[Illustration: MAP OF THE NORTH POLAR REGIONS]
THE
FROZEN NORTH
AN ACCOUNT OF ARCTIC
EXPLORATION FOR USE IN SCHOOLS
BY
EDITH HORTON
_REVISED EDITION_
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT 1904 AND 1911
BY D. C. HEATH & COMPANY
PREFACE
While abundant material has been put before children with the purpose
of making them familiar with the history and industrial development
of various parts of the known world, very little has been written to
inform them of the work which is now being done in the comparatively
unknown regions of the north, or of the history of the early
discoveries which have led to it.
The importance of the present determined search for the North Pole is
admitted by all thoughtful people, and the subject is one which must
increase in interest until the entire North Frigid Zone is correctly
mapped and charted.
Accounts of the pioneers in this work of discovery, of Franklin and of
Kane, and in our own day of Nansen and Peary, are available only in
such exhaustive works as are unsuitable reading for children, and which
sometimes tax the patience of the adult. Hence the work done by these
intrepid explorers upon the American continent and north of it remains
unstudied and unknown.
It is hoped that this book may give our young people sufficient
knowledge of the subject to enable them to read farther with
intelligence, and that it may also inspire them with interest in the
many expeditions that are being sent out.
The descriptions of the strange people who inhabit these cold
countries, their dress, their ways of living, their customs, and their
manners, all interest the child, and meet his natural desire to hear
about other people than those living in the part of the world about him.
No complete history has been attempted, but rather a series of
sketches which, it is hoped, will enable the reader to appreciate the
achievements of the brave men who have lent and are lending their best
efforts to the task of unlocking and wresting from the Frozen North,
the secrets so necessary for the advancement of science.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 1818 9
III. FRANKLIN’S FIRST LAND JOURNEY. 1819–1821 14
IV. FRANKLIN’S SECOND LAND JOURNEY. 1825–1827 21
V. THE _EREBUS_ AND THE _TERROR_. 1845 25
VI. ELISHA KENT KANE. 1853 32
VII. WINTER IN RENSSELAER HARBOR. 1853–1854 36
VIII. THE ESKIMOS. 1854 40
IX. HUNTING IN THE ICY NORTH 45
X. HOME AGAIN. 1855 51
XI. NORDENSKJÖLD AND THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE. 1878–1879 59
XII. VOYAGE OF THE _JEANNETTE_. 1879–1881 72
XIII. GREELY IN GRINNELL LAND. 1881–1883 81
XIV. FARTHEST NORTH OF THE GREELY PARTY. 1882 87
XV. LIEUTENANT SCHWATKA IN ALASKA. 1883 94
XVI. NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND. 1888 104
XVII. THE VOYAGE OF THE _FRAM_. 1893–1896 122
XVIII. PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND. 1891–1897 133
XIX. ANDRÉE’S BALLOON EXPEDITION TO THE POLE. 1897 149
XX. EXPEDITIONS OF 1902 154
XXI. DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH POLE BY ROBERT E. PEARY. 1909 158
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Map of the North Polar Regions
The Aurora Borealis
Sebastian Cabot
The Earth on June 21
The Earth on December 21
Daily Motion of the Heavens as seen at the North Pole
Daily Motion of the Heavens as seen at the Equator
The Midnight Sun
The Change of Seasons
Sir John Franklin
Glacier, English Bay, Spitzbergen
A Ship in the Ice Pack
Icebergs in the Polar Sea
A Post of the Hudson Bay Company
In Winter Quarters
Relics of the Franklin Expedition
Elisha Kent Kane
Fiskernaes, Greenland
An Eskimo Dog Team
Eskimos and their Dogs
Interior of an Eskimo Hut
A Walrus Hunt
A Herd of Seals
Polar Bears
Traveling over the Ice Hummocks
Dragging the Boats over the Ice Floes
Upernavik, Greenland
A Greenlander in his Kayak
Samoyed Huts in Summer
A Samoyed Family in Winter Costume
The “Vega” firing a Salute at Cape Tcheliuskin, the Most Northern
Point of the Old World
Tchuktche and Reindeer
Tchuktche Man and Woman
Hunting Reindeer
The “Jeannette” in the Ice Pack
Bird Cliffs
Musk Ox
An Arctic Snowstorm
Sitka, Alaska, in 1880
Crossing the Coast Range
Tanana Station, River Yukon, in Winter
The Raft on which a Journey of Thirteen Hundred and Three Miles
was made
A Man on Ski
Fridtjof Nansen
A Herd of Reindeer
Nansen’s Camp on the Drift Ice
A Group of Greenland Eskimos
A View in the Interior of Greenland
Sledging across Greenland
Skating off the Coast of Greenland
The Launching of the “Fram”
Boat attacked by Walrus
Nansen and Johansen leaving the “Fram”
Setting Fox Traps
Red Cliff House after the Storm
Godthaab
The “Tent” Meteorite
Andrée begins his Journey
Peary in Arctic Costume
Moonlight in the Arctic Regions
Eskimo Dogs
[Illustration: THE AURORA BOREALIS.]
