rich Milesian was giving utterance to encouraging exclamations of the
most original nature--"Keep up your courage, my boy!--Why don't you
come back?--Faith, I suppose it's water that won't let you!--There will
be some one there directly!--Hoy! hoy! ahoy! don't be down-hearted
anyway!" I laughed as I ran. My party placed themselves about ten yards
apart, the last man carrying the line, ready to heave, in case of the
leader breaking through. So weak was the ice that we had to keep at a
sharp trot to prevent the weight of our own bodies resting long on any
one spot; and when we sighted our friend M---- on his little piece of
firm ice, the very natural exclamation of one of my men was, "I wonder
how he ever reached it, sir?" M---- assisted us to approach him by
pointing out his own route; and by extending our line, and holding on
to it, we at last got near enough to take him off the piece of detached
ice on which he had providentially scrambled. I never think of the
occurrence without a sickening sensation, mixed with a comic
recollection of K----'s ejaculations. Whilst walking back with my
half-frozen friend, the ice showed itself to be easing off rapidly with
the turn of tide. At 1 A.M. we were all free, and a lane of water
extending itself ahead.
[Headnote: _MELVILLE BAY._]
_July 4th._--At 1 P.M. we started again, towing the ships, the whaling
fleet from the southward under every stitch of canvas threatening to
reach the Duck Islands before ourselves, and Captain Penny's squadron
out of sight to the north-west. By dint of hard steaming we contrived
to reach the islands before the whalers, and at midnight got orders to
cast off and cruise about under sail, all the vessels rejoining us that
we had passed some days ago off the Women's Isles.
The much talked of, by whalemen, "Devil's Thumb," was now open; it
appears to be a huge mass of granite or basalt, which rears itself on a
cliff of some 600 or 800 feet elevation, and is known as the southern
boundary of Melville Bay, round whose dreary circuit, year after year,
the fishermen work their way to reach the large body of water about the
entrance of Lancaster Sound and Pond's Bay. Facing to the south-west,
from whence the worst gales of wind at this season of the year arise,
it is not to be wondered at that Melville Bay has been the grave of
many a goodly craft, and in one disastrous year the whaling fleet was
diminished by no less than twenty-eight sail (without the loss of life,
however), a blow from which it never has recovered. No good reason was
adduced for taking this route, beyond the argument, founded upon
experience, that the earliest passages were always to be made by
Melville Bay; this I perfectly understood, for early in the season,
when northerly winds do prevail, the coast of Melville Bay is a
weather-shore, and the ice, acted upon by wind and current, would
detach itself and form between the land-ice and the pack-ice a safe
high-road to the westward. It was far otherwise in 1850. The prospect
of an early passage, viz., from the first to the third week of June,
had long vanished. Southerly winds, after so long a prevalence of
northerly ones (vide Captain Gravill's information), were to be
expected. The whole weight of the Atlantic would be forced up Davis's
Straits, and Melville Bay become "a dead lee-shore." I should therefore
not have taken the ice, or attempted to work my way round Melville Bay,
and would instead have gone to the westward and struck off sooner or
later into the west water, in about the latitude of Uppernavik, 73° 30'
N.
However, this is what amongst the experienced is styled theory; and as
any thing was better than standing still, I was heartily glad to see
the "Chieftain," a bonnie Scotch whaler, show us the road by entering a
lead of water, and away we all went, working to windward. The sailing
qualities of the naval Arctic ships threatened to be sadly eclipsed by
queer-looking craft, like the "Truelove" and others. But steam came to
the rescue, and after twelve hours' hard struggle we got the pendants
again ahead of our enterprising and energetic countrymen.
_Saturday, July 6th._--By 6 A.M. we were alongside of Penny's squadron,
which was placed at the head of the lane of water, up which we had also
advanced; and so keen was he not to lose the post of honour, that as we
closed, I smiled to see the Aberdonians move their vessels up into the
very "nip." In the course of the day the whalers again caught us up,
and a long line of masts and hulls dotted the floe-edge.
The ice was white and hard, affording good exercise for pedestrians,
and to novices, of whom there were many amongst us, the idea of walking
about on the frozen surface of the sea was not a little charming. In
all directions groups of three and four persons were seen trudging
about, and the constant puffs of smoke which rose in the clear
atmosphere, showed that shooting for the table was kept carefully in
view.
