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Transcriber's Note: In the line
"We sailed by Fairl[=e]e, by Beach[=e]y, and Dung[)e]ness,"
[=e] represents the letter "e" with a macron above it and [)e]
represents an "e" with a breve above it.
The symbol "^" in y^e indicates that the "e" is printed as a
superscript.
STRAY LEAVES
FROM
AN ARCTIC JOURNAL;
OR,
Eighteen Months in the Polar Regions,
IN SEARCH OF
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION,
IN THE YEARS 1850-51.
BY LIEUT. SHERARD OSBORN,
COMMANDING H.M.S. VESSEL, "PIONEER."
_DEDICATED TO LADY FRANKLIN._
New York:
GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 10 PARK PLACE
M. DCCC. LII.
DEDICATION.
Accept, my dear Lady Franklin, these few pages, as the warm and honest
tribute of deserved admiration for yourself and estimable niece, Miss
Sophia Cracroft--admiration, which I delight in, in common with
thousands, that such as you are Englishwomen; and pride, that a
sailor's wife should so nobly have fulfilled her duty; for, if, on the
one hand, the name of Sir John Franklin, that chief "_sans peur et sans
reproche_," is dearly associated with our recollections of the honours
won in the ice-bound regions of the Pole, your names are not the less
so, with the noble efforts made to rescue, or solve the fate of our
missing countrymen.
That those sacrifices, those untiring exertions, that zeal which has
never wavered, that hope so steadfast, since it is that of an
Englishwoman for her husband, that patience under misconstruction, that
forgiveness for the sneer of jealousy, and that pity for the malicious,
which you have so pre-eminently displayed, may yet, by God's help, one
day reap its reward in the accomplishment of your wishes, is the
fervent prayer of
SHERARD OSBORN.
PREFACE.
I fear with the many of my cloth, my crime in writing a book will be an
unpardonable one; the more so, that I cannot conscientiously declare,
that it has been at the urgent desire of my friends, &c., that I have
thus made my début.
My motive is twofold: to tell of the doings of a screw steam-vessel,
the first ever tried in the Polar regions, and by a light, readable
description of incidents in the late search for Sir John Franklin, to
interest the general reader and the community at large upon that
subject. Without fear, favour, or affection, I have told facts as they
have occurred; and I trust have, in doing so, injured no man. A journal
must necessarily be, for the most, a dry narration of facts; I have,
therefore, thrown in here and there general observations and remarks
founded upon such facts, rather than a dry repetition of them.
To the officers and men serving under my command, I can offer no higher
compliment than in having thus placed their severe and zealous labours
before the public; and no professional reader who reads these "Stray
Leaves," can fail, I am certain, to perceive how heavily must have
fallen the labours here recounted upon the men and officers of the
steam tenders, and how deep an obligation I their commander must be
under to them for their untiring exertions, by which this, the first
and severe trial of steam in the Arctic regions, was brought to a
successful issue.
The "Resolutes," no doubt, will object to the round terms in which I
have growled at the bluff-bowed vessel it was my fate and now my pride
to have towed so many miles in the Frozen Zone; but on second thoughts,
I doubt not they will acquit me, for they will remember the joke was
once on their side; and if I do not love their _ship_, at any rate I
liked _them_.
To Lieutenant W. May and Mr. M'Dougal, I am much indebted for their
faithful sketches. I fear my letter-press is unworthy of the
companionship.
To those who may accuse me of egotism in confining my remarks so much
to the achievements of my own vessel, I have merely to say, that in
doing so, I was best able to be truthful; but that I am fully aware
that to the other screw steamer, the "Intrepid," and my gallant friend
and colleague, Commander J. B. Cator, there fell an equal amount of
labour; and that to all, ships as well as screws, there was an equal
proportion of hardship, danger, and privation. I should indeed be
forgetful as well as ungrateful, did I here fail to acknowledge the
more than kindness and assistance I have ever experienced from my
friend Mr. Barrow, a name past and present inseparably connected with
our Arctic discoveries; so likewise I have to offer my thanks,
heartfelt as they are sincere, to those who, like Admiral Sir Francis
Beaufort and Captain Hamilton of the Admiralty, bade me speed, when
sincerity and zeal was all I had to boast, and who dared to overlook
the crime of youth, and granted to "seven-and-twenty" the deference
which "five-and-fifty" alone can claim.
RICHMOND, _Feb. 15, 1852_.
STRAY LEAVES
FROM
AN ARCTIC JOURNAL.
The evils attendant on a hurried outfit and departure, as is the usual
man-of-war custom, were in no wise mitigated in the case of the Royal
Naval Expedition, fitted out at Woolwich, in 1850, to search for Sir
John Franklin's Squadron; and a general feeling of joy at our departure
prevailed amongst us, when, one fine morning, we broke ground from
Greenhithe.
The "Resolute" and "Assistance" had a couple of steamers to attend upon
them; whilst we, the "Pioneer" and "Intrepid," screwed and sailed, as
requisite to keep company. By dark of the 4th of May, 1850, we all
reached an anchorage near Yarmouth; and the first stage of our outward
journey was over.
No better proof of the good feeling which animated our crews can be
adduced than the unusual fact of not a man being missing amongst those
who had originally entered,--not a desertion had taken place,--not a
soul had attempted to quit the vessels, after six months' advance had
been paid.
