VOYAGE OF THE “TERROR.”
Back’s effort to reach Repulse Bay—Nine Months in the Ice—The
_Terror_ Nipped and Crushed—A General Disruption—Extreme
Peril—Increase of Pressure—Providential Delivery—Another Nip—Bow
of the Ship split—Preparations for Emergencies—The Crew—An early
break-up—Frozen again—A Tremendous Rush of Ice—The Day of Release.
Captain Back was in 1836 appointed to the command of an expedition to the
Arctic, partly formed for purposes of survey. He was instructed to proceed
to Repulse or Wager Bay, as the case might be; thence he was to take a
party across the intervening land to the eastern shore of Prince Regent’s
Islet. Among other explorations he was to examine the coast line as far as
the Point Turnagain of Franklin. It is unnecessary to go into further
details, as the expedition, geographically considered, was a failure. But
the voyage is, nevertheless, one of the most interesting on record, and
gives us a vivid picture, or series of pictures, of the dangers incurred
in the Arctic seas. The now historical _Terror_ was the vessel employed,
and the expedition left England on June 14th, 1836, crossing Davis’
Straits six weeks later, where an enormous iceberg, “the perpendicular
face of which was not less than 300 feet high,” was sighted. The vessel
soon became entangled in the ice-floes, and this was only the forerunner
of their subsequent experiences. For nine months they were wedged up with
massive ice, and four months of this time were, as Back expresses it, on
“an icy cradle,” lifted out of the water. On September 5th there was a
calm, and the whole of the officers and men were despatched to the only
open water at all near, where with axes, ice-chisels, hand-spikes, and
long poles, they began the laborious process of cutting away the “sludge”
that bound the broken ice together, and removing them into the clear
space. In this service they were frequently obliged to fasten lines to the
heavier masses and haul them out, but though slipping and tumbling about,
“the light-hearted fellows pulled in unison to a cheerful song, and
laughed and joked with the unreflecting merriment of schoolboys. Every now
and then some luckless wight broke through the thin ice and plunged up to
his neck; another endeavouring to remove a piece of ice by pushing against
a larger mass, would set himself adrift with it, and every such adventure
was followed by shouts of laughter and vociferous mirth.” These efforts at
releasing the ship were only partially successful, and she was soon again
surrounded by the ice. On the morning of September 20th a fresh breeze
stirred up the masses. “Shortly after 9 a.m. a floe piece split in two,
and the extreme violence of the pressure curled and crumbled up the
windward ice in an awful manner, forcing it against the beam fully
eighteen feet high. The ship creaked as it were in agony, and strong as
she was must have been stove and crushed had not some of the smaller
masses been forced under her bottom, and so diminished the strain by
actually lifting her bow nearly two feet out of the water. In this
perilous crisis steps were taken to have everything in readiness for
hoisting out the barge, and, without creating unnecessary alarm, the
officers and men were called on the quarter-deck, and desired, in case of
emergency, to be active in the performance of their duties at the
respective stations then notified to them. It was a serious moment for
all, as the pressure still continued, nor could we expect much, if any,
abatement until the wind changed.
[Illustration: THE “TERROR” NIPPED IN THE ICE.]
“At noon the weather and our prospects remained the same. The barometer
was falling, and the temperature was 26°-, with unceasing snow. Much ice
had been sunk under her bottom, and a doubt existed whether it was not
finding its way beneath the lee floe also; for the uplifted ruins, within
fifty paces of the weather beam, were advancing slowly towards us like an
immense wave fraught with destruction. Resistance would not, could not,
have been effectual beyond a few seconds; for what of human construction
could withstand the impact of an icy continent driven onward by a furious
storm? In the meantime symptoms too unequivocal to be misunderstood
demonstrated the intensity of the pressure. The butt-ends began to start,
and the copper in which the galley apparatus was fixed became creased,
sliding-doors refused to shut, and leaks found access through the
bolt-heads and bull’s-eyes. On sounding the well, too, an increase of
water was reported, not sufficient to excite apprehension in itself, but
such as to render hourly pumping necessary. Moved by these indications,
and to guard against the worst, I ordered the provisions and preserved
meats, with various other necessaries, to be got up from below and stowed
on deck, so as to be ready at a moment to be thrown upon the large floe
alongside. To add to our anxiety night closed prematurely, when suddenly,
from some unknown cause, in which, if we may so deem without presumption,
the finger of Providence was manifest, the floe which threatened instant
destruction turned so as in a degree to protect us against an increase of
pressure, though for several hours after the same creaking and grinding
sounds continued to annoy our ears. The barometer and the other
instruments fell with a regularity unprecedented, yet the gale was broken,
and by midnight it had abated considerably.
