Transcriber's Note:
The character = preceeding a vowel is used to indicate that the
vowel is to be pronounced long.
The character ~ preceeding a vowel is used to indicate that the
vowel is to be pronounced short.
These characters do not occur otherwise.
THREE VOYAGES FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE FROM THE ATLANTIC
TO THE PACIFIC, AND NARRATIVE OF AN ATTEMPT TO REACH THE NORTH POLE,
VOLUME I
by
SIR W. E. PARRY, CAPT. R.N., F.R.S.
In Two Volumes.
1844
[Illustration CAPTAIN W.E. PARRY R.N.]
PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT
The two volumes herewith presented to the public contain an
uninterrupted narrative, in Captain Parry's own words, of the five
voyages made by that distinguished navigator, under the sanction
of the British government, in search of a passage from the eastern
to the western side of the American Continent, through the Arctic
Ocean. Although abbreviated, the curtailment has been effected,
not by any change in the language of the original writer, but
merely by omitting all such details as were not inviting to the
general reader; and, in a word, changing the character of the work
from that of an official report to that of a narrative. The effort
has been to preserve all interesting and amusing particulars; to
record all facts and transactions of importance; to present an
accurate though brief notice of all valuable accessions to
geographic as well as general knowledge, effected in the progress
of the voyages; and, at the same time, to keep the reader's
attention ever on the alert by the rapid and uninterrupted
succession of striking incidents.
It is hoped that the aim here designated has been accomplished;
and that, in the abridged narrative of Parry's Voyages, there will
be found matter, not only to interest the reader for amusement,
but also to improve. The scenes and adventures recorded by the
navigator are in the highest degree novel and remarkable; and it
cannot be other than profitable to know what perils were
encountered, what courage, firmness, and ingenuity were displayed,
what moral and physical influences were developed, and what
triumphs of human skill were achieved, in the progress of voyages
undertaken solely to advance the interests of science.
H. & B.
New-York, May, 1840.
CONTENTS
of
THE FIRST VOLUME
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
Passage across the Atlantic.--Enter Davis's Strait.--Unsuccessful
Attempt to penetrate the Ice to the Western Coast.--Voyage up the
Strait.--Passage through the Ice to the Western Coast.--Arrival
off Possession Bay, on the Southern Side of the Entrance into Sir
James Lancaster's Sound.
CHAPTER II.
Entrance into Sir James Lancaster's Sound of
Baffin.--Uninterrupted Passage to the Westward.--Discovery and
Examination of Prince Regent's Inlet.--Progress to the Southward
stopped by Ice.--Return to the Northward.--Pass Barrow's Strait,
and enter the Polar Sea.
CHAPTER III.
Favourable Appearances of an open Westerly Passage.--Land to the
Northward, a Series of Islands.--General Appearance of them.--Meet
with some Obstruction from low Islands surrounded with
Ice.--Remains of Esquimaux Huts, and natural Productions of Byam
Martin Island.--Tedious Navigation from Fogs and Ice.--Difficulty
of Steering a Proper Course.--Arrival and Landing on Melville
Island.--Proceed to the Westward, and reach the Meridian of 110°
W. Long., the first Stage in the Scale of Rewards granted by Act
of Parliament.
CHAPTER IV.
Further Examination of Melville Island.--Continuation of our
Progress to the Westward.--Long detention by the Ice.--Party sent
on Shore to hunt Deer and Musk-oxen.--Return in three Days, after
losing their Way.--Anxiety on their Account.--Proceed to the
Westward till finally stopped by the Ice.--In returning to the
Eastward, the Griper forced on the Beach by the Ice.--Search for,
and Discovery of, a Winter Harbour on Melville Island.--Operations
for securing the Ships in their Winter Quarters.
CHAPTER V.
Precautions for securing the Ships and Stores.--For promoting Good
Order, Cleanliness, Health, and Good-Humour among the Ships'
Companies.--Establishment of a Theatre and of the North Georgia
Gazette.--Erection of an Observatory on Shore.--Commence our
Winter's Amusements.--State of the Temperature, and various
Meteorological Phenomena.--Miscellaneous Occurrences to the Close
of the Year 1819.
CHAPTER VI.
First Appearance of Scurvy.--The Aurora Borealis and other
Meteorological Phenomena.--Visits of the Wolves.--Reappearance of
the Sun.--Extreme low Temperature.--Destruction of the House on
Shore by Fire.--Severe Frostbites occasioned by this Accident.
CHAPTER VII.
