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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be ffilmed at diffferent reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many fframes as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre ffilmAs A des taux de rAduction diffffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit on un seul clichA, il est ffilmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants IMustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 T mmw-' •7*prr: m^^" " ^ ■iw i» Wii» » iiii nX ^ ^ » M»m ''^*"'vummm % '<'■<■*'■ to.i [J- 1 V ■#- ■•^; MH I ' . ' ! » ' HjW. '" n| '^"""""^k ARCTIC VOYAGES: «FING AN f'^ ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERIES IN THK NORTH POLAR SEAS, J A IN THE YEARS 1818, 1819, & 1820. ■I* WITH AN ACCOUKT OF < < f4 Vi ra -! THE ESQUIMAUX PEOPLE. t:O.MPII.RD FROM THB MOST AUTHEKTIC SOUKCSS. DUBLIN: PRINTED BY RICHARD D. WEBB. 10, William^HtreH. 1831. .?»■' m ^-^ I I V f Drf:>' ■^li! The 1 jp resent the you iaithftilJ celebrat tended ( niiabita IPolar R, It is irork, \v] ■h will i ^ur best And that laudable j "*nitude, '"^nce u e, y it -e in th ontentnie nation und their stati poorest CO] comforts w **ied to the *x^ll ' 3 ■4 PREFACE. the young; but the "vent, wl"''t ?«™«i''e to faithfully extracted fiom tS 'f ',' •"^^"'^ «»•« celebrated men, who h?v^ f'e works of those f nded our knowldge o/th!"*'^ '° """^^ «*■ Inhabitants of North A ^ ■ ^"''^''^pby and Polar Regions "^ '^'"*'"""'' ""d the 4rth Jt is hoped tha^ aT fork, wLii^it amuser,/„'^'- ''f "'' '^'' «ttle fr, will impress upon hfs mindT.'' *''" '««'^- »ur best service to tha ""' *''«* ^e owe fnd that ' ARCTIC VOYAGES. i: INTRODUCTION. - Ml*. William Jones was a merchant who re- sided in the suburbs of Waterford, a city in the province of Munster and south of Ireland. He had been a long time in business, and, through ' the goodness of Providence, was net only able to live in comfort and respectability, but to edu- cate his two sons for the duties of the sphere in which they were intended to move. William and Patrick Jones, respectively four- teen and thirteen years of age, were boys of amiable dispositions and good parts; they loved their parents with a tender affection ; and by their cheerfulness and docility, made the domes- tic circle a scene of happiness, and the office of instruction a pleasure instead of a burden. How many children are blest with the saiyie parental care and fondness, that were experienced by William and Patrick, without being sensible of their advantages. How smoothly might the days of childj^ ass, were the anxieties pf the pa- B 2. •■Mm.-' .jah-^'**'*. rents duly understood and gratefully returned by their offspring. > ' The discipline which Mr. Jones established in his family was mild ; but he required that it 'f should be strictly observed. During the day, while business occupied his own time and atten- tion, his boys were under the instruction ofawor- ' thy and learned man, who kept what is known by the name of the Corporate and Daily School of the city. From him they daily received a judgment upon their conduct and diligence, and this they were expected to exhibit each day to their father, exactly at a quarter past four ; for Mr. Jones was a punctual man, and so methodi* cal in business, as indeed all thriving merchants are and must be, that his return home along the quay of Waterford, was as clear a proof to the neighbours that it w^as now four o'clock, as y they had heard the town-clock strike. / According to this judgment the boys km ^ perfectly well that the evening occupations were to be regulated. If it was unfavorable, "Come, boys," Mr. Jones would say, " too much of the day has been already lost, we must endeavour to make amends for it by increased diligence ;" and he would then keep them at study till bed-time arrived. But when the master's approbation bore testimony t(» their assiduity, it was thus he usually addressed them, " Go my boys, prepare to-morrow's tasks, and when you are ready I have that in view which will please you." And this promised gratification >vas always something that ^1 * I f .y»«. well rewar.lod their good conduct, and perhapt in no small degree excited them to fresh exertion. "When older," reasoned Mr. Jones, "they will not always find that an All wise Being connects enjoyment and prosperity with good conduct in tliis life ; but I humbly trust they will then be strengthened to act from higher motives than I can expect at present, and to look beyond this to a future state for solid, lasting happiness. In the mean time let me teach them thus, that virtue is always in its consequence to be preferred to vice. When we speak of Mr. Jones's rewards, we must explain to the reader diat they never con- sisted in any indulgences except those which had improvement in view. As he knew some* ' thing of chemistry, he sometimes filled a small balloon with gas, and sent it floating along the air ; at other times he would bring out his fine telescope, which enabled the observer to see the moon or the distant stars, the extraordinary ring which surrounds the globe of Saturn, and the 8even moons of the Georgian star, which render the nights «o bright to the inhabitants of that orb, if indeed there be any. Or, perhaps, Mr. Jones would explain to them some interesting clepartment in natural history, the animals and plants which are found in distant countries ; the nature of the air we breathe, and its importance to life ; or they would read together a book of travels or of voyages, by wliich they became ac- quainted with the manners, customs, and pe- culiarities of the various inhabitants of thi* 8 globe — Mr. Jones never failing, whatever might be the subject, to lead their contemplation up- wards, from the works of creation to Him who made all things by his word; and though he gave neither speech nor language to inanimate na- ture, impressed upon it striking marks of the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of the Creator. One afternoon,the boys were at the usual hour, on the watch for their father's return from his office, expecting every instant to see him walk up the short avenue, which separated the house from the road. On that day they looked for his arrival with peculiar pleasure, for they had just broken up for the summer vacation, having acquitted themselves with great credit, at the ex- aminations which were held into the progress of the pupils, and their desire to communicate the good news of their success would have led them to think, that he must have delayed beyond the usual time, had not the hand of the house-clock satisfied them that the quarter was only then arrived. Just at that instant, however, they saw theirfather approach, accompanied by a stranger, who from his dress and manner looked like a sea-faring man. This person, as they afterwards discovered, was the captain of a vessel which had that day cast anchor in tlie river Suir, on the banks of which Waterford is built, and partly belonged to Mr. Jones : but they had then no idea how much the stranger was' to contribute to the pleasure of tneir holiday evenings. '^l light i up- who gave I na- F the f the hour, m his walk house d for y had aving le ex- )gress nicate ve led eyond -clock then y saw anger, like a wards sh had on the partly len no ribute •*Well, William I well, Patrick I" said Mr. Jones, with a smile of parental pleasure, as he ap- proached the open door where the boys stood ready to receive him ; ** I have heard of your good answering at the examinations, and need not say how it nas gratified me. I have been to the bookseller's already, and you shall go to- morrow with me to chuse your premiums : but in the mean time you must make acquaintance with Mr. Mackey, the master of the Erin trader, which has just arrived at the quay. Whilst his vessel is discharging and taking in a freight for London, he has promised to take a bed here, and to spend his evenings with us. I know you will pay him proper attention, and I do not doubt but he will have the kindness to answer any questions you may have to ask him about the Esquimaux and the polar regions, for he tells me he sailed three voyages with Captain Parry. " With captain Parry 1" repeated both the boys, with astonishment and delight; '*and were you, sir, with captain Parry ? and were you shut up by the ice, and in the dark for so many months, as the newspaper informed us ? and did you for months together never lose ^sight of the sun? What a long night ! wh^t a long day, that must have been I and did you see the great whales spouting up gallons of water through their nos- trils? and were you ever in a house built of ice?" These queries followed each other with a rapid- ity which manifested the wonder of William and Patrick, who probably would have continued 10 tliem witliout waiting for an answer, had not Mr. Jones good humouredlv interposed, by say- ing, " Softly, my dear boys, not so many ques- tions at once. How can Mr. Mackey reply, when you do not wait for an answer ? I think you might wait till you were a little better ac- quainted with the gentleman, or at least until he was rested and had dined." " Indeed, father, that is true," said William, with a modest blush, ** but we have so many strange things to ask about, that we were forgetting good manners. Come, Pat," added he, drawing his brother axvay, ** to morrow, perhaps,' if fathe/s friend is willing to gratify us, we will hear an- account of the strp.nge sights which those distant places contain." " That," said Mr. Mackey, " I shall do with plea- sure, this evening, if your father pleases : and to morrow we will send to the vessel for some Es- quimaux curiosities, which I brought home with me. -■■■' " ' - ■- ^^ '■ -• -^ It would be difficult to detail all the questions >vhich were asked and replied to that very even- ing, for they could not I'estrain their curiosity. A:s soon as one had received his answer, the other's question succeeded, and, as might be ex- pected, but little connection was apparent be- tween any two successive queries. They were like a person who has just entered an apartment, in which different curiosities and specimens of eatest ^ j lassei g"!' judgment and care; but the stranger can only speak about the object on which his eye happens '■'♦sui'. 11 'r ft '^' to fall. At one time William asked about the Esquimaux summer huts ; at another, Pat wish- ed to know, how the ships escaped being crushed to pieces, when jammed in between two moving masses of ice. Now, one wished to know if Mr. Mackey had ever killed a white bear, and the other if he had been ever frost-bitten. Let not parents, under similar circumstances, repress these signs of curiosity in their children. You may moderate and check extreme impatience; but you are unwise if you damp that spirit of enquiry which you have excited. It arises from a praise- worthy desire for information, and you may de- pend on it that knowledge thus acquired, of whatever kind it be, fastens itself on the me- mory with a strength which is seldom weakened. But Mr. Jones, who never lost sight of the prin- ciple of mixing up the useful with the pleasant, and, in fact, had induced Mr. Mackey to take up his residence at his house, wdth the view to his boys' improvement, soon perceived how little comparative good would result from the conti- nuance of such a plan. " I shall tell you, Mr. Mackey," said he, at the close of the second evening, " a mode of gratifying my boys, which would be productive of instruction to them, and of amusement to Mrs. Jones and myself: we will ask you, when your convenience permits, to re- late to us for an hour at a time, the events of your voyages in a continued narrative, allowing the boys occasionally to ask a question, when the subject appears to require explanation." " I shall 12 willingly comply,'* replied Mr. Mackey, ** and for the sake of doing it with more satisfaction, it shall be taken from the journal which I kept myself of the voyages, and afterwards complet- ed, by adding such parts of the published narra- tives as appeared deserving of selection for their interest. And do not think," said he, good na- turedly interrupting Mr. Jones, who had begun to thank him for the obliging manner in which he had yielded to his wishes ; " Do not think that I am annoyed by your boys' questions; they show sense and acuteness, and perhaps I am too much of a traveller not to feel gratified at the interest which my story|j^ites. The only British who have ever been ^On^ north in these remote re- gions are the crews" of the vessels which were sent upon these voyages of discovery ; so let four boys ask as many qilestions as they please ; shall always feel pleasure in answering their enquiries, as far as my ability goes. Matters being thus arranged, we shall now proceed to give Mr. Mackey's narrative, with- out, however, dividing it into so many evenings' conversations. The interest to the reader will be greater, also, if we only mention those ques- tions of William and Patrick, which called forth an explanation of the more difficult parts of Mr. Mackey's recital. It is proper, however, to mention, that Mr. Jones had an excellent map of the northern hemisphere spread out upon the table; and that he took care his sons should trace upon it every place which was mentioned u 13 by^Mr. Mackey, as also the position of the ship in latitude and longitude at particular times in the course of the voyage. v' , o CHAPTER I. - ^ »• -" ■ " I suppose," said Mr. Mackey, ** I need not tell 3^ou how desirable it has long been con- sidered, to find a north-west passage to the Pacific Ocean. Mr, Jones. The boys understand very well, that if a communication exists among the wa- ters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by any sea washing the northern shores of North America, and that such communication is navi* gable by ships, a much shorter passage to the East Indies and China would be thus disco- vered than the present circuitous track round by the Cape of Good Hope, the southern part of Africa; or Cape Horn, the southern point of South America ; and they also know that geo- grapliers calculate, that such a route would shorten the length of the voyage above 6000 miles. ' Capi, 3Iackey, One of the first objects of go- vernment was, to explore the eastern part of that great bay which separates Greenland from the opposite shores of North America, called Baffin's Bay, in the hope that one of those nu- merous inlets which run towards the west. u miji^ht be found opening into the sea, wliicli there was good reason for supposing bounds the continent of North America, and commu- nicates with Beh ring's Straits. For thus the merchantman could sail into the Pacific Ocean, and at once direct his course to China, the East Indies, or any part of the Eastern hemisphere. Patrick, (LooJdng at the map of the icorld, which Mr, Jones had laid on the table,) But Avas there not another expedition sent out for the purpose of reaching the North Pole? Capt, M. Yes ; but by an inspection of the map, you will understand that this also was with the same view of shortening the passage to the Pacific Ocean ; for, suppose that by set- ting sail from Water ford, which is in North Latitude 52^ 14', and Long. 7«. 8' West, we could reach the North Pole, or that point on tlie earth's surface which is in Latitude 90, it is plain we should only have sailed over 37 de- grees, or 2220 miles. Arrived there, the vesstd could equally direct its course to any part of tlie earth's surface, to which the sea was con- tinued, and thus reach Behring's Straits in N. Lat. 66^**, from whence it could accomplish the remainder of its voyage. Pat. I should suppose little practical good can result from either of these plans. Capt, M, Perhaps the passage by the North Pole may be regarded as an object of pure curiosity; and there is certainly great rea- son to apprehend that it is almost constantly 15 "^ I dioked with ice. But, witli respect to the North-west passage to the Pacific Ocean, there is less probability that the ice blocks up the way, seeing the course must lie in a lower and more temperate latitude. But, at all events, even though tlie power of frost should be found to close up both ways, it surely becomes a great maritime nation like ours, to endeavour to ex- tend in every possible way our knowledge of the globe on which we dwell, and thus enlarge and strengthen the foundations of science. Mr. Jones. Yes, boys, such a cause is wor- thy of our Sovereign, and the enliglitened coun- try over which he reigns. Let it be clearly established that such a passage does or does not exiyt, and who can tell what future disco- veries ir:«ay arise out of these facts. When spec- tacles were first invented, it was not foreseen that they would lead to a more intimate know- ledtre of the Creator s wisdom and power, as displayed in the starry firmament. It was not supposed that the simple fact, that a needle rubbed against the loadstone, when balanced free will turn to the north, would lead to the discovery of the New World, and enable the pilot to steer his vessel through the deep to the remotest shores. ' Capt. M. It is a very curious circumstance, that all the great geographical discoveries have originated in the attempts to reach, by a short course, India, the supposed* land of wealth. Columbus, for exjvmple, thought that by holding If 11 ' 16 a westerly course, he could abridge the length of the. voyage to the East Indies ; and thus^ he discovered America. The Portugueze wel'e searching for a direct communication by sea, instead of a long and perilous over-land jour- ney, or the dangers which they had to encoun- tet in the Red Sea ; and they at length reached the Cape of Good Hope, the extreme point of Southern Africa ; whilst, in one of their first visits to India, having taken a wider compass in the Atlantic Ocean, in order to avoid the shores of the African continent, they were car- ried by the winds to the coast of Brazil, in South America. And, lastly, to the same de- sire of reaching India, but by a North-east, in- stead of a North-west passage, Englaifld owes her first communications with Russia. It is now about two hundred and seventy years since three several voyages were made with this view, and thus Archangel in the White Sea was discovered. But our navigators were at length stopped by immense shoals of ice. William. Is it long since the first attempt was made to find a North-west passage to In» dia? i Capt. M. In the year 1576, in the reign of Elizabeth, Martin Frobisher sailed from the Thames with two barks about the size of fish- ing-boats; the Gabriel of 25 tons, and the Mi- chael of 20 tons. He steered north-west, fell in with the coast of Labrador, and, in latitude GS** 8', discovered a large inlet, to which he gave iat) .•idfrnii HI ' :t i 17 . the tiame of Frobislier's Straits, because he be- lieved it to divide the American continent. The season, however, obliged him to return, after he had encountered appalling dangers, having lost his pinnace, and sustained great injury to his own boat from the storms. In a second voyage he met with islands of ice half a mile or more in compass, and rising two hun- dred feet above the surface of the sea. His crew, as he quaintly describes it himself, in- stead of odoriferous and fragrant smells of sweet gums, arid pleasant notes of musical birds in India, which they hoped to reach, tasting the most Boreal blasts, mixed with snow and hail, in the months of June and July, nothing inferior to an intemperate winter. 3Ir. Jones. Is that the same Frobisher who fought so bravely against the Spanish Armada, when it was sent by the King of Spain to in- vade England ? Capt M, The very same. But, though a brave man, he behaved very treacherously to the poor natives ; pretendmg to offer them some trifling presents, he induced some of them to approach, and then he seized and carried them to England : but he was justly punished. Patrick, Ho\^ , sir, pjfay tell us ? for one is grieved at any violence or treachery done to ' the simple, unsuspecting natives. Capt. M. He loaded his ships with a black kind of mineral, which, from tlie shining yellow grains mixed through it, he was finnly per- 18 suaded wasi a rich ore of gold ; and, on hU arrival in England, it proved to be nothing but heavy black earth, not even worth its weight of coal, and perfectly useless. The next expedition was sent out in 1585, under John Davis, one of the most skilful navi- gators of that day. His two vessels were also very small ; nevertheless he sailed as high north as 65® 30' in latitude, and in a subsequent voy- age as far as 72**, and gave his name to that sea which divides Greenland from America. In the year 1607, Henry Hudson sailed throiigl^ Davis's Straits, and advanced as far as Sl^** N. Lat. leaving his name to mark that great in- let, which, as the map will shew you, runs westerly in the latitude of 64®. His crew, how- ever, mutinied against him as he was returning, put him and eight sick men into a boat, and turned it adrift. It is supposed that they all pe- rished, for they never were heard of afterward. i William. What became of the mutineers ? Capt. M, The ringleaders did not long en- joy the fruits of their crime. After breaking up the chests, and plundering the stores, they proceeded with the ship ; but provoking the savages whom they met, by their violent and licentious conduct, they were killed in some sharp conflicts, as was afterwards learned from one of the very fevv survivors, whom the muti- neers had forced to join them. . Mr. Jones. I should suppose that such dis- astrous failures must have damped the ardour of enterprise* 19 but ight I? dipt M. They might have done so, but that each expedition added something to former dis- coveries, which encouraged to perseverance, and it was still hoped that the object would be ulti- mately attained. In 1612, Jonas Poole pene- trated as high as 82^ N.Lat. marking the extent to which he advanced, by calling it after his pa- tron, Sir Thomas Sniith's Sound. But the most distinguished navigator of these times was Wil- liam Baffin, who acted as pilot to three several expeditions, which set sailfrom England in 1615, 1616, and 1617. In the first of these he passed through Hudson's Straits, and advanced into Hudson's Bay as far as 86<* W. Long. In the second, he sailed up the bay which is now called after him, to a sound in Lat. 77® 30', which he called Whale's Sound ; and, in the third, he ascended nearly two degrees higher, to 79" 14' ; and, what makes his voyage still more important, clearly established the fact, that the bay is absolutely shut on the northern side, and, therefore, that any communication with the Pacific Ocean must be sought for along the western coast of Baffin's Bay. Mr, Jones, These men deserve great praise, Mr. Mackey, for their skill and courage ; par- ticularly when we reflect that their vessels were scarcely larger than our wherries. Capt M, Yes, in that way we see the spirit of enterprize which distinguished them. As- sailed by tempests, the snow sometimes falling to thick' that they could hardly open their eyes, HI y '^0 and the weathci* so intensely cold that they could not handle the ropes andsail-^ ,set with ice, and often in danger of bein^, ^.rushed to pieces by two masses coming together — they still held on their course in their little barks, evincing not only skill in the ordinary and prac- tical parts, but a knowledge of their profession, which would do honour to modern seamanship, with all its advantages of later improvements. From this time up to 1773, Hudson's Bay was at diflPerent times accurately explored ; but no progress was made towards the discovery of a North-west passjtge. In the latter year Cap- tain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, ad- vanced to 80® SV N. Lat. intending to approach the pole, but was unable to procaed farther; and in 1779, the celebrated Captain Cook at- tempted to penetrate from Behring's Straits eastward, in the hope that he might thus reach some part of Baffin's Bay; but an impenetrable barrier of ice which stopped his way, obliged him to desist from the enterprize that year ; and before he could resume it, he was cut off by the natives of Owhyhee, one of the Sand- wich Islands, in the South Sea. -f"i- CHAPTER n. CapL M, Before I proceed to relate the first of thoise expeditions in which I sailed with Cap- =ESC 21 tain Parry, I ought to mention that two vessels were sent out by the British government in the year 1818, the Isabella and the Alexander, under the orders of Captain Ross, Captain Parry, (then lieutenant,) being appointed commander of the Alexander. Pat, I suppose they were not such fly-boats as buffeted those seas in the reign of Queen Eli- zabeth, under the guidance of Frobisher, Davis, and Baffin. Capt, M, Far different, indeed. The Isa- bella was 385 tons burden, the Alexander 252 tons : besides v^hich, the bows, keels, and sides were strengthened to protect them from injury by the ice ; large beams were stretched below the lower deck, to support the ships against pres- sure in the event of their beinff caught between two masses of ice; the bed-places. of the officers and crews were jitted in such a manner that they might be taken ashore with ease, in case of ship- wreck, and formed into a dwelling ; and they were furnished with galley and other fire places, stoves, &c. for airing