Since the early part of the sixteenth century, attempts have been
frequently made to reach the Pacific through a passage round the
northern shore of America, nor had the desire of the British nation
to accomplish the object ceased when Her Majesty came to the throne.
In the year 1836, Sir George Back, having just returned from a
land-exploring expedition on the northern shore of the American
continent, undertook a voyage up Hudson's Straits in the 'Terror.'
The winter commencing early with great rigour, the ship was frozen
in; and on the ice again breaking up, was driven about for some
months, amid masses of ice grinding her sides and frequently
threatening to overwhelm her. For three days she was thrown on her
beam-ends, when her destruction appeared inevitable; but she happily
righted, and ultimately returned home, though in a desperately
shattered condition. Two officers of the Hudson's Bay Company,
Messrs. Dease and Simpson, about the same time explored a portion of
the Arctic shores of the American continent left undiscovered by
Captains Franklin and Back. It was not, however, till the year 1845
that any further expedition for Arctic discovery was undertaken by
the British Government. The command of the one then planned was
sought for and obtained by Sir John Franklin, and certainly no
subject has so long and so painfully excited the interest of the
nation as the fate of him and his gallant companions. When we
contemplate the terrific dangers to which they have been exposed, we
may well fear the worst; but when we think of the talent, the
courage, the fortitude, and the perseverance they possess among them,
hope still rises above our fears, and we trust, not without reason,
that through the protecting hand of Providence, they may have
surmounted the perils which have surrounded them, and may yet be
restored to their country and their friends. Nowhere can all the
noble qualities which adorn the British seaman be more fully called
forth than during a voyage in the Arctic seas, and the detention to
which he is subject for years together on its ice-bound shores. From
the first entering these regions dangers beset him. Suddenly he
finds his vessel among immense fields of floating ice, through which
he can with difficulty find a passage or escape shipwreck. Then in
the darkness of night, icebergs of vast height are seen close aboard
towering above his mast-head, the sea dashing with fury round their
bases, from which, should he not scrape clear, his destruction is
certain. Sometimes, to prevent his vessel being drifted on icebergs,
or the rocky shore, or fields of ice, to leeward, he secures her on
the leeside of some large berg. The base of the mass beneath the
water is continually melting; and while he fancies himself secure, it
decreases so much as to lose its balance, and its lofty summit
bending down it may overwhelm him in its ruins. Then, again, large
masses become detached from its base, and rising up violently from
far down in the sea, strike the bottom of the vessel with terrific
force, capable of driving in her planks and breaking her stout
timbers. Often, also, he has to saw his way through sheets of ice,
cutting out canals with untiring perseverance to gain a piece of
clear water beyond. Sometimes his vessel is so tightly frozen within
a field of ice that he has no power to extricate her; then the field,
urged by the tides or wind, moves on at a rapid rate for hundreds of
miles, till it encounters some other field or a projecting shore.
Now commences a scene of horror which may well make the stoutest
heart tremble. The field breaks into thousands of fragments, huge
masses of many hundred tons weight, and larger than his ship, are
thrown up, one on the other, rising almost as if they had life, till
they tower far above the sides of his vessel, and appear ready every
instant to crush her, as she lies helplessly among this icy mass of a
seeming ruined world. Sometimes a huge lump, bigger than the ship
herself, becomes attached to her bottom, and as the mass around her
melts, it rises to the surface, and throws her on her beam-ends.
Sometimes, as she is sailing in an open space, two fields suddenly
close in on her. If he has time to cut a dock in the field nearest
him, or finds a bay ready formed, she may escape; if not, when the
fields meet, her stout ribs are crushed in as if they were of wax,
and he is fortunate if he escapes to the ice with some of his boats
and a few provisions and clothes before his vessel disappears, to
encounter a voyage without shelter in that frigid region, till he
falls in with some whaleship, or can gain its inhospitable shores.
But suppose he escapes the dangers of the sea I have described, and
many others, and takes shelter for the winter in some bay or gulf
where, icebound, he must remain during the winter without any
communication with the rest of his fellow-creatures besides those who
form his own adventurous band. The sun sinks below the horizon, and
is not seen again for months together; darkness is around him, and
one dreary mass of snow covers the face of nature. The intense cold
prevents him often from venturing from beyond the shelter with which
he has surrounded his vessel, or if he is tempted to do so,
frost-bites may attack his hands and his feet and deprive him of
their use. Sometimes the Arctic explorer has had to journey for
weeks together across the barren waste of ice or snow-covered ground,
dragging his sledge after him, and sleeping night after night under
the thin roof of a canvas tent; and as summer draws on, often wet
through from the melting snow without an opportunity of drying his
clothes. Seldom has he an abundance, and often he suffers from a
scarcity of provisions, while, if his strength fails him from illness
or injury, he can scarcely hope to regain his ship alive.
Notwithstanding the dangers and hardships I have mentioned, and many
others to which the Arctic explorer is exposed, as soon as it was
known that another Polar expedition was in contemplation, and that
Sir John Franklin would probably command it, numbers of volunteers
crowded forward to obtain appointments under him.