More temperate Weather.--House rebuilt.--Quantity of Ice collected
on the Hecla's lower Deck.--Meteorological Phenomena.--Conclusion
of Theatrical Entertainments.--Increased Sickness on board the
Griper.--Clothes first dried in the open Air.--Remarkable Halos
and Parhelia.--Snow Blindness.--Cutting the Ice round the Ships,
and other Occurrences to the Close of May.
CHAPTER VIII.
Journey across Melville Island to the Northern Shore, and Return
to the Ships by a different Route.
CHAPTER IX.
Occurrences at Winter Harbour in the early Part of June.--Gradual
Dissolution of the Ice upon the Sea and of the Snow upon the
Land.--Decease and Burial of William Scott.--Equipment of the
Ships completed.--Temperate Weather during the Month of
July.--Breaking up of the Ice near the Ships.--Move to the lower
Part of the Harbour.--Separation of the Ice at the
Entrance.--Prepare to Sail.--Abstract of Observations made in
Winter Harbour.
CHAPTER X.
Leave Winter Harbour.--Flattering Appearance of the Sea to the
Westward.--Stopped by the Ice near Cape Hay.--Farther Progress to
the Longitude of 113° 48' 22.5", being the Westernmost Meridian
hitherto reached in the Polar Sea, to the North of
America.--Banks's Land discovered.--Increased Extent and
Dimensions of the Ice.--Return to the Eastward, to endeavour to
penetrate the Ice to the Southward.--Re-enter Barrow's Strait, and
Survey its South Coast.--Pass through Sir James Lancaster's Sound
on our Return to England.
CHAPTER XI.
Progress down the Western Coast of Baffin's Bay.--Meet with the
Whalers.--Account of some Esquimaux in the Inlet called the River
Clyde.--Continue the Survey of the Coast till stopped by Ice in
the Latitude of 68¼°.--Obliged to run to the Eastward.--Fruitless
Attempts to regain the Land, and final Departure from the
Ice.--Remarks upon the probable Existence and Practicability of a
Northwest Passage, and upon the Whale Fishery.--Boisterous Weather
in Crossing the Atlantic.--Loss of the Hecla's Bowsprit and
Foremast.--Arrival in England.
SECOND VOYAGE.
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
CHAPTER I.
Passage across the Atlantic.--Removal of Stores from the Nautilus
Transport, at the Margin of the Ice.--Departure of the Nautilus
for England.--Enter the Ice in Hudson's Strait.--Perilous
Situation of the Hecla, and Loss of her Anchor.--Meet with the
Hudson's Bay Ships.--Passage up the Strait, and Communication with
the Natives inhabiting the Northern Shores.--Pass the Trinity
Islands of Fox.--Arrival off Southampton Island, where the
Researches of the Expedition commence.
CHAPTER II.
Review of the Geographical Information obtained by the Researches
of former Navigators on the Coast of the American Continent, in
the Neighbourhood of Wager River.--Discover and enter the Duke of
York's Bay, supposing it to be a Passage into the Sea called the
Welcome.--Leave the Duke of York's Bay, and proceed to the
Northwestward.--Passage of the Frozen Strait and Arrival in
Repulse Bay.--Continuity of Land there.--Observations on
Shore.--Remarks concerning the Geography, Tides, and Natural
History of this Part of the Continental Coast.
CHAPTER III.
Return to the Eastward through the Frozen Strait.--Discovery of
Hurd Channel.--Examined in a Boat.--Loss of the Fury's
Anchor.--Providential Escape of the Fury from Shipwreck.--Anchor
in Duckett Cove.--Farther Examination of the Coast by Boats and
Walking-parties.--Ships proceed through Hurd Channel.--Are drifted
by the Ice back to Southampton Island.--Unobstructed Run to the
Entrance of a large Inlet leading to the Northwestward.--Ships
made fast by Hawsers to the Rocks.--Farther Examination of the
Inlet commenced in the Boats.
CHAPTER IV.
Hoppner's Inlet entered and surveyed by the Boats.--Continuity of
Land there determined.--Proceed to examine another Opening leading
to the Westward.--Favourable Appearance of a continued Passage in
that direction.--Meet with some Esquimaux.--Arrival in Ross Bay,
being the Termination of Lyon Inlet.--Discovery and Examination of
various Creeks.--Return to the Ships, after finding the Land
entirely continuous.--Some Account of the Natural History of this
Part of the Coast.
CHAPTER V.