the ship. The crew of the Isabella consisted of fifty-seven men, including officers ; that of the Alexander of thirty- seven men. Mr, Jones, I remember at the time, to have heard that a great quantity of warm clothing was provided for the men. Capt, M, Yes, and of the most comfortable description : woollen shirts, swan-skin drawers, fawn caps, sea boots, ankle shoes, woollen stock- 33 ings, provisions of all kinds &c. — in short, every article which could be tuggewted, as conducive to the health and comfort of the crews, and the ultimate success of the enterprize. It was on the 18th of April, 1818, that the two vessels set sail from the port of London. From the prevalence of contrary winds, they did not clear the river Thames till the 25th. The next day was Sunday, and a messmate of mine who sailed in the Isabella has more than once men- tioned the feelings with which he attended di- vine service on that day. The quarter-deck of the Isabella was fitted up w ith flags and benches in the usual manner, and prayers were read by the captain. Mr. Jones. No doubt, the solemnity of the scene was more than usually heightened, by a sense of the dangers which, in all probability, beset the untried path on which they were about to enter. Capt. M. Yes, sir, each man felt, I would hope, how entirely his safety rested in the hands of the Almighty Disposer of all events, and that except "the Lord keep" the ship, "the watch- man waketh but in vain." On the 30th of April, the vessels reached the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland, where they replenished their water casks, and hired a cou- ple of seamen. I mention tin's last circumstance, because one of them proved a most important acquisition. William. I suppose he was well acquainted '<^ hi ol li w 23 rery icive the two om not ext ho en- di- kof hes by k* with the icy seas, and understood the mode of cutting a way for the ships through the ice. Capt, M. He was a very good seaman, but his most useful qualification was his knowledge of the violin, by the music of which he often lightened the labour of the crew, and made them work with cheerfulness. On the 3rd of May they left Shetland, and on the 24th were pass- imr up Davis's Straits, look-out men being placed in the crow*s nest and other parts of the ship, to give notice if any ice-bergs were seen. Pat. Pray, sir, what is a crow's nest aboard a ship ? I know very well what it is on land. Copt M. A crow's nest is a kind of box, like a cask, with spying holes on all sides. This is fixed at the mast-head to screen the look-out- men from the weather, and its entrance is through a trap door at the bottom, on which the man within afterwards stands. It is quite necessary for shelter, when piloting the vessel through crowded ice. William. I also have a question to ask — what do you moan by an ice-berg ? Capt. M. An ice- berg is a mountain of ice" surrounded by water; but there are several other terms which have been invented by whalers, and which I shall after have occasion to use, I may as well therefore explain them at once. A very wide expanse of ice is called a Jieldy and one of smaller dimensions a floe. When a field is cracked by a swell from beneath, it breaks into numerous pieces, seldom exceeding fifty 24 yards in diameter, and tliese taken together are called a pack. This pack, when of a broad shape, is called a patch ; and, when much lengthened, a stream. The packs of ice are crowded and heap- ed together by violent winds, but they again se- parate and spread asunder in calm weather. If a ship can sail freely through the floating pieces of ice, it is called drift ice, and the ice itself is said to be loose or open. When the larger blocks of ice are crumbled into small fragments, this collection is called brash ice, A portion of ice rising above the common level is named a hum- micky being produced by the squeezing of one pici^eabove another. These hummocks break the uniform surface of the ice, and sometimes reach to the height of thirty feet. Tlie term sludge is applied by the sailors, to the soft and flaky crys- tals which the frost forms when it first attacks the rufded surface of the ocean. These after- wards increase, but they are prevented from unit- ing together into one sheet by the agitation which still prevails, and they form small plates rounded by rubbing against each other, and scarcely three inches in diameter, called paii- cakes. From the 24th of May to the 10th of June, they continued their course up Baffin's Bay, meeting with ice in all its varieties of shape and extent ; but, by great watchfulness, they were not impeded by it. On that day, as my friend told me, the seamen shot a seal weighing 850 pounds, and it yidded thirty gallons of oil. On 25 are tape, id, a eap- ii se- lf eces If is ocks this ice mm- one i the each the 17th, they made fast to an ice-berg, within one mile of Waygatt, or Hare Island, N. Lat. 70«> 43' West Long. 57o 3', where they found forty- five ships employed in the whale fishery. I was myself at that time mate on board one of them, and I well remember what a lively scene the col- lection of so manv vessels and their crews, in these lonely and remote regions, produced. And here I can shew one decided advantage, even suppose there were no other, which resulted from this expedition. Captain Ross actually disco- vered an error of five degrees in Longitude, and thirty miles in Latitude in all the charts of the coast. Till this mistake was corrected, a pilot comparing his reckoning with the old charts, would have supposed land to be nearly two hun- dred miles distant, when in fact it was close at hand ; and you may easily conceive hmv disas- trous the consequence might be, when a gale is blowing, and the w^eather foggy. William. Are you able to moor a vessel as well to an ice-berg as to the land ? CapL M, Fully as well : a difficulty arises only when the ice-berg suddenly begins to drift, and of course carries with it the vessel which is made fast to it. This happens often, and then it requires much exertion and painful labour to avoid being hemmed in and carried whitherso- ever the ice is driving. The Isabella was thus beset on one occasion ; but by great exertion they got her free, having called to their assist- ance the natives of the C/oast, with whom they m established a commuiucation through an Esqui- maux interpreter. Pat But who was the Esquimaux interpre- ter ? we did not hear of him before. Capt 3L He was, in his humble sphere, a very extraordinary man, and an instructive proof that honesty and good conduct will gain respect and esteem in any station of life. The first know- ledge that the English had of him dates from 1816, in the autumn if which year he was found concealed on board a Leith whaler, on herreturn home from these parts. The owners of the ves- sel hearing of it, treated him with great kind- ness, and that winter sent him to school, where he learned a little English. On the return of the ship in 1817, the master was directed to af- ford Jolni Backhouse, as he was called, an oppor- tunity of returning to his friends, and on no account to bring him back, unless at his own par- ticular desire. On reaching Greenland, how- ever, he found that his sister, his only remaining relation, was dead, and tlierefore determined to remain with those who had behaved to tiim so kindly. He, accordingly, as I was told, returned to Leith, and applied himself with so much di- ligence to learning, that he spoke English toler- ably, and even acquired soine«kill in drawing: and when Captain Ross's expedllion was fitting out, was engaged by the Admiralty to accom- pany it as interpreter. After the Isabella had been freed from her perilous situation, Sackhouse w!is sent ashore 1 1 ' m > It i;,* (i4 ■ n J S7 '.■t'l M I m m "H k ] ^ with the natives, to bring off some articles which they had promised to send by him ; but as he did not make his appearance, on a signal being made that the ice had begun to separate, and a breeze was springing up, Vi boat was sent with a party to look after him. And it was well they did, for they found the poor fellow in one of the huts, with his collar-bone broken, he having, in order to shoot some wild fowl for the captain, overloaded his gun, under an idea, as lie ex- pressed it, " plenty powder, plenty kill ;' that is, that the greater the charge the more game he would bring down ; and the violence^f the re- coil had caused the accident. William, Is John Backhouse still alive ? Capt M, No ; on his return t^ Edinburgh from that very expedition, he caught an inflam* matory cold, which, notwithstanding the best medical advice, and the care of many kind friends, carried him off in a few days. I knew him well, having met him several times that winter ; and I can vouch for it, that he was universally esteemed, and indeed deserved it; for there was a pleasing simplicity in iiis manners, and great good humour. Conscious, also, of his ignorance, he was always desirous of learning, and grateful to those who would take the trouble to t«ach him. Mr, Jones. How man y young people are there who might take a lesson from this excellent young man, though he had passed so many of his early years in the ignorance of savage life. "W 28 Capt M. I remember to have heard that he was taken to see an elephant in London, and being asked what he thought of it, he said with a look of deep humility, " elephant more sense me." His disposition also was gentle and oblig- ing ; he was thankful for the least mark of kind- ness, and upon several occasions shewed a good- ness of heart which would do honour to any- country. I mef him one day at some distance from Leith, the weather was piercingly cold, and he had his coat in his hand. " What are you doing, John," said I, "without your coat ?" " Poor little things," said he, pointing to two children, whom he saw on the road side looking very cold, " poor little things, my jacket will warm them;" and he actually wrapped them both in it, and carried them safely home, quite uncjonscious that he had done any thing remarkable. Pat (his eyes filled with tears,) Did he know that he was dying ? Capt, M. He did; and exhibited a simple piety which edified all around him. He thanked his friends tor their kindness ; but still retaining some superstitions of his former life, said that all their efforts were of no avail, for his sister had appeared to him, and called him away. He had, however, been carefully instructed in the Chris- tian faith, and he felt its consolations. On the morning of his death, he was seen with an Ice- landic book of devotion in his hands, and he held it till his strength and sight failed him, when it dropped to the ground, and shortly afterwards he expired. ^ i'l # 'I ■m n V .1, i> '] h to a lat he ' 4 1, and 'i I with :. .J sense m oblig- ' kind- 1 good- '1 any w stance d, and ^e you i; ' Poor 1^ ildren, y cold, \ bhem ;" ' ? it, and ~ i us that ,■ ' ) know e piety ied his gaining id that :er had lo had, Cliris-' )n the in Ice- md he d him, shortly V# 29 Mr, Jones. My boys ! let not the example of John Sackhouse be forgotten. Capt, M, The Isabella and Alexander had not proceeded much farther, when th^y had occasion to thank Providence for the manner in which the vessels had been strengthened. The Isabella was endeavouring to make her way through an opening which appeared in the ice ; the channel, hovt^ever, was so much obstructed by heavy frag- ments, that cheir efforts were ineffectual. The field closed upon them, and they began to feel its pressure most heavily. A large floe v/hich lay on one side of the Isabella appeared to be fixed, while on the other side another floe of con- siderable bulk Avas passing along with a rapid motion. The pressure continuing to increase, it became doubtful whether the ship would be able to sustain it ; every support threatened to give way ; the beam in the hold began to com- plain and to bend, and the iron tanks settled together. At the moment, the hull rose several feet out of the water, whilst the ice, which was more than six feet thick, broke against the sides, curling back on itself. The great stress now fell on the bow; and, after being again lifted up, the ship was carried with great violence towards the Alexander. Every effort was made to keep the two sliips asunder, but tliey failed ; the ice-an- chors ai»d cables brqjfe one after tlie other, and the sterns of the two- ships came so violently in- to contact, as to crush to pieces like an egg-shell a boat that could not be removed in time. The 80 Rhock was tremendons ; tlie ancliors .'iiid chain- plates were broken ; the musts began tu strain, and were expected to come by the board; when, at the eventful instant, by the merciful inter- position of Providence, the two fields suddenly receded, and the ships passed each other with comparatively but little damage. The last things that hooked each other were the two bower-anchors, which being torn from the bows remained suspended by their cables, in a line between the two ships, until that of the Alex- ander gave way* » 3Tr. Jones, I liave often heard of the danger* of the Greenland Fishery, but this escape was most providential. Capt,M, Their safety was owing, under Providence, to the admirable manner in which the vessels had been strengthened when fit- ted for service. A common whaler would have been crushed to atoms. Their troubles, how- ever, were not yet at an end, for as tlie gale in- creased, the ice began to move with greater ve- locity, while the continued thick fall of snow kept from the sigh.t the farther danger that awaited them, till it became imminent. A large field of ice wa^ soon discovered at a short dis- tance, bearing fast down upon them from the west, and it tlius became necessary to saw docks in the ice for refuge, in which service all hands were immediiitoly employed. It was, liowevrr, . found too thick for their largest saws, and no progress covdd bo made. Tliis ciicumstance r * train, when, inter- denly • with J last e two i bows a line Alex- in ger« ►e was under which en fit- d have , how- ;ale in- ter ve- snow r that V large ►rt dis- :>m the ' docks hands wevpr, and no ^stance I 31 ^jroved fortunate, for it was soon after perceiv- ed that the field to which the Isabella moored for this j)urpose, was drifting rapidly on a reef of ice-bergs which lay aground; the top-sails Avere therefore close reefed, in order that they mi gilt pass as a last resource between two bergs, or into any creek that might be found among them ; wlien suddenly the field acquired a cir- cular motion, so that every exertion was now necessary for the purpose of warping along the edge, that being the sole chance there was of escaping the danger of being crushed on an ice- berg. In a few miniitcs they observed that a part of the field, into which they had attempted to cut the docks, came in contact with the berg, with such rapidity and violence, as to rise more than fifty feet up its precipitous side, when it suddenly broke, the elevated part falling back on the rest with a terrible crash, and over- whelming with its ruins the very spot they had previously chosen for their safety. Soon after- wards the ice appeared sufBcieritly open for the vessel to pa^s the reef of bergs, and they once more found themselves in a place of security, and made fast to the land ice, which, uniting with the ice-bergs, formed a spacious and se- cure bay. After the damage had been repaired, the two vessels set sail soon after midnight; but you must not suppose it was dark ; the sun had not set at all, but was above the horizon. They had not made much way, however, when the crews 32 were surprized by the appearance of several men on the ice, who were liallooing", as it was imagined, to the ships. Captain Ross thought at first that tliey were shipwrecked sailors, whose A^essel had perhaps been crushed in the late gale ; he, therefore, tacked, hoisted co- lours, and stood in for the shore. As they drew nearer, however, it was discovered that they ' M^ere natives, drawn on rudely fashioned sledges by dogs, which they continued to drive back- wards and forwards with great rapidity. All his efforts to open a communication with them were at first ineffectual, for they started off and soon disappeared, when they saw a party putting oft* from the ships to speak with them. On the following day, however, eight sledges came within a mile of the ship, and soon after sent four of their number to a flag-staff, which had been erected on the ice, and on which were hung some rows of coloured beads. Wlien John Sackhouse saw them, he volunteered to go alone, and remained to hold a parley with them. The place where they were to meet was about half a mile from the Isabella, a small chasm in the ice separating the parties from each other, and preventing any treachery on the part of the natives, unless they threw their darts at him. In executing this service, Sackhouse shewed no less address than courage. Having placed a white flag, which he carried in his hand, at «ome distance from the canal, he advanced to , ' ■m 33 the edgo, and made friendly si^ns to those op- posite to approach as he did. This they partly complied with, halting at a distance of three hundred yards, where they got out of their sledges, and set up a loud halloo, which Sack- house answered by imitating it. They then ventured to approach a little nearer, having nothing in their hands but the whips with which they guide their dogs; and, after satisfying themselves that the canal was impassable, one of them in particular seemed to acquire confi- dence. Shouts, words, and gestures were ex- changed for some tin>e to no purpqse, though each party seemed, in some degree, to recog- nize the other's language. After a time Sack- house tho'ight he could discern that they spoke the Humooke dialect, drawling out their words, however, to an unusual length. He immedi- ately adopted that way df speaking, and hold- ing up the presents, called out to them, "Come on," to which they answered, " No I no ! go away ;" and other words, which he made out to mean that they hoped the strangers were not come to destroy them. The boldest then approached to the edge of the canal, and draw- ing from his boot a knife, repeated, ** Go away, 1 can kill you :" Sackhouse, not intimidated, told them he wat* also a man and a friend, and at the same time threw across the canal some strings of boads and a chequered shirt ; but these ^hey beheld with great distrust and «ip- preheivjioo, still calling, '< Oo avvay> dout kill 34 us." Sackhouse thou threw them an English knife, saying, " Take that ;" on this they ap- proached with caution, picked up the knife, then shouted and pulled their noses ; these ac- tions were imitated hy Sackhouse, who, in re turn, called out " Neugh yaw," pulling his nose with the same gesture. They now pointed to the shirt, demanding what it was, and when told it was an article of clothing, asked of what skin it was made ; Sackhouse replied it was made of the hair of an animal which they had never seen, on which they picked it up with expressions of surprise. They now began to ask many questions, for by this time they found the language spoken by themselves and Sack- ho"iSe had sufficient resemblance to enable them to hold some communication. • Sackhouse now told them that he had a father and mother like themselves, and pointing to the south, said he was come from a distant country in that direction. To this they an- swered, ** Tiiat cannot be : there is nothing but ice there." They then asked " what creatures those were?" pointing to the ships; to which Sackhouse replied, that they were houses made of Avood. This they seemed still to discredit, answering, " No, they are alive; we have seen their wings." Sackhouse now enquired of them what they themselves Avere; to which they re- plied they were 7nen^ and lived in that direc- tion, pointing to the north; that there was much water thero, and that they had come here to I r .-v directed to assure them, tliat the ship Mas only a wooden house, and pointed out the boat, whicli had been hauled on the ice to repair ; explaining to them that it was a smaller one of the same kind. This im- mediately arrested their attention, they ad- vanced to the boat, and examined lier, as well as the carpenter's tools, an ice-anchor which lay in her, and the oars, very minutely, each objeot in its turn exciting the most singular ejacula- tions of surprise. By this time, the ofiiceri of both ships had surrounded them, while the bow of the Isabel- la which was close to the ice was crowded with the crew ; and certainly a nice ludicrous, yet interesting scene was never beheld, than that which t''ok place while they Avere viewing the ship ; nor is it possible to convey to the ima- gination any thing like a just representation of the wild amazement, joy, and fear, which suc- cessively pervaded the countenances, and go- verned the gestures of these potu* creatures, who gave full vent to their feelings". But that which most of all excited their admiration, was the sight of a sailor going aloft, and they kept their eye on him imtil he had reached the top of the n\ast. The sails which hung loose they 37 i'> .rt> natunilly supposod won? skins. Their atton- lion boing again called to the boat, where the oarp(Miters hammer and nails Ntill remained, they were shewn the use of" these articleg, and no sooner were they aware of this, than they shewed a desire to possess them, and were ac- eordinf^ly gratifii^d. They now accompanied their new acquaintances to that part of the bow from which a rope-ladder was suspended, and the mode of mounting it was shewn to them, but it was a considerable time before they could }>e prevailed on to ascend it. At length the senior, who always led the way, went up, and was followed by the rest. The new wonders that now surrounded them on every side caused fresh astonishment, which, after a i\iw minutes, always ended in loud and hearty laughter. The most frequent c^a<;ula- tlon of surprise was JIef//i ya%o ! and when par- ticularly excited by any very renuirkable ob- ject, they pronounced the first syllable many times with emphasis find rapidity, extending wide their arms, and looking at each other at the end with open mouths, as if in breathless consternation. / ' Their knowledge of wood was limited to some heath of a dwarfish growth, with stems no thicker than the Ww^qv, and accordingly they knew not what to think of the timber they saw on board. Not being aware of its weight, some of them successively seiztid on a spare top- mast, lying on the deck, evidently with the f t •v 38 r t^j view of carrying it off; and r& soon as tliey be- came familiar with the people around them, they shewed that desire of possessing what they admired, which is so universal among savages. Tlie only thing they looked on with con- tempt was a little terrier dog, judging, no doubt, that it was too small for drawing a sledge ; but they shrunk back, as if in terror, from a pig, whose pricked ears and ferocious aspect, (it being of the Shetland breed,) pre- ^:ented a formidable appearance. This animal liappening to grunt, one of the men was so ter- riiied, that he was impatient to get out of the ship : in making his escape however, he shew- ed a great desire to possess some of the extra- ordinary things which he saw,and actually seized and endeavoured to carry off the smith's anvil, Finding he could not secure it, he laid hold on a large hammer, threw it to a considerable dis- tance on before him, on the ice, and then fol- lowing it himself, he deliberately set it on his sledge, and made off. As this was an article which could not be s^pared, a person was sent to recover it, who followed him hallooing, and soon got pretty near him : seeing he must be overtaken, he artlully sunk it in the snow, and went on with his sledge, by which action it was evident that he knew he was doing wrong. The man who was sent after him, left oft' the pur- suit and returned, as soon as he had recovered the hammer, while the thief escaped and wa» .