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.
Having, on the 19th October, reached the station where, in all
probability, we were destined to remain for at least eight or nine
months, during three of, which we were not to see the face of the
sun, my attention was immediately and imperiously called to
various important duties; many of them of a singular nature, such
as had, for the first time, devolved on any officer in his
majesty's navy, and might, indeed, be considered of rare
occurrence in the whole history of navigation. The security of the
ships and the preservation of the various stores were objects of
immediate concern. A regular system to be adopted for the
maintenance of good order and cleanliness, as most conducive to
the health of the crews during the long, dark, and dreary winter,
equally demanded my attention.
Not a moment was lost, therefore, in the commencement of our
operations. The whole of the masts were dismantled except the
lower ones and the Hecla's main-topmast; the lower yards were
lashed fore and aft amidships, to support the planks of the
housing intended to be erected over the ships; and the whole of
this framework was afterward roofed over with a cloth. The boats,
spars, running rigging, and sails were removed on shore; and, as
soon as the ships were secured and housed over, my whole attention
was directed to the health and comfort of the officers and men.
The surgeon reported that not the slightest disposition to scurvy
had shown itself in either ship.
Soon after our arrival in Winter Harbour, when the temperature of
the atmosphere had fallen considerably below zero of Fahrenheit,
we found that the steam from the coppers, as well as the breath
and other vapour generated in the inhabited parts of the ship,
began to condense into drops upon the beams and the sides, to such
a degree as to keep them constantly wet. In order to remove this
serious evil, a large stone oven, cased with cast iron, in which
all our bread was baked daring the winter, was placed on the main
hatchway, and the stovepipe led fore and aft on one side of the
lower deck, the smoke being thus carried up the fore hatchway. On
the opposite side of the deck an apparatus had been attached to
the galley-range for conveying a current of heated air between
decks. This apparatus simply consisted of an iron box, about fifteen
inches square, through which passed three pipes of two inches
diameter, communicating below with the external air, and uniting
above in a metal box, fixed to the side of the galley-range; to
this box a copper stovepipe was attached, and conveyed to the
middle part of the lower deck. When a fire was made under the
air-vessel, the air became heated in its passage through the three
pipes, from which it was conveyed through the stovepipe to the
men's berths. While this apparatus was in good order, a moderate
fire produced a current of air of the temperature of 87°, at the
distance of seventeen feet from the fireplace; and with a pipe of
wood, or any other imperfect conductor of heat, which would not
allow of its escaping by the way, it might undoubtedly be carried
to a much greater distance. By these means we were enabled to get
rid of the moisture about the berths where the people messed; but
when the weather became more severely cold, it still accumulated
in the bed places occasionally to a serious and very alarming
degree. Among the means employed to prevent the injurious effects
arising from this annoyance, one of the most efficacious, perhaps,
was a screen made of fearnaught, fixed to the beams round the
galley, and dropping within eighteen inches of the deck, which
served to intercept the steam from the coppers, and prevent it,
as before, from curling along the beams, and condensing upon them
into drops.
For the preservation of health, and as a necessary measure of
economy, a few alterations were made in the quantity and quality
of the provisions issued. I directed the allowance of bread to be
permanently reduced to two thirds, a precaution which, perhaps, it
would have been as well to adopt from the commencement of the
voyage. A pound of preserved meat, together with one pint of
vegetable or concentrated soup per man, was substituted for one
pound of salt beef weekly; a proportion of beer and wine was
served in lieu of spirits; and a small quantity of sourkrout and
pickles, with as much vinegar as could be used, was issued at
regular intervals. The daily proportion of lime-juice and sugar
was mixed together, and with a proper quantity of water, was drunk
by each man in presence of an officer appointed to attend to this
duty. This latter precaution may appear to have been unnecessary
to those who are not aware how much sailors resemble children in
all those points in which their own health and comfort are
concerned. Whenever any game was procured, it was directed to be
invariably served in lieu of, and not in addition to, the
established allowance of other meat, except in a few extraordinary
cases; when such an indulgence was allowed; and in no one
instance, either in quantity or quality, was the slightest
preference given to the officers.