Farther Examination in the Boats for the Purpose of Connecting the
Shores of Lyon Inlet with that of Gore Bay.--Continuity of the
Land determined.--Fresh Detention by the Ice.--Boats carried over
Land.--Return to the Ships.--Progress out of the Inlet prevented
by the Ice.--The Fury grounds upon a Rock.--Anchor in Safety
Cove.--Heavy Easterly Gales.--Proceed out of the Inlet.--Arrival
in a Bay on the south Side of Winter Island.--Ships secured in
Winter-quarters.
CHAPTER VI.
Precautions for the Security of the Ships and their Stores--And
for the Health and Comfort of the Crews.--Establishment of
Theatrical Entertainments and Schools.--Erection of an Observatory
and House on Shore.--State of Health at this Period.--Partial
Disruption of the Ice in the Bay.--Anchors and Cables taken to the
Shore.--Gradual Increase of Cold, Appearance of the Aurora
Borealis on several Occasions, and various other Meteorological
Phenomena to the Close of the Year 1821.
CHAPTER VII.
Many Foxes caught.--Continued Open Water in the Offing.--Partial
Disruption of the Ice in the Bay.--Meteorological Phenomena, and
Temperature of Animals.--Arrival of a Tribe of Esquimaux.--First
Meeting and subsequent Intercourse with them.--Esquimaux in Want
of Provisions.--Supplied with Bread-dust.--Some Account of a
Sealing Excursion with them.--Fresh Disruption of the Ice in the
Bay.--Closing of the Winter Theatre.--Meteorological Phenomena
till the End of February, 1822.
CHAPTER VIII.
A Journey performed across Winter Island.--Sufferings of the Party
by Frost.--Departure of Some of the Esquimaux, and a separate
Village established on the Ice.--Various Meteorological
Phenomena.--Okotook and his Wife brought on board.--Anecdotes
relating to them.--Ships released from the Ice by sawing.
CHAPTER IX.
Increased Extent of open Water in the Offing.--A Travelling Party
despatched to the Northward.--Unsuccessful Attempt to raise
Vegetables on Shore.--Decease of James Pringle.--A Party of
Esquimaux build Huts near the Ships.--Return of the Travellers,
and Account of their Journey.--First Appearance of the
Plants.--Birds become numerous.--Commence cutting a Canal through
the Ice for liberating the Ships.--Illness and Decease of John
Reid and William Souter.--Breaking up of the Ice in the
Bay.--Account of Winter Island.--Abstract of Observations made
there.
TECHNICAL TERMS PECULIAR TO THE NAVIGATION AMONG ICE
BAY-ICE.--Ice newly formed upon the surface of the sea. The
expression is, however, applied also to ice a foot or two in
thickness.
BESET.--The situation of a ship when closely surrounded by ice.
BIGHT.--An indentation in a floe of ice, like a bay, by which name
it is sometimes called.
BLINK.--A peculiar brightness in the atmosphere, often assuming an
arch-like form, which is generally perceptible over ice or land
covered with snow. The blink of land, as well as that over _large_
quantities of ice, is usually of a yellowish cast.
BORE.--The operation of "boring" through loose ice consists in
entering it under a press of sail, and forcing the ship through by
separating the masses.
CALF.--A mass of ice lying under a floe near its margin, and, when
disengaged from that position, rising with violence to the surface
of the water. See TONGUE.
CLEAR WATER.--Any part of the sea unencumbered with ice.
CROW'S NEST.--A small circular house like a cask, fixed at the
masthead, in which the look-out man sits, either to guide the ship
through the ice or to give notice of whales.
DOCK.--In a floe may be natural or artificial; the former being
simply a small "bight," in which a ship is placed to secure her
from the danger of external pressure; and the latter, a square
space cut out with saws for a similar purpose.
FIELD.--A sheet of ice generally of great thickness, and of too
great extent to be seen over from a ship's masthead.
FLINCHING.--The operation of stripping a sea-animal of its skin
and blubber.
FLOE.--The same as a field, except that its extent can be
distinguished from a ship's masthead. A "bay-floe" is a floe of
ice newly formed.
FLOE-PIECE.--An expression generally applied to small pieces of
floes, not more than a furlong square.
A HOLE or POOL of Water.--A small space of "clear water," when the
rest of the sea is covered with ice.
HUMMOCK.--A mass of ice rising to a considerable height above the
general level of a floe, and forming a part of it. Hummocks are
originally raised by the pressure of floes against each other.
LAND-ICE.--Ice attached to the land, either in floes or in heavy
grounded masses lying near the shore.
LANE of Water.--A narrow channel among the masses of ice, through
which a boat or ship may pass.
