now visited for the last time. Steering to the north, Cook discovered
in the last days of the year 1777 the Sandwich Islands, most likely
previously known to the Spaniards, but kept secret from the world; and
reached on the 7th of March, 1778, the mountainous forest-girt coast of
New Albion, along which two centuries before Drake had sailed as far as
48° N. lat. Penetrating farther and farther to the north, he at length
reached the most westerly point of the American continent, Cape Prince
of Wales, which, stretching far out into the Straits of Behring, is only
thirty-nine miles distant from the east coast of Siberia. Both pillars of
this water-gate, according to Chamisso's description, are high mountains
within sight of each other, rising abruptly from the sea on the Asiatic
side, while on the American their foot is bordered by a low alluvial
plain. On the Asiatic side the sea has its greatest depth, and the
current, which sets from the south into the channel with a rapidity of
two or three knots an hour, its greatest strength. Whales and numberless
herds of walruses are seen only on the Asiatic side.
Through these famous straits, which Deshnew had first passed, and
which Behring most likely never saw, Cook penetrated into the Arctic
Ocean, examined a part of the Siberian coast, and then sailed to the
opposite shores of America, where he discovered and explored the coast
of West Georgia as far as 70° 44′ N. lat., until fields of ice opposed
an impenetrable barrier to his progress.
After having thus illumined with the torch of science the farthest
extremities of the earth, Cook once more steered to the south and
discovered Hawaii, the largest of the Sandwich Islands. But better had it
been for him if the glory of this discovery had fallen to the share of
some other navigator, for it was here that the illustrious seaman, who
had thrice circumnavigated the globe, was doomed to fall by the club of a
barbarous savage.
No navigator has ever made so many important discoveries at such
distances from each other as Cook, or done more for the progress of
geographical knowledge. The wide Pacific he so thoroughly explored,
that his successors found only single ears to glean where he had reaped
the richest harvest. With the firm resolution and the indomitable
perseverance of the ancient mariners who preceded him on that vast ocean,
he combined a scientific knowledge they never possessed. What they
had only flightily observed, or imperfectly described, he in reality
discovered, and indelibly marked upon the map of the globe. Indefatigable
with the astrolabe and the plummet, he neglected no opportunity of
pointing out to his successors both the dangers they would have to avoid,
and the harbours in which they might find a refuge against storms, and a
supply of fresh water and provisions. His excellent method of preserving
the health of seamen from the murderous attacks of the scurvy, secures
him a lasting place among the benefactors of mankind. But he not only
anxiously watched over the welfare of his companions--his humanity
extended a no less salutary influence over the savages with whom he
came in contact. He everywhere sought to better their condition, made
them presents of useful animals and seeds, and pointed out to them the
advantages of peace and agriculture. But his chief praise remains yet to
be told, and this is, that he owed the high position he acquired in life
exclusively to himself. He whose fame reached as far as the limits of
the civilised world, and whose death was mourned as a national calamity,
was the son of a poor labourer, and had commenced his career as a common
sailor.
The most celebrated navigators during the last quarter of the eighteenth
century were Vancouver and La Peyrouse.
Vancouver, who had accompanied Cook on his last and fatal voyage, gained
his chief laurels (1790) by thoroughly exploring the north-west coast
of America, which his illustrious friend had merely sketched in its
most important outlines, having been prevented by his untimely end
from investigating it more fully on a second visit. Vancouver began
his hydrographical labours at Cape Mendocino, examined the Straits of
Juan de Fuca, and, having convinced himself of the non-existence of a
passage to the eastward, accurately investigated the labyrinth of bays,
isles, sounds, and inlets, extending between 50° and 60° N. lat., thus
establishing the important fact of the uninterrupted continuation of the
American continent in these parts. Vancouver's Island will transmit his
name to the latest posterity, and British Columbia remember him as the
first navigator that accurately mapped her shores.
The fame of La Peyrouse is owing more to his misfortunes than to his
eminent services. After having distinguished himself as a naval officer,
he was sent by the equally unfortunate Louis XVI. on the voyage of
discovery from which he was never to return. On the coast of Tartary
and in the Japanese seas he examined a part of the world which hitherto
no European had visited, and after having rectified many geographical
errors sailed to Botany Bay, whence he forwarded his last despatches (7th
Feb. 1788) to Europe. With the design of sailing through Torres' Straits
to the Gulf of Carpentaria, he left the new-born English colony, but
disappeared in the trackless ocean, and years and years passed on without
solving the mystery of his fate.
At length, in 1826, Captain Dillon, an Englishman, was informed by
Martin Bushart, a Prussian sailor whom he found settled on the Island
of Tikopia, that many years since two large ships had been wrecked on
the neighbouring Island of Vanikoro. Having brought this intelligence to
Calcutta, he was sent out by the East India Company in the "Research" to
make further inquiries on the scene of the catastrophe. On the 13th of
Sept., 1827, Dillon anchored at Vanikoro, and, having collected the most
interesting relics of the shipwreck, left it after a few weeks.
These facts became known at Hobart Town to the French circumnavigator
Dumont d'Urville, who immediately resolved to sail to Vanikoro. He
arrived there on the 22nd Feb., 1828, but at first found it very
difficult to persuade the suspicious natives to point out to him the
remains of the wrecked ship, until the offer of a piece of red cloth
effectually overcame their scruples. One of the boldest immediately
jumped into a boat and offered to guide them on condition of receiving
the proffered reward. The bargain was gladly struck, and the Frenchmen,
piloted by the negro, eagerly pushed off from shore.
The coral reef which forms an enormous girdle round Vanikoro approaches
the land opposite to the village of Paiou, so that the distance between
them is hardly a mile. There, in a channel dividing the breakers, the
savage caused the boat to stop, and made signs to the Frenchmen to look
down to the bottom, where they saw anchors, cannons, and other objects
scattered about and overgrown with corals. No doubt now remained, and
with deep emotion they gazed on these last memorials of the unfortunate
expedition of La Peyrouse. Metal alone had been able to resist the tooth
of time, the rolling waters, or the gnawing ship-worm; all wood-work was
gone.
I have already stated that on d'Urville's arrival he found the natives
extremely distrustful and shy, answering all his questions by negations.
It was evident that their conduct towards La Peyrouse had been anything
but hospitable, and that they now feared the tardy vengeance of the white
men. But, finding themselves treated with invariable kindness, their
fears gradually gave way, and thus it became possible to gather some
information about the catastrophe from some old men who had witnessed it,
and from the most intelligent of the chiefs.
After a dark and stormy night the islanders saw early on the following
morning an enormous _pirogue_ stranded on the coral reef on the south
side of the island. The surf soon destroyed the ship, and but a small
number of the crew reached the shore in a boat. On the following day a
second large _pirogue_ stranded opposite Paiou. But this wreck lying on
the lee-side of the island, less exposed to the surf, and resting on a
more even ground, remained a longer time without going to pieces. The
whole of the crew escaped in the boats to Paiou, where they built a small
vessel, and after a stay of five months once more embarked, and were
never heard of since. Most likely they had steered towards New Ireland,
with the intention of ultimately reaching the Moluccas or the Philippine
Islands, and perished on some unknown reef. The unhealthy condition of
d'Urville's crew prevented him from extending his researches any further
along the western coasts of the Solomon Islands. That the stranded
vessels were those of La Peyrouse is beyond all doubt; for years before
and after no other large vessels had been lost in those seas. The heavy
cannons could only have belonged to ships of war such as La Peyrouse
commanded, and several of the instruments collected by Captain Dillon
evidently belonged to a scientific expedition.
Before d'Urville left Vanikoro he resolved to raise a simple monument to
the memory of his unfortunate countrymen, a four-sided pyramid resting on
a square base. Neither nails nor iron clasps fastened the coral blocks
together, for fear of awakening the cupidity of the savages; and, if they
have kept their word to honour the _Papalangi_ monument as they would a
temple erected to their own gods, it still reminds the navigator whom
chance may lead to that secluded island, of the renown and tragical end
of the ill-fated La Peyrouse.
CHAP. XXVII.
Scoresby.--The Arctic Navigators.--Ross.--Parry.--Sufferings
of Franklin and his Companions on his Overland Expedition
in 1821.--Parry's Sledge-journey to the North Pole.--Sir
John Franklin.--M'Clure.--Kane.--M'Clintock.--South Polar
Expeditions.--Billinghausen.--Weddell.--Biscoe.--Balleny.--Dumont
d'Urville.--Wilkes.--Sir James Ross.--Recent scientific Voyages of
Circumnavigation.
Although the undaunted courage and indomitable perseverance of the great
navigators whom I have named in the preceding chapters had gradually
circumscribed the bounds of discovery, and no vast ocean remained to be
explored by some future Cook or Magellan, yet at the beginning of this
century many secrets of the sea still remained unrevealed to man.
The north coast of America and the Arctic Ocean beyond were still plunged
in mysterious darkness; and although Cook in several places had advanced
far into the Antarctic seas, yet here also a wide field still lay open to
the adventurous seaman.
Many coasts, many groups of islands scattered over the vast bosom of
the ocean, awaited a more accurate survey, and would no doubt have
remained unexplored, if gold, as in former times, had still been the sole
magnet which attracted the seafarer to distant parts of the world. But
fortunately science had now become a power which induced man, without
any prospect of immediate profit, to spare no expense and to shrink from
no danger, that he might become better and better acquainted with his
dwelling-place the earth.