Here and there amongst the seamen a half-sleepy indifference to their
work was observable. This I imputed to the reaction after highly
sentimental "farewells" in which, like other excesses, Jack delights;
the women having, as usual, done all they could, by crying alongside,
to make the men believe they were running greater risks than had ever
been before undergone by Arctic navigators.
The old seamen's ditty of--
"We sailed by Fairl[=e]e, by Beach[=e]y, and Dung[)e]ness,
Until the North Foreland light we did see"--
gives a very good idea of our progress from beacon to lighthouse, and
lighthouse to headland, until the lofty coast of Yorkshire sunk under
the lee; and by the 8th of May the squadron was making slow progress
across the mouth of the Firth of Forth. Hitherto, "all had been
pleasant as a marriage bell;" the weather had been fine; and we already
calculated our days of arrival at different points, as if the calm was
to last for ever. The Cheviot Hills glittered in the west; it was the
kind good-bye of our own dear England. Hundreds of white sails dotted a
summer sea: all was joyous and sparkling. Scotland greeted us with a
rough "nor'wester,"--and away we went. "Not all the king's horses"
could have kept the expedition together.
[Headnote: _DEPARTURE._]
The "Resolute" and "Assistance," hauled dead on a wind, under
close-reefed topsails, performed a stationary movement, called
"pile-driving" by sailors, which, as the pilot suggested, would, if the
breeze lasted, carry them to the coast of Holland. The two steam
vessels, under fore-and-aft canvas, drew away rapidly to windward and
ahead, and in spite of all we could do, a few hours of darkness
effectually succeeded in dispersing us. Accident again brought the
"Pioneer" in sight of the vessels for a few hours; but the "Intrepid"
found herself in Stromness Harbour, with a degree of celerity which
gave rise to a racing disposition on the part of my gallant colleague,
"Intrepid," _versus_ "Pioneer," which it took a great many days of
competition to decide.
They who want excitement had better go and beat a vessel up the
Pentland Firth, against both wind and tide. I tried it, but shall not
repeat the experiment; and, after a thorough good shaking in the North
Sea, was not sorry to find myself at anchor in Stromness.
The very proper and triste Sabbath of the North was followed by a busy
Monday. The arrival of so many gold cap-bands, and profusion of gilt
buttons, interfered, I fear materially, with the proper delivery of the
morning milk and butter by sundry maidens with golden locks; and the
purser's wholesale order for beef threatened to create a famine in the
Orkneys. The cheapness of whiskey appeared likely to be the cause of
our going to sea with a crew in a lamentable state of drunkenness, and
rather prejudiced me against Stromness; but if it had no other
redeeming quality, all its faults would be forgotten in the astounding
fact that _there_ may be found a landlady with moderate prices and
really fresh eggs.
As a description of this part of the world is no part of my task, I
will pass over our long and crooked walk about Stromness; and the
failure of the good folk there to induce us to trust ourselves on their
ponies for a ride to Kirkwall, naturally limited our knowledge of the
neighbourhood.
Above the town of Stromness rises a conical-shaped hill; it has, I
believe, been immortalized by Scott in his "Pirate:" it had yet deeper
interest for me, for I was told that up it had toiled dear friends now
missing with Franklin. I and a kind shipmate walked out one evening to
make our pilgrimage to a spot hallowed by the visit of the gallant and
true-hearted that had gone before us--and, as amid wind and drizzle we
scrambled up the hill, I pictured to myself how, five short years
before, those we were now in search of had done the same. Good and
gallant Gore! chivalrous Fitz-James! enterprising Fairholme!
lion-hearted Hodgson! dear De Vaux!--Oh! that ye knew help was nigh!
We surmounted the hill--the Atlantic was before us, fierce and
troubled; afar to seaward the breakers broke and lashed themselves
against the firm foundation of the old Head of Hay, which loomed
through mist and squall, whilst overhead the scream of sea-fowl, flying
for shelter, told that the west wind would hold wild revelry that
night.
"H.M.S. North Star," carved on the turf, showed where some of her
people had chosen this spot for a record of their visit to Orkney; we
did likewise, in honour of our own bonnie craft; and then, strolling
homeward, discussed the probable chances of the existence of the said
"North Star;" the conclusion arrived at being that there was more cause
for anxiety on her account than for Franklin's Expedition, she having
gone out totally unprepared for wintering, and with strict injunctions
not to be detained: "l'homme propose, et Dieu dispose."
I could have hugged the snuffy old postmaster for a packet of letters
he gave me. I rushed on board to a cabin which proved, as the First
Lord had sagaciously remarked, into how small a space a Lieutenant
Commanding could be packed; and, in spite of an unpaid tailor's bill,
revelled in sweet and pleasant dreams.