“Sept. 21st. There was a lateral motion in some pieces of the surrounding
ice, and, after several astounding thumps under water against the bottom,
the ship, which had been lifted high beyond the line of flotation, and
thrown somewhat over to port, suddenly started up and almost righted.
Still, however, she inclined more than was agreeable to port, nor was it
until one mass of ponderous dimensions burst from its imprisonment below
that she altogether regained her upright position. On beholding the walls
of ice on either side between which she had been nipped, I was astonished
at the tremendous force she had sustained.” Her mould was stamped as
perfectly as in a die. Astonishment, however, soon yielded to a more
grateful feeling, an admiration of the genius and mechanical skill by
which the _Terror_ had been so ably prepared for this service. There were
many old Greenland seamen on board, and they were unanimously of opinion
that no ship they had ever seen could have resisted such a pressure. On
sounding the well she was found not to leak, though the carpenters had
employment enough in caulking the seams on deck.
They had now been a month beset, and were about to attempt the cutting of
a dock in the ice round the ship, when there was a general commotion, and
the entire body by which they were hampered separated into single pieces,
tossing into heaps, and grinding to powder whatever interrupted its
course. The ship bore well up against this hurly-burly, but the situation
was not improved. For several days the _Terror_ was in a helpless
condition, her stern raised seven and a half feet above its proper
position, and her bows correspondingly depressed, by the pressure of huge
ice-masses. Her deck was in consequence a slippery and dangerous inclined
plane.
On October 1st the vessel gradually righted, and the men were kept
employed in building snow-walls round the ship, and in the erection of an
observatory on the floe. “Meantime,” says Back, “we were not unobservant
of the habits and dispositions of the crew, hastily gathered together, and
for the most part composed of people who had never before been out of a
collier. Some half a dozen, indeed, had served in Greenland vessels, but
the laxity which is there permitted rendered them little better than the
former. A few men-of-wars-men who were also on board were worth the whole
put together. The want of discipline and of attention to personal comfort
was most conspicuous; and though the wholesome regulations practised in
His Majesty’s service were most rigidly attended to in the _Terror_, yet
such was the unsociability, though without any ill-will, that it was only
by a steady and undeviating system pursued by the first lieutenant that
they were brought at all together with the feeling of messmates. At first,
though nominally in the same mess, and eating at the same table, many of
them would secrete their allowance, with other unmanly and unsailor-like
practices. This was another proof added to the many I had already
witnessed, how greatly discipline improves the mind and manners, and how
much the regular service men are to be preferred for all hazardous or
difficult enterprises. Reciprocity of kindnesses, a generous and
self-denying disposition, a spirit of frankness, a hearty and above-board
manner—these are the true characteristics of the British seaman, and the
want of these is seldom compensated by other qualities. In our case—and I
mention this merely to show the difference of olden and modern times—there
were only three or four in the ship who could not write. All read, some
recited whole pages of poetry, others sang French songs. Yet, with all
this, had they been left to themselves I verily believe a more unsociable,
suspicious, and uncomfortable set of people could not have been found. Oh,
if the two are incompatible, give me the old Jack Tar, who would stand out
for his ship, and give his life for his messmates.” Back, in common with
so many Arctic commanders before and since, saw the necessity of occupying
and amusing his men; and on the 22nd October a general masquerade was held
on board, which gave rise to much hilarity and fun. Later, theatrical
entertainments were organised.