Great attention was paid to the clothing of the men, and one day
in the week was appointed for the examination of the men's shins
and gums by the medical gentlemen, in order that any slight
appearance of the scurvy might at once be detected, and checked by
timely and adequate means.
Under circumstances of leisure and inactivity, such as we were now
placed in, and with every prospect of its continuance for a very
large portion of the year, I was desirous of finding some
amusement for the men during this long and tedious interval. I
proposed, therefore, to the officers to get up a play occasionally
on board the Hecla, as the readiest means of preserving among our
crews that cheerfulness and good-humour which had hitherto
subsisted. In this proposal I was readily seconded by the officers
of both ships; and Lieutenant Beechey having been duly elected as
stage-manager, our first performance was fixed for the 5th of
November, to the great delight of the ships' companies. In these
amusements I gladly undertook a part myself, considering that an
example of cheerfulness, by giving a direct countenance to
everything that could contribute to it, was not the least
essential part of my duty, under the peculiar circumstances in
which we were placed.
In order still farther to promote good-humour among ourselves, as
well as to furnish amusing occupation during the hours of constant
darkness, we set on foot a weekly newspaper, which was to be
called the _North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle_, and of
which Captain Sabine undertook to be the editor, under the promise
that it was to be supported by original contributions from the
officers of the two ships: and I can safely say, that the weekly
contributions had the happy effect of employing the leisure hours
of those who furnished them, and of diverting the mind from the
gloomy prospect which would sometimes obtrude itself on the
stoutest heart.
Immediately on our arrival in harbour, Captain Sabine had employed
himself in selecting a place for the observatory, which was
erected in a convenient spot, about seven hundred yards to the
westward of the ships. It was also considered advisable
immediately to set about building a house near the beach for the
reception of the clocks and instruments. For this purpose we made
use of a quantity of fir-plank, which was intended for the
construction of spare boats, and which was so cut as not to injure
it for that purpose. The ground was so hard frozen that it
required great labour to dig holes for the upright posts which
formed the support of the sides. The walls of this house being
double, with moss placed between the two, a high temperature
could, even in the severest weather which we might be doomed to
experience, be kept up in it without difficulty by a single stove.
After our arrival in port we saw several reindeer and a few coveys
of grouse; but the country is so destitute of everything like
cover of any kind, that our sportsmen were not successful in their
hunting excursions, and we procured only three reindeer previous
to the migration of these and the other animals from the island,
which took place before the close of the month of October, leaving
only the wolves and foxes to bear us company during the winter.
The full-grown deer which we killed in the autumn, gave us from
one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventy pounds of meat
each, and a fawn weighed eighty-four pounds.
On the 1st of October, Captain Sabine's servant, having been at
some distance from the ships to examine a fox-trap, was pursued by
a large white bear, which followed his footsteps the whole way to
the ships, where he was wounded by several balls, but made his
escape after all. This bear, which was the only one we saw during
our stay in Winter Harbour, was observed to be more purely white
than any we had before seen, the colour of these animals being
generally that of a dirtyish yellow when contrasted with the
whiteness of the ice and snow.
Some deer being seen near the ships on the 10th, a party was
despatched after them, some of whom having wounded a stag, and
being led on by the ardour of pursuit, forgot my order that every
person should be on board before sunset, and did not return till
late, after we had suffered much apprehension their account. John
Pearson, a marine belonging to the Griper, who was the last that
returned on board, had his hands severely frostbitten, having
imprudently gone away without mittens, and with a musket in his
hand. A party of our people most providentially found him,
although the night was very dark, just as he had fallen down a
steep bank of snow, and was beginning to feel that degree of
torpor and drowsiness which, if indulged, inevitably proves fatal.
