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THREE VOYAGES FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC, AND NARRATIVE OF AN ATTEMPT TO REACH THE NORTH POLE, VOLUME I
by
SIR W. E. PARRY, CAPT. R.N., F.R.S.
In Two Volumes.
1844
[Illustration CAPTAIN W.E. PARRY R.N.]
PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT
The two volumes herewith presented to the public contain an uninterrupted narrative, in Captain Parry's own words, of the five voyages made by that distinguished navigator, under the sanction of the British government, in search of a passage from the eastern to the western side of the American Continent, through the Arctic Ocean. Although abbreviated, the curtailment has been effected, not by any change in the language of the original writer, but merely by omitting all such details as were not inviting to the general reader; and, in a word, changing the character of the work from that of an official report to that of a narrative. The effort has been to preserve all interesting and amusing particulars; to record all facts and transactions of importance; to present an accurate though brief notice of all valuable accessions to geographic as well as general knowledge, effected in the progress of the voyages; and, at the same time, to keep the reader's attention ever on the alert by the rapid and uninterrupted succession of striking incidents.
It is hoped that the aim here designated has been accomplished; and that, in the abridged narrative of Parry's Voyages, there will be found matter, not only to interest the reader for amusement, but also to improve. The scenes and adventures recorded by the navigator are in the highest degree novel and remarkable; and it cannot be other than profitable to know what perils were encountered, what courage, firmness, and ingenuity were displayed, what moral and physical influences were developed, and what triumphs of human skill were achieved, in the progress of voyages undertaken solely to advance the interests of science.
H. & B.
New-York, May, 1840.
CONTENTS
of
THE FIRST VOLUME
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
Passage across the Atlantic.—Enter Davis's Strait.—Unsuccessful
Attempt to penetrate the Ice to the Western Coast.—Voyage up the
Strait.—Passage through the Ice to the Western Coast.—Arrival
off Possession Bay, on the Southern Side of the Entrance into Sir
James Lancaster's Sound.
CHAPTER II.
Entrance into Sir James Lancaster's Sound of Baffin.—Uninterrupted Passage to the Westward.—Discovery and Examination of Prince Regent's Inlet.—Progress to the Southward stopped by Ice.—Return to the Northward.—Pass Barrow's Strait, and enter the Polar Sea.
CHAPTER III.
Favourable Appearances of an open Westerly Passage.—Land to the Northward, a Series of Islands.—General Appearance of them.—Meet with some Obstruction from low Islands surrounded with Ice.—Remains of Esquimaux Huts, and natural Productions of Byam Martin Island.—Tedious Navigation from Fogs and Ice.—Difficulty of Steering a Proper Course.—Arrival and Landing on Melville Island.—Proceed to the Westward, and reach the Meridian of 110° W. Long., the first Stage in the Scale of Rewards granted by Act of Parliament.
CHAPTER IV.
Further Examination of Melville Island.—Continuation of our Progress to the Westward.—Long detention by the Ice.—Party sent on Shore to hunt Deer and Musk-oxen.—Return in three Days, after losing their Way.—Anxiety on their Account.—Proceed to the Westward till finally stopped by the Ice.—In returning to the Eastward, the Griper forced on the Beach by the Ice.—Search for, and Discovery of, a Winter Harbour on Melville Island.—Operations for securing the Ships in their Winter Quarters.
CHAPTER V.
Precautions for securing the Ships and Stores.—For promoting Good
Order, Cleanliness, Health, and Good-Humour among the Ships'
Companies.—Establishment of a Theatre and of the North Georgia
Gazette.—Erection of an Observatory on Shore.—Commence our
Winter's Amusements.—State of the Temperature, and various
Meteorological Phenomena.—Miscellaneous Occurrences to the Close
of the Year 1819.
CHAPTER VI.
First Appearance of Scurvy.—The Aurora Borealis and other
Meteorological Phenomena.—Visits of the Wolves.—Reappearance of
the Sun.—Extreme low Temperature.—Destruction of the House on
Shore by Fire.—Severe Frostbites occasioned by this Accident.
CHAPTER VII.
More temperate Weather.—House rebuilt.—Quantity of Ice collected on the Hecla's lower Deck.—Meteorological Phenomena.—Conclusion of Theatrical Entertainments.—Increased Sickness on board the Griper.—Clothes first dried in the open Air.—Remarkable Halos and Parhelia.—Snow Blindness.—Cutting the Ice round the Ships, and other Occurrences to the Close of May.
CHAPTER VIII.
Journey across Melville Island to the Northern Shore, and Return to the Ships by a different Route.
CHAPTER IX.
Occurrences at Winter Harbour in the early Part of June.—Gradual
Dissolution of the Ice upon the Sea and of the Snow upon the
Land.—Decease and Burial of William Scott.—Equipment of the
Ships completed.—Temperate Weather during the Month of
July.—Breaking up of the Ice near the Ships.—Move to the lower
Part of the Harbour.—Separation of the Ice at the
Entrance.—Prepare to Sail.—Abstract of Observations made in
Winter Harbour.
CHAPTER X.
Leave Winter Harbour.—Flattering Appearance of the Sea to the Westward.—Stopped by the Ice near Cape Hay.—Farther Progress to the Longitude of 113° 48' 22.5", being the Westernmost Meridian hitherto reached in the Polar Sea, to the North of America.—Banks's Land discovered.—Increased Extent and Dimensions of the Ice.—Return to the Eastward, to endeavour to penetrate the Ice to the Southward.—Re-enter Barrow's Strait, and Survey its South Coast.—Pass through Sir James Lancaster's Sound on our Return to England.
CHAPTER XI.
Progress down the Western Coast of Baffin's Bay.—Meet with the
Whalers.—Account of some Esquimaux in the Inlet called the River
Clyde.—Continue the Survey of the Coast till stopped by Ice in
the Latitude of 68¼°.—Obliged to run to the Eastward.—Fruitless
Attempts to regain the Land, and final Departure from the
Ice.—Remarks upon the probable Existence and Practicability of a
Northwest Passage, and upon the Whale Fishery.—Boisterous Weather
in Crossing the Atlantic.—Loss of the Hecla's Bowsprit and
Foremast.—Arrival in England.
SECOND VOYAGE.
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
CHAPTER I.
Passage across the Atlantic.—Removal of Stores from the Nautilus
Transport, at the Margin of the Ice.—Departure of the Nautilus
for England.—Enter the Ice in Hudson's Strait.—Perilous
Situation of the Hecla, and Loss of her Anchor.—Meet with the
Hudson's Bay Ships.—Passage up the Strait, and Communication with
the Natives inhabiting the Northern Shores.—Pass the Trinity
Islands of Fox.—Arrival off Southampton Island, where the
Researches of the Expedition commence.
CHAPTER II.
Review of the Geographical Information obtained by the Researches
of former Navigators on the Coast of the American Continent, in
the Neighbourhood of Wager River.—Discover and enter the Duke of
York's Bay, supposing it to be a Passage into the Sea called the
Welcome.—Leave the Duke of York's Bay, and proceed to the
Northwestward.—Passage of the Frozen Strait and Arrival in
Repulse Bay.—Continuity of Land there.—Observations on
Shore.—Remarks concerning the Geography, Tides, and Natural
History of this Part of the Continental Coast.
CHAPTER III.
Return to the Eastward through the Frozen Strait.—Discovery of Hurd Channel.—Examined in a Boat.—Loss of the Fury's Anchor.—Providential Escape of the Fury from Shipwreck.—Anchor in Duckett Cove.—Farther Examination of the Coast by Boats and Walking-parties.—Ships proceed through Hurd Channel.—Are drifted by the Ice back to Southampton Island.—Unobstructed Run to the Entrance of a large Inlet leading to the Northwestward.—Ships made fast by Hawsers to the Rocks.—Farther Examination of the Inlet commenced in the Boats.
CHAPTER IV.
Hoppner's Inlet entered and surveyed by the Boats.—Continuity of Land there determined.—Proceed to examine another Opening leading to the Westward.—Favourable Appearance of a continued Passage in that direction.—Meet with some Esquimaux.—Arrival in Ross Bay, being the Termination of Lyon Inlet.—Discovery and Examination of various Creeks.—Return to the Ships, after finding the Land entirely continuous.—Some Account of the Natural History of this Part of the Coast.
CHAPTER V.
Farther Examination in the Boats for the Purpose of Connecting the
Shores of Lyon Inlet with that of Gore Bay.—Continuity of the
Land determined.—Fresh Detention by the Ice.—Boats carried over
Land.—Return to the Ships.—Progress out of the Inlet prevented
by the Ice.—The Fury grounds upon a Rock.—Anchor in Safety
Cove.—Heavy Easterly Gales.—Proceed out of the Inlet.—Arrival
in a Bay on the south Side of Winter Island.—Ships secured in
Winter-quarters.
CHAPTER VI.
Precautions for the Security of the Ships and their Stores—And
for the Health and Comfort of the Crews.—Establishment of
Theatrical Entertainments and Schools.—Erection of an Observatory
and House on Shore.—State of Health at this Period.—Partial
Disruption of the Ice in the Bay.—Anchors and Cables taken to the
Shore.—Gradual Increase of Cold, Appearance of the Aurora
Borealis on several Occasions, and various other Meteorological
Phenomena to the Close of the Year 1821.
CHAPTER VII.
Many Foxes caught.—Continued Open Water in the Offing.—Partial
Disruption of the Ice in the Bay.—Meteorological Phenomena, and
Temperature of Animals.—Arrival of a Tribe of Esquimaux.—First
Meeting and subsequent Intercourse with them.—Esquimaux in Want
of Provisions.—Supplied with Bread-dust.—Some Account of a
Sealing Excursion with them.—Fresh Disruption of the Ice in the
Bay.—Closing of the Winter Theatre.—Meteorological Phenomena
till the End of February, 1822.
CHAPTER VIII.
A Journey performed across Winter Island.—Sufferings of the Party by Frost.—Departure of Some of the Esquimaux, and a separate Village established on the Ice.—Various Meteorological Phenomena.—Okotook and his Wife brought on board.—Anecdotes relating to them.—Ships released from the Ice by sawing.
CHAPTER IX.
Increased Extent of open Water in the Offing.—A Travelling Party despatched to the Northward.—Unsuccessful Attempt to raise Vegetables on Shore.—Decease of James Pringle.—A Party of Esquimaux build Huts near the Ships.—Return of the Travellers, and Account of their Journey.—First Appearance of the Plants.—Birds become numerous.—Commence cutting a Canal through the Ice for liberating the Ships.—Illness and Decease of John Reid and William Souter.—Breaking up of the Ice in the Bay.—Account of Winter Island.—Abstract of Observations made there.
TECHNICAL TERMS PECULIAR TO THE NAVIGATION AMONG ICE
BAY-ICE.—Ice newly formed upon the surface of the sea. The expression is, however, applied also to ice a foot or two in thickness.
BESET.—The situation of a ship when closely surrounded by ice.
BIGHT.—An indentation in a floe of ice, like a bay, by which name it is sometimes called.
BLINK.—A peculiar brightness in the atmosphere, often assuming an arch-like form, which is generally perceptible over ice or land covered with snow. The blink of land, as well as that over large quantities of ice, is usually of a yellowish cast.
BORE.—The operation of "boring" through loose ice consists in entering it under a press of sail, and forcing the ship through by separating the masses.
CALF.—A mass of ice lying under a floe near its margin, and, when disengaged from that position, rising with violence to the surface of the water. See TONGUE.
CLEAR WATER.—Any part of the sea unencumbered with ice.
CROW'S NEST.—A small circular house like a cask, fixed at the masthead, in which the look-out man sits, either to guide the ship through the ice or to give notice of whales.
DOCK.—In a floe may be natural or artificial; the former being simply a small "bight," in which a ship is placed to secure her from the danger of external pressure; and the latter, a square space cut out with saws for a similar purpose.
FIELD.—A sheet of ice generally of great thickness, and of too great extent to be seen over from a ship's masthead.
FLINCHING.—The operation of stripping a sea-animal of its skin and blubber.
FLOE.—The same as a field, except that its extent can be distinguished from a ship's masthead. A "bay-floe" is a floe of ice newly formed.
FLOE-PIECE.—An expression generally applied to small pieces of floes, not more than a furlong square.
A HOLE or POOL of Water.—A small space of "clear water," when the rest of the sea is covered with ice.
HUMMOCK.—A mass of ice rising to a considerable height above the general level of a floe, and forming a part of it. Hummocks are originally raised by the pressure of floes against each other.
LAND-ICE.—Ice attached to the land, either in floes or in heavy grounded masses lying near the shore.
LANE of Water.—A narrow channel among the masses of ice, through which a boat or ship may pass.
LEAD.—A channel through the ice. A ship is said to "take the right lead" when she follows a channel conducting her into a more navigable sea, and vice versâ.
MAKING-OFF Blubber.—The operation of putting it into casks.
NIPPED.—The situation of a ship when forcibly pressed by ice.
PACK.—A large body of ice, consisting of separate masses, lying close together, and whose extent cannot be seen.
PANCAKE-ICE.—Newly formed ice, assuming the peculiar conformation of numberless patches of "sludge," and giving the surface of the sea the appearance of a handsome pavement.
PATCH of Ice.—The same as a pack, but of small dimensions.
SAILING-ICE.—Ice of which the masses are so much separated as to allow a ship to sail among them.
SALLYING a Ship.—The operation of causing her to roll, by the men running in a body from side to side, so as to relieve her from the adhesion and friction of the young ice around her.
SLUDGE.—Ice of the consistence of thick honey, offering little impediment to a ship while in this state, but greatly favouring the formation of a "bay-floe."
STREAM.—A long and narrow, but generally continuous, collection of loose ice.
TONGUE.—A mass of ice projecting under water from an iceberg or floe, and generally distinguishable at a considerable depth of smooth water. It differs from a "calf" in being fixed to, or a part of the larger body.
WATER-SKY.—A dark appearance in the sky, indicating "clear water" in that direction, and forming a striking contrast with the "blink" over land or ice.
YOUNG-ICE.—Nearly the same as "bay-ice," but generally applied to ice more recently formed than the latter.
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE
INTRODUCTION.
Lieutenant Parry was appointed to the command of his majesty's ship the Hecla, a bomb of 375 tons, on the 16th of January, 1819; and the Griper, gun brig, 180 tons, commissioned by Lieutenant Matthew Liddon, was at the same time directed to put herself under his orders. The object of the expedition was to attempt the discovery of a Northwest Passage into the Pacific. 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 provisions and stores for two years; in addition to which, there was a large supply of fresh meats and soups preserved in tin cases, essence of malt and hops, essence of spruce, and other extra stores, adapted to cold climates and a long voyage. The ships were ballasted entirely with coals; an abundance of warm clothing was allowed, a wolfskin blanket being supplied to each officer and man, besides a housing-cloth, similar to that with which wagons are usually covered, to make a sort of tent on board. Although the finding a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific was the main object of the expedition, yet the ascertaining many points of natural history, geography, &c., was considered a most important object, never to be lost sight of. After they had passed the latitude of 65° north, they were from time to time to throw overboard a bottle, closely sealed, containing a paper, stating the date and position at which it was launched. Whenever they landed on the northern coast of North America, they were to erect a pole, having a flag, and bury a bottle at the foot of it, containing an abstract of their proceedings and future intentions, for the information of Lieutenant Franklin, who had been sent on a land expedition to explore that coast from the mouth of the Coppermine River of Hearne.
According to the official instructions, the interests of science were not neglected, and many important facts were made out; among the most curious, it may be mentioned, that it appears to be proved that the North Pole is not the coldest point of the Arctic hemisphere, but that the place where the expedition wintered is one of the coldest spots on the face of the globe.
CHAPTER I.
Passage across the Atlantic.—Enter Davis's Strait.—Unsuccessful
Attempt to penetrate the Ice to the Western Coast.—Voyage up the
Strait.—Passage through the Ice to the Western Coast.—Arrival
off Possession Bay, on the Southern Side of the Entrance into Sir
James Lancaster's Sound.
In the beginning of May, 1819, the Hecla and Griper were towed down the river; the guns and gunner's stores were received on board on the 6th; and the instruments and chronometers were embarked on the evening of the 8th, when the two ships anchored at the Nore. The Griper, being a slower sailer, was occasionally taken in tow by the Hecla, and they rounded the northern point of the Orkneys, at the distance of two miles and a half; on Thursday, the 20th of the same month.
Nothing of moment occurred for several days; but the wind veered to the westward on the 30th, and increased to a fresh gale, with an irregular sea and heavy rain, which brought us under our close-reefed topsails. At half past one, P.M., we began to cross the space in which the "Sunken Land of Buss" is laid down in Steel's chart from England to Greenland; and, in the course of this and the following day, we tried for soundings several times without success.
Early in the morning of the 18th of June, in standing to the northward, we fell in with the first "stream" of ice we had seen, and soon after saw several icebergs. At daylight the water had changed its colour to a dirty brownish tinge. The temperature of the water was 36½°, being 3° colder than on the preceding night; a decrease that was probably occasioned by our approach to the ice. We ran through a narrow part of the stream, and found the ice beyond it to be "packed" and heavy. The birds were more numerous than usual; and, besides the fulmar peterels, boatswains, and kittiwakes, we saw, for the first time, some rotges, dovekies, or black guillemots, and terns, the latter known best to seamen by the name of the Greenland swallow.
On the clearing up of a fog on the morning of the 24th, we saw a long chain of icebergs, extending several miles, in a N.b.W. and S.b.E. direction; and, as we approached them, we found a quantity of "floe-ice" intermixed with them, beyond which, to the westward, nothing but ice could be seen. At noon we had soundings, with one hundred and twenty fathoms of line, on a bottom of fine sand, which makes it probable that most of the icebergs were aground in this place. In the afternoon we sailed within the edge of the ice, as much as a light westerly wind would admit, in order to approach the western land. Some curious effects of atmospheric refraction were observed this evening, the low ice being at times considerably raised in the horizon, and constantly altering its appearance.
The weather being nearly calm on the morning of the 25th, all the boats were kept ahead, to tow the ships through the ice to the westward. It remained tolerably open till four P.M., when a breeze, freshening up from the eastward, caused the ice, through which we had lately been towing, to close together so rapidly, that we had scarcely time to hoist up the boats before the ships were immovably "beset." The clear sea which we had left was about four miles to the eastward of us, while to the westward nothing but one extensive field of ice could be seen. 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.
