cold, in spite of fatigue. There was an honest congratulation after a
good day's work; there was the time after the pemmican had been eaten,
and each one, drawing up his blanket-bag around him, sat, pannikin in
hand, and received from the cook the half-gill of grog; and after
drinking it, there was sometimes an hour's conversation, in which there
was more hearty merriment, I trow, than in many a palace,--dry
witticisms, or caustic remarks, which made one's sides ache with
laughter. An old marine, mayhap, telling a giddy lamby of a seaman to
take his advice and never to be more than a simple private; for, as he
philosophically argued, "whilst you're that, do you see, you have to
think of nothing: there are petty officers, officers, captains, and
admirals paid for looking after you and taking care of you!" or perhaps
some scamp, with mock solemnity, wondering whether his mother was
thinking of him, and whether she would cry if he never returned to
England; on which a six-foot marine remarks, that "thank God, he has
got no friends; and there would only be two people in England to cry
about him,--the one, the captain of his company, who liked him because
he was the tallest man in it, and the canteen sergeant, whom he had
forgot to pay for some beer." Now a joke about our flags and mottoes,
which one vowed to be mere jack-acting; then a learned disquisition on
raising the devil, which one of the party declared he had seen done,
one Sunday afternoon, for the purpose of borrowing some cash to play
skittles with. In fact, care and thought were thrown to the winds; and,
tired as we were, sleep often overtook us, still laughing at the men's
witticisms. And then such dreams,--they seemed as if an angel had sent
them to reward us for the hard realities of the day: we revelled in a
sweet elysium; home was around us,--friends, kind, good friends, plenty
smiled on every side; we eat, drank, and were merry; we visited old
scenes with by-gone shipmates; even those who had long gone to that
bourne whence traveller returneth not, came back to cheer our sleeping
hours; and many a one, nigh forgot amongst the up-hill struggles of
life, returned to gladden us with their smiles: and as we awoke to the
morning meal, many a regret would be heard that so pleasant a delusion
as the night had been spent in should be dispelled: each succeeding
night, however, brought again "the cherub that watcheth over poor
Jack," to throw sunny thoughts around the mind, and thus relieve our
wayworn bodies.
On the 14th of May, the "Reliance" and "True Blue" sledges reached a
wide break in the continuation of the land, looking like a channel, and
some heights to the S.W. appeared to mark the opposite shore of a
channel full twenty-five miles wide. Captain Ommanney and myself
ascended an elevated mass of table-land, and looked upon the
wide-spread wintry scene. Landward, to the south, and far over the
rugged and frozen sea, all was death-like and silent as the grave: we
felt we might have been the first since "creation's morn" to have
looked upon it; the very hills were still clothed in their winter's
livery, and the eye could not detect the line of demarkation between
land and sea. The frozen foot-prints of a musk-ox excited our
curiosity, as being the first and only ones we had seen, and, together
with like traces of reindeer, a short distance from Cape Walker, was
the sum total of the realization of all our once rosy anticipations of
beef and venison to be found during the southern journey.
Ptarmigan, in small numbers, were occasionally seen, and about four
brace shot; and now and then a stray fox was espied, watching us,
although their numerous tracks showed them to be pretty plentiful:
traces of hares were very numerous, but none were fallen in with by our
sportsmen, except at Cape Walker, where many were seen by later
visitors, and several shot; indeed, it appeared as if it was the limit,
in this direction, of animal life: the Polar bears, and _ergo_ the
seals, not showing themselves west of the same headland in our route.
On the 17th May the "Reliance" and "True Blue" parted company, each
having provisions left to enable them to advance for a further period
of five days; Captain Ommanney generously allowing me, his junior, to
take the search up in a westerly direction, whilst he went down the
channel to the southward, which after all ended in a blind bay. I went
some fifty miles farther, and, finding the coast trend to the south,
endeavoured to march in a westerly direction across the floe. The
sledge was light, with only ten days' provision, and the men were well
inured to their work; but I saw, that from the severe strains that were
brought on the fastenings of the sledge, that wood, iron, and lashings
would not long stand it; and as every foot we advanced, progress became
more laborious, and risk greater, I desisted in the attempt; for,
situated as we were, nigh three hundred miles from our ship, the
breaking down of the sledge would have entailed fearful misery, if not
destruction, to my party. Turning southward, we again closed the land,
when another severe storm, on the 21st of May, obliged us to take
shelter in our tent, and remain there until it was time to return.