When he was brought on board his fingers were quite stiff, and
bent into the shape of that part of the musket which he had been
carrying; and the frost had so far destroyed the animation in his
fingers on one hand, that it was necessary to amputate three of
them a short time after, notwithstanding all the care and
attention paid to him by the medical gentlemen. The effect which
exposure to severe frost has in benumbing the mental as well as
the corporeal faculties, was very striking in this man, as well as
in two of the young gentlemen who returned after dark, and of whom
we were anxious to make inquiries respecting Pearson. When I sent
for them into my cabin, they looked wild, spoke thick and
indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a rational
answer to any of our questions. After being on board for a short
time, the mental faculties appeared gradually to return with the
returning circulation, and it was not till then that a looker-on
could easily persuade himself that they had not been drinking too
freely. In order to guard in some measure against the danger of
persons losing their way, which was more and more to be
apprehended as the days became shorter and the ground more covered
with snow, which gives such a dreary sameness to the country, we
erected on all the hills within two or three miles of the harbour,
finger-posts pointing towards the ships.
I have before remarked that all the water which we made use of
while within the polar circle was procured from snow either
naturally or artificially dissolved. Soon after the ships were
laid up for the winter, it was necessary to have recourse entirely
to the latter process, which added materially to the expenditure
of fuel during the winter months. The snow for this purpose was
dug out of the drifts which had formed upon the ice round the
ships, and dissolved in the coppers. We found it necessary always
to strain the water thus procured, on account of the sand which
the heavy snowdrifts brought from the island, after which it was
quite pure and wholesome.
On the 16th it blew a strong gale from the northward, accompanied
by such a constant snowdrift, that, although the weather was quite
clear overhead, the boathouse at the distance of three or four
hundred yards could scarcely be seen from the ships. On such
occasions no person was permitted on any account to leave the
ships. Indeed, when this snowdrift occurred, as it frequently did
in the winter, with a hard gale and the thermometer very low, I
believe that no human being could have remained alive after an
hour's exposure to it. In order, therefore, to secure a
communication between the two ships, a distance not exceeding half
a cable's length, as well as from the ships to the house on shore,
a line was kept extended, as a guide from one to the other. The
meridian, altitude of the sun was observed this day by an
artificial horizon, which I noticed from the circumstance of its
being the last time we had an opportunity of observing it for
about four months.
On the 26th the sun afforded us sufficient light or writing and
reading in my cabin, the stern-windows exactly facing the south,
from half past nine till half past two; for the rest of the
four-and-twenty hours, we lived, of course, by candle-light.
Nothing could exceed the beauty of the sky to the southeast and
southwest at sunrise and sunset about this period: near the
horizon there was generally a rich bluish purple and a bright arch
of deep red above, the one mingling imperceptibly with the other.
It now became rather a painful experiment to touch any metallic
substance in the open air with the naked hand; the feeling
produced by it exactly resembling that occasioned by the opposite
extreme of intense heat, and taking off the skin from the part
affected. We found it necessary, therefore, to use great caution
in handling our sextants and other instruments, particularly the
eye-pieces of telescopes, which, if suffered to touch the face,
occasioned an intense burning pain; but this was easily remedied
by covering them over with soft leather. Another effect, with
regard to the use of instruments, began to appear about this time.
Whenever any instrument which had been some time exposed to the
atmosphere, so as to be cooled down to the same temperature, was
suddenly brought below into the cabins, the vapour was instantly
condensed all around it, so as to give the instrument the
appearance of smoking, and the glasses were covered almost
instantly with a thin coating of ice, the removal of which
required great caution, to prevent the risk of injuring them,
until it had gradually thawed, as they acquired the temperature of
the cabin. When a candle was placed in a certain direction from
the instrument with respect to the observer, a number of very
minute _spiculæ_ of snow were also seen sparkling around the
instrument, at the distance of two or three inches from it,
occasioned, as we supposed, by the cold atmosphere produced by the
low temperature of the instrument almost instantaneously
congealing into that form the vapour which floated in its
immediate neighbourhood.