A large black whale, being the first, was seen near the ships. It is usual for these animals to descend head foremost, displaying the broad fork of their enormous 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 our Greenland sailors.
While in this state a large white bear came near the Griper, and was killed by her people, but he sunk between the pieces of ice. This animal had probably been attracted by the smell of some red herrings which the men were frying at the time. It is a common practice with the Greenland sailors to take advantage of the strong sense of smelling which these creatures possess, by enticing them near the ships in this manner.
The swell had somewhat subsided on the 29th, but the ships remained firmly fixed in the ice as before. In the course of the day we saw land bearing N. 69° W. about thirteen leagues distant, appearing from the masthead like a group of islands, and situated near to the entrance of Cumberland Strait: the soundings were one hundred and thirty-five fathoms; the temperature of the sea at that depth 30°; that of the surface being the same, and of the air 34°. 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 windlass, we succeeded in moving the Hecla about her own length to the eastward, where alone any clear sea was visible. The ice continuing to open still more in the course of the day, we were at length enabled to get both ships into open water, after eight hours' incessant labour.
On the 1st and 2d of July, we continued to keep close to the edge of the ice without perceiving any opening in it. Its outer margin consisted of heavy detached masses, much washed by the sea, and formed what is technically called "a pack," this name being given to ice when so closely connected as not to admit the passage of a ship between the masses. Within the margin of the pack, it appeared to consist of heavy and extensive floes, having a bright ice-blink over them; but no clear water could be discovered to the westward. The birds, which had hitherto been seen since our first approach to the ice, were fulmar peterels, little auks, looms, and a few gulls.
On the morning of the 3d the wind blew strong from the eastward, with a short, breaking sea, and thick, rainy weather, which made our situation for some hours rather an unpleasant one, the ice being close under our lee. Fortunately, however, we weathered it by stretching back a few miles to the southward. In the afternoon the wind moderated, and we tacked again to the northward, crossing the Arctic circle at four P.M., in the longitude of 57° 27' W. We passed at least fifty icebergs in the course of the day, many of them of large dimensions. Towards midnight, the wind having shifted to the southwest and moderated, another extensive chain of very large icebergs appeared to the northward: 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 a heavy southerly swell, which, dashing the loose ice with tremendous force against the bergs, sometimes raised a white spray over the latter to the height of more than one hundred feet, and, being accompanied with a loud noise, exactly resembling the roar of distant thunder, presented a scene at once sublime and terrific. We could find no bottom near these icebergs with one hundred and ten fathoms of line.
At four A.M. on the 4th we came to a quantity of loose ice, which lay straggling among the bergs; and as there was a light breeze from the southward, and I was anxious to avoid, if possible, the necessity of going to the eastward, I pushed the Hecla into the ice, in the hope of being able to make our way through it. We had scarcely done so, however, before it fell calm; when the ship became perfectly unmanageable, and was for some time at the mercy of the swell, which drifted us fast towards the bergs. All the boats were immediately sent ahead to tow; and the Griper's signal was made not to enter the ice. After two hours' hard pulling, we succeeded in getting the Hecla back again into clear water, and to a sufficient distance from the icebergs, which it is very dangerous to approach when there is a swell. At noon we were in lat. 69° 50' 47", long. 57° 07' 56", being near the middle of the narrowest part of Davis's Strait, which is here not more than fifty leagues across.
On the 5th it was necessary to pass through some heavy streams of ice, in order to avoid the loss of time by going round to the eastward. On this, as on many other occasions, the advantage possessed by a ship of considerable weight in the water, in separating the heavy masses of ice, was Very apparent. In some of the streams through which the Hecla passed, a vessel of a hundred tons less burden must have been immovably beset. The Griper was on this and many other occasions only enabled to follow the Hecla by taking advantage of the openings made by the latter.
A herd of seahorses being seen lying on a piece of ice, our boat succeeded in killing one of them. These animals usually lie huddled together like pigs, one over the other, and are so stupidly tame as to allow a boat to approach them within a few yards without moving. When at length they are disturbed, they dash into the water in great confusion. It may be worth remarking, as a proof how tenacious the walrus sometimes is of life, that the animal killed to-day struggled violently for ten minutes after it was struck, and towed the boat twenty or thirty yards, after which the iron of the harpoon broke; and yet it was found, on examination, that the iron barb had penetrated both auricles of the heart. A quantity of the blubber was put into casks, as a winter's supply of lamp-oil.
A large bear being seen on a piece of ice, near which we were passing on the 10th, a boat was despatched in pursuit, and our people succeeded in killing and towing it on board. As these animals sink immediately on being mortally wounded, some dexterity is requisite to secure them, by first throwing a rope over the neck, at which many of the Greenland seamen are remarkably expert. It is customary for the boats of the whalers to have two or three lines coiled in them, which not only gives them great stability, but, with good management, makes it difficult for a bear, when swimming, to put his paw upon the gunwale, which they generally endeavour to do; whereas, with our boats, which are more light and crank, and therefore very easily heeled over, I have more than once seen a bear on the point of taking possession of them. Great caution should therefore be used under such circumstances in attacking these ferocious creatures. We have always found a boarding-pike the 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.
On the 17th, the margin of the ice appearing more open than we had yet seen it, and there being some appearance of a "water-sky" to the northwest, I 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 latitude 72° 00' 21", longitude 59° 43' 04", the depth of water being one hundred and ninety fathoms, on a muddy bottom. The wind shortly after died away, as usual, and, after making a number 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 was no longer room to work the ships, and we therefore made them fast to a floe till the weather should clear up. The afternoon was employed in taking on board a supply of water from the floe. It may be proper at once to remark that, from this time till the end of the voyage, snow-water was exclusively made use of on board the ships for every purpose. During the summer months, it is found in abundance in the pools upon the floes and icebergs; and in the winter, snow was dissolved in the coppers for our daily consumption. The fog cleared away in the evening, when we perceived that no farther progress could be made through the ice, into which we sailed to the westward about 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 present situation.
A thick fog came on again at night, and prevailed till near noon 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 extended to the eastward as far as we could see from the "crow's nest," an endeavour was made to push the ships with all sail through the narrowest part. The facility with which this operation, technically called "boring," is performed, depends chiefly on having a fresh and free wind, with which we were not favoured on this occasion; so that, when we had forced the ships about one hundred yards into the ice, their way was completely stopped. The stream consisted of such small pieces of ice, that, when an attempt was made to warp the ships ahead by fastening lines to some of the heaviest masses near them, the ice itself came home, without the ships being moved forward.—Every effort to extricate them from this helpless situation proved fruitless for more than two hours, when the Hecla was at length backed out, and succeeded in pushing through another part of the stream in which a small opening appeared just at that moment. All our boats were immediately despatched to the assistance of the Griper, which still remained beset, and which no effort could move in any direction We at length resorted to the expedient of sending a whale-line to her from the Hecla, and then, making all sail upon the latter ship, we succeeded in towing her out, head to wind, till she was enabled to proceed in clear water. The crossing of this stream of ice, of which, the breadth scarcely exceeded three hundred yards, occupied us constantly for more than five hours, and may serve as an example of the detention to which ships are liable in this kind of navigation.
Early on the morning of the 21st the fog cleared away, and discovered to us the land called by Davis, Hope Sanderson and the Woman's Islands, being the first land we had seen in sailing northward into Baffin's Bay, from the lat. of 63¾°. We found ourselves in the midst of a great number of very high icebergs, of which I counted, from the crow's-nest, eighty-eight, besides many smaller ones.
Having now reached the latitude of 73° without seeing a single opening in the ice, and being unwilling to increase our distance from Sir James Lancaster's Sound by proceeding much farther to the northward, I determined once more to enter the ice in this place, and to try the experiment of forcing our way through it, in order to get into the open sea. Being therefore favoured with clear weather, and a moderate breeze from the southeastward, we ran into the ice, which for the first two miles consisted of detached pieces, but afterward of floes of considerable extent, and six or seven feet in thickness. The wind died away towards midnight, and the weather was serene and clear.
At six A.M. on the 23d, a thick fog came on, which rendered it impossible to see our way any farther. We therefore warped to an iceberg, to which the ships were made fast at noon, to wait the clearing up of the fog, being in lat. 73° 04' 10", long. 60° 11' 30". At eight P.M. the weather cleared up, and a few small pools of open water were seen here and there, but the ice was generally as close as before, and the wind being to the westward of north, it was not deemed advisable to move.
The weather, being clear in the morning of the 25th, and a few narrow lanes of water appearing to the westward, the Griper was made fast astern of the Hecla; and her crew being sent to assist in manning our capstan, we proceeded to warp the ships through the ice. This method, which is often adopted by our whalers, has the obvious advantage of applying the whole united force in separating the masses of ice which lie in the way of the first ship, allowing the second, or even third, to follow close astern, with very little obstruction. In this manner we had advanced about four miles to the westward by eight P.M., after eleven hours of very laborious exertion; and having then come to the end of the clear water, and the weather being again foggy, the ships were secured in a deep "bight," or bay in a floe, called by the sailors a "natural dock."
Early on the morning of the 26th there was clear water as far as we could see to the westward, which, on account of the fog, did not exceed the distance of three hundred yards. 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, obliging us to make the ships fast to a floe. At half past three P.M. the weather cleared up, and a few narrow lanes of water being seen to the westward, every exertion was immediately made to get into them. On beginning to heave, however, we found that the "hole" of water in which the Hecla 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 insufficient to move the heavy masses of ice which had fixed themselves firmly between us and the lanes of water without. In the mean time, Lieutenant Liddon had succeeded in advancing about three hundred yards, and had placed the Griper's bow between two heavy floes, which it was necessary to separate before any farther progress could be made. Both ships continued to heave at their hawsers occasionally, as the ice appeared to slacken a little, by which means they were now and then drawn ahead a few inches at a time, but did not advance more than half a dozen yards in the course of the night. By our nearing several bergs to the northward, the ice appeared to be drifting in that direction, the wind being moderate from the southward.
About three A.M., Tuesday, 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 quarter. Both ships' companies were therefore ordered upon the ice to saw off the neck, when the floes suddenly opened sufficiently to allow the Griper to push through under all sail. No time was lost in the attempt to get the Hecla through after her; but, by one of those accidents to which this navigation is liable, and which render it so precarious and uncertain, a piece of loose ice, which lay between the two ships, was drawn after the Griper by the eddy produced by her motion, and completely blocked the narrow passage through which we were about to follow. Before we could remove this obstruction by hauling it back out of the channel, the floes were again pressed together, wedging it firmly and immovably between them: the saws were immediately set to work, and used with great effect; but it was not till eleven o'clock that we succeeded, after seven hours' labour, in getting the Hecla into the lanes of clear water which opened more and more to the westward.
On the 29th we had so much clear water, that the ships had a very perceptible pitching motion, which, from the closeness of the ice, does not very often occur in the Polar regions, and which is therefore hailed with pleasure as an indication of an open sea. At five P.M. the swell increased considerably, and, as the wind freshened up from the northeast, the ice gradually disappeared; so that by six o'clock we were sailing in an open sea, perfectly free from obstruction of any kind.
We now seemed all at once to have got into the headquarters of the whales. They were so numerous that I directed the number to be counted during each watch, and no less than eighty-two are mentioned in this day's log. Mr. Allison, the Greenland master, considered them generally as large ones, and remarked that a fleet of whalers might easily have obtained a cargo here in a few days. In the afternoon the wind broke us of from the N.N.W., which obliged us to cast off the Griper, and we carried all sail ahead to make the land. We saw it at half past five P.M., being the high land about Possession Bay, and at the same time several streams of loose but heavy ice came in sight, which a fresh breeze was drifting fast to the southeastward.
The wind increased to a fresh breeze on the morning of the 31st, which prevented our making much way to the westward. We stood in towards Cape Byam Martin, and sounded in eighty fathoms on a rocky bottom, at the distance of two miles in an east direction from it. We soon after discovered the flagstaff which had been erected on Possession Mount on the former expedition; an object which, though insignificant in itself, called up every person immediately on deck to look at and to greet it as an old acquaintance.
The land immediately at the hack of Possession Bay rises in a gentle slope from the sea, presenting an open and extensive space of low ground, flanked by hills to the north and south. In this valley, and even on the hills, to the height of six or seven hundred feet above the sea, there was scarcely any snow, but the mountains at the back were completely covered with it. Some pieces of birch-bark having been picked up in the bed of this stream in 1818, which gave reason to suppose that wood might be found growing in the interior, I directed Mr. Fisher to walk up it, accompanied by a small party, and to occupy an hour or two while the Griper was coming up, and Captain Sabine and myself were employed upon the beach, in examining the nature and productions of the country.
Mr. Fisher reported, on his return, that he had followed the stream between three and four miles, where it turned to the southwest, without discovering any indications of a wooded country; but a sufficient explanation respecting the birch-bark was perhaps furnished by his finding, at the distance of a quarter of a mile from the sea, a piece of whalebone two feet ten inches in length and two inches in breadth, having a number of circular holes very neatly and regularly perforated along one of its edges, which had undoubtedly formed part of an Esquimaux sledge. This circumstance affording a proof of the Esquimaux having visited this part of the coast at no very distant period, it was concluded that the piece of bark above alluded to had been brought hither by these people. From the appearance of the whalebone, it might have been lying there for four or five years. That none of the Esquimaux tribe had visited this part of the coast since we landed there in 1818, was evident from the flagstaff then erected still remaining untouched. Mr. Fisher found every part of the valley quite free from snow as high as he ascended it: and the following fact seems to render it probable that no great quantity either of snow or sleet had fallen here since our last visit. Mr. Fisher had not proceeded far, till, to his great surprise, he encountered the tracks of human feet upon the banks of the stream, which appeared so fresh that he at first imagined them to have been recently made by some natives, but which, on examination, were distinctly ascertained to be the marks of our own shoes, made eleven months before.
CHAPTER II.
Entrance into Sir James Lancaster's Sound of Baffin.—Uninterrupted Passage to the Westward.—Discovery and Examination of Prince Regent's Inlet.—Progress to the Southward stopped by Ice.—Return to the Northward.—Pass Barrow's Strait, and enter the Polar Sea.
We were now about to enter and to explore that great sound or inlet which has obtained a degree of celebrity beyond what it might otherwise have been considered to possess, from the very opposite opinions which have been held with regard to it. To us it was peculiarly interesting, as being the point to which our instructions more particularly directed our attention; and I may add, what I believe we all felt, it was that point of the voyage which was to determine the success or failure of the expedition, according as one or other of the opposite opinions alluded to should be corroborated. It will readily be conceived, then, how great our anxiety was for a change of the westerly wind and swell, which, on the 1st of August, set down Sir James Lancaster's Sound, and prevented our making much progress. Several whales were seen in the course of the day, and Mr. Allison remarked that this was the only part of Baffin's Bay in which he had ever seen young whales; for it is a matter of surprise to the whalers in general, that they seldom or never meet with young ones on this fishery, as they are accustomed to do in the seas of Spitzbergen.
The Griper continued to detain us so much, that I determined on making the best of our way to the westward, and ordered the Hecla to be hove to in the evening, and sent Lieutenant Liddon an instruction, with some signals, which might facilitate our meeting in case of fog; and I appointed as a place 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 2d, we had the first distinct view of both sides of the sound; and the difference in the character of the two shores was very apparent; that on the south consisting of high and peaked mountains, completely snow-clad, except on the lower parts, while the northern coast has generally a smoother outline, and had, comparatively with the other, little snow upon it; the difference in this last respect appearing to depend principally on the difference in their absolute height. The sea was open before 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 water once or twice into the stern windows; a circumstance which, together with other appearances, we were willing to attribute to an open sea in the desired direction. More than forty black whales were seen during the day.
We made little way on the 3d, but being favoured at length by the easterly breeze which was bringing up the Griper, and for which we had long been looking with much impatience, a crowd of sail was set to carry us with all rapidity to the westward. It is more easy to imagine than to describe the almost breathless anxiety which was now visible in every countenance, while, as the breeze continued to a fresh gale, we ran quickly up the sound. The mastheads were crowded by the officers and men during the whole afternoon; and an unconcerned observer, if any could have been unconcerned on such an occasion, would have been amused by the eagerness with which the various reports from the crow's-nest were received; all, however, hitherto favourable to our most sanguine hopes.
Our course was nearly due west, and the wind still continuing to freshen, took us in a few hours nearly out of sight of the Griper. The only ice which we met with consisted of a few large bergs very much washed by the sea; and the weather being remarkably clear, so as to enable us to run with perfect safety, we were by midnight, in a great measure, relieved from our anxiety respecting the supposed continuity of land at the bottom of this magnificent inlet, having reached the longitude of 83° 12', where the two shores are still above thirteen leagues apart, without the slightest appearance of any land to the westward of us for four or five points of the compass.
Having made the ship snug, so as to be in readiness to round to should the land be seen ahead, and the Griper having come up within a few miles of us, we again bore up at one A.M., the 4th. At half past three, Lieutenant Beechey, who had relieved me on deck, discovered from the crow's-nest a reef of rocks, in-shore of us to the northward, on which the sea was breaking. The cliffs on this part of the coast present a singular appearance, being stratified horizontally, and having a number of regular projecting masses of rock, broad at the bottom, and coming to a point at the top, resembling so many buttresses, raised by art at equal intervals.
After lying-to for an hour, we again bore up to the westward, and soon after discovered a cape, afterward named by Captain Sabine, CAPE FELLFOOT, which appeared to form the termination of this coast; and as the haze, which still prevailed to the south, prevented our seeing any land in that quarter, and the sea was literally as free from ice as any part of the Atlantic, we began to flatter ourselves that we had fairly entered the Polar Sea, and some of the most sanguine among us had even calculated the bearing and distance of Icy Cape, as a matter of no very difficult or improbable accomplishment. This pleasing prospect was rendered the more flattering by the sea having, as we thought, regained the usual oceanic colour, and by a long swell which was rolling in from the southward and eastward. At six P.M., however, land was reported to be seen ahead. The vexation and anxiety produced on every countenance by such a report were but too visible, until, on a nearer approach, it was found to be only an island, of no very large extent, and that, on each side of it, the horizon still appeared clear for several points of the compass. At eight P.M. we came to some ice of no great breadth or thickness, extending several miles in a direction nearly parallel to our course; and as we could see clear water over it to the southward, I was for some time in the hope that it would prove a detached stream, from which no obstruction to our progress westerly was to be apprehended. At twenty minutes past ten, however, the weather having become hazy and the wind light, we perceived that the ice, along which we had been sailing for the last two hours, was joined, at the distance of half a mile to the westward of us, to a compact and impenetrable body of floes, which lay across the whole breadth of the strait, formed by the island and the western point of Maxwell Bay. We hauled our wind to the northward, just in time to avoid being embayed in the ice, on the outer edge of which a considerable surf, the effect of the late gale, was then rolling.
