THE EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN.
Wednesday, the 21st of May, the _Forward_ resumed her perilous voyage,
making her way dexterously through the packs and icebergs, thanks to
steam, which is seldom used by explorers in polar seas; she seemed to
sport among the moving masses; one would have said she felt the hand
of a skilled master, and that, like a horse under a skilful rider, she
obeyed the thought of her captain.
The weather grew warmer. At six o'clock in the morning the thermometer
stood at 26 degrees, at six in the evening at 29 degrees, and at
midnight at 25 degrees; the wind was light from the southeast.
Thursday, at about three o'clock in the morning, the _Forward_ arrived
in sight of Possession Bay, on the American shore, at the entrance of
Lancaster Sound; soon Cape Burney came into sight. A few Esquimaux
came out to the ship; but Hatteras could not stop to speak with them.
[Illustration]
The peaks of Byam Martin, which rise above Cape Liverpool, were passed
on the left, and they soon disappeared in the evening mist; this hid
from them Cape Hay, which has a very slight elevation, and so is
frequently confounded with ice about the shore, a circumstance which
very often renders the determination of the coast-line in polar
regions very difficult.
Puffins, ducks, and white gulls appeared in great numbers. By
observation the latitude was 74 degrees 1 minute, and the longitude,
according to the chronometer, 77 degrees 15 minutes.
The two mountains, Catherine and Elizabeth, raised their snowy heads
above the clouds.
At ten o'clock on Friday Cape Warrender was passed on the right side
of the sound, and on the left Admiralty Inlet, a bay which has never
been fully explored by navigators, who are always hastening westward.
The sea ran rather high, and the waves often broke over the bows,
covering the deck with small fragments of ice. The land on the north
coast presented a strange appearance with its high, flat table-lands
sparkling beneath the sun's rays.
Hatteras would have liked to skirt these northern lands, in order to
reach the sooner Beechey Island and the entrance of Wellington
Channel; but, much to his chagrin, the bank-ice obliged him to take
only the passes to the south.
Hence, on the 26th of May, in the midst of a fog and a snow-storm, the
_Forward_ found herself off Cape York; a lofty, steep mountain was
soon recognized; the weather got a little clearer, and at midday the
sun appeared long enough to permit an observation to be taken:
latitude 74 degrees 4 minutes, and longitude 84 degrees 23 minutes.
The _Forward_ was at the end of Lancaster Sound.
[Illustration]
Hatteras showed the doctor on the chart the route he had taken and
that which he was to follow. At that time the position of the brig was
interesting.
"I should have liked to be farther north," he said, "but it was
impossible; see, here is our exact position."
The captain pointed to a spot near Cape York.
"We are in the middle of this open space, exposed to every wind; into
it open Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel, and
Regent's Inlet; here, of necessity, come all northern explorers."
"Well," answered the doctor, "so much the worse for them; it is indeed
an open space, where four roads meet, and I don't see any sign-post to
point out the right way! What did Parry, Ross, and Franklin do?"
"They didn't do anything in particular; they let themselves be
governed by circumstances; they had no choice, I can assure you; at
one time Barrow Strait would be closed against one, and the next year
it would be open for another; again the ship would be irresistibly
driven towards Regent's Inlet. In this way we have at last been able
to learn the geography of these confused seas."
"What a strange region!" said the doctor, gazing at the chart. "How
everything is divided and cut up, without order or reason! It seems as
if all the land near the Pole were divided in this way in order to
make the approach harder, while in the other hemisphere it ends in
smooth, regular points, like Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, and
the Indian peninsula! Is it the greater rapidity at the equator which
has thus modified things, while the land lying at the extremity, which
was fluid at the beginning of the world, could not condense and unite
as elsewhere, on account of slower rotation?"
"That may be, for there is a reason for everything, and nothing
happens without a cause, which God sometimes lets students find out;
so, Doctor, find it out if you can."
"I shall not waste too much time over it, Captain. But what is this
fierce wind?" added the doctor, wrapping himself up well.
"The north-wind is the common one, and delays our progress."
"Still it ought to blow the ice toward the south, and leave our way
free."
"It ought to, Doctor, but the wind doesn't always do what it ought to.
See, that ice looks impenetrable. We shall try to reach Griffith
Island, then to get around Cornwallis Island to reach Queen's Channel,
without going through Wellington Channel. And yet I am anxious to
touch at Beechey Island to get some more coal."
"How will you do that?" asked the astonished doctor.
"Easily; by order of the Admiralty, a great amount has been placed on
this island, to supply future expeditions, and although Captain
MacClintock took some in 1859, I can assure you there is still some
left for us."
"In fact, these regions have been explored for fifteen years, and
until certain proof of Franklin's death was received, the Admiralty
always kept five or six ships cruising in these waters. If I'm not
mistaken, Griffith Island, which I see in the middle of the open
space, has become a general rendezvous for explorers."
"True, Doctor, and Franklin's ill-fated expedition has been the means
of our learning so much about these parts."
"Exactly; for there have been a great many expeditions since 1845. It
was not till 1848 that there was any alarm about the continued
non-appearance of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, Franklin's two ships.
Then the admiral's old friend, Dr. Richardson, seventy years of age,
went through Canada, and descended Coppermine River to the Polar Sea;
on the other side, James Ross, in command of the _Enterprise_ and the
_Investigator_, sailed from Upernavik in 1848, and reached Cape York,
where we are now. Every day he threw overboard a cask containing
papers telling where he was; during fogs he fired cannon; at night he
burned signal-fires and sent off rockets, carrying always but little
sail; finally, he wintered at Leopold's Harbor in 1848-49; there he
caught a large number of white foxes; he had put on their necks copper
collars on which was engraved a statement of the position of the ship
and where supplies had been left, and he drove them away in every
direction; then, in the spring, he explored the coast of North
Somerset on sledges, amid dangers and privations which disabled nearly
all his men. He built cairns, enclosing copper cylinders with
instructions to the absent expedition; during his absence, Lieutenant
MacClure explored fruitlessly the northern coast of Barrow Strait. It
is noteworthy, Captain, that James Ross had among his officers two men
who afterwards became celebrated,--MacClure, who found the Northwest
Passage, and MacClintock, who found the last remains of the Franklin
expedition."
