Errors in Franklin's records--Relics found at the cairn--Reflections
on the retreat--Returning homeward--Geological remarks--Difficulties
of summer sledging--Arrive on board the 'Fox'--Navigable N.W.
passage--Death from scurvy--Anxiety for Captain Young--Young returns
safely.
{JUNE, 1859.}
{POINT VICTORY.}
On the morning of 2nd June we reached Point Victory. Here Hobson's note
left for me in the cairn informed me that he had not found the slightest
trace either of a wreck anywhere upon the coast, or of natives to the
north of Cape Crozier.
Although somewhat short of provisions, I determined to remain a day here
in order to examine an opening at the Bottom of Back Bay, called so
after Sir George Back, by his friend Sir James Ross, and which had not
been explored. This proved to be an inlet nearly 13 miles deep, with an
average width of 1-1/2 or 2 miles; I drove round it upon the dog sledge,
but found no trace of human beings; it was filled with heavy old ice,
and was therefore unfavorable for the resort of seals, and consequently
of natives also.
The direction of the inlet is to the E.S.E.; we found the land on either
side rose as we advanced up it, and attained a considerable elevation,
except immediately across its head, where alone it was very low; I have
conferred upon it the name of Collinson, after one who will ever be
distinguished in connection with the Franklin search, and who kindly
relieved Lady Franklin of much trouble by taking upon himself the
financial business of this expedition.
An extensive bay, westward of Cape Herschel, I have named after Captain
Washington, the hydrographer, a steadfast supporter of this final
search.
All the intermediate coast-line along which the retreating crews
performed their fearful march is sacred to their names alone.
Hobson's note informed me of his having found a second record, deposited
also by Lieut. Gore in May, 1847, upon the south side of Back Bay, but
it afforded no additional information.
{ERRORS IN FRANKLIN'S RECORDS.}
It is strange that both these papers state the ships to have wintered in
1846-7 at Beechey Island! So obvious a mistake would hardly have been
made had any importance been attached to these documents. They were
soldered up in thin tin cylinders, having been filled up on board prior
to the departure of the travellers; consequently the day upon which they
were _deposited_ was not filled in; but already the papers were much
damaged by rust,--a very few more years would have rendered them wholly
illegible. When the record left at Point Victory was opened to add
thereto the supplemental information which gives it its chief value,
Captain Fitzjames, as may be concluded by the color of the ink, filled
in the date--28th--in May, when the record was originally deposited. The
cylinder containing this record had not been soldered up again; I
suppose they had not the means of doing so; it was found on the ground
amongst a few loose stones which had evidently fallen along with it from
the top of the cairn. Hobson removed every stone of this cairn down to
the ground and rebuilt it.
Brief as these records are, we must needs be contented with them; they
are perfect models of official brevity. No log-book could be more
provokingly laconic. Yet, that _any record at all_ should be deposited
after the abandonment of the ships, does not seem to have been intended;
and we should feel the more thankful to Captains Crozier and Fitzjames,
to whom we are indebted for the invaluable supplement; and our gratitude
ought to be all the greater when we remember that the ink had to be
thawed, and that writing in a tent during an April day in the Arctic
regions is by no means an easy task.
Besides placing a copy of the record taken away by Hobson from the
cairn, we both put records of our own in it; and I also buried one under
a large stone ten feet true north from it, stating the explorations and
discoveries we had made.
{RELICS AT THE CAIRN.}
A great quantity and variety of things lay strewed about the cairn, such
as even in their three days' march from the ships the retreating crews
found it impossible to carry further. Amongst these were four heavy sets
of boat's cooking stoves, pickaxes, shovels, iron hoops, old canvas, a
large single block, about four feet of a copper lightning conductor,
long pieces of hollow brass curtain rods, a small case of selected
medicines containing about twenty-four phials, the contents in a
wonderful state of preservation; a deep circle by Robinson, with two
needles, bar magnets, and light horizontal needle all complete, the
whole weighing only nine pounds; and even a small sextant engraved with
the name of "Frederick Hornby" lying beside the cairn without its case.