[Headnote: _PLAN OF SEARCH._]
The "Intrepid" and "Pioneer" rejoined the ships at Long-Hope; and my
gallant comrade and I made a neck-and-neck race of it, showing that in
steaming, at any rate, there would be little to choose between us; and,
on May 15th, the Arctic squadron weighed, and, passing out of the
Pentland Firth, the "Dasher" and "Lightning" cheered us, took our
letters,--and the Searching Expedition was alone steering for
Greenland. Night threw her mantle around us; the lonely light of Cape
Wrath alone indicating where lay our homes. I like losing sight of Old
England by night. It is pleasant to go to rest with a sweet
recollection of some quiet scene you have just dwelt upon with delight,
the spirit yearning for the excitement and novelty ahead. You rise in
the morning, old Ocean is around you: there is, to the seamen, a
lullaby, say what they may, in his hoarse song; and they of the middle
watch tell how the friendly light of some distant cape glimmered and
danced in the east, until lost in some passing squall.
Now for the Northwest! we exclaimed,--its much talked of dangers,--its
chapter of horrors! As gallant Frobisher says, "it is _still_ the
only thing left undone, whereby a notable mind might be made famous and
remarkable." As it was in Frobisher's day, so it is now, unless
Franklin has accomplished it, and lies beset off Cape Jakan--and why
may it not be so?
Whilst the squadron progresses slowly towards Cape Farewell, the ships
under topsails, and the steamers under jury-masts and sails, we will
take a retrospective view of what is now--1850--going to be done for
the relief of Franklin.
Capt. Collinson, with two ships, has gone to Behring's Straits with the
"Plover" as a dépôt, in Kotzebue Sound, to fall back upon in case of
disaster. He steers direct for Melville Island, along the coast of
North America. Capt. Pullen, having successfully searched the coast
from Point Barrow to the Mackenzie River, is endeavouring now to push
from thence, in a northerly direction, for Bank's Land. Dr. Rae is to
do the same from the Coppermine River. Capt. Penny, a first-rate
whaling captain, with two fast brigs, is now ahead of us, hoping to
make an early passage across the middle ice of Baffin's Bay. He goes to
Jones's Sound and Wellington Channel, to reach the Parry Isles by a
northern route.
We go with two sailing ships and two steam vessels, so as to form
separate divisions of two vessels each, to examine Barrow's Straits
south-westerly to Cape Walker, westerly towards Melville Island, and
north-westerly up Wellington Channel. Thus no less than eight fine
ships flying the pendant, and two land parties are directed, by
different routes, on Melville Island. Besides these, an American
expedition, fitted out by that prince of merchants, Mr. Grinnell,
leaves shortly for the same destination; and in Lady Franklin's own
vessel, the "Prince Albert," as well as a craft under Sir John Ross, we
find two more assistants in the plan of search.
And yet, gentle reader, if you turn to the papers of the fall of 1849,
you will find some asserting that Sir John Franklin had perished in
Baffin's Bay, because Sir James Ross had found nothing of him in
Lancaster Sound! Happily the majority of Englishmen have, however,
decided otherwise; and behold, this noble equipment! this magnificent
outlay of men and material!
We will not dwell on the pleasures or annoyances of the cruise across
the Atlantic, beyond stating the fact that our bluff-bowed worse-halfs,
the sailing ships, nigh broke our hearts, as well as our hawsers, in
dragging their breakwater frames along in the calms; and that we of the
screws found our steam vessels all we could wish, somewhat o'er lively,
mayhap,--a frisky tendency to break every breakable article on board.
But there was a saucy swagger in them, as they bowled along the hollow
of a western sea, which showed they had good blood in them; and we soon
felt confident of disappointing those Polar seers, who had foretold
shipwreck and disaster as their fate.
[Headnote: _THE ATLANTIC.--GREENLAND._]
The appearance of numerous sea-birds,--the Tern especially, which do
not fly far from land,--warned us, on Sunday 26th May, of our fast
approach to Greenland, and on the morrow we espied the picturesque
shores about Cape Farewell. Which of all the numerous headlands we saw
was the identical cape, I do not pretend to say; but we chose, as _our_
Cape Farewell, a remarkable-looking peak, with a mass of rock perched
like a pillar upon its crest. The temperature began to fall as we
advanced, and warmer coats quickly replaced our English clothing.
Distant as we were from Greenland, our view of its southern extremity
was fleeting, but sufficient to show that it fully realized in
appearance the most striking accumulation of ice and land that the mind
could picture,--a land of gaunt famine and misery; but which
nevertheless, for some good purpose, it had pleased Providence in a
measure to people.
Had we not had an urgent duty to perform, I should have regretted thus
hurrying past the land; for there is much to see there. True, Greenland
has no deep historical interest, but the North has always had its charm
for me. Scandinavia, and her deeds,--the skill and intrepidity of her
bold Vikings,--their colonies in Snæland, our Iceland,--their discovery
of Greenland,--and the legend of the pirate Biarni, who forestalled
even the great Columbus in his discovery,--were all associated with the
region through which we were now sailing.
Without compass, without chart, full three centuries before the Genoese
crossed the Atlantic, the Norsemen, in frail and open barks, braved the
dark and angry sea (which was so sorely tossing even our proud
vessels); and, unchecked by tempest, by ice, or hardship, penetrated
probably as far as we could in the present day. This, and much more,
throws a halo of ancient renown around this lonely land; moreover, I
had long loved Nature's handiworks, and here assuredly her wonders
reward the traveller. Here, methought me of the mighty glacier,
creeping on like Time, silently, yet ceaselessly; the deep and
picturesque fiord pent up between precipices, huge, bleak, and barren;
the iceberg! alone a miracle; then the great central desert of black
lava and glittering ice, gloomy and unknown but to the fleet rein-deer,
who seeks for shelter in a region at whose horrors the hardy natives
tremble; and last, but not least, the ruins of the Scandinavian
inhabitants, and the present fast disappearing race of "the Innuit," or
Esquimaux. Dullard must he be who sees not abundance here to interest
him.