It cannot be denied that our century has laboured at the solution of all
these various geographical questions with an energy and perseverance
unexampled in the history of civilisation; and the prominent part she
has taken in their investigation is undoubtedly one of the great glories
of England. At no other time have more voyages of discovery and more
scientific expeditions been undertaken; never have more courageous
Argonauts gone forth to conquer the golden fleece of knowledge. It
will be the pleasing task of this closing chapter to follow these noble
mariners in their adventurous course; and, to avoid confusion, I shall
begin with a short history of Arctic discovery up to the present day,
and afterwards treat of the efforts made to extend our knowledge towards
the South Pole. In spite of the unsuccessful efforts of a Frobisher, a
Davis, a Hudson, and a Baffin, England had never given up the hope of
discovering a northern passage to India, either direct across the Pole,
or round the north coast of America. It had been one of the chief objects
of Cook's third voyage to find a sea-path from Behring's Straits to
Baffin's or Hudson's Bay; and some years before, while the illustrious
navigator was busy exploring the Southern Pacific, we see Captain Phipps
renewing the old attempt to sail direct to the Pole (1773). But, like his
predecessor Hudson, he reached no farther than the northern extremity of
Spitzbergen, where his vessel, surrounded by mighty ice-blocks, would
have perished but for a timely change of wind. This repulse damped for a
time the spirit of discovery; but hope revived again when it became known
that Scoresby, on a whaling expedition in the Greenland seas (1806), had
attained 81° N. lat. and thus approached the Pole to within 540 miles.
No one before him had ever reached so far to the north, and an open sea
tempted him mightily to proceed, but as the object of his voyage was
strictly commercial, and he himself answerable to the owners of his
vessel, Scoresby felt obliged to sacrifice his inclinations to his duty
and to steer again to the south.
During the continental war, England indeed had little leisure to
prosecute discoveries in the Arctic Ocean; but not long after the
conclusion of peace (1818) two expeditions were sent out for that purpose.
Captain Buchan, with the ships "Dorothea" and "Trent," sailed with
instructions to proceed in a direction as due north as might be
practicable through the Spitzbergen Sea; but, having after much
difficulty gained lat. 80° 34′ north in that polar archipelago, he was
obliged speedily to withdraw and try his fortune off the western edge of
the pack. Here however a tremendous gale, threatening every moment to
crush the ships between the large ice-blocks heaving and sinking in the
roaring billows, induced the bold experiment of dashing right into the
body of the ice; a practice which has been resorted to by whalers in
extreme cases, as their only chance of escaping destruction.
"While we were yet a few fathoms from the ice," says Admiral Beechey, the
eloquent eye-witness and narrator of the dreadful scene, "we searched
with much anxiety for a place that was more open than the general line of
the pack, but in vain; all parts appeared to be equally impenetrable, and
to present one unbroken line of furious breakers, in which immense pieces
of ice were heaving and subsiding with the waves.
"No language, I am convinced, can convey an adequate idea of the terrific
grandeur of the effect now produced by the collision of the ice and
the tempestuous ocean. The sea violently agitated, and rolling its
mountainous waves against an opposing body, is at all times a sublime and
awful sight; but when, in addition, it encounters immense masses, which
it has set in motion with a violence equal to its own, its effect is
prodigiously increased. At one moment it bursts upon these icy fragments,
and buries them many feet beneath its wave, and the next, as the buoyancy
of the depressed body struggles for reascendency, the water rushes in
foaming cataracts over its edges; whilst every individual mass, rocking
and labouring in its bed, grinds against and contends with its opponent
until one is either split with the shock or upheaved upon the surface of
the other. Nor is this collision confined to one particular spot, it is
going on as far as the sight can reach; and when, from this convulsive
scene below, the eye is turned to the extraordinary appearance of the
blink in the sky above, where the unnatural clearness of a calm and
silvery atmosphere presents itself bounded by a dark hard line of stormy
clouds, such as at this moment lowered over our masts, as if to mark the
confines within which the efforts of man would be of no avail, the reader
may imagine the sensation of awe which must accompany that of grandeur in
the mind of the beholder.
"At this instant, when we were about to put the strength of our little
vessel in competition with that of the great icy continent, and when it
seemed almost presumption to reckon on the possibility of her surviving
the unequal conflict, it was gratifying in the extreme to observe in all
our crew the greatest calmness and resolution. If ever the fortitude of
seamen was fairly tried, it was on this occasion; and I will not conceal
the pride I felt in witnessing the bold and decisive tone in which the
orders were issued by the commander of our little vessel (the since so
far-famed and lamented Franklin), and the promptitude and steadiness with
which they were executed by the crew.
"We were now so near the scene of danger as to render necessary the
immediate execution of our plan, and in an instant the labouring vessel
flew before the gale. Each person instinctively secured his own hold
and with his eyes fixed upon the masts, awaited in breathless anxiety
the moment of concussion. It soon arrived; the brig, cutting her way
through the light ice, came in violent contact with the main body. In an
instant we all lost our footing, the masts bent with the impetus, and the
cracking timbers from below bespoke a pressure which was calculated to
awaken our serious apprehensions. The vessel staggered under the shock,
and for a moment seemed to recoil; but the next wave, curling up under
her counter, drove her about her own length within the margin of the ice,
where she gave one roll and was immediately thrown broadside to the wind
by the succeeding wave. This unfortunate occurrence prevented the vessel
from penetrating sufficiently far into the ice to escape the effect of
the gale, and placed her in a situation where she was assailed on all
sides by battering rams, if I may use the expression, every one of which
contested the small space, which she occupied, and dealt such unrelenting
blows that there appeared to be scarcely any possibility of saving her
from foundering. Literally tossed from piece to piece, we had nothing
left but patiently to abide the issue, for we could scarcely keep our
feet, much less render any assistance to the vessel. The motion indeed
was so great, that the ship's bell, which in the heaviest gale of wind
had never struck of itself, now tolled so continually that it was ordered
to be muffled, for the purpose of escaping the unpleasant association it
was calculated to produce."
By setting more head-sail, though at the risk of the masts, already
tottering with the pressure of that which was spread, the vessels,
splitting the ice and thus effecting a passage between the pieces, were
at length released from their perilous situation, but the "Dorothea" was
found to be completely disabled. A short time at Fairhaven in Spitsbergen
was spent in necessary repairs, and even then she was unfit for any
farther service than the voyage to England. Franklin volunteered to
prosecute the enterprise with the "Trent" alone, but the Admiralty Orders
opposed such a proceeding, and the vessels returned home in company.
Meanwhile Captain John Ross, with the "Isabella" and "Alexander," had
proceeded to Baffin's Bay, but instead of exploring Smith's, Jones's, and
Lancaster Sounds, which recent voyages have proved to be each and all
grand open channels to the Polar Sea, he contented himself with Baffin's
assertion that they were enclosed by land, and, after having thus
fruitlessly accomplished the circuit of the bay, returned to England.
With Parry's first expedition, which took place in the following year
(1819), the epoch of modern discoveries in the Arctic Ocean, may properly
be said to begin. Sailing right through Lancaster Sound, he discovered
Prince Regent Inlet, Wellington Channel, and Melville Island. Willingly
would he have proceeded farther to the west, but the ice was now rapidly
gathering, the vessels were soon beset, and, after getting free with
great difficulty, Parry was only too glad to turn back, and settle down
in Winter Harbour. It was no easy task to attain this dreary port, as a
canal two miles and a third in length had first to be cut through solid
ice of seven inches average thickness, yet such was the energy of that
splendid expedition, that the Herculean labour was accomplished in three
days. The two vessels were immediately put in winter trim, the decks
housed over, heating apparatus arranged, and everything done to make the
ten months' imprisonment in those Arctic solitudes as comfortable as
possible.
It was not before the 1st of August that the ships were able to leave
Winter Harbour, when Parry once more stood boldly for the west, but no
amount of skill or patience could penetrate the obstinate masses of
ice, or insure the safety of the vessels under the repeated shocks they
sustained. Finding the barriers absolutely invincible he gave way, and,
steering homeward, reached London on Nov. 3, 1820, where, as may well be
imagined, his reception was most enthusiastic and cordial.
While this wonderful voyage was performing, Franklin, Richardson, and
Back, with two English sailors and a troop of Canadians and Indians, were
penetrating by land to the mouth of the Coppermine River, whence they
intended to make a boat-voyage of discovery along the coasts of the Icy
Ocean. An idea of the difficulties of this undertaking may be formed,
when I mention that the travellers started from Fort York, in Hudson's
Bay, on the 30th of August, 1819, and after a voyage of 700 miles up the
Saskatchewan, reached Fort Cumberland, where they spent the first winter.
The next found them 700 miles further on their journey, established
during the extreme cold at Fort Enterprise. During the summer of 1821
they accomplished the remaining 334 miles, and on the 21st of July
commenced their exploration of the Polar Sea in two birch-bark canoes.
In these frail shallops they skirted the desolate coast of the American
continent, 555 miles to the east of the Coppermine, as far as Point
Turnagain, when the rapid decrease of their provisions and the shattered
state of the canoes imperatively compelled their return. And now began a
dreadful land-journey of two months, accompanied by all the horrors of
famine. A lichen, called by the Canadians _tripe de roche_ (rock-tripe),
afforded them for some time a wretched subsistence, and, that failing,
they were glad to satisfy their hunger with scraps of roasted leather or
burnt bones, from prey which the wolves might have abandoned. On reaching
the Coppermine a raft had to be framed, a task accomplished with the
utmost difficulty by the exhausted party. One or two of the Canadians
had already fallen behind, and never rejoined their comrades, and now
three or four sank down, and could proceed no farther. Back, with the
most vigorous of the men, had already pushed on to send help from Fort
Enterprise; and Richardson, Hood, and Hepburn volunteered to remain with
the disabled men, near a supply of the rock-tripe, while Franklin pursued
his journey with the others capable of bearing him company. On reaching
Fort Enterprise this last party found that wretched tenement completely
deserted, and a note from Back stating that he had gone in pursuit of the
Indians. Some cast-off deer-skins and a heap of bones, provisions worthy
of the place, sustained their flickering life-flame, and after eighteen
miserable days, they were joined in their dreary quarters by Richardson
and Hepburn, the sole survivors of _their_ party. At length, when on
the point of sinking under their sufferings, three Indians sent by Back
brought them timely succour. After a while they were able to join this
valuable friend, and the following year brought them safely back to
England.
