The discovery of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean has
been the darling project of numberless Englishmen of science as well as
navigators, from the time of Henry the Eighth down to the present day.
A short account of the various expeditions, and of the adventures of the
gallant men who have made the attempt, would alone fill a volume. By
these expeditions, unsuccessful though they mostly were in accomplishing
their object, the names of many of the bravest and best of England's
naval commanders have become immortalised. Well indeed may Englishmen
be proud of men such as Ross, Parry, Clavering, Lyon, Beechey, and
Franklin, and of others who have in still later days exhibited their
dauntless courage and perseverance in the same cause--Collinson,
McClure, McClintock, Sherard Osborn, Forsyth, and many more.
Nowhere can all the noble qualities which adorn the British seaman be
more fully called forth than during a voyage in the Arctic seas, and the
detention to which he is subject for years together on its ice-bound
shores. From the first entering these regions, dangers beset him.
Suddenly he finds his vessel among immense fields of floating ice,
through which he can with difficulty force a passage or escape
shipwreck. Then, in the darkness of night, icebergs of vast height are
seen close aboard, towering above the mast-heads, the sea dashing with
fury round their bases, from which, should he not scrape clear, his
destruction is certain. Sometimes, to prevent his vessel being drifted
on icebergs, or the rocky shore, or fields of ice, to leeward, he
secures her on the lee side of some large berg. The base of the mass
beneath the water is continually melting; and, while he fancies himself
secure, it decreases so much as to lose its balance, and its lofty
summit bending down, it may overwhelm him in its ruins. Then, again,
large masses become detached from its base, and, rising up violently
from far down in the sea, strike the bottom of the vessel with terrific
force, capable of driving in her planks and breaking her stout timbers.
Often, also, he has to saw his way through sheets of ice, cutting out
canals with untiring perseverance to gain a piece of clear water beyond.
Sometimes his vessel is so tightly frozen within a field of ice that he
has no power to extricate her; then the field, urged by the tides or
wind, moves on at a rapid rate for hundreds of miles, till it encounters
some other field or a projecting shore. Now commences a scene of horror
which may well make the stoutest heart tremble. The field breaks into
thousands of fragments; huge masses of many hundred tons weight, and
larger than his ship, are thrown up, one on the other, rising almost as
if they had life, till they tower far above the sides of his vessel, and
appear ready every instant to crush her, as she lies helplessly among
this icy mass of a seeming ruined world. Sometimes a huge lump, bigger
than the ship herself, becomes attached to her bottom; and as the mass
around her melts, it rises to the surface, and throws her on her
beam-ends. Sometimes, as she is sailing in an open space, two fields
suddenly close in on her. If her crew have time to cut a dock in the
field nearest her, or find a bay ready formed, she may escape; if not,
when the fields meet, her stout ribs are crushed in as if they were of
wax, and the explorer is fortunate if he escapes to the ice with some of
his boats and a few provisions and clothes before his vessel disappears,
to encounter a voyage without shelter in that frigid region, till he
falls in with some whale ship, or can gain its inhospitable shores. But
suppose he escapes the dangers of the sea I have described, and many
others, and takes shelter for the winter in some bay or gulf, ice-bound,
he must remain during the winter without any communication with the rest
of his fellow-creatures besides those who form his own adventurous band.
The sun sinks below the horizon, and it is not seen again for months
together; darkness is around him, and one dreary mass of snow covers the
face of nature. The intense cold prevents him often from venturing
beyond the shelter with which he has surrounded his vessel; or if he is
tempted to do so, frost-bites may attack his hands and his feet, and
deprive him of their use. Sometimes the Arctic explorer has had to
journey for weeks together across the barren waste of ice or
snow-covered ground, dragging his sledge after him, and sleeping night
after night under the thin roof of a canvas tent; and, as summer draws
on, often wet through from the melting snow, without an opportunity of
drying his clothes. Seldom has he an abundance, and often he suffers
from a scarcity, of provisions; while, if his strength fails him from
illness or injury, he can scarcely hope to regain his ship alive. The
first exploring expedition which was sent out during the reign of Queen
Victoria was placed under the command of Sir George Back, in the
_Terror_; but winter setting in early, his ship was caught by the ice,
thrown on her beam-ends, and nearly destroyed. Though in a dreadfully
shattered condition, she was providentially enabled to return home. It
was not till the year 1845 that a new expedition by sea was determined
on, and the command given, at his earnest request, to Sir John
Franklin--an expedition over the fate of which for many long years hung
a mysterious uncertainty, full of pain and anxiety. Notwithstanding the
hazardous nature of the work in which they were to be engaged, numbers
of officers and men eagerly pressed forward as volunteers to serve under
the veteran Arctic explorer. The chief difficulty was in selecting the
most fit among the many applicants, and happy did those consider
themselves who were chosen.
