DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF AMERICA.
FRANKLIN--RICHARDSON--BACK--DEASE--SIMPSON--RAE
Hitherto the northern coasts of North America had remained completely
unknown save for the work of Hearne and Mackenzie, and it was felt that
something should be done to fill up the large area of blank on the
map. The Secretary of State for the Colonies now resolved that, with
the co-operation of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the coast-line should be
discovered and surveyed.
The officer selected for this arduous duty was Lieutenant John
Franklin, who had just returned from the command of the _Trent_ in the
Spitsbergen seas. Few officers of his age had seen so much service. A
Lincolnshire lad, born at Spilsby and educated at Louth Grammar School,
Franklin entered the navy at the age of 14, and in his very first
ship, the _Polyphemus_, he was at the battle of Copenhagen and closely
engaged. Next he joined the discovery ship _Investigator_ under his
relative Captain Flinders[124], and was for two years engaged in the
survey of the coast of the great island to which Flinders gave the name
of Australia. At last the old _Investigator_ was found to be no longer
seaworthy. She was condemned, and her captain, officers, and crew were
embarked on board H.M.S. _Porpoise_ for a passage to England.
Entangled among the reefs off the coast of Queensland, the _Porpoise_
ran on shore, became a wreck, and young Franklin found himself one of
94 souls on a sandbank. Flinders went in an open boat to Port Jackson,
750 miles off, and returned with help, and eventually Franklin got a
passage in a vessel bound for Canton, with the object of returning
home in one of the East India Company’s ships. He was taken on board
the _Earl Camden_, Commodore Dance, and sailed with the China
fleet of merchantmen, when as signal midshipman he took part in an
ever-memorable action. In the Straits of Malacca the French Admiral
Linois was encountered with a line-of-battle ship and three frigates,
and after a sharp fight the French retreated, and were chased for three
hours by the English merchantmen.
In 1804 Franklin joined the _Bellerophon_ at the blockade of Brest,
and on the 21st of October, 1805, was at the battle of Trafalgar, when
he was once more signal midshipman. His next service was on board the
_Bedford_, escorting the royal family of Portugal to Rio. He became a
Lieutenant in 1808 and served in the Walcheren expedition. In 1813 he
convoyed a fleet of merchantmen to the West Indies, and his last war
service was a severe but successful action with American gun-boats near
New Orleans.
Franklin gladly accepted the appointment offered to him by the Colonial
Office to take command of an expedition to co-operate with Hudson’s
Bay Co. in exploring the north coast of America and surveying it. His
colleagues were Dr Richardson, who had sole charge of the natural
history work; two midshipmen named Back and Hood, selected for their
proficiency as artists, and a blue-jacket named Hepburn. Other members
of the expedition were to be engaged in the country, Hudson’s Bay men
and Canadian voyageurs.
George Back was then aged 22. He had entered the navy in 1808 on board
the _Arethusa_, and served in boat actions on the north coast of Spain,
where in his last fight 14 of his crew were killed out of 18. Back
was taken prisoner while making an attack on a battery of heavy guns
at Lequeitio and was detained at Verdun until 1814. On regaining his
liberty he served in the _Akbar_ under Sir J. Byam Martin at Flushing,
and afterwards on the North American station. He passed for Lieutenant
in 1817, and in the following year joined the _Trent_ under Franklin
in the Spitsbergen voyage. Franklin gladly secured the gallant young
officer’s services again for his first land expedition.
It was a difficult task, as the narrative of Hearne made sufficiently
clear. The explorers were to discover the north coast of America from
the mouth of the Coppermine eastward. The party reached York Factory
in Hudson’s Bay in August, 1819, and Fort Chipewyan early in 1820. In
July they were at Fort Providence on the north-east side of the Great
Slave Lake, and early in August they set out for the Coppermine river,
wintering at a station which was built on Winter Lake, and called Fort
Enterprise. The fatigue and difficulty of travelling thus far were
enormous. Franklin calculated that all the portages, each having to be
traversed four times, made together 150 miles.
