captain Austin's 
 party. The roughness of the frozen pack now com- 
 pelled us to take to the land, and we advanced easily 
 five or six miles, when a further stop to our prog- 
 ress was opposed in the shape of an abrupt glacier, 
 and the moiufying discovery that its base was washed 
 by the sea, while the off-lying pack was rotten and 
 tumbling asunder. 
 
 " Not easily daunted, it was determined to try an 
 overlanu route, and avoid this unfortunate hole, as we 
 then thought it. Provisions, etc., were strapped on, and 
 we soon started to view what we had to contend with 
 before deciding on our ultimate mode of action. The 
 hills continued increasing in height as we advanced, 
 until they reached fifteen hundred feet. We then 
 dof'condcd and took up another position at nearly the 
 same height as the last bluff, when we encamped for 
 the night. All our hopes were crushed ! Between us 
 and the distant bluff the open sea prevailed on the 
 20th of May ! The horizon was streaked with open 
 * sailing-ice,' and all communication cut off for sledges. 
 The bluff*, distant sixteen miles, was clearly the turn- 
 ing-point into Jones's Channel ; no land was visible 
 beyond it." 
 
 More than once their hopes were raised, during the 
 return-journey, by the discovery of the remains of 
 structures that had evidently been made by human 
 hands, yet not, apparently, by those of Esquimaux. 
 " Our progress was tantalizing, and attended with deep 
 interest and excitement. In the first place, I discov- 
 ered, on the brow of a mountain about eight hundred 
 feet above the sea, what appeared to be a recent and 
 a very workmanlike structure. This was a dome, — or 
 rather a double cone, or ice-house, — built of very heavy 
 
408 
 
 BELCHER'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 and tabular slabs, which no single person could carry 
 It consisted of about forty courses, eight feet in diam- 
 eter, and eigh^ feet in depth, when cleared, but only 
 five in height from the base of the upper cone as we 
 opened it. 
 
 " Most carefully was every stone removed, every 
 atom of moss or earth scrutinized ; the stones at the 
 bottom also taken up ; but without finding a trace of 
 any record, or of the structure having been used by 
 any human being. It was filled by drift snow, but did 
 not in any respect bear the appearance of having been 
 built more than a season. This was named * Mount 
 Discovery.' " 
 
 A short time afterwards he writes : " Leaving our 
 crew, pretty well fatigued, to pitch the tent and pre- 
 pare the customary pemmican meal, I ascended the 
 mountain above us, and discovered that we really were 
 not far from our old position of last year, on Cape 
 Hogarth, and had Cape Majendie and Hamilton Island 
 to the west, about twenty miles. 
 
 " My surprise, however, was checked suddenly by 
 two structures rather in European form, and apparently 
 graves ; each was similarly constructed, and, like the 
 dome, of large selected slabs, having at each end three 
 separate stones, laid as we should place head and foot 
 stones. So thoroughly satisfied was I that there was 
 no delusion, I desisted from disturbing a stone until it 
 should be formally done by the party assembled. 
 
 "The evening following — for where the sun is so 
 oppressive to the eyes by day we travel by night — we 
 ascended the hill, and removed the stones. Not a trace 
 of human beings I " 
 
 Thus Belcher and his men travelled about during the 
 whole season, exploring the coasts around Wellington 
 Channel, now on foot, and then in boats, as circum- 
 
BELCHER'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 409 
 
 Id carry 
 in diam- 
 but only 
 ne as we 
 
 3d, every 
 tes at the 
 fc trace of 
 I used by 
 w, but did 
 iving been 
 sd ' Mount 
 
 eaving our 
 t and pre- 
 tended the 
 really were 
 r, on Cape 
 ilton Island 
 
 Suddenly by 
 apparently 
 
 id, like the 
 
 [h end three 
 
 id and foot 
 
 there was 
 
 lone until it 
 jled. 
 
 sun is so 
 Inight — we 
 JNot a trace 
 
 during the 
 
 IWellington 
 
 as circum- 
 
 stances permitted, bat without discovering any clue to 
 the fate of Sir John Franklin. Belcher differs from 
 M'Clure and other explorers in regard to the abundance 
 of animal life in Arctic climes. " By extraordinary good 
 fortune," he says, "bears might fall in the way of the 
 traveller ; but, having killed and eaten his proportion, 
 I much doubt if his strength would enable him to drug 
 the remains until another piece of similar good fortune 
 befell him. The assertion, therefore, of any ' teeming 
 or abundance of anirual life ' in this north-eastern dis- 
 trict, is utterly untonaiilc." 
 
 On his return from this journey, Belcher first learned 
 of the safety of Captain M'Clure and his crew in the 
 Bay of Mercy. 
 
 The ships wero liberated from the ice on the 14th of 
 July. Belcher did not persevere in his attempts to 
 push further north, notwithstanding his belief in an 
 open Polar Sea, but shaped his course for Beechey 
 Island. Cape Majendie was reached at an early day.' 
 Some time was then spent in surveying the Bays of 
 Baring and Prince Edward, when the further advance 
 of the ships was stopped by a solid floe of ice. After 
 much warping and blasting to no purpose, in which 
 many serious risks were encountered, the vessels were 
 beset for a second winter (1853-4) at the southern horn 
 of Baring's Bay. 
 
 When the spring came. Sir Edward's whole thouglits 
 seem to have been turned towards getting himself and 
 crews safe back to England. He determined, at all 
 events, that they should not remain another winter in 
 the ice. With this view, he sent the order to Captain 
 Kellett, which we have related,, and proceeded to manage 
 his own vessels in a similar spirit. 
 
 On the 6th of August, 1854, the Assistance and 
 Pioneer broke out of their winter quarters, and advanced 
 
 35 
 
410 
 
 INGLEFIELD'S VOYAGE. 
 
 slowly down the channel. The ice in Barrow's Strait 
 broke up at the same time, and by the 22d the floe of 
 Wellington Channel was open for fifteen miles north of 
 the strait. A. bolt of ice, only twenty miles in extent, 
 and that much cracked, was all that remained between 
 the ships and the waters communicating with the 
 Atlantic ; yet it was determined to abandon the vessels, 
 and, on the 26th of August, 1854, both the Assistance 
 and Pioneer ^^'ere deserted, and the crews made their 
 v,ay to Beechey Island. 
 
 Kellett and M'Clure, with the men under their com- 
 mand, were there awaiting them. The searching parties 
 had come in during the summer, and, on the 12th of 
 June, Lieutenant Mecham had brought from Princess 
 Royal Island news of the Enterprise, the first that had 
 been heard from her since 1851. lie had found records 
 left by Collinson, as late as August, 1852, in which the 
 latter announced his intention to follow the channel 
 between Wollastou and Prince Albert's Land. Kellett 
 was in favor of remaining and sending parties to his 
 relief ; but Belcher was bent on going home. All the 
 officers and men of the Assistance, Pioneer, Resolute, 
 Intrepid, ' and Investigator, accordingly got on board 
 the North Star, and had just made sail when the Phoenix 
 and Talbot, under Inglefield, hove in sight, rounding 
 Cape Riley. A distribution of the crews was made 
 among the three vessels. On the 6th of September they 
 reached Disco, and on the 28th of September, 1854, 
 were all safely landed in England. 
 
 The outward voyage of Inglefield on this occasion 
 seems to have had its full share of dangers. After 
 safely crossing the Atlantic in his steamer, the Phoenix, 
 accompanied by the sailing vessel Talbot, he proceeded 
 up Bafiin's Bay, speaking some whalers by the way, 
 and touching at Lievely for coal, which is abundant in 
 
v4 
 
 INGLEFIELD'S VOYAGE. 
 
 411 
 
 v's Strait 
 tie floe of 
 \ north of 
 n extent, 
 [ between 
 with the 
 tie vessels, 
 Assistance 
 nade their 
 
 ■ their com- 
 ling parties 
 the 12th of 
 rii Princess 
 st that had 
 and records 
 n which the 
 |the channel 
 d. Kellett 
 [arties to his 
 .e. All the 
 ir, Resolute, 
 ,t on board 
 the Phoenix 
 tt, rounding 
 was made 
 [tember they 
 kber, 1854, 
 
 jis occasion 
 
 rers. Alter 
 
 Che Phoenix, 
 
 ]e proceeded 
 
 jy the way, 
 
 abundant in 
 
 these regions. Ice soon began to retard tl'-^m, but 
 they were enabled to break thnnigh it much moi --. easily 
 than were the navigators of formci- years, in conse- 
 quence of the power of steam, which has greatly aliored 
 the mode of progression even in the regions of the 
 north, not only by enabluig the vessels to wend their 
 way among loose ice in calm weather, but by giving 
 them the power of charging the opposing masses under 
 full steam, and so smashing a passage in places where, 
 ibrmerly, the unwieldy sailing-ship would have been 
 detained for weeks, and p 'h;- s set fast for the winter. 
 
 "For ten days," sayr In-^iofield, "we pushed on 
 through heavy ice, blasting, boring, charging the nips, 
 and making but slow ad 'anco, the bay-ice, forming 
 strong every night, mu'^h retarding our progress ; and, 
 on the Itth of Angus , we were closely beset at the 
 edge of a large floe some miled in extent. Luckily, a 
 strong gale from the westward broke up the edges of 
 this floe, and, on the weather moderating, slacked the 
 ice suflSciently to admit of our pushing through, and on 
 the 19th we were fortunate enough to get into the west 
 water." 
 
 After this he proceeded to Wollaston Island, where 
 he found that a depot of provisions had been discovered 
 by the Esquimaux, and almost entirely broken up. 
 " Deeming it beneficial for the service upon which I 
 was employed, and acting under the discretionary orders 
 with which their lordships have been pleased to supply 
 me, I determined upon examining the depot near Wollas- 
 ton Island, deposited by the North Star, in 1850. For 
 that purpose I made the south shore of Lancaster Sound, 
 and, on the 21st, about 8.30 p. m., we passed near 
 enough to Cape Hay to observe the coals deposited 
 there, in 1849, by Captain Parker, of the Truelove. Ob- 
 serving that the staff and two casks containing letters 
 
412 
 
 INGLEFIELD'S VOYAGE. 
 
 and provisions wore missing, I landed, and found that 
 no trace remained of these but a portion of the head of 
 one of them, and some broken preserved meat-tins. 
 The coals, too, had been either carried away by the 
 Esquimaux or the ice, there being only twenty-one bags. 
 A little after ten we rounded Cape Castlereagh, and 
 soon found the remains of the North Star's depot. 
 Anchoring in five fathoms, we lashed the Talbot along- 
 side, and on landing I found that this spot had also 
 been visited by the Esquimaux. They had not only 
 plundered it of all that was useful to them, but had 
 showed a reckless wantonness in the destruction of 
 every remaining article. 
 
 " Of the six hundred and eight casks and cases that 
 were landed by Mr. Saunders, only one hundred and 
 fourteen remained ; and each had been stove for the 
 examination of their contents, which consisted of flour, 
 peas, Scotch barley, oat-meal, and tobacco. Finding 
 the flour only partially destroyed in each cask, I deter- 
 mined on embarking all that still remained ; and the 
 whole was shipped off to the Phoenix, with ten tons of 
 patent fuel, which latter I did not hesitate to embark, 
 as Sir Edward Belcher had sent a vessel two years before 
 to examine this depot, and directed her commander to 
 take the whole of the coal from the neighboring point." 
 
 From this point, the Phoenix and Talbot sailed to 
 Cape Warrender, at which place they were very nearly 
 lost. Captain Inglefield went ashore to examine a cairn 
 that he had erected there the previous year. Returning 
 on board, he found a strong westerly breeze with ebb- 
 tide, which prevented much headway being made ; so 
 they returned to seek ancliorage for the night in Dundas 
 Harbor. " Unfortunately," says Inglefield, " when pick- 
 ing up a berth, we struck soundings in fifteen fathoms, 
 and, immediately after three, both ships grounded on a 
 
CAPTAIN COLLINSON. 
 
 418 
 
 )und that 
 e head of 
 meat-tins, 
 ay by the 
 -one bags, 
 •cagh, and 
 r's depot. 
 Ibot along- 
 b had also 
 I not only 
 n, but had 
 truction of 
 
 1 cases that 
 imdred and 
 ove for the 
 ted of flour, 
 jO. Finding 
 „sk, I deter- 
 |d ; and the 
 ten tons of 
 to embark, 
 [years bofore 
 imander to 
 ring point." 
 ,t sailed to 
 very nearly 
 nine a cairn 
 Returning 
 ;e with ebb- 
 made -, so 
 [t in Dundas 
 ' when pick- 
 |en fathoms, 
 .mided on a 
 
 mud bank, and, the tide falling, every exertion to get 
 the Phoenix afloat proved useless, though the Talbot 
 was warped oft" into deep water, whore, both hor bower 
 anchors being let go, tlu; chain of the small one was 
 passed into the rhu3iiix'H quarter hawse-hole, and a 
 heavy strain brought upon it. At three the following 
 morning the strong lireeze broke the ice away from the 
 head of the bay, and, driving out, took the Phoenix on 
 her starboard broadside, and laid hor over on her beam 
 ends, forcing her still further on shore, and tearing off 
 the whole of the false keel. The Talbot, though pushed 
 again on the bank, escaped any damage from the ice, 
 being sheltered by this vessel, which was to windward 
 of her. The day flood proving only a half-tide, we 
 remahied immovably fixed until the evening, by which 
 time all the boats of both vessels had been laden with 
 heavy stores to lighten tliis vessel : and I am happy to 
 say that, about 11 p. m., both ships floated off into deep 
 water, with no other damage than I have stated." 
 
 Having now disposed of all the searching expeditions 
 on the Bafliii's J3ay side of the continent, excepting only 
 that of Dr. Kane, to which wo shall devote a separate 
 chapter, it remains for us to complete the history of 
 the other expeditions that proceeded by way of Behring's 
 Strait. To connect the thread of our narrative, we must 
 remind the reader that we left her majesty's ship Enter- 
 prise, Captain Collinson, consort of the Investigator, in 
 the Pacific Ocean. She reached the latitude of Icy 
 Cape, September 22d, 1850 ; when, meeting the pack- 
 ice, she went south for a warmer climate, so as to be 
 ready to resume operations in the season of 1851. All 
 that Collinson knew of the position of M'Clure was a 
 report from the Plover that the Investigator had been 
 seen, under a press of canvas, steering northw "d, off 
 Wainwright Inlet. Unfortunately, one of the rumors 
 
 35* 
 
V 
 
 i. 
 
 ( 
 
 IS ' 
 
 .ill 
 
 414 
 
 LIEUTKiNANT BARNARD'S MURDER. 
 
 connected with this report induced CuUinHon to allow 
 an enterprisinf^ young ofTlcor, Lieutenant Barnard, to 
 bo landed in tiie Russian north-west American settle- 
 ments, in order to inquire into the truth. In carrying 
 out this service, Barnard was brutally murdered, in 
 February, 1851, by Indians, in a surprise of one of tho 
 Russian posts, called Darabin redoubt, not far from 
 Norton Sound. The sad catastrophe is briefly told in 
 the handwriting of poor Barnard, in tho annexed note 
 to Dr. Adams : 
 
 " Dear Adams : I am dreadfully wounded in tho abdomen ; my 
 entrails are ban-jing out. I do not suppose I shall live long enough to 
 8oe you. The Cu-u-chuc Indians made the attack while wo were iu our 
 beds. Boskey is badly wounded, and Darabin is dead. 
 
 "I think my wound would have been trifling had I had medical advice. 
 I am in great pain. Nearly all the natives of the village are murdered. 
 Set out for this place in all haste. Joun Barnard." 
 
 The hand-writing of this note betrayed the anguish 
 which the gallant writer was suffering, and parts of it 
 were nearly illegible. 
 
 On tho 29th of July, 1851, Collinson, in the Enter- 
 prise, rounded Point Barrow, steered up Prince of 
 Wales Strait, and here, on Princess Royal Island, dis- 
 covered the Investigator's depot, and a cairn containing 
 information up to June 15th, 1851. Passing on, the 
 Enterprise, on the 30th of August, reached the north 
 end of the strait, but only to bo foiled in any attempt to 
 pass beyond it. Collinson now decided on taking a 
 course exactly similar to that of his more fortunate pre- 
 decessor, M'Clure ; but, on the 3d of September, little 
 thinking that the Investigator had preceded him in his 
 intended course, he found, to his surprise, on Cape 
 Kellett, a record placed there on August 18th. The ice 
 was now too close for him to push on ; and, no harbor 
 fit for winter quarters offering itself as high as latitude 
 
RETURN OF THE ENTKRIMUSK. 
 
 416 
 
 1 to allow 
 laniard, to 
 can settlc- 
 n carrying 
 irdorcd, in 
 one of tho 
 t far from 
 iofly told in 
 ncxod note 
 
 abdomen ; my 
 lotiK enough to 
 wo were iu our 
 
 medical advice. 
 are murdered. 
 N Barnard." 
 
 the anguish 
 parts of it 
 
 the Enter- 
 Prince of 
 Island, dis- 
 [i containing 
 sing on, the 
 the north 
 attempt to 
 )n taking a 
 Irtunate pre- 
 Icmber, little 
 Id him in his 
 le, on Cape 
 1th. The ice 
 1, no harbor 
 |i as latitude 
 
 72" 54' north, Collinson bore up, and eventually wintered 
 his ship on the caKt(un side of tho entrance of Prince of 
 Wales Strait. Thence he pursued his explorations in 
 the neighborhoo<l of Panks's Land, Albert Land, Wol- 
 laston Land, and Victoria Land, concerning the geogra- 
 phy of which he obtained mnch valuable information. 
 At Cambridge Bay, in Wollaston Land, where the 
 Enterprise passed the winter of 1852-o, he saw in the 
 possession of the Esquimaux a piece of iron and frag- 
 ment of a doorway, or hatch-frame, which it is thought 
 must have belonged to the Erebus or Terror ; but this 
 trace led to no further discoveries, nor was anything 
 ascertained in regard to tiie fate of Sir John Franklin. 
 
