THE LANDS OF SILENCE
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4
[Illustration]
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, MADRAS: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.
TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
[Illustration: _Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S._
_printed by George Henry, A.R.A._]
THE
LANDS OF SILENCE
A HISTORY OF ARCTIC
AND ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION
BY
SIR CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM,
K.C.B., F.R.S.
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1921
PREFACE
Although there were few subjects in which the late Sir Clements Markham
was not interested, it may safely be said that Polar Exploration
stood nearest his heart. Not many persons had studied the ground as
thoroughly as he; no one was more widely acquainted with its explorers.
I was anxious therefore that his recollections of the personality and
work of the many distinguished Arctic navigators he had known should
not be lost, and some years ago suggested to him that he should record
the story of the gradual revealing of the Polar regions to our ken.
The idea pleased him, he began his task at once, and when, in January
1916, the sad accident occurred which brought his life unexpectedly
to a close, the book, though unrevised, and with one or two chapters
unfinished, was nevertheless in a tolerably complete state.
The author’s death would necessarily have delayed the appearance of
the work, but the prolonging of the war caused it to be laid aside
altogether, and it was not until the beginning of this year that I
took it in hand with the object of completing it for publication. So
numerous are the works which have been consulted by the author that
it was of course impossible for me to verify his facts and dates
throughout, and the indulgence of the reader is therefore asked for any
errors he may chance to notice. For Chapters LX and LXI, and a great
part of Chapter XXXIV, which were merely outlined or left unfinished,
the present writer is mainly responsible.
Between Sir Clements and his no less distinguished cousin, Sir Albert
Markham, a life-long friendship existed, and the latter did not long
survive him, dying soon after he had published his biography. I was
fortunate enough, however, before he passed away, to obtain his kindly
aid in reading the proofs of this volume, which, owing to his great
knowledge of Arctic matters, quite apart from his own wide personal
experiences of Arctic travel, was of no little value. The writer would
desire here to render his affectionate tribute to the memory of a
friend whose charming personality will long be recalled by all those
who had the privilege of knowing him.
In the revision of Scott’s journeys I have had the invaluable
assistance of Mr Frank Debenham, Fellow of Gonville and Caius
College, geologist to Capt. Scott’s last expedition, to whom my very
grateful thanks are due. To Mr Edward Heawood, Librarian of the
Royal Geographical Society, the reader is indebted for the helpful
chronological table and bibliography at the end of the volume; and,
finally, I have to thank Mr H. A. Parsons, of the Cambridge University
Press, for his most efficient assistance in compiling the index.
F. H. H. GUILLEMARD.
CAMBRIDGE,
_October, 1920_.