One of the North West Co.’s men having joined the expedition, the party
now consisted of six Englishmen and twenty-six others, principally
Canadian voyageurs. Franklin arranged with the Indians that, on his
return, there should be supplies of food and Indians at Fort Enterprise.
The descent of the Coppermine river was then commenced, and the mouth
was reached on the 21st of July, 1821. Franklin and his gallant
companions then embarked on the polar sea in their frail bark canoes.
It was a rock-bound coast, fringed with masses of ice which rose and
fell with every motion of the tempestuous sea, and the undertaking
was in the highest degree perilous in canoes only fit for lake
navigation. Franklin nevertheless persevered in the discovery of the
coast-line until the 18th of August, when he felt obliged to begin the
return voyage. Their provisions were nearly run out, and they were
disappointed at not meeting with any Eskimos, from whom they might have
obtained supplies. Their furthest point was named Point Turnagain,
and was 6½° of longitude to the east of the mouth of the Coppermine.
Franklin decided to land in Arctic Sound, at the mouth of a river he
had named after Hood, and make direct for Fort Enterprise, rather
than return by the Coppermine. He hoped to find more game by the new
route. The canoes were broken up in order to construct smaller and
lighter boats for carrying round the portages, and they left the banks
of the Hood river on the 3rd of September, making straight for Fort
Enterprise. The country proved to be stony and barren, there was no
game, and their stock of provisions was soon exhausted. All they had
to subsist on was _tripe de roche_, a noxious unwholesome lichen. At
last, on the 10th of September, after six days of starvation, a herd of
musk oxen was seen, and one was killed.
Affairs were so serious that young Back volunteered to make his way to
Fort Enterprise and send back Indians with the supplies that had been
ordered to be collected there. Back started on the 4th of October, Fort
Enterprise being then 24 miles distant. The rest followed, several in
a state of extreme weakness. Some of the men got weaker every day. At
last it was settled that Dr Richardson, with Hood and Hepburn, should
remain with the sick, while Franklin, with the stronger men, went on to
Fort Enterprise for help.
Franklin, living on _tripe de roche_, took four days to reach Fort
Enterprise and, on his arrival, found to his horror and dismay that
there were no Indians there, no provisions, and that the place was
quite abandoned. There was a hurried note from Back saying that he had
gone on in search of Indians, and that if he found none, he intended to
walk to Fort Providence. He added that it was doubtful whether, in his
debilitated condition, he could make the journey. The temperature at
Fort Enterprise was 15° to 20° below zero.
On the 29th Dr Richardson and Hepburn quite unexpectedly arrived
at Fort Enterprise. They had a sad tale to tell. They were the
only survivors of their party, the others having died of cold and
starvation. But the horrors were made far more appalling by the crimes
of a Canadian voyageur named Michel. There was little doubt that he
had murdered two of his comrades, and feasted on their bodies, getting
fat and strong while the others became weaker every day, and were at
his mercy. He then shot Hood through the head, while the others were
away collecting _tripe de roche_, and they found the body of their
murdered friend on their return. Their only chance of survival now was
the death of Michel. Dr Richardson undertook the duty, and shot him.
The two survivors then walked on to Fort Enterprise. Here they all
remained in the last stage of starvation until on the 7th of November
three Indians arrived with food, having been sent by Back, and their
lives were saved. The Indians treated the starving explorers with the
greatest kindness, attending to all their wants until they arrived at
Fort Providence on the 11th December.
Back’s sufferings while in search of help had been quite as severe
as those of his comrades he had left behind. His sole food consisted
of a pair of leather trousers, a gun-cover, and an old shoe, with a
little _tripe de roche_. At length, after some days, he fell in with
the Indians and sent them with food to Fort Enterprise. Reaching Fort
Providence he found Franklin’s commission as Commander, and his own as
Lieutenant. On his arrival in England Franklin was promoted to the rank
of Captain on November 20th, 1822.