The 4th of November being the last day that the sun would,
independently of the effects of refraction, be seen above our
horizon till the 8th of February, an interval of ninety-six days,
it was a matter of considerable regret to us that the weather
about this time was not sufficiently clear to allow us to see and
make observations on the disappearance of that luminary, in order
that something might be attempted towards determining the amount
of the atmospheric refraction at a low temperature. But though we
were not permitted to take a last farewell, for at least three
months, of that cheering orb, "of this great world both eye and
soul," we nevertheless felt that this day constituted an important
and memorable epoch in our voyage. We had some time before set
about the preparations for our winter's amusements; and the
theatre being ready, we opened on the 5th November, with the
representation of _Miss in her Teens_, which afforded to the men
such a fund of amusement as fully to justify the expectations we
had formed of the utility of theatrical entertainments under our
present circumstances, and to determine me to follow them up at
stated periods. I found, indeed, that even the occupation of
fitting up the theatre and taking it to pieces again, which
employed a number of the men for a day or two before and after
each performance, was a matter of no little importance, when the
immediate duties of the ship appeared by no means sufficient for
that purpose; for I dreaded the want of employment as one of the
worst evils that was likely to befall us.
About the time of the sun's leaving us, the wolves began to
approach the ships more boldly, howling most piteously on the
beach near us, sometimes for hours together, and on one or two
occasions coming alongside the ships, when everything was quiet at
night; but we seldom saw more than one or two together, and
therefore could form no idea of their number. These animals were
always very shy of coming near our people; and though evidently
suffering much from hunger, never attempted to attack any of them.
The white foxes used also to visit the ships at night, and one of
these was caught in a trap set under the Griper's bows. The
uneasiness displayed by this beautiful little animal during the
time of his confinement, whenever he heard the howling of a wolf
near the ships, impressed us with the opinion that the latter is
in the habit of hunting the fox as his prey.
The temperature of the atmosphere having about this time become
considerably lower than before, the cracking of the timbers was
very frequent and loud for a time; but generally ceased altogether
in an hour or two after this fall had taken place in the
thermometer, and did not occur again at the same temperature
during the winter. The wind blowing fresh from the northward, with
a heavy snowdrift, made the ship very cold below; so that the
breath and other vapour accumulated during the night in the bed
places and upon the beams, and then immediately froze; hence it
often occupied all hands for two or three hours during the day to
scrape the ice away, in order to prevent the bedding from becoming
wet by the increase of temperature occasioned by the fires. It was
therefore found necessary to keep some of the fires in between
decks at night, when the thermometer was below -15° or -20° in the
open air, especially when the wind was high. To assist in keeping
the lower decks warm, as well as to retard, in some slight degree,
the formation of ice immediately in contact with the ships' bends,
we banked the snow up against their sides as high as the main
chains; and canvass screens were nailed round all the hatchways on
the lower deck.
The stars of the second magnitude in Ursa Major were just
perceptible to the naked eye a little after noon this day, and the
Aurora Borealis appeared faintly in the southwest at night. About
this time our medical gentlemen began to remark the extreme
difficulty with which sores of every kind healed; a circumstance
that rendered it the more necessary to be cautious in exposing the
men to frostbites, lest the long inactivity and want of exercise
during the cure of sores, in other respects trifling, should
produce serious effects upon the general health of the patients.
During the following fortnight we were chiefly occupied in
observing various phenomena in the heavens, the vivid coruscations
of the Aurora Borealis, the falling of meteors, and in taking
lunar distances; but the difficulty of making observations in this
climate is inconceivably great; on one occasion the mercury of the
artificial horizon froze into a solid mass.
About this part of the winter we began to experience a more
serious inconvenience from the bursting of the lemon-juice bottles
by frost, the whole contents being frequently frozen into a solid
mass, except a small portion of highly concentrated acid in the
centre, which in most instances was found to have leaked out, so
that when the ice was thawed it was little better than water. This
evil increased to a very alarming degree in the course of the
winter: some cases being opened in which more than two thirds of
the lemon-juice was thus destroyed, and the remainder rendered
nearly inefficient.
It was at first supposed that this accident might have been
prevented by not quite filling the bottles, but it was afterward
found that the corks flying out did not save them from breaking.
We observed that the greatest damage was done in those cases which
were stowed nearest to the ship's side, and we therefore removed
all the rest amidships; a precaution which, had it been sooner
known and adopted, would probably have prevented at least a part
of the mischief. The vinegar also became frozen in the casks in
the same manner, and lost a great deal of its acidity when thawed.
