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°. After
sailing about eight miles, we were stopped by a body of close ice lying
between us and a space of open water beyond. By way of occupying the
time in further examination of the state of the ice, we then bore up with
a light northerly wind, and ran to the south-eastward to see if there was
any clear water between the ice and the land in that direction; but found
that there was no opening between them to the southward of the
flat-topped hill laid down in the chart, and now called Mount Sherer.
Indeed, I believe that at this time the ice had not yet detached itself
from the land to the southward of that station. On standing back, 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. As, therefore, I felt confident of
being able to push along the shore if we should once gain it, I was
anxious to effect the latter object in any part rather than incur the
risk of hampering the ships by a vain, or, at least, a doubtful attempt
to force them through a body of close ice several miles wide, for the
sake of a few leagues of southing, which would soon be regained by
coasting.
Light winds detained us very much, but being at length favoured by a
breeze, we carried all sail to the north-west, 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.
We now stood off and on, in the hope that a southerly breeze, which had
just sprung up, might serve to open us a channel. In the evening the
wind gradually freshened, and before midnight had increased to a strong
gale, which blew with considerable violence for ten hours, obliging us to
haul off from the ice and to keep in smooth water under the eastern land
until it abated; after which not a moment was lost in again standing over
to the westward. 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 apprised 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 mast-head 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.
We had now an opportunity of discovering that a long neck of very low
land runs out from the southernmost of the Leopold Islands, and another
from the shore to the southward of Cape Clarence. These two had every
appearance of joining, so as to make a peninsula, instead of an island,
of that portion of land which, on account of our distance preventing our
seeing the low beach, had in 1819 been considered under the latter
character. It is, however, still somewhat doubtful, and the Leopold
Isles, therefore, still retain their original designation on the chart.
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. The
south-eastern promontory of the southernmost island is particularly
picturesque and beautiful, the heaps of loose _débris_ lying here and
there up and down the sides of the cliff giving it the appearance of some
huge and impregnable fortress, with immense buttresses of masonry
supporting the walls. Near Cape Seppings, and some distance beyond it to
the southward, we noticed a narrow stratum of some very white substance,
the nature of which we could not at this time conjecture. 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.
Early on the morning of the 25th, we passed the opening in the land
delineated in the former chart of this coast, in latitude 73° 34′, which
we now found to be a bay about three miles deep, but apparently open to
the sea. I named it after my friend, Hastings Elwin, Esq., of Bristol,
as a token of grateful esteem for that gentleman. The wind falling very
light, so that the ships made no progress, I took the opportunity of
landing in the fore-noon, accompanied by a party of the officers, and was
soon after joined by Captain Hoppner. We found the formation to consist
wholly of lime, and now discovered the nature of the narrow white stratum
observed the day before from the offing, and which proved to be gypsum,
mostly of the earthy kind, and some of it of a very pure white. A part
of the rock near our landing-place contained a quantity of it in the
state of selenite in beautiful transparent laminæ of a large size. The
abundance of gypsum hereabouts explained also the extreme whiteness of
the water near the whole of this part of the coast, which had always been
observed in approaching it, and which had at first excited unnecessary
apprehensions as to the soundings along the shore. This colour is more
particularly seen near the mouths of the streams, many of which are quite
of a dirty milk colour, and tinge the sea to the distance of more than a
mile, without any alteration in the depth, except a gradual diminution in
going in. The vegetation in this place was, as usual, extremely scanty,
though much more luxuriant than on any of the land near our winter
quarters, and no animals were seen. The latitude of our landing-place
was 73° 27′ 23″, the longitude by chronometers 90° 50′ 34.6″, and the
variation of the magnetic needle 125° 34′ 42″ westerly. From half-past
nine A.M. till a quarter past noon the tide fell two feet three inches;
and as it was nearly stationary at the latter time, it was probably near
low water.
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 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. It was called Batty Bay, after my friend Captain Robert Batty,
of the Grenadier Guards. 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. This channel being still more
contracted towards the evening, we were obliged to make fast to some
grounded land ice upon the beach in four fathoms water, there to await
some change in our favour. We here observed traces of our old friends
the Esquimaux, there being several of their circles of stones, though not
of recent date, close to the sea. We also found a more abundant
vegetation than before, and several plants familiar to us on the former
voyages, but not yet procured on this, were now added to our collections.