[Headnote: _CONCLUSION OF JOURNEY._]
The journey homeward was light work: the sledges were now half emptied;
the weather had become mild, being only a little below freezing-point;
we knew the ground, and could make short cuts, and by forced marches we
succeeded in making two days' journey in one, thereby giving ourselves
a double quantity of food to consume. Lost flesh was quickly recovered;
and the two sledges, again rejoining, reached by the night of the 4th
of June a dépôt formed at Snow-blind Bay.
Here we met Lieutenant Mecham. He informed us that neither by our
parties, or those of Penny's, had intelligence of Franklin been brought
back by the supporting sledges. There was, however, hope yet: the long
parties had not yet come in; and Captain Penny had been stopped by
_water_--_open water_--early in May. He had again gone out with a boat;
and all attention was directed to Wellington Channel, for every one
felt that on no other route was there a chance of Franklin being heard
of. Lastly, great fears were entertained lest our long parties should
not beat those of the "Lady Franklin" and "Sophia" in time and
distance; a piece of _esprit-de-corps_ highly commendable, no doubt,
but which, I blush to say, I took no interest in, having gone to the
Arctic regions for other motives and purposes than to run races for a
Newmarket cup, or to be backed against the field like a Whitechapel
game-cock.
Whilst Captain Ommanney went to Cape Walker for some observations, we
pulled foot (with forced marches) straight across the floe for
Griffith's Island. Every hour wasted in the return journey was a crime,
we felt, towards those whom we had come here to save. The fast
increasing heat told that the open season was at hand: and even if we
could not get our ship to the water, we had brought out a number of
beautiful boats, built expressly, at a great expense; our foot journeys
in the spring had been new and successful, what might we not yet expect
from boat expeditions when the floes were in motion?
On reaching that part of the frozen strait which was evidently covered
with only one season's ice, namely, that of about three feet in
thickness, symptoms of a speedy disruption were very apparent; long
narrow cracks extended continuously for miles; the snow from the
surface had all melted, and, running through, served to render the
ice-fields porous and spongy: the joyful signs hurried us on, though
not without suffering from the lack of pure snow, with which to procure
water for drinking. At last Griffith's Island rose above the horizon; a
five-and-twenty-mile march brought us to it, and another heavy drag
through the melting snow carried us to our ships, on the 12th June,
after a journey of five hundred miles in direct lines, in fifty-eight
days. We were punished for our last forced march by having five out of
the sledge-crew laid up with another severe attack of snow-blindness.
Eight-and-forty hours afterwards, Captain Ommanney arrived; he had
crossed some of the cracks in the floe with difficulty, aided by a
bridge of boarding-pikes; and Lieut. Mecham, with the sledge "Russell,"
coming from Cape Walker, on the 17th of June, was obliged to desert his
sledge, and wade through water and sludge to Griffith's Island, and
thence to the ships: showing how remarkably the breaking up of the ice
in Barrow's Strait promised to coincide in date with the time it was
first seen to be in motion, by Sir E. Parry's squadron, in 1820.
All the parties were now in, except three sledges and twenty-one men,
towards Melville Island; the supports in that direction had suffered in
about the same ratio as ourselves to the southward; the progress,
however, as might be expected where the coast-line was known, was more
rapid. The total number of accidents from frost-bites amounted to
eighteen, and amongst them were several cases in which portions of
injured feet had to be amputated; only one man had fallen, John
Malcolm, a seaman of the "Resolute;" he, poor fellow, appears to have
been delicate from the outset, having fainted on his road to the place
of inspection and departure, in April, 1851.