[Illustration: "He caught a large number of white foxes; he had put on
their necks copper collars."]
"Two good and brave captains, two brave Englishmen; go on, Doctor,
with this account which you know so well; there is always something to
be learned from the account of bold adventurers."
"Well, to conclude with James Ross, I have only to add that he tried
to go farther west from Melville Island; but he nearly lost his ships,
and being caught in the ice he was carried, against his will, to
Baffin's Bay."
"Carried," said Hatteras, frowning,--"carried against his will!"
"He had discovered nothing," resumed the doctor; "it was only after
1850 that English ships were always exploring there, when a reward of
twenty thousand pounds was offered to any one who should discover the
crews of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_. Already, in 1848, Captains Kellet
and Moore, in command of the _Herald_ and the _Plover_, tried to make
their way through by Behring Strait. I ought to say that the winter of
1850-51, Captain Austin passed at Cornwallis Island; Captain Penny,
with the _Assistance_ and _Resolute_, explored Wellington Channel; old
John Ross, who discovered the magnetic pole, started in his yacht, the
_Felix_, in search of his friend; the brig _Prince Albert_ made her
first voyage at the expense of Lady Franklin; and, finally, two
American ships, sent out by Grinnell, under Captain Haven, carried
beyond Wellington Channel, were cast into Lancaster Sound. It was
during this year that MacClintock, Austin's lieutenant, pushed on to
Melville Island and to Cape Dundas, the extreme points reached by
Parry in 1819, and on Beechey Island were found traces of Franklin's
wintering there in 1845."
"Yes," answered Hatteras, "three of his sailors were buried there,
three fortunate men!"
"From 1851 to 1852," continued the doctor, with a gesture of
agreement, "we find the _Prince Albert_ making a second attempt with
the French lieutenant, Bellot; he winters at Batty Bay in Prince
Regent's Sound, explores the southwest of Somerset, and reconnoitres
the coast as far as Cape Walker. Meanwhile, the _Enterprise_ and
_Investigator_, having returned to England, came under the command of
Collinson and MacClure, and they rejoined Kellet and Moore at Behring
Strait; while Collinson returned to winter at Hong-Kong, MacClure went
on, and after three winters, 1850-51, 1851-52, and 1852-53, he
discovered the Northwest Passage without finding any traces of
Franklin. From 1852 to 1853, a new expedition, consisting of three
sailing-vessels, the _Assistance_, the _Resolute_, the _North Star_,
and two steam-vessels, the _Pioneer_ and the _Intrepid_, started out
under the orders of Sir Edward Belcher, with Captain Kellet second in
command; Sir Edward visited Wellington Channel, wintered in
Northumberland Bay, and explored the coast, while Kellet, pushing on
as far as Brideport on Melville Island, explored that region without
success. But then it was rumored in England that two ships, abandoned
in the ice, had been seen not far from New Caledonia. At once Lady
Franklin fitted out the little screw-steamer _Isabella_, and Captain
Inglefield, after ascending Baffin's Bay to Victoria Point, at the
eightieth parallel, returned to Beechey Island with equal unsuccess.
At the beginning of 1855 the American Grinnell defrays the expense of
a new expedition, and Dr. Kane, trying to reach the Pole--"
"But he did not succeed," cried Hatteras with violence, "and thank God
he did not! What he did not do, we shall!"
"I know it, Captain," answered the doctor, "and I only speak of it on
account of its connection with the search for Franklin. Besides, it
accomplished nothing. I nearly forgot to say that the Admiralty,
regarding Beechey Island as a general rendezvous, ordered the steamer
_Phoenix_, Captain Inglefield, in 1853, to carry provisions there; he
sailed with Lieutenant Bellot, who for the second, and last, time
offered his services to England; we can get full details about the
catastrophe, for Johnson, our boatswain, was eye-witness of this sad
affair."
"Lieutenant Bellot was a brave Frenchman," said Hatteras, "and his
memory is honored in England."
"Then," resumed the doctor, "the ships of Belcher's squadron began to
return one by one; not all, for Sir Edward had to abandon the
_Assistance_ in 1854, as McClure had the _Investigator_ in 1853.
Meanwhile Dr. Rae, in a letter dated July 29, 1854, written from
Repulse Bay, gave information that the Esquimaux of King William's
Land had in their possession different objects belonging to the
_Erebus_ and _Terror_; then there was no doubt possible about the fate
of the expedition; the _Phoenix_, the _North Star_, and the ship of
Collinson returned to England; there was then no English ship in these
waters. But if the government seemed to have lost all hope, Lady
Franklin did not despair, and with what was left of her fortune she
fitted out the _Fox_, commanded by MacClintock; he set sail in 1857,
wintered about where you made yourself known to us, Captain; he came
to Beechey Island, August 11, 1858; the next winter he passed at
Bellot Sound; in February, 1859, he began his explorations anew; on
the 6th of May he found the document which left no further doubt as to
the fate of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and returned to England at the
end of the same year. That is a complete account of all that has been
done in these regions during the last fifteen years; and since the
return of the _Fox_, no ship has ventured among these dangerous
waters!"
"Well, we shall try it!" said Hatteras.