-seen no more that day. ii i i t!fl ei fi 39 and ' y Among other amusements all'orded to the officers and men on board, by their ti ia^s on the Inexperience of the natives, was the effect pro- duced upon them by seeing their faces in a magnifying mirror: their grimaces were highly entertaining, while, like monkies, they looked first into it, and then behind it, in hopes of find- ing the monster, which was exaggerating their liideous gestures. A watch was also held to the ear of one man, who supposing it aliv^e, asked if it was good to eat ; and another, on being shewn the sky-light and binnacle, touch- ed it, and desired to know what kind of ice it was. The men who remained were now handed down to the captain's cabin, and shewn the use of chairs, which they did not compreheu'j, ap- pearing to have no notion of ruiy other seat than the ground. Being seated, the officers attempt- ed to take their likenesses, John Sackhouse being directed to amuse them with questions. The drawings being finished, they began to be very inquisitive, asking the use of every thing in the cabin ; the sight of a writing desk, a chest of drawers, and of other wooden furnitnre, greatly excited their astonishment; but appa- rently from the nature of the materials only, as they seemed to have no idea of their uses. They Avere then condncted to tlie gun-room, and afterwards round the ship; but without ap- pearing to distinguish any thing particularly except the wood in her construction : stamping f on ihe deck fis if in evident surprize at the quantity. The flute and the violin were play- ed for them, hut they seemed to take no notice of either. v^ ■ On retiring to the cahin some hiiscuit was « produced, and a piece eaten hy Sacithouse, he- fore presenting it to them. One of them then took a piece also into his mouth ; hut almost immediately spat it out with disgust. Some salt meat, tnat was afterwards oiFered, produc- ed the same efi^ect. On leaving the ship they were asked how many pieces of ice were along- side ? they could, however, reckon only to ten, though ahout a thousand were floating around at the moment. They were loaded with various presents, consisting of articles of clothing, bis- cuit and pieces of wood, upon which they de- parted, promising to return as soon as they had eaten and slept ; for there was no means of ex" plaining to them what to-morrow meant. After they had crossed the chasm, they were observed by some men who were sent to ac- company them, throwing away the biscuit, and splitting into small pieces a plank which had been given to them, for the purpose of dividing it among the party ; soon after this they mount- ed their sledges, and drove off in a body, hal- looing apparently in great glee. WiUiam, Are these people much under the size of Europeans. Capt M, Their stature is much below ours in general ; one man indeed measured five feet !,ii ten m five fe less t ture they e ward, child In well f< in pro hands theyo pulent eyes si far ill b tened ; regula ways \ ly a sh the ha The stoppii lands. 76® ar 70o an land n north as cou] mount inipas! tendin % 41 i II ours feet 1 ten inches ; but almost all were little more tliart five feet, whilst the women looked considerably less tlian the men, both from the unwieldy na- ture of their clothes, and from a habit which they early acquire, of stooping considerably for- ward, in order to balance the weight of the child which they carry in their hood. In their figure the Esquimaux are rather well formed ; their knees indeed are too large in proportion, but the legs are straight, and the hands and feet in both sexes remarkably small ; the younger are all plump, but none of them cor- pulent. Their faces are generally round and full; eyes small and black ; nose also small, and sunk fariii between the cheek bones, but not much flat- tened; their teeth are short and close, generally regular ; and in the young persons almost al- ways white. The colour of their skin is scarce- ly a shade darker than that of a deep brunette ; the hair is black, glossy and straight. The country where the vessels were now stopping. Captain Ross called the Arctic High- lands. They lie between the latitude of 76« and 77» 40' North, and the longitude of 70» and 72® West, occupying a narrow ridgut has a ^olf; and keep up • They g among 1 are ge- natural- he same lomesti- ►gs used another lion you Captain )f each, LS found nd with awn by # 45 Capt, M, I was, and paid particular atten*' tion to the manner in wh)on they are harnessedi as well as their rate of travelling. When draw- ing a sledge, they have a simple harness of deer or seal skin going round the neck by one bight; and another for each of the fore-legs, with a single thong leading over the back, and attach- ed to the sledge as a trace. Though they ap- pear at first to be huddled together without re- gard' to regularity, there is in fact considerable attention paid to their arrangement, particu- larly in the selection of a d6g of peculiar spirit and sagacity, which is allowed by a longer trace to precede the rest as leader ; and to which in turning to the right or left, the driver usually addresses himself. This choice is made with- out regard to age or sex ; and the rest of the dogs take precedency according to their train- ing or sagacity, the least effective being put nearest to the sledj^e* The leader is. usually from eighteen to twenty feet from the forepart of the sledge, and the hindmost dog about half that distance, so that when ten or twelve are running together, several are nearly abreast of each other. 1 he driver sits quite low, on the fore part of the sledge, with his feet overhang- ing the snow on one side, and having in his hand a whip, of which the handle, made either of wood, bone, or whalebone, is eighteen inches, and the lash more than as many feet in length. The part of the thong next the handle is platted a little way down to stiffen it^^and give it a '•% ^ i j I| 46 spring, on which much of its use depends; and that whicli composes the lash is chewed by the women to make it flexible in frosty weather. The men acquire from their youth considerable cxpertness in the use of this whip, the lash of which is left to trail along the ground by the side of the sledge, and with it they strike any of the train at pleasure, and inflict a severe blow. Though the dogs are kept in training entirely by fear of the whip, and indeed with- out it, would soon have their own way, its im- mediate eff^ect is always detrimental to the draught of the sledge ; for not only does the individual that is struck draw back and slacken his pace, but he generally turns upon big next neighbour, and this passing' on to the next, oc- casions a general scattering of them all in iif- ferent directions, accompanied by the umai yelping and showing of teeth. The dogs then come together again, and the draught of the sledge is quickened ; but even at the best of times by this rude method of draught, the traces of one third of the dogs form an angle of thirty degrees on each side of the direction in which the sledge is advancing. Another inconve- nience attending the Esquimaux method of put- ting the dogs to, besides that of not employing their strength to the best advantage, is the con- stant entanglement of the traces by the dogs repeatedly doubling uiulcr from side to side, to avoid the whip; bo that, after running a few miles, the traces always require to be taken oil], and cleared. 47 lis; and I by the (leather, derable lash of by the ke any severe raining d with- its im- to the oes the slacken iis next ext, bliged 't their n stop- 3re the means ) head, a takes lid the ge, in- 49 hey is performed. When the road is level and very hard and smooth, six or seven dogs will draw from eight to ten handred weight at the rate of seven or eight miles an hoar for several hours together, and will easily, under these cir* cumstances, perform a journey of fifty or sixty miles a day. On untrodden snow five and twenty or thirty miles would be a good day's journey. The Scime number of well-fed dogs, with a weight of only five or six hundredpounds^ the sledge included, are almost unmanageable'; and will, on a smooth road, run any way they please at the rate of ten miles an hour. Pat, In summer, I suppose, they have no- thing to do, for then the snow is ofl^ the ground. CapL M* In summer they are stilF useful on journeys, and hunting excursions, by bt»iiig employed to carry burdens in a kind of saddle bags laid across their shoulders. A stout dog, thus accoutred, will accompany his master laden with the weight of about twenty to twenty-five pounds. -» ^ William, Are they good hunting dogs ? Capt M, Their scent is excellent, and this quality their masters turn to account in find- ing the seal-holes, which these invaluable ani- mals will discover, entirely by the smell at a very great distance. The track of a singl [> take V 'n in- U e dogs 9 to oc 1 jy are , who It and i * own ■ them H tnuch S time m catch them or entice them from the huts when the men fail. Two females that were with young on board of our ship, brought forth six and seven at a litter. Their feeding, which, both in sum^mer and winter, consists of the skin and part of the blubber of the walrus, is, during the latter season, very precai*ious — their masters having then but little to spare: they, therefore, become extremely thin at that time of the year, and would scarcely be recognized as the same animals as when plentifully fed in summer. No wonder, therefore, that they will eat almost any thing, however tough or filthy, and that neither whipping nor shouting will prevent them turning out *A' the road, even when going at full speed, to pick up whatever they espy. When at the huts,theyare constantly creeping in to pilfer what they can ; and half the time of the people sitting there is occupied in vociferating their names, and driving them by unmerciful blows out of the apartments ; and yet, notwithstanding this rough treatment which they receive from their masters, their attachment to them is very great ; and this they display, after a short absence, by jumping up and licking their faces all over vith extreme delight. The men, however, never caress them ; and indeed scarcely ever notice them, but when they offend ; and then they are not &paring of their blows. On the whole, though the service performed by these valuable creatures is JO |;reat> I am i|i; opinion that art cannot well ^m 52 4\ m have done less towards making them useful ; and that the same means, in almost any other hands, would be employed to greater advan- tage. William, You have not yet, sir, described the dress of the Esquimaux. Capt. M. It consists of three pieces, which are all known by the general name Tunnich The upper one is made of seal skin, with the hair outside ; at the bottom it is formed like a shirt terminating in a tongue before and behind, the top is so far open as to admit the wearer's head, a hood being behind, which is neatly trim- med with fox's skin, and made to fall back on the shoulders, or cover the head if required* This garment is lined, in general, with the skin of the eider duck, or the awk ; and the lining being close at the bottom, and open near the breast, serves as a pocket. The next piece of dress, which scarcely reaches to the knee, is also uncomfortably short in the upper part; so that in stooping, the skin is exposed ; it isr made of bear or dog's skin, and fastened with a string. The boots are made of seal skin, with the hair inwards, the sole being covered with sea-horse hide. They reach over the knees, and meet the middle part of the dress. The whole are made by the women ; the needles used being of ivory, and the thread, the sinews of the seal; the seams are so neat that they can scarcely be distinguished. It was their summer dress, but they said that in winter, or as the weather be- came c like a ( Afte ticular discov( me. of the there that Jones southv of Au val, S.8 I Pat \ Cai the h( two h if, as ; name rising So< Soun< to coi Capti from about line he CO to er asai aftei it wi ^ 53 Iseful i other Idvan- kibed came colder, they put on a garment of bear-skin like a cloak, over all. After leaving this settlement, nothing par-^ ticular occurred for some days, in the way of discovery or incident, as my messmate informed me. The two vessels coasting round the top of the bay in lat. 76^** North, ascertained that there was no opening or navigable passage in that direction, from Whale Sound east, to Jones Sound west ; they then turned to the southward, and soon after, that is on the 24th of August, for the first time, in a long inter- val, SA'W the sun setting. Pat How long had it been visible ? Capt M, It had remained constantly above the horizon for eighteen hundred and seventy- two hours, or seventy eight days ; a long day if, as in these countries, we were to give that name to the time which elapses between the rising and setting sun. * Soon after this they passed by Lancaster's Sound, an inlet which was generally expected to contain the wished for North West passage. Captain Ross, however, thought, as he looked from the deck, that he could see the Sound at about eighteen leagues distance, closed in by a line of mountains running across it, so that he contentedhimself with sending a partyashore to erect a flag-staff and flag upon an eminence, as a mark to denote the progress they had made; after which he gave a signal to his consort^ that it was his intention to steer homewards. c: •7 ^' 54^ 1 A ' • • In his voyage down the west side of Baffin's Bay, Captain Ross passed several other inlets, which were filled with large glaciers of ice, and quite impenetrable. Their last hope of a passage was in Cumberland Straits, Jying in North latitude 62<> 51, West long. 61« 12'; but the season was too far advanced to allow of their exploring it, and they, therefore, pursued their course without interruption, arriving in Shetland on the 30th of October, and in Grimsby roads on the coast of Lincoln in Eng- land, on the 14th of November, 1818. Patrick. Well, Sir, what good resulted from this expedition? Mr. Jo7ies, In the first place, Pat, it extended our knowledge of the earth on which we live. 1 1 brought us, secondly, acquainted with our fellow creatures, whose condition we can improve by teaching them some of the arts, which promote the comfort of man, and indeed give him a su- periority over the brute creation ; Whilst it will enable us to give these poor, un instructed savages, more accurate notions of the Supreme Being, who alone is to be worshipped, and of his revelation, as exhibited to us in the Holy Scriptures. CapL M. I can mention some other benefits accruing from the enterprize, and such too as I suspect your son wants to hear. It brought the whale-masters acquainted with a part of the Bay, wheie their fishery may be pursued with greater success ; the whales being nut only ' r Baffin's |ey inlets, ice, and >e of a rying in i'2'; but allow of pursued iving- in and in in Eng- 'tefl from xtended live. It urfellow prove by promote 'ini a su- St it will structed Supreme > and of le Holy benefits >oo as I •^onglit ;)art of nisuod ^t only 55 large and numerous, but (from their having never been disturbed,) tame and easily ap- proached. A valuable fur trade might also be opened with the natives, the country abounding with black foxes, the skins of which the natives might easily be taught to collect ; and some idea may be formed of their value, by the fact, that they sell for about twenty guineas apiece, undressed in London ; now, however, they do not value them, preferring those of the seal and the bear: in addition to which the ivory of the sea-unicorn, the sea-horses' teeth, and the bear's teeth, would form a valuable article of trade, and they could be procured for knives, nails, small harpoon heads, pieces of iron, wood, crockery ware, tools and domestic utensils ; to the great benefit not only of the merchant, tut to tliat of this secluded race of people. William, Did Captain Ross ever meet any bears ? CajJt, M. He saw them in great numbers ; but generally too distant for an attack. On one occasion, two large bears swam off to the ships, which were at the distance of six miles from the land. They fetched the Alexander, and were immediately attacked by the boats and killed. One, indeed, which was shot through the head, unfortunj'^'Jy sunk ; the other, on being wounded, attacked the boats, but was, Jit length, secured and towed to the Isabella. The animal weighed 1131 pounds besides the blood it had lost, which was, per- 56 haps thirty pounds more. On another occasion the captain had discovered the largest ice-berg ever seen by them, and wishing to ascertain its size by actual measurement, the boats were sent for the purpose. It was pei-pendicular in every place but one ; in this, however, a creek wa:^ discovered, where the party landed, and found a way of mounting to the top ; when they had ascended, a white bear was seen lying at his length, and no way disturbed by their ap- proach* The fire arms had been wetted by the spray, so that it was some time before prepa- rations could be made for an attack. When all was ready they advanced, but no sooner were they Ib motion, than the animal made for the other side of the ice-berg ; here they thought him securely their prey, the only way of escape being as they imagined, by the lanaing place, which they had left well guarded. Their as- tonishment, however, was great, when they saw the bear, on coming to the edge of the pre- cipice, which was fifty feet high, plunge into the sea without hesitation, and escape, there being no boat at that side of the ice-berg. * Mr, Jones, I believe Captain Ross was hasty in his resolution of returning; for subsequently, as I have read. Captain Parry sailed many hun- dred miles up Sir James Lancaster's Sound, which Captain .^ss imagined to be closed in by mountains. Capt, M, He says himself, that the weather was fi>ggy when he stood in to the sounds and 57 Bion -berg ertain were lar in creek and they ngat r ap- ythe repa- en all were r the >wght scape ►lace, r as- they pre- into here isty tly, un- nd; lin ler iid tfiat he came to the oonolution durfng a few minutes of clear weather, that it did not pene- trate far to the West ; some of the people aboard, however, were of an opposite opinion, and their evidence led the Admiralty to expect that there was sufficient encouragement for fitting out another expedition, which they did in the following year. This, however, is no disparagement to Captain Ross, than whom there is not a more skilful seaman in his Ma- jesty *s navy ; though the event proved that he was mistaken. Pat, I hope the same men were employed upon the second voyage ; they were used to ice- bergs, and were surely better fitted for such a service than men who had never been engaged in that kind of navigation. Capt. M, Every man who volunteered his servJce on his arrival in port, had a preference above all others. To encourage them also to enter their names, employment was found for them during the winter. A month's leave of absence was granted to them to see their friends, and they were to be kept in pay, until the ships to be sent out in the following year were ready to receive their crews. I had been for many years engaged in the whale-fishery, and as I neard there was a desire to engage such sea- men as had experience in navigating those seas, I made application through a person of influence, and was fortunate enough to get em- ployment, on board one of the discovery-ships, as leading man. ^ 58 m Pat. What is the meaning of that ? ' Capt, M, A leading man is one who must be competent to steer a vessel, through the im- pediments which floating ice presents. He is also supposed to be skilful in harpooning whales, and in the management of the boat, which is sent in pursuit of them. The command of the new expedition was given to Captain Parry, who had recommended himself to the Board oi* Admiralty, when commander of the Alexander under Oaptain Ross, by his activity, intelli- gence, and zeal ; besides that he was himself strongly of opinion that Lancaster's Sound was penetrable, at least beyond the point where Captain Ross thought tite land closed it in. Mr, Jones, My boys and I have been too much interested by your brief account of Cap- tain Ross's expedition, not to feel greatly de- sirous that you should relate the occurrences of the voyage under Captain Parry, which you can speak of from your own observation. Capt, M, You shall have them with pleasure ; for it will gratify me to oblige your sons who seem so ivitelligent ; and besides,* like all travel- lers, I like to talk over the dangers througli which we passed, particularly when I meet with persons who feel interested in the subject. . ^ gun -hi the col under of the attem into t Parry Edwa comp< maste dual douV)^ The bark, ice, a to w visit) . CHAPTER HI. For the now expedition two ships were fit- ted out, •».he Hccla of 375 tons, and the Griper 59 gun>brig, 180 tons; the former being put imdcr the command of Captain Parry, and the latter under Lieutenant Matthew Liddon. The object of the voyage, as I have said, was generally to attempt the discovery of a North-west passage into the Pacific Ocean. On board of Captain Parry's ship was an astronomer, Captain Edvvai'd Sabine of the Royal Artillery, and a competent number of officers, a Greenland master and a Greenland mate. Every indivi- dual on board the two ships was to receive double the ordinary pay of his Majesty's nav y. The vessels were rigged after the manner of a bark, as being the most convenient among the ice, and requiring the smallest number of men to work them. They were furnished with pro- vis;! ons and stores for two years ; in addition to which there was a large supply of fresli meats and soups preserved in two cases, essence of malt and hops, essence of spruce, and other extra stores, adapted to cold climates and along voyage. The ships were ballasted entirely with coals; an abundance of warm clothing was allowed, a wolf-skin blanket being supplied to each officer and man ; besides a housing-cloth similar to thai with which waggons are usually covered, to make a sort of tent on board. Va- rious kinds of presents were furnished to secure the friendship of the natives, and a number of valuable astronomical and philosophical in- strum >3nts were put on board each ship. Mr^ Jones. May I ask you to giye the boys gi min i " n r.-mmmrvtKii'*'^ ■- 60 W: a brief ao*^ount of your instructions from tlie Admiralty. Capt, M, We were ordered to make the best of our way to the entrance of Davis'si Straits, and if the ice would permit, were to endeavour to explore tlie bottom of Sir James Lancas.ters Sound, and if possible, to pass through it to Behring's Straits. Other di- rections, however, were given in case this route sliould not be found practicable. If we got through Behring's Straits, we were to proceed to Kamtschatka, on the western coast of Asia, and to forward duplicates of all our journals, through the hands of the Russian Governor, to St. Petersburgh, to be conveyed from thence to London. The expe- dition was then directed to proceed to the Sandwich Islands, or to Canton in China, there to refit, and then lose no time in returning to England. Our commander was enjoined to cultivate a good understanding with any Es- quimaux or Indians we might fall in with, and it was left to his judgment when on the spot, to decide upon the propriety of wintering on the coast of America, to follow up any expec- tations or hopes of success next season, or to return to England to report the result of his observations. After passing the latitude of 65® North, he was from time to time to throw over board a bottle closely sealed, containing a paper stating the date and position at which it was launched. Whenever we landed on the northern coast of North America, we were to erect a pole having a flag, and to bury a bottle 9A at the foot of it, containing a brief account o£ our proceedings and future intentions, for the information of Lieutenant Franklin, who about the same time was sent on a land expedition, to explore that coast eastward from the mouth ot the Copper Mine river of Hearn,in 69<» North latitude, and 111<^ West longitude, and it was hoped would come upon our traces, or perhaps meet us in his progress. In the beginning of May, 1819, the Hecla and Griper were towed down the river Thames, by the Eclipse steam-boat. The guns and gunner's stores were received on board on the 6th, and the instruments and chronometers were em- barked on the evening of the 8th, when the two ships anchored at the mouth of the river, and we sounded the northern point of the Ork- neys, at the distance of two miles and a half, on Thursday, the 20th of the same month. Every day during the voyage, except when the vessels were beset by ice, a bottle was thrown over containing a printed paper, stating the date and the situation of the ships, with a re- quest in six European languages, that any per- son finding it, would forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty, with a notice of the time and place where it was found. On the 24th of May we came in sight of the crag called Rockall, in latitude 57** 38' North, and in West longitude 13«* 47'. This rock rises from the middle of the ocean, at the dis- tance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles from any other land. Pa^ Aud are you able to steer with so much fl C2 i I 1 1 1 il\ certainty, for what may lie oalloil a speck in the sea ? CapL 3L Yes, wo can with the assistance of our chronometers or time-pieces, steer for a given point with as much certainty, as if we had it constantly in view during the whole voy- age ; and this will shew you how much improv- ed the science of navigation must be, since the time when sailors seldom ventured out of sight of land. • • „ Nothing of moment occurred for several days, hut the wind veered to the westward on the 30th, and increased to a fresh gale, with an ir- regular sea and heavy rain, which brought us under our close-reefed top sails. On the 4th of June, being the anniversary of the birth of our good old King George III. who was then alive, the weather being calm and iine, our captain ordered an additional al- lowance of grog to be served out, and in sea- men's phrase, " the main-brace to be spliced," that we might drink his Majesty's health. In the evening, being then in lat. 55*^ and West longitude 8> 56\ we tried for soundings with a line 1500 feet long, but without finding bot- tom. On the 15th of June we had a view of Gape Farewell, the extreme south-western point of the Coast of East Greenland, in N. Lat. 59« 38' and West Long. A<2^ 45' and it is a curious fact, that we saw it at the amazing distance of 141 miles, owing to the great clearness of