ADYENTUEES IN THE ICE; A COMPREHENSIVE SUMMARY OF g^rttk &^\oxn\m, ^mokx^t mxiH gibfontur^. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/adventuresinicecOOtillrich Cojiied, by permission of Messrs. Henry Graves ^ Co., rom the Print published in 1853. CAPTAIN PENNY. ADVENTURES IN THE lOE: A COMPREHENSIVE SUMMARY OF INCLUDING EXPERIENCES OF CAPTAIN PENNY, THE VETERAN WHALER, NOW FIRST PUBLISHED, JOHN TILLOTSON, co^. \ ^^o - i^^l ^ AUTHOR OF " STORIES OF THE WARS," " UNTITLED NOBILITY," ETC. ^it^ fortmts anh oihtx lllustraticns. LONDON: JAMES HOGG & SON, YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN. ^0 iV< xo LONDON : LEVEY AND CO., PRINTERS, GREAT NEW STREET, FETTER LANE, E.G. JBancsoft UbXttCr PREFACE. J^ ExPLOEATiON, Discovery, and Adventure are subjects ^ always interesting to those who can appreciate what is ^ ■ heroic and self-denying in their fellow-men. Only -4^ ignoble natures can remain unmoved by acts of noble ^^^ enterprise and generous daring. Nowhere have these ^^ qualities been more conspicuous than amid the in- k clemency of the Arctic Regions. The search for a North-west Passage to the Indies led our seamen to ^'^^s^ penetrate into the frozen deep, and exposed them to ' the horrors of utter desolation, cruel privation, and sometimes lingering death. The sufferings endured have called forth all the best feelings of the heart, and have exercised the noble power of endurance. The design of this book is to relate some of the most interesting narratives of Adventure in the Ice. The stories of the Norsemen and of explorers before the time of John Cabot are omitted, as the particulars are less authentic than are those subsequent to that period. Throughout the work there is a chronological sequence observed, though this is not strictly main- tained in some of the later voyages, when two or three Arctic expeditions were being conducted at the same time. The authorities consulted in the preparation of the vi Preface- book have been exceedingly numerous. They incUide the works of Sir John Eichardson, Dr. Hae, Parry, Belcher, Beechey, Eoss, Hayes, Scoresby, McClintock, Back, Lyons, Dr. Kane, and several others. The effort has been to condense the contents of many volumes into one. The writer takes this opportunity of acknowledging his indebtedness to various minor sources of information. To Captain William Penny, the " Veteran A\Tialer," whose name is so honourably associated with the search for Sir John Franklin, the writer desires to express his gratitude for assistance received during the progress of this book, and in revising the work for the press. A large amount of highly interesting information on the Whale-Fishery — never before pub- lished — has been inserted jfrom Captain Penny's logs, and the writer can only desire that the reader may derive as much pleasure from its perusal as he him- self has had in transcribing and condensing the ma- terial. Arctic exploration is a subject of present in- terest ; it is not the story of the past only : two expe- ditions have been recently in the Arctic waters, one of them is still there, and every day we expect to hear fresh news of its progress, or of the hindrances which oppose it. Under these circumstances, the stories of the older adventurers will be read with revived inter- est, and renewed hopes aroused of the final discovery of an available North-west Passage. J. T. January 1869. » CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Feoh John Cabot to Thomas Hudson. 1497— 1C12. PAGE Columbus — The voyage of Cabot in search of the North- west Passage to India — Voyage of Sebastian Cabot, and discovery of Newfoundland — The Merchant Adventurers — Jacques Cartier — Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chan- celor — Stephen Burroughs — Martin Frobisher — A vision of gold — Sir Humphrey Gilbert — John Davis — The Land of Desolation — Trading with Esquimaux — Brave work — The Dutchmen — Barentz — A fight with walruses — Adven- tures mth bears — Frost-bound — A long winter's night — George Weymouth — Henry Hudson — A mutinous crew — Adrift 13 CHAPTER II. Feom Thomas Hudson to John Ross. 1612—1818. Hababuk Prickett explains — The reward of virtue — Sir Thomas Button — Baffin — A cold journey — Baffin's Bay or Sea — Coming to blows — An old claim revived — Greenland viii Contents, PAQB — The Daueg and Norwegians— Christian IV. of Denmark — A Danish expedition — Admiral Gotske Lindenan — Polite behaviour to savages, and what came of it — Captain Munck — Failure — A broken heart — A dismal winter at Spitzbergen — Death preferable to an Arctic winter — Ed- ward Pelliam — Seven Sleepers — Captain John Knight — Hudson's -Bay territory — Troublesome outsiders — Eeward for the discovery of the North-west Passage — Over land — Over ice — Young Nelson — Icebergs — Captain Cook — Wilkes — Scoresby — Russian explorers — Behring's Strait . 47 CHAPTER III. CArTAiN Penny and the Whale -Fisheky. Encouragements given to the whale-fishery — The tw^ent}'- shilling bounty — Whales — Animalculae — Whalers — De- scription of their build — The " coigne of vantage" — The crow's-nest — Scoresby's story — Captain Penny — A long spell with the glass — The use of a wife — The crew and officers of a whaler — Whales above and under water — Ma- ternal afiection — Sliarks — A hooded seal — A Polar fair — After the whales — An upset — Keeping a promise — A sharp fight — Over the ice — A cask of strong ale — Out on adventure — A shoal of whales — A strange scene — Lost by True Love — Admiralty Inlet — Awful weather — Ice — A close shave — " Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold !" — Sacks of coal — A great regard for powder — An avalanche with Jack at the head of it — Dirty weather — Direful losses — A small accident and dar- ing voyage — Running through the ice — Caught — Charity *' for a consideration" — Another adventure — "The ice closed on the fated ship" 79 CHAPTER IV. Ross, Paery, Buchanan, Feanklin. 1818. Revival of Arctic expeditions — The ice-drift — The sai- lor clergyman — Arguments for a North-west Passage — An Contents. ix PAGE expedition fitted out — John Eoss — Edward Parry — David Buchan — John Franklin — Dealings with the Esquimaux — John Sacheuse — A hall — Friendly relations, hut rather too free to he pleasant — The Croker Mountains — A beau- tiful land — A summer day in the Arctic regions . , 129 CHAPTEE Y. Franklin and the Coppermine Eiver. 1810—1827. Narrow escape of shipwreck — Seven hundred miles of river-transit — A faithful servant — Fort Chipewyan — The start— Akaitcho — Wintering in a wooden house — Frozen and sunburnt in a day — A journey beset with difficulties — Fort Enterprise — Unmanageable Indians — A famished band — Dr. Eichardson — Hungry men — A dark suspicion — Meat — Michel suspected — A stray shot — Tripe -de-roche — A murderer's doom — Safety at last — Another voyage — The Eocky Mountains — The Great Bear Eiver — Christmas-day in the snow — Esquimaux at the Mackenzie Eiver — Safety again 142 CHAPTEE YI. Parry. 1819—1827. Parry in Lancaster Sound — AYhite bears — Anecdotes — Discovery of the non-existence of the Croker Mountains — ^Irregularity of the compass — A reward well won — Mel- ville Island — Along wintry evening — Starting a newspaper — The drama in the Arctic regions — ^Walks in the snow — A visit from the Esquimaux — Fox's Channel — Snow houses, and how to build them — Glorious summer — Home and out again — A masquerade — Abandonment of the Fury — Expedition to Spitzbergen — Night- travelling — Slow work — Difficulties and privations — Nearing the Pole — The re- turn of the explorers l.'ST Contents, CHAPTER VII. Captain Beechey. 1826. PAGE The Blossom sent out to meet Franklin — A visit from Esquimaux — "Baidars" — Esquimaux making charts — The dogs of the Esquimaux — Anecdotes — Aurora borealis . 187 CHAPTER VIII. Captain John Ross. 1829—1883. The golden bait withdrawn — Sir Felix Booth — Awful magnificence of Arctic scenery — Taking possession in the king's name — Journeyings in the ice — Sawing away— Dis- covery of the magnetic pole — Over the ice to Fury Strait — Miserable condition of the explorers suddenly relieved — News from home — Ross hears that he has been dead these two years 197 CHAPTER IX. Captain Back and the Great Fish River. 1833—1885. In search of Ross — Difficulties in procuring assistance — Lakes, streams, rivers — The Grand Rapids — Cumber- land House — The Great Slave Lake — Sufferings and pri- vations — The plague of insect life — Good news — A dreary journey — An ice-storm 207 CHAPTER X. The Last Voyage or Sir John Franklin. 1845. The expedition under Sir John Franklin — The Erehiis and Terror — Oflf the Whale-Fish Islands — Captain Dannett Contents. xi PAGE has an invitation to dinner — The land of darkness and "the shadow of death" — No news — Home alarms — The discovery-ships wintering — Three graves — Abandonment of the vessels — A march across the ice — Esquimaux stories 214 CHAPTEE XI. The Seaechees for Feanklin. Eichardson and Eae — Thomas Moore — Captain Kellett — Eobert Sheddon — Sir James Clarke Eoss and Captain Bond — Penny and Goodsir — The Enterprise and Investi- gator — Captain Austin and Captain Penny — Penny disco- vers the remains of the explorers in Beechey Island — Seals and bears — A narrow escax^e — an uninvited visitor — Polynia — How to find Franklin — Bellot's unfortunate end — Aban- donment of the Investigator — Lieutenant Pirn — The ship Resolute — Sir Edward Belcher's expedition — Dr. Eae — Supposed fate of Franklin — Letter to the Admiralty — Dr. Kane's exploration — Humboldt's Glacier — Nigh unto death — A wife's appeal — Government courtesy — A memorial — The little Fox — McClintock's story, and the end of the search — Arctic expeditions now out 221 APPENDIX. Eenoolooapik, the fiest Esquimaux who visited this COUNTEY : AN ACCOUNT OF HIS YlSIT, AND EeTURN TO HIS Aectic Home 277 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. Captain William Penny .... Frontispiece Sir John Franklin, K.C.B ^>rt/7e 142 Dr. Elisha Kent Kane 242 Dr. Isaac I. Hayes 252 Esquimaux Dog Polar Bear . , ' Arctic Fox ....... Eazor-bill ....... Discoyery-Yessel in the Ice, off Spitzbergen Aspect of the Polar Sea on the American Coast The Great Auk Sailors setting Fox- traps .... White Bear attacking a Seal The " Fury" abandoned in Prince Regent's Inlet Dragging Boats over the Ice An Esquimaux snaring a Seal Dr. Kane and his Companions in the Arctic Re GIONS ....... In the Arctic Seas 31 35 39 46 40 119 141 159 163 179 183 230 245 259 ADYENTUKES IN THE ICE. CHAPTEH I. FROM CABOT TO HUDSON, (a.d. 1497-a.d. 1612.) Columbus — The voyage of Cabot in search of the North-west Passage to India — Voyage of Sebastian Cabot, and disco- very of Newfoundland — The Merchant Adventurers — Jacques Cartier — Sir Hugh Willoughby and Pdchard Chancelor — Stephen Burroughs — Martin Frobisher — A vision of gold — Sir Humphrey Gilbert — John Davis — The Land of Desola- tion — Trading with Esquimaux — Brave work — The Dutcli- men — Barentz — A fight with walruses — Adventures with bears — Frost-bound — A long winter's night — George Wey- mouth — Henry Hudson — A mutinous crew — Adrift. Modern geographical discovery dates from tlie fif- teeiitli century. Before that time, the opinions maintained with regard to the shape of the earth, and the distribution of land and water, were vague and often absurd. The world was supposed to be a plane surface, supported by pillars, with the hea- vens extended as a tent above it. The idea of the antipodes was ridiculed and condemned by the learned as being both foolish and impious; and 14 The Discovery of Arnerica, when Christopher Columbus stood before the coun- cil of Salamanca^ and proved the spherical form of our earthy he was silenced by quotations from the fathers and by the repetition of extravagant tradi- tions. But the Genoese sailor was undaunted ; fully convinced that an undiscovered continent lay be- yond the western waters, in the face of every obstacle that could be offered^ he sailed^ and even with a disaffected crew added a new world to Leon and Castile. The discovery of America aroused a strong desire for voyages in search of new lands, and atten- tion was especially devoted to the north. Previous to the great work of his life^ Columbus himself had made a voyage in the northern seas^ and had visited Iceland about the year 1467, starting from Bristol. There, it is supposed, dwelt a merchant and seafaring man named Giovanni Gabota, much better known to us as John Cabot. This man was a good friend to Columbus, and encouraged him in his enterprise. It happened then, as it happens now, that great men, and especially those high in office, delayed to make use of opportunities when they were within their reach, and had to regret their loss when the loss was irreparable. At one time the services of Columbus might readily have been secured to England, but he met with no en- couragement here, and Spain reaped the harvest of his toil. The addition of the newly discovered country, America, to Spain, the vague and exagger- ated stories of wealth to be had for the seeking, JoJm Cabot and the North-west Passage. 15 the tempting accounts of the Eastern Indies, — all made that most parsimonious of monarchs^ Henry the Seventh, anxious to gain much by invest- ing little. To John Cabot of Bristol, and his three sons, Henry the Seventh granted a patent of dis- covery, that is to say, he gave them royal liberty to sail into unknown seas_, and find out, if they could, unknown lands, or easier highways of gaining access to lands already known. John Cabot was a man of enterprise scarcely inferior to Columbus, and he was not content to " hug'' the coast, as was the practice of ordinary seamen. He was both ready and willing to sail in unknown waters ; and he had a theory of his own, that the marvellous lands of India might be reached more rapidly and securely by a North-west Passage than was possible by the ordinary route. His plan was to sail first north, and then due west ; and so far as he then knew, there were no obstacles to bar his progress. If there were land, it might be traversed or coasted ; if an ocean only, it could easily be crossed. On this new theory he set forth, and discovered, it is asserted, on good, if not conclu- sive evidence, the mainland of America before it was seen by Columbus. Be this as it may, he gave to maritime enterprise a new direction, and began those Arctic explorations which, though they have cost us dearly, are yet honourable to our indomit- able perseverance, and the persistency and courage of our seamen. Sebastian Cabot, adopting his father's theory ^ 16 Sebastian Cabot discovers Newfoundland, with regard to the North-west Passage, made a voyage some years later, on which he comforted himself that, but for a mutiny amongst his men, he should certainly have succeeded. The men were terrified at sight of the monstrous heaps of ice floating on the sea, and at the continuance of day- light, the sun never seeming to set, — so that Cabot was forced to return home. Other voyages were subsequently made by him; and while it is certain that he discovered Newfoundland, it is more than probable that he found the Straits afterwards known as Hudson's. Though thwarted in the great discovery of the passage so long sought, Cabot added considerably to geographical know- ledge, and brought home with him, as so many "first-fruits,'^ specimens of the products of the lands he visited. On one occasion he brought with him three wild men, clothed in the skins of beasts, speaking an unknown tongue, and feeding on raw flesh. For a long period after this, but little is heard of Cabot. Either neglected by the court, or weary of ploughing the waters, he seems to have settled dovrn to a quiet life in his native city ; but his patron, the Duke of Somerset, in the reign of Edward the Sixth, brought him again into notice, appointing him Grand Pilot of England, with a pension of one hundred and sixty- six pounds thirteen shillings and fourpence. It is frequently asserted that Sebastian Cabot discovered Canada, but we must accept this state- Jacques Car tier and Canada, 17 ment with caution ; as, if discovered by him, " it was comprised with the rest of the extensive line of coast he explored under the general name of Newfound- land, subsequently limited to the island so called/^ The French took a lively interest in these North- American explorations, and in 1525 the land was formally taken possession of in the name of the King of France. About ten years later, Jacques Cartier sailed into the St. Lawrence, and en- deavoured to find a North-west Passage. He was permitted to undertake the voyage through the interest of Admiral Chabot and Charles de Mony, Seignior of Meilleraie. The expedition con- sisted of three vessels well equipped and manned. He sailed from St. Malo in May, and reached the coast of America in July. As soon as he entered the Sciquenay River, he began to hold intercourse with the natives, and received on every side marks of kindness and good will. He was assured by them that the river, after passing through two or three grand lakes, fell into the open sea, and from this he concluded that he had made the desired discovery. No doubt what the natives and Cartier himself took to be the Pacific Ocean was Lake Superior, but it was more satisfactory to Cartier to announce that he had solved the pro- blem, and so claim the credit of having done what others had failed to do. Cartier spent the winter of 1535-6 in the St. Lawrence River, and there he was obliged to abandon one of his vessels. In 1843 the wreck of a vessel, corresponding in all particu- B 18 Merchant Adventurers. lars with what is known of Cartier's ship, was dis- covered, and it was generally regarded, but with no positive proof, as being the remains of the old French exploration. About the middle of the sixteenth century, an association was formed of ^^ Merchant Adven- turers," chiefly designed for northern explora- tion. They had a capital of six thousand pounds, in shares of twenty-five pounds each. Sebastian Cabot . was appointed manager. He was too old to take the command of an expedition, but his advice was invaluable; and if w^e smile at the rigid rules which he insisted upon as to "ribaldry and ungodly talk, dicing, carding, tabling, and other games,'^ we should remember the state of the times, and the probable insubordination of seamen in new and perilous scenes. There was one most excellent rule which Cabot laid down, and which it would be well if all explorers bore in mind, namely, that "the people of the countries which were visited were to be considered advisedly, and treated with gentleness and courtesy, without any disdain, laughter, or contempt." Fair means were to be used to induce some to come on board, where they were to be well clothed and kindly treated. But after this wholesome advice and cau- tion, there follows a suggestion which does no credit to Cabot, but was perhaps more extensively prac- tised than any other of his precepts. Speaking of a savage, he says, " If he be made drunk by your wdne or beer, you shall know the secret of his heart.^' The Expedition under Sir Hugh Willoughby, 19 Sir Hugh Willoughby was appointed to the chief command of the expedition^ with Richard Chancelor for his second officer ; and early on the morning of the 10th of May 1553^ the ships, three in number, dropped down to Greenwich, where the royal court was at that time held. The boy-king Edward was too ill to appear, but all the windows of the palace were crowded and the shore thronged. There were all the accustomed signs of rejoicing, — guns were fired, bells were rung, the people shouted, as the ships sailed off to Gravesend ; from thence, after being detained for a few days by con- trary winds, they proceeded on their voyage to seek adventures in the ice. The voyage was one of discovery, but for a while at least it might be supposed the discoverers could trust their charts ; they were mistaken when they did so, or else they misconstrued their meaning. Approaching the North Cape, they saw — and doubtless it filled many hearts wilh dismay — the Arctic Ocean, cold, cheerless, laden with snow and ice-floes and mountains of ice, stretching out before them to the Pole. A terrible storm fell on them, and lasted for several days; and the two principal vessels were separated, never more to meet. Willoughby, with the smallest vessel still near his own ship, discovered that he was fast quitting the shores of Norway, and enter- ing upon an unknown sea.' The soundings showed a depth of one hundred and sixty fathoms. There was no point at which a landing could be effected. 20 The Muscovy Company. Both his own ship and his consort were unfit for the voyage; what happened is almost unknown, except that a Russian tradition tells of the dis- covery of two ships drifting among the ice, with every one on board dead ! Chancelor, the second officer in command, was more fortunate. He reached Wardhuys, on the north-east shore of Norway, without accident or difficulty, waited seven days for Willoughby, and then set sail, proceeding to a place where, as he tells us, the sun never set and the day never ended. Thus they floated into the White Sea, at that time altogether unknown to Englishmen. Observing a small boat with human beings in it, they gave chase^ and, having secured them, treated them with ^^ gentle courtesy,^' so as to induce other natives to approach. It had the desired effect, and the voyagers learnt that they were at the extremity of a country called Muscovy. It was governed, so they ascertained, by an absolute monarch, who dwelt in Moscow, a city a great distance off; the czar, Ivan Vasilovitch, however, entertained them very handsomely, and desired to open a commercial intercourse with England. Thus encouraged, the " Merchant Adventurers" assumed the title of the " Muscovy Company." The success of Eichard Chancelor was very satisfactory to the merchants, but he had not dis- covered the new way to the Indies; and other expeditions had to be undertaken, partly to carry out this object, and partly to search for Sir Henry Searching for Willoughby, 21 Willoughby. A small vessel, called the Search- thrifty was fitted out, and intrusted to Stephen Burroughs, who had served as master on board Chancelor^s ship. Sebastian Cabot paid the new captain a visit when his vessel lay at Gravesend, and invited him to a splendid banquet, which was also attended by some of the most distinguished people of the day. The voyage added but little to Eng- lish knowledge of northern waters ; the ship reached Nova Zembla after the crew had endured many bitter hardships from the cold, and from thence it returned without further adventure. Two vessels that sailed in 1580, under Pet and Jackman, were enclosed in a bay of ice near Nova Zembla, and afterwards were frozen in and parted company, only making known their whereabouts to each other^ in the long wintry nights, by the beating of drums and firing of muskets. The adventures of Burroughs in the ice are curious, and the account of his voyage reads oddly enough in these days. A whale, for instance, was sighted, and filled the mariners with extreme terror. It was so near to them that they might have thrust their swords into it, but they were afraid to do so lest it should overturn the ship. Burroughs called his company together, and he says, '^ All of us shouted, and, with the cry that we made, he departed from us; there was as much above water of his back as the breadth of our pinnace; at his falling down, he made such a terrible noise in the water, that a man would justly have marvelled unless he 22 Martin Frohisher. had known the cause of it ; but^ God be thanked^ we were quickly delivered of him/^ Our seamen now would scarcely think of frightening off a whale by shouting at him ! Still intent on reaching India by way of the Arctic Seas^ either by the North-west Passage or by the North-east, but certainly by some route which should outwit the Spaniards and enrich the English, the way to India ought to be found, must be found, — so grave men argued ; and map-makers, without authority, marked the course distinctly on their charts. No man was more fully convinced that the passage sought was really discoverable than one Martin Frobisher, now a very familiar name, but three hundred years ago known to very few, and to those only as that of a troublesome man with a crotchet for discovery, who was ever on the look- out for an enterprising merchant ready to fit out an expedition and give him the command. As continued dropping wears away a stone, so the constant applications of Martin Frobisher at last triumphed ; and one June morning he sailed off gallantly, the commander of two barques; and Queen Elizabeth waved her handkerchief from a window of Greenwich Palace. The two vessels intrusted to Frobisher were christened the Gabriel and Michael, At sight of the ice-covered ocean, the men on board the Michael were faint-hearted, and stole off with the ship to England ; but Frobisher, in no degree dis- Description of Canoes, 23 concerted, pursued his way in his little barque, and was very nearly shipwrecked off the coast of Labrador. When, after a long voyage, including some minor discoveries, Trobisher returned home, he was very confident that he had been on the high- way to Cathay, and was quite sure that it was both practicable and easy. He brought with him a native whom he had captured, boat and all ! By the ringing of a bell he had induced the savage to come sufficiently near for him to seize hold of him and lift him, with his canoe, into the ship. He de- scribed the people as " like the Tartars, with long black hair, broad faces, and flat noses, tawny in colour, wearing seal-skins. The women are marked in the face with blue streaks down the cheeks and round the eyes.^^ With regard to the native boats, there is a very complete description quoted by La Peyrere, from a Danish version of Frobisher's Voyages. It ap- pears that the canoes or boats were made of whale- bone, about the thickness of a finger, covered over with skin, and sewn with sinew. In form they were not unlike a weaver's shuttle, and were between ten and twelve feet in length. There w^as an opening in the middle, about the size of a man round the flanks. The savage, sitting in the bottom of the boat, with the head and upper part of the body through the hole, had his legs stretched out to the prow. The natives wore dresses of seal-skin, impervious to water, with a large cape of the same material ; and every interstice, both 24 Frobisher makes another Voyage, in their clothes and in their boats, was carefully closed up, so as completely to shut out the water. With one oar^ bladed at both ends, they propelled the boat, holding the oar by the middle, and strik- ing the water first on the one side and then on the other. Such boats and such means of propulsion are now tolerably familiar to us, the light skiffs being employed by many solitary boaters on our rivers, — men who delight in paddling their own canoe. This description of the vessels would account for Frobisher capturing boat and man ; when he got hold of this ^^salvage,^^ the man could not readily detach himself from the boat, and so both fell a prey to the stout English sailor. Frobisher not only brought home a savage, and a good hope of future success, but he had also a number of black stones, which it was believed con- tained gold. The gold was difficult to find, and probably there were many doubters ; but the age was one of wonderful discovery, and a few yellow grains were enough to convince the majority that Frobisher had lighted on El Dorado. So a large sum was subscribed for a new expedition, and Frobisher, kissing her majesty's hand, again set sail, with her majesty's ship Aid, in addition to Michael and Gabriel. Touching at the Ork- neys, whose people he describes as ^^ very beastly and rude,^' he reached Friesland, and was soon amongst the icebergs. He started from England on the 27th of May 1577, and arrived at Frobisher's Straits on the 15th of July, Landing on some El Dorado. 25 islands at the mouth of the straits^ the explorers began their search for gold- stones, at first without any success; afterwards they discovered a large quan- tity, and were overjoyed. But they soon involved themselves in trouble with the natives, whom they seem to have forgotten to treat with that courtesy which Sebastian Cabot so strongly recommended. Frobisher describes the people as more ready to eat them than to give them any thing to eat. The savages had no liking for being grappled with, and treated to sundry blows and kicks and Cornish throws, and a continual warfare was kept up. In addition to the black stones which were to prove auriferous as the sands of Pactolus, Frobisher and his crew discovered ^^ a great dead fish, twelve yards long, with a horn two yards long growing out of his snout or nostrils.^^ The horn was brought home as a present to her majesty. They also learned from the savages how to harness and drive dogs in sledges. It was a matter of astonish- ment to the Englishmen to see the dogs attached by a single trace, but with no reins to the sledge, and to learn how useful they were as beasts of burden, and in running down and destroying bears and reindeer. A severe conflict with the savages was another adventure in Frobisher's second voyage. One of the seamen captured what he at first supposed to be an old woman, and afterwards regarded as the Evil One. Another captured a young woman with an infant in her arms : the child was wounded in the 26 Met a Incognita. struggle; and wlien the English surgeon applied salves to the hurt^ the mother plucked off all the bandages and licked the wound with her tongue, flatly refusing any other remedy. On the 23d of September^ Frobisher returned to England^ bringing with him two hundred tons of black stones^ or what were supposed to be precious ore; and while it was being tested by '^gentlemen of great art/^ the queen^ who saw in it a source of immense revenue^ had a third expedition fitted out, and planned a colony to be established on the new land, or, as she called it, *^Meta Incognita/^ Twelve ships besides the Aid, the Michael, and the Gabriel were to be got ready by the spring, and one hun- dred persons were to form the new settlement. Martin Frobisher received great commendation, the command of the expedition, a chain of gold, and very handsome promises. The object of the expedi- tion was a signal failure ; no settlement was formed, no gold was discovered ; and the bleak, barren shores of Mcta Incognita were gladly deserted. Thus ended Frobisher's third and last voyage in the Arctic Seas. The black stones yielded no treasure, but the golden dream was not over ; peo- ple still clung to the idea that gold was there to be found, and that the modern Ophir would be dis- covered in the realm of eternal snow. Frobisher did not lose credit at court; and he fought gal- lantly^ and won his knighthood honourably, against the Spanish Armada. Another brave man, whose name is familiar to Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyages. 