This circumstance conferred an additional value on a few gallons
of very highly concentrated vinegar, which had been sent out on
trial upon this and the preceding voyage, and which, when mixed
with six or seven times its own quantity of water, was sufficiently
acid for every purpose. This vinegar, when exposed to the
temperature of 25° below zero, congealed only into a consistence
like that of the thickest honey, but was never sufficiently hard
to break any vessel which contained it. There can be no doubt,
therefore, that on this account, as well as to save stowage, this
kind of vinegar should exclusively be used in these regions; and
for similar reasons of still greater importance, the lemon-juice
should be concentrated.
We had now reached the shortest day, Wednesday, the 22d, and such
was the occupation which we had hitherto contrived to find during
the first half of our long and gloomy winter, that the quickness
with which it had come upon us was a subject of general remark. So
far, indeed, were we from wanting that occupation of which I had
been apprehensive, especially among the men that it accidentally
came to my knowledge about this period that they complained of not
having time to mend their clothes. This complaint I was as glad to
hear as desirous to rectify; and I therefore ordered that, in
future, one afternoon in each week should be set aside for that
particular purpose.
The circumstances of our situation being such as have never before
occurred to the crews of any of his majesty's ships, it may not,
perhaps, be considered wholly uninteresting to know in what manner
our time was thus so fully occupied throughout the long and severe
winter which it was our lot to experience, and particularly during
a three months' interval of nearly total darkness.
The officers and quartermasters were divided into four watches,
which were regularly kept as at sea, while the remainder of the
ships' company were allowed to enjoy their night's rest
undisturbed. The hands were turned up at a quarter before six, and
both decks were well rubbed with stones and warm sand before eight
o'clock, at which time, as usual at sea, both officers and men
went to breakfast. Three quarters of an hour being allowed after
breakfast for the men to prepare themselves for muster, we then
beat to divisions punctually at a quarter past nine, when every
person on board attended on the quarter deck, and a strict
inspection of the men took place as to their personal cleanliness,
and the good condition, as well as sufficient warmth of their
clothing. The reports of the officers having been made to me, the
people were then allowed to walk about, or, more usually, to run
round the upper deck, while I went down to examine the state of
that below. The state of this deck may be said, indeed, to have
constituted the chief source of our anxiety, and to have occupied
by far the greatest share of our attention at this period.
Whenever any dampness appeared, or, what more frequently happened,
any accumulation of ice had taken place during the preceding
night, the necessary means were immediately adopted for removing
it; in the former case usually by rubbing the wood with cloths,
and then directing the warm airpipe towards the place; and in the
latter by scraping off the ice, so as to prevent its wetting the
deck by any accidental increase of temperature. In this respect
the bed-places were particularly troublesome; the inner partition,
or that next the ship's side, being almost invariably covered with
more or less dampness or ice, according to the temperature of the
deck during the preceding night. This inconvenience might, to a
great degree, have been avoided by a sufficient quantity of fuel
to keep up two good fires on the lower deck throughout the
twenty-four hours; but our stock of coals would by no means permit
this, bearing in mind the possibility of our spending a second
winter within the Arctic circle; and this comfort could only,
therefore, be allowed on a few occasions during the most severe
part of the winter.
In the course of my examination of the lower deck I had always an
opportunity of seeing those few men who were on the sick list, and
of receiving from Mr. Edwards a report of their respective cases;
as also of consulting that gentleman as to the means of improving
the warmth, ventilation, and general comfort of the inhabited
parts of the ship. Having performed this duty, we returned to the
upper deck, where I personally inspected the men; after which they
were sent out to walk on shore, when the weather would permit,
till noon, when they returned on board to their dinner. When the
day was too inclement for them to take this exercise, they were
ordered to run round and round the deck, keeping step to the tune
of an organ, or, not unfrequently, to a song of their own singing.
Among the men were a few who did not at first quite like this
systematic mode of taking exercise; but when they found that no
plea except that of illness was admitted as an excuse, they not
only willingly and cheerfully complied, but made it the occasion
of much humour and frolic among themselves.