 The Enterprise was absent longer than any of the 
 otlier searching expeditions, and was equally distin- 
 guished by the ability, heroism, and endurance, displayed 
 by her officers and crew ; but, as their adventures are 
 similar to those already related, we do not think it 
 necessary to give them in more detail. Long after the 
 people of England were assured of the safety of M'Clure, 
 they continued to feel anxiety regarding the fate of 
 CoUinson. But the latter had the good fortune to 
 retrace his steps by the way he came, and brought his 
 ship and crew safely back to England. In the mean 
 time, the Plover, the other vessel of tlie Pacific squadron, 
 had also reached home in safety. Mr. Kennedy, in the 
 Isabel, who sailed in 1853 to carry assistance to CoUin- 
 son, was shipwrecked on the coast of South America, 
 where his crew having mutinied and deserted, his voyage 
 was abandoned. 
 
 Shortly after the return of Belcher and M'Clure, with 
 the crews of their deserted ships, another note of inform- 
 ation was sounded from the Arctic regie but its 
 tone was very sad. The Montreal Herald ■/ October 
 21st, 1854, pubhshed a letter from Dr. Rae to the gov- 
 
jpa*^- .„, 
 
 t (i; 
 
 4^t) 
 
 D&. rUE'S DISCOVERY. 
 
 enior of the Hudson's B;iy Company, giving- an account 
 of the ox})loration from which he had just returned. 
 From this letter, which was dated York Factory, 4th 
 August, 1854, it appeared that Hae reached his old 
 quarters, at Ilepulse Bay, on the 15th of August, 1853, 
 and there passed the ensuing winter. On the 31st of 
 March, 1S54, his spring journey commenced. On the 
 1*1 th he reached Felly Bay, whore he met Esquimaux, 
 from whom he obtained several articles which were 
 identilied as belonging to various members of Sir John 
 Franklin's parly. 
 
 The possession (jf these articles by the Esquimaux 
 was accounted for by a story which is related in the 
 following extract from Dr. Rae's journal, published soon 
 after his arrival in England : " On the morning of the 
 20th we were met by a very intelligent Fsquimaux, 
 driving a dog-sledge laden with musk-ox beef. This 
 man at once consented to accompany us two days' 
 journey, and in a few minutes had deposited his load 
 on the snow, and was ready to join us. Having ex- 
 plained to him my object, he said that the road by 
 which he had come was the best for «us ; and, having 
 lightened the men's sledges, we travelled with more 
 facility. We were now joined by another of the natives, 
 who had been absent seal-hunting yesterday, but, being 
 anxious to see us, had visited our snow-house early this 
 morning, and then followed up our track. This man 
 was very communicative, and, on putting to him the 
 usual questions as to his having seen ' white man ' be- 
 fore, or any ships or boats, he replied in the negative ; 
 but said that a party of ' Ivabloomans ' had died of 
 starvation a long distance to the west of where we then 
 were, and beyond a large river. lie stated that he did 
 not know the exaci; place, that he never had been tliere, 
 and that he could not accompany us so far. The sub- 
 
RAE'S DISCOVERY. 
 
 417 
 
 an account 
 !t returuod. 
 factory, 4th 
 Lied his old 
 Ligust, 1853, 
 L the 31st of 
 cd. On the 
 Esquimaux, 
 which were 
 ? of Sir John 
 
 ) Esquimaux 
 dated in the 
 Liblislied soon 
 arniiig of the 
 , Esquimaux, 
 t beef. Tiiis 
 us two days' 
 ited his load 
 Having ex- 
 thc road by 
 and, having 
 X with more 
 f the natives, 
 y, but, being 
 use early this 
 This man 
 g to him the 
 lite man ' be- 
 lie negative ; 
 had died of 
 here we then 
 d that he did 
 ,d been there, 
 ir. The sub- 
 
 • 
 
 stance of the information tlion and subsequently obtained 
 from various sources was to the following effect : 
 
 " In the spring, four winters past (1850), while some 
 Esquimaux families were kilHng seals near tlie north 
 shore of a large island, named in Arrowsmith's charts 
 King William's Lund, about forty white men were seen 
 travelling in company southward over the ice, and drag- 
 ging a boat and sledges with them. Tliey were passing 
 along the west shore of the above-named isUmd. None 
 of the party could speak the Esquimaux hinguago so 
 well as to be understood, but by signs the natives were 
 led to believe that tlie sliip or ships had been crushed 
 by ice, and that they were now going to whore they ex- 
 pected to find deer to shoot. Erom the appearance of 
 the men — all of whom, witli the exception of an officer, 
 were hauling on the drag-ropes of the sledge, and looked 
 thin — they were then s^'upposed to be getting short of 
 provisions ; and they purchased a small seal, or piece of 
 seal, from the natives. The ofFicer was described as 
 being a tall, stout, middle-aged man. When their day's 
 journey terminated, they pitched tents to rest in. 
 
 " At a later date the same season, but previous to the 
 disruption of the ice, the corpses of some tliirty persons 
 and some graves were discovered on the continent, and 
 five dead bodies on an island near it, about a long day's 
 journey to the north-west of the mouth of a large stream, 
 which can be no other than Back's Great Eish River 
 (named by the Esquimaux Oot-koo-hi-ca-lik), as its de- 
 scription and that of the low shore in the neighborhood 
 of Point Ogle and Montreal Island agree exactly witli 
 that of Sir George Back. Some of the bodies Avere in 
 a tent, or tents ; others were under the boat, wliich had 
 been turned over to form a shelter ; and some lay scat- 
 tered about in different directions. Of those seen on 
 the island, it was supposed that one was that of an officer 
 
 !1' i' m 
 
, » 
 
 ' 
 
 ■ u' 
 
 J im 
 
 C i 
 
 418 
 
 RELICS OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 (chief), as ho had a telescope strapped over liis shoul- 
 ders, and a double-barrelled gun lay underneath hhn. 
 
 "From the mutilated state of many of the bodies, 
 and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our 
 wretched countrymen had been driven to the dread 
 alternative of cannibalism as a means of snstaining lii'e. 
 A few of the unfortunate men must have survived until 
 the arrival of the wild-fowl (say until the end of May), 
 as shots were heard, and fresh bones and feathers of 
 geese were noticed near the scene of the sad event. 
 
 " There appears to have been an abundant store of 
 ammunition, as the gunpowder was emptied by the 
 natives in a heap on the ground out of the kegs or cases 
 containing it, and a quantitj'^ of shot and ball was found 
 below high-water mark, having probably been left on 
 the ice close to the boach before the spring commenced. 
 There must have boon a number of telescopes, guns 
 (several of them double-barrelled), watches, compasses, 
 &c., all of which seem to liave been broken up, as 1 
 saw pieces of thG>sc difi'erent articles with the natives, 
 and I purchased as many as possible, together with 
 some silver spoons and forks, an Order of Merit in the 
 form of a star, and a small silver plate engraved ' Sir 
 John Franklin, K.C.B.'^' 
 
 Dr. Rae concludes by expressing the opinion that no 
 violence had been offered to the sufferers by the natives, 
 but that they were starved to death. The following is 
 a list of the articles obtained from the Esquimaux : 
 One silver table-fork — crest, an animal's liead with 
 wings extended above ; three silver table-forks — crest, 
 a bird with wings extended ; one silver table-spoon — 
 crest, wi^h initials " F. R. M. C." (Captain Crozier, Ter- 
 ror) ; one silver table-spoon and one fork — crest, bird 
 with laurel-branch in mouth, motto, " Spero meliora ; " 
 one silver table-spoon, one tea-spoon, and one dessert- 
 
il 
 
 RAE'S LETTUR TO THE TIMES. 
 
 419 
 
 fork — crest, a fish's heud looking upwards, with hiurel- 
 braiiohes on each side ; one silver table-fork • — initials, 
 " 11. D. S. G." (Harry D. S. Goudsir, assistant-siirg-con, 
 Erebus); one silver table-fork — initials, "A. M'D." 
 (Alexander M'Uonald, assistant-surgeon. Terror) ; one 
 silvxu- table-fork — initials, " G. A. M." (Gillies A. Mac- 
 bean, second master. Terror) ; one silver table-fork — 
 initials, "J, T. ; " one silver dessert-spoon — initials, 
 " J. S. P." (John S. Peddie, surgeon, Erebus) ; around 
 silver plate, engraved, "Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.;" a 
 star or order, with motto, " Ncc aftpera ierr'ent, G. R. III. 
 MDCCCXV." 
 
 On obtaining the above information. Dr. Rac instantly 
 hastened to England, for the purpose of preventing any 
 further expeditions being despatched in search of the 
 lost navigators. Ilis report, as nn'ght have been ex- 
 pected, was subjc: tod on all hands to criticism and com- 
 ment. Many were of opinion that the information ob- 
 tained did not warrant the conclusion that the whole 
 party was lost. Some of the criticisms made on his 
 report induced Dr. Rue lo take up the pen in self-defence ; 
 and in a letter which he addressed to the editor of the 
 London Times we find the following remarks, which 
 come with grea,t weight from one who, of all others, is 
 most competent to speak authoritatively. They were 
 written in. reply to an attack made upon hitn l)y a gen- 
 tleman who had a relative with the lost expedition, and 
 serve to show how difficult it is to form a correct judg- 
 ment on subjects of which we have not had personal 
 experience. 
 
 "It is asked by your correspondent," says Dr. Rae, 
 " ' where Esquiniaux can live, where Dr. Rac's party 
 could find abundant means, what should prevent Sir 
 John Franklin and his party from subsisting too ? ' 
 
 " No man but one perfectly unacquainted with the 
 
 I 
 
420 
 
 RAE'S LETTER '!'<,► 'Uiti THiES. 
 
 
 hi 
 
 i ? 
 
 t i m 
 
 > i 
 
 subject could ask such a quf^tion, Af the season when 
 Sir John Franklin's party was seen travelling over the 
 ice, the seal-holes are covered by snow, and can only be 
 discovered by the acute sense of smell of the native 
 dop^s ; and, after the seal-hole is discovered, much pa- 
 tience, experience, and care, are requisite to kill the seal. 
 As soon as the snow thaws (say i.i June) the seals 
 show themselves on the ice ; but they are ihen so dif- 
 ficult of approach that not one of my men (Ouligbuck, 
 the interpreter, excepted), although they often made 
 the att(impt, could approach near enough to shoot any 
 of these animals. 
 
 " I wintered at a part of the Arctic coast remarkable 
 by its geographical ft)rmation for the abundance of deer 
 during the autunni migrations, but only then ; and it 
 was at that time that we laid up our winter stock of 
 food; but il was hard work even for us (all practised 
 sportsmen, |)icked men, and iu full strength and train- 
 ing) to collect a sufficiency. 
 
 "That portion of country ncta' to and on which a 
 portion of Sir John Franklin's party was seen is, in the 
 spring, notoriously the most barren of animal life of any 
 of the Ar^ ; .. hores ; and the few deer that may be seen 
 are generi^^iy /er}' shy, from having been hunted during 
 the winter by Indians, on the borders of the woodlands. 
 To prove this scarcity of game, I may add, that during 
 my spring journey of fifty-six days' duration, one deer 
 only and a few partridges were shot by us, 
 
 " It is asked by your correspondent, ' Why the un- 
 fortunate men should have encumbered themselves 'with 
 silver forks and spoons and silver plates ? ' &c. The 
 total weight of the silver forks and spoons could not be 
 more than four or five pounds at the utmost, and would 
 not appear much when divided among forty persons ; 
 and any officer who has ever had the misfortune to 
 
KAE'S LETTER TO TITE TIMES. 
 
 
 abandon his ship or boat anywhere, but mom ] av ocu- 
 larly in the Arctic sea, knows how apt men arj .( oa 
 cumber themselves with articles far more usele^v. end 
 bulky than a few forks and spoons. I sui)pose, by ' Ml- 
 ver plates,' your correspondent alludes to the silver 
 plate with Sir John Franklin's name engraved thereon, 
 an.l which may possibly weigh half an ounce, — no great 
 addition to a man's load. 
 
 "Again, your correspondent says, 'that the ships 
 have been abandoned, and pillaged by the Esquimaux.' 
 In this opinion I perfectly agree so far as regards the 
 abandoimient of the ships, but not that these ships were 
 pillaged by the natives. Had this been the case, wood 
 would have been abundant among thcoe poor people. 
 It was not so, and they were reduced to the necessity 
 of making their sledges of musk-ox skins folded up 
 and frozen together, — an alternative to which the want 
 of wood alone could have reduced them. Ani-ther 
 proof tliat the natives had very little wood among them 
 may be adduced. Before leaving Repulse Bay, T col- 
 lected together some of the most respeoidble (^'l the 
 old Esquimaux, and distributed among v,<.mi iiil the 
 wood we could spare, amounting to two ta- three oars 
 and some broken poles. When these thhigs vere de- 
 livered to them, I bade the Esquimaux interpretei, who 
 speaks both his own and the English language fbiently, 
 to ask whether they or their acquaintances near Felly 
 I'ay liad now most wood. They all immediately shouted 
 out, holding up their liands, that they theniselvos had 
 most. I need scarcely add that, had the sliips been 
 found by the Esquimaux, a stock of wood sulhcient for 
 many years for all the natives within an extent of 
 several hundred riiiles would have been obtained." 
 
 From all this it will bo seen that the evidence of Dr. 
 Rac went to show that the fute of thirty-five men of the 
 
 36 
 
t' 
 
 ir 1 
 
 sit 
 
 '« 
 
 422 
 
 ANDERSON'S JOURNEY. 
 
 expedition had been but too surely ascertained ; but 
 there wore yet one hundred and throe to be accounted 
 for. No one, familiar with the hiscory of Arctic dis- 
 covery, could entertain much hope of ever seeing the 
 gallant crews of the Erebus and Terror alive ; but there 
 was every reason to believe that the t7'a,il had been at 
 last struck, and that in a short time we should have the 
 melancholy satisfaction of at least knowing how-, when, 
 and where, they perished. For the purpose of ascer- 
 taining this, of obtaining the papers of the lost ships, 
 and of burying the remains of their crews, if they should 
 be found, the British government resolved to send out 
 a land expedition to follow up the search of Dr. Rae. 
 
 A party was accordingly organized in the summer of 
 1855, and placed under the command of Mr. James 
 Anderson, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company ; 
 Dr. Rae, to whom the command was first offered, hav- 
 ing declin'^d it, on account of ill-health. Anderson's 
 expedition started from Fort Resolution on the 22d of 
 June, 1855, and commenced the descent of the Great 
 Fish River in three canoes. They were unaccompanied 
 by any interpreter. On the 30th of July, at the rapids 
 below Lake Franklin, three Esquimaux lodges were 
 seen, and numerous articles, belonging to a boat-equi- 
 page, were there found — such as tent-poles, paddles, 
 copper and sheet-iron boilers, tin soup-tureens, chis- 
 els, and tools of various kinds. The occupants of the 
 lodges, all but one of whom were women, said (by 
 words and signs) that these things were obtained from 
 a boat, and that the white men belonging to it had 
 died of starvation. 
 
 Pushing on again, the party reached Point Beaufort, 
 and at last Montreal Island. There they found some 
 chain-hooks, tools, rope, bunting, and a number of 
 sticks strung together on one of which was cut tho 
 
ANDERSON'S JOURNEY, 
 
 423 
 
 name of " Mr. Stanley" (surg-oon of the Erobus) ; also 
 chips, shavings, ends of plank, etc., apparently sawed 
 by unskilful liands. On one the word "Terror" was 
 carved. It was evident to Mr. Anderson that this was 
 the spot where the boat was cut up by the Esquimaux ; 
 but not a vestige of human remains could be discov- 
 ered, or a scrap of paper. Point Ogle was next exam- 
 iiied, and small articles of a similar character were also 
 found there ; but with no other result. 
 
 On the 8th of August, 1855, the party began to re- 
 trace their steps, having seen no Esquimaux, except the 
 few at the rapids before mentioned, and having been 
 unable to reach King William's Land. 
 
 This information was received in England early in 
 1856, and is confirmatory of Eae's supposition that the 
 Great Fish was the river on which the party he heard 
 of had retreated ; but, so far as the particulars of their 
 fate is concerned, it leaves the whole matter as much 
 involved in mystery as ever. 
 
 
 illr' m;- . 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SKCOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION. — DR. KAVe'S PLAN. — DEPARTURE. — I.V 
 
 THE ICE. SEARCH FOR A 'lAIlBOR. FROZEN IN. TE.MPKRATURE. 
 
 INCIDENTS. LOSS OP DOGS. DISASTROUS SLEDGING-PARTY. — THE 
 
 RESCUE. MEETING AVITH ESQUIMAUX. DISCOVERIES. — ATTEMPT TO 
 
 REACH BELCIIKR's SQUADRON. ANOTHER WINTER. PRIVATION AND 
 
 PERIL. — ABANDONMENT OF THE VESSEL. FARKWELL TO THE ESQUI- 
 MAUX. IN SAFETY. REPORT TO NAVV DEPARTMENT. THE OPEN 
 
 POLAR SEA. — CHARACTER OF DR. KANE'S ADVENTURES. — HIS PUBLISHED 
 NARRATIVE. 
 