the I nn] a ci itil lai sitj all thj col h G3 atmosphere, arul the loftiness of the (.'ape itself. On the 18th of Jone we entered Davis's Straits, and fell in with the first stream of ice, through which we towed the ships for six days, when a breeze springing up from the eastward, it closed upon us and we were immoveabiy be^et, the clear sea which we had left being four miles to the eastward of us, and to the west one exten- sive field of ice. Pat. You were well accustomed to thig, however, and soon set your ice-saws to work, to cut a passage for the ships. Capt, M, It was fixe days before we could with every exertion get clear of it. During all this time, the roll of the sea forced tlie heavy masses of ice against us with such violence, as would have endangered the safety of the best ships built in the ordinary way. Strengtliened, however, as (/urs were, they escaped without the least injury. While thus beset, the crew of the Griper killed a large white bear, which had been drawn by the smell of some red her- rings, which happened to be frying at the time, a circumstance which made me remember, that it is a pi*actice usually resorted to by the Green- land whalers, to entice these animals near them. It is impossible to conceive a more helpless situation than that of a ship thus beset, when all the power that can be applied will not alter the direction of her head a single degree of the compass. On the 26th we were in latitude, by observation, 63o 59' North, and longitude M i ii -1 6i Gl^ 48' West, having one hundred and twenty iive fathoms on a sandy bottom. A large black whale was seen soon after this, in an opening in the ice near the ships. It is usual for these animals to descend head fore- most, displaying the broad fork of their enor- mous tail above the surface of the water, but on this occasion, the ice was so close as not to admit of this mode of descent, and the fish went down tail foremost to the great amusement of those of us who had been engaged in the whale- fishery. * The swell had somewhat subsided on the 29th of June ; but the ships remained firmly fixed in the ice as before. In the course of the day, we saw land bearing north and by west about thirteen leagues distant, appearing from the mast-head like a group of islands near to the entrance of Cumberland Straits. On the 30th the ice began to slacken a little more about the ships, and after two hours heaving with a hawser on each bow, brought to the capstan and the windlass. Captain Parry succeeded in moving the Hecla about her own length to the eastward, where alone any clear water was vi- sible. The ice continuing to open still more in the course of the day, we were at length enabled to get both ships into open watei-, after eight hours incessant labour. On the 1st and 2nd of July, we continued to keep close to the edge of the ice, without per- ceiving any opening in it. Its outer margin 65 consisted of heavy detached inasi^eeJ, muoli wash- ed by the sea, and formed *' a pack." Within the margin of the pack, it appeared to consist of heavy and extensive floes, but no. clear water could be discovered to the westward. Proceeding to the northward along the edge of the ice, we crossed on the 3rd of July the Arctic circle, which, as you know, lies in the latitude of 66^. Our longitude was then by our chronometers 57o 27' West. On that day, we passed at least fifty ice-bergs, many of them of large dimensions. At a quarter past five P. M . we sounded in one hundred and fifteen fathoms ;^ the water at the surface of the sea had a brownish tinge ; but no difference in its temperature could be detected. Towards mid- night, the wind having shifted to the south- 1^ est, and moderated, another extensive chain of very large ice- bergs appeared to the north- ward. As we approached them, the wind died away, and the ships' heads were kept to the northward only by the steerage way given to them by i heavy southerly swell, which, dash- ing the looLe ice with trenaendous force against the bergs, sometimes raised a white spray on the latter to the height of more than one hun- dred feet. This being accompanied with a loud noise exactly resembling the roar of distant thunder, presented a scene at once terrific and sublime. Here we again pushed the ships into the ice, with a view of getting into clear water * A fathom is six feund in s seven ( whole threat- hat we >uld be which nimals le c»ver I allow w ^ o I— < w en I ~w-'.: *% 'Nw?- ■("^i }i ( 69 a boat to approach within a few yardss without moving. When at length they are disturbed, they dart into the water w ith great confusion. We succeeded in killing one of them, though with some difficulty, and it may be worth re- marking, as a proof how tenacious this animal is of life, that it struggled for ten minutes after it was struck, and towed the boat twenty or thirty yards, after which the iron of the nai-- poon broke ; and yet it was found on examina- tion, that the iron Ibarb had penetrated through the heart. WillUt/m. I have often heard of the walrus ; pray what kind of animal is it ? Capt, M. It is from twelve to fifteen feet in length, and from eight to ten feet in circumference ; the head is short> small and flat- tened in front. The flattened part of the face is set with strong bristles, like treble twisted cord, and as thick as straws. The nostrils are on the upper part of the enout, through which it blows, like a whale. The fore-paws, which are a kind of webbed hand, are from two to two and a half feet in length, and are capable of being spread out to the breadth of fifteen to eighteen inches. The hind feet, which form a sort of tail extend straight backward; the length of each is the same as that of the fore legs. • The skin of the walrus is about an inch thick, and is covered with a short yellowish brown hair. The inside of the paws in old animals is \ 70 Kct- defended by a rough horny kind of casing, a quarter of an inch thick, probably produced by the hardening of the skin, in consequence of coarse usage in climbing over ice and rocks. The tusks are two in number, projectingfrom the upper jaw, in length from ten to twenty inches: these, it would appear, are necessary for its de- fence from the bear, and also for enabling it to raise its unwieldy body on the ice, where it is generally found sleeping. Mr, Jones, I have heard that the walrus is the animal, which has given rise to the many absurd stories, we all have heard of that iiuagi- nnry animal called the mermaid. Copt, M. I make no doubt of it, for the head of the young walrus, without tusks, is not unlike the human face, and its habit of rais- ing its head out of the water to look at ships and other passing objects, has I am sure caus- ed it to be mistaken Dy the ignorant ; indeed, so great is its resemblance to tin) human face, • that the surgeon of a «hip in which I sailed, actually reported that he ]iives them clothing, and with the hair off, is used as covering instead of planks for their boats, and as outer garments for them- selves ; shielded with which, though their canoes may upset and plunge them in the water, it does not penetrate to their bodies. It serves also for coverings for their tents. Pat, Are the seals very wary ? Copt, M, They are so extremely watcliful, that it is difficult to surprise them. When a number are collected on the same piece of ice, one, if not more, is continually looking round: 74 I besides which, tliey always endeavour to secure their retreat, either by lying near the edge, or by keeping a hole in the ice always open, before them. Indeed so shy are the old animals, that though I hr^ve seen a couple of thousand within the i n|' ri of a square fiu-long of ice, the whole have a 1 their escape on the approach of a boat. riie /oung ones, however, are less guarded; and when met with at the proper season, may sometimes bo killed by a dozen at a time, on a small flake of ice. When the seals are observed making their escape into the water, before the boat reaches the ice, the sailors give a long continued shout which amazes their victims, and makes them an easy prey, provided their pursuers are a ive ; a blow on tne nose with a club stuns them, after which they despatch them at their leisure. Spitzbei'gen, which lies intheNorthern Ocean, between the 76th and 80th degrees of N. Lat. and the 9th and 20th of E. Long, is the great place for the seal fishery ; and ships fitted out for this purpose, have often procured a cargo of from four to five thousand, which yielded nearly one hundred tuns of oil, besides tlie skins which are used as trunk-covers, and for caps, &c.: not above one or two British vessels, however, are fitted out at a time for this fishery; though from the ports of the Elbe and the Weser in the north of Germany, a number of sealers are annually despatched. ^ To return, however, from this digression, Pil «UH III H I «ll i^lhMl«.li>il ,.— -... „^ ,_. 75 tlie ice still continued so compact, that we found it impossible to penetrate to the west- ward ; and nothing remained to be done, but to make the best way we could along the edge of the pack, which we followed until the lOth^ when a thick fog came on which made great caution necessary in sailing ; there being a great many ice-bergs near us, Mr, Jones, Your situation during a 'ieavy fog must be peculiariy dangerous. Ca'pU M, It would be so, but for a strong reflection of light from these imYnense bodies of ice, which with an attentive look-out, is ge- nerally visible at a sufficient distance o enable the navigator, if in smooth water, to avoid coming in contact with them. A large bear being seen on a piece of ice near which we were passing that sanoe da,y, a boat was despatched in pursuit, and our people suc« ceeded in killing and towing it on board. As these animals sink immediately on being mor- tally wounded, some dexterity is requisite ta secure them, by first throwing a rope over the neck, at which many of the Greenland seamen Bre remarkably expert. - , Pat. Does not the bear, when struck, ge- nerally strive to put his paw upon the edge of the boat, in order to get in; or else drag it under the water ? - Capl, M, He always tries to paw down the gunwale, as we call it ; and to prevent this, it is cu^itomary for thef boats of whale-ships to 7S ¥::n n bara two or tliree lines coiled in them, which not only gives them greater stability^ but with management keeps ♦;he bear from doing mis- chief. Our boats were more light, and there- fore very easily heeled over ; and I have more than once seen a bear on the point of taking possession of them. We must use caution, therefore, in attacking these ferocious creatures. We always found a boarding pike th« most useful weapon for this purpose. The lance used by the whalers will not easily penetrate the skin, and a musket ball, except when very close, is scarcely more efficacious. Pat, When he is attacked on tlie ice, does he make a more effectual resistance ? Capt. M, On such occasions he is a more dangerous enemy ; for he has more strength than in the water. When pursued he always turns on his enemies. If struck with a lance, he is apt to seize it; in his mouth, and either bite it in two, or wrest it out of the hand. If shot with a ball, unless he is struck in the head, or some other vital part, he is enraged rather than depressed ; he seldom, however, attacks men ; his general walk is slow and deliberate ; but when impelled by danger, or hunger, he pro- ceeds by a galloping step; and upon ice can easily outrun his pursuers. Mr, Jones. Perhaps you can give the boys some instances of this animal's sagacity. Capt M. I am acouainted with several, having often m«t with the bear in the course of 77 IS a more my whale-fishery voyap^es, and shall mention them with pleasure. When shot at a distance and ahle to escape, he has been observed to re- tire to the shelter of a hummock ; and, as it' conscious of the effect of cold in staunching the blood, apply snow Avith his paws to the wound. I have also observed their extraordinary af- fection for their young. We once pursued a bear and her two cubs across a field of ice ; at first she seemed to urge her young ones to an increase of speed by running before them, turn- ing round, and manifesting by a peculiar action and voice, her anxiety for their progress ; but finding her pursuers gaining upon them, she carried, or pushed, or pitched them alternately forward until she effected their escape. In throwing them bofore her, the little creatures placed themselves across her path to receive the impulse, and when impelled by her some yards in advance, they always ran onwards till she overtook them, when they placed them- selves again in a favourable position for ano- ther throw. I remember, also, to have heard from a ship- mate, that the captain of his vessel, being anx- ious to procure a bear without wounding the skin, made trial of the stratagem of laying the noose of a rope in the snow, and placing within it apiece of kreng (the carcass of a whale) ; a bear ranging the neighbouring ice, was soon enticed to the spot by the smell of burning meat. He perceived the bait, and approached and seized F 2 78 it in his mouth ; but his foot, at the same mo-^ ment, by a jerk of the rope, being entangled in the noose, he pushed it off with his other paw, and deliberately carried it away. After having eaten it, he returned. The noose, with anothei" piece of kreng, being then replaced, he pushed the rope aside, and again walked off in triumph. A third time the noose was laid ; but excited to caution by the evident observation of the bear, the sailors buried the rope beneath the snow, and laid the bait in a deep hole dug in the centre. The bear once more approached, and the sailors were assured of their success. But he, more sagacious than they expected, after snuffing about the place for a few moments, scraped the snow away with his paw, threw the rope aside, and again escaped unhurt with his prize. I shall give you another which fell under my own observation. In the mt)nth of June, 1812, a female bear with tWQ cubs, approached the ship in which 1 was, and was shot. The cubs, not attempting to escape, were taken aliv«. These animals, though at first evidently un- happy, became at length reconciled, as we thought, to their situation; and being tolerably tame, were allowed occasionally to go at large about the deck. While the ship was moored to a floe, one of them having a rope fastened round its neck, was thrown overboard. It im- mediately swam to the ice, got upon it, and at- tempted to escape. Finding itself, however, 70 detained by the rope, it endeavoured to disen- gage itself in a most ingenious manner. Near the edge of the floe was a crack in the ice of considerable length, but only eighteen inches or two feet wide, and four feet deep. To this spot the bear returned, and when on crossing the chasm the bight of the rope fell into it, he placed himself across the opening ; then sus- pending himself by his hind feet he dropped his head, and most of his body into the chasm, and with his fore feet applied to each side of the neck, attempted to push the rope over his head. Finding this scheme ineffectual, he re- moved to the main ice, and running with great impetuosity from the sh ip, gave a remark able pull on the rope ; then going backward a few steps, he repeated the jerk. At length, after frequent attempts to escape this way, every failure of which he announced by a significant growl, he yielded himself to his fate, and lay down on the ice in angry and sullen silence. Pat. Do not accidents often occur from the ferocity of bears ? Capt M, Not so many as the rashness of sailors, w: o take eve.y opportunity of attack- ing them, might lead us to expect. Under Captain Pan y, not one happened, though every seaman who has navigated Polar Sejis, could recount several either as falling under his own observation, or as having happened to his friend. 1 once heard of two men who had wandered to »ome distance from the beach ; while uncon- 80 I \i M seious of danger they were attacked by a bear, who seized one of them by the back, and brought him to the eartli. His companion ran off, and gave the alarm, and a party of his ship- mates came to his assistance. The bear stood over its prey during their approach, without the least appearance of fear, and on their attack sprang on one of their number, and made him also his victim. The rest now fled in confusion, and, with the exception of three, could not be induced to renew the conflict. These latter again assailed the bear, and after a dangerous struggle killed it^ and rescued the mangled bodies of their two unfortimate shipmates. . I heard also of two escapes sg remarkable, that, they deserve to be mentioned. One hap- pened in 1788, when the captain of a whale^ landed from his ^hip in company with his sur- geon and mate. Whik traversing the shore, the captain was unexpectedly attacked by a bear, which seized him in an instant between its paws. At this awful juncture, when a mo- ment's delay must have been fatal to him, he called to his surgeon to fire, which he did with admirable precision and resolution, and provi- dentially shot the bear through tlie head. • Pat, That was indeed a wonderful escape. Capt, 31, And yet it was not more surpris- ing tlian that of a friend of my own, Captain Hawkins of theEouthoipe of Hull, who in July, 1818, seeing a very large bear, took a boat and pushed off in pursuit ef it. On reaching it, he hi by a bear, >ack, and anion ran F his ship- ear stood , without eir attack nade him onfusion, Id not be se latter angerous mangled ites. larkable, 3ne hap- L whalei? his sur- e shore, ed by a between n a mo- him, he iid with d provi- d. escape, surpris- Captain in July, oat and g it, he struck it twice with a lance in the breast, and whila in the act of recovering his weapon for another Wow, was seized by the enraged ani- mal, and thrown over its head into the water. Fortunately, it did not repeat its attack, hut exerted itself to escape, which it was able to do, the attention of every one being directed towards the captain, whose thigh was much la- cerated by the animal's teeth. On the 16th, running along the edge of the ice with a fresh breeze from the south-west, we passed the Brunswick whaler from Hull ; beating to the southward, she crossed within hail of the Griper, and the master informed Lieutenant Liddon, that he had on the 11th left a large fleet of fishing ships about the lat. of 74® unable to proceed farther to the north- ward. On the 17th of July, the margin of the ice appearing raore open than we had yet seen it, and there being some appearance of a " water sky" to the north- west, our captain was induced to run the ships into the ice, though the weather was too thick to allow us to see more than a mile or two in that direction. We were, at noon, in lat. 72o, longitude 59° 43', and the depth of the water was found to be one hun- dred and ninety fathoms on a muddy bottom. The wind soon died away ; and after making a number of tacks in order to gain all we could to the westward, we found ourselves so closely hemmed in by the ice on every side, that there •Jk i^ I 62 was no longer room to work the ships. We therefore made them fast to a floe till the wea- ther should clear up. It did so in the evening, when we perceived that no further progress could be made through the ice, into which we had sailed to the westward twelve miles. We were therefore once more under the necessity of returning to the eastward, lest a change of wind should beset the ships in their then situ- ation. A thick fog came on at night, and prevailed till near uoon on the 18th, when we came to a close but narrow stream of ice lying exactly across our course, and at right angles to the main body of the ice. As this stream extend- ed to the eastward as far as we could see from the crow*g,-nest, an endeavour was made to push the ships with all sail through the narrowesst part. The ease with which this operation, technically called " boring," is performed, depends chiefly on having a fresh and free wind, with which we M'ere not assisted on this occasion ; so that when we had forced the ships about one hun- dred yards into the ice, their way was >Dom- pletely stopped. The stream consisted of such small pieces of ice, that when an attempt was made to warp the ships a-head, by fastening lines to some of the heaviest masses near them, the ice itself came home without the ships being moved forwards Every eff^ort to extricate them from this helpless eiituation proved fruit- less, for moro than two hours, when the Hecla 83 was at length backed out, and succeeded in pushing through anothier part of the stream, in which a small opening appeared just at the moment. All the Hecla's boats were imme- diately sent to the assistance of the Griper, which still remained beset, and Avhich no effort could move in any direction. At length, how- ever. Captain Parry resorted to the expedient of sending a whale-line to her from our ship, and then making all sail he succeeded in towing her out head to wind, till she was enabled to proceed in clear water. William, How distressing it would have been for the two ships to be separated I Pray how broad was the stream of ice ? Capt, M, It scarcely exceeded three hun- dred yards, and yet it occupied us constantly for more than five hours, and will give you some idea of the obstructions to which ships are liable in this kind of navigation. In the course of this afternoon, one of the boats was upset by the ice, and her crew thrown out of her ; but by getting upon the ice they escaped with no other injury than a thorough wetting. Early on the morning of the 21st the fog cleared away, and discovered to us the land called by Davis, Hope Sanderson, being the first land we had seen in sailing northward into Baffin's Bay, from the latitude of 63J« . We found ourselves in the midst of a great number of very high ice-bergs, of wliich we counted no less than 88 from the crow's-nest, besides many F 3 ■•*^'-,.'m :: ¥ :P 84 smaller ones. Wp t^^u^j • , 'vest^ard, i„ order to tlr'^'''""^'^^ *"» the only clear weather we haW» ?*'^»»t«?e of the d^ys, and at noo^ fo„' .d ^t' ''7"^ ^^ ''^"'•te.n t«<>n in lat. 72" 58' north ^^' ''^ observa- 580 43- The depth ^Shet'Ir^* ^""^''»<'« thorns, having increase jf T "^^^ ^28 fa- eight miles to^th^TeXtd""' '"' '" ^"'""^ cAinX;;:i^tJitr;r^^^"'r<^- of Lancaster's-Sound. he hll ^^f *'"" '»'• ?ttempt to cut his way ,w'?. "J'"^t •'""'*''«'• ice, >n order to get irfto fh«^ "'^ ''^'■'■""- of the experience of his forml "P™ *•'•''' «hich tain Ross Jed hi,„ o blhW i.''"-^''*^'*' "''h Cap. fhe western coas"of SJ.! fe* ^''""^.^ «"<' "po^, therefore, favoured ,Wth . ^^ ^'^'"ff ''ow, ".oderate bree.e ton Ltf.r''''''''^'' «"'' « ran into the ice, which / fr Ji"""''"'''"'^' ^»e consisted of detached -.; . "''■*' t'*'o mile* floes of considers ''r; ''"* ^^^'-ards of ^eet .:, thickness. The wind H-'"f "^ '^'^ ^^«^en muln.ght, and the weX, ■""'^J' *''"'««l* dear. "edtfter was serene anrl -ith hawsers,ZtZ,*: hTC'" ^'">' "'-4^' which became more and mi ^^, '""*^''"' "'' '^e vanced, till at lenffth «i^ ^*' ."'"*« »« «'e ad- -«- Jirly beset,T&Sno': ''''^"'"^' ^^ »-^ t Iron, the mast-he«l 1 "P^" ^^ter i„ ■^'■« -. ,,„dMv.re icS^ltSyt^i:;;: ':^i>m.- '.>. .> • 85 ed in heaving the ships through th« iee, taking advantage of every occasional opening which presented itself, hy which m^eans we advanced a few hundred yards to the westward during the night. ' ) / . . ■ • » The weather was clear on the morning of the 25th, and a few narrow lanes of water ap- pearing to the westward, the Griper was made fast astern of the Hecla, and her cyqw being sent to assist in manning our capstan, we pro- ceeded to warp the ships through the ice. William* I do not see the advantage of taking the crew out of the Griper. Capt M, The advantage we gained by thig proceeding was this ; we were able to apply the whole united force of the two s^hips com- panies in separating" the Jtnasses of ice, which lay ill the Hecla's way, and the opening once made, the Griper coul a easily be hauled through. In this manner we advanced about four miles westward before eight in the evening, and having then come to the end of the clear \ ater, and the fog again coming on, we secured the ships in a deep " bight" or bay, in a floe called by sailors a natural dock. An extra allowance of meat and grog was served out, and all hands permitted to go to rest till the state of the weather and of the ice should become more fa- vorable. ! : Eaily on the morning of the 2Gth there was clear water as far as we could see to tln^ west- ward, whidi, on account ©f the fog, did nut ex^ it'.' 