but only a few had lost flesh. A very little exercise was found to tire
one very soon, and appetites were generally on the decrease. For four
hours a-day, we all, men and officers, made a point of facing the
external air, let the temperature be what it would; and this rule was
carefully adhered to, until the return of the sun naturally induced us
to lengthen our excursions. Only on three occasions was the weather too
severe for communication between the vessels, and the first of these
occurred in the close of December and commencement of January. To show
one's face outboard, was then an impossibility; the gale swept before
it a body of snow higher than our trucks, and hid every thing a few
yards off from sight. The "Resolute," three hundred yards off, was
invisible; and the accumulation of snow upon our housing, threatened to
burst it in. The floe seemed to tremble as the gale shrieked over its
surface, and tore up the old snow-drifts and deposited them afresh. A
wilder scene man never saw: it was worthy of the Arctic regions, and a
fit requiem for the departing year.
[Headnote: _AURORAS AND CLOUDLESS SKIES._]
After one of these gales, walking on the floe was a work of much
difficulty, in consequence of the irregular surface it presented to the
foot. The snow-ridges, called sastrugi by the Russians, run (where
unobstructed by obstacles which caused a counter-current) in parallel
lines, waving and winding together, and so close and hard on the edges,
that the foot, huge and clumsy as it was with warm clothing and thick
soles, slipped about most helplessly; and we, therefore, had to wait
until a change of wind had, by a cross drift, filled up the ridges thus
formed, before we took long walks; and on the road between the vessels
parties were usually employed mending the roads.
With one portion of the phenomena of the North Sea, we were
particularly disappointed--and this was the aurora. The colours, in all
cases, were vastly inferior to those seen by us in far southern
latitudes, a pale golden or straw colour being the prevailing hue; the
most striking part of it was its apparent proximity to the earth. Once
or twice the auroral coruscations accompanied a moon in its last
quarter, and generally previous to bad weather. On one occasion, in
Christmas-week, the light played about the edge of a low vapour which
hung at a very small altitude over us; it never, on this occasion, lit
up the whole under-surface of the said clouds, but formed a series of
concentric semicircles of light, with dark spaces between, which waved,
glistened, and vanished, like moonlight upon a heaving, but unbroken
sea.
At other times, a stream of the same coloured vapour would span the
heavens through the zenith, and from it would shoot sprays of pale
orange colour for many hours; and then the mysterious light would again
as suddenly vanish.
Clouds may have been said to have absented themselves from our sky for
at least two months of the winter; the heavens, the stars, and moon,
were often obscured, but it invariably appeared to be from snow-drift
rather than from a cloudy sky. Snow fell incessantly, even on the
clearest day, consisting of minute spiculæ, hardly perceptible to the
eye, but which accumulated rapidly, and soon covered any thing left in
the open air for a few minutes. With returning daylight, and the
promise of the sun, clouds again dotted the southern heavens, and
mottled with beautiful mackerel skies the dome above us.
The immense quantity of snow which in a gale is kept suspended in the
air by the action of the wind, and is termed drift, quite astounded us;
and on two occasions, with north-westerly gales, we had a good
opportunity of noting its accumulation. The "Pioneer" and "Intrepid"
laying across the wind, the counter-current caused a larger deposition
around us than elsewhere. On the first occasion, after the wind
subsided, we found a snow-wreath along the weather-side of the vessel
for a length of one hundred and eighty feet, about eleven feet deep in
the deepest part, and sloping gradually away for one hundred yards.
After weighing a cubic foot of the snow, I calculated that, at the
lowest computation, the mass thus deposited in twenty-four hours was
not less than four hundred tons in weight! How the floe bore the
pressure seemed unaccountable to me; but it did around the "Pioneer,"
although that near the "Intrepid" broke down, and the water flowed up
above the snow, forming it rapidly into ice.
Much later in the winter--indeed in the month of March--a succession of
furious gales quite smothered us; the drift piled up as high as the top
of the winter housing, which was fifteen feet above the deck, and then
blew over to leeward, filling up on that side likewise; whilst we,
unable to face the storm without, could only prevent the housing from
being broken in, by placing props of planks and spars to support the
superincumbent weight. We had actually to dig our way out of the
vessel; and I know not how we should have freed the poor smothered
craft, had not Nature assisted us, by the breaking down of the floe.