THE FROZEN NORTH
I. INTRODUCTION
The north polar regions lie within the Arctic circle, and at their
center is the North Pole. The distance from the circle to the pole is
more than fourteen hundred miles. Intense cold and the hardships of ice
navigation have made the discovery and exploration of this region very
slow and hazardous.
It is believed that Norsemen from Norway and Sweden, after colonizing
Iceland, made settlements on the Greenland coast and carried their seal
hunting beyond the Arctic circle, far into the polar regions. But in
1347 a plague broke out in Norway, and the people forgot their far-off
colonies. For more than a hundred years after this no attempt was made
to enter the Arctic circle.
It is a singular fact that the famous voyage of Columbus in 1492,
although made toward the south, should have influenced to some extent
discovery in the north polar regions. After Columbus had really proved
that the earth was round, navigators believed that by sailing westward
far enough they might reach the rich lands of India and Cathay (China).
The only route then known from Europe to India was through the
Mediterranean Sea. At Constantinople, the cargoes of metals, woods,
and pitch were unloaded and sent on by caravan to the East, while
returning caravans brought silks, dyewoods, spices, perfumes, precious
stones, ivory, and pearls, to be shipped from Constantinople.
When the Turks, through whose country the merchants passed, began to
realize how valuable the Eastern trade was, they sent bands of robbers
to seize the caravans, making traffic by this route more difficult and
more dangerous as time went on; so that European merchants tried to
find some other way of reaching that part of the world.
[Illustration: SEBASTIAN CABOT.]
John and Sebastian Cabot, two English navigators, set out in 1497 to
sail westward, but finding their way blocked by the American continent,
they returned. In 1498 Sebastian Cabot made a second voyage, with
the object of finding a passage north of America which would lead to
the Spice Islands and rich Cathay. In this way the long hunt for the
northwest passage was begun.
The Cabots did not find the northwest passage; and though many voyages
were made in search of it by other navigators during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, nobody met with success. The severe cold, added to
the difficulties of a voyage through the ice of ages, prevented further
investigation in that direction for some time.
Meanwhile, the Spanish and the Portuguese had been active in seeking
for southern routes to the East, and had discovered two,――one around
the Cape of Good Hope and one through the Strait of Magellan. They
guarded these waterways jealously, and would not allow the ships of
other nations to pass. Thus they succeeded in controlling all the rich
Eastern trade, and were growing very wealthy and powerful.
The English and the Dutch, who were also anxious to obtain a share
of the rich commerce with the East, saw the importance of finding a
northern route to India; consequently they experimented by sailing
northeast along the coast of Europe and Asia. The route which they
sought was known as the northeast passage.
England sent out the first expedition in 1553, but the severity of the
weather prevented the ships from making much progress. Several other
vain attempts were made by the English, and then the Dutch took up the
work; but they failed, too, and for a time the search for northern
passages to the Indies was abandoned.
[Illustration: THE EARTH ON JUNE 21.]
The total absence of the sun from the Arctic regions during a large
part of each year makes the climate severe and the country desolate.
Direct sun rays are necessary to insure warmth, and the regions within
the Arctic circle receive at the best only slanting rays.
[Illustration: THE EARTH ON DECEMBER 21.]
In the temperate zones the sun is never exactly overhead. For people
who live within the tropics it is overhead twice every year. At all
places along the equator the sun is overhead at noon on the 21st of
March. Each day after, it comes overhead at noon at places farther
north, until the 21st of June, when it is overhead at the tropic
of Cancer. After this the sun appears to turn and go south, and on
September 22 it is again overhead at noon at the equator. The sun then
continues to move southward each day until December 21, when it is
overhead at the tropic of Capricorn. And so it goes back and forth the
year round.
While the sun is north of the equator, there is constant day somewhere
within the Arctic circle; when the sun is south of the equator, there
is constant night somewhere within the Arctic circle. The farther a
region is from the equator, the longer are the days and nights at
different seasons of the year. At the pole there is a night of six
months and a day of six months. The night is sometimes lighted by the
moon and sometimes by the aurora borealis.
[Illustration: DAILY MOTION OF THE HEAVENS AS SEEN AT THE NORTH POLE.]
There are but two seasons in the Arctic regions――a long, cold winter
and a short, dry summer. It is during the summer that the explorers do
their work. Throughout the dark winter they can do nothing. Even in the
summer, navigators meet with many perils, for Arctic navigation is not
an easy matter. Besides the danger that the vessel may be frozen in an
ice pack, or crushed between icebergs, the navigator is often blinded
by fogs and snows, and has to face unknown tides and currents.
[Illustration: DAILY MOTION OF THE HEAVENS AS SEEN AT THE EQUATOR.]
The vegetation within the Arctic circle is scanty. During the summer
the bright, warm sun causes the plants to spring up and grow rapidly.
Willows, dwarf birches, and rush grasses are plentiful in some
localities. In southern Greenland, and in some sheltered places along
its western coast, yellow poppies and dandelions grow. Farther north
only mosses and lichens are to be found, and beyond the moss line there
is no trace of vegetation.
Nevertheless there are plenty of animals in this land of ice and snow.