CONTENTS
PART I
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE ARCTIC REGIONS 3
II. ICE AND ICEBERGS 7
III. TRIBES AROUND THE POLE 13
IV. ULTIMA THULE 26
V. FIRST CROSSING OF THE THRESHOLD 30
VI. THE NORSEMEN IN GREENLAND 38
VII. NICHOLAS OF LYNN. ZENO. MEDIEVAL NAUTICAL
INSTRUMENTS 53
VIII. FIRST ENGLISH VOYAGES TO THE NORTH-EAST.
WILLOUGHBY. CHANCELLOR. BURROUGH. PET 58
IX. BARENTSZ. LINSCHOTEN. DE VEER 68
X. SIR MARTIN FROBISHER 81
XI. JOHN DAVIS 93
XII. THE MERCHANT ADVENTURERS AND RICHARD HAKLUYT 104
XIII. GREENLAND VOYAGE OF HALL AND BAFFIN 112
XIV. EARLY SPITSBERGEN VOYAGES 117
XV. EARLY VOYAGES TO HUDSON’S BAY 129
XVI. WILLIAM BAFFIN 138
XVII. JENS ERIKSEN MUNK. FOXE AND JAMES. WOOD 149
XVIII. HANS EGEDE AND DANISH GREENLAND 158
XIX. THE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY. HEARNE AND MACKENZIE,
COOK AND PHIPPS 165
XX. RUSSIAN ARCTIC DISCOVERIES 175
XXI. THE BRITISH WHALE FISHERY AND THE SCORESBYS 188
XXII. BUCHAN AND ROSS 198
XXIII. PARRY AND HIS SCHOOL 205
XXIV. DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF AMERICA. FRANKLIN.
RICHARDSON. BACK. DEASE. SIMPSON. RAE 222
XXV. JOHN ROSS, JAMES ROSS, AND THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE 233
XXVI. THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 238
XXVII. THE SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN. I 248
XXVIII. THE SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN. II 263
XXIX. DISCOVERY OF THE FATE OF FRANKLIN 272
XXX. THE EAST COAST OF GREENLAND. SCORESBY. CLAVERING.
GRAAH. KOLDEWEY 279
XXXI. SPITSBERGEN. EXPEDITIONS BEFORE 1872 285
XXXII. FRANZ JOSEF LAND AND ITS EXPLORERS 289
XXXIII. THE ROUTE BY SMITH SOUND. KANE. HAYES. HALL.
NARES. MARKHAM 298
XXXIV. SIR ALLEN YOUNG AND THE _PANDORA_. AMUNDSEN AND THE
NORTH WEST PASSAGE 311
XXXV. WEYPRECHT’S PLAN FOR SYNCHRONOUS OBSERVATIONS.
THE GREELY EXPEDITION 316
XXXVI. THE NORTH EAST PASSAGE. NORDENSKIÖLD. WIGGINS. DE LONG 322
XXXVII. GREENLAND AND ITS INLAND ICE. NORDENSKIÖLD, NANSEN,
PEARY 331
XXXVIII. THE TRANS-POLAR DRIFT. NANSEN AND THE VOYAGE OF THE
_FRAM_ 340
XXXIX. THE PARRY ARCHIPELAGO. SVERDRUP 347
XL. ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE NORTH POLE. CAGNI. COOK. PEARY 351
XLI. KOOLEMANS BEYNEN AND THE VOYAGES OF THE _WILLEM
BARENTSZ_. SIR MARTIN CONWAY AND SPITSBERGEN.
CAPTAIN BERNIER AND CANADIAN ARCTIC LANDS 358
XLII. EAST COAST OF GREENLAND. DANISH EXPEDITIONS 364
XLIII. LATER GREENLAND EXPLORATIONS. MIKKELSEN. RASMUSSEN. KOCH 376
XLIV. CONCLUSION 383
PART II
XLV. THE GREAT SOUTHERN CONTINENT 389
XLVI. CAPTAIN COOK. BELLINGSHAUSEN 394
XLVII. THE SOUTH SHETLANDS. FOSTER. WEDDELL 398
XLVIII. ENDERBY AND HIS CAPTAINS: BISCOE--KEMPE--BALLENY 403
XLIX. DUMONT D’URVILLE AND WILKES 407
L. FIRST ANTARCTIC VOYAGE OF SIR JAMES ROSS 410
LI. SECOND ANTARCTIC VOYAGE OF SIR JAMES ROSS 418
LII. THIRD ANTARCTIC VOYAGE OF SIR JAMES ROSS 422
LIII. ANTARCTIC OCEANOGRAPHY 426
LIV. REVIVAL OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION 430
LV. PRIVATE EXPEDITIONS--BORCHGREVINK. GERLACHE.
NORDENSKIÖLD. BRUCE. DRYGALSKI. CHARCOT. FILCHNER 433
LVI. PREPARATIONS FOR THE SOCIETIES’ ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 444
LVII. THE SOCIETIES’ ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. FIRST YEAR 455
LVIII. THE SOCIETIES’ ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. THE _MORNING_ 466
LIX. THE SOCIETIES’ ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. SECOND YEAR 471
LX. SHACKLETON’S ATTEMPT TO REACH THE POLE 478
LXI. AMUNDSEN’S JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH POLE 482
LXII. MAWSON’S EXPEDITION 486
LXIII. CAPTAIN SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION. I. 489
LXIV. CAPTAIN SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION. THE END 500
LXV. REMAINING ANTARCTIC WORK 505
CHRONOLOGY OF POLAR VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS 509
BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF POLAR VOYAGES AND TRAVELS 514
INDEX 519
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF SIR CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, by George Henry, A.R.A.