Franklin was busily employed, while in England, in writing the
narrative of his expedition, and in August 1823 he married Miss Eleanor
Porden. Their married life was a brief one, for she died in February
1825, soon after Franklin’s departure on his second expedition, leaving
a daughter.
When Parry sailed on his third voyage by way of Prince Regent’s
Inlet, it was resolved that Captain Beechey, in the _Blossom_, should
co-operate by way of Bering’s Strait, while another land expedition was
despatched to the north coast of America. Captain Franklin and Lieut.
Back were to explore to the westward of the Mackenzie River, while Dr
Richardson and Mr Kendall were to survey the coast between the mouths
of the Mackenzie and Coppermine. Three boats were specially built for
the expedition, combining lightness with stability. The largest was 26
feet long, the other two 24 feet.
The expedition left England in February, 1825. For a few days the
explorers rested at Fort Resolution, the only station of the Hudson’s
Bay Company on the Slave Lake, and then proceeded to the Mackenzie
River, which was reached on the 2nd of August. They descended the river
to the Hudson’s Bay post called Fort Norman. Lieut. Back, accompanied
by Mr Dease of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was then sent to the Great
Bear Lake to select a site and build a house for winter quarters.
Franklin and Kendall went down the Mackenzie to its mouth. They all
returned to Fort Franklin on the Great Bear Lake in 65° 11′ 50″ N. to
winter. The party consisted of 15 seamen and marines, nine Canadian
voyageurs, and some Indians with their families. Another boat was built
and named the _Reliance_.
The two parties, led by Franklin and Richardson, left Fort Franklin on
the 24th of June, 1826, descended the Mackenzie River together, and
parted west and east where the delta commenced, on the 3rd of July. In
making his way along the coast to the westward Franklin’s boats were
often in danger from heavy masses of ice, and suffered long detentions
from foul weather. On the 18th of August he found it necessary to give
up any attempt to proceed further, having discovered 374 miles of new
coast. He named his furthest point Cape Beechey. Captain Beechey in the
_Blossom_ was off Icy Cape by the middle of August, and sent a boat to
meet Franklin, and the two boats were within 160 miles of each other,
but Beechey and Franklin were not destined to meet. Beechey discovered
Point Barrow.
Franklin and Back returned to Fort Franklin on the 21st of September.
Meanwhile Dr Richardson and Kendall had discovered and surveyed the
coast between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine, returning to
Fort Franklin by the Coppermine River.
The large island facing the north coast has received several names, but
the Dominion Government wisely determined that it shall be known by one
only--Victoria Island. The strait between Victoria and the mainland was
named after the two boats in which Richardson and Kendall embarked,
_Dolphin_ and _Union_.
The expedition returned to England in September, 1827, after an absence
of over 2½ years, having surveyed a coast-line of more than 1000 miles,
hitherto unknown. Back was promoted to the rank of Commander, and
Franklin was knighted in 1829. On the 5th of November, 1828, he married
_en secondes noces_ Jane the daughter of John Griffin of Bedford Place,
who both on her father’s and mother’s (Jeanne Guillemard) side was of
Huguenot stock. He commanded the _Rainbow_ frigate in the Mediterranean
from 1830 to 1834, and was appointed Governor of Tasmania in 1837.
Franklin’s narratives of his two expeditions were published in quarto
volumes beautifully illustrated by Captain Back’s drawings.
The next expedition to the north coast of America was a private one.
A Committee raised the necessary funds, and the plan was to descend a
river which was supposed to have its rise in the Great Slave Lake, and
to fall into the Polar Sea. The object was to obtain tidings of, and to
succour, the expedition of the Rosses, which had not been heard of for
some years. Captain Back received the command, and his companion was
Dr Richard King, a medical man. Only three other men were taken from
England. The explorers started in February 1833, 15 men were engaged,
and the expedition reached the Great Slave Lake. The source of what
Back called the Great Fish River was discovered, but its course was
found to be tortuous and full of rapids. Back, therefore, caused two
boats to be built, specially adapted for river navigation, and for
being taken over the portages. They were sharp at both ends, with good
beam, and plenty of floor for stowage. They were 30 ft. long over all,
24 ft. keel, with extra oars, masts, and tillers. Their lower parts
were carvel, and the upper clinker-built. Runners, plated with iron,
were fixed on either side of the keel, so that they could easily be
drawn over ice by six dogs and two men. Eight men formed the crew.