The polar bear, Arctic fox, blue fox, wolf, ermine, reindeer, and
musk ox are plentiful. Seals and walruses come out of the water upon
the ice, during the summer, to enjoy the sun, and thousands of snow
buntings, auks, and eider ducks visit the shores of the cold seas to
build their nests and catch food. When the summer of three months is
over, nearly all outward signs of animal and vegetable life disappear
and the entire landscape becomes a dreary, white expanse.
The inhabitants of this cold land are called Eskimos. They find it
hard to get a living, and their dwellings are of the rudest and most
primitive sort. Many of the tribes move from place to place, building
their snow huts wherever game is most plentiful, but never going far
inland, because fish forms a large part of their food. The Eskimos do
not mind the bitter weather. They are quite accustomed to a temperature
of 50° below zero.
Within the Arctic circle are two principal areas of great cold, one in
North America and one in Siberia. The mildest winters are at Bering
strait and in the Spitzbergen Sea, where there is usually open water.
The former is affected by the warm Japan Current and the latter by the
Gulf Stream.
We have as yet learned but little about the icy North. Nearly three
million square miles of our earth lie within the Arctic circle and are
unknown to-day. Much more information must be gained before man can
hope to understand the physical laws of this mysterious region.
[Illustration: THE MIDNIGHT SUN.]
For a century and a half after the sailing ships of the sixteenth
century had failed to find the northern passages to the East, little
was done in the way of Arctic exploration. The whale and cod fishers
were the only navigators who ventured into the frozen seas. These
fishermen carried on a profitable business in fish and oil. One of
them, a Scotch whaler named William Scoresby, succeeded in driving his
ship as far north as latitude 81° 12ʹ 42ʺ. He spent all the time that
he could spare on this voyage in collecting information about this
unknown part of the earth, and on his return to England, he told such
wonderful stories that the English people became once more interested
in the frozen North.
Accordingly, in 1815, after England’s wars with the United States and
France were over, the government offered a reward of £20,000 to any one
who would make the northwest passage, and a reward of £5000 to any one
who would reach 89° north latitude. This offer of prize money stirred
the adventurous blood of seafaring men. In 1818 two expeditions were
sent out, and others quickly followed.
The vast area of unexplored space within the Arctic circle stimulated
men’s imaginations almost as much as the Western world beyond the
Atlantic had done in the days of Columbus. Many a brave sailor was
ready to undertake the difficult work. Famous among those who did
valuable service was Sir John Franklin.
[Illustration: THE CHANGE OF SEASONS.]
II. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
1818
Sir John Franklin was one of the greatest explorers the world has ever
known. We owe to him most of our knowledge of the northern coast of
America and of the far North.
[Illustration: SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.]
Franklin was born in 1786 at Spilsby, a small town in Lincolnshire,
England, about ten miles from the coast. As a boy, he one day visited
the seaside, which so delighted him that he then and there made up his
mind to be a sailor.
Franklin’s parents wished him to become a clergyman, and in the hope of
curing him of his new passion, they sent him on a trial voyage. This
plan did not succeed, for the young man learned to love the sea so much
that at last the father yielded to his son’s desire, and obtained a
position for him in the Royal Navy. While in the navy, John Franklin
took part in several of the hardest naval battles the English ever
fought. He made a brilliant record as a fearless sailor and a wise and
determined leader.
After the wars were over, Franklin began the study of science. But land
life was dull for him, and he longed for the dangers and excitement of
the sea. When word came that he had been chosen by the government to go
in search of the North Pole, he was unspeakably happy. Soon two strong
vessels were ready for the voyage. The command of the _Dorothea_ was
given to Captain Buchan, while Franklin, with the rank of lieutenant,
was put in command of the _Trent_. Their orders were to proceed
northward between the islands of Spitzbergen and Greenland, and if
they found the sea free from ice, to push ahead directly for the North
Pole. Should they succeed in finding the pole, they were, if possible,
to return by way of Bering strait, and thus prove the existence of a
northwest passage.
[Illustration: GLACIER, ENGLISH BAY, SPITZBERGEN.]
The ships sailed out of the Thames river April 25, 1818. On May 10 they
crossed the Arctic circle, and Franklin beheld for the first time
the grand spectacle of the midnight sun. Shortly after the ships had
crossed the circle, a terrible gale arose. The weather was bitterly
cold, the snow came down fast, blinding the eyes of the sailors, and
ice covered the brigs from bow to stern. Every time the bows came up
out of the water a fresh layer of ice was formed upon them, and the
vessels became so heavy that the sailors were obliged to chop the ice
away with axes. The ropes also were frozen over, and in order to keep
them ready for instant use, the sailors had continually to beat off the
ice with sticks. The ice pack extended on all sides as far as the eye
could reach, and little by little it closed around the ships.
[Illustration: A SHIP IN THE ICE PACK.]
Notwithstanding this, they managed to enter a bay on the coast of
Spitzbergen, where Captain Buchan decided to remain until the pack
should break up. Neither officers nor men were idle while at anchor in
this bay. Some surveyed the harbor and made a map of it, while others
measured the depth of the water with instruments which they had brought
for that purpose. The magnetic needle was closely watched, and all its
changes noted. Many went hunting and supplied the crew with meat of the
seal and walrus. Meantime a close watch was kept upon the ice pack.