The colored eye-shades of the sextant had been taken out, otherwise it
was perfect; the movable screws and such parts as come in contact with
the observer's hand were neatly covered with thin leather to prevent
frost-bite in severe weather.
The clothing left by the retreating crews of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror'
formed a huge heap four feet high; every article was searched, but the
pockets were empty, and not one of all these articles were
marked,--indeed sailors' warm clothing seldom is. Two canteens, the
property of marines, were found, one marked "88 C^o. Wm. Hedges," and
the other "89 C^o. Wm. Hether." A small pannikin made out of a
two-pound preserved-meat tin had scratched on it "W. Mark."
When continuing my homeward march, and, as nearly as I could judge,
2-1/2 or 2-3/4 miles to the north of Point Victory, I saw a few stones
placed in line, as if across the head of a tenting place to afford some
shelter; here it was I think that Lieutenant Gore deposited the record
in May, 1847, which was found in 1848 by Lieutenant Irving, and finally
deposited at Point Victory. Some scraps of tin vessels were lying about,
but whether they had been left by Sir James Ross' party in May, 1830, or
by the Franklin Expedition in 1847 or 1848, is uncertain.[25]
Here ended my own search for traces of the lost ones. Hobson found two
other cairns, and many relics, between this position and Cape Felix.
From each place where any trace was discovered the most interesting of
the relics were taken away, so that the collection we have made is very
considerable.
{REFLECTIONS AT THE RETREAT.}
Of these northern cairns I will write a description when I have received
Hobson's account of his journey; but here it is as well to state his
opinion, as well as my own, that no part of the coast between Cape Felix
and Cape Crozier has been visited by Esquimaux since the fatal march of
the lost crews in April, 1848; none of the cairns or numerous articles
strewed about--which would be invaluable to the natives--or even the
driftwood we noticed, had been touched by them. From this very
significant fact it seems quite certain that they had not been
discovered by the Esquimaux, whose knowledge of the "white men falling
down and dying as they walked along" must be limited to the shore-line
southward and eastward of Cape Crozier, and where, of course, no traces
were permitted to remain for us to find. It is not probable that such
fearful mortality would have overtaken them so early in their march as
within 80 miles by sledge-route from the abandoned ships--such being
their distance from Cape Crozier; nor is it probable that we could have
passed the wreck had she existed there, as there are no off-lying
islands to prevent a ship drifting in upon the beach; whilst to the
southward they are very numerous; so much so that a drifting ship could
hardly run the gauntlet between them so as to reach the shore.
The coast from Point Victory northward is considerably higher than that
upon which we have been so many days; the sea also is not so shallow,
and the ice comes close in; to seaward all was heavy close pack,
consisting of all descriptions of ice, but for the most part old and
heavy.
{RETURNING HOMEWARD.}
From Walls' Bay I crossed overland to the eastern shore, and reached my
depôt near the entrance of Port Parry on the 5th June, after an absence
of thirty-four days. Hence I purposed travelling alongshore to Cape
Sabine, in order to avoid the rough ice which we encountered when
crossing direct from Cape Victoria in April, and also hoping to obtain a
few more observations for the magnetic inclination.
The weather became foggy as we approached Prince George's Bay, therefore
we were obliged to go well into it before attempting to cross. We gained
the land--upon the opposite side, as I supposed--and which would lead us
direct to Cape Sabine; but when the weather cleared up we saw a long low
island to seaward of us, which puzzled me much. Eventually I found we
had discovered a strait leading from Prince George's Bay into Wellington
Strait, about 8 miles south of Cape Sabine.
This discovery cost us a day's delay, and was therefore unwelcome, as we
were then in daily expectation and dread of the thaw, which renders all
travelling so very difficult; and we were still 230 long miles from our
ship. In this strait we found a deserted snow village of seventeen huts;
one of them was unusually large, its internal diameter being 14 feet.