Captain Back and Dr King were thus well equipped for discovering the
course of the Great Fish River. But at this juncture the news was
received of the safety of the Rosses, and it did not seem justifiable
to do more than descend the river to its mouth. This Back did, finding
that the river has a violent and tortuous course of 530 miles,
sometimes expanding into large lakes, and having 83 falls and cascades.
The estuary was surveyed, together with a large island named Montreal.
Back intended to have traced the coast as far as Cape Turnagain, but
only got 15 miles westward to Capes Richardson and Maconochie. Captain
Back and Dr King both published narratives of the Great Fish River
expedition.
There still remained unexplored the coast line from Franklin’s furthest
to Cape Barrow on the west side, and from Cape Turnagain to Repulse
Bay on the east. The Hudson’s Bay Company resolved to undertake
these discoveries. Peter Warren Dease, who had assisted the Franklin
Expedition, and Thomas Simpson were selected for the duty. Simpson
was a very intelligent and energetic young Scot, born at Dingwall in
Ross-shire in 1808. Dease was much older. The equipment was arranged
at Fort Chipewyan. The two boats were clinker-built, 24 ft. keel by 6
ft. beam, each with a small oiled-canvas canoe. They were named the
_Castor_ and _Pollux_. Thirty bags of pemmican, each weighing 9 lb.,
and 10 cwt. of Red River flour were taken for the whole season. The
daily ration per man was 3 lb. of pemmican.
Descending the Mackenzie, Simpson pushed on along the coast, passing
and naming the Colville river. When stopped by ice he resolved to reach
Cape Barrow by land. He took eight men each with a load of 40 lb.,
including pemmican and flour, a blanket, ammunition and instruments,
and one man carried a canvas canoe. They encountered very bad weather,
but they reached the long low spit of land which Captain Beechey had
named Cape Barrow, and were welcomed by the Eskimos settled there.
Simpson returned to the Mackenzie, and ascended that river to his
winter quarters at Fort Confidence.
In the following year Simpson went down the Coppermine river, to
discover the coast to the eastward. On the 17th of July, 1838, the
voyage was commenced. On reaching Cape Turnagain, Franklin’s furthest
point, Simpson went on by land with five of the Company’s servants
and two Indians. Each man carried a weight of 50 lb., including a
tent, a canvas canoe, a kettle, two axes, and provisions for ten days.
Open water was seen along the shores of Victoria Island while the
continental coast was choked with ice. The party, after this excursion
on foot, returned by the Coppermine to Fort Confidence to winter.
On June 15th, 1839, Simpson set out again for the Coppermine river on
foot, arriving where three men had been left in charge of the boat and
baggage. The boat sailed past Cape Turnagain, and on the 11th of August
the discoverers came to the strait, about ten miles wide, between the
continent and King William Island. It was named Simpson Strait. On the
12th there was a tremendous thunderstorm, with torrents of rain, and
the next day they reached Cape Ogle at the mouth of the Great Fish
River.
On the 16th Simpson landed on Montreal Island, where a depôt left by
Back was found. He then crossed the strait to King William Island and
explored its southern coast for nearly 60 miles, until it turned north
at Cape Herschel, where a lofty cairn was erected, on August 26th,
1839. They also went eastward along the American coast beyond the Great
Fish River, calling their furthest point after their boats “Castor and
Pollux.” In returning, Simpson explored the south coast of Victoria
Island.
Geographers were not satisfied until the region had been explored
between Simpson’s furthest and the Gulf of Akuli on the west side of
Melville Peninsula, reported by Parry’s Eskimo draughtswoman. The
Geographical Society urged the importance of this discovery on the
Admiralty, and the old bomb vessel _Terror_ was commissioned by Captain
Back, with much the same instructions as were given to Captain Lyon
in 1824. Many of Back’s officers had won or were to win distinction.