Franklin learned to like the rugged Arctic scenery. Close to the shores
of Spitzbergen were long, snow-covered valleys and high mountains, and
between the mountains stood immense glaciers, glistening in the bright
sunlight which had so little power to melt their surfaces.
One day Buchan and Franklin were in a small boat at the foot of a
glacier. Suddenly they heard a noise like the report of a great cannon,
and looking up, they saw a portion of the glacier sliding down the
mountain side. This great mass of ice made a grinding noise as it went,
and streams of water flowed after it. At length it plunged into the sea
and disappeared from view. The water was greatly disturbed and covered
with foam. In a few moments the huge piece of ice rose to the surface
and surged up to a great height above the sea. Then Franklin and his
companion knew how icebergs are formed. This one was a quarter of a
mile around, and rose sixty feet above the water. It must have weighed
millions of tons.
[Illustration: ICEBERGS IN THE POLAR SEA.]
Franklin was now more anxious than ever to get to the pole. He knew
that thousands of years ago a part of America and Europe was covered
with ice just as the Arctic regions now are, and he felt sure that if
he remained long enough in this land he would be able to explain many
things heretofore unknown, in regard to climate, soil, tides, and winds.
Soon the ships, headed toward the north, put to sea again, but a
furious gale arose, and they were once more caught in the ice pack.
When the wind went down, the _Dorothea_ was so badly damaged as to
be almost unseaworthy, and Captain Buchan decided to turn back. The
_Trent_ also had been injured, but Franklin tried hard to induce
Captain Buchan to allow him to go northward alone. Captain Buchan
refused, and both vessels accordingly returned to England, where they
arrived safely on October 12, 1818. We must not regard this expedition
as a failure, even though the pole remained undiscovered, for Franklin
had gained the experience which later enabled him to accomplish
valuable geographical work in the Arctic regions.
III. FRANKLIN’S FIRST LAND JOURNEY
1819–1821
The next year the British government again decided to send two ships
northward. One of these ships was put in command of Lieutenant Parry
and was ordered to Lancaster sound. From this place Parry was told
to sail westward and seek the northwest passage. He did not find the
northwest passage, but he succeeded in sailing inside of the Arctic
circle farther west than any one had gone before. For this achievement
he received a prize of £5000 from the government and on his return to
England was highly honored.
The other expedition was put in command of Sir John Franklin, who,
together with four companions, was to proceed to Hudson bay on one
of the ships belonging to the Hudson Bay Company. From Hudson bay,
Franklin was to make a land journey by means of sledges and canoes
across the northern part of North America, to the mouth of the
Coppermine river. From this point, he was to turn and follow the coast
of North America east. The latitude and longitude of various places
were to be noted, maps to be drawn, and capes, bays, and rivers located
and surveyed.
At this time that part of North America which borders on the Arctic
ocean had never been explored. Only two white men, employees of the
Hudson Bay Company, had ever looked upon this ocean from the continent
of North America. The first, Samuel Hearne, traveled northward with
the Indians in 1770, and reached the mouth of a large river which was
named the Coppermine, because the Indians said that large mines of
copper were to be found along its banks.
The second explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, in 1789 traced to its mouth
the river which now bears his name. With the exception of these two
river mouths, the entire northern coast of North America was unknown.
The map which is to-day covered with names of places, was then a blank.
This was the region which Franklin was to explore. Many men would dread
such a journey, but Franklin liked it because of the very dangers
involved. Dr. John Richardson, midshipmen Robert Hood and George Back,
and a seaman, John Hepburn, were selected to go with Franklin on this
trip; they were well chosen, for they were worthy companions of the
young leader. On May 23, 1819, he and his men sailed on the _Prince of
Wales_ for the Arctic land. The voyage was long and stormy; several
times it seemed likely that the _Prince of Wales_ would never touch
land again, but at the end of three months she anchored off York
Factory, on the southern shore of Hudson bay, one of the posts built
by the Hudson Bay Company for the purpose of trading in furs with the
Indians.
The people at York Factory received Franklin and his companions kindly
and helped them all they could. They gave Franklin a boat for his
journey through the lakes and rivers on his way to the sea. The same
sort of boat is still in use in that region and is called a York boat.
It is forty feet in length, narrow, light, and sharp at both ends.
About ten men can manage it. When on lakes or traveling down streams
the men use oars, but when traveling against the current of a river
they run alongshore and drag the boat after them. This long and narrow
boat is well suited for shooting rapids, through which it is guided
by means of long poles. Sometimes the rapids are so swift that they
cannot be navigated, and falls are often encountered. Then the cargoes
are taken out of the boats and carried around the rapids or falls, and
afterward the boats also are carried around. Such a place is called a
portage.
The officers of the Hudson Bay Company, besides giving Franklin a boat,
sent word to other trading posts throughout the country, to look out
for him and to help him. The party, having secured boats and stores,
started from York Factory to continue their journey. After traveling
seven hundred miles, they reached another post called Cumberland House,
where Franklin expected to find guides and hunters, but every one
refused to undertake a journey so full of peril.
[Illustration: A POST OF THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY.]