 M 
 
 m 
 
 I I 4 
 
 •1 hi 
 
 ,«] 
 
 m 
 
 The expedition under the command of Dr. Kane 
 sailed from New York on the 30th of May, 1853. It 
 consisted of eighteen chosen men, besides the com- 
 mander, embarked in a small brig of one hundred and 
 forty-four tons burden, named the Advance, which was 
 furnished by Mr. Grinnell, other expenses being con- 
 tributed by Mr. Peabody ai)d several generous indi- 
 viduals and societies. Dr. Kane's predetermined course 
 was to enter the strait discovere I the previous year 
 by Captain Inglefield, at the top of Baffin's Bay, and 
 to push as far northward through it as practicable. lie 
 engaged the services of a native Esquimaux, of the 
 name of Hans Christensen, at Fiskernaes, in Greenland, 
 and then crossed Melville Bav in the wake of the vast 
 icebergs with which the sea is there strewn. These 
 huge frozen masses are often driven one way by a deep 
 current, while the floes aie drifted in another by winds 
 and surface-streams, disruptions being thus necessarily 
 caused in the vast ice-fields. The doctor's tactics wera 
 
!PAnTtinB. — i^ 
 
 K.Ml'KRATUBE. 
 
 (i-l'AUTY. THE 
 
 . ATTEMPT TO 
 
 . I'lUVATlON ANB 
 , TO THE ESQUI- 
 NT. — ■ THE OPEK 
 — HIS PUBLISHED 
 
 of Dr. Kane 
 ay, 1853. It 
 es the com- 
 liundred and 
 , which was 
 Is being con- 
 nerous indi- 
 Imined course 
 |revious year 
 's Bay, and 
 iticablc. lie 
 naux, of the 
 |n Greenland, 
 of the vast 
 lewn. These 
 lay by a deep 
 jier by winds 
 necessarily 
 tactics \ver(i 
 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 425 
 
 to dodge about in the rear of those floating ice-moun- 
 tains, holding upon them whenever adverse winds were 
 troublesome, and pressing forward whenever an oppor- 
 tunity occurred. 
 
 Dr. Kane's plan was based upon the probable exten- 
 pion of tlie land-masses of Greenland to the far north — 
 a fact at tliat time not verified by travel, but sustained 
 by the analogies of physical geograpliy. Greenland, 
 though looked upon as a congeries of islands comiected 
 by interior glaciers, was still regarded as a peninsula, 
 whose formation recognized the same laws as other 
 peninsulas having a southern trend. 
 
 Believing in the extension of this peninsula nearer to 
 the pole than any other known kind, and feeling that 
 the search for Sir John Franklin would be best promoted 
 by a course that might lead most directly to the sup- 
 posed northerly open sea, Dr. Kane advanced, as in- 
 ducements in favor of his scheme : Terra Firma as the 
 basis of his operations ; a due northern line which would 
 lead soonest to the open sea ; the benefit of northern 
 land to :heck the southern drift of ice : the presumed 
 existence of animal life ; a id the cooperation of Esqui- 
 maux, whose settlements W3re supposed to extend far up 
 the coast. 
 
 The good whip Advance entered the harbor of Fisker- 
 naes, on the 1st of July, " amid the clamor of its entire 
 population assembled on the rocks to greet us." On the 
 16th of July she passed the promontory of Swartehuk, 
 or Blackhead ; and, on the 2Tth, Wilcox Point ; icebergs 
 showing themselves on all sides, and rendering the nav- 
 igation of Melville Bay full of danger. On the iid of 
 August they were fairly in the ice, and beset by fogs. 
 It was only at times that the floes opened sufficiently 
 to allow the ship to make her way through them. At 
 hiiduight of the 3d, however, they got clear of the bay 
 
 80* 
 
 in 
 
426 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 - I 
 
 '•i \ 
 
 uii(i of its diflioulties, Dr. Kane taking- credit to himself 
 for liaviii)]^ ('flectod this by an outside passage. 
 
 The North VV^atcr, the hij^-livvay to Smith's Sound, 
 was now fairly before them. On the 5th tiiey passed 
 Sir John Ross's " Crimson Cliffs, " and tlie patches of 
 red snow could bo seen clearly at the distance of ten 
 miles from the coast : and on the 7th they d^jubled Cape 
 Alexander — the Arctic pillars of Hercules — and 
 passed into Smith's Sound. Arrivin<;^ at Littleton 
 Island, they deposited there a boat with a supply of 
 stores, not far from the vestiges of an old Esquimaux 
 settlement. 
 
 On the 8tli they again closed with the ice, and were 
 forced into a land-locked cove. The dogs, of which 
 they had more than fifty on board, began to be very 
 troublesome ; they would devour almost everything that 
 came in their way, from an Esquimaux cranium to a 
 whole feather-bed ! The men tried to shoot some wal- 
 ruses, but the rifle-balls rebounded from their hides like 
 pebbles ; and it was only by accident that they found 
 the carcass of a narwhal, with which to appease the 
 poor dogs for a time. 
 
 All attempts to work the vessel seaward through the 
 floes proving unsuccessful, it was resolved to try for a fur- 
 ther northing by following the coast-line. But, although 
 even warping was had recourse to, this also was followed 
 by but very trifling success. On midnight of the 14th 
 they reached the lee side of a rocky island, which, from 
 the shelter it afforded, was designated " Godsend Ledge." 
 It was, however, destined to be so but a short time. 
 On the 20th it came on to blow a hurricane ; the haw- 
 sers parted one after the other, and the ship was left at 
 the mercy of the winds, waves, and ice, combined. It 
 was a most trying time, and the party underwent many 
 ])orils ere they found +*^mporary shelter beyond a lofty 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 427 
 
 cape, and under an iceberg' that anchored itself between 
 them and th(j gale. 
 
 The point to which they were thus unceremoniously 
 driven was ten miles nearer the pole than Godsend 
 Lodge ; and on the 22d, the storm having abated, the 
 men were harnessed to the tow-lines, and tliey began to 
 track along the ice-belt ofl' the coast, warping also at 
 
 1HA( K1.N(; AI.ONU TIIIO KIO-UKI.T. 
 
 times, but witli so litllo cfloct that, on the 29th, Dr. 
 Kane rushed on ahen<l with a small boating-party for a 
 personal inspection of the coast. After twenty-four 
 hours' toil, the boat had to be exchanged for a sledge, 
 with which they also got on but slowly, passing Glacier 
 Bay, Mary Minturn River, — the largest known in 
 North Greenland, being about three fourths of a mile 
 wide at its mouth — Capes Thackeray and Francis 
 Ilawkes, to Cape George Russell, from whence could be 
 seen the great glacier of Humboldt, Cape Jackson on 
 the one sic' >, and Cape Barrow on the other, and be- 
 tween them a solid sea of ice. 
 
 The gallant captain returned satisfied that he had 
 seen no place combining so many of the requisites of a 
 good winter harbor as the bay in which he had left the 
 Advance. So he gave the orders to warp in between 
 two islands. They found seven fathom soundings, and 
 
 It 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
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 I.I 
 
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 Corporation 
 
 
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 A 
 
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 K° 
 
 33 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. US80 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 
ib 
 
 .^^ 
 
 
428 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 y;!^i 
 
 a perlbct slieltor i'roiu tlio outKido ice ; and tlius the lit- 
 tle brig wiiH laid up in Van Itonssolacr Harbor, near a 
 group ol' rock}' islets, in the sontli-eastcrn curve of a 
 bay, whore she was iio/cu in on Soi)t('nd)or 10th. 
 
 An observatory was (erected adjacent to the ship, and 
 a thermal regislcrwas kept hourly. The mean annual 
 temperature at this spot appears to be two degrees 
 lower than that of Melville Island, according to Parry. 
 The lowest temperature was observed in February, when 
 the mean of eight instruments gave seventy degrees 
 Fahrenheit. Chloroform froze, essential oils became 
 partly solid and licpiid, and, on February 24th, chloric 
 ether was congealed for the first time by natural tem- 
 I)er!iture. For astronomical observations, a transit and 
 theodolite were mounted on stone pedestals, cemented 
 by ice. The longitude was based on moon culminations, 
 corroborated by oceultatioiis of planets, and the solar 
 eclipse of May, 1855. The position of the observatory 
 was found to be in lat. 1S° SY, and long. 70° 40' 6". 
 Magnetic observations, both absolute and relative, were 
 also kept up. 
 
 An excursion was made ninety miles into the interior, 
 when its further prog'css was arrested by a glacier four 
 hundred feet high, and extending north and west as far 
 as the eye could reach. As to the sledging outfit, they 
 kept on reducing it, until at last they came to the Esqui- 
 maux ultimatum of simplicity — raw meat and a fur 
 bag. For the time being, a man thus becomes a mere 
 animal, only with another animal's skin for a cover. 
 
 Parties were organized for establishing provision 
 ddp6ts to facilitate researches in the spring, and more 
 than eight hundred miles were traversed. The Green- 
 land coast was traced for one hundred and twenty-five 
 miles to the north and east, and the largest of the three 
 d'^pots along the coast was formed on an island in lat. 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 429 
 
 10" 12' G", and l()n^^ 0,^)° 25'. DjirknoHs ancstod these 
 pi'occodiiif^H on Novond)or 20tli, and tlio ruii contiiiuod 
 one hun<lnMl and twcMity days bolow t\w hori/on. 
 
 One of the iirsi incidcntH that occurred wan settiiip^ 
 the ship on fire in an attempt U) exterminate! the rats 
 with carbonic-acid g-as. It ended in nearly aHidiyxiatiii}^* 
 the commander and twf) or three others. The next inci- 
 dent was one of tiie doji^s goinn;- rabid — a phenonuMion 
 usually snpposed to be associated with tiie heats of 
 Bummcr. (Jreat inconv(Miience was experienced in the 
 sledge-excursions, and in making " cacdies " of provi- 
 sions in this region, from the ire(pient ice-cracks, or cre- 
 vasses, as the Swiss would c;ull them, and into which 
 dogs, sledges, and travellers, were sometimes tumbled, at 
 the imminent risk of being carried below the ice by the 
 current — not to mention the danger to health f)l' an im- 
 mersion with the thermometer many degrees below zero. 
 
 The point at which the party were wintering, it is to 
 be observed, was in a higher latitude than the wintering- 
 stations in the Arctic archipelago ; and, except on Spit/- 
 bergcn, no Christians are known to have passed a win- 
 ter so near to the pole. The darkness was so intense 
 that it necessarily entailed inaction ; and it was in vain 
 that they sought to create topics of thought, and, by a 
 forced excitement, to ward off the encroachments of dis- 
 ease. The thermometer fell to ninety-nine degrees below 
 freezing point. Human beings covdd only breathe in 
 such a temperature guardedly, and with compressed lips. 
 
 The influence of such severe cold and long intense 
 darkness was most depressing. Most of the dogs died 
 of affections of the brain, which began, as in the in- 
 stance of some of the men of the Investigator, with fits, 
 followed by lunacy, and sometimes by lock-jaw. Their 
 disease. Dr. Kane remarks, was as clearly mental as in 
 the case of any human being. Fifty-seven died with 
 
 
430 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 if:?' 
 
 these symptoms. The loss of his dogs seriously affected 
 Dr. Kane's plans ; now arrangements had to be formed, 
 which, owing to the smallness of the party, deprived 
 
 
 DOG-SLEDGE. 
 
 of the dogs, were necessarily restricted. The addition 
 of four dogs, contributed by Esquimaux, permitted 
 the operations to be considerably extended. Out of 
 nearly three thousand miles traversed, no less than 
 eleven hundred were made with the dog-sledge ; and 
 during the following year Dr. Kane himself travelled 
 fourteen hundred miles with a single team. 
 
 The month of March brought back perpetual day. The 
 sunshine had reached the ship on the last day of Febru- 
 ary ; they needed it to cheer them. The scurvy spots 
 that mottled the faces of almost all gave sore proof of 
 the trials they had undergone. The crew were now 
 (March, 1854) almost unfitted by debility for arduous 
 work, and only sir dogs remained of nine splendid New- 
 foundlanders and thirty-five Esquimaux dogs. " An Arc- 
 tic night and an Arctic day," Dr. Kane emphatically re- 
 marks, " age a man more rapidly and harshly than a year 
 anywhere else in all this weary world." Sometimes, in 
 their excursions over the ice, the men had to drag the 
 sledge, and flounder through snow-drifts in which they 
 sank at every step nearly over their legs. 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 431 
 
 
 ,Jf*v- • 
 
 SLEDGF.-l'ARTY. 
 
 In order to ascertain whether it were practicable to 
 force a way over the crowded bergs and monntainous 
 ice of the frozen area toward the north, Dr. Ivane now 
 organized a party of the strongest men, who volunteered 
 their services for the hibor, phicing himself at tlieir head ; 
 and, on the 19th of March, sent out an advanced corps 
 to place a relief cargo of provisions at a suitable dis- 
 tance from the brig. On the ninth day of their absence 
 ^'^e latter encountered a heavy gale from the north-east ; 
 the thermometer fell to fifty-seven degrees below zero, 
 and the ice-ridges became so obstructed by snow as to 
 prevent their depositing their stores beyond fifty miles 
 from the brig, .. ,^ 
 
 By the 31st three of the members of this advance 
 party returned to the brig, swollen, haggard, and hardly 
 able to speak. They had left four of their number in a 
 tent on the ice, frozen and disabled. On being informed 
 of the disaster. Dr. Kane started for the rescue with 
 nine men, under the direction of Mr. Ohlsen, one of the 
 returned party, whose previous exposure, however, had 
 rendered his services as a guide almost useless. We 
 will here quote the commander's own graphic words : 
 
 " We had been nearly eighteen hours out without 
 
432 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 hi 
 
 water or food, when a new hope cheered us. I think 
 it was Hans, our Esquimaux hunter, who thought he 
 saw a broad sledge-track. The drift had nearly effaced 
 it, and we were some of us doubtful at first whether it 
 was not one of those accidental rifts which the gales 
 make in the surface-snow. But, as we traced it on to 
 the deep snow among the hummocks, we were led to 
 footsteps ; and, following these with religious care, we 
 at last came in sight of a small American flag fluttering 
 from a hummock, and lower down a little Masonic ban- 
 ner hanging from a tent-pole ha^'dly above tlie drift. It 
 was the camp of our disabled comrades : we reached it 
 after an unbroken march of twenty-one hours. 
 
 " The little tent was nearly covered. I was not 
 among the first to come up ; but, when I reached the 
 tent-curtain, the men were standing in silent file on each 
 side of it. With more kindness and delicacy of feeling 
 than is often supposed to belong to sailors, but which is 
 almost characteristic, they intimated their wish that I 
 should go in alone. As I crawled in, and, coming upon 
 the darkness, heard before me the burst of welcome 
 gladness that came from the four poor fellows stretched 
 on their backs, and then for the first time the cheer out- 
 side, my weakness and my gratitude together almost 
 overcame me. ' They had expected me ; they were sure 
 I would come 1 ' " 
 
 We copy entire Dr. Kane's spirited account of the 
 retreat of the party, now consisting of fifteen souls : 
 
 " It was fortunate indeed that we were not inexpe- 
 rienced in sledging over the ice. A great part of our 
 track lay among a succession of hummocks ; some of 
 them extvinded in long lines fifteen and twenty feet high, 
 and so uniformly steep that we had to turn them by a 
 considerable deviation from our direct course ; others 
 that we forced our way through, far above our heads in 
 
 <*. 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 433 
 
 ;. 1 think 
 bought he 
 rly effaced 
 whether it 
 1 the gales 
 ;cd it on to 
 were led to 
 IS care, we 
 ^g fluttering 
 [asonic ban- 
 he drift. It 
 e reached it 
 
 rs. 
 I was not 
 reached the 
 
 t file on each 
 
 tcy of feeling 
 
 but which is 
 
 wish that I 
 
 [coming upon 
 of welcome 
 [ws stretched 
 [he cheer out- 
 [ether almost 
 ley were sure 
 
 Icount of the 
 3en souls : 
 le not inexpe- 
 It part of our 
 cs ; some of 
 jity feet high, 
 Iru them by a 
 \m'Sii] others 
 our heads in 
 
 height; lying in parallel ridges, with the space between 
 too narrow for the sledge to be lowered into it safely, 
 and yet not wide enough for the runners to cross with- 
 out the aid of ropes to stay them. These spaces too 
 were generally choked with light snow, hiding the 
 openings between the ice-fragments. They were fear- 
 ful traps to disengage a limb from ; for every man knew 
 that a fracture, or a sprain even, would cost him his life. 
 Besides all this, the sledge was top-lieavy with its load : 
 the maimed men could not bear to be lashed down tiglit 
 enough to secure them against falling off. Notwith- 
 standing our caution in rejecting every superfluous bur- 
 den, the weight, including bags and tent, was eleven 
 hundred pounds. 
 
 " And yet our march for the first six hours was very 
 cheering. We made, by vigorous pulls and lifts, nearly 
 a mile an hour, and reached the new floes before we 
 were absolutely weary. Our sledge sustained the trial 
 admirably. Ohlsen, restored by hope, walked steadily 
 at the leading-belt of the sledge-lines ; and I began to 
 feel certain of reaching our half-way station of the day 
 before, where we had left our tent. But we were still 
 nine miles from it, when, almost without premonition, we 
 all became aware of an alarming failure of our energies. 
 
 " I was of course familiar with the benumbed and 
 almost lethargic sensation of extreme cold : and once, 
 when exposed for some hours in the midwinter of Baf- 
 fin's Bay, I had experienced symptoms which I com- 
 pared to the diffused paralysis of the electro-galvanic 
 shock. But I had treated the sleepy comfort of freezing 
 as something like the embellishment of romance. I 
 had evidence now to the contrary. 
 
 " Bonsall and Morton, two of our stoutest men, came 
 to me, begging permission to sleep ; ' they were not 
 cold : the wind did not enter them now : a little sleep 
 
 at 
 
434 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 was all they wanted.' Presently Ilans was found nearly 
 stift' under a drift ; and Thomas, bolt upright, had his 
 eyes closed, and couhl hardly articulate. At last, John 
 Blake threw himself on the snow, and refused to rise. 
 They did not complain of feeling cold ; but it was in 
 vain that I wrestled, boxed, run, argued, jeered, or 
 reprimanded : an immediate halt could not be avoided. 
 