LEAD.--A channel through the ice. A ship is said to "take the
right lead" when she follows a channel conducting her into a more
navigable sea, and _vice versâ_.
MAKING-OFF Blubber.--The operation of putting it into casks.
NIPPED.--The situation of a ship when forcibly pressed by ice.
PACK.--A large body of ice, consisting of separate masses, lying
close together, and whose extent cannot be seen.
PANCAKE-ICE.--Newly formed ice, assuming the peculiar conformation
of numberless patches of "sludge," and giving the surface of the
sea the appearance of a handsome pavement.
PATCH of Ice.--The same as a pack, but of small dimensions.
SAILING-ICE.--Ice of which the masses are so much separated as to
allow a ship to sail among them.
SALLYING a Ship.--The operation of causing her to roll, by the men
running in a body from side to side, so as to relieve her from the
adhesion and friction of the young ice around her.
SLUDGE.--Ice of the consistence of thick honey, offering little
impediment to a ship while in this state, but greatly favouring
the formation of a "bay-floe."
STREAM.--A long and narrow, but generally continuous, collection
of loose ice.
TONGUE.--A mass of ice projecting under water from an iceberg or
floe, and generally distinguishable at a considerable depth of
smooth water. It differs from a "calf" in being fixed to, or a
part of the larger body.
WATER-SKY.--A dark appearance in the sky, indicating "clear water"
in that direction, and forming a striking contrast with the
"blink" over land or ice.
YOUNG-ICE.--Nearly the same as "bay-ice," but generally applied to
ice more recently formed than the latter.
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE
INTRODUCTION.
Lieutenant Parry was appointed to the command of his majesty's
ship the Hecla, a bomb of 375 tons, on the 16th of January, 1819;
and the Griper, gun brig, 180 tons, commissioned by Lieutenant
Matthew Liddon, was at the same time directed to put herself under
his orders. The object of the expedition was to attempt the
discovery of a Northwest Passage into the Pacific. The vessels
were rigged after the manner of a bark, as being the most
convenient among the ice, and requiring the smallest number of men
to work them. They were furnished with provisions and stores for
two years; in addition to which, there was a large supply of fresh
meats and soups preserved in tin cases, essence of malt and hops,
essence of spruce, and other extra stores, adapted to cold
climates and a long voyage. The ships were ballasted entirely with
coals; an abundance of warm clothing was allowed, a wolfskin
blanket being supplied to each officer and man, besides a
housing-cloth, similar to that with which wagons are usually
covered, to make a sort of tent on board. Although the finding a
passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific was the main object of
the expedition, yet the ascertaining many points of natural
history, geography, &c., was considered a most important object,
never to be lost sight of. After they had passed the latitude of
65° north, they were from time to time to throw overboard a
bottle, closely sealed, containing a paper, stating the date and
position at which it was launched. Whenever they landed on the
northern coast of North America, they were to erect a pole, having
a flag, and bury a bottle at the foot of it, containing an
abstract of their proceedings and future intentions, for the
information of Lieutenant Franklin, who had been sent on a land
expedition to explore that coast from the mouth of the Coppermine
River of Hearne.
According to the official instructions, the interests of science
were not neglected, and many important facts were made out; among
the most curious, it may be mentioned, that it appears to be
proved that the North Pole is not the coldest point of the Arctic
hemisphere, but that the place where the expedition wintered is
one of the coldest spots on the face of the globe.
CHAPTER I.
Passage across the Atlantic.--Enter Davis's Strait.--Unsuccessful
Attempt to penetrate the Ice to the Western Coast.--Voyage up the
Strait.--Passage through the Ice to the Western Coast.--Arrival
off Possession Bay, on the Southern Side of the Entrance into Sir
James Lancaster's Sound.
In the beginning of May, 1819, the Hecla and Griper were towed
down the river; the guns and gunner's stores were received on
board on the 6th; and the instruments and chronometers were
embarked on the evening of the 8th, when the two ships anchored at
the Nore. The Griper, being a slower sailer, was occasionally
taken in tow by the Hecla, and they rounded the northern point of
the Orkneys, at the distance of two miles and a half; on Thursday,
the 20th of the same month.
Nothing of moment occurred for several days; but the wind veered
to the westward on the 30th, and increased to a fresh gale, with
an irregular sea and heavy rain, which brought us under our
close-reefed topsails. At half past one, P.M., we began to cross
the space in which the "Sunken Land of Buss" is laid down in
Steel's chart from England to Greenland; and, in the course of
this and the following day, we tried for soundings several times
without success.