I pass over Parry's second and third voyages, undertaken in the years
1821 and 1824, which were consumed in fruitless endeavours to penetrate
westward; the first through some unknown channel to the north of Hudson's
Bay, the second through Prince Regent's Inlet; but his last attempt to
reach the North Pole, by boat and sledge-travelling over the ice, is
of too novel and daring a character to remain unnoticed. His hopes of
success were founded on Scoresby's descriptions, who had seen ice-fields
so free from either fissure or hummock, that, had they not been covered
with snow, a coach might have been driven many leagues over them in a
direct line, without obstruction or danger; but when Parry reached the
ice-fields to the north of Spitzbergen he found them of a very different
nature, composed of loose rugged masses, which rendered travelling over
them extremely irksome and slow.
The strong flat-bottomed boats--amphibious constructions, half sledge,
half canoe,--expressly built for an amphibious journey over a region
where solid ice was expected to alternate with pools of water, had thus
frequently to be unloaded, in order to be raised over the intervening
blocks or mounds, and repeated journeys backward and forward over the
same ground were the necessary consequences. In some places the ice took
the form of sharp pointed crystals, which cut the boots like penknives;
in others, sixteen or eighteen inches of soft snow made the work of
boat-dragging both fatiguing and tedious. Sometimes the men were obliged,
in dragging the boats, to crawl on all-fours, to make any progress at
all, and one day, when heavy rain melted the surface of the ice, four
hours of vigorous effort accomplished only half a mile.
Yet in spite of all these obstacles they toiled cheerfully on and on,
until at length the discovery was made, that while they were apparently
advancing towards the Pole, the ice-field on which they journeyed was
moving to the south, and thus rendering all their exertions fruitless.
Yet though disappointed in his great hope of planting his country's
standard on that unattainable goal, Parry had the glory of reaching the
highest latitude (82° 45′) ever attained by man.
Before this adventurous voyage, Franklin, Richardson, and Back,
forgetful of their long life and death struggle with famine (1819), had
once more (1825) with heroic perseverance bent their steps to the north.
This time they chose the mouths of the Mackenzie for the starting-point
of their discoveries, and having separated into two parties, proceeded to
the east and west, and explored 4000 miles of unknown coast.
In 1829 Captain John Ross, having for a long time vainly solicited
government to send him out once more on an Arctic expedition, was
enabled by the munificence of a private individual, Mr. Felix Booth, to
accomplish his wishes, and to purchase a small steamer, to which the
rather presumptuous name of "Victory" was given. The selection of the
vessel was no doubt unlucky enough: for can anything be conceived more
unpractical than paddle-boxes among ice-blocks; but, to make amends for
this error, the veteran commander was fortunate in being accompanied by
his illustrious nephew, James Ross, who with every quality of the seaman
united the ardour and knowledge of the most zealous naturalist.
He it was who discovered the peninsula which in compliment to the patron
of the expedition was named Boothia Felix; to him also we owe the
discovery of the Magnetic Pole; but the voyage is far less remarkable for
these after all not very important successes, than for its unexampled
protraction during a space of five years.
The first season had a fortunate termination. On the 10th of August,
1829, the "Victory" attained Prince Regent's Inlet, and reached on the
13th the spot where Parry on his third voyage had been obliged to abandon
the "Fury." Of the ship itself no traces remained; but the provisions
which had providently been stored up on land were found untouched. The
solid tin boxes had effectually preserved them from the voracity of the
white bears; and the flour, bread, wine, rum, and sugar were found as
good after four years, as on the day when the expedition started.
It was to this discovery, to this "manna in the wilderness," that Ross
owed his subsequent preservation; for how else could he have passed
four winters in the Arctic waste? Never was the hand of Providence more
distinctly visible than here.
On the 15th of August Cape Garry was attained, the most southern point
of the inlet which Parry had reached on his third voyage. Fogs and
drift-ice considerably retarded the progress of the expedition; but
Ross, though slowly, moved on, so that about the middle of September
the map of the northern regions was enriched by some 500 miles of newly
discovered coast. But now winter broke in with all its Arctic severity,
and the "Victory" was obliged to seek refuge in Felix Harbour, where the
useless steam-engine was thrown overboard as a nuisance, and the usual
preparations made for spending the cold season as agreeably as possible.
The following spring, from the 17th of May to the 13th of June, was
employed by James Ross on a sledge journey, which led to the discovery
of King William's Sound and King William's Land; and during which that
courageous mariner penetrated so far to the west, that he had only ten
days' provisions, scantily measured out, for a return voyage of 200 miles
through an empty wilderness.
After an imprisonment of full twelve months the "Victory" was set free on
the 17th of September, 1830, and proceeded once more on her discoveries.
But the period of her liberty was short indeed, short like that of
revolted slaves between two despotisms; for, after advancing three miles
in one continual battle against the currents and the drift-ice, she again
froze fast on the 27th of the same month.
In the following spring we again see the indefatigable James Ross, ever
active in the cause of science, extending the circle of his excursions
and planting the British flag upon the site of the Northern Magnetic
Pole, which, however, is not invariably fixed to one spot, as was then
believed, but moves from place to place within the glacial zone.
On the 28th of August, 1831, the "Victory," after a second imprisonment
of eleven months, was warped into open water, and, after having spent a
whole month to advance _four_ English miles, was again enclosed by the
ice on the 27th of September.
But seven miles in two long years! According to this measure, there
was but little hope indeed of ever seeing Old England again: the only
chance left was to abandon the vessel, and endeavour by means of the
boats left among the "Fury's" stores to reach Baffin's Bay, and get a
homeward passage in some whaler. Accordingly the colours were nailed to
the mast-head of the "Victory," and then officers and crew took leave of
the ill-fated little vessel, on the 23rd of April, 1832. Captain Ross
was deeply moved on this occasion; for, after having served forty-two
years in thirty-five different ships, this was the first he had ever been
obliged to abandon as a wreck.
Provisions and boats had now to be transported over long tracts of rugged
ice, and as their great weight rendered it impossible to carry all at
once, the same ground had to be traversed several times. Terrific snow
storms retarded the progress of the wanderers, and invincible obstacles
forced them to make long circuits. Thus it happened that during the first
month of their pilgrimage through the wilderness, although they had
travelled 329 miles, they only gained thirty in a direct line.
On the 9th of June, James Ross, the leading spirit of the expedition,
accompanied by two men and with a fortnight's provisions, left the main
body to ascertain the state of the boats and supplies at Fury Beach.
Returning, they met their comrades on the 25th of June, and gratified
them with the intelligence, that, though they had found three of the
boats washed away, enough still remained for their purpose, and that all
the provisions were in good condition.
On the 1st of July the whole party arrived at Fury Beach, whence, after
having repaired the weather-worn boats, they set out again on the 1st of
August, and, after much buffeting among the ice in their frail shallops,
reached the mouth of the inlet by the end of the month. But here they
were doomed to disappointment; for, after several fruitless attempts to
run along Barrow's Strait, the obstructions from the ice obliged them to
haul the boats on shore and pitch their tents.
Barrow's Strait was found from repeated surveys to be one impenetrable
mass of ice. After lingering here till the third week in September, it
was unanimously agreed that their only resource was to fall back again on
the stores at Fury Beach, and spend their fourth winter in that dreary
solitude. Here they sheltered their canvass tent with a wall of snow, and
setting up an extra stove made themselves tolerably comfortable until the
increasing severity of the winter, and the rigour of the cold, added to
the tempestuous weather, made them perfect prisoners, and sorely tried
their patience. Scurvy now began to appear, and several of the men fell
victims to the scourge. At the same time cares for the future darkened
the gloom of their situation, for, if they were not liberated in the
ensuing summer, their diminishing food gave them but little hope of
surviving another year.
It may be imagined how anxiously the aspect of the sea was watched during
the ensuing summer, and with what beating hearts they at length embarked
on the 15th of August. The spot which the year before they had attained
after the most strenuous exertions was soon passed, and slowly winding
their way through the ice-blocks with which the inlet was encumbered,
they now saw the wide expanse of Barrow's Strait open before them. With
spirits invigorated by hope they push on, alternately rowing and sailing,
and on the night of the 25th rest in a good harbour on the eastern shore
of Navy Board Inlet. "A ship in sight!" is the joyful sound that awakens
them early on the following morning; and never have men more hurriedly
and energetically set out, never have oars been more indefatigably
plied. But the elements are against them, calms and currents conspire
against their hopes, and to their inexpressible disappointment the ship
disappears in the distant haze.
But after a few hours of suspense the sight of another vessel lying to in
a calm relieves their despair. This time their exertions are crowned with
success; and, wonderful! the vessel which receives them on board is the
same "Isabella" in which Ross made his first voyage to these seas.
They told him of his own death, and could hardly be persuaded that it was
really he and his party who now stood before them. But when all doubts
were cleared away, you should have heard their thrice-repeated thundering
hurrahs!
The scene that now followed cannot better be told than in Ross's own
words:--
"Every man was hungry, and was to be fed; all were ragged, and were to be
clothed; there was not one to whom washing was not indispensable; nor one
whom his beard did not deprive of all human semblance. All, everything,
too was to be done at once. It was washing, dressing, shaving, eating,
all intermingled; it was all the materials of each jumbled together;
while in the midst of all there were interminable questions to be asked
and answered on both sides; the adventures of the "Victory," our own
escapes, the politics of England, and the news, which was now four years
old.
"But all subsided into peace at last. The sick were accommodated, the
seamen disposed of, and all was done for us which care and kindness could
perform.
