CHAPTER XV.

Extraordinary Disruption of Ice in Quilliam Creek.--Some Appearance

of Scurvy among the Seamen and Marines.--Discovery of Gifford

River.--Commence cutting the Ice outside the Ships to release them

from their Winter-quarters.--Considerations respecting the Return

of the Expedition to England.--Unfavourable State of the Ice at the

Eastern Entrance of the Strait.--Proceed to the Southward.--Ships

beset and drifted up Lyon Inlet.--Decease of Mr. George

Fife.--Final Release from the Ice, and Arrival in England.--Remarks

upon the practicability of a Northwest Passage.

Among the various changes which the warmth of the returning summer was

now producing around us, none was more remarkable than that noticed by

Captain Lyon in an excursion to Quilliam Creek, and which, in a note

received from him by the return of the sledges on the 17th, he thus

describes: "Between the two points forming the entrance of the creek, we

saw a high wall of ice extending immediately across from land to land,

and on arriving at it, found that, by some extraordinary convulsion, the

floe had burst upward, and that immense masses of ice had been thrown in

every direction. Several blocks, eight or nine feet in thickness, and

many yards in diameter, were lying on the level solid floe; yet we were

for some time at a loss to discover whence they had been ejected, till

at length we found a hole or pool, which appeared so small as to be

hardly capable of containing the immense fragments near it; yet from

this place alone must they have been thrown."

Captain Lyon subsequently added, that "the water, which was found to be

quite fresh, was running rapidly to seaward in this opening; and it

seemed probable that the vast accumulation from the streams at the head

of the creek, although at about ten miles distance, had burst a passage,

and thus ejected the ice. The force employed for this purpose may be

conceived, when I mention that, of several masses of ice, one in

particular was above eight feet thick, full forty yards in

circumference, and lay more than five hundred yards from the pool. No

traces could be found of the manner in which these bodies had been

transported, as not a single small fragment was seen lying about, to

warrant the supposition that they had fallen with a shock. Neither were

there any marks observable on the smooth uncracked floe to cause a

suspicion that they had slidden over it, the general appearance of the

floe at this place being the same as at all other parts of the inlet,

and bearing no marks of having had any rush of water over it."

The weather was now, at times, extremely sultry, bringing out swarms of

moschetoes, that soon became very troublesome, even on board the ships.

A thermometer suspended in the middle of the observatory, and exposed to

the sun's rays, was observed by Mr. Fisher to stand at 92° at five P.M.

on the 18th.

On the 19th Captain Lyon returned from Quilliam Creek, bringing with him

the whole of our party stationed there, the ice being now so broken up

in that neighbourhood as to render the fishing dangerous without proper

boats. On this journey, which it took two days to perform, eleven dogs

drew a weight of two thousand and fifty pounds, of which six hundred and

forty were salmon, and ninety-five venison, procured by our people. The

fish had all been caught in the trawl; and treble the quantity might

easily have been taken with a seine, had we known how wide the mouth of

the stream was to become. They varied in length from twenty to twenty

six inches, and one of the largest, when cleaned, weighed eight pounds

and a half; but their average weight in this state did not exceed two

pounds and a quarter. The distance of the fishing-place from the ships,

the dangerous state of the ice, and the soreness of the dogs' feet from

travelling on the rough, honey-combed ice, prevented our taking any

farther advantage of this very acceptable change of diet.

Nothing worthy of notice occurred till the 29th, when a patch of ice, a

mile broad, separated from the outer margin of our barrier and drifted

away. The canal formed by laying sand on the ice was now quite through

in most places, showing that the plan would, in this latitude at least,

always ensure a ship's escape at an earlier season than by the regular

course of nature, provided it could be carried the whole way down to the

open water.

I am now under the disagreeable necessity of entering on a subject which

I had at one time ventured to hope need scarcely occupy any part of this

narrative: I mean that of the scurvy, some slight but unequivocal

symptoms of which disease were this day reported to me, by Mr. Edwards,

to have appeared among four or five of the Fury's men, rendering it

necessary, for the first time during the voyage, to have recourse to

antiscorbutic treatment among the seamen and marines.

It will, perhaps, be considered a curious and singular fact in the

history of sea-scurvy, that during the whole of the preceding part of

this voyage, none among us but officers were in the slightest degree

affected by it, a circumstance directly contrary to former experience.

To whatever causes this might be attributed, it could not, however, but

be highly gratifying to be thus assured that the various means employed

to preserve the health of the seamen and marines had proved even beyond

expectation efficacious.

That a ship's company began to evince symptoms of scurvy after

twenty-seven months' entire dependance upon the resources contained

within their ship (an experiment hitherto unknown, perhaps, in the

annals of navigation, even for one fourth part of that period), could

scarcely, indeed, be a subject of wonder, though it was at this

particular time a matter of very sincere regret. From the health enjoyed

by our people during two successive winters, unassisted as we had been

by any supply of _fresh_ antiscorbutic plants or other vegetables, I

had began to indulge a hope that, with a continued attention to their

comforts, cleanliness, and exercise, the same degree of vigour might,

humanly speaking, be ensured at least as long as our present liberal

resources should last. Present appearances, however, seemed to indicate

differently; for, though our sick-list had scarcely a name upon it, and

almost every individual was performing his accustomed duty, yet we had

at length been impressed with the unpleasant conviction that a strong

predisposition to disease existed among us, and that no very powerful

exciting cause was wanting to render it more seriously apparent. Such a

conviction at the present crisis was peculiarly disagreeable; for I

could not but lament any circumstance tending to weaken the confidence

in our strength and resources at a time when more than ordinary exertion

was about to be required at our hands.

The 1st of August had now arrived; and yet, incredible as it may appear,

the ships were as securely confined in the ice as in the middle of

winter, except that a pool of water, about twice their own length in

diameter, was now opened around them. I determined, therefore,

notwithstanding the apparent hopelessness of sawing our way through four

or five miles of ice, to begin that laborious process; not, indeed, with

the hope of cutting a canal sufficiently large to allow the passage of

the ships to sea, but with a view to weaken it so much as in some

measure to assist its disruption whenever any swell should set in upon

its margin. On this and the following day, therefore, all the gear was

carried down for that purpose, and a large tent pitched for the ships'

companies to dine in, the distance being too great to allow them to

return on board to their meals. On the 3d, however, we were saved a

great deal of unnecessary labour, by the ice opening out at the crack

before mentioned, so that our sawing might now be commenced within a

mile of the Fury. After divine service, therefore, all hands were sent

from both ships to bring back the tent and tools to the point of

Oongalooyat, and the parties were recalled from the walrus-fishery,

except a single boat's crew: these also returned on board a few days

after, the whole number of seahorses killed being eight, and one large

seal.

On the 4th our sawing work was commenced, with the usual alacrity on the

part of the officers and men, and three hundred and fifty yards of ice

were got out before night, its thickness varying from one to four feet,

but very irregular on account of the numerous pools and holes. An equal

length was accomplished on the following day, though not without

excessive fatigue and constant wet to the men, several of whom fell into

the water by the ice breaking under them.

On the 5th, the register-thermometer, which had been placed in the

ground in the winter, was taken up, though, to our astonishment, the

ground above and about it had become nearly as hard and compactly frozen

as when we dug the hole to put it down. How this came about we were

quite at a loss to determine; for the earth had been thrown in quite

loosely, whereas its present consolidated state implied its having been

thoroughly thawed and frozen again. It occupied two men ten days to

extricate it, which, as they approached the thermometer, was done by a

chisel and mallet, to avoid injury by jarring. This, however, was not

sufficient to prevent mischief, the instrument being so identified with

the frozen earth as to render it impossible to strike the ground near it

without communicating the shock to the tubes, two of which were in

consequence found to be broken. Thus ended our experiment for

ascertaining the temperature of the earth during the winter; an

experiment which it would seem, from this attempt, scarcely practicable

to make in any satisfactory manner without some apparatus constructed

expressly for the purpose.

On the 6th the work was continued as before, and about four hundred

yards of ice were sawn through and floated out, leaving now a broad

canal, eleven hundred yards in length, leading from the open water

towards that formed by the gravelled space.

When the lateness of the season to which the ships had now been detained

in the ice is considered, with reference to the probability of the

Fury's effecting anything of importance during the short remainder of

the present summer, it will not be wondered at that, coupling this

consideration with that of the health of my officers and men, I began to

entertain doubts whether it would still be prudent to adopt the intended

measure of remaining out in the Fury as a single ship; whether, in

short, under existing circumstances, the probable evil did not far

outweigh the possible good. In order to assist my own judgment on this

occasion upon one of the most material points, I requested the medical

officers of the Fury to furnish me with their opinions "as to the

probable effect that a third winter passed in these regions would

produce on the health of the officers, seamen, and marines of that ship,

taking into consideration every circumstance connected with our

situation." Their answer was decidedly adverse to remaining; and it was

fortified with such good reasons, connected with the health of the

officers and crews, as scarcely to leave me at liberty to adopt any

other course than that of returning to England with both vessels.