Flirting with the first ice we saw, it soon appeared that the training
of the uninitiated, like puppies, was to be a very formal and lengthy
piece of business. Thanks to an immense deal of water, and very little
ice, the steamers eventually towed the "Resolute" and the transport (a
lively specimen of the genus), into the Whale-Fish Islands,--a group of
rocky islets, some twenty miles distant from the excellent Danish
harbour of Godhaab on the Island of Disco.
[Headnote: _WHALE-FISH ISLANDS._]
We did as our forefathers in anchoring at the Whale-Fish Islands, but
would strongly recommend those who visit this neighborhood to go to
Godhaab rather. Its anchorage is good, communication with Europe a
certainty, and the hospitality of the Danish residents, few though they
be, cheering and pleasant to ship-sick wanderers.
Having thus expressed my total dissent from those who, with steam
vessels, go to Whale-Fish Isles, it will be but fair for me to stay,
that I arrived at this our first stage in the journey to the Nor'-West,
in far from good humour. We had been twenty-four days from Greenhithe
to Cape Farewell, and sixteen days from the latter point to our
anchorage; hurry being out of the question when a _thing_ like the
"Emma Eugenia" was pounding the water in a trial of speed with perfect
snuff-boxes, like the "Resolute" and "Assistance." Patience and a
four-day tow had at last finished the work: and to all our anxious
inquiries about the prospect of the season, as to where Penny was, and
whether any intelligence had reached the settlements? not an answer was
to be obtained from a besotted Danish carpenter, whose knowledge
appeared to be limited to a keen idea of changing, under a system he
called "Trock," sundries (with which the Danske Koeing had intrusted
him) into blubber and seal-oil.
After a day of coal-dust, I landed with some others to see what was to
be seen, and to load, as we were taught to believe, a boat with wild
fowl. The principal settlement having been pointed out, we landed on
the slope of one of the islands, on which a coarse rank vegetation
existed amongst the numerous relics of departed seals, sacrificed to
the appetites of the Esquimaux and the _trocking_ of the Governor, as
he was facetiously styled. The said individual soon appeared, and in
spite of copious libations of Her Britannic Majesty's "Pure Jamaica,"
of which he had partaken, was most polite and hospitable. From him I
discovered that he and a cooper were the only Danes residing here, and
they, together with a cross-breed who did the double duty of priest and
schoolmaster, constituted the officials of Cron-Prin's Islands. The
native population amounted perhaps to one hundred souls: and it was in
supplying their wants, and in affording a market for their superfluous
skins and blubber, that the Danes derived a profit, under a strict
system of monopoly; no foreigners being allowed to trade with the
Esquimaux, and they, on the other hand, having strict injunctions to
lodge every thing they do not require for private use, in the public
store. The quantity of seal-blubber in store, which was equal to as
much oil, amounted to nigh upon 100 tons; the number of seals annually
destroyed must be enormous: this says much for the industry of the
natives.
The Esquimaux appeared all comfortable and well to do, well clad,
cleanly, and fat. Most of them had moved for a while into their summer
lodges, which consist of little else than a seal-skin tent, clumsily
supported with sticks. They were more than sufficiently warm; and the
number of souls inhabiting one of these lodges appeared only to be
limited by the circle of friends and connections forming a family. The
winter abode--formed almost underground--appeared decidedly well
adapted to afford warmth, and some degree of pure ventilation, in so
severe a climate, where fuel can be spared only for culinary purposes;
and I was glad to see that, although necessity obliges the Esquimaux to
eat of the oil and flesh of the seal and naorwhal, yet, when they could
procure it, they seemed fully alive to the gastronomic pleasures of a
good wholesome meal of fish, birds' eggs, bread, sugar, tea, and
coffee.
Their canoes are perfect models of beauty and lightness; in no part of
the world do we see them excelled in speed and portability--two very
important qualities in the craft of a savage; and in ornamental
workmanship, the skill of both men and women is tastefully displayed.
The clothing of the natives is vastly superior to any thing we could
produce, both in lightness of material, and wind and water-tight
qualities;--the material, seal and deer skin, and entrails,
manufactured by the women; their needles of Danish manufacture; their
thread, the delicate sinews of animals. We gladly purchased all we
could obtain of their clothing.
[Headnote: _THE ESQUIMAUX._]
Every one has heard of the horrors of an Esquimaux existence,--sucking
blubber instead of roast beef, train-oil their usual beverage, and a
seal their bonne-bouche; the long gloomy winter spent in pestiferous
hovels, lighted and warmed with whale-oil lamps; the narrow gallery for
an entrance, along which the occupant creeps for ingress and egress.
This and much more has been told us; yet, now that I have seen it
all,--the Esquimaux's home, the Esquimaux's mode of living, and the
Esquimaux himself,--I see nothing so horrible in one or the other.