"Night at length brought quiet and serious thoughts; and I trust there
was not a man among us who did not then express, where it was due, his
gratitude for that interposition which had raised us all from a despair
which none could now forget, and had brought us from the very borders
of a most distant grave to life and friends and civilisation. Long
accustomed, however, to a cold bed on the hard snow or the bare rock,
few could sleep amid the comfort of our accommodations. I was myself
compelled to leave the bed which had been kindly assigned me, and take
my abode in a chair for the night, nor did it fare much better with the
rest. It was for time to reconcile us to this sudden and violent change,
to break through what had become habit, and to inure us once more to the
usages of our former days."
I have no time to relate how Ross was received in England, and what
honours were heaped upon him; honours conferred with all the better
grace that the nation had not forgotten him during his long-protracted
absence, and had no cause to blush for culpable neglect. For Britain has
ever considered it her duty to help and assist the men who venture their
lives in the cause of science and for the advancement of her glory; nor
will she allow the officer who carries her standard into unknown lands,
and there falls a victim to nature or to man, to perish without feeling
his last moments gladdened by the conviction, that, however distant his
grave, the eye of his country rests upon him.
Thus when Back, that noble Paladin of Arctic research, volunteered to
lead a relief expedition in quest of Ross, £4000 were immediately raised
by public subscription to defray the expenses of the undertaking. While
deep in the American wilds Back was gratified with the intelligence that
the object of his search had safely arrived in England, but, instead of
returning home, the indefatigable explorer resolved to trace the unknown
course of the Thlu-it-scho, or Great Fish River, down to the distant
outlet where it pours its waters into the polar seas. It would take
a volume to recount his adventures in this wonderful expedition, the
numberless falls, cascades, and rapids that obstructed his progress; the
storms and snow-drifts that vainly conspired to repel him; the horrors
of that iron-ribbed desert, without a single tree on the whole line of
his passage; and how heroically he persevered to the very last, and added
Back's River, as the Thlu-it-scho has most deservedly been called, to the
geographical conquests of which England may well be proud.
The present is not a detailed account of Arctic discovery, a complete
historical narrative of how step by step those dreary regions, the refuse
of the earth, have grown into distinctness on the map; so passing over
Simpson's wonderful boat-voyage along the northern shores of America,
which led to the discovery of 1600 miles of coast (1837-1839), and Rae's
important researches on Melville Peninsula (1846, 1847), I proceed to
the last expedition of Sir John Franklin. We all know how the veteran
seaman left England in the sixtieth year of his age, once more to try
the north-western passage; how since his last despatches, dated from the
Whalefish Islands, Baffin's Bay, July 12th, 1845, months and months,
and then years and years, elapsed without bringing any tidings of his
fate; how Collinson and M'Clure, Penny and Inglefield, Kane and Bellot,
and so many other worthies, went out to search for the "Erebus" and
"Terror," and how in spite of all their efforts mystery still overhung
the ill-fated expedition, until M'Clintock raised the veil and informed
us how miserably most of the gallant seamen perished in those dreary
wastes, but how their commander had been spared the pangs of protracted
suffering, and gone to his eternal rest even before his country began to
feel concerned about his loss.
The search for Franklin is a page in history of which a nation may
well be proud, more noble than a hundred battles and grander than the
conquest of an empire. These are no blood-stained laurels, but palms of
glory gained by matchless energy and perseverance over the horrors of a
nature inimical to man, a theme which some future Homer will delight to
sing. Had Franklin been ever so successful, he could not possibly have
achieved so much for Arctic discovery as his loss gave rise to; for to
the disasters of his voyage we owe the knowledge of all the coasts of
that intricate conglomeration of islands which faces the Pole, and of
the channels, which opening far to the north, lead to its profoundest,
and seemingly impenetrable depths. All these discoveries are of little
commercial value, it is true, for no trading vessel will ever plough
those desert seas; but it is no small advantage to a nation to have to
register such pages in her annals, and to leave them as a legacy and an
example to future generations.
The series of modern South Polar expeditions was opened in 1819 by
Smith's casual discovery of New South Shetland. Soon afterwards a Russian
expedition under Lazareff and Bellinghausen discovered (January, 1821),
in 69° 3′ south lat., the islands Paul the First and Alexander, the most
southern lands that had ever been visited by man.
The year after, Captain Weddell, a sealer, penetrated into the icy sea
as far as 74° 15′ south lat. three degrees nearer to the pole than had
been attained by the indomitable perseverance of Cook. Swarms of petrels
animated the sea, and no ice impeded his progress, but as the season was
far advanced, and Weddell apprehended the dangers of the return voyage,
he steered again to the north. In 1831 Biscoe discovered Enderby Land,
and soon afterwards Graham's Land, to which the gratitude of geographers
has since given the discoverer's name.
Then follows Balleny who in 1839 revealed the existence of the group of
islands called after him, and of Sabrina Land (69° south lat.).
About the same time three considerable expeditions appear in the southern
seas, sent out by France, the United States, and England.
Dumont d'Urville discovered _Terre Louis Philippe_ (63° 30′ south lat.)
in February, 1838, and _Terre Adélie_ (66° 67′ south lat.) on the 21st
of January, 1840.
Almost on the same day, Wilkes, the commander of the United States
exploring expedition reached a coast which he followed for a length of
1500 miles, and which has been called Wilkes' Land, to commemorate the
discoverer's name. But of all the explorers of the southern frozen ocean,
the palm unquestionably belongs to Sir James Ross, who penetrated farther
towards the Pole than any other navigator before or after, and followed
up to 79° south lat. a steep coast, whose enormous glaciers stretched
far out into the sea. In 77° 5′ south lat. he witnessed a magnificent
eruption of Mount Erebus, the Etna of the extreme south. The enormous
columns of flame and smoke rising two thousand feet above the mouth of
the crater, which is elevated 12,000 feet above the level of the sea,
combined, with the snow-white mountain-chain and the deep blue ocean,
to form a scene, the magnificence of which seemed to be enhanced by the
reflection that no human eye had ever witnessed its beauty, as most
likely none will ever witness it again. As all the efforts of the gallant
leader to penetrate still farther to the south were baffled by a mighty
ice-barrier, forming an uninterrupted mural precipice for the length of
several hundred miles, he yielded to the invincible obstacles of nature,
and returned to more genial climes. It is worthy of notice, that Sir
James Clark Ross had accompanied Parry on his sledge-expedition to the
North Pole, and thus acquired the unique distinction of having approached
_both_ poles nearer than any other man.
Whether the lands discovered by Wilkes, d'Urville, Biscoe, Balleny, and
Ross form a continuous continent, or belong to a large group of islands
behind which an open sea extends to the very Pole, is a question which
most likely will never be solved, as its determination can never be of
the least use to mankind.
The numerous scientific voyages of circumnavigation achieved during the
course of the present century are far more important, with regard to the
welfare and progress of humanity, than the researches which have been
made in the icy wildernesses of the north and south. New lands and isles
of great extent have indeed not been discovered by these expeditions, but
they have contributed not less largely to the advancement of geography
and the natural sciences.
The wonders of oceanic life have first been shown in a more distinct
light by the labours of Chamisso, Meyen, Lesson, Darwin, Gray, Hooker,
Robinson, Dana, &c., who accompanied Kotzebue, Freycinet, Fitzroy, Ross,
&c., on their world-encircling course; and numerous coasts and groups of
islands, situated in the remotest seas, and formerly only superficially
known, have been accurately measured and traced on the map by the
distinguished hydrographers who took part in those far-famed voyages.
INDEX
INDEX.