Enclosing to Captain Lyon the replies of the medical gentlemen, I now

also requested his opinion whether, under existing circumstances, he

still considered it expedient to adopt the measure originally intended,

with respect to the separation of the two ships. I had scarcely

despatched a letter to this effect, when, at 10 A.M. on the 8th, the ice

about the Fury began to move, the pools breaking up, and the gravelled

canal soon entirely closing. A breeze springing up from the northward at

this time, all sail was made upon the ship, and the ice gradually

driving out as it detached itself from the shore, the Fury got into open

water about one P.M. The Hecla, however, still remained in the middle of

her winter's floe, which, though it moved a little with the rest at

first, did not come out of the bay. In the course of the afternoon,

finding her still stationary, I determined to occupy the time in

stretching over to the northward, for the purpose of examining the state

of the fixed ice at the eastern mouth of the strait; and, arriving at

its margin by ten P.M., found it attached to both shores from the

northeastern part of Neerlo-naktoo across to Murray Maxwell Inlet. It

was the general opinion that this ice was in a more solid state than at

the same time and place the preceding year, but its situation did not, I

believe, differ half a mile from what it had then been. As the sun went

down nearly in the direction of the strait, we obtained from the

masthead a distinct and extensive view in that quarter, and it is

impossible to conceive a more hopeless prospect than this now presented.

One vast expanse of level solid ice occupied the whole extent of sea

visible to the westward, and the eye wearied itself in vain to discover

a single break upon its surface.

Having finished this examination, which at once destroyed every hope I

had never ceased to indulge of a passage through the strait, we returned

towards Igloolik to rejoin the Hecla. It was not, however, till the

morning of the 9th that we observed her to be moving out of the bay,

when at length (for the first time, perhaps, that such an event ever

occurred) she drove to sea in the middle of the floe. Thus at the mercy

of the ice, she was carried over the shoals off the southeast point of

Igloolik in six and a half fathoms, but was then fortunately drifted

into deeper water. The swell on the outside was all that was wanting to

break up her icy prison, which, separating at seven A.M., finally

released her from confinement.

Having soon afterward received Captain Lyon's answer to my

communication, it was necessary for me to come to a final determination

on the subject therein alluded to. For various reasons, he advised that

the Fury and Hecla should return to England together, as soon as such

arrangements respecting the removal of stores and provisions, as I might

judge proper to make, should be completed.

Under such circumstances, to which may be added the uncertainty of the

Hecla's liberation from the ice to the southward before the close of the

season, I no longer considered it prudent or justifiable, upon the

slender chance of eventual success now before us, to risk the safety of

the officers and men committed to my charge, and whom it was now my

first wish to reconduct in good health to their country and their

friends. Having communicated my intentions to the officers and ships'

companies, I directed several additions to be made to their ordinary

allowance of provisions, particularly in the various antiscorbutics,

which had hitherto been reserved for cases of emergency; and then

beating up to our winter station, which I named Turton Bay, we anchored

there in the afternoon in ten fathoms, and immediately commenced our

preparations for lightening the Fury. Seven months' provisions, a bower

anchor, and a few other stores, were received by the Hecla, some of her

water, before filled as ballast, being started to make room for them;

and such other arrangements made as circumstances would permit for

improving the stowage of the Fury's hold. The bay was now entirely clear

of ice in every part; and so changed was its appearance in the course of

the last four-and-twenty hours, that it was scarcely possible to believe

it the same place that we had been accustomed daily to look upon for the

ten preceding months.

The conveyance and stowage of the stores had scarcely been completed,

when some loose ice drifting into the bay with the tide on the night of

the 10th, obliged us hastily to get under way and stand out. On the

following morning I ran across to the main land in the Fury, for the

purpose of erecting, in compliance with my instructions, a flagstaff

fifty-six feet in height, having at its top a ball, made of iron hoops

and canvass, ten feet in diameter, and a cylinder buried near its foot,

containing a parchment with some account of our visit to this place. In

the mean time, I requested Captain Lyon to stand over to the point of

Igloolik, where our walruses had been landed, and to bring off these, as

well as our boats and tents remaining there. The ice soon after coming

in upon the point, it was not without risk of the Hecla's being

dangerously beset that Captain Lyon succeeded in bringing off everything

but one boat. This was, indeed, no great loss to us, though a great

acquisition to the Esquimaux; for, being almost worn out, I had intended

to break her up previously to leaving the ice. Besides this, we

purposely left our sledges, and a quantity of wood in pieces of a

convenient size for bows, spears, and paddles, distributing them about

in several places, that one or two individuals might not make a prize of

the whole.

The Hecla rejoining us on the morning of the 12th, we stood out to the

eastward, and finally took our departure from Igloolik. In the course of

the night the favourable breeze failed us, and on the morning of the

14th was succeeded by a southerly wind, the ships being close to another

island called Ooglit, about twelve leagues to the S.S.W. of the others.

We were here immediately visited by our old acquaintance the Esquimaux,

several of whom came off in their canoes in the course of the morning,

as if determined to loose no opportunity of profiting by us. Among these

was our worthy old friend Nannow, to whom everybody was glad to give

something; and, indeed, they all received as many presents as their

canoes could safely carry or tow on shore. Their tents, nine in number

were pitched on the main land, a little to the northward of Ooglit, at a

station they call _Ag-wis-se-=o-wik_, of which we had often heard

them speak at Igloolik. They now also pointed out to us Amitioke, at the

distance of four or five leagues to the southward and westward, which

proved to be the same piece of low land that we had taken for it in

first coming up this coast. The Esquimaux told us that a number of their

younger men were inland in pursuit of deer, and that the rest had

abundant supplies of walrus, which animals we saw in considerable

numbers about this place.

We were now for some days all but beset in this neighbourhood, calms or

light southerly and easterly breezes constantly prevailing. During this

time the main body of ice remained, in most parts, close to the shore,

leaving us only a "hole" of water to work about in, and much nearer to

the land than on this shoal and shelving coast was altogether safe for

the ships. Notwithstanding this, however, we had soon occasion to

observe that they not only kept their ground, but even drew to the

southward, owing, no doubt, to the current before found to set in that

direction along the coast.

The ice remained close the whole of the 26th; but we continued, as

usual, to drift generally to the southward, and the next morning, being

off Owlitteeweek, were enabled to cast off and make sail, the ice being

rather more open than before. Being favoured by a commanding northerly

breeze, we ran a considerable distance to the southward, having,

however, only just room to sail between the points of the closely packed

ice and a flat, dangerous shore. Without escaping for a moment, from our

confined situation, and almost without perceiving any motion of the

masses of ice among themselves, we had, at noon on the 30th, drifted

down within a mile of a small island lying near the northeast point of

Winter Island. On the 31st the tide took us through between these, the

breadth of the passage being three quarters of a mile, in no less than

sixteen fathoms water. We then passed within a dangerous reef of rocks,

lying a full mile from the shore, and having numerous heavy masses of

grounded ice upon it. After clearing this in a good depth of water, we

were, by the evening, carried along shore within a mile of Cape Fisher.

Thus had we, in a most singular manner, once more arrived at our old

winter-quarters, with scarcely a single successful exertion on our parts

towards effecting that object. The distance from Ooglit to our present

station was about one hundred and sixty miles along the coast. Of this

we had never _sailed_ above forty, the rest of the distance having

been accomplished, while we were immoveably beset, by mere drifting. The

interval thus employed having been barely eight days, gives an average

drift to the southward of above fifteen miles per day.

In the afternoon of the 6th I was much pained at being informed by

telegraph from the Hecla, that Mr. Fife, Greenland master of that ship,

had just expired, an event which for some days past there had been but

too much reason to apprehend; the scurvy having within the last three

weeks continued to increase considerably upon him. It is proper for me,

however, both in justice to the medical officers under whose skilful and

humane care he was placed, and to the means with which we were in this

way so liberally supplied, to state, that during a part of that time Mr.

Fife had taken so great a dislike to the various antiscorbutics which

were administered to him, that he could seldom be induced to use any of

them. The disease, in consequence, reduced him to a state of extreme

debility, which at length carried him off almost without pain. The Hecla

being at the time closely beset, and in a situation of great danger

among the shoals off Winter Island, Captain Lyon caused the remains of

the deceased to be committed to the sea with all the solemnity which

circumstances would permit.

