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.
I had the happiness to find, on my return, that the officers and
men in both ships continued to enjoy the same good health as
before, with the exception of Scott, who was still the only man in
the Hecla's sick-list, and whose complaint seemed such as to
baffle every attempt that had been made to produce an amendment. A
constant disposition to fainting and a languid sort of despondency
had been, for some time past, the only symptoms which had induced
Mr. Edwards to continue the antiscorbutic treatment; and this it
was sometimes absolutely necessary to discontinue for a day or two
together, on account of the weak state of his bowels. During my
absence he had been much worse than before, notwithstanding the
greatest care and attention paid to him; but he was now once more
better. He had lived almost entirely on the ptarmigan and ducks,
of which a sufficient quantity had been procured to serve the sick
and convalescent in both ships abundantly, and none had at this
time been issued to any officer or man in the expedition.
The equipment of the ships had gone on satisfactorily during my
absence, the Griper being nearly ready for sea, the Hecla not
quite so forward, on account of the heavy work with the ballast,
of which sixty-five tons had been brought on board, to supply the
deficiency of weight in her holds. The survey of the provisions,
fuel, and other stores was completed, and the quantity and
condition of them, with the exception of the lemon-juice and
vinegar before mentioned, were found to be satisfactory. With
respect to vermin, I may here mention, that not a mouse, or rat,
or maggot of any kind ever appeared on board, to my knowledge,
during this voyage.
A very perceptible change had taken place in the ice of the
harbour on its upper surface, it being covered with innumerable
pools of water, chiefly brackish, except close in-shore, where the
tides had lifted the ice considerably above the level of the sea.
Having observed that the sorrel was now so far advanced in foliage
as to be easily gathered in sufficient quantity for eating, I gave
orders that two afternoons in each week should be occupied by all
hands in collecting the leaves of this plant; each man being
required to bring in, for the present, one ounce, to be served in
lieu of lemon-juice, pickles, and dried herbs, which had been
hitherto issued. The growth of the sorrel was from this time so
quick, and the quantity of it so great on every part of the ground
about the harbour, that we shortly after sent the men out every
afternoon for an hour or two; in which time, besides the advantage
of a healthy walk, they could, without difficulty, pick nearly a
pound each of this valuable antiscorbutic, of which they were all
extremely fond. Of the good effects produced upon our health by
the unlimited use of fresh vegetable substances, thus bountifully
supplied by the hand of Nature, even where least to be expected,
little doubt can be entertained, as it is well known to be a
never-failing specific for scorbutic affections, to which all
persons deprived of it for a length of time are probably more or
less predisposed.
By the 20th of June, the land in the immediate neighbourhood of
the ships, and especially in low and sheltered situations, was
much covered with the handsome purple flower of the _saxifraga
oppositifolia_, which was at this time in great perfection, and
gave something like cheerfulness and animation to a scene hitherto
indescribably dreary in its appearance.
The suddenness with which the changes take place during the short
season which may be called summer in this climate, must appear
very striking when it is remembered that, for a part of the first
week in June, we were under the necessity of thawing artificially
the snow which we made use of for water during the early part of
our journey to the northward; that, during the second week, the
ground was in most parts so wet and swampy that we could with
difficulty travel; and that, had we not returned before the end of
the third week, we should probably have been prevented doing so
for some time, by the impossibility of crossing the ravines
without great danger of being carried away by the torrents, an
accident that happened to our hunting parties on one or two
occasions in endeavouring to return with their game to the ships.
On the 22d, at four P.M., a thermometer, in the shade on board the
Hecla, stood at 51°, being the highest temperature we had yet
registered this season.
On the 24th we had frequent showers of snow, which occur in this
climate more or less at all times of the year; at this season,
however, when the earth is warm, it seldom or never lies on the
ground for a whole day together.
Lieutenant Beechey, on his return from a hunting excursion at
midnight on the 26th, reported that the ice along shore in that
direction appeared in a more forward state of dissolution than
near Winter Harbour, there being almost water enough in some
places to allow a boat to pass, with several large cracks in the
ice extending from the land some distance to seaward. The deep had
now become much more wild near the tents, and it was therefore
necessary to shift the ground a little. Lieutenant Beechey
succeeded in killing one of these animals, by lying down quietly,
and imitating the voice of a fawn, when the deer immediately came
up to him within gunshot. The horns of the deer killed at this
season, as Mr. Fisher remarks, were "covered with a soft skin
having a downy pile or hair upon it; the horns themselves were
soft, and at the tips flexible and easily broken." The foxes, of
which they saw several, "had a black spot or patch on each side of
the hind-quarters or hams."