Aar glacier, formation and dissolution of the, 75
Acalephæ, 348. _See_ Jelly-fishes
Acephala, their organisation, 299
-- their food, 305
-- their enemies, 305, 306
Acorn-shell, the, 244
Actiniæ, 361
Actinozoa, 363
Adriatic, depth of the, 8
-- tides of the, 43
Africa, length of coast-line of, 4
-- circumnavigated by the Phœnicians, 444
-- Hanno's discoveries on the west coast of, 444
Agar-agar, or artificial edible birds'-nests of Java, 402
Agricola, Julius, sails round Scotland, 422
Air-bladder of fishes, 189
Air-currents. _See_ Winds
Albatross, 163
Albion, New, discovery of, 467
Alcyonarians, 363
Alexander the Great, maritime discoveries resulting from the
conquests of, 447
Alexandria, the Pharus or lighthouse of, 89
Algæ, 390
-- changes produced by, in the colour of the sea, 19
-- Russian official collecting, 392
Alligators, 172
Amalfi, maritime trade of, 449
-- decline of, 449
Amazon river, tides of the, 43
-- -- quantity of water which it pours into the ocean, 75
-- -- discovery of the river, 460
America, length of coast-line of, 4
-- salmon of Russian America, 221
-- discovery of, by Columbus, 457
-- account of early navigation along the shores of, 457
Amerigo Vespucci, his discoveries, 460
Ammodyte, or launce, 230
Ammonites, 437
Amœbæ, 379
-- simplicity of their structure, 380
Anabas of the dry tanks, 193
Anchovy, 214
Angler, or sea-devil, 203
Annelides, marine, 262
-- general remarks on the, 262
-- their beauty, 263
-- their food, 264
-- their enemies, 265
-- tubicole, 266
Anson, Commodore, his maritime discoveries, 483
Aphrodita, or sea-mouse, 264
Arab commerce and maritime discovery, 452
Arctic discovery, 474, 496
-- winter passed by Barentz, 478
Argand, his improvement in marine illumination, 90
Argonaut, 280
Argus, Scotch or Shetland, 333
Ascidia mammillata, 322
Asia, length of coast-line of, 4
Asteriæ, 335
Astræa, 373
Atlantic Ocean, depth of the, according to Maury, 7
-- -- temperature of the, 14
-- -- fury of the Atlantic surge, 28, 29
-- -- enormous fucus banks, or floating meadows of the, 397
Atolls, or lagoon islands, 374
Auburn, site of the village of, 29
Auks, 151, 168
Australia, length of coast-line of, 4
-- discoveries in, 480, 486
Avosets, 143, 144, 146
Azores, discovery of the, 456
Back's arctic voyages, 507
Baffin, his maritime discoveries, 483
Baffin's Bay, discovery of, 483
Balani, 244
Balanus ovularis, 244
-- balanoides, 244
Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de, sketch of him and his discoveries, 464
Baleen of the whale, 98
Balleny, his discoveries, 509
Baltic, depth of the, 8
Band-worm, the great, 264
Barentz, William, his maritime discoveries, 476
Barnacles, 244
-- their attacks on the whale, 17
Barnacle goose, 146
Barrow's Straits, discovery of, 505
Basaltic pillars of Fingal's Cave, 46
Bassora, foundation of the town of, 452
Bastidas, Roderigo de, his maritime discoveries, 461
Beachy Head, 5
Bear, white, said to attack the whale, 100
-- organisation of the polar bear, 10
-- attacks Barentz's men, 478
Bear Islands, discovery of, 477
Behring, his maritime discoveries and death, 484
Belemnites, 437
Bellrock lighthouse, 28, 86
-- -- height of the waves at the, 28
-- -- in the storm of 1807, 29
Benin, discovery of, 456
Bermudas, depth of the sea near the, 7
Bird Island, discovery of, 490
Bird's-foot sea-star, 335
Birds'-nests, edible, of Java, 399
-- mode of gathering them, 399
-- agar-agar, or artificial birds'-nests, 402
Birds of passage, 171
Birkenhead, the Great Float at, 91
Biscoe, his discoveries, 509
Bivalves, or acephalous mollusca. _See_ Acephala
Black-skimmer, or cut-water, the, 144
Blocks, erratic, of Greenland and Spitzbergen, 76
Bojador, Cape, doubling of, for the first time, 455
Bonito, the, 223, 224
Booth, Mr. Felix, 503
Boothia Felix, discovery of, 503
Borda, his improvements in marine illumination, 90
Borer, the, 231
Botallack, submarine mine, 91
Botrylli, 324
Bougainville, his maritime discoveries, 483
Boundaries of the ocean. _See_ Limits of the ocean
Brachiopods, 315
Brazils, discovery of the, 460
Breakwater of Cherbourg, 90
-- of Plymouth, 90
-- moles of Portland, Holyhead, ind Alderney, 90
Bream, sea, 415
Bristol Channel, high tides of the, 38
-- -- marine fauna, 414
Britannia Tubular Bridge, 91
Bryozoa, 316
Buchan, Captain, his arctic discoveries, 497
Buffadero, the marine cave of the, 52
Bullhead, river, its parental affection, 195
Burgomaster-bird, 159
Butthorn, the, 335
Byron, Commodore, his maritime discoveries, 483
Cabot, John and Sebastian, their discoveries, 459
Cachalot, or sperm-whale, its organisation, 102-104
-- its food, 104
Ca'ing whale, the, 115
Calamary, 272
Caledonia, New, discovery of, 490
California, discovery of, 472
Callao, colour of the sea near, 20
Calling crabs, 250, 251
Calms, or doldrums, causes of, 67
Calycophoridæ, 352
Canada acquired by France, 461
Canary Islands probably known to the Phœnicians, 444
Cano, Sebastian el, first performs the circumnavigation of
the globe, 469
Cape de Verd Islands, depth of the sea near the, 7
Capelins, 162
Capri, 'azure cave' at, 18, 49
Carcinas mænas, metamorphosis of, 258
Caribbean Sea, crystalline clearness of the, 21
Carinaria, 287
Carrigeen (Chondrus crispus), 399
Carteret, his maritime discoveries, 483
Cartier, Jacques, voyages of, 461
Caryophyllia, 370
Cat-fish, or sea-wolf, 415
Catalonians, their maritime discoveries, 452
Caves, marine, 45
-- Fingal's Cave, 45-48
-- azure cave of Capri, 18, 49
-- the Antro di Nettuno, 49
-- the Cave of Hunga, 49-51
-- cave of the Skerries, 51
-- the Souffleur, or Blower, 52
-- the Buffadero, 53
Caviar, 217
Cellulariæ, 319
Cephalopods, their organisation, 271
-- their locomotion, 274
-- their food, 277
-- their enemies, 277
-- their great size in some cases, 379
-- the Norwegian kraken, 279
-- the argonaut, 280
-- the nautilus, 281
-- the cephalopods of the primitive ocean, 282
Cessart, De, his breakwater at Cherbourg, 90
Cetaceans, general remarks on the organisation of the, 95
-- food of whales, 98
-- their enemies, 99
-- large Greenland whale, 101
-- the rorqual, or fin-back, 101
-- the antarctic smooth-back, 102
-- sperm-whale, 102
-- the narwhal, or unicorn-fish, 106
-- the dolphin, 107
-- the porpoise, 108
-- the grampus, 108
-- history of the whale-fishery, 109
-- the ca'ing whale, 115
Cetochilus australis, banks of the, in the Pacific, 21
Ceylon, or Taprobane, discovery of, 447
Chætodon rostratus, 203
Chancellor's discovery of the White Sea, 474
-- his death, 475
Charybdis, vortex of, 41
Chelura tenebrans, 247
Chelyosoma, 323
Chepstow, high tides at, 38
Cherbourg, breakwater of, 90
Chili, upheaving of the coast of, 10
Chincha Islands, statistics of the guano trade of the, 169
Chiton squamosa, 285
Chlorospermeæ, or green sea-weeds, 391
Chondrus crispus, or carrigeen, 399
Circumnavigation of the globe first performed by Sebastian el Cano, 469
Clavellina producta, 322
Climate, influence of the Gulf Stream on that of the west European
coasts, 51
-- variety of climates in similar latitudes, 52
-- Peruvian cold stream, 53
-- Japanese stream, 54
-- influence of forests on climates, 78
-- power of man over climate, 78
Climbing fishes, 193
Clio borealis, 298
Clouds, formation of, 71, 72
Coast-line of the sea, length of, 4
Coasts, different formation of, 5
-- destructive power of the sea on all, 29
Cockle, the, 303, 306
Cocoa-nut crab of the East Indies, 254
Cod, the, 415
-- curing the cod, 216
-- cod-liver oil, 216
Cœlenterata, 345, 357
Colæus of Samos, his maritime discoveries, 446
Colour of the sea, 17
-- the azure cave at Capri, 18
-- changes produced by algæ and sea-worms, 19
Columbus, his discovery of America, 457
Compass, mariner's, invention of the, 451
Composition of sea-water, 12
Cone-shell, orange, 288
Conger-eels, 222
Congo, discovery of, 456
Constructions, marine, 80-91
Cook, Captain, his voyages and discoveries, 485
-- his first voyage, 486
-- discovery of the Society Islands, 486
-- of the east coast of New Holland, 486
-- his second voyage, and discoveries, 492
-- his third voyage, 491
-- his death, 462
Cook's Strait, discovery of, 486
Conochilus volvox, 268
Coral, spotted, of the Indian Ocean, 21
Coral, 366
-- deep sea, 367
-- fishing of the Mediterranean, 367
Coral-reefs, 374
-- barrier-reef of Australia, 374
-- how they become habitable for man, 375, 376
Coralline zone, 413
Cordova, his discoveries, 491
Cormorants, 154, 155
Cortereal, Gaspar, his maritime discoveries, 460
Cortereal, John Vaez, his discoveries, 458
Cortereal, Miguel, 461
Cortes, his conquest of Mexico, 461
Coryniadæ, 358
Crabs, 246
-- legs of crabs, 251
-- larvæ of crabs, 258
Cross-fish, the common, 334
Crustacea, by what are they distinguished from the insects and
spiders? 243
-- their respiratory organs, 244