66 i hn • 'y ceed the distance of three hundred feet. We made sail, however, and having groped our way for about half a mile, found the ice once more close in every direction, except that in which we had been sailing, obligingus to make the ships fast to a iloe. A boat was sent away to endeavour to find a lane of clear water, leading to the westward; she returned, however, on board in an hour without success, having with dififi- culty found her way to the ship by our muskets and other signals. The lat. here, by observa- tion, was 730 2', and the longitude 60^ U'. At half past 3 p. m, the weather cleared up, and a few narrow lanes of water being seen to the westward, every exertion was made to get into tfjem. On beginning to heave, however, we found that the " hole" of water in which the Hecia lay, was now so completely enclosed by ice, that no passage out of it could be found. We tried every corner, but to no purpose ; all the power we could apply being insulhcient to move the heavy masses of ice, which had fixed tlieuiselves between us and the lanes of water, without. In the mean time the Griper had succe^^dwd i' advancing about three hundred yardy, awd iiaJ. placed her bow between two heavy iioes. wb<.di it was necessary to separate before any funiier progress could be made. Both ships continued to heave at their hawsers occas' jnally, as the ice appeared to slacken a littlrj by which means they were now and then drawn a-head a few i vches at a time ; but did not the peri^ stacl mini A. ice. SI not advance more than half a dozen yards iit the course of the night. Mr. Jones, I could not have conceived that the' navigation of these seas was at once so dif- ficult and so dangerous. CapU M, It is to give you some idea of the perils to which we were exposed, and the ob- stacles that opposed our progress, that I am so minute in this part of our voyage. About three A. M. on the 27th, by a sudden motion of the ice, we succeeded in getting the Hecla out of her confined situation, and ran her up astern of the Griper. The clear water had made so much to the westward, that a narrow neck of ice was all that was now interposed between the ships, and a large open space in that quar- ter. Both ships' companies were therefore or- dered by our captain upon the ice, to saw off the neck, when the floes suddenly opened suf- ficiently to allow the Griper to push through under all sail. Pat, Well now, I suppose, all your labours were at an end. The Hecla, no doubt, fol- lowed her ere tlie ice had time again lo close. Cap, M, Without loss of time, we endea- voured to push the Hecla through after her ; but by one of those accidents to which this na- vigation is liable, and which renders it so pre- carious and uncertain, a piece of loose ice that lay between the two ships, was drawn after the Griper by the eddy which her motion produced, and completely blocked up ;»s with a wedge. 88 * if the narrow passage through wjiich we were about to follow. The saws were accordingly again set to work, and used with great effect ; nevertheless it was not till eleven o'clock that we succeeded, after seven hours hard labour, in getting the Hecla into the lanes of clear water, M'hich opened more and more to the westward. On the 29th of July we had so much clear water that the ships had a very perceptible pitching, which from the closing of the ice does not very often occur in the Polar Seas, and which we therefore hailed with pleasure as an indication of the open sea. At 5, p, m, the swell increased considerably, and as the wind freshened up, froiA the north-east, the ice gra- dually disappeared ; so that by six o'clock we were vailing once more in an open sea, perfect- ly free from obstruction of any kind. We now seemed all at once to have got into the head quarters of the whales. They were so numerous, that we counted in one day no less than eighty-two. It is a common opinion among Greenland fishermen, that the presence of ice is necessary to insure the finding of whales ; but we had no ice here, where they were most numerous. In the afternoon, the wind changed from the N. N. W., which oblig- ed us to cast off the Griper, and we carried all sail a-head to make the land. We saw it at half past 5, p, m. being the high land about Possession Bay, and at the sam« time several so streams of loose, but heavy ice eame in sight, which a fresh breeze was drifting fast to the south-eastward. Sir James Lancaster's Sound was now open to the westward of us, and the experience of the former voyage had given Captain Parry reason to believe, that the two best months in the year for the navigation of these seas were yet to come. Mr, Jones. This demonstrates the advan- tage of local knowledge in the navigation of the Polar Sea«, for to me it would have appear- ed little short of rashness, to attempt a passage through so compact a body of ice, as that which you had forced your way through. Capt, M, Perhaps, nothing can shew more forcibly, the skill and judgment of our com- mander, than the account I have given you — we had now reached the entrance of Sir James Lancaster's Sound, just one month earlier than had been done in 1818, although Captain Ross had then sailed above a fortnight sooner with the same general object in view, namely to pe- netrate to the western coast at Baffin's Bay, Avhere alone the north-west passage was to be sought for ; and this difference is to be attri- buted entirely to the confidence which Captain Parry felt, that an open sea would be found to the westward of the barrier of ice, which occu- pies the middle of Baffin's Bay. The breadth of the barrier was above eighty miles, and as made, one day with another, but about we twelve miles in the twenty-four hours, during fe p k': ' 90 the seven days we were labouring to penetrate it, nothing, as I have mentioned, could have justified our attempting it except the experience and seamanship of our skilful captain. ' The Hecla's cables were now bent, and a sig- nal made to the Griper to do the same. As we approached the land, the wind blew directly out of the sound. This prevented our making much way to the westward. On the morning of the 31st we stood in, however, towards Cape Byam Martin, and soon afterwards dis- covered the flag-staff which had been erected on Possession Mount, in the former expedition. The Griper being considerably astern, Captain Parry thought it a good opportunity to go on ihore, in order to make some observations, while she was coming up; in addition to which, one of the officers was despatched with a small party to examine the country, which rose in a gentle slope from the sea, and presented an open and extensive space of low ground, flank- ed by hills to the north and south. William, How far into the interior did the officer proceed ? Capt M, He followed the bed of a stream, which he found winding through the valley be- tween three and four miles, without discovering any indication of a wooded country. Some pieces of birch bark were seen, but this was afterwards explained bjr his finding at the dis- tance of a quarter of a mile from the sea, a piece of whalebone, two feet two inches in leng^th, I and t\i circul of its part stance ing vi distan of bar pie. Wi flag-st Cai it was it free remar shoes fresh, water, days. Th( a rav€ a wile clovei were sidei'8 those moist Indee grow in thi Ha retur 91 and two inches in breadth, having- a number of circular holes very neatly perforated along one of its edges, and which had undoubtedly formed part of an Esquimaux sledge. This circum- stance affording a proof of the Esquimaux hav- ing visited this part of the coast, at no very distant period, it was concluded that the piece of bark had been brought thither by these peo- ple. William. I suppose the party visited the flag-staff which had then been set up. Capt. M. You may conjecture they did. it was found still standing ; the ground around it free from ice or snow, and what was more remarkable still, the old marks of the seamen's shoes made eleven months before, ;vere as fresh, on the banks of an adjacent stream of water, as if they had been imprinted but a few days. The only animals met on shore, were a fox, a raven, some ring- plovers, snow-buntings, and a wild bee ; several tracks of bears and of a cloven-footed animal, probably the rein-deer, were also observed on the moist ground. Con- siderable tufts of moss and of grass occur in those parts, which are calculated to retain the moisture produced by the melting of the snow. Indeed, moisture alone seems necessary to the growth of a variety of plants, which are found in this dreary climate. Having finished these observations, the party returned on board, and made all sail for the IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 Ui*2B 125 " |« i.2.0 1.1 l.-^i 1.8 1.25 |U |,.6 < 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STRECif WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4S03 \ iV •sj \\ \^ ^\ Wk\ "Q".^ ^^4^ <5P ^ u. R) 92 Sennd ; bnt the wind blowing still from the westward, the progress of the ships was slow in t hat d irect ion . The sea was perfectl y free from ice, except a single berg and one or two nar- row tliongh heavy streams, which offered, how- e^^r, little or no obstruction to the navij 'i;''» 'y-'- CHAPTER IV. Pat, How I long to hear the continuation of your narrative ; for you are now come to that part of it, which is to determine whether Captain Ross or Captain Parry was right in the opinions which they offered. Capt, M, It was, indeed, an anxious mo- ment to all on board; and the more so, that we were kept for some time in a state of suspense, from the westerly wind, which, on the 1st of August, set down Sir James Lancaster's Sound, and prev^ented our making much progress. We experienced also another source of anxiety. The relative sailing qualities of the two ships were found to have altered so much, that we were obliged to keep the Hecla under easy sail the whole day, to allow the Griper to keep up with us ; although she had hitherto kept way with her consort, when sailing by the wind. The ships stretched to the northward across the entrance of the sounds meeting occasionally with some loose and heavy streams of ice, and were «t 77«40'.' The that Caj best of the He< sent Li some sij ing in rendez^ near th would return( of sail, thenort the cloi The the 2m view o to the charac that 01 ed mo lower nerall but 111 fore v pitch< cours or tw wliici the d whal 93 were at noon in lat. TS** 55', and in lon&^itude 77«40'. The Griper continued to detain us so much that Captain Parry determined on making the hest of his way to the westward, and ordered the Hecla to he hove to in the evening : he sent Lieutenant Liddon an instruction, with some signals which might facilitate their meet- ing in case of fog ; and appointed, as a plaice of rendezvous, ^the meridian of 85® west, and as near the middle of the sound as circumstances would permit. As soon therefore as the boat returned from the Griper, we carried a press of sail, and in the course of the evening saw the northern shore of the sound looming through the clouds which hung over it. The weather being clear in the evening of the 2nd of August, we had the first distinct view of both sides of the sound, as it stretched to the westward; and the diflFerence in the character of the two shores was very apparent ; that on the south consisting of hign and peak- ed mountains, covered wih snow, except on the lower parts, while the northern coast has ge- nerally a smoother outline, with comparatively but little snow upon it. The sea was open be- fore us, free from ice or land, and the Hecla pitched so much from the westerly swell in the course of the day, as to throw the w^ater once or twice into the stern-windows, a circumstance which we joyfully attributed to an open sea in the desired direction. More than forty black whales were seen during the day. 94 - f«iff w'tf J2 «« 'he 3rd, but being had been lookino' J^th'^ and for which we «rowd of saKaf si t T'^ ""Patience, a Pidity to the IXS ^"^ "* '"'"^ "" «•*- suppose U^o't on swiftJv' T^f^''^'''^^ teen a period of ZaHZi "* '*,?"•** ^ave describe, the almof.hl 1^ """^^e than to r*^ visible b ev^v CO "?!"**« «"««ty «hich breeze increased to a ^--f""?*'^' ^^"'«' «« the ^y »P the sound The ma tft'"" ™" 1'"«''- «d by the officers and 1 *.**''* '^^'■« croH^d- the ^ernooTand «„ *'"""^ '^e whole of -f such therelShaVbren!?'^\^P««'»'-. sion, would have been ?„,; j ?" ^""^ »" «cca- -ith '-hichthevarL„VreDoS5'^*''\^''ff«™«'«* nest were received oil t^** '^**™ t^e crow's- bergs, very Ct^a 'hrd"r'.1? «^» fe'-larg^ weather being remaTkaW J y*'"' '*"'»"«' 'he '•? to run with perfect salfl^^'"' '" ^ *" «"«"« "'ght in a great mo.; *^^' ^^ '^«'"e by mid- «nxiety respSg^thrj^LrT' ^'•"^ *^- '-d. as -ported fvt5rA:i;"S'v/ d5 bottom of this great inlet. Having reached the longitude of SS® 12', where the two shores are still above thirteen leagues apart, without the slightest appearance of laud to the west- ward of us, for four or five points of the com- pass, we thought ourselves fairly entered upon the course which was to lead us to the Pacific Ocean, and some amongst us had even calculated the bearing and distance of the straits by wbich we were to enter it. ^ In this way we sailed along for six degrees of longitude, without the least interruption, till we met two small islands which our Captain named the Leopold Islands. We had, how- ever, the mortification to observe that a fioe of ice extended from them to the northern shore. The weather was thick but calm, so that whilst we kept along the southern part of the sound, the crew amused themselves in endeavouring to harpoon one of the many white whalesf which were playing round the vessels. They were too wary, however, to suffer themselves to be approached ; but will you think it a tra- veller's wonder if I tell you, that as the boat in which I was, happened to pass over one of them, we could distinctly hear it send forth a shrill ringing sound, not unlike that of musical glasses badly played. The sound was loudest when the whale was several feet under the water, and it ceased altogether on its coming to the surface. i 96 William, I am thinking, Sir, what a noble science must navigation be. Your ships pur- suing their course through a sea, never before explored by civilized man, thousands of miles from home, and yet relying on your compass, and your other nautical instruments, to point out the direction in which you are going, and the position which you had reached. Capt M. You are right in saying that we could tell where we were ; but it 'will surprize you to hear that our compass, that little guide which had led Columbus to a new world, and enabled other navigators to traverse the globe in various directions, was now of no use to us. PaU and William^ (at the same instant) Tae compass of no use I some accident must have happened to it — some ignorant person must have spoiled it. Capt iHf. (smiling at their eagerness^) Neither one nor the other ; but the needle no longer pointed to the north; its magnetic power was from some cause weakened, so that it moved round with the ship, always pointing steadily to her head in whatever situation that happen- ed to be. In a short time, therefore, the binnacles where the compasses used to stand, were re- moved as useless lumber from the deck to the carpenter's store-room, where they remained for the rest of the season. I should mention > however, that it was only on board the compass had lost its virtue, for when carried ashore it partially, at least, regained its property. r't»m.,tHr 97 The ice now impeded our course much: as it was in motion, however, and we had reason to hope would soon pass by, and leave the sea clear, Captain Parry sailed 120 miles south- ward down a fine inlet, which was thirty miles wide at its mouth, and which he called Prince Refi^ent's Inlet. Mr, Jones, Did you go ashore on either side of this inlet ? Capt, M, When we had brought the ships to the distance of about two miles and a half from the eastern shore, for the ice prevented our going nearer. Captain Parry sent a party to land, for the purpose of making the neces- sary observations, and to collect whatever spe- cimens of natural history the place might af- ford. The officers, on their return, described this spot as more barren and dreary than any on which they had yet landed in the Arctic Regions, there being scarcely any appearance of vegetation, except here and there a small tuft of stunted grass, and one or two plants of what we call London Pride, although the ground was so swampy in many places, that they could scarcely walk about. There were no traces of inhabitants seen ; part of the back-bone of a whale was found at some distance from the beach; but this had probably been carried there by bears, the tracks of whom were visible on the moist soil. The only birds seen were a few ptarmigans and snow buntings. As soon as the boats returned on board, we 98 ii ; 1 I bore up to the southward, running close to th^ ice, which led us nearer and nearer to the eastern shore, so that by midnight the channel in which we were sailing was narrowed to about five miles. The weather was beautifully- serene and clear, and the sun just dipped below the horizon, and then re-appeared in a few mi- nutes. • Captain Parry had strong reason for think- ing that he would have found a westerly pas- sage out of this Inlet, but on the morning of the 8th of August, we perceived to our great mortification, that the ice lay right across it from the west, closing in with a point of land on the east, to which he gave the name of Cape Kater. The distance to which we sailed in the inlet was about 120 miles. Cape Kater being in lat. 710 53' and longitude 90® 3', we set our ship's head, therefore, again to the northward, and on the 13th regained the mouth of Prince Regent's Inlet, when we found the sea to be more encumbered with ice than before, as we could not approach the Leopold Isles so near as at £rab by three or four miles. The nar- whals were here very numerous. These ani- mals appear very fond of remaining with their backs exposed above the surface of the water, in the same manner as the whale, but for a much longer time ; and we frequently also ob« served their horns erect and quite stationary for several minutes together. On the 14th Captain Parry landed on these islands, and as- 99 eended a hill six hundred feet above the level of the beach, from which he had an extensive view to the westward. William, Was the prospect favourable to your progress ? CapL M, It was very much the contrary. No water could be observed over the ice to the north-west, and a bright and dazzling blink covered the whole comprised between the islands and the northern shore of Lancaster's Sound. It was a satisfaction, however, at the same time to find that no land appeared whicli was likely to impede our progress; and we had been too much accustomed to the obstruction occasioned by ice, and too well aware of the suddenness with which that obstruction is often removed, to be at all discouraged by the ap- pearance. On the top of this hill was deposited ' a bottle containing a short account of our visit, and a small mound of stones was raised over it. On the 18th being still prevented from ad- vancing, our mate having gone in quest of a narwhal in one of the boats, could not resist the temptation of striking a fine black whale which rose close to him, and >vhich soon ran out two lines of eight hundred feet long each, when after towing the boat some distance, the harpoon fortunately drew, and thus saved our lines. There being still no prospect of getting to tho westward in the neighbourhood of Leo- o 100 1 1 : J polii's Islands, Captain Parry determined to stand over to the northern shore, in order to try what conld there be done towards effectinj^ a passage, and at nine, p, nu after beating- for several hours among* fioes and streams of ice, we got into clear water, and found some swell from the westward. On the 21st of August, the ships found no- thing to impede their progress westward ex- cept the want of wind. In the forenoon, being off a headland which was named Kurd's Cape, we picked up a small piece of wood, which ap- peared to have been the end of a boat's yard, and which caused sundry amusing guesses as to where it had come from ; the most natural of these appeared to be that a ship had been here before us, and that therefore we were not entitled to the honour of the first discovery of that part of the sea, in which we were sailing ; when a stop was put to this and other inge- nious conjectures, by the information of one of the seamen that he had dropped it out of his boat a fortnight before. He could not re- collect exactly the day he had dropped it, but he stated sufficient to convince us that we were not at that time more than ten or twelve leagues from our present situation, and that therefore there was no current setting con- stantly in any one direction. A thick fog came on at night, which, together with the lightness of the wind and the caution necessary in navi- gating an unknown sea, under such circum- / 10] led to der to Jctinfi;- ng for >f ice, swell d d no- ex- being Cape, h ap- yard, ?es as atural been re not Jry of [ling ; inge- r one lit of >t re- , but were ^elve that con- ;ame ness avi- urn- stances, rendered our prctgress to (he westward extremely slow, though we had fortunately no ice to obstruct us. The narwhals, were blowing about us in all directions, and two walrusses, vvith a young one, were seen on a piece of ice. " On the next day (the 22iid of August,) being , in longitude 92^" an opening eight leagues in width was observed in the northern part of Lancaster's Sound, looking up which, on a beautifully clear evening, neither land nor ice could be observed from the mast-head. This opening was named Wellington Channel, and immediately the ships were pushed through it, every one on board, and our captain in parti- cular, hoping that at last we had freed ourselves from the land which forms the western side of Baffin's Bay, and had entered the Polar Sea. it was now the middle of August : we had six good navigable weeks before us; our ships had suffered no injury; we had plenty of provi- sions ; our crew in high health and spirits, and resolute to do all in their power to accomplish the object of the expedition. Mr, Jones. How far did you run to the westwnrd, after you had passed through this channel ? Capt. M. Occasionally retarded by the ice, and obliged to steer with great caution, on ac- count of the shoaling of the water, and foggy weather, we nevertlu^loss held on our course past a large inland, to which our captain gave 102 the name of Bathurst Island, till •n the 4th of September we reached an island which our captain called Melville Island, situated in 1 10> of west longitude, and in lat. 74o 44', which en- titled us to the reward of £5000, which had been promised by the king to be distributed among such of his subjects, as should reach that spot. It was on Sunday, after divine service had been performed, that Captain Parry an- nounced to us this joyful fact, and you may well suppose that it was received with three hearty cheers. We were then opposite a pro- jecting point of land, to which the men, to mark their joy, gave the name of Bounty Cape. Our joy was not to be of long continuance, how- ever, for beyond this point was another cape to which we found the ice so closely attached, as to oppose an apparently imp^etrable bar- rier to all further progress. In great disap- pointment, therefore, we dropped anchor for the fir!$t time since we had left England in a bay of the island which we called the bay of the Hecla and Griper, and as it appeared to mark very strikingly one stage of our voyage, the ensigns and pendants were hoisted, every one rejoicing with heartfelt pleasure at seeing the British flag waving for the first time in those regions, which had been considered beyond the limits of the habitable part of the globe. I should have mentioned to you that for some nights before we reached this position, a heavy fog froze hard upon the riggings and ''41. 