This at first threatened to injure and strain the "Pioneer," for,
firmly held as she was all round, the vessel was immersed some two feet
deeper than she ought to have been by the subsiding ice. We set to
work, however, to try and liberate her, when one night a series of loud
reports awakened me, and the quarter-master at the same time ran down
to say, in his quaint phraseology, that "she was a going off!" a fact
of which there was no doubt, as, with sudden surges, the "Pioneer"
overcame the hold the floe had taken of her poor sides, and after some
time she floated again at her true water-line; while the mountain of
snow around us had sunk to the level of the floe, and at first formed
enormously thick ice; but this in time, by the action of the
under-currents of warm water, reduced itself to the ordinary thickness
of the adjoining floe.
[Headnote: _WINTER EMPLOYMENTS._]
Before we enter upon the subject of returning spring, and the new
occupations and excitement which it called forth, let me try to convey
an idea of a day spent in total darkness, as far as the sun was
concerned.
Fancy the lower deck and cabins of a ship, lighted entirely by candles
and oil lamps; every aperture by which external air could enter, unless
under control, carefully secured, and all doors doubled, to prevent
draughts. It is breakfast-time, and reeking hot cocoa from every
mess-table is sending up a dense vapour, which, in addition to the
breath of so many souls, fills the space between decks with mist and
fog. Should you go on deck (and remember you go from 50° above zero to
40° below it, in eight short steps), a column of smoke will be seen
rising through certain apertures called ventilators, whilst others are
supplying a current of pure air. Breakfast done,--and, from the jokes
and merriment, it has been a good one,--there is a general pulling on
of warm clothing, and the major part of the officers and men go on
deck. A few remain, to clean and clear up, arrange for the dinner, and
remove any damp or ice that may have formed in holes or corners during
the sleeping hours. This done, a muster of all hands, called
"divisions," took place. Officers inspected the men, and every part of
the ship, to see both were clean, and then they dispersed to their
several duties, which at this severe season were very light; indeed,
confined mainly to supply the cook with snow to melt for water, keeping
the fire-hole in the floe open, and sweeping the decks. Knots of two or
three would, if there was not a strong gale blowing, be seen taking
exercise at a distance from the vessels; and others, strolling under
the lee, discussed the past and prophesied as to the future. At noon,
soups, preserved meats, or salt horse, formed the seamen's dinner, with
the addition of preserved potatoes, a treat which the gallant fellows
duly appreciated. The officers dined somewhat later--2 P.M. A little
afternoon exercise was then taken, and the evening meal, of tea, next
partaken of. If it was school night, the voluntary pupils went to their
tasks, the masters to their posts; reading men producing their books,
writing men their desks, artists painted by candle-light, and cards,
chess, or draughts, combined with conversation, and an evening's glass
of grog, and a cigar or pipe, served to bring round bed-time again.
[Headnote: _MASK BALLS._]
Monotony was our enemy, and to kill time our endeavour: hardships there
was none: for all we underwent in winter quarters, in the shape of
cold, hunger, or danger, was voluntary. Monotony, as I again repeat,
was the only disagreeable part of our wintering at Griffith's Island.
Some men amongst us seemed in their temperament to be much better able
to endure this monotony than others: and others who had no source of
amusement--such as reading, writing, or drawing--were much to be
pitied. Nothing struck one more than the strong tendency to talk of
home, and England: it became quite a disease. We, for the most part,
spoke as if all the most affectionate husbands, dutiful sons, and
attached brothers, had found their way into the Arctic expeditions.
From these maudlins, to which the most strong-minded occasionally gave
way, we gladly sought refuge in amusements,--such as theatres and
balls. To give an idea of the zest with which all entered these
gayeties, I will recount a list of the characters assumed by the
officers, at the first fancy dress ball.