The men soon scraped together enough blubber to supply us with fuel for
our homeward march. Strewed about on the ice or in every snow-hut were
shavings and chips of fresh wood; in one of them I found a child's
toy--a miniature sledge--made of wood. No traces of natives were found
upon either shore at this place, nor had I met with any since leaving
the western coast of the island to the southward of Cape Crozier.
Having passed through nearly to the eastern end of the strait, we cut
off some distance by crossing overland, so as to reach the sea-coast 3
or 4 miles southward of Cape Sabine. A few willow-grouse, two foxes, and
a young reindeer were seen. There was some vegetation upon the land, and
animals appeared to resort to this locality in tolerable abundance; the
contrast between it and the low, barren shore we had so recently come
from was striking indeed!
{GEOLOGICAL REMARKS.}
Nothing can exceed the gloom and desolation of the western coast of King
William's Island: Hobson and myself had some considerable experience of
it; his sojourn there exceeded a month; its climate seems different from
that of the eastern coast; it is more exposed to north-west winds, and
the air was almost constantly loaded with chilling fogs. Everywhere upon
the shores of the island I noticed boulders of dark gneiss; upon the
west coast they were generally small, and of a dark gray color. About
the north part of the island Hobson found a good deal of sandstone, the
probable result of ice-drift from Melville Island or Banks Land.
This land gives one the idea of its having risen within a recent
geological period from the sea--not suddenly, but at regular intervals;
the numerous terraces or beach-marks form long horizontal lines, rising
very gradually, and in due proportion as their distance increases from
the sea; near the shore they are, of course, most distinct. Upon the
west coast some fossils were picked up, chiefly impressions of shells.
King William's Island is for the most part extremely barren, and its
surface clotted over with innumerable ponds and lakes. It is not by any
means the "land abounding with reindeer and musk oxen" which we expected
to find: the natives told us there were none of the latter and very few
of the former upon it.
{BOOTHIA FELIX.}
On the 8th June the first ducks and brent geese were seen flying
northward. Passing over the extreme point of Cape Victoria, Boothia
Land, near which we saw the deserted snow-huts of our March
acquaintances, and shortly afterwards crossing the mouth of the deep bay
to the north of it, in which, sheltered by the island, a ship would find
security from ice pressure, and very tolerable winter quarters, we again
reached the straight low limestone coast of Boothia Felix.
{THE MAGNETIC INCLINATION.}
I was unable to make any delay at the Magnetic Pole, nor could I find a
trace of Ross' cairn;[26] but at each of our encampments along the
coast the magnetic inclination was carefully observed. Throughout my
whole journey I availed myself of every opportunity of obtaining these
most interesting observations, often remaining up, after we had encamped
for rest, six or seven hours in order to do so; but the instruments
supplied for this purpose were not well adapted, and occasioned me a
vast deal of labor and loss of time, so as to diminish to almost
one-third the results I should otherwise have obtained. Much snow has
disappeared off the land; and the ridges or ancient beaches, being the
parts most free from snow, showed out strongly in long, dark, horizontal
lines, rising above each other until lost to view in the interior. Here
and there a few fossil shells and corals were picked up, and four or
five willow-grouse shot.
_13th June._--We passed from limestone to granite in lat. 71° 10' N.
Here the land attains to considerable elevation. In the hollows of the
dark granite rocks we found abundance of water, and also in a few places
upon the sea-ice; it was quite evident that in another day or two the
snow would altogether yield to the warmth of summer; birds were now
frequently seen.
We discovered a narrow channel to the eastward of the one between the
Tasmania Group, through which we had passed with so much difficulty in
April; our new channel was covered with smooth ice, and was also much
shorter.
{ILLNESS OF HOBSON.}
At one of our depôts lately visited, a note left by Hobson informed me
of his being six days in advance of me, and also of his own serious
illness; for many days past he had been unable to walk, and was
consequently conveyed upon the sledge; his men were hastening home with
all their strength and speed, in order to get him under the Doctor's
care. We also were doing our best to push on, lest the bursting out of
melting snow from the various ravines should render the ice impassable.