The whaler, from bonnie Scotia, or busy Hull, fresh from the
recollection of his land and home, no doubt shudders at the comparative
misery and barbarity of these poor people; but those who have seen the
degraded Bushmen or Hottentots of South Africa, the miserable Patanies
of Malayia, the Fuegians or Australians of our southern hemisphere, and
remember the comparative blessings afforded by nature to those
melancholy specimens of the human family, will, I think, exclaim with
me, that the Esquimaux of Greenland are as superior to them in mental
capacity, manual dexterity, physical enterprise, and social virtues, as
the Englishman is to the Esquimaux.
The strongest--indeed, I am assured, the only--symptom of the advantage
of religious instruction perceptible in the Greenlander, over his North
American brethren, is in the respect they show for the marriage tie,
and strong affection for their children. The missionary, with this
race, appears to have few difficulties to contend with: naturally
gentle, and without any strong superstitious prejudices, they receive
without resistance the simple creed of Reformed religion, which he has
spread amongst them; and the poor Esquimaux child sends up its prayers
and thanksgiving, in the words taught us by our Saviour, as earnestly
and confidently as the educated offspring of Englishmen.
An old man, whom I pressed to accompany me as pilot to the Island of
Disco, declined, under the plea that his wife was very ill, and that
there was no one but himself to take care of the "piccaninny."
Interested from such proper feeling in the man, Dr. P---- and I entered
his winter abode, which he apologized for taking us to,--the illness of
his "cara sposa" having prevented him changing his residence for the
usual summer tent. Crawling on all fours through a narrow passage, on
either side of which a dog-kennel and a cook-house had been
constructed, we found ourselves in an apartment, the highest side of
which faced us, the roof gradually sloping down to the ground.
[Illustration:
A B. Gallery.
B C. Section of house.
E. Bed and seats.
H. Cook-house and kennel.]
The above section will give some idea of the place. Along one side of
the abode a sort of bed-place extended for its whole length, forming
evidently the family couch; for on one end of it, with her head close
to a large seal-oil lamp, was the sick woman. She was at the usual
Esquimaux female's employment of feeding the flame with a little stick
from a supply of oil, which would not rise of its own accord up the
coarse and ill-constructed wick; over the flame was a compound, which
the sufferer told us was medicine for her complaint,--the rheumatism, a
very prevalent one amongst these people. Leaving the kind Doctor to do
the part of a good Samaritan, I amused myself with looking over the
strange home into which I had got. The man took much pride in showing
me his family,--consisting of a girl and three fine boys. His wife, he
assured me, was only twenty-eight years of age: she looked at least
six-and-thirty; and he likewise, though only thirty-four, had the
appearance of being at least ten years older. They had married when she
was twenty,--the usual age for marriage, as he told me. His daughter,
rather a pretty and slight-made girl, was very busy making shoes for
her brothers out of cured skin. I rewarded the youthful sempstress by
giving her one of a number of dolls kindly sent me for the purpose by
Mrs. W. of Woolwich; and could that kind friend have seen the joyful
countenance of the Esquimaux child, she would indeed have been richly
remunerated for her thoughtful little addition to my stock of presents.
To finish my Esquimaux tale, I was next day not a little surprised at
the father coming on board, and giving me a small pouch which his child
had sewn for me in return for my present. This proved at least that
Esquimaux children can appreciate kindness as well as others.
The Whale-Fish group consist of a congery of islets, of various shapes
and sizes, with deep water channels between; the whole of granitic
formation, with broad veins of quartz and masses of gneiss overlaying
in various directions. Those I visited exhibited proof of constant and,
I might say, rapid destruction from the action of water and frost. The
southern and south-west sides of the larger islands were of, may be,
300 or 400 feet elevation, with a gradual dip to the north-east, as if
their creation had been brought about by some submarine agency
upheaving the primary rock, with an irregular force from the
north-east.
The tallest cliffs were rent from crown to base, and frost-cracks
intersected one another in such a perfect labyrinth, that the whole
mass appeared as if merely hanging together from its stupendous weight.
The narrow bays and bights with a southern aspect, where the concussion
of a heavy sea had had its effect, were strewn with the wreck of the
adjacent precipices, and progress for sportsmen along the shore, in
pursuit of wild fowl, was extremely difficult. On the northern sides,
these islands showed other features quite as peculiar to the glacial
region upon which we were wandering: there the low projecting ledges of
granite were polished by the constant attrition of oceanic ice and
icebergs, until walking over them became barely possible.
_June 18th, 1850._--I am much amused at the ease with which we
assimilate ourselves to new climates and new habits. Yesterday, my
friend Dr. P---- and I bathed within fifty yards of an iceberg, the
water only two degrees above freezing point; candour must acknowledge
that we did not stay long; and to-night, though no Highlander in love
of hardship, I found myself at midnight in the water groping for lost
gun-gear, an experiment which, having escaped from without rheumatism,
I promise not to repeat. One of my crew slept last night on deck with
his arm for a pillow, although the temperature was below freezing
point, and every one complains of heat and throws aside jacket and cap
when making the slightest exertion.
[Headnote: _AN ARCTIC NIGHT._]
Coal-dust every where and on every thing. Incessant work from 4, A.M.,
to 8 or 9 o'clock, P.M., one would have supposed, would have induced
rational beings to go quietly to bed when the day's work was over. It
was far otherwise.