Early in the morning of the 18th of June, in standing to the
northward, we fell in with the first "stream" of ice we had seen,
and soon after saw several icebergs. At daylight the water had
changed its colour to a dirty brownish tinge. The temperature of
the water was 36½°, being 3° colder than on the preceding night; a
decrease that was probably occasioned by our approach to the ice.
We ran through a narrow part of the stream, and found the ice
beyond it to be "packed" and heavy. The birds were more numerous
than usual; and, besides the fulmar peterels, boatswains, and
kittiwakes, we saw, for the first time, some rotges, dovekies, or
black guillemots, and terns, the latter known best to seamen by
the name of the Greenland swallow.
On the clearing up of a fog on the morning of the 24th, we saw a
long chain of icebergs, extending several miles, in a N.b.W. and
S.b.E. direction; and, as we approached them, we found a quantity
of "floe-ice" intermixed with them, beyond which, to the westward,
nothing but ice could be seen. At noon we had soundings, with one
hundred and twenty fathoms of line, on a bottom of fine sand,
which makes it probable that most of the icebergs were aground in
this place. In the afternoon we sailed within the edge of the ice,
as much as a light westerly wind would admit, in order to approach
the western land. Some curious effects of atmospheric refraction
were observed this evening, the low ice being at times considerably
raised in the horizon, and constantly altering its appearance.
The weather being nearly calm on the morning of the 25th, all the
boats were kept ahead, to tow the ships through the ice to the
westward. It remained tolerably open till four P.M., when a
breeze, freshening up from the eastward, caused the ice, through
which we had lately been towing, to close together so rapidly,
that we had scarcely time to hoist up the boats before the ships
were immovably "beset." The clear sea which we had left was about
four miles to the eastward of us, while to the westward nothing
but one extensive field of ice could be seen. It is impossible to
conceive a more helpless situation than that of a ship thus beset,
when all the power that can be applied will not alter the
direction of her head a single degree of the compass.
A large black whale, being the first, was seen near the ships. It
is usual for these animals to descend head foremost, displaying
the broad fork of their enormous tail above the surface of the
water; but, on this occasion, the ice was so close as not to admit
of this mode of descent, and the fish went down tail foremost, to
the great amusement of our Greenland sailors.
While in this state a large white bear came near the Griper, and
was killed by her people, but he sunk between the pieces of ice.
This animal had probably been attracted by the smell of some red
herrings which the men were frying at the time. It is a common
practice with the Greenland sailors to take advantage of the
strong sense of smelling which these creatures possess, by
enticing them near the ships in this manner.
The swell had somewhat subsided on the 29th, but the ships
remained firmly fixed in the ice as before. In the course of the
day we saw land bearing N. 69° W. about thirteen leagues distant,
appearing from the masthead like a group of islands, and situated
near to the entrance of Cumberland Strait: the soundings were one
hundred and thirty-five fathoms; the temperature of the sea at
that depth 30°; that of the surface being the same, and of the air
34°. On the 30th the ice began to slacken a little more about the
ships; and, after two hours' heaving with a hawser on each bow
brought to the capstan and windlass, we succeeded in moving the
Hecla about her own length to the eastward, where alone any clear
sea was visible. The ice continuing to open still more in the
course of the day, we were at length enabled to get both ships
into open water, after eight hours' incessant labour.
On the 1st and 2d of July, we continued to keep close to the edge
of the ice without perceiving any opening in it. Its outer margin
consisted of heavy detached masses, much washed by the sea, and
formed what is technically called "a pack," this name being given
to ice when so closely connected as not to admit the passage of a
ship between the masses. Within the margin of the pack, it
appeared to consist of heavy and extensive floes, having a bright
ice-blink over them; but no clear water could be discovered to the
westward. The birds, which had hitherto been seen since our first
approach to the ice, were fulmar peterels, little auks, looms, and
a few gulls.
On the morning of the 3d the wind blew strong from the eastward,
with a short, breaking sea, and thick, rainy weather, which made
our situation for some hours rather an unpleasant one, the ice
being close under our lee. Fortunately, however, we weathered it
by stretching back a few miles to the southward. In the afternoon
the wind moderated, and we tacked again to the northward, crossing
the Arctic circle at four P.M., in the longitude of 57° 27' W. We
passed at least fifty icebergs in the course of the day, many of
them of large dimensions. Towards midnight, the wind having
shifted to the southwest and moderated, another extensive chain of
very large icebergs appeared to the northward: as we approached
them the wind died away, and the ships' heads were kept to the
northward, only by the steerage way given to them by a heavy
southerly swell, which, dashing the loose ice with tremendous
force against the bergs, sometimes raised a white spray over the
latter to the height of more than one hundred feet, and, being
accompanied with a loud noise, exactly resembling the roar of
distant thunder, presented a scene at once sublime and terrific.