Capt. Austin _Old Chairs to mend._
Ommanney _Mayor of Griffith's Island._
Lieut. Aldrich _Fancy dress._
Cator _Old English Gentleman._
M'Clintock _Blue Demon._
Osborn _Black Domino._
Brown _Red Devil._
Mecham _Blue and White Domino._
Dr. Donnet _A Lady, then a Friar._
Bradford _A Capuchin._
Ward _A Beadle._
Mr. King _Jockey._
Rearse _Smuggler._
May _Roman Soldier._
Hamilton _A Spinster._
Eds _Spanish Dancing Girl._
Markham _As Allegory._
Cheyne _Miss Maria._
M'Dougall _Vivandiere._
Lewis _Farmer Wapstraw._
Mr. Allard _Mahomet Ali._
Webb _Bedouin Arab._
Harwood _Miss Tabitha Flick._
Allen _Greenwich Pensioner._
Brooman _Punch._
Crabbe _Sir Charles Grandison._
Richards _A Scot._
Whilst pirates, Turks, gipsies, and ghosts, without number, chequered
the ball-room.
These our amusements; but the main object of our coming to the North
was kept constantly in view, and nothing that labour or ingenuity could
devise towards the successful accomplishment of our mission was
wanting.
Some turned their attention to obtaining information for the general
good, upon all that related to travelling in frozen regions; others
plodded through many a volume, for meteorological information upon
which to arrange a safe period of departure for the travellers in the
spring; others tried to found some reasonable theory as to the
geography of the unexplored regions around us; whilst a portion more
actively employed themselves in bringing into action divers practical
means of communicating with our missing country-men which had been
supplied to us in England.
Rockets, in the calm evenings of early winter, were fired with great
effect; in proof of which, signals were several times exchanged, both
in the autumn and spring, between Assistance Harbour and our squadron,
by the aid of these useful projectiles, although the distance was
twenty miles.
[Headnote: _ROCKETS.--BALLOONS._]
The balloons, however, as a more novel attempt for distant signalizing,
or, rather, intercommunication, were a subject of deep interest. The
plan was simple, and ingenious; the merit of the idea, as applicable to
the relief of Sir John Franklin, by communicating to him intelligence
of the position of the searching parties, being due to Mr. Shepperd,
C.E. It was as follows: a balloon of oiled silk, capable of raising
about a pound weight when inflated, was filled with hydrogen evolved
from a strong cask, fitted with a valve, in which, when required for
the purpose, a certain quantity of zinc filings and sulphuric acid had
been introduced. To the base of the balloon, when inflated, a piece of
slow match, five feet long, was attached, its lower end being lighted.
Along this match, at certain intervals, pieces of coloured paper and
silk were secured with thread, and on them the information as to our
position and intended lines of search were printed. The balloon, when
liberated, sailed rapidly along, rising withal, and, as the match
burnt, the papers were gradually detached, and, falling, spread
themselves on the snow, where their glaring colours would soon attract
notice, should they happily fall near the poor fellows in the "Erebus"
and "Terror."
Every care was taken to despatch these balloons with winds from the
southward and south-east, so that the papers might be distributed to
the north and north-west, and westward. Fire-balloons, of which there
were a few, were likewise despatched; but the impression in my own mind
is, that the majority of the balloons despatched by us, after rising to
some height, were carried by counter-currents--always the most
prevalent ones at the cold season of the year--to the southward and
south-west. On two occasions I distinctly saw the balloons, when
started with S.E. winds, pass for a while to the N.W., and then, at a
great altitude, alter their course under the influence of a contrary
current, and pass as rapidly to the S.E., in the teeth of the light
airs we had on the floe.
The farthest distance from the point of departure at which any of these
papers were found, as far as I know, appears to have been within fifty
miles. The "Assistance" despatched some from near Barlow Inlet, which
were picked up on the opposite side of Wellington Channel north of Port
Innis. Neither this, however, nor our non-discovery of any papers
during our travelling in 1851, can be adduced as a proof against their
possible utility and success; and the balloons may still be considered
a most useful auxiliary.