27 us all, lent his aid to the finding of new lands in that age of discovery. Sir Humphrey Gilbert under- took two voyages at his own cost, shattered his fortune, and failed. But the queen had faith in the candour, honesty, and courage of the brave knight, and intrusted him with a large fleet of ships, and a commission for the discovery and taking possession of new lands. Her majesty seems to have had a foreboding that, when Gilbert took leave of her, she had seen him for the last time j his portrait was therefore painted before he went, and the queen sent him a jewel in token of her favour. The fleet consisted of five vessels, — the largest the Raleigh, 200 tons, and the smallest the Squit'- rely ten tons. The number of men was about two hundred and sixty. The expedition reached New- foundland without accident. St. John's was taken possession of, and a colony established. The American coast to the south was then explored, chiefly by Sir Humphrey himself, in his ten-ton frigate — a vessel, by the way, of which it has been said, that a member of a yacht-club would consider he had gained a club-room immortality, if he had ventured a run in her in the depth of winter from Corra to the Channel Islands. A dreadful storm fell on the exploring fleet ; of the five ships which sailed from England, but two remained — the Golden Hind, forty tons, and the- Squirrel. The season was closing, provisions running short, and Gilbert was compelled to attempt the return voyage. Two- 28 A brave Man's Ending. thirds of the way home, they had foul weather and terrible seas. Mr. Hayes, one of the principal actors and speculators in the voyage, narrates that on " Monday, the 9th of September, in the after- noon, the frigate was near cast away, but at that time recovered; and giving forth signs of joy, the general, sitting abaft with a book in his hand, cried out to us in the Hinde as often as we did approach within hearing, * We are as near to heaven by sea as by land,^ reiterating the same speech, well beseeming a soldier resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testify that he was. The same Monday night, about twelve o^ clock, or not long after, the frigate being ahead of us in the Golden Hinde, suddenly her lights were out, whereof, as it were in a mo- ment, we lost the sight ; and withal our watch cried, ' the general was cast away,^ which was too true." So died Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The melancholy fate of Sir Humphrey Gilbert cast a gloom over Arctic discovery. So much had been lost, so little had been gained, by the several expeditions sent out, and the finding of the North- west Passage seemed no nearer than when John Cabot made his first voyage into the desolate ice- burdened waters. From the old traditions of the Norsemen, it would appear that these ancient mariners knew far more of the region reaching to the North Pole than the skilled seamen of the Tudor age. Sailing to the north-west, our Tudor explorers came within sight of a headland called Frieslandj or Cape Farewell ; then to the west lay Knowledge of the Polar Regions. 29 the coast of Labrador, or^ as they called it^ Old Greenland ; theu, beyond, were bays and channels, widening into one broad strait ; and then there was a passage leading they knew not whither. Sailing to the north-east J they knew that they could skirt the shores of Norivay, conld sight the " huge and haggard shape Of that unknown North Cape, Whose shape is like a wedge." They knew that, coasting by Lapland, they came into a wide sea, and then, holding eastward, crossed the mouth of a river, and came upon a slip of land with two openings, one called Pefs Strait, and the other Burr oughts Strait; the land was Way- gut Island and Nova Zembla. Passing the straits, the voyagers entered on the sea of Kara; and beyond this, the river Ob, and table-lands of Tar- tar y ; beyond, incognita. There was no known passage to the Indies, either by the north-west or the north-east. Yet the idea of the passage being yet discovered was not abandoned. Perhaps the hour had not come ; perhaps the man had not come ; perhaps in a stout Devonshire man, Davis, the hour came, and with the hour the man. John Davis, an enterprising and determined seaman, was intrusted with two vessels in 1585 — the Sunshine and the Moonshine — with which he sailed from Dartmouth on a bright June day. "Within a month the expedition fell in with icebergs, many of them of gigantic size, and threatening their 30 John Davis and the Esquimaux. destruction. On several of these bergs Davis and some of his crew landed^ breaking off great pieces of ice, and converting them into water. One day they came within sight of a coast where the mountains looked bleak and uninviting, their base defended by rugged ice, their summits covered with snow. It was the south-western coast of Greenland ; but the voyagers, luiable to approach it on account of the ice, called it the Land of Desola- tion. A few days later, after standing boldly out to sea, they again came in view of land. It was still Greenland. Then, the weather being favour- able, and debarkation possible, Davis, with two companions, landed and ascended a high hill or rock; they soon espied a large number of savages, who raised frightful cries at sight of their visitors. Davis signalled to his crew, the majority of whom landed, and, playing upon instruments and offering all the signs of friendship they knew how to com- mand, advanced on the natives. The Esquimaux, low in stature and naturally timid, shrank from tlie white men ; but they were speedily conciliated by presents. Thirty-seven canoes appeared on the succeeding day, all loaded with natives anxious to obtain some present from their strange visitors, but willing enough to ofler gift for gift, in the way of seal-skins, leather girdles, darts, and even canoes. Coasting the shores of Greenland, Davis came upon an island, to which he was attracted by the howling of dogs. A pack of about twenty shaggy creatures came to the shore, and were taken for Esqmmduoc Dogs. 81 wolves. On two of them being shot, the others retreated; and Davis, landing*, found them to be only dogs with collars round their necks, by which they had been yoked to a sledge. ESQUIMAUX DOG. A second voyage was undertaken by John Davis on his return to England; and, through the warm friendship of a Mr. Sanderson, he was in- trusted with another ship, the Mermaid, a boat, and a pinnace. His reappearance in Greenland drew a warm welcome from the natives, with whom their visitors still further ingratiated themselves by presents, for which they would accept no return. But, beyond the discovery of the strait or narrow sea which divides Greenland from America, and which bears his name, Davis made no great suc- cess. He sailed again and again in the northern waters, and added much to the scanty information at that time possessed with regard to Greenland and the Esquimaux ; but he did not find the North- west Passage, and did not, on the whole, advance 32 An ungrateful Return, the trade and commerce of England. He was a good man, a man worthy of much higher notice than he has yet received. In famine, mutiny, storm, he quitted himself like a true man. As an instance of the stuff of which he was made, it may be stated that he ran back one black night in a gale of wind through the Straits of Magellan by a chart which he had made with the eye in passing up. The anchor was lost or broken, the cables were parted, — he could not bring up the ship; there was nothing for it but to run ; and he carried her safe through, along a channel not often three miles broad, sixty miles from one end to the other, and turning like the reaches of a river. When Davis had no longer facilities for prosecuting his re- searches in the Arctic regions, he turned his attention to other quarters, and traded in the Eastern Seas. There, at last, he fell in with a crew of Japanese, whose ship had been burnt, drifting at sea and starving in a leaky junk. He rescued them from their miserable fate, and took them on board his own vessel, where they, watching their opportunity, murdered him ! His old friend, Mr. Sanderson, employed the best artist of his time, named Molyneux, to construct a globe comprising all the navigator's discoveries. This globe is preserved in the Middle Temple, London. While the English were gradually making ad- vances in the northern waters, the Dutch were not idle. Tempted by the wild stories of the wealth Walrus Island, 33 of India and Cathay, they were determined, if pos- sible, upon forcing their way thither by the north- west route. A private body of merchants fitted out three ships and a small yacht, and, with the permission of the United Provinces, committed the conduct of the expedition to a tried seaman, named Wilhelm Barentz. During his researches near Nova Zembla, walruses were observed in very large herds, enjoying a sun-bath on the sands. The sailors, imagining that on land these formidable creatures were helpless, made an attack upon them, and, to their dismay, were entirely defeated. It is probable that this was owing more to the unex- pected resistance of the animals than to their actual strength, as, although they will approach a boat very closely, the flash of a gun throws them into disorder, and they are glad to escape. The Dutch sailors, making sure of an easy con- quest, were taken by surprise, and were, on their side, glad to escape with their lives. They called the place Walrus Island. The walrus, formerly called the horse-whale, or the sea-horse, seems to have been known in England as early as the reign of King Alfred. Hakluyt states, that in the year 890 a fishing- voyage was made beyond the North Cape, by Octher, the Norwegian, "for the mere commo- ditie of fishing of horse-whales, which have in their teeth bones of great price and excellence, whereof he brought some on his return to the king.^^ c Si Walruses. " There wo hunted the wah-us, The narwhal, and the whale. Ha ! 'twas a nohle game ; And like the lightning's flame Played our harpoons of steel." The walrus is bold and obstinate^ and will dispute possession with man of his icy lodgings, or yield fighting. It is said that when a company of travellers meet these animals on the shore, they are forced to fight their way through them ; and if the walruses are pelted with stones, they gnaw them with their teeth, but afterwards attack the men with redoubled fury. They seem to be fully aware that union is strength, so that they keep well together, and advance or retreat in masses. If a walrus attempts to leave his rank and to fly from the combat, he is driven back by the others, or killed. Captain Cook says, ^' They lie in herds of many hundreds upon the ice, huddling over one another like swine ; and roar or bray so very loud, that in the night, or in foggy weather, they gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice before we could see it. We never found the whole herd asleep, some being always upon the watch. These, on the approach of the boat, would awake those next to them ; and the alarm being thus gradually communicated, the whole herd would be awake presently. But they were seldom in a hurry to get away till after they had been once fired at. They then would tumble over one another into the sra, in the utmost con- Captain Cook on Wahuses. 35 fusion ; and if we did not_, at the first discharge, kill those we fired at, we generally lost them, though mortally wounded. They did not appear to us to be that dangerous animal which some authors have described, not even when attacked. They are more so in appearance than reality. Vast numbers of them would follow, and come close up to the boats ; but the flash of the musket in the pan, or even the bare pointing of one at them, would send them down in an instant. The female will defend her young to the very last, and at the expense of her own life, whether in the water or upon the ice. Nor will the young one quit the dam, though she be dead ; so that if one is killed, the other is certain prey. The dam, when in the water, holds the young one between her fore- arms.^^ PuLAli JJEAE. To another island the adventurers gave the name of Bear, on account of the formidable white bears 36 An Adventure ivith a White Bear, there found in • large numbers. One of these animals being observed alone, the sailors fired at him, but no mortal wound was given ; they then threw a rope round him, and imagined they had secured their prize. The beards struggles were terrific, and at last the animal seized on the stern of the boat and entered, much to the dismay of the seamen. Fortunately for them, the brute became entangled, and they were thus enabled to despatch him with their spears. Another adventure with bears was of a more serious character. De Veer, who wrote the narra- tive of the voyage, says that one day some of the crew went on shore to seek for stones ; and two of the men lying together in one place, ^' a great, lean white bear came suddenly out, and caught one of them fast by the neck, who, not knowing what it was that took him by the neck, cried out and said, ^ Who is it that pulls me so by the neck?' Wherewith the other, that lay not far from him, lifted up his head to see who it was, and, perceiving it to be a monstrous bear, cried out and said, ' O mate, it is a bear !' and there- with presently rose and ran away. The bear, at the first falling upon the man, bit his head in sunder, and sucked out his blood ; wherewith the rest of the men that were on land, being about twenty in number, ran presently thither, either to save the man or else to drive the bear from the dead body, and, having charged their pieces and bent their pikes, set upon her that was then de- ^' A wide blue sea" 37 vouring the man ; but perceiving them to come towards her fiercely, she cruelly ran at them, and got another of them from the company, which she tore in pieces, — when the men ran away/^ After some delay, three of the men ventured to approach the bear, and found her still devouring her prey, and in no fear of her assailants. '^ After that the said master had shot three times and missed, the purser, stepping somewhat further for- ward, and seeing the bear to be within the length of a shot, presently levelled his piece, and, discharging it at the bear, shot her in the head between the eyes; and yet she still held the man fast by the neck, and lifted up her head with the man in her mouth, but she began somewhat to stagger ; where- with the purser and a Scottish man drew out their cutlasses, and struck at her so hard that their cut- lasses broke, yet she would not leave the man. At last William Geysen went to them, and with all his might struck the bear upon the snout with his piece, at which time the bear fell to the ground, making a great noise, and William Geysen, leaping upon her, cut her throat/' But to continue the narrative. On arriving at the northern extremity of Nova Zembla, the explorers found the sea so loaded with ice, that Barentz despaired of effecting a passage, and resolved on returning home ; but the two other vessels proceeded on their way, not without much difficulty, and came back with the report that they had entered a wide blue sea, which they took to be 38 Wintering in the Ice. the Pacific, — but in this they were entirely mis- taken. The second voyage of Barentz met with signal failure^ and the last and most important was undertaken in 1596. Two ships started on the 10th of May^ passed Shetland and Feroe on the 22d of the same month, and arrived at Nova Zembla on the 17th of July. There the vessel commanded by Barentz was embayed in drifting ice, and the adventurer foresaw something of the horrors of an Arctic winter. Every day the pressure of the ice upon the ship became greater -, it seemed probable that it would soon be crushed like a nutshell, and that, to de- fend themselves against the inclemency of the weather, as also against the white bears, the crew must betake themselves to building a house on the land. Fortunately they found a quantity of drift- wood, which they speedily turned to account ; and by the middle of October they had erected a large hut, thatching the roof with sail-cloth and sea- weed. Then came the long night of the Arctic winter : the sun disappeared ; beer froze and became tasteless ; the snow fell heavily, and buried the house beneath it ; they were forced to eke out their scanty store of provisions by snaring foxes and eating the flesh, making caps and mittens of the skin. Once they were so happy as to kill a bear nine feet long, one of those bears who, ac- cording to Gerard de Veer, the chronicler of the voyage, "were very obstinate to know how Dutchmen tasted.^^ This bear yielded them good A joyful Return, 39 meat, and a hundred pounds of lard. They kept Christmas under the snow, and Twelfth-day also ; but the cold was so intense, and the difficulty of obtaining fuel so great, that the men thought it would be easier to lie down and die rather than make a further effort. In January, one of their ARCTIC FOX. number died, and they buried him in a snow grave, seven feet deep. Then, when a deeper gloom than that of the Arctic night was upon them, the sun rose, and, says the chronicler, ^^ They all rejoiced together, praising God loudly for His great mercy.'' The ship was quite unfit for sea, so that they re- solved on using the shallop and long-boat ; with these they contrived at length to get away from their winter -quarters. Six days afterwards Ba- rentz died, very deeply and sincerely regretted. The return of the northern voyagers was a great event in Amsterdam, where the expedition had been given up as lost. The shallop and long- boat were carried in procession to the town- hall, 40 Captain George Weymouth's Voyage. and there, with much of rhetorical flourish, dedi- cated to the memory of the great voyage ; while, at a grand banquet, the adventurers related the story of their great peril, — the icebergs, the bears, the foxes, the long night, and all the other marvels of the frozen deep. The solid discoveries of Wilhelm Barentz were an extension of the w>estern coast of Nova Zem- bla, and Spitzbergen — the country of sharp-peaked mountains — a group of islands at that time sup- posed to be part of the coast-lfne of Greenland. This was afterwards of very great importance, as it became the chief station for the whale-fisheries. The next English adventurer into the Arctic regions was Captain George Weymouth, sent out by the then youthful East-India Company. No- thing came of his voyage but a spirit of disaffection amongst his crew, fermented by the chaplain. An expedition under John Knight met with no better success, and still greater disadvantage. Captain Knight and four comrades arrived somewhere on the coast of Labrador, but were never more seen. The rest of the company suffered terribly, but at last reached home in safety. '* The ice was here, the ice was there ; The ice was all around ; It cracked and growled, it roared and howled, Like noises in a swound." Who was next to follow? who was to be the next in the apparently forlorn hope of Arctic exploration ? Henry Hudson — Spit zber yen — Nova Zembla, 41 Another famous Arctic voyager now appears: Henry Hudson, whose untimely end gives so painful an interest to his story. In 1607, he was engaged by the Muscovy Company to seek out the passage through the fields of northern ice — if possible, directly across the Pole. His crew consisted of ten men and a boy. On reaching the northern boun- daries of Greenland, a deep fog settled down, and the sails were frozen. When the mist lifted like a curtain, they saw a bold headland, which they duly christened the Mount of God's Mercy. Steering easterly, the fog again fell upon them; and when it lifted, they saw another headland, which they called the Cape of Hold with Hope. As they neared Spitzbergen, the weather became bitterly cold, and the sea so obstructed with ice as to be almost impassable, and at length it became utterly blocked. So Henry Hudson returned to London with the report that he could find no way by the Pole, but that the seas abounded in seals^ and he thought might offer a successful fishery. In the following year, Hudson, still in the ser- vice of the Muscovy Company, sailed for Nova Zembla. He describes the country as '^ to man's eye a pleasant land, much mayne land with snow on it, looking in some places green, and deer feed- ing thereon.'' He had entertained the hope of defraying the expenses of this voyage by the capture of seals and walruses, but this could not be effected ; and he had to return home, again baffled in the 42 Sandy Hook. Northern Passage^ but with valuable information as to the frozen regions. Hudson^s next voyage was made under the aus- pices of the Dutch East-India Company. He had still hopes of a Northern Passage being found, but in this he was again nnsuccessful, and, crossing the Atlantic to America, coasted the continent as far as Chesapeake Bay; then, returning to the north, entered Delaware Bay, and arrived in sight of the Neversink Islands. He called it " a good land to fall in with, and a pleasant sight to see.^^ Next day he dropped anchor in Sandy Hook — a very important event in the history of America. He had found the river which bears his name, he had found the site of New York, he had found " as beautiful a land as one could tread on.^^ Pity, for his own sake, he did not there remain ! Soon after his return to England, Hudson undertook a new expedition. He set sail in April 1610, with a vessel of fifty-four tons^ burden, manned by twenty-three men and victualled for six months. In a few weeks appeared the northern coast of Iceland, with Mount Hecla in eruption, and the Geysers hot enough to cook food. Pass- ing Greenland to the north of Labrador, he followed the straits which now bear his name, amidst not only the difficulties of an ice-crowded passage, but of a disaffected crew. In conse- quence of this latter difficulty, Hudson called the men together, showed them by his chart that they had already gone some hundred leagues A disaffected Crew* 43 farther than other explorers, and argued that this should excite them to persevere. But the men were dispirited; some were for turning about, and endeavouring to make their way back to England ; others were simply clamorous ; while others, again, declared that they cared not whither they went, so long as they got free of the ice. Around them indeed was a scene of intense desolation, the pro- spect of a hard winter, and this with fast- vanishing stores. As the crew could come to no determina- tion, Hudson followed his own course. Severely pressed by the wind and floe, he sought a retreat in certain islands known as the '^ Isles of God^s Mercy ;'^ but the place was beset with danger. Keeping on their course, they reached an opening with a cape on each side. To one of these head- lands they gave the name of Wolstenholme, to the other that of Sir Dudley Digges — Digges was a promoter of the expedition. In the place thus named they landed, and, on ascending a hill, saw goats and deer feeding upon it, while the rocks were covered with fowls. Here the crew would willingly have remained for some days, but Hudson knew well the danger of delay ; he therefore pursued his voyage along the channel, and at length sailed into what seemed to him an immense ocean. This he supposed to be a portion of the great Pacific ; it was, however, nothing but the inland sea, subse- quently called by his name, and still known as Hudson's Bay. The season was far advanced ; and as Hudson 44 The Eve of Mutiny, coasted along the shore, in hope of finding some place wherein to rest for the winter, the frost set in sharp and hard, and ice-blocks closed in on all sides. It was now impossible to return till the ensuing spring; provisions were short, and the sailors in vain attempted to erect a shelter. Hud- son set about the husbanding of their resources, a delicate and difficult task ; for his crew, encouraged by some of the lawless spirits amongst them, plainly intimated that the captain was looking more after his own interests than after theirs. Hudson offered rewards to those who should kill beast, bird, or fish ; and, in the course of a few weeks, a hundred dozen white partridges were se- cured ; and after these, a large quantity of water- fowl, besides an abundant yield of fish. But the men were thoroughly discontented, and took no precautions for preserving their food; one man brought on a dangerous surfeit with over-eating, and most of them accused the captain of a disre- gard for their lives. Their own total disregard of common prudence reduced them, long before the winter was over, to great extremity ; and the ill- feeling against Hudson increased. He had super- seded Ivet, the mate, on account of insubordination, and had appointed one whom he accounted as a trustworthy fellow in his place ; a change had also taken place as to the boatswain. But the greatest enemy whom Hudson had reason to dread was one whom he least expected. This was an outcast, named Green, whom the captain had brought with Adrift. 45 him^ out of feelings of pure charity. This man plotted against Hudson with the most disaffected of the crew — one Habakuk Prickett; others, who at first shrank from the conspiracy, were won over, and it was resolved to set Hudson adrift, and to make off with the ship. Early one morning in June, when all things were again beginning to look promising, Hudson, as he left his cabin, was seized by three of the con- spirators, his hands were fastened behind his back, and he was forced into the shallop. All of the crew who were true to their captain were also driven into the boat, into which were lowered the sick and in- firm ; some powder and shot were also thrown in ; when the boat was cut adrift, all sail hoisted in the ship, and the captain and those who were with him abandoned to a cruel and lingering death. Neither he, nor any of those who were with him, were ever heard of again — alive or dead. Such are some of the adventures in the ice which happened to the early explorers of the frozen deep. In those tremendous fields of ice, still more startling adventures were to occur, as, with fatal pertinacity, one after another bold heart dared to encounter the terrors of the long Arctic night, in seeking that as yet undiscovered passage to the Indies, which had for its first victim the brave Hugh Willoughby. " Miserable they "Who here, entangled in the gathering ice, Take their last look of the descending sun ; 46 The long, long night'' While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost, The long, long night, incumbent o'er their heads, Falls horrible." BAZOH-BILL. CHAPTER II. FPtOM HUDSON TO ROSS. (a.d. 1C12— a.d. 1818.) Hababuk Prickett explains — The reward of virtue — Sir Thomas Button — Baffin — A cold journey — Baffin's Bay or Sea — Coming to blows — An old claim revived — Greenland — The Danes and Norwegians — Christian IV. of Denmark — A Danish exiDedition — Admiral Gotske Lindenan — Polite behaviour to savages, and what came of it — Captain Munck — Failure — A broken heart — A dismal winter at Spitzbergen — Death preferable to an Arctic winter — Edward Pelham — Seven Sleepers — Captain John Knight — Hudson's-Bay ter- ritory — Troublesome outsiders — Reward for the discovery of the North-west Passage — Over land — Over ice — Young Nelson — Icebergs — Captain Cook — Wilkes — Scoresby — Russian explorers — Behring's Strait. When Master Habakuk Prickett, after many se- rious disasters, and the close probability of being starved in the ice or eaten by the savages, at last reached home, there was no Captain Hudson to contradict his story, and he made his own statement so far satisfactory to the authorities that, instead of being hanged as he deserved to be for mutiny, he and his partner, one By lot, were com- missioned to sail in another expedition, under command of Sir Thomas Button and Captain Ingram. Master Habakuk Prickett's explanation was not by any means really satisfactory ; but who 48 Another Expedition, was there to say nay to that extremely oily gentle- man ? Regretful of the fate of Hudson^ all men must be— no man more so than himself. Stilly this Master Habakuk was not altogether to be relied on, and could not well complain when Fox said to him, " Prickett, I am in great doubt of thy fidelity to Master Hudson/^ The object of the expedition with which Prickett was intrusted was to prosecute the dis- coveries ah^ady made by Hudson, and to find out, what the Merchant Traders were satisfied was still to be found, namely, an outlet from the bay into the open ocean, and so a new highway to India. It might be well, they hinted, to take note of any good harbourage for ships, any likely spots for settlements ; but the grand object was to get into the South Sea as soon as might be, and to let the company know of their success without delay. The expedition passed Hudson^s Straits, and sailed right across the bay. Carefully as it was possible for him to do it, did Sir Thomas Button examine the shores ; but it was all in vain — no outlet could be found. Hopes Checked was the name he gave to the last spot he touched at, and then quietly wintered, and as quietly came back again to re- port no effects, trusting that '' God, which best knoweth what the truth of his endeavours has been in this action, will not fail to give a blessing to some that follow ;'' that, for his part, he desires '^ to be blessed no otherwise than as he had sincerely laboured, and therefore he must conclude, and i en H O I o o The ^^ Discovery s*^ Course, 51 ever belie ve^ according to the word, that ^ Paul plants, Apollos waters, and God gives the in- crease/ '' Neither the Company of Merchants nor the brave seamen