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[Transcriber's Note: This author often uses "run" where we to-day would
use "ran." This was retained.]
[Illustration: Captain C. F. Hall.
See page 289]
NORTH-POLE VOYAGES:
EMBRACING
SKETCHES OF THE IMPORTANT FACTS AND INCIDENTS
IN THE LATEST
AMERICAN EFFORTS TO REACH THE NORTH POLE
FROM THE SECOND GRINNELL EXPEDITION TO THAT OF THE POLARIS.
BY REV. Z. A. MUDGE,
AUTHOR OF "VIEWS FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK," "WITCH HILL," "ARCTIC
HEROES," ETC., ETC.
Five Illustrations.
NEW YORK:
NELSON & PHILLIPS
CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN.
SUNDAY-SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
NELSON & PHILLIPS,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
PREFACE.
FOR more than three hundred years an intense desire has been felt by
explorers to discover and reveal to the world the secrets of the
immediate regions of the North Pole. Nor has this desire been confined
to mere adventurers. Learned geographers, skillful navigators, and
scientific men of broad and accurate study, have engaged in these
enterprises with enthusiastic interest. The great governments of the
Christian world have bestowed upon them liberally the resources of their
wealth and science, and never to a greater extent than within the last
three years. Failure seems but to stimulate exertion. Scarcely have the
tears dried on the faces of the friends of those who have perished in
the undertaking before we hear of the departure of a fresh expedition.
Something like a divine inspiration has attended these explorations from
the first, and their moral tone has been excellent.
This volume sketches the latest American efforts, second to no others in
heroism and success, and abounding in instructive and intensely
interesting adventures both grave and gay.
We have followed in this volume, as in its companion volume, "The Arctic
Heroes," the orthography of Professor Dall, of the Smithsonian
Institution, in some frequently-occurring Arctic words.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. NORTHWARD 9
II. ANCHORED AT LAST 17
III. THRILLING INCIDENTS 23
IV. LOST AND RESCUED 31
V. MORE HEROIC EXCURSIONS 43
VI. THE OPEN SEA 53
VII. AN IMPORTANT MOVEMENT 60
VIII. TREATY MAKING 68
IX. ARCTIC HUNTING 75
X. THEE ESCAPING PARTY 89
XI. A GREEN SPOT 99
XII. NETLIK 109
XIII. THE HUT 120
XIV. ESQUIMO TREACHERY 131
XV. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 142
XVI. DRUGGED ESQUIMO 150
XVII. BACK AGAIN 160
XVIII. SCARES 171
XIX. SEEKING THE ESQUIMO 179
XX. DESERTERS 186
XXI. CLOSING INCIDENTS OF THE IMPRISONMENT 194
XXII. HOMEWARD BOUND 201
XXIII. NARROW ESCAPES 209
XXIV. ESQUIMO KINDNESS 216
XXV. MELVILLE BAY 221
XXVI. SAVED 228
XXVII. OFF AGAIN 234
XXVIII. COLLIDING FLOES 241
XXIX. THE WINTER HOME 249
XXX. GLACIERS 255
XXXI. A STRANGE DREAM AND ITS FULFILLMENT 263
XXXII. THE CROWNING SLEDGE JOURNEY 270
XXXIII. LAST INCIDENTS OF THE EXPEDITION 279
XXXIV. SOMETHING NEW 287
XXXV. A FEARFUL STORM 295
XXXVI. THE AURORA 304
XXXVII. THE DYING ESQUIMO 311
XXXVIII. CUNNING HUNTERS 317
XXXIX. ROUND FROBISHER BAY 326
XL. THE "POLARIS" 333
XLI. DISASTER 344
XLII. THE LAST OF THE "POLARIS" 357
XLIII. THE FEARFUL SITUATION 364
XLIV. THE WONDERFUL DRIFT 371
XLV. THE WONDERFUL ESCAPE 380
Illustrations.
CAPTAIN C. F. HALL 2
WALRUSES--A FAMILY PARTY 81
CAPTAIN BUDDINGTON 337
UNLOADING STORES FROM THE "POLARIS" 345
PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE "POLARIS" 354
NORTH-POLE VOYAGES.
CHAPTER I.
NORTHWARD.