While the calm and thick weather lasted, a number of the officers and men amused themselves in the boats, in endeavouring to kill some of the white whales which were swimming about the ships in great numbers; but the animals were so wary, that they would scarcely suffer the boats to approach them within thirty or forty yards without diving. Mr. Fisher described them to be generally from eighteen to twenty feet in length; and he stated that he had several times heard them emit a shrill, ringing sound, not unlike that of musical glasses when badly played; This sound, he farther observed, was most distinctly heard when they happened to swim directly beneath the boat, even when they were several feet under water, and ceased altogether on their coming to the surface. We saw also, for the first time, one or two shoals of narwhals, called by the sailors sea-unicorns.
A steady breeze springing up from the W.N.W. in the afternoon, the ships stood to the northward till we had distinctly made out that no passage to the westward could at present be found between the ice and the land. The weather having become clear about this time, we perceived that there was a large open space to the southward, where no land was visible; and for this opening, over which there was a dark water-sky, our course was now directed.
Since the time when we first entered Sir James Lancaster's Sound, the sluggishness of the compasses, as well as the amount of their irregularity produced by the attraction of the ship's iron, had been found very rapidly, though uniformly, to increase as we proceeded to the westward; so much, indeed, that, for the last two days, we had been under the necessity of giving up altogether the usual observations for determining the variation of the needle on board the ships. This irregularity became more and more obvious as we now advanced to the southward, which rendered it not improbable that we were making a very near approach to the magnetic pole. For the purposes of navigation, therefore, the compasses were from this time no longer consulted; and in a few days afterward, the binnacles were removed as useless lumber from the deck to the carpenter's storeroom, where they remained during the rest of the season.
A dark sky to the southwest had given us hopes of finding a westerly passage to the south of the ice along which we were now sailing; more especially as the inlet began to widen considerably as we advanced in that direction: but at three A.M. on the morning of the 8th, we perceived that the ice ran close in with a point of land bearing S.b.E. from us, which appeared to form the southern extremity of the eastern shore.
With the increasing width of the inlet we had flattered ourselves with increasing hopes; but we soon experienced the mortification of disappointment. The prospect from the crow's-nest began to assume a very unpromising appearance, the whole of the western horizon, from north round to S.b.E., being completely covered with ice, consisting of heavy and extensive floes, beyond which no indication of water was visible; instead of which there was a bright and dazzling iceblink extending from shore to shore. The western coast of the inlet, however, trended much more to the westward than before, and no land was visible to the southwest, though the horizon was so clear in that quarter, that, if any had existed of moderate height, it might have been easily seen at this time at the distance of ten or twelve leagues. From these circumstances, the impression received at the time was, that the land, both on the eastern and western side of this inlet, would be one day found to consist of islands.
A breeze sprung up from the northward on the morning of the 12th, but the weather was so foggy for some hours that we did not know in what direction it was blowing. As soon as the fog cleared away, so as to enable us to see a mile or two around us, we found that the floe to which we had anchored was drifting fast down upon another body of ice to leeward, threatening to enclose the ships between them. We therefore cast off and made sail, in order to beat to the northward, which we found great difficulty in doing, owing to the quantity of loose ice with which this part of the inlet was now covered. A remarkably thick fog obscured the eastern land from our view this evening at the distance of five or six miles, while the western coast was distinctly visible at four times that distance.
The weather was beautifully calm and clear on the 13th, when, being near an opening in the eastern shore, I took the opportunity of examining it in a boat. It proved to be a bay, a mile wide at its entrance, and three miles deep in an E.b.S. direction, having a small but snug cove on the north side, formed by an island, between which and the main land is a bar of rocks, which completely shelters the cove from sea or drift ice. We found the water so deep, that in rowing close along the shore we could seldom get bottom with seven fathoms of line. The cliffs on the south side of this bay, to which I gave the name of PORT BOWEN, resemble, in many places, ruined towers and battlements; and fragments of the rocks were constantly falling from above. At the head of the bay is an extensive piece of low flat ground, intersected by numerous rivulets, which, uniting at a short distance from the beach, formed a deep and rapid stream, near the mouth of which we landed. This spot was, I think, the most barren I ever saw, the ground being almost entirely covered with small pieces of slaty limestone, among which no vegetation appeared for more than a mile, to which distance Mr. Ross and myself walked inland, following the banks of the stream. Among the fragments we picked up one piece of limestone, on which was the impression of a fossil-shell. We saw here a great number of young black guillemots, and a flock of ducks, which we supposed to be of the eider species.
The narwhals were here very numerous; these animals appear 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 observed their horns erect, and quite stationary for several minutes together.
The whole of the 14th was occupied in an unsuccessful attempt to find an opening in the ice to the westward, which remained perfectly close and compact, with a bright iceblink over it.
The ice continued in the same unfavourable state on the 15th; and being desirous of turning to some account this vexatious but unavoidable detention, I left the ship, accompanied by Captain Sabine and Mr. Hooper, in order to make some observations on shore, and directed Lieutenant Liddon to send a boat from the Griper for the same purpose. We landed in one of the numerous valleys or ravines which occur on this part of the coast, and at a few miles' distance very much resemble bays, being bounded by high hills that have the appearance of bluff headlands. We ascended with some difficulty the hill on the south side of the ravine, which is very steep, and covered with innumerable detached blocks of limestone, some of which are constantly rolling down from above, and afford a very insecure footing. From the top of this hill, which is about six or seven feet above the level of the sea, and commands an extensive view to the westward, the prospect was by no means favourable to the immediate accomplishment of our object. No water could be seen over the ice to the northwest, and a bright and dazzling blink covered the whole space comprised between the islands and the north shore. It was a satisfaction, however, to find that no land appeared which 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 present appearances.
On the top of this hill we deposited a bottle containing a short notice of our visit, and raised over it a small mound of stones; of these we found no want, for the surface was covered with small pieces of schistose limestone, and nothing like soil or vegetation could be seen.
On the 17th we had a fresh breeze from the S.S.W., with so thick a fog that, in spite of the most unremitting attention to the sails and the steerage, the ships were constantly receiving heavy shocks from the loose masses of ice with which the sea was covered, and which, in the present state of the weather, could not be distinguished at a sufficient distance to avoid them. On the weather clearing up in the afternoon, we saw for the first time a remarkable bluff headland, which forms the northeastern point of the entrance into Prince Regent's Inlet, and to which I gave the name of CAPE YORK. A little to the eastward of Cape Fellfoot, we observed six stripes of snow near the top of the cliff, being very conspicuous at a great distance, when viewed from the southward. These stripes, which are formed by the drift of snow between the buttress-like projections before described, and which remained equally conspicuous on our return the following year, have probably at all times much the same appearance, at least about this season of the year, and may, on this account, perhaps, be deemed worthy of notice as a landmark.
There being still no prospect of getting a single mile to the westward, in the neighbourhood of Prince Leopold's Islands, and a breeze having freshened up from the eastward in the afternoon, I determined to stand over once more towards the northern shore, in order to try what could there be done towards effecting our passage; and at nine P.M., after beating for several hours among floes and streams of ice, we got into clear water near that coast, where we found some swell from the eastward. There was just light enough at midnight to enable us to read and write in the cabin.
The wind and sea increased on the 19th, with a heavy fall of snow, which, together with the uselessness of the compasses, and the narrow space in which we were working between the ice and the land, combined to make our situation for several hours a very unpleasant one.
On the 21st we had nothing to impede our progress but the want of wind, the great opening through, which we had hitherto proceeded from Baffin's Bay being now so perfectly clear of ice, that it was impossible to believe it to be the same part of the sea, which, but a day or two before, had been completely covered with floes to the utmost extent of our view. In the forenoon we picked up a small piece of wood, which appeared to have been the end of a boat's yard, and which caused sundry amusing speculations among our gentlemen; some of whom had just come to the very natural conclusion 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 on which we were now sailing; when a stop was suddenly put to this and other ingenious inductions by the information of one of the seamen, that he had dropped it out of his boat a fortnight before. I could not get him to recollect exactly the day on which it had been dropped, but what he stated was sufficient to convince me that we were not at that time more than ten or twelve leagues from our present situation; perhaps not half so much; and that, therefore, here was no current setting constantly in any one direction.
We perceived, as we proceeded, that the land along which we were sailing, and which, with the exception of some small inlets, had appeared to be hitherto continuous from Baffin's Bay, began now to trend much to the northward, beyond Beechey Island, leaving a large open space between that coast and the distant land to the westward, which now appeared like an island, of which the extremes to the north and south were distinctly visible. The latter was a remarkable headland, having at its extremity two small table-hills, somewhat resembling boats turned bottom upward, and was named CAPE HOTHAM. At sunset we had a clear and extensive view to the northward, between Cape Hotham and the eastern land. On the latter, several headlands were discovered and named; between the northernmost of these, called CAPE BOWDEN, and the island to the westward, there was a channel of more than eight leagues in width, in which neither land nor ice could be seen from the masthead. To this noble channel I gave the name of WELLINGTON. The arrival off this grand opening was an event for which we had long been looking with much anxiety and impatience; for the continuity of land to the northward had always been a source of uneasiness to us, principally from the possibility that it might take a turn to the southward and unite with the coast of America. The appearance of this broad opening, free from ice, and of the land on each side of it, more especially that on the west, leaving scarcely a doubt on our minds of the latter being an island, relieved us from all anxiety on that score; and every one felt that we were now finally disentangled from the land which forms the western side of Baffin's Bay; and that, in fact, we had actually entered the Polar Sea.
Though two thirds of the month of August had now elapsed, I had every reason to be satisfied with the progress which we had hitherto made. I calculated upon the sea being navigable for six weeks to come, and probably more, if the state of the ice would permit us to edge away to the southward in our progress westerly: our prospects, indeed, were truly exhilarating; the ships had suffered no injury; we had plenty of provisions; crews in high health and spirits; a sea, if not open, at least navigable; and a zealous and unanimous determination, in both officers and men, to accomplish, by all possible means, the grand object on which we had the happiness to be employed.
CHAPTER III.
Favourable Appearances of an open Westerly Passage.—Land to the Northward, a Series of Islands.—General Appearance of them.—Meet with some Obstruction from low Islands surrounded with Ice.—Remains of Esquimaux Huts, and natural Productions of Byam Martin Island.—Tedious Navigation from Fogs and Ice.—Difficulty of Steering a Proper Course.—Arrival and Landing on Melville Island.—Proceed to the Westward, and reach the Meridian of 110° W. Long., the first Stage in the Scale of Rewards granted by Act of Parliament.
A calm which prevailed during the night kept us quite stationary till three A.M. on the 23d, when a fresh breeze sprung up from the northward, and all sail was made for Cape Hotham, to the southward of which it was now my intention to seek a direct passage towards Behring's Strait. Wellington Channel, to the northward of us, was as open and navigable to the utmost extent of our view as any part of the Atlantic; but as it lay at right angles to our coarse, and there was still an opening at least ten leagues wide to the southward of Cornwallis Island, I could have no hesitation in deciding which of the two it was our business to pursue. It is impossible to conceive anything more animating than the quick and unobstructed run with which we were favoured, from Beechey Island across to Cape Hotham. Most men have, probably, at one time or another, experienced that elevation of spirits which is usually produced by rapid motion of any kind; and it will readily be conceived how much this feeling was heightened in us, in the few instances in which it occurred, by the slow and tedious manner in which the greater part of our navigation had been performed in these seas.
At noon we had reached the longitude of 94° 43' 15", the latitude by observation being 74° 20' 52", when we found that the land which then formed the western extreme on this side was a second island, which I called GRIFFITH ISLAND. The ice in this neighbourhood was covered with innumerable "hummocks," and the floes were from seven to ten feet in thickness.
After various unsuccessful attempts to get through the ice which now lay in our way, we were at length so fortunate as to accomplish this object by "boring" through a number of heavy "streams," which occasioned the ships to receive many severe shocks; and, at half an hour before midnight, we were able to, pursue our course, through "sailing ice," to the westward.
The weather was at this time remarkably serene and clear; and although we saw a line of ice to the southward of us, lying in a direction nearly east and west, or parallel to the course on which we were steering, and some more land appeared to the westward, yet the space of open water was still so broad, and the prospect from the masthead, upon the whole, so flattering, that I thought the chances of our separation had now become greater than before; and I therefore considered it right to furnish Lieutenant Liddon with fresh instructions, and to appoint some new place of rendezvous in case of unavoidable separation from the Hecla. At ten o'clock, after having had a clear view of the ice and of the land about sunset, and finding that there was at present no passage to the westward, we hauled off to the southeast, in the hope of finding some opening in the ice to the southward, by which we might get round in the desired direction. We were encouraged in this hope by a dark "water-sky" to the southward; but, after running along the ice till half past eleven without perceiving any opening, we again bore up. There was in this neighbourhood a great deal of that particular kind of ice called by the sailors "dirty ice," on the surface of which were strewed sand, stones, and, in some instances, moss: ice of this kind must, of course, at one time or other, have been in close contact with the land.
At ten A.M. I despatched Captain Sabine and Mr. Ross to the eastern point of the island, which we were about to round in the ships, in order to make the necessary observations, and to examine the natural productions of the shore. Our latitude at noon was 75° 03' 12", long. 103° 44' 37", and the depth of water forty fathoms. The gentlemen reported, on their return, that they had landed on a sandy beach, near the east point of the island, which they found to be more productive, and altogether more interesting, than any other part of the shores of the Polar regions which we had yet visited. The remains of Esquimaux habitations were found in four different places. Six of these, which Captain Sabine had an opportunity of examining, and which are situated on a level sandy bank, at the side of a small ravine near the sea, are described by him as consisting of stones rudely placed in a circular, or, rather, an elliptical form. They were from seven to ten feet in diameter; the broad, flat sides of the stones standing vertically, and the whole structure, if such it may be called, being exactly similar to that of the summer huts of the Esquimaux which we had seen at Hare Island the preceding year. Attached to each of them was a smaller circle, generally four or five feet in diameter, which had probably been the fireplace. The small circles were placed indifferently as to their direction from the huts to which they belonged; and from the moss and sand which covered some of the lower stones, particularly those which composed the flooring of the huts, the whole encampment appeared to have been deserted for several years. Very recent traces of the reindeer and musk-ox were seen in many places; and a head of the latter, with several reindeers' horns, was brought on board. A few patches of snow remained in sheltered situations; the ravines, however, which were numerous, bore the signs of recent and considerable floods, and their bottoms were swampy, and covered with very luxuriant moss and other vegetation, the character of which differed very little from that of the land at the bottom of Possession Bay.
The dip of the magnetic needle was 88° 25' 58", and the variation was now found to have changed from 128° 58' west, in the longitude of 91° 48', where our last observations on shore had been made, to 165° 50' 09" east, at our present station; so that we had, in sailing over the space included between those two meridians, crossed immediately to the northward of the magnetic pole and had undoubtedly passed over one of those spots upon the globe where the needle would have been found to vary 180°, or, in other words, where its north pole would have pointed due south.
The wind became very light from the eastward, and the weather continued so foggy that nothing could be done during the night but to stand off-and-on, by the soundings, between the ice and the land. On the 29th, after a few hours of clear weather, the fog came on again as thick as before; fortunately, however, we had previously been enabled to take notice of several pieces of ice, by steering for each of which in succession we came to the edge of a floe, along which our course was to be pursued to the westward. As long as we had this guidance, we advanced with great confidence; but as soon as we came to the end of the floe, which then turned off to the southward, the circumstances under which we were sailing were perhaps such as have never occurred since the early days of navigation. To the northward was the land; the ice, as we supposed, to the southward; the compasses useless; and the sun completely obscured by a fog so thick, that the Griper could only now and then be seen at a cable's length astern. We had literally, therefore, no mode, of regulating our course but by once more trusting to the steadiness of the wind; and it was not a little amusing, as well as novel, to see the quartermaster conning the ship by looking at the dogvane.
The weather cleared a little at intervals, but not enough to enable us to proceed till nine A.M. on the 31st, when we cast off from the ice, with a very light air from the northward. We occasionally caught a glimpse of land through the heavy fog-banks with which the horizon was covered, which was sufficient to give us an idea of the true direction in which we ought to steer. Soon after noon we were once more enveloped in a fog, which, however, was not so thick as to prevent our having recourse to a new expedient for steering the ships, which circumstances at the time naturally suggested to our minds. Before the fog recommenced, and while we were sailing on the course which, by the bearings of the land, we knew to be the right one, the Griper was exactly astern of the Hecla, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile. The weather being fortunately not so thick as to prevent our still seeing her at that distance, the quartermaster was directed to stand aft, near the taffrail, and to keep her constantly astern of us, by which means we contrived to steer a tolerably straight course to the westward. The Griper, on the other hand, naturally kept the Hecla right ahead; and thus, however ridiculous it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that we steered one ship entirely by the other for a distance of ten miles out of sixteen and a half, which we sailed between one and eleven P.M.
The wind died away on the morning of the 1st of September, and the fog was succeeded by snow and sleet, which still rendered the atmosphere extremely thick. At a quarter before four A.M., I was informed by the officer of the watch that a breeze had sprung up, and that there was very little ice near the ships. Anxious to take advantage of these favourable circumstances, I directed all sail to be made to the westward: there was no difficulty in complying with the first part of this order; but to ascertain which way the wind was blowing, and to which quarter of the horizon the ship's head was to be directed, was a matter of no such easy accomplishment; nor could we devise any means of determining this question till five o'clock, when we obtained a sight of the sun through the fog, and were thus enabled to shape our course, the wind being moderate from the northward.
At one A.M. on the 2d, a star was seen, being the first that had been visible to us for more than two months.