they employed doubted for a mo- ment that the way to India by a North-west or a North-east Passage was discoverable, and failure only urged them on to renewed effort. Captain Gibbons, who had served under Sir Thomas But- ton, made a voyage with the same object the year after Button^s return, and he got caught in the ice off Labrador, and made signal failure. Then William Baffin, an intelligent and intrepid seaman, who knew much of the northern waters, was despatched by the company, with instructions to carry his ship as soon as might be to Japan, and bring home a native Japanese, as a sure and certain proof of his success. Baffin sailed in the Discovery, a little ship whose keel had many a time grated on the ice, and run a close chance of resting her timbers there for ever. If the reader has opposite to him a chart of the Arctic regions, he may readily follow the course pursued — a course subsequently followed and tested by Ross and Parry, and the observations made by the old seaman in all points fully confirmed by them . Entering Davis^s Straits, and keeping within sight for some time of the west coast of Greenland, Baffin carried his ship on the furthermost northerly point of discovery made by Davis, namely, Sander- son's Hope. Thence he kept along the eastern 52 Baffin s Voya(je, shore^ toucliing, first of all^ at Women^s Islancls^ thence to a bay called by him Horn Sounds and so, under much difficulty, to a spot christened by him Sir Dudley Digges^ Cape — but not^ as it often is^ to be confounded with the Dudley Digges^ Cape, or Island, in the Hudson Straits. The weather was intensely cold, although it was July ; the rigging was often frozen ; and the ship had, as it were, to feel her way through the tremendous ice-floats which blocked her passage. There were shoals of whales — to which, indeed, Arctic voyagers were by this time getting accustomed, and from which they hoped to realise considerable profit. Soon after this, Baffin entered the sound, afterwards so closely associated with the explorations of Dr. Kane — a sound which appeared to indicate to him, as it did to the great American voyager, the immediate presence of a great temperate ocean. Thence to Carey's Islands, past Jones's Sound, so to Lancas- ter's Sound, so to Cookin's Sound, and so '*^the certainty that there was no passage, nor hope of passage, in Davis's Straits." The great bay, which Baffin had completely coasted, is appropriately called by his name. His was a wonderful voyage, considering the circumstances under which it was made. Hayes and others acquainted with the lo- cality inform us that Baffin's Bay, or, more properly speaking, Baffin's Sea, is the great estuary through which the Polar ice of the American division of the Arctic Ocean is drifted into the Atlantic. The ice is poured into it through Lancaster, Jones, BaffivbS Bay. 53 and Smithes Sounds on the west and north. It receives also accessions from Whale and Wolsten- holme Sounds on the east^ and by berg- discharge from the numerous glaciers of both coasts. Added to these sources of supply, is the immense sheet which^ during the winter, forms upon the surface of the bay itself. Its central portion^ lyii^ig between Capes York and Baltimore on the norths and the island of Disco and Cape Walsingham on the south, forms the grand receptacle into which are poured the rafts which float down through the different channels. These accumulated masses constitute the " middle ice/^ or " Melville-Bay pack/^ the whole body of which is undergoing con- stant movement southward, discharging continually from its southern margin_, through Davis's Strait_, into the Atlantic, and receiving proportionate accessions from the north. The great highway through which these accessions come, and into which they are first discharged from the above- mentioned channels, is styled by the whalers the North Water, and, in consequence of the rapid flow of the current southward, this, the northern part of Baffin's Bay, is, throughout the greater part of the year, mainly free from ice, and is never com- pletely closed. Although the Arctic voyagers had failed in the discovery of that which they sought, namely, a new passage to India, they had found that which pro- mised to be of very considerable value in the way of trade. They had found that, in this inclement 54 A Quarrel over the Whales. and apparently most inhospitable part of the world, whales^ seals, and walruses abounded, and that the produce of a fishery actively carried on would be immense. We have seen that, at first sight of the whales, the seamen were terrified, and endea- voured to drive them away by making hideous noises ; but they presently learned better. The first whale killed by Englishmen in northern waters is said to have yielded twelve tons of oil. It was but a small whale, and was taken by Captains Edge and Poole on the 12th of June 1611. The Anglo-Muscovy Company, which had been foremost in sending vessels into the Greenland fishery, attempted to set up a monopoly, and warned off Dutch and Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, French, and Spaniards; they had no mind that others should come on their Tom Tiddler^ s Ground to pick np gold and silver. The Dutchmen were indignant, and fell to blows ; whereupon the Mus- covy Company besought the aid of the home government, got backed up in its claims, and was aided by a fleet which chased the Dutch whalers, and all other whalers except the English, from the northern seas. Smarting under this disgrace, as well as indignant at their loss of trade, the Dutch retaliated by seizing the whalers as they sailed for England, rich in oil ; they ran up, as it were, the black flag, and inflicted a sharp penalty for the slight and injury that had been done to them- selves. As this state of affairs could not be allowed to continue, an agreement was made, and the limits A Danish Claim, 55 within which each nation was to fish were marked out_, but the best harbours and stations were secured by the English. In the troublous period which followed — the long struggle between King Charles and the Parliament — the English took but little part in the Greenland fishery, while the Dutch and the Hamburghers were employing four hundred sail every year. But while the Dutch and the English — they were very aggressive fellows, those Dutchmen, and stole our herrings terribly — were disputing as to what did and what did not belong of right to their respective nations, and whether or not whales were a species of game to be the exclusive property of one or other, the Danes surmised that they might have some interest in the matter, and revived the old tradition of how Greenland, and of course Green- land waters and Greenland whales, all belonged to them. How their claim rested was in this wise : The vast territory known as Greenland, and long supposed to be united on the north-west to the continent of America, is now generally regarded as an island, in shape somewhat triangular, with its apex towards the south. It is a bleak, wild, rugged country, with bare mountains, having no other verdure than a mantle of snow ; its shores are, for the most part of the year, ice-bound ; but here and there up the coast-line are bays, islands, and fiords, and strips of vegetation where wild deer pasture. The centre of the island is said to be traversed by a range of mountains, which divide 56 Original Discovery of Greenland, the country into East and West Greenland; of tLe former very little is known, and the coasts appear to be more cold and miserable than those of the west. The country has a native population, esti- mated at 6000 or 7000, and a sort of rude civi- lisation prevails, many of the inhabitants near the Danish states having embraced Christianity. The zealous and persevering labours of the Danish and Moravian Brethren, amidst these children of the ice, is a story full of interest in itself. It is generally stated that Greenland was origin- ally discovered by an Icelander, towards the close of the tenth century. The man, Erie by name, was guilty of murder ; and being banished from Iceland, fled for refuge to a land of the west, to which he gave the name of Greenland, on account of its trees and pasture-land. He was so delighted with the country, and the excellent hunting and fishing which it afforded, that he took the trouble of returning to Iceland, making his peace, and in- viting his countrymen to emigrate, colonise the new land, and recognise him as their trusty lord and governor. They, fond of adventure, accepted his terms, and set up a colony in Greenland, which w^as very prosperous. We need not trace the pro- gress of the new settlement at any length; suffice it, that the Danes beheld its prosperity with jealousy, and sought to put in a claim to authority on account of a Bull granted, it was said, by Pope Gregory the Fourth, for the conversion of the people of Iceland and Greenland. They could not. End of the old Settlement, 57 however^ substantiate their claim. The Green- landers recognised as suzerain the King of Norway, but they were turbulent under that monarchy, and in 1256 it was only with the help of the Danes that authority was reestablished. Knowing Greenland as we do — a bleak and barren country — its name strikes us as very singu- lar ; and the ancient accounts of its beauty and fertility are still more astounding. But there is good reason to believe that the climate has under- gone a very considerable change, and that the ^^icy mountains'^ were once clad with verdure, that in the eyes of an Icelander was wondrously beautiful. About the middle of the fourteenth century Norway, with its possessions, was annexed to Den- mark, and, consequently, the Danes became the masters of Greenland. But the prosperous days of the colony were over. The black death swept away whole families, put an end to commerce, trade — every thing ; the natives rose against the colonists, and there was hard fighting; the Danes rendered them no help, but plagued them with fiscal regulations ; and at last the whole settlement was broken up. Pestilence, famine, and sword, had done their w^ork, and the few scattered people who remained, the only survivors of that once thriving colony, fell victims to the ferocity of the natives. Inquiry as to the fate of the settlement was made but feebly by the Danes ; who seemed, in- deed, now that it was their own, to care very little about it. A tradition, indeed, was current, that 58 Admiral Lindenan^s Reception, some remnants of the colony still remained a hun- dred and fifty years after its extinction. But no- thing was known with certainty until^ excited by the advance of the ships of other nations, and the discoveries which were being made in the northern waters, the then reigning King of Denmark began to join in the exploration. Christian the Fourth of Denmark was, indeed, much disturbed by the loss of Greenland, and resolved that what had been regarded by his immediate predecessors with indifference, or pro- nounced to be impossible, he would certainly ac- complish. To secure a shrewd British captain and pilot was the first step. This being done, three vessels were fitted out, and the command of the expedition intrusted to Admiral Gotske Lindenan. They sailed in the early summer of 1605; but, after keeping in company for a few days, the English captain took the south-west route, so as to ap- proach Greenland with less risk of the ice. He does not appear to have consulted the admiral, who could not credit that he had gone by the south- west ; and, thinking to come up with him, kept to his own north-easterly course. On his arrival at Greenland, the natives received him joyfully, shoved off in their canoes, and came fearlessly on board. The admiral treated them to some good old wine, at which they grimaced as though it were vinegar ; but some pots of oil satisfied them, and these they seemed thoroughly to enjoy. They had brought with them skins of dogs, bears, seals, and a quantity Kidnapping Natives. 59 of horns, which they bartered for needles, knives, small mirrors, and other trifling articles. Gold and silver they rejected, but they were most eager for steel in any form, and gave for it any thing, or every thing, they possessed. It does not appear that Admiral Lindenan went on shore during the three days he remained in port ; he was probably afraid to risk his small company among so vast a multitude of savages. Two of the natives he de- liberately kidnapped; and these made so many desperate efforts to escape, when they found the vessel in motion, that the admiral had them bound : and when the people on shore, seeing what was done, yelled and shrieked, threw stones and shot darts, he fired a cannon at them, and so scared them away. This conduct reflects no credit on the ad- miral, but in those days it was thought less of than it would be now. In the mean time, the English captain, with the Danish vessels, approached Greenland near Cape Farewell. He was well received by the natives, with whom he bartered. Unlike Lindenan, the English captain, with a well-armed party, ventured to land, and found the country pretty good, but sandy and stony, like that of Norway. They found, also, what they considered to be sulphur-pits, and a considerable quantity of silver ore. Coasting for some distance, they found many good harbours, and gave them Danish names. Four natives were forcibly seized ; and one of them, resisting, was cruelly beaten to death : at sight of which cautionary 60 Retaliation, puiiislimerit^ the rest followed quietly. But the natives, bent on liberating the captives, and aveng- ing the death of the murdered man, attempted to cut off their retreat, and engage them in combat. A few musket-shots, and the discharge of one or two cannons, settled the matter — the Esquimaux fled in terror, and the Danes carried off their prize. On returning to Denmark, both the English cap- tain and the Danish admiral presented the savages to the king ; and it was then noticed, as Dr. Kane and other travellers afterwards remarked, that the natives of the east coast differed very much from those of the west coast, the latter being in all re- spects superior. When Lindenan made his second voyage, he took back the three captives, one of whom died on the voyage; the others, on seeing their native country, '^manifested inexpressible joy." But the natives had not forgotten either the murdered man or the rough capture; although Lindenan was not responsible for what had been done by the English captain, they regarded all their visitors as culpable; and, when Lindenan^s servant ventured to land, they seized him, killed him, and tore him limb from limb ! The voyage of Captain Munck (1619) was another Danish venture, but ended in no profitable result. Two vessels were intrusted to Munck, and sailed from Elsinore about the middle of May. They entered Hudson's Straits, crossed Hudson's Bay, or, as they called it, Mare Christiauum ; and Unfortunate Captain Munck. 61 there, luckily finding a harbour, they were com- pelled to winter. The weather was very severe; the ice was nearly four hundred feet in thickness ; brandy was frozen solid ; and what the poor sailors judged to be frightful omens appeared in the sky — two suns, and an eclipse of the moon. Worse signs soon appeared — dysentery, scurvy, death. Out of the sixty-four men that formed the com- pany of the two vessels, but two and the captain survived. These endured dreadful sufierings ; but they at last contrived to reach a Norwegian port in the smaller of the two ships. Some years after- wards, another expedition was fitted out, and in- trusted to Captain Munck. Before sailing, he paid his respects to King Christian, was rudely reminded of his former failure, hotly and thoughtlessly re- plied, was roughly thrust aside with the royal cane, and, enraged, humiliated, bitterly disappointed, this poor sea-captain went home to die of a broken heart. After this, the Danes seem to have cared little for the prosecution of their discoveries ; and, in- deed, it would appear that the spirit of enterprise was dying out, that all the waters were ready to yield — whale, seal, and walrus — was readily taken by those engaged in the fisheries, and that but few cared for much beyond the whalebone, blubber, and other valuable commodities. But the fisher- men were really doing gpod service to the cause of science. The whalers in those days, as in our own, have 62 A dismal Winter at Spitzbergeii, given a large amount of attention to Arctic dis- covery ; and^ in the way of their ordinary employ- ment, have naturally been brought into such familiar relations with the wonders of the Frozen Sea, that their experience never fails to be inter- esting. One Edward Pelham has given a curious and valuable account of a dismal winter spent with seven companions at Spitzbergen, in 1630. They had been accidentally left behind by their ship, and were, in consequence, in a worse plight than others. They had been sent ashore to kill deer for the use of the ship's company ; and having taken some twenty-two, and laid them in the shallop, they proceeded to Greenharbour, in obedience to the instructions they had received. There, much to their dismay, they found themselves deserted — not their own ship, nor any one of the fleet of whalers, was to be seen. Their fears, as we may well under- stand, were roused at the horrible prospect before them of wintering, and of perhaps ending their days, in that dreary climate. The stories of what others had endured painfully recurred to them, and filled them with dismay. '^ We had heard how that the merchants having in former times much desire, and that with the proffer of great rewards for the hazarding of their lives, and of sufficient furniture and of provisions of all things that might be thought necessary for such an undertaking, to any that would adventure to winter in these parts, could never yet find any so hardy as to expose their lives unto so hazardous Death rather than an Arctic Winter, 63 an undertaking ; yet^ notwithstanding their proffers had been made both nnto mariners of good expe- rience and of noble resolutions, and also unto divers bold spirits, yet had the action of wintering in these parts never been by any hitherto undertaken. ThuSj also, we had heard how that the Company of Muscovy Merchants having once procured the reprieve of some malefactors that had here at home , been convicted by law for some heinous crimes committed, and that both with promise of pardon for their faults and with the addition of rewards also, if so be they would ' undertake to remain in Greenland but one whole year, and that every way provided for, too, both of clothes, victuals, and all things else that might any way be needful for their preservation / these poor wretches hearing of these large proffers, and fearing present execution, re- solved to make trial of the adventure. " The time of year being come, and the ships ready to depart, these condemned creatures are embarked, who, after a certain space there arriving, and taking a view of the desolateness of the place, they conceive such a horror and inward fear in their hearts, as they resolved rather to re- turn to England to make satisfaction with theu' lives for their former faults committed, than there remain, though with the assured hope of gaining their pardon. Insomuch as, the time of year being come that the ships were to depart from these barren shores, they made known their full intent unto the captain, who, being a pitiful and merciful 64 Doing their best, gentleman, would not by force constrain them to remain in that place, which was so contrary to their minds ; but, having made his voyage by the time expired, he again embarked and brought them over with him to England ; where, through the intercession of the Worshipful Company of Muscovy Merchants, they escaped that death which they had been condemned unto/^ But with Pelham and his seven companions there was no matter of choice, — they were compelled to wait ; obliged to submit, whether they would or no ; forced to shake off all idle fears ; and so he writes : ^^ It pleased God to give us hearts like men, to arm ourselves with a resolution to do our best for the resisting of that monster of De- speration/^ It was a hard fight with the ^^ grim monster,^^ and a hard fight carried on in the dark. ^' Thus did we,^^ says Edward Pelham, ^^ our best to preserve ourselves ; but all this could not secure us, for we in our own thoughts accounted ourselves but dead men, and that our tent was then our darksome dungeon, and that we did but wait our day of trial by our Judge to know whether we should live or die. Our extremities being so near, made us sometimes in impatient speeches to break forth against the causer of our miseries ; but then, again, our conscience telling us of our own evil deservings, we took it either for a punishment upon us for our former wicked lives, or else for an example of God's mercy in our won- derful deliverance. Humbling ourselves, therefore, The seven Dutchmen, 65 under the mighty hand of God^ we cast down our- selves before Him in prayer two or three times a day, which course we constantly held all the time of our misery/^ Very miserable indeed was their condition, but they never lost hope. ^^ If God be for us, who can be against us?^^ Every Wednesday and Friday they fasted. On other days they fed sparingly on. the grease which rises from the boiling of whale's blubber, a " very loathsome meate ;'' it was eked out by a little venison, a little bear's-flesh, and an occasional bird. They held out very bravely till the whalers came back next year. A somewhat similar but more melancholy epi- sode has also been recorded of seven Dutchmen, It was the design of the Dutch Government to set up a permanent fishing-station on the island of Jan Mayen, and seven seamen engaged in the whale- trade undertook to remain there during the winter. They were men who knew the cold, bleak, barren regions well, so that first appearances at the least would not alarm them. With all possible comforts they were well supplied — huts being erected, and an excellent store of provisions laid in. Unfortunately, the provisions were salt. They were instructed to keep an accurate account of the weather, to omit nothing in their journal that could be made of any practical use ; and the journal which remains — the unfinished journal — is an excellent testimony to their fidelity. There is a novel by Emile Souvestre, pub- lished unfinished, just as he left it — it ends in the £ 66 An unfinished Log, middle of a sentence ; so ends the journal of these brave seamen. There was one of their number who could not write. The others taught him the art in the long wintry nights^ and it was but to make the last entries in their log. They were left to their task in August, and the entries tell of cold and wind and driving sleet ; of damp linen freezing hard as a board ; of icebergs settling and clearing up ] of the sun^s last dip, and dark, dismal night coming on. All the log is written in a religious spirit. The men wrote as though they felt they were, or might soon be, all dead men. The scurvy attacked them, and they suffered very severely. There is a painful interest in the reading of the record. As, for example : " We begin to be very heartless, and our legs are scarce able to bear us.^^ On the 3d of April, there being only two of them sufficiently well to move about, they killed the two pullets they had for the sick — were ^^ sorry we had not a dozen more, for their sake.^^ Then death comes on the resurrection morning ; on Easter-day one of their number died : '^ Lord, have mercy upon his soul, and upon us all ; we be very siek.'^ In June, the Zealand fleet arrived, and found the dead bodies of the men : one still holding his prayer-book ; another stretching out his hand to reach the ointment to relieve his scurvy ; and the journalist with the journal by his side, and the never-to-be-finished sentence half- written. "When Captain John Knight, who so miserably Luke Fox 8 Voyage. 67 perished in Labrador, was fitting out for his expe- dition, there was a youngster, Luke Fox by name, who had a sharp " itching'^ to sail with him, but was refused on account of youth and inexperience. This lad, grown to manhood, never lost the '^ itch- ing'^ feeling wijbhin himself, that he must go to the Arctic seas, and make his name immortal by dis- covering the North-west Passage. He spent about a score of years in studying the globes and mathe- matics — hard work — and in seeking a patron who would be of some use to him, which was harder work still. At last he found a Mr. Briggs, who found for him a Sir John Brooke, who found access for him to the court of King Charles the First. His majesty was true to his title of Most Gracious, and promised the persevering sailor a ship, which promise he faithfully kept. The Charles, a pinnace, seventy tons, was made ready ; but as it began to be noised abroad that another Arctic voyage was to be undertaken, some Bristol merchants, in oppo- sition to the London merchants, fitted out a ship on their own account, and determined on carrying a rivalry into the northern waters. Their ship was called the Maria, and left the Severn on the same day (May 3, 1631) as the Charles sailed from Deptford. Fox felt convinced that the passage of which he was in search was to be found to the north of Hud- son's Bay. He was prosperous in his voyage so far as to fall into no serious mischief, but he was unsuccessful in his search. Far down in the bay he 68 The Hudson S' Bay Comjiany. came upon the rival Bristol ship ; the Maria had been well pounded by the ice, and the crew and captain all seem to have been better at praying than piloting ; better fitted for thanksgiving for miracu- lous deliverance than for keeping out of harm^s way. Fox dined wdth the captain, who, he says^ was " really to be pitied,^^ but he could do nothing for him. Completing his own voyage according to instructions received, he returned without any loss or damage, and with the negative information, that as yet there could no trace be found of a way through the ice to the open sea. Next year the Maria got home, a mere wreck, with most of her hands dead, all enfeebled, and having made no discovery at all. About the year 1660, a Frenchman persuaded the famous Prince Rupert that a North-west Pass- age had been discovered, leading from Hudson^s Bay into the South Sea, and that to guard and monopolise this passage would be the very thing to do. The ^^ mutton-eating king^^ saw no objec- tion to granting a charter to Prince Rupert and a few friends, conveying to them right to, and posses- sion of, the whole of the Hudson's-Bay territory. A company was got up, a fort was built — an active, busy trade in furs successfully carried on — and no- thing more was said about the North-west Passage. Some years afterwards, in 1719, the Hudson^s- Bay Company was reminded of its neglected trust by one James Knight, who would take no excuse, but insisted that they should, according to the terms of their charter, search for the North-west Meddlesome Dobbs, 69 Passage. He went so far as to write to one of the Secretaries of State. Then the company consented, fitted out two ships^ placed them under his direc- tion, and sent him away to miserably perish. Many years afterwards, the remains of the vessels were noticed, and the natives related how that some English seamen, seventy in number, had wintered on Marble Island ; how that during that winter their number was reduced to fifty, then to five, then to two — one of whom dying, the other tried to dig his grave, and, weak and feeble, fell into it and died ! Mr. Dobbs was the next to rouse up the ne- glectful company, a company very well satisfied with the fur-trade, but careless as to discovery. The pressure being great. Captain Middleton was despatched, and succeeded in finding an inlet ran- Bing into a deep bay ; and on ascending a hill in the neighbourhood, he saw a frozen strait, which, as the tide flowed from the east, very plainly was not the opening to the North-west Passage. In 1743, the British Parliament offered a reward of 20,000/. for the discovery of the North-west Passage from the north of Hudson^s Bay. This premium, afterwards withdrawn, led to no results of any importance. Men for 20,000/., or 20,000/. ten times told, could not force the ice to yield ; nor is it likely that any monetary consideration could have evoked more energy and zeal than the prospect of success. Indeed, as we know, and as will be stated in its proper place, this very 20,000/. 70 Young Nelson in the Ai^ctic Seas, stood sometimes in the way of enterprise ; men would not risk capital or character for a golden guerdon, but they would do much and dare much when there was nothing to be gained but honour and the knowledge of having done well. In carrying out the desire of the government^ an expedition by land was undertaken by the Hud- son^s-Bay Company in 1769. It was conducted by Mr. Samuel Hearne. He was supposed. to have some influence with the native chiefs ; but at the first attempt at exploration^ he was deserted by all the Indians in a fortnight. This was^ no doubt^ in consequence of his starting in November, the very worst time of the year for his purpose. Next year, he and those who were with him sufiered many privations, and discovered nothing. On the third trial he reached the mouth of the Copper- mine River, and found it totally unfit for naviga- tion. All his statements are vague and most un- satisfactory. In 1773, the Admiralty^ at the instance of the Royal Society, sent out two ships on a Polar ex- pedition, under the command of Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave. The vessels were the Racehorse and the Carcass, an odd proximity of names. On board the latter was young Nelson. In consequence of his own pressing solicitation, he vv^as admitted in the humble capacity of coxswain, but with great difficulty, in consequence of an order from the Admiralty forbidding boys to form part of the expedition. The expedition, after passing The impenetrable Ice, 71 Shetland^ came in sight of Spitzbergen ; sailing still further north, they got completely blocked in with the ice. In this critical situation they re- mained five days. It was here that young Nelson, actuated by that spirit of daring which always dis- tinguished him, ventured on the ice on a fine moonlight night in the rash pursuit of a bear, as he wished to obtain the skin for his father. Cap- tain Phipps, before the return of his ships, made the discovery of a small rock, then, and still, sup- posed to be the most northerly piece of land on the earth^s surface. Parry, describing it, says, " Bleak, barren, and rugged as it is, one could not help gazing at it with intense interest.