We could find no bottom near these icebergs with one hundred and
ten fathoms of line.
At four A.M. on the 4th we came to a quantity of loose ice, which
lay straggling among the bergs; and as there was a light breeze
from the southward, and I was anxious to avoid, if possible, the
necessity of going to the eastward, I pushed the Hecla into the
ice, in the hope of being able to make our way through it. We had
scarcely done so, however, before it fell calm; when the ship
became perfectly unmanageable, and was for some time at the mercy
of the swell, which drifted us fast towards the bergs. All the
boats were immediately sent ahead to tow; and the Griper's signal
was made not to enter the ice. After two hours' hard pulling, we
succeeded in getting the Hecla back again into clear water, and to
a sufficient distance from the icebergs, which it is very
dangerous to approach when there is a swell. At noon we were in
lat. 69° 50' 47", long. 57° 07' 56", being near the middle of the
narrowest part of Davis's Strait, which is here not more than
fifty leagues across.
On the 5th it was necessary to pass through some heavy streams of
ice, in order to avoid the loss of time by going round to the
eastward. On this, as on many other occasions, the advantage
possessed by a ship of considerable weight in the water, in
separating the heavy masses of ice, was Very apparent. In some of
the streams through which the Hecla passed, a vessel of a hundred
tons less burden must have been immovably beset. The Griper was on
this and many other occasions only enabled to follow the Hecla by
taking advantage of the openings made by the latter.
A herd of seahorses being seen lying on a piece of ice, our boat
succeeded in killing one of them. These animals usually lie
huddled together like pigs, one over the other, and are so
stupidly tame as to allow a boat to approach them within a few
yards without moving. When at length they are disturbed, they dash
into the water in great confusion. It may be worth remarking, as a
proof how tenacious the walrus sometimes is of life, that the
animal killed to-day struggled violently for ten minutes after it
was struck, and towed the boat twenty or thirty yards, after which
the iron of the harpoon broke; and yet it was found, on
examination, that the iron barb had penetrated both auricles of
the heart. A quantity of the blubber was put into casks, as a
winter's supply of lamp-oil.
A large bear being seen on a piece of ice, near which we were
passing on the 10th, a boat was despatched in pursuit, and our
people succeeded in killing and towing it on board. As these
animals sink immediately on being mortally wounded, some dexterity
is requisite to secure them, by first throwing a rope over the
neck, at which many of the Greenland seamen are remarkably expert.
It is customary for the boats of the whalers to have two or three
lines coiled in them, which not only gives them great stability,
but, with good management, makes it difficult for a bear, when
swimming, to put his paw upon the gunwale, which they generally
endeavour to do; whereas, with our boats, which are more light and
crank, and therefore very easily heeled over, I have more than
once seen a bear on the point of taking possession of them. Great
caution should therefore be used under such circumstances in
attacking these ferocious creatures. We have always found a
boarding-pike the most useful weapon for this purpose. The lance
used by the whalers will not easily penetrate the skin, and a
musket-ball, except when very close, is scarcely more efficacious.
On the 17th, the margin of the ice appearing more open than we had
yet seen it, and there being some appearance of a "water-sky" to
the northwest, I was induced to run the ships into the ice, though
the weather was too thick to allow us to see more than a mile or
two in that direction. We were, at noon, in latitude 72° 00' 21",
longitude 59° 43' 04", the depth of water being one hundred and
ninety fathoms, on a muddy bottom. The wind shortly after died
away, as usual, and, after making a number tacks, in order to gain
all we could to the westward, we found ourselves so closely,
hemmed in by the ice on every side, that there was no longer room
to work the ships, and we therefore made them fast to a floe till
the weather should clear up. The afternoon was employed in taking
on board a supply of water from the floe. It may be proper at once
to remark that, from this time till the end of the voyage,
snow-water was exclusively made use of on board the ships for
every purpose. During the summer months, it is found in abundance
in the pools upon the floes and icebergs; and in the winter, snow
was dissolved in the coppers for our daily consumption. The fog
cleared away in the evening, when we perceived that no farther
progress could be made through the ice, into which we sailed to
the westward about twelve miles. We were therefore once more under
the necessity of returning to the eastward, lest a change of wind
should beset the ships in their present situation.