[Headnote: _LIEUTENANT M'CLINTOCK RETURNS._]
After an absence of sixty-two days, Lieut. Aldrich, with the "Lady
Franklin" sledge, arrived from Byam Martin Channel. He had searched the
west coast of Bathurst Island, which tended a little westerly of north
until in latitude 76° 15' N. At that point, the channel was still full
twenty miles wide between Bathurst and Melville Islands, and extended
northward as far as could be seen. The only things of note observed,
were reindeer, in the month of _April_, on Bathurst Island, and, with
the temperature at 60° below freezing-point, they were grazing on moss
or lichen; this point placed beyond doubt the fact, which is now
incontestable, that the animals of the Parry group do not migrate to
the American continent in the winter. On his way back, Lieut. A. fell
in with large flocks of wild fowl winging their way _northward_.
The floes around our ships were entirely covered with the water of the
melted snow, in some places full four feet in depth, eating its way
rapidly through in all directions, when Lieut. M'Clintock's sledge, the
"Perseverance," and the "Resolute" sledge, Dr. Bradford's, hove in
sight, having been out exactly eighty days. Lieut. M'Clintock had been
to Winter Harbour, and visited all the points known to Parry's
squadron, such as Bushman Cove, Cape Dundas, &c.; but of course no
traces of Franklin. He had, however, brought a portion of Parry's last
wheel, used in his journey, and substantial proofs of the extraordinary
abundance of animal life in that remote region, in the hides and heads
of musk-oxen, the meat of which had helped to bring back his crew in
wonderful condition. Eighty head of oxen and reindeer had been counted
by Mr. M'Clintock, and he could have shot as many as he pleased. Dr.
Bradford's journey was not so cheering a one. He had been early knocked
up from a fall,--serious symptoms threatened, and for nearly a month
the gallant officer was dragged upon his sledge; carrying out--thanks
to his own pluck, and the zeal of his men--the object of his
journey,--the search of the eastern side of Melville Island. We were
now all in: Lieut. M'Clintock had fairly won the palm,--"palmam qui
meruit ferat;" in eighty days he had travelled eight hundred miles, and
heartily did we congratulate him on his success.
The day following, July 7th, I and one of the officers of the "Pioneer"
started to visit Penny's expedition: he was expected back, and we
longed to hear the news; Captain Penny having last been reported to
have reached the water with a sound boat, a good crew, and a month's
provisions. Landing at Cape Martyr, wet up to our necks with splashing
through the pools of water, nowhere less than knee-deep, and often a
mile in extent, we did not willingly leave the dry land again. On
ascending a slope which gave us a view of the south shore of Cornwall's
Island as far as Cape Hotham, and near a point known as that whence the
dog-sledges in the winter used to strike off when communicating with
the ships, our astonishment was great at finding the ice of Barrow's
Strait to have broken up;--the gray light of the morning, and the
perfect calm, prevented us seeing to what extent, but there was plenty
of it, and a sea again gladdened our eyesight. Oh! it was a joyous,
exhilarating sight, after nine months of eternal ice and snow.
[Headnote: _DISAPPEARANCE OF ICE._]
The ground flew under our feet as, elevated in spirits, we walked
rapidly into Assistance Bay, and grasped by the hand our old friends of
the "Lady Franklin." We had each our tale to recount, our news to
exchange, our hopes and disappointments to prose over. One thing was
undoubtedly certain,--that, on May 16th, Captain Penny had discovered a
great extent of water northward of Cornwallis Island: that this same
water prevented Captain Stewart, of the "Sophia," from passing some
precipitous cliffs, against which a heavy sea was beating: that this
same sea was clear of all but _sea-washed_ ice, and no floes were to be
seen. Moreover, owing to a _southerly_ breeze, which blew away to
seaward the ice over which Dr. Goodsir had advanced to the westward,
his retreat was nearly endangered by the water obliging him with his
sledge to take to the neighbouring heights: and all this, _a month
before any thing like a disruption had taken place in Barrow's Strait_.
This latter event, it seems, took place about the 25th of June, 1851;
and, on the 28th June, the commander of the "Sophia" had gone in a
whale-boat from the entrance of the harbour to Wellington Channel.
Three days after our arrival at Assistance Harbour, not a particle of
ice was to be seen, east or west, in Barrow's Strait, looking from the
highland on the east side of the anchorage, except between Griffith's
Island and Cape Martyr, where, some ten miles from the water, and in
the centre of a fixed floe, our unlucky squadron was jammed. Every
where else a clear sea spread itself, sparkling and breaking under a
fresh southerly breeze. Some individuals, who had visited Cape Hotham,
reported the water in Wellington Channel to have made up as high as
Barlow Inlet, beyond which, up to the north water, a floe still
intervened.