The geological character of the land was nearly the same as before, but
we found here some gypsum of the fibrous kind, occurring in a single
stratum about an inch and a half wide. About a mile to the north of us
was a curious cascade or spout of water, issuing from a chasm in the
rock, and falling more than two hundred feet perpendicular. Our
gentlemen, who visited the spot, described it as rendered the more
picturesque by innumerable kittiwakes having their nests among the rocks,
and constantly flying about the stream. The latitude was 73° 06′ 17″,
the longitude by chronometers 91° 19′ 52.3″, the dip of the magnetic
needle 88° 02.1′, and the variation 128° 23′ 17″ westerly.
The ice opening in the afternoon of the 27th, we cast off and run four or
five miles with a northerly breeze. This wind, however, always had the
effect of making the ice close the shore, while a southerly breeze as
uniformly opened it, so that on this coast, as on several others that I
have known, a contrary wind—however great the paradox may seem—proved, on
the whole, the most favourable for making progress. This circumstance is
simply to be attributed to the greater abundance of open water in the
parts we have left behind (in the present instance the open sea of
Barrow’s Strait) than those towards which we are going. We were once
more obliged to make fast, therefore, to some grounded ice close to the
beach, rather than run any risk of hampering the ships, and rendering
them unable to take advantage of a change in our favour.
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
depth of 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.
On the 29th, the ice being slack for a short distance, we shifted the
_Hecla_ half a mile to the northward, into a less insecure berth. I then
walked to a broad valley facing the sea near us, where a considerable
stream discharged itself, and where, in passing in the ships, a large
fish had been observed to jump out of the water. In hopes of finding
salmon here, we tried for some time with several hand-nets, but nothing
was caught or seen. In this place were a number of the Esquimaux stone
circles, apparently of very old date, being quite overgrown with grass,
moss, and other plants. In the neighbourhood of these habitations the
vegetation was much more luxuriant than anything of the kind we had seen
before during this voyage. The state of this year’s plants was now very
striking, compared with those of the last, and afforded strong evidence,
if any had been wanting, of the difference between the two seasons. I
was particularly struck with the appearance of some moss collected by Mr.
Hooper, who pointed out to me upon the same specimen the last year’s
miserable seeds just peeping above the leaves, while those of the present
summer had already shot three-quarters of an inch beyond them. Another
circumstance which we noticed about this time, and still more so as the
season advanced, was the rapid progress which the warmth had already made
in dissolving the last year’s snow, this being always easily known by its
dingy colour, and its admixture with the soil. Of the past winter’s snow
not a particle could be seen at the close of July on any part of this
coast. These facts, together with the beautiful weather we had enjoyed
for many weeks past, all tended to show that we were now favoured with an
unusually fine summer. We found in this place, in the dry bed of an old
stream, innumerable fossils in the limestone, principally shells and
madrepore. On a hill abreast of the _Hecla_, and at an elevation of not
less than three or four hundred feet above the sea, one particular spot
was discovered in which the same kind of shells first found in Barrow’s
Strait in 1819 occurred in very great abundance and perfection, wholly
detached from the lime in which for the most part they were found
embedded in other places on this coast. Indeed, it was quite
astonishing, in looking at the numberless fossil animal remains occurring
in many of the stones, to consider the countless myriads of shell fish
and marine insects which must once have existed on this shore. The
cliffs next the sea, which here rise to a perpendicular height of between
four and five hundred feet, were continually breaking down at this
season, and adding, by falls of large masses of stone, to the slope of
_débris_ lying at their foot. The ships lay so close to the shore as to
be almost within the range of some of these tumbling masses, there being
at high water scarcely beach enough for a person to walk along the shore.
The time of high water, near the opposition of the moon this night, was
between half-past eleven and midnight, being nearly the same as at Port
Bowen at full and change.