(Photogravure by Mr Emery Walker from a photograph by Messrs
Cooper and Humphreys) FRONTISPIECE
MAP OF THE POLAR REGIONS 5
EFFECTS OF PRESSURE ON ANTARCTIC ICE. (From Scott’s _Voyage of
the Discovery_) 11
INTERIOR OF GREENLAND HUT (_Billeder fra Grönland_, 1852) 22
GREENLANDERS DANCING (_Billeder fra Grönland_, 1852) 22
VIKING SHIP. (_Phot._ O. Vaering) 35
THE SOUTH-WESTERN EXTREMITY OF GREENLAND 40
RUINS IN KINGOA-DAL, SOUTH GREENLAND 48
THE ZENI MAP. (Based on the facsimile in _Voyages of the Zeni_,
Hakluyt Society, 1873) 54
ASTROLABE IN GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE (EARLY 14TH
CENTURY). (Venn, _Biographical History of Gonville and Caius
College_, vol. IV.) 57
WILLEM BARENTSZ. (De Vries, _Oud-Holland_) 69
NOVAYA ZEMLYA, SHOWING ENTRANCES TO KARA SEA 71
“A WONDER IN THE HEAVENS, AND HOW WE CAUGHT A BEAR.” (De Bry,
_India Orientalis_, 1599) 73
“HOW OUR SHIP STUCK FAST IN THE ICE.” (De Bry) 74
PART OF HONDIUS’S MAP OF 1611, SHOWING BARENTSZ’S DISCOVERIES
77
RELICS FROM BARENTSZ’S HUT. (From the National Museum,
Amsterdam, by kind permission of the Directorate) 79
“THE EXACT MANNER OF THE HOUSE WHEREIN WE WINTERED.” (De Bry)
79
SIR MARTIN FROBISHER. (Holland, _Heroologia_, 1620) 82
FROBISHER’S DISCOVERIES 87
THE VOYAGES OF JOHN DAVIS 97
MEMORIAL TABLET TO RICHARD HAKLUYT IN BRISTOL CATHEDRAL 111
PART OF NORTH-WEST SPITSBERGEN 120
SIR THOMAS BUTTON 136
BAFFIN’S MAP OF HUDSON STRAIT 139
BAFFIN’S DISCOVERIES 144
CAPTAIN THOMAS JAMES. (From _Voyages of Foxe and James_,
Hakluyt Society, 1894) 153
PART OF FOXE’S MAP, 1635 155
HUDSON BAY 167
ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. (From the engraving by Condé, after
Lawrence) 169
BERING’S VOYAGE FROM KAMSCHATKA TO NORTH AMERICA. (Synge, _A
Book of Discovery_) 178
NORTH-EASTERN SIBERIA 181
NORTH-WESTERN SIBERIA 181
THE PARRY ISLANDS 210
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 239
FACSIMILE OF FRANKLIN EXPEDITION RECORD. (M’Clintock, _Fate of
Franklin_) 244
CRITICAL POSITION OF _H.M.S. INVESTIGATOR_ ON THE NORTH COAST
OF BARING ISLAND, AUG. 20TH, 1851. (Colour sketch by S.
Gurney Cresswell) 264
LIEUT CRESSWELL’S PARTY SLEDGING OVER HUMMOCKY ICE. (Colour
sketch by S. Gurney Cresswell) 268
JULIUS PAYER 290
LIEUT PARR, R.N., _H.M.S. Alert_. (_Phot._ Maull & Co.),
COMMANDER A. H. MARKHAM, R.N., _H.M.S. Alert_. (_Phot._
Elliott & Fry), SIR GEORGE NARES. (_Phot._ J. Griffin & Co.),
LIEUT P. ALDRICH, R.N., _H.M.S. Alert_. (_Phot._ F. Johnson),
LIEUT L. A. BEAUMONT, _H.M.S. Discovery_. (_Phot._ Elliott &
Fry) 302
SUB-LIEUT GEORGE LE CLERC EGERTON, R.N. (_Phot._ Elliott & Fry)
306
LIEUT WYATT RAWSON, R.N. (_Phot._ Maull & Co.) 306
THE _PANDORA_ (CAPTAIN ALLEN YOUNG) IN PEEL STRAIT 312
ADOLF ERIK NORDENSKIÖLD 332
EAST COAST OF GREENLAND. (Based on map in Mikkelsen, _Lost in
the Arctic_) 366
GREENLAND 377
ORTELIUS’ MAP OF THE WORLD 391
GRAHAM LAND AND SOUTH SHETLANDS 399
MT EREBUS FROM THE SOUTH. (From Scott’s _Voyage of the
Discovery_) 416
ADÉLIE PENGUINS (From Scott’s _Voyage_ _of the Discovery_) 456
EMPEROR PENGUIN WITH CHICK (From Scott’s _Voyage_ _of the
Discovery_) 456
CHASM SEPARATING ICE AND LAND IN LAT. 82° S. (From Scott’s
_Voyage of the Discovery_) 463