As we were making no way to the westward, I left the ship, accompanied by a large party of officers and men, and was soon after joined by the Griper's boats. The basis of this land is sandstone; but we met with limestone also, occurring in loose pieces on the surface, and several lumps of coal were brought in by the parties who had traversed the island in different directions. Our sportsmen were by no means successful, having seen only two deer, which were too wild to allow them to get near them. The dung of these animals, however, as well as that of the musk-ox, was very abundant, especially in those places where the moss was most luxuriant; every here and there we came to a spot of this kind, consisting of one or two acres of ground, covered with a rich vegetation, which was evidently the feeding-place of those animals, there being quantities of their hair and wool lying scattered about. Several heads of the musk-ox were picked up, and one of the Hecla's seamen brought to the boat a narwhal's horn, which he found on a hill more than a mile from the sea, and which must have been carried thither by Esquimaux or by bears: three or four brace of ptarmigan were killed, and these were the only supply of this kind which we obtained. We found no indication of this part of the island having been inhabited, unless the narwhal's horn be considered as such.
The wind continued light and variable till half past eight A.M. on the 3d, when a breeze from the northward once more enabled us to make some progress. I was the more anxious to do so from having perceived that the main ice had, for the last twenty-four hours, been gradually, though slowly, closing on the shore, thereby contracting the scarcely navigable channel in which we were sailing. The land which formed our western extreme was a low point, five miles to the westward of our place of observation the preceding day, which I named Point Ross, and the ice had already approached this point so much that there was considerable doubt whether any passage could be found between them. We had scarcely cleared the point when the wind failed us, and the boats were immediately sent ahead to tow, but a breeze springing up shortly after from the westward, obliged us to have recourse to another method of gaining ground, which we had not hitherto practised: this was by using small anchors and whale-lines as warps, by which means we made great progress, till, at forty minutes after noon, we were favoured by a fresh breeze, which soon took us into an open space of clear water to the northward and westward. A little to the westward of Point Ross there was a barrier of ice, composed of heavy masses firmly fixed to the ground at nearly regular intervals for about a mile, in a direction parallel to the beach. At right angles to this a second tier projected, of the same kind of ice, extending to the shore, so that the two together formed a most complete harbour, within which, I believe, a ship might have been placed in case of necessity, without much danger from the pressure of the external floes of ice. It was natural for us to keep in view the possibility of our being obliged to pass the ensuing winter in such a harbour; and it must be confessed, that the apparent practicability of finding such tolerable security for the ships as this artificial harbour afforded, should we fail in discovering a more safe and regular anchorage, added not a little to the confidence with which our operations were carried on during the remainder of the season.
At a quarter past nine P.M. we had the satisfaction of crossing the meridian of 110° west from Greenwich, in the latitude of 74° 44' 20"; by which his majesty's ships under my orders became entitled to the sum of five thousand pounds, being the reward offered to such of his majesty's subjects as might succeed in penetrating thus far to the westward within the Arctic Circle. In order to commemorate the success which had hitherto attended our exertions, the bluff headland which we had just passed was subsequently called by the men BOUNTY CAPE; by which name I have therefore distinguished it on the chart.
The wind increasing to a fresh gale from the northward in the afternoon, and the ice still continuing to oppose an impenetrable barrier to our farther progress, I determined to beat up to the northern shore of the bay, and, if a tolerable roadstead could be found, to drop our anchors till some change should take place. This was accordingly done at three P.M., in seven fathoms' water. This roadstead, which I called the BAY OF THE HECLA AND GRIPER, affords very secure shelter with the wind from E.N.E. round by north to S.W., and we found it more free from ice than any other part of the southern coast of the island.
The Bay of the Hecla and Griper was the first spot where we had dropped anchor since leaving the coast of Norfolk; a circumstance which was rendered the more striking to us at the moment, as it appeared to mark, in a very decided manner, the completion of one stage of our voyage. The ensigns and pendants were hoisted as soon as we had anchored, and it created in us no ordinary feelings of pleasure to see the British flag waving for the first time in these regions, which had hitherto been considered beyond the limits of the habitable part of the world.
CHAPTER IV.
Further Examination of Melville Island.—Continuation of our Progress to the Westward.—Long detention by the Ice.—Party sent on Shore to hunt Deer and Musk-oxen.—Return in three Days, after losing their Way.—Anxiety on their Account.—Proceed to the Westward till finally stopped by the Ice.—In returning to the Eastward, the Griper forced on the Beach by the Ice.—Search for, and Discovery of, a Winter Harbour on Melville Island.—Operations for securing the Ships in their Winter Quarters.
As the wind still continued to blow strong from the northward on the morning of the 6th, without any appearance of opening a passage for us past Cape Hearne, I took the opportunity of sending all our boats from both ships at eight A.M., to bring on board a quantity of moss-peat which our gentlemen reported having found near a small lake at no great distance from the sea, and which I directed to be substituted for part of our usual allowance of coals. Captain Sabine also went on shore to make the requisite observations; and several of the officers of both ships to sport, and to collect specimens of natural history.
The wind beginning to moderate soon after noon, and there being at length some appearance of motion in the ice near Cape Hearne, the boats were immediately recalled from the shore, and returned at two P.M., bringing some peat, which was found to burn tolerably, but a smaller quantity than I had hoped to procure. We then made sail for Cape Hearne, which we rounded at six o'clock, having no soundings with from seventeen to twenty fathoms of line, at the distance of a mile and a quarter from the point.
I was beginning once more to indulge in those flattering hopes, of which often-repeated disappointments cannot altogether deprive us, when I perceived from the crow's-nest a compact body of ice, extending completely in to the shore near the point which formed the western extreme. We ran sufficiently close to be assured that no passage to the westward could at present be effected, the floes being literally upon the beach, and not a drop of clear water being visible beyond them. I then ordered the ships to be made fast to a floe, being in eighty fathoms' water, at the distance of four or five miles from the beach. The season had now so far advanced as to make it absolutely necessary to secure the ships every night from ten till two o'clock, the weather being too dark during that interval to allow of our keeping under way in such a navigation as this, deprived as we were of the use of compasses.
On the morning of the 8th, there being no prospect of any immediate alteration in the ice, I directed the boats to be sent on shore from both ships, to endeavour to procure some game, as well as to examine the productions of this part of the island. On going to the masthead, shortly after the boats had been despatched, I found that the bight of ice in which the ships were lying was not one floe, but formed by the close junction of two, so that our situation was by no means so secure as I had supposed for this bight was so far from being a protection to us, in case of ice driving on shore, that it would probably be the means of "nipping" us between the floes which formed it. I therefore determined on immediately removing the ships in-shore, and went in a boat to look out for a place for that purpose, there being no alternative between this and our returning some distance to the eastward, into the larger space of clear water which we had there left behind us. I found that a heavy piece of ice aground in twelve fathoms, at the distance of three hundred yards from the beach, would suit our purpose for the Hecla, and another, in ten fathoms, still nearer in-shore, was selected for the Griper. These masses were from twenty to thirty feet above the sea, and each about the length of the respective ships.
At four P.M., the weather being quite calm, the ships were towed in-shore by the boats, and made fast in the places selected for them.
Impatient and anxious as we were to make the most of the short remainder of the present season, our mortification will easily be imagined at perceiving, on the morning of the 9th, not only that the ice was as close as ever to the westward, but that the floes in our immediate neighbourhood were sensibly approaching the shore. As there was no chance, therefore, of our being enabled to move, I sent a party on shore at daylight to collect what coal they could find, and in the course of the day, nearly two thirds of a bushel, being about equal to the Hecla's daily expenditure, was brought on board. Our sportsmen, who were out for several hours, could only procure us a hare and a few ducks.
On the 11th there was no alteration in the ice near the ships and Mr. Bushnan, whom I despatched at daylight to the western cape, reported on his return, that appearances were equally unpromising in that quarter. Mr. Dealy was fortunate enough to kill the first musk-ox that our sportsmen had yet been able to get near; but, as it was at the distance of eight or ten miles from the ships, our present situation with regard to the ice would not allow of my sending a party of men to bring it on board. A piece of the meat which Mr. Dealy brought with him was considered to taste tolerably well, but its smell was by no means tempting.
I must now mention an occurrence which had caused considerable apprehension in our minds for the last two days, and the result of which had very nearly proved of very serious importance to the future welfare of the expedition. Early on the morning of the 11th I received a note from Lieutenant Liddon, acquainting me that, at daylight on the preceding day, Mr. Fife, with a party of six men, had been despatched from the Griper, with the hope of surprising some reindeer and musk-oxen, whose tracks had been seen in a ravine to the westward of the ships. As they had not yet returned, in compliance with the instructions given to Mr. Fife, and had only been supplied with a small quantity of provisions, it was natural to apprehend that they had lost their way in pursuit of game. I therefore recommended to Lieutenant Liddon to send a party in search of his people, and Messrs. Reid, Beverly, and Wakeham, who immediately volunteered their services on the occasion, were accordingly despatched for this purpose. Soon after their departure, however, it began to snow, which rendered the atmosphere so extremely thick, especially on the hills along which they had to travel, that this party also lost their way, in spite of every precaution, but fortunately got sight of our rockets after dark, by which they were directed to the ships, and returned at ten o'clock, almost exhausted with cold and fatigue, without any intelligence of the absentees.
At daylight on the following morning, I sent Lieutenant Hoppner, with the Heck's fore-royal-mast rigged as a flagstaff, which he erected on a conspicuous hill four or five miles inland, hoisting upon it a large ensign, which might be seen at a considerable distance in every direction. This expedient occurred to us as a more certain mode of directing our absentees towards the ships than that of sending out a number of parties, which I could not, in common prudence as well as humanity, permit to go to any great distance from the ships; but the snow fell so thick, and the drift was so great during the whole of the 12th, that no advantage could at that time be expected from it, and another night came without the absent party appearing.
Our apprehensions on their account was by this time increased to a most painful degree, and I therefore ordered four parties, under the command of careful officers, to be prepared to set out in search of them the following morning. These parties carried with them a number of pikes, having small flags attached to them, which they were directed to plant at regular intervals, and which were intended to answer the double purpose of guiding themselves on their return and of directing the absent party, should they meet with them, to the ships. For the latter purpose a bottle was fixed to each pike, containing the necessary directions for their guidance, and acquainting them that provisions would be found at the large flagstaff on the hill. Our searching parties left the ships soon after daylight, the wind still blowing hard from the westward, with incessant snow, and the thermometer at 28°. This weather continued without intermission during the day, and our apprehensions for the safety of our people were excited to a most alarming degree, when the sun began to descend behind the western hills for the third time since they had left the ship; I will not, therefore, attempt to describe the joyful feelings we suddenly experienced, on the Griper's hoisting the signal appointed, to inform us that her men, or a part of them, were seen on their return. Soon, after we observed seven persons coming along the beach to the eastward, who proved to be Mr. Nias and his party, with four out of the seven men belonging to the Griper. From the latter, consisting of a corporal of marines and three seamen, we learned that they had lost their way within a few hours after leaving the ship, and had wandered about without anything to guide them till about ten o'clock on the following day, when they descried the large flagstaff at a great distance. At this time the whole party were together; but now unfortunately separated, in consequence of a difference of opinion respecting the flagstaff, which Mr. Fife mistook for a smaller one that had been erected some days before at a considerable distance to the eastward of our present situation; and with that impression, walked away in a contrary direction, accompanied by two of his men. The other four, who had now returned (of whom two were already much debilitated), determined to make for the flagstaff. When they had walked some distance and were enabled to ascertain what it was, one of them endeavoured to overtake Mr. Fife, but was too much fatigued, and returned to his comrades. They halted during a part of the night, made a sort of hut of stones and turf to shelter them from the weather, and kindled a little fire with gunpowder and moss to warm their feet; they had never been in actual want of food, having lived upon raw grouse, of which they were enabled to obtain a quantity sufficient for their subsistence. In the morning they once more set forward towards the flagstaff, which they reached within three or four hours after Lieutenant Beechey had left some provisions on the spot; having eaten some bread, and drunk a little rum and water, a mixture which they described as perfectly tasteless and clammy, they renewed their journey towards the ships, and had not proceeded far, when, notwithstanding the snow which was constantly falling, they met with footsteps which directed them to Mr. Nias and his party, by whom they were conducted to the ships.
The account they gave us of Mr. Fife and his two companions led us to believe that we should find them, if still living, at a considerable distance to the westward; and some parties were just about to set out in that direction, when the trouble and anxiety which this mistake would have occasioned us were prevented by the arrival of another of the searching parties, with the information that Mr. Fife and the two men were on their way to the ships, being about five miles to the eastward. Some fresh hands were, immediately sent to bring them in, and they arrived on board at ten P.M. after an absence of ninety-one hours, and having been exposed during three nights to the inclemency of the first wintry weather we had experienced. Almost the whole of this party were much exhausted by cold and fatigue, and several of them were severely frostbitten in their toes and fingers; but, by the skill and unremitted attention of our medical gentlemen, they were in a few days enabled to return to their duty.
At three A.M. of Tuesday, the 14th, the thermometer fell to 9°; and from this time the commencement of winter may fairly be dated. On the 20th I considered it a duty incumbent upon me to call for the opinions of the senior officers of the expedition as to the expediency of immediately seeking a harbour in which the ships might securely lie during the ensuing winter. The opinions of the officers entirely concurring with my own as to the propriety of immediately resorting to this measure, I determined, whenever the ice and the weather would allow, to run back to the bay of the Hecla and Griper, in which neighbourhood alone we had any reason to believe that a suitable harbour might be found.
At half past two on the morning of the 22d, the night signal was made to weigh, and we began to heave at our cables; but such was the difficulty of raising our anchor and of hauling in our hawsers, owing to the stiffness of the ropes from frost and the quantity of ice which had accumulated about them, that it was five o'clock before the ships were under way. Our rudder, also, was so choked by the ice which had formed about it, that it could not be moved till a boat had been hauled under the stern, and the ice beaten and cut away from it. We ran along to the eastward without any obstruction, in a channel about five miles wide, till we were within four or five miles of Cape Hearne, where the bay-ice, in unbroken sheets of about one third of an inch in thickness, began to offer considerable impediment to our progress. We at length, however, struck soundings with twenty-nine fathoms of line, and at eight P.M. anchored in nine fathoms, on a muddy bottom, a little to the eastward of our situation on the 5th.
In going to the westward we passed a shoal and open bay, immediately adjacent to the harbour which we were now about to examine, and soon after came to a reef of rocks, in some parts nearly dry, extending, about three quarters of a mile to the southward of a low point on the southeastern side of the harbour. On rounding the reef, on which a quantity of heavy ice was lying aground, we found that a continuous floe, four or five inches in thickness, was formed over the whole harbour, which in every other respect appeared to be fit for our purpose; and that it would be necessary to cut a canal of two miles in length through the ice, in order to get the ships into a secure situation for the winter. We sounded the channel into the harbour about three quarters of a mile, by making holes in the ice and dropping the lead through, and found the depth from five to six fathoms.
The ships weighed at six A.M. on the 24th. the wind being still at north, and the weather moderate and fine. As soon as the Hecla was under sail, I went ahead in a boat to sound, and to select an anchorage for the ships. Near the southwestern point of this harbour there is a remarkable block of sandstone, somewhat resembling the roof of a house, on which the ships names were subsequently engraved by Mr. Fisher. This stone is very conspicuous in coming from the eastward, and, when kept open to the southward of the grounded ice at the end of the reef, forms a good landing mark for the channel into the harbour. Off the end of the reef the water deepened to six fathoms, and the Hecla's anchor was dropped in eight fathoms, half a mile within the reef, and close to the edge of the ice through which the canal was to be cut. The Griper arrived soon after, and by half past eight A.M. both ships were secured in the proper position for commencing the intended operations.
As soon as our people had breakfasted, I proceeded with a small party of men to sound and to mark with boarding-pikes upon the ice the most direct channel we could find to the anchorage, having left directions for every other officer and man in both ships to be employed in cutting the canal. This operation was performed by first marking out two parallel lines, distant from each other a little more than the breadth of the larger ship. Along each of these lines a cut was then made with an ice saw, and others again at right angles to them, at intervals of from ten to twenty feet; thus dividing the ice into a number of square pieces, which it was again necessary to subdivide diagonally, in order to give room for their being floated out of the canal. On returning from the upper part of the harbour, where I had marked out what appeared to be the best situation for our winter-quarters, I found that considerable progress had been made in cutting the canal and in floating the pieces out of it. To facilitate the latter part of the process, the seamen, who are always fond of doing things in their own way, took advantage of a fresh northerly breeze, by setting some boats sails upon the pieces of ice, a contrivance which saved both time and labour. This part of the operation, however, was by far the most troublesome, principally on account of the quantity of young ice which formed in the canal, and especially about the entrance, where, before sunset, it had become so thick that a passage could no longer be found for the detached pieces without considerable trouble in breaking it. At half past seven P.M. we weighed our anchors and began to warp up the canal, but the northerly wind blew so fresh, and the people were so much fatigued, having been almost constantly at work for nineteen hours, that it was midnight before we reached the termination of our first day's labour.
All hands were again set to work on the morning of the 25th, when it was proposed to sink the pieces of ice, as they were cut, under the floe, instead of floating them out, the latter mode having now become impracticable on account of the lower part of the canal, through which the ships had passed, being, hard frozen during the night. 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, while 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. The officers of both ships took the lead in this employ, several of them standing up to their knees in water frequently during the day, with the thermometer generally at 12°, and never higher than 16°. At six P.M. we began to move the ships. The Griper was made fast astern 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 ships along to the end of our second day's work.
Sunday, 26th.—I should on every account have been glad to make this a day of rest to the officers and men; but the rapidity with which the ice increased in thickness, in proportion as the general temperature of the atmosphere diminished, would have rendered a day's delay of serious importance. I ordered the work, therefore, to be continued at the usual time in the morning; and such was the spirited and cheerful manner in which this order was complied with, as well as the skill which had now been acquired in the art of sawing and sinking the ice, that although the thermometer was at 6° in the morning, and rose no higher than 9° during the day, we had completed the canal at noon, having effected more in four hours than on either of the two preceding days. The whole length of this canal was four thousand and eighty-two yards, or nearly two miles and one third, and the average thickness of the ice was seven inches.
At half past one P.M. we began to track the ships along in the same manner as before, and at a quarter past three 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 northwestern side of the harbour, to which I gave the name of WINTER HARBOUR; and I called the group of islands which we had discovered in the Polar Sea the NORTH GEORGIAN ISLANDS.
CHAPTER V.
Precautions for securing the Ships and Stores.—For promoting Good
Order, Cleanliness, Health, and Good-Humour among the Ships'
Companies.—Establishment of a Theatre and of the North Georgia
Gazette.—Erection of an Observatory on Shore.—Commence our
Winter's Amusements.—State of the Temperature, and various
Meteorological Phenomena.—Miscellaneous Occurrences to the Close
of the Year 1819.