On the 15th the snow upon the ice everywhere yielded to the effects of
increased temperature; I was, indeed, most thankful at its having
remained firm so long. To make any progress at all after this date was
of course a very great labor, requiring the utmost efforts of both the
men and the dogs; nor was the freezing mixture through which we trudged
by any means agreeable; we were often more than knee-deep in it.
We succeeded in reaching False Strait on the morning of the 18th June,
and pitched our tent just as heavy rain began to descend; it lasted
throughout the greater part of the day. After travelling a few miles
upon the Long Lake, further progress was found to be quite impossible,
and we were obliged to haul our sledges up off the flooded ice, and
commence a march of 16 or 17 miles overland for the ship. The poor dogs
were so tired and sore-footed, that we could not induce them to follow
us; they remained about the sledges. After a very fatiguing scramble
across the hills and through the snow valleys we were refreshed with a
sight of our poor dear lonely little 'Fox,' and arrived on board in time
for a late breakfast on the 19th June.
{NAVIGABLE N.W. PASSAGE.}
With respect to a _navigable_ North-West Passage, and to the probability
of our having been able last season to make any considerable advance to
the southward, had the barrier of ice across the western outlet of
Bellot Strait permitted us to reach the open water beyond, I think,
judging from what I have since seen of the ice in the Franklin Strait,
that the chances were greatly in favor of our reaching Cape Herschel, on
the S. side of King William's Land, by passing (as I intended to do)
_eastward_ of that island.
From Bellot Strait to Cape Victoria we found a mixture of old and new
ice, showing the exact proportion of pack and of clear water at the
setting in of winter. Once to the southward of the Tasmania Group, I
think our chief difficulty would have been overcome; and south of Cape
Victoria I doubt whether any further obstruction would have been
experienced, as but little, if any, ice remained. The natives told us
the ice went away, and left a clear sea every year. As our discoveries
show the Victoria Strait to be but little more than 20 miles wide, the
ice pressed southward through so narrow a space could hardly have
prevented our crossing to Victoria Land, and Cambridge Bay, the
wintering place reached by Collinson, from the _west_.
No one who sees that portion of Victoria Strait which lies between King
William's Island and Victoria Land, as we saw it, could doubt of there
being but one way of getting a ship through it, that way being the
_extremely_ hazardous one of drift through in the pack.
The wide channel between Prince of Wales' Land and Victoria Land admits
a vast and continuous stream of very heavy ocean formed ice from the
N.W., which presses upon the western face of King William's Island, and
chokes up Victoria Strait in the manner I have just described. I do not
think the North-West Passage could ever be sailed through by passing
westward--that is, to windward--of King William's Island.
If the season was so favorable for navigation as to open the northern
part of this western sea[27] (as, for instance, in 1846, when Sir J.
Franklin sailed down it), I think but comparatively little difficulty
would be experienced in the more southern portion of it until Victoria
Strait was reached. Had Sir John Franklin known that a channel existed
eastward of King William's _Land_ (so named by Sir John Ross), I do not
think he would have risked the besetment of his ships in such very heavy
ice to the westward of it; but had he attempted the north-west passage
by the _eastern_ route, he would probably have carried his ships safely
through to Behring Strait. But Franklin was furnished with charts which
indicated no passage to the eastward of King William's Land, and made
that land (since discovered by Rae to be an island) a peninsula attached
to the continent of North America; and he consequently had but one
course open to him, and that the one he adopted.