 " We pitched our tent with much difficulty. Our 
 hands were too powerless to strike a lire : we were 
 obliged to do without water or food. Even the spirits 
 (whiskey) had frozen at the men's feet, under all the 
 coverings. We put Bonsall, Ohlsen, Thomas, and 
 Hans, with the other sick men, well inside the tent, and 
 crowded in as many others as we could. Then, leaving 
 the party in charge of Mr. McGary, with orders to come 
 on after four hours' rest, I pushed ahead with William 
 Godfrey, who volunteered to be my companion. My 
 aim was to reach the half-way tent, and thaw some ice 
 and pemmican before the others arrived. 
 
 " The floe was level ice, and the walking excellent. 
 I cannot tell how long it took us to make the nine miles ; 
 for we were in a strange sort of stupor, and had little 
 apprehension of time. It was probably about four 
 hours. We kept ourselves awake by imposing on each 
 other a continued articulation of words ; they must ha\e 
 been incoherent enough. I recall these hours as among 
 the most wretched I have ever gone through : we were 
 neither of us in our right senses, and retained a very 
 confused recollection of what preceded our arrival at 
 the tent. We both of us, however, remember a bear, 
 who walked leisurely before us, and tore up as he went 
 a jumper that Mr. McGary had improvidently thrown 
 off the day before. He tore it into shreds and rolled it 
 into a ball, but never offered to interfere with our prog- 
 ress. I remember this, and with it a confused senti- 
 
/; 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 435 
 
 mcnt that our tent and buifalo-robcs might probably 
 sliare the same fate. Godfrey, with whom the memory 
 of this day's work may atone for many faults of a later 
 time, had a bettor eye than myself; and, looking some 
 miles ahead, he could see that our tent was undergoing 
 the same unceremonious treatment. I thought I saw it 
 too ; but we were so drunken with cold that we strode 
 on steadily; and, for aught I know, witiiout quickening 
 our pace. 
 
 "Probably our approach saved the contents of the 
 tent ; for when we reached it the tent was uninjured, 
 though the bear had overturned it, tossing the builalo- 
 robes and pemmican into the snow ; we missed only a 
 couple of blanket-bags. What we recollect, however, 
 and perhaps all we recollect, is, that we had great diffi- 
 culty in raising it. We crawled into our reindeer 
 sleeping-bags, without speaking, and for the next three 
 hours slept on in a dreamy but intense slumber. When 
 I awoke, my long beard was a mass of ice, frozen fast 
 to the buffalo-skin : Godfrey had to cut me out with his 
 jack-knife. Four days after our escape, I found my 
 woollen comfortable with a goodly share of my beard 
 still adhering to it. 
 
 " We were able to melt water and get some soup 
 cooked before the rest of our party arrived : it took 
 them but five hours to walk the nine miles. They were 
 doing well, and, con. n-ing the circumstances, in won- 
 derful spirits. The day was most providentially wind- 
 less, with a clear sun. All enjoyed the refreshment we 
 had got ready : the crippled were repacked in their 
 robes ; and we sped briskly toward the hummock-ridges 
 which lay between us and the Pinnacly Berg. 
 
 " The hummocks we had now to meet came properly 
 
 ■ under the designation of squeezed ice. A great chain 
 
 of bergs stretching from north-west to south-east, mov- 
 
436 
 
 DK. KAWE'S EXPEDITION'. 
 
 ing with tlio tides, liad compressed the surface-flues ; 
 and, rearing- thurn up on their edges, produced an area 
 more like the volciuiic pech'agal of the basin of Mexico 
 tliun any tiling else 1 can compare it to. . ■ , 
 
 " It re<piired desperate eil'orts to work our way over 
 it — literally desperate, for our strength failed us anew, 
 and we began to lose our self-control. We could not 
 abstain any longer from eating snow ; our mouths 
 swelled, and some of us became speechless. Happily, 
 the day was warmed by a clear sunshine, and the ther- 
 mometer rose to — i° in the shade ; otherwise we must 
 have frozen. 
 
 " Our halts multiplied, and we fell half-sleeping on 
 the snow. I could not prevent it. Strange to say, it 
 refreshed us. I ventured upon the experiment myself, 
 making Riley wake me at the end of three minutes ; 
 and I felt so much benefited by it that I timed the men 
 in the same way. They sat on the runners of the 
 sledge, fell asleep instantly, and were forced to wake- 
 fulness when their three minutes were out. 
 i "By eight in the evening we emerged from the floes. 
 The sight of the Pinnacly Berg revived us. Brandy, 
 an invaluable resource in emergency, had already been 
 served out in table-spoonful doses. We now took a 
 longer rest, and a last but stouter dram, and reached 
 the brig at one p. m., we believe, without a halt. 
 
 " I say we believe; and here, perhaps, is the most 
 decided proof of our sufferings ; we were quite delir- 
 ious, and had ceased to entertain a sane apprehension 
 of the circumstances about us. We moved on like men 
 in a dream. Our foot-marks, seen afterward, showed 
 that we had steered a bee-line for the brig. It must 
 have been by a sort of instinct, for it left no impress on 
 the memory. Bonsall was sent staggering ahead, and 
 reached the brig, God knows how, for he had fallen 
 
im. KANE'S EXPFDITTON. 
 
 437 
 
 ,ce-floe8 *, 
 I an area 
 f Mexico 
 
 way over 
 UB anew, 
 couUl not 
 r mouths 
 
 Happily, 
 
 the ther- 
 [3 we must 
 
 eeping on 
 3 to say, it 
 int myself, 
 3 minutes ; 
 }d the men 
 lers of the 
 d to wake- 
 
 the floes. 
 Brandy, 
 [ready been 
 >ow took a 
 id reached 
 
 Ult. 
 
 the most 
 iuite delir- 
 )prehension 
 m like men 
 |rd, showed 
 It must 
 impress on 
 ahead, and 
 had fallen 
 
 repeatedly at the track-lines ; but ho delivered, with 
 piuictilious accuracy, tlie mcssap^os 1 had sent by him 
 to Dr. Hayes. I thought myself the soundest of all ; 
 for I went throu^li all the formula of sanity, and can 
 recall the muttering delirium of my comrades when wo 
 got back into the cabin of our brig. Yet I have been 
 told since of some speeches, and some orders, too, of 
 mine, which I should have remembered for their absurd- 
 ity, if my mind had retained its balance. 
 
 " Petersen and Whipple came out to meet us about 
 two miles from the brig. They brought my dog-team, 
 with the restoratives I had sent for by Bonsall. I dt) 
 not remember their coming. Dr. Hayes entered with 
 judicious energy upon the treatment our condition 
 called ibr ; administering morphine freely, after the 
 usual frictions. He reported none of our brain-symp- 
 toms as serious, referring tlicm properly to the class of 
 those indications of exhausted power which yield to a 
 generous diet and rest. Mr. Ohlsen suflered some time 
 from strabismus and bli.idness ; two others underwent 
 amputation of parts of the foot, without unpleasant 
 consequences ; and two died, in spite of all our efforts. 
 This rescue-party had been out for seventy-two hours. 
 We had halted in all eight hours, half of our number 
 sleeping at a time. We travelled between eighty and 
 ninety miles, most of the way dragging a heavy sledge. 
 The mean temperature of the whole time, including the 
 warmest hours of three days, was at minus 4P.2. We 
 had no water except at our two halts, and were at 
 no time able to intermit vigorous exercise without 
 freezing. 
 
 "Aprils, 2\iesday. — Four days have passed, and I 
 am again at my record of failures, sound, but aching 
 still in every joint. The rescued men are not out of 
 
 3t* f ■ 
 
438 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 danger, but tlioir gratitude is very touching. Pray 
 God that they may live I " 
 
 The first appearance of the Esquimaux is thus de- 
 scribed : 
 
 " Wc were watching, in the morning, at Baker's 
 death-bed, wiien one of our deck-watch, who had been 
 cutting ic(; for the melter, came hurrying down to the 
 cabin with the report, ' People hollaing ashore ! ' I 
 went up, followed by as many as could mount the gang- 
 way ; and there they were, on all sides of our rocky 
 harbor, dotting the snow-shores, and emerging from the 
 blackness of the cliffs — wild and uncouth, but evi- 
 dently human beings. 
 
 "As we gathered on the deck, they rose upon the 
 more elevated fragments of the land-ice, standing singly 
 and conspicuously, like the figures in a tableau of the 
 opera, and distributing themselves around almost in a 
 half-circle. They were vociferating as if to attract our 
 attention, or, perhaps, only to give vent to their sur- 
 prise ; but I could make nothing out of their cries, 
 except * Hoah, ha, ha ! ' and ' Ka, kaah ! ka, kaah I ' 
 repeated over and over again. 
 
 " There was light enough for me to see that they 
 brandished no weapons, and were only tossing their 
 heads and arms about in violent gesticulations. A more 
 unexcited inspection showed us, too, that their numbers 
 were not as great, nor their size as Patagonian, as some 
 of us had been disposed to fancy at first. In a word, I 
 was satisfied that they were natives of the country ; 
 and, calling Petersen from his bunk to be my interpreter, 
 I proceeded, unarmed, and waving my open hands, 
 toward a stout figure, who made himself conspicuous, 
 and seemed to have a greater number near him than 
 the rest. He evidently understood the movement ; for 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 189 
 
 ho at once, like a brave fellow, leaped down upon the 
 fioe, and advuneed to meet nie fully luilf-way 
 
 " He was nearly a head taller than niyHelf, extremely 
 powerful and well-built, with Hwarthy complexion, and 
 black eyes. His dress was a hooded r*rt/)o/(! or jumper, 
 of mixed white and blue fox-pelts, arranp^ed with some- 
 thing^ of fancy ; and booted trousers of white bear-skin, 
 which, at the end of the foot, were made to terminate 
 with the cluws of the animal. 
 
 " 1 soon came to an understanding with this gallant 
 diplomatist. Almost as soon as we commenced our 
 parley, his companions, probably receiving" signals from 
 him, (locked in and surrounded us ; but we had no diffi- 
 culty in making them know, positively, that they must 
 remain where they were, whilo Metek went with me on 
 board the ship. This gave me the advantage of nego- 
 tiating with an important hostage. 
 
 " Although this was the first time he had ever seen 
 a white man, he went with me fearlessly, his compan- 
 ions staying behind on the ice. Ilickey took them out 
 what he esteemed our greatest delicacies — slices of 
 good wheat bread, and corned pork, with exorbitant 
 lumps of white sugar ; but they refused to xouch them. 
 They had evidently no apprehension of open violence 
 from us. I found, afterward, that several among them 
 were singly a match for the white bear and the walrus, 
 and that they thought us a very pale-faced crew. 
 
 " Being satisfied with my interview in the cabin, I 
 sent out word that the rest might be admitted to the 
 ship ; and, although they, of course, could not know 
 how their chief had been dealt with, some nine or ten 
 of them followed, with boisterous readiness, upon the 
 bidding. Others, in the mean time, as if disposed to 
 give us their company for the full time of a visit, 
 brought up from behind the land-ice as many as fifty-six 
 
 U 
 
440 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 li * 
 
 t ^ tl 
 
 jBne dogs, with their sledges, and secured them witliin 
 two hundred feet of the hvig, driving their lances into 
 the ice, and picketing the dogs to thera by the seal-skin 
 traces. The animals understood the operation perfectly, 
 and lay down as soon as it commenced. The sledges 
 were made up of small fragments of porous bone, admira- 
 bly knit together by thongs of hide : the runners, which 
 glistened like burnished steel, wore of highly-polished 
 ivory, obtained from the tusks of the walrus. - 
 
 " The only arms they carried were knives, concealed 
 in their boots ; but their lances, which were lashed to 
 the sledges, wore quite a formidable weapon. The staff 
 was of the horn of the narwhal, or else of the thigh-bones 
 of the bear, two lashed together ; or sometimes the 
 mirabilis of the walrus, three or four of them united. 
 This last was a favorite material, also, for the cross-bars 
 of their sledges. They had no wood. A single rusty 
 hoop from a current-drifted cask might have furnished 
 all the knives of the party ; but the fleam-shaped tips 
 of their lances were of unmistakable steel, and were 
 riveted to the tapering, bony point, with no mean skill. 
 I learned afterward that the metal was obtained in traflSc 
 from the more southern tribes. 
 
 " They were clad r. oh as I have described Metek, 
 in jumpers, boots, and white bear-skin breeches, with 
 their feet decorated like his, en griffe. A strip of knot- 
 ted leather worn round the neck, very greasy and dirty- 
 looking, which no one could be persuaded to part with 
 for an instant, was mistaken, at first, for an ornament 
 by the crew ; it was not until mutual hardships had 
 made us better acquainted that we learned its mys- 
 terious uses. 
 
 " When they were first allowed to come on board, 
 they were very rude and difficult to manage. They 
 spoke three or four at a time, to each other and to us. 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 441 
 
 lem within 
 ances into 
 le seal-skin 
 1 perfectly, 
 'he sledges 
 )ne, admira- 
 ners, which 
 tily-polished 
 
 3. 
 
 s, concealed 
 i-e lashed to 
 n. The staff 
 3 thigh-bones 
 metimes the 
 them united, 
 he cross-bars 
 
 single rusty 
 ive furnished 
 _ -shaped tips 
 |el, and were 
 
 lO mean skill. 
 
 jned in traffic 
 
 k'ibed Metek, 
 Ireeches, with 
 |strip of knot- 
 isy and dirty- 
 to part with 
 an ornament 
 liardships had 
 [ncd its mys- 
 
 le on board, 
 mage. They 
 ler and to us. 
 
 laughinf heartily at our ignorance in not understanding 
 them, a d then talking away, as before. They were in- 
 cessantly in motion, — going everywhere, trying doors, 
 and squeezing tliomselves through dark passages, round 
 casks and boxes, and out into the liglit again, anxious to 
 touch and handle everything they saw, and asking for, 
 or else endeavoring to steal, everything they touched. 
 It was the more difficult to restrain them, as I did not 
 wish them to suppose that we were at all intimidated. 
 But there were some signs of our disabled condition, 
 which it was important they should not see ; it was 
 especially necessary to keep them out of the forecastle, 
 where the dead body of poor Baker was lying ; and, as 
 it was in vain to reason or persuade, we had, at last, to 
 employ the ' gentle laying-on of hands,' which, I believe, 
 the laws of all countries tolerate, to keep them in order. 
 
 " Our whole force was mustered, and kept constantly 
 on the alert ; but, though there may have been some- 
 thing of discourtesy in the occasional shoulderings and 
 bustlings that enforced the police of the ship, things 
 went on good-humoredly. Our guests continued run- 
 ning in and out and about the vessel, bringing in pro- 
 visions, and carrying them out again to their dogs on 
 the ice ; in fact, stealing all the time, until the after- 
 noon, when, like tired children, they threw themselves 
 down to sleep. I ordered them to be made comfortable 
 in the hold ; and Morton spread a large buffalo-robe for 
 them not far from a coal-fire in the galley-stove. 
 
 " They were lost in barbarous amaze at the new fael, 
 — too hard for blubber, too soft for fire-stone, — but 
 they were content to believe it might cook as well as 
 seal's flit. They borrowed from us an iron pot, and 
 some melted water, and parboiled a couple of pieces of 
 walrus-meat ; but, the real piece de resistance, some five 
 pounds of head, the}"^ preferred to eat raw. Yet there 
 
 '' 
 
 mi 
 
 I 
 
li 
 
 442 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 was something of the gourmet in their mode of assort- 
 ing their mouthfuls of beef and blubber. Slices of each, 
 or rather strips, passed between the lips, either to- 
 gether or in strict alternation, and with a regularity of 
 sequence that kept the molars well to their work, 
 
 " They did not eat all at once, but each man when 
 and as often as the impulse prompted. Each slept after 
 eating, his raw chunk lying beside him on the buffalo- 
 skin ; and, as he woke, the first act was to eat, and the 
 next to sleep again. They did not lie down, but slum- 
 bered away in a sitting posture, with the head declined 
 upon the breast, some of them snoring famously. 
 
 "In the morning they were anxious to go ; but I had 
 given orders to detain them for a parting interview with 
 myself. It resulted in a treaty, brief in its terms, that 
 it might be certainly remembered ; and mutually bene- 
 ficial, that it might possibly be kept. I tried to make 
 them understand what a powerful Prosper© they had had 
 for a host, and how beneficent he would prove himself so 
 long as they did his bidding. And, as an earnest of my 
 favor, I bought all the walrus-meat they had to spare, 
 and four of their dogs ; enriching them, in return, with 
 needles and beads, and a treasure of old cask-staves." 
 
 The flesh of the seal is eaten universally by the Danes 
 of Greenland, and is, at certain seasons, almost the 
 staple diet of the Esquimaux. These animals are shot 
 lying by their afliik or breathing-holes. Their eyes are 
 so congested by the glare of the sun in midsummer as 
 to render them more readily approachable. 
 
 " On one occasion," says Dr. Kane, " while working 
 my way toward the Esquimaux huts, I saw a large Usuk 
 basking asleep upon the ice. Taking off my shoes, I 
 commenced a somewhat refrigerating process of stalk- 
 ing, lying upon my belly, and crawling along, step by 
 step, behind the little knobs of floe. At last, when I 
 
 m 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 443 
 
 was within long rifle-shot, the animal gave a sluggish 
 roll to one side, and suddenly lifted his head. The 
 movement was evidently independent of me, for he 
 strained his neck in nearly the opposite direction. Then, 
 for the first time, I found that I had a rival seal-hunter 
 in a large bear, who was, on his belly like myself, wait- 
 ing with commendable patience and cold feet for a chance 
 of nearer approach. 
 