Having, on the 19th October, reached the station where, in all probability, we were destined to remain for at least eight or nine months, during three of, which we were not to see the face of the sun, my attention was immediately and imperiously called to various important duties; many of them of a singular nature, such as had, for the first time, devolved on any officer in his majesty's navy, and might, indeed, be considered of rare occurrence in the whole history of navigation. The security of the ships and the preservation of the various stores were objects of immediate concern. A regular system to be adopted for the maintenance of good order and cleanliness, as most conducive to the health of the crews during the long, dark, and dreary winter, equally demanded my attention.
Not a moment was lost, therefore, in the commencement of our operations. The whole of the masts were dismantled except the lower ones and the Hecla's main-topmast; the lower yards were lashed fore and aft amidships, to support the planks of the housing intended to be erected over the ships; and the whole of this framework was afterward roofed over with a cloth. The boats, spars, running rigging, and sails were removed on shore; and, as soon as the ships were secured and housed over, my whole attention was directed to the health and comfort of the officers and men. The surgeon reported that not the slightest disposition to scurvy had shown itself in either ship.
Soon after our arrival in Winter Harbour, when the temperature of the atmosphere had fallen considerably below zero of Fahrenheit, we found that the steam from the coppers, as well as the breath and other vapour generated in the inhabited parts of the ship, began to condense into drops upon the beams and the sides, to such a degree as to keep them constantly wet. In order to remove this serious evil, a large stone oven, cased with cast iron, in which all our bread was baked daring the winter, was placed on the main hatchway, and the stovepipe 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 an apparatus had been attached to the galley-range for conveying a current of heated air between decks. This apparatus simply consisted of an iron box, about fifteen inches square, through which passed three pipes of two inches diameter, communicating below with the external air, and uniting above in a metal box, fixed to the side of the galley-range; to this box a copper stovepipe was attached, and conveyed to the middle part of the lower deck. When a fire was made under the air-vessel, the air became heated in its passage through the three pipes, from which it was conveyed through the stovepipe to the men's berths. While this apparatus was in good order, a moderate fire produced a current of air of the temperature of 87°, at the distance of seventeen feet from the fireplace; and with a pipe of wood, or any other imperfect conductor of heat, which would not allow of its escaping by the way, it might undoubtedly be carried to a much greater distance. By these means we were enabled to get rid of the moisture about the berths where the people messed; but when the weather became more severely cold, it still accumulated in the bed places occasionally to a serious and very alarming degree. Among the means employed to prevent the injurious effects arising from this annoyance, one of the most efficacious, perhaps, was a screen made of fearnaught, fixed to the beams round the galley, and dropping within eighteen inches of the deck, which served to intercept the steam from the coppers, and prevent it, as before, from curling along the beams, and condensing upon them into drops.
For the preservation of health, and as a necessary measure of economy, a few alterations were made in the quantity and quality of the provisions issued. I directed the allowance of bread to be permanently reduced to two thirds, a precaution which, perhaps, it would have been as well to adopt from the commencement of the voyage. A pound of preserved meat, together with one pint of vegetable or concentrated soup per man, was substituted for one pound of salt beef weekly; a proportion of beer and wine was served in lieu of spirits; and a small quantity of sourkrout and pickles, with as much vinegar as could be used, was issued at regular intervals. The daily proportion of lime-juice and sugar was mixed together, and with a proper quantity of water, was drunk by each man in presence of an officer appointed to attend to this duty. This latter precaution may appear to have been unnecessary to those who are not aware how much sailors resemble children in all those points in which their own health and comfort are concerned. Whenever any game was procured, it was directed to be invariably served in lieu of, and not in addition to, the established allowance of other meat, except in a few extraordinary cases; when such an indulgence was allowed; and in no one instance, either in quantity or quality, was the slightest preference given to the officers.
Great attention was paid to the clothing of the men, and one day in the week was appointed for the examination of the men's shins and gums by the medical gentlemen, in order that any slight appearance of the scurvy might at once be detected, and checked by timely and adequate means.
Under circumstances of leisure and inactivity, such as we were now placed in, and with every prospect of its continuance for a very large portion of the year, I was desirous of finding some amusement for the men during this long and tedious interval. I proposed, therefore, to the officers to get up a play occasionally on board the Hecla, as the readiest means of preserving among our crews that cheerfulness and good-humour which had hitherto subsisted. In this proposal I was readily seconded by the officers of both ships; and Lieutenant Beechey having been duly elected as stage-manager, our first performance was fixed for the 5th of November, to the great delight of the ships' companies. In these amusements I gladly undertook a part myself, considering that an example of cheerfulness, by giving a direct countenance to everything that could contribute to it, was not the least essential part of my duty, under the peculiar circumstances in which we were placed.
In order still farther to promote good-humour among ourselves, as well as to furnish amusing occupation during the hours of constant darkness, we set on foot a weekly newspaper, which was to be called the North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, and of which Captain Sabine undertook to be the editor, under the promise that it was to be supported by original contributions from the officers of the two ships: and I can safely say, that the weekly contributions had the happy effect of employing the leisure hours of those who furnished them, and of diverting the mind from the gloomy prospect which would sometimes obtrude itself on the stoutest heart.
Immediately on our arrival in harbour, Captain 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 considered advisable immediately to set about building a house near the beach for the reception of the clocks and instruments. For this purpose we made use of a quantity of fir-plank, which was intended for the construction of spare boats, and which was so cut as not to injure it for that purpose. The ground was so hard frozen that it required great labour to dig holes for the upright posts which formed the support of the sides. The walls of this house being double, with moss placed between the two, a high temperature could, even in the severest weather which we might be doomed to experience, be kept up in it without difficulty by a single stove.
After our arrival in port we saw several reindeer and a few coveys of grouse; but the country is so destitute of everything like cover of any kind, that our sportsmen were not successful in their hunting excursions, and we procured only three reindeer previous to the migration of these and the other animals from the island, which took place before the close of the month of October, leaving only the wolves and foxes to bear us company during the winter. The full-grown deer which we killed in the autumn, gave us from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventy pounds of meat each, and a fawn weighed eighty-four pounds.
On the 1st of October, Captain Sabine's servant, having been at some distance from the ships to examine a fox-trap, was pursued by a large white bear, which followed his 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 before seen, the colour of these animals being generally that of a dirtyish yellow when contrasted with the whiteness of the ice and snow.
Some deer being seen near the ships on the 10th, a party was despatched after them, some of whom having wounded a stag, and being led on by the ardour of pursuit, forgot my order that every person should be on board before sunset, and did not return till late, after we had suffered much apprehension their account. John Pearson, a marine belonging to the Griper, who was the last that returned on board, had his hands severely frostbitten, having imprudently gone away without mittens, and with a musket in his hand. A party of our people most providentially found him, although the night was very dark, just as he had fallen down a steep bank of snow, and was beginning to feel that degree of torpor and drowsiness which, if indulged, inevitably proves fatal. When he was brought on board his fingers were quite stiff, and bent into the shape of that part of the musket which he had been carrying; and the frost had so far destroyed the animation in his fingers on one hand, that it was necessary to amputate three of them a short time after, notwithstanding all the care and attention paid to him by the medical gentlemen. The effect which exposure to severe frost has in benumbing the mental as well as the corporeal faculties, was very striking in this man, as well as in two of the young gentlemen who returned after dark, and of whom we were anxious to make inquiries respecting Pearson. When I sent for them into my cabin, they looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a rational answer to any of our questions. After being on board for a short time, the mental faculties appeared gradually to return with the returning circulation, and it was not till then that a looker-on could easily persuade himself that they had not been drinking too freely. In order to guard in some measure against the danger of persons losing their way, which was more and more to be apprehended as the days became shorter and the ground more covered with snow, which gives such a dreary sameness to the country, we erected on all the hills within two or three miles of the harbour, finger-posts pointing towards the ships.
I have before remarked that all the water which we made use of while within the polar circle was procured from snow either naturally or artificially dissolved. Soon after the ships were laid up for the winter, it was necessary to have recourse entirely to the latter process, which added materially to the expenditure of fuel during the winter months. The snow for this purpose was dug out of the drifts which had formed upon the ice round the ships, and dissolved in the coppers. We found it necessary always to strain the water thus procured, on account of the sand which the heavy snowdrifts brought from the island, after which it was quite pure and wholesome.
On the 16th it blew a strong gale from the northward, accompanied by such a constant snowdrift, that, although the weather was quite clear overhead, the boathouse at the distance of three or four hundred yards could scarcely be seen from the ships. On such occasions no person was permitted on any account to leave the ships. Indeed, when this snowdrift occurred, as it frequently did in the winter, with a hard gale and the thermometer very low, I believe that no human being could have remained alive after an hour's exposure to it. In order, therefore, to secure a communication between the two ships, a distance not exceeding half a cable's length, as well as from the ships to the house on shore, a line was kept extended, as a guide from one to the other. The meridian, altitude of the sun was observed this day by an artificial horizon, which I noticed from the circumstance of its being the last time we had an opportunity of observing it for about four months.
On the 26th the sun afforded us sufficient light or writing and reading in my cabin, the stern-windows exactly facing the south, from half past nine till half past two; for the rest of the four-and-twenty hours, we lived, of course, by candle-light. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the sky to the southeast and southwest at sunrise and sunset about this period: near the horizon there was generally a rich bluish purple and a bright arch of deep red above, the one mingling imperceptibly with the other.
It now became rather a painful experiment to touch any metallic substance in the open air with the naked hand; the feeling produced by it exactly resembling that occasioned by the opposite extreme of intense heat, and taking off the skin from the part affected. We found it necessary, therefore, to use great caution in handling our sextants and other instruments, particularly the eye-pieces of telescopes, which, if suffered to touch the face, occasioned an intense burning pain; but this was easily remedied by covering them over with soft leather. Another effect, with regard to the use of instruments, began to appear about this time. Whenever any instrument which had been some time exposed to the atmosphere, so as to be cooled down to the same temperature, was suddenly brought below into the cabins, the vapour was instantly condensed all around it, so as to give the instrument the appearance of smoking, and the glasses were covered almost instantly with a thin coating of ice, the removal of which required great caution, to prevent the risk of injuring them, until it had gradually thawed, as they acquired the temperature of the cabin. When a candle was placed in a certain direction from the instrument with respect to the observer, a number of very minute spiculæ of snow were also seen sparkling around the instrument, at the distance of two or three inches from it, occasioned, as we supposed, by the cold atmosphere produced by the low temperature of the instrument almost instantaneously congealing into that form the vapour which floated in its immediate neighbourhood.
The 4th of November being the last day that the sun would, independently of the effects of refraction, be seen above our horizon till the 8th of February, an interval of ninety-six days, it was a matter of considerable regret to us that the weather about this time was not sufficiently clear to allow us to see and make observations on the disappearance of that luminary, in order that something might be attempted towards determining the amount of the atmospheric refraction at a low temperature. But though we were not permitted to take a last farewell, for at least three months, of that cheering orb, "of this great world both eye and soul," we nevertheless felt that this day constituted an important and memorable epoch in our voyage. We had some time before set about the preparations for our winter's amusements; and the theatre being ready, we opened on the 5th November, with the representation of Miss in her Teens, which afforded to the men such a fund of amusement as fully to justify the expectations we had formed of the utility of theatrical entertainments under our present circumstances, and to determine me to follow them up at stated periods. I found, indeed, that even the occupation of fitting up the theatre and taking it to pieces again, which employed a number of the men for a day or two before and after each performance, was a matter of no little importance, when the immediate duties of the ship appeared by no means sufficient for that purpose; for I dreaded the want of employment as one of the worst evils that was likely to befall us.
About the time of the sun's leaving us, the wolves began to approach the ships more boldly, howling most piteously on the beach near us, sometimes for hours together, and on one or two occasions coming alongside the ships, when everything was quiet at night; but we seldom saw more than one or two together, and therefore could form no idea of their number. These animals were always very shy of coming near our people; 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 these was caught in a trap set under the Griper's bows. The uneasiness displayed by this beautiful little animal during the time of his confinement, whenever he heard the howling of a wolf near the ships, impressed us with the opinion that the latter is in the habit of hunting the fox as his prey.
The temperature of the atmosphere having about this time become considerably lower than before, the cracking of the timbers was very frequent and loud for a time; but generally ceased altogether in an hour or two after this fall had taken place in the thermometer, and did not occur again at the same temperature during the winter. The wind blowing fresh from the northward, with a heavy snowdrift, made the ship very cold below; so that the breath and other vapour accumulated during the night in the bed places and upon the beams, and then immediately froze; hence it often occupied all hands for two or three hours during the day to scrape the ice away, in order to prevent the bedding from becoming wet by the increase of temperature occasioned by the fires. It was therefore found necessary to keep some of the fires in between decks at night, when the thermometer was below -15° or -20° in the open air, especially when the wind was high. To assist in keeping the lower decks warm, as well as to retard, in some slight degree, the formation of ice immediately in contact with the ships' bends, we banked the snow up against their sides as high as the main chains; and canvass screens were nailed round all the hatchways on the lower deck.
The stars of the second magnitude in Ursa Major were just perceptible to the naked eye a little after noon this day, and the Aurora Borealis appeared faintly in the southwest at night. About this time our medical gentlemen began to remark the extreme difficulty with which sores of every kind healed; a circumstance that rendered it the more necessary to be cautious in exposing the men to frostbites, lest the long inactivity and want of exercise during the cure of sores, in other respects trifling, should produce serious effects upon the general health of the patients.
During the following fortnight we were chiefly occupied in observing various phenomena in the heavens, the vivid coruscations of the Aurora Borealis, the falling of meteors, and in taking lunar distances; but the difficulty of making observations in this climate is inconceivably great; on one occasion the mercury of the artificial horizon froze into a solid mass.
About this part of the winter we began to experience a more serious inconvenience from the bursting of the lemon-juice bottles by frost, the whole contents being frequently frozen into a solid mass, except a small portion of highly concentrated acid in the centre, which in most instances was found to have leaked out, so that when the ice was thawed it was little better than water. This evil increased to a very alarming degree in the course of the winter: some cases being opened in which more than two thirds of the lemon-juice was thus destroyed, and the remainder rendered nearly inefficient.
It was at first supposed that this accident might have been prevented by not quite filling the bottles, but it was afterward found that the corks flying out did not save them from breaking. We observed that the greatest damage was done in those cases which were stowed nearest to the ship's side, and we therefore removed all the rest amidships; a precaution which, had it been sooner known and adopted, would probably have prevented at least a part of the mischief. The vinegar also became frozen in the casks in the same manner, and lost a great deal of its acidity when thawed. This circumstance conferred an additional value on a few gallons of very highly concentrated vinegar, which had been sent out on trial upon this and the preceding voyage, and which, when mixed with six or seven times its own quantity of water, was sufficiently acid for every purpose. This vinegar, when exposed to the temperature of 25° below zero, congealed only into a consistence like that of the thickest honey, but was never sufficiently hard to break any vessel which contained it. There can be no doubt, therefore, that on this account, as well as to save stowage, this kind of vinegar should exclusively be used in these regions; and for similar reasons of still greater importance, the lemon-juice should be concentrated.
We had now reached the shortest day, Wednesday, the 22d, and such was the occupation which we had hitherto contrived to find during the first half of our long and gloomy winter, that the quickness with which it had come upon us was a subject of general remark. So far, indeed, were we from wanting that occupation of which I had been apprehensive, especially among the men that it accidentally came to my knowledge about this period that they complained of not having time to mend their clothes. This complaint I was as glad to hear as desirous to rectify; and I therefore ordered that, in future, one afternoon in each week should be set aside for that particular purpose.
The circumstances of our situation being such as have never before occurred to the crews of any of his majesty's ships, it may not, perhaps, be considered wholly uninteresting to know in what manner our time was thus so fully occupied throughout the long and severe winter which it was our lot to experience, and particularly during a three months' interval of nearly total darkness.
The officers and quartermasters were divided into four watches, which were regularly kept as at sea, while the remainder of the ships' company were allowed to enjoy their night's rest undisturbed. The hands were turned up at a quarter before six, and both decks were well rubbed with stones and warm sand before eight o'clock, at which time, as usual at sea, both officers and men went to breakfast. Three quarters of an hour being allowed after breakfast for the men to prepare themselves for muster, we then beat to divisions punctually at a quarter past nine, when every person on board attended on the quarter deck, and a strict inspection of the men took place as to their personal cleanliness, and the good condition, as well as sufficient warmth of their clothing. The reports of the officers having been made to me, the people were then allowed to walk about, or, more usually, to run round the upper deck, while I went down to examine the state of that below. The state of this deck may be said, indeed, to have constituted the chief source of our anxiety, and to have occupied by far the greatest share of our attention at this period. Whenever any dampness appeared, or, what more frequently happened, any accumulation of ice had taken place during the preceding night, the necessary means were immediately adopted for removing it; in the former case usually by rubbing the wood with cloths, and then directing the warm airpipe towards the place; and in the latter by scraping off the ice, so as to prevent its wetting the deck by any accidental increase of temperature. In this respect the bed-places were particularly troublesome; the inner partition, or that next the ship's side, being almost invariably covered with more or less dampness or ice, according to the temperature of the deck during the preceding night. This inconvenience might, to a great degree, have been avoided by a sufficient quantity of fuel to keep up two good fires on the lower deck throughout the twenty-four hours; but our stock of coals would by no means permit this, bearing in mind the possibility of our spending a second winter within the Arctic circle; and this comfort could only, therefore, be allowed on a few occasions during the most severe part of the winter.
In the course of my examination of the lower deck I had always an opportunity of seeing those few men who were on the sick list, and of receiving from Mr. Edwards a report of their respective cases; as also of consulting that gentleman as to the means of improving the warmth, ventilation, and general comfort of the inhabited parts of the ship. Having performed this duty, we returned to the upper deck, where I personally inspected the men; after which they were sent out to walk on shore, when the weather would permit, till noon, when they returned on board to their dinner. When the day was too inclement for them to take this exercise, they were ordered to run round and round the deck, keeping step to the tune of an organ, or, not unfrequently, to a song of their own singing. Among the men were a few who did not at first quite like this systematic mode of taking exercise; but when they found that no plea except that of illness was admitted as an excuse, they not only willingly and cheerfully complied, but made it the occasion of much humour and frolic among themselves.
