HOMEWARD BOUND.
THE final escape from the brig must now be commenced. From the early
fall its necessity had been thought of, and preparations for it
commenced. Since the sick had begun to improve, the work in reference to
it had been going on with system. Coverlets of eider down, beds, or furs
which could be used as such, boots, moccasins, a full supply to meet
emergencies, were prepared. Provision bags were made and filled with
powder, ship-bread, pork-fat, and tallow melted down, and cooked
concentrated bean soup. The flour and meat biscuit were put in double
bags. Two boats had been made from the ship's beams twenty-six feet
long, seven feet across, and three feet deep. Incredible toil by weak
and sick men had been expended upon these boats. A neat "housing" of
light canvas was raised over each of them. One other boat, the "Red
Eric," was in readiness. There was no assurance that either of these
boats would long float, yet all was done which the circumstances allowed
to make them sea-worthy.
The three boats were mounted on sledges. The necessary outfit, so far as
they could bear, was to be stowed away in them.
Every thing being in readiness, a vast amount of _thinking_ having been
employed by the commander in reference to all contingencies, a
peremptory order of march was issued for the seventeenth of May. The men
were given twenty-four hours to get ready eight pounds of such personal
effects as they chose. From the date of starting the strictest
discipline and subordination was to be observed, which came hard upon
the long-indulged, improving sick ones. The perfectness of the
preparations had a good effect, yet there were many moody doubters. Some
insisted that the commander only meant to go further south, holding the
brig to fall back upon; some thought he would get the sick nearer the
hunting grounds; others believed that his purpose was to secure some
point of lookout for the English explorers, or whaling vessels.
When the memorable day of departure came, the boats were in the cradle
on the sledges, and the men, with straps over their shoulders and
drag-ropes from these to the sledges, started for the ice-foot along
which they were to travel. They had not yet received their loads, so
they glided off easily, exciting a smile on some rueful countenances.
In twenty-four hours the boats were laden, on the elevated drive-way,
covered with their canvas roof, and, with a jaunty flag flying, were
ready for a final leave the next day. The exhausted men, for nearly all
of them were yet invalids, returned to the vessel, ate the best supper
the supplies afforded, "turned in," prepared for their first effort at
dragging the boat-laden sledges.
But one sledge could be moved at once, with all hands attached; the
first day they made two miles only with this one. For several days they
made short distances and returned early to a hearty supper and warm beds
in their old quarters, so that they marched back to the drag-ropes in
the morning refreshed. The weather was, by the kind, overruling Hand,
"superb."
The final leave-taking was somewhat ceremonious. All the men were
assembled in the dismantled room which had been so long both a prison
and providential home. It was Sunday; all listened to a chapter of the
Bible, and prayers. Then, all silently standing, the commander read a
prepared report of what had been done, and the reasons for the step
about to be taken. He then addressed the company, honestly conceding the
obstacles in the way of escape, but assuring them that energy and
subordination would secure success. He reminded them of the solemn
claims upon them of the sick and wounded; called to their minds the
wonderful deliverance granted them thus far by the infinite Power, and
exhorted them still confidently to commit all to the same Helper.
The response to this appeal was most cheering to Dr. Kane. The following
engagement was drawn up by one of the officers and signed by every
man:--
"The undersigned, being convinced of the impossibility of the
liberation of the brig, and equally convinced of the impossibility of
remaining in the ice a third winter, do fervently concur with the
commander in his attempt to reach the south by means of boats.
"Knowing the trials and hardships which are before us, and feeling the
necessity of union, harmony, and discipline, we have determined to abide
faithfully by the expedition and our sick comrades, and to do all that
we can, as true men, to advance the objects in view."
The party now went on deck, hoisted a flag and hauled it down again, and
then marched once or twice around the vessel. The figure head--the fair
Augusta--"the little blue girl with pink cheeks," was taken by the men
and added to their load. She had been nipped and battered by the ice,
and a common suffering made her dear to them. When Dr. Kane remonstrated
against the additional burden, they said: "She is, at any rate, wood,
and if we cannot carry her far we can burn her."
The final departure was too serious for cheers, and when the moment came
they all hurried off to the boats and the drag-ropes.
Four men were sick, and had to be carried; and Dr. Kane was with the
dog-team the common carrier and courier, as we shall see, so that there
were but twelve men to the boats; these were organized into two
companies, six each, for the two sledges; M'Gary having command of the
"Faith," and Morton command of the "Hope." Each party was separate in
matters of baggage, sleeping, cooking, and eating; both were
concentrated, in turns, upon each sledge under the command of Brooks.
Both morning and evening of each day all gathered round, with uncovered
heads, to listen to prayers. Every one had his assigned place at the
track-line; each served in turn as cook, except the captains.