In default of Penny's arrival, I was much interested in a journey, upon
which Mr. John Stuart, surgeon of the "Lady Franklin," had been
despatched to follow the traces of some of Franklin's sledges, towards
Caswell's Tower, and to re-examine the traces found in 1850. The
sledge-tracts, which I have elsewhere alluded to, as existing on the
east side of "Erebus and Terror Bay," Mr. Stuart found, as we
conjectured, to have been those of some exploring party, sent from
Beechey Island to Caswell's Tower, in Radstock Bay; for at the base of
the said tower--a remarkable detached mass of limestone--two
carefully-constructed cairns were found, but no record in them; beyond
this, no farther signs of the missing navigators were found--nothing
whatever that could indicate a retreating party. That these cairns were
placed to attract attention, appears certain; the most conspicuous
points have been chosen for them; they are well and carefully built,
evidently not the mere work of an idle hour.
Failing Penny, and his intelligence, I contented myself with visiting
the neighbourhood of Assistance Harbour, and with observing the various
phenomena connected with the dissolution of the winter ice and snow
upon the land; and, of these, none was more interesting than the
breaking out of the ravines, which, having filled with snow during the
winter, had formed, during the previous fortnight, into large lakes of
water, sometimes of acres in extent; and then, in one moment, the
barriers which had pent up the ravines gave way, and, with irresistible
force, the waters rushed over every obstacle to the sea. Three large
ravines broke open whilst I was in Assistance Harbour, and the
thundering sound of the ice, water, and shingle, which swept down, and
soon cut a broad channel for many yards through the floe in the bay,
was a cheering tune to the gallant fellows who were looking forward to
being released from their winter imprisonment. Within twenty-four hours
the body of water in these ravines would release itself, and an almost
dry water-course be left. Nothing in the shape of a river seemed to
exist in this island--rather a remarkable fact, considering its size,
and the immense quantity of snow annually thawed in its interior
valleys and plains.
[Headnote: _ASSISTANCE HARBOUR._]
A beautiful lake existed about two miles inland; and, having been
discovered by one of Captain Penny's people on the anniversary of the
battle of Trafalgar, was very appropriately called Trafalgar Lake; in
it a small species of trout had been caught occasionally throughout the
winter; and if the ice broke up early, a good haul of fish was
anticipated from the seine-nets: on elevated land around the lake,
sorrel and scurvy-grass grew in abundance. I need hardly say we eat of
it voraciously, for the appetite delighted in any thing like vegetable
food.
Occasionally eider and pin-tailed duck were shot, as well as a few
brent-geese, but these birds appeared remarkably shy and wary, although
evidently here to breed.
During the first week of my stay in Assistance Harbour, immense flights
of wild fowl were to be seen amongst the loose ice in Barrow's Strait;
but when the pack had dispersed, and left nothing but an open sea, the
birds appeared to have gone elsewhere for food. Indeed, I always
observed that at the edge of ice more birds were invariably to be found
in the Arctic regions, than in large or open water,--a rule equally
applicable to the whale, seal, and bear, all of which are to be found
at the floe-edge, or in loosely-packed ice.
A gale of wind from the southward occurred, and I was extremely anxious
to see whether it would bring over the ice from the opposite shore, as
the croakers in Assistance Harbour, unable to deny the existence of
water along the north shore of Barrow's Strait, consoled themselves by
declaring that the floe had merely formed itself into pack, and was now
lying along the coast of North Somerset, ready at an hour's warning to
spread itself over the waters. The southerly gale, however, piped
cheerily. A heavy swell and surf--Oh! most pleasant sound!--beat upon
the fixed ice of Assistance Harbour; yet no pack came, nor floe-pieces
either, and thus was placed beyond all doubt the fact that, at any
rate, as far west as Griffith's Island, Barrow's Strait was clear of
ice. In an angle formed between Leopold Island and North Somerset,
there was evidently a pack; for an ice-blink, which moved daily about
in that direction, showed that the mass was acted upon by the winds;
and at last the southerly wind drove it up into Wellington Channel. To
be condemned to inactivity, with such a body of water close at hand,
was painful to all but those whose age and prudence seemed to justify
in congratulating themselves on being yet frozen in; and trying as had
been many disappointments we experienced in the Arctic regions, there
was none that pained us more than the ill luck which had consigned our
squadron, and its 180 men, to inactivity, in an icy prison under
Griffith's Island, whilst so much might have been done during the
thirty days that the waters of Barrow's Strait, and God only knows how
much more beside, were clear from ice in every shape, and seeming to
beckon us on to the north-westward.