[Headnote: _AN OLD WHALEMAN._]
A present of 170 duck-eggs from Captain Stewart of the "Joseph Green"
whaler, showed in what profusion these birds breed, and I was told by
Captain Penny that one of the islets passed by him on the 2d was
literally alive with ducks, and that several boat-loads of eggs might
have been taken off it,--interesting proofs of the extraordinary
abundance of animal life in these northern regions. Our Saturday
evening was passed listening to stirring tales of Melville Bay and the
whale fishery, and several prophecies as to the chances of a very bad
season, the number of icebergs and extent of the ice-fields, inducing
many to believe that more than usual risk would be run in the bay this
year. Sunday forenoon passed quietly and according to law, though a
falling barometer made us watch anxiously a heavy bank of black clouds
which rested in the southern heavens.
The dinner-bell however rang, and having a very intelligent gentleman
who commands a whaler as a guest, we were much interested in listening
to his description of the strange life led by men, like himself,
engaged in the adventurous pursuit of the whale; Mr. S. assured us that
he had not seen corn grow, or eaten fresh gooseberries for thirty
years! although he had been at home every winter. Though now advanced
in years, with a large family, one of whom was the commander of Her
Majesty's brig the "Sophia," then in company, still he spoke with
enthusiasm of the excitement and risks of his own profession; it had
its charms for the old sailor, whose skill and enterprise had been
excited for so many years in braving the dangers of ice-encumbered
seas, whether around Spitzbergen or in Baffin's Bay: he evidently felt
a pride and satisfaction in his past career, and it had still sweet
reminiscences for him. I felt a pride in seeing such a man a
brother-seaman,--one who loved the North because it had hardships--one
who delighted to battle with a noble foe. "We are the only people," he
said, "who follow the whale, and kill him in spite of the ice and
cold." There was the true sportsman in such feelings. He and the whale
were at war,--not even the ice could save his prey.
A report from deck, that the ice was coming in before a southerly gale,
finished our dinner very abruptly, and the alteration that had taken
place in a couple of hours was striking. A blue sky had changed to one
of a dusky colour,--a moaning gale sent before it a low brown vapour,
under which the ice gleamed fiercely,--the floes were rapidly pressing
together. Two whalers were already nipped severely, and their people
were getting the boats and clothing out ready for an accident.
[Illustration]
[Headnote: _DOCKING IN THE ICE._]
"The sooner we are all in dock the better," said Captain S., as he
hurried away to get his own vessel into safety, and, almost as quickly
as I can tell it, a scene of exciting interest commenced--that of
cutting docks in the fixed ice, called land-floe, so as to avoid the
pressure which would occur at its edge by the body of ice to seaward
being forced against it by the fast rising gale. Smart things are done
in the Navy, but I do not think any thing could excel the alacrity with
which the floe was suddenly peopled by about 500 men, triangles rigged,
and the long saws (called ice-saws) used for cutting the ice, were
manned. A hundred songs from hoarse throats resounded through the gale;
the sharp chipping of the saws told that the work was flying; and the
loud laugh or broad witticisms of the crews mingled with the words of
command and encouragement to exertion given by the officers.
The pencil of a Wilkie could hardly convey the characteristics of such
a scene, and it is far beyond my humble pen to tell of the stirring
animation exhibited by some twenty ships' companies, who knew that on
their own exertions depended the safety of their vessels and the
success of their voyage. The ice was of an average thickness of three
feet, and to cut this saws of ten feet long were used, the length of
stroke being about as far as the men directing the saw could reach up
and down. A little powder was used to break up the pieces that were
cut, so as to get them easily out of the mouth of the dock, an
operation which the officers of our vessels performed whilst the men
cut away with the saws. In a very short time all the vessels were in
safety, the pressure of the pack expending itself on a chain of bergs
some ten miles north of our present position. The unequal contest
between floe and iceberg exhibited itself there in a fearful manner;
for the former pressing onward against the huge grounded masses was
torn into shreds, and thrown back piecemeal, layer on layer of many
feet in elevation, as if mere shreds of some flimsy material, instead
of solid, hard ice, every cubic yard of which weighed nearly a ton.