THE readers who have been with us before into the arctic regions will
recollect the good American brig Advance, and her wonderful drift during
live months, in 1851, from the upper waters of the Wellington Channel,
until she was dropped in the Atlantic Ocean by the ice-field which
inclosed her. Dr. Kane, then her surgeon, took command of this same
vessel, in 1853, for another search for the lost Franklin. We have seen
that the place of Franklin's disasters and death was found while Kane
was away on this voyage, so the interest of the present story will not
connect with that great commander, except in the noble purposes of its
heroes.
The Advance left New York on the thirtieth of May, having on board, all
counted, eighteen men. Kind hearts and generous purses had secured for
her a fair outfit in provisions for the comfort of the adventurers, in
facilities for fighting the ice and cold, and in the means of securing
desired scientific results. Of the thousands who waved them a kind
adieu from the shore many said sadly, "They will never return."
We shall make the acquaintance of the officers and men as we voyage with
them, and a very agreeable acquaintance we are sure it will be. The
rules by which all agreed to be governed were these and no others:
"Absolute obedience to the officer in command; no profane swearing; no
liquor drunk except by special order."
The voyagers touched at St. John's, and among other kindnesses shown
them was the gift by the governor of a noble team of nine Newfoundland
dogs.
At Fiskernaes, the first Greenland port which they entered, they added
to their company Hans Christian, an Esquimo hunter, nineteen years of
age. Hans was expert with the Esquimo spear and kayak. He will appear
often in our story, and act a conspicuous part; he at once, however,
prepossesses us in his favor by stipulating with Dr. Kane to leave two
barrels of bread and fifty pounds of pork with his mother in addition to
the wages he is to receive. The doctor made his cup of joy overflow by
adding to these gifts to his mother the present for himself of a rifle
and new kayak.
The expedition next touched at Lichtenfels. Dr. Kane obtained here a
valuable addition to his outfit of fur clothing. Stopping at Proven, a
supply of Esquimo dogs was completed; lying to briefly at Upernavik, the
most northern port of civilization, their equipment in furs, ice-tools,
and other necessary articles known to arctic voyagers, was rendered
still more complete. At this last port the services of Carl Petersen
were engaged for the expedition. We have met this intelligent, heroic
Dane among our "Arctic Heroes." He will for a long time appear in the
shifting scenes of our story.
On the twenty-seventh of July the "Advance" drew near to Melville Bay.
The reader who has accompanied the earlier arctic explorers into this
region will remember their terrific experience in this bay. Every arctic
enemy of the navigator lurks there. Their attacks are made singly and in
solid combinations. At one time they steal upon their victim like a
Bengal tiger; at other times they rush upon him with a shout and yell,
like a band of our own savages. Giant icebergs; fierce storms; cruel
nips; silent, unseen, irresistible currents; with ever-changing,
treacherous "packs" and "floes," and the all-pervading, relentless cold,
are some of these enemies. A favorite movement of these forces is to so
adjust themselves as to promise the advancing explorer or whaler a
speedy and complete success; then, suddenly changing front, to crush and
sink him at once, or to bind him in icy fetters, a helpless, writhing
victim, for days, weeks, or months, and finally, perhaps, to bury both
ship and men in the dark, deep waters of the bay.
The "Advance" was at this time treated by these guardians of the
approach to the North Pole with exceptional courtesy. We suspect that
they secretly purposed to follow them into more northern regions, and
there to attack them at even greater advantage. This they certainly did.
But just to show them what it could and was minded to do, the evil
spirit of the bay invited them at one time to escape impending danger by
fastening to a huge berg. This they did, after eight hours of warping,
heaving, and planting ice-anchors, a labor of prostrating exhaustion.
Hardly had they begun to enjoy the invited hospitality of the berg, when
it began to shower upon them, like big drops from a summer cloud, pieces
of ice the size of a walnut, accompanied by a crackling, threatening
noise from above. A gale from out of its hiding-place on shore came
sweeping upon them at the same time, driving before it its icy
supporter. Mischief was evidently intended. The "Advance" retreated from
the berg with all possible haste, and had barely gone beyond its reach
when it launched after it its whole broadside, which came crashing into
the water with a roar like a whole park of artillery. Could any thing be
rougher? But then it was true to its icebergy character.