Franklin, though disappointed, was not discouraged. He left two men at
Cumberland House to wait for supplies and to bring them on. Then, with
Back and Hepburn, he started out with dog sledges for another trading
post on Lake Athabasca. This journey was begun on January 18, 1820, in
the middle of an Arctic winter of prolonged darkness. The suffering
of these three explorers cannot be described. The temperature fell as
low as 38° below zero, blizzards were common, and the party nearly
perished. On some days the mercury froze in the thermometers, and the
tea froze in the tin pots before it could be drunk.
At Lake Athabasca Franklin was joined by the men he had left at
Cumberland House. They had secured some provisions, and now the entire
party proceeded down the Slave river to Great Slave lake. They reached
Fort Providence, on the northern end of the lake, during the latter
part of July, and in a few days the little company departed in four
canoes, steering northward into a country which had never before been
visited by white men.
Soon Franklin met seventeen canoes filled with Indians, who had
promised to go part of the way with him and hunt game for his party.
They all proceeded together through a chain of lakes to Winter lake,
where they decided to pass the winter. Here they built a house which
they called Fort Enterprise, and from this place they made short trips
to explore the country northward. One of the exploring parties reached
the source of the Coppermine river.
At first game was plentiful at Fort Enterprise, but as winter advanced
the reindeer left the place, provisions became scarce, and ammunition
was very low. Back offered to return to Lake Athabasca for supplies,
and Franklin allowed him to go. He left the party in November, and they
did not see him again until March. He had made a journey of eleven
hundred miles on snowshoes, sleeping in the shelter of drifts, wrapped
in a blanket and a deerskin, and had sometimes been forced to go
without food for two or three days. But he had saved the party.
When spring came, Franklin and his company started northward again
with two large canoes and several sledges. They must have “made a
record” for slow travel, for each man had to carry or drag a load of
one hundred and eighty pounds, probably more than the weight of any one
of them. At the Coppermine they launched their canoes, and were soon
shooting dangerous rapids, and carrying their boats over the portages.
Franklin did not stop to search for copper; he had other aims.
On July 18, 1821, the party reached the mouth of the Coppermine and
camped on the shore of the Arctic ocean. It was a cold place for a
camp, but the men were so delighted to reach this point that they did
not complain of the temperature.
Franklin here paid a tribute to famous travelers, and to some of his
old friends, by naming the capes and bays after them. This might be
called a cold compliment, but doubtless the favored ones appreciated it.
The great ocean must have seemed to these men the end of their journey,
yet it was only the beginning. On July 21 the canoes were launched and
one of the most daring voyages of exploration was begun that has ever
been attempted. Canoes built for use only on lakes and rivers had now
to battle with rough waters filled with ice. For several weeks Franklin
kept on his perilous way eastward, discovering new islands, bays, and
capes.
As freezing weather had already set in, and the provisions showed signs
of giving out, Franklin decided to return to Fort Enterprise and spend
the winter there, hoping to continue his work along the coast the next
summer.
He named the place where he decided to return Point Turnagain. The
distance from the Coppermine to Point Turnagain is five hundred and
fifty miles, and all that length of coast was traversed and charted by
Franklin’s company.
It was decided to go back to Fort Enterprise by way of the Hood river,
because that route was thought easier than the other; it proved to be
more difficult. Much of the journey had to be made on foot over a stony
country. The men were loaded down with boats, tents, and blankets, and,
worst of all, the provisions gave out. All that the adventurers could
find to eat was a kind of lichen, which grew like moss on the rocks.
Often the men were wet to their waists from having to ford streams and
tramp through swamps.
After a time they became so weak and footsore that they could scarcely
walk, and when at last they reached Fort Enterprise they found it
deserted. The Indians who had promised Franklin to remain and stock the
place with food for him, had abandoned the fort. This was a terrible
blow. Those of the party who were able to walk, started out to search
for the Indians, while the rest remained in the hut, expecting death
every moment. While these men sat waiting, they saw a herd of reindeer
pass close to the hut. Not a man was strong enough to stand and shoot,
and the deer passed undisturbed. At last some Indians arrived. They
brought plenty of venison with them, and they stayed with the white men
and nursed them back to health.
When the sick men were able to travel, the party started again for
Hudson bay. They succeeded in reaching Moose Deer island, and there,
under the care of the Hudson bay officials, Franklin and his followers
grew well and strong.
When they came again to York Factory, Franklin and his men had traveled
5550 geographical miles and explored thousands of miles of country
never before visited by civilized men. This journey is one of the
most remarkable in history. Only men of the highest courage and the
strongest determination could have accomplished it.
When Franklin reached England his countrymen bestowed upon him honors
of all sorts. He was promoted to the rank of captain, and made Fellow
of the Royal Geographical Society.
IV. FRANKLIN’S SECOND LAND JOURNEY
1825–1827
After Franklin had been at home about two years, he began to feel
restless and to long for action. About this time the English government
decided to send Parry, for the third time, in search of the northwest
sea passage.