THE _MORNING_. (From Scott’s _Voyage of the Discovery_) 466
TYPICAL LOOSE PACK--MT MELBOURNE IN DISTANCE. (From Scott’s
_Voyage of the Discovery_) 480
A TILTED BERG, SHOWING THE OLD SURFACE INCLINED TO THE LEFT
(From Scott’s _Voyage_ _of the Discovery_) 492
TYPICAL BERGS--_TERRA NOVA_ IN DISTANCE (From Scott’s _Voyage_
_of the Discovery_) 492
EMPEROR PENGUIN ROOKERY, CAPE CROZIER. (From Scott’s _Voyage of
the Discovery_) 497
BARRIER BERG AGROUND OFF KING EDWARD VII LAND. (From Scott’s
_Voyage of the Discovery_) 507
Acknowledgement is due to Messrs Smith, Elder & Co. and Mr John Murray
for permission to reproduce the illustrations from Scott’s _Voyage
of the Discovery_, to Mr John Murray for permission to reproduce
the facsimile of the Franklin Expedition Record; also to Mr William
Heinemann for leave to use the map in Mikkelsen’s _Lost in the Arctic_,
to Messrs T. C. & E. C. Jack for the block from Synge’s _A Book of
Discovery_, and to the Hakluyt Society for the portrait of Thomas James.
ERRATUM
p. 100, line 4 from bottom:
_for_ Sunrise _read_ Sunshine
PART I
CHAPTER I
THE ARCTIC REGIONS
The history of the Polar Regions, of those vast areas, difficult of
access, which include millions of square miles of land and ocean at
either extreme of our planet, is of surpassing interest and importance.
It is not only that we here meet with examples of heroism and devotion
which must entrance mankind for all time. It is not only that there
are dangers to be encountered and difficulties to be overcome which
call forth the best qualities of our race. These, no doubt, are the
main reasons for the deep interest which polar exploration has always
excited. But there are others of almost equal importance. These regions
offer great scientific problems. They present wide fields of research
in almost all departments of knowledge. They have in the past yielded
vast wealth, and have been the sources of commercial prosperity to many
communities, and they may be so again. Their history is a history of
noble and persevering effort; extending over a thousand years in the
Arctic where the work is well-nigh finished, but only just beginning
in the Antarctic regions, where it will have to be completed by our
descendants.
In approaching the subject it is well to have before our minds the
extent of these great areas, the history of which we would grasp and
understand. At the polar circle, which is 1410 geographical miles from
the centre, they have a periphery of 8460 miles, and each includes
6,000,000 square miles. The Arctic and Antarctic circles are in 66°
32′ North and South, but these parallels are merely conventional.
It is more convenient, as will be seen hereafter, to take the Polar
regions as beginning at about the 70th parallel, the Sub-arctic and
Sub-antarctic regions extending from 60° to 70°, a zone in which the
fauna is richer and more varied.
The division of these polar regions into quadrants is useful because
it facilitates geographical description and impresses the relative
positions of the different parts on the mind. In the Arctic regions
a line may be drawn from the Lofoten Islands to Bering Strait, with
another crossing it from the head of Hudson’s Bay to Cape Chelyuskin;
thus forming four quadrants.