In the night of the 6th, the ships, which had before nearly closed each

other, were again separated to the distance of several miles, though no

motion was perceptible in the masses of ice about them. On the evening

of the 11th, however, the wind at length began to freshen from the

northwest, when the ice immediately commenced driving down the inlet at

the rate of a mile an hour, carrying the Fury with it, and within half a

mile of the rocks, the whole way down to Cape Martineau, but keeping

her in deep water. In the mean time the Hecla had been swept into much

more dangerous situations, passing along the east and south sides of

Winter Island; and, after driving nearly up to Five-hawser Bay, being

carried near some dangerous shoals about Cape Edwards, where Captain

Lyon expected every other tide that she would take the ground.

On the 15th, when the ships had closed each other within a mile, we

could see the clear water from the masthead, and the Hecla could now

have been easily extricated. Such, however, are the sudden changes that

take place in this precarious navigation, that not long afterward the

Fury was quite at liberty to sail out of the ice, while the Hecla was

now, in her turn, so immoveably fast set, and even cemented between

several very heavy masses, that no power that could be applied was

sufficient to move her an inch. In this situation she remained all the

16th, without our being able to render her any assistance; and the frost

being now rather severe at night, we began to consider it not improbable

that we might yet be detained for another winter. We were perhaps,

indeed, indebted for our escape to a strong westerly breeze, which blew

for several hours on the 17th, when, the ice being sufficiently close to

allow our men to walk to the assistance of the Hecla, we succeeded,

after seven hours' hard labour, in forcing her into clear water, when

all sail was made to the eastward, and our course shaped for the Trinity

Islands in a perfectly open sea.

We thus finally made our escape from the ice after having been almost

immoveably beset in it for twenty-four days out of the last twenty-six,

in the course of which time the ships had been taken over no less than

one hundred and forty leagues of ground, generally very close to the

shore, and always unable to do anything towards effecting their escape

from danger.

We made the Trinity Islands on the 18th, and ran down Hudson's Strait

with a favourable breeze, reaching the Orkneys on the morning of Oct.

9th. It can scarcely, perhaps, be imagined by those who have not been

similarly situated, with what eager interest one or two vessels were

this day descried by us, being the first trace of civilized man that we

had seen for the space of seven-and-twenty months. The breeze increasing

to a fresh gale from the southward in the course of the night, with a

heavy sea from the same quarter, rendering it impossible for us to make

any progress in that direction, I determined to put into Lerwick in the

Shetland Islands, to procure refreshments, and await a change in our

favour. We accordingly bore up for that harbour early on the morning of

the 10th, and at thirty minutes past ten A.M. anchored there, where we

were immediately visited by a great number of the inhabitants, anxious

to greet us on our return to our native country.

I feel it utterly impossible adequately to express, the kindness and

attention we received for the three or four days that we were detained

in Bressay Sound by a continuance of unfavourable winds. On the first

information of our arrival the bells of Lerwick were set ringing, the

inhabitants flocked from every part of the country to express their joy

at our unexpected return, and the town was at night illuminated, as if

each individual had a brother or a son among us.

On the 13th, a breeze springing up from the northward, we took leave of

our kind and hospitable friends, deeply sensible of the cordial and

affectionate reception we had experienced; and, being still favoured by

the wind, were abreast of Buchaness the following evening. On the 16th,

being off Whitby, I went on shore there, and, after receiving the

cordial greetings of a great number of the worthy inhabitants of Whitby,

who had assembled to meet us on landing, set off for London, and arrived

at the Admiralty on the morning of the 18th.

THIRD VOYAGE

FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE.

INTRODUCTION.

Notwithstanding the want of success of the late expedition to the Polar

Seas, it was resolved to make another attempt to effect a passage by

sea, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The chief alterations in

the equipment of the present expedition consisted in the placing of

Sylvester's warming stove in the very bottom of the ship's hold, in

substituting a small quantity of salt beef for a part of the pork, and

in furnishing a much larger supply of newly corned beef. Preserved

carrots and parsnips, salmon, cream, pickles of onions, beet-root,

cabbage, and, to make the most of our stowage, _split_ peas, instead

of whole ones, were supplied. A small quantity of beef pemmican, made by

pounding the meat with a certain portion of fat, as described by Captain

Franklin, was also furnished.

CHAPTER I.

Passage to the Whale-fish Islands, and Removal of Stores from the

Transport.--Enter the Ice in Baffin's Bay.--Difficulties of

Penetrating to the Westward.--Quit the Ice in Baffin's

Bay.--Remarks on the Obstructions encountered by the Ships, and on

the Severity of the Season.

The equipment of the Hecla and Fury, and the loading of the William

Harris transport, being completed, we began to move down the river from

Deptford on the 8th of May, 1824, and on the 10th, by the assistance of

the steamboat, the three ships had reached Northfleet, where they

received their powder and their ordnance stores.

Early on the morning of the 3d of July, the whole of our stores being

removed, and Lieutenant Pritchard having received his orders, together

with our despatches and letters for England, the William Harris weighed

with a light wind from the northward, and was towed out to sea by our

boats.

Light northerly winds, together with the dull sailing of our now

deeply-laden ships, prevented our making much progress for several days,

and kept us in the neighbourhood of numerous icebergs, which it is

dangerous to approach when there is any swell. We counted from the deck,

at one time, no less than one hundred and three of these immense bodies,

some of them from one to two hundred feet in height above the sea; and

it was necessary, in one or two instances, to tow the ships clear of

them with the boats.

From this time, indeed, the obstructions from the quantity, magnitude,

and closeness of the ice were such as to keep our people almost

constantly employed in heaving, warping, or sawing through it; and yet

with so little success, that, at the close of the month of July, we had

only penetrated seventy miles to the westward, or the longitude of about

62° 10'.

_Sept_. 9th.--I shall, doubtless, be readily excused for not having

entered in this journal a detailed narrative of the obstacles we met

with, and of the unwearied exertions of the officers and men to overcome

them, during the tedious eight weeks employed in crossing this barrier.

The constant besetment of the ships, and our daily observations for

latitude and longitude, afforded a favourable opportunity for

ascertaining precisely the set of any currents by which the whole body

of ice might be actuated. By attending very carefully to all the

circumstances, it was evident that a daily set to the southward obtained

when the wind was northerly, differing in amount from two or three, to

eight or ten miles per day, according to the strength of the breeze; but

a northerly current was equally apparent, and fully to the same amount,

whenever the wind blew from the southward. A circumstance more

remarkable than these, however, forced itself strongly upon my notice at

this time, which was, that a _westerly_ set was very frequently

apparent, even against a fresh breeze blowing from that quarter. I

mention the circumstance in this place, because I may hereafter have to

offer a remark or two on this fact, in connexion with some others of a

similar nature noticed elsewhere.

With respect to the dimensions of the ice through which we had now

scrambled our way, principally by warping and towing, a distance of

between three and four hundred miles, I remarked that it for the most

part increased, as well in the thickness as the extent of the floes, as

we advanced westward about the parallel of 71°. During our subsequent

progress to the north, we also met with some of enormous dimensions,

several of the floes, to which we applied our hawsers and the power of

the improved capstan, being at their margin more than twenty feet above

the level of the sea; and over some of these we could not see from the

masthead. Upon the whole, however, the magnitude of the ice became

somewhat less towards the northwest, and within thirty miles of that

margin the masses were comparatively small, and their thickness much

diminished. Bergs were in sight during the whole passage, but they were

more numerous towards the middle of the "pack," and rather the most so

to the southward.

CHAPTER II.

Enter Sir James Lancaster's Sound.--Land at Cape Warrender.--Meet

with young Ice.--Ships beset and carried near the Shore.--Driven

back to Navy-board Inlet.--Run to the Westward, and enter Prince

Regent's Inlet.--Arrival at Port Bowen.

All our past obstacles were in a moment forgotten when we once more saw

an open sea before us; but it must be confessed that it was not so easy

to forget that the middle of September was already near at hand,

without having brought us even to the entrance of Sir James Lancaster's

Sound. That not a moment might be lost, however, in pushing to the

westward, a press of canvass was crowded, and, being happily favoured

with an easterly breeze, on the morning of Sept. 10th we caught a

glimpse of the high bold land on the north side of the magnificent inlet

up which our course was once more to be directed. From the time of our

leaving the main body of ice, we met with none of any kind, and the

entrance to the Sound was, as usual, entirely free from it, except here

and there a berg, floating about in that solitary grandeur, of which

these enormous masses, when occurring in the midst of an extensive sea,

are calculated to convey so sublime an idea.