The "Advance" was not injured, but the ice held as a trophy more than
two thousand feet of good whale line, which had to be cut in the
retreat.
These bergs, though thus harsh and treacherous as a rule, _can_ do a
generous thing. May be, like some people, they are all the more
dangerous on account of exceptional generosity. The loose ice, soon
after this incident, was drifting south, and would have borne the
navigators with it back from whence they had come, perhaps for hundreds
of miles. But a majestic berg came along whose sunken base took hold of
the deep water current, and so, impelled by this current, it sailed
grandly northward, sweeping a wide path through the rotten floes. It
condescendingly offered to do tugboat service for the "Advance," and
invited its captain to throw aboard an ice-anchor. We wonder he dared to
trust it, but he did, and, grappling its crystal sides, made good
headway for awhile until other means of favorable voyaging were
presented.
Soon after the explorers parted from this bergy friend the midnight sun
came out over its northern crest, kindling on every part of its surface
fires of varied colors, and scattering over the ice all around blazing
carbuncles, sparkling rubies, and molten gold.
August fifth the "Advance," fairly clearing the hated Melville Bay,
sailed along the western coast of the "North Water" of Baffin Bay. At
Northumberland Island, at the mouth of Whale Sound, their eyes were
again delighted by an exhibition of beautiful colors, delicately tinted,
but this time not made by a gorgeous sunrise over a gigantic iceberg.
The snow of the island and its vicinity bore, over vast areas, a reddish
hue, and great patches of beautiful green mosses broke its monotony,
while here and there the protruding sandstone threw in a rich shading of
brown. So God paints the dreariest lands in colors of great beauty, and
scatters over them profusely at times the richest sunlit gems.
On the sixth of August they passed the frowning headland of Smith's
Sound, known as Cape Alexander. It stands like the charred trunk and
limbs of some mighty oak, at the entrance of an unexplored, gloomy
forest, seen in the murky darkness. Cape Alexander seemed a mighty
sentinel of evil purpose, toward all who dared pass to the mysterious
regions beyond. It inspired the sailors with superstitious fear, and
admonished their officers that eternal vigilance must be the price of
safety in the waters beyond.
Arriving at Littleton Island, our explorers built a monument of stones
as a conspicuous object from the sea, surmounted by the stripes and
stars, put under it a record of their voyage thus far, and, two miles
north and east, upon the mainland, deposited a metallic life-boat, with
provisions and various stores. These were for a resort in case of
accident in their further progress.
While making this deposit they discovered the remains of Esquimo huts,
and graves of some of their former occupants. The dead had been buried
in a sitting posture, their knees drawn close to their bodies; the few
simple implements belonging to the deceased were buried with them. In
one grave was a child's toy spear. So even the rude Esquimo child has
its toys, and, no doubt, the mother looks upon its trinkets, as she lays
them beside its dead body, with tearful interest.
Soon after making these deposits in the life-boat, the "Advance," while
making a vigorous struggle with the broken ice, was borne into a
land-locked inlet, which Dr. Kane called Refuge Harbor. It was rather a
cosy place for an arctic shore, and in it the explorers waited for the
movement of the ice.
While here they were much annoyed by their dogs, fifty in number. Two
bears had been shot, which were the only game which had been taken for
them. They were now on short allowance, and were as ravenous as wolves.
They gulped down almost any thing which could go down their throats,
even devouring at one time a part of a feather-bed. Dr. Kane's specimens
of natural history fared hard at their jaws. He happened once to set
down in their way two nests of large sea-fowl. They were filled with
feathers, filth, moss and pebbles--a full peck, but the dogs made a rush
for them and gobbled down the whole. There were plenty of wolves not far
from the brig, on which they delighted to feed. But the hunters had no
luck in trying to take them. Rifle balls glanced from their thick hides
as if they had been peas from a toy gun. They needed the Esquimo harpoon
and the Esquimo skill. But fortunately a dead narwhal, or sea-unicorn,
was found. Under its soothing influence, when fed out to them, the dogs
became more quiet.
After remaining a few days at Refuge Harbor, a desperate push was made
to get the vessel farther north and east. For twelve days they manfully
battled with the ice, and made forty miles. This brought them to the
bottom of a broad shallow bay, which they named Force Bay. Here they
fastened the brig to a shelving, rocky ledge near the shore.