 " Wliat should I do ? — the bear was doubtless worth 
 more to me than the seal ; but the seal was now within 
 shot, and the bear ' a bird in the bush.' Besides, my 
 bullet once invested in the seal would leave me defence- 
 less. I might be giving a dinner to a bear, and saving 
 myself for his dessert. These meditations were soon 
 brought to a close ; for a second movement of the seal 
 so aroused my hunter's instincts that I pulled the trigger. 
 My cap alone exploded. Instantly, with a floundering 
 splash, the seal descended into the deep, and the bear, 
 with three or four rapid leaps, stood disconsolately by 
 the place of his descent. For a single moment we 
 stared each other in the face, and then, with that dis- 
 cretion which is the better part of valor, the bear ran 
 off in one direction, and I followed his example in the 
 other." 
 
 The month of April was about to close, and the short 
 season available for Arctic search was already advanced, 
 when Dr. Kane started on his grand sledge expedition 
 to the north. " It was," says the enterprising com- 
 mander, " to be the crowning expedition of the campaign 
 to attain the ultima thiile of the Greenland shore, meas- 
 ure the waste that lay between it and the unknown 
 west, and seek round the furthest circle of the ice for 
 an outlet to the mysterious channels beyond." The 
 rigor of the climate, the difficulties of the country, the 
 failure of the caches which had been broken into by the 
 
 
444 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 U. 
 
 bears, the enfeebled state of the party, and the inade- 
 quacy of means and equipments, all, how over, combined 
 to cause failure. By the 5th of May, Dr. Kane had 
 become delirious, and fainted every time that he was 
 taken from the tent to the sledge ; so all idea of further 
 progress had to be given up. He was taken into the 
 brig on the 14th, ard lay fluctuating between life and 
 death till the 20th. 
 
 Some interesting discoveries were, however, made on 
 this unfortunate trip, more especially of two remarkable 
 freaks of nature, one of which was called the " Three 
 Brother Turrets," the other, " Tennyson's Monument." 
 The latter was a solitary column, or " minaret tower " 
 of greenstone, the length of whose shaft was four hun- 
 dred and eighty feet, and it rose on a plinth, or pedestal, 
 itself two hundred and eighty feet high, as sharply fin- 
 ished as if it had been cast for the Place Vendome. But 
 by far the most remarkable feature in the inland Green- 
 land sea is the so-called " Great Glacier of Humboldt." 
 
 " I will not attempt " (writes Dr. Kane, speaking of 
 the impossibility of giving an idea of this great glacier 
 by sketches) "to do better by florid description. Men 
 only rhapsodize about Niagara and the ocean. My 
 notes speak simply of the ' long, ever-shining line of 
 cliflf diminished to a well-pointed wedge in the perspec- 
 tive ; ' and again, of ' the face of glistening ice, sweep- 
 ing in a long curve from the low interior, the facets in 
 front intensely illuminated by the sun.^ But this line 
 of cliff rose in solid glassy wall three hundred feet above 
 the water level, with an unknown, unfathomable depth 
 below it ; and its curved face, sixty miles in length , 
 from Cape Agassiz to Cape Forbes, vanished into 
 unknown space at not more than a single day's railroad- 
 travel from the pole. The interior with which it com- 
 municated, and from which it issued, was an unsurveyed 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 445 
 
 mer de glace, an ice ocean, to the eye of boundless 
 dimensions. 
 
 " It was in full sig'ht — the mighty crystal bridge which 
 connects the two continents of America and (jireenland. 
 I say continents, for Greenland, however insulated it 
 may ultimately prove to be, is in mass strictly conti- 
 nental. Its least possible axis, measured from Cape 
 Farewell to the line of this glacier, in the neighborhood 
 of the eightieth parallel, gives a length of more than 
 twelve hundred miles, — not materially less than that of 
 Australia from its northern to its southern cape. 
 
 " Imagine now the centre of such a continent, oc- 
 cupied through nearly its whole extent by a deep un- 
 broken sea of ice, that gathers perennial increase from 
 the water-shed of vast snow-covered mountains, and all 
 the precipitations of the atmosphere upon its own sur- 
 face. Imagine this moving onward like a great glacial 
 river, seeking outlets at every fiord and valley, rolling 
 icy cataracts into the Atlantic and Greenland seas ; and, 
 having at last reached the northern limit of the land that 
 has borne it up, pouring out a mighty frozen torrent 
 into unknown Arctic space. 
 
 " It is thus, and only thus, that we must form a just 
 conception of a phenomenon like this Great Glacier. I 
 had looked in my own mind for such an appearance, 
 should I ever be fortunate enough to rea( h the northern 
 coast of Greenland. But, now that it was before me, I 
 could hardly realize it. I had recognized, in my quiet 
 library at home, the beautiful analogic which Forbes 
 and Studer have developed between the glacier and the 
 river. But I could not comprehend at first this com- 
 plete substitution of ice for water. • wi 
 
 " It was slowly that the conviction dawned on me 
 
 4.' 
 
 that I was looking upon the counterpart of the great 
 river system of Arctic Asia and America. Yet here 
 
 38 
 
 i 
 
 
Kil 
 
 446 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 
 
 were no water-feeders from the acuth. Every particle 
 of moisture had its origin within tlie Polar Circle, and 
 had been converted into ice. There were no vast allu- 
 vions, no forest or animal traces borne down by liquid 
 torrents. Here was a plastic, moving, semi-solid mass, 
 obliterating life, swallowing rocks and islands, and 
 plough'ng its way with irresistible marcli through the 
 crust of an investing sea." 
 
 " Humboldt Glacier " and " Tennyson's Monument " 
 will deservedly occupy a place in all future editions of 
 those interesting little books called " Wonders of the 
 World." As soon as Dr. Kane had recovered enough to 
 become aware of his failure, he began to devise means for 
 remedj-^ing it. Of the ship's company, the only one 
 remaining, qualihed to conduct a surv(»y, was Dr. Hayes. 
 He accordingly started with a dog-team, in company 
 with William Giodlre}'^, across Smith's Straits, on the 
 20th of May, and succeeded in reaching *79° 45' north 
 latitude, in longitude 69° 12', The coast was sighted 
 for thirty miles to the northward and eastward, and two 
 large headlands, called Capes Joseph Leidy and John 
 Frazer, were named upon it. The doctor returned to 
 the brig, after a very arduous and fatiguing journey, on 
 the 1st of June, worn out and snow-blind. In many 
 places he could not have advanced but for the dogs. 
 Deep cavities filled with snow intervened between lines 
 of ice-barricades, making the travel slow and tedious. 
 For some time he was not able, from snow-blindness, to 
 use the sextant. The rude harness of the dogs would 
 get tangled and cause delay. It was only after appro- 
 priating an undue ^hare of his seal-skin breeches that 
 Dr. Hayes succeeded in patching up his mutilated dog- 
 lines. His pemmican became so reduced that to return 
 was a thing of necessity. The land-ice was travelled 
 for '1 while at the rate of five or six miles an hour ; but 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 447 
 
 after crossing Dobbin Bay, the snows were an un- 
 expected impediment. 
 
 Notwithstanding- the perils, privations, and suffer- 
 ings, that had attended all the sledge-parties. Dr. Kano 
 determined to organize another before the brief season 
 for such had gone by. This last, under Messrs, M'Cary 
 and Bonsall, left the brig on the 3d of June, and reached 
 Humboldt Glacier on the 15th, They were provided 
 with apparatus for climbing ice, but failed in all their 
 efforts to scale this stupendous glacial mass. The bears 
 were so bold as actually to poke their heads in at the 
 tent-door, to the great inconvenience of the sleepers 
 within. Four of the party returned to the brig on the 
 2tth, one of them entirely blind. . , .. 
 
 Hans and Morton remained out, pushing northwards, 
 and keeping parallel to the glacier at a distance of from 
 five to seven miles. They saw rectangular pieces of ice, 
 apparently detached from the glacier, more than a mile 
 long! On the 21st of June they sighted open water. 
 This was afterwards called Kennedy Channel. After 
 turning Cape Andrew Jackson they made better way 
 along the ice-foot ; and they pursued their course as far 
 as Cape Constitution, on " Washington Land," in 82* 
 21'. The highest point on the opposite coast of " Grin- 
 nell Land " was a lofty mountain, estimated to be in 
 latitude 82° 30', and longitude 66° west, which Dr. Kane 
 called Mount Edward Parry ; who, he says, " as he has 
 carried his name to the movst northern latitude yet 
 reached, should have in this, tlie highest known northern 
 land, a recognition of his preeminent position among 
 Arctic explorers." This open channel was found to 
 abound in seals ; bears were numerous — one with its cub 
 they succeeded in killing ; and birds, among which 
 were brent geese, eider-ducks, king-ducks, dovekies, 
 gulls, sea-swallows, and Arctic petrels, were in exceed- 
 
 
w ■» ' 
 
 
 4^8 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 ipjj* plenty. This was the crowning excursion of the 
 expedition, and the results present rich matter for spec- 
 ulation to those who believe in an open polar sea beyond 
 the region of cmboyod and strangulated ice-floes. 
 
 Instead of the Bay of Baffin forming a cul de sac, as 
 the old tradition of the whalers conceived, it leads to a 
 strait (.Smith's Strait), which passes on into a channel 
 (Kennedy Channel), tliat apparently expands into an 
 open polar sea, abounding with life, some three liundred 
 miles further to the north than the head of Baffin's Bay. 
 The shores of this channel, terminating in the Cape 
 Constitution of Mr. Morton, in latitude 81° 22', on the 
 eastern side, and in Sir Edward Parry's peak, about 
 latitude 82° IT, on the western side, had now been 
 delineated and mapped through an extent of nine hun- 
 dred and sixty miles, at a cost of two thousand miles of 
 travel on foot and in sledges. Mr. Morton commenced 
 his return on the 25th of June, and reached the ship on 
 the 10th of July, staggering by the <side of the limping 
 dogs, one of which was riding as a passenger upon the 
 sledge. 
 
 The summer of 1854 was now v\ taring on, and yet no 
 prospects presented themselves of the ice breaking up, 
 so as to liberate the biig. Under these circumstances, 
 Dr. Kane determined upon making an attempt to com- 
 municate with Sir Edward Belcher's squadron at 
 Beechey Island. For this purpose a boat was fitted out, 
 called the Forlorn Hope, and was carried across the 
 heav}'^ ice-floe to be launched ii! open water. On their 
 way to the southward they fell in with an island, upon 
 which they killed a number of eider-ducks, and procured 
 a large supply of eggs. On the 19th of July they made 
 Cape Alexander, and were enabled to deter nine that 
 the narrowest part of Smith's Strait is not, as has been 
 considered, between Cape Isabella and Cape Alexander, 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 440 
 
 ])iit upon the parallel of tS*-' 24', where Capo Isabella 
 bears due west of Littleljn Island, and the diameter of 
 
 THE FOBLOU.V HOl'K EyUU'l'ED. 
 
 the channel is reduced to thirty-seven miles. Hence, 
 they passed from the straits into the open seaway. At 
 this time a gale broke upon them from the north, and 
 they were oxi)Osed to all its fury in the open whale-boat. 
 They were glad to drive before the wind into the in-shore 
 floes. The pack, so much feared before, was now looked 
 to -^ J a refuge. 
 
 Working their way through the broken pack, they 
 reached Ilakluyt Island on the 23d of July, where they 
 rested a while and dried their buffalo-robes. The next 
 morning they renewed their labors, but were arrested 
 by the pack off Northumberland Island. For four days 
 they made strenuous efforts to work through the half- 
 open leads, but in vain ; they had reached +' dividing 
 pack of the two great open waters of Baff u n '^.ly, and 
 which Dr. Kane considered to be made up ^ the ices 
 which Jones's Sound on the west, and Murchison's on 
 the east, had discharged and driven together. Under 
 these circumstances, they were obliged to return to 
 Northumberland Island, which they found to be one 
 enormous homestead of auks, dovekies, and gulls, and 
 
 38* 
 
450 
 
 DR. KANL'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 
 whoi oy procured sorrel and cochlearia. Foxes were 
 also V 'lumerouH. IJy the time they got back to the 
 brig, the commahdor says he and his little party had 
 got quite fat and strong upon the auks, eiders, and 
 scurvy-grass. 
 
 On board of" tiie Advance, however, which had now 
 been imprisoned by closely-cementing ice for eleven 
 months, as the season travelled on and the young ice 
 grew thicker, faces began, also, to grow longer every 
 day. It was the oidy face with which they could look 
 upon another winter. " It is horribJc," writes Dr. Kane, 
 — " yes, that is the word, — to look forward to another 
 year of disease and darkness, to be met without fresh 
 food and without fuel." 
 
 Under these circumstances, Dr. Kane called the offi- 
 cers and crew together, and left to every man his own 
 choice to remain by the ship or to attempt an escape to 
 the Danish settlements to the southward. Eight out of 
 the seventeen survivors resolved to stand by the brig 
 and their commander. The remainder started off, on the 
 28th, "with the elastic step of men confident in their 
 purpose ; " but one returned a few days afterwards, and 
 all ultimately either found their way back, or were 
 brought back by the humane Esquimaux, after hard 
 trials, and almost unparalleled sufferings. 
 
 Those that remained with the ship set to work at once 
 gathering moss for eking out the winter fuel, and willow- 
 stems and sorrel as antiscorbutics. The " mossing," 
 although it had a pleasant sound, was in reality a fright- 
 fully wintry operation. Tiie mixed' turf, of willows, 
 heaths, grasses, and moss, was frozen solid. It had ic 
 be quarried with crowbars, and carried to the ship like 
 so much stone. With this they banked up the ship's 
 Bides, and below they enclosed a space some eighteen 
 feet square, and packed it with the same material from 
 
DK. KANE'S KXPKDITION. 
 
 451 
 
 floor to ceiling. The entrance was also by a low, moss- 
 lined tunnel, aiul in tiiis apartment the men stowed 
 away for the winter. The closer tlicy lay, the warmer. 
 Dr. Kane was once more nearly lost, however, before 
 darkness came on. In an attempt to kill a seal he got 
 upon thin ice, and was, with dogs and sledge, thrown 
 into open water. lie owed his extrication, when 
 nearly gone, to a newly-broken team-dog, who was still 
 fast to the sledge, and drew it and the doctor up on to 
 the floe. 
 
 An occasional intercourse had always been kept up 
 with the Esquimaux. We have seen that they came to 
 pilfer, and Dr. Kane retorted by making some of them 
 prisoners. A treaty of friendship was then made, and 
 never broken by the natives. The nearest Esquimaux 
 settlement was distant, by dog-journey, about seventy- 
 five miles ; and with this rude but friendly people our 
 adventurers established a c .imunication, and procured 
 from them supplies of beai-meat, seal, walrus, fox, and 
 ptarmigan, which were eaten raw, — the custom in this 
 region. But these supplies became scanty with the 
 approach of the dark months. Attempts to reach the 
 Esquimaux were rendered impracticable by the rugged- 
 ness of the ice ; and this unfortunate people were them- 
 selves reduced to the lowest stages of misery and 
 emaciation by famine, attended with various frightful 
 forms of disease. 
 
 On the 141h of January Dr. Kane congratulated him- 
 self that in five more days the mid-day sun would be 
 only " eight degrees below the koiizon." On the 9th of 
 February he wrote in his journal : "It is enough to 
 solemnize men of more joyous temperament than ours 
 has been for some months. We are contending at 
 odds with angry forces close around us, without one 
 agent or influence within eighteen hundred miles whose 
 
 m\ 
 
452 
 
 DR. RANK'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 
 If 
 
 Bympathy is on our side." There were no star obser- 
 vations this winter; tlie observatory had become the 
 mauHoleiun of the two of tlie party who had Huccumbed 
 after tlie cxcurHion in the snow-drift. In the beginning- 
 of March every man on board was tainted with scurvy ; 
 and often not more than tliree were able to make exer- 
 tion in behalf of the rest. On the 4th of the month 
 the last remnant of fresh meat was doled out, and the 
 invalids begun to sink rapidly. Their lives were only 
 saved by the success of a forlorn-hope excursion of 
 Hans to the remote Esquimaux hunting-station Etah, 
 seventy-five miles away, whither he went in search of 
 walrus. 
 
 On one occasion the adventurers killed a bear that 
 had come with its cub, pressed by extreme hunger, 
 close to the brig. It is painful to read the details of 
 the struggle, from the wonderful attachment shown by 
 the mother to its cub, and by the latter to its parent, to 
 whom it always clung, even in death. But the men's 
 lives were valuable ; and it was thought excusable to 
 kill two bears when the glaucous gulls were seen gob- 
 bling up young eider-ducks in the face of their dis- 
 tracted mothers by mouthfuls. Dr. Kane was the only 
 person who would eat rats. lie attributes his compara- 
 tive immunity from scurvy to " rat-soup." Among the 
 Arctic dainties wliich seem most to have excited his 
 gastronomic enthusiasm was frozen walrus-liver, eaten 
 raw. 
 
 Having no fuel, they were now reduced to the Esqui- 
 maux system of relying on lamps for heat ; beds and 
 bedding hence became black with soot, and their faces 
 were begrimed with fatty carbon. The journal is now 
 little more than a chronicle of privations and sufferings, 
 interspersed with extraordinary efforts to keep up com- 
 munications with the Esquimaux. It is, without compar- 
 
DR. KANirS EXPEDITION. 
 
 458 
 
 star obaor- 
 bccomo tho 
 
 succumbed 
 c boginning 
 ^ith scurvy ; 
 ) make exer- 
 
 tbo month 
 nut, and the 
 38 were only 
 (xcursion of 
 ,tation Etah, 
 in search of 
 
 I a bear that 
 ■cme hunger, 
 ho details of 
 out shown by 
 , its parent, to 
 ut the men's 
 excusable to 
 re seen gob- 
 of their dis- 
 |was the only 
 his compara- 
 Among the 
 e excited his 
 s-liver, eaten 
 
 1 to the Esqni- 
 lat -, beds and 
 
 id their faces 
 lournal is now 
 Ind sufferings, 
 Ikeep up com- 
 
 thout compar- 
 
 ison, the most painfully inloresting record of experience 
 iu wintering in the I'ur north that has ever yet been 
 l)ul)lished. In the niidHt of their troubles two of the men 
 tried to desert, but only one — Godfrey — succeeded, 
 lie returned, strange to say, on the 2d of April, with 
 food, in a sledge, but would not himself (|uit the EHijui- 
 maux. Under a misappreheiiHion that he had robl)ed 
 Hans, one of the hunters, of his sledge and dogs, his 
 life was n(!ar being sacrificed by the commander from 
 whom he had deserted. 
 