His first Lieutenant, Smyth, an artist of no mean powers, was the
second Englishman to descend the Amazon. Owen Stanley had served under
Franklin in the _Rainbow_ and became a very distinguished surveyor in
Australian seas, McMurdo was afterwards with Ross in his Antarctic
voyages, Graham Gore perished with Franklin, and M’Clure was the
discoverer of a North West Passage. These splendid officers received
their polar training under Back, in the icy storms of Fox Channel.
On the 14th of June, 1836, the _Terror_ left Chatham. Passing down
Hudson’s Strait, Back chose Parry’s route by Fox Channel for reaching
Repulse Bay. The _Terror_ was soon beset, and on the 13th of September
they were a few miles from land, off Cape Comfort. The ship was closely
wedged between blocks of ice, with no water in sight and was drifted
backwards and forwards between Cape Comfort and Baffin Island. In this
situation they entered upon an Arctic winter of exceptional severity.
In the depth of winter the ice broke up, and huge masses continually
dashed against the ship. She remained locked in the ice for four
months, and dragged helplessly about, until at length she was liberated
towards the end of July, 1837. Nothing could be finer than the conduct
of Captain Back and his officers throughout this trying time. The
_Terror_, battered and leaky, crossed the Atlantic almost in a sinking
state. Early one morning they came in sight of the Irish coast. The
first Lieutenant came down to the Captain, who was in his cot, “Captain
Back, Sir!” “Yes, what is it?” “The ship’s sinking, Sir.” “Very good,
Smyth, call me again at eight bells.” That day they reached safety in
Lough Swilly.
In 1845 Sir George Simpson determined to complete the discovery of the
Gulf of Akuli, starting from a base at Repulse Bay, which was to be
reached by boats from Fort Churchill. The command of the expedition
was given to Dr John Rae, one of the Company’s factors. The boats were
constructed at York factory, clinker-built, 22 feet by 7 feet 6 inches,
with two lug sails and a jib. The crew consisted of six Orkney men and
two Canadian half-breeds. On July 24th, 1846, they arrived at Repulse
Bay, where they wintered, having obtained 63 deer, 172 ptarmigan, 5
hares, and 116 salmon. They built a stone house, with a roof of moose
skin, and made toboggan sledges, 6 to 7 feet long and 17 inches wide,
of battens from the boats.
On the arrival of spring Rae resumed his journey, starting on April
5th. He had two sledges, each drawn by four dogs and six men. A snow
house was built each night. The food was pemmican, reindeer tongues,
flour, tea, chocolate, and sugar. Rae carried the books and instruments
himself, a weight of 35 lb. The rations were 1½ lb. of pemmican daily
for each man and ⅓ lb. of flour, but they obtained a seal from the
Eskimo, and had seal meat for eight days. They explored the west side
of the Gulf of Akuli as far as Lord Mayor’s Bay of Ross and returned
May 5th, having proved that there is no outlet to the westward as was
expected.
Rae’s next journey was for 28 days, from May 13th to June 9th, to
explore the west side of Melville Peninsula as far as the entrance
to Fury and Hecla Strait. The party, travelling over soft snow, only
got within ten miles of the Strait. Rae says that he traced 655 miles
of new coast. He certainly settled the question of any sea from Fury
and Hecla Strait to Cape Turnagain, and proved that Boothia was a
peninsula, not an island. The Gulf of Akuli is the termination of
Prince Regent’s Inlet.
In 1818, as we have seen, nothing was known of the northern coast of
America but the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers. In 1848
the whole coast had been mapped, from the Icy Cape of Cook to the
Fury and Hecla Strait of Parry, a distance of 1000 miles. Franklin,
Richardson, Back, Dease, Simpson, and Rae were the discoverers, and
their achievements entailed deeds of heroism such as have never been
surpassed, and seldom equalled, in the whole history of discovery.