American exploration--The "open Polar Sea"--Dr Kane's voyage in the
_Advance_--Sledge-work--The _Advance_ in winter quarters--Incidents of
the winter--Abandonment of the ship--Terrible suffering--Drifting--
Rescued.
The Americans had already sent out an expedition to search for Franklin,
which was commanded by Lieutenant De Haven. These vessels were the
_Advance_ and _Rescue_, and the expedition, which we have referred to as
the "Grinnell Expedition," was accompanied by Doctor E.K. Kane as
"surgeon, naturalist, and historian." In the spring of 1853, when more
search expeditions were being sent out, Mr Grinnell, Mr Peabody, and
other gentlemen, dispatched Doctor Kane as leader of this important
undertaking.
Doctor Kane had minutely studied the Arctic problem, and he entertained
the idea that around the Pole is open water--a theory afterwards acted
on by Doctor Hayes, and set forth in a pamphlet by Captain Bent, called
"Gateways to the Pole," which sustains the belief that the Gulf Stream,
by its warm water, keeps the northern channel free from ice, and by
following the Gulf Stream the Pole may be reached.
But this is a digression. Doctor Kane had accepted the conduct of the
expedition, and at once embarked upon it. He went upon the supposition
of the "open Polar Sea," and sailed in the _Advance_ from New York, on
the 30th of May, 1853. He had determined to penetrate as far up
"Smith's Strait" as possible, and by it enter the Polar Sea. His party
consisted of eighteen officers and men, including Doctor Hayes.
At Saint John's, Newfoundland, they paused to embark some dogs for
sleigh-hauling, and steered thence for Baffin's Bay. Early in July the
ship entered Frikernaes, in Greenland, where the people received the
crew gladly. On the 16th the promontory of Swartchuk was passed; and,
later, icebergs were met with in considerable numbers, under one of
which they were nearly swamped, the warning fragments only giving the
ship time to cast off her icy moorings. Melville Bay was however
navigated, and by the 3rd of August the North Water, through which Kane
wished to reach Smith's Strait (or Sound), was opening to their view.
The "Red Snow," or Crimson Cliffs mentioned by Sir John Ross, were
safely passed, and then doubling Alexander Cape, Smith's Sound was
fairly entered. When Littlebow Island was at length reached, Doctor
Kane determined to form a store depot there, and leave a boat, in view
of future contingencies. Stones, and sand, and water were placed and
poured upon the covered stores, blankets, etcetera. This _cache_ was
soon frozen solid, and thus preserved from the weather and the Polar
bears. The boat was left near what proved to be an old Esquimaux camp.
When these far-seeing preparations had been made, Doctor Kane
endeavoured to press on, but all attempts were defeated by the ice which
pressed upon the vessel; so an advance along the coast was tried. A
storm arose, and the bergs came dashing along before the wind. The
brave Kane determined to utilise his threatening foes, and, making fast
to one fine iceberg, the _Advance_ was towed along, while the storm
lasted, through the ice which the drifting berg cleared away merrily.
Thus, after considerable peril from storm and ice, the vessel lay at
rest in temporary shelter under another iceberg, which, fortunately,
protected them from the hurricane.
They had come fully ten miles in the track of the convenient iceberg;
and, when the storm abated--which it did on the 22nd--the crew took the
_Advance_ in tow, but made little progress along the ice-belt. Doctor
Kane was too impatient to stay with the vessel, so, with a few
followers, he hurried on in front to survey the coast in a boat,
somewhat unpleasantly named the _Forlorn Hope_, which, however, they
soon abandoned for a sleigh.
The journey in this conveyance was neither so easy nor so rapid as
perhaps may be expected, but some progress was made, though eight miles
a day does not come up to our European notions of sledge-travelling.
Finding the ice more and more difficult the sleigh was in its turn
quitted, and the party advanced on foot. In this manner, in not very
cold weather, they proceeded rapidly. They passed Cape Thackeray, which
they named, and reached Cape George Russell; whence they viewed the
great Humboldt Glacier, Cape Jackson, and Cape Barrow, all illustrious
titles in the archives of the world.