The officers, who dined at two o'clock, were also in the habit of occupying one or two hours in the middle of the day in rambling on shore, even in our darkest period, except when a fresh wind and a heavy snowdrift confined them within the housing of the ships. It may well be imagined that, at this period, there was but little to be met with in our walks on shore which could either amuse or interest us. The necessity of not exceeding the limited distance of one or two miles, lest a snowdrift, which often rises very suddenly, should prevent our return, added considerably to the dull and tedious monotony which day after day presented itself. To the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that, in some parts, a few hummocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the general level. Nor did the land offer much greater variety, being almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown patch of bare ground in some exposed situations, where the wind had not allowed the snow to remain. When viewed from the summit of the neighbouring hills, on one of those calm and clear days which not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as to induce contemplations which had, perhaps, more of melancholy than of any other feeling. Not an object was to be seen on which the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the spot where our ships lay and where our little colony was planted. The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial cheerfulness to this part of the prospect; and the sound of voices, which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned around us; a silence far different from that peaceable composure which characterizes the landscape of a cultivated country; it was the deathlike stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated existence. Such, indeed, was the want of objects to afford relief to the eye or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more than usual size appearing above the snow in the direction in which we were going, immediately became a mark on which our eyes were unconsciously fixed, and towards which we mechanically advanced.
We had frequent occasion, in our walks on shore, to remark the deception which takes place in estimating the distance and magnitude of objects when viewed over an unvaried surface of snow. It was not uncommon for us to direct our steps towards what we took for a large mass of stone at the distance of half a mile from us, but which we were able to take up in our hands after one minute's walk. This was more particularly the case when ascending the brow of a hill, nor did we find that the deception became less on account of the frequency with which we experienced its effects.
In the afternoon the men were usually occupied in drawing and knotting yarns, and in making points and gaskets; a never-failing resource where mere occupation is required, and which it was necessary to perform entirely on the lower deck, the yarns becoming so hard and brittle, when exposed on deck to the temperature of the atmosphere, as to be too stiff for working, and very easily broken. I may in this place remark, that our lower rigging became extremely slack during the severity of the winter, and gradually tightened again as the spring returned: effects the very reverse of those which we had anticipated, and which I can only account for by the extreme dryness of the atmosphere in the middle of winter, and the subsequent increase of moisture.
At half past five in the evening the decks were cleared up, and at six we again beat to divisions, when the same examination of the men and of their berths and bed-places took place as in the morning; the people then went to their supper, and the officers to tea. After this time the men were permitted to amuse themselves as they pleased, and games of various kinds, as well as dancing and singing occasionally, went on upon the lower deck till nine o'clock, when they went to bed and their lights were extinguished. In order to guard against accidents by fire, where so many fires and lights were necessarily in use, the quartermasters visited the lower deck every half hour during the night, and made their report to the officers of the watches that all was, in this respect, safe below; and to secure a ready supply of water in case of fire, a hole was cut twice a day in the ice, close alongside of each ship. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the evening occupations of the officers were of a more rational kind than those which engaged the attention of the men. Of these, reading and writing were the principal employments, to which were occasionally added a game of chess, or a tune on the flute or violin, till half past ten, about which time we all retired to rest.
Such were the employments which usually occupied us for six days in the week, with such exceptions only as circumstances at the time suggested. On Sundays divine service was invariably performed, and a sermon read on board both ships; the prayer appointed to be daily used at sea being altered, so as to adapt it to the service in which we were engaged, the success which had hitherto attended our efforts, and the peculiar circumstances under which we were at present placed. The attention paid by the men to the observance of their religious duties was such as to reflect upon them the highest credit, and tended in no small degree to the preservation of that regularity and good conduct for which, with very few exceptions, they were invariably distinguished.
Our theatrical entertainments took place regularly once a fortnight, and continued to prove a source of infinite amusement to the men. Our stock of plays was so scanty, consisting of one or two odd volumes, which happened accidentally to be on board, that it was with difficulty we could find the means of varying the performances sufficiently; our authors, therefore, set to work, and produced, as a Christmas piece, a musical entertainment, expressly adapted to our audience, and having such a reference to the service on which we were engaged, and the success we had so far experienced, as at once to afford a high degree of present recreation, and to stimulate, if possible, the sanguine hopes which were entertained by all on board, of the complete accomplishment of our enterprise. We were at one time apprehensive that the severity of the weather would prevent the continuance of this amusement, but the perseverance of the officers overcame every difficulty; and, perhaps for the first time since theatrical entertainments were invented, more than one or two plays were performed on board the Hecla with the thermometer below zero on the stage.
The North Georgia Gazette, which I have already mentioned, was a source of great amusement, not only to the contributors, but to those who, from diffidence of their own talents or other reasons, could not be prevailed on to add their mite to the little stock of literary composition which was weekly demanded; for those who declined to write were not unwilling to read, and more ready to criticise than those who wielded the pen; but it was that good-humoured sort of criticism that could not give offence. The subjects handled in this paper were of course various, but generally applicable to our own situation.
The return of each successive day had been always very decidedly marked by a considerable twilight for some time about noon, that on the shortest day being sufficient to enable us to walk out very comfortably for about two hours.[*] There was usually, in clear weather, a beautiful arch of bright red light overspreading the southern horizon for an hour or two before and after noon, the light increasing, of course, in strength, as the sun approached the meridian. Short as the day now was, if, indeed, any part of the twenty-four hours could be properly called by that name, the reflection of light from the snow, aided occasionally by a bright moon, was at all times sufficient to prevent our experiencing, even under the most unfavourable circumstances, anything like the gloomy night which occurs in more temperate climates. Especial care was taken, during the time the sun was below the horizon, to preserve the strictest regularity in the time of our meals, and in the various occupations which engaged our attention during the day; and this, together with the gradual and imperceptible manner in which the days had shortened, prevented this kind of life, so novel to us in reality, from appearing very inconvenient, or, indeed, like anything out of the common way. It must be confessed, however, that we were not sorry to arrive, without any serious suffering, at the shortest day; and we watched, with no ordinary degree of pleasure, the slow approach of the returning sun.
[Footnote: It will, perhaps, give the best idea of the power of the sun's light afforded us on this day, to state, that we could, at noon, read with tolerable ease the same sized type as that in which this note is printed; but this could only be done by turning the book directly towards the south.]
On Christmas day the weather was raw and cold, with a considerable snowdrift, though the wind was only moderate from the N.W.; but the snow which falls during the severe winter of this climate is composed of spiculæ so extremely minute, that it requires very little wind to raise it and carry it along. To mark the day in the best manner which circumstances would permit divine service was performed on board the ships; and I directed a small increase in the men's usual proportion of fresh meat as a Christmas dinner, as well as an additional allowance of grog, to drink the health of their friends in England. The officers also met at a social and friendly dinner, and the day passed with much of the same kind of festivity by which it is usually distinguished at home; and, to the credit of the men be it spoken, without any of that disorder by which it is too often observed by seamen. A piece of English roast-beef, which formed part of the officers' dinner, had been on board since the preceding May, and preserved without salt during that period merely by the antiseptic powers of a cold atmosphere.
A great many frostbites occurred about this time, 30th, principally in the men's feet, even when they had been walking quickly on shore for exercise. On examining their boots, Mr. Edwards remarked, that the stiffness of the thick leather of which they were made was such as to cramp the feet, and prevent the circulation from going on freely; and that this alone was sufficient to account for their feet having been frostbitten. Being very desirous of avoiding these accidents, which, from the increased sluggishness with which the sores healed, were more and more likely to affect the general health of the patients by long confinement, I directed a pair of canvass boots, lined with blanketing or some other woollen stuff, to be made for each man, using raw hide as soles: this completely answered the desired purpose, as scarcely any frostbites in the feet afterward occurred, except under circumstances of very severe exposure.
CHAPTER VI.
First Appearance of Scurvy.—The Aurora Borealis and other
Meteorological Phenomena.—Visits of the Wolves.—Reappearance of
the Sun.—Extreme low Temperature.—Destruction of the House on
Shore by Fire.—Severe Frostbites occasioned by this Accident.
January 1, 1820.—I received this morning the first unpleasant report of the scurvy having made its appearance among us: Mr. Scallon, the gunner of the Hecla, had for some days past been complaining of pains in his legs, which Mr. Edwards at first took to be rheumatic, but which, together with the appearance of his gums, now left no doubt of the symptoms being scorbutic. It is so uncommon a thing for this disease to make its first appearance among the officers, that Mr. Edwards was naturally curious to inquire into the cause of it; and at length discovered that Mr. Scallon's bedding was in so damp a state, in consequence of the deposite of moisture in his bed-place, which I have before mentioned, as to leave no doubt that to this circumstance, as the immediate exciting cause, his illness might justly be attributed. The difficulty of preventing this deposite of moisture, and the consequent accumulation of ice, was much greater in the officers' bed-places than in those of the men, in consequence of the former being necessarily placed in close contact with the ship's sides, and forming an immediate communication, as it were, with the external atmosphere; whereas in the latter there was a vacant interval of eighteen inches in width interposed between them. To prevent as much as possible, therefore, the injurious effects of this evil upon the health of the officers, I appointed certain days for the airing of their bedding by the fires, as well as for that of the ships' companies. Every attention was paid to Mr. Scallon's case by the medical gentlemen, and all our anti-scorbutics were put in requisition for his recovery: these consisted principally of preserved vegetable soups, lemon-juice, and sugar, pickles, preserved currants and gooseberries, and spruce beer. I began also, about this time, to raise a small quantity of mustard and cress in my cabin, in small shallow boxes filled with mould, and placed along the stovepipe; by these means, even in the severity of winter, we could generally ensure a crop at the end of the sixth or seventh day after sowing the seed, which, by keeping several boxes at work, would give to two or three scorbutic patients nearly an ounce of salad each daily, even though the necessary economy in our coals did not allow of the fire being kept in at night. The mustard and cress thus raised were necessarily colourless, from the privation of light; but, as far as we could judge, they possessed the same pungent aromatic taste as if grown under ordinary circumstances. So effectual were these remedies in Mr. Scallon's case, that, on the ninth evening from the attack, he was able to walk about on the lower deck for some time, and he assured me that he could then "run a race."
At noon on the 7th, the temperature of the atmosphere had got down to 49° below zero, being the greatest degree of cold which we had yet experienced; but the weather being quite calm, we walked on shore for an hour without inconvenience, the sensation of cold depending much more on the degree of wind at the time than on the absolute temperature of the atmosphere as indicated by the thermometer. In several of the accounts given of those countries in which an intense degree of natural cold is experienced, some effects are attributed to it which certainly did not come under our observation in the course of this winter. The first of these is the dreadful sensation said to be produced on the lungs, causing them to feel as if torn asunder when the air is inhaled at a very low temperature. No such sensation was ever experienced by us, though in going from the cabins into the open air, and vice versâ, we were constantly in the habit for some months of undergoing a change of from 80° to 100°, and, in several instances, 120° of temperature in less than one minute; and, what is still more extraordinary, not a single inflammatory complaint, beyond a slight cold, which was cured by common care in a day or two, occurred during this particular period. The second is, the vapour with which the air of an inhabited room is charged, condensing into a shower of snow immediately on the opening of a door or window communicating with the external atmosphere. This goes much beyond anything that we had an opportunity of observing. What happened with us was simply this: on the opening of the doors at the top and bottom of our hatchway ladders, the vapour was immediately condensed, by the sudden admission of the cold air, into a visible form, exactly resembling a very thick smoke, which settled on all the panels of the doors and bulkheads, and immediately froze, by which means the latter were covered with a thick coating of ice, which it was necessary frequently to scrape off; but we never, to my knowledge, saw the conversion of the vapour into snow during its fall.
On the evening of the 15th, the atmosphere being clear and serene, we were gratified by a sight of the only very brilliant and diversified display of Aurora Borealis which occurred during the whole winter. I believe it to be almost impossible for words to give an idea of the beauty and variety which this magnificent phenomenon displayed.
About this time it had been remarked, that a white setter dog had left the Griper for several nights past at the same time, and had regularly returned after some hours' absence. As the daylight increased, we had frequent opportunities of seeing him in company with a she-wolf, with which he kept up an almost daily intercourse for several weeks, till at length he returned no more to the ships; having either lost his way by rambling to too great a distance, or, what is more likely, perhaps, been destroyed by the male wolves. Some time after, a large dog of mine, which was also getting into the habit of occasionally remaining absent for some time, returned on board a good deal lacerated and covered with blood, having no doubt maintained a severe encounter with a male wolf, which we traced to a considerable distance by the tracks on the snow. An old dog, of the Newfoundland breed, that we had on board the Hecla, was also in the habit of remaining out with the wolves for a day or two together; and we frequently watched them keeping company on the most friendly terms.
A wolf, which crossed the harbour close to the ships on the 25th, was observed to be almost entirely white, his body long and extremely lean, standing higher on his legs than any of the Esquimaux dogs, but otherwise much resembling them; his tail was long and bushy, and always hanging between his legs, and he kept his head very low in running. It is extraordinary that we could never succeed in killing or catching one of these animals, though we were for months almost constantly endeavouring to do so.
On the 1st and 2d of February the weather was rather hazy, so that the sun could not have been seen had it been above the horizon; but the 3d was a beautifully clear and calm day. At eight A.M. a cross, consisting of the usual vertical and horizontal rays, was seen about the moon. At twenty minutes before apparent noon, the sun was seen from the Hecla's main-top, at the height of fifty-one feet above the sea, being the first time that this luminary had been visible to us since the 11th of November, a period of eighty-four days, being twelve days less than the time of its remaining actually beneath the horizon, independently of the effects of atmospherical refraction. On ascending the main-top, I found the sun to be plainly visible over the land to the south; but at noon there was a dusky sort of cloud hanging about the horizon, which prevented our seeing anything like a defined limb, so as to measure or estimate its altitude correctly.
At noon on the 7th we had the first clear view of the sun which we had yet enjoyed since its reappearance above our horizon, and an indistinct parhelion, or mock sun, slightly prismatic, was seen on the eastern side of it, at the distance of 22°.
There was now sufficient daylight, from eight o'clock till four, to enable us to perform with great facility any work outside the ships. I was not sorry to commence upon some of the occupations more immediately connected with the equipment of the ships for sea than those to which we had hitherto been obliged to have recourse as mere employment. We therefore began this day to collect stones for ballast, of which it was calculated that the Hecla would require in the spring nearly seventy tons, besides twenty tons of additional water, to make up for the loss of weight by the expenditure of provisions and stores. These stones were brought down on sledges about half a mile to the beach, where they were broken into a convenient size for stowage, and then weighed in scales erected on the beach for the purpose; thus affording to the men a considerable quantity of bodily exercise whenever the weather would permit them to be so employed.
The distance at which sounds were heard in the open air, during the continuance of intense cold, was so great as constantly to afford matter of surprise to us, notwithstanding the frequency with which we had occasion to remark it. We have, for instance, often heard people distinctly conversing, in a common tone of voice, at the distance of a mile; and to-day I heard a man singing to himself as he walked along the beach, at even a greater distance than this. Another circumstance also occurred to-day, which may perhaps be considered as worthy of notice. Lieutenant Beechey, and Messrs. Beverly and Fisher, in the course of a walk which led them to a part of the harbour, about two miles directly to leeward of the ships, were surprised by suddenly perceiving a smell of smoke, so strong as even to impede their breathing, till, by walking on a little farther, they got rid of it. This circumstance shows to what a distance the smoke from the ships was carried horizontally, owing to the difficulty with which it rises at a very low temperature of the atmosphere.
From four P.M. on the 14th till half past seven on the following morning, being an interval of fifteen hours and a half, during which time the weather was clear and nearly calm, a thermometer, fixed on a pole between the ships and the shore, never rose above -54°, and was once during that interval, namely, at six in the morning, as low as -55°. During the lowest temperature above mentioned, which was the most intense degree of cold marked by the spirit-thermometer during our stay in Winter Harbour, not the slightest inconvenience was suffered from exposure to the open air by a person well clothed, as long as the weather was perfectly calm; but, in walking against a very light air of wind, a smart sensation was experienced all over the face, accompanied by a pain in the middle of the forehead, which soon became rather severe. We amused ourselves in freezing some mercury during the continuance of this cold weather, and by beating it out on an anvil previously reduced to the temperature of the atmosphere; it did not appear to be very malleable when in this state, usually breaking after two or three blows from the hammer.
The increased length of the day, and the cheering presence of the sun for several hours above the horizon, induced me, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, to open the dead-lights of my stern windows, in order to admit the daylight, of which, in our occupations below, we had entirely been deprived for more than four months. I had soon, however, occasion to find that this change was rather premature, and that I had not rightly calculated on the length of the winter in Melville Island. The Hecla was fitted with double windows in her stern, the interval 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. On endeavouring now to remove the curtains, they were found to be so strongly cemented to the windows by the frozen vapour collected between them, that it was necessary to cut them off in order to open the windows; and from the space between the double sashes we removed more than twelve large buckets full of ice or frozen vapour, which had accumulated in the same manner.
About noon on the 16th, a parhelion, faintly prismatic, appeared on each side of the sun, continuing only for half an hour. Notwithstanding the low temperature of the external atmosphere, the officers contrived to act, as usual, the play announced for this evening; but it must be confessed that it was almost too cold for either the actors or the audience to enjoy it, especially for those of the former who undertook to appear in female dresses.
In the constant hope that each succeeding day would produce some amendment in the weather, we endeavoured contentedly to put up with the cold, which, however, continued to be so intense in the cabin for several weeks after this, that it was impossible to sit there without being warmly wrapped up; and it was not uncommon for us, at this period, to reverse the usual order of things, by throwing off our great coats when we went on deck to warm ourselves by exercise (the only mode we had of doing so), and immediately resuming them on coming below.
With our present temperature, the breath of a person at a little distance looked exactly like the smoke of a musket just fired, and that of a party of men employed upon the ice to-day resembled a thick white cloud.
