BUCHAN AND ROSS
Polar exploration had been neglected since the return of Captain
Phipps owing to the protracted European war, which came to an end
in 1815. But the duty of prosecuting it had never been forgotten,
and the authorities, being educated and patriotic men, were quite
ready to consider suggestions favourably. The country is indebted
for those suggestions to William Scoresby. In 1817 he found that the
Spitsbergen seas were unusually clear of ice between 74° and 80° N.,
and he represented to Sir Joseph Banks what a favourable time there
appeared to be for expeditions of discovery. Sir Joseph brought
Scoresby’s letter to the notice of Sir John Barrow, the Secretary of
the Admiralty, who strongly represented the advisability of despatching
expeditions to discover the connection of the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans north of the American continent. One was to proceed by way of
Spitsbergen and the North Pole, the other by Davis Strait and the bay
supposed to have been discovered by Baffin.
Four whalers were purchased by the Admiralty and strengthened for
special service in the ice--the _Isabella_, 385 tons, and _Alexander_,
252 tons, for Baffin’s Bay; the _Dorothea_, 370 tons, and _Trent_, 250
tons, for the North Pole. Captain Buchan, R.N., who had recently been
employed on the Newfoundland coast and had made an important journey
into the interior of that island, received command of the _Dorothea_
in the Spitsbergen and North Pole expedition, with Lieutenant John
Franklin as his second, on board the _Trent_. Buchan’s first Lieutenant
was Arthur Morell, with Charles Palmer and William J. Dealy as mates,
George Fisher as astronomer, and Cyrus Wakeman as clerk. In the _Trent_
with Franklin were Lieutenant F. W. Beechey, son of the artist Sir
William Beechey, Andrew Reid and George Back, mates, and Alexander
Gilfillan as surgeon.
This expedition left the Thames in April, 1818, and was at Lerwick on
the 1st of May. The _Trent_ was leaking badly, and every effort to find
the place, while they were at Lerwick, failed. It was a serious matter,
as half the watches were occupied in pumping, which entailed a great
amount of extra labour, when the ordinary work was almost as much as
they could do.
On entering the icy region Buchan’s expedition was met by a furious
gale, and took refuge in Magdalena Bay. The expedition was fortunate
in its historian, for Morell, the first Lieutenant of the _Trent_, was
a man of high literary attainments as well as an accomplished artist.
The attack on one of the boats of the _Trent_ by walrus is as admirably
described by his pen as it is portrayed by his pencil. He also relates
the ascent of “Rotche Hill,” 2000 feet high, and describes the
little-auks or ‘rotches’ flying in such crowds that thirty came down in
one shot. It was calculated that 4,000,000 were on the wing.
When the two ships again put to sea they were driven into the pack-ice
north of the north-east point of Spitsbergen. There was a heavy swell,
and the huge masses of ice were crashing and grinding together,
breaking in pieces, and covering the sea with brash ice for miles. All
night they were striving to keep the ships’ heads to the sea, while
the leak in the _Trent_ increased, and all hands were at the pumps.
Pressing along a lead to the north of Cloven Cliff, they were stopped
by the ice, and laid out ice anchors. Here they were beset for 13 days.
The leak on board the _Trent_ had long been a serious drawback to
her efficiency, indeed ever since she left the Thames. At last its
position was discovered. Old Sir George Back used to tell the story.
The Assistant Surgeon, when lying half asleep in his berth, thought
he heard water flowing into the ship below the deck. He listened and
feeling sure, he reported. The spirit room was cleared, and it was
found that a bolt-hole had been left open. A remedy was at once applied
and, to the great joy of all on board, the work at the pumps was no
longer necessary.