The novelty of constant daylight, and the effect which it always has
upon the system, until accustomed to it, of depriving one of the
inclination to go to roost at regular hours, told upon us, and often
have I found myself returning from five hours' work, chasing, shooting,
and pulling a boat, just as the boatswain's mates were piping "stow
hammocks!" That I was not singular, a constant discharge of guns
throughout the night well proved, and unhappy nights must the ducks and
dovekies have spent during our stay.
Not to shoot became, in the Arctic squadron, tantamount to folly,
although the proceeds of great consumption of powder were but small;
nevertheless, stout men, who had not buttoned a gaiter since their
youth, were to be seen rivalling chamois-hunters in the activity with
which they stalked down the lady ducks on their nests. Apoplexy was
forgotten, the tender wife's last injunction on the subject of dry feet
pitched to the winds, and rash men of five-and-forty pulled and shot
little birds, in leaky punts, with all the energy of boys of fifteen.
Cold fingers, and a load of Flushing cloth on one's back, are vile
realities; otherwise I could have given fancy her swing, and spent many
an hour in the "blest ideal," at the beautiful and novel scene which
lay around me on a lovely morning at one o'clock. I had just crossed to
the north side of an island which faces Greenland, and passed a quiet
and secluded bay, at whose head the remains of a deserted ruin told of
the by-gone location of some Esquimaux fishermen, whose present home
was shown by here and there a grave carefully piled over with stones to
ward off dog and bear. All was silent, except the plaintive mew of the
Arctic sea-swallow as it wheeled over my head, or the gentle echo made
by mother ocean as she rippled under some projecting ledge of ice. The
snow, as it melted amongst the rocks behind, stole quietly on to the
sea through a mass of dark-coloured moss; whilst a scanty distribution
of pale or delicately-tinted flowers showed the humble flora of the
north. The sun, sweeping along the heavens opposite, at a very low
altitude, gilded as it rose the snowy crests of the mountains of Disco,
and served to show, more grim and picturesque, the naturally dark face
of the "Black Land of Lively." From thence round to the east, in the
far horizon, swept the shores of Greenland, its glaciers, peaks, and
headlands, all tortured by mirage into a thousand fantastic shapes, as
if Dame Nature had risen from her couch in frolicsome mood. Between
this scene and my feet, icebergs of every size and shape, rich with
fretting of silvery icicle, and showing the deepest azure tint or
richest emerald, strewed a mirror-like sea, glowing with the pale pink
of morning.
The awful silence was impressive: unwilling to break it I sat me down.
"I felt her presence by its spell of might,
Stoop o'er me from above--
The calm majestic presence of the night,
As of the one I love."
Suddenly a distant roar boomed along the water and echoed amongst the
rocks: again and again I heard it, when, to my astonishment, several
huge icebergs in the offing commenced to break up. A fearful plunge of
some large mass would clothe the spot in spray and foam; a dull
reverberating echo pealed on; and then, merely from the concussion of
the still air, piece after piece detached itself from icebergs far and
near, and the work of demolition was most rapid: truly did Baffin
boast, that he had laid open one of Nature's most wonderful
laboratories; and I thought with Longfellow, in his Hyperion,--
"The vast cathedral of nature is full of holy scriptures and shapes
of deep mysterious meaning: all is solitary and silent there. Into
this vast cathedral comes the human soul seeking its Creator, and
the universal silence is changed to sound, and the sound is
harmonious and has a meaning, and is comprehended and felt."
[Headnote: _GODHAAB._]
After many difficulties, which called for some obstinacy on my part to
master, I was allowed to go to Disco, and Captain Ommaney, hearing of
my intention, kindly made up a party. Taking one of our boats, we
shipped an Esquimaux pilot, called "Frederick," and started on June
21st, at 2 o'clock in the morning. To all our inquiries about Disco,
Frederick had but one reply,--"by and by you see." He liked rum and
biscuit, and was only to be animated by the conversation turning upon
seals, or _poussies_, as the natives call them. Then indeed Frederick's
face was wreathed in smiles, or rather its oleaginous coat of dirt
cracked in divers directions, his tiny eyes twinkled, and he descanted,
in his broken jargon, upon the delight of _poussey_ with far more
unction than an alderman would upon turtle. After threading the islets
we struck to north-east by compass, from the northernmost rock of the
group, which our guide assured us would sink below the horizon the
moment of our arrival off Godhaab. He was perfectly right, for after
four hours' pulling and sailing we found ourselves under a small
look-out house, and the islets of our departure had dipped.
Entering a long and secure harbour, we reached a perfectly landlocked
basin: in it rode a couple of Danish brigs, just arrived from
Copenhagen, with stores for the settlement; and on the shores of this
basin, the Danish settlement of Godhaab was situated, a few stores, and
the residence of two or three officials,--gentlemen who superintended
the commercial monopoly to which I have before referred: a flag-staff
and some half-dozen guns formed the sum total.
Landing at a narrow wooden quay, close to which natives and sailors
were busy unladening boats, we found ourselves amongst a rambling
collection of wooden houses, built in Dano-Esquimaux style, with some
twenty native lodges intermixed. Very few persons were to be seen
moving about: we heard afterwards that the body of natives were
seal-catching to the northward. A troop of half-caste boys and girls
served, however, to represent the population, and in them the odd
mixture of the Mongolian with the Scandinavian race was advantageously
seen.