^' One of the last expeditions of the famous Cap- tain Cook was directed to Polar investigation ; sailing from Asia to America, advancing to Cape North on the one side and Cape Icy on the other, he was stopped by the impenetrable wall of ice. The government were so well satisfied that Cook would discover the passage, that they sent a vessel into Baffin^s Bay, to meet the intrepid discoverer. Ice ! It is the ice which has. set us all looking in vain for our North-west Passage. Here is the passage ; but the ice guards it, stops it, defies us, with " all appliances and means to boot.^^ It re- verses, as it were, the old decree, of which the ocean is the subject ; and to man the frozen ocean says : " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud steps be stayed.^' But it is by no means certain that we cannot overcome 72 A few Words about Icebergs. the frozen sea^ that we cannot realise all the old expectations — find out the North-west Passage, after all; and^ bringing profit to the present age, add glory to the renown of the old navigators, who had their dreams, and knew them to be true. Icebergs — perhaps a few words about them may be proper here. What are they, and how formed ? Seamen familiar with the Arctic regions, or, even more, who have once carried their ships into Arctic waters, have borne witness to the extreme rapidity with which an iceberg is formed. ^^ When a mass of ice has been separated from a glacier, or from any icy barrier, it drifts away with the waves, and is again broken into many pieces. From the accumulation of snow, which falls upon its upper surface, such a mass assumes a flat or table-topped shape, and continues to in- crease in height. As these successive layers of snow accumulate, the iceberg becomes more heavy, and consequently sinks deeper into the sea. This acces- sion of layers is formed not by snow only, but also by frozen rain, and even by the dense fogs which prevail in high latitudes.^ ^ Wilkes, the American navigator, relates that when he was near the South Pole, ice had accumu- lated on the rigging and spars of the ship, to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, in the course of a few hours, though neither rain nor snow fell at the time. It would appear from this that the icebergs are continually on the increase, as even in summer, in the Polar regions, the atmosphere is little above A fixed Iceberg. 73 freezing-point. Icebergs are met with from the height of ten to two hundred feet ; and it should always be borne in mind, with regard to them, that below tlie waters there is a depth of ice eight times as great as that which appears above its surface. Scoresby counted five hundred icebergs, from one hundred to two hundred feet in height, drifting in latitudes 69°— 70° N. ; and in Baffin's Bay, Boss saw several of them aground, in water fifteen hundred feet deep. ^^In the Arctic regions, a little to the north of Horn Sound, there is a fixed iceberg, which occu- pies eleven miles in length of the sea- coast. It rises precipitously from the sea, with a side per- fectly smooth, to the height of above four hundred feet. It extends back toward the summit of the mountains to about four times that elevation. These fixed icebergs become slowly corroded by the salt water, whose temperature has been raised by the Gulf Stream. As the ice of glaciers in the Polar valleys is still pouring downwards from be- hind, the mass projected into the sea can no longer support its own weight; it therefore snaps off, plunges into the deep sea, and splits into several masses, forming as many icebergs. Sea-currents drift them towards different coasts. The great gla- ciers, generated in the valley of Spitzbergen, in 79° of north latitude, are almost entirely cut ofi' at the beach. But in Baffin's Bay, on the west coast of Old Greenland, where the temperature of the sea 74 Ice-packs, is not mitigated by the waters of the Gulf Stream, the glaciers strike out from the shore, and furnish repeated crops of mountainous masses of ice, which, when dislocated from the parent glacier, float off into ocean/^ "The distance,^^ says the same writer, "to which icebergs are floated, is as remarkable as their magnitude. In the northern hemisphere, their extreme limit is lat. 40°, and they are occa- sionally seen in lat. 42° N., near the termination of the great bank of Newfoundland, and at the Azores, in the same latitude to which they are sometimes drifted from Baffin's Bay. In the south- ern hemisphere, icebergs, within the last few years, have been seen off different points of the Cape of Good Hope, between lat. 36° and 39°. One of these was two miles in circumference, and 150 feet above the water; appearing like chalk when the sun was obscured, and looking like refined sugar when the sun shone upon it. Others rose to even 300 feet above the level of the sea ; they must therefore be of great volume below. These two facts, from the northern and southern hemispheres, show that the area over which the effects of moving ice may be ex- perienced, comprehend a large portion of the globe.^' To find the way through the ice-pack, to brave the danger of what has seemed almost an eternal winter, had been indeed attempted by English, French, Danes, Norwegians — and the Russians were not to be left out. They, too, engaged in these expeditions, but with no great achievement. Russian Arctic Expedition, 75 The Russians had, at different times^ endea- voured to solve the difficulty of the North-west Passage. Some of their earlier explorations were abortive in any important results ; but the energy and determination of Peter^ the czar, were speedily felt in this, as in all other matters. It was plain to him that a large amount of profit would result, could the passage to the Indies be made through his dominions ; and so he set his learned men to this inquiry, — first. Were the continents of Asia and America joined? if so, was a land-passage practicable to China and Japan? Second, Was there a navigable passage along the Russian coast at any time of the year? If the answer were in either or in both cases favourable, not only was an immense im- petus given to Russian commerce, but the traffic of the world was diverted, and brought within his grasp. If European traders sailed through his waters, tribute must be rendered; if European traders sent their merchandise overland through Moscow, they must pay toll. The great northern Caesar was by no means insensible to material ad- vantages ; nor was he disposed, in any way, to let them slip. But, long before the problem suggested by the czar had been settled, death called for him j still, his plans remained, — the empress was pre- cisely adapted for carrying them out. There was a Russian captain, one Vitus Beh- ring, a likely man; and he was commissioned by the empress, in the first place, to ascertain whether Asia and America were joined by land. Kamt- 76 Vitus Behring and his Straits, schatka, a peninsula on the north-east of Asia, and forming part of the Russian territory, was selected as the place of departure. Every thing required for the voyage had to be sent from the civilised parts of Russia : on the coasts of Kamtschatka there were neither ships nor sailors, nor any thing in any way adapted for the purposes required : all had to be brought from the other side of the wastes of Si- beria. Only such patience and endurance as Russians possess could have surmounted the diffi- culties; but these grand though passive qualities did not fail, even in this extremity : ships, men, every thing was prepared; and Captain Behring left the port of Petropaulski in the middle of the summer of 1728. Sailing due north, they passed the island of St. Laurence. This island is near the mouth of the straits now called by Behring^s name. Passing these straits, the explorers found them, first of all, to narrow, and then to open widely, — the Asiatic coast stretching away to the west, and no land being observable to the north or east. This settled the matter to the navigator^s mind; there was no land - communication between Asia and America. The two continents were evidently sepa- rated by a narrow strait, which connected the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean. This strait is formed, in its narrowest part, by two remarkable headlands, — Prince of Wales's Cape, on the American coast^ and Cape East, on that of Asia. The distance between these points is thirty-six miles. The land, on both sides, is Cook's Testimo7iy to Behring. 77 much indented; and, on the Asiatic shore^ there are several convenient bays : but the coasts are in- hospitable, rugged, and bare of vegetation. Cap- tain Cook, who went through the straits in 1778, remarks, that on both sides were the same shoals, at the same distance from the shore ; that near land he never found more than twenty-three fathoms, and by his chart it appears that he nowhere found more than thirty. It is to the credit of Behring that the Asiatic coast, as laid down by him, called forth the unqualified approbation of our own great discoverer. There is no room to doubt that the Danish or Russian captain settled the fact of the existence of this strait, which is therefore very properly called by his name ; but the complete dis- covery was reserved for Cook, who surveyed the whole length of both coasts with a precision and accuracy which left nothing for later voyagers to perform. Twelve years after the discovery of the strait, Behring sailed on a voyage of exploration on the American coast. He took his departure from Okhotsk, and soon found himself amid that chain of islands in the North Pacific Ocean which stretch from the peninsula of Kamtschatka, in Asia, to Cape Alaska, in North America. On one of these his ship struck. It was a rocky, desolate place, — no food, no shelter; and there he miserably perished in 1741. The island still bears his name. The one point settled, namely, that no land- communication existed between Asia and America, 78 Schalauroff. the next question arose, Was there a navigable pass- age along the northern Asiatic coast ? It was not very difficult to explore the Russian coast : facilities were great, and command was absolute ; but it was next to impossible to explore the coast of the North- American continent. For a great extent it was all barren, and the statements of the savage tribes occasionally met with were not to be relied upon. Schalauroff, a Russian merchant, ventured much, and lost his life and the lives of his crew. He was one of many ; and while the earth^s climate remains as it is, a North-eastern Passage by sea, between India and Europe, appears practically impossible. CHAPTER III. CAPTAIN PENNY AND THE WHALE-FISHERY. " And God created the great whales, and each Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously The waters generated by their kinds." ***** " With fry innumerable, swarms and shoals Of fish that, with their fins and shining scales, Glide under the green wave." Encouragements given to the whale-fishery — The twenty-shilling bounty — Whales — Animalculae — Whalers — Description of their build — The * coigne of vantage' — The crow's-nest — Scoresby's story — Captain Penny — A long spell mth. the glass — The use of a wife — The crew and officers of a whaler — Whales above and under water — Maternal affection — Sharks — A hooded seal — A Polar fair — After the whales — An upset — Keeping a iDromise— A sharp fight — Over the ice — A cask of strong ale — Out on adventure — A shoal of whales — A strange scene — Lost by True Love — Admiralty Inlet — Awful weather — Ice — A close shave — " Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold !" — Sacks of coal — A great regard for powder — An ava- lanche with Jack at the head of it — Dirty weather — Direful losses — A small accident and daring voyage — Eunning through the ice — Charity " for a consideration" — Another adventure — " The ice closed on the fated ship." With the object of reviving the Greenland fishery, the British Government, in 1672, remitted all dues on Greenland importations — it granted free trade ; but, although several efforts were made to take ad- vantage of these favourable circumstances, the lost ground could not be recovered, and the Dutchmen 80 Greenland Bounty, reaped a golden harvest among the ice and snow. There were no better sailors afloat in those days than the amphibious Dutchmen ; they possessed all the hardy endurance so essential to success ; they had but recently established themselves as an in- dependent republic, — in doing this, the great north sea had been their chief friend ; we were no match for them in the Greenland fishery ; they had swept the sea of us there, at all events, as they threatened to do altogether, despite our boast to the contrary. In 1733, a bounty of twenty shillings a ton was granted by the British Government to ships en- gaging in the Greenland trade. This bounty was increased to forty shillings. The Scotch were the first to engage in the trade^ and in their hands it steadily began to revive. As the trade revived, the bounty was reduced, the object for which it had been granted being fully answered. The old Spitzbergen fisheries were once again in British hands, and the Greenland fisheries, and those of Davis^s Straits, were actively carried on. The Dutchmen lost ground. The whale-trade was drifting from them to us ; instead of selling to us oil and whalebone, they became our customers ; and finally they gave up the fishery, — only a few wandering vessels, with Dutch colours, were to be seen, — and the trade was yielded to British and American enterprise. *' The whale — that sea beast * * * which God, of all His works, Created hugest that swim the ocean stream," The IVhale and the Whale-fishery. 81 has been^ indeed^ the pioneer of Arctic discovery. When nothing but the hope of gain induced men to visit the northern waters, the whalers, in pur- suit of their prey, kept alive some interest in the frozen deep. The men who have conducted the whale-fishery have been keenly observant, and to them, as we have already had occasion to remark, are we indebted for a very large proportion of our information respecting the Arctic seas.'^ And here a few words about the whale and the whale-fishery may not be out of place. An ordi- nary Greenland whale is between fifty and sixty feet in length, and weighs seventy tons. The razor-back whales — so called from a horny protuber- ance along the back — are, indeed, much larger, and some of them attain the length of 100 feet. The most peculiar part of the Greenland whale is its head. Although it has both upper and lower jaws, it has no teeth, but in their room two fringes, each consisting of a series of blades of an elastic sub- stance, covered on their interior edges with hair, attached to the upper gum. This is what is com- monly called whalebone. These blades, of which there are upwards of 300, serve as a sieve or net^ into which the whale takes its prey and drains off the water. As the whale proceeds through the water, with distended jaws, even the smallest crea- tures are caught in this natural net, and thus a meal is provided for the monster. The mouth of the whale is about six or eight feet in width. There is an interesting fact connected with the 82 Animalculce in the Greenland Sea, food of the Greenland whale, namely, that they abound in what are known as the olive waters of the Greenland Sea, on account of the incalculable number of animalculse, or medusae, which occupy about a fourth of that sea, or 20,000 square miles. The whale cannot derive any direct subsistence from the animalcules; but these form the food of other minute creatures, which then support others, until at length animals are produced of such size as to afford a morsel for their mighty devourers. Mr. Scoresby estimated that two square miles of these waters contained 23,888,000,000,000,000 animal- culse ; and, as this number is beyond the range of human conception, he illustrated it by observing that eighty persons would have been employed since the creation in counting it. In the early days of the whale-fishery, when it was chiefly carried on in the bays, and at the margin of the frozen seas, the vessels used were comparatively slight. Now, however, when the ships push into the very heart of the ice, they are constructed with great care and strength. The parts exposed to concussion with the ice are se- cured with double and even treble timbers, fortified externally with iron plates, and internally with stanchions and cross-bars, so disposed as to cause any extraordinary pressure on one part to be sup- ported by the whole fabric. Most of the w^hale-ships are vessels of from 300 to 400 tons^ burden. They are amply provided with every necessary for the fishery, as well as for Whale-ships — The Crow's-nest. 83 the comfort of the men. One of the most import- ant things is, that the ship should be well fortified, and that she should be so rigged as to admit of rapid and easy manoeuvring. When the vessel is really entering on the fish- ing-grounds, the crow's-nest has to be set up. The crow^s-nest is a cylindrical frame, about four and a half feet high, and two and a half in diameter, covered with canvas, open at the top, and having a planked bottom, with a trap-hole left in it, by which the nest is entered. It is fixed to the top -gallant mast-head, and is intended to screen the person looking out from the fatal effects of a northern blast. It is provided with a seat, and a recess to hold telescopes, a speaking - trumpet, a rifle, ammunition, signal-flags, and a movable screen, which can be shifted round the top to keep the wind from the observer's head, which, of course, must be kept above the canvas when he is on the look out. The rifle, or fowling-piece, is provided in case the look-out man should observe a narwhal, which might escape the notice of those on deck, or which could not be hit from that low level. The look out is of the utmost importance, and the captain of the ship constantly occupies the crow's-nest, when the vessel is passing through cross ice, or when there is any apprehension of danger. On ordinary occasions, the mates take their turn, and pass several hours in that lofty situation, perhaps with a north-easterly wind blow- ing hard, and the thermometer fifteen degrees below 84 A long Spell in the Crow's-nest* freezing-point. If any danger assail^ the captairl goes at once to the crow^s-nest, and first of all scans the ship's intended course ; with the telescope constantly at his eye_, connecting the intricate leads together. To take a bad lead when passing across Bafiin's Bay would be often attended with the loss of ship or voyage. Captain Penny informs us, that in the season of 1838, while in command of the ship Neptune, he had to remain thirty-six hours in the crow's-nest; a continuous watch, broken only by descending for ten minutes to get a cup of hot tea. The glass was never from his eye for more than five minutes at a time. In 1863, Captain Penny, then in command of the Queen, and having Mrs. Penny on boards passed up Hudson's Straits, with the object of reaching the north end of Southampton Island. He found Fox's Channel much hampered with ice, and had to pass into Hudson's Bay, with a view to gain the same end by Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome. Adverse winds delayed the voyage, and it was long before they reached the Welcome. The captain had been up all night, carrying the ship near Marble Island — memorable as the scene of Knight's disas- trous shipwreck. At daylight, the captain called the mate to the mast-head, the ship running rapidly along the land, and instructed him to keep a hand in the boat, with the deep-sea lead forward, the line made fast at twenty fathoms, and to continue heaving it; also, to stand on the seat of the crow's- Another Spell. 85 nest, and to keep a steady look out for shoal-water. The bottom was to be seen at ten fathoms. Captain Penny had not been below more than an hour; the ship was in fifteen-feet water, on the south side of Chesterfield Inlet. The sound of danger brought the captain on deck, and in a few seconds he got her clear, the keel scraping the bottom, close in the neighbourhood of Munck's disastrous Avinter-quarters ; where, out of a crew of sixty-four, two only remained alive, besidts himself. Early frost overtook the Queen, and Penny had to retrace his course along the south end of South- ampton Island, almost keeping to the crow^s-nest night and day, the compass being of no use. Having again reached the Savage group, they passed through a strait in the middle of this cluster. No vessel had done this since the days of Queen Eliza- beth ; when the gallant Frobisher, with his fleet, in search of gold, may have done it. A bold, almost perpendicular, block of granite rose, on the north side, to the height of eight hundred feet; the water washed close in shore, and was about five miles wide ; the tide rushing at the rate of about six miles an hour to the north, right in the teeth of the wind. Having, in the course of the day, passed across Frobisher's Strait, the captain said to Mrs. Penny that he would just go to the mast-head and take a look, and be down in half an hour. But escape from the crow's-nest was not so easy. 86 A Lady to the Rescue. When he looked round, he saw that the bergs and broken pieces of berg were dangerously nu- merous, and it was coming on to blow a gale, at- tended with cross sea ; so that soon the ship was running amid the bergs at the rate of nine knots an hour, with the sea one sheet of foam. Nearly all the officers on board were new men, strange to the captain's voice — they could not easily catch the word ; and Mrs. Penny stood all through that long and dreadful night, passing the word of command, when an instant^s delay might have been hopeless destruction. It was seven in the morning before the captain left the mast-head. These incidents convey to us the best idea of the real use of the crow's-nest. Every thing de- pends on the quickness and endurance of the captain — swift to see danger, swift to time his command and to govern his ship, as a good horseman guides his steed. The whale- ships usually leave this country in time to reach the Shetland Islands early in April ; there they make up their complement of hands, receive their final equipment of stores, take down all but the essential appendages of the masts and rigging, and set up the crow's-nest. They then proceed to their place of destination; generally through Davis's Straits, to Baffin's Bay. In these high latitudes, whales are found in large numbers ; but the great prevalence of ice-mountains and bergs renders the fishing in the bay very perilous. " A Greenland ship, besides a master and sur- The Equipment of Whale-boats. 87 geon^ generally carries a crew of forty or fifty men^ comprising the mates, harpooners_, boat-steerers, line-managers, carpenters, coopers, &c. On arriv- ing in the latitude where fish are expected, the boats are got in readiness for immediate use, and every preparation is made for action. "The boats are arranged three on each side, and slung from the davits, so that any one or all can be lowered in a minute, on a signal being given that a whale is in sight. The whale-boat is from twenty- four to thirty feet in length ; it is built to unite the properties of being easily managed, and rowed with speed ; and yet to endure considerable strain and heavy seas. A boat's crew consists of seven or nine men, and carries from seven to eight hundred- weight of whale-lines and implements. The boats are broad in proportion, to resist the efibrts of the whale when diving, which would otherwise drag them under water ; an accident, notwithstanding, of no uncommon occurrence. "Each boat, when equipped for use, is provided with two harpoons, six or eight lances, and five or seven oars ; a small flag, to be set up at the stern when a whale is struck ; a tail-knife, about three feet long, used for cutting the fins of a dead whale ; a rest, on which the harpoon is laid, to be ready for instant service ; an axe, to sever the line, if neces- sary ; a small bucket for baling the boat, and hold- ing water to wet the running line, to prevent the friction from setting the boat on fire ; a grapnel, a boat-hook, a snow-shovel, and a few other articles. 88 Harpoons. The largest boats are all furnished with a small windlass, fixed across the thwarts, for the purpose of winding up the line which has been carried out by a whale, after the animal is killed. Sometimes a harpoon-gun, for discharging the weapon from, is used : this being a short gun, mounted on a swivel, near the bow of the boat ; but it is by no means generally used, even in the best-appointed vessels. '^ The harpoon is prepared for use by having a piece of rope eight or nine yards long spliced round the shank, the swelling of which, made to receive the handle or stock, keeps the rope from slipping oflP. The other end of this rope is made fast to the stock, w^hich, being put into the shank with sufii- cient firmness to retain its place during the cast, is nevertheless shaken out by the motions of the wounded whale. The object of this arrangement is, that the hold of the barbed harpoon may not be endangered by the motions of a long lever like the stock; and this latter, by being fastened to the harpoon, helps to indicate the situation of the whale beneath the water, as it floats on the surface. " Every harpoon is stamped with the name of the ship, that, in ease the whale gets away, and the harpoon is recovered by some other vessel, the right of ownership may be determined. After these pre- liminaries, the points and barbs are cleaned and sharpened, and the harpoon is covered with canvas or oiled paper, to preserve it, till it is put into the boat and attached to the line for immediate use. A weapon thus prepared is said to be spanned in, Whale-lines — Blubber-spades — '' A Fall f 89 '^ The whale-lines are made of the best hemp, and in the most careful manner. They are about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and are in lengths of a hundred and twenty fathoms ; six of which, spliced together, are put on board; each boat making a total length of 4320 yards. The harpoon being attached at one end, the rest of the line is coiled with the utmost regularity in the compartments of the boat; and the end is provided with an eye or loop, to allow of another length being added on from another boat, if necessary. '^ A blubber-spade is provided, for detaching the blubber from the body of the animal ; and every ship is provided with several sizes and forms of these spades. A spur is fixed by the men on the soles of their shoes, to prevent them slipping when standing on the whale. A machine was invented some years ago for cutting the blubber into small pieces, for packing in casks. Crossed sets of knives being worked backwards and forwards, mince up the masses put in at the top of the chest ; a canvas funnel, leading down into the hold, is hooked on to the bottom, and, being put to the bung-hole of each cask in succession, the pieces fall in.'^ When a whale is struck, the flag already men- tioned is hoisted at the stern of the boat, as a signal to those in the ship. The watch cries out, stamping on the deck, to arouse those below, '^ A fall ! a fall V^ (Dutch, Val, expressing the haste with which the sailors threw themselves into the boats). On this notice, the men do not stop even 90 Perils of the Whale-fishery — A long Chase, to dress ; but, with their clothes under their arms, tumble into the boat just as they are, managing to dress as well as they can in the intervals of rowing the boat. When compared with the perils of the whale- fishery, all other sport seems child^s play. A whale, indeed, may be captured and killed in little more than a quarter of an hour; but the contest has been known to last for forty or fifty hours. Scoresby relates an extraordinary case of a whale struck by one of the harpooners belonging to his ship, the Resolution, of Whitby, which, after a long chase, broke off and took with it a boat and twenty-eight lines, the united length of which was 6720 yards, or upwards of three English miles and three- quarters. The value of the property thus lost was above 150/. sterling, and the weight of the lines above thirty-five hundredweight. They soon, how- ever, again got sight of the animal nearly two miles off, and immediately reengaged in the pursuit. They came up with it, by great exertions, about nine miles from the place where it was first struck. The attack was renewed. One of the harpooners made a blunder ; the creature saw the boat, took the alarm, and fled. It was now thought that it would be seen no more ; but, after chasing it nearly a mile, it rose near one of the boats, and was at once harpooned. In a few minutes, two more harpoons entered its back ; and lances were plied against it with great courage and determina- tion. Exhausted by its amazing efforts to escape. A Battle with a Whale, 91 it at last yielded passively to its fate, and died without a struggle. The period during which a wounded whale can remain under water has been variously estimated. From five-and-twenty to thirty minutes seems a fair average. Then, pressed by the necessity of respiration, he appears above, often at a considerable distance from the spot where he went down, and in a state of great exhaustion. The exhaustion is ascribed to the severe pressure which the whale has endured when placed beneath a column of water 700 or 800 fathoms deep. Knowing that the whale must reappear, the boats pull off in various directions, that one at least may be within a start, as it is called — a distance of 200 yards — at the point of the whalers rising, at which distance they can easily reach and pierce him before he has taken breath enough to enable him again to sink. On his reappearance, the boats pull towards him as rapidly as possible, and a general attack is made with lances, every hand striking as deep as he can, and as near as possible to some vital part. Blood and oil spurt out and tinge the water for a wide range, sprinkling the crews, and sometimes drench- ing them. As the battle continues, the whale gets more and more exhausted -, as death approaches, he generally makes a convulsive effort to escape, rearing his tail high in the air, lashing the water with it, and sometimes striking a boat ; but at last the struggle is over, and, powerless to move, the huge monster lies on his side or back and quietly ex- 92 Maternal Affection of the Whale. pires. Swiftly two holes are made in the whalers tail, ropes run through and attached to the boat, and then the prize is borne off triumphantly to the ship. Speaking of the maternal affection of the whale, Captain Scoresby says : '^ When the young whale is struck, its mother joins it at the surface of the water, whenever it has occasion to rise for respira- tion; encourages it to swim off; assists its flight, by taking it under her fin ; and seldom deserts it while life remains. She is then dangerous to approach, but affords frequent opportunities for attack. She loses all regard for her own safety, in anxiety for the preservation of her young ; dashes through the midst of her enemies ; despises the danger that threatens her : and even volun- tarily remains with her offspring after various attacks on herself from the harpoons of the fishers. In June 1811, one of my harpooners struck a sucker, with the hope of its leading to the capture of the mother. Presently she rose close by the ^ fast-boat ;^ and, seizing the young one, dragged about a hundred fathoms of line out of the boat with remarkable force and ve- locity. Again she rose to the surface ; darted furiously to and fro ; frequently stopped short, or suddenly changed her direction, and gave every possible intimation of extreme agony. For a length of time she continued thus to act, though closely pursued by the boats ; and, inspired with courage and resolution by her concern for her Captain Penny^s eafty lExperiences, 93 offspring, seemed regardless of the danger which surrounded her. At length, one of the boats approached so near that a harpoon was hove at her. It hit, but did not attach itself. A second harpoon was struck — this also failed to penetrate ; but a third was more effectual, and held. Still she did not attempt to escape, but allowed other boats to approach ; so that, in a few minutes, three more harpoons were fastened ; and in the course of an hour afterwards she vv^as killed.