Franklin advised that another land party be sent at the same time
to the mouth of the Mackenzie. There, he thought, the party should
divide, one branch of it to explore the coast of North America east to
the Coppermine river, the other to go westward to Icy cape. Then the
entire northern coast of North America would have been covered, and
the land party might meet and assist Parry. The government decided to
adopt Franklin’s plan, and when he begged to be allowed to command this
expedition, granted his request, and more than this, permitted him to
make all arrangements for the expedition. He first ordered three boats
to be built which should be suitable for travel on both rivers and
lakes, as well as on the Arctic ocean. They must combine light weight
with great strength. In 1824 Franklin sent these boats, filled with
stores and provisions, to Great Bear lake in charge of the Hudson Bay
Company; and on February 16, 1825, he and his officers sailed.
They traveled through the United States and Canada to Great Bear lake,
where they halted for a few days for the purpose of bargaining with
the Indians for supplies of food during the winter. Then the party
embarked in canoes and steered for the Mackenzie river.
As the Mackenzie is broad and smooth and without rapids, they quickly
reached Fort Norman, the most northern Hudson bay post on the river.
It was now early in August, and only a few weeks were left in which to
build winter quarters and to lay in a stock of provisions. A place on
Great Bear lake was chosen for their village, and Lieutenant Back was
given charge of the work of preparation.
Meanwhile Franklin pushed on to the mouth of the Mackenzie. He wished
to examine the coast so that he might know just what was needed for
travel along that route when spring should come. He found it was an
easy journey in his new boat, and when he came to the sea he saw to his
joy that it was free from ice and full of seals and whales. When he
had made himself acquainted with the character of the coast around the
mouth of the river, he returned to the camp on Great Bear lake.
He found that during his absence his companions had named the post Fort
Franklin in his honor, and very comfortable arrangements had been made
for the winter. Three houses were ready, one for the officers, one for
the seamen and Indians, and one for supplies. There were now fifty
persons in the party: five officers, nineteen seamen, nine Canadians,
two Eskimos, and the rest Indians, including men, women, and children.
They were a mixed company, truly, but they passed the season pleasantly
together. The officers worked hard collecting important facts about the
water, ice, animals, mosses, weather, and sky. They also took charge of
a school, which Franklin insisted upon maintaining for the Indians and
the Eskimos. Attendance at this school was compulsory, and you may be
sure all the pupils preferred hunting and fishing. The seamen turned
carpenters and built boats.
No one was sorry when spring came and the journey could be continued.
On June 24, 1826, the company divided into two parties and started down
the Mackenzie river. At the mouth of the river they separated; one
party under command of Franklin proceeded to the west, the other party
under Dr. Richardson, to the east. Each had provisions enough to last
from eighty to one hundred days.
Franklin and his men soon fell in with an Eskimo tribe numbering about
three hundred. These Eskimos proved themselves such thieves that
it seemed likely that they might presently murder Franklin and his
companions and take all they had. Lieutenant Back ordered the men in
his boat to point their muskets at the Eskimos; whereupon they ran away
and left the white men in peace.
The journey along the coast was made through blocks of ice, heavy fogs,
and high winds, with a temperature often below freezing. Yet this was
midsummer!
But the party kept bravely on their way, taking observations of the
sun, watching the magnetic needle of the compass, studying tides,
stones, plants, and animals. Among the greatest hardships that the men
suffered were attacks from swarms of mosquitoes; they dreaded these
more than cold or ice packs.
After three hundred and seventy-four miles of coast had been explored,
Franklin decided that if he continued the journey, he would not have
enough provisions. They had made half the distance between the mouth of
the Mackenzie river and Icy cape. To the most western point visited,
they gave the name Beechey point. On returning to Fort Franklin they
found that the other party, led by Dr. Richardson, had also made a
successful journey, having explored eight hundred and sixty-three miles
of coast line between the mouth of the Mackenzie and the mouth of the
Coppermine, and traveled nineteen hundred and eighty[1] geographical
miles.
[1] Franklin’s own book gives 1989 miles. Greely’s Hand Book gives 1709
miles.
The success of these two explorations put the company in good spirits,
and the following winter of 1826 was passed pleasantly at Fort
Franklin. Franklin started for home in February, and reached England
September 26, 1827, after an absence of two years and seven months.
Two months after his arrival he married Jane, daughter of John Griffin,
Esq. This lady, Franklin’s second wife, was a very remarkable woman, of
whom we shall hear more.
All England was delighted with the results of this second land journey.
Franklin and Richardson together had surveyed 37° of longitude along
the Arctic shore of North America. The coast from the mouth of the
Coppermine westward to Beechey point had been proved to be open for
navigation, while from Beechey point to Icy cape it was undoubtedly
open.
To complete a northwest passage it was only needful to find a gap
to the eastward, connecting this pathway for ships with the older
discoveries on the Atlantic side. Over one thousand miles of American
coast had been explored, maps and charts had been made, and knowledge
in all branches of science had been increased.
The honor of knighthood was conferred upon Captain Franklin, who was
afterward to be known as Sir John Franklin. Parry’s expedition in
search of the northwest passage had been unsuccessful.
V. THE _EREBUS_ AND THE _TERROR_
1845
At this time, 1827, England, under the rule of George IV, was occupied
with her own troubles. The disputes between Catholics and Protestants
engaged the attention of the English people so that interest in
exploration waned. After a short rest at home, Sir John Franklin was
sent in command of her Majesty’s ship, _Rainbow_, to the Mediterranean
sea. The Greek war of independence was closing, and Franklin
distinguished himself by the judgment and skill he showed in following
out the work intrusted to him.