A thick fog came on again at night, and prevailed till near noon
on the 18th, when we came to a close but narrow stream of ice,
lying exactly across our course, and at right angles to the main
body of the ice. As this stream extended to the eastward as far as
we could see from the "crow's nest," an endeavour was made to push
the ships with all sail through the narrowest part. The facility
with which this operation, technically called "boring," is
performed, depends chiefly on having a fresh and free wind, with
which we were not favoured on this occasion; so that, when we had
forced the ships about one hundred yards into the ice, their way
was completely stopped. The stream consisted of such small pieces
of ice, that, when an attempt was made to warp the ships ahead by
fastening lines to some of the heaviest masses near them, the ice
itself came home, without the ships being moved forward.--Every
effort to extricate them from this helpless situation proved
fruitless for more than two hours, when the Hecla was at length
backed out, and succeeded in pushing through another part of the
stream in which a small opening appeared just at that moment. All
our boats were immediately despatched to the assistance of the
Griper, which still remained beset, and which no effort could move
in any direction We at length resorted to the expedient of sending
a whale-line to her from the Hecla, and then, making all sail upon
the latter ship, we succeeded in towing her out, head to wind,
till she was enabled to proceed in clear water. The crossing of
this stream of ice, of which, the breadth scarcely exceeded three
hundred yards, occupied us constantly for more than five hours,
and may serve as an example of the detention to which ships are
liable in this kind of navigation.
Early on the morning of the 21st the fog cleared away, and
discovered to us the land called by Davis, Hope Sanderson and the
Woman's Islands, being the first land we had seen in sailing
northward into Baffin's Bay, from the lat. of 63¾°. We found
ourselves in the midst of a great number of very high icebergs, of
which I counted, from the crow's-nest, eighty-eight, besides many
smaller ones.
Having now reached the latitude of 73° without seeing a single
opening in the ice, and being unwilling to increase our distance
from Sir James Lancaster's Sound by proceeding much farther to the
northward, I determined once more to enter the ice in this place,
and to try the experiment of forcing our way through it, in order
to get into the open sea. Being therefore favoured with clear
weather, and a moderate breeze from the southeastward, we ran into
the ice, which for the first two miles consisted of detached
pieces, but afterward of floes of considerable extent, and six or
seven feet in thickness. The wind died away towards midnight, and
the weather was serene and clear.
At six A.M. on the 23d, a thick fog came on, which rendered it
impossible to see our way any farther. We therefore warped to an
iceberg, to which the ships were made fast at noon, to wait the
clearing up of the fog, being in lat. 73° 04' 10", long. 60° 11'
30". At eight P.M. the weather cleared up, and a few small pools
of open water were seen here and there, but the ice was generally
as close as before, and the wind being to the westward of north,
it was not deemed advisable to move.
The weather, being clear in the morning of the 25th, and a few
narrow lanes of water appearing to the westward, the Griper was
made fast astern of the Hecla; and her crew being sent to assist
in manning our capstan, we proceeded to warp the ships through the
ice. This method, which is often adopted by our whalers, has the
obvious advantage of applying the whole united force in separating
the masses of ice which lie in the way of the first ship, allowing
the second, or even third, to follow close astern, with very
little obstruction. In this manner we had advanced about four
miles to the westward by eight P.M., after eleven hours of very
laborious exertion; and having then come to the end of the clear
water, and the weather being again foggy, the ships were secured
in a deep "bight," or bay in a floe, called by the sailors a
"natural dock."
Early on the morning of the 26th there was clear water as far as
we could see to the westward, which, on account of the fog, did
not exceed the distance of three hundred yards. We made sail,
however, and having groped our way for about half a mile, found
the ice once more close in every direction except that in which we
had been sailing, obliging us to make the ships fast to a floe. At
half past three P.M. the weather cleared up, and a few narrow
lanes of water being seen to the westward, every exertion was
immediately made to get into them. On beginning to heave, however,
we found that the "hole" of water in which the Hecla lay was now
so completely enclosed by ice that no passage out of it could be
found. We tried every corner, but to no purpose; all the power we
could apply being insufficient to move the heavy masses of ice
which had fixed themselves firmly between us and the lanes of
water without. In the mean time, Lieutenant Liddon had succeeded
in advancing about three hundred yards, and had placed the
Griper's bow between two heavy floes, which it was necessary to
separate before any farther progress could be made. Both ships
continued to heave at their hawsers occasionally, as the ice
appeared to slacken a little, by which means they were now and
then drawn ahead a few inches at a time, but did not advance more
than half a dozen yards in the course of the night. By our nearing
several bergs to the northward, the ice appeared to be drifting in
that direction, the wind being moderate from the southward.