On the morning of the 12th we were once more favoured with a breeze from

the eastward, but so light and unsteady that our progress was

vexatiously slow; and on the 13th, when within seven leagues of Cape

York, we had the mortification to perceive the sea ahead of us covered

with young ice, the thermometer having, for two days past, ranged only

from 18° to 20°.

The next breeze sprung up from the westward, drawing also from the

southward, at times, out of Prince Regent's Inlet, and for three days we

were struggling with the young ice to little or no purpose, now and then

gaining half a mile of ground to windward in a little "hole" of open

water, then losing as much by the necessity of bearing up or wearing

(for the ice was too strong to allow us to tack), sallying from morning

to night with all hands, and with the watch at night, two boats

constantly under the bows; and, after all, rather losing ground than

otherwise, while the young ice was every hour increasing in thickness.

Towards sunset on the 17th we became more and more hampered, and were

eventually beset during the night. The sea was covered with ice between

us and the shore, all of this year's formation, but now of considerable

thickness and formidable appearance. The wind continuing strong, the

whole body was constantly pressed in upon the land, bearing the ships

along with it, and doubling one sheet over another, sometimes to a

hundred thicknesses. We quickly shoaled the water from seventy to forty

fathoms, the latter depth occurring about a mile from the beach; and

after this we drifted but little, the ice being blocked up between the

point and a high perpendicular berg lying aground off it.

Under such circumstances, it evidently became expedient to endeavour, by

sawing, to get the ships as close in-shore as possible, so as to secure

them either to grounded ice, or by anchoring within the shelter of a bay

at no great distance inside of us; for it now seemed not unlikely that

winter was about to put a premature stop to all farther operations at

sea for this season. At all events, it was necessary to consult the

immediate safety of the ships, and to keep them from being drifted back

to the eastward. I therefore gave orders for endeavouring to get the

ships in towards the bay, by cutting through what level floes still

remained. So strong had been the pressure while the ice was forcing in

upon us, that on the 20th, after liberating the Hecla on one side, she

was as firmly cemented to it on the other, as after a winter's

formation; and we could only clear her by heavy and repeated "sallying."

After cutting in two or three hundred yards, while the people were at

dinner on the 21st, our canal closed by the external pressure coming

upon the parts which we had weakened, and in a few minutes the whole was

once more in motion, or, as the seamen not inaptly expressed it,

"alive," mass doubling under mass, and raising those which were

uppermost to a considerable height. The ice thus pressed together was

now about ten feet in thickness in some places, and on an average not

less than four or five, so that, while thus forced in upon a ship,

although soft in itself, it caused her to tremble exceedingly; a

sensation, indeed, commonly experienced in forcing through young ice of

considerable thickness. We were now once more obliged to be quiet

spectators of what was going on around us, having, with extreme

difficulty, succeeded in saving most of our tools that were lying on the

ice when the squeezing suddenly began.

A sudden motion of the ice, on the morning of the 22d, occasioned by a

change of the wind to the S.E., threatened to carry us directly off the

land. It was now, more than ever, desirable to hold on, as this breeze

was likely to clear the shore, and, at the same time, to give us a run

to the westward. Hawsers were therefore run out to the land-ice,

composed of some heavy masses, almost on the beach. With the Hecla this

succeeded, but the Fury being much farther from the shore, soon began to

move out with the whole body of ice, which, carrying her close to the

large berg off the point, swept her round the latter, where, after great

exertion, Captain Hoppner succeeded in getting clear, and then made sail

to beat back to us. In the mean time the strain put upon the Hecla's

hawsers being too great for them, they snapped one after another, and a

bower-anchor was let go as a last resource. It was one of Hawkins's,

with the double fluke, and immediately brought up, not merely the ship,

but a large floe of young ice which had just broken our stream-cable.

All hands were sent upon the floe to cut it up ahead, and the whole

operation was a novel, and, at times, a fearful one; for the ice, being

weakened by the cutting, would suddenly gather fresh way astern,

carrying men and tools with it, while the chain cable continued to

plough through it in a manner which gave one the idea of something

alive, and continually renewing its attacks. The anchor held

surprisingly; and after this tremendous strain had been put upon it for

above an hour, we had fairly cut the floe in two, and the ship was

riding in clear water about half a mile from the shore.

I was in hopes we should make some progress, for a large channel of

clear water was left open in-shore; a breeze blew off the land, and the

temperature of the atmosphere had again risen considerably. We had not

sailed five miles, however, when a westerly wind took us aback, and a

most dangerous swell set directly upon the shore, obliging me

immediately to stand off the land; and the Fury being still to the

eastward of the point, I ran round it in order to rejoin her before

sunset.

After midnight on the 27th the wind began to moderate, and, by degrees,

also drew more to the southward than before. At daylight, therefore, we

found ourselves seven or eight miles from the land; but no ice was in

sight, except the "sludge," of honey-like consistence, with which almost

the whole sea was covered. A strong blink, extending along the eastern

horizon, pointed out the position of the main body of ice, which was

farther distant from the eastern shore of the inlet than I ever saw it.

Being assisted by a fine working breeze, which, at the same time,

prevented the formation of any more ice to obstruct us, we made

considerable progress along the land, and at noon were nearly abreast of

Jackson Inlet, which we now saw to be considerably larger than our

distant view of it on the former voyage had led us to suppose. A few

more tacks brought us to the entrance of Port Bowen, which, for two or

three days past, I had determined to make our wintering-place, if, as

there was but little reason to expect, we should be so fortunate as to

push the ships thus far. Beating up, therefore, to Port Bowen, we found

it filled with "old" and "hummocky" ice, attached to the shores on both

sides, as low down as about three-quarters of a mile below Stony Island.

Here we made fast in sixty-two fathoms water, running our hawsers far in

upon the ice, in case of its breaking off at the margin.

CHAPTER III.

Winter Arrangements.--Improvements in Warming and Ventilating the

Ships.--Masquerades adopted as an Amusement to the

Men.--Establishment of Schools.--Astronomical

Observations.--Meteorological Phenomena.

_Oct_.--Our present winter arrangements so closely resembled, in

general, those before adopted, that a fresh description of them would

prove little more than a repetition of that already contained in the

narratives of our former voyages.

To those who read, as well as to those who describe, the account of a

winter passed in these regions can no longer be expected to afford the

interest of novelty it once possessed; more especially in a station

already delineated with tolerable geographical precision on our maps,

and thus, as it were, brought near to our firesides at home.

Independently, indeed, of this circumstance, it is hard to conceive any

one thing more like another than two winters passed in the higher

latitudes of the Polar Regions, except when variety happens to be

afforded by intercourse with some other branch of "the whole family of

man." Winter after winter, nature here assumes an aspect so much alike,

that cursory observation can scarcely detect a single feature of

variety. The winter of more temperate climates, and even in some of no

slight severity, is occasionally diversified by a thaw, which at once

gives variety and comparative cheerfulness to the prospect. But here,

when once the earth is covered, all is dreary, monotonous whiteness; not

merely for days or weeks, but for more than half a year together.

Whichever way the eye is turned, it meets a picture calculated to

impress upon the mind an idea of inanimate stillness, of that motionless

torpor with which our feelings have nothing congenial; of anything, in

short, but life. In the very silence there is a deadness with which a

human spectator appears _out of keeping_. The presence of man seems an

intrusion on the dreary solitude of this wintry desert, which even its

native animals have for a while forsaken.

I am persuaded, therefore, that I shall be excused in sparing the

dulness of another winter's diary, and confining myself exclusively to

those facts which appear to possess any scientific interest, to the few

incidents which _did_ diversify our confinement, and to such remarks as

may contribute to the health and comfort of any future sojourners in

these dreary regions.

It may well be supposed that, in this climate, the principal desideratum

which art is called upon to furnish for the promotion of health, is

warmth, as well in the external air as in the inhabited apartments.

Exposure to a cold atmosphere, _when the body is well clothed_, produces

no bad effect whatever beyond a frostbitten cheek, nose, or finger. As

for any injury to healthy lungs from the breathing of cold air, or from

sudden changes from this into a warm atmosphere, or _vice versa_, it may

with much confidence be asserted that, with due attention to external

clothing, there is nothing in this respect to be apprehended. This

inference, at least, would appear legitimate, from the fact that our

crews, consisting of one hundred and twenty persons, have for four

winters been constantly undergoing, for months together, a change of

from eighty to a hundred degrees of temperature, in the space of time

required for opening two doors (perhaps less than half a minute),

without incurring any pulmonary complaints at all.