Next--indeed we should say before the balloons--as a means of
communication, came carrier-pigeons. When first proposed, in 1850, many
laughed at the idea of a bird doing any service in such a cause; and,
maybe, might have laughed yet, had not a carrier-pigeon, despatched by
Capt. Sir John Ross, from his winter quarters in 1850, actually reached
its home, near Ayr, in Scotland, in five days. In our expedition none
of these birds had been taken; but on board the "Felix" Sir John Ross
had a couple of brace. I plead guilty, myself, to having joined in the
laugh at the poor creatures, when, with feathers in a half-moulted
state, I heard it proposed to despatch them from Beechey Island, in 74
degrees N. and 92 degrees W., to the meridian of Greenwich and 56
degrees N. latitude, even though they were slung to a balloon for a
part of the journey. At any rate it was done, I think, on the 6th
October, 1850, from Assistance Harbour. Two birds, duly freighted with
intelligence, and notes from the married men, were put in a basket,
which was attached to a balloon in such a manner, that, after
combustion of a certain quantity of match, the carrier-pigeons would be
launched into the air to commence their flight. The idea being that
they would fetch some of the whaling vessels about the mouth of
Hudson's Straits; at least so I heard. The wind was then blowing fresh
from the north-west, and the temperature below zero.
When we in the squadron off Griffith's Island heard of the departure of
the mail, the opinion prevalent was, the birds would be frozen to
death. We were mistaken; for, in about one hundred and twenty hours,
one of these birds, as verified by the lady to whom it had originally
belonged, reached her house, and flew to the nest in which it had been
hatched in the pigeon-house. It had, however, by some means or other,
shaken itself clear of the packet entrusted to its charge. This
marvellous flight of three thousand miles is the longest on record;
but, of course, we are unable to say for what portion of the distance
the bird was carried by the balloon, and when or where liberated; that
depending upon the strength and direction of the gale in which the
balloon was carried along.
[Headnote: _CARRIER-PIGEONS.--KITES._]
Kites, which the kind Mr. Benjamin Smith had supplied me with, both as
a tractile power to assist us in dragging sledges, as well as a means
of signalizing between parties, afforded much interest, and the success
of our experiments in applying them to dragging weights was so great,
that all those I was able to supply gladly provided themselves with so
useful an auxiliary to foot-travellers. Experience, however, taught us
how impossible it was to command a fair wind, without which they were
useless weight, and in severe weather there was some danger, when
handling or coiling up the lines, of having to expose the hands and
being frost-bitten.
My attempts failed to despatch the kites with a weight attached
sufficient to keep a strain on the string, and so keep the kite aloft,
whilst at the same time it was enabled to proceed through the air in
any direction I chose; for, as may be conceived, a little too much
weight made the kite a fixture, whilst a little too little, or a sudden
flaw of wind, would topple the kite over and bring it to the earth. As
a means of signalizing between ships when stationary, the flying of
kites of different colours, sizes, or numbers, attached one to the
other, would, I am sure, in the clear atmosphere of the Arctic regions,
be found wonderfully efficacious.
Lastly, we carried out, more I believe from amusement than from any
idea of being useful, a plan which had suggested itself to the people
of Sir James Ross's expedition when wintering in Leopold Harbour in
1848-49, that of enclosing information in a collar, secured to the
necks of the Arctic foxes, caught in traps, and then liberated. Several
animals thus entrusted with despatches or records were liberated by
different ships; but, as the truth must be told, I fear in many cases
the next night saw the poor "postman," as Jack facetiously termed him,
in another trap, out of which he would be taken, killed, the skin taken
off, and packed away, to ornament, at some future day, the neck of some
fair Dulcinea. As a "sub," I was admitted into this secret mystery, or
otherwise, I with others might have accounted for the disappearance of
the collared foxes by believing them busy on their honourable mission.
In order that the crime of killing the "postmen" may be recognized in
its true light, it is but fair that I should say, that the brutes,
having partaken once of the good cheer on board or around the ships,
seldom seemed satisfied with the mere empty honours of a copper collar,
and returned to be caught over and over again. Strict laws were laid
down for their safety, such as an edict that no fox taken alive in a
trap was to be killed: of course no fox was after this taken alive;
they were all unaccountably dead, unless it was some fortunate wight
whose brush and coat were worthless: in such case he lived either to
drag about a quantity of information in a copper collar for the rest of
his days, or else to die a slow death, as being intended for Lord
Derby's menagerie.