 The abandonment of the brig was now resolved on. 
 Befor" spring could be welcomed, preparatiwns had been 
 going on for some time Ibr a sledge and boat escape 
 from their long imprisonment. The employment thus 
 given to the men exerted a wholesome influence on their 
 moral tone, and assisted tiieir convalescence. They had 
 three boats, and they all required to be strengthened. 
 There was clothing, bedding, and provision-bags, to 
 make. The sledges had to be prepared. The llth of 
 May was appointed for the start. The farewell to the 
 ship was most impressive. Prayers were read, and then 
 a chapter of the Bible. The flags were then hoisted and 
 hauled down again, and she was left alone in the ice. 
 Godfrey had, by this time, it is to be observed, rejoined 
 the ship ; so the party consisted altogether of seventeen, 
 of whom four were unable to move. 
 
 The collections of natural history the party were 
 reluctantly compelled to leave behind, and part of the 
 apparatus for observations, as well as the library of the 
 commander, and the books furnished by the govern- 
 ment and Mr, Grinnell for the use of the vessel. 
 Nothing was retained but the documents of the expe- 
 dition. 
 
 At Etah the Esquimaux settlement were found " out 
 on the bare rocks," enjoying the plenty which spring 
 
454 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 had brought. " Rudest of gypsies, how they squalled, 
 and laughed, and snored, and rolled about ! Some were 
 sucking bird-skins ; others were boiling incredible num- 
 bers of auks in huge soapstone pots ; and two young- 
 sters, crying, at the top of their voices, ' Oopegsoak I 
 oopegsoak 1 ' were fighting for an owl. 
 
 a 
 
 
 j'-;:":^0 
 
 ■ V- J 
 
 ESQUi.MAlX r.iiY CAlCl: 
 
 Al'KS. 
 
 " There was enough to make thorn improvident. The 
 little auks were breeding in the low cones of rubbish 
 under the cliffs in such numbers that it cost them no 
 more to get food than it does a cook to gather vegeta- 
 bles. A boy, ordered to climb the rocks with one of 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 455 
 
 ley squalled, 
 Some were 
 
 Tcdible num- 
 two young- 
 
 ' Oopegsoak I 
 
 )rovident. The 
 
 |nes of rubbish 
 
 cost them no 
 
 [gather vegeta- 
 
 ca with one of 
 
 their purse-nets of seal-skin at the end of a narwhal's 
 tusk, would return in a few minutes with as many as he 
 could carry." 
 
 Up to the 23d the pro^^ress of Dr. Kane's party was 
 little more than a mile a day. The housed boats luck- 
 ily afforded tolerably good «lccping-bertlis at night. On 
 the 5th of June, Ohlsen injured himseir so in an attempt 
 to rescue a sledge from falling into a tide-hole, that he 
 died three days afterwards. 
 
 " Still passing slowly on, day after day, — I am reluct- 
 ant," writes Dr. Kane, " to borrow from my journal 
 the details of anxiety and embarrassment with which it 
 abounds throughout this period, — we came at last to the 
 unmistakable neighborhood of open water." This was 
 off Pekintlek, the largest of the Littleton Island group. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 19th of June, after a long lorewell 
 given to their long-tried friends, the Esquimaux of 
 Etah, who had brought them frequent supplies of birds, 
 and aided them in carrying their provisions and stores, 
 they put to sea, and, the very first day's navigation, one 
 of the boats swamped. They spent the first night in 
 an inlet in the ice, and on the 22d reached Northumber- 
 land Island in a snow-storm. Here they got fresh pro- 
 visions. They crossed Murchison Channel on the 23d, 
 and encamped for the night on the land-floe at the base 
 of Cape Parry — a hard day's travel, partly by tracking 
 over ice, partly through tortuous and zig-zag leads. So 
 it was for many successive days. One day fe" ."able, 
 with open leads of water : another, slow and wearisome, 
 through alternate ice and water. Then the floe would 
 break up and carry them resistlcssly against the rocks. 
 Three long days they passed in a cavern of rock and 
 ice, in which, however, they found plenty of birds' 
 
 eggs. 
 
 On the nth they had doubled Cape Dudley Digges, 
 
 1 
 
' '' 'I 
 
 
 r tl 
 
 'I 
 
 It 
 
 I 
 
 450 
 
 DK. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 and plants, and birds, and birds' eggs, became more 
 common. They spent a week to regain strength at so 
 productive a spot, which they designated as " Provi- 
 dence Halt." At the Crimson Cliffs they again got a 
 plentiful supply of birds. On the 21st of July thfw 
 reached Cupe York, and made immediate preparations 
 for crossing Melville Bay, which was accomplished 
 with great labor and suffering. Once more they were 
 nearly starving, when a great seal came providentiall}' 
 to their succor. Their feet were so swollen that the}' 
 were obliged to cut open their canvas boots. The most 
 unpleasant symptom was that they could not sleep. On 
 the 1st of August they sighted the Devil's Thumb. 
 Hence they fetched the Duck Islands, and, passing to 
 the south of Cape Shackleton, landed on terra firma. 
 Two or three days more, and they were under the 
 shadow of Karkamoot. 
 
 "Just then a familiar sound came to us over the 
 water. We had often listened to the screeching of 
 the gulls, or the bark of the fox, and mistaken it for 
 the ' Huk ' of the Esquimaux ; but this had about it an 
 inflection not to bo mistaken, for it died away in the 
 familiar cadence of a 'halloo.' 
 
 " ' Listen, Petersen 1 Oars — men ? What is it ? ' and 
 he listened quietly at first, and then, trembling, said, in 
 a half-whisper, ' Dannemarkers ! ' " 
 
 It was the Upernavik oil-boat, and the next day thpy 
 were at Upernavik itself, after being eighty-four days 
 in the open air. They could not remain within the four 
 walls of a house without a distressing sense of suffo- 
 cation . 
 
 From Dr. Kane's report to the Navy Department wo 
 quote the summing up of the results of the expedition. 
 They embrace : 
 
I 
 I 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 457 
 
 ame more 
 iigth at so 
 ts ''Provi- 
 gain got a 
 July thf^v 
 reparations 
 ;cornplislied 
 J thoy were 
 ovidcutially 
 11 that tliey 
 I. The most 
 »t sleep. On 
 il's Thumb. 
 ,, passing to 
 terra firma. 
 e under the 
 
 us over the 
 jreeching of 
 staken it for 
 d about it an 
 away in the 
 
 it is it ? ' and 
 lling, said, in 
 
 lext day they 
 Ity-four days 
 Ithin the four 
 Inse of suFo- 
 
 partment we 
 expedition. 
 
 " 1. The survey and delineation of the north coast of 
 Greenland to its termination by a great glacier. 
 
 "2. The survey of this glacial mass, and its exten- 
 sion northward into the new land named Washington. 
 
 " 3. The discovery of a large channel to the north- 
 west, fre. from ice, and leading into an open and 
 expanding area, equally free. The whole embraces an 
 iccless area of four thousand two hundred miles. 
 
 "4. The discovery and delineation of a large tract of 
 land, forming the extension northward of the American 
 continent. 
 
 "6. The completed survey of the American coast to 
 the south and west, as far as Cape Sabine ; thus con- 
 necting our survey with the last determined position of 
 Captain Inglefield, and completing the circuit of the 
 straits and bay heretofore known at their southernmost 
 opening as Smith's Sound." 
 
 The view of the open sea referred to was obtained 
 by William Morton, from a precipitous headland, — the 
 furthest point attained by the party, in latitude 81° 22' 
 N., and longitude 65° 35' W., at an altitude of five 
 hundred feet above the sea. The reasons assigned by 
 our author for regarding it an iceless open sea are the 
 following : 
 
 "1. It was approached by a channel entirely free 
 from ice, having a length of fifty-two and a mean width 
 of thirty-six geographical miles. 
 
 ** 2. The coast-ice along the water-line of this channel 
 had been completely destroyed by thaw anf' water- 
 action ; while an unbroken belt of solid ice, one hundred 
 and twenty-five miles in diameter, extended to the 
 south. - •, 
 
 " 3. A gale from the north-east, of fifty-four hours' 
 duration, brought a heavy sea from that quarter, with- 
 out disclosing any drift or other ice. 
 .39 
 

 458 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 "4. Dark nimbus clouds and water-sky invested the 
 north-eastern horizon. 
 
 " 6. Crowds of migratory birds were observed throng- 
 ing its waters." 
 
 There is much in Dr. Kane's wonderful narrative to 
 remind the reader of the story of old William Barentz, 
 who, two hundred and fifty-nine years ago, wintered on 
 the coast of Nova Zembla. His men, seventeen in 
 number, broke down during the trials of winter, and 
 three died, just as of the eighteen under Dr. Kane three 
 had gone. Barentz abandoned his vessel, as the Ameri- 
 cans abandoned theirs, took to his boats, and escaped 
 along the Lapland coast to lands of Norwegian civiliza- 
 tion. The Americans embarked with sledges and boats 
 to attempt the same thing. They had the longer jour- 
 ney, and the more difficult one, before them. Barentz 
 lost, as they did, a cherished comrade by the wayside. 
 But one resemblance luckily does not exist : Barentz 
 himself perished — Dr Kane lived to write an account of 
 all that he suffered in a noble cause. No mere abstract 
 of his narrative can give an idea of its absorbing inter- 
 est. 
 
 His book is above all common praise, on account of 
 the simple, manly, unaffected style in which the nar- 
 rative of arduous enterprise and firm endurance is told. 
 It is obviously a faithful record of occurrences, made by 
 a man who was quite aware ^hat what he had to tell 
 needed no extraneous embellishment. There is, how- 
 ever, so much of artistic order in the mind of the nar- 
 rator, that the unvarnished record has naturally shaped 
 itself into a work of distinguished excellence upon 
 literary grounds. The scenes which it describes are 
 so vividly and vigorously brought before the reader, 
 that there are few who sit down to the perusal of the 
 narrative but will fancy, before they rise from the en- 
 
DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 459 
 
 nvested the 
 :ved throng- 
 narrative to 
 am Barentz, 
 wintered ou 
 leventeen in 
 winter, and 
 •. Kane three 
 IS the Aineri- 
 and escaped 
 ;gian civiliza- 
 res and boats 
 I longer jour- 
 jm. Barentz 
 the wayside, 
 iist: Barentz 
 an account of 
 mere abstract 
 sorbing inter- 
 
 m account of 
 Ihich the nar- 
 irance is told, 
 ices, made by 
 ie had to tell 
 lere is, how- 
 Id of the nar- 
 irally shaped 
 lellence upon 
 Idescribes are 
 the reader, 
 perusal of the 
 from the en- 
 
 grossing occupation, their own flesh paralyzed by the 
 cold one hundred degrees greater than frost, and their 
 blood scurvy-filled by the four months' sunlessness. 
 
 It is only just also to remark, that there is unmistak- 
 able evidence, in the pages of this interesting book, that 
 the doctor was no less eminently gifted for the duties 
 of his command than he has been happy in his relation 
 of its histor3^ Every step in his arduous path seems to 
 have been taken only after the exercise of deliberately 
 matured forethought. A few illustrations must be 
 gleaned, from the many that are scattered through the 
 pages of his journal, to direct attention to thishonor:;Me 
 characteristic. When the doctor had formed his own 
 resolution to remain by the brig through the second 
 winter, he made the following entry, under the date of 
 August 22 : "I shall call the officers and crew together, 
 and make known to them, very fully, how things look, 
 and what hazards must attend such an effort as has 
 been proposed among them. They shall have my views 
 unequivocally expressed, i will then give them twenty- 
 four hours to deliberate ; and, at the end of that time, 
 all who determine to go shall say so in writing, wuh a 
 full exposition of the circumstances of the case. They 
 shall have the best outfit I can give, an abundant share 
 of our remnant stores, and my good-by blessing." 
 , On the 6th of April the Esquimaux auxiliary, Hans, 
 was gone to Etah, with a sledge, to seek a supply of 
 walrus-meat, when, as we have already stated, William 
 Godfrey deserted from the ship ; and, the commander 
 suspected, with some sinister design upon Hans and the 
 sledge. Dr. Kane then wrote : " Clearly, duty to this 
 poor boy calls me to seek him ; and, clearly, duty to 
 these dependent men calls me to stay. Long and 
 uncomfortably have I pondered over these opposing 
 calls, but at last have come to a determination. Hans 
 
460 
 
 DR. KANE'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 "'f 
 
 I 
 
 was faithful to me ; the danger to him is imminent, the 
 danger to those left behind only contingent upon my 
 failure to return. With earnest trust in that same 
 Supervising Agency which has so often before, in 
 graver straits, interfered to protect and carry me 
 through, I have resolved to go after Hans." 
 
 The Esquimaux lad was proof both against the vio- 
 lence and the seduction of the deserter. The com- 
 mander found him invalided, but safe, at Etah. Hans, 
 however, did not return to Fiskernaes with the expedi- 
 tion. His fate is involved in romance. Venus Victrix 
 has a representative even in frost-land. The reader must 
 go to the pages of Dr. Kane to know what became of 
 Hans. 
 
 When the preparations for the final escape were 
 under consideration, the following record was made in 
 the doctor's journal : " Whatever of executive ability I 
 have picked up during this brain-and-body-wcarying 
 cruise warns me against immature preparation or vacil- 
 lating purposes, I must have an exact discipline, a 
 rigid routine, and a perfectly thought-out organization. 
 For the past six weeks I have, in the intervals between 
 my duties to the sick and the ship, arranged the sched- 
 ule of our future course ; much of it is already under 
 way. My journal shows what I have done, but what 
 there is to do is appalling." Appalling as it was, the 
 heroic man who had to look the necessity in the face 
 was equal to the position. There can be no doubt that 
 it was "the exact discipline, the rigid routine, and the 
 perfectly thought-out organization,^^ which restored the 
 sixteen survivors of the expedition to civilization and 
 their homes. , 
 
 ^'^^m 
 
'V,.|. 
 
 linent, the 
 
 upon my 
 that same 
 before, in 
 
 carry me 
 
 ast the vio- 
 The corn- 
 tab. Hans, 
 , the expedi- 
 enus Victrix 
 reader must 
 tt became of 
 
 escape were 
 was made in 
 ative ability I 
 ,ody-wcarying 
 ■ation or vacil- 
 discipUne, a 
 organization. 
 >rvals between 
 ged the sched- 
 already under 
 lone, but what 
 as it was, the 
 ^ty in the face 
 no doubt that 
 mtine, and the 
 „i restored the 
 [ivilization and 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ACTION OP CONGRESS. — RELIEF EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OP DR. KANE. — 
 HARTSTEIN THE COMMANDER. — -ICE ENCOUNTERS. — SEARCHES. — THE 
 LOST FOUND. — NARRATIVE BY JOHN K. KANE. — ICEBERGS. — BIRDS. — 
 
 ' ESQUIMAUX. — THE MEETING. — THE RESOLUTE. — FOUND BY AMERICAN 
 ■WHALERS. — INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. — DEMAND FOR NEW EXPE- 
 DITIONS. — SPECULATIONS. 
 
 The apprehensions caused at home, by the detention 
 of Dr. Kane and his party, produced a resolution of 
 Congress, approved February 3d, 1855, authorizing the 
 Secretary of the Navy to despatch a suitable steamer 
 and tender for the relief of the absent voyagers. The 
 bark Release and the steamer Arctic were accordingly 
 procured and equipped, Lieut. Hartstein having been 
 appointed to the command. He was accompanied by a 
 brother of Dr. Kane. They reached Lievely, Isle of Disco, 
 Greenland, July 5th, 1855, having encountered the first 
 iceberg in latitude 51° 30' north, longitude 51° 40' west. 
 With seaman-like generosity, Hartstein, in his letter 
 from this place to the Secretary of the Navy, says : " To 
 avoid further risk of human life, in a search so extremely 
 hazardous, I would suggest the impropriety of making 
 any efforts to relieve us if we should not return ; feeling 
 confident that we shall be able to accomplish all neces- 
 sary for our own release, under the most extraordinary 
 circumstances." 
 
 Entering the closely-packed floe of Melville Bay, the 
 39* 
 
 ! 
 I 
 
4G2 
 
 THE KANE RELIEF EXPEDITION. 
 
 1 5 
 
 ?? ' i 
 
 relief vessels forced a passage into the North Water 
 on the morning of the 13th of August. Passing in good 
 view of the coast from Cape York to Wolstenholme 
 Island, Ilartstein, in the steamer, examined Cape Alex- 
 ander and Sutherland Island. Passing on to the most 
 north ^. 'estorn point in sight (Point Pelham), he noticed 
 a few stones heaped together, which, on examination, 
 gave assurance of Kane's having been there ; but no 
 clue was afforded. Pushing on to latitude '18° 32' north, 
 the steamer was opposed by a solid, hummocky field of 
 very heavy ice, to which no limit was visible, inter- 
 spersed as it was with bergs, all drifting to the south- 
 ward. Taking now a retrograde course, they examined 
 Cape Ilathertou and Littleton Island, and finally took 
 refuge under a projecting point, some fifteen miles north- 
 west of Cape Alexander. Here they were startled by 
 the hail of human voices. Going on shore, they found a 
 party of Esquimaux, and among them various articles 
 that must have belonged to Dr. Kane and his men. An 
 examination of the most intelligent of the natives led to 
 the understanding that Dr. Kane, having lost his vessel 
 somewhere to the north, had been at that spot, with his 
 interpreter (Carl Petersen), and seventeen others, in 
 two boats and a sled, and, after remaining ten days, had 
 gone south to Upernavik. 
 