When Doctor Kane had made a search for a harbour, and found none so
convenient as the place he had left the _Advance_, he made his way back
again, satisfied that he had as good winter quarters as he could
reasonably expect to find. But he, perhaps, overlooked the fact that
had he discovered a convenient inlet in the ice fifty miles from the
ship, how was the _Advance_ to be brought into it over an ice-pack,
where a boat or a sleigh could not travel? So, perhaps, all things
considered, it was fortunate that he did not find a better shelter.
Doctor Kane and his men returned to the _Advance_, and had her warped in
between two islands for the winter, which was then rapidly approaching.
Soundings were taken in seven fathoms, and when all had been made snug,
the vessel was secured, laid-up in harbour--a shelter which she was
destined never to quit--at any rate, not as a "commissioned" ship.
Preparations were made for sleigh journeys. The dogs were trained,
sleighs were constructed, while an observatory was also erected. Some
of the party made excursions during the winter, and found their course
barred by an immense glacier four hundred feet high. Varied means were
resorted to to kill the usual monotony of the Arctic winter. A
newspaper was started, "hare and hounds" was practised, and perhaps
amateur plays were acted, beside the "Frozen Deep." They did get up a
fancy ball, and enjoyed it very much.
A fire on board ship varied these more interesting proceedings. It
occurred while an experiment was being made to kill rats with carbonic
acid gas. The chief immediate effects were to nearly suffocate Doctor
Kane and three others, a considerable fire, and some discomfort. Then
some dogs went mad in consequence of the depression induced by darkness
and the intense cold. The explorers encountered many dangers in their
excursions, also in falling into crevasses, etcetera. Some dogs died
owing to want of sunlight.
Never had any explorers wintered in such high latitudes before,
excepting perhaps in Spitzbergen. We cannot picture to ourselves the
intense Egyptian darkness which prevails in such places as Kane and his
companions wintered. The thermometer was more than 100 degrees _below
freezing_ point. This was in February, 1854, and the "madness" of the
dogs, though not harmful to their masters, was evidently attributable to
the terrible cold, which affected the air passages, and to the continued
absence of light.
At length Doctor Kane went with a selected party to meet the sun. He
set off to find the light for which all were perishing. The sun was
sighted, and the news was quickly followed by the orb, which revived the
half-frozen crew and the remaining dogs, of which only six were alive,
the rest had died mad--"mentally" afflicted--not with "hydrophobia," but
with "brain" disease. As for the effect on the men, we may quote Doctor
Kane, who says, "An Arctic night and an Arctic day age a man more
harshly than a year anywhere else in all this weary world."
Doctor Kane had made preparations for his sledge expedition to the
north, and a small party was sent ahead on the 19th of March to
establish a depot of stores. But by the 31st of the month three men
returned, swollen, haggard, and scarcely able to articulate. Four men
had been left frozen in the ice in a tent, perfectly disabled. Even the
direction in which they lay was uncertain, but Kane and nine men started
to the rescue. They nearly relinquished the search in sheer despair
until some footprints were discovered which gave them the clue. They
reached the tent after a continued search of twenty-one hours.
After a brief rest--some sleeping in the small tent by turns, while the
rest walked about outside to keep themselves from freezing--they set out
on their homeward journey, but quickly became aware of their rapidly
failing energies. They were still nine miles from home, and some men
wanted to lie down and sleep, another was frozen stiff, and another lay
down in the snow. A halt was necessary.
The tent was pitched: no fire could be lighted, as no one could hold the
materials for striking the flame. The worst patients were put inside
the tent, and then Kane and Godfrey pushed on to the camp for food.
They could only keep themselves awake by incessant talking all the way,
and Doctor Kane states they were neither of them entirely in their right
senses during this trying walk. They remember a bear which tore a
"jumper" that one of the men had thrown off on the previous day;
however, the animal did not mind the explorers at all. But Bruin had
upset the tent, and it was with much difficulty Kane and his companion
raised it. They then went to sleep, and Kane's beard was frozen to the
buffalo skin, so he had to be "cut out." By the time they had made
preparations, the remainder of the party arrived, and they all made for
the brig.
