Ice Conditions of the Summer of 1905.
The report by the whalers of the ice conditions of the summer of 1905
is of interest to Arctic navigators. They say that the ice that drove
into Behring’s sea from the north-east and prevented their exit left
that part of the ocean almost free of ice, a very unusual thing; and
one of the captains is reported to have said that he was strongly
tempted to set sail for the pole, as in his experience of twenty or
twenty-five years he had never seen what seemed so good an opportunity
of winning fame by such a venture. But on consideration he decided to
stick to his commission which was to capture whales and not the Pole.
That these reports are correct is borne out by the fact that Captain
Amundsen, who has since discovered the South Pole, was exploring along
the north-east coast, in 1905, finding open water to the west set
sail in that direction, and to his surprise soon found himself in
the company of these whalers near the mouth of the Mackenzie. He was
compelled to go into winter quarters, and laid up with them at Herschel
Island till the summer of my visit when he succeeded in getting out
through Behring’s Strait, being the first to make the entire north-west
passage. During the previous winter he made an overland journey out to
the Yukon and returned again to his ship, the _Gjoa_.
The following season he succeeded along with the whalers in navigating
Behring’s Strait into the Pacific and thence proceeded around Cape Horn
and back to Denmark.
Strange to say that after so many attempts to make the north-west
passage it was accomplished at last quite unexpectedly. Captain
Amundsen’s Mission into these Arctic waters was made for the purpose of
locating the position of the magnetic pole. He succeeded in this and
found it where Ross had located it many years before.
The arrival of the _Wrigley_ was hailed with great rejoicing by the
people of the village, but the arrival of the “Permits,” accompanied
also by the article permitted rather demoralised the community during
my few days’ sojourn there, but I was informed that the limited supply
brought in had been exhausted before I left, and that for the next
twelve months McPherson would be a model prohibition town.
The Indian thinks not of the morrow and certainly obeys the injunction
not to lay up treasures on earth whatever provisions he may make for
his future home.
The _Wrigley_ was to remain only a couple of days at this post and
then start back on her return trip, and the time had not arrived when
I had to decide whether I would return with her or find my way back to
civilisation by a different route. I chose the latter, fully realising
that in one sense my journey was only now commencing, and as I watched
her disappear from sight and walked alone up the bank at midnight the
weirdness of the situation seemed all at once to dawn vividly upon me.
The sun just a few degrees below the horizon cast its after-glow all
over the northern sky. The old familiar polestar barely discernible
hung high in the Arctic heavens, while other stars unfamiliar to me
lay low along the northern horizon. I was now here alone, and certainly
in a strange land. Turning to the south I could not help reflecting
on the vastness of the wilderness, made up of mountains and plain, of
forest, lake and river that lay between this lonely village and the
settlements of this Dominion 2000 miles away, occupying a mere fringe
along the southern border of our possessions.
[Illustration:
_Copyright Ernest Brown_
FORT MCPHERSON]