103 TJiadc? tlu; working of the ship a vwy laborious task, the size of the runinog rigging being sometimes thus increased to three times its proper diameter. As the wind continued for some days to blow very strong from the northward, withoutany ap- pearance of opening a passage to the westward. Captain Parry on the 6th of September, sent all the boats from both ships at 8 o'clock, a, w., to bring on board a quantity of moss- peat, which Jiad been found near a small lake at no great distance from the sea, and which we now substituted for a part of the usual allowance of coals. Captain Sabine also went on shore to make the requisite observa- tions, and several of the officers to sport, • and to collect sSJ^ecimens of natural history. The spot selected by Captain Sabine for his observations was found to be in lat. 74^* 46\ and its longitude, ilO« 39' West. Near this a bottle was buried, containing a writ- ten account of our proceedings, and a pile of stones heaped over it. The weather on this day was unusually cold to the feelings, to a greater degree than might have been expected from the indication of the thermometer, whidi for the first time had been so low as 25» . As it was plain, therefore, that the winter was set- ting in, it became an object of the first import- ance to make as much progress westward as we could, before we should be obliged to lay the ships up ; and you may conceive how little could be done in this way, when I tell you that G 2 I f I i\ fi I 1 104 we had to cut our way through a compact body of ice, and were obliged to secure the ships every night from ten till two o'clock, the weather being too dark during that interval to allow of our getting on, deprived as we were of the use of compasses. The experience of the former voyage, however, had given our Captain every reason to believe that the month of September would prove a valuable part of the year for prosecuting his discoveries, so that he deter- mined to extend his operations to the latest possible period. Our progress, however, from this to the 14 i J 1 106 heard the Griper's signal that her men were found. Part only, however, were returned without Mr. Fife, an^ they told us thf rectan- sessary to I room for ; to facili- le sailors, their own •ly breeze, ; pieces of time and eat rapid- le 24th of and began erly wind so much nineteen re reached ur. While vivid flash ?ii! ;*^"/ ]'■ :i i r. '-v of 1 was' part] the pro! Al Ml i \ Jl i w\ ll lHMMHa«iat«iw< Ill of light was observed like lightning. There was at the same time, and during the greater part of the night, a permanent brightness in the northern quarter of the heavens, which was probably occasioned by the Aurora Borealis. All hands were again set to work the next morning; but instead of floating i it the blocks of ice, which we could not do, the canal through which the ships had pasif^ed being again frozen, we sunk them as they were cut under the floe. To effect this, it was necessary for a certain number of men to stand upon one end of the piece of ice, which it ^was intended to sink, Avhile other parties hauling at the same time upon ropes attached to the opposite end, dragged the block under that part of the floe on which the people stood : oflicers and all joined in this work, and severe it was, for many were obliged to stand the whole day up to their knees in water, which was nearly as cold as ice. At six p, m. we began to move the ships ; the Griper was made fast to the stern of the Hecla, and the two ships' companies being divided on each bank of the canal, with ropes from the Hecla's gangways, soon drew the two vessels along the cut which had been made. The next day was Sunday, which was always, when possible, a day of rest and devotion: our situation, however, was critical ; the ice was forming round us with great rapidity, so that we were obliged to work. The captfiin, there- fore, having set us to the task, it was carried H 2 >>h' 112 on with much spirit and cheerfulness; and we had now acquired such skill in the art law- ing and sinking the ice, that although Uie ther- mometer was at 6" in the morning, and rose no higher than 9<* during the day, we had complet- ed our canal at noon, having effected more in four hours than on either of the two preceding days. The whole length of the canal was 4082 yards, or ahout two miles and one third ; and the average thickness of the ice was seven inches. At half past one, p. m, we hegan to track the ship along, and at a quarter past three on the 26th of September we reached our winter quarters, and hailed the event with three loud and hearty cheers from both ships' companies. The ships were in five fathoms water, a cable's length from the beach, on the north-western side of the harbour, which Captain Parry called Winter Harbour, having given the name of the North Georgian Islands in honor of the good king George III. then living, to a group of is- lands along which the vessels had been sailing for some time past. You can have no idea of the desolation which surrounded us, or the hardships we had to en- dure from the severity of the cold. You have warm houses to live in, warm fires, and when it freezes, it is seldom for more than a few days ; but we were literally shut up in the midst of ice and snow ; the sun was soon to leave us al- together, and not to return for three months ; and We 3aw- iie ther- rose no Jomplet- more in •eceding lal was third ; is seven to track hree on • winter *ee loud npanies. I cable's western y called e of the fie good p of is- sailing 1 which I to en- ►u have i when V days ; jidst of 5 us i»l- lonths ; 113 and the whole of that time we were to pass in comparative darkness. It was necessary, there- fore, that every means should be adopted to make our situation as tolerable as possible ; and, happily for us, our commander was well quali- fied to give the necessary orders. The first operation after removing the boats, spars, run- ning rigging, and sails, together with the heavy stores and timber on shore, in order to have a clear deck for exercise, was to house the ships entirely over, and to cover the roof with a thick wadding cover, such as is used for the tops of waggons in England, to bank up the snow as high as the main chains, and to provide for the warmth and dryness of the births, by means of an oven and stove pipe for the conveyance of heated air. With regard to fuel, a system of rigid economy was adopted. The men were also separated into divisions, over each of which an ofHcer was appointed, who was answerable for their personal cleanliness, and for their clothing being in good condition. Every morn- ing and evening the crews were mustered and inspected, and once a week they had their gums and shins examined by the doctors, that if the least symptom of scurvy, (which happily had not yet manifested its appearance) should be observed, it might be at once checked. After breakfast the men took exercise on shore ; or if the weather was too cold, they were obliged to run round the deck to the tune of an organ or to one of their own songs. L14 J! William^ Exercise was no doubt necessary r, but it must have had an odd appearance to see a ship's company running as it were after each other, round the deck of a ship. Capt, M. So I believe they thought ; for until they found that orders must be obeyed in thisjparticular they sought to escape it; for sail(U's are no better than children, when their health is concerned. The ofl&cers, therefore, were obliged to stand by during the time for exercise. The next thing attended to was the regula- tion of their food, in order to ward off the scurvy, to which salt meat, want of sufficient exercise, and exposure to cold an ' damp air arc predis- posing causes. Preserved meat and vegetable 8»oup were distributed instead of so much salt meat ; and an allowance was made of pickles and vinegar, in addition to which, each man was forced to drink some lime juice, mixed with su- gar every day. 1 say, forced, for this too they thought very unnecessary. Pat. That must have been very palatable. CapL M. And yet, I assure you, they dis- liked the lemon and sugar, because they were obliged to take it, and iiP some of the officers had not been present, the potion would never have been drunk. » How to amuse and occupy the men. Captain Parry has often said in my hearing, was the most important as well as the most difficult con- sideration. 115 PaL If I liad Ihe regulation of that I should not be at a loss. They should skate and slide, and build snow houses, and set traps for the foxes, whose skins you told us were so valua- ble ; they should hunt the bears and rein-deer, and in short do a great many other things. Capt, M, In some respects we did exactly as you have mentioned. We did skate and slide and hunt ; but very few deer fell to our lot, for the tamer animals left us at the latter end of October, after which we had only wolves and foxes to keep us cjompany. The former used to come down to the beach every night, and howl there for hours together ; but they were shy of coming near us, and never attacked us^ even when evidently suflFering from hungi^r. But there was still another arrangement to be made of great importance to the health and comfort of the crews ; and I mention it because it was attended with some difficulties, which could not have been foreseen to be provided against, when we were leaving England. Soon after our arrival in Winter Harbour, when the temperature of the air had fallen considerably below the freezing point, according to our thermometer, we found that the steam from the coppers, as well as the breath and other vapour in the inhabited parts of the ship, began to fortn into drops upon the beams and the sides, in such a manner as to keep them constantly wet; and in order to remove so serious an evil, the large stone oven, cased with cast iron, in which 116 M 15''! 5 m^ B''i i 11 our bread was baked during winter, was placed on the main hatchway, and the stove pipe led fore and aft on one side of the lower deck, the smoke being thus carried up the fore hatchway. On the opposite side of the deck a very simple contrivance was made for conveying a current of heated air through the stove pipe to the men's births. A very moderate fire was suffi- cient to produce a current of air of 87o of tem- perature, at the distance of seventeen feet from the lire-place, and by this means, together with sonie other simple contrivances for the purpose, we were enabled to guard against this very se- rious evil, and also to preserve the usual brew- ing of beer, which being found a considerably more wholesome beverage for the men than any other kind of drink they could obtain, was regularly provided for them, except when the weather was unusually severe, at which time the beer was found not to ferment so as to be palatable. In very severe weather, likewise, they could not hang out the bedding of the seamen for airing, on account of a difficulty which it was not easy to anticipate. Whenever a blanket was brought on deck, and suffered to remain there for a short time, it of course acquired the same temperature with the atmosphere. When this happened to be rather low, the immediate consequence, on taking the blanket again into the inhabited part of the ship, was that the va- pour settled and condensed upon it, rendering in placed Ipe led k, the hway, simple iirrent o the sufli- f tem- t from r with rpose, 5ry se- brevv- M*ably ^ than ™> was m the time to be could n for J was tnket main ] the ^hen Hate into '■ va- I'ing- it almost instantly so wet as to be unfit to sleep on ; and requiring, after all, that it should be dried by artificial means before it could be re- turned into the bed-place. We were, there- fore, under the necessity of hanging the bed- ding upon lines between decks, as the only mode of airing it ; and what was likely to prove still more prejudicial, we were obliged to have recourse to the same unhealthy means of dry- ing the washed clothes. - Immediately on our arrival in harbour, Cap- tain Sabine had employed himself in selecting a place for the observatory, which was erected in a convenient spot, about seven hundred yards to the westward of the ships. It was also con- sidered advisable immediately to set about building a house near the beach, for the recep- tion of the clocks and instruments. For this purpose we made use of a quantity of fir planks which we had carried out with us for the con- struction of spare-boats, and which was cut so as not to render it unfit for that purpose. The ground was so hard frozen that it required great labour to dig holes for the upright posts, which formed the supports of the sides. The walls of this house being double, with moss placed between them, a high degree of warmth could be kept up, even in the severest weather, by means of a single stove. And here, in gratitude to that Providence whose hand had been over us, I cannot avoid mentioning a proof which was afforded to us H 3 118 yt\ oil the very night of our arrival, that any delay in taking up a winter position would have heen fatal to us. The thermometer fell to 33» below the freezing point, and on the following day the sea was observed from the hills to be quite frozen over, as far as the eye could reach ; nor was any open sea seen after this period. Dur- ing the first three weeks in October, however, we remarked that the young ice near the mouth of the harbour was occasionally squeezed up very much by the larger floes, so that the latter must still have had some space left in which to acquire motion ; but after that time the sea was entirely covered with one uniform surface of solid and motionless ice. Mr. Jones, Did you observe many animals on the island ? Capt. M, After our arnval in port we saw several rein- deer, and a few coveys of grouse ; but the country is so destitute of every thing like cover, that our sportsmen were not success- ful in their hunting excursions ; and we pro- cured only three rein-deer previously to tlie migration of these and other animals from the island, which took place before the end of Oc- tober, leaving only the wolves and the foxes to bear us company during the winter. The full grown deer which we killed, gave us from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seven- ty pounds of meat each, and a fawn weighed eighty-four pounds. On the first of October, Captain Sabine's n^ delay e been below tig day ) quite ; nor Dur- v^ever, noiith ed up latter ich to le sea urface timals e saw ouse ; thing Jcess- pro- > the 1 the *0c- ?s to full one ven- hed nes servant having been at some di«tanee from th^ ships, to examine a fox-trap^ was pursued by a large white bear, which followed nis footsteps the whole way to the ships, where he was wounded by several balls ; but made his escape, after all. This bear, which was the only one we saw during our stay in Winter Harbour, was observed to be more purely white than any we had seen before ; the colour of these animals being generally that of a dirty yellow, when contrasted with the whiteness of the ice and snow. On the night of the 4th of October we had a strong gale from th« southward, which gave us satisfactory proof af the security of the harbour we had chosen. To give you some idea of the cold that we suffered, I shall mention one inte- resting circumstance which took place here. Some deer being seen near the ships on the 10th, a party was despatched after them, some of whom ]iaving wounded a stag, and being led on by the ardour of pursuit, forgot the order that every person should be on board btfore sunset. John Pearson, a mariner belonging to the Griper, who was the last that returned on board, had his hands severely frost-bitten. He very im- prudently had gone away without mittens, with a musket in his hand. When he was brought on board his fingers were quite stiff, and bent into the form of the musket which he had been carrying ; and the frost had so far destroyed the animation of his fingers on one hand, that it was 120 .1 '•' necessary to amputate three of them in a short time after, notwithstanding all the care and attention paid to him by the medical gentlemen. The effect which severe cold has in benumbing the mind as well as the body, was very striking in this young man, as well as in two of the offi- cers who returned after dark, and of whom we made many enquiries. When they were sent for into the cabin, the]^ looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a sensible answer to any of the cap- tain's questions. After being on board for some time, their minds gradually seemed to recover, and it was not until then that a looker-on could persuade himself that they had not been drink- ing to excess. To those who have been accustomed to very cold countries, this would be no new remark ; for they must have often seen people from the effects of frost in a state exactly resembling that of the most stupid intoxication. Our com- rades could not be charged with such an offence, for on shore in Melville Island there was no possibility of obtaining any thing stronger than snow water. In order to guard in some mea- sure against the danger of persons losing their way, which was more and more to be appre- hended as the days became shorter, and the ground more covered with snow, which gave a dreary sameness to the country, we erected on all the hills within two or three miles of the harbour, finger-posts pointing to the ihips. P must C snov wan to mon out the 121 Pat, If all the pools around were frozen, you must have found it difficult to procure water. Capt M, You forget that we had plenty of snow, by melting which we procured all we wanted. This, however, very materially added to the expenditure of fuel during the winter months. The snow for this purpose was dug out of the drifts which had been formed upon the ice round the ships, and dissolved in the ships' coppers. We found it necessary, how- ever, always to strain the water thus procured, on account of the sand which the heavy snow- drifts brought from the island, after which it was quite pure and wholesome. On the 16th of October it blew a strong gale from the northward, accompanied by such a con- stant snow drift, that although the weather was quite clear overhead, the boat-house, at the dis- tance of three hundred yards, could scarcely be seen from the ships. William. The wind must have increased the severity of the cold. Capt. M. To the senses it did so intensely, that I am satisfied no human being could have remained exposed to it for an hour, and live. In order, therefore, to secure a communication between the ships, as well as from the ships to the shore, a line was kept extended as a guide from one to the other. The meridian altitude of the sun was observed on the same day^ that being the last time we had an opportunity of observing it for about four months. 11^ m Tit m 122 I have not yet mentioned that we had plays occasionally for the amusement of the men, the oificers all taking parts in them. The first was on the 5th of November, and it was so well received by the crews, that the entertainment was repeated once a fortnight during th« dark season ; and the operation of fitting up the place where tliis was exhibited, and taking it in pieces afterwards, was a matter of no small im- portance, as affording a means of occupation. The next source of amusement suggested by our captain, was the getting up of a newspaper, of which one of the officers was the editor. Pat, I suppose you had printers and a print- ing-press with you. Capt, M, No such thing. But the plan was this : the officers, according to their abilities, sent in the productions of cheir pen, which were submitted to the editor, and, if thought deserving, they were copied into a book which always remained in a particular spot for perusal. It was called The North Georgian Gazette, or Winter Chronicle ; and many an hour it beguiled, not only to those who wrote for it, but those who read it. ^ Mr, Jones, Yet with all these arrangements and regulations, the time must have crept slowly on. Capt, M, It did, very slowly, and the gloomy desolation and darkness around, naturally tend- ed to produce a melancholy feeling, which no amusement could altogether dissipate. Imagine ere torn asunder, when they breathed very cold air. No such sensation, however, was experienced by any of our party, though in going from the cabin to the open air, we were for several months in the habit of under- going a change of from SO^ to 100^^ , and in several instances, 120'' of temperature in less than a minute ; and, what is extraordinary? not 131 >en air, we a single complaint, beyond a common cold, which was cured in a day or two, occurred du- ring this particular period. A curious effect was produced, when the doors were opened at the top and bottom of the hatch-way ladders; the heated air became condensed, by the sud- den entrance of cold, in a visible form resem- bling a thick smoke, M^hich settled on all the pannels of the doors and bulk-heads, and im- mediately froze, by which means the latter were covered with a coating of ice, that it was necessary frequently to scrape off. The severe weather, indeed, added to the cir- cumstances in Avhich we were placed, brought on symptoms of the scurvy, which greatly alarmed us. By care, however, on the part of the do4:tors, and the free use of the lemon-juice which the frost had spared, it was happily pre- vented from spreading. To this effect, under Providence, nothing contributed more than a daily supply of mustard and cress, which Cap- tain Parry contrived to grow in small boxes filled with earth, and ranged along the stove- pipe in the cabin. In this way he was able to secure a crop on the sixth or seventh day after sowing the seeds. It was not green from want of light, but although white, it was as sharp and good as if grown in the open air. Mr, Jones, Were you often visited by wolves or other arctic animals ? CapL M, About the time of the sun's leaving us, the wolves began to prowl about the ships. 132 H : howling piteously on the beach near us, some- times for hours together, and on one or two occasions coming alongside the ships when every thing was quiet at night ; but we seldom saw more than two together, and therefore could form no idea of tlieir numbers. These animals were always very shy of coming near our peo- ple, and though evidently suffering much from hunger, never attempted to attack any of them. The white foxes used also to visit the ships at night, and one of them was caught in a trap set under the Griper s bows. The uneasiness shewn by this beautiful little animal during the time of his confinement, whenever he heard the howling of a wolf near the ships, made me think that the latter is in the habit of hunting the fox as his prey. Mr, Jones. Did you ever remark how the wolf and the dog agree together, for I suppose you had one or more of these latter on board ? Capt M, Several circumstances occurred which favour the opinion that there is no natu- ral antipathy between the two animals. It was remarked that a white setter dog belonging to the Griper, left that ship for several nights at the same time, and regularly returned after some hour's absence ; and as the daylight in- creased, we had frequent opportunities of see- ing him in company with a she-wolf, with whom he appeared to be on friendly terms ; till at length he returned no more to the ships, having either lost his way by rambling to too great a i s, somc- le or two len every dom saw )re could e animals our peo- uch from of them. ships at in a trap [n easiness uring the heard the me think g the fox how the I suppose •n board? occurred ; no natu- Is. It was anging to nights at ned after flight in- es of see- ith whom s ; till at )s, hav^ing io great a ^ ( 133 mi (Viatiixici^, or, what is more likely perliap!?, been destroyed by the male wolves. Some time after, a large dog of the captain, which was also getting into the habit of occasionally re- maining absent for some time, returned on board a good deal torn and covered with blood, having no doubt fouglit with a male wolf, whom we traced to a considerable distance, by the twicks on the snow. In addition to which, an old dog of the Newfoundland breed, that we had on board the Hecla, used to remain out with the wolves for a day or two together, and we frequently observed them keeping com- pany. William, I have heard that the hair of all arctic animals becomes white in winter. Did you find it so ? Capt, M, All thi b came under our observa- tion were of that colour, and the reason for which Providence has so ordained it, is well deserving of your attention. It has been found by philosophers that any white covering keeps the heat from passing out of the body so quickly as it would were it dark coloured, and thus, doubtless, it is that the Almighty, who has fitted all his creatures for the lives they are to lead, has given to these arctic animals the colour best suited to the cold region in which they are to live. Man has reason to direct him ; he can proportion his clothing to the season, and adopt other means of sheltering; his body from the weather; and therefore he alone is left to pro- vide tigainst such emergencies. l! 'f^v.