Upon his return to England, Franklin was offered the position of
Governor of Tasmania, which he accepted, remaining there seven years.
When he returned again to England in 1842, he found people once more
interested in the discovery of the northwest passage. It was eighteen
years since Franklin had returned from the icy North, but the northwest
passage had not been found. During those years several expeditions
had been at work in the northern part of North America and along
the northern coast, thus broadening and increasing the geographical
knowledge of the country first entered by Franklin. But the mystery of
the northwest passage still stirred men’s imaginations, and the Royal
Geographical Society decided to send out another expedition in search
of it. The command of this expedition was offered to Sir John Franklin.
Some people thought that Franklin ought not to go again to the
northern land. These people told him that he had already done enough
for his country, having risked his life three times, and made more
discoveries in that region than any other man. They reminded him that
he was now sixty years of age, and ought to be willing to remain at
home and let a younger man undertake this hard and dangerous journey.
But Franklin rejoiced at the thought of seeing the far North again.
He declared that he was only fifty-nine years of age, and that the
discovery of the northwest passage was the object nearest his heart.
Two ships, called the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, were given Franklin
for this voyage. These ships, propelled by steam screws, were the first
vessels of the kind ever used in the Arctic seas. It was thought that
the use of the steam screw instead of the paddle wheel would prove
of great value to navigators in seas where ice packs and heavy gales
were constantly to be feared. Great results, then, were expected from
the expedition fitted out in this improved manner. Franklin himself
took command of the _Erebus_, while Captain Crozier was given command
of the _Terror_. Sufficient provisions were put aboard the vessels to
provide for an absence of three years, and nothing was left undone that
promised to insure the safety and success of the expedition, or to
promote the health and comfort of the explorers.
The ships sailed from England on May 19, 1845. The men were in good
spirits and hopeful. They sailed north toward Lancaster sound, and on
the 26th of July, 1845, a whaling vessel, called the _Prince of Wales_,
sighted them in Melville bay, stuck fast in the ice. The captain of
the whaler received a visit from some of the exploring party, and was
invited to dine with Franklin, but a breeze sprang up suddenly, and the
ships parted company.
That was the last time the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, or any of the men
aboard those vessels, were ever seen. They appeared to have dropped off
the face of the earth.
When the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ had been absent two years, and no news
of them had been heard, many expeditions were sent out to hunt for
them. Some traces of the ships were discovered, and it is believed that
the vessels sailed northward through Lancaster sound to Beechey island,
where they wintered (1845–1846). On this island were found the graves
of two seamen marked with headboards showing the date of their death.
[Illustration: IN WINTER QUARTERS.]
It is thought that when spring came, the ships were released from the
ice and proceeded southward toward King William’s Land. While near to
King William’s Land the vessels were probably again caught in the pack.
The second winter, with its long, dark night, bitter cold, and absence
of proper food, must have been a gloomy one for these poor men.
If they were still alive when spring came, how they must have hoped
each day for the freeing of the ships! As the days passed and spring
grew to summer, summer to autumn, yet with no prospect of release from
the cruel pack, the situation became hopeless and intolerable.
All this misery came upon them with greater force because success
was so near. Franklin knew that a distance of but one hundred miles
separated him from the object of his search. Almost within reach of the
goal, here he was, locked in!
Though the ice did not break up, yet during the spring (May 24, 1847)
Franklin sent a party under the command of Lieutenant Graham Gore to
explore King William’s Land. This party reached Cape Herschel, a point
on the southern coast of King William’s Land, and in the distance saw
the continent of North America.
A navigable passage was known to exist along the northern coast of
America from Boothia to Bering strait. Franklin himself and Richardson
had discovered and surveyed the greater part of this extent of country.
Franklin had succeeded in reaching King William’s Land by entering the
Arctic from the Atlantic. Thus the discovery of the northwest passage
was reduced to the finding of a link which should connect these two
known waterways. This link was found by Graham Gore, when from Cape
Herschel he saw the American coast across a narrow channel of water.
So the credit of the discovery of the northwest passage must be given
to Franklin. Had it not been for the fact that his ships were beset in
the ice, Franklin would, without doubt, have sailed in 1846 from the
Atlantic to the Pacific along the northern coast of North America.
As it was, Lieutenant Gore’s discovery connected the two known
passages and established the fact that an open waterway existed. Gore
wrote a brief record of what his party had accomplished and left it on
the island, where it was found years later by men who were searching
for Franklin; but neither Franklin nor any of his heroic band lived to
tell in person the news of the discovery.
When Gore returned to the _Erebus_ he found Sir John very ill. He
probably came in time to inform Franklin that the northwest passage had
really been discovered. Let us hope so. Franklin passed peacefully away
June 11, 1847. He had lived a good life and left a glorious name behind
him.
Captain Crozier of the _Terror_ now took command of the expedition.
The prospect of a third winter in the ice made the bravest of the
men shrink, but it was too late in the season for them to leave the
ships. To do so would have been certain death. It is best not to try to
picture the misery of the third winter.