While the ships were beset a party was sent to reach the shore. A dense
fog came down, and the men could not find their way back, being on
the verge of perishing before they could be rescued, after 18 hours’
exposure. Meanwhile the ships were pushed southward, and at length
reached open water. Great efforts had been made to attain a high
latitude, and they advanced to 80° 34′ N., but the ships were exposed
to great pressure, the _Trent_ being raised four feet out of the water
and some of the _Dorothea’s_ beams were sprung. After the ships were
released, Captain Buchan gave up all idea of trying the state of the
ice by the Seven Islands to the eastward, and determined to examine the
prospect in the direction of Greenland.
When the two ships were sailing along in sight of the main pack on the
30th of July a furious gale sprang up and the _Dorothea_ bore up to
seek shelter within the ice. The _Trent_ could find no opening. Huge
masses were broken up and tossed up and down on the waves, the ship
being in such violent motion that the bell tolled incessantly until it
was muffled. It was as if they were surrounded by battering rams. When
the wind went down it was found that the _Dorothea_ was very seriously
injured, beams being sprung and timbers broken. The two ships took
refuge in Fairhaven. By the end of August the repairs were finished
so far as was possible, but it was considered necessary that the
_Dorothea_ should return, and that the _Trent_ should keep with her.
The two vessels arrived in the Thames on the 22nd October, 1818; all on
board eager to volunteer again for Arctic service.
Buchan’s expedition was doomed to failure, for it was an impossible
route, as Phipps and Scoresby had already shown. It is hopeless to
struggle against the great Arctic drift with no land floe to hold
on by. Still there was gain. The experience of ice navigation at
its worst, acquired by several zealous naval officers, was a gain.
Beechey’s excellent narrative, illustrated by his own graphic pencil,
is one of the very best Arctic books[113].
We must now turn to the story of the companion expedition. The
_Isabella_ and _Alexander_ were well strengthened, and destined for
more important Arctic work. Owing to the suppression of Baffin’s log
book and map by Purchas, the existence of Baffin’s Bay had come to be
considered doubtful. On the map in Daines Barrington’s book, as already
stated, there is printed over the site of Baffin’s Bay “according
to the relation of W. Baffin in 1616, but not now believed.” It was
accordingly resolved by the Admiralty that the expedition should
proceed up Davis Strait, verify the discovery of Baffin, and seek a
passage.
Lord Melville was the First Lord of the Admiralty, and his colleagues,
Sir J. S. Yorke, Sir George Hope, and Sir Graham Moore, were
enlightened and accomplished naval officers. For the command of the
expedition Sir George Hope recommended his old shipmate, John Ross,
as zealous and energetic and a thorough seaman. This officer, born
in 1777, was the fourth son of the Rev. Andrew Ross of Ballaroch in
Wigtonshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Corsane, Provost of
Dumfries. Entering the navy at a very early age, he served for four
years, and was then in the merchant service for some years. Returning
to the navy he served under Sir James Saumarez in the Baltic and the
White Sea, where he fixed the longitude of Archangel by occultation of
Jupiter’s satellite. In 1812 he became a commander. He was in three
actions, and was wounded in every one. After his promotion he had
command of the _Briseis_.
The selection of Ross was very carefully made, and his second in
command was Lieutenant Edward Parry, on board the _Alexander_. The
two first Lieutenants were Robertson in the _Isabella_ and Hoppner,
a son of the artist, in the _Alexander_. The younger aspirants for
Arctic fame, all to be heard of again, were A. M. Skene, J. Bushnan,
Joseph Nias, and the Commander’s nephew James C. Ross. Drs Edwards,
Beverley, and Fisher were the surgeons. Captain Sabine, R.E., joined
the _Isabella_ for magnetic observations. An Eskimo interpreter was
also secured in the person of John Sacheuse, who had found his way
from Greenland to Leith. He was recommended as a useful member of the
expedition by Captain Basil Hall, R.N.
The expedition sailed in April, 1818, proceeded up Davis Strait, and.
reached Hare Island off the north-west cape of Disco I. on June 17th.