My own preference for the route by the east side of the island is
founded upon the observations and experience of Rae and Collinson in
1851-2-4. I am of opinion that the barrier of ice off Bellot Strait,
some 3 or 4 miles wide, was the only obstacle to our carrying the 'Fox,'
according to my original intention, southward to the Great Fish River,
passing _east_ of King William's Island, and from thence to a wintering
position on Victoria Land. Perhaps some future voyager, profiting by the
experience so fearfully and fatally acquired by the Franklin expedition,
and the observations of Rae, Collinson, and myself, may succeed in
carrying his ship through from sea to sea: at least he will be enabled
to direct all his efforts in the true and only direction. In the mean
time to Franklin must be assigned the earliest discovery of the
North-West Passage, though not the actual accomplishment of it in his
ships.[28]
{JULY, 1859.}
_Saturday, 2nd July._--Upon my arrival on board on the morning of the
19th June, my first inquiries were about Hobson; I found him in a worse
state than I expected. He reached the ship on the 14th, unable to walk,
or even stand without assistance; but already he was beginning to amend,
and was in excellent spirits. Christian had shot several ducks, which,
with preserved potato, milk, strong ale, and lemon-juice, completed a
very respectable dietary for a scurvy-stricken patient. All the rest
were tolerably well; slight traces only of scurvy in two or three of the
men. The ship was as clean and trim as I could expect, and all had well
and cheerfully performed their duties during my absence; hardly any game
had been shot, except one bear.
{DEATH FROM SCURVY.}
The Doctor now acquainted me with the death of Thomas Blackwell, ship's
steward, which occurred only five days previously, and was occasioned
by scurvy. This man had scurvy when I left the ship in April, and no
means were left untried by the Doctor to promote the recovery and rally
his desponding energies; but his mind, unsustained by hope, lost all
energy, and at last he had to be forcibly taken upon deck for fresh air.
For months past the ship's spirits had been of necessity removed from
under his control.
When too late his shipmates made it known that he had a dislike to
preserved meats, and had lived the whole winter upon salt pork! He also
disliked preserved potato, and would not eat it unless watched, nor
would he put on clean clothes which others in charity prepared for him.
Yet his death was somewhat unexpected; he went on deck as usual to walk
in the middle of the day, and, when found there, was quite dead. His
remains were buried beside those of our late shipmate Mr. Brand.
{ANXIETY FOR CAPTAIN YOUNG.}
The news of our success to the southward in tracing the footsteps of the
lost expedition greatly revived the spirits of my small crew; we wished
only for the safe and speedy return of Young and his party.
Captain Young commenced his spring explorations on the 7th April, with a
sledge-party of four men, and a second sledge drawn by six dogs under
the management of our Greenlander, Samuel; finding in his progress that
a channel existed between Prince of Wales' Land and Victoria Land
whereby his discovery and search would be lengthened, he sent back one
sledge, the tent, and four men to the ship, in order to economise
provisions, and for forty days journeyed with one man (George Hobday)
and the dogs, encamping in such snow lodges as they were able to build.
This great exposure and fatigue, together with extremely bad weather,
and a most difficult coast-line to trace, greatly injured his health; he
was compelled to return to the ship on 7th June for medical aid, but
proposing at all hazards to renew his explorations almost immediately.
Dr. Walker met this determination by a strong protest in writing against
his leaving the ship again, his health being quite unequal to it; but
after three days Young felt himself somewhat better, and, with a zeal
which knew no bounds, set off to complete his branch of the search,
taking with him both his sledge-parties.
From the Doctor's account I felt most anxious for his return, lest his
health, or that of his companions, should receive permanent injury; in
fact this was now my only cause of anxiety. The season was rather
forward here, and advancing with unusual rapidity, rain and wind
dissolving the snow and ice; there was much water in Bellot Strait,
extending from Half-way Island eastward to the table-land, and thence in
a narrow lane to Long Island. After a day or two I could perceive a
vast improvement in Hobson; and my own four men, with the exception of
Hampton, who required rest, were in sound health; so also was my
companion Petersen. On 24th June Christian shot two small reindeer,
which gave us 170 lbs. of meat; a few days before that he shot a seal,
which afforded two sumptuous meals for all on board.