Ctenophora, 358
Cuba discovered, 459
-- circumnavigated for the first time, 461
Curlew, the, 143
Currents, ocean, 54
-- causes of, 54, 55
-- the equatorial stream, 56
-- the Gulf Stream, 57
-- influence of the Gulf Stream, 60
-- the cold Peruvian stream, 62
-- the Japanese stream, 63
-- beneficial influence of the ocean currents, 64
Cushion star-fishes, 335
Cuttle-fish, 275
-- ova of the, 278
Cuvier's classification of fishes, 188
Cyclobranchiata, 285
Cyclones, causes of, 68
Cymospiras, 266
Dampier, his maritime discoveries, 483
Darien, Gulf of, discovered, 461
Darwin's theory of the formation of lagoon islands, 375
Davis, John, his maritime discoveries, 476
Depth of the sea, 6
-- of the Atlantic, according to Maury, 7
-- American mode of sounding in deep water, 6
-- telegraphic plateau between Newfoundland and Ireland, 7
-- measurement of depth by the rapidity of tide-wave, 8
Dew, formation of, 68
Diatomaceæ, 402
-- their importance in reference to the existence of animal life in
high latitudes, 403
Diaz, Bartholomew, his discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, 476
Diazona violacea, 324
Diodons, 178
Diogenes hermit-crab, 254
Diphyes, 352
Discovery, maritime, progress of, 441. _See_ Maritime Discovery
Diu, Portuguese settlement of, 462
Divers, 150
Docks of London and Liverpool, 91
Dogfish, 200
Dolphins, 107
Donax, 301
Dory, 242
Dragon-weever, 204
Drake, Sir Francis, his discoveries, 473
Duck family, 146
Dugong, 117
-- skeleton of the, 118
-- female dugong of Ceylon, 119
Dunes, formation of, 5
Dunwich, destruction of the coast at, 30
d'Urville, Dumont, his discoveries, 509
Dusky Bay, discovery of, 487
Dutch, their attempts to discover a North-West passage to
India, 474, 476
Earth-rind, the giant book of the, 432
-- formation of a solid earth-crust by cooling, 432
Echinus, or sea-urchin, 337
-- mammillated, 338
-- edible, 338
-- dental apparatus of sea-urchins, 339
Eddystone lighthouse, the, 81
-- Winstanley's structure, 81
-- Rudyerd's, 82
-- Smeaton's, 83
Edward's Island, Prince, discovery of, 491
-- Land, 415
Eel, the common, 225
-- conger, 228
-- the murry, or muræna, 229
Eendragt's Land, discovery of, 480
Eider-duck, 146
Electric eel, 202
Endeavour Strait, discovery of, 486
Enderby Land, discovery of, 509
English navigation, retrospective view of, 459
-- attempts to discover the North-West passage, 474
Enteromorphæ, 391
Eolis coronata, 284
Eozoon canadense, 381 _note_
Equatorial ocean-current, 57
Equinoctial line crossed for the first time, 456
Erebus, Mount, discovery of, 509
Escharæ, 317
Espiritu Santo, discovery of the Archipelago of, 480, 490
Esquimaux in his kayak, 120
Euripus, phenomenon produced by the tides of the, 44
Europe, length of coast-line of, 4
Euryale, warted, 333
Evaporation, movement of the waters through, 65
Extent of the ocean, 1
Falkland Islands, sea-weeds at, 396
Fan-bearer, 402, 403
Feather-star, the rosy, 330
Fernandez, Juan, his discoveries, 473
Fierasfer, 340
File-fish, 232
Fin-crab, spotted, 252
Fin-fish, or northern rorqual, 101
Fingal's Cave, 45-48
-- -- popular belief as to its workmanship, 48
-- -- Sir W. Scott's description of it, 48
Fire, sea of, 434
Fish, consumption of, in London, 237 _note_
Fish River, Great, course of, traced, 507
Fishes, general remarks on, 186
-- their locomotive organs, 187
-- Cuvier's classification of fishes, 188 _note_
-- fins, 188
-- air-bladder, 189
-- skin of, 190
-- beauty of tropical, 191
-- gills of, 191
-- circulation of the blood of, 191, 192
-- climbing, 193
-- parental affection of, 194
-- organs of sense, 196
-- offensive weapons of, 198
-- numerous enemies of, 207
-- luminous, 422
Flamingoes, 142
Flat-fishes, 235
Florence, its commercial grandeur, 450
Flounder, 238
Flying-fishes, 156, 205, 224
Flying-gurnard, 206
Foraminifera, 378
-- their immense numbers, 378
-- simplicity of their structure, 380
-- various forms of Foraminifera, 381
Forbes, Professor Edward, on the four zones of marine life on the
British coasts, 408
Forests, influence of, on the formation and retention of atmospherical
precipitations, 76
-- formation of, 77
-- influence of, on climates, 78
Franklin, Sir John, his arctic voyages, 501
-- his last voyage, 508
Fresnel, his improvements in marine illumination, 90
Frigate-bird, 155
Frobisher, Martin, his maritime discoveries, 475
Frog-fish, 193, 194
Fuci, 392
-- fucus banks, or floating meadows, of the Atlantic 397
Fulmar, the, 195
Gades, Phœnician town of, 444
Gaëta, maritime trade of, 451
Gama, Vasco de, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, 462
Gannet, or soland goose, 156
Gar-fish, 223
Garry, Cape, discovery of, 503
Gasteropods, 282
-- respiratory apparatus, 283
-- growth of their shells, 289
-- mode of locomotion, 289
-- their food, 294
-- organs of sense, 295
-- their enemies, 297
-- their use to man, 296
Genoa, maritime grandeur of, 450
Geographical distribution of marine life, 405
Georgia, South, discovery of, 490
Germany, its climate at the time of the Romans and at the present
time, 78
Glaciers, formation and dissolution of, 75
-- the Aar glacier, 75
-- of Greenland and Spitzbergen, 76
Glaucus, 283
Globe-fish, 232
Goa, Portuguese settlement of, 462
Goby, the black, 194
Goniaster, 335, 336
Good Hope, Cape of, discovery of, 457
-- -- first doubled, 462
Goodwin Sands, 9
Goose, sea, various kinds of, 146
Gorgonidæ, 365
Grampus, the, 108
-- -- anecdote of one, 109
Grass wrack (Zostera marina), 391
Great crab, 251
Grebes, the, 150
Greenland, depression of the coast of, 10
-- olive colour of the water of the Greenland seas, 20
-- glaciers of, 76
-- whale-fishery of, 110
-- discovery of, 457
Grijalva, his maritime discoveries, 461
Guano of the Chincha Islands, 169
-- statistics of the trade of, 170
Guillemot, black, 165, 167
Guinea, New, discovery of, 473
Gulf Stream, the, 57, 58
-- -- its influence on the climate of the west European coasts, 59
Gulls, sea, 157
Günnbjorn, his discovery of Greenland, 457
Gurnard, 414
Haddock, 215
Hag. glutinous, 231
Haiti discovered, 459
Halibut, 236
Hanno, the Carthaginian, his voyage, 444
Harp-shell, 288
Hartburn, site of the village of, 29
Hartog, his maritime discoveries, 480
Hassar, land journeys of the, 194
Hawaii, discovery of the island of, 492
Hebrides, New, discovery of the, 480, 490
Henry, Prince, of Portugal, his maritime discoveries, 453
Hermit-crabs, 254
Herrings, 208, 415
Herring-crab, 256
Herring-fishery, 208
-- history of the, 209
-- statistics of the, 210
Herring-gull, 158
Hervey's Islands, discovery of, 487
Hindustan, circumnavigation of, 447
Hippocamp, 129, 234
Hippopus, 315
Hoar-frost, causes of, 72
Hogg, James, his experiments with salmon, 219
Holland, devastations caused by storm-tides on the coast of, 35
Holland, New, discoveries of, 473
-- -- Cook's discoveries in, 486
Holothuriæ, 339
Homer, his picture of the breaking of the waves against the shore, 27
Hood's Island, discovery of, 489
Hooded seal of northern seas, 125
Huatulco, sea-cave of, 52, 53
Hudson, Henry, his maritime discoveries, 481
-- his unfortunate end, 482
Hudson's Bay, discovery of, 481
Hump-back whales, 102
Hunga, cave of, 49-51
Hyalæa, 298
Hyde, site of the village of, 29
Ianthinæ, 290
Ice-bear, 100, 134
Icebergs, formation of, 76
-- erratic blocks carried away by, 76
Iceland, salmon of, 220
-- discovery and colonisation of, 361
Ichthyosaurus, 438
Inachus Kæmpferi of Japan, 259
India, Portuguese discovery in, 462
Indian Ocean, spotted corals in the, 21
Indus, sudden rising of the spring-tide at the mouth of the, 42
Inferobranchiata, 284
Infusoria, marine, 383
Insects, marine, 261
Isinglass, 216
Isis hippuris, 369
Ivory of the walrus, 132
Jamaica discovered, 459
Japanese ocean-stream, the, 63
Java, gathering of edible birds'-nests on the south coast of, 399
Jelly-fishes, 345
-- their anatomical structure, 345
-- their size and colours, 356
-- their indirect use to man, 357
-- their phosphorescence, 420
-- the Velella, 353
-- the Portuguese man-of-war, 354
John Dory, 415
Kamtschatka, salmon of, 220
Keeling Island, subsidence of the coast at, 10
Kerguelen's Land, discovery of, 491
Kilda, St., bird-catching on, 164
King-crab, 246
Kittiwake, or tarrock, the, 158
Kraken, the Norwegian, 279
Labrador, discovery of, 459
Ladrone Islands, discovery of the, 468
Lagoon islands, 374
-- -- Darwin's theory of the formation of, 375
-- -- how they became habitable for man, 376
Lamantins of the Atlantic Ocean, 117
Laminaria, region of the great, or tangle forests, 393
Laminariæ, 393
Lampreys, 230, 231
Land-crabs, 250
Landscapes, submarine, 21
-- in the Caribbean Sea, 21
-- on the coast of Sicily, 21
La Perouse, his maritime discoveries, 493
-- -- his fate, 493
Launces, 230
Le Maire, his maritime discoveries, 480
Lepraliæ, 318