& u 134 On the 11th of January the weather was so intensely cold as to freeze quicksilver into a solid mass, like a lump of iron ; and, when pre- paring our food to be dressed, we had to chop it in pieces with a hatchet as if it was wood, and yet our officers walked on shore without experiencing any unpleasant effects. Mr, Jones. This is a wonderful proof of the Almighty's goodness, in enabling the human frame to live in any climate, and to bear the ex- tremes of heat and cold. ^^ William. I have been expecting that you would make more mention of the Aurora Bo- realis which I have read, gives out a light which greatly lessens the gloom caused by the absence of the sun. Capt, M, Hitherto, except on one occasion, as I have mentioned, we had been disappointed though we daily looked for its appearance ; but about the middle of January, we" were gratified by a very brilliant display of it. I cannot, how- ever, give you any idea of the beauty of this phenomenon. At first, we saw an arch of pale light in the horizon which gradually grew brighter and more brilliant, being broken into a great many irregular forms, streaming rapid- ly in different directions from South West to N. N. E. across the zenith, and varying every moment; sometimes resembling in shape a snake circling itself about, and sometimes a shepherd's crook. The brighter part of this meteor dim- med whatever stars it passed over, and some so much as to render them scarcely visible. The time now drew near when we might ex- 135 pect to see thesmi above the horizon; and you may easily imagine with what anxiety we watch- ed tor his first appearance. For nine days all on board took their turn to watch for him from the mast-head, but it \vas not till the Srd of Fe- bruary that we caught a glimpse of the upper part of the orb, and not until the 7th that we saw his full disk rising, as it were, for an in- stant, on the very edge of the horizon. It was a joyful sight, for now we began to make pre- parations for leaving our harbour though we knew that still months must elapse before the ships would be loosened from their icy beds. We could now see to work on the outside of our ships from eight to /our, and delighted we were to employ ourselves about something use- ful for their equipment. Our first care was to collect stones for ballast, for it was calculated that the Hecla alone would require nearly 70 tons to make up for the loss of weight in coals and other stores, which had been consumed ; we could only work, however, when the weather was sufficiently mild to save us from being frost- bitten, which was but seldom ; February being on the whole the coldest month of our stay in Winter Harbour. We brought the stones from the distance of about half a mile on sledges to the beach, when they were broken to a conve- nient size, and weighed in scales, which we had erected for the purpose. It was about this time, as the men were run- ning one day on deck for exercise, to a tune on the organ, that we saw a blaze of fire suddenly 1 S m i ■:¥■ i 136 burst from the wooden house, which on our ar- rival at Winter Harbour, we had built on shore as an observatory, and to keep our clocks an they im- mediately ran with it into the open air. The Serjeant happily had his mittens on ; but the other in his hurry forgot them, and in half an hour his hands were so benumbed that when taken on board, and when the doctor plunged them into a basin of cold water, they literally caused the surface of the water to freeze : and notwith- standing the humane and ^mreniitting attention which he received, mortification set in, and it 137 was found necessary to have part of four fin- gers cut off by the surgeon, from one hand, and tliree from the other. The month of March set in mildly, so that the solid ice on the sides of tlie ships began to melt. It, therefore, became necessary to scrape off tliis coating of ice frum between decks, where it iiad accumulated from the freezing of the men's breath, and of the steam of their vie* tujils durina;' meals. Perhaps you will scarcely credit it when 1 tell you, that in one day were- moved above a hundred buckets full, being the quantity that had frozen on the lower deck in about four weeks : until it began to thaw, and became damp, it was perhaps of use in prevent- ing the escape of warmth, just in the same way that a covering of snow on the ground, keeps the earth ireneath it from the cold of the air above. On tho 30th of April a sensible change took place in the temperature of the air. You would not think it warm, for it became just like the air in Ireland when frost is beginning: to us, after such intense cold as we had exjierienced, it produced a feeling so much like that of sum- mer> that it required all the authority of i\\e officers to prevent the men from throwing aside their winter clothing. i The increased length of the day, and the cheering presence of the sun for several hours above the horizon, induced our Captain to open the dead lights of his stern windows, in order. w 'Ui 138 to admit the day light, of which in our opera- tions below we had been entirely deprived for more than four ironths, always burning lamps. The Hecla was fitted with double windows in her stern, the span between the two sashes being about two feet, and within these some curtains of baize had been nailed close in the early part of the winter. When it was endea- voured to remove these curtains, they were found to be so strongly cemented to the win- dows by the frozen vapour collected between them, that we were obliged to cut them oif in order to open the windows, and from the span between the two sashes we removed more than twelve buckets full of ice or frozen vapour, which had accumulated in the same manner. William, You must have been glad to get the sun light to work by between decks. Capt, M, It was indeed an advantage, and it saved candles, the consumption of which had been very great ; but the cold, in consequence of its being done too soon, became so intolera- ble, that it was impossible to sit below without being warmly wrapped up : it was not uncom- mon for us to reverse the usual order of things, by throwing off our great coats when we went on deck to take exercise, and immediately to resume them on going again below. With the present temperature, the breath of a person at a little distance looked like the smoke of a musket just fired, and that of a party em- ployed on the ice resembled a thick white cloud. \ "«■ 139 Pat, Perhaps, Mr. Mackey, you would hare the kindness to gratify us with an account of whale-fishin'j;'. I was too much interested to re- mind you of your promise whilst you were re- lating your operations in Winter Harbour ; but now that the severity of the cold weather has passed awfvy, and the ships are waiting for the thaw which shall release them, it would greatly gratify my brother and me to Iiear how these huge animals, of which you saw so many, are caught. Mr, Jones. An account of voyages in arctio seas Avould seem to be imperfect if it did not include a description of the mode of taking au animal, -which, as you told us, hjas fixed its head quarters in the very centre of your discoveries. Capt, M, I shall willingly comply with your wishes. Indeed, after having been engaged for many years on board a whaler, it will be a plea- sure to me to communicate the particulars which I know either from my own observation, or the report of others on whose veracity I can rely. William. We are tolerably acquainted with the figure of the whale ; but I think writers do not agree as to its size. Capt M, The whale is seldom found of a greater length than sixty feet, and there is no reason for supposing that it was much larger at any former period, though [ am aware that two hundred years ago, when they were viewed with superstitious dread, their bulk was much exag- gerated. Indeed the longest size that I have r, A ■l^^"-l^(l ;^ n ! 140 heard uf as being actually measured is givea by Sir Charles Giesecke, the Professor of Mine- ralogy in Dublin, as not exceeding sixty-seven feet ; and this is confessed to be a size which very rarely occurs. Its greatest circumference is from thirty to forty feet. You will be sur- prised when I tell you, that when the mouth is open, it presents a cavity as large as a room, and capable of containing a merchant-ship's jolly boat full of men, being six or eight feet wide, ten' or twlelve feet high in front, and fifteen or sixteen feet long. The tail of the whale comprizes, in a single surface, eighty or a hundred square feet ; its length is only five or six feet, but its width is eighteen to twenty-four or twenty-six feet. It is flat and curved on each side, like a half moon, and its position is horizontal ; its motions are rapid, its strength, as you will afterwards learn, immense. Pat, In what part of the animal is the whale- bone situated ? Capt, M, In the mouth, where it is suspended in two extensive rows from the side of the crown bone ; each row consists of upwards of three hundred laminee; the longest are near the middle, from which they gradually diminish to nothing at each extremity ; they enclose the tongue be- tween their lower extremities; the interior e^^i^s are covered with a fringe of hair, and the ex- terior edge of every blade of whalebone, except a few at each extremity of the scries, is curved Ill and flattetied down, so as to present a smooth surface to the lips. A large whale will some- times afford a ton and a half" of whalebone. William, What part of tlie animal affords the oil? v CapL M. Immediately beneath the skin lies the blubber or fat, encompassing the whole body f the animal, togetlier with the fins and tail ; its thickness varies from eight or ten to twenty inches. The lips are composed almost entirely of blubber, and yield from one to two tuns of pure oil each. Pat. Is not the smell of the oil /ery offensive ? Capt, ilf. In its fresh state blubber is without any unpleasant smell, and it is not till after the termination of the voyage that a Greenland-, ship becomes disagreeable. It will give you some idea of tlie enormous bulk and weight of this animal, that one sixty feet in length actually weighs seventy tans, and that the blubber of such a sized fish will yield from twenty to thirty tuns of pure oil. . Mr. Jones, Have whales any voice? Capt, M, None ; but in breathing or blowing they make a very loud noise. The vapour they discharge is thrown out to the height of some yards, and appears at a distance like a puff of smoke. They breathe about four or five timea in a minute, and are obliged to return to the surface in order to respire every ten minutes, though when feeding they will remain under the water for twenty. , -iff 1 4:2 i.ir s Bulky and clumsy .as the whale is, one might imagine that all its notions would be sluggish, and its greatest exertions productive of no great celerity. The fact is the reverse. It can pro- ceed along the surface, or perpendicularly or obliquely downw.ird, at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour ; and though when alarmed by an enemy, or struck by a harpoon, its ex- treme velocity may be increased to nine miles an hour, yet we find this speed never continues longer than for a few minutes before it relaxes almost to one half. Hence they are capable, forthe space of a fewminutes, of darting through the water almost as fast as a ship under full sail, and of ascending with such rapidity as to leap entirely out of tWe water. Pat, This might be a terrifying sight to a boat's crew, which happens to be near it at the moment. Capt M, It alarms only the inexperienced fishermen ; for others become so accustomed to these things, that you might hear them even under such circumstances, ordered by the har- pooner to pull away to the attack. Sometimes the whales throw themselves into a-perpendicular posture with their heads downwards, and wav- ing their tails on high in the air, beat the water witli awful violence. The sea in this case is thrown into foam, and the air filled with va- pours ; und vviion he shakes his tremendous tail, it cracks like a whip, and resounds to the dis- tance of two or three miles. , . , lis William. What is the whale's food ? ^ Capt M* Sea in.«iects of various kinds. To catch them it swims at feeding time below the surface of the sea, with its jaws widely extend- ed : a stream of water consequently enters its capacious mouth, and along with it large quan- tities of water- insects ; the water escapes again at the sides, but it is sifted as it passes through the whalebone, which, by its fringed edge, en- tangles the food, and does not let a particle, the i.ze of the smallest grain, escape. Mr* Jones, But it is the importance of this animal in a commercial light, whicli makes it chiefly interesting ; will you now be so kind as to describe the mode of taking it ; and the dan- gers which attend on the fishery, for they must be very great. Capt M, You know already that the ships which are intended to navigate the Arctic Seas ir ^^t be strengthened with additional layers of planks outside, to resist the friction of the ice, and additional timbers within to resist its pres- sure. I shall only mention, therefore, that a whale-ship is generally of 350 tons burthen, and contains a crew of from forty to fifty men ; that each vessel must he furnished with seven or eight whale-boats of ^\^ or six oars, whicli are usually twenty* five or twenty-six feet in length. PaL Are these boats of a peculiar construc- tion ? Capt, M. As much dependr. on the boat, it li I'' ''''^J ' w t;!, i f 14.4 is built with great care, so as to float lightly and safely on the water. It must be capable of being rowed with great speed, be readily torned roond, and of such capacity that it can carry six or seven men, seven or eight hundred weight of whale lines, and various other articles, and yet retain the necessary properties of safe- ty, buoyancy, and speed, either in smooth water, or when it is exposed to a considerable sea. Mr. Janes. Are the wages given to the sea- men of a whale-ship high ? Capt M. Aa an encouragement, every in dividual on board, from the master down to the boys, receives beside his monthly pay, a gra- tuity for every full grown fish caught during the voyage ; or a certain sum for every tun of oil which the cargo produces. Masters and harpooners, in place of monthly wages, receive a small sum in advance before sailing, and if they procure no cargo, they receive nothing more for their voyage. But in the event of a successful fishery, their advantages are consi^ derable. The master usually receives three guineas for each full sized fish, together with ten or twenty shillings a tun on oil. Each harpooner has usually six shillings per tun on oil, together with half a guinea for every full sized fish he may strike during the voyage. Boat-steerera, line-managers, and foremast-men receive about one shilling and six pence per tun each, besides the monthly pay ; and landsmen either a trifle per tun on oil, or a few shillings for each full •iaed fish. 14S Mr. Jones, What is the length of the lines which are attached to the harpoon ? Capt. M. A boat is provided with about six lines, each 120 fathoms in length, and two one quarter inches in circumference ; these are spliced together, and the whole carefully and beautifully coiled in compartments in the boat prepared for the purpose, besides which there are always two narpoons^ one spear, six or eight lances, an axe for cutting the lines when necessary, and a small -bucket for bailing the water out. Every thing has a place in which it is laid for instant service ; so as to prevent confusion — the axe is within reach of the har- pooner, the lances are laid in the sides of the boat upon the thwarts, the hand-harpoon is placed upon its rest at the bow, and the rope attached to it clearly coiled beneath, so that the harpoon can be taken up and discharged in a moment ; and an oar is used for steering in preference to a rudder, because it does not re- tard the velocity of the boat so much ; but can turn it even when the boat is in a state of rest, and can propel it in narrow places when the rowers cannot ply their oars. ,; ^ The crew of a whale ship are separated into divisions, equal in number to the number of the boats, each division, consisting of a b .*- pooner, a boat-steercr, and a line-manager, to- gether with three or sometimes four rowers — These constitute a boat's crew. The harpooner*s principal duty is, as his name implies, to strike the whale, also to guide the K 2 m V I : • : iti H^ lines, or to kill an entangled whale with his lauces ; when in purssuit he rows the bow-oar, and he has the command of the boat. The boat-steerer ranks next to the harpoon- er. He guides the course of the boat in the most favorable direction ; likewise watches the motions of the whale pursued, intimates its movements to the harpooner, and stimulates the men to exertion by encouragi/ig exclama- tions. The line-manager rows the after-oar in the boat, and, conjointly with the boat- tsteerer, atteiids to the lines when in the act of running out or coiling in. The remainder of the crew of the boat is composed of seamen or others, whose chief qualification consists in their capability of " pulling an oar." When the vessel is arrived at the fishing- station, ail is watchfulness and preparation. The boats are suspended from cranes by the side of the ship, ready to be lowered ; two boats' crews on the alert to man them, and the master, or some one of the officers, is in the crow's nest, from whence he commands an extensive pros- pect of the surrounding sea, keeping an an'xious watch for the appearance of a whale. The mo- ment that a fish is seen, he gives notice to the watch on the deck, part of whom leap into the boat, which, in less than a minute of time, is lowered down and pushed off^ towards the place. If the fish be large, a second boat is immedi- ately despatched to the support of the other, and both row towards it with their utmost speed. When two or more fish appear at the UT iftme time in difFercnt situations) the number of boats sent in pursuit is commonly increased ; and when the whole of the boats are sent out, the ship is said to have " a loose fall." When it is known that a whale seMom abides longer on the surface of the water than two minutes at a time,thn,t it generally remains from five to ten or fifteen minutes under water, that in this interval it sometimes moves through the space of half a mile or more, and that the fisher has very rarely any certain intimation of the place in wliich it will appear, the difficulty and address requisite to approach sufficiently near during its short stay on the surface to harpoon it, will be readily apprehended. In all cases when a whale that is pursued has been but once seen, the fisher is indebted to what is call- ed chance for a favorable position. But when the whale has been seen twice, and its change of place has been noticed, the harpooner makes the best use of the intimation derived from his observations, and thus is often able by the time it rises again to the surface, to place his boat ** within a start ;" that is, within the distance of about 200 yards. ;; ^ if/?;. Jones, When yon mention the timidity of onf* of the«e huge animals flying before a little boat, which it could send to the bottom with one blow of its tail, it appears to me to manifest the providence of God, which gave man the " doniinion over the fish of the sf»a, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that movetli upon tlie e trtb," PTjir m i.A ■■ 146 Copt. M. It k, indeed, a striking proof of his goodness, in making the lower animals sub- servient to our convenience in life, and has often brought to my mind that passage in Scrip- ture, where the Psalmist, considering the pow- er and goodness of God in the creation, ex- claims, " What is man that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, that tkou visitest him ?" " Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet — the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord^ our Lordy how excellent is thy name in all the earth." . , The method of taking whales has been so fully described in those useful publications that are now so widely circulated for the benefit of the rising generation, that I need not detail it ; but I cannot withhold from you one or two anecdotes highly illustrative of the great dan- ger incurred by those intrepid men who are en- gaged in the whale fishery. The first occurred in one of my earliest voy- ages. One of our harpoon ers had struck a whale, which, on feeling the wound, dived, upon which several assisting boats collected round the one which held the line, and is called "the fast boat." The fish arose with unex- pected violence beneath one of the assisting boats, and sent it, with all its crew, some yards into the air. It fell on its side, upset, and cast all the men into the water ; one man received 149 a severe blow in his fall, and appeared to be dangerously injured; but soon alter liis arrival on board the ship, he recovered from the effects of the accident. The rest tion to the boats, it vvas found that two were missing'. In vain he looked for them from the mast-head, sweeping the sea and ice all around with the glass, until he was almost biinf its place, and instead of running over the stern was thrown over the gunwale ; its pressure in this unfavourable position so careen- ed the boat, or made it lie over to one side, that it b{?gan to fill. In this emergency the har- pooner, who was a fine active fellow, seized the bight of the line, and attempted to relieve the boat by restoring it to its place ; but by some singular circumstance which could not be ac- counted for, a turn of the line flew over his arm, in an instant dragged him overboard, and plunged him into the water to rise no more. So sudden was the accident, that only one man, who had his eye on him at the moment, wa« K S % f¥ ' h i\ n ^^m 152 aware of what had happened, so that when the boat righted, which it immediately did, though half full of water, they all at once, on looking round at an exclamation of the man who had seen him launched ovei board, enquired what had become of Carr. It is indeed scarcely pos- sible to imagine a death more awfully sudden or unexpected. The velocity of the whale at its first descent is usually eight or nine miles per hour, or thirteen to fifteen feet per second. Now, as the unfortunate man was occupied in adjusting the line at the very water's edge, where it must have been perfectly tight, the in- terval between the fastening of the line about him and his disappearance, could not have ex- ceeded the third part of a second, for in one second only he must have been dragged to the depth of ten or twelve feet. The accident, in- deed, was so instantaneous, that he had no time to make the least exclamation, and the person who witnessed his extraordinary removal, ob- served that it was so exceedingly quick, that although his eye was upon him bx the instant, he could scarcely distinguish the object as it disappeared. Pat Did they secure the whale, for then they might have recovered his body ? Capt M. As soon as the crew of the boat recovered from their consternation, they ap- plied themselves to the needful attention which the lines required. From the accompanying boat, on the rising of the fish to the surface, a second harpoon was struck, and some lances CfT ■ ■^s 153 applied, but the melancholy catastrophe that had occurred, cast such a damp on all the men employed in this business, that they be- came timid, cautious, and inactive in their sub- sequent duties. The fish, while nearly ex- hausted, was in consequence allowed to remain for some minutes unmolested on the water^ un- til having recovered some degree of energy, it made a violent effort, and disengaged itself from both harpoons. When the lines came home, Carr*s body Was not found. Two days after this was Sunday, when, ac- cording to our custom, we rested. We had public worship on board, and as the weather was calm, all hands attended. I shall never forget that day, I hope. Our captain, who was a religious man, thought it his duty to address us with the view of improving the serious im- pression made on us by the death of Carr. He had been much esteemed by all on board ; he was the bosom friend of one or two, the mess- mate and watchmate of many, the kind compa- nion of all — all therefore were deeply interested in his fate Our captain, with great earnest- ness, reminded us that his fate might have been ours ; and then put to each of us a plain ques- tion, were we prepared to meet our God ? The demeanour and striking attention with which each listened to this personal appeal, marked the interest which was felt. We are not apt to weep, and yet the eyes of many indicated the deep emotion of their hearts, whilst the beaten cheeks of some were covered with a co- rf!