Some observations by Back on the gradual growth of ice, by layers forced
together above or underneath, will explain the apparent discrepancies in
Arctic works, where one reads of ice of so many different thicknesses
formed in the same winter. It is probable that the very thick ice found in
many parts of floes is formed by an accumulation of such layers, cemented
together in bights or bays, sheltered by projecting capes or headlands,
and less liable to disturbance from currents and tides; for they had
ocular demonstration, that with a very low temperature and calm weather,
in the severest portion of the winter, no addition of bulk takes place
from the surface downwards when protected, as their floe was, by a hard
coating of snow and drift. The doubling and packing of ice during gales of
wind and when exposed to severe pressure, as well as the growth and the
extensive fields, are phenomena which the attentive observations of modern
voyagers have rendered familiar; and by an extension of the above remark,
another explanation besides the action of the waves (for the mere heat of
the sun has little influence) is afforded as to how the destruction of the
immense fields of ice is effected, not, indeed, by pointing out the agents
of the destruction, but by showing how little may in many instances be
added in successive winters to the bulk to be destroyed. The fact that no
new deposition takes place underneath seems also at once to account for
the decayed and wasting appearance, which every one accustomed to polar
navigation must have noticed in what is called the old ice, of which
sailors will sometimes say—“Aye, sir, that piece is older than I am, but
it cannot last above another summer.” The writer well remembers the idea
of age, in another form, being associated with snow: “That there snow,”
said one of the sailors to him, “is three hundred year old, if it’s a day.
Why, don’t you see the wrinkles all over the face of it?” Every one has
noticed the wrinkles and ridges in snow, but the idea of associating great
age with them was original.
The winter passed slowly, with many false and some true alarms of the ice
being in motion. On February 20th they were in imminent peril. For three
hours after midnight the ice opened and shut, threatening to crack the
vessel like a nutshell. At 4 a.m. the whole of the ice was in motion,
great fissures opening on every side. Back writes:—“After 8 a.m. we had
some quiet; and at divisions I thought it necessary to address the crew,
reminding them, as Christians and British seamen, they were called upon to
conduct themselves with coolness and fortitude, and that independently of
the obligations imposed by the Articles of War, every one ought to be
influenced by the still higher motive of a conscientious desire to perform
his duty. I gave them to understand that I expected from one and all, in
the event of any disaster, an implicit obedience to and energetic
execution of every order that they might receive from the officers, as
well as kind and compassionate help to the sick. On their observance of
these injunctions, I warned them, our ultimate safety might depend. Some
fresh articles of warm clothing were then dealt out to them; and as the
moment of destruction was uncertain, I desired that the small bags in
which those things were contained should be placed on deck with the
provisions, so as to be ready at an instant. The forenoon was spent in
getting up bales of blankets, bear-skins, provisions, pyroligneous acid
for fuel, and, in short, whatever might be necessary if the ship should be
suddenly broken up; and spars were rigged over, the quarters to hoist them
out. Meanwhile the ice moved but little, though the hour of full moon was
passed; but at noon it began to drift slowly to the northward. We were now
from five to eight miles of the nearest land.
[Illustration: BACK ADDRESSING THE SEAMEN.]
“Though I had seen vast bodies of ice from Spitzbergen to 150° west
longitude under various aspects, some beautiful, and all more or less
awe-inspiring, I had never witnessed, nor even imagined, anything so
fearfully magnificent as the moving towers and ramparts that now frowned
on every side. Had the still extensive pieces of which the floe was formed
split and divided like those further off, the effect would have been far
less injurious to the ship; but though cracked and rent, the parts, from
some inexplicable cause, closed again for a time, and drove with
accelerated and almost irresistible force against the defenceless vessel.
In the forenoon the other boats were hoisted higher up, to save them from
damage in the event of the ship being thrown much over on her broadside.