^^ We shall here introduce some of the early- experiences of that veteran whaler, and well-known explorer, — one of the most assiduous in the search for Franklin, — the gallant Captain Penny. Captain Penny says that when he first went to sea (he was but twelve years of age), he can remem- ber well that the master saw from the mast-head a vessel a very long distance off ; after passing through some cross ice, the sails of this vessel were observed to be handed, which showed the master that it must be among the whales. Every stitch of canvas was set, and every one on board was anxious to know the result. They soon discovered that the vessel was a Dutch ship, fast attached to a floe, and surrounded by whales. The British vessel was also soon made fast with warps and anchors; and the boats, setting off in pursuit of the whales, killed four or five in a very short time. Several sharks then began to make their appearance, and the crew, being worn out, turned in, the watch having orders not to allow the sharks to eat the blubber. 94 Catching a Seal asleep. Young Penny went and collected some harpoons out of tlie boats, and struck one into the shark that was alongside. Judge of the boy^s surprise when a rope's end was threatened for getting the harpoons bent or destroyed — they were wanted for more important work than shark-killing. In one month, seventeen whales were captured, from the 7th of June to the 7tli of July; and in pass- ing through the ice, another large one was caught, making eighteen in all, and yielding 155 tons of oil. The next season in which Penny served in the high latitudes Avas not so profitable. In passing south, however, a large hooded seal was seen on the ice ; they favoured him with some swan-shot in his face, and then some of the men jumped on the ice, armed with clubs ; but the seal beat them oflP, making their clubs fly in all directions, and Jack made good his escape. Two or three days later, a fine hooded seal was seen napping in the sunshine. A bullet made sharp work of him ; and when the sailors got hold of the animal, there was the swan-shot in his face ! It was the same seal that had before escaped, and in the course of two or three days it must have travelled 120 miles. This voyage. Captain Penny tells us, w^as not so successful ; the result was five bears, five whales, five bottle-nose whales, and fifteen seals ; but they were right glad to escape through the pack of washed ice that nearly finished the gallant Alert. As the ship beat against the ice-floes, the headings of the deck were starting from their covering- A Polar Fair. 95 boards ; but the danger was surmounted without any serious injury, and, with the flag of old Eng- land floating over them, the brave fellows were again in open water. 1823 was a season fraught with danger to the whale-fishers. The Ale7't was carried through a vast quantity of cross ice into the heavy floes ; ship after ship followed, and was made fast under the lee of the fine field of bay land-ice, until some twenty sail were ranged along its edge, ^^ If Parry or Eoss,^' says Captain Penny, "had seen such floes, they would soon have reached the Pole/^ Several Dutch vessels were amongst the number of whalers, and they were all soon closed in with the ice. Bonded stores were not given to Jack in those days ; and the Dutchmen, who considered JacVs wants, kindly carried a supply of tea, sugar, coffee, and tobacco, for which the charges were — tobacco, 7s, 6d, per lb. ; tea, 6s, 6d. ; coffee, 4*. Here was a chance for free trade for poor Jack ; and as gold and silver were low in these quarters, Jack^s sea-chest provided the medium of exchange. Again and again would Jack present himself with the request : " Please, sir, will you allow me to go out and get a bit of ^bacco ?'^ " Yes, Jack, but donH get tipsy .^^ " God bless you, no, sir.^^ All through the ice-bound season did this Polar fair continue, and the Hanse friends must have carried on a very lucrative trade ; many a poor 96 An Opportunity lost, fellow wlio had been dealing with the Dutchmen came back minus a covering or two. This want of care for the proper provision of the sailors was very discreditable to those who had the management of affairs. The breaking up of the ice put a stop to the fair, and the whalers were once more afloat. ^^ One morning/^ says Captain Penny, " about six a.m., we were resting on our oars, after a long pull from our ship. It was a dull morning, and not very light under the bold, dark land we had now reached. Suddenly the cry, ^ A fall ! a fall V reached our ears, and was taken up by us with all the volume our lungs could give it, to call our straggled boats, and let the men know a whale had been harpooned, — the high cliffs giving back the echo. The whale was now running in its fury close along shore, and grounding ; and woe betide the harpooner or boat-steerer who lost his presence of mind. One old salt lost his that morning, when the whale had given him an excellent chance with her head aground upon a rock. ^ If you're not going to strike the fish, keep out of the way, and let me do it,' I called out. This was too much for the old seaman ; in he went. But the oppor- tunity was lost ; the whale had backed off" the rock, and was in the act of turning ; and so swiftly did she slue round, that her tail missed the water and came in contact with the unfortunate man's boat, knocked in two planks, and broke some of his oars. The last thing I heard was conveyed in a language not to be mentioned to polite ears. A stirring Adventure, 97 " Off in pursuit, we left liim to the rocks, or the first boat astern. I was resolved on having the whale ; and she, perhaps, equally resolved that I should not have her, ran in between a rock and the land, where there was no room to pass be- tween her mischievous tail and the rock itself. But I was not to be out-manoeuvred. Round I went, to meet her nose, where a bit of ice pre- vented her further progress. Oh, it was a right good sight to see how her tail and fins went to work to carry her out of the scrape. I jumped on the piece of ice, harpoon in hand, and lodged it right in her broadside ; quick as thought, she backed astern ; so did I to my boat, lifting the bow over the ice. Before I could accomplish this, the lines were cut by the sharp edges of the rock, and I was loose again, and so was she. Off she was like a shot, this time to deep water, with our first boat after her. The mate struck her with another har- poon. Then she went down. She had been some fifteen minutes under water, and we were all anx- iously looking for her reappearance, when suddenly we saw our mate twenty feet in the air. He had been standing in his boat's bow when she struck the boat right under his feet in a slanting position, and broke it in two. The first fast-boat was along- side as quick as possible. We then helped the mate out of his involuntary bath, and tried to make him as comfortable as we could. The sea was one vast sheet of lathering foam. " ^ Stop ! stop ! take me in !' cried a shrill voice. 98 Whale-fishing Adventures. It was that of the unfortunate harjiooner^ who had lost Ms head that morning, and was near losing his life now. Of course we got hold of him, and pulled him into the boat. Just then the whale put her head above water to breathe. In went another lance — now was our time — a little below the fins. " ^ Back, back, for your lives, men '/ I cried, as up went the tail in the air like lightning, and down it came like thunder. The next flood of water, thrown high in the air, was blood-stained. ^^ ^ Again, my lads; don^t look over your shoul- ders ; one more lance, and alFs over !^ ^^So it proved ; a rush of crimson told that the work was done ; there was a struggle, and then the whale rolled over on her back, and the battle was over. It had been a right good fight; the whale had put two of our boats hors de combat ; and so, with joy, we towed our prize alongside the ship.^^ The adventures common to the whale-fishery are all full of interest, not with regard to whales oiily, but with regard to other denizens of the icy seas. Having promised a young lady a bear-skin mat, Mr. Penny was very anxious to fulfil his pro- mise. One day, off" Cape Walsingham, he went on shore to look for whales. Before long, the crew in his boat began to shout and wave their caps. Naturally enough, he thought they liad seen a whale. He glanced eagerly seaward ; but, for his own part, he could see nothing, nor for a moment could he conjecture what was the cause of the Narrow Escapes from Bears, 99 men^s impatience to get him into the boat. Just as he came down to the water^s edge, they cried out, " Look behind you, William V^ He looked, and then leaped into the boat, and almost at the same instant two bears sprang into the water. Now was the opportunity for fulfilling his pro- raise. The men were as willing as he was to capture the bears. But they had no gun; and, not wishing to destroy the skin with lances, they threw a noose over the neck of one bear, while they shoved off in pursuit of the other. But this plan did not answer ; the bear was always slipping his head through the noose, and compelling them to retake him, so that the lance had to finish the busi- ness after all. They captured both bears, but not without some good fighting. One day, lying under the land-floe, a bear was seen close under the vessel's stern. The boat vras soon manned, and, after a little trouble, the second mate wounded him. The bear turned upon them, and put his paws on the boat^s gunwale ; and, had not a Shetland man taken his boat-hook, and struck him violently on the head, and so back into the water, the bear would have been in the boat. As it was, he carried off a piece of flesh from a boy^s leg, biting through trousers and stocking. '^ I once,'^ says Captain Penny, '^ went after a large bear, and, as he was making out for a floe, we had to pull hard to get between him and the ice. I placed the gun at his head, without faking aim, — missing him, of course, but breaking his large teeth. 100 A Bear of Spirit. I saw my clanger, caught up my lance, and jumped on the floe. The bear reared himself half out of the sea, with his fore-paws on the ice ; I faced him with my lance, and succeeded in driving it into his breast. Luckily for me, the ice underneath gave way with him, or I should have come off second best. Here was I struggling to keep him off the floe, my hands within a few inches of his formidable jaws; and there was he doing his best to effect his object, and be my companion on the ice. The lance sickened him_, and he gave up the contest, and swam to a little bit of ice, with the lance still in his breast. When he had got upon the ice, he set to work, with his teeth, to pull out the lance, and succeeded; the five-foot rod he drew out completely, and let it drop in the water. He stood quite still after this, the blood from the wound gushing out like a tor- rent, and then fell down dead. Lady Bannerman, wife of Sir Alexander Bannerman, late Governor of Newfoundland, had his skin for a mat. He was a very large fellow, and had been in many a battle/' In the season of 1826, the Dundee, of London, Captain David Duncan, was caught in Melville Bay, in company with a Dutch ship, in latitude 75° N. The latter vessel was wrecked towards the end of August, and had no chance of escaping from the ice that season. The enterprising Dutch- men, knowing that there would not be sufficient provisions for both crews all through the winter, pushed over to the Danish settlement, a distance of over 200 miles of rugged ice. Some of the adven- A disastrous Season 101 turers fell by the way, and several were frost-bitten ; however, they reached the settlement in fourteen days. Duncan was very fortunate in having the wreck of the Dutchman so near him. The crew was kept in good health by exercise^ rendered necessary in the effort to procure fuel. The captain himself was a man of cheerful disposition, and used to play the fiddle for his crew to dance. In the month of February, they were fortunate enough to kill tvvo whales, and, what was better still, fell in with Cap- tain Lee, of Hull, one of the kindest-hearted sailors in the service. In the season of 1830, when disasters crowded so fast on one another that it was doubtful whether there would be vessels enough to carry home the wrecked crews. Penny was docked in loose floes off Cape Dudley Digges. The old Speacei^ of Mont- rose, was lost, and the crew had to be distributed amongst the following vessels, the Monarch, the Resolution J and Eclipse. The three mates, of whom Penny was one, were despatched to the wreck, with some sixty men, to save the provisions for the increase of crew. Unluckily for them. Jack's pro- pensity for getting into the after- lockers asserted itself, and strong ale, porter, and wine soon began to do their work ; so the mates had the hatch to themselves. A cask of strong ale was got up, and placed on the weather-side of the companion — the ship was lying so far over that the lee-side was in the water — the head of the cask was knocked in, and all subordination was at an end. The barrel pro- 102 A Shoal of Whales. jected beyond the companion-head, and Penny took the liberty of shoving it forward, so that the ale-cask went clean over. The sailors did what they could to prevent the accident, but failed, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the ale in the salt water ; so that Jack^s debauch was ended, and they were able, after a little while, to resume the work they had been sent to do. As mate of the Traveller, of Peterhead, Mr. Penny urged the captain (Captain Simpson) to pro- ceed up Barrow Strait, having only procured half a cargo at Pond^s-Bay fishery. They were lying becalmed, twenty-five miles off Navy-Board Inlet ; the sea was like a mirror. Penny asked to be allowed to go with three boats, and had them pro- visioned and ready, when the master declared it was too great a distance. However, at breakfast, he got him to consent, and was off in a moment. After a long, weary pull of six hours, they reached Cape Hay, the east head of the islet, and heard a noise like a distant waterfall. Landing to see if they could discover what it was, a shoal of whales was seen coming round the point of the inlet, not half a mile away. Keeping the boat's head well out, being alongside of a large piece of ground-ice, at the end of a quarter of an hour, up came the shoal of whales, about twenty yards from them. The gun was ready, and just as they were ap- proaching — not two fathoms from the boat's bow — the foremost whale caught sight of the boat, and took fright. Penny favoured him with a harpoon. Sharp Work. 103 but the spade of the weapon broke off. The shoal of whales was in confusion^ and the wounded whale, with the harpoon in its head, floundered up the inlet, and Penny^s boat went after it. When they opened up the inlet, the sight they beheld far exceeded any thing they had ever before witnessed. It was perfectly bewildering, and defies description ; there were immense shoals of whales, white whales, sea-horses, seals, and bears. Penny^s boat was alone, the companion boats having pulled after the frightened shoal of whales. A large piece of ground-ice lay before Penny, and hard by a whale, apparently asleep on the water, sluing round and round. He thought she would make an easy capture, and was about to dart his harpoon into her body, when she lifted her tail, gave the whole crew a right good shower-bath, smashed one of their oars, and went down. They tried her with a harpoon under water, but she escaped. She had been watching the boat^s ap- proach, but was, perhaps, unwilhng to disturb herself until she knew its business. A group of whales at the land-ice caught the whalers^ attention, and within ten minutes they were fast to a fine specimen ; but there was no companion boat in sight. With his feet firmly planted, and the line smoking with the friction as it ran out. Penny called to the men : " Water the lines, or they'll be on fire V^ The creature was swift and powerful, and the run on the line was frightful. It stopped ; she ap- 104 A Fishing in good earnest. peared, and then Avas off again with a second har- poon in her, and three-quarters of a mile of line. Then she blew blood. .They cut the line, made it fast to an ice-floe^ and went after her to tow her down to where they had fastened the line ; but a strong current out of Navy-Board Inlet carried her off the floe^ and they left her and returned to their lines^ and ascertained^ to their chagrin^ that a loose fish had been playing the mischief with them. The other two boats had followed down Barrow^s Strait after the fugitive whales^ and here was Penny and his boat^s crew, with hundreds of whales round them, and but little chance of capture ; so that it was necessary to return to the ship. A fresh breeze had sprung up, and brought the ship in, but too much to the leeward to enter the inlet ; it bore down Bar- row^s Strait, and in two days got a-fishing in good earnest. Just in the height of their great success, a gale came on, and they were caught in the face of the ice. Having some four whales to put into the casks, they did so ; but so heavy were the strokes the ship got from the ice, that it made the casks jump in the hold, and the men too. After sixteen hours of this work, they contrived to warp the vessel outside of the broken ice or pack, where four other whales lay ready to be flinched. Sixteen hours^ work, and then to work the ship out of the ice, was no light work, and we may be sure the men were pretty well done up. A short time only elapsed before another shoal of whales appeared, and the work had to be renewed. Falling asleep at Dinner. 105 " What^s to be done now^ William T^ was the inquiry put to Mr. Penny. " Kill whales^ sir^ while we can keep one eye open/^ Avas the prompt answer. ^' We can stand a glass of grog for Jaek.^' The boats were off at once^ and soon fast to a whale. The captain got aboard^ and hove the ship off as it began to blow a strong breeze, with sleet and snow. The boat^s crew managed to kill five whales. Two died at the bottom, with seven lines out; and just as they had another close to the surface, the harpoon drew, and she was lost. Another played the same game. The boats were then called in ; and as the crew began to haul in the lines, what with fatigue and the blinding drift, human nature could stand it no longer, and the men fell asleep at their work. Penny went from man to man, shaking them up, and urging them to get the whales aboard ; but this they could not do, — so they moored the fish to the ice, and went on board. They were so done up with want of sleep, that they dropped down while hauling in the lines. ^' When we were at diuner,^^ Mr. Penny says, '^ I fell fast asleep with the spoon in my hand.'^ A good spell of sleep made every one concerned ready for work again -, but the weather was boisterous, and only at the risk of life was an attempt made — an attempt obliged to be abandoned — to get the whales aboard. Suddenly, after long and weary waiting, a cry was raised, " Ship in shore V' The cry was like an electric shock, and the alarm was 106 The Course of the ^^ True Love,''' well founded. They saw^ too late, that the True Love, of Hull, had taken possession of their whales, their two boats, and seven lines attached to a har- poon. The sight was not a pleasant one, and Mr. Penny was most anxious to shove off with five boats^ crews, and claim the fish that it had cost so much to capture. He felt assured that the officers of the True Love would return their prize, if the affair were explained, and if it were shown that the whales and boats were not abandoned, but were being watched from the ship. If the crew of the T'rue Love would not yield to reason- able arguments, they might be compelled to yield to those of force ; but the captain would not hear of this plan. They had only to reach along the land-ice up Barrow^s Strait as far as Admiralty Inlet, a distance of from forty to fifty miles, to find thousands of whales. Having killed nine at a fall, the loose ice set in, and forced them into a much worse position than before at Navy-Board Inlet, and the old Traveller had to take her chance ; but, having a good strip of ice outside her, she lay pretty com- fortable. One of the whales was carried away by the ice. Penny, along with another, was despatched to pick it up. Having launched their two boats over the loose, broken pieces of ice, off they set under double-reefed canvas, picked up two whales, broke their line with the heavy surge, and nearly capsized their boats. Whenever they got fast to the whales, they set full sail; but the current was More Disasters. 107 running so strong out of the inlet^ that it carried the whales to windward even with the two boats in tow. A vessel passing at this time^ they pulled on board to ask the captain to give them a tow with his ship down to the floe-edges. He kindly consented, and towed them within half a line of the ice; but all their efforts were ineftectual in securing their prize. The weather was awful^ and^ after a near chance of destruction, they were forced to abandon the whales, and lose thereby six hours^ labour. Mr. Penny says that, on the same night, the Juno, of Leith, with a cargo of thirty-six whales, was wrecked. The captain had given orders, if any ice was seen during the night while he was abed, not to attempt to wear the ship. A piece was seen on the lee bow ; the officer of the watch put up the helm and squared his main-yard, while contrary instructions were given by another officer ; the consequence was — the ice drifting rapidly — that the ship ran right into it, and stove in her bow. > The concussion was so great as to break down the bulk-head ; the blubber came in contact with the fire, and she was in a blaze. At the same time the Dee, of Aberdeen, having some whales alongside lying at the land-floe, the loose ice drifted them clear of their prize, and the shocks of the swell were so great, that it seemed every moment as if the vessel must go to pieces. A boat^s crew was left to look after the whales, and the Dee's double-reefed top- sail being set, with the help of hands sent from 108 ''.Ice ahead r other vessels, she was got oflP, and the strong cur- rent carried her free of the ice. When, on that awful night, the storm moderated, some forty dead whales were to be seen drifting away with the heavy ice-pack. Mr. Penny was very anxious to complete the cargo, seeing so many whales almost within reach ; but the risk appears to have been too great. ^^The gale," he says, "continued up Barrow^s Straits, broke up the ice, and the whales disappeared through Admiralty Inlet into the Gulf of Boothia, and we had to take our course along the west side of Davis^s Straits to Exeter Bay, a still more dangerous fishery, which is conducted by leaving the ship." Of adventures with the ice Mr. Penny relates a very remarkable escape. One night the officer of the watch called out, '' Ice ahead !" *^I jumped up on the fore rigging, and saw one line of broken water close under our lee. " ' Square the main-top-sail ! Up helm ! Down fore-sail! Call all hands !' "There was no time for ceremony; the ship . was on the face of a pack. The master w^as a sleepy-headed man, but this time he required no second summons. " ' My God ! we must take it, sir. She has no room to wear.^ His eyes were not quite open yet. ^If she comes broadside on that heavy ice, she is wrecked between those two pieces. There, now ! steadily, I say, wear her, for the life of you ! Shift the helm only when I tell you !^ A very close Shave. 109 ^'The next moment the ship entered between the two pieces of heavy ice. To have struck upon either was certain destruction. Aloft the men shook out all reefs ; she came in contact with a mass of ice right aheacl^ which shook every timber; the men were pitched about^ the masts were bend- ing under press of sail. ^* The second mate was despatched to the line- room. Up he came in a hurry to report that ice was in the line-room. Down I went and asked him to come down and show me where it was. In one half-hour she had forged ahead through as much ice as formed a natural breakwater, and, for the time, was saved. The pumps were set to work; she sucked ; and one long, loud cheer went up in thanks to God for His great mercy. " We were then about thirty miles off the Cape of God^s Mercy, having forged some seven miles through the pack ; and for two days we drove before tlie gale. At last it moderated, and hauled to the westward. The vessel was very heavily laden, and there was still great risk, and prepara- tions were being made to lighten the ship, when a cry was raised, " ^ Land on the lee bow !^ " Sure enough, there was an immense iceberg. '' ' Down fore-sail ! Up helm !' '' Mr. Penny went to the captain, and suggested that, if they could get hold of the berg, it would take them into open water in a few hours. The orders were given, and readily obeyed. In went the ship ] 10 The Fate of the '' Eglintonr under the berg in a calm. To attach the vessel was no easy task ; there was the risk of life or limb — the risk of every thing : but Penny did his work admirably, and^ by and by getting free of the ice^ the old Traveller bowled along, under press of canvas, nine miles an hour. The disappointments that are sometimes ex- perienced in these seas are enough to test the strongest fortitude and the best of tempers. Cap- tain K Todd, of Kirkaldy, in command of the Eglinton, after having caught three large fish on the east side of Davis^s Strait, was suddenly over- taken by ruin, and Penny describes the scene. He says : " We were running with studding-sails low and aloft, and were hard across Baflfin^s Bay. Three or four ships had passed between two floes. I was at the mast-head, and called out to let the master know that the lead Avas close in, and that we had better haul"to around the north end of the floe-piece. I did not think the Eglinton would be in time. Captain Todd was snow-blind at the time, and one of the harpooners was on the mast-head. Captain Simpson came up. I hurried to the deck, know- ing that all the studding-sails should be hauled down and the yards braced up. I was watching the Eglinton' s progress. I saw her take a turn to windward, and called out, ^The Eglinton' s caught ! She is gone, sir !^ And just as I had spoken was the work of destruction done. Those below had not time to put their clothes on. The mischief Auriferous Treasure. Ill done^ the floes slacked oiF again ; the fine, stately ship^s masts and yards were lying on the ice. We stopped to give what assistance we could to the unfortunate people/^ While lying in the harbour of Durban, Mr. Penny was surprised to see Jack come alongside stripped of jacket and trousers, the clothes lying on the top of the lines aft ; the legs of the trousers and the sleeves of the jacket were tied fast, so as to serve for bags, and were all well stuffed. The second mate came to see what had been found. It appears they had discovered a bright ore ; they did not know what it was, but the care which they had taken of it evidently showed that they considered it valuable, probably gold. When the doctor took a look at it. Jack was sadly disappointed; his auriferous treasure turning out to be a combination of sulphur, iron, and copper (pyrites). But ano- ther and more important discovery had been made, namely, that of coal ; and to satisfy Jack's pro- pensity for mining, each boat was given a bag ; the men were sent to look out for whales, and requested, if no whales were passing, to bring a bag of coals on board at night; they were told, also, that in future the doctor would be sent ashore to oversee the mineral department. The season of 1829 was a fine fishing one in those bays. Cape Search is about nine miles north of Durban Island. Being a young mate. Penny had great difficulty in keeping the harpooners and their crews to their duty. The bay had filled up 112 Shooting ivith Molasses. with ice ; and twenty sail of ship^s boats had col- lected round the head. He had requested his boat to move out of the cluster^ and had almost reached the outside range^ when up came a whale^ running like an evil spirit. Penny had a gun in his boat^s bow, but one of the North Briton's boats was close beside him. He was one length ahead of him ; " PIc/^ Penny says, ^^ began to press us, and his foremost oar plated over mine ; he trying to cross, and so get between me and the whale. I whipped up my gun, and let fly past his ears ; the whale, being twelve to fifteen fathoms off, the harpoon went right out of sight on her broadside. There was a ^falF (a call used by whalers to bring assistance), and our boat spun past and alongside of the meddler, breaking all his port-oars. ^^ ^ That's well done,' I said; ^ a chance shot will kill her.' '' '1 don't know how it is,^ said he, with a rueful countenance ; ^ the boats in shore have been blazing away all day, and they have not done it yet !' " The old governor had a great regard for his powder ; and when I asked for some that morning, he told me to take ashes, and we thought he called down ^ molasses;^ however, we managed to get powder. It was made known to the captain that a large whale had been shot. ^' ' YouVe got a fish, have you?' '' 'Yes, sir; the mate shot her with molasses !' '^ As Jack's sweetener was always running short, the captain thought we were asking for some. A flying Whale. 