THE MAGNETIC POLE.
As Hatteras drew near this sound he felt his anxiety redoubling; in
fact, the success of his expedition was at stake; so far he had done
nothing more than his predecessors, the most successful of whom,
MacClintock, had consumed fifteen months in reaching this spot; but
that was little, indeed nothing, if he could not make Bellot Sound;
being unable to return, he would be kept a prisoner until the next
year.
Hence he took upon himself the care of examining the coast; he went up
to the lookout, and on Saturday passed many hours there.
The crew were all acquainted with the situation of the ship; an
unbroken silence reigned on board; the engine was slackened; the
_Forward_ ran as near shore as possible; the coast was lined with ice
which the warmest summers could not melt; a practised eye was needed
to make out an entrance through them.
Hatteras was comparing his charts with the coast-line. The sun having
appeared for a moment at noon, Shandon and Wall took an observation,
the result of which was at once told him.
There was half a day of anxiety for all. But suddenly, at about two
o'clock, these words were shouted from aloft,--
"Head to the west, and put on all steam."
The brig obeyed at once, turning to the point directed; the screw
churned the water, and the _Forward_ plunged under a full head of
steam between two swiftly running ice-streams.
The path was found; Hatteras came down to the quarter-deck, and the
ice-master went aloft.
"Well, Captain," said the doctor, "we have entered this famous sound
at last!"
"Yes," answered Hatteras; "but entering is not all, we have got to get
out of it too."
And with these words he went to his cabin.
"He is right," thought the doctor; "we are in a sort of trap, without
much space to turn about in, and if we had to winter here!--well, we
shouldn't be the first to do it, and where others lived through it,
there is no reason why we should not!"
The doctor was right. It was at this very place, in a little sheltered
harbor called Port Kennedy by MacClintock himself, that the _Fox_
wintered in 1858. At that moment it was easy to recognize the lofty
granite chains, and the steep beaches on each side.
Bellot Sound, a mile broad and seventeen long, with a current running
six or seven knots, is enclosed by mountains of an estimated height of
sixteen hundred feet; it separates North Somerset from Boothia; it is
easy to see that there is not too much sailing room there. The
_Forward_ advanced carefully, but still she advanced; tempests are
frequent in this narrow pass, and the brig did not escape their usual
violence; by Hatteras's orders, all the topsail-yards were lowered,
and the topmasts also; in spite of everything the ship labored
fearfully; the heavy seas kept the deck continually deluged with
water; the smoke flew eastward with inconceivable rapidity; they went
on almost at haphazard through the floating ice; the barometer fell to
29 degrees; it was hard to stay on deck, so most of the men were kept
below to spare them unnecessary exposure.
Hatteras, Johnson, and Shandon remained on the quarter-deck, in spite
of the whirlwinds of snow and rain; and the doctor, who had just asked
himself what was the most disagreeable thing to be done at that time,
soon joined them there; they could not hear, and hardly could they
see, one another; so he kept his thoughts to himself.
[Illustration]
Hatteras tried to pierce the dense cloud of mist, for, according to
his calculation, they should be through the strait at six o'clock of
the evening. At that time exit seemed closed, and Hatteras was obliged
to stop and anchor to an iceberg; but steam was kept up all night.
The weather was terrible. Every moment the _Forward_ threatened to
snap her cables; there was danger, too, lest the mountain should be
driven by the wind and crush the brig. The officers kept on the alert,
owing to their extreme anxiety; besides the snow, large lumps of
frozen spray were blown about by the hurricane like sharp arrows.
The temperature arose strangely in that terrible night; the
thermometer marked 57 degrees; and the doctor, to his great surprise,
thought he noticed some flashes of lightning followed by distant
thunder. This seemed to corroborate the testimony of Scoresby, who
noticed the same phenomenon above latitude 65 degrees. Captain Parry
also observed it in 1821.
Towards five o'clock in the morning the weather changed with singular
rapidity; the temperature fell to the freezing-point; the wind shifted
to the north and grew quiet. The western opening of the strait could
be seen, but it was entirely closed. Hatteras gazed anxiously at the
coast, asking himself if there really were any exit.