The following is a list of the officers who were finally appointed to
the expedition:--
"_Erebus_."
Captain, Sir John Franklin, KCH; Commander, James Fitzjames;
Lieutenants, Graham Gore, Henry T. Le Vesconte, James William Fairholm;
mates, Charles T. des Vaux, Robert O'Sargent; second master, Henry F.
Collins; surgeon, Stephen Stanley; assistant surgeon, Harry D.S.
Goodsir; paymaster and purser, Charles H. Osmer; master, James Reid,
acting; fifty-eight petty officers, seamen, etcetera. Full complement,
seventy.
"_Terror_."
Captain, Francis R.M. Crozier; Lieutenants, Edward Little, George H.
Hodgson, John Irving; mates, Frederick J. Hornby, Robert Thomas;
ice-master, T. Blakey, acting; second master, G.A. Maclean; surgeon,
John S. Peddie; assistant surgeon, Alexander McDonald; clerk in charge,
Edwin G.H. Helpman; fifty-seven petty officers, seamen, etcetera. Full
complement, sixty-eight; making in all one hundred and thirty-eight
souls.
The expedition sailed from England, May the 26th, 1845. They arrived at
the Whalefish Islands, a group to the south of Disco, on the 4th of
July. On the 26th they were seen moored to an iceberg, in 74 degrees 48
minutes north latitude, and 66 degrees 13 minutes west longitude, by a
Hull whaler, the _Prince of Wales_, Captain Dannet. The ships had then
on board provisions for three years, on full allowance, or even four,
with the assistance of such game as they might expect to obtain.
Everyone on board had resolved to persevere to the utmost in pushing
their way through any channel which might offer a prospect of success
towards the west; but the letters of Captain Fitzjames especially seemed
to point clearly to Wellington Channel as the passage they would most
probably first attempt. No news of the expedition having reached
England up to the year 1847, some slight apprehensions began to be felt,
though the general hope was that Sir John had pushed on perhaps into the
Polar basin, and might make his appearance by way of Behring's Straits.
However, it was thought right in 1848 to despatch another expedition to
search for the missing ships. Two vessels were commissioned for that
purpose, and placed under the command of Sir James Ross, an officer who
has been nearer the northern and southern poles than any other human
being. The ships were not ready for sea till the 12th of June. They
were fitted to contend with the dangers of the Polar seas in a way no
former ships had been, and every means that could be devised for the
comfort and convenience of their crews were liberally supplied; while
the officers and men were influenced by an earnest zeal to discover
their missing countrymen, and to rescue them from the forlorn condition
in which it was too probable they were placed. Such have been the
motives which have induced, year after year, numbers of other gallant
officers and men to volunteer their services to encounter the terrific
dangers and hardships of a Polar voyage to search for Sir John Franklin
and his brave followers. Who also has not heard of the noble efforts
and sacrifices the late Lady Franklin made to despatch expedition after
expedition in search of her gallant husband? and with what untiring
zeal, and deep, earnest devotion, she and his faithful niece laboured
on, month after month, and year after year, with talents, mind, and all
their best energies devoted to the cause? All honour be to those noble
ladies, worthy to be loved and reverenced by all who love and respect
the British navy, and admire the gallant spirit which imbues it.
But to return to our narrative. Our space will not allow us to give
more than a very brief sketch of the several searching expeditions which
have been sent out, and the names of the ships and officers composing
them.