 After some more reconnoitring of the coast. Hart- 
 stein, in the Arctic, found himself firmly beset by the 
 ice, and thought, for a time, he was in winter quarters ; 
 but, after twenty-four hours' heavy battering, he got 
 out. After having made nearly the whole circuit of the 
 northern part of Baffin's Bay, with the exception of a 
 deep ice-locked indentation between Capes Cowbermere 
 and Isabella, he returned, and, in cor^-^any with the 
 Release, examined Possession Bay auv. Pond's Bay, 
 firing guns, burning blue-lights, and throwing up rock- 
 
 { % 
 
Mil. J. K. KANE'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 463 
 
 1 Water 
 in good 
 
 ;enholme 
 
 ,pe Alex- 
 
 the most 
 
 e noticed 
 
 minalion, 
 ; but no 
 
 32' north, 
 
 y field of 
 
 Die, iiiter- 
 
 ;he south- 
 examined 
 
 nally took 
 
 liles north- 
 
 tartled by 
 
 ey found a 
 
 us articles 
 men. An 
 
 jves led to 
 
 his vessel 
 
 ,t, with his 
 
 others, in 
 
 days, had 
 
 bast, Hart- 
 [set by the 
 quarters ; 
 ig, he got 
 pcuit of the 
 eption of a 
 [owbermere 
 with the 
 bnd's Bay, 
 ig up rock- 
 
 ets. He now determined to proceed to Upernavik, and, 
 if he did not there find the missing party, to proceed 
 north again, and winter in the ice. This was soon found 
 to be unnecessary. At Lievely the missing party were 
 received with many welcomes on board the vessels sent 
 for tlieir relief. We will leave it to Mr. John K. Kane, 
 the brother of the doctor, to narrate, in his animated 
 account of the relief expedition, the iniiiincr and the inci- 
 dents of the encounter. The article, portions of which 
 we quote, was originally contributed to Putnarri's Mag- 
 azine; and conveys, in a novel and spirited style, much 
 interesting description and information in regard to the 
 latitudes visited. 
 
 At Etah the relief expedition came in contact with 
 the Esquimaux who had befriended Dr. Kane ; and Mr. 
 J. K. Kane selected one of the most forward and intel- 
 ligent of the natives, a boy named Mayouk, and endeav- 
 ored by signs to get some information from him. We 
 present the following in Mr. Kane's own words : 
 
 " Mayouk was very quick in understanding us, and 
 equally ready in inventing modes of conveying intelli- 
 gence. Lead-pencil and paper were called into requisi- 
 tion. I took out my note-book, drew a rough sketch 
 of a brig, and showed it to him. He, at once, said 
 ' Dokto Kayen,' and pointed to the north. I tiien drew 
 a reversed sketch, and pointed south. But Mayouk, 
 shaking his head, began to sway his body backward 
 and forward, to imitate rowing ; then said Dokto 
 Kayen again, and pointed south. On this, I drew 
 a whole fleet of boats, and invited him to point out 
 how many of these he referred to. He took the pencil 
 from my hand, and altered the sterns of two into sharp- 
 pointed ones, and then held up two fingers, to indicate 
 that there were two of such. I now drew carefully two 
 whale-boats ; he made signs of approval, as much as to 
 
 j i 
 
464 
 
 MR. J. K. KANE'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 h*' 
 
 say tliat was the thing ; and, incontinently squatting 
 down, imitated the voice and gestures of a dog-driver, 
 cracking an imaginary whip, and crying hup-hup-hup, 
 at the top of his voice. After which performance, he 
 laughed immoderately, and, again pointing south, said 
 Dokto Kayen. • . ■ 
 
 " I was not certain as to his meaning ; but, on my 
 drawing a picture of a dog-team, ho went through the 
 whole performance afresh, and showed the most extrav- 
 agant signs of delight at being understood. We found 
 out how many dog-sledges and how many men there 
 were of the doctor's party, in the same mtJiner. We 
 examined several other natives separately, and they all 
 told the same story ; nor could wc confuse them as to 
 the number of men and boats ; they were all clear on 
 that head. Nineteen, they made it, neither more nor 
 less. We tried our best to make them say that the 
 boats had gone north, and the vessel south ; but with- 
 out success. Mayouk, on one occasion, being hard 
 pressed, stopped his ears, so as, at least, to secure him- 
 self from being supposed to assent to what he had not 
 learning or language enough to controvert. 
 
 " At length, a bright thought struck him. He ran 
 down to tliC beach, and got two white stones ; laid 
 them on Lhe ground, and, pointing to the floating 
 masses of ice in the bay, signified to us that these rep- 
 resented the ice. Next, he took a common clay pipe 
 of Mr. Lovell's, and, pointing to the north, said, vomiak 
 Booak, or big ship, ' vomiak sooak, Dokto Kayen.' lie 
 next pushed the pipe up between the pebbles, and then 
 pressed them together till the pipe was crushed. Lastly, 
 he poinlod to the south, and began imitating the rowing 
 of a boat, the cracking of whips, and the hup-hupping 
 of a dog-driver, vociferating, at intervals, * Dokto Kayen, 
 he I he I he I ' We tried our best io find out how long 
 
MR. J. K. KANE'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 4G5 
 
 it had been since ilio D<ikto Kayons Imd loft thorn, for 
 it was eviikMit that tliis was their name lor the whole 
 party ; but wo could not make them understand. Tliny 
 would only toll us that their guests had been with them 
 for some time. This they did by pointing to the south, 
 and then following the track of the sun till it reached 
 the north ; then, after stretching themselves out on the 
 ground, and closing their eyes, as if in sleep, would 
 again point to the south, rise up, go down to the lake 
 and protend to wash their faces. The gesture lay in 
 pretence only, however, for they seemed to regard the 
 washing of the Dokto Kayens as a remarkable religious 
 observance. It certainly was not one which had been 
 practically ingrafted into their own formulary of good 
 works. These unsophisticated children of the frost-land 
 never wash off dirt, for the simple reason that of dirt, 
 as such, they have no conception or idea. 
 
 " Improvidence is another trait of these ' fresh chil- 
 dren of impulse.' We were at their village as late as 
 the 19th of August. Yet, although the auks wore flying 
 round them in such quantities that one man could have 
 been able to catch a thousand an hour, they had not 
 enough prepared for winter to last two days. They 
 were all disgustingly fat, and always eating, — perhaps 
 an average ration of eighteen pounds per diem, — yet 
 they had lost seven by starvation during the last winter, 
 though relieved, as far as we could make it out, by the 
 Dokto Kayens. 
 
 " They suffer dreadfully from cold, too ; yet there is 
 an abundance of excellent peat, which they might dig 
 during the summer. They know its value as fuel, and 
 are simply too lazy to stack it. The little auk, which 
 forms their principal food, may be said also to be their 
 only fuel. Indeed, it quite fills the place which the 
 seal holds among the more southern Esquimaux. Their 
 
400 
 
 MR. J. K. KANE'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 clothes ar(3 liiu^d witli its skins, they burn the fat, and, 
 sotting aHJdo the liveiH and hearts, to bo (h'ied, and con- 
 sumed as bonbu}it< duriiij^ the winter, they cat the meat 
 and intestines cooked and raw, both cold and at blood 
 heat. 
 
 " They arc very hospitable ; the minulo wo arrived, 
 all hands bcg-an to catch birds and prepare them for us. 
 Tearing olf tiic skins with their teeth, they stripped the 
 breasts to be cooked, and presented us with tiie juicy 
 entrails and nMiiaining portions to eat raw, and stay 
 our aj)petites. The viands did not look inviting to us, 
 who had witnessed their preparation ; but they appeared 
 so hurt at our refusing to eat, that we had to explain 
 that it was not cooked but raw birds we wanted. This 
 was satisfactory. They set out at once to catch some 
 for us ; and in a few moments three of them were ou 
 their way down to our boat loaded with birds. 
 
 " Though all the natives had told us that Dr. Kane's 
 party had gone southwards after leaving their settle- 
 ment, still wo were far from certain that they had con- 
 tinued their progress m that direction, and Captain 
 Ilartstein was for some time in doubt as to tho course 
 which we ought to pursue ; whether we should return 
 at once to Upernavik by our old track, or run across 
 the bay and examine its western coast. He finally 
 determined on the latter, believing that, if Dr. Kane 
 and his party had gone down the eastern coast, they 
 would by this time either have been lost in Melville 
 Bay, or safely arrived at Upernavik ; while, on the 
 contrary, if they had tried to reach the English fleet in 
 Lancaster Sound, being ignorant of its desertion, they 
 might be there now in a starving condition. 
 
 " We reached Cape Alexander without any incident 
 worthy of note, and, after searching its barren rocks to 
 no purpose, built a cairn, and in it deposited the record 
 
Mil. J. K. KANE'S NAUUATIVE. 
 
 467 
 
 fat, and, 
 
 arul con- 
 
 the meat 
 
 at blood 
 
 arrived, 
 
 in for U8. 
 ippod tho 
 iho juicy 
 
 and stay 
 lug; to us, 
 
 appeared 
 to explain 
 ted. This 
 itch some 
 u were ou 
 
 )r. Kane's 
 cir settle- 
 7 had con- 
 Captain 
 he course 
 Id return 
 un across 
 |Ie finally 
 Dr. Kane 
 last, they 
 Melville 
 on the 
 ih fleet in 
 ion, they 
 
 incident 
 
 rocks to 
 
 le record 
 
 of our want of huccohh. Wc next ran down to Suther- 
 land iHland, took up our now useless fla^-slaff, and tore 
 down tho cairn we had {)lac('d there on our way up. 
 There was a poor little wliite fox wat<;hin^ us from tho 
 rocks above, while we were at work, evidently wonder- 
 iuff what it all meant. lie came so ch)se that wo could 
 have knocked him down with a boat-hook, but we let 
 him alone ; we win'o, not short of provisions, and had 
 no time to convert him into a specnnen. 
 
 " We pushed on throup^h rain atid i'og to Ilakluyt 
 Island, where we found our comrades of the Release, 
 and spent a few hurried hours in their company. 
 
 "Thanxl anoiv, that Dr. Kane has described in his 
 narrative, was abundant here ; and wherever between 
 the ledges of the rock there was a chance for soil, a 
 tiny little horseradish sprang up ambitiously through 
 the frost, with leaves no bigger than your thumb-nail. 
 The miniature plant, flower, root, and all, might have 
 filled a very moderate tea-cup. - «* 
 
 " It is hardly worth while to tell of our efibrts to find 
 Captain Inglefield's Esquimaux settlement in Whale 
 Sound. It was the old story of fog and drizzle, ice and 
 sleet. We gave it up, and, taking the Release in tow, 
 bent our course for Lancaster Sound. 
 
 " But the ice, the everlasting ice I We were more 
 than two hundred miles off when it caught us. It was 
 lieavier than any we had seen even in Melville Bay. 
 For some days it held us like flies in amber, in spite of 
 sails, with now and then a puff to fill them, and all the 
 steam that Newell could raise in his boiler. It was, 
 indeed, a mercy that a gale caught us at last, or we 
 might have been there still. We drove before it, the 
 ice keeping us company, as if loth to lose us, and, find- 
 ing that we could not reach Cape Isabella, made a 
 detour to Possession Bay. 
 
468 
 
 MR. J. K. KANE'S NARRAHVE. 
 
 f) 
 
 ' 
 
 1 
 
 I ! 
 
 h 
 
 'if f 
 
 Ih 
 
 i\i 
 
 
 !;f 
 
 " Pond's Bay, as it is called, seemed to all of us noth- 
 ing else but an extension of Admiralty Inlet. We kept 
 along its north coast for thirty-five miles, and could 
 see, perhaps, forty miles further, but without finding its 
 westernmost shore. A visit to an Esquimaux village, 
 some twenty miles up the bay, was the only incident. 
 The men, with a single exception, were out on their 
 hunting-parties ; but the women were there, at? commu- 
 nicative in their unknown dialect as any we had met of 
 the grosser sex. They were certainly no beauties, and 
 their costume was a little extravagant even for the 
 Esquimaux fashions, as we had seen them. They had 
 their faces tattooed with lampblack, in a set of dotted 
 lines, radiating from the corners of the mouth ; and their 
 very long wide boots were hitched, awkwardly enough, 
 by a loop to the v/aistband of their seal-skin trousers. 
 
 " They appeared to be of a superior race to the 
 Greenland natives. They were larger and stronger, 
 their kayaks were better built, and they had much more 
 roomy tents. 
 
 " The whole of Pond's Bay showed one dreary, in- 
 hospitable coast-line. We were all of us glad when 
 our comm^ander gave the order to make for the eastern 
 coast of Baffin's Bay. ■ ■ \ * 
 
 " We had an eight-knot breeze, and were not more 
 than two hundred miles from Upernavik. There was 
 every chance of the wind continuing, so that we confi- 
 dently expected to reach that port in the course of the 
 week. We thought we were to the southward of the 
 pack ; and the heavy sea, which made us all sea-sick 
 after our long exemption from rough water, strengthened 
 this conviction. But we wero mistaken. The very 
 next day it was before us, an impenetrable barrier. 
 There was no help for it ; we had to run further to the 
 south — how much further it was hardly worth while to 
 
MR. J. K. KANES NARRATIVE. 
 
 469 
 
 guoss. It was no very difficult matter, you would 
 think, to run along the edge of the ice till we came to 
 the end of it, and then run across. But this ice had all 
 the irregularities of a coast : large inlets and bays run- 
 ning into it, and capes projecting just where you do not 
 expect to meet them ; and, over and over again, after 
 running for a whole day, just as we were sure we had 
 reached -its southern boundary, we would find ourselves 
 in a cul-de-sac, with the ice on both sides of us. At 
 last we came to a dead halt. We were fairly in the 
 pack — it was before us, behind us, and on both sides 
 of us. 
 
 " Day after day passed, and we found we were drift- 
 ing to the south, fairly glued in. There are only two 
 incidents that I speak of in or about this pleasant little 
 travel. One was just as it began. It was a meeting 
 with an ancient whaler, the Eclipse, of Peterhead, with 
 a jolly old Captain Gray, who insisted on all hands 
 making a trial of a regular Scotchman's hospitality, and 
 tossed half a dozen hams after us into the boat, when 
 we refused to take the half of his cabin stores. The 
 other was the gale that ended it. It was less pleasant 
 at the time ; but, like some other things that I have 
 met with in this world, its effects were better than its 
 promise. What a night it was I The bark ran into an 
 iceberg, and came very near being lost. She fired 
 thirteen guns for assistance, but the crashing and grind- 
 ing was so tremendous that, though we were not three 
 quarters of a mile off, and the wind was blowing directly 
 towards us, we did not hear one of them. I never shall 
 forget the melancholy figure she presented on joining 
 us next morning. We felt quite a glow of sympathy 
 for the poor Release, till Captain Ilartstein's hailing our 
 steamer with the information thut our cutwater looked 
 40 
 
 I i 
 
 
470 
 
 MR. J. K. KANE'S NARIIAIIVE. 
 
 like a prize-fighter's nose. We then remembered that 
 we, too, had a night of it, 
 
 " After this gale we had little or no more trouble 
 with the ice ; one or two trifling detentions of a few 
 days brought us to the open water. We had drifted so 
 fur to the south that Lievely was nearer than Upernavik, 
 and Captain Ilartstein determined to put in there. We 
 had a heavy gale the night after we left the ice ; but so 
 glad were we all to get clear of it, that I heard no com- 
 plaints about rough weather. It cleared away beauti- 
 fully towards morning, and we were all on the deck, 
 admiring the clear water, and the fantastic shapes of 
 the water- washed icebergs. All hands were in high 
 spirits ; the gale had blown in the right direction, and 
 in a few hours we should be in Lievely. The rocks of 
 its land-locked harbor were already in sight. We were 
 discussing our news by anticipation, when the man in 
 the crow's nest cried out, ' A brig in the harbor ! ' and 
 the next minute, before we had time to congratulate 
 each other on the chance of sending letters home, that 
 she had hoisted American colors — a delicate compli- 
 ment, we thought, on the part of our friends, the 
 Danes. 
 
 ''I believe our captain was about to return it, when, 
 to our surprise, she hoisted another flag, the veritable 
 one which had gone ou' with the Advance, bearing the 
 name of Mr. Henry Grinnell. At the same moment, 
 two boats were seen rounding the point, and pulling 
 towards us. Did they contain our lost friends ? Yes ; 
 the sailors had settled that. ' Those are Yankees, sir ; 
 no Danes ever feathered their oars that way,' said an 
 old whaler to me. ' vv' 
 
 " For those who had friends among the missing party, 
 the few minutes that followed were of bitter anxiety ; 
 for the men in the boats were long-bearded and weather- 
 
MR. J. K. KANE'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 471 
 
 beaten ; they had strange, wild costumes ; there wus 
 no possibility of recognition. Dr. Kane, standing up- 
 right in the stern of the first float, with his spy-glass 
 slung round his neck, was the first identified ; then the 
 big form of Mr. Brooks ; in another moment uU hands 
 of them were on board of us. 
 
 "It was curious to watch the eflects of the excite- 
 ment in diflerent people, — the intense quietude of some, 
 the boisterous delight of others ; how one man would 
 become intensely loquacious, another would do nothing 
 but laugh, and a third would creep away to some out- 
 of-the-way corner, as if he were afraid of showing how 
 he felt. How hungry they all were for news, and how 
 eagerly they tore open the home letters ; most of them, 
 poor fellows, had pleasant tidings, and all were pre- 
 pared to make the best of bad ones. We were in the 
 harbor, with a fleet of kayaks dancing in welcome 
 around and behind us, before the greetings were half 
 ended, for they repeated themselves over ana over 
 again. Sr=.,'.:. 
 