113 and said they should have some; when it was explained to him, he laughed and said, "^I said ashes; the boy has shot her with ashes V " But the men did not lose their allowance, and we got our whale. ^^ We had driven down to Durban Head, when several whales were seen ; and I, in my boat, with three other boats, was despatched to see what we could do. As all the boats were pulling too close to me — it was against orders — I stopped and told them to take a berth off one another, as we came in shore. I, of course, being last now, had just reached the little rock off the north point of Dur- ban Island (not having a gun with me), when a fish rose close in shore of us; we allowed her to pass ; then a long pull and a strong pull, and we reached her tail. She heard our boat, and her tail began to slip ahead. I hove my harpoon, while the whale turned short round Durban Is- land, flying as only a whale can fly, turning into every bight of land, never going down, we at her very tail, with our inside oars ready to pull the boat off any sloping point ; at such a rate did she fly, that the sailors were for cutting the line, as the waves were often over their heads. For seven miles she kept her course, and then turned right round and dipped ; then she came up to breathe a little ; and just as I had hauled up to put a lance in, she was off again, now right for the ship, a dis- tance of ten miles. Two boats^ crews were kept to H 114 Boulders. finish the chase. One of our boats pulling off with his jack flying, the master was off to the mast-head^ and, as soon as he got into the crow's-nest, he called out to us to cast at the whale. We made our boats fast to the fish, she running at a frightful pace; there seemed no prospect of her stopping, and two miles farther would take us to the ice. But an ensign was run up to recall the boats, and the guns fired ; and after running us over two more miles, we lost our whale, having held her fast for ten hours. Two days afterwards she was picked up near the spot where we lost her.'' One day, as Mr. Penny and Dr. McDonald (a fine fellow, who afterwards entered the navy, and accompanied Sir John Franklin on his disastrous expedition) had rounded the headland, and, could see nothing of the boats, they continued to ply along the base of this remarkable island; hear- ing at intervals one boom after another of what sounded like distant artillery. The reports were too loud for harpoon- guns ; but they soon ascer- tained what Jack was after^ as, pulling actively along, the weather being quite clear, they landed, to have a look for the vessels fast in the ice, at a very rugged part. They had got up about one-third of the distance, when down came bounding from ledge to ledge large boulders, from a height of a thousand to fifteen hundred feet ; large splinters were flying in every direction, threatening their immediate destruction. Penny and the doctor leapt from ridge to ridge, seeking a place of shelter ; and at Jack makes himself scarce. 115 last^ lying close under a shelving mass, they called out to those in the boat to pull, which they did willingly enough. Happily, none of the boulders touched them ; and at last, greatly to their relief, they ceased falling. Hastening upward to catch Jack, for they could hear voices above them, they arrived just too late. Jack^s eyes were ever active, and his legs nimble; and not wishing to have his bottle of rum stopped, or to be kept aboard next day for the trick he had been playing, he made off, and, having the advantage of a fine descent, flew like a greyhound to his boat, and escaped ; the fellows all pulling steadily to look for whales, knowing well enough that no whale would approach the coast, after such a noise as they had created. A few days later, a whale was seen coming right in from the off-side ice, breaching, — that is, leaping out of the water like a salmon. All the three ships^ boats were after her. She rose close alongside the North Pole ; one of its boats was just alongside, one of those of the Commerce about half a length ahead. Both harpooners rose to- gether ; the harpooner of the Commerce hove his harpoon, he of the North Pole held his till he was on the back of the whale. The Commerce har- poon was first fast, and of course he claimed the whale. They were caught in the face of the land-ice with a S.W. gale, thick snow, and the darkness of night ; they had great difficulty in keeping their 116 A rugged Height, ships off. The old Neptune was the first ; she crawled round the bold, dark block of Cape Searle, within the breadth of herself from its face. Penny reached in to give them a tow off, and then ran round the head into Merchant's Bay, and made fast to an iceberg. The dark fog continued^ and the gale blew, for two days. At the end of the second day, the Commerce had hove in stays close under the cape. They could see the old Neptune^s masts over the low point that formed the boundary of Lucky Bay. In ten minutes they saw her coming out of the fog, running along the land into the fine, clear weather, and she was soon fast along with them at the berg. Partial clears brought the Gleaner, Resolution, and Eclipse, Abreast of the little bight was a rugged height of 1500 feet, the face of it formed by de- tached blocks of rock, all the way to the top. A fine day tempted Penny to ascend, with the object of obtaining a view of the vessels that were lying fast under a point of ice off Cape Boughton, and the fine lead of water all the way down to Mer- chant's Bay— the best fishing-spot in Davis's Strait in the season. " Just as I was regretting,^^ says Captain Penny, " the^ great error of judgment that had led these captains to involve their ships with the ice, in the state it was in, Captain Anderson, of the Gleaner, called out, ^ Penny, your boat's fast at your ship^s stern.' I saw, at a glance, the harpooner had given her too much line ; and the loss of our first whale. Ice-bound Ships. 117 a few days before, made me anxious. I was olBPlike a bird. The last I heard was, ^ Good God V and in- deed I needed His goodness, as I had to leap from block to block, and from side to side, to avoid the rolling, bounding boulders, set in motion by my descent. Stop I could not, until I stood on a fine, dark, sandy beach. But I was too late to save my whale ; she ran inside a large piece of ice, — the boat being too far astern to follow her, — turned sharply round the piece, and the lines went underneath and broke. Eleven large whales were lost, and five were captured. " But to return to the ice-bound ships, as seven of them proved to be. On my return to Aberdeen, I, along with others, signed a petition to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty of Great Britain and Ireland, and also of the vast colonial empires. Their lordships did not agree to the prayer of that petition ; it was a very grave error of judgment. The moment I heard the result, I went to William Hogarth, Esq., owner of the Neptune, and requested to be allowed to fit her out immediately. He refused. ' Then, sir,' I said, ' I know what interest I may expect from you, if the same fate overtakes me.' Now let me enumerate the disasters, as well as memory serves me. The William To7i% lost be- tween the 20th of March and April 12th, 1836, on the land- ice, with not less than sixty-five men on board — there might have been seventy-two men. My reason for giving the above date is, that from the end of February till about the 26th of 118 Caught by a Berg. March, the Esquimaux go deer-hunting, returning in time for the young sealings. The William Torr had on board part of the William Lee's crew, also wrecked : all perished. In another vessel, from Aberdeen, twenty-five of the crew perished; and about that number in the Forth, of Kirkaldy ; of the Jane, of Hull, ^y^ or more ; of the Lady Jane, of Newcastle, perhaps twenty ; of the Mary Frances, ten. These were the losses of the vessels that wintered 1835-6, or rather were frozen in; probably the loss of life in all was 135 or 140. When fishing on the north side of Merchant's Bay, I reached ofi*with my jack flying, that they might see we were fishing, and be induced to come south. There is no accounting for the error of judgment on their part. It is to be regretted that the con- duct of the crews was not more becoming brave •men suffering great privations, obedient to their superiors and faithful to themselves. Eut let us draw a veil over their shortcomings, and remem- ber only how much they were called upon to endure.^' In the season of 1845, Mr. Penny was in com- mand of the St. Andrew ; and, in crossing Melville Bay, his vessel, caught by a berg, lifted on the ice, had twenty -two of her timbers broken, and twenty-six feet of her keel cut out. Before the people's clothes could be got out, the ship settled . down again, and made water very rapidly. "When, afterwards, this vessel was put on the slips at Aberdeen, every one who saw her was surprised that w H o o OS o w H >^ O <1 O w H O O Perils from Icebergs . 121 Mr. Penny had been able to bring her home. The ground-tier casks were broken from side to side, involving a loss of twenty tons of oil. We may here notice that Mr. Penny, who has been in com- mand since 1835, has never recovered a farthing from underwriters. We have already furnished some particulars with regard to icebergs; the following incident still further illustrates the perils of the Arctic seas : ^' It was at the end of the fishing season, and our ship was the last but one of the oil-traders left in those seas ; we had been very unsuccessful, having only taken five small whales, and we were anxious to amend our ill luck by tarrying after all the other ships had sailed, in hopes of better success. We were gently sailing about in search of whales amidst the broken ice, when there suddenly arose a rather brisk breeze, at which time our ship was situated between two icebergs, one of them very high, and resembling a lofty mountain, and the other considerably smaller. " Well, at the time the breeze sprung up, the large iceberg was to the windward of us, that is, on that side from whence the wind blew ; and, having a large surface, which caught the wind, it came sailing towards us very fast. " The vast bulk of this iceberg sheltered the smaller one, which was to the leeward of us, so that it did not move in the least ; and we, who were be- tween the two, were completely becalmed. The ship was not advancing a knot in an hour, and 122 An easy Pi^ey. we could do nothing whatever to help ourselves. We were in the greatest dismay, and could only consider the way in which we should meet our entire destruction. The larger mass of ice con- tinued to bear down upon us, and in a few minutes our vessel was crushed between it and the smaller one, as if it had been put in a huge smithes vice. Fortunately, however, for us, the two icebergs clung together, the greater one impelling the lesser one forward ; and we thus had time to get out of the ship all our sea-chests, a large quantity of cordage, nearly all our provisions, and every thing portable, which we placed upon the smaller iceberg. This soon shifted round the large one, and let our ship loose, which instantly sank, and we were left floating on an island of ice, with despair staring us in the face. Our despair, however, was soon put to flight, for we perceived a ship at a short distance, to which we made signal, and they came to our assistance. But now I come to a part of the event which I grieve to record. The captain and crew of the vessel which came to our succour, seeing that we had no other alternative, thought they could make an easy prey of us, and required that we should give up to them all the things which we had been enabled to rescue from our wrecked ship ! In such circumstances, you need not ask what we did, — life is sweet, it is said, and the pitiless prospect of the frozen regions around us sharpened our appetites for the enjoyment of it, and we surrendered all but the clothes in which we stood," ''Ship ahead r 123 Another adventure with an icebergs extracted from a sailor's log, and we shall resume our account of Arctic explorers : '' For ten days we had fine weather and light winds, but a southerly gale sprung up, and drove us to the northward, and I then found out what it was to be at sea. After the gale had lasted a week, the wind came round from the northward, and bitterly cold it was. We then stood on rather far- ther to the north than the usual track, I believe. " It was night, and blowing fresh. The sky was overcast, and there was no moon, so that darkness was on the face of the deep — not total darkness, it must be understood, for that is seldom known at sea. I was in the middle watch, — from midnight to four o'clock, — and had been on deck about half an hour, when the look-out forward sang out, ' Ship ahead ! starboard — hard a-starboard V '' These words made the second mate, who had the watch, jump into the weather-rigging. "^A ship!' he exclaimed. ^An iceberg it is, rather ; and all hands wear ship,' he shouted, in a tone which showed there was not a moment to lose. '' The watcli sprung to the braces and bow-lines, while the rest of the crew tumbled up from below, and the captain and other officers rushed out of their cabins. The helm was kept up, and the yards swung round, and the ship's head turned towards the direction whence we had come. The captain glanced his eye round, and then ordered the courses 124 A perilous Position. to be brailed up^ and the main -top-sail to be backed, so as to lay the ship to. I soon discovered the cause of these manoeuvres; for before the ship wore round, I perceived close to us a tower- ing mass, with a refulgent appearance, which the look-out man had taken for the white sails of a ship, but which proved in reality to be a vast ice- berg ; and attached to it, and extending a consider- able distance to leeward, was a field, or very ex- tensive floe, of ice, against which the ship would have run, had it not been discovered in time, and would, in all probability, instantly have gone down, with every one on board. ^^In consequence of the extreme darkness, it was dangerous to sail either way ; for it was impossible to say what other floes, or smaller cakes of ice, might be in the neighbourhood, — and we might probably be on them before they could be seen. We, therefore, remained hove-to. As it was, I could not see the floe till it was pointed out to me by one of the crew. " When daylight broke the next morning, the dangerous position in which the ship was placed, was seen. On every side of us appeared large floes of ice, with several icebergs floating, like moun- tains on a plain, among them ; while the only open- ing through which we could escape was a narrow passage to the north-east, through which we must have come. What made our position the more perilous was, that the vast masses of ice were ap- proaching nearer and nearer to each other ; so that A Vessel awaiting Destruction. 125 we had not a moment to lose^ if we would effect our escape, " As tlie light increased, we saw, at the distance of three miles to the westward, another ship, in a far worse predicament than we were, inasmuch as she was completely surrounded by ice, though she still floated in a sort of basin. The winds held to the northward, so that we could stand clear out of the passage, should it remain open long enough. She, by this time, had discovered her own perilous condition, as we perceived that she had hoisted a signal of distress, and we heard the guns she was firing to call our attention to her ; but regard to our own safety compelled us to disregard them until we had ourselves got clear of the ice. ^' It was very dreadful to watch the stranger, and to feel that we could render her no assistance. All' hands were at the braces, ready to trim the sails, should the wind head us ; for, in that case, we should have to beat out of the channel, which was every instant growing narrower and narrower. The captain stood at the weather-gangway, conning the ship. When he saw the ice closing in on us, he ordered every stitch of canvas the ship would carry to be set on her, in hopes of carrying her out before this should occur. It was a chance whether or not we should be nipped. However, I was not so much occupied with our own danger as not to keep an eye on the stranger, and to feel deep interest in her fate. ^^ I was in the mizen-top, and, as I possessed a l26 Crushed by the lee, spy-glass^ I could see clearly all that occtirred. The water on which she floated was nearly smooth, though covered with foam, caused by the masses of ice as they approached each other. I looked ; she had but a few fathoms of water on either side of her. As yet she floated unharmed. The peril was great ; but the direction of the ice might change, and she might yet be free. Still, on it came with terrific force, and I fancied that I could hear the edges grinding and crushing together. ^^ The ice closed on the ill-fated ship. She w^as probably as totally unprepared to resist its pressure as we were. At first I thought that it lifted her bodily up ; but it was not so, I suspect : she was too deep in the water for that. Her sides were crushed in, her stout timbers were rent into a thou- sand fragments, her tall masts tottered and fell, though still attached to the hull. For an instant I concluded that the ice must have separated, or, per- haps, the edges broken with the force of the con- cussion ; for, as I gazed, the wrecked mass of hull and spars and canvas seemed drawn suddenly downward with irresistible force, and a few frag- ments, which had been hurled by the force of the concussion to a distance, were all that remained of the hapless vessel. Not a soul of her crew could have had time to escape to the ice. ^^I looked anxiously; not a speck could be seen stirring near the spot. Such, thought I, may be the fate of the 440 human beings on board this ship, ere many minutes are over. The lost Ship. l27 ^^ I believe I was the only person on board who witnessed the catastrophe. Most of the emigrants were below ; and the few who were on deck were, with the crew^ watching onr own progress. Still narrower grew the passage. Some of the parts we had passed through were already closed. The wind, fortunately, held fair; and though it contributed to drive the ice faster in upon us, it yet favoured our escape. The ship flew through the water at a great rate, heeling over to her ports ; but though, at times, it seemed as if the masts would go over the sides, still the captain held on. A minute^s delay might prove our destruction. " Every one held his breath as the width of the passage decreased, though we had but a short dis- tance more to make good before we should be free. " I must confess that all the time I did not myself feel any sense of fear. I thought it was a danger more to be apprehended for others than for myself. At length a shout from the deck reached my ears, and, looking round, I saw that we were on the outside of the floe. We were just in time ; for the instant after the ice met, and the passage through which we had come was completely closed up. The order was now given to keep the helm up and to square away the yards, and, with a flowing sheet, we ran down the edge of the ice for upwards of three miles before we were clear of it. '^Only then did people begin to inquire what had become of the ship we had lately seen. I gave my 128 Enough of the Ice. account, but few expressed any great commisera- tion for the fate of those who were lost. Our captain had had enough of ice, so he steered a course to get as fast as possible into more southern latitudes." > CHAPTEE IV. ROSS, PARRY, BUCHAN, FRANKLTN. (a.d. 1818.) Revival of Arctic expeditions — The ice-drift— The sailor clergy- man — Arguments for a North-west Passage — An expedition fitted out — John Ross — Edward Parry — David Buchan — John Franklin — Dealings with the Esquimaux — John Sacheuse — A ball — Friendly relations, but rather too free to be pleasant — The Groker Mountains — A beautiful land — A summer day in the Arctic regions. The end of the eighteenth, and the beginning of the nineteenth, centuries were marked by political events, '^ wars and rumours of war/^ which very completely occupied public attention ; and scientific invention and geographical discovery were almost^ if not entirely, neglected. With France in a frantic state of red republicanism, liberty, equality, fra- ternity, or the embraces of St. Guillotine; with England and all the continent of Europe defied by the little Corsican Corporal, who plucked an im- perial sceptre from his knapsack, — it is not probable that any one would have cared for a North-eastern or North-western expedition. People left the ice- world to the whalers, and betook themselves to patriotism and gunpowder; but the war being ended, and the great disturber of the peace safely caged at St. Helena, the old idea of an easy way to I 130 Revival of Arctic Expeditions, India and China revived, and brave hearts and clever heads looked northward. It was about two years after the battle of Waterloo had been fought and won, that a phe- nomenon was observed in the northern regions altogether unprecedented in modern times. This was an extraordinary drift of icebergs, broken loose from the frozen mainland, and starting rapidly on a cruise for the Gulf Stream. There was a story told. of what had happened six centuries before in the same locality, namely, the drifting of ice, on which were a number of bears who never antici- pated the voyage, and were carried away very much against their wills ; but doubts had been entertained of the story until some eighteen or twenty thousand square miles of ice broke from its natural moorings, and filled the bays and creeks of Iceland. Among the whalers in those waters there was one of eminently observant habits. When he went " a-fishing,^^ he had eyes to see, beyond oil and blubber, the phenomena of nature, and to inquire into causes when he saw effects. This was William Scoresby, sometime vicar of Bradford — for he after- wards became a fisher of men. To him we are in- debted for much of our knowledge of the frozen seas, and for many interesting facts in association with them. It was he who discovered that the most transparent pieces of fresh -water ice were capable of concentrating the rays of the sun so as to produce an intensity of heat capable of melting lead and igniting gunpowder. It was he who was the first William Scoresby, 131 to draw attention to the ice-blink^ a band of lucid whiteness caused by the glare of light reflected obliquely from the surface of ice against the oppo- site atmosphere, and consequently of discerning the pressure of masses of floating ice at a great distance. And it was he who was the first to com- municate to Sir Joseph Banks the extraordinary phenomena of ice-drift which happened in the winter of 1816-17. The statement was one of considerable importance. It might indicate a break- ing up of the ice around the Pole, and admit of the possibility of the long-desired North-west Passage. The intelligence was communicated to the Ad- miralty, and, after mature deliberation, another Arctic expedition was undertaken. Scoresby had no doubt whatever about the existence of a North-west Passage. The following are the chief arguments which he adduced in favour of this idea : " 1. The prevailing current in the Spitzbergen sea flows, we are well assured, during nine months of the year, if not all the year round, from the north-east towards the south-west. The velocity of this current may be from five to twenty miles per day, varying in different situations; but it is most considerable near the coast of Old Green- land. The current, on the other hand, in the middle of Behring^s Straits, as observed by Lieutenant Kotzebue, sets strongly to the north- east, with a velocity, as he thought, of ten miles ^nd a half an hour, — which is greater, however, 132 Arguments for a North-west Passage. by one-half, than the rate observed by Captain Cook. ^^ 2. By the action of the south-westerly current, a vast quantity of ice is annually brought from the north and east^ and conducted along the east coast of Old Greenland as far as Cape Farewell, where such masses as still remain undissolved are soon destroyed by the violence of the solar heat and the force of the sea, to which they have become exposed from almost every quarter. This ice being entirely free from salt, and very compact, appears originally to have consisted of field-ice, a kind which, perhaps, requires the action of frost for many years to bring it to the thickness which it assumes. The quantity of heavy ice on the surface which is thus annually dissolved may, at a rough calculation, be stated to be about 20,000 square leagues, while the quantity annually generated in the region accessible to the whale-fishers is, pro- bably, not more than one-fourth of that area. As such, the ice, which is so inexhaustible, must require an immense surface of sea for its generation — perhaps the whole, or the greater part, of the so- called Polar Basin — the supply required for re- placing what is dissolved in Behring^s Straits, where the current sets towards the north, being, probably, of small moment. The current in opposite parts of the northern hemisphere being thus found to follow the same line of direction, indicates a com- munication between the two across the Poles ; and the inexhaustible supply of ice, affording about Scoresby's Arguments. ] 33 15,000 square leagues to be annually dissolved above the quantity generated in the known parts of the Spitzbergen seas, supports the same con- clusion, " 3. The origin of the considerable quantity of drift-wood found in almost every part of the Greenland Sea is traced to the same country beyond the Pole, and may be brought forward in aid of the opinion of the existence of a sea-com- munication between the Atlantic and the Pacific, which argument receives additional strength from the circumstance of some of the drift-wood being worm-eaten. This last fact I first observed on the shores of the island of Jan Mayen, in August 1817, and confirmed it by more particular observation when at Spitzbergen the year following. Having no axe with me when I observed the worm-eaten wood, and having no means of bringing it away, I could not ascertain whether the holes observed in the timber were the work of a ptinas or a pholas. In either case, however, as it is not known that these animals ever pierce wood in Arctic countries, it is presumed that the worm-eaten drift-wood is derived from a trans-Polar region. Numerous facts of this nature might be adduced, all of which support the same conclusion. '^4. The northern faces of the continents of Europe and Asia, as well as that of America, so far as yet known, are such as render it difficult even to imagine such a position for the unascer- tained regions as to cut off the communication 134 The '' Isabella'' and ''Alexander:' between the rrozcii Sea, near the meridian of London, and that in the opposite part of the northern hemisphere, near Behring^s Straits. " 5. Whales, which have been harpooned in the Greenland seas, have been found in the Pacific Ocean ; and whales, with stone lances sticking in their fat (a kind of weapon used by no nation now known), have been caught both in the sea of Spitz- bergen and in Davis^s Straits. This fact, which is sufficiently authenticated, seems to me the most satisfactory argument.^^ So four vessels were fitted for the service, and the oak and iron of which they w^ere built were said to be strong enough to defy the ice — at the least, they would not crack like nutshells; pro- visions for a three-years' voyage were stowed away, and an ample supply given of all the necessary im- pedimenta for an expedition to the Pole. The crews were picked men ; and the officers of the Isabella and the Alexander were John Ross and Edward Parry ; of the Dorothea and the Trent, David Buchan and John Franklin. The instruc- tions given by the Admiralty to Ross were, that he should attempt the north-west passage by Baffin's Bay, while Buchan took the Polar passage between Greenland and Spitzbergen. The Isabella and the Alexander, under Ross and Parry, left England about the middle of April 1818. Nothing of any moment marked the voy- age to Greenland, where they were frozen up with a fleet of whalers, and held ia icy chains till the A Master' of the Ceremonies, 135 20th of June. By that time the explorers had contrived to cut a canal through the ice, and dragged, pushed, and poled, almost shouldered, their ships into the sea. Making for Smithes Sound, which they reached in safety, they opened friendly relations with the Esquimaux, having on board a native who had served in the whale-fishery, and acted as interpreter. He was called John Sacheuse, — a merry, light-hearted fellow, with a strong predi- lection for civilised life. He was sent ashore to invite some of the natives on board, and they very willingly accepted the invitation. On board ship they received very kind attention, and Sacheuse improvised a ball. " Sacheuse^ s mirth and joy,^^ says Captain Ross, " exceeded all bounds, and, with a good- humoured officiousness, justified by the important distinction which his superior knowledge now gave him, he performed the office of master of the cere- monies. An Esquimaux M.C. to a ball on the deck of one of his majesty^s ships, in the icy sea of Greenland, was an office somewhat new; but Nash himself could not have performed his func- tions in a manner more appropriate. It did not belong even to Nash to combine in his own person, like Jack, the discordant qualifications of seaman, interpreter, draughtsman, and master of cere- monies to a ball, with those of an active fisher of seals and a hunter of white bears. A daughter of the Danish resident (by an Esquimaux woman), about eighteen years of age, and by far the best- 136 Interview with Esquimaux. looking of the half-caste group, was the object of Jack^s particular attention, — which being observed by one of our officers, he gave him a lady^s shawl, ornamented with spangles, as an offering for her acceptance. He presented it in a most respectful and not ungraceful manner to the damsel, who bashfully took a pewter ring from her finger and gave to him in return, rewarding him at the same time with an eloquent smile, which could leave no doubt on our Esquimaux^s mind that he had made an impression on her heart.