- m i !li -I M 154 pious flood of tears, that forcibly displayed the powerful feelings of benevolence or elevation vy which they were impressed. CHAPTER VI. Capt M. We must now return to Captain }?arry, whom you will recollect we left shut up in Winter Hj^rbour, but preparing all things for the continuation of his voyage westward, as soon as the warmth of the sun should dissolve the ice, and release his ships from their long protracted confinement. As the days lengthened, it may easily be ima- gined with what anxiety we watched the indi- cations of a thaw, both on shore, and upon the ice round the ships, in neither of which had any such appearance become perceptible, though it was now the latter end of April, and though the sun remained above the horizon for seven- teen hours out of tiie twenty-four. On the morning of the 27th, the ship's company's bed- ding was hung up to air between the fore and main rig^ng, being the first time we had ven- tured to bring it from the lower deck for near- ly eight months. Henceforwards we also dried our washed clothes on deck, having before that been obliged to do it, as I have mentioned, by artificial heat in the hold and cabin. Mr. Jones, It must have been very unwhole- some to have so much damp clothinf^ hung up where the men were living. i 155 •played the f elevation to Captain B left shut ? all things westward, 5un should 5 from their sily be ima- d the indi- id upon the ich had any J, though it nd though for seven- '. On the )any's hed- le fore and e had ven- k for near- ? also dried before that itioned, by r unwhole- ^{ hung up Capt M. It was, unquestionably, and yet nothing unpleasant resulted from it, which per- haps as much as any th .ng else, shews what un- remitting attention was paid to health. , On the 6th of May, the thermometer being at 8<*, we made our first attempt to get the ships afloat, by commencing the operation of cutting the ice about them. For this service, in order to prevent the men from suffering from wet and cold feet. Captain Parry distributed to the crews a pair of strong boots, and boot stockings, being part of a complete suit of warm clothing with which he had been supplied, for the purpose of issuing them, whenever he should see occasion. William, You were now a year absent from England, and must have consumed a great quantity of the stores with which the ships had been furnished. Capt M, We had been victualled, as you remember, for no more than two years ; and as it seemed uncertain what might occur to retard our return longer than another year, our com- mander deemed it expedient, as a matter of precaution, to reduce the daily allowance of all kinds of provisions to two-tliirds of the es tablished proportion, which regulation accord- ingly took place ; and the cheerfulness with which this reduction was assented to by both officers and men, afforded a clear proof of the zeal and subordination, which our commander was pleased to say at all times marked their conduct. A short timo before this an incident had oc- 'I' m 1 hi iW i mm if 11 ^^H; % vS 1 li 156 ' / curred, which occasioned us a great deal of conjecture, though it was afterwards accounted for in a very natural manner. Taking a walk, one day, on the north side of the harhotir, a party from the ships accidentally met with a small ikdt stone, on which the letter P was plainly engraved. As there was no doubt that tliis had been artificially done ; and as since our arrival in Winter Harbour, the weather had been too cold, as we thought, to permit any of our people to sit down on the ground, for the purpose of exercising ♦heir talent in this way, we were entirely at a loss to conjecture how it came there. It was brought on board, however; and on enquiry we found that Peter Fisher, a seaman of the Griper, who was one of the party under Mr. Fife, respecting whom we had felt so much anxiety in the preceding Septem- ber, had on that occasion amused himself by beginning to scratch on the stone in question the initials of his name. This circumstance is wor- thy of notice also, from its proving to how con- siderable a distance this party had rambled, it being not less than 25 miles. William, . I should have thought the danger in which they were of perishing, would have occupied their minds too much to allow of amusement. ' . . Capt M» Different constitutions will be va- riously affected by cold : when the party had returned, it was a matter of surprise to ih to see how fresh this man was, and how little he seemed to regard what had happened, as any 157 thing out of the common way. I remember, when asked on his first arrival on board, what he and his comrades had lived upon, << Lived upon ?" said he, drily, " the Duke of Welling*- ton never lived so well. We had grouse for breakfast, grouse for dinner, and grouse for sup- per, to be sure I'* In the second week of May the first ptar- migans were seen, and soon after the tracks of rein-deer and musk-oxen, which were now re- turning with the mild weather, from their winter retreat in the South. At first we were only able to procure a brace or two of the former, and these were exclusively reserved for the sick. As game grew more plenty, orders were issued that every animal killed was to be con- sidered as public property, and as such to be regularly served out like any other kind of pro- vision, without the slightest distinction between tlie messes of the officers and those of the ships* companies. After this, birds and quadiupeds became daily more numerous, so that we were enabled by the assistance of our guns to issue out fresh provisions to the men. The snow now rapidly disappeared from the ground, and on the 24th we were most agreeably surprised by a smart shower of rain. For many months we had not seen a drop of rain ; so that you may not be surprised if every person hastened on deck, to be sprinkled wit/i some drops of rain, and to witness so pleasing an indication that the spring weather was fairly set in. On the 1st of June our Captain, encouraged Hi IH ri M |;i! Iff i k 168 by the Uicrea«iitg uuldtiess of the air, made a journey across Melville Island to the northern shore, attended by Captain Sabine and a party of seamen. On the 8th of June they reached the northern point of the island ; where, upon a hill eighty feet above the level of the sea, they set up a monument of a conical form, twelve"^feet broad at the base, and as many in height. Within it were deposited a tin cylin- der, containing an account of the party who had left it, and a few English coins. On their return they suffered much hardsliip from the inclemency of the weather ; on halting, how- ever, for the night, they contrived to make themselves tolerably comfortable, having al- ways the shelter of a teut, and by Captain Parry's directions, sewing up their blankets in the form of a bag, into which each man used to get, for the purpose of sleeping. They were U days absent, having ascertained the position of the farthest point at which they arrived to be N. Lat. 75« 26' ; West Long. 1I1« 22' and it was .with no small satisfaction that their messmates remarked, that the whole travelling party ap- peared in more robust health than when Uiey set out, ,:» ■ ' : William, When the snow disappeared, I suppose the ground soon became covered with vegetation. Capt M. In sheltered situations a handsome purple flower, which our doctor said was like our London Pride, sprung up in great luxu- riance, and gave something like cheerfulness to " ai»*, made a the northern and a party they reached where, upon of iJie sea, onical form, d as many in a tin cylin- aty who Jmd On their »ip from the alting-, how- ed to make . Iiaving al- by Captain r bianliets in man used to hey were 14 e position of rrived to Le '^' and it was r messmates •g" party ap- ' when tJiey appeared, f ovcrcd with a handsome aid was liice great luxu- erfulness to 159 the scene. Sorrel also grew in abundance, and was gathered in considerable quantities by men sent out every day to pick it. The leaves were served out to the messes, both of officers and men, and eaten as sallad, or boiled as greens ; and the eflfects of vegetable food and fresh pro- visions were soon manifested in the improved health of the crews. In a few days there was but one man, of the name of Scott, remaining on the sick list. William. Did he at last recover? " Capt. iff. No — poor fellow 1 on the 27th of June, after an illness of two months, he breath- ed his last. The first symptoms were fever, and inflammation of the lungs, and afterwards scurvy. It appeared afterwards, however, that the great obstacle to his recovery, and, in fact, the cause of his death, was an unfortunate pro- pensity to liquor, which he indulged by pri- vately exchanging whatever he was worth with his messmates for their allowance of grog. Mr, Jones, How many in this country, like Scott, give all they are worth, property, cha- racter, and health, to gratify the same fondness for spirits I Their children, half fed and nearly naked, grow up in ignorance, and with such an example in view; whilst the unhappy drunkard, careless of the mischief he has done to himself and his family, hastens his own death. CapL M. It is too true a picture of a drunk- ard. But for this vice, Scott would, in all likelihood, have n;turned with us to England : u« it is, his remains lie upon Melville island, If:!' 160 the only human creature that ever was, or per- haps ever will be interred in that remote situa- tion. On the following Sunday, after divine service had been performed, the body was de- posited in a grave made for it at a short dis- tance from the beach. The ensigns and pen- dants were lowered half mast high during the procession to the grave, which consisted of the whole of the crews, both officeps and men : the scene was solemn and impressive, and all ap- peared affected whilst the corpse of their com- rade was lowered into its narrow and solitary bed. A tomb-stone was placed at the head of the grave, with an inscription, stating the name and age ef the deceased, and the ship he be- longed to. By the middle of July the warmth was such as you experience here in the month of May ; but it was not till the 1st of August that the ice was sufficiently melted to allow the ships to escape from their ice-dock. At one p. m. of that day, having got every thing on board, and the whole space between the ships and Cape Hearne bein^ completely clear, we weighed and ran out of Winter Haroour, in which we had actually passed ten whole months, and a part of the two remaining ones, August and Sep- tember. This was rather unfavorable to our ultimate success ; still, however, we did not fail to remember, as affording some ground of en- couragement, thai short as our season of navi- gation must be, we were about to begin that season on the anniversary of the day on which 161 was snch of May; that the > ships to p» m, of ard, and nd Cape :hed and we had f a part nd 8ep- to our not fail of en- f naW- in that which m m the preceding year we had oomrnenoed our discoveries from the entry of Lancaster Sound westward ; and that if we were favoured with the same degree of success there could be little doubt of the eventual accomplishment of our ciiterprize. We proceeded slowly to the west- ward, much obstructed by the ice ; till at length, on the 9th of August, we had the mortification of perceiving that there was only a very nar- row channel between the point of the cape, and the fixed immoveable barrier of ice which lay near it. Various were the attempts we made to advance, but it appeared as if our object was hopeless. We therefore let go the anchors, in order that we might calmly deliberate on the course which it was advisable to pursue, giTeatly discouraged, as you may suppose, by the re- flection that we had now only gained the ex- treme point we had made last year, when our further progress was stopped by the same bar- rier. On that day we had a most providential es- cape ; like many others, indeed, which we ex- perienced, but it will shew you how perilous was our situation. The Hecla was made fast to a floe which lay between it and the great body of ice, when it was observed that the latter was in motion. Happily for us, a projecting part of the floe from which we were lying a couple of hundred yards, received the whole pressure, and by the weight split in several di- rections, with a crash as loud as thunder, after which we saw a part, several hundred tuns in ^f% 161 weight, raised slowfy aiid innjestically, m i/ br th(» application of a screw, and deposited on another part of the floe from which it had broken. It measured A2 feet in thickness, and had the force come against our vessel, it must inevitably have been dashed to atoms. This was discouraging, for it shewed ns that tlie icy sea to the South West of Melville Island, was most unfavourable to navigation. We held arrived at this very spot in September 1819, and here again we were obstructed in the August following, the :*'/^ being not only of an increased thickness, but pressed so closely to- gether, that no opening was aff.>rded. Nor was this the only difficulty we had to encoun- ter. Every detached piece of ice that drifted to us gave our ship a shock, which its strength alone enabled it to bear. The Oriper, which since we left Winter Harbour sailed worse than ever, was again forced on shore, and nearly lost, and we hourly expected a similar misfor- tune to the Hecla. The wreck of both ships was certain, s(> that our captain thinking it an unjustifiable exposure of the lives of his com- panions to persevere, called on his officers for their opinion. . Paf, I hope their (»pinion was oppose'! to Captain Parry's. They had a full month before them, and perhaps ere that had elapsed the whole body of ice might liave drifted, and left them an open sea; and even though they had been beset, m hat was to prevent them stopping another winter ? 163 ^posited oj, !^it!li it liad |ickness, and 's^l, it must ns. ^''-e^Ins that K ^felville navigation. S^^ptemher i^^tod in the ; onJy of an closeJv to- •ded. 'Nor to encoun- tliat drifted its streng-th 'per, which worse than and nearlv lar misfor- f^oth ships ^'nfif it an f Jiis corn- officers for ppose'i to ith before ipsed the h and left thev had stopping Capi. M, We had brought out enough of pro- visions and stores for two years, and seventeen months had gone by. We could have made them last longer by putting the men on still shorter allowance, and taking in the crew of the Griper to live on board the Hecla ; but what commander would feel himself warranted in risking the lives of the brave men who had borne so uncomplainingly the hardships of the voyage : and beside, wliat assurance had we that the sea would be more open the next year. The opinion of the officers coincided with that of Captain Parry, that we should hold on our course so long as the least hope presented itself; but that if every attempt failed we should return to the Eastward, availing ourselves of any opening that might occur to get to the Southward. Still, however, we kept our ships' heads to the westward, passed Bounty Cape, where we observed, that the snow which fell during the day did not thaw at night, a proof that the frost was set in, and that another long and dreary winter was beginning. We struggled on, how- ever, till the 16th of August, when we had got only eight miles beyond the eastern point of Melville Island, that is a few miles farther than where we had been on the same day and at the same hour the year before. But here our fur ther advance was stopped ; not a break was to be observed in the ice, nor any prospect that it would break up and open us a passage. This •xtreme point of our voyage wai North Lat. 1G4 74« 26', and West Lon. 113o 46', and was Uk most westerly point to which the navigation of the Polar Sea, to the northward of the Ame- rican continent, had yet heen carried. On the same ?ay .^at Captain Parry called on his officers for y«e^ opinion as to the expe- diency of still peri* .i;^ f n an endeavour to pe- netrate farther westwara, two musk oxen were killed by the men, and they afforded a very welcome supply of fresh meat, the first giving us 369, and the second 352 pounds of beef, as we ascertained by weighing it out to the crew, Pat, I should have thought, had you re- solved on wintering the crew a second time in these seas, you might have killed a sufficient quantity of game for food, and saved the ship's provisions. . ; >-rv CapU M. The quantity obtained for the use of our crews during our stay upon the shores of Melville Island will shew you that this would not have been possible. In twelve months it was as follows — 3 musk oxen, 24 deer, 68 hares, 50 geese, 59 ducks, and 144 ptarmigans, affoid- ing 3766 pounds of meat. V r :^,-t M1■'Jr•'^>•| ^ , VI Ui'.:: i '•;'?iM%.j: \---:,^vd i »" CHAPTER VII. ,.1 ' Capt M, On the 25th of August, 1820, we weighed from Melville Island, Jind setting the ships' heads towards the East, proceeded along the edge of the ice. A constant l©ok-out was kept ie;5 from the crow's-nest, for an opening to the Southward; but not a single break could be per- ceived in the mass of ice which still covered the sea in that direction. On the 27th at noon, we were in Lat. 75^ 2' and Lon. 105<* 14' and in the courae of the evening, within four or five miles of the same spot where we had been on the same day, and at the same hour, the preceding year, we were reduced to the same necessity of steering the ships by one another for an hour or two ; the Griper keeping the Hecla ahead, and the latter keeping the Griper right astern, for want of some better way of knowing in what direction we were running ; for, a^ you remember, the compass >vas no guide to us. On the 30th of August we arrived in Lat. 90o having traced the ice the whole way from long. 114® without discovering any opening to encourage a hope of penetrating it to the South- ward. It appeared, therefore, to our comman- der, (.hat there was no longer a possibility of efffiCting his abject with the present resources of the expedition, and it was his duty to return to England ibrthwith, with the ac- count of our proceedings. He informed the ofiicers and men, therefore, of his intentions, and the same evening directed the full allow- ance of provisions to be in future issued, with such a proportion of fuel as might contribute to our comfort ; a luxury, which, on account of the necessity which existed for the strictest economy in this article, we had not often en- if \ii i u 166 joyed since we entered Sir James Lancaster's Sound. We had been on two-thirds allowance of bread between ten and eleven months, and on the same reduce^ proportion of the other kinds of provision, for oetween three and four : and although this quantity is scarcely enough for working men, for any length of time, I be- lieve, the reduction of fuel had been considered, generally, as by far the greater privation of the two.. It was on the morning of the 31st of August, that we passed an opening in the southern shore of the Sound, co which our commander gave the name of Admiralty Inlet. It was oc- cupied, however, entirely by ice, so that he did not think its further examination of sufficient importance to detain the expedition : we therefore continued our course eastward. On the first of September we cleared Sir James Lancaster's Sound, and once more entering Baffin's Bay, stood for the South> along the Western coast. It was a remarkable day to us, for we now began to make use of our compass, which had been idle for more than twelve months. We therefore recommenced throwing sealed bottles overboard, containing papers with the usual information respecting our pro- ceedings, which practice was daily continued till we reached England. »'-' On the 3rd of September, our astonishment may well be conceived, at seeing from the mast- head, a ship, and soon after two others in the offing, standing in towards the land. These we 161 soon after ascertained to be whalers, and tlier afforded us a satisfactory proof of the benefits resulting from such an expedition, as that in which we had been engaged. Until after Ciptain Ross's voyage, this coast had been considered wholly inaccessible to wlialers ; but it had now evidently become a fishing station, and the cir- cumstance of our having met so few whales in Sir James Lancaster's Sound on our return, when going out we had seen such numbers, was at once accounted for, by supposing what indeed we afterwards found to be the case, that the fishing-ships }>ad been there before us, and had for the time, scared tliim freui that ground. On the 5th we fell in with another whaler, which proved to be the Lee of Hull, Mr. W^illiamson, iVSasttir, from whom we learned amongst other events of a a public nature, the calamity which England had sustained in the death of our iate venerable and beloved Sove- reign George III., fuid also the death of his Royal Hit*hnes^ the Duke of Kent. Mr. Wil- liamson also reported, that a day or two before he had met with some Esquimaux in an inlet named, in 1818, the lliver Clyde, which was just to the southward of us. Considering it a matter of soiiiO interest to communicate with these j)eople, who had probably not before been vi- sited by Europeans, and that it might be useful, at the same time, to examine the inlet, we bore in for it, being near an immense ice-bcrg, which, from its situation and size, we recognized to be one that had been measured by Captain Ross in L >fl 3;ife%i(i[TfT;n mi fifr'tiiti iiWfiiWii 168 1818, and found to be upwards of two miles iti length. It was aground in precisely the same spot as before, and will probably remain year after year, till gradually wasted away by the influence of the air and sun. At six in the evening, being then in lat. 70<* 22', we observed four canoes paddling towards the ship : they ap- proached with great confidence, and came along- side without the least appearance of fear or suspicion : while paddling towards us, and in- deed before we could plainly perceive their canoes, they continued to vociferate loudly ; but nothing like a song, or even any articulate sound, could be distinguished. Their canoes were taken on board by their own desire, plain • ly intimated by signs, and they at once came up the ship's side without hesitation. The party that came aboard consisted of one old and three young men, to whom evidently a ship was not a new object ; and yet they ex- pressed great surprise at every thing they saw. They were brougnt into the cabin, when one of our officers, wishing to take a likeness of the elder, persuaded him to stand upon a stool, and to remain tolerably quiet till the drawing was made, after which they were given some pre- sents, and sent home highly delighted. On the following day, as Captain Parry wish- ed to see something more of the habits of the Esquimaux, he took a party, and went ashore. On landing, the natives came down to meet him, bringing with them some pieces of whalebone and seal-skin dr-esses. They understood barter, miles ill he same ain year y by the X ill the observed they ap- e along- fear or s, and in- ive their idly; but articulate lir canoes ire, plain- 3 came up ed of one evidently they ex- they saw. en one of ss of the (tool, and ving was icme pre- l. rry wish- ts of the it ashore, aeet him, halebone ►d barter, tji ; t. I 'tj-'f ... V. ? ' 1 M\ mS' '• ' ■ft '1' Wm |i|l ^^K f'\ t' one the man incJ 159 lionever, well, for they never shewed iiior« than one thing at a time, not offering another till the first had been disposed of. One circum- i^tance, however, deserves to be mentioned: many articles were lying about, which might be supposed likely to awaken in ignorant savages, a desire of possessing them unlawfully, nor were opportunities of pilfering wanting; and yet, in no one instance, did we find them inclined to dishonesty, though, during the whole time we were with them, they were asking for something or other, crying, PiUefay, {gi^c we). It is pleasing to record a fact no less g*ratifying in itself, than creditable to these simple people. It ought to put to shame thousands of the more enlightened inhabitants of our own country. Great caution was requisite, in getting into their canoes, to keep them from turning over, and this gave us another proof of their amiable disposition. One of tl\e yoiinij men launched the canoe of his aged companion, and kept it steady while the old man took his seat, and tlien with mucVi caution got into his own ; and they both paddled from the shore, accompany- ing the boats, which were making for a point of land, where some Esquimaux had pitched their tents. No sooner did we come within sight of them, than all were in motion — men, women and diiidren, ran out to meet us, with expressions of joy and welcome. Some of the women had their infants tied on their backs. A barter sorious. On ( ; and it is 8 bottom to fathoms or the Arctic 'th of it for September sted in our ut meeting bed Peter- nd, on the le Thames I. now say 171 that it is no advantage to geographical science to have explored Baffin's Say and Lancaster's Sound. Pat, 1 think the result of the voyage amply compensated for the expense of the expedition, and for the dangers which our brave and hardy sailors underwent in prosecuting it. Mr, Jones, You are now right, Pat. It is worthy of that nation which we have the hap- piness to call ours, to advance in nautical and geographical knowledge. And can we with- hold our admiraticm from men, who, for tbe ac- complishment of this object, put their Jives in peril — working their way, and etruggling with- out intermission for three months througli such fields of ice as were never before encountered by ships with impunity—then frozen up for ten months in the high lat. of 75*^, during three of which the sun never shed one clieerful ray upon them, and the cold was so intense as to freeze quicksilver — deprived of all refreshments but what the ships themselves afforded, and without any vegetable substances, except what little Captain Parry contrived to grow in his own cabin I Capt, M, Under such circumstances, it was indeed the good providence of the Almighty that was over us. And it was one of the means by which he wrought oui' preservation, that we were under a commander, whose mental energy preserved the health and spirits of the people entrusted to his care, and so crowned his efforts with success; that he was enabled to bring home vy^.. 17-2 :*„ ->. hi every man (with the exception of one who carried out with him an enfeebled coriytifu- tion), in as high health as when they Inft Eng- land; and the two ships as perfect nearly in repair as on tlxe day on which th(?y left the docks. . 3Tr, Jones, 1 am sure, Mr. Mackey, my sons will not forget the obligations they owe yon- for your great kindness. You have afforded to them a gratification far superior to any they could have sought out for themselves during the school recess. But you have also so blend- ed instruction with amusement, that I trust it will tend to fix their taste for rational pursuit^>. Capt M. They were wchome, Mr. Jone«, to the information which I had it in my power to give them ; and it is due to them to say, that I was highly pleased at the n!t?*r6St they took in my narrative, and the seni ibio observations it from time to time drew from them. The plain lesson, which all I told them was calcu- lated to inculcate, may be thus expressed — let us hope that they will not forget it. That in our various situations we have a duty to fulfil, and we should perform it ; and that whatever difficulties may meet us in our path of life, a fjteady triu't in Providence — a calm forethought c? what is right to do, joined to perseverance, will cj'li down a bh ssing from the Most High un the path In which we are walking. FIN [8. r*^- ^•h.I- '->. 'V T^WWUBpST" ' ■ of one who ►led conytitu- they Inf't Eri^- Ifeet nearly in tlu^y left the key, my sons y owe y oil" for e afforded U) r to any they nselves duriiig^ also so blend ■ that I trust it tional pursuit^^. le, Mr. Jone«, t in my power em to say, that lest they took la observations 11 them. The ie\u was caku- expressed — let i>t it. That in \ duty to fulfil, that whatever path of life, a Im forethonghi perseverance, the Moft High [king. \l^^