Here 45 whalers were found waiting to go north, and Ross received the
excellent advice from the captain of the whaler _Larkin_ to “stick to
the land floe.” The reason why all the attempts by the Spitsbergen
route failed is that there is no land floe to stick to. On July 2nd the
_Isabella_ and _Alexander_ were off Sanderson’s Hope, the further point
of Davis, and entering upon Baffin’s work. Up to this time the whalers
had never been north of 75° 10′.
The formidable ice-encumbered sea to the north received from Ross the
name of Melville Bay. Here they were beset, pressure raised the ships
out of the water, and they had to track through narrow lanes in the
ice. The point at the north end of Melville Bay, so well known in
after years, received the name of Cape York. Between Cape York and
Cape Dudley Digges the crimson snow was seen from the ships, and Mr.
Beverley landed on August 17th, and Ross’s nephew on the 18th, to
collect specimens of it[114].
It was on the 9th of August that people were first seen, coming over
the ice in dog sledges. Sacheuse was sent out to meet them, but found
that they spoke a different dialect from his own. Afterwards several
were induced to come on board. A most interesting people had been
discovered, for they had been isolated, possibly, for centuries.
Captain Ross took great pains to collect information about them. He
minutely described their persons, clothing, and weapons, and careful
drawings were made of a dog sledge, narwhal-horn spear, and a knife
made of thin circles of meteoric iron fixed into a bone handle. The
iron was said to come from a place near called Sewallik. Ross and
Sacheuse also collected 38 words, 24 of which had the same meaning
as in the Greenland Eskimos’ language. Sacheuse declared that the
tradition of his people was that they came from the north and pointing
to the newly-discovered men, exclaimed, “These are our fathers.”
Captain Ross gave them the name of Arctic Highlanders, and called the
heights at the back, from Wolstenholme Sound of Baffin to Melville Bay,
the Duneira Mountains.
The expedition then proceeded northwards, re-discovering Wolstenholme
and Whale Sounds, and the Cary Islands. But here Captain Ross began
to make fatal mistakes. He passed too far south of Sir Thomas Smith’s
Sound of Baffin to ascertain whether it was a channel, though he
named the two points at the entrance after his two ships. It was the
same with Sir Francis Jones’s Sound. He entered and advanced some
distance up Sir James Lancaster’s Sound, but unfortunately he fancied
that he saw high land across it, which he named the Croker Mountains
after the Secretary to the Admiralty. He then sent Lieut. Parry,
Captain Sabine, and a party on shore at a point on the south side of
Lancaster Sound, which he named Cape Byam Martin, to take possession
and make collections. This practically brought their work to an end,
and a homeward course was set. On his return Captain Ross wrote in
the highest terms of the correctness of Baffin’s latitudes, and quite
restored the good name of that illustrious navigator.
The mistakes of Captain Ross may well be forgiven, for his expedition
was in many ways most fruitful in results. Among other researches, he
took special pains to obtain specimens from great depths. For this
purpose he invented a very ingenious contrivance which he called a deep
sea clam, and on the 1st of September, 1818, in 73° 37′ N. he brought
up a beautiful _Caput medusae_ in 1000 fathoms. It was the first time
any animal was brought up from anything approaching this depth. A new
and very interesting gull was also discovered by Captain Sabine on an
island in Melville Bay, the _Xema sabinii_, usually found associated
with the Arctic tern.
The most important results of Ross’s expedition, however, were the
restitution of Baffin’s good name as a navigator and discoverer, the
discovery of the Arctic Highlanders, and the training of several young
naval officers in ice navigation. The greatest practical result was
that his voyage showed the way to the whalers, and that by reaching
the north water of Baffin’s Bay they would find another very lucrative
whale fishery. It was another example of the use of Arctic enterprises
in furthering the commercial prosperity of the country which encourages
them.
On the return of Ross’s expedition there was an outcry about the
supposed closing of Lancaster Sound, as some of the officers believed
it to be a wide channel leading westward. Lieut. Parry was decidedly
of that opinion. Sir John Barrow strongly represented the doubt to the
Board of Admiralty, and it was decided that another expedition should
be despatched in 1819.