The smell of our numerous fires brought a bear in sight; Nimrods
without number issued out to slay him, the weapons being as varied as
the individuals were numerous. The chase would, however, have been a
fruitless one, had not the bear in his retreat fallen in with and
killed a seal; his voracity overcame his fears, and being driven into
the water, he was shot from the boat of one of the whalers which had
perseveringly followed him.
The brute was of no great size--not more than five feet in length. The
coat, instead of being white, was turned to a dingy yellow, much
resembling in colour decayed ice; a resemblance which enabled the
animal, no doubt, to approach the seals with greater facility.
By midnight all fears for the safety of the vessels had ceased; indeed,
as far as our searching ships had been concerned, there never had been
much cause for fear, the operation of docking having been carried out
by us more for the sake of practice than from necessity. We were
tightly beset until the following evening, when the ice as suddenly
moved off as it had come together; and then a scene of joyful
excitement took place, such as is only to be seen in the arctic
regions--every ship striving to be foremost in her escape from
imprisonment, and to lead ahead. Want of wind obliged the whalers and
Penny's brigs to be tracked along the floe-edge by the crews--a
laborious operation, which is done on our English canals by horses;
here, however, the powerful crews of fishermen, mustering from
thirty-five to fifty hands, fastened on by their track-belts to a
whale-line, and, with loud songs, made their vessels slip through the
water at an astonishing pace.
An odd proof of the unhandiness of such vessels as the "Resolute" and
"Assistance" was given to-day: the former endeavoured to tow herself
ahead by the aid of all her boats, a distance of about three or four
hundred yards, and was quite unable to do so, although the wind against
her hardly amounted to a cat's paw; the consequence was, that until the
steam vessels got hold, she was fast dropping astern of the whalers,
and, as was usually the case, every one's temper was going wrong. The
run was not a very long one, and in the heart of a fleet of icebergs we
again brought up: one whaler, "The Truelove," having turned back in
despair of a passage north-about to Pond's Bay.
[Headnote: _TRACKING AND TOWING._]
From our position a good view of Melville Bay was to be had, and a more
melancholy one, eye never rested upon. Surrounded as we were with
bergs, we had to climb a neighbouring mass to obtain a clear horizon;
the prospect to seaward was not cheering; and from the Devil's Thumb
northward, one huge glacier spread itself. The first sensation we felt
was that of pity for the poor land--pressed down and smothered under so
deadly a weight: here and there, a strip of cliff protruded, black and
bare, from the edge of the _mer-de-glace_, whose surface, rough and
unpleasing, was of a sombre yellowish tint, with occasional masses of
basalt protruding through it, like the uplifted hands of drowning men:
it seemed Earth's prayer for light and life; but the ice, shroud-like,
enveloped it, and would not give up the dead.
_July 9th._--Every day taught us something: we had learned that the ice
went off as rapidly, if not more so, than it came in; and when an
opening occurred to-day, the "Pioneer," with the "Resolute" again in
tow, was ahead of the whalers, and close on Penny's heels.
The ice to-day lay much across, forming very tortuous channels; and the
performance of the screws, in twisting themselves and their tail-pieces
(the ships) round floe-pieces and bergs, was as interesting as it was
satisfactory. In some places we had to adopt a plan, styled by us
"making a cannon!" from its resemblance to the same feat in billiards.
This generally occurred at sharp and intricate turns, where the breadth
of water was considerably less than the length of the vessels; we then,
in order to get the vessel's stem in the proper direction, used to
steer her in such a way, that the bow on the opposite side to which we
wanted her to turn struck the ice with some force; the consequence was,
the steamer would turn short off, and save the risk of getting athwart
"the lead," and aid in checking the ship round at the same time.
Another novel application of steam took place to-day. We came to a bar
of ice, formed of loose floe-pieces of all sizes, but too small to
heave through by means of ice-anchors and lines; Penny stood close up
to it, but he could neither sail through it, nor warp; he had therefore
to make a long detour round its edge: _steam_ however was able to do
it; and with our knife-like bows, aided by the propeller, we soon
wedged a road through for ourselves and the "Resolute."
Detentions in the ice were amongst the most trying moments of our life
in the North; and from the composition of our squadron, namely, two
fast vessels, and two slow ones, the constant waiting for one another
put me much in mind of the old doggerel:--
"The Earl of Chatham with sword drawn,
Was waiting for Sir Richard Strachan;
Sir Richard longing to be at 'em,
Was waiting for the Earl of Chatham."