A Danish seaman conducted Captain O----, Dr. D----, and self, to the
residence of the chief official, and, at the early hour of six, we made
a formal visit.
His mansion was of wood, painted black, with a red border to the
windows and roof: no doubt, so decorated for a good purpose; but the
effect was more striking than pleasing. A low porch with double doors,
two sharp turns in a narrow dark passage,--to baffle draughts, no
doubt,--and we found ourselves in a comfortable room with Herr Agar
smoking a cigar, and gaily attired to receive us. The "Herr" spoke but
little English; we no Danish: however, the quiet and reserved manner of
the good northern did not conceal a certain kindness of which he soon
gave us hospitable proof; for, on acceding to his offer of a little
coffee, we were surprised to see a nice tidy lady--his wife, as he
informed us--spread a breakfast fit for a Viking, and then with gentle
grace she ably did the honours of her board. Hang me, when I looked at
the snow-white linen, the home-made cleanly cheer, the sweet wife all
kindness and anxiety, I half envied the worthy Dane the peace and
contentment of his secluded lot, and it needed not a glass of excellent
Copenhagen schiedam to throw a "couleur de rose" about this Ultima
Thule of dear woman's dominion.
[Headnote: _HERR AGAR._]
The morning pull had given a keenness to our appetites, and I have a
general recollection of rye bread, Danish cake, excellent Zetland
butter, Dutch cheese, luscious ham, boiled potatoes, and Greenland
trout fresh from the stream. Could sailors ask for or need more? I can
only say that we all felt that, if Herr Agar and Madame Agar (I hate
that horrid word Frau) would only borrow our last shilling, we were
ready to lend it.
A broken conversation ensued, a little English and much Danish, when
Dr. D---- fortunately produced Captain Washington's Esquimaux
vocabulary, and, aided by the little son of our host, we soon twisted
out all the news Herr Agar had to give.
Captain Penny had only stayed a short time. He arrived on May the 4th.
The prospect of an early season was most cheering, and then the worthy
Herr produced a piece of paper directed to myself by my gallant friend
Penny. He wrote in haste to say his squadron had arrived, all well,
after a splendid run from Aberdeen: he was again off, and sent kind
remembrances, dated May 4th.
This, at any rate, was joyful intelligence, and worth my journey to
Disco; my heart leaped with joy, and I thought, at any rate, if we were
late, he was full early.
After a long chat, we went for a stroll, in which a tree--yes! as I
live, a tree--was discovered. Be not envious, ye men of Orkney, it
stood full thirteen inches high, and was indigenous, being the dwarf
birch-tree, the monarch of an arctic forest! Stumbling upon the
churchyard I should have indulged my taste for old tombstones, had not
the musquitoes forbidden it; and, with a hurried glance at the names of
old hunters of fish and departed Danes and Dutchmen, I ran for the
beach, remarking that, whereas we in Europe evince respect for those
who have preceded us to that bourne--
"Where life's long journey turns to sleep,
Nor weary pilgrim wakes to weep--"
by placing stones around their last homes, in Greenland pieces of soft
and ugly wood are substituted, although nature has strewn on every side
masses of granite fit to form mausoleums for Pharaohs. Bad taste! I
exclaimed; but that's not confined to Disco.
Having promised to return to say good-bye, we kept our word most
willingly, and found "Herr Agar" had a circle of friends to meet us;
and my astonishment was great at the sight of _two more petticoats_.
One was the wife of a Moravian missionary, and the other the wife of a
gentleman at Jacob's Sound. They looked perfectly happy, and at least
appeared as well at home in the dreary region which had become their
adopted country, as we could expect, or their husbands desire.
Conversation soon flagged; the missionary gave it up in despair; the
"Herr" smoked in silence; and but for the ladies we should have been
soon dumb. Happily for me (for I wanted to purchase some seal-skins), a
captain of one of the brigs came in at the moment, and, understanding
both English and Danish, conversation became quite animated. Watching
my opportunity, I told him of my desire to purchase seal-skins for
trowsers for my men; he immediately informed Herr Agar, who gave him a
yah! and walked me off by the arm to his storerooms, followed by his
good lady; lifting a bundle of beautiful seal-skins, the Herr made me
an offer of them. I commenced fumbling for my purse, and at last
produced some gold, making signs that various officers intended to have
seal-skin trowsers. Nay! nay! exclaimed the good lady, thrusting back
my money, whilst the Herr began loading me with skins. Oh! the horror
of that moment: I felt as if I had been begging, and must have looked
very like it, for Mrs. Agar, with a look of sudden inspiration, as if
she perfectly understood me, ran off to her husband's wardrobe, and
produced a pair of trowsers, of perfect Dutch dimensions, and, with the
most innocent smile, made signs of how I should pull them on. I smiled,
for they would have made a suit of clothes for me.
[Headnote: _LEAVE DISCO._]
Seeing no way of getting out of the scrape my ignorance of Danish and
their generosity had led me into, I determined to take as little as
possible, and with a thousand thanks walked back to the drawing-room,
with Herr Agar's "whisperables" on one arm and a couple of seal-skins
on the other, my face burning, and my conscience smiting.