The departure of a postman was a scene of no small merriment: all
hands, from the captain to the cook, were out to chase the fox, who,
half frightened out of its wits, seemed to doubt which way to run;
whilst loud shouts and roars of laughter, breaking the cold, frosty
air, were heard from ship to ship, as the fox-hunters swelled in
numbers from all sides, and those that could not run mounted some
neighbouring hummock of ice, and gave a view halloo, which said far
more for robust health than for tuneful melody.
[Headnote: _DESULTORY OCCUPATIONS._]
During the darker period of the winter, and when the uncertainty of the
weather was such that, from a perfect calm and clear weather, a few
hours would change the scene to a howling tempest and thick drift, in
which, if one had been caught, death must inevitably have followed,
great care was necessary in taking our walks, to prevent being so
overtaken; but, nevertheless, walks of seven or eight miles from the
vessels were, on several occasions, performed, and a severe temperature
faced and mastered with perfect indifference. I remember well on the
13th January seeing mercury, in a solid mass, with a temperature of 40°
below zero, and being one of a good many who had taken three hours hard
walking for mere pleasure.
We joked not a little at the fireside stories at home, of bitter cold
nights, and being frozen to death on some English heath: it seemed to
us so incredible that people should be frost-bitten, because the air
was below freezing point; whilst we should have hailed with delight the
thermometer standing at zero, and indeed looked forward to such a state
of our climate, as people in the temperate zone would to May sunshine
and flowers.
With the increasing twilight, many an anxious eye was cast from the top
of Griffith's Island, to see the prospect of good foot-travelling
offered by the floe: it cannot have been said to be cheering, for
broken and hummocky ice met the eye whichever way one looked, with here
and there a small smooth space; and if it looked so from the heights,
we knew full well that when actually amongst those hummocks, the
travelling would be arduous indeed. There was some time yet, however,
to elapse before the tussle commenced; and many a snow-storm had time
meanwhile to rage. With seamen's sanguineness, we trusted that they
would fill up the hollows, and help to smooth over the broken pack; any
way, we all knew "a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether,"
would master more difficulties than as yet had shown themselves in the
Arctic regions.
Such were our occupations, such the amusements, such the hopes and
fears of our winter quarters off Griffith's Island; and looking back
now at that period, we happily forget its dreariness, and recollect
only its brighter moments--the fast friendship there formed for many,
the respect and admiration for all.
_February 7th, 1851._--The stentorian lungs of the "Resolute's"
boatswain hailed, to say the sun was in sight from the mast-head; and
in all the vessels the rigging was soon manned to get the first glimpse
of the returning god of day. Slowly it rose, and loud and hearty cheers
greeted the return of an orb whom the world, without the frozen zone,
does not half appreciate, because he is always with them. For
ninety-six days it had not gladdened us, and now its return put fresh
life into our night-wearied bodies. For a whole hour we feasted
ourselves with admiring the sphere of fire, which illumined without
warming us; and, indeed, the cold now increased rather than otherwise,
and our lowest temperature and severest weather did not occur until
March.
[Headnote: _PREPARATIONS FOR TRAVELLING._]
Preparations for spring travelling were now hastened; daily committees
of officers met, by order, to discuss every point, and receive,
approve, or reject proposals and plans. Every soul, high and low,
exerted his ingenuity and abilities to invent articles, portable and
useful for travellers; whilst others sent in to the leader of the
expedition schemes of search, in which distances, directions, weights,
and material were duly considered. Hopes rose high, as every one felt
that the field was thrown open to individual ability and skill. Every
one, naturally, (for orders "to put the men in training" did not come
out until afterwards,) commenced to "harden up" for the labour before
them. Zealous individuals might be daily seen trying all sorts of
patents. Out of their hard-earned wages some of the men bought and made
sails of peculiar cut for their sledges; others, after the "working
hours" were over, constructed water-bottles, velocipedes, cooking-tins;
in fact, neither pains nor trouble were spared--officers and men vying
in zeal.
Early in March an interchange of visits between our squadron and that
under Captain Penny opened the communication. His vessels had got
through the winter equally well with ourselves, and he, in like manner,
was hard at work, preparing for the foot journeys; and, as no sledges
or other equipment had been brought by him from England, in consequence
of his hurried departure, every nerve had to be strained, and every
resource called into existence, to enable him to overcome his
difficulties in lack of material.