At a quarter past ten on Thursday, the 24th, while the men were running round the decks for exercise, and were on that account fortunately well clothed, the house on shore was discovered to be on fire. All the officers and men of both ships instantly ran up to extinguish it; and having, by great exertion, pulled off the roof with ropes, and knocked down a part of the sides, so as to allow snow to be thrown upon the flames, we succeeded in getting it under after three quarters of an hour, and fortunately before the fire had reached that end of the house where the two clocks, together with the transit and other valuable instruments, were standing in their cases. Having removed these, and covered the ruins with snow, to prevent any remains of fire from breaking out again, we returned on board till more temperate weather should enable us to dig out the rest of the things, among which nothing of any material consequence was subsequently found to have suffered injury; and, having mustered the ships' companies to see that they had put on dry clothes before going to dinner, they were employed daring the rest of the day in drying those which had been wet. The appearance which our faces presented at the fire was a curious one, almost every nose and cheek having become quite white with frostbites in five minutes after being exposed to the weather; so that it was deemed necessary for the medical gentlemen, together with some others appointed to assist them, to go constantly round while the men were working at the fire, and to rub with snow the parts affected, in order to restore animation. Notwithstanding this precaution, which, however, saved many frostbites, we had an addition of no less than sixteen men to the sick lists of both ships in consequence of this accident. Among these there were four or five cases which kept the patients confined for several weeks; but John Smith, of the artillery, who was Captain Sabine's servant, and who, together with Sergeant Martin, happened to be in the house at the time the fire broke out, was unfortunate enough to suffer much more severely. In their anxiety to save the dipping-needle, which was standing close to the stove, and of which they knew the value, they immediately ran out with it; and Smith, not having time to put on his gloves, had his fingers in half an hour so benumbed and the animation so completely suspended, that on his being taken on board by Mr. Edwards, and having his hands plunged into a basin of cold water, the surface of the water was immediately frozen by the intense cold thus suddenly communicated to it; and, notwithstanding the most humane and unremitting attention paid to them by the medical gentlemen, it was found necessary, some time after, to resort to the amputation of a part of four fingers on one hand and three on the other.
CHAPTER VII.
More temperate Weather.—House rebuilt.—Quantity of Ice collected on the Hecla's lower Deck.—Meteorological Phenomena.—Conclusion of Theatrical Entertainments.—Increased Sickness on board the Griper.—Clothes first dried in the open Air.—Remarkable Halos and Parhelia.—Snow Blindness.—Cutting the Ice round the Ships, and other Occurrences to the Close of May.
Before sunrise on the morning of the 1st of March, Lieutenant Beechey remarked so much bright red light near the southeastern horizon, that he constantly thought the sun was rising nearly half an hour before it actually appeared; there was a column of light above the sun similar to those which we had before seen. The day being clear and moderate, a party of men were employed in digging out the things which were buried in the ruins; the clocks were removed on board for examination, and preparations were made to rebuild the house for their reception.
The 5th of March was the most mild and pleasant day we had experienced for several weeks, and after divine service had been performed, almost all the officers and men in both ships were glad to take advantage of it, by enjoying a long walk upon the neighbouring hills. The weather had been hazy, with light snow and some clouds in the morning; but the latter gradually dispersed after noon, affording us the first day to which we could attach the idea of spring.
We continued to enjoy the same temperature and enlivening weather on the 7th, and now began to flatter ourselves in earnest that the season had taken that favourable change for which we had so long been looking with extreme anxiety and impatience. This hope was much strengthened by a circumstance which occurred to-day, and which, trifling as it would have appeared in any other situation than ours, was to us a matter of no small interest and satisfaction. This was no other than the thawing of a small quantity of snow in a favourable situation upon the black paintwork of the ship's stern, which exactly faced the south; being the first time that such an event had occurred for more than five months.
The severe weather which, until the last two or three days, we had experienced, had been the means of keeping in a solid state all the vapour which had accumulated and frozen upon the ship's sides on the lower deck. As long as it continued in this state, it did not prove a source of annoyance, especially as it had no communication with the bed-places. The late mildness of the weather, however, having caused a thaw to take place below, it now became necessary immediately to scrape off the coating of ice, and it will, perhaps, be scarcely credited, that we this day removed about one hundred buckets full, each containing from five to six gallons, being the accumulation which had taken place in an interval of less than four weeks. It may be observed, that this vapour must principally have been produced from the men's breath, and from the steam of their victuals during meals, that from the coppers being effectually carried on deck by the screen which I have before mentioned.
On the 9th it blew a hard gale from the northward and westward, raising a snowdrift, which made the day almost as inclement as in the midst of winter. The wind very suddenly ceased in the evening, and while the atmosphere near the ships was so serene and undisturbed that the smoke rose quite perpendicularly, we saw the snowdrift on the hills, at one or two miles' distance, whirled up into the air, in columns several hundred feet high, and carried along by the wind, sometimes to the north, and at others in the opposite direction. The snow thus raised at times resembled waterspouts, but more frequently appeared like smoke issuing from the tops of the hills, and as such was at first represented to me.
It blew a strong breeze from the N.b.W., with a heavy snowdrift, on the 12th, which continued, with little intermission, till near noon on the 14th; affording us a convincing proof that the hopes with which we had flattered ourselves of the speedy return of spring were not yet to be accomplished.
On the 16th, there being little wind, the weather was again pleasant and comfortable, though the thermometer remained very low.
This evening the officers performed the farces of the Citizen and the Mayor of Garratt, being the last of our theatrical amusements for this winter, the season having now arrived when there would no longer be a want of occupation for the men, and when it became necessary also to remove a part of the roofing to admit light to the officers' cabins. Our poets were again set to work on this occasion, and an appropriate address was spoken on the closing of the North Georgia Theatre, than which we may, without vanity, be permitted to say, none had ever done more real service to the community for whose benefit it was intended.
On the 23d we found, by digging a hole in the ice, in the middle of the harbour, where the depth of water was four fathoms and a quarter, that its thickness was six feet and a half, and the snow on the surface of it eight inches deep. This may be considered a fair specimen of the average formation of ice in this neighbourhood since the middle of the preceding September: and as the freezing process did not stop for six weeks after this, the produce of the whole winter may, perhaps, be reasonably taken at seven, or seven and a half feet. In chopping this ice with an axe the men found it very hard and brittle, till they arrived within a foot of the lower surface, where it became soft and spongy.
Being extremely anxious to get rid, as early as possible, of the drying of our washed clothes upon the lower deck, I had to-day a silk handkerchief washed and hung up under the stern, in order to try the effect of the sun's rays upon it. In four hours it became thoroughly dry, the thermometer in the shade being from -18° to -6° at the time. This was the first article that had been dried without artificial heat for six months, and it was yet another month before flannel could be dried in the open air. When this is considered, as well as that, during the same period, the airing of the bedding, the drying of the bed-places, and the ventilation of the inhabited parts of the ship, were wholly dependant on the same means, and this with a very limited supply of fuel, it may, perhaps be conceived, in some degree, what unremitting attention was necessary to the preservation of health, under circumstances so unfavourable and even prejudicial.
The morning of April 27th being very fine, and the thermometer at +6°, the ship's company's bedding was hung up to air, between the fore and main rigging, being the first time we had ventured to bring it from the lower deck for nearly eight months. While it was out, the berths and bed-places were fumigated with a composition of gunpowder mixed with vinegar, and known familiarly by the name of devils; an operation which had been regularly gone through once a week during the winter.
For the last three or four days of April the snow on the black cloth of our housing had begun to thaw a little during a few hours in the middle of the day, and on the 30th so rapid a change took place in the temperature of the atmosphere, that the thermometer stood at the freezing, or, as it may more properly be termed in this climate, the thawing point, being the first time that such an event had occurred for nearly eight months, or since the 9th of the preceding September. This temperature was to our feelings, so much like that of summer, that I was under the necessity of using my authority to prevent the men from making such an alteration in their clothing as might have been attended with very dangerous consequences. The thermometer had ranged from -32° to +32° in the course of twenty days. There was, at this period, more snow upon the ground than at any other time of the year, the average depth on the lower parts of the land being four or five inches, but much less upon the hills; while in the ravines a very large quantity had been collected. The snow at this time became so soft, from the influence of the sun upon it, as to make walking very laborious and unpleasant.
The fine and temperate weather with which the month of April had concluded, induced Captain Sabine to set the clocks going, in order to commence his observations for the pendulum, and he now took up his quarters entirely on shore for that purpose. On the first of May, however, it blew a strong gale from the northward, which made it impossible to keep up the desired temperature in the house: and so heavy was the snowdrift, that in a few hours the house was nearly covered, and we were obliged to communicate with Captain Sabine and his attendants through a small window, from which the snow was, with much labour, cleared away, the door being quite inaccessible. We saw the sun at midnight for the first time this season.
The gale and snowdrift continued on the following day, when we had literally to dig out the sentries, who attended the fire at the house, in order to have them relieved.
On the 6th, the thermometer rose no higher than +8½° during the day; but, as the wind was moderate, and it was high time to endeavour to get the ships once more fairly afloat, we commenced the operation of cutting the ice about them. In order to prevent the men suffering from wet and cold feet, a pair of strong boots and boot-stockings were on this occasion served to each.
On the 15th, two or three coveys of ptarmigan were seen, after which they became more and more numerous, and a brace or two were almost daily procured for the sick, for whose use they were exclusively reserved. As it was of the utmost importance, under our present circumstances, that every ounce of game which we might thus procure should be served in lieu of other meat, I now renewed the orders formerly given, that every animal killed was to be considered as public property; and, as such, to be regularly issued like any other kind of provision, without the slightest distinction between the messes of the officers and those of the ships' companies.
Some of our men having, in the course of their shooting excursions, been exposed for several hours to the glare of the sun and snow, returned at night much affected with that painful inflammation in the eyes occasioned by the reflection of intense light from the snow, aided by the warmth of the sun, and called in America "snow blindness." This complaint, of which the sensation exactly resembles that produced by large particles of sand or dust in the eyes, is cured by some tribes of American Indians by holding them over the steam of warm water; but we found a cooling wash, made by a small quantity of acetate of lead mixed with cold water, more efficacious in relieving the irritation, which was always done in three or four days, even in the most severe cases, provided the eyes were carefully guarded from the light. As a preventive of this complaint, a piece of black crape was given to each man, to be worn as a kind of short veil attached to the hat, which we found to be very serviceable. A still more convenient mode, adopted by some of the officers, was found equally efficacious; this consisted in taking the glasses out of a pair of spectacles, and substituting black or green crape, the glass having been found to heat the eyes and increase the irritation.
On the 17th we completed the operation of cutting the ice round the Hecla, which was performed in the following manner. We began by digging a large hole under the stern, being the same as that in which the tide-pole was placed, in order to enter the saw, which occupied us nearly two days, only a small number of men being able to work at it. In the mean time, all the snow and rubbish was cleared away from the ship's side, leaving only the solid ice to work upon; and a trench, two feet wide, was cut the whole length of the starboard side, from the stem to the rudder, keeping within an inch or two of the bends; and taking care here and there to leave a dike, to prevent the water which might ooze into one part from filling up the others in which the men were working. In this manner was the trench cut with axes to the depth of about four feet and a half, leaving only eighteen inches for the saws to cut, except in those places where the dikes remained. The saw, being then entered in the hole under the stern, was worked in the usual manner, being suspended by a triangle made of three spars: one cut being made on the outer part of the trench, and a second within an inch or two of the bends, in order to avoid injuring the planks. A small portion of ice being broken off now and then by bars, handspikes, and ice-chisels, floated, to the surface, and was hooked out by piecemeal. This operation was a cold and tedious one and required nine days to complete it. When the workmen had this morning completed the trench within ten or twelve feet of the stern, the ship suddenly disengaged herself from the ice, to which she had before been firmly adhering on the larboard side, and rose in the water about ten inches abaft, and nearly eighteen inches forward, with a considerable surge. This circumstance it was not difficult to explain. In the course of the winter, the strong eddy-winds about the ships had formed round them a drift of snow seven or eight feet deep in some parts, and perhaps weighing a hundred tons; by which the ice, and the ships with it, were carried down much below the natural level at which they would otherwise have floated. In the mean time the ships had become considerably lighter, from expenditure of several months' provisions: so that, on both these accounts, they had naturally a tendency to rise in the water as soon as they were set at liberty.
A party of hands were occupied in breaking and weighing the stones for ballast, while others were getting out the sails and boats; and our carpenters, armourers, coopers, and sailmakers having each their respective employments, our little colony now presented the most busy and bustling scene that can be imagined. It was found necessary to caulk every part of the upper works, as well as all the decks, the seams having been so much opened by the frost as to require at least one, and in many parts two threads of oakum, though the ship had scarcely ever laboured at all since she was last caulked. I also at this time laid out a small garden, planting it with radishes, onions, mustard, and cress; and a similar attempt was made by Lieutenant Liddon; but, notwithstanding every care and attention which could be paid to it, this experiment may be said to have wholly failed, the radishes not exceeding an inch in length by the latter end of July, and the other seeds being altogether thrown away. I may remark, however, that some common ships' peas, which were sown by our people for their amusement, were found to thrive so well, that, had I been sooner aware of it, a great quantity of the leaves at least of this vegetable might have been grown, which, when boiled and eaten as greens, would have been no small treat to persons deprived of fresh vegetable substance for more than ten months.
Having considered that an examination of the extent and productions of the island might be conducive to the improvement of the geography and natural history of these regions, and the good state of health enjoyed by the crews permitting a certain number of men to be spared from each ship during their equipment for sea, I now determined to undertake a journey into the interior for this purpose, accompanied by a certain number of officers and men who volunteered their services on the occasion; and the 1st of June was fixed for our departure.
Early on the morning of the 24th Mr. Allison reported that he had felt a few drops of rain fall upon his face, an event which we had scarcely dared to anticipate so soon, but which was hailed with much satisfaction, as nothing appears to be so effectual as rain in producing the dissolution of the ice. The clouds had a watery appearance throughout the day, and at half past eight in the evening we were agreeably surprised by a smart shower of rain, which was shortly after succeeded by several others.
Early on the morning of the 29th the wind increased to a fresh gale from the northward and westward, which continued during the day, with a heavy fall of snow and a tremendous drift, that prevented our seeing to the distance of more than twenty yards around the ships. The following day being fine, I took my travelling party to the top of the northeast hill, in order to try the cart which had been constructed for carrying the tents and baggage, and which appeared to answer very well. The view from this hill was not such as to offer much encouragement to our hopes of future advancement to the westward. The sea still presented the same unbroken and continuous surface of solid and impenetrable ice, and this ice could not be less than from six to seven feet in thickness, as we knew it to be about the ships. When to this circumstance was added the consideration that scarcely the slightest symptoms of thawing had yet appeared, and that in three weeks from this period the sun would again begin to decline to the southward, it must be confessed that the most sanguine and enthusiastic among us had some reason to be staggered in the expectations they had formed of the complete accomplishment of our enterprise.
CHAPTER VIII.
Journey across Melville Island to the Northern Shore, and Return to the Ships by a different Route.
The weather being favourable on the morning of the 1st of June, I made such arrangements as were necessary previous to my departure on our intended journey. I directed Lieutenants Liddon and Beechey to proceed with all possible despatch in the equipment of the ships for sea, having them ready to sail by the end of June, in order that we might be able to take advantage of any favourable alteration in the state of the ice at an earlier period than present appearances allowed us to anticipate.
The party selected to accompany me, out of the numerous volunteers on this occasion, consisted of Captain Sabine, Messrs. Fisher, Nias, Reid, and Sergeant McMahon, of the marines, Sergeant Martin, of the artillery, and three seamen and two marines belonging to both ships, making a total of twelve, including myself. We were supplied with provisions for three weeks, according to the daily proportion of one pound of biscuit, two thirds of a pound of preserved meat, one ounce of salep powder, one ounce of sugar, and half a pint of spirits for each man. Two tents, of the kind called in the army horsemen's tents, were made of blankets, with two boarding-pikes fixed across at each end, and a ridge-rope along the top, which, with stones laid upon the foot of the blankets, made a very comfortable and portable shelter. These tents, with the whole of the provisions, together with a conjuror or cooking apparatus, and a small quantity of wood for fuel, amounting on the whole to eight hundred pounds, were carried upon a strong but light cart constructed for the purpose: this method having been decided on as the most convenient for the country in which we were about to travel.
Each officer and man was also furnished with a blanket made into a bag, with a drawing-string at each end, a pair of spare shoes, and stockings, a flannel shirt, and a cap to sleep in. The clothing and blankets were carried on our backs in knapsacks, those of the officers weighing from seventeen to twenty-four pounds each, and one between every two men weighing twenty-four pounds, to be carried for half a day alternately.
At five P.M. we left the ships, accompanied by a large party of officers and men from each, who were desirous of relieving us from the weight of our knapsacks for an hour or two; and, having been cheered by the ships on our departure, we went round the head of the harbour, and ascended the northeast hill, our companions left us at eight P.M., and we proceeded across a level plain almost entirely covered with snow, which, however, was so hard as to make the travelling very good; and the cart was dragged along without difficulty. At eleven P.M. we came to three remarkable round hills; composed entirely of sand and masses of sandstone, and halted to dine close to the northward of them. Those parts of the land which were clear of snow appeared to be more productive than those in the immediate neighbourhood of Winter Harbour, the dwarf-willow, sorrel, and poppy being more abundant, and the moss more luxuriant; we, could not, however, collect a sufficient quantity of the slender wood of the willow, in a dry state, for the purpose of dissolving snow for water, and were therefore obliged to use a part of the fuel which we had provided for that purpose. The thermometer stood at 31° at midnight.
Having set off soon after midnight, at the distance of half a mile in a N.b.E. direction we came to a piece of frozen water, half a mile in length and two hundred yards wide, situated on the south side of the range of hills which bound the prospect from Winter Harbour. The ice on the surface of this lake or pond was in some parts nearly dissolved, and in all too soft to allow us to cross it. We halted at half past six A.M., and pitched the tents on the hardest ground we could find, but it became quite swampy in the course of the day. We killed seven ptarmigan, and saw two plovers and two deer, being the first we had met with this season, with a fawn so small as to leave no doubt of its having been dropped since the arrival of the female upon the island. They were so wild as not to allow us to approach them within a quarter of a mile. The day was fine, with light and variable airs; the thermometer stood at 34° in the shade at seven A.M., at which time it was unfortunately broken.
