THE EAST COAST OF GREENLAND. SCORESBY--CLAVERING--GRAAH--KOLDEWEY
The east coast of Greenland is difficult of access owing to the great
flow of ice from the polar basin. Until the days of Scoresby it was
only sighted from a distance. Henry Hudson was the first to discover
it, and give it the quaint name of “Hudson’s Hold with Hope” in 73° N.
On the old Dutch maps of Peter Plancius (1666) and Van Keulen (1707)
we find “Land van Lambert” as far north as 78° 20′; “Land van Edam”
in 77° 10′ N., seen in 1655; “Gael Hamke” in 74°, seen in 1654. Cape
Bruer Ruys and Bontekoe Island on the Dutch chart were identified by
Clavering, as well as Gael Hamke Bay. These were merely the sighting of
high land at a distance. In the summer of 1822 the younger Scoresby,
in his Liverpool ship, resolved to combine whaling with geographical
discovery. He forced his way through the ice into open water near the
coast in company with two other whalers, one commanded by his father.
This eminent Arctic navigator completed a careful survey, landing at
several points, from Gael Hamke Bay to as far south as 69° N. He made
botanical and geological collections, and completed a chart of his
discoveries.
In the very next year Scoresby was followed by one of the most
promising of Arctic voyagers who, like Mecham, was cut off in his
prime. Douglas Clavering was the eldest son of General Clavering by
Lady Augusta Campbell, daughter of the fifth Duke of Argyll. Born at
Holyrood House in 1794 he served as a midshipman under Captain Broke
in the famous action between the _Shannon_ and _Chesapeake_. But young
Clavering’s bent was in the direction of the scientific branches of
his profession, and the friendship he formed with Captain Sabine led
that distinguished officer to apply for the _Pheasant_ for his pendulum
observations in the tropical zones because Clavering commanded her.
These were successfully taken and useful observations were also made
with reference to the equatorial currents.
The Board of Admiralty then decided that Sabine should swing the
seconds pendulum in Norway, Spitsbergen, and, if possible, on the
east coast of Greenland. For this service Clavering, then a Fellow of
the Royal Society, received command of the _Griper_, the old gun brig
of Parry’s first voyage. Sabine completed his pendulum observations
in Norway and Spitsbergen, and Captain Clavering proceeded to the
difficult service of forcing the _Griper_ through the heavy ice drift
to the East Greenland coast. First he tried to force the ship through
in Lat. 77° 30′ N. but found an unbroken field 200 miles across.
Then he tried vainly again in 75° 30′, but finally reached the coast
water in 74° 5′ S., and found an island where his friend Sabine could
establish his observatory[134]. While the pendulum was being swung,
Clavering was intent on geographical discovery and on completing a
survey. His furthest northern points were two rocks called Ailsa
and Haystack. The island they had first discovered, and one of its
headlands, recalled memories of the _Chesapeake_ action, and were named
Shannon Island and Cape Philip Broke. A great bay was identified as
Gael Hamke’s, but the most important result of Clavering’s expedition
was the discovery of natives as far north as this bay, in 74° N. This
position is an immense distance from those in the southern part of the
east coast where Eskimos were afterwards found, and no natives have
ever been met with since anywhere near the place where Clavering fell
in with them. It was on the 18th of August, 1823, that he and his small
party came across a seal-skin tent pitched on the beach, on the north
side of Gael Hamke Bay. This tent was 12 feet in circumference and
five feet high, the frame being of wood and whale’s bone. There were
also a small seal-skin canoe, harpoons, and spears tipped with what
appeared to be meteoric iron. The natives fled and hid behind rocks,
but eventually they returned and became friendly. They were clothed in
seal-skin with the hair inwards. Men, women, and children all told,
only numbered twelve.
It is very improbable that this small family of Eskimos had worked
their way northwards over the immense distance from the settlements
near Cape Farewell. The alternative is that they were descendants of
the emigrants who found their way to the upper reaches of Sir Thomas
Smith’s Channel many centuries ago. One branch went south bringing
with it the tradition of the _uminmak_ or musk ox; the other, still
following the _uminmak_, reached the east coast, and slowly took a long
road to extinction. Nearly fifty years passed away between Clavering’s
voyage and the next visit to this part of the east coast, and in the
interval the dwellers in Gael Hamke Bay had become extinct, leaving
many vestiges.
On August 20th Captain Sabine’s tents and instruments were embarked;
the _Griper_ was in sight of Scoresby’s discoveries further south
until the 13th September, when there was a gale which drifted her to
the southward amongst heavy floes and loose ice. They lost three ice
anchors and the kedge, but Clavering bored his way through the ice into
the open sea, where he encountered a series of heavy gales, making
the coast of Norway on the 23rd. Pendulum observations were taken at
Trondhjem, and the _Griper_ reached Deptford on the 19th of December,
1823[135].