The remainder of the journey was scarcely accomplished with life. Many
ate snow, and their mouths swelled fearfully. Nearly all were
exhausted. At length they became delirious, and only reached the
_Advance_ by instinct, for they were all staggering along blindly when
Peterson and Whipple met them with some restoratives. This expedition
cost two men amputation, and two others died.
During the short summer some expeditions were organised, as the
_Advance_ remained immovable. Some discoveries were made, but the
expeditions ended in disaster. The Humboldt Glacier and Tennyson
Monument--the latter a column of ice, like an obelisk four hundred and
eighty feet high, on a pedestal--were visited. But nothing resulted
from the excursions but blindness, privation, and suffering. An attempt
was made to communicate with Sir E. Belcher on Beachey Island, but it
failed, and another winter in the ice had to be faced. Some men
preferred to leave the ship, but they returned after a while.
The winter passed drearily, amid privations which brought the men almost
down to the lowest pitch of despair but employment fortunately kept them
from the last depth, and preparations for a spring excursion cheered
them up. The Esquimaux were friendly, and a treaty was entered into
with them, which proved useful.
At last summer appeared. The 17th of May was fixed for the start; the
_Advance_ was to be abandoned. The day was Sunday. Prayers were read,
and then Doctor Kane addressed his men, hopefully pointing out their
duty, and encouraging them to proceed, unselfishly helping the sick and
behaving like men. The flags were then hoisted and struck; then the
_Advance_ was abandoned, and the retreat commenced to Littleton Island
first, and thence to Danish Settlements.
It was Tuesday, the 19th of June, when the party took a last leave of
the Esquimaux and put to sea; that first night a boat was swamped. The
_Eric_ went down in the ice; the _Faith_ and _Hope_ remained. On the
22nd, Northumberland Island was reached in a blinding snowstorm; but
fresh provisions were fortunately procured.
They then succeeded, by dragging the boats over the ice, with occasional
rowing, in crossing the Murchison Channel, and encamped for the night on
the land ice-floe. Thus they proceeded, amid tremendous difficulties,
on scanty food--bread-dust and a lump of tallow about the size of a
walnut--and tea when they could procure water. At length they found the
loads heavier, and came to the sad conclusion that their energies were
giving way. Nothing in view, "we were sorely disheartened," says Doctor
Kane.
No wonder! Utterly at the mercy of the ice, which at times broke up,
and fell down, threatening to carry them to destruction with it, or bury
them amid the hummocks. Hemmed in, and in imminent danger of death,
they nevertheless clung to the ice until the rising tide should float
them up and enable them to scale the icy cliffs into comparative
shelter--"Weary Man's Rest."
There they remained till the snow had abated, and then they struggled on
amid ice and "sludge" until checked by a glacier. They had doubled Cape
Dudley Digges, and after a survey, decided to wait in the ice at
"Providence Halt." After a week's rest they again continued their way,
past the "Crimson Cliffs," and into more cheerful regions. They were,
however, nearly starving, but managed to secure a seal, which saved them
for the time; their feet were badly swollen, and they had no desire to
sleep. They were now drifting in the open bay (in the Atlantic
"ice-drift") in leaky boats, a position sufficiently perilous, even
without the accompaniments of hunger and sleeplessness.
On the 1st of August, however, they had reached familiar waters. Two
days later a cry was heard, ending in a "hullo." Men were coming, in a
small boat. "It is the Upernavik oil-boat," said Petersen. He was
right. From the men they learned the news of the Crimean War, and the
discovery of the remains of Franklin's party a thousand miles south of
the places they had explored.
Next day they gained Upernavik in safety, after eighty-four days'
travelling; in the open air all the time. In Upernavik they remained
until the 6th of September, and then embarked for the Shetland Isles.
On the way they fell in with some American vessels which had been
dispatched to search for them, and they were soon welcomed in New York.
From a scientific point of view Doctor Kane's expedition had most
important results in the discovery of a large channel to the north-west,
and in many other discoveries and surveys of the American and Greenland
coasts.