^^ Surrounded with ice-drift, the ships were fre- quently in great peril, and the oak and iron were severely tested, but stood the test well. Sailing westward, they passed Jones's Sound, being again brought into contact with the native Esquimaux. Here Sacheuse proved himself to be of great value. He went boldly towards the people, who were hesitating between attack and flight, exhibiting a white Hag and waving his hat. They were agree- ably surprised to find that he was an Esquimaux, and immediately rubbed noses in the most friendly manner, and proposed the questions, "Who are you ? Whence come you ? Are you from the sun or moon?" These queries they addressed to the ship rather than to Sacheuse, who at once became its sponsor. He explained to them that the ship was made of timber by men like themselves, but this they plainly regarded as untrue. They were induced to come on board to convince themselves, where their amazement was exceeded by their de- Lancaster Sound, 137 sire for possession^ and they endeavoured to steal off with a spare top-mast, an anchor, and an anvil. Finding this impracticable, they appropriated a sledge-hammer; but, on the whole, the Esqui- maux were exceedingly friendly, and it is impos- sible to realise a more amusing and interesting scene than that of these poor savages grouped around the Europeans, joy and fear alternating, and both visibly expressed in their countenances. The sailors enjoyed it thoroughly, and tried to imitate the Esquimaux in their shouts, cries, and nose-rubbings. The sailors mounting the rigging occasioned much amusement, but the natives evi- dently maintained the impression that the ship was indeed a thing of life, and that the sails were portions of its skin. Continuing his course, Captain Ross arrived at an extensive bay, which had not hitherto been discovered ; and afterwards at the sound which had been christened by Baffin in honour of Al- derman Johnson. There, no hope of a passage existed. It was now near the end of August, and the sun^ after a day two months and a half long, had set — a gloomy fog heralding the long wintry night. High and steep hills appeared at some dis- tance^ with localities apparently fit for human habi- tation: on the expedition coming to a most magnifi- cent inlet, bordered by grand and lofty mountains, while the water was clear and free from ice, it was entered. This channel proved to be Lancaster Sound ; and they ascended it for thirty miles. 138 The Croker Mountains, It is difficult to imagine a more exciting time ; men and officers crowded the yards on the look out^ all full of hope, and confident that they had found at last the passage sought so long in vain. But Captain Ross thought he could trace a range of mountains extending right across the inlet^ and effectually barring the passage. To this range, Ross gave the name of the Croker Mountains. Parry maintained that no range of mountains existed^ and it afterwards turned out that he was right; but Ross gave the signal to take the vessel out of Lancaster Sounds and steered southward along the western shore, without seeing any entrance that aftbrded equal promise of a passage into the Arctic Sea. So, after a survey of these shores, the ex- pedition returned to England. The Trent and Dorothea, in the mean while, Commanders Buchan and Franklin, pursued a northerly voyage into the heart of the ice-regions, and reached Spitzbergen on the 3d of June 1818. The object of the expedition was to attempt a direct northern passage, to pass the very centre of the Polar Circle — but all their efforts were in vain ; it was impossible for them to get beyond 80°; and for three weeks they were completely ice-bound. They tried the east coast of Greenland on being released, but were again baffled by the ice. The dangers undergone in this voyage were inconceiv- ably great, and brought out the patience and courage of those engaged in it; especially were these qualities remarkable in Franklin, — and it was The ^^ Trenf and ^^ Dorothea — Spitzbergen. 139 evident that he was the man most qualified for these hazardous explorations. Every thing surprised and delighted the ex- plorers ; and Beeehey's deseriptions are full of en- thusiasm. Thus, with regard to Spitzbergen, he " In cloudy or misty weather, when the hills are clothed with newly fallen snow, nothing can be more dreary than the appearance of the shores of Spitzbergen; whereas, on the contrary, it is scarcely possible to conceive a more brilliant and lively effect than that which occurs on a fine day, when the sun shines forth and blends its rays with that peculiarly soft, bright atmosphere which over- hangs a country deeply bedded in snow ; and with a pure sky, whose azure hue is so intense as to find no parallel in nature. On such an occasion, the winds near the land, at least, are very light, or entirely hushed, and the shores teem with living objects. All nature seems to acknowledge the glorious sunshine, and the animated part of crea- tion to set no bounds to its delight. " Such a day was the 4th of June ; and we felt more sensibly the change from the gloomy atmo- sphere of the open sea, to the cheerful glow that overhung the hills and placid surface of Magda- lena Bay. " Although surrounded by beds of snow and glaciers, with the thermometer scarcely above freezing-point, there was no sensation of cold. The various amphibious animals and myriads of 140 Bright Weather. birds which had resorted to the place seemed to enjoy in the highest degree the transition thus occasioned by a few bright hours of sunshine. From an early hour in the morning, till the period of rest returned^ the shores around us reverberated with the merry cry of the little auk, willocks, divers, cormorants, gulls, and other aquatic birds ; groups of walruses, basking in the sun, mingled their playful roar with the husky bark of the seal. ^' There was certainly no harmony in this strange din ; but it was, at least, gratifying to know that it arose from a demonstration of happy feelings. It was a pleasure of the same character as that which must have been experienced by every traveller who, on some fine, bright evening in a tropical climate, has listened to the merry buzz of thousands of winged insects, which immediately succeeds the setting of the sun. And here we cannot fail to notice the manner in which the great Author of nature has varied His dispensations. In the burning region of the torrid zone, the de- scent of the sun calls into action myriads of little beings, which could not exist under the fierce glare of his meridian ray ; whereas, here, on the con- trary, it is the signal for universal repose. '^ This period of the day had no sooner arrived in Magdalena Bay, than there was a stillness which bordered on the sublime — a stillness which was broken only by the bursting of an iceberg, or the report of some fragment of rock loosened from its hold. These sounds, indeed, which came booming Universal Repose. 141 over the placid surface of the bay^ could hardly be considered interruptions to the general silence ; for^ speedily dying away in the distance^ they left behind a stillness even more profound than before. " In the daytime^ the presence of our expedi- tion was not disregarded. The birds shunned us in their flight ; and every noise which was occa- sionally made^ sounding strange to the place, sent to a greater distance the sea-gulls that were fishing among the rocks ; and kept on the alert whole herds of animals, many of which would otherwise have been lost in sleep — causing them to raise their heads when any thing fell upon our deck, and to cast a searching look over the bay, as if to inquire whence so unusual a disturbance proceeded/^ THE GBEAT AUK. CHAPTEU V. FRANKLIN AND THE COPPEEMINE RIVER. (a.d. 1819— a.d. 1827.) Narrow escape of shipwreck — Seven hundred miles ofriver- ti'ansit — A faithful servant — Fort Chipewyan — The start — Akaitcho — Wintering in a wooden house — Frozen and sun- burnt in a day — A journey beset with difficulties — Fort Enterprise — Unmanageable Indians — A famished band — Dr. Richardson — Hungry men — A dark suspicion — Meat — Michel suspected — A stray shot — Tr'iiJC -de- roclic — A murderer's doom — Safety at last — Another voyage — The Rocky Mountains — The GreatBear River — Christmas-day in the snow — Esquimaux at the Mackenzie River — Safety again. Not long after the return of Franklin to England, he was selected by the British Government for the great enterprise of descending the Coppermine Eiver, which, like the Mackenzie, carries a portion of the waters of Arctic North America into the Polar Ocean. This river had never been thoroughly explored; and, although the task imposed demanded qualities of no ordinary kind, it was felt that Franklin was, in every way, qualified for the work. The mouth of the Coppermine Eiver once reached, Franklin was directed to make his way along the vast and almost unknown line of coast to the westward, that is, towards Behring^s Straits. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, K.C.B. Franklins Winter-quarters, 143 This task involved a journey of very considerable length, in a climate of extraordinary severity, and amid dangers which might be anticipated, but had never been fully realised. Franklin's companions in the hazardous enterprise were Dr. Richardson, Lieutenant Back — afterwards the conductor of the Great-Fish -River enterprise — and Lieutenant Hood. On the 23d of May 1819, Franklin set sail in a ship belonging to the Hudson's-Bay Company, and, after narrowly escaping shipwreck, crossed Hudson^s Bay safely, and arrived at York Factory, on its western shores. Here a strong boat was built for the party, and, on the 9th of September, they began to ascend Hayes River, on their inland route to the Coppermine. Seven hundred miles of river-transit were accomplished by them at this period — a feat rendered alike difficult and perilous by falls, rapids, swamps, and countless other ob- stacles. A valuable chart resulted from this part of the journey. Reaching Cumberland House, a station on Pine-Island Lake, at the close of Octo- ber, the setting in of the ice compelled Franklin to pause till January, when, accompanied by Back, and a faithful seaman named Hepburn (to whose fidelity and hardihood the whole party afterwards owned themselves to have been more than once indebted for their lives), the commander moved westwards for another 850 miles, and reached Fort Chipewyan on the 20th of March. Another im- portant inland chart was the product of this excur- 144 On Slave River. sion. The station of Fort Chipewyan is situated on the Athabasca Lake, into which Slave River flows from the great Slave Lake. The locality- lies towards the centre of Arctic America, or about latitude 110°, and was reached by Franklin chiefly by the aid of dogs and sledges. Many interesting observations were made about this period by Franklin, Hood, Back, and Richardson, on the Cree, Chipewyan, and Stone Indians, and on the native features and productions of the country generally; while Lieutenant Hood also indefatig- ably pursued a course of meteorological and other scientific inquiries. But attention must be confined here mainly to the contributions of Franklin to geognostic science. All this while Franklin was drawing near to the upper part of the course of the Coppermine, and being joined at Fort Chipewyan, in July, by Richardson and Hood, he entertained strong hopes of wintering at the mouth of the river mentioned, the grand object of his enterprise. Having obtained three canoes, and various supplies of food and am- munition, the whole party started briskly for the north, along Slave River. Six Englishmen (Mr. Wentzel, of the Fur Company, having joined the corps), seventeen hired Canadian voyagers (all French or half-breeds), and three interpreters, constituted, at this period, the expedition ; and a considerable number of Indians also were engaged as guides and hunters, under the leadership of a chief named Akaitcho. All went well for a time ; Faithful Indians, 145 deer were shot plentifully ; but, as the party moved northwards, the hardships of the route grew severe, and food more scarce. All that Franklin could accomplish that season was merely to behold the Coppermine River. Fain would he have borne all risks, and attempted its descent ; but Akaitcho told him that he would do so only to perish. '^ I will send some of my young men with you, if you persist in advancing ; but from the moment that they embark in your canoes, I and my relatives shall lament them as dead.^^ The English commander was, therefore, compelled to settle in winter-quarters, which he did at a place termed Fort Enterprise, near the head of the Coppermine, and distant 550 miles from Fort Chipewyan. The adventurers had now advanced about 1520 miles, in the course of 1820, into the heart of these obscure and perilous regions. As strong a winter house of wood being erected as possible, the party passed their time for some months mainly in shooting and fishing. But though the reindeer were pretty numerous, and nearly 200 fell before the hunters, the influx of famished Indians to the station greatly lessened the stores and curtailed the provisions. The ordinary condi- tion of the poor native people may be guessed from their own words. Sometimes they generously gave the whole of their own game to the strangers, saying, ^^We are used to starvation, you are not." At this time, fresh supplies of ammunition and other articles were indispensable to the pro- K 146 Frozen and sunburnt in one Day. gress of the enterprise, and Back undertook a foot- journey to Fort Chipewyan to procure what was requisite. Perhaps his passage of the intervening 500 miles, in the midst of an Arctic winter, when noon is almost midnight, formed one of the most severe trials of the whole journey. At a distance of a few feet from the house-fires, the thermometer stood at fifteen degrees below zero ; and we may thus conjecture what Back had to endure while camping nightly out-of-doors. He and his comrades were even exposed to painful changes of tempera- ture, causing a French Canadian to say, ^^ Mais c'est terrible to be frozen and sunburnt in one day/^ The heavy snow-shoes, too, galled their feet and ankles, till they bled profusely. Nevertheless, Back managed to return safely to Fort Enterprise, with four sledges laden with needful goods and supplies. Others followed, and still more were promised for prospective necessities. In the beginning of July 1821, the party approached and began to descend the Coppermine River, their frail canoes being their sole conveyance. At the outset, Akaitcho and his Indians accom- panied them, and, by hunting on shore, kept up a decent supply of food. After a painful route of three hundred and thirty-four miles, one hundred and seventeen of which were accomplished by dragging the canoes overland, Franklin at length found himself (19th July) on the shores of the great Northern Ocean. The Indians had now gone back, partly alarmed by a meeting with a small Compelled to turn back. 147 Esquimaux party^ their enemies. Provisions now ran low with the expedition, and the Canadian voyageurs expressed great fears ' at embarking on an unknown sea in frail bark - canoes ; but after having made all possible preparations (through the returning Indians and Mr. Wentzel) for obtaining food at different land-stations on the way back, Franklin boldly launched on the Polar main, and moved westwards, or in the direction of Behring^s Straits. It is unnecessary to dwell on the toils and dangers of the subsequent voyage. They advanced only six degrees and a half along the coast, in a direct line, though bays and gulfs and islands lengthened their actual route to six hundred and fifty miles. Necessities of all kinds at length began to press upon the party, and com- pelled Franklin to turn back. He resolved to make his way to Fort Enterprise by a river which had been passed on his advance, and which he had called Hood's River ; but the expedition had only ascended this stream for a few miles when they were completely stopped by a magnificent cataract, and they then set to work to make two new and small portable canoes, with which they might proceed inland, taking to the waters when they found it practicable, or crossing them when necessary. They counted their direct distance from Fort En- terprise to be no more than one hundred and forty miles, and all were in high spirits at the thoughts of rest there and good food. This journey, how- ever trifling, seemingly, to what they had before 148 Tripe'de-roche. performed, was destined to be a terrible and fatal one. It was commenced early in the month of September, and during the first few miles they were ominously met by a snow-storm, which abso- lutely drove them to hide under their blankets for two entire days. Their preserved meat failed them, and they had no resource, when they re- sumed their path, save to eat tripe-de-roche — a sort of lichen or moss found on the rocks. The deer rarely appeared in their way, and still more rarely could they kill them when seen. All the band began to feel the horrors of starvation, and to sink under the clime. Their bodies became miserably emaciated, and a mile or two formed a heavy day's journey. The Canadians grew un- manageable through despair, and at length both canoes were lost, or, rather, wilfully destroyed — the men refusing to drag them along. The conse- quences of this conduct of the Canadians, against which Franklin remonstrated in vain, became too plainly apparent when they did finally reach the Coppermine. For eight days the famished band stood shivering on the banks of the river, unable to get across, though its width was but one hun- dred and thirty yards. The brave Eichardson finally offered to swim over with a line, which might have got a raft across ; but, after going half- way, he sank, and had to be pulled back, nearly dead. At last, a sort of wicker-boat, lined with painted cloth, took them all safely over the stream ; but in their wretched condition of body, supported by The Man-eater. 149 almost nothing save tripe-de-roche (which could scarcely be called nutriment, and injured many of the eaters), they could only advance by inches, as it were, though Fort Enterprise was now within forty or fifty miles of them in a direct line. Snows and rains fell upon them incessantly; they had stream after stream to cross ; and fuel often failed as well as food. Two of the men dropped behind, sinking on the ground, benumbed with cold and incapable of motion. Dr. Richardson and Hood, with Hepburn, resolved, for the sake of these men, to encamp for a time, and allow Franklin, with the rest, to go forward, in the hope of procuring aid at Fort Enterprise from the Indians. The ad- ventures of Eichardson at this encampment are thrillingly interesting. The two men who had fallen behind perished, but the doctor and his friends were joined by one of the voyageurs, who had fallen back, finding himself (as he said) un- able to go on with Franklin. This individual, an Iroquois, or a half-bred voyageur, named Michel, grew strong, comparatively, and was able to hunt. He brought to the tents pieces of flesh, which, he said, had been part of a wolf killed by a deer's horn. Later circumstances led Dr. Richardson to the conclusion, however, that this flesh was actually part of the bodies of the two stragglers, found by Michel in the snow, and possibly found not yet dead. Michel became gloomy and sullen, awaken- ing the suspicions of his companions, and adding fresh horrors to their already horrible situation. 150 A dreadful Alternative. He watched the doctor and Hepburn so closely, that they could not speak a word to one another ; while poor Hood lay in the tent, incapable of motion, and seemingly near his end. At length, on the 20th of October, when the doctor and Hepburn were severally employed out-of-doors, a shot was heard in the tent, and they there found Hood killed by a ball through the head. Michel, who was about him at the time, declared that he must have slain himself, or the gun must have gone off accidentally ; but Eichardson saw clearly that the shot had certainly been fired from behind, close to the head. Notwithstanding his assertions as to the cause, Michel could not refrain from betraying guilt by continually exclaiming, " You do not suppose that I murdered him ?'' Indeed, he was not assailed by any such charges. His companions — than whom, perhaps, two men were never more unhappily placed — dared not utter a word on the subject, as Michel had strength enough to have overpowered them both openly and with ease. That he would do so at the first opportunity — that he would never return to Fort Enterprise tvith them — they now also felt as a thing indubitable. By a great and appalling exertion of moral courage, Dr. Richardson saved himself and his friend Hepburn from the fate impending over them. On the third day after the murder of Hood, the three companions set out for Fort En- terprise, and on the way Michel, staying behind under the plea of gathering some tripe-de-roche, Michel shot dead. 151 allowed the two Englishmen to speak alone for the first time. Their mutual sense of being doomed to almost instant death proved so strong, as at once to determine Richardson on his course. On Michel coming up, the doctor put a pistol to the head of the wretch, and shot him dead on the spot. The Iroquois had loaded his gun, but had gathered no tripe-de-roche. It is scarcely possible to doubt that, but for this terrible step, Eichardson and Hepburn would both have been sacrificed, and most probably on that very day. Michel durst not permit them to go alive to the fort to tell their sad and accusing tale. On the 1 1th of November, Franklin had reached Fort Enterprise with five companions -, but their joy at reaching its shelter was sadly damped by the desolation of the place, and by the want of food. It was found, from a note, that the unwearied Back (who had moved on in advance) had been there ; but, seeing the condition of matters, he had instantly set off in search of the Indians, to pro- cure supplies against the arrival of his famished associates. With this hope before them, the party of Franklin set to grubbing for bones to pound and make soup of. On this diet and tripe-de-roche they lingered out their existence (with one or two exceptions) till Richardson and Hepburn came up, only to bring starvation into the midst of starvation. The skeleton figures, the ghastly faces, and the sepulchral voices of the adventurers, prognosticated, indeed, a speedy end to all as 152 Safe at last. regarded this worlds wlien the arrival of the Indians^ sent by Back^ snatched them from the grasp of the grave. On the 15th of December, they were strong enough to start on their journey eastward; and, being joined by Back and his party, they safely reached the Hudson's-Bay Company^s stations early in the summer of 1822. From these stations Franklin and his friends had an easy pass- age to England, where they arrived, after having journeyed, by water and by land (including the navigation of the Polar Sea), the immense distance, in all, oifive thousand five hundred and fifty miles. Though the grand point of traversing the Arctic shores of North America, from the mouth of the Coppermine Biver to Behring^s Straits, had not been fully accomplished, Franklin, in addition to the new information collected by him relative to the interior, had also, at least, rendered it ex- tremely probable that the continent presents to the Polar Ocean a direct and pretty regular line of coast the whole way west of the Coppermine ; but Franklin, nothing daunted by his past sufferings, was determined to have the honour of clearing up the matter fully, knowing that, by tracing the shores in the direction of his former enterprise, he would acquire the merit of narrowing the North-west-Passage question to the mere discovery of an inlet to the Arctic Sea, on the eastern shores of North America, either through Hudson^s Bay or Baffin^ s Bay, or their various channels, straits, and sounds. He therefore proposed to the British Mackenzie River — Great Bear Lake, 153 Government to undertake an overland journey to the mouth of Mackenzie Eiver, by which plan he would shorten his course along the coast to Behring^s Straits. He was satisfied of the con- tinuity of the land from the Coppermine westward to the Mackenzie. The British Government em- braced the gallant oflfer of Franklin ; and the latter, now captain, was fortunate enough to obtain anew the company of Richardson and Back, his well- tried friends. EecoUecting the previous difficulties in regard to boats, he had three constructed at Woolwich, the materials being mahogany, with ash timbers; while he also prepared a portable one, only eighty-five pounds in weight, and of which the substance was ash, fastened plank to plank with thongs, and covered with mackintosh- cloth. All was ready in the beginning of 1825, and the expedition sailed from Liverpool on the 16th of February. It reached New York on the 15th of March. Their further progress northwards afforded nothing of novel interest, until they reached the Great Bear Lake, at the head of Mackenzie Biver — so called from Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who descended it in 1789, and who lived to give Franklin the benefit of his friendly counsels on the occasion of his first journey. "When Captain Franklin arrived at Great Bear Lake, he set a party to work on a winter resi- dence; and, eager to advance the objects of his expedition, proceeded in person, with a few com- panions, down the Mackenzie, to look at the 154 Christmas-day on the Great Bear River, Polar Sea in that region^ and prepare for its navi- gation. Franklin and his party reached the north-east- ern entrance on the 14th August, in lat. 69° 14', long. 135° 57'; and rejoiced at the sea-like appear- ance to the north. Observing an island in the distance, the boat^s head was directed towards it ; and hastening to its most elevated part, the pro- spect was highly gratifying. The Rocky Mountains were seen from S.W. to W. i N., while to the north the sea appeared in all its majesty, with many seals and whales sporting in its waves. On the 5th September, they returned to their winter- quarters on Great Bear River, which now presented a lively, bustling scene, from the preparations necessary to be made for passing eight or nine months in what was appropriately called Fort Franklin. With full employment for every one, the time passed away very cheerfully. On Christmas- day, sixty human beings assembled in the little hall, to do honour to the usual festivities, — English- men, Highlanders, Canadians, Esquimaux, Chipe- wyans, Dogribs, Hare Indians, Cree women and children, all talking at one time in their diflPerent languages, and all mingling together in perfect harmony. On Tuesday, the 28th June 1826, the whole company reembarked in the boats, on the Macken- zie ; and proceeded on their voyage down that river until the 3d July, when, on arriving at the point where the river branches off into several channels. Stopped by the Ice, 155 the separation into two parties took place, — Cap- tain Franklin and Back, with two boats (one of which had been built at the fort) and fourteen men, including Augustus, a faithful interpreter of the former journey, were to proceed to the westward ; while Dr. Richardson and Kendall, in the other two, were to proceed with ten men to the eastward, as far as the Coppermine. We shall, however, first follow Captain Franklin and his party. On the 7th, he arrived at the mouth of the Mackenzie, where he fell in with a very large party of Esquimaux, whose conduct was at first very vio- lent ; but by great command of temper, and some conciliation, they were at length brought to restore the articles pillaged from the boats. Captain Frank- lin, however, speedily discovered that all their protestations of regret were false, and nothing but the greatest vigilance on his part saved the party from a general massacre. On the 13th, his progress was arrested by a compact body of ice, stretching from the shore to seaward ; and, on landing for shelter from a heavy gale, another party of Esquimaux was met with. On the 15th, having passed this barrier, they arrived off Babbage^s River ; but again were they involved in an icy labyrinth, which, added to the dense fogs here found in the highest degree of perfection, owing to the barrier opposed to their progress south of the Rocky chain, made it tor- mentingly slow. A month — one the most favour- able for Arctic exploration — ^had passed in this 156 Return Reef, manner, while only 10° still lay between them and Icy Cape. Thus situated^ and ignorant that^ a hundred and fifty miles further west^ a boat was awaiting him from the Blossom^ which had been sent to Behring^s Straits^ under Captain Beechey, Captain Franklin justly came to the conclusion that they had reached a point beyond which per- severance would have been rashness^ and their best efforts fruitless. On the 18th August they there- fore set out on their return^ giving to their extreme point, in lat. 70° 24' N., long. 149° 37 W., the name of Heturn Eeef ; and, with the exception of a violent storm near Herschel Island, they reached Eort Franklin on the 21st September, without any material danger. Being joined by Dr. Richardson, who, with his party, had made valuable and extended observations on the Coppermine River, as well as on its Esqui- maux and Indian tribes, and the native produc- tions of the country, — Franklin and his friends re- turned once more to England, in September 1827. CHAPTER VI. PAKEY. (A.D. 1819— A.D. 1827.) Parry in Lancaster Sound — White bears — Anecdotes — Discovery of the non-existence of the Croker Mountains — Irregularity of the compass — A reward well won — Melville Island — Along wintry evening — Starting a newspaper — The drama in the Arctic regions — Walks in the snow — A visit from the Esqui- maux — Fox's Channel — Snow houses, and how to build them — Glorious summer — Home and out again — A masquerade — Abandonment of the Fury — Expedition to Spitzebrgen — Night-travelUng — Slow work — DiflSculties and privations — Nearing the Pole — The return of the explorers. While Franklin was struggling with innumerable difficulties in the locality of the Coppermine Eiver, Parry was carrying on investigations in Lancaster Sound. The expedition consisted of the Hecla, 375 tons, and a crew of fifty-eight men; with the Griper, gun- brig, 180 tons, and thirty -six men, commanded by Lieutenant Liddon. The vessels were adapted in strength. to the Arctic seas. They left the Nore on the 11th of May 1819, and were for some time impeded by unfavourable weather. On the 15th of June, they unexpectedly saw land, which proved to be Cape Farewell, the most southern point of Greenland, though at a very considerable distance. The ships were 158 Anecdotes of White Bears. rapidly beset with ice, and so blocked in as to be quite immovable. During this period of inaction, the officers and men occupied themselves in various ways. Observa- tions were made on the dip and variations of the needle, and lunar distances were calculated. Those of the expedition less skilled or less careful, or maybe having a more practical turn, set fox-traps, or enticed white bears with herrings to within rifle-range, and got some sport out of it, and flesh to boot. The white bear is by no means a contemptible foe — it is a beast worthy of lead or steel — although its size has been greatly exaggerated by the old navigators ; it is a very formidable creature, of great strength and considerable cunning. One or two anecdotes will illustrate this. Captain Cook, of the Archangel, of Lynn, being near the coast of Spitzbergen, landed, accompanied by his surgeon and mate. While traversing the shore, the captain was unexpectedly attacked by a bear, which seized him in an instant between its paws. At this awful crisis, when a moment's hesi- tation would have been fatal, he called to his com- panion to fire, who, with admirable resolution and steadiness, discharged his piece as directed, and providentially shot the bear through the head. The captain, by this prompt assistance, was preserved from being torn to pieces, or hugged to death. More recently Captain Hawkins, of the Ever- ihorpe, of Hull, when in Davis's Straits, seeing a Attacked by three Bears, 161 very large bear^ took a boat and pushed off in pur- suit of it. On reaching it^ the captain struck it with a lance in the breast ; and while in the act of recovering his weapon for another blow, the enraged animal sprang up, seized him by the thigh, and threw him over its head into the water. Happily, it did not repeat the attack, but exerted itself to escape. As the attention of every one was now directed to the captain, the bear was allowed to swim away without further molestation. In another instance, some Polar voyagers having taken from the boats all the provisions, and placed them on the ice, which pressed them in on all sides, and filled them with alarm for the safety of their vessel, they secured shelter for themselves with their sails, and appointed one of the men as sentinel. About mid- night, three bears came towards the boats, when the sentinel suddenly gave the alarm,' shouting, " Three bears ! — three !