From an early day of the preparations, Dr. Kane had been at work
refitting and furnishing the broken-down, forsaken hut at Anoatok. For
this purpose many trips were made to it with the dog-team; it was made
tight as possible; the filth carefully removed; cushions and blankets
were spread upon the raised floor at the sides and a stove set up;
blankets were hung up against the walls, and the whole made to look as
cheerful as possible. While the sledges were approaching this place by
short stages, Dr. Kane, with his team, brought to the hut the four sick
men; they were Goodfellow, Wilson, Whipple, and Stephenson. Dr. Hayes,
yet limping on his frozen foot, bravely adhered to the sledges. When the
sick entered the hut none could wait upon the others, except Stephenson,
who could barely light the lamp, to melt the snow and heat the water.
But Dr. Kane made them frequent visits, supplying their wants, and
reporting the daily progress toward them of their whole company. They
grew better, and were able to creep out into the sunshine. Besides
carrying the sick to Anoatok, Dr. Kane had, with his dogs, conveyed
there and stocked near the hut most of the provisions for their march
and voyage; eight hundred pounds out of fifteen were now there, and he
proposed to convey the rest. This was done to relieve the overladen
sledges.
The red boat--"Red Eric"--joined the party on the floe a few days after
the start, increasing their burden, but assuring them of increased
comfort and safety when they reached the open water.
One incident of this period will illustrate its hardships and the
Christian courage with which they were met.
It was soon after the last sick man was borne to the hut that Dr. Kane,
having, in one of his dog-team trips, camped on the floe, came upon the
boat party early in the morning. They were at prayers at the moment,
and, as they passed to the drag-ropes, he was pained at the evidence of
increased scurvy and depression. Brooks's legs were sadly swollen, and
Hayes ready to faint with exhaustion. They must have more generous
meals, thought the noble-hearted commander. Taking Morton, he hastened
back to the brig. As they entered a raven flew croaking away; he had
already made his home there. Lighting the fires in the old cook-room,
they melted pork, cooked a large batch of _light_ bread without salt,
saleratus, or shortening, gathered together some eatable, though
damaged, dried apples and beans, and, the dogs having fed, hastened back
to the men on the floe. Distributing a good supper to their comrades as
they passed, and taking Godfrey along with them, they hastened to the
hut. The poor fellows confined in it were rejoiced to see them. They
had eaten all their supplies, their lamp had gone out, the snow had
piled up at the door so that they could not close it, and the arctic
wind and cold were making free in their never-too-warm abode. The poor
fellows were cold, sick, and hungry. The coming of their commander was
as the coming of an angel messenger of good tidings. He closed their
door, made a fire of tarred rope, dried their clothes and bedding,
cooked them a porridge of pea-soup and meat-biscuit, and set their
lamp-wick ablaze with dripping pork-fat. Then, after all had joined in
prayer of thankfulness, a well relished meal was eaten. This was
followed by a cheerful chat, and a long, refreshing forgetfulness in
their sleeping-bags of all privations. When they awoke the gale had
grown more tempestuous, with increasing snow. But they went on burning
rope and fat until every icicle had disappeared, and every frost mark
had faded out.
On their arrival at the hut the night before, Dr. Kane, seeing the
condition of things, sent Godfrey forward to Etah for fresh supplies of
game. After a time he returned with Metek, and the two sledges well
laden with meat. A part of this was hurried off to the toilers at the
drag-ropes.
Having blessed by his coming these weary voyagers, Dr. Kane, with
Morton, Metek, and his sledge, went once more to the brig. They baked a
hundred and fifty pounds of bread and sent it by Metek to Mr. Brooks,
and the faithful messenger, having delivered it, returned immediately
for another load. While he was gone, a hundred pounds of flour pudding
was made, and two bagfuls of pork-fat tried out. This done, the three
lay down upon the curled hair of the old mattresses, they having been
ripped open and their contents drawn out to make the most comfortable
bed the place afforded. They slept as soundly "as vagrants on a
haystack."
The next day they set their faces toward the sledge company and Anoatok,
both sledges having heavy loads, which included the last of the fifteen
hundred pounds of provisions.
Dr. Kane had made one of his last trips to the brig: he would return for
provisions only; but all his specimens of Natural History, collected
with much toil, his books, and many of his well-tested instruments, he
was compelled to leave. His six dogs had carried him, during the
fortnight since the company left the brig, between seven and eight
hundred miles, averaging about fifty-seven miles a day. But for their
services the sick could scarcely have been saved, and the rest would
have suffered more intensely.
Leaving, as usual, a part of the food with Mr. Brooks's party, they
hastened on to replenish the stores and cheer the hearts of the lonely
dwellers in the hut.