The ice opening for a mile and a half along shore 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. The _Fury_ remained where she was, there
being no second berth even so good as the bad one where she was now
lying. 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. The _Hecla_ received no damage but the breaking of two or
three hawsers, and a part of her bulwark torn away by the strain upon
them. In the course of the night we had reason to suppose, by the
_Fury’s_ heeling, that she was either on shore, or still heavily pressed
by the ice from without. 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. I also learned from
Captain Hoppner that a part of one of the propelling wheels had been
destroyed, the chock through which its axis passed being forced in
considerably, and the palm broken off one of the bower anchors. Most of
this damage, however, was either of no very material importance, or could
easily be repaired. 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. The _Fury_ was shifted a few yards into
the best place that could be found, and the wind again blowing strong
from the northward, the ice remained close about us. 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. There was, at this time, a great deal
of water to the southward, but between us and the channel there lay one
narrow and not very close stream of ice touching the shore. A shift of
wind to the northward determined me at once to take advantage of it, as
nothing but a free wind seemed requisite to enable us to reach this
promising channel. The signal to that effect was immediately made, but
while the sails were setting, the ice, which had at first been about
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 bodily 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. In such cases, it must be confessed that the exertions
made by heaving at hawsers or otherwise are of little more service than
in the occupation they furnish to the men’s minds under circumstances of
difficulty; for when the ice is fairly acting against the ship, ten times
the strength and ingenuity could in reality avail nothing.
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
immovable, 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
mast-head, 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 quite 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. As the tide fell the
_Fury’s_ stern, which was aground, was lifted several feet, and the
_Hecla_ at low water having sewed five feet forward and two abaft, we
presented altogether no very pleasing or comfortable spectacle. 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, have closed
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 2nd, that
the water was gaining on two pumps, and that a part of the doubling had
floated up. The _Hecla_ having in the mean time been carried two or
three miles to the southward, by the ice which was once more driving in
that direction, I directed Captain Hoppner by signal to endeavour to
reach the best security in-shore which the present slackness of the ice
might permit, until it was possible for the _Hecla_ to rejoin him.
Presently after perceiving from the mast-head 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. I soon had the
mortification to find that the harbour which had appeared to present
itself so opportunely, had not more than six or seven feet water in any
part of it, the whole of its defences being composed of the stones and
soil washed down by a stream which here emptied itself into the sea.
From this place, indeed, where the land gradually became much lower in
advancing to the southward, the whole nature of the soundings entirely
altered, the water gradually shoaling in approaching the beach, so that
the ships could scarcely come nearer, in most parts, than a quarter of a
mile. At this distance 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,
however unwilling we might have been at first to admit the conclusion,
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. Wild and insecure as, under other circumstances,
such a place would have been thought for the purpose of heaving a ship
down, we had no alternative, and therefore as little occasion as we had
time for deliberation. 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 ice coming in with considerable violence on the night of the 2nd,
once more forced the _Fury_ on shore, so that at low water she sewed two
feet and a half. Nothing but the number and strength of the _Hecla’s_
hawsers prevented her sharing the same fate, for the pressure was just as
much as seven of these of six inches and two stream-cables would bear.
The _Fury_ floated in the morning, and was enabled to haul off a little,
but there was no opening of the ice to allow us to move to our intended
station. 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. When, in
addition to these circumstances, the wet state of the decks and the
little room left, as well as the reduced strength for working the ship or
heaving at hawsers among the ice, be considered, I believe that every
seaman will admit the impracticability of pursuing this critical
navigation till the _Fury_ had been examined and repaired. 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 ironwork 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.
The wind blowing fresh from the northward, which always increased our
difficulties on this coast, the ice pressed so violently upon the ships
as almost to force them adrift during the night, employing our people,
now sufficiently harassed by their work during the day, for two or three
hours in still further increasing our security by additional hawsers. We
continued landing stores from the _Fury_ on the 4th, and at night a bower
cable was passed round one of the grounded masses alongside of her; for
if either ship had once got adrift, it is difficult to say what might
have been the consequence.
At two A.M. on the 5th, the ice began to slacken near the ships, and as
soon as a boat could be rowed along shore 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.
On my arrival there, the distance being about a mile, I found that one of
the three bergs had shifted its place so materially by the late movements
of the ice, as not only to alter the disposition of these masses, on
which our whole dependence rested, very much for the worse, but also to
destroy all confidence in their stability upon the ground. Landing upon
one of the bergs to show the appointed signal for the ships to come, I
perceived, about half a mile beyond us to the southward, a low point
forming a little bay, with a great deal of heavy grounded ice lying off
it. I immediately rowed to this, in hopes of finding something like a
harbour for our purpose, but on my arrival there, had once more the
mortification to find that there were not above six feet of water at low
tide in any part of it, and within the grounded ice not more than twelve.
Having assured myself that no security or shelter was here to be found, I
immediately returned to the former place, which the _Hecla_ was just
reaching. 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 outwards; but she arrived about seven o’clock, when both ships were
made fast in the best berths we could find, but they were still 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.