It was now we felt the full evil result of our winter quarters. Boats
could not be despatched, I suppose, because the ships might at any time
in July have been swept by the ice whither it pleased, and the junction
of boats and ships rendered uncertain. Future expeditions will,
however, hit this nail on the head, and three distinct periods for
Arctic exploration will be found to exist, viz.:--The spring, from
April to June 25th, for foot journeys; from June 25th to the first week
in August, for boat expeditions; and then six weeks (for steam vessels)
of navigable season.
[Headnote: _BARROW'S STRAIT CLEAR OF ICE._]
Unable to remain with satisfaction away from our squadron, to be daily
tantalized with looking at a sea which might as well not have existed
for us, we returned to the "Pioneer," calling the attention of the
officers of Penny's squadron to the possibility of a vessel from
England, sent to communicate with the squadrons, actually running past
us all, and reaching Melville Island, mayhap, without detecting our
winter quarters; an opinion in which all seemed to concur; and a large
cairn was therefore afterwards erected upon the low land, in such a
position as to attract the attention of a craft bound westward.
On our return to the Naval squadron, we found them still seven miles
from the water to the southward from Griffith's Island. Towards the
westward, on the 25th of July, all was water, and a water sky. About
Somerville Island, and Brown Island, a patch of fixed ice, similar to
that we were in, connected itself with the Cornwallis Island shore; but
between that and us the water was fast making; indeed, it every day
became apparent that we should be released from the _northward_, and
not from the southward. One officer saw Lowther Island in a sea of
water; and thus early, if not earlier, I had the firmest conviction on
my mind that a ship might have been carried in a lead of water, very
similar to that Parry found in 1829, into Winter Harbour, Melville
Island; or, what, in view of our object, would have been more
desirable, up to the north-west, by Byam Martin Channel.
Griffith's Island had, by July 25th, put on its gayest summer
aspect--the ravines had emptied themselves--the snow had disappeared
from the slopes--a uniform dull brown spread from one end of the island
to the other--on its sheltered terraces, poppies, saxifrage, and sorrel
in full flower, intermingled with lichens and mosses of every hue and
description; and we, poor mortals, congratulated ourselves upon
verdure, which was only charming by comparison. The great body of
melted snow that had been on top of the floe, had now nearly all
escaped through it in numerous fissures and holes, and they were
rapidly connecting themselves one with the other. Canals, which had
been formed in the floe, for the purpose of enabling the squadron to
get out, should the water make exactly in the same way it did last
year, now spread snake-like over the floe, and the waters of Barrow's
Strait had approached to within a distance of four miles. Thus closed
the month of July, with the additional disappointing intelligence, that
Penny, who returned to Assistance Harbour on the 25th, had not been
able, owing to the constant prevalence of contrary winds setting in
from the N.W., and his want of provisions, to make much progress in
Wellington Channel. Indeed, he had, from all accounts, found his boat
but ill-adapted to contend with the strong breezes, heavy sea, and
rapid tides into which he had launched between the islands north of
Cornwallis Island, and never succeeded in obtaining a desirable offing;
the islands, however, were thoroughly searched for traces; a small
piece of fresh English elm was found on one of them, which Penny
believed to have been thrown overboard from the "Erebus" and "Terror;"
also a bit of charred pine, which Sir John Richardson believes to have
been burnt by a party belonging to the same ships. But the most
important result of Penny's efforts was the verification of the
existence of a great body of open water, north-west, and beyond the
barrier of ice which still existed in Wellington Channel.