In speaking of the external clothing sufficient for health in this

climate, it must be confessed that, in severe exposure, quite a _load_

of woollen clothes, even of the best quality, is insufficient to retain

a comfortable degree of warmth; a strong breeze carrying it off so

rapidly, that the sensation is that of the cold piercing through the

body. A jacket made very long, like those called by seamen

"pea-jackets," and lined with fur throughout, would be more effectual

than twice the weight of woollen clothes, and is, indeed, almost

weather-proof. For the prevention of lumbago, to which our seamen are

especially liable, from their well-known habit of leaving their loins

imperfectly clothed, every man should be strictly obliged to wear, under

his outer clothes, a canvass belt a foot broad, lined with flannel, and

having straps to go over the shoulder.[006]

It is certain, however, that no precautions in clothing are sufficient

to maintain health during a Polar winter, without a due degree of warmth

in the apartments we inhabit. Most persons are apt to associate with the

idea of warmth, something like the comfort derived from a good fire on a

winter's evening at home; but in these regions the case is

inconceivably different: here it is not simple comfort, but health, and,

therefore, ultimately life, that depends upon it. The want of a constant

supply of warmth is here immediately followed by a condensation of all

the moisture, whether from the breath, victuals, or other sources, into

abundant drops of water, very rapidly forming on all the coldest parts

of the deck. A still lower temperature modifies, and perhaps improves,

the annoyance by converting it into ice, which again an occasional

increase of warmth dissolves into water. Nor is this the amount of the

evil, though it is the only visible part of it; for not only is a moist

atmosphere thus incessantly kept up, but it is rendered stagnant also by

the want of that ventilation which warmth alone can furnish. With an

apartment in this state, the men's clothes and bedding are continually

in a moist and unwholesome condition, generating a deleterious air,

which there is no circulation to carry off; and, whenever these

circumstances combine for any length of time together, so surely may the

scurvy, to say nothing of other diseases, be confidently expected to

exhibit itself.

Every attention was, as usual, paid to the occupation and diversion of

the men's minds, as well as to the regularity of their bodily exercise.

Our former amusements being almost worn threadbare, it required some

ingenuity to devise any plan that should possess the charm of novelty to

recommend it. This purpose was completely answered by a proposal of

Captain Hoppner, to attempt a _masquerade_, in which officers and men

should alike take a part, but which, without imposing any restraint

whatever, would leave every one to his own choice whether to join in

this diversion or not. It is impossible that any idea could have proved

more happy, or more exactly suited to our situation. Admirably dressed

characters of various descriptions readily took their parts, and many of

these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine humour which

would not have disgraced a more refined assembly; while the latter might

not have disdained, and would not have been disgraced by, copying the

good order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble

masquerade presented. It does especial credit to the dispositions and

good sense of our men, that, though all the officers entered fully into

the spirit of these amusements, which took place once a month, no

instance occurred of anything that could interfere with the regular

discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men towards their

superiors. Ours were masquerades without licentiousness; carnivals

without excess.

But an occupation not less assiduously pursued, and of infinitely more

eventual benefit, was furnished by the re-establishment of our schools,

under the voluntary superintendence of my friend Mr. Hooper in the

Hecla, and of Mr. Mogg in the Fury. By the judicious zeal of Mr. Hooper,

the Hecla's school was made subservient, not merely to the improvement

of the men in reading and writing (in which, however, their progress was

surprisingly great), but also to the cultivation of that religious

feeling which so essentially improves the character of a seaman, by

furnishing the highest motives for increased attention to every other

duty. Nor was the benefit confined to the eighteen or twenty

individuals whose want of scholarship brought them to the school-table,

but extended itself to the rest of the ship's company, making the whole

lower-deck such a scene of quiet rational occupation as I never before

saw on board a ship. And I do not speak lightly when I express my

thorough persuasion, that to the moral effects thus produced upon the

minds of the men, were owing, in a very high degree, the constant yet

sober cheerfulness, the uninterrupted good order, and even, in some

measure, the extraordinary state of health which prevailed among us

during this winter.

The extreme facility with which sounds are heard at a considerable

distance in severely cold weather, has often been a subject of remark;

but a circumstance occurred at Port Bowen which deserves to be noticed,

as affording a sort of measure of this facility, or, at least, conveying

to others some definite idea of the fact. Lieutenant Foster having

occasion to send a man from the observatory to the opposite shore of the

harbour, a measured distance of 6696 feet, or about one statute mile and

two tenths, in order to fix a meridian mark, had placed a second person

half way between, to repeat his directions; but he found, on trial, that

this precaution was unnecessary, as he could, without difficulty, keep

up a conversation with the man at the distant station. The thermometer

was at this time-18°, the barometer 30.14 inches, and the weather nearly

calm, and quite clear and serene.

About one o'clock on the morning of the 23d February, the Aurora

appeared over the hills in a south direction, presenting a brilliant

mass of light. The rolling motion of the light laterally was very

striking, as well as the increase of its intensity thus occasioned. The

light occupied horizontally about a point of the compass, and extended

in height scarcely a degree above the land, which seemed, however, to

conceal from us a part of the phenomenon. It was always evident enough

that the most attenuated light of the Aurora sensibly dimmed the stars,

like a thin veil drawn over them. We frequently listened for any sound

proceeding from this phenomenon, but never heard any. Our variation

needles, which were extremely light, suspended in the most delicate

manner, and, from the weak directive energy, susceptible of being acted

upon by a very slight disturbing force, were never, in a single

instance, sensibly affected by the Aurora, which could scarcely fail to

have been observed at some time or other, had any such disturbance taken

place, the needles being visited every hour for several months, and

oftener when anything occurred to make it desirable.

The meteors called falling stars were much more frequent during this

winter than we ever before saw them, and particularly during the month

of December.

CHAPTER IV.

Re-equipment of the Ships.--Several Journeys undertaken.--Open

Water in the Offing.--Commence sawing a Canal to liberate the

Ships.--Disruption of the Ice.--Departure from Port Bowen.

The height of the land about Port Bowen deprived us longer than usual of

the sun's presence above our horizon. Some of our gentlemen, indeed, who

ascended a high hill for the purpose, caught a glimpse of him on the 2d

of February; on the 15th it became visible at the observatory, but at

the ships not till the 22d, after an absence of one hundred and

twenty-one days. It is very long after the sun's reappearance in these

regions, however, that the effect of his rays, as to warmth, becomes

perceptible; week passes after week, with scarcely any rise in the

thermometer except for an hour or two during the day; and it is at this

period more than any other, perhaps, that the lengthened duration of a

Polar winter's cold is most wearisome, and creates the most impatience.

Towards the third week in March, thin flakes of snow lying upon black

painted wood or metal, and exposed to the sun's direct rays in a

sheltered situation, readily melted. In the second week of April any

very light covering of sand or ashes upon the snow close to the ships

might be observed to make its way downward into holes; but a coat of

sand laid upon the unsheltered ice, to the distance of about two thirds

of a mile, for dissolving a canal to hasten our liberation, produced no

such sensible effect till the beginning of May. Even then the

dissolution was very trifling till about the first week in June, when

pools of water began to make their appearance, and not long after this a

small boat would have floated down it. On shore the effect is, in

general, still more tardy, though some deception is there occasioned by

the dissolution of the snow next the ground, while its upper surface is

to all appearance undergoing little or no change. Thus a greater

alteration is sometimes produced in the aspect of the land by a single

warm day in an advanced part of the season, than in many weeks

preceding, in consequence of the last crust of snow being dissolved,

leaving the ground at length entirely bare. We could now perceive the

snow beginning to leave the stones from day to day, as early as the last

week in April. Towards the end of May a great deal of snow was dissolved

daily; but, owing to the porous nature of the ground, which absorbed it

as fast as it was formed, it was not easy to procure water for drinking

on shore, even as late as the 10th of June. In the ravines, however, it

could be heard trickling under stones before that time; and about the

18th, many considerable streams were formed, and constantly running both

night and day. After this the thawing proceeded at an inconceivably

rapid rate, the whole surface of the floes being covered with large

pools of water rapidly increasing in size and depth.

The animals seen at Port Bowen may now be briefly noticed. The principal

of these seen during the winter were bears, of which we killed twelve

from October to June, being more than during all the other voyages

taken together; and several others were seen. One of these animals was

near proving fatal to a seaman of the Fury, who, having straggled from

his companions, when at the top of a high hill saw a large bear coming

towards him. Being unarmed, he prudently made off, taking off his boots

to enable him to run the faster, but not so prudently precipitated

himself over an almost perpendicular cliff, down which he was said to

have rolled or fallen several hundred feet; here he was met by some of

the people in so lacerated a condition as to be in a very dangerous

state for some time after.