On the 29th, one of the men, in returning on board from the daily
occupation of gathering sorrel, found in a hole upon the ice a
small fish, which appeared to be of the whiting species; and, on
going to examine the place where it was picked up, Mr. Edwards and
myself found two others exactly similar. As there was as yet no
communication between the sea and the upper surface of the ice
sufficiently large to admit these fish, it became a matter of
question in what manner they had got into the situation in which
we found them. It appeared most likely that they were frozen on
the surface of the water at the beginning of winter, when the
frost first commenced, and perhaps, therefore, had been floating
there dead. We remarked that, whenever any hard substance is laid
upon the ice in small quantities, it soon makes a deep hole for
itself, by the heat it absorbs and radiates, by which the ice
around it is melted. There were at this time upon the ice
innumerable holes of this kind, some forming small, and others
large pools of water; and in every one of these, without
exception, some extraneous substance, such as seaweed, sand, and
not unfrequently a number of small putrid shrimps were found. In
one of these holes the fish alluded to were found. It was curious
to see how directly contrary was the effect produced upon the ice
by a quantity of straw which was put out upon it in the early part
of May, and which, by preventing the access of warmth, had now
become raised above the general surface more than two feet;
affording a strong practical example of the principle on which
straw is made use of in ice-houses, and, what was at that time of
more importance to us, a proof, how much the upper surface of the
ice had been insensibly wasted by dissolution.
Lieutenant Hoppner returned on the evening of the 29th from his
hunting excursion to the southwest, bringing with him some game,
and, what was to us much more acceptable, the welcome information
that the ice had been observed in motion in the offing on the 22d.
This circumstance was first observed by Messrs. Skene and Fife,
who were of Lieutenant Hoppner's party, and who were awakened by a
loud grinding noise, which, as they had soon the satisfaction to
find, was occasioned by the heavy field-ice setting rapidly to the
eastward, at the distance of five miles from the land, and
apparently at the rate of a mile an hour. The wind was at this
time moderate, but on the preceding day it had blown a fresh
northerly gale.
For some days past Scott had been gradually growing worse, and on
the evening of the 29th he was so far exhausted that Mr. Edwards
did not expect him to survive through the night. At two A.M. on
the 30th I was informed by that gentleman that Scott was dying;
and, before I could get my clothes on, he had breathed his last,
without any apparent pain.
On Sunday, the 2d of July, after divine service had been
performed, the body of the deceased was committed to the earth, on
a level piece of ground about a hundred yards from the beach; with
every solemnity which the occasion demanded, and the circumstances
of our situation would permit. The ensigns and pendants were
lowered half-mast during the procession, and the remains of our
unfortunate shipmate were attended to the grave by every officer
and man in both ships. A neat tombstone was afterward placed at
the head of the grave by Mr. Fisher, who carved upon it the name
of the deceased, with the other usual information.
The dissolution of the ice of the harbour went on so rapidly in
the early part of July, that we were greatly surprised, on the
6th, in finding that, in several of the pools of water on its
upper surface, holes were washed quite through to the sea beneath.
On examining several of these, we found that the average thickness
of the ice in the upper part of the harbour, where the ships were
lying, did not exceed two feet, which was much less than we had
any idea of. Towards the mouth of the harbour, however, where the
water was deeper, no such holes made their appearance for some
days after this. It must here be remarked, that in all cases we
found the ice to be first thawed and broken up in the shoalest
water, in consequence, I suppose, of the greater facility with
which the ground, at a small depth below the surface of the sea,
absorbed and radiated the heat of the sun's rays; and as it is in
such situations that water generally freezes the first, this
circumstance seems a remarkable instance of the provision of
nature for maintaining such a balance in the quantity of ice
annually formed and dissolved, as shall prevent any undue or
extraordinary accumulation of it in any part of the Polar regions
of the earth.
On unhanging the rudders, and hauling them up on the ice for
examination, we found them a good deal shaken and grazed by the
blows they had received during the time the ships were beset at
the entrance of Davis's Strait. We found, also, that the
rudder-cases in both ships had been fitted too small, occasioning
considerable difficulty in getting the rudders down when working,
a circumstance by no means disadvantageous (perhaps, indeed,
rather the contrary) on ordinary service at sea, but which should
be carefully avoided in ships intended for the navigation among
ice, as it is frequently necessary to unship the rudder at a short
notice, in order to preserve it from injury, as our future
experience was soon to teach us. This fault was, however, soon
remedied, and the rudders again hung in readiness for sea.
On the 14th a boat passed, for the first time, between the ships
and the shore, in consequence of the junction of a number of the
pools and holes in the ice; and on the following day the same kind
of communication was practicable between the ships. It now became
necessary, therefore, to provide against the possibility of the
ships being forced on shore by the total disruption of the ice
between them and the beach, and the pressure of that without, by
letting go a bower-anchor underfoot, which was accordingly done as
soon as there was a hole in the ice under the bows of each
sufficiently large to allow the anchors to pass through. We had
now been quite ready for sea for some days; and a regular and
anxious look-out was kept from the crow's-nest for any alteration
in the state of the ice which might favour our departure from
Winter Harbour, in which it now became more than probable that we
were destined to be detained thus inactively for a part of each
month in the whole year, as we had readied it in the latter part
of September, and were likely to be prevented leaving it till
after the commencement of August.
From six A.M. till six P.M. on the 17th, the thermometer stood
generally from 55° to 60°; the latter temperature being the
highest which appears in the Hecla's Meteorological Journal during
this summer. It will readily be conceived how pleasant such a
temperature must have been to our feelings after the severe winter
which immediately preceded it. The month of July is, indeed, the
only one which can be called at all comfortable in the climate of
Melville Island.