Nevertheless, the brig put out slowly into the ice-streams, while the
ice crushed noisily against her bows; the packs at this time were six
or seven feet thick; it was necessary carefully to avoid them, for if
the ship should try to withstand them, it ran the risk of being lifted
half out of the water and cast on her beam-ends.
At noon, for the first time, a magnificent solar phenomenon could be
observed, a halo with two parhelions; the doctor observed it, and took
its exact dimensions; the exterior arc was only visible for about
thirty degrees each side of the horizontal diameter; the two images of
the sun were remarkably clear; the colors within the luminous area
were, going toward the outside, red, yellow, green, faint blue, and
last of all white, gently fading away, without any sharp line of
termination.
[Illustration]
The doctor remembered Thomas Young's ingenious theory about these
meteors; he supposed that certain clouds composed of prisms of ice are
hanging in the air; the sun's rays falling on these prisms are
refracted at angles of sixty and ninety degrees. The halos can only be
formed in a clear sky. The doctor thought this an ingenious
explanation.
Sailors, who are familiar with northern seas, consider this phenomenon
a forerunner of heavy snow. If this should be the case, the position
of the _Forward_ was very critical. Hence Hatteras resolved to push
on; during the rest of that day and the next night he took no rest,
but examined the horizon through his glass, entering every inlet, and
losing no opportunity to get out of the strait.
But in the morning he was compelled to stop before the impenetrable
ice. The doctor joined him on the quarter-deck. Hatteras led him clear
aft where they could talk without fear of being overheard.
"We are caught," said Hatteras. "It's impossible to go on."
"Impossible?" said the doctor.
"Impossible! All the powder on board the _Forward_ would not open a
quarter of a mile to us."
"What are we to do?" asked the doctor.
"I don't know. Curse this unlucky year!"
"Well, Captain, if we must go into winter-quarters, we'll do it. As
well here as anywhere else!"
"Of course," said Hatteras in a low voice, "but we ought not to be
going into winter-quarters, especially in the month of June. It is
demoralizing, and bad for the health. The spirits of the crew are soon
cast down during this long rest among real sufferings. So I had made
up my mind to winter at a latitude nearer the Pole."
"Yes, but, unluckily, Baffin's Bay was closed."
"Any one else would have found it open," cried Hatteras; "that
American, that--"
"Come, Hatteras," said the doctor, purposely interrupting him, "it's
now only the 5th of June; we should not despair; a path may open
before us suddenly; you know the ice often breaks into separate
pieces, even when the weather is calm, as if it were driven apart by
some force of repulsion; at any moment we may find the sea free."
"Well, if that happens, we shall take advantage of it. It is not
impossible that beyond Bellot Strait we might get northward through
Peel Sound or MacClintock Channel, and then--"
"Captain," said James Wall, approaching, "the ice threatens to tear
away the rudder."
"Well," answered Hatteras, "never mind; I sha'n't unship it; I want to
be ready at any hour, day or night. Take every precaution, Mr. Wall,
and keep the ice off; but don't unship it, you understand."
"But--" began Wall.
"I don't care to hear any remarks, sir," said Hatteras, severely.
"Go!"
Wall returned to his post.
"Ah!" said Hatteras, angrily, "I would give five years of my life to
be farther north! I don't know any more dangerous place; and besides,
we are so near the magnetic pole that the compass is of no use; the
needle is inactive, or always shifting its direction."
"I confess," said the doctor, "that it is not plain sailing; but
still, those who undertook it were prepared for such dangers, and
there is no need to be surprised."
"Ah, Doctor! the crew has changed very much, and you have seen that
the officers have begun to make remarks. The high pay offered the
sailors induced them to ship; but they have their bad side, for as
soon as they are off they are anxious to get back. Doctor, I have no
encouragement in my undertaking, and if I fail, it won't be the fault
of such or such a sailor, but of the ill-will of certain officers. Ah,
they'll pay dearly for it!"
"You are exaggerating, Hatteras."
"Not at all! Do you fancy the crew are sorry for the obstacles we are
meeting? On the contrary, they hope I shall be compelled to abandon my
plans. So they do not murmur, and when the _Forward_ is headed for the
south, it will be the same thing. Fools! They imagine they are
returning to England! But when I'm turned towards the north, you will
see a difference! I swear solemnly that no living being shall make me
swerve from my course! Give me a passage, an opening through which my
brig can go, and I shall take it, if I have to leave half her
sheathing behind!"