Time pressed, and we bid our kind friends good-bye. Herr Agar fired a
salute of three guns, which we returned with three cheers; and, after
taking a stirrup cup on board the "Peru," started for Whale-Fish
Islands, which we reached at eleven o'clock at night, much pleased with
our excursion.
Every one likes a souvenir of some pleasant by-gone scene or event:
these souvenirs are often odd ones. A messmate of mine used to tell of
Greece, her temples and ruins: "he had had many a pleasant snooze
amongst them!" Another dwelt on the scenes of Montezuma's sorrows, for
it was there he had partaken of most savoury wild fowl,--and yet
another hero knew but of Peru and Pizarro's triumphs, by the markets
producing very good prawns; whilst I must plead guilty to associating
Greenland and the deeds of Scandinavian heroes with Herr Agar's
seal-skin trowsers.
Amidst a last flourish of coals and dust, which left us filled to
repletion,--indeed we were just awash,--we were ordered to take the
ships in tow, and start. This being done, I came to a virtuous
resolution in my own mind, after what I was going through in dragging
my "fat friend," the "Resolute," about, to think twice ere I laughed at
those whom fate had shackled to a mountain of flesh. When I had time to
ask the day and date, it was Sunday, 28th June, 1850, and we had turned
our back on the last trace of civilized man. Vogue-la-galère.
The night was serenely calm. We skirted the Black Land of Lively,
making an average speed of three miles per hour, so that our fearful
load of coal--full three hundred tons--did not diminish the speed
nearly as much as I at first anticipated. Although I could not but feel
from our staggering motion and bad steerage that the poor "Pioneer" was
severely taxed in carrying her own dead weight of about five hundred
tons, and towing a clumsy craft, which fully equalled another seven
hundred tons, all this receiving vitality from two little engines of
thirty-horse power each.
Whilst a sudden and rattling breeze from the south caused us to make
sail and run merrily past the striking clifts of the Waigat and Jacob's
Sound, I will briefly refer to the character of the vessels composing
our squadron, their equipment, and general efficiency.
[Headnote: _THE SHIPS._]
The "Resolute" and "Assistance" were sailing ships rigged as barks;
their hulls strengthened according to the most orthodox arctic rules,
until, instead of presenting the appearances of a body intended for
progress through the water, they resembled nothing so much as very
ungainly snuff-boxes; and their bows formed a buttress which rather
pushed the water before it than passed through it. The remark made by
an old seaman who had grown gray amongst the ice was often recalled to
my mind, as with an aching heart for many a long mile I dragged the
clumsy "Resolute" about. "Lord, sir! you would think by the quantity of
wood they are putting into _them_ ships, that the dock-yard maties
believed they could stop the Almighty from moving the floes in Baffin's
Bay! Every pound of African oak they put into them the less likely they
are to rise to pressure; and you must in the ice either rise or sink.
If the floe cannot pass through the ship it will go over it."
Internally the fittings of the ships were most perfect: nothing had
been spared to render them the most comfortable vessels that ever went
out avowedly to winter in the Polar ice. Hot air was distributed by
means of an ingenious apparatus throughout lower deck and cabins.
Double bulkheads and doors prevented the ingress of unnecessary cold
air. A cooking battery, as the French say, promised abundance of room
for roasting, boiling, baking, and thawing snow to make water for daily
consumption. The mess places of the crew were neatly fitted in
man-of-war style; and the well-laden shelves of crockery and hardware
showed that Jack, as well as jolly marine, had spent a portion of his
money in securing his comfort in the long voyage before them. A long
tier of cabins on either side showed how large a proportion of officers
these vessels carried; but it was so far satisfactory, as it proved
that the division of labour, consequent upon numbers, would make arctic
labours comparatively light.
A large captain's cabin, with a gunroom capable of containing all the
officers when met together for their meals, completed the
accommodation. The crews consisted of sixty souls each, of which a
fourth were officers.
The vessels chosen to be the first to carry the novel agent, steam,
into hyperborean climes, were the "Pioneer" and "Intrepid," sister
vessels, belonging, originally, to the cattle conveyance company; they
were propelled by screws, and were of sixty-horse power each, about 150
feet long, of 400 tons burden, and rigged as three-masted schooners.
Over the whole of their original frames, tough planking called doubling
was placed, varying from three to six inches in thickness. The decks
were likewise doubled; and, as may be supposed, from such numerous
fastenings passing through the original timbers of a merchantman, every
timber was perforated with so many holes as to be weakened and rendered
useless; indeed, the vessels may have at last been considered as what
is termed "bread-and-butter built," the two layers of planking
constituting with the decks the actual strength of the vessels. At the
bow, the fine form had happily been retained, the timber strengthenings
being thrown into them at that point within, and not without; they
were, therefore, at the fore end somewhat like a strong wedge. Many an
oracle had shaken his head at this novelty; and when I talked of
cutting and breaking ice with an iron stem, the lip curled in derision
and pity, and I saw that they thought of me as Joe Stag, the Plymouth
boatman, did of the Brazilian frigate when she ran the breakwater down
in a fog,--"Happy beggar, he knows nothing, and he fears nothing."
[Headnote: _THE SCREWS._]