In the spring of 1848 there were one hundred and five men still living.
These half-starved creatures decided to leave the ships and travel by
sledges to the North American coast, where they hoped to meet some
Indians who would give them food and guide them to the Hudson Bay
settlements. Their dreadful march has been traced along the western
coast of King William’s Land, and perhaps a few of the party reached
the southern end of that island.
A number of Eskimos saw and camped with some of them, but would not
remain, fearing that there was not sufficient food for all. There is no
doubt that food gave out entirely, and that the men died of starvation.
Many years later an old Eskimo woman reported having seen a party of
white men traveling to the south. She said, “They fell down and died
as they walked along.” It is inspiring to think of the heroism of
these brave men who discovered the northwest passage. Their patience,
perseverance, and devotion to their work deserve our highest admiration.
In 1847, when, after two years of waiting, no news of the _Erebus_
or the _Terror_ came to England, great anxiety was aroused and many
searching expeditions were sent out. Lady Franklin offered a reward
of £2000 to any one who would bring her news of her husband or his
companions. Her courage and her determined efforts to trace the
lost vessels aroused the sympathy of the world. Lady Franklin spent
her entire private means in the search, and it is largely owing
to her efforts that we have any knowledge at all of her husband’s
accomplishment and of his final fate.
The English government also offered a large reward to any one who
would find the lost ships or crews. In the autumn of 1850 there were
fifteen vessels in the Arctic ocean, hunting for Franklin and his
ships. America joined England in the search, and as a result the Arctic
regions became far better known than ever before.
Several of these expeditions discovered traces of Franklin. McClintock
found the most important records. He erected on Beechey island a marble
slab which was sent out by Lady Franklin in memory of her husband and
his brave companions.
[Illustration: RELICS OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION.]
If you should go to London, you would find in Waterloo Place another
monument erected to the memory of Franklin. There is still another
at his home in Spilsby. Lady Franklin also erected a monument to her
husband in Westminster Abbey.
Although Sir John Franklin deserves the credit of the discovery of the
northwest passage, the first man who passed through this passage from
the Pacific to the Atlantic was Sir Robert McClure, who made the voyage
in 1854. McClure was sent to search for Franklin, and entered the
Arctic ocean through Bering strait. Being obliged to abandon his ship,
he, together with his crew, crossed the ice of Barrow strait by sledge,
where a relief party met them. This was the first and only expedition
that ever made the northwest passage, which, for purposes of trade, is
useless.
VI. ELISHA KENT KANE
1853
One of the most famous efforts to find Sir John Franklin was made by an
American, Mr. Henry Grinnell, of New York City. From his own private
means he furnished ships and most of their equipment for two separate
expeditions. The first Grinnell expedition, under the command of
Lieutenant De Haven, was sent out in 1850. It reached Beechey island
on August 27 of the same year, and assisted in the examination of
Franklin’s winter quarters there, but returned without wintering.
[Illustration: ELISHA KENT KANE.]
The second Grinnell expedition went out three years later. This was
commanded by a man who became almost as famous as Sir John Franklin
himself, Elisha Kent Kane. Kane had been with De Haven in 1850, and
thoroughly understood the work of Arctic exploration. He liked the
wild, exciting life, and he had an ardent desire to find the brave men
who had been lost, and to bring them home with him.
Kane’s plan was to pass up Baffin bay as far north as it was possible
to drive the ship. From that point he intended to proceed by boats or
sledges toward the pole, examining the coast lines along the way for
traces of the lost party.
The strongly built bark _Advance_ was selected for this journey, and
Kane set sail from New York with seventeen companions, in May, 1853.
After a month the _Advance_ reached Fiskernaes, a town on the Greenland
coast, inhabited chiefly by Eskimos. To these people a ship was a very
unusual sight, and they swarmed upon the rocks to gaze at the strange
newcomers. The Danish official who had charge of the colony welcomed
Kane and his companions hospitably.
[Illustration: FISKERNAES, GREENLAND.]
Kane had brought all the dried and salted provisions he could carry,
but he knew that his men would need fresh meat in order to keep well
in this climate. Besides, they had with them about fifty dogs for the
sledge journeys which Kane expected to make when the vessel could
no longer push her way through the ice. But Eskimo dogs have large
appetites and need plenty of fresh meat to keep them strong; a good
Eskimo hunter was needed to supply such food.
There was a boy about nineteen years of age in the town, named Hans
Christian, who was known to be very skillful in the use of the kayak
and the javelin. Kane called upon Hans to try his skill. Hans threw his
javelin and speared a bird on the wing. Kane said, “That is the man
for me,” and wished to engage him on the spot. But Hans said, “No, not
until you promise to give my mother two barrels of bread and fifty-two
pounds of pork.” Kane agreed, and then Hans went cheerfully on board
the _Advance_, certain that his mother would not suffer during his
absence.
Kane made one more landing on the Greenland coast, at Sukkertoppen. The
natives of this place collected reindeer skins, and had just sent four
thousand to Denmark. Kane bought a stock of skins for clothing, also a
large supply of sealskins for boots. The party then bade farewell to
the governor of the colony and put out to sea.