The risk of detention in such a region can be understood by all; but
few, perhaps, will appreciate the feeling of mingled passion and regret
with which the leading vessel in such a mission as we had in hand found
herself obliged to wait to close her consort, when all was water ahead,
and the chances of it remaining so were but slight. A few hours we all
knew had often made the difference of a passage across Melville Bay
without detention, or of a long, laborious voyage--here we were waiting
for our consorts.
On the 10th, a short tow; and in company with a portion of the whalers,
for several had retreated, we again had to dock, to escape nipping from
the ice, and on the morrow, a similar scene of hurry and excitement
took place when liberation came.
[Headnote: _FAVOURABLE PROSPECT._]
_Thursday, 11th._--Seven of the most enterprising whalers still hung on
our heels, and to-day found us all at a bar beyond which there was a
sea of water. Patience! was the "_mot d'ordre_;" and it vented itself
in a number of dinners and the winding-up of letters; for we all felt
that the hour of separation from the whalers would soon arrive. They
all were delighted with the performance of the steam vessels in the
ice, and quizzed our crews for sitting at their ease, whilst they had
to drag like horses. Captain Penny, likewise, candidly acknowledged
that he never thought they could have answered so well; and regretted
that he had not had a steam vessel. Our seamen fully appreciated the
good service the screws had done them: they had now been eleven days in
the ice, during every day of which period they had witnessed it working
effectually under every circumstance; they had seen the crews of the
whalers labouring at the track-line, at the oar, and in making and
shortening sail, both by day and by night; whilst our crews had nothing
to do beyond taking the ships in tow and casting them off again;
already I observed a really sincere anxiety upon all their parts for
the safety of the "screw." I heard from henceforth inquiries amongst
them, whenever a shock took place, "Whether _she_ was all right?" or
to my orders, a ready response--"All right, sir! she is all free of the
ice!"
At night the bar opened, and giving the "Lady Franklin" a jerk into the
water beyond, the "Intrepid" and "Pioneer" rattled away with the ships
in tow, as hard as steam could take them. Oh, for one run of ninety
miles! There was open water ahead; but, alas! we could only get three
miles an hour out of our vessel--alone, we could have gone five; making
in a day's work the difference between seventy-two and one hundred and
twenty miles.
By two o'clock in the morning we had outrun both Penny and the whalers;
and, could we only have gone faster, assuredly the passage of Melville
Bay would have been that day effected. The land-floe was still fast,
reaching twenty-five or thirty miles off shore, and the pack had
drifted off some ten or fifteen miles; between the two we were steaming
at five o'clock in the morning of the 12th of July, and all was
promising--a headland called Cape Walker and Melville Monument opening
fast to view. The quarter-master grinned, as he made his report, that
he was sure we were in what was a fair lead into the North Water!
Hope is not prophecy! and so they will find who labour in the North;
for how changed was the prospect when I went on deck after a short
sleep--a south wind had sprung up. We were under sail. The pack was
coming in fast, and the signal "Prepare to take the ice," flying from
the Commodore's mast-head. We did take it, as the pack came against the
land-floe, with Cape Walker about abreast of us; and, in a few hours,
the "nip" took place. The "Intrepid" and "Pioneer" having gone into a
natural dock together, were secure enough until the projecting points
of the land-floe gave way, when the weight of the pressure came on the
vessels, and then we felt, for the first time, a Melville Bay squeeze.
The vessels, lifted by the floes, shot alternately ahead of one
another, and rode down the floe for some fifty yards, until firmly
imbedded in ice, which, in many layers, formed a perfect cradle under
their bottoms. We, of course, were passive spectators, beyond taking
the precaution to have a few men following the vessels over the ice
with two or three of the boats, in case of a fatal squeeze. The "Sweet
little Cherub" watched over the steamers, however, and, in a short
time, the pressure transferred itself elsewhere. Next day showed all of
Her Majesty's squadron beset in Melville Bay. The gale had abated, but
an immense body of ice had come in from the S.W. To the N.W. a dark
haze showed a water sky, but from it we must have been at least forty
miles. Between us and the shore, a land-floe, of some thirty miles in
width, followed the sinuosities of the coast-line. Bergs here and there
strewed its surface; but the major part of them formed what is called a
"reef," in the neighbourhood of Devil's Thumb, denoting either a bank
or shoal water in that direction.