At the present day a fringe of coast lines forming the northern
shores of the three great continents, with a deep interior polar sea,
are the main features of the Arctic regions, but it was not always
so. Looking back into remote geological periods, we have evidence
of marvellous changes in the Arctic regions since the globe was a
gradually cooling mass of vapour. In this process, extending over vast
ages, the polar regions must have been, as they are now, cooler than
the equatorial regions, and for the same reason. It was, therefore,
in the polar regions that life first became possible, and here the
life of the Silurian age arose. There is evidence of a continent in
Jurassic and Tertiary (Miocene) times where now there is a polar
ocean of great depth, save where Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land
exist as the sole remaining fragments of that continent. There is
evidence that forests once flourished where now nothing higher than
the dwarf willow can exist. There is evidence, too, of tremendous
volcanic eruptions, covering great areas with sheets of basalt. In
contemplating these mighty revolutions, and the gradual changes through
long æons of ages, the leading fact connected with the polar regions
is that here life first became possible. Here it was first possible
that man could exist. The evidence that the arboreal vegetation of the
miocene period originated round the north pole appears to be quite
conclusive. The exploration of the Arctic area has disclosed proofs of
wondrous secular changes which no imagination, however vivid, could
surpass. Alike in the far south, as in the far north, there is food
for the imagination--lights thrown here and there on the history of
a marvellous past. Such speculations are a fitting introduction to a
study of the existing state of things, which has lasted through the
historical period, and probably for ages before the dawn of history.
[Illustration:
American Quadrant
Siberian Quadrant
Greenland Quadrant
Spitsbergen Quadrant
]
The two halves of the Arctic regions may be called the Old World or
Eastern, and the New World or Western halves. In the former the water
flows in, and in the latter it flows out, thus causing a great oceanic
circulation not yet fully investigated, but now clearly understood in
its general outline.
In the eastern half of the Arctic regions the warm current from the
Atlantic flows along the coast of Norway and then bifurcates, one
branch going north along the western side of Spitsbergen, the other
continuing along the Lapland coast and turning up the west coast of
Novaya Zemlya. All the great rivers of Siberia also empty themselves
into this eastern half. Thus there is a constant tendency, aided by
prevailing winds, for the whole drift from the eastern shores to flow
across the Arctic Ocean to the western side.
On the American or western side the tendency is to flow outwards,
but there is only one outlet, along the east coast of Greenland. The
in-flow is insignificant, Bering Strait is shallow, and but a small
volume of water finds its way within the Arctic area by that opening.
The flow from all the American rivers, except the Mackenzie and
Colville, is at once checked by land in front of their mouths. Hence
the whole tendency of aqueous movement is to flow out, while there is
only one means of escape.
The consequence of this general drift outwards, with but one
corresponding outlet, is very remarkable. The harvests of ice are
carried across the Arctic Ocean until they are brought up by the
American coast and islands, where they are completely stopped. Then
the ice gradually increases from annual snow falls and other causes
until it becomes upwards of a hundred feet in thickness. There is
some movement in the summer, and a tendency eastward to the north of
Ellesmere Island and Greenland, to join the Greenland current. The
other straits and channels are too shallow for such ice to pass. In
one place alone, between Melville and Banks Islands, there is a drift
of this heavy ice into the Parry Archipelago, for a distance of 500
miles, but it is then stopped by King William Island. Otherwise the
only outward current for the heavy polar ice is down the east coast of
Greenland. Even there the great body of ice comes from the Arctic Ocean
itself, and but a small part is due to the escape of ice that has been
pressed upon the western land. The outward current of Baffin’s Bay only
carries off the ice of one or two years’ growth, which has formed in
the bay itself and in the straits and channels leading into it. There
is thus a vast accumulation along the outer shores of the western
side, and the rising tendency of Arctic lands no doubt increases the
difficulty of escape, and the consequent secular and unchanging block
all along the western outer shores of the Arctic Ocean.
We may now turn to the quadrants of which mention has already been made
on page 4. On the eastern side the first quadrant extends from the
Greenwich meridian to 90° E., on an arc of the Arctic Circle, with two
converging lines each 1410 miles long. In this quadrant we have Arctic
Norway and Russia to Cape Chelyuskin, and the Spitsbergen, Franz Josef,
and Novaya Zemlya groups of islands. It may be called the Spitsbergen
Quadrant. The second quadrant on the eastern side includes the Siberian
coast from Cape Chelyuskin to Bering Strait--the Siberian Quadrant.
The third quadrant, being the first on the western side, includes
Greenland, Baffin’s Bay, and Baffin, North Devon, and Ellesmere
Islands. The fourth quadrant, being the second on the western side,
contains the northern coast of the American continent, and the Parry
Archipelago. It is the American Quadrant.
It is desirable thus to have before us a general sketch of the Arctic
economy before proceeding to the contemplation of the achievements of
discoverers. We shall better appreciate their labours, their splendid
efforts extending over centuries, if we know what they did not know,
the results of their combined victories over the mighty obstacles which
Nature placed in their way.