Lessonias, of the Falkland Islands, 396
Level of the ocean, does it remain unchanged, and every where the
same? 11
Licmophora, or fan-bearer, 402
Life, marine, geographical distribution of, 405
-- dependence of all created beings upon space and time, 406
-- influences which regulate the distribution of marine life, 407
-- the four bathymetrical zones of marine life on the British coasts,
according to the late Professor Edward Forbes, of Edinburgh, 408
-- first wakening of life in the bosom of the ocean, 435
Lighthouses, 80
-- the Eddystone lighthouse, 81
-- the Bellrock, or Inchcape, lighthouse, 85
-- the Skerryvore lighthouse, 85-89
-- the Pharus of Alexandria, 89
-- progress of marine illumination, 90
Lily encrinites, 340
Limacina arctica, 298
Limits of the ocean, progressive changes in the, 9
-- Goodwin Sands, 10
-- alluvial deposits, 10
-- upheaving of coasts, 10
-- subsidence, 10
-- temple of Serapis, 11
-- level of the sea everywhere the same, 11
Limnoriæ, 247
Limpet, 285, 294
Limuli, or king-crabs, 246
Ling, 215, 415
Ling-thorn, 335
Lithophytes, 373
Liverpool Docks, 91
Lizards of the sea, 173, 181
-- serpent-lizard, 435
Lobsters, 256, 257
Loggerheaded duck or goose, 148
London Docks, 91
Long-tailed duck, 148
Lophobranchii, the, 233
Louse, whale, 101
Lucernaridæ, 350
Luminous marine animals, 418
Lump-sucker, 415
Mackerel, 222
Macrocystis pyrifera, 393
-- -- Mr. Darwin's description of it at Tierra del Fuego, 393, 396
Madeira, depth of the sea near, 1
-- discovery of, 505
Maelstrom, the, 41
Magellan, Ferdinand, his discoveries, 467, 468
Magellan's Straits, discovery of, 468
-- -- harmony of animal life in the islands of, 490
Magilus antiquus, 291
Malacca Islands, discovery of the, 462
Malo, St., high tides of, 38
Mammaria scintillans, 275
Manatee, the, 116
Mantis crab, spotted, 256
Marco Polo, his travels and discoveries, 453
Maritime discovery, progress of, 441
-- discoveries of the Phœnicians, 443
-- expedition of Hanno, 444
-- circumnavigation of Africa, under Pharaoh Necho II., 444
-- Ophir, 339
-- Colæus of Samos and Pytheas of Massilia, 340
-- expedition of Nearchus, 447
-- circumnavigation of Hindostan, under the Ptolemies, 447
-- voyages of discovery of the Romans, 453
-- consequences of the fall of the Roman empire, 448
-- Amalfi, 449
-- Pisa, Venice, and Genoa, 449
-- resumption of maritime intercourse between the Mediterranean and
the Atlantic, 451
-- discovery of the compass, 451
-- Marco Polo, 453
-- other discoveries, 453
-- Prince Henry of Portugal, 454
-- discovery of Porto Santo and Madeira, 455
-- doubling of Cape Bojador, 455
-- discovery of the Azores, 456
-- the line crossed for the first time, 456
-- Benin and Congo discovered, 456
-- and the Cape of Good Hope, 457
-- discovery of America, 457
-- and of Iceland, 457
-- Greenland, 457
-- discoveries of John and Sebastian Cabot, 459
-- retrospective view of the beginnings of English navigation, 461
-- Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci, 460
-- Vincent Yañez Pinson, 460
-- Cortes, 461
-- Verazzani, 461
-- Jacques Cartier, 461
-- the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, 462
-- Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean, 466
-- Magellan, 467
-- Sebastian el Cano, the first circumnavigator of the globe, 469
-- Pizarro and Cortes, 470
-- Urdaneta, 472
-- Juan Fernandez, 473
-- Mendoza, 473
-- Drake, 473
-- Willoughby and Chancellor, 474
-- Martin Frobisher, 475
-- Davis, 476
-- Barentz, 476
-- Quiros, 480
-- Torres, 480
-- Schouten, Le Maire, and others, 480
-- Tasman, 480
-- Henry Hudson, and his unfortunate end, 481
-- Baffin, 481
-- Dampier, 483
-- Anson, Behring, Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Bougainville, 483
-- Cook's voyages, 485-492
-- arctic discovery, 496
Marquesas de Mendoza Islands, discovery of the, 473
Mauritius, sea-cave on the, 52
Mediterranean Sea, depth of the, 8
-- -- height of the, 12
-- -- temperature of the, 14
-- -- colour of the, 18
-- -- sides of the, 43
-- -- Phœnician trade in the, 443
-- -- decline of trade in the, 33
-- -- resumption of maritime intercourse between the Mediterranean and
the Adriatic, 449
Medusidæ, 349, 350
Melanospermeæ, or olive-coloured sea-weeds, 392
Melville Island, discovery of, 500
Mendana, Alvaro, his discoveries, 473
Menezes, Don Jorge de, his discoveries, 473
Merganser, 149, 404
Mexico, discovery of the coast of, 461
-- conquest of, by Cortes, 461, 472
Microscopic life of the ocean, 378
Mines, submarine, 91
Mitre shells, 288
Mollusca, 270
-- general remarks on, 270
Monsoons, north-east, 68
-- south-west, 68
Moon, influence of the, on the tides, 446
Mother-of-pearl, 313
Mullet, grey, 415
Murex haustellum, 291
Murry, or muræna, 229
Mussels, edible, 307
-- history of, 307
-- 'bouchots,' or mussel-parks, 307
Myxine, the, 231
Naples, maritime trade of, 449
Narwhal, or unicorn-fish, 106
Nautilus, 280
-- the pearly, 281
Nearchus, voyage of, 447
Necho II., Pharaoh, of Egypt, his maritime discoveries, 444
Nelson, Horatio, pursuing a polar bear, 138
Neptune's ruffles, 318
Nereis, the, 263
Nereocystis lutkeana, the, of Norfolk Bay and Sitcha, 397
Nettuno, Antro di, 49
Newfoundland, discovery of, 459
Noctiluca miliaris, 419
Norfolk, rapid destruction of the cliffs of, 29
Norfolk Island, discovery of, 490
North Sea, depth of the, 8
-- -- colour of the, 18
North-West Passage, attempts of the Dutch and English to discover
the, 474
Norway, treaty of commerce concluded with, 459
Nova Zembla, 476, 477
-- -- sufferings of Barentz and his crew during a winter at, 478
Nudibranchiata, 284
Nummulina discoidalis, 378
Oar-weeds, 393
Ocean, the primitive, 433
Ojeda, discoveries of, 460
Oliva hispidula, 290
Onychoteuthis, arms and tentacles of an, 274
Ophir, the, of the Phœnicians, 445
Ophiuridæ, or snake-stars, 331
Orkney Islands, whirlpools among the, 42
Ormus, taken by the Portuguese, 462
Ostend, oyster-parks of, 309
Otarian seals, 126
Oyster, 307
-- account of the oyster-trade, 308
-- catchers, 143
-- oyster-dust, 310
-- pearl, 311
Pacific Ocean, depth of the, 7
-- -- height of the, 12
-- -- discovery of the, 466
-- -- Cook's voyages in, 492
Paguri, 254
Palisser Islands, discovery of the, 489
Palmas, Cape, colour of the sea near, 20
Palmyra, 445
Parrot-fishes, 372
Parry, Sir John, his arctic discoveries, 500
Patagonia, discovery of, 484
Pea-crab, 253
Pearl-oyster, 311
Pearls, 311, 312
Pectinibranchiata, 288
Pectunculus, 302
Pegasus, swimming, 207
Pelamid, 224
Pelamys bicolor, 183
Pelicans, 116, 154
Penguins, 142, 152
-- species of, 153
Pentacrinus briareus, 330
Periwinkle, 411
Peru, visited by Pizarro, 471
-- conquered by him, 472
Peruvian ocean-current, the, 62
Petrels, 160
-- stormy, 162
Philippine Islands, discovery of the, 468
Philodina roseola, 269
Phœnicians, maritime discoveries of the, 443
-- their progress in the arts and sciences, 445
Pholades, 304
Pholas dactylus, 301
-- Pliny's accounts of its phosphorescence, 431
-- striata, 302
Phosphorescence of the sea, causes of, 418
-- of various marine animals, 418
Phyllosoma, 258
Physaliæ, the, 354
Physophoridæ, 353
Pilchards, 212, 415
Pilot-fish, 225
Pinnæ of the Mediterranean, 253, 304, 305
Pinson, his discoveries, 460
Pipe-fishes, 233, 234
Pisa, maritime trade of, 449
Pizarro, sketch of him and his companions, 469
Plaice, 238
Plants, marine, 390
Plectognaths, 232
Plesiosaurus, the, 438
Pleuronectidæ, or flat-fishes, 235
Pliny, his geographical knowledge, 448
Plover, the, 144
Plymouth breakwater, in the great storm of 1824, 29
Polycystina, 382, 383
Polynesia, length of coast-line of, 4
Polyps, 345
Polyzoa, 316, 320
Porcupine-fish, 232
Porpoise, 108
Portland, destructive action of the sea at, 31
Porto Santo, discovery of, 455
Portuguese man-of-war, 354
Poulp, 272, 273
Prontzchitschew, his maritime discoveries, 483
Protozoa, 378
Pteroceras, 290
Pteropods, their organisation and mode of life, 298
-- the butterflies of the ocean, 299
Ptolemies, maritime discoveries of the, 447
Ptolemy, the geographer, his knowledge of the globe, 449
Ptygura melicerta, 267
Puffins, 165, 167
Purbeck, destruction of the cliffs at, 31
Pyrosoma atlantica, its phosphorescence, 420
Pyrosomes, 325
Pytheas of Massilia, his maritime discoveries, 446
Quantity of the waters contained within the bosom of the ocean, 8
Quiros, his maritime discoveries, 480
Quito, coast of, discovery of, 470
Racer, or rider-crab, the, 251
Rain, formation of, 72
-- inequality of, 72
-- its return to the sea, 73
Rays, 240
Razor-shell, 303-306
Ré, oyster-trade of, 311
Reculver, destruction of the coast at, 30
Red Sea, height of the, 12
-- -- red algæ of the, 20
-- -- Phœnician trade on the, 445
Reef-building corals, 374
Regent Inlet, Prince, discovery of, 500
Reptiles of the sea, 172
Rhodosperms, Florideæ, or red sea-weeds, 398