{TREATMENT OF DOGS.}
The time having elapsed during which Young expected to remain absent,
and the difficulties of the transit from the western sea having become
greatly increased, I set off early on the 25th June with my four men,
intending to visit Pemmican Rock; but failing to come across him there,
I resolved to carry on provisions as far as Four River Point, in the
hope of meeting with him, and of facilitating his return. To our
surprise the water had all drained off the frozen surface of the Long
Lake, and it therefore afforded excellent travelling. We found the poor
dogs lying quietly beside our sledges; they had attacked the pemmican,
and devoured a small quantity which was not secured in tin, also some
blubber, some leather straps, and a gull that I had shot for a specimen;
but they had not apparently relished the biscuit. Poor dogs! they have a
hard life of it in these regions. Even Petersen, who is generally kind
and humane, seems to fancy they must have little or no feeling: one of
his theories is, that you may knock an Esquimaux dog about the head
with any article, however heavy, with perfect impunity to the brutes.
One of us upbraided him the other day because he broke his whip-handle
over the head of a dog. "_That was nothing at all_," he assured us: some
friend of his in Greenland found he could beat his dogs over the head
with a heavy hammer,--it stunned them certainly,--but by laying them
with their mouths open to the wind, they soon revived, got up and ran
about "_all right_."
We lost no time in giving them a good feed, the first for seven days,
yet they did not seem unusually hungry, and soon coiled themselves up to
sleep again. Whilst the men and dogs were employed next day in conveying
a sledge to the east end of the lake, I walked to Cape Bird to look out
for the absent party, but they had not yet returned to Pemmican Rock.
When vainly endeavoring, with felonious intentions, to climb up a steep
cliff to the breeding-places of some silvery gulls, I saw and shot a
brent goose, seated upon an accessible ledge, and made a prize of four
eggs; it seems strange that this bird should have selected so unusual a
breeding-place. Many seals were basking on the ice, and the watercourse
by which our sledges ascended a week before to the Long Lake was now a
strong and rapid stream. A few reindeer were seen.
{YOUNG RETURNS SAFELY.}
On the 27th I sent three of the men back to the ship, and with Thompson
and the dogs went on to Pemmican Rock, where, to our great joy, we
happily met Young and his party, who had but just returned there, after
a long and successful journey the particulars of which I will give
hereafter.
Young was greatly reduced in flesh and strength, so much weakened indeed
that for the last few days he had travelled on the dog sledge;
Harvey--also far from well--could just manage to keep pace with the
sledge; his malady was scurvy. Their journeys had been very depressing;
most dismal weather, low, dreary limestone shores devoid of game, and no
traces of the lost expedition. The news of our success in the southern
journeys greatly cheered them. On the following day we were all once
more on board, and indulging in such rapid consumption of eatables as
only those can do who have been much reduced by long-continued fatigue
and exposure to cold. Venison, ducks, beer and lemon-juice, daily;
preserved apples and cranberries three times a week; and pickled
whale-skin--a famous antiscorbutic--_ad libitum_ for all who liked it.
The weather, which for the last week had been wet, windy, and miserable,
now set in fair. The carpenter's hammer, and the men's voices at their
work, were new and animating sounds.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] It is a remarkable circumstance that when, in 1830, Sir James Ross
discovered Point Victory, he named two points of land, then in sight,
Cape Franklin and Cape Jane Franklin respectively. Eighteen years
afterwards Franklin's ships perished within sight of those headlands.
[26] This cairn, as well as the one built on Point Victory in 1830, was
removed by the natives; fortunately they had not visited Point Victory
whilst the Franklin cairn and record remained there, otherwise neither
cairn nor record would have remained for us to discover.
[27] This channel is now named after the illustrious navigator, Admiral
Sir John Franklin.
[28] This will be understood when it is recollected that W. of Simpson's
Straits or Victoria Land, a navigable passage to Behring Strait is known
to exist along the coast of North America. Franklin himself, with his
companion Richardson, surveyed by far the greater portion of that
distance. Franklin's and Parry's discoveries overlap each other in
longitude, and for the last thirty years or more the discovery of the
North-West Passage has been reduced to the discovery of a link uniting
the two.