^' The voyagers imme- diately ran forth from their shelter, with their muskets, which had been charged with small shot to kill birds ; but, not having time to reload, they discharged their pieces at the bears. It was well for them that the bears were thus slightly wounded, as it made them retire to a sufficient distance to allow them to recharge their muskets; which being done, they killed one bear, and the others fled. The bears returned about two hours afterwards; but, hearing a noise as they were approaching the boats, they finally departed. Always on the watch for animals sleeping on 162 The Bear and the tValrus. the ice, the bears endeavour, by stratagem, to approach them unobserved; for, on the smallest disturbance, the animals dart through holes in the ice, which they always take care to be near, and thus evade pursuit. '^ One sunshiny day,^^ says Beechey, '^ a walrus, of nine or ten feet in length, rose in a pool of water, and, after looking around him, drew his greasy carcass upon the ice, where he rolled about for a time, and at length laid himself down to sleep. A bear, which had probably been observing his movements, crawled carefully upon the ice, on the opposite side of the pool, and began to roll about also, but apparently more with design than amusement, as he progress- ively lessened the distance that intervened betw^een himself and his prey. The walrus, suspicious of his advances, drew himself up, preparatory to a precipitate retreat into the water, in case of a nearer acquaintance with his playful but treacherous visitor, — on which the bear was instantly motion- less, as if in the act of sleep ; but, after a time, began to lick his paws, and clean himself, and occasionally to encroach a little more upon his intended prey. But even this artifice did not succeed. The wary walrus was far too cunning to allow himself to be entrapped, and suddenly plunged into the pool; which the bear no sooner observed, than he threw off all disguise, rushed towards the spot, and foUow^ed him in an instant into the water, where, perhaps, he was disappointed of his meal.^' Similar stories are told of the seals. WHITE BEAR ATTACKING A SEAL. Fallacy of the Croker Mountains, 165 whichj like the walruses, are generally on their guard against the white bears. But to pursue the narrative of Parry^s voyage. On the 30th of June the ice slackened, and, after eight hours of incessant labour, both ships were got out into the open sea. A few days after, a supply of fresh water was obtained from an iceberg, and the sailors shook from the ropes and rigging extra- ordinary quantities of congealed fog. At length, on the 1st of August, the expedition reached Lan- caster Sound. The strongest interest was manifested both by officers and men. Parry felt that this was the point which was to test the object of the expedi- tion. Ross had maintained the existence of the Croker Mountains ; Parry was of an entirely differ- ent opinion. To settle the matter was the main object of the voyage. Reports, all more or less favourable, were constantly passed down from the crow^s-nest to the quarter-deck. The weather was quite clear, and the ships sailed in perfect safety through the night. Towards morning all anxiety as to the alleged chain of mountains was at an end ; for the two shores were still forty miles apart, at the distance of 150 miles from the mouth of the channel. Evidently the Croker Mountains had no existence. Various reasons now led the navigators to think that they had passed the region of straits and inlets, and were on the expanse of the Polar Basin; and they hoped that nothing would impede their 166 Irregularity of the Compass. Ijrogress to Icy Cape^ the western boundary of America. Appearances arose^ however, to excite apprehension, and particularly when a line of con- tinuous ice appeared on the south, proving to be joined to a compact and impregnable body of floes, which completely joined the western point of Max- well Bay. They had, therefore, immediately to draw back, lest they should be embayed in the ice, on the edge of which a violent surf was then beat- ing. Seeing, to the south, an open sea, with a dark water sky, Parry, hoping it might lead to an open passage in a lower latitude, steered in the direction, but found himself at the mouth of a great inlet, some thirty miles in width, and to which there was no visible termination. The western coast being much obstructed by ice, the explorers turned their course to the east, and coasted along a broad, open channel, the shores of which were barren and desolate, without a sign of life. Here the irregularity of the compass was very perplexing; it became weak and uncer- tain, — indicating an approach to the magnetic pole. They pursued their course, however, for more than 120 miles, when they approached a headland, to which they gave the name of Cape Kater; to the inlet, which Parry suspected led into Hudson's Bay, he gave the name of Prince Kegent. To the north, after various deviations, another extensive inlet was discovered from the main channel, to which Parry gave the name of Wei- A Prize fairly won. 167 lington ; and^ at a small island called Byam Martin^ they concluded, from some experiments^, that they had passed the magnetic meridian. It was not without the utmost difficulty that they now pro- ceeded ; but at last they reached an island, which they christened Melville. It was the largest island they had yet discovered. On the 4th of September, Parry had the satis- faction of announcing to his men that they had reached 110° west longitude, and had thereby become entitled to the reward of 5000/. promised by the British Government to the first ship's crew that should reach that meridian. Encouraged by this success, they pressed on with redoubled energy; but their course was speedily checked by a heavy and impenetrable floe of ice. After struggling against the ice-floes, in the hope of effecting a passage, for nearly a fortnight. Parry was at last convinced that nothing more dare be attempted at that time, as a single hour^s calm weather would effectually enclose them in the ice. Their only course was to return to Melville Island, and this was accomplished with great difficulty. For two miles they had to cut their way through an ice- floe. For this purpose the sailors marked, with boarding-pikes, two parallel lines, at the distance of something more than the breadth of the larger ship. They then, in the first place, sawed along the track marked out ; then, by cross- sawings, de- tached large pieces, which were separated diagon- ally, in order to be floated out, and sometimes boat- 168 An Arctic Newspaper. sails were fastened to them, to take advantage of a favourable breeze. At Melville, Parry resolved to winter. The place was well chosen. There was an abundance of fresh water, plenty of trout, and plenty of grouse, to say nothing of reindeer and musk-ox. So, withbota- nising, fishing, and shooting, there was a sufiiciency of entertainment, and capital sport, — sport which possessed the advantage of providing a plentiful supply of excellent fresh food. It was expected that the sportsmen should shoot and angle for the good of all ; and although those who brought in provi- sions were allowed, by previous arrangement, to take a certain extra portion, the result of a day's sport, on the whole, was for the public benefit. The vessels were unrigged and banked up with snow ; and then, work and sport being ended, and the long wintry night coming on, it was debated how they should spend their time. Never was man so fertile of resources as Parry. There was little prospect, if he were there, that time would hang heavy on their hands, or that their idle hands would get into mischief. He set up a school, which was very well attended ; pub- lished a weekly newspaper, under the title of The North- Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle; and started a theatre, where men and officers thoroughly enjoyed themselves, with the thermo- meter at freezing-point or zero. At Christmas, Parry himself produced a piece, appropriate, en- couraging, and exciting. It was called The North- The Drama in the Snow. 169 west Passage Discovered ; or, the Voyage Finished, It is the fashion^ in these times, to present intense realism on the stage. In the Arctic theatre, when an Arctic piece was presented, the realism was ex- cessive, and called forth unbounded applause, — real sailors, real ships, real ice-blocks, and a real Arctic temperature. One February night, the observatory and store- house caught fire, and the men rushed out, without considering the inclemency of the weather and preparing for it. The consequences were several very severe frost-bites. There was nothing but dry snow to extinguish the flames, and this was scarcely of any avail in preserving the light structure of wood and canvas which had been run up ; but the perseverance of the men triumphed. Parry says that the appearance which their faces presented at the fire was very curious, almost every nose and chest having become quite white with frost-bites 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 round while the men were work- ing at the fire, and to rub with snow the parts afibcted, in order to restore animation. Throughout the winter, the officers every day took a walk of two or three hours ; but they never proceeded farther than a mile, lest they should be overtaken by a snow-drift. Exercise was also en- forced upon the men, who, when prevented by the weather from leaving the vessel, were made to keep 170 Virtues of Tea. time while they ran round the deck to the music of an organ. Altogether^ the health of the crew and officers was excellent. Special caution was exercised with regard to scurvy — an alarming disease in the Arctic regions. It appears that one great cause of this is the use of improper food, and other carelessness ; in fact^ that the evil chiefly arises from preventible causes. It is worth while to notice^ in this place, the testimony of Scoresby as to the use of stimulants in the Arctic regions. He says : " Whenever I have had occasion to expose myself to severe cold, I have found that the more I am heated, the longer I can resist the cold without inconvenience. The warmth produced by simple fluids, such as tea or soup, is preferable to that occasioned by spirits. After the liberal use of tea, I have often sustained cold at ten degrees at the mast-head, for several hours, without uneasiness. I have frequently gone from the break- fast-table, where the temperature w^as fifty or sixty degrees, to the mast-head, where it was ten, without any other additional clothing, except a cap; yet I never received any inj ury, and seldom much incon- venience, from the uncommon transition .^^ Towards the end of July, the ice began to break up, and the vessels no longer remained " As idle as a painted sliip Ul)on a painted ocean." On the 2d of August, by a sudden movement not uncommon in those regions, the whole mass Parrifs second Voyage. 171 broke up and floated out, and the explorers had the wide sea before them. Intent on continuing their investigations^ they immediately set about renewing their voyage; but they had not proceeded far in the direction of Behring's Straits, before the surface of the ocean presented a compact and impenetrable mass of ice ; and they were therefore compelled to return home. Their reception in England was every thing that could be desired. A great advance had been made in Polar investigation ; there was every reason to believe that more than half the North-west Passage had been discovered ; the prize for reaching a given meridian had been won ; and the ships^ crews had been kept in comfort and tolerable health, through all the horrors of an Arctic winter. Parry had not long to wait for another expedi- tion ; in 1821 — he had only returned in 1820 — he was appointed to the command of two ships, the Fury and the Hecla, and sailed for Hudson^s Bay. Parry had been so far baffled amid the bays and inlets of Lancaster Sound, that he resolved to coast North America; and he looked for a pass- age to the north of Hudson^s Bay. But the weather was fearfully bad, and the winter early ; so that at Winter Island, as they called it, in the mouth of Lyon Inlet, the ships were frozen in ; and Parry betook himself immediately to making the seamen and officers comfortable. There they were visited by the Esquimaux, ready to buy, ready to sell. 172 A noisy Welcome, " It is impossible to describe the shouts, yells, and laugbter of the savages, or the confusion that existed for two or three hours. The females were at first very shy, and unwilling to come on the ice, but bartered every thing from their boats. This timidity, however, soon wore off; and they, in the end, became as noisy and boisterous as the men. It is scarcely possible to conceive any thing more ugly or disgusting than the countenances of the old women, who had inflamed eyes, wrinkled skin, black teeth, and, in fact, such a forbidding set of features as scarcely could be called human; to which might be added their dress, which was such as gave them the appearance of aged ourang-ou- tangs. Frobisher^s crew may be pardoned for having, in such superstitious times as a.d. 1576, taken one of the ladies for a witch, of whom it is said, ^ The old wretch, whom our sailors supposed to be a witch, had her buskins pulled oflP, to see if she was cloven- footed ; and being very ugly and deformed, we let her go." ^^ In order to amuse our new acquaintances as much as possible, the fiddler was sent on the ice, where he instantly found a most delighted set of dancers, of whom some of the women kept pretty good time. Their only figure consisted in stamping and jumping with all their might. Our musician, who was a lively fellow, soon caught the infection, and began cutting capers also. In a short time, every one on the floe — officers, men, and savages — were dancing together, and exhibited one of the Esquimaux Sports. 173 most extraordinary sights I ever witnessed. One of our seamen^ of a fresh, ruddy complexion^ excited the admiration of all the young females^ who patted his face^ and danced around him wherever he went. "The exertion of dancing so exhilarated the Esquimaux, that they had the appearance of being boisterously drunk, and played many extraordinary pranks. Amongst others, it was a favourite joke to run slily behind the seamen, and, shouting loudly in one ear, to give at the same time a very smart slap on the other. While looking on, I was sharply saluted in this manner, and, of course, was quite startled, to the great amusement of the by- standers : our cook, who was a most active and unwearied jumper, became so great a favourite, that every one boxed his ears so soundly as to oblige the poor man to retire from such boisterous marks of approbation. "Amongst other sports, some of the Esquimaux, rather roughly, but with great good humour, chal- lenged our people to wrestle. One man, in par- ticular, who had thrown several of his countrymen, attacked an officer of a very strong make ; but the poor savage was instantly thrown, and with no very easy fall ; yet, although every one was laughing at him, he bore it with exemplary good humour. The same officer afforded us much diversion by teaching a large party of women to bow, courtesy, shake hands, turn their toes out, and perform sun- dry other polite accomplishments ; the whole party, master and pupils, preserving the strictest gravity. 174 Duke of York^s Bay, '^Towards midnight all our men, except the watch on deck, turned into their beds; and the fatigued and hungry Esquimaux returned to their boats to take their supper, which consisted of lumps of raw flesh and blubber of seals, birds, entrails, &c. ; licking their fingers with great zest, and with knives or fingers scraping the blood and grease which ran down their chins into their mouths." On reaching the entrance of Fox^s Channel, and in view of Southampton Island, Captain Parry resolved on sailing up the inlet ; and on coming to an opening to the westward, a large and beautiful bay, he gave it the name of the Duke of York. Still pursuing his voyage, though the passage was incumbered by ice and darkened by fogs, he reached Republic Bay, from which he had hoped to find an outlet ; in this he was disappointed, although he closely examined the coast-line with boats. The coast had been hitherto unexplored — indeed, a large portion of it was entirely unknown. Entering an inlet, to which the name of Gore was given, they found grass and moss, which contrasted strongly with the usual icy desolation. Several butter- flies, also, and strange birds were observed ; and some of the crew went ashore to gather what game they could for the supply of the general table. Sailing onward, the explorers were entangled in a labyrinth of small islands, from which they found it difficult to escape. Once more driven on by a strong northerly wind, they soon found them- A Visit fi^om the Esquimau^\ 175 selves precisely where they had been a month before. On reaching the northern coast^ Parry explored a large inlet, to which he gave the name of Captain Lynn ; also a smaller one, which he called after Lieutenant Hoppner ; connecting these with Gore Inlet, he completed his description of the coast. By this time the winter had set in, and the explorers found it impossible to proceed. Various pieces of ice-drift had cemented into one great and dangerous mass, which threatened every hour to crush the vessels. The navigators determined on sawing their way into a floe of ice, and making the best of their winter-quarters. Early in February, they were visited by a party of Esquimaux, and a little traffic was carried on. ^^The strangers were invited to visit their habita- tions, though, as yet, they were invisible. But on being led to a hole in the snow, and directed to place themselves on their hands and knees, they crept through a long, winding passage, and arrived at a hall with a dome-shaped roof, whence doors opened into three apartments, each one occupied by a family. The materials and structure of these abodes were very singular. SnoAV was carved into slabs of about two feet long and six inches thick, and these were so cleverly put together as to form a series of structures resembling cupolas, rising about seven feet above the ground, and being from four- teen to sixteen feet in diameter. A plate of ice in the roof served as a window, and readily admitted 176 Snow Houses of the Esquimaux. the light. It was not long, however, before filth and smoke rendered these chambers, to the senses of a European, very disagreeable. The Esquimaux villages appeared at first like a cluster of hillocks amid the snow, but successive falls filled up the vacuities, and rendered the surface almost smooth. On a thaw advancing, the ceilings begin to drip ; and after vain attempts to render it weather-proof, the inhabitants betake themselves to a more dur- able lodgment. A lamp is suspended in each room ; moss forms the wick; and it is fed by the oil of the seal or the walrus, and serves as the light and fire of the snow dwelling. A bench formed of snow placed round the chamber, and covered with skins, is the seat of the household.^^ Parry found the Esquimaux to be very well in- formed of the seas and coasts, and they were most willing to furnish any information they had. A woman, named Tliglieck, was of great service; taking a pencil, she drew, with comparative accu- racy, a large portion of the coast-line ; this gave the explorers confidence in all that she stated. She indicated the extreme limit of Melville Peninsula ; her pencil then, taking a westerly course^ described a strait, which gradually widened into an immense expanse of water, apparently an ocean. Pursuing their voyage as soon as it was practic- able, the explorers were exposed to imminent peril by the ice-floes, and witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of the meeting of two floes, the con- cussion being so violent as to fling vast masses The Island of Igloskik. 177 of ice into the air, to tlie height of fifty or sixty feet. Gradually the stern aspect of winter changed to that of summer ; on the shores they could see the wild deer and birds of various kinds, while Arctic plants clothed the apparently barren rocks, and all nature put on a very gay aspect. The ex- plorers were affected by the scene, and all was hopefulness and good humour j they were en- couraged to believe that Iliglieck was right, and that they had but to sail around to enter the Polar Sea. They discovered the island of Igloskik, to which she had drawn their special attention, as marking the entrance to the strait ; but a formid- able barrier was in their way, — a broad sheet of ice extending, unbroken, from shore to shore. Nothing daunted, Parry, with a party of six, made a journey over the frozen barker, and, ascending a bold cape, saw plainly what he took to be the Polar Sea. Soon after his return to his ship, the ice began to disappear, a fresh breeze sprang up, and they were carried rapidly forward. But a fresh disappointment awaited them — they found the summer drifts crowding the channel ; and, though the snow was soft, and, under press of canvas, they literally forced their way for several hundred yards, their progress was at last completely stopped, and the ships were immovable for the season. Their only method of observation was now by land- journeys, and these were under very difficult cir- cumstances. That the Polar Sea lay beyond, Parry M 178 Another Ewpeditioii — A Masquerade. had no doubt; and^ could he have remained until the following summer, he had every confidence in effect- ing an entry. The appearance of scurvy, however, and the shortness of provisions, made it imperative for Parry to return, much to his regret, and that of the brave fellows who shared his trials and toils ; but the course was inevitable ; and so, sawing their way first, and combating their way afterwards, through the ice-fields and drifts, they reached the open seas, and arrived in England on the 10th of October 1823. A few months sufiiced to fit out another expedi- tion. In 1824, his majesty George IV. having commanded that a renewed attempt should be made for the discovery of the North-west Passage to the Pacific, authority was once more conferred on Cap- tain Parry. The Admiralty supplied him with every thing which could assist in his arduous undertaking. The ships were the HecJa and the Fury. The weather happened to be particularly unfavourable, and it was just on the close of September when the expedition reached the en- trance to Prince Regent's Inlet. There Parry re- solved to winter, and at once set about the agreeable employment of the time. Schools, plays, balls, newspapers, and the rest of their customary amuse- ments, were a little over-done, so the idea was hit upon of a masquerade ; and Parry says, ^' It is impossible that any idea could have proved more happy, or more exactly suited to our situation. Admirably dressed characters, of various descrip- THE '' fury'' AEAKDOXED IN PRINCE REGEXT's INLET. Abandonment of the ^^FuryP 181 tions, readily took their parts ; and many of tbese were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine good humour which would not have disgraced a more refined assembly, while the latter might not have been disgraced by copying the good order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble masquerades presented. It does especial credit to the dispositions and good sense "of our men, that, though all the officers entered fully into the spirit of these amusements, which took place once a month on board of each ship, no instance occurred of any thing that could interfere with the regular discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men to their superiors/^ But the weather, which had made the out-bound journey of the expedition so late in its arrival, still continued : not till the middle of July, in the follow- ing year, did the ice break. In the stormy weather which succeeded, the Fury was driven on shore, and her iron-girded timbers completely crushed. All the efforts made to save the vessel had to be aban- doned; no exertions could get her off: so, in Prince Regent^s Inlet, the Fury was left to her fate. Although no very important discovery had been made, the observations of Parry and the informa- tion obtained from the Esquimaux were suflSciently encouraging to warrant the fitting out of another expedition. George lY. commanded that another attempt should be made to reach the North-west Passage, by way of Prince Regent^s Island ; and Captain Parry was invited to take the command. 182 A Journey over the Ice. To this he very readily agreed^ and it was arranged that the Hecla should carry him to the northern coast of Spitzbergen, where she was to be secured in a safe harbour; and with her were sent two boats, to be dragged or navigated from that point to the Pole. The expedition reached Spitzbergen about the middle of June, and on the 22d the explorers quitted the ship ; and, although the shores were still frozen, they passed eighty miles of open water, and then found, not, as they expected, the main body of the ice, but an intermediate state of things, being ice and water, through which it was impos- sible to walk, and equally impossible to sail ; but the one process had to be alternated with the other. The party consisted of twenty-eight men, and the}'- had with them provisions for seventy days. The suf- ferings and privations incidental to the only mode of progression are something terrible to contem- plate ; but they were not to be easily daunted, and were ready to endure any thing rather than failure. The first thing to be done was to travel by night instead of by day, and thus escape the snow- glare, and the blindness which it frequently occa- sions. On rising in the evening, they had morning prayers, breakfasted on warm cocoa and biscuit, drew on their boots, packed up their fur sleeping- dresses, and set out on their toilsome journey, which they continued till rather late in the morn- ing ; then halting, they hauled up their boats on the largest piece of ice they could find, and then O H O 02 H