The next attempt to explore the east coast of Greenland was from the
extreme south. Captain Graah of the Danish navy organised an expedition
in March, 1829, at Nenortalik, the nearest settlement to Cape Farewell
on the west side[136]. It consisted of four native boats, two being
kayaks and two the larger women’s boats. On reaching the east side the
masses of ice piled on the beach rendered their progress very slow.
Graah went on with one boat, sending the rest back on June 23rd, and
by the 28th he had advanced as far north as 65° 18′ N. where he was
stopped by an insurmountable barrier of ice. He went back to a place
called Nugarlik in 63° 22′ N., where he wintered. On this coast between
60° and 65° N. Graah found 500 to 600 inhabitants. He returned to the
settlements on the west side of Greenland in 1830. His object was to
find the lost colony, for it was not then understood that the East Bygd
was on the west side[137].
The distance from Graah’s furthest to the southern point of Scoresby’s
survey remained undiscovered, and its exploration was reserved for
Danish seamen. Dr Petermann had long been urging his countrymen to
join the noble band of Arctic explorers, and in the spring of 1868 he
fitted out a small vessel at his own risk, with Karl Koldewey, a native
of Hoya in Hanover, in command. Unable to approach the east coast of
Greenland, that able navigator made for the Spitsbergen seas, attaining
a latitude of 81° 5′ N., sailing down Hinlopen Strait, sighting Wiche’s
Land, and returning to Bergen on September 30th, 1868.
Interest in Arctic work was thus aroused in Germany, a committee was
formed, and it was resolved again to despatch an expedition under
Koldewey to the east coast of Greenland. A vessel of 143 tons was
built at Bremershaven, at a cost of £3150, and named the _Germania_.
The schooner _Hansa_, of only 76¾ tons, was bought as a consort, with
Captain Hegeman of Oldenburg in command.
Captain Koldewey’s expedition sailed from Bremershaven on the 15th
June, 1869, and reached the edge of the ice in 74° 47′ N. On September
14th the _Hansa_ was closely beset and drifted south all through the
winter until she was destroyed by the ice. Officers and crew then took
to their three boats and eventually reached the Danish settlement of
Friedrichsthal. Meanwhile the _Germania_ worked her way through the
ice, and reaching land on the 5th August, her winter quarters were
finally fixed in a small bay in one of Clavering’s Pendulum Islands,
in 74° 24′ N. Julius Payer, a Lieutenant in the Austrian army who was
born at Teplitz in 1842, was the moving spirit of the expedition in the
work of sledge-travelling and in the ascent of glaciers and mountains.
He made one journey in September, but the principal work was undertaken
after the winter was over. The details were not thought out with that
close attention and full knowledge of all that has gone before which
alone can secure great results; nevertheless, all being quite new to
the work, the journey was highly creditable, as the ice surface was
very bad. Captain Koldewey and Lieutenant Payer were the leaders, and
starting on the 24th March they reached their furthest point in 77° N.
on the 15th April. A lofty cape in 76° 47′ N. was named Cape Bismarck.
Then, as there were no depôts and provisions were running short, the
return journey was commenced, and they reached the ship on the 27th
April. The distance covered, there and back, was about 300 miles and
took 35 days, during eight of which they were confined to the tent by
gales. Omitting these, their rate was a little over ten miles a day.
Four other short sledge journeys were made. As soon as the vessel was
freed from her winter quarters, exploration was commenced along the
coast and a branching fjord was discovered in 73° 15′ N. extending far
into the interior of Greenland. It received the name “Franz Josef.”
Along its shores two peaks, 7218 and 11,417 feet high respectively,
were named after Petermann and Payer. The scenery was described as
magnificent, exceeding in beauty, says Payer, anything to be seen
in the Alps. After the discovery of this large fjord the _Germania_
returned to Bremen in September, 1870.
Some years before, Messrs Anthony Gibbs & Co. employed Mr T. W. Tayler,
a chemist and an enthusiast who believed in the lost colony, to form
a settlement on the east coast in 63° N. He made two attempts, in
1863 and 1864. The failure to penetrate through the ice in 1863 was
attributed to the vessels being unsuitable. In 1864 Mr Tayler had the
_Erik_ whaler of 412 tons, a well-fortified ship. She forced her way
through the ice for some distance, but eventually had to give up the
attempt and the project was abandoned.
About 1870 and following years eight British whalers frequented the
Spitsbergen seas, and occasionally approached the east coast of
Greenland. The most enterprising whaling captains on this side were
David Gray in the _Eclipse_ of 295 tons, and his brother John Gray in
the _Hope_ of 350 tons; both steamers built by Messrs Hall of Aberdeen.
The _Active_ 380 tons, _Jan Mayen_ 337, _Mazanthien_ 408, and Windward
320 tons, were old sailing vessels converted into screw steamers; while
the _Pole Star_ and _Queen_ were sailing vessels. Captain David Gray
was especially zealous in his efforts to combine geographical work with
his whaling.