On the 20th, there being a strong breeze from the N.N.E., with fog
and rain, all favourable to the dispersion of the ice, that part
of it which was immediately around the Hecla, and from which she
had been artificially detached so long before, at length separated
into pieces and floated away, carrying with it the collection of
ashes and other rubbish which had been accumulating for the last
ten months: so that the ship was now once more fairly riding at
anchor, but with the ice still occupying the whole of the centre
of the harbour, and within a few yards of her bows: the Griper had
been set free in a similar manner a few days before. But it was
only in that part of the harbour where the ships were lying that
the ice had yet separated in this manner at so great a distance
from the shore; a circumstance probably occasioned by the greater
radiation of heat from the ships, and from the materials of
various kinds which we had occasion to deposite upon the ice
during the time of our equipment.
Lieutenant Liddon accompanied me in a boat down the west shore of
the harbour to the southern point of the entrance, in order to
sound along the edge of the ice, where we found from seven to
fifteen feet water; the ice about the entrance appeared still very
solid and compact, and not a single hole was at this time noticed
through any of the pools upon its surface except one, which was
made by a seal, and which discovered the thickness of the ice to
be there between two and three feet.
There was a fresh breeze from the northeastward, with fine clear
weather, on the 22d, which made the Hecla swing round into twenty
feet water astern; and the ice, being now moveable in the harbour,
came home towards the shore with this wind, but not so much as to
put any considerable strain on the cable of either ship; and the
holding-ground being excellent, there was nothing to apprehend for
their security.
A fresh gale, which blew from the northward on the morning of the
23d, caused a great alteration in the appearance of the ice near
the ships, but none whatever in that in the offing or at the mouth
of the harbour, except that the shores were there more encumbered
than before, owing to the quantity of pieces which were separated
and driven down from the northward, so that our small boat could
not succeed in getting along the shore.
On the 24th the sails were bent, in readiness for starting at a
moment's notice, though it must be confessed that the motive for
doing so was to make some show of moving rather than any
expectation which I dared to entertain of soon escaping from our
long and tedious confinement; for it was impossible to conceal
from the men the painful fact that, in eight or nine weeks from
this period, the navigable season must unavoidably come to a
conclusion.
I went away in a boat early on the morning of the 25th, in order
to sound the harbour in those parts where the ice would admit the
boat, with a view to take advantage of the first favourable change
which might present itself. The wind having come round to the
southward in the afternoon, caused the separation of a large
portion of ice on the northern side of that which now occupied the
harbour, and the detached pieces drifting down towards us,
rendered it necessary to be on our guard, lest the ships should be
forced from their anchorage. On this account, as well as from an
anxious and impatient desire to make a move, however trifling,
from a spot in which we had now unwillingly, but unavoidably,
passed nearly ten months, and of which we had long been heartily
tired, I directed lines to be run out for the purpose of warping
the ships along the ice in the centre of the harbour, and at half
past two P.M. the anchors were weighed. As soon as a strain was
put upon the lines, however, we found that the ice to which they
were attached came home upon us, instead of the ships being drawn
out to the southward; and we were therefore obliged to have
recourse to the kedge-anchors, which we could scarcely find room
to drop on account of the closeness of the ice. Having warped a
little way out from the shore, into five fathoms and a half, it
was found impossible to proceed any farther without a change of
wind, and the anchors were therefore dropped till such a change
should take place. In the course of the evening all the loose ice
drifted past us to the northward, loading that shore of the
harbour with innumerable fragments of it, and leaving a
considerable space of clear water along shore to the southward.
On the morning of the 26th it was nearly calm, with continued rain
and thick weather; and there being now a space of clear water for
nearly three quarters of a mile to the southward of us, we took
advantage of a breeze which sprung up from the northward to weigh,
at nine A.M., and run down as far as the ice would permit, and
then dropped our anchors in the best berths we could select, close
to the edge of it, with the intention of advancing step by step,
as it continued to separate by piecemeal. The ice across the
entrance of the harbour as far as this spot, and the whole of that
in the offing, of which we had here a commanding view from the
Hecla's crow's-nest, was still quite continuous and unbroken, with
the same appearance of solidity as it had during the middle of
winter, except that the pools of water were numerous upon its
surface.
The wind being from the S.S.W. during the night of the 30th,
served to close the lane of water which had appeared in the offing
the preceding day, which we considered a favourable circumstance,
as showing that the external mass of ice was in motion. In the
course of the day, the wind shifting to the W.N.W., we once more
discovered a small opening between the old and young floes, and at
eleven P.M., the whole body of the ice in the harbour was
perceived to be moving slowly out to the southeastward, breaking
away, for the first time, at the points which form the entrance of
the harbour. This sudden and unexpected change rendering it
probable that we should at length be released, I sent to Captain
Sabine, who had been desirous of continuing his observations on
the pendulum to the last moment, to request that he would have the
clocks ready for embarcation at an early hour in the morning.