About three A.M., Tuesday, 27th, by a sudden motion of the ice, we
succeeded in getting the Hecla out of her confined situation, and
ran her up astern of the Griper. The clear water had made so much
to the westward, that a narrow neck of ice was all that was now
interposed between the ships and a large open space in that
quarter. Both ships' companies were therefore ordered upon the ice
to saw off the neck, when the floes suddenly opened sufficiently
to allow the Griper to push through under all sail. No time was
lost in the attempt to get the Hecla through after her; but, by
one of those accidents to which this navigation is liable, and
which render it so precarious and uncertain, a piece of loose ice,
which lay between the two ships, was drawn after the Griper by the
eddy produced by her motion, and completely blocked the narrow
passage through which we were about to follow. Before we could
remove this obstruction by hauling it back out of the channel, the
floes were again pressed together, wedging it firmly and immovably
between them: the saws were immediately set to work, and used with
great effect; but it was not till eleven o'clock that we
succeeded, after seven hours' labour, in getting the Hecla into
the lanes of clear water which opened more and more to the
westward.
On the 29th we had so much clear water, that the ships had a very
perceptible pitching motion, which, from the closeness of the ice,
does not very often occur in the Polar regions, and which is
therefore hailed with pleasure as an indication of an open sea. At
five P.M. the swell increased considerably, and, as the wind
freshened up from the northeast, the ice gradually disappeared; so
that by six o'clock we were sailing in an open sea, perfectly free
from obstruction of any kind.
We now seemed all at once to have got into the headquarters of the
whales. They were so numerous that I directed the number to be
counted during each watch, and no less than eighty-two are
mentioned in this day's log. Mr. Allison, the Greenland master,
considered them generally as large ones, and remarked that a fleet
of whalers might easily have obtained a cargo here in a few days.
In the afternoon the wind broke us of from the N.N.W., which
obliged us to cast off the Griper, and we carried all sail ahead
to make the land. We saw it at half past five P.M., being the high
land about Possession Bay, and at the same time several streams of
loose but heavy ice came in sight, which a fresh breeze was
drifting fast to the southeastward.
The wind increased to a fresh breeze on the morning of the 31st,
which prevented our making much way to the westward. We stood in
towards Cape Byam Martin, and sounded in eighty fathoms on a rocky
bottom, at the distance of two miles in an east direction from it.
We soon after discovered the flagstaff which had been erected on
Possession Mount on the former expedition; an object which, though
insignificant in itself, called up every person immediately on
deck to look at and to greet it as an old acquaintance.
The land immediately at the hack of Possession Bay rises in a
gentle slope from the sea, presenting an open and extensive space
of low ground, flanked by hills to the north and south. In this
valley, and even on the hills, to the height of six or seven
hundred feet above the sea, there was scarcely any snow, but the
mountains at the back were completely covered with it. Some pieces
of birch-bark having been picked up in the bed of this stream in
1818, which gave reason to suppose that wood might be found
growing in the interior, I directed Mr. Fisher to walk up it,
accompanied by a small party, and to occupy an hour or two while
the Griper was coming up, and Captain Sabine and myself were
employed upon the beach, in examining the nature and productions
of the country.
Mr. Fisher reported, on his return, that he had followed the
stream between three and four miles, where it turned to the
southwest, without discovering any indications of a wooded
country; but a sufficient explanation respecting the birch-bark
was perhaps furnished by his finding, at the distance of a quarter
of a mile from the sea, a piece of whalebone two feet ten inches
in length and two inches in breadth, having a number of circular
holes very neatly and regularly perforated along one of its edges,
which had undoubtedly formed part of an Esquimaux sledge. This
circumstance affording a proof of the Esquimaux having visited
this part of the coast at no very distant period, it was concluded
that the piece of bark above alluded to had been brought hither by
these people. From the appearance of the whalebone, it might have
been lying there for four or five years. That none of the
Esquimaux tribe had visited this part of the coast since we landed
there in 1818, was evident from the flagstaff then erected still
remaining untouched. Mr. Fisher found every part of the valley
quite free from snow as high as he ascended it: and the following
fact seems to render it probable that no great quantity either of
snow or sleet had fallen here since our last visit. Mr. Fisher had
not proceeded far, till, to his great surprise, he encountered the
tracks of human feet upon the banks of the stream, which appeared
so fresh that he at first imagined them to have been recently made
by some natives, but which, on examination, were distinctly
ascertained to be the marks of our own shoes, made eleven months
before.