For three hours we remained unmolested, though the ice outside of the floe
was moving in various directions, some pieces almost whirling round, and
of course, in the effort, disturbing others. At 5 p.m., however, the piece
near the ship having previously opened enough to allow of her resuming a
nearly upright position, collapsed again with a force that made every
plank complain; and further pressure being added at 6 o’clock, an ominous
cracking was heard, that only ceased on her being lifted bodily up
eighteen inches. The same unwelcome visitation was repeated an hour
afterwards in consequence of the closing of a narrow lane directly astern.
The night was very fine, but the vapour which arose from the many cracks
as well as from the small open space alongside, quickly becoming converted
into small spiculæ of snow, rendered the cold intolerably keen to those
who faced the wind. Up to midnight we were not much annoyed, and for four
hours afterwards, on February 21st, all was quiet. Every man had gone to
rest with his clothes on, and was agreeably surprised on being so long
undisturbed by the usual admonitory grinding. However, at 4 a.m. a
commotion was heard, which appeared to be confined to the angle contained
between west and north-west. On looking round at daybreak it was found
that the ship had been released by the retreating of the ice, and had
nearly righted; but at 5 a.m. she rose eighteen inches as before; she was
then at intervals jerked up from the pressure underneath, with a groan
each time from the woodwork.” And so it went on from day to day, Back and
his men being kept incessantly at their duties, and constantly at work
examining, and, where it was possible, strengthening the ship. Up to the
middle of March they were, however, still safe, but on the 15th they were
destined to witness trials of a more awful nature.
“While we were gliding quickly along the land,” says Back—“which I may
here remark, had become more broken and rocky, though without obtaining an
altitude of more than perhaps one or two hundred feet—at 1.45 p.m.,
without the least warning, a heavy rush came upon the ship, and, with a
tremendous pressure on the larboard quarter, bore her over upon the heavy
mass upon her starboard quarter. The strain was severe in every part,
though from the forecastle she appeared to be moving in the easiest manner
towards the land ice. Suddenly, however, a loud crack was heard below the
mainmast, as if the keel were broken or carried away; and simultaneously
the outer stern-post from the ten-feet mark was split down to an unknown
extent, and projected to the larboard side upwards of three feet. The ship
was thrown up by the stern to the seven-and-a-half feet mark; and that
damage had been done was soon placed beyond doubt by the increase of
leakage, which now amounted to three feet per hour. Extra pumps were
worked, and while some of the carpenters were fixing diagonal shores
forward, others were examining the orlops and other parts. It was reported
to me by the first lieutenant, master, and carpenter, that nothing could
be detected inside, though apprehensions were entertained by the two
former that some serious injury had been inflicted. In spite of the
commotion the different pieces of our floe still remained firm; but being
unable to foresee what might take place in the night, I ordered the
cutters and two whale-boats to be lowered down, and hauled with their
stores to places considered more secure; this was accordingly done, though
not under two hours and a half, even with the advantage of daylight. The
ship was still setting fast along shore, and much too close to the fixed
ice; but it was not till past 8 p.m. that any suspicious movement was
noticed near us; then, however, a continually increasing rush was heard,
which at 10.45 p.m. came on with a heavy roar towards the larboard
quarter, upturning in its progress and rolling onward with it an immense
wall of ice. This advanced so fast that though all hands were immediately
called they had barely time, with the greatest exertion, to extricate
three of the boats, one of them, in fact, being hoisted up when only a few
feet from the crest of the solid wave, which held a steady course directly
for the quarter, almost overtopping it, and continuing to elevate itself
until about twenty-five feet high. A piece had just reached the rudder
slung athwart the stern, and at the moment when, to all appearances, both
that and a portion at least of the framework were expected to be staved in
and buried beneath the ruins, the motion ceased; at the same time the
crest of the nearest part of the wave toppled over, leaving a deep wall
extending from thence beyond the quarter. The effect of the whole was a
leak in the extreme run, oozing, as far as could be ascertained, from
somewhere about the sternpost. It ran in along the lining like a rill for
about half an hour, when it stopped, probably closed by a counter
pressure. The other leaks could be kept under by the incessant use of one
pump.