The officers, who dined at two o'clock, were also in the habit of
occupying one or two hours in the middle of the day in rambling on
shore, even in our darkest period, except when a fresh wind and a
heavy snowdrift confined them within the housing of the ships. It
may well be imagined that, at this period, there was but little to
be met with in our walks on shore which could either amuse or
interest us. The necessity of not exceeding the limited distance
of one or two miles, lest a snowdrift, which often rises very
suddenly, should prevent our return, added considerably to the
dull and tedious monotony which day after day presented itself. To
the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of
ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that, in some
parts, a few hummocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the
general level. Nor did the land offer much greater variety, being
almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown
patch of bare ground in some exposed situations, where the wind
had not allowed the snow to remain. When viewed from the summit of
the neighbouring hills, on one of those calm and clear days which
not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as
to induce contemplations which had, perhaps, more of melancholy
than of any other feeling. Not an object was to be seen on which
the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the
spot where our ships lay and where our little colony was planted.
The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a
certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial
cheerfulness to this part of the prospect; and the sound of
voices, which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much
greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the
silence which reigned around us; a silence far different from that
peaceable composure which characterizes the landscape of a
cultivated country; it was the deathlike stillness of the most
dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated existence.
Such, indeed, was the want of objects to afford relief to the eye
or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more than usual size
appearing above the snow in the direction in which we were going,
immediately became a mark on which our eyes were unconsciously
fixed, and towards which we mechanically advanced.
We had frequent occasion, in our walks on shore, to remark the
deception which takes place in estimating the distance and
magnitude of objects when viewed over an unvaried surface of snow.
It was not uncommon for us to direct our steps towards what we
took for a large mass of stone at the distance of half a mile from
us, but which we were able to take up in our hands after one
minute's walk. This was more particularly the case when ascending
the brow of a hill, nor did we find that the deception became less
on account of the frequency with which we experienced its effects.
In the afternoon the men were usually occupied in drawing and
knotting yarns, and in making points and gaskets; a never-failing
resource where mere occupation is required, and which it was
necessary to perform entirely on the lower deck, the yarns
becoming so hard and brittle, when exposed on deck to the
temperature of the atmosphere, as to be too stiff for working, and
very easily broken. I may in this place remark, that our lower
rigging became extremely slack during the severity of the winter,
and gradually tightened again as the spring returned: effects the
very reverse of those which we had anticipated, and which I can
only account for by the extreme dryness of the atmosphere in the
middle of winter, and the subsequent increase of moisture.
At half past five in the evening the decks were cleared up, and at
six we again beat to divisions, when the same examination of the
men and of their berths and bed-places took place as in the
morning; the people then went to their supper, and the officers to
tea. After this time the men were permitted to amuse themselves as
they pleased, and games of various kinds, as well as dancing and
singing occasionally, went on upon the lower deck till nine
o'clock, when they went to bed and their lights were extinguished.
In order to guard against accidents by fire, where so many fires
and lights were necessarily in use, the quartermasters visited the
lower deck every half hour during the night, and made their report
to the officers of the watches that all was, in this respect, safe
below; and to secure a ready supply of water in case of fire, a
hole was cut twice a day in the ice, close alongside of each ship.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that the evening occupations of
the officers were of a more rational kind than those which engaged
the attention of the men. Of these, reading and writing were the
principal employments, to which were occasionally added a game of
chess, or a tune on the flute or violin, till half past ten, about
which time we all retired to rest.
Such were the employments which usually occupied us for six days
in the week, with such exceptions only as circumstances at the
time suggested. On Sundays divine service was invariably
performed, and a sermon read on board both ships; the prayer
appointed to be daily used at sea being altered, so as to adapt it
to the service in which we were engaged, the success which had
hitherto attended our efforts, and the peculiar circumstances
under which we were at present placed. The attention paid by the
men to the observance of their religious duties was such as to
reflect upon them the highest credit, and tended in no small
degree to the preservation of that regularity and good conduct for
which, with very few exceptions, they were invariably distinguished.