A she-bear, killed in the open water on our first arrival at Port Bowen,

afforded a striking instance of maternal affection in her anxiety to

save her two cubs. She might herself easily have escaped the boat, but

would not forsake her young, which she was actually "towing" off, by

allowing them to rest on her back, when the boat came near them. A

second similar instance occurred in the spring, when two cubs having got

down into a large crack in the ice, their mother placed herself before

them, so as to secure them from the attacks of our people, which she

might easily have avoided herself.

One or two foxes (_Canis Lagopus_) were killed, and four caught in traps

during the winter, weighing from four pounds and three quarters to three

pounds and three quarters. The colour of one of these animals, which

lived for some time on board the Fury, and became tolerably tame, was

nearly pure white till the month of May, when he shed his winter coat,

and became of a dirty chocolate colour, with two or three light brown

spots. Only three hares (_Lepus Variabilis_) were killed from October

to June, weighing from six to eight pounds and three quarters. Their fur

was extremely thick, soft, and of the most beautiful whiteness

imaginable. We saw no deer near Port Bowen at any season, neither were

we visited by their enemies the wolves. A single ermine and a few mice

(_Mus Hudsonius_) complete, I believe, our scanty list of quadrupeds at

this desolate and unproductive place.

Towards the end of June, the dovekies (_Colymbus Grylle_) were extremely

numerous in the cracks of the ice at the entrance of Port Bowen; and as

these were the only fresh supply of any consequence that we were able to

procure at this unproductive place, we were glad to permit the men to go

out occasionally with guns, after the ships were ready for sea, to

obtain for their messes this wholesome change of diet; while such

excursions also contributed essentially to their general health and

cheerfulness. Many hundreds of these birds were thus obtained in the

course of a few days. On the evening of the 6th of July, however, I was

greatly shocked at being informed by Captain Hoppner that John

Cotterell,[007] a seaman of the Fury, had been found drowned in one of

the cracks of the ice by two other men belonging to the same party, who

had been with him but a few minutes before. We could never ascertain

precisely in what manner this accident happened, but it was supposed

that he must have overreached himself in stooping for a bird that he

had killed. His remains were committed to the earth on Sunday the 10th,

with every solemnity which the occasion demanded, and our situation

would allow; and a tomb of stones, with a suitable inscription, was

afterward erected over the grave.

In order to obtain oil for another winter's consumption, before the

ships could be released from the ice, and our travelling parties having

seen a number of black whales in the open water to the northward, two

boats from each ship were, with considerable labour, transported four

miles along shore in that direction, to be in readiness for killing a

whale and boiling the oil on the beach, whenever the open water should

approach sufficiently near. Notwithstanding these preparations, however,

it was vexatious to find that on the 9th of July the water was still

three miles distant from the boats, and at least seven from Port Bowen.

On the 12th, the ice in our neighbourhood began to detach itself, and

the boats, under the command of Lieutenants Sherer and Ross, being

launched on the following day, succeeded almost immediately in killing a

small whale of "five feet bone," exactly answering our purpose. Almost

at the same time, and, as it turned out, very opportunely, the ice at

the mouth of our harbour detached itself at an old crack, and drifted

off, leaving only about one mile and a quarter between us and the sea.

Half of this distance being occupied by the gravelled canal, which was

dissolved quite through the ice in many parts, and had become very thin

in all, every officer and man in both ships were set to work without

delay to commence a fresh canal from the open water to communicate with

the other. This work proved heavier than we expected, the ice being

generally from five to eight feet, and in many places from ten to eleven

in thickness. It was continued, however, with the greatest cheerfulness

and alacrity from seven in the morning till seven in the evening daily,

the dinner being prepared on the ice, and eaten under the lee of a

studding sail erected as a tent.

On the afternoon of the 19th, a very welcome stop was put to our

operations by the separation of the floe entirely across the harbour,

and about one third from the ships to where we were at work. All hands

being instantly recalled by signal, were, on their return, set to work

to get the ships into the gravelled canal, and to saw away what still

remained in it to prevent our warping to sea. This work, with only half

an hour's intermission for the men's supper, was continued till half

past six the following morning, when we succeeded in getting clear. The

weather being calm, two hours were occupied in towing the ships to sea,

and thus the officers and men were employed at a very laborious work for

twenty-six hours, during which time there were, on one occasion, fifteen

of them overboard at once; and, indeed, several individuals met with the

same accident three times. It was impossible, however, to regret the

necessity of these comparatively trifling exertions, especially as it

was now evident that to saw our way out without any canal would have

required at least a fortnight of heavy and fatiguing labour.

CHAPTER V.

Sail over towards the Western Coast of Prince Regent's

Inlet.--Stopped by the Ice.--Reach the Shore about Cape

Seppings.--Favourable Progress along the Land.--Fresh and repeated

Obstructions from Ice.--Both Ships driven on Shore.--Fury seriously

damaged.--Unsuccessful Search for a Harbour for heaving her down to

repair.

_July_ 20.--On standing out to sea, we sailed, with a light southerly

wind, towards the western shore of Prince Regent's Inlet, which it was

my first wish to gain, on account of the evident advantage to be derived

from coasting the southern part of that portion of land called in the

chart "North Somerset," as far as it might lead to the westward; which,

from our former knowledge, we had reason to suppose it would do as far

at least as the longitude of 95°, in the parallel of about 72-3/4°.

After sailing about eight miles, we were stopped by a body of close ice

lying between us and a space of open water beyond. We were shortly after

enveloped in one of the thick fogs which had, for several weeks past,

been observed almost daily hanging over some part of the sea in the

offing, though we had scarcely experienced any in Port Bowen until the

water became open at the mouth of the harbour.

On the clearing up of the fog on the 21st, we could perceive no opening

of the ice leading towards the western land, nor any appearance of the

smallest channel to the southward along the eastern shore. I was

determined, therefore, to try at once a little farther to the

northward, the present state of the ice appearing completely to accord

with that observed in 1819, its breadth increasing as we advanced from

Prince Leopold's Islands to the southward.

Light winds detained us very much, but, being at length favoured by a

breeze, we carried all sail to the northwest, the ice very gradually

leading us towards the Leopold Isles. Having arrived off the

northernmost on the morning of the 22nd, it was vexatious, however

curious, to observe the exact coincidence of the present position of the

ice with that which it occupied a little later in the year 1819. The

whole body of it seemed to cling to the western shore, as if held there

by some strong attraction, forbidding, for the present, any access to

it. After running all night, with light and variable winds, through

loose and scattered ice, we suddenly found ourselves, on the clearing up

of a thick fog through which we had been sailing on the morning of the

24th, within one third of a mile of Cape Seppings, the land just

appearing above the fog in time to save us from danger, the soundings

being thirty-eight fathoms, on a rocky bottom. The Fury being apprized

by guns of our situation, both ships were hauled off the land, and the

fog soon after dispersing, we had the satisfaction to perceive that the

late gale had blown the ice off the land, leaving us a fine navigable

channel from one to two miles wide, as far as we could see from the

masthead along the shore. We were able to avail ourselves of this but

slowly, however, in consequence of a light southerly breeze still

blowing against us.

The land here, when closely viewed, assumes a very striking, and

magnificent character; the strata of limestone, which are numerous and

quite horizontally disposed, being much more regular than on the eastern

shore of Prince Regent's Inlet, and retaining nearly their whole

perpendicular height of six or seven hundred feet close to the sea. I

may here remark, that the whole of Barrow's Strait, as far as we could

see to the N.N.E. of the islands, was entirely free from ice; and, from

whatever circumstance it may proceed, I do not think that this part of

the Polar Sea is at any season very much encumbered with it.

It was the general feeling at this period among us, that the voyage had

but now commenced. The labours of a bad summer, and the tedium of a long

winter, were forgotten in a moment when we found ourselves upon ground

not hitherto explored, and with every apparent prospect before us of

making as rapid a progress as the nature of this navigation will permit,

towards the final accomplishment of our object.

A breeze enabling us again to make some progress, and an open channel

still favouring us, of nearly the same breadth as before, we passed,

during the night of the 25th, a second bay, about the same size as the

other, and also appearing open to the sea; it lies in latitude (by

account from the preceding and following noon) 73° 19' 30", and its

width is one mile and a half. We now perceived that the ice closed

completely in with the land a short distance beyond us; and, having made

all the way we could, were obliged to stand off and on during the day in

a channel not three quarters of a mile wide.