[Headnote: _NARWHALES._]
A powerful sunlight obliged spectacles of every shade, size, and
description to be brought into use; and, as we walked about from ship
to ship, a great deal of joking and facetiousness arose out of the
droll appearance of some individuals,--utility, and not beauty, was,
however, generally voted the great essential in our bachelor community;
and good looks, by general consent, put away for a future day. Great
reflection, as well as refraction, existed for the time we remained
beset in this position; and the refraction on one occasion enabled us
to detect Captain Penny's brigs as well as the whalers, although they
must have been nearly thirty miles distant.
The ice slackening a little formed what are called "holes of water,"
and in these we soon observed a shoal of narwhales, or unicorn fish, to
be blowing and enjoying themselves. By extraordinary luck, one of the
officers of the "Intrepid," in firing at them, happened to hit one in a
vital part, and the brute was captured; his horn forming a handsome
trophy for the sportsman. The result of this was, that the unfortunate
narwhales got no peace; directly they showed themselves, a shower of
balls was poured into them.
This fish is found throughout the fishing-ground of Baffin's Bay, but
is not particularly sought for by our people. The Esquimaux kill it
with ease, and its flesh and skin are eaten as luxuries; the latter
especially, as an anti-scorbutic, even by the whalers, and some of our
crews partook of the extremely greasy-looking substance,--one man
vowing it was very like chestnuts! (?) I did not attempt to judge for
myself; but I have no doubt it would form good food to a really hungry
person. The narwhales vary in size, ranging sometimes, I am told, to
fourteen feet; the horns, of which I saw a great many at Whale-Fish
Isles, were from three feet to seven feet in length. The use of this
horn is a matter of controversy amongst the fishermen: it is almost too
blunt for offence, and its point, for about four inches, is always
found well polished, whilst the remainder of it is usually covered with
slime and greenish sea-weed. Some maintain that it roots up food from
the bottom of the sea with this horn; others, that it probes the clefts
and fissures of the floating ice with it, to drive out the small fish,
which are said to be its prey, and which instinctively take shelter
there from their pursuers. The body of the narwhale is covered with a
layer of blubber, of about two inches in thickness. This was removed,
and carefully boiled down to make oil; and the _krang_, or carcass, was
left as a decoy to molliemauks and ivory-gulls,--these latter birds
having for the first time been seen by me to-day. They are decidedly
the most graceful of sea-birds; and, from the exquisite purity of their
plumage when settled on a piece of ice or snow, it required a practised
eye to detect them. Not so the voracious and impertinent mollies--the
Procellaria of naturalists. Their very ugliness appeared to give them
security, and they are, in the North, what the vulture and carrion crow
are in more pleasant climes--Nature's scavengers.
The 14th and 15th of July found us still firmly beset, and sorely was
our patience taxed. In-shore of us, a firm unbroken sheet of ice
extended to the land, some fifteen miles distant. Across it, in various
directions, like hedge-rows in an English landscape, ran long lines of
piled-up hummocks, formed during the winter by some great pressure; and
on the surface, pools of water and sludge[1] broke the general monotony
of the aspect.
[1] Is the term applied to half-thawed ice or snow.
[Headnote: _ANXIETY AND HOPE._]
The striking mass of rock, known as Melville's Monument, was clear of
snow, because it was too steep for ice to adhere; but every where else
huge domes of white showed where Greenland lay, except where Cape
Walker thrust its black cliff through the glacier to scowl upon us.
Tantalus never longed for water more than we did. Those who have been
so beset can alone tell of the watchfulness and headaching for water.
Now to the mast-head with straining eyes,--then arguing and inferring,
from the direction of wind and tide, that water must come. Others
strolling over to a hole, and with fragments of wood, or a measure,
endeavouring to detect that movement in the floes by which liberation
was to be brought about. Some sage in uniform, perhaps, tries to prove,
by the experience of former voyages, that the lucky day is passed or
close at hand; whilst wiser ones console themselves with exclaiming,
"That, at any rate, we are, as yet, before Sir James Ross's
expedition,--both in time and position."