-- their habitat, 398
Richardson, Sir John, his arctic voyages, 501
Rivers, phenomena presented by the mixture of salt and fresh
water in, 16
-- quantities of water which rivers pour into the ocean, 75
Rock-goose, 149
Roggewein, his maritime discoveries, 483
Rome, ancient, maritime discoveries of, 448
Rorqual, northern, or fin-fish, 101
-- its food, 102
Ross, Sir James, on the height of waves, 28
-- -- -- his discoveries, 509
-- -- John, his arctic discoveries, 500, 503
Rotifera, the, 267
Rudyerd, Mr., his lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks, 82
Saavedra, Alvaro de, his discoveries, 473
Sabrina Land, discovery of, 509
Sagittaria, discovery of the island of, 480
Sail-fluke, 239
Salangana caves in Java, 399
Salmon, 217, 324
-- trade, 220
-- salmon-spearing, 219
-- growth of the salmon, 219
-- abundance of salmon, 220
-- introduced into Australia and New Zealand, 221
Salmon-leaps, 218
Salpæ, 325
-- their alternating generations, 327
Salts of the sea, 12
Sand-crab, American, 252
Sandhopper, 246
Sand-stars, 332
Sandwich Land, discovery of, 490
-- Islands, discovery of, 490
Sardinia, stalactite caves of the island of, 49
Sargasso Sea, the, 397
Saurians of the past seas, 172, 438
Scari, or parrot-fishes, 372
Schouten, his maritime discoveries, 480
Scissor-bill, 144
Scoopers, 143
Scoresby, his arctic voyages, 497
Scyllæa, 283
Scythe, the, 415
Sea-anemones, 361
Sea-bear, 117, 126
Sea-birds, 128, 142
-- their vast numbers, 142
Sea-cask, 142
Sea-cucumbers, 339
Sea-devil of the Pacific, 241
Sea-ear, 286, 287
Sea-elephant, 125
Sea-fox, 99
Sea-hare, 284, 295
Sea-horse, 129, 234
Sea-lemon, 284
Sea-lion, 128
Sea-mat, leaf-like, 316
Sea-mew, 157
Sea-otter, 139
-- chase of the, 139
Sea-pen, 364
-- its phosphorescence, 426
Sea-pie, the, 144
Sea-pinks, 391
Sea-scurfs, 318
Sea-snail, purple, 290
Sea-snakes, 183
Sea-squirts, 323
Sea-swallows, 157
Sea-urchin, 337
Sea-weeds, 391
-- luminous, 423
Sea-wolf, 197
Seals and walruses, 117
-- food of, 120
-- statistics of seal-fishery, 121
-- various kinds of, 123
Seine, sudden rising of the spring-tides at the mouth of the, 42
Seleucidæ, maritime discoveries of the, 42
Seleucus Nicator, his circumnavigation of Hindostan, and discovery
of Taprobane, or Ceylon, 447
Semen Deshnew, the Cossack, his maritime discoveries, 483
Sepia. _See_ Cuttle-fish
Serapis, temple of, 11
Serpents of the seas, 183
Serpulas, 266
Sertularia, 347
Shakspeare's Cliff, destructive action of the sea on, 30
Sharks, 198
-- Greenland shark, an enemy of the whale, 99
-- luminous, 330
Sheldrake, or burrow duck, 148
Sheppey, Isle of, rapid decay of the coast of the, 30
Sherringham, ravages of the sea on the coast at, 29
Shetland Islands, fury of the Atlantic waves at the, 28
Shetland, New South, discovery of, 509
Ship-worm (teredo), 302
Shore-crab, 251
Siberia, Cook's visits to the coasts of, 492
Sicily, submarine landscapes of the coast of, 21
Siphonostomata, 245
Skerries, cave in the, 51
Skerryvore lighthouse, 85
Skimmer, 169
Sledge-journey, arctic, 502
Sly, 202
Smeaton, John, his lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks, 83
Smooth-back whale, the antarctic, 102
Snake-stars, 437
Snow-goose, 146
Society Islands, discovery of the, 486
Soland goose, 156
Solasters, 334
Sole, 237
-- skin of the, 190
Solen, or razor-shell, 304
Solis, Juan de, his discoveries, 461
-- -- -- his death, 461
Solomon Islands, discovery of the, 473, 483
Souffleur, or blower, the marine cave of the, 52
Soundings, American method of taking, in deep water, 6
South Sea Islands, discovery of the, 474
Speckled diver, 145
Sperm-whale, or cachalot, 102
Spiders, marine, 260
Spitzbergen, discovery of, 477
Spondylus, royal, 314
Sponge-crab, 249
Sponges, 385
-- their remarkable growth, 385
-- habitat of the common sponge, 388
Sprat, the, 214
Springs, origin of, 73
-- mineral waters, 74
Springs of fresh water in the bottom of the sea, 17
Staffa, island of, 46
Stalactite caves of the island of Sardinia, 49
Star-fishes, 328
-- their organisation, 328
Star-gazer fish, 202
Sterlet of the Volga, 217
Stevenson, Mr. Alan, his Skerryvore lighthouse, 86
Stevenson, Mr. Robert, his lighthouse on the Bell Rock, 85
Stickleback, parental affection of the, 195
Stone-corals, 373
Storm, the great, of 1703, 82
Storm-tides, 34
-- devastations of, on flat coasts, 34, 35
Strand-birds, 143
-- migration of, 144
-- food of, 144
Strombus pes pelicani, 290
Sturgeons, 216, 217
-- caviar, 217
Sucking-fish, 203
Suffolk, rapid decay of the cliffs of, 29
Sun-fish, 232, 233
-- its luminousness, 422
Sun, his influence on the tides, 37
Sun-star fish, 334
Surgeon-fish, the, 205
Sweden, gradual upheaving of the coast of, 10
Sword-fish, an enemy of the whale, 99
-- his weapon, 201
Synchæta baltica, 269
Tahiti, discovery of, 484
Tailor-bird, the, 143
Taprobane, or Ceylon, discovery of, 447
Tartessus, Phœnician town of, 444
Tasman, Abel, his maritime discoveries, 480
Tasmania, discovery of, 481
Tectibranchiata, 284
Temperature of the sea, 13
-- at various parts of the surface of the globe, 14
Teredo navalis, 302
Thames, progress of the tide-wave in the, 43
Thornbacks, 240
Thresher, or sea-fox, an enemy of the whale, 99
Thunder-stones, 437
Tide-wave, measurement of the depth of the sea by the rapidity of the, 8
-- progress and course of the, 40, 43
Tides, the, 32
-- description of the phenomenon, 32
-- devastations of storm-floods on flat coasts, 34, 35
-- knowledge of the ancients respecting the tides, 35
-- fundamental causes of the tides revealed by Kepler and Newton, 36, 37
Tides, height of the, at various places, 38
-- vortices caused by the: the Maelstrom, Charybdis, &c., 41
-- the phenomena of the Euripus, 44
Tierra del Fuego, masses of sea-weed at, 394
-- -- -- rounded by Schouten and Le Maire, 480
Tonga, discovery of, 481
Top, agglutinating, 296
Tornadoes, causes of, 68
Tornatella fasciata, 290
Torpedo, the, 201
Torres, his maritime discoveries, 480
Torso Rock, the, 9
Tortoise-shell, 180
Tortoises, 176
Trade-winds, the, 67
Transparency of the sea at Capri, 18
-- -- -- -- in the Indian Ocean, 21
-- -- -- -- in the Caribbean, 21
Trepang, or Biche de Mer, 340
-- mode of curing, 340
-- the fishery in the Feejee Islands, 342
Tridacna, the gigantic, 314
Trigger-fish, 233
Trilobites, 436
Trunk-fish, 232
Tubiporidæ, 370
Tubulibranchiata, 292
Tunicata, 316, 321
Tunny, the, 221
-- stripe-bellied, 224
Turbot, the, 236, 237
Turn-stone bird, 144
Turtles, 173
-- catching turtles in the island of St. Thomas, 172
Tynemouth Castle, destruction of the coast near, 29
Typhoons, causes of, 68
Tyrian dye, 446
Ulvæ, 391
Unicorn-fish, or narwhal, 106
Urasters, 334
Urdaneta, first reaches Acapulco from Manilla, 472
Vancouver's discoveries, 472
Van Diemen's Land, discovery of, 480
Vanikoro, island of, 493
Velellæ, the, 353
Venice, maritime grandeur of, 450
Verazzani, voyage of, 461
Vermetus, 291
Virgularia mirabilis, 365
Vogtia pentacantha, 353
Wales, Cape Prince of, discovery of, 491
Wallis, his maritime discoveries, 483
Walrus, or morse, 117, 129, 135
-- anecdote of a fight with, 130
-- ivory of the, 132
Walton, his mussel-beds in France, 307
Water-snakes, 183
Water-spouts, causes of, 68
Waves of the ocean, 24
-- wave-motion as distinct from water motion, 25
-- height and velocity of storm-waves, 26-28
-- Homer's picture of the breaking of the waves against the shore, 26
-- Scoresby on the height of waves in the open sea, 27
-- force and height of the waves on rocky coasts, 28
-- instances of the destructive action of the tidal waves on
coast-lines, 28-31
Weddell, Captain, his voyages, 509
Weevers, 204
Wellington Channel, discovery of, 500
Wentle-trap, Chinese, 289
Whalebone, 96
Whale-fishery, history of the, 109
Whales. _See_ Cetaceans
Whelks, 292
Wilkes, Captain, on the height of waves, 28
Wilkes, his explorations, 509
Willoughby, Sir Hugh, his unfortunate arctic voyage, 474
Winds, origin of, 66
-- trade-winds, 67
-- calms, or doldrums, 67
-- monsoons, 68
-- typhoons, tornadoes, &c., 68
-- water-spouts, 68
Wing-shells, 304
Winstanley, Mr., his lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks, 81
Winter Harbour, discovery of, 500
Wolf-fish, 197
Wolstenholme Sound, elevation of the coast at, 10
Worm-shell, 291
Yorkshire, wearing away of the coast of, 29
Yucatan, first exploration of, 461
Zostera marina, 391
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Transcriber's Note
Minor typos have been corrected. Most words that sometimes have
hyphenations and other times non-hyphenated were left as written.
Illustrations were repositioned to not split paragraphs. An assumed
missing end quotation was added on page 353.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Sea and its Living Wonders, by George Hartwig