A light southerly breeze on the morning of the 28th gradually cleared

the shore, and a fresh wind from the N.W. then immediately succeeded. We

instantly took advantage of this circumstance, and, casting off at six

A.M., ran eight or nine miles without obstruction, when we were stopped

by the ice, which, in a closely packed and impenetrable body, stretched

close into the shore as far as the eye could reach from the crow's nest.

Being anxious to gain every foot of distance that we could, and

perceiving some grounded ice which appeared favourable for making fast

to, just at a point where the clear water terminated, the ships were run

to the utmost extent of it, and a boat prepared from each to examine the

water at the intended anchoring place. Just as I was about to leave the

Hecla for that purpose, the ice was observed, to be in rapid motion

towards the shore. The Fury was immediately hauled in by some grounded

masses, and placed to the best advantage; but the Hecla, being more

advanced, was immediately beset in spite of every exertion, and, after

breaking two of the largest ice-anchors in endeavouring to heave in to

the shore, was obliged to drift with the ice, several masses of which

had fortunately interposed themselves between us and the land. The ice

slackening around us a little in the evening, we were enabled, with

considerable labour, to get to some grounded masses, where we lay much

exposed, as the Fury also did. In this situation, our latitude being 72°

51' 51", we saw a comparatively low point of land three or four leagues

to the southward, which proved to be near that which terminated our view

of this coast in 1819.

The ice opening for a mile and a half alongshore on the 30th, we shifted

the Hecla's berth about that distance to the southward, chiefly to be

enabled to see more distinctly round a point which before obstructed our

view, though our situation as regarded the security of the ship was much

altered for the worse. In the afternoon it blew a hard gale, with

constant rain, from the northward, the clouds indicating an easterly

wind in other parts. This wind, which was always the troublesome one to

us, soon brought the ice closer and closer, till it pressed with very

considerable violence on both ships, though the most upon the Fury,

which lay in a very exposed situation. Early on the morning of the 31st,

as soon as a communication could be effected, Captain Hoppner sent to

inform me that the Fury had been forced on the ground, where she still

lay; but that she would probably be hove off without much difficulty at

high water, provided the external ice did not prevent it. A large party

of hands from the Hecla being sent round to the Fury towards high water,

she came off the ground with very little strain, so that, upon the

whole, considering the situation in which the ships were lying, we

thought ourselves fortunate in having incurred no very serious injury. A

shift of wind to the southward in the afternoon at length began

gradually to slacken it, but it was not till six A.M. on the 1st of

August that there appeared a prospect of making any progress. The signal

to that effect was immediately made; but, while the sails were setting,

the ice, which had at first been three quarters of a mile distant from

us, was observed to be closing the shore The ships were cast with all

expedition, in hopes of gaining the broader channel before the ice had

time to shut us up. So rapid, however, was the latter in this its sudden

movement, that we had but just got the ships' heads the right way when

the ice came boldly in upon us, being doubtless set in motion by a very

sudden freshening of the wind almost to a gale in the course of a few

minutes. The ships were now almost instantly beset, and in such a manner

as to be literally helpless and unmanageable.

The sails were, however, kept set; and, as the body of ice was setting

to the southward withal, we went with it some little distance in that

direction. The Hecla, after thus driving, and now and then forcing her

way through the ice, in all about three quarters of a mile, quite close

to the shore, at length struck the ground forcibly several times in the

space of a hundred yards, and being then brought up by it, remained

immoveable, the depth of water under her keel abaft being sixteen feet,

or about a foot less than she drew. The Fury, continuing to drive, was

now irresistibly carried past us, and we escaped, only by a few feet,

the damage invariably occasioned by ships coming in contact under such

circumstances. She had, however, scarcely passed us a hundred yards,

when it was evident, by the ice pressing her in, as well as along the

shore, that she must soon be stopped like the Hecla; and having gone

about two hundred yards farther, she was observed to receive a severe

pressure from a large floe-piece forcing her directly against a grounded

mass of ice upon the beach. After setting to the southward for an hour

or two longer, the ice became stationary, no open water being anywhere

visible from the masthead, and the pressure on the ships remaining

undiminished during the day. Just as I had ascertained the utter

impossibility of moving the Hecla a single foot, and that she must lie

aground fore and aft as soon as the tide fell, I received a note from

Captain Hoppner, informing me that the Fury had been so severely

"nipped" and strained as to leak a good deal, apparently about four

inches an hour; that she was still heavily pressed both upon the ground

and against the large mass of ice within her; that the rudder was at

present very awkwardly situated; and that one boat had been much

damaged. However, about high water, the ice very opportunely slacking,

the Hecla was hove off with great ease, and warped to a floe in the

offing, to which we made fast at midnight. The Fury was not long after

us in coming off the ground, when I was in hopes of finding that any

twist or strain by which her leaks might have been occasioned, would, in

some measure, close when she was relieved from pressure and once more

fairly afloat. My disappointment and mortification, therefore, may in

some measure be imagined, at being informed by telegraph, about two A.M.

on the 2d, that the water was gaining on two pumps, and that a part of

the doubling had floated up. Presently after, perceiving from the

masthead something like a small harbour nearly abreast of us, every

effort was made to get once more towards the shore. In this the ice

happily favoured us; and, after making sail, and one or two tacks, we

got in with the land, when I left the ship in a boat to sound the place

and search for shelter. The whole shore was more or less lined with

grounded masses of ice; but, after examining the soundings within more

than twenty of them, in the space of about a mile, I could only find two

that would allow the ships to float at low water, and that by some care

in placing and keeping them there. Having fixed a flag on each berg, the

usual signal for the ships taking their stations, I rowed on board the

Fury, and found four pumps constantly going to keep the ship free, and

Captain Hoppner, his officers and men, almost exhausted with the

incessant labour of the last eight-and-forty hours. The instant the

ships were made fast, Captain Hoppner and myself set out in a boat to

survey the shore still farther south, there being a narrow lane of water

about a mile in that direction; for it had now become too evident that

the Fury could proceed no farther without repairs, and that the nature

of those repairs would in all probability involve the disagreeable, I

may say the ruinous, necessity of heaving the ship down. After rowing

about three quarters of a mile, we considered ourselves fortunate in

arriving at a bolder part of the beach, where three grounded masses of

ice, having from three to four fathoms water at low tide within them,

were so disposed as to afford, with the assistance of art, something

like shelter. Returning to the ships, we were setting the sails in order

to run to the appointed place, when the ice closed in and prevented our

moving, and in a short time there was once more no open water to be

seen. We were therefore under the necessity of remaining in our present

berths, where the smallest external pressure must inevitably force us

ashore, neither ship having more than two feet of water to spare. One

watch of the Hecla's crew were sent round to assist at the Fury's

pumps, which required one third of her ship's company to be constantly

employed at them.

The more leisure we obtained to consider the state of the Fury, the more

apparent became the absolute, however unfortunate, necessity of heaving

her down. Four pumps were required to be at work without intermission to

keep her free, and this in perfectly smooth water, showing that she was,

in fact, so materially injured as to be very far from seaworthy. One

third of her working men were constantly employed, as before remarked,

in this laborious operation, and some of their hands had become so sore

from the constant friction of the ropes, that they could hardly handle

them any longer without the use of mittens, assisted by the unlaying of

the ropes to make them soft. As, therefore, not a moment could be lost,

we took advantage of a small lane of water, deep enough for boats, which

kept open within the grounded masses along the shore, to convey to the

Hecla some of the Fury's dry provisions, and to land a quantity of heavy

iron work, and other stores not perishable; for the moment this measure

was determined on, I was anxious, almost at any risk, to commence the

lightening of the ship as far as our present insecurity and our distance

from the shore would permit.

At two A.M. on the 5th, the ice began to slacken near the ships, and, as

soon as a boat could be rowed alongshore to the southward, I set out,

accompanied by a second from the Fury, for the purpose of examining the

state of our intended harbour since the recent pressure, and to

endeavour to prepare for the reception of the ships by clearing out the

loose ice. The Fury was detained some time by a quantity of loose ice,

which had wedged itself in in such a manner as to leave her no room to

move outward; but she arrived about seven o'clock, when both ships were

made fast in the best berths we could find, but they were excluded from

their intended place by the quantity of ice which had fixed itself

there. Within twenty minutes after our arrival, the whole body of ice

again came in, entirely closing up the shore, so that our moving proved

most opportune.

CHAPTER VI.

Formation of a Basin for heaving the Fury down.--Landing of the

Fury's Stores, and other Preparations.--The Ships secured within

the Basin.--Impediments from the Pressure of the Ice.--Fury hove

down.--Securities of the Basin destroyed by a Gale of

Wind.--Preparations to tow the Fury out.--Hecla Re-equipped, and

obliged to put to Sea.--Fury again driven on Shore.--Rejoin the

Fury; and find it necessary finally to abandon her.