We again set forward at two A.M. on the 3d, crossing one or two ravines, running E.N.E. and W.S.W., in which there was a large collection of snow, but as yet no appearance of water in the bottom of them. Captain Sabine and myself, being considerably ahead of the rest of the party, had sat down to wait for them, when a fine reindeer came trotting up, and played round us for a quarter of an hour, within thirty yards. We had no gun, nor do I know that we should have killed it if we had, there being already as much weight upon the cart as the men could well drag, and having no fuel to spare for cooking; besides, we felt it would have been but an ill return for the confidence which he seemed willing to place in us. On hearing our people talking on the opposite side of the ravine, the deer immediately crossed over, and went directly up to them, with very little caution; and they being less scrupulous than we were, one or two shots were immediately fired at him, but without effect; on which he again crossed over to where we were sitting, approaching us nearer than before. As soon as we rose up and walked on, he accompanied us like a dog, sometimes trotting ahead of us, and then returning within forty or fifty yards. When we halted, at six A.M., to make the usual observations, he remained by us till the rest of the party came up, and then trotted off. The reindeer is by no means a graceful animal; its high shoulders, and an awkward stoop in its head, giving it rather a deformed appearance. Our new acquaintance had no horns; he was of a brownish colour, with a black saddle, a broad black rim round the eyes, and very white about the tail. We observed that, whenever he was about to set off, he made a sort of playful gambol, by rearing on his hind legs.
At two o'clock on the morning of the 4th we continued our journey to the northward, over the same snowy and level plain as before, than which it is impossible to conceive anything more dreary and uninteresting. It frequently happened that, for an hour together, not a single spot of uncovered ground could be seen. The breeze freshened up to a gale from the S.S.E. as we proceeded, and the men, as if determined not to forget that they were sailors, set a large blanket upon the cart as a sail, which, upon the present level ground, was found to be of material assistance. The snow was deep and rather soft, which made the travelling heavy; and as the wind produced a good deal of snowdrift, most of the bare patches of ground became covered up, so that, when our time for halting had arrived, not a piece of ground could be seen on which to pitch the tents. Captain Sabine and myself went forward to look out for a spot, and at length were fortunate to meet with one, on which there was just room for our little encampment. It was with some difficulty, by building a wall with stones and our knapsacks, that we prevented its being covered with snow before the party came up, which they did at half past seven A.M., having travelled ten miles in a N.W.b.N. direction.
By the time we had secured the tents the wind blew hard, with a continued fall, as well as drift of snow, so that we could not but consider ourselves fortunate in having met with a spot of ground in good time. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, we found the tents afford us very comfortable and sufficient shelter, the cart being tilted up to windward of them, so as to break up some measure the violence of the wind; and, when wrapped up, or, rather, enclosed in our blanket bags, we were generally quite warm enough to enjoy the most sound and refreshing repose.
It continued to blow and snow till seven P.M., when the wind having veered to the S.W., and become more moderate, we struck the tents; and having now placed the men's knapsacks on the cart, to enable them to drag with greater facility, we proceeded on our journey to the northward. We passed a narrow but deep ravine lying across our course, in some parts of which the snow reached nearly to a level with the banks, forming a kind of bridges or causeways, on one of which we crossed without difficulty. The men had hoisted one sail upon the cart at first setting off; but the wind being now, as they expressed it, "on the larboard quarter," a second blanket was rigged as a mainsail, to their great amusement as well as relief.
After crossing a second ravine, on the north side of which the ground rose considerably, we entered upon another snowy plain, where there was nothing to be seen in any direction but snow and sky. To make it the more dreary, a thick fog came on as the night advanced; and as this prevented our taking any mark more than fifty or a hundred yards ahead, we had to place the compass, by which we were now entirely travelling, upon the ground every five minutes; and as it traversed with great sluggishness, we made a very crooked and uncertain course. For more than two hours we did not pass a single spot of uncovered ground, nor even a stone projecting above the snow.
The fog continued too thick to allow us to move till six A.M., at which time we resumed our journey. There was a broad and distant haze-bow of very white and dazzling light directly opposite the sun. The weather being still too foggy to see more than a quarter of a mile ahead, it was with considerable difficulty that we could proceed on a tolerably straight course. To effect this, it was necessary to determine the point on which we were walking by the bearing of the sun, which was still visible, and the apparent time, and then to take a mark ahead by which our course was to be directed. From the thickness of the weather, however, it was necessary to repeat this operation every five or ten minutes, which, together with the uniform whiteness and intense glare of the snow, became so extremely painful to the eyes, that Mr. Fisher and myself, who went ahead as guides, soon became affected with snow blindness, and the headmost man at the cart, whose business it was constantly to watch our motions, began to suffer in a similar manner from the same cause.
It may, perhaps, be conceived, then, under these circumstances, how pleasing was the relief afforded by our seeing, at eight A.M., a stripe of black or uncovered land ahead, which proved to be the bank of a ravine fifty or sixty feet deep and three hundred yards wide, on the north side of which we pitched the tents, having made good only one mile and a half, the snow being so soft and deep as to make it difficult to drag the cart through it.
The latitude observed here was 75° 22' 43", and the longitude, by the chronometer, 111° 14' 26"; in which situation a cylinder of tin, containing an account of our visit, was deposited under a pile of stones eight feet high and seven feet broad at the base.
The wind increased to a fresh breeze from the S.S.E. on the 6th, with a sharp frost, making it very cold in the tents, which we therefore struck at four A.M., and at the distance of half a mile came to the summit of a hill overlooking what appeared to be a frozen sea before us. We then descended the hill, with the intention of pushing forward to determine whether the white and level space before us was the sea or not. We had not proceeded far, however, when the clouds began to gather heavily in the southeast, and shortly after snow and sleet began to fall. Being unwilling, therefore, to allow the men's clothes to be wet when there was no absolute occasion for it, we halted on a piece of dry ground, and, having built a wall six feet high to shelter us from the weather, pitched the tents very comfortably under the lee of it till the weather should allow us to proceed.
At six P.M., the wind having gradually got round to the N.N.E., and the weather being more clear and cold, I set out, accompanied by Messrs. Nias and Reid, and a quartermaster of the Griper, with the intention of examining the situation and appearance of the sea to the northward; leaving the rest of the party, several of whom were suffering from snow-blindness, though otherwise in good health, to remain quietly in the tents till our return. Having travelled N.N.W. a mile and a half through much deep snow, of which a good deal had fallen during the day, we came to some ice thrown up on the beach, having cracks in it parallel to the line of the shore, which we immediately recognised to be of the same kind as those to which we had so long been accustomed in Winter Harbour, and which are occasioned by the rise and fall of the tide. We turned to the westward along the beach, and at the distance of two miles ascended a point of land in that direction, from whence we had a commanding view of the objects around us. As soon as we had gained the summit of this point, which is about eighty feet above the sea, we had an additional confirmation that it was the sea which we had now reached, the ice being thrown upon the beach under the point, and as far as we could see to the westward, in large, high, irregular masses, exactly similar to those which had so often afforded us anchorage and shelter upon the southern shores of the island. Being desirous, however, of leaving nothing uncertain respecting it, we walked out a few hundred yards upon the ice, and began with a boarding-pike and our knives, which were all the tools we had, to dig a hole in it, in order to taste the water beneath. After nearly two hours' labour, we could only get down as many feet, the ice being very hard, brittle, and transparent; more so, as we imagined, than salt-water ice usually is, which made us the more desirous to get through it. I therefore determined to return to our people, and to remove our encampment hither, for the purpose of completing the hole through the ice with all our hands, while we were obtaining the necessary observations on shore.
On our return to the tents, we dined, and rested till one o'clock on the morning of the 7th, when we set out for the point, at which we did not arrive till half past four, the snow being here so deep as to make the cart an improper, and, indeed, almost impracticable mode of conveying our baggage. It froze all day in the shade, with a fresh breeze from the north; and, though the tents were pitched under the lee of the grounded ice upon the beach, we found it extremely cold; all the pools of water were frozen hard during the night, and, some of our canteens burst from the same cause. The people were allowed to rest after their supper till four P.M., and were then set to work upon the ice and in building a monument on the top of the Point.
We dined at midnight; and at half past one A.M. on the 8th struck the tents, and drew the cart to the higher part of the Point, where we occupied two hours in completing our monument, which is of a conical form, twelve feet broad at the base, and as many in height. Within it were deposited a tin cylinder, containing an account of the party who had left it, and one or two silver and copper English coins. This monument may be seen at several miles' distance from the sea or land side; and, as great pains were taken by Mr. Fisher in constructing it, it may probably last for a long period of years.
Having now satisfactorily determined the extent of Melville Island to the northward upon this meridian, which corresponds very nearly with that of Winter Harbour, and finished all the requisite observations, I proposed pursuing our journey towards the Blue Hills, which were still in sight at the distance of several leagues to the westward; and, having advanced to the southwest as long as circumstances should appear to make it interesting or practicable, to return by a circuitous route to the ships. We travelled in a W.½S. direction, in order to keep on a ridge along the coast, which afforded the only tolerable walking, the snow being very deep on the lower parts of the land. We halted at half past seven A.M., on a fine sandy ground, which gave us the softest, as well as the driest bed which we had yet experienced on our journey, and which was situated close to a little hillock of earth and moss, so full of the burrows of hares as to resemble a warren. We tried to smoke them out by burning port-fire, but none appeared; and it is remarkable, that though we constantly met with the dung of these animals, especially in this place, where it occurred very abundantly, we never saw one of them during the journey. As soon as we had halted, we found that Mr. Reid's knapsack had dropped off the cart; he had therefore to go back to look for it, and did not return till eleven o'clock, being so much affected by snow-blindness as to be scarcely able to see his way to the tents. This circumstance was, sufficient to show the advantage, and even the necessity, of travelling entirely by night under these circumstances, the intense glare of light from the snow during the day inevitably producing this painful irritation in the eyes.
At a quarter past five P.M. we resumed our journey to the southwest, and soon after crossed a snowy plain a mile and a quarter in breadth, extending to the sea to the north, and as far as the eye could reach to the south. Having travelled S.W.b.W. seven miles, we halted, at half an hour before midnight, at the distance of three or four miles from the sea, the weather being very clear and fine, with a moderate breeze from the S.S.W.
Having rested after our dinner till half past two A.M., we set out again to the southwest, making, however, a very crooked course on account of the irregularity of the ground. In the first quarter of a mile we passed the first running stream which we had seen this season, and this was but a small one, from six to twelve inches deep. The ground, as well as the pools of water, was frozen hard during the last night, but thawed during the day, which made travelling worse and worse, as the sun acquired power. We passed a few horns of deer, killed three ptarmigans, and saw a pair of ducks. The plumage of the cock grouse was still quite white, except near the tip of the tail, where the feathers were of a fine glossy black; but in every hen which we had lately killed, a very perceptible alteration was apparent, even from day to day, and their plumage had now nearly assumed that speckled colour which, from its resemblance to that of the ground, is so admirably adapted to preserve them from being seen at the season of their incubation. We found it difficult, in general, to get near the hens, which were very wild; but the male birds were at all times stupidly tame.
At half past two A.M. on the 10th we struck the tents, and proceeded to the S.W., the wind having got round to the S.E., with continued snow. At the distance of two miles we entered upon a level plain three miles wide, which, with the exception of a patch here and there, was entirely covered with snow. The uncovered parts of this plain were so wet as to be almost impassable for the cart; and we were now as desirous of keeping on the snow as, at the beginning of our journey from Winter Harbour, we had been anxious to avoid it.
The weather continued hazy, with snow occasionally, but our clothes dried in the sun towards noon; soon after which, however, the snow became more thick and constant, so that we could scarcely see a hundred yards around the tents. We waited for some time in hope of the weather clearing, and then, at a quarter past five, continued our journey; as we were under the necessity, however, of directing our course entirely by compass, which is here a very uncertain and deceitful guide, we made but a slow and tedious progress. The wind freshened up to a gale from the S.E. soon after we had set out, which made it impossible for us any longer to pursue our journey, and we began to look out for a spot on which the tents could be pitched, so as to afford us a dry flooring, if not shelter, during the gale. Having crossed three ravines within a mile and a quarter, we at length came to a very deep one, which was nearly perpendicular on each side, with the snow overhanging in some parts, so as to make it dangerous to go near the edge of the bank. We were at length fortunate in finding a narrow, sloping ridge of snow, leading down to the bottom of the ravine; and having descended this with some difficulty, we found such good shelter as to determine me to halt here for the night, which now became more and more inclement.
The wind gradually veered to the N.N.W. in the morning, and the weather having cleared up about half past four, we struck the tents and set off to the southward. The south bank of the ravine being nearly as steep, and much higher than the other, it was with considerable labour and difficulty that we were able to get the cart up it, in which, however, we succeeded by six o'clock, when we found that we were travelling on much higher ground than before, overlooking that which we had left the preceding evening. Having proceeded four miles over a level country, with much snow upon it, we suddenly and unexpectedly came in sight of the sea or a lake, at the distance of two or three miles before us, just appearing between two high and steep hills, which terminated a deep and broad ravine. We hastened forward to the point of the nearest hill, from whence the prospect was extremely grand and picturesque. We were looking down nearly perpendicular from a height of eight or nine hundred feet, on an extensive plain of ice, of which, to the westward, we could perceive no termination for a distance of five or six leagues, the prospect to the eastward being obstructed by other hills. A thick mist or vapour was at times carried rapidly along by the wind over this ice, to which it was entirely confined, occasionally covering the top of the island with a dense cloud. The impression made upon our minds at the time was, that it was a frozen lake on which we were now looking; but this conjecture, as it afterward appeared, proved erroneous. The ravine at which we had arrived discharges its waters into a snug cove two or three miles deep, at the head of which we now proposed resting, if a place could be found at which our descent into the ravine could be effected. The sides of the ravine, which were very steep, were covered with innumerable blocks, of sandstone of every size and shape, over which alone any road could be found to the cove below. It was necessary, therefore, to make the attempt, but it was impossible for the best built carriage to travel long on such a road; and when we had half descended the bank, which led into the ravine on its north side, the axle-tree broke short in the middle. The baggage was therefore taken off and carried down to the bottom, where the tents were pitched at eleven A.M., the wheels being left where the cart broke down, as sound as at first.
The latitude observed here was 75° 12' 50", the longitude, by chronometer, 111° 50' 05", and the variation of the magnetic needle 125° 12' 22" easterly. The wind being fresh from the W.N.W., and the weather being cold and raw, we built a wall to the windward of the tents, as a substitute for the usual shelter afforded by the cart; after supper, the people, being a good deal fatigued, were allowed to rest till near midnight, and then employed in arranging the baggage so as to carry it on our shoulders for the rest of the journey. The wood which composed the light framework of the cart being now disposable as fuel, we were glad to make use of it in cooking a few ptarmigan, which afforded us another sumptuous meal. It is not perhaps, easy for those who have never experienced it, to imagine how great a luxury anything warm in this way becomes, after living entirely upon cold provisions for some time in this rigid climate. This change was occasionally the more pleasant to us, from the circumstance of the preserved meats, on which we principally lived, being generally at this time hard frozen when taken out of the canisters.
Having finished our arrangements with respect to the baggage, which made it necessary that each of the men should carry between sixty and seventy pounds, and the officers from forty to fifty, we struck the tents at half past two on the morning of the 12th, and proceeded along the eastern shore of the cove, towards a point which forms the entrance on that side.
We arrived at the point at five o'clock, and as we could now perceive that the lake or gulf extended a considerable distance to the eastward as well as to the westward, and that it would require a long time to go round in the former direction, I determined to cross it on the ice; and as the distance to the opposite shore seemed too great for one journey, the snow being soft upon the ice, first to visit the island, and, having rested there, to proceed to the southward. Having walked five miles in a S.S.W. direction, we landed at seven A.M., near the southeast part of the island. The wind was fresh from the westward, and the tents were pitched near the beach, under the lee of the high part of the island.
We rested till six P.M., and then set off across the ice for a point to the E.S.E. The snow had now become so soft after the heat of the day, that, loaded as we were, we often sunk nearly up to the knees, which made travelling very laborious, and we were, therefore, not sorry to get on shore by half past eight, having walked, by our account, three miles and a half.
The spot on which we encamped appeared so favourable for obtaining specimens of the different animals which frequent this island, that I determined to remain here one day for the purpose of sporting and examining its natural productions.
The sportsmen went out early in the morning, and soon after met with a musk-ox feeding on a spot of luxuriant pasture-ground, covered with the dung of these animals as well as of deer. They fired at him from a considerable distance without wounding him, and he set off at a very quick pace over the hills. The musk-ox has the appearance of a very ill-proportioned little animal, its hair being so long as to make its feet appear only two or three inches in length; they seem, indeed, to be treading upon it at every step, and the individual in question actually did so in some instances, as the hair was found in several of the foot-tracks. When disturbed and hunted, they frequently tore up the ground with their horns, and turned round occasionally to look at their pursuers, but they never attempted to attack any of them. Our gentlemen also met with a herd of twelve deer, three only of which had horns, and they were much the largest of the herd, and constantly drove the others away when they attempted to stop. The birds seen by our people were many brent-geese and ptarmigans, several golden plovers, one or two "boatswains," and abundance of snow-buntings. One or two mice were caught; like several others we had seen, these were turning brown about the belly and head, and the back was of a dark gray colour. In every part of the island over which we travelled, the holes and tracks of these little animals were occasionally seen; one of them, which Sergeant Martin ran after, finding no hole near and that he could not escape, set himself against a stone, as if endeavouring to defend himself, and bit the sergeant's finger when he took hold of him.
On a point of land at the distance of three quarters of a mile to the W.b.S. of the tents, and within a hundred yards of the sea, the remains of six Esquimaux huts were discovered; they consisted of rude circles, about six feet in diameter, constructed irregularly of stones of all sizes and shapes, and raised to the height of two feet from the ground: they were paved with large slabs of white schistose sandstone, which is here abundant; the moss had spread over this floor, and appeared to be the growth of three or four years. In each of the huts, on one side, was a small separate compartment forming a recess, projecting outward, which had probably been their store-room; and at a few feet from one of the huts was a smaller circle of stones, which had composed the fireplace, the mark of fire being still perceptible upon them.
The day was fine and clear, with a moderate wind from the westward till four P.M., when it died away, and was shortly after succeeded by a breeze from the southward, with a fall of snow. We now travelled due south, with the intention of getting sight of the Table Hills, and returning by that route to the ships, as there appeared to be nothing more within our reach of sufficient interest to detain us any longer from them. At eight P.M., finding that the people's clothes were becoming wet through by the sleet which fell, we halted and pitched the tents.
Early on the morning of the 14th the wind veered to the westward, and the weather became gradually more clear; we therefore continued our journey to the southward, and came in sight of the Table Hills bearing S.E. of us, and at eight A.M. pitched the tents on some dry ground on the bank of a ravine. We moved on towards the Table Hills at five P.M., and crossed several ravines without much water in them, running generally to the northeastward. We halted between the Table Hills at ten o'clock, having travelled eight miles over very swampy ground, and with the snow up to our knees in some of the hollows.