The desires of the captain were destined to be satisfied in a measure.
As the doctor had foretold, there was a sudden change in the evening;
under some influence of the wind, the ice-fields separated; the
_Forward_ pushed on boldly, breaking the ice with her steel prow; all
the night they advanced, and towards six o'clock they were clear of
Bellot Strait.
But great was Hatteras's anger at finding the way to the north closed!
He was able to hide his despair; and as if the only open path were the
one of his choice, he turned the _Forward_ towards Franklin Sound.
Being unable to go up Peel Sound, he determined to go around Prince of
Wales Land, to reach MacClintock Channel. But he knew that Shandon and
Wall could not be deceived, and were conscious of the failure of his
hopes.
Nothing especial happened on the 6th of June; snow fell, and the
prophecy of the halo came true.
For thirty-six hours the _Forward_ followed the sinuosities of the
coast of Boothia, without reaching Prince of Wales Land. Hatteras put
on all steam, burning his coal extravagantly; he still intended to get
further supplies on Beechey Island; on Thursday he arrived at Franklin
Sound, and he still found the way northward impassable.
His position was a desperate one; he could not return; the ice pushed
him onward, and he saw his path forever closing behind him, as if
there were no open sea where he had passed but an hour before.
Hence, not only was the _Forward_ unable to go toward the north, but
she could not stop for a moment lest she should be imprisoned, and she
fled before the ice like a ship before a storm.
Friday, June 7th, she arrived near the coast of Boothia, at the
entrance of James Ross Sound, which had to be avoided because its only
exit is to the west, close to the shore of America.
The observations taken at noon showed them to be in latitude 70
degrees 5 minutes 17 seconds, and longitude 96 degrees 46 minutes 45
seconds; when the doctor heard this he examined his chart, and found
that they were at the magnetic pole, at the very point where James
Ross, the nephew of Sir John, came to determine its situation.
The land was low near the coast, and it rose only about sixty feet at
the distance of a mile from the sea.
The boiler of the _Forward_ needed cleaning; the captain anchored his
ship to a field of ice, and gave the doctor leave to go ashore with
the boatswain. For himself, being indifferent to everything outside of
his own plans, he shut himself up in his cabin, and studied the chart
of the Pole.
The doctor and his companion easily reached land; the first-named
carried a compass for his experiments; he wanted to test the work of
James Ross; he easily made out the mound of stones erected by him; he
ran towards it; an opening in the cairn let him see a tin box in which
James Ross had placed an account of his discovery. No living being had
visited this lonely spot for thirty years.
At this place a needle suspended as delicately as possible assumed a
nearly vertical position under the magnetic influence; hence the
centre of attraction was near, if not immediately beneath, the needle.
[Illustration]
The doctor made the experiment with all care. But if James Ross, owing
to the imperfection of his instruments, found a declination of only 89
degrees 50 minutes, the real magnetic point is found within a minute
of this spot. Dr. Clawbonny was more fortunate, and at a little
distance from there he found a declination of 90 degrees.
"This is exactly the magnetic pole of the earth!" he cried, stamping
on the ground.
"Just here?" asked Johnson.
"Precisely here, my friend!"
"Well, then," resumed the boatswain, "we must give up all the stories
of a magnetic mountain or large mass."
"Yes, Johnson," answered the doctor, laughing, "those are empty
hypotheses! As you see, there is no mountain capable of attracting
ships, of drawing their iron from them anchor after anchor, bolt after
bolt! and your shoes here are as light as anywhere in the world."
"But how do you explain--"
"There is no explanation, Johnson; we are not wise enough for that.
But what is mathematically certain is that the magnetic pole is at
this very spot!"
"Ah, Dr. Clawbonny, how glad the captain would be to say as much of
the North Pole!"
"He'll say it, Johnson; he'll say it!"
"God grant it!" was the answer.
The doctor and his companion raised a cairn at the spot where they
tried their experiment, and the signal for their return being made,
they returned to the ship at five o'clock of the evening.