 " Our old friend, Mr. Olrik, was with the new comers, 
 and as happy as the rest. His hospitality, when we 
 reached the shore, was absolutely boundless ; and his 
 house and table were always at our service. Altogether, 
 I never passed three more delightful days than those 
 last days at Lievely. Balls every night ; feasts and 
 junketings every day ; and, pleasantest of all, those 
 dear home-like tea-tables, with shining tea-urn and clear, 
 white sugar, round which we sat, waiting for the water 
 to boil, and talking of Russia and the Czar, and the 
 world outside the Circle ; while Mrs. Olrik would look 
 up from her worsted-work, and the children pressed 
 round me to see the horses and dogs I was drawing for 
 them. It was enough to make one forget his red flannel 
 shirt and rough Arctic rig ; Melville Bay and the pack 
 
472 
 
 MR. J. K. KANE'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 n 
 
 seemed fables. The Danish doctor, too, arrived from 
 Fiskernaes, a very intelligent gentleman, and we talked 
 away bravely to him in bad Latin. He brought us a 
 present of reindeer-meat, — a new dish for some of us, 
 tasting like a cross between Virginia mountain mutton 
 and our Pennsylvania red deer. . . » • 
 
 But our stay in Lievely ended. The propeller got 
 up steam, and, taking our bark and the Danish brig 
 Marianne in tow, steamed out of the harbor. All the 
 inhabitants of the town were on the shore to see the 
 last of us. Our visit had been as memorable an incident 
 to them as to ourselves. Where ten dollars is a large 
 marriage dower, Jack's liberality of expenditure seemed 
 absolutely royal. There were moistened eyes among 
 them, for they are essentially kind-hearted ; and even 
 the roar of our cannon, in answer to the Danish salute, 
 though it resounded splendidly among the hills, was 
 scarcely heeded, as they stood, with folded arms, watch- 
 ing us disappear in the distance. We carried Mr. Olrik 
 quite out to sea before we bade him good-by ; and it 
 was not until the next morning that the Marianne cast 
 loose. 
 
 " We reached home without any incident worthy 
 of note, except that the Esquimaux dogs we had on 
 board did nothing but howl during the whole voyage, 
 — an amiable peculiarity, which still characterizes the 
 single specimen of which I am at present the happy 
 possessor. There he goes — I hear him now." 
 
 The return of Hartstein with the survivors of Kane's 
 expedition closes the record of the search for Sir John 
 Franklin. 
 
 Never was there such a disastrous state of things in 
 the Arctic regions : six ships left in the ice 1 The 
 Investigator at Mercy Bay, the Resolute and Intrepid 
 
FINDING OF THE RESOLUTE. 
 
 473 
 
 at Melville Island, the Assistance and Pioneer in Wel- 
 lington Channel, and the Advance in Smith's Sound, to 
 be added to the Erebus and Terror, which we have 
 reason to believe had been left years before somewhere 
 in the strait of James Ross. The Arctic archipelagc 
 was studded with abandoned ships 1 ' ^ 
 
 None could have imagined that any of these gallant 
 ships would ever carry sail again ; or that we might not 
 truly say of each of them, in the words of Dr. Kane, 
 " The ice is round her still," 
 
 But of ore of these vessels there is a further story to 
 tell ; 'md, as it recounts a kindly interchange of courte- 
 sies between the two nations which vied with each other 
 in heroic, though fruitless efforts, to rescue the missing 
 navigators, it will form a pleasant finale to our narra- 
 tive. 
 
 In the month of September, 1855, the whaler George 
 Henry, Captain Buddington, of New London, Connecti- 
 cut, was drifting along, beset by the ice, in Baffin's Bay, 
 when one morning the captain, looking through his 
 glass, saw a large ship some fifteen or twenty miles dis- 
 tant, apparently working her way towards him. Day 
 after day, while helplessly imprisoned in the pack, he 
 watched her coming nearer and nearer. On the seventh 
 day, the mate, Mr. Quail, and three men, were sent to 
 find out what she was. ' i' '' « -'^w^s^* 
 
 After a hard day's journey over the ice, — jumping 
 from piece to piece, and pushing themselves along on 
 isolated cakes, — they were near enough to see that she 
 was lying on her larboard side, firmly imbedded in the 
 ice. They shouted lustily, as soon as they got within 
 hailing distance ; but there was no answer. Not a soul 
 was to be seen. For one moment, as they came along- 
 side, the men faltered, with a superstitious feeling, and 
 hesitated to go on board. A moment after, they had 
 40* 
 
47i 
 
 FINDING OF THE RESOLUTE. 
 
 n 
 
 climbed over the broken ice, and stood on deck. Every- 
 thing was stowed away in order — spars hauled up and 
 lashed to one side, boats piled together, hatches calked 
 down. Over the helm, in letters of brass, was inscribed 
 the motto " England expects every man to do his duty." 
 But there was no man to heed the warning. . . 
 
 The whalemen broke open the companion-way, and 
 descended into the cabin. All was silence and darkness. 
 Groping their way to the table, they found matches and 
 candles, and struck a light. There were decanters and 
 glasses on the table, chairs and lounges standing around, 
 books scattered about — everything just as it had been 
 last used. Looking curiously from one thing to another, 
 wondering what this deserted ship might be, at last they 
 came upon the log-book. It was endorsed, " Bark Res- 
 olute, 1st September, 1853, to April, 1854." One entry 
 was as follows : '* H. M. S. Resolute, ITth January, 
 1854, nine a. m. — Mustered by divisions. People tak- 
 ing exercise on deck. Five p. m. — Mercury frozen." 
 
 This told the story. It was Captain Kellett's ship, 
 the Resolute, which had broken away from her icy 
 prison, and had tlius fallen into the hands of our Yan- 
 kee whalemen. 
 
 While the men were making these discoveries, night 
 came on, aud a gale arose. So hard did it blow that they 
 were compelled to remain on board, and for two days 
 these four were the whole crew of the Resolute. It 
 was not till 19th September that they returned to 
 their own ship, and made their report. 
 
 All these ten days, since Captain Buddington had 
 first seen her, the vessels had been nearing each other. 
 On the 19th he boarded her himself, and found that in 
 her hold, on the larboard side, was a good deal of ice. 
 Her tanks had burst, from the extreme cold ; and she 
 was f\ill of water, nearly to her lower deck. Everything 
 
FINDING OF THE RESOLUTE. 
 
 475 
 
 that could move from its place had moved. Everything 
 between decks was wet ; everything that would mould 
 was mouldy. " A sort of perspiration" had settled on 
 the beams and ceilings. The whalemen made a fire in 
 Kellett's stove, and soon started a sort of shower from 
 the vapor with which it filled the air. The Resolute 
 had, however, four fine force-pumps. For three days 
 the captain and six men worked fourteen hours a day 
 on one of these, and had the pleasure of finding that 
 they freed her of water, — that she was tight still. 
 They cut away upon the masses of ice ; and on the 23d 
 of September, in the evening, she freed herself from her 
 encumbrances, and took an even keel. This was off" the 
 west shore of Baffin's Bay, in latitude Q1°. On the short- 
 est tack, she was twelve hundred miles from where Kel- 
 lett left her. 
 
 There was work enough still to be done. The rudder 
 was to be shipped, the rigging to be made taut, sail 
 to be set ; — and it proved, by the way, that the sail on 
 the yards was much of it still serviceable, while a suit of 
 new linen sails below were greatly injured by moisture. 
 In a week more, she was ready to make sail. The pack 
 of ice still drifted with both ships ; but, on the 21st Octo- 
 ber, after a long north-west gale, the Resolute was free. 
 
 Capt. Buddington had resolved to bring her home. 
 He had picked ten men from the George Henry, and 
 with a rough tracing of the American coast, drawn on a 
 sheet of foolscap, with his lever watch and a quadrant 
 for his instruments, he squared ofi" for New London. 
 A rough, hard passage they had of it. The ship's bal- 
 last was gone, by the bursting of the tanks ; she was 
 top-heavy and undermanned. He spoke a British whal- 
 ing-bark, and by her sent to Captain Kellett his 
 epaulets, and to his own owners news that he was 
 coming. They had heavy gales and head winds, and 
 
476 
 
 RETURN OF THE RESOLUTE. 
 
 m 
 
 ■11' 
 
 i,;i 
 
 were driven as far down as the Bermudas. The water 
 left in the ship's tanks was brackish, and it needed all 
 the seasoning- which the ship's chocolate would give to 
 make it drinkable. "For sixty hours at a time," says 
 the captain, " I frequently had no sleep ; " but his per- 
 severance was crowned with success, at last, and, on 
 the night of the 23d of December, he made the light off 
 the harbor from which he sailed, and on Sunday morn- 
 ing, the 24th, dropped anchor in the Thames, opposite 
 New London, and ran up the British ensign on the shorn 
 masts of the Resolute. 
 
 Her subsequent history is fresh in the minds of our 
 readers. The British government generously released 
 all their claim in favor of the sailors. Thereupon, Con- 
 gress resolved that the vessel should be purchased and 
 restored as a present to her majesty from the American 
 people. This design was fully carried out. The Reso- 
 lute was taken to the dry-dock in Brooklyn, and there 
 put in complete order. Everything on board — even the 
 smallest article — was replaced as nearly as possible in 
 its original position ; and, at length, having been manned 
 and officered from the United States navy, and placed 
 under the command of Captain Hartstein, the Resolute, 
 stanch and sound again, from stem to stern, "with 
 sails all set and streamers all afloat," once more shaped 
 her course for England. 
 
 On the 12th of December, 1856, after a boisterous 
 passage, she anchored at Spithead, with the United 
 States and British ensigns flying at the peak. " Not- 
 withstanding the furious gale which was then raging," 
 says Captain Hartstein, in his official report, " we were 
 immediately boarded by Captain Peal, of her Britannic 
 Majesty's frigate Shannon, who cordially offered to us 
 every civility and attention. In a few moments after- 
 wards, a steamer arrived from Vice-Admiral Sir George 
 
RETURN OF THE RESOLUTE. 
 
 47T 
 
 3 water 
 ded all 
 give to 
 I," says 
 his per- 
 and, on 
 ight off 
 ,y morn- 
 apposite 
 he shorn 
 
 s of our 
 released 
 lon, Con- 
 ased and 
 American 
 'he Reso- 
 nd there 
 even the 
 ssible in 
 manned 
 placed 
 e solute, 
 "with 
 shaped 
 
 )isterous 
 United 
 
 "Not- 
 aging," 
 
 e were 
 ritannic 
 d to us 
 s after- 
 George 
 
 Seymour (commanding officer of the station), with a 
 tender of services, and congratulations upon our safe 
 arrival. Proceeding to Portsmouth next morning (which 
 I did in a government steamer provided me for that 
 purpose), I visited the United States Consulate, and 
 was there waited upon by Sir Thomas Maitland, who 
 had become commanding officer of the naval station in 
 the absence of the admiral, Sir George Seymour, and 
 received from him a most cordial welcome, with proflers 
 of every possible service, by express instruction from 
 the Admiralty. Accommodations were prepared for us 
 at the first hotel, and orders for a bountiful supply of 
 provisions to be sent on board the Resolute ; also a 
 carle blanche for the railroad to London for myself and 
 the officers of the Resolute. In fact, nothing could 
 exceed the kindness and courtesy with which we were 
 treated by Captain Sir Thomas Maitland, who seemed 
 unwilling that any means of adding to his hearty expres- 
 sions of welcome should pass unexhausted. That morn- 
 ing's post brought me a communication from Sir Charles 
 Wood, first lord of the Admiralty (which I herewith 
 enclose), whose expressions of kindly feeling 1 beg may 
 be particularly noticed. At noon of the day after our 
 arrival, a royal salute was fired from the Victory (flag- 
 ship), from the fortifications, and from the Shannon, at 
 Spithead." 
 
 The Queen having expressed a wish to visit the Reso- 
 lute, and a desire that the vessel might be taken to 
 Cowes, near her majesty's private palace, the ship was 
 towed thither by the government steamer, escorted by 
 two other steamers, and the steam-frigate Retribution. 
 
 Meanwhile, the necessary diplomatic formalities had 
 been exchanged between the American minister and 
 Lord Clarendon. 
 
 Of the Queen's visit to the Resolute, which took 
 
478 
 
 RETURN OF THE RESOLUTE. 
 
 
 ¥.Vr. 
 
 plase on the 16th of December, we quote the following 
 description from the London Times : 
 
 " The Queen, accompanied by Prince Albert, the 
 Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Princess 
 Alice, left Osborne at a quarter past ten o'clock, and 
 drove to the sliip in an open carriage, drawn by four 
 gray ponies. Her majesty was attended by a distin- 
 guished suite. The Resolute, dressed in hrr colors, 
 was lashed alongside of the royal embarkation place at 
 Trinity Wharf, Tiie English and American flags were 
 flying at the peak ; and, as soon as the Queen set her 
 foot on the deck, the royal standard was hoisted at the 
 main. The Retribution fired a salute, the boats' crews 
 ' tossed ' their oars, and the ship's company, standing 
 on the rail, received hav majesty with three rounds of 
 cheers. Captain ilartstcin received the royal party at 
 the gangway, and the officers, in full uniform, were 
 grouped on either side. All were presented to the 
 Queen by Captain Ilartstein, who then addressed her 
 majesty in the following words : 
 
 " ' Allow me to welcome your majesty on board the 
 Resolute, and, in obedience to the will of my country- 
 men and the President of the United States, to restore 
 her to you, not only as an evidence of a friendly feeling 
 to your sovereignty, but as a token of love, admiration, 
 and respect, to your majesty personally.' >■• 
 
 " The Queen seemed touched by the manly simplicity 
 of this frank and sailor-like address, and replied, with a 
 gracious smile, 'I thank you, sir.' The royal family 
 then went over the ship, and examined her with manifest 
 interest." - - 
 
 After the withdrawal of the royal party, there was an 
 elegant dejeuner in the ward-room, at which, among 
 other toasts, was given, "The future success of the 
 Resolute, and may she be again employed in prosecuting 
 
RETURN OF THE RESOLUTE. 
 
 479 
 
 llowing 
 
 3rt, the 
 Princess 
 )ck, and 
 
 by four 
 
 I distin- 
 
 • colors, 
 
 place at 
 
 igs were 
 
 set her 
 ed at the 
 ts' crews 
 standing 
 ounds of 
 I party at 
 )rm, were 
 id to the 
 3ssed her 
 
 )oard the 
 country- 
 o restore 
 y feeling 
 miration, 
 
 Simplicity 
 |d, with a 
 il family 
 manifest 
 
 te was an 
 ., among 
 Is of the 
 Isecuting 
 
 the search for Sir John Franklin and his comrades." 
 This sentiment evoked cordial applause. 
 
 On the afternoon of the same day, " I recei^ '^d," saya 
 Captain Ilartstein, "a note, enclosing a check for one 
 hundred pounds, with a request from her majesty that 
 it should be distributed among the crew ; which I ac- 
 cepted in their behalf. 
 
 "On the morning of December Itth, the Resolute 
 wail towed up to the harbor of Portsmouth, escorted by 
 the steam-frigate Retribution ; and, on arriving at her 
 anchorage, was received by another royal salute, and 
 with such an outburst of popular feeling as was never 
 knovni before." ' 
 
 The British government and people were unremitting 
 in their attentions to Captain Ilartstein and his officers, 
 during their stay in England. Three splendid Christ- 
 mas cakes were forwarded by Lady Franklin to Ports- 
 mouth, to be presented to the American officers and 
 crew. A passage to the United States, in the British 
 steamer Retribution, was tendered them. This, how- 
 ever, it was thought best to decline. On the 30th of 
 December, 1856, the American flag was hauled down 
 on board the Resolute, when it was saluted by the 
 Victory with twenty-one guns. The union-jack was 
 then hoisted, and the ship was given up to the author- 
 ities. The next day the American officers and crew left 
 England, on their return to the United States. 
 
 By late Lnglish papers, we learn that the Queen has 
 commissioned Mr. William Simpson, the artist of the 
 Crimean war, to paint for her private gallery a picture 
 of the "Reception" on board the Resolute — a very 
 graceful memorial of a most interesting act of interna- 
 tional courtesy. 
 
 While we write, the expediency of sending out still 
 other expeditions is discussed in England. " There is 
 
480 
 
 ARCTIC EXPLORATIONrf. 
 
 now little or no doubt," sayH the United Service Jour- 
 nal, "as to the intention of the goverrimorit to despatch 
 final expeditions in search of further traces of Sir John 
 Franklin. Tliey will probably consist of three parties : 
 one overland, another by the way of Behring's Strait, 
 and a third by the way of Davis's Strait and Baffin's 
 Bay." 
 
 Here terminates our history of Arctic adventure and 
 exploration. The results hitherto obtained are alto- 
 gether different from those of a pecuniary nature. 
 Through their means, the astronomer, the geographer, 
 the physicist, the naturalist, the chemist, and science 
 at large, have acquired facts which could have been 
 gained in no other way. The cost has been great ; the 
 cost of the expeditions alone in search of Franklin is 
 estimated at upwards of four millions of dollars : but 
 the consequences will be permanent ; and the record 
 of enterprising hardihood, physical endurance, and 
 steady perseverance, displayed in overcoming elements 
 the most adverse, will long remain among the worthiest 
 memorials of human eflfort. 
 
'ervice Jour- 
 to despatch 
 of Sir John 
 iroo parties : 
 ing's Strait, 
 and Baffin's 
 
 venture and 
 ed are alto- 
 ary nature, 
 geographer, 
 and science 
 
 have been 
 1 great ; the 
 
 Franklin is 
 iollars : but 
 
 the record 
 irance, and 
 ig elements 
 le worthiest 
 
 m 
 
 fe _?.-^ 
 
POETRY AND THE DRAMA 
 
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