Our theatrical entertainments took place regularly once a
fortnight, and continued to prove a source of infinite amusement
to the men. Our stock of plays was so scanty, consisting of one or
two odd volumes, which happened accidentally to be on board, that
it was with difficulty we could find the means of varying the
performances sufficiently; our authors, therefore, set to work,
and produced, as a Christmas piece, a musical entertainment,
expressly adapted to our audience, and having such a reference to
the service on which we were engaged, and the success we had so
far experienced, as at once to afford a high degree of present
recreation, and to stimulate, if possible, the sanguine hopes
which were entertained by all on board, of the complete
accomplishment of our enterprise. We were at one time apprehensive
that the severity of the weather would prevent the continuance of
this amusement, but the perseverance of the officers overcame
every difficulty; and, perhaps for the first time since theatrical
entertainments were invented, more than one or two plays were
performed on board the Hecla with the thermometer below zero on
the stage.
The _North Georgia Gazette_, which I have already mentioned, was a
source of great amusement, not only to the contributors, but to
those who, from diffidence of their own talents or other reasons,
could not be prevailed on to add their mite to the little stock of
literary composition which was weekly demanded; for those who
declined to write were not unwilling to read, and more ready to
criticise than those who wielded the pen; but it was that
good-humoured sort of criticism that could not give offence. The
subjects handled in this paper were of course various, but
generally applicable to our own situation.
The return of each successive day had been always very decidedly
marked by a considerable twilight for some time about noon, that
on the shortest day being sufficient to enable us to walk out very
comfortably for about two hours.[*] There was usually, in clear
weather, a beautiful arch of bright red light overspreading the
southern horizon for an hour or two before and after noon, the
light increasing, of course, in strength, as the sun approached
the meridian. Short as the day now was, if, indeed, any part of
the twenty-four hours could be properly called by that name, the
reflection of light from the snow, aided occasionally by a bright
moon, was at all times sufficient to prevent our experiencing,
even under the most unfavourable circumstances, anything like the
gloomy night which occurs in more temperate climates. Especial
care was taken, during the time the sun was below the horizon, to
preserve the strictest regularity in the time of our meals, and in
the various occupations which engaged our attention during the
day; and this, together with the gradual and imperceptible manner
in which the days had shortened, prevented this kind of life, so
novel to us in reality, from appearing very inconvenient, or,
indeed, like anything out of the common way. It must be confessed,
however, that we were not sorry to arrive, without any serious
suffering, at the shortest day; and we watched, with no ordinary
degree of pleasure, the slow approach of the returning sun.
[Footnote: It will, perhaps, give the best idea of the power of
the sun's light afforded us on this day, to state, that we could,
at noon, read with tolerable ease the same sized type as that in
which this note is printed; but this could only be done by turning
the book directly towards the south.]
On Christmas day the weather was raw and cold, with a considerable
snowdrift, though the wind was only moderate from the N.W.; but
the snow which falls during the severe winter of this climate is
composed of spiculæ so extremely minute, that it requires very
little wind to raise it and carry it along. To mark the day in the
best manner which circumstances would permit divine service was
performed on board the ships; and I directed a small increase in
the men's usual proportion of fresh meat as a Christmas dinner, as
well as an additional allowance of grog, to drink the health of
their friends in England. The officers also met at a social and
friendly dinner, and the day passed with much of the same kind of
festivity by which it is usually distinguished at home; and, to
the credit of the men be it spoken, without any of that disorder
by which it is too often observed by seamen. A piece of English
roast-beef, which formed part of the officers' dinner, had been on
board since the preceding May, and preserved without salt during
that period merely by the antiseptic powers of a cold atmosphere.
A great many frostbites occurred about this time, 30th,
principally in the men's feet, even when they had been walking
quickly on shore for exercise. On examining their boots, Mr.
Edwards remarked, that the stiffness of the thick leather of which
they were made was such as to cramp the feet, and prevent the
circulation from going on freely; and that this alone was
sufficient to account for their feet having been frostbitten.
Being very desirous of avoiding these accidents, which, from the
increased sluggishness with which the sores healed, were more and
more likely to affect the general health of the patients by long
confinement, I directed a pair of canvass boots, lined with
blanketing or some other woollen stuff, to be made for each man,
using raw hide as soles: this completely answered the desired
purpose, as scarcely any frostbites in the feet afterward
occurred, except under circumstances of very severe exposure.