Among them was the gallant Fitzjames, whose name has been so often
mentioned in these pages as being actively engaged wherever work was
to be done; the talented and persevering Captain Crozier, who had but
lately returned from a long and hazardous voyage of discovery; Harry
Goodsir, an enterprising surgeon, whose brother has shown his
fraternal affection by undertaking a voyage in a whaler in hopes of
meeting with the expedition; also Lieut. Gore, who had before braved
the most terrific dangers of a Polar voyage on board the 'Terror,' in
the last expedition under Captain Back, and who was likewise with
Ross in the Antarctic expedition; and there was also Lieut.
Fairholme, who was in the Niger expedition, when he encountered
dangers undaunted, scarcely inferior to those to be met with in the
icy seas. Then I must mention John Irving. He had quitted the
service and settled in Australia. He had once gone down to Sydney to
sell his wool, when he found a ship-of-war in the harbour. He went
on board--a number of old shipmates greeted him. He was then a
mate--a vacancy existed in the ship. He got appointed to fill it,
and directing a brother, who was also in the colony, to take care of
his property, he sailed at once for England, scarcely again setting
foot on shore; and on his arrival, receiving his commission as
lieutenant, he joined the Polar expedition.
The following is a list of the officers who were finally appointed to
the expedition:--
'EREBUS.'
Captain Sir John Franklin, K.C.H.; Commander James Fitzjames; Lieuts.
Graham Gore, Henry T. Le Vesconte, James William Fairholme; Mates,
Charles T. des Vaux, Robert O'Sargent; Second Master, Henry F.
Collins; Surgeon, Stephen Stanley; Assistant Surgeon, Harry D. S.
Goodsir; Paymaster and Purser, Charles H. Osmer; Master, James Reid,
acting; 58 Petty Officers, Seamen, &c. Full complement, 70.
'TERROR'
Captain Francis E. M. Crozier; Lieuts. Edward Little, George H.
Hodgson, John Irving; Mates, Frederick J. Hornby, Robert Thomas;
Ice-master, T. Blakey, acting; Second Master, G. A. Maclean; Surgeon,
John S. Peddie; Assistant Surgeon, Alexander M'Donald; Clerk in
Charge, Edwin G. H. Helpman; 57 Petty Officers, Seamen, &c. Full
complement, 68; making in all 138 souls.
The expedition sailed from England May the 26th, 1845. They arrived
at the Whale-fish Islands, a group to the south of Disco, on the 4th
of July. On the 26th they were seen moored to an iceberg, in 74° 48'
north latitude, and 66° 13' west longitude, by a Hull whaler, the
'Prince of Wales,' Captain Dannet. The ships had then on board
provisions for three years, on full allowance, or even four, with the
assistance of such game as they might expect to obtain. Every one on
board had resolved to persevere to the utmost in pushing their way
through any channel which might offer a prospect of success towards
the west; but the letters of Captain Fitzjames especially seem to
point clearly to Wellington Channel as the passage they would most
probably first attempt. No news of the expedition having reached
England up to the year 1847, some slight apprehensions began to be
felt, though the general hope was that Sir John had pushed on perhaps
into the Polar basin, and might make his appearance by way of
Behring's Straits. However, it was thought right, in 1848, to
despatch another expedition to search for the missing ships. Two
vessels were commissioned for that purpose, and placed under the
command of Sir James Ross, an officer who has been nearer the
northern and southern poles than any other human being. The ships
were not ready for sea till the 12th of June. They were fitted to
contend with the dangers of the Polar seas in a way no former ships
had been, and every means that could be devised for the comfort and
convenience of their crews were liberally supplied; while the
officers and men were influenced by an earnest zeal to discover their
missing countrymen, and to rescue them from the forlorn condition in
which it was too probable they were placed. Such have been the
motives which have induced, year after year, numbers of other gallant
officers and men to volunteer their services to encounter the
terrific dangers and hardships of a Polar voyage to search for Sir
John Franklin and his brave followers. But while I am mentioning the
brave and bold spirits who are eager to rush into danger, and to
undergo toil and suffering for that object, I cannot omit to speak of
one, a sailor's daughter and a sailor's niece, who has proved herself
indeed a heroine--a true chip of the old block. Most people have
heard of the noble efforts and sacrifices Lady Franklin has made to
despatch expedition after expedition in search of her gallant
husband, and all honour be her due; though few can understand but
those who have the happiness of knowing her, the untiring zeal, the
deep earnest devotion of his affectionate niece. How she has
laboured on, month after month and year after year, with talents,
mind, and endurance, unsurpassed by any man; sitting up night after
night to write letters to all parts of the world, and spending day
after day in receiving visits from officers anxious to form part of
some expedition, and in examining every variety of invention, plan,
and proposal. No words of mine can do adequate justice to the lady
of whom I write. All honour be to Miss Sophia Cracroft; she is
indeed a true daughter of old ocean, and worthy to be loved and
reverenced by all who love and respect the British Navy, and admire
the gallant spirit which imbues it.
But to return to our narrative. My space will not allow me to give
more than a very brief sketch of the several searching expeditions
which have been sent out, and the names of the ships and officers
composing them.