As there was now no longer room for floating the ice out of the proposed

basin, all hands were immediately employed in preparing the intended

securities against the incursions of the ice. These consisted of anchors

carried to the beach, having bower-cables attached to them, passing

quite round the grounded masses, and thus enclosing a small space of

just sufficient size to admit both ships. The cables we proposed

floating by means of the two hand-masts and some empty casks lashed to

them as buoys, with the intention of thus making them receive the

pressure of the ice a foot or two below the surface of the water. By

uncommon exertions on the part of the officers and men, this laborious

work was completed before night as far as was practicable until the

loose ice should set out; and all the tents were set up on the beach for

the reception of the Fury's stores.

The ice remaining quite close on the 6th, every individual in both

ships, with the exception of those at the pumps, was employed in landing

provisions from the Fury, together with the spars, boats, and everything

from off her upper deck. On the following day, the ice remaining as

before, the work was continued without intermission, and a great

quantity of things landed. The armorer was also set to work on the beach

in forging bolts for the martingales of the outriggers. In short, every

living creature among us was somehow or other employed, not even

excepting our dogs, which were set to drag up the stores on the beach;

so that our little dock-yard soon exhibited the most animated scene

imaginable. The Fury was thus so much lightened in the course of the

day, that two pumps were now nearly sufficient to keep her free, and

this number continued requisite until she was hove down.

At night, just as the people were going to rest, the ice began to move

to the southward, and soon after came in towards the shore, pressing the

Fury over on her side to so alarming a degree, as to warn us that it

would not be safe to lighten her much more in her present insecure

situation. One of our bergs also shifted its position by this pressure,

so as to weaken our confidence in the pier-heads of our intended basin;

and a long "tongue" of one of them forcing itself under the Hecla's

forefoot, while the drifting ice was also pressing her forcibly from

astern, she once more sewed three or four feet forward at low water, and

continued to do so, notwithstanding repeated endeavours to haul her off,

for four successive tides, the ice remaining so close and so much

doubled under the ship, as to render it impossible to move her a single

inch. Notwithstanding the state of the ice, however, we did not remain

idle on the 8th, all hands being employed in unrigging the Fury, and

landing all her spars, sails, booms, boats, and other top weight.

The ice still continuing very close on the 9th, all hands were employed

in attempting, by saws and axes, to clear the Hecla, which still

grounded on the tongue of ice every tide. After four hours' labour, they

succeeded in making four or five feet of room astern, when the ship

suddenly slid down off the tongue with considerable force, and became

once more afloat. As it very opportunely happened, the external ice

slackened to the distance of about a hundred yards outside of us on the

morning of the 10th, enabling us, by a most tedious and laborious

operation, to clear the ice out of our basin piece by piece. Our next

business was to tighten the cables sufficiently by means of purchases,

and to finish the floating of them in the manner and for the purpose

before described. After this had been completed, the ships had only a

few feet in length, and nothing in breadth to spare, but we had now

great hopes of going on with our work with increased confidence and

security. The Fury, which was placed inside, had something less than

eighteen feet at low water; the Hecla lay in four fathoms, the bottom

being strewed with large and small fragments of limestone.

While thus employed in securing the ships, the smoothness of the water

enabled us to see, in some degree, the nature of the Fury's damage; and

it may be conceived how much pain it occasioned us plainly to discover

that both the sternpost and forefoot were broken and turned up on one

side with the pressure. We also could perceive, as far as we were able

to see along the main keel, that it was much torn, and we had therefore

much reason to conclude that the damage would altogether prove very

serious. We also discovered that several feet of the Hecla's false keel

were torn away abreast of the forechains, in consequence of her

grounding forward so frequently.

Being favoured with fine weather, we continued our work very quickly, so

that on the 12th every cask was landed, and also the powder; and the

spare sails and clothing put on board the Hecla. The coals and preserved

meats were the principal things now remaining on board the Fury, and

these we continued landing by every method we could devise as the most

expeditious.

Early on the morning of the 14th, the ice slackening a little in our

neighbourhood, we took advantage of it, though the people were much

fagged, to tighten the cables, which had stretched and yielded

considerably by the late pressure. It was well that we did so; for in

the course of this day we were several times interrupted in our work by

the ice coming with a tremendous strain on the north cables, the wind

blowing strong from the N.N.W., and the whole "pack" outside of us

setting rapidly to the southward. Indeed, notwithstanding the recent

tightening and readjustment of the cables, the bight was pressed in so

much as to force the Fury against the berg astern of her twice in the

course of the day.

From this trial of the efficacy of our means of security, it was plain

that the Fury could not possibly be hove down under circumstances of

such frequent and imminent risk: I therefore directed a fourth anchor,

with two additional cables, to be carried out, with the hope of breaking

some of the force of the ice by its offering a more oblique resistance

than the other, and thus, by degrees, turning the direction of the

pressure from the ships. We had scarcely completed this new defence,

when the largest floe we had seen since leaving Port Bowen came sweeping

along the shore, having a motion to the southward of not less than a

mile and a half an hour; and a projecting point of it, just grazing our

outer berg, threatened to overturn it, and would certainly have

dislodged it from its situation but for the cable recently attached to

it.

The Fury being completely cleared at an early hour on the 16th, we were

all busily employed in "winding" the ship, and in preparing the

outriggers, shores, purchases, and additional rigging. Though we

purposely selected the time of high water for turning the ship round, we

had scarcely a foot of space to spare for doing it; and indeed, as it

was, her forefoot touched the ground, and loosened the broken part of

the wood so much as to enable us to pull it up with ropes, when we found

the fragments to consist of the whole of the "gripe" and most of the

"cutwater." In the evening we received the Fury's crew on board the

Hecla, every arrangement and regulation having been previously made for

their personal comfort, and for the preservation of cleanliness,

ventilation, and dry warmth throughout the ship. The officers of the

Fury, by their own choice, pitched a tent on shore for messing and

sleeping in, as our accommodation for two sets of officers was

necessarily confined. Every preparation being made, at three A.M. on the

18th we began to heave her down on the larboard side; but when the

purchases were nearly ablock, we found that the strops under the Hecla's

bottom, as well as some of the Fury's shore-fasts, had stretched or

yielded so much that they could not bring the keel out of water within

three or four feet. We immediately eased her up again, and readjusted

everything as requisite, hauling her farther in-shore than before by

keeping a considerable heel upon her, so as to make less depth of water

necessary; and we were then in the act of once more heaving her down,

when a snowstorm came on and blew with such violence off the land as to

raise a considerable sea. The ships had now so much motion as to strain

the gear very much, and even to make the lower masts of the Fury bend in

spite of the shores; we were, therefore, most unwillingly compelled to

desist until the sea should go down, keeping everything ready to

recommence the instant we could possibly do so with safety. The officers

and men were now literally so harassed and fatigued as to be scarcely

capable of farther exertion without some rest; and on this and one or

two other occasions, I noticed more than a single instance of stupor,

amounting to a certain degree of failure in intellect, rendering the

individual so affected quite unable at first to comprehend the meaning

of an order, though still as willing as ever to obey it. It was

therefore, perhaps, a fortunate necessity that produced the intermission

of labour which the strength of every individual seemed to require.

The gale rather increasing than otherwise during the whole day and night

of the 18th, had, on the following morning, when the wind and sea still

continued unabated, so destroyed the bergs on which our sole dependance

was placed, that they no longer remained aground at low water; the

cables had again become slack about them, and the basin we had taken so

much pains in forming had now lost all its defences, at least during a

portion of every tide. After a night of most anxious consideration and

consultation with Captain Hoppner, who was now my messmate in the Hecla,

it appeared but too plain that, should the ice again come in, neither

ship could any longer be secured from driving on shore. It was therefore

determined instantly to prepare the Hecla for sea, making her thoroughly

effective in every respect; so that we might at least push _her_ out

into comparative safety among the ice when it closed again, taking every

person on board her, securing the Fury in the best manner we could, and

returning to her the instant we were able to do so, to endeavour to get

her out, and to carry her to some place of security for heaving down.

If, after the Hecla was ready, time should still be allowed us, it was

proposed immediately to put into the Fury all that was requisite, or, at

least, as much as she could safely carry, and, towing her out into the

ice, to try the effect of "foddering" the leaks by sails under those

parts of her keel which we knew to be damaged, until some more effectual

means could be resorted to.

Having communicated to the assembled officers and ships' companies my

views and intentions, we commenced our work; and such was the hearty

good-will and indefatigable energy with which it was carried on, that by

midnight the whole was accomplished.