“Our intervals of repose were now very short, for at 12.50 a.m., March
16th, another rush drove irresistibly on the larboard quarter and stern,
and, forcing the ship ahead, raised her upon the ice. A chaotic ruin
followed; our poor and cherished courtyard, its walls and arched doors,
gallery, and well-trodden paths, were rent, and in some parts ploughed up
like dust. The ship was careened fully four streaks, and sprang a leak as
before. Scarcely were ten minutes left us for the expression of our
astonishment that anything of human build could outlive such assaults,
when, at 1 a.m., another equally violent rush succeeded; and, in its way
towards the starboard quarter, threw up a rolling wave thirty feet high,
crowned by a blue square mass of many tons, resembling the entire side of
a house, which, after hanging for some time in doubtful poise on the
ridge, at length fell with a crash into the hollow, in which, as in a
cavern, the after-part of the ship seemed imbedded. It was indeed an awful
crisis, rendered more frightful from the mistiness of the night and
dimness of the moon. The poor ship cracked and trembled violently; and no
one could say that the next minute would not be her last, and, indeed, his
own too, for with her our means of safety would probably perish. The leak
continued, and again (most likely as before, from counter pressure) the
principal one closed up. When all this was over, and there seemed to be a
chance of a respite, I ordered a double allowance of preserved meat, &c.,
to be issued to the crew, whose long exposure to the cold rendered some
extra stimulant necessary. Until 4 a.m. the rushes still kept coming from
different directions, but fortunately with diminished force. From that
hour to 8 a.m. everything was still, and the ice quite stationary,
somewhat to the westward of the singular point, terminating as it were in
a knob, which was the farthest eastern extreme yesterday. We certainly
were not more than three miles from the barren and irregular land abeam,
which received the name of Point Terror. To this was attached a rugged
shelf of what for the time might be called shore ice, having at its
seaward face a mural ridge of unequal, though in many parts imposing,
height, certainly not less than from fifty to sixty feet.”
At last the long-delayed day of release drew nigh. The ship had now been
three-fourths of a year enclosed in the ice, with which it had drifted
several hundred miles, when, on July 11th, “the crew had resumed their
customary labour, and, as they drew nearer to the stern-post, various
noises and crackings beneath them plainly hinted that something more than
usual was in progress. After breakfast I visited them and the other
parties as previously stated. Scarcely had I taken a few turns on deck and
descended to my cabin when a loud rumbling notified that the ship had
broken her icy bonds, and was sliding gently down into her own element. I
ran instantly on deck, and joined in the cheers of the officers and men,
who, dispersed on different pieces of ice, took this significant method of
expressing their feelings. It was a sight not to be forgotten. Standing on
the taffrail, I saw the dark bubbling water below, and enormous masses of
ice gently vibrating and springing to the surface; the first lieutenant
was just climbing over the stern, while other groups were standing apart,
separated by this new gulf; and the spars, together with working
implements, were resting half in the water, half on the ice, whilst the
saw, the instrument whereby this sudden effect had been produced, was bent
double, and in that position forcibly detained by the body it had
severed.” Having cut to within four feet of the stern-post, the crew had
ceased work for a few moments, when the disruption took place, barely
giving them time to clamber up as they could for safety. Shortly
afterwards a very curious incident occurred. The _Terror_ was almost
capsized by a small submerged berg which had been released by the breaking
up of the floe. On July 14th the ship righted; and from that time to their
arrival in England, after they had managed to patch up, caulk, and render
her seaworthy, little of special interest occurred. It is questionable
whether any vessel has ever gone through more of the special perils which
beset ice navigation than did the _Terror_; but although terribly
shattered, we shall meet her again staunchly braving the dangers of the
Arctic.